Episode 14: What Lies Within

Fractures of data glisten in the Digital Space night against the deep purple sky. Houses lining up the street remain silent. CRASH! Herissmon flies out of a window, skitting on the ground on impact. Dracumon jumps out of the window. "Haha! Is that the best you got?" He reaches for his leg, stretching his fingers out.

Herissmon picks himself back up as Ezra and Lauren come around the house. "Herissmon!" Ezra calls out.

A shadow casts over Dracumon. He looks above him to find Renamon. "Pico Dart!" Dracumon throws a massive syringe at Renamon.

"Koyosetsu!" Renamon fires several sharpened leaves at the dart, cutting it into pieces. Swoop! Dracumon spins out of the way.

"Nice one, Renamon!"

On the opposite side, Aiden walks around the corner. "It's useless. Dracumon will consume your data." She turns her head to Herissmon, smiling as Herissmon struggles to stand back up. "Herissmon doesn't look too hot if you ask me."

"Lightning Fur!" Herissmon launches several quills at Dracumon.

"Pico Dart!" Dracumon throws another syringe at Herissmon, deflecting the quills. Herissmon hops backwards.

Stomping one foot forward, Aiden raises her fist up in front of her. "The data is ours! Finish it, Dracumon!"

"Dracumon evolve! …Sangloupmon!" Sangloupmon leaps at Herissmon, mouth opened wide.

Lauren widens her stance. "I don't think so!"

"Renamon evolve! …Kyubimon!" Kyubimon tackles Sangloupmon mid-air. As the two land on their feet, their gaze meets each other.

"Get out of my way! Sticker Blade!" Sangloupmon hurls several blades at Kyubimon.

Kyubimon leaps into the air. "Koenryu!" The fiery dragon intercepts the blades. Ting! They fall to the ground.

"I won't be beat!" Sangloupmon charges at Kyubimon.

"Onibidama!" Kyubimon fires several fire projectiles at Sangloupmon.

"Grah!" Unable to avoid the attack, Sangloupmon falls to the ground and devolves back to Dracumon.

"Dracumon!" Aiden scurries over to Dracumon, picking him off the ground. "I will have you yet!" Aiden turns around the corner, retreating from the scene.

Lauren sighs. "That was close." She turns her head to Kyubimon. "Good job, Kyubimon!" Kyubimon nods and devolves back to Renamon.

Ezra shoots daggers at Herissmon. "That should've been you to evolve."

Holding back the tears, Herissmon limps over to Ezra. "I'm sorry…"

"Hey!" Lauren interrupts. "At least everyone is okay thanks to Renamon!"

"But when you or someone else isn't around, what then?" Ezra points out.

"Well…" Lauren rolls her eyes.

Ezra takes a deep breath and groans. "Why couldn't I have been paired with a different Digimon?" Ezra storms off.

"Ezra! Wait for me!" Herissmon hobbles after him.

"Hey, wait!" As her plea goes unheard, she looks to the ground, her face growing long.

"Lauren?" Renamon puts her hand on Lauren's shoulder.

"I don't know what to do, Renamon. We're losing him."

Inside a garage, Lauren plays her guitar with her bandmates. After they finish a song, one of them turns to her. "Hey, is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine." Lauren shifts her eyes away from him.

He comes closer to her. "You just seem a little bit off today."

"Don't pry, Ryan!" another bandmate scolds him.

"I'm not, Isa! And maybe there's nothing wrong. If there is something wrong, we're here for you!"

"Well…" Lauren pauses. "It's my brother."

"Okay!" Ryan sets his bass down and sits across from Lauren as Isa puts her sticks on one of the drums and turns to her.

"Not really sure how to explain this," Lauren starts.

"Tell us as little or as much as you want," Isa assures her.

"He seems to be jealous of some of the people around him," Lauren explains. "He compares himself to others a lot. When someone is doing something, he gets angry that he can't do it. It's to the point where he starts to insult others."

"Why doesn't he start doing those things?" Ryan asks.

"There's certain…restrictions in place and I can't really say what they are."

"So, he's just stuck?" Ryan concludes.

