The bond that transcends reality [Akemi/Amelie/Asher]

    While it had been in the past, Amelie's car traversing through the sky of the Southern Tropics with Asher at the wheel wasn't a novelty by now. Currently, the couple was traveling to the so-called Paradise Island, all the while the brunette explained her boyfriend the circumstances of their small trip; it had been a somewhat sudden invitation, so at least that much was due.

    "And that's how I got the two of them together! Isn't it romantic~? I think they'll make a pretty cute couple." That had been a long speech, and hopefully the redhead wouldn't want to kill himself after hearing such a sappy flurry of not-quite-romantic stratagems. The truth was that Amy had resorted to deceit, lying through her teeth to two of her best friends, and even going as far as to employ willing child labor to accomplish her goal of getting them together. Was that worth it?

    Of course, it was. At least in regards to this situation, in particular, the ends justified the means, and she couldn't but be extremely proud of her handiwork. At least in her mind, she had succeeded after all!

    Whether Akemi or Katherine brought themselves to admit it or not, that was up to debate, but... they were such a pair of awful liars that it wouldn't be extremely hard for them to do so.

    Enough of them for now, however! The couple had some interesting developments to note as well; ever since the double-date, they've decided to formalize their relationship, Asher finally stopping being 'the guy she dated', and now becoming her legitimate boyfriend. It was true that Amelie herself had been the one who had restricted those monikers in the first place, mostly due to how rocky had been their relationship after that date at the nightclub. But, at least for now, she could say that he had risen up to the occasion!

    And that made her very happy; even her expression was brighter than usual and even her tone sounded a bit chipper.

    Currently, the egg that the duo had found in the underground cavern was gingerly cradled Amy's lap. At least for this occasion, she had just decided to eschew most actual clothes, instead opting to don a dark blue bikini, with some red and white details here and there. A sarong of the same color covered her lower body, but that was pretty much it.

    Oh, right! They were arriving! At the distance, it was fairly easy to distinguish the group gathering down below. Two humans and... four? digimon. A strange ensemble for the occasion, even though it was somewhat easy to guess who most of those were. "That's the place. Let's park."

    The whole process wouldn't take long, and soon enough, the couple was setting their feet on the soft, white sand of Paradise Island. After digistructing the car, and if he was okay with it, the brunette would take her boyfriend's hand and lead him to the meeting place. "Hi, everyone!" She greeted, not failing to quirk an eyebrow at the seemingly-out-of-place Ballistamon. "Hope we're in time. Wouldn't want to miss any of the action!"

    This would be pretty complex, so better to just begin with the pleasantries. First, she rose the shared hand a bit. "Everyone, this is Asher." Then, she began to gesture with that same hand to each of them. "And these are Akemi, Anzu, Jazz, Katherine, Nei and... mystery Ballistamon, I guess!"

    Yet, that wasn't everything! Around her other arm, there was the egg. Tightly, yet carefully carried by the girl. "Oh, and this is our kid. Surprise!"

There was something about a happy Nei that never failed to bring joy to Katherine’s eyes. He was so cute when that coy smile appeared under his skull! Katherine wanted to just hug him! But she refrained from it. She didn’t want to embarrass him.

“Anzu.” Both Katherine and Jazz showed a smile to the Tsukaimon, the latter saying her name more effusively. Did she actually know what she was in for the day? Katherine could guess she did, but… maybe she didn't?

In any case, both the tamer and digimon had half of their best friends ever at the beach now, and that was a reason to be happy.

“Hi there, Kemi.” That was odd. When did Jazz start calling her like that? Hopefully, she wouldn't say something awkward like… “… I hope you’re fine with me calling you like that now that you and Jasso…” …Damn it.

“No!” Katherine stomped on the Chohakkaimon’s foot. Of course, that wouldn’t actually hurt her but… it would be enough for her to shush. Jazz placed both hands on her mouth, showing she understood she had done wrong.

… Keeping this secret was not going to be easy, was it?

“H-Hi.” Katherine shifted her gaze from her partner to Akemi, blushing a bit. She got closer and pulled her friend for a hug. Being that close made her feel she wanted to do something more... but she wouldn’t. Not now.

