Later
"Um, what's going on?" A middle-aged man with messy brown hair and glasses blinks as he witnesses something he wasn't expecting in his life: a Doomsday Beast lacking its engine and getting bullied by Dan Heng and an unknown young man wielding a baseball bat.
It looks like a comedic timing he usually saw in anime, and some of the scenes he worked on as an animator.
"Oh, you're finally here, Welt," Himeko greets as the man, Welt, slowly approaches her, scratching his head.
"Didn't you contact me about the emergency due to the arrival of a Doomsday Beast?" Welt asks in confusion.
"I did, but our new guests had brought a surprise," Himeko says as she glances at Theo as Honeybeemon reverts to Veemon while holding his Digi-Egg. Welt stares at him for a moment as his brain tries to process what he's seeing, and for some reason, he feels like he has seen that creature before.
"...should we let them keep bullying the Beast? I feel like we're the villains now," March asks, glancing at the beast in pity.
"...yeah, perhaps we should, or they will ruin their reputation," Theo replies, sweatdropping. "Guys, I think that's enough. The beast is already dead."
"Eh?" Caelus blinks as he retracts his baseball bat. "Damn, I didn't expect it to be that weak."
"It's already dying the moment I took the engine away from its hands," Theo responds, causing the trio to give him a look that says 'why didn't you say that earlier!?'.
"...oh, Aeons, what are everyone gonna think of us? Beating a dying creature?" March sighs in dismay.
"Because it'll last for days, and it was enough for it to destroy the entire space station," Theo answers as the trio shuts up.
"It seems you kids have a lot of fun, huh?" Himeko decided to join in the conversation, sounding amused by their interaction.
"Miss Himeko!" They said in unison before noticing Welt was beside her.
"Mr. Welt."/"Uncle Yang!" Both Dan Heng and March greet him, who responds with a nod.
"It seems you kids have a lot of fun beating the Doomsday Beast, because I've never seen Dan Heng enthusiastically beating it to death," Welt says, a hint of teasing in his voice as Dan Heng looks flustered.
"....I didn't join in," March mutters.
"And you must be the one containing the Stellaron?" Welt glances at Caelus, who stiffens a bit before nodding. "Then, I hope you don't mind if I do some check-up. Stellaron can be unstable, and we don't want it to cause any damage."
"S-sure..." Caelus agrees as Welt gently places the tip of the cane's handle on his head and tries to seal the Stellaron inside Caelus' body, but he furrows his brows upon noticing something strange.
The Stellaron in his body is stable, too stable for something that was shoved into a human body. There are cases of people trying to shove Stellaron into their bodies to possess its reality-bending power, but the immense power has led to their demise. It seems that Caelus' species has the ability to host it, or it was artificially made.
But Stellaron exists around the cosmos, and the first disaster caused by it was very recent. So, no one has a deep understanding of Stellaron, even the Genius still researching it, trying to find ways to deal with it. So far, the only way to deal with it is to seal it, so if Caelus' physical body is made to contain the Stellaron, it shouldn't be perfect enough to host it.
But he didn't even sense any fluctuation of energy in him. He tries to seal the Stellaron, but he notices that something is already sealing it.
"The Stellaron in your body seems to be stable for now, and it seems like someone has already sealed it," Welt says as everyone, except for Caelus, looks surprised. "Sorry if I ask, but have you encountered anyone unusual?"
"I...don't remember much, and no offense, everyone is unusual to me," Caelus says while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "But, honestly, I think Theo is the most unusual out of all of us."
"...If I didn't agree how out of place I am compared to everyone, I would feel offended," Theo grumbles, earning a chuckle from Caelus and March. "And before you ask, I didn't seal the Stellaron. I didn't even know how."
It wasn't a lie. The game didn't provide many details regarding how Welt or Himeko pulled it off. The only clue he has is Welt tapping his cane on Caelus when the Stellaron almost exploded, and Welt did the same thing again earlier.
"...what exactly are you?" Welt asks, genuinely puzzled. I have seen people from other planets, but you might be the most unique-looking one."
"I'm a Digimon," Theo says casually, causing Welt to widen his eyes in realization. No wonder it was so familiar to him! It was one of the anime made in Japan! Without any warning, he picks Theo up and starts inspecting him.
"I can't believe it! A real-life Digimon, right in front of me!" Welt exclaims, which shocks everyone, including Theo, as they weren't expecting Welt to know about Digimon.
"You know about Digimon?" Himeko asks curiously.
"Yes," Welt nods. "They were quite popular back on my home planet, but due to the disaster, it lost its popularity as everyone was too focused on dealing with the disaster."
"Uncle Yang, you made it sound like it was some popular media," March points out, remembering how Welt calls Theo 'a real-life Digimon', while Theo struggles to get out of Welt's grip.
"Digimon was supposed to be fictional characters," Welt reveals the truth, shocking the crew. "So, imagine my surprise to see one of them roaming here of all places."
"...does someone from Planarcadia manage to find a copy of Digimon media and create an imaginae from it?" Himeko mutters quietly, but Theo overhears her.
"I'm as real as it can be," Theo exclaims before successfully escaping Welt's grip. "Besides, Caelus' Digivice can serve as proof."
