Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copy righted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it's Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copy right for it.
A/N – As stated in my profile thanks to the cool new updates to FF. net I'll no longer post summaries and the rating inside the chapters. I'll also probably remove them from older chapters, but it won't be a priority. Also sorry this is late got a little worn out emotional wise during June. Future chapters may be late as well do to how rough they are, but thanks to camp NaNo this Fan Fiction is now 110,000ish words long :3 and I'm not finished yet.
Edited July 24, 2014 – For Word Flow, Errors missed, and other such things
Chapter Seven Innocents in the Line of Fire!
"She was scared," Trace mumbled against Rascmon's back.
"Only because she knew she could not protect herself from what might have happened," Rascmon told him, but Trace shook his head.
"She was scared of me Rascmon," Trace mumbled refusing to pull away from the dog Digimon at the moment. Rascmon laid his heads on his paws not really able to argue against what Trace had said knowing full well she had indeed been afraid of her brother. It was obvious by how badly it was affecting him that something like this had not happened between the two of them before.
"It's not your fault Trace," Rascmon reassured him but Trace didn't say anything to him. Right now Rascmon was wondering just how hard it would be for him to rip Kitsumon's throat out for what he had done to Trace.
The following day Takeru was allowed to attend school, but only if he sat out during physical education and didn't try playing any sports for awhile. That was why Takeru realized that maybe Hikari hadn't told him the full truth about whether or not Kohana was mad at him. When he arrived she wasn't around, but Tsumon was waiting for Patamon which told him she had at least arrived already. On the way to their classroom to talk to her he had been intercepted by Daisuke and Ken who were wondering how he was doing. By the time they had finished talking the bell had rung for class.
What made it the most obvious was when they were eating lunch. Takeru had tried a few times to speak with Kohana only to get one worded answers from her most of the time. It was beginning to remind him of how she had behaved when they had first met except this time it wasn't because she was shy. After a bit he just gave up and focused on his lunch.
He had to admit it annoyed him a bit that she was obviously avoiding him, but what really annoyed him was knowing he couldn't really do anything to fix what was wrong. Well there was one way to fix this, but it required him to make a promise he knew he wouldn't keep. With a sigh he stabbed at his white rice with his chopsticks. "You alright, Takeru?" Daisuke asked.
Takeru looked up from his bento so he could look at Daisuke. "Yeah I'm fine. My head hurts a little, but from what I was told at the hospital it's normal and should go away soon," he told him as he turned his attention back to his bento. His stomach was also a little upset thanks to his head hurting which was one reason he was stabbing at his lunch instead of actually eating it. Something else that should go away after awhile, he reminded himself as he began to take small bites of the rice knowing he should eat. "So what are we going to do now?" Takeru asked in between bites.
"I don't know," Daisuke admitted.
"I say we find him for once instead of him always finding us," Tailmon suggested. She was getting tired of this cat and mouse game Kitsumon preferred especially since she felt like the mouse which wasn't a feeling she liked at all.
"We already tried that and look where it got us," Ken pointed out and Takeru grimaced slightly while also silently agreeing with him.
"Maybe we should try and find some more information about him. I mean when we did last time it paid off. Even if it didn't end exactly how we thought it would…" Miyako said.
"The only place that might have information about him would be those tunnels that he was living in or that redwood forest realm," Hawkmon told them and they nodded their heads in agreement.
"In order to reach the redwood realm we'll need the help of the Star siblings," Wormmon reminded them.
"I have both Luna and Trace's number so it shouldn't be hard to get a hold of them. They also said I could give it to whoever I thought might need it," Takeru told them as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He flipped it open and sent a text message to Trace then placed it back into his pocket. After words he continued to pick at his lunch in silence while only half paying attention to what they were saying. He wasn't trying to be rude but his headache was making it hard to focus on what they where saying.
When he realized he probably wasn't going to eat anything else he replaced the lid to his bento box and stood up. "I'm going to head to the nurses office to see if I can get something for my headache before class," Takeru told them.
"Alright see you in class then," Daisuke said and Takeru waved to the others before heading inside.
"He still looks a little pale doesn't he?" Miyako asked as they watched him walk towards the school building.
"He didn't eat much either," Hikari pointed out.
"Is he really alright Patamon?" Kohana asked as she turned to look at the small Digimon who was still eating on his lunch.
Patamon looked at her as he thought for a moment. "I think I didn't manage to get rid of all the poison," Patamon told her then when he noticed she looked worried as well as the others he added, "Don't worry if there is any left I doubt it's enough to cause him trouble otherwise he wouldn't have been released!"
