Makato (VO) - Last time on Digimon Frontier: Countersync, me and Shinji were
in for quite a surprise! Not only had I somehow managed to leave my Physics
textbook at school and get everything ELSE home, when I went back to the
school to pick it up, a weird portal appeared right in thin air in Mr.
Isuke's classroom! Turns out he'd been screwing around with his spare
GeForces again and somehow opened a portal to another dimension, or so
Plemon said. He came screaming out of the vortex, already trying to coax us
into heading back into the Digital World with him! We WOULD have picked him
up and hurled him back, but right at that moment the principal, Mrs. Usagi,
came in with a freaking armored guard backing her! Turns out she's wanted
Mr. Isuke out of the school system on more than one account, but she figured
WE were part of the business that had been going on, Isuke's room getting
trashed, and all. That's right, before you could say "border skip", we were
off to the Digital World! What kind of stuff is happening there? We talked
with the leader of Folder continent, and things are depending on US! Well,
let's see what we can do!






********




Keibu glanced around, making sure no one was watching him. He quickly ducked
around the tree he was seated against, sitting down again and digging in his
pockets. He took out what remained of a tattered looseleaf sheet and an art
pencil. "This is insane. There are so many unique animals in this world...
it's amazing! I have to record as many of them as possible! Then, as soon as
we get back to the real world in a couple of days, I will share my results
with my peers! And then..."

"They'll lock you up in a loony bin."

Keibu shrieked, leaping to his feet and hiding his sheets behind his back.
"Makato! What are you doing here?! I was TRYING to write something down!"

Makato rolled his eyes. "Write. Write." he scoffed and walked away. "Don't
get too comfortable, though, we're moving again in a couple of minutes." As
Keibu grumbled, Makato looked up to the sky. He couldn't quite put his
finger on it, but there was certainly something strange in the air of the
Digital World. It had clearly been many hours since Makato, Shinji and Keibu
started off from Plemon's hovel, but the sun had remained in the exact same
position in the sky for the entire trip.

"That's so weird..." Shinji droned. "...is their such thing as night in the
Digital World?"

Plemon sat against a tree, carving a twig with his claws. "Well, not
really."

"Well, geez, don't you things sleep or something?" Makato inquired.

"Not if we don't think about it," Plemon coughed. "Don't you recall a thing
I told you? This dimension is malleable. A lot of things are shaped by
thought. Since neither you or Shinji seem to WANT to stop your journey..."
Plemon pointed at the sky. "...the dimension acknowledges that."

"If that's true, can't we just THINK our enemies out of existance?" Shinji
asked.

Plemon sweatdropped. "Malleable. To an extent."

"What about Keibu?" Makato muttered. He glanced back to the tree where Keibu
was beginning to get up. His lab coat was covered in grass stains, as were
much of Makato and Shinji's clothing. "He doesn't seem too optimisitic about
the whole thing. What kind of influence could he have?"

Plemon shrugged. "Since he doesn't acknowledge the dimension changing
sporadically in his scientific mind, so he doesn't have the train of thought
to modify our reality. Trust me, otherwise his brain waves would already
have Folder in a solar eclipse."

"True." Makato looked down at his clothes. "...damn, I'm dirty... no, wait.
I'M NOT DIRTY." Makato closed his eyes and hummed softly - and before him,
the grass stains on all three adventurers' clothes vanished. Makato opened
his eyes, and looked down at his sweatshirt - it looked freshly
store-bought. "...whoa, this really DOES work!"

"I'll find some logical explanation for it," Keibu muttered.

"Last I recall, I think I did." Plemon shot back.

"I will NOT take that as an answer!" Keibu growled. "Now, I suppose we're
done resting here? How about we walk another 100 miles, huh?! I hope you're
happy, Makato Sakeru, for the hell that we're all going through!"

Makato, Shinji and Plemon all exchanged stares.

"Are we happy that he can't change this dimension with his thoughts?" Makato
asked.

"Yeah," Shinji replied. "Otherwise, there would have been at least three
metaphors in that last sentence that would have physically eradicated us."

Plemon nodded, sighing. "How true." He took up the rear flank of the group
as they marched onwards through the forest, Keibu leading the group in an
angry march.


********


"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"WE'LL GET THERE WHEN WE GET THERE!" Makato bellowed. "Okay, we're heading
to a freaking mountain, Mr. Isuke, I think we would know when WE GET
THERE!!"

"I think we might be closer than we think." Plemon said. Everybody turned to
him. "The Digimon in this area are extremely agitated. I think we may be
close to the End Virus. The Ancient Spirit of Mt. Erebus is located deep
underground somewhere AROUND Mt. Erebus, so I think we may be close to
digging it up. There should be a cave around here somewhere that leads
down." The entire group looked up as a giant shadow passed over them.
Overhead, a Birdramon was flying tight circles around the group.

"...er, I don't like this." Makato said flatly.

"Don't worry, even with the End Virus all over Folder, it takes a lot to
stir up a Birdramon."

Shinji continued walking... and stepped on a twig.

SNAP

Everybody froze in place as the Birdramon turned its head. It's pupils were
a menacing black, a shade that made its gaze upon the ground that much more
effective. Makato, Shinji and Keibu all paled.

"Shall we?" Makato quickly whispered.

