Next Chapter!
I hope you're still interested! I'm sorry about my other fic, but it seems that the editor for that fic is currently unreachable for me. Maybe she is too busy and can't even get herself on internet? idk, but please be patient! I'm sure she will finish it once she got time!
Thanks for reviews/comment/faves/follows!
The Digital World;
Honoka and Umi skipped the early stages as suggested by Kotori and, with their friends as their guide, they visited a few places in the Digital World. She took the two newbies to a places where there are plenty of wild flying Virus Digimons— some are resting on the rocks surrounded by grasses, some are hovering in the blue sky above them. Birdramon is flying next to them while Botamon and Punimon were safely secured on their respective tamer's arm.
"Don't stray too far from me, ok? They might not be as aggressive as we think, but it's still dangerous since the leaders are always aggressive—and when you attack the leader, the others might join in..."
"Sounds troublesome..." Honoka commented.
"That they are!" Kotori replied.
"Is it really fine to do this, though? It feels like we're being unfair to the other player who struggled..." Umi said.
"Hehe, it's ok, Umi-chan. It's pretty fair, honestly. You won't believe me but rich players can get their champion Digimon in a day—so yep, you two will reach rookie level today then struggle your way to reach the champion level while helping me practice!"
"Are there any requirements to reach champion level other than practicing them?" Umi asked.
"You have to win the Rookie Rank Tournament to be able to evolve your Digimon to Champion—luckily, the Rookie tournament is held almost every two hours so you don't have to wait for days to join it like the other tournaments!"
"Ah, that's good then?" Umi said.
"But...doesn't that mean we will have to compete withthe rich people?" Honoka asked.
"Yep. Getting to the level where you can evolve your Digimon to champion isn't enough—you have to train them and exceed their level by a bit. Most new player don't know this, so let's just consider this as your advantage... hehe..." Kotori said.
"What about my Penguinmon though? I mean, I should take it to a cold place..."
"Don't worry about that. Just tell me when you reach level 10, Birdramon will carry us all to the city and you two can buy the rooms to keep your Digimon in!"
"W-well, I can buy the room myself...I think..." Umi said shyly.
"It's ok, Umi-chan. Let's just consider that as my welcome gift! Hehe!"
"That's nice of you, Kotori-chan! You always know what we need! Maybe you can get us the decorations as well?" Honoka asked cheerfully.
"Sure, no problem!" Kotori replied.
"H-Honoka! Stop being shameful!" Umi scolded her,
"Hehe—but free stuff is always good, right?" Honoka said.
"I'll give you a free punch on the face—how about that?"
"O-Ok...not always good..."
"Now-now, I'm going to start in a bit—make sure your Digimons are watching, ok?"
"Ok!" Honoka said happily.
Meanwhile,
"Lunamon! You won't get any experience if you keep attacking monsters that are higher level than you!" Maki scolded.
"But that one is Vaccine! I can probably have taken it down if no one was bothering me!"
"More like—you won't be saved if we weren't there! It took us a long time to kill that monster and we lost so much for so little gain!" Maki scolded again.
Lunamon sulked when she realized that she really is causing so much trouble for everyone. She looked over to the usually energetic Gaomon who is now quiet like a dead body, then to Lalamon, resting next to Hanayo— who tried her best to pace her breathing, then lastly at Rin who sat next to Gaomon.
"M-Maki-chan, easy... we did not lose that much... I think we got some decent amount of experience?" Hanayo said.
"Yeah-nya... but ...honestly though, I'm really tired right now-nya! I think we should all return to the city?" Rin suggested.
"Heh—we only killed one monster and we're returning to the city already... that's a disappointment, but I guess we don't have a choice..." Maki said.
"Let's take it easy from now!" Lunamon said.
"You're still raring to go? We barely have any stock, I don't even have any back up disk anymore and we probably need to restore your data from the official if you die again!" Maki said.
"Please! It will be fine! We won't even need any item!"
"Nah—we can't risk that. Gaomon and Lalamon barely have energy to move too..."
"I—I will do it myself!" Lunamon begged.
"No, we can't!" Maki stated again.
"I don't want to go back before I'm stronger than that Biyomon!"
"You're stubborn and selfish!" Maki yelled.
"I hate you!" Lunamon yelled back.
"I hate you too! Why did I want to pick you anyway?! I should've picked another Digimon that could think of others' feelings!" Maki said.
Lunamon is about to cry but she didn't want her weak face to be seen by everyone around her so she turned around quickly and started to run.
"L-Lunamon!" Hanayo called her.
"Go on! Run! I don't care if you run or anything— you're not going to be any stronger that way!" Maki shouted.
"T-That's harsh, Maki-chan..." Hanayo said.
Maki remained silent. She only smirked bitterly.
Hanayo could no longer let the situation worsen so she decided to run after Lunamon...
"H-Hanayo-chan!" Lalamon quickly tried to catch up with her.
"W-whoa! Kayo-chin! Wait for me-nya!" Rin said as she also tried her best to run after her friends.
Gaomon quickly woke up and began to march to catch up with them as well.
Maki rolled her eyes,
"Even with that, you make people works so much..." she mumbled to herself.
"I guess I'll just catch up anyway..." she continued before running towards them.
City of Memory, The Bridge to the outskirts—Digital World;
A small girl with black hair was waving her cards set while shouting to the crowd of people who did not seem to care too much about her.
"Fighter Card-set! Magic Card Set! Nice and Cheap! Buy from me and you won't regret it!"
