Digimon: Symbiosis (Remastered)

by Dragon Champion Zero

Everything changed the night the sky lit up. Now, with everything in two worlds laying on the line, they'll have to join together to survive and overcome - in the most literal sense possible.

5. Chapter 5: Thrust Into The Open Sky

Meant to get this up this past weekend, but a lot of distractions and obligations delayed me. It's here now, though.

---

Chapter 5: Thrust Into The Open Sky

—

"Insufferable braggarts."

"Don't bark at the streetlights, 'Shadow.'"

"How offensively reductionist! Minimizing my extensively cultivated linguistic specialties to mere animalistic vocalizations!"

"Would you prefer 'yap'?"

Blackcanismon huffed as Derek snickered. "My personal preference would be salvation from these excessively luminescent constructions. The heavenly chorale of starlight is infinitely more desirable than this oppressive bombast."

"Well, we'll get there, but we have to go through some light to get to better places. And I wanna see how well this disguise holds up."

"Were you not previously demonstrating a conviction in my approximation of an organic equivalent of my phenotype? The notion of active camouflage was your presentation, if I accurately recollect."

"I'm well aware of that." Derek had said that, but he knew there were factors that definitely made Blackcanismon stand out. His appearance was doglike, but that dark fur was certainly not the norm, and his eyes were also much more lucid and sharp than most dogs that he'd seen. "I think most people who aren't paying attention aren't even going to give you a second look. But I want to see how well you stand up to someone who might be paying more attention. Thankfully, I know a couple of safe bellwethers."

"Deliberate exposure challenging the obfuscation? Might I express my misgivings?"

"I understand your concerns…I think. As much as I understand anything you say, anyway. But you don't have to worry too much - even if these two catch on, no one's going to listen to them anyway. They have a…history."

"I will reluctantly place deference unto your judgment." Not that Blackcanismon felt particularly comfortable with any of this. Only hours ago, the entire situation had taken a dramatic turn, and he was still processing all of it - particularly the prospect of physically merging with a human youth who hadn't ever imagined getting caught up in something like this in his life, not psychologically prepared for a fight like Blackcanismon himself was. Though perhaps more so than most of his cohorts, it seemed…but Blackcanismon couldn't help but wonder how much of that was without knowing what the real experience of their combat was like. Would it really hold up once they were actually forced to engage? Would they even be able to do what they needed to in order to meet the challenge? Salmandmon had sounded so sure…

At least his trying to mull everything over in his head offered him a good reason to stay quiet, which was important to maintaining the illusion of his just being an ordinary organic dog. It was hard acting like he was as blank as one of them; he'd observed a few of them in yards the previous day, and mimicking them seemed a daunting challenge, they seemed so carefree and dull, something that he wasn't close to even among his own, more cognizant peers. The good news was that they barely passed anyone up to this point - the night wasn't busy in Braun, at least not in this area - and those that they did pass seemed preoccupied.

Of course, that was less good fortune and more familiarity on Derek's part, he avoided places with lots of people even under normal conditions. But there were a couple of people he was interested in tonight, and as he approached an alleyway, he could see that they were there as they often were. For people as atypical as they are, they sure are predictable…then again, I guess that little bit of stability keeps things from falling apart. The closer he came, the more they came into view…two men, a study in contrasts, yet almost inseparable. "Grits, Reggie. Any trouble tonight?"

"Bah. We ain't trouble any night." The bigger of the two men took another swig from a bottle that seemed to have intent to undermine that statement. 'Grits' was the only name Derek knew for him, as it was the only one he ever gave - he was a paranoid one, a great believer in lots of nebulous threats that were after the real him but would be thwarted by hiding his real name. He was a pretty big guy in every dimension, tall and heavyset, with a grizzled goatee and long, unkempt, greasy hair, stained and ratty clothing, an off-color grayish pallor to his face, and almost never found without some kind of alcohol on him, and even less frequently without some kind of alcohol IN him. Derek was pretty sure there was something wrong with him beyond the alcoholism, but could never figure out what that was…there was a lot he didn't really understand about Grits, such as how he managed to actually have a place to live, since he'd never seen nor heard of the man having a job. He usually spent the days inside, and only went out at night, so Derek had gotten familiar with him over time. Usually peacefully, even…Grits could get surly when drunk, but he was pretty much harmless, as much for lack of coordination as lack of conviction.

"That only answers half the question. Have you had any from anyone else?"

"Always do," growled Grits. "'Spicious characters all over th' place."

"Dere's feddies out there t'night, uh-huh." Reggie's swingy voice finally rang out through the alleyway, and Derek could see him rocking back and forth, sitting on top of a wooden box that looked creaky enough to fall apart at any moment. Though perhaps Reggie wouldn't be the weight that ended its time, given how little of it he had. A tall but fairly gaunt black man, bundled up in a heavy long coat to help him deal with the cool weather of the night, a stocking cap on his head, and a distant gaze in his eyes that rarely seemed to change. Derek had a bit more of his story sussed out, though mostly through some induction - Reggie was a schizophrenic who couldn't keep to his meds, though he had no issues with the acid he enjoyed, and would have been homeless without Grits letting him stay with him. Derek felt bad for him, his problems seemed more foisted on him than Grits' bad decisions with booze, but the end result had him not really capable of living a normal life and apparently no one else willing or able to help him. It was an odd partnership that seemed to work for both of them - Grits seemed to keep Reggie a bit more stable, and Reggie seemed to keep Grits a bit more grounded. And they both were happy to be night owls, as far as Derek could tell - which might have been why he sort of had an affinity for them, despite their issues.

"Those kinds are always here, aren't they?" Still, one thing Derek never told them was what his father did. That was a good way to get them paranoid. So he pretended not to be as familiar with things as he really was. "There's the BICI in the city, they always like to show up and do their thing."

"Not like now, not like now. I seen more'a them than I ever did. All cuzza 'dat big shine in the sky…was all 'fwoosh,' 'n I thought was enda da world…"

"Bahaha! Reggie almost crapped himself when it happened!" Grits roared with laughter, and then suddenly the mirth crashed like an anvil down, and Grits got a vacant look in his eyes. "Mighty p'cooliar…ain't ever seen nothin' like it in my whole long life. Thought the aliens was finally comin' for me. 'Cuz I know too much, you know?"

Blackcanismon appreciated one thing: the weirdness of the two was making it easy for him to keep a blank look. What bizarre characters. Dubious beyond question…I scarcely understand Derek's decision to hold rapport with them. Then he had to fight to keep still as Grits suddenly looked down at him, and his eyes lit up.

"Oy! How 'bout that! The werewolf's gone ta his roots an' got 'imself a guard dog!"

Derek took a breath and let it out slowly. "Grits. We've been over this. I'm not a werewolf. And he's not a guard dog, he's just a runaway that I happened to run into out here a couple days ago."

"Awful nice for a stray," muttered Reggie, staring at Blackcanismon as he continued to rock back and forth. "Awful nice…ain't never seen so nice a dog on the street, ya know. Dey's all messy and scraggy and all…but 'e looks like da stars."

"I did clean him up, you know. I'm not going to just leave him like I found him, right?"

"Mighty p'cooliar…" Grits was staring hard enough at Blackcanismon for him to be uncomfortable. "Quiet 'n calm, too…when'd'ya say ya found 'im?"

Derek was processing everything. One good thing about guys with poor filters - you picked up on what you might miss. Blackcanismon looks like a dog physically, but he doesn't act like a stray dog would…they're picking up on that. So would anyone else who had an interest. We'll have to work on emphasizing some dog behaviors. "A couple nights ago."

"When the big flash happened?"

Crap. I should've shifted the timeline a bit. File that away. "…Well, yes. He might have been scared by it, that's what I'm going off of."

"Mighty p'cooliar…" Grits was still looking at Blackcanismon, almost scrutinizingly. "Ya sure he ain't abnormal? Almost looks like 'e knows I'm lookin' at 'im, y'know…"

"Grits, c'mon. Only Reggie could think a dog understood him. He thinks all animals understand him. Don't tell me he's rubbing off on you?"

Finally, that got Grits's eyes off of the digimon. "Eh. Maybe yer'ight. Jus' dunno. Strange things been hap'nin 'round here. 'Spicious things. 'Spicious people wanna know about 'em. Don't wanna know what they might find that they ain't gonna tell us about…"

"Been some weeeeeird feddies 'round here," added Reggie, looking back in front of him at nothing in particular. "Scary ones…'dey ain't like others I seen. Watch yo' ass, wolfy, don't know what'll they do…"

"I'll keep my eyes open. You two do, too." Derek decided that was a good time to start moving back on, and Blackcanismon was all too eager to accompany him. The two left the presence of the alleyway, heading off down the road a ways before any conversations started again.

Once Blackcanismon felt safe, he was the first to speak. "I retract my previous dubiousness, Derek. Indubitably they remained unconvinced of my normative facade."

"Yeah, I think they sussed something. Though they didn't REALLY figure you out, so that's something…they just probably think you're suspicious. But since they're both kind of…scattered, in a way, I don't think anyone'll think anything of them talking about that, they talk about weirder stuff all the time." Derek furrowed his brow. "Still, it highlighted some weaknesses of the ruse. I think it's more how you act than how you look, though. You're…not exactly doggish in manner."

"I am not, perhaps, possessed of the obtuseness of an animalistic organism. Presenting a facsimile of such purports infinitely greater challenge than the convenience of visual appearance. And thus I necessarily provoke your recollection of my previous concerns."

"Yeah, and it's gonna be hard for you to act like a regular dog. Convincingly so, anyway. How do you consciously act like something that's not as conscious as you are? But maybe if you do a little bit more dog stuff…"

"I will require a significant degree improved specificity regarding the intricacies of such behaviors."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll have to look some stuff up…eh? Hush up a moment." They'd only gone about a dozen blocks when Derek spotted him - a man, standing in very suspiciously formal attire in the sidewalk near the midway point of their street block, with a finger up to his ear and his eyes darting around. The man was a touch shorter but also broader than Derek was, with a tight crew-cut and sharp, thin features, and immediately he was on-guard with just the air of self-importance the man seemed to have. Something told him he wanted to not spend a lot of time around this person, and Derek always trusted his instincts at night.

Unfortunately, instincts didn't get the only say; he was just passing behind the man when he turned to look at them. "And what are you doing out here this late at night, boy?" The tone and the demeaning last word all but proved Derek's every first impression dead right, and triggered the kind of hostile response in him that he was well familiar with.

He managed to rein it in, if only a little. "Walking my dog. What does it look like I'm doing?"

"At this hour? You expect me to believe that?"

Derek looked over at him with a dark glare. "Yes, I do, because that's what I'm doing. And yes, at this hour, because I LIKE being out at this hour. There are fewer people around to bother me…usually."

The man was giving as good a glare as he was getting, that was for sure. "People who worry about being bothered usually have something to hide. Maybe I oughta have a chat with your parents about your behavior and your smart mouth, see if they know about your shenanigans out here."

"You have that much spare time to be harassing teens on the street? Wonder if your job'll want to hear about that."

"…You don't know who I work for."

"Seriously? You're walking around in that stereotypical MIB get-up and you think I can't catch on?" Derek was pushing it a bit, but this guy was grating on him. "I'm old enough to know what goes on around here, you know. I know all about the BICI. The federal agents are always the ones who look the most out of place whenever they come here. Lemme guess, you're here because of that thing that happened a couple nights ago?"

"Why I'm here is none of your business, kid."

"So is my night walk, but you sure were quick to butt in."

The agent glowered, but didn't directly address that. "Strange dog you have there."

