"Wormmonnnnn! Hey, Wormmon, wake up!"
"Wake up, wake up, Wormmon~!"
"Hnngh?" Wormmon blearily forced his eyes open. His head was still clouded from a night's worth of sleep, but somehow he could make out Davis standing over him and poking him in the side, Demiveemon clinging to his shoulder and bouncing up and down.
"Ohh… what is it, Davis?"
"Heh, sorry, little guy." Davis stood back with a sheepish grin. "I was gonna let you sleep in, but you don't wanna miss today! You remember what today is, right?"
"I…" Wormmon really wanted to just go back to sleep. He was having a hard time thinking straight. "It's… oh!" He quickly sat up. "Today is your big soccer game, right Davis?"
"Huh? Oh no, that's tomorrow. Today's the big party Bearmon and those guys are holding in the Digital World! You remember that, right?"
"Oh… yes I do! That's really today?" Time certainly had been moving quickly lately.
Davis laughed at his surprised look. "Yeah it is! Now c'mon, Veemon and I are all ready!"
The gogglehead was in quite high spirits as he raced over to the school, Demiveemon and Wormmon in their usual places in his arms and on his shoulder, respectively. For once, he was actually the first one to arrive at the computer lab and started pacing back and forth, punching the air excitedly as he waited for everyone else. Finally the other four children and their Digimon arrived, and Davis wasted no time whipping out his digivice and transporting everyone to the Digital World.
"Man you guys, this is gonna be the best day ever! I can already tell!" he cheered as they all marched along toward the rebel camp. "Veemon, buddy, you gotta tell me all about parties in the Digital World! Are they crazy?"
"I don't know, Davis. I live with you, remember?"
"…Oh, yeah. Never mind then."
"I still think it would be more prudent to wait until after the Emperor is defeated to throw a party," Cody said to himself, eyes to the ground as he walked.
"Aww, c'mon, Cody. Don't'cha like havin' fun?" said Armadillomon, giving him a playful nudge. His partner still wasn't moved.
"We're assuming nothing is going to go wrong when we start our final campaign! Do you all really think the Emperor is going to just let us walk all over him? Any number of things could happen…"
"Actually, Cody, I'm not entirely certain that's true," TK said thoughtfully. He had his hand on his chin as Patamon flitted excitedly around his head. "The Emperor's already lost most of his forces thanks to Bearmon and the rebels. And thanks to us, he's lost most of his Control Spires." He smiled. "From a strategic standpoint, there's really not a lot he can do to us. Unless he magically gets some secret weapon that completely turns everything around…"
"I'm just saying we shouldn't underestimate him," Cody muttered, impatiently marching ahead of the others before anyone else could get in a word. Armadillomon gave a light sigh before following after him.
Wormmon watched them with concern. "Oh… do you think Cody is right? Maybe this is a mistake…"
"Oh, it's fine, Wormmon. Cody's just being Cody right now," TK assured him, glancing down and noticing the look on his face. "Hey, if you're worried about the Emperor, don't be. If anything happens, you know we'd all protect you."
Wormmon blushed a little. In the past, he probably would have been too afraid to even show up today, but from the way the rebellion was going, even he had started to relax. It had reached the point where they were certain they could have a party without fear, confident there was nothing the Emperor could do to ruin it. That enough was cause for celebration.
The group kept walking along through the grassy field, quite pleased to see there were no Control Spires or enslaved Digimon to be found. Finally they walked between the two hills where the rebel camp was hidden, all drawing to a stop and gasping as they saw what was waiting for them.
The entire camp was decorated with colorful balloons and streamers – it must have taken hours to get the place looking this lively. Not only that, the place was packed; standing around were all the rebel Digimon – and not just them, but numerous Digimon the children had never seen before, presumably there by invitation. Bearmon was visible amongst them all, standing on a small constructed dais and looking around supervising everything.
"Hey! Glad you guys could make it!" he laughed as he saw them, waving them all over. "Now we can really get started!"
"Bearmon, you really outdid yourself. This place looks amazing!" Kari said in astonishment as they all pushed through the crowd of Digimon and approached him. "How long did it take you all to do this?"
