I do not own InuYasha or Digimon Frontier in any way, shape or form!


Speech Key:

"The" – Oral/Normal Speech

'The'Thoughts


PLEASE READ BEFORE BEGINNING CHAPTER!

AN: Okay, I know I haven't updated in a while, but I can't help it. There are a few family problems and stuff I have to deal with so I can't give my writing my complete attention and so updates will come only whenever I have time to post.

Oh and I know there have been a few questions about the Drawings for the Warrior of the Sun. I've had the drawings of Soaremon and his Beast Spirit ready. I just need to come up with a name and color scheme for the Beast Spirit before I can place them up on my DeviantArt page.

Anyway, this chapter is a combo between "Beastie Girl" and "The Swiss Family Digimon" episodes, so it'll be pretty long, I guess…though there will be a little, erm, twist shall we say at the end… The title isn't very creative, I know, but it was supposed to be a play off of 'The Beauty and the Beast', though like I said, it probably wasn't very artfully done.

Hope you all like this and please remember to review, but if you've nothing polite to say then don't bother saying anything at all!


~A Different Frontier~

oO-The Zephyr and the Squid-Oo

"See ya, buddy!" Takuya called out to Whamon.

"Ciao, Whamon!" Zoe waved.

Each of the group shouted their goodbyes and thanks to the whale Digimon, who sprayed a little water from his spout before diving back into the ocean.

"Well, there he goes," Koji stated.

"Nice of you to point out the obvious," the teen in red said dryly.

"Oh come now!" Zoe said cheerily, much to the surprise of everyone else. "Don't be such boys!"

"My dear, Zoe," Bokomon looked at the blonde perplexedly, "What was gotten into you?"

"You can't blame a girl for feeling good on such a wonderful day!" Zoe giggled giddily. "Especially one that has her Spirit back!" She struck a pose with her D-Tector in hand.

"We understand, Zoe," Kagome sweat-dropped, "but maybe you could t—"

"And don't forget who has their Beast Spirit now!" J.P reminded them, striking pose right next to Zoe.

"Let's hear it for J.P, the Princely Beast of Thunder!" Zoe announced.

"And Zoe, Princess of the Summer Breeze!" J.P added in a dramatic tone.

Kagome, Takuya, Koji, Tommy, and Bokomon all sweat-dropped at the play-by-play. The raven-haired girl's head snapped up when she felt four unknown auras nearby.

"And Takuya, King of I'm-Gonna-Be-Sick!" the teen in red interjected blandly.

"Is everything all right?" Koji asked quietly to the girl he'd grown fond of, even if he didn't show it much. "Are you feeling okay? Bokomon and Neemon said you were knocked out pretty hard by Arbormon."

Kagome shook her head. "I'm fine, I was a little dazed, but I'm okay now. It's just that I felt a few auras nearby, that's all. They were probably just some passing Digimon that live on the island; I didn't sense anything malicious about them."

Koji looked at Kagome for a moment, gauging the truth in her words. "Okay, if you're sure." He stood a little closer to Kagome, his stance reminding her of a protector or something similar.

Kagome only smiled and looked down at the egg she held, rubbing it a little, feeling the warmth it exuded. "I wonder when it'll hatch…"

"Well Sorcermon said to bring it to Ophanimoon, remember?" Koji reminded the girl. "So I guess when it does hatch it'll just be Seraphimon again."

"And what if the egg hatches before we find her?" Kagome asked. "What then?"

"We'll just have to wait and see," the navy-haired boy told the raven-haired half-demon. He looked back to the trio that was still talking over each other. "They're still at it?"

Tommy nodded. "They didn't really stop…Hey guys!" He called out to the trio, making them look at him. "Uh, shouldn't we be going right about now?"

"Good point," Takuya nodded. "But the question is: Where do we go? We don't even know where Whamon, as nice as it was, dropped us off!"

"Then we'll just walk until we find somewhere or someone to ask for some information," Kagome shrugged. "That's the most we can even do at this point."

And with that said, the group began walking up a dirt path that ran along just near the sides of the island, heading off for no particular destination as of yet.

"Hey," J.P said suddenly after walking for a while, "I don't know if you've noticed, but right now it's summer and we're on a beach…"

"Oh I definitely know what you mean," Zoe shielded her eyes from the sun.

"And you know what that means," Tommy grinned.

"Summer Vacation!" the DigiDestined said in unison.

"All those waves…" Tommy trailed off happily.

"And there's shell hunting, too!" Zoe added.

"Don't forget all that sunshine!" J.P cheered.

"Put it all together and what d'you get?" Takuya commented. "The beach, baby!"

Kagome just laughed at their antics with Bokomon and Neemon.

"Takuya, I don't know if you've forgotten, but we're on a mission," Koji reminded him. "We'd be stupid to let our guard down!"

"You have to lighten up, buddy!" Takuya rubbed his elbow into the navy-haired boy's side, J.P doing the same with his finger on the other side. "Yeah, stop being such a party pooper!"

Koji did his best to stifle his amusement, but soon the sensation became too much and the laughs just started pouring through his lips. "H-Hey no—haha—St-op it! I just—ha—think that—!"

"You're just being a downer," Tommy said sadly.

"Oh come on, you know it wouldn't hurt to take just a day for ourselves," Zoe told Koji. "We've earned it."

"Zoe's right," J.P and Takuya egged the navy-haired teen on, "We've earned it!"

"Koji, you know they're right," Kagome spoke this time, "we haven't had time to rest in a while now. Our mission is important, but so is looking after ourselves and taking time to rest or just have some fun to relax wouldn't be such a bad idea."

Koji could only sigh. "Okay, I see I'm gonna be outnumbered here, anyway."

"So all in favour of spending a day at the beach, say 'Aye'!" Zoe announced.

Everyone, including Koji agreed, though it seemed that Koji was bullied into agreeing more than anything right now.

"Oh!" Neemon said suddenly.

"'Oh' is right!" Bokomon agreed. "Look over there!" He pointed at something a little further down the beach.

The DigiDestined turned to look at whatever the two smaller Digimon were staring at and saw a beachfront store a little bit away from them near a tall lifeguard post and a smaller hut a little further from there.

The group looked at each other and nodded before breaking out into a run towards the building. When they came closer, they saw that it looked like your average beachfront store with a canteen.

"Toucan Paradise," Kagome read from the sign. She glanced around inside. "But it doesn't look like anyone's here right now…"

"I don't know," Koji looked warily at the beach house, "don't you think it's kind of convenient for this to be here?"

"Maybe, but it sure does look awfully comfortable," Tommy looked longingly into the building.

"Hey, is anybody there?" Takuya called into the beach house.

BANG!

CRASH!

The DigiDestined and their Digimon companions blinked at the unexpected noises.

"Just a—WAH—Just a second!" came a high-pitched voice.

It wasn't long before four of the same kind of Digimon bounced out of the beach house. "Welcome!" they chorused.

A~Different~Frontier

The Digimon were all brown birds with blue and yellow toucan beaks, their bodies were housed in a red shell with two yellow spots on it leading into a pair of yellow and red sneakers. They had short wings, a stiff blue mowhaks atop their heads, and the same light-olive eyes.

One of them wore a chef's hat, the other an explorer's cap, another wore an apron, while the last wore a tie around its neck.

A~Different~Frontier

Kagome slipped out her D-Tector and pointed it towards the Digimon to get a reading on what they were.

"Oh goody," Bokomon said unenthusiastically, "it's the Toucanmon; Gaudy-looking creatures, but very timid. Their attack is Crazy Crest. Sounds rather silly, doesn't it?"

"Honored Guests, we welcome you to Toucan Paradise," the Tie-Toucanmon bowed.

"Yeah we're honored, but we're broke," Koji said bluntly.

