Sorry about going AWOL last week. There were...circumstances which had me traveling on rather short notice. I'd rather not get into them.

So, on to the next chapter, then. Enjoy!

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Chapter 37: Land Of Hostility

When Skylar awoke that morning, it took a few seconds and a throbbing pain in his head to remind him that it was for the second time. Reyn was standing over him, looking very serious. "You're awake!"

"Yeah, I...ow...what happened?"

"You tripped coming up the stairs," Reyn said seriously. "Jeez, Skylar, you had me worried there. Are you feeling all right? Any dizziness or confusion? Any memory problems?"

Skylar blinked at him. "What the heck is with this all of a sudden?"

"Hey, I'm trying to make sure you're all right. We can stay here for a couple days if you're not in shape to keep going."

"Oh, cool off, I'm fine. It was just a bump on the head-" Skylar sat up and tried to get off the bed. In a flash, Reyn grabbed his arm and forced him back down rather roughly. "Ah! Hey, what gives?"

"DON'T make light of this!" Reyn said harshly. "You were unconscious for almost five minutes! That means you had at least a fairly severe concussion, if not worse! I'm not going to go out there and let you face down danger when you might have serious after-effects!"

"Okay, okay!" Skylar stopped trying to rise and let Reyn get off of him. "Jeez, I hope your parents have better bedside manner than you. Never seen you get so riled up."

"I've had basic first aid drilled into me since before I went to preschool. They taught me to be cautious about many things, especially head injuries. Come on, I've got a few tests they taught me, we can see if you've got anything obvious wrong with you."

Skylar sighed a little, but went through the tests without any complaint. Everything checked out, and finally Reyn seemed to relax a little. "All right...I'll be keeping my eye on you, but seems like you're not suffering any immediate problems."

"Glad to hear it, doc."

"Oh, hey, you're awake." Salmandmon had just entered the room, looking somewhat frustrated. "Good thing, too. Reyn was freaking out."

"I was not freaking out, it's called taking action."

"Whatever, all I know is you started treating it like it was a big deal."

Reyn scowled at the lizard. "Not you, too. It is a big deal. This kind of stuff can lead to brain damage or other serious problems. And he could have had worse, like a hemorrhage. I don't see any hospitals nearby where he could get treated for that."

"Small wonder. Bumps on the head are about the least we're concerned with."

"Hmph. Should've known. Of course you're not worried about it. Maybe you oughta be...wonder how many digimon have lasting damage because of it."

"You need to spend less time around doctors. We're built pretty solidly, we can handle get a few konks on the noggin without any trouble. Heck, Breezedramon injures himself every other day, and about a third of those are hits on the head...okay, maybe that was a bad example."

"Hey, watch it," Skylar grunted.

"Relax, I'm just kidding around. By the way, I think maybe you've got him to blame for this little episode. You're probably absorbing some of his klutziness."

"Joy of joys. I just hope he's getting a little more graceful in return."

"Haven't really noticed, but then again, I haven't been paying attention. It shouldn't be too bad, it's not like we've been switching lives or anything. You'll just want to be a little more cautious around sharp objects."

"Yes, please," Reyn said with some asperity. "I'd really rather not have to try an emergency blood transfusion out here. For one thing, I think it'd be hell getting the materials."

"Now you're just being melodramatic," Skylar said with an accompanying eye roll. "And since when can you do an emergency blood transfusion?"

"I helped my dad do one on a camping trip a few years back. Some guy got mauled by a bear and needed the blood fast. It's not easy, but I could probably pull it off if I had to."

"Isn't that supposed to be kinda dangerous? What if you have the wrong kind of blood?"

"I'm O-neg. Universal donor. Maybe not a perfect match with all the other kinds of blood types out there, but it should work well enough if it has to."

"You know your blood type?"

"Hello? Son of two doctors here? It's only been mentioned half a dozen times in the last three minutes."

"Psh. Figures. I haven't a clue what mine is."

"Wait, hold on, I'm lost here," Salmandmon interjected. "Blood has types?"

"Well, it does for humans. It's determined by our DNA. I'm not even going to try to speculate about digimon, there's way too many issues to consider."

"Hm, yeah, you're probably right about that. But, hey, we have the same DNA translated, right? Does that mean I'd have the same blood as you?"

"...Iiiiii'm gonna go out on a limb and say 'not likely.' Translated equivalent or not, we're not even composed of the same matter."

"But if it came down to it-"

"I don't think I'd want to risk a transfusion on a distant possibility. Emergency experimentation is usually not a good idea in medicine."

Skylar chuckled. "Jeez, listen to you, you practically sound like you have a degree already."

"I've told you, it's been hammered into me for only as long as I've lived. I'm not claiming to be an expert, I'm just going with what I've been taught. And no, don't mistake it for an actual interest in medicine. I've told you, it's not in my future."

"Uh-huh. And your immediately jumping into concussion testing was...what, exactly?"

"Concern for your well-being and safety which is rapidly wearing thinner with each smart-ass remark you make."

"Now that sounds like a serious medical condition," Salmandmon cracked.

Any response Reyn wanted to make was stopped short as a loud BANG rang through the room. The door rattled, and a loud curse was issued from the person behind it. Reyn walked over and opened it to find Breezedramon sitting on the ground, hands on head, wincing tightly. "That hurt."

"Did we forget that doors open?"

"I was ementhusimatastic."

"And now you're in pain."

"Give him a concussion test," Skylar cracked from his bed.

