Chapter 4

The fire was small and smoldered with damp wood, but it was sufficient for Lewis to cook a couple of steaks on. His Pokémon were out of their pokeballs and milling about, stretching out, nibbling on cuts of meat or on berries they foraged. Route 38 was visible from the top of the hill they were camped on, the morning traffic almost nonexistent. Janet sat looking into the fire, hugging her knees. Patamon sat next to her, and Lewis across, munching on his own steak. Patamon had already finished.

"Shouldn't you use, I don't know, a fork or something?" said Janet.

Lewis was holding the steak in both greasy hands, gnawing on it like a wild animal. He swallowed and said, "Oh, should I hold my pinky out too, your majesty? A fork would mean a plate, and I don't have one of those."

"You could have asked, I have camping utensils…"

"Nope, too late." He buried his face in his breakfast.

"You only have five Pokémon out," said Janet.

"Observant."

"And six pokeballs."

"The last one already ate yesterday, at the restaurant."

"Okay," Janet said and shrugged. Lewis went back to eating.

Grovyle came up to Patamon and sniffed at him, crouching in the grass. Patamon tilted his head, but before he could come up with a decent greeting Grovyle climbed upon Patamon and perched on his head, making the Digimon writhe underneath.

"Is this how Pokémon usually say hello?" said Patamon as Grovyle looked up at Janet, his expressionless smirk driving into her face.

"Only if their trainers are morons," said Janet. She pulled out a little pouch from her purse, and from the pouch pulled a berry. She held it before Grovyle, who gave the berry his full attention, and soon Janet led the Pokémon off Patamon and into the grass nearby.

Patamon watched it, and then squeaked when Furret came near, sniffing as it slunk its body around in the grass, and then rubbed its face against Patamon's side. "So… Pokémon, they're not… well, I mean, they're…"

"They're not as smart as Digimon," said Janet. "At least, most aren't. Some are actually smarter than humans. There's all kinds of Pokémon in the world, and all different types. Fire, water, grass, rock, electricity, psychic, ghost."

"Ghost!" The round creature paled and its head wings sprung erect.

"Yes, but don't worry. Pokémon and people work together, most of the time. What about Digimon?"

"Oh, um, what about us?"

"You knew that Lewis and I were humans, right? So do Digimon and humans work together wherever you're from?"

"Well, there aren't humans, where I come from. And no Pokémon, either. Just Digimon, and… and I don't know what else, anymore. There's something that I can't remember. A lot of somethings, actually."

Lewis finished his meal, smacking his lips and licking his fingers. "You called this the real world?" he said.

"Yeah, the… the place I come from, wherever that was… I remember knowing that there was a place that we called the real world. Or other Digimon called it that, anyway."

"Crazy." Lewis wiped his hands on his sleeves.

"I guess… what do you use Pokémon for?"

Janet answered, "Anything at all that they can help us with, really. Humans use electricity, for example, and so electric Pokémon can create more energy for us."

Patamon looked at the fire, and then at the book of matches next to Lewis. "So if there was a fire Pokémon here, he could have started the fire for us?"

Janet nodded, "And my water Pokémon could put the fire out if Lewis tries to burn down the forest."

"Hey, I didn't try to burn down the woods last time," said Lewis. "It was a legitimate accident, alright? And, of course, Pokémon are used to fight other Pokémon. Strong trainers train strong Pokémon. The best trainers battle each other to see who is the champion of all trainers."

"And then what?" said Patamon.

"Yeah, don't ask me. I'm not a trainer. And Miss Prissy here isn't either, really."

"I actually have two badges in the Johto league, thank you very much. They're necessary for higher level Pokémon to follow your commands."

"Ooh, I'm trembling now!"

"You two sure fight a lot," said Patamon. "Are you brother and sister?"

"God no," said Lewis. "And don't even suggest what I think you're going to suggest, I will vomit all over you."

"Lewis!" said Janet.

"Don't act like you wouldn't either."

Patamon said, "So what are you, uh, doing together?"

