I have no excuses for making you lot wait so long for an update, but if you want them, I list several in the end note. :P
I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON ADVENTURE, 02, FRONTIER OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!
Chapter 33: Let's Get Down to Business
When Davis awoke Monday morning he practically had to beg his parents to let him return to school. His mother was absolutely against it even though she'd let him traverse the Digital World just yesterday. His dad was a lot easier to convince, thankfully, on the condition that he drive Davis to and from school to appease his mother's worries. Davis thought it was a little stupid considering that they were allowing him to go to the Digital World to prepare to fight an all powerful Digimon that was hell bent on destroying both worlds, but put up with it, getting into the car without much fuss.
His friends were happy to see him at school and when it came time to meet up with the rest of the DigiDestined afterwards back in the Digital World, they found themselves at a loss of what to do. They had no idea when to expect Millenniummon or where he'd turn up. Thankfully all of the Warrior DigiDestined had their spirits accounted for and Davis and Takuya no longer had to worry about the other fading because they now had separate bodies. Gennai and Mokuseimon hadn't found anything useful yet out of the information they'd gathered yesterday either, so in spite of the inevitable time crunch they were all starting to feel with Millenniummon's arrival, there was nothing they could really do at the moment. They had no leads to follow to find the Wisemon Citadel or a way to contact the Digimon Sovereign.
"So now what do we do?" Tai sighed.
"I don't know about you guys," Takuya said to Tai, "but we Warrior DigiDestined should take this chance to train. We need to get used to these new powers our spirit partners have given us and our Digimon need to learn how to digivolve without fusing with us to reach their next level.
"That's true," Koji said. "We've been acting on instinct rather than any actual honed ability."
"You at least have a head start on all of us with all the practice you got preparing for Takuya's soul transfer, Koji," JP sighed.
"Accessing energy and applying it to something like helping a Digimon Digivolve? Sure. But I don't know how to apply it to something I can use in a fight," Koji said grimly before turning to his partner. "You said something some time ago about being able to create a beam sword like I use when we're Lobomon, didn't you?"
"I did," Strabimon smirked. "Think you're ready for that?"
"I have a feeling we're about to find out," Koji said, smirking back.
"Greeeat," JP drawled before looking over at Sparkmon. "What about us?"
"We can see how you handle summoning lighting bolts," Sparkmon suggested. "Just don't blow us up."
"Wait… What?" JP gaped, while everyone chuckled.
"What should I work on?" Zoe asked Vilamon.
"Wind blades?" the fairy girl Digimon suggested. "But let's start with being able to summon small bursts of wind first. You don't want to hurt yourself, or worse, one of the others by accident."
"R-right," Zoe laughed.
"I think learning to summon small basic forms of our elements is the way to start," Takuya chuckled, speaking to the group at large before patting JP sympathetically on the back. "Start by harnessing small bursts of electrical energy and then discharging it before pulling anything fancy, JP."
"R-right," JP sighed.
"Well, that's great for them, but what should we do in the meantime?" Matt asked, looking at Tai and Izzi.
"We can train too, I suppose," Tai mused.
"Hey, yeah!" Takuya beamed. "Have your Digimon spar with ours while we work on harnessing our elements."
"Won't you need your partners to help you do that?" Izzi asked. "And won't your partners need you present to digivolve?"
"Not really," Takuya said. "They are technically beings that are thousands of Digital Years old and just have to reawaken their instincts for digivolving. Sure, they can give us suggestions and give us ideas on how to harness our powers, but - like with digivolving for them - it's ultimately up to us to discover and develop these powers."
"We can do it," Strabimon agreed. "Unlike your partner Digimon, we get our strength from the elements. Our power existed even before we met our human partners. It's just as spirits preserved in our idols, we needed our humans to take on physical forms. Our bonds are different from you more modern DigiDestined. Sure, your way of digivolving is stronger and generates more power-"
"Which is why we've been reborn as we are now," Flamemon interjected.
"But our spiritual bonds have always been strong so we don't need digivices to help us channel our partner's energy to reach the next level," Strabimon continued as if Flamemon hadn't spoken.
