Ok! Sorry for the long delay! I've been busy with my works and LightRiver33 too!
Thanks to her though, she is still editing!
Like I said, I will never abandon a fan fiction! So yup! I'm still working on it but in a slower pace since i don't have that much time to write like when I was in University lol. Thank you for your enthusiasm/fave/comment/follows!
The battle rages on…
This time, the battle is between two similar-looking Digimon: a green goblin-like Digimon versus a blue one who really looked alike save for their different attires. The battle itself looks very boring and some contestants have even begun falling asleep.
As for Honoka, she seems wide awake as she chatted with her supporting friend, along with her bird Digimon.
"Hehe, then-then, Ichigo hit him so hard! Then he goes like 'Pepper Breaaath'!"
"Yep! I saw that! That was cool!" Kotori said with a happy smile.
"Ohh! Right! You were here!" Honoka said with a cheerful giggle.
"Hehe, you better prepare yourself for the next round. If you win, you'll be able to get into the final round! It will be easy if you have been managing your stamina properly!" Kotori said.
"I'm sure I am! Right, Ichigo?" Honoka turned to her Agumon.
"Yep! Nom-nom-nom…" Agumon replied while eating his meal.
"You have to manage your food too, Ichigo. Being too full will make you uncomfortable at the wrong time!" Biyomon suggested.
"Ok! Don't worry! I'll be managing my food! Just a few more meat and I'm done!" Ichigo the Agumon said.
"By the way, Kotori-chan! Why don't you give your Biyomon a nickname?" Honoka asked.
"Uh…. Well… I'm not quite sure of what name I can give her…" Kotori's voice faded as she started to think.
"Maybe….. Suzaku?" Kotori said.
"Ahhh… the Vermillion Sparrow….! Wait…." Honoka took a moment to think.
"Your name Minami… means south…, right?"
"Yep!" Kotori replied cheerfully.
"Hehe! I get it! Then Biyomon is Suzaku now!" Honoka said cheerfully.
"Ok-Chun! I'm Suzaku now!" Biyomon replied cheerfully.
"I wonder if Umi-chan will name her Penguinmon too…" Honoka said.
"Hehe, we just need to ask!" Kotori said.
"Yep!"
"But not now, I feel like something is troubling her…" Kotori said.
"Oh…? Why?" Honoka asked.
"I don't know… she hasn't talk to me about anything. She was worried about you."
"Ehh? Tell her to not worry about me…" Honoka replied.
"Hehe, Honoka-chan, it's like you don't know her."
"Right, she will always worry!" Honoka said.
"But maybe it's not about you now…" Kotori said.
"Oh…."
"Maybe her problem is about something else? Hehe… I'll just wait for her to come to me. I'm sure she will when she is ready to do it." the Ash brunette continued with a soft giggle.
"Hehe, let's just approach her later, I'm curious too!" Honoka said.
"If you say so!" Kotori replied.
Somewhere around the back row…
Umi is still sulking in her mind and, although Penguinmon is next to her though, he seemed to not notice his tamer's emotion. Umi still seems to be deep in thought even as a little girl with black hair approached and sat right next to her.
"Oi…" Niko called her.
The bluenette didn't respond.
"Oi, Umi…!" Niko waved her hand right in front of her face, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Aaa-ah! N-Niko-senpai!" she exclaimed in her surprise.
"What's up with you, I've been staring at you for a very long time now…" Niko said.
"I'm… I'm fine!" Umi replied nervously.
"You can't lie to me. You just skipped our main reason for being here to sulk internally." Niko said to her clearly with her arms akimbo.
"I….I'm sorry…"
"Sorry? What for? I'm not the one you need to apologize to... You have to say sorry to yourself because you're letting your feelings be dragged down. Cheer up, girl, or at least say something about your problem and set it free."
After Niko said it, Umi nodded slightly, but then her eyes turned to her Penguinmon. Her Penguinmon nods as he understood what he needed to do. He gestured to Umi before he walked away—probably to where the others are.
She started with a heavy sigh. Her eyes were focused only on her digivice.
"I just searched about the card we used a while back…" she said.
Niko remained silent, waiting for her to continue as the bluenette smiled somewhat bitterly.
"…it said, it evolves one Digimon to what it will turn into in the future. Many players use that card to know how well they are raising their digimon."
"Yep, sounds about right." Niko replied
"You just need to change your style if you don't like Black Metal Garurumon." she continued.
"The problem is… I believe that my training has always gone perfectly well... If what I believe to be perfect will turn him into a Dark Digimon… then how else am I supposed to do it?" Umi replied.
"Huh? Well… getting a dark Digimon isn't that bad. I mean, look, what matter most is your feeling towards him, right? It doesn't matter what you get, just remember what Nozomi always says: if it isn't destiny, then it will never happen." Niko said.
"There must be a mistake that I have not seen. I need to figure it out." Umi replied.
"What? Come on, just embrace it. If you keep denying it, you'll be overwhelmed by your own denial. I'm talking from experience, you see? The first time I evolved Chibby through that card, he turned into a scary reaper-like Digimon. I don't even want to remember his name or to see him again!"
"Perhaps my training isn't hard enough. Does he need to be pumped in some part?" Umi said, her eyes aren't even looking at her senior.
"Oi! Are you listening to me?" Niko raised her eyebrows.
"I need to ask Eli-senpai. Maybe she knows where my Penguinmon is weak at…" Umi said.
"Huh? I rather hear you ask about how you should train your Digimon. But then, Eli is probably not the one you should ask. She was just lucky that her Digimon trait is supposed to be similar to hers. I would tell you to ask Nozomi but she is an even luckier bastard who doesn't even train her Digimon yet, somehow, they are strong and are fond of her."
"Would a duel do it…?" The bluenette continued.
"Gggah! You're not even listening to me now." Niko protested.
"Yes… of course. Eli-senpai knows a lot. Why didn't I do that long ago?" the bluenette continued before she stood up and began to walk away.
"Oi-oi! Are you going to leave me like that?! Where's your gratitude towards me?" Niko said loudly.
"Ah, right, Niko-senpai. Thank you!" Umi said very politely, her face seemed to already be more cheerful.
"O…Ok?" the senior is flustered instead. She wonders if she took what she just said too seriously, alas, she expected her to be more like how people usually treat her: Just ignore, nothing more.
"Now, that's quite an interesting character…" the little girl appreciated. Her eyes set back into the other juniors who have been chatting with their Digimon, including her Chibby.
"Hmm… perhaps it's not so bad hanging out with this bunch of girls? It's not like I'm the one who needs them though… they need me to guide their noob-ass…." she continued with a proud smile before she decided to move back to the juniors. After all, those three are her favorite juniors because of their innocence— and Maki is favored for something else.
The time passed.
Even though the Arena looks plain and quiet, the sound of tamers cheering for their own Digimon filled the whole arena. The battle is close to the end and Honoka's turn is coming up next. Ichigo the Agumon has finished his meal, Suzaku the Biyomon took her time with tidying up Ichigo's mess. She seemed to be having so much fun when doing it.
When the Arena countdown from ten started, Honoka and Kotori prepared to cheer for whoever the winner is. They know that the winner will have to fight them in the future. In Kotori's little mind, she hoped that the green goblin is the winner since that will be more advantageous for Ichigo. The name of the Green-goblin like Digimon is Goburimon and he is the said to be an original in his kind. He mostly attacks with physical power, earth technique or small fires and none of those Elements will be a problem for Ichigo. Worst case scenario is if the blue one called Ice Goburimon wins. Just like his name, he attacks with ice and water techniques which will be really bad for Ichigo despite his type advantage. Many also say that ice Goburimon attacks are pretty fast and an Agumon like Ichigo might have a problem with catching up.
"Gooo! Goburimon!" Kotori shouted.
"E-eh…?" Honoka turned around at her.
"Just win it, Goburimon! Go! Go!" Kotori shouted again.
Her voice was so loud that even the tamer of Goburimon heard it. He is somewhat very touched by her support.
