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

Maybe it was somewhat tied to her Latin inheritance or maybe it had something to do with being used to living in countries where at certain times of the year you just had to show some skin in your daily clothing to not die from heat; whatever was the case, it was a good thing that one of the few aspects Katherine wasn’t utterly shy about was showing her body, because the height that her blouse reached after having one of the new Amelie’s tendrils wrapped around her waist was almost not safe for work. –Wait, Amy… -The girl could only mutter, before realizing it was kind of useless. Well, in any case, she didn’t have much to worry about: the only two beings around were a giant creature that was actually blind and her best friend and digimon partner, so she decided to let that pass.

Either she decided it or was too occupied freaking out due to the voice that echoed inside her head. The girl’s eyes widened just as she felt an actual presence inside her brain, like somebody else’s thoughts had invaded hers. It wasn’t Amelie’s voice, but one with a much darker and deeper tone; yet still Katherine could feel it was her friend speaking, it was easy to tell since she had the exact same way of expressing herself, even though it was still hard to believe her friend was inside of that digimon.

-A-Amy!? –The girl thought, trying to get some kind of answer from the creature. –Why are you inside my head? What is this? –It was scary, no doubt, but it also had its touch of fascinating. –Well, I actually haven’t thought of that and it wasn’t something that scared me or anything… until you brought it up. –Lowering her gaze for a second, the landscape seemed honestly really scary; she really didn’t want to fell over any of those bony plates. –T-Thank you. –Still trying to communicate with her friend, the girl tried to release one more thought. –How are you feeling? Are you too tired or…? "Nursing me back to health, huh? ... I'd definitely feel a bit flattered" –Once again, the girl’s eyes just widened, this time her cheeks acquiring a soft pink color. Just asking Amy if she was tired had brought to her head the brunette’s response when she said she could take care of her if she ended up exhausted, which of course, was a logical train of thought, but also kind of embarrassing. –I’m sorry, that… just came to my head. This is crazy! I need to remain concentrated so any of my thoughts doesn’t escape through here, and it’s actually really hard.

-Kath, are you okay? –Back to the real world, her partner was kind of worried just seeing the girl kind of paralyzed being held by Amelie’s tendrils.
-Y-Yes! –There would be time later to explain to the bunny that ‘Shisei’ was inside her head. –Go ahead, Jazz, throw another one.

Since she couldn’t be too precautious about these things, the bunny started by attacking to the creature’s left side, where she was sure that, even if the shield failed, it wouldn’t hit her tamer. Luckily, this wasn’t necessary, because it worked again! If the shield could protect one more person inside the field, then she couldn’t see any reason why it wouldn’t protect four or five. That was excellent, they seemed to have gotten a very good shield for their boat.

"When somebody's constantly withdrawing information from you, it usually means they don't trust you, you know"

Without her noticing, that same recurring thought about what Amy had said last night went through Katherine’s head again, pretty much as it had been doing it during the whole morning.

-I’m not being straightforward. I am not different. –Being so busy trying to focus on the work at hand, the girl kind of ‘let go’ these thoughts without noticing; just like when you hit ‘send’ and select the wrong phone number.

-Now, don’t stop, Jazz. Keep going! –Now it was time to actually see how much this thing could withstand.

After only four or five more attacks coming from the moose, two things raised the teenager’s attention: first, she noticed how when the ‘slashes of energy’ exploded, during the brief moment that allowed her to actually see the shield protecting them; she could notice it had acquired some sort of a bright red color, completely different to the orange-like tone it had shown earlier. The second thing, which she felt was probably related to this, was that something was starting to burn around her thigh; which she could only assume was the small device that she had put at the pocket of her pink shorts before climbing into Amy.

- Amy…! I need… -The girl moved her right wrist, trying to indicate that she needed her arm to look for something. Once Amelie had released of that hand, the girl would grab the gadget at her pocket. –Jazz, stop for a second. –She ordered, her partner obeying immediately. –I think this thing overheated. –Instinctively, the girl pressed the red button, to try to turn it off. A fraction of the shield right in front of her glowed in a white light, to then shot a beam of energy straight at Jazz. –What the…? –The Moosemon jumped just in time out of the way of the beam, and immediately went back to her Lopmon form to avoid this blast catching any part of her body; the shot completely destroyed the ice platform she was previously standing on as the bunny fell to the water.

-Jazz! Are you alright? –Sort of scared, Katherine could only yell at her partner, while she turned her head to a side to protect her eyes from the very small pieces of shattered ice that blew her way. Around thirty seconds of silence ensued, until the bunny came out of the water, just when the curly haired girl was about to yell again. –Are you okay!? Don’t scare me like that.

