A/N: This chapter used to be 2 chapters with a pointless cliffhanger in the middle... And another Digivolution... Not sure how I'm gonna fit that one in ._. Anyways. Here's the thing.

Chapter 6: An Inconvenient Truth

Our happiness and chattering had long since ended by the time we reached the end of the forest. I was almost happy about the fight we'd gotten in hours before, because even after all of the scratches and dirt from walking in the woods for god knows how long, I looked and felt about the same as when I started.

By the time we had emerged from the woods, no one was happy. It was dusk, we were tired, and we still had to set up Jack's tent. At least we weren't starving, though who knew how long that would last. For all we knew, the fruit the Kunemon used in that trap was the last thing we would eat before dying of starvation or getting murdered by something like that Ogremon.

Luckily for us, I suppose, nothing else had attacked us while we were walking.

When we made it past the tree-line, we were greeted with, first and foremost, a mountain, one I recalled being able to see from the lake. However, due to the treetops blocking most everything from our view, we'd had no way to tell we were walking towards it. The trees stretched out in such a way as to give us two options - Climbing at least part of the mountain and going to the other side, or going back into the forest.

None of us seemed particularly interested in deciding at the moment. Most of us were revelling in two different facts. One, there was flat ground, wide enough to pitch a tent. And two, we could hear a stream at the base of the mountain. On cue, I started to realize just how thirsty I was. I think we were all sprinting towards it, but I didn't have the remote inclination to check. As it came into view, we could see that it wasn't especially big, or deep, but it was big enough for all of use to walk away from it a few minutes later, thirst quenched and clothes soaked.

I was especially thankful for the opportunity to do something resembling bathing, since I had been doing all of these Digital World shenanigans in pajamas that I'd slept in several times before...

Well, before.

Pretty soon all of us were in our underwear, hanging our clothes over tree branches to let them dry. I was pretty sure no one was going to steal them. Lucky for us, it was pretty warm out, so we didn't have to worry about freezing to death. I think one of us might have mentioned it if we did.

After I hung up my clothes, I turned back towards the area that would be our camp and saw Jack, standing in the middle, staring up at the mountain very intently.

"Something up there?" I asked.

"Hold on..." she muttered, most likely not totally registering what I'd said, or even who was addressing her. She was focused like a laser on... something. In that general direction.

She stood like that for another 10 seconds, and then walked away towards her enormous backpack. She unhooked the tent from the side and quickly handed it to me, saying, "Here, pitch this."

Thanks.

I waved Ben over and brought the tent to the flattest part of the - well, flat. There was a healthy dusting of dirt on the ground, but beneath it was rock. "How are we gonna do this?" I wondered aloud, looking at the tent stakes and the ground, trying to make two plus two equal something other than hammering thin metal rods into solid rock.

"Help me set up the tent without them, just put rocks in the corners," he said in a bored tone.

"Right." That was more than a little embarrassing.

Assembling the tent was fairly easy, as was finding the rocks. It was figuring out how we were all going to fit in it that was tricky.

I looked over to Jack, who was packing up... a telescope? "What're you doing with that?" I called over to her.

She responded, finishing collapsing the stand, "You remember when I was staring at the mountain?"

"Yeah..."

She walked by me towards her backpack, saying, "I decided I should stare better." As she stuffed the stand and telescope into her backpack, she shouted, "I don't know what it is exactly, but there's something halfway up the mountain. With buildings. Looks like a village. It's not tall, we could probably summit the thing in a day if we had to." She looked at Susie and James and said, "Day and a half."

She unclipped a sleeping bag from the bottom of her bag, unzipped it fully, and handed it to us. "Lay this down on the floor of the tent. Slightly more comfortable than rocks. The tent is supposed to fit two 'comfortably,' meaning we can squish in a third without wanting to die. The two young'ns equal a fourth body. Digimon better be good with snuggling."

DemiMeramon perked his head up, or rather, rotated his entire body towards Jack's face. "Won't I..."

Jack tentatively stuck a hand out towards the fireball-shaped creature and gingerly touched her fingers to his skin, if you could call it that. After a few seconds, she pulled her hand off. "Yeah, no way any of us is sleeping pressed up against you, we'd wake up with blisters. Sorry, Mera."

The Digimon smiled at the shortened name. "It's alright. The Digimon can sleep outside, I'll go in the middle and keep us warm!"

Koromon started yelling about how amazing that sounded and how he'd "keep watch all night, rawr." I ruffled the short, thin hairs on the top of his body that was only a head. I stared at him for a moment, wondering, until he looked up at me and said, "Huh?"