"Let's." Shinji replied.

"Now, now, people, understand, Birdramon seem to like to stare." Plemon
sighed, smiling. "It's only if they begin to advance that they're a menace.
This Birdramon, on the other hand, appears to stay far RUNNNNNNNNN!!!!!" the
entire group turned and began dashing down their cleared path as the
Birdramon began a huge dive towards the ground. Makato dove to the side and
drug Keibu and Shinji into the brush, tumbling down a hill. Plemon hit the
ground as the Champion bird just nicked him, rising from its 5-foot
clearance into a vertical climb. "The End Virus!"

Shinji poked his head out from over a gulley. "Plemon! Let's get out of
here!"

"...okay." Plemon dashed and leapt off the path. Unfortunately, he rolled
down the canyon, while everyone else just supported themselves on the ridge.

"Uh oh, tree *WHAP* OOOWW!! JESUS- *CRACK* GWAAAAAHHH!! HOLY MOTHER OF-
*CRASH* DAAAAMN- *KROOMP* *CRUNCH* MOTHERFUC- *KRISH*

Makato looked down the ridge. Next to him, down the hill, was a cleared path
through the trees, full of broken tree stumps. "...um, guys... someone want
to see if Plemon's alright?"

Shinji nodded. "I'll do it. Just give me a se-OH, SHIT!!" Shinji attempted
to climb down the steep hill, but his hand slipped. "NOT AGAI- *CRASH* OH,
N- *WHAM* SOMEONE HE- *SHWAM* AAAAAAH- *WHAP* NOOO- *CRUNCH*

Makato sweatdropped. "...someone... want to head down... and see if Shinji's
alright?"

"Whatever, Captain Fearless." Keibu reached over and smacked Makato's hand.
Makato slipped. And fell.

"WHAT THE FU- *FWAP* GODDD- *BAM* GAAAAAAH- *BOOM* KEIB- *CRACK* I HATE YO-
*KRISH* OHHHH SHIII- *BAM*

Keibu looked down the hill, sighing. He let go and rolled down the hill,
however, due to the fact that Plemon's route was virtually decimated by its
constant traffic, he hit nothing especially painful. He rolled to a stop at
least 50 feet below where he started, standing up. "Well, now what?"

"I murder." Makato's battered corpse wheezed.

"Yeah, I love you too," Keibu shot back. "Is everyone else OK?"

Shinji slowly pushed himself up. "Um, time out, while I think away the pain
of my leg being broken." he paused for a second. "...ah, that's better."

"Well, we're all down here..." Makato slowly pushed himself up from the
forest floor. "...did anyone see Plemon?"

"I don't know," Shinji shrugged. "I thought I saw him for a second, but all
I heard was just swearing. He's a little ways into the bush from here."

"Are you morons coming or not?!"

Makato, Shinji and Keibu all shuddered as the forest around them shook
violently. "...um.. just a second." Makato chuckled nervously, leading the
group into the bush in the direction of the constant stream of obscenities
that followed shortly after. It was after a ten minute walk downhill through
the heart of the forest that they came to a large cave, dug out of a large
wall of stone. Plemon stood at the entrance, glaring down into the darkness.
"...hey, Plemon, what's this?"

"How many times do I have to tell you?! The Spirit is AROUND Mt. Erebus!"
Plemon scowled, turning back to the hole in the earth. "Erebus is probably
another day's walk, so we should be in the perimeter! The Ancient Spirit is
probably down here somewhere."

"If this is the Ancient Spirit of Mt. Erebus we're talking about, wouldn't
it be at the TOP of the mountain or something?" Keibu scoffed. "It seems to
be the ideal place to hide it."

"Listen, poindexter, a big vat of lava is no place to hide ancient
treasures!"

"They did in Indiana Jones, you know that Lost Temple and al..." Shinji was
silenced as Makato smacked him across the back of the head. "What, you mean
Mt. Erebus is a freaking VOLCANO?" Makato finished. "Then what the hell are
we doing going UNDER it?"

Plemon folded his arms. "It seems to be the ideal place to hide it."

Keibu growled at the mockery being used to slap him in the face, but Plemon
didn't as much as glance. "No one seems to want to go down to fetch it, the
catacombs being situated in ancient lava tubes and all. I think people kind
of lost interest at the point that the walls were randomly exploding in
showers of magma. Well, c'mon, we don't have all day."

"Yeah we do." Shinji concentrated. Everybody turned back to the sky as the
sun rose again.

Plemon shook his head. "Why, oh WHY I ever told them about that 'malleable
dimension' thing is beyond me. Well, you get the picture, now just get going
before I tear your head off." Makato began to chuckle but stopped abruptly
when Plemon's barbed hands seemed to solidify. He led the group down into
the cavern, Plemon staying close behind Makato. It hadn't even been three
minutes before the light from the entrance began to fade.

"Jesus Christ, it's blazing in here already!" Makato scowled, wiping his
forehead with his shirt. "And it also is beginning to smell as if every
digimon down here DIED in the past day, and on top of that I can't see a
damn thing anymore."

"There seems to be something in the distance." Keibu pointed down the
tunnel, where a faint glimmer of deep red light could be seen. "Maybe it's
an open area."

