[Forrest Star Middle School, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, two days later...]
"WarGreymon activates its Blitz ability and breaks your Security!" Terrence exclaimed, twisting his card and pointing directly at Daniel.
Daniel flipped the card over, "UlforceVeedramon with 12k."
Terrence's reactive groan harmonized with the audible reeling of their captivated audience. With Terrence's field cleared of his deck's boss Digimon, there wasn't anything stopping Daniel.
Daniel drew. "Thetismon breaks your last Security, and I discard 2 to unsuspend her."
Terrence flipped the card over and sighed disappointedly, unveiling the Agumon beneath.
"And..." Daniel suspended his Digimon once more, "that's game."
Those cheering for Daniel praised their chosen tamer while Terrence dramatically fell forward into the table in defeat. The events of the other day were fresh in their minds, Terrence and Daniel both agreed to (or rather Daniel was talked into) bringing their decks to school the next day so they could play at lunch. D-Streamers were prohibited, but since they didn't have them, they assumed physical cards were fair game.
Card games were not a rare occurrence in Forrest Star Middle School. With Digimon, and other trading card games gaining huge popularity over the decades, incidents of thievery among other things made them more or less outlawed in prevention of conflict. However, try telling a middle school student that certain things aren't allowed in school.
He shifted his head, "rematch."
Daniel grinned, "So long as you don't mind keeping my win streak going, sure."
Terrence gasped, and quickly shuffled his deck. "Those are fighting words!"
"Then put up a fight next time." Maxine said, passing the table where they were all congregated.
"What's up Max?" Daniel waved.
"Hey, up for a few rounds?" Terrence waved his deck. He scooted over unapologetically to give her space.
"I'm good thanks. Besides I'm not crazy enough to bring my cards to school.
"We brought ours." Terrence waved his deck again.
"Again, I'm not crazy."
"I mean admittedly, it does pass the time," Daniel shrugged, finding little harm in it. One could argue though he's just growing addicted to winning all the time.
Maxine turned to him, "As usual you had to humor him."
"Oh, come on Max, who cares whether or not we play Digimon?" Terrence protested. "Stop being a stick in the mud and join us...unless?"
"Unless what?"
"Are you scared to lose again?" Terrence devilishly grinned.
The collective "oooooh" was enough to trigger her a bit.
"As if," she scoffed. "I just have enough sense to know there's a time and place for Digimon." she answered, emphasizing her crossed arms as she stood by her words.
"Oh, pray tell Maxine..."
The girl tensed as the voice lingered in the air. Ears tickled by the sound of the soft voice turn to face a trio of approaching girls. Maxine didn't dare turn around, embarrassment lingering like a coiling snake. There was nowhere for her to run and hide.
"Hello?" Several taps on her shoulder made her try to make a run for it, but the tapping hand folded on her shoulder, hooking her in place.
"Hey Kelly." Terrence waved.
"Hello Terrence, ~" the pretty blonde girl finger waved, glossed lips sparkling with her smile. Kelly Carmichael was Forestt Star's resident Queen Bee, a fourteen-year-old extrovertist oozing with beauty and charisma, so much so that she could almost say and do what she wanted and almost never be at fault. Girls wanted to be like her, and boys wanted to be with her.
And Maxine, who strived for reinvention, saw Kelly as a reminder of how inferior she was by comparison.
Maxine gave her attention to the girls, nervous smile in full display. "Hey there Kelly! What's up?"
Kelly turned her attention back to Maxine. "I couldn't help but notice you over here. Figured I say hi since I haven't seen you all day."
"Oh... well you know, I ended up being late to school today and it's been really—"
"Yeah, don't care. How come you're hanging out with these guys?" She motioned to the table.
"Uh...I was just..."
"Because we're friends? Duh." Terrence spoke for her. "How've not known that?"
Maxine's neck snapped reactively.
"What I say?!" Terrence asked, immediately realizing he was trouble.
"I... uh, what he meant to say is..."
"And you do… this?" She gestured to the cards on the table. Kelly's posse murmured under their breaths, making some of the kids at the table become self-conscious.
"Wow Kelly, imagine if you could only focus on your test grades like you do our business." Daniel commented, leaning over.
Maxine's neck snapped to him next, but he brushed her off.
Kelly's eyes shifted to Daniel. "Excuse me? What did you say to me?"
"Cleary something triggering." Daniel continued. "What, don't like it that Max can attract more guys than you?"
Maxine's face flared bright red. "DANNY!"
Kelly side-eyed Maxine. "Ooh, is that a pet-name? Maybe I was wrong about you after all Maxine."
Daniel upon hearing that choked, his follow-up fizzling out on him. His lack of comeback only embarrassed Maxine further. Terrence laughed, finding Daniel's blushing hilarious. Kelly joined in as well, as did her posse. Unable to handle it, Maxine broke from the group and ran out of the lunch room, alerting the Security Guard at the door.
"Aw poor thing..." Kelly taunted. "Guess a loser will always be a loser..."
"She's...not a loser though?" Terrence turned, confused by her words.
Kelly turned and scoffed, "Uh, yeah, she is. What kind of girl plays card games?"
"What's wrong with that?" Terrence questioned again, not seeing her point. "It's just a game."
"Um, everything?" Kelly insisted, crossing her arms. "You can't be popular and play nerd games."
"Who said?" Terrence asked. "I know a lot of popular Digimon players."
Eyes turned back to Kelly, as her comments were losing power against Terrence. "...forget it!" Kelly dismissed. "A loser like you wouldn't understand where I'm coming from."
"Then why say anything?" Terrence took her aback with the comment.
When the group saw she didn't have a response they began to murmur.
Daniel, recovering from his embarrassment, rubbed his temple, knowing this wasn't gonna end well. "Terrence, let it go…"
"No." Terrence insisted, standing up. "I want to know." He took his deck and held it out to her. "Maybe if you give it a shot you can explain better?"
Kelly hesitated, the boy coming inches from her. His nonchalant demeanor mixed with made her uneasy.
