Oncoming Challenges [MPC 56A]

MPC Name: Levelling the Field
MPC Number: 56A
Requested Reward: Bits

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Alan the human and Levi the Veemon knew they were taking a huge risk by remaining in the digital world that day. Sure, all of the digimon being equal in strength meant that they wouldn't find anyone stronger, but at the same time, they hadn't yet ascertained just how strong this one constant strength was to begin with. A Super Mega could be blowing harmless Fresh bubbles, or a Fresh level could be destroying cities. Well, judging by the fact that it didn't seem to effect Levi, they had been satisfied that the answer appeared to be "neither." Still, they were wary. These twenty-four hours could be likened to a digital version of "The Purge." Therefore, this was the one day where they thought it safer to stay away from the large cities and settlements, and just wander around the fields, where they were less likely to find battle-hungry digimon. Less.

The blonde young man stopped momentarily to consider a pair of approaching figures. Unmistakably, these two strangers were a human and their digimon partner, who appeared to be a rookie, not that it mattered. Cautiously, they approached, hoping that the pair was out in the open for the same reason they were. Well, at the very least, if they weren't, they knew they could hold their own.

"Hey!" said Alan as he walked towards the other pair, "Are you riding out this abnormality like we are?"

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Words: 237

Alan smiled to himself as he saw the girl shy away slightly. He had been slowly getting used to meeting people in the digital world, but had this been the human world, where it would have been less obvious that they were both tamers, he would have been acting the same way. The digimon revealed his goals were quite the opposite of what he had hoped they were, however, they did not attack on sight, which is what he had been fearing, and they stated that they were looking to fight all the "strong digimon out there," which he assumed meant "the digimon which were usually strong when some massive anomaly wasn't affecting the entire digital world." Levi was a rookie, and therefore not one of those digimon, so he considered him and his partner to be safe.

"I'm Alan, and this is my partner, Levi the Veemon," he replied. He gestured to Levi, who stepped forward to speak.

"Hello! It's nice to meet you both. Fighting isn't really our thing, so we're mostly waiting the day out. It's great to see you seem to be having fun, though!"

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Words: 189
Total: 426

"Y,know," began Alan, "It does seem contradictory, but there is a reason for it. We wanted to avoid being dragged into the conflicts..."

"...while still being close enough to watch a few go down."

"For entertainment."

Levi gave Alan a startled glance. "An-"

"...and to gauge how dangerous they are. I was getting to that, don't worry. It's both of those reasons. To tell you the truth, if we didn't think it could be entertaining, there'd be no reason to stick around and gauge safety. We'd just digi-port right on out, wait for a few hours, and come back to see everything hopefully the way it was before."

"Well, in addition to entertainment, we could also probably see some applicable techniques being used. We avoid fights when we can, but we know we'll be forced into conflict eventually. I... I worry we'll be too inexperienced to handle it when something with stakes comes up. But, at the same time..." Levi looked down with his hands folded in front of him, and unconsciously swayed gently back and forth, a slight blush appearing. "Hi... Hikaru said I was strong enough to digivolve…" He snapped out of his sudden daydream. "Not that there'd be any point if we're not in trouble!"

"Huh?" said Alan. "I thought we both agreed it would just look cool."

"Yeah... we... we did."

"Though you're right about it not meaning anything today of all days."

"I know. Right." After saying this, Levi took a deep breath and clenched his fists. "Hawk... do you... really want to fight someone right now?"

Alan was completely taken aback by this question. However, he decided not to protest. This was Levi's decision, if he felt he had a good reason for it.

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Words: 291
Total: 717

The tension in Levi's body released when he heard Hawk state that the two didn't have to fight. He breathed silently for a few seconds to calm himself down, the tension and imminent panic replaced with calm, but tinged with a deeper, more dull sort of anxiety. 

If I'm going to be a good partner to Alan, he thought, I'm going to need to protect him. If I'm going to protect Alan, I need to know how to fight. If I'm going to know how to fight, I need experience. I can't keep avoiding this forever, and I know it. I know it, and still I always say it's okay, and that I can learn how to fight some other time. When will it finally be too late?

Alan looked down and saw Levi lost in thought, expression twisted slightly by his nerves. It pained Alan to see Levi worry so much about this, especially since he was worrying for Alan's sake. The boy walked over and gave the Veemon a quick rub on the head to snap him out of it. "Come on, Levi," he said, "we're gonna go look for a place to lay low for a while, okay?"

"Oh! Okay!" replied Levi, shaken from his deliberation, before quietly following along.

As they were all walking together, Alan took a moment to walk beside Hawk, lean down slightly, and tell him:

"Hey, Hawk? I... know you're upset, but... I really appreciate you being considerate back there. Levi doesn't like fighting, but he's been trying to force himself out of it lately, against his own will. So thank you."

With that, he turned back to Levi, who was trying to listen to what Alan was saying, thinking it was probably about him. He picked the dragon up and gave him a ride on his back for a while.

"Don't worry, Levi," he said. "We'll work on this together, at a pace that's comfortable for you. Maybe we'll even find you a good teacher! So... relax. I promise you it'll be fine."

It seemed to work. The Veemon's head was already slumped over his partners shoulder, drifting off to sleep, emotionally exhausted.

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Words: 362
Total: 1079