Digimon: Divine Journey, Book One: Greener Grass

by Ayanna Wildfire

A different Digital World with a different set of heros facing the same old problem. But the question is, will they be able to work with each other and their Digimon or will evil win the day?

1. The Arrival

Disclaimer: We do not own Digimon, nor any of the recognizable characters of the show. We do own the original characters that we have created and ask that anyone who wished to use those characters ask us first.

Authors' Notes:

Blackbird: This story is based around an original set of Digidestined, or Digi-Tamers as we affectionately call them. Now most people probably won't like it's based around OCs and if you do have a problem with it...don't care! Hahahaha! We're gonna keep writing it! So you can go off and read the plethora of fics involving your precious canon chars. Now for those with an open enough mind to accept that people CAN write stories based on OCs read it and we hope you enjoy. And don't worry most of the Digimon will be one's we've seen before, but not exactly like the other ones. That will be made clearer in later chapters.

Ayanna Wildfire: Now that my Co-Author has had his say, I ask those who do read our fic, please if you like our mention it to others. If you don't like it, please keep an open mind, we are trying to be original.

Enjoy the fic!

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In a realm between two worlds, a lone figure watched as one of the worlds, the she held most dear, was slowly consumed by a growing darkness. Despite the best efforts of this world's champions, the darkness continued to spread and threatened to wipe out all that was good and decent from that world. She could no longer stand idly by and watched as this happened. It was time to take action. And if the champions from this world could not help, then it was time to look elsewhere. Yes, it was time to enact the prophecy. She just hoped the warriors would be ready. For if they were not...then all was lost.

Ray Morelli stared intently through the tinted lenses of his goggles at the panel laying on the workshop in front of him. He had to make sure he welded it and the other panel together just perfectly or the entire days worth of work would be shot. He lit the small torch and slowly, carefully began to bring it down to the pieces of metal. Carefully, carefully. Almost there. Just a bit more.

"Ray it's time for dinner!" his mom voice suddenly broke though his concentration.

The young, brown hair man let out a shriek of surprise and juggled the small torch in his hands to keep it from falling on top of his work and possibly starting a fire. When he finally got control of it, he turned it off and let out a sigh of relief. He then reached over and pressed the "talk" button on the intercom connecting his room to the rest of the house.

"Alright mom. I'll be there in a couple of minutes," he told her.

"You better actually mean that his time mister," was the reply.

" I do."

He let out another sigh as he let go of the button and leaned back in his chair, glancing down at his work in vain. He would just have to get back to work on it later. Crossing his mom wasn't the best idea. Especially considering all the leeway she had given him about his "room" and taking a year off before going to college. He pulled his goggles up to his forehead and absently ran a hand through his shaggy light brown hair. He spun his chair around and looked at his room. The term room didn't seem quite right since it was really a combination of his room and workshop that use to be a garage that was separated from the house. Ironically enough, the former owners had built it so that the garage that was attached to the house could be made into a room. But once he had started his inventing ways he knew he was going to need more room so he had worked out a deal with his father to change that room back into a garage and turn the garage into his room-slash-workshop. His mom hadn't been too thrilled about it but she finally relented and they began work. It was actually a nice father/son bonding experience. Of course his mom still wanted to be able to talk to him without having to walk out of the house all the time so he had built in an intercom system between the house and his room. The bad news was it let her chime in anytime she wanted just as she did now, but fortunately she and his dad left him alone for the most part.

He pulled himself out of his chair and stood up with a stretch. Subconsciously he began to dust off his clothes then realized that he was still in his "work" clothes. They were essentially of worn out, dirty clothes with a tool belt and a fisherman's vest over it. Of course instead of various tackles and bait he had tools, nuts and bolts and whatever else he could fit into it and his belt. It might have seemed like overkill to some, but it was the best way to keep what he needed on hand when he was working. Though they weren't very good for wearing to the dinner table and after today's amount of work he definitely wasn't in the mood to hear his mom complain about it again.

He started to walk over to his dresser to get something clean when a beep from his computer drew his attention. He looked over at it to see his screensaver had gone down and something was currently trying to download itself onto his desktop.

"The hell?" He asked walking over to it. "This shouldn't be happening. I have a ton of anti-virus programs on this thing and I KNOW no hacker can get past *my* firewalls. So then...what is this?"

He placed his hands on the keyboard in preparation to do some serious retaliation type when something suddenly popped up on his screen. It looked almost like a Windows Media Player window but with some kind of strange writing on it that he couldn't make out. Subconsciously he moved the pointer over to one of the buttons and clicked it. The screen then erupted into a blindly white light that seemed to envelop him. He tried to scream but his voice failed him, as did his legs when he tried to run. Fortunately, there was no pain at all just a general feeling of numbness before the world of white around him faded to black.

Rebecca was having a bad day. First her new nylons ripped, then as she was searching for another pair, she stubbed her toe on her bed leg. When she had finally gotten dressed, she realized she didn't have enough time to eat breakfast. She had almost forgotten her keys as she rushed out the door to make it to the bus stop, just as the bus was pulling away.

She ended up being late for her first class and as the teacher had a rule, missed it completely. When she had found someone to copy notes off of, she soon realized that she would have to decode the notes first as the person's hand writing was so poor. Rebecca then realized she had forgotten her money for lunch and had to borrow money from one of her friends.

When she finally got home, the dark skinned girl decided to try and relax by doing a tarot reading. As she shuffled her cards, her computer began to run by itself. Not really paying attention to the computer, Rebecca kept shuffling her cards until the computer beeped. at Rebecca's long dark hair flew as she turned quickly to look over at her computer.

"But I turned this off last night. How did it get turned back on?" Rebecca asked herself as she took the mouse and tried to close the program that was running, which when she looked closer didn't look like a program she owned.

Clicking the mouse on a button she hoped would close the program, a blinding light engulfed Rebecca. She tried to get away, but found that she was paralyzed. So with her tarot cards still in hand Rebecca's world shifted from blinding white to the blackness of unconsciousness.

Samantha Fairborne, or just Sam to her friends, grunted a bit as she strained to tighten the bolt tugged tightly in the grip of her wrench. She wanted to be sure that it would be tight enough to hold under pressure, but she didn't want it to be tight enough to crack anything. After all, she had just spent about a week working on improving her motorcycle and the last thing she need to do was put a crack in the engine because she got over zealous. She gave on last half twist then drew her tool back with a satisfied smile. She sighed as she wiped the sweat off her brow with the back of her arm.

"Alright, now that everything's finished, it's time to take this baby out for a test drive!" She proclaimed happily.

She took time to change out of her work clothes and wash off some of the sweat and motor oil before getting to her neon green and black motorcycle bodysuit. She grabbed her helmet off the wall peg it usually hung from then walked into the garage. She paused in the doorway to take a moment to admire her "baby". Like her suit it was neon green and black and was the saying goes was "sleek and sexy". Also like her she thought with a smirk. The bike itself had been a gift from her parents when she graduated high school a few years back. She had instantly fallen in love with it and promised to keep it in good condition.

And boy did she ever stick to that promise. Not only did she do constant maintainence on it, but she also made frequent improvements on it such as powering up the engine, reinforcing the suspension and tires and just about anything else that she could think of and/or afford. The improvements where mostly to make sure the thing didn't fall apart from all the crazy stunts she liked to do. She knew she really shouldn't put it through that kind of stress but it was a sports bike after all and it was just crying out to be driven hard. And that's just what she planned to do right now.

She slipped her helmet on, snapped the chinstrap, flipped down the visor and walked over to the resting beast. She ran her hand along the seat then patted the small hood fondly.

"You ready to have some fun tonight baby?" She cooed.

She was about to get on the seat when a beep from her computer caught her attention. She let out a small curse before flipping up the visor to her helmet and walking over to the computer. Why she put this thing out here she never knew. Maybe it was so she could work on her bike and check a few things out online at the same time. Or maybe it was so she could look up parts she needed for it and have it near her for a quick reference. Or maybe she was just an idiot. Whatever the reason, right now it was being a royal pain. She bent over to stare at the monitor to see what it was doing. What she saw was a strange looking window that she knew wasn't there before. When she tried to close it she was rewarded with an error sound. She growled and tried again and this time the response was a flash of blinding white light. She pulled out her visor down out of instinct, but the light still leaked through the tinted glass. She stumbled backwards as the light seemed to encompass her entire garage. The last thing she remember was bumping into her motorcycle and laying her hand on the seat before everything changed from white to black.

Jennifer was running around looking for the last of her camping supplies. Her Dad was going to be there to pick her up any minute. This was going to be the last time she got to go camping with him, before she left for her new job. After having spent the last 5 years in university, getting out into the real world seemed like a great adventure for Jennifer.

Her blue eyes wandered the room as she tucked a stand of her chin length black hair behind her ear. Her tall frame moved carefully through her things as she doubled check that she had everything she wanted.

"Blanket? Check. Clothes? Check. Hiking boots? Check. Rations for Dad's supper? Check! First aid kit? Yep it's in there. I know something's missing....what is it? ...YEAAAAAAH!" Jennifer yelled as her cat Trigger batted her foot with his claws.

As soon as Jennifer was able to get her heart beating at a normal rate, she scolded Trigger for scaring her and shooed him out of the room. Grabbing her jacket and her fingerless gloves, she was about to leave when her computer beeped.

"I'm sure I had turned that off....Oh well, I'll leave another message for my friends so they don't' forget I'll be gone." Jennifer said as she carried her stuff over to the computer and clicked to get to her internet connection. As she did, and unfamiliar window popped up. And when she tried to close it, a bright light flashed out form the computer. In the blink of an eye, Jennifer and her camping gear were gone.

Seconds later Jennifer's doorbell rang several times before the person outside left.

Jon McCloud let out a sigh as he flipped through the mail in his hands. Phone bill, couple things from the university, and coupons for one of the many pizza places in town. Nothing too bad, but nothing great either. Especially that bill. It wasn't that he couldn't pay it, it was just going to stretch his funds thin this month. It was his own fault he knew, but college life was expensive. Couldn't waste perfectly good, hard-earned money one just bills and rent. Oh well, it wasn't due for a couple of weeks now so we'd have plenty of time to send it in.

