Storm Before The Calm (Kuu)

"Isaac's the kind of guy who never runs out of stuff to do," Elliot replied, laughing a little. "I remember back in California, when he was still all about trying parkour. He would just keep trying to run up the same walls for hours. I mean, he's not crazy. He'd change how he'd tackle it instead of just doing the same thing over and over again. But he just wouldn't stop trying until he could get that wall down. If he could keep himself entertained for hours on end with nothing but some dumb wall, who knows how much he's been doing with an entire world?" Even after everything he'd been through, hope came back to Elliot's voice whenever the subject returned to Isaac. It was clear he thought that, compared to him, his brother was thriving.

After all, Isaac was always fine, right?

There was a key element to that which was missing, though. "Then again, whenever he did that kind of stupid stuff, I was always there with him . . ." Elliot mumbled. Why did Isaac have to say 'don't look for me, I'll be fine?' Why'd he have to make all of this so complicated?

In general, partnerships made things more complex. Kuu's was no exception. "I know it isn't the same," Elliot said, sighing a little. "I wish there was some way to make it easier for both of you. Why can't there be, like, some kind of miniportal? Just run through one side, get to the Digital World easily, be back in Maia's room in time for classes. Maybe someone should invent it . . ." Yes, Elliot saw Digiports on sale. And no, they are not the same!

He wasn't the only one speaking nonsense. So was Kuu. If Biomerging meant something important, both of them had completely lost it. In the back of Elliot's mind, he had the feeling Karin explained the term before, but there was far too much on Elliot's plate for him to focus on that right now. Instead he focused on Kuu's "like on television" point. "Wish it was that easy," Elliot said. "I tried everything I could to help fix his problem. I tried buying him a holosuit, even. It . . . didn't work. At all." Elliot shuddered at what the D-Reaper's corrupted code did to that poor holosuit. "That's when he told me to just go back home and let him sort it all out. Sometimes, I wonder if I shouldn't have listened."

If he didn't listen to Isaac before, he could listen to Kuu now. Immediately Elliot spruced up his voice a bit, trying to push away emotional deadness in favor of his usual gentle tone. "I listen to you," he said, somewhat saddened. "You're helpful. And you're funny. And you're my friend. In or out of the holosuit you're important to me and worth hearing out, okay?" With that said, was it any wonder that Elliot graciously accepted the friendship bracelet? For the first time today, Kuu had forced a real smile out of him, and Elliot eagerly put the bracelet around his wrist. "Thank you. That really means a lot," he said, unable to take his eyes off of his wrist.

Until he needed to text, at least. That'd be hard to do looking at his wrist instead of his phone. Don't have to pick him up, but you can come if you want, he typed, thinking for quite a bit on the second part. I'm not, I think, he concluded, before finally hitting send.

Elliot let out a small snicker as he imagined Kuu trying, and failing, repeatedly to scramble up a wall. "Don't worry, don't worry. Gravity's nice and fair," he said, his smile continuing to break through the previous shell of glumness surrounding him. " 'Course, that's never stopped Isaac from trying. Maybe that's why he always liked D-." Elliot blinked. Instead of seeing his brother flying around and having a great time in dragon form, instead he saw that goop-coated mimic trying to swallow Isaac whole.

Maybe he should change the topic. Like food. Food was nice. "He's never been much for food, really. Not like I am," Elliot answered, voice shaking a little as he got back on track to happy thoughts. "I think he's been more of a gourmet since his job, though. Maybe now that he's got the time he's trying all the food in the Digital World."

Or maybe he was looking into an item that, unknowingly, Elliot had perfectly described. "Wait, seriously?" Elliot asked. That changed everything! "I should totally try to pick that up for you. Maybe then you'd finally have more chances to see your home," he found himself mumbling, not even consciously processing the idea. However, there was one elephant hanging over the room in that regard. Could Elliot even go back?

No. Kuu was right. Elliot let out a soft sigh as he let himself slump against the bed. "You're right. I think I've been thinking too much," he said, closing his eyes in a quick attempt at trying to clear his mind. "It's good that you try, though. You're always working really hard to try and make people smile. I know even if she gets a bit grumpy, she appreciates it. At least a little bit." Heck, Isaac sometimes appreciated it, and he was way more of a crank than Maia was!

