Chapter Three: Brothers
“Going so soon?” Veedramon raised his eyebrow as he looked over his new friends packing up their things, tilting his mouth up at the side. “You only just got up!”
“We can’t waste any time,” Twilight raised her head from her over-stuffed bag only for a moment, before ducking back into it, fretting over how to organize her food so it’s spatially efficient. “We have to get home, and sitting around won’t lead us to the way back.” She let out a soft sigh, mind cranking away at the issue as she absently adjusted the bandage wrapped around her side.
DORUmon flashed the larger creature a soft smile, peeking at Twilight’s bandage for a moment before looking back at Veedramon. “You’re more than welcome to come with us, Veedramon. We’d be glad to have you.”
“We would?” Rainbow Dash asked, her own bags packed and in the middle of being tossed onto her back by Ryudamon. Ryudamon promptly shut her up with a rough nudge, which earned him a glare from his pony partner.
Veedramon shrugged. “I’d just be in the way. I’ve told you before, I’m fine on my own. You’ll be just as fine not having me hanging around.”
“But what if you get hurt again?” Fluttershy asked, her gaze fixed on his numerous still-healing wounds and old scars. The sight of the still-red scars and slashes, and the burns still stinking of charred skin, set her stomach reeling and her wings twitching.
“Then I’ll deal with it myself,” Veedramon huffed, folding his arms. The searing pain running up through his wounds was forced down to a twitch of the eye in response. “Like I always have,” he growled out through grit teeth.
"Hey, ya wanna be the lone wolf again, be my guest." Applejack shrugged and let out a trained sigh, showing no signs of carrying the point on as she tied the saddlebags tight against her, heavy with cargo. She turned to her friends and their partners, nodding to them. "Alright, 'cmon. Let's go."
“Always ready when you are!” Labramon declared, nuzzling his partner. Applejack chuckled at his affection and gave him a quick petting, then hoisted up her saddlebags and led him onward. The others quickly followed her example, letting the farm pony guide them as they set off at last.
“Bye, new friend!” Pinkie Pie called back, bouncing backwards with the group as she waved at him. “We’ll hopefully see you again!” Veedramon just waved back in response, turning and walking his own way as the travelers journeyed forth.
“You’ve been staring at that screen nonstop,” Impmon walked up beside his partner, glancing to the screens, then back at her before giving her side a light elbow. “Did you even sleep last night?”
“Only when they did,” Trixie narrowed her eyes, gaze fixed on the wandering band of ponies displayed on one of Datamon’s many monitors. “I need to keep an eye on them, Impmon, you know this.”
“Yeah, yeah, something about them being a huge threat. Why not just roast them now then?” Impmon shrugged, looking up at her with a raised eyebrow. “I mean, it’s not like we’d have much trouble. Just ask Datamon to infect ‘em or something.”
“Not yet... when it comes to this kind of battle, Impmon, simply ‘roasting’ them carries little satisfaction.” Trixie’s glare fixed on the pony at the lead of the group, her lavender coat turning the magician’s stomach and making her bile rise. “I need her to know exactly who is the best between us... and the world follows after that.”
Impmon furrowed his brow at that, looking up into Trixie’s eyes. He sidled away slightly, wanting to put some distance between him and those lethal eyes. “You alright, Trixie?”
“Fine... more than fine. Apologies, but that group of ponies and I go way back.” She closed her eyes and shook her head, letting out a heavy sigh. They aren’t going to win this time. Twilight will not win this time. You will all know defeat when I am ready, and when you are all knelt before the Great and Powerful Trixie, I will claim my victory in this little game we're playing. She looked over at Impmon for a moment, then looked back to the screens. “Why are you here, anyways?”
“Got bored, saw you were sitting here, figured you wanted someone nearby.” He plopped down onto his rear and crossed his arms, looking up at the screen. “Figured you’d be doing something a little more interesting, though.”
“Hmph.” Trixie scoffed and brushed back a lock of her mane, glaring at the group on the screen. Evolution... if Twilight’s pet could suddenly become so powerful... She looked over at the imp sitting next to her, narrowing her eyes slightly. Could Impmon do so again as well?
Bothersome that this isn’t recorded and saved. All I saw was the fight... what in the world triggered his evolution? Trixie blinked and turned back to the screen, ears drooping slightly as she pondered to herself. Beyond the fact that he has the capability, I know nothing of Twilight’s little living weapon. Suppose I know somepony who could fix that, however...
“Pah. Where is Datamon?” She turned away from the screen, standing and looking to Impmon.
“How should I know? He’s off in some dark corner of the cave, working on some crazy tech-thing. Last I saw him, he was a level down.” Impmon shrugged, looking away from Trixie. And stop glaring at me... it’s creepy.
“Very well. Wait here; once I am done with him, I will have a task for you.” Trixie turned and trotted away, and before Impmon could get more than a sputter out, the blue mare teleported away, leaving him in the viewing room. The imp simply grimaced and huffed, standing back up and looking to the TV displaying the other ponies.
“Well, at least you have a tolerable partner, DORUmon. I’m a devil, not some pack mule. Jeeze...” He kicked the ground lightly before turning away and walking to the door at the back of the room. “Thinks she’s the boss of me... partner or not, no one talks down to me like that.”
Datamon tinkered away at a new piece of machinery, looking over the careful hydraulics linking everything together. “Delicate... very delicate... caaarefu—”
He jumped as a sudden blast of light lit up his cavern, and a snap echoed out in front of him, minuscule, but piercing his brain all the same. “Oh, curses!”
“Datamon! Have you finished yet?” Trixie trotted up beside him, the android’s eyes rolling slightly out of her sight.
“Are you serious?” the android huffed. “I have to rework the entire system in order to make your plan work. It’s hard enough to do that without shutting the cameras off!”
“Yeah, it’s impressive that you can do that,” Impmon commented from the doorway, staring absently at a screen full of cribs and eggs. Trixie shot her partner a glance, a glare that screamed a lack of amusement with his disobedience.
“Why, thank you,” Datamon remarked. “At least someone appreciates the work I’m putting into this.”
Trixie rolled her eyes and turned up her nose. Ungrateful machine. He should be honored that I’ve considered him worthy of my leadership, and humble that he will serve when I take over the Digital World!
“Alright,” Applejack announced as the group traversed the vast canyon. “We’re gonna look for the shore, like Twilight said yesterday. Hopefully there’s somethin’ on the edge of the island that’ll help us get home.”
“And we’re only finding this out after we’ve started moving?” Rainbow huffed as she glanced to AJ, furrowing her brow a bit.
Ryudamon nudged her again, looking up at her as he kept pace. “Easy! Why are you so on-edge?”
The speedster groaned, her wings flaring outward. “I just wanna get back. This place is getting real old real fast.”
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight snapped, looking back at Rainbow. “That’s kind of rude to say to someone who’s lived here all his life.”
“It’s fine,” Ryudamon assured her, shaking his head. “I know none of you asked to be here. I’d be angry too, if I were stuck in a place I didn’t know without a way to get back.”
Gaomon nodded, walking slightly ahead of his bouncing partner. “We’ll get you home, however long it takes. And we’ll keep you safe until then.”
Twilight smiled at the blue canine and nodded in appreciation. Her gaze returned to the canyon ahead as she walked with her friends, DORUmon loyally walking beside her.
Terriermon simply lounged around on top of Fluttershy’s head, sleepily munching on some pink mane while looking at Twilight’s partner. It was so hard to believe that his friend had just made it to Champion level yesterday, especially considering he was back to being a Rookie now.
He smiled a bit, a few pink hairs trapped in his mouth. Wonder what that whole ‘evolution’ thing felt like...?His curiosity was burning. He just had to know what it was like.
He spat out the hairs and cleared his throat, looking to DORUmon. “So, DORUmon...”
“Hm?” The dino looked back at him, raising an eyebrow slightly.
“So you evolved.” Terriermon crossed his arms on top of Fluttershy’s head, looking as nonchalant as he could and offering a little smirk as he continued. “How’d that go for you?”
“It was insane!” DORUmon exclaimed, the outburst causing Twilight and Fluttershy to jump in surprise, looking over at him. “Like, as soon as it happened, Pteramon was just prey to me. The second Twilight was carted off, I went ballistic on him!” The little dino grinned as he gestured excitedly, overjoyed by the memory. “Never felt so powerful in my life!”
“Oh, now you’ve gotta tell me! Gimme all the details!” Terriermon grinned, tapping his little claws together excitedly. Oh, he’s on fire, I can tell! This is gonna be good.
“I’d rather not talk about...” Fluttershy objected quietly, neither Digimon picking her up as the conversation went right along.