"Even if it is, we're going to have to feel our way over there." Shinji
sighed. He started waving his arms around, and made his way to the front of
the group, where he promptly tripped over Plemon. He toppled to the ground
with a dull clunk.

"...clunk?" Makato said. "Hey, Shinji, you okay?"

"My face hurts, but that's nothing new," Shinji growled. "It feels like
there's something metal here... ah, got it.. not that it does us any good, I
can't see a thing... uh oh. No one move, I lost a contact!"

"You wear glasses, Shinji." Keibu said flatly.

"...damn, you got me!" Shinji giggled. "Almost had you guys going for a
second!"

Makato and Keibu both blinked. "That was lame." they both chorused.

"I'm SICK of having to wait half an hour every time dork-maximus finds
something INCREDIBLY funny!" Plemon jeered. "Are we going to move, or what?"

"...yeah, just a second." Shinji sighed, pushing himself up. He picked up
the metal object, holding it firmly by his side. He winced as a needle on
the apparatus poked him, in response Shinji shifted the heavy object in his
hands. He took up the rear as the rest of the group began blindly marching
down into the earth. Each member of the group tripped once, each in
succession. The cycle continued until the light off in the distance grew
slightly brighter. Makato shielded his eyes as he made his way out into an
open cavern, lit by a dull red light. He looked over and noticed the source
of the light - a flourescent red wall of lava, flowing downwards slowly by
them. Makato was on a bridge, in a small room, as magma crept down a
lavafall. There was some buffer space between the rock ledge and where the
molten rock fell, but it was anyone's guess how far down it went.

"Isn't it kind of early to come in contact with lava?" Shinji asked.

"Last I recall, temperatures within the crust of the Digital World increase
at a much greater rate than that of your Earth, even though the diameter is
very much the same. The point at which the temperature advance is the
greatest is underneath Mt. Erebus, or as it is lovingly termed, the Shortest
Road to Hell."

"I'm burning up here." Keibu coughed. "How far down do you imagine is the
Ancient Spirit?"

"Couldn't tell ya," Plemon wheezed, wiping his brow. "I wanna get out of
here as much as YOU do. And that's not a very good thing, if the digimon of
these parts can't even stand the heat at 500 feet. We're still damn lucky,
most of the time the beginning passage just collapses and kills travellers."

"...well, that's motivating," Makato snarled. "Can we just... keep going?
I'm not sure how long we can take this."

Plemon nodded, gesturing over to the end of the platform, where the road
began to coil down a large pillar. One side of the ramp was against a crude,
jagged rock wall, while the other part gave a wide-open view of the lava
chute. Everybody began to slowly trudge down the decline. The path began to
widen near the bottom, leading into a large corridor leading away from the
flowing lava. Plemon began to lead the group again, but everybody behind him
slid to a halt as Plemon stuck out his arm, barring them. "...everybody stay
still." Everybody obeyed, staring as a Meramon slithered out from a side
passage. Shinji and Keibu paled as the flaming digimon turned to look at the
group. He growled deeply, and continued to walk across into an adjacent
hall. "...keep on your toes... I don't think we're wanted here. It looks
like the End Virus is further than we thought.. we have to find the Spirit
quickly."

"Engaged."

"WhAAAH!!" Makato bellowed as the floor beneath him and the rest of the
group buckled underneath their weight. "What's goin' on here, is this place
going to blow or som-" Makato was interrupted by a sickening crack. "-thin-"
he just saved his breath as the ground crumbled beneath the group's weight
and they were all sent hurtling downwards, screeching.


********


Makato slowly rolled his head over. "...what's going on...?" he pushed
himself to his feet cautiously, wincing as his hands slid across the hot
soil beneath him. "...Shinji? Mr. Isuke? Are you guys there?" Makato glanced
over, and spotted Shinji lying face down in the dirt. He raised his head,
his face beet-red from the intense heat. "... I... am... hot."

"This is getting old." Plemon grunted, brushing himself off. "You should be
thankful for that little incident, I'd intended on walking down here
anyways."

"Are we getting close to the Ancient Spirit yet?" Keibu asked, already
walking forward down the tunnel. The cavern was beginning to lose its light
again, and beginning to take on a cylindrical form.

Plemon glanced around. "We're entering the lava tubes. There's only a short
way to go. The main chamber should be around here somewhere... oh, and
remember, exploding walls, so you might want to get going." Plemon sighed as
the students and teacher in front of him doubled in pace. Plemon himself
began jogging down the pipe after the group...

*STOP*

Plemon suddenly halted. He checked behind him. "..."

"Yes, that's right," the voice seemed to float out of the air. "That would
be me. Stop your little charade, Plemon, I'm sure the End has some sort of
forgiving left for you and your little band. Now be a good little runt and
leave here."

"Whaddja say?!" Plemon screeched. He staggered himself, the barb on his hand
nearly doubling in size. "Lemme show you who the runt is here, ya?!"


********


Makato, Shinji and Keibu all stepped out of the tube, down a questioningly
well-carved flight of granite stairs. They were in a medium-sized chamber,
with jagged rock and stalagmites on both sides of them and a strange,
oriental-style shrine in front of them. Makato stepped forward, inspecting
the structure from a distance, before turning back to the other two. "Do you
think this is where they keep the Ancient Spirit?"

"...Makato, there's a freaking SHRINE surrounded by lava-filled caverns, I
THINK they would keep something useful here." Keibu scowled.