"Well? Are you gonna give it a shot or…?" Terrence asked Kelly.
"Can you please get out of my face?" She adverted her eyes, voice noticeably shaky.
"Not until you prove that we're losers." Terrence replied calmly. "As my dad would say, 'Either put up or—!'"
"Please get out of my face!" She shrieked, smacking the cards out of his hand and all over the floor.
The lunchroom went silent and now all eyes were on the pair of them. Terrence was rendered speechless, and Kelly quickly processed how things spiraled out of her control.
"Hey! Break it up!" A lunch monitor rushed up to the group, separating the two. "What's going on here?"
"He threatened to punch me in the face!" Kelly accused, thinking on her feet.
"Huh?!" Terrence exclaimed, new shock pushing away his initial surprise. "No, I didn't!"
Eyes were on Terrence.
"I swear I never said that!" Terrence insisted to them, the group around them supporting his defense.
"Alright, alright! Settle down!" The aide exclaimed. There were less than 3 weeks left in the semester for all of this nonsense, they thought to themself. "For now, the both of you follow me."
"What?!" Kelly exclaimed. "I didn't do anything wrong!"
"She's lying!" various voices clamored against her.
"ALL OF YOU QUIET!" the lunch aide's booming voice sucked the sound from the table. Terrence and Kelly were then escorted out of the lunch room, presumably to the principal's office, leaving Daniel with a splitting headache at the end of it all.
Meanwhile, Maxine had managed to escape into the girl's bathroom, hiding in a stall where she cried her eyes out. She already had enough on her mind after seeing what she did online, and Kelly's bullying did little to help her mood. What did she do to deserve all of this?
None of it was fair…
Chapter 4: Gamer Girls
Kaden was deep in thought as he re-stocked the front cabinet with the recent shipment of D-Streamers. He's been at the store since opening that morning, due to Sierra beginning a summer workshop program at her college that she needed to attend. Because of that, she left him a list of instructions to cover, which were basic opening procedures, restocking and keeping the store clean as usual, especially since the General Manager was supposed to be stopping by at some point drop off some additional stuff that their store needed, but didn't give a specific ETA on that. Brandon came and clocked in a little after 1, and Maxine was dropping by after school again. He assumed Terrence and Daniel were going to be behind her as well like they were the day before. And of course, any issues or concerns, they were to text her since she wouldn't be able to answer her phone.
"Yo Brandon," Kaden began as he locked the cabinet. "Any word from Miranda about whether she's gonna come back?"
The young middle eastern man shook his head. "AEGIS was tight-lipped about everyone and their conditions. Once I had the green light, they kicked me out."
"That was generous of them." Kaden chuckled. "I caused such a ruckus they kept me prisoner in that place. Had to get my father to make some phone calls to finally release me."
"Bro, you had a mental breakdown; they were afraid you'd do something drastic to yourself or someone else." Brandon pointed out.
Kaden chuckle turned into light laughing. It was on his mind now. His time at AEGIS and the things he saw and had to process in the aftermath of everything. "Do…do you have nightmares of that day?"
"Not anymore," Brandon admitted. "They gave me some medication to combat the initial insomnia, but after that I've been alright. I heard I wasn't as bad as the other X-Streamers. The ones who eventually woke up all say they saw things while trapped by Ordinemon, and the mental toll it took on them messed some up really bad."
"Did you see anything that freaked you out?"
"Nothing super major…" Brandon's voice trailed.
"But?" Kaden asked. He saw Brandon's attention was gone and Kaden turned to the door as the bell rang. A young dark-skinned woman came into the store, her black hair done up in space buns with her bangs hanging forward over her face. She wore A cropped hoodie, the head and shoulders purple with white stripes going down the sleeves to match the white underside, and black cargo pants. Hazelnut eyes met the two boys over the counter, and she quickly made her way over to them.
Before Brandon could run off, Kaden hooked him back. "I'm going on break, she's all yours."
"Wha-dude!" Brandon exclaimed as Kaden skipped off, snickering.
"Don't worry, I'll make this easy on you." The girl smiled, finding the pair worth giggling over.
"Sorry about that," Brandon blushed. "How can I help you today?"
"I was wondering if you have any suggestions for a beginner-friendly deck for Digimon? I've been out of the loop for a bit and was curious if anything new has come out."
"Well, we just got a shipment of the new starter decks," Brandon quickly turned, keeping as professional as possible. The girl was cute up close, but he obviously didn't want her to know that. After a second, he picked up the three decks from the lower cabinet and laid them out on the table.
"Hmm..." the girl leaned in and looked at the three of them. After staring at them for a moment longer than expected, Brandon felt the need to speak up.
"Not to your liking or..."
"Oh, it's not for me." She leaned up. "But I can tell you right now the person I'm planning to surprise is a tough nut to crack. These decks are a bit one-dimensional for her taste to be honest."
"Right..." Brandon took the decks off the counter. "Over here we have a display case of singles. We can probably start there and build up."
"Single...?" The girl furrowed her brow.
Brandon and the girl stared at one another. Upon realizing, Brandon scrambled. "Single Cards! I mean we can start with a card and build a deck around it!"
"Oh...OH!" The girl blushed profusely. "I'm so sorry I didn't mean-!" She took a step back, covering her face.
Brandon found it cute.
After the girl calmed down, she took a deep breath, though her lips curled anyway. "Anyway!" She clapped and leaned over to the singles cabinet. "Let me see...Oh! He's so cute!" She pointed.
Brandon knelt and followed her finger to the other side of the counter. He picked the card from the cabinet and placed it on the counter. The illustration was of a bipedal polar bear cub with olive green and orange boots, vest and headgear, armed with a 4-cylinder rocket launcher of matching colors.
"Yes! I think she'll love this! And the ice theme?" The girl continued to gush over the card. "So cool!"