He let out a slight snicker as Kuu warned him about eating the friendship bracelet. "Why would I do that?" he asked, turning his wrist over a bit to admire the bracelet. "Then I couldn't look at it any more. That would suck" Silly as it was, the little gift was really giving him some peace of mind. Maybe he wasn't that alone after all.

"Again?" he found himself asking as Kuu mentioned Maia dropping her phone in paint. "I'm impressed she can text while painting, really. That's gotta take a lot of focus." Not the focus was either of their strong suits. Especially Kuu, who was already wondering how paint smelled. "Like paint? Elliot added, helpfully.

Still, for now it was just nice sitting back and getting some of this tension off of his chest. Occasionally Elliot glanced towards his phone, part of him hoping for a response and part of him hoping not to see anything.

Elliot couldn't help but giggle at Kuu's insistence that Isaac played fair. Everything just had to be a competition with the two of them, didn't it? Even gravity. "We all have to gravity," Elliot reminded Kuu. "It's just how life works. Unless you're in space. But I don't really think any of us can go there, at least yet." Maybe one day they'd make it nice and easy, but until then anyone who wanted to go to space would need all of that training and education and stuff like that. It certainly wasn't the kind of thing that could just be decided on a whim, no matter how cool it seemed.

Kuu didn't seem as optimistic about the idea of a personal Digimon World portal as Elliot did. "I bet if she knew you really wanted to visit more, she'd at least give it a use every now and then," Elliot suggested. Maia may have been cautious to near extreme levels sometimes, but she was far from heartless. "Besides, it can help her get out of trouble, too. If there's a big, mean Digimon chasing her she could just put up a portal and run instead of having to get all the way back to the train station. Although I guess with how tough you've gotten, that's really not a problem anymore, is it?"

Right! Elliot was forgetting something. "You look really cool in your new form, by the way," he said. He didn't get to see Sakuyamon in action too much, but a warrior in gold armor? That was the definition of badass! "I'm really proud of you."

Maia didn't always seem to be, if Kuu's latest story was any indication. Then again, it also seemed like Kuu was blowing the story way out of proportion. Did he ruin something really important? No, then he'd mention Maia being mad at him, because Kuu certainly wasn't shy to bring that up. That disqualified it being money, a fancy art project, or a love letter from Isaac. Also, why would any of those things be in the bathroom in the first place? They probably didn't get all slimy, either. It was almost like Kuu was talking about . . .

"Toilet paper?" Elliot asked, trying not to laugh at Kuu's ridiculous antics. "Oh, don't worry about that! That's supposed to go in toilets. You didn't do anything wrong putting it in there. Although usually, we're only supposed to put toilet paper in there during special times. So it's good to be careful with it so you still have some during those special times, okay?" That was the most Elliot was going to say on the subject. If he has to explain to Kuu how pooping works, I quit the site.

Speaking of gross bodily functions, Kuu had no idea how digestion worked! Elliot opened his mouth briefly to explain, but let it close without any further words. This really wasn't a topic worth getting into. "I think it'd be a bit too hard for me," Elliot suggested, not wanting to eat a friendship bracelet today. "So it probably isn't a good idea for me to eat it. I do like eating, though, so you're right with that."

Speaking of things not to eat; phones! At least Kuu was learning how to use a stylus instead of constantly giving Maia's phone a tongue bath. That said, did her phone really smell that good? Why did girl stuff always smell so nice? Isaac just kinda smelled like guy, and Elliot made sure to eradicate every potential hint of smell on his person with a merciless shower routine. None of them got to smell like the inside of a Bath and Body Works. "Yeah, I know what you're talking about," Elliot said. "Did you know that most of what we taste is what we smell? So if you get a cold, food just isn't gonna taste the same as it usually does. So yeah, I guess you could pretend! Although it's probably a better idea to pretend while licking the air, I think. Then you don't have the plastic tasting nasty." Elliot had no idea if this advice was sensible or not, but Maia would probably appreciate less slobber on her phone.

He giggled a little at Kuu's next question. "Not really, no," Elliot said. "But when there's really good smelling food, it almost hurts not eating it right away." Like Alicia's cooking, for example. She was a real wiz at it.

