05 - Job in the Core

“Welcome, welcome!”

“What’s your order, miss.”

“These are our specials today!”

“HEY! I RECOMMEND OUR SPECIAL PORK CHOP! Mino is very good in cooking this one, I’m telling ya!”

“Kitchen, these are the orders.”

It was very odd to see some of these people working as waiters in a chinese restaurant… especially Sora since he had that British-looking aura and mannerism. Akira fit perfectly fine in the restaurant, as so did Kuro. But Shiro, similar to Sora, has an oddity amongst the atmosphere. Enjin and Minoru were both helping out in the kitchen, as there’s only one chef in the kitchen – a Digitamamon – and the customers seemed to be flowing in. Was it because of Minoru’s charm (it was his face on the cardboard outside the restaurant), everyone wondered.

The foods were served out very fast, and so were the customers that were flowing in and out. It seemed pretty unending. The waiters and waitresses were just so busy all over the place, and the hands of the chefs never stopping moving.

“Ugh… So… many… people…!” Akira, whose one of the waitress, helped to deliver the foods as fast as she could. Her mind slowly remembered the day when they received this job…

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~ FLASHBACK ~

===============

As they arrived in the big city, they searched for a place to lodge and a place to eat – they are too tired to cook for themselves after the whole journey. They searched for a few shops, but most of them were quite full… except for one Chinese restaurant. Seeing that there’s no one in there, they decided to walk in and take a look – well, they don’t care if it’s bad, as long as it’s delicious.

“Welcome, welcome!” An old-looking Digitamamon with quite some old cracks on the shell and wrinkled legs walked out with passion to greet them. Even though the restaurant is very big, there seemed to be only one worker here in the restaurant. It puzzled the arriving party at such odd looking scene, and started to take pity on the old Digimon.

“I certainly do not expect any customers!” The Digitamamon looked at them with a happy face, though the things he said seemed pretty sad. “Please, sit, sit!” He brought the group to the biggest table, and gave them menus with his seemingly invisible hand. Perhaps Digitamamons used psychic to do that? Akira couldn’t help but wondered while looking into the menu after that.

“Uh, maybe I’ll have the Mapo Tofu.”

“I’ll have a bowl of shoyu-ramen then.”

“Chahan! [Fried Rice]”

“Excuse me, can I try the Xiu-Long-Pao?”

“I guess I’ll have the chili-ramen.”

“I want the shio-ramen.”

The Digitamamon happily take down the orders before nodded to each of them. “Well, it will take some time to prepare these different dishes. I hope dear customers do not mind some waiting, yes?”

“It’ll be fine.”

“Make it as fast as you can!”

“Of course I will,” The Digitamamon nodded towards the BlackAgumon, before walking back to the kitchen and started to prepare the foods. Soon, they smelled some very nice fragrance and it raised their appetite.

“God, this smells great!”

“I wondered why the others do not want to come into this shop though…”

“Maybe it’s very bad?”

“Well, the smells said otherwise…”

“Let us try before we comment on anything, shall we?” Sora calmly sat back and relaxed, enjoying the fragrance and also the silence of this place. This restaurant seemed to have some history, as the paintings on the pillars seemed to be peeling off and the pictures on the walls are covered with a thin layer of dust. Still, the tables were clean and comfortable, and so were the chairs. These were very nice furnitures, and it’s a pity that no one else were using them.

“Here are the foods!”

“WOOHOO!!! DINNER TIME!!!”

“I’m so hungry!”

“Wow, looks great and smells great!”

“Ittadaki masu.”

“Ittadaki masu!!!”

Each of them received their own orders, and to their surprise, all of these that they ordered were very nice!

“This… pork slice… so tender and it just melts in my mouth!”

“The juices from the Xiu-Long-Pao are just so heavenly! I could not have done this by my own self…!”

“MMM!!! SHUPERB CHAHAN!!!”

“The soup… Oh god. Not very spicy, but it’s very mesmerizing! There’s just some taste in the soup that makes you wants to drink further!”