"I should point out something," the last bandmate interrupts, setting down his violin, "that's not jealousy. Jealousy occurs when there's a threat or perceived threat that someone will take something that you have, particularly with relationships with people. What your brother is experiencing is envy. He's envious of the abilities that the people around him have that he simply cannot perform."

'Herissmon! Evolve! Evolve right now! Evolve like V-mon and Renamon!' Lauren recalls Ezra shouting.

"What your brother needs to do is focus on the skills that he does have and, who knows, he'll develop the same skills his peers have along the way or have different skills entirely."

Lauren nods. "Maybe I can help. Thank you, Sunny!" Sunny gestures a thumbs up.

"You may not talk very much, Sunny," Ryan points out. "But you're a great listener and give out really good advice."

Sunny shrugs. "It just comes naturally to me."

A sunflower dragon Digimon flies upwards. It turns around to face Sangloupmon. "Sunshine Beam!" With petals glowing bright, it fires several beams from them at him.

Barely avoiding the attack, Sangloupmon side jumps out of the attack into a sprint. "I will become the strongest!"

"Finish her, Sangloupmon!"

"Sticker Blade!"

"You want me to spar with Herissmon?"

"Yeah!" Lauren makes eye contact with Renamon. "Ezra seems to idolize you and V-mon. If he can see what Herissmon can do, he'll have more confidence in him."

"If he sees that Herissmon can keep up with me, he might start to connect better with him."

"Exactly!"

Renamon nods. "This might be what he needs."

Pinning down a round Digimon in silver armor, Sangloupmon buries his teeth into it. "How…could I…have been bested…?"

"It's really quite simple." Aiden glides her steps towards the two Digimon. "We're the strongest and you got in our way." Sangloupmon begins to absorb the Digimon's data. "That Renamon we fought…was strong. We'll become stronger than her!"

"You want Herissmon to what?" Ezra tilts his head, seemingly not understanding what he was just asked.

"Spar with Renamon!" Lauren up ticks her tone. "Herissmon can show what he's made of."

"I don't know…"

Herissmon leaps towards Renamon. "I wanna do it! I can become stronger!"

Ezra lets out a slight huff through his nose. "Fine. Let's do it."

Lauren pulls out her Digivice and pulls them all into Digital Space. "Let's have fun!"

Renamon stares at Herissmon. "I won't hold back."

Herissmon clenching his fists. "Bring it on!"

Renamon leaps into the air. "Koyosetsu!" Hurling several sharp leaves at Herissmon, Renamon touches down on the ground.

"Lightning Fur!" Firing his quills, Herissmon negates the attack.

Running at Herissmon, blue flames engulf Renamon's hands. "Tohakken!" Renamon goes to strike Herissmon.

Herissmon curls up in a ball, quills pointed outward. Renamon stops her attack. "Kenzan Dive!" Herissmon charges at Renamon, curled in his ball.

"Koyosetsu!" Renamon fires at Herissmon. As the leaves hit, they're deflected by Herissmon's quills. Renamon twirls out of the way of the attack.

A glint glows in Ezra's eyes. "Keep going, Herissmon!" His Digivice displays the message: Link Strength: 11%

"It's working!" Lauren smiles ear to ear.

"I'll prove I'm just as good as you, Renamon!" Herissmon leaps into the air. "Lightning F-!"

"What's all of this?" Aiden steps in with Sangloupmon.

Herissmon lands on his feet. "Aiden?!"

Lauren scrunches up her face. "None of your business!"

"Don't care." Aiden rolls her eyes.

"Why are you here?" Lauren clenches her fists.

"Same reason as yesterday." Licking her lips, Aiden looks at Renamon. "Sangloupmon."

Sangloupmon charges at Renamon. Instinctively, Renamon leaps out of the way. "Renamon evolve! …Kyubimon!" Sangloupmon whips around. "Onibi-!"

"Sticker Blade!" Slash! Several blades hit Kyubimon.

"Kyubimon!" Lauren clasps her hands together.

"He's…stronger than before."

"We've been busy." Sangloupmon puts one foot forward.

Ezra turns to Herissmon. "Herissmon! You gotta do something!"

Herissmon hurries over to Sangloupmon. "Lightning-!"

"Out of the way, weakling!" Sangloupmon tosses Herissmon with the back of his paw. CRASH! Herissmon hits the asphalt.