"That's exactly what we're going to figure out," said Lewis. "Now, those creepy dudes are going to be looking for us both. More accurately, they're going to be looking for Patamon. I'm going to just go out on a limb and figure that you're not going to give him up, so I won't suggest it."

"You kind of just did anyway," muttered Janet.

"And I'm not going to spend my life running from them on your account, either. So we're all stuck together, like a big happy family that fell in a pit of quicksand. So we need ideas, what can we do to stop Virus?"

Everything was quiet for a moment. Janet stared at Lewis, blinked, closed her mouth. "You mean, you actually want to do something about it, and not run away from the problem?"

"You haven't known me that long, what makes you think I run from every problem I have?"

"A hunch."

"Well, your worship, do you have a hunch for what we should do next?"

"Actually, yes," said Janet. "Yesterday, at the Pokémon Center, I met a trainer that suggested the cause for the storage system blackout had to do with Bill, the guy who created the system in the first place. The storage system going out and Virus extracting Digimon out of wherever it is they come from can't be mutually exclusive coincidences, right?"

"Uh, well, they could, but I'll bite. What will finding Bill accomplish?"

"Honestly, I'm not really sure. But what I heard was that he disappeared around the same time the system went down."

"Maybe he shut it down himself, and he's hiding?"

"Working for Virus, you mean?"

"Maybe. Either against his will or not. If it is related to Virus and Patamon, then he'll have some answers. If not, well, maybe we'll become too public for Virus to make a move against us." His tone revealed distaste for such a course of events.

"I guess we'll see. Patamon, would… Patamon?"

Patamon was looking away, his ears down against the sides of his face. He watched the Pokemon rolling around for a moment before his eyes shut and his chin lowered. Lewis was shocked at the level of empathy he suddenly felt for the creature, more than he'd felt for even another human for a long time. "This is all my fault, isn't it?"

"No!" said Janet. "It's no more your fault than mine, or even Lewis' for that matter. It's Virus, those guys that pulled you out of your home. They're the ones to blame here."

"Because they were after me, though."

"That isn't fair!" Said Janet. "You didn't choose to come here, and they certainly weren't interested in getting you to cooperate with them. They dragged you, painfully, out of your digital place."

"She's right," said Lewis. "But I have to wonder why they were after Patamon in the first place. What can Digimon do that's so important?"

Patamon looked at him, frowning in thought. "Well. We don't have types the way you said Pokémon do, at least not fire or water, or rocks. Some of us can fight, though. Bigger Digimon. They… change."

"If your face scrunches up any more, I'm going to have to laugh," said Lewis.

"Do you mean they evolve?" said Janet. "Pokémon can do that, too."

"Evolve…" Patamon worked it over in his mind. "Something close to that. Something to have to do with fighting."

"So," said Lewis, "Digimon actually can fight. Just, they have to be, what, less squishy?"

"Maybe… I sure can't remember fighting anyone, but even I could fight," said Patamon. "I probably wouldn't win, though. But there's something else, too. Something to have to do with humans. But, I can't remember."

"Maybe you will later," said Janet. "I don't know what you went through, but it looked horrible. Maybe it caused you to lose some of your memory when they pulled you out of your world?"

"Maybe," said Patamon.

Lewis stood up, wiping his hands on the legs of his pants. "Anyway, so it looks like Virus uses Digimon for something. Maybe they shut down the storage system, too, or had a hand in it. If we find old Bill and shake him down, we can get some answers. Hopefully. Sounds like a great plan, except for one issue. Where does that mean we're going?"

"Goldenrod City," said Janet. "From there, the Magnet train to Kanto, then to Cerulean city where he used to live. There we can look for clues."

"That's a long way," said Lewis. "Especially when we're on the run. Should Patamon go back in a pokeball so he's not so obvious?"

"No!" Patamon leaped behind Janet, his head wings fluttering, lifting him into the air a couple feet. "Please Janet, I don't want to be put back in there!"

"It's alright Patamon, it's safe." Janet plucked Patamon from the air and held him. He clung to her dress.

