Digimon: The Next Generation

[Rolly]

I said in the Post Your Thoughts of the Moment thread yesterday that I have written a bit on a Digimon fanfic, and I also mentioned that I might post it here. Seeing that I think I'll actually start spending some time here again, I decided to post it. I would love criticism as long as it is constructive. If you don't know some of the Digimon you can look them up. I have written about four and a half chapters by now, and the outlining/plot is pretty much done as well. Just fixing some small things that I didn't think fitted in. Oh well, I'll start with the prologue.

Here I present to you - Digimon: The Next Generation.

Prologue – The Digimon Arrive!​

Jason Takiyanagi hurried up the stairs in his apartment building. School had cancelled earlier today, and he was trying to rush everything so he could get outside and enjoy the spare time. He lived on the top floor, together with his mother and father, as well as his little sister, Ania. Banging the door open, he almost slid through the hallway and into his room. The wooden floor was newly cleaned and his mother was still cleaning. He did not greet her, but she did not mind. Well inside his room he tossed his bag onto the bed and immediately turned on his computer. Jason had discovered something interesting last night.

A couple of kids from the school had talked for a few weeks about a game. It was called Digital Monsters, and apparently, everybody played it. Well, in his school nobody played it. People from all over the world could connect to the game and play together. In the game you achieved a creature; a so called Digital Monster. The Digimon, as they were called, was chosen after the player had answered a few questions and therefore matched the player’s personality more or less. Jason had started downloading it last night, and was glad to see that it was finished.

“Let’s see now”, he said for himself.

Clicking on the newly created desktop icon, a screen was opened. An old man greeted the player. Jason created an account, and answered the questions. There were three in total, but you also had to show a picture of yourself. Jason started to answer the questions.

“What do you cherish the most; friendship, power or loyalty?” the monitor asked.

Jason had to think. Friendship? That is something you cannot be without. Power? It sounded very raw. Wrong, and Jason did not think that it was what he was looking for. On the contrary, who would not want to be powerful? And left was loyalty. A loyal friend is better than a shady one. Jason chose loyalty. That could not go wrong.

“Next question then”, he smiled.

“Where would you rather spend your afternoon; alone at home, among friends in the city or with your family in the woods?”

Jason chuckled a little when he saw the question. It was a bit silly, he had to admit. This was not such a hard choice however. He clicked on the second alternative. But it did not take long before he understood that he had pressed the wrong alternative. He sighed as alternative one was added to his “already responded questions” map. Jason shrugged and moved on. Not that big of a deal.

“What would you rather fight with; a sword, your body or magic?”

Jason had never really been one of those children that enjoyed magic. He clicked the sword alternative. Left was the picture part. He selected a photo of himself and his family from a vacation a few years ago. The program went black for a few seconds, calculating his results. What showed on the screen made Jason a little stunned. A tiny, computer mouse-like creature had appeared together with a text that read: “We think that MetalKoromon would be perfect for you!”. The Digimon was not what he had expected. Nonetheless, he clicked continue when he was asked whether he wanted to re-take the quiz.

MetalKoromon spawned inside a lush forest, apparently known as the File Island. Jason quickly understood the controls and started to move around the little island, chatting with others and even battling a few. He did not take to mind the time that flew past. Soon, his mother called for him from the kitchen. Dinner was ready. Jason was just about to leave the computer when something happened in front of him on the computer. His MetalKoromon started to glow. Jason leaned forward; touching the screen with is hand. A sudden, hefty push made him fall backwards. The glow disappeared and he had to deafen a scream when he saw what was lying on top of him. It looked like a cat, purple and white, with a big steel helmet adorned with two sharp horns. The creature spoke.

“Hi!” it said happily. “I am Kapurimon! Who’re you?”

Jason stared at Kapurimon. When he heard his mother looking through the doorway, he tossed the Digimon onto his bed and hid it under his covers. He then rushed to the computer. His mother peeked in.

“Dinner is ready, honey, you’d better come out”, she said calm. When she saw Jason’s troubled face she spoke again. ”What are you doing in here? I thought I heard another voice just before.”

Jason tried to act cool. He swiped with his hand in midair, telling his mother everything was fine. She believed him and snuck away. Jason on the other hand hurried over to the bed. He started to brush around the covers and soon found the Digimon. Just as it was about to give him a scolding, he held his hands over its mouth.

“Not now”, he hushed Kapurimon. The Digimon fell silent.

He slowly released his grip. The Digimon glared at him.

“Before you start to talk again, I have to ask you how the heck you got here.” Jason said silently.

Kapurimon, still glaring, answered.

“Because I wanted to meet you!” it said.

Jason looked at the cat questionable. It seemed so innocent. He could not help but to somehow see himself in the creature.

“You wanted to meet me?”

“Yup”, Kapurimon grinned.

He shook his head. This had to be a dream. A creature he had just created online a couple of hours ago were now lying in his bed, live and well. Jason heard his stomach growl. He made a decision.

“Stay here, be quiet and wait for me to come back!” Jason said clearly.

The Digimon, seemingly displeased, nodded. Jason left the room.

---​

After dinner, Jason headed back to his room. He was just about to open his door when his mother shouted from the entry.

“Mai is here! She’s coming in!” she announced.

Mai was a girl in Jason’s class, and probably his best friend. He panicked and rushed into his room. Unfortunately, he could not find the Digimon he had hid. Just as Kapurimon charged him straight on from the bed, Mai walked in. She stared blankly at the creature. Jason looked up and tried to smile.

“Close the door, please”, Jason grinned, rubbing the back of his head.

He explained the situation to Mai. She nodded and hummed, but did not say anything. When he was finished, she did, however, open her mouth.

“So what you are saying is that this, thing… jumped out of your computer? And that is originally a part of an online game?” she said doubtfully.

She sat on the floor, arms crossed and her face curled up into a frown. Jason nodded towards her. He introduced the Digimon.

“This is Kapurimon, so what I just told you is true.”

Mai shook her head.

“I can’t believe this! What are you going to do now?”

Jason was glad that she was as easygoing as she was. Anyone else would have freaked out immediately.

“I don’t know really, I mean, Kapurimon has been here for almost a day now, and he does not seem to go away.”

It had gotten dark outside. It was late in the evening already. A dense silence fell over the room. Jason looked over at his computer. The monitor had started to glow again. He was still online it seemed. He wanted to ask Mai to turn it off, but something caught his eye. A small black dot that grew bigger and bigger for every second. Just as it almost covered the whole screen, a ball burst out of the computer, tumbling on the floor. Both of them jumped of their seats, but Mai was the first one to near the little creature. She gasped.

“Another one”, she said fascinated.

This one was green and white, with two leafs growing out if its head twisting and joining together at the very top. Mai took the Digimon in her arms and lulled it tender. She talked to it, to Jason’s surprise.

“What is your name, little friend?” she asked carefully.

The little one opened its eyes carefully and tried not to panic when it saw Mai. In a matter of moments it was scared of its life, but then it realized something, as if it remembered where it was.

“I am Tanemon”, it said cheerfully.

“Tanemon, huh?” Jason said.

Mai looked at Tanemon and it looked back. Kapurimon interrupted the silence.

“Tanemon! What’re you doing here!” he said, happily bouncing towards Tanemon.

Tanemon smiled when it saw the other Digimon, but quickly looked at the other seriously. It jumped down from Mai’s arms and stopped in front of Kapurimon.

“It is not a matter of why I’m here!” Tanemon said hefty. “A tear has appeared between the Digital World and the human one!”

Kapurimon seemed chocked.

“So that is why I managed to get into this world so easily! Has anything bad happened?” he asked.

Tanemon nodded.

“It has! I arrived here just in time and at the exact right spot as well! A rampaging Boarmon is about to get to this world!”

“What! We have to do something!”

The two little Digimon ran across the room in panic. Jason and Mai on the other hand, were lost. Digital World, tear, our world, more Digimon. They looked at each other, desperate to hope that the other had a plan. Jason was a bit frightened that his parents would come into his room because of the ruckus. But nothing happened. Mai interrupted the quarrel.

“Can you please give us a hint of what is going on?” she shouted over the two Digimon’s voices.
They stopped for a second and collected themselves. Tanemon was just about to speak when a high noise was heard from outside. It sounded as if a flock of bulls was on a rampage. Mai, Jason, Tanemon and Kapurimon looked out. What they saw chocked all of them, especially Jason and Mai. A gigantic boar had just landed on the street just outside. It was orange and flames spread over its back and around its hooves. Jason connected two and two.

“Is that the Boarmon you were talking about?” he asked terrified.

Tanemon nodded. It then, together with Kapurimon, hurried towards the door. Mai shouted.

“Where are you going?”

The cat-like Digimon turned around.

“To stop the beast!”

Now it was Jason’s turn to rush recklessly towards the door. He grabbed Kapurimon in the process.

“Mai! Take Tanemon with you and come with me!” he said rapidly.

She simply responded with a nod, not questioning his motifs. The two dashed out of his room and down the hallway. Jason could hear his mother scream as he opened the apartment door. He acted as if he had not heard her. After getting down the stairs and outside on the courtyard he let go of Kapurimon. Mai did the same. Jason kneeled down to Kapurimon’s level.

“What are we to do now?” he asked.

Kapurimon could see in his eyes that he was scared, but the Digimon did not blame him, it was as well.

“I say we try to attack him!” Kapurimon said bravely.

Tanemon looked at him as if he was crazy.

“Attack a Boarmon! I might have to remind you that we are still in our In-Training forms!” Tanemon shouted angrily.

Mai took action.

“I have no idea of what you are talking about but can we do anything?” she inquired, pointing at herself and Jason.

Tanemon shook its head. Kapurimon on the other hand, brightened.

“Well, maybe you actually can”, he said, smiling teasingly at Tanemon. “Remember the questions you were asked before?”

Jason nodded. Mai shrugged. He then remembered that she had probably not even seen the game itself.

“Wait, before you go on I might have to tell Mai about them!” Jason said, holding up his hand.

