The Meaning of Partners

Jayr POV - Real World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo - 2001

The next few days after the events that ended up with Guilmon's evolution in Growmon were quite peaceful, at least for the current Digimon Tamers Universe's standard, but all that is quickly going to change as I perceive through my Cosmic Awareness that a new Digimon Realized in this world, and what is even more concerning is that just like Devidramon, this Digimon also moved out of its Digital Field and it is now silently stalking its prey, Makino Ruki, Renamon's Tamer.

Sensing that, I sigh and mutter, "This is clearly the start of a series of brand new tests for the young Tamers that will allow them to grow closer to their Digimon Partners and become strong enough to face what is about to come..."

While I'm saying that, I focus my Cosmic Awareness on Ruki and "see" that she suddenly perceives the presence of that Digimon who is stalking her, but when she turns around she doesn't see anyone as the Digimon has already hidden its presence, then she turns back to continue with her day but becomes surprised as she sees Culumon standing in front of her. 

The cute little Digimon starts to chase after her with the intention of playing and jumps into her arms, at the same time, Ruki's mother appears and begins describing her day as Ruki tries to leave.

After Ruki finally gets away from her mother, she chases off Culumon but again the stalking Digimon tries to make its move on her, but its movement and cold presence again set off Ruki who calls out her partner, making the Digimon once again retreat just before Renamon appears in front of her.

Perceiving the malicious, cold, and somewhat familiar presence of the Digimon haunting Ruki, I immediately realize its identity, 'That Digimon is clearly Ice Devimon, an Adult Level Digimon. A variant of the Devimon species. Luckily this particular individual is nothing like the Devimon my Digimon faced in Italy. This Ice Devimon while stronger than an average Adult Level, is nothing compared to that Devimon who was almost as strong as a Perfect Level in pure power, the only reason it didn't evolve to the Perfect Level was that Culumon was here in Japan locking out his chance of evolution.' 

While I'm thinking that, Ruki returns home and she once again feels Ice Devimon's presence nearby as it continues to stalk her, and scared, she rushes into her room and calls out for Renamon asking to check for any hostile presence.

Inside her room, Renamon says that it doesn't sense anything and tries to reassure her Tamer by promising to always protect her, but Ruki, unnerved by IceDevimon's constant harassment in addition to all the doubts and insecurities she is holding, gets angry, saying she didn't need anyone to protect her and leaves. 

Ruki starts to aimlessly walk around to cool her head and in the end, she finds herself in the subway system.

Once there, Ruki is overcome by the cold and malicious presence of Ice Devimon as the Digimon is now closer than ever, she turns around. Still, this time, she catches a glimpse of Ice Devimon's figure and chases it, but then the Digimon grabs her, transporting her to the frozen top of a building, which is the place where it first Realized and where the Digital Field connected to it is located.

Once on top of that building Ice Devimon reveals itself, wrapping his wings around Ruki, and telling her how well the frozen Digital Field suits her. 

The Digimon continues on, saying that it was the only one who understood her and that they were destined to be Partners, it then shows Ruki its collection of frozen Digimon that it had fought as a way of demonstrating its power to her.

Meanwhile, I sense that Takato, Jainliang, Terriermon, and Guilmon are racing toward the frozen building, knowing that it is a Digital Field.

At the same time, Ruki comes out of her trance, and thanks to Ice Devimon's display of all its victims she begins to fully realize that Digimon were not meant for just fighting and that she would never let Renamon become what IceDevimon had, a monster. 

She begins to fight back, refusing to be the Digimon's Tamer and in response, the frozen Fallen Angel Digimon sends off a signal for Renamon so that it could prove to Ruki who was the strongest.

Quickly after that, Takato, Jainliang, and their Digimon arrive in the building and use the Digimon Analyzer function of the D-Ark to discover that the Digimon they are now facing is Ice Devimon, an Adult Level. 

At the same time, Guilmon and Terriermon start to rush toward the Digimon, but before Guilmon and Terriermon can get even a single attack in, Ice Devimon freezes both of them with apparent ease.

Renamon arrives soon after and a fight commences between it and Ice Devimon, but Renamon is easily defeated, which makes Ruki concerned about her Digimon Partner so much that her emotion toward Renamon allows the Digimon to evolve in Kyubimon, with the help of a nearby Culumon, of course, but even as Kyubimon it is defeated by Ice Devimon. 