"I think we have some more Digimon with ice themes that can work well with Kumamon." Brandon reached for his tablet and scrolled through it. After a minute of searching, he passed the tablet over to her. "Feel free to build the deck. Once the list is up, I can pick the cards out for you from our available stock."
"Really?" She was surprised. "Usually, the lady over the counter isn't that generous."
"Well, I'm currently in charge at the moment so...I won't tell if you won't."
The girl smirked; eyeing Kaden who was watching things unfold above them. "Sounds good. I'll be sitting over there," she pointed to the couches near the gaming terminals.
Afterward Brandon watched as she walked away and made his way toward the back to expel his pent-up emotions. "God she's cute!"
Meanwhile with the coast clear, Kaden came down the stairs and went directly to the girl sitting on the side. She looked up at him and smiled, as he held his hand out to take the tablet back.
"Is my tablet time done already?" She asked.
"I'll give you three guesses." He motioned for her to hand it over anyway.
She handed it back without issue. "Probably better this way. Much rather have the great Cobalius help me build a blue deck."
Kaden skimmed the tablet. In addition to the Kudamon there was other ice-themed digimon like the Bulucomon line, SnowAgumon and such, as well as digivolution-trashing support. "By the looks of it, it seems decent enough."
"Yeah...but y'know is it 'Cobalius decent?'"
"If I say it is then will you accept it?"
"Nope. Gotta test it properly." She smiled wide at Kaden, who took a moment to process her implied request.
"Nope." Kaden turned and walked back to the counter.
"Wha—!" The girl pouted and growled. "Come out of retirement already!"
Maxine came up out of the staircase to the 42nd street station and into the bustling world of the surface. With Terrence stuck in detention and Danny going home due to a headache, her venture to TCG towers was a solo one. The ride from Brooklyn to Manhattan, she drowned herself in music, lost in her inner thoughts. Cheating accusations aside, all of the dangerous headlines that popped up, between Cyber Terrorists, explosions at his school, the fall of STREAM Corp after a massive accident, her mind wouldn't let go of the idea that Kaden found himself mixed up in something, leading to his retirement from the game. Even if it wasn't true the string of headlines made her anxious. Crying it out in the bathroom at school clearly did little to help ease it.
She wished she didn't have to go to TCG towers today. Seeing Kaden was gonna be awkward, and that was on top of a stressful afternoon at school.
As she approached the entrance to the store she could hear shouting on the inside. Curiously, she peered in and was surprised to see that Kaden was going at it with some unfamiliar girl.
Awkward times ten…
Swallowing her anxiety, her foot moved forward, and she entered the store, where the voices became clear.
"Just battle already you jerk!" The girl exclaimed.
"What part of 'retired' is lost on you?!" Kaden barked back.
"The part where I care about that!"
"Sounds like a personal issue!"
Maxine stared at the two of them as they grew close to latching on to one another's throats. Brandon slinked over, fearful and out of character. Maxine side-eyed him.
"What's up Max?"
"Hey..." she replied, before turning back to the arguing pair. "Who's she?"
"An unrequited love..."
"Huh?!" Maxine jumped. "For whom exactly?!"
"I—I mean Anastasia! She's...uh, some girl Kaden knows from school I guess."
"Uh-huh..." Maxine uttered. Because of course she was.
"Yo Kaden, Max is here." Brandon called out.
"Little busy!" Kaden snapped.
Maxine's eye twitched, and she impulsively got in between the two of them. "Hi, Cuz!"
"Yeah, hi." Kaden gave her brief acknowledgement before turning his attention back to the girl. "And another thing—!"
"Whoa there, slow your roll blondie!" The one known as Anastasia interrupted. "Address your family properly first."
"…what?" Maxine turned.
"What are you, my mother?" Kaden snapped.
"Ah-uh!" Anastasia put a finger in his face. "My beef with you can wait. Handle your responsibility." To which she turned and went back to the seating area, crossing her legs.
Maxine, Brandon and Kaden took a moment to process what happened, the former two turning to the later for context.
"What?" Kaden shrugged, clearly not giving them what they wanted.
Brandon, who was annoyed with him to begin with, grabbed his shoulder and dragged him to the back despite Kaden's protests. Pushing him towards the breakroom, Brandon whispered sharply, "Bro, not cool!"
"What did I even do?!" Kaden defended himself.
"How come you didn't bother to tell me you knew her?!" Brandon exclaimed.
"Don't jump to conclusions, alright? We're classmates and nothing more. You want that nosy piece of work, go for it."
"'Classmates', right. Seems there's more to it than that."
Kaden rolled his eyes and began to make his way to the front. "believe what you want man, I'm not gonna argue with you on that."
"Wait seriously? There's nothing between you two?"
"Nope."
"Then what was all of that bickering just now?"
"She's a pest!" Kaden reiterated. "I don't know how else to say it. She butts her nose into people's business and tries to 'help' them, even if they don't want it."
Brandon scoffed, "doesn't that sound familiar?"
Kaden paused. "That's not the point!"
"Come on, it sounds like she wants you to come out of retirement."
"That's not happening."
Brandon snickered, "like I said before bro, I saw things inside Ordinemon too. Yet I've moved on."
"Did you watch Riley kill her own sister?" Kaden turned, asking the question while locking eyes with Brandon. "Did you hold her in your arms as she unraveled in seconds? Did you drive the blade into that monster, knowing that you were putting them out of their misery?!"
Brandon each time tried to get a word in but Kaden snuffed out the chances to. By that point, Kaden's eyes were turning red, making Brandon feel guilty for asking. "My bad…"
Kaden, realizing how close he was, backed off. "Sorry…I—!"
"You're good bro," Brandon reassured. "You're good…"
"…I get it now…"
In the meantime, the boys' departure left Maxine feet away from the new girl, prompting her to turn and approach the patient customer. She got in front of her and crossed her arms, peaking Anastasia's curiosity.
"What are you to my cousin?" Maxine demanded.
"Why ask?" Anastasia replied, clearly picking up on the mock interrogation.
