"Four thousand, eight hundred and seventy-nine," I announced, letting the last glowing gold coin clink onto the stone rim of the Primary Village fountain. The metallic chime echoed pleasantly in the quiet afternoon air, momentarily distracting us from the crushing weight of the war we were waging. I leaned back against the cool stone, wiping a smudge of dirt from my cheek, and stared at the radiant, shimmering mountain of currency we had just piled up between us.
Wally let out a low, impressed whistle, blurring forward at super-speed to inspect the pile. He picked up a handful of the Dungeon Coins, letting them slip through his fingers like golden water. "Okay, I knew we fought a lot of those corrupted Digimon yesterday, but I really didn't think we were rolling in it *this* much. We're practically billionaires in this dimension."
Kaldur crossed his arms, his posture relaxed but his eyes constantly scanning our surroundings. "We were surprised as well, but when you consider the sheer scale of the conflict, it makes sense. We did not merely defeat scattered Rookies. We defeated a massive corrupted invasion force of nothing but Champions and Ultimates."
Conner nodded, his expression serious as he absentmindedly scratched Patamon behind the ears. "Yeah. And remember what Tentomon and Ikaris said about the payouts. The stronger the corrupted Digimon is, the more Dungeon Coins you get when its data is deleted. We took down a total of five Ultimate-level Digimon recently, including the Myotismon and that SkullGreymon at the trial grounds. Not to mention Devimon himself, who was a super-Champion infused with a lot of dark energy. The bounty on a threat of his magnitude alone must have been massive."
I looked at the pile and felt a brief pang of guilt. "And this amount looks about right, especially considering we only took the coins from the corrupted Digimon that we personally defeated during the battle. Otherwise, we would have had a even more ridiculous amount."
It was true. After the battle had ended and the village was secured, the surviving Digimon from the allied army had tried to give us all of the coins that had dropped across the entire battlefield. They viewed us as their divine saviors, chosen by their Creator, and insisted that all the spoils of war belonged to us. Naturally, we had adamantly refused to do such a thing. We couldn't take the hard-earned resources from the very people who had bled to defend this village. But even with just our own earnings, this was a staggering sum, and it should hopefully be more than enough to buy the tactical advantages we desperately needed.
"Okay, we will equally distribute it so everyone has exactly twelve hundred Dungeon Coins each," Kaldur said, taking charge of the logistics as usual. He began dividing the pile into four perfectly equal stacks, his movements precise and methodical. "We will save the last seventy-nine coins as a collective reserve, just in case we see anything more mundane we may need to buy, such as extra rations or basic medical supplies."
We all nodded in agreement. Having our own individual budgets made the most tactical sense, allowing us to cater our purchases to our specific partners' combat styles. As Kaldur finished handing out everyone's shares of the money, the heavy gold coins vanishing into our Digivices specialized storage space that we unlocked after our partners first hit Ultimate, I checked my utility belt to ensure my remaining gear was secure but I was running really low on my gadgets. Seeing that everything was ready, I took the lead, guiding our team and our partners away from the fountain and toward the commercial district of the restored village.
After navigating through the newly restored cobblestone streets, I was honestly surprised to see the line outside the General Store. It was even longer than it had been earlier this morning. The queue stretched down the block, wrapping around a corner past a row of freshly hatched Digi-Eggs.
But as I really thought about it, I realized that the massive crowd made perfect sense. If this store had been closed for a while because of Devimon's occupation, and only officially reopened today after the village was cleansed, of course everyone would rush over. The local economy had been stagnant. The villagers were desperate to buy everything they couldn't access before, from basic food and fresh drinks to the exact special items we were currently hunting for.
"Look at this crowd," Wally muttered, leaning against a wooden fence post as we took our places at the very back of the line. "It's like Black Friday back in Central City, only with way more talking plants and giant bugs."
