Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, but I would love to!
Author's Note: It'll be explained later, but this story does take place a few years after each of the respective seasons ended. They're all at least 18 years old at this point. Also, the Epilogue from Season 2 will not be canon in this story.
To those who read this story years ago, I'm doing something of an "expanded edition" of this story. It actually is the same overall plot, but I'm editing a lot of my older stories for grammar errors, plot holes, and things like that. Every chapter that was up before has about a thousand new words added to them, so a lot more of the story is filled in and expanded on. I'll also start adding completely new chapters soon.
Hope you enjoy the story!
Takeru stood next to Hikari as Taichi and Yamato held off the attacking Digimon with Omegamon, turning the massive groups of Champions, Ultimates, and even some Megas, back into data. Angemon flew above the younger siblings, knocking aside stray blasts with his staff. Nephertimon flew next to Kari with an unconscious Davis and Veemon on her back.
"I found Davis, but not Ken," She said solemnly. "Imperialdramon Fighter Mode was defeated long before I came by."
Angemon ran out of the energy and de-digivolved into Patamon, this fight had been going too long for him to continue in his Champion stage.
"Sorry TK," Patamon said, flying over to his partner. Takeru patted Patamon's head.
"It's okay Patamon," He comforted. "Do you have enough energy for an armor digivolution?" Armor Digivolution took less energy than the regular kind, though it came at the price of being weaker than their natural Champion stage.
Patamon nodded. "I think so!"
"Digi-Armor Energize!" Takeru cried out. Patamon glowed and transformed into the flying horse of Hope, Pegasusmon.
"Get out of here!" Tai yelled. Matt nodded in agreement.
"We'll hold them off, but you need to get away!" He shouted. Takeru and Hikari climbed onto Pegasusmon and looked at their brothers sadly.
"We'll be fine TK," Matt said softly. Takeru nodded, somehow managing to hear.
"Go!" He shouted to Pegasusmon. His partner flapped his wings and, along with Nephertimon, flew off.
"Now let's give them all we got!" Tai growled. Matt nodded.
"You two are quite powerful," A voice said. An entire battlefield full of enemies stopped in their tracks as the deep voice filled the area. The effect was quite chilling and both Digidestined felt a shiver crawl through them. Omegamon pointed his gun arm to the source of the voice, a giant shadow that was floating in the sky.
"I've managed to take all your friends except your younger brother and sister," The shadow began to shape into an almost humanoid form. "Hope and Light, the only ones I needed. How annoying it is that they're the only ones I didn't capture."
Tai and Matt fixed the shadow with a glare.
"If it bothers you then it definitely makes me happy." Tai stated. The shadow laughed, growing horns from his forehead and wings on his back.
"Did you know this is the second dimension with a digital world I've been to?" The shadow asked. "The other one had Digidestined as well, but they called themselves Tamers. I managed to capture all but two from there as well, the sneaky Gallant and Vixen managed to get away from me."
"Why are you doing this?" Matt bellowed.
"Well I'd like to tell you- no actually I don't," The shadow laughed as if he'd made a joke. "But I'll let you become my generals, how about that?"
"How about...?" Matt started.
"...no?" Tai finished. Omegamon fired three shots into the shadow, each getting knocked to the side by some invisible force.
"Tsk. Pathetic. Don't worry though, you'll get much stronger when I'm through with you," The shadow flew at Omegamon and his partners and they rushed at him with their weapons ready. A loud explosion filled the air as their private battle started, an army of terrified Digimon being witnesses to it.
"Where're we going?" Hikari asked. Takeru sighed. He'd felt a strong surge of darkness from where they came from, and there was no doubt Kari had as well. All they could do now was run and hide until their Digimon recovered. After that... well, they'd figure that part out later.
"I don't know, Kari," Takeru replied. "I just know we need to get away from there and hide for a little while."
"Might I offer a suggestion?" A new voice asked from behind them. A man with glowing white wings was hovering there, giving them all a surprise.
