Just some trigger warnings before starting reading: blood and self-harm. Enjoy the chapter!

"It's scolding time!" says Komet

Sonne lowers his head. "I am ready"

"What? For what?" Lua protests, and looks at Sonne angrily, while poking him. "Are you gonna just accept it like that?"

When Team Twilight were flying away from Cerranis, they shared their stories about what happened while they were apart - or unconscious, in Lua's case. They also discussed their theories about some of the effects of their attacks against angels, so Komet took notes from it. Sonne, exhausted, was forced to land. All he could do is to hope they were far enough from the Angel Army. Currently, the three of them are in a temperate forest, looking for a safe place to spend overnight while Komet calls for a scolding time.

"I'm very aware I deserve harsh punishment for my decisions" says Sonne

"Don't worry, the person that deserves scolding and hard punishment is me, for putting ourselves in danger again" says Komet, while shaking her head

"What are you talking about? Why would you scold our strategist, the master of improvised plans?" Lua gives a confident smile. "She is so good at this that she is capable of saving our butts even under pressure! It's thanks to her that we are still alive"

"Tch" Komet turns her head away from them. "I know this is supposed to be a compliment, but don't you think I'll take it as such. But worry not, while we've been flying, I've been making more than just Plan A and B already"

Lua facepalms. "Here we go again…"

"Have you used the whole alphabet yet?" asks Sonne

Lua gasps in surprise. "Yoooo Sonne with the snarky comments! Way to go!"

Sonne flinches. "M-my apologies! Mockery was not the true purpose of the question!". He walks around Komet and stands in front of her. "My intention is to make a point to stop you from spending - or I might say "wasting" your time wearing your mind down"

"What? Why would you call it a 'waste of time'? You know how important is to-"

"How often have your 'well designed' plans worked since we have landed in this world?"

Komet crosses her arms. "That's not even a fair question! I didn't have time to actually sit down and make a well planned plan. In contrast, look back when we were in my world. My plans were amazing. Close-to-flawless projects. You two probably didn't believe me it was possible, but in the end I finished that investigation in time"

"Right. So tell me the crucial piece of information that you had found from it"

The lass' eyes furrow. "Hey, this is not fair! You know what happened! How am I supposed to account for a computer blob monster that wanted to kill me?"

Lua flies closer. "That's exactly his point. You are in an unknown territory now. What's the point of trying to make perfect plans here if you can't account for so many things? You can't predict situations you are not even aware of, which is why your plans on the spot work better, while your 'perfect' ones don't. Hell, 'perfect plans' don't even exist, and I'm sure someone like you is aware of that, but for whatever reason keep denying it! Even though you say this yourself when hacking: 'there are no doors that can't be opened'! There's no perfection!"

Komet looks away again, but now in a sad pensive expression. "I can't just go on a duty without a plan… We never know what could happen to us…"

"The idea is not that you completely stop thinking about them, since this is, in fact, important for our survival, but that you stop aiming for perfection. The only result you got from this is getting yourself stressed and tired, causing you to punish yourself, even when we get the best outcome from non 'perfect' strategies" says the lion

"Whereas your plans on the spot and under pressure saved our bacon a few times already! You have some fast thinking skills, you know? It's as if you already have experience with that" says the bunny

Komet blushes a bit. "Don't give me all the credits. You two complemented the plans with your own strategies and paved our way to success". She looks at the sky, thinks for a moment and looks back at her partners. "Look… I can't just stop my habit of trying to make my plans perfect because someone spat facts at my face…"

Sonne and Lua lower their heads in frustration.

"...but I promise I'll do my best to stop that obsession" finishes her

Both Digimons lift their heads back up and smile. Sonne nuzzles Komet and leans his face on her, while being careful to not accidentally set her hair on fire. Lua hugs Komet from the side and nuzzles too. Komet smiles and hugs both.

They keep walking through the woods, under the hoots of probably owl-like Digimons. They reach an area with fewer trees, where a huge lake can be seen - so huge that they can't see land on the other side of it. The calm water reflects the beautiful moonlight that slowly walks towards its max height in the sky.

Lua opens her arms towards the sky. "Aaaah, the moon is one day away from reaching its full splendor! Isn't that beautiful?"

"The full moon, right? This sight is so amazing! It's so much more beautiful than in the city… I think the last time I've seen the moon as beautiful as that was when my grandparents still had a property in the countryside, before they were scammed…". She sighs. "Can't believe that was almost 7 years ago…"

Sonne looks at the direction of some bushes near a tree. "Surely we could invite our spy friend to join us in that serene moment"

At that moment, the three of them hear an 'eeep!' coming from the bushes. The shrub shakes a bit and a Digimon walks out of it: a small white sea lion-like creature with three black claws for each of its four limbs, and two long antennae. It has green eyes, purple markings around its body and a red mohawk.