After fumbling a bit with his keys, he slid the one for the main door to his apartment, unlocked it and stepped inside. It wasn't all that big, had some damage from the previous owner, the bedroom itself was the size of a closet, and it was overpriced. He overlooked all that, however, due to one simple fact: it was all his. No parents, no brother, not even any roommates. Just him by himself. Not that he was antisocial or anything, he just needed some place he could call his own. A place where he could be alone with his thoughts and relax after a hard day of school and work.

He laid his mail down on the coffee table then switched on the TV and flipped through the channels a bit before settling on a movie he had seen a few times before. He then walked over to the computer desk, turned off the screensaver, plugged the phone line into the jack on his laptop and started the process to get online. It was times like this he wished he could have a cable modem or something else like that, but it was just too much money. Besides, his laptop could only support the phone line so to even think about getting anything else would require getting a card for it, which in turn would require more money. So that wasn't an option for the foreseeable future. He could make due with the internet he had for the moment. He could always find ways to keep himself amused while it was connecting.

It was with this thought in mind that he walked into his bedroom, reached under the bed and pulled out one of his prized positions. It was a samurai sword he had gotten last year before moving into this apartment. Technically he wasn't suppose to have it here since it was a weapon, but what the people in charge didn't know didn't hurt him. He smiled as he held it up. Even though he had had it for over a year now, the craftsmanship that went into the handle and the blade itself still amazed him. In that respect he felt bad about using it to basically goof around with but it was just too much fun. And he had gotten quite good at some of the moves. He walked back out into the living room and was about to unsheathe it to start his usual practice moves when his computer made a beeping sound. At first he thought it had connected to the net but when he glanced over at it he saw a window that he had never seen before.

"Oh no. Please don't tell me there's a virus on this thing," he groaned as he walked over to the computer.

He moved the cursor to try and shut it down but nothing seemed to work. He growled in frustration and was about to reboot the entire computer when a blinding flash filled his vision. The last thing he remembered was gripping his sheathed sword tighter before everything around him lost focus.

Alex grumbled as he kicked off his muddy shoes. It had started to rain just as his final class had ended and he had had to make a mad dash across the football field to get to his bus stop in time to catch the 3:50 bus. Ignoring the mess his shoes had made at the entryway, Alex made his way into he kitchen to see if there were and beers left in the fridge. He may not be legally able to drink yet, but having a roommate that was six months older than him and who WAS legal helped. Alex frowned when he didn't see any beers, grabbing a cola, he headed to the couch. Turning on the TV, Alex cursed when all he saw and heard was static. Turning the noise off, he moved over to where he had his computer set up.

Alex turned the computer on and connected to the internet. Putting his Half-Life CD in, he started an online shooting frenzy.

"Take that Quezy! Ha! Right between the eyes! Oh you think you can get me do you Jester? Well take that! Ha! No one can beat 'The Great'!" Alex's shouts gradually got louder as he continued playing.

Just as he was about to take out another player an unfamiliar window came up over top of his game.
" Hey! Get lost you stupid pop-up! Stupid thing, you made me die." Alex said as he heard the sound of his character's demise. Trying to close the window, so he could return to his game, Alex became frustrated when the window wouldn't close.

Alex's roommate, Roger entered the apartment just as Alex clicked the last button on the window. "Alex...your shoes are a mess! You better clean this mud up cause I'm not!"

Roger was blinded by a bright light and when his vision returned, Alex was no longer in front of the computer. The only things that remained to remind Roger that he even had a roommate were a pair of muddy shoes and a few changes of dirty clothes.

Somewhere in the darkest depths of another world, blanketed in shadows wrapped clawed fingers against the arm of a throne impatiently.

"Well?" It growled.

"Reports of seven separate dimensional rips are coming in now sir," a smaller creature stated.

The dark creature's serpentine lips twisted upward in a sadistic smile. "Excellent. Everything's proceeding just as I knew it would. Now that the barrier between worlds has been weakened it'll be easy to break through again. That is, of course, providing my personal strike team is looking through the ancient ruins."

"They are indeed sir."

"Good. Soon, very soon now..."

"Uh...s-sir. Shouldn't we at least take some precautions incase these warriors turn out to be as dangerous to use as the legend says?"

"My precautions are my generals. They should be more than enough to deal with these 'warriors'. If not...well then they didn't deserve to be part of my army after all. No, I think we'll let this play out, as it should. It will be a great way for my generals and these warriors to prove themselves. And besides it should prove to be quite amusing."

Throughout the twisting, winding halls of a great, dark tower a horrorifingly sadistic and evil laughter could be heard echoing off the walls.

Ray groaned as the world around him began to come into clarity again and he could feel the ground under him. Though his eyelids were closed he could still tell there was a blinding bright light shining down into them. When he cracked his eyelids opened he saw that this time it was the sun. He instinctively enclosed his eyes and forced himself to sit up, holding his head as he did so. He didn't know why his head hurt so much, he didn't remember any pain from whenever that...thing hit him. Or wrapped around him. Or...whatever it did.

*What was that thing anyway?* he wondered. *Where did it come from? What did it do to me? And...where the hell am I?*

He opened his eyes once more and fortunately didn't have them nearly burned out from some intense light. He found himself setting in the middle of a small clearing in a strange looking forest. The trees seemed to have grown at good angles and the leaves on them where like nothing he had ever seen before. Even the sun seemed to be slightly off. In fact the whole world seemed off. Something about it just didn't seem...natural. He shrugged off those thoughts and picked himself up then dusted off his clothes. As he did so he felt something in what he was sure was an empty pocket on his belt. He reached into it and pulled out a strange looking device. It looked similar to a cell phone, but there were a few buttons on the side that he could no idea what they could do. He stared at it for a moment before he rolled it in his hand to thoroughly examine it.

"I don't get it. Doesn't look like there's any welding seems. So then how could anyone have put this thing together?" He asked himself. "More importantly how can I take it apart? Maybe I got something here that could crack this baby open."

He began to dig through his tool belt for anything that might prove useful in taking apart the bright red colored device in his hand when it began to beep loudly and the small screen began to glow. When he turned it over he found a message that simply read "Find the others" with an arrow pointing north.

"'Find the others'?" He read aloud. "What others? What is this thing some kind of compass?"

He quirked an eyebrow and was about to continue this quest for the right tool when he felt the device begin to pull him towards where the arrow had been pointing. He let out a few startled noises before falling in step with the pull.

"Alright, alright, I'm going. But I'm not done with you," he threatened.

Alex woke up with a splitting headache, and he knew he hadn't been drunk so it couldn't have been a hangover. Opening his eyes a bit, Alex winced at the bright light that still surrounded him. Grumbling as he pushed himself off the ground, he rolled over onto his back, and almost into a stream that he hadn't realized was there. Opening his eyes again, Alex shaded his eyes with a hand. Looking around he noticed the river and how close he was to it. Moving away from the river, Alex found a tree and leaned up against it.

"Where the hell AM I? And where the hell are my shoes?" He yelled to no one.

Taking another look around, Alex noticed how false everything looked, how everything looked like it was plastic or some other material, anything but what it should be.

"Who the hell put me in Disneyland?"

Groaning at the pain in his head, Alex closed his eyes and tried to think of a way to make the pain stop. Coming up with no ideas, he hit the ground with a fist. The pain he felt just added to the torment he was feeling in his head.

"Ok, I'm not dreaming....I'm in too much pain to be dreaming. What the hell am I supposed to do now?" Alex asked himself. It was then that something started beeping in his shirt pocket. Alex pulled out a blue cell phone, or what looked like a cell phone. He stared at it for a bit then opened the cover on it to see a screen telling him to find the others, then a compass appeared pointing towards the East.

"I have a cell phone? Since when? Others...what others? What the hell IS all this? And how the hell am I suppose to walk anywhere without shoes?"

On the forest floor, a lone figure laid motionless. Save for the faint rise and all of his chest, it would look to the rest of the world that he was dead. The area around him was silent, as if in reprieve for this young man's premature demise. The silence was broken suddenly when he sat up with a large gasp. He breathed heavily for a moment as the sense of vertigo passed over him. He stood up and looked himself over. Before...whatever that thing was that got him, he barely had time to take off his black trench coat, which now felt slightly uncomfortable in the heat of the forest. He also noticed his sword lying next to him on the ground. He picked it up and unsheathed it to look for any cracks or scratches on it. When he was satisfied that there were not he resheathed it and tucked it between his belt and pants. It was an odd fit and it good a big of fumbling around with this coat to get into a comfortable position.

"Guess it'll have to do for now," he shrugged. "So then, where to go from here?"

He then noticed a beeping sound coming from his coat pocket. He reached in and pulled out what looked like a black cell phone with a message on it.

"Others? There are others here?" He wondered as an arrow pointing West appeared on the screen. "Hmmm...weird, cryptic message and an arrow pointing to a far of direction. Now in every movie and TV show I've ever seen this always leads to trouble and I should be smart and just ignore it. But since I'm NOT smart and I don't have anything better to do I'll follow this thing and hope for the best."

He held the strange device out ahead of him and followed to where it was leading him. After walking through a rather rough patch of roots and shrubbery he finally heard the sounds of running water and someone talking to themselves. He dropped the device back into his pocket and rested his hand on his sword handle. He stopped for a moment to think about what he was going through his mind.

*What am I doing? It's not like I actually know how to use this thing. Couldn't hurt I suppose but if they're any good at fighting I'm pretty well screwed,* he thought in dismay. *Oh well we call gotta die sometime.*

He walked through the final bit of shrubbery to find another young man lying down near the stream.

"Hey there," he called out.

"GAH!" Alex yelled as he jumped up and promptly fell in the water of the river.

Jon couldn't help but laugh at the situation then walked over to the other man and offered his hand to help him up.