"Oh but what's a few DigiShangles between friends?" the Apron-Toucanmon waved off their concern. "And besides, today is the one day everything is on the house, by which I mean free and…not served on the roof!" And with that he fell into a bow as well.

"We know what it means," Bokomon said dryly.

"Sorry, so sorry!" the Chef-Toucanmon spoke up now. "It was just a small joke, very small!" He fell into a bow as well.

"It's okay," Tommy told them.

"No no no! We're absolutely humiliated; there's absolutely nothing we won't do to make it up to you!" the Adventurer-Toucanmon spoke up this time.

"What? Really?" J.P said in near-disbelief.

"Really, really, really, and double really!" the Toucamon all nodded with glee.

'They'll do anything, huh?' Kagome's eyes narrowed as she followed the rest of her friends into the beach house. 'That sounds almost too good to be true! I know I said that we should take a break, but Koji's right, this definitely seems suspicious…'

"A little of this…"

"And some of that…"

"And your lunch is served!" the Tie-Toucanmon announced, gesturing to the set table laden with various foods and dishes.

"Whoa!" Takuya, J.P, Zoe, and Tommy looked starry-eyed at the table.

"It looks good, but what if it doesn't taste good like the food that other Digimon gave us at his restaurant?" Kagome whispered to Koji.

"We'll just grin and bear it for now and eat whatever is edible," Koji whispered.

"Wow!" Takuya commented. "These are the best rubbery, overcooked noodles I've ever had!"

"And this is the best lumpy curry, I've ever tasted!" Zoe grinned.

"You guys are weird," Koji raised an eyebrow, "Are those supposed to be compliments?"

"Don't you get it, every bit of it looks exactly how it tastes!" the teen in red said loudly.

"Huh?" Kagome looked at the rest of the table with a funny expression.

"Look, every bit of it looks like what we're eating, right?" J.P looked at Kagome.

"Yeah, though it doesn't taste exactly the same…" the raven-haired girl stated.

"Well, yeah, but at least here we know what we're eating by look at it, no matter how weird it tastes," the boy in blue clarified.

"Okay," Kagome nodded, taking another bite of the overcooked and under-seasoned yakisoba. "But I guess this is better than the stuff we had at that other Digimon's diner…"

"Besides, buddy," Takuya said boisterously, "it's a beach house! The food's bound to have bugs or sand or something in it!"

"Right…" Koji and Kagome sweat-dropped.

A~Different~Frontier

"Thank you for the wonderful food!" the group thanked the Toucanmon, who were now clearing off the dishes and such from the table.

"It was our pleasure!" the Toucanmon all replied in unison.

"My tummy," Takuya slumped into his chair, satisfied, "feels like a melon!"

"Did you get enough, Tommy?" Zoe asked.

The young boy nodded gleefully. "Yup!"

"Enough?!" J.P grinned. "I definitely got that and more!"

"It was better than nothing, I guess," Kagome shrugged weakly at Koji.

"Except I think I might need to wash my mouth out later," the navy-haired boy made a face, "I don't think I can feel my tongue…"

"Well, I guess it's time to split," Takuya announced after a few moments.

The Toucanmon looked up from their task to the group, squawking in surprise.

"We loved the meal," Zoe told the four Digimon, "And we're thankful to your for it."

"But we've imposed on you enough as it is," Kagome smiled gently at the bird Digimon.

"Then impose!" Tie-Toucanmon told them.

"Go on, we're begging you here!" Apron-Toucanmon added. "Impose already!"

"Thanks," Takuya looked at the Toucanmon oddly, "But we're stuffed as tanks!"

"But you're growing kids!" Adventurer-Toucanmon protested. "What kind of hosts would we be if we let you leave without supper?"

"Supper?" the teen in red raised an eyebrow. "Are you nuts? I won't be hungry for hours, heck I may never eat again!"

"Definitely," the rest of the group nodded.

"You say that now," the Apron-Toucanmon warned, "But after being in the sun, I'm sure you'll agree with me! And might I suggest that you take advantage of our One-Day-Summer-Special!"

"Huh?" the group just blinked at the bird Digimon.

"He means," Chef-Toucanmon clarified, "Free beach rentals for everybody!"

The Apron-Toucanmon walked up to a cord connected to a white curtain situated at a side of the beach house. He pulled the cord, moving the curtain aside, revealing a whole array of swim gear.

"Complimentary baskets are available for your valuables in the dressing rooms," Tie-Toucanmon told the DigiDestined as they chattered about the deal, "Just leave the worrying to us!"


"Wow," Kagome and Zoe blinked at the large array of swimsuits hanging from a few racks.

"At least there's a variety here," Zoe commented, taking her crop-jacket off and placing it into a basket with her D-Tector, "So hopefully, it won't be too hard to find something we'll like…"

"Hey, Zoe?" Kagome asked, looking through a few of the swimsuits, having placed Seraphimon's Egg into a basket so it wouldn't roll off.

"Hm?" the blonde hummed as she searched through another rack.

"Did it seem like the Toucanmon were a little desperate to keep us here?" the raven-haired half-demon asked.

"Yeah…" Zoe frowned, looking at Kagome. "And I'll admit their reaction to us leaving was a little out of the ordinary, too…But maybe they're just the kind of Digimon with that kind of personality, like that woman at the hot springs in Fruits Basket!"

(AN: Sorry, I just had to make some reference!)

"I guess," Kagome nodded, though something was still nagging at her.

"Hey, what do you think about this one?" Zoe held up a white strapless one-piece with one thick red stripe and a thinner one over it. "I'm thinking along the lines of Racing Queen…"

"It's all right," Kagome tilted her head, "but I don't think white suits you too well… No offense or anything, but with your skin tone, that suit would just make you look even paler…"

Zoe placed the one-piece in front of her as she looked in the mirror and saw that Kagome was right. Even though the suit looked good, it just didn't suit her skin tone. "Yeah, you're right, besides, white's a little boring for my taste…" She threw it into a pile she and Kagome were making of suits they definitely weren't going to wear.

"What do you think about this one, for me?" Kagome asked, holding up a mint-green one-piece with ruffled straps.

Zoe wrinkled her nose. "The colour's okay, but the style's definitely not right for you…"

And so the mint-green suit joined the other rejections in their pile.

"I'm thinking Star Athelte," Zoe held up an all black one-piece with one-inch wide straps. "What do you think?"

It was Kagome's turn to pull a face. "Umm, I don't think so; It's not really something that screams 'fun in the sun'."

The black suit was added to the rejection pile.

Kagome pulled out a magenta tankini with boyshorts. "What about this one?"

"The style's okay, but definitely not the colour," Zoe shook her head, taking the suit and tossing it into the rejected pile.

"Che bella," Zoe took out a scarlet two-piece bikini. "But…there's not much there…"

"Zoe, why don't you try this one on, then?" Kagome handed the blonde a suit. "I think it'd look perfect on you!"

"Hm?" Zoe looked up from her browsing and took the hanger from Kagome, only to squeal in delight. "Perfecto!"

A~Different~Frontier

The suit was a two-piece with a halter-neck top and a pair of boy shorts. The fabric faded from a dark-magenta to an orange-hue to finally a light-pink colour with white edging along the sides.

A~Different~Frontier

The blonde quickly turned back to the racks and rifled through than at what could be classified as an abnormal speed while Kagome blinked at her friend.

"Aha!" Zoe cried out in victory, pulling out a suit. "Here, I know this one'll suit you the best!" She shoved a hanger into Kagome's hands.

A~Different~Frontier

The suit was a skirtini with a halter-neck top like Zoe's. The fabric was a pale-azure with white edging and a white hibiscus on the right side of the top, the skirt was tiered with three layers alternating between light-azure and white.