"Ah, you guys don't need to worry about that. Anyway, what kinda Digimon would we be if we couldn't throw a proper party?" He grinned. "Clearly you guys've never been to a party in the Digital World. They're crazy!"
"I knew it," Davis said smugly, folding his arms.
As the other Digimon continued to chat and murmur amongst themselves, Bearmon suddenly pulled out a megaphone. "Attention Digimon and Digidorks! Hey, shut up and listen!" he shouted into it, causing everyone to quickly fall silent.
"That's more like it. Okay then, this party is officially under way! The snack bar is over that way, and the juice bar is over that way. Oh yeah, and we're playing Capture the Flag in exactly one hour, so everybody figure your teams out and meet back over here before then, or you're outta luck. Oh yeah, and no biting!"
"What's a game with no biting?" Gatomon pouted to herself, but everyone else (particularly the Digimon) started cheering and raced off to every corner of the camp to gorge themselves, race around and play with their friends, and generally just have fun.
There would be no worrying about the Digimon Emperor today, no working to destroy the Control Spires. Today was a celebration.
As much fun as everyone else was having, Wormmon quickly realized he was not quite the type for wild parties. Everyone was being so loud… finally he decided the best thing to do would be to just sit back and watch. Amidst the laughter and excited conversation of the other Digimon, Wormmon trotted over to a deserted corner and curled up by himself, happy enough that he was just able to relax, not needing to worry about turning around and seeing the Emperor towering over him.
Davis was of a somewhat different persuasion than Wormmon when it came to partying. The rebel Digimon had been certain that Bearmon would be the big mon of this party, but suddenly this cheeky human kid was threatening to upstage him. It seemed like he'd cleared out nearly half the snack table by himself, and now he was suddenly standing on top of it, dancing and singing karaoke as a large group of Digimon gathered around him and cheered him on.
"…What was in that punch, exactly?" said Kari.
"Nothing, I think. Pretty sure this is all Davis," said Yolei.
TK noticed Wormmon watching Davis and shot him a wry sideways smile. "Davis is certainly enjoying himself, isn't he?"
Wormmon turned to look at him. "I think it's not just the party. He's very excited about his soccer game tomorrow. He's been talking about it a lot."
"Ohhh, that's right. We're playing Tamachi Elementary tomorrow."
"That's right! It's gonna be awesome!" Davis cheered as he jumped off the table and raced over to the other two, arms over his head. "You guys know what this means, right? This means tomorrow I get to play against the famous Ken Ichijouji!"
Wormmon's antennae lifted in interest. "Who's that?"
"He's some genius kid who's been showing up on the news a lot lately," said TK, clearly not as excited about the whole thing as Davis. "People are saying he's one of the smartest kids in Tokyo… maybe the smartest. And not only that, he's one of the best soccer players."
"Yeah, and tomorrow I'm gonna grind him into the dust!" Davis shouted, swinging his fist around.
"I wouldn't get your hopes up, Davis," Kari chimed in, leaning next to TK. "You know Tamachi is undefeated this season, right? And Ichijouji has scored forty-five goals by himself!"
"That's just because he hasn't met me yet!" Davis boasted, puffing his chest out. "You just wait, guys. Tomorrow I'm gonna show that genius kid a thing or two about playing soccer!"
And then he spun around and raced off, kicking an imaginary soccer ball between his feet and grinning to himself.
"In one ear and out the other…" TK sighed. "Well anyway, Wormmon, we're all going to go watch the game tomorrow and support Davis. I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you came too."
Wormmon looked surprised. "Oh… really? Me?"
"Sure, why not?" Kari giggled. We're all bringing our Digimon. Just pretend you're a stuffed animal and you'll be fine!"
Wormmon brightened up. "Okay! That sounds like fun. I would love to watch Davis play soccer."
He wasn't really sure how long the party went on after that. Hours? The other Digimon had their game of Capture the Flag in the meantime, but it was nothing he was interested in. He spent most of the time curled up next to TK and Kari, thinking his own thoughts, though he was frequently interrupted by one of the rebel Digimon bounding up to him and eagerly striking up a conversation with him. He was stunned at how excited they all were, and of course he answered all their questions politely, but it was getting to be a bit draining.
