Chapter 4

Takuya logged on to Project Frontier's site to see if anything new had shown up while he'd been training Tomoki. Maybe something from Kizamizuki. If the player was as good as those stats on the high score list indicated, then any advice would be appreciated.

But there was nothing from Kizamizuki. There was however a message from Keta, or rather Junpei, in the chat which said that something had come up and he'd be able to go online to play the next day.

Well, if Junpei's coming I can see what Digimon he plays, Takuya thought. I wonder how good he is?

He hadn't seen Izumi in action beyond that one shot, either. The Project Frontier people had said that team selection was based on balancing experience levels, so it stood to reason that Kizamizuki was the top player, while Tomoki was the rookie. Takuya, and probably the other two, were average players.

I wonder what Kizamizuki's like? Maybe if I poke around a bit while I'm teaching Tomoki I'll meet them?

...

That afternoon, Takuya headed right to Tomoki's local stadium after he got out of school. As he pushed in the door, he could see the TV from the previous day, this time playing a battle replay. A wolf-like Strabimon was taking on a larger Digimon, a Ryudamon. Takuya looked at the usernames and realized that the Strabimon player was Kizamizuki.

Huh, Strabimon's a Light-type. Aren't they mainly healers? He wondered. True, having a healer on the team would be useful, but it was highly unusual to see a Light Digimon in single player mode rather than in team play where the healing skills would be the most useful. In spite of the element's stereotype of depending on special attacks, Strabimon didn't seem to be using any of them. Instead, that player seemed to be taking advantage of his agility and speed to use what looked like martial arts moves. Takuya wasn't an expert in that sort of thing, but he could see that Strabimon's player was experienced at it, just in the fludity of Strabimon's movements.

Come to think of it, isn't Kizami Zuki like a karate move? Takuya vaguely recalled hearing the term associated with karate, some kind of punch. That explains a lot.

And a player who was already a martial artist already had an advantage in Project Frontier, on the basis of knowing how to fight and having the muscle memory of any move they learned. Even as Takuya watched, the Strabimon took the Ryudamon down in under a minute.

Too bad it's a replay, he thought. Replays don't show the users, but I'd love to see what they look like in person.

Takuya shrugged. He wasn't just here to find out about Kizamizuki, He still had to find Tomoki and start training.

Maybe the guy at the desk saw him?

Takuya turned away from the TV and walked over to the desk, but just as he was nearly there he realized that there was already a boy waiting for the employee. The boy was around Takuya's age, with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail, a black T-shirt, blue jeans. Well, maybe he had seen Tomoki.

"Hey, have you seen my friend?"

The boy glanced at him, with narrowed blue eyes, but didn't say anything. Takuya decided to try again.

"He looks like he's around second-grade, brown ha—"

"I haven't seen him," the other boy snapped in a acidic tone. "Now leave me alone."

Then the employee arrived with the key for a cubicle. The boy took them and was gone without a second glance.

"What's his problem?" Takuya grumbled.

"Takuya!" Tomoki came jogging through the door, slightly out of breath. "I'm sorry, I'm late..."

"Don't worry about it, Tomoki. You're only late by a couple of minutes." Takuya turned to the employee to ask if there was a two-person cubicle available.

"I know..." Tomoki looked oddly as if there was something he wanted to talk about but couldn't.

"Is something bothering you, Tomoki?"

"I—no. It's not—it's not something you can do anything about."

"Oh, okay."

The two boys entered the cubicle and began stashing their hats and personal items into the cubbies.

"I saw one of Kizamizuki's replays. Turns out they're a Strabimon player and they're really good! I think they're a martial artist or something."

"Really?" Tomoki perked up visibly. "That almost sounds like a boy from my school. I hear there's a fifth grader who took martial arts. He's famous for punching a sixth grader who tried sneaking up on him because he doesn't like being touched. But they say he's...not a friendly guy. He's kinda scary."

Takuya paused, remembering the boy who had snapped at him earlier.

"I think I might have seen him. Black hair, long ponytail?

"That sounds like him, his name's Kouji Minamoto."

"Maybe he's Kizamizuki?"

"If he's on our team, I wonder if he can teach me how to fight?"

"You could ask him." Takuya pulled on the helmet.

"So, what're we doing today?" Tomoki asked as the game loaded. "Are we doing the obstacle course again?"

"I think we might just skip it this time, unless you really want to. One of our other teammates is going to be online and I think Izumi is, too. We can get to know each other and decide what to do from there."

As the boys materialized in the training area again, Takuya opened the menu and started to set up the invitation to call Junpei and Izumi in. Then he paused.

"Wait a sec, it says Kizamizuki's online right now! Maybe he'll join us."

"If it's Kouji, I don't think he will," Tomoki replied. "The other kids say that he prefers being alone."