A~Different~Frontier

"Where did you find this one?" Kagome looked at the suit. "I like it, but I've looked through the racks, and I definitely know I didn't see this one before."

"That's because it was tangled up with another suit," Zoe explained, "So I wouldn't be too surprised if you didn't see it. I almost didn't, either, but my finger got caught on something and there it was!"

Kagome glanced off to the side, when she felt an aura close by, but brushed it off as nothing when it disappeared again quickly, figuring that it was probably just a fluke.

And with that, Kagome changed into the suit quickly, using her scarf to tie up her hair into a thick side-ponytail hanging down to her waist over her shoulder. The half-demon looked over to her friend and saw her standing before the mirror, not even changed yet. "Zoe? Is something wrong?"

"I just don't know if I want to keep my hair up or let it down," the blonde sighed. "One one hand, it'll be easier to deal with if it's down, but if I swim, it'll probably get into my eyes. On the other, I can tied it up and it won't bother me much at all, but then I'd end up getting your ribbon wet…"

Kagome smiled gently. "Papa gave that ribbon to me to keep my illusion charm on, but I gave it to you in exchange for your hat. It's okay if it gets a little wet!" Seeing that the blonde still wasn't convinced, she added, "Okay, why don't you get changed first and then we'll see about your hair. Does that sound okay?"

"Yeah," Zoe nodded and began changing out of her clothes while Kagome picked up the suits they'd rejected and began placed them back on the racks neatly so the Toucanmon wouldn't have to clean up after them.

However, the girls froze when they heard a creaking sound. They turned around with mortified looks on their faces before letting out a loud scream in unison.


The boys were out in the sea, swimming around without a care, when they were startled by a pair of screams.

The males all gasped, recognizing the voices, and ran out of the water and towards the changing rooms. However, it was only Tommy and Koji who caught themselves before they entered, unlike Takuya and J.P.

"What's the matter? What's going on?" Takuya asked as he and J.P burst into the changing room, only to blush when they spotted the girls, despite Kagome already being in a swimsuit.

(AN Oh and just for the record, J.P is in a pair of cerulean trunks.)

The girls screamed once more, this time due to the fact that Zoe was in fact, only in her undergarments. "Get out! Get out! Get out!" the two threw everything within reach at the boys that had decided to barge into the changing area.

A~Different~Frontier

"Sorry~" the girls apologized to the two teens who were now rubbing the places that ached from where they'd been hit. Zoe had hastily changed back into her clothing, her D-Tector in her pocket while Kagome was holding Seraphimon's egg in her arms, her D-Tector tucked inside the beanie.

"So why'd you scream before?" Koji asked, trying to stifle his blush at seeing Kagome in her swimsuit.

"Because someone seems to be a Peeping Tom," Kagome huffed while Zoe flushed lightly. Although she was hardly ever fazed that much by perverts from her experience with Miroku, that still didn't stop the automatic reaction that came along with discovering one; which explained the throwing objects at Takuya and J.P…even if it was more instinct for Zoe than habit.

"You're kidding?!" Takuya said furiously as sounds of agreement came from the rest of the group.

Koji, on the other hand, while he didn't show much of an outward reaction, there was more going on inside his head than out. 'Whoever it was had better not have seen Kagome! She's mine!' The navy-haired teen blinked, surprised. 'What the—since when was she mine? I don't own her!'

"What?!" J.P was more vocal about his anger. "Let me at him!"

Koji, Tommy, Takuya, Neemon, and Bokomon all threw suspicious looks in the older teen's direction.

"What?" J.P asked. "What are you all looking at me for?!"

"You must admit that it certainly is suspicious," Bokomon spoke, "and you are the most likely culprit after all." It was true, J.P's crush on Zoe was about as subtle as a bull in a china shop.

"Mhm," Neemon hummed as he nodded in agreement.

"He makes a good point, J.P," Takuya looked hard at the boy in blue, "Why don't you just admit it?"

"Because I didn't do it!" J.P burst out.

"I can actually vouch for him," Kagome raised a hand. "I noticed a few auras outside our of changing room earlier, but they disappeared quickly, so I thought it was probably just a fluke. If it was J.P, I'd know, but it wasn't."

"She's right," Tommy added, "J.P was out swimming with us, remember? It couldn't have been him!"

"We all have the same alibi…" Koji mused.

"So by process of elimination, it was no one?" Bokomon raised an eyebrow.

"Are you calling Zoe a liar?!" J.P said angrily.

"Of course we're not calling them liars," Takuya said calmly, reminding the enraged boy that Kagome was there as well, "It just means that we're not alone here."

"Well, of course we're not alone, Einstein," the navy-haired teen's eyes widened in realization, "Did you forget the Toucanmon?"

And with that said, the boys and Zoe went out to check the beach house for the Toucanmon, while Kagome went back inside the changing room to change back into her clothes. 'So much for a break…'

A~Different~Frontier

Once Kagome had gotten changed back into her clothes (this time with her scarf tied around her neck, the charms still attached), she spotted the rest of her friends running towards the males' changing area. Curious, the raven-haired teen followed along to see what it was they were looking for.

"Those bird brains tricked us!" Koji said through gritted teeth as he and the rest of the boys checked their baskets, only to find that their D-Tectors were gone.

"This is really bad…" Tommy trailed off.

"This goes well beyond 'really bad'!" Bokomon scolded. "How could you let those Toucanmon just trick you like that?!"

"I didn't see you complaining, Bokomon~" Kagome said in a sing-song tone.

The small white Digimon froze and just coughed as he flushed in embarrassment.

"Whatever we do, we need to go after those Toucanmon before they get too far!" Koji told them.

"Right," the rest of the boys nodded and turned around to get changed, while Kagome dragged Zoe out with her.

"Hey! Kagome!" Zoe tried struggling out of the raven-haired teen's grip. "What's going on?"

"Did you really want to stay in there while they were changing?" Kagome raised an eyebrow at the blonde.

Zoe stopped struggling as a blushed spread across her face. "Uhh, okay, I get it…"

And with that the girls just walked around the beach for a bit as they waited for the boys to finishing changing.

"What do you think'll happen when we get Seraphimon's egg to Ophanimon?" Zoe asked suddenly, stopping to look at the Digi-Egg.

"Sorcermon said that she might be able to restore Seraphimon to his original form," Kagome reminded the blonde. "But I'm a little afraid; what if the egg hatches before we find Ophanimon? What then? Will Seraphimon remember anything from before becoming an egg?"

"That's a good question," Zoe nodded. "But I wouldn't worry too much, if anything, Seraphimon should be able to help us find Ophanimon if he hatches soon…"

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" Takuya called as he and the rest of the boys as well as their two Digimon companions ran after them. "So which way do we go?"

"Which way did they go anyway?" Tommy asked.

"Can't you use your psychic stuff to find the Toucanmon?" J.P asked Kagome.

Kagome's eye twitched. "Okay, first: I'm not a psychic; I'm a Priestess with demon blood. Second: I haven't been around the Toucanmon long enough to find them as easily as I'd be able to find any of you. And third: I don't think we'll need to look hard to find them."

"Why's that?" Koji asked.

"Those right over there." Kagome jutted her thumb out at a thick trail of footprints in the sand leading off towards the way they'd come.

"Yeah, that'd do it," Takuya sweat-dropped.

And with that, the group took off running along the trail the Toucanmon left behind, which wasn't very long, considering the fact that they hadn't even gotten to running more than a metre or two before they heard four voices singing in unison.

"Ranamon the Ravishing!"

"Wait up you lousy crooks!" Takuya shouted as the group crested a hill and stopped to when they saw the Toucanmon. "So what's up with stealing our D-Tectors? And what's that about 'Ranamon the Ravishing'?!"

