Kinship, Kindness, and Kabooms! A tale of friendship across the realms

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A collaborative effort between Jinji, Panda, Cat and all of Jinji’s real-life friends. Each gift shown in this tale was suggested by one of Jinji’s friends, and their characters are herein depicted handing the gifts to Jinji’s ghosts. All artwork is by Kumada Panda, with the exception of Cat’s appearance and the full-scale image of her gift. Jinji then compiled all the art – and any suggestions by his friends – and personally wrote a plot to tie everything together. Owing to the large number of contributions made by various individuals towards this tale, some gifts are still being collected, and their appropriate artwork is being completed. As a result, additional sections and pictures may be added over the coming days to include the missing gifts.

As everyone knows by now, Portal Day, aka the day of Jinji’s first visit to the mortal realm, is a major holiday for both Jinji and his fellow ghosts and is treated as a day of massive celebration equivalent to his birthday (indeed, it actually marks the IRL birthday of the human artist behind Jinji, but this fact isn’t acknowledged in-universe, as Jinji is meant to be ageless 😜).

Because Jinji’s mansion is located within the Spirit Realm – the home of ghosts and paranormal entities, where mortal beings aren’t permitted to tread – when it comes to celebrating the holiday, Jinji (or the Ghosts, as a surprise) usually hosts his party within the mortal realm so that he can celebrate with his non-ghost friends. But Jinji doesn’t like to neglect his own home – and that leads to a question. If Jinji decides to have his party back at home, how can his friends still join in?

Note: Click on any image to open the lightbox, where you can see a larger version and scroll through each of the pictures.

Phantisserie, Gaspar and Alessandro discuss their plans for the next Portal Day celebration.
That question has been wracking the brains of Jinji’s ghostly family for years and has been a regular topic of discussion behind closed doors. One night, though, the ghosts hit upon a solution. If they can’t invite the friends to the mansion for a party, why can’t they visit each of the friends at their homes and allow them to contribute a gift to the party back in the Spirit Realm? Each can also leave Jinji their own special message to wish Jinji a great year. That way, they can be part of the party without being physically present!
Cat hands over his gift for Jinji to Phantisserie and Alessandro. Her gift is contained in a black box with a green ribbon, her signature colours.
First, Phantisserie and Alessandro pay a visit to Cat, one of Jinji’s few non-Pokémon friends. Cat had been preparing for Jinji’s party well in advance and quickly hands over a small, black-and-green present for them to deliver to Jinji on the day.
Kitty, in an updated design featuring two white bows on her side, happily hands over a blue present with a pink bow to Gaspar and Enigma.
Next, the Ghosts visit a self-help retreat, where for several months, Kitty the Gengar Queen has been staying, seeking to strengthen her body and mind. “It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other!”, she exclaims, as she happily hands over a blue-and-pink wrapped present to Gaspar and Enigma.
AsianKid the Abra floats above the ground and summons a small present in mid-air in front of the impressed Phantisserie.
Later, Phantisserie bumps into Jinji’s Abra pal (and IRL fellow colleague from Pokémon World Online), AsianKid. “Heard you guys were collecting gifts for Jinji’s party”, he says knowingly, and he psychically summons a small present in mid-air directly in front of the impressed Haunter.
Inside what appears to be some sort of virtual reality, Zain the Veemon, wearing a Lightdramon hoodie, hands Celeste and Enigma a tied-up green bag, as well as a small digital tablet.
Returning home, Celeste and Enigma put together a rudimentary computer and enter into the Digital Realm, to meet up with Jinji’s final friend, Zain the Veemon. Dressed up in a Lightdramon hoodie, Veemon greets the Ghosts with glee and hands over a green bag containing his gift; along with a small digital tablet, to allow him to speak to Jinji through video during the party himself. The ghosts are impressed with Zain’s creativity!
The Ghosts gather together a huge pile of "gift bombs": ball-shaped explosives of various sizes and styles, each decorated to look like a gift-wrapped present complete with bows and ribbons. With the job completed, the Ghosts smile and laugh at their combined output.
With all the presents gathered together, the ghosts come up with one more idea to give Jinji an even bigger surprise. The spirits each carefully unpack the presents from all of Jinji’s friends, and re-package each one inside a special gift bomb, each with its own uniquely colourful design. The ghosts then gather all the bombs into one huge pile, to present to Jinji at the party. “This is gonna be a BLAST!”, they joke to each other.
The pile of gift bombs is presented to Jinji, who gasps in surprise!
Just then, Jinji arrives for the party – and is totally taken aback by what he sees!
“Surprise, Jinji!”, the Ghosts all shout, as they present him with the pile of gift bombs.
“Gehehe! I can’t believe all of you went to the trouble of preparing a whole heap of gift bombs for my presents!”
A giggling Jinji picks up a large, white gift bomb with a red ribbon and bow.
Giggling with excitement, Jinji immediately picks one of the larger bombs from the pile, and prepares to light the fuse…
Jinji stands with his face coated and dripping in slime, as Enigma and Gaspar laugh heartily.
KA-SPLAT! To Jinji’s shock, the bomb doesn’t open up to reveal a present as he expected. Instead, it bursts apart and sprays him with a dose of slime!
“Gahaha! Surprise, Jinji! It’s not just all your friends who left gifts! You see, we all decided to create a bunch of slime bombs to mix into the pile as well, each one ready to make a mess should you be unlucky to light them! Good luck figuring out which bomb is which, though…!”
Jinji frowns with annoyance as the Ghosts all laugh at his slime-coated face.
(Temporary sketch, to be replaced with the final artwork when completed)
Thankfully, Jinji’s embarrassment quickly subsides, and he’s quickly back to the pile to take another bomb. This time, he’s lucky, and the explosive splits apart harmlessly, to reveal a card from his Abra friend, AsianKid, and… a TwistedSpoon? Jinji looks at AsianKid’s gift in confusion, wondering what he’s supposed to do with such a strange ornament, but soon, he’s laughing along with the Ghosts at AsianKid’s cheeky sense of humour.
"Aww, what a cute, tiny gift bomb..." Jinji giggles as he holds up a pink gift bomb no larger than his hand.
Reaching into the pile again, Jinji picks up a tiny, pink bomb and can’t help but giggle. “Geheh, what a cute, tiny explosive this is!”, he chuckles. “Surely there’s no way this can–”
Jinji lies dazed on the floor in a pile of slime that also coats his body, as various other large globs of slime drip from the walls and ceiling, as well as form various puddles on the floor. Above him, Gaspar laughs teasingly.
SPLOOOSH! The tiny bomb bursts into a colossal mass of slime, splashing not just Jinji, but making a mess of the entire room! “Ga-has! We warned you, Jinji!”, Gaspar teases. “Don’t think the look or size of the bomb is any clue as to its contents! Even the tiniest one could be hiding the biggest surprise – or the biggest mess!” Jinji groans, wondering how such a small explosive could even contain such an enormous amount of goo.