"Sorry about that," he apologized.

"Who the HELL are you?" Alex asked, slightly wary of this guy who just showed up out of nowhere. Alex considered taking the guy's hand, but decided to try and climb out of the river himself.

Jon stared at his hand for a moment before shrugging and placing it at his side.

"I'm Jon McCloud. Of the Clan McCould," he chuckled a bit at that last part. "Sorry, can never help myself with that."

Alex pushed himself onto the bank of the river and stood there with rivulets of water running off him. He was almost thankful that it hot, his clothes would surely dry faster. But if the weather was anything like this place, he thought, he'd never be dry.

"A Highlander junkie? Let me guess, you have a sword under that trench coat, don't ya?" Alex sneered at Jon.

"Yep," he replied, pulling his coat to the side a bit to reveal the sheathed sword. "Also have long hair," he added, pulling his ponytail up a bit. "Got into the show a few years ago. Couldn't help it really, it was a good show and the main character kinda had my last name."

"Well hurray for you. First, Disneyland, and now the freak shows."

"And Mr. Cheerful to boot. Though unless the jokes of Disney abducting people have come true, I'm guessing this isn't Disneyland. That or it's EuroDisneyland."

"Like I care. I'm not where I want to be and that would be killing idiots in Half-life. So excuuuse me, if I'm not all happy about being kidnapped by some strange alien light." Alex growled at Jon, annoyed that Jon seemed to not even care that he had been taken from his home.

"Hey it wasn't on my list of things to do today either. But we're here and there's nothing really we can do about it. Expect follow this thing," the longhaired man replied, pulling out the cell phone like device.

"So you got one of those crazy things too? You must be one of the 'others' this stupid thing is telling me about. Great, I have find more people like the sword-wielding freak. Can my life get any worse? Oh yeah, I have no shoes...." Alex said mostly to himself.

"Well that sounds like a personal problem."

Before any thing else could be said between the two, their devices beeped once more as another message appeared.

~You have found one. Now find the rest,~ it read.

Again an arrow appeared after the message this time pointing southeast. Jon stared at it for a second then looked over to his present company.

"Well guess we're on the move again," he commented.

"Oh hurrah, off to find more freaks."

"You really need to change your attitude"

"And you need to change the way you dress, freak-boy." Alex sneered at Jon.

"Least I have shoes."

"Fuck off, freak-boy."

"Oh I can tell this is going to be a REAL fun trip," Jon muttered.

In another part of the forest, a brown haired, goggle bearing young man trudged his way through the thick foliage and roots of the area. He muttered as he pushed another low hanging branch out of his way and again checked the compass on...whatever that thing was.

"'Go find the others'," he repeated the message in a mocking voice. "Couldn't have given me more specifics directions than that, could you? Or at least have told me this forest was so friggin' big and full of roots and stuff. My feet are killing me! Hope I find some of these 'others' here soon."

He continued his trek through the rough patch of the woodlands before finally coming to a clearing. He heaved a grateful sigh then walked out to the middle of the clearing and collapsed back on the soft, rootless, grass. He looked up at the clear, blue sky and large, yellow, warm sun. He smirked a bit at how his current position was familiar similar to how he woke up in this world. He folded his arms behind his head and his brow furrowed as he continued that line of thinking. Somehow he had been pulled into this other world without any warning and he was supposes to find some "others", which he sincerely hoped meant other humans. But for what purpose? And what brought him here? More importantly how and when could he get home? When he was pulled here he was just about to have dinner with his mom and dad. They'd obviously think something was wrong when he didn't show up soon and then to find his room empty...what would they think? That he ran away? That someone kidnapped him? Well, that last one was actually true. He closed his eyes and let out a slow, remorseful breath.

"So many questions and no answers in sight," he remarked.

He laid there in silence for several minutes, taking in the sounds of the new world around him. They were so similar to his own world that it was hard to tell the difference. The wind calmly blowing through the trees, animals moving around in the forest, a far off streaming running somewhere, the loud roar of a motorcycle engine. Wait. The loud roar of a motorcycle engine?!

His eyes snapped open and he turned his head just in time to notice a black and neon green motorcycle barreling down on him. With a loud scream of surprise, he jumped up and rolled out of the way just in time to keep his head from being crushed by the thundering machine. When he stopped rolling he, he assumed a crouching position and looked up at the lunatic that had almost taken his head off. Although he couldn't see the face of the figure straddling the bike, the form fitting biker outfit made it painfully obvious that the rider was female. Unfortunately, since he was on an alien world that didn't guarantee that it was human. And if it wasn't...well what exactly was he supposed to do? He stared at the rider nervously as she revved the engine a few times before shutting the machine down and speaking.

"You're human too, aren't you?" She asked.

Ray blinked. "Uh...yeah."

The biker reached up and unclipped the chinstrap to her helmet then slowly removed the obtrusive object to reveal a human female face with short blonde hair and light green eyes. She smiled at him as she set her helmet on the tank of her bike.

"So what's your name?" She asked.

"Ray. Ray Morelli," he replied. "What's yours?"

"Samantha Fairborne, but you can just call me Sam. Never cared for my full name anyway," she replied with a small wave of her hand.

"Alright. So how long have you been here?"

"I dunno...maybe half an hour. Not really sure. Let me guess you're zapped here in a beam of light from your computer then was told to find 'others' from this weird cell phone like thing?"

Ray pulled out his own "cell phone" and held it up for her to see.

"Yep," he answered. "Take you got one too?"

She nodded then unzipped a pocket on her outfit and produced a similar "phone" though this one was colored to match her bike and outfit. After the quick showing she placed it back in her pocket and turned her attention to him again.

"You know I was beginning to think this thing sent me on a wild goose chase. Glad to see I was wrong," she said while she gave him a small smile.

"Me too," he said back, unknowingly giving her a smile of his own.

A seemingly eternity of silence passed between the two as the simply stared at one another. It was finally broken when Sam gave an obvious fake cough to gain his attention.

"So then, should we go and see if we can find the rest?" She asked.

"Uh...yeah. Wait, there are others?" Ray asked in confusion.

As if to answer his question, his device began to beep and when he pulled it out again he found a message reading "You have found one. Now find the rest". He smirked and gave a cheerful shrug.

"Well guess that answers that question," he chuckled. "So then...you got room on that thing for another?"

"Sure do," she replied as she put her helmet back on and moved forward a bit to give him room.

He walked over to bike then after a nervous gulp and some awkward movements he finally around a comfortable position that wasn't too embarrassing for either of them. He pulled his goggles down over his eyes and then wrapped his arms around her waist, careful to grab ONLY her waist.

"Alright, you ready?" She asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

"As I'll ever be," he replied.

"Good. And as long as those hands stay there and you don't try anything funny we should be OK. Just hold on tight."

"But you just said..." he stopped and shook his head. "Never mind, let's just go."

She nodded then started up the bike again. After a few gratuitous revvings, she kicked it into gear and they quickly sped off. A little too quickly for Ray's taste. In fact, they seemed to be going a pretty break neck speed across a pretty uneven terrain. One that didn't seemed to be getting away smoother or safer.

"Uh...you sure this is a good idea?" He asked over the roar of the engine.

"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?" She asked back.

"Cause we're in a forested area and I thought these things where only suppose to be used on a paved roads."

"Well they are, but I've made my own modifications to this baby so this terrain won't be any trouble at all!"

"OK, but...shouldn't we at least slow down a little?!"

"Probably!!" Sam shouted before speeding the bike up further.

The relative silence of the forest was broken by two foreign sounds. One was the roar of a speeding sports bike and the other was the panicked scream of a young man. Unfortunately for the man, both sounds went unheeded by the forest's denizens.

Rebecca had been walking for close to an hour, as close as she could figure. When she had woken up in this strange forest, she had found that there was a cell phone like device on a pocket in her skirt....one pocket of two that hadn't been there before. The device had beeped and when she had opened the cover, the message "Find the others" had appeared. Deciding to do as the strange cell phone said, Rebecca had started to walk. At one point she had heard what sounded like a motorcycle, but she had started walking the other way. There was no need to tempt fate by getting close enough to have a motorcycle run her over, her day had been bad enough without that.

Panic was spreading through Jennifer. The cell phone she had found in one of the pockets of her backpack kept beeping at her. She was trying not to draw attention to herself but every time she had stopped to try and hide from the noises in this strange forest, the cell phone beeped. After it had beeped for the twentieth time, Jennifer decided to try and make her way through the forest as quietly as her thumping hiking boots and clanking cooking pan would let her.

The rhythmic sounds of thumping and clanking soon reached Rebecca's ears. Slowing down, Rebecca tried to figure out where the sound was coming from, surely thumping and clanking was better than a motorcycle. Once she had determined what direction the sounds were coming from, Rebecca headed off that way.

Jennifer soon heard twigs breaking, Stopping for a second, she realized that whatever was breaking the twigs was coming closer, Jennifer tried to back up as quickly as she could, only to trip over a root she had just avoided. Rebecca hurried faster thru the brush after she heard the sound of something falling to the ground. Quickly getting back to her feet, Jennifer slipped off her backpack and got ready to swing it at whatever was now running through the brush. As Rebecca broke through into the small clearing that Jennifer was in she was nearly hit by Jennifer's backpack. Jennifer pulled the bag back at the last second, ending up on the ground yet again as the momentum of the backpack threw her off-balance.

"Oh...are you alright? That bag looks heavy." Rebecca said as she tried to help Jennifer up.

"WHO are YOU?" Jennifer asked as she tried to get away from Rebecca.

"I'm Rebecca Graves. I think I'm suppose to be looking for you."

"YOU'RE one of the others this cell phone thing keeps beeping about?" Jennifer asked, not wanting to believe that one of the others had found her so quickly.

"You mean this thing?" Rebecca asked as she pulled out her purple cell phone device. "Mine told me to find the others as well."

Just them the two devices beeped and a new message appeared on the screen. "Find the rest? There's MORE people here?" Jennifer cried out.