"I-I was just making sure that your group could traverse this area safely. There are big bullies here that would love to take the chance to be mean to you" says the aquatic mammal. He puts his front legs up.

"Who exactly are you? You better be telling the truth, or else…" says Lua

"I am Goma, the Gomamon! I am the guardian of this area!" he says, while proudly putting his front leg on his chest. "Well, actually training to be the guardian"

Komet carefully approaches the little monster. "Uuh… If you are still in training, shouldn't you be accompanied by a mentor or something? I'm in no way judging your capabilities, but I feel like this is more than what you can take on alone. You couldn't even hide your presence properly…"

"Oh, she is… Uuh…" Goma's eyes actively try to avoid direct contact with the lass. "She is busy, so I'm doing this alone"

Komet and the other two look unconvinced. "Okay… So what are you protecting us from exactly?"

"I told you already! From big bullies! Big bullies that try to mess with the monster of the lake!"

"Monster of the lake? And what could that be?"

Goma looks at them surprised. "You don't know? Well, that would explain why you land mammals are here. In this lake, a big monster lives, protecting their territory with all their might. Many land creatures avoid passing here, too scared to be attacked by the big monster, because legends says they are big and scary and dangerous too, and-"

Suddenly, fog comes from the woods, quickly spreading across the lake area.

"Can you look at that, the wimp finally decided to show up" says something coming from the fog. Two pairs of yellow eyes appear from the forest side, slowly moving towards them. Goma positions himself in front of the team in a defensive stance, and growls at the creatures.

"More trouble already? We haven't even rested yet! Hopefully it's not the monster of the lake". Komet grits her teeth, and selects 'Identify' from her device. "Lua, do the honors!"

Lua focuses on the direction of the creature, but the fog is so thick that she can't even make out their shapes, so there's no response from the identifier. "I'm sorry! I can't see them properly"

"Get out! You guys only come here for trouble!" yells Goma at the creatures.

"Ahaha! What you call 'trouble', we call 'exercising our right'. It's definitely going to be easier now, since you are alone" says one of the creatures. Goma starts to shake and tries to hide it, but it doesn't work very well.

"He is not alone though!" says Komet, getting in front of Goma. Lua and Sonne do the same.

"W-wait! I-I am the guardian! I should be the one protecting you all!" says Goma, almost whimpering

The fog gets even denser, and more pairs of eyes appear from it. Sonne growls as his body gets moist. "We are heavily outnumbered. There's no choice but retreat-"

But as soon as he says that, something screeches from behind. The screech is so powerful that it blows a lot of the fog away. The team, caught by surprise, turns around, and sees a six meters tall aquatic monster in the lake right behind them: it is white and the body is round with four big flippers. It has a long neck, two long fins growing from its back and a long tail. The head is triangular with black forehead. Blue stripes decorate its body, and smaller orange fins grow on its spine, from the neck to the beginning of the tail. The size of the monster, from head to tail, seems to be about 20 meters long. As soon as the creature reaches land, it snarls and swings its flipper, launching Goma out of the way into the lake.

Komet's jaw drops. She quickly gets the identifier. "L-Lua!"

Lua focuses on the new Digimon. "Plesiomon. An Ultimate level-"

Komet interrupts Lua in shock. "ULTIMATE? The last evolution level? We need to run-"

Plesiomon blocks their way with its flippers and raises its head to the sky, charging something in its mouth. "Shaking Pulse!". It fires some kind of supersonic sound wave from its mouth at the multiple pairs of eyes on the fog. Komet and Sonne lose their balance, and the lass falls, while the lion still stands. The fired shot makes the fog dissipate further, and despite multiple eyes being present, it reveals only two big gray turtle-looking slimy creatures, with a pair of hands, green seaweed-like hair and the rest of the body hidden in a green spiky shell. The plesiosaur growls at them, threatening to charge another attack.

"Oh, crap! She is here! Run! Ruuuuun!" shouts one of the mollusks.

The other mollusk doesn't think twice and immediately enters its shell, and spins away from the aquatic monster. During all that, Komet stands up and tries to mount Sonne to make their escape, but Plesiomon grabs Komet and Lua with her fins. Sonne grits his teeth as Plesiomon's head gets closer.

"Please, don't leave before I can properly thank you!"

"Huh?" say all three in unison, after hearing a sweet voice coming out of Plesiomon

Goma appears from the lake, swimming back to the land. "Don't worry, she is my mommy!"

Plesiomon nods. "Thank you for protecting my irresponsible kid from the Mori Shellmons. I will teach him a lesson as soon as we get home" she says as her head gets very close to them. "Oh my! You all look worn out! We have a resting place for travelers, if you wish to come!"

Komet looks at Sonne, who looks at Lua, who looks at Komet. They all nod, but this time being more careful and attentive, in case it's another trap like Dokugumon's. "Thank you, we appreciate it"

Plesiomon retreats back to the water and shows her back. "Ride me, the journey will be a bit long. It's the easiest way to the huts!"

