The Great Binary Archipelago All Out Race [Kath/Amy][Career]

The ambient inside the stadium was truly exhilarating. It didn’t matter who you were cheering for originally, that finish had been so exciting it got everyone on their feet clapping and roaring.

“The crazy Candlemon-guy did it! I can’t believe it” Caesar buzzed in excitement.
“Oh! The burning fire of a dream that never dies, taking a young soul to a victorious conclusion once again!” an overdramatic Leo was also part of the celebration.

Garmore, on his side, just showed a wide grin.

As they were taken to the shore by some JungleMojyamons, not far from Snake and the rest of his team, Katherine felt the excitement in the environment going through her. However, the exhaustion and nervousness of almost dying a while ago, wasn’t letting her enjoy this moment as much as she wanted. It was a good thing to see Amelie wasn’t having much trouble in this department. Both Inra and Liquid had fallen over the sand, completely exhausted, after giving their all in that last stretch.

“Yes. Piece of cake. Of course.” It wasn’t. At least not for her. The curly-haired girl sat on the sand, breathing heavily. She felt like she couldn’t even move a muscle. She was greeted by Jazz, who simply jumped to her tamer's arms and hugged her with all of her limps (ears included).

“We did it Kath!” She shouted, visibly excited.

To be honest, what Jazz had done during the race was nothing short of amazing. Even if the fact that she evolved (which the green-eyed hadn’t really had time to process yet) was not listed, there were still a lot of things to stand out about the bunny's performance. She had kept them going through the most difficult times in this competition. And…

“We wouldn’t have made it without you.” Katherine showed a smile to the little Lopmon. “You were the one who told Liquid he had to keep going. Even when I couldn’t. You showed an amazing determination, Jazz.” She concluded, wrapping her arms around her. It seemed like her curiosity wasn’t the only ‘undying’ thing in Jazz. And she had proved that much today. The bunny would then leap towards Amelie to give Shisei her own share of hugging. 

During all of this, Liquid waved his arms at everyone in the arena, finally reincorporating. The group was about to go his way to congratulate him, but it would be him who would rush to the group. The reason? Amelie had fallen unconscious on the ground. Katherine and Jazz approximated their teammate too. After some seconds of high tension, Ooi confirmed the girl was overall fine, and just needed some rest.

It was clear this race had taken a huge toll on everyone. Even a bigger one than they had originally expected. Proof of that was that, to this point, it was even hard to believe they had won.

Liquid let out a sigh in relief after hearing Ooi’s insight. “I’ll go with you, Ooi-sis.” He noted.

“No way!” Katherine stood up right in front of the Weatherdramon. Even if he looked a bit… imposing, she was still getting some very familiar vibes from him. It was clear he was still the same old Liquid. “You’re staying here, understood?” She declared, firmly. “You didn’t wait twenty years for this moment for not having a celebration, okay? And we didn’t go through all of that for you to not be at your ceremony.” It was true this was Beer Flag’s victory, as a whole. But this victory meant more to Liquid than for anyone else in the team. And that's how it should be. This was him proving to the world (and that stupid Snake guy) that, if you work hard, dreams do come true.

Katherine’s gaze was dead-serious. Maybe a bit of Amelie had gotten into her, but she needed to set her foot down on this one. 

“I… okay. But I’ll go there as soon as the ceremony finishes, okay?”

Now that that was out of the way, Kath went to help Ooi carrying Amelie. It was needless to say she and Jazz were going back to Liquid’s house with their friends. While they walked towards the exit of the stadium carrying Amelie, the silhouette of a shadow over the sand, right in front of them, would make Katherine and Jazz (and probably Ooi too) raise their gaze and stop. There was someone in their way.

A giant figure of around two and a half meters tall was standing right in front of them. A pair of bright, silver eyes observed them from beneath the coat, almost piercing through the curly-haired girl’s skin. This feeling was… somewhat familiar. The digimon just stood there for what seemed like an eternity but were nothing but mere 10 seconds.

