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

[] Take things slow, explore each path to give your ward more time to think she possesses a chance of hiding from you. Which should hopefully be more fun for her…

===

Deciding to humour Xia, you start off the *investigation* at a slow pace. The burrow being so close is naturally suspicious… so therefore you doubt she'll actually be in it. A quick nudge of your foot confirms said thought, ripping open the clod of dirt to reveal an empty hole.

Next up is the trail leading to Frigimon's halfway house… which ends at the field's boundary.

Hrm, there's no trace of her turning around… meaning she must have backtracked.

And that leaves you only one path left to explore.

Xia's curved trail has faded into oblivion by the time you've doubled back, however a quick application of Void-Step gives you an aerial view of the field. Including the very freshest patches of burnt, downtrodden grass. That in turn leads you out of the field and towards Electown's outskirts.

She… went into the trees? With their rate of growth she might be in… no Verge. Consider where she came from. The Flux Mountain's carry far more danger.

… I can smell smoke. Xia must be burning things to clear herself a path.

You eye the *slowly* rising and twisting trees. Each of last night's sapling's have exploded in size, now standing dozens of feet tall… meaning that most are still shorter than you.

Hrm… I suppose there's no helping it.

So after a quick calming breath, you start forward into the cluster of encroaching vegetation.

Bark, branches and thick leaves, nothing so much as slows your stride forwards. At this point your size, weight and speed make the mere average tree feel about as fragile as air.

Without a good visual indication (as her trail is blocked by the dense underbrush) you fall back upon your nose and simply follow the burning smell. A move that in turn leads you towards a second burrow, several hundred meters out from town.

This time you kneel down, clear away the brush with a swing of your arm, then carefully dig the rock-wyvern out of her hidey hole.

"H-hey! No fair, no fair!" The squirming *Rookie* shrieks as you tug her out by the tail. "Dadmon cheated with sense!"

Rgh.

"I did not. If I had allowed myself to sense you then… hrm, it would have taken mayhaps five seconds to uncover you after counting."

"... and Dadmon found me after a few minutes."

Agh…

"Correct."

"... Xia thought she could trick you…" She whines in clear disappointment, drooping in your grip.

"You did well." You counter with a small smile. "I was only able to determine your location because of Galgomon's training. Brief as it was on the hunts." That rather immediately causes her to perk up, and a moment later you settle the *Rookie* back down on your right pauldron.

"In that case… I'm it!" She chirps, wings flapping rapidly enough to lift her into the air. "Go hide! Go hide Dadmon!"

Erk.

"Very well."

But where…

Your eyes trail upwards, and spot the rather abundant cloud cover.

If the rules have not changed… aerial hiding positions should still be allowed.

===AN: First snippet for the night. I intend to release at least one more.

"Pokey-pokey! Got you Dadmon!

Erk.

There are two things you hadn't considered when hiding in the cloud above town. First, the seemingly fluffy substance is actually made out of water. Though that wasn't what lead to your capture. No, rather it was the fact that they move.

Accursed. If only the rules had allowed moving after settling in place...

"Got you! Xia got you!" Your ward chirps victoriously, flapping her way over to your carefully blank face. "You were really easy to see Dadmon!"

"Aye, my… dark shades did stand out amongst the bright blue sky." You admit with just a hint of embarrassment. "Although… it took you ten minutes and eight seconds to look up."

"Tha-that's because I didn't know you could hide up there!" The little rock-wyvern pouts in retort. "And you're so high up! Flying up here was super tiring Dadmon!"

Still… hurts.

With a soft sigh, you slowly move into a mid-air sitting position, then place Xia on your head.

"You may nap then, I intended to meditate away from Electown in any case."

"Yay!" She cheers, wings flung wide in joy. You can't help but join her jubilation with a short chuckle. From there your ward quickly digs herself a place in hair, and settles down for a short bout of sleep.

Ignoring her snoring is second nature at this point, and it doesn't take long before you fall into the steady ritual of training your spirit.

"Rargh!"

For… half an hour anyways. Xia wakes up with an explosive (literally) roar, and leaps off your head. That quote, unquote *attack* swiftly turns into a panicked yell as Xia realizes that she's falling.

You snatch her by the tail again, and let her hang there, grinning sheepishly.

"Erm, sorry Dadmon-"

Agh.

"Xia was… dreaming about the icy lizardmon."

Icy… Liazardmon?

"I am not aware of that species."

