Blue to Gray

by Besprizornye

When Digimon begin appearing in and around Minneapolis, a group of teenagers are thrown together by their encounters with these strange creatures. Digimon and Tamer alike must learn to understand each other and discover why they have been brought together before it is too late to stop the shadowy forces at work around them.

11. Episode 1-11

Episode 111: Collect Call

Even though it had been an exhausting day, Penguinmon could not sleep. His large crimson eyes were wide open and staring at the nearest wall without actually seeing anything as his mind replayed all of the events of the day. With Joshua's steady breathing the only sound in the bedroom, it was easy to concentrate. What Penguinmon found difficult was deciding which memories to revisit.

So much had happened in the twenty-or-so hours since the Joshua's phone had notified him that another Digimon was appearing. Unfortunately, Joshua was a light sleeper and that had been enough to rouse him from his slumber. While getting dressed, he had reached out to the female tamers and had either found them awake or had awoken them. Penguinmon suspected the latter. Then it had been off to do battle with another Digimon. On one hand, Penguinmon had gotten to see a sunrise. On the other, he had enjoyed that majestic sight from inside of Joshua's smelly backpack. But at least he had not had to fight. No, that had been the exclusive domain of Dracmon, who had fared surprisingly poorly, and Floramon, who had done surprisingly well.

Unlike the other Digimon, Penguinmon had never seen a Rookie digivolve to Champion. He had almost missed this one as it had all happened so fast. One second, it had looked as though Emily and Dracmon were going to be killed, but then Floramon had changed into Sunflowmon, rescued the endangered girl and Digimon, and then fought and beaten Kangarumon all by herself. It had been incredible, not just the transformation, but also the sheer power of Floramon's new form. Within minutes, the two towering Champion-level Digimon's fight had concluded when Sunflowmon pinned her foe to the ground and then disintegrated it with a single attack.

Once the fallen enemy's data had been absorbed and the fog had cleared, the gathering of humans and Digimon had broken up. Paul and Dracmon had been the first to go, skulking away without a word from either of them. Out of those that remained, only Joshua and Penguinmon had still been coming to terms with what they had just witnessed, everyone else, having already seen the same miracle occur once before, had seemed to take the digivolution in stride. Even Floramon, once she had reverted back into her usual state, had waved off Joshua's praise with uncharacteristic modesty and embarrassment. Not long after that, it had begun to hit the young humans that it was not even seven a.m. during their summer vacation and they were all fully awake. The resulting grogginess had spread like wildfire and the teenagers' farewells had been mingled with yawns. The Digimon had said their own goodbyes, even BlackAgumon. Then they had scattered and had just avoided the arrival of the workers who had been scheduled to open up the Target department store that morning.

The rest of the day had been largely uneventful. Joshua had not been able to get digivolving off of his mind. He had texted Emily questions until she finally told him to leave her alone, and then he had badgered Penguinmon until the Digimon's knowledge had been exhausted. Even after that, the topic had kept coming up. All it had taken was the fifteen second delay before Netflix would start playing the next episode of Stranger Things for Joshua to offer some new theory about what it might take to cause the change or how Penguinmon might look after digivolving. At first, Penguinmon had done his best to indulge Joshua's fascination with the subject, but eventually he too had told Joshua that he hadn't wanted to hear anything else about Digivolution.

Now that he was alone with his own thoughts, Penguinmon's mind returned to that topic all on its own. What he wanted, or thought that he wanted, wasn't idle speculation, but concrete information. That had proven much harder to come by.

Penguinmon's ruminations were suddenly interrupted by the very unwelcome sensation of a Digimon reaching out and trying to sense him. Panicking, Penguinmon tightly wrapped himself up in the blankets that made up his makeshift nest, as if that might somehow deaden whatever signal he was giving off. For a few tense minutes, Penguinmon tried to calm himself by telling himself that a giant Digimon wasn't going to smash through the wall and kill him.

Once his heart had settled down to merely racing, Penguinmon decided that he might as well know what kind of Digimon was going to end his life. When he extended his own feelers, however, Penguinmon was surprised to find that the other Digimon was not a new foe, but rather Dracmon. With the connection that they established, Dracmon was able to hone in on Penguinmon's location, and, in no time at all, there was a black-masked figure at the window, tapping on the glass with one of his long red claws.

Penguinmon waddled to the window as quickly as he could and tried to motion for Dracmon to be quiet. For reasons that he himself could not quite pin down, Penguinmon did not want Joshua to awaken. In return, Dracmon performed a decent impression of a human rolling his eyes despite his unusual anatomy and then pointed at himself and then mimed opening the window. Penguinmon shook his head rapidly. After another attempt at an eyeroll, the figure outside made a beckoning gesture with his hand. The two Digimon looked at each other for a few seconds, and then Penguinmon pointed his wing up, towards the main level of the house.

