The following was a secret santa gift for hallowed-nebulae on Tumblr. I would say I'm sorry, but not really.


Rina was bored. Really, really bored. So bored in fact, that she had long grown tired of being bored of being bored and was now bored of being bored while being bored. She would consider that a personal accomplishment, but that was perhaps selling herself short here.

"Mirei, can I go somewhere?" she announced and got a look from the dimensional traveler. Petting her cats, an eye roll followed. In retrospect, grabbing Rina after her last stunt had been perhaps the stupidest thing she had done. Beyond pretending that her partners weren't gay, of course. The latter required just an apology to rectify. The former wasn't as easy of a problem to fix. At least, not in a timely manner or without purposely creating trouble for some would-be hero/heroine with digimon to fix. Or in some cases, digimons to fix. Or was the plural to digimon just digimon. Whatever it was, the answer would likely not be able to fully satiate the monolith of boredom that sat squarely in her mind. No, she would need to dig even deeper to solve that problem.

"No." Mirai answered and reached out to pet tailmon. Feeling the feline digimon lean into her, it was only a matter of time before the cries to be fed echoed across her little pod. One of the few constants she had going on for her life.

"What if me and Veevee were on our best behavior?" Rina countered and found herself treated to a glare from her host. Yes, she and her partner had managed to get themselves tossed out of every establishment they managed to enter. But this time would be different. She absolutely knew it. She and Veevee would be on their best behavior and they would make it through a whole meal without some kind of trouble occurring to them or the owner of the establishment. Rina knew it. Not that Mirai was even going to attempt to see it from her perspective. No, so focused on her cats that she was unable to see the bigger picture.

"You dress yourself like you're on your way to a strip club and need to get it all off in a short period of time. Every time I tell you to cover your top, you claim 'I'm just jealous' of your assets. I am not. If I wanted to gaze, I would just watch my partners make out." Mirai answered, Rina getting down on her hands and knees. Part of her wanted to be surprised, but that was far from the case. This was Rina's first skill she used while begging. Slightly better than when she let Veevee out to wreck everything. Never was that the best plan. Nor did she want to clean up any messes this idiot caused her. There was always the option to start taking it out of whatever money Rina had. "Secondly, you haven't compensated me for wrecking the place the one and only time you had a root beer."

Rina let out a growl. Much she be reminded of that stupid mess?

"But that's all in the past! I can promise that I'm a changed woman here." Rina countered and Mirai raised an eyebrow. Obviously she knew the answer to that question. Perhaps there was a way to kill two birds with one stone here? Or would it be solving two problems in one swoop? Yeah, that sounds right.

"Okay. Then head through that portal and successfully order a meal." Mirai announced and Rina began jumping up and down. Shaking the pod about, Mirai took this as her opportunity to get up and head over to the transporter. Bringing a keypad up, it was a cinch to punch in the exact coordinates necessary to make this possible without Mastemon. Probably would've been a good idea to grab her other partner before doing this. Oh well. "If they tell you they don't have food, question them further until you know for certain they don't have food."

Rina nodded and stepped onto the teleport pad. Giving Mirai a wave, she was warped out of the pod. Waiting a couple moments, Mirai shifted her focus over to tailmon. Licking her paws at the moment, her eyes met that of Mirai's.

"Mirai, I'm hungry!" tailmon announced and got a look from their partner. Leaning forward, they got them a nose flick in return. Tailmon stumbled back, but managed to get her balance and glare.

"You're bored, not hungry." Mirai countered and got an eye roll from the feline digimon. Pushing back, that accomplished pretty much nothing. Afterwards, her gaze turned to the spot that Rina had just gone through.

"Creepy people eating lady, please leave Jestery's realm and never come back." a voice announced, Rina reappearing on the teleport pad. A towel had been placed over Rina's chest, making all the paper streamers over her body all the more obvious. No sign of Veevee, but that could be chalked up to Rina's partner being forced back into the digivice upon entry of her pod. Just a safety precaution to prevent fights

"What if we don't?" Rina announced and shook her fist in the direction of the teleporter. So what if she had mistaken the scary tall lady for someone who made candy?. That was an honest mistake that any could make. But to threaten to eat her alive was completely uncalled. Regardless of her suspicions of that being Mirai's end goal with her when she was no longer useful to her. That was so far out in the future that it wasn't something to worry about right now.

