The pair had returned to the tamer's cubicle after finishing their sandwiches.
The tamer found the interest in his new partner had quietened down. He thought he might be able to get some work done, but Ren had other plans. With the tamer's colleagues no longer bugging him every minute, the digimon had time to ask his own questions about the tamer's work.
He found it strange that Ren seemed to have quite a good understanding of the mathematics involved in his calculations, despite the fact he couldn't imagine when a digimon would ever use maths in the digital world.
Amongst the questioning, Fiona had come past at some point in the afternoon to give Ren his swipe pass. He also got a simple red lanyard to hang it around his neck.
Eventually it came time to head home.
—
Back at the tamer's unit, he and Ren entered through the garage. The tamer took off his jumper and stretched.
"Oh man, that was a long day."
"But it is the same length as any other day, Tamer."
"Yeah, ok Drax."
Ren gave a confused look.
"What is a Drax?"
"Sorry, it's a character from a movie. He takes everything literally."
"How does that relate to what I said?"
"Well... you can be a bit literal too."
The digimon tilted his head, not understanding what the tamer meant.
"How do you mean, Tamer?"
"Well, like when I say it's been a long day, I obviously don't mean it was longer than any other day. I know the days are all the same length. I just mean it was...tiresome."
"Oh...so it is like when you say things suck."
"Yeah, sort of. Just a human expression."
"I see. I think I still have much to learn."
"Yeah, well... I've had over thirty years to learn these stupid expressions. Gonna take a while for you to catch up, I think."
He headed towards the spare bedroom.
"...I'm gonna mess around on my computer for a while Ren."
Ren gave a questioning look.
"But you spent most of the day on your computer, Tamer. Do you still have more work to do?"
"Nah, this is stuff I actually want to do."
He realised Ren was standing in the living room, looking rather unsure about what he should do.
"...you can find something to occupy yourself, yeah?"
"What should I do, Tamer?"
"Uh... whatever you want. I dunno... watch TV or something."
The tamer went through to the bedroom and started up his PC.
Before he could even get to the login screen, he was interrupted by his digimon's voice.
"Tamer?"
He gave a chuckle to himself before responding.
"Yeah, Ren?"
"Can I watch what you are doing?"
He let out a sigh.
"If you want to. Uh... you wanna grab a chair from the dining table?"
"I am comfortable standing."
Ren came over and stood behind him.
"Yeah, I thought you might say that."
He logged in, opened up his browser and started some online shopping.
However, after browsing through a few pages, he found having his digimon staring over his shoulder was quite off-putting.
He looked back at Ren, who was standing there innocently, waiting for his tamer to continue.
"...you sure there isn't something else you'd rather be doing, Ren?"
Ren gave a simple shake of his head.
"No."
"But isn't this kind of boring for you?"
"I am curious to see what interests you, Tamer."
"Well, this is just online shopping, but I can show you something else I've found recently."
"Certainly."
"Ok, so..."
He flicked over to a new tab and did a quick search.
"...there's a wiki page about digimon."
"What is a wiki page?"
"Uh...basically it's like a site with a bunch of info about a certain topic. People put together whatever they can find about the topic and sort it into different pages."
"I see... what type of information does this one have about digimon?"
"Well..."
He typed 'Falcomon' into the search bar at the top of the wiki page. Ren leaned in closer as he realised what the tamer was typing.
It took a moment for the page to load. When it finished, the screen showed a few paragraphs of text and the image of a Falcomon perched in a tree.
"...ta-da."
Ren looked quite surprised at the picture.
"...it has information about specific digimon?"
"Yep. Pretty neat, huh?"
"Very much so. How does it have all this information?"
"Well, it's put together by the community. Anyone can add stuff they know to it."
"Fascinating. I find it remarkable that you can have access to so much information so easily."
"Yeah, it's pretty useful."
Looking at the picture, he started thinking back to their encounter at the cafe.
"...cranky little birdy, wasn't it?"
"Yes, it was certainly not shy about making trouble."
"Yeah, but you set the bugger straight."
"I... suppose I did."
