Disclaimer: For all the love I have for Digimon, it is not mine.
A/N: Sorry for the wait! Finally we are going to the digital world! Anyways, the song featured in this chapter is Dance Inside by All American Rejects, I recommend playing the song in the background when it makes its appearance! (Or just play the whole Move Along album as you read the story)
Natsuhi spun the pen between her fingers distractedly. Her mind was preoccupied with the incident from two nights ago. Despite her initial alarm of Yamato knowingly or unknowingly cuddling up to her, the long day took its toll on her and she eventually drifted off to sleep. By the time she woke up, she was the sole occupant of the room. All Yamato left behind was a note and breakfast on the table.
Honestly, nothing has changed, or if something had, both she and Yamato are both doing a stellar in job in keeping up appearances. They continued to exchange messages as per normal, sharing useless happenings of their day. But she knew, she knew, there was an unspoken tension between them. Heaving another sigh, Natsuhi traded her pen for her phone without an objective in mind. As if reading her mind, seconds after she picked up the gadget, she received an incoming call.
"Hm.." She quirked an eyebrow at the number displayed on the screen. It's not one that she was familiar with. Shrugging she picked up the call anyways. "Hello?"
The next words that came through the other side of the line sent Natsuhi's eyebrows beyond her hairline, "Are you fucking serious!?"
It took a lot to get the usually indifferent Natsuhi to display any visible signs of excitement, so the fact that she was walking with a bounce in her steps was telling. As she jogged up to the elevator of the hotel, she played back the unexpected phone call she received last night.
"Natsuhi? Wallace here! I'm sorry I'm calling so late, hope I didn't disturb your sleep. I was wondering if you want to go to the Digital World tomorrow?"
Bewilderment was her first reaction. "Are you fucking serious!?"
Wallace chuckled on the other end of the line, "Black? Afraid not mam," he joked.
Natsuhi swallowed a groan, "You know I'm not a digidestined although I hang out with them right?"
An amused laugh rang across the line, "You know not all the field agents at the research centre I work in are digidestined right?"
As the lift ascended the different levels, Natsuhi allowed herself a small excited squeal. She was going to the digital world! Taking a deep breath in front of the door, she knocked and waited for it to open. Her lifelong dream was finally going to be fulfilled.
Yamato ran his fingers through Sora's hair absentmindedly with a sigh. To the right of him, Taichi was skipping rocks as he stole not-so-subtle glances at the sleeping girl. 5.30am really was too early a meeting time. Scattered beneath the tree were other digidestined, all rubbing sleep out of their eyes.
"Mimi, when did Wallace say he's arriving?" Miyako asked, stifling a yawn. Unlike the other digidestined couples, her boyfriend was unfortunately, absent. In fact, the only second generation digidestined who were present were her, Hikari and Takeru. She shrugged inwardly, oh well, what could she do, there were university entrance exams to study for, and Daisuke, unlike Hikari and Takeru who received direct entrance to their chosen university, needed all the help he could get. Just her luck that the help came in the form of one Ken Ichijouji. Iori too had his own high school entrance exams and was unable to join the gathering,
Stifling a yawn of her own, Mimi, checked her phone for the time, "He should be here anytime now."
Speak of the devil, the retro television sat near the tree glowed a glaring white and two human figures emerged.
"Sorry I'm late! Set-up for the side-along transporter took longer than I thought," Wallace explained with a sheepish smile, hand behind his head.
Mimi immediately surged forward, all sleepiness forgotten to give her friend a hug, Koushiro trailing after her. The rest of the digidestined also got up from their respective spots to greet the final member of their little crew. All except Yamato, whose gaze was focused on the figure behind the American digidestined. He could recognize that silhouette anywhere. As if sensing his glance, Natsuhi shot him an excited grin, sticking her tongue out sheepishly as she did.
She was here, in the digital world. Yamato felt his brain give out in an attempt to reconcile the idea of Natsuhi, a non-digidestined, and her presence in the digital world. Yamato was not the only one who noticed Wallace's tag-along however and it wasn't long before Natsuhi was mobbed by the remaining crew. Gently shaking Sora awake, the couple, joined by Taichi, made their way over to the new arrivals to give their greetings.
"How should we do this?" Wallace asked as he gestured to the two black jeeps that sat not too far from the meeting point. He had pulled a few strings with the headquarters to get the vehicles for the day's outing.
