Hey guys, I'm back again with another chapter. I hope you guys like it. It was a little hard to write this (it's been a while and I still feel really rusty so forgive me if it's not my best stuff). That being said, it feels good to be back in the game and I know I'll improve as time goes on.

Again, I hope you guys like this. Please be sure to leave a review and tell me what you think or what could use some improvement.

Now without any further delay,

Chapter 2: Return to the Digital World.

"Don't let him get away! Catch him at whatever the cost!"

He ran as fast as he could, panting heavily with each step he trekked through the forest. Despite branches snagging on his cape, he would tug hard and pull free so he could keep running.

Wizardmon could hear flapping coming from behind him, somewhere above the thicket of the trees. It urged him on to run faster, the large hat on his head threatening to be blow off if he hadn't secured it with his free hand.

He panted, growing more and more tired with each step he took but he dare not stop for doing so meant certain doom. He only ran faster.

Doing so, however, made him unaware of the uprooted root ahead of him until it was too late.

Doing his best keep from falling flat on the ground, Wizardmon clung to a nearby tree and hung underneath it in hopes that he could hide away from those after him.

Wizardmon took silent breaths, trying to calm his racing heart. Once he was calm enough he turned his gaze up to the trees and listened.

It was silent in the forest. Nothing made a sound but the rustling of the leaves. No songs from the bird Digimon, or the chatter of natives; just an eerie silence. Had it been a different time, this would be unusual but now such silence was normal. The only noises that would ever break the silence were screams of mercy and commands of the oppressors.

-Snap-

Wizardmon darted towards a nearby tree.

"Crimson Claw!" a black dragon Digimon, Devidramon, shot down from the thicket of the tree where Wizardmon once stood under and lunged at him with its crimson talons.

The wizard was quick to react, pointing his staff at the wicked dragon as it grew closer and loosed a ball of light into its face. "Thunder Ball!"

Devidramon yowled and thrashed about on the ground, its clawed hands rubbing its eyes in agony.

"Sorry big guy but I don't plan on getting captured any time soon." Wizardmon tipped his hat to the writhing dragon and high tailed it again before reinforcements could follow after him.

Wizardmon smiled under his collar, feeling quite accomplished in getting away from the Devidramon with that trick. He figured this would make a nice story to tell when he got back.

Lost in his thoughts, he tripped again and this time he fell flat on the ground.

"Owww…" Wizardmon grumbled and rubbed his face as he sat up. "Stupid roots. Such a pain in the…" what he noticed at his feet wasn't the root of a tree but instead a living creature.

A young human boy.

"What in the world?" The wizard stood up and inspected the unconscious human closely.

He was still breathing it seemed. Wizardmon prodded the human with the tip of his staff earning a weak moan in response. "Well I'll be damned. A living breathing human."

The boy moaned and tried pulling himself up to a sitting position. "W-what happened…?" After a moment he noticed Wizardmon watching him curiously and tried to scramble backwards away from him. "W-who are you?"

The wizard watched silently for a moment before smiling again. "Me? Why my name is Wizardmon my friend." He tipped his hat like before.

"W-Wizardmon?"

"That's right." He offered a hand to the boy. "And whom might you be?"

"Shinya…" was his reply as he hesitantly took Wizardmon's hand to help him up. Shinya looked the wizard over once more, taking in his appearance. It was a little unsettling how ragged the mon looked.

"Shinya huh? That doesn't match any of the names of the humans from before." Wizardmon muttered to himself.

The young boy was confused by Wizardmon's statement. It certainly didn't help that he was in a completely alien place from out of nowhere. Last he remembered he was with… "W-wait… where're my friends? A-and my family?"

"Friends?" Wizardmon inquired and did a once over of the area. Perhaps there were other humans around here. If one were to appear from out of nowhere then there certainly must be a few lying around somewhere. And perhaps among these humans must be the ones they were waiting for.

To his amazement, there were others; six other children lying on the ground. "Wisemon was right… Oh wow, I hit the jackpot."

