Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon
Author's Note: My cousin once told me in college is where you'll have the most fun of your life. Personally... I'm still not sure if I completely agree with him. But I definitely understand one thing now: Have as much fun as you can before you join work force. Having good grade in school is important and stuff (at least make sure you pass all your courses), but what's the point of life if you never have some fun?
Now that I'm a full time worker... I feel so tired all the damn time. I spend most of my weekends napping so I can wake up 6 in the morning on weekdays and go to work (And I sit on my ass process data in front of a computer instead of doing manual labour). For everyone who is reading this story and is still in school... seriously, have as much fun as you can with your life (without failing your courses of course). Because once you start to work... you'll be too tired to have some real fun again.
Apologies for my completely unrelated ranting, here is the story.
"So… you guys got completely wrecked by this small fry and only manage to pull through with this bozo and his team's help…" Ruki's finger repeatedly clicks on the principle's desk. Juri turns to take a look at her old friend Hirokazu. His head is hanging so low it looks like he's trying to count grain of dust beneath his feet. But every time Ruki's finger clicks the table, Hirokazu flinch a little like she's hitting his skull with a hammer.
The former principle's office is turned into the living quarter for Overseer Ruki. Being the Master Class of this safe zone means she gets to have her own room. Although there's not much difference in decoration other than a simple looking single bed in the room. There's no photos pined to the wall, no plush toys, and definitely no pink curtain with laces. It appears Overseer Ruki is one for the plain rather than extravagant.
With the exception of Masaru, all three members of Daisuke's little party is together in the Principle's office with Ruki and her veteran Patroller Class defenders. He gets off easy due to his injury. From the way Takato is checking his foot like Hirokazu, Juri can guess he's quit envious of Masaru's state right now.
"Geez… thanks for the words of faith Ruki-Chan." Ruki shots Daisuke an annoyed glance but ultimately keeps her cool and turns toward her team. Juri recons the Master Class already figured out she'll gain nothing by getting into an argument with Daisuke. "I'm doubling everyone's training starting tomorrow. And as for Asa, you get triple."
"Why only I get punished more than everyone else?" Asa jumps up and protest at Ruki's obvious unfairness.
"If you are going to act reckless in every situation like the bozo besides me..." Ruki's remark only meets Daisuke's toothy grin and happy face, "At least work your body so you can actually pull yourself through, instead of having your teammate save your sorry ass. Did I Make Myself Clear?"
"Yes… very…" Asa gulps hard and doesn't dare to say anything more.
"Wipe off your shit eating grin you bozo, you only pulled through because that Rookie of yours came up with a plan that worked." Ruki turns toward Daisuke and looks infuriated by his expression. "You are a Master Class; you are supposed to lead the Defenders through example."
"Well… I try. And you have to admit the result was good." Daisuke gives Ruki a shrug. Ruki rolls her eyes before turning towards Juri. She probably doesn't want to lose any more brains cell by talking with Daisuke.
"Your plan… how did you come up with it?" Juri can feel Ruki's gaze on her. Despite the coldness in her voice Juri can't feel any malice from the stoic ice queen. In fact, she feels there's a slight tint of… expectation in her voice, or maybe that's just Juri being too hopeful.
"Well… Icedevimon uses that huge ice wall to block attacks right? So it's made of water, which is in term made of hydrogen and oxygen, both are highly flammable." For a second Juri thinks about crediting her strategy to beginners luck but decide against it. It is obvious Ruki is not someone who is easily amused by bad humour. "So I thought, what if we use some attack that's so powerful, instead of breaking his ice wall down, melt it into water, or heat it into steam it instantly gets break down to hydrogen and oxygen? His defensive wall instantly turns into dynamite, and then it goes Kaboom. I admit I was a little nervous if this plan would work or not… but I guess it's worth a shot."
"And him… why did you choose him as your last resort if Icedevimon survives the attack?" Ruki turns her gaze on Takato, who gulps down hard under her rather intense gaze.
"I'm the one who came up with the plan, so it's only right for me bear the risk of carrying it out. And plus… if my plan worked Icedevimon will be greatly weakened, so Guilmon will have no problem to take him head on." Juri turns around to look at Takato before scratching her head. She's a little embarrassed to say it out loud, but she doesn't want any harm to come to the timid boy. They have been really, really good friends for a long time.
"Humph… it appears the bozo finally found someone decent." Ruki stands up and takes a pouch from her belt. Juri notices there are still half a dozen around her belt, no doubt they contain different deck of programs she uses for battle. Ruki walks in front of Juri and hand the pouch in her hand to Juri. "Take this deck; it's much better than anything your moron of a leader can program. A good strategist needs the right tools to be effective."
"Thank you." Juri gives Ruki a smile despite the ice cold Master Class defender remains ever stoic. She looks down, opens the pouch and quickly flips through them. She sees a large number of Ultimate level Digimon cards, as well as a different range of effect programs. Even better, they all have the tag 'persistent' on them. This means those Bits Cards are not one time consumables, and they can be re-used after her Master Class leader recharges them with bits.