Taichi,Sora and Yamato huddled together naturally, while the other couples did the same, making three groups. Alas there were only two cars. Takeru moved to join his brother, only to be held back by his girlfriend. After exchanging hushed whispers, Hikari pulled Takeru and Miyako towards Mimi, Koushiro and Jou.
"We will go with Jou-senpai's car!" Hikari announced cheerfully.
"That leaves Natsuhi-san and I with Taichi-san's group then," Wallace stated with a smile.
The first group made their way towards the jeep noisily, a stark contrast to the awkward silence that hung about the second group.
"So, who's driving?" Sora piped up as they approached the car. The remaining four individuals exchanged uncertain glances. Unlike Mimi's group, where only Jou had a driver's license, everyone besides Sora could drive.
"I'm used to driving on the other side," Wallace stepped down.
"I don't know the way," Natsuhi shrugged.
That left Yamato and Taichi. The two best friends looked at each other, a grin slowly forming on their faces.
"Best two out of three?" Taichi asked with a smirk.
"I thought you'd never ask," Yamato replied with a smirk of his own.
Sora rolled her eyes affectionately, boys.
Two black jeeps sped along the open fields, the rising sun painting the roads gold.
Natsuhi, stood, bracing the metal frame of the car with an excited gleam in her eye as her hair ran wild with the winds. Wallace quickly joined her, followed by Taichi.
"This is awesome!" Taichi exclaimed as the adrenaline rush of standing on a speeding jeep hit him.
"Becareful not to fall," Sora chided from her seat in the shotgun as she too admired the stunning view.
Taichi stuck his tongue out in reply.
Yamato, who won the scissors-paper-stone challenge by default when they realized the car wasn't an automatic, chuckled at the interaction. He then stole a glance at his other best friend. Natsuhi had her usual poker face on, but the undeniable quirk of her lips and excited gleam in her eyes betrayed her feelings. Fondness welled up within Yamato and he decided he wanted to drag a bigger reaction out of the girl.
"Plug this in for me and press play for me will you babe?" Yamato asked as he passed Sora his phone without taking his eyes off the road. The redhead nodded, and All-American Reject's Dance Inside filled the car.
The reaction was instantaneous. Natsuhi whipped her head to look at Yamato with a surprised stare. Yamato shot her a knowing grin. This was the highway playlist they made together for the band's road-trip the year before. Almost instinctively, Yamato began tapping his fingers to the bassline of the song, and Natsuhi followed suit, drumming the beats on the frame of the car.
"You don't have to move, you don't have to speak," Yamato sang along.
"Lips for biting," Natsuhi's joined in in harmony.
The two exchanged glances and smiled, it's been a while since they've jammed this song together.
Wallace, who didn't know about Natsuhi and Yamato's music background looked at them surprised, meanwhile Sora and Taichi leaned back to enjoy the music. The music complimented the scenery perfectly. It was golden hour, and sunlight was, as the name suggested, perfectly golden. The grassy fields, still damp with morning new glistened, creating a field of tiny gold flecks. The best part though was the wind, as the jeep sped along the open road, the cool morning breeze rushed by them, sending hair sweeping.
Shifting gears, Yamato, prepared to increase the speed of the car to match the upcoming chorus.
"I'll be fine, you'll be fine, this moment seems so long. Don't waste now, precious time, we'll dance inside this song," the two sang together; an awkward blush shared between them as they approached the intimate lyrics of the chorus. Just as the song hit the second verse, Yamato floored the accelerator.
Sora clutched onto her seatbelt, while Taichi and Wallace clung onto the bar of the frame at the sudden increase in speed. Natsuhi however, let out an uncharacteristic cheer.
Egged on by Natsuhi's laughter, Yamato shifted gears again, accelerating the car even more.
Sensibly, the threesome in the backseat sat back down and buckled themselves in, adrenaline buzzing through them.
"I think we lost Jou's car," Taichi commented over the guitar solo with a laugh.
Wallace turned around to see the black speck that was the second jeep in the distance and yelled, "See you guys at the finish line!"
As the occupants of the car quietened down, Natsuhi and Yamato resumed their singing, both lost in the music. Amidst the whipping winds and golden hues of the sun, Yamato risked a glance at the rear-view mirror and caught Natsuhi's gaze. It was funny, how they were both more honest when they communicated using music. As their voices harmonized, words that will never be spoken were exchanged.
