Chapter Text
Two weeks after Six Severed Sins.
A boy walked out of the hospital with his parents at his side. He had a wide grin as he rubbed his hands together, feeling the flames of battle brewing within him.
“Tai should be leaving the hospital today! I wonder why Rei and the others decided to stay home?” Sora and Izzy walked towards the hospital.
“Maybe they just didn’t have the time. It is a really long walk.” Izzy’s drooped.
“You’ll live.” Sora reassured him. She looked at her red Digimon dock. “I can’t believe we’ve managed to reach top 30 in Odaiba!”
“Only because we worked together. HerculesKabuterimon and Hououmon are the best!” Izzy waved his purple device in the air.
“Oh really?” Two random kids walked up to the pair with their Digimon docks out.
Sora and Izzy smiled.
After a little bit, Sora and Izzy lowered their guard. “The winner of this Digimon battle is: Team Izora!” The devices announced. Sora and Izzy waved bye to the defeated challengers and walked off.
“We can beat anybody at this point! Heck, Neo could challenge us and I’m sure we could beat him!” Sora yelled a little too loudly.
“I’m not Neo, but I’d be happy to challenge that theory.” They both heard a familiar voice.
Izzy and Sora looked forward. “T-T-” Izzy stuttered.
“Tai!” Sora ran forwards and hugged him. Tai let out a yelp as she accidentally crushed his arm. He still reciprocated the hug with a smile though.
“It’s good to see you two. Let’s go home. I never want to see that place again.” Tai walked between the two.
“Where are your parents? Didn’t they have to pick you up?” Sora and Izzy ran to his side.
“They did, but they left right afterwards. Apparently, they both have some business to attend to.” Tai sighed. “And yet they have the free time to tell me to do my homework.”
“Well, at least you have us.” Izzy smiled.
“Speaking of friends, where are the others?” Tai looked around, waiting for somebody to jump out at them.
“I don’t know. I’m sure they were all busy with something.” Sora shrugged.
“Yeah. Hopefully they don’t go to the hospital just to find I was discharged a while ago.” Tai let out a laugh.
They walked home, bumping into more than a few Tamers. But eleven Tamers watched them from a distance, hiding themselves.
Tai had noticed them pretty quickly, but he wouldn't let them ruin his mood for now.
“Here we are!" Tai waved his hands at his apartment building. "Never have I wanted to see this dingy building more in my life!”
"Let's go to your place, Taichi." Sora patted him on the shoulder.
"Come on, guys!" Tai marched up the stairs. Sora and Izzy followed.
They reached his apartment and Tai went for the door. He twisted the knob, raising an eyebrow as he found the door to be open.
"Huh? The door's open?" Tai noticed. "But mom and dad are out right now..."
"Hmm...maybe someone broke in?" Izzy guessed.
"Whoever it is..." Sora and Tai exchanged glances. "They're not getting away with it." Sora punched her palm.
Tai opened the door slightly. Sora peeked in.
Sora blinked a few times. "O-Oh...huh..." She muttered.
"Yeah?" Tai opened the door fully and walked in.
“Surprise!” Alias III and the Saibas shouted. “You're all better!”
Tai immediately moved in front of Sora and raised his arms defensively. "What are you doing in my-wait a minute, wuh?” he finally registered what was happening.
“You guys could have told us about this!” Sora and Izzy walked in.
“Sorry.” Hideto had a small smile as Tai looked at the decorations in his apartment.
“Should we tell him about the fact that we broke into the apartment?” Sigma whispered to Mari. She threw away a hairpin in response.
Rei wheeled over to the fridge and took something out. Neo slipped his hands around Tai’s eyes.
“The heck-”
“Rei said this would be a big surprise, so no looking until she’s done.” Neo felt somewhat embarrassed by the position he was in.
Rei opened up a container and put something on the table. Everybody whistled at the site.
“You can look now!” Rei said with excitement. Neo pulled his hands back and Tai’s eyes grew wide at the sight.
In front of him was a Neapolitan ice cream cake with fudge, chocolate chips, caramel, whip cream, nuts, sprinkles, candy chocolates, skittles, chocolate peanut butter cups, and gummy bears.
“I made sure to remove the nuts once before placing them on again.” Rei smiled.
Genuine tears came to Tai’s eyes.
“W-Wow. Uh...you guys did all of this for me?” Tai wiped his eyes. "It's all so much...you didn't have to do this."