After a brief explanation and a little thinking he and Mai stood before the two Digimon. Jason in front of Kapurimon and Mai before Tanemon. Jason thought about the answers hard, but nothing happened. Then, suddenly, Kapurimon and Tanemon started to glow just like MetalKoromon had earlier that day. Mai looked at the Digimon with shimmering eyes. She is such a tomboy, Jason thought. What other girl would enjoy a moment like this? They could see how the two Digimon grew. When the glow disappeared two new creatures stood before them. Kapurimon now looked like a little samurai, but underneath the costume you could see a pair of lavender reptile legs. His face was hidden behind a men, a samurai mask. Tanemon had turned into what resembled a walking flower. Its hand was now two purple flowers and the body was entirely green. The neck was adorned with a bunch of red leafs and the head had a red flower cap. The two Digimon looked at themselves.

“Cool! I digivolved into a Kotemon!” the former Kapurimon cheered.

What had been Tanemon still inspected itself.

“And you are a Floramon!” exclaimed Kotemon.

Mai neared Floramon.

“You look amazing!” she said, eyes still shimmering.

Jason hated to interrupt the moment, but Boarmon was just about to start wreaking havoc, and something had to be done.

“Now that you have digivolved or whatever, what is our next move?” Jason asked quickly.

“Just leave the rest to us”, Kotemon said confidently. “Are you ready, Floramon?”

The other Digimon nodded. The two rushed forward towards Boarmon. They looked so small in comparison to the bigger Digimon. Jason wanted to help.

“Hey! Big guy!” he shouted at Boarmon.

The creature immediately directed its attention to the two children. Mai glared at Jason.

“Are you stupid!” she screamed as Boarmon charged.

“No don’t worry”, he answered, defending himself from her fists. “Look!”

Kotemon and Floramon had now reached the larger Digimon. They jumped into midair and both of them launched an attack. Jason was impressed by the things they did.

“Feel my Rain of Pollen!” Floramon shouted, emitting an orange dust from the flowers on its hands.

The dust seemed to make Boarmon disoriented. Kotemon flowed Floramon’s lead.

“Here it comes”, Kotemon shouted. “Go Hothead!”

Kotemon’s wooden sword went ablaze and he struck Boarmon over the muzzle. The giant beast grunted from the hit, but only seemed to be minor injured. Kotemon’s hope sunk. Boarmon rammed the two opposing Digimon and was eager to continue its rampage. Kotemon, despite being mangled, attacked again. And just as before, not much happened. The beast maddened and let out flames from its nostrils. Jason and Mai screamed in unison as a thick smoke covered the street. Jason, feeling empty, stumbled.

“Do you think that…?”

He did not want to finish the sentence. Mai just nodded slowly. Jason embraced her. Was this it? Boarmon still rampaged; anyone could hear that even if the smoke covered it. Then suddenly Boarmon shrieked in pain. Jason looked up, wondering what had happened. In the smoke he could see the silhouette of what looked like a samurai. He rubbed his eyes. As the smoke settled, Boarmon lay still on the street. Kapurimon and Floramon dragged themselves over to Jason and Mai. The humans were in shock. Somehow, they had managed to defeat the beast. And Kotemon had somehow reversed back to Kapurimon. Jason did, however, say nothing. He embraced the round cat. Mai did the same with Floramon. As he let go of Kapurimon, he looked at him happily.

“What happened in there?” he asked puzzled.

When Kapurimon opened its mouth to answer, it was interrupted. Boarmon had started to slowly dissolve and with that a rift had opened up underneath it. Jason and Mai, not that far away from Boarmon could see the tear, reach towards them. As it replaced the ground underneath their feet, Jason could see the same lush forest that MetalKoromon had been in earlier.


“File Island”, he said faintly.

The last thing he could remember was the sensation of falling. He felt at peace.

There it is. I hope you like it!

 

[Rolly]

This is the first chapter of the story. Enjoy!

Chapter 1 – Samurai’s Blade​

Jason opened his eyes slowly. He was very tired, as if he had lacked sleep. Looking around he saw that he was lying on a beach. Reaching out with his hand he could feel the soft fur of a cat. Kapurimon, he thought. Then he remembered what had happened earlier. How the two Digimon had come out of the computer. How Boarmon had attacked the city. He could suddenly hear Mai’s voice. He looked to his right and saw her, sitting on a couple of rocks together with two other boys and their Digimon. Jason rose form his lying position and walked towards them. In the meanwhile he grabbed Kapurimon. Mai smiled.

“Glad to see that you are awake.”

Floramon sat next to her. Jason examined the other two boys and their Digimon. The first boy, a tall, blonde kid sat next to what looked like a red, walking lion. It had a piece of jewelry on its forehead as well as around its wrists. At the tip of its tail a flame was flickering. The other boy, not as tall, with short black hair, a little tousled, sat next to an insect. The insect was golden with brown stripes. It had six arms; four of them were a little longer. On its back, Jason could see two pairs of grey wings. The insect looked at him as if it was interested.

“Allow me to introduce you guys”, Mai said. She pointed at the blonde kid and his Digimon. “This is Blake and Coronamon,” she turned to the other boy, “and this is Yuu and FanBeemon.”

Jason waved faintly.

“I am Jason, and this sleeping creature is my Digimon, Kapurimon.”

He made a little pause. By then Blake said something.

“Yours look a little, how should I put this, weak. Or at least under leveled, or something.”

Jason did not mind.

“Well, he is a Kotemon to be precise, but he devolved when we battled a Boarmon.”

Yuu and Blake nodded.

“We know”, Yuu said comforting. “Mai just told us.”

Jason sat down on a rock and laid Kapurimon on the sand. For the first time in a couple of hours he relaxed.

“Any idea where we are?” Blake asked Mai.

She shook her head.

“No, I don’t know actually.”

“I do, I think” Jason said.

Yuu did not seem surprised.

“I think I do that as well”, Yuu said.

“Then I presume that you have played the game, right?” Jason asked Yuu.

“I have, and this ought to be File Island.”

Jason nodded again. He then turned to Blake and Mai, whom both looked a little lost. But just as he was about to explain, Coronamon spoke.

“Neither Blake nor Mai have been on the Digital Monsters game. So they don’t know what this is.”

Jason thought that the Digimon sounded a little bossy. He let it go.

“A game?” Blake asked.

“Yes, they have made a game about us in your dimension, and I met Yuu there. I also think that Kapurimon met Mai’s friend there as well”, FanBeemon explained.

Mai did not look like as if she cared very much.

“I think we should look for food”, she said, as she did not want to listen to the boys any longer.

The other six agreed, and since Kapurimon still slept, Jason thought that it did too. The group rose and went into the woods just behind the beach. Whilst Coronamon jumped through the trees looking for fruit, FanBeemon did the same, except for the fact that it was flying. Floramon scouted the ground. And soon enough, Kapurimon woke up and decided to help. They searched for a few hours, or at least they thought so, since the sun looked like as if it was going to set soon. At first they had no luck, but then FanBeemon called them and knocked down a few red fruits with yellow spots. According to Floramon, they were OK. The group ate under silence.

Jason had some trouble with Blake from the start. He did not like the other boy’s intonation. And his Digimon did not seem to be any better. Coronamon seemed like the type of Digimon that would love to pick a fight. He did like Yuu on the other hand. They had talked a bit during the food hunt and even though they did not have very much alike, they enjoyed each other’s company. FanBeemon was a real treat, after the little time spent with him. The sun had now set and the group had gathered around a campfire that Coronamon had lit with its flames.

“If we are to sleep now, somebody should stay up and guard the others”, Yuu suddenly said.

He made a valid point. They decided to set up a schedule. Mai and Floramon would take the first shift, and then Jason and Kapurimon would take the second one, since they had been asleep much longer than the rest. Hopefully the night would be over by the time that the latter had done their shift. Blake lay down on the ground close to the fire. Yuu did the same, just as their Digimon. But how much Jason tried, he could not fall asleep. After what seemed like a few hours, he talked to Mai.

“Let me take this shift”, he said, rising into a sitting position.

“Are you sure?” she asked. “Floramon and I can manage, you don’t need to worry.”

“It’s not that, I just can’t sleep”

“If you insist”, she said, ending the conversation.

It did not take long before Jason could hear breathing slow down. She was fast asleep. Jason and Kapurimon chattered a little, lowly so that they did not wake the others up.

“What happened when you battled Boarmon?” he asked Kapurimon.

The cat looked at him.

“I don’t know really, I guess I… No, I have no clue”, Kapurimon replied.

Jason kicked a rock and watched it roll away.

“Well, the only thing I do remember is the fact that I could feel some sort of light shoot out from you”, Kapurimon said to his surprise.

“A light?”

“Yup, well, maybe you didn’t see it but some sort of force at least. It felt as if we belonged.”

“Belonged huh?”

Jason gazed out in the darkness. He heard another voice.

“How cute…”

It was Blake. Jason turned in his direction, together with Kapurimon.

“Are you mocking me?” Jason asked offended.

“No, no, it’s just that it seems a little cheesy.”

Jason shook his head. He did not like Blake. At all. The two was like sworn enemies, even though they had just met. He rose and picked up Kapurimon.

“Now that you are awake, mind if I take a walk?” Jason asked Blake.

“Not at all, mind if I tag along?” he responded.

Jason did not know what to say. He made a sign that said something like “come here”. The two wandered off into the distance together with their Digimon.

---​

They had not spoken a word, and the sun was about to rise. Blake and Jason had not gone the way back to the beach; instead, they had walked deeper into the woods. Thanks to Coronamon’s flaming tail, it never really got dark.

“How come you and Yuu got here?” he asked Blake.

The blond boy shrugged.

“I didn’t know Yuu from before, even if we go to the same school”, he started. “Well, to be perfectly honest, my mother knows his mother quite well. So when the two of them were supposed to meet, I was forced, if I can put it in that way, to go along.”

Jason could see where this was heading.

“Yuu played some game when, out of nowhere, two creatures appeared from out of the computer. That was Puroromon, FanBeemon’s former self and Sunmon, Coronamon’s lower level. As we got to know each other and the Digimon, everything went black, and then we were here. Coronamon and FanBeemon digivolved by then.”