'I'm glad I'm here, with you.'
And indeed, between the music and warm light of the rising sun, neither Natshi nor Yamato could think of someone else they'd rather be sharing this magical moment with.
The car ride was over almost too soon. They had arrived at Primary village in record breaking time thanks to Yamato's speeding. The blonde pulled the car up to the opening chords of 'Do I wanna Know?' and the occupants of the car took a moment to simply breathe.
Sora unbuckled her seatbelt with a sigh of relief, the adrenaline rush had been fun, but she'd still take Taichi's much safer driving any day. At that thought, she eyed Yamato curiously, the Yamato she knew isn't usually such a reckless driver, was it the music? Or the lack of traffic?
If Wallace could read the redhead's mind, he'd have offered her the answer to her boyfriend's 'uncharacteristic' behaviour. The highfive Yamato and Natsuhi exchanged spoke volumes.
"We should do an acoustic version of Dance Inside sometime," Yamato suggested as he got out of the car, his hair still windswept. Natushi nodded in agreement, they should. All other words however, were cut off by the sudden attack of a yellow blur.
"TAICHI!" The yellow blur all but screamed.
Said digidestined of courage, who barely got out of the car, landed on the grassy fields with a loud thud, his arms wound tightly around his partner digimon. "Agumon!"
That seemed like the cue as the other digimons all made their appearance.
"Sora!" "Biyomon!" Bird and human embraced.
"Yamato!" Gabumon cried out as he ran over, and then stopped to do a double-take. "Natsuhi! How!? Are you a digidestined now!?" The wolf-like digimon asked excitedly. The girl in question smiled and shook her head.
"I wish, Wallace here brought me along using some machine," she said as she gave the digimon a big hug, burying her face in his fur. Maybe it was just her, but Gabumon's fur felt different in the digital world. And then it finally hit her, now that she was in the presence of Digimon. She was in the digital world.
Wallace who was looking around for his two troublemakers was tackled to the ground by two rabbit-like creatures. "WALLACE!" The commotion caused everyone to stare. Natsuhi eyed Lopmon and Terriermon who each took up a side on Wallace's shoulder curiously.
"Whoa, why are you so special?" Taichi voiced he question that was on everyone's minds.
Wallace, who was busy patting the heads of his twin digimons smiled sheepishly, "You gotta ask them."
"We're twins!" "From different eggs!" Lopmon and Terriermon chimed, as if that explained everything. Everyone shrugged at their response, it's yet another mystery of the digital world.
"Where's Mimi?" Palmon, looked around with the rest of the digidestined's digimons.
"Speak of the devil," Natushi commented as the second Jeep finally rolled into sight.
"Jou, you drive too slow!" Mim huffed as she jumped out of the car to embrace her partner. Skipping the car door entirely. Hikari and the others also followed suit, and the scene quickly turned into something out of a sappy family movie. Natsuhi ignored the jealousy that gnawed at her, she was in the digital world, it didn't matter if she didn't have her own digimon.
Ever perceptive, Wallace broke up the reunion, "Lets not stand around here all day, I've never visited the Pimary Village in this part of the digital world, shall we go?" Lopmon and Terriermon who travelled considerable distance to meet their partner on this side of the digtal world nodded eagerly in agreement. And so the tour of the Pimary Village on File Island commenced. Nobody was more excited than Natsuhi, who took in the sights of the tiny huts and baby digimon with poorly disguised wonder.
It wasn't long till Natsuhi had baby digimon hanging off every appendage of her body. The baby digimons always did have a thing for newcomers. While everyone laughed at Natsuhi's plight, Takeru eyed the scene with a complicated expression.
"What's wrong?" Hikari and Patamon asked at the same time. Takeru pat Patamon on the head absentmindedly as he tried to gather his thoughts.
"Koushiro-senpai, Wallace," the younger blond called out. The two in question huddled closer. "Since that incident with Vandemon 8 years ago, anyone who...believes, and manages to enter the in digital world will receive their own partner digimon and digivice, correct?" Takeru recalled the conclusion of the fight against Vandemon, where even Oikawa Yukio met his partner digimon.