"Not that strange. I think the flash in the sky probably made him run away from home, I'm just trying to find out where that is. But I figure I might as well treat him right until I do. Since you're so interested and all."

"…Hmph. Don't bug me, kid, I've got work to do." The agent finally turned away, and Derek, though he would have dearly loved to clap back, held his tongue and kept moving. Blackcanismon was quite grateful for that, because he was DEFINITELY not convinced that that one wouldn't have noticed something much odder about him if Derek hadn't been drawing most of his attention.

They didn't talk again until they were in the cover of true darkness, away from the streetlights. Only then did Blackcanismon breathe his sigh of relief. "I was utterly unprepared for confrontation with such a scurrilous interloper. Your aggression seemed uncomfortably provocative, Derek, and inadvisably so."

"So you think, but I think it was necessary." Not that Derek's heart wasn't going a mile a minute from that one, but he was doing a decent job not showing it. "He was the aggressive one…I needed to match him to get him to back off, otherwise he never would have relented. I don't like him…he's definitely a federal agent, and almost certainly my dad's been around him, there's no way they aren't all investigating the same thing. And he's one of those types that thinks they're so damn important and that everything they do is right…you could just hear it in his voice. Only good thing is he doesn't know I'm my father's kid."

"I presume such revelations would have been disadvantageous."

"They wouldn't have helped. Plus, I didn't want him getting a good look at you...me, I don't care, he tries to do anything to me and he'll get what's coming to him, but if he set his sights on you I doubt it'd be easy to shake him."

"Perhaps his suspicious were aroused by your questionable allegiances."

Derek scoffed a bit. "Ah, c'mon. Grits and Reggie aren't THAT bad. Their heads are on a bit funny, but they're better than some people I've seen who claim not to have any mental health problems at all. Don't tell me you never had any kinda sketchy buddies?"

"I prefer the company of largely upstanding personages. The community circumscribed around my elemental alignment faces difficulty enough relating to the greater society of the digital terrestria without welcoming the presence of the dubiously trustworthy. Regrettable, perhaps, but unfortunately necessary."

"Oh, yeah, you guys did have some issues over there, didn't you?" A quiet sigh from Derek. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised, it's not like the dark's thought of that great over here, either."

Blackcanismon nodded ruefully. "Distasteful as prejudices are, those upheld within our domain are sorrowfully not entirely unmeritable. Their foundations are generally upon such phenomena as attempted genocides and sadistic torments. Those aligned with myself necessarily ceaselessly engage in dichotomous campaigns - confronting the saboteurs of our reputations as well as the calumniators seeking our wholesale destruction."

"I don't envy you in the slightest there. But at least you had other allies, right?"

"Mercifully. Present companionship excluded, a particular ally has demonstrated considerable support towards my particular conviction. A friend preceding any within the confines of the illuminated environs, supporting my endeavors to broaden my horizons. Glademon…" Blackcanismon sighed, head hanging low. "Devastatingly, I am…uncertain of his continued survival. In our final engagement with the KOL, he contributed to the ill-fortuned assault…scarcely anyone returned to the complex following the catastrophe, and despite my desperate examinations and interrogations, I was incapable of ascertaining his fate."

"I'm sorry…" Derek felt an ache in his heart. "I wasn't…trying to remind you of that…"

"'Twas hardly your culpability alone. Routinely do I reminisce about him and ponder the uncertainty of his circumstance. The most fortuitous conclusion must be his captivity, but verily, even such hopeful outcomes portend tragedy without significant intervention."

Derek didn't reply to that; it brought his mind towards what they were doing and what they were facing. Just a few of them against an unknown number of creatures that would probably think nothing of killing them…one wrong move, and that might be it. And even if it's not me…it could be any one of them. Even Iris…I can't let them do anything to her. I have to do my best to keep her safe…I know she'll be doing the same for me.

—

Iris blinked awake. She didn't feel particularly well-rested, her sleep not having been very good thanks to all the thoughts going through her head over yesterday's events. The prospect of having to fight against frightening creatures with just her and her friends was, probably unsurprisingly, not a fun and exciting idea for her. But it was one she had to get used to, because it was happening…and she really wasn't sure how quickly she would or could.

"Aaahm…morning, Iris." She started a bit as she looked over to her side, seeing Shockavimon in the bed next to her. She'd forgotten momentarily, she'd invited the bird to join her on the bed rather than sleeping on the less-than-comfortable floor…truthfully, more for selfish reasons than anything, holding Shockavimon had helped calm her down last right. "How're you feeling?"

"Uh…I…really don't know." Iris took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I think I'm still trying to process it all. At least I'm not a big ol' ball of panic, but, I wouldn't say I'm good, either."

"I don't blame you. I still can't believe Sal even proposed that…I mean, I can, but I can't." Shockavimon shrugged. "That's a fire-elemental for you. Rash and impetuous. He jumps into the fray on a moment's notice, and sometimes the rest of us get caught along with."

"Has he gotten you into trouble with that?"

"Not…really? I mean, let's face it, we all chose to jump into danger willingly. He mostly gets himself into trouble, but honestly probably gets us out of it more. And, well, we chose to follow him. We voted him leader of Zetta Unit every year."

Iris cocked her head. "Why? If he's like that, wouldn't you want someone else?"

"…You'd think so, right? I dunno…Salmandmon, there's something about him that just…makes it work. I guess it's a thing of taking the good with the bad. Yeah, he's impulsive, sometimes jumps into things without consulting the rest of us, but, he also rallies us, fires us up, and he never doubts us for a second. Out of all of us, he has the most upside. I mean, BC's too reserved to really work there, Breezy's way too flighty, and I don't think I'm ready to be in charge of anyone…it's pretty much just between him and Data, and Data's always flat told us not to put him there. Sal always votes for him anyway, but the rest of us listen." She snickered a bit. "And then he gets pissy because he says he just wants to be the fireball you throw at people."

"He seemed pretty in-place last night, I dunno."

"Well, he doesn't LIKE it, but he DOES it. Maybe he and Reyn are a good fit? Reyn seemed pretty spot-on, too, the way he was talking."

Iris nearly burst out laughing. "No way! Reyn shows about as much leadership as a bowl of rice. He HATES being in charge of anything. Last night was the first time I think I've ever seen him take initiative, ever. I think that was what drove it home just how serious it was, if it was bad enough that HE was pushing us, it had to mean something."

Shockavimon thought for a moment. "Huh…well, I guess we'll see who takes that role. Or who gets assigned it."

"Yeah…ah!" Iris motioned to Shockavimon to get down. "It's Dad! Under the bed!"

Shockavimon didn't question, diving under the bed, which thankfully had a skirt that kept her nice and obscured. Iris got out of bed and tried to look like she had been working on getting herself ready when her father Emil opened up her door, then pretended to look shocked as she whirled around. "Dad! I told you to knock!"

"Oh! Right, right, sorry." Emil rubbed his head; Iris could tell by his eyes that he wasn't sleeping so well either. He was a fairly gentle-looking man, slightly on the shorter side with brown eyes that looked like they'd almost shoot out cartoonishly if they went wide. "I'm trying to get better about that, I promise."

"If you'd get me a lock like I asked…"

"Sweetheart…"

"I know, I know." She didn't really have to make a big show of her frustration with that, she wished she had a bit more privacy but both parents were against her bedroom being locked. Their thought was that in an emergency she would need to be able to get out or they would need to be able to get in, and a lock would make that dicey. She accepted it, even if she didn't like it. "Is it breakfast time?"

"Just about. Your mother's making pancakes. I told her she should just be relaxing, but it's been a while since she had the chance and I think she really just wanted to take it…hm? What's that?" Emil pointed to something on the ground near Iris's feet; Iris felt a bit of a jolt when she realized it was one of Shockavimon's feathers.

"Oh, this?" Still, she did her best to recover, picking it up and giving a bit of a false laugh. "I found it outside yesterday. Can you believe the garish color of this? It has to be fake, unless Big Bird made a stop in Braun for whatever reason. But I thought I might want to use it for some kind of craft."

"That is quite the gaudy yellow. I can't imagine who would WANT to wear something like that!" Emil chuckled. "Are you sure you should be going out right now, though? I'm still not sure what's been going on around here, we got a strange report yesterday about some weird activity at Eglin Park."

"DAD. I'm FINE." Iris mustered up all her very real exasperation. "Nothing's been going on out there that I can see. You're always too paranoid! I've never had trouble with anyone before!"

"Y-yes, I…I see. Well, you know I worry about you…but…all right. I'll back off, until I find out more. Anyway, don't keep your mother waiting!"

"I won't, Dad." Emil finally closed the door, and Iris rubbed her face. Yes, there was absolutely no way in HELL she could ever let her dad know about Shockavimon, he would probably barricade her door with a cartoon anvil if he knew there were actual monsters running around town. After waiting a few seconds and hearing her father's footsteps retreat down the stairs, she finally spoke up. "I think it's safe, Shockavimon."

Shockavimon crawled out from under the bed, brushing herself off. "Well, THAT'S gonna be fun every time we have to go through it…"

"Sorry. I know it's not ideal."

"No, it's fine. I don't get a vibe I like from him. He wouldn't be on our side, no way." Shockavimon folded her wing-arms and frowned up at Iris. "And WE have something to talk about too, miss 'Garish.'"

"Hey!" Iris raised her arms in protest. "I LOVE the color, I promise! But I had to put Dad on the trail that it was fake quickly, otherwise he might start asking questions I wasn't ready for."

"Well, I would've preferred something a little more respectful of my plumage! Yellow is life, baby. And what the hell is a 'big bird'? 'Cuz I know you weren't talking about me there."

"That…I'll explain later. Right now I need to go get breakfast."

"Ah, right. Jeez, wish I could go down there and eat, too…"

"I'll bring you some back up. I'll just say I was extra hungry, I do that a lot. Sometimes bring up more food than I actually want at the time and save it for later."

"You do?"

Iris shrugged. "I like to snack, what can I say? Plus it's nice sometimes to just have something handy when I'm working on something and don't want to stop for very long."

"I see…so you have a secret stash somewhere…" Shockavimon got a grin on her face. "You know what this means…"

"It means I'd better bring you something up soon or you're gonna totally find it and raid it, aren't you?" groaned Iris.

"Bingo. Call it a 'garish' tax."

—

Derek had hoped, as usual, that he would be back only after a certain someone had already taken their leave. No such luck that morning, though; both parents were at the table that morning as he walked in. His mother Myra, a curvy woman with curly black hair that seemed like it flowed everywhere, was making coffee, looking stressed out as she seemed to a lot these days; that hollow look in her eyes was one that pained Derek every time he saw it, and he saw it too much, considering her perpetual shaky health. And then there was Elliot Katran, a sharp-faced, severe man who looked like he was pretty dark in his own right, sitting rather stiffly as he scrolled through a tablet looking at the news.

"Morning." Derek's rather feeble attempt at courtesy was hardly a surprise.

"Hm." Elliot's lack of response was equally familiar.

"Good morning, Derek." Myra was a little more vocal, but tiredly so. "Nothing happened out there, did it? No more…things in the sky?"

"No more things in the sky. Mostly nothing out there, except…" Derek turned to Elliot, steeling himself. "Dad, do you know anything about the feds snooping around here lately?"

Elliot glanced up. "You have to ask? They're here over the anomaly. And there's been a couple other events that may or may not be related. We've only got a few of them here at the moment…why do you ask?"

"Eh. One of them was giving me some heat last night."

"…Were you provoking him?"