They all mount on her and sit down. The plesiosaur starts swimming away from the land. Komet looks around, but it's so dark that she can hardly tell what's part of the lake or part of the land. The only clue she has is the moonlight being reflected in the water body.

"I didn't expect to find a non-Digimon lifeform with high intellect journeying with two Digimons. Where did you come from? How did you get yourselves here in Loch Pless? Weren't you afraid of the legend?" asks Plesiomon

Komet gets a bit nervous by being instantly recognized as not being a Digimon. At the same time, she is aware that this is just the expected, since Plesiomon is an Ultimate level, but that doesn't make her feel less tense. She scratches the back of her head. "Uuh… As you can tell, we came from very far away… And… Uuh… We just got to know about 'the legend of the monster of the lake' from your son, but nothing more than the title"

"We are getting so many clueless visitors from far away lately!" says Goma, while climbing Plesiomomma.

"This sure is true!" nods Plesiomon. "You don't need to worry about the Loch Pless monster. I'm not going to hurt you"

"Oh, so you are the monster of the lake! And you were protecting your territory and your son from those… Mori Shellmon the name?"

"You just sent them running with their tails between their legs. Why didn't you teach them an actual lesson?" asks Lua

"I'm certain they actually left by retreating into their shells and moving away. Besides, they don't seem to possess tails" says Sonne

Lua facepalms.

"She did it, though, right? There were a lot of them, and most of them were gone after the attack" says Komet

"Oh, no, that was actually an illusion, there were only two of them," explains the mom. "You see, Mori Shellmon are some cowardly creatures because of their frail bodies. They use the fog to create the illusion that there are more of them, just to surprise you with their shell attacks. Or run away with their shell attacks. All they do is spin, spin and spin inside their shells. I wonder how they don't get dizzy with so much spinning…"

"So in the end, there were only two of them… By the way, you seem nice, so what's the deal with the 'dangerous monster of the lake that scares people around'?"

"This is just a story that was made up long, long ago. I don't know if you are aware of that, but in this region, south of The Skyscrapers Mountains, Ultimate Digimons are extremely rare, because we are a small region with a Village of Beginning not so far from here. Most stronger Digimons go north. So, since I and my predecessors are stronger than the majority of the inhabitants here, outsiders fear getting closer to this place"

"But that doesn't stop some big bullies from trying to hurt my mom and take over this place! Sometimes they even try to use the legend of the monster of Loch Pless to attract stronger Digimons to attack my mom!" says Goma

"May I ask why they would go so far, specifically for this lake?" asks Sonne

"No, of course not! You see, this lake is very fertile and bountiful, the result of many years of preservation since ancient times. This is home to many families of aquatic mons that have lived peacefully here since back then. You can say that this place is sacred to us. We always take care of it. But since this is still a wild area, some wild Digimon will try to claim Loch Pless and kick those lovely residents out of here. So I follow our ancestors' footsteps and keep this place safe for everyone. This is my duty!"

"Since ancient times? Like, this place's been like that since hundreds of years ago? Or maybe thousands?" asks Lua

Plesiomon nods, very proud of herself. "And I hope this remains unchanged for the years to follow!"

"Perhaps declaring those rumors to be untrue would help clear any confusion and make this a safer place" says Sonne

"Perhaps. But I like it this way. It might bring danger, but this also makes this place calmer and preserved. I can't imagine what would be of this place if we suddenly have an influx of people coming because of the 'uncovered truth of the legend of the monster'. Keeping it the way it is is a tradition at this point, and making this place become a village of sorts would break it, and even transform this place to the worse"

"And I want to follow this tradition by being as strong as my mom!" says Goma, while raising his front legs to the sky with a big smile on his face

Plesiomon whips Goma back to the lake with her fin. "You have to learn to be responsible first then. I don't want you to get hurt or to be a bad influence to your brother"

Goma falls on the lake and quickly emerges back. "I wouldn't dare bring Gomi to dangerous missions!"

The mom looks at the kid with a stern face. "You shouldn't dare bring yourself to dangerous missions"

Goma freaks out while swimming back to her. "B-but I am strong enough already!"

"Excuse me" Lua says, while poking Plesiomon. "If I understood it correctly, you have two kids. But I was sure all newborns come from some kind of Village of Beginning"

"You are not wrong. But some Digimons can adopt and take the babies before they grow to Child. My two babies grew and started looking just like their mommy~ It's like they say: your kids are just a chewed and spat version of you!"

"Who on earth says that? What does it even mean?"

Sonne just raises one brow.

Plesiomon tilts her head. "Have you never heard of it…?". Then she notices that Komet is looking around nonstop. "Are you looking for something, dear?"