Koushiro nodded, wondering where the question was coming from. A chuckle from Natsuhi caused realization to dawn in his eyes. "This is weird," he said pulling out his laptop and hammering a few notes in.
"There are some people on the research centre in America who didn't become digidestineds, but that's usually because they didn't have the right…attitude," Wallace supplemented. As far as he was aware, there were two main reasons why individuals failed to become digidestineds. The first was that they had deep-rooted negativity and self-hatred, the second was that they didn't believe that digimons were more than just fragments of data. But watching the girl interact with the infants of primary village, and based on the girl's general (albeit indifferent) demeanour, there was no plausible explanation as to why she couldn't become a digidestined.
"I'll ask Gennai-san about it," Koushiro finally said after a long pause. Takeru murmured a thanks, as did Hikari. Although Natsuhi has never voiced it out loud, through their scant conversations about the digital world and her interaction with Gabumon, they both could tell that the older girl yearned to become a digidetsined. She should be one.
Natsuhi hummed the tune of 2NE1's Happy under her breath and she wondered around the forest. As ironic as it sounds, she was stunned that the digital world was so….real. Strangely colored skies and the random utility poles aside, there was nothing 'digital' about the digital world. 'Then again, what was I expecting, binary numbers floating around?' She chuckled to herself.
The digidestined had decided to break off into smaller groups to spend some quality time with their respective partner digimons. Although Yamato and Gabumon offered to take her around, as did Wallace, Natsuhi had respectfully declined. She didn't enjoy being a charity case, and although she would never admit it, watching the digidestined reminisce their adventures caused jealousy and to crawl uncomfortably under her skin.
Caught up in her thoughts, she did not realize she was walking into a tree until she had, quite literally walked into it. Having mentally prepared herself for the pain when she realized (too late) that she was about to bump head-on into the giant trunk, Natsuhi was wide-eyed with shock when no impact hit. Opening her eyes, Natsuhi looked around frantically and barely bit back a surprised yell when she saw her leg and arm disappearing inside the trunk. Quickly shuffling a few steps back, Natsuhi checked if her arm and leg were still intact. Once she was certain that she was indeed in one piece, she approached the tree again. Very tentatively, Natsuhi reached out to touch the tree trunk, only to have her fingertips sink into the wood like it wasn't there. Pulling her arm out and inspecting her hand again, Natsuhi waved her arm through the tree several times, amused grin donning her face as her arm ghosted in and out.
Figuring that this was as safe as it was going to get, Natsuhi took a deep breath and walked into the tree. 'I wonder if this is how Harry Potter felt the first time he went through platform 9 ¾,' she mused inwardly. But it wasn't Hogwarts Express that waited for her beyond the barrier. Not by a long shot. A village that bore uncanny resemblance to Primary Village was what waited for her behind the barrier. Sticking her head back out, Natsuhi couldn't help but marvel at how the inside of the tree was a whole new dimension by itself. Aside from the little huts, there was a large oak tree, a small tree and several worn and disproportionately large playing blocks around the village.
Natsuhi had two choices, she could either turn back now and try and find this exact tree again later, after she's met up with the rest of the group, or she could go explore this newfound village now. 'Oh what the heck, Wallace placed a tracking chip on me anyway, they can come find me,' Natsuhi decided and set out for the little huts.
Natsuhi was expecting to be mobbed the moment she stepped foot into the village, but apparently looks was the only thing this village had in common with the one she was at just now. An uneasy tension blanketed the entire village, and instead of the mobbing her, the baby digimons of the village huddled together, shivering in fear as she walked past. Even though she was not an expert on Digimon ecology, Natsuhi knew, something was off.
"Guys! I'm back with food!" A boistrious voice called out, and Natsuhi could see a vaguely humanoid figure make its way towards the huts.
"IMPMON!" The baby digimons chorused as if their saviour had arrived. Natsuhi was almost bowled over by the digimons swarming out of their huts and towards the dark purple figure, aptly called Impmon. "Impmon, Impmon," The baby digimons, now huddled behind their 'saviour', gestured towards Natsuhi.
"Uh..I come in peace?" Natsuhi offered lamely, alarm slowly creeping into her system.
Impmon obviously failed to catch the joke as his response was an orb of flames, "Infernal Funnel!"
Nastsuhi immediately barrel-rolled out of the way. "What the hell is your problem! I said I come in peace!" She yelled, glaring at the imp-like digimon.