"Screw you."

"They give out tests for hitting your head?" Breezedramon asked, mystified.

"Make it so he has to repeat some long, complicated thing," Salmandmon chimed in. "Oh, wait, you probably couldn't tell whether that was because he hit his head or because he's Breezedramon."

"Do you even want to know why he was in such a hurry that he decided to headbutt the door?"

"You're such a stick in the mud sometimes, Reyn. Okay, Breezedramon, what's the big news?"

"It's bigger than big, it's ginormous! I just found a bit of news about Ionavimon! She won a combat tournament in Hagrande! Some big deal that got her a lot of attention!"

Salmandmon's eyes lit up. "Excellent! Great job, Breezedramon! Finally, something to go off of!"

"Combat tournament?" Skylar asked. "What was she doing in one of those? That's not even remotely related to any reason why we're here."

"Well, that's another part of it!" Breezedramon yelped excitedly. "She won a Catalyst from the tournament! So we know she's already found one, which means she's probably gonna start looking for us too!"

"They had a Catalyst as a combat tournament prize?" Salmandmon nearly shouted. "What the flaming hell? That's way out of line!"

"Hey, I dunno, I'm just telling ya what I heard!"

"Okay okay, let's keep out wits about us, guys," Reyn said. "She can probably tell us the whole story herself. What matters is that we have somewhere to look for her now. If we're quick, we might be able to catch her in Hagrande or whatever it was. Breezedramon, did you hear anything about when the tournament ended?"

"It sounded like it was two days ago. Even if she could fly, she probably didn't leave until yesterday. So she can't be too far away!"

"So we've just got to find somewhere near Hagrande and start looking?" Skylar surmised.

"Bingo. Gimme a moment...I'm blanking on where Hagrande is...never been there, but I know I've heard of it. Let's see..." Salmandmon went over to a terminal in the corner of the room and started flicking through a map of the continent, getting a bead on the target city. The others saw his expression darken. "Hrm...southeast...that could be trouble."

"Trouble? Of what kind?"

"Some areas of the southeast are well known as human-hostile. They're closest to the isthmus that connects the Northern and Southern Lands." Salmandmon raised the map display and showed them what he was talking about. "When the Kaiser started talking about meeting up with the humans, they were the most vocally against it. Some even said they would attack on sight if they saw any strange creatures setting foot on their land."

"Yikes. Well, I guess I can't blame them too much...there's a lot of humans who would say the same thing for digimon in our world."

"Do you think Iris is in trouble, then?" asked Skylar.

"Had to say. Hagrande itself isn't particularly hostile territory, even though they're right nearby...but depending on where she went, she could encounter some unfriendly faces. And so could we, if we searched for her. Which means we're going to have to spend some time merged outside of combat."

"Well, that doesn't sound that bad."

"Sal's a bit emparinganoid," Breezedramon chimed in. "He thinks we're gonna be in more trouble merging than separate! For some reason."

"It's not just 'some reason,' goofball. Look, there are some digimon out there who see every new and unfamiliar digimon as a challenge to be overcome. Given that we don't match any known phenotype for obvious reasons, we qualify. They wouldn't in general do that with humans, since humans are known as not being as powerful as digimon, present company notwithstanding. They just wouldn't be a challenge."

"But no one's attacked us out of the blue when we've been merged before."

"Because we met the right people, plus they knew we were merged. It's not like they can automatically tell...even if we're somewhat different, we give off the general vibe of being a digimon."

"Still, what's worse - going into human-hostile territory merged and able to fight back against a stray belligerent, or separated and risking attack from just about everyone?" Reyn pointed out.

"I know, I know. It can't be helped. I just hope we don't run into any trouble we can't handle down there."

Skylar shook his head. "At this point, I think we can handle most of what comes out way, and whatever we can't we should be able to escape from. I'm not terribly worried, and we need to get caught up with the others, so it's worth it anyway."

Reyn nodded. "Agreed. So let's get to it. Where should we start?"

"Well, there's a few decent-sized cities to the west of Hagrande and a couple to the east. North and south are just mountains and barren lands...I guess she could conceivably fly over those, but it wouldn't make much sense. So let's start west, and then try east if we come up with nothing."

"So there's a couple of options west of Hagrande?"

"We should start closer by!" Breezedramon piped up. "That way if she's been through we'll know quicker!"

"You're talking tactics to the strategist, Breezedramon. Let's shoot for Allou. We should be able to go from there pretty easily."

"Well, I don't see any point in waiting around," Skylar finished, standing up from the bed. "Unless Doctor Kessilik here wants to keep me overnight for observation."

"Oh, shut up."

(==========)

After spending the night in a quiet little cottage in the middle of nowhere, Bolteaglemon found herself flying over the rocky land once more. She had mulled using a Transfer Point to move around more quickly, but decided against it on the off chance that someone was searching for her outside of the cities and towns. It was hardly implausible - if one of them went to Hagrande, and she figured they most likely would start there, they would probably try to catch up with her directly if they could, since they wouldn't know where she would land.

Her plan was pretty well set. She figured she'd stop off in towns and cities in a line, leaving behind a few people who might remember her. Someone would have to catch up eventually, especially if she didn't rush it, and even if they overshot her, all they'd have to do was wait. It was a sound plan, but like most sound plans, it ran into some unforeseen trouble.