"O-oh! Well… I was just wondering if there's anyone from the Angel Army here…"

Plesiomon stares at her. Then she burst into laughter. "I don't see someone as holy as them setting their feet on these grounds. They are in a different level from us, mere mortals"

"So this place never had problems with Corrosion Virus?"

"You mean those stories about Digimons getting dangerously too powerful and going berserk? Fortunately, no. But even if we did, I don't see them coming to help. Sure, I've heard that in case we need their help, we should call them, but how do we actually do that? I don't think yelling at the skies will do much. In any case, I prefer to not have them around at all"

Goma looks at her, surprised. "Are you serious? I've heard a few travelers saying that they are very strong and destroy these baddies in one whoosh! They even said that some cities have Angels stationed there! This must be amazing! I really want to see an Angel one day!"

"Is that so…?" Plesiomomma looks at the moon and frowns her eyes in worry. "If every time you see an Angel a bad thing is happening to your homeland, doesn't that make the presence of Angels a bad omen…?"

"Well, ahm…" Goma thinks for a bit. "Actually, we will never need them, because I will become the greatest guardian Loch Pless has ever seen!"

She squints. "You sure will if you actually listen to your mother"

Goma's eyes get teary. "Are you still mad?"

Komet rubs her chin. "So, some Digimons see them as intangible or unreachable… There are places where Digimons have never seen anyone from the Angel Army in their lives. Maybe this is what Anpu was trying to tell me… Who knows"

At that moment, they start approaching a piece of land in the middle of the lake with some humble huts. The place doesn't seem to get visitors very often, but it's not abandoned either. Some candle light can be seen from one of the houses. A Gomamon gets off of the lit hut, greeting the approaching Plesiomon.

"Mommy! Goma! You are back!" says the Gomamon. "Oh! We are getting more visitors! That's so cool!". The smaller Gomamon gets impressed by seeing the trio.

The trip, which took around 5 minutes, seems to have come to an end. Plesiomon gets out of the water and slowly moves towards the house, since she doesn't move well on land. She stops as soon as she gets close to it, and lets the trio leave her back.

"The doctor guy is finally back home. I had so much fun with him! I offered him some coffee, if that's okay!" continues the seal

Goma approaches the other Gomamon and hugs him. "This is my younger brother, Gomi! He has fun with anything that interacts with him, so don't mind it"

Gomi waves at them. "Hiiiii! I love meeting new people! We don't get many of them, so seeing three more people makes me happy!"

"Hi Gomi! Oh!" The lass turns at Plesiomon. "We didn't introduce ourselves earlier, did we? I am Komet, and these are Sonne and Lua!"

Sonne looks at the house and then looks at Plesiomon. "Apologies in advance in case that sounds rude, but I wonder how you manage to find comfort in such small place for yourself"

"Oh! Don't worry about it! I don't actually sleep here. These are for my kids and visitors!"

"Come inside and meet the other guest!" says Gomi, rushing inside the hut

Goma goes first, then Lua, Sonne, and lastly Komet. Plesiomon just sticks her head in an open window at the side of the hut. When inside, the team sees a very different Digimon: a small cylindrical machine creature, where the top half has transparent cover exposing its metal brain, while the bottom half is its face. It has four short legs with a big claw each, and two long arms. One eye seems to be a yellow light, while the other looks organic, and it has some pointy teeth sticking out of its mouth. It mutters something while looking at a notepad, then it takes a big sip from its mug.

"That's him!" says Gomi, pointing at the machine. "He's been here for three days now. He said he is searching for something very cool!"

"He does like to talk about his stories and a bunch of complicated things that I don't understand, but, regardless, my kids are having fun with him. Hope you all get along well!" says Plesiomon

The robotic visitor decides to look at the direction of the door, since it sounds like a lot of people are coming in. The machine sees the two Gomamons, then Sonne, Lua, and lastly Komet. At that moment, he chokes on his drink and spews some of it.

"Oh my! Was the coffee that bad?" asks the mom

In a very high pitched voice, while wheezing, the machine answers "No! It's fine! I'm fine!". He punches his own back three times to try to fix himself. The team just looks at the situation in a loss of words. The robot quickly punches his back two more times and cleans his throat - assuming he has one. "Apologies, I was caught off guard. I am Doctor Dataniu, the greatest mind of all this world! You will never find someone as smart as me" he says, now in a lower pitched voice.

"Do you always gloat to people you just met?" asks Lua, already raising her voice

"Is stating the truth gloating now?" Dr. Dataniu fires back

Lua crosses her arms and turns her back at him, facing Sonne and Komet. "I don't like this guy already!"

Komet tenses up and looks at Lua nervously. "We just arrived here... Resting is more important, so let's not inflame a war already, okay?"

"Okay, okay…" Lua lands on Komet's head and flops.

Komet looks back at Dr. Dataniu, and notices that he's intensely staring at her. "Erm… Is there something wrong with me…?"

