DarkFoxKit: So since it seems not a lot of people are reading this, we're going to slow down on the updates for a bit. No point in burning myself out for a story that's barely getting any attention.

ZAFT: But make no mistake, we do plan to continue the story. We hope more people will read it as it gets further in though.

DarkFoxKit: Until then, slowing down and taking a break is a good way to not burn out. Hope to hear from more people soon.

ZAFT: So enjoy the chapter we have posted in the meantime~

Chapter 10: The Digi-School

"How long have we been walking in this maze of flowers?" Kokuwamon grumbled.

"Come on, it's only been about a minute. I know you're not a huge fan of flowers, but at least try not to complain so much. At least you're not in water anymore," Biyomon grumbled, getting a little fed up with Kokuwamon's whinings.

Lopmon was on top of JP's head, looking around.

"This field of sunflowers is huge!" Zoe exclaimed. "Who knew it would go so far? I can only see sunflowers in all directions!"

"This place is like a jungle," JP remarked.

"I'm sure there's an end to these fields of flowers, we just have to keep going," Lopmon said.

"Do you even see an end?" JP asked.

"Well… not, just more sunflowers," Lopmon replied.

"Then get off my head, I'm not a hat person," JP grumbled.

"Jeez, fine Mr. Grumpypants," Lopmon replied before hopping off of JP's head.

JP huffed. "How much further do we have to walk? I'm getting tired here!"

"We'll try taking a break once we get out of this field," Zoe sighed.

"Maybe we should've tried getting some fish before leaving the river," Biyomon sighed.

"And risk falling off that log?" JP groaned. "I'd rather take being hungry over drowning."

"I meant when we were on shore," Biyomon grumbled. "It would've done us all some good to have something to eat."

"Yeah, but do any of us know how to fish without a fishing pole?" Lopmon asked.

JP, Zoe, Biyomon and Kokuwamon all sighed.

"No…" JP grumbled. "I certainly can't fish, and certainly not without a rod."

"None of us can." Zoe sighed. "I just hope we can find our way out of here."

"I mean if it comes down to it, we could try eating sunflower seeds, there's plenty here," Lopmon chuckled.

"What!? No way! I rather eat batteries!" Kokuwamon shouted in horror.

"Why the dramatics? Sunflower seeds are good," Biyomon replied.

"Yeah, for a bird like you! You practically live on that stuff," Kokuwamon huffed.

"Just like you live off of batteries, but you eat meat instead," Biyomon grumbled.

Kokuwamon just huffed again. "Don't bring meat into this!"

"Can we please not argue about food? It's making me hungry!" JP whined.

"They argue about food a lot," Lopmon sweatdropped. "One of them's a vegan, the other is a carnivore."

"Let's just keep walking and then worry about food, okay?" Zoe sighed.

JP then tripped over a rock that made him fall flat on his face. "Ow!"

Since Lopmon was in front of JP when he tripped, he ended up getting smooshed by JP as well.

"At least the grass was soft for my face…" JP mumbled.

"That wasn't the grass your face landed on…" Lopmon groaned.

JP sat up quickly. "Oh! Sorry, Lopmon!" He apologized, only for something to dart out in front of him. "W-wha?!"

The small thing that had darted out in front of JP was a small orange Digimon with one horn on its head, red eyes, and a cream-colored face.

The little thing seemed just as startled as JP was and stopped to turn to look at them. "Huh?"

Lopmon shook his head as he pushed himself back up on his feet, looking at the new comer. Zoe, Biyomon, and Kokuwamon were looking curiously as well.

"What is that?" Zoe asked.

"That's…" Lopmon began before a woman's voice called out.

"Tsunomon, get back here! You know you shouldn't be running off on your own!"

Suddenly, a giant cactus looking creature came out from some of the flowers. It had two feet, and it was wearing red boxing gloves on its hands. It had three holes for a face. The group flinched back in shock at seeing this new Digimon.

The cactus Digimon looked at them, surprised as well. "Huh? Oh, oh my! What a surprise! I wasn't expecting guests today, especially human guests!"

"Human beings? Here?" The smaller Digimon that the giant cactus called 'Tsunomon' said in shock.

"Um… Yeah?" Zoe blinked, not sure what to make of the situation before the group.

"I hope you were only looking for that little guy out of concern." JP said warily. "We've… had some not so good experiences with random Digimon lately."