"You know, Xia's rival! The one that… tall bunny lady had! Xia used to fight him. And always win, always win!"

… what is she… that rookie Luna took into her service?

"I see… then will you return to napping?"

"Nah, Xia wants to play some more…" The *Rookie* trails off, her eyes glancing low at the forest. "Can I go play down there?" That odd request makes your head turn in curiosity.

"By yourself?"

"Yepyep! I wanna mess some stuff up!"

Mess... Stuff... Up? Is that Sparks' influence? Or Ardat's?... mayhaps both? No matter, you need to answer her Verge.

"... you may." You reply cautiously, before hastily adding. "But be careful not to hurt anymon in the process."

"Okay. Thanks Dadmon!"

Agh...

As you momentarily pause in pain, Xia begins to glow white and grow. Within moments the mon in your grasp has evolved back into her champion form. And after letting her fall…

"Zyahaha! Burn, burn!" You're treated with the sight of her gleefully wrecking the unfortunate trees with an enthusiasm matched only by the likes of Sparks when he's trying to charm somemon.

Or would be it...somewomon?

Either way, your next minutes are filled with the sounds of trees being torn about, set alight and repeatedly exploded. Xia reveling in such blatant destruction a little discerning but…

It is only playing. There is no need to be concerned Verge.

=

As your afternoon training with *Boy* progresses, something odd pops up during the warmups. Namely…

"Aaah! Damnit!"

*Thock*

You look at the shattered remnants of what was once a stump with open concern.

He seems far more frustrated than usual.

"Are you experiencing any problems student?" Your voice snaps *Boy* out of his anger, and he quickly retreats to a bashful state.

"Sorry about that sensei it's… Xia was teasing me about not getting any stronger."

"You feel as if your growth has reached its limit?"

"That's… yes sensei. Umm, sorry if this is uh, presuming but… don't you have some sort of special training to get past that?" The Aegiomon gives you a hopeful look, though that dies as you shake your head.

"That would only momentarily alleviate your problem." You explain, before gesturing for him to sit. "You're reaching the utmost limits of your potential as a champion. Soon it will halt altogether." The boyish champion furrows his brow at that and lightly rubs his arm in worry.

"Then… I'll be stuck like this forever?"

"Incorrect."

"... then, what am I supposed to do sensei?" He pleads… which is odd.

Is the answer not clear already?

"In order to rekindle your growth, you must digivolve. Reaching Ultimate will unlock new limits to strive for."

"But… but I've been trying to do that already!" He half-whines, half groans. "Really hard too, I've trained hard, made myself really mad… even got Xia to *mess me up* last night." He finishes under his breath. "But nothing's friggen' worked sensei!"

Friggen'… Sparks why would-... it is politer than real curses. Focus Verge. How to make him digivolve…

"I could bring you to the brink of death." *Boy* flinches at your musing, and hastily fumbles his arms into an *X*. "However that option is untenable with your mental state, and considering the risks… no."

"Thank the spirits."

"We have... two options." You decide, one hand moving up to cradle your chin. "Either I could induct you into a body-breaking training regime, or…"

Hrm… could that force an evolution without the other mon being heavily damaged?

"What's the second one sensei?!" *Boy* questions in panicked, speaking up just a little too quickly.

"Or you load an Ultimate at least one step above your current level of power."

"Huh… Sparks said something like that too." *Boy* murmurs in surprise. "But the uh… Megadramon beat me up instead…"

Come again?

"Sparks already tried to make you digivolve?"

And without my knowledge or consent? I'm his sensei. Not him. Words will be had and-

"I think I might be able to take it now sensei!" The Aegimon pipes up with a broad grin. "With your training I've gotten a ton better at fighting, not to mention Void-Step… plus, with that spell he taught me-"

A spell?... I assume that would be-

"Burst?"

"How did you-yes… spirits. I wasn't supposed to tell you about the Megadramon sensei. I kind of… forgot about that?" He winces. "He's really going to kick my butt for that."

Hrm, a good thrashing could increase his durability… onto other matters. A Megadramon… aye, that could work. But that would be far more dangerous than training… but *Boy* might not be able to complete my training. His endurance and mental fortitude are not his strongest points...

===Choose One:

[] Stick with training. At worst it will make him a little more powerful, but he won't digivolve.

[] Sparks' plan is sufficient. Although… you will need to get in contact with him first.

===AN: And here's the finishing snippet!