The tamer noticed Ren was staring at the screen quite intently, seemingly very interested in how it all worked.
"You, uh... wanna have a go?"
Ren looked a bit surprised at the offer.
"May I?"
"Yeah, sure."
The tamer got up out of the chair and gestured for Ren to take a seat. The digimon settled himself on the chair, tail hanging out under the backrest.
The tamer found it a funny sight.
"Heh... this chair's perfect for you, huh? Not jamming your tail up."
"Yes, your other chairs are much less comf..."
The digimon trailed off as he realised he was about to insult his tamer's furniture, before quickly explaining himself.
"...I did not mean your furniture is unsuitable, Tamer. It is... quite nice."
"I get it, Ren. It's not meant for someone with a tail. Anyway, you saw me using the computer. You reckon you know how to use it?"
"I believe so."
"Cool. What do you want to look at?"
"I... do not know."
"Well... uh... what about another digimon?"
"Which one?"
"I dunno. You're the one who knows about all the different digimon."
"I do not know all digimon, Tamer."
The tamer rolled his eyes.
"Remember we talked about how you take everything so literally, Ren?"
"I do."
"This is one of those times."
"Oh."
"Yeah... let's just search for Renamon."
Ren turned to face the computer. He placed his handpaw on the mouse as he had seen his tamer do. However, the oversized limb dwarfed the device.
The digimon tried to adjust his position, but couldn't find a grip where he could click the buttons and move the mouse comfortably.
The tamer watched him struggle for a moment before interjecting.
"Hmm, that's not really gonna work for you, is it?"
The digimon's ears drooped, disappointed that he seemingly wouldn't get to try the computer after all. He turned away from the desk.
The tamer noticed and quickly tried to think of something before the digimon got too depressed.
"...no-no, just stay there Ren. I'm sure I've got something else. Uh... gimme a sec."
He started rummaging through the drawers next to the desk, looking for something the digimon could use.
He pulled out a wireless trackpad. Looking at Ren's claws, he decided maybe that wasn't the best idea and kept looking.
"...ah-ha! What about this?"
He pulled out a large vertical mouse.
"...I reckon this might fit you better."
Fiddling around the back of his computer, he plugged in the strange mouse and set it next to his regular one.
Ren looked a bit confused at the new device.
"What is that, Tamer?"
"This? It's a vertical mouse. Does the same job as the other one, but it's supposed to be better for your wrist or something. I bought it when my hand was giving me pain from too much time on the computer. Never did get comfortable with it. But you're starting from scratch, so it might not feel so weird for you. Give it a go."
The vertical mouse had more surface area for Ren to wrap his big paw around and the shape meant he could get a better grip. His ears perked up in curiosity as he tried moving the cursor around.
He quickly got the hang of it and was zipping the cursor back and forth across the screen. The tamer was impressed.
"Hey, not bad. Ok, now click into the search bar."
Ren quickly did as told, with the blinking cursor waiting for input.
"Good, now just type away."
Ren looked from his tamer to the keyboard, then to his paws.
"How should I..."
The digimon hesitated. He wasn't sure how to explain his predicament, but the tamer got the gist of his concern.
"Heh. I don't really know, Ren. I don't think you're gonna be able to touch-type with those claws, so you might have to improvise your own typing technique. I guess just give it a go and see what works."
Ren looked back to the keyboard. Gingerly, he hovered what the tamer would call his left index claw over the 'R' key before slowly pressing down.
rrrrrrrr
"...whoops. You might need to let go a little quicker than that. Use backspace to get rid of those extras."
The digimon found the key and this time gave it a quick press.
*tap*
rrrrrrr
*tap tap tap tap tap tap*
r
"...ok, nice."
Ren started tapping away at the letters one after the other, quickly getting a feel for the force needed.
renamon
"You're a pretty quick study, Ren. Getting the hang of it easy. Alright, just click the search button now."
Again he moved the mouse to click the button.
The page loaded, showing a Renamon standing straight and rigid, much like Ren had been the first night they met.
The tamer started reading the first paragraph.