"Alright, let's go, Goburimon! We can't disappoint a girl!" he shouted full of spirit.
"Understood!" the green goblin-like digimon replied.
The battle continued with 8 seconds left and the green Goblin-like Digimon raises his power.
"Ugraarrhhh!" he shouted before he slams the ground using all of his strength to cause a tremor. The Blue-goblin-like digimon got critically hits. He was about to get up and counter but the alarm roared.
The battle has ended. The result is calculated and Goburimon won the fight.
"Yaaaaaay!" Kotori cheered happily.
The goburimon tamer smiled arrogantly as he brushed his own hair, trying to act cool. Goburimon seems to be proud of his victory as well.
"Honoka-chan! You have all the advantage now!" Kotori said cheerfully—and a little too loudly.
"W-what the heck?" Goburimon tamer said in his disappointment. Now he knows why the Ash Brunette cheered for him.
"E-Eh? Really?" Honoka asked.
"Yep, Goburimon is virus! He doesn't have any advantage on Agumon from his element too!" Kotori replied.
"That's good! That means I get a better chance to win, right?" Honoka replied.
Goburimon's tamer sighed.
"These girls are savage…" he said before he and his Goburimon left the stage.
The next battle is about to start. It will be Honoka's turn to fight. It's not going to be against the green-goblin like Digimon, it should be versus another digimon.
"It's my turn!" Honoka said excitedly.
"Good-luck, Honoka-chan!" Kotori said.
"Let's go Ichigo!" Honoka said before she ran to the stage.
"Ok!" Ichigo said before he steps down from his seat. For some reason, he looks a little heavy on his stomach. Can he really fight?
The corridor to the audience seats…
"Hmmm…. so that's what you need me to do, huh?" the purplenette said with a mischievous smile.
"Are we getting what we want or are you going to make us do some favors?" Erena said through Nozomi's digivice.
"Certainly, some elements sound very intriguing but… I doubt we can work together without fees involved in our business."
"Fees?"
Lady and Angel could hear the conversation and they seem to be interested to know further about the plan their tamer has in her mind.
"Yep, we don't working forfree, you know."
"Ah, we certainly are the one who made the request here. We will fund your needs to—…"
"I don't need, money, I have got plenty for myself. I need three of you to pay with something else."
"Then, please tell us what we need to do to pay for your service."
"So we have a deal, huh?" Nozomi said.
"Depends, we need to know what this payment is first." Erena said.
"Well, it's no deal or deal. We both will be taking the risk of getting banned from the game, you know, so I wouldn't want you to escape from the debt and wash your hands from what you made us do."
"Uh, Anjuu… Tsubasa, how about—" Erena explained to her friends.
After a few minute of explanation, Nozomi could hear Tsubasa speaking loudly,
"Hah, then just wing it. We need their service. I'm sure the payment won't be impossible." Tsubasa said.
"I agree, we are friends, their request shouldn't be that ridiculous." Anjuu added
"Alright then, we're going to say yes." Erena said.
"Good—Harasho!" Nozomi said with a mischievous laughter at the end.
"Then, our deal is sealed. We will help you to achieve your goal while you help us achieve our goal."
"Nozomi-san… please tell us what this thing is that we need to do…" Erena said.
"It's not going to be impossible, don't worry. All we want you to do is to cause more digital shifts by wrecking whatever portal you can find."
"W-what? You want us to ruin this world even more?!" Erena exclaimed.
"Hmm…? I thought we had a deal…?" Nozomi said.
"There must be an explanation behind that, right Nozomi-chan?" Anjuu said.
"Of course, I can even tell you how to find portals and make it wider."
"Can you at least please explain to us first?" Erena said.
"It's related to what you are trying to make us do, don't worry." Nozomi said.
"Please give us more hints!" Erena said agitatedly.
"Erena, you're a little too stupid to figure it out." Tsubasa said.
"A-Are you intentionally trying to make me mad, Tsubasa?!"
"There-there, Erena-chan, I'll explain later." Anjuu said with a giggle.
The Arena;
Honoka and Agumon stood near the ring as they stared at their opponent: a dragon like digimon with green skin, red horns and a pair of small red wings.
Unfortunately for Ichigo the Agumon, this Digimon is Data type.
"H-Honoka-chan…. this Digimon is scary…" Ichigo said.
"Don't worry, Ichigo, just believe and we will win!" Honoka said.
"U… uhn! Ok! I believe that we will win!" Ichigo replied.
Both of the opponent digimon and his tamer didn't talk to each other and they looked rather stiffer than the rest of contestants.
"Go! Honoka-chan! Ichigo-chan!" Kotori cheered for them.
"Don't lose!" Maki shouted.
"Good-luck-nya!" Rin shouted.
"Go-go, Agumon!" Hanayo shouted.
For a moment, Agumon and Honoka took a deep breath, making sure that they are really ready for this battle. Her opponent didn't seem to make any movement and just stood still. That's really strange, but who cares.
The bell rang to signify the start of the battle and Ichigo ran in and adjusted his position. The other Digimon didn't make a move, though it seemed to be processing something in its mind. After a long while, she saw how her foe began to move slightly—a lizard head tilt.
Ichigo started his attack and a small fire breath reached the green dragon, though its response was not at all like how most living beings respond. The dragon remained silent, not a single move is formed even though Ichigo once again fire his flaming breath. He doesn't know if his attack makes any damage to this Digimon, but he knows he really at a disadvantage.
His foe began to move with a small step and a strange spark erupted on his moving foot. When it happened, the blonde realized that the occurrence is too familiar to her but she need to confirm the situation since she only saw the spark once.
The next step the dragon digimon took, the sparks appeared again and it looked so much like what happened back then. It was a huge digimon, from what she remembered. The sparks by his monstrous feet and the emotionless state of its face… some people think that it's normal to have an emotionless Digimon for some special effect when their size and features look diabolical enough, but do people also think the same for rookie Digimon—especially the dragon type similar to Agumon?
She knew that digimon very well. He is a Dracomon, a digimon that has two evolution types. She remembers well that he evolved into that one green dragon while also retaining the ability to evolve into the blue one. Both are called Coredramon and she fought that one Digimon during her champion tournament a long time ago.
How was the Dracomon she met?
Did he produce sparks?
No.
Was he emotionless?
No.
Does that mean he is the weird Dracomon?
No way. There were plenty of other Dracomon that she has seen and she thinks that they're not emotionless at all.
Something is wrong with this Dracomon!
Honoka needs to know!
But how?! They're now in an official battle. She can't interrupt them.
The Dracomon, once again, made his move. This time, he looks like he is about to breathe something out from his mouth. Ichigo the Agumon seems to be prepared to dodge or endure it.
Well, that's bad, right? If he decided to endure it, things may turn out the same as before.
"Dodge!" Eli shouted as she saw Dracomon shoot his first blast. Ichigo dodged it and tried to quickly make his counter. While he focused on the enemy, some of the tamers and audience members suddenly roared in panic.
"The Arena's shield!" they said.
Honoka turn her attention to the arena's shield. There's a small hole in it and it was probably caused by the Dracomon's attack. A strange substance remained on the wall close to the hole… she wasn't sure what those were, but it looked somewhat creepy.
Dracomon fired another shot and Agumon once again dodged it. The next attack reached the ground and another hole was created as it also turned the arena floor into a digital glitch.
"W-what the hell is that?!" one of the audience said.
"That Dracomon is bugged! Someone, please stop the fight!" the other said.
It seems that there were no officials on duty at that moment and the A.I. of the Arena Manager also didn't respond.
"Someone, call the official!" another audience member said.
As the audience began to run out of the place in panic, a very loud disastrous noise was heard from another hall.
"W-what's happening here?!" Maki said.
"I don't know! But it sounds bad-nya! Let's go somewhere else!" Rin said.
The noise from another hall began to get louder as Maki, Rin, Niko, Hanayo and their digimon stood from their seats.
"Let's go!" Niko said with a hint of panic in her voice.
