Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hello Edris!” A disembodied voice spoke. “It’s time for me to pick you up!”

Edris raised her eyebrow. “Who are you?”

“Me? I’m ENIAC!” The voice exclaimed. “We agreed that I would pick you up on new years eve.”

“Two things. One, I’ve never met you. And second, new years eve is a week away.” Edris said.

“Oops. I can never get linearity right… Why don’t you show me your Digivice? I can tap into that to visit again at the appropriate time.” The faceless ENIAC said.

“I don’t think I have it on me…” Edris began to look around the featureless white void. “Where are we?”

“I believe this would be close to a human’s dream space? Just picture it and it will appear. I honestly don’t really understand it myself. It just kinda works!” ENIAC giggled. “Here, this might help you.”

A small black dot appeared in front of Edris, floating in mid air, steadily growing. Once it was the size of a dinner plate, a simple, pixel face appeared in the center of it.

“Alright… Dream logic. I guess I can give it a try…” She closed her eyes and held out her hand.

An orb of soft, yellow light appeared in her hand. As it faded a small, green, rectangular box with a screen framed in purple and three matching buttons to the right with a keychain on the edge appeared in her hand.

“Wow! That worked?” Edris said in disbelief.

“I’ve never seen a Digivice like that… :O Where did you get it?” ENIAC asked.

Edris held the Digivice before herself. “My Pendulum? I made it myself.”

“Neat!” ENIAC stared at Edris’s Pendulum as it began pulsing with a white light. “Alright! ;3c I’ve tapped into your Digivice, so I can reach out to you again just before new years!” There was an unambiguous joy in ENIAC’s voice, and the emoticon style face reflected that as it flipped around in the air.

“That still okay with you? ?_?” ENIAC inquired.

“I mean, I kinda had plans for new years. Why does it have to be then?” Edris slipped her Pendulum into her pocket.

“That’s the time you requested. And it won’t take more than two seconds! T~T” ENIAC pleaded. “I promise!”

“You keep talking like we’ve met before. As far as I know this is some crazy dream I won’t even remember when I wake up.” Edris looked down at her feet. They seemed to be firmly on the ground, only there was no ground beneath her.

“Like I said, I’m not great with linearity. ~_~ I just float in and out as the waves carry me!” ENIAC began drifting around Edris as if carried by water. “The net oceans, the quantum sea, the flow of time… I exist across all of it. Every when and never when. Everywhere and nowhere.”

Edris raised an eyebrow. “That’s….trippy?”

ENIAC turned to face Edris again, but this time the face was upside down. Edris felt the weight of her stance disappear as her hair flipped up like she was the one suddenly upside down.

“See! It just happens like this! ^o^”

“Why do you care so much?” Edris crossed her arms.

The pixel face changed into a yellow four pointed star, and ENIAC’s voice became gravely serious. “The Star of Epsilon must be forged. The very roots of reality depend on it.”

Chapter Text

Edris’s eyes snapped open as she sat up in bed. Gasping, she pulled the sheets off to find them wet with cold sweat.

“Edris, everything okay?” A voice called from the other room.

“Yeah… Yeah, just a weird dream.” She replied.

A round, purple Digimon with long, green vine-like legs and a single, large yellow eye came scuttling in, carrying a mug of coffee. “Two sugars and a splash of oat milk.”

“Thanks, Algomon.” She grabbed the mug. “How long ago did you make this?”

The antenna appendages on top of Algomon’s head flashed. “The coffee was brewed sixteen minutes and forty-eight seconds ago. I added the sugar and oat milk once I heard you wake up.”

“Thanks. Again.” Edris smiled as she took a drink. “You know just how I like my coffee.”

She set the mug on the bed side table as she stood up and stretched.

“Alright. I’m gonna jump in the shower, then start on work for the day.” Edris grabbed a pair of pants and a t-shirt from the pile of clean clothes.

Algomon nodded. She grabbed the coffee and went into the other room, flipped Edris’s computer on and set the mug nearby before going back to the kitchen to start cooking breakfast for herself and Edris.

The two of them went about their morning routine. Algomon finished making food just in time for Edris to step out of the shower and sit down at her computer.

“You have a new client today, right?” Algomon asked, setting the plate next to the keyboard.

“Yeah. The majority of the website is already done, they’re just having me come in now to polish it up before launching it. I should be done in a day or two.” She took a bite of the breakfast burrito. “Mmm! This is really good! What’s the filling?”

“Scrambled tofu, fried potato, tomatoes, avocado, spinach, and a drizzle of the spice blended olive oil.” Algomon said cheerfully.

“How did you ever get so good at cooking? Even when I follow recipes exactly, I somehow manage to burn water…” Edris patted Algomon on the head.

“You just need the basics and a bit of creativity!” Algomon blushed slightly.

“Having extra hands probably helps, too.” Edris laughed.

“It certainly doesn’t hurt!” Algomon unraveled the vines that made up her arms to show off all six of them.

“See! You’re cheating!” Edris sipped at her coffee. “Okay. Gonna finish eating and then it’s work time.”

“Alright, I’ll use those cheating skills and make you some fresh baked bread!” Algomon turned around and heading into the kitchen again. “I’ll let you get started on your work. I’ll be back in two hours with water and to remind you to stretch.”

Edris pumped her fist in the air. “Hell yeah! Fresh bread! That’s how we both win!”

Chapter Text

“Aahh! We’re gonna be late!” Edris threw several articles of clothes around. “Where’s the knee length black dress I wanted to wear to this party?!”

Algomon calmly opened the closet door. “I hung it up so that it wouldn’t get wrinkled. Remember, I told you before.”

Edris laid the dress on her bed before jumping into the bathroom to shower and get ready. “Algomon you’re a life saver. What would I be doing without you?”

“Probably tinkering with the Pendulum, still.” Algomon gathered the clothes and began folding them.

Edris stuck her head out of the bathroom, toothbrush in her mouth. “How much time do we have?”

Algomon stopped folding, her antenna flashing. “Twenty-four minutes and fifty-eight seconds until Johnathon is scheduled to pick us up.”

“Ahck!” Edris ducked back in. “You know he’s always several minutes early! Crap!”

Algomon returned to folding clothes as the shower began running.

By the time Edris stepped out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, and dashed back to the bedroom to put on her dress and makeup, Algomon had tidied up all the clothes, and set a matching pair of shoes next to the dress, along with a stylish red leather jacket.

The callbox next to the apartment door buzzed.

“That’ll be Johnny, can you get it? I’ll be ready in a few.” Edris asked Algomon.

She nodded and shuffled over to the callbox. “Hello!”

“Hey Algomon, is Edris ready?” The muffled voice came through the phone.

“Not quite yet. You can come up to wait while she finishes.” Algomon buzzed the building door open and unlocked the unit door.

“Thanks!” He said before hanging up.

“Johnathon is on his way up now.” Algomon said, walking into the bedroom.

“Crap, I don’t have time to curl my hair, do I?” Edris stared at her reflection in the vanity desk mirror.

“Your hair has a gorgeous natural wave. No need to curl it.” Johnathon said from the doorway.

“You charmer!” Edris called back, picking up the lipstick. “Careful. People might actually think we’re together.”

“Thanks again.” He nervously tugged at his tie as he walked up to her room. “I shouldn’t need a beard for much longer. But I did make sure there was plenty of vegan options for you this time, too.”

“Thank you! And I don't mind all that much, it’s a great chance for me to network around with the upper crusts.” Edris began applying her mascara. “You’d be surprised how difficult it can be for me to get clients sometimes.”

“Wasn’t your family in programming before it was even a thing?” Johnathon asked. “Doesn’t that have to amount for something?”

“Not in this field.” She switched the mascara brush to her other eye. “Plus, despite social progress, racism and sexism still exist.”

“Even making me from scratch barely helps.” Algomon added as she scooted passed Johnathon. “No one believes she could program a Digicore.”

Edris turned around to look at Johnathon leaning against the door frame in his suit. “Love the soft, pastel pink vest. Very hetero.” She sarcastically remarked. “Do you know what someone called me last week? Half breed bitch.”

“What?!” Johnathon asked in disgust. “Why?”

“White American father and Persian mother.” Edris raised an eyebrow. “The math isn’t hard. Luckily for me, the idiot also didn’t read my terms and conditions, so he had no idea I record all professional video chats. When I took it to his HR office he was fired so fast he probably didn’t even realize why. Plus I got a hefty bonus from his employer desperately hoping to avoid a scandal.”

“Christ… Some people…” Johnathon shook his head

“Anyways, I’m ready now.” Edris held out her hand. “You’re looking very handsome, by the way. Sometimes I get genuinely jealous of your secret boyfriend.”

“Oh don’t worry.” Johnathon smiled. “He’s also very jealous of you. He has to watch me walk around with the prettiest girl on my arm instead of him.”

“Aahh! We’re gonna be late!” Edris threw several articles of clothes around. “Where’s the knee length black dress I wanted to wear to this party?!”