She repeated over and over but it seemed that not many people were interested to browse.
When she finally got tired of shouting, she decided to take a short break and grab her water bottle.
"Hah—I guess these card sets aren't that favored enough..." she said to herself.
Suddenly, a short woman with short light brown hair and green eyes approached her.
"Hey there..." she said.
Niko wasn't aware of who is talking with her right now—but either way, she decided to drink first before turning her attention to the person who just talked to her.
As soon as her eyes focused on the person who just talked to her, she raised her eyebrows in shock and...
"W-W-Wh-what?! K-K-K-Kira Tsubasa...! The-The...The Elite Group A-rise leader?!"
"Did you happen to see this girl pass through here?" Tsubasa asked—ignoring the shock expressed by the little girl. Either way, the little girl took a look at the profile of the person that was projected on Tsubasa's Digivice Screen...
Name : Honoka Kousaka
Rank : Beginner
Tamer Level : 5
Digimon : Botamon ( Lv. 6/200%)
Job : Student
Profession : Lv.0 Merchant
InGameSpouse : -
Biography :
Hello! I'm new! Please take care of me!
The raven haired girl thought the person was familiar and, as she saw the photo right next to the profile, she recalled that she has seen this girl before...
"W-Well, she added me a while back, so I can give her a call if you like..." the little girl said.
"Really? Then, can you just tell me her location? You should be able to find her easy!" Tsubasa looked so happy when she heard it.
"W-Well...of course... hold on a minute.. I need to figure out how to search for a friend's location..." the little girl replied.
"Hover over the name of your contact..." Tsubasa said.
Niko nodded to the command and received an instant result.
"Ah—the Wind Prairie..." Niko said.
"Ok! Thanks!" Tsubasa replied before she ran away.
"You're welcome!" Niko waved to her cheerfully.
It took a moment for her to realize...
That she wasn't able to add her to her contacts list.
Such a wasted encounter. She could've added this famous person in her contacts list before providing the answer to her question...
"God-Damn-it!" she cussed upon her realization.
The Land Of Dusk;
It's far from as the City—it's not even close to any city or resting depot. The land is barren and the sky always ranged from orange to dark. It may have been quiet but, at times, those who entered could hear wild Digimons scream. They say this is the most haunting place for beginners— which somewhat reveals that they are not the first beginners to get lost in this place...
"Lunamon!" Hanayo shouted. It was obvious on her face that she was worried.
"Lunaamooonn!" Lalamon joined her search.
They keep looking around, but the only things they sees are dried dead trees and mist.
"Sheesh...where did she run off to..." Hanayo said.
"Heh—I believe that she is around here. My Digivice says so..."
"This story's plot is so cheap-nya..." Rin said as she walked behind Hanayo.
"W-what? What story?" Hanayo asked.
"Well, someone is angry and runs off to a dangerous place...then that someone's friends ends up looking for that someone..." Rin replied.
"I can't deny— that one plot is totally what you often read in most adventure stories. Maybe we should expect to see something dramatic to happen..."
"Dying Lunamon?" Gaomon commented.
"N-No...let's not have that sort of thing..." Maki said.
"If that happen, I will come to the rescue..." Gaomon said.
"Gaomon... you're pretty charming for a Digimon..." Hanayo said.
"Really? I don't really think so..." Gaomon replied as he checked himself.
When they continued to move further in, they finally found the Digimon they were looking for, except...
She is now surrounded by Ghost-like Digimons wearing a witch's hat. Lunamon looks exhausted and she might have been injured as well.
"L-Lunamon!" Hanayo said as she ran to get her.
"Wait!" Maki held her.
"She is in trouble-nya! We should help her out!" Rin said.
"I know, but let's observe the situation—we all will be in a deep trouble if we don't... I mean—we are out of stock, remember?" Maki said.
"Uh...Ok...so... what should we do?" Hanayo asked.
"Let's find a way to snatch her and run...but again... we must observe first..." Maki said.
The other two nodded and they swiftly moved to hide behind a nearby tree to watch carefully.
"...you said you're going to report us to the official?" the ghost-like Digimon said.
"Hahaha—we are wild, the official will not touch us even if we kill you right now!" the other Ghost-like Digimon said.
"Most likely, they will lecture you for running away from your tamer—aren't you all supposed to stick around even if you don't like your tamer?" the other wild Digimon added.
"W-well! I will punch you all myself!" Lunamon replied— it's clear that she is currently scared.
The Ghost-like Digimons looks to each other and began to laugh loudly.
"Punch again? Try then! We'd be happy to see you try!"
Lunamon attempted to punch each of them But, instead of actually causing damage, her fists only seemed to meet a floating blanket and her punches just flowed through. It's like she barely hurt them...
And they laughed even harder...
"Th-They are toying her around-nya!" Rin said.
Maki and Hanayo remained silent, their eyes are set on how the Ghost-like Digimon floats around her—it's like, even if they snatch her, they will probably be able to catch up to them somehow.
When Lunamon fell from her attempt to do a power punch again, the brunette girl shook her head. She could not stand still any longer.
"We should do something! This is too painful to watch!" Hanayo said.
"Ok! Gaomon is going!" Gaomon said before he ran to Lunamon.
"G-Gaomon!" Hanayo complained.
"Go-Go-Go-nya!" Rin encouraged.
"H-hey! We don't have any more stock!" Maki complained as well.
"Huh...? Who is this dumb dog?" one of the Ghost-like Digimon said when they saw Gaomon stand in front of the helpless Lunamon.
