I don't own digimon.

Chapter 2

Pieces of the puzzle

Clara took a deep breath and gazed all around her. So far, there were no signs of the crazies that had made it their sole mission to ruin their life. And yet, a weird feeling came over her. Had it really been that long? No, it was her mind possibly playing some mind trick on her. That, or it was the thought of having her giant chocolate chip cookie that she hadn't got the chance to eat. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and took a deep breath. In the distance, stood a group of figures. At the far edge of the group, one of the figures looked familiar, like she had seen them before. While she wanted to go after said figure, but the cookie was calling to her.

"Empress, giant chocolate chip cookie. Empress, giant chocolate chip cookie." She pondered the question for about a minute, only to not come up with an answer. Normally, she would go to Ace in these kind of situations. However, he was off somewhere else, possibly hitting on his girlfriend or sharpening his katanas. She took a deep breath, pulling her kopis out and took a few steps forward.

Storm Blade Uprising!

A large set of waves slammed towards her "opponents", only for some golden shield to surround to them. Her slow jog turned into a run, dashing towards her opponent. A few seconds later, she was standing face to face to them. For some reason, they had a variant of her, judging from the emerald gown adorning her "clone" and the exact same shade of blonde hair. Her clone only pulled out a pair of gladius, pointing them right at her.

"My, my my." The "clone" remarked as Clara slammed her kopis into her. "Aliza lives on, thank the beeping god."

"What are you even talking about?" Clara accused as the clone laughed. "Are you just taunting me now?"

"Beat me and I'll answer you." Clara took a deep breath as her opponent smiled. "Call me, Varia."

"Whatever, Varia." Varia's gladius glowed red as they were swung towards Clara. Clara ducked, swinging her respective weapons into Varia's knees. Her opponent stumbled backwards, only to strike her kopis. "So, who is Aliza?"

"Your mother." The two magical girl rip-offs sparred, slamming their blades as hard as possible in a futile attempt to defeat the other. "Truly a great soldier within my husband and I's army. Truly a shame I had to kill her for deserting me for that stupid band of pirates."

Clara froze, looking away from her opponent. For the first time in a long while, she actually had some actual information relating to the past. While it didn't really have that much to do with her, it was a good starting point to go off of.

"Thank you." She took a deep breath as her opponent walked away. "At the very least, you could respond."

Her opponent still ignored her.

Storm Wyvern Uprising!

A wyvern-shaped flame erupted from her kopis, followed by a few orbs of electricity, the two attacks then converged, creating a flaming wyvern with a lightning horn. The creature slammed into her opponent, still not getting a "your welcome". Afterwards, she walked away, heading to a nearby bench. After sitting down, she began to chomp down on her giant chocolate chip cookie. How she managed to keep the cookie edible was anyone's guess. As she munched on the cookie, her phone went off. She quickly pulled it out, giving it a quick glance and swiped her finger across the screen. Ace's portrait had appeared, along with green and red phone icons She slid her finger across the green icon and brought the device up to her left ear, waiting a few seconds.

"Hello?"

"Where are you? Everyone else is at the train station!"

"Can't I finish my cookie first?"

"Is it the one you've been waiting to have since our second to last trip to the real world?"

"Maybe?"

"Fine. Just get here."

She hung up, putting the phone away. Afterwards, she pulled the cookie apart, throwing the chunks into her mouth. She didn't get why Ace decided she was the boss of him. Maybe it was her willingness to go along with it. Or, her unwillingness to correct that fact. She took a deep breath and stood up. The walk to her destination quickly passed, with not many things of any interest really happening. The train station seemed out of place in the city. Large brown walls shot up into the sky, with a double set of stained wooden doors leading in. Clara only sighed, making her way in. Inside, the designer of said place had decided on a light shade of green for the walls and a glazed concrete floor.

"There you are!" Standing at the side of the room, was Ace. She slowly walked over, cautious of her partner. "Didn't we agree to meet here earlier?"

"Nope." Clara answered. "If you did, I'm putting it in the "off-screen moments of little to no importance"."

The magical girl quickly walked away, only to find a large group of people had already walked in. She recognised all of them, but only gave them a slight wave. Friends wasn't the term she would use for them. More of, they were just people she had to blindside in order to reach Ace and her's goal. And yet, all that rewarded them was a swift death by a girl with a spear. Heck, the two almost lasted two chapters, technically. A few seconds later, Ace walked up, holding something. The leader of the group walked up to the boy, attempting to snatch away what he had nice brought them. Ace immediately went for his left katana, launching a bird-shaped projectile into his aggressor's chest and knocking the idiot up into the air. She only walked over to a nearby

"My, my my. Some things truly do never change." A voice responded as a teenage girl Ace's age walked up. She was dressed in a loose camo print dress with tall green high heels and short fingerless black gloves. A pair of dark red eyes stared towards them, making no sense with her long blackish pink hair.

"You're not welcome here, Katherine." Ace whispered as Katherine laughed.

"So you're over prior events, I'm guessing?" Katherine responded as both Ace and Clara groaned. "By the way, I kill that lazy lizard and that Mark guy."

"I'll answer your question with one of my own." Ace answered as Katherine stared right at him. "Do you know how many names are on that wall at the school?"

"A whole bunch."

"How many of those people deserved the faith you gave them?" Katherine only laughed.

"Truly a philosophical question, Acey." Katherine remarked as the boy and his magical girl noticed the large and bulky cutlass hanging off the back of her dress. "And yet, why did you go after me, who was killing those from a worst faith?"

"Because everyone needs a hero." Ace answered as a thick pink mist flooded the building. Their eyes grew heavy, getting forced shut by some unknown force.