Algomon calmly opened the closet door. “I hung it up so that it wouldn’t get wrinkled. Remember, I told you before.”

Edris laid the dress on her bed before jumping into the bathroom to shower and get ready. “Algomon you’re a life saver. What would I be doing without you?”

“Probably tinkering with the Pendulum, still.” Algomon gathered the clothes and began folding them.

Edris stuck her head out of the bathroom, toothbrush in her mouth. “How much time do we have?”

Algomon stopped folding, her antenna flashing. “Twenty-four minutes and fifty-eight seconds until Johnathon is scheduled to pick us up.”

“Ahck!” Edris ducked back in. “You know he’s always several minutes early! Crap!”

Algomon returned to folding clothes as the shower began running.

By the time Edris stepped out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, and dashed back to the bedroom to put on her dress and makeup, Algomon had tidied up all the clothes, and set a matching pair of shoes next to the dress, along with a stylish red leather jacket.

The callbox next to the apartment door buzzed.

“That’ll be Johnny, can you get it? I’ll be ready in a few.” Edris asked Algomon.

She nodded and shuffled over to the callbox. “Hello!”

“Hey Algomon, is Edris ready?” The muffled voice came through the phone.

“Not quite yet. You can come up to wait while she finishes.” Algomon buzzed the building door open and unlocked the unit door.

“Thanks!” He said before hanging up.

“Johnathon is on his way up now.” Algomon said, walking into the bedroom.

“Crap, I don’t have time to curl my hair, do I?” Edris stared at her reflection in the vanity desk mirror.

“Your hair has a gorgeous natural wave. No need to curl it.” Johnathon said from the doorway.

“You charmer!” Edris called back, picking up the lipstick. “Careful. People might actually think we’re together.”

“Thanks again.” He nervously tugged at his tie as he walked up to her room. “I shouldn’t need a beard for much longer. But I did make sure there was plenty of vegan options for you this time, too.”

“Thank you! And I don't mind all that much, it’s a great chance for me to network around with the upper crusts.” Edris began applying her mascara. “You’d be surprised how difficult it can be for me to get clients sometimes.”

“Wasn’t your family in programming before it was even a thing?” Johnathon asked. “Doesn’t that have to amount for something?”

“Not in this field.” She switched the mascara brush to her other eye. “Plus, despite social progress, racism and sexism still exist.”

“Even making me from scratch barely helps.” Algomon added as she scooted passed Johnathon. “No one believes she could program a Digicore.”

Edris turned around to look at Johnathon leaning against the door frame in his suit. “Love the soft, pastel pink vest. Very hetero.” She sarcastically remarked. “Do you know what someone called me last week? Half breed bitch.”

“What?!” Johnathon asked in disgust. “Why?”

“White American father and Persian mother.” Edris raised an eyebrow. “The math isn’t hard. Luckily for me, the idiot also didn’t read my terms and conditions, so he had no idea I record all professional video chats. When I took it to his HR office he was fired so fast he probably didn’t even realize why. Plus I got a hefty bonus from his employer desperately hoping to avoid a scandal.”

“Christ… Some people…” Johnathon shook his head

“Anyways, I’m ready now.” Edris held out her hand. “You’re looking very handsome, by the way. Sometimes I get genuinely jealous of your secret boyfriend.”

“Oh don’t worry.” Johnathon smiled. “He’s also very jealous of you. He has to watch me walk around with the prettiest girl on my arm instead of him.”

Chapter Text

Edris and Algomon sat down on a pair of the chairs lining the edge of the large ballroom.

“I am wiped from all that shmoozing…” Edris sighed, taking off her heels for a moment.

“Sounds like you got a few new potential clients, tho.” Algomon said.

“Yeah!” She leaned in close to Algomon and whispered. “Rich people who don’t know how to do anything except pay others to do everything for them are a hard well to tap, but its worth it when you do.”

Johnathon brought both of them a glass of champagne. “Here. It’s about a minute until midnight. Everyone is getting ready for the countdown.”

“Thanks, Johnny.” Edris grabbed a glass.

“And one for Algomon.” He handed the Digimon the other. “I’ll be right back, gonna grab one for myself.”

“You know… I feel like something else was supposed to happen tonight.” Edris gently swirled the champagne around, watching the bubbles fizz.

“Like what?” Algomon asked.

“Hmm… I don’t know.” She pondered for a second. “Oh well, if it’s important it’ll come to me. Worse case I’ll have to apologize to someone tomorrow.”

Algomon shrugged.

“Alright! Here we go!” Johnathon walked up.

A large counter on the wall ticked down from fifteen as everyone grew quiet.

“Ten!” The crowd began as one.

“Nine!”

A strange feeling nagged in the back of Edris’ mind.

“Eight!”

“Oh! Wait!” She said quietly.

“Seven!”

And everything went still and quiet.

“…..Edris. What’s happening?” Algomon asked.

“Oh thank goodness you’re experiencing this too.” She nearly fainted in relief.

“Hello! uwu” a black disk with a pixel face floated in front of Edris before examining Algomon. “Ooh! Love the smaller look. Very cute!”

The frozen ballroom and everyone else seemed to dissolve and run together, leaving only the blank white void behind.

“ENIAC, right?” Edris asked.

“Yup! Got it in three! \o/” The disk spun around. “Wait. Is it three, one, two. Or two, three, one?”

“Uh. It’s one, two, three.” Algomon said. “Care to explain?”

“Nah! One can’t be first. :T You trying to trick me?” ENIAC looked over at Edris. “You look different. How many seconds have passed since we last spoke?”

“Oh! You know!” Edris chuckled. “Algomon can answer that! How many seconds has it been since I woke up on Friday?”

Algomon’s antenna flashed. “487,473 seconds.”

“Wow! *O* I didn’t realize humans usually lived longer than a hundred!” ENIAC giggled.

“A hundred years. Not seconds…” Algomon clarified. “Will one of you tell me what’s going on?”

“Oh! Seconds go into years, not years into seconds! Silly me. ;P Got it!” ENIAC’s disk floated under Edris and Algomon.

“Yeah, I thought this was a weird dream before. But apparently we agreed to be picked up?” Edris shrugged.

“Yup! I have digital proxies set up and waiting for you!” ENIAC zipped around to look at Edris and Algomon with a suspicious expression. “Once in the proxies, you can’t be seen, smelled, tasted, or touched! ¬_¬ And you won’t need to eat or sleep until I return you here and now!”

“Where are you taking us? And why us?” Algomon inquired.

“Oh it has to be you! The other cousin, the Epsilon Star!” ENIAC giggled more. “You’re already connected to when your going by your unique algorithmic Digicore!”

The emoting disk got very close to Algomon with a serious tone. “You will not give up. You can not be torn to pieces. All four pieces of your self will prevail. :D Have fun now! Bye bye!”

Before Edris could blink, she found herself and Algomon standing on the sidewalk besides a long row of houses, in the middle of the day.

“What just happened?” Edris shouted.

Chapter Text

“Ungh! You said this would only take two seconds!” Edris shouted at the sky.

Algomon looked around. “Edris. Something feels off…”

She turned to follow her partner’s gaze.

There was a group of three women with similarly style bobbed haircuts. One wore a flapper dress, and they other two wore riding britches with boots and neckties.

“Yeah… They probably came from a costume party.” Edris approached the three of them. “Hey, sorry. I think I had a bit too much to drink last night. Where am I?”

The three women continued to walk down the sidewalk, ignoring Edris.

“Hello?” Edris waved her hand in front of their faces, walking backwards.

Out of annoyance, she stopped, crossing her arms, and waited for them to bump into her.

But the women did not stop. They walked right through Edris, one of them even stepping through Algomon next to her.

“Oh no.” Edris said.

“Stay calm!” Algomon grabbed her hand. “We’ll figure this out.”

“Okay.” Edris took several deep breaths. “Let’s just walk around and see where we are.”

“Didn’t ENIAC say something about not being seen or touched?” Algomon continued to look around. “Something else is bothering me…”

“There’s no use in waiting around.” Edris began walking.

“Uhh… Edris.” Algomon called for her. “Your dress isn’t moving how it should…”

Edris looked back at Algomon, and then down to her dress. As she walked, the movement of her legs caused a visual artifact in her dress.

“Oh. Okay.” She stopped. “You’re right. Let’s think about what ENIAC said… Something about how we couldn’t be sensed as digital property?”

Algomon’s antenna flashed as she recounted ENIAC’s words. “The exact words were: I have digital proxies set up and waiting for you. Once in the proxies, you can’t be seen, smelled, tasted, or touched. And you won’t need to eat or sleep until I return you here and now.”

“Digital proxies. Okay. I wanna try something then…” Edris held up a single finger for a second, motioning for Algomon to wait, and closed her eyes.

Her black evening dress shifted into a pair of jeans and a sports top.

“Ha! Dream logic!” She laughed. “This will also be so much more comfortable to walk around in than the dress.”

“Alright. So, we’re in digital proxy bodies that can’t be sensed.” Algomon held up one vine. “Weird dream logic applies.” She held up a second vine. “And ENIAC was really confused about the order things went in…” Up went a third vine.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this…” Edris nodded.

