I Believe In You [Armor Hunt] [Solo]
May 13, 2018 21:33:43 GMT
Post by Ayumi on May 13, 2018 21:33:43 GMT
Ayumi had insisted after she had heard about it. Solomon had mentioned, in passing, that he had a grandmother living in Old Terminus, who had raised him from an egg. The very thought of meeting a relative of her beloved partner made Ayumi nag and ask until Solomon relented, and agreed to lead her to his grandmother's place.
Old Terminus was, as far as Ayumi could tell, a wild mishmash of architectural styles, with ruins of houses standing next to much better kept but ancient-looking buildings. Shifty looking Digimon stood on the corners, and gave the two a suspicious look as they walked through the narrow, decrepit alleys. Solomon stopped at a corner shop, which looked like it belonged into the late Meiji era.
"Is this the place?"
"Y-y-y-yes. This is the place."
Ayumi turned to her partner.
"Eh? Are you ok? You seem nervous!"
"N-n-no, I am ok. Let's go."
The Monodramon then rung the doorbell. There was some commotion inside, and a voice got closer.
"...I swear to bloody Yggdrasil if that's them youngsters again askin' for protection money I'm gonna shove me broom so far up their arses they're gonna-"
The door swung open, and a short Digimon resembling an old woman brandishing a broom opened the door. As a scan would later tell Ayumi, this was a Babamon. The Babamon stared at Solomon, who tried to avoid her eyeless gaze.
"H-h-h-hello, Granny."
A few more seconds of awkward silence, then the Babamon fell into Solomon's arm and hugged him, tears running down from under her hair where here eyes would be.
"By all Royal Knights, darling! You're alright! You're alive! Oh me old heart is close to bursting from happiness!"
Solomon tried to gently push his grandma away.
"G-g-g-grandma, please, Ayumi is watching."
Ayumi was indeed watching, grinning widely at this display of reunion and happiness! The Babamon let go and looked Ayumi up and down.
"Ah, an' who's this broad?"
"Th-th-that's my Tamer, Ayumi."
The Babamon stepped around Ayumi, looking her over and rubbing her chin. Ayumi was a bit perturbed by this. Eventually, she smiled, and smacked her in the shin cordially.
"Ah, my lil' boy's gotten lucky, and got himself a Grade A Tamer! Please, do come in, I'll make tea! You can tell me all the details inside!"
Ayumi, perplexed by the smack of the old woman, watched as she entered the house. She then looked at Solomon, who just shrugged and followed his grandma inside.
The three sat around a kotatsu, drinking macha tea out of small earthen cups. A fan was rotating on the ceiling, moving the sticky underground air about. The radio in the corner was tuned to the Enka 24/7 channel. Babamon took a deep sip, and exhaled a small cloud of vapor from the hot tea.
"...so ya found his egg in the trash an' then christened him Solomon?"
Ayumi looked proud and smiled.
"Of course, the name of a legendary wiseman is perfect for the Archangel of Technology!~"
Solomon looked at his tamer with wide eyes. Babamon looked at her, and then giggled to herself.
"Yeah, sure. She treatin' ya well, Solomon?"
She clearly found this name to be amusing.
"Y-y-y-yes, she treats me very well, I am indebted to her for accepting me."
Babamon looked back at Ayumi, and put a hand on hers, smiling.
"Thank you for that."
"Eh? But being nice to people is normal, and he fulfilled my dream of being involved with the Digital World."
Babamon chuckled humourlessly.
"Darlin', before ya came along, lil' Solo here had no one but me, cuz his parents couldn't be 'round."
Ayumi looked at Solomon, who was looking away.
"Oh no! That's terrible! I am so sorry!"
He said nothing. Babamon sighed, and finished her tea.
"So why haven't ya visited me before? Ya know where I live, child."
Solomon, again, said nothing, which told Babamon everything.
"Ah, I see."
"H-h-h-huh? I don't get it..."
Babamon looked back at Solomon.
"Ya never told her? I thought I taught ya to accept who y'are."
The Monodramon got up and walked to the stairs.
"I'll go and see if my old things are still there."
And so, he was gone, to Ayumi's confusion.
