As the lessons ended. Ace, Deuce, Grim, Rei and Meicoomon decided to split the groups to gather the ingredients for the tart.
Grim, Rei and Meicoomon went to the botanical garden with Cater while the boys and their Koromons went to the mr.S's mystery shop despite the fact they disliked that she went with Cater but it was necessary to bake the tart more faster to give it to riddle and for the unbirthday party.
The female tamer was a bit of awed that the forest filled any kind of edible foods and students can take anything they wanted to take for their own projects or something like that while Meicoomon drooled as she saw the bountiful forest of riches the orange cat digimon wouldn't mind to live here.
"Whoa! There are a lotta chestnuts here!" Grim said excitedly, flying to the center of the open area of the wood. "If we have this much, then it's all-you-can-eat mont blanc for us!" He flew closer to one of the hanging chestnut. "Let's hurry and-"
When his paws touched the chestnut, he immediately pulled them back. "Gah! The thorns pricked my paws!"
Diamond laughed at him. "You should find a bucket first unless you want to carry those things all the way back to the kitchen." He then pointed at a building made out of glass. "There's a botanical garden over there. You can find a bucket or something."
Rei and Meicoomon shaked their head and the black haired girl checked on his paw for any injuries then patted his head.
"Next time be careful Grim. Those thorns are protecting from the animals who wanted try to eat it such like bird." She said that made the grey cat curious what is taske like and Grim nodded that next time he would be careful.
Then Rei turned to Cater, "Are you gonna help gonna help us Senpai?" She asked him with her monotone voice at him that made the male senior a bit hurt of her attitude about him and wondering why the tamer acted like that around him but he gave her his cheeky smile.
"I've done my job bringing you here. It's your turn now."
She gave him her eyed look and sighed, "No grilled vension steak with chestnut sauce for you then."
Rei step forward to the garden leaving a gaped Cater behind her and Grim followed her while he snickers.
______________________
Meicoomon jumped down and smelled the garden in bliss while Grim carefully removed the thorny shell of the chestnut then placed on Rei's bottomless bag which she placed at the gound.
"I can't believe this bag is so convinient to hold this many chestnut at once and doesn't to get bigger, also I can not see the bottom of this! Whoever it made is truly a genius but I am the greater genius!" The grey cat declared with his cute pose which Rei made a photo about him.
Meicoomon nodded in agree, "Vulcanusmon is really good at this. He wouldn't called himself the god of smithery for nothing."
"Eh?!" Yelled Grim in shook for this information that it made by a god himself while Rei walked a bit and collected the chestnuts at the ground then hummed in thought what she should cook with if Trey left some for her.
'Maybe I should also make a soup out of it but with what...'
Then it hit her as she smelled some various mushrooms in the garden and heard someone hummed happily over the mushrooms.
The black haired tamer looked around and spot a student with a lab coat crouching in front of the box at the corner of the room under the shadow of a small tarp-tent.
Rei walked up to him and trying to get his attention while Meicoomon and Grim seemed busy to picking up the chestnut also some fruits are going added to her bag.
"Excuse me? Do you cultivate these mushrooms?"
The teal haired man perked up and turning around as he saw her looking at him while Rei secretly looking at the mushroom garden. Then the man stood up that realized the tamer that this man is taller than her but she isn't bothered at all and Rei recognized the man who sit besides Azul before at the cafeteria.
The man seemed a bit suprised that she got interest on his mushroom garden and also recognized here to from yesterday, "Hello miss. Yes I do cultivate these mushroom garden and tending here."
She blinked as Rei looked closer to the mushrooms and was awed, "Aren't those chanterelle mushrooms, porcini mushrooms and lobster mushrooms? These mushrooms are really difficult to cultivate that I heard from a friend."
The man chuckled her interest on his cultivated mushrooms and was also interested on her friends of hers, "Well I couldn't helped because I am curious about the land and we don't have much in underwater which is a great shame but makes me curious about the land people here."
"You lived in underwater? Are you some kind of a merpeople or something like that?" Rei asked in curious that in front of her the man litary lived in underwater and the man nodded as a yes.