"Yeah, but what about the Covenant of the Ark, huh? When those Nazis opened
i-" Shinji was silenced by Keibu smacking him in the back of the head.
"Plemon should be coming any second," Keibu said. "Just grab whatever the
Ancient Spirit is and we'll get out of here."

Makato nodded, turning back to the shrine. He began to approach it
cautiously, checking around both sides of the monument. Making sure nothing
else was around, he approached the small ceremonial chest at the center of
the altar and slid it open slowly. As soon as a crack was visible a beam of
warm, mild light shot out. Makato simply grabbed both sides of the cover and
threw it to his side. Inside the chest was a small amulet, a dark red stone
figurette of an anciently carved person resembling a ninja attached to a
primitive chain. "...well, I think this is what Plemon was talking about.
Now what?"

"Makato!" Shinji shouted. "Your pants are glowing!"

"Wha?.." Makato looked down, and saw a patch of light shining through the
right pocket of his slacks. "...had me scared there for a second. That's
where the Digivice is..." Makato dug in his pockets for the device, tugging
it out and holding it in his hand. The screen seemed to have a low
brightness to it, as if it was displaying nothing but still on. "It seems to
be reacting to it. Anyone have any bright idea.." Makato yelped as a curved
ray of bright red light leapt up from the necklace and connected with the
Digivice's screen. The device rumbled for a brief second as its screen
turned pitch white. A second passed, and the light disappeared in a flash.
Makato stood motionless for a second before collapsing to one knee. Almost
instantaneously, Shinji and Keibu darted up to the chest.

"Makato!" Shinji lifted Makato back up unto his knees. "You alright there?"

Makato stepped forward out of Shinji's embrace, shaking his head. "...t-that
was.. weird."

"What?" Keibu asked.

"It's almost like... that thing talked to me." Makato gestured down unto the
amulet. "...I understand its real power now! I think I might know how to
activate it! That's not all... it said that its spirit was the ancient
guardian of Folder!"

Keibu tilted his head. "'Ancient' and 'spirit'. Thank you, Captain Obvious.
Can we get out of here now?"

"I'm afraid that might not be possible."

Everybody turned their heads to the entrance of the corridor. The Meramon
was stood at the door, watching the three humans with eerie eyes. It was
clearly the Meramon they'd encountered earlier, however his flame was much
duller than before and was beginning to die out. Struggling to get free from
his hand was Plemon. "I'm so glad someone was able to make it down this far!
You know, I was beginning to lose patience! Well, then again, maybe you were
just lucky you had no exploding-magma-wall tricks played on you!"

Makato lunged forward. "Put him down!!"

"Makato!" Keibu cried. He winced as Meramon backhanded Makato with his other
flaming hand, sending him flying back. Though Makato's sweatshirt erupted in
flames at the point of impact, thankfully he had taken the blow in the chest
and was able to roll in the dirt when he landed and extinguish the flames.
He grunted as he tried to push himself up from the ground, but felt pain
shoot through him as he attempted to stand. He collapsed again where he was.

"I'm glad we have any hard feelings out of the way," Meramon laughed. "Maybe
I won't have such a hard time convincing you to give me that Ancient
Spirit."

"Don't listen to 'im!" Plemon shouted. "He's got the End Virus!" He was
silenced quickly as Meramon growled, rocketpunching him in the gut. Plemon
shrieked, his body starting to pulse in and out of existance from the blow
of the Champion.

"That would explain why his flames aren't as nearly as powerful as they're
supposed to be," Keibu grumbled. "...well, this is great. Meramon! What does
the End want with the Ancient Spirit?"

"I believe that's none of your concern. We just want it out of anyone's
hands so it doesn't get to those damned Digidestined."

"I got your number." Makato choked. Meramon quickly glanced over to the
downed boy - and his eyes went wide. Makato was holding his Digivice in
front of him.

"...fool! You couldn't dream of activating this artifact!"

Makato nodded softly. "I got your number."



Makato leapt back to his feet with surprising agility, growling as he began
to focus his power into his hand. He gave a yell as a bright band of energy
formed around his palm. Smirking, he threw his Digivice loosely in front of
him and slammed the strip of light down a receptacle on the side of the
device.

"Ancient Shurimon, show me your power! Spirit... evolution!!"

Makato continued grinning, feeling power begin to surge up around him - but
he stopped when he realized exactly what was happening. His skin burst off
of him, leaving a black silohuette where his body used to be. Makato blinked
as a grey shadow raced by him, A lightly-armored ninja in loose wraps and a
pair of giant throwing stars on the ends of great stalks where his arms
were. The light around him lit up into a bright crimson as the shadow split
into two and formed itself into two planes, which switched in front of and
behind Makato and merged over top of him. Makato rapidly felt his weight
increase, and a sickening sensation washed over him as his entire body
seemed to morph randomly. The light died in a giant flash, leaving Makato
standing. He opened his eyes, looking around, and down at himself. He
stumbled back in confusion.