They quickly ran from their seat to the hall's entrance, along with the rest of the audience.
Eli and her Renamon remained in their spot, currently trying to call someone to confirm the situation. She watched how Honoka still remained in place wondering what exactly happened as Ichigo continued to fight the strange Dracomon.
"Honoka-chan! Stop the fight! Let's get out of here!" Kotori shouted
Umi who has been quiet and flustered also remained in her place with her Penguinmon. She could see that there are some tamers who seems to have stayed in their seats and were staring strangely at the ash brunette and her Bird Digimon.
Something didn't feel right. The bluenette quickly decided to go down from the audience seats and head towards the ash brunette to warn her but, before she was able to do it, a sudden power blast hit so close to her and Penguinmon.
She turned to where the blast came from and saw a tamer with a strange, huge-brained, alien-like digimon riding an UFO standing there emotionless.
This is certainly is bad since she doesn't have any cards with her right now so she had to put aside the idea of evolving Penguinmon to fight this strong-looking creature. She quickly grabbed her digimon and began to run to the other side but she halted when she saw another tamer with a blue digimon that looked somewhat like an insect pod.
By the time she thought of going another way, the wall of the Arena hall broke, its debris scattered and disappeared as a few huge digimon came through it. The one that grabbed her attention so much is a metallic Sea Dragon-like Digimon— since it is basically the biggest Digimon there.
All of them were focused on the ginger girl and her Digimon. At that moment, a shade of Digimon snatched and flew off with Umi and her Digimon while dodging a few immediate attacks from behind.
Umi realized that she probably knew who snatched her. From the size of the hand and its dark color, she knew that this is a Lady Devimon but is she the same Lady Devimon she knows?
"Lady?" Umi called her.
"No time to speak, we're all under attack." she replied.
Then she turned to the other digimon who was also in mid-flight— the angelic one to be exact. She dropped something to Kotori then headed towards Honoka.
There's no one in the Digimon's arms, so where exactly is their tamer?
"Where's Nozomi-senpai?" Umi asked.
"Over here." a voice from the back of Lady Devimon said.
"Aaah!" Umi was surprised when she heard the voice.
"You don't have to act that surprised. I'm not that heavy, thank you!" Nozomi said.
"S-Sorry… but, what caused this invasion?" Umi asked politely.
"I'm not sure either. I was just about finished discussing something with A-rise when a few tamers who looked bugged suddenly began to attack us. Most of them have Data or Vaccine Digimon." Nozomi explained.
"Ah… I thought I saw virus one, it looked so evil." Umi said.
"Hmm? Virus? That's strange. Maybe they're trying to counter your digimon type. Do you happen to be raising a Data type Penguinmon?" Nozomi asked to confirm.
"Uh… are there any other Penguinmon types?"
"Yes, a vaccine one. I don't know why they're different too."
Nozomi said as they got closer to a specific blonde.
"Ericchi!" the purplenette called her out immediately the moment she sighted her.
"Nozomi, Umi, there you are." Eli said as she removed her digivice from her ears.
They landed near her and began to take in their surroundings. A few people, along with their trained digimon, were walking towards them like lifeless creatures.
"I knew you were trying to contact me. I tried to accept it but something obstructed the connection. That's why I decided to ignore your next call." Nozomi said.
"Is that so? I thought you accepted someone else's call."
"Yes, I was on call with a client but we didn't finish our conversation since the trouble began."
"I see. This is really troublesome, huh?" Eli said with a short sigh.
"There's something that I need to speak with you, Ericchi, and I hope you are willing to listen, Umi-chan."
Umi gave her attention to the purplenette.
"It's about us. We need to move on from our bonds." Nozomi continued.
"W-what do you mean, Nozomi? Did I do anything bad?" Eli protested.
"Y-yes, why do I have to listen to this lover's quarrel?" Umi protested.
"No-no, silly. I mean our status as Digimon Online players. We need to get ourselves free from it."
"Then who will fix the world?" Umi asked.
"We don't have to be an official player to raise our Digimon. This was a world of freedom for them before we came to 'help', right?" Nozomi replied.
"You think we will be able to do that? Wouldn't that make the official angry?" Eli asked.
"H-how do we even do that. I mean, I absolutely have no idea about this place. I'm still a beginner." Umi said.
"Well, the good news is: You don't have to get to know it anymore. The basics will be enough for you." Nozomi said.
"I-Is that so?"
"Alright, actually, I don't know. Let's take a look at it later." Nozomi said.
"Everyone…!" a familiar chirping voice was heard before a huge, gold armored, bird-like digimon snatched the three of them with incredible speed and broke out of the building.
None of them were able to see everything as well as the Ash brunette who was prepared with her goggles. As soon as they reached the outside of the building, they saw the chaos in the city and it is a lot more chaotic than when they came in.
"Angel-san! Can you see where the others are?" Kotori asked the angelic digimon who is flying with her and her huge bird-like digimon. The girls on flight used the time to wear their goggles while they wait for Angel to respond the Ash Brunette's question.
"Over there!" Angel pointed to Maki, Rin, Niko and Hanayo who seems to be surrounded by some strange looking tamers who all have their digimon evolved into their champion form.
Kotori nods and quickly instructs her digimon to dash to their location, snatched them, and threw them onto her Digimon's back with the rest of the girls.
Now that they were mid-flight, they observed below them and witnessed more challenges up ahead. Many bugged Digimon and their tamers were also overwhelmed in the air. They had to charge through and dodge some of the tamers who seemed to be trying to defend themselves as well.
'What happened to this world?' they all thought.
The Real world.
The A-rise was still resting for the night until a weird noise sounded from outside their room. Erena was the first person who got up to take a little peek outside. She saw that a few tamers seemed to be busy with an incident that befell their fellow tamer.
It looked like a common injury until Erena noticed another detail from the victim…
"Ah!" she raised both of her eyebrows and quickly unlocked her door. It surprised Anjuu that Erena is making a move since it's unlikely for her to care about another enough to make her move at bed time. She also got up to catch up with Erena and left Tsubasa still deep in her slumber, along with her Black Agumon.
Anjuu took her time to observe the scene. She can see Erena seriously investigating the wound of the victim Digimon and his worried tamer.
"Anjuu-san!" one of the tamers called her.
"Yes? Is there anything I can help you with?" Anjuu replied.
"Ah, we aren't wrong with this." they said.
"What are you not wrong about?" Anjuu asked to confirm.
"We were attacked by another you."
"Another me?" Anjuu raised her voice in her surprise.
"Yes, we thought she was you, but then we noticed that something seemed off so we decided to be extra careful. We approached the other you and she wasn't responding and when we tried to scan her, and we found nothing but the word 'bugged' printed on your profile."
"Does that mean I got copied somehow?" Anjuu began to think.
"Most likely. We got her, though, after we sent a few virus S-Rank tamers to defeat her. Then afterwards, the other you disappeared and left this chip." The tamer handed her a small strange looking object that looked like a computer chip. Anjuu examined it carefully and noticed that it looked like a memory chip with some additional effect.
"Thank you, I will try to investigate this." Anjuu said.
"You're welcome, Anjuu-san. I'll take my leave to help the others. Someone spotted Tsubasa-san's copy as well. It's going to be really troublesome if we don't defeat her."
"Alright, make sure you wake up the real Tsubasa so that she can entertain herself." Anjuu replied before she waved to the tamers. She then took another look at the chip she just received. There's only one way to get to know this further and she believes that there's no other way for her to know more about this without her help.
She really needs to wake Tsubasa up for this urgent matter—or to wait for her to wake up until then since she doubts she can wake her up.
"Anjuu-saaan!" someone shouted in panic.
Anjuu, Erena, and the rest of tamers turned to the person.
"A copy of Erena-san has just been spawned inside the weapons room. Someone needs to defeat her real quick!"
"Anjuu, we should go." Erena said bravely.
"Yep, we really should." Anjuu agreed before the two returned to their rooms to pick up their Digimon and Digivice.
