For Great Justice! [Digimental Hunt][Marshal/Maia]

    As luck would have it, Maia had no plans for the day! Then again, did she ever? It felt like all of her plans were pretty impromptu. Kuu was busy trying to lick her hands as she played some sort of online game, but remained mostly silent. This was because she was actually in a voice call with one of her friends from America. The bonus to having to be quiet was that Maia couldn't reprimand him for anything, because she couldn't address the fox in the room! They'd have to make up a human alias for him, or something.

    There was a buzz from her phone, notifying her that she had received an e-mail. "Ah, one moment," she notified, getting a, "can I kill you while we wait?" from one person, followed up with another voice saying, "don't. Or I'm letting you die in the next dungeon." Well, at least one of them was on her side. Pulling up the e-mail, she found herself murmuring, "oh, it's from Marshal," to Kuu, who only twitched his ears.

    Now, there was a problem, as both voices in the chat chimed a 'Who's Marshal?' Oops. Forgot to mute it! "Ah, uh, friend from class," she quickly made up. Actually, she didn't even know what school the other tamer went to! For all she knew, he was home-schooled! Except he wasn't. "I forgot, we have a project to work on," she continued to make up, as she typed a reply to the e-mail, agreeing to meet up. "Sorry. I'll text you later. This is important," she emphasized, already standing up from her chair, and clicking the log out button before anyone had a chance to reply.

    Well, that was going to be a pain to come back to later.

    With a short trip on the train, Maia and Kuu found themselves in the Digital World in no time, meeting up with the other tamer and his partner. The travel through the desert was less than thrilling, but at least they weren't lost! Yet. The tamer found herself draping her hoodie over her purse, wishing that she hadn't brought her's either. Lesson learned.

    "I like complaining!" Kuu chirped, seeming completely unphased by the heat. Actually, that was kind of annoying. Maia felt like she was dying, and the Kudamon was scrambling around on her like he loved the weather. Why was he so weird?

    "No problem," Maia smiled, trying to stay optimistic. "It's probably best not to go alone, anyway. You never know what will happen." After everything the tamer had found in both human and Digital World, it was best not to risk it when someone so new to the whole thing was walking around. Then again, she still didn't really consider herself used to everything, anyway. Maybe, being picked to go on this adventure would be a bad choice on Marshal's part.

    This trip would have been pretty boring alone. Kuu was making a point to try not to let it get boring, rambling about whatever he could think of, and occasionally poking his nose to his tamer's face. Bright side? It was kind of cold. Downside? It put his tongue way too close for comfort! Maia found herself rapidly pulling the fox away before he could successfully slobber on her more times than she cared to count. At least he was light and had an easily grabbed collar.

    "Oh, good!" The sight of the pyramid was pretty exciting, if it meant any potential to get out of this heat! But, there didn't seem to be a door! Was the item inside the inaccessible place?

    Any discouraged feelings the girl had were promptly turned into panic, as Marshal vanished! "W-What?" Maia squeaked out, before the boy's head popped out. This caused another squeak, as every inch of the teen tensed. "I don't like this," she pointed out, after words had returned to her throat.

    Kuu, on the other hand, shouted an, "I like cool things!" With that, the fox had already lunged off of his tamer's shoulder and through the illusion-door. Maybe, it was something to do with the heat that caused the illusion? Who knew! Once inside, the Rookie was busy bounding around in circles, until Maia would join them.

    Looking around, the blonde crossed her arms, "at least it's out of the heat," she mumbled, not seeming overly enthused. "What, exactly, are we looking for, anyway?"

    Huh. A Digimental. Up until now, Maia didn't think she had heard anything about those. "As long as it's easier than the Spirit Hunts," she mumbled, looking at the walls. What if it was behind another illusion or something? Then, Coronamon mentioned the clear lack of an obnoxious fox. "Oh no," the girl began to panic, trying to figure out where her pet could have run off to. He didn't normally do this when she wasn't paying attention! Where could he have gone off to?

    Deciding not to venture from the group, she simply hurried along, worry building up progressively. What if the fox got hurt? She wouldn't know where to find him! But, at least they found where they were supposed to be for the Digimental. Except it wasn't even there. "It's moving? You don't think someone beat us here, do you?" That would be a problem. But, who else would want the thing?There wasn't much time to think, when an angry Digimon made its appearance. Feeling a pull on her arm, the girl found herself running alongside Marshal, trying not to stumble from the shock.

    Somewhere through their running, Kuu suddenly appeared from an intersecting hall, running alongside the group. "Hey guys!" That sounded strangely cheerful, despite the fact that it was clear his tamer was in a panic. Then again, when did that ever ruin his mood? "You, uh, haven't seen a big angry guy, have you?" With this question, Maia shot her Digimon a glare that should have chilled the rookie to the bone. "Asking for a friend! I didn't do anything!"

    Right. There was no reason why Kuu would know about the Champion! Even though asking for a friend was impossible, since his only friends here were the ones running!

    Okay, well, this wasn't changing the pace of most of her days as of late! Why did Maia accept the invite to this stupid world? At least Coronamon seemed determined to stop the rampaging beast! This gave Maia a moment to catch her breath. "What did I do to deserve this life?" Oh. Yeah. She opened a mysterious package that had a Digimon in it. No more accepting weird mail! Couldn't a girl just have a normal life?