"Well it's probably the cause of his headache as well as his lack of appetite, but not life threatening. Just give him a few more days and his body should take care of it on its own," Ken told them.
-X-
Takeru was walking out of the nurses' office when his cell phone announced he had received a text message. He flipped it open and read it:
Luna & I take them there but on a few conds. 1st u can't go 2nd no Kohana
her Digi can't evo high enuf to help 3rd someone with a high evo Digi has to stay here to help u
Takeru had no trouble agreeing to not going since he knew he would only cause trouble if he did especially if Kitsumon was still around. The third condition he also knew no one would have trouble with since none of them would be willing to leave him and Patamon alone to face Kitsumon. Kohana on the other hand he wasn't too sure if it was right for him to agree on something for her especially if she really was mad at him. He sent a text back to Trace saying that the first two conditions could be agreed on right now but he'd have to wait on Kohana 's answer for the third one. Then he forward Trace's text message to Kohana along with Trace's cell phone number so she could decide for herself. With that done he returned his cell phone to his pocket and continued his way back to class.
It was right when he was entering the class room that he got another text message and since class hadn't started yet he quickly checked it. Apparently Kohana had agreed with the condition since Trace's text message contained a meeting place for the others to head to. Once again he forwarded Trace's text this time to Daisuke so he could deal with it now since he wasn't involved with it. He didn't have to forward the conditions because he had no doubt Kohana had shown it to Hikari already and then they would have showed it to the others. At least I'll have free time to catch up on the school work, he thought to himself as he walked to his desk.
The others returned to class right before the bell rang and before she sat down at her desk Hikari walked over to his. "I've volunteered to be the one to stay behind while the others go and explore the other realm. Kohana and I also thought it would be a good time for us to help you get caught up with what you missed," Hikari told him.
Takeru blinked a bit surprised that Kohana was willing to help. "Thanks! Any idea's as to where we will be going after school?" Takeru asked.
"Most likely a park sense Tsumon can't seem to realize that library's are places that you have to be quiet in," Hikari answered.
"Why am I not surprised?" Takeru commented smiling slightly. Hikari just shrugged before she walked over to her desk.
When the bell rang signifying the end of the school day Takeru watched as Ken and Daisuke quickly left the classroom so they could go meet up with the twins. As for Takeru, Kohana and Hikari, the three took their time getting their things together before heading out. After they had switched their indoor shoes for their regular ones they meet their Digimon at the entrance of the school. "Where we going?" Tsumon asked when he realized they were all heading someplace together.
"We're going to the park to study," Kohana answered him.
"Yay! No stuffy library!" Tsumon cheered and almost caused Patamon to fall off his head from his sudden movements. The small Digimon thought better of where he was and flew over to Takeru to settle on his head instead.
"How much did you manage to get through Takeru?" Hikari asked as she looked at him.
"Since I had to take Monday off I managed to get a third of the way through it before Luna and Trace stopped by," Takeru answered. Hikari nodded as she pulled a small stack of papers stabled together which she handed to Takeru.
"Kohana and I compiled our notes together yesterday after school of the days you missed," Hikari explained as Takeru glanced through it as they walked.
"Thanks this will help a lot," he told them while he stored it inside of his bag.
Once they reached the park all three of the Digimon ended up joining the children and other Digimon that were already playing on the playground. As for Takeru, Hikari and Kohana the three of them sat at a free picnic table. Takeru then proceeded to pull out the school work that he needed to finish as well as the notes Hikari had just given him. Hikari and Kohana pulled homework out of their bags to work on while Takeru began working on some of the problems on his own. They had only been there ten minutes when Takeru noticed Kohana had stopped. "Is something wrong Kohana-chan?" he asked.
Kohana looked away from the playground to Takeru shaking her head. "No, not really, I just noticed that Tsumon was starring at something," Kohana answered before looking at the playground again. Takeru turned his attention to it as well and noticed that Tsumon sat on top of a dome shaped monkey bar set. He was starring off into the distance until one of the children managed to get his attention. "He's been doing that a lot lately since we found you in the Redwood Realm," Kohana explained as she turned to look at him.
She had yet to tell them that she had found out that the "angel" that had led Tsumon to where Trace and Takeru were at was indeed Calilimon. Something told her it would be best to keep it to herself for now. Of course Patamon had figured it out while they were still in the Redwood Realm and had told Takeru about it after he had woken up from the coma. It made Takeru wonder if there was a chance that Tsumon was still really seeing Calilimon. If so would the angelic Digimon tell him what had happened last year herself? It would probably be easier if she did tell him, but there is no telling if he is actually seeing her or not, Takeru thought.