"Because I want to know. You know about his retirement, so I assume you're a fan of his?"
Anastasia scoffed, "yeah, guess that's one way of putting it."
Maxine squinted. This girl gave her weird vibes, but it was hard to pinpoint whether they were positive or not. "What business did you have to see him?"
"It was not my intention. I needed advice on a deck, and he happened to be here," Anastasia continued. "You can ask the cute cashier that helped me initially if you need proof."
"How about I battle you instead?" Maxine challenged.
Anastasia furrowed her brow. "You play Digimon?"
"Mhmm." Maxine nodded, reaching into her bag and pulling her deck out to prove it.
"What, couldn't afford a D-Streamer?" Anastasia asked.
Blushing, Maxine barked, "are we gonna do this or what?!"
"The real question is why? I stuck up for you when it came to Kaden, and this is the thanks I get?"
Maxine growled. "Look I've had a rough day and need to take my anger out on someone. Plus, you give me weird vibes."
"Wouldn't be the first time I've heard that…"
"Stop doing that!"
Anastasia had to stop herself from asking and process why she was entertaining this child before her. With no telling where either of the cashiers went, Anastasia decided that it might be a bit fun to humor the younger girl. "Alrighty then, let's do this shall we?"
Maxine blinked. "Wait, seriously?"
"Don't back down now sweetie," Anastasia taunted. "Since you're related to Kaden and all, I'm curious if the skills are genetic." She linked her turquoise and maroon-colored D-Streamer to the terminal, her deck digitizing before her on the console. Maxine was taken aback by the display, and quickly set her deck on the console on her end to be registered as well.
Deck's shuffled and set, the two girls drew their cards and got ready.
DIGI-GATE: OPEN!
Turn 1: Anastasia
"I'll start," Anastasia says as she flips her Digi-Egg over. "I hatch DemiMeramon."
DemiMeramon materialized on her side of the battle area, chuckling at Maxine as the girl took note of the color of the card.
DemiMeramon (BT2-006)
Color: Purple
Level: 2
"You're using a purple deck…" Maxine said out loud.
"Astute observation," Anastasia replied. "DemiMeramon digivolves into Elecmon, and then to end I play the Tamer Alice McCoy."
DemiMeramon to follow converted into a violet variation of the electric-empowered mammal digimon with yellow streaks running along its back and up its tail. Along with it was Tamer sporting a gothic Lolita-style of dress, pale blonde hair tied in pig tails as well as pale blue eyes.
Elecmon (BT6-070)
Color: Purple
Level: 3
DP: 2000
Alice McCoy (EX2-064)
Color: Purple
MEMORY
0-2 (Turn Change)
Turn 2: Maxine
Maxine drew. Afterward she tried to recall what Trevor mentioned about the different deck colors in the game. Red focuses on hyper aggression with strong attacks, while green accelerates digivolution and swarms with Digimon. Blue is mid, able to be both aggressive and controlling…and then there's Yellow, Purple and Black. Yellow deals with Security Cards and depleting DP, Black's main focus is defense overall and purple… she looked at Anastasia's trash area.
"Deep thinker huh?" Anastasia commented.
Maxine snapped out of it and shook her head. "I hatch Bosamon, and then I'll digivolve it into Palmon!"
Palmon materialized on Maxine's side, whipping its purple vines from its hands as they snapped about on the ground.
Bosamon (BT10-004)
Color: Green
Level: 2
Palmon (ST4-04)
Color: Green
Level: 3
DP: 2000
"Palmon digivolve into WezenGammamon, and then to end I play Floramon from my hand for 2 Memory." Maxine overlayed Palmon with the new card and placed Floramon in the Battle Area. The arena imitated her play with binary encircling Palmon, transforming it into a green quadrupedal triceratops Digimon armed with artillery throughout its body, the main takeaway being the railgun armaments on its calvaria. Floramon meanwhile twirled to life in the Battle Area, finishing with a cute pose.
WezenGammamon (BT10-050)
Color: Green
Level: 4
DP: 6000
Floramon (ST4-02)
Color: Green
Level: 3
DP: 4000
MEMORY
2-0
0-2 (Turn Change)
Turn 3: Anastasia
Anastasia drew. "Okay…Elecmon moves out, and I'll use it to attack your Security!"
Elecmon growled as electricity lit up on the ends of its tail. It then shot a concentrated ball of sparks at Maxine's side, a Security materializing to intercept.
Maxine
Security: 5-4
Maxine flipped the card. "Togemon with 5000 DP!" She countered as Togemon materialized.
Elecmon: 2000 DP
Togemon: 5000 DP
The boxing cactus charged Elecmon who attempted to take quick shots them. Togemon spun, not only deflecting the shots but retaliating with a spray of needles that punctured Elecmon all over, causing it to disperse.
"Nice." Anastasia smirked to Maxine's surprise. "When Elecmon is deleted, I can delete one of your Level 3 Digimon."
Maxine gasped and looked at the Battle Area, seeing Elecmon's dispersing body reforming into a bolt of electricity that shot at Floramon. The flower digimon shrieked upon impact and likewise dispersed into binary.
"In addition, DemiMeramon's IE effect activates. When deleted, I can draw a card, and discard one from my hand to the trash." Anastasia drew and discarded Cerberusmon. "I'll end things with Dobermon, who thanks to Alice in my Battle Area, will let me play it for one cost less at 3 Memory.
Maxine watched as the Doberman digimon with a spike collar materialized in the Battle Area. It made its way over to Alice and Alice's pale expression warmed afterward.
Dobermon (EX2-041)
Color: Purple
Level: 4
DP: 4000
MEMORY
2-1 (Turn Change)
Turn 4: Maxine
Maxine drew Dino Memory Boost upon the start of her turn. With 1 Memory and no real other Options, she went ahead and played it. In the Battle Area, a green silhouette of a ferocious dinosaur digimon materialized and roared, the sound waves causing Dobermon's sensitive hearing to overload. The Digimon whimpered and covered its ears, writhing about.
