Hey, this is an Adventure/Frontier Crossover. Please leave me your comments. I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON.
Chapter 1: Numb
Emptiness, cold, numb, dark, alone. These are only a few words to describe the dreaded situation that was occurring now. It was tough to believe these were the same digimon that had taken on MaloMyotismon. The cell he sat in was dark, deserted and the only sound in the room was Patamon's constant whimpers from the bruises on his body. Gatomon was looking out of the cage and at the same time tended to Patamon. One would wonder how these three got to this stage. There wasn't a single soul in the digital world who didn't know of their adventures but now it seemed it had all been for nothing.
It had been such a peaceful time, all the digimon were working together to repair all the damage that had been done with the destiny stones being destroyed, and then MaloMyotismon it took a fair while to get everyone settled and things back to routine. The chosen digimon had become extremely well-respected for all that they had done for the digital world and everything seemed perfect. But the perfect picture can never remain in a perfect frame forever, there always comes a time when cracks begin to tear down the picture and soon the photo frame is broken.
A similar thing has happened here. The digimon were happy and content with their lives when another evil attacked, it came so suddenly that no one had even been prepared for it. But as the saying goes, after silence always comes the storm. Except storm is too gentle of a term to describe the situation that had occurred; digimon villages were destroyed, the stronger digimon in the villages being captured while the weaker ones were eliminated as they appeared to be of no use. Veemon, Patamon and Gatomon were also amongst those who got captured.
Veemon had been trying to protect Wormmon and Armadillomon so at least some of them could escape the destruction. He had tried the same with Patamon and Gatomon but they refused to budge and stayed beside him helping him as much as they possibly could but in the process, they had all been captured. Each day felt like a million years for all of them.
Veemon's punishments seemed to be the hardest of them all. Patamon would furiously beat the cage he was in but clearly it was made to keep whoever was in it captured. The figure whom no one could identify as human or digimon, even though it looked human but changed shape and had powers like a digimon so it wasn't clear which one the figure was. However, he used a long metal pole with spikes running down from both sides and each hit with it left bruises.
It had been revealed that the creature wanted to use Imperialdramon but Veemon refused to let slip where Wormmon and the others were, pretending he didn't know. Patamon at times wanted to simply let it slip just to save Veemon the agony. One night, the beating had gotten awful and a lot more cruelty was used, both Patamon and Gatomon were horrified. Patamon sent constant boom bubbles at the cage while Gatomon trembled, memories that she wished she would forget beginning to resurface, the time she spent with Myotismon beginning to come back to her.
"Stop it, please!" Gatomon yelled, though she knew her cries would have no effect. This enemy was as cruel as Myotismon, he would spare them no mercy just like Myotismon had done with her.
Cuts were appearing all over Veemon's body, digital blood seeping out of the wounds and the little dragon's body right now was more red than his natural color blue. After the demons felt the punishment was enough they threw him back in the cage and grabbed Patamon, feeling he needed to be punished for attempting to rebel against them as well.
Gatomon wanted to help Patamon and tried desperately rush out after him but was blasted back in the cage, the door being locked after Patamon was taken out. The orange hamster digimon shook his head at Gatomon and the feline digimon let her gaze go to the floor. Why was this happening? She went to Veemon slowly started to tend to his wounds, keeping her tears at bay. Salt infected wounds and it would only cause Veemon more agony than he was already going through.
The digimon's breathing was laboured with each breath he took. Gatomon felt her heart beat rapidly in her chest, he needed to get out of here. If only she could reach Kari somehow, she could contact Davis. The feline digimon almost smiled as she thought how Davis would personally want to wring the necks of those who hurt his digimon.
As Patamon was thrown inside a little too quickly in Gatomon's opinion, not that she was complaining about it but it certainly was suspicious. Having worked for an evil digimon before, she knew they always had ulterior motives for whatever they did however she went to Patamon's side picking him up carefully and bringing him next to Veemon whom she had already tended to the best she could with the equipment she currently had with her which honestly wasn't much.
The digital cat's eyes widened as Hawkmon was thrown inside, his condition wasn't as bad as the others so Gatomon tended to Patamon first due to him being a lot more injured, then tended to Hawkmon for his minor injuries. After that, Gatomon went and leaned against the wall, tears prickling down her cheeks.
"Kari..." Gatomon murmured desperately longing for her partner to be here with her. If only Kari was with her, these guys wouldn't be able to lay a hand on her or her friends. Even if she hadn't been hurt as much as Patamon or Veemon she still would be able to help them instead of just watching her friends being thrown around like flies. Tears now finally rolled down her cheeks and she managed to sleep on her fears and sorrows.