Her first stop was somewhat west and a little north of Hagrande, a town called Wamilee. She figured to make a quick stop there and then make for Allou, the first large city further west. She landed quietly at the entrance to the town, then walked in, looking around at the architecture. It was a fairly small town, not heavily built up, and quiet by her standards. There were a number of unusual glowing light poles lining the roads, ones she had never seen before; the lights weren't bulbs or lamps but sustained glowing balls of light energy, dancing around a little above the pole tops.

When she got to the center of the town, she saw what powered them. Her eyes widened at the bright shining stone housed in a gazebo, power lines coming off of it every which way and burying into the ground, little sparks of light traveling through them. Wow...I've never seen anything like this before. Where did that come from?

"You must be new here." She turned to see a Jijimon walking towards her from the right. "That's how they all look when they see the Luxolith."

"Luxolith?"

"Yes, that's what we call it. If it has another name, well, we've never heard it. It's a very unusual thing...it contains a lot of power, but was remarkably easy to tap into. No one we've talked to has ever seen its like...it may not have come from this world at all."

"You mean it could be like a meteorite or something?"

"Possibly. It predates Wamilee...in fact, the town was founded around it. The first people who learned how to make use of the stone did not want to leave it, so they settled here and built around the Luxolith. It powers all our houses, all our lights, and all with no sign of running out. It really is a wonder."

"No kidding? I'll bet it's attracted a lot of jealousy, too."

"Oh, for sure, for sure. Many have attempted to take the Luxolith, and some have succeeded in the past. But we've always gotten it back. It means a lot to us, and we won't let anyone take it from us."

"I should hope not. Thanks for the background."

"Oh, it's my pleasure. I don't get to do much anymore besides talk about this fantastic stone. I'm glad to be able to do something. You take care, now."

Bolteaglemon watched him depart, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. Yeah, don't get to do much...except gauge whether some random stranger is likely to try to take your town's one source of power. I'm guessing he's got means of contacting other people in the town if someone looks suspicious.

She hadn't intended to linger, but her stomach was starting to growl at her. Jeez, I should've taken those guys at the cottage up on their offer for seconds. Well, I guess a meal couldn't hurt.

(==========)

"Bit of a dingy place, isn't it?"

"Careful, you might get some guys taking umbrage to that."

"They can take all the umbrage they want as long as they refrain from hitting us." Burnreptimon scanned around the entrance of Allou; despite the sunny weather, there was a lot of gray around, and the buildings looked to be in a pretty serious state of wear. "Wonder why it's so slummy here. You'd think they'd put some effort into making it look nice."

"Why don't you go up and ask someone? I'm sure they'd be more than happy to answer you, though I doubt it'd be with words."

"You need to lighten up a bit. Maybe you should evolve to Jetdramon, he's a lot more fun to be around."

"We're not here to have fun, we're here to get information about our friends. You pissing people off isn't going to help us achieve that goal."

"You don't know that for a fact. Anyway, relax, I'm not that devoid of tact. I just choose not to use it when I'm not talking to them."

The two walked for a while, trying to find a somewhat friendly face they could grill for information. Most of the digimon seemed to be rather busy or unpleasant, and they got some suspicious looks from quite a few more than they'd expected. They managed to get a couple to talk to them, but they were unable to help. Both were getting slightly discouraged as they reached what appeared to be a town square.

"Well, this is a great start. Maybe we should pack up and head elsewhere."

"Kinda early to give up, I think. We should at least try to find out where more informative people are."

"Yeah, just gotta find someone who won't be put off by the question." Burnreptimon looked around; there were a number of people meandering around the square, none of whom looked very happy or helpful, and a few vendors selling various goods. "Might be a challenge."

Skydramon didn't respond; his attention had been drawn to a conversation between a nearby vendor and customer, neither of which sounded very happy. "It's tough times. I'm not sure I can afford to be out here much longer."

"Maybe if we didn't have to pay that goddamn tribute to the Kaiser, we'd all be better off."

"You want to be overrun? We can't fight 'em off and you know it. Look, I don't like it either, but it's the only way. We've got to survive."

"That's crap and you know it. If he really gave a damn about us he wouldn't be bleeding us dry."

"...Yeah, I guess you've got a point. We're not much better off in here with nothing than out amongst the raiders with nothing. I doubt they'd care to go after us too much if we didn't have anything."

"Maybe that's what the Kaiser's trying to achieve. Some solution. You take care, try not to go broke."

"You too. Good luck with the house repairs."

"Yeah, thanks. I'm gonna need it."

The customer left, and the vendor went back to tending to his wares. Burnreptimon and Skydramon, on the other hand, were exchanging worried looks. "Tribute to the Kaiser? Kaiserhuanlongmon's never demanded tribute in his life," Burnreptimon said. "Heck, he's rejected the idea a bunch of times, even under some pressure to implement it."

"The most he's ever asked for is a nominal defense tax," agreed Skydramon. "And that's a collective on the part of the city...they're supposed to make it so that it's not an undue burden on anyone. And what raiders? I mean, I've heard of organized bands of bandits before, but they rarely make an attempt on actually entering a city - you never know how many guards they have."

"I should know. I had to fight off individuals before; gangs never got close, it was too risky. Not just the guards, but the citizens as well, they could gang up on you if you pushed your way in. Going after lone digimon who were careless was far easier and safer."

"Exactly. Someone's bleeding them dry, and it's not the Kaiser. I smell a scam."

"Right. Maybe we could get a few hints about that while we're searching for information on Iris and Shockavimon."

"Might be tough. You'd think if they knew they were being scammed they'd have already done something about it."