"Oh, I do apologize about startling you. I'm not trying to hurt Tsunomon. I'm a teacher actually, and he ran off during school," The Digimon explained. "My name is Togemon. Now just give me a moment."

Togemon reached over and grabbed onto Tsunomon's horn while he was still looking at the humans in shock.

"H-hey! Let me go! I never want to go back to that nasty school!" Tsunomon shouted, though he was more throwing a tantrum than being in actual distress.

"Dang, and I thought I didn't like school," Kokuwamon remarked.

"I didn't know Digimon went to school." Zoe noted in surprise. "What's it like to go to school for Digimon?"

The group began to follow Togemon down the path, glad for a guide to get out of this giant field of flowers.

"That's where young Digimon go to learn the necessary skills for when they become adult Digimon," Lopmon explained.

"What kind of skills, eating and jumping?" JP chuckled. "That sounds like my kind of school."

"Mine too~" Kokuwamon agreed.

"I doubt that's all there is to it." Zoe rolled her eyes.

"I haven't really been to a Digi-School myself, you could say Bokomon pretty much homeschooled us," Biyomon remarked.

"I've been to one," Lopmon said. "It's actually pretty fun. There's a lot you could learn about Digimon and our culture."

"This is quite exciting though, I've heard about humans, but I've never seen a real one before," Togemon said. "While you're here, why don't you come to the school? I'm sure the children would love to see you."

"I've already seen them! Just take me home, I have grass to watch grow!" Tsunomon shouted angrily.

Zoe smiled. "We'd love to see your school, but I'm afraid we don't have time. We need to find our friends."

"Not to mention we have to get to the Forest Terminal for something important and all that," JP added.

"Yeah, I'm sure our friends miss us too," Lopmon said, and it had been on his mind earlier when he was on the Toy Island. He hoped the others didn't get themselves hurt trying to look for him.

"Oh, but I was hoping you'd join us for the afternoon snack time," Togemon said.

All at once, the group, especially JP, perked up.

"Did you just say 'snack time'?" JP asked as his mouth began to water. "We are there!"

"JP!" Zoe groaned.

"What? We were in need of food, remember?" JP pointed out.

"JP has a point, you do need to eat in order to get your strength back up," Kokuwamon said. "It'd be foolish to turn down a free meal."

"As much as I don't like to agree, Kokuwamon is right on this one," Biyomon sighed. "We could all use a break and some food."

"I guess, but…" Zoe frowned before she looked at Lopmon. "What do you think? Do you think we should stick around at the school?"

Lopmon blinked. "Why ask me?"

"You just seem to be… the most sensible one, I guess?" Zoe replied.

Lopmon raised an eyebrow, seeing how Biyomon was chuckling at him. Lopmon gave a sigh. "While we may be in a hurry to find the others and get to the Forest Terminal, I do have to agree that it would be wiser to rest and eat before moving on. We got lucky with meeting with friendly, docile Digimon this time. But we might end up facing with hostile Digimon if we keep going, we wouldn't want to be caught while still tired and hungry after all."

Zoe was about to speak when her stomach growled, making her blush. "Okay… I think my stomach answered for us…"

"Great! We're almost there!" Togemon smiled before she led them out of the sunflower field. "There it is."

The group emerged into a clearing, where they saw what looked like a small hut that had several small Digimon around it.

"Huh?" JP blinked. "That's the Digimon School? It looks like something the three little pigs would build! I've seen garages bigger than that!"

"JP! Don't be rude!" Zoe scolded.

"The school's building is for small Digimon. Most of the activities takes place outside, which is why we have such a big field," Togemon explained.

"Maybe it looks smaller than it is because we're so far away from it," Kokuwamon suggested to JP.

"Come on, let's take a closer look at it," Biyomon said.

"Put me down! I don't want to go back!" Tsunomon struggled.

Lopmon looked at Tsunomon as they were walking down the hill, heading towards the school.

"Welcome humans, to our school, where we learn and play all day! We think our teacher's really cool! So we hope you'll want to stay! Welcome humans to our school, where we learn the Digi-Rules! We play and play, that would be cool!" The group of young Digimon assembled before Zoe, JP, Biyomon, Kokuwamon, and Lopmon sang happily while Togemon played an old phonograph that emitted music, except for Tsunomon, who was just silently pouting to the side.

A school where they learn and play all day. That sounds really nice. JP wistfully thought.

Each of the young Digimon introduced themselves after they finished singing.