Meanwhile, Jianliang uses the Inflating Space!! card on Terriermon which makes Terriermon inflate and expand in size enough to break both himself and Guilmon out of Ice Devimon's ice.

At the same time, Takato uses the combination of High-Speed Plug-In B and White Wings on Guilmon, which allows the Digimon to grab hold of Ice Devimon, fly up to the ceiling, and slam its head through the roof and as Guilmon falls back down, he destroys Ice Devimon with Fireball and loads its data.

After the battle, the Digital Field fades away, but Ruki shocked by the revelation of how similar she and Renamon acted to Ice Devimon, suddenly announces that she hates Digimon, and then she walks away, and Kyubimon follows suit, but in the other direction, confusing Takato.

Sensing this scene, I can't help but shake my head while muttering, "In the end, despite my actions the temporary split between Ruki and Renamon still happened... Well, it isn't all that bad that it happened, some relationships do need some form of break and separation to actually grow stronger and closer than ever before. I know it best as I personally experienced something similar to that with Seika many years ago and since then our relationship has been stronger than ever. I truly can't imagine how much emptier my life would have been without her..."

After saying that, I focus back on cooking dinner for us, then after watching another few episodes of Digimon Adventure 02 with my Digimon Partners and Impmon, they all go to their rooms to sleep and I teleport back to my home universe to check on the kids and spend some lovely time with my lovers. 

Yamaki Mitsuo POV - Real World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo - 2001

I'm standing in the dome that functions as the command center of the Hypnos organization as I hear Onodera Megumi's report about the current incident, "We've lost it! The Gigabit Tracer can't catch up to it." which is followed by Reika who adds, "We are too late, it's Realizing!"

Hearing that, I immediately remembered the material damages caused by the last incident when one of those abominations Realized in the Real World and all the work we had to do to ensure that the media and the public didn't learn about the dangers of the Network and the Wild Ones to the point that we had to shut down all the transmission systems in the whole city causing quite a bit of panic and chaos, but it was still nothing compared to what would have happened if the existence of the Wild Ones was revealed.

At the same time as I remember all that, I still focus on the current situation and immediately issue my command, "We can't allow that! Launch Yuggoth!" while thinking, 'After the successful impromptu field trial of Yuggoth against the anomaly, the government fully allowed its use and thanks to that, we were able to stop and destroy many more Wild Ones before they realized, unfortunately, Yuggoth isn't perfect yet and some of those abominations were still able to slip by from time to time, that's why I'm already designing a new more powerful and definitive program that will be able to capture and eliminate all these abominations, I already have the basic framework for it... It will be the definitive weapon against the Wild Ones, Shaggai!'

While I'm thinking that, Reika issues her concerns, "The Wild One is already in the Realizing process. Executing Yuggoth at this time could affect the Real World as well!"

Hearing that, I immediately explain, "If the Wild One appears in this world, it will cause a lot of damage anyway. Do it!" in response, Reika nods and declares, "Executing, Yuggoth!"

Soon I look up at the dome and see the visual representation of the current situation as the executed Yuggoth is launched and starts to track after the Wild One, followed by Reika's voice that says, "Yuggoth has caught the Wild One."

Hearing that, and seeing that the program is locked on the Wild One, I immediately command, "Destroy it without leaving a single byte behind!"

I watch as Yuggoth launches what is essentially a blast of virtual energy to strike and delete the Wild One, at the same time, Reika reports, "The Wild One has been eliminated."

Hearing that, I relax a little as I issue my next command, "Check to see what effects it had on the Real World at once. Also, I want to know the specifics on where it was deleted."

While waiting for Reika and Megumi to complete my orders and issue their reports, I look at the screens to check the various analyses of this incident while muttering, "No matter how much it pretends to be a living creature, it is nothing but network trash."

But just as I'm about to focus on the new data, I hear a strange deep voice that says, "F-Fiends... I will get my vengeance on you..."

Hearing that, I instantly turn around, but then I quickly notice that it seems that no one else heard that voice as they are all focusing on their work, and a little shaken I can't help but think, 'Did that actually happen? Am I just too tired? If not... was that... the Wild One? What is going on here...?'