"Too late now." Hideto shrugged.
“Don't worry about it. The world’s brighter with a happy Tai Kamiya, after all.” Neo knocked him towards the cake.
“Let’s party!” Mari took out several red solo cups.
They all cheered as the cake was distributed and cups were filled
They mostly played multiplayer games on the consoles that Tai owned. They played Rush 2 for the N64. Puyo Puyo~n party, which Rei kicked all of their behinds at. They even played Mortal Kombat 4, which quickly ended after Tai and Neo nearly came to blows over the age-old Scorpion vs Sub-Zero debate.
Laughs, excited shouting, and grand ol stupidity was the goal, and it was mission accomplished. And it felt good to celebrate like completely normal people for once, nothing about the Digital World being brought up for a good while.
“To my best friends. The wind beneath my wings!” They all punched their glasses together.
“Wooh boy, I gotta take a breather.” Mari put down her cup and went outside to get some air.
She walked onto the street and took a deep breath. Mari smiled before turning back towards the stairs.
“Mari Goutokuji.” She turned around to find a girl her age with a mask behind her. Ten more surrounded her. They all wore masks with distinctive symbols.
Mari gasped. "You people. Aren't you the people who have going around destroying people's devices?!" Mari pointed at the one who had called her name.
"Sad that you only recognize us from that." The person walked closer to her. "Mari." She repeated with a venomous tone.
"Why would I recognize you people...otherwise..." Mari looked around the group again. Her eyes grew wide as she realized that there were exactly eleven girls.
"Are you sure you don't recognize us?" The girl asked.
"O-Oh, it's...you gals..." Mari stumbled back. "H-Hey. What did you want?” She accidently backed into the most developed teen, who wore a mask with a lion and flame symbol.
“You recently reached top 10 in Odaiba. Now, we have a question. I think you know what it is.” The women pushed Mari away.
Mari stood in silence as the group got closer to her.
“Maybe she knows the question, but I don’t. So, could you guys maybe stop being so cryptic and talk like normal human beings?” Everybody turned to the brown-haired boy with a stern look on his face.
Tai glared at all of them. Mari made an X with her hands while shaking her head.
“Tai Kamiya. Rank 48 in Odaiba. Secondary champion. Hardly a threat.” A girl with a wolf symbol on her mask spoke up.
“What do you want?” A girl with a rabbit on her mask said coldly.
Tai gulped down the drink in his hand and crushed his cup. “An ass to kick if you guys have one.” He balled his fists. Mari basically fainted.
“Ha. Hahaha! He got you good!” A girl with a snake on her mask laughed while pointing at the bunny girl.
“What a verbose champion we have here." The lion girl scoffed. "A test of your strength is in order.” She put her hand on the shoulder of a girl wearing a mask with an octopus and hammer on it. She pushed her forward.
“Me? Alright. I’ll make you proud, Olympos I.” The octopus masked girl took a stance.
“My first battle out of the hospital. Let’s hope it's a good-”
“Hold on Tai!” Mari ran over to him. “You don’t want to make these people your enemies!” She waved her hand at the group.
“We’ve fought actual demons. A couple of girls with masks don’t scare me. Not unless it’s that time of the-ow.” Tai rubbed his head after Mari smacked him.
“Trust me, Tai! You need to apologize. Before they hurt Zero.” Mari turned to the group. Tai’s face took on a serious look as Mari clapped her hands onto her sides and gulped.
She moved to bow when Tai’s arm was put in front of her.
“Something's going on here. Something that you know and I don't. No matter what it is though, there is no way in heck I’m going to let you bow down to these brats.” Tai said sternly. Mari watched him walk forwards with an orange device in his hand.
“Do you accept Olympos XI's challenge, Kamiya?” The octopus masked girl took out her device. The bottom half was white and the top half was bright blue like the sky.
“I don’t plan on ever backing down! 100% no matter what!” Tai put his device out.
“Don’t fail, Olympos XI.” Olympos I stepped back. Everybody followed her, including Mari.
“Battle!” XI and Tai yelled.
“Digimon load! Tai Kamiya, registered champion: Zeromaru the UlforceVeedramon. Olympos XI: Vulcanusmon.” The devices’ voices distorted as Vulcanusmon appeared on the field.
"Vulcanusmon? I've never heard of that Digimon before..." Tai furrowed his eyebrows.