The Digital World.
The flight still went on for the µ's. They had to deal with a few tamers who tried to stop them from leaving the city area and the worst part is that some of the tamers were too difficult to deal with that they needed to use some tricks using the card stocks that Nozomi and Eli had.
"This is really troublesome-nya." Rin commented.
"I have to say, these tamers are tough." Maki responded.
"Bad news, I think Suzaku won't be able to last much longer." Kotori said.
"Suzaku…? Is that your nickname for your Biyomon?" Umi asked.
"Yep, hehe… you should give your Penguinmon a nickname too, Umi-chan!" Kotori said.
Umi remained silent as she looked at her Penguinmon. He looked as cute as before but Umi was still bothered by something so much. He has not reached his real champion evolution although she already saw his mega form from the card power.
"Aah! By the way, Eli-senpai!" Kotori said to the blonde who had been inspecting her surroundings. Eli turned to her without a single word spoken.
"You were right, I should not have trained her with physical attack power. Now she turned into Eaglemon instead." Kotori said.
"At least Eaglemon can save us today. You're in luck." Eli said.
"Hehe. Well, I'll make sure to reset her status again in the future." Kotori said.
"Yes, you should, before you get yourself a Parrotmon." Eli said.
"Aah…! Looks like a tamer is aiming for us again!" Hanayo said as she spotted a flying devilish looking digimon.
"That's probably a virus Digimon! We can handle him, Kotori-chan!" Honoka said.
"Oi-oi! Are you listening? She can't waste her power again! We need to get out of this place as soon as possible!" Niko complained.
"Y-yeah, I'm really sorry, Honoka-chan!" Kotori said.
"Hngg… I don't think I can beat that digimon without being evolved too, Honoka-chan." Ichigo the Agumon said.
"Then, can I have a card too, Nozomi-senpai?" Honoka's eyes beamed at Nozomi.
"Sure. I think I have got some with me." Nozomi said as she searched through her belongings.
"Wait, we can't use any of the Agumon line evolution. They're too destructive. We might hurt innocent people in the city as well." Eli said.
"Ah, you're certainly right, Ericchi. We are above the city after all." Nozomi said.
"So that's why you've been asking me to do this, huh?" Niko said as she pointed to her Chibby the Piedmon who had been holding onto Eaglemon's leg, along with Maki's Dianamon on the other leg.
"You mean 'us'?" Maki said.
"Yeah, us. Why are you so worked up about being mentioned ?" Niko said.
"No, you little brained idiot. I was just reminding you to credit me." Maki replied.
"Y-Youu…!" Niko frowned at her.
"Now-now, let's not fight here, hehe… I think the weight is getting tougher for me to hold." Suzaku said.
Niko and Maki pout at each other before they turned away from each other.
"How long do you think you can last, Suzaku?" Eli asked.
"W-whoa! Eli-senpai is calling her by nickname!" Honoka whispered to Rin.
"Uh, about 10 minutes? That's if I don't bother to stop to deal with invaders." Suzaku replied.
"10 minutes, we can't get far enough from the city." Eli said.
"Our energy seems to be low too… we need to somehow find a way to use the time we have to reach safety." Nozomi said.
"Haah—if there's a way to stop the time or travel through it, we won't be in this much trouble." Maki commented.
Nozomi and Eli quickly looked at each other after Maki's remark.
"Nozomi, maybe this is the best time to use that card." Eli suggested.
Nozomi nodded before she, once again, began looking for something in her bag.
The rest of the girls seem to be wondering what exactly they're planning to do. The purplenette took out a very classy looking gold card with a strange image that looked like two souls being united together. The card says 'The Jogress Card'.
"Lady, Angel!" Nozomi called them. The two digimon, who were flying close to Suzaku to survey the situation, flew to the eye level of the tamers.
"Yes, Nozomi-chan?" they replied casually.
"It's time for us to act." Nozomi said.
"Just go on, we're with you." Lady said.
"Yep, we'll always be with you!" Angel added to her statement.
Honoka and Ichigo seem to be very interested about how Nozomi and her Digimon communicate. They can say that those three are very respectful to each other And, perhaps, this is what they need to do if they want to have a comfortable atmosphere surrounding them.
Nozomi started her card engine then waited for a few seconds before she used her card in style. It isn't that much exaggerated but still she looked really cool when using her card on her Digimons. The two Digimon began to fly faster and made spiral sparks of light as they flew faster than the giant golden bird.
Then a huge light shone so bright that it was fortunate that all the girls are wearing their goggles, else they might have been blinded like some of enemies who were getting closer to the golden bird. When the light dimmed, they saw a female-like digimon with angelic and demonic wings and, before they knew it, she flew towards them as she charged a powerful sphere and swiftly blasted it to the golden bird and the girls.
It happened so fast that no one really saw how it happened But, when they realize the light was enveloping them, they also realized that they may be going somewhere else by now.
After a while…
The girls opened their eyes and noticed that they're now inside their home in the digital world. That was such a thrill for them since some were worried that they were taken somewhere far from their time, just like how time traveling always is.
"Haah—we're in our own home. That was pretty scary to imagine if we're actually going somewhere far from our own time!" Honoka said.
"Yeah!" Kotori agreed.
"Actually, I think we're not exactly in our own time... Take a good look at our neighbors, would you?" Nozomi said.
Everyone turned their attention to their surroundings and that's when they realized that they're really somewhere else rather than the estate area. Instead of the other houses, they can see a few strange buildings in the distance and, instead of the path to the estate's office, they can see the strange looking grass field with a few vehicles stuck to the ground.
"Wh-where the hell are we?" Niko smirked at the sight.
"Could we be really somewhere far from our time?" Maki commented.
"Well, it was your idea to travel through time." Nozomi said.
"Huh? My idea?" Maki was flustered.
"Now-now, instead of sweating over the details, let's just investigate what we have in our schedule." Nozomi replied.
"W-what? Hey you haven't answered my question! How could that be my idea?!" Maki protested.
"I feel like I know where we might be. I've read some history of this place and some descriptions match with it." Eli said, ignoring the red haired girl's protest.
"So, where are we-nya?" Rin asked.
"The Digital World. That place with many buildings is called File City and the field over there, it used to be a forest, though it has changed into a railway station that was abandoned and turned back into a grass field." Eli explained.
"File City? I've heard that before… many say that the City of memory is just the upgraded version of File city." Kotori said.
"Exactly. But is it really the upgraded version? There are a few things that bother me in the historical data. I wanted to believe it yet…" Eli's voice drifted away. She sighed softly as if she regretted something.
"…maybe Tsubasa was right. But I can't really say. I need to get to the bottom of this." she continued.
"Speaking of Tsubasa, maybe I should invite her to join us, don't you think?" Nozomi suggested.
"I-inviting A-Rise?!" Hanayo exclaimed in her surprise.
"You can't be serious! They're important people… they can't possibly be here with us!" Niko said.
"Hnn… but, I think they would do anything to solve this problem—or, just to meet someone, right Honoka-chan?" Nozomi said teasingly as she winks to Honoka.
"Eh…? What? Who?" Honoka flustered.
"Lady, Angel, can you do that?" Nozomi asked her fused digimon.
"As a Mastemon, of course we can." she replied.
"Then, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and kidnap them for us." Nozomi said.
"It will take a while, so make sure you don't get yourself in trouble, ok?" Mastemon said.
"I got it, I got it. No problem." Nozomi replied before her digimon quickly disappeared.
The girls watched them in awe, again, because of the close bond between the Digimon and tamer.
"Wah, Nozomi-senpai, you are so close to Lady and Angel." Kotori appreciated.
"Hehe… they are always so kind to me." Nozomi replied.
"What's your secret, Nozomi-senpai?" Honoka asked.
"Hmm… my secret? Nothing, really. We have always-always been like that from the start." Nozomi replied.
"Hehe, Nozomi-senpai is a great tamer." Hanayo appreciated
"Yeah-nya!" Rin added.