As Penguinmon crept towards the bedroom door, Joshua began to stir. "Penguinmon?" the boy mumbled groggily. "Where ya goin'?"

"Um, I want to watch Netflix," Penguinmon replied with the first excuse that came to mind.

"Oh? What show?" said Joshua, sounding as though he was starting to get up.

With a sudden stroke of genius, Penguinmon stammered out, "Well, I was going to watch every episode of Lost in reverse order to see if it makes any more sense like that."

Joshua's response was to turn over in his bed and grumble something about how that show was "a total waste of time".

With Joshua placated, Penguinmon left the boy's bedroom and climbed the staircase before unlocking the front door as quietly as he could manage. Outside, it was very dark, but Dracmon was illuminated by the light emanating from the open doorway, which also highlighted the series of savage cuts and bruises that marked his muscular body. "You gonna stand there with your beak hangin' open, or are you gonna come out and play?"

Penguinmon took a tentative step out into the brisk night air and gave an involuntary coo of appreciation. Then he blurted out, "How did you find us?"

Dracmon grinned widely and held out a white phone with gray trimmings as if he had been expecting just that question. "If you set these things to 'search mode', you can see where every one of them are!" He held out the Digivice so Penguinmon could take it in his claw-tipped wings. Sure enough, on the screen there was a green grid made up of countless little squares that was marked by a number of colored triangles, two of which were partially overlapping.

"Those are us?"

"You got it, feathers!" Dracmon said brightly. "I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by! Boy, am I glad it's you instead of any of the others! Wotta buncha creeps!"

Penguinmon ignored Dracmon's comments to voice a nagging thought, "Does your human know you have this?"

"Uh, not exactly. But he's asleep, so he won't mind!"

Penguinmon closed his beak tightly, but instead of voicing any more concerns, he only asked, "Did you have any plans?"

That appeared to be another question that Dracmon had not anticipated. "Can't we just hang out like, I dunno, friends?"

"Just sitting around out here?"

"Of course not!" replied Dracmon, new energy widening his already mischievous smile. "We can go anywhere we want!"

"How?"

"One word, my amigo," Dracmon chuckled as he began to make his way down to the street. "Wheels!"

The car that the two creatures stopped in front of was an older minivan parked on the street four houses down from where Joshua Kleberg and his mother were sleeping. "Your human let you use his car?" Penguinmon cried out in sheer disbelief.

"Well, it's not exactly his car. Gimme a boost?" And then, after Dracmon had scrambled on top of Penguinmon, and while the other Digimon was still working through the first half of what had just been said, Dracmon drove his elbow through the van's driver-side window, showering the interior with glass and setting off the vehicle's blaring alarms.

"What are you doing?" Penguinmon squawked in horror as Dracmon ignored the car's howls of protest and fluidly unlocked the door and pulled it open.

"Get in. I'm steering though," Dracmon said from where he was hanging onto the heavy door. The child-sized Digimon then swung into the car and tore open the section beneath the dashboard with his clawed hands. Lights were coming on in houses up and down the block as the minivan's alarm continued to shriek, and Penguinmon was faced with the distasteful choice of getting caught by unfriendly humans, which Joshua had explicitly warned him about, and getting into a vehicle with a clearly disturbed Digimon, which the human probably thought had gone without saying. Although it was not an altogether comforting sight, judging from how Dracmon was confidently pulling out wires and manipulating them, at least the delinquent Digimon appeared to have some idea of what he was doing. So, without very much enthusiasm, Penguinmon clambered inside of the van through its open door just as the machine roared to life.

"We're in business, baby!" cried Dracmon with a clap of his hands. "Push that pedal there." Penguinmon did so and the car began to gently rumble, but it did not move. "I mean really push it down," Dracmon instructed. This time, the engine thrummed with power and the entire minivan began to vibrate. But the car still did not move, and people were coming outside in pajamas and bathrobes to see who was causing all of this commotion so late on a Friday night.

Dracmon finally realized his problem. "Stupid me!" he said and then shifted the minivan into drive. The cumbersome vehicle lurched forward and tore down the street, leaving behind a scandalized neighborhood and the smell of burnt rubber.

After they had put some distance between themselves and the crowd of stunned people, the two Digimon settled into a more or less comfortable division of labor. Dracmon handled the steering while Penguinmon worked the gas and brakes and did his best to navigate by watching Paul's Digivice.