“This… This noodles…!” Enjin couldn’t stop after saying those words, and gulped them down as quick as he could. Right after that, he slammed the chopsticks down, and knelt down towards the Digitamamon. “Are you… Are you Master Negidama?!”

“Master Negidama?!”

“I… I’ve heard this name before…” Sora pushed his glasses, recalling his memory during a mission few months back. “If I’m not mistaken, it’s the legendary chef that managed to save countless restaurants from the brink of death! The chef of that restaurant told me this name…”

“Hahaha…” The old Digitamamon chuckled, while shaking his head and held Enjin up – it’s very bad to have customers kneeling against him. “Those were old time stories… Right now, nobody cares about this old man anymore.”

“But these are so delicious!” Minoru couldn’t help but to praise on his foods once again. “Why people just won’t come to your restaurant?”

“Hmm…” Now, the old Ultimate seemed to be a little bit sad. “Well, I suppose… I DO need someone to help me out…”

“Tell me, master!” Enjin spoke, holding onto the invisible hand of the egg Digimon. “I will do my best, even if it costs my own life!”

“Hahaha, no need to do that young one!” The egg Digimon laughed heartily looking at these kind ones. “Well, I do not want to spoil the others… I just want my names to be cleared…”

“W-What happened?!” Sora stood up from his seat – after finishing his fabulous noodles – wanting to help such a great grandpa (?) on his business.

“Well…” The Digitamamon walked close to the exit, and gestured towards the other restaurants that have a lot of people queuing for the food. “Those… are my students…”

“WHAT?!

“They kind of sold me off by taking my recipes and opened their own shop. All of them worked together to go against me… and I have no idea why…” The egg Digimon sighed. “Normally, I would have worked twice as harder as I could to beat these little punks off… I guess I AM too old for my job…”

“No worries, old man!” Kuro stood up as well, and pointed at a surprised Sora who was suddenly being cued. “This man can work everything out!”

“Wha- Hmph. Well, yes. Yes I can!” While initially surprised, the young man immediately regained his composure into a dark, cunning, and calculative businessman (even though he was originally just a pianist, you see… Guess the Digital World really changed people… by Akira). “I shall… make your restaurant as big--- no. Bigger than how they are!!!”

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~ END FLASHBACK ~

==================

So there they are, helping the old man regaining his glory back from those little punks that “betrayed” him. First they found a new batch of waiters and waitresses, then some chefs or helpers in the kitchen. However, due to some sort of reason, most of them did not want to help out as soon as they realized it was the old man’s shop. It made Sora to wonder what exactly happened, and he was very curious to check it out. After that, they repainted the whole restaurant and it looked so new and shiny that even Glademon’s armor couldn’t match it. Then, they started to promote the shop again, with Minoru’s face on the poster and of course, he himself did a street-show on his cooking abilities, getting attentions and potential customers while directing them towards the restaurant.

It was a huge success, as everyone can see, however…

“Ugh… My back…!” After working for a long time, the Digitamamon started to go slower and slower, until the point he couldn’t work anymore and had to kneel down. His face was filled with pain and he started to kneel at the floor.

“Negidama-sama! Are you alright?!” Seeing how the Digitamamon is, Minoru had to stop his works at hands and help the old Digimon up.

“I’m fine… I’m fine… Just need some rest, that’s all!”

“O-Okay…”

“Minoru! We have orders coming in!”

“Yes!”

The busy day continued until midnight, where they finally finished sending off the customers and cleaned everything up. However, their customers were still lacking compared to the other four restaurants that was opening on the other side. It made them felt a little bit unsatisfying and wanted to know why.

“I have done some research on our opponents,” Sora spoke as they held a meeting on the round table… well, technically most of the tables here are round. “It seemed that we’re going against some very fearsome opponents.

“First, the hot and spicy specialist – Atsura the Meramon. His foods are able to burn the customer’s body with passion and enthusiasm, and often left them crying at how hot and spicy yet delicious foods he made. He was the one that managed to bring every single customer that went to his restaurant finish with a steamy, but satisfying face.