Takeru was about to continue to work on his school work when a strong gust of wind went flying over his and the girls heads and the end of the table they were sitting at was sliced off. With part of the table now missing it began titling towards the end the three teens were sitting at. They quickly stood up and moved away from the table to keep from being tangled up in it. At first no one but the three teenagers really noticed what had happened, but then Tailmon evolved to Ofanimon, Patamon to Seraphimon and Tsumon to En'zakamon causing more than one person to look at the teenagers the Digimon had come with.
All the children stopped playing as they starred wide eyed at the picnic table while their parents began to run over to them knowing what was probably about to happen. Ofanimon and Seraphimon quickly flew over to the three while En'zakamon stayed with the children and parents.
The teenagers and the Digimon both looked up and were not at all surprised when they spotted Kitsumon. "Damn missed…" he commented as he relaxed his stance for a moment.
Kohana and Hikari, who had both been sitting on the opposite side of the table as Takeru, moved over to him. "Takeru-kun this is bad," Kohana told him as she glanced over at the children and their parents. She had a bad feeling that Kitsumon would try to drag them into the fight.
"I know…" Takeru told her as he kept his attention on Kitsumon. Just then some of the parents attempted to leave only to have Kitsumon attack the ground in front of them causing several of the children to scream.
"Leave them alone!" En'Zakamon shouted up at him as he moved to stand in front of the parents and children. The other Digimon that where there seemed incapable of evolving right now so En'Zakamon was going to protect them in their place.
Kitsumon just rolled his eyes and shouted down at him, "Oh shut up you worthless angel wannabe!" En'Zakamon in turned glared up at him while he clenched his fists tightly. What he would give to be able to land one hit on that damned fox Digimon!
Takeru glanced at Seraphimon. "Seraphimon we need to get out of here."
Seraphimon nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, hopefully he'll follow us," Seraphimon said. En'zakamon tried to move over to Kohana so they could leave, but he was forced to jump backwards when Kitsumon attacked the ground in front of him much like he had done to the parents. Once again En'Zakamon was glaring up at Kitsumon who was making a point of ignoring him.
"En'zakamon!" Kohana shouted.
"I'm fine, don't worry," En'zakamon reassured her as he continued to glare up at Kitsumon. Forget hitting him right now he wouldn't mind being able to evolve higher! I can't protect Kohana or these kids and parents at this stage! he thought to himself slightly annoyed with his lack of power.
The other two angelic Digimon realized that Kitsumon wasn't going to allow them to leave so they flew at him to attack. If he wouldn't allow them to leave then maybe they could drive him back! "Hallow Knuckle!" Seraphimon shouted as he attacked Kitsumon.
Kitsumon dodged the attack only to have Ofanimon try as she shouted, "Eden's Javelin!"
"Strike of the Seven Stars!" Seraphimon shouted firing the orbs at Kitsumon as soon as he dodged Ofanimon's attack managing to nail him in the back. Ofanimon then flew at him to attack with her Javelin intending to stab him with it. However, Kitsumon caught it with his hand so Seraphimon dove at him with Excalibur. Kitsumon was forced to let go of the javelin in order to dodge Seraphimon's sword and as he did so he vanished from sight.
Screams from the children caused them to look over at them to see Kitsumon had En'Zakamon by the throat. "You always where interesting," Kitsumon said as he lifted En'zakamon off the ground.
"Heaven's Wrath!" En'Zakamon managed to shout as a lightening ball appeared above En'zakamon's right hand. He then threw the attack at Kitsumon to no effect. Since he was unable to get free himself both Ofanimon and Seraphimon dive down at them to help him.
"Don't!" Kohana shouted causing the two angelic Digimon to stop. "That's what he wants you to do! En'zakamon is too close to the parents and kids!"
Seraphimon shook his head and said, "She's right."
"Fight us!" Ofanimon shouted at Kitsumon as she began to get angry. She hated the way he always ran and hid instead of fighting them head on.
Kitsumon grinned up at them. "But this is so much fun!"
En'zakamon's eyes narrowed as he said, "No your afraid!"
Kitsumon tightened his grip on En'zakamon's throat. "What did you say?" he growled as he looked at the angelic Digimon his eyes narrowing.
En'zakamon grabbed onto Kitsumon's arm to pull some pressure off his neck. "You're afraid! Always have been always will be! You pretend running around just out of the others reach or using something as a shield is just part of your game but the truth is your nothing but a coward! So much so that you won't face them head on because you're afraid it will be a repeat of last time!" he shouted at him.
Kitsumon growled then proceeded to shock En'Zakamon with black electricity until he devolved back to Tsumon. He then let go of him letting him fall to the ground and walked away from him. "Fine, I'll fight them head on," Kitsumon told him as he drew his katana. He then flew straight for Ofanimon as he shouted, "Sword of the Winds!
