A/N: I have always loved writing fantasy stuff, so when I first jumped into A3 fandom, I often wondered how I can write something fantastical in a realistic (mostly, because Act 4 is magical) setting. Then I thought of using the urban legends and borrowing the world of Digimon. This also contains references to my older A3! work A Doll's Tale.

Disclaimer: A3! belongs to Liber Entertainment.

Chapter 1: Urban Legends Conspiracy

"Urban legends don't exist!"

People in Mankai always said that. Well, of course they had a reason to say so, because none of the urban legends had ever messed around with them.

Winter Troupe would beg to differ, however, along with the Director. They had yet to learn what happened behind the scenes though; the urban legends always had their meetings in a place hidden from the outside world.

The storage room - or rather, the Unopening Door's pocket dimension - was a dark rectangular chamber laden with coffins, guillotines, scaffolds, ghost masks, and pretty much any horror props one could think of. The Torment Doll and the Loupe of Sincerity hovered there, right in front of the Unopening Door.

"Testing Winter Troupe's bond?" the blue cat-like plush asked the door. "Aren't they close enough by now?"

The loupe sighed. "Silly doll. There is no limit to how close humans can be."

"I've come up with a plan." If a door could smile, then the Unopening Door would've done it, at least what the Torment Doll would like to think. "I'd like to trap them in another world, and they must work together to find the way out."

"I like how that sounds, Door," the loupe commented. "Trap them in a perilous fantasy world. Force them to work together to survive. This will truly test their bond."

"That's mean, Loupe!" the doll exclaimed. "Most of them aren't used to fighting!"

"They can learn from the combat veterans in the troupe. Look, recently Homare starred in the action-packed sentai play with Tasuku and did very well. It was his first time performing action scenes."

The door chuckled. "It's always Homare."

"He is an interesting fellow," the loupe deadpanned. "Aside from Homare, Guy piques my interest as well."

"You have a soft spot for the 'machines' of Winter Troupe, huh?"

"If anything, I feel like wanting to hold their hands as they try to learn about human emotion. I have what it takes to help them."

"You sure?" the doll asked. "Peeking into someone else's mind without permission is a violation of privacy."

The loupe sighed. "It is not as bad as you think. In fact, Mankai would have disbanded if Homare had not used me to patch things up."

"Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind," the door added. "Look at what I'm about to do. While I'll give them help here and there, I'm also more than willing to put them on the brink of death."

If the Torment Doll had been a human, it'd have felt chills running down its spine. Honestly, was it any better? It'd trapped Tsumugi and Tasuku in a time loop after all, just so that the two men would mend their fences.

The environment rippled violently before fading to nothingness. A moment later, clear blue sky and foliage materialized in the void, followed by a lime green lizard amid the cluster of trees. It had a big red fin on its back.

The Torment Doll scrutinized the kite-shaped reptile, who crept around as if the doll, the loupe, and the door didn't exist. "Isn't that a Digimon? Are you planning to send them to Digital World like what happens in Digimon Adventure?"

"Yes. The world will be smaller than the original however," the door replied. "I'm basing it on the very old Digimon World game, with some features added and removed."

"Are you assigning a partner Digimon to everyone then?"

"Let them fight by themselves!" the loupe snapped. "It should give them what it takes to perform action scenes in the future."

"Loupe-"

"I'll save the idea of assigning partner Digimon for the future." The door chuckled. "Who knows, someday I might be itching to trap them in Digital World again."

In the distance, arcs of electricity crackled across the body of the lizard Digimon. At the sight, the Torment Doll had to remind itself that it was a doll; it could never wince no matter how much it wanted to. Imagine ordinary humans like Winter Troupe members coming in contact with these magical creatures; how could they defend themselves?

"Door, please be more lenient!"

The loupe whacked the plush on the head. "Silence, Torment Doll. Unopening Door is not done speaking yet."

"I'm quite lenient, Doll." The door laughed softly. "I've assigned an element and evolution for each person. Think Digimon Frontier."

"You can make them transform into a Digimon?" the loupe asked.

"That's why I can't create a vast world for them," the door answered. "Giving them evolution itself is extremely draining."

"You should set a limit for it."

"Well, if they evolve too much, it'll get harder for me to maintain the world. Things will go wrong a lot. If bad enough, those guys might even disappear along with the world."

"That sounds dangerous!" the doll commented.

"Not if you know not to abuse evolution. Moreover, it's not that they're completely defenseless when they're unevolved. They can use a lesser form of their elemental powers in their human form."

The loupe sighed. "You are too generous for your own good."

"Considering how powerful Digimon can be, it's not always a good idea to fight them as a human."

"What should they do to get out then?" the doll asked.

"I have a set of quests prepared for them." The Unopening Door was nothing but a wooden door, but the Torment Doll could easily picture it having a pair of hands and rubbing them together while grinning like an evil mastermind. "They can't complete them all without proper teamwork."