Searching for Balance [SOLO]

Life could be pretty fun without Digimon. It was not something Vika expected to say after becoming a Spirit User, but it was true. At least, these last two years hadn't been as terrible as she would have thought. Between classes, track, and the few hours her part-time retail job afforded her, she tended to be too busy to go into the Digital World anyways. Vika had still tried to go on a weekly basis after first finding out she missed a track scholarship when graduating high school. As she buckled down, those weekly trips become monthly, and then even more infrequent. When was the last time she had even stepped into the Digital World? Three months, maybe?

The woman wasn't completely separate from it, however. With the holosuit she had bought him, Red the Hawkmon would come and check in on Vika from time to time. At least to make sure she was okay, and to see if that KEY had any changes. Despite being "activated" in Luminas prior to the Vexus attack, it hadn't done anything for Vika. It certainly hadn't explained its purpose. Red didn't seem to be in a hurry about it these last few years. As a former student himself (and likely a better one), Red was happy to leave the Wind Spirit to get a handle on her education goals. Even if that education of an Environmental Science undergraduate program was still secondary to track.

She did miss the Digital World on some days more than others. Today was one of those days. She had just gotten out of an 8:00 AM lecture, and would not have another lecture for the rest of the day. A schedule she would come to realize was considered a beginner's mistake, but a common one. Waking up early for two hours of class?

"Thursdays always feel so weird. I've got nothing to do until track in the evening. No shift today either, eh?" she puzzled, looking over her cell phone to see if her manager had texted her about any emergency shifts. She hadn't. It seemed the shop had been starting to trim the number of hours for part-timers. It wasn't all that busy these days anyways. Vika had seen her work schedule shrink more and more, along with her money. Thank god for that partial track scholarship. "Gotta do really well and get a full scholarship for next year. Or get recruited."

Leaving the campus building and splitting off from her classmates, Vika started towards her home. She wasn't living on campus, but in an apartment not too far from here. "No rush to get home right now."

Deviating from her standard path, she instead headed straight down a main road instead of left. It was the time of day where even the main roads had few people. The morning rush to get to work was over, it was too early office workers to go for lunch. A rigid 9-5 schedule was definitely not Vika's thing.

She bumped into a teenage boy on the street. Hard enough to knock him to the floor. "Oh shit sorry, you okay?" she asked, extending a hand to the boy. He looked like a Japanese student with an interestingly odd choice of clothing; a coat way too long, and clashing colours. A lot like a Digimon tamer, actually. He took her hand and pulled with surprising strength, causing Vika's feet to slide for a moment before she pushed down harder into the sidewalk to stabilize herself. "Yes, no problem." he said, a distinct Japanese accent to his words.

"Awesome. I'd say be careful, but that's no fun, right?" she smiled, continuing down the street past him.

She made it a few steps before he answered."Not careful."

She looked back at him to see him...running? Pretty damn fast too. Not as fast as Vika, but still. Why was he-

"What the hell-my Digivice?!" she burst out, turning completely around and already beginning to run. She couldn't see it on him, but her bag had clearly been opened, and her Digivice was gone. Who the hell was this kid?

"You picked the wrong woman to run from!"

Now aware she was in a chase, her mind focused on just hunting him and continuing to run. There was no warm up like track practice. There wasn't even a bell like a race. This was 0 to 60 with way more on the line than there needed to be. This was...

Amazing! The Wind Spirit unknowingly wore a grin as she chased down the thief, memories of the Digital World rushing back to her. The boy was smart enough to turn down another path Vika didn't take; he had probably been watching her for a while. Damn, and she hadn't noticed. But it wouldn't mean anything if he couldn't escape her, and he wouldn't.

That was her classic self-confidence, yes, but it was also clear that Vika was the better runner. How could she not be? She was literally getting paid for running, and she was especially great at sprinting. But sprinting was very different from distance running, so she had a clear time limit before he would escape her. The boy bumped shoulders with a few people as he ran, and both of them earned looks of frustration by strangers. She heard someone mutter "kids these days".

The time of day didn't make the strangers too much of a problem, and neither did the inside roads she chased the thief into. As she felt herself starting her downward momentum, Vika found herself in an apartment parking lot. Pushing herself just a little bit more, she jumped towards him.

Her head struck hard against his back. Hard. She grasped the back of her head with one hand while snatching out towards the boy with the other. Still dizzy, she felt a piece of fabric in her hand followed by a pull. Her other hand swung a wild fist and felt the impact of flesh. Vision returning, she saw the bruise she had left on the boy's cheek. And then his skin seemed to jump, as did Vika. A familiar low buzz of a holosuit accompanied the boy's disappearance as he was replaced with a Falcomon.

No, not a Falcomon. One of those Falcomon. The ones that had been chasing Red all those years ago for the KEY. The Digivice was on the ground near him.

"You guys are still at this? Well you aren't getting my stuff."Vika scoffed, quickly taking hold of the Digivice and pressing a button. A ribbon of familiar green data encircled her hand, overlapping with itself wildly. Her teeth sunk into the ribbon as she swung her hand away, ripping off a piece with purple sparks. The ribbon around her hand spun into a drill first around her arm, expanding to cover her entire body. The purple sparks joined to create a twister of green and purple data. Rushing winds could be heard from inside the sealed drill before two black wings shattered it, releasing the winds and blowing the Falcomon back.

"You couldn't even outrun me normally. You wanna try Kilvasmon?" the Sprite-form boasted, hands on her hips and a raised chin. "Go ahead. First shot's yours."

The Falcomon threw out a feather, and Vika threw out her own small wind projectile. They clashed and cancelled each other out, but the enemy Digimon had taken that time to disappear. Maybe to come back with some friends.

SO suddenly they wanted the KEY again, eh? Maybe they had figured out more about it than her. How would they have even known how to find her? The only person who knew in the Digital World was-

"Red!"

Not even bothering to see if she was being watched, the Kilvasmon opened the Digi-Port on her D-Tector and stepped inside.