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?

4. Strength of the Amazon

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: We'd both like to have a few more reviews. So we as that if you read our fic that you please review.

Ayanna Wildfire: I'm alive. Editing this latest chapter took me a little longer than expected, but it's done and up for your enjoyment. Hopefully the next chapter won't take too long to write...altho with my work schedule, it doesn't look like it.

Anyway, we'll see you next time.

Enjoy the new chapter!

*____* = Thoughts

"____" = Speech

~~~~~ = Transition or Break

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Sam muttered under her breath as she pushed her bike along and followed the other girls to their selected spot in the creek. Her ramblings were a mixture of Alex's remarks and how she would make him pay for them and complaining about the damage done to her bike, which thankfully was minimum. It was mostly just mud and a few minor dings, but that was still enough to almost give her a heart attack. After years of keeping it top condition, it was damaged in only three days in this weird false world. Finally, she just sighed and hung her head.

"I am in total hell," she groaned.

"Don't get in the water then. It's frozen hell." Jennifer said from where she was easing into the water.

"Of course," Sam replied as she brought the kickstand down on her bike. "So how are we going to do this? Wash our clothes first and then bath or the other way around?"

"I say both at once...it will make it go somewhat quicker." Rebecca said as she put her tarot cards down near Sam's bike, then took a running jump off the side of the creek and landed in the water, clothes and all.

Sam thought about the dark haired girl's statement for a second, then took off her leather gloves and boots, then unzipped and removed her riding suit. She held it out in front of her to examine it and then herself.

"You know...my suit's really the only thing that's ruined since I had it and my helmet on," she mused. "I guess I don't really NEED to bath, but then again who knows when we might get the chance to again."

"Yeah, I know I had shampoo somewhere in my bag." Jennifer said as she got up from the shore and opened her bag looking for the aforementioned item.

"Sounds good. I need it for the amount of mud in my hair." Rebecca said as she swam nearer to the shore and shed her skirt and blouse, placing them carefully on the shoreline.

Sam nodded her decision then set her suit down on her bike with the intention to clean it later. She looked down at the remaining clothes she had on.

"Well no reason to get these wet," she said to herself.

She removed her tank top and shorts and was about to take off the last of her clothing when she suddenly looked up at the other girls.

"Uh...you guys think you could at least close your eyes till I get in the water?" She asked them.

"I'm not even looking at you Sam." Jennifer said as she continued rummaging through her bag.

Rebecca simply closed her eyes and waited for Sam to get in the water.

Hoping Jennifer would be still be occupied with her bag, Sam shed her underwear and carefully hung it and her clean clothes from one of the few trees near the creek bed, then covered herself as well as she could and walked towards the water. She tentively placed one of her toes in water then pulled it back as a shiver ran up her spine. She sucked in a deep breath and forced herself into the freezing water. When she was completely submerged she let out a loud screech and wrapped her arms around herself.

"I knew it was cold, but I didn't think it would sub zero temperatures!" She said through chattering teeth.

"You get used to it after a bit." Rebecca said as she took her underwear off, grimacing at the mud stains.

"Perhaps I can help," Angewomon said as she walked up to them.

She knelt down and placed two fingers in the water. It glowed for a moment and the water began to warm up. She waited until a light steam came off of the water before removing her hand.

"Better?" She smiled.

Sam let to a contented sigh. "Oooh yeah."

Rebecca sighed as the water warmed up, then ducked her head under the water in hopes of loosening some more of the mud in her hair. When she surfaced, she saw Jennifer walking over to the edge of the creek, a bottle in her hand. Jennifer quickly shed her clothes, wrinkling her face in disgust as she looked down at her mud soaked bra. Deciding to at least try to rinse it off, Jennifer jumped in.

"Oh this is MUCH better." Jennifer said as she surfaced.

"I know," Sam sighed again then looked up at the fourth member of their group. "So Angewomon, you coming in or what? You need it the most out of all of us."

The angelic Digimon took the time to finally examine herself after the girl's statement and found that she was indeed almost completely covered in mud. It wasn't all that surprising since she had been able to feel it over her while they're in the Gotsumon village, but she hadn't expected this amount. Still she seemed unphased as she looked down at the one who had asked her to join in.

"Thank you for the concern Sam, but I can use my powers to clean myself up," she informed the blonde.

Sam's face took on a look of indignity as she stared at the winged woman.

"And you couldn't have cleaned the rest of us off as well?" She asked in a deadpan voice.

