Author Notes: Digimon Destinies is a digimon series idea I created some time ago while drawing. I finally thought I'd give it a go in writing the story. To avoid any confusion, future humans and the digimon in this chapter are my own creations. I do not take credit for creating the digital world or any of the digimon from the series. I hope you enjoy.

Prologue: Into the Ruins

"Warrior's Crush!" From far behind, a pair of massive axes crashed into the ground and split the land into a massive crevasse. The force alone was quickly catching up with the intent of stopping them, but Shintomon refused to be stopped. Not after the distance they ran. The ninja digimon gracefully pounced as the ground crumbled beneath her and softly landed on a boulder to the side while the land continued to split apart in the route she had been running seconds ago.

"So much power..." A little voice whimpered in her arms. Shintomon looked down to the small, white dragon digimon she had been carrying this whole time. The creature was no bigger than a foot in length and had a small blue gem on its forehead. Kiramon was trembling in fear. Shintomon pitied the digimon, but she knew it could be worse. Especially if their pursuer caught up.

"We both know this is Arismon's doing. If we could only break his control." Shintomon glanced back at their pursuer - a massive grizzly bear-like digimon with an axe in each hand as if charged on its two feet. It was Ursamon. Normally they were valiant digimon, but by the red glow in his eyes Shintomon knew it was being possessed. A lot of digimon who were once good were now becoming victims. Arismon would somehow enable them to digivolve to a stronger state and then control them like puppets. It was why they continued to run.

Ursamon was drawing closer so Shintomon took that as their time to keep going. From the rock, she hopped over the crevasse and continued to sprint alongside the crack. The entire time her mind was trying to come up with a plan. A rookie like herself wouldn't stand a chance in combat direct. Even if she could become a champion level like Ursamon, Shintomon knew Ursamon was being fueled with Arismon's power. It would take an even higher level to defeat him. Unfortunately, the digimon tyrant was in control of all digivolution. "We'll have to outmaneuver Ursamon." Shintomon heard the familiar sound of the ground splitting once more and pounced back to the other side as the land broke apart again.

"He's making the crevasse bigger!" Kiramon exclaimed. Shintomon glanced to the place she had been standing moments and nodded. Apparently he was trying to keep them from outmaneuvering him.

"It'll take more than a crack to slow us. Look." Shintomon nodded her head to up ahead. It was a high cliff and easy to climb if you were agile. "We'll lose him there, but I'll need you to fly."

Kiramon still looked scared, but she nodded too. "I can do that," she said.

It was settled. Shintomon heard a third Warrior's Crush and this time sprinted straight ahead. She threw her arms up to toss Kiramon into the air and then leapt for the cliff. Shintomon grasped the rocky surface just as Ursamon's attack collided with it and shook the cliff violently. Shintomon held on and waited for the quake to finish before starting her ascend. Kiramon was nervously flying above her while looking down at her in concern. "Kiramon, fly!" Shintomon shouted. To Arismon, Shintomon was nothing more than a nuisance that was daring to oppose his command. She was not important. Kiramon was the reason they were running. Though they weren't sure what it was exactly, Arismon feared something possessed in the little dragon and Shintomon was determined to keep Kiramon safe.

While Kiramon heeded her warning and started flying to the top, Shintomon heard the bear digimon reach the base of the cliff and call out a new attack. "Nature's Claw!" The two axes joined together into a single weapon and struck the ground. The entire cliff began to shake harder, but all Shintomon noticed was a green light traveling through the cliff towards the dragon digimon.

"Kiramon!" Shintomon's shouts were all in futile as the light sprung from the cliff like a massive paw and knocked her out of the sky. Ursamon had sheathed its axes to the harness on its back and was preparing to catch the falling digimon for its master. "Oh no you don't." Shintomon released her grip on the cliff and aimed a hand towards the champion level digimon. "Zen Arrows!" Seven violet colour shruikens appeared out of thing air and shot towards Ursamon like a flurry of arrows. They hardly scraped the digimon, but it distracted him long enough for her to intercept Kiramon's fall and catch the digimon in her arms.

Shintomon prepared herself to run and avoid whatever Ursamon threw at them, but then she noticed the claws of green light retreating into the cliff. The entire ground began shaking. Her first thought was the attack was coming again, but then a glimpse at Ursamon's confused glance to the ground indicated something wasn't right. All around cracks appeared and the ground gave away in a chaotic crumble. Ursamon was the first to fall through and Shintomon followed suit with an unconscious Kiramon in her arms.

The landing was harder than she would have liked, but Shintomon was alive. She was lying on her back and staring up at the leaking light from where they had fallen. It had to have been at least twenty feet. A growl in pain caused her to sit up quickly, which she shortly regretted. Her entire body ached from the fall, but once the pain slightly subsided she looked over to see the growling coming from Ursamon. The digimon looked quite out of it, and judging by the rubble around it, he was not a threat at the moment.

"Sh-Shintomon?" Kiramon was starting to stir again before opening her big blue eyes. The digimon looked quite dazed, but in one piece too. "W-where are we?"

"I'm not entirely sure..." The digimon answered while beginning to get a look of the surroundings. From what the light revealed, it almost looked like an old tomb. The walls were made of large bricks with strange engravings running along the top and the base of the walls. "Maybe it is from the time of the Ancients?" Shintomon had heard stories of ancient digimon who would bond with an alien race to access immense powers. It was the Ancients and their allies who had first saved the digital world.

"Shintomon, look!" Kiramon pointed off towards on of the walls where a stone chair was set. Sitting in it was a jackal digimon.

Shintomon got up and approached the digimon cautiously, but it made no move to acknowledge their presence. "Who are you?" Shintomon called out. The digimon made no response. When they were only a foot away, she noticed the digimon's eyes were closed. Was the digimon asleep? Shintomon reached a hand out to try and awaken the digimon, but accidentally hit a chain. Shintomon took a step back to get a better look, but noticed the digimon was covered in multiple chains. All were binding it to the chair.

"I wonder what that is," Kiramon said while pointing towards the digimon's chest. Shintomon followed Kiramon's focus and was staring at a small device that was holding all the chains in place.

"I've never seen anything like it." Shintomon answered. Curiously, she approached again to examine it before a cry from Kiramon startled her. The blue gem on her forehead was glowing brightly as she gripped her head. "Kiramon?"

"It hurts!" Shintomon was confused of what to do, but then her attention was brought back to the device. It was starting to glow in the same light as Kiramon's gem until there was a burst of light. Shintomon was blinded as the room was bathed in the bright light and all she could hear was Kiramon in pain. Shintomon didn't know what to do except maybe get her and Kiramon out of there, but as she stepped back the light stopped. Kiramon's gem was no longer glowing, but she looked exhausted from the pain.

"Are you okay?"

Kiramon nodded weakly then silently pointed to the digimon's chest again. Shintomon looked over and blinked in surprise. The device and the chains had disappeared. What's more, the digimon who had been sleeping was staring back at them in puzzlement.

"You are not my servants." The digimon muttered.