"I'm Yarmon!" A little dark blue and gray Digimon with green eyes introduced happily.

"I'm Jyarimon!" A red ball-like Digimon with black eyes and ears similar to Patamon's introduced.

"I-I'm YukimiBotamon…" A small white Digimon with black eyes said nervously.

"I'm Nyaromon!" A small cat-like yellow Digimon with a long purple and yellow striped tail and red eyes exclaimed.

"Call me Conomon!" A small brown ball Digimon with black eyes and three horns on its head introduced, wagging its long brown tail.

"Koromon is my name!" A small pink Digimon with red eyes and two antennae on its head happily said.

"And I'm Zerimon!" The light green Digimon with a matching tail to Conomon, but one horn on its head, finished off.

Some of the names were a bit of a mouthful, Zoe and JP weren't entirely sure if they could remember all of their names. But despite that, Zoe smiled, she loved cute creatures. These tiny Digimon were the cutest she had seen.

"Aww, you're all so cute!" Zoe smiled as she bent down to YukimiBotamon.

YukimiBotamon was very timid, so having Zoe bend down to her caused her to accidentally shoot out an icy wind from her body. Though luckily, because she was a Baby Digimon, the worst it did was cause some frost to appear on Zoe's arm and shoulder, making her a little chilly, but nothing to the degree of Lopmon's Blazing Ice attack.

"YukimiBotamon! I've told you a thousand times to not ice over any visitors!" Togemon exclaimed, obviously very upset at YukimiBotamon's attack on Zoe.

"Oh, it's okay!" Zoe said sheepishly. "It didn't hurt. Just felt a bit chilly, that's all!"

"I'm so sorry about this," Togemon apologized.

"I probably startled you, didn't I?" Zoe said gently to YukimiBotamon.

"Y-yeah, just a little bit," YukimiBotamon shyly replied.

"Ah, don't mind her. Zoe can get a little excited when she meets small and cute Digimon for the first time," Lopmon chuckled. "The first time I met her, she kinda dragged me down a hole."

"S-she did?" YukimiBotamon asked nervously.

"It was an accident!" Zoe exclaimed. "I didn't do it on purpose."

"Come on, Lopmon, don't scare her more than she already is," Biyomon huffed.

"Sorry, couldn't resist," Lopmon chuckled sheepishly.

"But that sounds like quite a way to meet someone," Kokuwamon remarked.

"I was falling and Lopmon was nearby, it was a reaction," Zoe grumbled.

Tsunomon gave a grin. "Well, I was by myself when I met them, and I wasn't scared one bit!"

Every one of the other Digimon were not impressed. "Whatever…" They all said as one, making the others, except for Tsunomon, sweatdrop.

The other Digimon just moved away from Tsunomon, leaving him alone. Tsunomon frowned as the others watched them leave.

"Wow… who knew kids could be so mean these days?" Biyomon remarked. "Then again, I guess I didn't get along with my peers either."

"We weren't exactly all that popular in our own schools," Kokuwamon agreed.

"I thought you said you didn't go to Digi-School," JP pointed out.

"Not… this kind of school," Biyomon replied. "It's… complicated."

"Either way, there seems to not be much change between different schools," Lopmon said.

"That was mean, that's for sure." Zoe huffed. "I wonder what the problem is with those young Digimon and Tsunomon."

"Now that you've met the students, how about you join us for 1st period?" Togemon spoke up, catching their attention.

"Uh… what would that be?" JP asked, not sure if he wanted to sit through a lecture of math or literature, he had enough of that at his own school.

Inside the school building, it had a rather cozy and homey feel to it. Because it was so small, it felt more like a classroom than a whole school. But it was comfortable. Though there weren't any chairs for JP and Zoe to sit on since most of the chairs appeared to be stumps that were only for the small Digimon to sit on.

Togemon stood at the podium, in front of the students. "Storytime!"

"So they tell stories for first period?" Biyomon asked in wonder.

"That's way better than listening to our old teacher droning on about old English," Kokuwamon remarked.

"You guys learn English at your school?" Zoe asked, intrigued.

"Oh, maybe you can say something in English for us?" JP asked, looking excited.

"Uh…" Biyomon and Kokuwamon looked back at them for a moment.

"Aren't we already speaking English?" Biyomon asked Kokuwamon.

"I think to them we're speaking Japanese, just as we're hearing English from them," Kokuwamon whispered back.