"Sorry, but no. My powers have become limited since I opened the gate to your world and joined on this journey. I can clean myself, but not the rest of you. Even then it will drain me slightly, but..." she paused and gave them all a weak smile. "I did promise to keep watch after all."

"Yeah, you don't want Alex coming to take a peek, do you Sam?" Jennifer commented as she rubbed some shampoo in her hair before passing the bottle to Rebecca.

"Of course not, that little creep. Calling me 'flat chested'. He more than anyone should know that's not true, the prev," Sam ranted, but then shook her head to clear those thoughts. "No, I don't want him to look on us, but I don't think it's fair for Angewomon to weaken herself for our sake either. I mean she already warmed up the water for us so she probably shouldn't do anything else for a bit. And besides, I think she deserves to enjoy this since she's responsible for it anyway." She then looked up at the Digimon standing above them. "So what do you say, in or out?"

"Well...I don't know. What do you two say?" Angewomon asked, looking over at Jennifer and Rebecca.

"The more the merrier." Jennifer replied with a smile.

"It is your choice. This is your world after all." Rebecca commented.

"I believe I shall join you. As Sam said, I could use some relaxation time. But I'll be sure to keep an ear out should Alex try to peek."

"Sounds good to me," Sam said.

Angewomon smiled and then went about removing her own outfit, save for her mask, and then slowly lowered herself into the now warmed water. She let out a sigh of her down and leaned against the creek bed.

"Very nice indeed. At the risk of getting an inflated ego, I think I did a wonderful job," she retorted.

"I'll say." Jennifer said as she rinsed the suds out of her hair.

"I agree. This is much nicer to bath in." Rebecca said as she lathered up her hair as best she could.

"Yep. Could stay here all day," Sam replied.

"Or at least until the power of my spell wears off," Angewomon pointed out.

"Right. Actually that brings up a good point, anyone figure out how we're going to dry off?"

"I have my beach towel...but that won't dry all of us off." Jennifer said.

"And we still need to clean out clothes. So we cannot just put them back on and let them air dry." Rebecca said as she went to rinse her hair.

"Could hang them from the trees, but then there's the question of what to do while they dry. As I showed you, those towels aren't really going to cut it," Sam sighed. "This is all just one big mess."

"And if any of the boys show up, it'll be an even bigger mess. Do you have any suggestions Angewomon?" Jennifer asked.

The angel leaned her head back as she thought over the question.

"Unfortunately no," she said. "I'm sorry, but I never thought this time or situation would occur. I suppose the best we can do is hope they'll be honorable and keep to their words."

Rebecca looked at the angel and in a deadpan voice said, "You have not been around many men, have you?"

"Well...uh...most of the original warriors were male, but then I wasn't allow much contact with them so...no, not really."

"So you do not realize that most men do not keep their word." Rebecca noted, before she ducked under the water again to try and get the last bits of mud out of her hair.

"No kidding," Sam added. "Though I really think we just have to worry about Alex. Ray and Jon seem like nice enough guys. Still wouldn't put it passed them, but I would be surprised."

"Yeah, Alex is the biggest perv I've met." Jennifer commented.

"Then you do not get out much." Rebecca told Jennifer.

"Oh? And just how many pervs have you met Becky?" Sam inquired.

"You meet enough of them, when you work part-time in a bar to get through school." Rebecca answered calmly.

Sam quirked an eyebrow at that. "You work at a bar? How did that happen?"

"I needed money for school and it is close to where I go to school. As I said, it's only part-time. I work the afternoons...and there are more then enough drunks then willing to 'take the pretty girl home.'"

"Yeah I can see how that can give you a jaded view on guys. Still can't be as bad as the job I have."

"And what do you do?" Rebecca asked the girl.

"You know those people that call you while you're trying to have a nice, relaxing dinner asking you to give money to some kind of charity?"

Rebecca looked over at Sam, "I pity you."

"You're a telemarketer?! Argh, how could you?"

"Cause they're the only place that'll hire you without some kind of degree or something!" Sam shouted throwing her arms in the air and inadverantly splashing the other girls.

"Like you need a degree to serve drinks." Rebecca said as she blinked the water out of her eyes.

"Least you're still in college."

"You are younger than I am. Why are you not in college?" Rebecca asked, slightly curious as to how Sam was out of college when she was two years younger than herself.

