Árbol que nace torcido... [Kath/Miyu/Sasha]

With plans for drinks and cakes on the horizon, many hugs being given and received, and some introductions issued, the destination for the group was set. Since Miyu, Bloom, and their digimon friends were not part of the Council, their trip consisted of a regular portal towards the outsides of Deeplane City and a walk through the metropolis towards Bastian’s laboratory. The city was definitely looking a lot better than a bunch of tents right now!

The modernization of their city made both Katherine and Jazz very happy. It was both delightful to see and a great first impression for Miyu and Bloom, who didn’t know they… could be under a recruitment session right now. Now it was not the time to discuss that, though.

While they walked, both Katherine and Sasha would probably be completely up for answering any question the outsiders could have regarding the city. Both Okimi and Arthur would get answers for their questions related to the mission of Deeplane, with the girl and her bunny issuing a short explanation about the overall goal of turning the Dark Area into a prosperous zone.

For better or worse, the walk wouldn’t be that long, and, before they knew, the group would be entering a silver-ish building located right next to the highest tower of the city.

“This is our laboratory. It’s still… being kind of put together, but we’re already using it and have gotten some things running.” Katherine noted while sliding a silver card through a detector and letting everyone behind her go inside. An elevator would take the group to the first basement, where they would find a mildly lightened room with a ton of bookshelves, strange gadgets, and computers scattered around.

“Oh. You’re back.” A Ballistamon greeted the part of the group he knew while jumping down from a chair.

“It took us a bit longer than expected.” Frolicking with one of her curls, Katherine pouted.

“So I noticed, Misu. It’s been over three hours since you left.” Oh. Right. Time curvature. Although they hadn’t been in the Human World for more than 30 minutes, here quite a while had gone by! “At least it gave me the time to contact Oneiros.”

Sipping on some juice, a Bakumon waved from one corner of the room, while reading a book.

“N-Nei.” Jazz muttered. Quickly, both her and her tamer tied-up a conclusion in their heads. It was evident why they needed the dream eater here!

“I gave him that book about data-memory retrieving. He told me he had done something similar in the past for one of your friends, but he might need the extra information this time around.” Bastian noted, his eyes shifting towards the timid digimon. “Did you bring what you went looking for?” For that last question, he looked at Katherine again.

“O-Oh.” The green-eyed blinked rapidly. “Right!” Moving away from Bastian’s sight, she went to introduce the robot to the whole group. “These are Miyu, Bloom, Arthur, and Okimi.” Immediately, the Spaniard explained to Bastian how they had bumped into Arthur and Okimi in Miyu’s apartment since both the human and her Palmon seemed to be in danger. Naturally, she also explained to the robot how Bloom was the one they believed to be related to the Banchos and their ticket to find the tree.

“... And this is Sasha Robinson.” Last but not least, she introduced him to the Russian lady. “She is also a member of the DLC, just like we are.” It was a shame Bastian rarely left that laboratory! “She was actually a part of the secret infiltration mission we did in Tayichi’Tai’s territory. The one where we found out about where you were.” Ironically, Sasha had been a part of the mission that had ended up in Bastian being here! He owed her a lot.

“It’s nice to meet all of you. My name is Bastian and I’m Misu’s friend. I’m counting on you for this mission, I know we’ll make a great team.” With a short bow accompanying those very respectful words, Bastian introduced himself.

However, this was not the time to think too much about the past, right? Instead, they should focus on what they had to do now! Moreover, for that, some explanations had to be given first, right?

“Huh… On what kind of mission are we going to work? Is it related to those guys that attacked Miyu and stole the Data Tracker and the Bancho documents?” Okimi asked, blinking. Aw, yes. The first question of many!

“It is definitely related to those guys and to the Banchos.” Apparently, Jazz had this. Not that Katherine or Bastian would doubt to jump in to help her in case it was needed! It was a quite complex scenario after all. “Those guys you fought have been our enemies for a while. They’re quite strong… No. They share a special skill that makes them quite strong.” That was a better way of putting it!

“That Yaksamon was a handful.” Arthur noted. “It was almost like he was absorbing our techniques and becoming stronger through them.” The little seal looked at Sasha, making sure he hadn’t just imagined this. “I had never seen anything like it!”

“Yes. That’s exactly what’s been keeping us from nonoroku beating their butts. They just keep feeding off whatever we hit them with, whether it’s physical moves or special techniques.” Arianna noted, leaning against a wall with her arms folded.

“Through some of our allies, we found out they’re using some type of Spores to gain that ability.” Katherine gave continuity to the explanation. “These spores are called Jinsei Spores. Through research, Bastian found out the spores actually come from a tree, called the Jinsei Tree. How did they get to the Jinsei Tree or got the spores in the first place is a complete mystery to us right now.”

“However, it seems like they’re looking for the tree again, probably to get more spores.” Jazz added, nodding.

“Why do you think they’re looking for it?” Arthur asked. “Shouldn’t they know where it is if they already got the spores and have that skill?”