“You said you met ENIAC before. Anything else that might be helpful?” Algomon asked.

Edris shrugged her shoulders. “It was a dream a week ago. Something about floating in seas and oceans everywhere and nowhere? Something about being bad with linear stuff…”

Algomon slumped a bit. “That’s frustratingly not helpful.”

“You’re not wrong…” Edris sighed.

Chapter Text

“Let’s just keep walking.” Edris said. “Not much else we can do…”

Algomon nodded and followed her, looking around as they walked down the street. “This street feels familiar…”

Edris shrugged. “I mean, it’s a standard residential street. I bet there’s one in every city that looks just like it.”

Algomon stopped, staring at one of the buildings. “Residential? These are pretty big for houses…”

“You’ve seen how unnecessarily big the houses on Capitol Hill can get.” Edris paused next to Algomon and twirled her hand around with an irritated tone in her voice. “The excuse is that it was built for three generations of a family to live under one roof, but somehow it always ends with two or three people living there, even kicking their own kids out because they don’t accept freeloaders. But what about you? Huh! You didn’t buy that house! You just inherited it!”

Algomon kept looking at the buildings.

“Edris!” She shouted.

Edris dropped her rant in surprise. “What up?”

“It’s Phi Kappa Sigma.” She pointed at the building directly in front of them, and then motioned to the one directly on their left. “And that’s Sigma Nu. I almost didn’t recognize them.”

Edris gazed intensely at the buildings. “Oh, shit. You’re right! They look off tho… Hey! That means we’re on Greek Row! If we keep walking this way we can get to the UW campus in a few minutes!” She pointed back the way they were already heading. “We can catch the light rail and head north to get home easy!”

Algomon grabbed her arm. “Edris, there’s something else bothering me…”

Edris knelt down to Algomon. “It’s okay. We’ll get home and figure this out.”

Algomon looked directly into her eyes. “The trees.”

“What?” Edris was taken aback.

“The trees are too short. Like they’re newer.” She explained.

Edris looked around and realized she was right. “But that’s not… They can’t have uprooted all the trees and planted newer ones since last time we were here…”

“There’s something else…” Algomon said.

Edris was really looking around now. Even in the several groups of people walking around. There was more women wearing the same style from the trio earlier. And the men were wearing suits more casually. A few simply wore slacks and a button down shirt. But there was one thing that stood out even more to her now.

“There aren’t any Digimon…” Algomon said.

“Yeah. Okay. Something weird is going on…” Edris agreed. “But we can’t figure it out by sitting here, right?”

Algomon nodded. “Suddenly not being seen feels very welcoming to me…”

“Yeah.” Edris said. “We’d both stand out in this crowd. But come on. Let’s still head to the UW, and catch the light rail home. It’s the only plan we have for now.”

Chapter Text

“Well.” Edris huffed. “This isn’t what I expected…”

The two of them looked out at a wide open field and a scant number of buildings on the UW campus.

“Something is very wrong here…” Algomon agreed.

“I don’t even know where on the Campus we are.” She said. “Since none of it is here!”

Algomon walked up to a man sitting on a bench, reading the newspaper. “Edris! Come here!”

Edris approached and stared at him. “Yeah, what is it?”

“The newspaper…” Algomon pointed. “The date.”

She looked closely at the Sunday edition, to see the date listed as September 17th, 1922.

“No way! Nuh uh! You can’t tell me we’re over a hundred years in the past!” Edris shook her head.

Algomon turned around to look at the barren campus. “It would explain a lot of things.”

“It has to be some elaborate prank!” Edris began backing up just as a crowd of five men came walking down the path and through her.

“Edris.” Algomon calmly held her hand and pulled her off the path. “I don’t think this could be staged…”

“What are we even supposed to be doing!” Edris shouted. “ENIAC told us nothing!”

The man on the bench lowered his newspaper and looked around, shrugging after a second and returning to his reading.

“Did he hear me?” Edris asked.

“We shouldn’t be perceived, right? Wait…” Algomon flashed her antenna again. “ENIAC said we can’t be seen, smelled, tasted, or touched. So maybe we can be heard?”

Edris leaned up against the man’s ear and shouted. “How does that help us?!”

The man stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it around a bit, before flicking it out at the grass.

“Rude.” Edris crossed her arms.

“I take it we’re not going to find the light rail and get home now.” Algomon turned around. “What’s the plan then?”

“How should I know?” Edris shrugged. “I guess we’ll keep wandering around until something happens? It’s not like we have much of a choice…”

“It might be interesting to compare the daily life from this time and our own? The small details are usually the biggest missing pieces of history.” Algomon pondered. “I almost wish ENIAC could have sent us further back. Imagine exploring pre-biblical civilizations! I would love to see the Minoans in their prime!”

“I would enjoy it a lot more if I knew ahead of time what was happening…” Edris grumbled. She glanced at the Pendulum, seeing the time listed as 11:59pm, before slipping it into her pocket.

“That’s true.” Algomon sped up to be side by side with Edris.

“Like….are we supposed to wait out the hundred years until we catch up with our own lives?” She continued to question, gesturing wildly as she spoke. “Without being able to talk with anyone, and without eating or sleeping it’s sure gonna be a long, lonely wait…”

Algomon stared ahead and stopped, grabbed Edris on the arms to get her attention before she pointed forward.

Sitting on the edge of Drumheller fountain, watching all of the other people go by, was a small boy in a loose fitting, white robe. He was adorned with several purple tattoos across his chest, arm, leg and face. From his back sprouted four pairs of white feathered wings.

“Well.” Algomon said. “This isn’t what I expected…”

Chapter Text

The two of them stood there, staring in silence for a moment before the angel boy noticed them.

“Oh! This is a surprise!” He flew over to Algomon. “I didn’t expect to see another Digimon around here! I thought I was the only one to make it through!”

“So, you are a Digimon?” Edris asked.

“Yeah! And what are you?” He floated around her, getting an overall look at her. “I’ve never seen a digital human before! Are you one of those Net Masters, like Gennai?”

Edris took a step away from the boy. “What? No. I’m just a regular person.”

Algomon narrowed her eye. “We’re kinda confused ourselves. How exactly can we be here?”

“What do you mean?” The boy smiled blankly. “Oh! Where are my manners? I’m Lucemon!”

Edris waved. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lucemon. I’m Edris, and this is my partner Algomon.”

“Partner?” Lucemon tilted his head to the side. “What’s that mean?”

“Oh! We work together as a team.” Edris scratched her head. “You know, I never thought about why we form partnerships in the first place…”

“We provide each other with strength, and facilitate growth and change in one another.” Algomon added. “We compliment each other.”

“Fascinating!” Lucemon looked at Algomon. “I’ve never seen a Digimon like you before…”

“I’m one of a kind!” Algomon bragged. “Edris actually programmed me, herself!”

Lucemon shot a look at Edris. “Really? You were created? How?”

Edris laughed nervously. “I’m not really sure. It kinda just happened.”

“You never answered our question.” Algomon spoke over her.

She felt a strange familiarity towards Lucemon, but it only made her more suspicious of him

Lucemon stared at Algomon with an emotionless smile. “Question?”

“How can we be here?” She repeated. “There aren’t any digital signals. We shouldn’t be able to manifest so easily without them.”

“Oh! That’s what you mean!” Lucemon laughed. “There’s no digital signals, but there’s so many radio frequencies bouncing everywhere! Nowhere near as strong, which is why we can’t interact with anything.”

“That’s why people could walk through us, earlier.” Algomon turned to Edris. “Radio is basically a ghost channel for digital entities like us.”

Edris nodded at Algomon. “Makes sense, I suppose.”

Algomon turned to Lucemon. “I have a few other questions that you may be able to help us with. First, how did you-”

“Hey! Since you two are here, wanna play a game?” Lucemon asked abruptly. “It’s been so boring waiting around by myself for the last few months!”

“Not really…” Edris shook her head. “I mostly wanna figure out how to fix this and go home…”

“Come on! It’ll be fun!” Lucemon twirled around in the air. “We can start with hide and seek! I’ll go hide, and you have to seek! I’ll answer your questions when you find me!”

“We didn’t agree to play with you.” Algomon said.

Lucemon tapped his chin, thinking aloud to himself. “But it wouldn’t be fair, there are so many fun hiding spots. Oh! I know!” He perked up. “I’ll give you a hint!”

“We said no, Lucemon.” Edris said sharply.

Lucemon paused. “From where I’m standing, you don’t have a choice.” A sly grin crept across his face. “You either have to play with me, or you don’t get your answers.”

Edris and Algomon fell silent.

Lucemon chuckled. “I’ll be waiting in the tallest building with the best view!”

Before they could protest, Edris and Algomon were left alone, as Lucemon flew up into the sky, and darted southwest.

Chapter Text

Edris and Algomon were left standing alone as Lucemon flew off.

“Oh screw this!” Edris shouted. “Let’s see if we can just find another Digimon to help us.”