"It is logical," I replied, keeping my voice low. "From what we understand, trading between the different villages across File Island has been mostly cut off thanks to the spreading corruption and going out by themselves to Forage is suicide. The supply chains are broken. So, in the short-term, buying what you need immediately is better until the trade routes are reestablished and stabilized. Everyone is just trying to secure their own survival."
The team nodded, mentally preparing themselves for a very long wait to get inside. With nothing else to do, we decided to just pass the time with casual small talk. We leaned against the buildings, soaking in the artificial digital sunlight, while our partners clustered around our feet.
"You know," Tentomon buzzed softly, his compound eyes looking up at me with genuine curiosity, "You guys are always asking about the Digital World, but I just realized something. We haven't really heard anything about yours. We want to know about *your* world. We don't even know what it's called yet."
Conner looked down at Gatomon, who tilted her head in silent agreement. "You really don't know anything about where we come from?"
"Not a thing," Gomamon chirped happily, splashing the last bit of fountain water clinging to him onto the dry cobblestones. "We just know the Creator pulled you from somewhere else. Tell us!"
So, we spent the next forty-five minutes telling them all about Earth. We explained the concept of our world, the sprawling, chaotic beauty of cities like Gotham, Metropolis, and Atlantis. We explained what our job as heroes actually entails, how we operate under the Justice League, and the heavy responsibility of protecting normal humans from supervillains, alien invasions, and natural disasters. We also tried to describe what some of our everyday lives are like when we aren't wearing the masks—going to high school, eating pizza, dealing with homework, and hiding our secret identities although they didn't quite understand the need for the secret identities in the first place.
Our Digimon partners were completely captivated. They listened with rapt attention, occasionally interrupting to ask highly specific questions about gravity, oceans, and how our technology works without data cores. They were incredibly interested, and by the end of our explanation, Biyomon and Gabumon were practically vibrating with excitement.
"That sounds amazing," Biyomon squawked, flapping her pink wings. "After this is all over, and the darkness is defeated, can we visit your world next?"
We exchanged soft smiles, the heavy burden of our current mission momentarily lifting. "Of course," I said, speaking for all of us. "If it's possible to open the gate the other way, we will definitely try to bring you to our world for some sightseeing. You'd love The Cave."
"Oh man, just wait until you try chili dogs," Wally laughed, his eyes lighting up. "Actually, speaking of food, did I ever tell you guys about the time I tried to eat an entire oversized submarine sandwich while running backwards on a treadmill? I ended up tripping, and the mustard went flying straight into—"
Just as Wally was about to tell one of his notoriously funny stories about embarrassing himself in public, Kaldur tapped his shoulder. We realized that the line had finally moved, and it was our turn to go in. We stepped through the grand wooden double doors of the General Store, leaving the bustling noise of the village square behind.
We walked in and immediately saw a massive room that held multiple long rows of objects. It was exactly what you would expect from a classic general store, really. The shelves were packed with mundane survival gear, strange digital fruits, healing bandages, and bottled water that glowed with a faint blue aura and various customers browsing through the the place.
Before we could dive further in and search for the combat items, we were warmly welcomed by the store manager, who immediately floated over from the front counter to see if we needed help. We froze in our tracks, completely shocked to see that it was Piximon.
"Hello to you, oh great heroes, the chosen children!" the small, pink, winged Digimon announced, his voice practically trembling with reverence. He gave us a deep, sweeping bow, clutching his spear tightly. "I am the manager of this humble general store, Piximon. How can I possibly assist you today?"
He was obviously believing it to be the absolute highest honor of his life to help us. For a long second, my brain short-circuited. I instinctively reached for a smoke pellet, my mind racing. Why was our brutal, unforgiving trainer suddenly acting like a groveling shopkeeper? Had Etemon corrupted his mind? Was this a trap?
Then, Tentomon gently nudged my leg, and the sudden tension drained from my shoulders. I quickly realized why followed by the others as we remembered the most confusing biological quirk of this dimension: all Digimon of the same species look exactly alike, with basically no physical differences between them whatsoever. So this wasn't *our* Piximon. It wasn't the ancient warrior who had mercilessly beaten us in the desert. It was just *a* Piximon who happened to run a grocery store.