"Gaomon..." Gaomon replied.
"Yeah—we know you're Gaomon... but who are you to stand in our way?"
Without replying, Gaomon roared and surprisingly pushed back the Ghost-like Digimon.
Then, in only a few seconds, Gaomon picked up Lunamon and escaped to where Maki and the others were.
"H-Hey don't come this way!" Maki said,
It was too late—the Ghost-like Digimon saw them.
"We've been seen! Let's teach them all lesson!" one of the Ghost-like Digimon said.
"Run!" Maki shouted before she began to run along with Rin, Hanayo, Lalamon and followed by Gaomon who's carrying Lunamon.
They believed that they were running back to where they came from, but it felt like they're going through a new path or a wrong direction.
Either way, they just have to keep running for now since those Ghost-like Digimon look really pissed off.
"C-C-Can anybody look at map right now?" Hanayo asked.
"Ok-nya!" Rin replied as she projected a screen from her digivice, she operated it and changed the view into map—but...
"Why is the map is all black-nya?"
"Did you lose your signal or something?" Maki asked.
"Uhhh...Lalamon, please help me look at my digivice!" Hanayo said. Lalamon flew a little faster to reach Hanayo's digivice—operating it for a while before a screen popped out from her digivice as well.
Once again, the map is all black...
"W-what? This can't be... how do we know where we're going if the map is all black?" Hanayo complained.
"Guide book, anybody still have it?" Maki asked.
"I do-nya!" Rin replied.
"Check on page 89, there should be something about special area, right?" Maki asked again.
"Yep... and this should be where we are-nya..." Rin said as she pointed to the photographed image of the similar place.
"Says, The Land of Dusk doesn't have any official map because their map always change randomly but theories from experienced player say that they don't actually change and that it just rotates every 6 hours..."
"6 hours?! We don't even know when this 6 hours began. Could we somehow have strayed in here when this place rotated?" Maki said.
"Probably...?" Hanayo replied.
"Then how we can get outta here?!" Maki shouted in her panic.
"Uh...this is just an idea but...if we let all of our digimon die, we all will be forced to teleport back to the City...after all, the Land of Dusk is still within the official reach, right?" Hanayo said.
"Yeah but that also means our Digimons' experience will decrease again-nya!" Rin said.
"We have no choice...let's just do that..." Maki said before she turned around and stopped.
Hanayo and Rin followed—along with Gaomon and Lalamon. Lunamon was still carried by Gaomonand trying to keep up with what was happening.
The Ghost-like Digimon also stopped in front of them when they noticed that they're all ready to fight again.
"I don't really like this, but I guess it's better than being stuck here forever..." Lalamon said.
"I'm sorry, Lalamon. We will make up for the lost experience somehow..." Hanayo said.
"Gaomon is ready to die first!" Gaomon said after he placed Lunamon behind him.
"Ok! Rin is ready to watch-nya!" Rin replied him.
"H-hey...that sounded wrong, but ok..." Maki commented.
The Ghost-like Digimon don't seem to be moved by their action. Instead, they looked like they're even more pissed off...
"What is this disgusting human-Digimon relationship. Digimon are meant to be free, not cultured..." one of them said.
"Yeah—and let us smite you with that, huh?" said the other.
Maki, Rin, and Hanayo stood in their place, they know what will happen—but there's really no choice. They have to let this happen...
"Don't worry, we will make this quick—hehehe..." the Ghost-like Digimon said as he charged an electric spark, creating a huge ball of dark bolt and as Gaomon planned, Gaomon took the first hit.
He collapsed to the ground and it was followed by a red light that shones on Rin's Digivice, which indicates that her partner Digimon died.
Lalamon stepped forward. She knows well that this is her turn to take the hit. The Ghost-like Digimon laughed in their amusement and they also let anoother Ghost-like digimon's turn to kill her.
The second one used a big shadow claw that appeared out of its blanket arm, which instantly caused Lalamon to fall unconscious like Gaomon.
Hanayo's digivice showed the same red light .
The last one is Lunamonwho remained on the ground as she weakly stared at both of her 'dead' friends.
"Now...let's go back to the city and start over, shall we?" Maki said.
Hanayo and Rin nodded.
"I hope you remember this lesson, Lunamon..." Maki said.
Lunamon nodded. She would say 'ok' if she isn't too weak to speak then.
All the ghost-like Digimon charged dark sparks together and it seems that they wanted to deal the most painful death to Lunamon.
Though, before they were able to cast it, a swarm of furious bats suddenly fell upon those Ghost-Like Digimons like a heavy waterfall. In instant, the Ghost-like Digimon disappeared. along with the furious bats.
Maki, Hanayo, and Rin were surprised.
Were they somehow saved by someone?
They should feel relieved right now but when they turned to see who saved them, what they saw was...
A slender lady-like Digimon with black leather suit, left arm longer than the right one, long sharp claws and black tattered wings, pale skin and furious red eyes, sharp vampiric teeth and a mischievous smile...
"My-my...what do we have here?" she said with her antagonistic voice.
Maki, Rin, and Hanayo didn't know what to say—Alas, what can be worse than this? Perhaps the only wish they have right now is that Digimon can't harm them...
"Letting your Digimon died like that, are you sure you're a tamer?" she said as she approached them—passing through the bodies of Gaomon, Lunamon, and Lalamon.
"We didn't have a choice, ok?" Maki tried to reason.
