Sorry for the long delay! I have 3 chapters for this update! I hope you enjoy it!
The night passed.
Tsubasa, Honoka, Sebastian, and Ichigo woke up at noon and were now eating in a restaurant that appears to be open for 24 digi-hours. It's a new sight for them today since they can see a few digimon crowding the take-away counter while some were sitting on the seats around them.
"Woaah, the restaurant is crowded." Honoka said as she continued scanning the room.
"It surely is. Looks like the City Digimon missed the taste of this restaurant's food."
"Hehe, that's for sure! They're all delicious!" Honoka said cheerfully.
"Yep, I'm going to pay for you again, so don't worry about the bill!"
"Tsubasa-chan, I feel bad… you should let me pay next time!"
"That's fine, Honoka. As long as you're hanging out with me, I feel like you've paid enough for me." Tsubasa said.
"You're too kind, Tsubasa-chan! I mean, I've only met you a few times!"
"Then, why don't we move onto another step?" Tsubasa suggested boldly.
"Eh…?" Honoka was flustered.
"Honoka, listen… I've been in love with you." The short-haired girl said without any hint of shame.
Honoka was still flustered about what the other girl just said. The restaurant remained crowded while the two girls were quietly looking at each other. Ichigo and Sebastian, on the other hand, enjoyed their time as they chatted about Sirloin and other meat products.
"Hehe, I love you too, Tsubasa-chan! I mean, you've been so kind to me!" Honoka replied with friendly smile.
"No, no, not that kind of love, Honoka. I truly love you, just like how Eli loves Nozomi."
"Just like Eli-senpai and Nozomi-senpai…?" Honoka thought for a while before she finally understood what kind of love she is talking about,
"Do you love me like how they love each other too?" Tsubasa asked—again, without a hint of shame.
Honoka stayed silent. She does have an attraction towards her, but she is still unsure about it. She doesn't want to lie to herself and she doesn't want to lie to her either. Does she love her the same way?
"Hehe, can I… have like, a moment to think about it…?" Honoka asked.
Tsubasa looks a little disappointed.
"I mean! I don't want to lie to myself or to you! So, that's why, can you give me a moment to think?" Honoka asked again.
Tsubasa nods gently to her.
"That's fine with me. I'll be waiting for you, ok?"
"Ok! I promise I'll give you the answer as soon as possible!"
Right after Honoka said it, their food arrived carried by an Egg-like Digimon with shadow arms. The Digimon placed their orders gently on the table and summoned other stuff out of nowhere then left without speaking a single word
"Woaah! What Digimon is that?" Honoka asked innocently.
"That's Digitamamon. He is pretty mysterious, huh? His cooking is the best of all. It's like you can be strong by just eating a lot of it and you will never feel full when eating it."
"That's really mysterious…" The ginger girl commented.
"Hey, why don't we buy a lot of it and let Ichigo and Sebastian eat it?"
"Are you sure? You're still the one who will pay, right?"
"Heh, don't worry. I'm an S-Rank player and even though we're running out of money, we can earn it back in no time!" Tsubasa said.
"Really? That's awesome!"
"You should work on getting your rank up here since it's going to be so much easier to do that here."
"How can we rank-up here?"
"Well, I took this from Jijimon's house computer. We can get our rank up by collecting cards, winning tournaments, evolving our Digimon into a decent monster. It's very convenient, I say… "
"I see… why would collecting cards make us better tamers though?"
"Because cards are one of the easiest information sources. The more you collect, the more you know about the Digital world… or at least that's what cards in File Island do. I took his collection… do you want to see it?"
"W-wait, what? You took his collection?!"
"I'll put it back later. But hey now, he won't need it while he is in the clinic, right?"
"Tsubasa-chan, I think we shouldn't be too cruel to him. You already hit him so hard last night."
"Hehe, don't sweat over that detail, Honoka. Trust me, I will pay him for that."
"If you say so!"
"Now-now, when did we schedule the match again? Tomorrow's morning?"
"Uh, I'm not sure. Didn't Tourney Greymon say that he will consider it?"
"That must be depend on how Eli is doing with in first floor. There are plenty of devices that need repair, but he will probably be shocked anyway. Eli is a very decent technician… or a hacker in her case."
"A Hacker? What is a hacker?"
"A hacker is a person who is capable of accessing unauthorized data. I thought you've heard that before."
"hehe, actually, I did for a few times now, but I wasn't sure so I decided to ask."
"You never knew what hacking is? I'm surprised, knowing that I hacked into your account back then."
"It was you who registered me to Digimon Online?"
"Yep, I really wanted you to play with me."
"Ehehe… well, it's fun! Thanks so much, Tsubasa-chan!"
"No problem! Also, this is only between you and me, ok? Perhaps this will matter for your consideration. I fell in love with you in the first sight. It seems stupid but, really, I even lied to Erena and Anjuu since I don't want them to laugh at me for this. Anyway, I know you might not be the person I feel you are and I might be not the person you feel I am, but I really love you. I want us to be in a close relationship so that we can be open-minded with each other."
"What's wrong with love at first sight though?" Honoka asked innocently.
Tsubasa was surprised to hear the response. It's very unlikely for someone to reply with such an innocent answer, but then, that's why she loves her. The brunette giggled and smiled with the sincerest smile she ever made.
"Nope, nothing is wrong. But people tend to think that as something stupid."
"Hehe, I don't! Anyone can fall in love with anything at first sight, right?"
"That's for sure, Honoka!"
"Like, when you sighted a deliciously decorated food, you fall in love with it in the first time, then you have an urge to eat it and you just want to eat it without even knowing about how it tastes. It's not wrong to do that at all! There's nothing funny about it too!"
"You're right, Honoka! That's why I'll be waiting for you to tell me if it's ok for me to eat you!"
"Ehhh? Eat me? That's some way to put it!"
"I'm joking-I'm joking! Now, should we head to the Arena and check how our blonde friend is doing with the mechanical issues?"
"Sure! I can't wait to see you two in the arena!"
The Training Gym, File City;
Umi and her Penguinmon, Yamato, have been training since they woke up from their slumber. With the disciplined practice and perfectly paced tempo on each of their moves, they proved to be capable of doing their practice flawlessly.
By the time they are about to start their next round of practice, Kotori came in to the gym and called her cutely,
"Umi-chan!"
"Ah, Kotori!" Umi and Yamato turned around to see Kotori carrying a tray with a set meal while Suzaku the Biyomon held a bag of fish.
"Hehe, here's your breakfast. It's on me." she said as she and her Suzaku approached them.
"Really? That's really kind of you, but, is it ok for you?"
"Don't worry, I've made plenty of money myself. Also, the currency for this Digital world is Bits, if you want to, you can convert your yen to Bits by exchanging it with Nozomi-chan!"
"Nozomi-senpai exchanges them? Didn't she wander around with Rin?"
"Well, she certainly did, but she always returns by noon or midnight. We just need to pay attention to who worked in the clinic so we know when she will return. As for Rin-chan, she is only traveling around File City to gather seeds for Kayo-chan! She always returns at dusk to help Kayo-chan then sleep at night!"
"Ah, I see… I'm sorry, I should've been more help for you too…"
"No-no, Umi-chan, it's alright. I want you to focus on your practice. I know it's hard to raise a Digimon to become what we want."
"But…"
"Umi-chan! Listen, if you truly want to help me, then you should keep practicing until you get the digimon that you wanted. I don't know which one, but I'm rooting for you!"
"Kotori…" Umi called her softly.
"Just remember that, if you are true to yourself, then you will have a Digimon which is perfectly fit for you!" Kotori said with a sincere smile to her before she handed the meal to her.
"Thank you." The bluenette nods.
"What about your training, Suzaku?" Yamato asked as he accepted the bag of fish from Suzaku.
"Hehe, Kotori-chan didn't reset my status. She let me improve on the status that Eli-chan suggested instead... it's not the same status than before though. When we asked Eli-chan, she said that there's a different technique that we need to notice to get the desired evolution. I trust her to be professional in it." Suzaku replied.
"Why don't you practice like how you want to practice?" Yamato asked.
"We can't. We did that before and the result is not what we wanted. Not everyone can be true to himself or herself to get what he or she strives for. You might be that person too, but first, you need to figure out about how you did with yourself first." Suzaku replied.
While the two continue to chat about their training, their trainer continue to chat with each other.