"Why not?" Izzi asked, looking intrigued.
"Because," Sparkmon interjected, "when our partners reunited with our spirit forms, not only did they gain power from us, but we gained enough energy from them to manifest as physical beings. The same kind of energy your partners get from you through the digivice. The digimatrix that exists in your digivices already exists inside of us and a similar matrix now exists in our human partners that allows them to tap into our elemental powers. Our spirit bonds only enhance the energy exchanges and their D3-Ts work more as a relay for that energy, rather than as a conductive channel."
"Sure, we're stronger with our human partner," Vilamon spoke up, "but we can still fight without them as well so long as we can still link up with them via the bond we share. So long as we hold these sparring matches somewhere relatively close by and not somewhere clear across Digiworld we should be fine."
"I see. In that case," Tai grinned down at Agumon as he pulled out his digivice. "How about it, Agumon? Up for a friendly match?"
"Sure?" Agumon said. "We've never really fought just for the heck of it though. Are there any rules we should follow? I don't want to hurt our new friends."
"Agumon's got a point," Izzi mused. "All of the Digimon have different strengths and ways of attacking. Most of our Digimon have larger forms than their Digimon. Gatomon, Angemon and Stingmon are good at getting up close and personal for some good sparing, but most of everyone else is more of a ranged fighter and tend to get into trouble once a fight is brought to them."
"Then maybe something more indirect?" Sora suggested. "Have those that can fight hand to hand with the Warrior partner Digimon pair while one of the others like Birdromon and Ikkakumon to provide ranged attacks for them to dodge as well."
"I've got an idea," Tai said, grinning. "Let's build off what Sora was saying and put together some teams with both a ranged and hand to hand fighter and make a series of matches. That way we get some teamwork drills going too."
"That's not a bad idea, Tai," Izzi said, pulling out his laptop. "Let's figure out some good team ups."
"Wow," Takuya laughed. "That sounds like fun. You guys are going to have to work hard and not get your butts kicked, Flamemon."
"Maybe it'll motivate them to learn how to digivolve without throwing them into a lot of danger to do it," Koichi said with an amused smile.
"Aww! That does sound like fun. I hope you've got your camera, Kari, because I want footage of the matches," Davis chuckled.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure to record the whole thing so that you guys can watch later," Kari promised.
"That's not a bad idea, Davis," Matt said. "If we record the matches, then we can rewatch the footage and figure out how they can improve."
"So it looks like it's settled," Joe said. "We'll watch our Digimon spar with the Warrior's partners while they try to get a handle on their powers. Know anywhere where we can host this little match up, Gennai?"
Gennai suggested the plains to the east of the factory, so that's where Tai and the others took the Digimon while Takuya and the other Warrior DigiDestined settled down in various places around the factory to practice their element powers.
"So how are we going to do this?" Strabimon asked Tai the moment they found a good stretch of plains where the Odaiba DigiDestined could sit and watch the matches from the shade provided by a small grouping of trees. "There are ten of us and twelve of your partners."
"We're going to have two teams of three on our side," Tai explained. "That way both sides have five teams each. We'll have your guys draw straws to see who gets to face a team of three. We'll draw lots to see which of you will pair up. Ready?"
TK held out his hat that was full of folded papers.
Strabimon shrugged, taking a paper. Flamemon and the other Warrior Digimon did the same, pairing up with the one who shared the same number as them.
"Alright," Izzi said once the teams were made and straws drawn to see who would fight who. "The match ups are the following. Match 1 is Birdramon and Togemon VS Namimon and Kurokitsumon. Match 2 is Gatomon, Garurumon and Aquilamon VS SilverVeemon and Mokuseimon, Match 3 is Greymon and Angemon VS Koishimon and Strabimon, Match 4 is Kabuterimon, Ankylomon and Stingmon VS Flamemon and Vilamon, and Match 5 is Ikkakumon and ExVeemon VS Sparkmon and Kawausomon."
"Remember, these are friendly matches," Joe cautioned, "meant for training purposes, so don't get too crazy. Use these matches as chances to learn how to work as a team and help each other. The goal of these matches is to knock your opponents out of bounds."