Jayr POV - Real World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo - 2001

A new day started, and after a normal and peaceful morning passed by, ignoring Impmon trying to prank Wormmon but failing and ending up hanging from his feet by Wormmon's thread. 

But at the start of the afternoon, while grading the 6th grades' homework, I use my Cosmic Awareness to check on the kids and the overall situation.

Takato is playing a game with Hirokazu and Kenta with the Digital Monsters Card Game and he even uses the same combo he used on Ice Devimon and can't wait for another fight, so he can use it again.

But at the same time, a new Digimon-related incident is about to happen as a Digimon is trying to Realize in this world, right in the middle of a busy street, and "coincidentally" Jianliang and Terriermon are also nearby with Terriermon getting ready to fight, but Jainling doesn't let Terriermon go fight as he doesn't want Terriermon to fight anymore. 

While Jianliang is holding Terriermon back, the Hypnos organization makes its move to defeat the Digimon using Yuggoth, but Yuggoth isn't able to fully delete the Digimon who swears revenge as it retreats to recover from the damage it received. 

After that little incident, the rest of the day passed without any other problems, and I focused back on grading my students' homework, after that, I returned back home and went through the usual routine.

In the evening, I focus on the young Tamers to briefly check their situation and sense that Jianliang is actually talking with Renamon while Ruki seems to struggle with the aftermath of the battle against Ice Devimon and the realization that Digimon are actual living beings as she threw her cards and D-Ark in the trash can of her room while still declaring her hate for Digimon as she believes that they all want to use her simply to further evolve, and Takato, well, he is already peacefully sleeping. 

After quickly confirming their status, I go into the training area of my Soulbound Territory and start to train to ensure that none of my skills and abilities grow rusty.

The next day passes just like the previous one, at least in the morning, but, as soon as school ends, I focus a little on the young Tamers and sense that Takato is having a rematch with Hirokazu.

Still, this time Hirokazu easily defeats Takato, upsetting the young Tamer who then decides to show off and introduce Guilmon to Hirokazu and Kento. Still, the two run away screaming when Guilmon sneezes. 

Soon after that, yesterday's Digimon once again tries to Realize in this world, and again Hypnos tries to prevent that by attacking the Digimon with Yuggoth, but this time, ready for Hypnos' attack, the Digimon destroys Yuggoth and successfully Realize in the middle of the same street where it starts to randomly attack any human in sight, luckily without actually harming any of them yet as a certain benevolent God made sure to use his Spiral Cosmo to push and nudge the people involved out of harm's way.

At the same time, I perceive that Guilmon and Takato are quickly heading toward the Digimon's location as very likely Guilmon sensed its presence, and once they reach the location they don't hesitate and start to fight the Digimon. 

But even with Takato's help, Guilmon is no match for the Digimon, even more so as Takato is way too obsessed with the combo he used against Ice Devimon so much that it continues to spam that in any situation with almost catastrophic results. 

Meanwhile, Jianliang and Terriermon are again "coincidentally" nearby as fate continues to meddle with the kids, but Jianlinag refuses to intervene until a little girl chases her balloon into the Digital Field and he and Terriermon chase after her, and when Musyamon tries to kill the little girl, Jianliang orders Terriermon to attack. 

Terriermon saves the girl and evolves into Galgomon when Jianlinag orders him to destroy the Digimon. 

Luckily Galgomon has complete control of himself this time and easily destroys Musyamon and absorbs his data. 

At the same time, Guilmon retrieves the little girl's balloon, and they return her to her mother, who never even noticed she was gone for a few moments. 

After they leave the girl with her mother, Jainliang apologizes to Galgomon for trying to keep him from fighting, as he now realizes that some battles are worth fighting, then as Takato, Jianliang, Guilmon, and Galgomon run off, Yamaki, who rushed over to do something about the situation after his program Yuggoth failed, watches from nearby.

Once they all safely return home, I do not focus on them anymore and simply continue with my day, I train with my Digimon and Impmon, cook dinner, and continue to watch some episodes of Digimon Adventure 02 enjoying the start of Ken's redemption arc with his loyal Wormmon, who is now able to evolve in Stingmon, by his side, and after that, we all go to bed and rest. 