“When I beat you, I’ll destroy your device!” Olympos XI threatened. Mari started to sweat as a smile appeared on Tai’s face.
“And when I beat you, I’ll laugh at you and your friends’ faces.” Tai rolled his shoulders.
“Ulforce Saber!” Zero dashed forwards.
“Bomber Art!” Flames surrounded the tools in Vulcanusmon’s hands. Zero landed his blow without any trouble, making the blacksmith Digimon stumble back.
“What is she planning?” Tai wondered.
“V-Energy Arrow!” Zero shot three arrow blasts at Vulcanusmon.
“Pinpoint Weapon Works!” Vulcanusmon managed to manufacture three large shields and swords before the arrows landed. He blocked them with ease.
“He created weapons?” Tai noted.
“Vulcanusmon is the weakest of the Olympus Digimon, but his smithery skills make him more than a match for your Zeromaru.” XI said confidently.
“We’ll see about that! Hit him with an Ulforce Saber!” Tai pressed another button. Zero flew forwards and swung his blade. Vulcanusmon locked his three shields together and rebuffed the attack with little effort.
“Blacksmith’s Blade!” Vulcanusmon landed three slashes across Zero’s chest, leaving long scratches.
“Are you ready to surrender and apologize, ‘champion’?” XI balled her fist.
“I get it. Your Vulcanusmon is capable of adapting to any situation within moments. Brute force might actually be more important than strategy when fighting him.” Tai closed his eyes in thought for a second. “Too bad for you.” He pressed a button.
Zero surged forwards and Vulcanusmon raised his shields in defense. Zero plowed his fist straight through the shield and smacked Vulcanusmon’s glass case. Vulcanusmon lowered his guard as he stumbled back.
“Woah, what the heck?!-Er, don’t lose focus, XI. Everything will be alright.” XI took in deep breaths. “You got this, Vulcanusmon!”
“Blacksmith Rush!” Vulcanusmon ran at Zero and swung his swords and shield at him. Zero easily weaved through the attacks.
"Keep it up, Zero. Wait for an opening." Tai whispered.
“Vulcanusmon! Stop missing!” XI sounded exasperated. Vulcanusmon’s attacks got sloppy and lost speed.
“Hey, try not to get flustered.” Tai told the girl. He couldn’t see her face, but he could tell she was confused.
“W-Why do you care?” She shot at him.
“If you lose your grip on the fight, your Digimon will also panic. You need to keep a clear head and assess the situation.” Tai had a calming voice.
“Assess the situation?” The girl looked at the battle. Volcanusmon was still throwing out slow and inefficient attacks.
“For example, his attacks are slow because of those shields that he has. If he’s on the offensive, he has no reason to use them, and they're so big and clunky that they're getting in the way. He should switch them out for more swords.” Tai pointed at the two small holograms duking it out.
“Uh, yeah.” XI pressed a button and Vulcanusmon pulled back for a second.
“Appropriate Works!” Vulcanusmon made three swords out of the shields and equipped them. He ran at Zero again.
“Now, all you would have to do is keep the pressure up. With six arms and swift attacks, you could easily overwhelm the opponent." Tai smiled.
"You're acting like I can't do that right now." XI started to sound stressed again.
"Make sure to remember what I told you for future fights, girl." Tai grimaced. "But you should also know that you never stood a chance of winning this one! Go, Shining V Force!" Tai pressed a button and Zero shot a golden beam at Vulcanusmon. It surrounded him and the field with a bright light.
"The winner of this Digimon battle is: Tai Kamiya. 100% win rate." Tai pulled back his device.
"In one blow? Maybe we underestimated him." The wolf mask talked to Olympos I.
"I'll drink to that!" The snake mask tried to drink grape juice through her mask with little success.
"You're a good Tamer with a strong Digimon. Just remember what I said, and you'll do great." Tai gave XI a thumbs up. She backed away, unsure of what to say.
"We'll be back, Mari...I hope you remember how to be loyal once we return." Olympos I looked at Mari. "And we'll have our eyes on you, Kamiya." She glared at Tai.
"Marry me." Tai said sarcastically.
"Hmph. Let's go." Olympos I walked off. Nine of the girls followed.
“I’m sorry, Mari.” A girl with a dove and a heart on her mask said.
“It’s okay, Lily.” Mari waved bye to her.