He waves his hands in surprise. "Oh, nothing, nothing! You just awfully remind me of someone, which is impressive, that's all!"

"Okay…". She doesn't know what to think about it, so she just shrugs it off.

"Follow me!" says Gomi. The trio follow him and are presented to their rooms. One of the mattresses seems to be taken, but some others are free. Komet gets three mattresses and puts them together, making one giant bed for them to sleep together. She immediately crashes down in the middle, making Lua fall out of her head, as she forgot the Lunamon was there. Sonne follows right after, since he has spent most of his energy flying away from Cerranis. He lies down and rests his head on his front legs.

"Do any of you want some coffee?" asks Goma

Komet immediately sits back. "Ooooh, coffee! I would love it!"

Goma rushes out of the room, while Plesiomom sticks her head in the bedroom's window. "I will go to my retreat now. If you need anything, just go outside and call me! But if you mean any harm to my kids, I will find you and destroy you, understood?" she smiles menacingly

"O-oh, you don't need to worry about that, at least not from my team!" says Komet

The plesiosaur leaves her good nights and retreats, while Dr. Dataniu slowly enters the room with his mug full of coffee. Lua crosses her arms, visibly grumpy, and turns around. Goma enters right after, hands a mug with coffee to Komet and leaves, waving at them. Dataniu sits on his bed and looks at the team. Komet looks at Dataniu, then looks away. The room stays silent for several minutes. Everytime Komet gives a side peek at Dataniu, it always seems like he is analyzing them top to bottom, as if he is studying them.

"Soooo…" Dataniu breaks the silence. "Do you guys always go on adventures together?"

Komet nods

"Is it always the three of you?" continues the robot

Komet nods again

"Aah… I hate to admit, but my past self would be so jealous of you… You see, my early days in the academy were very lonely. I don't know if it was jealousy or fear, but it was certainly confirmed that my brain was the most superior of all at the time. Until one day, this Digimon decided to approach me. He was very shy and clumsy. He enjoyed listening to me babbling about all the things I knew, which was a lot by the way. I taught him so many things! Oh, he was very smart too, a fast learner. But one day, when I was working on a great project, he turned against me and made the academy take everything from me, especially my right to study there!" he shakes his head. "So I decided to travel the world alone looking for someone that would accept my brilliance"

"Uuh… How did it go?"

"At first, bad too. I've met this Digimon that started sticking around. He wasn't very smart, but boy he loved to ask me things. So I decided to make him my assistant. We went to so many places together, and we reached somewhere we didn't even know it existed. The first days were amazing, until… He backstabbed me. That son of a b… Anyway, he is gone now, because I taught him a lesson" he huffs

"That sucks, huh?" she says, while feeling uncomfortable

Lua whips her head and points at Dr. Dataniu. "Are you gonna say that all of that happened because they couldn't take your smartness well? I don't know, it sounds more like this might be a 'you' problem!" she yells, sounding very annoyed

Komet is taken aback by her sudden outburst, but she doesn't do anything about it

"Ahem" Dataniu just ignores Lua and continues. "It does suck, but thanks to explorations with that prick, I've met someone that accepts me and supports my things. Of course, I do the same for him! We've been mutually supportive for years now! He is so amazing, so brilliant! Sometimes I envy his brain!"

"It's nice to hear some good ending" Komet says

"It sure is! But now I ask you, have you ever gotten a friend that backstabbed you?"

Komet shakes her head.

"You are so fortunate! I bet you can always count on them!"

Komet nods.

"Why are you so silent? I don't bite, you know? I usually make the others do the biting for me!". He laughs.

"Uuh…"

"You know what? Let me make you interact more! What would you do if a different world existed?"

Komet looks away. "I… I don't know? Maybe say 'cool', I guess. Why?"

"Really? How boring. I guess you are just another short-sighted ignorant, not that this is a problem. Enlightenment is a privilege after all!"

Komet rolls her eyes.

"Unless…" Dataniu smirks. "You are feigning ignorance. Because it surely feels like you are not from this world"

She starts feeling uncomfortable and worried by the implication, but she does her best to not show it. She raises one of her eyebrows instead. "Are you implying that another world exists?"

Dataniu flinches and shakes his hands. "Oh, no, no! I was just messing with you! Hahaha!"

Then the room goes back to awkward silence. Komet turns her face away in discomfort, her heart beating faster. Dr. Dataniu just keeps looking at them in his eternal analysis mode. Then, Lua pokes her.

