The Taste of Defeat

[Zachary Scryer]

Yana Sekigawa

It was a shock to hear that they had lost the chance to advance to the finals. They had fought valiantly, even had an edge against their foe as Mytholomon. It was a strange situation to be have been so close to victory to have the judges declare blight the winner and him the loser of the match. Zachary's pride plummited a bit as he heard the news. He had no real issue of win vs losing, but after all their hard work, it was hard to see him falling behind like that. 

What was most important though was that they survived and got out. Pantermon now sat next to Zachary, both of them sitting in the stands to rest. They were waiting to see the results of the other fights going on as one other with Leyton vs. Rei-- the girl Yara talked about. She was very powerful indeed. 

Still, Zachary looked over the cards he now possessed in his hand. He would swish them about between his fingers out of habit. All the while, Panthermon would occasionally look to Zachary, seeing how disappointing he was. The cat couldn't blame Zachary, as he had hoped to win. It hurt his pride too. While their mission still remained and they could still complete it, it was still sad to be eliminated from a tournament like that. 

Little did they know that Yana was soon to come to them and greet them. 

[Yana Sekigawa]

Rei chan had moved on to the finals!! Yana cheered for her, silently for the most part, but actually loudly at certain times. In the

end her friend moved on, but her other friend did not. Her bright expression faded when she saw that Zachary's time out had yielded a

loss for him, "Poor Zach...", she though, knowing the whole close call thing of the whole match would undoubtedly

make him feel even worse.

"But now you don't have to watch two of your friends beat each other up.", Ari commented, smiling at her tamer knowing that deep down she was relieved at this outcome. Indeed she would prefer if either Zach or Rei lost and they didn't wind up in the finals together, "Silver linings Nana-chan."

Instead, Yana would be facing the lone Digimon known as Blight, a Hazardmon as her digivice called it. As the battle came to a close, Yana climbed down the stairs, towards the arena, hoping to find Zach on his way out. He wasn't too wounded from the fight, so she doubted he'd need medical attentions like some of the other. She eventually found him, riught around the corner, absently staring at his cards:

"That was a good fight... I'm sorry you lost it...", she'd answer, cocking her head down sympathetically


Zachary Scryer

[Zachary Scryer]

Yana Sekigawa

(Taking place fully after end of the 3rd place match)

Zachary felt low, holding his digivice and the stupid words that jerk of an opponent tried to do. First he was a jerk, then seemed friendly, then called him immature for believing in something and so it turned out he insulted him. That just pissed him off. They lived through the whole ordeal, but only because Zachary knew when it was time to stop. If they had continued, Panthermon would of been destroyed, and that was a fate Zachary was not going to let happen easily.

His focus on his cards were soon broken by a friendly voice. Panthermon and Zachary looked to see Yana nearby, looking down at them kindly. A sigh escaped Zachary as he shifted his cards into one pile in his hand and pocketed them away. "Hey, Yana..." Zachary said, his tone disappointed.

Panthermon looked up to Yana and Gatomon, seeing how their friends where there and Zachary, more than Panthermon, needed the emotional support.

"Zachary, quit beating yourself up. We did the best we could. Winning was never the point. You shouldn't let what that stupid monkey-man get to you. You so got reasons to fight for," the cat said, looking to Yana to help get his point across.

"But I was the one who was responsible for this loss, Panthermon. As a tamer, I have done a poor job..." he said, his tone clearly depressed. "The guy said I should of just left you to die and throw away my digivice for all the good i did."

[Yana Sekigawa]

He was obviously feeling down... That much was to be expected. But even then Yana didn't expect to see him like that. Zachary looked all but broken after the ordeal he'd just gone through.

"This is why I can never bring myself to like fighting tournaments, especially ones like these.", Yana muttered, shaking her head. She didn't like judging people, but she had a bad feeling about Zachary's opponent and his words proved it. She tried to make him see past his foe's demotivational words, it being all she could do, "Things people say in battle to bring each other down. You can't let it get to you."

