I'd do a rotation, but it'd put my plans in a spin. So a few weeks for one story, a few weeks for another, whatever one feels the right one to post. But, here's chapter twelve, and after this, I've got work to do and a nap to take. *Peewee, the highly epic miniature Demon Kiwi, sits on my head and sets his head down, sighing quietly before snoring through his nostrils* Right then.

Disclaimer: I, Lord Genesis Shadow, do hereby state that I do not own the rights to Digimon. If I did, it'd be of lesser quality than what they currently have… I think. I haven't seen it, and don't have an opinion.
…

"Hey, Mao, wake up." Riley said. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake-up-wake-up-wake-up!" She continued for a minute so I reached out and put my hand on her head, and she made a clicking sound. I looked at her as I lowered my arm.

"We have the next two weeks off." I said tiredly. She was silent, so I put my hand on her head again.

"Percy says we're gonna train." She said. "Arthur told me to wake you up." I looked down at my clock and picked it up and looking at the time.

"Six thirty…" I said tiredly. "He turned off my alarm."

"You got to bed late." She said.

"And you came over." I said. She nodded as I looked at her, and I saw Harry nodding with her. I yawned as she held up my belt, so I took it as I sat up carefully. She moved back and I dropped to the floor and put my belt on. "Percy and, the others?" I yawned again as they shook their heads.

"They're on their way." She said. "Mrs. Rowe said she's offering the house as a base, if we all behave." She walked out of the room fairly quickly with her arms held out like wings, and Harrigan followed like a shadow. I shook my head and yawned before walking out of the room. By the time I got to the stairs I was still almost fully asleep, but at the bottom I smelled sausage. I walked over to the door and saw Riley eating while Harrigan was sitting in the front room. I saw a pair of trays on stands, so I looked at Mara.

"Good morning." She said. "I'm almost done with the hash browns." I walked in and Arthur lowered a cup, which I took and began drinking. Fresh squeezed orange juice. When I finished it, Mara held out a plate. "Here you go, and…" She handed me another. "One for Harrigan."

"Thanks Mara." I said gratefully. I walked out with the plates as Harrigan put a piece of sausage between the spaces of the mask, and the fork came out clean. I put the hash browns on his tray and mine before climbing up. "Good?" He nodded quickly and I heard him swallow. "You won't find better." He was silent, as always, but after a moment he nodded again. I looked at his plate as he put the last of the sausage in his mask, and he quickly went about cutting up the hash browns. I took a bite of mine and sighed.

"Amazing." He said quietly. It was just barely audible.

"She could be on that Iron Chef show." I said. "Probably hold her own against Masaharu Morimoto." He looked at me, but nodded.

"Heard me?" He asked, just as quietly as before. It was below a whisper, like he was barely breathing when he spoke. I tapped my ear.

"Optimizer." I said. "Great ears." He nodded and looked at his now empty plate. I looked at mine for a moment and smelled more sausages. He looked over as I looked at him, so I put some of my sausages on his plate, and he seemed surprised when he looked at me. "She makes a lot. The next batch won't be done for a few minutes." I put my plate down.

"Thanks." He said. He quickly began cutting them to fit and I ate mine pretty much whole. I loved sausage links, but sausage in general was one of my favorite breakfasts, but a thought hit me as I quickly swallowed.

"Uh, word of warning, they might be, fireball hot." I said. He looked at me and sniffed a piece, but ate it. After a moment he ate another. "And here I thought I was the only non-dragon fire eating Digimon." He continued eating until a knock at the door preceded it opening. I looked over as Daisy walked in and looked over. "Hey. Just in time for breakfast." She laughed as she walked over, and Scott flew in past Annabelle while Percy walked in after him.

"It smells wonderful." He said.

"Your plates are ready and warm." Mara said. "Scott, yours is in the front room, though you might want to Digivolve first." Scott landed and Percy laughed, pulling out the card. "Good thing we have Digivolve grade surge protectors." He swiped the card as Daisy walked over and looked up to the third spot on the couch, beside me, and I held my hand out. I helped her up as Harrigan picked up a glass with a straw, carefully, and the straw disappeared in the mask.