Nei and Bastian didn’t seem to pay much attention to this small scene. Even if the Tapirmon was probably more than aware of the girl’s feelings for each other. In any case, it didn’t take him long to float towards Akemi and say hi to her. He needed some love from the shorter human of the pair too!

“We just got here. Don’t worry.” Jazz dismissed Akemi’s question without trouble.
“So that’s… Anzu.” Bastian let that comment escape, looking at the Tsukaimon. That made Katherine realize introductions were more than needed. However, she would notice her other best friend in the world was arriving now too!

It wasn’t quite the first time Katherine saw Amelie’s flying vehicle. It still didn’t cease to amaze her. Upon taking a look at the figures coming out of the car, a smile appeared on the girl's face. So she had actually brought that person! That was great.

Once Amelie was done introducing the redhead to the group, Katherine let out a sigh. “I really would like to get a last name…” She muttered, looking elsewhere. Why did people always want to use their first name with her when she had a lot of trouble calling people by those? Ugh.

In any case, something else had caught Jazz’s attention. The pig girl had walked to give Amelie a hug, but had stopped midway.

“Kid!?” The Chohakkaimon took a couple of steps back, pointing at the black egg. Her pointy finger was redirected to Katherine right after. “Jasso!” She yelled, characteristically extending the last vowel.
“W-Why are you pointing at me!?” The teenager asked, quirking an eyebrow, and turning her head towards the pig-girl too.

“You didn’t tell me humans could have Digitamas! That didn’t appear on that biology book you gave me!” Jazz sounded completely accusative in her statement. And she was dead serious!
“B-Because they can’t!” Katherine replied, sounding pretty confident. However… “… Right?” Her green eyes drifted towards Amy. What!? She was known for doing pretty weird stuff. And she could actually turn into a digimon so… No, that couldn’t be it, right?

In any case! Where were their manners?

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Katherine bowed to Asher. Jazz, as usual, did the same. “Yes.” She added to this, nodding repeatedly.
“Nice to meet you; Misu, Shinshi.” Bastian also bowed to Amelie and Asher respectfully.

“Right.” Katherine undid her bow to introduce Bastian to the whole group. After all, even if Akemi had heard a lot about him, even she and Anzu hadn’t properly met him. “Everyone, this is Bastian.” She decided to provide some insight about the Ballistamon. “Akemi and I met his best friend Paul when we met in a restaurant back in Shibuya.” Katherine’s green eyes went to Akemi for a second, before she kept going. ”Bastian is my friend, and he’s going to help us get into the Dark Army’s hideout to recover the gems. Jazz and I have been working with him.” Now, to Amelie. "You know I partly agreed to join the Deeplane City Council to look for him, right? Well, I finally found him."

It was likely Asher didn’t understand much of this. However, Akemi and Amelie were more than aware of the whole matter regarding the Zoid Gems. In any case, it wasn’t necessary to say much more, for now, right?

“Hello, everyone. I’m glad to be here with you all.” The Ballistamon spoke formally and with a deep, low tone of voice. He didn’t sound much like a robot, surprisingly.

Katherine approached Amelie to give her a hug herself. Even if it was a tad later than Jazz.

“This place is beautiful.” Jazz remarked, looking at the crystalline sea. “Anzu, Nei, Bastian!” Oh oh. She was putting a team together. “Let’s build a sand castle!” She sounded determined in her resolve, and her eyes glimmered intensively.
“A sand… castle?” Bastian tilted his head.
“Yes! I saw it in a human movie and I always thought I had lost the chance the last time I was on a beach! So now is the time!” A burst of fire was this close to coming out of Jazz. The pig girl really wanted to do this. But… what would Anzu and Nei think about this proposal? If they accepted, the group of digimon would charge on to do it.

“I’ve heard about you too…” No way around it, right? “… A-Asher.” Katherine showed a smile to the redhead. “I think there’s a lot to talk about. Where should we do that?” The green-eyed placed a single finger on her lower lip, thinking.