The fact that Yuu and Blake had not fought any other Digimon was a little surprising for him. Maybe Kotemon and Floramon defeating Boarmon had triggered some kind of chain reaction. And if that was the case, were there anybody else here too, except for him, Mai, Blake and Yuu? He could feel Blake looking at him. Just as he was about to ask him why he had wanted to tag along, the forest was lit up by a blinding light. Jason could not see anything but he did hear Blake say that it looked like Kapurimon was changing. Jason dropped the glowing ball and in a matter of seconds, Kotemon stood before him. Blake looked at Kotemon as it greeted Coronamon. The latter replied with a simple wave of its hand.

“It’s good to see you again, Kotemon”, Jason said.

Even though he could not see Kotemon’s face, he was sure that it was smiling.

“I got a bit tired of being carried around all the time, so why not digivolve?” Kotemon said carelessly, shrugging.

Jason laughed a little.

“So this is Kotemon?” Blake said, inspecting the new Digimon.

The samurai felt a little uncomfortable being looked over so much. It fidgeted a little.

“Maybe we should head back to camp”, Jason said, realizing that Mai and Yuu were left alone without any actual protection.

They were just about to turn around when they heard a great roar. It came from behind. Slowly turning in the roar’s direction, a big blue dinosaur towered over them. Not trying to scream, Coronamon instructed them.

“That’s an Allomon, they can be rather fierce, and so we better not move too hastily.”

“Is it any idea for us to attack?” Jason asked.

Coronamon shook its head reluctantly. Kotemon sighed. The Allomon seemed to be tired of waiting, and so it lunged out its tail towards them. As Blake and Jason ducked, Coronamon and Kotemon attacked straight on.

“Coro-Knuckle!” Coronamon shouted, punching Allomon rapidly.

“Hothead!” Kotemon said, slashing Allomon with its flaming sword.

Allomon did not seem very phased when the attack hit him, instead it roared higher. Jason could only see one outcome, but he hoped that it would turn out as it had done the last time. Allomon opened its mouth, charging a fire ball in it. Blake reacted quickly.

“Coronamon, watch out!”

The little flaming Digimon jumped into midair again. It punched Allomon again. Jason was a little dazed, so Kotemon acted on its own again. This time, Kotemon’s left fist started to spark and it hit Allomon with an electric punch. The enemy released the fireball in a stream of flames and hit Coronamon. Kotemon managed to avoid being hit, luckily. That did not last for long, as Allomon rammed it with its long tail. The Digimon landed in front of their partners. Just as Allomon was ready to attack again, it turned around as if it had been hit from behind. Jason and Blake could see a fireball fly out of nowhere. Getting used to the light, they could see two human silhouettes as well as the silhouette of a flying candle and a round bat. As Allomon was a little confused on whom it should attack, Jason shouted.

“Who’s there?”

All he could hear was a menacing laughter. A boy with purple, wild hair could be seen. Alongside him flew a little, round bat-like Digimon.

“DemiDevimon”, he said. “Shoot Allomon with a couple of Demi Darts!”

The Digimon referred to as DemiDevimon shoot four small syringes at Allomon, all of them hitting the giant. Another boy now walked out into plain sight. He had black hair, and looked very strict. Next to him a living candle soared. Allomon suddenly collapsed as if it had fallen asleep.

“My, my”, the first boy said, looking over the sleeping Allomon and at Jason and Blake. “Look what we have here, Ty!”

“Interesting, indeed, Vance”, the other boy said.

The two new boys inspected Blake and Jason.

“So you must be the people we were warned about…” Vance said menacingly.

Jason frowned. Warned about?

“Warn about us? That does not make sense, what could we do to you?” Blake asked, looking a little confused.

Ty laughed.

“Taking our Digivices of course”, Ty said, chuckling a little.

Now Blake and Jason were completely lost. A Digivice? Jason could not help but to ask.

“And what in the world is a Digivice?”

This time it was Ty and Vance who looked surprised. They had not thought that they would be unknowing.

“A Digivice will help your Digimon digivolve, and according to our sources, you have to defeat other Digimon, with higher levels of course. Just like Allomon here”, Ty explained to them, pointing at the sleeping dinosaur.

Jason thought about the battle with Boarmon. Maybe Kotemon had digivolved once more back then? Blake was just about to ask something else when he was interrupted.

“So now we have to defeat you in order to have Allomon all for ourselves…” Vance said, preparing DemiDevimon.

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Blake shouted. “Coronamon, use your Coro-Knuckle and try to aim at the bat thingy!”

Coronamon did as he said and rapidly jumped towards DemiDevimon, fists raised. Just as it was about to hit, the fire Digimon was blasted aside. Jason could hear tie order his Digimon. The attack must have come from there.

“Candlemon! Capture that Digimon!” he said, pointing at Kotemon.

Jason reacted quickly.

“Kotemon, watch out, and try to hit Candlemon with an attack!”

Kotemon ducked from the flying hot wax that shoot towards him and managed to get up close to Candlemon, striking it with its flaming sword. The candle moaned as it was pushed backwards. It landed on the ground, hard. Now it was Vance’s turn.

“Demi Darts, now!”

Kotemon was quick on its feet once again and was almost scratched by the syringes. Coronamon jumped forth and hit DemiDevimon with its flaming fist. DemiDevimon landed next to Candlemon. Ty and Vance had not expected this. Jason turned to Blake before anything else happened.

“They seem very experienced, don’t you say?”

“Yeah, but Kotemon and Coronamon can do this!” Blake responded.

Jason could not but to worry a little. He still thought about the Digivices. His minds, as well as what seemed like DemiDevimon and Candlemon rejuvenating, was interrupted. A roar, from an Allomon again, was heard. But it was not the one by their feet. Instead, a new one appeared from out of the woods. The sleeping Allomon woke up and rose, a little tipsy. The dinosaurs towered in front of them. Ty, despite his cool face, whelped a little. Jason had an idea.

“Kotemon, attack Allomon now! I believe in you! Aim for the center of Allomon’s stomach!” he shouted.

Kotemon seemed a little confused about the sudden order, but lunged its sword once more. Blake thought that he understood what Jason was about to do. He ordered Coronamon to attack the other Allomon. Vance and Ty, now slowly regaining the cool, also understood what they were about to do.

“Stop them!” Vance shouted. “If they somehow manage to hit the Allomons cores, we’re done for!”

Just as he was about to tell DemiDevimon what to do, a flash of light drenched the forest. When Kotemon and Coronamon hit the Allomons, two little shining objects were unleashed and landed in Blake and Jason’s hands. As soon as the glow faded, Jason was holding a little, square device. It was lavender colored. Blake looked down into his palm and found a device as well. His was orange. He looked at Blake. The other boy nodded. Kotemon and Coronamon suddenly shouted excitedly.

“Hnnng! I feel so strong!” Kotemon shouted.

Coronamon said nothing, he just peeked at Blake and his companion looked back. This was it. Vance shook his head.

“This was no good, I think we have to retreat Ty”, he said slowly.

Ty agreed and the two, along with their Digimon, turned around and walked away. Jason glared at them.

“So, as soon as you get into a little trouble, you leave?” Blake suddenly said, clearly mocking them.

Vance twitched a little.

“Cowards”, Blake continued.

“Cowards”, Vance murmured. “Not at all, we just understand that our current power won’t be enough…”

“Have fun with Allomon”, Ty said, still smiling a little.

The two Allomon rose, and Vance, Ty, DemiDevimon and Candlemon disappeared into the woods. Just as the others could no longer see them, they heard the voice of Yuu. They turned around and saw the rest of their group running towards them.

“Where have you guys been?” Yuu asked. He continued. “And whatever those are, we’d better act!”

The Allomons were now fully recovered from the earlier hit and seemed angrier than ever, roaring in rage. Jason gulped. They really had to do something. He felt the device in his hand. Blake spoke to him.

“These things must be the Digivices’ the others were talking about earlier, right?”

“What others?” Mai asked.

“No time to explain”, Jason replied. “Yuu, Mai, I think you’d better step back a little.”

He waved with his arm and the two walked back a few meters, staying on a safe distance.

“Are you ready, Blake?” Jason asked.

“Ready as ever!”

“Well, according to that Vance guy, our Digimon could digivolve; it might be worth a shot.”

“Sure! Coronamon, are you up for this?” Blake said to Coronamon.

“I’m always ready!” the fire Digimon replied, smiling satisfied.

Jason did not say anything to Kotemon; they just looked at each other. Clenching his fist around the lavender Digivice, he focused all his power on Kotemon. For starters, nothing happened, but then Jason could feel the device getting warmer in his hand. He opened his fist and a beam shot out of the Digivice, straight up into the air. Kotemon started to glow. The device started to say something.

“Digivolution commencing!”

The beam landed on Kotemon, whom started to glow. Blake, wanting to do the same, concentrated harder. He was a little angry that nothing happened. Jason heard his Digivice again.

“Kotemon, digivolve to…!”

When the glow settled, a new Digimon stood before him. The Digivice ended its play.

“…Musyamon!”

Kotemon had now grown bigger. It wore a full armor. Its back was lavender colored with a bunch of thorns sticking out, hanging down it. It also wore a red helmet, but the lower part of the face could now be seen. Lastly, it held a long sword.

“Musyamon”, Jason said, fascinated by his new partner. He reckoned the silhouette from the fight with Boarmon. That must have been why it was so easy for it to digivolve again.

The Digimon looked its partner. Musyamon took held of its sword with both hands and the blade started to burn with a blue flame. He charged one of the Allomon and upon slicing it, Musyamon yelled.

“Ninja Blade!”

Allomon landed hard on the ground, and slowly stated to dissolve. Musyamon jumped back to Jason’s side. Before he could congratulate it on its victory, it started to glow. Musyamon had reverted back into Kapurimon again. Jason thought that it had used all its energy on digivolving and defeating Allomon with a single blow. The remaining Allomon, upset about his fallen companion, directed its focus on Jason and Kapurimon. Jason looked up, scared out of his mind. Just as the Allomon charged another fireball, Blake shouted. A light filled the forest.