"Whatever. Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Takuya sent an invitation to the other three. "So, Tomoki, do you remember how to play?"

"Yeah," Tomoki grinned. "Activate target!"

As the younger boy amused himself with target practice, Takuya felt his mind turning back to the conundrum called Kizamizuki. If what Tomoki said was true and the Strabimon player was Kouji, then how were they going to work with him? Sure, they could wait until the tournament started, but practicing together would help the team to decide their strategies and figure out what how their strategies worked in team play.

[ Incoming Player ]

A shimmering at the other end of the gym area reformatted itself into an insect-like FunBeemon. Unlike Izumi, this player was visible within his Digimon, a husky brown-haired boy who looked like he was around sixth grade. The boy wore a blue jumpsuit edged with yellow, and his brown eyes glanced around before focusing on them.

"You must be Junpei," Takuya said.

"You're Takuya?" The older boy asked.

"Yup. This is Tomoki, AKA Touto. He's kinda new."

"Takuya's just teaching me how to play," Tomoki chimed in. "But I'm not sure if I'll be staying for the tournament."

Junpei's frown was visible within his Digimon.

"We all have to start somewhere," Takuya spoke up in Tomoki's defense. "We're here to teach him. Besides, if he doesn't do the tournament we can get someone else."

He turned to Tomoki.

"Junpei's Digimon is a FunBeemon, they're wind-types like Izumi's Tinkermon..."

[ Incoming Player ]

"Speaking of which, here she comes," Tomoki said cheerfully as the shape of the arriving form grew distinct.

"Hey!" The fairy-like Digimon called as she finished materializing. "I'm guessing you're Junpei, then? Glad you could make it."

"Yeah. The thing I was supposed to do today got cancelled."

Izumi smiled charmingly. "Well, that stinks, but it's still nice to meet you."

Junpei's cheeks visibly turned red within his Digimon.

"So, that's four of us," she continued. "Takuya, did you have any luck with Kizamizuki?"

"Some," Takuya admitted. "He plays here at Tomoki's stadium, and he's really good. I saw a replay of one of his battles, Tomoki and I think he does martial arts."

"Really?" Junpei asked, his eyebrows high. "That would come in handy. What's his Digimon?"

"He plays a Strabimon."

"Strabimon's a Light-type, right? We could always use one of them." Izumi glanced at Tomoki. "Light-types tend to be mostly about healing, so they're very handy in team battles."

"This one's into physical moves instead of healing ones," Takuya said.

"Huh, that's something you don't see every day," Junpei remarked thoughtfully. "Okay, we're not all here, but we can start getting to know each other."

"Maybe we can try a two-on-two fight?" Izumi suggested. "I mean, whoever faces Tomoki will have to go easy on him, since he's new at this, but the rest of us can go all out. That way we all get to know each other's fighting strategies."

"That sounds like a good idea," Takuya agreed. "Let's see, Tomoki's a Ice-type, so I'd have an advantage over him, but I think that's the only type advantage we have here. Junpei and Izumi are both Wind-type. How about you take on Tomoki, Izumi, and I take on Junpei, and we'll go from there."

"Sounds good," Izumi said. "Do we go for an environment change? Because I think we should do the meadow."

"Activate Environment, Meadow!" Takuya said. The gym around the four of them changed to a sun-lit grassy field surrounded by flowers.

"Shall we?" He asked Junpei, as the four children faced off against each other. "Activate Spar Mode!"

...

"The first thing to know about fighting," Izumi told Tomoki, "is that it doesn't hurt. Whenever you get hit, your gloves will vibrate a little. Here."

She gave Tomoki a light tap on the shoulder and he felt his gloves buzz a little in response.

"That tickles!"

"Yeah, it does. And if you're in sparring mode or in battle mode your hit points will go down. I don't think your Digimon's made for melee combat, so let's just start with our special attacks. Try to attack me!"

She took off and after a moment launched a stream of wind at him. Tomoki conjured up some ice and used that to quickly slide out of the way. He followed that up with an Ice Prism, which hit Izumi directly on the wing. She yelped in surprise.

"You got me!" Izumi's Digimon grinned. "Now try dodging this!"

...

Takuya was a little distracted watching Tomoki's fight. It was understandable; Takuya considered the younger boy his responsibility since he'd been the one to introduce him to Project Frontier. He felt pride swelling through his chest as Tomoki used more ice to launch himself into the air, evading Izumi's second attack. Takuya was so engrossed with the fight that he failed to notice the Junpei charging up a wind blast until it knocked him off his feet.

"Ow," he grumbled as his palms buzzed, watching his HP bar slide down by about half.

"Weren't we supposed to be fighting?" Junpei asked pointedly.

"We are!" Takuya launched some shots of Baby Salamander, which hit their target and did some damage, then followed it up by using Flame Tackle and charging at the other boy. The Funbeemon user took off vertically at the last second, and Takuya found himself running into thin air as his momentum took him several more feet before he could stop.

