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

[guilmon]

Oh, Matrix Evolution's when a Digimon and their partner fuse together to make a bigger and stronger Digimon!

[Guilmon stretches as tall as he can to convey this, with a wide gesture... before stumbling back and falling on his rump. Oops!]

[bladeofnymeia]

Ooh.

[Just mulls that over. There's a brief impression of a memory, fading as quick as it comes.

She's getting better at this.]

We don't have anything like that. But the concept is familiar, at least. In a...distant relative kind of way.

[guilmon]

Ooh... armor. It's got spikes and everything...

[He nods along, then projects an image of Dukemon.]

[bladeofnymeia]

Ah! A lance and shield, eh?

[She wants to mention Halone, but then she catches Guilmon's observation, and realizes - ah, oops, shared something on accident.]

Oh...sorry. That was that sort of distant relative I mentioned. Though that's not...it's hard to explain the exact situation. But, his name was Ardbert.

["Hylfyst. Ardbert Hylfyst, hero. Come on, now."

...It's just an imagined sort of thing that pops up when the sense of a surname she was never told surfaces in her mind. At least that she can keep to herself.]

[guilmon]

So he's like family?

[That's the first thing that comes to mind, anyway. Relatives are something people have...]

Guilmon doesn't really have relatives, since Takato made me, but he's my partner! And I've got lots and lots of friends.

[bladeofnymeia]

In a way. Very distant, surprise family.

[A nod.] Friends can be just as important as family - don't count them out.

[guilmon]

Yeah! Maybe friends are family, too? Guilmon isn't sure... All the Digimon I'm close to are partner Digimon like me. The Digital World's really different...

[But he's not there right now. He's right here! That's a mystery for another time.]

[bladeofnymeia]

There is a term I've heard before..."found family". Others usually describe their very dearest friends that way. So I don't think you're wrong at all.

[guilmon]

Ohhh... Because you find friends who are like family.

[He nods along. That makes sense!]

But Guilmon is still trying to figure out how these guilds work. They seem really important...

[bladeofnymeia]

The guilds? They're - well, they are groups. And, they come together to do things - because it's easier to do things together than alone.

[Guilds make sense to her since she comes from a place where they're a thing - it's hard to really describe that.]

OOPS. somehow missed this kjhjkh

[guilmon]

Yeah! It's always better when you have friends and partners... Guilmon can't imagine doing all those quests by himself.

[But he still wants to do quests! That sounds fun. Adventures, adventures...]

lol u good

[bladeofnymeia]

I've done a lot of quests on my own, back home, but it is more fun to do the bigger explorations and dungeons with friends. And easier.

[You're not allowed to do Alliance Raids solo after all]

[guilmon]

Yeah! And the forest's really, really big... I bet there's lots of stuff to find!

[And they're right there! Kind of. Higher up, but it's a start!]

[bladeofnymeia]

There usually are many things to be found in forests, this is true.

[Sometimes there's cool sunken-in forests inside forests that glow blue and have deep cenote water pool things and elaborate ancient temples and people pissed off they can't grow anything other than blue holo-effect bananas]

[guilmon]

Do you think there's any secret treasures? That'd be lots of fun to find!

[Something about exploring and treasures just feels right to him. Call it a hunch.]

[bladeofnymeia]

I would say it's a possibility. Even if it is just natural treasures.

[guilmon]

Natural? Like a rock? Or a really big piece of food?

[That's the first thing that comes to mind, anyway...]

[bladeofnymeia]

Or an interesting plant, or a very good stick. Never underestimate a good stick.

[guilmon]

Yeah! You can do lots of stuff with sticks!

[He looks down at the wood floor, once more mindful of his tail.]

I bet it took lots of sticks to make this place...

[bladeofnymeia]

Aye, and felled trees, for the larger bits. But the good thing about trees is that so long as they continue to grow and sow their seeds, you will always have more.

[You do have to be respectful of where you get your wood and lumber, and Firoza does her best to only take things shed by the trees naturally, since the Cheri Berries live in the Canopy and she doesn't want to tear up her new home. It's always good to plant new trees, too. But her knowledge in the area of respecting the forest is limited to her times traveling in them. If she'd grown up in, say, Gridania, she'd probably be an expert.]

[guilmon]

But it probably takes a really long time for them to get big... Trees don't evolve like Digimon, so they have to do it the hard way!

[Still, trees are pleasant. Images of trees and bushes flicker through his mind, from Shinjuku's park. There's something about the calming nature of their surroundings that evokes similar feelings.]

[bladeofnymeia]

That it does. And I have seen some exceptionally large trees.

[What flickers through her mind is not just bits of Gridania, but of Rak'tika, the Ja Tiika Heartland, the Chocobo Forest in the footholds of Dravania...Just a lot of great trees.]

[guilmon]

Wow... Those really are big!

[Even bigger than some of the trees out here...]

It'd probably be really hard to climb them.

[bladeofnymeia]

Some of them are a bit easier than others. Many are only able to be climbed in the loosest of terms - I've only seen their tops while flying on my Chocobo.

[guilmon]

Choco...bo?

[That's a new word. He blinks a few times, trying to imagine what it is.

Is it chocolate? With wings? Some kind of chocolate... bird? Dragon? Something else?

Weird images flicker through his thoughts.]