Scoffing, Impmon prepared another attack, "Don't lie!" He roared, eyes full of distrust as he shot out another fireball. Natsuhi scrambled behind one of the huts for cover. She had absolutely no interest in finding out what will happen if she got hit.
"I'm not even a Digimon!" Natsuhi cried out exasperatedly.
"Oh, I know what you are, you're one of those digidestined do-gooders here to destroy us all!" Impmon yelled as he peppered the hut with more attacks.
Natsuhi's temper finally snapped at the word 'digidestined'. Oh yes, even the fucking imp of a digimon is rubbing in it her face now. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a rock and grabbed it. Then rolling over to the next hut for cover, Natsuhi quickly threw the rock at Impmon, who stopped his attack to dodge the projectile. Taking the brief moment of ceasefire as her chance, Natsuhi clambered out and waver her empty hands to prove her point. "If I'm a digidestined, where is my partner digimon? Where is my digivice? I stumbled upon your little hidden village when I almost walked into that stupid tree of yours," Natsuhi growled out angrily. It probably wasn't a good idea to agitate the hostile digimon before her, but Natsuhi was certain that she could take the pint-sized brat if it really came down to it.
Impon held onto the ball of fire as he eyed the human before him critically. Indeed, he could neither see nor sense the presence of any holy device on her, and there didn't seem to be any other digimon in the vicinity. Just as Impmon was about to kick her out of the village however, his green eyes met her silver ones and the flames in his hands died almost instantly.
Natsuhi's retort died on her lips when she found green eyes staring into hers. All background noises faded out and her sense were filled with nothing but herself and the digimon before her. She felt something within her click between them, like two pieces of the same puzzle… A complicated expression flitted across Impmon's eyes before he broke the connection between them with an annoyed grunt.
'Che, you're too late Gin-iro.'
"Sorry?" Natsuhi, who was shaking herself out of the reverie asked.
Impmon cast her yet another glare, although this time it was more annoyed than hostile. "It's nothing Gin-iro. It's alright guys, she's not harmful," Impmon declared. At that, all the baby digimon around her visibly relaxed. With naivety that only babies possessed, they immediately shifted their attention to the mix of fruits and fishes Impmon brought back. "YAY FOOD!"
Natsuhi stood there awkwardly, processing the sudden change in situation as she watched the digimons devour their meal with vigour. Eying Impmon, she thought back to what Hikari told her about how she and Gatomon met… But she dared not hope, especially not when she Impmon said that it was 'too late'. Deep down she knew that the devil-like digimon was right, it was too late. There was something…off…about the connection they just shared, although Natushi couldn't put it into words. Instead of confronting the digimon about it, Natsuhi opted for her usual nonchalance.
"The name's Natsuhi," she said irritably.
Impmon waved her off, "Whatever you say Gin-iro," tone oddly subdued, and proceeded to ignore her for food.
Heaving a sigh, Natsuhi plopped herself down near the digimons, watching them eat in silence. She wasn't exactly unwelcomed anymore, but the logical thing to do now would be to leave. Yet something that tethered her and Impmon prompted her to stay. The awkward silence didn't last long however, it wasn't long before a frantic discolored Kokomon bust onto the scene.
"The eggs! They're hatching!"
Impmon immediately threw down its food and ran towards the direction the Kokomon came from, cursing as he ran.
Natsuhi followed suit. In the Primary Village on file island, the miracle of birth was a happy occasion, but the worry that marred the faces of all the digimons told here that in this village, things were very different. Natsuhi followed Impmon to the largest hut in the village filled with eggs and cots and gasped. The eggs and recently hatched baby digimon were all either flitting in and out of existence or shivering uncontrollably. Impmon ran around wrapping them up with oversized leaves and placing them in cots but couldn't keep up with the rate at which they were being born.
"Dammit," Impmon cursed as he stumbled and fell. Without thinking, Natsuhi grabbed the leaf he was holding from him and wrapped the nearest newborn in it.
"Wrap them up and put them in cots right?" Natsuhi asked, tone serious.
Impmon stared at her in disbelief but didn't have long to deliberate as more eggs began cracking. So he nodded. "Quickly, Gin-iro, or they might die."
Natsuhi nodded solemnly, nobody was dying on her watch.