"My name's Vigil," The man said. "I'm what you would call...a Guardian I suppose. I exist between dimensions and try to protect them."
"Didn't do a great job here, did you?" Nephertimon asked. Vigil shook his head sadly.
"No...I didn't," Vigil stated sadly, in a voice just above a whisper. "But let me take you to a safe place. From there I'll be able to to help you save your friends and family, along with another dimension."
A portal opened behind Vigil. "Follow me."
Pegasusmon and Nephertimon flew into the portal with their riders wondering what was going on. When they passed through it they came across what seemed to be an ancient Greek temple. There were several worn pillars and statues. Each statue was different; one was of a knight, another was an angel, and several others that couldn't be made out from erosion.
"Where are we?" Kari asked.
"He likes to call this his headquarters," A masculine voice said. A tall man with spiky brown hair walked up to them, but what got everyone's attention were the goggles on his head.
"My name's Takato," He said. Takato pointed to a woman with red hair tied into a spiky ponytail making her way over to them.
"I'm Rika," She introduced herself. Vigil appeared near them, now wearing a white suit. Takeru noticed Vigil was tall man, not as tall as he, but nowhere near as short as Hikari either, with green eyes and brown hair.
"Looks like I've got some explaining to do," He said. Takeru, Kari, and Davis were too tired to do anything but nod. They would rest first, even if it would be a night full of revisiting their recent horrors.
* * * One month ago * * *
Cole looked behind him, shifting his black hair out of his blue eyes. The group of four Gazimon led by a Diamondmon were still after him. He was running for his life after managing to steal some tech from a nearby base.
"Stop, thief!" The leader, an Ultimate called Diamondmon, a giant golem-type made of diamonds, shouted. "Maybe Dominus will let you live if you give up now."
"Let me think about that." Cole yelled back. "How about...no? Candle fire!"
The Digital DNA from Candlemon let him fire tiny balls of flame at his pursuers, hitting them but doing little damage; the only effect was it made Diamondmon and his team of rookies speed up in anger.
"That could have gone better!" Cole stated in frustration
{Ever heard that saying about playing with fire?} A voice in his head said.
"Not the best time Candle-" Cole was interrupted as he was forced to dodge some giant crystals fired by Diamondmon.
{It might be a good idea to digivolve now.} Candlemon suggested in his annoyingly calm voice.
"Right," Cole took out his newly upgraded Digivice, the Couno. "Digivolution Activate!" A light surrounded Cole and when it cleared a newly outfitted man stood there. He held a long wooden staff in one hand and wore the black cloak of a magician. The staff had a strange glow about it as it conducted the Warriors magical ability.
"Magical Game!" Cole shouted while aiming his weapon. A beam of golden light shot out of his staff and hit two Gazimon, who turned into data particles that flew away. The remaining Gazimon whimpered and turned, running away. At least he tried to before Diamondmon pounded him with his giant fists, turning him into particles of data that Diamondmon absorbed.
"Never liked him anyways," Diamondmon said. Cole had frozen in shock at the sight.
{This isn't going to be easy Cole. Diamondmon is the ultimate of Rockmon, and about as tough as they get. His Diamond Barrage can easily wipe out an entire fleet of Rookies, maybe even champions, and his skin is probably the hardest of any Digimon.} Wizardmon explained. Diamondmon indeed looked similar to Rockmon, but instead of being big and bulky, it was sleek and gigantic. Its skin was covered in a blue shell of diamond and it's face was a dark black.
"Then I'll just have to be tougher," Cole replied. Diamondmon smirked as Cole got prepared to fight.
"Oh, how I would love to beat you down to the tiniest particles of data before absorbing you piece by piece, but my master wants you alive," He said, a touch of regret in his voice.
Cole cocked his head sideways at Diamondmon.This guy is creepy.
{I whole-heartedly agree.} Cole could picture Wizardmon frowning and shaking his head.