His eyes went to Amelie before uttering any words. “That’s a very impressive human.” A cold, sepulchral voice spoke. “... But that doesn’t really matter right now.” He declared.

That was everything Katherine needed to hear to know who this digimon was. His voice, his way of speaking, the phrase he used. They were all indicatives of who it was

Katherine placed her hand on Amelie’s face. It was nothing but a gesture that said ‘I’m protecting this’. Other than this, she couldn’t do anything else. Not only because she was paralyzed, but because it was obvious this creature outpowered both her and Jazz.

"You have beaten me twice, haven't you?" He said, sounding dead-serious. "Let's see how many more gems you can find, then."

Just like this, the coated digimon started making his way to the exit, walking slowly. Right when he turned his back to walk away, Katherine could see the red color on the tips of his feathers.

“V-Valkyrimon…” The word escaped the girl’s lips, almost in a whisper. There was no doubt, this was the member of the Dark Army they had met on the train through Cipher Jungle. The amount of energy he bestowed could almost be felt with just seeing him. 

While the coated digimon walked away into the distance, a figure approached Katherine, Jazz, Ooi and the unconscious Amelie.

“Congratulation, missies! That was an amazing performance.” At first, it was hard to tell it was Garmore, due to him using that 'woman-like' voice he had used when he greeted them at the start of the race. Once the shipwright was close enough to the girls so no one could listen, he used his regular voice, whispering.

“That guy was looking at you and at the prize during the whole race. Do you know him?”

Katherine’s eyes widened. The Zoid Gem. Could she and Jazz really leave the prize alone to be handled without them being there? The Lopmon was completely exhausted and very much unable to do any fighting, but they should at least be around the gem.

The proof that Jazz was thinking the same came quickly. “Kath… I think we should stay here.”

It would be almost disrespectful to Amelie’s effort to not do everything in their hands to protect that gem, after everything she had done to help them win it.

“Ohohoho! please, stay right here, dear! I will help you take your friend home.” Garmore spoke again with his fake voice. “I need to get out of here before they see through this stupid disguise anyways.” He whispered in his real voice, offering to take Amelie from Ooi's arm. If she handled the girl to him, Garmore would carry the girl out without much trouble, even if she was much taller than him.

Leaving Amelie in Ooi and Garmore’s hands, and after waving their temporary goodbyes at the group, Katherine and Jazz went back to the stage that was being prepared for the awarding ceremony and that interview Sofia seemed to be waiting for. They remained close to Liquid, without taking their eyes off the gem, who remained on top of the pedestal where they had seen it earlier.

While Inra congratulated him, Liquid’s gaze was going through the whole beach, looking for a certain team. They had been eliminated halfway through the race, but there was something he needed to ask them.

The question remained… was Deep Sea Team still on the beach or had them taken their leave?

Having found the team that he was looking for amidst the crowd, Liquid made sure to keep an eye on them during the whole ceremony. That way, in case they decided to go anywhere during the prize handling, Liquid would notice. He couldn’t let them get away so easily, there was something he needed to ask once this was all over.

Regarding Katherine and Jazz, they both tried to show their best smile to the crowd and Sofia, once Delu called them up to the stage. This year, the podium had been fairly easy to complete. Waru team had finished second and TOXIC had finished third. Their reactions to this outcome had been, however, completely different.

Snake, Kaku, and Koki just took their bronze medal and took their leave with it. It was likely TOXIC was going to keep being a recurring team in these races so, if Liquid wanted to defend that tittle ten years from now, they would face each other again.

Inra, who was now back at his MegaSeadramon form, received his silver medal, along with his two Betamon partners and stayed for the interview. The sea-serpent had already congratulated the entirety of Beer Flag (except for Amelie, due to obvious reasons) and seemed very happy for the team's victory as a whole. After all, the ending had been exactly what he wanted, a fair and square race to the finish line.

