Am I Dreaming?

(…I dunno, are you?)

…Chapter 11

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To all of my AWESOME readers and reviewers:

MeLaNY8

Martiny the one and only still

Lissa against Gravity

Rubberman2025

Kai-Chan94

Thank you so much! It was because I owe it to you to continue this story, and because of your support and reviews, that I have finally sat down to write this chapter. I am sorry it took me so stinking long.

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Actually I don't really believe in all that psyche stuff. But it is very fun to write about, isn't it? Dang, if only it were real! It would be so fun to be psychic…

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Disclaimer: I do not own digimon, psychic abilities, or time travel.

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Focus: Kouji Minamoto, age: 13

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Kouji pressed his back up against the foot of a cliff, calming his breathing before leaning and peering around the corner. His figure was shrouded in the dust from the last wave of attacks, keeping him hidden from enemy eyes. But it did the same for them. Scowling, he pulled back and assessed his situation.

He had already lost his Legendary Warrior form of Lobomon, having lost the strength to maintain it, and he was covered in bruises, scrapes, burns and slashes from head to toe. If he didn't die from Lucemon's attacks, he'd probably die from blood loss. "I can't go on like this," he hissed under his breath. "No weapon, no strength…" he paused, then grimaced as once again, his fractal code flickered up around him. "And that keeps happening," he sighed. Taking a deep breath, he concentrated with all his might until it went away. "Who knew I could bleed and still have a fractal code," he rolled his eyes. But that was the digital world for you.

Kouji sighed as he turned and peered into the floating dust throughout the battleground. Lucemon was winning this battle, there was no doubt. Ever since the six kids had returned to the digital world and the Legendary Warriors gave their fractal codes so that they could transform, Lucemon had been one step ahead of them. He knew their attacks, their strengths, and their weaknesses. No matter what they tried, he crushed them effortlessly. They were fighting a losing battle from the start.

Now, the six of them were separated. Kouji didn't know where anyone else was! They could be dead, for all he knew, and he could be next! He gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into fists. No, Kouji Minamoto would not go down easily, he doubted that any of the others would too. They would defeat Lucemon! They had to!

Kouji started, surprised when his d-tector started buzzing in his hand, and held it close to his face. A message had been sent to him! Cautious, he read it as quickly as he could. It said: Fellow digidestined, we know about your battle! We are digidestined too, and we can help you fight. Do you need assistance?

Kouji glanced down at himself, taking in his wounds and blood-stained clothing, and then at the fractal code that kept trying to appear. "Heck yeah," he mumbled, typing in the word "yes". He didn't think much else had to be said.

A few seconds later, a response arrived: We've located three of you, and we have three teams of two coming to your locations.

Kouji nodded. It would work, until they could all regroup. Wasting no time, he typed, "we'll wait to attack till you get here" and pressed send. Sighing, he stuffed it back in his pocket and looked out from his hiding place. Somewhere out there, he could hear Lucemon laughing. "We'll see who's laughing," he growled, "when I'm through with you." He only hoped the reinforcements didn't take too long.

Suddenly, a flash of light blared out next to him, and two kids his age appeared out of nowhere. With them were two digimon in rookie forms. Seeing them, Kouji didn't know whether to be furious, or disappointed. He stepped toward them, scowling.

"Whoa…" one of them said, whistling as he studied Kouji's battle-battered body. "I guess it's bad, huh?"

Kouji's scowl deepened. "Is this some kind of a joke?" he growled. If the hair on the back of his neck could bristle, it would have been doing just that. "A couple of kids and some rookie digimon?"

"Hey now," the one who'd spoken before said, frowning and stepping forward. "We're digidestined. We don't look like warriors, okay? But that doesn't mean we're useless." He paused then cleared his throat. "I'm Davis, and this is Ken. These are our digimon…"

Kouji cut him off. "I can see what kind of digimon they are," he snapped, bored. "In fact I can see an entire readout of their data, species, family, genus, evolutions, attacks and everything else. Announcing your digimon is the last thing you need to do!"

The one named Ken's eyes widened considerably. "You can see all that just by looking at them?" He blurted. "How is that possible?"