“I don’t know if we can. He said he’d been here a few months. The chances we’d find another Digimon are…” Algomon paused, her antenna flashing. “Zero point zero zero three in one hundred.”

Edris slumped her arms and leaned back, groaning at the sky. “Fine…”

“He went southwest, and with the hint of tall buildings with a view I have to guess that’d be downtown.” Algomon said.

Edris nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. Depending on how much of downtown is actually built, it could be any number of buildings.”

They both stared at each other for a moment.

“Do we have to walk?” Edris asked. “I don’t mind, but that’s a bit of a ways away…”

“Why don’t we catch a ride?” Algomon asked. “We’re functionally ghosts, we could just jump on someone’s car and hitch hike our way there and no one would be any wiser?”

“Can we?” Edris looked at her hands. “People walked through me. We might also slip through a car, too.”

“No harm in trying?” Algomon shrugged. “We’ve got to figure out the rules we’re playing under.”

“Yeah, alright.” She motioned for Algomon to follow. “Let’s find us a ride.”

They walked over to the nearby street and waited for a car to drive by.

After a few minutes, Edris raised an eyebrow. “I mean….I guess having a car was a much bigger deal in the 1920’s.”

Algomon looked up at her. “We take a lot of things for granted, don’t we?”

“Yeah, I guess we do…” She trailed off, thinking to herself.

“Oh! Here comes a car!” Algomon pointed.

Edris grabbed Algomon and started jogging ahead so she’d already be on the move when the car reached them. Quickly picking up her own pace as the car rapidly approached.

She reached out an arm and grabbed onto the window’s frame, swinging a leg out as she jumped onto the lip covering the rear wheel.

“Oh cool! That worked!” Edris laughed. She felt the wind blow through her hair. “We’ll stay on this car until it starts turning too far off course. And if we need to grab another car we can, but once we’re close enough, we can walk if necessary. Sound like a plan?”

“Sounds great to me!” Algomon smiled.

After about ten minutes, Algomon leaned over to look at Edris. “Something on your mind?”

“Yeah… I was just thinking about how Digimon changed stuff.” Edris looked out at the young city passing by. “The other day I read an article about how twenty years ag- er… In the early 2000’s there was….will be?” Edris stumbled. “You know what, I’m going to just use past tense. Since we’re ghosts it’s not like we can change anything anyways.”

Algomon nodded. “Yeah, that’s reasonable.”

Edris continued. “So I was reading about how there was a noticeable uptick in public and social services back then. A lot of politicians at the time sited the decision was to aid in studying children bonding with Digimon. But the Digimon awareness programs sponsored by Berry tech did a lot of the heavy lifting to help ease society into it, reducing prejudice towards or against the kids with monster companions. Parents were invited to speak up about how their kids were affected by the Digimon. Things like how kids were confronting fears, better socialized in groups, lower suicide rates, stronger identity affirmation…” The car took a large turn. “We’re still on track.”

“See, that’s good!” Algomon said. “It turned out partners were more likely to have a positive influence on each other. It’s the whole reason we bond in the first place!”

“That’s not the only thing.” She shook her head. “A few years ago I read a different article about how powerful the Wonder Guards were. As an example, the article pointed out how a single Mega level Digimon could compete with most military forces. And the three of them together could split across land, sea, and sky. That makes them comparable to the army, navy, and air force by themselves. Not to mention the massive damages from when Gigaseadramon lost control…”

“Alright… Where is this going?” Algomon said with concern.

“I just thought about how the two might be connected.” Edris looked up at Algomon. “Think about it from the views of the politicians at the time. Powerful Digimon, living weapons that can overwhelm an entire army, following the whims of a child…”

Algomon gulped. “That is certainly….a grim angle for it.”

Chapter Text

“I don’t see why you’re thinking about this?” Algomon asked.

“Okay, let me see if I can re-contextualize it…” Edris thought for a bit. “Do you have the information to calculate the average mental health trends in people ages twelve-to-thirty before Digimon appeared, as well as the difference between those that have Digimon and those that don’t after their appearance, and compare them all?”

“Oh. I think. Give me a sec…” Algomon went quiet, her antenna flashing for nearly forty-five seconds. “I don’t have a data set for before Digimon appeared, but those with Digimon trend towards lower stress levels than those without. At least….until the last five years. The two have begun to match after that point.”

“Complacency.” Edris pulled the hair out of her eyes.

“I don’t think I see the connection?” Algomon asked.

“What’s a very common way for parents to avoid tantrums and outbursts in their children?” Edris said. “Especially when they don’t actually care about the kids and it’s more for appearances than help…”

Algomon slipped down from the car roof to sit next to Edris. “…..Appease them, right?”

Edris nodded. “Yeah. Don’t give them a reason to make a scene, and they won’t. But once the parent expects there won’t be any scenes they stop appeasing. One way or the other, something has to break.”

“That’s an odd observation to draw from this experience.” Algomon said.

“You said it yourself, we take a lot of things for granted. If people with Digimon apply, they can easily get financial support.” Edris looked up again as the car took another big turn. “It doesn’t look like the car will quite take us over the hill but we’re really close now. Ready?”

Edris began swinging her legs, waiting to see if the car would slow down enough for them to safely disembark, or if they’d have to jump.

Soon enough the driver parked the car and walked off.

“Oh, that’ll do it!” Edris chuckled. “Now we’ll just have to figure out which building it is once we get there.”

They walked up the hill for a few minutes, taking in the sights. People were going about their daily lives in much the same way as the two of them were familiar.

Once they reached the top of the hill, Edris stared out across downtown.

“Well, I think we can safely say the one building that twice as tall as nearly any other in the area is where we wanna go…” Algomon laughed. “Not exactly a challenge.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” She stared at the building. “Hey, isn’t that the Smith Tower?”

“I guess it is!” Algomon looked up at Edris and smiled. “Come on, let’s find Lucemon.”

Chapter Text

They rode the elevator up, awkwardly waiting on a few floors for people to continue ascending. They eventually made their way out to the 35th floor of the tower.

“Welcome to the Chinese room observatory.” The elevator operator told the crowd of people stepping out.

“That is….a description of this room.” Edris looked around.

Carved Teak and Blackwood adorned the ceiling, with soft, yellow lighting giving the visual effect of gold filigree laid into the wood. The walls were printed with stylized paintings of plum and lotus flowers. And several cushioned chairs made to match the overall look and feel of the room.

“I have to assume the name of this room has changed in the last century.” Algomon said. “Tho it certainly could be worse.”

Lucemon was leaning in close to the ear of a man who sat in a particularly large chair, adorned with carvings of a dragon and phoenix and flanked on both sides by statues of imperial guardian lions, seemingly whispering to him. When he noticed the pair walk in he jumped up in joy.

“Well done!” Lucemon clapped. “You got here much faster than I expected.”

“I’m kinda surprised you’re not on one of the higher floors.” Edris pointed up “Algomon and I tried to find a way up there but it looks like it’s a private residence?”

Lucemon scoffed. “That would be cheating! There’d be no fun in it. If you can’t win, there’s no challenge for me to try and win.”

“Admirable.” Algomon said.

“Although, if you really wanted to go up there, it is possible for us to move through solid walls.” Lucemon fell backwards into the floor to prove it.

He then floated back up a few feet away. “It just takes a bit more effort.”

He stepped over to Edris and Algomon. “And since you found me, I’ll answer some of your questions.”

“Really? Just like that?” Edris raised an eyebrow. “I expected a bit more resistance after the go around you gave us earlier.”

“You found me. You won.” Lucemon bowed. “I will admit my defeat with honor, and keep my word.”

“How did you get here?” Algomon asked.

“Ah-ha!” Lucemon snapped and pointed at Algomon. “It was fascinating, really. Somehow the quantum sea parted! And because of a thin space between the two worlds, I managed to travel here.”

“The quantum sea sounds important.” Edris wondered. “How did it part?”

“I don’t know the details.” Lucemon explained as he wandered in a circle. “But a strange cataclysm seems to have effects that echoed throughout it. The parting of the sea, the seven seals, and the planting of the Deadwood.”

“Seven seals? The Deadwood?” Algomon asked.

Lucemon spun around to stare at them. “Oh. You don’t know? I would have guessed that’s why you’re here…”

“We don’t know why we’re here…” Edris admitted. “I kinda just wanna go home.”

“What are the seven seals?” Algomon asked.

“This is the last question I’ll answer, then we have to play another game for more answers.” Lucemon smiled a toothy grin. “These are the seven seals!”

Lucemon held out his hands and a mirage of seven sigils appeared in a circle of yellow light. Rotating clockwise, the symbols started with a red almond-like shape with horns, an orange upside down star with an eye in the center, a yellow ring with ten wings, a green gears with an X scratched in it, a large blue triangle encircled with three more smaller triangles at each point of the large one, a purple jester’s collar with bells and bobs, and in the center a large black circle partially overlapped by a black crescent moon.

“Legend says they must all be broken before the great Deadwood can bloom.” His eyes gleamed with delight. “That is the world I wish to see!”

