"I keep thinking this place can't get any weirder, and it keeps proving me wrong," Carol said as she glanced around and tried to make sense of all of this.

The group looked around as they made their way through a new part of the forest. They knew they hadn't been here before because all of the trees were covered with a bunch of road signs. "You think one of these things could point us home?" Lincoln asked.

Heath looked closely at some the signs. None of them seemed like actual guides. They were just pointing in random direction. There were a few yield and stop signs too but… well, just like everything else in this world it didn't make sense. "Well, considering some of these things aren't even right side up… no."

Sam was about to speak, when suddenly she noticed something above them. She looked up and saw something shooting across the sky. "Hey, what's that thing?" she asked.

Everyone looked up and saw the object flying right over them and off into the distance. "Whoa, it looks like a UFO," Ben suggested.

"A UFO? Really dude?" Luna asked raising her eyebrow at him.

"We've been attacked by three giant monsters within the last day. Do aliens really sound that unreliable to you?"

"…touché."

"It's not a UFO. It looked like a gear," Bruce said simply.

"Maybe we should follow-" Lincoln was cut off as he stepped off a ledge. He fell forward and braced himself to hit the ground, only to be grabbed by the back of his shirt.

The boy was lifted up and saw Heath had caught him. "Watch your step little man. We don't know what else is crawling around here. Can't afford to be careless."

Lincoln let out a sigh. "Thanks. You're right. I wouldn't want to step on another monster or something. We've been attacked enough."

Darcy stared at the ground curiously. "Do you think there are more monsters underground?"

Kotemon stuck her chest out. "Don't worry Darcy. Even if there were I'd protect you," she declared proudly. Darcy smiled back at her partner, feeling reassured.

"Yeah, we got them watching our backs so we'll be fine. Now we should get moving," Ben said.

"And where exactly are we supposed to go?" Carol asked crossing her arms. "I know we can't just sit and wait in one place, but we can't just keep wandering around randomly either. We'll keep wandering right into dangerous monsters."

Luna shrugged. "Until we find a map or something we don't really have a choice. We have to keep moving. At least until we find some intelligent life or something."

Impmon scowled towards her. "Hey, you saying we ain't intelligent! I got more brains in my little pinky than you bums-"

Sam patted him on the head. "Alright tough guy, cool it. Luna was just saying we need to find out more about this place. If we just keep going from place to place at random we'll bite off more than we can chew at some point."

Impmon chuckled. "Ain't nothing too big for me to take on. I can handle anything that comes at us. You hit the jackpot when it came to partners you know," he said confidently.

Sam just smiled. "Yeah, I know tough guy. Now let's get going."

The group kept moving until eventually the forest came to an end. Soon they were greeted with… "Aw c'mon!" Ben complained. He could deal with the forest, and the lake was practically his home. But the desert?

"We're going to fry out here…" Heath muttered.

Bruce looked around. There were telephone poles all through the place. "Maybe we should follow those things. They could lead us somewhere important."

"Like to another giant monster?" Carol asked.

"Better than sitting here," Luna said before making her way forward. The others shared a glance before following after her. Trekking through the desert didn't exactly sound like a fun time, but the only other options was to head back through the forest, and that wasn't going to get them anywhere.

After a few minutes of walking however, they were starting to wonder if they made a mistake. "Ah! It's so hot…" Lincoln said panting. He had always seen how tough it was in the desert in cartoons and comics, but none of them did it justice. He wasn't sure how much longer he could go on like this.

He suddenly felt something on top of his head. He looked back and saw Heath tying his jacket around his head, creating a makeshift hat. "Here, this should help a little," he said.

"Thanks," Lincoln said smiling.

"Nice thinking man," Ben said before he began doing the same.

Luna and Sam both smirked at the now shirtless boy. "Oh, someone's trying to show off for the ladies," Luna said teasingly.

Sam wolf whistled. "I know. Look at those muscles. Hubba-hubba!"

Ben's face turned red. "I-I didn't have time to put on a t-shirt before we ended up here!" he said before looking down at Darcy. The girl was walking just a bit behind Bruce, who didn't seem bothered by the heat at all. "Darcy? Are you using my brother as shade?"

