"Hey, Pen Pen, where'd Carter go?" Libby asked, walking out of her room.

Penguinmon shrugged, passing over the Pen Pen remark. "I dunno actually," he
said. "He opened the
Digital Gate a few hours ago, and hasn't been back since." He took a sip of
his coffee and sighed.

Libby grabbed a toaster strudel as she sat down. "Change the channel," she
said.

"Nothing else on," Penguinmon replied reasonably.

"Oh." The pair munched silently as the TV blared.

<><><>

Digital Diaries : Adventures 2003

written by Shaun Garin

Too many disclaimers! WB owns some of this, Toei owns most of it. I own all
of the original characters. Archive owns the universe this is set in. And
since Toei doesn't want Adventures, I'll take them for a while.

<><><>

File 20 : Order, Chaos and Balance

"Hey you two," Libby greeted as she opened the door wide.

Sean grinned easily. "Morning, Libby, Penguinmon."

"It's three PM in the afternoon. What kept you?" Penguinmon asked.

"Successive Digital Fields," Renamon replied.

"Where's Carter?" Hikaru asked, brushing back a long lock of hair. Renamon
trailing behind. The fox digimon was dressed in her usual tan slacks and
pink tank top. A Santa hat was perched on the digimon's head, a notion of
the festive season.

"Carter should be coming back soon," Penguinmon said. "I got an email from
him a while ago."

A light flashed in the bedroom. Then, Carter walked into the room. He was
wearing a French hat, one hand held a pastry, and under the other arm, a box
of pastries and bags stuffed full of things was in his hand. And he had a
wide grin on his face the spoke clearly of enjoyment.

"Since you don't have your molecules scattered all over the place, where did
you go, besides the local donut shop?" Penguinmon inquired, folding his
flippers.

"France," Carter replied, tossing his hat to the side.

"Yeah right, like you could port there," Hikaru replied sarcastically.

"Well, lets see.." Carter dug into his pants and pulled out a few three by
five glossy Polaroid's. Handing them around, he grinned. "Man oh man, Sean,
Catherine was HOT! I mean, total babe! She could give most supermodels a run
for their money!"

"Catherine Syndrome," Renamon remarked with a smirk as she went into the
nearby kitchen to make a cup of hot chocolate. "You sure that's natural?"

"Oh yeah, considering how much of a babe that girl is, this is normal."
Carter said again, laying down the box of food and stuffed the rest of the
éclair into his mouth. "Here," he said between bites. "Stuff from France."

As the things were passed around, Carter swallowed and said, "We have a
working world wide digital gate people. Give me your D-3's."

Hikaru and Sean handed him their D-3's as he pressed them together and
downloaded something into them. "There," he said, handing them back to them.
"That will allow you to access anyplace in digital world, anywhere in the
world. We can port to the Philippines."

"Good job," Penguinmon said. "You did something right for a change."

As Carter tried to throttle his partner, Sean said, "We should get going as
soon as possible. It's the weekend."

"I'll call the others," Hikaru said. "Tell them to meet us here."

"Right. I'll send an email for the closest Philipino Chosen to meet us in
their part of the digital world." Carter retreated into his room as the
others settled down to wait for the rest of their team.

<><><>

"You called?" Eric asked.

"Yeah. About five hours ago." Carter said, sighing. "What took you so long?"

"Piano lessons," Raine said. "Amidst other things."

"Practice with Lee and his 'Grandpa of Hell'," Eric added, earning a punch
to his leg from Sharmamon.

"That's nice. Éclair?" After the three took a pastry, Sean said, "We can get
to Iloilo. I also had another dream. We can port directly to the trouble
area."

"Great!" Raine exclaimed.

"A couple of us should stay behind, just in case there is another field,"
Carter said. "Sean, you should take
Eric and Raine. Between Lee, Hikaru and I, we can handle any digimon that
appear. And it's late too."

"Gotcha," Sean said, grabbing his shoes. "Grab your shoes."

<><><>

"So this is the Phillipine part of the digital world," Eric remarked. "It
sure is... weird."

"I have some details on the chosen of this region," Sean said, holding up a
tricorder, the data flowing through it. "They call themselves pinili. That's
the philipino word for chosen. There are several groups in the area,
possibly having the highest concentration of chosen in the world. The most
powerful is located in Estancia, Iloilo province."