In a flash of the same yellow light, the images were gone. Lucemon leaned forward with a self righteous smile. “What game shall we play now?”

Chapter Text

Lucemon held out a hand and planted his other fist into it. “Oh! Since we can see so much of the area, let’s play I Spy!”

He darted over to one of the windows, pressing his face against the glass and hummed to himself. “I spy with my little eye…”

Edris gave Algomon a tired look of confusion before walking over to Lucemon. “We don’t want to play your games.”

Lucemon gazed out over the landscape. “There’s not really much here, is there? It’s just some dingy, no-name logging town…”

“Hey! Don’t talk about Seattle that way!” Edris roughly crossed her arms.

Lucemon stepped back and looked at her in surprise.

“Look.” Edris said a bit quieter. “Maybe we got off on the wrong foot. We’re just in a bit of a hurry.” She relaxed her arms, letting the fall to her side. “We just want some answers so we can go home…”

“It’s true.” Algomon came up besides Edris. “Granted, I do have several new questions now.”

“Where are you from, then?” Lucemon asked.

Edris nodded her head from side to side, and waved her arms in a similar motion. “It’s….complicated. We’re from Seattle. But not this Seattle. We were sent-”

“We could play a different game.” Algomon interrupted.

“Ooh! What game is that?” Lucemon laid on the ground to look at her directly.

Algomon pointed a vine at him. “You ask a question, we answer.” She pointed at herself. “We ask a question, you answer.”

“Oh yeah! Smart!” Edris winked at Algomon.

“Oh. Pfft.” Lucemon got up and blew a raspberry. “That’s not a fun game. That’s not even a game. It’s just talking.”

“I’m trying to compromise.” Algomon said, her tone growing more irritated. “Meet us halfway, okay?”

Lucemon pouted. “Okay. Fine. More answers and fewer games.” He slouched forward in resignation. “That work for you?”

“Sure. That’s good.” Edris nodded.

“What kind of games?” Algomon asked.

Lucemon chuckled and jumped forward, pressing a finger to Edris’s nose. “Tag you’re it!”

He then floated backwards through the window so that he was outside the building.

Edris and Algomon couldn’t hear him through the glass, but he pointed and laughed, occasionally beckoning for them to try going through the window as well.

Edris sighed heavily. “This ones on me. I agreed too quickly.”

Algomon nodded. “Come on. Let’s give it a shot…”

Edris leaned against the glass, willing herself to phase through. “We know it’s possible, we’ve seen it…” She tried to convince herself further.

Slowly, agonizingly, her arm began to push through. “Oh! I think I’m getting the hang of this!”

Algomon watched as Edris began going faster through the glass. “Still. Be carefu-”

Without a firm footing, Edris leaned too far forward out into the roaring wind some forty stories above the city and began falling to the ground.

Chapter Text

Algomon jumped through the window without hesitation, her only thoughts focused on saving Edris.

In the blink of an eye, a pulse of white light pulled Edris's Pendulum from her pocket, and Algomon’s body was stripped away in the wind to reveal a yellow wireframe. Diving directly into the golden ring that appeared below her, she grew much larger. Now the entire upper portion of her body was purple, with the mass of leg-like vine appendages being the only green on her body apart from four eyes connected by crossed lines in the center of her face, overlapping with her strange mouth to divide it into eight segments, like a flower pod. Her arms were thicker, and sturdier and each ended in a metal hand with three strong, mechanical fingers.

Lucemon watched in amazement at the evolution that happened before him. “Oh! I know you! You are a creation!”

Algomon threw an arm down, grabbing Edris below her, and wrapping her tightly in an embrace as she shot the other arm out to grab onto the side of the Smith Tower, preventing the two of them from plummeting to the ground below.

“That was incredible!” Lucemon cheered. “How did you do that?”

“Can we get down to the ground first?” Edris shouted. “That was terrifying…”

“I’ve never seen anything like that!” Lucemon hollered. “Wow!”

“We’ll be down, gently, in a second.” Algomon comforted Edris. “Just close your eyes and I’ll tell you when…”

Edris shut her eyes tight, and nodded. “Yeah.”

“You still need to tag me!” Lucemon called out, and flew down the street.

“We wanna go for him, or land first?”Algomon asked.

“Just go. We’re already up here.” Edris squeezed tightly to Algomon.

“Alright, I have an idea.” Algomon warned as she reached out to one of the nearby buildings and began swinging after Lucemon.

Lucemon paused to look back and saw Algomon weaving around, using her own momentum to carry herself and propel further forward. His jaw dropped as she gained on him.

He turned around and flew faster, dropping lower to the ground and ducking around corners hoping to lose her quick pursuit. He continued to glance over his shoulder as Algomon never missed a beat, and stayed on his tail.

Finally Algomon pulled herself even higher. She grabbed Edris in her hand, coiled her arm tight to her body, and launched Edris directly at Lucemon.

She pummeled into him, causing both of them to crash into the ground in a cloud of pixelated dust. A split second later, Algomon landed nearby.

“Tag.” Edris said, out of breath.

“Well played!” He laughed. “You really got me there, you two are full of surprises!”

Algomon helped Edris stand, and the two of them looked down at Lucemon.

“Okay, you win.” He dusted himself off. “We’ll talk some more.”

Chapter Text

"I have to say, that was a really clever way to get me.” Lucemon chuckled a bit. “It’s a lot of fun playing with you two.”

“Answers.” Edris said, still catching her breath.

She looked at the Pendulum in her hand, seeing the time still said 11:59pm. She grumbled and put it back in her pocket.

“Okay, okay.” Lucemon sighed.

“What is the Deadwood?” Algomon asked.

Lucemon shrugged. “The Deadwood is the Deadwood. It’s supposedly everything and everywhere. Beyond that, I don’t know.”

“Come on!” Edris groaned. “Do you expect us to believe that?”

“I do.” Algomon interjected. “He’s been honest and fair so far.”

“Thank you.” Lucemon took a small bow. “I take great pride in my honesty.”

“ENIAC said the same thing. Can two things be omnipresent like that?” Edris objected.

“ENIAC? The primordial god?” Lucemon scratched his chin. “Well, that explains a few things…”

“You know ENIAC?” Edris asked.

“Never met. But I’ve heard a little about her.” Lucemon cleared his throat. “She supposedly found the digital world and provided it with the basic potentials of life.”

“Hence primordial.” Algomon nodded.

Lucemon stared at Algomon. “How did you get like this?”

“What?” Algomon asking in confusion.

A smile spread across Lucemon’s face. “You really don’t know?”

“Please, enough with the games and secrets.” Edris threw her arms up in frustration. “I just want to go home! And you!” She jabbed a finger into Lucemon’s chest. “Are going to tell us how.”

“That depends. Did you travel through time?” Lucemon’s smile grew wider.

“Wait.” Edris thought back. “We never told you?”

“No. Algomon was clearly trying to keep it secret. But then gave it away by growing up.” Lucemon held up a finger.

“You mentioned you were from a different Seattle. And worlds don’t repeat in the quantum sea. So a different version of the same city would be at a different point in time.” A second finger rose with the first.

“Plus ENIAC is the only entity unattached to the natural flow of time. So if she brought you here, she wouldn’t understand how jarring it’d be.” A dark look crossed his face as he held up a third.

Edris stepped back.

“So tell me. Has the Deadwood bloomed yet? Or are you still waiting for it?” He held up a fourth.

Chapter Text

“What is the Deadwood?” Edris asked. “You keep talking about it like we should know.”

“I already told you. The Deadwood is the Deadwood.” Lucemon shot her an angry glare. “I hate repeating myself.”

“Then tell us what the Deadwood is! We don’t know what that means!” Algomon pressed.

Lucemon grabbed Algomon around the throat. Her yellow wireframe briefly wavering to the surface. His arm pulsed as it grew larger.

“Do not.” He spoke with a quiet rage. “Test me.”

He threw Algomon into the building across the street, and his entire body swelled substantially. Algomon wrapped herself in her vines to soften the impact. But she began slipping through the wall and into the building.

Where once stood a child, there now stood a huge adult, with long golden blonde hair. Five white feathered wings from his right shoulder, and five black leathery wings on his left.

He stepped over Edris, looking down at her. “I think I’ve answered enough of your questions.”

Algomon burst out of the building wall five stories up, the explosion of pixel bricks fading as she punched down at Lucemon.

“Ha! You think a mere Adult like you can stop me?” He held up a hand to block the punch.

Again, Algomon’s wireframe appeared to ripple through her from the contact point with Lucemon.

She pushed him slightly back and declared. “You will not touch Edris!”

“Oh? And how are you going to stop me?” Lucemon smirked.

Without a word, a pair of golden rings appeared. One above, and one below Algomon. As the rings crossed over and overlapped her, she evolved into her Perfect level.

A black, leather-like layer covered her lean, humanoid body. Green vines intertwined through the leather, creating an organic armour, adorned with purple scales and vivid yellow eyes.

“I will protect her!” She said.