"Huh?" Shinya leaned to the left to get a look at what Wizardmon saw and gasped. "Takuya! These're my friends!" he quickly got up and went over to his brother's side to wake him. "Takuya! Takuya wake up!"

The elder Kanbara groaned weakly at his brother's shaking. "Mmmm… Shinya, knock it off… My head hurts."

"TAKUYA!"

He shot up instantly when his brother screamed in his ear. "Jeez! What the hell Shinya?! Did you have to scream… in… my… ear?" Takuya took in his surroundings and was confused by what he saw.

"My my. You are a rowdy lot ain't you?" Wizardmon asked, getting Takuya's attention. The mon tipped his hat to the boy. "It's nice to meet you."

"A… Digimon?" Takuya wondered aloud after getting a good look at the wizard. He was an easy one to recognize; Wizardmon was the Digimon he fought when Tommy first Spirit evolved into Kumamon. Luckily, it seemed this one didn't have the need to rhyme every sentence like that one. Didn't need that annoyance.

Wizardmon offered a hand to help the boy up and offered a smile. "You and your friends are pretty lucky I was the one to find you. It's pretty dangerous to be out in the woods on your own."

"Yeah…" Takuya wasn't sure what that meant but that could wait. First thing's first, he had to wake up his friends. "Let's get everyone up and then you can explain what's going on."

The Digimon nodded. "Sounds good. Let's hurry though. We're not out of the woods yet." He chuckled to himself. "Pun not intended."

Fighting the urge to groan at that, Takuya walked over to Zoe's side and shook her gently, opting not to go with the rough awakening his brother opted to do to him. Last thing he needed was to suddenly have her hands at his throat. "Hey Zoe…"

"Mmmm…" Zoe scrunched her face as her eyes slowly opened. "Takuya? What… what happened?" she sat up with his help and rubbed her temple to make the ache in her head go away. "What's going on?"

"No idea. " Takuya responded and looked to see Shinya and Wizardmon waking the others up, starting with Tommy and JP. It was finally hitting him that they were where he thought they were. "But we're back. We're back in the Digital World."

At that Zoe felt her head clear up and she too took in her surroundings and spotted the Digimon helping Shinya and the newly awakened Tommy help the others up. "Oh my god… we really are back."

Wizardmon snapped his fingers in JP's face and gave him a gentle prod in the gut with his staff. "Wakey wakey kiddo."

JP groaned and cracked an eye open, a frown on his face as if he wasn't happy about being disturbed. His eyes landed on Wizardmon's face; the messy straw hair, the stitched mouth, and the wizard's hat adding ominous shadows over his face. "AHHH!" he screamed and scrambled back several feet to get away from the wizard. "M-mo-monst…"

Wizardmon stood up and huffed to himself, hiding his face behind the hood of his cloak. "Rude."

"W-wait… you're a…" JP took in Wizardmon's appearance, recognizing him slowly.

"A Digimon…" Kouji finished, having been woken up from Takuya's awakening. He had just reoriented himself and was just as shocked to see the Digimon in their company.

Wizardmon took in the sight of the children as Kouji went to wake his brother. They recognized him as a Digimon. Without a doubt, these children were the ones. The thought of that alone brought a wide smile to his face. "I can't believe you're actually here."

"Kouji?" Kouichi cast his brother a confused look. "Are we really back?"

"Yeah… I think so." Kouji nodded slowly, still unsure of all the details. Glancing at the others, it seemed that they were uncertain themselves. Wizardmon looked like he was the only one who understood what was going on.

Seeing that he had everyone's attention Wizardmon cleared his throat. "I'm sure you all have a lot of questions. Let me start by saying yes, this is the Digital World." He then tipped his hat to them. "I am Wizardmon. I'm one of the Digimon who called upon you to return."

Shinya stared at him confused but it seemed that the others were more aware; they understood what Wizardmon was saying. "Um… Tommy, what's he talking about?"