"Looks like it. Shall we go? I heard a motorcycle a while back, if we head in that general direction we might find whoever it was." Rebecca suggested as she tried to lift up Jennifer's backpack.

"I guess...my name's Jennifer Conner by the way." Jennifer said as she stood and hefted the bag onto her back.

"For some reason...I think we might be the sanest of the people here." Rebecca murmurs as she and Jennifer headed back in the direction Rebecca had come from.

The roar of a motorcycle engine echoed throughout the forest as Sam and Ray continued on their journey. They had spent most of their time making small talk and getting to know one another. They had found a common ground in the fact that they both loved to build things, albeit his interest were mainly techno stuff while she was into more mechanical stuff. It was still a common ground for them to get acquainted on. Though most of their talk consisted of her trying to convince him that her improvements to her bike would hold up even in a heavily forested area like this and that she would be able to navigate through it without causing them to wreck. Aside from that they talked about where they're from, their families and whatever else came to mind. All in and all it was like a strange, unexpected blind date...in an alien world.

After their talking had died down they rode in silence for several minutes, taking in the scenery around them and trying to come up with some explanation as to why they were there. And just who were these others they're suppose to find? Where they human? How were they suppose to know them? What would they do when or if they did find them?

*Even more questions. I just wish something would give me an answer,* Ray thought wearily.

A beeping from his pocket that he could barely hear over the bike engine broke his thought train. He reached into his pocket and carefully pulled the strange device that seemed to guiding them out and looked at the screen.

"Stop!" he suddenly shouted.

Sam slammed on the brakes in surprise, nearly sending both herself and him flying off of it. After she had it under control again she snapped her head back and raised the visor to her helmet to glare at him.

"What?!" she asked indignantly.

"Sorry, this thing said we needed to stop," he replied, holding out the device and showing her the message.

She blinked in confusion for a second before pulling out the nearly identical device from her pocket and saw the same message on the screen to it.

"Oh, sorry," she said sheepishly.

"No problem," he replied, pulling his goggles and slipping off the bike. "I guess we better start looking for the others then."

She shrugged. "Seems like the thing to do. I just wonder how far off they are."

Her inquiry was answered in the form of a giant backpack flying towards her and Ray. They both let out a loud shriek and ducked as the pack flew over their heads and barely missed hitting Sam's bike. She growled and took off her helmet as she stood up and glared threateningly in the direction the pack had come from.

"Hey! Whoever threw that you better get your ass out here now! You nearly hit us with that stupid thing! More importantly you almost hit my bike!" she shouted.

"Gee thanks for the concern," Ray muttered.

"Who are you?" A voice came from the direction that the backpack had come from.

"I could ask you the same question," Sam snarled.

"Hey easy, I think you're scaring them off," Ray told her, resting a hand on her shoulder to try to calm her. "Look we're not going to hurt you-"

"Speaking for yourself."

"We're NOT going to hurt you. We just want to talk to you for a minute."

Quiet murmurings floated out from where the bag had be launched. Then slowly two girls stepped out into the light .The smaller of the two had a long flowing black skirt and a white blouse on. The other one had shorts and t-shirt on. As they walked a bit closer, it was obvious that the shorter of the two was the one who had convinced them to come out.

"See, they're human." The shorter girl said.

"That we are. My name's Ray," the brown hair boy introduced, holding out his hand.

"I'm Rebecca, the scardy-cat behind me is Jennifer." Rebecca replied, slowly taking Ray's hand.

"I'm not a scardy-cat! They surprised me! That's all." Jennifer said as she avoided the motorcycle and went to retrieve her bag.

"And you think that makes it OK to throw things at us?!" Sam shouted as she grabbed Jennifer's short collar and pulled her close so that they were nose to nose.

"If you had seen talking dogs climbing trees, wouldn't YOU be all, hit first, ask questions later?"

Sam stared at the frightened girl for a moment as she processed that statement. She let out an annoyed growl and released her.

"Yeah I guess you're right," she admitted. "Sorry I'm just very protective of my bike."

"I would be too...it's nice." Jennifer said, hoping to smooth things over with the girl.

"Oh it's MORE than nice!" Sam started as she put a friendly hand on Jennifer's shoulder.

A couple of feet away, Ray let out a small sigh and turned to the other girl that had joined up with him.

"I think she's going to be awhile," he explained.

"Considering how nervous Jennifer is, it might be for the best. She was hesitant to even look for 'the rest', I don't think she doesn't deal well with surprises." Rebecca replied calmly.

"Yeah no kidding. So then what do we do now?"

"We wait." Rebecca said as she sat down beside a tree.

"Ok...and then?" Ray asked as he joined her.

"See what the cell phone things say." Rebecca said just as calmly.

"Makes sense."

A few moments pass, Jennifer began to regret complimenting the motorcycle as Sam continued to talk about all the details of her bike, Rebecca was still sitting calmly beneath the tree, and Ray was fiddling with cell phone device trying to figure out how it worked. Ray fumbled and nearly dropped the device as it began to beep. Turning it over, he saw another message.

"Find those that remain."

"There's more people here?" he mumbled more to himself.

"It would seem so." Rebecca replied, as she studied the message on her device.

Ray nodded then looked up to where the other two girls were standing.

"Hey it looks like we gotta find some more people!" he shouted.

"Yeah I know! I saw the thing for myself!" Sam shouted back.

"OK. I think we should head out then."

"But how? We can't all fit on the bike....and we really shouldn't split up. We could lose more people that we could find." Jennifer spoke up.

"Well Sam could just walk with the thing, right?" Ray asked.

He looked over to his original companion and his head jerked back in a mix of surprise and fear at the death glare that she was giving him.

"Uh...maybe not. Hehe," he laughed nervously.

"Uh...Sam...I'm not sure how much gas you have in your bike....but it COULD be a while before we find more....so ..um...many you should walk it...." Jennifer said hesitantly.

Sam snapped out of her of anger driven daze with a blink then turned around to inspect something on her bike. As she looked at it she let out a surprised "huh" then turned to face the others.

"You know you're right, I SHOULD need more gas, but...it hasn't dropped a bit from when I got here," she mused.

"Oh. I guess you can ride it then. I hope you don't get lost though"

"I really don't think that's a good idea," Ray spoke up. "We should try to stick together as much as we can."

It would be rather monotonous to have to keep 'finding' each other." Rebecca said with her usual calm.

"Doesn't look like we have much of a choice." Ray

Drawing a card from her Tarot deck, Rebecca looked at it , then spoke, " There is only one more pair to find."

"How do you know that?" Sam asked, walking over to the girl to inspect what she had in her hands

"The cards told me. I asked them how many more groups we had to find. I drew the ace of coins. One group left, and seeing as how we seemed to have met up in pairs. There should only be one more pair to find." Rebecca explained.

The blonde haired girl simply stared at her as she gave her a skeptical look.

"Uh huh," she answered, nodded her head a bit. "So...anyone one else got a better way to find this out?"

"Uh.. find the remaining people?" Jennifer offered reluctantly.

"But which way do we go?" Ray asked.

"We came from that way," Rebecca said as she pointed to where she and Jennifer had come from, then pointing in another direction, " you came from that way. So there are only two ways we can go now."

"Well what do you cards tell you?" Sam asked sarcastically

Rebecca shuffled the cards, then drew one out. The ace of swords. "The ace of swords says, that way." Rebecca said as she pointed to her right.

"Then I guess we're going that way," Ray agreed. "Let's head out."

The three girls looked between each other for a second before they shrugged and got ready to leave. As Jennifer hefted her backpack over her shoulders, Sam walked over to her bike and switched it to where she could pull it along with her. She looked up to find the rest of the group already heading into the section of the woods they had chosen to travel. She growled a bit as she trudged forward.

Jon let out a quiet curse as he pushed another branch out of his way. He and his new "friend" had been traveling for almost an hour and they still didn't appear to be any closer to find these "others". In fact the thing that had told them to find them hadn't beeped in quite awhile. And his traveling companion wasn't making things any easier. All he seemed to be doing was trailing behind him and keeping his mouth shut. When the stress of the situation finally got to him, stopped and let out a loud scream of frustration.

"What the hell is your problem now?" Alex quipped as he made his way carefully, hoping to avoid cutting his feet.

"Mostly you!" Jon remarked. "You haven't said anything in the last...hour or however long we've been here! It's not making things any easier."

"That sounds like a personal problem to me." Alex quoted back.

Jon just groaned and shook his head. "Look, do you have anything constructive to say? An idea of what we should do or where we should go? Anything like that?"

"Like I care?"

"Well you should! There's got to be some reason we're here. You don't want to find out what that is?"

"Why SHOULD I care?"

"Because you could be stuck where forever if we don't!"

"Well...fuck... "

"Exactly. So then, where do you think we should go?"

"I don't' care. That way, I guess." Alex said, waving his hand over to the left.

"Fine, then let's go," Jon replied before heading in the direction that had been pointed to.

"And what am I suppose to do about my bloody feet?"

"Make a leaf shoe," the longhaired man retorted

"Make a leaf shoe." Alex mimicked in a mocking tone. "I'll make one to make him eat it!"

The group walked as fast as they could with Sam pushing her bike and Jennifer hauling her seemingly overstuffed backpack. As Sam pushed her motorcycle along behind the other three, her growling grew more incessant. Her growling showed her displeasure at having to push her bike rather than ride it, like it was meant to do. The others, for the most part, tried to ignore her grumbling. Ray paused as they found another clearing, this one with a small stream near by.

He studied the area for a moment before turning around to face the others.

"Hey does this spot look familiar to anyone?" he asked.

"I think we've gone by here before." Rebecca said.

"Yeah, we have, look, Sam's bike's tracks." Jennifer pointed out.

"Oh great!" the girl in question shouted, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Not only are we going ass slow but also we're doing it in circles! That's it! I'm getting on my bike and I'm getting out of here!"

"That wouldn't be wise." Rebecca stated calmly.

"Yeah Sam, we need to stick together," Ray tried to convince her.