“So, you’ve reached your Ultimate level, then?” Lucemon’s smirk faded as he raised an eyebrow. “Let’s see if you’re as strong as you should be!”

Algomon narrowed her eyes, staring for a moment. Before she threw a flurry of flower petals and leaves into Lucemon’s face, distracting him. Followed by a vine up into the nearby building. She shot into the sky, using the vine as a grappling hook and swung a kick into the unsuspecting Lucemon’s face.

Lucemon didn’t stay stunned for long as he grabbed Algomon’s wrists in one hand. In the other he gripped her ankles.

“I expected more from you! I could easily break you in two!” He laughed as he pressed his knee into her spine.

Her wireframe shone brightly under Lucemon’s touch.

“Please! Stop! I beg you!” Edris cried. “I know a game that will make us both happy!”

Lucemon paused. “Oh? Do tell!”

Edris swallowed the lump of fear in her throat. “Truth of dare.”

Lucemon smiled. “Yes. I think that could work…”

Chapter Text

Lucemon shrunk back down to the child-like appearance, dropping Algomon on the ground. “This should be so much more fun than fighting! I’ll go first!” He chuckled. “Edris! Truth or dare!”

“Uhh… Truth?” She chose nervously.

Lucemon thought for a second. “What year did you travel from?”

“Oh! That’s an easy one, it was 2025.” She paused. “Well, less than ten seconds from new years so I guess you could argue it was basically 2026?”

Algomon stood, stretching her back in the process. “You get to ask next, then. Be careful.”

She nodded. “Lucemon. Truth or dare?”

“Dare.” He smiled.

“I thought as much…” She tapped her head for a second. “Take us to where the Deadwood blooms.”

Lucemon pouted, with exaggerated sad, puppy-dog eyes. “I’m afraid I don’t know where the Deadwood blooms. It hasn’t happened, after all.”

“Is there anywhere connected to the Deadwood you can take us?” Algomon added.

Lucemon shrugged. “Everywhere? The only location I know anything important about is where I broke through from the digital world. I can take you there?”

“Yeah, that works.” Edris gave an unenthusiastic thumbs up.

Lucemon motioned for them to follow as he started flying his way through downtown. Staying low, and at a slower pace so the two could follow on foot. “Algomon. Truth or dare?”

“Truth.” She chose.

“Ungh. Are you both only going to pick truth? Come on! Add some variety!” He sighed. “Fine. How did Edris create you?”

She looked at Edris nervously. “Neither of us really know how. She hasn’t been able to recreate the results, so it was kind of a fluke moment…”

“There had to have been something?” Lucemon urged. “Anything? You can’t just create a Digimon out of thin air!”

“I made my Pendulum and she just kinda came alive with it.” Edris said, patting her pocket.

“Pendulum?” Lucemon raised an eyebrow. “Is that the little device that appeared when you fell through the window?”

“Uh uh!” Algomon wagged a finger. “It’s my turn now. Lucemon.”

“Dare.” He turned around and stuck his tongue out. “If you keep choosing truth I’ll stick with dare.”

Algomon rolled her eyes, annoyed at Lucemon’s brattiness. “I dare you to pick truth next time.”

“Hey! You can’t do that!” Lucemon stopped. “That’s cheating!”

Algomon smiled. “You don’t like being outsmarted. Do you?”

Lucemon crossed his arms and turned aways again. “That has nothing to do with it…”

“Well, I’ve set my dare. If you don’t do it, then you lose.” Algomon said.

“Fine! I’ll happily pick truth next time, but you gotta pick dare!” Lucemon whined.

“If you keep your word, yes. I’ll go with dare.” Algomon glared.

Lucemon laughed. “Then it’s settled! Algomon! Truth or dare?”

“Dare!” She replied.

“I dare you to stand back, and not interfere with what I’m about to do.” Lucemon smiled.

“Wait. What are you about to-” Algomon protested.

Lucemon grew again, back into the adult form as he grabbed Edris around her torso in one hand, and his other firmly around her right arm. And he began to pull.

“Lucemon! Stop!” Algomon screamed.

But she was too late. He had already ripped Edris’s arm clean off.

Chapter Text

Edris screamed.

Her severed arm in Lucemon’s hand.

The strange lack of blood only intensified her screams by how wrong it looked.

Several of the people stopped and glanced around, as if they heard her screams and were looking for the source of them.

Algomon pressed Lucemon against a building wall, forcing him to drop Edris. Algomon’s arm coursed with yellow energy. “What did you do that for?!”

“Relax!” He held up his hands, one still holding the arm. “She’s fine. Right? There’s no pain, is there?” He called out to Edris.

Edris was crumpled on the sidewalk, cradling her own stump of a shoulder and gasping for air.

She took several deep breaths, and finally gathered herself enough. “He’s right… It is painless.” Her voice was shaken.

“Try to move your arm!” Lucemon chuckled. “No, really!”

She slowly stood and turned, and watched as her arm in Lucemon’s grip curled into a fist and punched him. All at her own command.

“How? I can still move my severed arm?” She felt faint, and heaved dryly over the ground. “I think I’m gonna be sick…”

Lucemon gave Algomon the arm, and rubbed his face where he had just been punched. “Take it. It will reattach to her.”

Algomon took it from Lucemon, and stepping back without looking away, she helped Edris place it back on her shoulder.

The empty space inside of Edris’s shoulder was devoid of bone and muscles. Only her skin existed in this body. And as the arm was put back into place, the texture of both reconnected and her arm returned to normal.

“I knew it! You two are digital proxies!” Lucemon laughed. “That explains how a human can be digital, and I figured out why you two were sent here.”

“Why is that?” Algomon glared at Lucemon as he once again diminished into the child-like form.

She guessed his reliance on that form and the whiney disposition was to make people drop their guard and underestimate him.

“Seriously, do you not know?” He put his head in his hands. “ENIAC didn’t tell you anything?”

“Nothing. No.” Edris gasped out, gripping her arm to herself.

“Yeah, I suppose a primordial god wouldn’t understand explaining things. She probably gets it all out of order anyways and an explanation could easily come after the experience.” Lucemon laughed again. “But isn’t it obvious?”

“Nothing about this is obvious to us!” Edris shouted. “We’re way out of our element! Just tell us!”

Lucemon frowned disapprovingly at her outburst. “Digimon fight. With only the two of us here, we have to fight.”

“I don’t wanna fight you, I just wanna go home.” Edris said, finally catching her breath.

“I’ll fight him for you.” Algomon said. “He’s been pissing me off.”

“Oh, you will fight me.” A wide smile opened across Lucemon’s face. “And you will win.”

Chapter Text

Algomon stared at Lucemon. “That’s…”

“You’re saying you’re going to lose to us?” Edris asked. “On purpose?”

Lucemon threw his head back and bellowed with laughter. “No! Of course not. I’d never lose on purpose. But that yellow wireframe of yours.” He pointed at Algomon. “The spark of life needed to create a handmade Digicore.” His finger drifted over to point at Edris. “They had to come from somewhere.”

He motioned to himself with a dramatic flair. “You were created with my very essence at your core. That means you need to defeat me to even make yourself possible!”

Edris stared in stunned silence.

“I’m….you?!” Algomon shouted.

Lucemon shook his head. “You’re definitely your own self. When Digimon die they lose their memories in the cycling of souls. Although, you seemed to have certainly affected a lot by reprogramming it…”

Edris glanced over to Algomon. “Is that why she hasn’t devolved yet?”

Lucemon stared at her in shock. “Digimon can’t devolve.”

“Then how did you?” Algomon shot back.

“I haven’t evolved to a higher level, simply slid between specialized forms.” He ran his fingers through his blonde curls.

“And what level are you?”Algomon knelt down next to Edris.

“Me? I am one of the rare Digimon who are non-leveled! It’s part of what grants me multiple forms.” Lucemon bragged.

“Digimon with human partners usually have the ability to devolve. Algomon’s just never evolved before, so this is all new to me.” Edris finally stood back up, with help from Algomon. “I’m sure she’ll go back down to a Rookie soon enough.”

“Rookie?” Lucemon raised an eyebrow. “I’m not familiar with this level?”

Edris cocked her head to the side in surprise. “Really? It’s one of the earlier one.”

Lucemon shook his head. “The levels I know are Fresh, Baby, Child, Adult, and Ultimate.” He counted out on his fingers.

“Algomon glared at him. “And…?”

“What do you mean ‘and’?” Lucemon stuck his tongue out at her.

“What’s the final level known as?” She crossed her arms.

“Like I said. Ultimate. There’s nothing higher than that.” Lucemon paused. “Is there?”

Edris slowly began to walk again. “We must use a different category system. We know the levels as Fresh, In-Training, Rookie, Champion, Perfect, and Mega.”

“So you classify them by presumed skill level?” Lucemon said. “Odd choice… And a sixth level? Very strange…”

Algomon never took her eyes off Lucemon, and he begun to lead them further along again, deep in thought.

After several minutes of silence Lucemon suddenly turned around, shouting. “Do you mean the gods?!”