"What do they got that I don't, huh?" Dracmon had replied to Penguinmon's suggestion that they try to find the other Digimon partners.

"Don't you have any questions about Floramon's digivolution?" Penguinmon asked without looking up from his work. "If we find her we can ask them."

Dracmon didn't like the other Digimon's plan, but since he did not have any other ideas they set off for the nearest triangle on the machine's display, one that was colored a stark black.

It was fortunate that there were not many other cars were on the road given the late hour, and those that the Digimon did pass in their stolen vehicle only honked at their awful driving and flashed their brights at them, actions to which Dracmon delightedly responded by cursing and shaking his fist. Aside from a few mailboxes and bins which had gotten in the way, there were no casualties to Penguinmon and Dracmon's nighttime drive. They had let themselves grown content by the time that the peaceful June night sky was lit up by a ball of orange fire which exploded against the surface of the minivan's hood.

Dracmon cursed and spun the wheel so quickly that the wheels on one side of the minivan rose off of the ground.

Squawking with fearful confusion, Penguinmon shifted from gingerly pressing down on the gas to pressing his entire weight onto the minivan's brakes. "What was that?"

"What are you doing?" Dracmon screamed as he kicked the top of Penguinmon's head. "We have to get out of here before-"

His panic was interrupted by a low voice growling, "That was a warning shot. Come out with your hands up."

"-it's too late," Dracmon finished bitterly. He threw the van into park and opened up the door, hopping down to the sheet with his hands held high. "Ugh, not you again."

"Did we find Floramon?" Penguinmon asked while he followed Dracmon out of the stopped vehicle.

Instead of Floramon, Penguinmon found BlackAgumon, and the scaly Digimon looked even less happy than usual. A brief flicker of uncertainty had danced behind the BlackAgumon's green eyes when the two other Digimon emerged from the minivan, but he quickly mastered himself. "Explain what you are doing here. In five words or less."

Both Dracmon and Penguinmon thought about how to respond, but it was the former who came up with an answer he liked first, "None of your business, douchebag."

"Wrong answer!" snapped BlackAgumon.

Penguinmon stepped forward and desperately waved his wings in the air. "Wait, wait!" Then, the nervous Digimon held up his black claws in front of him to help with counting as he said haltingly, "Um, Floramon… Digivolving… Questions… Have we?"

Thankfully, Penguinmon's nervous answer struck a chord with BlackAgumon. The Digimon's whole demeanor changed as his shoulders slumped, his eyes softened, and he let out a weary sigh. "I understand. My tamer has been running himself ragged trying to figure out why he cannot make me digivolve," he said in a softer, almost apologetic voice. "Seeing it happen again only seemed to make it worse."

Dracmon made a show of shifting on his feet and looking bored, but since he did not say anything it was left to Penguinmon to fill the silence, "Does your human just let you wander around like this?"

"Oh yes, but only at night," came BlackAgumon's surprisingly chipper reply. "He lets me go hunting as long as I do not burn anything down."

Penguinmon was having a hard time squaring this side of BlackAgumon with the Digimon who had just attacked his and Dracmon's car, much less with the one who had brutally deleted Pipismon a few weeks earlier. After struggling for something to say, the best that Penguinmon could come up with was, "Joshua says that he'll take me fishing someday soon."

"Not that this isn't a fascinating way to spend my time, but we're wasting valuable moonlight here," Dracmon finally said in exasperation. "Come on, feathers, let's get going."

Before they could start to leave, BlackAgumon said, "Wait!"

"What now?"

BlackAgumon looked as close to sheepish as his reptilian features would allow as he explained, "I also have some questions about digivolving. Can I please come with you?"

Something about the combination of BlackAgumon's humility and Penguinmon's silent pleading did the trick, and Dracmon begrudgingly relented, "Okay, okay, cut the waterworks. But I still get to drive."

All three of the Digimon climbed into the minivan, with Penguinmon and Dracmon taking up their previous positions and BlackAgumon settling into the front passenger seat. "My human has a car seat that I use," BlackAgumon remarked to no one in particular as he attempted to buckle his seatbelt with his unwieldly clawed hands.

"Why am I letting him join us again?" Dracmon muttered under his breath.

"Because it's easier than fighting him?" suggested Penguinmon from underneath the dashboard.

That comment earned Penguinmon a light kick to the head and an order to push down on the gas from Dracmon. Then the van sped off again, this time to the rich yellow-colored triangle on Paul's Digivice.

It did not take long for BlackAgumon to get on Dracmon's nerves, whether it was by fiddling with the van's radio or telling the shorter Digimon that he had forgotten to turn on the headlights.