-Don’t worry, the thing didn’t get me but… -The bunny shook her head, dismissing any preoccupation from her peer, but still wanting to say something else.
-What was that? It was like the shield counterattacked when I pushed this button. -Apparently, their new acquisition could suffer from overheating, but it also could release the energy it had gathered against the enemy. There was no denying this was definitely some very impressing piece of work.
-… There’s something odd at the bottom of the lake. It’s like… a box or something! I’m not sure, it’s too deep and I can’t reach it. –Not paying much attention to Katherine's comment and deciding to leave that odd experience with the shield behind, for now, Jazz continued explaining what she had discovered during her time underwater.
-A… box? –Katherine then tried to focus and send a message at Amelie again. 

-Listen… Jazz says there’s something at the bottom of the lake, could you try to move your tendrils around to see if you can reach it? After that, please go back to being Amy okay? I kind of miss you. -The only thing left was hoping her friend received the message, for now, the testing was over.

No way of denying Amelie’s evolved form was full of surprises. –Our minds are… connected? –Not having much time to react to this, Katherine’s face turned completely red as soon as she heard the next comment. –O-Of course I don’t have any of those! –The girl immediately let go as a thought. Evolved or not, Amelie definitely had the ability to fluster the green-eyed both with her comments, her actions, or in this case, her thoughts.


Just sitting at the edge of the lake, Katherine observed how her friend’s evolved form slowly placed a fairly big rectangular-shaped object on the ground, to then go back being a brunette of beautiful blue eyes who, to be honest, did seem a bit tired, but not completely worn out, at least. The fact of witnessing Amelie evolving and becoming a giant creature with very intriguing abilities had been even more interesting for Katherine and Jazz than testing the multiple abilities the pendant her French peer was holding in her right hand had shown to have, and that was saying a lot.

While she waited for her friend to reincorporate, Katherine recapped everything that had just happened in her head: the first thing she did was unavoidably giggle at her friend’s remarks about ‘standing there and looking pretty’ to then address her in a teasing manner. –So that’s your definition of pretty? -Amelie was probably a lot of stuff, but definitely not a pushover; as far as Katherine concerned, she was simply awesome.

-That was amazing, Shisei! –And apparently as far as Jazz concerned too. The bunny had jumped over the object put on the ground by Amelie straight into the girl, giving her as much of a hug as she could, with both arms and ears. –You looked so cool and powerful and I had so much fun throwing techniques at you! –Just giggling at this display of total admiration from her partner, Katherine then winked at Amy, a grin on her face. –I owe you some tucking in and a bedtime story because that was incredible. –Of course, the amazingness of her endeavor wasn’t the condition on Katherine taking care of her, but Amy sure would understand what she meant. –And you too, Jazz. You both have done a lot for this team. –Staring at the pendant in Amelie’s grip, the girl continued. –I think we are a couple of steps closer to winning that race; even though I still have a lot to work on regarding that thing. –Taking a leap back from Amy’s head towards her tamer for her to hug her too, Jazz just smiled and nodded with determination. It was easy to see how seeing new and exciting things always put Jazz in a good mood.

-So seven meters, huh? –The teenager stood up, extending a hand to Amelie to help her put herself on her feet, while Jazz hopped to the ground and walked towards their finding. –How was it the first time you became something like that? Was it scary for you? I tried to scan you with my digivice but… -Frowning, Katherine took out her D-Terminal out of her backpack, next to her, as well as the digivice out of her pocket. –I just couldn’t. –A brief silence ensued, until the girl raised the first device towards her friend, showing the screen where the white digimental she previously had on a physical format could be seen. –I did as you told me! I managed to merge it with my D-Terminal; it wasn’t that hard. Now I even can see it’s called ‘Digimental of Support’, apparently. –Storing the ‘egg’ inside had finally allowed her to know the name of the item; she just had to get it close to the gadget and it just sort of ‘absorbed it’ -Even though you did mention they can be stored inside a digivice too, right?

-What is this thing? –The bunny’s voice caught Katherine’s attention, as she turned to see her partner staring at the ‘box’ they had pulled out of the water. While she walked towards the thing, she could actually take a look better at it and see it was some sort of chest around Jazz’s height; and even though the bunny was trying to open it with both hands, it seemed to have some sort of lock. The digimon’s solution towards this matter? Hitting the simple padlock with her middle horn; being the most surprising thing that it actually worked. –Treasure!? –Jazz muttered childishly while she opened the trunk.

-I think you’re setting your hopes too high. –Quirking an eyebrow at her partner, the girl then turned her looks to the insides of the chest, to see its content; which wasn’t very easy, considering Jazz had tried to reach for whatever was inside of it and had fallen inside the thing due to her tiny size. Surprisingly, the insides of the container seemed to be completely dry. The bunny then came out, frowning a very confused expression and holding some squared pieces of paper, that upon taking a better look of Katherine realized were photographs. A camera was taken out too, as well as some sort of oddly shaped dolls, plushies, and small pillows; definitely not a treasure. –What could something like this be doing at the bottom of the lake? –The girl just held the dolls as she spoke, they seemed like action figures a kid would own, they were very colorful and child-like. All of these things seemed to come straight from the human world, including the camera. Katherine just kneeled in front of the chest to study each item.

