Today is the day Koh and his friend Pulsa have been waiting for. They both are going to try and become bronze tamers once again. Last time ended in utter defeat but I can personally vouch that they've been training none stop since that day to improve their skills. Lizard brain has become a champion level so we should have a better chance than last time, but Pulsa still has only Syakomon a rookie level so he'll have to depend more on strategy if he wants to win the day.
"And with that, you should be able to win!" Koh drops his pencil and stretches his arms up.
Pulsa picks up the notebook and reads over it. "Do you think I can beat a champion level?"
"Of course! We spent days studying, watching, and coming up with the perfect strategy that suits your Digimon!" Koh leans back in his chair balancing himself on its two hind legs.
"I've also made the final improvements on the equipment I made for Syakomon," Komachi presses enter on her Laptop and the information transfers instantly to Pulsa's digivice.
Pulsa holds his chest and takes a deep breath. "You guys are right. I need to have more confidence in Syakomon and I!"
Koh throws a blanket at Pulsa's face. "Good to hear! Now it's time for bed!"
"You don't care if we stay over?" Pulsa questions as he wraps the blankets around himself.
"Komachi already fell asleep, so I don't see the big deal," Koh gently puts a blanket over his snoring friend.
"She needs to stop working herself to the point of exhaustion." Pulsa lays down on the couch.
"We need to make her a work schedule or something," Koh flips sideways on his bed to stare at me. "You excited for tomorrow Patamon?"
"Why would I be, I'm not fighting?" I say as I tear my eyes away from the book I was reading to answer him.
Koh pinches my nose. "Don't be like that! A win for one of us is a win for all of us!"
"Whatever you say, Koh," I shake my head. "Now it's time for you to go to bed."
Koh shares his blanket with me as he happily drifts to sleep. "Yeah, you're right. Goodnight Patamon"
I watch my tamer sleep with a goofy smile on his face, and I could help but silently laugh. "Goodnight Koh."
"Wake up you two lazy bums!" Pulsa screams as he throws pillows at both Komachi and Koh. "We overslept!"
"Overslept?" Koh uses the pillow thrown at him to cover his head. "What are you talking about?"
"Today is the last day to take the bronze exam!" Pulsa makes his way to the bathroom, and running water could be heard coming from inside. "Everybody's probably taking the exam last minute! If we don't hurry, we'll lose our chance!"
"Wait, what!" The information finally sinks into Koh's had as he frantically tries getting out of bed but gets caught up in the covers and falls harshly on the ground.
"Ugh, so there's going to be a crowd of people," Komachi's face looks visibly displeased at the idea of going out in public.
"I'm ready!" Pulsa steps out the bathroom with his hair especially prim and proper.
"Ready!" Unlike Pulsa, Koh still has bed hair, but his goggles are shining brightly.
"Guess I have no choice," Komachi says as she closes her laptop.
When we arrive at the Colosseum reception desk, it's just as Pulsa feared the line looked like it stretched for miles. We wait for nearly two hours before getting to the front.
"That wait was torture!" Pulsa drags his feet to the female receptionist who happily takes his digivice.
"Thank you for signing up today!" The female receptionist smiles. "I wish you the best of luck in your promotion!"
"Th-Thank you!" Pulsa blushes as he moves out the way for Koh to step up.
"Well, it's about time!" Koh cockily pulls out his digivice. "Go ahead and just promote me, I don't want to waste everybody's time."
The female receptionist is about to take his digivice until she gets a good look at it. "I just remembered that all the slots for promotion exams are full for the day!" She says as she puts a closed sign on her counter and types away on her computer.
"Crap!" Koh pulls his hair and slams his head on the counter. "Why did I oversleep!"
Komachi slaps the back of his neck. "There's no time for moping it's your fault. Right now we have to support Pulsa."
"You're right!" Koh quickly gets over his depression to slap Pulsa on the back.
As we're walking away, I notice the female attendant remove the closed sign and let the Tamer behind Koh register with no problem. As much as I would want to speak out, I feel like Koh knows the real reason he was turned away and saying something about it would accomplish nothing.
