MPC 53A: Heat Wave [Solo]

MPC 53A: Heat Wave
MPC Scenario: Ugh, yes, it's meant to be hot in summer, but not this hot right? In both Japan and the Digital World, everyone is sweltering in above average heat. The beaches of Whitewater are crowded, the Tokyo and Terminus power grid is stretched to breaking point, and the snow has even melted away in Snowflake. How do your characters cope in this?
Reward: Posts

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“This should be considered cruel and unusual punishment,” Shouma whined droopily, flopped onto a bed of grass. He had been in the Digital World for all of ten minutes, and he already was hating it. Robert assured him the heat was not natural, but when it was your first impression of the strange computer world inside the public library, it was hard to take him at his word. The only potential positive thing about this “unexpected heat wave” was that everything from here on out would be better by comparison.

That didn’t really make the heat any better though.

Shouma had wedged himself in the grass underneath the shade of a large tree. Every now and again he’d have to shuffle-scoot across the grass in order to get back into the coolest part of the shadow, which had been moving as afternoon dragged on. The skinny tamer would not be surprised if his back was covered in grass stains by the end of the day. But he just couldn’t summon the energy to do much else but wilt.

“Shouuuuma!” the voice was high pitched, and came only seconds before the tubby pink blob leapt from the branch where he had been spying on his tamer, falling down until he landed with a soft thump onto Shouma’s bony chest, legs splayed and teeth bared in a mock grimace. “Toko Attacked!” he cheerfully announced, bobbing up to his little feet and walking across Shouma’s chest until his plump little face was all the scrawny Japanese kid could see. “Did you see it? Did you see it!? That how I’d attack a bad guy who came after you! Except then I’d bite him, really hard!”

The sun and the heat didn’t seem to affect Robert at all, who was just as eager to play as when Shouma had first found him. He was also still equally the protective juggernaut that he had been since Shouma landed, which was to say that he was certain he could defeat anyone who even looked at his tamer sideways, despite being about as dangerous as a well-bred Chihuahua. Shouma seriously hoped that the little digimon would never need to actually fight something, because he didn’t seem big enough to do it. “Robert,” Shouma said, sitting up onto his elbows. This caused the little monster to roll down his chest, until he caught his little fingers in Shouma’s belt, pulling himself back to his feet.

“Robert! Not Robert! Ro-Bear! Like a bear! Rawrg! Get it right, Shouma!” The Tokomon was fiercely assertive about his name, although Shouma hadn’t bothered asking him why he’d chosen a French name, when he wasn’t French at all. Could digimon be French? He didn’t have an accent, at any rate.

“Yes yes, but the dread pirate Roberts just doesn’t have the same ring to it,” Shouma absently patted the digimon on his head, sitting up fully and crossing his legs so Robert could curl up in them. Even in the heat, and even if his shirt had been discarded at the base of the tree, Shouma wore his pants. He was regretting it by the hour, since his legs were way too hot, but he refused to have to stare at his bony, knobbly legs and be miserable all day. That truly would be cruel and unusual punishment. “But Robert, there has got to be a way to keep cool in this heat. Does the Digital World have like, fans? Or even like, a lake?”

“Oh of course it has lakes and fans! But those are all very far from us, and the digimon get kind of scary. So I don’t think we should go there…” Tokomon was worse than his parents. Seriously. The over-protective gig would get old really fast. Not like Shouma was helpless or anything. Arguably, he could fight better than the squishy little digital blob. Still, he felt like humoring Robert was better than fighting him. So he sighed, but didn’t object. The little creature was more perceptive than he appeared, however, because then it added, “But I have an idea! Promise me you’ll stay right here, okay?”

Without waiting for a reply, it hopped out of Shouma’s lap and waddled over to the tree, where the tamer’s discarding clothing was waiting. Then he scooped up Shouma’s shirt in his mouth and bounded off into the brush.

“Tokomon! Robert! That’s my-“ Shouma called after the digimon, suddenly feeling very exposed now that his shirt wasn’t within easy reach, “-oh nevermind…” Shouma admitted defeat and flopped back onto the grass, arms and legs spread eagle as the sun warmed his skin.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he must’ve dozed off at some point because the next thing he could recall was the sensation of something cold and wet being dropped onto his face. At first he panicked, thinking he was under attack. Then he saw his strange surroundings that were very much not his bedroom, and panicked a second time, until his mind caught up to the rest of him. Waking up in the Digital World was still an unusual sensation for the Tamer, since he’d never slept anywhere but a comfortable bed in his whole life.

It took him a further second to realize that the wet object was his shirt, now thoroughly soaked. “I see,” he said with a grin, picking up the shirt and ringing it out over his head, enjoying the cool water dripping over his hair and down his face. Then he wrapped it around his neck like one of those chilly sports towels. “That was pretty clever, Robert. But if there’s a big body of water nearby, why did we not go there?”

The tokomon froze as if shot. “Um…well…uh….” Shouma smiled wide as he watched the wheels turn in his digimon’s head. Perhaps the digimon was a little short sighted. But it was young. It would grow smarter with time, surely.

Suffice it to say, the river was a much better place to wait out the heat than the shade of a tree, and after several splash fights and a pair of thoroughly soaked maroon jeans later, Shouma and Robert found a way to beat the heat after all. They played until the sun went down, only then did they cuddle their soaking wet bodies by a fire. Ironically, because they weren’t warm enough.