Friendships Reborn in Fire [Maia]

    Further along the beach, Maia sat with her partner. With some trial and error, the teen had found a spot that she could have her feet occasionally brushed by waves, without the rest of her being soaked as well. Despite her jeans being rolled up, it was obvious that there were a few points that the water didn't adhere to rules, and had lapped against the edges of the fabric. Kuu, on the other hand, was completely soaked from head to cartridge. Still, he returned to his tamer's side.

    It had only been a day since their overly stressful adventure, and this had been the only place Kuu could think of that might be out-of-the-way enough that they wouldn't deal with too many people yet. "Water's warm! Come swim!" Typical cheer-up method!

    "Mmm," was the only response he received, as the blonde rested her chin on her knees. Failed attempt!

    Ears flattened, looking around while he debated on more ways to work his magic. "If you don't wanna people, you don't have to. But, you gotta do something other than make that mopey face!"

    Okay, she totally wasn't making moping faces! Amber eyes shifted to stare at the Kudamon, lips pressing tightly together. Alternating between wanting to yell at the Digimon, or to ignore him, she took a deep breath. Don't yell at the creature that could strand her here forever, if he wanted to! That would just be mean, anyway! "I'm not making faces."

    "Are too!"

    Reminder: Don't yell at your ride home. "What do you want me to do?"

    Now, it was Kuu's turn to have no answer! "Uhhh," he began, ears twitching. What was a good distraction? He needed a distraction, pronto! Giving a sniff to the air, the Kudamon found his answer far too easily! Even if it might be the wrong one! "Prepare for friends! I sniff a certain Coronamon!" Which surely meant that company was nearby! And, sure enough, Kuu was pretty positive he could see them now that he was looking along the coast! Raising both paws into the air, he began to wave in very animated fashion, to draw the attention of the duo. Granted, there weren't many others around at the moment, so it wasn't like they'd be hard to miss!

    "Oh no," was a small utterance, as the teen pressed her face into her knees. She wasn't prepared for this! The reason she hadn't gone home yet was to avoid talking to people she knew! While this was surely a good test on her part, it didn't make Maia any more prepared for it!

    But, as the other tamer and partner ran over, Maia leaned back a little, to provide a small smile. After all, it wasn't their fault that she was in this predicament! "Hey," she murmured, debating getting up from her spot.

    Kuu bounced up and down, toward Coronamon. "It's been, like, forever! We missed you!" Dramatic? Nah. Never! "We're spectentacular!" Spectacular, Kuu. Leave your big words at home! What about you guys? Been fighting bad guys? Doing fun stuff? Eating lots of food?" All sounded like great ideas! Especially eating food! Kuu could go for a sandwich right now!

    Rising to her feet, the blonde brushed sand from her clothing. "We didn't expect to see many people here," she admitted, still smiling. Even if she wasn't prepared to talk to people she knew, it was good to see one of the first tamers that she'd managed to keep contact with! And, someone she'd gone on so many adventures with! From armor hunts to... Uh. Something that involved a blimp-like Digimon, she thought. Anyway! That wasn't the focus right now! "What brings you two out here?"

    For a second, the duo exchanged glances. "We're--!" Uh. What were they, really? Fine was usually the right way to answer this, but at the same time. Were they really?

    "--Alright," Maia finished, cautiously. Physically, sure, they were just fine! Internally, maybe not so much! But, there was a moment of thought after the answer. After all, when Coronamon and Marshal had separated for a while, Marshal had talked to Maia about the situation. Was it wrong of her to withhold her own issues, due to that?

    Kuu wouldn't press it, though! Instead, he focused on a fancy mission! "Missions can be fun! Just don't pet any weird-looking Digimon!" Wise words, from a fox that wanted to shake hands with a D-Reaper agent! "Don't lick them, either!" Friends are not food, Kuu! Except, there was a pause from the fox. Far-too-innocently, the Kudamon tilted his head, and blurted, "who's Colin, again?"

    The tamer's eyes shot to her partner, trying not to let her jaw drop. Did Kuu realize what he had just asked? Until now, Maia hadn't processed that the effect could have been a two-way street! Mouth opened, only to inhale, and then snap shut. This had probably gotten awkward, very fast. But, Kuu didn't seem to notice. Maybe, it was just Kuu being Kuu! "What'cha plan on doing for your vacation?" Hopefully it involved food!

    Placing her hands in her pockets, Maia glanced at the sky. While she'd let the duo discuss the vacation first, it seemed fairly obvious that she was waiting her turn to say something more. Though, the cat might have already escaped the metaphorical bag already, with Kuu forgetting who Colin was!

    "Um." Yellow eyes slowly grew to the size of saucers, while the fox tried to process the question. Oh, welcome back sinking feeling in his chest, how he didn't miss it! "In Whitewater?" Kuu echoed, as if in a daze.

    Meanwhile, Maia pressed her lips tightly together. Was she getting a headache? It was almost dizzying, how sudden it came on! "We watched them Biomerge, Kuu," the teen pointed out, slowly.

    "Oh! Okay!" Ears perked up, giving a rapid nod. Okay, yeah, no. He had nothin'. Crud. While he could almost imagine Bellamy and Luke, he was drawing a complete blank on their tamer! How rude!

    Then again, they had only met once.

