5 -Chapter 5-

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<Digital World Tunomon Village> <PoV - Noah Tatsumi>

I felt my consciousness slowly and quietly return to my head signaling me that it was time to get up and start the day, with a grunt of effort I lifted my upper body on the bed as I tried to focus my eyes on the room around me.

Suddenly my eyes snapped open as I looked at the unfamiliar room around me, the room was simple with walls, floor and ceiling made of wood the wall next to my bed had a large window that let in the small rays of the sun.

Fear settled in my heart like an oppressive and absolute entity... before it disappeared as I remembered where I was. 'Right... Digital World, not Human...'

"I was still hoping that this was a dream..." I muttered letting out a melancholy sigh as I looked at Herissmon who was still sleeping at the end of the bed. Carefully I ran a hand along his spines which were curiously soft. "Today we must strive to return home..."

Suddenly the Blue Tamagochi began to glow and with a 'Ping' a blue screen opened in the air.

I raised an eyebrow at the strange sound before looking at the information.... 

[=====]

-New feature unlocked: Achievements-

-Open Achievements tab?-

-Yes / No-

[=====]

I blinked twice as I read the holographic screen with confusion. Herissmon let out an annoyed grunt at the sudden pause of the stroking on his spines before I stroked him again.

"Achievements?...this is looking more and more like Dragon Quest..." I thought out loud as I pressed 'Yes'. Another blue screen popped up, this time it was many times larger than the previous one.

[=====]

-Achievement Obtained: Day One!-

-Reward: Feature Upgrade: Map-

-Achievement Obtained: Digivolution!-

-Reward: Random piece of information about: Digievolution-

-Achievement Obtained: The Biggest Dreamer!-

-Reward: Feature Upgrade: Digital Analysis-

-Achievement Locked-

-Achievement Locked-

...

..

.

[=====]

My brow furrowed as I looked at these 'Achievements', I got the gist of what it was but it was still quite confusing overall, and I don't think speaking from my experience in the few video games I've played is a good idea.

'Maybe Izzy has a better idea what this is...' I thought with annoyance before the screen changed and showed me another large screen with text on it. After spending some time reading it and analyzing it I think I finally got the hang of it.

Basically, an Achievement was a specific condition that was met in certain situations or times and usually took some work to achieve. Upon completion of an Achievement, the Bearer would be rewarded for obtaining that Achievement, and the Achievements would only count as completed once a day had passed.

Apparently there were three types of Achievements: Bronze, Silver and Gold.

Bronze Achievements will give basic rewards and were usually quite easy to obtain.

Silver Achievements, these achievements could range from moderately difficult to very difficult but with considerable rewards for the Bearer.

Gold Achievements will give large and rare rewards to the Bearer. However, they were extremely difficult to do and usually put the Bearer's life in extreme danger and near death.

"Something about this doesn't feel right..." I muttered to myself taking a deep breath. "Why is he calling me a Bearer?"

This was the thing that was bothering me and I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me a little uneasy, this strange hologram...device...thing...was calling me 'Bearer,' not 'Noah,' not 'Tatsumi,' just 'Bearer' Obviously he was referring to me as a person possessing the Blue Tamagochi but every time I thought about it a feeling of...I don't know, it was like something was missing...a feeling of not being complete, was the best way to describe it I guess.

This only generated more questions and answered no answers.

What exactly is this Tamagochi? Originally I thought it was some strange device but I was beginning to believe it was much more important than it let on at first glance.

Suddenly the sound of my stomach growling for food reached my ears, begging for nourishment. I slowly got out of bed so as not to wake Herissmon before heading to the bathroom to brush and change before heading to the kitchen.

On my way to the kitchen the thought of another problem came back into my head: 'How should I tell all this to TK?...'

***

<TK - PoV>

A delicious smell slowly reached my nose making me smile unconsciously as I opened my eyes a little. With a little effort I got up from my bed letting out a long yawn, I turned my head to the side to look at Tokomon who also seemed to have just woken up.

"Good morning Tokomon" I greeted him with a smile as I picked him up from the bed and gave him a hug, Tokomon barely dug into my arms and it felt like he was hugging a very large pillow. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yup!" Tokomon smiled happily as his ears twitched slightly.

