Digimon Inheritance: A Heroic Lion's Turbulent Times (Finished)

[] Try to interact with your teacher's other students, Groundramon aside they seem to like you just fine. Maybe you could find out how they met him?

===

Feeling more than a little guilty over inflicting that near-lethal wound, you give *MayorTyrannomon* a little space to recover, and instead trudge over towards your fellow disciples. Groundramon gives you an even worse look as you move by, but at least he doesn't try to challenge you again.

Each of the three dinosaur digimon are still locked in a surprised state, mouths open in shock and eyes wide with disbelief. Thankfully however, a sharp cough is enough to break them out of their trances.

"Once again I must level my thanks upon you for joining this mission. It is not your fight, but still you have chosen to aid me."

"Yeah… don't worry about it." One of the twin MasterTyrannomon mumbles.

"It is our duty to follow our sensei into battle." The MetalTyrannomon adds sharply. "Not you."

"Don't have to be mean about it." The group's third Ultimate points out before coughing into his claw. "And don't worry about what happened with our teacher. We were just as… almost as surprised when Groundramon defeated him."

Now that causes you to give the stocky dramon another look. For all his power and size, you hadn't expected him to have actually defeated the mayor in sparring. Spotting your gaze, the dragon flashes you a smug grin, one dripping with self superiority.

Spirits below… he really is taking this *fellow student* business seriously… focus Verge, you came for a reason.

"Tell me something, I am curious as to how all of you came to study underneath our… *sensei*."

Is that the right word for it? MetalTyrannomon used it…

"I sought him out for strength." The aforethought mon grunts in reply. "In the wilds little else mattered."

"The wilds… does that mean you were born outside of a village?"

"Yes." The former Cyclomon growls. "And I'll answer your next question too. I was *saved* from becoming feral by a gang of Mushroomon." He practically spits the last word out, tone laced with a mixture of anger and disgust. So much as you would like to know more, this is clearly a sore subject for him and it might be disrespectful to ask more.

Going by his attitude, you're pret-ty sure he'll get along quite well with Beat.

"It uh...might get confusing telling us apart." The first MasterTyrannomon points out, regaining your attention. "We've got nicknames if it makes things easier. I'm Scar and-

"-I'm Cross." His fellow dinosaur finishes, their sentences seamlessly synced together. "Both of us grew up in Electown you see, I'm sure you've seen Frigimon's halfway house."

"Aye… I also stayed there after… certain events took place."

"Oof, yeah, we uh, we heard about that." *Scar* winces. "We're sorry for your loss."

"But at least we'll be around when master puts that Vamdemon down." *Cross* finishes, before gesturing over to your teacher. "He took us in after we hit Tyrannomon, thought we *brothers* would make a good tag-team."

"And he wasn't exactly wrong. You should see us in battle Verge, we make quite the pair." *Scar* says with a smile.

Hmm, they specialize in fighting together? Yes, that would be most interesting to witness.

"Oh yeah, I've uh, got a question for you. Master say you were freshly digivolved is that…"

"Was he joking? Or did you really just digivolve a few days ago?"

"He spoke the truth."

"Whoah/holy crap!"

"Enough of him. I hail from the Great Arena." Groundramon interrupts with a proud tone. "Our teacher saw me dominate within the rookie brackets and offered to take me in as his apprentice for my great potential." Something about the Ultimate's boast reminds you strangely of Gnaw… only he doesn't have an Iris equivalent around to undercut his words.

You look to the other students, who shrug, neither able to confirm, nor deny his story.

"Very well, that is most impressive,"

"Hmph, I don't need your praise, cat."

Do not punch him Verge.

"And I met master as a rookie, but only trained with him after becoming a champion." You explain, looking back at the trio. "He taught me a few techniques shortly after I digivolved, and months later, came to Alt-City in order to further my training. I would not be nearly as proficient in the art of battle without him." That gets several nods from your fellow disciples, while Groundramon just stomps off, annoyed that you've once again ignored his barb.
"First time I've seen him this miffed." *Cross* murmurs, staring after his senior's retreating form.

"Yeah… normally he's just smug, but not a jerk like that."

"The cause is obvious." MetalTyrannmon snorts. "He sees GrappLeomon as a threat to his status as our master's strongest student."

What? That is… ridiculous!

"But… does that not place us as allies."

"Eh, more like rivals." *Cross* says wiggling his claw in the air.

"You shouldn't worry about it too much Verge. He just wants to fight it out with you, that's all. If you lose he'll start being nicer."

"And… if I defeat him?" You posit, still uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"That might piss him off more, or calm him down. Not sure."

"There is only one way to find out. Through battle." The sole cyborg states, causing you to shrug.

"Very well… but later. I fear battling him now might only lead to my own embarrassment."

Before any of them can respond, a thunderous voice calls out from the training ring.

"Roho! Feeling all better now! It's time for round three!"

=

You spar with *MayorTyrannomon* for most of the morning and afternoon, pausing only for meal breaks. It turns out that the zone has its own local flavour of Travel Bread, the *Bone-Meal* variant which… has implications you really don't want to think about. It's still pretty tasty though and even more filling than the normal loaves.

Fortunately you manage to avoid inflicting critical wounds on him. Which is partially due to you holding back, but more than that your master fights a bit more conservatively. Overall between his coaching and the fighting you manage to make great progress over the day.

Come evening, your teacher organizes a mass meditation session, during which you continue to fiddle about with slide evolution, making further progress in the art. Once the *cooldown* is finished, you're all dismissed, finally allowing you to finish working on chanting the Anti-Vamdemon spell.

Sparks is strangely absent during it all, but you can feel his energy on the camp's outskirts with MarineDevimon so he seems to be fine.

Knowing that tomorrow will decide the fate of your family is… a little stressful. Finding sleep is difficult, even after going through katas, but eventually you manage to nod off.

Come morning you:

=== (Choose One)

[] Aim for one last bout of sparring before the main battle, it'll drain you of some spirit, but the warmup before battle will nice and you'll need the extra skill.

[] Spend it in meditation. You'll need to be calm and collected for the battle ahead. It'll let you enter the fight with full stamina and spirit.

[] Works though some tactics, your master has probably fought WarGrowlmon before so he could provide some insight on how to handle your younger brother.

===Authors Note: I'll be posting the updated Stats later tonight, for both Verge and the rest of his squad…. And MasterTyranomon too while I'm at it.