"Well," she started, running her hands through her hair, leaving damp trails behind them. "I started out like every other freshmen, knowing it was going to be hard yet not knowing just *how* hard it was. I really did try, but my grade kept slipping and the stress was pilling up and eventually...I just couldn't handle it anymore. So I dropped out, got that job and just tried to get by. Actually, that's about when I really started getting into fixing up my bike to help me keep my mind occupied and relieve some of the stress."

"I do the same with my tarot cards. However, I am still struggling through school." Rebecca told Sam.

"And I just graduated. I have a job lined up....at least I used to." Jennifer commented.

"What happened to you?" Sam asked, hoping to change the subject.

"I got sucked into my computer." Jennifer said deadpanned, "My job interview is suppose to be tomorrow....I don't' think I'll make it back in time for it."

"I apologize," Angewomon said, hanging her head. "I know I disrupted your lives, but I assure you that if I could have found another way I would have."

"I know Angewomon. I just can't help but feel sad, my dad must be worried sick about me. I've never passed up a camping trip with him. And all of a sudden, I don't show up for the last one I'll have for a while. He must think I've been kidnapped or killed."

"Not even sure my parents would notice," Sam said softly.

"All parents notice when their child is missing. It is how they react to it that determines what kind of parent they are." Rebecca said quietly to Sam.

"Yeah."

An uncomfortable silence encompassed the girls as they all imagined how their individual parents were reacting to their absences. It was broken only when Sam swiped her arm across the water's surfacing, causing a small splash.

"Hey come on, we can feel sorry for ourselves later. We shouldn't let a nice, warm bath like this go to waste on a bunch of angst," she said, trying to cheer her companions up.

"But warm baths are perfect for angst. They melt it right off you." Jennifer said as she returned Sam's splash.

The blonde let out a startled shriek as the water hit her.

"Especially when someone splashes you. Kinda like this!" She cried, sending another splash Jennifer's way.

"Ack! Oh you think you're so smart do you?" Jennifer laughingly replied as she started sending several splashes at Sam.

Not one to ever back down from a challenge, Sam returned "fire" as it were and sent several waves towards the brown haired girl. Unfortunately, a few of them went wild and splashed Rebecca as well. Rebecca stood her "ground" and raised an eyebrow at the two. She then skimmed the water with her right hand, causing a wave to splash both girls and Angewomon.

"Oh so emotionless girl is getting on this too, eh? Well take this!"

Sam jumped up slightly and brought both her arms down roughly into the water, completely dowsing the other girl.

Looking more like a drowned rat, Rebecca started sending splashes back, when all of a sudden a wave appeared out of nowhere and drenched Sam and Jennifer.

"Oh so that's how you want to play, eh? Well here, let me help you get the rest of the mud out of your hair!" Sam shouted in mock anger just before jumping up, grabbing Rebecca's head and dunking it under the water.

Rebecca, not knowing how the wave had come, but knowing that somehow she had made it, was caught off guard as Sam dunked her under the water and so she breathed in a lot of water before she made it back to the surface. Coughing out as much water as she could, Rebecca simply tried to breathe properly again.

"Oh hey, you alright? I didn't mean to drown you there, I was just playing around," Sam apologized, swimming over to check on her.

Coughing a couple more times before she felt she could answer, Rebecca told Sam that she would be ok. Rebecca then slowly made her way closer to the bank so she could lean on it and think about how she had made that wave.

Seeing that she was distressed and confused, Angewomon moved over to where Rebecca had settled to offer whatever advice she could.

"You're confused about that wave, aren't you?" She approached.

"Yes. How did I do that? I have never been able to do that before. I shouldn't be able to do that." Rebecca confided.

"Because before you were in your own world. Remember, while this world may be a reflection of your, it also have it's own rules. And each of you were chosen because you all have a hidden talent that can be amplified by this world."

"So....magic is real here. Wait...you said that it's a hidden talent...so that means I could do magic at home?" Rebecca asked.

"Most likely no. Or at least, nothing more than what you do with your Tarot cards. You have magical abilities here because when you entered the Digital World, it changed your genetic structure a bit that made you a conduit for magic. As long as you're here, you can perform those acts. When back in your own world...well I won't make any promises."

"But how did I do that? I did not want a wave like that...I just wanted a bigger splash...and then that wave hit....I can not control this." Rebecca said sadly as the full extent of possibilities dawned on her.

Angewomon placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You will learn to control them. Do you think it was a coincidence that you ended up with Wizardmon as your partner?"