"Hmmph, it's not like we're not that close with each other from the start." Maki said.
"Well, you certainly haven't gotten me a good nickname yet." Lunamon said.
"Huh? Why is that even related?" Maki complained.
"There, Maki-chan! Don't you feel much closer when you give your digimon a nickname?" Honoka said.
"It will be better if you give a nickname that your Digimon likes.. I'd like to have sirloin as my nickname but Ichigo is fine too." Agumon said.
"Hehe, I think Ichigo is a great name." Hanayo said.
"Really? You don't like Sirloin?" Agumon asked.
"Ehehe, I like all food but I wouldn't want anyone to mistake my name with it." Hanayo said.
"Ah, now that you mention it, you are right, I wouldn't want anyone to mistake me with my food."
"You are still a food name though." Niko said.
"Not really… Ichigo sounds like a hero character… you can simply write it as one-five or one-language too." Maki said.
"Hmm, certainly Ichigo for one language has a deep meaning, don't you think? Just look at the current crisis, we can always use a hero to unite us all and make a conclusion with one language—a language that everyone understands." Nozomi said.
"Wah—I never expect that it can go that way!" Honoka said.
"Hehe, you are a pretty lucky girl, Honoka-chan." Hanayo appreciated.
"So, are you going to give me a nickname, Maki?" Lunamon demanded.
"Huh? Well, what about Luna?" Maki said.
"That's lame. I thought you're so much more creative than that." Lunamon replied bluntly.
"Wh-what? Fine, then, I'll call you…hmm… Diana?"
"Even lamer, you are such a pooper." Lunamon said.
"W-what the hell? Then, give me some time, ok? I can't get your name right away." Maki said.
"I thought you've been thinking of it!" Lunamon pouts at her.
"Fine, I've been thinking of some, but I'm not sure. What about Polymnia?"
"Isn't that a Greek name? Its meaning is very musical and it's also the name of the dance muse?" Nozomi said.
"Yeah…" Maki said shyly.
"I'll take it, that sounds cool." Lunamon said.
"Polymnia…. Polymn-chan!" Rin said cheerfully.
"He-hey! Don't cut the name like that! It's Polymnia!" Lunamon protested.
"Hehe, Polymn-chan sounds cute though." Hanayo commented.
"Yep, I agree. It fits you so much, Lunamon." Kotori said.
"Huh? Alright then, I guess I have no choice but to accept that." Lunamon replied.
"What about you, Rin, Hanayo. I bet Lalamon and Gaomon wanted to have a nicknames too." Maki said.
"Hehe, of course, I've been thinking of Mary for Lalamon." Hanayo said.
"Ooh, that sounds like a cute name for her." Honoka commented.
"Yep, I like that already! Call me Mary!" Lalamon said somewhat cheerful and shyly.
"Gaomon will have Leon as his nickname-nya!" Rin said.
"Huh? Does your Gaomon evolve into a Leomon?" Niko asked.
"Yep-nya!"
"That's amazing! There are not many people who are able to evolve a Gaomon into a Leomon." Niko said.
"More like, people rarely want a Leomon. It's hard to raise him." Eli said.
"Eh, why-nya?" Rin asked.
"There are not many people who are able to understand his heart. Many said that it is a true warrior's will, but Leomon isn't a true warrior either. He is different and if someone want to raise him into what he is supposed to be, then that person truly needs to understand him." Eli said.
"Ehehe, well, I don't mind if he doesn't turn into what he is supposed to. He is my digimon and I'll take care of him however he is!" Rin said.
"Aye-aye! Who cares what I become... I'll always be with Rin-chan!" Gaomon said.
"hehe, I like that spirit, Rin-chan, Leon-chan!" Mary the Lalamon said.
"Now-now, what about you, Umi-chan?" Nozomi asked.
"M-me?" Umi was flustered.
"Yep, you." Nozomi said.
Umi remained silent as she look to her Penguinmon who had been standing there patiently, waiting to be named.
"I'm sorry… I'm not good at naming a digimon…" Umi said.
"Then, you want someone to name him for you?" Nozomi asked.
Umi remained silent again, she began to look around and totally sees Honoka is raising her hand but she believes that she is the worst choice of all, so she decided to look to her other friend.
"Yes…" Umi said surely as her eyes focused on her specific friend—the ash brunette who had been smiling gently at her.
"What about Yamato?" Kotori asked.
"Yamato?" Umi tilted her head slightly.
"Hehe, I have my reason but I don't want to tell you yet." Kotori said,
"Alright, then… Yamato it is." Umi nods.
"That's a good name. I know what it means but I'll let you know in your own way." Nozomi said.
"Thank you." Umi said.
"So what about you, Ericchi? Will you name your Renamon?" Nozomi asked her girlfriend.
Eli rolled her eyes.
"I knew it will come to this." she said with a sigh.
"Do you want me to name your Renamon then?" Nozomi asked teasingly.
"Go on, I don't care." Eli replied.
Renamon seems to be hurt by her words, yet she tried so hard to look tough.
"Well then, Renamon, I'll name you Sakuya." Nozomi said.
Eli quickly turned around.
"Nozomi! You know that I failed to raise a Sakuyamon before! You don't have to play—…!" Eli pauses.
Now that everyone knows that past of hers, she blushes madly and quickly turned her face away.
"Another secret revealed! Ericchi's biggest dream is to raise a Sakuyamon, yet she failed terribly and got a Kuzuhamon instead." Nozomi said with a giggle.
"I-is that true? She failed? I never expected that." Umi said.
"Yeah, I thought everything was smoothly done like how she wanted." Kotori said.
"Sakuyamon is one of the hardest Digimon to get and raise. Her ability is to strip every single buff from a Digimon, which makes her one of the most powerful Data digimon. With the right person, she will become a goddess, but with the wrong person, she will be a mere mage and nothing else than a support." Nozomi explained.
Renamon seemed to be very intrigued with the idea of becoming a Sakuyamon. She look towards her tamer and saw how she seems to be very embarrassed about what was revealed in the conversation.
"Then I shall be a Sakuyamon. Please train me to be one, Eli." Renamon said.
The blonde was about to respond but the purplenette made a remark before any word escaped from her lips.
"I believe Ericchi is very professional now and she will be able to raise any digimon into what they are supposed to be."
Eli closed her lips again.
"…and I believe Ericchi isn't going to throw away her chance to make her dreams come true." Nozomi continued.
The place became quiet and the atmosphere turned a little awkward.
"Why are we even bothering with this… shouldn't we all worry about where we are? Don't you want to know how we can get out of this place and return to where we belong?" Eli said after she had enough of the awkward stares from everyone around her.
"W-we are just filling our time while waiting for uh… Lady and Angel to return?" Hanayo replied.
"Yeah-nya. We're all here to wait." Rin said,
"What a waste of time, I'm off. Let's go, Sakuya." Eli said before she walked quickly to the exit of the housing area, along with her Renamon who seems to be confused when she heard her called by the nickname she received.
"Did she just call her Renamon with the nickname you gave?" Niko raised her eyebrow as she commented.
"Yep, you heard it right. She is truly someone who will do anything for her girlfriend." Nozomi replied teasingly.
"Whoa, girlfriends are scary." Honoka said.
"Well, I'd be happy if I have a girlfriend like Tsubasa." Niko said as she playfully shoved her elbow to the ginger girl.
"W-whaah! Tsubasa-san as a girlfriend… that surely a big dream." Hanayo said.
"Ehehe, I don't get it, why are we talking about her all of a sudden?" Honoka replied. There was a hint of her faked expression in her voice, though it was not too obvious to anyone who was not sharp enough to notice it.
"Did you just try to hide it? I swear you are so strangely close to her! It's like your whole world is gone when she is not around!" Niko said.
"I-I don't understand, Niko-senpai!" Honoka retorted.
"Aren't you usually honest, Honoka-chan?" Nozomi asked teasingly.
"I honestly have no idea! I swear!" Honoka said as her eyes flicked to the left and a faint smirk was drawn on her face. The expression she just revealed her lie to the entire group and they now looked at her with curiosity reflected in their eyes.