Next, the cold and sweet specialist – Tsumegi the Frigimon. His foods are very chilling, and it calmed every single customer down when they were served with his chilling, and glorious food. His cuisines tend to be pretty artful and crafty as well. He was the one that brings both arts and cooking into one single piece of marvelous dish.

Then, we have the noodles specialist – Takano the Tyrannomon. The noodles he served were never overly hard or overly soft, and they have this bouncing texture that will entice every single customer’s receptions within their mouth. The soup that he made was nothing that you can relax on, as it was the soup that managed to bring his customers back every time, and even ordering a second bowl.

Lastly, we have the meat specialist – Wagaru the WereGarurumon. His meats are always tender, and melting. The seasonings and marinating of the meats were something that you should be aware of, as they were punched daily by himself into the special fresh meats that he chose every single day. The meatballs were exceptionally delicious and appetizing-”

“Man, you sounded like the person that recommends the foods of these chefs rather than someone that wants to destroy them…” Akira couldn’t help but feel her stomach growling after listening to the description of Sora.

“Yeah! Damn, I’m hungry…” Kuro was already dripping salivas, which made Minoru to wipe them off from the side.

“So, what about them?” Enjin sat on the chair that fits his size. “I mean, I am very sure that master Negidama has already known what they’re capable of.”

“Well…” Sora pushed his glasses up, while smirking darkly.

“I have… a plan.”

= = =

“DIMSUM! DIMSUM! NICE AND FRESHLY MADE DIMSUM!!!”

On the next day, the restaurant has a complete overhaul of the menu – or rather, there was no longer any menus. The foods were hot and ready to be served in a metal tray, while the kitchen steams the next batch of foods to be served. The customers heard the news and started to move into the restaurant, finding it a little bit surprising at the change of system. However, most of them welcomed this new system and the new type of foods that they have not seen before.

“What is this?”

“This is called the ‘Har-Gao’, a prawn dumpling.”

“Mmm! This ‘Siew-Mai’ tastes amazing! And it’s pretty small… I can eat another 10 different kinds of it without getting full!”

“Man, this is the best breakfast ever…”

“You’re very right darling. We can order just a few of these and will not get bored by it!”

“Hey waiter, more dumplings over here!”

“Hey waitress, more teas on this table!”

“Coming, coming!”

The “Dimsum” tactic was a huge success! But of course, they couldn’t have done it without some extensive research by Sora through the culinary books that he borrowed from the Core Library, or the culinary knowledge of both Minoru and master chef Negidama-sama. Without their thinking on how to surprise the Terminus City with a newer kind of Chinese food and how they managed to beat the other 4 outstanding chefs with their research and feedbacks from each customers, they probably couldn’t pull this through.

“Well done, everyone!” Negidama the master chef was very happy that his restaurant was back into its old glory. “Minoru, it would be very nice if you could stay here and learn under me… you have a special talent of cooking in you!”

“I-It’s nothing…” The young boy blushed under the praise of the Digitamamon, while Kuro was slapping on Minoru’s back out of sheer happiness and Shiro couldn’t help but congratulating on Minoru’s efforts as well.

“Master!” Suddenly, four Digimons barged into the restaurant, disrupting the little celebration that the misfit group plus the old man was having.

“You… The four of you bastards…” The misfit group has NEVER seen the Digitamamon this angry before. “You dare to step back into my holy place after so long…?!”

“Master, please!” Tsumegi, the Frigimon, stepped out and knelt down. “Please retire already and stop fighting against us!”

“We are sorry for making you look so bad, but we have no other choices!” This time, Atsura, the Meramon knelt down along with the Frigimon.

“You must know your own health conditions, master! It is not wise to work like this again, master!” The WereGarurumon – Wagaru – knelt along with the other two. It was pretty rare to see a WereGarurumon to kneel down at people, so the rest of the gang was pretty shocked at this.

“Master! Please, keep your knowledge and give it to the next generation!” Takano, the Tyrannomon, too knelt along with them.