Juri decide to share some of those cards with Takato. The long time battle card player can probably use those cards better than her.
"All of you, dismissed." Ruki returns to her chair before waving all defenders in the room off.
"That was a pretty good battle!" Veedramon yawns as he stretches his muscular tree trunk like arms skyward. Veemon makes an annoyed growl as Veedramon almost hit the smaller blue dragon when he flips his arm. "Wish it went on a little longer though."
"Oh yeah? Who was it that could barely stand after the battle?" Veemon sticks out his tongue and blow it towards his bigger companion.
Unlike their human partners, the small group of Digimons are huddling in the snowy yard together. Most civilians DDD protect don't trust Digimon around their residential area. It is within good reason, since human civilization is destroyed by Digimon. It's a bit cold, but with the combined body heat and the little bonfire Agumon lights up it's at least bearable.
For a brief moment, Veemon considers return to Daisuke's pocket dimension. It's warmer, and more comfortable than squatting in the snow together with other Digimons. He quickly decides against it, considering how disappointed Daisuke will be if he doesn't try his best to know all those Digimon who he'll work with in the next week or so.
Both dragons prepare to start more of their usual argument, but they turn their head towards a pathetic sounding whimper. They discover Guilmon shivering in the snow, mumbling some nonsense.
"Guilmon needs bread… someone gives Guilmon bread... Guilmon could really use bread right now… where's Guilmon's bread… bring Guilmon bread… bread is life… whatever happened to the bread… has the bread forsaken Guilmon…"
Veemon remembers how deeply mortified the red dino of hazard looks when Takato tells him there'll be no bread to celebrate his victory over Icedevimon. Apparently Guilmon is currently going through a bread withdraw period. He lets out a sigh before standing up in the snow and walk to Guilmon's side, petting his shoulders.
"There, there… just bear with this for a few more days and when we get back to Ruin Tokyo Daisuke will trade all the bread you want to eat to your heart's content." Guilmon's ear perks up at Veemon's word. They quickly falls down to his face again as he realize he still need to go on without his favourite food for a long time.
"So, you are pretty strong." Veemon turns around, and sees his big companion eyeing Leomon up and down. The muscular dragon holds out his arm towards Leomon. "Up for some arm wrestling to pass the time before we turn in?"
"… You are on." Leomon looks at Veedramon just like the muscular dragon look at him. There are a few moments of silent, but he finally reaches out his arm. Veedramon close his massive hand on Leomon's with a smirk on his face. They both grit their teeth and begin the competition of strength as Veemon and Agumon watch on.
"So… Veemon. I have been wondering." Veemon hears the sound of Agumon and turns to face him. The yellow lizard is scratching the back of his big head with one of his claws. "My aniki is the rival of your aniki, so does that make us rivals too?"
"Good question. Do you see me as a rival?" Veemon turns to regard Agumon. The yellow lizard pokes his own chin with one of his finger nail and looks thoughtful for a moment. Before he can give Veemon, a loud slam sound shakes both Digimons off their feet. They turn towards the arm wrestling match and sees Veedramon's arm over Leomon's arm in the snow.
"Oh yeah! Who's your daddy?!" Veedramon jumps up and down while punching his fist at air. Veemon lets out another annoyed growl as the ground shakes due to Veedramon's weight.
The child like dragon walks to Leomon's side and place one of his hand on Leomon's arm. "Don't feel upset about it big guy. That buffoon may be smart as a bag of hammers, but he is very strong."
"I'm too old to be upset for the result of a harmless arm wrestle, young one." Leomon gives Veemon a nod a smile before return to his original meditation like sit. "Now that I know our big friend is strong I feel more comfortable travel with this group. However… strength along is not the best way to measure one's ability..."
Veedramon on the other hand is still flashing his muscles and dancing around for his victory, all the while singing like he's scratching his nail over a blackboard. "Who's the coolest Digimon around? Me, Veedramon that's who. Who's the best Digimon in town? Me… that's…"
"SHUT THE #$%! UP YOU FREAKING MONSTER!" The muscular blue dragon's retribution come quickly in the form of a metal desk flies out of the third floor window. It nails the dragon right over his temple. His eyes roll back into his head and falls down with a loud thud like an overturned tree.
Veemon and Leomon stares at downed Digimon with blank expression on their face. Veemon let out a sigh as he shakes his head at his dumb companion. He turns around, and almost jumps out of his skin when he sees Agumon right in his face. "Geez! Don't scare me like this!"
"Sorry about that, but aniki says having a rival make us stronger." Agumon scratches his head with his claw before looking at Veemon right in the eyes. "I don't really understand this rivalry thing my aniki has with your aniki… but I guess it's a good point for me to start."
"So you are making me your rival because your partner says so? Don't you put any thought into your own actions?" Veemon tilts his head and look at Agumon with a slight annoyed expression on his face.
"When you put it that way… I guess it sounds pretty silly." Agumon hangs his head and scratch his head with his claw once again. He looks confused for a moment before holding his head up high and look at Veemon with determination once again. "But I really do want to understand aniki a bit more… and become stronger for him. If this means I try to find a rival like he does, I will do it with all my heart."