"Honoka-chan, what are you hiding?" Kotori asked with her cute begging voice.
"N-Nothing! Really!" the ginger girl replied nervously.
"Hmmm… that's really suspicious, Honoka-chan. I'll testify some more if you keep lying." Niko said.
"I swear! I just met her recently! I don't even remember if I ever met her other than that time in front of UTX Highschool!"
"You met her in front of UTX Highschool? We always went there from time to time and have never seen her face to face!" Niko complained.
"Y-yeah! We always watch them from the screen but we never saw her face to face!" Hanayo agreed.
"Then I don't know! Please spare me!" Honoka replied again.
"D-don't worry, we're not trying to kill you or anything, we were just confirming… are you dating her?" Nozomi asked.
"Of course not!" Honoka said.
"Then you only have a crush on her?" Nozomi asked again.
"Maybe… but no way! I have never felt any kind of love other than my love for food!"
"You're such a boring person, Honoka! You should spice up your life… come join us in Idol Hell." Niko said.
"Idol hell?" Honoka tilts her head.
"I mean, hey now! You're an idol too! You should be researching about idols and freak out about it!" the little girl responded.
"Well, Nikocchi, I think I'll be only freaking out about one idol."
"Yeah—Blonde, a top Ballerina, tall, handsome yet beautiful at the same time, and blah-blah-blah, I don't care about you. Take your gay obsession away from my face. She isn't even an actual idol yet." Niko said bluntly to Nozomi.
"She would be, trust me." Nozomi said with a giggle.
"Anyway, so how long is Mastemon going to take? I think someone needs to look after Eli-senpai?" Kotori said as she kept her eyes on Eli who seemed to be walking towards File City.
"Don't worry about her. She is only a tamer, true, but she has the ability to protect herself even without her digimon… That's why she is sort of cocky, but please forgive her for that." Nozomi said.
"I'll follow her. I have something I need to discuss." Umi said.
"My, Umi-chan, are you going to ask about something? I might know the answer too." Nozomi replied.
"Thank you, but I think I prefer to hear it from her." The bluenette replied politely.
"If that's the case, then go on." Nozomi said.
Umi gestured to her and everyone else before she quickly walked away.
"Umi-chan…." Kotori gave her a concerned look.
Honoka seemed to be relieved that the topic focused on her is forgotten and she is now hoping that no one will bring it back up.
"I think I'm going to take a break, I'm very tired." Hanayo said.
"Me too-nya!" Rin said.
"I think I need a little fresh air. Lunamon and I are going to go out for a while." Maki said.
"Polymnia!" Lunamon pouts at her.
"Heh—fine, Polymnia… I need to get used to your nickname."
"You should!"
"I'm going with you, Maki-chan!" Honoka said—she is obviously trying to get away from the group and knows that Maki might be the only person who doesn't care about her scandal.
"I see. Then I'll just send mails to your digivice when Mastemon returns. Have fun everyone."
Outside.
Eli walked towards File City then stopped when she sees a Metallic snake-like digimon resting near a building, along with a few baby Digimon. Sakuya the Renamon has been following her—and was still confused about what exactly her tamer wanted now.
"If it's true about this rumor, then I might be willing to train you." Eli said.
"What rumor, Eli?" Renamon asked.
"Your link to my Digivice, it was a system that was created by the new order of Digital world. File city existed way back before the new order was born and they have their own system of Digimon and Digivice link… I know someone around this place is able to change the system."
"What makes that related to being willing to be trained by you or not?" Renamon asked.
"Firstly, because training someone I can't bond with is painful, so I thought that you have the same thoughts about me. I don't want you to push yourself too hard… if you hate me, you should leave."
"I don't hate you at all, Eli. I don't mind if you keep pushing me."
"You gave up back then. That's enough to prove that I'm no longer worthy to be a tamer. I'm just abusing you to do my command."
"Please, can we forget about that already? It was my fault, how could you feel like it was your fault?" Sakuya asked gently.
Eli rolled her eyes and she decided to continue moving deeper towards the city.
"Eli! Please. Hear me out." Renamon grabbed her hand.
"You are stubborn. I have no reason to speak with you again. Whatever you think, I want your link to my Digivice changed." the blonde replied.
"Do you really hate me that much?" Renamon asked. She knows that question might wound her, but she has no choice… she has to keep pushing to discuss this topic.
Eli remained silent and her eyes were averted from Sakuya.
"Yes." she replied coldly.
"It doesn't make sense… your reason just now is not selfish, yet you said something very selfish after. Also—you averted your eyes just now, so I know which one is the lie."
Eli sighed heavily.
"I really can't train you with the current system of digivice. I don't want you to bind yourself to me. I want you to be free, can't you just—….!"
"I don't care! I don't give a damn about what kind of bond I have with you! I want you to train me like how you trained your Kuzunoha. I want you to make me strong, that's it!" Renamon said loudly.
"You are not a toy for me! You are a digimon, Renamon! Being saved in a drive, being brought to a digital room, being attached with cards, being restored with items, it's too much of a game. I can't play with a real life."
"Are you just stupid? We are Digimon! We are living in a digital world and even if we are not associated with any digivice, we will still be affected by those things! You are not playing with us, you are working with us!"
"And you are, what? You want to die in my hand instead of dying by your own mistake? So that you can blame me?!"
"I will not blame you, never! No one is blaming you! Are you just feeling that much guilt to Kuzunoha until you feel like you will screw me up as well? Don't be ridiculous! It wasn't your fault from the start! Nozomi told me the same!"
"There are better tamers out there, Honoka perhaps? Or Maki? Umi might be a choice too, they might be starters but they are passionate!"
"What about you? I sensed so much passion in you too, that's why I chose you. Alas! You are not making any sense, Eli. From all those wounds you inflicted in me, all you wanted to say is that you are not a worthy tamer for me. You could've just told me about that guilt of yours and let me help you solve that."
"I just want you to hate me, that's all. I always knew you are stubborn, I have to do it that way or you won't agree."
"Even if you are going to kill me, I will never hate you! Never! I don't even care if someone told you that you're not worthy of that treatment from me! These are all because I know you truly care about me and you'll be wounded the most if I left." Renamon said loudly.
"Who on shattering earth gave you that ridiculous idea?!"
"Nozomi!" Renamon replied immediately.
Eli remained silent when she heard that name spoken.
"That's how you love her, right?" The fox digimon replied with gentler voice.
"I don't even know what she told you." Eli squinted.
"She told me that you keep your distance from everyone around you because you know you are a pain in the ass and it's pointless to hang out with you. You have never think anything good about yourself but the truth is that you have so many good things within yourself. Your thinking is complex and you hardly find yourself comfortable around someone else until you met her. After that, you become overly clingy towards her and also overly obsessed to make her comfortable and happy to be around you."
"That girl need to control her mouth sometimes…" Eli sighed.
"See? Even though she annoyed you repeatedly, you never hate her. You have the potential to become a loyal lover—or a passionate tamer in my case. Just wing it, Eli. Please, give me a chance to show you that you shall not fail to raise me. You don't have to be afraid and keep your distance anymore." Renamon replied gently again.
Eli is about to respond to her when an old man-like Digimon suddenly approached her.
"My-my, it's been a long time since I've seen a lively visitor to this quiet city." He said.
"Jijimon?" Eli said as she focused on the Old man-like Digimon.
"And you know my name too. That's odd, but at least you called me."
"Was there another visitor that was not lively?" Renamon asked.
"Yes-yes! It was long time ago… they are the bugged Digimon and the human soldiers! They were so quiet and it was scary… I'm glad that we have the power to push them off but, ever since then, there were no other visitors who came to this city anymore. Any idea of what happened?" Jijimon asked.
Eli and Renamon turned to each other, wondering what they should say to him. A few seconds after, a bluenette approached them.
"Eli!" Umi called her as she ran with her Penguinmon.