"Guys, stop mentioning your time at school," Lopmon grumbled.

Biyomon and Kokuwamon did stop mentioning it, thankfully for Lopmon.

"Today, instead of a regular old story, our human guests will be telling us stories all about the wonders of the human world!" Togemon said with pride. "Would you kids like that?"

The young Digimon all cheered happily and bounced up and down on their stumps, save for Tsunomon who was just staring at the wall instead of looking at Togemon.

Lopmon couldn't help but look at Tsunomon, feeling bad for the poor Digimon. Being alone at school with no friends was a hard place to be in.

Togemon looked to the side at Zoe, JP, Biyomon, Kokuwamon, and Lopmon. "Then perhaps the big blue human would like to go first?"

It was then the group realized they never really introduced themselves to Togemon.

"Um… You can call me JP." JP said awkwardly. "And… you mean me?"

"Yes, I do. You can come up and talk, Professor JP." Togemon said warmly.

"Professor!?" JP replied in shock. "I'm no professor, I'm only in the 7th grade."

"Oh don't be so modest, your class awaits you 'Professor'~" Zoe teased, lightly elbowing him on his shoulder.

"This could be a good chance for you to wow them, 'Professor'~" Kokuwamon suggested. "Think of the stuff you could talk about that would blow their minds!"

"Or just talk about what it's like at home, that should be simple enough," Biyomon remarked.

"Guys, you're making him nervous," Lopmon sweatdropped.

JP walked awkwardly to the front of the classroom, but he didn't look very comfortable with speaking. His face was filled with nervousness.

Alright… just stay calm… They're nothing more than little kids… So little they don't even have legs… JP thought to himself. Here goes nothing…

"Um… so the human world… has all kinds of things… like, uh…" JP wracked his brain that went completely blank when he stood in front of the class.

So JP decided to go with his old magic tricks, hoping that would be enough. He held out a line of colorful looking handkerchiefs. "Tissues to wipe your nose with, if you have any…"

"Oh gosh… he's dying out there…" Lopmon whispered, even the children were looking a little uncomfortable for JP's sake.

"And… toothbrushes to… uh… fight off plague from your teeth, which is always important," JP continued as he put his hands together, and then showing a string of toothbrushes now instead of the handkerchiefs.

"You do have to admit, he's pretty good at doing those magic tricks at least," Kokuwamon said.

"Who knew he had stage fright though?" Biyomon commented.

"Yeah… I feel kinda bad now. Maybe one of us should step up to save him," Zoe suggested.

"I'll do it. I've done more than my share of talking to people on stage," Biyomon volunteered before she ran up to the podium and jumped on top of it. "These children should learn something important while they're young so they can retain it as they grow."

JP, relieved, but also kinda bummed out that he made a fool of himself, walked off to the side while Biyomon took over.

"Now it's important to protect the life around you. Whether that's trees, fishes, animals, or just nature itself," Biyomon went on. "If you don't learn to respect life, then life will treat you just as badly. You don't want to end up growing up in a world full of waste and pollution, do you? It's imperative that you-"

Biyomon blinked when she stopped her little lecture and noticed everyone, but Tsunomon, were gone. "Hey, where'd they go?"

The small Digimon were bouncing around the humans again, which was kind of awkward for JP and Zoe. Kokuwamon and Lopmon looked over at Biyomon.

"Heh… kids, so young, so mean, am I right? No respect," Kokuwamon chuckled. "Although maybe your lecture could use some work."

"They're just excited to play with humans, species that are just spoken in stories and legends in this world," Lopmon explained, hoping to soften the blow on Biyomon.

Biyomon pouted. "It still sucks I was pretty much ignored…"

After Storytime was pretty much over, and Togemon got the kids under control, she made an announcement. "Since we had a late start, it's already time for Recess! The children have been so excited, it'd be good for them to let out their extra energy."

Everyone headed outside. It appeared that there was a natural playground outside. The tree trunks were carved in a way to be used for sliding down. And there was a large boulder used as a jungle gym for the young Digimon to play on.

"Now this is my kind of playground." Biyomon smiled.

"Of course you'd like it," Kokuwamon grumbled.

"Hey, what can I say? Living things are meant to live and interact with nature~" Biyomon replied smugly.

"This looks like it could be fun!" Zoe smiled.

"Yeah!" JP agreed, feeling more comfortable now that he wasn't speaking in front of others.