"H-h-h-huh?"
Babamon stared down into the residue left behind by her macha.
"Guess he never came back cuz' he thought I'd be better off without 'im."
Ayumi turned to her, her eyes wide in surprise.
"Wh-wh-wha!?"
"Guess it's up to me to tell ya everything. You wanna have a drink before I start?"
Ayumi waited patiently as Babamon took a swig from her soft drink, letting out a rather unladylike burp once she was done. She hadn't touched her own, she was too nervous about what she was about to hear.
"Aaaaah, good stuff...alright, lemme give ya the straight facts, kiddo: Yer partner's been through a lot of shit, 'cuz of some bullshit prophecy back home where he wuz born."
"Eh? A Prophecy?"
"Your friend Solomon was not born in Old Terminus. He was born in the Valley of the Dragons. A village fulla "proud dragons" as they call themselves. I call 'em "Bastards with sticks up their own arses" but that's just me."
Ayumi had to chuckle at that.
"For some reason these peoples think there's some sorta prophecy that every few hundred years two kids are born, each bearing a sigil on their eggs. Goes back some milennia, where apparently the princess of the valley eloped with a bestial chimeric beast rather than marry her assigned husband she had tha marry without her consent. Anyhow, one kid is born with a light bulb on its egg - the Illuminator, a force of good and prosperity and yadda yadda bullshit. The other kid is born with an Error, this, they call the Destructor. This kid, they say, is destined to one day become the grand dread Milenniummon, a beast of mindless destrucity and what have ya. And as it would have it, lil' Solomon had that mark when his egg was born."
Babamon took another swig of her soda to let Ayumi take in the details.
"So...so Solomon is destined to become evil?"
"Not evil, sweetheart. These bastards just equate it with evil. And because prophecies mean more than any sorta logic, any egg born with the symbol is destroyed at birth."
"Th-th-that's terrible!"
"Aye, that's why i left the village ages ago, shit made me sick. Anyhow, my dear child would've met the same fate, had his parents not had a heart and soul. Believing their child's life is worth more than some bullshit prophecy, they brought the egg to me. Got them life-long jailtime for "potentially dooming the Digital World.""
She spat out onto the floor after saying that.
"Oh...oh...that's..."
"Aye, 'tis bloody sad. Regardless, it fell to me to raise the kid. And I raised him to the best of my abilities. Loved him, cared for him, taught him what's right and what's wrong. He was my child for all I cared. Ah, but nice things never last forever. So one day he asks about his past, and since I don' believe in deceit, I told it to him. I prolly shouldn't have, becuz then he began blaming himself for his parents' abandonment. Told himself it was his own fault. By the Sovereigns, I was stupid. And the worst was yet to come. One morning I awoke to a letter. Solomon had written he wanted to go an' save his family."
Ayumi gasped in shock.
"Oh no!"
"Yup, it was bad. I managed to arrive at the village gate to watch those guard bastards tryin' to gut him to get at his Digicore, to eradicate him. I had to restrain myself lest I slaughtered them in cold blood. Managed to only cripple them, though. So, I brought my badly wounded son home, and tried to nurse him back to health. Then, one day, he was gone. I now know he returned to an egg and must've felt he belonged to you, so he went to try an' find you. Thank you for saving him."
Ayumi did not know what to say about this. This was...much more than she would have thought.
"So...so he hates himself for his error..."
"Oh nononono, dear. I taught him to accept himself. The thing he hates himself for is that he feels he brings people bad luck, that's prolly why he left and didn't tell me. Figured I was better off without him."
"That's...that's terrible..."
"Aye."
Babamon finished her drink, then tossed the bottle behind her into the trash. There was a bit of an awkward silence, then there was a thump outside. Both Babamon and Ayumi seemed to sense what it was, as Babamon got up, and Ayumi jumped up to run outside. And, indeed, there was Solomon, wearing a backpack, looking around in the alleyway.
"Solomon! Solomon, wait!"
The Monodramon turned to his Tamer.
"Oh, Ayumi. So now you know the whole truth, huh? That I carry a curse of misfortune. That from birth I only brought calamity. That-"
Before he could go on, Ayumi hugged him tight.