 

[Rolly]

Chapter 2 – Blazing Fury​

Blake stared at Musyamon. He hated to admit that he was a little jealous of Jason. No matter how hard Blake focused, Coronamon did not digivolve. When Musyamon cut down Allomon, and reverted back into its In-Training form, Blake understood immediately that the other enemy would attack Jason for sure. Just as it launched its fireball at Jason and Kapurimon, he felt a sensation of fire burning inside of him. He closed his eyes for a second, and through his eyelids he could see that the forest shone up. The device in his hand got warmer. As the light as well as dust from the fireball’s impact settled he was surprised. His Digivice finished its sentence.

“…into Firamon!”

A winged, orange lion defended Jason and Kapurimon, both lying just behind Firamon. It had a yellow mane and the same ornament that had adorned Coronamon now adorned Firamon’s wrists. On its head, it had a sort of crown. The end of its tail had a burning flame.

“Firamon, huh? Nice!” Jason shouted before Blake could react.

Allomon looked displeased when it saw the new Digimon. It roared loudly and charged again. Firamon acted quickly, and flames spread over all of the Digimon’s body. It tackled Allomon just as it was about to crush the three. Allomon slid backwards. It opened its mouth and a ball of fire started to appear. Firamon talked.

“Jason, Kapurimon, stand up and run!”

They did as they were ordered.

“I can’t allow you to do that!” it then said to Allomon.

From the flame burning on its forehead a fireball started to grow. Precisely before Allomon released its flaming inferno, the ball shot out of Firamon’s forehead. It hit in the middle of Allomon’s mouth and a huge explosion resulted in a dust cloud. When it settled, the second Allomon lay next to the first one, which had almost disappeared completely. The last Allomon stated to dissolve as well. With a flash, Firamon reverted into a little orange ball, with a flame burning on the top of its head. Blake ran forward and caught it.

“And who might you be, you cute little thing?” he asked the ball.

“I am Sunmon”, the little creature said with a shrill voice.

“Nice to meet you Sunmon”, Blake continued.

Jason interrupted them.

“Blake, that was awesome!”

Blake laughed and grabbed Jason’s hand, which he had stretched out. The two boys, whom had acted like real enemies earlier, now laughed together and even held hands. Jason thought about it for a second, but pushed the thought away. Mai and Yuu went towards them, accompanied by FanBeemon and Floramon. Mai craved for an explanation regarding the “other” that they had talked about earlier.

“Let’s head back to camp before we talk anything more”, Blake said, and started to walk back the way they came.

The group followed.

---​

While walking, Mai, too eager to wait anymore, forced Jason and Blake to talk. When Jason was about to start talking, Yuu interrupted him.

“Shh”, he said, covering his mouth with one finger.

Jason, carrying Kapurimon; Blake, carrying Sunmon; Mai, Floramon and FanBeemon, whom landed, stopped in their tracks. Yuu signed that they should keep on moving, but slower.

“I heard something, I think…”

Jason sped up a little and went up alongside Yuu. He whispered to him, asking what he had heard. Yuu said that he thought he had heard human voices. Upon hearing that, Blake stiffened a little, thinking about Vance and Ty. Jason could see Blake’s reaction. He ignored the thought of the other two and their evil-looking Digimon. Hiding in a couple of bushes, they sneered over at the campfire. A sole boy could be seen, sitting what a Digimon. The Digimon was light purple in color. It looked like a furry dinosaur. It had two, very small wings and a long tail. On its forehead you could see a sort of red gem. They heard the boy speak.

“Someone must’ve been here, there wouldn’t be a fire if not, right Dorumon?”

He had an American accent. Luckily, despite being Japanese, the four understood him. Dorumon started to sniff in the air, as if it had caught a strange scent. It turned its head and looked directly at them. The American boy laughed a little.

“No need to hide, Dorumon has already revealed your presence.”

Unsure of what to do, Mai took action. She went out of their protection and waved happily, trying to speak as good English as possible.

“Hi, I’m Mai and those guys hiding over there”, she said, pointing towards the bushes. “…are Jason, Blake and Yuu. We’re all Japanese so you might have a hard time understanding us…”

The American boy laughed again. He seemed rather cheerful.

“No need to worry, but you might want to tell your friends not to bother hiding…”

Jason, Blake and Yuu went after Mai. They sat down by the boy and his Dorumon, together with their respective Digimon. After the boy had inspected all of them thoroughly he revealed his name.

“My name is Aaron by the way, and as you can probably tell, I am from the states.”

Jason turned to Blake, talking Japanese.

< Do you think we can trust him? If you think about Vance and Ty I mean; he could be an ally to them… >

< I bet we’ll find out if we stick around… > Blake replied, troubled.

Yuu directed his attention to Aaron, not considering what Blake and Jason had said.

“I’m sorry about my friends speaking Japanese, they don’t seem to trust you; they had some problem with two other kids earlier”, Yuu explained to him.

Jason and Blake glared at Yuu, but Mai glared back and the two cowered a little. She looked fearsome.

“So, you have Digimon too huh?” Aaron suddenly said.

It seemed as if he had been inspecting the other Digimon and not minding the little quarrel the Japanese children had had.

“Yes, Floramon is my partner”, Mai began, and nodded towards the flower Digimon by her side. “Yuu’s partner is FanBeemon, the big insect; Jason is with Kapurimon here and Blake is with Sunmon.”

Aaron paid most attention to the last two Digimon.

“They don’t seem, how do I put this, fully evolved yet?”

“Well, we just battled two Allomon’s; they look like giant, blue dinosaurs, and both Kapurimon and Sunmon digivolved into new forms”, Jason explained.

The American boy nodded, but asked a new question.

“And how exactly did that happen?”

Jason smiled, more or less; he had decided to give the new boy a chance. From his pocket he retrieved the lavender Digivice. Blake snapped.

< Why are you showing him it? He might steal it!” >

< He won’t, it feels like he couldn’t use it anyways, > Jason replied.

Jason cleared his throat, when he saw how interested Aaron looked.

“They came from the enemy Allomon when we hit them in their centers, and it somehow made Kapurimon, well he was a Kotemon by then, digivolve into Musyamon…”

Aaron appeared a little lost.

“They?”

“Yeah, Blake has one too!”

Jason buffed his elbow into Blake’s side, and the other boy took out his Digivice. Aaron looked at it too.

“I have no idea who any of those Digimon you just mentioned are, but it does sound pretty cool. As for me and Dorumon, not much has happened actually, even if we have been here for a day.”

“Not much happen on File Island in general”, Floramon said with its harmonic voice.

“Indeed”, FanBeemon said, and Dorumon nodded.

“Have you met any other humans yet?” Kapurimon asked Aaron, eagerly; you could clearly notice how much Kapurimon liked being around people.

“We haven’t, but we saw your campfire last night”, Dorumon answered, whilst Aaron petted its ear.

“By the way, where can I get myself one of those Digivices?” Aaron asked the Japanese children.

Jason could not help but to wonder how they had actually managed to get them. He had some theories though.

“We got them when we were in desperate need, maybe that has something to do with it”, he said.

He shrugged. Aaron laughed again.

“No worries friend! I am not in any need of one, even if it had been pretty fun to see what would have become of you Dorumon!”

“I would love to know too!” Dorumon said, smiling.

A sudden rumble coming from above interrupted their conversation.

“I think we should all get inside before it starts raining cat and dogs”, Yuu said.

He hoped he had gotten the idiomatic expression correct. The group arose. Luckily, Aaron and Dorumon had spent the night in a cave not far away from where the camp was located. With Dorumon in the lead, they rushed through the woods and just as the rain started to pour, they got inside the dark cave. Once again, the flame of Sunmon made it possible for them to see. Aaron sat down on a rock. He sighed deeply.

“My, my, my…”

“I can’t believe we’re stuck here now..!” Kapurimon complained.

Floramon agreed with Kapurimon. Floramon liked having fresh soil underneath its feet. As the others sat down, Yuu went around in the cave, stroking his hand over the slippery walls. He stopped and looked out into the darkness.

“Do you know how much farther this cave leads?” he asked Aaron.

The American boy shook his head.

“Dorumon and I did some exploring but just a few hundred meters away from here there is a crossroad. We decided to stop there.”

“I see… FanBeemon, wanna go explore some more?” Yuu said to his partner Digimon.

The insect, just like Floramon, preferred the wide outdoors to cramped places like this, but he followed anyway. Jason was a little interested by the cave as well, but because of the lack of sleep, he decided not to follow. Mai, on the contrary, and to Jason’s surprise, tagged along. Yuu and Mai soon disappeared out of sight. They had a torch with them, made by Sunmon. Jason looked around at the remaining persons of the group. Him and Kapurimon; Blake and Sunmon, their only actual source of light; and of course Aaron and Dorumon. He had taken a liking to the new boy already. Blake, however, had not. But that was not any matter now, since he was fast asleep in a corner. Aaron could see that Jason had a hard time staying awake too.

“Sleep for a bit, it sounded as if you had quite an adventure last night. I’ll keep guard!” he offered, friendly.
Still considering what Blake had said earlier, about being allied with Vance and Ty, he accepted the offer, but decided to sleep with one eye open. He soon fell into a deep slumber.

---​

When Jason awoke, he immediately checked his surroundings, to see if he was still in the cave. The sun had almost set outside, but Yuu and Mai had not yet returned. Blake was still dozing off in the same corner. Aaron dozed a little too. Dorumon on the other hand went around in the cave opening, scouting for dangers.

“Anything happened?” Jason asked Dorumon.

The Digimon twitched a little, it was not aware of the fact that Jason had just woken up.

“Nope, though I thought I heard some cracking before”, Dorumon replied, still scouting.

Jason looked at the cave ceiling, to see whether it was about to fall down or not. He did not notice any cracks. The sound Dorumon described did sound unsettling nonetheless. The Digimon seemed rather indifferent to what he had heard.

“Blake, Aaron! Wake up!” Jason shouted at the two other boys. “Dorumon heard some strange noises.”

Blake rubbed his eyes.

“You did?” Aaron said, making sure he had heard what Jason said correctly.

“Yeah”, Dorumon replied.

“It’s still pouring outside, and if we go any further into the cave we might get stuck”, Blake said.

“Indeed, but we should probably see if we can find Mai and Yuu”, Jason continued.

