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

In a battle worthy of a low-budget action hero franchise where the bad guy grew in size after some minutes fighting and the good ones had to call out for a gigantic robot, Bastian and Evil Wizard Nei exchanged fictional blows against each other. The robot threw the occasional, inoffensive fireworks now and then, while the Tapirmon shot some flashy lights, too.

“I think he… hasn’t got over you destroying his house.” Jazz sweatdroped, watching the battle unfold from the castle along Anzu. This face-off was honestly among the coolest things she had seen in a while. They had managed to turn the game into something very entertaining. That until, with one of his fake missiles, Bastian actually hit the structure of the castle, making it tremble. Yes, maybe those could not hurt Nei, but this was a sandcastle!

“Giant Robot Bastian! You need to be careful! We need to protect the Mythical Egg or…!” The Chohakkaimon turned to see the oval placed over the pedestal, only to find it moving by itself. “Anzu! That’s not because of the castle trembling, is it?” Well, no. Even when the structure had stopped shaking, the egg would not stop wiggling!

---

Absolutely exhausted.

Even if it might sound a bit exaggerated, the adrenaline of the moment had kept Katherine from actually perceiving how long had that water gun face-off lasted. She did know they had been a very noteworthy chunk of time shooting water at each other (and mostly teaming up with Akemi against the monster that was Amelie). Giving it had been a test of endurance, whoever was still standing could probably be declared the winner. One thing was for sure: that was not Katherine. Letting her rear fall on the sand, the teenager let out a sigh, still holding the gun in her hands.

It was a good thing she was not someone competitive.

She was, however, someone with a very easy-to-trigger laugh. The green-eyed started laughing out loud, now that the tension of the moment had faded away. “That was fun!” She chimed, holding her belly as she kept chuckling.

Suddenly, the sound of a very familiar voice got to her ears.

“IT’S HATCHING, IT’S HATCHING, IT’S HATCHING, IT’S HATCHING.”

Jazz was at the head of the group of digimon they had left behind before coming here. Bastian was right behind her, running as fast as he could, just like the pig digimon. Hopefully, Anzu and Nei would be able to follow suit, too.

The Cho-Hakkaimon kept repeating the two words listed above as she approached the group of humans, holding the digiegg (assuming it had not hatched yet) in front of her.

Katherine tilted her head, looking at her partner and the rest of digimon accompanying her.

“It’s hatching, Jasso!” The hog yelled, extending her arms to put the cause of all of this fuss in front of them.

Was the egg still shaking? Hopefully, it had not hatched while they ran here!

While all of this happened, Katherine glared at Akemi for a second. Now that they were done playing and the digimon had saved them the job to go look for them, it was likely the fight was not far from starting.

But…! At the moment, discovering what was inside the egg was most important!

So? What was it!?

    Honestly? It was a bit of a letdown that everyone else (except Asher, maybe) had decided to pick relatively weak weapons when the arsenal at their disposal had been so varied. But... what could Amelie say? If it made her inevitable victory easier, it wasn't like she would complain a lot. And, sure, while the fight was indeed fierce, the combatants began to fall one by one; first Katherine, and then Akemi. In the end, it was just her and Asher, even though it seemed like the battle had devolved into a stalemate of sorts; and, to say the least, a one-on-one fight wasn't as interesting or fun as a free-for-all, even though Amy had doubted from the very beginning that this one had been a free-for-all. Everyone seemed to have focused on her, which... was kinda fair, all things considered; She was the strongest combatant by far, after all.

    In any case, right now, the brunette found herself panting while using her gun to keep on standing. Her body was completely drenched, and the repeated hits her hair had taken coupled with the sudden movements she had to take in order to avoid the torrents that managed to constantly come in her way had left her self making a pretty decent impression of Samara Morgan, if you catch my drift. Definitely not her finest moment, but truth was that this was probably the most fun she had in a while.

    "It's not too late to surrender." She told Asher in between pants. Her tone had tried to be somewhat commanding, but it came out as... just really tired. "I'll go easy on you if you do."

    Thankfully, that lame attempt at being intimidating was immediately shut down by Jazz running in their direction at full throttle while holding the egg and shouting a slew of words that made the brunette's heart pump faster than it had during the full extent of the fight.

