The crackling of a fire signified the end of a day in a digital world as the sky darkened to a gentle black color. nestled in a forest clearing a small fire burned. Sitting next to the fire were apples thrust upon sticks and set to cook. Sora, wrapped in her cloak, sat next to fire while Wormmon and Lopmon watched the flames leap higher and higher as they kept an eye on the cooking food. Their stock of Lembas had dwindled to almost nothing since their passing from the Digi-Earth world, and they had been forced to search for food. A little ways away, Ken and Eric were practicing with their swords. The gentle ringing of metal on metal was heard. Ken had to adjust to the grip of the long, katana like blade while Eric held his one handed, like a short sword or even a very long dagger. Both blades were shining in the moonlight, as it appeared that they were wielding glowing swords in the light of the three moons. "One, two, three!" Eric counted off as he and Ken parried with their blades. "You're improving," he said to Ken who smirked. "Thanks," Ken said. The pair saluted and went in for more practice, their blades ringing in the sound of the night. "Careful you two don't remove a limb," Sora called out, turning a meat apple around so the other side would cook. "Is it done yet?" Wormmon asked as the meat apples sizzled. "I'm so hungry." "Almost done," Sora said, turning one over. She then plucked one off of the stick in the ground and sniffed it. "Yeah, it's ready. Food is on!" "Food!" Eric exclaimed, breaking off his practice as he sheathed his sword. Ken sheathed his own as the pair headed over to the fire where Sora held up a meat apple for each of them. "At last, I'm starved!" Passing out the meat apples, Sora giggled at Eric's ravenous eating pace, as with Lopmon. "Slow down, you'll choke yourself." "But it's so good!" Eric grunted over his food. "It tastes like roast beef!" Ken took a bite out of his meat apple and raised an eyebrow. "Mine tastes like mutton. I guess there are various flavors of meat apple." "We haven't seen many digimon in this Digital World," Sora remarked, nibbling on her meat apple. "I wonder where they are?" "We haven't seen anything that says this world is under attack," Ken said, letting the juice of the meat apple drip into the fire. It sizzled with each drip that landed in the burning flames. "But it's so quiet, and we haven't seen many digimon, save for a couple of passing Poyomon and a Sabirdramon and a Kabuterimon flying side by side up in the air. I wonder...." "If this is a Digital World, I'm sure we'll find some chosen or digi-destined," Wormmon reasoned. "It's likely that we'll find at least one somewhere." "There is always the possibility that they could be evil," Lopmon pointed out. "No offense, Ken." "It's all right," Ken said, but his expression was full of worry. "If they are evil, there's no telling what could happen." He looked up into the air, specifically at the three moons hanging overhead. "We should be on our guard. Someone should take watch." "I'll do it," Sora said. "I'll watch for a couple of hours while you get some rest." "Then Lopmon and I can take over," Eric said. "And then Ken, you can take last watch, okay?" "Sounds good," Ken said. Finishing his meat apple, he pitched the core into the fire where it burned and the remaining fats and meat hissed. "Lets get some rest. It'll be a while until daylight comes." ============= D^3 : Digital Diaries Dimensions Variations 1.5 : New Frontier written by Shaun G. Disclaimer : Digimon owned by Toei, and I don't own anything. Opening theme is Real Emotion sung by Koda Kumi and most background music is from hack//sign, specifically, The World. ============= "Hey, wake up." The insistent shaking roused Ken from his slumber. Grumbling a bit, he turned over to see Eric hovering over him. "Time for your shift," he said, yawning. "What time is it?" Ken asked curiously. "From what Lopmon figures, about a couple of hours until the sun rises. Give or take an hour. Scoot over, I wanna use that rock as a pillow." Ken got up, woke Wormmon and the pair sat up by the fire as Eric and an already sleeping Lopmon curled up under Eric's warm elven cloak. The night was not cold, but it held an intangible tension in this world, as if there was something out there. Walking over to the nearby stream, Ken splashed his face as Wormmon leapt into the stream to wake himself up. Shaking off the excess water, Ken dried his face with the hem of his cloak. Walking over to the fire, he put some more fuel on the fire and sat down, sword set across his lap. Wormmon sat, curled up under the cloak as Ken fiddled with the ties on his bracers. "Sure is quiet here, this digital world," Ken remarked. Far away, a train whistle echoed in the night sky. "Huh... trains." "It could be a Locomon," said Wormmon, warming a bit of leftover meat apple on a stick near the fire. "But those are rare, even in our Digital World." "Yes...." Ken trailed off as he watched the forest around him. Just then, a wind picked up. The sleeping members of the small traveling group huddled into their cloaks. Ken felt the hairs on his neck prick up. Ken stood up, and looked around. "Something's out there," Wormmon whispered. Suddenly, the bushes parted. Ken's sword was in his hand in a lightning fast motion, waiting for whatever was coming out of the woods. Then, a girl stumbled out of the bushes, battered, beaten, and bleeding. She looked up at him, and then collapsed on the edge of the clearing. Ken sheathed his sword and rushed over to check on her. Shaking her, he called out, "Hey! Hey! Are you okay?" He then checked her pulse and was relieved to find that it was still strong and her breathing steady. Gathering up the girl, he moved her closer to the fire, and covered her with his cloak. "Wormmon, can you get some water?" he asked, handing Sora's helmet to him. "Get as much as you can." Wormmon nodded as he evolved to Stingmon and went over to the stream. Ken then removed his shirt and