–Kath… -A very startled Jazz extended her small arm towards the curly haired girl, holding the photographs, which she seemed to have skimmed through already. As Katherine started browsing through them with Amy next to her, she could see images of a group of kids with what seemed to be digimons. 6 children in total, who seemed like around eight or nine years old, each of them holding a small creature. At most pics, a ginger-haired boy was always at the front of the group, usually taking the pictures while holding a small, dragon-like digimon, who seemed really cheerful too. –That’s a Gigimon, I’ve seen some of those, they are in-training digimon, the stage that comes right before rookie level. –Jazz explained for her partner, while her tamer kept going through the photographs. There was no doubt: the dock, the beds, the kitchen; these photos had been taken inside the small shack next to them. As she saw them, a confused expression made its way towards Katherine's face, until she saw the last one. –It can’t be… -She muttered, showing it to Amelie.

This time, it was just the redhead smiling, no other kids around. Katherine raised her view off the picture and looked around, actually corroborating it had been taken right where they were sitting at, in front of the lake. Next to the kid, who was holding a digivice, a smiling Candlemon could be seen.

–No chance this is just a coincidence, right? –Katherine asked in a sad tone, knowing the answer already.

There was no doubt that Amelie’s evolutionary stages were extremely eye-catching for a sort of ‘newbie’ at the Digital World such as Katherine, but when they were analyzed under a scientific approach, they became even more interesting. –That’s incredible, having to ‘turn on’ your organs for them to start performing functions you previously didn’t need. I can’t even imagine how that feels, but sounds pretty rough. –It was a good thing Amelie couldn’t read her thoughts anymore because now the girl was really considering the ‘fishy experiments’ endeavor; except this time on Amelie’s digimon forms, just imagining how much stuff she could learn from a deep analysis on those creatures made her shake of excitement. –The fact that I don't have to perform CPR on you is actually a good thing because I don’t know if I would be able to, I would be so nervous! 

Leaving awful thoughts about stuff that didn’t happen behind, the girl giggled at her friend’s remark. –I’ve got plenty of amazing stories, I think, none involving my life in the human world, though, that one was sort of boring. –Fun anecdotes about the things she had done after she arrived the Digital World were more easy to find, no doubt. –Even though I don’t know how much amusing could those be for someone who has spent so much time inside this world; you probably have done much more fun stuff than me, anyway! –Katherine wouldn’t want to sleep on those stories, though, she would probably be too entertained for that, curious to hear how they end.

-If trying to have some type of synergy with your partner while they fight, is very hard to achieve, I can only imagine how hard it must be to actually do the fighting yourself, while your body changes into something that… powerful and different. –And even if they hadn’t seen Amelie’s perfect form do any kind of attack, it wasn’t hard to imagine she must be pretty strong, with that size. –If all of your forms are around that size, then there’s no way we can fit you in our boat! So you’re going to have to stay back and defend us from evil looking crabs, and octopus and… slimes in a trash can? We’re counting on you! –A genuine smile was drawn in Katherine’s face; she couldn’t deny she was very excited to be on open sea competing already.

Taking a glance at her digivice, Katherine frowned. –Foreign data, huh? Well… I suppose they have a name, right? What’s that big guy’s name? –One day, she wanted to put her green eyes on every other form Amelie could reach for sure. –I’m anxious to see them all sometime. –And study them under fishy experiments too, but she wasn’t about to say that right now.

-Quality? Do you think I got that digimental because I’ve got that… Quality? –Katherine blushed a little just at the thought of this. It was the first time she considered the fact of her getting that egg was related to any kind of trait she had shown. -That makes sense. –Her arms crossed, Jazz nodded upon hearing this. –You did show a lot of support for Alraumon back in Terabyte Mountain.

-But you’re the one who did the yelling and got angry! Rawr! –The curly haired girl teasing grin was back. –S-Shut up! –Taking both hands to her cheek, Jazz face turned red as an apple. The Lopmon was definitely a fierce opponent, once she was committed to something, she would fight until the end for what she believed in, and that made Katherine very proud.

After at least taking a peek at everything the chest contained, more questions than answers seemed to be on the table. –Previous… life? –Tilting her head, Katherine just stared at Amelie, as she heard her utter these words. –What do you mean?
-I think she’s talking about reincarnation. Remember I mentioned how when a digimon dies their data goes back to the Village of the Beginnings in the form of a Digiegg? It could be that Liquid had died, and we’re looking at pictures of a previous Liquid. –Jazz explained, with that matter-of-fact tone she loved using; since she very rarely had the chance of explaining stuff and looking smart.
-Do you think that’s the case? –Something seemed off about this to Katherine, no doubt.
-I don’t think so. When you are born again you’re supposed to forget everything about your past life, so it wouldn’t make sense for him to come back exactly to the place he once lived. -The bunny kept looking at one of the pictures as she spoke. –Haven’t you thought Liquid acts… weird? Like he is always hiding information from the group, like he doesn’t entirely trust us

-So you have noticed too, huh? –Assuming her partner hadn’t actually observed this kind of attitude on the candle was actually underestimating her. –But… we weren’t supposed to find this, were we? We can't just come with this chest and question him about it. –The whole matter made Katherine very sad, undeniably. Was it really a good idea to form a team with a digimon that didn’t trust them and they couldn’t trust either?