"For what?! It's not like we're finding any answer just walking around here!" she counter.

"Yeah well...I'm sure that any minute now we'll find something out."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I just got this feeling."

As soon as Ray finished speaking, a noise to the right of the group, reached their ears. Tensing, Jennifer took off her backpack and readied it as a weapon. They listened as two arguing voices approached them. When the two figures appeared they saw that they were two young men around their own age. One had a black trenchcoat on and his hair tied back into a ponytail while the other was wearing jeans, a blue button-up and a black vest. His red hair was short and spiked in all directions.

They continued to argue until the one with the ponytail happened to catch a glimpse of the group staring at them in bewilderment.

"Oh finally! Some other people!" he shouted with a great deal of relief.

"Uh...yeah, so are you guys the other two we're suppose to find?" Ray asked, walking towards them.

"If you mean do we have one of these things," Jon produced his own "cell phone" from his coat pocket, "then yeah that's us. I'm Jon McCloud."

"I'm Rebecca Graves, Jennifer is the one ready to throw her backpack at you." Rebecca said with a hint of mirth in her eyes and voice.

"Hey! I didn't throw it this time!" Jennifer complained.

"And I'm Sam Fairborne. Now that we got the introductions out of the way can we get going?"

"Hey I haven't been introduced to anyone yet. I'm Ray Morelli."

Jon turned and looked at his companion, "Well?"

"Well what? I told you, I DON'T CARE!" the boy replied.

"Nice guy," Ray scoffed.

"An hour. I spent a whole HOUR with him!" Jon explained with an exasperated sigh.

"Must have been fun."

"Oh, loads."

"Who are you?" Jennifer asked, getting almost in Alex's face.

"Get away, you freak!" Alex said as he pushed Jennifer away.

"See what I had to put up with?" Jon asked, motioning towards the irritated man.

"If he wishes to remain nameless, then we should call him a fool. For only foolish people would go through life without a name." Rebecca stated, her face almost devoid of emotion.

"I have a name. I just don't want to tell any more freaks like you." Alex replied.

"His name is Alex," Jon spoke up. "Now that we got that out of the way, do any of you have any idea why we're here?"

"No. I just got zapped by my computer. Then he next thing I saw was talking dogs climbing trees." Jennifer said.

"What have you been smokin'? Talking dogs....Are you SURE this isn't Disneyland?" Alex griped.

"Well if it is they have a funny new promotion going on," Sam sneered. "I just want to get out of these forests and onto an open rode again."

"That thing have any weapons on it?" Alex looked the bike over.

Sam's face beamed and she walked over to Alex.

"No, but let me tell you about some of the other features it does have," she started, wrapping an arm around his shoulder in much the say way she did with Jennifer several minutes earlier.

"Feh, what good is it if it doesn't have weapons?" Alex asked, as he turned his back on the girl.

"Why you-"

Sam's rant was caught be the simultaneous beeping by all of their "cell phones". They all pulled them out and immediately six beams of light shot skyward from the screen to form a point above them. The point then grew into a globe that quickly exploded, felling the air with a blinding light, causing the group beneath to shield their eyes. When they reopened them they saw a winged figure floating above them. It slowly floated to the down where it landed in the middle of them.

They stared at the obviously female creature, taking in what was standing before them. She looked human, save for the wings on her back and was dressed in a white uniform that was capped off by a gold, feather shaped breastplate. The uniform itself has many open places in it, from an oval shaped one that started just below her breasts to just past her naval as well as two curved spikes that exposed part of her hips. Her right leg was also exposed with only a feathered boot and two straps on her upper thigh as covering. Her right arm was also exposed while her left one was covered with a full-length glove with wings sticking out just after her wrist. There were two more straps around her upper torso. Most of her face was covered in a metal mask that had wings on the either side of it where her ears would be as well as a studded cross over the majority of the front of it. It was opened in the back to allow her long, blonde hair to flow down her back. The whole outfit was topped over by a large pink ribbon that somehow stayed over her head and wrapped around each of her arms.

"WAH!!!" Jennifer yelled as her backpack went flying again.

"Not again." Rebecca sighed.

The creature turned towards the including bag and held up her hand. The backpack suddenly stopped in midair. She smiled and gently floated it back to its owner.

"There's no need to be afraid," she spoke in a smooth, calming voice.

Jennifer grabbed her bag as she tried to calm her fast breathing. She looked over at the others who were in various states of awe as well."Well at least I'm not the only one." She muttered.

"Powerful and a babe to boot. Well this CAN'T be Disneyland, there are no chicks there this awesome." Alex stated plainly.

"Well for once I agree with you," Jon said, looking the new arrival up and down.

"Oh for God's sake," Sam sighed. "Look who are you and how did you do that?"

"I am Angewomon and I am the guardian of this world," she explained.

"And what is this world?" Ray asked.

"This is the Digital World."

"Digital? As in...computers?"

"Yes. This entire world exists in what you would call 'cyberspace' and is made up of all the data from the various computers and websites all over the world."

"So, we're on the internet." Rebecca said seemingly at peace with the situation.

"In a way. Inside the internet would be a better way to state it," Angewomon explained.

"Alright so that explains where we are, now how did we get here?" Jon asked.

"I pulled you here by opening up dimensional gates using those devices you regard as 'cell phones'."

"You mean these things?" Ray asked, holding up said device.

"Yes. They are actually called Digivices and they are to help you on your quest."

"You pulled us through? Ok...What the hell is up with bringing me here and not giving me any SHOES??" Alex asked loudly.

Although it was not visible through her mask, her posture clearly indicated that Angewomon had been taken off guard and was a little embarrassed.

"Uh...yes, well unfortunately that was a bit of mistake. But perhaps one of your companions can help you out," she suggested.

"I have an extra pair of shoes." Jennifer said.

"Why didn't you say so Sooner?" Alex asked angrily.

"I didn't know you needed shoes. Besides, they're women's shoes." Jennifer replied.

"Forget it then. Those dinky little things won't fit me."

"And here I thought you're so worried about your precious feet were so injured that you'd wear anything," Jon retorted.

"Can't wear it, if it don't fit." Alex retorted.

"Well how do you know they won't fit?"

"Look at her feet man! They're SMALLER than mine! I can see that even from HERE!" Alex exclaimed, pointing to Jennifer's feet, " My feet are a size 12! If a chick had feet THAT big, she'd be a man!"

"Some woman can just have big feet."

"Look, while you two are having your discussion about woman's feet, I'd like to know the most important question. Why are we here?" Sam asked of Angewomon.

The winged woman suddenly grew very solemn and bowed her head. A few a moment of silence she raised it again and look over them all.

"Yes that is the most important question, as you are all here for an important reason," she started. "You are here to save this world."

A wave of surprised looks and soft gasps passed over the group of young men and women. Before they could ask any of the questions running through their minds, she spoke up once again.

"You see while this section of our world may appear peaceful, it is only small section that has yet to be completely tainted by a spreading evil."

"What kind of evil?" Ray asked, still stunned by the revelation.

"The source of the evil is a single Digimon sorcerer known as Serpentmon. He and his band of generals appeared out of nowhere and began taking over our world, perverting each section they controlled with their own brand of evil."

"So we are here to stop them. How can WE do that?" Rebecca asked.

"It...will be difficult. This world originally had its own set of warriors that were charged with defining it from evil. But Serpentmon's forces quickly overwhelmed them and they have not been heard from since. I thought all was lost until I remembered a prophecy from the ancient texts that told of warriors from another world that would come and save this world from an all consuming evil."

"So, you think that's us? But what can we do? We don't' even have powers like what you did with my pack." Jennifer said as her heart had finally stopped racing.

"Actually you have more powers than you know. They are simply buried within you, waiting to spring fourth. To achieve this you will be paired up with certain Digimon partners. Together you will learn from one another and find a strength you didn't even know you had. A strength that will help bring light back to my world."

"So where do we FIND this Digi-mon partners? Why aren't they here?" Alex asked, annoyed with the whole thing.

"Because much like you they do not know they are destined to save this world. But you don't need to worry, your Digivices will lead you to your partners."

"And what are we suppose ta do if we have to face these bad Digimon and we don't have our partners? Will we die here? Or is it like a game and we can be brought back to life?"

"You will find a way to survive them. For it is foretold that you will win and rid our land of this evil."

"Does anyone believe this? Cause I don't." Alex stated as he crossed his arms and stared to Angewomon.

"That's a big surprise," Jon rolled his eyes. "But considering the fact that we're here and we have her standing right in front of us, I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt."

"Yeah me too. I can't explain it any other way," Ray agreed.

"Hell I'm up for any type of adventure as long as I get a chance to ride my bike as hard and fast as I can," Sam added.

"I believe her." Rebecca said simply.

Jennifer shrugged, "It explains why my computer zapped me. And the talking dogs.... I'm in."

"Figures." Alex said.

Angewomon smiled as she looked the group over again.

"Excellent," she said clapping her hands together. "Now then, we are not that far from a village, which I believe may hold the first of your partners."

"You don't even know? What good is that?" Alex asked, simply annoyed with the whole situation.

Again the celestial Digimon seemed to be at a loss for an explanation.

"Well...there are some things that are even unknown to me," she offered.

"In other words, you don't know a damn thing."

"Now I didn't say that! There are just certain things the ancients thought were best kept a secret until the time was right."

"Feh, whatever. Why are all blonde chicks so damn stupid!"

"Oh that's it!" Sam shouted then tried to run over to the irritating boy before being held back by Ray and Jon.

Once they had calmed her down enough to convince her not to kill Alex, Angewomon took control of the situation again and lead them through the forest to reach a village she assured them was close. As they walked, each one of them began to process the new information they had been given. It wasn't every day you were told you're some fabled warrior that was suppose to save a world inside a computer from some evil force.

While most of the others thought about what exactly they're suppose to do, Ray was looking over their newfound advisor. She was, for all intents and purposes an angel. Even the first half of her name had the word in it. So if she was the one that was setting them on this mission did that make it some kind of...holy mission? And if it was, what would happen if one of them wasn't that...holy? And what was it she said about the generals?