The Lady-like Digimon didn't look impressed. When she got close to the red haired girl, she operated her Digivice and showed her a button in the 'help' tab—then flipped through a few pages of the 'Digivice Manual' which ended with a page that shows:
Return Button:
A button that can be used once every five minutes. Its purpose is to help tamers return to the city during an emergency.
"That's why, kids... reading is good and you should do that before acting like you're the first generation that require trial and error to learn something new." The Lady-Like Digimon said.
"Those Soulmon aren't even fast enough to catch up if you use that button..." she continued as she crossed her arms.
"S-soulmon... you mean, those Ghost-like Digimon?" Hanayo asked.
The Lady Like Digimon sighed, then she approached Hanayo and pressed a few buttons on her Digivice,
The screens popped up and while Hanayo's eyes were set on the Lady-Like Digimon, data showed up along with a picture of the Lady Like Digimon. It says:
Lady Devimon (Lv62 / 210%)
Type : Virus
Attribute : Dark
Owner : Nozomi Toujou
Personality : Brainy
"O..Oh...that's your...personal information..." Hanayo said.
"Exactly—and if you knew that, you wouldn't wonder what those Digimons are called..." Lady Devimon said.
Rin, Maki, and Hanayo remained silent—they feel bad for not paying attention to those details.
Lady Devimon sighed,
"Ah well— since you kids are new anyway, our tamer is coming here in a bit to help out..."
"Our...?" Hanayo, Rin, and Maki flustered.
"Yes... our tamer..." Lady Devimon replied.
"Is there any other with you here...?" Maki asked.
"Of course... she is Angel...my twin sister." Lady Devimon replied.
"Are you calling me, Lady?" A white slender lady-Like Digimon appeared behind a tree, she has three pairs of angelic wings and a pink ribbon over her shoulder. She has blonde hair and her eyes were covered with a metal mask.
"Angel, please...what are you doing there..."
"The hint is: Flower..." Angel replied.
Lady sighed heavily.
Hanayo tried to operate her digivice to scan the new Digimon, it says:
Angewomon (Lv.62 / 208%)
Type : Vaccine
Attribute : Light
Owner : Nozomi Toujou
Personality : Lively
"How many portable potties are spent in this hunt? This is why I told you to not eat too much in the morning!" Lady complained.
"Nozomi-chan placed so much food in our room—it will be a waste if we didn't eat them all..."
"That doesn't mean you can eat them all at once! You can always keep it there—it won't rot or go missing, trust me!"
"Hehe, I'm sure Nozomi-chan will wonder why though, we always have the bowl empty by morning..."
"It doesn't matter! It's better than you spending over 10 portable potties in one hunt! That's almost all of our stock! What if I suddenly had the urge and you already used them all?"
"We can ask Nozomi-chan for those again or...you know...share the—..."
"No! That's gross, Angel!"
Angel giggled.
"I'm joking, Lady, you're so cute sometimes!" she said as she finally came out from her hiding.
"Hurry up and help them, will you? I doubt Nozomi-chan will want to see them like this when she gets here..."
"I know-I know!" Angel replied cheerfully before she channeled her power.
"Say...why did you call each other with a nick name...? Is that even possible for us to call our Digimon something else?" Maki asked.
"Huh? What with that question, of course you can give them a nick name if you like. Also—if it can help you identify your Digimon. As you can see, we're not that different with each other, so a nick name can help you to tell us apart..." Lady replied.
"I see..." Maki replied.
"I guess we'll consider giving our Digimon Nicknames too..." she continued.
Lady laughed to the statement,
"Sure...!" she continued to laugh again.
"...I'm expecting some cute names like..." she snorted,
"Chibby..."
And she continued to laugh again.
"C-Chibby? That's a horrible name..." Maki said.
"I honestly think so..." Hanayo said.
"I wonder what Digimon they are to have such a bad name-nya..." Rin said.
Lady didn't comment and laughed again instead.
Beside them, Lalamon and Gaomon woke up—thanks to Angel who revived them.
"We're still here...?" Lalamon asked.
"Yup, still here in your nightmare..." Lady replied to her.
Lalamon quickly jumped, only to be caught by Angel behind her.
"Hello!" Angel said cheerfully—she just finished with healing Lunamon who seems to still be sad from what happened.
"Aaahh!" Lalamon swiftly flew to Hanayo and hid behind her.
"Gaomon is back, alive and sound!" Gaomon says as he hops up and starts to do air-boxing
"Welcome back nya!" Rin replied.
"By the way...Thanks for helping us...is your tamer going to come up here any sooner?" Maki said.
"Well, she certainly will. There are few things she likes to talk about..." Lady said.
"Oo—is it about life insurance-nya?" Rin asked.
"Life Insurance? I don't know if we can call it as that, but it's pretty close..." Lady replied.
"We also sell plenty of—..."
And before Angel was able to finish her words, Lady quickly cover her mouth and drag her a little further from them.
"Angel! Remember what Nozomi-chan says?" Lady whispered to her,
"Mmmmhmhm...?" Angel shook her head.
"She said, don't tell them that she is a merchant or they might escape. Therefore, we have to lay low and pretend that we're only here for a friendly purpose..."
"Mmmmm...mhmhmhmhmhmhmhmmmmhmmmmmhmmmhhmmhmhmmm...?" Angel while her mouth still muffled.
"Yes—exactly, Angel. We demonstrate what we can do, then once Nozomi-chan finished with her business, she will get herself here and offer her service..."
