A Prince's Parley [Gummy/Hikaru]

Gummy appreciated the soft gesture from Bezil as he recoiled from the painful, yet somewhat comical blow to the head. It would have been really embarrassing if the furry Gumdramon wrapped him into his arms and tried to sooth his pain away, especially in front of three members of his family, and they just met him. Something like that was reserved when they were alone. Besides, he wanted to be cool and impressive in their eyes, not vulnerable. A little pain won’t kill him.

Seeing Bezil’s face turning to a bright pink made Gummy grin ear to ear. His ears stood up in surprise when his boyfriend bunt his cheek against his, making the hammer part of his tail glow a dim blue. “Well I guess I’ll make your light forever-lasting, Bez Bez~” , he teased, reciprocating gesture. It was always fun teasing Bezil since he found it amusing getting him all flustered up. Though he would be light, not wanting his boyfriend to turn red as a tomato.

Gummy perked up in attention as Hikaru talked. The mention of children made his eyes widened. That was something he hadn’t given much thought as well. It wasn’t something he was opposed to, but it wasn’t something he was with 100%, not yet anyway. He didn’t know much about parenting, but the responsibility of raising a child requires sheer commitment, unconditional love, a fair mind and open, and patience. That all required maturity, and Gummy felt he was lacking in that area. That all will come to him in due; he needed to focus on the here and now.

But still, it would be pretty nice.

“Treat the citizens like part of the family’, huh?” Gummy repeated, looking out at the city through the window, internally musing. Man, who knew being a part of royalty required so much responsibility and to be so...open. Would that mean he’d have to socialize and befriend everybody? Seems a little egregious if that was the case.

Ending the speech, Hikaru offered to take the two on a tour of Y’s, to which Bezil encouraged that he would like. “Sure. We didn’t have anything planned today anyway, so a walk around town sounds good,” he replied. “Wait, so there’s more to this city than meets the eye? Holy...how did a city like this go missing for so long...and buried? That’s insane. Now I’m starting to wonder why this place was abandoned in the first place.”

Bezil really enjoyed this little moment with Gummy, to the point that he didn’t really care how Hikaru, Haku or Jill would take it. This was a digimon he loved, and even if they were being kinda mushy together, well, it was a feeling he enjoyed. And that was a value he knew his family understood – as long as there was nothing evil to it, it was fine. Hikaru even mentioned that it reminded him of Owen, and this made Bezil swell a little with pride. After all, he had… kinda held Owen as idealized behaviour in this kind of thing, and this kind of feedback from Hikaru about his feelings for Gummy made him very happy indeed.

Bezil noticed that Gummy seemed to act a little unsure about the prospect of children of their own. Gummy had perked up, but reacted otherwise very little. Perhaps he was weighing it up in his own mind? Well, now was not the time or place to talk about it in detail, so Bezil was fine with that.

Thankfully Gummy was open to the idea of a tour of the city, and better still, he seemed to be quite curious about it. Hikaru would then arrange for an air-cab to take them on the tour.

Gummy asked how in the world a city as big as this could be buried and undiscovered for so long. Bezil paused for a moment to think of how he could explain this in a non-boring way to his boyfriend, then he remembered something that he had learned from Earth that should be exciting to him.

“Okay, babe, you know how on Earth, they have Earthquakes and Volcanoes that change their landscape over time?” he began. “Well, we think something similar has happened in the digital world recently that has done a similar change, only instead of everything shaking and being covered with lava, old data has emerged from being trapped from underground, and a really major event has made such a city like this be revealed. We in KIZNA were the first to secure it, so we want to make sure it’s properly taken care of, explored safely, and eventually populated.” he turned to Hikaru after he said it. “That’s the plan isn’t it, papa?” he asked, hoping he hadn’t left anything out that might give Gummy the wrong impression.

Bezil listened to Jill’s reading of the schedule, and was interested in the mysterious event in the crafting district. “Is there anything serious about it? Like energy fluctuations?” he asked, concerned. Energy fluctuations were generally the sign of something more dangerous within Ys, that often required an evacuation of the normal population until specialists could figure out what was happening.

Hikaru then apologized for taking time from Bezil with his boyfriend, but Bezil smiled. “It’s okay, papa, we’ve had plenty of time together this past week to pay off for something like this.” he assured him. Besides, he thought that if Gummy grew more familiar with Ys like this, it’d make him even more comfortable with being around this mysterious ancient city, and thus make their time together even more comfortable and natural.

"The data actually suggest that... unlike the most tectonic activities or eruption whatsoever... Ys... instead chooses to emerge from its deep slumber." Jill commented. "Or better said, when it was in dormant state, the then ghost city vanished from sight like an optical camouflage... and suddenly, one day... it just returned... along with the massive mountain it encased in. Our scientists still trying to dig the reason of this... but what we found was pretty shocking. While inside is indeed protected from any battle, what happened on the outside was the reverse. The crust suggested a battle that caused a disaster strong enough to cause the city to be encased in magma and mineral alike...  We're trying to see if there are anything inside."