And Ari would complete these words, "That Digimon doesn't know what he's talking about. He doesn't know you and he probably never will.", she explained, looking almost annoyed at Blight's words, "I wouldn't be surprised if he relished a chance to load his opponent..."

Zachary Scryer

[Zachary Scryer]

"That's not true, Zachary!" Panthermon was quick to interject to Zachary. "You did a great job. We held our own to the best of our ability. Don't let that moron tell you otherwise!" the cat said, but still Zachary was feeling down as he sighed.

Turning to Yana's words, his expression seemed to lighten. "You think he said those things just to mess with me?" he asked, "That guy was a spirit user. And a lot older. He probably had more experience than me to boot. The stuff he said after he won. I just couldn't help but wonder if it is true. Panthermon, you are strong but as your tamer I take responsibility. If anything where to happen to you, then that guy would of been right. You may not take the same risk of being destroyed but if that were to happen to you... "

Zachary's train of thought was stopped by Ani/Gatomon's voice. "Yeah but..."

Panthermon stood up and looked to Zachary with a firm look. "Zachary, listen to me. Why did you choose to have me fight as armor champion over full champion?" the cat asked.

Zachary blinked and answered. "Because his digimon had an ability that amplified his power when facing an opponent of equal form," Zachary answered.

"And why did you use the Pride card?" the panther asked.

"we couldn't overpower him so it was better to blind him and keep him off balance."

Panthermon made his point then. "You made decisions based on the tools you had at your disposal and the conditions we faced. And you lasted far longer than I bet others would of had against him. Especially considering he had a corrupted dark digivolution. Sure it could of been different if we had other cards, but you fought very well. " the cat said, a growl escaping him. "But you know what is the best part?"

Zachary hesitated as he looked at his cards again, flipping them out again between his fingers. "What?" he asked.

Despite Panthermon's dislike of it-- he was grateful for the end outcome. "When it came down to it, you choose to forfeit instead of risking me being deleted. " he said, driving his point home. "Gatomon is right. That guy didn't know what he was talking about. You valued my life over the chance for victory. You might of been tempted by the desire to win but you didn't let it keep you from protecting what you valued most. Right?" he asked, turning to Yana and Ani.

Yana Sekigawa

OOC: This is taking place at the end of all matches since it ended already so that was that. Harsh words came from Leyton ><.

[Yana Sekigawa]

Together with Panthermon the two girls slowly brought the young tamer back to his feet, at least motivation wise. She nodded as he finally started wrapping his head around how his foe had been messing with him, plain and simple. Smack talk seems to be a huge part of competitions for some reason...

"Exactly, if he was more experienced... He knows exactly what to say to mess with his opponent.", Ari would add, with Panthermon saying everything else that truly needed saying, enough to make Yana smile at the display of friendship.

But as the trio talked, the scholarly looking girl had her mind in something else entirely. How could she take Zach's mind away from this dreadful tournament and back on to brighter things? His partner was still safe and sound but he was too upset at the outcome of the match to truly relish that fact... Eventually she cocked her head down for a moment, as she often did due to her shyness; but this time she saw something else:

"Ooh... What is this...?", Yana uttered as she noticed a slightly shiny object as she looked down. After adjusting her glasses, she recognized a Digimon card, actually in pretty good condition for something she found on the ground. Save a for a few scratches in the back, it was still intact, "...A Digimon Card...! Machinedramon huh...? What does this do?", she'd ask, clearly looking for a way to distract Zachary from his loss.

SPOILER: Click to show

"I never played this card game nor have I used them in battle, so I have no idea how they work at all...", she admitted with an ignorant, apologetic smile, scratching her head slightly.