"Mr. Patamon, we have to go find seats!" Coronamon shouts snapping me back to reality.
"Yeah, my apologies," I turn my head away from the blatant discrimination.
We wait another two or so more hours in the bleachers watching Tamers going for bronze, silver, and Gold. Some pass, but most fail their exams. Koh and Komachi's eyes light up when they see Pulsa awkwardly march in with nervous sweat dripping from his face. "Do you think he is going to be okay?" Coronamon asks.
Koh smugly crosses his arms and puffs out his chest. "Of course! Most of the Tamers who won just powered their way through, but we have an actual strategy that will throw them off guard!"
"A battle is won before it even starts," Komachi adds as she cups her chin. "But simulations and actual combat are two different things altogether."
"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Ai the bronze examiner." The small girl from before says as she rolls her stiff shoulders making a cracking noise with each rotation.
Pulsa clutches his fist and looks up at Ai with a fire in his eye that I've never seen before. "I won't lose this time!"
"I'm sorry, but have you taken the test before? I go through a lot of Tamers so you'll have to excuse me if I forget who you are." Ai mutters in a monotone voice most likely exhausted from the constant exams.
Pulsa stumbles back his confidence taken a slight hit, but he immediately pulls out his digivice realizing Syakomon. "My name is Pulsa the future Platinum Tamer of Light fang, and after today you'll never forget it again!"
Everybody in the arena laughs in unison and rightfully so. Nobody in this generation has reached the rank of Platinum not even Litton, the Vice Chief of the entire union. The Platinum rank is a story of the past last achieved by the Tamer King over four hundred thousand years ago.
"You'll have to make bronze first! Stingmon realize!" Ai gives a tired smirk as out her digivice appears a humanoid green insect Digimon. Stingmon has sharp claws, bug-like wings, and spikes on its shoulders.
"Water shot!" Pulsa makes the first move ordering Syakomon to shoot a stream of water at the hovering Stingmon.
Stingmon easily dodges the attack that disperses in the air and sprinkles down like rain. "Too slow," Ai sticks out her tongue.
"Water Shot!" Pulsa says ignoring Ai's taunt.
Stingmon once again evades the attack causing more water to fall to the ground. "My turn! Spiking Finish!" Ai shouts as her partner dives toward Syakomon with a sharp needle sticking from his forearm.
"Another water shot!" Pulsa shouts in response.
Stingmon twirls out the way of the attack, not slowing down his onslaught in the slightest. "That isn't working," Ai rolls her eyes annoyed at the repetitive attack.
"Realize bronze shield!" Pulsa holds up his digivice and in a flash of light Syakomon's usual pink shell turns brown as he hides away in it.
Stingmon's needle shatters on contact with Syakomon's shell. "What the?!" Ai says as her partner flies back to regain his distance.
"Black pearl!" Syakomon pops from outside his shell to fire three black pearls in rapid succession.
"I already said you're too slow!" Stingmon avoids the first two pearls, but the third one nicked his side cracking his outer armor. "What happened? Stingmon should have been much faster than you!"
"Everything's coming together! Water Shot!" Pulsa smirks as Syakomon spits out another stream of water in the air.
"Move!" Stingmon does as he's ordered and that's when Ai realizes what's going on. She holds out her hand to catch the droplets of water falling. "You weren't aiming for Stingmon! You meant to miss so that the water could cover the area, making Stingmon's wings wet and heavy which slows him down considerably!"
"Too little too late! Black pearl!" Syakomon's attack hits Stingmon two times instead of one.
"I don't need speed if I keep my distance! Moon Shooter!" Stingmon flies higher than before and fires off his non-broken needle.
"Water screw out the way! Syakomon uses the pressurized blast as commanded combined with the water already on the ground to slide around easily.
"Stay still!" Ai stomps her foot as each spike fired misses its target.
"Doesn't feel too good not being able to hit your target, but unlike you I won't miss!" Syakomon slips behind Stingmon and aims his Water screw at his wings.
"No!" Ai screams as a soaked Stingmon struggles to flap his wings.