Kohana used this as a chance to run over to Tsumon to check up on him. When she reached him she sat down beside him. "Tsumon, are you alright?"
Tsumon sat up and looked at her as he answered, "My body is numb, but I think I'm okay." Above them Ofanimon blocked Kitsumon's katana with her Javelin only to be cut up by the wind attack. Tsumon, who looked up in time to see the attack, admitted to Kohana, "However, I don't think I should have done that…" Seraphimon flew behind Kitsumon while his focus was on Ofanimon and slashed at his back.
Kitsumon was forced to drop to the ground to avoid the attack and Seraphimon had to stop his attack to keep from hitting Ofanimon. Kitsumon used this to his advantage as he flew back up and attacked both with his claws shouting, "Claws of Demise!" Ofanimon was able to dodge the attack, but as for Seraphimon he was slashed on his chest plate. Before he could counterattack Kitsumon dropped down again and Ofanimon dove after him. The angelic Digimon then jabbed at him with her javelin trying to impale him once again, but Kitsumon dodged to the side and grabbed hold of the javelin. With it in hand he was able to throw Ofanimon away from him.
"Strike of the Seven Stars!" Seraphimon shouted as he attacked him only to have Kitsumon dodge them and come up behind Seraphimon to attack him with his katana. Seraphimon turned to kick him away, but Kitsumon was already gone.
"Is that enough direct fighting for you?" Kitsumon asked. He was now standing right next to Tsumon and Kohana his katana back in its scabbard. The sudden surprise of him standing there made Kohana jump while Tsumon quickly moved in front of her to try and protect her from Kitsumon. Both of them where still sitting on the ground so Kitsumon knelt down in front of them as he grinned. "It wouldn't be very hard to kill them or her and there would be nothing you could do to stop me…"
"Leave them alone!" Takeru shouted at Kitsumon as both Seraphimon and Ofanimon dove to the ground landing near him.
Kitsumon stood back up and looked over his shoulder at the two Ultimate Digimon. "I doubt you could stop me as well…" he told them as he drew his katana and pointed it at Kohana's neck.
Takeru's eyes widen as he ran towards them. "Kohana!" he shouted.
Both Seraphimon and Ofanimon pointed their weapons at him. "Don't you dare," Seraphimon told him punctuating each word as he glared at the fox Digimon his anger radiating off of him.
Kitsumon chuckled, "How will you stop me?"
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Trace and Rascmon walked up. "They don't have to," Trace said as he stopped Takeru before he could reach Kohana.
"What do you mean?" Takeru asked as he looked at him then Kohana. It wasn't hard for the older teen to see just how worried he was for her.
"None of this is real. The bastard was never even here," Trace explained as Rascmon stepped forward.
"Cerberus Flame!" he shouted as he fired the flames at the parents and children.
"Wait! What are you doing?" Hikari shouted out in surprised more than anything else. When the flames hit the parents and children they shattered as well as Kitsumon and the area around them. The teens and Digimon looked around to find themselves at the side of the school. Rascmon was now standing in front of a small round object which he nudged with his noise.
"He knew you never would have attacked them… Bastard… His tricks have gotten better since last time," Trace explained as Seraphimon and Ofanimon devolved to their child stages.
Then Tsumon stood up and looked at himself. "My body isn't numb anymore," he told the others when he looked up at them.
"This entire time we've been trapped by one of his illusions?" Takeru asked. He glanced around them guessing they must have walked around the school a few times on their way to the "park" before settling at one of the outdoor tables. The table closes to them held both his and the others homework so most likely that was what had happened.
"Yep he was having fun messing with your head," Trace told him as he walked over to Rascmon and stomped on the round object shattering it. "Just like her mirror," he muttered to himself and Rascmon nodded his head in agreement. "I have a feeling he was doing it for another reason, though," he told the other teens as he looked at them. It was then Takeru noticed that Trace had learned from previous experience of trying to approach a school looking the way he did so he had added a black beanie to what he was wearing. It was covering his ears as well as his eyebrow piercing. Unlike last time he had done this Takeru couldn't tell if his hair had been stuffed into the beanie or if Trace had actually cut it.
"Such as?" Hikari asked.
"Such as finding out how you would react when there are others involved besides yourselves and what you would do if one of your friends lives were in danger," Rascmon explained as he watched the fragments of the object vanish.
"After all Takeru already gave himself up once for his friends. He was probably hoping you would do it again," Trace told them as he looked at Takeru.
"Thank you for helping us, but why are you here? I thought you would be helping the others," Takeru asked.