"Yep, this is a good chance. We only need to spend a few hours to see what we get while getting ourselves some earning instead of purchasing some expensive cards!" Kotori said.
"Do you think we can all get what we want in one go?" Umi asked.
"Maybe? Hehe, this all depends on how long we want to stay here. I doubt we can stay too long though, I mean, you know… Honoka-chan isn't someone who waits for anything. Only a miracle can make her wait longer than ten minutes. Plus, she easily gets bored too. Once she knows everything here, I bet she would want to return home and we all will have to join in."
"You are right, that's certainly what Honoka will do." Umi sighed.
"That's why, please, practice and be true to yourself. Don't push yourself too hard and don't try to change yourself into someone else."
"Will do, thank you again, Kotori, I'll try my best to work on his evolution!"
The Farm Land, File City;
"Kayo-chin!" Rin cheerfully called her as she stood at the entrance of the farmland, waving at her energetically along with Leon who also waved to her and Mary the Lalamon.
"I'll be going now! Take care of yourself, ok?"
"Yup! Thank you so much, Rin-chan! Please take care of yourself too!" she said cheerfully.
Soon after the cat-like girl left with her Gaomon, Anjuu and her Lalamon approached them.
"Ah, that's really cute of you two, I'm jealous." She said as she played with her own hair tips.
"A-Anjuu-san?!" Hanayo recoiled as she see her.
"Anjuu-chan is fine with me. How have you been, Hanayo-chan?"
"I-I'm fine…" she replied nervously.
"There-there, I'm just a mere tamer like you so you don't have to be that nervous."
"S-Sorry." Hanayo nods. Anjuu giggled at her reaction,
"You don't have to apologize, silly girl. But anyway, I'm here to take my meat portion and buy some vegetables. I'll be going around to investigate too. I can't let that Nozomi do that on her own."
"What exactly is everyone looking for?" Hanayo asked.
"Hmm… well, this is just between you and me, ok? I tried to hack her info last night. I didn't make any changes to it since it will be too risky. There's a person that I found in her contact info and I doubt she is a good person since she is too mysterious, even for the official."
"Eh…? Mysterious person?"
"Yep, her name is, Heidr. She has no information stored in her digivice, yet she is able to own a Lucemon who is also unknown to the official. I suspect her to have a specific relationship with this… Absolute Destroyer, that thing that looks like a digimon but is not quite a digimon or human being."
"Wow, but, I thought Nozomi-chan is not a bad girl, maybe she is just a client? I heard she is a famous merchant?"
"Well, I'm her client too, but I wouldn't want to let my guard down. Nozomi-chan may have been a good girl but we don't know how passionate she is when it's about money."
"Uhm…I think Nozomi-chan also wouldn't want to care about that, she is lucky enough." Hanayo said.
"You're certainly right, but still, I'll have to hear about her relationship with the mysterious person from her own lips. Hopefully, she is cooperative enough."
"Hehe, I'm sure she will be very cooperative! Good luck!"
Anjuu giggled again to Hanayo's reaction.
"You're such a pure girl, it fits perfectly with your voice."
"E-Eeh?" Hanayo blushed madly.
"So, where's my portion now? Also, when can I buy your vegetables? Any discount for the compliment just now?"
"U—uuhh…. Anjuu-san! I… I mean, Anjuu-chan! Don't tease me like that!"
The Tournament hall, File City;
The Engines in the first floor are close to getting finished. Eli and Sakuya the Renamon worked hard to clean and make sure that everything is working perfectly.
"How is it, Sakuya?" Eli asked as she held a button on the lift control.
"Looks like the lift works fine now, but it still can't transport us to the tenth floor and above."
"I didn't connect the lift there yet. I'll do it once we can use the green barrier… the problem was when the green barrier appears, the lift transports the passenger to a random floor, right?"
"Yes."
"That's why we need to see how the green barrier works first, then we can decide what to do next."
"The Green barrier is Digi bank's feature. That means you're done with everything in this floor." Sakuya said as she looked at the list that Eli plastered on the wall near the lift.
Eli remained quiet. She knew that something felt off with Sakuya's statement.
"You can input Kuzunoha's data and create her physical data." Sakuya continued.
"I'm surprised that you didn't feel jealous." Eli said.
"Jealous? I do, but I'd like to see her in action just so I can set my target. Like I said, I'll train as hard as I can and you will be my trainer. I'm not her, so I won't aim for the same target, instead, I'll make sure that you see it with your own eyes that I am better than her."
"You're quite arrogant, aren't you?" The blonde girl crossed her arm.
"So are you. In all honesty, Eli, you are a lot more arrogant than me. Judging me as incapable of doing what you expect, it's like you're admitting that you are the most expensive tamer who ever existed. In fact, you are not someone like that. I bet the A-Rise are better than you." Sakuya said.
"Is that you trying to provoke me? Who taught you that… Nozomi?"
"Yes, she did teach me, but she was right anyway. I wouldn't have realized that without her."
Eli sighed heavily.
"That girl. I can't believe I'm her girlfriend."
"You deserve that, Eli." Sakuya said.
"I bet she taught you to say that too…"
"Just because you are so transparent."
"…and that too…." Eli sighed again.
"Don't complain, start doing what I want."
Once again, Eli sighed, she knows that it's another sentence that her girlfriend taught to her Digimon.
"Anyway, Sakuya. I will still summon her physical data and I will make sure that you watch how she fights. I don't want you to just drop your jaws and do nothing, feel free to ask why or how."
"So, you really will train me?" Sakuya asked—for some reason, her question just now spoken with a less cold tone than her previous statement, it's like she isn't staging her words.
"You don't need to keep asking about that. Also, I hope you know what you are saying. If you truly want to aim to be better than my Kuzunoha, then you have to work twice as hard. No more slacking, no more giving up in the middle of practice, do you understand?"
"Yes! Certainly, Eli! I will make sure of that!"
Eli sighed again.
"Oh, right, Nozomi told me, that if you truly going to fight with Kuzunoha today, she wants you to make this the last time that you talk about her. She really wants you to move on and start thinking about me."
"Then I will make sure that you see her greatness in high quality."
"Aren't you supposed to fight against Tsubasa today?"
"Yes, I can't believe she wanted a rematch, but I bet she didn't learn that much anyway. I can guarantee that I will win."
"I'll be watching." Sakuya said.
Soon after she said it, Tsubasa and Honoka approached them, with their Digimons trailing behind them.
"Ah, there you are, Eli-senpai!" Honoka said.
"You're a little too formal, Honoka, just call her Eli, she wouldn't mind." Tsubasa said.
"Really?" Honoka asked to Eli.
"I don't care about how you're going to call me, just make sure you know your position." Eli replied,
"Ok, then, Eli-chan!" Honoka said cheerfully.
"Haha, anyway, Miss Blonde, are we fighting soon? I can't wait to see how my practice goes." Tsubasa said proudly.
"Did you talk to Tourney Greymon yet?"
"I did and he said you can go to the Digi Bank now since most of engines are fixed nicely here, thanks to you." The short haired girl said still with pride drawn on her face.
"Harasho." Eli replied.
"But, he said, only the first floor digi bank is usable, you need to fix the rest of Digi bank on the other floors."
"I'll do that after our battle. I'm having fun salvaging and learning their systems and I don't want you to keep bugging me with a re-match while I do that." Eli replied.
"I hear you, Eli. Let's get the battle on, shall we?"
"Wait, Eli, you haven't eat anything since this morning." Sakuya said.
"I'll be fine. The match won't last longer than two minutes." Eli replied.
"Now-now, you're being over-confident." Tsubasa said.
"The time limit of the battle here is 120 seconds and you can't use cards too." Eli replied.
"W-wait, what?" Tsubasa raised her eyebrow in shock.
"Tsubasa-chan, you didn't know?" Honoka asked innocently.
It took a moment for Tsubasa to process what she should say since she didn't want to be too embarrassed in front of her ginger girl, yet she didn't want to admit that her practice involved cards usage and that she expected a longer battle time since she wants to fight against this professional tamer.
"A-Ahahaha! Of course I knew that!" she said, immediately decided to just wing it since she also remember that Honoka can't wait to see her fight.
"I slacked a little too much with my battle practice, damn it." Tsubasa whispered to herself.
"Don't worry, Tsubasa! I've got your back!" Sebastian whispered when he heard what Tsubasa said to herself.