"It might be safe, but it's scary. It's all dark and there are voices!"

"Lewis, maybe pokeballs affect Digimon differently?"

Lewis spread his hands and turned away. "Well, of course they would, wouldn't they? The universe hates us."

"Don't worry Patamon, you can stay out. Unless it seems like you're in a lot of danger, anyway."

"Thanks Janet," said Patamon as he climbed back onto her shoulder.

"You didn't tell us you could fly."

"I can't, at least, not very far or for very long. Walking is faster for me."

"If you say so. Lewis, do I need to bring Vaporeon out?"

He turned back to her, and saw that she was pointing at the campfire, which was still going hot. "Oh, no sweat. Krokorok, over here." Krokorok came swaggering at a sedate pace, crossing its arms when it stood near its trainer. It looked at Patamon and yawned, showing off rows of pointy teeth. "Krokorok, mind digging these embers cold?" Krokorok did so, hunching over and scooping dirt with its claws before nuzzling its snout into the hole. Then, in two swift swipes of its tail, it swept the fire into the hole, and on the return swing buried the ashes with the excavated dirt. It crossed its arms again, and looked at Lewis.

"Good. Excellent." Lewis held out his pokeballs and began returning his Pokémon. "Alright folks, Goldenrod city it is. Let's get a move on before we find ourselves in a dungeon somewhere, or another world, or whatever Virus plans to do with us."

Within Johto—the name of the collection of cities and regions which Lewis and Janet were currently wandering about—cities are connected to one another through a network of paths which are called Routes. This system seems to work for them, and so many other regions use this same system to get from one place to another. Routes are useful in terms of navigation, of course, but because the profession of Pokémon training—as well as similar lifestyles—is meant to take an individual to as many different locations and environments as possible and thus interact with the greatest diversity of Pokémon species, these routes aren't the most efficient method for someone who isn't a Pokémon trainer to reach, say, Cherrygrove City from Blackthorn City, which are separated by lots of woods and steep hills and flea markets. Thus for every route there are two distinct pathways: One for Pokémon trainers, and one for everyone else. The trainer paths are much more meandering, sometimes stopping at forests and at the mouth of caves, which tend to act as proving grounds for brave trainers, and can be made of dirt, gravel, or very cheap asphalt. The real road is paved to allow for vehicle travel and to get over or around woods and mountains. Sometimes these paths blend into one another for one reason or another, and Lewis was wishing that the paths of route 38 did this for his sanity's sake.

His little party trudged along, winding through wooded paths and up and down soft hills, himself in the lead while Janet and Patamon came behind him. His fists had clenched themselves into even tighter fists and he was very careful to keep his eyes on the ground before him. All the while, Janet and Patamon giggled and chatted away as if they weren't being followed at all.

"So you can fill yourself up with air?" said Janet. "And then what?"

"Well, then it comes out like a big bubble, and it knocks stuff down. It's a lot of fun!"

"But, you'd look so silly doing it!"

"I know. That's part of the fun, though."

"Can you imagine me doing that?"

"No! But what would you do that for?"

"Well, I wouldn't want to fight Pokémon. So, I could fight other people."

"But who? Wait, would you do it to Lewis?"

"Knock Lewis down? By burping on him? I wouldn't miss the chance."

They laughed. Lewis closed his eyes and opened them again, his feet stomping extra hard when he walked. Route 38 was gravel for the most part, until it ran into rolling hills of grasslands where it became packed dirt. They were approaching the change.

"Do Pokémon really like being in pokeballs?" said Patamon.

"I hope so. If they don't, they don't say so."

"Where do you get Pokémon from, anyway? Do they come to you and just tell you they're your partners?"

"Oh, no. We have to catch them in the wild, unless they're given to us. Usually a trainer's first Pokémon is given to them, like a gift from their parents or a teacher. Then we use that Pokémon to go out and battle other Pokémon, and then use a pokeball on them."

"That sounds kind of mean, Janet…"

"Maybe… But, the Pokémon we catch become our friends."