MEMORY
1-2 (Turn Change)
Turn 5: Anastasia
"I hatch DemiMeramon, and I digivolve it into Tapirmon," Anastasia stated as a ghostly Tapir Digimon materialized on her side.
Tapirmon (BT2-070)
Color: Purple
Level: 3
DP: 2000
"Dobermon Security Attacks!" Anastasia suspended her card, sending the recovering dog to pounce in anger. With a quick, aggressive sprint, it returned the howl, triggering the appearance of the Security card, of which was broken.
Maxine
Security: 4-3
Maxine flipped the card. "Yes! Security Trigger: Ruli Tsukiyono!"
Ruli materialized in the battle area, ready to support Maxine and her digimon.
Ruli Tsukiyono (BT10-091)
Color: Green
"Well, aren't you excited?" Anastasia commented, taking a card from her hand. "I'm not done yet though so hold your surprise for a bit longer." She flipped the card. "I play the Option Card: Revive from the Darkness. By deleting one of my purple Digimon, I can play one Level 5 or lower purple Digimon from my trash, however any On Play effects the revived Digimon has are nulled. That said, Dobermon will be put to sleep in order to be revived as Cerberusmon!"
"Put to…sleep?" Something about Anastasia's choice of words was off putting to Maxine. Regardless, Dobermon dispersed into purple binary and reformed in what looked to be a coffin. The coffin peered open slowly, and out came a larger, armored wolf digimon armed with metal claws on each paw, and having two additional wolf heads on each front leg like shoulder pads.
Cerberusmon (BT4-083)
Color: Purple
Level: 5
DP: 6000
MEMORY
2-2 (Turn Change)
"Before my turn ends though, Dobermon has an effect of its own that just went off," Anastasia explained. "When deleted, I trash the top 3 cards of my deck, and from them I can pull one purple digimon to add back to my hand."
The top three cards were flipped: Guilmon, Mervamon and Devidramon. Anastasia took Mervamon, a level 6, from among them, and added it to her hand.
Turn 6: Maxine
Maxine drew. "Ruli sets my Memory to 3 per her effect."
MEMORY
2-3
There was a huge chance that Anastasia was going to digivolve next turn, so Maxine knew she had to do something to get rid of it and get herself back in the game. Fortunately, Ruli gave her a lucky break on that front with the extra memory. "I moves WezenGammamon into the Battle Area, and then I activate the delay effect of Dino memory Boost and gain +2 memory."
MEMORY
3-5
"Next, I'll activate a second Dino Memory Boost to suspend Cerberusmon!"
Anastasia was caught off guard by the play, as another silhouette appeared and roared, subduing her digimon.
MEMORY
5-2
"Bosamon's IE effect gives WezenGammamon +1000 DP if your Digimon suspends during my turn." Maxine stated proudly. WezenGammamon attacks Cerberusmon! Palmon's IE effect activates: when attacking your Digimon, Palmon gives my Digimon +2000 DP!"
WezenGammamon: 6000-9000 DP
Cerberusmon: 6000 DP
WezenGammamon dug its hooves into the ground and directed its railguns towards Cerberusmon. Light blue energy charging on the barrels of the guns, Maxine waited until it was full power before announcing: "Fire!"
WezenGammamon unleashed the blast, sending the massive blast of plasma towards Cerberusmon who could do little to defend. Cerberusmon let out a pained howl as it was blasted into nothingness.
"Welp," Anastasia sounded a bit disappointed. "Cerberusmon's effect—!"
Anastasia
Security: 5-4
"Hold up…what?!" She gasped.
"Did I forget to mention that WezenGammamon has Piercing?" Maxine smirked.
Emerging from the shattered Security was BlackWarGrowlmon, the cyborg dragon raging as it attempted to battle WezenGammamon in terms of raw power.
WezenGammamon: 9000 DP
BlackWarGrowlmon: 7000 DP
As the beams struggled, WezenGammamon once more came out on top, blowing away BlackWarGrowlmon and into the trash.
After a moment to process that, a disgruntled Anastasia continued her thought, "Anyway! Cerberusmon lets me draw two and discard one upon deletion." She drew two and discarded Labramon.
Maxine was still smiling. She could never pull something like that on Daniel but on this girl, it felt real good. "I play Angoramon and end my turn."
Angoramon materialize, the fluffy bunny acknowledging Ruli, who smiled back at him.
Angoramon (BT10-044)
Color: Green
Level: 3
DP: 2000
MEMORY
2-1 (Turn Change)
Turn 7: Anastasia
Anastaia drew. "Tapirmon moves out, and then I play another Revive from the Darkness."
Maxine's smile shrunk.
"Tapirmon deletes so Cerberusmon can revive." Anastasia said as the arena's animation repeated. Cerberusmon was back on the field, as if Maxine's last play meant nothing.
MEMORY
1-3
"That's…"
"Not fair?" Anastasia finished her thought. "Should've thought that through before challenging me. Tapirmon upon deletion draws me a card, and DemiMeramon's IE lets me draw and discard." Combined, Anastasia drew two cards and discarded LadyDevimon.
(Turn Change)
Turn 8: Maxine
The vibes that Anastasia gave made Maxine's anxious. She looked to the doorway to the back of the store, but Anastasia took note.
"Nah-uh, focus on us." Anastasia said sternly. "Kaden's not gonna save you."
"I wasn't…" Maxine's voice trembled a little. She sighed and drew. Seeing that she drew Rosemon, a small sense of assurance came through her. And then it dawned on her.
"When I become a skilled Digimon player, you owe me a match, retired or not."
Anastasia had a point. Maxine couldn't have it both ways. If she wanted to become skilled enough to challenge Kaden, then she had to do this on her own.
"I hatch Bosamon…" she had it in her. She was gonna win this match, no matter what it took. "Bosamon Digivolves into Terriermon and then into Gargomon!"
Gargomon materialized in the Raising Area, cocking its gatling gauntlets with an eager smile.
