MPC-50X: Generations (Maia)

Iris rolled her eyes as Ayden taunted her back, letting out something between a huff, a groan, and a sigh. The "Iris sound" was quite common when people at school were being irritating, and was often followed up by Iris hitting the couch face-first to nap off a long day. In lieu of a couch, Iris could only lightly slump against a tree. "You know I've got practice after school," she complained. With how flighty she could be at times, "practice" ranged from Go, to the flute, to even judo based on where her interests fell on any given day. At this point, the girl had a reputation for flittering between clubs like a hummingbird between flowers. "And you promised you'd call if you were going on adventures!"

Ayden seemed to think highly of his partner, considering Ren's loss meant Iris apparently had no chance. She turned around to face the sound of his voice, hands on her hips, even as it grew more distant. Was he seriously slowing down? Rude! " 'Cause I know something you don't know~" she chirped, flicking up her D-Arc and looking from spirit to spirit on there. LadyDevimon fit like a glove for her. SkullGreymon? He was a bit spicy still, true, but she was getting the hang of him more each day. No, it wasn't them she was paying attention to. Rather, it was what was left in between she was trying to puzzle out . . .

She was promptly interrupted by remembering that Maia just decked Ayden. She stopped, trying not to lose her composure, but soon found herself needing to brace against the tree as the snorting and laughing forced its way out of her. Tears misted up in the corner of her eyes as she practically clung to it, trying to compose herself and keep walking but finding herself unable to. "Holy crap, I still can't believe that," she said, trying to force the words out between gasps of air. "God, mom's kind of a badass."

It was all the head start Ayden needed to Digivolve up Ren, immediately bleeding away any bit of distance Iris had on him. Ren dashed past in a purple blur as Ayden took Iris by the arm, causing her to let out a slight gasp of surprise. Fortunately, she was small enough to lift with ease but by no means fragile. How anyone could end up fragile coming from the insanely stubborn duo of Isaac and Maia would've been a mystery. For that reason, rather than any pain, Iris simply let out an irritated "Hey!"

She promptly wrapped her arms tight around Ayden, practically burying herself into him in order to avoid falling off. "No fair," she huffed, voice muffled some. "If I knew we were using Digimon, I'd be flying circles around you."

Iris gave Ayden a rough punch on the arm. The only good thing about being snatched up by him was that he couldn't get out of sibling punching range! "Not my fault I'm a Renaissance gal," she said, smirking competently. "But hey. When I've got a few dozen trophies under my belt, I'll try not to be too busy to remember you."

Then again, for all Iris' talk, she wasn't the one with her eyes set on politics! Maybe it'd be Ayden being the busy one in the end, if only because he was busy trying to woo the vice president. She turned to him, wide-eyed with excitement, before turning him by the shoulders so he'd face her. "So, what position'd you get, eh? Court jester?" she asked, leaning over to Ayden to peep on his reaction. "Oh! Or do you still gotta run? There's still totally time for me to pick up a job as campaign manager, y'know."

It almost made up for the insult of not being told about her brother's time travel adventures sooner. "Because mom totally told you where she'd be," she said, her indignant huff a little bit less serious now that her earlier upset was placated. "That's, like, the whole point of time travel! Although I guess if she didn't see me there, that meant I wasn't supposed to be there. Huh.

Oops! Too bad, here now. Suck it, time cops." There was a devilish smile on Iris' face, and it was clear she was ready to go toe to toe with mom and Kuu if push came to shove.

With her being so prepared, why would she spill the beans on her secret weapon now? Iris giggled a little, shooting Ayden a look like he was the stupidest boy alive. "I can't tell you! Don't you know what a secret is?" she asked, tossing her hair a little as she laughed and turned away. She didn't want Ayden to start reading the excitement in her eyes and drawing conclusions from there. "Trust me. You'll see it when I save your sorry butt from another one of Mom's signature punches, okay?"

She let out a slight hum as she considered Ayden's question, a habit she had taken from her mother quite readily. "Do you mean, like, in the past now? Or our now-now?" she asked. " 'Cause if you mean our now-now, she's gonna hit like a truck. And you really wouldn't want to mess with her and find out." She leaned towards Ayden again, cupping her hand as she turned her voice to a soft stage whisper. "She's showing."

