…
Cold.
That was the first sensation that came to me as my consciousness returned.
I opened my eyes quickly only to close them again when the sun's rays quickly penetrated my retinas, causing me to let out a pained groan as I rubbed my eyes lightly. I blinked several times until my vision cleared, only to see a snowy field in the middle of a forest, with several fallen trees and branches scattered everywhere.
It looked as if a strong storm had knocked them down, or perhaps it was the weight of the snow itself.
A chill ran down my spine as I remembered that I was lying on snow. I quickly got up and began to look around alertly.
"Where..." The words died in my throat as I turned around and froze at the sight of the familiar structure of a sanctuary, now covered in ice and snow.
I hissed in slight pain as the memory of crossing a portal and the sound of waves penetrated my head like an arrow hitting a target. I stood still for a few seconds, breathing unevenly, before a series of moans and groans came from behind me, causing me to react and quickly go to help.
I found Joe and Izzy lying on the ground. Not far away, I saw Mimi and Matt getting up, and a little further away were TK and Sora, who was helping the younger boy brush off the snow.
I stood next to Izzy and Joe as we simply stared at the forest and the snow with a lost look.
"W-We're on the mountain," Joe muttered with an incredulous but at the same time relieved look, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. His expression became increasingly vulnerable until he closed his eyes tightly and began to breathe deeply. "Finally... finally, oh God..."
I let out a weak chuckle as I looked at my own hands as if it were the first time in a long time that I had seen and truly felt them again. "Yes... we're finally back."
An indescribable silence took hold of the group, with words that could not be expressed aloud. Joe tries hard to hold back his tears and relief as he trembles beside me, Izzy simply looks up at the sky with a thoughtful look on his face, I can see Sora and Mimi hugging each other tightly as they celebrate through tears and laughter, and I can see Matt watching TK play in the snow with a softer expression than usual.
I feel as if my body wants to collapse onto the snow, as if my exhausted mind demands a good, worry-free nap, and as if my heart is simply beating with too many conflicting emotions to express.
Before my thoughts could finish derailing on their own, a small silver spot appeared in the corner of my vision.
And before I knew it, I was lying on the snow again.
"Noah!" The extremely familiar voice echoed in my ears.
I blinked twice before focusing my gaze on the stupidly cheerful smile on Pusurimon's face. He was perched on my chest, jumping up and down and moving his little ears to the rhythm of his laughter.
"You—" Before I could reproach him for charging at me, another more troubling thought crossed my mind. "Wait, why are you Pusurimon again? Are you okay? And where are the others?"
'I completely forgot about the Digimon,' I thought bitterly, feeling my mood drop slightly. 'And Vamdemon.'
"Mn?" Pusurimon tilted his head before looking at himself in surprise, as if he hadn't noticed the change. "Ah! ... Well, I have no idea, but I certainly feel much weaker than before!"
"I don't think you should say that so cheerfully," I replied with a roll of my eyes as I carefully picked up the little hedgehog in my hands. I watched as the others gathered with what I assume are the Baby II forms of their respective Digimon.
"Why? If I'm with you, then I have nothing to worry about!" The little hedgehog looked at me as if I had grown a second head. I just sighed before gently stroking the little hedgehog's head.
"It's unfair how adorable you are in this form..." I muttered with feigned bitterness, watching as the hedgehog squealed with excitement with each stroke.
"Is everyone here?" Joe asked as he looked at us one by one, making sure everyone was okay and that no one was left behind.
"Well, if anyone is missing..." Sora muttered with a grim expression on his face.
We all fell into a heavy silence before Joe took the initiative and we began to slowly descend the great mountain. My head couldn't help but remember the beginning of this trip, when Tai, overly eager idiot, asked me to accompany him and his sister to summer camp, and how Kari ended up getting sick and unable to attend.
"How is Kari supposed to—" Suddenly, a small shock ran through my arm, causing me to let out a grunt, which caught the attention of the whole group, and made me look at the culprit with a frown. "What was that for?"
"Noah, look over there!" The excited hedgehog pointed with his little fingers to the side of the road, to a spot hidden among other trees.
Following the hedgehog's gaze, we all stopped dead in our tracks as we looked at a couple of figures leaning against the base of a tree. Their surroundings seemed unaffected by the snow, forming an abnormally perfect circle, and even the tree where they were resting seemed completely untouched.
"Tai... are you okay?" asked a small pink mass with large ears, looking with concern at a completely unfamiliar child with goggles on his head.
"Ugh... my head..." An agonizing groan escaped Tai's mouth as he closed his eyes tightly and leaned against the tree as his only support. "I feel like I'm going to explode..."
I had to take a double look at the pair of figures as my mind processed what I was seeing, even as a cascade of relief washed over me.
"Tai!" We all exclaimed loudly before Matt, Sora, and I rushed headlong toward the idiot in goggles.
"You're alive!" I exclaimed with relief.
"Where the hell have you been?!" Matt demanded, fury on his face.
"How did you get here?!" Sora asked, a silly smile on her face.
Suddenly we were enveloped in a mass of hugs and exclamations of joy that only made the goggle-wearing idiot's headache worse. But those were minor details.
Details he deserved for scaring and worrying us.