"Ah, right, Sebastian, I'm going to use the old you this time." Tsubasa said.
"I know that, I'll be watching." Sebastian said,
"The old Sebastian? What do you mean, Tsubasa-chan?" Honoka asked.
"It's a long story, but I'll make sure to explain later!" Tsubasa said.
"Alright!"
"Let's not waste too much time, I have so much more to do up there." Eli said,
"Understood. Off we go then?"
The Clinic, File City;
Nozomi returned to the city to pick up Angel in the clinic so that she can travel outside with her while Lady replaced her on her job. As she entered the clinic, she spotted Angel taking care of Jijimon.
"You need to eat three times a day and eat enough veggies then you'll be fine in a week. Even though I've healed most of your wounds, you're still not capable of restoring your stamina as fast as a healthy person. Then, as I said, you're not sick because of your wound, you're sick because of your bad habit." Angel explained.
"Thank you, uh…what was your name again, Angel? It's rare for me to see a rookie digimon like you so skilled in the art of healing."
"Hehe, I have a best friend—or a twin sister! She taught me a lot about healing magic even though she can't heal anyone!"
"She can't heal but she can teach you? That's weird." Angemon who had been sitting away from them said. He seemed to be somewhere behind the room divider.
"Hehe, my master bought me skill books. I'm not very good at reading so she read it for me and even translated it for me. She knows how it works but she can't learn it since she doesn't have the ability to do it."
"That's sweet of her. I hope she can evolve to a digimon who can use healing magic one day." Jijimon said.
"Hehe, she is perfect as who she is! So I'm fine with whoever she is!" Angel replied innocently.
Hearing what she said, Lady smiled faintly before she decided to run in and say out loud,
"Angel! I'm back!"
Nozomi giggled at the playfulness of her voice.
"Aaaah! Lady! Welcome back!" Angel replied before she ran to approach her twin sister.
"Nozomi-chan! Come on! Please show her the memento I brought for her!" Lady shouted.
"I got it, I got it." Nozomi replied then walked closer to the crowd and searched for the object that they got from their journey.
It's a transparent cube with a sparkling surface. They have absolutely no idea what that is, but at least Angel took a shine on the item at first sight.
"It's sparkling!" she said cheerfully.
"That thing looks familiar, where did you get it?" Jijimon asked.
"It was just burrowed in the desert sand… no idea why." Nozomi replied.
"Hmm… Never went out that far. I think someone in the city had it and tried to sell it to me last time. I feel pity for the person so I bought it."
"That's interesting. Please let me buy it." Nozomi replied.
"Sure, how does 50 Bits sound to you?"
"That's a little too cheap. Angel loves it so I'll give you 500 bits."
"You're very kind." Jijimon said.
"No problem. Also, if you find another, I'll pay you for it with the same price." Nozomi replied.
"Nice, I'll make sure to find them for you." Jijimon replied gratefully
"Hehe, Nozomi-chan! You have to get me a display to keep them!" Angel said.
"Sure, I'll make sure you will be able to keep them later."
Farther out;
"Hehe, Leon-chan! I think we got enough seeds today-nya!" Rin said to her Gaomon.
"Really? Awesome! Can we go to the restaurant? I heard they have a nice hot Ramen in the menu!" Leon the Gaomon replied.
"Oooo! Ramen! Let's get them-nya!" Rin said cheerfully.
"But, we need Bits, they don't use Yen currency." Gaomon said.
"Eeeh? Where can we get Bits-nya?" Rin asked.
"Hmmm…. I heard wild Digimons drop them when we defeat them in battle…"
"Really? Is that like, we defeat them and they will pay us so that they can be spared?"
"Hnngg… maybe? Isn't it sounds fun though?"
"That's like a robbery-nya!"
"Ah—you are right… but, Nozomi told me last night, when she walked around, Digimon are attacking us so maybe it's more like their payment as an apology."
"They only apologize if we can defeat them? That's not nice of them-nya!"
"I know, right? We can always evade them though, as long as we're not going too far from the city, we will be fine!"
"But, our business was to look for bits to eat ramen, right-nya?"
"Oh—I forgot about that."
Leon and Rin began to think about what they needed to do later.
"Then, I guess it can't be helped, we have to rob the wild Digimons!"
"Yeah-nya! They're not nice anyway!"
"Let's go, Rin! We shall return and feast our Bits with ramen!"
"Ok-nyaaa!"
The two walked a bit and suddenly, a wild Digimon jumped in to their sight. It's a wild Gabumon with a different color. His claws are green instead of violet, his fur has a lighter blue shade, his body is red instead of yellow, the picture of a digi-egg on his stomach is green instead of blue with violet stripes, and his horn is glossy violet instead of glossy yellow.
"Eeh? Isn't this… uh… Gabumon…Psychedelic version?"
"Psychemon!" Leon the Gaomon said,
Right after he said it, Psychemon growled at them.
"Watch out, Rin, this Digimon is attacking!" Leon quickly took over the front line for her.
"U-uh, Go! Leon! Defeat him-nya!"
"I'll show him how Sonoda's teaching improved me!" Leon said before he launched his first attack at Psychemon's face. It hits so quickly that not even Psychemon was able to guess where the punch landed—all he knows is that he got punched away from his spot.
"That's nice-nya! Punch him again!"
"Got it!" Leon the Gaomon ran in and jumped on him before he punched his body from above, it was too quick and Psychemon scattered into small sparkling cubes. While the minor parts blended with the air, the biggest part remained on the ground.
Rin is flustered, but Leon remained calm.
"Eh… looks like we killed him-nya…" Rin said a little sadly.
"He left this, I wonder what this means?" he picked up the sparkling cube.
"Hnng…." Rin hovered her digivice toward the sparkling cube and scanned it.
"Hmmm… this is… a memory data? I thought it supposed to be formed as a chip?"
"A memory data? Hmm… I wonder how a wild Digimon can drop a memory data."
"Let's ask to Nozomi-chan-nya!" Rin said before she operated her digivice and took a picture of it—then sent it as Digi-mail to Nozomi.
About ten seconds passed before Rin received a reply in her Digivice.
Sell it to me for 500 Bits.
Her response said.
"Ooo! That's plenty of bits!" Leon said.
"Yeah-nya, how much do we need for ramen-nya?"
"Hmm… Maybe about 3500 Bits for the jumbo bowl?"
"Let's look for more-nya! Maybe at least 14 of them?"
"Ok!"
Meanwhile, back in The µ's home,
Anjuu and Erena decided to return to make sure that someone guarded the house. Erena seemed to be busy with monitoring her Ryuudamon practicing on the gym with Anjuu's Lalamon while Anjuu is having so much fun chatting with Kotori and Hanayo.
From : Minami Kotori
Really thanks for guarding our house! I would tell Honoka to do it but she seems to be busy with Tsubasa-chan! I've been messaging her but she hasn't responded!
To : Minami Kotori , Koizumi Hanayo
No problem, just leave the will-be-new-couple with what they want to do for now. We can bug them later when they're really going out with each other.
From : Koizumi Hanayo
Hehe, Anjuu-chan, you are supporting them. ^_^
To : Minami Kotori, Koizumi Hanayo
Can't be helped, Tsubasa has been so obsessed to meet up and hang out with her. She told me about her childhood past, I feel touched by her passion.
From : Minami Kotori
I've never heard Honoka-chan to have any childhood friend other than me and Umi-chan. It's true that people approach her from time to time but that's because she is being bad to them. Honoka-chan is a very bossy person!
To : Minami Kotori, Koizumi Hanayo
Yet the truth is that Tsubasa met her back then and fall in love. Maybe she has a charm after all.
From : Koizumi Hanayo
Looking back to my childhood, I think Rin-chan is also a bossy one, but she has a lot of charm because of it.
From : Minami Kotori
I think Rin-chan and Honoka-chan are different kinds of bossy though. I mean, like, Rin-chan is only bossy to people she know, right? Honoka-chan is bossy to anyone around her. It's so troublesome! But, the good thing is, she pulls us all to advance for the better future. I guess that's where her charm is!
To : Minami Kotori, Koizumi Hanayo
See? That what makes Tsubasa crazy for her. Someone who can pull her to advance for the better future. Tsubasa has issues with her motivation. She is good in many things and feels like her life is so dull. When her Digimon degraded back to a Digi-Egg, she was so motivated to raise him again, but then, since she got her Mega Digimon, she has never really trained herself, especially after she knew that her rival's Digimon died in a cheater's hand.