"I have something to—…" the bluenette paused when she saw the oldman-like Digimon.
Meanwhile…
The ginger haired girl and the red haired girl were walking towards the city as well, except they seemed to be taking their time. Ichigo and Polymnia aren't speaking to each other since they have never really been close to each other.
"Maki-chan, Maki-chan!" Honoka started a conversation cheerfully.
"What?" Maki replied with less-enthusiasm.
"When do you think is this?" the senior asked, still with her cheerful tone.
"No idea, but it's so strangely quiet here. It's like everyone is dead or something." Maki said with even lesser enthusiasm.
"Eeeh? Hnn… you are probably right. I doubt that though! There must be some people inside the File City!" Honoka said.
"Haah… the last thing I wanted to see is some primitive tribe trying to assault us. I'm a little too tired to fight."
"Then, why did you go out?" Honoka asked with her innocent voice.
"To get some fresh air. I'll be returning home as soon as I get a little closer to File City." Maki said.
"Booo—Maki-chan is boring! I want to try to going in to take a little look! Maybe Eli-senpai and Umi-chan are there too?"
"Well, those two, I feel like they won't even bother using Digimon." Maki smirked.
"Eh? How?"
"You are close friends with Umi-senpai, why are you asking me how? Don't you just know that she has this aura of a fighter around her? It's like, you go mess with her, and something really bad will happen."
"Then, what about Eli-senpai?"
"Didn't Nozomi-senpai say something about that before? I don't even know what the hell she is talking about but seeing how cocky she is, I'm very sure she is something else."
"Ooo, Maki-chan is cocky too, can Maki-chan fight like them too?" Honoka asked. Honoka didn't seem to mean any offense her with her question, but Maki can't help but smirk at the blunt question.
"I don't know, duh! But I'm pretty sure I can hit the shit out of someone." Maki said.
"Hehe, then we should go to the File City!" Honoka said.
"Huh? What—…!" Maki is about to say something but the ginger girl began to push her towards the city.
"Ho—H-Honoka-senpaiiii!"
"Go-Go-Go!" Honoka said cheerfully as she directed the red haired girl towards File City.
Lunamon and Agumon seemed to be flustered, though they both decided to run and catch up with them anyway.
The Real world;
Erena and Anjuu finished dealing with the troublesome copy of Erena and the additional invader that came with her in the Underground Stockroom.
"This is weird, she is fighting like me, but it feels like some things are missing." the maroon haired girl said.
"It feels like you a few years ago." Anjuu said.
"You noticed. That's sharp of you." Erena appreciated.
"The hit and everything else, it feels the same as Owryumon right after he won the Survival Cup." Lotosmon said.
"Could this copy be a back-up data created in that very tournament?" Owryumon asked.
"Now that you mention it… that might be true. Tsubasa's Rust Tyranomon should have the tank build by then, it will be very troublesome to take him down unless—…"
Before Erena finished her sentence, a very loud bang is heard from a distance.
"Looks like they can't take him down." Anjuu said.
Erena sighed.
"Here goes my card stock. I bet even my gold card will be burnt in this battle." she said.
"I think Tsubasa will be able to take down that thing easily… if she ever wakes up I mean." Anjuu said.
Then another loud bang is heard, this time, at a closer distance.
"Why are you so noisy?! This is too late for this kind of mess!" someone with a megaphone said.
"Oh, she is awake…" Anjuu said lightly.
Then third loud bang is heard.
"Wow, damn, that's a massive damage… I like you! Bring it on, baby!" Tsubasa shouted again with her megaphone.
Erena sighed heavily while Anjuu giggled at the response.
"Here I thought having Tsubasa is chaotic enough." the Maroon girl said.
"There-there, Erena. They won't be that messy." Anjuu pats her shoulder.
While the two are busy thinking about how things are going out there, a portal opened and both of their Digimon turn their attention to it.
"Anjuu!" Lotosmon warned her as she points toward the portal.
"Erena, something is coming!" Owryumon warned his tamer too.
Swiftly and without warning, Mastemon appeared with a ball of light in her arm and shot it towards them before both tamers and Digimon disappeared in instant. Then a portal opened again as Mastemon disappeared into it as well.
The File City;
Honoka and Maki traveled through the roads of the city and observed the busy Digimon who were trying to tidy up the whole city. It was like they are about to open some shops or something of the sort. Ichigo and Polymnia seemed interested in visiting some shops, though they believe that they have to be more patient about it. It's not a big city, but it surely looks safe and cozy.
"It's true-it's true! We got some visitors!" said a baby digimon to a digimon that looked like a male angel with three pairs of wings.
"Ssssh… Poyomon! Don't mention them, we will scare them." The Angel-like Digimon said.
Maki and Honoka turned to each other, wondering if they never got any visitor before them. Ignoring that statement, they didn't want to bother them with whatever preparations they were doing.
On the other side of the road, there's a restaurant that seemed to be currently being cleaned up by a few digimon. One of them looks like a human in blaze, the other one is a Biyomon—just like Kotori's Suzaku— a snake-like digimon and a bug-like Digimon. They were all working so hard to clean up the restaurant and, when their eyes met, they seemed to be agitated before a fairy-like Digimon with huge petals on her back came to approach them.
"S-Sorry! We're currently trying to prepare for our grand re-opening!" she said.
"Grand re-opening?" Honoka tilted her head slightly.
"Yep! Hehe, we have been closed for a very long time but now that we have some visitors here, we will open our restaurant again!" she said cheerfully.
"Oooh! Ok! I'll make sure to pay a visit!" Honoka said.
"Nggh…. Do I get any meat?" Ichigo asked.
"Of course!" The fairy-like Digimon said cheerfully.
"You seems nice, what are you?" Polymnia asked.
"I'm Lilamon!" the Fairy-like Digimon replied.
"My name is Polymnia! A Lunamon."
"I've never known about your digimon type! Hehe, you must be so rare." Lilamon said.
"Yup, and expensive and fabulous. Make sure you serve me the best food you have later, ok?" Lunamon said.
Maki sighed at her statement, though she didn't complain.
"Got it! Poly-chan!" Lilamon replied.
"Hehe, should we move on for now, Maki-chan?" Honoka asked.
"Sure, I don't want to spoil myself here." Maki said with her arrogant tone.
The two tamers and their Digimon continued to walk farther, towards the green forest. They don't know where they are truly going, though they seem to be confident with their steps.
Lilamon decided to let them go, assuming they should be able to survive in the jungle ahead and she decided to return to her restaurant to continue working.
Meanwhile in a small house.
It is a house that looks very simple and was filled with objects that are not always used by Digimon. Everyone called the place Jijimon's house and Eli and Umi were invited in to hear out about what exactly happened around here. Other than that, Eli still seemed determined to remove the bond she has with her Renamon while Umi is still flustered about what exactly she is hearing. All she wanted is to know why her Penguinmon doesn't evolve to what she expected when she used the card… she really needs to know and she tried to grasp anything that Eli discussed with Sakuya the Renamon and Jijimon.
"…ridiculous, you mean, the digivice system is even more dependent than the one I have?"
"Yes, only one digimon and you have to either raises and let your Digimon evolve into anything and spend your time in danger till it goes back to Digi-Egg, or in simpler sentence: kill your Digimon, but I don't recommend that. If you kill your Digimon, they will turn into a weakling and eventually disappear."
"Killing…? This is the thing that I'm trying to prevent! I don't want to kill another Digimon!" Eli said.
Renamon rolled her eyes, too tired to argue with the tamer about how Eli shouldn't think that badly about herself.
"If you truly care about us, then you should go ahead and train your digimon, whatever she is! But seriously, I've never ever heard about anyone like you. Every single person I met is happy with their Digimon, despite not getting exactly what they wished for. Do you truly think that we're some bunch of toys that you can change into what you wish for?" Jijimon said somewhat angrily.
"I told you, it's not like that!"
"You think you're not worthy to raise a Digimon then? Something as humble like that is fine, but your Digimon seems to not complaining about you at all. Have you heard what she wants from you?"