    Had Amy's tale dazed poor Asher? That was likely, considering how expansive the whole story had been. It could be shortened rather easily, but where was the fun in that? Everyone likes gossiping, right? "Nah. I wouldn't want to be Cupid." She responded, earnestly. The truth was that... "Cupid usually does a lousy work; I think that even the Venusmon at the night club would be better at matchmaking them him! At least I can say that one-hundred percent of the people I brought together are happy. That has to amount to something, right? I have a good eye for shipping."

    Were the redhead's concerns legitimate? Maybe! But she was confident about the relationship working. "I really think that they're a cute pair, and if they part ways, it'll be mostly on good terms. They're the kind of good friends that can't remain angry at the other for long." That was a quality that Amy envied at times, honestly! Sometimes, when she got angry or pissed off at something, she could let out steam for a good while before finally calming down. Guess she needed a bit more temperance? Or maybe it was fine for her to be she was. At least, right now, she couldn't complain about it!

    She hummed somewhat pensively at the next statement, however! Was that statement true? Partially! "I just want for the people close to me to be happy. Most are good people, and deserve good things to happen to them. If I can help with that, all the better, right? That's what a good friend would do, right?" In a sense, it wasn't like she was being selfless. Could the act of helping one's friends really be considered selfless, anyway? That was a good question.

    And one that she wouldn't be able to answer, at least for now. Maybe it was meant to remain as a mystery or something! Time for parking/landing had arrived, Asher remaining in charge of the keys as everyone went through the proper introductions! Introductions that ended on Katherine asking for the lamest thing in existence; last names. She'd leave that choice to Asher, considering that the name was his! In regards to her, pleasantries were finished. At least until the egg was mentioned! A shrug and a smirk was the only response Katherine would get for now. Akemi, however...?

    "I know, right? I'm pretty excited about it myself, even though I'm unsure on whether it'll hatch or not. Egg's been completely still for... a bit more than a month, I think? But that won't stop me from taking care of it. I have no idea what will come out of it, though!"

    The mystery Ballistamon was finally introduced! Amy's eyes widened a bit; at least that name rang a bell. "So this is the famous Bastian? I see! Pleased to meet you." At least to the brunette, there was no reason to doubt the Ballistamon's motives, even if the whole deal sounded kinda iffy. "If you think it'll work... I guess that there's not much I can say. You know I'm here to help and that stuff!"

    For now, it seemed like the digimons would go and build a sand castle while the humans talked! That sounded like something the brunette could follow. Separating her hand from Asher's, she slowly, she walked where Nei was, gingerly extending the egg in his direction. "Take care of your younger sibling, okay? The adults here have to discuss some things!" Once that was taken care of, she'd gaze back at the group. "We can talk by the shore? Or we can set up a tent or something! Up to you. I don't mind!"

    It wasn't like Amy knew what they would talk about, so she was kind of unsure of how distant/grand their talking spot needed to be

Showing a coy smile, Katherine just shook her head slowly. If Akemi was good with it, then she didn’t mind Jazz called her like that. Then again, it wasn’t like her not being okay about it would change anything.

“Then Kemi it is!” Jazz declared, raising her paw up the air.

Of course, Akemi’s comment had thrown her peer off completely, so nothing else mattered for her right now. A loud gasp escaped the teenager, her eyes widened and she just blushed intensively. “N-No…!” She tried all of this flustering she was feeling didn’t make her raise her voice. “I… I mean…!” Come on! If she wanted to marry Akemi or not was beyond the point right now. But why did she have to go and say something like that? “I m-meant, his last name! Like, to know h-how to…”

The sound of Asher’s voice interrupted the girl. Katherine let out a sigh of relief. “Y-Yes. That, exactly.” She noted, looking at Akemi, before shifting her eyes towards Asher. “I’ll call you Callum, for now.” Why? Well, because she just wasn’t used to addressing people by their first name. Could this change in the future? Most likely, if Asher and Amy’s relationship lasted long.

And speaking of Amy...