    "Is it hatching!!?" From one moment to the next, it was almost as if all traces of exhaustion had abandoned the young woman's body as she raced to meet the Cho-Hakkaimon head on, promptly extending her arms in order to cradle the soon-to-be newborn. Once in her arms, the hairline cracks that had been adorning the egg became bigger and bigger as it shook more and more violently, until...

    A happy squeal came out from the open egg, the small creature proceeded to swipe away the remnants with her tiny fins. Interestingly enough, it was a... pitch-black Pitchmon. Slowly, Amy began to rock the newborn back and form in between her arms while giving the creature one of the warmest smiles she had ever mustered in her whole life. "Aren't you the cutest girl ever? Yes, yes you are~."

    Watching an otherwise merciless water-gun warrior change her attitude so drastically was a sight to behold, but... it was probably fitting for the situation at hand.

It took a while for Katherine to actually acknowledge the adorable gesture Akemi had by trying to shield her from the water shots. Mainly, because she was too busy laughing. Once she finished, though, she showed a tender smile to the shorter girl. “I’m okay. Thanks to you.” She added, holding her hair with her right hand and tilting her head. “How are you?”

Of course, they were both distracted by the sight of Jazz and the digimon squad coming their way. Since the hatching of the egg was more important, Katherine had to refrain from mentioning how cute did Anzu look atop of Jazz’s head.

And, speaking of cute things!

“Oh god. She's adorable.” Katherine muttered, staring at the Pichimon. She had actually not seen many baby digimon before, so this was an especially endearing sight for the Spaniard. “What are you going to name her?” She asked out loud, obviously throwing that both Amelie and Asher’s way. Did they have a name planned from before, or were they planning on deciding just now?

“I’m glad we got here on time.” Jazz let out a sigh, finally letting her rear fall on the sand. Running all the way here was exhausting! “All of that fighting for Anzutopia and running by the shoreline got me very hungry.” The Cho-Hakkaimon declared.

“Well… actually, I’m kind of hungry too, now.” It was probably the water gun war. “What if we have lunch right now?” It sounded like a good idea! They were all together now, after all!

Luckily, they had a top-tier chef among them. Bastian had ran one of the most successful restaurants across the Digital World, and this was the first time Katherine would get to try his food! A blanket over the sand placed a sufficient distance from the shoreline (they didn't want that food to get wet!), the squad would be ready to taste the group of dishes made by the robot. Most of them were made of fish, although there were also salads and fruits for those who looked for something more tropical in terms of meals! Culinary diversity was definitely not the thing this lunch was missing, so it was likely everyone would be able to find something they’d like!

And, by the way, it was also very likely they found it freaking delicious. Bastian was one of the best cooks in the whole Digital World, after all!

“It’s so good!” Katherine extended the last vocals of that sentence, while she tasted the exquisite rolls of fish (very similar to Sri Lankan rolls) the robot had prepared.
“This is just as good as I remembered! Probably even better!” Jazz noted while she gobbled up those rolls of sushi.

Right! Katherine had almost forgotten Jazz had already been on the restaurant Bastian used to run with Paul, years before she met her tamer. Naturally, with the huge amount of clients they used to have, it was obvious they did not remember the little Lopmon from Rustport!

“I’m glad you’re enjoying your meal, Misu.” The Ballistamon bowed respectfully.

Naturally, the main focus of attention of this lunch was the newborn! How was she doing during her first hours of life? Was she ready to have some normal food? Probably not.

“I wonder what she’ll become…” Katherine tilted her head, looking at the little creature. And how long would it take her to evolve? It was exciting to see a digimon grow from the start! “You saw Nei when he was a baby too right? I bet he was the cutest!” She asked Akemi, glancing at the little Tapirmon briefly. “N-Not that he isn’t now…” Of course, he was still super cute!

“Maybe if you feed her fish she’ll become a fish digimon!”
“I don’t think it works like that…”

Shouldn’t Jazz, from all people, know that? Not only because she was a digimon herself but because she never ate pork or humans disguised as pigs when she was a Lopmon.