“Sure!” DORUmon agreed. “It started off with me just dodging all the beams and missiles. Oh, and bombs; he dropped bombs on me too. Once I got close though, I just tore into him! You should’ve seen the teeth I had in that form! Sank right into his leg, and his armor didn’t even stand a chance! I swear, I could taste his data through the...”
Fluttershy kept her head low through the walk, chewing on her lip with her eyes locked on the ground. DORUmon's words, charged with pride and excitement from Terriermon's encouragement, rocked her mind like the hull of a ship in a storm, every single detail sinking into her mind and creating images she repressed with as much speed as she could muster. Her ears drooped more with every word as she tried to block out his voice, drifting towards the back of the group to just get away from it.
It wasn’t just DORUmon, either. Even Veedramon's attitude towards battle had dug into her and squirmed in her stomach. Thinking of his friendly demeanor raised her spirits a little, but then her mind wandered to his want to fight and argue with others, the manic grin he'd get at the prospect of a fight. Her spine tingled with the image of those glittering fangs and sharp eyes bearing down on her, maw opening and coming towards—
She shook her head violently, jostling Terriermon around on top of it. The last thing she needed now was to have images like that floating through her head.
What got to her the most, though, was the still-healing burn on Twilight’s side. She knew Veedramon didn’t try to hit her, but from what she saw, he didn’t try not to either. He was so focused on Pteramon, and she was just in the way. Not only did he start that fight, he wasn’t even concerned about who got hurt during it. That was more than just alien to her, that was...
Cruel. The word she wanted was “cruel.” There was none other she could use.
“Hey.” Terriermon poked his partner’s nose, shifting on top of her head. “You’ve been stressed and mopey ever since we left. What’s wrong?”
Fluttershy looked up at her partner, who met her gaze with a look of friendly concern. She looked around at her friends, seeing that they were all engaging in conversation with their own partners, and sighed.
“Seriously, what’s wrong?” Terriermon repeated. “I can help you de-stress, because stress isn’t good. Moumantai, remember?”
“I know,” Fluttershy replied, pointing her eyes back at the ground. “It’s just... Veedramon picked that fight with Pteramon on purpose, and he got Twilight hurt. He was nice otherwise, but I really think he’s... I don’t know... obsessed with fighting.”
Terriermon took a pause to blink at her, then raised his brow as he sincerely inquired, “Is that all?”
Fluttershy’s head snapped back upwards, surprising Terriermon enough to send him rolling onto her back. He flopped onto her back and looked up, only to see Fluttershy’s shocked eyes meeting his. “What do you mean, ‘is that all?’ That’s not a good thing, Terriermon!”
Terriermon’s eyebrow rose in slight confusion as he sat up on his partner’s back. “Are you saying you’ve never fought a day in your life?”
“N-No, I’m not...” Fluttershy admitted, eyes turning to the ground slightly in thought. Images of her past struggles flashed through her mind: Nightmare Moon, the sleeping dragon, the parasprites, the cockatrice, the diamond dogs, Discord, the greed-grown Spike, Iron Will, the changelings, King Sombra, the corrupted Trixie, the timber wolves, Discord again... and every single time, she was pushed to act by all of their own actions. Even then, the parasprites didn’t really count, did they?
She sighed, turning back to Terriermon. “I’m saying I’ve never started a fight in my life. Not with the intention of starting one, anyway.”
Terriermon shrugged, his glance fixed on a point somewhere beside them. “That’s not as common an attitude as you’d think around here.”
“What do you mean?”
Terriermon pointed Fluttershy towards the scene he was looking at, and the sight appalled her. She could see two massive forms, too distant to make out clearly, locked in some unknown struggle. It was a disorganized flurry of punches and kicks and other attacks she couldn’t describe, and neither of them seemed to be gaining the upper hand.
Her eyes widened at the senseless violence. “Is... d-does that happen everywhere here?”
“This is a cruel and selfish world,” Terriermon informed his partner. “Survival of the fittest. You have to fight and get stronger if you want to make it anywhere. I’m pretty sure that’s why Veedramon wasn’t too keen on you butting in and helping him.”
“B-but...” Fluttershy stammered, somehow unable to tear her eyes away from the sight. “This can’t be all there is here. That’s no way to live at all...”
“It’s the way I know,” Terriermon replied. “It’s the way we’ve all always known. Not that there are no peaceful Digimon, but it’s way more common to see stuff like this around the Digital World. That’s a cold, hard fact, Fluttershy; we’re made to fight.”
She was stunned, eyes fixed on the scene in the distance. N-No... there’s no way that they exist just to fight. There’s other reasons, there has to be... an examination of nature, maybe? This sort of thing happens all the time in nature, out of necessity. Predators and prey, territorial disputes, showing off to attract mates... maybe that's what this all is?
She blinked as the thought crossed her mind, her ears flopping down to the sides of her head. But... DORUmon enjoyed it. Veedramon reveled in it. Animals don't enjoy doing what they do, they h-have to do it to live and breed... Her head drooped, and she let out a soft shudder. Not all Digimon c-can... be this cruel here, can they? But, b-but... Her breath caught a bit in her throat; DORUmon’s vivid words of his battle and his absolute pride in them, Veedramon’s uncaring disregard for pain caused to those not involved in his fight. The battle carrying on in the distance...
She tore her eyes away from the fight and tightly shut them, feeling wet trails draw themselves down her cheeks as she shook, trying to imagine any peaceful though that would mercifully come to her. Nothing from pictures of fields of flowers, to birds singing, did much to help her views. This world... it’s not right, it’s n-not... o-oh Celestia, I feel like I’m gonna puke...
The mare fell onto her rump and shivered, not feeling her partner grab onto a wing to stay on her back. She felt the bile rise in her throat as the sounds of the distant battle seemed to reach her ears; slashing claws, roars of agony as sharp teeth clamped down and tore flesh, blood hitting the ground in a crimson rain.
“I-I wanna... g-go home...”
“Are you alright, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked. Fluttershy looked back up from the ground to discover that all her friends were looking at her with concern, Rainbow herself having come up to her. Everyone had stopped moving in response to her crying, and she looked back down at the ground to see that she’d fallen into a sitting position..
The yellow pegasus curled up a bit from the sudden attention, hiding her face behind her mane. “I-I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. I’m sorry for slowing everypony down...”
“Fluttershy, dear, you know that’s not going to fool any of us.” Rarity trotted up to her side and placed a forehoof on her shoulder, squeezing it gently. “Something has you torn up, and it would be dreadful of us to not support you in a time of need. Now please, tell us what the matter is.”
Fluttershy started to shy away from Rarity. “I just want to g-go home...”
“We all do,” Twilight said with a sigh, ears drooping slightly as she glanced towards where they were walking. “And we’re trying to. We’ll find our way back as long as we don’t stop looking.”
The timid mare managed a nod in response. Seemingly satisfied for the moment, Rarity released her comforting grip, and after helping Fluttershy onto her hooves—and a scratch behind the ear from a worried Terriermon—the group began to travel again. Palmon was quick to mimic the motion with Rarity, catching her off-guard and making her yelp in surprise.
“Poor Fluttershy,” Pinkie remarked, her trademark smile no longer present on her face as her bounce reduced to a meager trot. “She should be having fun like the rest of us, but...”
Fluttershy kept her forlorn eyes off her friends as she walked behind them, instead plastering them back onto the distant struggle. It seemed to be over now; one of the Digimon was towering over the other, still pummeling the other’s seemingly unconscious body. The group’s path was bringing them a slight bit closer to the scene, and within range for her Digivice to chime in: “Wendigomon. Virus-type Beast Man Digimon. Champion level. A rage-filled beast able to warp space and time. Signature move is Howling Destroyer.”
She kept her eyes on Wendigomon, mostly against her will, as the beast’s muscular arms crashed down over and over again onto its opponent’s body. Her jaw slacked as she stared, her eyes widening as her pupils shrank. It—he; it looked male to her—just kept pummeling his fallen foe, bellowing in rage as he completely ignored the lack of reaction. No matter how long she stared at Wendigomon, he just kept going.
When she shot a glance at Terriermon, however, she discovered that he bore the exact same expression. For some reason, he was just as mortified by this mindless monster as he was. She looked back at Wendigomon, but while she was absolutely certain that this was the most brutal thing she’d ever seen, she didn’t see anything she thought her apparently hardened partner would object to.
Fluttershy looked back over at her stunned partner. “Terriermon, what’s wrong? Why are you looking at him like that?”
Terriermon’s gaze didn’t leave the rampaging beast. “That’s... my brother.”