-I know the possibility of a Zoid Gem is involved but… Are we really using Liquid to succeed? I thought our main goal was to help him win, to help him fulfill his dream. –Jazz’s dark brown eyes were fixed right on Katherine.
-Of course not! We’re not using him... It’s just… -Finding the words that explained why she wanted to stay out of this wasn’t hard, the hard part was uttering them.
-Then we can’t team up with him if we don’t even trust him and he doesn’t trust us back, it makes no sense. I also think we should get this back into the bottom of the lake, but I think Liquid is going through something harder than we can imagine, and we need to somehow discover what this is. He must have a reason to act the way he does. We can’t simply forget about what we saw. -Trying to recall at the top of her head, the teenager couldn't remember a time she had seen Jazz this determined about something.

 For the first time, Katherine experienced how being proud of someone but at the same time having to disagree with them felt. –I… don’t know.
-You don’t know? –Dissapointement, that was the only thing that could be found inside the Lopmon’s eyes. –Then explain to me why am I here. –A brief silence ensued. –Because you’re making me feel like I didn’t take the right decision. –The bunny walked away, back into the shack.

Letting go a big sigh, Katherine just lowered her gaze, sitting with her knees facing the sky. She felt sad, frustrated and stupid. She was failing her digimon partner and herself.

All of these topics regarding Katherine’s first kiss, Jazz’s other forms and that slumber party where the three of them could share stories about their adventures inside the Digital World would have to be delayed, for now. Everything that had transpired just some seconds ago had the curly haired visually unsettled.

Without uttering a single word, Katherine just listened to Amelie’s words carefully, trying to silence her internal train of thoughts going crazy inside her head to actually pay attention to her. This wasn’t about who was right regarding this whole matter, the green-eyed had no doubt that she was the one who wasn’t, not even because she didn’t want to, but because she felt like she couldn’t. It was intrinsically part of Katherine to not open herself to other people, afraid that they might judge her or question her way of being; the girl never lied to herself, she knew she was socially awkward and probably most people would get tired of spending time with her due to her shyness and her recurring difficulties to make friends.

After listening to the first part of what Amelie had to say, Katherine broke the silence with a sad tone on her voice. –Don’t you think that… sometimes people act the way they do because they have gone through stuff to make them act that way? –Was she talking about Liquid or herself? Probably both. –I’m sorry, but I’m not like you, Amy. If I were in your spot right now, it is true that I still would try to fulfill my promise, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing it along someone I feel I can’t trust; Jazz knows how I am, she knows I wouldn’t turn my back on Liquid’s problems just to finish the race and get done with it. She knows I would try to understand Liquid, and find the way to compete in this race as a team, where at least she and I can trust every other member. –The truth was; Jazz knew this because it was a concept that she had just recently learned. –I taught her this, and that’s why she thinks I’m failing my own beliefs. –And she wasn’t the only one who thought so, in all honesty.

Silence engulfed the front of the lake after the blue-eyed girl uttered her question. It had been a while since Katherine’s head wasn’t so filled with all kinds of forms of introspection in such a short time, probably since her talk with Talia back at the Human World. The girl managed to over-analyze so much stuff in such a brief amount of time that, later, with a cold head, it would come as amazing to even herself. Just a second before it seemed like Katherine wasn’t going to reply, she extended her left hand to grab Amelie’s, making sure she wouldn’t go anywhere. –I am! –She said, effusively. –I am… -An inevitable reaffirmation came right after. No use in keep trying to get away from it, it was time to open that door. A door that she might not be able to close later on. –The reason why I didn’t want to get involved in all of this was that I felt Liquid and I are not that different; I’m always hiding stuff from people because I’m afraid that, when they know how I really am, they will reject me and leave me to the side. That’s why I felt so sad when you told me that I was not like him last night. –Tightening the grip on her peer’s hand, the girl let go a sad chuckle, like mocking herself. –Of course I hadn’t had my first kiss, and of course I am not used to people hugging me or getting close to me. And that’s because… you’re actually the first person ever that has referred to me as a friend, Amy. That’s why it is so hard for me to open up, or to not be extremely awkward sometimes. –Still, with her eyes fixed on the ground, the girl let go a sigh. –But I promise It's going to be different this time. I don’t want to lose you, or… Jazz. –Her mind went back to everything that had just happened regarding her best friend, she needed to make things right, soon.