"Hm, perhaps...but maybe it's more subtle than that. Anyway, let's keep going. Now I'm all interested again."

(==========)

Bolteaglemon had planned on leaving right after she had lunch, which had been a nice little affair at one of the small-scale diners. She'd had a nice sandwich with some Wamilee cheese, a local delicacy which she found to be remarkably tasty. And not terribly expensive, to boot. She was already thinking she'd have to come back sometime.

Before she could take flight, though, she heard the panicked cries of a woman not too far away. Sighing, she folded her wings and ran towards the source of the cries. The woman, a Burgamon, was rushing around, almost in tears.

"What's wrong?"

Burgamon looked up at her, startled. "Oh, please, help me! I can't find my darling Kotemon! He didn't come home for lunch, and I know how ill he gets when he doesn't eat! What if he was kidnapped, or injured, or-"

"Okay, okay, please try to calm down," Bolteaglemon said quickly. "I know little kids, they don't tend to keep track of time very well. He's probably okay, we just need to look for where he would normally be. Is there a place kids gather around here that we could check out?"

"I...I think, yes, there's a small park, off a ways from the Luxolith, I know I've seen kids around there a lot, oh, please, if you would help me, I'd be ever so grateful!"

"Of course I'll help. Come on, let's try the park."

The Burgamon nodded, still trembling but a little more under control. The two walked swiftly towards the park, a nice grassy open area with a number of the same lights lining the street, as well as powering some playground equipment that Bolteaglemon thought bore a rather striking resemblance to some she'd seen in the human world. Maybe some things really are universal.

However, a quick glance around the park didn't yield any sign of Kotemon. Sensing the Burgamon's returning panic, she quickly took control. "I don't see him around, but maybe some of the kids have seen him recently. If that's the case we'll be able to ask them and figure out where he went." She could sense Burgamon calming at that, and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. I just hope we aren't in for any nasty surprises...that may have been a bad thing to think...

They walked around the park a bit; there were several groups of kids, and it was impossible for Bolteaglemon to tell which ones might know who Kotemon was. "Burgamon, do you recognize any of these kids as any of Kotemon's friends?"

"Y...yes, I think...those four, over there, I've seen him playing with them..." She pointed to a group that was rather quietly huddled, talked with each other. They didn't look very happy, and suddenly Bolteaglemon was finding herself becoming a little uneasy. Nevertheless, she walked over with Burgamon.

The kids noticed as they came over, and suddenly they all looked completely terrified. "Um...h-hi, Mrs. Burgamon..." stammered a Yuki Agumon nervously, eyes darting between the two of them.

"Is everything all right?"

"Uh...hey, did Kotemon happen to go back home by any chance?"

"Go back home? Did he say he was heading home?"

"I told you he didn't!" a Falcomon snapped. "He would have told us!"

Bolteaglemon, feeling this was about to get bad quickly, jumped in. "So you've seen him recently? Was he talking about going somewhere?"

All four kids looked at each other, almost trying to avoid her eyes. After a little bit, a Gaomon quietly spoke up. "We...we were playing hide and seek...and Lilamon was it, so we all went to hide...and she found the rest of us, but she couldn't find Kotemon, so we all went to look, but none of us could find him."

"Oh...oh, no..." Burgamon was quickly brought back into panic mode, as Bolteaglemon cursed herself. Way to jinx it, me. I just can't ever make things easy on myself, can I?

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Burgamon!" Lilamon cried out. "We looked everywhere we could think of! He said he had a really good spot, but he knew he should come out after all of us started looking! I don't know where he could be!"

"All right, it's not your fault," Bolteaglemon said. "We have to look again. And that means everywhere, even if you think be wouldn't he likely to be there. How far could he be?"

"The whole town is fair game, but you can't go outside it," Falcomon said. "And no hiding inside houses."

"That's a lot of ground, but it means he's outside and should be able to hear us. I'll fly around, that should get me around quicker. You kids search high and low, and check back in here at the park. Burgamon, you stay here in case he happens to drop by wondering what happened to everyone." Burgamon nodded, head in hands, trying to keep from crying uncontrollably. "All right, let's try to make this quick, kids, she's really scared."

"Yes, ma'am!"

(==========)

After a couple of hours, Burnreptimon and Skydramon were still batting zero. They found themselves back in the town square, no further along than the last time they had been there.

"This isn't working very well," Burnreptimon grumbled. "There's gotta be a better way of going about this."

"Well, I'm not thinking of it," Skydramon said dismally. "Who'd've thought this would be so difficult? I figured the hard part would be actually finding them, nbot finding people willing to tell us if they'd even seen them."

"They probably think we're just here to cause trouble. Then again, it's not like we can really project our motives to them...they'd probably distrust us even if we told them the truth."

"They haven't even given us much of a chance."

"True. And maybe the pair of us being together is intimidating, too...both of us approach one person, they're probably immediately on guard. We should consider splitting up, maybe that'll help."

Skydramon frowned. "It also makes us vulnerable."

"We can go to Ultimate at a whim. I think we'll be fine."

"Well, if you say so...but how will that help us any better? We still probably won't get many people to talk to us."

Burnreptimon thought for a moment. "Hm...maybe we need to find places where the lips are a bit looser. Or provide a little incentive to talk...you think you can get any money on you?"

"You want us to bribe people to task to us? What's to stop them from lying?"

"It was just a thought. Unless you can find some kind of truth serum or something, we're going to have to take the chance anyway."