That lousy... Takuya threw a few more fireballs at the still-hovering Junpei, who dodged them easily.

"Is that all you got?"

"Well, I'm a Fire-type Digimon," Takuya retorted. "Most of what I have are melee attacks."

"That's probably something you need to work on. You're a sitting duck down there." The other boy probably hadn't meant to be insulting, but it touched a nerve in Takuya.

There's gotta be a way I can get up there and hit him, he thought. The meadow environment didn't have any trees or anything he could use to launch himself into the air like he had with that Gryphmon.

"Look," he finally said. "You're too fast for my fireballs and this environment isn't doing anything for me, maybe you could land and we'll go melee instead?"

"Works for me," Junpei shrugged and came in for a landing. Oddly, he didn't seem to be too fazed about being on the ground, but that didn't matter. Now that the older boy was within reach, Takuya feinted several times like he would in a soccer game and went for Salamander Upper. Junpei responded by using a small AOE attack, Mini Hurricane, to deflect it, only taking a fraction of the damage.

"You might want to try a different plan than just rushing at me, Takuya."

Takuya ground his teeth in frustration. That plan worked just fine! So what if it didn't do as much damage as he'd hoped? He decided to try Baby Salamander again, but before he could release the fireball there was a shriek from where Izumi and Tomoki had been sparring.

Tomoki...? Takuya and Junpei exchanged a startled glance.

...

Tomoki curled up in his seat as much as he could, unable to respond to anything. He heard the voices of the others distantly, but the voices quickly faded out. All he could see was the memory of Izumi's fist coming right at him.

No, not Izumi. It wasn't Izumi he was seeing. The unpleasant smirk and too-tight hands holding him as a fist rammed into his stomach didn't come from Izumi...

"Tomoki!"

It was only then that Tomoki realized that his helmet was off and that Takuya was staring down at him with worried eyes.

"Takuya?" He croaked.

"Are you all right? Geez, don't scare me like that, I was about to call an ambulance."

"Huh?"

"I think you fainted or something. The game doesn't register people who faint or freeze up so it kicks them out." Takuya paused, then added "But, it looks like you're coming back out of it."

"Oh."

"So...what happened? Izumi says that you collapsed when she used a melee move on you. She wants me to tell you she's sorry."

Tomoki hesitated, the desire to tell Takuya warring with what would happen if he did.

"I...got scared."

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain why you were so zoned out that the game kicked you off. That's not a normal reaction to being hit in the game."

"I know." Tomoki got out of the seat in an effort to prevent any more questions. "And I don't want to talk about it."

"I know you don't, but..."

He tried to hide how badly he was shaking as he went for his stuff as tears dripped from his eyes. "Takuya, I don't think I should do this."

The Flamon user's jaw dropped in surprise. "Eh?"

"I'm dropping out. I don't want to do this anymore!"

"Tomoki...!" Takuya began, but Tomoki ran out before he could say anything else.

...

Takuya left the stadium feeling totally helpless. Something was wrong with Tomoki, and the younger boy refused to say what it was. While Takuya wasn't the best at reading people, there were certain facts about Tomoki that were kind of disturbing now that he thought about it. The younger boy had apparently been fine in battle until Izumi had punched him. And earlier, something had been bothering him, but he had quickly changed the subject. Then there had been how Tomoki had hid behind him the other day from that crowd of children. And how afraid Tomoki had been when they had met...

Is someone bullying him? Takuya wondered. That made entirely too much sense. Someone who also played Project Frontier, and would have been in that crowd. Someone who clearly was not limited to name calling.

But I can't do anything about it. Tomoki's probably too scared to log on to FrontierChat, let alone play anymore, and I don't know where he lives. How can I help him if I can't find him?

Ugh, I know I should be concentrating on the game and not Tomoki, but I just can't leave it. We're supposed to be a team...

Takuya's eyes caught distant movement ahead of him. The other kid was far away, but not far enough that Takuya couldn't see the black hair and long ponytail...

"Kouji!"

The other boy stiffened, giving time for Takuya to catch up.

"Listen, I want to introduce myself. I'm Takuya Kanbara, uh, ReddoRanger, and I think I'm on your team in the tournament. I know you're not the social type, but our practices are open, if you ever want to join us."

"I don't need to."

"Huh?"

"I told you I'd be at the tournament." The other boy didn't even turn to Takuya as he kept walking away. "I'll be there. That is all you need to know."

As the other boy walked in the distance, Takuya growled irritably under his breath. Sure, Tomoki had told him that Kouji wasn't friendly, but it was another thing to see it in person.

What's his deal? I mean, he's worse than dipping a cat in water! Whatever, we can work around him.

As Takuya turned and left, he failed to see another boy hiding just around the corner from them.