"How do you move?"

"I jump," he responded, puzzled.

"Don't be a smart-ass. How do you jump?"

"First I go up, then I come-"

"What muscles do you contract that cause you to go up?!"

He stared at me blankly. "What's a muscles?"

Oh my sweet jesus... I thought to myself, putting my fingers to my temples.

James tapped on my elbow. "I think this world doesn't work like that, Lucy. I think he jumps because Koromon jump. Am I pluralizing right?" he asked Koromon, who nodded. By rotating his entire body. Why was it only just dawning on me that these creatures made no goddamn sense?

James continued, "Everything we've experienced, as well as the name of the world, indicates that Digimon do not have to obey our world's laws of biology. Ogremon's torso was too small to house the organs required to maintain something as big and strong as he is, in that shape. I think he doesn't have organs, because as a being made of data he doesn't need them. It follows that Koromon doesn't need muscles in order to jump."

It's like, I understood the words he was saying, but it just didn't make sense. I picked up Koromon and patted him all over. "But he's a physical thing, like me."

"But a physical thing from a world that doesn't need things like organs or muscles."

"Then why do I need them?!"

"Do you?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I can feel my heartbeat," I murmured, as if it was significant.

"That could mean one of two things. One, your body originally had organs and so that was translated when we came over. Or two, the sensations you are used to were translated over, so you're feeling a heartbeat with no heart."

"...So I don't need to eat? Or breathe?"

"I wouldn't count on that," he said. I honestly couldn't tell if this kid was really smart, or fucking crazy. "But you could test by holding your breath, long past the point where you're in horrible pain from resisting the urge to breathe, and seeing if you ever pass out. Or, more dangerous, starve for a month and see if you die." He was remarkably chipper while saying all of this.

"I think I get your point," I grumbled.

He smirked. Well, at least he smiling at all. I was wondering if we should put him on suicide watch.

In the half-hour we had been here, the sun had gotten much lower. It was very nearly dark, and we were all tired. We all stumbled into the tent as the Digimon arranged themselves outside, sharing DemiMeramon's heat. We figured out an arrangement that worked with Jack's dislike of children, and our collective agreement that we should keep said children as safe as possible by surrounding them. From the door of the tent to the back, we had Jack, me, Susie, James and Ben. We were all pressed pretty tightly together, but as night fell and the ground became cold, no one was exactly complaining about the shared heat. My last thought as I quite rapidly fell asleep was that Jack was absurdly warm.

I have the slightest, vaguest possible memory of feeling Susie get up and tiptoe over us in the dead of night.

Disclaimer: For all I know, the following never occurred. All I know about it is what James and Susie told us.

Susie was in a state of extreme discomfort. Mild hunger, considerable thirst, and a terrible need to relieve herself. None of us had really been taking care of ourselves well in the past couple of days, though an argument could be made that given our circumstances, we were doing a fine job.

She addressed the problems in order of urgency, first walking to the trees and next to the stream. After checking that it was dry, she donned her dress as well. She had a perfectly good understanding of our situation and knew that if she was not starving, she would do better to sleep than forage. And thus, she began to walk back towards the tent to once again disrupt our sleep by stepping over us.

That was, until something red and shiny appeared in her periphery. Turning to look at the out-of-place item, she assessed quickly that it was an apple. And a delicious-looking one at that. Unquestioning in her joy, she began a sprint towards the fruit. But just as soon as she had started running, she stopped, hearing whispering.

"Are you sure we should really be settling here...? She's not the threat..."

"Yet. A Chosen's a Chosen..."

A pause, before another whisper, cut off immediately by another.

"Shut up!"

"W-"

"She's listening!"

"Shit!"

"Shut up!"

"Who's thew?!" she called out. I admire her bravery.

Unfortunately for her, there was no response. She called out again, louder.

Nothing.

She ran to the tent and yelled, "Lucy! James! Ja-"

Her mouth was covered by just about the most terrifying hand you can imagine. Three long, leathery, blue fingers and talon-like claws at the end. They led down to a thin palm, and the wrist was covered by what looked like a torn white sheet, dangling down at least three times as far as the wrist would have stopped.

James poked his head up when he heard his name. He hopped over us and moved the flap of the tent, barely catching a glimpse of the hand that covered Susie's mouth, as well as the child herself, moving out of view. He ran outside the tent, calling the little girl's name, and saw her being dragged in the direction of the stream by what looked like a ghost.