"Everybody wants to talk to me," he muttered.
Kari smiled. "Well, you inspired them, Wormmon. You proved that you don't have to be partnered with a human to make a difference against the Digimon Emperor."
Wormmon suddenly started fidgeting at that. Of course it was a good thing that he was inspiring the other Digimon, but… what would they all think of him if they knew how badly he wanted a human partner?
Finally the constant interruptions got to be too much. Leaving his spot, Wormmon found himself naturally gravitating over to Davis, the one who was best at making him feel less anxious. To his surprise, he found Davis, along with Veemon, sitting off in a corner and having yet another of his lessons with Bearmon. Apparently not even a party was enough to stop him from learning as much as he could.
"…So, wait, why is this part of the lesson?" said Davis as Wormmon approached him.
"Davis, if you're gonna be the guy in charge of savin' the Digital World, don't ya think you oughta at least know something about its original rulers?" Bearmon said sternly. "Really, all a' you human kids should be over here listening to this. Now then, what are their names?"
Davis groaned and rubbed his forehead, obviously thinking hard. "Ugh, they were all so weird… uhh… Azoolimon?"
"Azulongmon, Baihumon, Ebonwumon and Zhuqiaomon," Bearmon snapped, flicking Davis in the forehead. "The four Harmonious Ones. C'mon, Davis, this is important."
"Oh, I've heard of them," Wormmon spoke up. "I thought they were called the Digimon Sovereigns."
"Yeah, well, they got a lot of names," Bearmon said shortly. "Anyway, they're the guys who're supposed to rule over the Digital World. They're responsible for protectin' all the rest of us Digimon from evil… problem is, ever since the Digimon Emperor came into power, nobody's seen 'em."
"Really? They're not doing their job very well then, are they?" said Davis. "So what, you think they all ran away or something?"
"Of course not! They'd never do that!" Bearmon snapped. "The Digimon Emperor must've imprisoned them all somehow. That's the only explanation. It's the power of those Control Spires."
Davis sat back thoughtfully. "Oh, yeah, I guess that could be it."
"It's not even the first time it's happened either. Years ago, the Digital World got taken over by these four evil Digimon called the Dark Masters, and they all imprisoned the Harmonious Ones too. But the Digidestined defeated the Dark Masters and used their power to set the Harmonious Ones free. I just know that once we beat the Digimon Emperor, we can set them all free again. And then they'll waste that little human punk!"
Davis blinked. "Uh, well, I think we'd rather do it with no 'wasting'. The guy's just a kid, he must have parents or something."
"I've heard of the Harmonious Ones too, I think… I don't really remember when, though," said Veemon. "Bearmon, you must care about them a lot."
"Well, yeah, of course I do," said Bearmon as though it were obvious. "They're the gods of this world! The wisest and strongest of all Digimon. I've wanted to meet 'em my whole life. And once we beat the Emperor, I might just get my chance." An excited grin lit up his face, and Wormmon found himself surprised at the change that seemed to come over the Digimon who had once frightened him so.
"Uh, so… is that the end of the lesson?" Davis cut in awkwardly.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, that's it. But you gotta remember this, Davis. This is the whole reason why we're fighting the Emperor."
"Right, will do," said Davis, standing up and stretching. Wormmon was prepared to leave along with him when Bearmon suddenly called him back.
"Hey, Wormmon. I'm glad you're here too, because I gotta talk to you about something."
Wormmon turned back to him. "Oh? What?"
"Well, see… I can't talk to about it here. Not now. Wormmon… can you come back here tomorrow? Alone?"
"Tomorrow?" Wormmon was surprised. "Oh, but… what about Davis's soccer game? I can't miss that…"
"Aw, it's okay, Wormmon," Davis assured him. "I mean, I'm sure whatever Bearmon wants to talk about is way more important."
"But Davis…" He couldn't go tomorrow. He wanted to go support his friend who had done so much for him. "Why does it have to be tomorrow, Bearmon? Why not now?"