“Hmm. Interesting group.” Tai crossed his arms.
Mari looked hesitant to speak.
“Tell me when you want to. Just try to do it soon." Tai turned around as he heard footsteps.
“There you two are!” Neo walked up behind them.
“Yeah?” Tai turned to him.
“Karaoke is about to start! Sora’s up first. Come on, we can’t miss this.” Neo walked up the stairs.
“Why not?” Tai grinned. Neo took out a camera.
“Good blackmail material. Let’s go!” Neo bolted up the steps.
“Blackmail, huh? Those two just can't get along." Tai shook his head. "Come on, Mari! I wanna see this too!” Tai chased after Neo.
Mari looked behind herself, seeing the long hair of one of the members turning down a street. She let out a sigh before following Tai.
"Butterfly by Koji Wada. Please, no recording." Sora held a mic. Neo snickered and held his camera up at her.
She started to sing and the crowd cheered. She really got into it and Neo lowered the camera.
"On! My! LOOOOOOOVE!" Sora finished and took in several breaths.
Everybody clapped, Tai and Izzy being the loudest. Neo stood stunned.
"Still going to use it as blackmail?" Tai leaned over to him. Neo was still too shocked to respond. "Uh, Neo?" Tai nudged him in the side.
"Her voice is beautiful-I mean-uh, um. I accidentally turned the camera off without noticing. Whoops." Neo coughed.
Tai looked dumbfounded before a smile appeared
“What?” Neo saw his dumb smile.
“I can't say I disagree.” Tai looked back at Sora. "Your secret's safe with me."
“I-no-it’s...Thanks.” Neo took a long drink of punch.
“Next up, a duet!” Sigma and Izzy looked nervous. The crowd cheered them on as the mic gave them feedback.
“We’re going to be performing Mother by Danzig.” Everybody took a second to register what the two quiet and reserved boys said.
Heavy metal and rough voices started blare through the apartment and the baffled crowd screamed in excitement.
“Perfect. It was all perfect.” Tai talked to his friends as they stood outside his door.
“All for you, Tai. See ya soon.” Neo gave Tai a fist bump. Tai waved bye to them all, leaving only him and Mari at the door.
“Can I talk to you about that mess from earlier?” Mari’s cat eyes were full of worry.
“Sure.” Tai made sure they were all gone before she started.
Mari took a deep breath.
“Before I met you guys, I was in a group called Tulip Twelve. Twelve girls who were good at Digimon. I was the tenth best in the group.” Mari put her hands over the nearby stone railing.
Tai walked over and did the same. “Who was number one?” Tai saw Hideto, Sigma, Neo, and Rei walking away.
“A girl named Ariana. If I had to guess, she goes by Olympos I now.” Mari shook her head from disappointment.
“Looks like she picked up her job as leader again...fantastic." Tai sighed. "So, what happened to the Tulip Twelve?” He narrowed his eyes at the sidewalk.
“We...we were horrible people. We bullied people into battling us just so we could gang up on them. We mostly focused males too..." Mari admitted. "But one day, we found a slim kid with a big smirk. So, Ariana, me, and my best friend-or, former best friend-Lily, challenged him.”
“Slim kid? Let me guess...” Tai knew for sure who it was.
“It was Neo." Mari and Tai said at the same time. Mari dropped her head.
"Should have seen that coming." Tai mumbled.
"He walloped the three of us in one-on-one battles...then he beat all three of us together." Mari muttered.
"Seriously?" Tai furrowed his eyebrows. "How the heck did Zero and I tie with him?" He wondered to himself.
"Lily and I shrugged it off, but Ariana...boy was she angry. I think Neo managed to give her a superiority complex after one fight-"
"-Believe me. It's apparently not that hard to do-"
"-And she disbanded the Tulip Twelve soon afterwards because we ‘sucked more than the average high school girl’.” Mari sighed.
"I 'wonder' what she meant by that." Tai laughed.
“A couple of days later, I got a message from Neo saying that my deceptive personality and adequate skills could be useful for a project. So, I went to the Digital World.” Mari let out a tired breath. “And we both know how that went.”
"He probably chose to use you because you weren't strong enough to beat him, and because you were confident." Tai figured. "He knew you wouldn't realize that he planned on just using you."
"Sounds about right..." Mari pouted.