Elliot nearly jumped as his phone went off. Maia's phone seemingly escaped from the paint to live another day. Sounds good to me, he said, admittedly thankful for the chance to put off this meeting a little bit longer. Silly as it might sound, Elliot wasn't sure if he was emotionally ready for it. The same went for her next question. He looked down at his phone, nervously fiddling with the buttons as he tried to think of an answer. Finally, he left it at just one word.

Please.

Elliot's eyes also grew wide, but this was less from surprise and more from fear. Something told him that if Kuu wanted them to go to space, Kuu would somehow get them to space. That was an awful idea for so, so many reasons. "We wouldn't be able to get there. We don't have a rocket," Elliot said, hoping some facts would dissuade Kuu. They never did, though, so Elliot figured he'd try something else. "Besides. We can't have much fun there even if we did go. There's no air in space, and we're gonna have a really bad time without air. We need it to breathe! Wait, do you need air to breathe?"

Oh God. Elliot really shouldn't have asked that. If words could backpedal, Elliot's would be running faster than the speed of light. "Oh god, Kuu, please don't test that," he said. "If you just stop breathing, Maia's gonna kill me!"

At least Kuu seemed interested in the portal idea. "Exactly! You convince her to use it because it's safe, and then while it's there you go to the Digital World more," Elliot said. It was all about negotiation! "I don't know if the bad guys can go through it. I don't think they can, can they? I mean, who would sell a door you couldn't close? Nobody would buy that!" Right? Otherwise, there would've been way more Digimon in the human world!

Elliot smiled a little at Kuu's proud stance, although it wasn't their final form? "Wait, really?" Elliot said. "You can go even further?" He and Isaac's third forms felt so . . . final. Could there really be a step even further beyond? "And I'm proud because you've come so far! I mean, when I first met you, you were just this little ball of fur. And now you're this really cool, strong warrior. It's really admirable, actually.

I mean, I turned into something cool too, but it all just kinda went by in a blur. I don't even remember what I looked like. And I really don't think I'll be able to use it again. Not while my Digivice isn't working, at least."

This was getting sad. Back to toilet paper. "Heh. That does sound pretty fun," Elliot admitted. "But you should roll it back up when you're done, okay? That way you don't have to put on a whole new roll when you want to play with it again." Also so Maia doesn't have to waste money and cut off Kuu's sugar budget. At least Elliot was looking out for his future sister-in-law!

Then again, telling Kuu to eat Maia's phone certainly didn't count as looking out for her. "No, no!" he said, already feeling Maia's urge to kill him rising. "I mean, the plastic tastes really bad, right? So if you eat it, that ruins the nice smell. And since it's in your belly, then you don't get to smell it anymore. Trust me, it's a really bad idea." He could only hope Kuu would listen.

"Well, sometimes it's still cooking," Elliot explained as Kuu asked about food. "It's better when you let it all finish, even when it smells before that. And sometimes it's just rude to grab it and eat it because you're waiting for other people to get their food, so you can eat together. And then there are the times when you're just not hungry, even if you really, really want to be. I dunno. It's complicated, you know?" He probably didn't.

"Toilets are really smelly," Elliot said, wrinkling his nose a little in disgust. Maybe it was for the best that he didn't have a Digimon partner, if they did things as gross as Kuu! Then again, by now Elliot knew that Kuu didn't listen to any logic but his own. If Elliot was going to dissuade Kuu, he'd have to start playing by Kuu's rules instead. "Like, smellier than Isaac. You shouldn't put your face in them." Ha! Bulletproof plan. Now if Kuu wanted to experiment with being an amphibian, he'd at least have to do it somewhere that didn't make Maia want to tear her hair out.

At least he didn't die last time? That was a small positive.

Kuu raised a good point about the portal, but Elliot was quite sure it didn't work that way. "I think you just click a button on your Digivice, and it locks itself," Elliot said, trying to keep working with Kuu's terms. "Otherwise we'd have a lot more bad Digimon running around here, right? Besides, nobody would want to sneak under Maia's bed with a big hero like you keeping her safe." It was almost funny to Elliot that Kuu leaped right into the monster under the bed analogy. Did Digimon even have that kind of thought process, or did Kuu just watch way too much TV?

Elliot blinked a little as he heard Kuu mention a step beyond. "I kinda thought we were at the end of the line, really," Elliot said, unsure. "We had our human spirit. We had our beast spirit. Then I think we kinda put them together. What could possibly come after that?" Would he have to find a way to mix in his fragments and sprites? No. The fragments seemed like parts of his main line, and Elliot wasn't even sure that Veemon was a real spirit! Unlike the others, it never seemed to have a consciousness of its own. "I don't think I can do it alone, anyway," he added. "I only got this far with Isaac's help."