From : Minami Kotori
You mean, Eli-chan's Kuzuhamon? I didn't know that she was a rival to her. What was her Digimon back then?
To : Minami Kotori, Koizumi Hanayo
Tsubasa's Digimon was a Malo-Myotismon, she is always been into a very destructive Digimon. Her loss to Kuzunoha last time caused her to strive for a better training technique, she heard that there is a secret to it in the depths of Digital World, that's why we joined the expedition back then.
From : Minami Kotori
Aah! So the three people whose digimon survived are—!
To : Minami Kotori, Koizumi Hanayo
Exactly, it's us. It was so troublesome, but we learned a lot from that place. We hope to be able to enter that place again… we need more people though. We can't possibly enter that place with only 12 people.
From : Minami Kotori
I think it's possible though, I mean, with someone like Tsubasa-san and Eli-senpai, they seem to know a lot about the digital world and it's system.
From : Koizumi Hanayo
Kotori-chan, you forgot something.
From : Minami Kotori
Eh? What is it?
To : Minami Kotori, Koizumi Hanayo
Tsubasa-chan* , Eli-Chan*, Didn't you tell me that you were supposed to address us less formally?
From : Minami Kotori
You're right! I forgot! ( ^ 8 ^ a )
To: Minami Kotori, Koizumi Hanayo
Anyhow, that's true. If we all have a trick up our sleeves, we probably can do it with 12 people. Perhaps it's related to what we planned to do. It's to unbind ourselves from the Digital World's rules.
From : Minami Kotori
What's that mean? ( ' 8 ' )
From : Koizumi Hanayo
I get it, it's to make us all unbound with the time, right? It's like changing the Digital system with what we use in our usual gameplay, but without the restriction to any system and facilities?
To: Minami Kotori, Koizumi Hanayo
Your junior is on a roll, Kotori-chan.
From : Minami Kotori
Kayo-chan, you're really good at this aren't you?
From : Koizumi Hanayo
I just took up some readings about digital systems. ^_^a
To : Minami Kotori, Koizumi Hanayo
Reading makes you smarter, but that's only when you read something useful. Anyhow, that's correct, Hanayo-chan. That also means that we have to get Evolution saved in our memory card before we enter that place. I'm good with my Lotosmon, what about you two?
From : Minami Kotori
I'm still far from perfect. I think I'll try to evolve Biyomon into Phoenixmon first.
From : Koizumi Hanayo
Me too, I'd like to know what I will have from my Lalamon.
To : Minami Kotori, Koizumi Hanayo
It will be hard for you to evolve her if you don't have any guide. I'll teach you how, what about it?
From : Koizumi Hanayo
Sure! That sounds good to me! But, I need to take care of the farm.
To : Minami Kotori, Koizumi Hanayo
Even better, you'll have your practice there… you should join too, Kotori-chan.
From : Minami Kotori
I think I want to practice with Umi-chan, she might need me from time to time. I wish I could get Honoka-chan too, but, looks like she will be busy with Tsubasa-chan. ( - 8 - )
To : Minami Kotori, Koizumi Hanayo
Don't worry, Kotori-chan, I'll make sure Tsubasa-chan doesn't hog her for herself. She needs to take care of a little business that we have. Not going to tell you about it yet, there's a time and place for that later.
From : Minami Kotori
Ok! I'm looking forward to it!
From : Koizumi Hanayo
Me too! Let's work hard for the future!
The Tournament Hall, File City;
The preparation room is silent, with only light blue lamps shining all over the room and the digivice directed into a Digimon.
A tall digimon with purple fox mask, long dark grey hair with low twin tail, black latex suit with a few parts of purple armor, silver staff and purple lips. This is the so-called Kuzunoha, the Digimon who was said to be the champion of battles—or could've been the champion of ranked matches if she didn't die in the hands of a cheater.
Eli remained silent as she adjusted her Digimon's settings. She was smiling and somewhat looks excited while her current Renamon stayed behind her, watching the tall Digimon letting Eli do anything to her setting. It's like what Eli had said before are lies, especially about Digimon not being a toy.
Sakuya the Renamon can feel the jealousy burning at her heart at the moment, but what can she say? It's very obvious that she is no match to this Kuzunoha.
Tsubasa who had already finished with her settings entered the room along with Honoka who's still curiously looking at the room as she stepped on the metal floor. Reading the expression, Tsubasa decided to approach the jealous Digimon first.
"Psst, Sakuya, is that your name?" she asked.
"Ah, Tsubasa, welcome. Yes it's my name, is there anything I can help you with?"
"No-no, that's wrong, is there anything I can help you with, Sakuya?"
"N-No, nothing at all." Sakuya replied a little sadly.
"Are you jealous?" Tsubasa asked.
"Nozomi told me that I shouldn't be jealous, so I'm not."
Hearing such an innocent remark, Tsubasa laughed loudly in the room. Eli seemed to be ignoring the fact that they are there—her mind is too busy thinking of her Digimon's settings.
"Oh come on! Sakuya! Nozomi this, Nozomi that, why are you doing what she says? What about you? What do you want to do?"
"I already try to tell her what I feel, but it seems that Eli is passionate with Kuzunoha more than me, so I thought, maybe I should just go with another plan that Nozomi told me."
"See? That's another Nozomi's plan. Just speaking your thoughts out loud isn't going to help you. Start doing an actioacting on something and stop when you feel like you are failing won't help you either. You have to be stubborn."
"I did, but, it doesn't seem to work. I mean, I've never seen Eli that happy with me so I thought, maybe, I'll just give up and watch her do whatever she wants."
"You're not stubborn enough. But anyhow, since I'm nice, I'll help you tell her what you want. In return, you will have to promise me to not act like this again—and 'act like this' means acting like a sore loser, trying to do what others tell you to do so that you can blame them is what a sore loser does."
"I didn't mean to act like that. I just think that Nozomi is the wisest person I can follow. If I fail, I will never blame her."
"Blaming yourself is also a bad thing to do, so just get yourself ahead, ok?"
Sakuya nodded to her.
"Thank you."
"I have to do that for myself too, but anyhow, I'm very motivated for a reason, you know. You have to find that reason for yourself too."
"Yes, I know, I've already planned to watch this battle and make this my motivation."
"That's not enough, you need love. You need to love someone and make her your motivation."
"Hmm… then, I'll do it for Nozomi…"
"Wait, Nozomi?" Tsubasa chuckled.
"Yes, I think I kind of… love her…"
"Haha! That's not generally wrong but wrong in a way, you could love someone else!"
"I know, but, maybe it will be hard, so…" Sakuya averted her eyes.
"Shush, tell no more. We will be in battle soon."
"O…Ok?" Sakuya tilted her head slightly as she watched Tsubasa walk away from her.
"Honoka! Are you done with browsing around?" Tsubasa asked.
"Yup! There's nothing suspicious here, Tsubasa-chan!"
"Nothing, suspicious?" Sakuya blinked, confused with what exactly could be suspicious for them.
"Then, let's go back to our room and prepare for the battle! Sebastian and Ichigo must be very eager!"
The two girls left the room without saying a single word to the blonde who's still busy with her Digimon. After a while, Sakuya smiled at them, appreciating everything that they've said to her.
"I got it! I got it! Now you can use that skill again, Kuzunoha!" Eli said excitedly.
Sakuya surprised to hear such a cheerful voice coming out of her tamer, though the moment she looked at her tamer…
The tall purple digimon remained silent and unresponsive. After all, this Digimon is only a projected physical data, no soul or anything that could give her an emotion to express. The blonde's cheerful azure eyes began to change to a sorrowful glance, she seemed to realize something that made her heart shatter. She trailed her hand on Kuzunoha's wrist—perhaps to make sure that she is touchable right now and released her with the saddest smile she ever made.
Sakuya had the urge to comfort her, though for some reason, she felt like she shouldn't interfere with whatever thought she has towards her Kuzunoha right now.
Eventually, Eli left her Kuzunoha and walked to the entrance of the room.
"Sakuya, there's 15 minutes left before the fight starts. I'm going to the bathroom for a bit. Take care of yourself, ok?"
"I understand." Sakuya replied.
"Harasho, I'm leaving now." She said before she stormed out of the room.
