Chapter 3 - Celebrations
Marie picked up a soft blue gift bag, the one that Theo and Kamemon brought with them. Inside their was a couple of her favourite bath bombs and box of chocolates. After thanking them, she picked up a small box wrapped in gold and red paper. The label confirmed her suspicions that this one was from Isaac and his Partner, who had signed it in his Rookie Form of Coronamon.
From the fiery duo, she received a pack of Data Disks. Once she had a Digimon Partner and her Licence was delivered, she would be able to use them to boost her Partner's base power level. Marie thanked them, and decided to open the purple gift bag next. This one being signed by Nicole and Fanbeemon. From the Bee like Digimon and the Bluenette, Marie received a new pair of jeans & a Sweater Dress.
After promising Marie that she would change into her new clothes later, she grabbed a silver gift bag that was signed by Karen and Labramon. Inside was a bottle of wine, and a silver pendant in the style of the Taoist symbol of yin-yang. She eagerly put on her necklace with a thank you and cracked open her wine before reaching for what would be Alastor's gift, only to find that there was nothing left sitting out in the open.
Alastor spoke as Marie looked towards him. "Sorry, I didn't get a chance to wrap it so it's hidden in my briefcase at the moment."
Alastor quickly went a retrieved his briefcase from the other room. From it, he took out a simple looking box and passed it to Marie. She opened it and within was a Digivice of her own. It was the same model used by her friends. The Digivice was a simple white in colour, but once she had a Partner the colour scheme would alter itself to match, and looked very similar to a digital wrist watch.
She had already seen what this type of Digivice could do thanks to her friends. It was capable of telling the time so that it could function similarly to it's appearance. It could also both scan and absorb data. The screen could produce Holographic Screens plus a Holographic Keyboard one command that could be interacted with, allowing the Digivice's Owner to manipulate the data shared between the Device and the registered Digimon Partner. Which would allow her to give her Partner new Skills through Hacking & Modding.
"This is lovely Alastor, but I would have waited until I found my Partner to get one… plus I don't have my license yet. It's not due to be delivered for another week."
"Actually," he replied and passed her an envelope from within his briefcase "I believe this is yours."
Marie took the envelope, and realised it was from the Registration office. She opened it and found her License inside.
"I talked to a friend who handles the License Registration, and after cashing in a favour, was able to get the license approved a bit quicker and permission to be the courier."
Marie got up and from the couch and began hugging Alastor and murmured a heartfelt "thank you."
"Your welcome," came his reply, as he returned the hug.
The two stood hugging each other for a few moments, enjoying the embrace, before realising everyone was looking at them. They quickly separated, each with a faint blush, and Marie excused herself to change into the Jeans and Sweater Dress.
The silence that followed Marie's temporary departure was broken by Theo. "Still trying to work up the Courage?"
"Please don't start." Alastor groaned. "Phascomon has already been on my case about it today."
He then quickly pulled from his briefcase a collection of Disks. "Anyway, before any of you want to start that conversation again. Here are the personalised Data Disks I promised to compile for you guys last time I was on break."
Everyone suddenly had an excited glimmer in their eyes, and Nicole was the first to speak. "Seriously!" she exclaimed in joy. "You managed to get all the data we wanted!?"
"Yep. Got all of you some basic data boosts, plus the specified Digimon Data you all wanted to enhance your partners with… even managed to throw in some extra data that you should be able to use to Mod a new Skill or Upgrade an existing one."
"DUDE!" Isaac shouted. "That is Awesome! I can't wait to Mod some new Fire attacks into Coronamon."
"Indeed." added Theo. "I'm looking forward to seeing how this new data could help Kamemon."
Alastor began passing the disks out to his friends, each colour coded to match their Digivices. A Crimson disk was given to Isaac, whilst a Mossy Green one was passed to Theo. Nicole was bouncing in excitement when she received her Golden disk, whilst Karen smirked mischievously as she accepted her Bronze one.
Isaac squinted at the disk given to him, in an attempt to read some of the Digital Code Language imprinted on the disk. The others were out their disks away to upload at a later date. Isaac only stopped his attempts to read the disk's coding when Marie came back downstairs, and the night continue with the celebrations.
As the humans continued to drink, chat and eventually singing to random songs that they played across various play lists, their Digimon Partners were all playing a game of Blackjack. They made bets using various sweets and no one could keep a hold of their winnings for long. The Dealer changes every round to minimise cheating… not that it seemed to change the results much. The Digimon who would be the next Dealer always seemed to win the round, and immediately lost their winnings within 3 rounds.
A bipedal red lion cub Digimon placed his cards down. "Looks like I win this hand," he stated as he revealed his hand held a King and a 9, giving him the highest hand apart from the dealer who had yet to reveal his cards.
"Hold on Coronamon, Dealer's move" Kamemon stated as he revealed his own cards. An Ace & a Jack. "Dealer wins… anyone else getting bored of Blackjack?" Which was immediately followed by a chorus of yes from everyone. They then all divided the sweets evenly amongst themselves.
The night continued on with the humans & Digimon each enjoying their time together until the early hours and everyone turned in for the night. The Digimon all slept huddled together amongst a makeshift nest of blankets. Theo slept on the couch, whilst Karen slept in her own room. Nobody noticed as Isaac was drunkley pulled by Nicole into her bedroom and never came back out. Where as Alastor & Marie both slept on the floor of the living room.