tore the hem off to bandage her wounds and use it to clean them with water. She moaned and started to toss. Ken grit his teeth as he felt her forehead. "Burning up." Stingmon returned to Ken's side with Sora's helmet dripping with ice cold water. Ken dipped part of his torn shirt strip into the water, folded it and placed it on her forehead. Then, he folded his shirt and propped it under her own. Deft hands trailed down her body, checking for bruises and wounds. A particularly nasty bruise was showing under her stomach but other than that, nothing else showed. Covering her with his own cloak, he sat against a tree and sighed. Stingmon sat down next to him and reverted into Wormmon who then crawled into Ken's lap. "Who do you think she is, Ken-chan?" "I don't know, Wormmon," said Ken. "All I know is that she's been in a fight of some kind. Look, bruises, scrapes, and cuts. Nothing short of a wild digimon or a very controlled attack could have done this to her." "She's very pretty," said Wormmon. "You think she's part Japanese? You don't see many pure blondes without their hair being dyed and bleached." "Possibly." Ken said. "Lets keep an eye out for anyone else who would be around here." ============= Pain. Fire. Pain. Izumi woke up, sitting up quickly. Looking around at her surroundings, the cloth fell to the ground as a fire crackled beside her. The smell of meat apples was in the air and to her left, two teenagers slept in thick gray cloaks. She herself was covered in one. Groaning, Izumi looked towards the fire. A young boy sat next to the fire, a bit hunched over. His breathing indicated that he was dozing. A small green worm tended the fire, turning the apples. It looked up, and said, "Hello, you're awake now?" Izumi blinked. "Er, yes. Where am I?" "That's what we'd like to know," Wormmon said. Then, turning to the dark haired teenager, he nudged him. "Ken-chan, wake up! Breakfast is ready!" "Mmm?" Ken sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Oh, thank you, Wormmon." He then looked up at Izumi and smiled. "Are you feeling better now? You had a fever last night." "I'm feeling better now, thank you." Izumi said. "Orimito Izumi." "Ichijoji Ken." At the lack of recognition to his name, Ken figured that this was definitely not a similar digital world. "This is Wormmon, my partner." "Hello," Wormmon said, holding out a meat apple to Izumi. Izumi took it, blew on the hot skin and took a tentative bite. "Is it good? I was cooking it, and figured that you liked it medium well." "It's delicious!" Izumi said. "Thank you!" Just then, the brown haired boy with a lot of hair sat up, yawned loudly and scratched his head. "Morning already? Oh, great, breakfast!" "Breakfast? Where?" The accompanying small brown rabbit sat up, rubbing his eyes. "I'm starved." "There's enough for everyone, Eric," Ken said, handing a meat apple to both him and Lopmon. "Eric, this is Orimito Izumi. I found her last night during my watch." "Hi," Eric and Lopmon chorused. Izumi waved to them. She then turned to the other girl in the party. "And who is she?" "That's Sora," Ken said. "She's still asleep. Took the first watch so let her rest for a little while." "Oh, okay then." Izumi took another nibble of her apple. "This is really good." "Thank you," Wormmon said, pride evident in his expression. Sora then chose the moment to wake up, as she sat up and yawned. "Morning everyone," she said. "Oh, who's our guest?" asked Sora. "Orimito Izumi," Izumi said. "You look like you've just gotten out of a big fight," Ken said, taking slow bites out of his apple. "Your fever has broken but you have a lot of big bruises everywhere." Setting down his food on a large leaf, he said, "hold out your arm. Don't worry, I was the one who patched you up." Izumi set down her own apple and did so as Ken checked along her arm and legs. "This might hurt a bit," he said, pressing gently against her stomach. Izumi grit her teeth as she let out a hiss of pain. "May I check the skin?" Ken asked. Izumi nodded as he lifted her shirt to reveal a darkening bruise. He chucked his tongue. "What do you guys think?" "Probably most of the lower abdomen muscle bruised, and there's a few cuts. Did you clean and dress them?" Eric asked, inspecting the wound cloth. Ken nodded. "Yes, with my own shirt." Ken was wearing the remains of his shirt, the sleeves and lower half all torn off for bandages that encircled Izumi's arms, legs and stomach. The remains of his shirt left his stomach bare as it hung half open. "You'll have to take it easy for a little while. Are your friends nearby?" "I don't know. We got separated on the way to the Forest Terminal. An attack, by a digimon named Grottomon." "Sounds like he's the one who did this to you," Eric said. "Where's your digimon partner?" "Partner?" Izumi looked confused. "I don't have one." Exchanging glances, Sora said, "It is uncommon to find someone in the Digital World who hasn't found a partner upon arrival. Do you have your digivice?" Izumi dug into her skirt pocket and withdrew a pale pink and purple digivice. "I have it." "Interesting design," Eric said. "Wonder what Koushiro or Carter would say about it?" "They'd probably try to dissect it," Wormmon said, making everyone laugh. "In any case, with that, you can find your partner," Eric said. "Um...." Izumi hesitated. Then, she gasped. "My friends! They must be scattered everywhere now!" "Don't worry," Ken said. "We'll help you find them. Promise." ============== Breaking camp took place soon after. After giving Izumi a walking stick to lean on, they made their way towards the direction she had come from. Ken, Wormmon and Izumi took the forefront of the group as Sora, Eric and Lopmon took the back of the group. The sun had started to climb high into the sky, casting shorter shadows in the forested area which slowly merged into a set of tall grass and sunflowers. Izumi looked around and then pointed towards the north. "That way," she said. "I came from that direction." "So far