"Just my luck, getting stuck with the Tin Mon and the Cowardly Penguin," Dracmon said ruefully after one of the vapid pop songs to which the minivan's newest passenger had been humming along had finished.

"I have no idea what you are referring to," Penguinmon commented from his station.

BlackAgumon also sounded confused. "And I am not Tinmon. I am BlackAgumon."

Thankfully for Dracmon's patience, the van soon came to a jerky stop outside of the fence of a darkened golf course. If Joshua's neighborhood was a little more well-to-do than average and Todd's a little less, this area was downright wealthy. The homes that they had driven past had fountains, hedges, swimming pools, or some combination thereof. As strangers to this world in more ways than one, none of the three Digimon could exactly understand what these elaborate sights meant, but they understood enough to know that this place was different.

"It looks like a television show," marveled Penguinmon as he climbed out of the vehicle after Dracmon.

The Digimon weren't sure of what they should do next. Paul's pilfered Digivice was picking up the presence of another similar device down the cul-de-sac before them, but the perfectly manicured lawns and elegant houses gave all the Digimon pause. They forgot to be intimidated by their surroundings when white-scaled creature's long body emerged from underneath a hedge trimmed to look like a perfect sphere.

"Hello," Kudamon said from around the rodent she held in her bulging mouth.

With BlackAgumon staring hungrily at the violently thrashing bushy tail in Kudamon's mouth and Penguinmon trying to calm down after being startled by her sudden appearance, it was up to Dracmon to greet the small Digimon, "Um, hey. I take it your human lives around here?"

"That's correct."

There was a pause while all of the other Digimon waited for Kudamon to swallow her meal, then Dracmon said stiffly, "Well, we'd better get going."

With surprising speed, Kudamon swept around the other Digimon and cut off their path to the van. "Why are you here? Where are your humans?" Although she wore a smile on her face, it was thin and did not reach Kudamon's yellow eyes.

"What do you care?" Dracmon snarled. "Get lost!"

"It is my duty to protect my tamer," said Kudamon in crisp, even tones. "If you are here to cause any harm to Lynette, then I will have to stop you."

The mismatched red and green eyes on Dracmon's hood narrowed and he replied, "If you don't get outta the way, then I'm gonna-"

Before he could complete his threat, Penguinmon stepped in again. He planted himself between the annoyed Dracmon, the stoic Kudamon, and BlackAgumon, whose shoulders had tightened up and whose reptilian eyes had narrowed to thin slits at the prospect of combat. "Stop it!" shouted Penguinmon, and surprised both himself and his audience with his voice's authority and volume. "Why is it that whenever you disagree, your first resort is always to fight? There's no point! None at all!"

Dracmon had the good sense to look at least a little admonished by Penguinmon's reprimand and BlackAgumon looked down at his feet when he realized that there wasn't going to be a fight.

Penguinmon took a series of deep breaths, and then said to Kudamon through his clenched beak, "We're trying to find Floramon so that we can ask her about digivolving. That's all."

"Thank you, Penguinmon," she responded, her enigmatic expression seeming to grow more relaxed. "I would also like to know more about that subject."

"Then why didn't y'all come ask me?" a new jovial voice asked from behind the assembled Digimon.

They all turned around to find Floramon leaning against the minivan with a cocky grin. When she saw that she had the others' attention, Floramon carelessly saluted them with one of her petaled hands.

"How did you find us?" asked Penguinmon.

"Well, Em couldn't sleep on account of napping for most of the day," explained Floramon as she took a seat on the lawn of the house where the other Digimon had congregated. "So, she was on her phone a bit ago, and she noticed that it looks like Paul is hanging out near Josh. No biggie, but when she took another look, well, suddenly Paul is heading towards Todd. Being the helpful girl she is, Emily sent me to protect Lynn in case your tamer was going around bumping people off."

That earned a braying laugh from Dracmon, "Come on! Like anyone thinks he would actually do that!"

No one said a word until Floramon broke the silence, but her observation that Dracmon still looked "pretty rough" after the fight with Kangarumon only created another round of uncomfortable quiet.

Therefore, it fell to Penguinmon once more to get the group back on track. "How did you first digivolve?"

When Penguinmon had started speaking, he had attracted the attention of the other Digimon, and then all of them looked to Floramon for her answer. Under the weight of their collective gaze, Floramon leaned back on the lawn and sighed deeply. "The thing is," Floramon said after she had collected her thoughts, "a lot of what happened is still pretty fuzzy."

"You were really hurt," said BlackAgumon, and Kudamon nodded in agreement.