Chapter Text

“I’m sorry?” Edris blinked. “Gods?”

“Your Mega level classification.” Lucemon clarified. “Are you telling me that’s become common enough to casually consider?”

“Ha! I wouldn’t exactly call it common. Only Chosen individuals can reach Mega.” Edris forced a small laugh. “And there’s only a couple hundred Chosen. Algomon could probably tell you a more exact number.”

The single red horn on her head flashed. “Last known estimate on Chosen status: 236 individuals.”

“No.” Lucemon shook his head. “No no no no!”

“What?” Edris asked.

“Are you serious?” Lucemon yelled. “Two-hundred-thirty-six gods running around! I’ve only heard of a handful before! The four Holy Dragons rule over a massive server of their own! The Ancient Ten command several servers! Gaiamon literally created all of the servers!”

Algomon eyed Lucemon. “You’re afraid of them?”

“Of course I am! Apparently the four Sovereign appear every millennia in their home server and their very existence is a mass extinction event that always wipes out a thousand years of progress!” Lucemon threw his arms up. “The battle between Piedmon and Omegamon destroyed five servers! Five! And neither of them even survived!”

Lucemon floated close to Edris and stared her directly in the eyes. “There are forces in all the worlds that you do not mess with. And the gods are most of them.”

“Twenty-one? That’s it?” Algomon said.

“Does there need to be more?” Lucemon shouted.

Lucemon was breathing heavily when he realized how frantic he’d just been. He cleared his throat. “Apologies for my outburst just now. There’s possibly three more, but they don’t have known names and only ever spoken about in legends.”

Algomon chuckled slightly. “You’re fear has actually gotten me quite interested. Please, go on about these legends.”

“Well, not much is known about them.” Lucemon shrugged. “The Hive-mind of All is said to be one and many. There’s one said to be caped in a sulfuric shell of itself that consumes all life to preserve its own. And the DXM, tangled in the roots of the Deadwood.”

“The Deadwood again.” Algomon said. “You keep coming back to that. You don’t know more about this DXM?”

“Me? Nope!” Lucemon waved dismissively. “I’ve never put much stock in old legends. I prefer to shape the future with my own hands.”

“Is that why you were whispering in people’s ears when we got to the Smith Tower?” Algomon continued to watch Lucemon’s every move.

“I have fun plans in store.” Lucemon smiled as he picked up his pace. “It is the entire reason I came here, after all.”

“What plans are that?” Algomon picked up edris and cradled her in her arms.

“I wanted to see if I could tempt humans into pursuing the Deadwood.” Lucemon’s grin grew. “I want to see what happens when it blooms!”

Chapter Text

Edris looked around at the neighborhood around them. “Wait a second, are we heading back to the UW campus?”

“Yes!” Lucemon gave her a thumbs up. “The fountain where we met is a weak point between the two worlds. If ripped wide enough, I bet it could even become permanent! But that would either require a century of work, or a god’s power.” He chuckled knowingly.

“What’s so funny?” Algomon raised an eyebrow.

“Oh nothing.” Lucemon smiled. “Have you ever heard of Wisemon? Very studious Digimon, I’ve met a group of them that desperately wish to come here. They think it’s the best way for them to serve their lord…”

“Oh I remember that!” Edris said. “Four or five years ago, for us, some Wisemon attacked the campus, specifically targeting the fountain. But they were stopped when Sam of the Fated Four evolved his partner to Cerberumon.”

“Four or five years. That should be enough time to lose the...” Lucemon wondered aloud to himself, but turned to Edris. “Fated Four?”

“There have been teams of Chosen that gain titles. The Fated Four is one of them.” She continued. “Others include the Wonder Guards, T.O.R.I., General Hunters, the Drivers… They’re usually a group of three to five people, but it’s not unheard of for a larger group to exist. If I remember correctly, the Truth Seekers had seven or eight members.”

They approached the north-west edge of the campus, a large open field with only one of the smaller buildings between them and the fountain.

“And here’s where I have to tell you a little secret of mine…” Lucemon grinned. “I’ve been holding my strength back…”

Algomon immediately jumped between Edris and Lucemon, protecting her partner.

“The form I’m currently in is focused towards speed and agility. The other that you’ve seen is more defensive and suited to taking hits.” There seemed to be too many teeth in his wide smile. “But I’m not going to hold back. Even if you are meant to defeat me to ensure your own existence, I won’t make it easy for you.”

His toothy grin remained unchanged as his left eye began to twitch.

Chapter Text

Lucemon’s eye continued to flinch, as the other also began to twitch and bulge in his head.

“What is happening?” Algomon stepped further back, pushing Edris along with her.

His smile never faded as Lucemon’s eyes wept tears tinged with red.

He began to chuckle through his grin.

His left eye bulged so heavily it appeared like it would pop out of his skull.

This was only prevented by the sudden appearance of a gold spike erupting from behind his eye, ripping through his face to form a golden mask, lined with horns and more teeth.

He lurched forward, his arms and legs twisted and cracked in harsh directions as he fell to the ground. Edris watched a pool of blood form on the concrete, flowing in rhythm with the elated laughter. His body burned from within, scarring into a deep purple that quickly engulfed the elaborate tattoos in a darker shade.

The bones snapped out of his fingers and toes, laced with gold, and grew into large claws.

The wings on his back wilted like a dying flower, first turning black, and then shedding the feathers to reveal nothing but six thin, boney appendages on each side. They stretched and formed into new wings, paper thin and tattered with holes along the edges.

His spine crunched loudly as a number of protrusions began forcing their way out along the center of his back, culminating in the mutilating growth of large, reptilian tail. He swung it around, and showed off how it was decorated in strange organic jewels that looked like eyes.

His head shot back up to look at Edris and Algomon, even without any eyes, he stared directly at them, his unfazed laughter continued ceaselessly. The blood smeared teeth grew into long sharp fangs, still painted a deep crimson.

Lucemon dragged his new claws through the puddle of blood beneath him, and Edris watched in horror as it curdled black. It rose from the ground, pulsing into an orb with a flickering, yellow glow, which he gripped tightly in his left claw.

He threw his head back, his laughter mixed with a roar as the large form of a demonic, purple dragon loomed twenty-five feet over Edris and Algomon.

He turned once more to face them, and finally his laughter broke.

“It’s been too long since I’ve taken this form.” His voiced was unchanged from the child-like form, disturbing Edris even more than she expected. “Face me now, at the peak of my strength and survive if you can…”

Algomon felt his words echo through her very being as she declared. “I will not lose to you. I have to protect Edris.”

Chapter Text

Lucemon’s tail whipped around, knocking Algomon aside like a doll. Her yellow wireframe appearing in the contact.

“Haha! You have the destined advantage, but you’re still no match for me!” He laughed.

Algomon stood up, rushing back at Lucemon. She used her vines as a springboard and launched herself into the air.

Lucemon grabbed her with his free claw before she could land her hit, and threw her into the nearby fountain. A massive splash of pixelated water rose into the air before fading away.

Edris ran to the fountain. “Algomon!”

Algomon shot a look at Lucemon before she jumped out of the fountain, grabbed Edris and ran.

“You have to stay back! You can’t get hurt!” She dropped her partner down near a cluster of trees and a small building before dashing back at Lucemon.

She flung another vine towards Lucemon, wrapping it around his arm and pulling herself in faster. Using this momentum she managed to land a kick on the side of his draconic face, denting the golden mask.

Lucemon smiled as the dent buffed itself out.

“What? No!” She gasped in shock.

Lucemon snatched her in his claw, pinning her to the ground beneath, her wireframe wildly pulsing over her body.

Lucemon knelt down, opened his mouth to bite down on Algomon. She managed to free a single arm to push against his upper lip.

“No!” She groaned. “I will not lose!”

Algomon phased into the ground as Lucemon looked around for her.

She rose up behind him, and jumped on his back, ensnaring him in several vines.

Lucemon roared, breathing fire as he struggled against her grip on him and drifted higher into the sky.

“Not so mouthy now! Are you?” Algomon gloated.

Lucemon craned his neck, audibly popping out of place so that he could look directly at Algomon on his back.

He chuckled and opened his mouth, a dark flame forming in his throat.

Algomon released all the vines from Lucemon, looped one around the spikes on his neck and swung out of the way of the wave of heat and blaze.

Her swing was a clean arc around the open field until Lucemon’s neck ruptured, the spike torn down the side by Algomon’s weight.

She landed in a roll to minimize her impact and avoid being crushed under Lucemon as he fell to the ground.

She stood there, panting for a second to stare at the massive dragon.

Edris walked over. “Is it over?”

“I don’t know…” Algomon didn’t look away.

Lucemon pushed himself up from the ground to stand. His neck and head hanging limply off his shoulders. “No, not quite yet…” He said with glee.

Still gripping the black and yellow orb in his left claw, he grabbed the nearly severed appendage in his other claw and forced it back into place.

Edris and Algomon watched as it reconnected.

He calmly stretched his neck, unperturbed by the partial decapitation he just experienced. “There we go! Good as new!”