"Thanks." She said. I nodded as a bright light filled the room, followed by the usual call out from Digivolution. When it faded, Kelly cheered.

"Yay!" She called. "Awesome!" Scott laughed and set his staff against the wall by the coat rack, and he looked over at a chair before walking over, but he looked at me.

"I didn't even know you were all coming over." I said. "No time to convince Mara to give you napalm." He laughed quietly as he sat down and moved his tray. Mara walked in.

"Who's ready for seconds?" She asked. Harrigan raised his hand quickly, and I saw Riley sitting up higher.

"I think Riley must have skipped dinner last night." I said. Mara laughed after putting sausages on Harrigan's plate, and mine.

"I have enough for one last time, for your friends." She said kindly. "Enough for Daisy and Scott, and those without superpowers or, new levels of 'awesome' to aspire to." I held up my fork.

"This cooking could stop a raging Black Wargreymon." I said. "That's awesome beyond all measure." She laughed as Harrigan nodded quickly. She walked back into the kitchen and gave Riley more sausages as Scott made a sound.

"If she were to try, I'd wager she would prove you right." He said. Daisy ate a sausage and nodded.

"It'd stop any bad Digimon and turn 'em good." She said. I ate more of my sausages while Harrigan quickly ate his. "Hey, slow down, you're gonna make yourself sick." He slowed down a little while Scott looked up.

"So, Mao, about that new, technique." He said. I looked over.

"I have a few." I said.

"Bug Blaster." He said.

"I call it Laughing Shot." I said.

"Yes, that's the, issue." He said. "When you used it, you, laughed. Thus the name?" I sighed.

"You heard that Keramon laughing." I said. "I just used a copy with double power. What does that tell you?"

"Be that as it may, what possessed you to laugh like a madmon?" He asked. Daisy looked at me, as did Harrigan. I just shrugged.

"I copy an attack, it makes me act like the user, kind of." I said. "Dark Bubble, Imp Breath… Boom Bubble and Pepper Breath. I use your Rookie attack or that one, and it makes me blow up like a balloon or spit fire like a dragon." He nodded slowly. "Bug Blaster makes me laugh. You know the other name for it? Crazy Giggle. The code behind it, makes me laugh like I just heard a joke I know I shouldn't be laughing at."

"So, it's the attack?" He asked. I nodded. "You used it with your revolver, though… How, did you do that?"

"Redirect the code as energy from my mouth to my hand, filter it into Baffle, and into a bullet." I said. "I do the same with my Badda-Boom Shot. I can either fire it from my finger, or from Baffle." He nodded and looked at his staff while Harrigan looked over as well.

"You, are definitely creative with your attacks." Daisy said. "Hey, Scott, could you do that with your Hand of Fate? Like, put it in your staff and just, clobber a guy with it?"

"Possibly…" He said. "I'll try later. For now, I assume Riley mentioned that we're training, Mao?" I nodded.

"After she did her impression of an alarm clock." I said. "Chanting 'wake up' over and over… It works though." Daisy laughed. "Where are we going for it? And are we still on call?"

"No, we're not on call." He said. "Think of it this way. Every few weeks we go to two weeks off." I nodded and ate my hash browns. "If we're close by, we can go and handle it, but they'd prefer we only do so if we're able to respond faster than other agents." I nodded again. "So, for now, we're going to go to a little training place near the mountains." We all looked at him. "It's mostly a way to train our bodies, for a week. We'll have to come to an agreement whether or not to stay up there or just go to and from there each morning, or some stay and the rest go, that sort of thing."

"I wouldn't mind staying." Daisy said. "Er, depending on, what it's like up there."

"Speaking of, what's it like?" I asked.

"It's actually a martial arts temple." He said. "I will try to remain in my Champion form as much as possible, Harrigan as well, and if you feel like it, Daisy, so should you… As for you, Mao…"

"I think I could manage…" I said. "Just, one week though?"

"Well, perhaps longer, if they'll allow us." He said. "Um, yes, Harrigan?" I looked to see him pointing at his shinai. "Yes, I'm sure they'll allow that… They might even train you to use it a little more, proficiently…" I looked at the kitchen before finishing my breakfast.