"Any data on them?" Raine asked looking at the very abstract, modern art
type landscape around them. She tentatively poked the melting clock to her
side.

"There are three of them, all with perfection digimon from what they've
posted on the message board.
Mostly, they keep to themselves from what I can tell." Sean answered. "That
way. Should find a TV there."

The three trekked silently towards the TV. Suddenly, a thunderous bellow
came from the midst of the strange forest. Amidst the crashing of trees, a
pack of digimon rushed past them. Sean's Tricorder flashed with data.
"Monochromon. Adult Level."

"Man, a little closer to the left and we would have been digital road kill,"
Lopmon muttered.

"Hmm... has a rather sizable..." Raine blushed as she abruptly terminated
the sentance. "Sorry. Yami spoke again."

'You can't ignore me forever,' Yami remarked.

"Try me." was Raine's reply.

"Excuse me," a girl said in slightly accented English. "Would you happen to
be the Canadian Chosen?"

"You might say that," Eric said. He peered at the girl. "Are you one of the
local chosen?"

The girl nodded. "Yep. My name is Jamie. And you three are?"

"I'm Raine. This is Eric, Sean, and our digimon, Labramon and Lopmon. You
speak English very well." Raine added.

"I've been in class for quite some time," Jamie added a bit proudly. "Top of
my class."

Jamie then turned towards the skies where a red skinned digimon swung down
from the treetops. The Canadians jumped back in surprise as Sean's tricorder
flashed with data. "Fuugamon, Virus digimon, champion level." the soothing
female voice reported.

The Fuugamon flashed and reverted to a small green worm digimon that crawled
up onto Jamie's shoulder.
"This is Wormmon," Jamie introduced.

"Hello." Wormmon greeted in a female voice. "It's nice to meet you all."

"Likewise," Lopmon said with a smile. Eric lightly bonked his partners'
head.

'Damn, its a girl.' Raine smiled despite her internal traveling buddy
complaining of the unfairness of a cute digimon in their midst, but it had
to be a girl. "We'd like to get to your home town. Is that possible?"

"Of course." Jamie got up and parted the bushes, revealing a small TV. "Lets
go. Digi-port Open!"

The others quickly followed as the resolved into a small house with two
others sitting off to the side, as not to crash into them. The first one, a
girl with black hair, hazel eyes and a lithe figure greeted Jamie in her
native tongue as Jamie replied in response, making a few gestures.

Another, a boy with brown eyes, black hair and a strongly muscled structure
nodded, replied to Jamie and turned towards them, saying, "Welcome to
Estancia. I'm Jeremy, and this is Ferryl. You've met Jamie."

"Hi," the five greeted as two digimon flew in. One was a Pico Devimon and
the other one was a Hawkmon. They were male and female digimon respectively.
"Hi," the Hawkmon said in a slightly loud scratchy voice. "I'm Hawkmon."

"Pico Devimon," the other one added, much more subdued.

"Why don't our digimon get to know each other. We'll treat you to some
traditional foods. It's lunchtime for us." Jeremy suggested.

"Sounds good to me!" Lopmon cheered as he and Labramon meandered towards the
corner where the digimon were conversing.

"I will go and get some food ready," Ferryl said with a smile. They noticed
that she carried a foot long knife and a three and a half foot long katana
on her back. "Miss Raine, would you like to help me in the kitchen?"

"Go on," Jamie said, nudging Raine forwards. "She's a great cook."

'I'm more worried about Yami jumping her bones,' Raine thought
pessimistically, Yami's laughter echoing in her mind.

As the pair left, Sean then commented, "She's rather. housewifish to be
carrying around a sword and knife like that."

"Ferryl is a master of Arnes, Philipino Martial Arts," Jeremy said. "But
enough of that. What did you come here for?"

"Sean, here, has been having dreams. We figured that they meant something,
so we came here." Eric said.

"I'm not sure if they mean anything, but at the moment, we shouldn't take
things for granted."

Jamie nodded in agreement. "True enough."

<><><>

Raine looked into the skies, lying on the roof of the house. "You're trying
to get me into trouble again, aren't you?" she demanded into thin air.

"Me?" Yami asked, taking control. "My good dear, I merely want you to have a
proper social life."