"Uh, Angewomon?" he asked tentatively.

"Yes?" the Digimon in question inclined her head towards him.

"I was wondering about something. You said that these generals each have their own trait, right? Well then what are they?"

"They are the worst traits of humanity that has spelled over into our world. I believe you know them as the 'Seven Deadly Sins'. Lust, Greed, Anger, Pride, Sloth, Gluttony, and Envy. There's a general for each one of them and each sector they control is being influenced by their personal traits."

"And I'm guessing from his name that Serpentmon is some kind of snake?"

"Yes."

Ray nodded and lowered his head in thought. There was definitely a quasi-religious overtone to this whole thing. Whether it was by function or fault, he didn't know. Nor was he quite sure that he really fit in with such a quest.

"If the generals have traits, I assume these legendary warriors do as well. Do you know them, Angewomon?" Rebecca asked.

"By Heart. Faith, Charity, Hope, Justice, Patience, Kindness, and Humility."

"So each of us will have one of those traits, but...there are only six of us."

Angewomon lowered her head in remorse. "Yes. I'm afraid that was another way they were able to overpower the original warriors. They appeared from nowhere and outnumbered them. It was only by one, but still...it was enough."

"So how the heck are WE suppose to beat them if WE only have six people, like the group that FAILED?" Alex asked, still quite annoyed with everything.

"Because you will have twelve once you find your partners. And together, you will be a force that can, and will, defeat Serpentmon and his army," Angewomon reassured him

"I'll believe THAT when I see it!"

"Well we definitely know your trait isn't Hope," Jon quipped.

"Or Faith." Jennifer added.

"It probably isn't Charity or Patience either." Rebecca commented.

"So what does that leave?" Ray asked, trying to tick them off on his fingers.

"Justice, Kindness and Humility." Jennifer replied with a smile.

"Definitely not Kindness," Sam muttered.

"So Justice or Humility...personally, I hope it's humility, he needs it." Rebecca stated.

"No kidding," Jon replied.

"Agreed," Sam added.

"I don't think it would hurt," Ray piped in.

"Justice doesn't really fit Alex anyway." Jennifer commented.

"HEY! I could be any of those, easy!" Alex said trying to defend himself.

"No you couldn't," Jon said, shaking his head.

"I could too." Alex argued.

Angewomon watched the display and couldn't help but chuckle at it slightly. This group of humans reminded her so much of her missing comrades. She had truly wished she could have helped them, but it was forbidden for her to do so. Even acting on the ancient prophecy was a violation of her code, but she couldn't simply stand by and watch her beloved world succumb to some madmon's will. If she was to be damned for her actions, then it was well worth it.

"I hope I'm Hope or Kindness. Those are good traits to have." Jennifer said as Jon and Alex continued to argue.

"So do you know what traits we have?" Sam asked Angewomon.

"Huh?" the celestial Digimon asked as she snapped out of her reverence. "Oh yes, I do, but to tell you would defeat the purpose of you finding them yourselves. That is how you will build your character and gain your strength."

"Uh huh. And how long do you think this is going to take?"

"I'm not sure. But I pray it is not too long as time is something we have precious little of."

"So we're going into this blind about it....like everything ELSE in the insane place." Alex commented

"And you want your trait to be Hope," Jon joked.

"Anything's better than being humiliated"

"Humility is not a bad trait to have. In fact the original warrior with that trait was a great fighter, but he knew not to let it override his judgment or his feelings towards his friends and comrades," Angewomon informed him.

"If he was such a great fighter, why isn't HE here?" Alex asked pointedly.

"Oh God, enough with the negative attitude already!" Sam shouted. "Just accept the fact that they're not here right now and we are! And if you don't shut up about it, I'm going to ram my boot down your throat!"

"Well you'll never be patience."

"Patience was never one of my virtues to begin with!" she retorted. "And speaking of which, when are we suppose to reach this stupid village?"

"Actually, we're here," their guide said softly.

The group turned from their conversation to see a village composed of small huts and small, strange, plant-like creatures staring up at them.

"This is a village? What is it some third-world country?" Alex said before grunting in pain from a sharp jab in his ribs, courtesy of Jennifer's elbow.

As she turned to apologize for Alex's rudeness, Jennifer's apology became a stifled scream, "They're....they're...they're..."

"Walking plants. We know, Jennifer." Rebecca said without emotion.

"Hello, we are the Floramon," one of the planet creature said as it walked up to the group. "Welcome to our village."

"Uh...thanks," Ray replied, still a little unsure of the whole situation. "So what is it you guys do here?"

"We farm the land here. It's not much, but we grow enough to survive, when the Pumpkinmon aren't stealing from our granaries." The lead Floramon said.

"That's awful! Why do they steal from you? Don't they have food of their own?" Jennifer asked, over her small fright of seeing walking, talking plants.

"They do," another Floramon added, stepping forward, "but they say our crops look and taste better then theirs so they come and take them at each gathering."

"Well why don't you just fight them back?" Jon asked.

"We're not fighters. And they're much stronger than we are anyway."

"Can't you do anything to stop them? Set up traps or something?" Jennifer asked.

"The Pumpkinmon just avoid the traps and it makes them angrier. And when they get angrier they take more food." A Floramon replied.

"This isn't right. We have to do something to help them," Jon stated, turning back towards the group.

"Why? This isn't the 'battle' we're here for." Alex commented while he rubbed his still sore ribs.

"It's exactly the battle we're here for!" Jon shouted. "If we're going to save this world then we might as well help out as much as we can. And I say we start here!"

"No, we're here to fight those generals. Not some stupid fight over who owns what!" Alex argued back.

"They're taking advantage of them! I've seen too much of that going on in our own world where I was powerless to stop it. But if I can stop it here, then that's exactly what I'm going to do. And if you don't want to help me then to hell with you!"

"Right back at ya buddy! It's survival of the fittest! The strongest win and survive. If they can't do it on their own, then they should be disappear."

"You're wrong," Ray spoke up. "I'm with Jon on this one, we shouldn't let this continue."

"Thanks," Jon nodded.

"No problem."

"The strong should be able to protect the weak. We are strong, so we should help them since they are weak." Rebecca added.

"Yeah. Maybe one of our Digimon is here." Jennifer suggested, " If we don't help, we won't know."

Ray looked over at Sam, who had been quiet so far.

"What about you?" he asked.

She gave him a lighthearted shrug. "Hey if there's a chance for some action I'm all for it. Maybe I'll even get a chance to actually ride my bike for this."

"Well it seems you're outnumbered then," Angewomon smiled at Alex.

"What ELSE is new? This whole place is against me."

"Alex," her voice suddenly began very stern. "You can't keep this attitude up. If you want to live through this experience and be returned home you MUST learn to work with the others. The are your teammates and in time they shall be your friends."

"I don't' WORK in teams. I'm a solo fighter. IT'S what I'm best at. I don't NEED anyone else to help me fight." Alex responded.

"That's very courageous."

"Damn right. Who needs others when you've got the courage to fight for yourself, instead of depending on others to save you."

She didn't respond to his statement right way. Instead she simply leaned forward so that her face almost touched his. Unseen eyes seemed to bore a hole straight through him as she continued to stand there in silence. Finally, before he could shout out any curse or frustrated sentence, she spoke up.

"It will take more than courage to survive what's coming," she told him in a low, ominous tone.

She then immediately stood up and returned to her more cheerful self as she walked over to where Jon and Ray were standing.

"So now that most of you have agreed to work together, do you have a plan on what exactly you shall do?" she asked them.

"Well...no," Jon admitted.

"Well we all seem to have come with something extra. Maybe we could pull something together from that. what does everyone have?" Ray asked.

"I just have my bike and my Digivice," Sam spoke up.

"I have this," Jon said, unsheathing his sword.

Ray started at him for a moment.

"You always carry that with you?" he asked.

"Just for special occasions."

"I have all my camping supplies...I have some rope and a net if that'll help." Jennifer offered.

"Only my Tarot deck came with me." Rebecca told the group.

"Well I didn't have anything come with me. I don't' even have SHOES!"

"We know." Rebecca replied.

"I have...let's see," Ray started digging through his pockets. "Various tools, some nuts, bolts, screws, a flashlight, a lighter, pocket knife, a small magnifying glass, batteries, oh hey gum! And..." he stopped for a moment to fish something out of his belt. "...a button. Huh."

He looked up from his new discovery to find everyone staring at him with blank looks on their faces.

"What?"

"Why would you wear all of that?" Rebecca asked

"I tool around with a lot of stuff. Gotta make sure I have all the important stuff on hand."

"A button?"

"Yeah that took me by surprise too. I wonder what it goes to?"

"Maybe it's off one of your pockets" Jennifer suggested

"Could be. Wouldn't be the first time,"

"Alright, alright, you can work that out later, right now we need to think of a plan," Jon intervened.

"Where do the Pumpkinmon usually attack from? If we set up traps there...it should be easier to stop them" Rebecca suggested.

"From the east end of the village. That's usually where we usually put gather our harvest together," one of the Floramon explained.

"So let's focus there. We can use whatever's in my backpack." Jennifer said as she opened the bag and began pulling things out. The pile of items grew slowly, rope, a net, a frying pan, a tent plus it's poles, extra clothes, boots, a compass, bug spray, her rations and a canteen all entered the pile.

The others stared at the pile in silence as they wonder just how she could have fit all of that stuff in one pack and how she could carry it all. And most important of all, how the hell could she throws it so far?

"And you guys thought I had a lot of stuff," Ray joked.

"I was going camping, what's your excuse?" Jennifer asked, slightly offended by the joke.

"I build a lot of stuff."

"How nice for you."

"Yeah it is."

"Can we start thinking of HOW we can use this stuff, rather than argue with each other?" Rebecca asked, hoping to stop another fight before it started.

"Good idea," Jon said as he resheathed his sword. "Anyone know how to make snare traps?"