When the blue-eyed’s gaze went to the Ballistamon, Bastian just gave an involuntary step back. This was the strongest member of the Deeplane City Council. The leader of the group that looked to change the Dark Area forever. Her sole presence was very polarizing. The brunette gave both overwhelming and relaxing vibes at the same time. She was a very interesting kind, no doubt. Bastian’s eyes just blinked twice, before saying something. “I would say you’re the famous one, Misu.” He stated, bowing his head again. “I anxious for us to work together.” The reason behind those words would be explained soon enough.

On her side, Katherine had become distracted, just staring at the egg Amelie was holding as the proud mom spoke of her ‘spawn’. Having an egg like that sounded so exciting! The curly-haired girl was very jealous of her friend right now. She just wanted to be there for when it hatched!

It took a second for Jazz, however, to understand what Shisei meant upon delivering the egg to Oneiros. Then, she chuckled. “It’s your little sibling, Nei!” She pointed out, looking at the Tapirmon as she kept snickering.

The Chohakkaimon and Anzu seemed to be full of energy today. Bastian seemed to be up for the enterprise, even if he didn’t look too sure of how ‘building a sand castle’ would work.

Katherine couldn’t agree more with Akemi’s suggestion. She let out a chuckle just because of how true it was. Amaya had been around Jazz and Anzu just long enough to know they wouldn’t be able to concentrate with them being too close around. With that, Katherine went to answer Asher’s question.

“Oh… it’s not that they shouldn’t hear us, I think.” They were probably not going to say anything inappropriate, right? Well… considering Amy was there, maybe someone was going to. “It’s just that they get… a bit loud and messy when they play.”

She then nodded at her friends' suggestion. “Maybe we can walk the shore for a while. It doesn’t make sense to stay at the same place for long being in such a beautiful beach, right?”

If they agreed to this, the group would be set in motion, walking by the shore and going east. Who knew, maybe they could find something interesting around here.

Even if Amelie and Asher might have thought otherwise initially, right now Katherine just wanted to catch up with her friend’s life and get to know her boyfriend a bit better. The time for speaking about complicated, work-related stuff would come later anyways, so no need to rush into that.

“So…” She placed both hands behind her back to inquire a bit. “… You’re now officially a couple, aren’t you? How did that happen?” Yes, She wanted details. Of course, the question was being thrown Amelie's way. She wouldn't ask something as embarrassing as that to Asher just yet! She barely knew him, after all. Then, she made a pause, raising her gaze for a second. “I’m actually not that sure of how you two met. So you should really start on the beginning.” She added, showing a tender smile.

This expression turned into one of curiosity. “By the way, Callum,” Her eyes went to the redhead now. “I don’t see any digimon with you. Are you a spirit user too?” Katherine’s eyes glimmered with excitement. The teenager put her hands together, waiting for an answer. Then, she considered another possibility. “Or are you a plain and simple, not-digimon-related human being, just like Ooi?” It wouldn’t be the first time Amelie brought one of those into this world! Or... maybe it would?

While the conversation continued, Katherine took a moment to whisper something to Akemi, who was walking right next to her.

“You… don’t think Jazz and Anzu would cause too much of a mess if we leave them alone for a while, do you?” She sounded a bit worried, honestly. Their partners were known to be especially chaotic when they were together. Her next realization would make her face go red as a tomato. She noticed she was actually whispering too close into Akemi's ear!

“I-I’m sorry.”

---

Regarding the group of digimon? Right now they were just making… preparations for their modern piece of digimon architecture.

“W-What are you even doing, Jasu?” Bastian inquired, looking a bit perplexed at the Chohakkaimon using her Roketto Dingpa to shovel sand, slowly creating a giant pit. She seemed to be working hard, and the hole at the sand just grew bigger and bigger every time.

“We’re creating a whole kingdom inside this pit! And we’ll call it…!” The Chohakkaimon’s eyes went to Anzu and, then to Nei. In the end, she just went quiet. Awkward.

“Y-You… can’t think of a good name, can you?” Bastian broke the silence, sweatdropping. He was actually pointing out the obvious. Maybe either Anzu or Nei could make a suggestion. After they, of course, did their own share of work to build this thing! Jazz couldn’t do it all by herself.

Could it be this was about to become… that mythical place known as…


… Anzutopia?