"Mao?" Arthur called. "You get all of that?"

"Training at a temple." I said. "Yeah. Sounds like a blast."

"Yeah, one week or two?" He asked. The others laughed.
…

I adjusted the uniform as the man looked at me. He laughed quietly after a moment. I didn't blame him. A dark purple gi with a plum belt holding it closed, on a purple skinned digital imp who wore red fingerless gloves and a red neckerchief with a blank tin star… I'd have to get a picture later.

"Normally, we save these for children, like your friend Riley." He said. "Luckily we had one in this color for you." It was comfortable, and simple. As luck would have it, it was temple for kung fu. It was actually pretty awesome. At least, according to Daisy, Harrigan, and Riley.

"Well, I bet you had a harder time with Harrigan." I said. "Big lizard-man with axe bracers, now wearing a cool orange gi? Did he lose the sleeves yet?" He laughed again and gestured, and I followed him out.

"As per your friend Percival's explanation, you will train with some of the other Tamers here." He said. "As odd as it may seem, coincidental some might say, Tamers often come here to train, and cleanse their spirits. To that end, it is also a good way to bond with your Tamer, and all of your friends."

"And it doesn't hurt to learn how to defend ourselves." I said. "Especially Arthur. His fighting style is…" He looked back and I made a couple of fists, throwing a few punches. "The same fighting style everyone starts out with." He nodded and smiled a little. "I guess I'll be training with the Rookies?"

"Actually, all who are just starting will be together in the beginner's class." He said. "It is only fair." I nodded as we walked out, and I saw Harrigan talking to Scott, and the man laughed. "As you thought, he has removed the sleeves… Fortunately, we are happy to give our uniforms to students. If he needs another, we will give him as many as he needs. Hopefully, it will not be many."

"I hear th-that…" I said. I saw a Togemon wearing the pants, but not the gi. It had to be Daisy. "Wow."

"Um, yes, that was, a surprise…" He said. "Even she did not think that the pants would fit… Add that she does not remove the gloves… She may be limited in what she can learn, but she still wishes to try. I wonder if she can remove the gloves." I thought for a moment and she looked over, gesturing. "I hope you enjoy your time here."

"What's not to enjoy?" I asked. I gestured to the uniform. "This is the most comfortable clothing I've ever worn, I'm learning to better protect my friends, and most of all, there's a very quiet, serene place, to gather my thoughts. Not only will I enjoy my time here, I think that whenever we have time off, we'll be back to continue learning." He laughed as he walked away, and I walked over to the group.

"Looking sharp." Riley said.

"It looks good on you." Percy said. "Good thing it's yours, oui?" I moved my tail a little and nodded.

"Yeah…" I said. "And it's comfortable…" I looked up at him and he laughed. "I'm more surprised they had one in your size." He laughed as Daisy looked at me.

"Cool gi." She said. I smiled.

"Cool pants." I said. She laughed quietly, or at least quietly for a fourteen foot tall cactus. After a few moments, the instructors called everyone to the training area and we took our spaces among the other Digimon, and Daisy was to my left, while Scott was to my right. We watched the instructor and he took a pose, so we all followed. As we followed him, I saw that the variety of Digimon was, low. Species-wise, there was a good number, but as far as type went, there were more Vaccine than anything, a dozen Data types, but what made me curious was that there were only three Viruses, including me. 'Most of our calls have been for Viruses… There are a lot coming through, but not a lot doing so to find any humans. I wonder…' I put the thought aside and moved my feet close to the teacher's rhythm. After a few minutes, I smiled. It was actually relaxing.

"This is quite, soothing." Scott said quietly. "We could practice like this later after work."

"It's a great way to wind down after a long day." I said. "I'll go for it." After twenty minutes, we had gone through several different motions, nothing that could be dangerous if sped up, but still pretty cool looking. We were done, so we bowed to the teachers. As we went to our little groups, I sat down by a garden and Daisy sat near it as well. "That was fun."

"Yeah." She said.

"I think staying here for the week, if they'll let us, is a good idea." I said.

