Chapter Text
A year ago, 16-year-old Subaru Natsuki would've had to resist laughing at someone if they told him that he would one day find himself in the situations he did. He was a young man who had progressively begun to skip school to stay home and indulge himself on entertainment such as anime and manga.
The reasons for that were a bit embarrassing, and he would still admit that today, but it had a lot to do with how he had a bit of an inferiority complex towards his father and his ability to seemingly embarrass himself in any situation. As his own mind started to torment him with the idea that he'd never be able to be the version of himself he desired to be, he retreated from the world, and likely would've stayed there until his parents dragged him out of there forcefully.
But that ending didn't come at all. Something far more insane happened to him, which wound up changing the young man's life forever.
On one night, when he had gone out to his neighborhood's local convenience store to stock up on some cup noodles and potato chips, the air around him had begun to get far foggier than he would've thought could happen in the Japanese suburbs. He tried to ignore it and find his way home but only found himself going deeper and deeper into more fog.
Subaru could still remember the fear in his heart as he walked. He brought out his phone to try and call his parents, no matter how ashamed it made him feel to wake them up at night, to see if they could come pick him up. That's when he found out his phone had suddenly lost all service. His body began to feel like boils were popping on his back and face. He rubbed his arm and started looking left and right when he tried to continue moving forward. All he could think in the moment was if he'd ever find a way out of the fog that continued to grow thicker and thicker until he could barely see his legs below him. It was one of the worst moments in his life.
Then one of the best, albeit a bit disturbing, happened a few minutes later.
His ears had caught the sound of screaming. High-pitched screaming that sounded like someone was straining their vocal cords beyond belief. He could hear the pain in their tone. It sounded like they were in the middle of being killed or about to be killed. Subaru wanted to turn around when he heard it but was too shaken with fear to move. Both of his knees felt ready to buckle and he had bitten down on his lip. He tried to justify his fear by telling himself that it would be better for him to stay and see if he could help whoever was in trouble. But he knew he couldn't and tried his hardest not to care. Lying to himself was the boy's greatest talent.
A small animal ran into his view after that. No, it was more like they limped into his view. Nothing about its appearance said it was the kind of animal that could be found in Japan. Not even on Earth itself. He could see that its body was definitely mammal-like, with its appearance reminding the boy of a hyena. But there was no hyena on the planet that stood like this one, he was sure of it. The creature stood on two feet as if it was a human and had large, thick claws colored a shade of black similar to a crow's feathers and long enough to look more like spikes protruding out of its paws.
"H-Help me!" the animal cried, which finally got Subaru to topple over. "Help me now, you damn human! H-Help…." The animal growled in pain and fell to the ground in front of him. There, he was able to get a good look at the bits of flesh ripped out of its back, seeing the red blood falling out of it like a water fountain. "Help me before that thing gets you too! You don't wanna die, do you?!"
Subaru, in shock, was unable to answer. Though, even if he did, it wouldn't have mattered. The sound of heavy breathing and steps pattering across the ground filled the area soon after.
"No! No! No!" The injured animal cried. "How is he already here?! I put a hole in his stomach!"
A large jaw fastened itself around the animal's neck a second later, sinking deep into the meat before pulling away, taking both the skin and muscle with it.
Attached to that jaw was a body. A body even the boy watching could tell was one made for killing.
The scales that were filled in on every part of its skin, most of it being red while its belly and chest were white, looked so firm that he felt if someone tried to punch it, they would only end up hurting themselves more than the animal.
Its fearsome, sharp white claws that jutted out of its hands and feet looked like they could treat a person's face like a hot knife would a piece of metal.
Each of its limbs had thick muscles inside of them that were greater than any animal he had ever seen in his entire life.
Bat-like ears on top of its head and a nose snorting flames like a mythical dragon, combined with the sharp fangs poking out of its mouth as it spit out the piece of its prey in front of it.
Golden eyes that were full of hunger and black lines that traveled across its body alongside the same-colored triangular symbols on its belly, feet, and hands.