    Had Amelie not been absolutely thrilled at the miracle that was an otherwise dead egg hatching after roughly nine months of utter inactivity, she'd have probably noticed that Asher was having... not the greatest of times himself, and that he also had been promptly ignored by everyone else present. Was that a good or a bad thing? Considering that, in a sense, the mood would've dropped by quite a bit if the brunette noticed, that might've been for the better.

    What about the newborn? She looked to be extremely happy at the welcoming party she got; in fact, almost as in tandem, and even if not as loud as Akemi, she began to squee happily at the sight of such a number of smiling faces; she then proceeded to snuggle comfortably in between her arms.

    "Yes. She's really pretty, isn't she? I guess that the apple doesn't fall that far from the tree after all." Was Amy really taking this seriously her role as surrogate mother for the digimon? It truly seemed like it! "I think I'm going to name her Loire. Asher had to decide on the name if we got a girl, and I think it's pretty cute. What do you think?"

    Almost as if it were a trigger word of some sort, Loire hopped away from her mother's embrace at the mention of her name. Her destination? Her father's. Since they were fairly close, it didn't take her a lot of effort! At a glance, it seemed like the newborn enjoyed Asher's arms a lot more than Amy's. Or maybe it was because she hadn't had any contact with him thus far!

    "I think she liked her name. And that she's absolutely a daddy's girl. Can't compete on that front, so I just hope you don't spoil her rotten!" While a rather cheerful statement, it was at that moment when Amelie noticed her boyfriend's expression. And while she decided to not comment on it, she extended her now spare arm around his back and gave him a firm, supportive squeeze. With any luck, this was just shock!

    After the group was done greeting the newborn, Bastian began to lay down the necessary preparations for the lunch. The result? Quite magnificent, actually! There was undoubtedly enough food for everyone present, and then some. Would Asher attempt to feed Loire, or would he just deposit her on the ground and hope she ate what she pleased? For more than more reason, Amy would be very observant of every development of her daughter's first meal. A momentous occasion, right?

    "The food is very good, Bastian. You did a good job." Of course, that didn't mean the brunette would neglect her own stomach; the great water gun war had left her pretty hungry! It was then when Katherine and Anzu began to bombard them with funny questions and nicknames. Like milf? Really? She couldn't deny that hearing the bean say that was kinda funny, however.

    She let out a giggle before getting to the questions in order. "Well, if the place where we found the egg is any indication of what she's gonna become in the future, then I'm betting on her becoming some kind of super huge eel. Like a Seadramon, but actually cooler, I guess! But that's just a lead; I think she's definitely becoming some kind of sea-dwelling digimon, but it could be anything."

    Anzu's question had already been answered, so adding to that was a bit pointless, but... "Had she been a boy, we'd have probably named him Fran. I came with the name. Fairly cute, isn't it?"

    The lunch would hopefully proceed as normal, even if Amy was vigilant to both Loire and Asher. Would the two interact favorably? She certainly hoped so.

Loire. That was actually a cute name. Would Nei and Loire become good friends eventually? How older than her was he, actually?

To the mentioning of her being cuter than Nei, Katherine giggled nervously, staring at the sand below her and blushing. Akemi would pay for that later, hopefully! In a good way. For the next few minutes, the green-eyed could only think it was a shame she couldn’t do everything she wanted to do after hearing that, honestly. As time progressed, it was likely her opportunities to do it kept diminishing, considering all of the responsibilities coming their way.

“Milf and dilf…” Jazz repeated, blinking a few times, just like Asher had done at first. However, the pig-girl lacked the amount of human slang Anzu bestowed to understand that.

“D-Don’t --- repeat – that.” While Katherine tried to scold her for that... well, she couldn’t. She was too busy chuckling about it. While the rest of the conversation went on, she leaned forward to explain what it meant into Jazz’s ear.

“O-Oh…” The pig-girl just stared at both of Loire’s parents for a while. Was she actually assessing the amount of true there was in that statement!?

The group’s lunch progressed with more slang issued by Anzu, compliments for Bastian’s food, jokes, and the unmeasurable cuteness Loire bestowed. Once the conversational desert that accompanied their meal was over, around 2 hours more had gone by. The sunset would begin in a couple of hours more so, even if it might ruin the fun a bit, it was probably time for them to start working on one of the objectives of this whole plan. Probably the last they should tackle.