With those horrifying hands.

He nearly screamed, and he wanted to run away, but he knew he had to act or he could lose sight of them. He took a deep breath, and muttered, "It's a Digimon... not a ghost..." before sprinting after them.

The ghost, judging by the lack of a visible face and the angle of its arm, was facing away from James. He gestured for Susie to be quiet and scanned the ground for a rock while he ran. Thankfully, being at the base of a mountain had the perk of plentiful rocks for all of our Digimon-head-bashing needs. He took a detour of a few feet to pick up the heftiest rock he could find and carry, and charged after Susie and her captor.

A voice came from behind James, "Look out! One woke up!"

Judging by the sound, it was only a few feet behind him and to his left. He shut his eyes, thought a brief apology to Susie for the delay, and did an about-face, swinging the rock up above his head, ready to bring it crashing down on whatever it was that had apparently allied itself with the ghost Digimon.

There was nothing there. He tried to pull back, but he had committed so much to the swing that the rock pulled him over. That made it very confusing when it stopped in midair, seemingly meeting an invisible object. An earsplitting scream came from the empty space where the rock had found resistance.

This is allegedly when Tanemon woke up.

Quickly, James understood the situation when another ghost Digimon appeared before him, yelling out in pain and clutching its head.

"You little shrimp! You'll pay for that!" it yelled. He couldn't tell if its face made it remarkably less scary, or moreso. Large, round, white eyes with small black dots for pupils, and a gaping mouth with large, dull fangs and bulging red gums. Upon closer inspection, what had looked like an ethereal body now looked much more like a sheet.

It grabbed James' arms and started to drag him in the same direction as the other had taken Susie. Suddenly, several high-velocity pink bubbles popped against the ghost's head. In its distraction, James broke free of its grasp and lifted the rock once more. Tanemon stepped up beside him, declaring, "That's Bakemon. They're weak, but they attack in groups. How many have you seen?"

"Two. The other has Susie."

The tiny plant Digimon gasped, and practically started flying in the direction James pointed.

The small, rock-wielding child, now left alone with the Bakemon, took to what he hoped was a fighting stance, in spite of his terror. Thus far he had attacked these creatures when they were unaware. What was he to do when on even footing with one?

He had one option that carried any hope of success amidst a legion of terrible possible choices. He swiped at the creature's face with the large rock once more, and it backed up to avoid the blow. James took the opportunity to run back towards the tent.

He had no idea how fast these Digimon could travel, so he ran as fast as he could to the earliest possible place from which he could throw the rock and have it reach the group. The rock soared, almost gracefully, through the air, now guaranteed to alert someone to his peril. He kept running but, as he had expected, the Bakemon was a second from catching him when he had thrown. As the ghost-sheet Digimon wrapped it's horror movie hands around the boy's middle and began to pull him back, the rock struck something invisible.

See, not only had James done his best to save himself, but he had also saved the Digimon from being snatched up by another Bakemon without possibly being able to know it beforehand. The unfortunately-placed ghost screamed as it crashed into tent, collapsing one of the poles and bringing the fabric down on the three of us.

Everyone was awake now. It is here that the story returns to my perspective.

I jolted awake as the tent material wrapped itself neatly around my face. Something was yelling in no voice I could recognize, and it was pressed into my head from the other side of the fabric. Further off, I heard James screaming for help. I was entangled in a mess of limbs and tent, I was in my underwear, and the only sounds audible were of distress.

I had woken up to worse.

I stood in spite of all the obstructions, and lifted the roof of the tent so that Jack and Ben could rise. They were both still muttering things like, "Huh...?" and "What's going on..." as they shuffled, quick as they could, out of the collapsed tent.

The Digimon were presently setting in upon Bakemon. Seeing this, Jack and Ben jolted to the state of alertness I was already in. Jack quickly dispatched the ghost with James' rock as Ben got an explanation from Herbamon about what it was.

For me, I scanned the darkness for James, and saw another Bakemon dragging him off.

"Take me with you, please."

I looked down to see Chibomon addressing me. "You got it," I said, crouching down and lifting the blue ball of a Digital Monster.

"Me too!" shouted Koromon, jumping into my other arm. I groaned, and grinned at him, beginning to run after the poor son of a bitch that made the mistake of running off with one of my kids. At that moment, I realized that I did more or less consider them... maybe not family, but important. And my responsibility, much more than Jack's or Ben's. They were my kids until I got them home.

And I would get them home. That I had promised myself early on.