When she completely left the room, Sakuya remained in her place, silently looking at the entrance, then batting her eyes toward Kuzunoha. She noticed that there's a movement on the wrist that Eli touched before. She clenched her fist, for sure, but, what does that mean, exactly?
She was about to question further when a static appeared from Kuzunoha's body and she was suddenly blinded with a light from an unknown source. She covered herself for a bit before a set of swift holographic vision appeared on Kuzunoha's place.
Viximon, you are my digimon partner now.
Eli's voice is heard from unknown source. A gentle hand also appeared out of nowhere and patted the head of a yellow baby-fox-like digimon.
The static appeared again and the vision changed. Viximon is now a Renamon like her.
Harasho, you are Renamon now, right? You look tougher, but there are still so many things to do. Let's work harder, ok?
Said Eli's voice as a playful hand shoved the Renamon's shoulder.
Once again, the vision changed, though it only returned into the silent Kuzuhamon.
"Kuzunoha…." Sakuya calls her gently, yet Kuzunoha remained unresponsive.
She decided to approach the silent Digimon closer.
When her eyes are set right in front of her, Kuzunoha once again projected a vision to her.
It looked like a Kyuubimon but with purple color.
Uh, she is not Kyuubimon, are you sure you're doing it right, Ericchi?
Nozomi's voice is heard from Kuzunoha's vision
Maybe not, but either way, I'll take care of her. She is still her, right? I'm going to make her better than anyone else!
There, Ericchi. I know you more than you know yourself. If you don't like her, you should just reset her digivolution and start over. It's better than you raising a digimon half assed.
What are you talking about, Nozomi! Even if she isn't going to become Sakuyamon, I'll love her! She has the same color like your hair too! I'm pretty sure I will love her as much as I love you!
There-there, flirting with your new girlfriend, aren't you?
Then, once again, the vision changed. This time, she turned into a purple Taoist humanoid fox.
Harasho! Just a little bit more and I shall grant you a nickname, Kuzunoha!
Can't it be now, Ericchi?
Sheesh, it's not fitting her image yet, Nozomi. Kuzunoha is a Kuzuhamon and nothing else!
Well, up to you, but anyway, don't overwork her, ok? She has feeling too.
One more time, the vision changed and this time, she can see the quiet Kuzuhamon return but with a big hole on her neck. Sakuya was confused until she started to hear the recorded scream of her tamer.
Kuzunoha! Kuzunoha! Hang in there! Someone please save her!
Kuzunoha's body crumbles into sparkling cubes, disappearing into thin air.
Please! Kuzunoha!
The voice echoed around the room. Sakuya could feel all the despair and sorrow that happened in the vision. After the vision ended, the quiet Kuzunoha returned and did nothing but stand in front of her. What kind of force would drive such a vision to happen only before her eyes? Is it truly a fate or something else at work?
In another preparation room.
Honoka and Tsubasa are testing the projected Digimon— a big demonic Digimon with light blue armor, living-jaw-like artillery cannons on his shoulder, darker blue half parachute-like wings and a red mask on his face. Tsubasa gave him a few commands while Honoka stayed in her place to watch, along with Sebastian and Ichigo.
"Hey, Honoka-chan, did you know that the artillery on his shoulder have names?" Sebastian asked.
"It has? Did Tsubasa name it?"
"Uhm… No. It's just the parts that are named naturally. They are called Sodom and Gomorrah."
"I've never heard of them." Honoka replied.
"Those are named after the two sinful cities which were destroyed by the Divine Judgment by the God Himself. Men and Women in Sodom and Gomorrah have committed the most grievous sins. I won't mention about what they did, but, let me just tell you about what happened in there before the Divine Judgment fell upon them. Two angels were sent to investigate for righteous people in there. If they happen to find more than 10 people, then the city will be spared, but if there's no more than that, the city will be destroyed."
"Oh, so, is it destroyed in the end?" Honoka asked eagerly.
"Yep, only a very few people are righteous and it's less than ten. So they are called to leave the city while the rest of people in those cities were burnt down into nothing. Even so, there's one woman who disobeyed the Angel's warning, so she was turned into a pillar of salt."
"S-Scary." Honoka replied with a smirk.
"What's the point of the story tough? It's a little too sudden." Ichigo said.
"Believe it or not, I was that Malo-Myotismon before I turned into who I am now. I always thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were my only best friends, but now I feel so much freer than ever. Thanks to you, Ichigo!" Sebastian said.
"Eeeh? Meee?"
"Yup, it was really nice to hang out with you, even if it's only about food, it's so much more fun than how I was back then. Perhaps, this is the same feeling that Tsubasa feels about you, Honoka-chan."
"Huh? What about her?"
"Even if she just met you and fall in love at first sight, she has never been so motivated to pass through her days. Then, every single time she wakes up, she would always go, I'm surely going to meet up with Honoka today! Or like recently, she was like, I'll impress her today!"
"If that's the case, then, should I pretend that I'm not impressed?" Honoka asked.
"Huh? No way, just be who you are, I'm sure she is happier that way." Sebastian replied.
"But, she needs me to be her motivation everyday, right?"
"There must be another way to do it, Honoka-chan." Ichigo said.
"You're right, Ichigo. I wonder what makes her feel motivated."
"You don't have to think too much about it, Honoka-chan, I was just saying it as an appreciation about your existence in her life." Sebastian said.
"Is that so? Hehe, alright! Then I can just exist and she will feel happy about it?"
"Uhm, that works but not quite literally just existing… you need to do something too!"
"Hehe! I know-I know!" Honoka giggled.
"Alright! He is fully tested now!" Tsubasa suddenly shouted and grabbed everyone's attention.
"Ooo! So we're going to battle soon, Tsubasa-chan?"
"Of course!" Tsubasa replied cheerfully.
"Five minutes left before the gate is open. I'm very excited about how things will go." Sebastian said.
"I doubt you can win, honestly. All remaining status saved in my digivice is the status when you won S-Rank for the first time. She probably has the same time, but knowing that Eli is such an overachiever, she probably had it set on World-Rank Status." Tsubasa said.
"World Rank?" Honoka wondered.
"Ah, right, World Rank is the winner of Ultimate of the S-Ranked Tournament. If you win that, you are officially said to be stronger than the S-Rank. Eli might have planned that status before she entered her first S-Rank Tournament. The other reason why you probably can't win is that I can't use any cards to support you, it's all on technique and she is probably better with that." Tsubasa explained.
Honoka seem to be worried, though she said nothing about her worry.
"We can have another match after. I'll make sure to win the other one." Tsubasa said.
"Eh, Another match?"
"Yep, using the Sebastian now, of course, versus her Sakuya."
"Oh—alright! It's for that plan, right Tsubasa-chan?"
"Yup! For that plan! Make sure you remember what to say later, ok?"
"Ok!" Honoka replied cheerfully.
"Uh, is there something that I missed?" Ichigo asked.
"Yep, you see, Ichigo, we both have been thinking that we should be a motivator duo." Tsubasa said.
"Motivator… duo?"
"Yep, so we will start from Eli-chan, we will motivate her enough to train her Renamon. Next, we will help Umi-chan on practice too! Then, later, we will look for what the others need as well." Honoka said.
"Uh, does she actually need your help though?" Ichigo asked.
"Who cares about need or not, we will make it less obvious!" Tsubasa said.
"Is that plan coming out of nowhere? I never knew about this." Sebastian said.
"I'm just sad when looking at how the girls are so slow on their practice! Some are not even Champion yet!" Tsubasa said.
"But they just started a few days ago, it's normal to not be a champion… Ichigo isn't even a champion yet. Honoka-chan can't be a motivator…" Sebastian said.
"That's where you are wrong, Sebastian! Honoka will be the best motivator. I'll make sure to help her evolving her Digimon!
"You said that over and over, Tsubasa, but here we are avenging our previous loses."
"Shush you, Sebastian. Anyway, I need to be in the Arena soon. Make sure you're watching, ok?"
"Alright. I'm ready when you are."
"Haha, Sebastian, you don't need to speak for your copy!" Tsubasa said before the floor under her began to signal an alarm. Honoka, Sebastian, and Ichigo moved all the way to the safe area that was already marked with a yellow line.
"Let's go to the Audience seat, Honoka-chan." Sebastian said.
"Ok!"
