The initial shock of seeing a creature made of data standing in a prehistoric cave didn’t wear off quickly.
I spent the first few hours of the morning talking with Gammamon, trying to peel back the layers of how he ended up here.
Gammamon’s memory was fragmented, colored with the simple, bright perceptions of a child.
He didn’t remember a “summoning” or a “contract.” To him, he had simply been playing in the Digital World with his friends when a “weird-looking Digimon”, likely an emissary of Damien, asked if he wanted to go on a grand adventure and make new friends.
Gammamon, being the personification of pure, unadulterated curiosity, had said yes.
The next thing he knew, he was staring at a bewildered man in a cave in the Calm Belt.
I knelt down to his level, trying to explain the gravity of our situation without crushing his spirit.
“Gammamon, listen.
This world we’re in…
it’s not like the one you left.
It’s beautiful, but it’s filled with people who would hurt us just for existing.
To survive here, we can’t just be tourists.
We have to grow stronger.
Much stronger.
Otherwise, bad things will happen.”
Gammamon didn’t flinch.
He tilted his head, his blue scarf fluttering slightly in the stagnant cave air.
“It doesn’t matter if the world is different, Victor!
If I get to go on an adventure and make new friends, I’m happy!”
I sighed, a small smile tugging at the corner of my mouth.
“It’s not going to be easy.
We’ll have to fight.
We might have to defeat people who are much bigger and scarier than us.”
Gammamon suddenly puffed out his chest, throwing his arms up in a triumphant victory pose.
His eyes sparked with a fierce, child-like determination.
“Even in the Digital World, we had to fight to survive!
I’m not scared!
I’m the best!”
The sheer, radiant positivity coming off the little guy was infectious.
For the last forty-eight hours, a cold knot of dread had been tightening in my chest, a constant reminder of how “fucked” I was.
But looking at Gammamon, this tiny, white triceratops-dragon who was ready to take on the world for the sake of a new friend, that knot started to loosen.
“You know what?
You’re right,” I said, feeling a genuine spark of hope for the first time.
“We’ll just have to try our best.
Together.”
Gammamon let out a chirpy little laugh, and the darkness of the cave suddenly felt much less oppressive.
We spent the rest of the evening exploring the interface of the Digivice.
It functioned as more than just a communicator; it was a sanctuary.
Gammamon explained that he could “digitize” himself, retreating into the device in a state of semi-hibernation.
While inside, he remained aware of my surroundings, seeing and hearing through the device, but it allowed his data-structure to repair itself at an accelerated rate.
We also made a breakthrough with my Fa-Jin.
I discovered that I could manually “export” the kinetic energy I stored.
By placing a hand on Gammamon, I could transfer a portion of my energy to him.
It acted as a potent “buff,” visibly increasing his speed and strength.
Interestingly, the energy also seemed to satiate him.
He had been complaining about a “tummy rumble,” but after the transfer, he felt energized and full.
It was a vital discovery as long as I could keep moving and generating kinetic energy, neither of us would starve.
I spent the night practicing “energy shaping.” With the Jade wings While Gammamon and I talked into the late hours, I sat cross-legged, focused on maintaining a small, glowing sphere of kinetic force at the top of the blades.
It served as our only light source, but the mental strain was immense.
By the time midnight rolled around, I was physiologically and mentally drained.
We retreated to the back of the cave, huddling together for warmth.
For a creature with horns and scales, Gammamon was surprisingly squishy and radiated a steady, furnace-like heat.
He was a champion sleeper and a dedicated cuddler, his small weight against my side acting as a grounding force against the chill of the Calm Belt night.
I woke up the next morning with a heavy weight pressing down on my ribs.
I opened my eyes to find Gammamon sprawled across my chest, snoring softly, his tail twitching in his sleep.
I carefully lifted him, marveling at how sturdy his small body felt, and placed him on a flat section of stone so he could keep resting.
My body felt different today.
The soreness from the Compound V had transitioned into a dull, powerful hum.
I felt like a coiled spring.
I decided not to waste the dawn.
I began a grueling workout routine, pushing my new muscular frame to its limits.
I started with deep-tissue warmups, followed by a modified “Saitama Challenge.” Without a 10km track to run, I substituted the distance for a hundred rapid-fire burpees, each one performed with explosive force to maximize my Fa-Jin accumulation.
By the time Gammamon stirred, the cave was humid with the scent of my sweat.
I was leaning against the wall, my shirt drenched, huffing like a marathon runner.
Gammamon rubbed his eyes with a paw and tilted his head.
“Good morning, Victor.
Why are you wet?
Did it rain inside?”
I wiped my brow, my chest still heaving.
“Good morning, buddy.
No rain.
It’s just sweat.
I was…
trying to get the engine started before you woke up.”
“Ohhh,” Gammamon said, walking over and sniffing the air curiously.
“That makes sense.
I was confused because there’s no water around us.
Did it help?”