A Beast Man digimon with the appearance of a golden fox. Renamon's relationship to humans is clearly demonstrated, and its In-Training form can Digivolve into a digimon of high intelligence if it is raised properly. Calm and collected at all times, it trains in order to keep its cool in any situation. Renamon's tall, slender form stands out among Rookie digimon, and it prefers the speed of its many techniques over power when it comes to fighting the enemy.
"Huh. Does that sound accurate to you, Ren?"
"Hmm... somewhat..."
Ren leaned back in the chair and swivelled to face his tamer.
"...I suppose I did prefer to use skill rather than brute force to overcome opponents in battle."
"Interesting. What about other Renamon? Would you all have a similar style in battle?"
"I have not met many of my kind, but when I did, we had... I suppose you would call it an understanding. We did not battle, so I cannot say if they would feel the same about battling."
"Hmm. I guess it's not really important. But the other interesting bit, it sounds like you have a bit of an advantage over other rookie digimon."
"I would consider myself somewhat more skilled than a typical rookie."
There was a hint of pride in Ren's words and he had a small smirk on his face.
"Oh, really? Trying to be modest?"
"Well, other rookies... when I needed to battle them... they were very simplistic in their technique. It was easy to predict their attacks and overcome them."
The tamer pondered for a moment before responding.
"Can I make a comment about you battling, Ren?"
"Of course, Tamer "
"I know you said you don't like it... but I think you have a bit of a knack for it."
The digimon seemed surprised at the tamer's comment.
"You do? But... how could you know, Tamer? You have never seen me in a battle."
"I know, but the wiki says your kind can be pretty intelligent. And you said you found it easy to predict your opponent's attacks, right?"
"Well... yes."
"So, I reckon you're a bit of a tactician. Like, you probably plan out your attacks, whereas other digimon just sort of rush in."
"You are quite astute, Tamer."
"Yeah, I have my moments. So... I have a follow-up question."
"Go ahead."
"Well, it might be a bit personal."
"You may ask me anything, Tamer."
"Alright, but you don't have to answer if it's uncomfortable, ok?"
Ren gave a simple nod.
"...ok, so... did something happen that made you hate battles?"
Ren's ears pinned back and his gaze fell to the floor.
"...I guess it's difficult for you to talk about, huh?"
The digimon hesitated before giving a small nod.
"It is."
"Look, don't worry about it. It's none of my business anyway."
"But you are my tamer... I should not have any secrets from you."
"Hey, nothing wrong with keeping some things to yourself. And I don't think you're ready to talk about it. Maybe another time."
"I... I think it would help to talk about. But... not yet. I am still... coming to terms with what happened."
"Alright, it's clearly something pretty serious. You just let me know if you ever want to talk, but until then, no pressure."
The digimon gave a small nod before the tamer continued.
"Anyway, you've just done your first search. Congratulations. You just graduated computers 101."
Ren's ears perked up as he pushed his thoughts aside and focussed back on the computer.
The tamer pointed at the screen.
"...hmm, why don't you scroll down a bit?"
Scrolling proved to be tricky, even with the vertical mouse. It seemed Ren didn't quite have the dexterity for the scroll wheel and he ended up using the on-screen scroll bar instead.
Moving down the page, they came to a list of attacks Renamons had been known to use.
"...wow, look at all the different attacks. Do you know all of those?"
Ren took a moment to browse through the list.
"Hmm... yes, I am familiar with those techniques. Although, I would not consider some of them special techniques worthy of being listed."
"Oh, ok."
The tamer browsed through some of the descriptions before looking back to Ren.
"...hey, you reckon you could show me sometime? Not like in a battle, of course. Just a demo."
"Most of my techniques are simple combat moves, so they may not be particularly interesting to watch. However, I could demonstrate my koyousetsu for you. You could say it is my signature move."
The tamer quickly scanned through the list on the screen, trying to match up an attack with what Ren had said.
"Uh... koyo... koy... can you say it again?"
"Koyousetsu."
"Right, that one. Uh... here it is. Fox leaf arrowheads... or diamond storm. Why so many different names for the same technique?"