The creature picked that exact moment to stop assaulting the unconscious body and look up at them. Specifically at them. Fluttershy and Terriermon both looked back, matching his fury with fear. For a long while, they stayed like that, and the others in the group were quick to join their gaze.
Wendigomon let out a feral roar, then vanished before their eyes. Fluttershy gasped, letting out a quiet yelp as her wings locked to her sides, her gaze still fixed on the site where the gigantic beast was. She perceived a few assorted murmurs from the group and a baffled “Where did it go?” from Rainbow.
A gust blew around her, and a massive shadow covered the group from behind. The group spun around towards the source of the shadow, Rainbow shouting out as she ripped herself from the ground with a blast from her wings. “Scatter!”
The monstrous Digimon barely gave anypony any time as it lunged forward with a claw, a blast of light appearing where he aimed before the claw slammed into the ground where Twilight was, rocks scattering from the iron talons shredding through them. She popped back into reality a distance away, DORUmon on her back as her horn lit up. “Can this thing teleport?!”
“Worry about that later, Fluttershy’s still over there!” DORUmon leapt off Twilight’s back and charged off towards the frozen pony, eyes still locked forward at where the demonic creature once stood. Something weighed her hooves down, despite fear screaming at her to move and hide, but the sight of those eyes and teeth made hiding seem useless, especially when the beast already showed so much speed. A chomp on her ear snapped her out of her shock, forcing a yelp out of her as she looked up to what bit her.
Terriermon was there, hanging onto her head and staring back at her. “Fluttershy, what’re you doing?! Run!”
“I-I...” Another chomp cut Fluttershy’s words off, Terriermon now looking pretty panicked.
“He’s right behind us, Fluttershy! Move, move!” He spun around as Fluttershy’s wings shook, and she finally started moving, taking off as quickly as she could away from the fight. His eyes set on the monster of a brother currently pummeling the ground as DORUmon and Labramon ran around his feet, biting at him whenever they could.
Rainbow Dash moved through the air, Twilight firing off bolts at Wendigomon to try and stave it off. The alicorn’s eyes fixed on Rarity and Palmon, both of them standing a distance away from the fight so they didn’t get trampled. “Rarity, can you pin him down?!”
“I-I’ll try! Palmon, be a dear and help me, would you?” Rarity looked to her partner, keeping at least a little distance between them as her horn lit up.
“Gladly! Just slow him down, right?” She nodded and jabbed towards the ground with her tendriled hands, digging into the earth and spreading the roots quickly towards the beast in front of her. “DORUmon, Labramon!”
The two Digimon looked over to her before they felt the ground rumble, and roots burst out of the earth around them. They quickly moved away as Palmon grit her teeth, wrapping the roots around Wendigomon’s legs and gripping him as tightly as she could. The beast twisted and threw a punch at the annoying blue bug flying around him, just then noticing his feet being tied to the ground. He spun and threw off his weight, roaring as he fell back.
“Got him! Rarity!” Palmon looked to her partner, the unicorn gritting her teeth as she grabbed onto Wendigomon’s hands with her magic and pulled him down the rest of the way, the monster hitting the ground with a large thoom! Dust scattered from the impact as the beast struggled against his binds, Palmon and Rarity both having trouble off the bat keeping him pinned.
“Twilight, we have him, but he’s too strong! Have you got a plan!?” Rarity shouted, forcing the beast’s hands down to the ground. Wendigomon writhed and thrashed, snarling as he fought to break from his anchors, teeth gnashing as he struggled. He spied the blue bug from before flying over head and turning over in a loop, sneering as Rainbow raced down towards him.
“I got him!” She yelled, grinning as she dropped like an anvil from the sky. “This is gonna hurt, big guy!”
Seeing his target hurtle herself towards him like a dart at a dartboard, he took in a big breath, gripping his fists in slight pain as his lungs stretched to contain all the air. Then, with an earth-shaking roar, he launched a powerful shockwave towards Rainbow. She could barely roll out of the way before it slammed into her like a brick wall.
She was right; it did hurt. Sweet celestial sisters, it hurt bad. She was tossed away like a ragdoll by the blast of concussive force, sending her hurtling towards the ground, wings stunned and her head ringing like hearing one of Pinkie’s marching band songs.
“Rainbow!” Ryudamon shouted, quickly charging for his falling partner as Twilight helped with keeping the beast pinned down. He dove and rolled, sliding on his back as he got under the dropping pegasus, and quickly flipped up and put his hindlegs between him and Rainbow. He carefully extended them, trying to gauge Rainbow’s speed and use his legs to slow her down, but even with that, the impact made when she landed on his feet was strong enough to knock the wind out of him. “Oof!”
Rainbow coughed hard, struggling back to her hooves as her ears rang. She was on her hooves for barely a second before falling over on her side again, holding an ear with her hoof. “H-He just shouted at me! What was that?!” She cringed in pain as her own voice exploded in her head like a bomb, gritting her teeth.
Ryudamon got up himself, taking a few deep breaths to ease his lungs before heading over to Rainbow’s side, the crackle of earth catching his ear. He turned to see Wendigomon glaring back at him, heaving himself up onto his feet, despite the incredible force applied by Twilight and Rarity on his hands. The snarl coming from its fanged maw chilled Ryudamon down to his base code, quickly hefting Rainbow back onto her hooves. “C’mon, Rainbow, we’ve gotta go! Get up!”
“I’m trying, shorty, stop shoving!” Rainbow grunted as she got up, staring down the monster in front of her. Her wings flared as she dared to charge him again, only to be grabbed by Applejack running by her.
“C’mon, ya featherhead! We’re leavin’!” AJ chucked the pegasus onto her back and grabbed Ryudamon in her mouth before taking off, giving Wendigomon a hefty berth as she charged towards the forgotten Fluttershy. “Fluttershy! Slow down!”
Terriermon looked back at the galloping AJ, then spun around and bopped Fluttershy on the head. “It’s alright, Fluttershy, they’ve got him! Calm down!”
“Ow!” Fluttershy lowered her head from the bop, slowing down obediently. She looked back at the rising beast, but it was clear that it was struggling. “B-But, it’s getting up!”
“He, and don’t worry about him. Lopmon always had an anger issue.” Terriermon shook his head, sighing. “Sorry for panicking like that, just never seen him like... this. He’ll calm down on his own, he just had to get some of his tantrum out.”
Fluttershy looked back at him, then back to the beast collapsing back to the ground, frowning slightly with worry. “Are you sure?” She asked, voice barely above a whisper.
“Completely! Why would I lie?” Terriermon smiled, hopping back up onto his partner’s head. “Once he realizes he’s lost, he’ll just stay put, cry for a bit, then go off on his way after I scold him.”
“B-But, what about Rainbow Dash? He hurt her!” Fluttershy turned to her two friends, Rainbow gritting her teeth as AJ came up by Fluttershy.
“Darn right he hurt me! Gonna knock his teeth ouuuuwwww, my ears...!” Rainbow winced, AJ putting Ryudamon down on the ground.
“Yeah, explain that, Terriermon. Why’s your brother attackin’ us like some bull set loose in a ring?” AJ raised her eyebrow at the small bunny Digimon, before looking back at his monstrous brother battling against Rarity, Palmon and Twilight. DORUmon could be seen a distance away, focusing everything he can into evolving again to help protect his friends.
“Lopmon’s got issues and he always loses a bunch of fights. It's the same thing when we’re together; always brawling with each other, and I always win. He gets mad and leaves in a huff, then comes back, calm as a breeze.” Terriermon shrugged, looking back to the country pony. “This isn’t different, just... worse, I guess. Heh, maybe he lost a bet? Just let me talk to him.”
“A be— ugh... c’mon, y’all, let’s go help the others at least.” AJ nodded to Ryudamon and Terriermon before turning around, starting to run back to the others. “Ya don’t have to come, Fluttershy, just stay away ‘till we’re done!”
Fluttershy opened her mouth, only to have it shut from Terriermon jumping off her head and taking off after the earth pony, Ryudamon in close pursuit. She reached out to them with a hoof, as if it would pull them back to her, voice caught in her throat as she tried to get words out. Failing that, her eyes turned to the ground as she lowered her hoof, sighing a bit. “J-Just a scolding... poor thing must lose a lot of games with his brother. M-Maybe I can help?” She looked back up towards the monster, nodding a bit. “Yeah... I mean, I’ve helped manticores before, haven’t I? This is just like a manticore, without a scorpion tail or wings. Yeah, I can do this...” She smiled a bit before opening her wings and taking off after her friends.
Don’t be afraid, Fluttershy... you can do this.
The two ponies and Digimon swiftly closed the gap to the rest of the group, coming to a stop by Rarity and Palmon, both of them struggling to keep Wendigomon on the ground. Palmon looked back to the approaching group, gulping through a pant. “Don’t come close, he’s still angry!”
