Video

[guilmon]

[The feed opens with a close shot of a very red snout sniffing the Grumpearl, accompanied by warm, curious thoughts.

Judging by his wooden surroundings, he's somewhere among the Cheri Berries.

When he pulls back, he reveals himself as... a Charmeleon, with three spiky scales on each of his cheeks and a big, goofy smile.]

Hmm.

[Guilmon taps the pearl with one of his claws.]

It's shiny... Oh! But Guilmon's supposed to talk. Or think? ...Think about talking? Wah...

[He tilts his head, trying to figure out what to say.

An image of a Fuecoco flicker through the feed.]

Guilmon isn't small anymore. I think I evolved... That's okay, though. Guilmon's evolved lots of times, and now Guilmon has longer arms and legs and is almost Guilmon-shaped.

[And by Guilmon-shaped, he means... well, a a bipedal red dinosaur with black markings, a white belly, and wing-like ears.

The image accompanying his thoughts starts eating bread. Mountains of bread.]

But now Guilmon's tail is on fire... There's lots of wood here. That seems dangerous, but Ribombee said it's okay for Guilmon to be here. Maybe I can use it to make bread.

[He turns around and looks at his tail.]

Oh! But Guilmon will also work hard! Those quests look important, and there's lots of weird mushrooms now. Maybe Guilmon can burn those, too...

Comments

[firealone]

Yeah... actually, back in the forest I used to live in, the cats would weave plants together so that they grew into a natural roof. We mostly did it with brambles, then we would tuck moss into the inner parts so that the thorns wouldn't catch our fur.

[He doesn't entirely remember how to do it, but he's sure he could figure it out.]

Although... maybe that wouldn't be helpful for you, your tail might set it on fire. But we could build you a den out of rocks, and put sand on the bottom.

[guilmon]

Wow. I didn't know cats could do stuff like that...

[Smart cats! There's less disbelief accompanying his thoughts as much as genuine interest.]

Rocks and sand are good, though. Guilmon had to stay in this hiding spot at the park before, and it was made of stone with a metal gate.

[firealone]

As long as you're warm enough... we could tuck moss in with the sand, but if it's wet enough not to catch fire it might not be comfortable.

[Although lizards like getting wet, right? Either way, he sends along a mental image of his nest in the canopy since he isn't there. It's a frankly hilarious-looking mess of ripped-up blankets, moss, sticks, feathers and loose cotton that Firepaw worked very hard on. And for comparison he also sends along his old bed from home, a much more reasonable nest made mostly of moss, bracken and sticks.]

I can't imagine spending all my time sitting on rocks, but I guess there's always lizards on the Sunningrocks so it must be comfortable for them. Those are... a place in my old territory, with a bunch of flat rocks that get really warm when the sun hits them.

[guilmon]

[Guilmon takes a moment to soak in the image.]

Blankets... Those are soft!

[Rocks and sticks, not so much, but Guilmon's burrowed into dirt, so it could be worse.]

I've slept in dirt, too. Guilmon had to stay hidden for a really long time, 'cause Digimon weren't from the real world. Some people might find us scary, especially with Wild Ones attacking the city.

[firealone]

[I would also be scared of you, he accidentally sends along. Oops.]

I can imagine... cats are very small, so there's lots of animals that scare us. Most of them I've only seen from far away, some of them I just know the smells of. I think I'm starting to get used to being around bigger animals, though.

[He sends along pictures of a golden retriever, a forklift, a woodchipper, a car and a Thievul (because he still doesn't know what a fox looks like, although he knows the smell). These are all animals, in his mind, and they are all terrifying.]

[guilmon]

Dog... machines... Fox?

[Guilmon grunts, trying to make sense of the images.]

But not a fox-fox... Some kind of Pokémon? Guilmon's seen fox Digimon, too...

[firealone]

Those are all animals I used to see back home... except the fox, I know Thievuls look like foxes but I've never seen one myself.

[Occasionally he saw flashes of red in the grass, but no cat is brave enough to spend much time anywhere near foxes. The best they can do is chase out the kits before they become a problem later.]

[guilmon]

Mm? But cars aren't animals... They're big, metal things humans drive to go really fast! They make a lot of things out of metal to do things that are hard for humans to do normally, I think.

[Guilmon grunts, looking down at his arms.]

Sometimes Guilmon has metal parts, too, but that's only when he evolves to MegaloGrowmon. ...Or Dukemon. Or when Takato uses his cards to give me upgrades, but those don't last very long.

[There's a flash of a big cyborg and a knight. Evolution is neat!]

[firealone]

[Everything about Digimon hurts his brain, including the idea that cars are not animals. That can't be right, they move on their own and make noise and smell bad, just like foxes!]

Your world must be very dangerous, if creatures like that live around you.

[A few months ago, the sight of that cyborg might have killed him instantly from fear. Spending time around A.B.A has helped him a lot with that.]

[guilmon]

It got really dangerous when other Digimon kept showing up and attacking. We had to fight a lot, and then we had to go the Digital World, and after that we had to stop a big, scary program from destroying both worlds...

[So... a lot! It's very much a lot, and images of a big, red, goopy thing consuming buildings pass through his thoughts.]

We did it! But I hope nothing like that happens here...

[firealone]

[That is. Terrifying. Most townhouses are large enough that Firepaw sort of considers them part of the terrain, and this thing is... larger than he can even wrap his head around.]

Well... I'm glad you're here. I'm sure that won't happen to us.

[Is he sure? No, not really. But what else is he supposed to do, how do you prepare for something that eats buildings?]

[guilmon]

Yeah! Guilmon won't let bad things happen, even if Takato isn't here with me!

[There's an unwavering determination with his thoughts that was absent before and might even seem odd with how goofy he was moments ago.]

I don't know when I'll evolve again, but that's okay. Even small Digimon can be strong, and Guilmon isn't small anymore!

[firealone]

[That sense of determination is very familiar to him. And it does help Firepaw calm down, despite the harrowing mental image still rattling around in his head.]

Yeah... I'm not planning on evolving, I like being small. But I know small creatures can do plenty - especially when they work together.

[Like um... start wars with each other. Cats are really great at that.]

[guilmon]

That's okay. It sounds like evolution works differently here, 'cause when I asked about it, Dr. Denne said you just stay in your new form.

[Which is weird to him, but it does make things different. Guilmon sure wouldn't want to be Growmon or MegaloGrowmon all the time!]