“Alright. It looks like they came back together and were headhunting you. They must have also gotten stronger if they were so confident around me.” Tai looked at his device.
“That's why I didn’t want you to fight them. If all eleven of them gang up on you, they’ll beat you and take your device." Mari stared at his Digimon dock. "Even Zero has his limits. And I really wouldn't put it past them to force you to fight all of the at the same time.” Mari took out her own device.
“Don't worry about it. Together, we’ll be fine. All seven of us, we’ll face anything head on." Tai told her encouragingly. "We’ll show Ariana what real teamwork looks like.” He patted her on the shoulder.
“You always know what to say. Have a good day, Tai.” Mari waved bye and walked down the stairs.
“I got your back...” Tai stared at the sun that lay right in front of him. "...I always do..."
Eleven figures sat in a circle around a blue orb.
“I’m not looking forward to fighting Mervamon.” Venusmon frowned.
“Forget that traitor. She deserves everything that comes to her!” Marsmon burned with anger.
“Now, now. We’re not going on a killing spree. We’re just trying to stop Zero and Taichi.” Apollomon sat straight up in his seat.
“It’s foolish to leave this to eleven human girls! We should descend on the Digital World and force Zero into combat!” Dianamon gripped her twin scythe.
“That would be a gross misuse of our power. Under no circumstance are you supposed to meet anybody in combat unless in the human world.” Jupitermon said with patience. "It wouldn't work, anyways. There's a reason we cannot face Zero in straight combat."
"One that we've explained several times." Apollomon muttered under his breath.
"Zeromaru is far too powerful for us to face in the Digital World. He defeated Belphemon while at a lower power level and while he was holding back. Fighting him and Taichi in the Digital World would be tantamount to suicide." Jupitermon shook his head.
"Makes sense! So how about we our duty leave it to eleven random teenagers." Dianamon rolled her eyes.
"You know why we trust Ariana and her allies to stop Taichi." Apollomon pointed at her angrily. "Zero's power in the human world is far more limited than ours. It's the only way we can beat him."
"They are competent Tamers. With our strength and their wits, we stand a chance against Taichi and Zeromaru." Jupitermon explained calmly.
"Perhaps they are good Tamers, but they are incompetent people! When given the chance to fight Taichi, they sent in their-our weakest member!" Dianamon pointed at Vulcanusmon.
"Don't involve me in your guys' bickering." Vulcanusmon mumbled.
"Those humans don't stand a chance of defeating Taichi, we all know it!" Dianamon looked at everyone in the room.
"But we have no other options!" Apollomon shouted. "Zero can easily kill each of us!" He argued.
Apollomon and Dianamon continued their squabble, with Jupitermon occasionally jumping in on Apollomon's side.
“There they go again. You people need to chill.” Bacchusmon rested on top of Ceresmon, who simply grunted as Bacchusmon ripped a fruit off a nearby tree.
“Making wine again, Bacchusmon?” Ceresmon laughed.
“That drunkard is not fit for battle!” Merukimon swung at the air quickly. "But I do agree. Training is hard with those three being so loud."
“Your just punching the air. Don't pretend like your training." Neptunemon bonked him on the head with his spear.
“What a mess those humans have caused.” Volcanusmon tinkered as the hall erupted with argument.
“Enough!” Everybody quieted as Jupertimon spoke up. “Apollomon, I expect you to do a better job of keeping the group together, or I will have to take the title of leader away from you. My wounds are not an excuse for any of us to falter.” Jupitermon gripped his side. Four long scratch marks lay on it.
“Yeah everybody! You better listen!” Junomon pointed at them
“Yes, I know..." Apollomon sighed. "Enough arguing for today. We’ll just have to wait for the human's next move.” Apollomon leaned back in his seat.
The orb in the middle of room pulsed. A panel with Zero appeared.
“Olympos XI. What a fearsome group they’re going to be.” Tai looked at his device. “Wait...Am I really rank 48?” Tai quickly pulled up a chart and found that he had jumped up to 33.
He looked at the top 15 and found a few familiar faces.
Hideto, Mari, Sigma, and Neo were ranked 2, 8, 6, and 1 respectively. Twelve women with masks littered the top 15 all over, with the lion masked girl being number 3.
“Number three, huh? Oh they are going down! Number one is the only place fit for the 100% V-Tamer!” Tai raised his device high.
He didn’t notice as it pulsed.
To be continued...