He was at least nine feet tall, draped in extremely bulky red and black
splint mail, with black spandex showing underneath in the few places where
he wasn't caught in heavy armor. He wore a pair of blood-red greaves, and a
demonic-looking helm was clasped onto his head. A heavy belt resided at
Makato's waist, on which attached was compartment upon compartment of
varying throwing knives, shuriken and anything else light, throwable and
deadly. Makato growled as he felt a final wave of power wash over him,
finalizing the transformation. From nowhere, the spirit made a final beckon
out into the world through Makato, announcing its manifestation.

"Hiyrumon!"

"N-No way!" The Meramon backed up in shock, dropping Plemon. He clenched his
fists, muttering lowly. "What the hell am I complaining about? This is some
trick you have going here, but you couldn't dream of using the Ancient
Spirit to its full extent! You're just... a kid! But not any longer!!"
Makato hopped as Meramon began a blind charge at him, raising his hand for a
hard punch across Makato. His fist turned from a dull purple to a billowing
inferno. "Burning Fist!!"

Makato's hand seemed to move on its own. However, his own confidence seemed
to be instructing the Spirit how to act. "Let's see how well even a CHAMPION
digimon can stand up to this! Gimme the biggest attack you got, Hiyrumon!"
Makato got an immediate answer, his voice raising once again. "Northern
Star!!" Makato's red gauntlets wavered in a blur, tearing three throwing
stars from his belt. He tossed them forward, watching in awe as they
instantly roared up to a hypersonic velocity as they lef his hand. The discs
erupted in a blue flame as they slammed into Meramon's chest, throwing him
back a small distance. Meramon writhed around on the ground shouting, as the
freezing flames extinguished most of his frontside.

"Red.. Flames!!" Meramon screamed, expending the rest of the flame on his
arms in a giant flamethrower-blast forward at Makato. Makato winced as he
braced Hiyrumon's body from the flames. The jet slammed hard against Makato,
pushing Hiyrumon back at least ten feet across the dirt, the blast of fire
being deflected off wildly. Makato roared as he pushed forward against the
attack, breaking through the last section of the assault and stomping down
where he had started.

"This is getting old fast!!" Makato yelled. "Flying Flare!!" Makato drew a
pair of foot-long knives from Hiyrumon's back and hurled them forward,
rocketing through the air with a noticable blurring of the air behind them.
Meramon's eyes went wide as the two darts homed in on him. He quickly tried
to roll out of the way, but the knives barely made their mark, driving
themselves into Meramon's back. An echoing yell was heard as Meramon was
hurled into the air, flying backwards through the rock wall behind him.
Several more loud crashes were heard, followed shortly by the tell-tale
sound of a data expulsion. Makato still held his hands in front of Hiyrumon,
watching the darkness. Slowly, he began to raise his hands back to his
sides, but felt himself lurch as Hiyrumon disappeared in a flash, leaving a
dazed Makato standing in Hiyrumon's massive footsteps. Makato staggered
slightly before collapsing onto his hands and feet. "...what.. the hell?!"

"Everyone okay?" Makato slowly pivoted his head to see Shinji helping Plemon
over to the group. "Plemon took a big hit back there, but I think he's back
together."

"'ey, it'll take more than sucker punches to get right of me, alright?!"
Plemon suddenly jerked away from Shinji's grip, summoning a chuckle from
Makato.

"Hey, Makato, that was bad-ass!" Shinji laughed. "Dude, we HAVE to find an
Ancient Spirit for me! Still, that kicked ass! Right, Mr. Isuke?... Mr.
Isuke?"

Everybody turned to Keibu. He was stood in an awkward position, his hands
out to defend himself. His eyes were wide with fear. "...what.. has happened
here.."

Shinji stepped forward. "Chill out, Mr. Isuke! We got rid of Meramon!
Ever.."

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Keibu growled in fury as he grabbed a clump of ash and
threw it at the group, causing the remaining three to go into a coughing
fit. "...Makato.. what.. are you?! This Ancient Spirit.. what the hell has
it done?!"

"What does it look like, you dumb shit?!" Plemon hacked. "You heard what
Seraphimon said, the Ancient Spirits give power beyond the reach of normal
Digimon! This is Makato's power! You saw how bad he messed up Meramon!.."

Keibu stepped back, cackling. "I'll TELL you what it's done... it's turned
everyday Makato Sakeru into a fucking DEMON!! Makato, you are a monster! You
just wait until everybody at home hears what has happened here... I never
thought we would see this sort of thing in our real world, but it's
happened! You are no longer human, Makato! Shinji, you're coming with me.
We're going to find a way out of this place."

"Hey.. wha-" Shinji was caught off guard as Keibu dashed forward and grabbed
his arm. Shinji growled, tearing his arm back. Keibu lost his grip and
twisted, falling on his back on the soft ash beneath him. "Mr. Isuke, I'm
not leaving here, as long as Makato is staying!"

Makato stepped up, his face twisting into rage. "Mr. Isuke, you heard full
well what Seraphimon said! I don't know about you, but I'm here to do a job
and save this world! And I don't find it likely to find another way out of
this dimension asides Seraphimon!"

"Oh, that's what he WANTS you to believe," Keibu quickly jumped to his feet,
stumbling. "Why the hell are we going through this? Constantly being
bombarded by these.. these.. MONSTERS? I don't know about you, but I don't
see something right with this picture! Oh, and Makato, tell me, what exactly
is Seraphimon going to do once you have the End Virus contained? I cannot
sit here and THINK what would happen if these Monsters invaded our world!
Seraphimon has the knowledge to bridge the dimensions, so I fear for my own
home!"