“SILENCE!” The Digitamamon was on fire. “You dare to lecture me on my health and how I do with my knowledge?! I’m through with all of you little punks…!” The cracks of his shells started to drop off as the crack got larger, and more from the sides and two from the behind. “I SHALL PUNISH YOU!!!”

“MASTER!!!”

The Digitamamon unleashed his inner anger, and the evil energies were released from its shell. He stood up high as his legs were longer and stronger, and evidently darker and is brown in color. Two devilish arms grew from the side cracks of his shell, and so were a tail and two mini-devil wings from the back of the shell. A gory jaw grew out from the main crack where his eyes were, and now, on the jaws there were more eyes and every one of them are glaring at the four ex-disciples with pure hatred. He lashed out on his ex-students with his evil energies, ignoring their pleading screams and begs for mercy.

“Erm… Should we help them…?”

“I-I don’t think it’s a good idea…”

“Hmm… I wonder if they truly deserved this…”

“Haha,” Sora chuckled, before pushing his glasses up and smiled. “Just let them be. It’ll be fine.”

“Sora… you…” Enjin raised an eyebrow at this calculating young man. “Could it be that you…?” Sora gave him a secretive but knowing smile, while gestured that the Grademon would speak no words about this. The golden warrior understood, and decided to sit back and observe the scene, waiting for something to happen…

“GRANDPA!”

Suddenly, a Floramon came in!

“Lila!/Granddaughter!”

“Grandpa! Stop doing this!” The Floramon stood in front of the four Digimons, and prevented them from getting beaten up by the old man.

“Lila, step aside! I must teach them a lesson!” The Devitamamon was angry, but seeing how his beloved grandchild was in the middle of his punishment, he could not do anything against it. “They have ruined my name-”

“God, grandpa! I was the one asking them to do this!” Lila pouted against the Devitamamon. “So stop doing this and just listen for once!”

“No, I’m not going to retire! I can still work!”

“You can still work…?!” The Floramon was obviously angered by this and she grew larger and larger, into a beautiful Lilamon.

“Lila?”

“HMPH!”

“UWAH!!!”

“LILA!!!/MASTER!!!”

Unexpectedly, the Lilamon flew towards the Devitamamon’s back, and gave a very good slap at the eggshell right above the brown tail. It caused the old man to froze in pain, as he couldn’t contain how painful it was and the dark energy started to subside. He returned back to a normal Digitamamon.

“See? This is why you should not work anymore!” The Lilamon pouted against the old man, before rubbing the old man’s back gently with a glowing hand. “Not even my healing techniques can help you with this!”

“I-If only Lily was still around…”

“Pfft, stop talking about my stupid deranged sister!” Lila rolled her eyes as the grandpa mentioned the name that the misfit band seemed to know about. “I can’t believe she’s willing to give up on our family’s business and went to become a bandit! In the desert!”

Could it be… Lily of the Desert?!

“But… But…”

“Come on grandpa, you have to admit that you can’t work anymore,” The Lilamon still tried to convince the old man, before shooting a glare towards the misfit group. “You guys. Tell me. Did the old man complained about his back pain?!”

“W-Well, yes!”

“How many times a day?!”

“U-Uh… three times… I guess?”

“See grandpa? THREE TIMES!” Lila scolded on the old man. “Last time was two, and now you can’t even handle that anymore! Grandpa, please… I beg you. Father and mother do not wish to see you like this as well.”

“Yeah master!”

“We’ll take care of Lila, don’t you worry!”

“Of course you punks would!” The Digitamamon suddenly became angry. “You guys want to marry my grandchild, right? I’m sorry, nothing’s gonna do! Hmph!”

“M-Master…”

“Grandpa, just… ignore them,” The Lilamon couldn’t even continue with that topic, and decided to stay on her objective. “I can take care of myself even without these stupid guys. So please, grandpa… Stop working and come with me, ok?”

“Master!”

“Master!!!”