Derek's expression darkened. "We've been over this, Dad. I don't go provoking random strangers. I just don't back down when they get on me."

"Were you acting suspicious in any way?"

"…No. Not at all."

A pause from Elliot, during which Myra hustled over a coffee to him. He took a sip, then seemed to be satisfied for the moment. "Well, don't read too much into it. They're paid to be suspicious of everyone. Don't usually go bothering people unless they have a reason to. So don't give them a reason to."

"If they're out here, that doesn't sound like good news to me," Myra muttered nervously. "Are you sure you're safe out there, Derek?"

"I'm sure, Mom. Just like always." Derek didn't bother elaborating on that, instead leaving the kitchen and heading up to his bedroom. Blackcanismon followed at his side, hoping that he was dog-like enough that they didn't notice how much attention he was paying to everything. One thing was clear enough: one big happy family this was not.

Only when they were safely in Derek's room did he feel safe actually mentioning anything. "Gracious. That interaction was certainly imbued with all the geniality and effervescence of a funeral dirge."

"Not exactly subtle, huh?" Derek sighed. "They've been on my case about night walking for as long as I've been doing it. And they don't like a lot of other things…that I'm not particularly social, that I have 'attitude' towards them, things like that. But it's going out at night that does it most to them…there were times in the past where they would try to lock me inside my room so I couldn't go out at night. And they get even more pissed off when I found my way around it. So yeah, it's never been nice and peaceful between us."

"An unenviable scenario. Almost equivalently unenviable to submitting oneself to continual bondage and generic unflavorful vittles."

"Hey, we have to at least try to sell the illusion. I know you don't like the leash and collar, but I'm trying to make it as unobtrusive as possible. And the dog food…well, I can't imagine there's one I could find that you WOULD like, but I'll try to get you some better food, we just need to have it so that they don't wonder what I'm feeding you."

Blackcanismon huffed. "The indignities I must endure for the salvation of both our societies. I suppose greater misfortunes could conceivably befall me in the subsequent diurnal circuits, though scarcely could I innovate their identities."

Derek couldn't help but chuckle. "Laying it on juuuust a bit thick, don't you think?"

"Alternate positions with myself and reconsider your joviality."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll get you something from downstairs after Dad leaves."

—

"34...35...36..." The repetitive voice of Salmandmon, though quiet, was nonetheless effective at rousing Reyn from slumber - or at least speeding the process along. He rolled over, finding the bed empty of all other than himself, and then sat up and looked around, only spying Salmandmon then. The reptile was on the floor, doing one-armed push-ups.

"…This is really gonna be a thing, isn't it?"

"41…hey, wake up faster, I gotta do something to kill time."

Reyn shook his head and rolled his eyes. "You could just be a normal person and sleep in."

"I don't sleep in! Never did like doing that."

"Are you sure you should be doing that? I mean, I know your leg was looking better, but you put it through kind of a lot yesterday."

"Actually, I've never felt better...50!" Salmandmon pushed up hard from the ground, and quickly switched arms so that he was pushing with his left instead of his right, not missing a stride as he started the reps with his other limb. "Digimon are generally quick healers, something that allows us to get back into battle quickly…I guess some might consider that not such a good thing, but eh. But didn't you notice? After we split up, I didn't have the stitches or the wound anymore…I think that had an effect on mending me up!"

Reyn blinked. Sure enough, the inside of Salmandmon's leg was stitch-free, and looked like nothing had ever happened to it. "Huh. I didn't even realize. Guess that's a pretty good thing, though I'm not sure I want to test whether it happens every time."

"Tch, you think YOU don't want to, you weren't even the one who tried to give your leg some cool air vents."

"Even Datacarnomon might decide against that kind of mod. Hey, what did you dream about last night?"

"31...Lotta random stuff. I remember Burnreptimon, though. Why do you ask?"

"I think we had the same dreams. I always seem to remember seeing you, except when I was dreaming about being Burnreptimon."

"Weird. I think I remember you, too. Those connections must go pretty deep. Though I guess it's just an extension of the dreams we used to have of each other…maybe because we're both asleep at the same time and we know it?"

"Might be. Maybe we'd be able to test it if you actually spent some more time asleep."

"Or maybe I need to get you up so you can join me. 50!" Salmandmon hopped up, stretching his arms and legs. "Wouldja mind getting me a towel or something? Probably should wipe down before going out anywhere."

"That's why you shouldn't do this sorta thing in the morning." Reyn went into his closet and grabbed a small towel for Salmandmon, tossing it to him. "Why do you sweat, anyway? I know we sweat to cool down, but something tells me cooling down isn't something you ever need to do."

"Hah, okay, just a moment, let me remember. Right, I think it's this. 'Although fire-oriented digimon have no need for thermoregulation, sweating serves an alternate function of quickly releasing toxins that might otherwise build up in the muscles during exercise, thereby allowing them to work out more efficiently.' That good enough for you?"

Reyn snorted a laugh. "You get that one a lot, huh?"

"All the frickin' time. You don't even want to know how many hours I spent with Data memorizing that." Salmandmon suddenly paused, lifting his head to sniff the air. "Holy crap, something smells amazing!"

"I'm guessing someone's making breakfast down there," remarked Reyn, smiling himself at the familiar and enjoyable smells. "Whatever they're making is definitely gonna be tasty. Hopefully they made enough for you."

"Hah! A mountain of it wouldn't be enough for me!"

"Hey!" Reyn watched Salmandmon rush out of the room. "Don't eat it all before I get down there!"

—

Isaac wasn't usually one to sleep in, but after a lot of late-night discussions with Datacarnomon and a whole lot of coding, he'd been snoozier than usual. Which meant a rude awakening for him as his father Alphonse, a tall, balding man with a bushy mustache, banged on his door and opened it up. "Oy! I've been calling you for the last ten minutes!"

"Ah! Jeez! Sorry, dad…I couldn't sleep last night, lots on my mind." Enough truth was usually the best lie, something Isaac had gotten used to when talking with Alphonse. Having to tell him where he was going every single time got old fast.

"Well, you should stop spending such late hours in front of the computer. The blue light screws you up, you know?"

"I have blue light filters on my monitor, dad, they help a lot."

"So you say, but you're the one having trouble sleeping." Alphonse's eyes darted around the room, something that tended to make Isaac nervous even when he didn't have anything to hide. Alphonse just had that countenance about him - though he a bit shorter than Isaac was, somehow he always made Isaac feel little. "You really should pick up, too, someone's going to skewer their foot stepping in here…hey, now, what's that?" The man pointed to the dormant Datacarnomon sitting next to the bed.

Crap! He did notice! Isaac scrambled for an explanation. "Ah, that? That's, uh, the start of my most complex robot ever! It's gonna be my masterpiece, I've been planning it for ages!"

"Ah, right, that thing you keep drawing. Goodness, it looks rather impressive already."

"Ahahaha, doesn't it? But it's not really that impressive yet, that's just the chassis. I still have to do all the inner working stuff to make it actually, you know, move around and all that. But I spent a lot of time on the body, and I think it looks pretty darn cool!"

Alphonse cocked his head, looking oddly at Datacarnomon. "Well, if you say so. I think it looks more complicated than a robot needs to be, but what would I know? Are you planning on entering it into a contest? Or that Battlebots thing?"

"N-uh, well…" Isaac had to pause. "Actually, that would be kinda cool…"

"Well, just remember, anything you want to do on that sort of thing, you'll have to get our permission and be able to afford it on your own. I think it's high time you started considering a job of some sort, you know. You spend all that time on computers, surely you should be able to get someone to pay you to do that. It's important that you know the value of hard work."

"Yes, dad." Isaac suppressed the urge to blatantly roll his eyes. "I'll start thinking about it."

"See that you do. Anyway, your mother's making breakfast, so don't tarry." Alphonse left, closing the door, and Isaac sank back onto the bed. He was still pretty groggy, but that wasn't what was getting to him.

"So…" Datacarnomon's eyes suddenly lit up, and he leaned against the bed with a wide grin. "I believe that's the SECOND bet you've lost to me now. Clearly we're going to have to figure out a currency exchange of some kind, because I think you're gonna need to start making some transfers."

"I thought for sure he wouldn't notice you there. Dad rarely takes much of an interest in what I do…I know it's just that he doesn't understand any of it, but still, a little support would be nice. Especially because he totally gets behind Ashley's interests. But I thought that would mean he'd just overlook you entirely! Ugh, this is why I don't like to gamble, too many things outside of my control."

"Ah, but that's part of the fun! The thrill of control being left to an outside element, it's unpredictable, it's scary, and it gets the processors whirring!"

"I'll take other means of getting my processors whirring, thanks. Or whatever it is that's supposed to be equal to."

"Judging by the state of your room, that method is endorphins when you skewer your foot." Datacarnomon kicked a stray piece out of his path. "I agree with him on one thing, you really oughta be picking up around here. A proper robot factory would never let you get away with this kinda mess."

At least around Datacarnomon, Isaac didn't have to hold back his eye roll. "I know, I know. I just don't have a place for everything. I need some storage space. Like, a whole building, ideally."

"Well, keep stepping up your game and they'll give you everything you want so you can make them what they want. But until then, a few buckets and bins wouldn't be a bad idea. You should probably get down there and eat, though, before they start getting suspicious."

"Yeah, true. You want me to bring anything up to you?"

Datacarnomon let out a snorting laugh. "Really, Ike? Did you forget I'm a robot? I'd get about as much out of that as you'd get out of sucking on a computer chip."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, you're just so life-like, I thought you might need something to sustain yourself. Wait, how do you refuel, then?"

"No need! I'm powered by an FER. Oh, right, you wouldn't know what that is. It's a Free Energy Reactor. It draws off of the natural energy cycle of the greater world. No extra fuel needed, most I have to do is let the energy build back up in my systems, but a good rest does that just fine."

It sounded like a fascinating concept to Isaac, if way too advanced for him. "That's wild. I'm gonna have to learn a heck of a lot more about you if I'm going to build you for real."

"You'll have plenty of time! Oh, and when you get back, you're gonna tell me alllll about that Battlebots thing, because that sounds like a blast!"

Isaac snickered. "Why am I not surprised you'd be into that?"

—

Breezedramon had curled up at the end of Skylar's bed, the most comfortable thing he'd slept on in a long time. He'd been sleeping fantastically in spite of everything else going on…at least, until feeling weird poking sensations on his head. He batted them sleepily with a paw, mumbling "Geroff…" but they didn't stop, not until he finally, grumpily, opened his eyes and looking up…straight into the twinkling eyes of a five-year-old human with messy, longish blond hair and a freckled face.

Oh, son of a-

"I knew it!" shouted the boy, jumping up and down and rattling Skylar out of sleep as well, nearly tossing Breezedramon off the bed as the dragon desperately scrambled back. "I know it! He's real! He's alive! He a real dragon!"

"Keep it the hell down!" snapped Skylar hoarsely, leaping up and stopping Benny from jumping around, forgetting the rule about his language around Benny in his panic. "Benny, what are you doing in my room?"

"I wanted to see the cute dragon!" said the boy innocently, a little subdued (but not much) by Skylar's reply. "I saw him with you yesterday, but you said he was a stuffed animal, but I didn't think so, so I came in this morning and saw him breathing, and he opened his eyes and I knew he was REAL!"

"SHHH!" hissed Skylar. "Keep your voice down! Look, I don't want anyone else finding out! I don't know what Mom and Dad would think about this, and it's kind of important that he not be kicked out!"

"Okay! I won't tell anyone!"

