Chapter 9: Dreams

Deep in the forest, amid the trees and the mountains and the plants, a giant spikey ball was snoring in the center of the cave. It seemed almost peaceful, even if the...object...was clearly not some normal thing. Of course, that was because it was not a thing at all, but actually a lifeform.

It was so deep in sleep, that it failed to notice that its phone had been ringing, and that he had eight missed calls in the last hour alone. Clearly, someone was trying to get a hold of him. It just...wasn't working. It was not waking up no matter what happened, even as sunlight shined on it directly, or the racket of its phone. It remained silent and asleep as the forest outside its lair.


Izumi looked around the library, along with Patamon. The shelves almost seemed endless, given how large the library was. And within it was countless books of various types, all holding knowledge and secrets. It was a truly amazing thing that they had found.

"What luck, to think that we found such a place! We can use it as shelter and entertainment for the night! And maybe even take some of these to go! I mean, imagine how precious the writing in here must be, if beings in a digital world made the effort to write them down on paper!"

"Its full of knowledge and wonder and amazement!"

Izumi and Patamon said those things as they smiled at all the wonder of this place. So much knowledge they did not yet know, so much joy and wonder. It seemed amazing.

However, they heard no response to their voices, so they turned around to see what was up. And right there in front of them, a large book with eyes and what appeared to be stacked, folded condensed paper for arms, was holding all of his friends, human and Digimon alike.

"What the...what are you?! A Digimon?!"

"Fufufufufu...look at how pitiful you are, so admiring of knowledge, yet lacking what you need to save them! You cant even remember how you got here, but at least you will remember how your journey ended!"

"No! Patamon, we have to stop them! Digivolve!"

Patamon made some groaning noises as Izumi tried to make his Digivice work, but...nothing happened.

"What?! Damnit! Then...DNA BURST DIGIVOLUTION!"

However, all his Digivice did was fizzle out.

"Damnit...how come...why wont it work?!"

"You are a foolish human, thinking you can know everything! But you lack the ability to understand what anything is, especially Digimon! Their existences are beyond you!"

"No! I wont accept that! How did we get like this?!"

"Fool! Nothing can save you now!"

The Digimon went to strike at Izumi, but Izumi and Patamon rolled out of hte way. Patamon then desperately called out to him.

"Try Syncro Digivolution!"

"Right! Execute: Syncro Digivolution!"

However, once again nothing happened, which forced Izumi to dodge again using his own body.

"Damnit, I cant Boost like Yuyan and I dont have Ruka's experience in the Digital World..."

"You know nothing! You are useless!"

"Izumi, dont listen to him! If you lose spirit, we will never Digivolve!"

"Its just...how did we get like this?"

"By being foolish...!" it screamed as it sent an attack towards Izumi. However, Izumi stood there, still and silent.

"No, I mean...I dont remember entering this library".

And as Izumi answered, the Glyph of Thought appeared on his forehead, as well as Patamon's as the attack came at him.

"Ahhhhh!"

Izumi shouted that as he shot up from sleep, deeply scared and confused. He was now dressed in his sleepware, pyjamma shirt and pants, as the blanket shifted and fell off of his chest as he rose. He looked around, and everyone was in the same position as when he fell asleep. Yuyan, Kobayashi, and himself were sleeping on a tarp with a blanket over them, grouped together tightly as they often did. At their feet, next to where they left their shoes and socks, were the sleeping figures of Dorumon and Gabumon, and a Patamon who looked as groggy as he felt.

To their left, Ruka and Luka were in matching pyjammas, even the same color of green and stuffed into the same sleeping bag even. Their leg pieces were shorter then usual though, so it was far closer to shorts then the trio's. Cuddled up on each side of them were Coronamon and Lunamon. And on the other side was Rula, who was fast asleep in her sleeping bag, resting against a tree with her Digimon next to her.

It looked like everyone was still okay, although Izumi sent a slight glance towards Rula.

"You...you were supposed to wake up first...how is it I woke up first anyways? I fell asleep after everyone but Rula, who said she could handle the least sleep as the oldest, but...wow".

"Well, you did just have a nightmare you know?" Patamon said, as he floated over to him. Izumi just chuckled.

"That is right. Well, I suppose that means I will have to wake everyone up for a chance. Though, if we are close to the river, maybe I will just wake up Yuyan, Kobayashi, and Ruka and we can take a bath and wash off first. I would hate to be tracked down because of our scent".

"I suppose, though I thought you humans were more..." Patamon started, but then was suddenly chopped down by Izumi, whose Thought Glyph had appeared on his forehead.

"Don't you dare try to imitate Patamon, you jerk".

As Izumi said that, suddenly the entire setting seemed to shatter around him like glass. Now it was just a black void.

"You are quite bold...using a power you know nothing about. Given to you by people who took your memories".

"Well then, how would you know something like that?"

"I can see everything inside your head, including the things sealed off. Come now, we don't have to fight. Rather, given what I know about you, fighting me would be pointless. I could cripple you in an instant, with just a single sentence".