Veemon, meanwhile lay a few steps away from her feeling pain with each breath he took. It was like every single breath was cutting through his body like knives. When he was being beaten, he had tried to escape but it had only increased the level of torture. He could tell Gatomon was attempting to hold back tears so she wouldn't end up hurting him more than he already was.
His thoughts drifted to Davis for a moment wondering if his friend figured it out where he was. Of course he didn't, it wasn't like a sign would have appeared via his digieggs since he hadn't given up his courage through all the beatings, and his concern for his friends was pretty much all the same so there would be no sign of things having gone bad. But after today, he didn't know. How long would they have to endure this? It had only been 2 weeks at max but it felt like a lot more.
Guilt also tore at the digimon's heart for getting Patamon and Gatomon involved in this. Yes, they had followed of their own will but he should have tried harder to stop them, some friend he was pulling them into danger after him. His eyes went to Patamon and saw all the bruises and wounds covering his body. He saw a piece of dusty cloth at the end of the cage and walked over, he dusted it and cleaned it. Even moving his arm caused pain to rush through him but he ignored it, his main focus on helping Patamon get at least one decent night's sleep even if he couldn't.
The blue dragon scrubbed then winced falling to his knees, one of his wounds reopening at that but immediately he stood back up, leaning against the wall to take a breath. He coughed slightly, blood coming out of his mouth but he couldn't give in he had to try his best in the situation he was in. It's what Davis would want him to do. He finished cleaning it and went over wrapping it around the little hamster's frail body at the moment. It would soak his blood so he wouldn't lose too much. When he stirred, Veemon leaned close to him to hear what he was saying.
"T.K...I will always have hope in you," Patamon was murmuring and once more, guilt tore at Veemon's heart once more. He had to do something, he had to find a way to get at least Patamon and Gatomon out of this mess, but he didn't know how making him feel so useless. What kind of friend was he? Not being able to do anything to help his friends who needed him. For the first time in god knows how long, he sat down burying his head in his hands and cried. He had always been such a happy-go lucky digimon that seeing him cry was a rare sight to see. But right now, it seemed as if all hope was lost like someone had snatched away the chunks of his heart all his positive emotions with all the beatings. The digimon of courage and friendship tried to get some sleep, but with all the physical and moreso emotional trauma, sleep wasn't something that would easily come if one asked for it.
Patamon meanwhile was also attempting to sleep. He felt slightly better as the cloth wrapped around him and he coughed lightly murmuring T.K.'s name even though he knew his partner wasn't here. The hamster opened one eye to see Veemon he looked so distraught and he could tell the blue dragon still blamed himself but he honestly had nothing to blame himself for. He and Gatomon just couldn't leave him alone in this, they were his friends too.
What the orange hamster wanted right now more than anything was to simply embrace his two friends, telling them how much they meant to him. He wanted to go find T.K., telling him how he felt about their friendship, how he missed how they used to be in their first adventure, such friendship that could have never been torn apart. He decided one thing right there and then, their enemies would dearly pay for putting them through so much torture, for making them feel like this. Once morning came, he would definitely attempt to make an escape plan, so they could at least let their human partners know.
His eyes went to Gatomon who appeared to be sound asleep but kept on twisting and turning, it was clear nightmares haunted her too like the rest of them. He would never let anything happen to her even if his life depended on it, she had taken a few beatings as well but nothing compared to what he and Veemon had endured, more Veemon than him. It made him feel so devoid of hope the fact that all he could do is sit there while his friends were brutally tortured in some of the worst ways, something he would not wish even on an enemy seeing Veemon gave him some courage but still made him feel useless.
Stop that. He scolded himself lightly. You must keep the light in your heart glowing and alive. If we stand any chance of getting out of here, if you want any chance to help your friends, keep the hope alive.
Normally, hearing voices is a sign of insanity but Patamon knew in this case, things were slightly different from the usual. It was a voice from his heart telling him to stay strong, he knew if T.K. were here he would probably advise him the same, or would he? He had changed so much after the first adventure...become a lot more dominating what if now he didn't even care about him anymore? No he couldn't think like this, T.K. had promised him in the first adventure that they would be friends forever.
"If you promise we'll always be friends?" Tokomon said after the fight they had due to DemiDevimon.
"Of course. Friends forever." T.K. promised and Tokomon had jumped into his arms from his happiness.
Patamon felt tears fill his eyes at the memory. He hoped T.K. remembered his promise, he hoped their friendship really did last forever. Whatever happened next, he had to try and keep the hope alive though with the events going on now it was becoming a lot harder to do more so than he had expected it to be.