I wake up the next morning very early as usual and quickly start my morning routine, and after that, I head to the Yodobashi Elementary School to start my day at work, today is quite the "heavy" one compared to the usual ones as I have a total of six classes to teach.

After school, as I am heading back home on my bike, I sense three Digimon realizing in Shinjuku Central Park but then I also sense the presence of Renamon there who start to fight them as Jianliang, Ruki, Culumon, and Terriermon watch from the distance, but then Ruki runs away followed by Culumon as Renamon destroys and uploads them without any help from her and this only further strengthens Renamon beliefs that even without Ruki it is still strong while Ruki starts to believe that Renamon only needed her to evolve and didn't actually care about her. 

After the battle between Renamon and those three Digimon, I arrive home and open a portal to my Soulbound Territory and quickly after that, Impmon, V-mon, Wormmon, Patamon, and Bidi walk out and together, we head to the training area in my house to start our usual training.

Watching my Digimon and Impmon sparring, I nod while thinking, 'They have all improved a lot... Even more so, V-mon, Wormmon, and Patamon, both their bodies and Digicores became fully attuned to their Adult Level, in fact, they can easily evolve to their Adult Level permanently if they desire to, this means that they are fully ready to evolve to the Perfect Level... well, actually, V-mon and Wormmon could evolve to their Perfect Level much sooner as I can fuse them into one single powerful Perfect Level Digimon. As XV-mon and Stingmon can Jogress Evole into both Paildramon or Dinobeemon depending on who dominates the Jogress.'

While I'm thinking that, I focus for a moment on Takato and Jianliang who are walking home as I sense someone approaching them and focusing on that individual, I realize that it is Yamaki who approaches them and warns them to stop playing their "game". 

But soon Juri arrives which makes Yamaki run away as he doesn't want to reveal himself, even more so because he is an unfamiliar 30-something-year-old man talking to a pair of 10-year-old kids alone which doesn't give the best impression. 

Actually, if it wasn't for the fact that the man actually warned them out of goodwill because he genuely feels that the Digimon are seriously dangerous and are probably trying to exploit the kids and harm them, I would have smitten him the instant he approached them.

As Jianliang tries to chase after Yamaki, Juri, who has overheard an argument between Takato, Hirokazu and Kenta about Guilmon approaches Takato and asks to see him and of course, Takato forgets about Yamaki and introduces his crush to his Digimon Partner and Juri takes it a lot better than Hirokazu and Kenta. 

I suddenly stop focusing on them as I sense Renamon quickly approaching my house, it is clear that the fox Digimon is using the presence of Impmon, V-mon, Wormmon, and Patamon to its advantage so that it can lock on this location. 

I immediately connect the dots and realize the reason behind Renamon's actions, 'The reason is quite obvious considering that since Renamon and Ruki drifted away the fox Digimon started to question itself and its previous belief to the point that Renamon even asked Jianliang and Terriermon for their opinions. So it is very likely that Renamon wants to talk to us about its doubts too.'

While I'm thinking that, I also warn Impmon, V-mon, Wormmon, and Patamon about our guest and then calmly walk out of my home to invite the fox Digimon inside. 

I open the entrance door of my home and at the exact same time, Renamon gracefully lands in front of me, and with a reassuring smile, I invite the confused Digimon, "Welcome to my home, Renamon. Please come in, there is no need to talk here in the open when we can comfortably do the same inside."

In response, Renamon silently nods before it follows after me as I lead the way toward the living room where my Digimon Partners and Impmon are already waiting for us.

Once inside, Wormmon, V-mon, and Patamon cheerfully greet Renamon while Impmon simply snorts, then the fox Digimon doesn't walk around the issue and directly asks, "What does having a partner mean to us Digimon?"

In his usual confrontational style, Impmon quickly answers, "Nothing at all. Thinking about that in the first place is a waste of time. Humans are selfish creatures. I'd never, ever let one of them try to keep me on a leash- Ouch!"

But just before Impmon can continue with his tough loner Digimon act, V-mon slaps him on the head and says, "Do not listen to this poser. He himself still doesn't understand very well what it means for a Digimon having a partner." followed by Patamon who nods and explain, "The poor Impmon ended up with partners that are way too immature to actually understand and form a true bond with him yet. But despite that both Impmon and his human partners actually care and worry for each other."