“…” Negidama finally sighed in defeat after a long consideration. “Fine. I shall retire – BUT!” He glared at the four Digimons in front of him. “The four of you shall learn everything, and I do mean by EVERYTHING from me before I go, and take care of this shop, ok?!”

“YES MASTER!!!”

“Good,” The master chef smiled as he see how united his students are… well, compare to a lot of the other students that decided to betray him and left for the better good, these four are the best students he had in his life.

“Now…” He turned towards the gang behind him. “I guess… I don’t need you guys anymore. They probably can take care of themselves. But don’t fear – I will still pay you, greatly even.”

“Yes, thank you mister Sora. If it’s not because of you, my old man probably couldn’t make up his mind,” The Lilamon giggled with a blush, looking at the handsome young man in front of her.

“Hmm, of course,” Sora decided to ignore that, and continued with his talk. “I did everything I could within my power to help the honorable chef with his wish.”

After the whole event, they laughed, and shared foods and drinks. Some of them even have a cooking showdown to showcase each of their dishes for the young helpers. They were very happy in the restaurant.

“By the way,” Waruga approached Sora in the midst of the celebration. “I… have a request to make.”

“Hmm?” The young man blinked as he saw the WereGarurumon sat beside him, making a silent whisper.

“Could you… help my brother out?”

========== ========== ==========

“HAIYA!!!”

“URYAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

“HUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!!!”

The misfit group arrived in some sort of Dojo, and there were a lot of Digimons in the room. The instructors were a MachGaogamon and a WereGarurumon. Though this WereGarurumon seemed a lot like Waruga, he certainly has more scars and a darker tone of fur color – more towards purple than blue.

“Hmph, so my brother asked you to help me out, eh?” The WereGarurumon held his chin as he started to think. “Well, tell you what, we do not need it.”

“Warugi! What are you saying?!” The MachGaogamon emerged from behind with a shock face towards the WereGarurumon’s words. “Of COURSE we need their help! Hey, don’t forget who we’re going up against tonight! It’s the Leo-Gang! You can’t expect us to win against them with our half-baked henchmen like this!?”

“Shut up Marco! I know what I’m doing!” The WereGarurumon – Warugi (truly the brother of the Waruga, having such similar name and all, by Akira) – scowled at his friend, who in returned scoffed back against him. “Look, we can’t have the ‘innocents’ to get involved in our fight, ok?! Hell, I doubt you even know the rules!”

“Well, you can teach us the rules,” Enjin stepped out from the group. “While I teach you how to fight.”

“…” Warugi blinked at the emergence of Enjin, before he went back into his serious and stern face. “Deal.”

= = =

This “fight” that “they’re going up tonight” is actually, in short, a bloody American football game. Like normal American football, but played with Digimons and they’re allowed to do anything without weapons to win the game.

Anything.

Which includes numbing your opponents, ranged attacks, and give a punch to the face. However, they are not allowed to kill anyone, poison anyone or use any weapon. They can only have their own fists and legs. If the said Digimon is embed with sharp objects, they are either required to remove it, or cover them up. If they find faults in your game, it means you’re out – forever. Any stages of Digimon from any species are allowed to join as long as you don’t break the rules.

Warugi’s team is currently at Top 4, with a team consist of a WereGarurumon (himself), a MachGaogamon (Marco), a Tailmon, a Gargomon, an Apemon, a Centaurmon, a BigMamemon, a Mamemon, a Gotsumon, and a Veemon. There was another member of the team, which is Mercurimon, but because of some dispute he had against the opponent team’s BanchouLeomon, they are locked in the prison until the day they’re going to fight – which was today, but something went wrong and he’s not here yet. The members have not been practicing very nicely for the past few days, due to the lack of experience in teaching and planning, and the anxiety they had against the opponent than trampled over them every single time.

The opponent team consists of a LoaderLiomon, a GrapLeomon, a Flaremon, a Panjyamon, a Rinkmon, a Guilmon, an Ogremon, a Fugamon, a Hyogamon, and a Renamon. They are obviously stronger than Warugi’s team in terms of individual strengths. However, this can be turned against them if they fully utilize strategies.