so good," Lopmon remarked. "Lets hope we don't find anything else that'll slow us down." As they traveled along the sea of grass and sunflowers, Eric looked around and whistled. "This sure is a gorgeous place." "Haven't you been to the Digital World lately?" Ken asked curiously. Eric shook his head. "Once. And that was to talk to Benjamin. After that, we basically stayed to our own home turf and to travel to different areas of the world. I know Carter makes trips into the digital world for surveying the landscape and such. The Great Canadian Digilderness as he dubs it is mostly uncharted, pristine, mainly because its unstable. I just think he's scoping out a place to build a getaway." "Doesn't it snow in the Canadian area?" Sora asked, drawing on her knowledge of earth. Eric nodded. "A little bit. There's no biting winters there, but the Canadian area is like a sea of grass, with a little stretch of desert stretching down to California. It's like permanent El Nido in the digital world section of Canada, though it can go days on end with blizzards, snow and lots and lots of ice and cold. But it all melts once it stops." "I lived in Italy for a few years, just moved to Japan recently," Izumi said. "Italy is gorgeous. Warm summers, the food, the people, the places you can see. It's so romantic there." "That sounds great," Wormmon said. "Ken-chan and I have lived in Tamachi district all our lives together. Before that, Ken-chan lived in Hokkaido. V-mon and I are usually playing taxi service, so we've seen a lot. It would be fun though to stop and take our time instead of hurrying off somewhere or to fight somebody." "I suppose," Izumi said. She then stopped cold at a huge boulder that sat in the middle of the sea of grass. She began to shake as memories played across her eyes. Ken laid a hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right?" he asked. "This... is where it happened. Where we got split up." Izumi walked over to the boulder and then gasped. "Tomoki!" A little boy slept soundly at the foot of the boulder. He was brown haired, dressed in a big orange hat, brown shorts, a white shirt and sneakers. His hands were clenched around a similar digivice to Izumi's, the digivice green and white. "Tomoki, are you okay? Wake up Tomoki!" Izumi cried, shaking him gently. Tomoki roused with a "Mwa?" as he sat up. Sight clearing from the long sleep, his gaze fell on Izumi as his expression lit up in a joyous smile. "Izumi!" He clamped onto her, hugging the wounded girl who bit her lip in pain but didn't do anything. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" He sobbed. "It was my fault! It should have been me! It was my fault you lost your spirit!" "Shhh, Tomoki, it's all right." Izumi held him at arms length and smiled. One hand wiped away his tears. "I'm fine, and I brought help." Tomoki looked at the trio with digimon and asked, eyes wide, "Are you guys Legendary Warriors as well?" "Legendary... Warriors?" Ken asked, looking at the others. "No, I'm sorry, we're Chosen." "And I'm a Digi-destined," Eric piped up. "About the same, but not Asian." "Tomoki," Izumi said, "Where is the others? Junpei, Kouji and Takuya?" "They went off in different directions." Tomoki said sadly. "Everyone wanted to find you on their own. I stayed behind, in case you came back and then if they didn't find you, I would have headed towards Forest Terminal." "This sounds serious," Sora said. "They could be in trouble." Ken nodded as he turned to Wormmon. "Wormmon, can you fly overhead and check out the area for us?" "Sure thing, Ken-chan." Wormmon leapt off and Ken pointed his D-3 at him. "Wormmon Evolve!" Tomoki and Izumi were then treated to the sight of a pillar of green light lancing up from where Wormmon stood, and in its place, the larger green warrior stood there. "Stingmon!" "I'll be back in a bit, Ken-chan!" Stingmon said, taking to the air. Tomoki smiled. "Wow, that was so cool! It's like spirit evolving only with digimon!" "I've never seen a digimon like that before," Izumi said. "So his name is Stingmon?" Ken nodded. "Adult level actually. Stingmon and I are partners." "You never explained this partner thing fully," Izumi said, sitting down next to the rock. "Could you do so?" "Sure," Ken said as everyone sat down in the tall grass. "A partner digimon is like a two way link between digimon and chosen. A chosen or digi-destined has a digivice that helps focus the link between them, allowing the digimon to evolve into further forms. At the moment, Stingmon is the best I can do, because I require Jogress Evolution with my Jogress Partner, Daisuke." "Wait, slow down. Can you explain the evolution?" Izumi asked. "An evolution is more or less gaining another stage of power, maturing as it is with digimon." Eric said. "Lopmon can evolve into Wendigomon, and it has been confirmed that he can evolve into Antiramon. Of course, it requires a certain level of power to reach higher levels, and certain requirements as well. You can't force an evolution or it will go dark, and your digimon can go out of control." Sora shuddered. "There was a friend of mine, Taichi who forced his Agumon to evolve to the perfection level, which is one stage higher than adult. It wasn't pretty, and when he did evolve, he evolved into a darker version called Skull Greymon, and was completely out of control." "There are several types of evolutions," Lopmon said, picking up the slack. "There is natural evolution where the digimon reaches a level it would by aging and maturing like Tailmon of Ken's team. The type we use is empowered evolution, as I can evolve with Eric's help into Wendigomon. And then there are talisman aided stuff, like Eric's sword, Ken's crest that can evolve a digimon into the perfect stage, and even digimentals which provide a digimon with an alternate form called the Armor Stage. And then of course, there is the forced evolution where a digimon can go wild or bad, depending on the form it takes." "Jogress evolution falls under the