“Don’t worry about it, Palmon! I know my brother!” Terriermon came to a stop beside Palmon, smirking with confidence. “He’s just throwing a tantrum.”
Rarity looked over him with surprise. “A tantrum, dear? A tantrum is messing up my design room and throwing fabrics about after getting a D on a test! This is a violent, furious beast that needs to be stopped!”
“No he isn’t! This is just Lopmon after a bad loss. Just lemme talk to him!” Terriermon scoffed and walked up towards the thrashing monster, furrowing his brow.
“Don’t get near him! He’ll—”
“Hey! Lopmon!” Terriermon shouted, blocking out Palmon’s voice as he approached the monster’s head. “I know you can hear me, kid!”
The beast stopped thrashing, turning his head to face the tiny bunny, two blazing eyes focused on him. A questioning growl came out of him.
“Listen, Lopmon, you’ve gotta calm down! I know losing hurts, but remember what I always tell ya; a loss is a time to learn, right? And don’t try excusing your way out of this!” He narrowed his eyes at Wendigomon, like a parent staring down their child. “Lemme guess, some big Digimon challenged you, and you got your butt kicked, right?”
Another growl came as a response, a little subdued as the monster focused on him, eyes narrowed. His hand flexed out of Terriermon’s sight as his muscles relaxed.
“Yeah, I thought so. So what? Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, go fight someone else. Don’t freak out over a single loss, kiddo.” Terriermon crossed his arms as he sat down, staring down the monster. “Seriously, it’s embarrassing us both when you turn into this over one challenge.”
Another growl and gnashing of fangs, Wendigomon furrowing his brow at his brother.
“Hey! Don’t gnash at me, buddy, I’m not the one who’s throwing the temper tantrum!” Terriermon moved up closer and poked Wendigomon in the cheek. “You’ve gotta calm down, kiddo, you’re gonna corrupt yourself with all this stress.”
Finally, a sigh escaped the beast as he rolled back over, staring up at the sky. Terriermon hopped up onto his brother’s chest and patted him on the chin.
“It’s alright, Lopmon. You know I’ll help ya out. Fighting’s for fun when it’s between us, right?” Terriermon smiled and nodded his head, getting a nod back from his brother. “There ya go, kid. Let it go, it’s one loss, you’ll win others.”
A grunt and a nod was his response, and Terriermon turned to the others, raising his brow and smiled confidently. “What’d I tell ya? Just a little temper tantrum. He’ll be good.”
Fluttershy flapped up by the beast, shivering slightly as she touched down. “R-Really?”
“Yep, no trouble.” Terriermon grinned, nodding.
Fluttershy smiled back at him, walking up towards Wendigomon and reaching out with a hoof. It started with a gentle, recoiling touch to his claw, but after seeing there was no reaction, she reached back out and gently rubbed the monster’s hand, nodding. “H-He really is like a big manticore... nice, once you get to know him...” She let out a sigh, followed by the rest of the group. Rarity’s grip loosened a bit as she relaxed, though she kept an eye on the beast’s arms.
Wendigomon simply focused on the sky, sighing a bit, before letting out a grunty humph and closing his eyes.
His rest wouldn’t last long.
“Datamon!” Impmon ran into the lab below the viewing room, panting. “Hey, bot-brain!”
“What is it, you cretin? And I have a name. For Yggdrasil’s sake, you said it already.” The robot Digimon turned to face the short imp, leaving his next upgrade to the monitoring system half-finished on the table.
“Trixie’s callin’ for ya, and man she’s livid! Er, excited. I dunno, she may as well have rabies for all I know!” Impmon hopped in place, like he’s feeding off some adrenaline spike somewhere in the lab. “Just come up to the viewing room!”
Datamon just deadpanned at the imp. “Yes, I will follow every order and leave this clearly volatile experiment to decay on my workbench.” Liquid sarcasm leaked out of his mouth, which he wiped away with a hand. “Thought I fixed that...”
“Whatever man, just c’mon! That group of ponies we were watching are fighting with Wendigomon!”
“Yes, I’m aware. I can see what’s going on.” Datamon turned back to his project, carrying on his work with a welder. “Why should I care?”
“Because, she’s got a job for ya. She wants to know if you can make things more difficult for ‘em, since Wendigomon’s, well... losing.” Impmon put his hands on his hips, raising his eyebrow. “Unleeeess the oh so intelligent Datamon doesn’t have anything that can help. Thought you were prepared for anything?”
“Denouncing my intelligence now, are you?” Datamon sighed and placed his welder back on the table. “Alright, what does she want me to do?”
“She wants this guy to get angry, get really furious, and really have at ‘em!” Impmon grinned and started bouncing again. “Oh, and it’s to see if you can actually do what you say you can do.”
“Alright, first thing’s first, she does know ‘Datamon’ is my name, right? Data. Data is my specialty. Outsiders, honestly...” He stood upright and folded his arms, tapping into the camera feed over the battle area with Wendigomon and the ponies. “Right then, let’s see. Champion level, Beast Man, meaning his core code is loaded in a few memory addresses... a little modification will do the trick. Blind anger, or anything specific?”
“How should I know? Just make him angry!”
“The one time I offer specialized hacking...” Datamon shrugged and brought the camera in for a closer look. “Time for a bit of breaking and entering...”
“What the heck is that?” Rainbow watched a little thing flying down from the sky towards them. She opened her wings before it came into full view, tension in her muscles as she prepped to launch at it and take it out. She visibly relaxed after it came up to the group, revealing it to be a camera of sorts. “Oh, it’s a... uh... what is it?”
“A camera?” Twilight raised her eyebrow, loosening her own magical grip on the calmed beast and trotting over to the metallic orb. A simple device in shape and look, it was a steel-grey sphere with a little jet on the bottom of it, and a large camera lens on the front of it. “A pretty weird looking one.” Twilight leaned around it, furrowing her brow. “Where’s the viewpiece?”
“Perhaps it’s an automated camera?” Rarity said, looking over at it as she helped hold Wendigomon down. Palmon just looked over at it and raised her eyebrow, tilting her head slightly.
“Never seen one of those before.” She shrugged and looked back at Wendigomon’s legs, scanning for any tension. She sat down, now properly bored of the situation as she remained rooted in place. Sometimes regret sticking my hands in the ground. Now I’m stuck.
The camera booped and turned in the air, looking at Twilight, then over at Rarity. It turned then to Rainbow, then the others, as if registering their presence for its records. Its jet thrusted a little harder, pushing it up into the air, and it flew over to Wendigomon, peering down at him. The beast opened his eyes at the sound of the camera’s thruster and stared back, brow furrowed slightly in confusion as the camera got closer.
Datamon rapped his digits on the workbench as he got a nice close-up of Wendigomon’s fangs, then of the monster’s eyes. “Now where was the interface on this creature again? Somewhere behind the left eye, I think...” He groaned a bit at the query, searching through his available data on Digimon. “Wendigo, Wendigo... ah, here it is. Data interface behind the left eye, two inches into the temple, modify addresses 0x0001632 through 0x00F33A23. Not hard at all.” He nodded as the camera shifted down to Wendigomon’s left temple, the beast watching the camera go. “And deploy interface module...”
Rarity and Twilight watched the camera move around, AJ and Rainbow Dash moving up to it, when a little compartment opened up under the lens and deployed a needle, attached to a thick grey canister. “What th’ hay is this?” AJ furrowed her brow at it, and reached out to touch it, before the camera suddenly burst forward and jabbed into Wendigomon’s head.
Datamon smiled, and with a sweep of his hand, several windows filled with memory locations and associated data, digits sweeping through them and adjusting their values to a myriad of strings, integers and booleans. Seconds later, he waved his hand to sweep the windows away, Wendigomon’s eyes shrinking as something changed in his mind. “You’re mine now.”
With a snap of Datamon’s fingers, the change saved, and Wendigomon suddenly roared out louder than he ever had during the fight. His muscles tensed and he easily broke out of the ponies’ grip, kicking upward to snap the vines. Palmon’s face hurtled straight into the ground from the force, getting a yelp of pain out of her as she flipped back and grabbed her face, vines well and truly snapped.
Poor Terriermon was catapulted right off his brother’s chest as Wendigomon flipped upright onto his feet, and the beast spun around and rushed the closest target to it, fist flying straight for her.
Fluttershy never knew such terror in her life, and when that fist crushed into her chest and sent her flying, she recognized a whole new world of pain. Her scream caught in her throat, her legs stopped working, her wings went slack, and the world just spun around her as she flew up, then down, then slammed into the ground.