The boy who watched all of this could only stare at the sight before him with a horrific sickness. What was going on here? Why was this happening? Was he going to die? He didn't know what to do. The fear of death was so strong in him that it made him want to retch. Just as he started to certainly disappoint his parents with his truancy and selfishness, he was going to leave them grieving from being killed by a monster, was how he thought in the moment. He was a disappointment.
"No...!" The dying animal in front of him whispered to itself. "Not like this. We're sorry! We're sorry! We didn't mean to enter your territory! We're sorry!"
The predator stalked forward, not even noticing Subaru. Its eyes were dilated and its nose was puffing. For a moment, the situation felt like everything had calmed down. But that obviously couldn't happen. Why would a hunter stop when it's found its pray?
The red beast opened its mouth, and a sudden heat plagued the area. Inside of the beast's mouth was an orange light that started off the size of a grain of rice yet continued to grow until its mouth looked like surface of the sun.
"Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me!" The dying prey looked towards Subaru for help. "Don't let him kill me, please!"
Subaru only watched, scared out of his mind as a 16-year-old boy could've been. He knew he didn't deserve blame for how he acted, but there was some part of him that still thought he could've helped that poor thing if he said something, even though it could've ended with his death.
The beast rocked its head forward and the light in its mouth sped towards the prey, sending a plume of smoke as it connected with the body and the ground the prey laid on.
Screeching, and rolling as its body was enveloped in flames, all of its fur was burned off in an instant and the skin underneath dripped off of its body like a melting ice cream cone. It was over in seconds. There wasn't even any blood left behind as the flames burned the body so thoroughly that it turned to steam. The only thing left of the creature that begged for Subaru's help was a body that looked more like ash in the shape of a body then an actual body.
The 'fight' was over. The predator had caught its prey.
A growl came out of the red-scaled animal however, and then it began to stalk forward. Subaru was unable to move, his own fear stopping him in place.
He thought it was over for him. He wanted to apologize to his parents for being a useless son. He wanted to scream at himself for not going back to school and giving it another try. He wanted to beg for his life, yet he was unable to do even that because of how much of a coward he was. Subaru closed his eyes, preparing for the end and hoping the monster would make his death quick.
But nothing happened.
Subaru opened his eyes slowly to see what was going on and saw the creature stare down at the body of ash in front of him. What it did next was, to this day, still had to be one of the most magical things he saw in his life, and he didn't mean that in a good way.
The beast stomped down on the body, and it evaporated into something that reminded him of dust, even though he couldn't call it dust due to how bright and bewitching it looked. In the place of where the body used to sit, was a small speck of lights made from many colors floating in front of the monster.
What the hell? Subaru had thought.
Growling, the red-scaled monster took in a deep breath, and all of those lights began to enter its body. It was then, that Subaru saw what looked like a small injury near the crotch area, but still on the stomach, of its body begin to heal.
Soon after, the fog around them had dissipated and the animal's focus turned to the human in front of it.
Subaru held up his arms and closed his eyes once more. Thinking that now would be the time for him to die.
It never came.
Again, he opened his eyes to see what was going on and experienced a multitude of emotions at the sight. Laid down belly-first on the ground, the red-scaled monster had gone to sleep with Subaru right in front of him. Snoring at that, too.
Countless thoughts ran through Subaru's mind at the time. Should he run? Should he call the cops? Should he call his parents? Should he try to get a closer look? Should he try and see if he was dreaming? All of them and many more had made him feel like time had slowed down.
Then, the boy chose to do something not on his mind at all. Back then, he insulted himself for it. Today, he considered it the best decision he ever made in his life.
He got up and, moving with shaky legs, grabbed the red-scaled monster, focused on dragging him home without being seen.
He didn't know why he did it. Maybe there was some part of him that wanted to feel special. To feel like he was in a different world than everyone else and live like one of those protagonists inside of his favorite anime, manga, and light novels. Maybe he simply didn't want anyone else to be forced into coming across it and being hurt. Maybe he wanted to poke and prod at the animal. All of it was confusing to him. It made his head hurt. But he still did it, and, despite all of the problems that arose in his life after this decision, he'd never regret it for as long as he lived.
