Phase slid his hand into the hold of his trousers again, the smaller digimon, mostly the round ones had bounced off somewhere else. Their voices were childish, toddler-like. He couldn't imagine those small digimon hoping for a savior, and hated thinking they needed one. Who or what kind of monster was so heartless as to endanger those children. It seemed unfair for such a burden to be dropped on his shoulders, and yet he felt as if he was prepared to carry it.
If nothing else you taught me how to care for others, he thought while aimlessly finding a seat in the cafeteria. Norn was about somewhere he believed, which led him to ponder if she had brought himself and the others here to see the importance of their presence. Well it had worked on him. More than anything he wanted to experience life in Witchelny but now he had a purpose too. Not only would he live but he would protect too.
He felt a hot nudge against his leg. He looked down towards his left femur, only to see a golden furred
lion cub. A bushel of red fur sprouted from its head, it oddly intelligent blue eye glanced up at him expectedly.
Wait! it only had one eye! The other... the other had been scarred down the middle, rendered blind if not worthless.
Phase's face fluttered with hurt, a pain stunted his breath in his throat.
"What?" he asked.
"H-How can I help you?" The little lion sat on its haunches then, twisted his head, and somehow conveyed a smile through its jowls.
An deep yet short intake of breath flooded Phase's lungs, his fist shook and became taunt.
"Speak! you can talk can't you?" Just as Phase's unbidden anger had reached its boiling point, a yellow,
cat-like head bounced from behind the lion-cub. Its large orange eyes conveyed the same intelligence as its hiding-spot.
"Liollmon can't!" Thick converging ridges above its peepers conveyed a frown.
"He lost his eye and his voice fleeing the Gods of Ruin! He helped a lot of us find, Lady Norn! So... So be nice!"Phase took a moment to compose himself. A cool breath left him.
"Did you really, Liollmon?" he asked.
The Digimon nodded once, his unnerving blue eye never leaving Phase.
"That couldn't have been easy for you, Liollmon," said Phase as he knelt down to it.
"C-Can... I hug you?" The lion-cub's eye lit up and it shook its head twice more than before.
"Thank you for getting them all here," he praised, wrapping the warm Mon in his arm. From his side-vision he caught the yellow cat staring up at them.
"I'm sorry for being bitey, I don't know where it came from. You admire him a bunch don't you?""He's my hero," answered her small voice.