Darcy nodded and smiled. "He's really tall and he blocks out the sun."

Carol smirked. "Wow, that's actually a pretty good idea," she said before she began walking behind Bruce as well. "Thanks Bruce."

He just grunted in response. The digimon didn't seem to be faring much better than their partners. Kotemon looked like she was sweating bullets. "So hot…"

"Why don't you take off the mask? It might help." Carol suggested.

"…no…"

Impmon scowled as he tried to block out the sun with his hand. "Here," Sam said as she took off her jacket and began tying it around his head. "I'm getting tired of wearing it anyway."

Impmon stared at her, and then huffed. "Well, I don't really need it, but if you're getting tired I guess I'll carry it for a bit," Impmon said.

Sam rolled her eyes, but smirked. "What would I do without Impmon?"

Hagurumon tugged on Bruce's pants, and he looked down at the gear like digimon. "Bruce. I suggest that we find some place to stop and rest soon, before someone gets… crazy…"

"Like Ben?" Bruce asked raising an eyebrow.

They looked towards Ben who clearly wasn't coping well with the heat. He looked far more tired than the others, and it looked like one of his eyes were twitching. "Especially Ben…"

"You know, I could always make up some water," Betamon offered.

"That water that comes from your mouth? No thank you," Carol said looking disgusted. "I'm not sure this was a good idea. These telephone poles don't even seem like they're connected to anything. We could be going in circles for all we know."

Bruce shook his head. "The phone booths and the trolley were already powered when we found them. There has to be something out here that's giving it to them."

Luna sighed. "Dude, forget the power. We need to find some real water before we end up dying out here."

Heath suddenly stopped. "I think we just did. Look."

They all looked ahead and could see what looked like a small village in the distance. "Is that a village… is that a lake?!" Ben said eyes widening. "Oh thank god!"

"Wait, it could be a mirage!" Lincoln warned.

"Then let me live the lie dang it!" Ben said sprinting towards the village.

"There could be people there!" Carol said running after him.

"And food!" Darcy cheered.

The rest of the group quickly followed after them, the thought of a place to rest giving them a bit more energy. When they got there however, they were once again surprised. The village had looked small in the distance. And now that they were here… it still looked small. It was also filled with by small little digimon. They were all Yaamon. "Oh my god, there's more of you!" Sam asked looking at her partner who just smirked.

Darcy smiled. "This place is so tiny and cute," she said looking over the small houses.

"I don't think we're going to find a place to sleep here…" Heath said.

"Who cares about sleeping right now, we need food and water," Ben said.

Impmon cleared his throat before speaking out. "Okay pipsqueaks. Who here knows where we can get some food and water for my buddies here?" he asked.

The Yaamon all looked at each other before turning back to him. "We never seen no digimon like that before. What do they eat?" one of them asked.

Sam let out a nervous laugh. "Oh, we're not digimon. We're humans."

"…what's a human?" another asked confused.

Impmon spoke once again. "They're a real funny looking bunch of creatures, but they're really nice too. And they give us the power to digi-volve."

The Yaamon all looked impressed. "Whoa, they made you digi-volve? How?"

"We got like a special bond going on, you see. So when they're in trouble we get a whole bunch of power and rescue em. We got to protect our partners, you know," he explained. "And since I'm the coolest digimon around, I got the coolest partner too. She even made me this hat thingy," he said pointing to the jacket on his head.

Sam smiled at the praise, then a thought crossed her mind. Their partner's digi-volving all did seem to depend on them being in trouble. They did it the first time against Kuwagamon, and Falcomon and Betamon did it when Ben and Luna were in trouble. That must have been the key to it. They got stronger whenever their partners were in trouble.

She felt a lot of comfort at the thought. It was like they each had their own little guardian angel looking after them. Which was definitely a relief considering they were stranded in a crazy alien world.

"Hey Sam!"

She snapped out of her thoughts and turned to see Impmon in front of her. "They said we could get some food and water! As much as we want!"

"Oh, sweet!" she said pumping her fist.