"This is serious, Wormmon. I don't wanna ruin the party… and it's something I gotta talk to you about in private." Bearmon folded his arms. "This is somethin' really important, Wormmon. For all of us."
Wormmon looked up at him, growing anxious under the other Digimon's gaze. Even if he'd been feeling a bit more confident lately, he still didn't have it in him to stand up to Bearmon when he was like this.
He finally lowered his eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry, Davis…"
Davis knelt down next to him. "No worries, dude. I'll tell you all about it afterward, 'kay?"
"Thanks, Wormmon. I'll make it up to you," Bearmon promised him. "Well, enjoy the party, guys."
He walked off to strike up a conversation with some of the other Digimon gathered nearby. No sooner had he left than a familiar voice suddenly chimed in from behind Davis.
"Bearmon! Where are you?" Gazimon called as she approached them, staggering back and forth and trying to keep her balance as she struggled to hold a large platter covered in delicious-looking digital food over her head.
"Bearmon? Bearmon? Oh!" she cried, tripping over a rock and spilling the contents of the platter all over as she fell to the ground with a thump.
"Sorry, Gazimon. He left already," said Davis.
"Oh, no…" she groaned, pulling herself up and gazing at the food all over the ground. "And I was bringing him his favorite… I was so excited to see the look on his face…"
"You were?" Davis looked surprised, but after a moment, a sly grin suddenly spread across his face.
"Waiiiiit a minute… I know what this is about." He bent over to look down at Gazimon. "You liiiiiiike him, don't you?"
"W-What?!" Gazimon had been gathering up the spilled food, only for it to fly out of her hands all over again. "N-no! It's not like that at all! He's our leader and he's important to all of us! That's all!" she sputtered.
"Are you sure, Gazimon?" asked Veemon. "You're always looking at him the same way Davis looks at Kari."
"H-hey! That was uncalled for, dude!" Davis shouted frantically, clamping his hand over his Digimon's mouth and dragging him away as Veemon struggled and let out muffled protests. Staring after them for a moment, Wormmon finally let out a sigh and resigned himself to wandering off alone again.
The four Harmonious Ones… I wonder if they can tell me who my partner is.
As he sat back down, he saw that one of the Digimon had apparently found a large ball, and Davis had immediately taken it upon himself to teach all the Digimon how to play soccer. He played a number of games with them himself, but eventually even he got too tired to continue and the Digimon started playing games of their own.
Then Veemon and the other partner Digimon all gathered around the ball, looking ready to start their very own game. Wormmon gazed over at the five of them, knowing better than to invite himself over. They were their own special group, and he was not a part of it.
So he was quite surprised when they all suddenly turned to face him instead.
"Wormmon! Why don't you come play with us?" Patamon called over. "That way we'll have three Digimon on both teams."
Wormmon lifted his head up and stared over. "R-really?" he stammered. "You… you want me to play with you? Oh, but…" He gazed down at his pods. "I wouldn't be very good…"
"That doesn't matter, Wormmon. This is all for fun!" said Veemon.
"Yes, indeed, Wormmon! We would love to have you join us," said Hawkmon. "It wouldn't do to have you sitting over there by yourself."
Wormmon's spirits slowly began to rise. "Oh… all right, then… of course I'll come play."
It was Wormmon, Veemon and Patamon on one team, and Hawkmon, Gatomon and Armadillomon on the other. Just as Wormmon had predicted, he wasn't very good at playing soccer; he could barely scamper fast enough to keep up with the others, and he couldn't hit the ball hard either. But as the game went on, he found that he was somehow still having fun.
"Patamon! Go wide!" Veemon shouted as he kicked the ball along toward the opposing goal. He'd obviously picked up a thing or two from Davis. "Here it comes!"
He kicked the ball clear into the air over to Patamon, who let out an excited squeal as he whacked it with one of his wings, sending it soaring straight over to the goal… only for Hawkmon to come flying up and smack it out of the air.
"Noooooooo!" Patamon wailed.
"This game is over, my friends," Hawkmon chortled, twirling around gracefully in midair and kicking the ball in a wide arc across the playing field, straight over to Gatomon, who'd been crouching in wait near the other goal.