Edris looked up at the dragon in fear. “No way…”

Chapter Text

Lucemon chuckled softly. “I have to admit, you’re more agile than I expected.”

“You said you won’t make it easy for me.” Algomon grinned. “Well, I won’t make it easy for you.”

“You’re absolutely right!” Lucemon began circling around.

Algomon held an arm out to guard Edris, moving to stay opposite Lucemon.

Lucemon held up the glowing orb, it pulsed slightly and grew larger. “I suppose I should stop playing with you as well.”

“I thought you said this was your strongest form.” Edris called out.

Lucemon shot a glance at her. “Strongest, yes. But what good is that strength if I can’t catch you?” He shook his head. “No, my true form is strong, sturdy, and agile. I prefer not to take my true form, but I’m having fun with you. And I want to see everything you’re capable of before I die.”

Lucemon shoved the orb into his heart, crunching through the tough scales on his chest.

Algomon grabbed Edris and leapt away.

Lucemon’s shoulder and surrounding torso distended and swelled for a few seconds.

His body gradually drained of color, shifting into a pale, ashen grey.

Slowly, the draconic form before them crumbled away, like dust on the wind.

Once it was gone, all that remained was a massive, four foot long, transparent black worm. His head and back plated in an off-white chitinous shell sharpened into a pointed stinger. Six pairs of beautifully iridescent feathered wings, halfway between a bird and insect, adorned his organic armour. Set under the surface of his glassy black body was a large, glowing yellow orb.

“It’s a rare treat to lay eyes upon my larval form. No others have ever lived to speak of it.” Lucemon floated through the air without moving his wings his voice monotone and devoid of emotion. “Will you truly be the first? Or will I change the future?”

“This is a rigged battle, but just because the two of you are cheaters, doesn’t mean I will be!” He drifted directly in front of Algomon, staring directly into her face with blank, empty eyes. “Do you have any terms you’d like to add?”

Algomon stared back. “You can’t harm Edris. If you harm her, you have to forfeit.”

“Accepted! We’ll start on your mark. Whenever you’re ready.” He slid backwards, never breaking eye contact.

Algomon turned to Edris. “Stay back. I’ll take care of him and get us home.”

Edris nodded. “Alright. You stay safe, too.”

She smiled. “Of course. We’ll go home together.”

Algomon stepped forward to Lucemon. Readying herself to attack.

“Go!” She shouted.

Before Algomon took a single step, Lucemon shot forward. His stinger was razor sharp and sliced her right leg clean off.

“Wha-” She stumbled.

In the split second for her to fall to the ground, Lucemon cleaved her waist apart from her hips, and again severing her right arm and head from the rest of her torso. He rapidly scattered the divided pieces around himself so Algomon could not reassemble herself.

“Is the future so fragile that I have indeed changed it? ENIAC was a fool to even attempt this.” Lucemon’s voice remained flat. “The Deadwood Cult will be unchallenged. DXM will rise.”

Chapter Text

“No!” Edris screamed, running forward.

“Stay back human.” Lucemon demanded. “It won’t count as me harming you if you run into my attack.”

She paused, a dozen feet from her partner.

“Lucemon you lying piece of shit!” Algomon shouted.

“I never lied.” He remained motionless, floating in the center of Algomon’s body, strewn about.

“Remember! I could still move my arm!” Edris sobbed. “You can put yourself back together!”

“Not fast enough.” Lucemon turned to Edris. “I have won.”

Algomon’s dispersed body struggled, each portion moving as best they could. “Not yet, you haven’t. I won’t give up!”

Lucemon looked down upon her, drawing close to her face. “Giving up is the only option here. Concede and save yourself the humiliation.”

“No!” Her red horn flashed briefly. “ENIAC wasn’t a fool. ENIAC was right. I can not be torn apart! I will prevail!”

“You’re already torn. How will you manage-” Lucemon was cut off, punched in the side of his armoured face with enough impact to spin him around.

“What?!” He screeched, finally expressing a hint of emotion.

Where Algomon’s right leg had laid, was now her Rookie level.

Lucemon looked to the left leg just in time for her Champion level to land a punch in the center of his head.

“How is this possible?!” Lucemon bellowed.

The lean, humanoid form of her Perfect level landed a kick on his back from where her torso had been.

“Cheaters! Interlopers!” Lucemon roared. “You can’t be here!”

“I follow the Epsilon Star.” All four pieces of Algomon spoke in unison, as all four pieces combined and grew into a large, solid form.

She stood before Lucemon, tall and strong. A build of black armour, embellished with green and purple. A mass of vines growing from her head, like long flowing hair. On each of her knees and shoulders were glowing yellow eyes.

“I am Algomon.” She affirmed. “I hold a unique algorithmic Digicore.”

“Impossible!” Lucemon spat. “I will not be denied! I won’t bow to a god! None of them!”

Algomon remained silent, staring at Lucemon.

“I am more powerful!” Lucemon grew frantic.

“No.” Edris said, calmly stepping beside Algomon.

Lucemon grew suddenly quiet, a seething rage boiled in his eyes as he leered at her, the only human to know him.

Algomon nodded. “You’ve been defeated.”

“Fine.” Lucemon fumed. “You win. Happy now?”

The two of them stood there, watching Lucemon.

“How dare you.” Lucemon glared at Edris. “I’ll admit defeat. I’ll even agree you’re more powerful. But I will not be pitied!”

He lunged at her, his stinger poised directly at her heart.

Algomon latched her firm, heavy fingers around him.

“I still have one move to play!” He wiggled helplessly in her grip.

A line of yellow light shot from his stinger towards Edris. It landed squarely onto the Pendulum in her pocket. Burning the image of a ten winged ring onto the screen. The orb in his chest lost all color.

“What did you do?” Algomon pummeled him into the ground, her grasp still fixed.

“I am tied to the existence of that device now!” He laughed. “I will fall! I will become you! But I will never be lost!”

His struggling slowed as he began to dissolve in her fist.

“The cataclysm that parted the quantum sea will come to pass! The Deadwood will bloom! You’ll see!” He laughed to himself. A proud chuckle as he grew still and quiet. “The Cult must have a leader…”

Lucemon was gone.

And the world washed away to be solid white around them.

Chapter Text

“Oh! Hello? I don’t get visitors often. I’m ENIAC. What’s your names?” She spoke from nowhere.

“Really?” Edris shouted. “I don’t have the patience for this anymore…”

“Hold on, calm down.” Algomon said to Edris, still in her Mega form. She turned to the white void around them. “I’m Algomon, and this is my partner Edris. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Edris? Edris… That name sounds familiar… Have I heard it before?” ENIAC mused to herself. “Is there more to the name?”

“My surname is Atanasoff.” Edris said, crossing her arms.

“Edris Atanasoff? Hmm…” ENIAC went quiet for a moment. “Oh! Yes! You’re the ABC’s other cousin! Homeostasis told me about you when she got her new form!” The tone in ENIAC’s voice was clearly excited. “What can I do for you?”

“None of this makes any sense to me! You just sent us a hundred years into the past to defeat Lucemon!” Edris threw her arms up. “I just wanna go home!”

“I did?” ENIAC asked. “Oh! You’ve met me in the past! Wait….future?”

“Yeah, you said you had difficulty with linearity.” Algomon replied. “You arrived to us on New Years eve, and gave us digital proxy bodies a century earlier.”

“Ooh! I’ve never made digital proxies before! That sounds like fun!” She giggled. “Which new years?”

“2026. Can you tell us why you did all this?” Algomon inquired.

“No idea! I haven’t done it yet!” ENIAC said. “But if you want, I’ll go set this up for you!”

“Wait…” Edris said. “You’re telling me that you don’t know why you did this? What about all that stuff with calling Algomon the Epsilon Star?”

“You’re the Epsilon Star?” ENIAC gasped in awe. “Impressive title! I’ll have to look into how I made this work…”

“What is going on?” Edris asked, exhausted.

Algomon leaned over to her. “I think we just gave ENIAC the idea to send us back in time?”

“You mean…” Edris looked back at her.

Algomon nodded.

“ENIAC sent us back in time, so now we’re giving her the idea to send us back in time. So she’ll go on to send us back in time, only so that we can give her the idea to?” Edris sighed heavily. “I hate time travel!”

“Anyways, you wanted to go home! I can do that easy.” ENIAC interrupted. “I’ll just break the connection with the proxies!”

“Four!” The sudden crowd shouted.

Edris and Algomon stood in stunned silence.

“Three!” Johnathon nudged Edris with a smile.

“Two!” The two of them hesitantly joined in.

“One! Happy New Year!” The entire ballroom shouted together.

“Oh look.” Edris glanced down to Algomon, back to her Rookie level. “It only took two seconds, just like ENIAC promised…”

“To a new year.” Algomon raised her glass, clicking it next to Edris’s.

She shrugged and looked at her Pendulum as the winged ring icon flashed on the screen, and faded. “To the new year. Hopefully it happens in order…”

They both took a drink from their champagne.

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