"You'd better not!" Even as he said it, though, Skylar was filled with dread. Benny was a typical five-year-old, and a typical five-year-old was not known for having an excellent filter. However, it was too late to try to put up another ruse now, not when Breezedramon had already been sussed out - not that he blamed the dragon for it, they were both ambushed.

Since the jig was already up, Breezedramon hoped that he could help with his own contribution, and he hopped towards the edge of the bed. "He means it! It's super duper important that you keep quiet! If you don't, I might be taken away! By big mean guys! So you have to keep it a secret from EVERYONE!"

"I don't want you taken away! You're too cute!" Benny suddenly leapt up and grabbed Breezedramon, holding him close and jumping around while tethered to him.

"Ack! L-loosen up, kid!"

"Oops! Sorry!" Benny let go, letting Breezedramon breathe again and rub his neck.

"Okay, that's enough for today," grumbled Skylar. "Benny, take a hike! You know you're not supposed to barge into my room like this. Be nice and quiet and I MIGHT let you hang around with Breezy later, okay?"

"Okay okay! Bye bye!" Benny hurried out of the room, making weird little kid sounds as he did. Skylar shut the door after him, and then the two let out a mutual groan.

"Well…that was super great and not at all trouble," sighed Breezedramon, flopping back on the bed. "I guess we underduresterminated little kid deterbulamulination, huh?"

"I swear, if he says a word about this, I'll throttle him," growled Skylar. "So much for secrecy! He's a leaky sieve in the best of times! No way Dad won't hit the roof if he finds out I'm letting a dragon camp out in my room. He HATES anything weird or abnormal! I can't imagine Mom would be too fussed, either."

"Guess we'd better get those letters out to your govertamnintent pretty fast, huh?"

"…Suddenly I'm not sure I wouldn't rather deal with five-year-olds." The white-haired boy rubbed his eyes.

"Over your govelambindent folks?"

"No, over Isaac. Maybe a monster'll show up and spare me THAT stress."

—

Reluctant though he was, Skylar still steeled himself and made his way to Isaac's place. They had a job to do, and the others were relying on them to do it, and the stakes were far too high to let the friction stop them from taking care of their duty. At least, that was the attitude he tried to go in with…unfortunately, the old adage reared its ugly head: a good plan never survives first contact with the enemy.

"What the hell is this?" Skylar pointed to the laptop on Isaac's bed, which had a word processing document up on it.

Isaac scowled. "It's what I wrote up. Why, what's wrong with it?"

"Everything! Please tell me you didn't send this crap out!"

"First off, crap? And second, no, for your information, I didn't! I'm still setting up the proxy e-mail."

"Thank heavens, I might actually be able to salvage this then."

"Excuse me!" Isaac snarled angrily, standing up and towering over Skylar in annoyance. "I think I wrote a damn good piece here! Better than anything you could write, I'm sure!"

"I could write a better missive in my sleep!" fired back Skylar. "You think this dreck is what passes for good? You make repeated jabs at the government, coming off as some kind of deranged malcontent whose head isn't screwed on right - perhaps an apt analogy! - your language is crude and unprofessional, and in some cases obscene, and worst of all, you don't properly present them with the most important concepts, that of what the digimon are and why they're here! You just say they 'might be interested' in what they have to say! Just like I 'might be interested' in being within ten miles of you on a good day!"

"Well, excuse ME for trying to be a little discreet here! You know, trying not to make them think these guys are the invaders and all that! And who cares how I say it? That's the sort of thing that gets eyes on this stuff!"

"It looks like a total lunatic wrote this! You send this to them and it'll hit the trash immediately! If you WANT them not to know anything about what's going on, you've got the perfect letter, but that's the opposite of what we're trying to accomplish! This isn't a circus sideshow, dammit, these are professionals doing their jobs! Try to act like you have even the barest modicum of professionalism yourself!"

Isaac glared daggers at Skylar. "Grrr…fine. I'll rewrite it."

"No, I'LL rewrite it. YOU will continue to get things set up to send it, since that's apparently all you're good for."

"You? Everything you write is dull as dishwater! They'll fall asleep even trying to read it!"

"Do you think this is some kind of comedy routine or something? It doesn't matter if it's not 'punchy' or 'eye-popping'! It's a freaking letter to a government agency, not an audition!" Skylar stalked away with the laptop, setting himself down and starting to type furiously, while Isaac turned back to his main computer, muttering words that were definitely not for polite company.

Breezedramon and Datacarnomon kept a fair distance away from the spat, watching curiously. "They really go at it, huh?" remarked the robot. "I thought yesterday was all the worse I should expect, but clearly when it's just the two of them, they're a lot nastier."

"It's so weird, I don't get why they're so conflimacterinterated with each other," agreed Breezedramon. "Sky won't tell me anything about it."

"Nor Ike. Though I think I was able to tell there was something that happened a while back that he wasn't happy about."

"Any clue what?"

"No idea." Datacarnomon was quiet for a moment. "Bet it was a girl. Lay a kilo on it."

Breezedramon jerked his head. "Data!"

"C'mon. It's nothing much, just a simple thing."

"No! It's not simple! If I do that you know you're gonna be trying to push to figure it out, and they don't wanna talk about it!"

Datacarnomon flinched a bit. "That's not…I wasn't gonna…"

"Data, you know you would. Once you put a bet down you get antsy about finding out if it goes your way or not." Breezedramon put his hand on Datacarnomon's shoulder. "And you were making bets with Sal, and other bets with Ike, too…you're slipping, Data, I can feel it."

"…Mmph. Y-yeah, you're right…" Datacarnomon slumped back. "I think the stress of everything's just got me not as focused as I should be. I shouldn't be giving into temptation so much, I'm just…well, excuses don't change that. I'll try to rein it in a bit more…"

"How many more do you have going?"

"…Tch. You know me too well. Two more…one that someone's gonna figure out who I am within the next three days, and one that we'll be able to get someone listening to us before the end of the month."

"No more!" asserted Breezedramon. "Not without my permississivon, anyway!"

"I'll try to do something to rein in it, I promise. Maybe if I'm doing some internal coding, it'll take my mind off of it." Datacarnomon sighed. "Thanks, Breezy…I guess I needed a check."

"It's fine…I just wanna make sure you're keeping yourself honest! You did ask, anyway."

"Yeah. Just all the stress that's getting to me. I don't know how you do it…I was having a tough time figuring out how to psych Ike up for it all last night, prepare him for everything. He's good at putting up a bold front, but I can tell under the surface that he's not as confident as he acts…not that I can blame him."

"Oh, yeah, Sky was super nervous too. I had to talk to him a lot! I was giving him all the posirivinitivertinivinity that I could muster up!"

Datacarnomon looked over at Breezedramon, and not because of the mangled word. "Uh…how exactly did you try to help him?"

"Huh? I just tried to help him feel better! Make him happier, ease his worries, those sorts of things!"

"Breezy…" Datacarnomon patted the dragon on the back. "Did your, uh, pep talks…actually HELP?"

"Uh…well…I…uh…"

"C'mon. Be honest."

Breezedramon deflated a bit. "I guess…he didn't seem to sleep well…and he wasn't really seeming…like he felt good at the end, I guess…"

"I was worried about that. You probably didn't actually address his questions or concerns in any way, right?"

"Well…I…guess not…"

"That's why you have to pay more attention in the moment, Breezy. It's all well and good to try to make him feel better, but you gotta know what'll do that, and just random cheery statements probably aren't good enough here. Support him by helping him process what's going on, and pay attention to how he's reacting."

"You're right, you're right!" Breezedramon's hands went onto his head. "I forgot! I was just…I think maybe…I don't know if I was trying to cheer HIM up or cheer ME up…"

Datacarnomon nodded in understanding. "We're all stressed out. We're disabled, and our only source of effective combat prowess involves us apparently hijacking the lives of these too-young, unprepared humans. Willing as they are, it still doesn't feel great. But that's why we have to give them our best…they deserve at least that much. So…we can't let our own issues hold us back."

"Yeah, you're right…sorry, Data. I shoulda been more aware. I guess that's why I have you to help me out, huh?"

"Mm-hmm. We help each other out so we can help them out. Coming together's the only way we stand a chance in this mess."

"Yeah, literally…" Breezedramon winced a bit as the conflict between Isaac and Skylar seemed to rev up again, Isaac clearly not thrilled with what Skylar had written. "Might be trouble trying to convince THEM of that, though…"

—

An hour later, Skylar was outside, taking a long walk to cool himself down and clear his head. I swear, this had better work first time, because I might just lose it if I have to deal with Isaac again.

Things had gone predictably disastrously in general. Isaac fought him every step of the way on his changes to the message, complaining about everything from the content to the presentation. He'd tried taking his usual style, straightforward and informative, without a lot of embellishment or diatribe. This was apparently violently offensive to Isaac, who couldn't accept it for what it was, and was adamant that it needed some kind of 'hook' or something in order to 'catch attention.' As if monsters from another world wasn't attention-catching enough.

The worst part of working with Isaac is that he ALWAYS has to be right. Can't ever accept that maybe he doesn't have all the answers, or the right way of doing things. That's what caused things to happen before…and he still doesn't seem to get it.

He'd fought everything Isaac had tried to change, though, and in the end the message had gone out more or less as he'd put it down, only slight modifications and definitely in his voice rather than Isaac's. It had left him quite frustrated, though; having to deal with such a stubborn, grating personality was not his favorite thing in the world, to put it lightly. The more he had to do this, the less patience he would have…

It was a bit disconcerting that he could see Breezedramon very clearly overhead - the dragon said that blended in remarkably well with the skies, having some kind of special trait that kept him from being spotted, but Skylar definitely wasn't getting that impression himself. True, his color DID blend in a bit, it wasn't like he could make out every feature, but the dragon seemed very convinced of his masking beyond that, and Skylar wasn't sure what he was basing that off of. Of course, the bigger problem would be if people noticed HIM looking up and be drawn to do so themselves, so he was trying not to do that. It would have been nice to be able to communicate with him, though…

Preoccupied as he was, Skylar barely noticed the voice calling to him. When it finally clicked, he started a bit and looked around, finally seeing Iris hurrying up his direction. "Iris? Is something up?"

"No, no, I just saw you, figured it was as good a time as any to talk." Iris slowed as she neared Skylar, panting a bit. "I was just gonna call you, too, see if you wanted to walk and talk. Dad's kinda driving me crazy, I needed to get out of the house."

"Is he still flipping out about the anomaly?"

"Yeah. He doesn't like the thought of me going out right now, which is all the more reason I need to."

"I get it. I know the feeling of needing to get out and away from someone who's making my life difficult. VERY well."

Iris snickered a bit. "So I take it you and your best friend had a smooth and obstacle-free time drafting your letter?"

"Emperius might not be the ones to get to him first if he keeps up this nonsense." Skylar threw up his hands. "I don't know what to do about him! It seems like any time you have to try to get through to him he puts up a thicker wall. And you'd better not disagree with him on anything or he'll be browbeating you into doing it all HIS way."

"Sounds like him all right. And then you get to hear him crow about how good he is at everything. Still, we're gonna have to get used to him being around, something tells me we're going to need him."

"Joy of joys. By the way, is Shockavimon not with you today? I don't see her around."

"She's off hiding in the trees. She doesn't hide as well as Breezedramon…who I'm fairly sure I wouldn't have realized was here if he hadn't sneezed a minute ago."

"You think so? I don't have any trouble seeing him."

"Well, you're inordinately obsessed with the sky, so things up there probably stand out a lot more to you."