"Just give us our D-Tectors back and no one gets hurt," Koji threatened.

"No way no how! These are our one-way ticket to a date with our lovely Ranamon!" Toucamon #1 spoke, tossing Koji's D-Tector around in his wing casually.

"Take it from me, that's definitely one delusional idea you've got rolling around in those tiny heads!" J.P told them. "Now be good and hand our D-Tectors back!"

"You can't make us, so scram!" Toucanmon#1 snapped.

"Maybe we should scram instead?" Toucanmon #3 said softly.

The DigiDestined all took a step forward, seemingly setting off a chain reaction. "Scramming!" the Toucanmon chorused as they ran off in a cloud of dust.

"Hey, get back here!" Tommy shouted.

"Oh man, not again!" Takuya groaned as they took off after the Toucanmon again. "This is soooo dumb!"

"Um," Kagome said, stopping as her head snapped off in the direction of the ocean, "guys? I think we have company coming, and it's not the good sort!"

"Really?!" J.P exclaimed. "Now?!"

They watched as a line of small geysers popped before several rose from the ocean a few feet from the DigiDestined, Ranamon herself atop the one in the middle when the rest fell back into the sea.

"Hi y'all!" Ranamon winked. "Miss me?"

"Oh dear!" Bokomon exclaimed. "It's Ranamon, the legendary Warrior of Water! And it doesn't look like she's on our side!"

"She tried to attack us back at the Crystal Palace," Kagome replied in a near hysterical tone, "Why in the heck would you even say something like that when she tried destroying all of us?!"

"She sure has lousy timing, though," Koji grunted.

"What a pleansant surprise!" the Warrior of Water squealed. "I've looked forward to seeing y'all again! I hoped to have my Beast Spirit to show off right about now, but we can't have everything. So why don't you be a good group of kiddies and hand over your Spirits, hm? I'd love to stay and chat, but frankly, you'd bore me to tears! Now how does that sound?"

"Sound stupid if you ask me," Zoe stepped up.

"But we don't even have our D-Tectors," Koji pointed out.

"Don't worry," the blonde assured her friends, "I'll take care of her."

"But Zoe," J.P protested.

"Don't worry J.P," Zoe huffed, "I'll take care of her in no time."

A malicious smile spread over Ranamon's lips. "Oh goody goody!"

"Then I'm going in with you," Kagome said stepping up to Bokomon so she could hand off Seraphimon's egg.

Just then Ranamon raised her arms and two large cyclones of water began swirling around in the sea rapidly, causing a strong wind to blow around the DigiDestined along with a steady spray of water like a sprinkler.

"Oh this is very very bad," Bokomon read through his book, "As long as she's near any form of water, her powers increase exponentially!"

"I'm guessing that's bad?" Neemon commented.

"What do you think, you twit?!" Bokomon snapped Neemon's waistband.

"No," the blonde stopped her friend.

"What?" Kagome blinked at the girl. "Zoe, you can't possibly think that you—"

"I mean it," Zoe told the raven-haired teen, "Don't. I have a lot of time to make up for and this is my chance to do it!"

"But—"

"Execute: Spirit Evolution!" a Fractal Code column surrounded Zoe for a moment before leaving behind the Warrior of Wind. "Kazemon!"

"Oh I have a really bad feeling about this…" Kagome muttered, looking up at the two Digimon when the wind and water died down.

"I don't get it, though," Tommy spoke up, "Why won't Zoe let you help, Kagome?"

"It's a mixture of pride and responsibility, I think," Kagome said slowly, trying to find a way to phrase it so that the young child wouldn't get confused. "Because we've been doing all the fighting during the time when Zoe's Spirit was taken, she feels like she needs to make up all that time by fighting Ranamon on her own."

The duo looked back up just in time to see Kazemon breaking apart Ranamon's Whipping Waves attack by using her Hurricane Waves.

"What about the pride part?" Tommy asked.

Kagome sweat-dropped a little. "I don't know if you noticed, but Ranamon pretty much said that she'd be able to beat us anytime, anywhere. Simply put, she said that we're not worthfighting and that got to Zoe…"

The young boy winced. "I think I get it…She can be scary when she's angry…"

"Take it from me," J.P interjected, "All girls are scary when they're angry!"

"Go Ranamon! Go Ranamon!" the Toucanmon danced with hearts in their eyes.

Just then Ranamon's assault on Kazemon stopped as she took a sudden dive into the ocean.

"What's going on?" Takuya asked. "She's not running away, is she?"

"Fat chance of that happening," Koji snorted. "She's probably got some trick up her sleeve…"

"Some trick is right," Kagome muttered, feeling Ranamon's aura grow stronger and wilder as a bright spot appeared in the ocean, growing larger and larger with each passing second. "And really bad trick at that…"

"Ha hahaha HA!" Ranamon's voice became a little gruffer and an octave deeper. "It's all over now, honey! Too bad, I was startin' to enjoy our littler spat!"

"What's going on?" Koji asked apprehensively.

"Ready or not, here I am!" A geyser of water shot up into the sky before revealing a very…interesting looking Digimon in Ranamon's place. "In all my radiant beauty, aren't y'all impressed?"

A~Different~Frontier

From her head to her waist was a pale-blue-skinned woman with black stripes that were gills and grey sections over her body, long and wild violet hair with a pointed grey fin atop her head, red-slit eyes and pierced elfin ears. From her waist down was a gigantic upturned white squid with violet, red and blue accents, seven small tentacles with two longer spiked ones hanging down her sides, and beady yellow eyes.

A~Different~Frontier

Everyone, including Kazemon and the Toucanmon all had varying looks of shock on their faces at the Digimon Ranamon had become.

"If she thinks that's beautiful, then I'm pretty sure she's blind…" Kagome twitched.

"I can see y'all need a little more convincin'," the Digimon spoke, "Maybe ya just need a closer look at sweet Calmaramon!" With that said, she used her two long tentacles to move forward onto the beach, large thuds sounding as her tentacles pounded into the ground. "I'm just too happy to oblige!"

The DigiDestined ran off, trying to dodge Calmaramon's wildly swinging tentacles that were rampaging on the beach.

"That's one ugly uh…" Takuya trailed off weakly.

"She's definitely not nice, either," Tommy added, an odd look on his face.

"And she smells awful, too, did you notice that?" J.P's face wrinkled in disgust.

"They probably shouldn't have said that…" Koji winced.

"As vain a Digimon as she is," Kagome grimaced, "this won't turn out well…"

"Who do you think you are?" Calmaramon ranted. "You won't get away with insultin' lil' ol' Calmaramon!"

"Run for it!" Koji shouted, dragging Kagome off in one direction with Takuya while J.P and Tommy took off with Bokomon and Neemon in another.

Kazemon swooped in and tried kicking at the large squid-like Digimon, but to no avail as she was slammed down into the sandy ground by one of Calmaramon's spiked tentacles.

"Zoe!" Takuya shouted.

"Okay, that's it," Kagome said, "I don't care if she doesn't want my help or not, I'm not going to let her fight that thing alone!" She handed off Seraphimon's egg to a surprised Koji, who watched as Kagome stalked forward, D-Tector in hand.

"Zoe!" J.P shouted suddenly, frightened.

The raven-haired girl as well as everyone else looked up to see that Calmaramon had launched herself into the air, her squid-bottom twisted like a drill-head and her two long tentacles stretched out taught on either side of her body, arms spread wide as well.

"Titanic Twist!" Calmaramon began spinning rapidly, but what no one expected was for her to go completely out of control and in the exact opposite direction of where Kazemon was.

The group and Kazemon could only sweat-drop as they watched the scene. "Okaaaaay," Kazemon drawled weakly.

"This can't be happenin' to me!" Calamramon managed to get out. "Don't y'all know who I am?!"

