Chapter Text
Tagiru hated rainy days. Especially when some random digimon is on the loose causing issues and now that he had become a Digimon Hunter affiliated to the Xros Heart group, he couldn’t let this one escape and keep running amok. Deep down he hated to receive orders, but he was a good and well behaved kid. And he had spotted the Mysterious Hunter person all again, and something made him want to talk to that dude.
Maybe to ask who he is, or why he wants Tagiru to form an alliance with him and Kudou Taiki.
(though that was all part of a dream, obviously he would think Tagiru is a weird kid…)
“Tagiru, that digimon entered the DigiQuartz, hurry!” he heard Yuu’s voice coming from the crimson XrosLoader.
“Stop giving me orders!” Tagiru didn’t say that to Yuu, but he growled. Besides, he can’t do two things at the same time -- one hand was holding his umbrella, the other the XrosLoader “Argh, Gumdramon hurry up!!”
“I’m going I’m going!” the small digimon replied, but being small means he was a little slower than a 13 year old, “Geez, give me a ride then!”
“*Sigh* sure, sure…” Tagiru stopped and let the digimon jump on his arms, then he sped up again. Gumdramon helped by holding the umbrella, with Tagiru holding him with that arm now. They both looked at the map popping in the shape of a hologram and kept following the directions.
“Tagiru, where are you??” Yuu asked, there was some impatience in his voice, “We can’t deal with this Triceramon without your help!!”
“Wait, where…?? Where’s the digimon we were running after then?” Gumdramon raised an eyebrow, then glanced at Tagiru, “We weren’t after a Triceramon… Right?”
“We were after-- Oh shoot if Yuu’s in danger Taiki-san will murder me!” and he opened the entrance to the DigiQuartz.
Actually… Tagiru was after a digimon he didn’t know which was. But don’t worry about it. With Tagiru, Yuu and Taiki’s help… They beat the Triceramon and Yuu and returned home. However, the digimon Tagiru and Gumdramon were after…
… was facing someone else instead.
“I won’t go with a digimon hunter! Never!” the Yukidarumon shouted, clenching fists and in the offensive position. Ready to attack, the hooded human in front of him seemed a little tense.
“I’m not like those kids!” Mysterious Hunter said, “I don’t want to hunt you for fun, I want to keep you safe from those hunters! I’m a good guy here!”
“Liar!” and then Yukidarumon tried to freeze him with their right fist. Fladramon, the digimon ally of that person, stood in front of the human and burned Yukidarumon’s hand “Ack!” the opponent stepped back.
“Y-you hurt them, don’t do that…” the boy babbled in panic, “B-but they tried to freeze me, so…”
“If you’re not the enemy, then why you--”
“No hard feelings Ok? I’ll have to use brute force this time” and he took the sky blue XrosLoader, “Go, Fladramon…!”
Fladramon was mute for some strange reason, and it followed that order. The draconic digimon was fast and shot fireballs against Yukidarumon, who tried to stop them by shooting the same number of ice balls. With the shock of the ice against the fire, a mist was made. This was the fugitive digimon’s mistake. Fladramon took advantage of it and performed a Fire Rocket faster than Yukidarumon could defend themself.
The data of the beaten opponent loaded to the digivice, which would restore the mon’s data and heal them.
“Good job,” a voice came from the XrosLoader, “You could’ve done that first. Have you become… Softer?”
“S-shut up, I don’t want to hurt anyone here!” Mysterious Hunter snorted, “B-besides I’m old enough to not jump into a fight quickly!”
“Really…? The young ‘you’ would’ve complained about it~~”
“Whatever… Did you heal already?”
“Ugh… Not yet, sorry… But you got Fladramon and Lighdramon's help! You’re in good hands, take it easy~”
“Yeah… Thank you, anyway.”
“Ah, one warning… Don’t open the TimeShift right here because--”
He opened it, and he ended up falling on the cold puddle rainwater from the “outside”.
“-- You’re right under a puddle… ”
“Ugh… I’m soaked!!”
The next day felt less gloomy and more sunny. The hot weather of the summer made most of the puddles evaporate and the soaked ground dry. Tagiru got up for school, but a little late due to his strange dream and decided to stop by at the konbini on the way to class.
He entered and noticed that mysterious yet friendly employee there sniffing. The young boy frowned -- did Lance get caught by the rain last night when going home? Well, he had a medical mask on so…
“Uh… Are you OK?”
“*snif* sigh…” He looked at Tagiru “Y-yeah, uh… Yesterday it rained a lot h-huh??”
“Um… We’re in the rainy season…” Tagiru said, putting the sandwiches he was planning to purchase on the cashier desk, “So it’s normal… Ah, you might not be used to it right?”
“Uhh… No?” That sounded like a lie. And he’s bad at lying… “But it doesn’t matter, the sun is out and it will be a great day…” he whispered something next “If I can find him already…”
“Huh?” Tagiru frowned, as he watched Lance read the barcodes
“N-nothing,” he chuckled nervously.
“Uh, okay…?”
Once Tagiru had paid and left, he sat on the floor and sighed deeply. Also sneezed again.
“Man… How long can I keep doing this until I find him …” he whispered, taking the sky blue XrosLoader from his pocket, “Hey bud… Did ya recover already…?”
“Snore…”
“Y-you’re sleepin’ while I’m workin’ all alone here!?” Lance snapped like a certain person would do.
Tagiru and Yuu sat with Taiki on a secret spot on the building’s roof. They were discussing the current digimon business they were running at the moment. But Tagiru felt a little distant… Yuu called him back to Earth:
“Tagiru, are you listening to us?”
“A-ah?? Uh… Uhhh…” the boy blinked, “I was just thinking… I saw another digimon that night too, but I couldn’t go after it.”