I set Tokomon down and quickly left the room as I followed the delicious smell into the kitchen. The kitchen wasn't much but it had a cozy atmosphere in it, it was barely equipped with an oven, refrigerator, a countertop along with a table and four wooden chairs.

In the middle of the kitchen was my new friend, Noah Tatsumi. 

He was a year younger than my brother but taller than him, he has brown skin and messy black hair, his eyes were an exotic golden color. He was dressed in a white t-shirt with yellow sleeves, black shorts that came down to his knees and brown boots that looked quite dirty.

"Uh?.... Oh, good morning TK" Noah said with a brief greeting before turning his attention back to the stove, it looked like he was using several burners at the same time. "Food will be ready shortly so sit at the table...oh, Tokomon can you wake Herissmon?"

"Sure!" Tokomon exclaimed as he walked back into the hallway.

Following what Noah said I sat at the table as I watched him work in the kitchen, I wondered if my brother could cook for me one day.

'Maybe I can ask him to make me a bento!' I thought happily as I wiggled legs under the table waiting for the food.

"Hey TK" Noah suddenly called out to me while he was still cooking, he seemed to be making something with rice and eggs. After a second he turned around giving me a strange look. "uh, so... how are you?"

"I slept pretty well!"

Noah made a grimace on his face that quickly disappeared as he took a deep breath. "I mean, since we got here... haven't you been lonely without Matt?"

"Well..." I nodded as I stared at the table for a moment before pouting. "Yeah...but we hardly ever get to see each other so I don't feel so bad, although I'm upset that this camp has separated me from him."

"Oh?, uh...I see" Noah raised an eyebrow before a look of understanding appeared on his face and he pursed his lips. "TK you know we're not at home anymore right?"

"Uh sure, we're at camp" I exclaimed as I gave him a smile, so far camp had been pretty unusual but fun, I didn't know I would get a pet!

Noah blinked twice before mumbling something I failed to hear. He shook his head before giving me a resigned smile.

"No TK we're not in camp anymore you remember the tsunami that swallowed us all right? Well, the tsunami took you and me to another...place far away from camp, possibly the others too, including Matt" Noah began to explain scratching his hair uncomfortably but never taking his eyes off me. An ominous and gloomy feeling was starting to rise from my heart. "This place is dangerous TK...we are no longer supervised by adults and there are monsters outside that can do us a lot of harm..."

"Th-That can't be possible" I yelled as I jumped up and gave him an angry glare. "My brother is strong! Monsters can't do anything to him!"

"I'm not saying Matt is weak TK" Noah sighed as he walked over to me before crouching down to look me in the eyes. "I'm saying that we're the weak ones and we don't have the protection of the strong ones."

"But-But..." I stammered as my eyesight distorted a bit.

"U-Uh, don't cry TK! I promise I will protect you until we find Matt and the others, got it?...so don't cry" Noah put his hand on my man as he wiped my tears with his other hand. "Just.... Have hope for Matt, you said he's strong right?"

"Y-Yeah..." I nodded letting out a sob before giving him a weak smile "You're right..."

***

<Noah - PoV>

'I suck at comforting children...' I thought viciously as I ate my plate of rice and meat, for some reason I could hardly taste the food. In front of me was TK and Tokomon enthusiastically eating their food like there was no tomorrow, next to me was Herissmon who apparently really liked eggs and meat. 'But that came out better than I expected at least...'

'This is delicious! It's almost as good as mom's food!" TK exclaimed between bites as he ate at a disturbing speed for an ordinary child.

"Don't talk while eating and eat slower or you'll choke" I scolded him lightly as I dove back into my plate.

Blushing slightly from the scolding, TK quickly finished eating his food and let out a satisfied sigh. "Fuah! How did you learn to cook so well?"

'I don't think I'm that good... I can barely taste it myself.'

"I learned to cook by myself... well I learned almost everything by myself" I replied while grimacing my face as various nostalgic memories flashed through my head causing my lips to unconsciously form a smile. In the end I ended up speaking with a slightly proud tone. "My mom spends a lot of time at work so she usually comes home late, as she's always too tired from she can't cook properly so I learned on my own, great isn't it?"