Hearing that, Impmon quickly complains, "Hey! There is no way that I still care about Makoto and Ai! For sure I don't check on them from time to time! I just enjoy seeing how pathetic they are!" making Wormmon, V-mon, and Patamon comment in perfect sync, """Sure.""" while Renamon calmly looks at Impmon and mutters, "I see..."

Upset, Impmon exclaims while waving his finger around point at everyone in the room, "What's up with that sure!? What do you mean you see!? What the hell did you figure out from that?! Damn it! That "I know everything and you don't" face of yours really pisses me off!"

At this point, Wormmon launches a small thread that attaches itself to Impmon's mouth shutting him up before he looks at Renamon and calmly says, "The answer to your question can both be simple and complex at the same time, depending on who you ask. After all, any Digimon can have its own interpretation of what it means to have a Partner. But personally, I'd like to think that having a Partner completes Digimon in a way we didn't even know we needed before. It isn't simply a matter of evolution, it is more than simple friendship, it is a bond that transcends conventional links between living beings." 

V-mon nods and adds, "A Tamer will always fight by our side no matter what difficulties we are facing helping us no matter the cost and in return we Digimon do the same. I can always trust the fact that Jayr will be there to support me no matter how close or distant he is. And I will always be by his side no matter what tries to keep us apart." followed by Patamon who says, "The Tamer and the Digimon they partner up have a close connection and their emotions strengthen each other to the point that the line between Digimon Partner and Tamer begins to blur. A Tamer will feel their Digimon Partner's emotions, as well as any physical pain that they endure sharing the burden of our battles and empowering us with their energies allowing us to break our previous limits and grow even stronger."

Hearing that, Renamon narrows its eyes and stands in silence for a few moments before it nods and says, "Thanks for answering my question... You gave me a lot to think about. I'm sorry for disturbing you."

After saying that, Renamon turns around and starts to walk out of the room, and I follow after it to see her to the door, once Renamon steps out of the house, just as it is about to leave, I say, "Give Ruki a little bit more time. She is just as confused as you, but I can clearly feel that she truly cares for you from the bottom of her heart, the fact that you were able to evolve in the first place is clear proof of that. Just wait a little bit and she will prove it to you."

Hearing that, Renamon nods and mutter, "Thanks..." before it jumps away heading somewhere peaceful to clear its head.

Later the day a Harpymon Realizes in Shinjuku Central Part and Renamon heads there to fight it, meanwhile, sensing that, I also head to that location to check the situation. 

At the same time, I sense that Culumon is trying to get Ruki to look at her D-Ark that is reacting to the battle and while she initially refuses, she finally relents and comes. 

Ruki arrives just in time to see Harpymon being downed by Renamon's rush of punches in JoJo's style but then Renamon stops as it is still questioning itself, which leaves the fox Digimon open to Harpymon's counter-attack making Renamon fall in danger.

At the same time, Ruki realizes she left her cards at home, so she instinctively picks up a sharp stick, rushes toward Harpymon, and stabs the Digimon in the back with the stick, saving Renamon. 

Harpymon turns on Ruki, but seeing her Tamer in danger causes Renamon to evolve to Kyubimon who easily destroys Harpymon. 

However, Kyubimon doesn't absorb her Data and seeing that, Ruki asks, "Aren't you going to load it?" but Kyubimon calmly replies, "No." making the young girl ask, "Why not?"

Kyubimon then answers, "I don't need to." in response to that Ruki questions, "Don't need to?" making Kyubimon repeat, "I don't need to... because I have you, Ruki." which surprises the young Tamer.

After saying that, Kyubimon moves closer and says, "You saved me, Ruki." making Ruki turn her gaze away and say, " I couldn't help it. We're partners."

This time it is Kyubimon who asks, "You couldn't help it?" making Ruki add, "You protected me, too, Kyubimon."

In response, Kyubimon declares, "Because we're partners. Yes. I couldn't help it. I couldn't leave it be."

At this point, Ruki giggle and says, "We couldn't help it... I guess that's all there is to it."

Seeing this scene I can't help myself but comment, "Man! How awkard can those two be? But I guess the two have madeup and finally bond as true partners."