"This is amazing" Luca beamed as she floated around with Ghostmon right on her tail. Gazimon and I watched them from our seats at the edge of the bottomless void.
We'd arrived at the internet right outside the website. I'd shown Luca the basics of internet exploration, as well as a couple more advanced tricks. She was a quick student once she was actually doing things hands-on.
As a bit of a reward, we decided to check out the Skybucks website. I figured I could let her explore for a bit on her own while I kept an eye on her from a distance.
As it turned out the Skybucks website lived up to its name. As in, it was a massive coffee shop floating in the sky. The 'first' floor was a fancy looking cafe with representations of everything they had on the menu. The upper floors were a collection of corporate offices which were the career and more official parts of the website. It also had a giant globe which could display the location of every single Skybucks.
But the coolest thing in the building was in the 'basement', which only got the name due to the lack of windows and being directly underneath the cafe. It was a single giant room containing what I could only call 'the machine', a giant contraption of shining bronze, glass, steam, pressure valves and tracks all devoted to a single function. Making every and any kind of coffee you could think of.
I had to physically drag Luca away from it before she burned herself alive on a steam exhaust. Last thing I needed was her getting hurt. My reputation was enough as is, thank you very much.
Now, I said it was the coolest thing 'in' the building. That was because right outside the building was an endless blue void filled with fluffy white clouds. Which you could apparently float in. Something I only found out after Luca and Ghostmon gave me a heart attack.
"You know, I could get used to this stuff," I tore my gaze off Luca and Ghostmon to look over at Gazimon who was holding a cup of coffee, probably filled with milk, sugar, and who knew what else. "Might need to go for a real version next time though. This digital version is okay but, digital recreations of real food are always missing something."
"Probably not going to happen. You don't exactly have the money, and you can't just walk in and order one." I pointed out as she leaned forward on the table.
"What, you mean you wouldn't get them for me when I asked you to?" She faked a pout as I rolled my eyes.
"You've seen my budget, you think I have enough to start buying from Skybucks?" I argued back as she dashed to my side and grabbed my arm in a hug.
"Come on, I want some." She complained as I looked up and a smile broke out on my face. "It's not like I'm asking you for the world here."
"Okay then, maybe I could go to Skybucks every now and then… if you agree to listen to my every whim for the next week." Ha, there was no way she was going to go for this. Her pride wouldn't let her. And just like planned, she gave a real pout before reaching out for her cup.
"Only one day, but it's before every cup." Oh come on, Gazimon, you were supposed to have more pride than that.
We kept bantering for a while, negotiating over what my 'whims' would entail when we finally noticed Luca and Ghostmon standing next to us.
"Hey, Mr. Gabriel, Ms. Gazimon… I have a question," I raised an eyebrow and looked her over. She was blushing and looking down at the ground. Ghostmon was standing right behind her, arms on Luca's shoulder and snickering quietly.
"Sure thing Luca, ask us whatever you want." Gazimon asked with a strangely gentle smile. The more I watched her interact with Luca and Ghostmon, the more I noticed another side of her. It was fascinating to witness.
"Well are you and Mr. Gabriel boyf…"
Whatever she was about to say was cut off as I heard something whizzing towards us. Gazimon and I jumped out of our chairs and tackled our younger counterparts to the ground as a red orb flew over our heads. It landed further ahead and exploded on impact, sending a wave of heat and force rolling over as I used my body to block Luca from the worst of it.
Once the blast wave passed, Gazimon and I leapt back up and scanned our surroundings. Standing in the distance was a tall man next to what had to be a digimon. The man was heavily muscled, with a white shirt which didn't do much to hide anything. Across his neck was a golden chain and his fingers were covered in gold rings.
Next to him was a smaller being, maybe around Gazimon's size. It had green skin and red hair, as well as a long wooden club with a couple of nails hammered into it. It wore a collection of brown cloth scraps in the shape of a vest and shorts.
"Huh, better reflexes than most," he grumbled as the digimon next to him created another fireball in its hand. Luca and Ghostmon got back up as I put myself between the younger human and the newcomers. "Goblimon, hit them again."
"You got it boss, Goblin Strike!" the digimon threw the fireball up. My eyes widened as it got ready to smack the fireball with its club like it was a baseball bat.
I grabbed Luca and ran off the platform. The older man actually flinched as I let myself float over the void, the other three quickly floating after me. The fireball impacted right behind us as I led us to the exit.
We made our way through, escaping onto the internet. From there I could send Luca and Ghostmon back into the material world while I dealt with our new problem.
