Breakup [Digimental Hunt]

    This certainly was a sight-to-see, that was for certain. Having been flying across, both Quetzalmon and his tamer caught glimpse of the event as it began. Fingers tapped along the feathered serpent's side, to instruct him to pause their journey, to see what was happening. After all, it wasn't every day that something just randomly emerged from the Sea of Blood. And surely, that meant there had to be something interesting on the formation, didn't it?

    Surely, nothing that sprouted from a place like that, so suddenly, could just be a useless object.

    The Armor Champion tilted its head, taking caution not to lean too far to one side, so that he wouldn't lose his passenger. Instead, she only shifted slightly to accommodate for the motion. It was strange, when one considered that his rider used to constantly fear falling. But now, if her Digimon fell, would she even flinch?

    "What'cha think?" the serpent chirped, floating a little closer to the shoreline. And a bit closer. And then a little more. Until he was hovering over some of the other onlookers.

    Until a small hum whirred from his tamer's digivice.

    Was something over there?

    "Let's see," the blonde rider murmured, leaning into the green fur on her partner's head, before the Digimon sped toward the island. And, upon arriving? Unless something caught their attention, their first goal would be to examine some of the buildings that had risen with the rocks. Would anyone be on this newly formed island already? Soon, they'd surely find out.

    Both would listen to the two below them, chattering away. Had they really built a reputation among these Digimon? Would either of them realize that the Quetzalmon above was staring directly at them the whole time? So many mysteries! Just like another: where any of the rumors true?

    While the Quetzalmon seemed interested in the gossip below, his tamer seemed to be a lot less so! Instead, she'd just occasionally shift on her partner's back, avoiding eye contact. Maybe, she didn't really want to clear anything up? Or, maybe she just didn't want to start a conversation that would be ending pretty quickly, considering her goals were elsewhere!

    If only everyone felt the same as the BlackGabumon that said not to mess with her. It felt pretty unfortunate that the duo wouldn't even be able to reach the island before they were being chased. Leaning back, the blonde took a glance to the pursuers. And then, a groan.

    "Of course they're Devidramon," she uttered, pressing back into her partner's fur. Predictable? Annoying? Cliche, considering it's the Dark Area and they were rambling about some LadyDevimon, that was apparently a Lady?

    Flying monkeys, maybe. Good thing the duo already knew they weren't in Kansas.

    But, much like flying monkeys, they didn't really seem too smart. After all, the second lasers were fired, they should have expected their target to, well, react! It was almost a shame that they were so far from shore. Surely, those gossipers would have loved to see everything up-close!

    "Can we play?"

    Why ask a question that his tamer couldn't even respond to?

    Upon inquiring, Kuu rotated, exposing the plating on his belly, for any of the beams to hit him, rather than their intended target. Which left his rider in quite the predicament. For someone who was so afraid of flying before. Would she flinch if she fell?

    Time to test it.

    Loosening her grip, the descent was pretty fast! Would she lure any lasers to her current position? Either way, before she could hit the sea, or be hit by any attacks, a bright light would flash from both tamer and Digimon. Hovering above the dangerous tides of the unruly liquid, it didn't seem that laser-eyes were quite enough to deter them from confirming at least one rumor!

    The blonde-haired girl could definitely turn into a Digimon.

    With a fox priestess looking upwards at the monsters, she raised her hand, and a bright yellow spirit-fox sprung out from a sleeve, arcing toward the group in a way that it seemed to aim toward the center of them. Or, at least the closest group of the Devidramon, if they were spread-out. Lightning Bolt.

    As soon as it would stop its race? A pulse of electricity shot out around the creature, to electrocute anyone that hadn't thought to flee its range. And then, it would disappear as if the sprite had never existed.

    "Go home."

    Did the Devidramon group have a home? And, did they understand that Sakuyamon Miko Mode was not just giving a kind suggestion?

    Oh. Wow. That must have been embarrassing. For the Devidramons, that was. The smartest of the bunch made their decision to leave as soon as the option was presented, and only one pest remained afterward. There was a second of debate, while the priestess considered just walking away. But, the laws of the Dark Area and all, right? Namely, that too much kindness would surely have repercussions. So, playing on the earlier rumors again, Miko Mode remained in her place above the sea.

    Or, appeared to.

    Until the final Devidramon would realize that it was only an afterimage, which flickered only at the same time that the Biomerge had moved and swung her leg into the monster. Whether he fell into the sea or would dissolve into data directly due to the attack? Neither tamer nor partner seemed to pay much attention, as they were quickly on their way to landing properly on the island. Preferably before any more interruptions could be had!