At that moment, Kouji's fractal code flickered up around him, and he huffed in annoyance. "Not again," he groaned, concentrating and pulling it back in. When he was done, he glanced up and noticed that all four of them, kids and digimon alike, were staring at him with their mouths open. Kouji sighed loudly. "I can turn into a digimon, okay? Now let's talk about what we need to do!"

"Right!" Davis agreed, instantly ready to jump into action. His Veemon grinned excitedly and echoed his cry of "Right!".

"I mean…I knew you could turn into a digimon but…a fractal code when you're NOT a digimon?" Ken blurted, dubious. "It blows the mind…"

Davis gave him a pointed look, cleared his throat, and then spoke. "We know that the digimon you're fighting's name is Lucemon, and that he's fought you guys before, and knows what to expect. But we heard you couldn't turn into digimon anymore."

"We don't really know anything else," Kem added, "except that the six of you fighting him are…" he paused and studied Kouji's many wounds "…dying. So we're here to fight with you and bring help where we can."

"We can still Spirit Evolve, if that's what you're wondering. You must have heard wrong. And how are you expecting to help?" Kouji demanded. "Can you fight?"

"We do," Veemon said proudly, puffing up his chest. Wormmon nodded slowly. "And these guys make us digivolve to really high levels!"

"Like Megas?" Kouji asked, feeling somewhat hopeful.

"Well…" Veemon's face fell. "No…"

Davis quickly cut in. "We can do one better." He grinned, then pulled out his digivice. "I still have the data from that golden egg thing!"

Ken mumbled its real name under his breath, but no one else really cared.

"What does that do?" Kouji asked. Better than a mega? That was good…

"It does THIS!" Davis took a deep breath, and Ken slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Wait," Ken ordered. "We need to plan, first. Save that till we need it."

"I'm with him," Kouji nodded. "We need to find Takuya, Kouichi and the others and discuss strategies. And if you guys are here to help us…maybe could you get us…I dunno, first aid stuff? A band aid or two?" He paused, glaring at his fractal code, then sucked it back in. "And maybe something to eat?"

Ken and Davis nodded slowly.

"Then get it. I'm going…" He slowly slid down to the ground, his final leg of energy nearly nonexistent, and hung his aching head. "I'm going to just sit down for a little while. Tell me when…" he paused, then started again. "Let me know if any of these three things happen: If you find Takuya, if you get some food and first aid stuff, or if the dust finally settles. That means it's fighting time again."

"We'll let you know," Ken said quietly, and he and Davis walked a few steps away to talk and type messages on their digivices. Even as he was drifting off into a half-sleep state, Kouji could hear what they whispered to each other.

"Dang, do you see those wounds?" Davis whispered loudly. "It looks like something out of a movie. How can he keep standing, let alone fighting?"

"Did you see that fractal code?" Ken replied. "I've never seen anything like it! I mean, I knew they were different but…it just seems wrong somehow…"

"Who cares about that! Care about how we're going to win this fight! If these guys who have fought him before can't defeat him, what can we possibly do that they haven't tried?"

"Well…they didn't have you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Davis, you're just different. Somehow, you'll do something stupid and then we'll suddenly win. That's just how you work."

Kouji gave a half-hearted chuckle, his eyes finally closing against his will. "Just like Takuya," he whispered. And his world went black.

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Focus: Takuya Kanbara, age: 13

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Takuya panted heavily, trying to force himself back onto his feet. He got about to his hands and knees, before giving up and collapsing on his face again. "This is retarded!" he moaned. Then hoped Lucemon didn't hear it. But since the guy was just laughing maniacally right now, and wasn't attacking till the dust died down, he figured he could rest for a minute or two. "Just one minute," he mumbled. "Then I'll get up…"

Several minutes later, he heard voices.

"He should be around here…"

"Wait, I see something. Is that a fractal code?"

Takuya looked up, propping himself up on his elbows to peer through the dust at the voices. A tall girl and a boy who looked a couple years younger than her walked up to him. "Who are you?" he asked, confused. "You don't look like Zoe or Tommy…" he frowned. "You're not Zoe or Tommy! Who are you?"

The girl gasped. "Oh my gosh! The fractal code is coming from HIM!"

Takuya blinked, then glanced over his shoulder. Sure enough, the purple circle of data was revolving around him. He groaned. "Oh please! Not again!" He focused on sucking it in, then sighed dramatically when it was finally done. Then, seeing as there were people here, he forced himself up onto his feet. "I'm Takuya," he said dizzily. "You?"