Terriermon (EX2-025)
Color: Green
Level: 3
DP: 1000
Gargomon (EX2-026)
Color: Green
Level: 4
DP: 5000
MEMORY
3-1
"Next I activate Dino Memory Boost's delay to regain +2 Memory."
MEMORY
1-3
"WezenGammamon digivolves into Lillymon, and then digivolves into Rosemon!" Maxine exclaimed, winning the race to Level 6 first. WezenGammamon roared as a torrent of binary rained down over it, reconfiguring the triceratops into the humanoid rose fair digimon. Rosemon smirked, gripping her gold rose whip with both hands.
Lillymon (EX1-039)
Color Green
Level: 5
DP: 7000
Rosemon (EX1-042)
Color: Green
Level: 6
DP: 11,000
MEMORY
0-3 (Turn Change)
"I don't need my cousin to save me," Maxine stated firmly. "And I'm not ashamed of playing Digimon either. I made up my mind to become a skilled player and that's that!"
Anastasia blinked. "Digimon isn't anything to be ashamed about though..."
Maxine took a moment and realized she said her internal thoughts out loud. Blushing profusely, she passed the turn over to Anastasia.
Turn 9: Anastasia
"Also, I agree with you on that second point; Digimon is nothing to be ashamed of. You'll find a lot of fans of the game in High School."
"How did you know that I'm going to High School?"
Anastasia shrugged playfully, "you look to be around that age. But enough talking, let's get serious now. I hatch another DemiMeramon, I digivolve it into Tapirmon and then I play Guilmon."
Both Tapirmon and Guilmon materialized in their respective areas, the latter of the two resembling a red bipedal dragon, who while usually gentle in appearance, was noticeably feral this time around.
Guilmon (BT5-071)
Color: Purple
Level: 3
DP: 2000
MEMORY
3-0
"Next, I play Cerberusmon: Werewolf Mode from my hand."
"But that cost 9 Memory!" Maxine had to point out.
"Yes, yes it does." Anastasia set the card down and, in the arena, a bipedal cyborg variation of Cerberusmon appeare, taking up a humanoid form, and using the two additional heads as robotic limbs.
Cerberusmon: Werewolf Mode (BT4-086)
Color: Purple
Level: 5
DP: 9000
MEMORY
0-9
Maxine couldn't help but question why she'd play such an expensive Digimon. Did she not have anything in her hand to play other than it? Or was there some effect that she was unaware of? Whatever the case was, as she drew, Anastasia cleared her throat and stopped Maxine's action.
"The Turn Change notification didn't pop up yet." She pointed out.
"Which means the turn isn't over..." Maxine dreaded what came next.
"When Werewolf Mode is played, I can delete any other Cerberusmon in my Battle Area to gain +9 Memory."
"Huh?!"
The initial Cerberusmon howled and dispersed, the binary code floating to influence the memory counter, pushing back down to 0.
"Wha...?"
"Cerberusmon allows me to draw 2 and discard..." She went about drawing and discarding Matt Ishida, a Tamer card, "...and Werewolf Mode has Rush."
"Rush?"
"Meaning it can attack the turn it enters play." Anastasia clarified. "Security Attack!"
Cerberusmon: Werewolf Mode crossed its mechanical arms and aimed towards Maxine's materializing Security. Howling, it fired the blasts from both, burning a concentrated hole with the bright blue beams.
Maxine
Security: 3-2
"And finally, using Alice's effect, when digivolving a digimon from Level 5 into Level 6, I can delete another digimon to reduce the cost by 3."
"So that means you can digivolve for free?!"
"Look at you doing quick math," Anastasia mused. "Cerberusmon: Werewolf mode digivolves into the Serpent Princess of the Olympus XII: Minervamon!"
Cerberusmon relaxed its limbs and allowed itself to be showered in binary code. The werewolf digimon was reconfigured into a small child-like humanoid girl with the resemblance of an ancient warrior. She had gold, serpent-themed armor on her person, matching the upper part of her head which resembled a snake, and wore maroon boots that matched the massive sword she wielded. Her braided cyan pigtails bounced alongside the hyperactive member of the Olympus XII.
Minervamon (BT10-074)
Color: Purple
Level: 6
DP: 11,000
"Olympus XII?" Maxine asked, finding herself enamored by Minervamon's design."
"Mhmm," Anastasia said proudly. "As the name suggests, its a special group of twelve Digimon in the lore, all taking inspirations from Roman Gods and Goddesses. Rumor has it they're ancient allies of the Four Sovereigns of Omnia, who helped fight in ancient wars of the past..."
"Whoa..." Maxine said, trying to imagine that for herself.
"But...that's all just lore and stuff tied to the game." Anastasia shrugged.
"Did you build your deck around her because of it?" Maxine asked.
"Haha, nope. She's just cute." She replied honestly.
"Oh."
"Anyway, since it was deleted by an effect, Guilmon gives me a memory."
MEMORY
0-1
"And finally, Tapirmon will Armor Digivolve into Quetzalmon."
Tapirmon, with the aid of the purple binary that covered it, reformed into a white and red serpent digimon with large wings behind its head and green hair going down the upper part of its body.
Quetzalmon (BT10-074)
Color: Purple
Level: 4
DP: 4000
MEMORY
1-1 (Turn Change)
Turn 10: Maxine
MEMORY
1-3
After the memory was set to 3, Maxine drew. "I move Gargomon forward, and then, it will digivolve into the rampaging wild beast of the forests: Lamortmon!"
Gargomon upon being infused, felt a primal rage suddenly overwhelm it, causing it to roar and thrash about as its body reformed into Lamortmon. Piercing red eyes shifted towards Anastasia, who curiously watched its form finalize.
Lamortmon (BT10-054)
Color: Green
Level: 5
DP: 9000
MEMORY
3-1
"Only 2 Memory?" Anastasia questioned.
"Gargomon's effect reduces the cost if its being digivolved into something." Maxine explained.
