I don't own digimon.

Session 26

The Biggest Dreamer

Elena sighed.

In retrospect, maybe asking for Lily to wait a second probably would've helped in the face of what the succubus had in mind. Yet as she stood within the whitish grey mist, she felt at ease within it all.

"What is Elena doing here?"

The gale corsair turned around, finding Jestery standing out in the distance.

"I could ask you the same thing." Elena answered and slowly pulled her kris out. "I'm guessing you're here to stop me?"

Jestery gave the gale corsair a confused glance and giggled.

"This is Jestery's realm, silly!" Jestery responded as a smile formed on her face. "If Jestery wanted too, Elena could just go away and never come back."

Elena ignored the jester, flinging a kris towards her. It was flung right back, even if she had expected to not get such a weapon back.

"Time for Elena to fall asleep!"

The world around the gale corsair then began to shift about, taking on the appearance of an empty apartment.

"Okay..." she whispered as Jestery appeared once again.

"This was not what Jestery expected." the jester remarked and watched her captive run all about like a hyperactive. "Though, makes sense in Elena's circumstances."

Elena shot her a cautious glance, but chose to not comment. She then turned her attention to the room, giving one of the walls a slight tap. Thankfully, it wasn't a hard enough blow to knock it down.

"Then why am I here?" the gale corsair inquired and got no answer. Jestery had teleported away, possibly in preparation for something else. So she turned her attention to the apartment itself. While there really wasn't much in the way of furniture, someone had set up a tea party. They even set up a couple of plush dolls as stand-ins for actual people. But there was no tea or water to drink.

Had those people not been dolls, they probably would've thrown a fit about it. But alas, that was not the case.

"Is there something that I can get for you, Elena?"

She turned around, finding Alice carrying a tea tray with a kettle and cookies.

"No, I'm good." Elena answered and sat herself down. "Is there anything that I can get you?"

Alice didn't answer, choosing instead to turn around and make her way towards an unknown destination. But before she could reach such a place, the gambler faded away.

"Alice!" Elena screamed and gave chase, only to be treated to a similar fate.

On the other side, the two girls found themselves in a bizarre shifting landscape. There seemed to be no reason or logic within, just complete randomness. It could probably serve as the perfect vacation spot for Jestery if it were actually stable.

"Boo!" the jester announced but chose to stay hidden. "Oh..."

Elena then turned her attention to her target, who had pulled out her guns.

"Why are you still following me?!" Alice screamed and fired off a shot. Elena stepped to the right, choosing to follow it up by charging head-on with her kris.

Gale Strike!

The gambler stumbled backwards for a couple of steps, but managed to find her footing and fire off a couple of shots.

"Because you keep running away before you can give a proper answer." Elena answered as she switched to her digimon form and took the shots. "Maybe if you were more willing to be open to us, we wouldn't had to go through with this mess."

She got no answer, just more running on Alice's part. Which meant more running for the gale corsair as well. The two were sucked up once more, finding themselves this time standing within a subterranean city. Strangely, it smelled of regrets and missed opportunities.

"Do you really think that such pleasantries will win you this battle?" Alice taunted as she watched the gale corsair switch back to her human form,

"No." Elena answered back and chose to just stand there. "But it'll let me get to know you better."

Alice gave a shrug, not quite sure what Elena had in mind. So she fired another round off, watching her opponent take it again. But unlike the previous time, there was no switching of forms.

"Oh look at you. You took a bullet. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I just want a proper reason for all of this." Elena whispered and casually walked forward, sheathing her kris. "It can be something simple for all I care. I... No, we just want to understand why you just turned and ran."

Silence fell over both girls as Alice headed off once more, this time landing in what appeared to be bedroom of sorts. There, a familiar black-haired girl was currently waiting in her bed, while an unknown 'partner' of sorts slept silently.

"Is there anything I can get you, Miss Alice?" a voice announced as Astamon made his entrance, dressed in the sort of suit one puts on a butler.

"No." the dream Alice responded and gave the other person a slight tap. "Time to wake u-"

But before we could hear who exactly this person was waking up, Alice ran off and Elena followed.