"Your friend is also a big fan about mushrooms I presume?" The teal haired man asked her and was happy to informed that her friend was a mushroom fan.
"Yup. They are so crazy that they also cultivated back home in my garden and mushrooms here some kind of mutated? I don't know the right word but the mushrooms are really large like two metre and has a unique taste/texture but its very delicious to make those mushrooms into various dishes." She listed the mushroom back home while the heterochromia colored eyed man blinked in awe that those type of mushrooms seemed interested to him.
"Ho. This very interesting to hear that they also have some kind of hobby I would like to learn from them." His eyes glimmered then realized something.
"Come to think of it we haven't introduced ourselve haven't we?" Then he offered his hand at her and she doing the same, "Jade Leech, second year, Octavinelle."
Rei gave him a firm shake to him, "Rei from the Ramshackle dorm, first year. Leech-senpai."
"Please call me Jade, Rei. I have a twin here who is also attended this school." Jade informed her why the tamer needed to call his first name which she understood then asked him.
"Say Jade-senpai, do you know where this school café is? Ashengrotto-senpai make a request in BBS Hudie plattform that I should sing tomorrow."
The man blinked in suprise that the dorm leader decided that now but smiled, "Azul did that? Then wouldn't you mind If I pick you up tomorrow at your dorm? I also have night shifts here anyway and I hope you didn't mind that all I hope, Rei?"
Rei shaked her head that she wouldn't mind that made Jade chuckle because he couldn't wait to see her expression that the café is in underwater.
Then they went to in different direction as they parted away.
Rei made her way back to Meicoomon and Grim who seemed to having fun with each other then Meicoomon looked up to her with her questional look to her tamer.
"What took you so long Rei? Did you someone who is very interested to you?"
Grim also looked at her with his curious expression that she replied to her partner, "I met an interesting fish man."
"A fish man?" The cats tittled their head then Grim's stomach began to rumble and he hold his stomach in embaressed.
"Sorry! I'm hungry Rei because you mention about a fish man." The grey cat complained which they chuckled.
"Haha my bad, Grim. How about we should go to the kitchen who waited Trey on us and I make something delicious meal before you boys sample the tart?" Rei asked which Grim nodded with his gleam eyes.
Then Meicoomon complained, "That's no fair! I want to eat the chestnut dishes to with the others but no I have to pretend to be a toy again for Yggdrasil's sake!"
The orange cat digimon jumped up to Rei's shoulder and Grim took the other one then the black haired girl begin to walk to the exit.
Rei felt something as she stepped then pulled her foot away and looked down that it was a lion tail, "Oh."
"'Oh' indeed." A male voice growled low and they looked nervously who it was. It was the lion man from the entrance ceremony.
The man wearing a white dressed shirt with the first few buttons undone. Over the shirt he wore a yellow vest. The man with lion ears glared at her. "Hey. You've got guts stepping on someone's tail without apologizing." He stated to her.
Grim then looked at him, "Are you the guy tending to this place? Wow, you've got quite a scary mug..." The cat commented.
"No Grim he doesn't look like he's the owner of this place from checking from your vest you come from the Savanaclaw I presume? I sincerely apologies that I stepped on your tail Senpai and will extra careful nest time." The digimon tamer apologiezed to him but he couldn't take it as he eyes at her carefully in wary and noticed Meicoomon who sat on her shoulder.
The man with the lion ears sniffed at them unexpectedly that made the girl stepped back a bit as he narrowed his eyes, "You have a strange smell hebivore that I don't recognized and this orange plush here isn't a plush. Don't expected to lie to me the meicoon breathed and smell like living creature."
The three went pale and didn't know what to do when suddenly Rei got an idea. A stupid idea that she hoped it worked on him because it was usually worked on digimon but didn't tried on human before.
"Hushabye, Hushabye!" She sing while the lion man looked at her weirdly and Meicoomon seemed to sing along with her leaving a confused Grim who looked at them.
"My good student, sleep!~" Rei and Meicoomon continued to sing.