"Yes! Now Syakomon one final Black pearl!" All three of Pulsa's attacks hit launching Stingmon out the arena.
The arena is quite. Pulsa pants heavily as he looks at his defeated opponent. "I won..."
"WOOOOOO!" Koh stands up and claps causing the rest of the arena to go wild.
"I can't believe you beat us with a rookie." Ai holds out her hand with a smile.
Pulsa shakes her hand with a massive grin on his face. "Well Stingmon was fast and his attacks precise but he lacked defense, so If I found a way to take his speed then I knew I would have a chance of winning."
"Then I guess I better work on that," Ai gives Pulsa a wink. "I'll be rooting for you at the tournament!"
Pulsa's face turns red as he looks around the arena at the cheering crowd. "Everybody's looking at me!" His digivice glows as it engulfs Syakomon in its light.
"Everybody's looking at us!" Syakomon smiles down on Pulsa in his new form now resembling more of a hermit crab than a clam. His new pink body now has two large arms with green dreads on his head.
"Syakomon, you evolved into Shellmon!" Pulsa says with stars in his eyes.
"I thought you were tough before, but with a champion, the bronze tournament should be a breeze for you!" Ai crosses her arms.
Pulsa rubs under his nose his face beet red. "Is it embarrassing to say that I feel like the hero of a story right now."
"Not at all," Shellmon smiles.
"I guess we better meet up with him," Komachi stands up from her seat. "You coming?" She looks down at Koh who was still sitting.
Koh fiddles with his digivice before answering. "I think it's best if Pulsa isn't seen with me too often in public. I'll message him to come over later."
"Pulsa doesn't care about these baseless rumors going on about you!" Komachi snatches his digivice away.
"I know he doesn't," Koh smiles as he gently takes his digivice back. "But I do, now let's go. I was thinking of going to the digi-mart and getting supplies for a surprise party!"
"If that's what you want," Komachi says as she walks past Koh. "I'll get the party supplies you handle the food."
"Sounds like a plan!" Koh hops out his seat.
"You're not going to ask her what she wants?" Coronamon wonders.
"Nope, I already know! Now let's get going!" Koh fights through the crowd to find the exit, sucking Coronamon and me inside his digivice, so we don't get separated.
"Well look who decided to stop by?" Lizard brain says as he sits criss-cross in the void.
"It's good to see you Mr. Greymon! Sorry you can't come out as often, but Koh says he doesn't want to draw attention to himself." Coronamon explains as he playfully climbs on the champion level's head.
"I could care less about aimlessly walking among the masses," Lizard brain yawns. "But I am curious how the kid handled his exam."
"Oh, Syakomon won! He beat a champion level, can you believe it!" Coronamon rocks back and forth on Lizard brains front horn. "And what's even more amazing after the battle was over he evolved!"
"So the kid evolved," Lizard brain chuckles. "What's taking you so long flying rat, just can't hack it?"
"I don't need to evolve to show my worth!" I fly up to make eye contact with Lizard brain not afraid of his new massive size.
"Digimon are born to fight and get stronger, and if you can't do that, you'll be nothing but data for those who are trying to achieve greater heights," Lizard brain flicks me away. "Don't let these humans make you think it's okay to be some glorified pet."
As I hurdle through the void, memories of my past life come rushing back. "What are you waiting for, do it!" The tall shady figure shouts.
I look down at a small Digimon shaking in fear with tears in its eyes. "But why? He already lost, we can just walk away!"
The shady figure grabs me by the head and shoves me face first into the dirt. "Because we need the data so you can evolve and not be a useless piece of crap! Now either you delete him, or I delete you!" He whispers in my ear.
I yank my face from the dirt and give the frightened Digimon one final look before closing my eyes. I spit out a small fireball that causes him to scream out in agony before complete silence. As I start absorbing the data my body becomes hot. I can feel a change coming from inside, and I don't like it. My mind goes blank and and
"Koh, let me out of here!" I cry out, my mind now focused back on the present. "Please!"
"Patamon realize!" Koh calls me out as requested and I fly into his arms with tears in my eyes. "What's wrong Patamon?"