"Water!" Ben and Darcy cheered as they headed towards the middle of the village, where a large fountain was. The two of them both stuck their heads in and took in huge gulps.

Heath shook his head. "Nice table manners guys."

"Ah it's okay. We have plenty of water to share!" one of the Yaamon said.

When they finally came back up they had relieved smiles on their faces. "That felt so good…" Darcy said happily.

"Cause the water comes from Mt. Mango," another Yaamon explained. "It puts out the best water in the entire digital world!"

They turned towards the mountain in the distance, and Carol frowned. "That's a volcano. An active volcano," she said clearly not liking the sight. Everyone seemed to share the same thought at the same time. Even Darcy had a small look of worry.

"Uh… c'mon guys. This thing has probably been here for hundreds of years. If it hasn't erupted in all this time what are the chances that-"

Lincoln was cut off when they heard a loud rumbling and the ground shook. Everyone stopped and turned towards the white haired boy. "You were saying…" Bruce deadpanned.

As if to make matters worst, the water in the fountain began evaporating. "No…" Ben said before turning towards the lake. Sure enough, the water was going down. "No! No! Why?!"

"Something must be going on up at the mountain. Not even an eruption would be able to get rid of the water this quickly," Bruce reasoned.

"That is the direction that gear went in isn't it? Maybe it crashed in the mountain or something. It could have triggered it," Carol said.

"But that's impossible. If anything were going on up there the guardian of the mountain Birdramon would handle it!"

Heath pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked towards the mounting. "This Birdramon… it's a giant flaming bird right?" Yaamon nodded. "Yeah… I don't think it's going to be much help."

They all looked up and saw a giant phoenix like bird covered in blazing flames soaring it's way down the mountain. It reached the bottom, and suddenly they saw fire spreading across the forest. "That isn't good…" Elecmon said.

"Well, she is your guardian right? Maybe she's just coming to check on us and-"

"FIRE! IT BURNS! IT BURNS SO BAD!"

They all covered their ears at the booming voice. "Okay! Never mind! Not a friendly! Let's get moving! Go! Go! Go!" Luna yelled.

Everyone quickly began running towards the now completely dried lake. The old ship that had been floating in the middle of it was now beached, and the group make their way towards the giant hole in the middle of the haul. Ben and Heath stopped in the entrance. "Everybody inside! We're not going to outrun that thing, but we can hide in here!" Heath said.

Ben turned towards Carol and Bruce. "Get them inside, we'll make sure the others get in first."

Carol nodded and grabbed Lincoln and Darcy by the hand, pulling them in. Bruce along with the Yaamon quickly followed them. "Okay little dudes! Get moving! C'mon, move those little… whatever you're using to move get it in gear! Go!" Luna shouted.

Sam looked at the long line of Yaamon. With how fast Birdramon was heading towards them, she wasn't sure they'd be able to get inside in time. She then noticed that the Yaamon weren't the only ones lagging behind. "Impmon! Get down here!" she yelled.

Impmon was up at the top of the lake, guiding the Yaamon down. "Not until I make sure these pipsqueaks are alright!" he said rushing them down. "C'mon, get moving you little bums!"

Sam cursed under her breath. Her partner was by far the most reckless of them all. But he was still her partner. She sprinted towards the top of the lake as fast as she could. "Sam?! Sam, where the hell are you going?!" Ben called.

"Sam!" Luna called after her. "You're not going to make it in time!"

She ignored them and kept heading towards Impmon, who just got the last of the Yaamon down. He smirked. "Alright, now to-" A loud crash was heard behind him, and he turned around to see Birdramon had landed behind him. "Oh… hi?"

"BURNING!" Birdramon shouted in his face. "It's so hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!"

Impmon took a step back and held his hands out. "Well it's about to get hotter! Badda Boom!" He tossed two fire balls at Birdramon who didn't even flinch. Instead she swung one of her wings, sending him flying off the edge and tumbling down.

Sam gasped. "Impmon!" She ran as fast as she could and slid forward, just barely managing to catch her partner before he hit the ground. She fell back onto her butt and groaned. "Uh… you are so reckless, you know that?" she asked glaring at him.