This was the night that got Subaru Natsuki to begin living again, after all. Why would he?
"Why does that bastard Yamaki have us doing all of this crap instead of everyone else?" Subaru said, his face laying inside of his pillow. "We just got back from the Digital World a few months ago and it's like he's been running the two of us ragged while all of our friends get to kick back and relax!"
"I thought he said it's because he wanted the two of us to get used to Crimson Mode." Rigel said. "And since it's the summer, you don't have to worry about assignments, so it's not like you'll be missing anything. Don't be so lazy, Baru."
Subaru pushed his head out of his pillow and frowned at his Guilmon. "Hey, you're the last person to be calling anyone lazy."
"What do you mean?"
"You're on my floor with your butt in the air and eating potato chips." Subaru shook his head. "Hold up a minute. Aren't those the corn-flavored chips I bought earlier?! You damn thief!"
"That's not lazy! I'm relaxing." Rigel held up the bag of corn chips to his mouth and let them all fall down his mouth, gaining more of his tamer's ire. "I spent all day protecting the house like your parents asked me to. I deserve a break."
"Protecting it from what? The neighbor's dog?" He then flopped back onto his bed and clenched his fists. "You know, it's been really quiet today. So quiet that Yamaki had to send us to Korea earlier to deal with the Perfects and Ultimates who've been slipping through over there." He felt like he was about to scream as he remembered all of the times he had to jump from one place to another since returning home. "And all that does is remind me how we're the ones being sent on those missions while everyone else gets to rest, which makes me more pissed. Yeah, I get that he wants us to get stronger with Crimson Mode for when the rest of the Royal Assholes make a move and try to kill us, but I'm still a teenage boy in his youth! I want to do things like go on dates with a girl and confess to her in a grassy field with the sun looking down on us!"
Rigel crumpled up the empty bag of chips and threw them in the nearby trashcan with his tail. "Humans are so dumb." He sighed and wagged a finger. "You all should all hurry up and evolve in a way that lets you be a kid forever."
"Just because we evolved like you guys, doesn't mean we "evolve" like you guys!"
"Nuh-uh! You told me that some fish grew to walk on land!"
"Because they needed to!"
"So, they chose it! Ah-ha! I got you!" Rigel pointed one of his claws at him, laughing.
Subaru wanted to roll his eyes. He couldn't believe this was the same Digimon that made him sleep with one eye open a year ago. He used to constantly be on edge because he feared he would be killed in his sleep, and then all it took was another week with Rigel to destroy that belief. His partner was a total idiot who didn't know anything other than doing things that made him feel good, which happened to be killing and eating. It took a short amount of time to satiate the second desire, but the first took a while. Though, Subaru felt sure enough at this point in their time together to say he had definitely got his friend under control.
A laugh left his throat, and his stomach began to grumble. He rubbed it and then looked at Rigel, who was staring at him absentmindedly.
Hopping off of his bed, his feet carried him over to the door and he pulled it open.
"Where are you going?" Rigel asked.
Subaru rolled his eyes, smiling. "You know where I'm going. Mom and Dad are out for the day and I'm still not the best cook. Let's go pick up some cup noodles from the store."
"Us?" Rigel's tail started to wag excitedly. "You're taking me with you?!"
"Of course." Subaru sighed. "Most of the public knows about us and the others after that crap with the Skull Greymon in Tokyo anyway. You don't gotta stay inside of my room or at the park anymore."
"Then what are we waiting for?!" Rigel ran past him, nearly knocking him on his ass, and stood outside the door with his legs jumping up and down. "Come on! We've gotta go."
"A-Alright!" Subaru said. He looked back over at his desk and then back over to Rigel. "Wait for me downstairs. I forgot to grab something…. Rigel?" Subaru turned his head and, to what really shouldn't have been his surprise at all, Rigel was no longer in the hall.