Zachary Scryer

[Zachary Scryer]

Panthermon's words rung true as Zachary pulled his head up and listened. He put his cards away and saw also Gatomon talk as well-- her words making perfect sense as well. "Zachary, that man is a spirit user. He fights by using a digimon's data in his own body. The monkey wouldn't know teamwork or friendship if it bit him in the tail. He knows nothing about us. Sure we didn't win, but we didn't lose everything either. In the end you made the right call to know I couldn't find any more and called off the match. The real form of courage is not to face danger, but to make the difficult decisions and you did. " Panthermon said, a smile on his face. "I never had been so glad to have you as a tamer and I never felt differently. "

"...Thanks, Panthermon. You too, Gatomon," Zachary said, a smile slowly showing on his face.

It was then that Yana interrupted, sharing she had found something. Looking over, Zachary saw it. A Machindramon digimon card. "Yeah, those are digimon cards. You saw, I used them all the time when helping Panthermon." He explained. "They are actually super helpful. Some cards don't mesh well with some digimon but others do. Also some are super useful when facing certain digimon. "

Hearing about Yana having no clue how to use them, Zachary took out his digivice. He knew her's was a D-3, a more retro version of the digivice compared to his own. "Well, my digivice is designed to incorperate cards to give my digimon new powers. D-Powers are the only ones I know of, BUT, i know datamon are capable of augmenting digivice powers and can add them to your digivice." Zachary said. "Would you like to see an example?"

It felt good to see that he knew something Yana didn't know regarding digimon, especially since he looked up to her as a senior tamer next to him. Though she had more experience, it seemed Zachary had a sharper eyes for digimon and digimon card combos to enhance their powers.

Yana Sekigawa

[Yana Sekigawa]

It worked! Yana felt a little proud of herself to see Zachary completely immersed in talking about cards, knowing that soon, the memory of the lost battle would be but a distant memory. Naturally for a skilled player like him, he got into it pretty quickly as he explained. Yana would just nod as he mentioned things she already knew; mostly from Watching Haru do it. She knew how useful they could be, and imagined some weren't as useful for some digimon (Like Gallantmon's shield for any four legged digimon)

"Oooh... I've seen Haru-chan do that too!", Yana commented, nodding understandingly, and once Zach pulled out his digivice, the girl in glasses followed suit. Surprisingly enough, as she turned the side of her D3, a crack appeared there, making enough room for a card, "You mean like this one...? I bought it the other day, but I never got any cards...", she'd comment, cocking her head down in shame.

Regardless, she'd keep her eyes peeled for whatever Zachary was getting ready to do. Maybe she could impress Haru next time if she learned how to play: "If you're willing to teach me, I'm ready to learn!", she'd say with an innocent, almost playful eagerness, clearly having something in mind to be this motivated...

Zachary Scryer

[Zachary Scryer]

Yana Sekigawa

Zachary didn't expect that she indeed, while having the digivice of a D-3-- that she already bought the app that gave the reader. It was built into the side of her digivice. A bit of a tight fight from how it looked, but it was good enough. He imagined it would look better if strapped to one's wrist like a watch or something. 

Panthermon could tell what Yana was up to. He leaned closer to her. "Do not dangle something in front of Zachary. Its good to help him but don't wound his pride," " Panthermon whispered with a chuckle.

Zachary however, felt she was sincere with her desire to learn more about cards-- which she seemed to be so Zachary nodded. "Sure, I'm willing to help you. It's really not that hard." Zachary said, taking out his card binder onto the bleachers to show her his collection. With his custom made Panthermon card, which his uncle who worked with the creation of the cards on earth, he used him as a key example. "Well, let's start with what we know. Digimodify-- involves incorporating power ups and attributes that are ordinarily foreign to your digimon's abilities. In the card game, normally its the same way to augment a digimon's base attributes and power ups-- even changing your advantages against an opponent. " He said, showing examples of the different 'plug-in' cards he had. "A key difference is that you can actually use attacks from different digimon, along with its base attributes. You with me so far?"