"Herissmon! You need to evolve!" Ezra clutches on to his Digivice as it reads: Link Strength: 9%

"B-But I can't!"

Sangloupmon inches closer to Kyubimon. "You can do it! Just try harder!"

"Hnnnnnnnnnn!" Herissmon tightens his body, eyes clamped shut. "Herissmon evolve!" Nothing. "Come on! Grrrrrr!"

Ezra shakes his head. "I knew this was pointless. You're useless."

Herissmon opens his eyes wide and stares at the ground, loosening his body. "I'm not useless…" A black fog surrounds Herissmon as he turns towards Sangloupmon. "EEERRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The black fog begins to take form as a massive dinosaur silhouette. Its glowing red eyes stare directly at Sangloupmon.

"What the-?!" Aiden's body begins to shake.

"Herissmon?!" Lauren takes a step back.

"RAAAAAWWRR!" Step by step, the silhouette gets closer to Sangloupmon.

"That power! It's mine!" Sangloupmon leaps into the air. "Sticker Blade!" Several blades fly towards the silhouette. It raises its arm and blocks the on coming attack.

"GRRRRR…" The silhouette spews black flames from its mouth. Sangloupmon tucks in and rolls out of the way. "GRRRAAARRRRR…"

"Herissmon stop!" Tears begin to fill in Lauren's eyes as she calls to Herissmon.

"Do it, Herissmon! Evolve!" Ezra tightens his hold on his Digivice.

"Sangloupmon, retreat!"

"But-!" Before Sangloupmon could utter another word, the silhouette begins to spew its black flames once more. "Gah!" His fur begins to burn as he scurries away from it.

As Sangloupmon rolls to extinguish the flame, Aiden turns to Lauren. "Farewell for now! We'll have that power yet!" She mounts onto Sangloupmon and they flee.

"MMMAAAR…" The silhouette takes a step in their direction, attempting to pursue.

Lauren and Kyubimon block the path. "Herissmon, stop it!" Kyubimon prepares to attack as it comes closer.

Lauren spreads out her arms. "Herissmon! It's us! Your friends!"

"GRRRAWR!" It lifts its arm up.

"Herissmon!" Lauren stays put as it begins to swing its arm down.

"Herissmon stop!" The silhouette stops its attack. Lauren and Kyubimon turn to Ezra. "They're gone." The silhouette stares at Ezra before evaporating. Herissmon collapses to the ground.

"Herissmon!" They rush over to him, Lauren kneeling at Herissmon's side.

Opening his eyes, Herissmon looks around at them before sitting up. He looks at all of them one more time. "What happened?"

"Herissmon…" Lauren lets out a soft sigh.

"You almost evolved." Ezra gets down on his knees.

"I did…?" Herissmon stares at Ezra.

"Almost. You'll get there. One of these days."

Lauren narrows her eyes. "Was that…really evolution?"

Connor swipes his phone with his thumbs. "What are you doing?" Wormmon asks.

"I'm sending out a text to everyone."

"Won't that make them want to get involved?"

"Maybe, but our friends are also our responsibility. They at least deserve to hear from us one last time."

"I suppose…"

With one last tap on his phone, Connor pockets his phone. "It's time to go. Let's finish this."

"How'd it go with your brother?!" Ryan scootches closer to Lauren.

"They went…okay." Lauren looks away from Ryan.

"What happened?" Isa leans in.

"We started to make progress. But then…somethings happened."

"What things?!" Ryan nearly jumps out of his seat.

"It's probably best to leave things be," Sunny suggests. "It sounds like it's being worked on. Progress takes time. Just let it happen."

"Progress takes time…" Lauren pulls out her phone and looks at her wallpaper. Lauren and Ezra, much younger, are hugging each other.

"Oh yeah, I've been curious, what did happen to your eye, Sunny?"

"That's…a long story." Sunny shifts his body around. "Let's just say something got to it."

"Hmmmmm…" Lauren breathes out through her nose. Ding! She receives a notification. She looks at her phone and sees a text.

"Who's it from?" Ryan pries.

"It's from my friend Connor…" She reads the text slowly, her eyebrows closing in on each other as she focuses on it. "What…do you mean?"