The town up ahead, according to the radar, is "Bitsville". A tiny town full of machine digimon, it said, which was somewhat close to the 'Union City' (wherever that was). Speaking of, apparently the 'URL' I had landed in was the 'Launcher Forest', a spooky place that drove up a lot of anxiety. Made sense to me…
Rather than what I might have expected to hear as we approached, however, what I instead heard was an unmistakable
sound of guitar coming from a speaker. And it was one I could never forget - though, why was it playing
here?!
"Alright, Bitsville!" A voice, perky and sugary sweet, comes out from that same speaker, "Let's get a Fire Power! Join in if you know the words, and dance even if you don't! Idol Tamer, Jude, is on the scene!"
…There's no way whoever that is can be serious, right?
"Are all humans this way, partner?" Axl asks with a snicker, as he starts to run faster. I'd recovered enough to be able to walk alongside him, so of course I have to sprint after him, too. Luckily, the noise of the 'concert' was far enough away and I had enough warning that I could be prepared for it as we approached. Concerts were always pretty rough - I always had to wear headphones during them back home, even if I wanted to enjoy them. Hopefully I could find some here, too…
When we get into the town, there's the person performing on stage. Honestly, his voice is good - it's just, is this really…the…place…
Oh no.
My face reddens, as I see the man on stage. Tanned skin with golden blond hair - the kind you can't tell is natural or from a bottle - that reaches almost to the ground in a long ponytail. His body is stuffed into a tight ensemble in white, black, and gold, matched with a white and gold Digivice on his hip. Behind him, a Coronamon - presumably his partner - holds up the speaker with his backing track on it, and is doing a little dance.
The thing is.
I am…incredibly,
absurdly weak for the 'entertainer' type of person. Singers, dancers, performers of any kind. I could even lose it over a particularly dashing circus master.
So this cute femboy idol-wannabe, with the
tantalizing chest window and sunkissed skin and sunshine hair and even eyes like sunbeams -
"Axl I am in so much trouble…"
He sighs. "Oh, of
course you are…"
All the digimon around us - mostly ToyAgumon of various colors, shades, and transparencies - seem to be enjoying it. They don't totally get it, because this is a super human thing, but they like the music and the performance. The pretty boy, who is
very pretty indeed, snaps and dances, flinging his body around and getting into the choreography. I don't think this song ever
had choreography, so he clearly made all of it himself.
"And I'm taking you along~!" He sings, holding his arms open. Just as he's about to go into the next section, his eyes meet mine and go wide. He changes his tune immediately. "Okay, everyone! We'll take five, but the concert isn't over yet, I promise!"
He then runs forward, leaping from his makeshift stage of crates and carts and everything else to land in front of me. With sparkling amber eyes, he takes my hands in his.
I'm going to die here.
"I've never seen you around before!" He says with a grin, "Did you come here to help me on my mission? What rank are you? Oh my gosh, your partner's a
Goburimon?!"
He crouches down and takes Axl's hand, shaking it rapidly and nearly knocking the Child level off of his feet.
"I've not seen one of those around the Union City! It's nice to meet you! I'm Jude, but you probably know me already! I'm the big deal Idol Tamer, Jude~!" He winks, sticking out his tongue a little. "I'll be happy to work with you, Tamer~!"
I stammer and mumble, completely unable to respond with real words at this.
Then Axl wacks me with his club, and my head has to clear.
"Right! I'm not! From the Union City?" I say, awkwardly, "I'm new here. We just, uh, ended up here. And had to walk…"
Jude blinks. "Eh? What, really? You landed out…out
here, in the boonies?! Oh my gosh you must have had a rough time of it! There's this nasty Devimon going around that I was supposed to take care of, but I had to do my show first - I hope you're all good -!"
"Took care of it." Axl says, cutting the Idol Tamer off. "Noah and I got him good!"
I nod awkwardly, and show him my Digivice to prove it. Devimon's data is displayed, and Jude's eyes go wide.
So pretty…
"Woahhh…! Congrats, then…Man, now I don't have a job to do out here…" He crosses his arms and pouts. At his side, his partner pats him on the leg.
"Cheer up, Jude!" The little Coronamon says, "At least now we can do the full concert and go back with time to spare! Plus, you can show this guy around town!"
Jude perks up at that. "Oh, gosh, right! You wouldn't even have the URL for the Union city…! Here, lemme get you that -!"
As he sends the data over, my heart keeps pounding loud in my chest. A fast, constant pounding, like a haze, a buzzing -
Wait.
"VIIIRUUUSUUUUUUU!!!!!"
Damnit!!!!
