Stepping Up [Armor Hunt][Marshal/Colin]

Colin and his partners had walked the long road from Terminus City to Rustport Town. Even though they had a little bit of money to go around these days, for some reason, Colin's brother partners - Bellamy the Impmon and Luke the Elecmon had insisted on walking this way by foot.

The heat reminded Colin of his times back home growing up in Nebraska. Only... walking here, with sensible supplies of water and sunscreen; with his partners as company, and without the constant presence of flies, Colin was enjoying the walk.

Luke and Bellamy meanwhile were walking their own path from nostalgia. It was on this road that they had first met in their previous lives, with Luke as a Courier and Bellamy as a delinquent thief. But, on this road, it was here that Luke had extended his paw in friendship, and where Bellamy had accepted it. It was here that was the reason these two were now digimon twin brothers.

Eventually, they reached their destination, the brown dusty village of Rustport Town. Out here, any sign of civilization was a great thing for all three companions, and this was no exception.

"Heh, Colin you should see the tavern here" Bellamy said to him, the Impmon still dressed in the bright tropical shirt as well as his signature scarf and gloves. "Yeah on the outside it's small town trash, but on the inside, wow, the drinks are amazing"

"Uh... that's nice, but, I won't be able to drink for another 8 years" Colin said, a little sheepishly. "No, wait, 7 years" he corrected himself. Since moving to Japan from the USA, obviously the legal drinking age had dropped.

"Ah, right" the Impmon said, not wanting to infringe Colin's opinion of this. Heck, he and his brother were barely 2 weeks old and they drank what they liked, but humans will be humans. "But the food's great!"

Colin nodded. He looked ahead as they walked into town, and he saw a familiar sight.

"Hey that's Marshal!" he exclaimed. Luke and Bellamy saw too, and they ran up to him. "Hi there... we keep bumping into each other all over the place don't we?" Colin asked, grinning.

Luke noticed that Coronamon wasn't looking too good. "Oh, wow, Corona, are you going alright?" he asked with concern.

With that, the two looked at the other person in the vicinity. A blonde human girl and a Dracomon. Just like Ryu, they noted, only this one looked somewhat younger and less battle-worn than their mentor.

"Hey there" Colin said to them. "What brings you guys out this way?" he asked, making conversation.

Robyn was a little nervous around this boy who Marshal apparently knew. "Hi there," she said, introducing herself. "I'm Robyn, and this is my partner, Dracomon!"

Dracomon was clearly nervous around these two Digimon for some reason, but it was probably just because he was always just nervous around everyone. "H-hi," he stammered. "Nice to meet you."

Before they had finished introducing themselves, Robyn's Digivice started beeping. She fiddled with the buttons until a small map appeared on the screen, with a tiny flashing dot blinking in and out every so often in the corner of the screen. "Marshal, what's this?" she asked, shoving the device in his face.

Now, this was certainly a blast from the past! "Oh!" Marshal exclaimed. "That signal means your Digimental is nearby! With one of those, you can make Dracomon Armor Digivolve to a slightly higher form. Coronamon and I actually found ours in the ruins not too far from here. I'm not surprised that there's more around here."

Hearing his name, Coronamon stirred a little bit, but was still in no shape to get up and communicate with everyone else, let alone go on a Digimental Hunt and get in a fight. "We won't be in any shape to help you out," Marshal admitted. "Coronamon needs all the rest he can get right now. Maybe Colin can help you?"

"Digimental?!" Bellamy repeated, his ears perking up with excitement. Colin meanwhile simply looked confused.

"What's a digimental?" he asked his partners.

"It's an artifact that allows digimon to Armor Digivolve" Luke explained. "They show up in odd places in the digital world, and if you find one that responds to a virtue you possess, your digimon partners can get stronger"

"Ohh, nice" Colin said, understanding. He heard Marshal say that he found his around here too. Bellamy was almost spluttering with shock about how much this guy had advanced in his adventures in the digital world, but Colin mostly ignored him.

"Colin, maybe take out your digivice and see if you pick up any signals?" Luke suggested to his partner. Colin nodded and did so. He accessed the map function of his digivice and - lo and behold, he saw two faint dots in the vicinity of the ruins. They were in a different place to Robyn's of course, but not too far.

"Well lookie here!" Bellamy said, grinning broadly with delight at the signals of the digimentals showing up. It was suggested that they could go help Robyn with her hunt. "That sounds like a great idea!" he rubbed his hands, eager to get some digivolution happening. This was exactly what he had signed up for when he and Luke became partners with a human. Now it was starting to pay dividends!

"Yeah, we'll help you look for yours" Colin said to Robyn. "And in exchange, you can help us find ours?" the boy thought that was a fair deal. Work together and get some digimentals by the end of the day. "So then, in which ruin is it?" he looked around at the ruins in the distance.

---

Sentence Count: 74

Robyn watched as Marshal carried his Digimon into the inn. Hopefully, the two of them would be safe here. However, she was more concerned about her own safety as she and Dracomon prepared to go out on an adventure. The afternoon sun seemingly began to shine brighter over the heads of the party, and it was clear that the five of them were not in for a simple stroll through the desert.

"There's always time to back out," Dracomon reminded her. "We have a Trailmon to catch, after all."

"No," Robyn said sternly. "We've gotta get tougher. We can't keep relying on Marshal every time we get in a bind. Let's move." With a newfound resolve, Robyn took off in the direction the Digivice pointed her to, hardly waiting for Dracomon and Colin's party to keep up.

Dracomon was trying not to look terrified around Bellamy, but it was a little difficult for the poor little Rookie. "Y-yeah," he stammered, returning Luke's handshake. "We'll g-get those Digimentals in no time! Then we'll make it back in time for the train back home."

Robyn wasn't really sure how to answer Colin's question. "Well, technically I've been here for over four months, but I don't remember any of it. Marshal just found me and Dracomon earlier at the bottom of that canyon. I wish I knew what was going on, but it seems answers will take time to reveal themselves." What worried Robyn the most at the moment was the fact that she wasn't able to go through the portal that Marshal had made earlier. If she really was stuck here, it was super important that she find this Digimental so she and Dracomon would be able to survive easier. Of course, she didn't really feel comfortable letting that information out to just anyone, especially someone who she just met.