Terriermon was in mid-fall when he saw everything, a nightmarish chill racing down his spine as his brother rushed Fluttershy. Hearing the pony get brutally winded and thrown away like a ragdoll stopped his blood cold in his body, his nerves shattered, and hitting the ground barely registered for him. He got up onto his feet and watched the monster race off towards Fluttershy, the other ponies taking off after him to try and stop him. And that’s when something finally passed through his head, and put strength into his legs.
This isn’t fun anymore.
Fluttershy tried to pick herself up, but the sight of the titanic devil racing for her froze her to the ground. Her eyes tracked the angered red in Wendigomon’s eyes, and she could barely breathe as she saw her end coming straight for her. “Help... me...” With the words came a blinding flash of light from the Digivice on her leg, and another light to consume her partner as he raced for her side.
With a primal scream of rage, Terriermon lunged forward and took off towards his partner as he felt the light sweep over him, the way it had before, and it just pushed him on faster, even as he changed. His body bulked up and grew immensely, his neck practically fusing to his body as his ears ballooned outward. His arms bulged out from elbow to wrist, transforming into gatling guns with metal hands in the centers. The fading light made visible his new green body, donning a pair of blue jeans and a belt of ammunition strapped to his chest.
Wendigomon reared back and screamed, throwing a killer punch straight for Fluttershy. He was hungry now, and the ponies looked like very scrumptious snacks. But his punch met an equally angry and powerful one, stopping dead in its tracks.
Fluttershy couldn’t even open her eyes, but she knew someone was there. The sounds she heard, from the enraged snarling of the monster, and the huffing from the being in front of her, mixed with the sound of her Digivice rattling off a bit of welcome info.
“Gargomon. Vaccine-type Beast Man Digimon. Champion level. Attacks relentlessly with nimble and precise movements. Signature move is Gargo Pellets.”
Gargomon put on a grim grin, glaring up at his brother as he matched Wendigomon’s strength with his own, his metal fist pushing against Wendigomon’s. “Fight my partner without even inviting me, huh? That’s low, brother.”
With a furious roar and a tensing in his legs, Gargomon pushed forward, shoving Wendigomon back. The beast threw another punch at him, blocked by his other gatling gun, and the anger simply built higher between them. “Just like old times, kid! All the money’s on the table now! Now, come get some!” He smiled and countered the force from his brother with a sideways shove, pushing Wendigomon’s arms out of the way. With the path clear, he pointed his arm-mounted gun and took aim.
“Aha!” Trixie exclaimed, grinning. At last, she saw one of her adversaries’ partners evolve with her own eyes. The process was truly a sight to behold; that brilliant light masked a series of elaborate changes in the Digimon’s appearance and size.
She’d seen it before, of course, when she triggered Yaamon’s evolution into Impmon. However, the process was effortless for her. Depending on how evolution worked without the influence of a Digivice, but he may have already been on the cusp of evolution when she arrived and her push was the last bit he needed. She would have to ask him to know for sure, if he even knew himself.
No, this was different. This was triggered, a reactionary response to something that happened. Considering the evolved Digimon’s usual proximity to the yellow pegasus that just got smacked around, Trixie was led to wonder if her distress was the deciding factor. The series of events strongly pointed to such being the case, but she would know for sure if this turned into a pattern. It was times like this that she wished she’d been given a tutorial when she entered.
The partner’s peril triggering evolution in a Digimon... there was something almost noble in that. Unfortunately, that would render Impmon incapable of evolution, since she would likely never find herself in genuine danger. Her plan was too perfect, this surveillance station was fortified, and no one in this room would do something stupid like assault one another.
Winning this game was going to be so trivial. It was almost boring, but such was the risk that came with tampering.
Speaking of tampering... She was suddenly reminded of her associate’s chore. She turned to the mechanoid and asked, “How goes it?”
Datamon turned to Trixie, an irritated scowl plastered on his face. “I’ll tell you when I’m done! I’ve told you I’ll tell you when I’m done!”
“Need any help?” Impmon offered. He crawled up onto the dome on Datamon’s head, staring down at the confusing mass of buttons and lights that made up the console. “I can always learn what all this stuff does.”
“The last thing I trust you with,” Datamon remarked as he plucked the Rookie off his head, “is toying with my virus software. Stay put, be patient, and let me work.”
Impmon pouted at Datamon. “Yeesh. Don’t have to be a jerk about it.”
“And you don’t need to be a pest!” Datamon scolded, swatting his hand in the weaker creature’s direction before returning to his work.
Impmon stuck his tongue out at the grumpy robot, absently wondering if he’d actually been that annoying. With a huff, he sat back by Trixie’s side, staring at the screen she was fixed on and joining her in watching the other ponies fight a thing.
“Gargo Pellets!”
The heavy cannon suddenly spun up and unleashed pure lead fury into Wendigomon’s chest, the heavy rounds enough to pummel the wind out of him and shove him back several feet. A grin crossed Gargomon’s face as he suddenly stopped firing and leapt forward, powerful legs springing him straight for Wendigomon’s head. With a roar, Wendigomon threw a punch towards his brother, splitting the air with force.
Gargomon simply spun in the air and grabbed onto the arm with his hands, throwing himself down under it and back up over the arm in a flip, landing on his feet. “Whoo, I could get used to this!” Gargomon laughed before leaping towards Wendigomon’s shoulder, using the raised slope he was standing on to let gravity speed him up, before flipping over and delivering a powerful kick to the monster’s shoulder. The beast recoiled from the slam and spun around, the force of the kick sending him spinning on a foot. The other whipped out in a kick, the momentum speeding it up to a blurring strike which caught Gargomon in the back, throwing him to the ground.
He quickly flipped in the air and hit the ground with his hands, flipping back over to his feet and skidding along the dirt before kicking off into a sprint around the beast. The grin just wouldn’t leave his face, despite the searing pain spreading over his shoulder blades, and he loaded in a set of fresh shells into the arm-cannon. Leaning in to his left, he tightened his circular sprint towards the monster, the quaking ground as Wendigomon charged for him doing little to stop his run.
“C’mon, Wendi, let’s see what ya got!” He roared, suddenly tightening his sprint into a direct charge for his brother, both Digimon now hurtling towards each other at incredible speed, the earth itself shuddering under them. Wendigomon took in a sharp breath while throwing his fists up, bringing them down into a massive impact into the ground in front of Gargomon. He charged straight into the resulting dust cloud, the beast above him roaring straight down into the earth and shattering the rock behind him, cracks spreading out from the close-range shockwave towards Gargomon as the ground broke apart.
“Woah!” Gargomon grit his teeth as he sped up, trying to book it away from the cracks chasing him, and the beast whipped around, driving his fist into the ground and digging up a boulder. A sick grin crossed his face as he reared back and threw it with tremendous strength, Gargomon looking back and seeing the rock-turned-cannon-shell flying towards him. A swift kick into the ground launched him into the air, the boulder slamming into the ground and bouncing away like a beach ball, and he turned in the air took aim. “Gargo Pellets!” The cannon suddenly lit up again, the air breaking as shells tore through it towards Wendigomon, slamming into his leg and crippling his stance.
This is so cool! All this firepower, all the strength, the maneuverability! Never run so fast in my life, and never hit so hard before! A childish laugh escaped Gargomon as he flipped through the air, falling towards the ground and still pelting his brother with gunfire. He brought up his other arm and added another cannon’s set of fire to the barrage, the recoil causing his aim to go all over the place, shredding the ground with high-caliber shells. “Woo, that’s some recoil... hehehehe, this is fun!” He hit the ground suddenly, legs barely buckling from the impact, and he launched forward again, left cannon still firing as he sprinted forward, forcing Wendigomon to throw his arms up to protect himself.
Hm. Feel an attack name coming up. Gargomon smiled grimly as he cut the fire and kicked up to top speed, roaring as the distance closed between himself and the beast. He suddenly kicked off the ground and threw himself into a spin, aiming his feet for Wendigomon’s guard. “Um... oh crud, shoulda thought the name up first.” He groaned, kicking furiously hard as soon as he felt Wendigomon’s arms against his feet, the blast of strength knocking his brother other with a screech.
“Ah, I know! Ahhh, missed it.” Gargomon flipped over in the air, spending a moment during his flight to look over his arm-cannons. The recoil on these things is monstrous. Wait. Recoil? He raised his eyebrow, flexing his metal hands before grinning. They clicked as he loaded up some new rounds, and aimed them around himself. “Gargo Pellets!” With the command roared, the cannons spun up and started firing, the recoil sending Gargomon into a blurring spin. He slowly arced them up, using the recoil to speed up his descent towards his brother’s guard. “What’s a good name for this? Uh, Gargo Drill!”