"So you have to catch your friends?"

"Yeah. Sometimes, it's like catching a cold, huh Lewis?"

"Right. Consider me stricken sick," said Lewis.

Janet replied, "Where did you get your Pokémon, Lewis?"

Lewis sighed. As the route blended into the dirt path, it came near a lake. From atop the hills they were on, they could see out over it a ways, sparkling in the daylight. Lewis looked at the water, then back to the route. "I got Grovyle when he was a Treeco. He was my first. I caught Furret when I found him trying to take food from me, Sneasel tried to beat me into ice cream, Noibat wouldn't leave me alone when I was in a cave once, and Krokorok, well, she just showed up one day and bit me, and never went away."

"Sounds like you have a magnetic personality," said Janet.

"Or I don't use enough Repel when I'm in the wild."

Patamon climbed down from Janet and stretched. She stopped and looked out at the lake. Patamon said, "What about you Janet? Where did you get your Pokémon?"

"Well, actually, my parents gave me my first Pokémon. That was Dratini. She's very rare and very special, so I didn't train her to battle much. My second Pokémon was given to me by a teacher of mine."

Patamon nodded and began to flap his head wings, sending him into the air where he hovered for a moment, and then plopped back down in the dirt. "What's that like, having parents?"

"Digimon don't have parents?" said Janet.

"No. At least, I don't remember having any. I remember that's kind of a human thing."

"It's awful," said Lewis.

"It's…" said Janet before looking at Lewis. "It can be difficult," she finally said, "To have people older than you that seem to know a lot more than you, but you learn how to manage."

"That seems like it'd help to have someone that knows more than you," said Patamon.

"It would, but sometimes people that know more than you immediately think they know better than you, as well. Wouldn't you agree, Lewis?"

"Probably not, but, forget that right now. Someone's coming."

They froze. Down the road, raising a cloud of dust, two figures approached; one was a person, the other some kind of Pokémon. This, of course, was not the first time someone had come up the path to them. So far they had avoided a hiker, a few youngster trainers, a couple of schoolgirls that looked to be out for blood, and a geeky gawky boy that seemed intent to chase down a Magnemite, which sped away making a lot of frantic beeping sounds. This time, however, there were no trees to hide behind and the grass was far too short. They looked at each other a minute, and Janet pulled out a pokeball.

"Not back inside!" said Patamon.

"Quiet!" said Lewis. "Just, uh, Janet. How deep is your purse?"

"It's not that big of a purse!" said Janet

"We need to hide Patamon somewhere. Uh, how about, in the water? Hurry, let's jump in the water."

"They'll see us!" said Patamon. "Wear me like a hat Janet, they'll think it's part of your style."

"I feel like you're both offending my style right now," said Janet.

Lewis said, "Wait, that's it! Hide in plain sight. Patamon, pretend you're a toy, uh, like a doll."

Patamon froze, legs spread wide, and fell over on his side. He appeared to be holding his breath.

"Not dead, a doll!" said Lewis. "Oh boy, here they come… Janet, just, pick him up, don't look. Look at the lake. Pretend to be enamored or something."

Janet picked up Patamon and looked out at the water. Lewis laid down in the grass of the hill, closing his eyes, pretending to be relaxed. He even put his hands behind his head, which he always saw people do when they wanted to relax, though it always gave his fingers a cramp when he did it. They waited, hearing heavy crunching footsteps.

The footsteps crunched louder until they stopped. Lewis kept his eyes closed, ignoring whatever it was. There was a silence that was uncomfortably full as they all made sure to not look at each other. Something rather big was breathing rather heavily behind Lewis on the road.

Finally a voice said, "Well, are you guys going to battle me or do you think I'm not worth the challenge?"

Lewis took a moment to open his eyes, and stare at the lake, and ran a few colorful scenarios in his head where he ran away into the lake, found a portal to a beach somewhere at the bottom, and sat happily, unbothered, for the rest of his life. Then he turned around, slowly, and looked at the newcomer.