"Hey! Can we go outside for a moment? There's something I want to talk about in private. Well, if Sonne wants to join, he can too, of course" says the bunny

Sonne opens one of his eyes while still lying down. "You two can go. I will keep company to the intellectual guest" he says, putting angry emphasis in the 'intellectual guest' part

Komet stands up and pats Sonne on the head. "Take care, and… Be careful at all times". She leaves the room, and Lua follows after. Komet looks behind one last time, worried about the lion's well-being. As soon as he sees her worry on her face, he nods at her. She turns back and keeps walking. In the living room, they see Goma and Gomi sleeping on their nest-looking beds. Komet silently opens the door and goes outside with Lua, closing the door behind them. They slowly walk towards the shore, and she let out a big frustrated sigh. "Thanks for taking me out of there… That Digimon was really giving me the creeps. I'll assume that for being a genius, he is just a bit too oblivious"

"Oblivious? He is obnoxious!"

"Perhaps… But somehow, Gomi had fun with him. Anyway, what do you want to talk about?"

"Well… I wanted to take you out of the unpleasant place. Also, Dr. Creepy randomly talking about friendship reminded me of a question that I always wanted to ask you, but I never had the chance before because… You know, we were 'AI assistants' but actually acting undercover. I had to try hard to not act less AI-y. That was much easier for Sonne!"

Komet giggles. "So, what's the question?"

"During all the time we took care of you, you always talked about work, hacking, things you did, and sometimes about things that annoyed you, but you never talked about yourself or your friends. Why?"

"Oh, this… Well, you see… You, Sonne and my parents are my friends, so you basically know most of the things about them already!"

Lua shakes her head. "No childhood friend? Friends from school? From your work?"

Komet swallows hard. "W-well… You know I lost a close friend for getting framed for a crime… About my workplace… M-maybe I'm not a pleasant person to have around… After all, I do tend to focus on my work way too much… Maybe I'm seen as arrogant or something"

Lua shakes her head again. "Workaholic, yes, although you shouldn't be proud of that. Besides, you are not the type that would just ignore people, so this is not it! Are you really going to pretend you never told us stories of you helping your colleagues multiple times?"

"You said the right word, Lua: colleagues. It doesn't go beyond that… We keep it very formal and professional. And that's fine, really! I'm happy with what I have". She looks away, towards the moon.

Lua shakes her head for the third time. "Nope, that doesn't make sense. Explain this to me then, this doesn't look quite 'professional and formal' for me!". Lua closes her eyes and makes a hologram of a picture pop from Komet's smartwatch.

The lady widens her eyes. "H-how did you find this picture?"

It's a selfie of four people on the rooftop of a building. The sun was setting, so the sky was a mix of yellow, orange and pink. The four people are, from left to right: Gabriel Smith, Komet - which is the one taking the selfie - a black lady with curly hair that goes down to her shoulders, wearing a orange shirt and a golden pendant, and an asian guy with spiky hair, wearing black shirt with some art on it and a braided bracelet. He gestures a V. They all seem to be smiling.

"Well, you checked it from your smartwatch once. Since we have access to everything you do there, we ended up seeing it too. Should've been more careful if you didn't want us to see it". Lua winks at her. "I would love to know more about this picture!"

Komet feels hesitant and sighs. "This guy is Shen, the girl is Dayana, and, well, you know Mr. Smith already. We are from the same team, and we were at the top of the main building of Diamlock Tech"

"What were you doing there?"

"Ah… That…". She holds her own hands and looks down and starts getting more agitated. "We were doing… Stuff"

Lua gets visibly upset. "'Stuff'? Are you really not going to tell me about something that looks so nice?"

Komet swallows hard and gets more nervous. "I… I… Really, the reason is not what you might be expecting". She starts feeling guilty for trying to dodge the subject, especially after so much Lua has done for her. She lowers her head and roughly rubs it. She internally screeches, and then raises her head again, leaving a frustrated sigh. "Okay… I'll tell you. I… I went up there just to have some time for reflection… As soon as they got to know that… Well… They went there rushing because… Ahm… They thought I would try to… You know…". She pokes her own fingers. "...intentionally… fall off… again…"

"Wait, WHAT?" Lua looks shocked. "You tried to commit-"

"We are not talking about that, okay?" interrupts Komet. "It's not my proudest moment. I'd like to just leave it behind. Even because I am better now"

"I really hope so…" The Lunamon stares very worried at Komet, still trying to process what she just heard. "W-what made you, erm, fail to fall off the building?"

"I just said we're- Ugh, okay, just this part, if it will make you calmer" She leaves a heavy sigh. "Mr. Smith made me seek help and forced me to take a break from work to take care of myself. I couldn't just disobey my boss, right…?" she shrugs and forces a smile

"You are saying this as if it's a bad thing"

"I did as he said and came back after one month. I had to prove that I was really well enough to keep working, so I did"

Lua eyes furrow in worry. "One month…? If you tried that against yourself, one month is absolutely not enough to recover! What did you think you were doing?" she protests

"...but Dayana and Shen were still skeptical about that" continues Komet, ignoring Lua's question.

"As they should"

"So together, they gifted me this smartwatch, and made me promise that I would use it to take care of myself"

"And thanks to that, you met me and Sonne! Thanks, Dayana and Shen!"