That explanation made just enough sense to Skylar. "Well, perhaps. But it makes me worried about these digimon that are supposed to be coming through, if they're as good at hiding as these guys are then things could be trouble."

Iris nodded. "That's actually what I was looking for you about. I remember seeing you have cameras and other equipment for recording the weather…I was thinking that maybe you should try putting that to use to see if you can see anything coming through the sky. I know Datacarnomon said that things probably weren't going to be as, uh, obvious as it was when they came through, but there might be SOMETHING still, and any foreknowledge we can get is a good thing."

"That's true…though I'm not sure how much I'll be able to see, I pretty much only record from my window. But maybe Breezedramon can set up a camera outside…" Skylar took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Even if part of me almost would rather not know about it. The idea of having to go up and confront them…"

"I know, right?" Iris shook her head. "It's scary…I mean, I was terrified when we were confronted by Frigimon, and that thing just looked like a big snowman. When I try to remember back to some of those creatures from our dreams…I don't know how I'm ever going to feel okay trying to face up to anything like that."

"Me either. How on earth did Reyn handle it? He's never struck me as a particularly bold one, you know…"

"Pfft, you didn't see him when he first got here. He'd've made a Big Boo look like a social butterfly. But you're right, I never would've expected him to be that firm about it…which makes me worried about what else he might've picked up when he changed like that."

"…Picked up?"

Iris was quiet for a moment. "They combined together, right? That didn't mean just their bodies, but also their minds. Yesterday he said the moment they merged, his fate was sealed. He must've gotten something from Salmandmon…something that was scary enough to him that it got him that ready to push back, maybe even worse than just what Emperius is. You know, Reyn never was the boldest one, but when he feels strongly about something…"

"…He can be as ferocious as anyone," finished Skylar, catching on. "Yeesh. You're right, if something twigged him…"

"I've thought about asking, but I'm not sure I want to know. I just hope he knows…what he's doing…" The girl gave a shiver. "Nnh…what…"

"Iris? Is something wrong?"

"…I don't know. I just…got this weird feeling in the pit of my gut…"

"Whoa! Gangway! Guys, GUYS!" Breezedramon was suddenly tearing towards them, with Shockavimon scrambling not far behind him. "We just saw a weird thing in the sky, and something came through!"

"It's awful!" squawked Shockavimon. "It's an Aquilamon! It's a disaster!"

"What's so bad about-JESUS!" Skylar's question ended in a shout as he saw the avian digimon emerge from behind the trees. "It's huge! That thing's gonna be seen by everything in the damn city!"

"And it could do a LOT of damage! We have to stop it, as soon as possible!"

"That…that means…" Skylar started to tremble a bit. Oh no…it's something we have to try to take on, we don't have time to find Reyn and Salmandmon, even if we did that Burnreptimon guy can't fly…I'm not ready for this, I'm not ready at all…

"Dang it!" Breezedramon flapped down in front of Skylar, shaking him to try to snap him out of it. "Okay, Sky, look, I didn't do a great job of helping you before, I know that now. But you gotta listen to me…I know you can do this! You were always helping me out in fights, remember? When you'd kinda coorminatdimnitate me and tell me where to go and how to react sometimes? You warned me about danger and saved my bacon plenty of times! With your mind working with mine, I know we can do this! And we have to try, before things get really bad!"

That sort of sank in to Skylar…he remembered a number of dreams where things got quite scary with Breezedramon or one of his larger forms, but then the dragon would react to something Skylar was aware of, saving him from a bad result. "You…you really think I can do this like this?"

"I'm sure of it!" Breezedramon declared urgently, holding out a hand for Skylar. "So come on! Let's show that overgrown chicken who the real master of the skies is!"

It would have been far too far to say that Skylar was feeling confident, or had cast off his fear, but with everything as serious as it was…he had to do it. Nodding, he held out his hand to join with Breezedramon's. "Okay…let's…let's do it…for the sake of everyone out here…we have to win. We can't afford to be too scared…"

"That's the spirit! We'll give 'em hell!" A blue glow was already surrounding the two. "It's working! Let's do this!"

For Iris, it wasn't quite as much of a startling sight as the first time, seeing the two forms swirl together and merge into a single form…that didn't mean it was any less awe-inspiring, though. She watched as the blue mass coalesced and reshaped into a new form, a bipedal dragon creature about six and a half feet tall, with scales very much the same color as Breezedramon's, large membranous wings, and letting loose a rush of wind as he broke into reality. There was an intense look in his eyes as he landed next to Iris.

"Whoa…that's a RUSH!" There was an excitement in the new creature's voice as he took a look over himself. "Hah, not bad at all!" He looked over at Iris and Shockavimon. "Well, what're you waiting for? You're not gonna make me handle big ugly all by myself, are you?"

Iris shook out of it a bit, and became much more aware of her own fear hitting its apex. "Ah…that…that's…uh…" Her mind scrambled for something to come up to say, but before it could, she felt Shockavimon's wing on her hand. The bird was looking up at her with an intensity she hadn't seen since the battle with Frigimon.

"I know it's scary, Iris. I don't feel right asking you to do this…but I remember what you said last night. That you wouldn't feel right trying to run away when there was this much on the line. Just remember, you're not alone…I'll be right here the whole time. And I've been doing this for years, I know what we need to do. Please, Iris…lend me your strength."

The talk seemed to help get Iris's head in order, at least…though the intensity of her nerves almost threatened to make her fall down flat with jellied legs, she grabbed firmly onto Shockavimon's wing. That's right…she's a battle veteran. Even if she's not able to summon the power she had before, she's still got all that experience of those years standing against these guys. And if I can help her get enough of that strength back… "Shockavimon…I'm…ready as I'll ever be."

"So am I. We'll do this together…and we'll win."

It was a very different experience being on the other side for Iris, feeling herself sink into that dormancy as the yellow glow surrounded the two of them. Their forms melded into one single mass, which quickly began to take its own shape - a yellow, bipedal avian, almost as tall as Burnreptimon had been, with large bird wings emerging from her back. Her body crackled with potent electricity as she burst into life, standing tall and fierce with sharp, cutting eyes. "It's time…let's take back our sky!"

"Hah! Sounds like a plan to me!" cackled the dragon. "Skydramon, by the way! Let me know what to call you or you're gonna get a lot of canary cracks!"

"Spare me, please," replied the avian steely. "I'm Boltfalkemon. Now let's get up there and stop that bird bitch before he wrecks anything!"

The two launched themselves up into the air, taking flight and making a beeline for Aquilamon. Immediately, it was obvious which was the faster flier, as Skydramon put a good bit of distance between them. "Hey, c'mon, keep up!"

"Clam! I'm doing what I can!" growled Boltfalkemon. She was larger, and she could feel the raw power with every wing flap, but Skydramon seemed to have a glide that defied air resistance.

"Okay, let's help you out a bit then! Force Gale!" Suddenly a wind kicked up behind them, and Boltfalkemon was thrown for a bit of a loop. But once she righted herself and caught the wind, she could feel the speed picking up. It was rather exhilarating, and got them closer to their goal.

Said goal was already in the midst of troublemaking, though. Aquilamon was flapping over the taller buildings of the business district, and had let loose a Blast Rings attack that had shattered a fair few windows on one building. "Dammit! So much for discreet!" swore Boltfalkemon. "This whole thing's as blown as those windows!"

"Then I guess it's time for damage control! Get ready to attack, we're gonna hit with everything we've got!" The wind kicked up again, and the two zoomed towards Aquilamon, who was preparing another attack. With his back turned to them, he was unaware that anything was coming for him at all, giving them a great chance to disrupt him. The size difference was intimidating, but they weren't going to let themselves be deterred by that, using every bit of speed they could muster to launch themselves like living missiles at Aquilamon.

"Aero Nail!" Skydramon's claws lengthened with crackling blue energy, and he swiped hard as he reached Aquilamon first, sending feathers and blood spraying from the big bird's hide. A loud screech rang from Aquilamon's beak as the attack connected, but he was still about to unleash his attack on the buildings…until Boltfalkemon followed up with her own, more forceful attack.

"Static Cracker!" The avian's body surged with electricity as she slammed into Aquilamon in a flying tackle, causing the bird's head to rock back and his Blast Rings to sweep over the top of the building rather than nailing it with a direct hit. Debris still kicked up and flew off, and several pigeons were turned onto clouds of feathers, but worse results were averted for the moment. Aquilamon flew upwards and swooped around, turning to face his attackers with rage in his eyes.

"What the hell? What are you weird creatures?!"

"Your enemies, asshole!" roared Skydramon with a laugh. "You're going down!"

"Real smart, Skydramon, taunting the huge bird that can launch shockwaves at us," grumbled Boltfalkemon as she steeled herself for the fight. "Still, we're taking you out, Aquilamon!"

"Hah! I'll blow you out of the air just like I'm gonna blow those pathetic humans to oblivion! Blast Rings!" Aquilamon opened his beak again, firing off the shockwaves at Boltfalkemon and Skydramon, who swooped off in different directions to avoid them. They flew up a little more, goading Aquilamon away from the buildings to keep them out of the line of fire - a successful bit of damage control, but also putting them at more risk.

With Aquilamon's focus on them, the two went into more offensive action. The numbers edge seemed to be outdoing Aquilamon's size advantage, as it couldn't get both of them at once if they stayed apart. Skydramon took advantage as the bird tried to get to Boltfalkemon with its Grand Horn attack, forming a potent blue-green sphere of energy in his hands and hurling it at the bird. "Chew on this! Twister Orb!" The projectile impacted hard on the back of Aquilamon's head, knocking him about a bit and leaving him momentarily dazed, giving Boltfalkemon plenty of escape time.

As he recovered from it, he rounded on Skydramon, trying to hit him with his Blast Rings, but the smaller and more maneuverable dragon was able to dip out of the way. And Boltfalkemon had her opening; she spread her wings, which glowed bright and crackled with electric charge. "Take this! Spark Wave!" A burst of electric bolts fired off as she flapped her wings, spraying out in front of her; the attack connected square with Aquilamon, making him screech out as he was rocked hard by the electric shocks. He still wasn't going down, though he looked to be getting ragged from the attacks.

"I think we've almost got 'em!" Skydramon exclaimed as he whipped another Twister Orb at Aquilamon's head, throwing the bird for a loop as he tried and failed to evade. "Guess being big ain't all it's cracked up to be, eh?"

"It's gonna be a problem if he drops from the sky, though," pointed out Boltfalkemon as she pumped out another Spark Wave to keep Aquilamon stunned. "We need to deliver a finishing blow hard enough to delete him in the air, or he could crash down and hurt someone."

"I've got an idea! Charge me up!"

"Huh? Ooookay, then." Boltfalkemon joined a hand with Skydramon, channeling the energy of her Static Cracker into it.

"Yeow! Hey, that tingles!"

"Don't stall if you're gonna do something, he's gonna wake back up!"

"Right! Time to finish this!" With a roar, Skydramon rushed Aquilamon, who was just shaking off the barrage of attacks. He turned around just in time to see Skydramon reach him, his Aero Nail attack surging with electric power as well as his own wind energy. The dragon zipped by Aquilamon, slashing his claws along the bird's neck and sending a fierce jolt through his head and spine. Aquilamon was unable to make a sound as the deathblow landed, and burst into data just as he started to plunge towards the ground.

"Whoo! One big-ass bird, down for the count!" whooped Skydramon.

"Celebrate later!" Boltfalkemon shouted urgently. "We have to get out of here!"

"Ah, right! Force Gale!" The wind kicked up again, and both of them careened off away from the sight of the chaos, where tons of people were gathering below, having witnessed the most bizarre scene they thought they'd ever see in their lives.