The man growled at them, "You aren't my teacher hebivore and what the heck are you singing?!"
"After a long day of training, It's time to rest!~
Quake, blast, fire, father!~
Drinking after practise!~
Shall I flip the table for you?~"
"What kind of table, woman?!" The man with lion ears didn't see it coming that the girls kinda lubally make him a bit sleepy again.
"What happens to little boys who don't sleep?" Rei stopped to move her arms and looked at him with her closed eyes smile which is kinda scary.
Rei and Meicoomon make a fighting stand as they yelled, "TEKKEN SEISAI!" They punched him that weirdly made the man went to back sleep leaving a gaped Grim and the tamer run to the exit.
She passed by a hyena eared man who saw the whole spectacle and he twitched his eyes then sighed how the heck he would wake his leader up.
________________________________________
"Pardon us!" As Deuce pushed the door open he was greeted by a room filled with various knick-knacks which were aesthetically reminded him of a voodoo store. Crystal skulls, jars with questionable liquids, and grimoires between shelves. Puppets and masks hung down from the ceiling. Some animal figures on the counter. Even a purple piano near the entrance.
"Geez, this looks like my house storage room," Ace muttered as he followed Deuce in. "Ya sure we can find actual ingredients here?"
Deuce glanced at Ace who played with his Koromon up on his head before glancing at the shopping list in his hand. 'Fresh cream, two packs of milk, two cartons of eggs, silicon cups, five canned fruits...' Quite a lot actually.
He was glad Ace joined him. Even if he was used to carrying lots of heavy groceries when going shopping with his mother on sales hours, it was always good when you have a helping hand and Jaze cheered him up a little.
'What a cute boy... or girl? Maybe I should ask Rei later if my Koromon is male?' The dark black blue haired boy thought and imaged about her then blushed a little.
"Hey! Little lost lambs!" Both Ace and Deuce jumped when a man suddenly popped from behind the counter. "Welcome to Mr. S's Mystery Shop!"
The lithe young man had magenta eyes, black-and-purple dreads flipped over the right side of his head, and an undercut. He had white skeletal markings painted beneath his eyes, on his neck, on his chest, and his forearms. There were also white rib markings on the bright purple vest that he wore beneath his maroon blazer; this skeletal motif was complete with a small skull affixed to his hat.
"What is it that you wish for today?" the man, who Deuce guessed was Mr. S, said as he rubbing his hand. "A charm against cheating? An ancient king's mirror? Or maybe, some cursed tarot cards?"
Deuce walked up to the counter. "We would like to buy the things written on this note," he said, sliding the note in front of Mr. S. The man took it and re-read it out loud, whistling when he reached the last thing on the list.
"What a pretty sweet line-up~" He pointed finger guns at him. "OK! I shall bring them out now."
When Mr. S walked deeper into the shop, Ace managed to stand beside Deuce. "You think he has those stuff here?" In which Deuce only shrugged.
To their surprise, Mr. S managed to come back with all the ingredients they needed. "Thank you for the wait~" he said as he put the last carton filled egg into a plastic bag.
"It is rather heavy, so are you sure you can carry them all? If you act now, I can throw in a special bag to carry all of those things for 30% off of its original price~!" He ended with a wink but then the shopkeeper finally noticed about the strange blop creature over their heads and shrugged as if it was a new trend.
Ace and Deuce exchanged glances, knowing that they had the same idea. "We can carry these on our own," said Deuce as he grabbed the one filled with canned fruit while giving the others to Ace.
Mr. S gave them a thumbs up. "OK, OK! Then, I shall be waiting for your return, lost little lambs! Bye~!"
"Geez... This is heavy," Ace groaned as both he and Deuce walked down the Main Street. The gingerhead glanced at Deuce. 'He carried twice the weight he was carrying! And how was this dude not sweating yet?!'
"How did you do it?" He questioned him.
Deuce glanced at him confusedly. "Do what?"
"This!" Ace lifted his grocery bags before lowering them again. "How can you carry all that without breaking a sweat?"