"You know, maybe we shouldn't taunt whatever entity is capable of warping people back." Mirai answered and got a look from Rina. Leave it to the gung-ho dimensional traveler to be insistent on taking every challenge that came her way… regardless of said opponent being so out of league that it was almost hilarious. If it wasn't so sad just thinking about it.

"But she started it!" Rina shouted, her accusations falling on deaf ears as Mirai pressed some buttons. Yeah, grabbing blacktailmon before coming here would've been a good idea. If the trio were lucky, this next jump could be close enough to grab her and then take off to somewhere very far aw-

The sound of a large object stabbing into the side of the pod echoed in. Ignoring it for now, she pressed the last button. The pod racked about a couple times, the sound of their attacker's frustrations muffled by them shooting off from this dimension and into parts unknown.

"Where are we going now?" Rina shouted and got a sigh from Mirai. Was that really the most important thing that came to her guest? Instead of the possible treat that she could have caused by pissing them off. No, that was asking too much from Rina. If it didn't involve food or heroes, then she wasn't interested in the slightest. A shame. She could do with opening her horizons.

"Does it matter? Somewhere that isn't here." Mirai countered, Tailmon walking over to Rina. Rubbing against her leg, that got her a pet in return. Then it was over to her girlfriend.

"Veevee and I want to eat something and you've been an awful host in not providing any sustenance." Rina announced and found herself met by two sets of feline digimon eyes. Taking a reluctant step back, she split her gaze between all three people. "If anything, Mirai is the one at fault for trying to get me killed by that giant lady! You shouldn't have told me to keep asking!"

Mirai rolled her eyes. While she had mentioned that to Rina, that had been intended more as a joke than anything serious.

"You're right. I shouldn't have told you that." Mirai answered and shot her partners a look. Moving their focus away from Rina and over to each other, that washer cue to continue looking at the dimensional traveler. "To make it up to you, I'll go with you next time. How does that sound?"

Her words rolled out, Mirai very much aware of the implications in telling Rina that far in advance. Watching her light up, a smile mire formed on her face. Maybe this way, she could actually keep a handle on the dimensional traveler. Or come close to getting herself killed. But if they were lucky, they would get their meal and all would be good. Hopefully.

"You will?" Rina answered and jumped up and down a couple times. Mirai nodded and looked over to her partners. Getting an eye roll, she motioned for both to come over. Tailmon and Blacktailmon ignored her. The closest she got to an acknowledgement that they had heard her was an eye roll. Meeting that with a sigh, Mirai walked over.

"I won't feed you two if you don't come." she announced, both feline digimon jumping from their perch and down to the pod's floor. Getting a pet right after, Mirai pressed a button. The pod came to a stop, their destination unknown.

"Am I allowed to go down first?" Rina inquired and got a nod from her host. Turning around to face the exit, she waited a moment to be pulled through. Once the dimensional traveler had, Mirai approached the pad. Her digimon partners followed right behind. Mutterings of hunger echoed about the pod, but their cries fell upon deaf ears.

"You better not be lying to us." Tailmon announced and stared up at Mirai's head. Getting a couple pets, it was then Blacktailmon's turn to look up in the hopes of getting some form of attention from her human.

"No fair! I've been left outside for much longer than she ever was!" Blacktailmon complained, only to be met with a couple pets of her own.

"Better?" Mirai cooed and felt both feline digimon rub against her. Tempted as she was to give them more pets, that also meant leaving Rina to her own devices for far longer than needed. Waiting a moment, the trio was teleported out.

.

On the other side, Mirai found herself standing in the middle of an empty road. Not a building in sight, the only scenery being that of cacti and other desert plants. She had seen worse places, but this wasn't anywhere close to the best either. Somewhere in the middle here.