"Um…" Tommy scratched the back of his neck and pondered. How was he going to explain this? "You see…"

"Allow me." Wizardmon interrupted and turned his attention to the odd child out. "You see, exactly a year ago today a great evil threatened our world. In order to save it, our leaders called upon children from your world to come to our aid. Your friends here are the chosen six who were given a great power… a power I assume you too now possess."

"Wait a minute." Takuya spoke up and glanced at Shinya before turning back to Wizardmon. "Are you saying my brother's a Legendary Warrior?"

The Digimon shrugged in response. "Why not see?"

Shinya furrowed his brows and tried to take in Wizardmon's story. This sounded so… unbelievable. It didn't make any sense. He cast a glance at Tommy, hoping that he could simplify things for him.

"That's actually about as simple as it gets without it sounding stupid." Tommy offered apologetically. "This is how we all met each other."

"Wait, really?" Shinya's eyes widen in shock. He still had a hard time understanding how they all met each other last year and were already the best of friends. But wait… "How's that possible? Takuya was only gone for a few hours."

JP patted the Kanbara on the back. "We don't even know how that worked. Time moved really fast here." Seeing that this only confused him more JP gave a sigh. "Just try to accept it. It'll be easier that way."

Shinya frowned but relented and attempted to humor their story. "Okay so… you guys had powers? Like what?"

"Well, it's like…" Kouichi paused and felt his pocket. Immediately he pulled out a device, a black scanner with a gray grip; his D-Tector. "No way… we actually have them again?" This revelation lead to the others pulling out similar devices only in different colors.

"Holy crap, this is really happening." Takuya muttered, looking at his modified D-Tector. "F'ing awesome!"

"Takuya." Zoe scolded lightly though she too was in awe of having her pink and lavender digivice.

Shinya furrowed his brow and looked to Tommy and JP's devices to get a closer look. They didn't look too strange but they definitely gave off a mystical vibe. Curious, he checked his pocket and was surprised to feel something different from his cell phone. He was even more surprised when he saw what he had pulled out was a device identical to the others; an orange D-Tector with a brown grip.

Wizardmon observed and nodded in acceptance. "So you are the seventh."

"Whoa!" Tommy looked at Shinya's device and smiled. "You have a D-Tector too! You're a Legendary Warrior like us!"

Shinya looked down at the device in awe but the awe gave way to more questions. "What's it supposed to do?"

"Well, I guess in a nutshell…" Tommy paused for a moment and lit up with an idea. "We're kinda like power rangers!"

There was a long pause.

"Really? You had to compare us to power rangers?" Kouji was clearly not amused with the comparison.

"Well… to be fair," Kouichi piped up with a shrug. "That is us in a nutshell."

Kouji gave his brother an even glare.

Wizardmon just stared blankly at the group. "What're power rangers?"

"Demonic Gale!"

A great surge of black wind shot down from directly above them and crashed into the ground, knocking the group all off their feet and on their asses with the sudden force.

"W-what the hell was that?!" JP tried to locate the source of that harsh blast that nearly struck them.

Wizardmon's eyes widened when his pursuer, Devidramon, dropped down from the hole in the treetops it made. "Shit! I forgot about him!"

Things only got worse when two more Devidramon dropped down, surrounding the group as the one in the center snarled viciously and prowled around them. Neither of them seemed intent on letting any of them go.

"This isn't good…" Kouichi stared at the Devidramon closest to him and his brother, unnerved by the size of the beast. "I don't remember these from last time."

JP stood in front of the younger boys as the third black dragon eyed them in particular. "Stay behind me kay? We got this guy."

Tommy nodded and stood by his friend's side despite he nearly shook with uneasiness. Now wasn't the time to be afraid.

Now as the second and third were preoccupied with their pray, the first one set its gaze not on the remaining children but rather at Wizardmon. This one remembered its previous encounter with Wizardmon. Oh it certainly remembered all right. It's narrow eyes glared at him as it snarled and approached.

"H-hey now…" Wizardmon took a step back as the dragon prowled closer.

Seeing that Wizardmon needed help, Takuya picked up a rock in his free hand and threw it at the dragon to get its attention. "Hey four eyes! Over here!"