"Uh, what just happened?" Takuya asked weakly.

"I'm guessing that Calmaramon isn't any better at controlling her Beast Spirit than you lot," Bokomon stated.

"Then I guess we're okay?" J.P asked, unsure.

"Yup," the rest of the group, bar Zoe and Kagome nodded.

"Guys," Zoe spoke up as Kagome helped her friend get back on her feet, "What happened to the Toucanmon?"

The boys all froze. "Oh nuts, they got away!" Tommy groaned.

"I can't believe I forgot about those feathered fanboys!" Takuya smacked himself in the forehead. "They still have our D-Tectors, too!"

"Well, with the way they wobble," Koji stated, handing Seraphimon's Digi-Egg back to Kagome, "They couldn't have gotten too far."

"Then let's get going!" Takuya shouted as he led the group as they ran after the trail the Toucanmon had left behind.


-A Little While Later-

"Toucanmon, come out wherever you are!" Takuya called out as he searched through a few bushes. "Oh just come out already!"

"Any sign of them?" Kagome called up to Koji, who'd climbed up a tree.

"Nothing," the navy-haired boy shook his head. "You?"

"I can't sense anything, if that's what you're asking," Kagome told him. "But I can't find any more tracks here, either, so they probably flew the coop, literally!"

The dark-haired duo looked up when they heard a yelp. The two looked in the direction of the sound only to stifle their laughs at J.P as he ran around like a loon, a tiny crab Digimon holding tightly onto his nose.

After a few more minutes of searching, the group went back to the beach house and sat down under the shade to rest for a bit.

"Hey, J.P?" Tommy asked. "How's your nose?"

"I dob bam do dalk bout it," the older boy managed to get out as he held his nose.

"Here, let me take a look at it," Kagome walked up to the boy in blue and looked at the puffed and angry-red nose with splotches of violet spread were the crab Digimon's pincers had gripped at. The raven-haired teen winced. "I'll get that fixed in just a moment." She raised a finger that glowed lavender and tapped J.P's nose with it.

The group watched in awe as J.P's nose cleared of the red and violet before slowly deflating back to its normal size. "Wow…" he breathed as he touched the appendage gingerly. "It doesn't even hurt!" But right then he froze and looked at Kagome and Zoe with a peculiar expression.

"What?" Zoe asked slowly. "If this is about your D-Tectors and Spirits, I know we'll get 'em back soon!"

"Uh well," J.P snapped out of whatever trance he was in and flushed. "That's not really what I was thinking about…"

"Then what's wrong?" Kagome asked this time.

"I was just wondering if you'd be all creepy like Calmaramon was…" J.P trailed off. "You know, when you two get your Beast Spirits…"

Zoe and Kagome blinked at the auburn-haired teen before blinking at each other.

The rest of the group, however, including their two Digimon companions made a sound before their faces scrunched up in concentration.

A tick appeared on both girls' foreheads when they realized just what the others were imagining.

WHAP!

CRACK!

"I can't believe you'd even think something like that!" Zoe huffed as she and Kagome slipped their paper fans back into heavens knows where. "We're so nothing like that wannabe beauty queen!"

"Of course not!" Neemon said unconvincingly as the rest of the group nursed the bumps on their heads.

"Do you want me to hurt you?" Kagome glared at the rabbit-like Digimon. Neemon only squeaked and shook his head rapidly.

"C-Calm down, you two," Takuya stuttered out, "You know he didn't mean it in a bad way and there is some truth to what J.P's worried about. Beast Spirits aren't exactly the easiest to control, you know…"

"Yes," Bokomon nodded, 'Don't you remember what happened with Takuya?" He cast a side glance at the teen in question, who flushed lightly in response.

"It doesn't really matter," Zoe harrumphed, "I know that whatever happens, Kagome and I will always be beautiful Digimon, unlike a certain Warrior of Water…"

"I'm not that mad anymore, but did you need to drag me into this?" Kagome looked at the blonde, who obviously didn't hear her.

"But how do you know that?" Tommy asked.

"Duh!" Zoe said as if it were obvious. "That's because we're girls, of course! And girls definitely know how to handle power when they need to!"

J.P and Tommy just looked at each other skeptically.

The blonde glared at the two when she saw the exchange. "Knock it off! Having power does not make you scary!"

The group just looked on at the blonde with surprised expressions. 'I definitely didn't expect that from Zoe…' Kagome thought.

"Sheez," Takuya sweat-dropped, "She makes Kagome look tame…"

"You want to say that again?" Kagome glared at the boy in red, who shivered in response.

"Uh," Takuya looked around, trying to say something preferably wouldn't tick Kagome off when he heard a flapping noise, "What the—? Hey! It's the Toucanmon!"

"Guess you were right," Koji commented to the dark-haired girl.

"I only guessed," Kagome shrugged, watching the Toucanmon take off for an island a few leagues off the coast of the one they were on. "It looks like they're landing on that little island over there…"

"Then let's get going!" Zoe exclaimed, taking off for the coastline. "Betcha I can swim faster than you!"

"You guys stay here while Zoe and I get to that island," Takuya ordered, running after the girl in pink. However, he hadn't taken more than two steps off of the beach and into the ocean before landing face-first into the water.

"Huh?" the group looked on in confusion.

Takuya spurt a little water from his mouth before looking over to see what had caught him around the leg. He gave a yelp when he found two clawed paws grasping his leg.

The group looked shocked when a small white head with green eyes, purple markings, and a tuft of red hair popped up through the surface of the water.

"What the heck is that?" Takuya asked

"That's Gomamon," The little Digimon replied.

"Great, no whoever you are, let go of my foot, okay?" Takuya wrenched his leg out of the Digimon's grasp.

"Sorry, but we needed to stop you guys before you got too far into the water," the Digimon told Takuya.

As if on cue, more and more of the same Digimon started popping up out of the water. "What are they?" Zoe asked, looking around.

"Gomamon are cute and curious," Bokomon drawled as Kagome held up her D-Tector, where an image of the Digimon in question along with statistic charts hovered above the screen, "But if you make them mad, they won't hesitate to attack. But then again, what does around here?"

"Oh they're just so adorable!" Zoe squealed, picking up one of the Gomamon and hugging it tightly.

"And girls are tough," J.P deadpanned. He stifled a gasp as he stiffed when he felt a gaze boring into his back.

"Sorry we had to stop you," the Gomamon that had caught Takuya apologized, "But we wouldn't be very good friends if we let you go out there."

"That's right," Kagome spoke, "You said that you had to stop us before we got in too far, right? Why?"

"The water looks all cuddly and inviting," another Gomamon answered, "But it's really very dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Takuya asked. "How?"

"Do you see all that foam in front of that island?" a Gomamon pointed out into the distance.

The group did as they were told and looked to see what the Gomamon was pointing at. It took a little bit, but they eventually saw the foamy substance the Gomamon had been talking about.

"What about it?" J.P asked.

"All that foam is caused by a bunch of whirlpools," the first Gomamon told them. "We're safe here, so don't worry about it too much. But if you get too close, they suck you up and never spit you out. But even if you did get past them, you'd probably get slammed into the cliffs that surround the only beach you could land on."

"You sure know a lot about it," Tommy observed.

"We know 'cause we used to live there," another Gomamon answered. "Everything used to be so wonderful there. Then one day, when we went out to play and get some food there was a big earthquake. That's when the whirlpools started. We were cut off from our island and we haven't been able to get home since…" Just then the Gomamon grinned. "But don't worry, we're all fine here! If we swim up close enough to the Whirlpools, we can get a glimpse of our family!"