heading of Empowered Evolution." Ken said. "With jogress, two digimon can merge into a singular, more powerful being. Stingmon evolves with XV-mon into Paildramon, a perfection. Then, we can evolve further into Imperial Dramon and then Imperial Dramon Fighter Mode. It takes a jogress with the physical body of Omegamon to create Imperial Dramon Paladin Mode." "Wow.... I wonder if we can jogress evolve. Sounds cool." Tomoki said, earning curious looks from everyone save for Izumi. In the awkward silence that followed, Eric leapt to his feet, and announced loudly, "Lets get a move on! Which way to the Forest Terminal?" Tomoki shrugged. "Takuya went north while Junpei and Kouji went west. Neemon and Bokomon went east all looking for Izumi." "So if south is where we were headed from..." Eric dug into his pocket, withdrawing his Digi-locator. After a moment, he scowled. "Nothing. I can't get a fix on anyone in this digital world." "Probably not," Sora said. "It isn't the same digital world that we're used to." Suddenly, Ken's digivice beeped. Ken removed his digivice and gasped. "Stingmon's in trouble." He pulled out his digivice and followed the beeping red light to the north, the others following him. At the edge of the sea of grass, a large digimon with oversized arms and a large nose was fighting Stingmon. "Stand still so I can upload your code!" Gigasmon howled angrily. "Gigasmon!" Izumi gasped. Tomoki growled angrily. "Stingmon!" Ken shouted as Stingmon parried another swipe from Gigasmon. "Eric!" "Right! Lopmon, you're on!" "Lopmon Evolve!" Lopmon leapt into the air as he was engulfed in light. His skin tore off and he became larger as he was covered in brown fur. The egg exploded off him as he landed with a crash. "Wendigomon! Club Arm!" Gigasmon didn't see the arm until it crashed into the side of his head, sending him sprawling several yards away. "Great, another annoyance. More data for me then!" Gigasmon stood up and slammed his hands on the ground, creating a shockwave that tore up the earth around him. "Earthquake!" Wendigomon leapt high into the air and grinned as his torso lifted up, revealing the weapons pods. "Destroyed Voice!" The blasts rained down on Gigasmon who shielded his head from the attack. Suddenly, Stingmon was in his face as he shouted, "Boot to the head!" The resulting kick sent Gigasmon reeling. But as quickly, he regained his footing and smirked. "Is that the best you can do?" "He's tough for a digimon," Wendigomon remarked. "Eric, I need power!" Eric held up his digivice which changed into his leaf shaped blade. It flared. "Go for it!" "Wendigomon super-evolve!" Wendigomon stretched out his hands as light reshaped his body into a slender white and brown rabbit with long arms and legs. "Antiramon! Treasure Axe!" A large axe formed in each hand and he spun it around his hands easily. "Come and get it, ugly." "Feh. Gigasmon! Slide Evolution!" A egg of raw data engulfed him and in his place, a shorter, more plump digimon with a similar large nose and wicked glint in his eye was in its place. Reaching behind him, he pulled out two long hafted hammers that had pointed studs on either end. "Grottomon! Snake Eye Break! HA!" Antiramon caught the weapons on his own as they fenced back and forth. Stingmon circled around, waiting for an open shot while the pair danced around the field. "Yeah! Go get him, Antiramon!" Eric shouted. He then turned to Ken and muttered, "I wasn't sure if I would be able to get him to perfect." "Looks like you could," Ken answered wryly as Antiramon performed a perfect spin kick that sent Grottomon reeling. Grottomon rubbed his nose which popped back into place. "That's enough! Grottomon! Slide Evolution! Gigasmon!" Gigasmon leapt at Antiramon and spun about wildly. "Hurricane Bomber!" Antiramon tried to defend but was smacked across the field, creating a huge trench in the ground. He groaned, flared and reverted to Lopmon. Eric ran over to care for his digimon as Ken shouted, "Stingmon! Hit him with everything you got!" A spike on the end of Stingmon's arm extended as he lanced in for the attack. "Spiking Finish!" "Hurricane Bomber!" The attack caught Stingmon on the chest as he was flung into Ken's arms, reverting into Wormmon. Gigasmon sneered. "Such worthless digimon. Now, for the Legendary Warriors! I have one spirit, now I'll take another!" "I won't let you!" Tomoki shouted, holding up his digivice. A circle of code flared around Tomoki's hand as he ran the top of his digivice across the data. "Spirit Evolution!" Tomoki was engulfed within light and when it receded, a white bear in green armor stood before them defensively. "Chakmon!" Sora, Eric and Ken's eyes were as big as dinner plates. "He.... evolved," Sora said shakily. "Cool," Lopmon and Eric chorused. "Get everyone back," Chakmon said determined to defend everyone. Izumi pulled Sora and Ken away from him as Chakmon pulled out his weapon. "Snow Bomber!" As Legendary Warrior faced off against Legendary Warrior, Ken was digging through his backpack, searching for food. He then grinned and held up a lemba. "Perfect. We have several left." Breaking it in half, he handed each half to Wormmon and Lopmon who ate quickly. "Is that some kind of food for digimon?" Izumi asked, sparing a glance away from Tomoki who fought Gigasmon all alone. "Elvish waybread," Sora replied. "A single bite can fill a grown man's stomach." Izumi looked at her funny as she shrugged. "I didn't make it." After finishing his food, Lopmon leapt to his feet, and flexed. "I'm SO ready for him! Lemme at him!" "You two up for it again?" Ken asked. The pair of digimon nodded. "Wormmon Evolve! Stingmon!" "Lopmon Evolve! Wendigomon! Wendigomon super-evolve! Antiramon!" Gigasmon dodged another Snow Bomber, only to hear a chorus of "HEY UGLY!" as Stingmon and Antiramon slammed their feet into his head. Gigasmon was sent flying as Stingmon flew after him, jabbing rapidly at him. "Striking Finish!" "Ow, ow, ow! Cut that out!" Gigasmon cried angrily. "Treasure