Wormmon, Armadillamon, Agumon and Gabumon were hidden at the end of a cave in one of the more deserted places in the digital world since they had been running for awhile now, they thought it best to rest. It had been 2 days and no sign of trouble from the enemy. But while the four digimon were physically at ease, their mental state wasn't too good.
"We just have to go save Veemon and the others somehow!" Wormmon said his heart beating painfully at the thought of his best friend and hoping with all his heart that he was all right though with things how they were currently with them being captured, he just hoped his friend could keep the courage alive. Agumon moved forward touching his friend's shoulder gently.
"Gabumon and I can attempt to go to the real world to contact the Chosen Children," Agumon told the digimon and Wormmon took a sharp intake of breath, wanting to protest but Agumon didn't give him a chance to talk and continued. "I know you think there's a risk we may get captured and I won't try to deny the chances of that happening. But we have a plan to make sure at least one of us gets to the real world."
Agumon knew the plan was risky, but it was the only hope they had. If the Chosen Children couldn't be informed, the digital world would forever lay as a bundle of chaos. The Chosen Children were the only ones who could help them and for once the light orange dragon didn't even know if that would be enough anyway for once but they had always believed in them and he couldn't stop now. He tried to push aside the nagging doubt that wouldn't leave his head.
"I want to come too, I want to be with Ken-chan," Wormmon said, a plea in his eyes and Agumon sighed going on his knees and giving the smaller digimon a smile, sensing his worry for his friends. To be honest, he was worried a lot too but he was trying to focus on more important matters.
"We all want to help Agumon, we're a team," Armadillamon finally spoke, stepping forward. He had become a lot more silent since all this had begun, he was even unsure of how to react to such thing. The digimon had thought Veemon, Patamon and Gatomon as some of the strongest in their team and they had been so easily defeated, then what chance did the rest of them stand against this evil force that had attacked? He knew he shouldn't think that but everything seemed so impossible. He was snapped out of his thoughts by Agumon's voice.
"Both of you are being irrational. Veemon, Patamon and Gatomon all sacrificed themselves so there wasn't even a chance of you being captured," Agumon said sternly, beginning to get a headache. Despite being the partner of one of the leaders, the original leader of the Chosen Children, for once he felt at a loss on what to do he wished Tai were here to give some sort of guidance because he felt totally lost on what to do. Luckily, Wormmon and Armadillamon didn't protest anymore which was a relief to him. Wormmon looked away, pain in his eyes and Agumon's heart broke for the little digimon. Veemon and Wormmon were best friends and he knew how hard it was to be separated from someone who was that close to your heart.
In the very literal sense too, considering Agumon and Gabumon were also DNA partners, the orange dragon knew he would be the same if the situation was like this with him and Gabumon. He saw Gabumon move over to reassure Wormmon and gave a small smile, his friend had always been better at comforting than he had.
Tai...I wish you were here. Agumon thought to himself sadly. If he was feeling like this, he didn't even want to imagine how Veemon and the others felt being prisoners to that Unknown Creature, whoever he was. Even Tentomon hadn't been able to figure out the species of that creature. All they knew was that he was powerful which definitely wasn't enough for them to be able to defeat him if they even could. He blinked slightly processing his own thoughts for a moment and couldn't help but chuckle slightly. However his chuckle bore no humor in it, he just found it ironic he was meant to be the digimon of courage and here he felt like this was one battle they couldn't win. These thoughts were broken off by Gabumon's voice.
"Snap out of that, Agumon!" Gabumon said sounding harsher than anyone had ever heard him. Before Agumon could respond, Gabumon grabbed him by the shoulders turning him to face him, glaring at his friend and DNA partner.
"I know you're scared, I realise you are worried about the other digimon but you are the digimon of courage for merlin's sake!" Gabumon cried and Agumon was about to respond but Gabumon didn't give him a chance to speak and continued. "Agumon, Tai wouldn't want you to surrender. Besides, haven't we been through tough times before? You've even spent a time as a slave to the Digimon Emperor, we've all been through so much. It hasn't been just to give up now is it? Agumon, our crests work for each other use my friendship to fuel your courage!"
Agumon simply stared at Gabumon as if he were seeing his friend for the first time. It seemed as if for once their roles were reversed, it made him feel better knowing that it was okay to be scared, that despite being the leader digimon he didn't have to always put on a brave facade. He simply nodded in agreement with Gabumon then turned to the other two digimon who were watching the two friends with small smiles.
"You're right Gabumon." Agumon agreed deciding it was true, even if he felt a little nervous about the whole situation. They had been in bad situations before too numerous to even count so why was he giving up now? It wasn't like they hadn't seen worse situations, so he wasn't going to surrender no matter what happened. He looked at his best friend and DNA partner.