"Ah, that sounds better. I guess I can humour you in that department. Heck, you'll make a better rival than that sack of dumb." Veemon snickers at Veedramon who is rambling some nonsense from his mouth. The blue child like dragon crosses his arms in front of his chest and starts a staring contest with Agumon. "As your official rival our first battle shall be…"
"An all out brawl like our aniki?" Agumon bares his claw out in a fighting stance. But before he launches an attack, a snow ball splatters right in his face. "…Ouch."
"Snow ball fight!" Veemon screeches happily as he chucks snow ball after snow ball at Agumon. The yellow lizard is completely buried under snow very soon.
A small ember blows out of the mound of snow and melt a small part of the snow into water as Agumon complains through cluttering teeth. "You cheated…"
"I prefer the term 'winning with my brain' thank you very much." Veemon crosses his arms in front of his chest as he nods his head with a smug smile. It's probably a bad time to close his eyes. A fireball gets blow right into his face by Agumon, charring his face completely black. "…Ouch…"
"Winning with brain, isn't it right, my rival?"
"All right buster, now you are getting it… VEE PUNCH!" Veemon cracks a chuckle as he moves both his arms in circle and rain down a blizzard of snow ball into Agumon. Very soon the poor lizard is completely buried under a small hill of snow. Veemon turns around as he makes a victory sign with his hand. "And that's how you do it…"
"SHUT THE #$%! UP YOU #$%! IT'S TWO IN THE MORNING!" All the windows of the school building suddenly opens and metal chair and desk start to rain down on the group of Digimon, completely burry them underneath a wreckage of metal. Only Leomon manage to escape since he jumps away before the angry mob start to throw everything down into the yard.
The lion man Digimon shakes his head in disapproval at the sight. "Wisdom is more important than strength."
"We didn't think out plan through did we?" Agumon's muffled sound comes out of the mound of snow and twisted metal. "I'm cold…"
"…Guilmon needs to go to the bakery… Guilmon want some bread…" Guilmon on the other hand continues his mad rambling about bread even though he's trapped underneath all the metal desk and chair.
"…Be quite you bread junkie…" Veemon makes another snowball and throws it at Guilmon's back head.
Juri wakes up to the terrifying sound of someone trying to puke out his lung, she turns around, slide the curtain back and greets Takato's pale face. "What happened?"
Takato turns around and looks at Juri with a completely blank expression on his face. "Daisuke had a dream last night where he's a sheep, and he ate all the grass over the hill…"
"Ok, unusual… but what has this got to do with anything?"
"His blanket is missing when he wakes up." Juri is pretty sure her own face is turning green, blue or pale like Takato. The idea of consuming a blanket is not very appealing even if you ignore the potential health hazard.
"Are you awake aniki…?" The door gets slide open. Takato and Juri turn around and find Agumon standing outside the door…
All wrapped in Daisuke's blanket…
"…what…?" Agumon looks at Takato and Juri with a curious expression on his face. "I was cold last night and aniki's rival wasn't using his blanket."
With the where about of Daisuke's blanket finally discovered, the team manage to bring Daisuke back from puking himself inside out. They briefly discuss the possibility of staying in the safe zone for a while. In the end Masaru insists if he's good enough to fight he's good enough to soldiering on the mission.
Juri looks back at the school yard before they walk out of the gate. She sees the green haired girl trip as she's still running her morning laps. Juri is about to run to Asa's side, but Hirokazu who has been sitting near beats herself to it.
"…you know… I really… don't need help…" Asa let out a few heavy breaths in between of her sentence as Hirokazu stands towering over her.
"I know that. That's why I'm here to run alongside you." The green haired impulsive girl gives Hirokazu a puzzling look. Hirokazu scratches his face with one of his index finger. "I'm still the second in command of this squad… it'll look bad on me if I let you beat me in running laps. Plus we are a team, if one of us fails we all fail together."
With that comment, the other three members all struggles up from where they are sitting and run besides Hirokazu. They each give some encouraging word to Asa, before joining her in laps around the school together.
Kazu is still our friends, but he's moved on with others who he trusts. Maybe it's time for Takato and me to do the same...
With that thought and a smile, Juri turns her back against the former high school and runs to catch up with the others.
===DDD Log - Equipment===
Bit Card
One of the most common type of live program in DDD Field Operative's arsenal of tools in fighting Digimon. Bit Card are special combat/support programs stored in the form of a playing card (since it's not practical to do programming with D3K's keyboard during a battle). Once activated in a Field Operative's interface (be it D3K, D25 or D2K), the effect will come into effect either in a Field Operative's Digimon partner or on the Operative himself/herself. There are two types of Bit Card, consumable and persistent. Consumables are the most common one use Bit Card used by most Master Classes. Persistent cards are ones which few talented Master Class can program. Persistent cards can be used as long as it still has charge left stored in the card and can be recharged by any Master Class with Bits stored in his/her D3K.
===End Log===