    Would Amy take offense to being compared to Venusmon? Well, in all honesty... "As long as it's a less creepy version, I wouldn't mind it, in all honesty. Do you remember how she looked?" Just then, she nodded. "I don't know how digimons are made, but I'm a bit jealous of the ones that look like mostly-humanoid females! They're all too pretty..." Honestly, those almost looked like humans with very weird clothes! It was almost as if they had been designed to somehow be waifus have the proportions of a supermodel, for whatever reason.

    That aside, it seemed that the introductions had progressed fairly smoothly! They hadn't been flawless, but that wasn't necessary. For one, Amy raised an eyebrow at the strange need Katherine had for last names, but it wasn't like that was the strangest thing she had seen anyway.

    Not to say that introductions, at least for now, surpassed the group of four humans! While Akemi's words of encouragement had no doubt been appreciated, Bastian's reaction to the brunette had been on the strange side, going as far as to prompt a small shrug, followed by a relatively kind smile. "Hope that's the 'eager' meaning of anxious and not the 'worried' one! And you can call me Amy, or Amelie if you feel like the first is too informal. No need to be so stiff!"

    With the egg in the capable hands of Oneiros, the group set to talk about whatever Katherine wanted to talk about. Was it a secret? Was something that no digimon should hear? Probably not, but that didn't make the brunette any less curious! Not even the fact that the true reason why they had decided to go separate ways was for no more and no less than avoiding the possible ruckus the digimons' could raise.

    "Welp. Guess they'll have fun at the very least." She mentioned somewhat idly before nodding. "But, sure! I can dig walking around a bit, especially after all that time inside the car."

    Not like walking along the shore was something the teenager minded, anyway. In fact, Amelie was quick to take Asher's hand before initiating the stroll. Color her surprised, the first batch of questions were about the 'newly-minted' couple, her own whereabouts, and mostly about catching up and that stuff. Stock conversation, more or less! That was easy.

    "How it happened?" A pensive hum filled the air for a couple of seconds. "Well~. Yesterday while we were doing the double date business, while in the middle of a slightly heated conversation, I just told a certain Leomon that Asher was my boyfriend; I didn't hear any complaints coming from him, so I think that he accepted the title? That's the gist of it, more or less!"

    An incredibly succinct tale, but Amy figured that neither Akemi, Katherine, and especially Asher didn't want to hear that spiel about spinsters and doing Tokyo's female population a public service. One time was more than enough, at least in regards to that speech in particular! The whole story, though? That would be fairly longer; or not, really! How much could that tale be shortened for the two girls to not be bored to death?

    Let's see! "It's not a very interesting story, to be honest!" She quickly waved her hand, then cleared her throat. "We met more than a year ago on Miyashita Park. We tried to play a game of chess but everything got so weird and busy that we couldn't finish. Then we met again by chance at a mall; there, he helped me get one of my earliest spirits. Then... we got paired on a Valentine's Day thing for last year. We had fun, and while we kinda had each other's contact information already, that's when I decided we should hang out more frequently.

    After a small pause, she smiled. "It didn't quite work at first, here we are. Life and its turns, I guess!"

    Hopefully, that'd be enough to satisfy their curiosity! At the very least it might've caused some intrigue, given how the two girls were now whispering to each other, despite the fact that they had two other people walking by their side. But, instead of noting how unbecoming that behavior was, Amy just leaned and whispered into Asher's ear.

    "Hey, did you know..." Actually, scratch that. That wasn't a whisper. While not loud enough to injure somebody's ears due to proximity, Katherine and Akemi would be able to hear the brunette's voice quite clearly! "That it's actually pretty rude to whisper stuff around while there are other people present? If I were a little meaner, I wouldn't take it very well."

    Chamces were they'd get not-so indirect comment. They had the entirety of yesterday to talk to each, anyway. Speaking of which! A smirk took over Amy's face as her gaze slowly went back to the two girls. "You two seem awfully comfortable around the other today. Guess that yesterday was fun, wasn't it? Now, I wouldn't mind you telling me the details of what happened!"

    The question was directed at no one in particular. Who would pick it?

“N-No…! Misu is fine.”