Yeah. If a stressed, tired Maia was dangerous enough, a Maia even further beyond that would be absolutely terrifying.

~~~~

"Huh. Forest, huh? Not the usual place for a date, but I can't say I mind." Isaac let his newfound platinum blonde hair fall down over his shoulder as he reclined against a tree, looking out towards the distance. A basket sat in his hand, Isaac aimlessly fiddling with the lid on it. "See any good spot for the picnic basket? It's been nice seeing better in the dark, but that's making it a real pain in the butt comparing 'pleasantly shaded' to 'too dark.' "

It seemed all of the pieces were falling into place now.

There were a lot of roles that Iris could have seen Ayden in, but her jaw dropped a little as she heard about what Ayden had fallen into. "Secretary," she repeated, sounding absolutely baffled. "You do know that position needs, like. Writing. A lot of writing. And paying attention to meetings and stuff, instead of all the cute girls in the student council. You're ready for all that, right?" Ayden definitely didn't look the part, even with Uncle Elliot giving him advice on his wardrobe! Personally, Iris would've lost interest the second she sat down for the first meeting. Working on fun stuff like school culture festivals? That would've been great! But secretary work was boring her to tears just imagining it.

More surprising was the fact that Ayden not only got the position but was specifically requested it. Iris blinked, eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Okay, I'm not buying it," she said. "Not until you tell me everything!" As Iris tended to do, she whined out the "i" in "everything," continuing to draw the i out until Ayden either shushed her out of frustration or gave in and started talking. It was a remarkably strong tactic of hers!

Then Ayden had to laugh about Iris getting punched. Immediately, Ayden would feel a very offended elbow digging into his side. "Hey!" she shouted, an exaggerated pout spreading across her face. "What kind of bully wants his cute, sweet little baby sister to get punched? That's just mean.

'Sides, she was totally just afraid I'd kick Kuu's butt," she added, a touch of pride creeping into her voice and wiping away the faux-offense in it. "I mean, we live with the guy! He's, like, a giant softy. And sure, he's always keeping mom safe, but so's dad, right? And I've got his spirits, so that totally means I can keep up." Sure, it was more like she had parts of Isaac's spirits, but semantics.

Her pridefulness only doubled when Ayden tried to tease her about Maia's pregnancy. "I'm always gonna be their little princess," she insisted, jabbing a thumb at herself for emphasis. "And I'm totally done being the youngest. I'll just be the best big sis I can be instead. I'll get the little thing all the best snacks, and keep 'em safe from you when you're being a big bully.

But I'm not doing any changing. Babies are too sticky."

Potentially more important was the question of what Digimon the new member of the family would have. "I dunno. Baby?" she said. "We're not gonna have to worry for, like, at least eight years. But I kinda hope spirit user. It'd be nice having someone who could actually keep up with me, instead of having to be a cheatypants like you." Was Iris still bitter about "losing" this race? Maybe a little!

Fog seemed to be swirling around the woods as they continued approaching deeper. Despite her earlier bluster, Iris was quick to cling to her brother. "Bet you're pretty scared now, huh?" she asked, trying to hide her own worry over the fact that she could barely see a few feet in front of her face.

~~~~

"You've got that right," Isaac said, letting out a sigh as he slumped a little bit more down the tree. "Feels like I can't throw a rock these days without hitting another world-ending threat or three. Getting an escape from it all's been kinda overdue.

And there's no one I'd rather make that escape with."

Kuu was even leaving them nice and alone, giving Isaac time to start setting up the picnic blanket where they currently stood. "So how's it been getting used to the human world again?" he asked, smoothing out the blanket and rooting around in the basket for some of the sandwiches that he had packed. " 'Cause it's been one heck of an adjustment on my end. Turns out when you've been away from home for months, you start missing all these little things you never knew about."

Kuu, being a little ahead of the group, would notice a fog starting to slowly envelop the trees in the distance. But surely that was nothing.