"This has all happened so fast, I have not been able to really think about it." Rebecca replied quietly.

"I know. But I fear that we must hurry as our enemy is already moving against us with much stronger warriors."

"But if we rush, we could easily fall into a trap." Rebecca countered.

"That is true. But we must do what we can. And I have faith in you and the others."

"At least someone does." Rebecca commented before she reached for her clothes in hopes of cleaning some of the mud off them.

"Indeed. And I'm sure the others do as well. You just need to have faith in yourself," Angewomon consoled, giving her a reassuring smile.

"Faith is hard to come by when nothing you do succeeds."

"As I said, you shall learn to control your powers. And opening up to the others couldn't hurt either."

"Opening up is what hurt me in the first place. I do not want to have what happen then, happen again." The girl told the Digimon abruptly.

"What happened?" Angewomon asked, genually concerned.

Rebecca froze in her movements, turned to Angewomon and asked, "Why do you want to know?"

"Curiosity. Concern. If it helps, you can think of it as a confessional. I am an angel after all."

Rebecca paused to think for a moment, then said, "I was used by the man I thought I loved. Let's just leave it at that."

"I see," the winged Digimon bowed her head. "I'm truly sorry. Having your heartbroken is never easy."

"No, it isn't. I ask that you not tell the others. It is something personal that I do not usually share with strangers."

"Of course," Angewomon nodded.

"Thank you." Rebecca said sincerely before trying to get the mud stains out of her blouse.

With the conversation ended, Angewomon moved back to her own clothing and held it up as best she could while in the water. Frowning at the amount of mud caked on it, she wondering if perhaps it would be easier for her just use her powers to clean it. But then again that could leave her weaken in an attack and neither she nor her human charges could afford that. She sighed and was about to start cleaning it when she heard twig snap. She turned her head towards the source while letting out a small gasp.

Being closest to Angewomon, Jennifer heard the angel's gasp, turning to ask what was wrong, Jennifer screamed and ducked down until the water touched her chin.

"What?! What is it?!" Sam shouted, swimming over to their position.

"Get down!" Jennifer yelled at Sam, as she tried to stay covered by the water, "There's a perv up there."

"Oh really?" Sam asked, her voice taking on a dangerous edge.

She then picked up a large rock from the end of the creek.

"Then maybe he can get a look at this!" she cried out as she launched the rock towards the area Jennifer had indicated.

"Ow." A familiar voice rang out.

"Wizardmon?" Rebecca asked herself quietly.

"Wizardmon?" Sam asked incredibly. "You mean your Digimon is the one that was spying on us? Damn, and here I was hoping I finally nailed that jerk Alex."

"Perhaps you should go see to him. Or at least find out why he's here," Angewomon said, suddenly sinking down in the water herself.

"I don't exactly have wearable clothes Angewomon." Rebecca replied as she sank down into the water, "But I'll see if I can find out why he's here."

Rebecca swam a short distance away, out of the warm water and back into the freezing cold water. Once she thought she was far enough away from the others, she called out to her Digimon partner.

"Oh! There you are Rebecca...."Wizardmon said as he found where Rebecca was swimming in the water, then realizing that she was naked, started to blush and turned around.

"Why were you looking for me Wizardmon? Didn't the Gotsumon tell you that we were all getting cleaned up?" Rebecca asked.

"No...they didn't. They simply told me that you were in this direction." Wizardmon told his human partner.

"The girls are bathing here, and we do not want a male around, human or Digimon." Rebecca told him.

"That is understandable. But...why did you not just use your magic? You could have cleaned everyone up."

Rebecca blinked for a moment, then replied, "I can not control my magic yet. So I dare not try."

"Prehaps..you would allow me to clean your clothing at least. So you have clean clothes to wear. And dry ones." Wizardmon offered.

"Let me ask the others...are you sure you have the energy to do that though?"

"It should not be too draining." Wizardmon assured her.

"Alright." Rebecca said before she quickly swam back to the warmer water.

"So what's the little creepy want?" Sam asked, irriation still ringing in her voice.

"He did not know we were bathing. The Gotsumon only told him that we were in this direction. And he is offering to clean and dry our clothes for us." Rebecca explained.

"Well...that would solve one our problems. You think he can clean leather without shrinking it? That suits form fitting enough as it is."

"I am not sure. However he cleans the cloths must involve magic, because he asked why I had not simply cleaned everyone with my magic...."Rebecca said.

"You could do that?"