"I have and I decided that she is just stubborn." Eli said.
"You might be the most stubborn here. At this rate, you two will continue being stubborn towards each other and no one will win." Jijimon said.
"Exactly! I suppose we are done with this, Eli. Come on, stop wasting time and train me." Sakuya said.
"There you go. You can try hitting the gym once they're ready but in the mean time, why don't you travel around a bit? I have only explored a small part of this area, but I've never traveled farther than File city. Ask around and some digimon might have information for you." Jijimon said.
"But—…!" Eli was still trying to reason. Renamon sighed and, this time, she takes the initiative to grab Eli and take her out of the building quickly.
"Now what about you? What's your problem?" Jijimon asked.
"F-First of all…" Umi said somewhat nervously.
"It's not like I'm thinking of my digimon as a toy or anything, but…" her voice faded. Penguimon is staring at her quietly while Jijimon suspected something with how she started the conversation.
"….I just wonder what makes Penguinmon turn into something that I don't expect."
"It takes a while to learn and be bonded. A digimon bond isn't made of data but some mysterious objects that create the affection itself. That's why you have to experiment on your own and accept whatever result you have. Don't overwhelm yourselfbe fed with what you desire him to be, instead, but be careful in choosing what you action you may do with them."
Umi still can't grasp what those words means, exactly, though, maybe she knows something… Perhaps her passion in training her Penguinmon isn't enough?
Does that mean she will have to train him even harder? Is that really how it's supposed to be? She feels like she had thought of this before but her mind still unsure of it. She tried to reference Nozomi's closeness with her digimon and compared it with her closeness with Penguinmon. Nozomi mentioned that she and the two Digimon have always been like that since the start of their relationship. Does that mean that she has to keep it natural? How is it supposed to be?
"Sorry, I don't really get it." Umi said.
"Ah, you're thinking a little too much then. Just do it like however you wanted to raise him… whatever the result, that's your Digimon. Accept him." Jijimon said.
Umi nodded.
"Digimon are never chosen by their tamer and they are not the ones who choose either. They are simply born as the reflection of their tamer's personality. That's why you always find similarities between you and your Digimon. If you truly wanted to evolve them into something else that you wish them to be, then you have to change your way of training them." Jijimon continued to explain.
"But, if that's how it truly is, then, do you mean that I'm one with a dark heart?" the bluenette asked.
"What's wrong with that? I've seen a few tamers with Dark Digimon as a partner and they may be mischievous or mysterious but their hearts aren't evil."
"True, but… I'm not even someone like Niko-senpai or Nozomi-senpai."
"I don't even know Niko-senpai or Nozomi-senpai. You have to figure it out yourself." Jijimon said.
Umi nodded at his remark, somewhat disappointed.
"Oh, by the way… Your friend from before mentioned something about your digivice system. She said that you can't evolve your digimon to its champion form before winning a rookie championship tournament. Maybe that's what she meant about being 'too bound to the tamer's actions'. I have no idea where exactly this City of Memory is but the digivice will adjust itself according to their digital position. I don't have to maintain them to make changes. In other words, your Digimon will evolve and devolve according to the law of the digital world around them." Jijimon explained.
"I… I see…" Umi replied a little sadly.
"I'll send your friend the details of our system, I believe she will be able to grasp the system and explain to you. Why don't you go and meet up with her?" Jijimon asked.
Umi nodded again before she bowed politely and left along with her Penguinmon.
The Real World;
"Hah! That serves you!" A victorious girl said as she stood above her gigantic Digimon—a Rust Tyranomon.
"Tsubasa-san! That was amazing!" cheered a tamer as he saw the rest of tamers quickly search for anything that the Tsubasa copy may have dropped.
"Heh—that one girl is troublesome, huh? But I have to say, this battle was worth my shortened bedtime."
"For sure, Tsubasa-san! We can't do this without you!" the other tamer appreciated.
"I wonder if there's any digimon you can't beat, Tsubasa-san, you're like, vaccine buster despite being a virus digimon tamer." someone else said.
"Hah! Of course, I can defeat anything blocking my way!" Tsubasa said proudly.
By the time she lifted her head with pride, a light appeared on the sky, everyone can see it and they know that this isn't a good sign since Tsubasa was standing right below it.
Rust-Tyranomon prepared himself, ready to shoot whatever may appear from it. Though, when a majestic Digimon with black and white wings appeared, everyone's eyes opened wide.
"M-Mastemon!" said a tamer.
And swiftly, before Tsubasa and Rust Tyranomon could react, Mastemon casted a powerful blast to Tsubasa—which made her disappeared in front of everyone. Mastemon disappeared again through portals at that same time.
No one understood what happened and it even took a few minutes before they began to panic about the missing tamer.
The Digital World, µ's home;
Hanayo, Rin and Kotori, along with their digimon, are all asleep despite the daylight still brightly shining outside… it could not be helped since it had been a really long and tiring day for them. The transparent protective dome made the sky looks much more colorful yet relaxing. Nozomi, who is still waiting for her Digimon to return, is taking her time to gaze at it. Eventually, she gently began to sing a song…
If...We never met, if I had never known you all.
I can't even imagine it now.
While fostering the fragments of all your dreams
I found myself, at some point, growing just as passionate
So that everyone's hopes will never dim
I want to protect them, I want to keep on protecting them…
Suddenly, another's voice was heard from inside her house.
I'm sure…
We were destined to meet, even if our ways will eventually part
The promise of today's brightness overflowed
Nozomi lifted her head, surprised to hear that someone was able to continue her song. It's probably not Eli though… she knows her voice so well and it is nothing like this voice. Having no Digimon with her, Nozomi doubted her plan to check the person who's inside their house. She quickly glanced at her friends status in her Digivice—they were fast asleep and are probably too tired to fight—then her card stock—still plenty and should be enough to fight a difficult Digimon.
Now that her heart settled, she decides to enter the house and find the source of the voice. When she reacehdreached the living room, she saw someone politely sitting on the white sofa near the entrance. Her uniform tells Nozomi that she is one of the officials from City of Memory and a Lucemon sitting next to her reveals enough about the identity of this person but… who would've expected her to take off her mask?
She has a very beautiful romantic gaze, a glossy pink lips, light fair skin, wavy purple hair and eyes with different colors—or as many call it: incomplete Heterochromia Iridium. The green combined with light blue makes this person so much more beautiful than anyone else, though for some reason, she can see faint similarities between this person and herself: from the shape of lips, eye corners, cheek and nose. She wouldn't want to assume since she know that her face isn't that unique either and all she needed to know at that moment is:
"What are you doing here?" Nozomi asked.
"Sorry, I got a little too tired of waiting while you were all out so I waited for anyone to return. Turns out I got abandoned. Lucky that I heard that song… you have such a beautiful voice." The woman appreciated.
"So, what business you have with us and who are you exactly?" Nozomi asked.
The woman chuckled.
"Sorry for my rudeness. You can call me Heidr." She said.
Nozomi tried to process the name— it sounded like a name from Norse mythology.
"I'm here looking for my, hmm… best friend, Gullveig. I suppose someone among you may have met her before." Heidr said.
"Well, I know a Gullveig from a Norse Mythology, but Heidr and Gullveig are the same person." Nozomi replied.
"Hehe, we just look like the same person but are no exact look-alikes and the way we act are different. Even a reflection are the opposite of each other, right?" Heidr replied.
Nozomi smirked. She isn't sure if this person is trying to outwit her or is just trying to explain the truth.
"Anyway, I don't think I can get my business done if I keep talking to that specific person so… can you help me instead?" Heidr asked as she took out a USB and offered it to Nozomi.
The younger purplenette doubted, though it seems that she may want to hear this person story before deciding. Nozomi sat down on the available seat and sighed.
"Please…" she started.
"Tell me your story."
Ok, that's it for now! I have 1 Chapter in Editing progress so it may come up soon!
Also, I hope you're still enjoying this FF! ^^