Axe! Ta ta ta ta ta ta!" Antiramon mimicked Stingmon's rapid jabbing attacks, thrusting his axes at Gigasmon rapidly, arms almost blurring in their motion. Chakmon then circled to the side and shouted, "Snow Bomber!" His weapon fired rapid fire balls of ice and hail as they impacted on Gigasmon. Gigasmon found himself taking hits that would have killed lesser digimon. As it stood, between the newcomers and Chakmon, he was getting pounded. Ducking under a Spiking Finish, rolling away from a Treasure Axe and shielding himself from Chakmon's Snow Bomber, he growled and shouted, "I'll be back!" He then burrowed deep into the ground, escaping from harm. Chakmon let out a deep breath. Then, he turned to Izumi and said, "I'm sorry Izumi. I couldn't get your spirit back." "It's all right, Tomoki," Izumi said as Chakmon changed back into Tomoki. "You did your best." "That was some work there, kid," Eric said with a grin. Antiramon then glowed and reverted to Lopmon. "Nice going. You really helped out there." "Thanks," Tomoki said. "What did you do anyways? How did you become a digimon?" Sora asked. "We're Legendary Warriors," Tomoki said, turning to Izumi for support. "I'll tell you on the way to the Forest Terminal. We need to catch up to Takuya, Kouji, Junpei and Bokomon and Neemon." said Izumi. ============ They were in the cooling shade of the woods again. The small group with the addition of Tomoki headed north, presumably where Takuya and Kouji went. Along the way, Izumi explained how they arrived in the digital world. How they were called by a voice on their cell phones, and how each one was chosen by the spirit of a digimon. Sora shook her head. "That is just different. So different. A human becoming a digimon. What's next?" "Sounds like sentai," Ken said as they pushed deeper into the underbrush. "That's what I thought," Eric said. He had lengthened his blade and took the front, pushing and hacking away stray vegetation that clogged the way before them. "So, what happened to your spirit, Izumi?" "It was stolen, by that digimon we just faced off against. You can bet that he's coming back for round two." Izumi scowled. "I hate him. Because he took my spirit, I'm helpless." "I can relate to that," Sora said gently. "I don't have a digimon partner for myself either. I'm usually in the background, hoping not to get killed by a stray shot. I don't even have Piyomon with me." Izumi wore a small sad smile on her face. "I guess we should stick together, huh?" She then sighed. "Junpei, he's the Warrior of Thunder in our group, said he would get my spirit back for me. It's sweet of him to be so determined, but I don't know if he can do it." "This Junpei, is he good looking?" Sora asked. Izumi giggled. "Kinda. But he's large, kinda overweight. And he's got horrible taste in clothing, a yellow and blue mechanics suit. But he's really sweet and even though he's not the most attractive of the group like say Kouji, or as reckless as Takuya, he's got this quality that makes him attractive." She then blushed. "And he's a great big brother for Tomoki, as well as Takuya." "Ah," Sora said. Eric chuckled and slashed away a low hanging branch from a nearby tree after checking it in case it was a Jureimon. They were careful not to cut any standing vegetation, in fear of accidentally dismembering a plant digimon that might be sitting in the area. Soon, the dense vegetation cleared up around them, revealing a set of train tracks that wound alongside it. "Train tracks!" Tomoki exclaimed. "We can follow them to the nearest train station!" "Good, we're finally out of the forest then," Izumi said in relief. "Still no sign of the boys though." "They probably went on ahead," Ken said, poking at a series of footprints in the soil at their feet. "There's five distinct footprints. Three look like sneakers, one looks like paws of some sort and one is dragging its feet with something." "That's them," Izumi said, satisfied. "Where do the tracks lead?" Tomoki's eyes traced the direction and pointed towards the distance, following the train tracks. "Looks like, that way. North again." He peered at an object in the distance. "It looks like there's a Trailmon station over there." "Then lets go," Eric said, sheathing his sword as with Ken. "The sooner we find your friends, the better." ============== "Grrr...." A dull thud was heard as Gigasmon struck the side of the wall angrily. Ranamon, the Legendary Warrior of Water, smirked at him from the other side of the room. "Those meddling kids! Always in the way!" "Sounds like the big bad Gigasmon is having troubles, eh?" she said cockily. Gigasmon spun to give her the evil eye, in which she retorted with the Japanese Red Eye. "Are these children really giving you a rough time?" Gigasmon growled, slid evolved back to his human form and sat down with a huff. "They got some help." Ranamon blinked at that statement. "What do you mean help?" "It seems that Ophanimon brought some outside help," Grottomon growled angrily. "There's three new children in this place now. Two of them have digimon that they can evolve on whim." Ranamon fell into a thoughtful silence as a dull clanging was heard in the air. Mercuremon, a large green and silver digimon and the Legendary Warrior of Steel, walked into the room and folded his arms which bore large mirrors. "You're having problems I take it?" Mercuremon said calmly. "With these new children?" Grottomon flicked a stray stone across the room and snorted. "I could have taken them, but there was an adult and a perfection digimon." "You should not have had problems with the adult," Mercuremon said, rubbing his non-existent chin in thought. "He was strong, okay?" Grottomon snarled. He then exhaled sharply. "Too strong. I was getting my butt kicked with him and that damn perfection rabbit attacking too fast for me to do anything." "Well then... tell me about the last one." Grottomon looked up in surprise as Mercuremon looked down at him. "You DID say there was a third