After a moment, he looked to Yana, making sure she was paying attention. Then, he took out a few cards from his binder and placed the Panthermon card in the center of the "Now, I wont bore you with the actual card game unless you want to know more about it... but here regarding fighting in real digimon battles, these cards allow to become better match to digimon of higher levels, or even the odds against those with significant power ups. " He then took out a champion digimon card, Tyrannomon and put it next to Panthermon. "If Panthermon was to fight this guy, without digivolving god for bid, you'd want to give him cards that would enhanse his defense and power so he could do more damage against him. Simple, right? "

He looked to Yana, though he would be worried to see Gatomon's reaction. Knowing the sassy kitty cat, she might be taking a cat nap during the 'lesson'.

[Yana Sekigawa]

Yana looked pretty confused at Panthermon's words and looked at him as such. What did he mean wounding his pride, how could asking him to be taught to play cards do that? Of course this earned her a little chuckle from Ari who overheard it and casually pointed out, "I doubt Nana-chan thought that far ahead~", she'd tease.

The tamer simply ignored her partner's teasing, blushing slightly and fixing her gaze on Zach as he went on with his explanation. Unlike the two digimon she actually wanted to learn how to play for the sake of impressing Haru, and for obvious reasons she couldn't ask Haru herself to teach her. Wide eyed with curiosity, she nodded along as Zach explained how each card had different attributes:

"Yes, I remember the Gallantmon shield... I hadn't seen anybody actually use Final ELysion with it.", she nodded affirmatively, adjusting her glasses and pointing to a nearby bench... Might as well sit down, so Yana did so and looked up at Zach - waiting for him to follow - holding onto Digivice and Machinedramon card with both hands over her chest. She'd see him put down the cards for Tyranomon and Panthermon, once more nodding, "A rookie against a champion. He'd need quite a few power ups to even the odds... Why not speed and damage...? The small size could be an advantage."

Indeed Ari was missing half the details. In the end it was gonna be Yana who would have to play the cards for her...


Zachary Scryer

[Zachary Scryer]

Yana Sekigawa
Zachary nodded at her question. "Power IS damage, Yana. Power represents both physical strength and attack potency. For a rookie vs. a champion, you ideally want cards that give you say 100% power to even do significant damage to a champion. Naturally, those cards are hard to find unless you use combos. But I'll get there in due time." He said and continued with his example. "Also its important to consider your own digimon's natural abilities. Panthermon is naturally fast, as I imagine even Gatomon is. You want to use cards that play to your digimon's strengths. "

With that, he continued, putting his own digivice down to show Yana. "YOu probably know this too... but you have a limit to how many digimon cards you can use on your digimon. The digivice allows a set number of temporary modifications, but after a set time-- it shuts down due to data overload. If your digimon has its data messed up too much, it could cause side effects. That is why you can only use like 5 normally. Unless of course, you have programs or factors to allow you to use more. " Zachary explained. "I created a way to allow more cards via a friend's help. But because you can only use a set number of cards, its good to have combos and concepts in mind ahead of time."

Getting back to the concept of combos, he put out a card he recently got. Accel Wall-- a card that actually boosted defense and speed by 100%. Also he had Goliath, that gave a long duration of power for 100%. "Okay, as you said, you do need a big power boost. With the right cards alone, you could be a match for a digimon of the stronger level. But you might not have access to those kinds of cards. This is where the card game itself becomes moot -- cause its more about your own creative combos to be of use. " Taking those two cards away, he soon took out a few common cards. A simple 50% power boost plug in card, and finally a digimon card. Frozen Wind. "The right combo of common cards can still always work in your favor-- because you also want to combine power ups, with attacks that are naturally effective against a certain digimon. " He then replaced the Tyrannomon card with a Meramoncard, and the Frozen Wind with Shellmon's Hydro Blaster. "See? Even if your digimon has a certain type of attack type, a simple change of attack can do far more damage than you would think. The power boost would merely make it more effective."