"Let's go." Agumon said and Gabumon nodded before both digimon bid farewell to the other two digimon whom while they were still worried knew they didn't have much choice if they ever hoped of defeating the being and rescuing the others.
As the two digimon rushed towards where the TV monitor (which was generally used as a portal) was located, they were suddenly attacked by an army of the enslaved digimon that were under the control of the creature. Agumon and Gabumon attempted to fight off the enslaved digimon until they realised they were way too outnumbered and they would have to put their emergency plan into action.
The two digimon's eyes met for a brief moment before they exchanged a nod. Agumon leapt onto one of the digimon's backs and sent his attack at the others. Gabumon took this chance to take a leap for it, in the very literal sense since the TV station was at the bottom of the mountain he currently stood on so he had to make a jump.
Not being the most graceful of the digimon, he landed hard rolling over as he sustained a few bruises, nothing too major luckily. However, after that with the speed at which he ran on was faster than he had ever run in his life even in his higher evolved forms. He managed to reach the TV monitor and was sucked in just as a blast came destroying the monitor completely.
Gabumon panted as he had landed right outside of Matt's band group location where they rehearsed. He closed his eyes and forced himself up despite the fact that all he wanted to was collapse from the exhaustion he felt. But the digimon knew he had to keep going, not for himself but for Agumon who had sacrificed himself in order to make sure he got to the real world in one peace.
He could not surrender now no matter how much he wanted to just collapse. The wolf-like digimon pounded his claws against the door. One of Matt's band members opened the door and screamed upon seeing the strange looking creature. Matt who had been a little further inside came to see the commotion. The teen's eyes immediately widened upon seeing Gabumon, he felt both happiness and sadness at once.
Happiness due to the fact that Gabumon had come from the digital world and he could see his best Digifriend again but sadness at how exhausted and injured his friend seemed while his band member Takahashi had a mix of pure shock and fear on his face. However, the blond musician ignored this and knelt down by his friend, placing a gentle hand on his back and offering a small, sad smile.
"Hang in there...Gabumon." was all he managed to mutter but hopefully it would be enough reassurance for now.
"Tai, give me the remote!" Came Kari Kamiya's annoyed shout across the Kamiya household while their mother Mrs. Kamiya simply rolled her eyes at her children's actions being used to this occurrence.
"No way, Kari!" Tai firmly refused flickering the channel to watch his favourite anime, Dragon Ball Z which was about to air but Kari wanted to watch one of her favourite dramas, which was One Tree Hill all about relationships and fights between girlfriends and ex-girlfriends something which Tai found a waste of time but Kari seemed to like it for some reason he couldn't fathom.
"Besides, you can watch One Tree Hill on Youtube free online. I'd have to spend time downloading animes," Tai said logically however Kari continued to fight her brother for a few more moments before she suddenly felt a tight pain against her chest.
Kari...It was Gatomon's voice, it sounded so desperate like she was begging for help. Tai noticed the sudden change in Kari and immediately dropped the remote, forgetting their previous rivalry and touching her shoulder gently.
"Kari?" Tai asked, the former leader's eyes becoming concerned. Kari glanced at her brother before backing away slightly before running to her room.
"Kari!" The bushy-haired boy rushed after her managing to catch his sister before she could get too far and caught her from around the shoulders forcing her to meet his eyes.
"What's wrong?" He urgently asked her unable to help the worry churning in his stomach but he tried to keep calm because if he lost it he wouldn't be able to reassure his sister. Maybe his sister had just suddenly become sick and come down with the flu? Not that in itself was any less worrying considering his phobia against Kari getting the flu again, since it brought back horrid memories he'd rather forget.
"Tai...it's Gatomon. I heard her calling for me," Kari said tears rolling down her cheeks as she rested her head on her brother's chest and Tai wrapped his arms around her softly, put in shock by the statement. If Gatomon was in trouble then Agumon...for once in his life he was rendered speechless. So many possibilities rushed through his mind that he simply didn't want to think about.
Unsure of what to say, how to respond he knew that Kari hearing Gatomon's voice couldn't be a coincidence. Something was going on...and for Kari to be able to hear Gatomon it must mean something big was about to happen. He hoped they would be ready for this, what worried him the most was that this had never happened before. Never before had they been able to sense or hear when their partner's were in danger, so it made him curious as to what that meant, he would ask Izzy about that much later.
He was about to offer some words of comfort to Kari and reassure her that everything would be okay, that he would protect her no matter what happened, when suddenly his home phone rang interrupting his thoughts. The former leader let go of his crying younger sister to rush over to pick up the phone, placing the receiver on his ear.
"Hello-?"