Deuce looked at Ace's groceries then to his own. "Oh, I help my mother carrying her groceries frequently," he said and Ace swore he saw the corner of Deuce's lips pulled up. "I'm the only man in the family, so I'm used to helping a lot with hard labor."
Ace frowned. "So, you're a momma boy?"
Deuce's cheeks turned red as he stopped his tracks, face blushing in embarrassment. "I'm not!"
Ace grinned. "Admit it! You're a momma boy!"
"Momma boy!" Ace's Koromon repeated his words and laughed. His Tamer gave him a head pat as aproved
Ace walked ahead and laughed to then he turned his head to look at the still red-faced Deuce which was amusing Ace thought. He grinned at the blunette again before looking straight ahead again-
*thud*
... Only to crash onto someone, making Ace lose his grip on the plastic bag filled with the eggs and let it feel to the street.
"AH! SHIT!" Ace immediately knelt in panic. When he untied the plastic to check on the eggs, it was already filled with yellow and white goo. "All of the eggs cracked!"
"Where the hell are ya lookin' at?"
Ace looked up.
Two Hearslabyul students stood in front of him, way buffier than him. But Ace wasn't afraid. The ginger-head stood and glared at them. "And what about you? Standing in the middle of the road like a doofus."
The senior that he bumped into glared gack. "Huh? That how a freshie should talk to his senior?" His hand reached Ace jacket and he was pulled closer to his face. "HOW RUDE!"
Then Ace's Koromon growled at him as he dare to hurt his tamer. That is unforgivable and the baby digimon jumped and hit the senior on his face then fell down to the ground as he growled at him.
"Don't dare to hurt my tamer your big meanie!" Ruby exclaimed and prepared his special move but the seniors kicked him angrily.
"Ha, that plush toy speaked and its attacking us with its puny weak body? How amused!" One of the seniors exclaimed and tried to continued to kick Koromon when suddenly Ace protected his partner with his own body that they kicked him instead.
"Ace..." Koromon looked up to him as he saw his pained experssion about being beated up instead of him and was suprised that his Tamer grinned at him while he is still in pain.
"Don't worry Ruby this is nothing I had in my previous school before." Ace holded his partner and tried to get up but pushed down by the seniors who laughed at him.
Deuce watched the scene frozen and didn't know what to do as he holded back to beat up these guys for breaking the chick because he promised himself that he wouldn't see his mom cry over him again but the dark blue haired boy clenched his fists as he continued to see Ace protecting his own digimon.
He don't want to watch it anymore and Deuce's Koromon sensed his desire as it jumped down in his suprise then Deuce sensed something in his digimon as it nodded at him.
Their smartphones glowed brightly in light blue and dark red as the digimon began to evolve which the boys covered their eyes.
Ace's Koromon was inside in the glowed dark red egg while Deuce's Koromon in the glowed light blue egg.
"Koromon SHINKA...."
"Koromon SHINKA...."
Ace's Koromon turned into a small rock dragon that it made of hard ore, some parts are bright red like the horns, Its claws and the center of his chest is a ruby gem attached to it. It opened his eyes which revealed golden amber eyes like flames.
"Vorvomon!" Ace's former Koromon evolved in his child form leaving his tamer in awe.
"Vorvomon..." The orange haired boy repeated its name in awe as he get up and they glared at the seniors while Deuce's Koromon evolved into a small Machine Digimon shaped like a bird but it also resembled as a dragon to. It has red eyes and in its mouth is a laser gun thing.
"Jazamon!"
"Jazamon." Deuce also repeated its name then something updated fast in their phones unknown to them.
[1%...25%...57%...]
The seniors gaped at that the pink blops transformed into small dragons.
Ace then smirked and raises his fist up in air while Deuce took the first blow at the one of the seniors face. "Pay us back for the eggs and also, please apologize to the chickens senpai or else this would end not pretty."
"H-hah? Why are ya making a ruckus over eggs?" The other senior is scared about them and was about to piss himself. "It didn't hit the ground so you can still eat it. Stop making a fuss over little things and let us go!"