He had heard about the Gallantmon's shield trick he used against Jeremiah. Zachary took out that card to show her. "Yeah, Gallantmon's aegis and spear is actually a super rare card I happened to get. Ideally, you only get to use the attack of another digimon ONCE, and only that one. But, here is the thing with equiptment. For the duration you have it, you can use the same attack at once. The only reason Panthermon was able to use both Lightning Joust and Final ELysion was because he had both the shield and the spear." He explained. Panthermon looked up at that with interest. In his mind that was a golden moment that they used the shield to blast Targetmon who was flying at the shield to try and electrocute it as a conductor. "Honestly, between you and me, I forgot that the shield could be used that way till after I used the card. That fight could of gone either way."

Panthermon purred at the pleasant memory, that trick very much likely ending the battle in their favor.

[Yana Sekigawa]

The lesson would still go on for a good while so Yana tried to focus on it. The first part was all things Yana had already figured out in one way or another, even if that way was by watching Zach fight. Indeed the ability to use attacks from the added equipment was one she'd never have thought of herself. Also obviously enough, you had to use cards playing to your Digimon's strengths, and Yana nodded understandingly.

"Ooh... I always wondered why you guys didn't use cards more often.", Yana observed with a look of realization, thinking back to why Zach and Haru seldom used more than a few cards even if they clearly didnt seem to break down after use or anything of the sort. For a while she believed a card lost power if used too often, but now Zach told her the problem actually laid in the Digivice itself. She picked up hers, inspecting the now closed card reader. When she didn't have a card lined up with it, there was virtually nothing distinguishing it from the usual D3, "So that probably means mine will be limited in the same way..."

Now came the not so obvious part. Zachary went on to explain further how Cards could be combo'd with each other. Yana kept her eyes peeled at this part: It was something she speculated could be done but had never actually seen it. She saw him go for a power boost and a frozen wind to fight against the big dragon; swapping it out for hydro cannon after meramon came in:

"I see... So you attack the enemy's weaknesses as then use a power boost to amplify the damage proportionately.", she assessed, nodding at what could hardly be achieved with her own Digimon's own power. At least unless she had the advantage in the first place. She chuckled at his own forgetfulness, wasting to time with her usual reassuring smile, "People don't often realize all the possibilities until they're in a pinch. It was a good fight."

Zachary Scryer

[Zachary Scryer]

"Yeah the cards are useful but its also important to not rely on them too much, not unless you are in a tight spot or for a finishing blow. Yeah, the D-3 was not designed for cards. Mine was. Though my group got a deal with a card trader named Starmon who agreed to help us with our modify abilities. He even gives us a discount on cards too." Zachary said and soon was humbled by Yana's laugh at his situation when he was defending against Targetmon. "Well... ideally, the only most solid use of that ability was the use of shield to protect from attacks. That is its primary use, but it came in handy to use the same powers of the shield in an attack since we were pinned behind it." Zachary said, feeling embarassed she was laughing at that moment.

Shaking his head, he tried to change the topic. "Anyway, let's move on." Clearing the area of the cards he placed, he put a spare Gatomon card he had lying around from the card game, along with a few other cards. "Okay, so we already got the grasp that certain cards are useful when targeting an enemy's weaknesses. That in itself is always helpful, but remember, cards that don't work are ones that can't mesh well with your digimon's natural attributes. I mean, you wouldn't put give your digimon the powers of meramon if you were fighting under water, would you? You wouldn't create a missile attack from a digimon who had no means to launch it. "

With Gatomon's card, he laid out a few options. He put a Machinedramon card, a Leomon card and a Greymon card on either side of it. "Now tell me, which of these three cards do you think is most likely compatible with Gatomon. Which attack do you think would fit her well?" Zachary asked, trying to let Yana pick out the one that would most likely relate to her own digimon and what she would use. He didn't doubt it was a simple answer and that she could figure it out. Right now though, he wanted to make the point across that some cards you could use, and others you shouldn't, depending on your partner.

"This isn't like any card game. You gotta really consider how your partner can cope with certain card abilities. The wrong card can actually hurt your partner, or slow them down." he said, making his point.