The group decided to split in two. Blake, Sunmon and Dorumon would stay where they were, whilst Jason, Aaron and Kapurimon would go on. As they split, Jason could slowly see the protective light from Sunmon’s flame disappear. They had, however, a torch. The longer they walked, the darker it got.

“How long is it?” Kapurimon asked Aaron.

“A bit further, if I remember it correctly”, he replied.

They went on, and walked for a good 10 minutes before they saw the crossroad. The natural passage split in two. What met their eyes was shocking. The leftmost way was completely blocked by rocks. Before doing anything drastic Jason reasoned in his head. Mai and Yuu could have chosen the right path. That seemed unlikely, since Aaron soon discovered a footprint made in some mud on the cave floor. It lead straight towards the blocked side. Jason sighed deeply. What to do now?

“We should head back to Blake and tell him the bad news”, Aaron suggested.

Jason nodded. He hoped that Yuu and Mai would make it on their own until they found a way to clear the path. Just as they were about to walk back, a loud noise was heard, as if a ton of big rocks had been released from up high. They rushed back, panting when they met Blake, rushing the other way. Aaron almost ran straight into him. Blake, between his heavy breaths, explained what had happened. A few minutes after the other had gone away, a few, very small rocks had started to tumble down from the cliff overlooking the opening. When Dorumon had looked out to see what was going on, a huge chip flew downwards, almost crushing the Digimon. Then the heavy artillery began to bomb. In a matter of moments, the exit was blocked.

“That is not all; the path by the crossroads that Aaron talked about, it has been blocked away. And Yuu and Mai are most likely trapped back there…” Jason revealed to Blake.

He shook his head, looking down.

< So now we’re stuck with him? > Blake said to Jason.

< Don’t fret, he is doing fine…” >

“Guys, instead of chatting in Japanese, how about we get a move on? We always have the right path…” Aaron said, interrupting their secret conversation.

They agreed on going to check that way out.

“Hopefully, we’ll find something”, Blake muttered.

The group soon reached it. Now, Jason could see that the way was, in fact, descending a bit downwards. Jason looked at Aaron, switching to Blake and then back to Aaron. The two other nodded. They started to ascend into the pitch black abyss.

“I’m glad we have you Sunmon”, Blake said.

“I agree; it would’ve been hard if not…” Aaron contemplated.

They let Blake and Sunmon go first, and for each step, Blake slowly made sure that his foot was on safe, not very slippery ground. For starters it went alright, but as they descended deeper, the way became steeper and steeper. Jason did not like heights to start with so understanding that every wrong step could make him fall, made him concentrate hard. Aaron could suddenly feel that he lost his grip and in panic, he grabbed Jason’s right foot.
“What are you doing?” Jason screamed as he also started to slide downwards, at a fast pace.

Aaron slammed into Blake and soon enough, the so safe and slow walk had turned into a rollercoaster of screams and hard hits. Luckily for the group, they could quickly feel the sensation of breaking through the water in an ice cold cave-lake. It made the fall less dangerous, but this alternative was not very comfortable either. When they got onto the shore, Blake immediately removed his shirt and twisted it, water dripping.

“Is everyone safe and sound?” Jason asked the members of the group.

When everybody answered him, he felt at ease. He was still clinging to Kapurimon. The cat-Digimon looked just as if it had seen a ghost. A stereotype, Jason thought. Cats don’t like water. Aaron checked the surroundings. They were inside a larger part of the cave system now. He could not see the ceiling, but in the far end of the room, he looked down into the lake they had just landed in. It was not very big, but considerably deep, seeing as they had not felt the bottom of it when landing. The water mass was unearthly still. He did not like it.

Jason saw that Aaron did the same as he did. He was unsure whether or not he was thinking of the same thing that he thought of. He was absolutely sure of the fact that he had felt something touch his foot when he dived headfirst into the lake. Not something hard, it was rather slippery. Like a big fish. Blake was clearly irritated at Aaron. He considered it his fault for making them fall all the way down. Just as he was about to start yelling at the American boy, Jason grabbed him and looked into his eyes, telling him to settle down. Aaron did not notice the sudden outburst; he had moved down to the water’s edge. The water was truly cold. Suddenly, he thought he saw movement underneath the surface.

“Blake? Can you and Sunmon come here for a second?” he shouted, without looking at the two Japanese boys.

Much to his discomfort, Jason almost dragged him along and pointed at the water. As Sunmon’s fire lit up the dark water, a large, blue eye stared at them. The three boys, as well as their Digimon screamed and moved backwards as fast as they could. The water surface broke up and a very weird looking Digimon appeared. It looked like a mutant fish. Instead of fins, it had a pair of arms with long claws. Its fleshy skin was covered by a grey armor and its jaws were huge. It talked, or rather roared, as it arose from the water.

“Who dare enter my still waters?”

Along with it, a group of grey crabs crawled out of the water as well. They snapped angrily with their clippers. Aaron took command of the situation, seeing that a fight with this obscure creature had to be handled by him; Kapurimon and Sunmon were too weak at their current states.

“We are sorry! We didn’t mean to disturb you!” he said, trying to calm the great Digimon.

The creature watched them suspiciously. Then, it suddenly looked as if it realized something.

“You! You are the humans that Phantomon warned me about!”

“Not this again”, Jason said loudly. He remembered how Vance and Ty had been told about them as well.

“What do you mean?” Aaron shouted to him.

“Not now!” Jason replied, ending the conversation.

The fish Digimon commanded its minions, the grey crabs, to attack. Kapurimon warned them.

“Watch out for the Crabmon!”

With a blinding light, Kapurimon and Sunmon digivolved. Not into their Champion-forms, but into Kotemon and Coronamon. Kotemon drew its blade and Coronamon raised its fists. Dorumon jumped forth and landed next to Coronamon, ready to battle.

“Are you ready to digivolve into Firamon?” Blake shouted to Coronamon.

The Digimon nodded and tightened its tiny body. To their misfortune, nothing happened. Jason brought out his Digivice and tried with Kotemon. Nothing this time as well. The first thing to come to mind was that the water had made it broke. But Jason did not think that was it.

“I think that they can’t digivolve so soon after the last time!” Blake shouted to Jason.

“Damn it!” the other boy exclaimed.

“Don’t mind that now!” Aaron snapped as he ordered Dorumon to charge an attacking Crabmon.

Dorumon released a chunk of metal from its mouth, which resulted in a direct hit. The Crabmon flew back into the water. The freaky fish Digimon was even more mad now that his underlings were being knocked out by the three opposing Digimon. He was just about to charge when Jason came up with an idea.

“Aaron! Make Dorumon attack the big thing!” he shouted.

Aaron looked at him in a strange way.

“Trust me! He might actually have a chance to digivolve you know!”

The American boy did as he said and Dorumon rushed headfirst into the big Digimon. Not much happened, even if the other Digimon did slide backwards a little.
“Good thinking, making Dorumon attack Coelamon like that!” Kotemon cheered as it hit a Crabmon on its head with its flaming sword.

“Is Coelamon its name?”

“Yup”, Kotemon continued, bashing another Crabmon. “They are pretty scary don’t you think. We usually don’t see them at File Island luckily; they mostly hide deep in the oceans or like this, in dark, damp places!”

“I see…”

Jason heard a big splash. When he looked over to see what was going on. Coelamon and Dorumon was nowhere to be seen. Aaron stretched out his hand and screamed Dorumon’s name.

“That fish must’ve taken Dorumon down into the lake”, Blake explained, somewhat vain, to Jason.

Jason covered his face with his hands. That was something that they certainly did not need. He felt a little guilty for making Dorumon fight Coelamon. Another splash was heard. This time Aaron was gone. He must have dived in after his Digimon.

Aaron could only see in agony as Dorumon helplessly was dragged beneath the surface of the ice cold water. Panicking, he did not think. Dodging the Crabmons, he jumped off the ground and dived in after the two Digimon. The lake was as deep as he had thought, now that he was down under. He did however see the bottom and a fainted Dorumon floating just under his feet. He quickly swum towards his Digimon, but the fish Digimon appeared with an amazing speed out of nowhere and scratched his cheek. Careful not to speak, he acted impulsively, grabbing Dorumon and swimming down. The further down he came, the more narrow it became. He could feel, without looking back, how Coelamon neared. His lungs screamed for air. Suddenly, almost too small for him to see, a small glimmer was seen. Not thinking clear anymore, partly because of the lack of air and partly because of the intense fear he was experiencing, he let go of Dorumon. Just as his hand closed around the little object, he opened his mouth and felt it being filled with cold, cold water. A burst of light interrupted the calm as he closed his eyes.

Forever alone in this thread... However, to clarify things, <> means speaking in Japanese, and are used when the American children are around. More to come soon!

 

[Rolly]

Third chapter! Took some time though. Have the 2 more chapters ready as well as half of chapter 6. Criticism is always good!

Chapter 3 – Buzzing and Stinging​

Mai banged her fists at the rocky wall that blocked the way she and Yuu had come from. Floramon tried its best to comfort her. Yuu was a little afraid of the girl he had just gotten to know. In her furious rage, he did not try anything. He just sat down, chatting a little with FanBeemon and waiting for her to calm down. Soon enough, she gave up, and turned to him.

“We have to do something!” she shouted angrily at Yuu.

The boy was not good at coping with people from the start but now he did not just know what to do. He tried his best.

“Calm down”, he said, flapping his arms faintly.

Mai seemed to relax a bit. Yuu exhaled and praised the Gods that he had not made her even madder. Just as he had done earlier, he now stood up and started to walk around, examining the walls. They were trapped in a little tunnel, so there had to be another way out. Judging by the fact that the ground was slightly rising upwards made him sure that they should move on and hopefully end up in a crater or something like that. Maybe FanBeemon could fly them out. He flinched when Mai spoke.

“What are you looking for anyways?”

“I’m not sure, but I thought about it, and we should probably move on.”

“Yeah.”

She arose and started walking. When she saw that Yuu once again had gone lost in thought, she grabbed his arm and pulled him with her. He blushed a little, unsure how to look at the treatment. Mai was one heck of a girl, he thought.