"Really Takuya?" Zoe gave the goggle boy next to her a look but paused when Devidramon turned its attention to the two of them. "O-okay, you got its attention. What now?"

"We see just how out of practice we are…" Takuya held his D-Tector tight in his hand and grinned widely, eager to feel the rush of evolution again. He gave the blond a sideways glance. "Got my back?"

"Not like I got a choice." She replied but smiled back.

"EXECUTE! SPIRIT EVOLUTION!"

With a bright flash the six children were enveloped in cocoons of light, blinding with their intense radiance.

"KUMAMON!" "BEETLEMON!"

The light surrounding Tommy and JP faded and in their place were their Warrior Spirits; the white bear, Kumamon of Ice, and the blue beetle, Beetlemon of Thunder.

"LOBOMON!" "LOWEMON!"

Just like with Tommy and JP, the lights surrounding the twins faded and in their place were the white wolf, Lobomon of Light, and the black lion, Lowemon of Darkness.

"AGUNIMON!" "KAZEMON!"

Finally, the last two warriors took their place with the others as the light vanished; in Takuya's place the fiery warrior, Agunimon of Flame, and in Zoe's the lavender fairy, Kazemon of Wind.

"W-whoa…" Shinya's eyes widened at the sight of the warriors in front of him. He had never seen anything like this before in real life. There was nothing more amazing than seeing his friends become such fantastic creatures.

"Pretty cool huh?" Kumamon asked, grinning at his friend.

"You ain't' seen nothin' yet!" Beetlemon took off, flying right at the dragon in front of him, and reeled his hand back. Lightning gathered in his clenched fist and swung hard at his opponent's snout, smashing into it with overwhelming force. "Thunder Fist!"

Devidramon shrieked in agony and was sent backwards through the trees behind it, teeth flying free from the hard fist.

"Go for it Kumamon!"

At Beetlemon's call the bear saw an opportunity to attack and inhaled deeply, inflating from the intake. "Crystal Breeze!" He unleashed his breath, loosing an icy wind that began to coat Devidramon in ice, freezing it to the felled trees it toppled. Kumamon couldn't help but smile at his handy work when he stopped breathing his cold blast. "He's all yours Beetlemon! Got him ready for you!"

"Thanks little buddy!" Beetlemon hovered high above trees and brought his hands together, gathering lighting much like before. "Alrighty! Here I go!" Beetlemon dropped down, building speed as he fell right towards the frozen dragon.

"Thunder Fist!" The blue beetle brought his bound fists down on top of Devidramon's head; striking as hard as possible and practically sending a tremor through the ground as lightning tore through Devidramon's body, frying it down to the bone.

It gave a deafening wail of agony before going silent and limp in the wreckage from the warrior's combination attacks.

"Way to go Beetlemon!" Kumamon cheered. He turned to Shinya and held a hand high. Shinya left him hanging but he didn't mind considering that it looked like the poor boy's mind was blown from their overkill battle.

After witnessing its companion's defeat, the Devidramon facing off against Lobomon and Lowemon lunged, lashing with its crimson claws.

Dodging these flashing claws proved to be no problem for the two warriors however; both agile enough to move around the dragon with boundless ease.

"This is just exhilarating!" Lowemon exclaimed and held out his hand, materializing his Sphinx shield to block Devidramon's incoming claws. He angled the shield and deflected its attack, leaving it open for his own. "Shadow Meteor!" At close range, the lion's head on Lowemon's chest opened its mouth and fired a sphere of dark energy.

The Devidramon recoiled and nearly fell on its back if it hadn't fought to keep steady. It attempted another Crimson Claw but met with resistance; Lobomon's beam saber biting hard into it and eventually slicing through, severing the limb.

It felt odd holding these sabers again but familiarity took hold of him. Lobomon remembered the way they held weightless in his hands and the hum of the blade as it cut through air. He couldn't help but smile fondly at the familiarity but he was quick to regain his focus. He could reminisce later. "Stay focused Kouichi!"