"Okay Luca, you and Ghostmon head back and…" we all froze in place as we arrived at the outlet we'd used to get into the internet. It was gone, wrecked, and smashed to soot covered pieces. Looked like those guys had already made it here.
"Already ahead of you on that one," we both turned to find the man sneering at us from the entrance of the Skybucks website, "Sorry brats, but your little monster friends have to go. If you hand them and those little white things, I'll let you both go."
"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Gazimon and I scowled at one while speaking in unison.
"Ghostmon, get Luca out of here." Gazimon commanded as I futilely reached for my pockets. Despite my deepest wishes, they were empty with not a card in sight. I'd hoped that I'd brought one along by sheer accident, but it looked like I kept them at home like I thought. It wasn't like I was expecting to run into a fight here.
"But what about you two?" Luca asked as Ghostmon wrapped her arms around Luca and started floating away.
"You just worry about yourself right now Luca," I called out to her as she headed down the tube away from us, "Leave this guy to us, it's not our first time in a fight."
It was actually our 3rd time, and we'd only won one of those due to having every advantage, but she didn't need to know that.
Luca was halfway down the tube when I looked back at the two newcomers and the fireball in the little digimon's hand.
"Ghostmon dodge!" Gazimon screamed as I ripped my jacket off. The digimon hit the fireball with its club just as I took aim with my bundled up jacket. The two impacted in the air and exploded, the smoke clearing to reveal a burnt jacket on fire.
"I don't suppose we can talk this out?" I kept my eyes right on the two. Couldn't risk keeping my eyes off them at this point. "Why do you want our digimon and digivices anyway?"
"Wow… I think that's the first time one of you brats even thought to ask me that. Maybe because you're older than the other three." The older man actually smirked as the digimon took aim with another fireball. "Not that it'll matter."
Another fireball came flying towards us as Gazimon and I split up and advanced on the pair. We ignored the explosion from behind us as we got right into their faces. Gazimon was within claw's range of the green digimon, while I was within…
Was that a gun?
"So are you going to…"
I fell backwards and allowed myself to float downwards at the same time. Before I could even register what he was saying, I was already bringing my foot up in a swift kick.
I felt the tip of my toe smash into the bottom of his hand as his arm went flying up and a single gunshot rang out.
Despite all of the explosions, it was the loudest noise I'd heard all day. My ears rang as I rolled over and got back to floating straight up as fast as I could. The older man had his mouth open, like he was screaming something. He was distracted, and he was still aiming straight up.
I raced forward, grabbing onto his arm and keeping it pointed upwards. A couple more shots rang out, making more holes in the top of the tube to match the first one. My ears were ringing, but I had to keep going. Forget the claws, and the club, this was the most dangerous weapon here. At least the fireball had enough of a startup to avoid it.
I grit my teeth as a shadow fell onto the two of us. I braced myself as the shadow reached us. I only dared look up after I felt something grab onto the older man.
It was Gazimon, her claws holding onto the older man's other arm and keeping it in place. She was saying something to me, but I couldn't hear a thing. Too much ringing in the way.
I glanced over at the small digimon, and smirked. He had a big trio of scratch marks going down its front. He also seemed to be taking aim at the three of us with a fireball.
I looked up at the older man and saw him moving his mouth, his eyes locked onto the small digimon. The smaller digimon was either ignoring him or unable to hear him, because he tossed the fireball up and I saw my chance. I climbed up his arm and grabbed hold of his gun and wretched it from his hand. I took aim and threw it right at the fireball, hoping this wasn't a horrible mistake.
The gun and fireball met in the air, causing a small explosion. By the time the smoke cleared, the ringing in my head was gone and the gun was a charred ruined mess. It looked like the bullets had blown up inside of it and warped the metal in the handle.
Gazimon and I met glances and threw the stunned man forward. He flew through the tube and collided into the little digimon as Gazimon and I both floated backwards. With any luck, this guy wouldn't have a second gun.
He recovered and got back up, staring right at us as he started flying towards us, his digimon right behind him. I glanced back and weighed my options. I supposed this would work out for us. Keep him busy while giving Luca time to run away.
I grabbed onto Gazimon who looked ready to fight and dragged her back. She said something which I could just barely understand before I pulled her back into the Skybucks website.
We landed on our feet as Gazimon took a second to get her bearings. Once she was back on her paws, we took off running, nodding to each other as I quickly looked back just as the older man burst his way into the website.