"I am not that weak!"

"According to what I saw in your fears, you are. You might have somehow shown resistance here, but can you honestly say your friends minds would survive if you intruded into them and did the same? Do you know what could potentially happen?"

At that thought, Izumi felt fear come over him as he considered what might happen.

"Don't listen to her! Wake up Izumi!"

But a voice shattered that, and suddenly Izumi found himself waking up, for real this time.

"Waah!"

Both he and Patamon let out a gasp as they rose from their slumber. The situation was similar to before, however there was one difference that Izumi had used last time to realize it was a dream. For one thing, none of them had brought their pyjammas into the Digital World, and they didn't have any with them. That said, it meant the group had to sleep in their clothes for the night, which was going to be bothersome in the long run. Especially given the fact each of them seemed to be sweating quite a bit, likely due to the nightmares.

However, there was another difference between that dream and reality. Izumi was not the only one awake.

"Izumi? Patamon?"

"Rula, Hackmon, is that you?"

Rula and Hackmon were also awake.

"What happened? How did you wake up? You are drenched in sweat, do you feel okay?"

"Terrible...pretty sure we got trapped inside some sort of nightmare realm. Our minds did, anyways" he said, brushing some of that sweat off of his forehead, and revealing that his Glyph of Thought was still active on his head. That was when he noticed there were wires attached all over to his body, as well as the others, and they linked back to a computer Rula was working on.

"It looks like you were able to break out due to your power, but the others are still trapped inside" Rula mentioned, as she typed on her computer some more. "I have been trying to analyze everyone and collect data, but so far I have no idea how to wake them up. I tried shaking, yelling, tickling, pouring water on their face, drawing on their faces, and some other things".

Izumi looked over at everyone, and saw that nothing had worked, though she had clearly tried.

"I see. BUt, why are you awake?"

"I never fell asleep. I am using to staying up days at a time. Anyways, because of that I was able to avoid falling under whatever kept them trapped in their own minds. That said, I am worried about what might happen to them if we dont free them soon. The longer this goes on, the worse it might get for them. In fact, Kobayashi's heart stopped at one point from whatever he was facing, so I had to get it started again".

"...well, I am glad you were able to do that. Still, we are going to have to be more careful in the future. First though, we have to get them out now. Did you try electroshocks?"

"Uhh...yeah..."

"...you tried them on me, didn't you?"

"No hard feelings?"

Izumi finally stood up off the tarp, and got his shoes and socks on.

"Its an emergency situation, so for now yeah. Just, tell me you have some idea of how to free them..."

"There is one...you use your power, find out where the origin is from, and go and confront it directly".

As she said those words, Izumi clenched his fists and stepped back a little.

"Do...do you have another way?"

"Not really...why, what is the problem?"

Izumi looked at his own hand, and concern was building up in him.

"I just...I dont know much about this power yet. What if...what if I break their minds? What if I do even worse damage?"

"You were able to use it to protect us, weren't you?"

"Yeah, and look how well that went! You were the ones who saved us from that! I couldn't even keep up my power to protect everyone!"

Rula grabbed his arm as he shouted that, pulled him in closer, and then bent down a little so they were eye level with each other.

"Listen to me right now, Izumi. I dont know what sort of nightmares and fears that thing told you, but are you honestly going to stand there and pee in your pants while your two best friends, not to mention Ruka and Luka who are your juniors, need you? Do you want to let Yuyan and Kobayashi down?"

Hearing that provocation, Izumi felt a fire flare up inside himself.

"No..."

Izumi said that, softly at first.

"No! I wont abandon them, no matter how afraid I am!"

"Good, then show them you can do it!"

"Yeah!" Izumi shouted, as his Glyph shined brighter then ever, and engulfed the entire area. And the next thing they knew, they were standing in something different now. There were stars all around them, and various broken floating islands full of random stuff. Teddy bears, octopuses, and lots of them had spiders. And also...a Digimon that their Digivices reacted to.

"Nightmon. Virus Attribute, Nightmare Soldiers Family. Champion Level, extremely dangerous. Known for being able to reach into the minds of the sleeping and drag them into a Nightmare Realm, as well as memory manipulation".

"What the...you dare tresspass into my domain?! What foolishness! For this...this is where I am my strongest, and your power cannot defeat me here!"

"Not quite...after all, any Nightmare could also be a dream right? Well, let me show you...the power of human dreams!"

Although Rula nearly keeled over after hearing that line, Izumi raised his Digivice.

"I dont know if I have the ability to Digivolve Patamon in the real world yet, but in my dreams...I should be more then able to!"

"I want to Digivolve...for Izumi's sake. For my friend's sake! For everyone's sake! For my sake!"

"Execute! Dreamer Digivolution!" Izumi shouted, as he put his thumb on the scanner at the top of the Digivice and hoped this would work. Suddenly, he slid his thumb off in a fast motion and drew it back like the others, with a stream of code following.