A boy just breaking through into his teenage years was standing at the edge of the road looking down on them, hands on his hips, wearing a tactful outfit of khakis and dark brown. His jacket had at least half a dozen zippers and his cargo shorts had about the same amount of pockets. A leather satchel was slung over one shoulder and a pair of headphones were around his neck, a thin cord snaking into one of the pockets on his jacket. His hair was short and threatening a dirty shade of blond, while his eyes were dancing brown as he stared a challenge at them. Beside him was a reptilian bipedal Pokémon of a dark charcoal color and blue stripes on its tail, ankles, wrists, neck, and upon the bulging dome on its head, which was flanked by spikes. It peered out at them with narrow red eyes.

Lewis looked at Janet, who had also turned to see the trainer. She had her hands over Patamon's face, who appeared to have gone limp.

"We're not trainers," said Lewis.

"No fooling?" said the boy. "You've got Pokémon, though. Don't worry, I'd go easy on you, a friendly spar is just what I've been looking for the past couple days."

"We're not trainers," said Janet. "Sorry, but what kind of Pokémon is that?"

"What, Rampardos here?" He grinned, which took up the majority of his face as he patted Rampardos' shoulder. "It's a fossil Pokémon. A lean, mean, knock-em-down machine. Well, maybe not as lean as he could be, but, I love him just the same." He stepped closer to Lewis and stuck out his hand. Lewis kept his hands behind his head, staring at the boy. "Name's Big Sur, and you can believe me or not. Pokémon trainer, soon to be Pokémon Ranger, and probably one of the only people crazy enough to have a team of only fossil type Pokémon."

Janet stepped forward to take Big Sur's hand. "I'm Janet. This is Lewis. I'm a Pokémon healer, and he's… well, we're just passing through."

"I'm her patient," said Lewis.

Big Sur laughed, which was such a natural sound coming from the short boy that Janet found herself smiling as well. "So is he your Pokémon, then? No offense to you, but I don't think you trained him very well."

Lewis sighed and sat up amidst more laughter. They come to me, they all come to me… how do they find me?

"And what about that?" said Big Sur, pointing at Janet's arms. She looked down, and Patamon quickly went limp again.

"Oh, uh, well…"

"Looks like one sick Pikachu to me. What happened to its ears? And where's its tail?"

Lewis stood up. "We got lost for a while and ran out of food. We drew straws and decided that Pikachu's tail would have to go."

Big Sur laughed again, though his eyes still seemed puzzled. Laughter was apparently just a natural reaction to the world around him. "Well, wait a minute, I've never seen a Pikachu with blue eyes before."

"Seen a lot of Pikachus, have you?" said Lewis. "And you said you're a Pokémon ranger? I thought rangers could only have one Pokémon."

"Ranger slash trainer. I'm also a drummer."

"So a musician, too. We're truly basking in some immense wealth of talent, then."

Big Sur grinned. "Stick around, maybe some will rub off on you."

Janet laughed. Then Patamon laughed. Janet stopped laughing and hugged him tighter, choking him off.

"You know," said Big Sur. "You all seem like you're kind of intense. Like, something secret's going on."

Lewis said, "Well, if that's the case, you'd be considered pretty polite if you were to scram, huh?"

Janet whirled on him, "Lewis!"

Big Sur Laughed. "Ha! No he's right, sorry, not any of my business. But, you won't mind if I scan your, uh, Pikachu, with a Pokedex, will you?"

"Actually," said Janet, "Lewis, we had planned to do that, too." Lewis rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"My pa says that discovery is something to be shared." Big Sur reached into a pocket of his cargo shorts and pulled out a red little square device that fit in his hand. He opened a cover and pushed some buttons inside it. A lens was set on the front, which he aimed at Patamon.

"Talk about fossils," said Lewis. "That's gotta be an original model Pokedex."