Yana Sekigawa

[Yana Sekigawa]

Visibly impressed to hear that Zachary's buddies had managed to make a deal with Starmon for cheap cards, Yana slowly thought of something: perhaps more than learning how to play cards herself she could pique her senpai's interest by sharing that information with her. Haru seemed really into her card game anyhow...

"How did you guys manage that...? I have a friend who would certainly be interested in that deal!", she would comment, trying her best not so sound overly eager and probably failing.

Regardless, the lesson would soon move onto more advanced topic, yet topics that she was more than ready enough to dwell upon. Zachary went on to explain how certain effects were incompatible with certain digimon:

"Naturally. That's the same for average Digimon combat", she answered with a smile and an agreeing nod, only to raise an eyebrow as her card teacher posed a problem, presenting her with Gatomon and three optional cards, the same Machinedramon she had, Leomon, and Greymon. Yana narrowed her eyes and adjusted her glasses, thinking back to the attacks she knew of all those Digimon. Both greymon and machinedramon was too big, but the latter was undoubtedly tank-levels of heavy: The digimon equivalent of a bulky a siege weapon, "Leomon would be the obvious answer. Physically and attribute-wise its the closest to Ari. But Greymon could work too if I needed fire for some reason.", Yana moved Machinedramon's card back towards Zachary, clearly leaving that one out, "No matter how I look at it, this looks too heavy. Maybe if Ari digivolved into something bigger, but certainly not Gatomon."

There was of course a slightly quizzical look in her eyes. While this might be true for average digimon fighting, cards had their own subtleties.

Zachary Scryer

[Zachary Scryer]

Zachary thought back to meeting starmon and the rather hard time they had to earn his favor to support Nexus. He remembered how he challenged them all to a card game-- and what a sore loser starmon was when he lost against him. It was a funny situation. In the end, they convinced Starmon to not only fund Nexus but also give Nexus members discounts to rake in business for him. (Prelude to events in Nexus arc.) "Let's just say he was a bit of a sore loser, but he did agree to fund my organization Nexus. Remember I am trying to meet and gain info on new tamers? I am making a group of tamers and digimon who want to co-exist in a single place. I invited you once, remember?" Zachary said, "Anyway he helps fund Nexus, and we give him buisness. He gives discounts to members at our HQ."

The benefits of the group Zachary was working so hard to create aside, he returned to the topic of the cards before him. He waited and soon Yana made a wise choice-- she chose Leomon as the card to best fit. "That's right. Leomon fits best for not only having similar attributes, but his powers also relate to the same family or field of Gatomon. I mean you can't put Machinedramon's cannon on her back, can you? That would just be ridiculous. At the very least, its best if used with equiptment that can support machine moves. " He then took out an equiptment card-- called Gigadramon's Genocide Gear, a form of armor that would give the digimon machine qualities and defense. "But yeah, Greymon would work as well... however Leomon would be best in capabilities. Any card can work in its own way, but if you want to maximize its uses, its best to use cards that are either capable to your digimon, or targets weaknesses of your enemies." he explained.

Panthermon smiled as he looked to Gatomon, seeing that both their tamers were getting along and that they were benefiting from one another. "Cards are not that scary. Its like..." Panthermon tried to explain, thinking of an example to help Gatomon also understand how cards felt changing their data around. "It's like downloading the data of a digimon. It feels just as empowering, however the boost is naturally temporary. But it feels no more easy than that. " he explained.

Zachary then showed the extra cards, boosting options, condition plays, even his ultra rare equipment and super rare cards. THe pride card was the most volatile card he had, but it had its uses. "As you can imagine, there are many cards out there, and many combinations that can work with your digimon. It will ultimately depend on you how to use them with Gatomon."

It was then that Zachary had an idea and snapped his fingers. "Hey, why don't we try it out? You wanna give one of my cards a swipe and see how Gatomon responds to it?" Zachary asked.

Yana Sekigawa