The other Digimon kids immediately joined the humans in their play time. YukimiBotamon no longer seemed to be afraid of Zoe, and willingly jumped into her arms as Zoe was ready to slide down the tree trunks. Conomon and Zerimon joined in, wanting Zoe to hold them as well. Zoe smiled as she was more than happy to hold these little cuties as she slid down.

"That was fun!" Zoe smiled.

"Let's go again!" Zerimon bounced happily.

"Yeah, again, again!" Conomon agreed.

Meanwhile, with JP, he had Jyarimon, Yarmon, Nyaromon, and Koromon with him.

"What do you want to play?" JP asked the kids.

"Digi-Wrestling!" The small Digimon cheered as they jumped up and down near JP.

"Okay, that sounds like fun!" JP smiled, though he wasn't sure what 'Digi-Wrestling' was.

Nyaromon had a glint in her eyes. She jumped up suddenly. JP blinked as he watched her jump up high, calling out what might be an attack.

"Galactica Magnum Tail!" Nyaromon fell towards JP, turning around to show her tail.

JP blinked as Nyaromon stopped for a second in front of him, then smacked his cheek with her tail, though not enough to do any actual damage.

JP tried to hold in his laughter. His face looked funny, but he managed to succeed in holding in his laughter. "Oh, you got me!" He said, faking being hurt.

With a loud groan, he fell onto his face, causing Jyarimon, Yarmon, and Koromon to start bouncing on him happily.

"Since we're all just playing, maybe we should join in?" Lopmon suggested to Kokuwamon and Biyomon.

"But we're not really kids… wouldn't it be kinda awkward to join in?" Kokuwamon asked. "It'd be like teenagers playing with preschool kids on a playground."

"Biyomon seems to think otherwise," Lopmon pointed out.

Kokuwamon blinked before turning around, seeing Biyomon sliding on the trunk with YukimiBotamon on her back, laughing.

"Ah… well, uh…" Kokuwamon nervously said.

"Live life a little, Kokuwamon," Lopmon chuckled before he headed towards the jungle gym rock.

Tsunomon was the only one playing alone on the rock. Lopmon approached him, and started to climb up on the rock.

"Hey, Tsunomon," Lopmon spoke up. "Do you mind if I join you?"

Tsunomon looked at Lopmon in surprise. "You… want to hang out with me?"

"Sure, why not?" Lopmon replied. "Everyone else is too busy playing with JP and Zoe anyways."

Tsunomon looked torn between being happy and apprehensive. "That… would be nice… but are you sure you want to hang out with me…? No one else does…"

"I don't see why not," Lopmon replied as he climbed higher. "Besides, you looked pretty lonely playing by yourself."

"I just can't see why a rock would be better than an actual jungle gym," Kokuwamon grumbled as he joined Lopmon and Tsunomon on the rock. "All you do is climb it."

"What are these young Digimon going to do in a jungle gym, Kokuwamon? They don't have any hands or feet to grip most of the bars," Lopmon pointed out before looking at Tsunomon. "This is Kokuwamon, he's a friend of mine. He's all about the tech stuff, so this is kind of out of his element."

Tsunomon looked like he was closing himself off. "That's… pretty awkward…" He said, trying to avoid speaking too much. He wasn't used to having so many Digimon hanging out with him.

"I'm just saying, I've never had to play with a boulder before," Kokuwamon sighed.

"Well, maybe you could latch onto it and see if you can extract any electricity from it. After all, the Kokuwamon we met were able to extract electricity from trees," Lopmon pointed out.

"Oh… you're right, that could come in handy for the future," Kokuwamon agreed before he slipped and fell from the boulder. "Whoa!"

Kokuwamon ended up landing on his head. "Ow…"

Tsunomon couldn't help but laugh when he saw that.

"You really can't stick to boulders very well, can you?" Tsunomon said with a joking grin.

"I'll get it right, someday!" Kokuwamon mumbled from the ground.

"You know, the top of this boulder has a nice view," Biyomon said as she landed on top of the boulder herself.

"Hey, no flying allowed, that's cheating!" Lopmon huffed.

"There aren't any rules against flying," Biyomon responded back.

Lopmon rolled his eyes. "Most of my friends have the ability to fly. It can get a bit annoying at times."

Tsunomon laughed. "I can see why! You're on the ground while they are able to get airborne."

"It's a nice place for a perch too," Biyomon remarked as she looked down at them. "Come on, try climbing up!"