"Dreamer Digivolution...non-existant. Reforming the power of DNA Burst Digivolution, Updating, Spreading Update Among Digivices. Core Code, Preserved. Additional Code: Added. DNA Burst Digivolution (ADV mode) now possible".

The digivice responded, and after those words as he sort of dragged, or smeared, the code in front of his body. Although originally he planned for somethign different, it appeared to have the same effect in the end. More or less.

[Patamon DNA Burst Digivolve to...]

The rings fully deconstructed and then reconstructed Patamon, causing Patamon to turn into...

[...FlameAngemon!]

The Angemon that appeared was somewhat smaller then the Angemon they were used to, but more importantly, fire seemed to be coming off of the bow in its possession as well as the wings.

"Flame...Angemon?"

"Indeed. The DNA Burst utilized the power of your firey spirit deep inside your DNA, and resulted in this Digivolution!" The Digivice responded. Izumi wanted to question it, but it was a dream after all technically speaking. Who knew how much of this was actually accurate.

"...didn't realize Spirit could be extracted from DNA...whatever, FlameAngemon! Lets do this!"

(Insert Digimon Fight Theme here!)

"Right! Flaming Arrow!"

"Nightmare Eater!"

The two launched attacks at the same time, which then collided mid air. At the same time, FlameAngemon appeared behind Nightmon, swooping in and bashing it with its bow. At the same time, Nightmon tried to block but ended up not being able to react in time and was sent hurtling into the ground. FlameAngemon then drew two more arrows and sent them right at Nightmon.

"Dreamer's Sanctum!"

It protected itself with a barrier, but the attacks managed to shatter the barrier as a third arrow that FlameAngemon had fired after the first two went and struck it.

"Its time for you to wake up now and face reality, Nightmon!"

"No! I wont be beat that easily!"

And so, FlameAngemon went and clashed with it, cutting it in two with a swing from the bow as if it were a sword.

"Izumi! Now, the data!"

"Right! Data Scan, Activate!"

Izumi then took out his Digivice, and scanned the Data Code as the Digimon was defeated. Although most still went off to where it would be recycled and turned into an egg, instead of the excess scattering about, it went into the Digivice instead.

"Come on Izumi, you are too slow!"

And as this happened, Izumi heard a voice behind him. He turned around to see Yuyan, running in place as if he was waiting for Izumi to catch up, and then Kobayashi seemed to run out of nowhere to catch up, though he was panting a little.

"You too Kobayashi! We cant miss it!"

"What the...what are you two talk..."

"Hold up! I am right here! Stop going so fast Yuyan!"

Izumi started to reply, but then was interrupted...by his own voice. An Izumi identical to himself ran past him, joining up with the other two in this weird place. Meanwhile, Rula came and walked up next to him.

"I think...its a dream. Or...a memory?"

And right as she said that, the next person to appear...was Rula.

"Guess I beat you again, Izumi-chan".

"I told you, use kun, not chan, Rula-kun" Izumi replied, showing some spunk as the two glared at each other.

"Can't help it, you are my adorable kouhai who has yet to surpass me".

"I surpassed you just fine last week when I beat your best time".

"But not a few days ago when I succeeded in changing the schedule for the school lunch, and you didn't".

The two then glared at each other, but then voices were heard in the background. Neither of them could hear what they were though, as the sound and visuals were fading fast. And in the next moment, Izumi, Patamon, Rula, and Hackmon returned to the normal area.

"...so we also knew each other in the real world...ahg, this headache is killer..."

"Same...memory recollection hurts like hell..."

But their feelings of pain got subsided, as they heard the others finally stirring from their sleep and waking up.

"Guess Nightmon had you all wrong, huh?"

Rula told him that quickly, before going to check on the others.


Meanwhile, in the cave...

"...meeeeerrrr...what the hell was that...I have not slept in this long in...ever..."

The Digimon finally woke up as well, and to the sound of his phone ringing. He pressed a button with a spike on his outer shell, which answered the phone.

"...hello?"

And in response, the voice of a woman came over the phone.

"Hello Wreckmon. I would like to make you an offer, to get your help in dealing with some humans going through your forest..."


AN: Uh oh! Looks like the nightmare is over, but over for everyone! At least Izumi managed to face his fears, and unlocked a new memory! But will they be able to face down this new threat? Find out next time on Digimon: Bonds!


DigiData: Izumi's BioData

Hair: Black, medium with some length.

Eyes: Black, occasionally green under exertion.

Age: 10 (Almost 11)

Height: 110cm

Scars: None

Weight: 71 lbs.

Main Hand: Right

Allergies: None

Blood Type: AB-


DigiData: Nightmon

Level: Champion

Attribute: Virus

Family: Nightmare Soldiers

Special Attacks/Techniques: Nightmare Eater, Dreamer's Sanctum

Notes: Tends to exist in the Dream Realm, and draws power from dreams and nightmares. It can often be tricky to pin down unless it exerts its power beyond the normal levels. Does have a physical form somewhere, but often stays hidden in isolated areas.

Type: Demon