—

Boltfalkemon and Skydramon landed quite a ways away, finding a patch of trees to descend into and hide within. Once they were safely down on the ground, the split back apart, the humans and smaller digimon reappearing and then falling over in an exhausted heap.

"Hoo…wow…that was a heck of a fight," groaned Breezedramon. "Felt like one of my first battles as an evolved mon all over again!"

"It's lucky we were both there, that would've been a lot harder one-on-one," agreed Shockavimon. "But he just wasn't able to keep up with both of us at once." She looked over at Iris, who was laying on her back. "Iris? Are you okay?"

"Fine…just…wiped out, kinda. I think that escape mighta taken more out of me than anything…"

"Yeah, that was pushing us to the limit," agreed Skylar, wiping his brow and sniffling a bit. "But…it was as successful as it could get under the circumstances. We stopped Aquilamon from doing too much damage, and stood up to him in a fight. That's promising, at least…"

"Yeah, definitely." Iris forced herself to sit up, catching her breath. Deep inside, though, she could feel what it was Reyn was saying…that sense of strength they'd had as Boltfalkemon was remarkable, it felt like they really were built to face down those terrifying creatures. And it was helping to provide that little spark of hope and determination in her, that maybe they could do something about this whole mess. But… "There's no way that's not gonna be all over the news, though. And who knows how many people were taking videos…phones everywhere, there mighta been dozens of clips. I think it's safe to say any chance of us keeping the whole thing on the down low are deader than that Aquilamon is."

"And that's bad news," agreed Skylar. "The damage is going to be what resonates with people…I fear that we're going to be hearing a lot of bad things about us in the coming days."

"What?! But we were the ones who were decapistaputabluating that big feathery asshole!" protested Breezedramon. "Won't all those videos show that?!"

"I'm not entirely sure how much they'll show of the details, unfortunately…and the human element is going to probably be focused on 'monsters attacking' rather than prying too deep into what each individual monster was doing. Maybe some of them will realize what was going on, but a lot of people are going to panic and think we were part of the problem."

"I believe it," Shockavimon said grimly. "We had that happen a couple times in the KOL, too. Fighting Emperius off, then being accused of being part of Emperius. Caused us a lot of hell when we were trying to defend the Yegemra Fortress, they're crazy paranoid…that's probably gonna make it harder to convince them that we're on their side, isn't it?"

"Maybe…" Iris bowed her head. "Although…if they know that there are monsters appearing out here now, maybe they'll be more inclined to take reports about them seriously. So, it could MAYBE help?"

"Only if Isaac doesn't blow it all up in our faces," grumbled Skylar as he forced himself to stand up. "C'mon, we'd better get home. Once this all comes out, they're gonna be flipping out wondering where we are, and the last thing we need is people being suspicious."

Iris's eyes widened at that. "Oh, jeez…my dad's gonna lose it for sure. Though at least he's probably at work right now, and probably down on Lennar Street trying to sort through the madness…"

"We know we can do it, though!" Breezedramon said cheerily. "Next time, you guys will be totally ready for it!"

"Let's not try to sound so eager about the inevitable 'next time,' okay?" sighed Shockavimon.

—

"So, let me get this straight…you have to spend most of your days listening to people stand in front of a room babbling about stuff you may or may not have any interest in, and most of your nights having to do paperwork for them so that they can judge your performance?"

"That's about the long and short of it, yes."

Salmandmon stuck out his tongue. "Wow. Being human sounds like it SUCKS."

Reyn couldn't hold back a snicker; Salmandmon's presence might have been considered a distraction, but as far as he was concerned it was helping him with his work. "You think that's bad, I'm supposed to do stuff like this until I'm 65. With only slight differences at different points really."

"Ewww. Give me my life any day. At least when I get talked to it's throwing me at something to blow up."

"I'm guessing this means you didn't get any education? Do digimon have schools?"

"They do, but it's not as much of a thing there. Schools are only for the first couple years…digimon are considered adults at three years, so first two years are giving the basics, and the last year is supposed to be developing your own interests, which may or may not involve school at all. Those who pursue schooling after are those who are getting into really tricky, deep things that need a lot of knowledge to understand. Most digimon do things that don't require that."

"It's too bad we humans need to cook for so much longer, that sounds way better. What was your school like?"

Salmandmon suddenly fell silent, looking away; Reyn looked over, and was startled to see a morose expression on the lizard's face. "I'd…rather not talk about that, if it's okay."

"…Okay. Sorry, I, uh, didn't realize there was…"

"It's not your fault. You wouldn't have known…I'd just rather keep it that way."

Reyn would have been lying to say he wasn't curious, but he was sensible enough to know that prying wouldn't be a good idea. "Sure. I'll try to keep that in mind. Uh, anyway…you wouldn't happen to know any of this stuff, would you? Math was never my strong suit."

"Oh, yeah, uh…" Salmandmon pulled himself up, looking relieved to have something else to talk about. "…What the hell is all this?"

"Algebra."

"I thought you said it was math. Math is numbers."

"Algebra is math. It's, uh, a different type of math. Sort of like fill in the blank, kinda."

"…Are you sure humans know what they're doing?"

Reyn gave a little snorted laugh. "Most of the time, the exact opposite. Skylar and Isaac seem to, though, they're in the advanced classes and this stuff is like child's play to them. I get it better than I used to, but…" He trailed off as his door opened, Treylor looking inside. "Oh, hey, Dad, I'm doing homework…uh…" His thoughts got derailed at the look on his father's face. "Do I want to know what that look's about?"

"Probably not, but you're going to anyway. Would you and Salmandmon please come downstairs?"

Salmandmon cringed a bit - if he was being specifically summoned, that couldn't have been good. "Uh, yeah, sure…"

Both descended the stairs after Treylor and went to the main room, where Minerva and Wally were sitting in front of the TV, both with very unhappy looks. And it didn't take long for them to figure out why, as an anxious-faced woman was speaking loudly into the camera.

"…Sources say that at least three creatures were up above Lennar Street, while some are saying they may have seen as many as five. Video footage of the incident hasn't shown more than three as of yet, but we're still trying to get information. The BICI has ordered copies of video footage to be turned over to them immediately so that they can investigate further. What we do know is that there was one very large bird-like creature, which some are saying spoke at one point, and two smaller creatures which we're still trying to get information about the identity of. At the current time, we don't have any word of any fatalities, but currently we're hearing somewhere in the realm of 40 injuries, and we don't know how many are severe…"

At that point a clip from a camera was shown, and Salmandmon took a deep breath in as the one very clear image came in. "Son of a bitch…Aquilamon."

"You KNOW that freaky thing?!" exclaimed Wally.

"I know OF it." The reptile rubbed his head. "Hoo boy…welp. That didn't last long. I was hoping we'd have a bit more time before everything went to hell."

"Salmandmon…what's going on?" asked Minerva nervously.

"There's no helping it. I told you if it was in your best interest to know what was going on, I'd tell you. Looks like we've already reached that point…"

—

"DEREK! GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" Derek was jarred out of sleep by his father's roaring voice. That was never pleasant, but it was even less pleasant that the yell didn't sound angry at him. He motioned to Blackcanismon to stay put, the dog's expression bleary with tiredness and confusion, and went out and down the stairs to see Elliot frantically getting things together.

"Dad? What's going on?"

"What's going on? What's going on?!" Derek shot a frenzied look at Derek. "A goddamn bird monster, that's what's going on! You need to keep an eye on your mother, she's having an episode. DO NOT leave the house, that is an ORDER!"

"What?!" For once, Derek wasn't feigning shock. "No way! That's not possible!"

"Look at the news channels! I don't care, just don't go ANYWHERE! I need to get to work!" Elliot grabbed his coat and hurried out the door, slamming it hard behind him. Without the chaos, he could hear Myra moaning on the couch, and the sound of the TV on.

"…and there's been some evidence that apparently there may have been another bird creature up there, although much smaller, and another creature that some are saying looked like some sort of winged reptile. It's unknown whether they were assisting the larger bird creature or doing something else, but they seemed to be playing a role in making the creature disappear. It's unknown why the creature disappeared or whether it will reappear..."

"Well…this bodes poorly." Derek jumped a bit as Blackcanismon spoke up - he hadn't even heard the digimon approach. "Disastrously inconvenient…discretion has unceremoniously been stricken from our advantages."

"No kidding…" Derek let out a frustrated sigh. "Now it's gonna be an even worse mess than before."

"Undoubtedly. We require expanded surveillance to identify potential threats more rapidly. Our perusal tonight must involve drastically greater parameters-"

"No."

"…Pardon?"

Derek sighed, looking over the stair bannister to gaze at Myra. She was on the couch, with a special pillow over her head, moaning painfully. "She's having a migraine…she has a history of them, triggered by stress among other things. I can't leave her here alone. Tonight, we have to hope that nothing else happens, because I'm not going out there."

Blackcanismon was quiet for a moment, before letting out his own small sigh. "I retract my previous assertions. Her well-being is of principal concern."

Derek could tell that that wasn't likely to be the principal concern to the digimon, but he understood. "Thank you, Blackcanismon."

—

"We have a breaking news update: Braun Mayor Christopher Ortega has ordered all schools in the city closed indefinitely, citing an immediate and unpredictable safety concern. The order from the mayor reads, quote: 'Until the security of our city can be reaffirmed, I cannot in good conscience allow our children to be put into unnecessary danger. We will attempt to arrange for remote learning if the situation allows for it, but we must place safety as our top priority.' Currently the number of confirmed injuries stands at 47, and damages have been presumptively assessed at over $400,000…"

"Son of a bitch," snarled Isaac as they watched the news feed on his computer. "So much for trying to keep things on the down low, then. At least they took care of it before it caused an even worse mess."

"I was really, really hoping they weren't going to send a big one," sighed Datacarnomon. "Thought MAYBE that they'd be planning to scout first and then send in the big guns…but I suppose that was wishful thinking, Emperius historically hasn't been terribly subtle."

"We're in trouble if that starts to be a trend. And even worse, my best excuse to get out of the house just went up in smoke. Gah, now I gotta invent a bunch of other reasons…"

"Best excuse? Wait, you talking about that school closure thing? I can't see you skipping out."

"Study sessions. Dad's big on me studying with other people. Not that I really NEED to study so much, considering I've got a sharp mind that nabs just about anything first time, but sometimes they need MY help, and I'm generous enough to give it to them." The robot snorted a laugh, making Isaac turn and glower. "Hey! What's so funny? It's true!"

"Never said it wasn't, very magnanimous of you!"

"Tch, I can tell sarcasm pretty well, too."

"And you have a legendary sense of modesty too, right?"

"Psh." Isaac folded his arms and turned up his nose at the idea. "Modesty is just a lie people tell others to feel better. If you're good at something, be proud of it! Don't try to act all annoyingly humble and crap just because it lets other people lie to themselves that they're not that far off. That's part of what bugs me about Skylar, I know he's got plenty of smarts, but he refuses to act like it, and gets all snippy at me when I do! Like, come on, what are you even trying to do with that?"

"No one can accuse you of not being straightforward," said Datacarnomon with a shrug. "That's probably why they have a problem with you, though. Not everyone likes bluntness and immodesty."

"Yeah, well, that's their problem." Isaac planned to say more, but a bit of a sound outside the room changed that plan in a hurry. "Crap! Act dead!"