"Listen, I've heard ENOUGH of this!" Plemon screeched. He marched straight
up to Keibu and pointed the barb on his hand directly at Keibu's groin,
earning a look of fear from the man. "Who the hell do you think you are to
come here and judge us on your own terms?! Listen, I've been working with
Seraphimon for over three hundred years in the deal of being digivolved, and
I can tell you right now he wouldn't be thinking of invading for a SECOND!"
Plemon lowered his arm. "It's not like there's much of a planet you humans
left behind in your development, anyways. You want to get out of here? Just
go. You go and try to find a way out on your own. Just know that if we cross
I have a license to kill."

Makato and Shinji's jaws both dropped. "...whoa. Er, Plemon, isn't this a
bit extreme?"

Keibu glanced over to Makato and Shinji. "You two. Are you really willing to
stay with this nutcase? Fine then. I'll see to it that you, your families
and your little Monster friends run out of Tokoro, if not Japan. You just
wait and see." Keibu coughed, giving the group one last stare before walking
back out of the main chamber.


********


The worries had apparently gotten to the group, as the sun had somehow
finally managed to set without Shinji's interference. The fire that was
usually to be set up when the company was taking a break was left unlit.
Makato and Shinji still couldn't lose the heat that they endured in the
catacombs of Mt. Erebus.

"You think Keibu's alright?" Makato sighed, poking the woodpile in front of
him with a large stick. He wore the Ancient necklace around his neck, the
stone Shurimon swaying in the breeze.

"Probably not." Plemon snorted. He sat against a nearby tree, arms folded.
"That dork can't live without a computer nearby. He probably couldn't
survive in his back yard."

"Hey, Plemon, how do you know so much about Mr. Isuke, anyways?" Shinji
asked.

"Well, me and Seraphimon were watching him for the past three years once he
started screwing around with pre-built computers. It was only a matter of
time before he tried every display card link-through in the book. He figured
it would be a good place to start if we wanted to open up a Digital Field
anywhere in Japan."

Makato's eyes were rocked open by a blast of light behind him. The trees
around him all rustled as a large blast of wind tore through the campsite.
"..whoa! Someone there?"

"IT IS I, SERAPHIMON." everybody turned to see the towering angel, indeed,
standing behind Makato, where a large tree used to be. However, they looked
with a frown. "...YES?"

"For starters, you have a tree branch sticking out of your face." Makato
said flatly.

Seraphimon raised his armored gauntlet, and felt the twig. "...DARN.
TELEPORTING IS INDEED AN UNRELIABLE PROCESS WITH OTHER OBJECTS IN THE
VINCINITY. PARDON ME?"

Everybody nodded. Seraphimon disappeared in another flash, leaving a bare
spot where the tree had once stood, now telefragged by Seraphimon. The twig
dropped out of the air and landed on the thick underbrush with a unnoticable
sound. Seraphimon appeared in the middle of the group. "NOW, WHERE WERE
WE..."

"You ruined our firewood." Plemon growled.

Seraphimon looked down. He was teleported directly over top and overlapping
where the organized logs were. "...FORGIVE ME."

Everybody rolled their eyes.

"...WELL, IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOUR GROUP INTACT. SAY, WHERE IS THAT OTHER MAN
THAT WAS WITH YOU?"

Makato waved his hand. "Ah, went psycho, stamped around for a while,
bitched, left."

"SHALL I SEND OUT A SEARCH PARTY?"

"Don't bother," Plemon scowled. "He did it on his own free will."

"...OKAY, THEN. MAKATO, IT SEEMS YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY HARNESSED THE POWER
OF THE ANCIENT SPIRIT "ANCIENT SHURIMON". I CONGRATULATE YOU ON YOUR
SUCCESS. YOU SHOULD FIND IT WILL BE MUCH EASIER TO DEFEND YOURSELF WITH THE
POWERS OF HIYRUMON AT YOUR DISPOSAL. ANYWAYS, BEFORE YOU DEPART TO FIND THE
NEXT ANCIENT SPIRIT, ONE OF THE STASIS GENERATORS I MENTIONED EARLIER IS ON
A LOWER-LEVEL PLATEAU ON MT. EREBUS. BEFORE YOU PROCEED, YOU SHOULD HEAD OUT
AND ACTIVATE IT."

Makato slumped back. "Aw, man! Climb a freaking mountain?"

"YOU SHOULD FIND THAT PROCESS MUCH EASIER WITH HIYRUMON." Makato blinked,
but felt his vision change. He was in the body of Hiyrumon again, high above
the forests of Folder, lurching back with each jump as the bulky-yet-agile
form of Hiyrumon leapt between rock faces in rapid succession. He blinked,
and found himself back at the campfire. Muttering to himself, he gave his
head a shake. "Geez, you HAVE to do that?"

"VISUAL AIDS ARE A USEFUL TOOL. MAKATO, YOU MAY LEAVE SHINJI AND PLEMON
HERE, IF YOU WISH. IT WILL BE MUCH QUICKER TO HEAD UP THE MOUNTAIN ON YOUR
OWN. I WILL DEFEND SHINJI AND PLEMON SHOULD ANYTHING OCCUR."