    Maia shifted her focus to Coronamon, while Kuu still tried to piece together his broken puzzle-of-a-mind. "Well," she murmured, drawing the word out while debating what to answer with. Smile faded, as she moved to bite her lower lip. "Not--"

    We now interrupt our dramatic reveal with an even more dramatic explosion!

    Kuu's head spun to look toward the island that the sound came from. "Ooh! What was that? Should we investigate? It could be fun! What if it's fun?" It was good to know that his desire for excitement hadn't been lost, at least! "What if we gotta do hero stuff?" Bouncing in place, the little rookie looked over the other tamer and partner, "want to adventure again? It's been for-ev-er since we got to be heroes with friends!"

    Glancing to the side, Maia tried to hide a slight blush. How embarrassing to be called out about this! Either way, it faded relatively fast, at the tamer's offer to help. Or, statement. It didn't really sound negotiable! It was always good to have friends like that! Now, if only she could remember their names.

    Kuu was glad that Marshal could share the enthusiasm on diving into a fight, though! The Kudamon took a few bounds after the duo, before pausing to look back to Maia. "D'you wanna let them do all the stuff?" To this, he only received a hesitant hum from his tamer. "It looks tough." After all, Digimon didn't usually just spout out of volcanoes and begin shooting fire! "But I'm sure Apollomon can handl--"

    "We can help," the teen stated, taking a step forward despite the island rocking from the clash of monsters. After all, it couldn't make the situation worse, right? Even raising her Digivice to try to scan the monster, at a distance, didn't provide any helpful information. So, with little knowledge of what they were up against, the duo couldn't just leave Apollomon to a questionable fate! "Ready?"

    Taking a second to blink at his tamer, the Kudamon tilted his head. Well, at least she didn't seem terrified of potentially terrible situations anymore! Or, maybe Maia knew it was inevitable that they'd have to join the fight, anyway! So, hopping to his tamer, the Digimon nodded, before whirling around her.

    "Biomerge."

    In a flash of light and data, the transformation felt far more seamless than its first attempt. "Sakuyamon: Miko Mode." Pushing feet off the ground, the biomerge moved closer, to help participate in what seemed to be an unpreventable fight!

    Maia would have probably agreed with Apollomon's thoughts on their biomerge! But, desperate times or something, right? Well, at least, the first time they had done it, it felt a little desperate! This time? Not really, but the tamer figured that she may as well get used to it, at this point.

    It wasn't like Kuu didn't narrate his thoughts constantly, anyway. Anyone who spent a day with the rookie knew what it was like to be in his head!

    Or, so one might think. It was still surprisingly quiet, within the duo's brain. The most that echoed was a vague sense of wonder on if either of them had heard of Dorbickmon, either! "Must not be so influential if nobody's heard of you," the biomerge hummed, now within earshot of the conversation. A soft static buzzed in the back of the Sakuyamon's head, surely threatening to cause a headache. Maybe all of the kinks hadn't been sorted out between the two, considering it seemed like agreeing on sentences hurt them!

    Then again, Maia should be used to having constant headaches from Kuu by now!

    Under the mask, eyes glanced toward the rippling water. While a small curiosity echoed from the fox, priorities were clear! "Golden Wall," the duo announced, as a barrier lifted between Apollomon and its attacker, hopefully in time to block the blaze. Sure, a Super-Mega could probably handle their own, but the Miko Mode wouldn't feel right just letting it happen, in the case that Apollomon didn't snap out of his trance soon enough!

    Though, that led to another question. Could Apollomon really get hurt by fire? Maybe Sakuyamon should have held off on that move! And, maybe Kuu shouldn't think too much on if fire hurts fire Digimon!

    "Are..." There was a brief pause, while the Super Mega attempted not to sound too incredulous, "Are you daydreaming?"

---

Golden Wall: Raises a wall-barrier that can absorb attacks for up to four turns. If a digimon touches it, it will push them back with a shockwave. Cooldown: Two posts

    A small smile fell onto the Miko Mode's lips, perhaps a little pleased at being able to help somehow. For once, it felt like Kuu and Maia were on the right level with everyone else! Though, the duo had to wonder at what cost. After all, if the first biomerge had messed with their minds so much, what would any future ones do?

    Though, there wasn't much time to think on that. Especially since Dorbickmon wasted little time in preparing another attack! At least Marshal and Coronamon didn't seem to be too damaged by the next move that struck them, considering Sakuyamon had failed to protect them this time around. But, now that Apollomon seemed to be properly in the game, it gave the Super Mega a moment to process their surroundings a little better.

    More specifically, that strange sound coming from the water.

    They had noticed it, briefly, before. But was it getting worse? Maybe now was a smart time to check. After all, if an ambush happened just because the duo was busy spectating... well. Then it would be their fault, and everything would be horrible.

    "We're going to check on something," the Super Mega stated, despite knowing that Apollomon was more than busy. At least nobody would think they were outright abandoning him, this way!

    Moving closer to the water, the thought to use an electrical attack on the water crossed the biomerge's mind. Of course, Kuu's thought. Judging at the lack of risking electrocuting anything else that might be in the water, it was clear that Maia had more control than her reckless partner. However, that wasn't to say that the Digimon looked off-guard as she lowered herself closer to the ocean. After all, a cliche like pulling them under the waves wasn't something they'd be unprepared for!