"Yeah." She said after a moment. I smiled a little. "Good for blocking." I nodded. "Doubt we'll learn how to fight, for a few months. Good for relaxing and blocking."

"Yeah." I said. She laughed, but it was as deep voiced as expected, and kind of slow, but I laughed with her. After a few minutes, Scott walked over with a Gatomon. "Hey."

"Mao, Daisy, this is Lena." He said. "She is here with her Tamer, who has apparently taken a shine to our friend Arthur." I blinked and looked over to see him talking with a girl in a pink uniform. "Lena, this is Daisy, who is normally, around your height." Lena laughed. "And this is Mao, obviously, your height." I held my hand out as I stood up, and she put her gloved paw to it.

"N-nice to meet you." She said.

"A pleasure." I said.

"Her Tamer, Sarah, was wondering about what it's like to work for the DGA." Scott said. "I'm concerned Arthur might try to glamorize our work." I sat back down as he got into a resting pose, which Lena nearly mirrored.

"Tell me it's not all, fast car chases and battles." She said. "I need to tell her that it's just, a job." Scott looked at me. "Scott says it's like being a police officer, but, that's just what he says, no offense." He held his hand up.

"I understand." He said. "Mao? I'm hoping you'll tell the truth about this." I put my hands behind my head.

"Well, no car chases thus far." I said. "But we've been agents for just under three weeks, and I was off duty due to orders after an injury for a few days… More or less, it's a few fights here and there, but there's a rotation, so once in a while we'll handle minor things, help out, but we're all always on call to show up at Bio-Emerging Digimon if we're in the area, even if we're technically off for a couple of weeks." She nodded slowly. "But no, it's not all action and car chases. At best, a few battles a week, drive to and from the emergence, and some paperwork now and then, and Percy takes care of that."

"Good." She said. "I'm sure that'll make her see it as a real job, not just some, romanticized career." I nodded and looked toward the back of the temple, toward a waterfall. We were in the group to meditate under it later on. "So, uh, I heard about an Impmon, that uses a pistol?" Scott put his hand to his helmet.

"Oh dear." He said quietly. I put my hands on my knees.

"Well, yeah, that'd be me." I said. I patted my belt, though Baffle was in Arthur's backpack. "I left said pistol where it wouldn't bother anyone. But, yeah, I carry a good gun."

"Why?" She asked.

"He's not a normal Impmon." Scott said. "As you're aware, there was that massive data upgrade, giving all Digimon proper genders, but it also updated us all in other ways. New attacks, new powers, and in some cases, entirely new species." She nodded. "Mao is one of them. Not an Impmon, but a subtype called 'GunImpmon'… Before Daisy says it, because I get the feeling she will." Daisy was silent, but put her gloved hand to the back of her head. "If you have heard about it, it is true, that Mao can, with a well placed shot, kill Champion level Digimon." She looked at him and then me. "And once, with my aid, he dealt the finishing blow to a Myotismon."

"Scott wore him down, a lot." I said. "If he hadn't have weakened him, I'd have been dead meat. But thanks to Scott's perseverance, and a few lucky shots from me and one from Scott, we put down a dangerous enemy." She smiled as he hid one. "Yeah, it's not exactly all deadly epic battles day in and day out, but now and then, there are some fights worth calling 'storied'."

"Hey, Mao." Arthur called as he walked over. "We should head toward the waterfalls. They'll start soon, and we don't want to miss any tips." I nodded and got up, as did the others. "Uh, you're, Lena?"

"Yes." She said. She held her paw up to him. "You must be Arthur."

"I am." He said. "And don't worry, Sarah understands we're not 'epic' warriors of justice." They both laughed. "But, she still wants us to put in a good word. We'll have to see if you have what it takes. But, since you're a Gatomon and not a Salamon, that should make things easier."

"Champions are strong…" She said. "But apparently Mao is stronger." I put my hands behind my head as Scott went to speak.

"Actually, I'm weaker than some of the lower level Champions." I said. "At best. I just, double the power of my offense moves to do more damage. Apparently that's enough to kill a Champion and at least wound a mid level Ultimate."