"Oh yeah, and the reputation of having sex with every single Digi-destined
and Chosen we meet?" Raine snorted. "Yami, I hate your sex drive."

"Just because I like both human species and digimon doesn't mean I'm a sex
fiend." Raine snorted at that. "Besides all that, you'll thank me later. Lee
would really enjoy his wedding night."

Raine went beet red. "I am not marrying Lee!"

"Yeah right," Yami snorted, scratching her scalp. "Ever try a conditioner?"
she asked, wincing as a tangle ensnared her index finger. "I've seen you
look at Lee like he's some sort of Adonis. C'mon, admit it. I can FEEL your
body respond to his presence. Oh, Lee! Take me now!" Yami squealed girlishly
as Raine blushed, abruptly taking control of her own body.

"I'm not..." Raine was beet red as Yami then burst out into a loud laugh.

"Just relax girl," Yami replied, giggling merrily. "I won't force anything.
Unless you want me to go into his room and.." A flood of images washed over
their shared mind as Raine yelped and curled up.

"Yami, you're so mean!" Raine whined as she uncurled.

Yami just laughed.

<><><>

"First dinner, now we get to rest." Eric looked around at the strange net
draped over them. "Mosquito nets even."

"I, for one, am not willing to get eaten by them," Lopmon said.

Eric nodded and began to undress for bed. "I wonder, is it still daylight at
home?"

"The possibility is good," Lopmon said, laying on the pallet that Ferryl had
provided for the pair. When the night had come, they had separated to the
others houses. Ferryl had three other brothers and two sisters who were
sharing the same room under the same mosquito net.

At the moment, the younger kids were snoring, like they didn't have a care
in the world. As Eric removed his jacket, a sound caught his ear. "Did you
hear that?"

"Yeah, sounded like a door opening." Lopmon said.

"Wonder what's going on." Eric pulled on his jacket and goggles as he
grabbed his D-3. "Lets check it out."

<><><>

Eric peeked around the corner to see the three Philippine Chosen gathered
around the center of town, near the rice fields. They were conversing in low
tones in their native language.

"I wonder what they're talking about," Eric mused.

The native group spoke for a few more minutes before Ferryl broke away from
the group. Eric followed her
quietly.

Soon, they came to a group of rice fields that stood at the edge of the
town. Ferryl then raised her voice, not too loud, but enough to call out,
"Eric, come on out."

Eric laughed nervously. "I'm that obvious, am I?"

"Not really, but I could tell you were here from the way you were smacking
your neck from all the mosquitoes that were biting you. You hit harder than
what is needed."

"These aren't mosquitoes, they're inch long syringes," Lopmon complained as
he leapt off of Eric's head.

Ferryl made no reply as she unsheathed the sword and knife From her waist
and back. "Get ready," she said.

A low growl was heard as a creature suddenly erupted from the waters. It
carried a large sword in hand as it barreled into Ferryl.

Lopmon sprung into action, calling out, "Lopmon evolve! Wendigomon!" The now
larger digimon leapt at the creature, narrowly avoiding a slash from it's
long wickedly curved blade. "Frick!" he spat, unleashing his Destroyed
Voice.

The creature dodged quickly as it parried back and forth between the two
sword users. It suddenly then flared up and shot out a blast of fire.

The pair dodged as Eric rushed in quickly, barely parrying a strike from its
sword with his own glowing blue blade. He then stepped sideways to allow
Ferryl within the attack. The pair fought back and forth in a deadly dance.

Then, a strike slipped into Ferryl's defenses as a nasty gash opened up on
her side. Ferryl cried out in pain as the creature raised its sword to
finish her off.

"Ferryl!" Eric shouted, rushing towards her, tackling the creature aside.
The creature rounded on him as a wild strike from it's curved blade knocked
Eric's own across the field, hitting the water with a splash.

"DIE!" The creature rasped, it's weapon biting into the ground where Eric
had recently stood.

"Not a chance. Wendigomon!" Eric shouted.

A blur of movement, and Wendigomon had him in a half Nelson. The creature
cried out in anger as one of his hairy fists grasped its face.

The pair struggled for a long second as Eric helped her out of the muck that
was predominant in the rice fields as Wendigomon was forcibly pulled off,
one hand still tightly grasped around his opponents' face.