"Luna put the same restriction on him that Trace placed on you. She's afraid Kitsumon will try to capture him again," Rascmon said and remembered Luna telling Trace he was not allowed to come either after he had set the terms of Luna taking the others to the Redwood Forest Realm. Trace had not been happy about not being able to help with the search, but at the same time he had been glad for an excuse to avoid his sister.
"Also you're friends were getting worried when you didn't respond to their calls. I think Luna was letting them borrow her cell phone," Trace explained and just as he finished speaking Takeru's cell phone rang. Takeru quickly walked over to the table and pulled it out of its pouch on his messenger bags strap and answered it taking a few more steps away from the others so he could hear what the person on the other end was saying without having the others stop talking.
While he was doing that, Trace walked over to Kohana and Tsumon. "You better be careful from now on," Trace warned her.
"Why?" Kohana asked.
Trace glanced over at Takeru. "Kitsumon is figuring more than one thing out," he told her. Kohana and Tsumon looked at each other confusion on their faces as to what Trace was trying to tell them. Trace sighed and shook his head slowly wondering just how dense both her and Takeru could be at times. After all it couldn't be that hard to figure out what he meant. "Any way, just no going off anywhere on your own without warning someone, alright?" he asked as he crossed his arms across his chest.
"Alright," Kohana told him not seeing any reason she couldn't agree with that even if it would be a bit annoying.
When Takeru hung the cell phone up he turned to look at the others. "It was Yamato. He wanted to know what had happened so I told him. After that he told me that they had found some ruins of a city and are currently exploring it," Takeru told the others.
"How big is it?" Hikari asked.
"They're not sure. Since they are afraid of setting off some sort of trap they are exploring it slowly," Takeru answered.
"Do they have any ideas of how old it is?" Trace asked.
"That's something that has Koushirou confused. He says with how much the building and things have degraded the ruins can't be older than ten years but the buildings themselves seem like something from medieval times," Takeru explained.
"It's possible. Just because this realm is as advanced as it is doesn't mean others will be," Trace informed them.
"I want to know how a Digimon got to such a primitive world, though," Rascmon commented and the others where admittedly curious about that as well.
"Any way since your Digimon just evolved how about we all get something to eat, I'll pay for it," Trace offered and the others willing agreed.
-X-
Once again Takeru found himself in a dream with Calilimon and him in his bed room. Takeru sat at the foot of the bed while Calilimon stood by the window looking out of it. For some strange reason it was no longer just whiteness out of the window but the normal view of Odaiba that Takeru always saw when he was awake. She sighed and turned away from the window to look at Takeru and spoke, "She may be in danger…"
Takeru glanced at her a bit confused. "Who?" he asked as he shifted how he was sitting so it was easier to look at her.
"Kohana-chan," Calilimon answered as she looked back out the window.
Takeru thought a moment on what she said then asked, "What makes you think that?"
"It's because Kitsumon is learning from his failures as well as his successes… He's learning your weaknesses…" She answered as she tapped the window with a finger as it began to rain. Now her breathing was ever so slowly fogging up the window.
"Are you trying to say Kohana is a weakness?" He questioned even more confused now than before. How could she be a weakness? Granted Tsumon couldn't evolve high enough to fight, but as long as they were careful it shouldn't be that hard to keep her safe.
Calilimon turned to look at him and said, "To you, no, to him yes… And it's one he won't hesitate to use against you."
Takeru flopped back onto the bed out of slight frustration even more confused now and said, "You just said –"
Calilimon giggled at how dense he was being as she looked out the window once again. "You don't view her as one, but she could very easily be one," Calilimon told him.
Takeru turned his head to where he was looking at her again while he let his arms slide off his stomach onto the bed. "How?" he asked.
Calilimon turned around to look at him giggling as she answered, "Your dense at times aren't you? How did you feel when you thought Kitsumon might kill her?" She was hoping maybe she could make him figure out what was going on. If he didn't soon she was going to begin to think maybe he didn't want to realize for some reason.
Takeru thought back to earlier today. "Scared and…" he answered as he tried to sort through all he had felt. It wasn't easy because there had been a huge mess of emotions when he saw Kitsumon place his blade against Kohana's neck.
"And what?" Calilimon asked.
Takeru awoke and slowly opened his eyes not surprised at all when he realized it wasn't quite morning yet as it had just hit the false dawn stage outside. He wasn't quite sure why he had woken up, but instead of trying to fall back asleep he slowly sat up and climbed out of bed. As he walked over to the window he carefully rubbed at his eyes to clear the sleep from them. With a slight sigh he leaned his head against the window pane as he starred out it.