"I figure, hey, why not go all the way, right? Now, let's see here…"

Patamon cringed in Janet's arms while she tried to pet his face to soothe him. He blinked his big blue eyes at Big Sur's device, and flapped his head wings twice. An important aspect of the Pokedex which most trainers are familiar with is that the Pokedex contains a record of all Pokémon which have been registered to a central database. However, there are some Pokémon which are not registered with this database, but are still known to exist either through folklore or mythology. Creatures such as the legendary bird Pokémon Ho-oh, which is only known to appear every century, half century, or whenever certain unreliable but scrappy sports teams win their seasons, are well known to savvy trainers, but pull a blank on the Pokedex.

At first, this seemed to be the case for Patamon. "Unknown data," intoned the mechanical voice of the Pokedex.

Big Sur's face lit up. "Oh gosh, this is incredible! A legendary Pokémon that I've never even heard of!"

"Gotta wonder what makes it legendary, then," said Lewis.

Then, the Pokedex made another noise. If the Pokedex were a human, it would have been coughing. It clicked, buzzed, beeped, and said again, "Unkown data. Some Pokémon have never some Pokémon have never some never never Pokémon unknown data Pokémon data."

"Uh, Big Sur?" said Janet. "Maybe you should put it away." She had backed up a step as Patamon squirmed to hide from the Pokedex.

"I've never seen this happen before," said Big Sur. He was now just staring at his Pokedex. He closed the cover and tried to shut it off, but the device continued to make distressed little noises, and it continued speaking.

"Unkown drrrrrrrr daaaaaaaaa some Pokémon have have have have have missing data there are there are many Pokémon that have have drrrrrrrrrr missing missing missing number data Pokémon mon mon missing number num missing number missing number missing number numberrrrrrr." Finally the screen went dead and the voice stopped. It came back on as it rebooted and refreshed.

Big Sur looked at Patamon, who stared back fearfully, hunched in Janet's arms. He licked his lips, and slipped his Pokedex into his pocket again. "There's a legend," he said, "That some Pokémon trainers have encountered creatures that were called the Missing Numbers. Sometimes they even looked like Pokémon themselves. But, while they were extremely powerful, they were unstable. According to the legend, they would disintegrate completely when put in the Pokémon storage system, never to return." He looked at Janet. "Where did you find it?"

Lewis stepped in front of Big Sur. "Cut that out, would you? Whatever that is, it's not a Missing Number. I've heard the legend, too, and that's all it is. It's a campfire story, something to scare little kids, Big Sur."

"Then you want to tell me what that thing is? Because it ain't no Pikachu, and whatever it is it could be dangerous."

There was a moment of stunned silence, Lewis staring down Big Sur staring down Patamon, who stared up at Janet. Janet finally nodded. "It's okay," she said. "I think we can trust him."

"Janet!" said Lewis.

"Please, Lewis, he's not working for Virus. Go ahead Patamon."

Patamon looked up at her, then at Big Sur. "What's a Pikachu?"

The grass parted. A few small Pokémon pranced away from the massive shape which emerged from the thicket of trees. Metal gleamed, green and drab cream. It took a heavy step, and then another, its sensors detecting nearby prey. Circuits buzzed and snapped, and hydraulics hissed as they pushed and pulled. It was closing in, coming down from the top of a hill. Ahead there was water, a blue lake that stretched out from the roadway. Before that, there were three adolescents and one Pokémon, in addition to the quarry. One of the humans was jumping up and down, making bizarre noises and pointing at the other humans. Soon, its voice was within audible range.

"You don't have any idea what this means!" said Big Sur. "This is beyond us, beyond what anything we've ever seen before encompasses! It… oh, by the bones, it's a miracle!"

"I don't feel all that miraculous," said Patamon. He had crawled up on Janet's shoulder to avoid Big Sur waving his arms about. "I don't even think I'm all that different to Pokémon, I can just talk."

Lewis was lying on the ground. This wasn't his decision, but rather the decision of Rampardos, who had knocked him there and proceeded to sit on him. "Big Sur, can you get this prehistoric lard off of me?"

"You shouldn't have tried to touch me, Rampardos gets very protective. Rampy, let him up."