"A Digivice?!" Welt snaps his head towards Caelus so fast that everyone hears a loud crack from it and grows concerned. Caelus simply pulls it out and shows it to Welt, whose eyes turn into literal stars.
"...I never saw Uncle Welt looking as excited as this. He looks like a kid in a candy store," March whispers to Dan Heng, who nods in agreement.
"I have seen him once, during his visit to a store filled with mecha action figures," Himeko joins the conversation quietly, earning a snort from March. "And from what I saw back then, he'll be doing this for quite a while."
"Ah, it seems everything is fine here..." The crew turned around and saw Asta, along with some security members wielding weapons, approaching. Asta was hoping she could assist the crew, but it seemed it wasn't needed after all.
"Oh, you're okay!" Asta exclaims as she pulls Theo into a hug again, as the poor Veemon struggles to get out of her grip.
Damn it, how do the midget perverts love this kind of attention!?! The feeling of his lungs getting squeezed is too painful!
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Later
"Damn it, it seems that I'm late..."
A short humanoid pupper with long brown hair curses as she walks into the Space Station. She had done multiple jumps to arrive at the station as quickly as she can, but judging by the people in the station, whatever had happened is already over.
"Oh, Lady Herta. You've finally arrived," One of the scientists greets the puppet, Herta.
"No time, I need to find who has attracted the Droid Head into the Station during the Antimatter Legion invasion," Herta waves dismissively before pausing, looking hesitant. "Also, make sure to take care of the injured ones..."
"Of course, Lady Herta." With that, the puppet walks away as the puppet rushes off. It didn't take long for her to find the Astral Express, but she pauses a bit, noticing a familiar Path Energy flowing nearby.
The puppet's eyes locked on the blue creature, slumped in Asta's grasp, before slowly approaching the group. Himeko hears a footstep behind her and turns around.
"Lady Herta, it's a pleasure to see you," Himeko greets as Herta nods.
"Of course, now where's that Stellaron kid you mentioned? Also, Asta, why are you hugging the culprit that attracts the Droid Head?" Herta asks as Asta and Welt stare at Theo, who looks like a deer caught in headlights.
"...hi?" Theo greets.
"Tell me, did the Droid Head try to contact you?" Herta asks, not caring what species Theo is.
"If you're talking about being dragged into Path Space and meeting THEM, then yes," Theo nods, causing Herta to pause. Nous dragged this little pipsqueak into the Path Space to meet him? It was very rare for the Droid Head to pull anyone to meet THEM in Path Space, and Herta had only once been dragged for her coronation as the new Emanator of Erudition.
Since then, every time she attempted to contact the Droid Head, she required a lot of preparation and a not-so-little amount of resources to pull it off. So, hearing about this pipsqueak getting contacted is quite surprising.
"Interesting..." Herta muses.
"Oh, didn't you say you received something to make it easier for THEM to contact you?" Caelus asks innocently, causing Herta to freeze before looking at Theo in disbelief. Meanwhile, Theo could only stare at his supposed 'partner' with a betrayed look.
Before Theo could voice his feelings of betrayal, Herta snatched Theo off Asta's grasp with a gleaming expression. The poor Veemon looked so done with everything, especially with how everyone seems to like grabbing him like he's a plushie.
"Hey, pipsqueak, how about working for me? I'll pay you handsomely, and you get one favor every time you help me get in contact with the Droid Head," Herta exclaims.
"...." Theo simply stares at Caelus in silence, not even bothered to hear Herta's words. His 'partner' rubs the back of his head sheepishly.
"Lady Herta, perhaps you should put him down first before giving Theo the offer. You look like you're threatening him," Himeko points out as the puppet blinks.
"I did?" Herta looks genuinely confused. "I didn't make any threatening sounds, nor did my offers sound threatening."
"...perhaps put the poor boy down and let him consider the offer a bit, Lady Herta," Asta suggests as the genius puppet huffs but complies.
"Or, perhaps joining the Astral Express? This offer is also extended to Caelus as well," Welt decided to make his own offer. The crew looks taken aback by this, as they weren't expecting Welt of all people to offer someone to join in, as Himeko is the one who usually offers them. She didn't seem to mind as she nodded in agreement.
"Sure,"/"Yes, please!" Caelus and Theo answered in unison. For Theo, joining the group of space travellers, who happen to be the universe's main protagonists, is anyone's dream coming true.
Well, some people's dreams coming true. Some people wish to do whatever they want, unrestrained by laws, and even join any criminal syndicates. But not for him; the cons of doing such things are too great, and he would rather not be hunted down for the rest of his life.
For Caelus, he would like to find more answers about his past, specifically about who he was. Travelling through the cosmos might be the best way of figuring it out, and it increases the chance of meeting those people again.
Himeko smiles as new crew members have joined in. March seems excited to have new friends; Dan Heng seems normal, while Welt looks slightly excited, more at the idea of Digimon joining the crew. If Theo ended up evolving into UlforceVeedramon, it'll be even better!
"...I didn't even get the chance to extend an offer for the Stellaron brat," Herta simply pouts as she watches the excited Astral Express crew, while Asta could only watch her in pity.
To be continued