Hurriedly Datacarnomon slumped back onto the bed, and Isaac pretended to be looking him over when the door opened. He gave a groan before he heard a word - it was his older sister, Ashley. 20 years old, tall and lean with bouncy, blond curly hair that spread quite wide behind her head, smart as a whip, and also not terribly shy about showing it, though she seemed to have a charm to her that clearly did not put people off as much. A college student at Braun University, she was still living at home, much to Isaac's annoyance, because he had rather been looking forward to her being farther away from pestering him, one of her favorite hobbies. And when she had that grin on her face, he knew that was what was happening. "So it really is true. The world could be ending and you still won't come out of your weird metal-filled hermit den."

"The world's not ending, Ash. The big bird d-monster disappeared." Isaac did his best not to show his panic at nearly letting the word 'digimon' slip out. "It probably won't be back, just like that thing in the sky."

"That's not what everyone else is saying. They think it vanished just to be brought back sometime later. No one actually saw it die or anything, right?"

Isaac gave an exaggerated eye roll. "What I saw was a couple of creatures fighting it off. I don't know why everyone's flipping out, someone clearly went in and took care of things."

"Oh?" Ashley's voice had that knowing leer to it. "And what makes you so sure of that, dear brother?"

"I have eyes and a brain, which apparently 95% of cable news lacks."

"Hah! Fair enough. Can't say it didn't look a little bit like that myself, to be honest, though it's hard to tell - you'd think someone could learn how to hold a camera phone still for half a second." Ashley stepped forward, kicking the door closed behind her as she did - something that instantly raised Isaac's hackles, that wasn't typical. He tried to look busy with Datacarnomon as Ashley walked to the bed, examining him closely…he could only wonder what Datacarnomon was thinking, and envied how cool he was staying. "I gotta say, that is pretty impressive."

Isaac scoffed. "Well, of course it is! This is gonna be my magnum opus! The greatest robot in the history of robots! At least unless I get an idea for an even better one."

"No doubt your skill's as boundless as your ego, little bro." Ashley's face turned to a conspiratorial smirk. "But I was talking more about how you somehow managed to convince Dad that this was just some metal shell rather than a robot creature from another world. That must've taken a hell of a lot of dancing, knowing how you can't stop yapping about everything you know most of the time."

"Wh…what are…you even…talking about?" The strangled voice Isaac had he knew was going to fool precisely no one, but he had no answer for this. No way! She can't have found out! I was as careful as possible!

"Please, Isaac, what do you take me for? You expect me to buy that you very suddenly created a SUPER-advanced robot body out of nothing over the last week or so? Dad may be obtuse enough about your obsession to not think anything of it, but not me. And the way you've been acting more secretive over the past several days, did you think I wouldn't pick up on THAT? I'd be a pretty lousy shrink if I didn't catch on!"

Of course she would notice… That was the rough part about having a future psychologist in the family. "You're just imagining things," he said, knowing that wouldn't really help but trying to scramble for something that would.

"Mm, nah, I don't think so. Especially considering I've been hearing you two talking in here more than a couple times. Honestly, kinda neat that he sounds almost normal, except just a little too 'synthesized' to be natural."

Isaac's eyes shot open wide. "You…you've been eavesdropping?!"

"Little bro, you're usually quiet as a mouse. You think I'm not gonna take notice when I start hearing you chattering about stuff?" Ashley was grinning triumphantly at Isaac, who was slumped back in defeat, looking weary and exasperated - about how he typically felt when Ashley turned the screws on him, and she was too damn GOOD at it. "You're lucky Mom and Dad haven't caught on, they're too preoccupied with the weird stuff going on, but you're gonna have to work on being sneaky. By the way, Dinobot, you can move, I know you can hear me."

"I figured." Datacarnomon sat up and turned towards Ashley, feeling a bit nervous; he hadn't expected to be caught out THAT quickly. "Does that mean you're not gonna bust us?"

"Not so long as you're not in league with that big nasty bird that just tried to flatten Lennar Street. But I figure anyone who can spend a few hours with little bro and not go postal is probably a saint."

"Next test will be him putting up with YOU for a few hours," spat Isaac.

"Nah, I got other people to hang out with. Just to be sure, you AREN'T with that big bird, right?"

"No, not at all," Datacarnomon said hurriedly. "I'm, uh, I'm more in league with the ones that were putting him down. And you don't have to worry, he's gone for good…uh…well, you don't have to worry about HIM, anyway…"

Ashley raised an eyebrow at that. "O-kay…I think that might be a little more than I want to know about at the moment. But if you're working on that situation, I'm gonna leave it to you. But you're gonna have to do a better job of keeping it down, Mom and Dad are definitely gonna sniff you out if you're yapping in here all the time."

"I'll drop my volume setting. Uh, thanks…"

"No prob." Ashley gave them a little wave as she headed back to the door. "Later, little bro. Try to spend some time around fleshy people still!"

"Screw you." Isaac flopped back in his chair as the door shut, leaving them alone again. "God dammit, like this needed to get MORE complicated, now I have the Big Sister Liability hanging over my head."

"She, uh, seemed nice enough," Datacarnomon said, not terribly helpfully. "For someone who's practically a neural network hacker, anyway."

"Oh, sure, she acts nice, and you start to trust her, and then she knows how to use all your secrets against you. And she'll be asking favors over this before long, I'm pretty sure. 'Hey, Isaac, you know how I'm keeping it to myself that you're harboring a robot from another world? Well, I could really use your help with this one little thing that's actually six big things.' She does it to me all the time."

"I think there's a chance she might just be doing that to annoy you. Still, there's one silver lining…I'm three for three on our bets so far," Datacarnomon grinned.

"Jeez, that's true, isn't it? Ugh, I'm gonna have to get a job just to pay up on that. You sure do get excited about those bets, though…maybe I oughta get a poker program downloaded in you, might help occupy your time without emptying my wallet."

The robot dinosaur's expression swerved from amusement to panic in a near-instant as the implications of those words hit. "Do NOT even joke about that, Ike."

The sudden shift caught Isaac off guard. "Okay, okay, sorry, I guess that was insensitive, I just didn't realize it'd get to you that much."

"No, no, no. Ike, you NEED to hear me." Datacarnomon grabbed Isaac's hand, pulling him closer with a desperate look on his face. "You CANNOT put that idea in my head. Because I WILL do it if it stays in there long enough. And then you might never see me again."

Isaac blinked. "…Oh…it's…that bad?"

The robot nodded. "I'm…it's…it's an addiction. A rough one. And no, I can't just get it zapped out of me, neural networks don't work like that, you can't break one thing without affecting a whole mess of other things. I have to fight it, and I can't…I can't let myself get tempted like that, because it'll destroy me. I…I shouldn't've really even been betting with you, I…I got a little too…loose because of all this…"

"Jeez…I'm sorry, Data, I didn't realize…"

"I know. I'm not blaming you. I didn't tell you, and it's my fault for not being able to control myself. But now you know, so just…anything that helps me avoid falling into another trap…"

Isaac nodded. "Of course, absolutely. Do you, uh, want to cancel the one we still have?"

Datacarnomon shook his head. "I…I can't do that…even if I said it, it'll still be there. Just sticking and waiting to find out…trying to pretend it's not there just makes it worse, and that can tempt me. I'm just…gonna try not to make any new ones, and you can call me out if I do."

"Yeah, sure." That didn't seem like enough to Isaac. "Anything I can do to help beyond that?"

"I don't know…it's something I've been struggling with for years, if I knew a good answer I'd definitely tell you."

"I see…would it help to have your mind on something else?"

"Maybe. What do you have in mind?"

"…You know what you said last night? How Emperius was trying to get access to our, uh, digital infrastructure, that it could potentially power them up? Well, I got to thinking, we need all the help we can get, right? Well…what if we tried to work on that ourselves? It'd give your mind something to do and it could potentially give us some extra firepower against Emperius. At this point, I think anything we CAN do, we should try to do, right?"

"That's…that's a really good idea!" agreed Datacarnomon. "That'll take up plenty of processing cycles, and hopefully keep me engaged and out of that temptation. But, it's a pretty tall order…we're not even really sure how it's supposed to work. It's gonna take a lot to figure out."

"Psh, who do you think you're talking to?" Isaac thumped his chest a bit. "I'll have it figured out in no time at all! Then it'll just be trying to make use of what's at our fingertips!"

For once, Datacarnomon was grateful for the excessive level of confidence Isaac had. "Then what are we waiting for? Sooner we get started, sooner we can show Emperius why they made a huge mistake!"

—

It was very much not Salmandmon's favorite thing in the world to tell his hosts about the whole nightmare on the horizon, much less having to do so quickly considering Treylor and Minerva were anticipating being called into the hospital at any moment. But he had promised them the truth if it came to it, and that was what he delivered…mostly.

"I can see why you didn't want to tell us." Treylor looked rather pale as Salmandmon finished. "A group of maniacs looking to slaughter us in the name of conquest…that's not something I'd rather have hanging over my head."

"I knew you little weirdo creatures were trouble," sniped Wally, glaring at Salmandmon like he was the one responsible. "Oughta toss you back where you belong, teach you a lesson or two."

"Did you miss the part where I'm trying to STOP this whole thing?" fired back Salmandmon; his impression of Reyn's older brother had not been very positive so far.

"Well, maybe they wouldn'ta started if you hadn't busted through like that."

"Wally, they're after US, not Salmandmon," said Reyn tersely. "If anything, we're lucky they raced in when they did, otherwise nothing was standing in the way of that Aquilamon."

"And we're supposed to expect more of those…" Minerva shook her head, a grim look on her face. "Are you…sure that those friends of yours are up to the task of stopping them?"

Salmandmon took a deep breath, more to give himself a moment to scramble. This was the one thing he had to fib about - he absolutely could not tell the two of them that he was directly involving their son in the combat, there was no way that would be a good thing. Perhaps it would have to come out eventually, but he couldn't hang that over their heads, not now. So he'd concocted a hasty lie - that he was there as a scout to summon some allies from their world, but that due to some interference they didn't understand, they couldn't remain there for long periods. He used the mark on his hand to explain how he could stay there, as some kind of stabilizing mechanism. It was far from the most solid story he'd ever made, but it had the advantage of making use of gaps in their knowledge - it would be hard for them to question much of anything he told them. That didn't make it feel much better, especially when he was pushed on it. "I'm not going to lie to you, it's not the best of situations. But it's something, and we're doing everything we can to try to hold down the fort while we try to figure out how to help you guys mount a defense of your own."

"I guess that's all we can hope for…" Treylor let out a tense sigh, suggesting that that wasn't exactly the way he wanted to leave things. "Is there anything that we can do to help? I mean, I know we can't do much against any of those things…"

"Maybe if you'd let me get a gun like I've been asking for for years," Wally hinted.

"Wallace Kessilik, the answer is NO," shot back Minerva severely. "We do NOT keep guns in this household."

"It's probably not going to do much against most of what they'll be up against anyway," added Salmandmon. "I mean, it might do something to ME, but Aquilamon, I doubt it'd even get through his feathers. Leave that to us and our friends…but, there's one thing you can do. Help be a safe haven for the others who're helping me out, and the humans who are helping them. If they can come over here freely, that's one place where they don't have to worry about the wrong person finding out about them."

"I'm not sure I'm that eager to be letting a bunch of random strangers in…"

"You're okay with letting ACTUAL MONSTERS in but not people?!" Wally shouted, aghast.

"Whose side are you on anyway?" snapped Salmandmon.

"Mom, it's okay," Reyn said, desperately trying to keep things from being derailed. "They're my friends, they're people you already know. Iris and Skylar and Isaac and Derek are helping out."