He soon slammed into Wendigomon’s guard, the claws on his feet acting like drill bits and digging into his arms, a roar of agony escaping the monster before he suddenly broke his guard and threw his arms out, launching Gargomon back into the air. “Woah woah woah! Ahhh!” Gargomon flipped through the air, spinning and flipping all over as he flew up and up. “Gargomon doesn’t wanna fly!”
Wendigomon’s eyes blazed with fury as he slammed his arms into the ground, throwing himself back up onto his feet, and he took in a heavy breath. He took aim and let loose a furious bellow of destruction, the air twisting around the shockwave as it blew forward towards Gargomon. He caught sight of the air blurring into a tornado around the blast, gritting his teeth as he threw up his arms and curled into a guard. “Oh, this is gonna hurt!”
The blast just threw him even higher up into the air, knocking the wind out of him as the force easily broke through his guard. “Ngh, G-Gargo Pellets!” He fired his guns in all directions to stop flipping through the air and reorient himself, two more shockwaves blasting past him in the process. He panted hard as he furrowed his brow, fists clenching up, though another thought rolled through his head that put a rather crazed grin on his face, as his flight finally reached its apex. He turned in the air and fired his guns a few times in front of him, sending him back down towards Wendigomon, and soon he was falling like an anvil through the air as the guns turned to the air and let loose every round they had, speeding him down towards his brother at terminal velocity.
“Alright, Wendigomon, you wanna use some shout against me!? Then here’s one for you!!” He turned in the air and spent even more ammunition to get a roll going, flipping through the air in a blur before long as he sped towards his brother. Another shockwave was blasted towards him, but the roll twisted the force around him, just adding even more speed to it. “And I’ve got the perfect name for it!”
Wendigomon roared and threw a powerful punch towards the cannonball Gargomon, and Gargomon just let loose a furious roar as he closed the distance between himself and his brother, and brought down his heavy cannons in an axehandle. “Gargo Titan Breaker!” The impact blew away every bit of force Wendigomon had in the punch, throwing his arm into the ground and taking his body with him, Gargomon slowing down enough from the exchange to flip over and hit the ground on his feet.
He panted hard as Wendigomon went down, slamming into the ground with a huge impact, and all he could do was laugh. It started slow as the adrenaline coursed through his blood, soon rising up into a hysterical fit of laughter, Gargomon holding his gut as he curled over. “H-Holy cow, that was awesome! You see how fast I was moving there?!” He fought to catch his breath between each laugh, falling over onto his rear and kicking in his fit. “I just came in and BAM! Hit your punch and just put you on the ground! Ohhh, and that name! Gargo Titan Breaker, it’s genius!”
Wendigomon just fought back onto his feet, holding his now pretty damaged arm with his other hand, furious breaths racing in and out of his mouth through clenched fangs. He winced as a shock of pain raced up from his hand and through his shoulder, twitching slightly, the pain only driving his anger further up. With a snarl and a roar of pain, Wendigomon raised a foot and slammed it into the ground, chucking Gargomon up a few feet with the sheer force of it.
“Yikes!” Gargomon hit the ground in seconds, getting back to his feet and staring up at his opponent with an incredulous look. “Oh come on, Wendi! I beat you! You went down and just barely got back up!” Wendigomon snarled at him as he turned around, Gargomon’s eyes rolling at the display of rage. “Wait, don’t tell me. Best two out of three, right?” He huffed before jumping to the right, Wendigomon’s kick racing past him. “Alright, alright, I’ll play some more! But don’t come crying to me when your twin brother beats you down!” Gargomon smirked and jumped back, bringing up his arm-cannon and gripping his arm behind it to steady his aim. “Gargo Pellets!”
Fluttershy watched the display in pure terror, the shock of the brush with death still very fresh. Her eyes were locked on her partner, the cackling bunny jumping around and shooting his brother from all sides, showing absolutely no care or worry for injuring or even killing him. The sight struck horror into her heart, a hoof coming up over her mouth to stop the sound of her gasping from reaching the two warriors. He... wh-what happened... h-he’s just... beating his own brother into the ground! Laughing in the middle of a fight! V-Violence isn’t funny, it’s terrifying! I-I can’t even... is th-that still Terriermon...? When did he g-get so...
Scary?
Her partner scared her. He’d always had a tougher side, from what she’d known of him, but he was still so docile and relaxed. Watching him as Gargomon, however... he was spraying bullets in every direction, giggling and laughing wildly as he pummeled his own brother. He was taking a disturbingly childlike glee in fighting.
He was acting just like all the others. The whistle of a bullet flying straight past her from a wild shot snapped her out of her terror, and she suddenly screamed out.
“Stop!”
The scream punctuated the impact of fists between Gargomon and Wendigomon, both of their furies disappearing into confusion—and slight pain—as the shrill squeak hit them. They held their fistlock as Fluttershy flew between them, staring at her in bafflement. The yellow pegasus was glaring at her aggressor, a commanding stare that shook the beast’s resolve.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you,” the mare scolded, “but this is no way to behave! You just attacked me, my friends, and your own brother without any warning or reason! And even before that, you’ve been destroying this landscape and beating on other Digimon in a temper tantrum! Terriermon told me this isn’t how you normally act, so you’d better clean your act up!”
Wendigomon shied away from Gargomon and his partner, and he began to whimper softly, pulling out of the fistlock and holding his hurt hand with the other. The gun-toting brother threw up his fist with a whooping holler, shouting, “Atta girl, Shy! Way to put him in his pla—”
“And you!” Fluttershy turned sharply, her soul-piercing stare focused on Gargomon. Her partner yelped, not expecting her ferocity to be turned on him, and stood bolt upright and at attention under her glare. “I don’t know what your evolution did to you, but you were going berserk! You were just as liable to hit one of us as Wendigomon! I understand how important fighting is to you, but you don’t get to be reckless! I’m very disappointed in you!”
Gargomon furrowed his brow at the declaration, pride scarred a bit. “W-Wait, what?! I had this fight under control, you weren’t in any danger!”
“Not in any danger?!” Fluttershy grit her teeth and got right up in Gargomon’s face, raising her voice. “You nearly shot me!”
Gargomon’s eyes went wide at the shout, ears splaying back as he stared into his partner’s eyes. “Wait, what?”
“One of those shells...” Fluttershy panted, her eyes losing some of their anger and delving into panic. “I-It nearly hit me.”
Gargomon blinked at her, completely dumbfounded by the prospect. “But...” He looked down at the weapons around his wrists, staring at the black metal. “My aim was spot-on... how’d...?”
Twilight’s voice reached him as the others came up to Fluttershy, thoroughly freaked out themselves. “Wendigomon was moving, Gargomon... and at one point, he did put himself between you and us.”
How’d he do that? I didn’t even notice them! Gargomon flexed his hands slightly before backing up from Fluttershy, looking back up at her. His mouth opened to say something, but his voice caught in his throat, the usual confidence parading in his speech completely leaving him. After a few more tries, he simply lowered his hands and looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy. I should’ve been paying more attention...”
“You should’ve, Gargomon. You should’ve been paying attention to a lot of things.” Fluttershy sighed, shaking her head in disappointment. “That evolution did a lot more to you than just making you stronger. I couldn’t even recognize you during that...”
Gargomon’s ear twitched at the burning words, and he kept his eyes fixed on the ground. He just shook his head and scoffed, turning and walking away.
“H-Hey, Gargomo—”
Gargomon raised his hand and waved Fluttershy’s words off. “Don’t. Just take care of my brother. Gonna go sit down, think a bit.”
As if on cue, Wendigomon’s whimpers grew more audible, and he plopped on the ground as he began to sob. Fluttershy’s attention snapped towards the crying beast, her caretaking instincts immediately overriding her fury at the sight. To see something so brutishly powerful suddenly break down and cry... while it seemed to fit Terriermon’s description of his brother, it was a jarring sight to behold after what had just transpired.
Without another thought, the pegasus flew towards the crying brother, patting his shoulder comfortingly. “There, there... everything’s going to be okay now...”
Wendigomon’s body suddenly lit up, giving Fluttershy another fright as a white glow consumed it. The sobs could still be heard, but as the glowing form shrank drastically in size, they rose in pitch, sounding not unlike the cries of a child.
Soon the light was gone, and Wendigomon was Lopmon once more. The devolved Digimon looked strikingly similar to Terriermon, but with a brown and pink body and three horns atop his head rather than the one. If anyone had doubted their relationship before, there could be no denying it now.
Lopmon looked up at the timid mare, tears still streaming from his eyes. “Please... f-forgive me...”