Lopmon and Tsunomon began to move up on the boulder. Despite not having hands, Tsunomon was able to hop on the boulder without falling off.

"So… why are you 3 hanging out with me anyways?" Tsunomon asked.

Kokuwamon was attempting to cling onto the boulder. "We figured you might be lonely playing by yourself."

"We know what that's like," Biyomon added. "We weren't exactly popular at our own school."

"We know what it's like to be left behind by your peers," Lopmon said. "And we figured we'd try to make things a little less lonely for you. Besides, it seems most of them want to play with our human friends than with us anyways."

"Well, the other Digimon have only heard of humans, never seen one before, so it makes sense they would be more interesting to hang around with." Kokuwamon chuckled.

Lopmon rolled his eyes.

"Well… thank you. It's nice being able to play with others again." Tsunomon smiled a little. "Although it would also be nice to play with everyone again, since you guys are only here for one day…"

"Hey Tsunomon!" JP's voice called out. "Why don't you guys come hang out with us?"

Tsunomon looked over at JP in surprise, though he wouldn't say no to being able to play with the other children again if they would let him.

Koromon, Jyarimon, and Yarmon, who had been bouncing on JP, looked over at Tsunomon for a moment. Then almost immediately, they groaned. "Not him!"

The immediate disgust didn't go unnoticed by Tsunomon, he frowned as the 3 young Digimon moved away.

"Hey guys, where are you off to?" JP asked, surprised at how quick the children left.

"Well, that was rude." Biyomon frowned.

"Jeez, you'd think they thought Tsunomon had a disease or something with the way they're treating him," Kokuwamon remarked.

Koromon did stop to look back at Tsunomon for a moment. He gave a sad look, which Lopmon noticed, before turning around and followed the other kids.

"Fine, I didn't want to play with those losers anyways," Tsunomon huffed. "I have other friends now."

Lopmon, Kokuwamon, and Biyomon looked at each other, frowning. But they decided to stay with Tsunomon until Recess was over.

"Looks like you messed up, JP," Zoe said as she watched the other kids leaving.

"What? We were having fun, I didn't want Tsunomon to be left out," JP said. "I also thought Lopmon, Kokuwamon, and Biyomon would like to join in too. Aren't they young Digimon as well?"

"Not everyone wants to be part of the fun," Zoe huffed.

JP frowned. "What's gotten into you?"

Zoe sighed as she looked away. "Nevermind that."

"It's time for P.E.!" Togemon announced. "Today we will be doing Football!"

It took Lopmon, Biyomon, and Kokuwamon a little bit to realize Togemon was talking about Soccer, and not the American version of Football. Although, they weren't sure how Digimon without feet were supposed to play a game like Soccer.

Their questions were soon answered when they watched the children using their heads to 'kick' the ball around. The ball itself looked like a stack of grass and hay all tied together into the shape of a ball. Koromon headbutted the ball and was heading for the goal while the rest of the children were bouncing behind him.

"Jeez, I can't tell which are the kids, and which is the ball," JP commented.

Koromon was hitting the ball around, and Tsunomon hopped up beside him.

"I'm open. Pass it here, Koromon!" Tsunomon said.

But Koromon seemed to ignore Tsunomon, much to Tsunomon's despair.

Koromon instead pushed the ball towards a rock, which was the other team's goal. Nyaromon was the other team's goalie, however, and she saw the ball coming. She jumped up high.

"Atomic Bomber Tail!" Nyaromon shouted as she slammed the ball away with her tail.

Koromon turned around, seeing the ball landing near Tsunomon. Tsunomon smiled, seeing this was the perfect opening for him to get a score. Tsunomon jumped at the ball, only for Koromon to suddenly jump in as well, which caused him to crash into Tsunomon.

"Ow! What was that for?" Tsunomon groaned out.

Koromon frowned as both his and Tsunomon's foreheads were now hurting from the crash. In truth, Koromon hadn't been sure about letting Tsunomon play with them, because of how everyone reacts to Tsunomon. But things were only getting worse between them.

"Are you both alright?" Togemon asked in concern.

"That was mean of you, Tsunomon!" The other kids scolded.

"Why'd you headbutt Koromon like that!?"

"You're such a big meanie!"

Tsunomon looked on in confusion. "But I was the one who got hit…"

"I'm sorry… it was an accident…" Koromon frowned softly.