Kagome's eyes narrowed. 'They're auras are all touched by sadness…They're lying; they really want to go home…'

"I'd be willing to guess that the Earthquakes happened when the destruction of the Digital World began," Bokomon nodded. He sighed. "I'm afraid there hasn't been anyone that wasn't hurt by Cherubimon's actions…"

"So there's no way across?" Koji asked.

"As far as we know, no," a Gomamon shook his head.

"If we can swim across, then maybe there's a flying Digimon around here that can take us across," J.P suggested.

"Except the only flying Digimon we've seen so far are small ones that wouldn't even be able to bear our weight," Kagome pointed out. "Or at least, they wouldn't be able to bear yourweight since Zoe and I can just Spirit Evolve to get across."

"Guys," Zoe spoke up, "I think we should help the Gomamon…"

"Although the sentiment is nice, don't you think it's a tad dangerous?" Bokomon asked.

"Yeah," one Gomamon nodded quickly, "it's really not a good place to be, and we're okay so it's not that big a deal!"

"You're lying," Kagome said bluntly. "I can see it in your auras as clear as day; you're all so sad because you want to get home, but you have no way to do that…"

"She's right," the first Gomamon bowed his head, "we just don't like admitting it since we get all depressed…"

"Then you'll just have to come with us," Zoe told them. She looked at the doubtful expressions of the boys' faces. "Oh come on, we have to at least try and do something!"

"What can we do, anyway?" Koji pointed out. "We don't have our D-Tectors, so how much good would we do anyway?" He winced suddenly. "Kagome!"

"Don't talk like that!" Kagome scolded after smacking Koji upside the head. "We were able to do a lot without our Spirits back home, what difference does it make now?"

Takuya sighed before grinning. "I guess that's that, then!"

"Even we wouldn't be able to say no after a speech like that," the Gomamon nodded.

"I just hope it works," Zoe sighed, 'And if it doesn't, then we'll make it work…Huh?"

"Zoe's right," Takuya nodded as he stepped up next to the blonde, "We'll help each other out and we'll make it across together!"

"They're right," Koji conceded, "We're still able to do enough as just humans, so even without our D-Tectors, there's still a lot we can get done as a team."

"That's certainly a change from your lone wolf personality, now isn't it?" Kagome whispered slyly.

A nearly imperceptible flush ran across Koji's face, but other than that, he didn't give any other answer.

"Really?" Zoe looked at the group with a hopeful gaze. "You mean it?"

"I can't swim very well," Tommy admitted, "And I'm afraid of water, but you can count me in!"

"Besides," J.P added with a grin, "Finding flying Digimon's too much work!"

"It's decided then," Bokomon nodded. 'Finally!'

"Then let's get to work!" Zoe pumped her fist into the air.

A~Different~Frontier

The next hour or so was spent cutting down palm trees and gathering what they could from the beach house to create a simple raft that could hold the DigiDestined, the Gomamon helping out in their own way as well.

"That was hard," Neemon commented when the group finished putting together the raft.

"You didn't do anything," J.P pointed out to the rabbit-like Digimon.

"Oh yeah…" Neemon said absently.

"Okay, go on in, Tommy," Kagome helped the young boy into a barrel they'd found in the beach house. As it was, the boy was still a child and therefore very small, so they couldn't risk him falling off the raft.

"Everyone ready?" Takuya looked around to see if the rest of his friends were situated fine. Koji was at the back end with a paddle to act as a rudder, J.P was leaning off to the side against the small railing they'd built, Zoe stood next to the pole that was their mast while Kagome sat down beside it with Tommy in his barrel with Bokomon and Neemon as well as a few paddles. "Then let's go!" he tugged gently on a piece of string he held in his hand, unraveling the makeshift sail.

Almost immediately, the large piece of cloth puffed out from the wind pushing against it and they were off, the raft moving along with the wind and the rocking of the ocean beneath them.

"Wh-Whoa!" Tommy stuttered out, looking a bit pale. "Can we not rock this thing around so much?"

"It'll be over soon, don't worry," Kagome said soothingly to the young boy.

"This is great," Zoe closed her eyes and took a deep breath as her hair fluttered in the breeze.

"I can't believe you built this without even looking at my plans," J.P sulked.

"You realize your plans would have taken ages for us to complete?" Bokomon raised an eyebrow at the auburn-haired boy.

"But it was the perfect plan for the perfect boat!" J.P protested. "We'd have gotten to that island in no time and in style, too, if I say so myself!"

"Yeah, but a ship that big would've taken forever to build," Tommy pointed out. "And besides, we're already here, so we'll just have to deal with it."

The teen in blue only huffed and leaned back slightly against the railing of the raft.

It wasn't long before the group, bar Tommy, took a hold of the long paddles they'd placed into the large barrel with Tommy and their Digimon companions and stuck them into the water, to prevent them from moving too quickly towards the raging whirlpools up ahead.

"Those Gomamon sure weren't kidding," Koji looked wide-eyed at the large cluster of dangerous whirlpools.

"They said it was bad, not horrible!" J.P exclaimed

"This isn't natural," Bokomon observed, "There must be something at the bottom of the sea that's causing this…"

"Can you sense anything, Kagome?" Zoe asked, turning to the raven-haired teen.

Kagome shook her head. "There's a sort of eerie, almost wild aura around here, but I can't really tell you what it is. It feels familiar, but I just can't put my finger on what it could be…"

"Then we just have to go down there, find it, and fix it," Takuya said determinedly.

Unfortunately, before anyone else could get a word out in response, Neemon let out a frightened shout.

The group turned to Neemon, and saw him looking off to the right where a giant wave rose up from the sea, gaining on them.

"Hold on tight, everybody!" Takuya ordered. He latched himself onto the mast and held tight onto Zoe and the barrel holding, Tommy, Bokomon, and Neemon. J.P grabbed the side of the raft and the railing while Koji held fast and tight into the mast and Kagome who clutched Seraphimon's Digi-Egg in her arms.

The group yelled out as the wave came crashing down on them, going over them for a few moments before their raft was allowed to resurface, their sail completely torn off the mast. "We've got company!" Kagome said suddenly. "And it's definitely not the good kind!"

As if on cue, two large pillars of water rose up from the sea while in the middle a shorter one rose up with the Warrior of Water standing atop it. "Hi there, Kiddie-Pies!"

"Great, now what do we do?!" J.P yelped.

"As if things weren't bad enough already!" Takuya exclaimed.

"Have any last wishes?" Ranamon asked in her southern belle accent. "Now would be the perfect time to make 'em, don'tcha think?"

Zoe glared at the Warrior of Water as she took a step forward on the raft. J.P seeing this, tried to stop the girl. "Don't Zoe! Don't you remember what happened last time? You were no match for her!"

"For pete's sake!" Zoe exclaimed. "Am I the only one with even a pinch of optimism around here?"

"But Zoe—" Takuya protested.

"Don't 'But Zoe', me!" Zoe snapped at the boy in red. "You guys figure out a way to stop those whirlpools while I hold her off!"

"Not without me you aren't," Kagome stepped forward, having left the Digi-Egg with Bokomon. "This time we're fighting together, whether you like it or not!"

Zoe stared at her raven-haired friend for a moment before nodding with a smirk. "Let's do it!"

"Execute: Spirit Evolution!" both girls called out. Two Fractal Code coloumns rose up around the girls and were gone nearly as quickly as they came.

"Kazemon!"

"Selínimon!"

"My you're quite the little glutton for punishment, aren'tcha?" Ranamon simpered at Kazemon. She looked at Selínimon for a moment. "Though I don't know why you're fightin', too, Sugar; it's easy to see who's gonna win this little tête-à-tête."

"Then let's kickstart this fight!" Kazemon exclaimed as she set into a series of quick kicks at Ranamon, but was easily deflected by hertwo large water pillars.