    Once feet touched the ground, the biomerge gave off a shimmer, then left the blonde and a Kudamon in its wake. Could they have stayed in the SuperMega's form for a longer while? Sure. But, why waste the energy? Additionally, why share a headspace longer than necessary?

    "D'you think that was overkill, Mai?"

    "Probably not," the tamer replied, with a hint of uncertainty. Well, maybe it kind of was. But, they didn't want to spend forever playing with a group of devil dragons, right?

    But, now that they were here it was a little puzzling to see! Everything looked pretty unimpressive, with the varying levels of deterioration! "Do you think this is the Digital World's version of Atlanticus?"

    At... What?

    "Atlantis?"

    "Yeah! Atlanticus!"

    Close enough.

    For now, the duo began to explore the city, rather than entering any buildings immediately. Were any particularly interesting? "I sure hope Atlantis doesn't randomly sprout from the ocean one day," the blue-eyed girl commented, while walking down the main road.

    Kuu, perched on her shoulder, sniffed at the air to see if any fun smells would catch his nose. "I hope it does! It'd be cool, and they could make actual movies about Atlantis on Atlantis!" Sound logic!

    "So you do know how to say it properly."

    "Say what?"

    There was a pause, while Maia debated continuing the conversation, but after a heavy sigh, it was decided to be a lost cause. Was there ever any winning against Kuu, really? Plus, they weren't here to bicker about likely-fictional lost cities in the human world! They were here to try to uncover the mystery of this 'new' place!

    They just needed to try to find somewhere interesting to start.

    Sure enough, reaching the center of this place brought something interesting to the table. Or, statue? It was certainly an interesting statue! Stopping directly in front of it, Maia squinted a little. Should she be concerned? Lips pursed, debating how to take in the details that were in front of her.

    Kuu, of course, had a different way of taking in such information!

    In a less-than-subtle manner, the fox looked at the statue, then at his tamer. Statue again. Tamer. And then? The digimon promptly stuck his nose inside the collar of his tamer's shirt, squeaking out a, "heellooo?" before hands tightly wrapped around his tube-like figure and yanked him out.

    "Really?"

    "What?" The fox squawked, writhing until he could squish himself out of the deathgrip, and climb over the blonde's hands. "I had to see!"

    "Why?"

    "Why not?"

    If Mai were a more dramatic person, she would be screaming. Just, outright screaming. But, instead, she only glared at the yellow-eyed pipefox, before letting out a loud huff of air, turning on her heel, and quickly marching away from the fountain. They'd seen enough of it!

    "Aww," the Kudamon whined, peering over his human's shoulder, to take one more glance at the fountain. "But I liked her!"

    "I didn't!" One had to wonder why!

    In the huff, she didn't even seem to notice the government-esque building, having hurried in the direction of the temple-like place. Maybe they needed something holy after viewing the fountain. Jeez. "You know, we could totally get you a holosuit! That looks just like you but--"

    Nope. Nope, nope, they weren't doing this. "I swear, Kuu, if you finish that sentence, I will fight you."

    "That sounds fun!"

    Who would have thought that a fountain statue, of all things, would get a girl so riled up? After she'd taken a deep breath, the tamer looked up at the temple that she'd approached. Well, there was no point in not entering this one, now, was there? Walking through the entrance, the two would take a look around. Surely, there couldn't be any more weird surprises inside a place like this, right?

    Taking a fresh breath, the blonde took a look around, expecting to settle in a much more calming environment. Instead, the inhale remained held in her chest, while an eye gave a subtle twitch. "Are you--"

    "MaiMaiMai," Kuu to the rescue! Paws began batting at his tamer's cheek, to stop whatever explosion she surely wanted to create upon sight of the inside of this building. "What if! Hear me out! What if this is all in our heads?"

    Kuu? Trying to bring some sort of calming sense to the table? Weird. One problem, however! "In both of our heads?"

    There was a pause, while the fox tilted his head. "I mean, it wouldn't be the first time our brains have been scrambled together! Worse than eggs!" And then another pause. "Except scrambled eggs are delicious." Curses! Now he was hungry! And this didn't look like the sort of place where he was going to get some nice, hot scrambled eggs!

    Scrunching his nose, the rookie tried a new approach. "Either way! Let's 'splore! I think we're gonna get this stuff anywhere here. You look popular!"

    That definitely wasn't her. She was not whatever these statues were, no matter how similar they looked! "I don't want to be popular," she uttered, stepping further into the temple. This was weird on too many levels. Was there really someone that important, that looked so much like her? It was kind of creepy. And, somehow? That made it angering.

    "Well, I think you're amazing!" the Kudamon chimed, rolling across his tamer's shoulder. Of course he did. Because Kuu was Kuu, and didn't seem to entirely understand that the level of 'adoration' or obsession to create statues of a person was probably very unhealthy!