"Mmm...mhmhmhmmmm...?"
"Nah—Don't worry about that, you see that Lunamon over there? That only exists if the tamer is rich, you know. I'm very sure we can get her to use our service and, even better, we get to train ourselves to win in the Mega Tournament...or perhaps, we can aim for the money first. Just imagine how many enchantments can be done with that money!"
"Mmm..mmm.. ...mhmmmmmhmmm..."
"Yes-yes, you're absolutely right, we may also afford some new stuff for our room! Including your light orb night lamp!"
"Mm! Mmhhmhmhm!" Angel said excitedly.
"Yup, that's my Angel. Let's go back and do this, ok?"
"Mm!"
The City of Memory, Digital world;
"Ok! That's all for the today's training session!" Kotori said cheerfully. Birdramon transported them from Wind Prairie until the city, it took longer than using the teleport but it was much more exciting for Honoka and Umi since they were able to look around the Digital world from the sky.
Both of their Digimon, Botamon and Punimon, reached the second stage. Botamon into Koromon—a pink jelly-like Digimon with long ears, red eyes and small teeth while Punimon evolved into Tsunomon, a jelly-like Digimon with orange fur and a single tusk.
"Waaah! That was really cool though, Kotori-chan!" Honoka appreciated.
"We should hurry and get our room. I'm a little scared that I'll be too late in placing him in a cold place..." Umi said.
"Hehe–I understand! Let's go to the Lobby to make the purchase, shall we?"
Erena and Anjuu were watching them from a distance as the three tamers walked away,...
"Isn't that the girl Tsubasa is after?" Erena asked.
"I'm very sure of that. Does that mean Tsubasa failed to meet her again?"
"Well, it's not like she missed her for days...I mean, she got up close to her yesterday and we passed by them in today's tournament, right?"
"You're right but, knowing Tsubasa, she will demand some real contact or at least be able to use her cheesy line to ask for her contact in Digimon Online..."
"I just hope she isn't desperate enough to go as far as what she did yesterday..."
"The 'Jumping off the second floor one or...?" Anjuu paused,
"Hacking her account...and registering her in Digimon Online..." Erena said.
"Oh..that one seemed to be work, right? She is playing Digimon Online now..."
"Right... huh? I guess we can help her notify that she should stop looking for her wherever she thinks she is..." Erena said.
"I guess so..." Anjuu giggled in response.
The Lobby, Digital World;
The trio were pretty lucky since they didn't need to queue to get their room. In just a few minutes, Kotori bought two Digi-Room for Umi's account and Honoka's account. Umi got the Cold room with plenty of fish as food and Honoka got a Neutral Room with regular meat as food. They even got the manuals which Umi and Honoka enthusiastically read after placing both of their Digimon in the room. Biyomon returned from her Birdramon form and entered her own room as well to preparing herself for bed, but she is still on an online call with Kotori just to keep up with any question that may come up while the two newbies read their manual.
The Digi-Room Manual:
Getting started:
It says...
A Digi-room must contain a place to sleep, a toilet, a place to eat, and a camera. It can be anything as it may vary according to the Digimon type or the tamer's capability to purchase their stuff. Sometimes, a digimon will request for one or two things to be placed in their room. Then they may also request to be evolved into certain level of evolution.
Evolved Digimon (Above Rookie) that placed in Digi-room will not spend any tamer energy even if they decided to leave the room on their own, which means that they will stay in that form until they're taken away from their room...
"Uh so...if we told our Digimon to go hunting, they will stay in that form? It makes me wonder… we can always just leave them in the room and tell them to do stuff on their own, right? So what's the point of taking them away from their room?" Honoka asked.
"Well, if you do that, you won't form any bond with them...and you also not growing up with them. Your tamer level will be low and if your Digimon exceeds your level too much, you might be overwhelmed and be unable to control them..." Kotori replied.
"Here, the book also says that their bond may be depleted if not taken away from their room for a long time..." Umi added.
"Ah...!" Honoka raises their eyebrow.
"Evolved Digimon could be a trouble if you're not bonded with them. They may run wild and you may have to rent a Digimon to bring them back..." Biyomon said.
"Ah, has a case like that ever happened?" Honoka asked.
"Yep, plenty of incidents happened. Some tamers thought that they can abuse the system but they regret their decision when their Digimon left the room and never returned or are unwilling to accept their call...but there are also cases where a Digimon is abandoned in their room forever. That's why the new Policy for Digimon online is that the tamer has to make contact with their Digimon at least once a year. If not, their account will be abolished and their Digimon will be set free or taken by the official." Kotori explained.
"I see, but that won't be a trouble, I believe. We will try our best to keep in contact with them!" Umi said.
"Yup! Also, we have the right to report if our tamer abuses us. We have what we see, what we speak and what we hear recorded in our data, so the official can always check them as proof..." Biyomon added.
"I can't believe there's anyone cruel enough to abuse Digimon..." Umi commented.
"Yeah, Digimons are cute!" Honoka said.
"Hehe...that's how humans are anyway... many players here are aiming to earn income instead of actually playing it for fun. You wouldn't believe how many players are banned because of their attitude..." Kotori replied.
As soon after she said it, Umi's digivice suddenly glowed bright, followed by Honoka's.
"Ah, looks like your Digimon are evolving!" Kotori said.
"Eh...?" Umi and Honoka touched their Digivice.
"Take a look in your digi-room!" Kotori added again.
Honoka and Umi quickly projected their screen on their Digivice, operating them to look into the Digi-Room.