“Fighting… Shisei?” Sounding slightly overwhelmed by the proposal, Jazz blinked twice, glancing at Amelie for a bit, before looking back at Katherine.

“We agreed you becoming stronger is something we have to cover before fighting the Dark Army, didn’t we? Bastian said that when digimon are pushed to their limits, the can reach new levels of power.” Katherine explained.
“Of course. I know that…” Sitting on the sand, Jazz looked at Anzu, who was also part of this proposal.
“When I think about pushing yourselves to the limit, I think about fighting the strongest digimon we know. And, well, after seeing her in action and excluding our potential enemies, I believe the strongest creature you can face is… Amy.” That actually made some sense!

Was Katherine willingly ignoring the fact the final goal was for them to DNA? Bastian stared at the human, just watching how this very interesting approach developed.

“So we think….” She glanced at Akemi, looking for some support for her next statement and the overall offer. “… a way of proving you have actually grown and forcing you to be better is fighting Amelie. If you manage to beat her, then it's clear you two have definitely become stronger.”

Jazz finally broke some seconds of silence by pointing out the obvious. “I have seen Shisei turn into a Perfect-level digimon. And while Anzu can reach that stage, I... can't.” She noted, a dead-serious tone of voice accompanying her words. A bit shocked, Katherine remained quiet while her eyes widened slightly.
“W-Well…” Oh god. Did Jazz feel Katherine was exerting some type of pressure on her?
The pig-girl hoisted herself up and walked towards the center of the beach, equidistant to the shoreline and the spot they had chosen for eating.

After stretching a bit, she lifted her arms into the air and called out for their rival.

“LET’S GO, SHISEI. I’LL CRUSH YOU!”

For the first time, Katherine was having trouble deciphering what could be on her partner’s mind. Did the curly-haired teenager feel guilty about all of this?

    All in all, the hatching had gone smoothly. Loire looked like a happy digimon, and that was more than enough reward for Amy. To be honest? She could barely believe that the egg had actually hatched after such a long period of time of being completely inert; was this a miracle of some sort? Was it the power of love? Or probably something that Anzu, Bastian, Jazz, and Nei had somehow done?

    Those questions vanished into nothingness as the digimon cooed with delight at Asher's boop. Thus far, things seemed to be going pretty well; everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and the food. What about Amelie? While by no means a helicopter parent, she made sure to keep an eye trained on the newborn while eating. As of right now, it seemed like the redhead was doing a good job of taking care of his daughter.

    How did she react when food was offered to her? It seemed like Loire wasn't very picky regarding what she had been offered. Or on biting more than that, actually! If Asher wasn't careful, he'd the fish roll disappearing from his hand at the same time than the pressure from the small digimon's bite. Granted, it was a baby and as such, incapable of doing any kind of harm, but that didn't mean the action couldn't be surprising.

    In fact, Amy let out a small giggle at it. "Seems she has to learn to differentiate your fingers from actual food. Or maybe she thought those were fish fingers. Would make sense, right?" Truth was that the small Pichimon had just made sure to eliminate any and all traces of food from Asher's hand; only when not even a particle remained, she'd retract her mouth and gaze at her parent with big, beady eyes. It wasn't hard to infer that she wanted to be offered even more food. A small fragment of a fish roll wasn't nearly enough!

    Thus far, things were going as smoothly as they could on that side, something which prompted Amy's gaze to avert towards Akemi, Anzu, Jazz, and Katherine while the fact they were about to spar was given its proper explanation. While the compliments regarding how she was supposedly the most skilled combatant they knew. While that was quite flattering, the young woman wasn't lost to the fact that... she wasn't the highest bar. In any case, once she was done with her fill, she stood up only to be... taunted by the two digimons in their own, colorful ways.

    What did she do in response? The brunette grinned fiercely; she wasn't a fan of battling for the sake of it, but this was a favor she'd been asked, so... "Let's see if your money is where your mouths are. As of right now, I can only picture two beings getting smashed- And I'm not one of them."

    Did they know that the whole point was just for them to evolve, and as such, the spar would end as soon as that was accomplished? Probably, but that didn't mean they couldn't get fired up about it. Thus, Amelie walked in the opposite direction where the Anzu and Jazz were currently standing, just to turn and face them. "Bring it on; let's see what you've got."