"Back to the context of the picture. Obviously, I said I wasn't trying that again. Which was true, by the way. We talked for some time, I told them that I was much better and I thanked them for helping me. Then Dayana said we should take a group pic, so I took it"

"That's so sweet of them! They are truly your-"

"Colleagues that pitied me, yes"

"Huh? Why do you say that? Look at what they have done for you! This should be more than enough to consider-"

Komet raises her voice, which also sounds shaky. "We just can't connect, okay? I… I…". She puts her hand on her forehead and lowers her voice back. "Lua… Can you leave me alone please…? I need some time for myself…"

Lua looks at her very worried. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay… It really is…"

"I will be on the top of the hut, if this is fine…"

Komet nods, still looking down. Lua flies to the top of the hut and sits there, being alert to any kind of danger.

Komet groans. "This is probably my second or third outburst at them… What the hell is wrong with me…" She shakes her head in disappointment. "Maybe… Maybe I shouldn't have befriend- !". At this moment, she bites her own tongue very hard on purpose. "What the fuck were you just thinking?". Her eyes get very teary as her tongue starts bleeding. She lifts one of her long sleeves and looks at her arm, specifically at the scars on it. She slowly slides her finger through every scar, in a total of eight or nine times, and sighs again. She inhales and exhales faster. "My past self is not me… I am a different person… And I will prove it to myself". She hugs her own legs and lies on it, mulling over herself. "Can I really… Forgive myself…?". She lies down on the cold floor, closes her eyes and gets lost in thoughts.

"You cannot hide your wishes" said a raspy feminine voice.

Komet opens her eyes. She sees black flames with a pair of red eyes in front of her. It looks like the flaming creature is smiling menacingly at her. She gives two steps back and starts shaking. "I-it's you again!"

"You regret calling your monster friends 'friends'. You wish they were no more than mere AI tools. But it's never too late to cut them off and retreat to your filthy shell"

"N-no, this is not true!"

"Why do you still deny it? All the work you have put into keeping yourself away from people ruined by damn sapient digital creatures. You know you can fix that, right? They are not real people, so just go back to your old good days and command them like the bots they are"

Her heart pounds faster, and she shakes her head. "N-no, never! T-that weren't my actual feelings! They are my friends! I-I won't fall into despair again!"

"Keep your 'friends' around, and your house of cards will soon fall. For how much longer can you keep it up, Tayna?"

"S-shut up! Everything will be okay!"

"Will it, though?". The fire creature summons a Firamon and a Lunamon from the flames. "Then why don't you open up to them? Let them know everything about you?"

Komet clenches her fists and looks away, while still shaking. "I… I don't need to. T-they already know what they need to know. T-that person is long gone"

"'That person'? Heh". The creatures' flames get stronger as she smiles more manically. "Wrong answer!" she says in a more intense voice. Sonne and Lua dash towards Komet, both looking furious. Lua covers her hand in dark energy, while Sonne covers his front paws in fire. "You know very well what they will do as soon as they find out about the scummy piece of shit you are!"

At that moment, Sonne e Lua slash their claws through Komet's body. Komet shrieks in pain and in horror, while lots of blood spills out of her now open chest. Suddenly, she opens her eyes and quickly touches where she got mauled, just to realize there were no injuries. She looks around and notices she had fallen asleep outside the hut. She also notices that Sonne and Lua are cuddling her. They both open their eyes after hearing Komet screaming. The lady's eyes start to tear. She hugs Sonne and Lua very tight. "You are my friends! My close friends! Nothing will ever change that!" she says, while sobbing. As soon as they see Komet crying, they hug her tight in silence. She keeps hugging them for some time, feeling less tense but still upset. Sonne gives her one lick on her face, while Lua pat her on the head. The bunny stands up, starts floating and looks at the lass.

"That was another nightmare, wasn't it?"

Komet, facing down, nods. "It was the same creature from yesterday… Which is also the same from nightmares I used to have many months ago…". She shakes her head and slowly places her hands on her face. "They shouldn't be back… Especially at a time like this…"

"Hmm… I'm no psychologist, but maybe stress is triggering that... You've been getting very worked up lately, after all! Maybe stopping overthinking and starting sharing more about your worries might help!"

"Perhaps…" she says, while letting out a long sigh. She lies down and looks at the sky. Then she closes her eyes. Several minutes passed, and she was still unable to fall asleep. She groans in frustration and gets up, walking to the side of the hut. Lua follows her, while Sonne is already asleep again.

"What are you gonna do?" Lua asks

"I'm too stressed to fall asleep, so I might as well do something I should've done earlier" She selects something from her smartwatch, then moves her arm, extending it towards the floor. A lot of 0s and 1s and some lines follow the motion and are transformed into a garden bed as soon as it touches the floor.