"Woah! Woah! Calm down, what the hell is wrong with you guys?! Why are you all looking at me like I'm about to pass out?" I exclaimed loudly before putting both hands to my head and letting out a hiss. "This headache is going to kill me..."
"Dude, after Etemon's explosion, we didn't hear from you again," I explained in a flat voice as I took a deep breath. "We thought you were dead, or erased, or whatever happens when you die in the Digital World."
Tai blinked twice before shrugging. "Yeah... I guess from your point of view, it might look that way. I'd apologize, but I don't really have anything to apologize for."
"Oh?" Sora asked with a friendly, not-at-all-sinister smile. "You think so?"
But Tai, oblivious as ever, ignored the murderous aura emanating from Sora with a simple wave of his hands. "Sure, it's not like I was gone that long. Just a couple of hours at most."
...
..
.
Tai raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Tai, you were lost for almost a month, maybe more." I let out a tired sigh as I suppressed the urge to strangle the idiot myself, maybe another time. "Matt tried to look for you, but there was no trace of you anywhere on the Server Continent."
The news made Tai's eyes widen as a bewildered cry escaped his throat. He opened his mouth only to close it again before suddenly changing his demeanor and forming a mocking smile on his face as he looked up at the taller blond.
"Wait, are you telling me you went looking for me?" Tai asked in an extremely sweet and irritating voice.
Matt, on the other hand, looked away to the side, keeping his face like a rock, but everyone noticed how his ears turned slightly red.
"Awwwww, who would have thought that—"
"Finish that sentence and I swear I'll kill you myself," Matt threatened, raising his fist and narrowing his eyes.
"Okay, okay, chill," Tai said, raising both hands in surrender, but without losing the mocking smile on his face.
"Maybe BlackGarurumon does have competition after all," I thought as I hid my own smile. "Which reminds me—"
"Hey, Tai," Izzy asked suddenly, narrowing his eyes. "How did you manage to get back here if you weren't with us when we crossed the portal?"
"Oh! Well, you see—"
Before Tai could begin his explanation, a familiar voice that I couldn't quite identify called out to us from afar, and a large holographic screen opened up in front of my face.
Normally, I would simply close the screen window and look at it later, but the first message made me pause.
"Well, I guess technically that meets the requirements, yes."
[=====]
-Gold Achievement Obtained: Hermes-
-Reward:Carrier Stat Increase: Physical Strength-
-Reward:Carrier Stat Increase: Physical Endurance-
-Reward:Carrier Stat Increase: Physical Speed-
-Reward:Item: Sacred Ring-
-Reward:Function: Digimon Garden-
-Reward:Function Upgrade: Data Analyzer: Bearer-
-Reward:Special Attack: ???-
-Reward:Special Attack: ???-
[=====]
Before I could ask him what the heck the question marks were, the voice caught up with us, shouting a couple of names.
"Yamagi! Ishida! Takenouchi!"
"That voice..." Joe turned around. "It's Professor Fujiyama!"
Soon, a short man dressed in clothes that were too formal for summer camp and wearing round glasses appeared. His hair was very dark brown, almost black, and completely messy. I could say it was because of the storm and snow, but his hair was always like that.
A bit like Tai, if you ask me.
"Is everyone okay?!" he exclaimed in panic as he quickly checked each of us for injuries or bruises. "No one is hurt?!"
'I fought a rabid ogre, a monkey who proclaimed himself king, and a huge ink stain.' I snorted with disdain. 'And surprisingly, I'm not injured or hurt, truly a miracle. Damn it.'
"Phew, what a relief... you don't know the kind of trouble that—" He interrupted himself before coughing nervously into his fist. "Ahem! The camp has been canceled due to the sudden snowfall, we must all return home right now!"
He suddenly stopped, frowning in confusion as he looked toward... oh, crap.
"Um? Since when did you guys have those stuffed animals?" Fujiyama leaned in to take a closer look at Pusurimon.
"We ar—" I quickly put a hand over the hedgehog's mouth to silence him.
"They're from a new TV series, Professor!" I exclaimed with a nervous smile, telling Pusurimon through the link not to move an inch and not to speak under any circumstances.
"I see," Fujiyama nodded regretfully before shrinking into himself and beginning to mutter under his breath. "I'm getting older and older, I don't understand what interests young people anymore..."
"Professor?"
"Ah! Come on! Let's not keep the other professors waiting!" Suddenly standing up straight, the professor quickly motioned for us to move.
We all looked at each other for a moment before following Professor Fujiyama to the camp.
The other professors quickly checked us over thoroughly, giving Tai some pills for his headache and scolding Professor Fujiyama for his carelessness. That seemed to happen to him a lot, according to Matt and Sora.
Before I knew it, I was on the bus, leaning against a window next to Izzy and his Digimon. I stared blankly as the trees began to pass by constantly, a melancholic and nostalgic feeling attacking me as I saw the roads, cars, and people filling my chest for a while. I felt Pusurimon's curiosity shift from one thing to another as he jumped around on my lap and asked so many questions that I could barely keep up.
Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.
...
A/N: I'm back. I'll try to get back to my usual schedule, but I don't know if I'll manage it because my already slow typing speed seems to have gotten even slower from not typing for a while. I guess I'll have to get used to it again.
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