-But… I need you to help me, Amy. –She needed all the help she could get right now. –I know you’re okay with going on with this without knowing anything about Liquid, just to fulfill your promise; but Jazz and the real me aren’t like that, if we can’t feel like we trust him, if we can’t feel like we did everything to know his motives and really understand why he acts the way he does, then this whole race is pointless to us. –That was the truth, and nothing but the truth. The only way to get some sort of fulfillment out of this race, wasn’t helping Liquid win, wasn’t getting the gem, it was actually getting to the bottom of the candle’s course of action, that’s just who they were, and she wasn’t going to hide that anymore, Katherine had to trust Amelie, trust that she could help her with this. –I know you don’t care about him and I know you don’t need to know his motives. But I’m not sure if I can do this alone, and I’m afraid I can lose Jazz’s trust by trying on myself. –Maybe for someone else, this could sound simple or stupid, but inside the girl's head, she was asking for a lot; asking Amelie to stay by her side while she tried to understand a digimon the French girl didn’t care about in the slightest. Nevertheless, being because of desperation or naivety, she was still going to try. –So don’t do it for Liquid, but could you do it… for me?

---

Right at the spot where the roller skates had stop initially (before being jutted into the wall), some sort of black substance could be seen; after hopping to the place, Liquid would study this, immediately noticing it was of a pitch black color, concluding it had to be Oily Fruit juice. –If this is not getting mixed all too well… -He muttered in a low tone. It seemed like he had discovered this was the ingredient causing the engine to malfunction, so that meant the Metal Banana was one of the ingredients required for the nitro mixture.

He then raised his gaze as Ooi was addressing him, only to be sort of startled at the device she was holding. –W-Where did you find that? –He immediately asked, his eyes wide open. At first, the candle just remained silent, looking at the gadget; all kinds of memories going through his head. The hard days of work at those exact same docks, the sleepless nights coming out with new ideas for the fuel the boat would use, and even that afternoon when he found them. Did it make sense to hide this stuff from the people who not only had vowed to help him but also had demonstrated they were up for the task? He couldn’t actually tell they were different, but they were still there, weren’t they? They were still giving their best for the team to succeed.

-Why are you hiding stuff from us, Liquid? –Jazz’s voice startled the candle at first, making him go back from memory lane. She had a very serious tone of voice. –Jazz-sis… 
-I am willing to listen to you, I am willing to help you. But I can’t if you don’t talk to us about it. –Clenching a fist, the bunny denoted some frustration. –This team is starting to doubt you, and maybe Shisei and Katherine can go on with it, but I am not going to be part of a team of someone I can’t trust. –A brief silence ensued, while the candle maintained his gaze down, without looking at Jazz. –I am willing to listen to you and your reasons. I believe sometimes digimon do stuff that they shouldn’t when they’re being moved by things no one knows about but themselves. I know this because I acted like that myself before; but I ended up discovering the only way to get actual friends is opening to them, to those people willing to see beyond your actions and understand your motives.

-Are there… really humans like that? –Liquid asked, without really meeting Jazz eye to eye.

No. That wasn’t going to be enough. As soon as Amelie let go from her hug, without over-thinking it, without hesitating, without even taking a fraction of a second to reconsider, Katherine wrapped her arms around her friend, hugging her tighter than ever. Was this like hugging a human friend felt like? For some reason, when she was around Amelie’s arms she felt safe, she felt comfortable, like everything was going to be just fine; she felt like she didn’t have to face anything by herself anymore. This warm feeling was very similar to how it felt when she hugged Jazz, except in a much bigger version, which made her feel protected. –Can I… stay like this… a little longer? –Just now that her feelings had been accepted, her voice was starting to break and her eyes were starting to wrinkle; A part of her felt sad about everything that happened with Jazz, but most of her felt happy, happy to be on Amy’s arms and happy to have a real friend. So were these the tears she had been holding during all of this time? Since Jazz walked away on her, or maybe since that conversation last night, or even maybe since she was a little kid alone at the playground of a new school her parents had forced her to enter after moving yet again into another country. Only then Katherine started to wonder for how long had she been holding this pain inside of her. 

Liquid’s mindset had been selfish, that much was clear, not even for a second could Katherine deny Amelie was right about him, and that she was in her whole right to feel how she felt about the candle. But that didn’t make the curly haired want to re-consider wanting to help him and knowing his motives until the point they could trust each other; and it wasn’t like Amelie was trying to make her change her mind either, she knew it was okay for them to disagree at this matter.

-I respect you. –The girl uttered, still her arms around her friend. A brief silence ensued, just to be broken by some sort of correction. –No, it’s not just that. I admire you, Amy. –Even if they didn’t think the same about some stuff, she still considered the brunette someone worthy of admiration, no doubt on her mind about this. Katherine was perfectly fine with the concept of someone disagreeing with her beliefs, as well as she had no trouble disagreeing with someone, but even further, this was the first time she ever felt the need to express those diverging opinions, mainly because she felt it was the first time the one listening to them, really cared.