After receiving battle trainings from Enjin and practicing the strategies worked out by Sora, they managed to step onto the “battlefield” (thrice the size of a normal football field because they’re Digimons) with confidence. Both Mercurimon and BanchouLeomon were yet to arrive to the scene, which relieved them since they were afraid that only their leader was not around while the other was.

“Remember, this is a battlefield! Do not cower against your enemies, and fight through them!” Enjin gave the group a pep-talk right before the match started, while Sora reviewed the strategy with them once again. If everything went right, they should be able to win this game with ease.

“BOTH TEAMS, TO THE FIELD!!!”

The game has finally started – which they allowed it since both teams have the same number of Digimons and they do not want to wait. The opponent team seemed to be filled with arrogance and confidence, while Warugi’s team seemed smaller against their large figures, but did not cower against their arrogance.

“They have yet to discover… our strategy!”

They watched as Warugi’s team started as the offense team. Following Sora’s strategy, the Centaurmon carried the ball within his arms, and started to rush through the defense while the others backed him up. Marco the MachGaogamon immediately went up against the LoaderLeomon, while the WereGarurumon take care of the weak ones – namely the Renamon, the Guilmon, and most importantly – the fastest of their team, the Rinkmon. He knocked the Renamon and Guilmon out of commission immediately, while he searched for the Rinkmon – preventing him to go after the Centaurmon – and attempt to take him down as well. Four Digimons – BigMamemon, Gargomon, Apemon, and the Tailmon went up surround the three fighters – Panjyamon, Flaremon, and GrapLeomon, preventing them to interfere with their strategy as the Gotsumon and the Mamemon went up against Ogremon, Fugamon, and Hyogamon. The three Ultimates seemed to be too much for the 4 Digimons to contain properly, and they made efforts to break through their wall-in (which Sora has predicted) – giving the Flaremon and the Panjyamon a chance to chase after the Centaurmon. They sent fires and ices towards the Centaurmon, but the Centaurmon was just too fast for them to catch up. Soon, he reached the goal and scored the first point.

This time, the opponent team was the one that’s commencing the offense. As expected, they let Rinkmon to take the ball in attempt to let him cross the field when the chance has come. This time, Centaurmon chase after the Rinkmon while the others just wall up against the opponents from reaching the Centaurmon at all – blocking especially the fast ones and the ones that manage to throw ranged attacks like LoaderLeomon, Renamon, Panjyamon and Flaremon. Seeing that the Rinkmon was going to get the first point, the Centaurmon shot something against him – it’s the Gotsumon – and it rained down stones at the Rinkmon to block its way. Of course, he could easily evade them and reach the goal, but he did not expect the Tailmon to be waiting at him – it seemed that she was also being thrown over by the Centaurmon – and gave the weak Digimon a good punch. Immediately, the Tailmon threw the football to the incoming WereGarurumon, who kicked it to the already running Centaurmon. At the same time, the three oni-Digimons and the Guilmon broke through (or rather, they let the four of them to break through) and attempt to stop the ball from going to the Centaurmon, but the WereGarurumon’s kick was too high and too strong for them to catch up with it. It reached onto the centaur Digimon’s hands, and they scored another point.

The game came to a halt as the two leaders of both teams finally returned to the field. It earned them some time to rest and to strategize properly. Mercurimon thanked Sora for helping his team out, while getting more ideas on how to beat their opponents – who are currently getting yelled and punched by their leader because they did not put enough efforts into the game. After the break time is over, they returned game with 11 Digimons on each team.

“It seemed my team could win without me, Banchou,” Mercurimon mocked the opponent.

“Hmph! That’s because you’re weak! Watch me as I trample against your weaklings!”