"I believe koyousetsu is the Japanese name for the technique. Given digimon first bioemerged in Japan, those names have been taken as the originals. I believe fox leaf arrowheads would be the direct equivalent in English. However, that does not sound impressive enough apparently, so an alternative name was chosen. Hence, diamond storm."
"Ok. But if you speak English, how come you use the Japanese name?"
"That is...difficult to explain. When I launch the technique, that is what I naturally call out. Since I digivolved to this form, I have always referred to it as that. It is something subconscious. I just...know that is what it is called."
"Do you actually speak Japanese or is it just for the names of your techniques?
"Nihongo wo sukoshi hanasemasu."
The tamer stared blankly for a moment, having no clue what the digimon just said.
"Guess I can't argue with that. So..."
He started reading the attack description on the wiki.
"...a barrage of sharpened leaves? That's your... signature move?"
"You seem disappointed, Tamer."
"No-no, it's... I'm sure it's cooler than it sounds."
"It is my most powerful attack. I have overcome many opponents with it."
Ren stood out of the chair and held out his paw, clenching it into a fist. A bright glow appeared briefly before disappearing just as quickly. Ren opened his fist to reveal a single crystal shard roughly the size of a leaf. He held it out for his tamer to see.
The tamer gawked at the display.
"WOAH! How did you do that, Ren?"
The digimon gave a satisfied smirk at the tamer's amazement.
"How much do you understand about digimon battling, Tamer?"
"Uh... some."
"You know that digimon can manipulate data?"
"I... do now."
"So, a digimon can use any excess data they possess to manifest attacks. We then use this in battles to weaken opponents. In my case, I can create these koyousetsu, which I then launch."
With a flourish of his wrist, Ren sent the shard flying, before it embedded itself in the wall.
The tamer flinched at the display, before staring in disbelief at the shard now sticking out of his office wall.
"Wuh..."
His expression quickly changed from disbelief to anger as he turned back to face Ren.
"...WHAT THE FUCK, REN? WHAT WAS THAT?"
The digimon's ears pinned back in response to his tamer's outburst and he had a confused look on his face.
"I... was demonstrating the technique like you wanted."
"I didn't mean to do it inside. You put a hole in my wall, you crazy bastard!"
The tamer went over to the shard and wrestled it out of the wall.
"...aw man, look at this mess."
The shard had left a noticeable slash in the plaster.
"Tamer, I-"
"What, Ren? How do you explain this?"
He used the shard in his hand to gesture, pointing it accusingly at Ren, and then to the wall.
The digimon was now staring at the floor in shame.
"I just... wanted to impress you."
The tamer let out a huff.
"Oh, it was very impressive, Ren. But let's be honest... not the smartest thing you've done."
"I am sorry, Tamer. How can I make it up to you."
The tamer turned to look at the wall as he thought. He raised a finger in the air before speaking.
"Ok, rule number one from now on: no shooting kotetsus in the house."
"Koyousetsu, Tam-."
Before Ren could finish, the tamer snapped back to him, levelling an angry glare at the digimon.
Ren averted his gaze in submission.
"...sorry."
"Right. Here's what you're gonna do. Sit down again."
Ren quickly did as told, not wanting to incur any further wrath.
"Alright, now click on the home icon."
Ren hesitated, before looking to his tamer in confusion.
"...the one that looks like a little house, Ren... top left."
"Oh... I see it."
Ren clicked and the Google search page loaded.
"Now, type in 'how to repair plaster' in the box."
how to repair plaster
Ren typed it in and clicked the search button. A wave of results loaded up.
"Good. Now... get reading."
The digimon looked at him in confusion, unsure what the tamer's plan was.
"Tamer?"
"Do you know how to fix plaster?"
"Well... no."
"So you'll need to learn if you're going to fix the wall."
"You want me to fix it?"
"Did you make the hole in the wall?"
"I... yes."
"Then yes, you."
"Oh."
"I'll leave you to it, then."
The tamer gave a sarcastic smile before walking out, leaving the digimon to study his new vocation.