As Jinji struggles to get back up from the now slime-coated floor, the Ghosts hand him a digital tablet, and he quickly hears a familiar voice…
“Boom! Haha – classic fake-out! Gotcha, pal! Even I jumped, and I’m a Digimon!”

In a darkened room, Jinji proudly wears a stylish, glow-in-the-dark hoodie. A zoom in of Jinji's hand as he holds Zain's tablet, as Zain appears on the screen with a video message for him.
Jinji recognises the voice as his good pal, Zain the Veemon, teasing him for falling for a slimy trick. But before he can get too mad…
“Okay, okay! The real gift is in the bomb below that one!”
With that, the Ghosts hand Jinji Zain’s gift bomb, and he eagerly lights the fuse.
As it burns away, the Ghosts turn out the lights to the room, and the bomb splits apart to reveal…
“A glow-in-the-dark Gengar hoodie! You’re awesome, Zain!”
“Haha! Anything for my pal! Have a good one, Jinji!”
Jinji looks adoringly at a series of small pink slime bombs contained in a blue present he's just opened. Kitty waves to him in a cutaway, indicating her as the gifter.
The next bomb also splits open harmlessly, but to Jinji’s surprise, it doesn’t reveal a gift, but a blue present with a pink bow. Yup, you figured it out – this is Kitty’s gift! Jinji smiles as he reads Kitty’s card and adores the picture of Kitty’s latest makeover. Then he carefully opens the box… to find a large supply of miniature pink slime-bombs! “Awww”, Jinji coos happily. “At least these ones didn’t blow up on me like the others! Kitty always loves to satisfy my love of goo… I’ll be sure to put these to good use very soon!”.

Eventually, Jinji is left with one final gift bomb. He lights the fuse, and as it splits open, something gold sparkles inside the empty shell.

A solid gold bracelet with a kneaded pattern. Attached to the bracelet is a small, globe-shaped glass charm. The charm resembles a miniature slime bomb, and a small amount of slime is even visible inside the clear glass walls, glowing ominously. The bomb's "fuse" forms a loop that keeps it attached to the bracelet.
Inside the final gift bomb is a solid gold bracelet; and attached to the bracelet, a small glass charm. The charm resembles a miniature slime bomb, and a small amount of slime is even visible inside the clear glass walls, glowing ominously. The bomb’s “fuse” forms a loop that keeps it attached to the bracelet.
Jinji models a decorative gold bracelet, featuring a miniature slime bomb charm, as Gaspar looks on and smiles.
“What an adorable piece of jewellery!”, Jinji exclaims. “Cat really knows me too well!”

“Everybody really brought it this year,” Jinji declares with a chuckle. “So many awesome presents, so many funny tricks, and even you Ghosts putting it all together in gift bombs and adding slime bombs into the mix… I think this year is my favourite Portal Day yet!”

“We’ve got one last surprise for you, Jinji…”, Enigma teases as a wheeled catering table is wheeled into the room.

Jinji is presented with a purple cake featuring a dripping, slime-green icing, and a decorative swirl around its centre made up of a series of colours wound together, intended to symbolise the unity of all of Jinji's friends. Two candles, resembling small cartoon bombs, and two decorate purple mounds of icing adorn the top of the cake, and the cake is completed with a smattering of sprinkles on the top. As Jinji gazes at the cake in awe, Phantisserie taps a hand against her chin, looking somewhat pensive.
Voila, Jinji! Qu’est-ce qu’un anniversaire sans a special cake to top it off?”, Phantisserie boasts, mixing her native French tongue with her fluent English. Then, with a cheeky wink and a teasing tone, she adds, “But you better blow out the candles quickly if you don’t want yet another splat to the face!”

Jinji stands in awe, once again impressed with Phantisserie’s unparalleled skill in baking. The dripping slime-green icing… the decorative swirl all around symbolising the unity of all his friends… the realistic-looking bomb candles on the top (thankfully mere props, despite Phantisserie’s teasing)…

Just then, Phantisserie puts her hand to her chin, confused. “Hein? I don’t remember putting sprinkles on the top…”

Jinji, however, knows exactly where the sprinkles came from – a final surprise from a guest none of them expected to appear at the party. As Jinji blows out the candles and the cake is shared out, Jinji pauses to think about just how many friends he has around all the realms, and he laughs joyfully at the thought of everyone coming together for his special day.