"There doesn't look to be anywhere to eat." Rina announced and was met with an eye roll from Mirai. Leave it to her to fuck this up. If she didn't know any better, the dimensional traveler would've thought she was trying to kill her. But that was as far from the case that one could get here. Much like her, she too had been separated from her world. Unlike her, that had somehow netted her a sweet pod capable of traveling around wherever it was needed. What she would give to have something similar. That way, she didn't have to continue bumming a ride from her to get places. Just thinking about it made her even more jealous of her host. But Rina pushed those thoughts back. Looking around a couple times, she tried her best to find anything resembling a structure. But the only thing she could see was more empty roads. Turning back to Mirai, that was Veevee's cue to come out from the digivice.

"Did I miss something?" Veevee announced and looked around the desert road. Finding nothing, his gaze turned back to Rina and Mirai. "Uh… now what? I was promised food, but there is no food here as far as the eye can see."

Mirai let out a sigh. Was that all anyone ever talked about here? Just once, she wanted to start a conversation that involved food? Every once in a while. Especially if the other person wasn't a mute capable of telepathically sending messages to her while miming the words. Though, she wouldn't mind knowing their secret. That could be awfully handy in the right situation or just serve as a good way to get the drop on those constantly asking for food in the hopes of better satisfying them. Or maybe even pull a prank or two. She liked the sound of that.

"We're getting to that." Mirai announced as her partners did a circle around her body. Reaching down to both feline digimon, it was quite a challenge to pet either of them. But eventually, the deed was done.

"Mirai, can we just fly off and desert you all?" Blacktailmon announced, only for Mirai to pick them up. Shaking them a couple times, back down the ground they go. In their place is tailmon, who is treated to something similar for even thinking an idea that dumb would somehow fly.

"Hey, she was the one who suggested it. Why are you punishing me as well?!" Tailmon announced as they were waved around for Veevee and Rina to see. After a couple seconds, Mirai set her partner back down and turned to Rina.

"Which way do you want to go?" she announced and watched her companion take a moment to look in both directions. Far as they could make out, the desert stretched on for some time with no signs of any civilization. But considering that someone had built a road, they had a place to go. In turn, they needed a place to get gas. Or in other words, a gas station. Which were the first sign of civilization and in turn, food. A flawless plan if she had seen one. The only thing that could make this any better would be for a car to appear so they could drive towards said station.

"That way." Rina announced and shot off, Veevee following right behind. Mirai let out a sigh. In retrospect, she should've expected this to occur. Rina was probably right on the money, but that didn't stop her from jumping head-on into any situation. Motioning for her partners to follow, Mirai did her best to keep up.

At first, the only thing the pair and their digimon could make out was sand. Lots and lots of sand. Occasionally a cactus stuck out to break up the monotony, but it was so far away from the road that it did little in the way of actually serving as a landmark on their journey towards the elusive gas station. Same with the tumbleweeds. Though, their movement made it impossible to actually track. Let alone follow. Not that any of them wished to do that.

"I wonder what kind of food they have at the gas station." Veevee announced and looked over to Tailmon. Getting a shrug, the feline digimon walked over to the veemon. A shake of his body followed.

"Probably something using sand and cactus knowing our wretched luck." Tailmon answered and got a look from Veevee. There was no way that someone would actually use something like sand or cactus in a dish. Let alone one intended to be consumed by humans or even digimon. Tailmon had to be pulling his leg. All that time spent with Mirai had corrupted her. Sort of like the rumor that Mirai ate people. Why else would people bring someone with them whenever they entered the pod? Absolutely baffling. But he pushed that thought out.

"That sounds disgusting." Rina added and looked over to Mirai. All that got her was a shrug from her companion.

"You don't want to try a crunchy meal?" she joked and found herself faced with a look from everyone. Leaving it to them to get fixated on food once more. One of the frustrating constants around her. Especially as the road continued on for who knows how long with no end in sight.

"No, I don't want to be picking sand out of my teeth for the rest of eternity." Rina answered as she put a hand above her eyes. Gazing about the area, she let out a sigh. Still desert as far as the eye could see. She had hoped that they would be closer, but that wasn't looking to be the case.

"Still nothing?" Veevee asked and Rina nodded, bringing her hand back down. Digging into a pocket, out came a digivice. Shaking off the dust and lint, she stared at it briefly. Having served her faithfully over the years, she knew she could count on it in a time like this.