"Look who's talking," he said smirking back. "You didn't have to come over here you know."

"Of course I did," she said smiling back. "You're my partner."

Agumon, Gabumon, and Kotemon all ran up beside them. "Don't worry guys, we got this! Pepper Breath!"

"Blue Blaster!"

"Fire Kote!"

The attacks all hit Birdramon, who only seemed to grow bigger as a result. "Well, that didn't work at all," Heath said.

"Maybe we don't hit the giant fire bird with fire attacks?" Ben asked sarcastically. "Don't worry, me and Betamon can take this one guys."

Betamon smiled and jumped forward. "Water tower!" She fired a blast of water from her mouth, but it evaporated before it could hit her.

They all turned towards Ben. "Don't give me that look…"

Birdramon spread its wings and let out a screech before taking off into the air. It began making its way down towards them, its talons raised to attacks. "Oh crap!"

Sam clutched Impmon towards her. "D-don't worry! I'll protect you!"

Impmon frowned before reaching up and pulling her jacket off of his head. "No way. You've done enough looking out for me for today! It's my turn!" he said handing it to her before standing up. He wasn't about to let Sam or any of the others get hurt. Not today, or any day for that matter.

He charged forward, and Sam was about to call out to him before her digivice suddenly began glowing brightly. "No way…"

"Impmon Digi-volve too…" The others watched as Impmon was suddenly engulfed in flames. They backed away as fire covered his entire body. "Meramon!"

The flames rose up high into the air, and then suddenly burst apart to reveal a large humanoid figure made entirely of fire. Sam looked shocked as her once tiny little friend now towered over them. Meramon looked over himself and smiled. "Oh yeah! Now I'm packing some real firepower!"

He held his hand out and a ball of fire formed in it, just as Birdramon dove down to attack. Meramon ducked avoiding the attack. "Fireball!" He hurled it at Birdramon's back, nailing her. This time it was clear she was feeling the effects of the attack.

"Wow, he's fighting fire with fire…" Lincoln joked. Carol, Darcy and Bruce all turned towards him with raised eyebrows. "Sorry…"

Birdramon roared and then spread her wings out. "It still burns! It the burning needs to stop! Make it stop!" Blast of fire suddenly shot out from her wings, raining down on them.

"Oh crap!" Ben shouted covering his head.

The others all braced themselves, but Meramon stood over the group blocking the blast of flames and absorbing them into his body. He smirked up at their attacker. "Now we're cooking with gas!" He brought his hands back and summoned a large fireball. "If it's a contest of who's hotter, l ain't gonna lose!"

Birdramon once again sent a rain of fire at them, but Meramon counter with his own fire ball. His split into multiple ones countering out Birdramon's attack. It screeched and then dove down at them. Meramon lifted its arm and blocked the attack, Birdramon's talons digging into arm. "Back off my friends you overgrown turkey!"

He pushed back against her, sending her back into the air. She quickly steadied herself and glared down at them. "Nice save man!" Luna said smiling.

"You're awesome Meramon!" Sam said looking amazed.

"You ain't seen nothing yet!" Meramon said before he fired off a large cross shaped blast of fire. "Flame Commandant!"

The blast of fire hit Birdramon who howled out in pain. Meramon kept the attack up for as long as he could, and when he was finished Birdramon began falling towards the ground. She crashed down hard, and suddenly they saw something come flying out from her back.

"What the…?"

It was the gear they had seen earlier. It flew up into the air before suddenly breaking apart. "It didn't go in the mountain! It went inside Birdramon!" Heath said in disbelief.

"Like is said, place just keeps getting weirder…" Carol muttered.

Meramon let out a sigh before suddenly reverting back to Impmon. He turned towards Sam and gave her a thumbs up. "Not bad huh?" he asked cockily.

She knelt down and hugged him. "Not bad at all. And I'm glad you're okay."

Impmon blushed slightly. "H-hey. Don't go getting all mushy on me… but I'm glad you're okay too," he said giving her a quick hug back.