Then Jazamon peaked one of the seniors with its hard beak, "Kokon Pick!"
While Ace and Vorvomon seemed to have fun to beat other senior. The ginger headed boy punched him in his stomach and the rock dragon spewing out a small and high-temperature flame from its mouth on the other empty side at him, "Petit Flame!"
Which both of the seniors are scared about them now that the duo seemed suited to each digimon then they run away of course when Deuce was about to punch them violent.
Ace then eyed at the dark blue haired boy who has now that wild eyes he seen before against the ink monster.
"Th-those guys a total madman ecspecially the dragon like monster!" they screamed. "Let's run! I'm so sorry, Mr. Chicken!"
"Apologize to the eggs a hundred times before you stuff your faces next time, dumbass!" shouted Deuce one last time before unclenching his fists, head down, shoulder going up-down, and breathing hard. Jazamon then tucked a bit his pants and Deuce glanced at his evolved digimon then smiled.
And gave him a head pat as he looked sad right now to not fuffiled his promise then Ace shook his shoulder.
"Whoah, dude!" Ace exclaimed then he added, "What was that?!"
"I-I screwed up again..." the blunette whispered while he cuddle his digimon, not with an angry tone, but in a sad, almost guilt-filled, tone. "I promised myself that I'd be a model student for sure this time, and yet-!"
Ace blinked doesn't understanding the situation.
Deuce lowered his head again, "I'm not supposed to do that..." he whispered again. "I can't make mom cry again..."
"You had a rough time at home?" Ace asked.
Deuce shrugged a little. "More like I was a bad boy." Ace raised an eyebrow at him like he wouldn't believe that.
"My mom didn't take my delinquent lifestyle well. So..."
"So, you want to change," Ace finished his sentence, in which Deuce nodded.
"Yeah." He gritted his teeth. "And yet... Damn it!"
"Hey!" Ace shook his shoulder again. "Listen to me."
Deuce was silent for the next few seconds, so Ace took it as the sign that he was listening. "Think about this: Isn't enduring all of that is also a part of being a model student?"
Deuce's breath hitched. He looked up, blue eyes staring at Ace in confusion. "Eh...?"
"Look as example like Rei, she is very nice and sweet to us but she also have a scary side that we saw a little bit today, yet she and her digimon wouldn't attack the students in the middle of the cafeteria. I bet she would be more of a model student to the others like that girl changed us the day we had this little crazy adventure with us and we met her digimon having respect over her to following her in our world." Ace listed what he thought about Rei who changed their whole lifes as she stepped in this world then quickly added as he glanced at Deuce who nodded in agree in his words,
"What I mean is even model student have the right to be angry sometimes. We are humans, not something a machine who will do it what it said."
Deuce gasped. The wind blew softly as the two boys and their digimon stared at each other. Slowly Deuce smiled. It was just a small smile, but Ace took this as a victory on his side, smiling back at him. He didn't know how Deuce's situation was, but he wanted to know.
After all of the trouble they've spent together in two days, maybe they are ready to get to know each other better with their digimon, Rei, Meicoomon and the other digimons. They know their world are getting more brighter like a clear sky.
Deuce looked at the yolk filled plastic behind them. He let out a sigh. "May those baby chicks rest in peace..."
"May those baby chicks rest in peace..." Jazamon repeated with his mechanical voice and imitated his tamer as he clapped his hands but unable to do it with its wings that is capable of gliding.
'Wait what?'
"What are you talking about?" The ginger head boy asked while he facepalmed his face.
Deuce turned to him confusedly again and Ace raised an eyebrow at him. "Those eggs don't turn to chicks," Ace said. "They weren't fertilized, so they won't hatch into chicks in the first place."
...
...
...
"WH-WHAT?! YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!"
Ace and Vorvomon covered their ears as Deuce scream but the baby bird dragon digimon doesn't seemed to mind it.
[74%...89%...95%...100%.]
[Gifts from Yggdrasil reveiced. Downloaded completed. Digimon Analyse installed. Digital Mini cyberspace installed.]