Rising Hope (Spirit Hunt) (Maia/ Feli)

    "Well, we're lost again," Maia sighed, looking at the map on her Digivice. Yeah, this seemed to be the middle of a desert. There really was no reason that the tamer should have thought to just keep walking, but here she was. At least they hadn't gotten eaten or anything yet. Yet. Then again, why was that always such a concern to the girl? What in her right mind made her first thought to be 'at least nobody's trying to eat us'?

    The pipefox wrapped across her shoulders didn't seem too concerned, though, looking at his tamer's face. "Maia," he started flatly, getting her to look toward him. "Adventurers do not get lost. They just find new cool things." If only this logic was as uplifting to the girl as it was to Kudamon. He was just excited to get her out of the house! To convince her to wander around the Digital World aimlessly was even better! On the bright side, at least it was hard to not see anything incoming when the area wasn't particularly full of obstacles.

    His tamer didn't seem quite sold on the attempt at comfort, though, eyes shifting back to her device. "Yeah that would be great. Except we're not adventurers," she pointed out, only to get a loud groan from the Rookie. At least he had tried. "Where's Shi when you need him?" she attempted to joke, recalling being lost in the woods fairly recently. How was it that she got lost no matter where she went? This was just getting to be ridiculous. Even with a map on her Digivice, she couldn't manage to keep track of where she was. Until the terrain seemed to alter on the map, displaying some sort of ruins.

    Looking up from the device, Maia let out a sigh. She could see them. Very clearly. The Digivice didn't even display it as quickly as she would have seen them on her own. Stopping in her tracks, the tamer thought about the situation for a minute. At least there might be something useful inside the ruins. But, chances are, if there was anything inside, it was going to kill her. "Nope," she muttered, getting ready to turn around, only to be stopped by her Digimon's wailing.

    "But I want to look at it!" he screeched, flailing his head side to side. "And I'm sick of sand! There might be no sand inside! Two steps! Just two steps inside!" Ugh. Okay, now there was another thing to weigh on the options. Go home and be safe, or hear Kuu screech all the way until she could find out where home was.

    Plus, two steps weren't really all that bad, right? Two steps wouldn't get them killed. Or, would it? Okay, so it probably could cause them to be pretty dead. But, Maia was going to try not to dwell on that thought too much more than necessary.

    Getting closer to the ruins, color seemed to splash the area, looking far more appealing than all the dunes. The tamer couldn't deny that the foliage was a welcome sight. Maybe, checking out this place wasn't such a bad idea. Though, surely other creatures would have similar thoughts. So far, she'd been lucky, though. So maybe this was all a good sign. Growing close enough to see details of the area now, Maia noticed something moving around one of the walls. Okay, so there was a good chance that the luck ended right there.

    Except, lifting his nose to the air, Kuu seemed to become more excited. His tamer could feel him shiver, as his ears perked up. "Maia," he squeaked, before quickly batting at her shoulder with his paw, managing to convince her to continue walking toward the wall. "Maia. Maia. Look. Do you see that? Do you?" The Digimon was becoming far too excited about this for it to be dangerous. Unless it was him thinking he had a chance to be a hero. Then, she was in serious trouble. But, before she could even respond to the monster, he leaped off of her shoulder and bolted toward the figure, planning to scramble his way up the rocks and wall to get to the person. "It's Feli! Feli! Hey! Hey!" Well, this was unexpected! Hopefully, the fact that Kuu had digivolved wouldn't cause the spirit user any panic when a strange fox ran at him. There was only one way to find out.

    Yay! Kuu had been recognized! This was great, considering the fox didn't really want to be considered a threat! As soon as Feli was on the ground, the little fox went to scramble up the spirit user's clothing, in an attempt to sit on his shoulder. Sure, he could have asked, but why do that? If the boy didn't want him climbing, it would be easy to shoo the creature off. Heck, even brushing him off would make the monster just let go. But! He didn't want to! He wanted to sit on people's shoulders!

    Maia lifted her hand up to wave, "long time no see," she smiled, thinking about how long it had been. Maybe a month, now? Or, was it two? Time was hard to pay attention to sometimes! She really should have sent him a text or something. Oh, well. Now that they'd already met up, it didn't really matter. "We've been pretty good," the tamer shrugged, thinking about how much had already happened since getting her Digimon. On the bright side, they were still alive and unscathed, so it had to be considered good. "How about you?"

    "Feli! Feli! Look at my fur," the Kudamon chirped, trying to get the teen's attention. "Doesn't it look nice? I like purple. And, I'm white, like Shiro! I always wanted to look like Shiro!" Not that Feli would probably even know what a 'Shiro' was, but Maia got tired of explaining it, so she would pass unless it became a question. After all, even the cat monster's name meant white. It was always amazing what the little fox would obsess over. Elliot, Shiro, heroes, and flying. Those were the top four. Hopefully, the latter was never something that actually came to life in the monster's evolutions, though. That would make for an obnoxious problem.

    But, looking around, a thought crossed Maia's mind. "What are you doing out here, anyway?"

    "Better excuses?" Maia questioned, thinking for a moment. "Oh! Yeah, your brother," she finally added, remembering. It had been a while! She was lucky to remember Feli's name! "Maybe you could say you joined a club or something?" That was always worth a shot? Unless the spirit user didn't intend to actually lie about his whereabouts. Then again, he could easily join a club to support this lie, making it less of one. Who knew?