Luna rubbed her chin as she looked over Birdramon. She, Sam, Heath, Bruce and Carol were standing around the giant bird like digimon back in Yaamon village. Ben, Darcy, Lincoln, were enjoying the water which had finally returned. After the flame covered digimon had woken up, she'd been pretty docile. Her attitude had done a complete turnaround. Thankfully she managed to get rid of the flames she had caused to the forest and village as well.

"So don't remember anything about what happened to you?" Luna asked.

Birdramon shook her head. "No, I'm afraid not. The last thing I remember is being hit by a black gear, and then feeling very hot. Well, hotter than usual. Everything between there is a blank. I truly apologize for attacking you. I don't know what came over me."

"It's fine. You obviously weren't in control. But that gear is worrying. If it can cause digimon to go on a rampage like that… well, this place just got even more dangerous," Carol said sighing.

"We'll be fine. Everything has worked out so far," Bruce said simply.

"Yeah. So far."

Birdramon hummed before standing up and opening her wings. The teens couldn't help but flinch slightly at the movement, but she didn't take any offense to it. "Again, I'd like to apologize for my actions. I should get back to the mountain. It won't guard itself. I'll also be weary of anymore black gears flying around."

With that she took off into the air and headed back towards the mountain. They watched her fly off, when suddenly Ben came in front of them holding a bowl. "Dinner is served…"

Luna took the bowl from him and looked inside. "What is this? Rice?"

"It looks like chicken feed," Heath commented.

Bruce took a bowl from his brother and then poured some into his mouth. "Food is food. We don't know when we'll be able to eat again, so enjoy."

Carol frowned. "I'm… not hungry anymore," she said passing her bowl to Bruce. He took it and poured it into his.

Sam looked over at Impmon who was eating from his own bowl. She smiled. "Well, if that little madman can stomach it, I can to."

"I've eaten weirder," Heath said shrugging.

"Down the hatch luvs!" Luna said pouring her bowl into her mouth.

Ben scratched his head. "I guess it's this orgo hungry…" They all took down a mouthful of the meal, and then their eyes widened. "…we might be going hungry."

A/N: So, Sam and Impmon got the spotlight this time around. I figured this one had to be her since Impmon does technically digi-vole to Meramon. Having Birdramon as the enemy just seemed simple. A simple little swap. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

So guys, I've been thinking about doing little bounus chapters with this story, like in Brittle Bonds. Just small little AU's. I've also been thinking about doing an 'Ask me' thing as well, where you guys would get to send in the questions to ask the characters. I'm leaning more towards the second since I already have an AU thing going with another story.

Let me know what you guys think, and ask some questions you'd like the characters to answer! I'll see how it goes and maybe it could be a thing. Well, time for some reviewer responses!

MormonStereotype: Not this one!

GUest 1: Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it. Yeah, I'm trying to make the story more paralel to the orginal than an outright copy. And glad you found Ben and Darcy's dynamic enjoyable. I was going to have Bruce be the big brother figure for her, but his character is a bit too standoffish for something like that.

Guest 2: Thank you. It's going to be fairly close. Not copy and pasted exactly, but following the same basic plot while having a few key differences. I do have plans that completely break off, but that's further down the line.

CJM1C: Glad your enjoying the story so far man! I'm mixing one of my favorite modern things, Loud House, and one of my favorite nostalgic things, digimon. So I feel like I really need to do it justice. Thanks for reading!

Witch-King Angmar: Yeah, Ben and Bruce are obviously the easiest to write for since their my own characters, and it's a bit of a challenege trying not to write too much for them since i'm more comfortable with them(I keep going back to make sure I didn't make them outshine the others) Sicne that chapters was focused on Ben I wanted to try and balance it out with Darcy. Glad you enjoy their bond. And yeah, I did think it was a little weird for Heath to start the conversation, but I couldn't think of any other way to get the conversation going. I could see those two being pretty good friends overtime since they got family stuff going on.

The Keeper of Worlds: Thanks man! I appreciate it. But I do have some plans for Ranamon though. I thought out pretty much all the evolutions before I started. But I might check the design out anyway. Sounds cool.