What else was I expecting? He rubbed his temples. He's never played about the promise of food.
"Baru, what's taking you so long?! Hurry up! I'm hungry!"
Subaru didn't give him a response, choosing to walk over to his desk and pull out the cabinet instead. Inside of it was a pair of basic round and gray goggles with a black strap. He pulled them out, looking at them with a sense of fondness in his heart while doing things like rubbing the strap or checking to see if there were any scratches on the lenses. When he saw they were in perfect condition, a relieved breath left his mouth and he placed them around his neck.
"Okay, I'm ready now." Subaru looked outside his door. "Hey, Rigel! If you're trying to see if you can get that mouse hiding under the fridge to come out, it won't work! You traumatized it after you sneezed on it that one time!"
"No I didn't!" Rigel said. "W-Wait! I mean I'm not doing that!"
Subaru chuckled and then joined his partner downstairs, who he also caught running out of the kitchen just as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Come on." He walked over to the front door and then left out of it with Rigel following behind. "While we're there, you want anything yourself?"
"Hm?" Rigel tilted his head as they walked down the street, ignoring the people who happened to be walking in the same or opposite direction. "What do you mean? Aren't we sharing?"
"Yeah, but just the noodles." Subaru flinched at the sounds of whispering and tried to pretend he didn't see some of those same people pull out their phone. It was only going to get worse the more they got out of his neighborhood. "And I'm talking about some snacks. Not food. Like me? I'm gonna see if I can get more of those corn-flavored chips that you ate."
"Oh!" Rigel placed a claw on his chin, nearly walking into a person ahead who had been staring at him with the biggest smile on his face. Subaru was pretty sure he had seen the guy at Akihibara before and that was fine, but he also had never seen him around these parts before, so he was sure the man couldn't be a neighbor. That wasn't good at all. Did they have a stalker? He might need to tell Yamaki someone had managed to sneak past his agents somehow.
"Gum!"
"Huh?" Subaru gave his attention back to Rigel as they moved past the possible stalker. "You want gum? That's it? Not some chips or something sweet like dango?"
"Nope!" Rigel shook his head. "Just gum."
That was suspicious.
"What kind of gum?" he asked.
Rigel's jaw clamped up for a second. "R-Regular Gum!"
Got you, Subaru thought.
"Uh-huh? How much does it cost?"
"Not that much! Not that much!"
Okay, I'm definitely gonna get ripped off. Subaru ran a hand through his hair. The things I do for him.
"Fine," he said. "I'll get it for you. I'm not getting anything else after today though, alright?"
Rigel bobbed his head up and down excitedly. "Yes, I understand!"
"Good."
The two of them spent the rest of their fifteen or so minute walk to the convenience store talking about whatever came to their mind. Just dumb stuff.
What if the other Dukemon would show back up to try and get revenge on them?
Wondering if there was a way they could bring back their noble steed.
Hoping together that the Sovereigns would be able to talk Yggdrasil out of whatever made them lose their mind and send the Royal Knights after them.
Then spending their last remaining minutes agreeing with each other that both Baihumon and Zhuqiaomon hated them way too much for the Sovereigns to be able to do something.
Just the usual.
Subaru also wanted to talk about what happened to that missing knight they heard about from Qinglongmon, the one he scarily implied had maybe partnered up with some human or died since they couldn't sense him across their Digital World and any other one. If that guy had died, then they were screwed since he was the only chance they had to save the human world from being turned into dust besides magically convincing the Royal Knights that Yggdrasil had lost it. If the guy had partnered with a human, there was about a fifty percent chance he had either become too weak and needed a human's help or had gone ahead and quit his job, which was also bad since it left that psychotic Omegamon in charge with no one to pull on the bastard's leash.
The situation he and his friends were in was honestly quite scary. There were some nights where he woke with a pounding heart because he had a nightmare about what would happen to his friends and family once the Knights found a new way into the human world after being blocked for so long by the Three Great Angels and the Sovereigns.