In the Audience Seat of File City's Tournament hall;
Sakuya the Renamon patiently waited for the battle to start. She is very sure that she will be able to grasp the idea of Eli's battle style, just like what Eli requested her. She is also sure that she is not jealous, just like what Nozomi asked her. But come to think of it, perhaps Tsubasa was right about how she is supposed to be thinking of her own feelings before thinking about Eli's feelings towards her.
She is not angry with Eli, she feels pity for her. She is also not holding any grudges to her, she just wants her to like her more than she likes her Kuzunoha. She had said this to herself over and over before, though, she feel like saying it once again just to reassure herself about what she truly feels.
When doubt strikes her, she knows that she has to contact Nozomi again, but at the time she was about to use her ability as a digimon—contacting a digivice without using any tools, Nozomi walked into the tournament hall and took a seat next to her, along with Angel.
"Aaah! Sakuya!" Angel cheerfully called her.
"Angel, Nozomi…" Sakuya greet them.
"I was about to call you since I can't find Ericchi on the first floor, but thanks to Tourney Greymon for asking me to be the audience of his first Come-Back Battle. I just know that she would involve testing out his stuff."
"It was actually a request from Tsubasa." Sakuya replied
"Ahh, a re-match then. Tsubasa is a tough foe, but Eli won over her four times. The Rookie Tournament, The Champion Tournament, The Ultimate Tournament, and The Mega Tournament."
"Do they always meet in every single rank tournament?"
"Yep, either Tsubasa followed her movement or it was purely fate that led the two to meet in a tournament."
"Have you ever fought Eli?"
"Duel? Sure I did, in Mega Tournament to be exact. Her Doumon defeated both Angel and Lady."
"Wait, you get to enter two Digimons?"
"My, what's wrong with that? I can enter both since both are my partner Digimon."
"That's unfair." Sakuya said.
"Yet Ericchi won and I'm stuck in Ultimate since I promised that I will train them five times harder before entering another Ultimate Tournament."
"True…"
"Face it, you shouldn't give up fighting when you can't find justice. In the real world, no one cares about the numbers… it's about skill and power. You've seen Lady defeating a massive number of Wild Digimon, why are you complaining when I have both of my Digimon enter to fight a single Digimon?"
"You're right, I'm sorry."
"Yup, be sorry and be glad that you said that to me before you said that to Ericchi. She will be angry with your cowardly remark."
Soon after Nozomi said it, Honoka, Sebastian and Ichigo walk closer to them.
"Nozomi-senpai! I mean… Nozomi-chan!" Honoka greeted.
"Aah, Honoka-chan!" Nozomi turned to her.
"Here to watch your darling, right?" She continued.
"E-Ehh? No! We're not that close… yet…"
"Not that close yet, huh? That sounds very convincing, what happened today?"
"T-that's a long story, can we talk later? Hehe, I just want to enjoy the show today." Honoka replied.
"My, you're so out of character, Honoka-chan."
"W-What do you mean out of character? I think I'm fine!" Honoka replied with a pout.
"You sure are, but it's rare for you to keep something for yourself."
"Either way, Nozomi-chan! I don't want to talk about it!"
"Hmm….? You don't want to talk about it? What if I turn out to be the perfect person to talk with?"
"I doubt that! Uh… I mean, I really don't want to talk about it!"
"Hnn… fine, you're no fun, Honoka-chan."
"E-eh? But…."
"I'm joking, I don't want to pry too much. Good luck with whatever you're trying to do." Nozomi replied with a mischievous smile. Sebastian and Ichigo wondered what exactly Nozomi had in mind when she gave Honoka a curious yet playful glance. It might be better for them to stay quiet since the battle is about to start in two minutes or less.
By the time Honoka finally decided to take her seat close to Nozomi, Ichigo and Sebastian took the seat behind her. The Audience room is close to empty as they are the only group in it.
The Arena is finally open, Eli and her Kuzunoha appeared from the first lifted podium while Tsubasa appeared on the other podium with her Malo-Myotismon. Tsubasa give her foe the most arrogant smile while Eli kept her cold glare that everyone always sees on her.
This is the start of the most intense battle Honoka has ever seen, or so she thinks…
"I'm very excited, how are they going to fight?!" Honoka said eagerly.
"I've heard from Ericchi that they can't use cards here, so this is going to be purely from Digimon settings and tamer skills. It will be very fun, I'm sure." Nozomi commented.
"Rookie was fun enough for me."
"Rookie Tournament…" Nozomi giggled.
"What are you expecting from that? I barely know if they even have anything to show off." She said still with some giggle between her words.
"uh… because Digimons are fighting?"
"You like to watch fights? My, you're pretty boyish, just like Ericchi."
"Eh?"
"She decided to enter fight for the first time because she likes fighting. She said there's a special thrill in it."
"What about you? Don't you feel the thrill when watching a fight?"
"Not quite, I prefer being an actual support than being an audience or a tamer. None of my digimon are trained by me, they're all trained by Ericchi."
"Really? I never knew!" Honoka said.
The timer for the battle to start has begun, it seemed that both tamers were supposed to make a speech before the timer started, yet the two are just glaring at each other.
Kuzunoha entered the arena at the same time with Tsubasa's Malo-Myotismon.
"A true strength is where one is able to defeat their weakness. That was what you said to me back then, right?" Tsubasa said with her smug face.
"Are you seriously going to use your former Digimon? Don't be stupid. You know it was a mistake."
"You have to prove it to me again, maybe you were just lucky."
Eli sighed.
"Let's get this over with, ok?"
The timer begins and the bell for the battle to start rings.
The first move was launched by Tsubasa's Malo-Myotismon who dashed forward and lifted his claws, bashed his darkness toward the calm violet fox maiden. By the time his claw is so close to scratch her head, Kuzunoha swiftly crouched and swung her silver monk staff, tackling the Digimon down and countered his attack.
"Wow, what was that again?" Honoka asked.
"Counter, many tamers dislike this skill because it's very hard to time it. Also, sometimes it's because Digimons can't time it properly. But it's actually a very useful skill on a witty Digimon."
"Uaah, ok! I've never knew that skill."
"You should learn it, Ichigo, maybe you're good at it." Nozomi said.
"Huh? Learn what?" Ichigo asked innocently.
"Nevermind, what are you looking at?"
"Uh… that?" Ichigo pointed at Tsubasa's Malo-Myotismon.
Nozomi, Honoka, Sakuya and Sebastian tried to search for what may interest Ichigo. A moment of fight passed, they watched each movement carefully yet they can't see anything other than the fight itself.
"There's the same effect on Kuzunoha too." Ichigo said.
"Huh? I can't see anything, Ichigo. It's only Kuzunoha." Honoka said.
"Yep, Can't see too. Angel, can you see anything?" Nozomi asked.
But no response was given by the specific Digimon.
"Angel?" Nozomi searched for her but she is nowhere to be found.
"Hmm… She went off." Nozomi sighed.
"When did she go, I never noticed." Sebastian said.
"Hehe, don't worry about her, she must be somewhere for a reason."
Meanwhile in the clinic,
Angemon is been explaining the medicine cabinet to Lady. She is paying attention to him quietly and even diligently taking notes.
"… so, do you understand now, Lady?" Angemon asked.
"Not quite about what you just said. You were saying that you are letting the Digimon come and visit you instead of you coming over to where they are at."
"We don't have enough people for that system. Someone has to be in the clinic to serve the other."
"Are you like, the only digimon who can do some healing here?"
"Yes, also, the only one who can create medicine."
"Pffft, If that's the case, then you go out right now and I'll stay here to make the medicine and serve customers."
"Wait, what? Why do I have to be the one who goes out?"
"You're a champion Digimon, I'm a Rookie, the older one always loses, so go now."
"That's unfair!" Angemon protested.
Suddenly, the door of the clinic is opened.
"Lady!" An excited voice is heard.
"Ah, Angel, I wonder what's with—…"
Before Lady was able to finish her word.
"Come with me!" Angel ran in and pushed Lady out of the clinic.
"Huh? What?" Lady and Angel left the clinic so quickly.
Angemon is dumbfounded by the swiftness of both Rookie Digimon, but part of him is glad that he doesn't have to leave the clinic today.
Back in the Arena,
The battle between the two silent Digimon continue, both tamers are halting each of the action to make sure that they are really carefully taking their moves. Eli and Kuzunoha are always into countering melee attacks and dodging ranged attack, while Tsubasa and her Malo-Myotismon are always into full offense.