"Stingmon and Aquilamon have gouged boundary lines in the ground," Ken said, indicating the large square that could fit four football fields inside it. "If anyone lands outside the boundary lines, you're out of the match. The match will end when both partners of one team are knocked out of bounds or concede the match."
With the rules established, the fighters of the first match got in place and discussed strategy in the five minutes they were given before Izzi would sound the alarm that would start the first match.
Meanwhile, back at the factory, Takuya was in a store room practicing lighting candles. That might not sound impressive, but he needed to learn how to summon small controlled bursts of fire without melting the entire candle into a puddle of wax before he could try anything more complex. He'd already melted several candles and was having a tough time dialing back the heat and strength of his flames.
Koji was outside behind the factory trying to amass light energy into a stable beam of light. It was very difficult. The light didn't want to take on the shape he wanted it. He could get it to form into a ball easily to make those light orbs, but it stubbornly refused the stretch or conform into any other shape. When he lobbed one out of frustration he was surprised to see it explode when it impacted on the ground. It didn't cause much damage where it impacted, but the flash of the light energy dispersing and the loud sound it made was startling.
Zoe was having a little bit more luck on the roof summoning small controlled gusts of wind. However, like Koji, when she moved on to a more complex use of her element, she was struggling to get the wind to hit her bamboo targets with any solid weight. They bent and shuddered under the wind currents she sent at them, but they wouldn't sharpen and cut like she wanted them to. The only sign that she was making any progress was the occasional nick that would appear in the bamboo.
JP was having perhaps the worst luck. He was a good distance away from the factory, in the opposite direction that Tai and the others took the Digimon to have their little tournament. He'd already ripped up the ground with unstable bursts of electric energy he was able to pull out of the air. Gathering it was no problem. It was harnessing it and keeping it stable that was the problem. Whenever he gathered any substantial amount of energy, it always exploded on him. He'd been hoping Sparkmon had been kidding about the exploding part.
Yutaka was also outside, trying to get the earth around him to move. He worked with small rocks and pebbles at first and threw them at targets he had set up. Getting the rocks to move was easy. All he had to work on was his aim and accuracy. Once he felt he had a handle on small rocks, he tried moving bigger rocks. He found little difference when working with the solid masses. It was when he tried to get dirt and earth to move and form constructs that proved to be a challenge and what he resolved to work on for the rest of his training.
Tommy and Jun were training together at a water cistern just above the storm drains that led to the sewer system at the factory. Their goal was to work with the two states of what was basically a shared element between them. Jun was practicing flinging a ball of water at Tommy while he froze it and sent it back at her to unfreeze. There were large puddles forming on Tommy's side of the cistern and several melting chunks of ice on Jun's from their failed catches and wide tosses. Their record was four tosses between them. They were having the most fun training.
Davis was inside the battery room trying to get a sense for the different metals around him. His main goal was to patch the hole in the floor now that his spirits were with him and had become Silver Veemon. He was finding that just getting the metal to bend was hard, but the more he studied the material, the more he got a feel for it and figured out what elements of the metal were malleable enough to manipulate. It was learning how to manipulate them that was the hard part.
And lastly, Koichi was in the lowest level of the factory, running through an obstacle course that he put up in the natural maze that was the basement. Gennai had been kind enough to set up a special lighting system for him upon his request before returning to his translations. Sometimes the course was fully lit, sometimes it was pitch black. The lighting was randomized so that Koichi had to adapt in all sorts of lighting and learn to work with the varying lengths of shadows. Unlike the others, Koichi had never used his element casually. He'd avoided tapping into it as much as possible in the last eight years, in fact. But now he needed to know how to harness it. Move through it. With it. Let it guide him rather than force it to work for him. It scared him that he was having a rather easy time with harnessing the powers of his element.