"Not yet," Angewomon interjected. "But I believe she could in time."

"OK so she can't yet. You, the guardian of this world, couldn't. What's wrong with this picture?"

Angewomon seemed taken aback by this and the others could just barely see a blush of embarrassment appear behind her mask.

"Well...as I said I gave up a lot of my power when I appeared before you. I could do it if I was at my full strength but for now I'm saving that for when we have to fight."

"Which is more important. So, are we going to take Wizardmon's offer?" Rebecca asked.

"Sure, why not?" Sam shrugged.

"I don't see the harm in it. And it will help us out," Angewomon agreed.

"Saves me from trying to clean them." Jennifer added.

"Alright. I will go tell him." Rebecca said as she started to swim back to where she had left Wizardmon.

Sam watched as Rebecca talked with Wizardmon and wrapped her arms around her chest as she sank even deeper into the water.

"I still don't trust him," she muttered.

"Me either...but we do need clean clothes." Jennifer commented.

"I know. But I swear if we tries to take a peek, I WILL kill him."

"I'll help." Jennifer agreed.

"Hopefully it won't come to that, but if it does try not to kill him. Just hurt him very badly," Angewomon added.

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Alex was scowling as Luxmon set him down near the creek. His bruised and purple knees still hurt too much to walk long distances and so the human had to rely on Luxmon to get around. Grimacing as he straightened out his legs, Alex ignored Luxmon when the Digimon told him that he would return once he had gotten clean. As Luxmon walked away to find another spot to bathe, Alex began to unbutton his mud-caked shirt.

"Stupid world." The boy said as he flung his shirt and vest aside and began to carefully try and work his jeans off. Alex could do nothing more than grit his teeth as he found out that his knees had swollen up during the night. His jeans were now stuck on his knees and to remove them would cause even more pain.

"Can any fucking thing else go wrong?" Alex thought to himself, as he pulled the top part of his jeans back up.

Walking slowly and painfully over to the creek, Alex thought about little else but getting to the creek. He forgot about how he was going to get into the water. It was when he reached the creek bank that he realized the problem. Jumping in was out of the question. Trying to walk off the bank was out as well because of the rough edge on the bank. Sitting and then sliding in looked to be the best option, but sitting down was going to be difficult. His knees were already protesting from the short walk he has made to the creek's edge. Trying to sit would probably have him screaming, and that would bring the others running. That, he decided, was NOT what he needed.

Wondering how he was going to get into the water, Alex looked around and noticed a tree near the water. He made his way over to the tree and slumped against it. His knees were now burning with pain and he still had to find a way to get into the water. Slowly, Alex began to lower himself to the ground, using the tree for support. Once he was finally on the ground, Alex was heaving for air. He tried to ignore the pain that was shooting through his entire legs now, radiating from his knees. Once he was able to manage breathing properly again, Alex swung his legs around so that they were over the water. He then pushed himself off the bank and into the freezing water.

As his head broke the surface of the water, he screamed out at the cold, both as it lowered his body's temperature and how it was driving what felt like knifes into his knees. His thoughts cycled through how cold the water was, how painful his knees were, how stupid the Digital World was, and how he was truly of no use to the group.

Alex hurried to clean his body as best he could so that he could get out of the freezing water. Once he was satisfied with the results that he had gotten, he realized that there was no way for him to get out of the water. He couldn't pull himself up, the bank was just too high for him to manage that. And he couldn't use his legs to help, he was effectively stuck in the freezing water until Luxmon returned.

"Fuck!"

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Jon stood at the edge his selected portion of the creek. He glanced from side to side to see if he could find anyone that may be watching him. He found it highly unlikely that the girls would try anything like that, but he wasn't sure about the Gotsumon. And there could also be some other creature out there waiting to jump him.

When he was convinced he was alone, he slipped off his trench coat and held it up to inspected it, frowning at the mud on it.

"At least it's not torn anywhere," he said to himself.

He then pulled his sword sheath out of his belt and laid it down next to here his coat now lay. Casting one more glance around, he hurriedly took off the rest of his clothes and then stepped into the water. A shiver when up his spine and he let out a small whimper at how cold it was.

"Of course the water has to be freezing," he muttered.

Ignoring the cold as best he could, he pulled the tie out of his hair and tossed on top of his pile of cloths. When he tried to pull his hair forward, he finally released how much mud was mixed into it and sighed.

"Maybe I should have asked Jennifer if I could burrow any shampoo she might have had," he mused. "Oh well, nothing I can do about it now."