A while later, and after many comforting pats and hugs to settle the distraught Digimon, the group was reassembled, Terriermon sitting on Fluttershy’s back as they set to speaking with Lopmon.
Lopmon took a moment to breathe and compose himself, before bowing to his saviors, hands together as he did. “You’ve saved me from myself! Oh, praise Azulongmon for your presence!”
“Azulongmon?” Fluttershy inquired, tilting her head. “Who’s—”
Terriermon quickly placed a hand on Fluttershy’s mouth, silencing her and shaking his head. “Don’t get him started. It’s a whole religious thing.”
“But his existence is fact!” Lopmon pointed a finger at his brother, brow furrowed in irritation. “You know this as well as I do, Terry!”
Terriermon sneered a bit and rolled his eyes as Rainbow looked over at him, cracking a bit of a smirk behind her hoof as Lopmon continued. “As for your question, m’lady, Azulongmon is one of the four Holy Beasts, and the guardian of the eastern sector of the Digital World. I am destined to be a Deva, to carry out his will and serve as his emissary.”
Fluttershy smiled and nodded, sitting down so she could be comfortable for the rest of Lopmon’s tale. “Very interesting...”
Terriermon rolled his eyes and leaned up to his partner’s ear, whispering behind his hand as he narrowed his eyes and looked over at his brother. “This is where he gets crazy.”
“Lord Azulongmon speaks to me,” Lopmon continued, aiming a leer back at Terriermon before focusing back on Fluttershy and speaking like a priest to a church congregation. “He speaks of my holy destiny and tells me that I am more than his Deva. He tells me of others, of partners and allies through whom I will realize my true calling. I hear his words, and I feel in my soul that he speaks the truth.”
“Really?” Fluttershy raised her brow in surprise. “You mean... you’re supposed to have a partner, just like Terriermon?”
“So my lord tells me, such is the truth.” Lopmon nodded to her, putting his hands back together as he continued. “I believe the partner to whom I am destined to bond is from a world outside of mine. If all are as kind as you, I hope for my partner to be from your world.” Fluttershy blushed modestly from the compliment, hiding beneath her mane even as she smiled at the brown bunny.
DORUmon smirked despite himself, having overheard Lopmon’s words. Now isn’t that interesting? More Digimon who’ve got partners... or at least, they will have them at some point. Sounds like fun! And we’ve already seen so many new Digimon over only a day; just how many are out there?
As Lopmon continued discussing his weird Deva thing, though, DORUmon walked over quietly and gave Terriermon a nudge, whispering to him so he wouldn’t interrupt the religious bunny. “Hey.”
Oh thank goodness, something interesting... Terriermon turned and raised his brow, face betraying his mirth for a distraction just slightly in a smile. “Hm?”
DORUmon nodded over towards the brown bunny as he continued his recount of the glorious Guardian of the East. “I couldn’t help but hear what Lopmon said about having a partner he was waiting for... why did you never tell me your brother had the same destiny as us?”
Terriermon blinked at his friend, then turned to Lopmon, clearing his throat and thankfully cutting Lopmon off. “Hey, can you let me and DORUmon chat in private a bit? You can keep going with Fluttershy.”
“Oh? Yes, of course,” Lopmon nodded and opened his hands in a wide gesture to his brother. “Azulongmon bless you; may the wind guide you to good fortune, brother.” That sickeningly sweet smile put Terriermon off a bit, and he hopped off his partner’s back and started leading DORUmon back to the others. He couldn’t help but let out a small retching noise as he went.
“What was that?” DORUmon asked. “Why couldn’t you have just said anything there?”
“Because honestly? It’s a whole load of junk data.” Terriermon replied with a slight frown and a scoff, shooting a glance towards his twin. “He’s been jealous of me since day one. He doesn’t like that I’ve made a bunch of friends and he couldn’t do the same, so he’s been trying to copy and one-up me with the destiny thing. I’ve called him out to his face on the Deva thing, but...”
He let out a sigh, turning back towards his conversation partner. “I don’t have the heart to do it on anything else. Poor guy managed to convince himself of all this, and I don’t want to hurt his feelings or lose his trust by calling his bluff on all of it.”
DORUmon simply stared at Terriermon, harsh judgment written all over his face. “I guarantee you, if he finds out you have this little faith in him, it’s going to blow up in your face. Like, Wendigomon-level blow up.”
“At least I’ve got a good defense against that now, but yeah.” Terriermon shook his head, sighing. “I know it’s all just him trying to prove he’s better than me. Just don’t wanna... well, break it to him in front of everyone. I’ve fought against it for a long time now, and he just won’t give up.” He shrugged before carrying on back to the group. “At this point, I don’t care anymore. Just don’t want his crazy religious garbage to get in the way.”
DORUmon let out a heavy sigh of his own, head hanging slightly as he trailed behind Terriermon. This guy just can’t give his brother a break, can he? It’s like watching two Ultimates beat on each other for days, trash talking throughout... He glanced back at the shrinking image of Lopmon and Fluttershy, the brown Digimon sitting on the mare’s mane as he continued regaling about his lord. And did he really make all that up? Seems kinda unreal if it all is just a lie. It’s too developed. He’s just going on and on about all these legends and battles about this ‘Azulongmon’... he couldn’t have made it up, could he?
He shook his head and looked back towards the group, standing back upright to ensure nobody thought something was happening. Whether it’s true or not, though, I’ll need to talk with Terriermon again. This isn’t how two brothers should treat each other. Families are so rare in this world... he should cherish his twin and support him, and by the end of all this, I’ll make sure he does.
He tried to push the thoughts and feelings aside. He was so used to repressing his own insecurities by now that it was only a moment before he saw success. One stray thought crossed his mind, however.
Terriermon’s going to eat those words if Lopmon’s right.
“There!” Datamon shouted, throwing his hands up. “It’s done! I calibrated and coded it! Happy?”
“That is awesome!” Impmon shouted in return. The combined noise managed to wake up his partner, who had become so fed up with the wait that she had fallen asleep on the cold steel floor of the surveillance base.
“Mmmh... what is so important that you disturb Trixie’s nap?”
Datamon clenched his fists and growled in frustration. He was becoming more and more aware of his terrible luck with choosing collaborative partners. At least Impmon was decently personable, if annoyingly talkative, but Trixie was... really something else. As much and as often as he thanked his lucky stars that she could be trusted, he seriously questioned the extent to which she could be tolerated.
He groaned audibly, looking at the awakened mare. “I finished the coding,” he repeated. “It’s not just the berserker rage thing now. With the modifications I’ve made to this virus, it should work in conjunction with your unicorn magic. Once the virus takes hold, the target will bend to your will.”
“Excellent,” Trixie replied with a smirk. “Now we simply need to test it.”
“Anyone in mind?” Impmon crossed his arms, smiling devilishly as he raised his eyebrow.
Trixie nodded to Impmon before standing up and stretching out, sighing. “I’d like to see where our ‘friends’ are headed first. Datamon, can you get a mark on their path and see if there’s anyone on the way there?”
Datamon simply narrowed his eyes slightly, drooling liquid again. “Of course I can; would you like a biscuit and some tea with that as well?” He dragged his hand across his mouth to clear up the fluids, a tired groan following.
“If you wouldn’t mind. I want to know where they’re headed.” She nodded to Datamon as she proceeded towards one of the screens in the room, looking up at it and its view of another section of the island her enemies were on. “Once we know that, we can put that virus to proper use, and give Twilight and her useless friends a... welcoming gift, of sorts.”
“I will analyze their path and determine a list of likely locations then. Anything else?” Datamon folded his arms and stared at the pony he so very regretted deciding to work with. So demanding...
Trixie pondered for a bit before raising her hoof in a throwaway gesture. “Trixie would also like that biscuit and tea.”
Datamon swore he could hear his brain sizzling.
Lopmon smiled as his brother and allies departed, waving them off. He saw the yellow pegasus they called Fluttershy turn around and return the wave, which filled him yet again with deep gratitude and joy. Terry’s in good hands. I pray he won’t give Lady Fluttershy too great a headache...
As they all left his vision, he sat down and smiled peacefully, taking in a deep, calming breath. As he sighed, his mind mulled over other meetings that could be waiting on the horizon, and a smile grew on his face. We won’t be separated for long. Fate has a greater plan for us all.
A quiet voice cut off the Digimon’s thoughts, immediately snatching his attention. It pleases me to see you saved once again, my young Deva.
The voice! It’s him! Lopmon immediately leapt to his feet and took a knee, bowing his head and closing his eyes. “Lord Azulongmon! My brother and his destined partner have calmed my rage, that I may listen and follow once more!”