"That's awesome Noah!" Herissmon exclaimed with a proud smile before looking at me curiously. "But what's a mom?"

""...""

***

After eating quickly I informed TK that I was going out of the village to look around, he said he also wanted to join me but I told him that he had to take care of the Tunomon and make sure to protect the house. The truth was that I was going to go out to explore the forest and look for ways to get stronger, I originally planned to fight more Goburimon but I didn't have the confidence to take on a group of them by myself.

Because I didn't know how dangerous this could be, I decided to tell TK a white lie. I made a promise to keep him safe and I don't plan to break it, besides possibly Matt will kill me if he finds out that because of my negligence his younger brother died.

In the end, I arrived in front of Gabumon and asked him if there was any way to become strong quickly.

"Ahh, are you dumb or what's wrong with you?" Gabumon growled in annoyance as he folded his arms. "If there was a way to become strong easily don't you think I would have used it by now to reach the Adult Stage?"

"You have a point" I reluctantly admitted as I rubbed my forehead. "Wait what's that about Adult Stage?"

"The only ways to become stronger is to absorb Data from other Digimons or by training, once a Digimon has enough Data it can Digievolve to Higher Stages" Gabumon replied as he sat on the ground and started making figures with the dirt. "There are several Stages of Digievolution..."

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Digievolution Stages: Ranking of the amount of Data possessed by a Digimon in question. The higher the Digimon's Evolutionary Stage the more difficult it will become to Digivolve to a Higher Stage due to the amount of Data required making the process extremely difficult. Only a few lucky Digimons get to touch the ceiling of their existence.

Digitama -> Baby I -> Baby II -> Child -> Adult -> Perfect -> ???

[=====]

"Did you understand or do you want me to explain it with apples and pears?" Gabumon said with an arrogant smile and a mocking look on his face.

"No need, you really are very good at explaining this, aren't you Herissmon?" he shook his head as he closed his eyes for a moment thinking about this. 'That means Her'

"That's right! I didn't know there was another Stage beyond Adult" Herissmon exclaimed as he jumped and punched the air quickly like a professional boxer... if he wasn't professional and a boxer, that is. "Noah! We're going all the way to the Perfect Stage right?"

"Of course! Now we just have to... train or-" I exclaimed excitedly before pausing as a sober thought crossed my mind. "I have another question Gabumon, what happens... when a Digimon becomes Data?"

"Uh...well they die obviously, when a Digimon receives lethal damage to their bodies these become Data, said Data are the true form of a Digimon therefore they are extremely vulnerable and easy to adsorb by other Digimons!" Gabumon exclaimed letting out an annoyed snort showing his fangs for a moment. "However, a Digimon can never fully absorb the Data of a Deceased Digimon, there will always be a small amount left over so that the Deceased Digimon can be reborn as a Digitama, but it will remember nothing of the Digimon it was before it became a Digitama!"

I froze at the implications of that before taking a deep breath and looking Gabumon straight in the eye. "It's... a reincarnation?"

"I don't know, look I'm not a Sacred Digimon to explain to you how that works or how so stop bothering me" Gabumon shrugged nonchalantly as he went back to surveying the surroundings of the village leaving me and Herissmon standing at the entrance of the village not knowing what to do next.

'That means the Gabumon we observed their Data-' My mind began to think about the implications of what this meant, every second I felt the blood on my face slowly pale.

"Noah! Noah! What do we do now?" Herissmon tugged on my shirt pulling me out of my thoughts. "Do we fight or train?"

I stared at Herissmon before gritting my teeth and letting out a sigh. "I don't know... I don't want to... I don't want to kill any Digimon-"

"Because that's what will make us strong isn't it?" Herissmon said as he tilted his head to the side curiously. "Didn't you say you wanted to be strong?"

"Yes but..." A hundred different thoughts went through my mind, my morals were strongly against this, it was basically murder for god's sake. But on the other hand, I need to be strong if I want to survive in this Digital World and protect TK.

Clenching my fists tightly I made a decision.

"Alright, let's go to the forest to look for some Digimons"

...