Diamondmon sniffed the air and smiled. "Ah, Master is coming." A large shadow blocked out the light around them and Cole suddenly felt nervous.
I hope Vigil has rounded up those other Warriors. This was the last thing on Cole's mind before everything was swallowed by complete darkness.
* * * Present, One Week After Vessel Realms Defeat * * *
"And I've that's the last I heard from Cole, a Warrior working with me from the Mind Realm," Vigil said as he shut off the projector. In front of him sat five people, three male and two female. Hikari licked the back of her hand and ran it through her hair before blushing heavily as she realized what she was doing. Rika nodded to her, sympathetic. The Digital DNA, also called DDNA, seemed to cause them act a little like their Digimon partners.
"Your realms, the Heart and Vessel realms have already been attacked by Dominus, he now has two of the three keys he needs to get to the Core Realm. His next target is the Mind Realm, a world that has only a few people in it that have discovered Digimon to be real. They've thought as them as only TV shows, much like the Heart Realm did. The Mind Realm is where Cole was from, meaning Dominus's discovered a way into it." Vigil pulled down on the rope where the projection had been, which lifted the screen up to reveal a white board behind it.
"There are more dimensions than Heart, Mind, Vessel, and Core, but the first three are very important," Vigil used a marker to draw three large circles that made something of a triangular shape. Evidently the marker could change colors at will as each circle was a different color. Vigil labelled one circle the Vessel Ream, the realm of Takeru and Hikari, and it was a green color, then the Heart Realm, the realm of Takato and Rika, a red color, and the Mind realm, the realm that Cole was from, which was a blue color. Then he drew a triangle, made up of a variety of colors, in the middle.
"This triangle is the Core Realm, the most crucial of all the realms," Vigil informed his team. "All realms are like support beams, adding to the structure of the universe. Anytime one is hurt badly, the others feel it, at least to an extent. How much that extent is different. For instance, when Dominus invaded Vessel and Heart, something happened to Mind. The defeat of Heart is what careened Cole into the Digital World of his realm, and that's where I found him and recruited him to our cause."
Vigil took a second, breathing slowly to keep his emotions about what had happened to Cole under control. After he let out that breath slowly, he continued.
"However, when Vessel was defeated, a few more Digimon appeared in Mind's Real World. Other realms are also being affected. See, Vessel, Mind, and Heart are like support beams. They are some of the most important realms, and if something happens to them..."
Vigil took the marker and drew many small circles around the current few and then, showing that the marker could do more than just change colors, manipulated the circles until they merged together to form one giant circle.
"If the Core Realm is accessed then anything can happen, though I have a suspicion Dominus will pull every realm together and rule over them all." Vigil then tapped the marker against the emptiness within the circle, filling it completely with black. "And we'll be ruled by darkness."
"You've already fused with your Digimon," Vigil continued, gesturing to the Couno Digivice on each of their wrists. "Now your mission is to go to the Mind Realm and find the other Digidestined there. You'll need all the help you can get to stop Dominus from getting to the Core Realm. I don't know where Dominus is keeping your kidnapped friends, but I have to assume they're somewhere in his territory, a dimension I can't get into."
Takato raised his hand.
"Yes Takato?" Vigil looked at the man.
"You say we've fused with our Digimon, but I haven't been able to do anything different," Takato said. "When will our Digimon traits show up?"
"When you reach the Mind realm. We have it set on your Digivices not to activate fully until then, there's not much need for it right now. Yes, Davis?" Vigil pointed at the other goggle-headed male who'd raised his hand.
"What will happen if he gets to the Core Realm?" Davis asked. "Is it really different from our dimensions?"
"He'll become the ultimate ruler or the ultimate destroyer," Vigil explained. "The Core Realm is what holds everything together, and what can take it all apart."
"Any idea of what this 'Dominus' will do if he gets there?" Rika asked.