“They should know the location of the Jinsei Tree if they have the spores. However, the fact they’re looking for Bloom makes us think they somehow don’t know where the tree is right now or that, for some reason, they can’t get to it.” The bunny answered while rubbing her chin.

“W-Wait. What does Bloom have to do with all of this?” Okimi asked curiously.

“Well… according to Bastian’s research… the only ones who know the location of this legendary tree are the members of a powerful group of digimon known as… the Banchos.” Katherine answered that one, her green eyes going towards Bloom for a moment. “This means if Bloom is actually a descendant of the Banchos, the location of the tree is somewhere in her data, even if she can’t remember it.”

That seemed like a good general outline. It was a good moment for the group to voice all of their doubts and Katherine and the rest to start answering questions!

Once everything was settle Miyu and Bloom walked through the portal with Kath and the rest, the Chinese girl had no idea to where they were going, sure Kath may have mention a lab but that does not give too many clues as to WHERE in the digital world they are, then again both girls know that they can trust the Spaniard and currently any place would be safer than her home

Bloom had a big ear to ear smile during the whole trip from the department, to the city and to the lab, it was rather obvious that she was excited and hype about all this, Miyu on the other hand while happy one could tell she wasn't being her usual hyper active self, once inside the lab some presentations were made, both girls just wave their hands at the Ballistamon and Bakumon not wanting to interrupt any conversation.

Okimi won the first and obvious question that they wanted to ask, what's the first thing they'll do and who are those digimon the attacked? Apparently those digimon are some enemies of Kath's group and when that was mention Miyu's mind went straight to the three groups they fought in the train, could it be related to one of them?

Speaking of said adventure as Kath was explaining the Jinsen spores, Miyu couldn't help but notice but something has changed about Katherine since the last time they met, of course she couldn't pin point what but there was definitely something different

"No "ifs" I AM!" Bloom said, she might not know many things but she is 100% sure she was a bancho "So... Now what? If the information is in my data how do we get it out?"  

"More importantly how safe are we? If they could just "poof" in my house and are almost near unstoppable how can we be sure they won't just "poof" here too?"

"Invading enemy territory would be dumb and asking to get squashed" Bloom shrugged her partners concern, honestly that would be incredibly stupid even if they are that strong

"But... That's actually what they did" Said Miyu, they just invade their home and while they did their best to not break anything to get unnecessary attention, here they wouldn't really had that problem

"So? We just squash them, we have the strength in numbers, they can't be untouchable all the time, relax, everything will be fine, just like in the train" The Palmon smiled

"Yes... Like in the train..." Miyu colsed her eyes and took a deep breath "You're right, let's keep positive thinking and we'll come on top, we are the heroes after all!" Said the Chinese girl with a big smile and a determined look on her face

"So less like stabbing water and more like stabbing a sponge using water. Good grief." The russian shook her head, annoyed. Was there even a way of her to fight back against something like that? Furthermore Miyu had a good point, if they could simply go and try to raid her home, what was stopping them from doing the same here?

"Hey, relax. We drove them back once, we'll do it again." She reassured them, giving the two a confident wink. Thankfully Bastian agreed, else it would have probably fallen a bit flat after pretty much getting confirmation nobody there could really beat those thugs. "See? As long as you guys stay close keeping you lot safe should go smoothly."

All of their ensuing discussion and concerns were of course mostly things they would have to worry about after they found the tree."Eh that sounds like a future us problem. We can cross that bridge when we get there." She shrugged, perhaps wanting to keep everyone's spirits up. As for now they had to focus on how to find that damn thing to begin with. Which lead them straight to the next part of the plan.

Sasha wasn't quite sure she got the entirety of Bastian's explanation, but it seemed the gist of it was almost literally getting into Bloom's head and trying to get the memories directly.

What Sasha then probably wanted to ask was probably something about how dangerous the process could be for anyone involved, both Bloom and whoever tried their hands at searching into her mind, but instead came out as a rather blunt "Will it hurt?" Perhaps realizing her poor choice of words, she quickly added, "Anything we can do to help?"

The plan was clear enough for everyone to proceed. However, assuming there had been a pause of approximately 3 months in everyone’s brain, a quick recap could help:

Important data about the Banchos and a data tracker (an item that lets you find a particular type of digimon with certain data basically anywhere) had been stolen from Whitewater City. The thieves? A group that had been causing trouble for Katherine and her group for a while. They attempted to get Bloom in order to get information on how to get to the Jinsei Tree, an ancient tree guarded by the Banchos that holds the Jinsei Spores, the secret to these bad guys' strength. Right on time, Okimi the Piyomon, Arthur the Gomamon, Katherine and a part of the DLC arrived to help the girls shake these guys off. The group then headed to Bastian’s laboratory to use Nei’s powers to get inside Bloom’s brain (an infinite data pool) and get the information of the Jinsei Spore’s location before their enemies do it.


Back at the present, Bastian pointed at a long bed, located not far from the center of the laboratory. That was where Bloom should lay in order to get things started. Katherine delivered a firm nod looking at Nei, while the Bakumon responded with a timid smile.