This time, the two girls found themselves in the middle of one of medieval town squares, complete with a pillory. In said pillory, a familiar turkey was doing his time. For what exactly, neither girl was quite sure. Not that their focus was really on that. No, they were currently having another one of their fights. This time, it was more of Elena charging than Alice shooting. Of course, all that resulted from it was Alice running and the gale corsair following.

For a brief second, they found themselves in an unknown place, where two girls and a troll sit at a table. But before either fighter could get a good look in, they were whisked down in a campus of sorts. Compared to the ones either visited and/or referenced, this one actually seemed alright. There was no disaster caused by one's own bad choices or some weird random effect that made sense in that space, just the sound of people moving about with their day. Currently, a girl was running to her next class, possibly pondering whether or not she was late.

Of course, Alice still fired off a shot or two off and disrupted the fragile peace within.

"Did you have to do that?" Elena inquired and took another bullet. This one had been aimed for her chest, only to hit her leg. "I realize you don't really like me and all, but still..."

Alice suddenly stopped and gave Elena a confused glance.

"What are you babbling about now?" the gambler accused and charged towards her opponent, only to see the dual kris a little too late.

Gale Strike!

The gambler found herself knocked back, which she used as a boost to the next 'area' as her opponent followed. This time, they found themselves in a dark circular room. There, a 'humanoid' was beating up someone or something in the background.

They did not stay long here, choosing instead to skip on over to the next realm, which felt like repeat of the previous one. Though, I'm not entirely sure if I should be impressed or just sad by that fact.

"Does it really matter?" Alice taunted and Elena rolled her eyes. "I realize that you have to describe all of these places we're travelling too, but come on."

Fine. Like the area that they had just left, this one had also gone for the dark spooky vibe. The only real difference being the lack of a creepy figure beating up another creepy-looking figure. But in its place, was a variety of weird-looking statues depicting angels and demons locked in combat.

"Okay. I'm not certain that's better or worse." Elena whispered and watched Alice head onward once more. She followed right behind, the two passing through a wonderland of tea, purple pigs and a kimeramon of all things.

Their next stop was in a neighborhood where children played. If one looked closely, they could just make out Aaron and Cutemon amid the group. Not that they were really making an attempt in that regard. No, they were currently fighting it out in their usual fashion. Neither seemed quite willing to let the other quite get the advantage and were just about ready to call this is a draw. Well, one of the them was.

"Why won't you stop following me?!" Alice screamed as she fired another round off. "Can't you see how little good this is doing either of us?!"

Yet, Elena did not answer. Instead, she grabbed hold of the gambler and pushed themselves through into the next dream. But unlike the ones they had passed through already, this one seemed... different.

It was a graveyard of sorts, lined with tombstones with names the gale corsair didn't recognize. But in the middle of it all, was an open hole. She watched Alice make her way over to the hole and choose to stand right at the edge of it.

"Just do it." Alice screamed and dropped her guns to the ground. Elena gave her a confused glance, unsure of how this all fit together with what she knew about the gambler. "Here's your chance! Do it!"

"No."

She made her way over, wrapping her arms around Alice.

"What are you doing?"

"Giving you a hug."

Alice looked away, but she accepted the embrace.

"Why? I've spent the last hour or so trying to kill you." the gambler announced and stepped back, only to still find herself within the grip of Elena's arms. "I'm guessing I should tell you at least."

The two sat themselves down, making sure to not fall into the open grave.

"As you already know, I wasn't quite honest about my identity." Alice started and let her gaze fall to the ground. "I keep telling myself that I was Alice Zwingli, the orphaned German doll turned gambler. Of course, I then thought the best way to push it out was to cut their brakes and let some poor sap do the rest of the work for me."

She shook her head, possibly debating the consequence long after the dreaded deed was done.

"I failed quite miserably on that front, my parents surviving the crash. Round that same time, I started hearing 'her'."

"Suiko?" Elena inquired and Alice nodded.

"At first it was just the occasional remark while I was playing cards or she would show up in my dreams." Alice continued, not noticing her friend scoot in closer. "But it started to become more frequent as time went on. So I shut her out, choosing to pretend that she wasn't rule. And that worked for a time. Until that stupid jester came in."