The girl covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide.

So the younger boy spoke for her. "This is Yolei, and I'm Cody. We're digidestined, and we're here to help you. We have digimon with us."

"Well that's good news," Takuya said, brightening considerably. "We could sure use the help! Lucemon is pretty much killing us right now," he sighed and hung his head, then gasp and looked up again. "Oh no! Zoe!" And without thinking, he dashed out into the dust to look for her. Perhaps it was instinct, or perhaps it was just dumb luck. But somehow he found his way to her, lying unconscious on the ground. "Oh no," he moaned, kneeling beside her. "I knew it…that attack did hit you, didn't it?"

Somehow, Yolei and Cody managed to follow them, and Hawkmon and Armadillomon with them. They appeared and knelt down too. "This doesn't look good," Hawkmon commented, wincing.

Takuya glared at the bird to shut up. Then, gently, he turned Zoe onto her back to take a look at her, carefully brushing dirt and pebbles out of the cuts and gashes on her face, neck and arms. "She's breathing," he said, sighing with relief. "Good."

"What…happened?" Yolei breathed, her eyes filling with tears. "You're both so…so…"

"Bloody?" Cody asked, grimacing.

Takuya gave a tired shrug. "We're fighting. What do you expect? Zoe and I were fighting next to each other, and Lucemon swiped us with one of his blasting attacks. I can't remember what it's called. I tried to push her out of the way but…I guess I didn't."

"Push her out of the way so you could take all the damage?" Yolei asked, angry for some reason.

Takuya gave her a weird look. "Well yeah? I can take more than she can." He glanced down at himself, as if to point out that his battle wounds were almost triple hers. And to point out that between the two of them, he was the one awake and walking around. Then he looked back up. "I guess I'm just hard-headed or something. Come on, we've got to regroup with everyone." Sighing, he bent over and slipped his arms underneath Zoe, then stood and lifted her with him. "I need to find Kouji."

"We'll come with you," Cody nodded. "As soon as this dust clears, I'm sure that the fighting will continue. You'll need all the help you can get, I think."

Takuya nodded, and then simply heading out in a random direction, decided to see if he could find Kouji. "So tell me about yourselves," he said, glancing over his shoulder. "You guys have partners, huh? How does that work?"

"We can make our digimon evolve," Yolei answered. "Sometimes to forms that aren't physically possible without us. And when we believe in them, we give them strength." Hawkmon nodded, beside her.

"So you don't do any fighting?" Takuya asked, shaking his head. "I guess that's different. Or maybe it's how it's supposed to be. I don't know. Anyway, my partner, so to speak, is the Legendary Warrior Agunimon. And he can kick butt just fine without me, but he says he's stronger when I digivolve into him. So his kick-buttness, plus my stupidity and hard-headedness, equals a better fighting force!" he grinned. "It's true!"

Cody blinked, then glanced at Yolei. "He and Davis would get along."

Yolei rolled her eyes.

"Oh!" Takuya blurted. He paused, then ran forward. "I sense Kouji! Come on!" and with that, he took off running, ignoring the weird looks he got when he said "sensed". The other two had to hurry to catch up before they were left behind in the billowing clouds of thick dust. They all arrived at the foot of a cliff, behind some rubble, where Kouji was sitting with his back against the cliff and his head hanging down. Takuya skidded to a stop and placed Zoe gently on the ground. "Kouji!" He said loudly.

Kouji's head snapped up, and he grimaced. "Of course," he mumbled. "I wondered which of the three would happen first. I don't know why I'm surprised it was you."

"What are you saying?" Takuya snapped. "Never mind it's not important. Kouji there's two digidestined here and their partners to help us."

"I know, I met them," Kouji complained, letting his head lean back against the stone wall behind him.

"Huh?" Takuya frowned. "How could you have met them when they're with me?" As he was speaking, two more strangers walked up, both of them boys. "Oh…" he said, then turned back to Kouji. "Never mind, there's four of them. Come on, get up."

"Shut up. I'm resting."