"I know!" Lowemon responded, keeping his gaze on his crippled opponent. It spread its wings wide, no doubt trying to take flight. "Oh no you don't!" In his right hand a spear materialized from a burst of darkness and he hurled it, aiming for its wing.

The spear skewered the dragon's wing and pinned it to a tree.

"When in the world did you get aim that good?" Lobomon asked as he made his way to his brother's side.

"I'm gifted." Lowemon shrugged, smiling under the mask.

The wolf rolled his eyes and looked at the pinned dragon as it was trying to pull itself free. He held up the laser strapped to his arm, aiming it at Devidramon's head. "Howling Laser!" The shot of light energy fired, piercing through the dragon's skull. "Another one down."

"Not bad for our first battle in a year." Lowemon commented.

Lobomon nodded and cast his glance at the last Devidramon. "These things are grunts though…" he muttered as it quickly took to the air before Agunimon and Kazemon could begin their attack. "We wouldn't have been brought here if these things were the only problem."

"Go up after him! I'll be right behind you!" Agunimon leapt high, reaching the tree branches as Kazemon flew up through the space the dragons made.

"Demonic Gale!" Devidramon shot around in the sky, Every time it flew by the sudden burst of wind nearly knocked Kazemon out of the sky.

Agunimon reached the top of the tree branches and yelped when the wind nearly knocked him over. "Holy crap! This is bad!"

"How do you think I feel?!" Kazemon tried to steady herself in the air as Devidramon went in for another pass. Aiming to slow its movements, she gathered spiraling torrents of wind at her fingertips and flung them at the dragon as it drew closer. "Hurricane Gale!"

The whips of wind crashed into the incoming Devidramon. The sudden force hit home and stopped Devidramon in its place in the sky momentarily.

"Pyro Punch!" Flames lit from Agunimon's hands and shot forward, striking at the dragon's chest while it was stunned. The grin on his face faltered though as it seemed his attack didn't pack quite enough of the punch it needed. "Zoe, keep him occupied! I'm gonna try something!"

"Hope you know what you're planning!" Kazemon flew at Devidramon's face, striking with a series of rapid kicks. "Roseo Temporale!"

It snarled and flew backwards, swinging its claw to try and swat Kazemon out of the sky as it did so. The fairy was swift however, so its attempt to attack her was in vain.

"I can only stall it for so long Takuya!" Kazemon called out as she buzzed around the black dragon, keeping its attention like an annoying bee.

It was now or never. Agunimon roared out, flames spurting out from all over his armor. "Pyro Tornado!" He spun around with his flames growing wilder and spiraling in a tornado around him.

The blaze grew taller and steadily moved towards Devidramon, burning away the tops of the trees as it passed by.

Devidramon snarled and spread its wings wide to evade.

"You're not going anywhere!" Kazemon flew in and kicked as hard as she could into Devidramon's back, forcing it towards the spiraling inferno.

The flames swallowed the dragon, burning at it as it attempted to escape. Then Agunimon emerged, coming from within the flames and struck with a kick of his own, striking hard into the dragon's chest. The tornado of fire dissipated and with one final burst, flames exploded from Devidramon's back as if Agunimon's kick has sent a fiery force straight through its chest.

Kazemon caught the flame warrior as he began to fall. "Gotcha!"

"Thanks Zoe." Woulda gone splat there." Agunimon muttered as they descended back to the ground where the others were.

"Prego." She replied and dropped him safely to the ground and reunited with the other warriors.

"Think that was a bit overkill with the amount of fire there?" Lobomon asked with a smirk.

Agunimon just smirked back. "Might as well make our first big entrance it a year a really big one."

"That was awesome Takuya!" Kumamon cheered. "We were awesome!"

"Hey guys?" Beetlemon pointed towards Shinya and Wizardmon, both having a look of awe and dumbstruck on their faces.

The red warrior, scratched the back of his head and grinned sheepishly. "So, what do you guys think?"