The Bakemon was faster than I'd hoped, but slower than I'd expected. If I could sustain this speed, I would catch up soon enough. Eventually I was close enough to hear them, which wasn't anything but the expected protesting from James until he noticed me.

"Lucy! Chibomon!" he called out to us.

The Bakemon froze in its... well, it didn't have tracks, it was floating, but you get my point. It stopped moving. "Drop the kid and back me up!" it shouted.

As I approached, another Bakemon came into view, responding to the call of the one I was chasing. It must have had Susie. Koromon alerted me to another coming from my right. I knew I couldn't handle three.

"Hydro Shot!" shouted an unfamiliar voice from the darkness, as a jet of water slammed the approaching Bakemon forward and knocked it down. "Beta Slugger!" it came again. A large, green amphibian with an unreasonably tall red fin burst into my vision. Tanemon? It rammed the fallen Bakemon with terrifying force. As I anticipated, the sheet-wearing spectre faded away into data.

And just like that, we could take on the remainder. I dropped the two tiny Digimon and turned to face the Bakemon Koromon had warned me about. Something Koromon had neglected to inform me, however, was that one had apparently turned into five. It was this moment of confusion that I reflected upon when James told me about Tanemon's explanation of "they attack in groups." They certainly did.

I knew one thing for sure, though, which was that they wanted to kidnap us, not kill us. They floated eerily towards me ready to surround me, and I grinned. Almost instantly, the smug face of perceived victory fell off of their horrific faces. All I had to do was not get grabbed.

I ran to my right, making to strafe around their group. I wanted to keep as few attacking me at the same time as possible. Sure enough, one dashed towards me, making the others have a harder time getting in. I did my best to keep it between me and the other four as we fought.

It was uncomfortably easy to handle the monster by itself. A jab here, a jab there, grab its freaky wrist when it tries to claw... badda-boom. Soon enough the Bakemon had a face-full of its own claws and was fading away into nothing.

What was hard was coming to terms with the fact that apparently, Bakemon were smart. Not as an individual- no, that much was proven by how awful that last one was at fighting. But as a group, they had some good ideas. Like fanning out while I was busy fighting, and surrounding me. It's easy to keep something between you and a group when they stick together, but not so much when they decide to split up.

"Water Tower!"

A jet of water came from the ground and launched one of the four ghost Digimon into the air, before the creature I could only assume was Tanemon's Child form leapt up after it, yelling, "Fin Cutter!" Its giant red fin glowed white for a second as the green beetle-amphibian-thing spun around, slicing the Bakemon and killing it.

The rest were an easy matter.

Soon, there was one left, surrounded by all ten of us. The details of James' and Susie's escape, as well as what the green Digimon was, would be explained to me in the few minutes before the resolution of this conflict and my return to sleep, along with what happened before I was woken up.

"Who do you work for?!" Ben shouted.

"You're never getting anything out of me, Chosen Children!" Bakemon screeched back. "Hell's Hand!"

"Hydro Shot!"

Both attacks collided with Bakemon, causing it to burst into data particles. Apparently, he was going to kill himself to protect whatever information he had. Or maybe just to choose the circumstances of his death.

Maybe it was how tired I was, or maybe it was how fed up I was with this place I was unwillingly taken, or maybe it was how much crazy crap I had already had to suppress my confusion about and just roll with, but I was really unphased by this happening. Susie was baffled, James was disappointed, Jack was furious she didn't get to kill it, and Ben was just staring at his hands. It seemed like he was upset that his question hadn't meant more. I just picked up Koromon and walked over to the tent, ready to collapse. I shuffled on over, but by the time I was there, Jack had asked Susie what happened before.

While I was sleeping, Susie and James simultaneously prompted and thwarted an attack from ghosts with horror-movie-clown-style hands and a remarkable need for a dentist. Kids these days. And, as I suspected, the new Digimon, Betamon, was what happened when the Bakemon holding Susie had gotten so annoyed with her shouting that it tried to hit her. According to the two of them, the hand never reached her. It had actually been fleeing Betamon when the other Bakemon called for it to help.

I fell asleep, Koromon trapped under my arm, face on a tentpole, refusing to think about any of what just happened until I was awake enough to regret my decision to sleep where I did.

And let me tell you, waking up with a bruise on your face from sleeping with a tent pole under it... Yeah, I regretted it alright. Stupid Bakemon. Coulda had a perfectly good night's sleep if it weren't for them.

Screw whoever these things were working for.

Seriously.