"You shouldn't have tried to touch Patamon."

Janet said, "Look, we know that what we're dealing with here is something that no one's ever seen before, it might even be dangerous. Just, keep calm, both of you."

Lewis grunted, "I'm being forced to remain calm."

"Rampy, up!" Said Big Sur. Rampardos did so, and Lewis scrambled to his feet.

"You think I'm dangerous, Janet?" said Patamon. He climbed down from Janet and stood before her on the ground, looking up.

"Patamon, I don't think you're dangerous yourself. But whatever it is about you that Virus wants, it has to be bad. Those guys… they were not nice, you understand? Patamon?"

Patamon had turned around and looked off the path up the hill rising behind them.

Big Sur came near and crouched low. "Listen, Patamon, Digimon could be the next step for people and Pokémon. I have no idea what it means, but, I want to find out. This Virus group, whoever they are, if they're planning on doing something bad with you, maybe we can stop it and actually learn from you instead. That's all I really want. If you are a Missing Number, or maybe something beyond that, then we might be able to… what are you looking at?"

"We've got trouble," said Lewis. He was looking up the hill as well, a pokeball in his hand.

They all turned to look. Standing at the top of the hill, hunched over with its hands on the ground, was a being made of metal. In any case, it was mostly metal, colored green and some pale shade of flesh, with bits of some substance that could have been skin and fur pressing through gaps in its armor plating. Its head was obscured in a small helmet with antennae poking out of it. On each arm, long tubes were attached which blended into the metal plating. Its legs were bulky and powerful looking, wires popping out and running the length of its limbs. It stared at them through tiny dark sockets where eyes should go in its helmet.

"Friend of yours?" said Lewis.

Big Sur shook his head as his Rampardos stood between him and the contraption, growling. "Not likely. That, uh, that is not anyone's friend, I'd guess."

The thing took a thunderous step closer, rising up to its full height. It was at least eight feet tall. Steam billowed out of the tubes on its arms. A voice came out of it, broadcasting to those below. The voice was mechanical like the Pokedex's while remaining fluid and uncompromised, and surprisingly high in pitch. "Human children. I am Trojan model Alpha Four. You are identified as those that interfered with the active duties of two Virus agents and sabotaged their work. In this process you have taken from them an asset which belongs to Virus and which I have been programmed to find and return. These coordinates have been transmitted to Virus headquarters, as well as all sensory input from here on out. You are asked to please relinquish the stolen property now. Afterward, you may leave otherwise intact. I also am to inform you that if you show promising talent, Virus may have use for you and you will be contacted by an Agent later."

Janet stepped in front of Patamon, who crouched on the ground. "No chance I'm letting that thing take Patamon. Pokémon aren't property, and neither are Digimon."

"I'm with you there," said Big Sur. "That thing's the most important scientific discovery of the century."

"I'd argue semantics with you as to Patamon's importance, but I think I'll save it for later."

Lewis looked up at the Trojan, who was still lumbering down the grassy slope, raising its arms now to aim the tubes mounted there at them all. He turned the pokeball in his hand, and weighed his chances.

Before he could decide, Big Sur called out, "Rampardos, go!"

Rampardos gave a shrieking battlecry and charged. Running straight up the hill didn't even seem to slow it down as it lowered its domed head and plowed into the leg of the Trojan. The Trojan dropped to one knee, and swiped at Rampardos with an arm, knocking the Pokémon to the side. Its other arm aimed down at the kids and a ball of blue energy shot out of the tube, careening down until it exploded in the dirt path behind Lewis and Big Sur.

Big Sur fell over, the contents of his satchel falling out. He looked up to the battle above them. "Rampardos!"

Janet aimed a pokeball. "Flaaffy! Blast it!" A sheep shaped Pokémon emerged from the pokeball's light, with a pink body and fluffy white fur on its head and around its neck. Its tail was elongated and had a blue sphere at the end, which crackled with electricity. Its ears stuck out from its head like cones, and between these an arc of electric energy sprung over its head. The arc reached out and touched the Trojan, which made a pained groan. Rampardos was back up and rammed into the side of the Trojan once more, and it rolled down the rest of the hill until it came to rest on the dirt road.