Of course, both the teenager and the bunny’s heads were not at the awarding ceremony right now. Having seen that Valkyrimon from up close again had made them nervous. They knew the amount of power he bestowed after that face-off at the train, so the question that remained inside their heads was… If he knew where they were, why hadn’t he taken the Zoid Gems they already had? Why was he letting them keep gathering more gems? And, in case he had just found them, could they be expecting for him to attack at any minute?

Trying to come up with an answer for all of these questions didn’t seem possible right now.

In any case, it was time to focus in Sofia’s questions. There were even TV cameras on them! Who could be seeing this right now? That was something fun to think about, no doubt.

The crowd was cheering again, now that Sofia had started interrogating. After her first query, Liquid took the mic, shyly.

“H-Hi!” He waved at the crowd. The whole stadium replied by roaring in excitement. “Well, first of all, I would like to say we three didn't win this race by ourselves. Amy-sis and Ooi-sis are winners too. We definitely wouldn’t have done it without them.” It was honestly something everyone was very much aware of, but letting Sofia only mention them three just didn’t feel right to the dragon. Katherine and Jazz nodded, giving a reassuring smile to the former Candlemon.

“About preparation…” Boy, did Liquid prepare for this. “… I could say I had been preparing for this for at least ten years.” He explained, scratching one side of his face.

“I would even go as far as saying that he had been preparing for this during his whole life.” Katherine added, both arms behind her back and leaning a bit forward for her voice to reach the mic. Liquid just chuckled, with a more mature version of his own classical laughter. Seeing the Weatherdramon didn’t seem ready to add anything else, Jazz spoke, from Katherine’s arms.

“T-The rest of us…” The bunny made a short pause to swallow. She was still a bit afraid of other digimon, so it wasn’t that easy to speak into a mic with hundreds of people listening to her. “…only joined the team recently, but we were immediately convinced by out captain’s determination.” She added.

“Since we started working together, we aimed to get the best fuel and parts for the boat, so we could have some type of chance against such amazing and powerful digimon.” Katherine spoke again. Jazz gasped immediately.
“We didn’t get to use the wings!” The sentence escaped Jazz. Well, that was a pity. Katherine just giggled at her partner’s comment.

Regarding the experiences… gosh, it was hard to pick one! They had gone through so much.

“Everything was super fun!” Liquid declared. That probably wouldn’t do, right?

“I would say the tensest and, at the same time, my favorite moment was by the end of the race. Liquid was about to be declared unable to keep going and, since he was our captain, we were about to be eliminated, right?” Katherine placed her index finger below her lower lip, looking rather pensive. “It was amazing seeing Liquid evolve from so up close right when we most needed it.” Katherine’s green eyes went back to the dragon. A light red color appeared around his face as he chuckled.

That would do for now. If Sofia was done with her interview or not, they were about to find out.

Being praised after the amount of hard work each of them had put into this felt really good. The fact that they had made history in such an important event was a reward on its own.

“Thank you so much.” Katherine bowed to Sofia, respectfully.

Now, the group went on to tackle the rest of Sofia’s questions. In fact, they all knew it was Liquid who should give an inspiring speech to the young viewers. After all, he was a young viewer once, who got inspired by a certain shipwright’s speech.

Liquid raised his gaze for a while, trying to come up with something. He then approached the mic offered by Sofia. “I’m not… very good with these things. Garmore used to do it better.” He chuckled. “But! I will tell you something…” The Weatherdramon eyes went to the camera on him. “Any road to success is plagued with disbelievers. You’ll get tired of hearing you can’t do it and people will abandon you on your goal even more than once. I used to think in order to overcome that you only needed to believe in yourself. However, I came to understanding you actually need two things.” Raising two of his claws, Liquid continued. “Determination… and good friends.” For a second, his eyes went to Katherine and Jazz. “One to never stop believing in your dreams and the other ones to remind you that you can do it, the few times you think you can’t.”