“Another digimon?” Taiki, Yuu, and their digimon repeated.
“Yeah, big and… round…?”
“Big and round…”
“But then Yuu called me and I lost it!!”
“Then it’s my fault now??” Yuu squinted his eyes at Tagiru, annoyed.
“I’m not saying it is” Tagiru stared at him, “I only said that there was another digimon around!”
“Guys, don’t fight please” Taiki interrupted them, calmly and with a serious tone. No wonder he was the head of their team, “Another digimon… Did you meet that hooded guy too?”
“H-huh?” Tagiru then frowned, “I… I did see him running after the same digimon but they disappeared…”
“Hmm…”
“Maybe he got that digimon then” Gumdramon pouted like a kid, “Aw I wanted to fight that one…”
“We will have more digimon to fight and catch, don’t worry!” Tagiru smiled, but then he dropped that smile, “... Do you think that person is our rival?”
“Beats me,” Damemon shrugged.
“Taiki and I will keep an eye on him,” Shoutmon responded, looking at his partner.
“That’s right… For now let’s keep focusing on solving the digimon cases around the town.”
“Right!” Tagiru, Gumdramon, Yuu and Damemon said together with a nod.
After school… Another digimon had been spotted causing fuss. This time a Digitamamon running amok destroying restaurants for not making the correct way to cook certain dishes, and forcing those people to work on that digimon’s way.
Of course this felt like the recipe for a disaster, so they have to come catch that digimon before things go south.
It was when…
“STOP THERE, DIGITAMAMON--!!”
Tagiru and Gumdramon saw it attacking a ramen cart, but then Digitamamon ran away. They ran and chased the digi-opponent through the streets until they stopped under a bridge.
They all were out of energy (Except Gumdramon, who this time decided to stay inside the XrosLoader) -- Tagiru was definitely exhausted.
“How dare-- you ruin-- my lectures!?” Digitamamon said, with long pauses due to exhaustion.
“This won’t end well…” the boy thought, and then he said aloud after catching a breath, “Everyone… Everyone has their own way to make the same friggin recipe, don’t you know!?”
“But cooking is art! If you can’t follow the recipes correctly--”
“It’s not true!!” Gumdramon got out of the digivice and stood in front of Tagiru, “Changing small details or altering the portion won’t damage the art!”
“What do you understand about the art of cooking!?”
“... I know how to eat. That’s all.”
“How much time do we have left until Taiki-san and Yuu come here?” Tagiru muttered, a little panicked.
“Stay back, Tagiru” Gumdramon warned him, “Evolve me so I can crack that eggshell and make an omelet.”
“I’m NOT an egg!!” Digitamamon growled, “Also this is NOT an eggshell!!”
“IT’S NOT AN EGGSHELL!?” Tagiru shouted in surprise.
“Of course it’s not!!” A voice came from the horizon, but coughing. They looked to the direction the voice came and saw the Mysterious Hunter there, riding on Lighdramon.
“Y-you’re here!?” Gumdramon blinked.
“That thing is their exoskeleton *cough*”
“H-how do you know that??!” both Tagiru and Gumdramon asked him.
“D-don’t ask me that!!” he jumped to the ground and pointed at the Digitamamon, “Digitamamon, you should surrender and stop attacking people, the passion for cooking is… *cough cough* Is improvising recipes and making new flavors!!”
“... Are you okay?” Tagiru asked, “You’re a little… odd today…”
“I-I’m fine!” he snorted, “Now, Lighdramon… Catch it!”
Lighdramon ran quickly and started baffling Digitamamon. Tagiru was finding that strange, but okay sure… Maybe Hunter got caught by the rain too… He took his XrosLoader and joined the battle, evolving Gumdramon into Arresterdramon.
“Let’s see who will hunt that digimon then!!” Tagiru challenged the other, “Arresterdramon!”
“Right!”
Digitamamon wouldn’t have any problem protecting themself from those two -- The exoskeleton would protect him, so the duo couldn’t do much… Except Arresterdramon has a phantom-like attack, and Lighdramon had the best speed and stunting skills. They would have to worry if either of the partner-mons attacked inside his exoskeleton.
Nightmare Syndrome was released against them, though like said before, this wasn’t that effective, because Arresterdramon used his phantom-like abilities, while Lighdramon dodged due to his excellent agility. The tough ‘shell’ couldn’t be hit by either Lighdramon and Arresterdramon, so the Mysterious Hunter person used past experiences to beat the not-egg-mon.
“Attack, Lighdramon! Aim at the Nightmarish blob-thing!!”
“W-what?” Tagiru exclaimed, “What are you planning to do??”
Lighdramon used Blue Thunder on that ghost-like ‘attack’ trying to smash both him and Arresterdramon, but Arresterdramon was caught by accident too. Digitamamon growled in pain and his data was transferred to the sky blue XrosLoader.
“H-Huh!? How!?” Tagiru blinked, “How did you--”
“Another one saved!! Oh, it’s a Digitamamon!! Like our friend!”
Tagiru and Arresterdramon were too in shock to hear that that voice. Tagiru’s partner devolved back to Gumdramon and stopped next to his tamer.
“Who… Who are you?” Tagiru asked the hooded guy.
Then, the Mysterious Hunter removed his scarf from his face…
“?!!?!”
… And there was a medical facial mask under it. Tagiru and Gumdramon were judging that ‘funny’ idiot inside their minds.
“H-HEY THAT’S NOT FAIR!!” Tagiru yelled angrily, “I ASKED POLITELY!! WHO ARE YOU!?”
Then the mysterious figure mounted on Lighdramon and disappeared.
“Seriously… Who are you?” Tagiru muttered.