Makato sighed, pushing himself up. "Yeah, yeah.. whatever.. I'll head up
there. Seraphimon?"

"YES?"

"...we found a Meramon in the catacombs." Makato glanced over to Shinji, who
continued. "It seemed to be way paler than others we'd encountered, and it
attacked Makato right after he got the Ancient Spirit. Do you think the End
Virus had anything to do with it?"

"...THE END VIRUS WAS NOT TO KNOW ANYTHING OF THIS MISSION. COULD IT BE
POSSIBLE THAT IT IS SENDING OUT SENTRIES ALREADY?.. IF THIS IS THE CASE,
MAKATO, YOU MUST BE CAREFUL. NOT ALL THE DIGIMON ON FOLDER ARE AS WEAK AS
MERAMON. IT WOULD HELP IF YOU BECAME MORE ADEPT WITH HIYRUMON BEFORE YOU
PROCEED."

"Eh, I got him all figured out. I'll head up there, and I'll be back in a
flash." Makato gave a wide grin as he began to walk into the bush. "Be back
later, alright?"

"...IF YOU INSIST. GOOD LUCK, MAKATO."

"See ya 'round, Makato!" Shinji shouted. "We'll be right here. Hey, get me
my Spirit while you're at it, 'mmkay?"

Makato chuckled as he began to run through the bush, rapidly beginning to
pick up speed. He threw his Digivice in front of him, slashing his armband
through it as he dashed by. "Spirit.. evolution!!"


********


The visions of Makato at the campfire were as alive as him now. He pressed
hard against the rounded faces of Mt. Erebus, leaping off and between rock
openings as he rapidly shot up the mountain. He landed on a small mesa,
kneeling and planting his one hand against the ground. He looked up. Only a
short distance left. He sprinted forward, leaping sideways into a small
inset in the hard granite wall. He ran and kicked off the rapidly
approaching wall, boosting himself higher. He landed on another small
platform, mere meters below the sudden plateau opening up before him. He
cautiously peeked over the ridge. Off in the distance was a small shrine,
similar to the one he'd encounted earlier, but this time was surrounded by
six giant pillars, inscribed with complex digi-code. A wave of dim blue
light pulsed up the pillars every couple seconds. He was about to leap over
on top of the grey plain, when he heard a large rumble. Muttering to
himself, he quickly ducked down, watching as a short distance away a giant
digimon placed itself down on the hard surface. Just behind him, a short,
blond-haired girl dropped from the sky, landing effortlessly. She was
dressed in loose jeans and wore a short white tanktop. Her hair was tied
back in a pair of pigtails.

"Who are THEY?..." Makato huffed, watching the two as they approached the
stasis generator.

"Is this what he told us to find?" the girl stared in disgust at the small
altar that sat at the center of the ring of pillars. "It doesn't look so
dangerous to me... not that it matters, right, buddy?"

The digimon stepped out of the shadow of the mountain. It was a Golemon, a
lumbering beast constructed of granite, towering at just over fifteen feet
tall. Makato twitched as he felt the memories of the Ancient Spirit stir.
"...a Golemon. Usually it's supposed to be lightly clothed... what's going
on here?"

Contrary to the Ancient Spirit's specifications, this Golemon was draped
from head to toe in menacing plate armor, with tiny openings at the joints
for some sort of flexibility and circulation. A pair of tiny holes on the
face showed two small blue eyes jutting out. "I don't know, but there's
something about that armor that's giving me the creeps..." Makato slowly
lowered himself back down the hill, stopping when a small section of the
platform he was on silently crumbled just behind his heel. He looked over
his shoulder, back down the sheer wall of rock that plunged into the forests
of Folder below. "...guess I'd just better sit tight. I wonder another
person's doing in the Digital World...?"

"You know what to do," the girl said flatly. "Destroy it."

Makato's eyes went wide as Golemon leapt forward, ready to obliterate the
shrine and everything around it in an earth-shattering haymaker. "STOP!!"

"What th.." the Golemon stopped abruptly, swinging his hands out of the way
to miss his target. The girl muttered to herself, turning to Makato's
direction. Makato stood awkwardly in full light just over top of his hiding
place. "...another rogue digimon?"

"A little bit more than you think," Makato sneered, standing Hiyrumon in a
battle stance. He had Hiyrumon's hands down, ready to snatch and fling a
shuriken at will. "I've dealt with a Champion just like you today. Needless
to say, he couldn't stand up to the power of the Ancient Spirit. If you want
to leave here alive, lay off the stasis shrine."

The girl rolled her eyes, scowling. She turned away, Golemon taking the
gesture as his go-ahead. The behemoth threw his head back in an
ear-splitting roar, beginning a clumsy charge at Makato. Makato chuckled
lowly as he cast his hand forward, launching forth a ring-formation of
throwing stars. "Wall of Fire!" the shurikens glinted as, with a blast of
heat, they formed a web of flame between each other. Golemon growled as he
plowed through the attack, embers and sparks flowing around him. The heat
was off, and Golemon was approaching fast. "..w-what the hell?!"

"This is no normal Golemon, digimon!" the girl laughed. "This Golemon has
been custom-selected from hundreds of others, the strongest of the bunch,
and reinforced by impervious Digi-Chromazoid armor! Not even YOUR attacks'll
get through to him so easily!"