Naturally, a smile graced both Jazz and Katherine’s faces.

“So keep working hard, look for real friends and, no matter what you do, remember…” The dragon took a deep breath to then shout his next words intensively. “… No dream is futile!”

The crowd, of course, didn’t lose the chance to react effusively to these words.

Katherine and Jazz decided to take Sofia’s last question. “W-Well… We would like to thank a certain shipwright for always believing in Liquid.”
“I did it, old man!” The dragon floated behind the girl and the bunny.
“Regarding anyone else… well, I don’t have that many friends.” The teenager brought her index finger back to her lower lip, trying to think.
“I hope to see you soon, Boru, Koru, Roru!” Jazz blurted out, before hiding her face in Katherine’s swimsuit, shyly. She was still having trouble to speak in front of the cameras.

“Well, I guess that’s it.” Katherine sweatdropped, smiling.

Delu would deliver with some words next, reminding everyone the true spirit of the race and how they had an amazing time today. He also thanked the engineers that worked on creating the giant wave that chased the competitors by the end, remarking how they were able to just "turn it off" once the race finished and make it have no impact at all. He would then approach Katherine and Jazz with a glowing piece of jewelry atop a cushion. There was no doubt, according to how Reiki had described it and that transparent color; this had to be the Pearl Zoid Gem.

Katherine took it with both hands while she and Jazz stared at the item for some seconds. Just like the rest of the gems they had gotten so far, it emitted a very particular type of energy. Katherine could only wonder what powers may it have. After all, she already had a grasp on what the other two gems did, but this one was a complete mystery so far. She took the gem and put it inside her backpack, still wary of her surroundings.

As everyone left the stadium, what was left of Beer Flag waved their goodbyes at Sofia, Delu, and Inra.

“I’ll go by that Garmore’s warehouse later this week, kid. So I hope to see you there.”
“You can count on it, Marine Old Man.” Liquid showed a smile to the dragon. It seemed like referring at him by his name as he did formerly, had only been akin to the race and he was back at his usual nicknaming for the Megaseadramon.

“Thank you for helping us back there, Mr. Inra.” Katherine and Jazz bowed to Waru team as a whole.
Inra shook his head. “You have nothing to thank me for. I was just making sure the race had the finish we all deserved.” The MegaSeadramon replied with a serious tone of voice. “I hope you keep dreaming and achieving amazing things inside this world.” He added, showing a bit of a smirk to the duo as he and the Betamons made their way back into the sea.

“Liquid…” Katherine’s green eyes went to the dragon, shyly. “You don’t… need the gem, right?”
The Weatherdramon tilted his head, a bit confused at first. “Oh. That thing? Nah. I have no interest in it. You can keep it.” He leisurely replied.

“Hey, Beer Flag! We’re going back to the jungle! Are you coming?” Caesar buzzed from the entrance of the Coliseum, next to him, the group could spot Leo, Tyrus, and Blossomon.

Did Kath like the idea of walking along the insect digimon? Of course she didn’t. Not even a bit. But it was probably a good idea to have some company right now, considering the duo was still wary of that Valkyrimon.

“I will… caught up with you in a minute.” Liquid’s eyes scanned the scene once again. “Go ahead!” The dragon exclaimed to both Katherine and Jazz as he floated towards Deep Sea Team.

He approached Marie, the two humans, and their Swimmon as they made their way out of the arena.

“H-Hi there…” He started. What was the right way to do this? “Your name is Sekai, isn’t it?” The dragon asked, this time addressing the human girl specifically.

“Maybe this is a bit weird of me to ask but… Do I know you? To be honest, at first I tried to make myself think I was imaging things, but now that I’m seeing you again, I can’t stop thinking you’re someone I knew from when I was a Gigimon.”

Would this be enough to clear out the air?