It raised itself to its feet with frightening speed, and aimed its arm at Janet. Blue light glowed within the dark tube mounted above its wrist. "Stand aside, human. Target is to be weakened before extraction."

A green blur leapt out and struck the Trojan in its head, and then its antennae were laying on the dirt. Grovyle landed on its feet and looked back. The Trojan had turned its gun on the new target.

"Rampardos, use screech!" shouted Big Sur.

Rampardos jumped in front of Grovyle and opened its mouth. A tinny, head-splitting sound emitted from it, aimed up at the Trojan. The Trojan froze in the blast, seemingly paralyzed.

"Flaaffy, thundershock while it's distracted!"

Flaaffy complied, another blast of electricity striking the Trojan in the back. It whirled around, and fired the weapon on its arm. A blast of energy shot out and hit the ground between Flaaffy and Janet, sending both of them backward. Patamon went into the air, and began flapping his head wings until he was aimed at the Trojan. He sucked in air in a swift gulp, his body inflating like a balloon, and then released it. The air shot forward in a supersonic bubble, which struck the Trojan in its head. The Trojan reeled backward a step, and then it aimed its other arm.

The blast took Patamon with its full force. Patamon fell out of the air and onto the grass beside the road, motionless. The Trojan moved forward swiftly, reaching a hand out to scoop him up. As it crouched over, Rampardos charged, and collided with the contraption with such force that they both went over and down the slope leading to the lake. As they rolled, Rampardos slammed his rocky head into the machine over and over, chipping away at its armor. Finally, just as they were about to fall into the lake, Rampardos gave a swift kick and pushed the Trojan into the water. It struck the surface with a great splash, and there it sank.

Big Sur rushed forward, calling for his Pokémon. Lewis found his own and crouched over Grovyle, who peered up at Lewis. Lewis began scooping up Big Sur's belongings and putting them back in his bag. "Janet!" he called. "Janet?"

"I'm here," said Janet. She was lying in the grass. She rubbed at her arm, moving it around in its socket and rolling her jaw side to side. "I think I'm okay, I just sprained my arm."

"You might want to find Patamon, then."

"What happened? Did… oh, no!" Janet stood up and ran over to the inert form of Patamon. A slight limp in her step suggested more than a sprained arm, but she ignored it and set to work wrapping Patamon in a blanket and popping Aromatisse from its pokeball.

Big Sur came back up the hill next to his Rampardos. "Whatever that thing was, I don't think it can get out of the water. That, or Rampardos really messed it up, or your Grovyle snapped its link to whatever was powering it. Or a hundred other things, the worst of which could be that it's repairing itself."

Lewis nodded and put Grovyle back in his pokeball. "Well, if your entire team is as good as Rampardos, I think we'll be able to keep it down for good next time it shows up."

"Rampardos is my best guy, but I guess we'll just have to see. How's Patamon, Janet?"

"He's alive," she said. "Which is as good as I can do right now. I'm just not sure which medicines he needs."

"Pokémon center, then," said Big Sur.

"It doesn't work," said Lewis. "We already tried."

"Potion?"

Janet shook her head and began rubbing an ointment on Patamon's burns. "It only had a slight effect on Patamon before. I think the compounds within potion are too refined, or maybe too diluted? I don't know. The thing is, I can try to do as much for Patamon as I can, but it's not going to matter if Virus agents show up soon. The Trojan said it was connected to the Virus headquarters. They'll know where we are."

"And that means they know to look for me, too," said Big Sur.

"Welcome to the club," said Lewis. "She's right though, we need to get out of here."

Their Pokémon returned to their pokeballs. Janet carefully carried Patamon in her arms. Lewis handed Big Sur his satchel back. They proceeded to walk away from the bubbling waters, casting glances at the spot in the lake where the Trojan had fallen in until it was out of sight.