Just what was Calilimon trying to prove? he thought to himself as he starred off at the horizon. Obviously she wanted him to keep a better eye on Kohana, but there really was nothing else he could do. He spent all day with her in class and after school she was usually hanging around with Hikari so the only time it was just her and Tsumon was when her parents weren't at home.
The only thing he could think of that would help would be to get Tsumon the ability to evolve higher than his adult stage. The problem was with him just being able to evolve to his adult stage the chances of him evolving sometime soon to his perfect stage were slim. There was also the problem that most Digimon couldn't evolve to that stage unless they had achieved the power to do so on their own. Yes, Tsumon technically had, but his data had since then been reset so Takeru doubted that he could do so now.
It might be a good idea to try and see if Gennai or Qinglongmon has any idea's, he thought as he turned his back to the window and rested his weight against the window sill as well as his hands. There was also the chance that something was still wrong with Tsumon since Calilimon seemed to still be around. There was the dark possibility that Tsumon couldn't evolve higher because of her. If that was the case then Takeru was going to have to figure out what to do in order to fix things because Calilimon had somehow attached herself to him.
"Why do things always have to be so complicated," he mumbled as he leaned his head back against the window pane. Of course he already knew the answer to that but he still didn't like it. With a shake of his head Takeru went back to bed hoping to get another hour of sleep before he had to get up for school.
A couple of hours later had him and Patamon on their way to school and the entire time he thought over the conversation he had with Calilimon. The more he dwelled on it the more he thought speaking to Gennai or Qinglongmon would help the situation somewhat. He just didn't know how. As always Patamon left once they reached the entrance to the school while Takeru walked inside. While he was at the shoe locker he ran into Hikari and Miyako.
"Are you okay Takeru? You look pale," Hikari asked when she looked at him. Of course he had been looking pale since he had left the hospital, but even more so today.
Takeru looked at her and smiled. "I'm fine," he told her even though his head felt like it was going to split open at any moment. He had already taken something for it before he had left home, but it had yet to kick in. At least today it wasn't messing with his stomach as well.
"Have you been sleeping?" Miyako asked.
"Yes, it seems for now I don't have to worry about Kitsumon nightmares for some strange reason," he answered heeding the advice Luna and Trace had given him on keeping the dreams to himself for now. Just as he finished switching his boots for his inside shoes Kohana walked over to her locker.
"You're later than usual," Hikari commented.
Kohana nodded a slight smile on her face. "Yes, Katsu unplugged my alarm clock last night without me knowing. Thankfully my mother realized something was wrong and woke me up before she and my father left for work," Kohana explained.
"So what are the three of you going to do today?" Miyako asked as she looked at them.
"I was actually hoping we could head to the Digital World in order to speak to Gennai or Qinglongmon," Takeru told them.
"How come?" Hikari asked.
"I need to speak to Gennai about what's been happening and I was hoping he could also think of a way that would make it possible for Tsumon to evolve past his adult stage," Takeru told her.
"I actually had the same idea. Except I was just going to try looking for Qinglongmon," Kohana said as she looked at Takeru.
"Then I guess we'll head to the Digital World after school," Hikari stated and the other two nodded.
"Will it be safe just the three of you going there?" Miyako asked as they began to walk further into the school.
"It might be a good idea to see if my brother and Yamato would come with us," Hikari suggested as she pulled her cell phone out to text them.
"Knowing those two they'll most likely come," Takeru told her and Hikari had to agree with him. Taichi was almost as protective of Takeru as Yamato was since what had happened during their first adventures in the Digital World. Of course now a day's her brother had the grace to step back for Yamato.
"Do you think Gennai or Qinglongmon could help?" Kohana asked.
"I don't know but it's worth a shot," Takeru told her.
Most of the morning classes went by quickly until Physical Education came up. Takeru was still on restriction so he had to sit out to where it seemed to drag on even with Patamon there. He was very happy when the bell finally rang signifying it was time for lunch. The Chosen Children like usual went to meet up with the Digimon to eat together. They had barely sat own when Hikari asked, "Is the city really one from medieval times?"
"Yep! Ken even found what he thinks is a blacksmith," Miyako told them.
"Did you guys happen to find anything else?" Takeru asked.
"Some things that are a bit confusing such as paintings that survived whatever happened that look a lot like Digimon," Ken told them.
"How could a place with no computers have Digimon?" Patamon asked.
"Koushirou is trying to figure that one out. He thinks we may just be to use to seeing Digimon and so we automatically thought it was one when it could be their deity or even some type of demon," Daisuke explained.
"What's most confusing is that there are signs of damage to the city that are older than when Koushirou is guessing it was destroyed," Wormmon told them.