The gambler took a deep breath and let her gaze rise a little.

"She claimed to know who was behind the crash, so I played along. Had I known what would've happened, I doubt I would have taken her up on the offer."

Tears began to roll down her face with each word. Both girls now sat mere centimeters from each other, as if they were ready to take the next step in all of this. But not yet.

"I don't like girls." Alice announced, not at all noticing Elena roll her eyes or the extreme lack of confidence in her voice. "I rather kiss Joey over her... maybe."

"Really now?"

Both girls turned around, finding Jestery standing before them. She had acamera up to her face, more than ready to take a photo of the two lovebirds. It wouldn't surprise if she had already done just that.

"Give it a chance." the jester added as she made her exit. "You never can quite know where love will turn up."

The world began to spin all about, eventually dumping the two girls in front of their teammates.

When everything finally did stop spinning, they found themselves embracing in front of their teammates.

.

"That's pretty much the general gist of what happened." Elena explained.

"Aww..." Lily remarked and got a cautious glance from both girls as they got up. "That's good to hear."

The gale corsair gave a nod, only to follow it with a deep breath. Her attention then turned to Alice, who had one of her guns out. Out in the distance, one could just make out the faint figure of Suiko.

*Are you ready to finish this?* Suiko shouted and Alice stepped forward.

"Yes." the gambler answered and took a deep breath. "I'm going all-in this time."

The rest of the group made a quick glance towards Alice, possibly wondering what the heck was even going on. Yet, both of the girls gave each other a nod and fired a single shot. For what seemed like an eternity, the whole world seemed to move in slow motion. By the time either projectiles were in range of anyone, they had somehow managed to either miss or were on their way to a different target.

"Get down!"

Out of instinct or maybe some other feeling, Alice pushed Elena to the ground. In the process, their lips meant as the bullet whizzed right on by.

"You idiot!" Alice shouted and began to shake the gale corsair about. "You've already taken enough bullets from me alone."

She let out a deep breath and shook her head. In some respects, it felt like this girl was going to be the death of her. But at the same time, she was fine with it.

"I'm part digimon." Elena responded and made a quick glance towards the impact wounds that were scattered about her body. "Though, you probably have a point."

As she finished saying that, Alice began giggling.

"Look who grew up." the gambler remarked and got up, Elena right behind her. "Maybe there is some hope for you yet."

Once more, she carefully aimed her gun and fired. Once more, time began to slow down as the projectiles flew through the air.

But unlike the previous round, this bullet missed its target completely as Suiko began to grow transparent. Strangely, she then floated her way over to Alice and returned to her home in the gambler's body.

"Are you alright, Suiko?" Elena inquired, only for Suiko to poke her head out.

*Yeah.*

She let out a sigh of relief.

"Now that we've got that settled, how about we give ourselves a team name?" the gale corsair announced. "I was thinking Delta. Does anyone have any objections?"

The rest of Delta shook their heads, not wanting to argue at this particular moment. With that out of the way, they made their way up to the edge of the island and were lifted up into a rift of sorts.

Except for Alice and Elena at that particular moment.

"Is something wrong?" she inquired and watched Alice dig through her pockets, pulling out a pocketwatch. Compared to one Elena got at the start of this arc, this one displayed a black nekomata in a position to embrace someone. Yet, it had a leathery texture to it with a bigger surprise coming when the gambler opened it.

Inside, 'someone' had gone through the trouble of slipping in a photo of the duo when they were at the graveyard.

"I guess I should check mine as well."

Elena pulled her pocketwatch out and cautiously opened it up. Inside it was a similar story to Alice's, with the only real difference being that the timekeeping mechanism was actually functioning on hers.

They both took a deep breath and slipped the devices into the pockets of their outfits. With that, they made their way towards the rifts and let it pull them up.

Alice's gaze focused on the gale corsair.

She had gone all-in on the river, hoping to come out lucky winner. But in the end, it was Elena Yuliana who won her. And maybe, that wouldn't be so bad.

Notes:

What was originally chapter 25 is now the 26th with the last bit added after the editing for the other chapter was done.

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Next Time: Silent night, holy light...