child, right?" "Yeah, some girl with red hair and wearing a cloak like the other two are. She carries a big sword with her so she's not completely unarmed. I didn't see a digimon with her though. She could be a spirit holder, but that's impossible unless one of us are wiped off the face of the planet." Grottomon sighed. "See the mess I'm in?" "I think you just need backup," Arbormon said, walking into the room from the other side. "We'll all go together and beat on these children and take their spirits." Grottomon smirked as he stood up. "All right then. Say, do we tell Duskmon?" "I'll go tell him," Ranamon said, a pink flushing to her features. She rushed out of the room and Mercuremon shook his head. "She still hasn't gotten over her crush on him?" Grottomon asked curiously. "Feh," Arbormon said, folding his arms across his chest. "I doubt it. She's still smitten. It's like forbidden fruit, cause he's so powerful and loyally follows Lord Cherubimon and wouldn't give her the time of day. We'll wait for her and then lets head out so we can beat on these children some." "It shouldn't be too hard," Grottomon said thoughtfully. "The three of us have our beast spirits, and unless Ranamon has been holding out on us, she can take the unpowered children at best with ease." Just then, Ranamon returned with the news. "I told Duskmon and he says he'll come. Although he said he's not going to fight." "Feh, typical." Arbormon snorted. "C'mon, lets get the hell out of here and go and get some spirits." ============= "Hey, Izumi-chan! Tomoki!" Junpei called out from the fire that was crackling merrily in the middle of the small campsite. Thrust into the ground were several meat apples on sticks, and to the side were some normal fruits of various flavors. Izumi stared for a moment and then scowled frustratedly. "You five are cooking food merrily while you LEFT Tomoki back at the rock? How irresponsible can you five be?!" "He wanted to wait for you, Izumi," Takuya defended lamely as Izumi vented her rage on them. "We told him that if we don't return in a couple of days, look for the Forest Terminal." "And another thing! He was out there, all alone! It was luck that I came along with Sora, Ken and Eric because Gigasmon attacked us!" The quartet wore guilty expressions as Kouji sighed. "Sorry." "Sorry doesn't cut it," Izumi said, folding her arms across her breasts. "I think you need to apologize to Tomoki for leaving him behind just to look for me." "It's okay," Tomoki said, shaking his head. "I told Takuya-oniichan that I wanted to wait for you." "But Tomoki," Izumi said, but Tomoki cut her off. "I'm big enough to know what I want," Tomoki said gently. "It's okay, Izumi." Izumi chuckled at that. "You are growing up, like all of us." She gave him a hug and then turned to the others. "Guys, this is Eric, Sora, Ken, Lopmon and Wormmon. Guys, this is Takuya, Kouji, Junpei, Bokomon and Neemon." Exchanging hellos and handshakes, the seated chosen made room for the rest of them. Bokomon looked at them curiously. "So, where did you all come from?" he asked. "There aren't any other children in the Digital World." "Wait, hold that thought," Junpei said, cutting in. "There's tons of kids who came to the digital world." Bokomon blinked at that. "Well, I certainly haven't seen any children besides all of you." "Well, we're not from around here," Eric said, deciding not to beat around the bush and go straight for the jugular. "We're from another world. Entirely different from this one." The others gaped as Takuya found his voice. "You're kidding, right?" "Nope, we're one hundred percent from another dimension." Lopmon said with a cheeky grin. "Eric and I are digi-destined and a partner. Ken here is from our world as well, he's what we call a chosen child. Sora is..." he paused and looked at Sora. "What DID you call yourself?" "Chosen child," Sora said. "I'm also a digital clone of a girl named Sora." She looked uncomfortable with that little tidbit of information. "We share the same face, the same name and memories too." "Eric and I have partner digimon, like Wormmon and Lopmon," Ken said, letting Wormmon munch happily on an apple that tasted like a mango. "We can evolve them to the next level." "Ah, evolution," Bokomon said, nodding. "I personally haven't seen a Wormmon before. What do you evolve into?" he asked, directing the question to Wormmon. Wormmon swallowed and said, "Well, me personally, I evolve into Stingmon. To reach higher levels, I jogress evolve with my partner, XV-mon into Paildramon, a perfection. Then, we can reach the ultimate level of Imperial Dramon, and two stages higher." Neemon and Bokomon's eyes went dinner plate wide. "Two stages higher?!" they chorused. "What's wrong?" Kouji asked Bokomon and Neemon. "Something wrong?" "It is rare to find an Ultimate Level Digimon! In fact, besides the three Great Angel Digimon and the ten Legendary Ancient Digimon, I've only heard of maybe a half dozen Ultimate digimon! I have never even HEARD of a digimon getting an evolution higher than that. What would you CALL a level above Ultimate?!" "Stage seven or more powerful Ultimate," Lopmon deadpanned. "Who are the three great angels?" Sora asked. "There are three of them, Seraphimon, Ophanimon and Cherubimon." Bokomon said. "Cherubimon-sama has become corrupted and his Legendary Warriors are tearing up the digital world searching for both spirits and data for some reason." "And they rule over this world?" Eric asked curiously. "More or less," Bokomon said. "They keep the balance in the Digital World. But with Cherubimon-sama being corrupted, we have no idea how this will affect the Digital World. It is the job of the Legendary Warriors to return the stolen Digicode to the Digital World." "Legendary Warriors. You never told us about that, Izumi," Sora said in surprise. Izumi blushed. "Well, we may have the spirits of the Legendary Warriors, but I dunno if you can call any of us that." "I think you had better start at the beginning," Ken said, and