Strength to Protect What Matters [Alice/Justice]

Walking led them into a more covered area, something Justice was thankful for, as it seemed the temperature here - wherever they were - was much more comfortable than being in the open, since it was a hot day today in this part of the Digital World. The trees they were walking among that provided shade were the strangest things he'd ever seen. They were not green like he was used to. Many of them had leaves that were turquoise, or in some cases purple, with orange or yellow blooms just visible through thick leaves. The terrain him, Vee, and Gummy changed from lush grass to forest floor, with various upturned roots Justice almost found himself tripping on regulary. Barely any sunlight was getting through. The trees of the forest was so packed together that the leaves alone were practically blocking out all sunlight, allowing only small shafts of it to hit the ground and illuminate a path. The sunlight that was getting through however, was beginning to give Justice a headache. Either that, or perhaps it had something to do with the amount of assignments from school he had been doing today.

Rubbing his fingers across his forehead, he heaved a sigh. "How much father is it to whatever place you two found the other day? We've been walking for like twenty minutes already."

"Aw come on, you've been sitting on your butt all day," Vee argued, stopping in front of Justice to put his hands on his waist. "A little exercise won't kill ya!"

Justice tossed his hand into the air in exasperation. "I mean, true. But you could have warned me that this place would be a hike."

Gummy shook his head with an slightly amused expression. "Heh, I knew humans like Specs would get exhausted over the simplest exertion. They're all brain and no muscle."

Hearing that made Justice shot a glare at the purple dragon, who then returned the glare. He wanted to retaliate verbally, but decided not to. Instead, he took a few steps forward, drawing a line on the dirt with his foot, going horizontally from one end to the other. The two of them turn to each other and said nothing, just giving him a puzzled look.

"With the way that we're walking, I'm assuming that wherever we're going to is just up ahead, right?" Justice questioned.

 "Yeeeah," answered Vee. "Why'd you ask?

"Then how about a race, to see whether or not if spending time with the books is making me slack off on exercise." He was looking directly at Gummy when he said that. 

"Oohh, now we're talking!" Vee said, walking up to the starting line. He did a few leg stretches before getting into position. Gummy only smirked at the notion.

"You won't even know where we're going unless it hits you in the face. Literally. But..." Gummy moved to the starting line as well, placing both of his paws and arching his right foot firmly to the ground. "I accept the challenge!"

Justice twisted a strand of hair around a finger, satisfied with the answer. Usually Gummy would only ignore the notion of a challenge, thinking it was pointless since he assumed he would come off the winner. But this time was different. Wondering why, he brushed it off and got into position on the starting line. The chances of winning were about as slim as toothpicks against his Digimon, since they were physically stronger, faster, and more agile than a human, but screw the odds. 

"Alright then, three..."

"Two..."

"One!"

Just like that, they were off, kicking up some dirt along the way as they sprinted off at full speed.