Darkness, as far as the eye could see. The occasional bubble drifting in the ever-shifting current was the only sign that the endless black was in fact darkened water. Small, fragile spheres of gray drifted upwards, carrying tiny air pockets towards the surface. As they did, a glistening ephemeral image appeared on the delicate surface, as faint as the liquid-surface it rested across.
"If you want training, you got it, pi!" a small, round Digimon with pink fuzz and a peach face said, beating his two feathered wings before twirling his spear to point at the gawking Ryo. "But don't think I'll go easy on you, pi!"
"R-right, of course," Ryo said, at a loss.
"You better prepare yourself, pi!" the Digimon continued before he turned to point his spear at Ken. "It'll be a hellish crash course for the both of you, pi!"
"H-h… hellish?" Ken repeated as he held Leafmon tightly to his chest, his eyes going wide.
"That's right-... pi?" the Digimon paused, his beady eyes drifting upwards to FlaWizarmon and Witchmon, who loomed to either side of Ken with a particularly hostile glint in their boring eyes. "Er, ah… w-well, not too hellish, pi…"
"O-oh, good," Ken said with a sigh, sagging his shoulders. "Y-you had me worried…"
"Just an exaggeration, dearie," Witchmon said as she clapped her hands together. "Piccolomon won't be making you do anything you're not comfortable doing, isn't that right?"
"P-pi…?" Piccolomon glanced between the two Digimon, his wings beating a bit more quickly than they had before.
"Thank ya kindly, Piccolomon," FlaWizarmon said, with a toothy grin. "We appreciate yer cooperation."
"...Y-you got it, pi." Piccolomon said, a bead of sweat trailing from his brow to his cheek.
As the first bubble continued upwards, a second bubble made to follow, with its own reflection twinkling across the surface.
"This is cleaning," Ryo said, on his hands and knees as he rubbed the large white cloth against the floor. "This isn't training. This is cleaning."
"Well, considering you don't have your partner, I can't put you through the full course, pi," Piccolomon said as he stood on the railing lining the floor, the group standing inside a monstrous multi-floored building reminiscent of a circular wooden building straight out of ancient Japan. "So this'll have to do, pi!"
"I-if you say so," Leollmon said, as he struggled to use his own cloth. It was fairly difficult, given the motions were a bit unnatural for a quadruped such as himself.
"I don't get it," Ken said quietly as he rubbed at the floor with his own cloth. "What are we supposed to be learning from this?"
"I'll help you, Ken-chan!" Leafmon said as he hopped along beside his partner. "I'll grow hands and help!"
"Yoink!"
The sound of FlaWizarmon's voice was all the warning Ken got before he was suddenly scooped up, princess style, in to the scarecrow's arms. FlaWizarmon grinned down at the small boy in his arms as he planted his foot on the rag, pushing with the other so that he suddenly went sliding across the floor.
"Y-yeeek!?" Ken squeaked as he clung to the Digimon, eyes wide.
"Sometimes, Ken-chan, it's all just a matter of perspective!" FlaWizarmon said, maintaining perfect balance as he went sliding with Ken in his arms.
"Ken-chan, wait for me!" Leafmon called as he hopped after. He barely made it a meter before a pair of pale hands scooped him up.
Keiko grinned at Leafmon as she skated across the floor with two soapy sponges tied to her bare feet. "Need a lift?"
Leafmon started before nodding vigorously. "Uh huh! Hurry, hurry or we'll lose them!"
"Not a chance!" Keiko laughed and shuffled her feet with greater swiftness, leaving a pair of bubbly wet trails behind that disappeared when Nyamon skated across them on rags.
Leollmon and Ryo both turned to watch as FlaWizarmon twirled in a pirouette on the floor, his foot still firmly planted on Ken's rag. The two turned to look at each other for a moment before they shared a grin.
The lion cub Digimon handed his rag over to Ryo, who placed one foot on it and his other foot on his own rag. Leollmon flicked his tail back, allowing Ryo to snag it, before he raced off after FlaWizarmon, effortlessly pulling Ryo as he went.
"Woohoo!" Ryo called out, a big grin on his face as he held on tightly with both hands.
Piccolomon watched the exchange from the top of the massive stone statue of himself that the building mysteriously circled around, before he glanced over to Witchmon as the female Digimon hovered close. "You're not doing them any favors, coddling them like this, pi."
"Don't worry your head about it, dearie," Witchmon said, cheerfully. "You can't train the wind, you can only guide it. You know as well as I do that this is about cooperation and building bonds. So long as they accomplish both, then nothing else really matters, does it~?"
"They lack discipline and self-control," Piccolomon said, tapping the edge of his spear on his statue's brow.
"They're not soldiers," Witchmon said, with an edge in her voice. "So don't treat them like it. They're children."
"Children who are capable of incredible strength, more than we could ever achieve ourselves, pi," Piccolomon said. "You know as well as I do that our salvation may one day depend on them, pi."
"If our salvation depends on throwing innocent children into the fire," Witchmon said, with a bright grin. "Then maybe we don't deserve to be saved."
"...True enough, pi," Piccolomon agreed.
The two bubbles nearly made it to the surface before a massive stream made of millions of bubbles rushed upwards, consuming both in its path before the congregation of tiny spheres continued together into oblivion.