"We don't have time to rest!" Takuya argued, waving his arms dramatically. "We need to plan our next series of attacks! I'm thinking these new guys should make their partners evolve into ultimates, and then combine their attacks with ours while we…"

"Takuya! Stop it!" Kouji shouted. "You're splattering blood all over my face!" He stood up reluctantly, then kicked Takuya to the ground.

Takuya made a little "oof!" sound, and then got back up. He ignored the weird looks the four newcomers were given him. "Anyway," he said, continuing where he left off, seeing as they didn't have time to argue right now, "They could combine their attacks with ours while someone can sneak into the castle and…"

Kouji sighed, pulled off his bandana, and stuffed it into Takuya's mouth to shut him up. During the brief pause, he turned to Yolei and Cody. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"I'm…" Yolei tried to speak, then blushed and laughed awkwardly. "Uh…Y-Y-Yolei….And you must be….Kouji…" The boy with the bob of black hair that Takuya hadn't met stepped up next to her with a frown. She blushed further, and Takuya wondered if she thought Kouji was good looking. Probably. The guy must be her boyfriend or something, feeling jealous.

Cody was more matter-of-fact. "I'm Cody. This is Davis and Ken, since you don't know yet," he said to Takuya.

Takuya quickly pulled the bandana out of his mouth and tossed it at Kouji's face. "Ew gross, man! It has your blood on it!"

"Shut up, Takuya. Now does anyone have a freakin' band aid or something I can use?" Kouji snapped. He growled in frustration when his fractal code appeared around him, as if to spite him. "GO AWAY!" he yelled.

Takuya sighed sympathetically. "That keeps happening to me too," he said, then glanced over at Zoe. Hers was circling quickly, as if to signify she was down for the count. "Oh, and Zoe's out cold. I don't know where Kouichi, JP or Tommy are."

"Well I'm here," came Kouichi's voice from the clouds of dust. And beside him walked two older strangers, one guy and one girl. Kouichi smiled grimly, holding a hand over one of his eyes. "And these two found me. They say their names are Sora and Joe, and they're digidestineds." And as if to confirm that, two more rookie digimon walked along beside them.

Kouji ran at Kouichi so fast you could miss it if you blinked. "What's wrong with your eye?" he demanded, grabbing his twin by the shoulders.

Kouichi chuckled gently. "Kouji I'm fine," he said. "It just hurts, that's all…"

Takuya narrowed his eyes. "Then why is there blood dripping down beneath your hand, man? Gross!" Not that he was one to talk. He was covered in slices and burns and gashes too.

Kouichi grimaced again. "Well….I wasn't fast enough…and the blade…"

Kouji quickly tied his bandana around his brother's head, covering the eye tightly, and then turned burning eyes upon the strangers. "We need some medical help. NOW."

Joe waved his arms frantically. "I can help!" he said. "I have medical knowledge! Well…more like first aid, but…" Kouji glared him into silence. "Okay I'll just…get to work…"

Takuya sighed and shook his head, turning to the rest of them. "The rest of us are going to prep for the fight," he said, making a fist and ignoring the pain every single movement caused. "Make your partners evolve into ultimates, and when the dust clouds calm down, we'll start attacking in an assembly-line type of thing, each taking turns to shower him with attacks. Meanwhile, someone is going to sneak into Seraphimon's castle—that's the place he's guarding—and pull the giant sword out of Seraphimon's chest. He's using that sword to give himself never-ending energy, and it's stolen from the three Celestial Digimon."

"I'm…confused," Davis said slowly, as if he didn't want to interrupt, but couldn't stop himself from doing it. "What…"

Takuya cut him short. "There's no time to explain anything!" he yelled, waving his arms. Then stopped and winced as his fractal code appeared from the effort. "Man I could sure use an energy boost," he sighed. "Never mind. Look, if we can take away his never-ending energy source, we can interrupt his hold on the real world!"

"He already has a hold on the real world," Ken murmured, eyes widening. "That's right! We need to get that sword! How do we find it?"

"It's hard to miss," Takuya shrugged, trying to push his fractal code back and finding it hard when his hand went right through it. "It's a really giant sword in a big digimon's chest, in the middle of the largest room in the castle."

"And how do we pull it out?" Yolei asked, rolling her eyes. "We're just teenagers."

"I dunno. I haven't gotten any further than just entering the room. Every time, he figures out what I'm doing and sends me flying. And flying's only fun while you're in the air," he sighed. "Landing isn't very fun."