Once everyone had gone through the respective motions, Nei would initiate the procedure. As the Bakumon closed his eyes, a trail of purple fog started forming around him. Part of the digimon seemed to be focused on making Bloom fall asleep, which honestly was not that hard. Once she was sleeping? The purple fog started circling the bed where Bloom was laying as the temperature around the whole room turned extremely cold. Although Katherine had witnessed a similar process in the past, this was always amazing to see.

“It’s happening…” Arianna whispered, staring while looking a bit shocked.

After 2 minutes that felt like an eternity, Nei spoke to break the silence that had previously engulfed the room. “I think I did it… I can see Bloom’s data pool.” A nod from Bastian and an honest smile coming from Jazz and Arianna ensued. “But…” Of course there was a but! “It’s too foggy. It would take me ages to find what we’re looking for here. I need… someone to go inside.”

“To go... inside?” Arthur muttered.

“Basically, what Nei is looking at right now must look like staring at a giant forest from above. You can see the forest, but you can’t find what you’re looking for unless you move through the trees.” Bastian explained, as usual, making a lot of sense.

But… who should go inside Bloom’s mind? Nei would posit some limitations.

“I think… I can get one human inside. Not more than that. Maybe… a couple of digimons?” He stated dubitative.

“That makes sense.” Katherine noted. “It’s probably harder to take a human inside a data pool, even if we’re data while we’re in this world.” A pause. “If that’s the case… I think the human who should go is you, Miyu.” Her green eyes shifted immediately towards her friend. “No one would know what to look for more than you. You know her more than anyone.” She reaffirmed to dispel any doubt the Chinese girl could have.

Then… two digimon. Well… Sasha could turn into a digimon, right? Maybe she could go? Or maybe not. The Russian lady would have to make that decision herself. Who else, though?

Well, the plan was set, they will go into Bloom's memory and get the information of the Jinsei tree, thanks to the help of the Bakumon Bloom was fast asleep in no time, as the procedure continue the temperature of the room started to descend it was enough to give Miyu chills and the purple smoke give the place an even creepier feeling, but the girl was mostly relaxed as she trusted Kath and her group, everything would be fine.

Now there was the tough part, they will have to go into Bloom's memory and who knows what they might happen to cross there, Nei says that can only make one human go and of course that would be Miyu, it's her duty as a Bloom's Tamer and friend to do so and being honest? It's her opportunity to pay Bloom for all the time they were stuck in the other world doing nothing because of her fear instead of exploring the digital world and having adventures like they use to, and besides Kath say it best, there's no one that knows Bloom better than Miyu herself

"Alright, I'll do it" The girl nodded with a spark of determination in her eyes "Glad you decided to come, you can be my knight in shining armor" Miyu joked when Sasha offer and wrap her arm around her "As for the last one, I'm assuming the smaller the digimon the easier will be for Nei to get us in so..." The Chinese thought for some seconds and then look at the Gomamon "What do you say Arthur? Ready for another adventure?"

It was an easy decision to be honest, while normally she would pick Jazz the fact that she will be separeted from Katherine means she can't be at her fullest, the Fairymon is a bit bigger and working in the assumption that Nei can only transport one human due to size that takes her out, so the only viable option is Arthur! She knows the Gomamon is a strong and reliable ally!

The blonde russian slowly opened her eyes with a yawn, only to find herself in a completely different location than the one she had been a moment prior, a jungle far more humid and green than Bastian's lab. Surprise and panic almost gave way until she remembered: right, this was probably inside of Bloom's mind. Or memories. Or however that worked. Probably better to not dwell too much on the details, lest existential dread settled in again.

"Damn...it actually worked." She looked around and noticed both Miyu and Arthur not too far from her. Well, so far so good. "Everyone doing good so far?"

Once everyone woke up and showed that they were indeed doing good, they'd soon notice the very distinct sound of someone singing not too far from them. It didn't take them much looking around to find that the source came from a Bancho Mamemon, the first one Sasha had seen. Naturally, she had a bit of a strong reaction that jumped out to her before anything else as she set her eyes on the bizarre looking digimon.

"Oh my gosh you're a little round guy." She couldn't help but blurt out, the sight of the little spherical creature wearing the stereotypical delinquent clothing was too much for her cuteness receptors to process. "I-I mean, we're just a couple of travellers looking around?" She tried to correct herself but Arthur beated her to the punch by asking about his little song. The russian rolled her eyes a bit at what she felt was a bit of a pointless question, but it seemed to distract the initially confrontational mamemon for a bit, so that was at least something.

He was all too glad to answer, even sharing about his apparent writing block with them. Sasha could certainly relate to that, at least. Or maybe that was just the writer projecting.
"Hm, how about "free"?" She said, trying to offer a bit of help before the little bancho snapped back to his previous confrontational attitude. Welp, things were not off to a great start if he was calling for backup.

Calling out for someone...named Bloom.

"H-hold the phone, you don't mean...?"