With a loud tearing sound, its face ripped off as it disintegrated into a
pile of dust. Wendigomon looked at the face he held and dropped it with a
cry of, "EEW! EEW EEW EEEWWW!"

Ferryl stood up shakily with Eric's help. "You okay?" he asked. Wendigomon
trotted over and hauled the sword out of the muck and grime of the rice
fields.

"Yes, for now." The girl limped over to the face, which was transforming
into a mask. "This, I think is what you want."

Eric looked it over, and said, "Tt looks like the Fierce Deity Mask From
Majora's Mask."

"Slightly," Wendigomon commented, devolving back into his travel size and
handing the boy the sword that morphed back into a D-3. Eric clipped it onto
his belt.

"We should get some more rest. It will be a long day tommorow." Ferryl said,
gesturing towards the rows of houses.

"I'm all up for that," the pair chorused.

<><><>

"That had to be the most singularly stupid thing you have ever done, Eric,"
Hikaru said with a shake of her head.

"What was I supposed to do? Let Ferryl get impaled?" the boy retorted.
"Besides, we have whatever we came for, so we're good."

Sean nodded. "It's alright. For now anyways."

"So what is that thing?" Renamon asked, gesturing towards the mask in Eric's
hand.

"It's some kind of mask. Carter, Tricorder please."

Carter pitched the device to him as he scanned it. "Make up is of some kind
of wood. Here's something interesting. There seems to be traces of data on
this thing."

"Data? So what we fought was some kind of digimon?" Lopmon asked.

"Possibly. It did evaporate." Eric looked it over as he took it in both
hands and brought it close to his face.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Carter exclaimed as Eric pulled the mask
away.

Eric shrugged. "Just want to see if this thing does anything."

"I don't know," Labramon said. "You could be possessed or something else
equally nasty."

"I'll be fine. At the most, hit me over the head and pull off the mask."
Despite protests, Eric placed the mask onto his face.

A moment passed. Suddenly, the mask compressed to his face as he let out a
yell. Energy exploded around him for a moment. Then, he stood upright, and
shook his head free of the rush of energy. "Wow, what a rush."

Raine blinked as she said, "Hey, Eric? Take a look at yourself in the
mirror."

Eric looked at himself, blinked, gasped and then grabbed his head crying,
"What happened to my hair?! And my goggles! They're yellow rimmed!"

"You look good with silver blue hair," Lopmon remarked.

"I look like a short haired Yue from Card Captor Sakura," Eric grumbled.
"And my eyes! They're red! For heavens sake, I'm a male Rei Ayanami!"

"But you look cool," Raine offered. "I mean, for a Yue look alike, that's
something else."

"I suppose coolness is a price to pay for not looking like me," Eric
remarked as he adjusted the goggles. "The goggles make me look like the main
character from Thousand Arms." He sighed. "Now how do you remove this
thing?"

Lee grabbed at the sides of Eric's face and pulled lightly. With a shimmer
of light, the face came off, revealing Eric's true face. The boy checked
himself in the mirror as he grinned. "Cool."

"Did anything happen to you while you wore the Mask?" Raine asked.

"Well, I did feel a bit different. my tiredness was gone. I felt refreshed."
Eric said.

"Well, if so, then it may grant youthful energy to its wearer, constantly
refreshing the person who dons the mask," Sharmamon surmised.

"You've been watching Jackie Chan again, haven't you?" Lee asked as
Sharmamon grinned.

"What can I say? Grandpa reminds me of Uncle."

"Oh shoot!" Eric exclaimed. "Lee, we have practice with your grandpa today!"

Lee paled. "You're right! Grandpa is going to kill us!"

As the boys rushed out, Raine giggled and said, "That's my cue to leave. Bye
everyone. Lets go, Labramon."

Sean yawned. "I'm going home. I lost a bit of sleep the night before."

"Alright. See you." Hikaru turned to Renamon. "Are we headed home?"

"Sure. I have Final Fantasy Ten to beat," Renamon replied with a grin.

As the door closed, Carter grinned. "So, it's just me, you and the French
éclairs."

Penguinmon benched. "Too late," he warbled.

A merry chase ensured.

<><><>

Authors notes : Just a warm up. Just a warm up.

Kids WB shows are some of my favorite cartoons, and thus, the constant refs
to other series.