Both of their Digimon were shining brightly then their data began to change.
While Umi's Tsunomon turned into a short and chubby figure, Honoka's turned into a mini-dinosaur-like Digimon. Honoka feels like she has seen the form before and she wonders if it means that it will turn into what she expected to be—the black lizard-like Digimon.
In just a few seconds, their Digimon Data began to dim and showed its true color.
Umi smiled so bright when she saw how her Digimon turned into the one she always wanted it to be while Honoka was surprised by the Digimon that she got.
"Hello! These fish and temperature made me want to enjoy it some more so I evolved into Penguinmon!" said the short and chubby Digimon. He has a blue thick fur and a yellow penguin beak—a pair of antennas made it look different from a real penguin.
"Hello! I'm Agumon...! Uh... can I have some more meat please?" the yellow lizard-like Digimon said with his cute throaty voice.
"C-C-C-cute..." Honoka said.
"Absolutely cute!" Umi said.
"I know, right?!" Kotori said.
"W-wwaahh! I want to hug him!" Honoka said.
"Me too! Can I take him out of room now?!" Umi said.
"Hehe...we should save that for tomorrow. It's time for us to log out..." Kotori said.
"Ah, you're right...it's almost dark..." Umi said.
"Aahhh! Why do we have to be in a cliff hanger!" Honoka complained.
"Hehe... save the excitement for tomorrow. But anyhow, you can always contact your Digimon through your Digivice if you want to get to know them...maybe it will be much more fun tomorrow if you do so." Kotori said.
"Ok, let's get ourselves home. I believe we still have to do some studying for tomorrow's class! Then, perhaps, also continue reading the manual?" Umi said.
"Yup-yup!" Kotori said.
"Hehe, See you all later!" Honoka said as she waved to her Digimon. Kotori and Umi did the same. Their connection went off and the three began to walk to the terminal to log out.
Right after they disappeared through the terminal, Tsubasa ran in into the lobby and realized that she is too late.
"Hah—I missed her again..."
Tsubasa said as she panted. Black Agumon is right next to her and he seems to be somewhat tired as well...
"Heh—should've waited here instead of going all the way to the Wind Prairie..." he said.
"I know... but I didn't expect them to be that quick... I should've remembered that they own a Birdramon..." Tsubasa said.
"What's the next plan, Tsubasa?" Black Agumon asked.
"Hmm...we should make a promise to meet next time...I have her phone contact!" Tsubasa said.
"Why you didn't of that before, Tsubasa..." Black Agumon said.
"Isn't it kind of exciting to do this kind of chase? I feel the struggle is much more realistic!"
"Is that your excuse for forgetting that you can contact her on her phone?"
"Oh, come on, Black Agumon! Just say ok!"
"Ok..." Black Agumon replied.
"Well, I guess I'm logging out too. I'll place a few amazing slabs of meat in your room, so help me again tomorrow, ok?"
"Ok."
"Let's pretend that the mission didn't fail today… I can't bear to listen to Erena's lecture..."
"Ok..."
At night, The real world;
Honoka returned to her room and is charging her Digivice. According to the manual, the Digivice requires charging when it is in the real world but they don't need to be charged while in the Digital world.
While she was at it, she decided to read a few school books to make sure that she did a fine job with her study today. It's not her favorite thing to do but she has to do it or she will probably face Umi's wrath… and that is just as scary as her mother's. When it comes to her test scores , Umi has always been the first person to come up to her and ask how she did.
She might get lucky sometimes if Kotori comes up to her next because, when Kotori is there, Umi's wrath could be averted somehow.
In the middle of readings her lessons, her eyes keep getting drawn to the manual she received from Digimon Online.
Honestly, it's still a mystery to her how Digimon Online feels so realistic—it's like she is actually transported into a different world instead of playing a game. The again, the Digivice and the Manual are real after all.
Could she actually be transported anyway? But how? Digimons are data and she is not a data!
She tried to remember what happened today: from being able to carry those baby digimon to being carried by Birdramon. She swears that she could feel them— even the heat that Birdramon releases from her fiery wings.
When she was finally about to reach for her digivice, her phone suddenly received a text notification.
"W-whoa...that surprised me!" Honoka said to herself.
Then, instead of reaching for her digivice, she reached for her phone and took a look at the text message she just received.
From : Sonoda Umi
Honoka, you're studying right now, right? I know it's tempting but hang in there for another hour, ok? You can try contact your Digimon before you go to bed.
she says...
"Hehe, ok!" Honoka replied verbally as she wrote the same response.
Then, as she was about to place her phone back down, another text came up.
From : Kira Tsubasa
Hey, Honoka Kousaka! Is that your name? I'm just texting you to ask how your first Digimon Online experience was...
"Eh..how did she know that I'm playing Digimon Online...? How did she know my number too? I haven't give her a call..." Honoka thought to herself.
To : Kira Tsubasa
Yep! That's my name! Digimon Online is fun! I can't wait to play it again tomorrow!"
It just took less than a minute for Honoka to wait before she received a response.
From : Kira Tsubasa
Really? We should skip school and play together in the morning. How does that sound?"
Honoka giggled at the text.
To: Kira Tsubasa
Haha—if I do that, Umi-chan and my Mother will kill me for sure!
Then another second passed before she received another response.
From : Kira Tsubasa
I know! Haha, I was joking. But, anyway, what is Umi to you and who is that girl with Birdramon? Please tell me about them!