Using the shadows and moving through them came as easy as breathing to Koichi. The moment he allowed himself to let the darkness in was both terrifying and thrilling. Thrilling because it felt natural and like coming home, the shadow's embrace as familiar and comforting as his mother's hugs. He could sink into a shadow and appear out of another further down the course bypassing obstacles altogether so long as he could see his destination. It was terrifying because it shouldn't have been this easy. It shouldn't have felt this good to let loose and use instincts that he had been holding back for so long. But it did and that worried him. The powers of darkness had been used for so much evil. There was a reason those with fowl intentions flocked to it. Koichi could only hope that he didn't lose himself in it.
Back with the Digimon, Birdramon and Togemon were ready to face off with Namimon and Kokitsumon. Everyone was situated on picnic blankets with food that Yolei got after making a quick run back home with Kari, Mimi and Sora to her family's convenience store. Kari was good to go with her camera set up on a tripod she got from home and a few spare SD cards as well. Sparkmon had even promised her that he'd recharge her camera if the battery ran low. When Izzi gave the signal, Kari hit record and everyone cheered as Birdramon took to the sky and Togemon approached the two young Rookie Digimon.
Nanimon darted to one side of Togemon's first punch, Kurotisumon shadowing her on the opposite side of the fist, flitting between Togemon's legs so that he wound up behind her. Togemon spun on her heel unleashing a Needle Spray attack. Namimon squealed as she did her best to dodge the needles. Togemon wasn't trying too hard to hit them though so her needles were only launched at about half of her usual velocity, but up close it proved more of a challenge for the young Rookies. That was when Birdramon launched a Meteor Wing attack from above, catching the needles on fire. Kokitsumon flinched back from the bright sparks of the embers, but Namimon was quick to put them out with a Water Wave attack.
Then the two then split apart, Kokitsumon darting towards Togemon and Namimon hanging back and keeping an eye on Birdramon. Kokitsumon aimed a flying kick at Togemon's face, startling her, but Togemon recovered and spun away to avoid the attack. This, however, brought her within range of Namimon, who used her Water Wave to make the ground muddy and caused Togemon to slip. Birdramon was there to cover her, though, catching Togemon by a gloved hand with one foot to steady her, while throwing a light burst of embers at the two Rookies to force them back a moment. Mimi and Sora cheered their partners on, complementing them on their team work.
The match continued on like that for another twenty minutes with both pairs launching attacks and covering for their partner. Togemon and Birdramon managed to come up with quite a few team combos, and Namimon and Kokitsumon learned to work together and use their own elements to their advantage while in their smaller and more limited Rookie forms. Namimon had pulled moisture out of the air and ground while Kokitsumon learned how to flit through shadows, much like Koichi was doing back at the factory. The first time he shadow traveled had been a surprise for everyone and startled Togemon so badly she almost fell out of bounds a few times. They probably could have gone on for quite a while longer, but Namimon and Kokitsumon finally managed to trick Togemon into slipping out of bounds with Namimon making the ground muddy enough with her water attacks. Birdramon called it quits soon after because they were at a stalemate with her out of reach in the sky while the Rookie level Warriors were limited to what they could do on the ground.
The second match between Gatomon, Garurumon and Aquilamon against Silver Veemon and Mokuseimon didn't last as long, but was much more intense. Mokuseimon was already in his Champion form so he was already on the same level as his opponents, but Silver Veemon was the lone Rookie in the match. Gatomon would strike hard and fast at the Warrior pair while Aquilamon rained down attacks from the sky, covering Garurumon when he made his moves. They kept Mokuseimon on the defensive, but he was fine with that, covering Silver Veemon so that he could get some good attacks in, slipping through Garurumon's guard or meeting Gatomon head on.
Mokuseimon had managed to divert one of Garurumon's charges before flipping him out of bounds with his bow staff. That left him open for a dive attack from Aquilamon though, who disrupted his footing and allowed Gatomon to knock him out of bounds. Silver Veemon didn't last much longer after that, conceding the match after going toe to toe with Gatomon for a good minute. Though they had fought well together, Silver Veemon felt he wasn't much help in their match and believed that Mokuseimon did most of the fighting, but Gatomon pointed out that he had done well sparing with her at the end and suggested they do it again some time.