Setting the BanchouLeomon at rage, the strategy has started. Mercurimon mowed through the weaker ones – the LoaderLeomon, the GrapLeomon, and the Rinkmon – all by himself using his speed and strength (as a Mega Digimon). He let the MachGaogamon and BigMamemon to take out all the other champions and rookies, while the WereGarurumon, the Mamemon, and the Gotsumon were up against the Flaremon and the Panjyamon. The 3 other Champions went up against the enraged BanchouLeomon and attempted to piss him off more (and take note not to get beaten up too quickly) to gain time and, bonus, to let him set his attack at the wrong direction – namely, at his own team. The opponent’s leader accidentally took out the LoaderLeomon and the GrapLeomon who were thrown into that direction by the Mercurimon, along with the Panjyamon and the Flaremon who was set up against the direction. They score another point with ease, and Sora suddenly felt pretty proud at his strategies.

After repeating and recycling the different strategies – having some little modifications here and there – they finally won against the Leo-Team – for the first time. They celebrated along with the misfit group, in the same Chinese restaurant that they helped the other day.

Because, well, free food. By the brother.

= = =

“Fuuuuuuuuah!!!” Kuro slumped into the bed that the hotel offered, and rolled around. “This is the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in the past few days!”

“Finally we’re given a breather,” Shiro smiled, as he sipped onto the tea that Minoru just made.

“And we earned so much!” Akira was exceptionally happy as she saw the amount of money that they have earned through these two events.

“I guess we can soon depart. There aren’t a lot of things that we need to prepare for our next journey,” Sora smiled at them, sipping into the same tea that Minoru had made.

“Our next destination is… Whitewater City, yes?” Enjin looked at the map, while sipping into the tea. “Hmmm, this is some great tea, human boy.”

“Thank you Enjin-san,” Minoru smiled as everyone seemed to enjoy the tea.

“Why Whitewater City, though?” The redhead asked – she did not attend the meeting a few days ago regarding the surgeon.

“Apparently, the surgeon wasn’t in the city at all,” The young man started to explain, pushing his glasses at the same time. “At least, we found out who and what it is – it’s a Sepikmon named Mahogana, who specializes not only in surgery, but also Digimon physiology. It might help us to understand more about what the ruby could do. However,” His face suddenly went dark. “The minimal fee is at least 100,000 bits. From what I gathered from the people here.”

“H-HUNDRED THOUSAND BITS?!”

“T-That’s… crazy!” Even Minoru couldn’t believe his ears. It was much more than what they earn through this job!

“Well, thanks to our client that’s willing to pay us half of the total, we only need to pay at least fifty thousand bits… which is not a small amount as well, as you guys noticed,” The blonde young adult sighed, looking at the money that they currently had.

“Which means… we need to work more… then?” Shiro sighed as he felt the pressures.

“Yes, which I have decided…” Sora nodded, before rummaging through his bag and took out some flyers. “…to try on these quick and easy jobs.”

“Mail delivery?” Enjin raised his eyebrow. “Really?”

“Oh, there’s a few parcel delivery as well… and… LOOK AT THE PRIZE!”

“TEN THOUSAND?! Wow. Why was this so… highly paid?”

“My guess is that parcel is ALSO a very important item… good news is that, I’ve secured a safe path and it’s not long from the city,” The strategist smiled as he pushed his glasses.

“So… we’ll do the quick and easy ones first…”

“…before we tackle this one?”

“Pretty much what I planned, guys,” The blonde guy nodded.

“Okay then… Let’s start tomorrow!”

“OHHH!!!”

= = =

The following days that the misfit group were in the city had nothing much to talk about, except for working for several jobs like mail and parcel delivery, be bodyguards for the famous actor “Mr. Justice” the Justimon for a day, persuading a Raremon to leave the slumps and get a better living place, cleaning a Locomon who then digivolved to a GranLocomon… which he just ran off like that (but they still get the money, oddly), and lastly, to babysit a child of a Persiamon (which is horror for Kuro and Akira ‘cause they can’t handle kids at all).

They finally got the minimum amount of money that they required, and after shopping for some more supplies, they departed from the busy city of the Terminal Core.

To the Whitewater City they go!