Chapter 14: A Vixen's Proposal

Renamon groaned as she sprawled out on her futon inside Rika's room. Her muscles felt like lead weights keeping her body glued to the floor, as they had felt ever since the training session with Seth that she had insisted on.

"Feeling alright there Renamon?" came the voice of her tamer from where she sat by the rooms center table going over her digimon cards. The redhead had an amused smile on her face as she gazed upon her Digimon's tired form even as she cataloged the many cards she had in her hand.

Renamon sighed from her position on the ground before replying "I feel sorer than after the fight with the Ice Devimon."

Rika flinched at the bitter memory of that battle but shook herself out of it "Really, I thought it would have been a pretty normal day for you considering all you did was spar against that Flamedramon."

Renamon shot Rika a glare though it had no real venom behind it "It would be normal if Ruby hadn't been a very well trained digimon that has been training under Seth for years. She was physically stronger than me and matched me in agility. I never thought a Flamedramon could be that flexible, the only advantage I had was speed and even then landing a hit was considerably difficult."

Rika gave a sympathetic hum before looking back to her digimon cards "Well you are the one who asked to be trained by him so you can impress Takato."

"Don't try and tell me you're not interested either." Renamon stated as she saw her tamer stiffen up. "I've seen the way you look at him Rika, it's the same look Kari, Gatomon, Jerry, Alice, BlackGatomon, and even that Lillymon that kept checking on him while he was at the hospital. Takato is the kind of male that attracts many would be mates, I'm not surprised you find him attractive."

Rika looked uncomfortable as she sat at the table staring down at its surface "It doesn't matter, you like him and I'm not going to stand in your way of pursuing him."

Despite her tamers words Renamon knew she was slightly jealous and bitter about allowing her to have Takato to herself, thankfully that didn't have to be the case "You know I don't really see why you don't pursue him. For digimon powerful males are expected to have multiple mates, so I am completely fine with you pursuing him so long as you are willing to share" Renamon stated looking for her tamers reaction.

She was not disappointed as Rika's head snapped to her direction with her mouth mimicking a fish, unable to formulate a response right away. Finally after a couple minutes Rika finally rebooted her mind enough to form words "Y-you actually alright with me trying to date him while you do the same?"

Renamon nodded "Yes, I expect Gatomon, BlackGatomon, and that Lillymon would have no problems with it either. You might have some trouble with Alice, Kari, and Jeri but I don't think any of them have made a claim as of yet so as long as you do so first you should be fine" Renamon stated allowing the gears in Rika's head to turn and contemplate the offer she had just made.

Let it not be said that Renamon didn't care for her tamer.

XXXXXX

Takato readied himself for his first day back to school after his hospitalization, even though he had only just begun to attend he was already counting down the days to summer break which was only two months away. Nearby his partners stood by the door waiting to leave with him for the day. Today was peculiar in that instead of taking Grani or the bus he was actually waiting for Seth to pick him up and take him to school. Takato didn't even know he had a car.

A honk outside let Takato know Seth was outside and so giving a nod to his partners they walked out the door and toward the silver 2016 BMW M6 Gran Coupe parked in front of the bakery. Opening the back door for his three partners Takato then opened the passenger door and eased himself into the black leather seat. "So… nice car" Takato stated to Seth who was in the driver's seat.

Seth for his part shrugged "It's only a League vehicle for employees, my car doesn't have room for five."

Takato rose an eyebrow before asking "And when will I see that?"

Seth looked toward him as he pulled out onto the street "The day I don't also have to transport two dinosaurs and one feline digimon all with very sharp claws around Tokyo streets and traffic." Takato acknowledge the truth of Seth's words and sat quietly as Seth drove them to school, he had a lot to think about to himself anyway.

Just the day before Takato had not only learned about the existence of SWORD but had also been inducted into the group. What followed was an hour and a half long briefing about the current state of affairs and objectives of SWORD.

XXX Flashback XXX

"…and while each country has a response team of FANG units close by, the introduction of anti-digimon weaponry to the regular forces is still only just underway." Yamaki explained as the now five SWORD operatives listened. "As it stands in the event of another Sao Paulo at minimum the target country will be able to field at least a company of ADW equipped personnel. For now the United States, Japan, China, and Russia are using their navies to provide a more substantial QRF if the need arises. Thomas how is the R&D division doing?"