"Kazemon—" Selínimon tried speaking to the Warrior of Wind, but it seemed that either she had heard her and chose to ignore her or she really didn't hear anything at all…

"Then try this on for size!" Kazemon held her hands out before her. "Hurricane Waves!" She launched streams of twisters from her fingertips at Ranamon, only for them to be cancelled out by her two guarding pillars once more.

"Really, honey?" the Warrior of Water hummed. "Is that really all you've got?"

"I wouldn't talk if I were you," Selínimon drew down her bow and pulled back. "Moonlight Shower!" She released the arrow and the next thing Ranamon knew, she found herself dodging the hundreds of arrows that were being pelted her way.

"Stay calm and don't let her get to you," the Warrior of the Moon told her friend, "Just attacking and attacking won't do you any good if you don't have a plan!"

"Then what should I do?!" Kazemon all but shouted. "Everything we do, she just keeps swatting away like they're nothing!"

"As much as I love hearing you two bark at each other," Ranamon broke in, "you're getting' on my nerves, Little Darlin's! So I'll do y'all a favour and destroy you now!" She pointed a finger up into the sky and a large black cloud formed over Selínimon and Kazemon. "Drainin' Rain!"

"Polaris Strike!" Selinimon struck out her seven-pointed star at the quickest pace anyone had ever seen her do and watched as she hooked her chain into the center as the star expanded to thrice its original size to shield the two Legendary Warriors from the attack.

"Oh no, that won't do, Sugar," Ranamon smiled dangerously, "Whippin' Waves!" She raised her arms to manipulate the large streams of water that rose from the ocean. She wiggled her fingers and the streams split off into three and began whipping around the two female Legendary Warriors.

"Zoe!"

"Kagome!"

The rest of the DigiDestined and their Digimon companions all watched in horror as Kazemon and Selinimon were knocked out of the sky by Ranamon's water whips, both reverting back to their human forms as they fell into a whirlpool, immediately getting dragged into the sea.

"NO!" Koji shouted as he watched the raven-haired girl plunge into the water depths below. He touched his cheek when he felt a tickling sensation. 'I-I'm crying? Why—I haven't cried since, heck I can't even remember when! Kagome can't be gone! She just can't!' He couldn't explain why, but the thought of Kagome being gone hurt him more than anything else he'd ever felt.

"Zoe!" J.P shouted as he struggled against Takuya and Tommy, who'd gotten out of his barrel.


'No!' Zoe thought, trying to keep her eyes opened as she and Kagome were being swirled around in the water. 'I have to stay strong…and protect…the…others…' She tried reaching for the unconscious Kagome, but succumbed to darkness in just moments.

A~Different~Frontier

"What the—? Where am I?" Zoe asked, looking around the dark voice where she was suspended.

"What is it you desire, Girl?" The slight soprano voice of a young woman rang out.

"What?" the blonde looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of whoever was speaking. "Who are you?"

"What is it you desire?" the voice repeated.

"What do you mean?" Zoe asked. "Why are you asking me what I want? I don't even know what you're talking about!"

Suddenly, a large space before Zoe began swirling around to fade into a portal filled with colourful images. The blonde looked carefully into the opening for a moment before gasping. "T-That's my house," she whispered. The image changed to a moving sequence of her parents laughing as they wove around the kitchen. "A-And those are my parents! Is this like that time in the Television Forest or something?"

Instead of an answer, Zoe only saw another space beside the present image wrap and shift until another moving image was shown. This one, though, was of her friends, calling out in fright as Ranamon stood laughing before getting ready to attack. The image shifted this time to an unconscious Kagome floating within the water, close to the bottom of the sea. "My friends…"

"What is it you desire, Girl?" the voice asked once more. "The choice is yours to make; speak what you will and it will be yours."

"What?" Zoe's head snapped up in surprise. "Are you saying that…I can go home if I want? But how? I thought we had to save the Digital World before we could go home!"

"I can give you want you want," the voice spoke, "Only speak your choice and it will be yours."

'I-I can go home! Back to my Mamma and Papà!' Zoe thought, hope rising in her chest as she stared at the image of her parents longingly. But then she glanced at the other image of her friends and that hope deflated. 'But my friends…they're helpless out there and with Kagome out for the count, I'm the only one that can do something! I can't go home at time like this! Not to a place where I have no one but my family! And definitely not when my friends need me!'

"I choose…to stay and fight!" Zoe said her decision loudly.

"Is that what you truly desire?" the voice spoke.

Zoe nodded. "My friends need me out there and it's not just them, either! The entire Digital World is falling apart and if my friends and I don't do something about it, then everyone and everything in this world is doomed! We're a team and a team sticks together no matter what! So I choose to stay and fight!"

Silence reigned for a few moments. "You have passed," the voice said soon, the faint outline of a feminine body standing out slightly in the darkness of the void.

"Passed?" Zoe blinked. "Passed what? Who are you?"

"All will be revealed shortly," the figure spoke, "Now, take me and we will fight…together!"

A~Different~Frontier

Zoe's eyes snapped open as she found herself in a twister of stars and sparkles. But even more curious was that she was able to breathe when she knew that she was still underwater. "This…shouldn't be possible! But wait, what is that?"

Down at the bottom of the twister was a large pink clam. It opened to reveal the glowing form of a mannequin kneeling with wings and wearing a pink outfit resembling a bikini.

"So…beautiful…" Zoe said in awe. She then blinked quickly and smiled. "It's my Beast Spirit!" She held her D-Tector out and the mannequin was pulled into the device.

Seeing Kagome nearby, Zoe made her way over to her friend and picked her up as her D-Tector pulled the two up through to the surface.


"Zoe!" Takuya called out. "Kagome!"

"Oh no," Bokomon said morosely, "It can't be…" He leaned over the edge of the raft to peer into the deep blue water to see if he could catch a glimpse at all of either girl.

"What a bother! And here I was hopin' for a chance to test out my Beast Spirit," Ranamon yawned as she lounged atop her water pillar.

"You're toast, Lady!" Takuya growled.

"Thanks," Ranamon stretched, standing up, "But I already had my breakfast. Hey! I know, why don't I test out my Beast Spirit on y'all?"

"Hey, look!" Tommy got everyone's attention as he pointed to the water. "The whirlpools are all going away!"

"They're whaaaat?!" Ranamon threw a baffled look at the water to see the boy was telling the truth. One by one each of the whirlpools started to spin slower and slower until the surface was completely still. "Now how did that happen?!"

Suddenly, a giant column of water shot out of the ocean, straight into the sky only to branch off into a ball of water that hovered above the raft. "What's goin' on around here?!" Ranamon yelped, caught off guard by the proceedings.

"Could it be—?" Bokomon said hopefully.

The water dispersed to reveal a very much alive Zoe with an unconscious Kagome's arm slung over her shoulder, an arm wrapped around the raven-haired girl's waist.

"It could!" Takuya exclaimed. "They're okay!"

"Zoe! Kagome!" J.P grinned.

"But how?" Koji muttered softly with a wide-eyed glance as Zoe lowered her unconscious friend into Koji's arms.

"You didn't think I'd go down that easy, did you?" Zoe smirked up at Ranamon. "Well, if you're hoping for a fight, then meet my little friend!" She held up her D-Tector, which had her symbol of Wind glowing on the screen.

"Execute: Beast Spirit Evolution!" A wilder Fractal Code stream mixed with glowing pink feathers whirled around Zoe, hiding her from view for only a moment or two. "Zephyrmon!"

A~Different~Frontier

Zephyromon had lightly tanned skin (from what could be seen) with a pair of clear blue eyes and two tiny black triangles under the corner of her eyes. She had short light-blue hair with small wings of the same hue sprouting from either side of her head while a pair of larger creame and tan wings emerged from her back.

