Another chapter out of the way! Have some fluffy stuffs.
Making his way back into the residential area of the Disc Zone, Shoutmon first went to find and apologize to Lunamon for having to leave mid conversation just to chase after the wild child. Walking back to where he and Lunamon were chatting he was relieved to see that Lunamon and Cutemon were still chatting together.
"Hey Lunamon, sorry for leaving you, this wild child just continues to cause trouble." Shoutmon apologize
"Don't worry about it at all! More importantly, is he alright?" Lunamon asked
"Yeah, what happened to Gumdramon?" Cutemon also questioned
"He didn't pay attention to where he was running and he ended up running into one of the mountains. Now he's unconscious, but he should be fine." Shoutmon explained
Just at that moment Taiki and the others came over to where the three Digimon were as Taiki was the first to notice the unconscious purple dragon.
"Hey Shoutmon, what happened to Gumdramon? Is he alright?" Taiki asked, slightly concerned
"He ran into a mountain and knocked himself unconscious. He's still quite the wild child." Shoutmon chuckled
"Sounds like Tagiru, those two really are two peas in a pod." Taiki laughed
"Yeah we really ar-Hey! I don't run into things all the time!" Tagiru retaliated
"That's true, but you still manage to knock yourself unconscious somehow when we play basketball." Yuu smirked as he shrugged
"Shut up!" Tagiru fumed
They all laughed as Tagiru yelled at Yuu, after all it was true. Both Gumdramon and Tagiru were two peas in a pod.
"Anyway, maybe Gumdramon should return to Tagiru's Xros Loader till he wakes up." Taiki suggested
"No!" Shoutmon answered a little too quickly. "I-I mean, If it's alright with you, Tagiru, I'll watch him for now. I-I need to talk to him about something once he wakes up." Shoutmon slightly stuttered, a light blush spreading across his face. He was fumbling over his words trying to make up for his too quick answer.
"Oh? Yeah sure, it's fine with me. Let's just hurry and go to the Shinobi Zone! I want to try the DigiNoir there." Tagiru beamed
"Alright, hold your horses." Shoutmon said before turning to Lunamon. "We can talk some other time, alright Lunamon?"
"That's fine." Lunamon nodded "You have other stuff to do, we can always talk when you have free time."
"Of course. Anyway I'll see you later Lunamon." Shoutmon smiled before walking over to Taiki, entering his Xros Loader along with Gumdramon. Cutemon following suit as he entered the Xros Loader after waving to Lunamon
"Bye, everyone!" Lunamon waved as the group left
Opening a portal to the Shinobi Zone, the 5 humans then traveled over to the zone, landing just right outside the village as they entered. Once there, Shoutmon piped up to ask Taiki to let them out of the Xros Loader.
"Hey Taiki, let us out!" Shoutmon exclaimed
"Right, reload." Taiki nodded as he reloaded Shoutmon, Gumdramon, and Cutemon out
"Let's go get some DigiNoir! The Shinobi Zone always has the best DigiNoir!" Cutemon cheered as he started running into the village.
"Wait for us, Cutemon!" Akari called out as she followed after the small pink Digimon
"You guys go on ahead, Im going to wait until Gumdramon wakes up." Shoutmon suggested, looking at the purple dragon he was carrying on his back.
This took Taiki by surprise a bit. Sure since Shoutmon became King he obviously didn't eat as much like he used to, but he usually never refused DigiNoir when offered it.
"Are you sure, Shoutmon?" Taiki asked, looking at his partner
"Yeah, just make sure to save us some DigiNoir too." Shoutmon answered with a nod
"Alright, we'll see you in a bit then. Be careful to not get in any trouble." Taiki warned
"Kind of hard not to when one of the two of us is the wild child. Trouble is always bound to happen somehow." Shoutmon laughed
"Well you're not wrong, just try to stay out of trouble. I'll be sure to save you guys some DigiNoir." Taiki said before running off to catch up with the others
Watching Taiki disappear into the village to catch up with the others, Shoutmon then found a nearby tree as he sat in the shade of the tree. He then moved Gumdramon from his back and placed him on the ground next to him. The next thing Shoutmon knew, he was petting the smaller dragon's head. He had to admit, when Gumdramon wasn't causing trouble and just peacefully resting, he actually looked kind of cute. Smiling, Shoutmon continued petting Gumdramon's head, though it didn't take long for him to realize what he was doing. Feeling the heat rise to his face again, he stopped petting Gumdramon's head as he shook his own. What the hell was he thinking? Thinking Gumdramon actually looked cute? He had to be going crazy. He could feel his heart racing slightly. He couldn't possibly have feelings for the purple dragon, could he?