"It's not a ball of yarn, but it'll do!" she laughed, striking it with her tail and send it straight over the goal line.
"GOAL!" cheered Hawkmon, Gatomon and Armadillomon.
"Nooooo! We lost!" Veemon wailed melodramatically, collapsing into the grass. "Davis will never forgive me! I'm a horrible student!"
Wormmon quickly grew alarmed. "Oh, no… I'm sorry, Veemon. If only I had played better…"
Veemon suddenly sat up and gave him a smile. "That's okay, Wormmon! I was just joking."
"…You were?"
"Sure! It doesn't matter who wins," said Patamon, rolling the ball over to the others as he balanced on top. "We're just having fun! That's what friends do!"
Suddenly the ball slid out from underneath him, sending him tumbling backwards through the air with a yelp as it flew forward and hit Veemon right in the face.
"Aaah! I thought you said it didn't matter!" Veemon shouted, grabbing at his face. This was enough that Hawkmon, Gatomon and Armadillomon all immediately burst out laughing…
…and then, so did Wormmon.
He didn't even mind that his team had lost. None of that seemed to matter as he laughed along with all of his Digimon friends, able for just this one moment to forget how different he was.
––
It was a thoroughly tired and happy Davis Motomiya that returned home that night, carrying Demiveemon in his arms with Wormmon skittering loyally along at his side. He collapsed onto his bed with a contented sigh, his partner rolling back and forth across the bedspread and giggling quite loudly. Wormmon quietly hopped up onto the foot of the bed where he always stayed, curling up and watching the two partners laughing and enjoying themselves.
"Aww, today was great, wasn't it?" Davis said with a big grin, poking Demiveemon in the stomach. He craned his head up and looked down at the foot of the bed. "Didja have fun, Wormmon?"
"Oh… yes, I did," said Wormmon, surprised to find that it was true. "I had a lot of fun today, Davis. Thank you for asking."
"Well, just wait. Once we beat the Digimon Emperor, you'll get to have fun like that every day."
Wormmon blinked slowly. "What… what do you mean, Davis?"
Davis pushed himself up with his arms and sat cross-legged on the bed. "Well, I mean, once we beat him, you'll get to move back to the Digital World. Then you'll get to have fun and play and do whatever it is regular Digimon do all day. No more evil Emperor to worry about." His smile fell at the somewhat alarmed look on Wormmon's face. "Isn't that what you want?"
"Well… I…" Wormmon still hadn't told Davis that his real plan after beating the Emperor was to find his partner. He wondered what Davis would think of that… come to think of it, he didn't know how much he'd even see of Davis once this was all over, or any of the other children for that matter. What if his partner lived far away from all of them? Wormmon realized that he'd grown so used to sleeping in Davis's room every night, even if he was just a third wheel… that he'd genuinely miss it when he had to leave, far more than he'd ever missed his hole in the ground. At least here he was with friends.
"But, Davis… we'll see each other again, won't we?"
"Well, yeah, of course we will," said Davis. "We wouldn't be a team without you, y'know? You're the one that brought us all together."
"You promise?"
"Dude, of course I promise, Wormmon. No matter what, we'd never forget about you."
Wormmon lowered his gaze to the bedspread, hoping against hope that he could trust Davis with his promise. "All right… thank you."
Davis flicked the light off, cuddling in bed with Demiveemon and chatting excitedly with him about his upcoming soccer game before the two of them both eventually dropped off to sleep. Wormmon sat watching them in silence for a while, though to his surprise, it didn't come with the sadness and jealousy that it usually did. He was feeling almost… content.
The Emperor would be gone so soon… maybe even tomorrow. Bearmon was his friend. All the Digidestined and all the rebels were his friends. They would never let anything happen to him. And once the Digital World was back to the way it was supposed to be, it wouldn't be long before he was just like Demiveemon, falling asleep in the arms of his beloved partner.
And he'd see Davis and the others again. Davis had promised.
He thought about his day with a warm floaty feeling in his stomach, and as he finally closed his eyes, he found himself, for once, unable to feel sad about anything.
Wormmon thought he could safely say that today had been the best day of his life.
Which should have warned him right then and there that tomorrow would be the worst.