He took a deep breath before he sunk down into the water. He whipped his head around to try to loosen some of the mud, then tried to pull the rest of it out. When his air supply ran low, he surfaced rapidly and let out a large gasp.

When his breathing returned to normal he began to wash some of the mud off his body, still shivering from the cold. He blinked his eyes to get the water out of them and then moved back over to the shore to where his clothes laid. Instead of pulling his clothes in with him to begin washing them, he picked up his sword and unsheathed. He brought the bladed down to his eye level, but was still careful not to let it touch the water, and stared at it in deep thought.

How had he been able to hold off the Digimon as well as he could? It was obvious he was incredibly skilled with his own swords, so how could a mere human with no real sword fighting experience keep him at bay? During the entire fight Jon could feel something deep inside his mind, something that was instructing him on how to block and parry his opponent's motions. He could still feel it now, though it wasn't nearly as strong, but the feeling was still there. The...presence was still there. He assumed it was something from the Digital World, a set of mental instructions or something like that. The real question wasn't what it is was or how he got it though, it was what was it going to do to him? And would he like the end result?

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Staring down at the water, Luxmon wondered what fate had in store for him. He hadn't thought that he would be fighting to save the entire Digital World. He had merely taken to battling Senbomon's forces, in hopes of freeing what remained of his once beautiful village. The day he had been captured had been one that filled him with sorrow. He had been defending a small village, the inhabitants had given him a place to stay the night before he moved on to get more information about the group of Goblimon that had been seen gathering Digimon to work as Senbomon's slaves.

The Goblimon had attacked in the early hours of the morning. He had barely woken up before the Goblimon had attacked and subdued him. It was all rather embarrassing, being defeated by such a weak enemy, and then to be chained up similar to a piece of meat. The shame he felt then was the final straw that had broken his pride. He passed the next day wallowing in his shame, it was only the piercing scream that Jennifer had let loose at his appearance that managed to wake him from his misery.

Luxmon had undressed as he thought and quickly stepped into the water. Being more used to the cold water, he barely shivered as he began to wash the mud from his body. It didn't take him long to clean himself, his hair taking the most time as the mud in it didn't want to be worked loose. When he was satisfied with how clean he was, the Digimon turned to his clothes. Thanking all he believed in that his clothes were easily cleaned, Luxmon exited the creek and hung his clothes to dry on a nearby tree. Reaching for his helmet, the Digimon sat at the creek's end and scooped up water to wash the mud off it.

As he worked, his thoughts returned to his human partner. She was excitable to say the least, but the same time she was strong. Being able to carry that backpack proved to him that Jennifer was strong, she could easily become a great warrior with a small amount of training. Her soul was light, even having only known her for a day, he could see that. She trusted the other humans, even Alex to some degree, even thought they had only just met each other two days ago. The only Digimon he had ever met that could trust as implicitly as Jennifer had, all had light souls. Souls that just seemed to KNOW whom they could and could not trust. There had been one such Digimon in his village. Every mon would ask of her wisdom and every mon would trust in her answer. She has been the first to be destroyed when the village had been attacked.

He stopped washing his helmet, as a tear leaked out of his eye. That Digimon had been a bright spot in his life. Loosing her had driven him mad. His temper had flared and he had attacked the invading Digimon, helping to drive them back. It had been after the battle, after his physical wounds had healed that he learned of the village's near destruction. Truly all that had been left were a few huts, the rest had been either burned or damaged extensively from the battle. It had been while he was walking through the devastated village that he decided to fight Senbomon's forces. That night he has slipped away and never looked back. He vowed to himself to free those Digimon that Senbomon had enslaved.

"Perhaps it is possible now. My dear friend, your destruction WILL be avenged."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ray let out a shivering sigh as he splashed another bit of water of his face. He had gotten use to the cold temperature rather quickly, but moving around still caused him to shake a bit. When the effects passed and his body returned to a more reasonable degree, he leaned against the bank of the creek and closed his eyes.

His mind began to replay the events of the day, from when he was chosen to be the group's leader to the attack by that team of Digimon to just about right now. The thing that stuck out in his mind was how everyone had elected him leader. Why him? Just because he was the first find and then merge with his partner? Did that really qualify him to lead? Apparently it did to the others, but he still had his doubts. He'd never led anything in his life, expect for a few lab groups in high school and that was mostly because he did all the work. So based one that VERY little experience he was suppose to lead a group of people he just met in a fight for their lives to save some world he hardly knew anything about.