Before merging with the group that would accompany them back to the jungle, Katherine took a moment to slid the t-shirt she had put inside her backpack before the race started. Her shorts were still soaked from Ebidramon dragging her into the water before but that would have to wait. She had left some clothes back at the hut, after all. Just now, she was starting to realize how hungry she was! She better cocked something once they got back at Liquid’s.

Speaking of Liquid...

“What do you think he’s going to do?” Jazz asked her tamer, while the curly-haired girl accommodated her backpack once again and started making her way towards the exit.

“I think it’s related to that girl she was staring at before the race started. The one who was part of Marie's team. It seemed like he knew her.”

And, as a matter of fact, not even Liquid knew if he knew this girl or not at the moment.

“T-Thank you.” The dragon scratched a side of his face, showing a faint smile. “I watched some of the recaps they showed on the screens before the ceremony. That Aegisdramon looked amazing! Was that Marie’s evolved form or…?” The Weatherdramon’s eyes went to the Swinmon, who kept making his way to the exit.

“Yes, we did meet. She’s nice.” He stated. Seeing the Terriermon actually belonged to another team had been kind of a shock for him. A shock that had been eclipsed by the bigger shock this girl’s appearance had been.

And it seemed bigger shocks were at the order of the day. Sekai was saying something that was equally astonishing and… absurd.

“Your… mom?” Liquid asked, moving his lips slowly. What did that even mean? “But... that can’t be.” He noted. The human group from where he recognized this girl had been with him only around six years ago. How could that girl have had a child during that time, if she was around 12 the last time he saw her? It was true he didn’t know a lot about how humans worked but…

“Sure!” There was only one way to actually find out how much nonsense was behind what this girl was saying. “I will definitely go!” And that way was going to see it with his own eyes.

“But… I don’t get it. Where is she now?” 

He blinked twice, a bit confused.

During all of Sekai’s story Liquid just remained quiet. He occasionally nodded when the human looked for reaffirmation In him, but he didn’t say anything else in essence. Not until she was completely done.

“No… it’s… not a burden.” The Weatherdramon shook his head. He seemed pensive, troubled, and a bit sad, even.

“I remember installing the prototype that opened portals for traveling between this world and the Human World for Youko and the rest of the group. At that time, I believe the digi-ports weren’t widely known yet, so I called some guy in Terminus who was working in this new technology. I asked him to send me the blueprints and I modified her digivice myself.” This was something he had told Katherine and the rest before. However, it was something Sekai could not be aware of. “Maybe the fact it was barely a prototype made it malfunction and brought her to find this Parallelmon? I… honestly don’t know.” It was very likely Sekai was not even close to knowing if this assumption was even remotely close to the truth. Still, Liquid felt that, if he could contribute with any kind of information, he should do it.

If Sekai's mom had told her daughter about this, it meant Liquid had somehow remained engraved in her memory, even after forty years.

"Being an awful person isn't something you grow into”

Amelie’s words echoed inside the dragon’s head. If that was the case… could a human grow into being a good person? There was so much he didn’t know about humans. There was so much to discover about this world… and now even other worlds!

“I remember thinking this traveling between dimensions and opening portals sounded very interesting. At the moment, I remember I was very curious about going with Kouta, one of your mother’s friends, to the Human World. Since I had to keep working on my boat, I never could. Once he left, I tried to keep myself away from anything related to him, so I simply forgot about it.” The former candle made a pause, thinking. “Now that I have accomplished my main goal in life… I think I know what I want to do.”

The sky in Whitewater was as clear as Liquid’s convictions. “If I stay in this world, I probably can unfold the secrets behind digimon’s evolution. If I go to the Human World, I might discover if humans can actually evolve. So I’m going to go even beyond. I’ll try to know every world there is to be known and see how different types of beings from every dimension can become better.”

Who knew, maybe a bit of Katherine and Jazz's undying curiosity had been contagious. In any case, he was talking too much, right?