"S-s-stop saying such terrible things about yourself! You're none of those things!"
The Monodramon's unmoving face stared ahead, his eyes beginning to tear up.
"But...my parents...and if I stick around you...you will be in trouble, too..."
Ayumi shook her head.
"I don't care! None of this is your fault! You are good, and wonderful!"
"But...but...that prophecy..."
"I don't care about any prophecies! I don't care what a "Milenniummon" is! You are you! And you're a wonderful person! And I will stay with you until the bitter end!"
Solomon could not believe these words. He's known this girl for a few days at most, yet she proclaimed her loyalty to him...?
"A-a-a-are you sure?"
"I am absolutely sure! You accept me for what I am, so the least I can do is return that favour! You are my partner, we belong together! And I will be with you, no matter what happens!"
Solomon now teared up fully. His monotone cries were bizarre to hear, but Ayumi did not care in the slightest. She just held him, and comforted him.
The tears Solomon shed began to pool behind Ayumi, and then the pool began to glow. Neither of them noticed for some time, but when they did, a small, egg-like artifact had appeared from the puddle.
Ayumi blinked, and gently picked it up. Babamon, who had watched this from afar, now stepped closer and smiled.
"Ah, a Digimental, thems are rare. Your emotions musta been pure. They only appear to those who got strong virtues."
"What...does it do?"
"That's up to you to discover. See it as a proof for the bond you have with Solomon."
Ayumi and Solomon remained outside for a while, just regarding the egg, until Babamon herded them back inside, for some more tea and cookies. Eventually, however, they departed. Solomon and his tamer bad farewell to Babamon, who had one last question for the girl.
"Say, sweetie, how's it lookin' with the boys?"
Ayumi looked down. Her confusing lack of attraction to boys was one of the things that bothered her the most about herself.
"It's...not looking so good, I cannot seem to find one that appeals to me...b-b-b-but one day I will find a boyfriend!"
Babamon thought for a bit, then smiled, and patted Ayumi's leg.
"Gal, with some girls, a boyfriend is another girl."
Ayumi blinked, and wanted to ask what that meant, but by then Babamon had vanished back into the house. She was left pondering these words as she and Solomon returned to Terminus proper, with their new proof of their bond in tow.
[Ayumi gains the Digimental of Loyalty]
Old Terminus was, as far as Ayumi could tell, a wild mishmash of architectural styles, with ruins of houses standing next to much better kept but ancient-looking buildings. Shifty looking Digimon stood on the corners, and gave the two a suspicious look as they walked through the narrow, decrepit alleys. Solomon stopped at a corner shop, which looked like it belonged into the late Meiji era.
"Is this the place?"
"Y-y-y-yes. This is the place."
Ayumi turned to her partner.
"Eh? Are you ok? You seem nervous!"
"N-n-no, I am ok. Let's go."
The Monodramon then rung the doorbell. There was some commotion inside, and a voice got closer.
"...I swear to bloody Yggdrasil if that's them youngsters again askin' for protection money I'm gonna shove me broom so far up their arses they're gonna-"
The door swung open, and a short Digimon resembling an old woman brandishing a broom opened the door. As a scan would later tell Ayumi, this was a Babamon. The Babamon stared at Solomon, who tried to avoid her eyeless gaze.
"H-h-h-hello, Granny."
A few more seconds of awkward silence, then the Babamon fell into Solomon's arm and hugged him, tears running down from under her hair where here eyes would be.
"By all Royal Knights, darling! You're alright! You're alive! Oh me old heart is close to bursting from happiness!"
Solomon tried to gently push his grandma away.
"G-g-g-grandma, please, Ayumi is watching."
Ayumi was indeed watching, grinning widely at this display of reunion and happiness! The Babamon let go and looked Ayumi up and down.
"Ah, an' who's this broad?"
"Th-th-that's my Tamer, Ayumi."
The Babamon stepped around Ayumi, looking her over and rubbing her chin. Ayumi was a bit perturbed by this. Eventually, she smiled, and smacked her in the shin cordially.
"Ah, my lil' boy's gotten lucky, and got himself a Grade A Tamer! Please, do come in, I'll make tea! You can tell me all the details inside!"