Thomas stepped forward while adjusting his glasses "Our current project is the completion of the Digi-scape system." Thomas saw Takato's confused look before explaining "The Digi-scape system is a new computer program that creates a small pocket dimension in the digital world. This pocket dimension can only be accessed by a specific program that can be stored into a Digi-vice or D-ark. The public version is going to be given to tamers and Digi destined and allow them to have a private area to train with their digimon. We are also looking to expand the application to include making areas where Tamers can meet each other and create social areas for them to enjoy their time in with their partners." Thomas explained before hesitating "That's the public version however, privately we are also making the same program allow the League to have large bases that cannot be seen or attacked by an outside party. By having these bases in cyberspace we can actually stage forces them and deploy them to any location with a receiving station almost instantaneously. We are also using the Digi-scape for training our forces."

Takato suddenly spoke up "Wait, don't we already have those underground training areas already?"

Thomas nodded "Yes, however those cost a lot to maintain and we are now phasing them out for the more versatile Digi-scape. The bunkers are now being turned over to the cities as emergency shelters."

Yamaki nodded "Excellent news, Adrian your report?"

The brash champion of Zhuqiaomon sighed before addressing the group "Overall DIALED is struggling to keep up with the recent demands. More and more Digimon are appearing in the real world that we can't account for all of them. In the meantime criminals are eager to get their hands on the digimon for money or power, combine that with the Digimon's lack of knowledge on the seedier aspects of human civilization and their need for a partner… well you have a recipe for disaster. Now to be fair since we went public with the League's different branches we have seen much more public awareness and an increase in officer applications. However the criminals already have a network of contacts and informants that we are struggling to keep up with, hell just yesterday we narrowed down the location of a digimon smuggling ring here in Tokyo."

Tyler looked up at his words "When does DIALED plan to move on it?"

"Tomorrow at 1300, we waited to find any contacts they had and information on their supply chain." Adrian replied.

Seth nodded "I think I'll tag along with a few people to show them the grittier side of life."

Adrian nodded "The help would be appreciated we have no idea how many digimon will be inside and how many armed hostiles there are." Seth nodded in thanks before allowing Adrian to continue his report. "In conclusion, DIALED is understaffed and unprepared to handle the demands of starting a global police network, the data indicates that in the next four years we will be drastically increasing our staff by 600%. While our offices now have anywhere from six to twenty officers per major city we hope to have at minimum forty officers per office. Obviously we will need substantially more funding to expand our facilities and officer pay."

Yamaki nodded "I'll get in contact with the UN, together we should be able to get you the funding you need." Yamaki glanced around before giving a nod in satisfaction "That is all we need to go over, until next time you are all dismissed." After Yamaki's announcement the holograms dissipated and Seth stepped forward to collect the ball that emitted them.

XXX Flashback End XXX

Takato finished going over the memory in his head just as Seth pulled up and parked in the school's parking lot. The two humans and three digimon got out before making their way to the school building. Thankfully the two where early meaning there were very few students who had arrived allowing the group to head to homeroom without having to answer a lot of questions.

When the two reached the door they were greeted by the sight of Shade waiting patiently just to the left of the door way. As they approached she seemed to perk up at the sight of Seth who gave her a slight smile and stroke on the head before they passed through the door and made their way to their seats only to find that the usual desks had been replaced by tables that could seat four comfortably.

Takato quickly realized that the tables where to allow students digimon to sit with them in class instead of laying on the floor. He supposed that this was likely an attempt of the school to treat digimon as people instead of pets, a change he whole heartedly agreed with. Takato made his way toward the back corner as always and quickly took a seat with his digimon quickly filling up the three other remaining seats. Seth meanwhile took the table nearest him after dragging a pair of beanbags from the back to the table for Shade to lay down on much to the Sangloupmon's delight. Takato found himself again surprised that the schools staff had the forethought to get beanbag chairs for the larger digimon to use since somewhere too large to fit comfortably in the chairs.

As the two humans waited with their partners and after Guilmon opted for a beanbag after finding the chair uncomfortable, their teacher Ms. Asaji came into the room and upon seeing them immediately made her way toward Takato to make sure he was okay to come to class. After he assured her that he was find she gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze and told him she was happy to see him. Afterward she had talked to Seth a bit about staying after class during lunch to go over some curriculum changes to the school the League wanted passed. Seth agreed and Ms. Asaji happily went to the front of the room to prepare for class.

Soon enough other students started filtering in and while most upon seeing Takato became hesitant and shot him curious glances from where they sat, others made their way over and said their congratulations for getting out of the hospital as well as thanking him for helping defend the school. It was an honestly nice change of pace from when everyone treated him with either fear or hatred. Inevitably however one of the first Tamers came in and saw Takato, thankfully as luck would have it the tamer was none other than Rika Nonaka and her partner Renamon.