"I guess, but I think I'd rather find a different way of convincing people to be more chatty."

"Well, suit yourself. Should we meet back here in an hour, then?"

"Sure. If we can't find anything before then, we can at least re-evaluate our approaches, maybe tweak them a bit for optimal results."

Burnreptimon rolled his eyes. "Even merged you're a nerd. At least you're the nerd with the good social skills."

"Yeah, and on that note, try not to piss anyone off when you talk to them. I'd rather not be run our of town by an angry mob if I can avoid it."

"Ha ha."

(==========)

It wasn't long before virtually all of Wamilee was involved in the search for Kotemon. They had been calling to Kotemon as loud as possible, searching high and low and everywhere they could, and with Bolteaglemon scanning from above, it should have been a simple task. But despite that, several hours had passed with no sign of the young digimon.

It was driving her crazy. There is no way he doesn't realize he needs to come out when he hears so many people calling for him. So either he can't hear us or he can't come out. Or he's been taken outside the village...but if that's true, then finding him will be all but impossible...

She shook her head, trying to cast away the worst-case scenarios. Stay positive until I absolutely can't. I don't want to get myself distracted...

Unfortunately, the light was starting to wane, and she knew if they didn't find him soon it could become much harder to search, especially from above - even her eyes wouldn't be able to pick up on any small motions. The activity around the town was almost a hindrance, drawing her line of sight when she least wanted it.

She made another sweep over the village, feeling fatigue start to set in. She willed herself to continue, descending a little to compensate for the fading light. Each scan saw various places where a digimon of Kotemon's size might be able to hide, but they had already been checked, often repeatedly.

And then she saw something. A brief, very slight, movement, but movement nonetheless. It came from a pile of debris next to what looked like a barn, looking for all intents and purposes like random clutter. She stared down, trying to see if it would move again.

That can't be it...can it? That's way too small for Kotemon to hide in...but there's nothing else to go off of...maybe I should check it out just to be safe.

She descended down to the pile, watching it keenly for more movement. None came, and she felt a prickle of irritation. Did I just imagine that? Still, she landed by the pile, examining it closer. It was partially stacked up against the barn, and as she figured wasn't large enough to hide him. Still, something about it struck her as odd. It doesn't seem like someone would just push stuff up against the barn at this spot...

There was a sudden movement again as the pile shuddered very slightly, jarring Bolteaglemon. Something was definitely up with it. Hurriedly, she pushed the debris out of the way, sweeping it to the sides. When she had cleared most of it, it all became clear in a hurry.

Kotemon was laying face-first in the dirt, partially underneath the barn. She could see a small recess which he had been crouched into. The debris had been piled on top of the part of the recess that was outside the barn, completely covering him and leaving no sign. The movement had come from small jabs of Kotemon's stick.

"Th...thank you much, miss," Kotemon said quietly. "I fear I had a slight mishap."

"It's all right, I'm just glad I found you," Bolteaglemon said, picking up Kotemon and setting him on his feet. "You've had a lot of us scared."

"Ah, I had feared so...I rather didn't know how long I was under there." He seemed remarkably calm given the circumstances. "Miss Burgamon must be worried sick."

"She is, as is everyone else. Did you do this intentionally?"

"No, ma'am. I thought this little hole would be a great place to hide, it's hard to see from anywhere. But then a whole bunch of stuff came down and covered me up. It became very hard to move, and my head was pushed down in the the dirt a little and I can't talk very loudly, so no one heard me when I tried to ask for help."

"Wait, you're saying someone covered you up? That's awful! Do you know who it was?"

"No, ma'am, it came out of nowhere. I was trying to get lower so no one could see me and then everything went a lot darker than it should have."

"I see..." Bolteaglemon shook her head. If this was a prank on Kotemon it was a very poorly-thought-out one. "We'd better get you to Burgamon, so she knows you're all right. I'll fly you to her."

"Okay, thank you." Kotemon wrapped his arms around her body and she did the same, then they took off, flying straight for the park. There were throngs of people around, trying to figure out a plan of action after their failure to find Kotemon. She spied Burgamon and swooped down next to her. "I found him! He's here!"

"Kotemon!" Burgamon wasted no time wrapping Kotemon up in her arms, squeezing more tightly than Bolteaglemon could imagine was comfortable, but Kotemon made no complaint. "Oh, thank goodness you're all right, I was so worried about you!"

"I'm sorry to have worried you, ma'am. I got into a spot of trouble."

"Where was he?" asked a voice from the crowd.

"He was hiding in a depression under a barn and someone pushed debris over the hole," Bolteaglemon said. "So if anyone knows anything about that, they'd better start talking."

Everything went dead silent as the twonspeople looked amongst each other, wondering who had made that mistake. But before anyone said anything, the lights in the park suddenly went out.

"What's going on?"

"The Luxolith!"

"Someone check the Luxolith!"

It just never ends, Bolteaglemon thought in frustration as she took back to the air. It took all of a few seconds to lay eyes on the Luxolith, as brightly as it shone in the dim evening light; it hadn't gone far from its gazebo, and was currently on the back of something which had to be the cause of the problem. Wasting no time, she dove for the mischief maker, swopped down in front of him and barring his escape. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Gah! Dammit!" The creature set down the Luxolith and stood up on its hind legs. It was a Gryzmon, and it didn't look happy. "I thought you were gone already!"

"Guess you were wrong. Put that back."