Greymon and Angemon's match against Koishimon and Strabimon was the shortest match by far. The Warriors of Earth and Light made a great team with their quick agility, almost running circles around Greymon, but Angemon was fast in the air and kept them on their toes. Koishimon threw up protective walls of earth to try to slow Greymon down and launched dirt missiles into the air at Angemon to cover Strabimon who was the faster of the two. With Koishimon playing defence, that left Strabimon free to launch quick attacks, though they had little effect against the Champion level Digimon. Greymon used his larger form to his advantage when he could, swiping his tail to get the Rookies to back off of him and when he and Angemon managed to land their few coordinated attacks, he almost knocked their opponents out a few times, but Koishimon would save them with his earth bending abilities every time.
Greymon, unfortunately, was lured over to and tripped over the boundary line by the Warrior pair, much to his embarrassment, but Koishimon followed him out not too long after. The Rookie Warrior of Earth actually slipped on a patch of mud that hadn't dried yet from the first match, leaving him open to Angemon's Hand of Fate which knocked him out of bounds. Strabimon held his own quite well against Angemon, able to sense where the angel Digimon was going to be. Both traded fast blows, ducking and dodging around each other before finally calling a stalemate which resulted in their match ending in a tie.
Kabuterimon, Ankylomon and Stingmon's match against Flamemon and Vilamon was the longest match, lasting almost an hour. Flamemon and Vilamon were a quick pair like Koishimon and Strabimon, but against Stingmon they were put on the defensive really quick, having to remain purley on the defensive against the three Champions. When Vilamon got knocked out of bounds, Flamemon thought it was all over, but he refused to be beat until he knocked at least one of the others out of bounds with him. He kept dodging, using Ankylomon's bulk as a shield but when he got caught in the side by one of the dino Digimon's tail swipes and was on the receiving end of an Electro Shocker (low powered) attack from Kabuterimon, something inside him registered the threat and he felt a rush of energy, and with that adrenaline rush summoned a mini fire tornado to protect himself. When it dissipated he realized that he'd done it. He'd managed to Digivolve into Agunimon!
Using his opponent's surprise, Agunimon managed to push Ankylomon out of bounds and launch a low powered Pyro Tornado at Kabuterimon, who dodged a bit too far and ended up out of bounds as well. Stingmon was still just a bit too fast for him though, and after the two exchanged attacks for what felt like a long time (but was really only about 5 minutes) Stingmon managed to grapple him out of bounds. He may have lost, but Agunimon was feeling quite accomplished having been the first of the Warrior partner Digimon to digivolve on his own.
The last match between Ikkakumon and ExVeemon against Sparkmon and Kawausomon had perhaps the most abrupt ending to it's match. Both Ikkakumon and Kawausomon were the least mobile members of their respective groups, but because Kawausomon was so small, he was easy to carry. Clinging to Sparkmon's back, the pair zipped around the field. Literally. Sparkmon was incredibly fast, reminding a lot of the DigiDestined watching of the Flash or Sonic. Poor Ikkakumon had no way of keeping up, but he did have one advantage: his heavy bulk. He situated himself in the center of the battlefield. There'd be no pushing him out of bounds.
ExVeemon did his best to provide aerial support and cover from the sky, taking shots at the speeding duo with his Exvee Laser, and got the surprise of his life when Kawausomon spat a beam of ice at him in retaliation. The ice clipped his right wing, freezing it. Exveemon thought that he was done for until Ikkakumon came to his rescue with an unorthodox save in the form of a well aimed Harpoon Torpedo that exploded beneath him. The blast of Ikkakumon's attack had provided a nice heatwave and shockwave that both melted and broke apart the ice encasing his frozen wing. It had also provided a thermal air current for his wings to catch and keep him in the air. It also demonstrated that Ikkakumon had excellent procision with aiming his attacks.
Exveemon swooped down low and told Ikkakumon that he had a plan. He'd noticed that though Sparkmon was fast, his movements were given away by the flashes of energy he generated when he got up to high speeds and couldn't perform abrupt stops or make tight turns. He told Ikkakumon to keep this in mind and aim for where the speedster was going to be and not directly at him. Exveemon did his best to slow Sparkmon down and restrict his movements, allowing Ikkakumon to narrow down a target area. It took some honing, but each succeeding torpedo Ikkakumon launched, the attacks got closer and closer to hitting its projected target area.
