♔ 008; [video]

[velveteenmage]

...There's something that's still bothering me about all of this. [The exhausted British-accented teenager sat at a small desk in his room, drinking a cup of tea as Palmon and Biyomon seemed to be doing the same behind him.]

Why? I don't understand what all this was supposed to accomplish on their part. If we were given 'false' partners- [with a heavy emphasis on 'false' suggesting he thought that was a load of nonsense] -what was the reasoning for it? It can't be just to try to spread that virus among all of us...the planning and effort seem too elaborate for just that outcome.

More than that, if they're replicas, so to speak, why do they have free will? [He waved a hand behind him, and Palmon shrugged at the camera as though to say 'hell if I know'.] If I didn't already know which of these two I'd met first, it'd be bloody hard to tell. I would assume most of you can say the same.

[Waver shook his head with a short but heavy sigh, setting aside his cup of tea and fiddling with the Crest of Tenacity around his neck.]

On top of all that, I realized I...m-maybe I should learn how to fight. I don't think I'll be any good at it and I'm definitely sure I'd rather not have to, but if anyone can help me I'd be grateful. If we get stuck in some kind of mess like that again, I don't want to slow anyone down.

Comments

[audio]

[greatwork]

And if something can take down your Digimon, what, precisely, do you think you'll be able to do? Even if you can fight?

Sakuyamon may not be our enemy, but she strikes me as about as bright as a wine cellar on a winter's midnight. These Digivices we have work on the ones we had first, our Crests work with the ones we had first, and we've been through quite a bit. Regardless of what was originally intended, speaking purely functionally, the ones we had from the start are indisputably our 'real' partners.

[audio]

[velveteenmage]

I don't know. But what do you expect me to do, give up? That's not going to be an option.

[Waver frowned, though obviously the gesture wasn't visible.]

You're right about them, I can't argue with that. I never insinuated Palmon wasn't my partner, from a functional and sentimental standpoint. But even so, there's a lot left to wonder. Why we have second partners, why our Digivices and Crests serve no purpose for them, whether or not our first partners are what they're said to be-...

...I think what I'm getting at is 'we don't really know anything.'

[audio]

[greatwork]

Of course not. I mean, I'm not advocating 'giving up' while I'm carrying around bloody explosives when I go out. What I'm saying is that you need to find a way to help that isn't completely futile.

No, we don't know anything yet. We have been kept in the dark since the very start, and have had to claw for every scrap of information we can grasp. We're learning, though.

[audio]

[velveteenmage]

I don't know that fighting myself isn't futile. Shouldn't I at least attempt it before writing off the idea?

We're learning, sure. But do you really think we didn't learn anything new from all this? Even if it's all nonsense and everyone's worried over nothing, there might be a thin shred of truth somewhere.

[audio]

[greatwork]

Well, I suppose if you want to get yourself killed, it's not permanent here.

Oh, I learned quite a bit from this.

Re: [audio]

[velveteenmage]

What did you le-...

Wait. Back up. It's not what now?

[greatwork]

Not permanent? You're out of commission for a bit but your wounds all get healed? This is kind of old news.

[velveteenmage]

...I think either I missed that or it got lost in all the giant-monster-attacking chaos somewhere.

[greatwork]

Oh.

Now you know.