-Chapter 22-

A/N: I'm testing a new translation configuration, in theory it should be more accurate and with less errors... but idk. If you notice the difference it would be nice if you could tell me if you prefer this configuration or the previous one.

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<Continent Server Abandoned Church> <TK - POV>

"Ugh..." Consciousness slowly returned to me, leaving me strangely tired, as if I had been sleeping more than I should have.

Lazily getting up from my bed with a yawn, I rubbed my eyes slowly to shake off the sleep before looking around me, which was still quite blurry. "Where...-"

"TK! TK!" A squeaky voice called my name before I felt a soccer ball hit me in the chest forcibly knocking me back to bed.

"U-Uh... who-" As my vision slowly cleared I watched as an orange ball with big ears and blue eyes looked up at me with great relief. And although I didn't know how, I instinctively knew who this orange ball was.

"Tokomon...? Is that you?" I asked in a daze as I ran a hand over its big ears.

"Wrong! I'm not Tokomon anymore!" The orange ball exclaimed proudly as he puffed out his cheeks adorably. "I am Patamon!"

[=====]

Name: Patamon

Level: Child

Type: Data

Data: 4 / 150

...

A Mammal Digimon characterized by its large ears. It is able to fly through the air by using them as large wings, but because it only goes at a speed of 1 km/h, it is said that it is definitely faster walking. However, it's very popular because its appearance is cute when it is desperately flying (though it seems that it doesn't feel the same). Due to its extremely obedient personality, its trainers are well-defended. -???-

Special Attack: Air Shot, Hane Binta

[=====]

Suddenly hands gently grabbed Patamon and pulled it off my chest.

"Calm down Patamon, TK just woke up and I don't think it's a good idea to give him all the news at once" The familiar tired voice reached my ears finally taking the sleep out of my head. I looked up seeing Noah's yellowish eyes look with annoyance at the excitable Patamon before shaking his head and giving me a smile.

"Hi TK I...- W-Woah!" Noah exclaimed in surprise as I hugged him tightly and sunk my head into his stomach, almost afraid this was a dream. "TK?"

Even though my head felt heavy, I could still remember clearly how Dokunemon ripped Tokomon's ears off with the force of his jaws. It was terrifying, and no matter how hard I tried to get away from those memories, they just kept coming back to my head with more force.

It wasn't until I felt a pair of hands wrap around me warmly that I realized I had started to tremble as small tears trickled down my eyes, staining Noah's shirt.

"It's okay TK... that Digimon can't hurt you anymore" Noah murmured softly as he wrapped me in a warm embrace. "You know... Tokomon Digievolved Patamon to save you from that evil Digimon; he made sure he wouldn't do bad things again."

I raised my head to look him in the eyes. "Sniff... S-Seriously?"

"That's right!" Patamon exclaimed, flying to Noah's side using his ears. I couldn't help but stare at him in amazement as my mouth opened and closed like a fish, which seemed to encourage Patamon as he came up to climb on Noah's head and look at me resolutely. "As long as I'm here, no Digimon will lay a finger on TK!!!"

Stretching my hands up I took Patamon in my hands and gave him a tight hug of thanks and relief.

"I'm glad you're okay..." I mumbled faintly as the unpleasant sound of dismemberment came back into my head, the darkness, the unpleasant sounds of Dokunemon, the feeling of not being able to do anything.

"I...I was so afraid."

I stood hugging Patamon for what seemed like a minute before a cough made me remember that Noah was here.

"I don't want to interrupt this but..."

"W-What is it?" I spoke hesitantly as I put Patamon down on my head and wiped the extra water from my eyes.

"Seeing that because of an oversight on my part, you almost...almost got hurt, I, you know, started thinking about a couple of things, and I think..." For perhaps the first time since I've known him, Noah had a slightly embarrassed but mostly confused expression on his face. He was speaking haltingly as if the words were coming to him on the fly, and his eyes seemed to involuntarily want to avoid my gaze for some reason. "I think it would be good for you to learn to become stronger to prevent this from happening again."

Blinking twice, I gave him a strange look, as if he had grown a second head, I turned to the left to meet the same look in Patamon's eyes before we both turned to stare at Noah again.

Noah seemed confused by our reaction as he started scratching his hair nervously. "I mean, only if you want to do it, of course. I'm not going to force you to do it or anything, not to mention it's very dangerous and-"

""We accept!!!"" I exclaimed along with Patamon as I gave a wide smile to the surprised Noah.

"I..." Noah began only to pause for a moment with a thoughtful expression and return to speaking seriously. "Are they sure they want to accept this just like that? I mean, isn't this something you should give some thought to?"

"No! I've wanted to help them fight bad guys forever like a superhero would!" "When do we start?!"

A deep but amused laugh echoed behind me making me jump and let out a surprised yelp as I quickly turned around to see BlackGarurumon approaching me with a predatory grin.

"Right now!"

***

<BlackGarurumon - POV>

"Air Shot!"

"Do you think a mere breeze will be able to defend from TK?! Again!"

I grumbled to myself as I let the small air balls hit me consecutively, which caused no real damage to my body. Even under Patamon's harmless assault, I couldn't help but give a reflexive glance at the Lesser Human and his Digimon.

They were both training very hard, with TK actively encouraging Patamon as he told him where and when to attack. And with Patamon quickly shooting at most of the places pointed out by TK.

Since the training started, I have realized the big difference between Noah and TK.

Coordination.

While Noah and Herissmon were almost always coordinated in one way or another, almost as if they read each other's thoughts, TK and Patamon had trouble coordinating with each other. It wasn't a big problem considering they had never fought together, but it was a weakness that had to be quickly eliminated.

In real combat, reaction speed, thinking and quick decision-making were the keys to winning fights that, at first glance, might seem impossible.

And although he would never admit it out loud, he deeply admired how Humans and their Digimons could coordinate with each other to get out of dangerous situations that would almost certainly cause the death of either-.

"Air Shot!"

SLAMP!

Suddenly I felt as if I had been hit with a punch to the cheek causing my head to turn slightly to the right. The sudden punch snapped me out of my thoughts as I quickly turned my gaze back to Patamon.

"Haa... Haa..." The adorable little orange ball gasped heavily, as if suddenly all its strength had been expended in that last attack.

Before the little orange ball could collapse from exhaustion, TK quickly scooped him up in his arms while giving him a wide grin. "You did it Patamon!"

"Y-Yeah... I mean, of course!!!" Patamon exclaimed as I laughed gleefully along with TK.

They didn't notice how my eyes popped out of my orbits as I watched a small tuft of hair fall on the sandy ground.

'That I felt...' I looked at them in surprise before a smile formed on my face as I stood up from my position and approached them.

"Not bad, little guy! You earned this break!" I exclaimed excitedly before giving him a playful look. "Let's move on to the next training session! We'll do the exact same thing, but this time I'll be moving, and you'll be trying to hit me; you won't get a break until you manage to give me at least one hit!"

Patamon looked at me with dead eyes as he tried to hide with his big wings. "You are the worst..."

After that, they both went towards the church to get some rest after that intense training session, or, well, intense for Patamon.

I meanwhile simply watched the merry duo slowly walk away as they laughed and chatted with each other. My thoughts were all over the place at the same time, in an attempt to remember that feeling...

'I can't be wrong... That thing I felt was definitely Holy Power.'

As that thought went through my head, I couldn't help but let out a small laugh as I felt my fur bristle for a moment.

"Definitely..."

I looked intently at Patamon as I felt my programming lines and my Code light up with excitement.

"I will definitely push you to your limits!"

...

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