"That was on purpose." Jyarimon grumbled. "Tsunomon's always like that."

"I am not!" Tsunomon retorted. "You heard Koromon! It was an accident!"

"Poor Tsunomon, I don't get why the other kids won't play with him." JP frowned as he watched all of this unfold.

"They probably think he doesn't fit in with them…" Zoe answered softly. "I know just how he feels…"

"You? I always thought you were one of the more popular girls in school," JP said, surprised to hear about that.

"You'd think the same for me too, but no," Biyomon sighed. "People who are different from the crowd are usually seen as outcasts."

Kokuwamon grumbled. "As we know all too well…"

"I feel bad for Tsunomon." Zoe said sadly. "He just wants to play with the others, but they look down on him. I guess back in my school, everyone thought I was a snob because I wouldn't get the same dolls as they do, or wouldn't follow them to gossip in the bathroom. I guess it doesn't help they also think that way because I lived abroad."

"Really? Where did you live?" JP asked.

"I used to live in Italy." Zoe replied. "But my parents moved to Japan due to their jobs."

"Italy? I'm surprised, you speak Japanese fluently," JP remarked.

"I've taken lessons on Japanese since I was little," Zoe answered. "My parents figured it would make things easier for me. They knew we would likely be moving to Japan before long, and didn't want me lost in a world I couldn't understand. Problem is, everyone else couldn't understand me. They wanted me to be more like them."

"Is it really that bad though? I mean why not just go with them? It's better than not having friends, isn't it?" JP asked. After all, that's what I've been trying to do. More than anything, I wanted to have friends. Real, actual friends.

Kokuwamon, Biyomon, and Lopmon looked at them.

"Sounds like they have their own issues too," Kokuwamon noted.

"Everyone does, Kokuwamon," Biyomon sighed. "We're not the only ones who struggle in life."

"Even the popular kids who are worshiped at our school have their own problems," Lopmon said. "Everyone has more to them than they show. Look at Labramon."

"Yeah, I know, but… I guess it's easy to forget these kids have their own issues to deal with." Kokuwamon admitted. "Given what they are and all that…"

"I won't pretend to be someone I'm not just to have people like me, JP," Zoe said.

"Yeah… I guess that makes sense…" JP sighed. After all, it hasn't worked out for me either.

"Still, nobody likes feeling alone," Zoe sighed.

"Maybe we should see why the other kids have a problem with Tsunomon," Lopmon suggested. "It might help fix up the issue between them. Or at the very least, help us understand the situation more."

"That sounds like a good idea," Zoe said with a smile. "I don't see anything else that could work, so we may as well give it a shot."

"I just hope it doesn't cause even more issues though." JP admitted.

"P.E. is over, it's lunch time!" Togemon called out.

That was when the group remembered why they were here in the first place, to get some much needed food so JP and Zoe could Spirit Evolve again and go find their friends.

"Right after lunch!" JP drooled.

Zoe's own stomach growled again. "Right… Food first." She agreed.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's hurry and get some food before they're all eaten!" Kokuwamon quickly said, looking just as excited as JP to get some food.

When everyone was back inside the school, Togemon was bringing out what looked like a large bowl. It was filled to the brim with what looked like white balls of dough.

"I have some tasty meat buns prepared for you all, and don't worry, I've added veggie buns for those who don't like eating meat," Togemon announced.

"Thank goodness," Biyomon said in relief. "Although if it was made with something that isn't meat, but tasted like meat, I wouldn't mind that."

"Kind of like those cabbages we ate at the KaratsukiNumemon's place?" Lopmon chuckled.

"Yeah, something like that," Biyomon replied.

"Awesome, so do we need to fall in line or something?" Kokuwamon asked.

"Alright everyone, open wide!" Togemon called out, and the children, except Tsunomon, and surprisingly, Koromon, opened their mouths wide and excitedly.

Togemon tossed up the meat buns and began to punch them at the young Digimon and their guests.

JP and Zoe looked on uneasily, but they decided to go with the flow and opened their own mouths wide. Kokuwamon, Biyomon, and Lopmon were less than thrilled about this way, however. They yelped as the buns were coming in at them fast like baseballs. They ran around, trying to avoid getting pelted.

Lopmon grabbed onto a book and used that to try to shield himself from the buns that slammed into the book. "Waah! I'm beginning to question your teaching methods!"

The meat buns were knocked into the mouths of the young Digimon, and even into Zoe and JP's mouths as well.