She wore a lavender-pink armour-ensemble with most resembling a bikini. From a little below her hips, her legs were encased in the same lavender-pink armour with taloned feet and silver plating on the knees. She had two large silver spaulders on her shoulders, from which the lavender-pink armour sprouted to a little above her elbows were two large silver clawed gauntlets encased her arms with the Kanji for Wind etched on the back of her hands. A long-tailed black belt encased her neck as her mouth was left covered by the lavender-pink material.

A~Different~Frontier

Kagome groaned a bit as she opened her eyes to hear Takuya speak. "Who is that?"

"That is Zephyrmon!" Bokomon grinned. "Behold the Legendary Beast of Wind!"

"What happened?" Kagome said hoarsely, sitting up, or at least attempting to.

"Careful," Koji helped the girl sit up against him, "You were knocked unconscious when you fell into the sea. Zoe only brought you up a bit ago." He nodded up to the Beast of Wind.

"Zoe?" Kagome looked up at the new Digimon with a surprised expression. "So she found her Beast Spirit?" She looked closer at Zephyrmon. "And it looks like she's controlling it!"

"Are you okay? How can you tell?" Tommy asked, coming over to Kagome when he noticed that she was awake.

"I'm fine, and she's not raging, for one thing," Kagome pointed out, "And I guess it's because her aura seems wilder because she has her Beast Spirit, but it's also calm, like how yours, Takuya's, and J.P's became when you all finally controlled your Beast Spirits."

"WHY!" Ranamon burst out, getting everyone's attention. "You're pretty! You're Beast Spirit made you pretty!" She leered at Zephyrmon, taking her form in. "Well! Of course it's not like you're prettier than me! I mean, that's not even possible! But just because you are prettier than me doesn't mean anything, you got it! Do you have adorin' fans all over the world who worship you? I don't think so!"

"You know," Zephyrmon stated in a light soprano voice, "for a Legendary Warrior of Water, you sure give off a lot of hot air."

Ranamon's expression morphed into one of annoyance. "That does it! You're goin' down, sugar! Now, how should I defeat you?" She looked at the Beat of Wind contemplatively. "I know! Dark Vapor!"

A black hazy smog covered Zephyrmon's form. "Oh, you're in for it now, girly!" Ranamon said triumphantly. "That haze'll melt anythin'! Well? Are your feathers moltin' yet?" However, the victorious smirk she had soon fell when she realized that Zephyrmon was still well and intact. "Wait, how come you're not moltin!"

"I think it's time you learned a little respect," Zephyrmon said as an unseen barrier of wind around her body cut through the smog. "Plasma Paws!" Her hands and feet glowed with large red balls encasing the appendages. She shot forward and right through the water pillar Ranamon stood on, dissolving it and leaving the Warrior of Water to plunge into the water with a yelp.

"She's controlling her Beast Spirit!" Takuya said, amazed.

"She's amazing, right J.P?" Tommy asked. He blinked when he received no response and looked over to the older boy. "J.P…?" His expression turned bland when he saw the strastruck look on his friend's face. 'Really?'

"Okay, that's it!" Ranamon popped up through the water's surface. "No more pussyfootin' around!" A Fractal Code column wove around her figure. "Ranamon Silde Evolution: Calmaramon!"

"Let's get this party started!" Calmaramon grinned maliciously as she 'stood' on the water. "You won't look so pretty when I'm done with you, honey!" She sucked in a deep breath. "Acid Ink!" She spit out a large blot of ink at the Beast of Wind, who dodged it.

"She's really starting to get on my nerves," Kagome muttered, watching the squid-like Digimon.

"That's what'll happen to your friends!" the Beast of Water told them when she spewed her ink over a rock, only for the section touched by the ink to dissolve with a hiss. "Ready Darlins?" She took a deep breath again and spewed out ink toward the rest of the group on the raft.

But before the attack could reach its mark, a faint barrier went up around the raft, dissolving the attack on contact before winking out of sight.

Zephyrmon and the rest of the group sighed in relief, knowing that it was Kagome who'd put the barrier up. The Beast of Wind looked at the girl in question and winked as a sign of thanks, getting a weak smile back in return.

"What the—?" Calmaramon looked baffled before her expression turned angry once more. She started spewing out blots of ink at the group at a rapid pace. This time, however, Zephyrmon clawed through each blot of ink, unfortunately getting caught up in one of Calmaramon's tentacles. "I'm just too good! Hahahaha!"

"You witch!" Takuya clenched his fists.

"What can we do?" Tommy asked. "We don't have our D-Tectors and Kagome's still weak!"

"Let her go you Scum Queen!" Koji shouted.

"Leave her alone, you Ugly Squid Head!" J.P added.

"What?" Calmaramon stiffened as she turned around to give the DigiDestined a glare. "What did just say?"

"You heard him!" Kagome spoke up as best as she could, standing with Koji's support. She looked at her friends. "We know how vain Calmaramon is about how she looks, so just insult her with everything you can think of. If we can distract her long enough, then maybe Zephyrmon can get free."

The boys looked at Kagome with mischievous smirks as they nodded in assent to the idea.

"Hey you Slimy Nameless Wonder!"

"You big coward!"

Eventually all the insults everyone flung at the squid-like Digimon were coming so quickly that no one could make out what was being said anymore. However, that didn't seems to matter for Calmaramon as her expression continued growing angrier and angrier as she knew that everything being shouted were only insults and not praises of her 'beauty'.

"Oh you are so dead!" Calmaramon exclaimed, face red. Unfortunately, her distraction had led to loosening her tentacle just enough for Zephyrmon to get free. "Uh-oh!"

"Hurricane Gale!" Zephyrmon let loose a tornado of air that launched blades of pink energy at the Beast of Water, sending her tumbling into the ocean. "That was for picking on my friends."

"Oh now you're gonna get it!" Calmaramon shouted as she got back up.

Takuya, J.P, and Tommy all screamed wide-eyed at Calmaramon's blotchy and smudged face, confusing the Beast of Water. Koji, Kagome, and Zephyrmon stifled their laughs.

"That's the scariest thing I've seen yet!" Tommy exclaimed.

"Shut it!" Calmaramon snapped, a tick forming on her forehead. "You brats are in for a heapin' helpin' of pain!" She launched herself into the air, her bottom twisted like a drill with her arms and tentacles stretched out to either side stiffly. "Titanic Twist!"

Unfortunately for Calmaramon, her attack apparently was perfected just yet as she started spinning out of control in any and all directions. Eventually, she landed in the ocean, though still spinning around, causing a large whirlpool to form.

"We have to get out of here!" Takuya shouted when he saw that their raft was being drawn into the large whirlpool.

"I don't think that's possible right now!" Koji answered back as he held tight onto Kagome (who'd gotten Seraphimon's Egg back from Bokomon) and the mast once more. Tommy, Bokomon, and Neemon climbed back into the barrel while Takuya and J.P grabbed onto whatever was near.

Zephyrmon grunted as she tried pushing the raft back to a safe distance, but to no avail. The pull was just too strong and before they knew it, one of Calmaramon's tentacles slammed into their raft, tearing it into pieces and causing the Beast of Wind to revert back to her human form.

"Koji! Kagome!" Takuya shouted as he and J.P held onto what was left of the mast. "Tommy!"

"We'll have to meet up at the Autumn Leaf Fair!" Bokomon shouted as loud as he could.

"The Autumn Leaf Fair?!" J.P shouted back as they drifted farther and farther away. "Where's that?!"

"On the Continent of Ice!" Bokomon answered.

"Continent of Ice?" Kagome and Koji looked at each other with uneasy expression as they floated along with a loose log. 'Something tells me that we're not getting there very easily…'


Adieu,

TsukiyoTenshi