More than that, Amelie was not just accepting her feelings and appreciating them, even when Katherine thought she had asked for too much, the girl had agreed on helping her about Liquid. She was willing to go with her through this and at least be by her side while she faced the digimon about his past and supported him the way he needed. For someone as determined, focused and… stubborn as Amelie to agree to go out of her way to help her with this, even when she didn’t really care for Liquid; it could only mean she really cared about Katherine, that she had opened up to her, and while during all this time she really didn’t want to believe this to avoid getting her hopes up and then feeling crushed, now she could actually feel it, she couldn’t deny it, even when she didn’t speak as much as Katherine or she didn’t out any complex feelings, this sole action had proven more than anything the brunette had done so far. –Thank you… -Katherine’s broken, yet soft voice sounded in Amy’s ear, as she tightened her hug, to then let go.

Her blue-eyed peer was right, even though a part of her wanted to remain in that hug a little longer, the priority was speaking to Jazz now; there was no time to let her cool off, she needed to set everything straight immediately, take that disappointed look off her face and then go figure a way of speaking with Liquid about all of this, even though it was possible Ooi had already started this endeavor. 

Returning the chest to the water was the right thing to do, after all, it was there for a reason, and they could discover why without really needing it to be out. Katherine just nodded at her friend, staring at her blue eyes. –Please, I’ll be waiting for you in there. –A determined look on her face, the girl stood up, took some few tears off her eyes and walked back into the shack.

---

Lowering his gaze, Liquid just listened to Ooi go. A part of him felt really happy that she had risen her voice regarding this, while another one just felt like someone very ungrateful. She was completely right, they had agreed to help him just some minutes after knowing him, and they had stayed truthful to these words, putting all of their effort in building this boat along with him. The reason why he couldn’t open up, the reason why he kept stopping himself from trusting them, was because it had been just like this the last time.

-Ooi is right, we have worked as a team since we met. -Those words from Ooi came exactly when Jazz needed them, she didn't feel capable of keep going with this by herself. -But there is something more, isn’t it? –Even though she couldn’t reveal the reason why she knew this, the chest had shown her Liquid hadn’t always been by himself, he had people by his side before. –Your trusting issues are not about being always alone, but about commitment. –The only way to get him to talk was facing him about this. –You’re afraid of people leaving and forgetting about you, that’s your true fear.

Liquid himself broke the silence that ensued Jazz’s remarks. -How can I be sure it won’t be like that again?

-You can’t. –Liquid’s eyes widened, as he turned towards the bunny, the fire above his head mustering a shocked expression too. –You can’t be sure. And you’re going to be scared to do it again, of course, but if you don’t trust anyone just because of what happened to you in the past, then everyone is just going to keep getting away from you. They are not guilty of the damage other people did to you. –She knew better than anyone about this, but her expression was rather sad, thinking about Katherine. Somehow, Jazz felt like she couldn't keep going with this by herself, she couldn't reason with Liquid feeling the way she felt, she was coming up short and her words weren't reaching him as she wanted.

-The only thing you can do is believing in people again. –Jazz and Liquid turned to see Katherine, standing by the door. -Even though it may be hard, trust that you’ll find friends who will get close to you because of who you are and won’t judge your actions, but will actually care about your motives. –A smile started making her way through Jazz’s face; the Katherine Jasso she knew was back.

As he assimilated these words, Liquid just stared at Katherine, Ooi and Jazz, his eyes wide open. If he was ever going to trust a group again, being human or digimons, this was it, they were the ones. And even though he was scared, he would do this, because that was the only way to move forward.

-I guess it’s time to come clean about everything huh? –The candle mustered some sort of smirk on his face.

---

At the kitchen, after leaving two bags over the table, Garmore heard the whole scene unfold.

-I told you, you can’t run forever, kid. And I think this time, with these girls… you’re in for a surprise. –He muttered to himself, some sort of smile being drawn on his face.

Regarding my mother or father, I never actually got to know then. My first memories are about me wandering around the beaches of Whitewater as a Jyarimon, alone, over 20 years ago. It took me a while to evolve into a Gigimon and I started spending lots of time at a local restaurant of the city, where I got to meet some digimon that gave me food and a roof in exchange of work. It wasn’t fancy, but people were nice to me, and working there was fun. One afternoon, while I worked, I noticed how a lot of people started reuniting around an old TV placed at the bar, the whole place was full, streets all around Whitewater were empty, a huge event was taking place. It was an amazing race, everyone seemed so excited by it as it gathered the mightiest digimon across the Binary Archipelago and the Southern Region; different types of techniques being thrown, digimon swimming at full speed… without really noticing, I watched the whole thing, without moving an inch from the TV, from start to end, it was an action-packed display of strength.

-Wow! So cool!

-And just by an inch, The Beer Flag team, led by Gamore the Builder, beats Waru Team, the team of Sturdy Inra for the fifth year in a row! –Delumon, one of the announcers on the TV, declared. A roar, coming from the audience at the beach and from everyone at the restaurant ensued. Some were sad because they were rooting for Inra, and some other were delighted because they supported Garmore. It didn’t matter, in the end, they were all friends, enjoying a true spectacle; the race brought everyone together, and just by seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces, I felt happy, too.