Finally, due diligence paid off and Ikkakumon launched a Harpoon Torpedo that detonated in front of Sparkmon and Kawausomon, forcing them to stop in their tracks. Sparkmon skidded and tripped, his partner jumping from his back and it looked like the Thunder Warrior was going to slide out of bounds, but Kawausomon surprised everyone again with another ice beam that formed a wall that kept his partner inbounds. Unfortunately for the Ice Warrior, Exveemon was waiting to take advantage of Ikkakumon's success and scooped Kawausomon up and gently tossed him out of bounds. However, Sparkmon wasn't one to be outdone in taking advantage of his partner's help and shot off a startling large flashy and loud bolt of lighting that scared poor ExVeemon over the boundary line after Kawausomon. That left the Rookie Warrior of Thunder to stare down the immovable Ikkakumon. Ikkakumon widened his stance to brace himself for an attack, but to his and everyone else's surprise, Sparkmon just shrugged and walked out of bounds, conceding the match.
When asked why he did this later, Sparkmon said, "It would have been a waste of time and energy trying to move him. He wasn't going to budge and I would more than likely get blasted out of bounds by his Harpoon Torpedo before I managed to move him an inch. I lost the moment he found a way to neutralize my speed and my partner went out of bounds, but at least I got Exveemon out with him."
With the final match up fight over, the Digimon and DigiDestined packed up their picnic site and headed back to the factory to meet back up with the Warrior DigiDestined. They ran into Yutaka on the way in and had the Warrior use his D3-T to contact the others to meet back up for a progress report and to make plans for the rest of the week until Gennai found them a lead on the location of the Wisemon citadel.
"How's it going, guys?" Tai asked after the last Warrior (JP) returned from their practice site.
"Rough," JP moaned while Koji, Davis and Takuya huffed in agreement. Takuya was no longer melting every candle he tried to light, but he was still having control issues. Koji had managed to elongate his light orbs into long oval shapes, but they were nowhere near the right shape that resembled a blade. Davis had been able to succeed in repairing half of the hole by stretching the material that was along the edges. He'd only just gotten a handle of manipulating metals before the others had arrived. JP had left a mess of upturned and charred earth outside, but was slowly getting a handle on learning how much energy he could harness before it exploded on him. He was actually able to get arcs of energy to flare up from his fingertips without forming another accidental lightning bolt.
"It's okay," Zoe said, Tommy and Jun agreeing with shrugs and sighs. Zoe was finally cutting her bamboo, but it was more of a blunt force like a compression air cannon and not the precise blade of air she wanted. Tommy and June had upped their number of successful uninterrupted passes from 4 to 10. Both had gotten a better handle on how their element felt in it's solid and liquid form and had even started to experiment swapping elemental forms. It was far from easy, but it was fun for Jun trying to freeze and Tommy was working on melting. It made them wonder what they could do if they teamed up with Zoe to work with the third form of water (gas/vapor), since that was more of her element.
"I'm good," both Yutaka and Koichi admitted, smiling sheepishly at their struggling companions. While Yutaka was still struggling with working with finer sediments (like sand and silt), his control over rocks, stones, pebbles and dirt was great and he'd even managed to create some earthen walls. Koichi, on the other hand, had been able to do everything that he'd set out to do. Tapping into and manipulating his element had become child's play once he got a feel for how darkness flowed and interacted with his human limits. He'd started pushing those limits near the end to see how far he could take his shadow travel and manipulate his vision in complete darkness.
"How were the matches?" Davis asked, perking up. "Who won what team ups?"
"All teams displayed good teamwork. Match 1 was Birdramon and Togemon VS Namimon and Kurokitsumon," Izzi reported. "Nanimon and Kurokitsumon were declared the winners after Togemon went out of bounds and Birdramon ceded the match to end a stalemate they ended up in. Match 2 was Gatomon, Garurumon and Aquilamon VS SilverVeemon and Mokuseimon. Gatomon, Garurumon and Aquilamon were the winners after Mokuseimon was knocked out of bounds and Silver Veemon ceded the match."