"I know how to make a few, but I don't' have enough rope for a lot of them." Jennifer replied.

"What about you guys? You have any rope?" he asked the Floramon.

"No, but we have plenty of vines. Maybe they could help," the lead one replied.

"It couldn't hurt." Jennifer said as she set about knotting the rope for one of the snare traps.

"Alright then, let's get to it!" Ray shouted enthusiastically.

"You do realize that this won't work, right?" Alex asked disgruntled that he had to help these weakling plants.

"Always the optimist," Jon said with a roll of his eyes

"At least I can SEE the reality of the situation. Unlike some people."

They ignored him, as they were quickly growing accustomed to and set about making their traps with the help of the Floramon.

Starting close to the village, where there wasn't a lot of trees to work with, Jennifer suggested that the Floramon dig some pits that the Pumpkinmon could fall into. She showed the Floramon how they could cover the pits so that the Pumpkinmon wouldn't know that there were holes. After that she showed some of the others how to knot the rope and wire to make snare traps that would catch the Pumpkinmon and lift them up into the trees. Lastly she looked over the snares and pits, to make sure that they had been done right and marked them so that no one else would get caught in them.

"We also set up trip lines with some fishing wire we found in you're piles of stuff." Rebecca told the girl.

"Alright then, looks like everything's done," Ray said as he stood up from finishing a trap and wiped his brow. "So now all we gotta do is hide so they won't know something's up."

"So we gotta run and hide like a bunch of cowards.."

Jon simply smacked Alex on the back of the head as he passed him.

"Hey! Come back here!"

"Not a chance."

"Alright, that will be enough of that," Angewomon spoke up. "You all worked well together to build these traps, but now we have to make sure they work. This will be your first test."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

As the day progressed, the Floramon went about their usual routine of harvesting the ripened crops and gathering them to be sorted out later. It was a fairly good crop this time and providing the humans' plan worked, they should have enough to last them for quite awhile.

Just as the last bit was stacked, the familiar rustle of the bushes and taunting laughter filled the air. The Floramon all stood with baited breath, hoping that this time things would end up differently. If they didn't and the Pumpkinmon did get through the traps, they knew they faced something much worse then a few stolen crops.

It was when the angry shouts and the sounds of ropes and wires twanging, that the Floramons' hope grew ever so slightly. From the sounds of it, at least 6 or 7 Pumpkinmon had been caught, the others didn't sound happy as their angry voices quickly got louder and closer to the village. A crash came next, the Pumpkinmon had probably found one of the tripwires....

Another series of angry shouts and the results of the net trap could be seen hanging from a tall tree, almost overflowing with the offending Digimon. Eventually the sounds of screams and springing traps died down and there was a moment of silent aspiration. When the Floramon were ready to breathe a sigh of relief, a rustling in a nearby bush made it stick in their throats. They watched in horror as a single Pumpkinmon appeared and glared angrily at them.

"So you thought you'd stop us with some stupid traps, eh? Well once my brothers are out of those traps we'll make you pay dearly for this. Oh yes, you'll pay," he threatened.

He was about to take a step forward to the frightened flower Digimon, when a sharp blade pressed against the nape of what would be considered his neck. He turned his empty, triangle shaped eyes upward to see a human with long black coat smiling down at him from the tip of his sword.

"I don't think so," Jon told him with a hearty smile.

"I really don't think so."Jennifer said as she held her frying pan in her hand.

Rebecca simply stood to the side, glaring at the thieving Pumpkinmon.

"Hey, anyone like roasted pumpkinseeds?" Alex asked maliciously

"He has a pumpkin for a head!" Ray shouted, barely able to contain his laughter. "I guess now we know why the call them Pumpkinmon! Hehhehe."

"Why you..." the captured Digimon growled and tried to move forward, only to be stopped by Jon's sword again.

"Uh huh," he reminded him.

"What are you humans doing here anyway?!" the Pumpkinmon snarled.

"We're here to save you sorry butts." Alex growled

"Well you sure did a good job of it! All my friends are stuck in your stupid traps!"

"And whose fault is that?" Jon asked, then pressed his blade forward a bit. "And answer very carefully."

"Stop!" Angewomon stepped forward.

She floated over to where the capture Pumpkinmon stood then knelt down and placed a hand in front of his face. He growled at her and tried to back away, but Jon's sword followed his movement. After a moment Angewomon brought her hand down and looked back over the group of humans.

"He and his tribe have all been tainted by the evil that is consuming this land. It is not their fault that they have acted in this manner," she informed them.

"What can we do about that? The can't continue to steal the Fluoramon's food. If we let them go free they'll just find a way around the traps. And if we don't let them go, we'll be no better than those that control this world." Rebecca commented.

"Well let's work out a deal then," Jon said as he leaned down to look the Digimon in the face. "We've taught the Floramon here how to make trap and left them the materials to do so. So they can place traps anywhere they want in this forest. You come in from the west, they'll put traps there. Come in from the south, traps. So basically, anytime you try to come into we're going to get caught in their traps. So the best way to avoid that would be to..."

He rolled his hand as he waited for the disgruntled Pumpkinmon to complete the sentence. Said Digimon stared at him indignantly for a few seconds before he finally sighed in acceptance.

"Never come here and steal the Fluoramon's crops again," he said.

"Exactly. Now, we'll help your friends out of those traps, but if you try anything funny then all bets are off."

"Alright, alright."

"You know....that Digimon sounds like someone we know." Jennifer whispered to Rebecca.

"Let's hope he doesn't rub off on them..." Rebecca replied as she and Jennifer went to free some of the Pumpkinmon from the snare traps.

After all the Pumpkinmon were set free and everyone was positive they weren't going to return for the night, and another round of trap setting prevented them from getting into the village anyway. The Floramon invited their human saviors to stay the night in the extra huts they had and join them for breakfast the next morning. Despite some loud protesting from a certain member of the group, they accepted and were shown their temporary lodgings. Late afternoon rolled into evening and soon the village settled down for a peaceful night's sleep. Something none of them thought they would ever have again.

Unfortunately, while the Digimon slept, the human occupants of the village were wide-awake. Each one of them were still trying to accept the fact that they were suppose to save an entire world from some evil force. Sure they had just saved a small village, but what was that compared to the rest of the world? These were some of the very same thoughts Ray had going through his head as he sat underneath a tree and stared up at the sky. There was a full moon out and the familiar little pinpricks of light that signified stars. But where they really stars? Where those really lights from other galaxies and worlds or just icons on some computer screen somewhere? The whole concept of a digital world existing inside the internet both fascinated and confused him. He dug his fingers into the damp grass and pulled some of it out then held it up and examined it.

*Feels real enough,* he thought as he continued to stare at the green blades. *But it's not real. At least not real real. If what Angewomon said is right, then all of this is just data made up to look and feel like grass. But then what does that make us? Are we just data now too? And if that going to help us or hurt us in this fight?* He sighed and let the grass fall from his hand. *This whole fight is giving me a problem as well.*

"Can't sleep?" he heard someone ask him from behind.

He turned his head and watched as Sam came walking up to him. His eyes fixed on her as she sat down next to him. So far he had only seen her in her motorcycle suit, but at the moment she was only wearing a white tank top and a pair of tan shorts. Tight shorts at that. He tried his hardest not to make his staring obvious, but from the way she stared back at him he was failing miserably at it.

"Alright, I think you've more than an eyeful," she informed him curtly, folding her arms over her chest.

"Uh...sorry," he shook his head to clear those thoughts away. "Just haven't seen you out of your suit."

"Well you didn't think I was naked underneath there did you?" She stopped for a second before quickly adding, "On second thought, don't answer that."

"Alright."

"So you couldn't sleep either, huh?"

"Nope. Too much on my mind to sleep."

"I know what you mean," she replied as tucked her knees to her chest and rested her arms and head on them. "This morning my biggest concern was watching out for the cops when I went speeding down the freeway. Hell, I was just about to take off before I pulled here. Would have been so fun too. The wind rushing against me, the rush of adrenaline as I snaked my way through all the traffic. Just the whole euphoric feeling of it all." She let out a soft sigh of remorse. "But I guess now, I have to worry about saving this world for awhile. God, if the original warriors couldn't stop these generals then how are suppose to?"

"Asking the wrong guy," Ray admitted. "This whole...crusade isn't sitting right with me at all."

"So which part is worrying you?"

"Like I said, the whole thing. I mean our advisor is named Angewomon who for all intents and purposes IS an angel, we're fighting a guy named Serpentmon who's generals all represent one of the Seven Deadly Sins and we're all suppose to have some kind 'pure' trait within us. It's just all too...biblical for me."

"So you didn't believe in that stuff before today?"

"No. It's not that I had some vicinal hatred for it that others have, it's just that...well I guess my mind's too fixed on logical explanations. And nothing I was told about all that stuff ever added up for me. So I just couldn't believe in it. But now that I'm pretty much faced with it head on...I just don't know how to handle it."

"Yeah, I guess it wouldn't be that easy for you. I really don't know what I can say that would make easy either. I just know that I've always believed in that stuff so it's not that hard for me to accept this. Well the parts we're talking about anyway."

"So how did you come to believe in it so much?"

"Part of it was my upbringing, but another part was the fact that through all the crazy stunts I've pulled on my bike, and even before then, that I've never had a major wreck. I figured someone up there had to be looking out for me to make that happen. I also had a strong sense that everything would work out in the end. I'd put on my helmet, start my bike up and just hope for the best."

"Hope, huh?" Ray chuckled. "Keep that talk up and I'll begin to think that's your trait."

"Maybe it is," she smiled back at him. "Like I said, I've always had a strong sense of hope throughout my life. Even now I just have this feeling that everything's going to turn out alright for us."

"Well I hope you're right."

"Hey, that's my line," she remarked as she hit his arm playfully.

"Right, right sorry," he apologized, trying to "defend" himself.

They laughed at the other's antics then sat in silence as they simply looked up into the night sky. Several minutes pasted before Sam finally stood up, dusted herself off then turned towards him.