"I don't know," Vigil sighed. "He's shown no patterns with what he does. The Digimon working for him aren't all the same type, things he destroys are seemingly random, what he chooses to leave untouched has little in common, and so on. He's a giant mystery. Yes, Takeru?"
"How do we find the Mind Realms Warriors?" Takeru asked. Vigil pointed at the Digivice he wore on his wrist.
"Press the gold button, a map with the Fusion Warriors shown as dots will appear," He explained. "I'm able to do some things, like take a weakened Digimon into my realm. If it was brainwashed by Dominus, I can purify it. If it wasn't... well, they may know something. I'll get that something from them" A portal opened behind the five warriors. "I've loaded up some packs with gear for you, including things like rations, camping gear, and things you might need. Now go and take Dominus down!"
The warriors stood up and walked through the portal.
"Good luck," Vigil said just before the portal closed. After it did so, he lingered for a few minutes, thinking about what the Warriors would have to do, go through, and if they'd truly be able to do it. Shaking is head clear of those thoughts, for it did little good to try and guess what would happen, he walked away to work on his other tasks. The Mind Realm would soon be invaded more and more as Dominus gained power within it, and he needed to focus on tactics his side could use. For now though, he'd have to wait and analyze the little he could glean from Dominus.
Takeru opened his eyes and stretched, stifling a yawn. Takato lay a few feet away from him, still asleep. Takeru looked around, no sign of Hikari, Rika, or Davis. He stood up and flapped his wings a few times... then he froze. They felt so natural on his body that he was actually confused as to whether he was born with them or no.
When did I ever have wings? He asked himself while the fogginess began to clear. Once it did so, Takeru studied the new parts of his body; they were orange and leathery, and stretched fully around sixteen feet altogether. He was able to condense them tightly as well, so that they would likely be able to be hidden with no more than a slight bulge underneath a thick shirt. Once the surprise of this stopped prioritizing his mind, Takeru saw an unconscious teammate nearby and rushed towards them.
"Takato! Are you okay? Wake up!" Takeru started shaking Takato. Takato opened his eyes and yawned; when he did a huge ball of fire flew out of his mouth, almost hitting Takeru. The goggled boy immediately sat up and his eyes widened.
"I just…did I just…?" Takato was definitely surprised. Takeru gestured towards his wings.
"We've definitely completed the fusion with our Digimon, I've got Patamon's wings, and look at the back of your hands," He said, pointing at the hazard signs on Takato's hands.
"This is so weird!" Takato said. Then he looked around. "Where are we?"
"In the Real World, " Takeru said. "Well at least this dimensions Real World."
"I guess we should explore a bit, we need to find the new Tamers, or Digidestined, or whatever they're called here."
"Yeah, we also need to look for Hikari, Rika, and Davis."
Hikari tried her best to wake Rika up.
"Stupid Cat's Eye Hypnotism!" She seethed, ignoring Gatomon's mental protests at the insults on her attacks. "I didn't mean to use it on you Rika, I'm sorry!"
Davis stood over her with a smile on his face.
"Well, at least you didn't use your Lightning Paw on her," He joked.
Hikari plopped down and decided take a break from trying to wake up Rika.
"So… you're fused with Veemon?" She asked.
{Duh Kari,} Gatomon teased. {The V on his forehead doesn't give it away?}
Davis nodded and gestured to the light golden V he now wore, barely visible underneath his goggles. "Yeah, but it's kinda annoying hearing him in my head all the time." He winced as Veemon replied with what was probably an insult and Hikari giggled. Their attention was drawn back to the sleeping girl as she began moving.
Rika opened her eyes and yawned. "Where are we?"
Before Hikari could answer a huge Digimon appeared, tearing through the park they were at; it was a Tyrannomon.
"Flamethrower!" It yelled as a blast shot from its mouth, causing them all to dodge. Rika immediately seemed to disappear, then reappear above the huge dinosaur's head.