“Yeah,” I said, feeling the energy bar in my head humming.
“I’ve been making a plan to get us out of this hole.”
Gammamon perked up.
“A way out?
Did you find a door?”
“No door.
We’re going to climb,” I said, looking toward the cliff’s edge.
“I’m going to use the Jade Wings.
It’s going to be a bit of a gamble, so I need you to stay in the Digivice for the climb.
It’ll be safer for both of us.”
“The chain knives?” Gammamon asked, his tail wagging.
“How do they help you climb a wall?”
“You’ll see.
Once we hit the top, we need to scout.
We need to see if this island is a paradise or a deathtrap.
We need shelter, a steady water source, and real food.
My energy can keep us alive, but we need nutrients to grow.”
Gammamon did a little shadow-boxing dance, mimicking a fighting pose.
“I’m ready!
Just tell me what to do and I’ll be the best helper ever!”
I couldn’t help but smile at the display.
“Actually, before we go…
you want some breakfast?”
As if on cue, Gammamon’s stomach let out a thunderous growl.
His face turned a bright, embarrassed red.
“Yes, please.
That would be very helpful.”
I placed my hand on his head, channeling a surge of Fa-Jin.
I watched as his eyes brightened and his posture straightened.
Once he was “fed,” he digitized into the Digivice, his voice now echoing in my head with a slight electronic tint.
“Ready when you are, Victor!”
I pulled the Jade Wings from the box.
In their resting state, they were a heavy, black hexagonal disk.
I concentrated, willing the alchemical metal to remember the shape I needed.
The metal flowed like liquid, hardening into two sharp, jade-green daggers connected by the long black chain.
In my mind, I saw the images of Kai and Kratos, warriors who moved through the world like spiders on silk.
I walked to the very edge of the cave entrance.
Below me, the sapphire sea of the Calm Belt waited, silent and hungry.
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath of the stagnant air.
If I fell, I had no guarantee my healing factor could survive a fifty-foot drop onto jagged rocks.
“Brute force or finesse,” I whispered.
“Let’s try with finesse first.”
I began to spin the right-hand dagger, the chain whistling through the air.
I had modified the blade to be a narrow, armor-piercing spike.
With a flick of my wrist, I launched it upward toward the overhanging cliff face.
Clack!
The jade blade buried itself deep into the stone, thirty feet above.
I didn’t just hold the chain, I commanded it.
Using the telekinetic link, I willed the chain to retract.
To my shock and exhilaration, I didn’t just hang there.
I rose.
The telekinetic control was far more intuitive than I expected.
I didn’t have to expend physical strength to pull myself up, the chain responded to my thoughts, hoisting my newly thickened frame with ease.
I felt a surge of adrenaline as I floated out of the cave, suspended over the abyss.
“I’m doing it,” I muttered, a wild grin breaking across my face.
“You’re flying, Victor!” Gammamon’s voice cheered in my ear.
I wasn’t flying, but it was the next best thing.
I began a rhythmic ascent, throwing one blade, anchoring it, and willing the chain to pull me past it before throwing the second.
I moved like a pendulum, swinging across the face of the massive cliff.
Fifty feet turned into a hundred, then two hundred.
As I neared the crest of the island, a part of me was terrified of what I’d find.
Was I on a barren rock?
A volcanic wasteland?
I threw the final anchor, hooked the ledge, and hauled myself over the lip of the cliff.
I stood up, panting, and the view nearly took my breath away.
It wasn’t green; it was vivid.
The island was a massive, ancient crater, a bowl-shaped emerald in the middle of a blue desert.
The exterior was a sheer, circular wall of rock, but the interior was a lush, prehistoric paradise.
A dense, primeval forest filled the crater, the canopy so thick it looked like a rolling sea of moss.
In the very center of the island sat a crystalline lake, reflecting the morning sun like a mirror.
Gammamon materialized beside me, his eyes wide.
“Wow!
Victor, it’s so beautiful!
Look at all the trees!”
I stood there for a moment, the wind, a real, moving breeze, finally catching my hair.
The island looked like something out of a dream, but my “D” instincts were already screaming.
In a world like One Piece, beauty was often a camouflage for something lethal.
“It is beautiful, Gammamon,” I said, retracting the Jade Wings and stowing the black disk in my pocket.
“But we have to be careful.
In this world, the prettiest things usually have the sharpest teeth.
We need to find a place to sleep that isn’t out in the open, and we need to figure out what lives in those woods.”
Gammamon nodded, his expression turning serious as he mimicked my gaze toward the forest.
“I’ll watch your back.”
“I know you will.
Let’s go.”
With Gammamon at my side, I stepped off the rocky ledge and began the trek down into the green heart of the island.
We were stronger than we were yesterday, but we were still far from the legends we needed to become.
The adventure had finally moved beyond the cave, and I was determined that no matter what the “canon” said, this island would be the place where Victor D’Costa stopped being a victim and started being a threat.
Word Count: 1909