To : Kira Tsubasa
Hmm..well, Umi-chan and Kotori-chan are my best friends. Umi-chan is strict and scary sometimes, but she cares a lot about me! She is kind too! Kotori-chan is rather calm and gentle, but she is always supportive!"
From : Kira Tsubasa
That sounds like Erena and Anjuu for me! They are my best friends too. Erena replace Umi and Anjuu replace Kotori! Hehe! What about you? How do you describe yourself?
Honoka tilted her head slightly, she wonders how she will respond to that.
To : Kira Tsubasa
I honestly don't know. A bit clumsy, perhaps? I tend to do things I didn't intend to do.
From : Kira Tsubasa
Sounds Great! I like you! We should hang out some more! What about we play Digimon Online together tomorrow? After school?
Honoka is a little flustered when she reads the reply, though she decided to ignore that and respond however she can.
To : Kira Tsubasa.
Sure! I'll be playing with Umi-chan and Kotori-chan too! Let's get along!
After that, Honoka didn't receive any more texts.
Meanwhile,
"Erennaaaaa!" a voice begged loudly. Erena rolled her eyes as she held her phone on her ear.
"What is it now, Tsubasa?" Erena asked.
"Please help me! You have to help me!"
"Help with what?"
"Well, I did it... I really did it just now!"
"Did what?!"
"I made a promise with Honoka!"
"Honoka who?! Is that your ginger girl?!"
"Yes! She is!"
"Then what do you want me to do?"
"She'll be coming with two of her friends in Digimon online tomorrow!"
Erena sighed...
"Alright...so...you want us to come with you too and be the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth wheel with them?"
"No-no, not quite. I want you to take them away somehow. Let me and Honoka have some alone time!"
"How are we even going to do that? Do you think we can just go 'Hey yo—you two! Come with us and let these love birds be together?'"
"No-no, don't be that obvious. Arrange something...ask Anjuu if you're not creative enough."
"It's not about being 'creative' or 'not creative enough,' Tsubasa... It's about—do you think it's fine for her to be alone with you all of a sudden? You just met her...once! And will just be the second time if this actually happens..."
"I'm sure she won't mind!"
Erena sighed again.
"No. We're going to do it our way, Tsubasa..."
"You're no fun..." Tsubasa said.
"I don't care. You're not going to do it your way. If you really want this to work, then trust us and do it our way..."
"Booooo..."
Erena rolled her eyes and ended the call. She called Anjuu immediately.
"Anjuu, do you have time to listen right now?" she said.
"Mmm...of course sweetie, what's up? Is it about Tsubasa again?"
"Yes. Exactly..."
"You're a little bit over protective. It's fine for her to do anything she likes."
"She was asking me to set up a scene for them—or anything that could give them a chance ti be alone together..."
"Hold-on, Hold-on... I don't get this. What did she want us to do?"
"Tomorrow after school we... will play Digimon Online...with them..." Erena said.
"Oh...that sounds like a pretty good idea. I actually have something I want to talk about with that girl who owns Birdramon... she sells fashion, right? I'd like to know more about her stuff..." Anjuu replied.
"Anjuu...you're with her...huh?"
"What's wrong with that? You can try hanging out with that blue-haired girl. She seems to suit you..."
"Suit...me? Are you serious?"
"Well, if you want me to say that I suit you better..."
"Not again, Anjuu..."
"I'm always interested in Fashion… you know what I do..."
"I know but..."
"We will definitely arrange something, don't worry about it. Save your lovely head for something else, ok?"
"Alright..." Erena sighed again.
The Shinjuku Café—Real World;
"Haaaaah—that was sooo nice, Ericchi!" Toujou Nozomi said as she rested on the sofa.
"Seems like you made plenty of money today..." A beautiful blonde replied as she operated the Laptop connected to her Digivice.
"Lady and Angel did great. They actually hooked some tamers up to use our services..."
"Did you give them what they want?"
"Yup! Lady got her new enchantment and Angel got her new night lamp. I checked up on them a while ago and they seem to already be sleeping and cuddling like we always do in the weekend..."
"They both are? I thought Lady doesn't like sleeping at night. Especially in her ultimate form..."
"Oh she changed her time zone just so she could hang out with her Angel.."
"Sweet..." the blonde replied.
The purplenette remained silent for a moment as she watched how the blonde was focused on her laptop.
"What are you doing now, Ericchi?"
"Checking the market..."
Nozomi is once again silent. She knows that she isn't really looking at the market or, perhaps she could say, she never looked at the market with that much attention...
She reached across the table and emptied out the tissue box then peeked at the parfait glass to see only a spoonful of melted chocolate left. She carefully scooped it all up and offered it to her girlfriend.
"Ericchi—Aaaahhhh!"
"Aaahh..." the blonde accepted it.
Nozomi intentionally tilted the spoon and left a chocolate stain on her girlfriend's cheek.
"Oops, sorry...I left something on your cheek"
"It's fine..." the blonde replied as she began to look for tissue—though she couldn't find it on the table.
"Do you want to go to the restroom or you want me to lick that off your cheek?"
"I'd like the second choice but not here, Nozomi. I'll go to the rest room for now..."
"Alright. Then I'll make sure to get some melted chocolate next time you stay over my apartment..." Nozomi said as she watched her girlfriend head over to the restroom.
Soon after the blonde left, Nozomi quickly check her laptop.
She could see a few screenshots and saved data and also some information that probably came from her old back-up disk.