As they walked, FanBeemon felt constantly watched by something. It looked over its shoulder numerous times. Yuu was a little unsettled by that.

“Do you see anything?” he asked his partner, finally.

FanBeemon first acted as if it did not hear him, but then suddenly flinched and flew downwards, hiding behind Yuu.

“I think I saw a ghost…” FanBeemon said in terror.

Yuu laughed at his Digimon.

“There are no ghosts!”

“In this world there are”, Floramon explained. “I haven’t seen any myself, but they are apparently called Bakemon, and they are not very pleasant to be around. Even if they are weak.”

A noise was heard behind them. It sounded like a ghastly voice that said something like: “I am not weak!” FanBeemon jumped, even if he flew. Yuu acted cool but was a bit scared inside. Mai seemed not to care at all.

“Come on out you cowards!” she shouted towards the direction that the voice had come from.

At first, nothing happened, but then suddenly a piece of pink poop came flying through the tunnel. Mai had no time to react, but luckily, Floramon whipped it out of the way. It realized its mistake almost instantly, regretting slamming the poop. Yuu was grossed out.

“That’s enough!” Mai roared and grabbed Floramon. “Floramon, burst them with some pollen or something!”

The Digimon sighed and prepared to shoot out the same dust that it had used against Boarmon. Just as it was about to release it, the same ghastly voice as from before sounded.

“Don’t hit us! We’ll come out.”

Out of the darkness came a number of floating, white ghosts as well as a pair of overgrown green snails, holding the same pink goo that had been thrown earlier. Floramon glared at them, as did Mai.

“Numemon and Bakemon, just as I said!” Floramon exclaimed.

Yuu examined the revealed Digimon. They did not look scary, just, and weird. Goofy in some way. FanBeemon buzzed angrily with its wings. It was mad for letting the Digimons scare it. It flew forward and stopped in front of the Numemons and Bakemons.

“You’re gonna pay for scaring us!”

Yuu, Mai and Floramon sighed at the us part. Clearly, only FanBeemon had been scared.

“I’m gonna give you a five second advantage and then I am going to fire my stingers at you, so you better…”

A Numemon interrupted FanBeemon. It had somehow found new courage after hearing about them being scared and all.

“No!” it said, holding out its tongue. “But you should be in a hurry unless you want to be covered in our Numemon slime!”

Mai gulped. The thought of being covered in poop was horrific. She peeked at Yuu and he nodded. Soon the group was dashing upwards, the Numemon and Bakemon following behind, throwing goo and howling, just to scare them. They quickly became tired, but so did the hunters. After running for a bit, the chasers had gotten far behind the kids and their Digimon. They stopped, but not because they were tired. Something new blocked their way. A castle had somehow been cut out of the stone inside the cave. Yuu was amazed about its grandness and how everything fitted so well together with the stone covering it at all sides.

“Should we go inside?” Mai asked Yuu, panting.

“Probably, we don’t want those nasty things attacking us again, right?”

When Yuu finished his sentence, they could once again hear the chattering voices of the Numemon and Bakemon.

Let’s stay and fight!” FanBeemon exclaimed loudly.

Yuu understood that he was angry, but there was no idea to fight that many opponents. He could not help but to wonder why they attacked them. Mai had to snap him out of is thoughts for a third time. She shook him violently.

“We have to make up our…”

A big piece of pink goo landed right in front of her, squishing and squirting little fragments on her shoes. Mai burst.

“Floramon! Destroy them!” she yelled, eyes glowing with maliciousness.

Yuu backed away, and looked at FanBeemon. Apparently, they had to fight them anyhow. He prepared for the worst, but as the chasing Digimon came close again, they halted, and stared in fear over Mai’s and Yuu’s heads. The humans turned around slowly and saw something completely new. From the courtyard of the castle a ginormous, blue mass of slime had come forth. It had some metal plating and a few of its ribs were showing. Yuu covered his mouth, not to throw up due to the creature’s foul stench.

“Ra-Ra-Ra-Raremon!” one Bakemon squealed and hid behind Mai.

A Numemon went up to the giant, sweating with fear.

“We are terribly sorry but…”

Raremon squished the Numemon before it could finish.

“Why are you even here? I told you to deal with the humans!” Raremon said slowly, but with an angry tone.

It did not seem very bright, but when it opened its mouth, the stench intensified. Mai gulped. All the former enemies screamed and joined the Bakemon that hid behind her. She cared less about them. All her focus was directed at Raremon. When she glanced at Floramon she could see that her partner looked completely stunned.

“What is it?” she asked it.

Floramon had a hard time responding.

“I can’t think clearly, the Raremon’s stench is messing with my head!”

“Rookie-level Digimon can’t fight a Raremon; its stench weakens us drastically!” FanBeemon said, continuing on Floramon’s line.

Yuu’s brain worked like never before. He tried to think of strategies to defeat Raremon, without touching it. Unfortunately, he had never seen FanBeemon battle, so he knew none of his moves. Not that it mattered; it was too stunned to do anything. Then he got an idea. He took a part of his shirt and ripped of a part of the arm. Mai watched him do it and understood his plan. She also ripped a piece of cloth of her t-shirt. By tying the ends together, Yuu created a mask. He rapidly tied it around FanBeemon’s mouth. The insect Digimon immediately shone up. So did Floramon.

“I can think clearly again!” FanBeemon hoorayed.

Their happiness was short-lived. Raremon made an attack by emitting a liquid from its huge mouth. The children and Floramon jumped out of the way, and FanBeemon flew upwards, but quickly changed its direction. When it neared Raremon, Yuu saw what the acid had done to the ground. A sizzling indicated that it was some sort of gastric acid.

“Watch out FanBeemon!” he shouted.

FanBeemon directed its back-segment against Raremon.

“Feel my Gear Stinger!” he hallowed.

His stinger started to glow and shot out a rain of short nails at Raremon. When the attack hit the blue blob, the pins slowly faded into its body. It had no effect whatsoever. FanBeemon was not ready for the next attack. Raremon lunged out one of his malformed arms and smacked FanBeemon. The insect Digimon got stuck in Raremon’s body. Yuu let out a cry as FanBeemon stopped moving. Suddenly, all his emotions released at the same time. It was by then that he saw the glimmering square just underneath Raremon’s left eye, not far from FanBeemon. This time he did not calculate his possibilities.
“Mai! Tell Floramon to attack!” he yelled at his companion.

“Use your pollen attack!” Mai shouted and Floramon let out the orange dust form its flower-hands.

Raremon got irritated by the puny attack and roared.

“I’m gonna get you!” he said, and started to gurgle the same acid from before.

Yuu used the advantage by running towards the stinking Digimon. He did not think of the stench when he threw himself onto the giant. As he grabbed the shining device, Raremon noticed him.

“FanBeemon!” he shouted desperately.

FanBeemon started to glow unexpectedly and Raremon covered its eyes, not used to the light. Yuu looked at the device in his hand, getting hotter and hotter. It was brown of color and started to talk with a metallic voice.

“Digivolution commencing!”

FanBeemon’s glowing silhouette grew remarkably in size. The lower segment of its body became bigger, and rounder. Its arms shrunk into two and they were covered with something that could only be shoulder pads.

“FanBeemon digivolves into…”

When the glow settled, Yuu clung onto a big, metal armored bee. The shoulder pads were in fact some sort of jet drives. FanBeemon had really changed. Yuu liked its new appearance.

“…Waspmon!”

Raremon was not happy about what it saw. Using the stench advantage it had been able to fend of the Rookie-levels. With Waspmon being a Champion-leveled Digimon, he stood no chance.

“Just a second, Yuu, then you can climb of”, Waspmon said to him.

“It’s OK!”

“I am glad that you are not a fast Digimon, Raremon. It would be harder to hit you with my strongest attack then”, Waspmon said calmly to Raremon.

The enemy felt threatened. The laser gun on the bottom of Waspmon’s end segment started to glow. The glow intensified and Yuu could feel the heat.

“Eat my Bear Buster!” Waspmon buzzed.

A beam shot out of Waspmon’s end and hit Raremon, whom made some effort in avoiding, head on. The blue goo collapsed in itself and started to dissolve, meaning it was defeated. Mai and Floramon hoorayed loudly. She helped her partner to remove the mask. Waspmon landed as good as its massive body allowed it to. Just as Yuu jumped off, Waspmon reverted into a much smaller form, smaller than FanBeemon. A yellow, big eyed insect with three pairs of wings, landed on his shoulder.

“Aww”, it complained. “I am a Puroromon again!”

“Don’t be sad”, Mai comforted Puroromon. “You are very cute!”

Yuu looked at the brown Digivice in his hand. Mai inspected it as well, on some distance of course.

“So, now I have a Digivice too. That makes me the third one, unless Aaron got one just before me…” he said, putting the device in his pocket.

As they settled, a Numemon went up to him. They had completely forgotten about them. It cried, or at least wept a little.

“Thank you!” it said between each sulk.

The other Numemon and the Bakemon flew up to him and Puroromon, embracing them. Yuu felt a little uncomfortable. So much for being enemies. Mai disturbed the beautiful moment by clearing her throat.

“What should we do now?” she asked.

A Bakemon flew up to her and replied, with a deep voice.

“Allow me”, it said and pointed at the castle. “Let me be your guide, I know a way to the surface, but it forces us to go through the castle.”

Mai shrugged.

“It’s OK with me”, she replied, trying to sound as pleasant as possible.

The group started to walk towards the castle, but only the Bakemon that had offered to help them followed. The rest stayed. Their reason for not coming along was that they were scared of the sunlight. Mai suspected something else. When she glanced at Yuu, he nodded, confirming that he thought something was fishy as well. The grand courtyard was empty, but still smelled like Raremon. No ornaments or plants were placed on the yard, though Mai doubted that any flowers could survive down here. She thought of Floramon and hoped that she had not said that out loud.

Bakemon swung one of the main entrance’s doors open, revealing a long, dampened hallway. As it closed behind them, a dark figure soared down from a tower overlooking the entrance. The Numemon and Bakemon shut their mouths as they saw it. It invoked the same fear that had been seen when Raremon appeared.

“It seems as if only one of you actually does their job around here”, the shadow said with a cold, dry voice.