Of course, even in his current state of confusion and glumness, he couldn't help but laugh at the garbage can incident being brought up again. "It takes way longer for humans to stop being little, sadly," he said. "And we were in the trash because we needed to hide really badly. It was like we were undercover. You have a fancy holosuit now, so you don't have to worry about that." If only Isaac also had a fancy holosuit, so that he also didn't have to worry about that. It would've saved Elliot a lot of headache and heartache.

Wow. Kuu sure had a weird way of solving problems. "Sadly, Digivices don't have tongue scanners. Just buttons," Elliot said, trying to sound dejected about dodging such a gross bullet. "But maybe I'll try again later." He wouldn't.

Then again, Kuu rolling up toilet paper was probably just as anathema to him as Elliot licking plastic. "I know it's hard, but a lot of rewarding things are," Elliot said. "That's why we gotta keep trying until we're the best we can be, right?"

Arguing with Kuu's logic was not one of those rewarding things. "If only it worked that way," Elliot said, shaking his head sadly. "But sadly, it just doesn't always pan out. Like when something looks really tasty, but then it's made of wax." Wax fruit was a pox upon this Earth, and Elliot would hear no word otherwise.

Then again, Kuu had problems with basic ideas like appetite. "Well, when you're really sick, and food hurts more than it helps, you don't want to eat it," Elliot said, pointing out one option. "Or when you've eaten way too much, and you can't eat another bite. Or . . . those days where you just can't do anything, even when you really want to, and you just kind of look at food and shrug even though it's really tasty." Elliot did not seem entirely okay, looking down sadly at his feet.

Perfect timing for a newcomer to enter his room. "Hey, I brought snacks," said Cassandra, nudging the door ajar with her foot. "You'd better not be hosting a party without-"

The tray of cheese and crackers nearly clattered to the floor as Cassandra stared at Kuu, mouth agape. For a second, she seemed to think she was looking at a ghost. Then again, Cassandra knew her son. She may have briefly been caught up, but she could tell that it wasn't really him. She quickly moved to set the tray down on Elliot's desk to avoid nearly dropping it again. "I, uh, I didn't know Elliot was having guests. Would've made more," she said, averting her eyes somewhat. Even if it wasn't exactly Isaac, it was still just close enough for discomfort.

Elliot gagged audibly as Kuu brought up drinking out of toilets not being so bad. No, no, no, he just couldn't do this anymore. He could handle a lot of Kuu's idiosyncrasies, but drinking out of a toilet was too much to even imagine. "I like toothpaste," Elliot added. "Just gotta find the one that tastes right for you. There's always bubblegum flavor, right?" Nobody hated bubble gum. It was, like, scientifically proven. And it probably tingled way less than mint did. It was so good, you wouldn't even notice when your teeth were clean. Then again, Kuu would probably swallow the whole bottle. That was a really bad idea.

Wait, why was he sleeping under Maia's bed, now? Would that make Isaac jealous? No, that was a terrible idea. "I'll see what I can do. I don't think I'd fit under the bed, though," Elliot said. "Still, you're right. The Dust Bunnies must be kept safe!" He couldn't say a sentence like that without laughing a little. It was just too hilarious of a mental image. Then again, their allergy-causing potential could've probably helped them defend themselves. Dust bunnies were merciless.

As much as Kuu was crazy, his outlook on life was really nice. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess that's a good way of thinking about things," he said. But there had to be limits, right? "There's a limit to Isaac's height, for example. Have you done that new form yet, or do you just think you can do it?" It would've been a potential lead towards new levels of power, at least, even if spirit users and other Digimon worked completely differently. Heck, Elliot didn't even need to think about new levels when he didn't have access to a single one of his old levels yet.

"Trust me, you don't want to be in the trash," Elliot had. Suddenly, he had a great idea. "Oh! I mean, you have your cartridge, right? That's way cooler than a garbage can, right? I mean, look at it. It's so shiny. I sure wish I could hide in it, but instead it's all yours." Yes, Elliot. Stroke that ego more. Maybe then, Kuu would develop a good habit for a change.

