"Actually, I was thinking I could join you and form a group," Carl said, looking at me expectantly. How could I say no to my best friend?
"Sure! Let's register our team first then!" I replied with a grin.
"Heck yeah!" Carl cheered.
We formed our team, Zen Duo, and immediately started taking on tasks until 6 pm each day. The cut was 60/40, with me taking the larger share as the leader, a standard rule in the Digital Tamer Guild. This routine continued for two weeks, with a few breaks to rest and study the knowledge we'd accumulated.
On our breaks, I bought gear for adventuring, items for our Digimon, and manuals for training. I even invested in expanding my Digimon's habitat with virus-producing flowers and a pond, anticipating the arrival of a water-type Digimon. Banta, my Algomon, has a unique habitat full of wires connected to an electric generator. He started gathering wires when he saw the flame on my stove, and it became his space. I don't fully understand why, but it seems to strengthen him.
With my current wealth, I could support three Baby Stage Digimon and one Child Stage Digimon. This includes any Digimon at Baby Stage I or II. I've also improved the digital land space to provide more habitats and training areas for my Digimon. Carl, on the other hand, got the Metal Empire land and used his earnings to improve his family's budget, buying supplements and a modest house. They even offered me a room for sleepovers.
One happy occasion was when Banta gained intelligence and started talking! We celebrated this milestone with Carl's family, making it a memorable event.
After our two-week break, we returned to school. Our drill sergeant of a teacher announced, "Since you guys had two weeks of break, we will have daily training and a few classes for the rest of the year. This will help you decide what path to take. We start training in 30 minutes, so get dressed."
The training was intense, both physically and mentally exhausting. We had to answer questions like, "What do you do if a Digimon is in front of you?" It was tiring, but three months in, we got a wake-up call: the incoming Digital Exploration Tournament. We were given another two-week break to prepare.
During this break, Carl and I took on more missions, even after school. Despite fewer missions than during our previous break, we earned enough to support ourselves and make some improvements. I managed to rebuild my house, adding a pool and special training equipment. I also bought a new land in my digital space—a broken building. It might sound odd, but it's perfect for training. We used it for tracking exercises, parkour, and hide-and-seek. Carl and I, along with our Digimon, had a blast.
"Just one more week, and we're back to the training grind," I grumbled while eating an ice cream.
"Tsk, don't remind me. My body was sore for days! And we couldn't skip the training!" Carl ranted, handing Bommon an ice cream.
As we talked, our Digimon started acting strange. Banta was bouncing up and down, and Bommon was spinning. We didn't know what to do until we saw our loaders shining. Then it hit us—they were digivolving! We focused our loaders on our partners, and after a bright flash, they had transformed.
"Hehe, Vazz! I digivolved, see? Look, look!" Algomon showed off his new body and skills. He wasn't as cute anymore, but he definitely deserved his new name.
Our journey was just beginning, and with our digivolved partners, we were ready for whatever came next.
---
Carl's Bommon had recently evolved into Missimon, a mechanical-looking bug about the size of a military bag. It was impressive, but my Algomon had also grown, now larger and stronger than Missimon. We spent time training and stabilizing their forms, meticulously documenting their improvements in height, weight, stats, and skills. Knowing your Digimon's evolution line is crucial, as they can use attacks from their previous forms. However, my Algomon was different—he developed an unusual fascination with flames. To keep him content, I bought a data campfire that wouldn't burn out unless manually stopped.
"So, your Algomon…" Carl began, while I fiddled with the data campfire.
"Yes, he's still ranting about the graveyard feature," I replied, exasperated. Algomon had been insistent, so I bought a small graveyard feature that produced sound and mist. It didn't provide viral energy or spawn special plants—just a regular graveyard.
Carl offered his usual wisdom, "Oh, don't worry about it. You bought it in the end, right? Don't sulk about it."
"Fine," I sighed, resigning myself to Algomon's eccentricities.
For the past two months, we trained hard, learning survival skills and other trivial stuff. The broken building we had acquired became useful for our training sessions. One day, Carl brought exciting news.
"Vaz, I got information—two more schools will join us in the tournament."
"This just got harder, Carl…"
"Yeah, but it comes with rewards!" Carl said, excitement evident in his voice. "Either a habitat tier upgrade or a high-level Digi Egg."
"Wow, they're going all out, huh? A habitat tier upgrade is a big deal on its own. Now, a high-level Digi Egg? Damn!"
Carl continued, "Also, it's a three-way team tournament."
"Huh? We need to find another member. Do you have any suggestions?"
"I think Clara could join us."
"Clara? The blue-haired girl with the hoodie?"
"Yeah! Her partner is Tsubumon, which is close to digivolution. We could use the additional strength."
I agreed without hesitation. When we approached Clara, she seemed nervous but excited to join us.
"Hello… uh, my name is Clara Holy, and I'm grateful for letting me join!"
"Don't be so tense, Clara. It's just Vaz, he's cool!" Carl reassured her.
"Yeah, chill a bit. No need to be too tense," I added.