JP and Zoe found the meat buns were actually really good, despite coming at them at a high speed.

"Wow… that's what I call fast food!" JP joked once he had finished chewing and swallowing his meat bun.

"Ugh, now I know how a taco feels…" Kokuwamon grumbled, covered in meat before he licked some off of his arm. "... But that does taste pretty good."

Biyomon managed to catch some of her buns, and she took a bite out of some. It had spinach and cheese inside. "Now that's good."

Lopmon decided to eat the ones he caught with the book shield, just glad to not have been pelted. If he had tried catching these things with his mouth, he was worried he would've choked. Seriously, who feeds children like that? That's dangerous! Then again, none of these kids have a throat, so I guess they can't choke… maybe…

Everyone seemed to be eating just well except for Tsunomon and Koromon. Though the kids didn't seem to have a problem sharing their food with Koromon, they completely left Tsunomon out.

Lopmon looked at the two, noticing how Koromon had been eyeing Tsunomon. He wondered if they had been friends before Tsunomon started getting the 'outcast' treatment.

Koromon picked up one of the meat buns with his antennae and hopped over to Tsunomon. "... Maybe you should stop being stubborn and eat something."

Tsunomon glared at Koromon. "Why should I? I'm not hungry."

"Why even bother trying to talk to him, Koromon?" Yarmon asked.

"Stay out of this," Koromon responded before looking at Tsunomon again. "You know, you've been pretty distant and mean since that day. Maybe you should stop being such a loner."

"As if I had a choice! Everyone keeps treating me like I'm some kind of monster! Even you kept leaving me behind!" Tsunomon snapped, glaring at Koromon.

"Well, maybe if you hadn't been trying so hard to show off, you wouldn't be in this situation!" Koromon snapped back.

"Maybe I am trying to prove I am not the monster you see me as!" Tsunomon hissed. "Ever since that day, even you left me, as if I did something wrong to you!"

"You did! You changed into a monster!" Koromon shouted.

Everything went silent for a moment after that outburst.

"Yeah!? Well if I'm just a monster to you all, then I might as well go out and live like a monster!" Tsunomon yelled before he jumped out of his seat and rushed outside.

Koromon immediately regretted what he said. "N-no, wait! I didn't mean that!"

It was too late though. Tsunomon was already running away. Koromon wilted on his stump, regret showing in his red eyes. "Oh no…"

"Come on, we have to catch Tsunomon!" Zoe quickly said.

"I'm right behind you!" JP hurried with Zoe.

"I should go after Tsunomon, I am responsible for him," Togemon said.

"It's fine, let them catch him, you have to watch the rest of the children," Biyomon said.

"This is all my fault… I need to go apologize to him," Koromon said before he quickly jumped out of his own stump and hurried out as well.

"Oh, come on, really?" Kokuwamon groaned.

"I'll go after him," Lopmon said. "You guys catch up with JP and Zoe."

Biyomon and Kokuwamon nodded.

"Okay, let's go, Kokuwamon." Biyomon said. "We don't want JP and Zoe to get too far ahead of us." She then turned and flew out after JP and Zoe.

Kokuwamon groaned again. "This is more trouble than it's worth, I swear…" He grumbled, but followed Biyomon anyways. "Wait for me!"

Lopmon hurried out as well. Since he wasn't able to fly, he wouldn't be able to catch up to JP and Zoe, which was why he decided to go after Koromon instead. Though he took notice that the winds were starting to pick up, and the sun was being covered by dark clouds.

pokemon fan 1991: ZAFT: That would be a good idea, actually. The ToyAgumon line does need a bit more love. And we never considered that idea from Digimon Tri for the story, so it's surprising we have a similar plotline there. XD

DarkFoxKit: There are a lot of Agumon variants, like a lot. I'd like to see more variants of Guilmon, but so far the only variant for my awesome red raptor boy is BlackGuilmon. Like, I like the ToyAgumon design, but… why, oh why, is there a ClearAgumon too? That's just ToyAgumon but slightly transparent! There's literally no reason for that to exist!

ZAFT: I think there was another variant of Guilmon too besides the BlackGuilmon one, like an orange one? Or I may be thinking of that variant as a Growlmon one. ^^' So many Digimon and variants, it's not even funny! My poor brain… DX

DarkFoxKit: Anyway, hope you keep enjoying the story.

ZAFT: We await your reviews! :3