everyone nodded in agreement. Bokomon cleared his throat. "Okay, listen closely." "A thousand years ago, the Digital World was formed, with two primary digimon, the humon digimon and the beast digimon. There was a great and terrible war between both sides. Many fell and many evolved to higher levels, no more than perfection at times. Then, during the height of the fighting, an angel digimon known as Lucemon descended upon the digimon. He was a mere child digimon, but with enormous strength. Single-handedly, he put a stop to the fighting and peace reigned for five hundred years." "But soon, the rule of Lucemon turned to tyranny, and he became dark and corrupted. Some said that he even wanted to destroy the digital world itself. Then, ten great warriors rose up, Ancient Digimon who possessed the strength of both humon and beast digimon. They fought an epic battle, and were victorious over Lucemon, at the cost of their lives. Upon their death, they split into two spirit idols, each side representing their beast and humon form. Those idols are the spirits which we possess today, a human and beast spirit." "Soon, the world was in need of guidance. Three Great Angel digimon who had achieved the ultimate level, were placed as the Guardians of the digital world. Wise Ophanimon, Powerful Seraphimon and Spirited Cherubimon. Each one took spirits to safeguard them. Their rule was of peace and harmony." "But something went wrong and Cherubimon became dark. Since then, the digital world has slowly been crumbling under the assault of Cherubimon's forces. There is toil and even slavery of other digimon types in various areas. That is why the Legendary Warriors have risen up to challenge and defeat the evil that threatens the digital world." As Bokomon finished up his tale from the book, the enormity of the task set ahead of everyone seemed to dawn upon them. "So that's why we're fighting so much," Kouji said, folding his arms as he leaned against a tree trunk. "There is so much we need to keep safe." "But without Izumi's spirit, we're down one fighter," Junpei said, glancing at the blonde girl who sighed. "As it stands, we are down one spirit, but we have an adult and perfection digimon," Eric interjected. "Lopmon here can evolve to perfection and Wormmon can evolve to Stingmon, an adult." Bokomon's eyes went wide. "Really? A perfection digimon? There are a lot of them around. What does he evolve into?" "I can evolve into Wendigomon and then Antiramon. Why?" Lopmon asked. Bokomon's eyes went wide, like dinner plates. "Wow.... that sounds like the legendary line of Cherubimon!" "Cherubimon? You mean the Great Angel digimon?" Takuya said in surprise, turning to Lopmon. "You can evolve into him?" Lopmon shrugged. "I don't know actually. Digimon don't have preset evolution lines, and frankly, I just hit Perfection a couple of worlds back." "Still.... it was said that Lord Cherubimon evolved into an Antiramon. It is all possible that you can evolve into Cherubimon. An ultimate level digimon would help take down the evil hybrid, Grottomon that was attacking us." said Bokomon. "Tell you what," Ken said. "After the digimon eat and everyone is rested, we 'll help train you guys. Between myself, Sora and Eric, we have a lot of experience." Junpei looked a bit miffed at that. "We're not some kinda monster to train, ya know." Eric chuckled. "It'll be non-lethal, but we'll be training hard. Without a digimon partner, you guys are doing the fighting. I can help some of you with co-ordination, Ken with battling and Sora with tactics, right?" the others nodded. "Then lets eat and get ready!" Takuya said, grabbing a meat apple and biting into it. He dropped it a moment later, yelping "Hot hot hot!" ============= "Neemon evolve to..." Neemon spun around faster and faster, trying to evolve. The chosen had evolved into their Human Spirit forms and were working with the two chosen and one digi-destined with battle tactics and fighting. Currently, Stingmon and Wendigomon were putting the chosen through their paces with light sparring. Eric was working with Bokomon and Neemon to see if they could evolve in case of emergencies, and was quite unsuccessful as Neemon fell to the ground, eyes spinning. He earned a pants snap for that by an irate Bokomon. Eric sighed as he looked over at where Wendigomon was sparring against Wolfmon and Agnimon, while Stingmon worked with Blitzmon and Chakmon. "Sometimes I think they set me up." "Don't worry about it, Eric-han," Bokomon said with a smile. "Neemon and I have never found a reason to evolve. If we did, Neemon," and at this, gave Neemon a light kick in the side, "will probably have a useless adult form like a Numemon or a Sukamon." "Blargh," Eric said. "Okay then. Lets try some basic evasion techniques first." "Up! Down! Side to side! Think fast!" Agnimon went reeling as Wendigomon practically telegraphed his attack and kicked Agnimon in the head just enough to daze him. "Tag, you're kibble." He then dodged Wolfmon's saber attacks as he flipped around and strafed the earth with light energy shots. "C'mon guys, keep up the pace!" Stingmon was working with the heavily muscular Beetlemon and the short Chakmon. It was a bit difficult for Stingmon because he was earthbound mostly with teaching both of them. Blitzmon could fly, but he still relied mostly on staying on the ground in fighting unlike Fairymon, Izumi's spirit form. They were going under a few testing strikes and defense work. In short, Stingmon resorted to short jabs that would make them dodge and return the blows with feet, fists and attacks. Izumi, Sora and Ken stood to the side, talking about strategies. Sora and Ken had to edit their strategies, especially when the people they were with evolved into digimon. Unlike their own digimon who could take the hit for them, they were in constant danger when fighting. As they practiced, four forms watched from the cover of a dark shade of trees. Grottomon smirked. "Those are the new children," he said, pointing