-This is amazing, Delu! If Garmore manages to beat Inra again the next time, he would have equaled his record as the best competitor of all times! -Ranamon was also at the announcer's table.

-And he has accomplished this without having any aquatic digimon on his team! Using a boat he built by himself!

-That’s the most amazing part no doubt, Delu!

-That was an amazing display! –A Ranamon interviewed Garmore after the awarding ceremony. -What do you say to each and every one of your fans? We’ve heard there’s plenty of digimon who want to be like you.

-Bwahahahahaha! Young digimon around the world: Never give up! –The Nanimon said, raising up a thumb. –Keep fighting for your dreams, never stop on your road to success! Remember: no dream is futile! –He yelled this last phrase effusively, throwing a pretty funny pose. I just giggled, watching the TV. He looked like a pretty cool guy to admire. I wanted to be like that, I wanted to believe in the power of my dreams, I wanted to believe I could do anything I wanted. And from that day I decided I wanted to compete and win the Great Binary Archipelago all out Race.

I don’t know if there's something wrong in my data, as I have never found anyone able to explain this to me, but for me… evolving is really hard, apparently. I was waiting for years for me to evolve, I wanted to become a stronger digimon so I could start working on my dream. As a Gigimon, I decided to leave my work at the restaurant and came to live here inside the jungle, waiting for this to work as a sort of training for me I found this abandoned shack, it looked pretty bad by then, it was almost demolished, but I decided this is where I would live while I trained to become a strong digimon who could participate.

I learned how to swim, how to spit water from my mouth, and even holding my breath for minutes underwater! But for some reason, I just... couldn’t. I couldn’t evolve. Just like this, ten years passed, and it was time for the next edition of the race. There I was, ten years ago, just watching an old TV again in the middle of this abandoned shack, by myself. I just stared at the TV, and watched how the digimon I admired… lost, against Cobra.


-I can’t believe it! The TOXIC team, led by Cobra the Sandiramon had won! –Delumon announced, effusively.

-That Cobra is an amazing swimmer! He has taken everyone by surprise! And he stopped Garmore’s streak! –Everyone was amazed at Cobra’s display, but I wasn’t even a bit disappointed at Garmore, I knew he had given his best.

One day later, the news came out. Cobra had sustained awful injuries during the race and wouldn’t be able to swim ever again; while Garmore… had decided to retire. I dropped the newspaper, shocked by the news, while I walked out of the shack. That exact same day, I took the decision, I didn’t care if I evolved into a great aquatic digimon or if I stayed as a Gigimon forever, I was going to win the next edition of the race, no matter what I did. I decided it was time for me to start taking my own dream seriously!

Just at that moment, a glow by the lake caught my eye, so I turned my body towards it. When the light faded, a red-haired human kid was just sitting there, pretty confused and scared. I had never seen a human, so I didn’t know what it was.

-Hi there. –I guess you could say I’m not the kind to hide upon danger, so I just hopped towards him and greeted him.

His name was Kouta, he was a 10 years old human kid who came from the Human World, apparently after falling on a river or something like that. At first, he was sort of scared of me and thought everything was a dream; which I assume is a normal reaction. I explained to him everything I knew about the Digital World, and he seemed excited to know every inch of it and live great adventures inside. Just hours later, some of his friends appeared, they had jumped into the river to save him, one after another, minutes after he was drowning. I don’t know how that river works, or why did it send them all here, but I ended up with a group of 6 human children inside this shack. Kouta was happy because his friends were here, because at least they could share this world together. They still wanted to go back home, so I agreed to help them find a way of going back home. They asked me while I lived here, so I told them everything about the race. They came up with the idea of building a boat so we could all participate; I remember asking them if they really wanted to help me, telling them this wouldn't be an easy task and it would probably take lots of time, but they all agreed and said that they would help me until the end.

Not long after, that thing appeared; years later I discovered it’s called a digivice, and humans get it once they are bound to a digimon. Kouta and I had been bound, he was my tamer and I was his digimon partner.

I finally had friends, I finally had a team I could rely on. The more time they spent inside this world, the more they wanted to stay; we all had fun playing and laughing together, we loved the time we spent here, inside this shack. We rebuilt the place, built beds, these docks and started working on a boat, all while we spent days around Whitewater, trying to figure out how to get them back to their world, looking for any kind of info. While this happened, they started meeting digimons, and partnering up with them, their digivices started appearing one by one until, after one year, they all had a partner and we had become one great family.

I’m not actually sure about this, but it is possible at that time it wasn’t that common you humans came into this world, and that’s why it took us one more year to discover there was, in fact, a way of them coming back into their world. During that year, every partner for every kid evolved into their child-level, except me. I still felt frustrated, if I was the oldest of them, why couldn’t I evolve? Just why?

We heard there was someone back at Terminus who had some sort of plugins that allowed the digivices to be able to open portals back into the Human World; I sent a message to him, asked him for his blueprints, and managed to modify the kid’s digivices so they could go back. They knew how to come back to this exact same place, and they decided to take their partners with them into the human world.