Hikaru nodded.in approval at Gummy's knowledge. "That is how it is... what we know is the city is... actually a living artifact. A bonafide artifact in size of a city. How big is it actually? No one knows, but we'd like to find out. That's why new area starting to crop up like that. While we trust the city security, and the will of the city itself... it's still dangerous to dive to something unknown by yourself."

"No, there's no sign of energy fluctuation or anything... but if we... put it in certain description... let's just say... it doesn't fluctuate, but at the same time... it's active? I dunno how else to explain it, but I think the operative amanger over there could explain it better than me. I checked the file they sent me and.... believe me, I think you'll be surprised how deep this city goes." Jill answered

Gummy's answer is... interesting to say the least. Hikaru looked at him curiously. "I see, so that's your answer..." when the young mon asked if he missed the mark completely, Hikaru shook his head and smiled gently. "No, I think you hit the right marks... just not quite there yet. Let's say you get the important notes hit right, but the subtleness is not there. I'd rate that 89 out of 100. Great, but could use slightly more polishing. But there's no real 'correct' answer on this, you see... It's more of a question of what kind of priority you put to certain image.

Personally, this is my view, alright? Personally... Indeed as you say, trust is important... but if you dig one step further, where does the trust coming form? The people. Sometimes when a royal is given their title and power, they forgot about their own circumstances, and suddenly they had this desire of making themselves even more wealthy than what they have at the moment. But they forgot, "wealth" isn't equal to "prosperity". By monopolizing everything, you will find that the money in your hand have less value than if everyone is prosperous. So a royal's mission isn't to simply run a country. It's to make everyone prosper. We're not born in this world equal, as some people would like to put it, no. We have our circumstances. We have our culture, we have our... differences, and that's what makes pluralism and why we're so different. You and Bezil, even if you're both Gumdramon, your upbringings are different, your circumstances are different, and there's also difference in status, correct?

But exactly because of that 'no one is born equal' I made it my mission... 'Even if people are born different, we'd like to make them to have equal chances of reaching happiness'. That, to me, is my mission as a King. We're simply trusted with this role that we have. Beyond that, we're merely just visionary fools I guess!" Hikaru chuckled at that.

"You're only slightly wrong on something. I was born a commoner, you see. Not only that, I was born with data defect that causes me to berserk now and then, and only after my first death I managed to get it sorted out. I was born commoner, and it wasn't until after Perry was born-- ah, that's my seventh child-- after she was born that I ascended to the throne. That means... from Logan to Persephone, they're born as commoners. It wasn't until Matty and Jimmy that we established ourselves as royal family. That's why... I told my children: If this royal business is to heavy for you, you don't have to try too hard and leave it all to me. Live in a good way, create bonds and be positive influences, and the most important of it all: be happy. There's no need for you to assume a grander position just because you're born to it."

Hikaru looked outside momentarily, there's a twinge of melancholy. "And so my 12th child took that offer, and now she's living life of a commoner in Luminas... while some of my kids decided they'd like bigger responsibility! Well, life is full of choice indeed! You have chosen to be with my son and I can't thank you enough for that, seeing how happy he is!"

Yet despite that, Hikaru's eyes looked slightly sad, and a bit moist even, as he looked toward the sky. "...Yes... I just... hope that whichever choice they picked... they would be happy... as a father, I can't stress that enough. Be happy, please be happy, even if distance separated us..."

Haku looked at the other way, oddly silent, while Jill sighed in melancholy. It's seem there are something that happened that caused Hikaru to feel this melancholic.

But thankfully it's seem that they're about to arrive. So there's no need of this awkward silence.

“Oh yeah, there are more cities in the human world besides Tokyo that are situated near volcanoes.” Gummy added. “It puzzles me as to why humans decided to build such huge cities and live right next door to what are basically mountains of fiery death and destruction. Maybe it’s because of the scenery or something, because Mt Fuji looks beautiful all the way from where we live, so maybe that’s the reason.”

Despite living in the human world for an entire year with Vergil and Vee, it was clear that Gummy still had a long way to go in fully understanding the human world. While the Digital World was simple and easy-to-understand, the human world was as complex as a jigsaw puzzle, filled with complex people that don’t look very too hard ahead despite their accomplishments.

Even so, the Digital World was still filled with hidden secrets that not even the Gumdramon himself couldn't fathom, like how the City of Y’s was actually alive. How Hikaru and Jill said it so casually made his mouth slightly agape. “F-For real?!” Gummy asked. He quickly leaned over, looking at the city below. “How can something like this, something unalive, be alive? Does it have emotions? Can it...feel pain? ‘Cuz if so, Specs is not gonna believe this the next time he decides to hawk up a loogie.”