"Ah. Typical green shenanigans, got it."
"Speaking of green, Rosemon! Take out Minervamon! Palmon's IE triggers bumping Rosemon to 13,000, plus another 1000 for each of your suspended Digimon!
Rosemon: 11,000-14,000 DP
Minervamon: 11,000 DP
Rosemon cracked her whip and dashed forward while Minervamon geared herself up to defend. Swinging her greatsword, Minervamon attempted to cleave Rosemon, but the fairy digimon flipped over her, while whipping her whip around the smaller digimon. Bound, Minervamon dropped her weapon and struggled to break free, childishly biting down on the whip to Rosemon's amusement. Rosemon tightened her grip, and whisked her free hand to summon a torrent of rose petals that bombarded Minervamon from all directions, deleting Anastasia's ace.
"Ha! How'd you like that?!" Maxine exclaimed.
"You tell me." Anastasia pointed.
Maxine looked down and gasped as a purple corrosion rode up Rosemon's whip and then spread across her directly. Rosemon collapsed and dispersed to Maxine's horror.
"So that's what snake venom does to roses; neat." Anastasia said, pretending to be amazed.
"What just happened?! Maxine frantically snapped.
"Retaliation." Anastasia replied. "You kill my digimon in battle, and it takes the attacker down with it. Simple as that."
"That's…"
"…not fair?"
"Not gonna stop me from beating you!" Maxine stated.
Anastasia smirked. "Love to hear it. Anyway, continuing on, Minervamon's second effect kicks off: Since you have two or less Digimon, in this case you do, I can play one Level 5 Digimon from my trash, ignoring its cost. With that, I revive LadyDevimon!"
From her trash, LadyDevimon made her appearance, a grey-skinned, red-eyed white haired woman dressed in tattered black leather with a noticeable gothic bat theme to go along with it.
LadyDevimon (EX1-060)
Color: Purple
Level: 5
DP: 7000
"I'm done, you can continue."
"Thanks. Lamortmon, Security Attack!"
Lamortmon roared, got on all fours and charged ahead towards Anastasia's side, using its winged arms to take on air and slash at her Security.
Anastasia
Security: 4-3
Dobermon emerged from the Security, but Lamortmon raw strength made Dobermon's counterattack useless. Dobermon was grabbed, tossed into the sky, and Lamortmon used its two blades to slice it with a clean, quick strike.
"Angoramon, Security Attack!" Maxine kept on the aggression, Angoramon using its long ears as propellers to carry it up into the sky. When it got high enough, it allowed itself to drop and land on the Security, its weight shattering it.
Anastasia
Security: 3-2
"Security Trigger: Matt Ishida!" Anastasia exclaimed, playing the Tamer. Matt was a blonde-haired young boy wearing a purple shirt, green scarf on his left wrist and beige shorts.
Matt Ishida (BT2-090)
Color: Purple
"When Matt's played, I can retrieve either a Digimon or Option card from my Trash." Anastasia retrieved her fallen Minervamon. "Obvious choice, wouldn't you agree?"
"I'll just put it back there, no worries."
"Oh, I dare you to try."
"I end by digivolving Angoramon into SymbareAngoramon."
Maxine's Angoramon embraced the binary code, and reformed, slimming down considerably, and becoming a lean bipedal rabbit digimon, with white fur covering its neck and chest like a collar, along with brown gloves and matching leather flaps on the outer parts of its pants.
SymbareAngoramon (BT10-051)
Color: Green
Level: 4
DP: 6000
MEMORY
1-1 (Turn Change)
Turn 11: Anastasia
After Matt shifted the Memory for her, Anastasia drew for her turn. "I'll be honest, this was really fun. I'm glad to know that the genes are strong in your family..."
Hearing that made Maxine feel surprisingly warm inside. Dare she say she felt pretty proud of herself.
"…so imagine how amazing its gonna feel to beat you next turn?"
And there went her warm fuzzy feeling.
"Quetzalmon moves to the Battle Area, and then I attack your Security with it!"
Quetzalmon slithered forward and opened its eyes wide, shooting rays from them. The attack made contact with Maxine's Security and broke.
Maxine
Security: 2-1
Lamortmon lashed our in anger and preformed a lariat on Quetzalmon, driving it into the ground before allowing primal instincts to take over. Quick deep slashes left the snake crumbling into binary, however to Maxine's surprise, Tapirmon was left.
"Armor Purge. Quetzalmon when deleted can just shed its skin so the Digimon underneath can live another day. That said, Alice's effect will utilize Tapirmon to digivolve LadyDevimon back into Minervamon!"
Maxine watched anxiously as Tapirmon dispersed and added itself to the binary code that would reshape LadyDevimon into Minervamon.
"Tapirmon and DemiMeramon's effects trigger upon deletion…" she drew two and discarded Eye of the Gorgon. "And now Minervamon, Final Security Attack!"
Minervamon grinned and kicked her blade onto her shoulder before launching into the air. She spun like a top, generating a wind current that made her a red tornado, spiraling towards Maxine's final Security. The tornado broke through, leaving Maxine wide open…
Maxine
Security: 1-0
"And now—what?!" Anastasia was interrupted by the sudden eruption that took place beneath her Minervamon. The virtual ground split open, and Minervamon dropped in, all due to a sudden green silhouette of a Smilodon digimon. Maxine had a grin on her face that Anastasia took quick note of.
"Security Trigger: Ground Fang; sends one of your suspended Digimon to the bottom of the deck!"
"Oh, you little…!" Anastasia couldn't be mad. "Exploiting a potential weakness of purple."
"Right?" Maxine agreed. "How to keep you from recycling cards from trash? Put them on the bottom of the deck instead."
"Yeah well, like I said I'm winning this so…" Anastasia summoned Labramon and Elecmon, then drew and discarded BlackWarGrowlmon per Labramon's effect. "Try your best before I end things."