It was better than the habit of eating wax fruit. "That's the scary thing about wax," Elliot said. "It doesn't have a smell. You'd never know until you bite it." Not that Elliot even sniffed wax fruit to begin with, but if Kuu thought plastic smelled good enough to eat any smell would've probably appealed to him. Any smell besides Isaac, at least. Maybe Elliot should've given Maia a bottle of Isaac smell to spray on important things.

Wait, that idea could've gone wrong in so many ways.

What was sick? God, where did Elliot even begin? How it felt? The biological explanation? The ways people got it sick? How people felt? "Sick is when you don't feel like you should anymore. And you wish it could stop, but nothing you do changes is, so you just have to try and take care of yourself the best you can," Elliot finally decided on. There. That should cover mental sickness, physical sickness, emotional distress. And hopefully it would all be easy to swallow.

A shame those conversations would be put on hold for a bit now that Elliot's mom had arrived. At least she seemed amused by the arrival, a small smile spreading on her face. "So you know the mysterious Maia I've heard so much about," she joked. She'd heard the name in many frantic runs out of the door, at least. Wait, was that Isaac's girlfriend? That would've made a lot of sense. "I don't mind you saying. Although I'd appreciate letting me know ahead of time, eh kid?" Elliot looked a little embarrassed at being called out like that, even if it wasn't his fault.

"So, how'd you meet my son?"

"Well, that's perfect, then!" Elliot said, beaming. "You get to taste bubblegum, and your teeth are nice and clean. It's a win win, you know?" Shit, that was a good suggestion. Elliot leaned over to shoot a text Maia's way, relaying such all-important to her. After all, she probably didn't trust Kuu with buying his own stuff. In all fairness Elliot didn't either. What the heck would Kuu even do with his money? He'd either spend it on something ridiculous, or he'd just end up eating it. Coins had that nice, coppery smell. Everything had a nice smell unless it was Isaac, didn't it?

At mention of Isaac getting taller, Elliot sighed somewhat sadly. "It's been three years of doctors appointments saying he's tapped out by now. He hasn't grown an inch since then," he said. "I really don't think he's got a chance at this point. I mean, maybe he'll luck out? But I've gone from way tinier to him to right on eye level." Uh, Elliot, you're a little bit more than that by now! "I hope Maia doesn't mind that too much," he added. Isaac was her chihuahua. She had to be fine with it, right?

That said, Kuu suddenly dropped some weirdly profound questions. "Distressed?" he repeated, blinking. "I mean, it depends. Is that something really helpful? Is it going to make things better in the end? I mean, I really don't like upsetting people, but sometimes you have to do something a little bad to do something very good, right?" It was way too out of nowhere. Why? "Does reaching the next level disturb you?

. . . Does it disturb Maia?"

Elliot smiled as Kuu said that his cartridge wasn't trash. "That's right! It's way better than trash," Elliot said. A bold proclamation, maybe, but Elliot really didn't care much for trash. "It's the shiniest thing I've seen. And it's so made just for you to hide in. It's perfect." Apparently it was so perfect that Kuu was even looking for a really big one. "Maybe you just need to find the biggest Kudamon in the world," Elliot suggested, curious.

Wait. Did Kuu just compare Digivolving to being ill? Elliot's grin fell as he thought over the question, as well as all of the times that he complimented Kuu on a cool new Digivolution. Was that just telling Kuu that he should be something that wasn't himself? The last thing that Elliot would ever want was for Kuu to get a complex over this. "Do you not like Digivolving?" Elliot asked, voice quiet

"Ah, a relative of hers," Elliot's mom said. Was Isaac dating a girl that looked just like him? That was messed up! "Guess these two always end up a package deal one way or another. Think this is the longest I've seen them apart." At Kuu's attempt at taking the blame, she just smiled warmly and wearily. "Hey, nobody's gotta take blame in this house. You're fine," she said, quickly warming up to all of this.

That said, the brothers did what? "Elliot and Isaac? Helping you get around?" she asked. She tried to stifle the laugh threatening to leak out. "You don't gotta try and make them look good. I swear, these two can't find their way out of a cardboard box." The tone in her voice was warm, and it was clear she didn't mean that little criticism seriously. "Hey, I'm just glad those directional lessons stuck. Wouldn't want my kids getting lost in Shibuya on me.

You go to school around here?"