"Oh…I see." It didn't seem to exactly relax Minerva, though. "Well, that's at least something I know…but I'm not sure how comfortable I am with all of you kids being caught up in this."

"Trust me, we feel the same way," Salmandmon agreed. "But our connections to them…it's about the only safe place we each had to go, the only one we could trust not to react badly. Until we get more of that, it's hard for us to be more open."

"If that's all we can really offer, we should at least offer it," suggested Treylor.

Wally threw his hands up in the air. "You all are NUTS. This place is gonna be monster central."

"They're trying to help us out, the least we can do is offer them safe harbor. It sounds like they need all the help they can get anyway." Just then, a couple buzzing sounds were heard; sure enough, both Treylor and Minerva were being called. "I guess that's our cue. I suppose we can try to treat you as well if you get hurt, though I'm not sure we're going to know everything we're up against."

"Believe me, I hope we don't have to call on you for that," replied Salmandmon with a nod. "I'm not gonna keep you two, you can ask any other questions you have when you're back."

"Thank you, Salmandmon. Please, do stay safe out there…and Reyn…" Minerva gave Reyn a smile, but it was as strained as it got. "Please…don't put yourself in any more danger than you have to. I know you're supporting him, but…"

"Mom, I promise I won't put myself in any more danger than absolutely necessary." Reyn did his best to sound easy about it. Who knew that the truth could be such a huge lie?

—

"IRIS!" Iris was nearly taken to the ground as Emil latched onto her, hugging her tight. "Thank goodness! I was worried sick!"

"Daaaad! Gedoff!" Iris had to push to get Emil to lighten up. "I'm fine! I wasn't anywhere near Lennar Street! And I wasn't gonna go over there when that big…THING showed up!" Imagine if he knew the truth, he might just faint dead away.

"We didn't know what all was going on out there," said Heather, also looking deeply worried. "Why weren't you answering your phone?"

"My phone? I didn't get any…" Prying Emil off of her, Iris pulled her phone out of her pocket; it was completely off. "What? I don't remember turning this off…" she tried turning it on, and when the icon showed up, she let out a groan. I swear, the universe loves stupid irony. The girl who turns into a big electric bird forgot to charge her phone up. "Battery's out. I'm sorry, I had no idea."

"You didn't charge it? That's not like you, Iris."

No, it's not, but I've had a lot on my mind lately. "Maybe it's on the fritz or something. I hear the new models are supposed to have longer battery life…"

Emil let out a weak laugh. "Don't you dare, I might be just touchy enough to go for it. But PLEASE make sure you keep it charged up! I'm almost falling apart over here! I didn't know what that thing might have done before it got to Lennar Street…"

"Dad, RELAX, please. I've got better sense than to put myself right in the face of one of those things." I mean, technically it was Boltfalkemon doing that, not me. Even though Boltfalkemon is part of me…we'll just try not to think about that at the moment.

"Sorry, Iris, I know you wouldn't do that…but I don't know what anyone ELSE is going to do, that's why I worry." Emil shook his head, trying to settle his breathing. "I guess now that we've got that sorted, I need to get out there. Please, don't go anywhere else today, I know you don't want to hear that but I need…I need to not be thinking about that…"

"Okay, Dad, I'll stay in. I'm not sure I want to head back out there with things as crazy as they are anyway." It might have been the first actual truth spoken.

"Thank you. I'll be back as soon as I can be."

Emil rushed out the door, leaving Iris to watch as he headed to his car. She turned back to Heather. "Has he been like that the whole time?"

"Can you blame him?" replied Heather. "Some enormous monster shows up and his daughter was suddenly out of contact."

"…Sorry, Mom. I really had no idea. I don't usually forget to charge my phone."

"Well, it happens, but just be more attentive to it, okay? I'm just glad you're all right. Never thought it would be a gigantic bird that I would be afraid of putting you in danger…I think it's just going to be the two of us at dinner tonight."

"Yeah, I can't imagine he'll be back any time soon. I hope HE'S all right out there…he's gonna be a lot closer to where it was than I was."

"I'm sure he'll be fine. It seems like it's gone away for now…hopefully for good."

"Yeah, hopefully." Iris finally managed to get away and get upstairs. She didn't know what scared her more, having to lie to her parents or finding it as easy as it was. She'd never fancied herself a very good liar, but it was like the words came out almost seamlessly. I guess when it's this big, even I can figure out how to keep it a secret. I hope I can keep that up, though…

She got inside and opened up the window, and Shockavimon whipped in. "Finally! I thought I was gonna be caught out there for sure!"

"Sorry, I ran into a parental roadblock." Iris shut the window again, and sat on the bed next to Shockavimon. "That all really just happened out there…"

"We did great, Iris. YOU did great." Shockavimon patted Iris on the back. "I knew you could handle this. Now that we've crossed the first big hurdle, we can do our best to face this head-on."

"Yeah…" Iris wasn't entirely confident, still…they had gotten lucky that battle, the Aquilamon hadn't been ready for them and they'd managed to avoid any actual hits. It wasn't going to go that well every time…and she had another problem, how she was going to be able to dodge around her dad to get out to take care of business. Too much to think about at the moment, though...she needed time to clear her head.

—

"Skylar! Thank goodness you're all right!" Skylar's return was also met with a fierce embrace, though not one quite as ostentatious as he was pulled into Corrine's arms. "When I heard about that giant bird out there, I thought I might have a heart attack! Why didn't you come straight back home? You could've been attacked!"

"Mom, c'mon, I'm not taking THAT much of a risk!" protested Skylar. "You know me, I'm always looking up at the sky, the moment I saw that behemoth I was moving the other way immediately."

"Oh, I'm glad for that…but why didn't you come home?"

"I don't think it's THAT much less likely we'll be in trouble inside than outside, Mom. But, well, that wasn't why, I was…I was with a friend, and they were freaking out a bit, I didn't want to leave them alone until they were calmed down enough." It sounded like a pretty weak lie to Skylar, but he didn't really have a better one. Like I know anyone who's actually going to freak out that badly…

"I don't blame them, I only saw it on TV and that was scary enough! I hope you're wrong about not being safe inside, though…"

"Are you still going on about that?" Skylar's father Marcus stepped into the kitchen area; a balding and slightly heavyset man in his mid-40's, he looked like someone who had perpetual expression of mild contempt as his resting expression, which wasn't that far off from the truth. "This is why I turned off the TV, you're getting all upset over nothing. It's just some Hollywood stunt, I'm sure."

"Marcus Jascalt! You stop that right now!"

"You're going to look silly when it's shown that I'm right. Everything's fine, everything's normal, just as it should be. Don't let some special effects stunts get you all up in a fuss." Marcus walked out, and Corrine threw her hands up in exasperation.

"Dad's laying it on pretty thick, isn't he?" remarked Skylar.

"Well, you know him. The less 'normal' things are, the more he has to just INSIST that everything is normal. I don't know why he always has to be this way, but at least that's the worst thing I can say about him. Though I can't say I don't hope he's right this time…"

Skylar would have liked to reassure her, but he knew the truth too well. "I'm sure we'll find out. The truth always becomes clear over time, especially for something seen by so many."

"I suppose. Ah, well, I'll just have to try to take my mind off of it." The way she was getting stuff out from cupboards, that clearly meant starting on dinner, which Skylar took as his cue to leave. A bit longer of a delay than he wanted, but it couldn't be helped…

Once in his room, he opened the window; Breezedramon swooped in a few seconds later, landing with relative grace on Skylar's bed. "Phew…I was worried I might get seen out there, people's eyes are on the sky more thanks to Aquilamon."

"You didn't actually get seen, did you?"

"Nope! I was totally invibilizimabible out there! I think, anyway."

Skylar rolled his eyes. "I guess we'll just have to hope so. Wish I could make you as invisible INside, but I guess we can't have everything. I do have a couple of questions about what just happened out there between us, though…there are certain things I'd like to talk over and clear up, if at all possible."

"Aw, man, don't I get a little break? We just disintertabugrabulated a big bird out there, I wanna rest a bit!"

"Well, I'd like to get to them as soon as possible, but-" Skylar stopped suddenly as the door opened, and Benny barreled in again, running over to the bed to look at Breezedramon. "Daaaaang it, Benny! What did I tell you about knocking!"

"I wanna see Breezy!"

"Of course you do. Why couldn't you be as old as Reyn's siblings, they know better than to barge in…" Skylar was grumbling as he went over and shut the door again, but Breezedramon was quietly thankful - they sure as heck couldn't talk about any of that while Benny was in there. "You didn't say anything to anyone about him, did you?"

"I didn't tell anyone anything!" the boy replied proudly, tugging Breezedramon's tail.

"It'll be a freaking miracle if that's actually true. Don't pull his tail, Benny. Ask nicely if you want him to come closer."

"Oh, okay! Can you come closer, Breezy?"

"Uhhhhh…d-did you say the magic word?" Breezedramon asked nervously.

"Pleeeease?"

"Well, okay, I guess…" The dragon edged up closer to the edge of the bed, and then backed loudly as Benny grabbed and pulled him into a hug. "Yack! How the heck do you have such a strong grip, kid?!"

"Benny, if you strangle that dragon, we're going to have words." Skylar made no rush to intervene, though. "We have to figure out an easier way to get you in and out, though. Maybe I'll have to keep my window cracked constantly…ugh, the temperatures are just not good enough for that at the moment."

"Maybe you could dress him up as a cute birdie!" exclaimed Benny, nuzzling Breezedramon in a very affectionate way much to the dragon's lament.

"N-no thanks, I've already got a cute birdie friend and I don't think she'd approve!"

"You DO?! Can I see them?!"

"Benny, these aren't toys," Skylar chastised. "These are living creatures, and they're doing very important things, so you need to let them do their thing, okay?"

"But you said I could hang out with them!"

"I only talked about Breezy, and I only said maybe…though I guess it's a bit late for that now. But you need to STAY QUIET. If you're loud, there's gonna be trouble for all of us."

"Okay!" Benny didn't seem like he was paying much attention, too busy trying to squish Breezedramon's face, the dragon mostly giving up and just enduring the chaotic attentions of the five-year-old. Skylar knew he'd have to figure out how to deal with the Benny situation somehow, it was just too risky having the kid playing ticking time bomb, waiting to blow up the secret. But there wasn't a way he could make Benny not know again, which meant his options were sorely limited…and for the moment, allowing him limited access to Breezedramon in exchange for his silence was the only thing he could really do. If only that were the biggest problem on his mind…

---

Here we get to a major change, and a REALLY late change - as in, I'd already started uploading before I pulled the trigger on this one. While the symbiotic forms haven't significantly changed from the original conception, some of the names have. Originally Boltfalkemon was Bolteaglemon, and while I had no problem with that name, what I eventually found cumbersome was changing the names too much for each stage. So there's going to be more nomenclature consistency with the more advanced forms for this one.

Other than that, a few things have moved around, and there's more scenes in this one than the original. The upshot is that this became a pretty darn long chapter. But I think it establishes a lot more, particularly in the family department. Another thing I wanted to do with the remaster was make the families a bit more relevant, even if that mostly just comes in the first part. Not all of them get a ton of screen time, but some of them barely even existed in the original. In this version, there are more appearances, but also they have a greater impact even when they're not there.

Another thing I wanted to work on was the connections between the digimon, particularly emphasizing the stronger histories between Salmandmon and Shockavimon and between Breezedramon and Datacarnomon. This was stuff that was mentioned in the original work but only superficially; I wanted to build off of that and highlight the special tightness of their connections, beyond the standard team camaraderie. It's not massively influential to how things progress but it adds a little bit more depth to the characters.