That wouldn’t work. Katherine snickered a bit at Amelie’s attempt for Bastian to call her in an informal manner. And... honestly? It was likely working with Amelie made him both eager and anxious.

“Bastian refers to any human male as ‘Shinshi’, and to any human female as ‘Misu’.” She explained. Then raised her gaze looking a bit pensive. “Now that I think about it… I don’t really know why. But I know Paul, his best friend, does the same. Right?” She turned at Akemi for validation. The reason for the cooks to do this would have to wait since the Ballistamon and all of the digimon were already gone, they had ‘work to do’.

"Oh, right. That date with the super boring people you went on yesterday." Said Katherine. It didn't matter if she tried to take her words back now, Amelie's first impression of the date had shown it had been completely dull and even a bit weird. What was it with people? Didn't they know how to be mildly interesting?

Sadly, Amelie and Asher’s story was not romantic at all! That was a shame, considering Katherine loved super-romantic stories. But those things only happened in movies and soapy television series, right? Like Asher getting on his tippy toes to steal a kiss from Amy.

Hmm. That didn't sound romantic at all, actually. What could Katherine say? She was just too used to the whole concept of the male being taller than the female for the magic to happen. Although that obviously was hard to achieve, considering the French girls' height. Well, it didn’t make them any less cute as a couple, though; romanticism as a side note.

It was still a bit funny that Amelie had just called Asher his boyfriend and he just went on with it. That was so like her. It was good to see one of her best friends just had not changed a bit.

Katherine loved to know more about digimon. Especially spirit users. It was a bit sad Asher didn’t seem too willing to talk about those. Antylamon wasn’t a digimon she knew but the idea of a giant rabbit made her think of Jazz’s Lopmon form. It had been a while since she had seen the little bunny. A sigh escaped her. She couldn’t help it.

“It would be great to see you turn into a giant rabbit someday, Callum.” She noted. “That Antylamon you mentioned makes me very curious.” Could it be Jazz should have turned into that if something hadn’t gone… really bad along the way? Maybe she was dwelling too much into that.

Now, about that other digimon he had… “You said you have a digimon at home? What digimon is it?” The teenager asked, using her index finger to frolic with one of her curls. A digimon that acted like a cat, huh? When it came to cat digimons she could only think of Epox the Gatomon and not many more.

Regarding the redhead’s previous comment, which she hadn’t been able to reply to at the moment... “You can call me Katherine; I don’t mind that.” She didn’t mind in the slightest. Calling people by their surname was not a choice as much as it was something she couldn’t help but doing. She had gotten too used to it, after going through a lot of embarrassing situations when she first arrived in Japan.

“He does.” Katherine nodded at Akemi’s own share of whispering, showing a bit of a smirk. And yes, Amelie hadn’t changed a bit! Which was honestly fine. Katherine’s eyes widened upon hearing her comment.

“I-I was just asking Akemi if she thought the digimon wouldn’t cause too much of a ruckus while doing whatever they’re doing.” She explained. “I didn’t want you two to get worried, thinking they might do any harm to your egg.” The Spaniard was aware ignorance was not bliss. She just didn’t want to worry them!

Well, she had said what she had whispered to Akemi, no secrets. But she couldn’t speak for the shorter girl. Would she tell them what she had whispered into the Spaniard’s ear?

“It was fun.” Was originally the sole response from Katherine to Amelie’s question. “Why wouldn’t we feel comfortable? We are best friends.” Silly Amy! “We sunbathed and ate lunch. We... also drank some alcohol.” She couldn’t help but giggle at that part. “And then we moved into more serious topics. Which we would address later with you.” She nodded.

---

Back to the group of digimon…

“Your subjects and Nei?” Jazz quirked an eyebrow at the Tsukaimon’s words. “W-Wait…! Does that make me and Bastian your subjects? Then why isn’t Nei a subject too!?” The Chohakkaimon pointed at the very inoffensive looking Tapirmon.

“I think we might need water, so the sand gets stiff after it dries up.” Bastian noted with his characteristically robotic voice. “Anzu, Nei, do you think you could get us some? Giving the size of this pit, we will need a lot.”