Ayumi, perplexed by the smack of the old woman, watched as she entered the house. She then looked at Solomon, who just shrugged and followed his grandma inside.
The three sat around a kotatsu, drinking macha tea out of small earthen cups. A fan was rotating on the ceiling, moving the sticky underground air about. The radio in the corner was tuned to the Enka 24/7 channel. Babamon took a deep sip, and exhaled a small cloud of vapor from the hot tea.
"...so ya found his egg in the trash an' then christened him Solomon?"
Ayumi looked proud and smiled.
"Of course, the name of a legendary wiseman is perfect for the Archangel of Technology!~"
Solomon looked at his tamer with wide eyes. Babamon looked at her, and then giggled to herself.
"Yeah, sure. She treatin' ya well, Solomon?"
She clearly found this name to be amusing.
"Y-y-y-yes, she treats me very well, I am indebted to her for accepting me."
Babamon looked back at Ayumi, and put a hand on hers, smiling.
"Thank you for that."
"Eh? But being nice to people is normal, and he fulfilled my dream of being involved with the Digital World."
Babamon chuckled humourlessly.
"Darlin', before ya came along, lil' Solo here had no one but me, cuz his parents couldn't be 'round."
Ayumi looked at Solomon, who was looking away.
"Oh no! That's terrible! I am so sorry!"
He said nothing. Babamon sighed, and finished her tea.
"So why haven't ya visited me before? Ya know where I live, child."
Solomon, again, said nothing, which told Babamon everything.
"Ah, I see."
"H-h-h-huh? I don't get it..."
Babamon looked back at Solomon.
"Ya never told her? I thought I taught ya to accept who y'are."
The Monodramon got up and walked to the stairs.
"I'll go and see if my old things are still there."
And so, he was gone, to Ayumi's confusion.
"H-h-h-huh?"
Babamon stared down into the residue left behind by her macha.
"Guess he never came back cuz' he thought I'd be better off without 'im."
Ayumi turned to her, her eyes wide in surprise.
"Wh-wh-wha!?"
"Guess it's up to me to tell ya everything. You wanna have a drink before I start?"
Ayumi waited patiently as Babamon took a swig from her soft drink, letting out a rather unladylike burp once she was done. She hadn't touched her own, she was too nervous about what she was about to hear.
"Aaaaah, good stuff...alright, lemme give ya the straight facts, kiddo: Yer partner's been through a lot of shit, 'cuz of some bullshit prophecy back home where he wuz born."
"Eh? A Prophecy?"
"Your friend Solomon was not born in Old Terminus. He was born in the Valley of the Dragons. A village fulla "proud dragons" as they call themselves. I call 'em "Bastards with sticks up their own arses" but that's just me."
Ayumi had to chuckle at that.
"For some reason these peoples think there's some sorta prophecy that every few hundred years two kids are born, each bearing a sigil on their eggs. Goes back some milennia, where apparently the princess of the valley eloped with a bestial chimeric beast rather than marry her assigned husband she had tha marry without her consent. Anyhow, one kid is born with a light bulb on its egg - the Illuminator, a force of good and prosperity and yadda yadda bullshit. The other kid is born with an Error, this, they call the Destructor. This kid, they say, is destined to one day become the grand dread Milenniummon, a beast of mindless destrucity and what have ya. And as it would have it, lil' Solomon had that mark when his egg was born."
Babamon took another swig of her soda to let Ayumi take in the details.
"So...so Solomon is destined to become evil?"
"Not evil, sweetheart. These bastards just equate it with evil. And because prophecies mean more than any sorta logic, any egg born with the symbol is destroyed at birth."
"Th-th-that's terrible!"
"Aye, that's why i left the village ages ago, shit made me sick. Anyhow, my dear child would've met the same fate, had his parents not had a heart and soul. Believing their child's life is worth more than some bullshit prophecy, they brought the egg to me. Got them life-long jailtime for "potentially dooming the Digital World.""
She spat out onto the floor after saying that.
"Oh...oh...that's..."