Subaru cleared his mind. Thinking about it would only make him worry more and drive himself insane from it, so he tried his hardest to remind himself that he needed to stay strong for everyone.
In front of him and Rigel now, and with what had to have been about the twenty or thirty people, some being students who were clearly stuck in summer school and others being boys and girls his age alongside some salarymen, was the convenience store he went to every once in a while. That time used to be about every day, even when Rigel came into his life, but ever since he started going outside again and made some friends, his time there had cut down to a healthy amount.
No more getting up early in the morning to buy manga and cheap food while mooching off of his mom and dad. He had left those days behind, for both better and worse.
Subaru entered the convenience store with Rigel beside him and entered inside. The inside was as filled as ever. Everything from the manga on the black rack near the window to the amount of soda he could see inside of the refrigerators over in the corner, the store stayed extra packed. He would've thought there would be some empty shelves after the Digimon went wild a few days back, but he guessed Ministop, or probably Yamaki, moved fast.
He walked over to one of the long, white shelves in the back of the store and crouched down to grab the cup ramen he wanted on the third level. He made sure to grab the chips on a nearby standing rack too. Bringing them both up to the counter, while paying no mind to the shocked face of the cashier, he placed his ramen and chips on the counter and asked Rigel to tell him what kind of gum he wanted.
The answer he received made him want to bang his head on a wall.
The amount of money he had to pay also made him want to bang it twice.
After paying for all of their things, Subaru felt like he had left himself get punched in the face. 2,367 yen. 2,367 fucking yen! The usual cost just for the ramen and chips would be 363 yen. Subaru glared down at the happy Rigel walking beside him as they left the Ministop. Ugh, how did he even figure out about that Limited Edition gum? He doesn't watch TV.
As the two left the store, Subaru noticed that the entire area had cleared out. He thought that was good at first, since they would all be in the way of people who needed to use the driveway, until a cold feeling washed over his back. His head turned around instinctively, all of the muscles in his body preparing himself to order Rigel to go intimidate whoever was watching them.
"I love you."
There was no one though. All he heard was the sound of a voice like silver bells.
Subaru rubbed the back of his neck. "Ugh. I'm getting a bad feeling." He turned his head towards his partner. "Did you hear that too, Rigel?"
Sadly, Rigel would near his words and it was for one simple reason.
What the hell?! Subaru felt ready to choke on his breath as he stared at the empty spot beside him.
Rigel had vanished.
Subaru began to look around everywhere, hoping that he could find one sign that his friend was still around. When he couldn't find him, he groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. This wasn't the first time they had got separated from each other. In this manner though? That was a new one. First, he wanted to panic and start running around to begin looking. If that didn't work, he would go look for Yamaki to see if he could do something. He didn't want Rigel to end up hurting whatever poor Digimon thought it would be a good idea to play a prank like this.
But it's gotta be a real sneaky Digimon if Rigel wasn't able to sense it, he thought. I wonder what it's like? We could use someone like that to hide the humans from the real dangerous ones who've been crossing over lately.
Reaching into his pocket, Subaru grabbed his phone and immediately went to his contact lists after unlocking it. For a few seconds, he gazed at the amount of people he had inside there. It wasn't a lot, but compared to when he only had the number of his parents and the pizza parlor remembered, this still felt like an accomplishment to him.
He scrolled down to the bottom where Yamaki's number was listed and after clicking down on it, he then brought his head back up to stare at the many strange looking people walking in front of him.
Huh? Subaru felt like he had missed something. Who are all of these people? Why do they all have weird colored hair? Why do some of them have animal parts attached to them? It was then Subaru realized what exactly his predicament was. Did I get transported to America?
Then his eyes caught what looked like a gigantic lizard pulling a carriage.
Oh, okay, he thought. I get it now. I've been sent to another world, like in those Isekai novels.
Subaru thought over his situation for a minute and let the gist of his opinion leave his mouth.
"Man, this would've been a whole lot cooler a year ago."