The strangers started at him, wearing freaked out or shocked faces, and then glanced hesitantly at each other. "Who's going to be the one to try and pull out the sword?" Ken asked slowly.

Davis puffed up his chest. "I'll go," he said quickly. "I'm not afraid. What happens after we pull out the sword?"

Takuya's face fell serious, and he stared at the ground. "He gets angry," he said quietly. After a moment, he looked back up. "That's when Kouji and I will start fighting him again. We're the strongest, and we can distract him while you guys regroup and make your digimon the highest stage you can get em. Then we'll fight to the death!" He finally succeeded in sucking in his fractal code, and beamed proudly.

Yolei gasped and covered her mouth, while the boys nodded grimly. Sora sighed dramatically. "We're not going to die you guys. There's still Tai, Matt, and TK, remember? And Izzy is back at the hospital helping with his computer. Not to mention Kari and Mimi, who will both be over here as soon as they can get out of the hospital. We've got greater numbers, greater will, and idiots like Tai who can do stupid things to make us win."

Davis blinked, then glanced at Ken. "That's like what you said about me," he grinned. "Haha, but she's right, Tai's better at it."

"That's cause Tai is smarter than you."

"Hey! I…"

Takuya raised up a hand, his face draining of color, and silence filled the battleground. "He stopped laughing," Takuya whispered.

Ken shivered involuntarily, bending down to pick Wormmon up for a final tight hug. "Then that means…" he mouthed.

Takuya turned, glaring upward as the dust parted to reveal the sky. "The eye of the hurricane has passed," he growled. He didn't care that it sounded more animal than human, he'd been fighting so long.

Kouji stepped up beside him. "Let's wipe that smile off his face," he agreed.

A quick shared grin and an adrenaline rush later, Takuya and Kouji changed into their Fusions.

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Focus: Koushiro Izumi (Izzy)

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Izzy glanced at the paper in his hands, reading the quickly scrawled note. Lucemon can read my mind, it said, don't ask me how, but he can. Don't listen to anything I say, only what I write. Okay? He lifted his head and sighed, wondering why he was surprised. "What's wrong, Tai?" he asked, as though he didn't already know.

Tai made a face to show his frustrations. "I'm going to be staying with Kari," he said firmly, and if Izzy hadn't read the note, he would have believed it. "She's still weak and freaked out. Besides, the others will do just fine without me."

"Are you sure?" Izzy asked, bored. What was the real plan? And why wasn't Tai writing it down already?" He shoved the piece of paper back in Tai's hand.

"Yes. I can't leave her," Tai said, quickly grabbing it and starting to write something. "She needs me." His face paled for a second, and a terrified expression flickered on his face for just a moment. Was Lucemon talking to him in his mind? Creepy.

"Well, you're the boss…" Izzy said as Tai handed it back, reading it. Matt, TK, and I are going to go to the Digital World. You three will have to be okay without us. Lucemon said "Not even you can stop me" to me, which means I need to be there.

Izzy' eyebrows raised up quickly. Now that was surprising.

"You okay, Izzy?" Tai asked. "You kinda zoned out. You want me to let you rest?"

"Yeah," Izzy said, amused. Saying things to throw Lucemon off was kind of fun. "Sorry man, I'm just so tired…" He grinned and winked, watching his Mom trying to figure out their bizarre conversation.

"Well just rest," Tai ordered. "I'll check on you later." After a long moment of silence, he grabbed a sticky note from the hospital desk beside him, and scribbled down another quick note.

Izzy read it as soon as it was handed to him. You monitor us and let us know how things are going. I want to leave now, and hopefully Lucemon will think I've fallen asleep.

With a quick nod, Izzy brought his computer to his lap from its hiding position under his heated blankets. Then he got to work. After opening the portal to Davis' location, he nodded at Tai, Matt, and TK, who were all in the room, reading Tai's notes.

They held up their digivices, and with a flash of light, vanished into the Digital World.

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It has been a long time since I continued this. And I love this story! It's fun.

Sorry about the…uh…blood, lol. It just seemed more exciting. But you knew that it'd get somewhat gory from the mention of disemboweling in the early chapters, right?

Anyway, reviews, comments, critiques, complaints, etc…all are welcome. Until next time, then!

Rika195