"I guess so. But in the moment, I wasn't thinking about that. All I could see was Emily in danger and, more than anything, I wanted the power to help her."

Kudamon was the first of the enraptured Digimon to speak. "The key was your need to protect your master then." It was not a question.

"Emily isn't my 'master', Kudamon," Floramon said, only to be interrupted by Dracmon.

"Yeah! Weren't you listening? The important thing is wanting to digivolve! And nobody wants it more than me and Paul!"

BlackAgumon asked a question of his own, "What is it like?"

For just the briefest of moments, Floramon's eyes flickered with uncertainty underneath her crown of dark red petals, but then she regained her usual cool. "Oh, you know, it felt great," she said casually. "Like nothing I've ever felt before. I could do anything, and there was no fear. I didn't have to worry about the Digimon I was fighting because I just knew I could beat it."

"But was it strange getting used to a new body?" Penguinmon asked next.

She had to chew it over a bit, but before long Floramon was explaining, "I didn't really have time to think about it that much. Both times I just changed, did what had to be done, and then changed back." She scratched her head with one of her flower-covered hands. "Now it seems pretty weird. I mean, my arms were so long! And I could fly! But it all came so naturally, like…"

"Instinct?" BlackAgumon supplied, and Floramon mulled that word over.

"I guess so, but it wasn't really my instincts, y'know? It felt like I was getting the instructions on what to do from somewhere else, but," she paused, "still coming from inside of me? Does that make any sense?"

"No," said Kudamon bluntly.

That response got a sigh out of Floramon. "Sorry, but digivolving is just weird. Why are you all so curious about it anyway?"

BlackAgumon replied, "Todd wants me to digivolve, and so I want it too."

"That's it?" scoffed Penguinmon.

That earned Penguinmon a genuinely befuddled look from BlackAgumon. "What is wrong with that?"

Words failed Penguinmon, and so he just weakly stammered out, "It just seems like there should be more to it."

"Exactly!" said Dracmon as he slapped his palm down on the grass in front of him. "Me and Paul are working to make me the strongest Digimon there is! Digivolving is just the next step."

Penguinmon quietly said, "Is that any better?"

"What about you, Kudamon?" Floramon asked the last Digimon in their group.

The thin, serpentine Digimon stretched out underneath the feeble glow of the half-moon and then said, "Being strong is the best way to protect my tamer."

"Especially with all of the other Digimon showing up," Floramon agreed. "But we were able to fight stronger enemies before." She turned to Penguinmon. "We took down Sagittarimon after all, and he was pretty tough, right?"

"I suppose so."

"But what about Harpymon?" BlackAgumon asked. "If you had not digivolved we would all have been deleted."

"Yeah, probably, but maybe if all five of us had been there, we could have pulled through somehow."

Dracmon abruptly stood up at this. "Isn't this rich?" he snapped. "The one Digimon here who can actually digivolve doesn't even want it!"

"I never said that!" protested Floramon, who was also rising to her feet. "I just don't think that it should be that big of a deal! If we work together we can do a lot more than we can by ourselves!"

"Why would me and my tamer ever need your help?"

"If it wasn't for her, you'd be dead!" shouted Penguinmon, and then he quickly added, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."

Dracmon was looking down at his feet and clenching his fists. "No, you're right," he said shakily. "If you hadn't been there, I'd've been toast."

"You're welcome," Floramon huffed.

"But what about when it isn't your tamer who's in danger?" Dracmon continued heatedly. "I need to digivolve because none of your tamers like mine. When Paul needs help, do you really think any of them will want to help him?"

The only Digimon who appeared to have any idea of what to say in response to Dracmon's outburst was Penguinmon, but before he could speak, a human came onto the scene clutching her white robe tightly against her body and stepping onto the wet grass in a pair of matching slippers.

"Kudamon!" Lynn said, her efforts at sounding angry faltering in the face of her obvious relief. "Are you okay? I woke up and you weren't there and I-" Her voice faltered as she registered all of the other Digimon gathered on the lawn. "Oh, um, hello?"

"Hello!" said BlackAgumon with a cheerful wave of his claws.

"Where are your, uh, people?" Lynn asked.

"Relax, Lynn, they just had some questions for me," said Floramon. "They came from pretty far away though, and it's getting pretty late, y'know?"

Now, Lynn pinched the bridge of her nose. "Jeez, you really are Emily's Digimon. Fine, come with me. I'll let your humans know where you are and they can come and get you in the morning."

"Um, Lynn?" Penguinmon asked as he tugged gently on her white bathrobe. "What about Dracmon's car?"

"His what?"