"It makes him think they might have been in some war or something before it was destroyed," Hawkmon further explained.
"We're going to go fly around today to see if there are anymore towns around the realm then this one. Luna told us to make sure we fly high enough to where we won't be seen as well," V-mon informed them.
"To bad we can't go it sounds interesting," Hikari commented and Kohana shook her head.
"I don't think I'd like going there anytime soon," Kohana told them truthfully.
"Same here," Takeru agreed even if he couldn't remember his time within the Redwood Forest realm to many things had gone wrong there for his liking.
"Can't really blame you two," Ken told them and Miyako nodded in agreement.
"Any way Taichi and Yamato won't be joining you this time because they'll be with us today," Hikari told them as she read a text message off her cell phone. She must have had it on vibrate because no one had heard the cheery tune that played when she received text messages.
"What are you guys doing that you'll need those two for?" Daisuke asked as he looked at them.
"We're going to the Digital World to speak to Gennai or Qinglongmon. We're hoping we can find some things out from them that could help us," Takeru explained. He didn't want to go into too much detail in front of Tsumon. There was no reason to get the Digimon excited if their efforts proved to be in vain.
"Good luck. Usually the only time you can talk to those two is when they want to talk to you," V-mon reminded them.
"Thanks," Takeru muttered as he turned his attention to his bento.
After school Takeru waited with Kohana and Hikari for Yamato and Taichi to show up. Taichi had a late afternoon class that was scheduled to finish half an hour after their High School got out so they had to wait a bit. Of course Yamato showed up not to long after school had let out since today was one of his light days. The four had been waiting about ten minutes when Trace and Rascmon walked up. Much like he had done the previous day he was wearing the black beanie today as well.
Takeru looked at him. "You're bored aren't you?" he asked.
Trace shrugged and said, "You have school all day to keep you occupied I on the other hand –"
Rascmon interrupted him, "Luna is making him come here. She doesn't want him wondering Odaiba by himself… In other words she's hoping you would babysit him." This caused Trace to glare at the fiery dog Digimon who just ignored him. He was getting his human partner back for some of the stunts he had pulled on him in the past. It also helped to keep Trace from dwelling on darker thoughts like he had a tendency of doing now when it was just the two of them.
Hikari spoke while trying not to laugh at what Rascmon had said, "We are going to head to the Digital World do you want to come with us?"
"Sure but why are you guys going there?" Trace asked as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"We're going to see if we can find Gennai or Qinglongmon to speak to either one of them," Patamon answered and Trace nodded.
"I take it we're waiting for Taichi then?" Rascmon said noting that Yamato and Gabumon where here.
"Yes he'll be here in about twenty minutes or so," Yamato answered him.
"Do you guys have any idea where you might find them?" Trace asked.
"Most likely they'll be on the larger continent," Takeru told him. At least he hoped they would be. It was the last place any of them had seen the two of them so it was the best place to look for them.
"I have a feeling we're going to be there for awhile," Trace sighed then just shrugged. It wasn't like he had anything better to do with his time. It was either this or actually sitting down and catching up on the school he had missed. No he'd rather be here since Krista hadn't actually told him he had to work on it. In fact she hadn't mentioned it at all which did worry him a bit. Maybe she was waiting for one of the few times he actually did sleep to bury him alive in school work…
:: Redwood Forest Realm ::
As soon as everyone had arrived within the realm V-mon and Wormmon had Jogress evolved to Paildramon then evolved further to Imperial Dramon. Ken and Daisuke quickly climbed up and they were about to take off when Koushirou spoke up, "Remember! Stay out of sight!"
"Don't worry we will!" Ken reassured him before Imperial Dramon flew off.
"Do you think they'll find anything?" Miyako asked as those who where left walked towards the ruins they had found the other day.
"They should at least find other towns since the one we found had obviously been fighting someone," Iori answered as he helped Armadimon over a fallen log. This terrain really did not agree with his Digimon.
"And if they do then maybe they'll be able to find out whether those paintings are really some type of deity or Digimon," Luna added having been really curious about the paintings since Daisuke had stumbled upon them.
"If they are Digimon then how do they even know about us?" Tentomon asked as he looked at Luna since she was probably the only one with the answers.
"I don't know. If it wasn't for how old the ruins where I would say that Kitsumon as Shaitanmon somehow introduced Digimon to this realm, but as far as we know Shaitanmon slash Kitsumon is only about five years old while Koushirou believes the ruins to be twice that age," Luna told them.
"You are forgetting Luna that most likely Kitsumon at one point existed before he possessed Tsumon so there is still that possibility," Bithamon reminded her as she easily jumped on top of the log that had been giving Armadimon trouble.