Makato glanced up, seeing the Golemon right above him ready to sweep him off
the edge of the plateau. "...well, this is a great way to go."

A loud thrum echoed out from the other edge of the mesa. The girl turned,
grimacing, and even Golemon seemed to be surprised, missing Makato and
smashing apart the ground mere inches from him. "What the hell is going on
here?!" the girl stamped over to the control panel of the stasis generator,
the pillars now flooding with light. A blast of energy erupted from the top
of each, shooting off into the distance. "How.. the hell.. did this thing go
off on its own?! Great, now I have to find another o.." she looked down to
the foot of the machine. The button on the main panel was depressed, and a
baseball-sized rock laid within ricochet distance.

"That's right, up here!" Everybody looked up, even Makato, at the silouette
standing upon a ledge of rock a good fifty feet above the mesa. The figure
leapt down, landing on its feet and bending from the impact. "You aren't
going to get very far if you start teasing the Ancient Spirits this early in
your campaign, Maya. Leave this area, immediately."

"You're NOT screwing me up again! Golemon, get him!" the Golemon turned and
dashed back across the mesa with surprising speed. The figure remained,
ready on the receiving end of a massive overhead smash. As Golemon's roars
began to reach a crecendo, the man stepped into the light. He was dressed in
extremely damaged clothing, covered in cuts, scrapes and burns. He had a
head of bushy brown hair and deep blue eyes, and he wore a dim red bandana
around his neck. As Golemon began to attack, the teen reached forward,
screaming as he forced a blast of blue energy from his hands. Golemon was
tossed back a fair distance, stumbling. As he finally regained his footing,
the metal armor on his chest rippled slightly, before developing a fissure.

"Not good.." Golemon stumbled back again, letting out a pained bellow. The
girl grumbled. "Hell! If I knew you were going to show up I never would have
used Digi-Chromazoid!"

"And you would have gotten pummeled by our other friend." Makato blinked as
the person gestured towards Hiyrumon. "Well, I see I managed to get the
stasis generator online. You can destroy it if you want, it's already
donated all of its power to the stasis field around North Folder, I just
thought I'd like to do what I needed to do first. Well, I have other sites
to check on."

Makato leapt forward, trying to find the digimon and its master, but they
had already disappeared with the wind. "...what the hell! Frick, I want to
be around to be a hero at least twice.." his voice began to quiet as he
turned to the rough-dressed boy. "..."

The boy exchanged a smile, but it quickly degenerated into a frown. "What
are you doing here? Don't you realize it's dangerous up here? That Golemon
you were dealing with.."

"Listen here, I can sure as hell deal with a Champion, for Christ sakes, I'm
a... um..." Makato sat still for a second. "...What level AM I..?"

"You sure didn't look like you were hurting him too badly..."

"It was that stupid armor that freak had on! I swear, if he didn't..."

"I get that a lot," the boy chuckled. "Normal digimon can't break through
the stuff he's got on. It's an artificial substance named Digi-Chromazoid.
I'm not sure how that Golemon, let alone that girl, managed to obtain some
of it, but it's an extremely rare alloy of the Digital World's strongest
metals. Tell me, what were you doing up here, anyways?"

"I was headed up Mt. Erebus. I was coming to activate the stasis generator,
so me and my friends can halt the End Virus. I guess that's what you were
here for too, huh?"

The boy seemed stunned. "...how do you know about the Folder stasis
generators?"

"I'm allied with Seraphimon. Do you know him?"

"...wait, you aren't..." Makato froze as his guest began darting around him,
inspecting Hiyrumon's armor. He stopped as he was knelt down in front of
him, looking at Hiyrumon's spandex-wrapped leg. "...wow..."

"Hey, I don't swing that way, okay?"

"It's not that," he replied. "You have the emblem of Courage." Hiyrumon
lifted up his leg, glancing at a small tattoo on his ankle. It was a small
inwards spiral, with sun-like spikes on all sides of it. The symbol was red
like the rest of him, but the logo appeared to glow intensely in the light
of the setting sun. "You're using the Ancient Spirit of Shurimon!"

"...yeah." Makato closed his eyes, feeling his power blast out in all
directions. In a bright flash, Makato was left standing where the
brightly-colored samurai used to be.

"You're just like me. I see we're on the same side. Are you heading out to
activate the rest of the stasis generators?"

Makato nodded. "Uh-huh. Are you still going? We might catch each other some
time."

"...yeah. Later." he turned to walk away, beginning to disappear over an
incline of dirt. He turned back. "...hey, I don't think I caught your name."

"Makato."

"Great. Hey, mine-"

Makato's eyes went wide as he began to buckle over. The Ancient Spirit began
to force itself up again, clouding Makato's thoughts intensely and dizzying
him. He knew him. Or, a faint memory of him floated across Makato's mind,
leaving him in a daze.



"...Ryo Akiyama."





********

Shinji: Wow! Is this it?

Plemon: It would appear so.

Makato: Not YOU again!

Maya: This time I'm not going to be so light!

Shinji: Wait until you get a load of this!



What the hell is Ryo doing here?! Whatever his reason, he seems to be
involved with the stasis raid party - and Makato hasn't seen the last of
them! The battle heats up on Digimon Frontier: Countersync - Might of
Gaialmon!
********