"Maybe if I have you digivolve, we can check faster?" the dimensional traveler suggested as she pressed a button on her digivice. Bright blue light shot forth, slamming right into Veevee. Launching him up into the area, the veemon found himself held there as a blue pillar engulfed his body. For some reason well beyond her, that was Mirai and her partner's cue to stop and gawk at it rather than actually digivolve.

"Veevee digivolve too… Ulforceveedramon!" Veevee announced as the pillar of light dissipated. A large armored digimon stood in his place, scanning the desert from their limited view.

"See anything?" Blacktailmon called out, Veevee trying his hardest to make out the black cat digimon. Easier said than done with his massive height difference and the distance between them.

"Lots and lots of sand." Veevee answered and copied his partner. Leaning forward slightly, he did his best to make out something more substantial. There couldn't be just sand and cacti. Someone must have built somet-

Out of the corner of his eye, he could make out a small cluster of buildings. Arranged neatly with roads and signage, this had to be their destination. If not, this was some kind of cruel trick by way of that person they passed off. But they couldn't have followed them here, right? That would be incredibly silly and scary at the same time.

"Surprise! Jestery read your thoughts and is now here to kick your asses!" a voice announced, bringing with it a large beam right down the middle of the road. Mirai and Rina dodged out of the way, while Veevee and Mirai's partners chose to duck down - easier said than done when you're a massive armored mega digimon. Veevee did his best, but the laser still struck his side. Right as it dissipated, of course.

"Good job, Veevee." Tailmon announced as Mirai scooped her up. Shooting her partner a look, the feline digimon jumped out of her arms. "Now will you both digivolve for me?"

Mirai rolled her eyes and shot the road ahead a glance. For now, it looked like the laser and 'Jestery' were taking their sweet time to attack them again. That was more than enough time to get both of her partners digivolved, but perhaps not reach Mastemon and force them out of the evolution.

"Do it." she announced and both digimon floated up. Standing up straight, cocoons of black and white light respectively engulfed their bodies. Even from her limited perspective, Mirai could clearly make out fur giving way to skin and in turn - humanoid bodies. Quite tall ones at that.

"Angewomon!"

"LadyDevimon!"

The cocoons shattered and revealed both ultimate digimon. Staring in the direction of their target, the pair shot off. Letting out a sigh, Veevee stared in the direction of his companions. No fair that they got to go at speeds that he could only dream of going at. But at the same time, that speed came at the cost of being extremely frail should they take a hit.

"Hey! Don't leave me behind!" Veevee added and sprinted down the road. Doing his best to keep Angewomon and LadyDevimon in view, that also meant having to dodge the incoming beam as well. Or would've, if he hadn't stepped off the road and let it pass by him. In retrospect, that probably would've been a good idea the first time around. At the very least, Mirai and Rina had taken this as their cue to get off the road to avoid getting hit. Once they had, their attention turned to Jestery. A colossal woman, she towered over Mirai and Rina and then continued too reach up towards the sky. Dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit, blue paint splotches had been splattered across the garment with little in the way of rhyme or reason for their inclusion. orange peep-toe heels hung to her feet, blue laces all tied up nicely. An oversized court jester hid quite a bit of her head, leaving a set of violet eyes to stare out towards them.

"What's the meaning of all of this?!" Mirai announced and found herself faced with more laughter from their opponent. By no means a 'proper' answer or an explanation, it was still something.

"You really thought you could just drop someone off and then let dear old Jestery tear her apart, didn't you?" Jestery countered and dived forward, easily avoiding all three opponents as she headed for Mirai. Bracing for impact, Mirai did her best to think over the available options. There was no way that she could dodge out of the way. This Jestery lady was far too fast to allow that. The option to convince her to get Rina instead was on the table, but Mirai doubted that Jestery would actually take the bait. No, the only option she had right now was to weather the blow and hope to someone that she didn't get massively hurt or thrown all the way back to the pod.

"I'm forced to babysit this brat. Cut me some slack." Mirai countered and raised her arms up. Bracing for impact, she found herself thrown not as far as expected. Scrambling back up to her feet, Angewomon did her best to rain down celestial arrows. Only one managed to hit Jestery.