Even after all this time in the Digital World, the team still had a little trouble with this concept. Except for when large groups get together, like yesterday's massive army at the village square, we rarely see too many duplicate Digimon running around at the exact same time. So it is incredibly easy to forget about it. It also doesn't help that none of them take on a personal name, only using their overarching species name, which made telling them apart even more difficult.
We had actually asked our partners about this a few days ago, wondering how they are able to tell one Digimon apart from another when they all look and sound completely identical. That question had offended them slightly at first, until they realized that their human friends really couldn't tell one Digimon from another at all. They didn't have the sensory equipment for it.
So they had explained it to us as best they could, which honestly wasn't much, because something like this was purely instinctual and not a learned or taught skill for a Digimon. But from what the team understood from that conversation, Digimon just have the innate ability to tell each other apart on a fundamental level. It's not because of the small things a human might use to tell identical twins apart, like how they talk, or a subtle scar, or the way they walk. No, it's more like they are looking entirely past the physical similarities and looking directly at the spiritual differences between the two parties. But thankfully we can at least tell if their male or female by the voice but other then that completely impossible to tell apart for us.
They sense the unique data signature, the specific weight of the soul inside the digital frame. Which is why they have never confused one Digimon for another in their entire lives. But right now, lacking that spiritual radar, I just had to remind myself not to throw a punch at the friendly shopkeeper.
We focused back on the moment, brushing past the awkward silence.
"Yes, hello to you, Piximon," Kaldur said smoothly, stepping forward to act as our diplomat. He was trying his absolute best to ignore the reverent, worshipful tone in the shopkeeper's voice and behavior. By now, we had all come to accept that most of the Digimon here aren't willing to treat us like normal people. To them, we are the mythic heroes chosen by their Creator God to save the world from total annihilation. Asking them to treat us like everyday customers was absolutely impossible, especially after we had literally just saved Primary Village—which, to them, is equivalent to saving the entire world once already.
We had agreed earlier not to waste our time trying to get the Digimon to treat us differently. It was inefficient and only confused them further.
"We were told this establishment sells objects that can teach Digimon different move types," Kaldur continued, his voice calm and respectful. "Where might we find them?"
"Oh, yes! Of course, sir!" said the manager Piximon, his wings fluttering rapidly in his excitement to serve us. "All such premium items are located securely on the second floor. I'll take you there myself! You will need someone to explain what all the different items do and their various prices. After all, I can tell that besides your lovely partner Gatomon, none of you are old enough to be in here normally. So you won't know how to find exactly what you're looking for in a short amount of time."
We shared an amused look as Piximon cheerfully turned his back, leading us past the rows of mundane digital apples and woven baskets. He ushered us to the back of the room, where we could see a grand, spiraling wooden staircase that would take us to the second floor.
As we climbed the steps, the air grew noticeably cooler, humming with a strange, static-like vibration that made the hairs on my arms stand up. The manager pushed open a heavy iron-wrought door at the top of the landing.
Once the door to the second floor was completely opened, the entire group was absolutely amazed by what we saw.
Every single inch of the massive room was lined with row upon row of velvet-cushioned shelves, and those shelves were filled to the brim with glowing crystal gems. There were hundreds of them, radiating a brilliant, ambient light that danced across the wooden ceiling. They came in multiple shapes, colors, and sizes. Some were jagged, crimson shards that pulsed with contained heat; others were smooth, spherical sapphires that seemed to hold swirling miniature thunderstorms inside them; and a few were jagged emerald spikes that practically hummed with raw, untamed energy.
The sheer beauty of the display left us momentarily speechless. Honestly, even if we didn't desperately need them to upgrade our combat parameters to possibly save our lives when we eventually fight Etemon in the harsh Desert region of Server Continent, we all privately thought that we wouldn't mind buying some just to keep as souvenirs. They were truly beautiful gems, a perfect merging of magic and data, and holding the key to the survival of our team.