"Aye, 'tis bloody sad. Regardless, it fell to me to raise the kid. And I raised him to the best of my abilities. Loved him, cared for him, taught him what's right and what's wrong. He was my child for all I cared. Ah, but nice things never last forever. So one day he asks about his past, and since I don' believe in deceit, I told it to him. I prolly shouldn't have, becuz then he began blaming himself for his parents' abandonment. Told himself it was his own fault. By the Sovereigns, I was stupid. And the worst was yet to come. One morning I awoke to a letter. Solomon had written he wanted to go an' save his family."
Ayumi gasped in shock.
"Oh no!"
"Yup, it was bad. I managed to arrive at the village gate to watch those guard bastards tryin' to gut him to get at his Digicore, to eradicate him. I had to restrain myself lest I slaughtered them in cold blood. Managed to only cripple them, though. So, I brought my badly wounded son home, and tried to nurse him back to health. Then, one day, he was gone. I now know he returned to an egg and must've felt he belonged to you, so he went to try an' find you. Thank you for saving him."
Ayumi did not know what to say about this. This was...much more than she would have thought.
"So...so he hates himself for his error..."
"Oh nononono, dear. I taught him to accept himself. The thing he hates himself for is that he feels he brings people bad luck, that's prolly why he left and didn't tell me. Figured I was better off without him."
"That's...that's terrible..."
"Aye."
Babamon finished her drink, then tossed the bottle behind her into the trash. There was a bit of an awkward silence, then there was a thump outside. Both Babamon and Ayumi seemed to sense what it was, as Babamon got up, and Ayumi jumped up to run outside. And, indeed, there was Solomon, wearing a backpack, looking around in the alleyway.
"Solomon! Solomon, wait!"
The Monodramon turned to his Tamer.
"Oh, Ayumi. So now you know the whole truth, huh? That I carry a curse of misfortune. That from birth I only brought calamity. That-"
Before he could go on, Ayumi hugged him tight.
"S-s-stop saying such terrible things about yourself! You're none of those things!"
The Monodramon's unmoving face stared ahead, his eyes beginning to tear up.
"But...my parents...and if I stick around you...you will be in trouble, too..."
Ayumi shook her head.
"I don't care! None of this is your fault! You are good, and wonderful!"
"But...but...that prophecy..."
"I don't care about any prophecies! I don't care what a "Milenniummon" is! You are you! And you're a wonderful person! And I will stay with you until the bitter end!"
Solomon could not believe these words. He's known this girl for a few days at most, yet she proclaimed her loyalty to him...?
"A-a-a-are you sure?"
"I am absolutely sure! You accept me for what I am, so the least I can do is return that favour! You are my partner, we belong together! And I will be with you, no matter what happens!"
Solomon now teared up fully. His monotone cries were bizarre to hear, but Ayumi did not care in the slightest. She just held him, and comforted him.
The tears Solomon shed began to pool behind Ayumi, and then the pool began to glow. Neither of them noticed for some time, but when they did, a small, egg-like artifact had appeared from the puddle.
Ayumi blinked, and gently picked it up. Babamon, who had watched this from afar, now stepped closer and smiled.
"Ah, a Digimental, thems are rare. Your emotions musta been pure. They only appear to those who got strong virtues."
"What...does it do?"
"That's up to you to discover. See it as a proof for the bond you have with Solomon."
Ayumi and Solomon remained outside for a while, just regarding the egg, until Babamon herded them back inside, for some more tea and cookies. Eventually, however, they departed. Solomon and his tamer bad farewell to Babamon, who had one last question for the girl.
"Say, sweetie, how's it lookin' with the boys?"
Ayumi looked down. Her confusing lack of attraction to boys was one of the things that bothered her the most about herself.
"It's...not looking so good, I cannot seem to find one that appeals to me...b-b-b-but one day I will find a boyfriend!"
Babamon thought for a bit, then smiled, and patted Ayumi's leg.
"Gal, with some girls, a boyfriend is another girl."
Ayumi blinked, and wanted to ask what that meant, but by then Babamon had vanished back into the house. She was left pondering these words as she and Solomon returned to Terminus proper, with their new proof of their bond in tow.
[Ayumi gains the Digimental of Loyalty]