"Nothing I just wanted to get out the digivice!" Being in Koh's arms soothes me. The memories are starting to fade, and I'm calming down ever so slightly.
"If you say so," Koh flips me around to show me the store we're in. "I was just about to get food is there anything you want?"
"Just the standard digi-food will be fine," I casually respond.
"Ah come on, you don't have to eat that slop it tastes like dog food." Koh sticks out his tongue as if he's about to throw up. "You can have anything you want! What's your favorite meal?"
"I don't have one." I fly out of Koh's arms and onto the ground feeling completely calm now.
"Really?" Koh looks at me with confusion for a second before shrugging it off.
As we walk through the store picking out a variety of food I come across a mirror. At first, there's nothing special about it, but at the same time, I can't pull my eyes away. My reflection slowly changes into a demon-beast with four glowing red eyes, jet black wings, and crimson claws. The form creepily crawls halfway out the mirror with its mouth wide open drooling heavily on the floor, revealing its razor-sharp teeth. "Air shot!" I panic and attack the Digimon but he disappears, and all I hit is glass that shatters everywhere, drawing the attention of everyone in the store.
"Patamon what happened!" Koh runs over to me, picking my shivering body up! When everybody in the store notices the cause of the commotion is Koh they each ready their digivices at him.
"No, I don't want to go back! Please don't make me go back!" Koh pats my head as I panic once again in his arms.
"It's okay I'm not letting you go this time!" Koh grabs the bags, pays for the food, and leaves the store all with dirty looks on him the whole time. "Coronamon realize!"
Coronamon comes out and is handed Koh's digivice. "What's this for?" He asks.
"Take Greymon back home and help Komachi set up decorations, she should be done shopping by now." Koh lightly pushes Coronamon
Coronamon uses the momentum to pick up speed. "Okay!" He shouts as he runs off.
"Here have some of this," Koh hands me a roll of sushi as he sits down on a nearby bench.
"I'm not hungry," I turn my head away.
"Come on it's my favorite!" He happily eats the first roll of sushi and then gets out another holding it close to my mouth.
I take a small bite of the raw fish, and my eyes widen ever so slightly. "It's good!" I finish off the rest of it in my second bite.
Koh laughs. "Patamon I may still not be good at talking to others or understanding feelings, but I know something's wrong. It's just the two of us, so please tell me. I hate seeing you like this."
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I don't want to tell this story, but I feel like I owe Koh at least this much. "In my past life I was known as Tsukaimon, and I was one of the many partners the BT Boss or as history will remember him, the first owner of a black digivice."
This caught Koh's attention as he looks at me with extreme focus. "BT?"
I couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculous meaning of the acronym. "Bad tamers. It's what they were called since they never gave themselves a name. My tamer lead this group with an iron fist. They all feared him, or at least what he would do to them."
Koh twiddles his thumbs struggling to ask his next question. "What kind of things did they do that made them so bad?"
"Back when the union was still young, humans didn't have much presence in the digital world. Most Tamers wanted to help and befriend Digimon, but not my Tamer. He saw the digital world as his plaything, so he would go to uncharted areas and cause havoc making the rest of the digital world hate humans. When other Tamers tried to stop him, he would dispose of them as well." I explained in detail.
"What was his name?" Koh asked.
"I don't remember," I shake my head. "Most of my previous life is a blur. Only the truly traumatic events pop up from time to time, and when they do, it's like I'm reliving those moments. Evolution is something grained into my very being, becoming Devidramon once again is my worse fear because I deleted so many innocent Digimon in that form for no good reason other than my Tamer's amusement. When I evolved even further into Kimeramon, entire villages would burn beneath me. I was only stopped thanks to the efforts of the Tamer King but when I reverted into an egg it took me hundreds of thousands of digital years to hatch again. Nobody knows why, maybe I was just afraid of hurting the world I was born in again."
"So that's why everybody's afraid of the black digivice," Koh leans back on the bench.
"Yes, you are the second human ever to obtain that color." I bite my lower lip, and blood drips onto my chin from how hard I dug into my skin. "Most humans have forgotten, but the trauma in the past lives of Digimon and their survivors will never forget."