"Well that was fun and all, but I think I'm about ready to turn in for the night. Try not to stay up too late, OK? Apparently the Floramon are the 'rise with the sun' kind," she told him.

"Alright. Thanks for the talk. It did help a bit," he reassured her.

"My pleasure. We'll have to do it again sometime."

"That we will."

She gave him one more smile before she turned and walked off to the hut she had been given for the night. He watched her leave and tried not to let his eyes focus on her shapely backside as it swayed slightly from the movement of her hips. He shook his head once again then turned his attention back to the "stars".

*And I'm some holy warrior trying to save this planet from the deadly sins. Right as I'm lusting over some girl I've just met. Nice going Ray,* he scolded himself mentally.

In one of the huts, Rebecca sits off to the side with a candle lighting the floor in front of her. She sits there shuffling her tarot cards, silently asking the deck to show her guidance concerning the task the group had been told was their destiny to do. Choosing three cards at random, Rebecca lays them out beside each other. In the past, The Wheel, in the present, Judgment, and in the future, The Magician.

"In the past, luck, a great change. That would definitely be coming to the Digital world. That's the biggest change I can think of." Rebecca said to herself as she turned to the next card.

"In the present, healing... forgive and forget the past...rebirth....I wish this card wasn't always so hard to read its true meaning. It could be any of those, or all of them. Or, none of them." Rebecca huffed as she looked at the last card.

"The future, the future will be what we make of it. We decide the future. The results of this war will fall on our shoulders." Rebecca stared at the cards for while before gathering them up and putting them back in her deck.

"So it's like Angewomon said? We're the saviors of this world?" Jennifer asked from behind Rebecca.

Rebecca turned slowly to look at Jennifer. Seeing the girl in her sleeping bag, but sleep was obviously avoiding Jennifer.

"That is what my cards seem to indicate. But at the same time, we could be this world's destroyers. The Magician simply shows up the tools that we can use. We have to choose HOW to use them."

"Oh so, if we choose badly we could be even worse then the generals?" Jennifer asked, interested in what the cards might have told Rebecca.

"Yes. Think about it. We are being given the power TO change this world. How we use this power will determine the good or evil we do in this world. So if we simply destroy the generals and not try to heal the land, we will simply be no better than they are, for the inhabitants will be no better off." Rebecca told Jennifer.

Jennifer sat up in her sleeping bag, thinking about what Rebecca said. "So we'll have to try and keep Alex in line... or he might just end up making things worse..."

Rebecca nodded and turned to the makeshift bed she was going to sleep in. "Yes, but something tell me, that Alex is just putting up a mask to keep up from seeing what he's really like. Whatever the case, we should try to get some sleep. Morning will come quickly."

"Right. Good night Rebecca." Jennifer said as she laid back down.

Rebecca laid down in the bed, and began to think of how this world needed them, called out for them and how they didn't even get a choice in the matter. *Is this destiny? To be forced into a calling? Do we even have what it takes to save this world? To heal it? What if we're not strong enough, then what will this world do?*

Jon stood in the darkened hut, illuminated only be the moonlight shining in from the open window. His coat was laying on one of the small chairs in the room while he stood in the center of it pose with his left arm out, his last to fingers held down and his index, middle and thumb sticking out. He held his left arm straight down so the blunt side of his sword could rest against it. His legs were spread about and slightly crouched as if he were ready to pounce on an incoming enemy. To a casual observer it would appear he was looking at his outstretched hand, but he was actually looking beyond it. Not at the wall or the darkness around him, but something much more intangible. He wasn't really looking at anything yet at the same time he was looking at everything running through his mind.

He stayed in that position for a few more seconds before suddenly swinging his sword forward to slash some unseen opponent. He then flipped the blade around so he could hold it with both hands and gave a downward stroke. He then slashed upwards and followed it by releasing his right hand and placing it long the tip of the flat end in a defensive position. He continued to keep his hand just about the back of the sword as he moved it down to his left side. After holding that for a second he whipped the blade upward again and let it rest out to his right side before bringing it up once more with a twist. At the apex of his swing his left hand let go of the handle and before gravity had time to take effect his right hand snatched the handle and he held the weapon straight out in front of him. He held that position as his thoughts once again began to wander.

*Why? Why us?* he asked. *Why out of all the people on Earth were WE chosen? We are really that special or was it simply blind luck?*

The question went unanswered as he pulled the sword back and held it with both hands again while pulling it close to his body. He let out a slow, steady breath as he moved it down slightly. He turned the blade so he could stare at his reflection offered by the moonlight.

*What can I do?* he asked the imagine starring back at him. *I have this weapon with me, but do I have the skills enough to use it properly? Do I even have the courage to stand up to some of the other monsters we may face? The Pumpkinmon may have had numbers on their side, but they weren't the bright or that tall. What happens when we face one that IS bright and tall? Do we really have the powers Angewomon told us about or was she just giving us false hope?*

He held the blade out in front of him once more, staring at its tip and beyond. Try as he might, his meditations simply weren't helping to calm his mind this time. With a frustrated sigh he relaxed his pose then turned and picked up the sheath for his sword. Once it was safely back inside its housing he laid it down next to the bed, propping it up against the wall. He then pulled the tie out of his hair and let it fall down before he fell himself on top of the bed. The small wood creaked under his weight and he held his breath in anticipation for it to break beneath him. When he was sure it would hold he placed his arms behind his head and stared up at the dark ceiling. There were still so many questions he had, but the answers just weren't going to come tonight. The best he could do was just sleep on it and hope his morning meditations would bring about some kind of resolution for him.

He smirked at that thought. Originally he started doing what he called his "meditations" to copy Duncan MacLeod from the Highlander show. He knew it was extremely geeky but he just couldn't help it. It was such a great show and it looked really cool. It was only when he found out that it actually did help him deal with the stress of college and work that he found time to work it into his daily schedule. He had no idea if he could find a regular time to do it while he was here, but he promised himself he would do it as often as he could. For the moment it was the only thing he could control and it was important for him to feel like he control over something. It was the only way he could keep his sanity about this whole situation. As long as he found time to meditate he would be handle anything this world would throw at him.

*And with that, I'm sure I've just jinxed myself to face some really nasty critters,* he mused. *Oh well, I'll worry about it tomorrow. For now...sleep.*

He closed his eyes and tried to get as comfortable as he could before laying down and waiting for sleep to overtake him. There was no telling what tomorrow would bring, but he was sure he'd need all the sleep he could get to deal with it.

Sitting under a tree near the village, Alex thought about everything that had happened during the day. Grumbling, he picked up a few stones near him and started throwing them towards the hut that he was suppose to be sleeping in. He had been paired up with Jon, again, and he couldn't stand it, so he had left the hut to find a place where he could just get away from Jon.

*Why me? Why'd I have to come to this stupid place? Why couldn't it have be anyone else? All the others have talents, I can see it plainly. But me, I don't know anything other than how to take people apart in computer games.*

Alex sighed and threw the rest of his stones at the hut, he smiled briefly as one of the stones sailed threw the small window of the hut. The smile faded when the stone didn't connect with Jon. Giving a frustrated sigh, Alex stood up and started to walk into the forest. He only stopped when he thought that he was far enough away from the village that no one could hear him. As luck would have it, the stream that Alex had woken up beside, wound its way near the village and stopped Alex from going even farther into the forest. Grabbing some rocks, Alex started to throw them into the water. When this failed to help him calm down, he threw the rest in with a yell.

Dropping down so that he could see his reflection in the water, Alex looked at the rippled water. *Everything is warped. It doesn't even look like me. I don't belong here, just like this reflection doesn't belong to me. The Angel-babe probably wanted my perfect roommate. He'd have known what to do. He ALWAYS knows what to do. Me, I don't know what to do here. I don't know how to camp, or make snares. Can't fight with a sword. Can't calm people down. Can't build stuff. I didn't even have anything come through that stupid light with me. I'm useless here.*

"Useless like a warped reflection." Alex said to himself before he walked carefully back to the village.

Quietly walking into the hut he was sharing, Alex laid down on the questionable bed. *And what's going to happen to me once they realize I'm useless? They'll probably just leave me. Like I really need them anyway.*

Angewomon watched the angst ridden boy named Alex walk back into the hut he had been given, with his head hung limply, from her perch on the top of what could be considered the Fluoramon's church. She had always felt more comfortable in these places, no doubt due to her evolved form. As she watched him drag himself into the hut she couldn't help but feel guilty at causing him, and the others, so much pain and confusion. She really didn't want to bring any of them there, but she saw no other choice. She wasn't strong enough to take on Serpentmon and his generals by herself and as long as they continued to exist she would never by able to look for the original warriors. And she had to find them. She would never admit it to the humans, or any other Digimon for that matter, but they were more than just her charges they were also her friends. She couldn't stand the thought of them being tortured or even worse deleted. No, they were still alive! She could feel it. And she would find them! But first she had to continue with her duty to guard this world.

Unfortunately that led to her other problem. While she was suppose to be the guardian of the Digital World she was never suppose to directly interfere with its peoples. She could send the chosen warriors out to fight whatever evil may appear and that was it. It had been the tradition of all the other guardians long before she even hatched from a Digiegg. But those guardians had never faced a problem such as this one. Their warriors had never been defeated. So she had no other choice to be break her vow and enacted the prophecy. She knew once it was all over and the Digital World was free once again she would face dire consequences from the spirits of the other guardians but she didn't care. Even they had to see that if she hadn't called the human here to fight this evil then they wouldn't even get the chance to discipline her. So yes, for now she was going to act and worry about the punishment later after they had won. Technically she was still doing her job to guard this world so she couldn't understand why they would be angry with her.

*Because tradition demands it,* she thought. *But some times traditions need to be broken. The humans and there soon-to-be partners may be the only thing that can save us. So they must not fail. They cannot fail. They WON'T fail! Not at long as I still draw a breath! We will win! We HAVE to.*

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