The Digimon froze.

“I guess I have to get rid of you then…”

With those words, the Numemons and Bakemons started to flee in panic. The shadow drew forth a scythe and with a swipe, the creams silenced. As the figure disappeared into the tower again, the courtyard and the cavern floor in front of it were completely empty.

---

Mai could swear that she heard a few unpleasant sounds from outside as soon as the door closed, but she decided to ignore them. Bakemon led them through the hallway, which soon became a corridor. They took of the left and ended up in a huge dining hall. Yuu was impressed by the food that was set up on the table. He considered before rushing forward to eat it. Puroromon followed him. Mai on the other hand did not want to eat at all. Bakemon seemed a little unhappy about Mai’s rudeness, so she took a bite of a chicken leg, not to cause any ruckus. It tasted good, she had to admit. They sat down at the long table at took part of a great amount of different dishes. Mai loosened up as she went on, and Floramon followed her lead.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked Yuu.

“No worries, we haven’t felt anything strange yet, have we?” he replied with his mouth full of food.

She shrugged. She got the chills when a cold voice could be heard.

“So, Bakemon, we have more guests”, it said.

Mai turned her head and saw a floating Digimon. It wore grey robes, and a red cape with a hood that shrouded its face in darkness. It held a menacing, golden scythe in one of its hands. She gulped a little, remaining calm.

“Allow me to introduce myself; I am Phantomon, the owner of this humble estate…”

Puroromon looked up from its dish and froze when it saw Phantomon. Mai noticed that.

“I think it is time for us to leave”, she said, glancing at Yuu.

He got what she meant. So did, however, Phantomon as well. It insisted.

“No, stay, I’m sure the other guests would love to meet you…”

Since he most likely was not going to help them, she made up her mind.

“Fine, we’ll stay for the night, but are going to continue tomorrow!”

Yuu chucked when he heard what she said. How much he liked the food, he understood that this was not the place to spend the night. Mai rose from her seat.

“Can you show us to our rooms?” she asked Bakemon promptly.

The ghost Digimon glanced at its master, but then started to float out in the hallway again. They followed.

After going up a flight of stairs, they entered a room with four beds. Mai glared at the Bakemon, wondering why they could not get their own rooms in this big castle. Yuu bashed her a little in the side with his elbow, signaling that it would be better if they slept together. She understood his point. In the room sat two boys. One of them was blonde, with his hair put up in a knot. He had a little green Digimon in his lap, with blue stripes and a big, orange comb. The other boy was about the same height as the first one, judging when they sat down. He had unkempt, dirty-blonde hair. Next to him sat a grey bear, with a blue cap that had the word “Bears” written on it in orange. The bear had two pink stripes in its face, two on each side and a couple of blue belts that hung over its shoulder and over its wrists. They stopped chit-chatting as Mai and Yuu entered the room. Bakemon left them alone. Mai went up to the boys. Whilst the boy with the green and orange Digimon remained silent, the one with the bear approached them friendly.

“Hi, I’m Harrison”, he said, shaking first Mai’s and then Yuu’s hands. “This is my partner, Bearmon.”

He pointed at the grey bear.

“Nice to meetcha!” it said, very much alike its companion.

“This is Floramon”, Mai replied. “I am Mai, and this guy here is Yuu, and his Digimon, Puroromon. It’s not usually this small, it just de-digivolved after a fight outside.”

“I see…” Harrison said.

Yuu did not like that Mai introduced him. It made him seem lonesome, even if he probably was sort of a loner. The other boy had not said his name yet. Somehow, Harrison reminded him of Aaron, except for the fact that they were both American. He assumed that the other boy also was American.

“I’m sorry for my friend’s rudeness, his name is Wallace, but he is not very talkative. Neither is Betamon”, Harrison said. “He is half-Japanese so he will probably understand you better than I will.”

Harrison laughed. Mai was thankful for the fact that he eased the mood of the room.

“How long have you been here?” Yuu asked.

“Not for very long, we came yesterday, after being brought here. The two of us was summoned just in front of the courtyard.”

“Neat, huh?”

“Yup, Phantomon has taken good care of us.”

“He didn’t seem very friendly; I have to admit I am a little scared of him…” Mai said, suddenly.

“Don’t worry; he won’t do you any harm as long as we’re around!” Harrison assured them.

“What do you mean?” Yuu inquired suspiciously.

“Well, if he wanted to attack us I’m sure we could fend him of with our Digimon!”

“I guess you’re right.”

Wallace cleared his throat.

“If you excuse me, I would like to sleep now, It’s pretty late”, he said with a slow voice.

It struck Yuu that they had no idea what the clock was. Unsure of whether or not he should bring forth is Digivice, he let it be.

When he crawled down into his bed, he was happy to feel how warm it was. Puroromon had stopped buzzing, and lay next to him. It did not take long before it snoozed. Yuu tried to clear his mind of the two last days’ happenings. He did, nonetheless, fall asleep pretty quickly. In the bed next to Yuu’s lay Mai. She thought about Harrison and Wallace. Could they really trust them? She had noticed how Yuu avoided taking out his Digivice. When she had made sure that everybody else was sleeping, especially the two other boys, she allowed herself to relax. She soon slept like a baby.

 

[Rolly]

Chapter 4 – Not So Good News​

“Digivolution commencing!”

Aaron felt that his right hand became warmer and wamer, but Coelamon was no longer charging him. It swam in the other direction, as it was fleeing. He made a last effort and looked at his hand. Just as he had thought; a blue Digivice lay in his hand. This could only mean one thing. When the light faded away, Aaron closed his eyes. A big creature bit in his cloths and he was dragged upwards. Finally, his lungs could breathe fresh air.

“…Dorugamon!”

It was then that he passed out.

What happened in front of Jason’s eyes was astonishing. First Coelamon shot out of the water, followed by a black creature with purple lightning marks. It had two big wings, with the same color, aside from the inside of them; they were white. It looked much like Dorumon in the face. The feet and paws had long, red claws. Dorumon must have digivolved. The creature had Aaron in a tight grip between its jaws. It dropped the American boy carefully on the cave floor and puffed him. He opened his eyes, slowly.

“Wow, Dorumon, you sure got big”, he said, smiling faintly.

“Dorugamon”, the Digimon corrected him.

Aaron nodded a little. Dorugamon turned its head towards Coelamon. The big Digimon stood its ground firmly, but it shook a bit.

“You!” Dorugamon growled menacing.

Coelamon suddenly charged Dorugamon with its jaws wide open. The beast Digimon used it to its advantage.

“Go away! Power Metal!” Dorugamon roared and fired a couple of metal orbs towards the surprised fish Digimon.

The orbs hit Coelamon straight on and the enemy flew backwards, landing in a group Crabmon. Jason would have cheered at Dorugamon and Aaron if it had not been for Kotemon having trouble dealing with all the enemies. Blake was concentrating as much as he could on Coronamon, but it was hard when Dorugamon towered up behind them, and so easily defeating Coelamon. When Dorugamon was sure that Coelamon was starting to disappear, it glowed and reverted into its In-Training form. The little Digimon looked like Dorumon, but it was much smaller, with short legs and a very round body form. It hurried over to Aaron. The boy had watched as Dorugamon had brutally defeated Coelamon. He laughed when the little ball of fur jumped into his open arms. Jason, however the much he did not want to, interrupted the fine moment.

“I know this might not be the right time, but…” he began, seeing that more Crabmon crawled out of the lake, snapping their pinchers with a clacking sound. “…we are getting a bit too much on our hands back here!”

Kotemon, still fending of the attackers pretty well alongside Coronamon shouted, agreeing.

“We should run!” Blake shouted to his fellows. “Can you stand up Aaron?”

“I’m fine! Let’s go!” he replied, standing up, still with his little Digimon. Jason and Kotemon rapidly followed after them, and last came Blake and Coronamon. They had completely forgotten about Mai and Yuu. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Jason was sure that they were good. Since the Crabmon did not move very fast on land as they did in water, they got ahead pretty quickly. Searching for an exit out of the cave, the group ran towards the walls and luckily, Coronamon found a little path. It went upwards, if only steeping a little. The Crabmon stopped following them when they had gotten out of the cave. It was understandable; they felt better in the water and did not want to risk anything. Blake thought differently.

“They are not chasing us anymore!” he shouted form the back. “Something up ahead must be intimidating them!”

“Don’t talk nonsense”, Aaron panted. “They don’t want to get away from the water; it’s their higher ground after all!”

Blake murmured something in Japanese that only Coronamon managed to hear. It snickered a little. Jason started to get irritated on the fact that Blake treated Aaron so bad. The boy had actually just saved them. He paid it no mind though, seeing that the uphill path started to flatten out. They stopped running when Aaron halted them. He pointed to the end of the path. It looked as if some sort of sewage tube had been damaged. A hole big enough for a human to enter had sprung open in the side. It appeared as if it had fallen down, since it blocked the road.

“I guess we have to get into the sewers”, Aaron sighed.

“From one danger to another?” Jason noted.

“I guess…”

The group had to help each other to get into the tube. It was, fortunately for them, dried out. And it seemed empty. The tube did, however, tilted slightly downwards, and a grid was clearly visible on the upward sloping side. They decided to head downwards, seeing as they would get nowhere by going up.

“Make sure not to fall this time”, Blake mocked Aaron.

The American boy sniggered.

“Why don’t you go in the middle this time then?”

Blake was just about to accept the offer when Jason interrupted him. Something had just struck him.

“I think that we should be extra careful now, because I don’t think that we will be able to fight any stronger Digimon for some time.”

“What do you mean?” Kotemon asked his partner.

“To be honest, I don’t think you or Coronamon, and especially not Dorumon; can digivolve in the near future…”

“Yeah, you’re probably right”, Blake said, and started walking. “And for your information, I’ll take the lead!”

Aaron shrugged and looked at Jason. Jason motioned him to follow and to ignore Blake’s grumpy attitude. They began walking, right behind Blake.