As soon as the two saw him they made a bee-line for his table practically knocking over a few students in their haste. Takato heard Seth give a chuckle from the next table over and shot him a glare before focusing his attention to the two who had stooped next to him. Before he could get a word in edge wise he suddenly found himself being sandwiched between a relieved red head and vixen who were doing their best to kill him via hug. He also couldn't help but blush at the combined sensation of feeling both Rika and Renamon's breasts that he could feel through their shirt and fur respectively. "Note to self, today was a good day" Takato thought before Rika's voice brought him out of his own head.

"You dumb goggle-head! Do you know how worried we were over you? Next time don't throw away your shield!" Rika asked/chastised him sounding torn between relief that he was okay and annoyance that he almost wasn't.

"It was foolish of you to attempt to fight that many opponents alone Takato. Next time remember that you have myself and others here to help you." Renamon chastised but squeezed a little harder as if assuring him she forgave him.

Takato gave a resigned sigh before lightly returning the hugs as best he could "Sorry, I'll remember that next time."

"You better" Rika stated before releasing her hug and regarding him with a pointed look "or else I'll have to pound you into the ground and hammer in the point." After Takato nodded in understanding Rika made her way to the closest available table after telling Takato she would see him at lunch.

Renamon stayed back again before leaning over and placing a soft and sensual lick on Takato's cheek away from the sight of most of the class minus Seth who gave an amused smirk. "I've heard that you maybe claimed by another digimon but in the digital world polygamy is expected of strong individuals. If you don't get yourself hurt again maybe I can show you the benefits of that perk." Renamon whispered seductively into his ear before looking toward BlackGatomon. "I'd like to talk at lunch if you could." BlackGatomon nodded her assent with a pleased smile and Renamon turned and followed Rika but not before brushing her tail along Takato's cheek and chin, all the while putting a little extra sway in her step.

"Damn, she wants you bad." Seth stated with undisguised amusement and praise. Takato for his part, could only sit there trying to wrap his head around what just happened like the rest of the class who had seen Rika and Renamon's interaction with him.

Takato shook his head before glancing over at Seth "She was just flirting."

Seth shook his head before launching into an explanation "Takato I dated a Renamon before, what she just did was propose to you. Renamon who haven't mated before save themselves until their heat comes over once a year. Before their heat however they propose to their desired mate by doing what Renamon just did with you, it's basically a way for the Renamon to communicate to her desired partner to stick around until the females heat cycle."

Takato just stared at Seth wide eyed before movement out of the corner of his eye drew his attention to the front of his table only to see the frowning face of Ryo. Takato prepared himself for another confrontation before noticing that Ryo seemed hesitant about being in front of him, something that was out of character for the normally fearless Tamer.

Ryo seemed to collect himself before finally addressing Takato "Look I know where not exactly on good terms but I wanted to say good job on saving that Kari girl." Takato gave the Tamer a surprised look before Ryo continued "I know I may have come off as a little arrogant but I do care about the other Tamers and Digidestined here, so when I saw you saving her I felt kind of bad for always giving you a hard time" Ryo explained before extending his hand. "So can we let bygones be bygones and try to get along, at least to help better protect the others here?"

Takato regarded Ryo's determined expression for a couple seconds and found no deceit in his eyes. Slowly he reached out and grasped Ryo's hand "Yeah, it would be better if we were all on the same side. My name is Takato Matsuki, I am partnered with three digimon currently and they are all virus types. I am a member of the League and can transform into a Mega level digimon."

Ryo gave a slight smile as the pair shook hands "My name is Ryo Akiyama currently the rank one Tamer in the Global circuit, I'm partnered with Cyberdramon and we are part of a group who have been called the First Tamers. Let's work together and make sure nobody hurts our friends and classmates."

As the pair shared a moment of camaraderie Seth watched on with an intrigued expression and couldn't help but think to himself "Even if you don't realize it Takato you have an astounding impact on the people around you. I just hope it's enough to weather the coming storm." Seth thought before glancing out the window "The future will definitely be interesting, very interesting indeed."

Aaannndddd Chapter! Hello all, I know you were expecting this a little sooner but been busy with life stuff.Anyway I'm already writing the next chapter so I will defiantly be able to get you one more chapter before I switch to updating the next story. The next chapter we will get to see some training and some Takato and Kari interaction so till next time remember to Stay Frosty and don't forget to review!