"Diamond storm!" She cried out. Dozens of tiny blue spears settled in front of her crossed arms. She spread them and all the sharp objects flew at the Tyrannomon's head. Davis recovered soon after and immediately ran towards the giant red T-Rex.
"V-Head Butt!' He yelled, the golden V on his head began to glow and he leaped at the Tyrannomon, hitting it in the stomach, shockwaves were sent through the ground when the giant Digimon fell. Hikari jumped on top of a nearby tree branch and looked the Tyrannomon in the eyes.
"Cats-Eye Hypnotism!" Her eyes turned red and the fallen Digimon fell asleep. Rika landed with an inhuman grace and Davis rubbed the back of his head while laughing.
"That was awesome!" Davis exclaimed. Hikari grinned and leaped off the branch and landed next to Davis.
"That's the first I've seen you actually use your head in a fight Davis," She giggled. Davis just gave her a mock glare. Rika rolled her eyes. "So what should we do with this loser?"
"I don't know..." Kari started to say as their digivices began to glow and a portal appeared, pulling Tyrannomon inside of it.
"What was that?" Davis cried out.
"That must've been what Vigil was talking about earlier," Kari suggested.
"I'm sure that's exactly what it was. Now come on you two, we need to find our missing members and the new Digidestined. If Digimon are showing up in the Real World then we'll need all the help we can get!" Rika said sternly.
"Maybe this will help," Davis said, activating his Digivice. He pressed a button on it and a map appeared, eight dots blinked in different areas on it. Five were blue and three were red, three of the blue ones were huddled almost in the same spot while the other two were together but far away.
"I'm guessing we're these," Hikari said, pointing at the three blues.
"Those must be Takeru and Takato," Rika pointed at the other two blues.
"These must be places for us to eat!" Davis exclaimed, pointing at the red ones. Rika and Hikari exchanged a glance before laughing.
"What?" Davis asked.
"Those aren't place to eat!" Rika explained.
"Oh yeah?" Davis challenged. "Well what are they?"
"Those must be new Fusion Warrior," Takeru said, pointing at the red dots.
They both looked over their Couno's maps; the red dots didn't really seem to have a difference. Takato looked closer, one of them had a black exclamation mark blinking on it.
"There!" Takato exclaimed. He pointed to the dot he'd discovered. TK looked over Takato's shoulder. "That sign must mean this one's in danger!"
"Good thing they're nearby," Takeru said. "Let's go!"
Canem didn't look different than a normal person, well besides the goggles he wore around his neck like some sort of necklace. He lived by himself in an apartment while going to college. He ate relatively normal food, mainly fast-food, microwaveable foods, and instant noodles since he couldn't cook. To the average eye he was just a guy in college. But then again, not many people knew to look for others that were fused with a Digimon.
A week ago Canem had met one named Caligomon. He looked like a mix between a fox and a human; reminding him of the Renamon he'd seen in the Digimon cartoon series. Except Caligomon was red and black and had the symbols of a cross on his gloves instead of a yin-yang. Caligomon had told him everything he'd known about Digimon and some upcoming dangers, which wasn't much to go on.
All Canem knew was there was supposedly two other Digidestined he had to find, then he'd have to go to the Digital World. He shifted the strap of his backpack, trying to make it more comfortable, as he walked home. A chill crept up his spine, something was wrong. Canem quickened his pace as his feelings of upcoming danger increased.
{Be careful Canem,} Caligomon warned in his head.
I know, Canem thought back.
"V-Nova Blast!" A voice shouted from behind him. With reflexes he still hadn't mentally adjusted to, Canem leaped over the giant ball of fire. Flipping in the air before landing, he faced the giant blue monster, a Veedramon. A growing sense of fear rose in Canem, Veedramons were supposed to be very powerful; there was no way he could take it by himself. Unfortunately, he had no choice.
"Nice try, big guy," Canem taunted, covering fear with humor. "Hey, that rhymed!"
Veedramon, obviously having no sense of humor, roared and shot another blast at him, which Canem leaped to the side to dodge. While flipping his backpack fell into the blast, scorching it completely.