"No! This thing can make me stronger! I'm not giving it up! I've been trying to get it for weeks, I'm not giving up when I'm so close finally!"

"Too bad, it's not yours. It belongs to Wamilee."

"It belongs to me now! I took it fair and square!"

"Doesn't work that way, bozo. What, you thought you'd just lie in wait, take the most important object in town, and suddenly it would be rightfully yours?"

"Lying in wait didn't help, that damn Jijimon was always around! And I finally manage to do something that draws him away and suddenly you're flying up there on patrol!"

"Wait, you're the one that trapped Kotemon? You ass, he could have been under there for days!"

"So what? I wanted my power stone! Who cares about some dumb little kid? Now get out of my way or I'll make sure you regret it!"

"Oh, I think you're going to be the one feeling regret," Bolteaglemon snapped. "Spark Wave!" She launched her thunder attack at Gryzmon, who took the brunt of it and shook it off.

"You think that little thing will stop me? I've been using this to power me up, I'm not gonna lose to that!"

"Well, then, I guess I just need to ramp things up a bit!" She evolved to Ionavimon, and used her much more powerful Dervish Bolt to nail him.

"Yeow! How the hell?"

"You're not invincible, you idiot. And you're not strong enough to beat me, no matter what you do!"

"We'll see about that! Crescent Dawn!" The crescent mark on its head glowed and fired out a large beam of light. Ionavimon ducked it and drew her spear, watching for an opening as Gryzmon charged forward, trying to pounce on her and hold her with his large gauntlets. She leapt up at the last moment, slashing his back and giving him a good jolt, then flipping over in midair and delivering a Lightning Talon to his back as he passed by. Gryzmon yelped in pain and crashed headfirst into the ground.

"You done flailing around now, or should I do some more damage?" Ionavimon taunted.

Gryzmon stumbled to his feet, turning unsteadily to face Ionavimon. "Dammit? Why? I want my power stone!" he pouted pathetically.

"Go find your own if you want one that badly! This one already belongs to someone! Now scram before I decide to really make you regret it!"

Gryzmon took the hint, tearing out of there surprisingly quickly. Ionavimon heaved a sigh. "Some people...just drive me freakin' crazy..."

"Oh, thank you!" She turned to see Jijimon walking over, panting profusely. "Ah, curse this old body of mine...I would have helped you had I gotten here in time!"

"No worries...he wasn't as tough as he thought he was. You need some help getting it back to where it belongs?"

"Oh, goodness, you've done enough for us already. We'll get some of the townspeople to help with that. Before you know it the lights will shine once more!"

"Yeah, well, I'm glad for that...oh, tell them that it was Gryzmon that was responsible for that whole incident with Kotemon, he did it to try to get the Luxolith. I don't want them thinking it was one of them when it wasn't."

"Oh, is that so? I had seen him around...I knew he wanted the Luxolith, but who would have thought he'd stoop that low?"

"Ugh...the things some people will do for power," Ionavimon muttered. "Well, I guess there's no way I'm getting to Allou tonight. You know a good place to stay?"

"Oh, certainly, certainly! I'll take you there myself. After what you've done for us, I'm sure it's the least we can do!"

"Thanks." They started walking, passing by the Luxolith which was being attended to by a SkullMeramon and an Andromon. If there was ever a doubt as to why Catalysts aren't supposed to be in private possession...just look at all the trouble the less powerful stuff causes.

(==========)

Maybe Skydramon doesn't know how to find people who are more willing to talk, but I think I do. Burnreptimon stood outside a rather seedy-looking establishment, barely distinguishable from the rest of the architecture on the outside. As he pushed the door open, though, he had a feeling this was going to offer the best chance of openness they'd had since coming here.

It wasn't well-lit inside, but it was fairly clean and orderly for the most part. Digimon of various shapes were drinking, watching some kind of television program, or involved in various entertainment activities. It's almost like what I imagine a bar in the human world looks like...maybe in a few years I'll actually be able to compare the two.

He figured it was best to start by blending in. He went to the counter and sat on one of the stools, trying to be as casual as possible. The bartender, a Weregarurumon, attended to him pretty quickly. "You want something?"

"Er...oh, uh, if you can make a Lava Plume, I'd love that."

An eye roll from the bartender. "You guys are all the same, you know that? I oughta just stop asking..."

"Sorry, maybe next time I'll shake things up."

"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say." He went right to work, though, and a couple of minutes later had the hot bubbling drink in front of Burnreptimon. "You want a tab, or you just gonna pay now?"

"Huh? Oh, right, I'll just pay now."

"Hm. Not from around here, are you?"

"Figured that might give me away. I'm just passing through."

"Picked a hell of a place to pass through. Word to the wise, watch out for the tax men, they like to go after you when you least expect it, and they don't care if you're a traveler or a resident."

"Uh...right. I'll try to keep that in mind, thanks."

"Just warning ya. You want to come over so I can scan you?"

"Oh...uh, actually, I've been having some issues with my chip lately. Been meaning to get that taken care of, but it keeps slipping my mind. Can I just give you the number?"

"...I guess, but if I find out it's bogus..."

"I promise it's legit. Really don't want to be making enemies over money." He recited Salmandmon's chip number, and a moment later felt relief as it went through properly. Would have hated to mis-remember that...

He took a sip of the drink and felt the warm, comforting heat flow down through his insides. Shame they probably couldn't manage this in the other world, I could get to like these. Course, Mom and Dad probably wouldn't let me have one for years anyway. Glad no one cards in the digital world.