Kouta asked me to go to the Human World with him, but I told him I couldn’t, I needed to continue working on this boat, I haven’t even found what type of fuel we were going to use, and even though it seemed like we had time, I just thought about working, I didn't want the same thing to happen all over again, with me taking time for granted and not be able to participate at the race. That day, for the first time, I felt doubts if Kouta’s voice, he wasn’t committed to this endeavor anymore, but he still kept coming back from the Human World every now and then to help me with the boat, even though I didn't care about that, at that point, I just wanted to see him, I didn't care if I worked on the boat by myself.

Two years more passed, at first, they were all coming at least once a month to work on the boat, but then… maybe it was their age, maybe they started being interested in other things, but they all started coming less often; until, the only one coming was Kouta, and slowly, I almost went back to being alone again. Kouta explained that his friends didn’t want to keep going with this, that they didn’t feel like keep working on the boat or come play with me at the Digital World, they all took different roads, some of them moved from where they lived at their world and resigned to being tamers, while some others just went to other parts of the Digital World to have their own adventures with their partners.

At least I had Kouta, I thought, but I know it wasn’t the same anymore, he acted different. He was fourteen years old already, and even though we had found the right fuel, there was still a lot to work on, and he was starting to get tired, to get bored, and I could see it in his eyes. I asked him multiple times if something was wrong, and he just said he was bored and tired; so even though I didn’t want to be alone again, even though I felt sad about it, I decided to tell him he didn't have to help me on the boat anymore. I thought he was going to say that he still wanted to come and play with me but... he just agreed.  He opened up a portal with his digivice, left it on the floor and went through it, to never come back.

Could I blame him? We had been living inside this jungle working on that boat for two years, and then he had been coming back again to see me for two years more just because of my dream; sure, we had played and had good times but it was understandable he wanted something else, something I couldn't give to him. But still, that didn’t stop me from feeling devastated. So I just hid everything; the photos, the toys they brought, and kept that digivice, only to remind me that, even though humans can make promises, sometimes they are just not that committed to them, and are not willing to go through with them until the end. That night, just after I got rid of everything, my body started glowing, I was evolving. For a second, I felt happy, I felt like everything was going to be fine… until I became a Candlemon. I assume you know it but, if a Candlemon’s flame on its head ceases to burn, it will die. I had lost my partners, I was alone all over again and I had become a digimon that couldn’t even touch the water.

At first, I got so depressed I stopped working on the boat for months, I just didn’t want to be inside this shack, every corner of it reminded me of them, and how they left. I had nowhere to go, really; whenever I went by the restaurant everyone just looked at me with pity.

-Hey, wasn’t that the Gigimon who wanted to compete at the race?
-Yes, he became a Candlemon. Poor thing.

Those eyes, those eyes of condescendence, I hated those eyes.

One afternoon, during the sunset, I just decided to come to this shack and burn it down, just forget about everything. When I was about to throw a fire technique at it, I heard a voice, someone speaking behind me.

-Yo, kid. –He was a Nanimon, who seemed to be carrying some wood. -Are you going to burn that house down? 'Cause, if you don't need it, I could use that wood –He asked me, a huge smile on his face.
-What… are you doing? –I asked the man, just watching him work so hard.
-I am building a warehouse, I think I will work there as a shipwright and just retire peacefully! Bawwahahaha! –I recognized that laugh immediately, but for some reason, I just didn’t think it was him. –What about you? What do you want to do with your life, kid?
-What do I… want to do?

-Yes! I doubt burning houses is your passion. You have a dream or something of the sorts, right? What is it?
-Well… -I then remembered: my dream, my purpose. Why did I decide to tell him? What kind of fire moved inside of me to make him tell that stranger what my dream was? Up to this day, I don’t know; maybe I just wanted to say it one last time before forgetting about it, maybe it was my digicore who just couldn’t say goodbye to that dream. The truth is, I’m very glad I did. –I want to… Win the Great Binary Archipelago All Out Race. -I said, staring at the ground.
-Huh? That’s crazy! You’re a Candlemon! Aren’t they unable to get wet!? Bwahahahahaha! –I raised my gaze, ready to encounter those same pity eyes.

Instead, he raised his sunglasses, and his eyes were filled with… trust. –Of course, you can make it if you work hard, though. –He added. I was shocked, he was actually looking me in the eyes and telling me I could do it, his words were sincere, I could feel they were!
-B-But… don’t you think it’s a stupid dream?
–The stupidest I heard! –The man answered immediately. –But what is life if you don’t follow a stupid dream once in a while?
-But! Trying to win the race as a Candlemon is something crazy! My dream is… hopeless. –At that moment, I think I had been convinced by the world that I couldn’t do it. But then, he uttered those words
-Hopeless? –A smirk showed in his face, and then he yelled:

NO DREAM IS FUTILE!

I then knew it. It was him, Garmore the Builder, my idol, right in front of me. I just started crying again, right in front of this shack.

He took me as his apprentice, and I guess you know the rest.