Nozomi sighed softly,
"You're still trying..." she mumbled,
Suddenly, a video-mail popped out on her screen. Nozomi knows that she will be in trouble if she is caught opening it but she is really curious so...that should be fine, right? Her girlfriend —Eli Ayase loves her and she will definitely forgive her for this small 'mistake'.
Just as she clicked the video mail notification, Eli returned from the restroom and Nozomi quickly tried to avoid getting caught in front of her laptop. She busied herself with the parfait glasswhich is actually empty.
Eli returned to her seat and the first thing she noticed is the video-mail. Her eyes aren't amused but she opened it anyway...
"What's wrong, Ericchi?" Nozomi asked—pretending to be as innocent as she can.
"You know it...and I know what you did..." Eli replied as she watched the video start to load.
Nozomi smiled faintly.
"My-my, I'm really no match for your—clever head. You knew what I was going to do and yet you let me do it anyway?"
"I would keep wondering if that was really your plan if I didn't let you..."
"So you expect me to make a comment now?"
"Go ahead...I love you either way."
"You're such a sweet darling... but well, all I will say is : you should stop trying and start to training your new Renamon. She might not be the same, but she is there to replace her..."
"She can't...be replaced...just like you..." Eli replied a little coldly.
"How come you're relating this to me...?" Nozomi asked.
"If you are gone, I'm not going to find a replacement...you are my only one..."
"That's sweet, Ericchi... but for real. I'm not going anywhere, so don't equate this to our relationship. I understand that you love her—you love your Kuzunoha... but think of this Renamon's feelings...she is working hard to reach you..."
Eli sighed. She is about to say something else but the video mail distracted her.
The video started with a familiar room with the oriental Decoration. Then Renamon appeared in the screen. She started with a cough, which Nozomi noticed, and she decided to take a seat next to Eli so she could watch the video as well.
"Uh...uhm...Eli... erh..." Renamon looks like she is trying to read something placed in front of the camera.
"Sorry...This is my...uh...24th takes I guess..I'm... not very good with this sort of thing..." she continued.
Eli and Nozomi remained silent and they both noticed the mess behind Renamon. A lot of crumpled and tattered papers piled up.
"So...I...want you to know...that I... really regret what I did. I've been contemplating this and... I...should've known that...joining a tournament without you is something that I shouldn't do. I know that...uh...what I said before...about making you proud... was such a naïve statement. You've...always been proud of your...former Digimon... She...was your pride and joy...she did so much better things than me...it's no wonder that...what I did just made you upset...and it's probably shaming you as well... I mean... uh...I believe...she took you to the S-Rank...While I...got you kicked out of your S-Rank... uhm... are you really kicked?" Renamon scratched her head shyly.
"W-Well...either way...I also...want you to know...that...I envy her... I want to be like her... I want you to help me be like her. We might not be the same, but... l-look...in a way... we're the same...we both...want to be your pride and joy...I want to take you to the S-Rank...I want to win every Tournament for you... so...please... train me... train me as hard as you can. I don't mind it if I have to work... a thousand times harder...I just want to be stronger...like her..."
"T-Th-That's all I could say... T-Thank you...if you watch this till the end..."
And the video stopped.
Eli and Nozomi are somewhat astonished with how Renamon put that much effort to make such a clumsy speech. Eli didn't look that amused but Nozomi gave her a big smile.
"See, Ericchi? This is what I'm telling you. She wants you to train her...and the last I heard from the staff is that Renamon has been waiting for you to Log In at the Lobby. They pity her and even offered to set her free. She refused him and snapped then told him that he is such a nosy staff."
"Haven't you been training her?" Eli replied.
"Ah—you knew about that one too...but it can't be helped. I pity her so I took her to places and trained her while you were away. How did you know though?"
"You're the only person who knows where I keep my Digivice—and also the only person who dares to sneak in to my apartment at night and place it back where it supposed to be. Plus, you snuck my Digivice in my bag just a while ago so it's pretty obvious who takes my digivice everyday..."
Nozomi giggled,
"You're sharp, Ericchi. This is one of the reasons why I love you...but now-now, this is about her again. What are you going to do now? Are you going to accept her apology or you will just become thone kind of asshole tamer who never cares about their Digimon's feelings?"
"I'll think about it, ok? I don't want to be too hasty..."
"That sounds like good news to me. I'll make sure Lady and Angel are there to help you train her. Also, I will take a vacation from making money for now and focus on her..."
"You don't have to put that much effort. The point of training is not to pass easy tasks but to make it through difficult tasks..."
"Oh trust me, Lady and Angel know how to make things hard. Or more like, they're experts on making things harder so, really, don't fret. It will be intense and special."
Kousaka residence—The Real World;
Honoka is finished with her study and has prepared herself for bed. She jumped to the bed in her pajama and accurately landed on it.
She immediately picked up the digivice on her end table and opened it to the Digi-Room section the pressed the 'monitor' button.
There she could see her Agumon in a deep sleep on his bed. The room is kind of messy and the food plate is empty. Should she place new food there?
She took a moment to think about it.
Perhaps she should and she could also add the Miracle Fruit.
After that, she closed her digivice screen and placed it back on the end-table.
She is about to close her eyes when her phone suddenly received a text notification...
From : Kira Tsubasa
Honoka! I'm looking forward to tomorrow. It's a promise! I'll be coming over to your school too so you have to wait for me! Good Night!
Honoka smiled,
"Ok!" she replied in a whisper—but failed to send an actual text reply.
See you next chapter!