"Yeah, right," he muttered.

"Just how am I suppose to get everyone to follow me? Well...I guess they already have so far, except for Alex, but he doesn't really like to follow any one from what I can tell. But what about what just happened in that fight? I didn't really 'lead us to victory' in that one and I'm not sure I could do it in a similar situation." He stopped and let out another sighed. "I just don't know what to do. If I mess up I have a good chance of getting everyone killed." He stopped when it finally sank in as to what he was doing. "Of course, sitting here talking to myself isn't really helping at all."

He finally opened his eyes and lifted his head off the bank. He'd have to think about all this later when he wasn't so out in the open and...naked. In a way it reminded him of when he was home and he would do a great amount of thinking while taking a bath there. Of course there were some differences. For one, the water wasn't freezing and there wasn't a risk of someone, or here something, peeking on him. And he didn't have to worry about getting killed by some kind of weird creature either. Hopefully, neither of those events would happen.

He pulled himself off the bank and absentmindly stood up in a stretch. He began to turn around to get his clothes when the sound of a snapping twig caught his ear. He let out a surprised gasp as he covered himself and sank back into the water. He spun around to see who could be sneaking up on him and his eye widened when he saw Sam walking up to him wearing the tank top and shorts usually concealed by her motorcycle suit. She gave him a weak smile as she continued to approach.

"Hey Ray, I was wondering if-"

"I'm naked here!" he shouted, cutting her off. "Geez, with all the fuss you raised about peeking I figured you'd be the last one to do it."

"I wasn't peeking!" she shouted back, stomping her left foot. "I was simply coming over here to see if I could borrow your tools to fix up my bike."

"While I was bathing?!"

"Well how I was suppose to know you weren't finished?!"

"Because...I mean...well...uh...fine!" he relented, sinking deeper into the water in defeat.

Sam smirked at her victory when walked over to where the boy's clothes laid and picked up his vest and tool belt.

"I haven't washed them yet," Ray muttered from his place in the creek.

"Then I'll just have to do that for you," she concluded.

"Just don't get them rusty."

"Don't worry I won't. And thanks."

"Uh...welcome."

He watched her turn and leave but before she did, he could have sworn he saw her eyes dart up and down and a small smirk cross her face. He blinked at her disappearing form, trying to understand what that look meant. She didn't? She wouldn't? Would she? And if she did then....

"Hey remember this water's cold!" he cried out towards her.

"Whatever!" came the reply.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In another part of the Gotsumon village, Tentomon wandered around a bit aimlessly while he waited for the others to finish cleaning up. Since he had flown down the hillside, he didn't need to bath and with the others occupied, it really left him with nothing to do. He supposed he should get to know the Gotsumon better since they did help them and were allowing them to stay in their village, but...there was something about this situation that made him uneasy. It wasn't that he didn't trust them, he was just wasn't comfortable around large groups. Never was before and that was the main factor that lead him to becoming a drifter. Of course he had been able to use that as an excuse to go exploring the different regions of the Digital World, which he found to be quite rewarding and fulfilling.

Unfortunately, do to Serpentmon's presence it was quickly becoming a very dangerous place to live, especially for someone who traveled around. There were many times when he had just barely avoided being captured and he faced more evil Digimon than he cared to admit.

Maybe that was why he had been chosen to save the world. Of course, being partnered with a human was strange enough in and of itself, but then having a large group of humans and soon enough Digimon, made his old fears began to creep up again. How was he suppose to work with a team when he wasn't fond of groups to begin with? And not only that, he was the partner to the leader of the team! So by default he would be expected to lead the Digimon half of the team. Which meant he'd have to order Luxmon around and the idea of trying to do that didn't sit well with him at all. He just hoped the large Digimon wouldn't step on him when that time came.

His thoughts here broken when he heard a set of voices coming out of one of the huts. Curious, he walked over to it and peeked his head into the crack from where the door stood slightly open. What he saw where to Gotsumon deep in conversation.

"So then, the master said he'll be here soon?" one asked.

"Yes and he said to make sure the humans and their Digimon are detained by the time he arrived. Especially the Wizardmon, he said something about wanting revenge on that one," the other replied.

"Alright. We're already making plans for when they get done with their baths. "

"Good. The master said we'll get a big reward if we're successful."

"Hopefully it'll be some females."

"Yeah that would be *really* nice."

Tentomon pulled his head out of the doorway at that, not wanting to hear anymore and already having the most valuable information. He turned around to go warn the others, but unfortunately as he did he ran right into the stone fist coming towards his face.