"How rude!" Jestery announced and ripped the arrow out. Throwing it to the ground, she took a moment to grind it to dust. Then it's back over to Mirai. Slapping her across the face, the jester floated over to Rina. "Now, what the heck am I going to do with all of you?"

Rina rolled her eyes. Motioning to Veevee, she watched her partner focus on Jestery. Saber pulled back, it was relatively easy to have the weapon connect with her body. But all that accomplished was his weapon passing harmlessly through.

"Oh. Were you trying to hit me? You're so cute. But I'm sadly not adopting any children at the moment." Jestery answered and kicked the blade back. Didn't stop Veevee from trying once more. This time, she just slapped it away. "The fact that Jestery of all people has to come out of retirement to deal with you all should be saying something sad."

Another eye roll. This time from Mirai of all people.

"Do you think any of us actually care?" she announced and headbutted Jestery's chest. Why did it have to be her to respond? Rina would definitely be better for this situation. But no, that was asking too much.

"Yes. You're creating a massive mess here. Once you inevitably leave, Jestery will have to be the one to clean it up." Jestery announced and kicked Mirai's side. Or at least tried to in this instance. If one counted missing your target by mere centimeters as a 'try'.

"Get away from her!" LadyDevimon screeched and flew towards her opponent. Shooting out a bunch of bats, the fallen angel digimon chose to go with an uppercut to follow it up. Smashing right into Jestery's chin, LadyDevimon felt her entire body grow heavy. Trying her hardest to fight that feeling, that just made the feeling intensify.

"Oh. So Jestery is the bad girl for attempting to protect this place? Fine then. Don't say that Jestery didn't warn you that this would happen." Jestery announced as she closed her eyes. Putting her hands together, energy gathered around the appendages.

"Crap." Mirai announced and looked over to Angewomon. Motioning for her partner to come back, heavy winds began to blow across the desert road. Mirai did her best to weather them as she watched her partner head back to her. While that happened, Veevee scooped his partner up.

"Rina, are you alright?" he announced and Rina nodded. Looking down at Mirai, a sigh echoed from her lips. In her defense, they were both equally at fault here. Right now, they need to get out of this mess and regroup. Perhaps even get a proper meal. Odd as that was to think about

"Here goes nothing!" Mirai announced and let out a deep breath. Gaze split between her partners, she got nods back. Her partners shot up into the air, swirling around and getting in as many kisses they could muster in the face of these heavy winds. Two bodies gave way to one, a cocoon of black and white light formed up in the sky. A white feathery wing and a black demonic wing pierced through the cocoon, flapping in place as further changes occurred within this egg-shaped confine. Cracks began to form across the cocoon, gray light shooting out.

"Evildoer, prepare to face your sins." a voice announced as the cocoon shattered to reveal Mastemon. Jestery's eyes remained close, but had begun humming a tune. Not that her opponents recognized it. Even if they had, it didn't matter.

"She isn't even fazed. What the heck is up with her?" Veevee whispered as Mastemon focused on Jestery. Hands pointed at the jester, a swirling beam of black and white light shot forth. Heading right for their opponent, silence fell over the arena. This was it. Should this fail in one way or another, they were very likely going to be in for a world of hurt.

"Reflect." Jestery announced and opened her eyes. Sparkles appeared in front of her body, the beam shooting back towards Mirai and her companions. Trying their hardest to run away, the heavy winds prevented them from making any meaningful progress. Especially once the beam met them and a portal appeared. "Goodbye. It was nice getting to make an appearance or something."

Her words fell on deaf ears, the opponents pulled through before they could hear that. Not that the jester minded in the slight. Last thing she needed was any back talk here.

.

On the other side, Mirai's eyes flashed open. The interior of her pod stared back, unchanged by all that had occurred.

"We're back in the pod. For real, this time." she muttered and stood back up. Looking over to Mastemon, she found both of her partners in a heap. Letting out a chuckle, Mirai focused on Rina. Much like Tailmon and BlackTailmon, they too were also in a heap. But this looked like more of a nap. "Let's get somewhere else."

Walking over to her control panel, Mirai took a seat and pressed some buttons. If she was lucky, they would get out wherever they were without a single muttering about food and/or being hungry. Wishful thinking, even as she pressed the necessary buttons.