MEMORY
3-0
0-4 (Turn Change)
Turn 12: Maxine
Maxine drew, confident in her victory. Had it not've been for Ground Fang, this game would've been over. But, Anastasia made one crucial mistake…
…and that was playing those two digimon.
"SymbareAngoramon, digivolves into Rapidmon!" Maxine slammed the card down confidently, transforming her digimon into the armored green rabbit cyborg.
Rapidmon (EX2-027)
Color: Green
Level: 5
DP: 7000
MEMORY
4-1
"Rapidmon's effect: since I have a Green tamer in play, I suspend your Labramon!"
Rapidmon aimed one of its arm cannons and shot a small missile that ice'd the puppy digimon.
"Now this is where it gets fun! Because your Digimon suspended during my turn, SymbareAngoramon IE effect lets me gain a Memory!"
MEMORY
1-2
"In addition, Angoramon's effect lets me draw a card." She drew, her smile growing. "Just what I needed. Anyway, aside from that, since your Digimon suspended, Lamort gains DP from Gargomon, Terriermon and Bosamon, totaling 5000, pushing its power all the way to 14,000!"
Lamortmon: 9000-14,000 DP
"Lamortmon, take out Labramon!" Maxine commanded, the beast using its empowered state to unleash havoc.
Lamortmon: 14,000 DP
Labramon: 2000 DP
Lamortmon didn't give Labramon a chance to defend itself, moving at blinding speeds. Lamortmon ruthlessly kicked Labramon out of its way, before setting its sights on the terrified Elecmon.
"Ruli's effect! When my Digimon with Angoramon in its name, or is a Level 5 or higher digimon attacks, I can suspend my tamer to suspend one of your digimon with 5000 DP or less!"
"Are you serious?!" Anastasia exclaimed.
"Not only that, but when Angoramon wins a battle, it unsuspends…"
Paralyzed by fear, Elecmon stood frozen like prey in the face of Lamortmon. It was gone before Maxine could even finish giving the command.
"Rapidmon, Security Attack!"
Diverting her attention, Anastasia watched as Rapidmon fired a volley of missiles down on Anastaia's Security.
Anastasia
Security: 2-1
Another Minervamon, fueled by vengeance emerged and drove its blade through Rapidmon, taking it out almost immediately.
Maxine ended by playing Floramon and Palmon, similar to Anastasia's play prior.
MEMORY
2-0
0-3 (Turn Change)
Turn 13: Anastasia
"Huh…wow." Anastasia said, her guaranteed win flipping over the span of less than a minute. "How the turn tables…" she drew and passed turn. There was no coming back from that.
MEMORY
3-3 (Turn Change)
Turn 14: Maxine
Maxine drew. "Floramon Attacks your final Security…"
Floramon lunged and whipped the security, as if making up for its initial appearance in the match.
Anastasia
Security: 1-0
Anastasia flipped the card, it revealing itself to be Guilmon, who could do nothing to change the outcome.
"And Lamortmon attacks you directly!"
WINNER: MAXINE
Maxine exhaled and pulled away from the console. Anastasia likewise walked over to the girl. "Good game."
Maxine looked up at her, and the realization that she won finally clicked. "I…won?"
"Mhmm," Anastasia nodded. "That last play there was sick, I gotta say. I'd love to play you again sometime."
"…really?"
"Totally!" Anastasia smiled. She held her hand out for her to shake. "You're a really cool kid, y'know that?"
Maxine looked at the hand and repeated the words in her head. "I won…I'm…cool?"
"Well, yeah? You have Kaden Grant as a cousin, that's pretty dope I'd say. Not a lot of people can say that after all…" Anastasia looked behind Maxine, finally acknowledging the pair of eyes watching them the whole time. "Even if he and his friend are nosy at times."
Hearing that made Maxine's head snap, to which the two boys pretended to be working. Maxine grew embarrassed. "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN STANDING THERE?!"
"Since about midway I'd say. I didn't want to say anything because you looked to be really getting into it." Anastasia explained, humored.
Maxine's head shot back to her, and then to them, and she eventually gave up trying to figure this out.
"I'm so over today…"
[Later that evening…]
As the train pulled up to her stop, Sierra and the other commuters exited onto the platform. To say she was exhausted was an understatement. Lugging her canvas and a bag full of art supplies, Sierra casually made her way through the thralls of the train station…
…However, a pair of eyes began to follow her.
It wasn't until she got up to the surface that she felt the ominous presence lurking. With the experiences she has both as a former Sovereign, as well as a young woman living in a big city, her sense of awareness was keener than most. Her guard was up throughout the whole time, and as she walked in the direction of her apartment building, she broke around the corner before her block to test the waters a bit.
The presence, even amongst the densely populated street, was still on her back.
She picked up her pace a bit. She cut around another corner. She walked until she approached an entrance to Central Park, to which she trekked through, figuring the more open space, the less places for her stalker to hide.
Eventually they stopped along a small bridge and Sierra turned her head slightly. "You had every opportunity to do something…either you're really bad at this, or your cautious. Though, not so cautious that you'd know better to back off."
The stalker, who had the build of a tall man, and who wore a black hoodie and pants, didn't say anything. Sierra turned when she didn't get a response, and the hooded figure continued to play silent.
"Leave me or alone, or I'm calling the police."
"Representative of the Eastern Sovereign…" the stalker suddenly pointed at her, making Sierra tense up. "You're first…"
Sierra took a step back. "First for what?"
Pulling up his sleeve, he held his arm up. Binary code encircled his arm, and suddenly it was covered in a obsidian armored gauntlet, red and purple accents running down the sides of it like veins. Getting a grim feeling about this individual, Sierra dropped her things and armed herself with her D-Streamer, as if she knew what was happening.
"DIGI-GATE: OPEN!" The stalker exclaimed.
"DIGI-GATE: OPEN!" Sierra likewise recited.
The dark sky over Central Park suddenly sparked and cackled as a Digital Gate suddenly emerged above them. Sierra braced herself for what was to come, as the mysterious stalker readied himself to make the first move…