to Eric, Ken and Sora. "They have the partner digimon. Disgraceful." "No matter," Mercuremon said. "Let us begin." Grottomon smirked as he slide evolved to Gigasmon and charged out of the forest. Mercuremon was right on his tail, as with Arbormon and Ranamon. Agnimon looked up in surprise and shouted, "We're under attack!" "You've got that right! Hurricane Bomber!" Gigasmon spun like a top and blasted through the enemy, knocking the evolved children back. Wendigomon leapt away and Stingmon flew upwards. Agnimon got to his feet and leapt after Gigasmon with a shout of "Burning Salamander!" Flames wreathed his arms and he launched several blasts of fire at Gigasmon. Wolfmon tried to make his way towards Agnimon to help, but was blocked off by Arbormon who smirked. "Get out of my way!" Wolfmon shouted, igniting his saber. "Make me," Arbormon replied as he held out his arms. "Machinegun Dance!" "Licht Seiger!" The pair fought back and forth as Blitzmon faced off against the shiny Mercuremon. Blitzmon raised his fist and shouted, "Lightning Blitz!" Slamming it down, the blast zoomed towards Mercuremon. Mercuremon said calmly while holding out his left mirror, "Offset Reflection!" The attack was absorbed and Blitzmon swallowed. The other mirror went out and Mercuremon said, a fierce tone in his voice, "Generous Mirror!" Blitzmon was struck with his own attack as he went flying. Catching himself in the air, he charged at Mercuremon and struck out with a fierce blow. Mercuremon dodged and weaved around his attacks, getting in smaller hits which started to build up on the larger Blitzmon. Ranamon folded her arms. "Is this all that there is?" Chakmon stood between the chosen, along with Wendigomon and Stingmon. "Jealousy Rain!" They leapt aside as the black mist ate away at the ground. Wendigomon shouted, "Club Arm!" and his fist slammed into where Ranamon previously stood. She had leapt out of the way and Stingmon was all over her, stabbing quickly with his arm spikes. Chakmon circled around Ranamon and Stingmon. and leapt into the air. He then reforming into a large ice spike with a shout of "Icicle La La!" Ranamon sent a burst of water towards Chakmon who was blown halfway across the field. "Chakmon!" Wendigomon shouted. He turned towards Ranamon, hatred burning in his eyes. Eric almost doubled over as a stabbing pain went through his head, throbbing at his temples. "Picking on a kid like that? Wendigomon super evolve!" Stretching out his arms, light reshaped his body into a rabbit perfection. "Antiramon!" Antiramon loomed over the fighters. He then kicked Ranamon away who fell with a yelp. Mercuremon blocked a shot from Blitzmon and looked up at the angry Antiramon. "My digital god!" he exclaimed, getting sucker punched in the process. Mercuremon went down like a sack of potatoes. "Treasure Axe!" Twin axes appeared in Antiramon's hands as he bum rushed Gigasmon who dodged out of the way, only to find Antiramon in his face, slamming the flat of his axe on his large nose. Gigasmon went reeling and was attacked quickly by Agnimon who hit him across the face with a burning fist which popped out Gigasmon's digicode. Eric held his head painfully. "Antiramon, calm down!" Eric grimaced as new pain flooded into his head. "What's wrong?" Sora asked Eric. "Antiramon," said Eric, gasping. "His anger is like a stabbing pain in my head." "Stingmon, calm down Antiramon," Ken ordered. "Right." Stingmon rushed towards Antiramon who was in the process of trying to filet Arbormon with his axes and grabbed his arms in place from behind. "Calm down you!" Stingmon shouted as the angry glare from Antiramon's eyes faded into a worried expression. "This is enough!" "Sorry," Antiramon said, lowering his arms. Of course, Arbormon took this opportunity to sucker punch both digimon with both fists. Across the way, the stabbing pain in Eric's head receded to a dull ache. Gigasmon picked himself off the ground and growled. "You haven't seen the last of us!" he shouted. "Retreat!" Within moments, the evil hybrids had retreated into the forest, leaving the group of chosen. As they left, Agnimon called out, "Hey, Izumi! I got something for you!" Izumi turned and Agnimon tossed a glowing object to her. Izumi yelled in joy as her spirit came to a halt before her. Sucking it into her Digivice, the symbol for the Warrior of Wind appeared on it. "YES!" Agnimon then turned to the others and said, "Hey, I found something else on Gigasmon." He held out a mask that was patterned with elegant rainbow spirals against a white background. "This belong to you guys?" Ken grinned. "Looks like one of your masks, right, Eric?" Eric nodded. "It seems like it. Not sure if it's the same one, this one looks a little different. But hell, I'll take it." He held up his digivice and it was absorbed into it as digital code. "Digicode scan?" Wolfmon asked, reverting to Kouji. At Eric, Sora and Ken's blank expressions, he said, "Digicode scan is when we take the data of digimon we defeat. We also can use it to absorb data from other legendary warriors, as their spirits." "Ah," Sora said. Suddenly, a warm glow appeared within her bag. Fishing it out, she found the Jade Gate glowing. "Oh, looks like we have to go." "Go? So soon?" Izumi asked. "Can you take us with you? Some of us still would like to go home." "I think it's better if you all stayed here," Ken said. "Everyone has a destiny. Besides, you'd be going to a whole other dimension." "This is your story," Eric said with a grin as Lopmon and Wormmon leapt into his and Ken's arms. "Might as well see it through." As the trio flared, Takuya called out, "Hey Eric! You stole that from Final Fantasy X, right?" "Yeah!" was Eric's distant reply, as if he was already far away. And then, the blue glow vanished and they were whisked away from this world. And straight into hell. ============= Authors notes : It took less time to write this story this time. What is waiting for them in the next world? You'll have to wait and find out.