    Kuu stopped just after Coronamon, lifting up to stare at the Champion that was barreling toward them. Bad time to stop! The little fox scrambled to the side, rolling from the momentum of sand pushing him. Pulling out her Digivice, Maia looked at the monster that was on the screen. It was too high of a level for just a couple of rookies to take on! "Kuu, want to match his level?"

    To her surprise, the little fox stood up, shooting a dirty look at her. "No."

    "A-and why not?"

To this, the rookie puffed his cheeks, fiddling with his cartridge with his paws. The Ankylomon was now looking between the Kudamon and Coronamon, as if debating on which was more important. "Nothing." Well, that was strangely tight-lipped for the otherwise chatty alien! "I don't have anything. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't want to lose it by digivolving!"

    Oops. Beans were spilled. With an eyebrow raised, Maia gained a stern tone, "Kuu. What did you do?"

    Running over to his tamer, the fox looked pouty, as his cartridge popped open. "I found it! It's mine!" With the response, the monster still found himself pulling a strange sculpture-like thing out. "It's my treasure! My precious!" With that, Maia reached down, snatching the item up from the fox, only to get a distressed whine.

    "That's what you get for running off on me. You scared me half to death! What is this thing, anyway?" Was this the thing they were looking for? After all, Kuu called it a treasure. Either that, or it was the Ankylomon's and he'd stolen it! That would explain all of this! Still, she held it out toward Marshal as if offering the item to him. "Do you know what it is?"

    "Well, that's convenient," the tamer stated, flatly. Eyes bore into the soul of her Rookie, as he whined about how his new treasure was gone forever. "You don't get to keep things you steal!"

    The little fox huffed, clearly pouting, despite the fact that she was correct. It wasn't his. Why should he get to keep it? "But, it was shiny," he mumbled, looking toward the Lynxmon. Not as cool as getting to keep the shiny. But.. Oh! "You're on fire!" Kuu shouted, beginning to bounce. "Does it hurt? Do you feel like you're burning? You must share your secrets!" This was perfect timing. Right. Just keep shouting and being useless.

    Taking a few steps back, Maia motions for Marshal to do the same. "Have you been in an actual fight yet? You'll want to keep your distance. We make really good targets," she instructed, spinning her digivice in her hand. "Do you want to help now, Kuu? Or do we have more secrets?"

    The little monster looked back to his tamer, clearly having a hard time looking away from the burning cat. "I don't always eat your socks. Sometimes, I just hide them." Well, that was a secret, but not exactly what she meant. "I'm a hero, though! Gotta help!"

    "Then do it?"

    Without wasting more time, the Digivice lit up, engulfing the little fox in light. "Kudamon, digivolve to... Reppamon!" As it faded, the fox was now much larger, brown, and had a kitsune mask covering his face. With a few excited hops, the Champion made his way toward the fight. Through his energetic trip to the battle, the scythe-tailed fox jumped up, spinning himself into a somersault, aiming it for the Ankylomon's side, while it was distracted. "Spinning Slash!"

    Looking at the toasted Digimon, Maia took a step back, despite the clear relief that the monster wasn't a very strong opponent. At least they'd only knocked him out. "Y-yeah. That was great. Let's leave before we find out he has family." This was just way too easy! Easy was great, but she didn't want to find out that it wasn't actually this simple!

    Hearing the cheering, the Reppamon shouted a, "yay!" as well, before bounding over to the tamers. "Do you guys see that? Lynxmon! He's on fire! Isn't that awesome?" Well, it looked like Marshal wasn't the only one pumped up about all of this, at least! Still, the tamer was clearly waiting to find out that the downed champion had backup. It didn't look that way, however, so maybe they were in luck for once!

    "I still feel like this was way too easy," Maia pointed out, trying not to jinx it. "Let's head home before I'm proven to be right."

    It was good to hear that nobody was going to argue with her on the subject. Even Kuu was perfectly fine with the idea of getting out of the heat. As it turned out, having longer fur made it a little less fun! And, by a little, it meant that he was actually really hot. And not in a good way! "I want to be on fire so I can't feel the warm, Maia," the Digi whined, looking for some sort of consolation.

    "You're not allowed to be on fire. You have a sword for a tail. That's bad enough," the tamer pointed out, sternly. There was no way she was going to put up with him if he could catch things on fire just by brushing past them. Then, she really wouldn't have any socks. Or skin, for that matter!

    Looking at the other two, Maia seemed taken aback. Who would even think to trust a Digimon saying to touch their flames? That just didn't make sense! Was the fire just for show? "That's weird and I don't think I can accept it," the girl mumbled, mostly to herself. "How are you not melting right now?" That was just weird!

    Unfortunately, it also gave the excited Reppamon an idea. "I'm big, too, Maia! And not on fire! Does that mean you'll sit on my back? I promise I won't poke you with my tail!" That last part made for the least appealing part of the argument. Oh, yes, sharp tail. Sounded totally safe. In fact, riding on a hyperactive fox just screamed great idea.

    "If you promise not to do anything stupid," was the condition that was placed. At first, the Champion pranced around, delicately, whining, before nodding. Well, at least he agreed. "Alright. I know I'm going to regret this." Then, why was she even considering it? Using the rope that wound around the neck of the fox as something to grab, she pulled herself onto Kuu's back, sitting in a more side saddle fashion. The logic was that if something came up on the way back, she could easily get off of the monster. It wasn't like she needed to worry about properly steering him, or anything.

    The Reppamon took a few steps before waiting for his tamer to respond to the other. "Yeah, more than ready. Let's go."