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"That's looking pretty good right about now...

After making a hasty move away from that last abandoned place, it didn't take long before things started to get colder and colder and the land around me become one I know well. Freezeland, home. I had finally made it back after a admittedly harrowing day. Waking up in that Savanna, navigating the blinding swamp and even finding Toytown during it all but I was back, home. But that wasn't quite the end, not just yet.

With it starting to get darker and darker and with how dangerous it can get trying to wander through Freezeland in said dark I decided to hunker down for a bit and get some much needed rest and food. Luckily for me, one of my stashes of meats I keep around just so happened to have been left untouched from just a bit away from one of the many furnaces nearby! Guess my memory isin't completely gone yet so I sat down to gnaw on the frozen meat a bit and warm my pelt and relax a bit.

As if this day couldn't get any more unusual, that's when another sight that i'd never thought I would see came fading out from the fog. Surely, it was just snow on my glasses or a trick of the fog, right? No, it was certainly there and becoming clearer moment by moment. A Tyrannomon! Out here in the frozen tundras instead of the jungles? He was a long way from home that was for sure.

Even in the thickening cold fog I could see him raise a clawed hand and wave to me, quickening his pace towards the warm glow of the furnace as he does. His thudding stomps soon fade in as he makes his way over and he nearly slides on in as the massive dino digimon shivers a bit and comes to a stop in front of me and the furnace, quickly warming his arms as he stoops over and gives me a quick glance. "Burr, I don't see how anything doesn't become a Popsicle within moments up here!" He says through chattering teeth as he basks in the blissful warmth. "Might have to borrow a pelt like yours for the way back." He says, giving a toothy grin.

Now, with how the day has been going and now seeing a Tyrannomon all the way up here was already a surprise, but being this close to one glinting those razor sharp teeth like that and talking about my fur? Was enough to give me more of a shiver than any cold night out in the tundra would give me i'll tell you that.

He must have noticed this as he raises his hands up a bit in reassurance. "Easy there, I'm joking, i'm joking." He says, making his way over beside me and sitting down, stretching out for a moment as he does. "Just making conversation, know enough where the warm spots are to make it back and all that after a Frigimon helped me out some time back." He says, waving his hand dismissively. " This one was to be the last one before I do head back as a matter of fact since there's nothing but swamp beyond." I give a nod, still bringing my guard down a bit as I try to respond.

"Y...yeah. Just came from that way myself for... some reason." I say, still honestly drawing a blank on why I was so far away from home myself. It starts to make me wonder, was this Tyrannomon in the same situation as me before? So far away from home and wandering himself?

"Ahh, a adventurer yourself! Glad to meet a fellow wanderer. The call of wanderlust is a strong one, isin't it?" He says looking off into the distance. I begin to speak, but stop myself when I notice him seemingly pondering something, on the verge of speaking before the words do finally come. "...certainly with talk of a safe place out there from all the strange happenings befalling digimon lately." He says as he turns to me. "But that's just the stories i've heard during my time around! Many stories like that out there when you travel as i'm sure you know."

A strong, almost overwhelming sense of deja vu hits me in that moment. A story of a safe place? Why does that sound so... familiar? Was that why I was so far from home out in the Savanna at the start of all this? Was I looking or even heading to this place when I forgot? Or was this just my tired mind trying to put some reason behind all this? It felt as if that really was the reason behind all this and yet...

I must have drifted off into a long silence as soon I realized that things had gone quiet and the Tyrannomon beside me was giving me a quizzical and slightly worried look down at me. "... are you alright there, buddy?" I quickly snap back into the moment, "O-oh! I'm fine! Just, errm, hunger getting to me is all. Heh, wandering for a whole day without something in the tank tends to do that, ya know? I say, trying to steer things back in line as I look down to my gnawed on piece of meat. It barely had a dent to it as it was frozen more solid than a rock and even with the warmth wasn't showing much signs of getting any softer.

The Tyrannomon, noticing my gaze, follows it down and to the hunk of frozen food. "What, and trying to eat that to make up for it? Hah!" He says in a almost uproarious laugh. "You got less of a chance of eating that than catching a Seadramon! Even I would have to chew on that for awhile! ... tell you what. I'm feeling a bit hungry myself and since i've had no luck finding someone who'll trade with me so far, how about if you split a bit of what you have there with me i'll cook it up for the both of us?" He says, taking out a small pan that he had hanging off one of his spine scales. "Would be quite the end of the day having both a full and warm belly for us both, wouldn't you agree?"

I nodded and, as if to supplement my answer for me, my stomach gave a low growl as well, sending the digidino into another loud laugh. "Now that's a yes! You sure you're not a Garurumon with a growl like that?" He says with a chuckle as he places one of the frozen hunks of meat on his pan and onto the furnace with a sizzle.

It was delicious, back and forth he metered out the food as it cooked and it didn't take long for each one to be reduced to the bones as we easily cleaned up anything that came off that skillet. It was nice to be able to sit down and not have to worry about things for one during all this. Home, warm food, and a friendly face. But during all this I couldn't help but let my mind wander back to what he said before. Just what was this "Safe place" that he mentioned before? Why did it sound like something i've heard before? And why, why does it fill me with the desire to continue when i'm already back home? Something tells me that my wandering wasn't for naught and as much as it pains me to leave home just as I got back, I may just need to continue.




Feeling rather good about this one! Messed around with alternative light sources and got a, well, warm glow with this one!

Gabumon, Tyrannomon and digimon all belong to Bandi and Toei Animation, the stuffed gabumon is mine.