"If that's true Bithamon why didn't he attack Takeru before now?" Luna questioned her as she stopped to look at her Digimon.
Bithamon jumped down from the log and walked over to Luna rubbing up against her legs before leaning against her and looking up. "I don't know I'm just theorizing like the rest of you have been doing," she said her tail flicking in slight irritation at how little they did know.
"Well the whole reason we're here is to find out more about Kitsumon so maybe we'll find out whether Bithamon is right or not," Armadimon reminded them and Luna nodded in agreement.
-X-
On a cliff by the base of a tall redwood tree that overlooked the city ruins that the Chosen Children had just reached stood a teenage boy around the same age as Takeru and the others watching them. The teen was wearing a dark green almost black hooded zip up sweater that was too large for him to where his face was hidden in the shadows of the hood since he had it pulled up. The only thing that could really be seen due to the hood was his dark red hair that was thick and wild to where it never stayed under the hood like he would have liked.
The sweater was zipped up at the moment hiding the shirt he wore beneath it and his hands where stuffed into the pockets at the front of the sweater. As for the pants he was wearing they were just plain jeans that had seen better days with how faded they where and had actually worn through at the knees. His shoes where the only thing he wore that really fit in with where he was at since they were dark brown hiking boots. Instead of doing the smart thing and tucking the bottom of the jeans into the boots he let the jeans cover the top of the boots.
In the branches of the tree he stood under was a Black Gabumon, a Gabumon whose coloring was completely black with his stripes being gray and his eyes where amber in color. Beside him in another branch was a Black Agumon, who like the Black Gabumon, was black in color as well as having the amber eyes. The Black Gabumon's ears were longer then Yamato's Gabumon and had a gold hoop earring near the end of each one. As for the Black Agumon he had red leather belts that criss-crossed over the back and front of his hands.
The Black Gabumon shifted slightly so he could look down at the teenage boy his movement drawing the teen's attention to him and asked, "Will they find anything?
The teen leaned back against the trunk of the tree so looking up at the Digimon was a bit easier. "I doubt it. Kitsumon cleaned the place thoroughly before we left it," he answered. It made him feel uneasy being back here after being gone for so long.
This time the Black Agumon looked down and asked the teen a question, "Then why are we even here?" The two Digimon were not stupid they could easily tell their partner was not happy about being here.
"Curiosity… I never seen others with Digimon before," he answered. A beeping noise came from the pocket of his sweater and he pulled a black D-terminal from it. The teen opened it up and read the message that was just sent to him. "Kitsumon says we can play now if we want to," he told the two Digimon as he stuffed the D-terminal back into his pocket.
"I still don't understand why we help him," Black Agumon stated.
Black Gabumon snorted in disgust then said, "You know he'll turn on us if it will help him."
"Yes I know. When that time comes we'll strike first," the teen told them as he pushed away from the tree and took a few steps away from it so he could look at both of them instead of just looking at Black Gabumon. He could see slight fear in both of their eyes from the statement he had just made. Neither one of them really had much experience fighting a real enemy just the ones Kitsumon had them 'fight" to become stronger and they both doubted their ability to beat the Ultimate level Digimon.
"Just whose side are we on?" Black Agumon asked trying to mask his fear for he knew just how good his human partner was at reading the emotions of others whether they were human or Digimon.
"No ones. We only look out for ourselves," the teen told them grinning up to the two of them already knowing how they would react to that.
"Fine by me," Black Gabumon said as he smirked.
"Wouldn't have it any other way," Black Agumon agreed, but the two Digimon knew that the teen probably wouldn't stick to it. The teen nodded and motioned for the two Digimon to come and join him. They both obediently jumped out of the tree landing on either side of him. He glanced over his shoulder towards the Chosen Children once more. Admittedly, he was curious about the others with Digimon, but now that he had permission to play with them it meant he had permission to leave this realm and he was going to go exploring. He looked forward and began to walk away from the cliff heading off to the area Kitsumon had shown him was his only way to leave this place the two Digimon following after him.
A/N – And here comes the appearance of another character I used to role play as :3. Of course I doubt my friends would recognize him if they read this since he's gone through such a drastic change the only thing the same about him is Black Agumon. I'm going to have fun with him XD. Kind of curious can any of you tell this is literally a cut and paste chapter? Basically what I mean is can any of you tell that I tore about three chapters apart to make this one? If you're curious as to why I did that it's because most of the chapters where only two thousand words long and the order of it just didn't flow right and now it does :3
Any questions, comments, grammar or spelling corrections are much luv'ed