Unlike the last time they had gone in a narrow passage, it did not stoop so much. But the more they continued on, the more damper it got, and soon enough, Blake made a splash when he put down his foot. Sewage water. Blake signaled that they should be quiet and sneak as good as they could. Judging from last time, anything could hide in the waters. Indicating that the path became steeper, the water level rose quickly. It did not take long before they had water up to their knees. Jason felt insecure about the dirty, pale-brown water. He was sure of the fact that something lurked under the surface. When Aaron jumped a little, the rest of the group was scared as well. The American boy calmed down.

“I’m sorry, I just stepped on something, it’s fine”, he excused himself.

Blake glared at him. Jason pushed his friend in the back and they went on. Jason felt as if they had been down in the tube for quite some time now. Blake suddenly held out his hand and pointed upwards. It was then that Jason and Aaron noticed that a circle of light was seen in the water. When they looked up, they saw a metal trapdoor just above their heads. On second thought, it seemed more like a dumping hole of some sort. Voices could be heard from above.

“Two of the Digidestined are here, but master won’t be satisfied unless we catch the remaining six…” the voice said.

A second one appeared. Jason could not help but to shiver when he heard it. It sounded, harsh, cold and brutal.
“I am aware of that, but it is easier said than done. Depending on what information we can get from the ones we already have, we might find out a thing or two…”

A sudden sound was heard just beside Aaron. Jason and Blake stared at him carefully, but he shrugged. It had not been him. The two voices from above had silenced. They neared the metal trapdoor and looked down. Jason gazed directly at two Digimon, one of them shaped like a ghost, and the other as well. It had, on the contrary, grey robes and a red hood, as well as a golden scythe.

“Well, well, well”, the one with the scythe said, and Jason could almost hint a grin from underneath the hood.

Aaron was unsure, but something had touched his foot just now. Another splash next to him made him sure of what had been meddling with his mind since he first stepped on something earlier. Since they had already been discovered, he spoke.

“Whatever you are, come out of the water!”

A hissing was heard, and the Digimon above them moved back. Jason looked worried. With a burst, the surface of the sewage water broke into a million water drops and a huge white snake appeared before them, jaws wide open. It had an armored shell on the back of its neck.

“Sandiramon!” Kotemon cried loudly.

Dorumon’s new form and Coronamon joined in in Kotemon’s shouting. Blake cleared his throat.

“Stop screaming!”

They went silent for a second, and Sandiramon used the sudden stillness to speak.

“I assume that master will be pleased now, right Phantomon?” it hissed.

The grim looking Digimon from above replied.

“For sure, now bring them up here immediately!”

“Can’t I play with the little one?” Sandiramon asked Phantomon, glaring at Dorumon and Aaron.

“Of course not! Master wants the Digidestined alive!”

As the trapdoor swung open, Jason thought about the term Phantomon had used to describe them. Digidestined, was it? He was sure that it had something to do with Vance and Ty. Those two could not possibly be a part of the group they were searching for. A rope was wound down, and one after another, they reluctantly climbed up. They came out in a kitchen. Phantomon and the ghost Digimon watched them carefully. The trapdoor was closed again by a third Digimon, looking like a ghost as well. Much to Sandiramon’s misfortune. The white snake hissed and dove underwater again, disappearing out of sight.

Phantomon started to float towards the kitchen’s exit, and the ghost Digimon made them follow.

“Stupid Bakemon”, Coronamon murmured.

They entered a new room, a grand dining hall. Little did they know that Mai and Yuu were sleeping just above their heads. Phantomon stopped.

“You must be tired form your journey, my dear guests…” he stressed the word guests.

Jason tried not to mind the unpleasant tone in its voice.

“What do you want from us?” Aaron asked Phantomon, staring at it.

“A lot of things, but I suggest you go to sleep and we will take care of that matter tomorrow. Hopefully your friends might want to attend the gathering… Bakemon will show you were to sleep…”

With those words, Phantomon drifted away. Bakemon pointed towards the staircase.

“Follow me, and don’t try anything stupid!” it said.

They went after it, after passing by a locked door, he stopped and signaled for the three boys and their Digimon to go inside. After they had, the door clicked as Bakemon locked it from outside. Jason sighed deeply.

“It might have something to do with our Digivices, it seems strange for me that all Digimon we’ve met so far want to brutally destroy us”, he said.

“It is strange”, Kotemon filled in. “Most Digimon are very friendly, actually.”

Coronamon and Dorumon nodded. Just as they did that, Dorumon started to glow and suddenly, the full, from-before, Dorumon stood before them. They were a little shocked about how fast it had gone for it.

“Welcome back”, Aaron said.

Dorumon smiled and cuddled a little with its partner. Jason took a look at the room. It was simply furnished with four large beds. Every bed had a drawer each, but at a closer glance they were empty.

“Speaking of the Digivices”, Blake said, continuing on Jason’s line. “Only Jason and I have met Vance and Ty. They have partner Digimon like us, but they appeared unlikely. As if they had been here for some time and were instructed by someone.”
“Or something…” Jason said.

Blake brought out his orange Digivice and put it on the desk closest to them. Jason followed his example and took forth him, the lavender one. Aaron’s blue one soon lay next to the two others.

“I have no idea what we should do with them, to start with”, Blake said. “They seem only to activate when we’re in danger, and after one of our Digimon have digivolved, it stops working for some reason, and they can’t digivolve again.”

“Phantomon and the others must clearly see us as some sort of threat”, Jason said.

“True, and judging from what you told me about those other kids, they do as well”, Aaron finished.

They inspected the three Digivices for a short moment. Kotemon, Coronamon and Dorumon on the other hand, dozed off in one bed each. Jason took his Digivice and put it in his pocket.

“Maybe we should follow their example?”

Aaron and Blake took theirs too.

“We can figure more tomorrow, and see what other persons Phantomon spoke of”, Aaron noted.

“And Mai and Yuu might be those two.”

The three newly announced Digidestined crawled into their beds and fell asleep pretty fast. Jason had not thought about how tired he was until then. His Digivice was safely tucked in his pockets. They had decided to keep their clothes on.

---​

Mai awoke happily from her slumber. She stretched her arms into the air. She noticed Floramon next to her.

“So you finally decided to wake up, huh?” a boy said.

It was Harrison. She saw that the boys were already dressed and ready for breakfast. She also noticed that Puroromon had yet to revert back to FanBeemon.

“I’m sorry if we didn’t wake you though”, Harrison continued. He smiled.

“It’s OK, I needed a good rest”; she replied.

She stepped out of the bed and put on her shoes. Floramon jumped out of the bed on the other end and the two joined up with Yuu, Harrison and Wallace. The latter still remained silent. It made Mai feel insecure. It was if he watching her thoroughly all the time.

“I hope Bakemon will be here soon to take us down to breakfast” Harrison said, breaking the silence.

A few minutes passed by, and finally Mai whispered to Yuu.

< Have you told them about the Digivice yet? >

Yuu shook his head discretely.

< Of course not! Even if he is nice, I don’t trust him yet. >

< Good! >

She knew that Wallace could overhear their conversation, or at least understand them. That was why she had been whispering. It seemed as if they had not noticed their little chat though. The door swung open. Bakemon was there. They followed the Digimon as it exited the room. When they went down the staircase, Mai noticed three figures down in the main dining hall. They looked human. Could it be? Calming herself, she puffed Floramon in the side. She then proceeded by doing the same thing to Yuu. He looked up and saw them as well. He smiled. When they entered the big room, she could clearly see them. It was Jason, Blake and Aaron. The three boys noticed her at the same moment they walked in. Bursting off of their chairs they rushed towards Mai and Yuu. The group embraced and greeted each other. Harrison and Wallace stood back.

“How have you guys been?” she asked excitedly.

“Fine, I guess”, Jason replied.

“Dorumon digivolved, among other things!” Aaron exclaimed happily.

Yuu joined in in his state of mind.

“FanBeemon too!”

“Nice!”

The two high-fived. Phantomon came into the room, thus making the mood a bit chillier. It examined the eight children.

“Now we have five of you Digidestined here”, Phantomon chuckled. “How fortunate.”

Five, Mai thought. Jason and Aaron understood at the same moment that he meant them, Yuu, Blake and Mai.

“I hope you haven’t revealed anything to them, Harrison”, Phantomon proceeded by saying.

Mai turned around and glanced at Harrison and Wallace. The boy with the Bearmon smiled. He raised his hand in an excusing manner.

“Did you have to break our cover, Phantomon? So soon?” he asked, acting stupid.

Yuu’s eyes opened widely. Had the two worked together with the evil Digimon? He was shocked, to say the least.

“You tricked us?” Mai stuttered.

Harrison snickered.

“Not really, you were just stupid enough to fall for my act. Don’t worry; I am as nice as I seem…”

Mai’s face grew red with anger.

“Now, if you would like to bring forth your Digivices”, Harrison then continued.

The four boys glared at him as they plucked out their devices. One lavender, one blue, one orange and one brown.

“Give them to Phantomon.”

The ghost Digimon floated over to Harrison’s side. It stretched out its sleeve; the one that did not carry its scythe. But they did not do as he said. Harrison shook his head.

“Troublesome, are you? Wallace!” he signaled to his friend.

“You should probably back away”, Wallace warned Phantomon.

The Digimon backed off a little. Bearmon and Betamon went up to their partners and stood in front of them. The other battle-ready Digimon were the only thing that divided the two groups of people. What Harrison and Wallace did next made them gasp. They took out to devices. Square and differently colored. Harrison’s was grey; Wallace’s yellow.

“You have Digivices too?” Blake asked, shocked.

“You’re not the only ones that have searched for them…” Wallace said.

“Trust me, we know! And we didn’t really search for them to be honest”, Jason said arrogantly.

“Then I assume that you have met Vance and Ty then?” Harrison pointed out.

Jason nodded. So they did know Vance and Ty; and Jason had been right about them being involved as well.

“So if we’re the Digidestined, who are you?”

“The Digimon refer to us as Digidefiants”, Harrison explained with a smile. “Just like you, there are eight of us.”

“And you want to get these Digivices as well?” Yuu asked.

“Mhm.”

The Digidestined’s Digimon readied themselves for battle. This could be troublesome, and seeing that Harrison and Wallace had Digivices, it could only mean one thing. All hell was about to break loose.