    Was this 'person' a goddess? A saint? Or some insane village's unhealthy obsession? Either way, between a fountain, and a temple dedicated to them, it was clear that the not-Mai held a high enough level of importance to the prior residents that Maia, herself, didn't want anything to do with it! Thankfully, it didn't seem that this place was inhabited. Otherwise, things would surely become even more uncomfortable!

    While the tamer would occasionally trace her fingers in the dust of the damaged pews as she passed, she made a point not to touch a single figure of resemblance to her. It was too weird. She couldn't accept that sort of thing! But eventually, she'd reach the altar, and the book. "Scriptures?"

    Did she want to know what was inside?

    "Read it! Read it! Do you think there are pictures? I hope so!" Someone else wanted to know, though!

    "I hope not," the teen retorted, but opened the cover of the book regardless. Sure, the place was creepy, and she suspected she didn't really want to know anything that was written inside. But, curiosity was an obnoxious thing. So, she'd have to at least skim some of it!

    Reading the scripture certainly didn't seem to lift Maia's opinion on all of the appearances of the goddess. In fact, the more she read, the more obviously her nose scrunched. What was this bull? "Why, with a lizard?" the teen uttered under her breath, clearly taking this scripture a little too personally. Someone shouldn't be looking like her, having any sort of union with flying lizards!

    "Uhh," her partner began to draw out, ears twitching rapidly. Should he say anything? For once, even Kuu wasn't positive it was smart to talk!

    "Don't even," she exhaled, turning the page. And upon seeing it blank? Slammed the cover shut. "Entirely different."

    "I mean," Kuu trailed again, fur prickling on the back of his neck. Maybe he should stop while he was ahead! Or, at least, while he still had a head. "Sure! We'll go with that!" It was far too late to be convincing by any means! But, for the time being, he wasn't being strangled. So it was okay!

    Mostly Unspoken conversations aside, a staircase was suddenly appearing. Which, may as well have been the theme of this place. Suddenly appearing island. Suddenly appearing staircase. Kuu could only hope the next step was suddenly appearing sandwiches! "I wanna see flying reptile, though! Do you think we'll get any pictures of it?"

    "I hope not," his tamer replied, with notably less enthusiasm. She really wasn't curious to see how it would be portrayed! But, surely, it would end up being depicted somewhere outside of text alone, right?

    But, per their usual curiosity, it wasn't likely for either of the duo to just walk right back outside and go home! So instead, they would approach the stairs. "If it makes you feel any better, you're way cuter than the statue lady!"

    "It really doesn't."

    Mostly because that didn't make much sense, when they looked so similar! But, she wasn't going to bother to point that out to the Digimon! Instead, she'd just continue onto the stairs, and see where they would lead!

    Using a light probably would have been a great idea for the staircase. If only the tamer and her partner had been planning on going somewhere dark! Maybe, she'd have thought to bring a flashlight! Instead, the girl would slide her foot to the end of each step, tapping it both to the back of the next stair, and making sure it would hold the weight of one foot before placing the second one down. Which, honestly, made this whole thing take a bit longer than it should have!

    That's what she got for not being prepared for anything and everything, it seemed.

    Luckily, it seemed that the room at the end of the stairs had some lighting to it! Or... was it actually lucky, considering what was soon to be found? "Do you think that's the flying lizard?" Kuu asked in a harsh whisper. Very subtle.

    "I guess dinosaurs are lizards," Maia responded back, in a much more quiet tone than her partner. It was pretty rude to wake up something that could be very angry, after all! Though, this would definitely be a treasure-hunter's dream. That was for certain.

    Aside from the MetalGreymon, at least.

    Considering riches was never really a priority for the blonde, she slowly began to make her way into the room, trying to avoid stepping on anything that would make too much noise. Was this the only room down here? Or, would she find other places that had less dinosaurs?

    Not that she had that much time to look, once her digivice began to make its own commentary! If she knew anything about digivices, it was that they were going to talk regardless of what she did to it. Pulling it out of her pocket, she took a look at the screen. Did it say anything, or show any indicator of what it was wanting?

    Either way, after a few seconds of looking at it, she'd try to bundle it into her shirt to muffle the sound. Something had to be here somewhere, right? Maybe she could be quick about it, and see if anything in the room stood out, beyond the norm for a dragon's home.

    Hopefully, something would stand out to her before the beast awoke. Or, better yet, maybe it was a friendly Digimon, who would be thrilled to see a stranger hanging out with its treasure! That surely seemed possible from something that came out of the Blood Sea, right?

    Either way, Kuu bounced off his tamer's shoulder, and began crossing the room as lightly as possible, to try to check for anything that could be found, in a faster manner than his tamer.