Shinya just stood there, still staring at the warriors. It took a moment for the question to register and when it finally did, his eyes lit up and his smile stretched wide. "That was so f'ing awesome!"

Kazemon smacked the back of Agunimon's head. "See what you did?"

Wizardmon just proceeded to stare at the children as Shinya fanboyed over the fight. "These really are the heroes… There's hope…" He couldn't help but sniffle.

Lowemon noticed Wizardmon's behavior and devolved before approaching him. "So… what happened here…?"

Seeing that he was getting the spotlight, Wizardmon quickly rubbed his eyes and heaved a sigh. "It'll be best if I take you to Wisemon. He'll be able to tell you everything."

"Who's Wisemon?" Tommy asked, devolving as well along with the others.

"Wisemon is the one who brought you all here… along with whom I assume to be the remaining warriors."

-Elsewhere in the woods-

Ayumi Hirata couldn't believe what she saw earlier. That had to be some sort of mistake, a trick her eyes played on her. There was no way she could've seen it; a tornado of fire. Something like that was completely impossible and yet…

"I'm not the only one who saw that… right?"

She turned to her companions; her brother and the jerk she didn't particularly care for at the moment. And while she didn't care for his input, she did have to note that he saw it too. There was no mistake. This was real.

"What're we going to do sis?" Haru asked, sticking close to her side.

Ayumi bit her lip, unsure. She looked down at her hand at the device she discovered in her pocket instead of her phone; a blue device with an aqua green grip. This didn't make any sense. What were these things about?

"I say we get the hell out of here." Shinoba piped up, clearly uncomfortable being in this place. "We get as far away from that place as fast as we can."

The older Hirata scoffed. Despite the situation they were in, she was still felt the need to be hostile to her ex-boyfriend for picking on her brother. At the same time though, she found herself agreeing with him. It was probably safe to get away from this dangerous place. For her sake as well as Haru's she complied. "Yeah. Let's just head in the opposite direction."

Haru fidgeted, glancing between the two older kids. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. He sighed, trying to calm himself and took out his own device, this one a forest green with brown grip. He saw his sister pull hers out and figured he'd take a look at his own. It was a strange device, reminding him of the tamagotchi though it didn't have a scanner. Deciding to fiddle with it, he pressed one of the buttons and the screen lit up. "S-Sis!"

The two teens turned to the young boy and saw an orb project itself from the screen, and within the orb was a cluster of lights pointing in a direction.

"The hell?" Shinoba furrowed his brow. "Is that… a compass?"

"Maybe? But there're a bunch of points in the same direction…" Ayumi observed and looked in the direction the lights were pointing. She frowned when she realized it was coming from where the fiery tornado originated. "It's pointed in that direction…"

"Oh hell no. We are not going over there." Shinoba immediately objected.

"B-but that's where this thing wants us to go." Haru pointed out nervously, not wanting to get a rise from the older boy. "It has to be something important, right?"

Ayumi sighed and bit her thumb, debating with herself. Maybe her brother was right? In all honesty they were running blind here… at least with this, they had a destination. "Let's check it out."

Shinoba gave her a look, "Yu, you can't be serious."

She glared back at him. "I don't see any other choice. Just shut up and let's go."

Shinoba heaved a heavy sigh and complied, following silently after the two. He didn't want to anger the girl anymore than she already was. He just hoped that this wouldn't be coming back to bite them in the ass afterwards.

-?-

Hidden from the outside world, a figure sat in a comfortably furnished room; torch light illuminating the darkness and a large book resting on a carved pedestal. The figure stared down at the book with beady yellow eyes, watching as the pages flipped fluidly and endlessly on their own, golden characters of the Digimons' language etching themselves on the blank pages as they passed by. Something caught its eye and the figure stopped the book from turning over a new page. The letters filled the facing pages and the Digimon smiled.

"The time has finally come."

The Digimon closed the book and caressed the cover delicately.

"The DigiDestined have finally arrived."

Also guys, if you have any questions or comments, I'll be addressing them at the end of the chapter.

Till next time.