"Do you know how expensive that textbook was?" Canem yelled. Leaping high into the air, he summoned dozens of jagged golden beams in front of his open hands.
"Arrowhead Strike!" He pushed his opened palms out and sent them flying at Veedramon. A few of them struck its face, causing a loud roar of pain, but most of them bounced off its skin. It was just as Canem had feared, Veedramon's skin was too thick for his arrowheads to pierce; he'd have rely on other attacks.
"Tough one, aren't you?" Canem commented. As soon as he landed he powered up the energy in his hands and feet.
"Digi-Fu!" His hands and feet glowed with energy and he charged at Veedramon, punching and kicking with a grace a martial artist could never hope to achieve.
{Would you please stop calling that attack such an idiotic name?}Caligomons voice rang in Canems ear.
Not the time Caligo-buddy! Canem's "Digi-Fu" attack was powerful, but it required intense focus and Canem hadn't quite mastered it yet. As he kept striking, each hit landed solidly and the Veedramon roared in pain. However, due to allowing himself to get distracted, he soon became unable to control the extra energy very well and it cost him. The energy disappeared completely and when his hits, while still strong than a Humans, weakened. The Veedramon took advantage of this and counter-attacked by slamming it's iron-hard fist into Canems side, causing him to fly several feet away and land hard on the ground.
Canem gasped in pain, struggling both to breathe and get up to his knees. Darkness threatened to claim him and nausea almost overwhelmed him. He fought hard to stand up as best he could, but an incoming fire blast hit him, causing him to be carried away with it several more feet. His skin was burned and his clothes were tattered. He fell hard, consciousness becoming an incredibly fickle state. He found the energy to pull himself up to one knee, though his body protested hard against such an action.
"I'll be really annoyed if I let an overgrown … blue… thingy beat me," Canem semi-quipped, not able to think of any good insults. His hands were on the ground as he kept struggling to both get up and not vomit; his normally brown eyes flashed gold.
"Pyrosphere!" Someone called from behind him and a fireball whizzed by him, striking the Veedramon. Canem was picked up and flown through the air, which didn't do much to keep his food down and he finally lost that battle as he relieved his stomach of his lunch. During this his eyes also returned to their natural brown color. He looked up and saw a man with blonde hair and a pair of orange wings as his savior.
"What's g…g…going on?" Canem was finding it hard to speak as his body crept closer and closer to unconsciousness The blonde man just smiled at him before setting him down.
"You'll be safe here, me and my buddy over there will take care of this," He pointed another man with brown hair and a set of goggles on his head. It was amazing enough when the fireballs Veedramon sent at him didn't hurt him, but it was even more of a surprise when the guy shot his own fireballs back from his mouth.
That's gotta hurt the throat, Canem thought to himself. The blonde man flapped his wings a couple of times and flew off to help his friend.
"Air Bombs!" The man held out his hands as some wind gathered into them, forming what looked like almost clear, yet solid and condensed, spheres. He then threw one after the other at the giant Veedramon, the air spheres combined with Goggles's fire ball and hit a recently fired V-Nova blast, sending it, combined with the other two attacks, flying back at Veedramon. The big blue beast groaned and collapsed to the floor, unconscious. What happened next surprised them all as a light appeared from the Couno Digivices of the two men and a blue and white portal just big enough to fit Veedramon opened. It levitated into the air, then ascended through the portal, which closed soon afterward. After recovering from the surprise of that, the flying man and his friend ran up to Canem.
"You alright?" Goggles asked. Canem nodded a bit; thanks to the Caligomon DDNA in him his wounds had already began healing, though they still had ways to go, and he was incredibly tired.
"Who are you guys?" He asked.
"I'm Takeru," The man folded his wings under his shirt, which surprisingly hid them from sight.
"My name's Takato," Goggles said.
"I-I'm Canem," Canem said. Sleep claimed him before he could say anything else.