Vending machines

"Matt!" ×3

"Big brother!"

As Matt staggered back several steps from the blow, T.K., Sora, and the others behind him hurried forward to help him, only for him to push them away.

"Damn you, you bastard!" The heavy blow to his face only made Matt angrier. Ignoring his little brother T.K.'s attempts to stop him, he raised his fist and charged at Zhou Zhu again.

Smack!

Matt's punch failed to land again, but this time Zhou Zhu caught his fist outright.

"Let go!" Unable to wrench himself free, Matt kicked at Zhou Zhu's lower body.

"Heh, going for blood? You really think I don't have a temper?"

Thud! A sideways kick struck Matt squarely in the ankle. Between the force of the blow and the pressure on his joint, Matt dropped straight to his knees.

"Ah!!! Damn it! I'll kill you!" Matt was seeing red now, completely oblivious to the gap in strength between himself and Zhou Zhu. He just kept trying to overpower Zhou Zhu through brute force.

"Tai, he's all yours. He's with your group, after all. Keep an eye on him, and don't let him bite anyone else." Looking bored as he watched Matt rage helplessly on his knees, Zhou Zhu tossed him toward Tai.

"Matt, calm down. None of this is Zhou Zhu's fault." Tai caught Matt and held both his arms, still trying to talk him down.

"Tai, you're actually taking an outsider's side!" Tai's words only made Matt angrier. By this point, it was no longer about Sukamon at all.

Between the insult that cast him as a junior, the blow to his face, and the humiliation of being forced to his knees, Matt had completely lost it.

"Tai, Zhou Zhu really did go too far just now. Even if Matt misunderstood him, he shouldn't have treated Matt like that." Watching what Zhou Zhu had done left Sora deeply displeased.

Especially when she saw that Mimi was spotless while her own clothes were smeared with some unknown substance. That displeasure reached its peak.

"Sora, what nonsense are you talking about? Matt was clearly the one who attacked first. Zhou Zhu already showed plenty of restraint." Izzy strongly disapproved of Sora's thinly veiled attempt to take Matt's side.

Joe Kido, on the other hand, silently sided with Sora. It seemed that, as the oldest, he had already developed some sense of loyalty to his country and his own people.

Perhaps he knew that Sora's words were wrong and Matt's actions were wrong too, but stranded in another world, he felt they should blindly support their own.

And to him, Zhou Zhu was merely an outsider.

"Exactly! Matt was clearly the one in the wrong first!" Mimi, standing beside Zhou Zhu, chimed in to defend him.

"See? People know what's fair. I can't be bothered to argue with you anymore. Come on, Mimi. Let's get out of here first." Zhou Zhu paid no mind to Matt, who still wore a resentful expression even as Tai restrained him. However many people of that caliber came at him, it would make no difference.

If he hadn't been concerned about his image, worried that this might affect his chances of tagging along with Tai to piggyback on his data speeds, and even more worried that hitting too hard would leave no one to fight Myotismon and the Four Dark Masters later, Matt would probably have been crippled by now.

"Matt, Sora, we finally managed to meet another human here. Couldn't you be a little nicer? We're all far from home. We should help each other, shouldn't we?" Watching Zhou Zhu walk away, Tai turned to his companions with a hint of reproach.

Although he felt Zhou Zhu had done nothing wrong, abandoning Matt, Sora, and the others over it simply wasn't something Tai could do.

"Hmph, what's the big deal? That guy doesn't even have a Digivice. What help could we expect from him? We'd be lucky if he didn't hold us back." Tai's criticism only soured Sora's mood further.

"Huh? A Digivice! Damn it, I forgot that guy doesn't have one. His Candlemon is only a Rookie Digimon. If I'd had Garurumon help just now, we could've beaten his teeth right out!" Sora's reminder instantly brought Matt's advantage to mind. Unfortunately, Zhou Zhu was already far away, leaving Matt to stew in regret.

"What? You still want Garurumon to help? Absolutely not. This was just an ordinary argument. There's no reason to take it that far, and I won't let that happen. Matt, I'm telling you to calm down, or I'll have to get Greymon to stop you."

Are you kidding me? Even with you provoking him for no reason, Zhou Zhu knew when to stop after hitting you. And now you actually want to go for blood by bringing Garurumon into this?

Garurumon is a Champion Digimon. I absolutely can't stand by and watch you use him to bully an ordinary person like Zhou Zhu.

"Hmph, I was just saying. All right, let go of me. That guy's long gone." Faced with Tai's overflowing sense of justice, Matt could only swallow his irritation and get Tai to settle down first.

Hmph, just you wait. It's only a Rookie Digimon that can't even digivolve. Once Garurumon makes a move...

"Zhou Zhu, there are vending machines up ahead! Huh? They've even got cola!" Looking at the cluster of highly suspicious vending machines in the distance, Mimi noticed nothing amiss and ran over happily instead.

"Mimi, don't go running off. Doesn't it strike you as strange that so many vending machines would turn up in a place like this?"

What a dilemma. Should I take Mimi away from here or not? Unless something unexpected happens, those vending machines are hiding a whole bunch of Sukamon sheltering from the sun...

But wasn't it being chased by Sukamon that made Mimi's Palmon digivolve? Forget it. I'd better not change the plot. Everything else can wait until I've piggybacked on Tai's digivolution data.

"Huh? There are actually vending machines here?" Tai and the others, following behind, also noticed what lay ahead.

"Great! I want an ice-cold cola!" Young T.K.'s eyes lit up at the sight, and he ran straight toward them.

"T.K., wait a second. This place is really suspicious. What if it's dangerous?" Watching T.K. practically drool with craving, Matt did his best to restrain himself despite wanting a drink too. After all, they had already been fooled once by the phone booths on the beach.

Besides, there are plenty of vending machines anyway. Let that Zhou Zhu guy go ahead and test the waters first.

"Aww, why..." Watching Mimi already putting in a coin, T.K. looked indescribably envious.

Bang!

Once the coin went in, the expected drink didn't drop out. Instead, the front of the vending machine was pushed open from within.

"What the heck? So it's just an empty shell."

Having lost a coin without getting a drink, Mimi's mood instantly soured. Zhou Zhu had been right: this place really was suspicious. She had thought she could get her drink first, suspicious or not, but sure enough, it was a trick...

"No, it's not an empty shell. It's Sukamon!"

Palmon spotted a Sukamon hiding inside and immediately warned Mimi.