Lost in his own thoughts, Shoutmon's heart skipped a beat when Gumdramon began to stir beside him, finally waking up.
"Ow my head...What happened?" Gumdramon asked as he sat up
"You ran into one of the mountains in the disc zone and fell unconscious." Shoutmon explained "After that I carried you back and we then headed over to the Shinobi Zone, which is where we are now."
"Ousama!" Gumdramon exclaimed, backing away slightly realizing he was right next to Shoutmon even after trying to get away from him earlier.
"Is your head alright? You did run straight into a mountain after all." Shoutmon asked placing his hand on Gumdramon's head
As soon as Shoutmon placed his hand on his head, Gumdramon could feel his heart racing again. Shoutmon was actually worried if he got seriously hurt or not? Sure that was normal for Shoutmon to worry about others but Gumdramon didn't know why this felt...different. Realizing he hadn't answered, Gumdramon blushed and pushed Shoutmon's hand away.
"Y-Yeah im fine! Don't need to worry about me, Ousama!" Gumdramon grinned trying to ignore the sound of his own heart pounding in his ears
"If you say so." Shoutmon nodded "I also have another question to ask you."
"Hm? What?" Gumdramon tilted his head slightly
"Why are you jealous of Lunamon?"
The purple digimon froze, his face turning redder, as he stammered out in a protest "W-What are you talking about? I-I'm not jealous of her!"
"Gumdramon, I literally heard you yelling at Cutemon earlier..." Shoutmon sighed "Just tell me the truth, it's obvious something is bothering you."
Looking away from Shoutmon, Gumdramon frowned as he looked down at the ground. Meanwhile, over in the Monitamon village, Taiki and the others have finally gotten some DigiNoir to snack on as Taiki sighed.
"I'm kind of worried about Shoutmon, he usually never refuses to eat DigiNoir." Taiki said
"He's just worried about Gumdramon probably. Isn't Gumdramon kind of like a little brother to him? It's not that surprising that he's worried." Akari insisted
"Yeah! They should be fine, they'll probably be here any minute." Tagiru agreed
"No, I think it's something different, earlier Gumdramon was acting weird too. I think he was jealous of Lunamon or something. Then he ran off when Shoutmon came over to talk to him after he yelled at me." Cutemon recalled to the group
"Well, what ever it is I hopefully they can resolve it." Taiki said while munching on more of his DigiNoir
As the others continued to snack and chat, Cutemon was curious as to what could be taking Shoutmon and Gumdramon so long. Making sure the others were distracted he slipped off back in the direction outside the village. Back over to where Shoutmon and Gumdramon were, Shoutmon was still trying to get Gumdramon to tell him what was bothering him so much without much luck. As a last resort, Shoutmon put on the puppy-eyed look.
"Oh come on Gumdramon, it's not like the world is going to end if you at least admit you're jealous. Plus I want to eat DigiNoir soon." Shoutmon whined
"Why the puppy dog look...?" Gumdramon thought as he felt his heart racing faster, Shoutmon actually looked cute with that look of his face. Gumdramon cursed to himself for falling for that look, but he couldn't stay here forever. Plus he was starting to get hungry as well. Looking away from the red dragon, he finally answered.
"F-Fine, maybe i'm jealous of Lunamon...a little bit." Gumdramon stammered
"And why are you jealous of her?" Shoutmon pushed on a bit further
"It's...I-I don't know..." Gumdramon just shrugged
"Just tell me later, Gummy. Let's just go get some DigiNoir before Tagiru eats it all." Shoutmon suggested
Both of them froze for a moment as a bright red blush spread across Shoutmon's face. He didn't know why he called Gumdramon, Gummy, it just happened to slip out. Gumdramon blushed as well, feeling his heart pounding. Shoutmon gave him a nickname, a cute one at that. Gummy...it sounded like a candy that could be found in the Sweets Zone.
"A-Anyway let's go!" Shoutmon stammered before turning and heading in the direction of the village
"Right! Okay.." Gumdramon nodded following behind Shoutmon, thinking to himself. He really wanted to know if Shoutmon liked Lunamon "that" way.
He knew he had to ask now or he'd never get his answer. Reaching out, he grabbed Shoutmon's hand and tugged him back to stop him.