A frantic hour later, Natsuhi leaned back against the tree by the river alongside a drained Impmon.. The other worried baby digimons had went to nap, leaving the two of them to bask in their newfound camaraderie
"You're not too bad, for a human," Impmon started, Natsuhi laughed softly, shaking her head as she did. But she accepted the backhanded thanks anyways.
"So what was that?" She asked finally.
The virus digimon took a deep breath and sighed. "Notice how all the digimon in this place are colored differently from others of their species?"
Natsuhi nodded. She did in fact notice.
Impmon let out another sigh, "Usually," he began, "Usually, a digimon doesn't get their attribute until they evolve into their in-training stage. These attributes are usually decided by personality. But lately, with all the virus flooding the digital world through the web, eggs get infected. These infected eggs hatch into virus baby digimon." Natsuhi noted the digimon's clenched fists as he continued his explanations. "These infected eggs, they're unstable and if the newly born digimons aren't properly cared for when they hatch, they die."
"But I thought digimons can't die? They just turn back into eggs again?" It was a genuine question, but it set Impmon off.
"Well not them! Their data is too corrupted to be reformed again! Why do you think infected eggs are unstable!?" Impmon lashed out.
Natsuhi met his angry glare with apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." Her sincerity seemed to have sufficed as Impmon backed down with a huff. After a moment of silence, Natsuhi broached yet another sensitive topic. "Why are you the only one looking after them?" The primary village at file island had Leomon and Ogremon, along with a bunch of other digidestined's digimons looking after the eggs.
Impmon's reply was a scoff. "Those fuckers left," He spat out. If Natsuhi was surprised to hear a digimon, an in-training digimon, swear, she didn't show it. Instead she waited patiently for him to continue. "Most of them here, they never reach in-training stage, those who do, and other virus digimons all just run off in search of greater power. To become one of them dark lords," Impmon gritted out, words dripping with venom.
Ever the queen of braving sensitive topics, Natsuhi continued her line of question. "Why didn't you leave?"
And there it was, the complicated expression that Impmon donned when they first locked eyes with each other. After a long pause, Impmon finally replied. "I can't just leave them alone to die. Most villages throw out infected eggs and ostracize baby virus digimons. They have nowhere to go but here. If I leave, who will look after them? Someone has to do it."
Natsuhi nodded in understanding, her respect for the digimon rising several notches.
After more silence, Impmon suddenly spoke up again. "You know, I don't even know why we virus digimons are born if we just exist to be killed. That's fine and dandy if it's demon lords like me or Vandemon, but these baby digimons. They haven't done anything and the get persecuted anyways," he lamented with bitterness.
Natsuhi wondered of Impmon noted his own slip of tongue when he said 'demon lords like me', and filed that away for future questioning. For now, she had 'patient' to attend to. "Light and dark," she said out of nowhere, startling Impmon, who wasn't expecting any response. "People are instinctively afraid of darkness, but light can't exist without darkness, just like how vaccines can't exist without viruses. In fact, even viruses can be used for good, like anti-bodies. Light and dark,virus and vaccine, all these are just stereotypes. Good and evil aren't decided by attributes, but by choices." She said sagely.
"What the hell do you know!?" Impmon jumped to his feet, bristling. "You don't know anything! The so-called royal knights are out there slaughtering baby virus digimon just because they're 'dark', and they're applauded for their actions just because they're protectors of light! And me? I protect these innocent digimons but vaccine digimons think I'm the bad guy! And the other dark lords ostracize me and think I'm crazy for chaining myself to his form to protect OUR KIND. So don't you give me that bullshit about it all labels and choices!"
There it was again. That dark lord reference. Instead of getting upset, Natsuhi let out a soft, sad, chuckle. "What do I know indeed…" She shook her head slowly and let her story tumble from her lips.
By the time she was done, Impmon looked away defiantly, a grudging apology sitting on the tip of his tongue. She did understand, how he felt, what he had to go through…14 years too late and she still understood it all.
A/N: I wanted to finish the whole Digital World arc in one chapter...but I hugely underestimated long this plot will be. So instead of a 12k word chapter, I decided to break it up into smaller chapters instead. If my guess is right, there should be 2-3 more chapters of the digital world, so stay tuned! Also, reviews are the bomb 3
Thanks for reading!