It's obvious that Tsubasa is at a disadvantage, especially with how her Malo-Myotismon is slightly slower than Eli's Kuzunoha. There's only one minute left, Malo-Myotismon's health bar is 10% lower than Kuzunoha's. Tsubasa needs to take an action if she doesn't want to lose when the time limit is over—again.
"Isn't this nostalgic?" Tsubasa asked with her arrogant smile.
"It sure is, and just like what I thought, you were doing the same mistake. Full offense is a bad idea, it always is." Eli replied with her unamused smile.
"Only when I'm up against tactician." The short girl crossed her arms.
"I'll just finish you off now, I'm tired." The Blonde sighed.
"Kuzunoha! Taizoukai Mandara!" she continued with a shout.
"Now!" Tsubasa shouted.
Malo-Myotismon launched his powerful-ranged attack— a fast and powerful dark beam launched in a straight line, Kuzunoha swiftly move to the side, dodging his attack then dashing forward before she jumps to the air and casted a powerful magic circle on the ground, freezing Malo-Myotismon in her circle.
This is a sure victory for the blonde, there's nothing more to watch than a powerful blast finishing off the Malo-Myotismon.
"That was a nice try, but you should've known that, if you want to cancel my finishing attack, you could've used a fast cast skill with delayed damage such as Darkness rain."
"Haha, yeah, I thought I could've canceled that one." Tsubasa giggled.
Honoka who had been watching the fight looks slightly disappointed. It's not quite the fun fight she expected and Nozomi seemed to be less amused while Sakuya is still somewhat being overly serious about watching the fight.
The blast went off and Malo-Myotismon is down. The Victory didn't bring a smile to the winner, instead, it only caused her to let out a soft sigh and bored eyes. The alarm rings and the battle is over.
"Hahaha, the past surely will never changes, huh?" Tsubasa said,
"What's the point of a rematch if you're not even trying."
"Heh—I just realized that the past will never change. But, I'm sure I'll beat you ten times if you fight me with your new Renamon."
"Obviously because I got her recently. She isn't even an ultimate." Eli replied.
"But we're in a different server right now. If we fight, you will face my rookie Sebastian with your Rookie Renamon. It's a fair fight."
"I didn't even train her yet."
"Haha, you must have been too rotten to fight, huh?"
"Provoking me is useless. I already knew that."
"I didn't even want to provoke you, I was just saying. Besides, I'm too rotten to fight too. You need to wake me up and be my rival once again."
Eli was surprised to hear it. She tilted her head slightly and raised her eyebrow.
"Can't you bug someone else for that?"
"You are the only person who can do this, right Honoka?" Tsubasa called the ginger girl on the audience seat.
"Yep! You sure are, Eli-senpai— uh…I mean, Eli-chan!"
The Blonde remained silent, she keep glaring at the purplenette who sat next to Honoka. She feels like she might also be the one behind all these.
"It's an additional agreement we made, don't be too offended. But I entirely agree with it anyway. If we truly want to be independent, we need to be strong and one of the methods to keep ourselves strong is to find a rival to grow with." Tsubasa said.
"The point is, I haven't even trained my Sakuya. I planned to but things are getting in my way."
"Excuses! What about 'a successful tamer is the one who can bring their digimon to victory despite any type of condition?' I swear you said that to me before!"
Eli pouts, her eyes turn to her Sakuya who sat on the audience seat, then turned to her Kuzunoha who stood right on the Arena in front of her.
"Kuzunoha, return." The blonde said. The violet fox maiden jumped swiftly and placed herself behind the blonde girl.
"So what do you want now? Fight with Sakuya?" she asked.
Tsubasa smiled. Malo Myotismon woke up from his bad position, went up to where Tsubasa is and stood behind her. The short girl lifted her hand, snapped a finger arrogantly before she shouts,
"Sebastian!"
Her Black Agumon tried to climb the fence to the stage. It took a while for him to finish his clumsy moves and reach his destination—the Arena.
"I'm ready!" he said.
Tsubasa gives him a thumb up.
Eli remained silent, though her eyes glance at the Fox-like Digimon.
"What are you waiting for, Sakuya? She is calling you." Nozomi whispered.
"She did?"
"Yep, her eyes did. I know it's hard to hear it, but when she has those eyes on you, she is trying to call upon you. It's your choice to answer it with an act or reject it with silence."
"Why is she so complicated." Sakuya commented.
"You have to get used to it. Now, go before she changes her mind."
Sakuya nodded before she jumped up so swiftly. Landed perfectly on the Arena, she set up her coolest fighting pose.
"I'm ready." She said.
"I assume we don't need timer or alarm, huh? Let's do this." Tsubasa said.
Eli rolled her eyes.
"Just show me what you got, Sakuya. I don't care about this fight."
Sakuya nodded, she wants to make sure that this is a good fight to watch. Tsubasa and Sebastian nod to each other for a confirmation.
"One!" Honoka suddenly shouted.
"Eh? You are counting? Ok!" Tsubasa said cheerfully.
"Two!" Honoka shouted again.
Sakuya and Sebastian took each of their own position.
"Three! Goooo!"
And the first move is owned by Sakuya. She dashed forward and gave her first punch to the head of the black lizard– yet he seems to feel no pain on where he got hit.
Opening the chance for Sebastian to hit, he used a fire breath to counter Sakuya. She didn't get the chance to dodge and decided to put a weak defense against it. The unexpected attack is launched by Sebastian first as he spread a powerful fire blast around himself. Sakuya recoiled further and she already had half of her health shaved off with the damage from two attacks.
It's impossible to win against him, but Sakuya refused to give up. She knows well that Eli is watching and she really needs to win this fight somehow. Sebastian makes another move: he immediately ran towards her and aimed his bite.
Sakuya tried to dodge but her intuition isn't enough to save her, her leg was caught and she was thrown up into the air. This might be over if she isn't trying to do anything to counter. She knows that Sebastian probably has prepared another attack down there, she has to do something with her current position.
As brilliant as her Renamon nature, an idea struck the tactician's mind. Without a second's delay, she switched her position with Sebastian's position, then she immediately casted a Diamond Storm to directed to where he is.
Eli seem to take an interest to what Sakuya just did.
"Clever move." She whispered to herself as she watched Sebastian take double damage from the Diamond Storm and the unprepared fall. It's not that much damage to him tough. He still has about 85% of health.
Tsubasa's Black Agumon got up carefully, it seems that he is still paralyzed from the critical hits. Again, with the swiftness she possesses, Sakuya dashed toward him and this time, she made sure that she truly hits with all of her strength.
But her effort was not enough. The hits remained painless for the Black Lizard's solid skin. Sakuya learned enough— now she knows that her physical attack is pointless to fight him. She needs to use magic.
"Woah, I never knew Sebastian is that tough." Honoka commented.
"Hehe, Agumon kind are always special in physical power, you need to take a note of that, Honoka-chan." Nozomi replied.
"Ok! Hehe!" Honoka replied.
"Go-go! Sebastiaaan! Fight! Fight!" Ichigo shouted excitedly.
By the time Sebastian gained control over his body, he stood back up and prepared to fight again. Sakuya has made a distance from him, she really needs to make sure to use effective magic. With the strength of his kind, Tsubasa's Black Agumon charged his fiery breath and shot massively at the agile Renamon.
"Isn't this full offense technique again?" The blonde sighed as she placed her palm on her face.
"Not quite, Eli, not quite…"
The blonde lifted her eyebrow, expecting to hear something stupid.
By the time Sakuya dashes in to the black lizard, she already charged her diamond storm and casting it on his back, yet he was able to turn around and blasted his bigger fire up close. That's surely a critical damage and doubled since he is winning in type.
Sakuya is no longer able to fight this round, not when she barely can wake up from where she thrown.
Eli rolled her eyes.
"That's the most reckless move I've ever seen."
"Thanks, I called it Offense and Counter." Tsubasa replied.
"Not you, I'm talking about Sakuya's move."
"Oh…"
"I'm sorry, Eli…" Sakuya said weakly before she tried to get up.
"I don't care. But anyway…" The azure eyes turn into the proud tamer.
"I disagree, you don't need a rival to be strong."
"So you are trying to say… you refuse my offer to grow together?" Tsubasa asked to the cold blonde. Eli smirks at her, signaling her Kuzunoha to jump out of podium, picking her weakened Sakuya and pressed a button on her podium when the two Digimon were able to return next to her.