"To be fair, they were up against three of us," Gabumon added humbly.
"We were on the defensive the whole time," Mokuseimon admitted. "Silver Veemon sure gave it his all though, facing Gatomon head on after I was out."
"And that's not easy," Veemon grinned, thumping his silver twin on the back. "Trust me on that one."
"Match 3," Izzi continued, "was Greymon and Angemon VS Koishimon and Strabimon. It was a close fight, Greymon and Koishimon were forced out of bounds within seconds of each other, and Angemon and Strabimon were evenly matched resulting in a draw. Match 4 was Kabuterimon, Ankylomon and Stingmon VS Flamemon and Vilamon."
"I got knocked halfway through our fight," Vilamon sighed, "but Flamemon was amazing! He managed to digivolve on his own into Agunimon!"
"Really?! Great job, Buddy!" Takuya crowed. "Sounds like your day was much more successful than mine."
Flamemon beamed proudly before sheepishly admitting, "I figured I had nothing to lose after Vilamon was out of the fight and was determined to take at least one of our opponents out with me. I got so desperate and full of adrenaline that I found myself making a last ditch effort that resulted in digivolving."
"It worked," Tentomon spoke up. "You took Ankylomon and I out pretty quickly after you digivolved. And you fought really well against Stingmon, even if he did manage to get you out of bounds. You put up one spectacular fight."
Takuya grinned at his partner, pride in his eyes, and gave him a thumbs up.
"And lastly, there was Match 5 with Ikkakumon and ExVeemon VS Sparkmon and Kawausomon," Izzi said. "Kawausomon and Exveemon got out one after the other and Sparkmon ceded the match to Ikkakumon."
"That match was just full of surprises," Joe laughed.
"No kidding!" Yolei laughed. "When Kawausomon froze poor Exveemon's wing and he began to fall out of the sky, I thought he was done for."
"Are you alright?" Davis demanded, looking at his first partner and trying to detect any signs of injury.
"I'm Fine!" Veemon protested. "Ikkakumon had me covered."
"That was probably the most surprising part of the match," Tai laughed. "Ikkakumon launched a Harpoon Torpedo and detonated it beneath ExVeemon."
"The heat of the blast and energy of the resulting shockwave was enough to melt and shatter the ice on Exveemon's wing and provided enough updraft to form a cushioning effect to keep him in the air," Izzi explained, upon seeing the alarmed looks on several of the unattending DigiDestined's faces.
"It was an amazing shot," Cody added. "The precision of Ikkakumon's aim to hit the ground directly beneath Exveemon's fall trajectory was impressive."
"And we used that to our advantage for the rest of the fight," Veemon said, beaming at Gomamon, who was looking a little smug at the praise.
"I nearly had a heart attack when you did that," Joe sighed, ruffling the hair on his Digimon's head. "I thought we'd be treating poor Veemon for fall damage and then I thought you were going to blow him up!"
"Come on, Joe! Have more faith in me than that," Gomamon protested. "I knew what I was doing. Exveemon and I discussed it as a strategic possibility before the battle started. We didn't know their attacks, but we figured that Kawausomon would be able to freeze stuff and might try to neutralize Exveemon's wings. I didn't think we'd have to do it with him falling out of the air, but he was high up enough that I figured a mild detonation would work if I could land the hit directly below him."
"And it worked!" Veemon cried. "Though I'll admit I was pretty freaked when it happened. I'm just glad that it worked."
"Me took," Gomamon laughed.
"It was pretty ballsy," Kawausomon said, appreciatively. "I was prepared to make an ice slide though to catch ya and send you out of bounds."
"And I was prepared to catch him if it's any consolation," Sparkmon added softly.
"Oh good," Tommy sighed with obvious relief. He'd been having a very panicked internalized freak out upon hearing that his partner had caused poor Exveemon to fall out of the sky by freezing his wing.
"No faith," Kawausomon pouted.