    Kuu nodded, before tilting his head into the scratching. A thrilled coo came from the rookie's throat. The little Digimon certainly loved whatever attention he could get! This worked out great that it seemed like most people were more than willing to pet him!

    D-Tector? That was a new term. She'd heard Alicia call her digivice a D-Scanner. Maybe they were two terms for the same thing. If so, that meant he was talking about his Digivice, right? Ah, all these words! She swore, she'd need to keep a notebook just of the words used for Digimon-related activities. "Crazy?" Listening, it became progressively more obvious that Feli was supposed to be there. "Oh! Wait!" If he had followed it, that meant it was showing him someplace important, right? "Do you think you're hunting one of your spirits, then?" Oh, she was lucky! She'd already learned that one with Alicia! Little bits of knowledge made the future so much easier! Even if the events that had been hand-in-hand with that knowledge were far from easy. Less than lucky was, if this was true, she was potentially going to be in the middle of another dangerous adventure.

    Kuu let out a small whine at the lack of attention. Oh well. At least he'd gotten pet for a while! It was better than never! Then again, he could probably convince his tamer that never was too long not to pet him. But, the spot on Feli's shoulder was just too comfortable to move from at the moment. Still, the little fox would lean to stare at the device while Feli operated it. Nifty!

    "Ah, guess that won't work," Maia shrugged. Worth a shot. Hearing the next question, the tamer hesitated. For a moment, she looked at the ruins. They looked alright, but probably full of traps or something. Then, she turned to look at where she had come from. Desert with no sign of anything outside of it. Which was really the better option?

    Placing a hand on her hip, she looked back to the ruins. "Well, it's not like I know how to get home, anyway," she murmured to herself. Eyes lifted to Feli. What if he got hurt, anyway? She couldn't have that thought weighing on her mind. Then again, she could get hurt, too. But, that was possible in the middle of a desert, too. "We'll go with you, sure."

    What was the worst that could happen?

    "I know," the little fox groaned, tilting his head back. "Maia's squishy," he huffed, continuing to lean back until he promptly fell off of the boy's shoulder. Surprisingly gracefully, the digimon twirled in the air, so that he would land on his feet. He wasn't a cat! Who said that a fox would always land on his feet? Within moments, he scurried up his tamer, draping himself across her shoulders.

    Beginning to walk toward the ruins, Maia sighed. "Yeah, we've learned that these types of things are really dangerous," she admitted. Why did Digimon make life so difficult? At least she didn't have to do these dumb hunts. Then again, she did seem to be participating in more than necessary, under that thought. Maybe it was in poor taste to be so willing to join up for these kind of things. It was too late to say no, now, though. "So, have you been up to anything interesting since we saw you last?" Small talk! Her weakness! Oh well, maybe the conversation would become more interesting soon.

    It wasn't like anything was going to get past the group's notice, after all. What they didn't know couldn't hurt them! Or, actually, it really could. In fact, it would probably try to hurt them a lot. But, that wasn't how the girl was going to try to think at the moment. Maybe, everything would be a breeze.

    "You fought alongside them?" Maia echoed, looking at the walls of the ruins. "Hopefully, nothing too dangerous?" Or, maybe it should be dangerous. That way, this might seem easy. After all, if Feli was alive now, it would mean that he'd survived any bad things that could have come his way. At least he had time to spend with friends and family. That was always something important. Thinking of, she really needed to visit her aunt sometime soon.

    While his tamer paused to think about how to answer the question as it turned to her, Kuu decided it was best left to his narrations. "We've been up to lots of stuff! We met a Digimon in a trash can - but he was actually two guys - and we beat up a spider lady! We were being heroes, because there was this really weird kid that she wanted to eat! Then, then," he paused, trying to collect whatever stray thoughts were floating around in his head. During this time, he was wiggling about as Maia tried to put her hands over his face to make him slow down. "We did some spirit hunty stuff! One had ninjas! I want to be one!" The Digimon nodded, rapidly, before adding, "and, we went to this one place, where there was a-" Finally, Maia got a grip on the Rookie's mouth, making the creature emit a multitude of fluctuating tones, continuing his conversation. Whatever he was saying, the sounds implied it to be mildly distressing and potentially terrifying, with peaks of excited squeals and paw gestures as if he was punching something.

    "We have been up to too much," Maia clarified, giving a truncated answer. "Not enough time at home, if you ask me," she tried to joke.

    "Whatever," the pipefox finally managed, after wiggling his face out of his tamer's hand, "I'm gonna be a ninja. With wings. Or a hero. With wings." Yup. Wings were a must. At least he had his priorities straight!

    Well, at least Feli didn't sound like had too many problems, at least. At least there weren't any mentions of wild Digimon emerging in the real world from him. It seemed like a recurring problem that was going to get everyone hurt. She couldn't imagine if he had to protect his brother or friend from anything like that. After all, she had thought that Digimon were exclusive to either being with people or living in the Digital World. That would have made things so much easier.

    "Yes. Fun," Maia sighed, glad that the subject would be dropped that easily. She really didn't feel like reliving any of that. But, to think about it, would another story be added today? Hopefully, it was going to be a relatively calm one, instead of the others. This was getting crazy.

    Kuu only nodded, needing to restate, "ninjas!" Yes, that was his only confirmation or argument. Maia couldn't tell which, or even if he was really trying to contribute anything to the conversation. For all she knew, he was daydreaming again.