“I-I’m sorry… I got over-excited.” He showed an apologetic smile at the human. “Thanks for clearing things up for me. I really needed that.” He made a pause, looking at the girl. “I think the rest of your teammates might be waiting for you.” Was either Marie or Swinmon her digimon partner? How had she met Makoto, being from another world? There was a lot he wanted to ask this girl, but he had his own team waiting for him.

“Would you… be okay with exchanging our D-Terminal contact info? Being someone who came from another dimension, I might want to ask you some stuff further on.” Liquid asked, shyly. “I-I mean! I won’t bother you or anything, I swear, but if you don’t want to, that’s fine, too!”

Once everything was said and done there and whether he had gotten Sekai’s contact info or not, Liquid would go back to his hut. Other than Katherine trying to cook something at the kitchen and Jazz napping, what would he find there? The first thing he would do, of course, was checking on Amy.

The conversation with Sekai had gone even better than expected. Liquid had not only managed to clear any doubt regarding the girl's identity but had also found a new goal for him to chase. And even someone who could have some interest in that goat, at that. Naturally, the time to focus on this would arrive once he had rested and possibly celebrated Beer Flag Team's victory.

Having this in mind, Liquid had returned to the shack. After saying hi to both Katherine and Ooi, the dragon immediately headed upstairs to take a look on Amelie, only to find Jazz peacefully sleeping by her side, on the same bed. This race had not only forged a friendship between a lonely digimon and the girls; the rest of the members had also bonded in the process, and that much was clear.

The rest of the day went by at peace. Garmore arrived at noon and everyone awake had lunch in the living room. Liquid took the time to tell them about the conversation he had with Sekai, explaining all of the mysteries surrounding her appearance.

Of course, a fair share of the conversation was about the race, what had transpired inside the Binary Archipelago and the outcome. Garmore questioned Katherine about the digimon who approached the girls after the race so she and Jazz decided to tell the group everything about the Zoid Gems. Regarding this topic, it seemed like Garmore had something to say but he decided to keep it to himself, for now.

The rest of their little chat was about Liquid feeling unable to go back to his Candlemon form. Garmore explained that, for some digimon who evolved naturally, it could take them some time to go back to the form they had before. He did say, however, that it would definitely happen at some point.

After lunch, Katherine and Liquid took their own nap, only to wake up to the sound of some very cheerful music. 'Curls' opened her eyes, realizing it was dark outside already. She took some steps towards the window of the room. Her green eyes quickly caught sight of Garmore, Inra along his team (two Betamons), the Yamnamons and Jazz reunited near the lake, around a bonfire and the same old radio that was always at Liquid's kitchen.

"Hey, miss!" Garmore waved at the girl from down below. Everyone else turned to see her, waving too. "You wouldn't think we were going to let you go without having a celebration for Beer Flag's victory, right?" The shipwright placed both hands around his waist and laughed effusively, with his characteristic type of laugh. 

Next to the pond, a table topped with all kinds of food and drinks could be seen. Jazz seemed to be accommodating everything and setting up the place.

Katherine woke Liquid up and they both headed downstairs. The ambient around the pond was... very nice. Even if it was a simple celebration, everything seemed in harmony! Garmore and Inra were telling Leo stories about past editions of the race that happened way before he had even been born while Tyrus and Caesar were telling Jazz how impressed they were when she swung that hammer and sent everyone forward. It was peaceful, entertaining and... victorious. It was a way of showing they had, in fact, won the race.

Liquid rushed to join his master and Inra to hear some of those stories, while Katherine just headed to the table to serve herself a shiny, green-colored substance. She stared at it for some seconds while she poured it in a jar. Was it even safe to drink this? Garmore seemed to be having it but... he seemed like he liked alcohol, so could this be...?

In any case, Katherine's green eyes scanned her surroundings. Would she find Ooi somewhere in this little celebration? It would make sense if Amy was still sleeping but, in all honesty, the teenager had gone down too quickly to even notice if her friend was still at the bedroom.