"Then we'll just have to prove that we're different," Koh wipes away the blood on my chin. "We can't change the past all we can do is learn from it, but that's what makes history so great! We can copy their successes and do our best not to repeat their failures."
"Koh," I mutter my Tamers name with bittersweet joy.
"You have all these painful memories, so I feel like it's my job to replace them with happy ones! From now on let's do whatever makes you happy, whether it's talking about the past or eating sushi!" Koh pulls out another roll from his bag with a smile.
"I... I don't know what makes me happy..." I stutter in confusion at the statement nobodies ever asked me before.
"Then we'll just have to find out together won't we?" Koh pats me on the head. "But I know evolution makes you sad, and that's a start. We don't have to do anything that upsets you."
"Thank you..." I feel the tears swelling up in my eyes.
"Come on no time for crying we have a party to go to!" Koh picks me up from the bench and walks to his home warp pad.
We arrive to see Komachi putting up a giant banner that says "Congratulations" on it. Scattered around the room are balloons and party hats. "I didn't know what exactly to get, so don't be upset at the results!" Komachi turns slightly red as she climbs down the ladder.
"I had the easy job of getting food everybody would like," Koh chuckles as he puts on the table fried chicken, pizza, sushi, cake, and soda.
"There's no way we can eat all that," Komachi squeezes the arc of her nose.
"Isn't this usually the amount of food people get for parties," Koh frantically looks over the table.
As if on queue Pulsa warps in the room alongside Shellmon. "What's going on?"
Koh gives an awkward smile. "Surprise! It's a party for making bronze!"
Pulsa looks around the room before blushing and scratching his cheek. "Thanks guys, I don't know how to react... This is my first party."
"Oh thank goodness, I didn't want to be the only one!" Koh puts his hand on Pulsa's shoulder and lets out a sigh of relief. "This is my first party as well."
"Maybe we shouldn't have forced ourselves to do something we're unfamiliar with," Komachi shakes her head.
"No!" Pulsa shouts. "I appreciate this! You two are the only ones I wanted to celebrate my victory with because we're best friends!"
"Pulsa!" Koh pulls Komachi and Pulsa together for a group hug.
The usual distant and cool Komachi doesn't resist the embrace and instead lets out a small smirk. "We should get back to studying for school once the tournament is over."
"Oh, before I forget!" Pulsa digs through his bag and pulls out multiple cd cases. "How about we play some video games. I didn't know how to celebrate either, so I just got a bunch of co-op games!"
"Uh, I don't play video games!" Koh let's go of the two.
"Yeah, no thanks," Komachi crosses her arms.
"Ah come on guys!" Pulsa hands the both of them a controller.
"How do you even play?" Koh analyzes the controller.
"I'll show you the controls are easy to learn!" Pulsa pulls Koh by the hand.
"I guess it couldn't hurt to watch," Komachi follows behind at her leisure.
As the trio turn on the T.V Shellmon heads towards Lizard brain, who's sitting crisscross in a corner. " !"
"What is it?" Lizard brain only opens one eye to respond.
"I may not be as strong as you, but," Shellmon clenches his fist. "I feel like I'm slowly catching up!"
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Lizard brain taps Shellmon on the chest. "Wait until after we've had a few rounds sparring."
"Yes sir!" Shellmon smiles.
As I watch everybody having a good time Coronamon hands me a plate of Pizza. "Here, the food's delicious!" He says with a mouthful of fried chicken.
I take a bite of the gooey cheese, and I don't see what the fuss is about, I prefer sushi overall. "It's okay," I blandly respond.
"What! Then let me get you a plate of chicken instead!" Coronamon skips over to the table.
Noticing a mirror out the corner of my eye, I look at intensely for a while, but nothing happens. "I should probably start thinking of things I would like to try with Koh," I mutter to myself with a smile.
I'm really proud on how the fight with Pulsa turned out. I've always liked focusing on other characters in stories like this, it makes the world feel more alive in my eyes. Tell me what you guys think about the fight scene! Did you like it or hate? Hopefully all my chapters will come out this fast.