As I trusted would happen. The voice chuckled, pleased with the turn of events. I reach to you with a message, young Deva.
“I hang on every word, m’lord.” Lopmon nodded, brow furrowing slightly as he focused on the coming words.
The voice breathed out and spoke with a vocal smile. The link between our world and the other has been made at last, and other gates are quickly opening. Already, Digimon are experiencing the bond of partnership.
Lopmon managed a smile. “The partner of my brother was a kind and caring pony. What do you know of mine?”
The voice let slip a sigh. Very little, I’m afraid. What I do know, however, is that she is not alone. Nor will you be in the coming days.
“What do you mean?” Lopmon inquired. “Are there other Digimon that I must meet?”
There are, on this very island. They are not of Deva blood, but they too have a great and holy destiny that extends beyond that. Find the villages, and you will find them.
“What villages?” Lopmon asked. “Where are they? Where must I go, Lord Azulongmon?”
Alas, the voice of his lord spoke no more. He was alone in the canyon once more, left with both newfound understanding and new questions.
Villages? But, this island only has the one, near the forest... strange. But I mustn’t question my lord’s directions; he guides my steps, and he has led me true thus far. There must be other villages that I simply haven’t found yet. Lopmon nodded and stood back up, looking towards the direction he knew would guide him to his destination; nothing but flat landscape and distant mountains painted the horizon in front of him, the heads of trees just peeking up into his sight. “I’ll start there, then. There may be others along the way, but I will be vigilant. Not a single wall will escape my eyes, not a single Digimon’s cry will escape my ears.”
With those last words, he set off on his path, finally putting time into getting somewhere, instead of thinking of what awaited him there. I can’t waste another moment thinking about it... if there are others, and if they are the ones who hold the key to my destiny and future, then I cannot risk them leaving before I get there.
“I believe I know what to do now, Lord Azulongmon, and under your watchful gaze, I will not fail.”
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...good lord, Lopmon and two others are going to partner the CMC, aren't they?
Overall quite fun, although I don't like Trixie being so villainous. Wanting to win, I can understand. But I just can't see her being this motivated by revenge unless she were actively wearing the Alicorn Amulet. Also, I think Fluttershy's revulsion might be a tad overblown. Yes, she's gentle, but she also understands nature, especially the predator/prey relationship (she feeds fish to her otters, after all), as well as how predators rival each other over territory. While their enjoyment of things could be something that revolts her - for predators, the fights for territory are things of necessity, and avoided if possible - the violence itself wouldn't be that sickening to her.
5480285 In regards to the CMC... yes, the three angels are partnered with them later on, including Lopmon/Cherubimon.
In regards to Trixie, you raise a good point. I wasn't planning on her coming off as strong as she does here, not as a revenge thing but more like a competitive thing. MAYBE having it develop into something stronger over several losses and defeats in the Digital World, but... yeah, I'll go back through and try to dial her back when I get the chance.
In regards to Fluttershy, I have much the same response to the Trixie point. I might need to poke Steel and tell him to work on more tact and subtlety so this doesn't turn into a trend, and I'll fix what I can with Shy while I'm doing the same with Trixie.
Okay, calling it. Lopmon's going to become the partner of one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
And it was satisfying to see Fluttershy call the gun-toting bunny out on his reckless attitude. Hopefully he'll tone it down in the future.
5480360 That's the plan with Shy. Her relationship with Terriermon has some intentional parallels with Lee/Henry's dynamic in Tamers. And see my above comment for my response to the CMC point.
5480356
Glad to hear both issues will be addressed. I can easily imagine Trixie stooping to dirty tricks to win...but that bit about getting her final revenge after they're beaten...that's way too dark.
Still, glad to see another update. This is a really good story.
5480390 Ah, good, specific example. Perfect. I'm glad you're enjoying enough to keep reading on and pointing these out.
Speaking of specific examples, could you point me to where Fluttershy comes off too strong? I'm in there editing now.
5480402
Yup. Literally everything else about Trixie's attitude fit her quite well. That bit about the final revenge was what turned her from 'bitter rival' to 'psychotic bitch'...and she's only in character as the former...
...unless it turns out her 'final revenge' is making Twilight do something absurd, embarrassing, and silly as penance for losing. Then it totally fits her as just being overly dramatic.
5480408 Alright, edited the "final revenge" line and Fluttershy's thoughts on nature where I could find them.
5480453
Looks good. Flows much smoother now, and there doesn't seem to be anything pulling me out.
A minor suggestion, if you wanted to include it. Perhaps when Fluttershy is contemplating how the larger Digimon are fighting, she could try comforting herself by reminding herself that wild animals often fight with each other, whether for territory or to show off for potential mates...only for the comparison to fail when she remembers with how much joy DORUmon described his violence, and knowing that animals don't fight for pleasure.
5480479 Ooh, I like it. On it.
5480482
Glad you like my suggestion. Happy to help.
Also, a joke I thought of that you might want to include. When Palmon digivolves to Champion level Togemon (the boxing cactus), maybe after whatever fight triggered it, Rarity could jokingly say, "Are you sure you aren't supposed to be her partner?" pointing at AJ.
5480508 I plan on Rarity giving Togemon a hard time, yeah. That's probably gonna keep being a thing until Lillymon and Rosemon.
Hell, even with Lillymon, Rarity's gonna say she's CUTE rather than beautiful, which is gonna make her upset. Her official bio entry thing says she's hard to calm when she starts crying.
5480512
That's going to be fun to see.
What'd really hit Rarity and Lilymon hard is if Sweetie Belle's partner turned out to be one Rarity classified as beautiful.
5480612 As a matter of fact, I have it in my notes that Sweetie's angel is Ophanimon. I'm so using that.
5480636
Don't know that Digimon, but I can just bet it'll be hilarious.
Also, I hope Lopmon ends up Apple Bloom's partner, just for the lecture regarding siblings from both directions for poor Terriormon.
5480687 Yes, Bloom has Lopmon. My thinking was more for the dynamic between a tougher and hardier filly with a less emotionally stable partner, on top of the sibling dynamic.
5480715
And here I just thought something that would hit really hard is if Scootaloo was Lopmon's partner and made a comment of "I wish I had a sibling I could be so close to".
5480727 Shit, that'd be good too... and considering the dynamic I wanted for Lopmon's partner, she might actually work better. And since Apple Bloom seems to be the "main" Crusader, it'd make sense to give her Patamon, who's going to be ESPECIALLY important towards the endgame... I just might make that revision if I can figure out the right connection for Bloom and Patamon.
We could take this chat to PM's if you'd like. The entire page is gonna be spoiler tags if we keep it up here.
5481219 On each point:
1. I can poke my co-writer and see what I can do about Twilight's meeting of Dorimon and the scale of her surprise. You make a very reasonable point here.
2. I'm very aware of how powerful Alphamon is. Considering I have the Demon Lords and ZeedMillenniummon lined up for the endgame, and based on the future importance of the Royal Knights collectively, I need him. On top of that... DORUmon's going through an identity crisis, as the story shows. I haven't gotten around to addressing it yet, but as this is between EqG and season four, Twilight's having similar doubts about her place in her own world. I'm going on traits beyond the Digimon's body/fighting types to fit them with their pony partners, because I want them to be developed as characters in their own right. The self-doubt is supposed to be their big bonding point, which is a fair way down the road.
3. I... clearly have some work to do with Rarity's behavior. I was meaning to have her come off with distaste rather than disgust. Being put off by the appearance of her partner is kind of important to their interpersonal relationship, and their little spotlight chapter is going to see her become more accepting, but I should probably revise her behavior in what I've got to make it look like she's trying harder to bond with Palmon.
4. There are a few reasons I didn't give Fluttershy Lopmon over Terriermon. For one, I was aiming for contrasting personalities rather than complimentary ones, at least in their case, and the more rambunctious brother fit that better. It's a better way for the ponies and their partners to learn from and play off of each other; making them too similar to each other would have made it feel like they're partnered with clones of each other, and while that might make it infinitely easier to write, that wouldn't be fulfilling to read. For another, and I've already addressed this in another chain of comments, the three angels have a role in the story separate from the mane six.
I appreciate your feedback, and I'll do my best to implement changes 1 and 3 retroactively.
Datamon, you are a goddamn trooper.
5481219 Alright, I edited most of Rarity's interactions with Palmon (barring the first, because she's still not even remotely okay with her circumstances at that point of the narrative), and I dialed back Twilight's reaction to Dorimon past the initial scream that ended the prologue. Hopefully that's a little more to your liking.
Why do i Feel Lupmon is being manipulated by a Lucemon like in Season 4? i feel they're just using him to just release him from his prison or something...