"I don't need you." Eli replied coldly before she left.
Now the room is awkwardly quiet. Honoka and Nozomi remained silent on the audience seat while Ichigo is embarrassingly cheering for Sebastian.
"Wow, she brushed me off again. That didn't work well, Nozomi." Tsubasa said.
Nozomi giggled.
"It actually works in a way. She is just too stubborn to admit her defeat. I'll go meet her now to reassure you about it." She said.
"What about our main deal?" Tsubasa asked.
"Don't sweat about it. We already signed a contract."
"Great! Just let me know about the progress, ok?"
"Yup, only bug Erena and Anjuu about the details and you for the report. I get it" Nozomi replied before she walked off the audience seats.
The File City;
Kotori and Suzaku has finished with their delivery order today. They've been getting plenty of tips for being fast and careful with the items.
"Haaaah, it's over. We can take a break or pay a visit to Umi-chan." Kotori said.
"Let's take a break for a bit, I'm very tired!" Suzaku said.
"Ok!" Kotori replied cheerfully. The two decided to walk to their post. It's not a far journey, though they can see plenty of City Digimon gathered around the heart of the city,
"I wonder why they were not active before we got here. This city has its own potential." Kotori said.
"I've heard stories. They said, the city felt dull without human beings and they eventually lost their spirit and began to live without ambition. When we got here, they said that we gave them a spark of hope to be able to fix their condition."
"To begin with, why do they need humans when they have their own life? How was it in the past before they knew human beings?" Kotori asked.
"A lot of mess happened in the city. At first they thought that humans are evil because their sample was the Analogman, a man who wanted to take control of the Digital world, then after that, there is one boy who was able to fix the mess. As the city grew, they invited another human being to experiment, but it caused a crisis and once again were fixed by a group of human children." Suzaku replied.
"That's nice, do you think that the mess right now is also caused by human beings and we're supposed to fix it?" Kotori asked.
"Maybe, but we don't know what exactly caused them to lose their spirit." Suzaku replied.
"Hmm… maybe that's where Honoka-chan is urgently needed right now. But she doesn't seem to be around. I haven't been getting any reply since this morning…" Kotori said a little sadly.
"I wonder if she is alright?"
"Tsubasa-chan is with her, right? I don't think there will be anything weird that would happen to them, unless they decided to do something weird." Kotori said.
"Like what?" Suzaku asked.
Right after they said it, they suddenly heard the Tournament hall's megaphone turned on. All the Digimon around them turn their attention to it.
"Hellllooooo everyone!" Tsubasa's voice loudly coming out of it.
"The tournament hall is now open for a beginner tournament, so what are you waiting for? Come and join the fight! Right Honoka?!"
"Yep! Let's Fight!" Honoka said cheerfully.
Soon after the megaphone's session ended, the digimon around the city began to talk about it.
"Beginner tournament? That means they have fixed the facilities on the first floor?" said a champion Digimon with green skin, horns, and big jaws.
"That means, Andromon is back?" said the similar looking Digimon but with ochre skin.
"I heard they got a new technician." The other similar looking Digimon with blue skin said.
"Could it be one of the humans?" the ochre said.
"Maybe, young humans are always very useful, that's why everyone in the city knows that they should open the shop for them." The green one said.
"True, they always give us life. I'm glad they are here." The blue one said.
"Yeah, they don't seem to look like those evil soldiers." The Ochre said.
Kotori and Suzaku glanced at each other, wondering about the 'soldiers' the digimon were talking about.
The Tournament Hall;
Tsubasa and Honoka stepped out of the announcement room, along with Ichigo and Sebastian. Tourney Greymon stood near the entrance and he seemed to be happy.
"Thank you so much. Now I'll be able to haul some bits in." he said.
"No problem, the fight was good enough for the test, right?" Tsubasa said.
"Haha, I've seen better fights." Tourney Greymon replied.
"Is that so? Then, you haven't seen the last of us!"
"I'll be waiting! But, anyhow, your blonde friend will still be around here, right?"
"Yep, I'm sure she will keep her promise."
"Great, then, who is the purple haired girl?"
"That's her girlfriend. She is also a complicated person, but emotionally very stable unlike the blonde one."
"Girlfriend? What is that?" Tourney Greymon tilted his head.
"It means that she is the most important person in her life." Tsubasa replied.
"Oh... I see." Tourney Greymon nods.
"Then, Garurumon is my girlfriend."
Tsubasa and Honoka were surprised to hear it.
"Uh, I think you got the wrong idea." Honoka said.
Tsubasa chuckled.
"Haha, yeah, 'girlfriend' is meant to be for a female, not a male!" she said.
"Oh, the male one is…?" Tourney Greymon asked.
"Boyfriend!" Tsubasa said.
"Yeah, also, it was—!" before Honoka able to explain, Tsubasa cuts in.
"Hahaha, we should be off now, Tourney Greymon."
"That's so soon." Tourney Greymon said.
"Yep, we need to get our Digimon to practice!" Tsubasa said as she embraced Honoka.
"Good luck!" Tourney Greymon said.
"Ok! Thank you!" Tsubasa replied cheerfully before they walked off the Tournament hall together.
Somewhere around the dim forest;
Niko and Maki traveled through the rocky streets as Polymnia and Chibby followed them as they thoroughly scanned the area. A few wild Champion digimon attempted to defeat them before but the two were able to kill them after some hard work. With plenty of Maki's supplies and Niko's trickery, the two were able to reach the depth of the forest.
They both arrived in front of a house that looked like it was made of candy. There's a small pond and a big gate. A glossy white, slime-like Digimon with gaudy platinum and gold accessories was moving around the front garden behind the gate.
"Uh…so, what were you trying to do again?" Maki asked with one of her eyebrow lifted.
"You see, Maki-chan, since you are probably my best friend—"
"Probably your best friend? More like, probably the only person who's stupid enough to follow you. What do you need?" Maki cuts in.
"Eh, you don't need to be that furious, I was just thinking, if we happen to be able to enter the very place and find something worth a treasure."
"You see that slime over there?"
"Yeah, that one is called Platinum Numemon. They eat poop."
"I don't even want to hear that detail! Anyway! I don't want to be in a mess with you, I'm going home!" Maki turned around and quickly tried to leave.
"They are weak, you can defeat them! Even with a rookie digimon!" Niko held her back.
"Who cares about that?! This is a house of something and they are entitled to a thing called 'privacy' which you should respect!"
"Oh—Come on! It's a Digital world property! They're meant for adventure!" Niko said as her Chibby passed by behind her.
"No!" Maki yelled loudly. Without her realizing, Chibby flew up with Polymnia who tried to protest, but no one heard her.
"There-there, if you don't have an adventurous heart, you will never be as good as Eli, you know."
"I have my own way, thank you!" Maki yelled again.
"It's going to be just a while, please!" Niko said.
"I still don't care about that! I'm going home! Let's go, Polymnia!" Maki tried to look for her Lunamon who supposed to be somewhere behind her.
"Polymnia?" Maki is now looking around.
"Makiiii!" Polymnia shouted after Chibby dropped her behind the gate.
"Polymnia!"
The red haired girl was shocked to see how everything was done without her knowledge.
"Ooo! Good job, Chibby, I knew I could count on you!" Niko appreciated.
"No problem, Niko-chan. I'll look for the key to open the gate!" Chibby said.
"H-hey! Give me a break! Don't treat her like that!" Maki yelled at the little girl.
"Don't worry! I have cards to get through everything." Niko proudly said
"Then why do you even need me to help you out, huh?"
"There, I'm just saving them all until we get to enter the gate. Also, these aren't my cards. I took them from the Workshop."
"Then those are Eli's! You shouldn't use them!"
"It's all gold cards, they're all decent and permanent, the only problem is only my battery so, yeah, that's why I was saving them. Besides, Eli probably has better cards in her pocket so I believe she won't mind. Plus, if anything happens, we can just blame Nozomi and she won't even pry about it anymore." Niko said.
"Y-you're a devil!" Maki yelled angrily again.
"You're welcome. Just relax for a bit now, we will surely get our treasure!"
"Gggghhh! Fine! But I won't shield you if anything happen to those cards, ok? I'll certainly tell them that you did it!"
"Oh, Come on! Maki-chan! Stop being a spoilsport!"
Ch 13 coming soon!