He cautiously chatted up a couple of digimon, trying to fish for information without sounding too suspicious. It seemed tough going - some had heard of an Ionavimon, but hadn't come across her. Burnreptimon started to figure that the news of her victory in the tournament had probably put the name in their minds, which would only make things slightly more challenging. The ones who weren't aware of her tournament victories weren't at all familiar with her, so that avenue seemed a dead end, too.

She probably hasn't come around here...maybe we should consider looking in another area. Perhaps she went north of Hagrande rather than south...

"Enjoying yourself, handsome?" Burnreptimon was jarred out of his thoughts by a teasing growl just to the right of him. He blinked a couple of times and looked to his right to see a smirking green dragon with a rather large drink in his hand.

"Uh...what? I'm, I'm fine, thanks."

"Cool. So, what's a stud like you doing in a heap like this?"

Oh, okay, I'm not imagining things... The Coredramon was clearly eying him up, and it was making him somewhat uncomfortable; nothing in any of his experiences had prepared him for something like that. The fact that it was a complete stranger didn't help matters. "I'm just passing through. Looking for a certain someone."

"Really? Could I be that someone?"

People actually use those kinds of cheesy pick-up lines? And here I thought TV lied to me yet again. "Ahhh...I don't think so."

"Could I be if I buy you a couple more of those?" The dragon certainly wasn't shy, and it was starting to be less uncomfortable and more amusing to Burnreptimon.

"Sorry, bud, I'm just having the one."

"You sure? I got nothin' else to do, and you look like you could use a little loosening up, if you know what I mean." Coredramon leaned in towards Burnreptimon, grinning ever wider. "You look like the kind of guy who knows how to have some fun and usually doesn't. I consider it a free service to change that second part."

Burnreptimon shifted a little; it was getting back towards uncomfortable. "No offense, but I'm really not interested in that. Or, uh, you, in that way."

The dragon snickered. "Kinda thought so. You new guys are kinda uptight...you gotta loosen up, or you'll never fit in. Must be that human in ya."

Burnreptimon barely managed to avoid choking on his drink. He took a moment to catch his breath and gape at the ever-grinning Coredramon. "How the hell did you...what?"

"Surprised? Hey, I may have the brawn, but I've got the brains, too. I've already found out about one of you, you're a stranger looking for a certain someone, and there's only one reason you'd make a pit stop at a mess like this. You provide the dots, and I connect them. Betcha you're looking for cutie bird, hm?"

Cutie bird? Jeez, let's hope Derek never finds out about that, or he'll be a dragon-skin wallet in no time flat. "Are you telling me you've seen Bolteaglemon?"

"Mmmmmaybe. What do I get in exchange for telling you what I know?"

Burnreptimon was starting to lose his patience now; idle flirting he could deal with, but being played with by someone who had information he needed was an entirely different level of irritation. "You get the opportunity to not have my fists make an introduction to your face repeatedly and forcefully."

"Aw, no foreplay then?" Burnreptimon let out a small growl, but Coredramon wasn't intimidated in the slightest. "She should be somewhere in this region...I believe she was sticking around to make it easier to find you. I figured word of the tournament would get around sooner or later, sooner being most likely, and let her know that she might be better off letting you find her than the other way around. In fact, she may not be far from this city...that's the direction she was headed, last I heard."

"So she might be close enough to arrive in the next day or two..."

"Yep, so no need to rush. You got time for a little R&R, if you get my drift." Coredramon winked at him slyly.

"Okay, enough of that. I will fireball you so hard..."

"Aw, you're such a tease. Gettin' me all hot already."

"Rgh. Look, I appreciate the information, but I have something to do, and I'm not in the mood for these kinds of games." Burnreptimon downed the rest of his drink quickly and set the glass on the counter. "Hope Skydramon's not far away, I'm gonna need him..."

"Oh, so that's what you're into? He can come too, the more the merrier."

Burnreptimon shot his most incinerating glare at Coredramon, who sat there grinning like a lunatic. "It just never ends with you, does it? Forget it, it's not happening. I'm outta here, and don't follow me."

"All righty, then. Offer's open anytime, stud. Be interesting to see what it's like with a human..."

The lizard made every effort to ignore that as he exited the bar. He fixated instead on his new information; if Bolteaglemon had been heading this way, they might be able to find her just by having Skydramon fly around nearby. This could turn out simpler than we had feared. I just hope that dragon wasn't misleading me so he could have an excuse for me to find him again...

(==========)

Skydramon landed at the town square, frustrated and fuming. He'd come up completely empty trying to talk to the digimon in the city; only a couple had even bothered to answer his inquiries, and they had little to no clue what he was asking about. Maybe bribing them with money wasn't a bad idea after all...everyone in this place seems to be really hard up, maybe they would have been desperate enough to be honest anyway.

He leaned against the wall of a building, scanning for any sign of Burnreptimon. I think he's late. What's keeping him?

With his attention allocated elsewhere, it took a while for him to notice that the square was strangely empty. The vendors that had been there earlier were gone, and no one was walking around nearby. That's odd...it's still midday, I would think it would be pretty active still. Maybe there's an event of some kind going on?

After another couple of minutes, he spotted a group of digimon coming into the square. They looked fairly rough and rowdy, and he got the impression that they weren't the kind of people he should try to approach. Not that it ended up mattering; the moment they caught sight of him, they were on their way over.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" There were three digimon in the group - a Bluemeramon, a Flamedramon, and a Gawappamon. The Bluemeramon seemed to be the leader figure, with the other two flanking him as he looked down scrutinizingly at Skydramon. "I haven't seen your kind before. What do you call yourself?"