"Oh! It's Bokomon's gift! Hopefully they didn't wither already"

Komet and Lua start gardening together, making sure to follow the instructions Prof. Bokomon had given. None of the six growing meats seem to have withered yet.

"Those are the specialty of the Village of Beginning, aren't they?" asks someone coming out of the hut. The two girls look at the direction of the voice, and see Dr. Dataniu approaching. Komet's first reaction was to turn her face away to hide her annoyance upon seeing him.

Lua takes the less subtle path. "We don't want you here! Our night was already bad enough"

"Woah, calm down! You might explode harder than a nuke if you don't do anything about your anger, you know?"

"Yeah? Maybe I should aim for your head then!"

Komet winces. "Great, the night is completely ruined now…"

The robot shrugs. "Whatever. My deal is with the lady right now". He turns to Komet. "Look. Komet is your name, right? I'm sorry for my behavior. I didn't realize how creepy I was being to you! Please, understand me: when I see something different, I can't help but analyze thoroughly the new finding! I'm just a knowledge hungry fool, okay? Oh, no, I'm not trying to excuse my behavior, so, I'm sorry okay?"

She looks at the robot, not really convinced of his apology. "As long as you don't do it again, it's fine, I guess"

"Oh, please, I wouldn't dare do that again, especially after having to hear your feline buddy lecturing me for a loooong time"

"Finally something we can agree on! Now that I know that you are scared of big puss, keep in mind that if you are creepy to her again, I'm calling him!" says Lua

"Anyway…" Komet looks at Dr. Dataniu, unamused. "You said you recognize this, right?" She points at the garden bed. "Yes, they are. Professor Bokomon did say they are pretty popular, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised"

"Ooh, boy, I really do! I also noticed you are making some mistakes in taking care of it! Let me explain…". Dataniu goes on a not-so-brief explanation about the meat, motioning energetically.

Komet summons her newly-acquired notepad and starts taking notes, starting with 'Take it with a grain of salt'. Between the explanations, the robot gets sidetracked with other stories not closely related with the garden caring, but more about himself, alternating between his tragic stories and how smart he is.

At least for Komet, that is giving her a positive effect: making her sleepy. Suddenly, something flies at her direction. It was so fast that she only saw a blurry silhouette passing by. Then she feels her face burning. When she puts her hands in the burning area, she feels something warm and wet. She looks at her hand, and her eyes widen as soon as she sees it's red.

Lua freaks out. "Y-your face! It's injured! Let me check it!"

"My gods! That's an extremely clumsy Pipismon if I've ever seen one! Let's head back inside, it's not safe here!" frets Dataniu.

Without thinking twice, Komet retrieves the garden bed back to her storage and rushes towards Sonne, to wake him up. To her surprise - although it should be expected at this point - Sonne was up, looking serious and worried. The four of them rush inside the hut, and Lua, being the last one to enter, closes the door.

Lua approaches Komet, who is still in shock, and touches her face. "Oh, don't worry, it's not that big! I'm sure it will heal faster than my ear!"

Komet calms down a bit. "I think I should go to sleep at this point… I wonder what time it is…". She looks at her smartwatch, which doesn't have the correct current time. It shows 14:26, when it's clearly the middle of the night.

"It's five in the morning" says Dataniu

"How are you sure of that?" asks Lua

"It says right there!". He points at a big digital clock hanging on the wall at their left

"Was it there all that time?!"

Komet looks at the modern clock, which highly contrasts the rustic hut. "This is so… Out of place…". She corrects the time on her smartwatch, then checks her face to see if it's still bleeding. Fortunately it seems to have stopped already, so she heads towards the bedroom, following the other three. Getting there, they see Goma awake, smiling at them.

"Awake already? I hope this is not our fault" says Komet

"Nah, this is my time to wake up! Then I sleep again after lunch, and then I wake up again! It's my turn to take care of you all while you sleep" says Goma

"That's honestly very good to hear" says Komet. Sonne and Lua nod. "It's more than time for me to go back to sleep". She finishes with a big yawn.

Team Twilight lies down on one side of the room, while Dr. Dataniu lies on the other side. Goma stays in the center.

"Hopefully I will not have another nightmare…" the lass thinks, leaving a heavy sigh. Despite the fatigue, she stares at the ceiling, still feeling a bit afraid to fall asleep. Then she feels Sonne cuddling around her, making her use his belly as her pillow, while Lua hugs her from the front. She makes herself comfortable on the lion while hugging the bunny, leaving a small sweet smile. "Thank you". Then she closes her eyes.

"Make sure to rest well to make tomorrow a wonderful day!" says Goma with a lot of enthusiasm. "Sweet dreams, everyone!". Goma blows the candle to make the room dark, but he gets confused as the room is still a bit bright. He realizes this is thanks to the faint flame on Sonne's tail. "Uuh… That's fine!"