After thinking over Hikaru’s question and answering it to the best of his ability, the king looked at him with a curious glance, making the Gumdramon visibly sweat. Much to his surprise, and thankfully, relief, king said that he had hit all the right marks, missing a few details. Bezil in response to this nuzzled his cheek against his. His face broke up into a light shade of red, his tail glowing a dim blue. As random as it was, he very much appreciated it, especially from his boyfriend.

Gummy then listened to Hikaru further, and to his surprise, the Dorumon was not born into royalty. Rather, he was born just like any other Digimon: ordinary. It wasn’t even until his seventh kid that he became king. Not only that, the entire family could decide whether or not they wanted to be a part of royal business. This took the Gumdramon a bit aback. Man...he was entirely wrong about the king before. He thought he was just another stereotypical king that would judge him due to his status as a commoner, but no. Just looking at him and how he talked to him made his worriedness slowly float away.

The mention of Bezil’s other siblings cemented that even more, as he noted Hikaru’s change of tone from wise and exuberant, to a bit of sorrow, and seeing all three family members' reaction only confirmed it. Gummy opened and closed his mouth several times before he closed it fully, unable to find a response that would be suitable. Perhaps it was for the best.

Gummy gave a nod after Bezil said that he’ll explain the subject to him later. For now, he decided to sit in silence, looking at the trawling city landscape until they reach their destination.

Bezil listened as his father answered Gummy’s question. So, apparently in the human world, the land around volcanoes was very fertile. That made sense to him. “So, high risk, high reward?” he asked. While Bezil did try his best to learn about civilization and such, he still had much to learn about the matter. But he was beginning to understand such concepts as why people would gather in areas where there was lots of resources and shun those that did not. After all, there were hardly any civilizations in the Shining Sea, where all there was for the most part was crystals and sand.

And of course, there was the risks behind it. The story of Pompeii on the human world had at least captured Bezil’s imagination once he had been told the story behind it – ancient humans living in ignorance until the very end, when the volcano erupted and killed most of them, their petrified remains lingering for the world to see and learn from afterwards.

Bezil then gave a nervous chuckle as the rule about spitting was brought up. “Yeah… best do that in a tissue.” the Gumdramon advised.

He then watched as the Mojyamon approached, giving a report to Hikaru. From the looks of things, a situation had arisen, and it was up to them to figure it out.

Bezil gave a nod when he was given direction by Hikaru, pulling his D-NexT from his pocket. “I gotta do some work now, babe. Can you please help out by sticking with papa in case something pops up?”

Bezil hoped Gummy didn’t feel disrespect here. In fact Bezil was showing quite the amount of trust by asking him to help out Hikaru while he did scanning of the area with his D-NexT, which he then took care to scan the area thoroughly. After all, he, Haku and Jill were solo digimon. Hikaru and Gummy meanwhile couldn’t evolve easily without their human partners nearby, so Bezil trusted they’d be fine together.

"More like the risk are pretty much mitigable... able to live thanks to the resources but in danger versus living in barren land but safe. Basically they're prioritizing situation where they can survive, even if it's unstable compared to a stable situation but unable to sustain themselves in that stable situation," Hikaru answered. "In the flipside, you can say that Ys is built on completely opposite sort of philosophy: We have enough resources to sustain ourselves in the long run, so as long as we got safe place then it's all we could ask for. However, in the end we got both of them: a safe place, and enough resources to sustain everyone. In the north too, whcih is like almost asking for a miracle."

Hikaru chuckled. "It's not a crime per se, but it's definitely an offense that will get you slapped with a fine. Either that or you clean it up. Well, really, like I said, if you really must spit, spit somewhere like patches of grass or something. Though, hey, you can jokingly write him a ticket.'

In the storage, Hikaru checked everything out... slowly. 

"Oya?" he noticed that Gummy is standing right behind him and smiled. "What's wrong, young man? Bez told you to stick with this old man?" he chuckled. He probably already quite guessed what's going on. Gummy probably thinking "what's the use of him sticking around close to Hikaru anyway? Protection? The king is probably plenty strong." He probably didn't really think anything would happen. It's Ys after all.

"In that case I think your boyfriend wanted you to learn the rope, I think... not on the idea that you join us as a team member, no... more like, he wanted you to look on what our duties are. Every action have a meaning in it. One that you do unconsciously actually have meaning, no matter how miniscule, right?"

As he speaks, Hikaru resumed on scanning around.

"Say, young man... did our action baffled you? Like "why are the royals like this?" or like "why are they working when they could just have fun on the castle, lazing around?" for example, does it ever cross your mind? You can speak freely on that one." There's no malice in Hikaru's tone. He's genuninely curious. Hmmm, nothing on this side. He walked further.

"Hmmm.... where is it, where it is..." the guy whistled, so could it be that there's any sound receptor device somewhere? Or perhaps that this entire storage is equipped with sound recognizing device? In that case, should he play bagpipe?