"Um...Skydramon. Nice to meet you. Can you excuse me? I'm kind of looking for someone, and it's a little tough to see around you."

"Looking for someone? I couldn't care less. You're interesting, and I think we need to see just how interesting you can get."

"Huh?"

"He's challenging you to a match," the Flamedramon said curtly. "So let's have it."

"What? No, I'm not interested in fighting. Look, I'm trying to find someone, have you seen a Bolteaglemon or an Ionavimon around?"

Bluemeramon didn't seem to take much notice of the question. "Who cares? Come on, let's see how strong you really are."

"Now cut that out, I'm not wasting time with this."

"In case you haven't picked up on it, that's not a request," Gawappamon said.

"Oh, come on. Do you honestly think I have nothing better to do than get into a pointless brawl with a random stranger on the street?"

"Maybe you do, but we don't. And if you don't start bringing it on, we're gonna chase after you and give you a beatdown like you've never seen before in your life."

"I have my doubts about that. I've seen quite a few horrible beatdowns."

Bluemeramon huffed. "Oh, really? Now you're saying you're above us? Think you're too high and mighty for a match with us? Or are you just scared that you'll get drilled into the ground by our strength?"

"Enough already. I'm not gonna get sucked into a fight I don't need. Get out of my face." Skydramon walked off to the side, trying to get around them and find a new place to watch for Burnreptimon. In a flash, the three were on him, trying to take him down from behind. He escaped only with a wicked Aero Nail to Flamedramon's helmet, which left furrows in the armor.

"Sonuvabitch!" The fire dragon backed off, nursing the scarred metal.

"Hey, he's got some fight in him after all!" Bluemeramon said. "C'mon, let's get more of it out of him!"

"Gah! Get the hell away!" yelled Skydramon.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Another person was running up behind Skydramon, and he whipped around in fear, only to relax when he saw it was Burnreptimon. "Jeez, and you said I was the tactless one."

"Flawless timing, Burnreptimon." Skydramon breathed a sigh of relief.

Bluemeramon wasn't quite so happy. "Hey! You're getting in the way of a good fight!"

Burnreptimon looked at the elemental, almost as if sizing him up. "You need to take a chill pill. If you're that eager for a smackdown, pick a fight with one of the guard patrols. We've got business to take care of."

"I have business, too, and it's with you two! You're not a familiar one, either...I want a match with you, to see what you can really do!"

"Piss off. We've got better things to do than play stupid games with ego-hungry jerks."

"Great job, Burnreptimon," groaned Skydramon as Bluemeramon's temper flared up.

"What did you say? I'll show you!" Bluemeramon charged forward, ready to throw a powerful punch. In an instant, Burnreptimon lashed out and slammed a fist directly into the creature's temple, knocking him out cold in mid-stride. He crashed into the ground and skidded a few feet, dazed and barely responsive. Flamedramon and Gawappamon rushed to him, shocked at how quickly the battle had ended.

"Well, that takes care of that." Burnreptimon cracked his knuckles and turned to Skydramon, who was staring at him in a daze. "You coming with me, or you gonna wait around for round two with these bozos?"

"Ah, right. Okay, lead the way." The two walked off, leaving behind the Bluemeramon, who was just starting to come around, and his confused flunkies. Only after they had put quite a bit of distance between them did they stop to get down to business.

"Was that hit really necessary?" Skydramon asked tentatively.

"Yes. Listen, I've got news about Bolteaglemon. Apparently, she's supposed to be hanging around this region, and might even be heading for this city."

"Really? How'd you find this out?"

"An annoying dragon who kept hitting on me. Apparently he's talked with her...hopefully not quite as irritating when he did it."

"Are you sure he was telling the truth?"

Burnreptimon nodded. "He knew about us, without me even telling him. He was telling the truth."

"Knew about us? Big deal, I'm sure our names have been spread around a bit-"

"Not about us, about us."

It took a moment for this to click with Skydramon. "Oh...OH. Right, I think you're on to something there. So what do we do?"

"We're going to have to keep our eyes open. She can't be far away, unless something's delayed her. And if she's heading our direction, all we have to do is hang around until she drops in."

"But she might just pass over if she doesn't think we're around."

"Well, that's why you're going to fly around and be something to draw her attention."

"What? Why me?"

"Because you're the one with the wings, numbskull. I can't exactly get airborne like this, you know."

Skydramon sighed in lamentation. "Ah, man...just flying around looking at nothing is gonna get really boring really fast."

"Deal with it. Just think how bad I'm going to have it, I have to sit down here waiting for you. And this place ain't exactly the Louvre."

"Fine, fine. I guess I'd better start now. But you realize it's not likely we'll find her right away. Or vice-versa, or whatever."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll find a hotel, you can abort when it gets dark."

(==========)

(==========)

Ah, Coredramon. I just can't let you go.

I had way too much trouble thinking of what Bolteaglemon was going to be doing in this chapter. It probably shows, those sections feel a bit rushed to me, but I don't really have the time to go back and change them at this point. Maybe in a revamp. Might spruce up the action, too, since there's not much of it here.

Anyway, I'd better get back to writing. I've got the next three chapters half-written, which would be good except I need fully-written ones when I put them up. The last couple weeks haven't been good to me in terms of time and energy to write, but I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things.