"Then don't pull dodgy stunts in what is supposed to be a friendly sparring match," Koji huffed. Kawausomon only stuck his tongue out at him.
"Well everything worked out in the end and there were good shows of teamwork all around," Tai said, placatingly. "Do we want to pick this up again tomorrow? Maybe change things up with the matchups and pairs?"
"Sounds good to me," Takuya said, grinning. "We can keep practicing on harnessing our elements. Though, since Yutaka and Koichi seem to have a handle on things, maybe they can join you guys tomorrow."
"Sounds good to me," Yutaka agreed, nodding. "I don't think I can accomplish much more on my own without Koishimon's advice."
His partner nodded, looking pleased, especially since his partner was the eldest and one of the least experienced members of their team of DigiDestined. It was honestly a marvel that things were going so well for him.
"That would be fine," Koichi said. "It would even up the team numbers to twelve on each side so there wouldn't need to be two teams of three."
"Are you sure that you want to join in the matches?" Joe asked, looking concerned. "You two could be seriously injured by the Digimon's attacks if they hit you."
"Maybe we can alter the matches," Tai mused. "Twelve is a much more flexible number to work with and can be divided evenly into groups of three or four."
"And," Izzi interjected, "Instead of fighting against each other, we could focus more on teamwork. Maybe we arrange something like a game of capture the flag or an obstacle course. Let me think about it and work something out overnight."
"Want some help?" Ken offered.
"I could help too," Yolei said, raising her hand.
"Thanks, you two," Izzi said, "I'm sure together we can work something out."
"We'll leave it to you then," Tai said, beaming before addressing the group as a whole. "So meet back up here again at the same time tomorrow?"
Everyone agreed.
Looks like learning to harness control over their elements is going to be more of a struggle for some of the Warrior DigiDestined than it is for others. While it's great to get some training in, how long do they have before Millenniummon finally arrives? Will this training be enough to prepare the DigiDestined and their partner Digimon? I guess we'll just have to wait and see next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!
So what did you guys think? It was more filler, I know, but how were the match ups? I had a lot of fun writing those and I'd love to hear from you guys about what sort of team ups and face offs that you'd like to see happen next time!
Sooo... A LOT has happened to me in the last few years. I moved to a new state, started a new job at a hospital, finally retired a computer I've been using for 10 YEARS after it crashed on me a few days before Odaiba Day 2018 and I lost a total of 34 pages of fan fiction for my 3 major Digimon stories including this one), got new job (same hospital, just a new position in a different department), bought a house, got 2 new dogs, and continued to work at my hospital while dealing with COVID-19 and I think we all just want to complain about and write off the whole year that was 2020 in general...
So... I am a little embarrassed to admit that 2/3rds of this chapter has been written for a long time (I swore it was lost when my old computer crashed). I either hadn't realized that i hadn't posted it when I was doing my yearly casual rereads of this series (because somehow a draft of it miraculously resurrected itself in my cloud, granted it wasn't all there) or I just forgot about it because I was frustrated and depressed after losing 3 months work of drafting and writing so shy of my target post day almost 3 YEARS AGO!
So now I'm back (I seem to say this every time I update but I really mean it this time!) and have plans for a major post dump on this year's Odaiba Day. I already have started on the next chapter for Parent Worries, have outlined plans for an UGotD update, and have started plotting out the next chapter for this, General of Courage, and Courage's Light. How many of these I'll actually get done and be able to post on Odaiba Day I don't know, but I'm determined to update all of these by the end of the year.
Special shout out to missmartian369 for their encouragement and shop talks. Over the last 5 of years I've really been feeling burnout after writing a lot of Digimon (especially when I do big mass updates like I do for Odaiba Day) but I've been rereading a lot of my previous messages and threads on with MM talking about these characters and my writing processes. Granted they were more geared towards UGotD and PW, but our talks over the years have buoyed and brought back my drive to continue writing these stories. I always enjoy our exchanges.
Thank you everyone for your patience and look forward to the next update which will hopefully be on Odaiba Day. I hope to post updates for at least Parent Worries, Drowning Memories, and Ultimate Gathering on that day with others to follow as I get them done.