The Gotsumon next to him, picked up the now unconscious Tentomon by the back of his neck and pushed the door to the hut open. The two inside turned to watch him walk in and unceremoniously dropped the bug Digimon on the floor.

"He heard everything," the Gotsumon said.

"Great! I told you we should have locked the door!" one of the conversing Gotsumon yelled towards the other.

"Calm down. He just heard us and didn't get time to tell the others. So for now we'll keep him tied up here until we've trapped the rest of them and then we'll present them all to the master."

"You'd be lucky if it'll be that easy."

"Just shut up and get some rope."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rebecca was unsure of how much time had passed since Wizardmon had cleaned her and the other girls' clothes. As soon as he had finished, he had mumbled something about going to see if the others would like him to clean their clothes. He had left quickly, but Rebecca had noticed that his cheeks were still red from embarrassment. Sighing as she stepped through the bush, she cursed the fact that she would probably end up lost as she looked for her Digimon.

While she was mumbling about her Digimon, Jon was walking through the village and mumbling something under his own breath as he was drying his hair out with a towel. They where each so caught up in their own problems that they failed to notice one another until they ran into each other. They stumbled around to maintain their balance and once that was taken care of, Jon looked up at the dark haired girl.

"Sorry," he apologized.

"It's alright. I wasn't watching where I was going." She replied.

"Neither was I," he replied resuming to dry his hair. "You know it's times like this that I regret growing my hair this long. Seriously, how do you stand it?"

"It's easy. You simply wait for it to dry." Rebecca told Jon, a slight smirk graced her face briefly.

"That's really helpful."

"It was your choice to grow your hair long. Why are you complaining about how long it takes to dry? It's simple physics. Longer hair, means more mass that needs to dry."

Jon stared at her for a moment. "You were a lonely child, weren't you?

"I was an only child." Rebecca said as she stared back at him.

"Figured"

"Do you think it's a bad thing to be an only child? To be doted on by over-protective parents?" She asked, slightly annoyed by him.

"I guess not," he replied, lowering the towel. "Better than having to put up with an annoying little brother."

"I always wanted a little brother, or sister."

"Trust me, it's not all that great."

"Then trust me when I say being an only child is not all that great." Rebecca replied as she began to move around Jon so that she could continue to look for her Digimon partner.

"Grass is always greener I guess," he shrugged as he followed her. "So how's Wizardmon doing?"

Rebecca turned around quickly so she could face him, "You mean he didn't find you?"

"Well he did, but he just clean and dried my clothes and then left before I could say anything. Just wondering if you've been able to talk to him. He did look a little red so I was wondering if he was sick or something."

Rebecca's cheeks flushed a little before she replied, "He...walked in on us as we were bathing."

Jon stopped dead in his tracks at that statement and the thought of what the Digimon magician might have seen.

"Lucky," he whispered.

The girl beside him glared at him. "He wasn't so lucky when Sam hit him with a rock."

Jon winced at that. "Yeah that wouldn't be. And I didn't mean that. I mean...I...uh...hehe."

"Men...you're all alike." Rebecca said before she stormed away from Jon.

"No wait! I really didn't mean it! I'm sorry!" he called out desperately as he followed behind her.

"Why should I wait for a pig like you?"

"Because I want to apologize."

"Why should I believe that? You've admitted you'd want to see the girls naked. You jerk." She said as she kept trying to get away from him.

"That was a typical male reaction," he explained as he continued to follow behind her. "I'm sure the others would have let that slip too. But unlike them I want to apologize for it because I realized I was wrong. I'm trying to be nice here!"

She turned and glared the boy, "From my experience, there is no such thing as NICE men."

Anything Jon would have said was stuck in his throat because of that statement. His entire posture changed as he rethought his position on this subject.

"Ah," he finally said, walking up to her. "Well, I'm sorry you've had some bad experiences but contrary to your believe there ARE some nice guys out there. We just slip up from time to time."

"I have yet to meet a nice man. And you being sorry does not fix things."

"Then I guess I'll just have to try to be the one nice guy you do meet."

"You're not doing the greatest job." She replied as she turned to stalk away again.

"Look I-"

Jon was stopped again, but this time by a loud beeping coming from his pocket. He pulled out his Digivice and looked at the screen to see an arrow pointing to one of the huts near him and Rebecca. He looked at them just in time to see a small, hedgehog-like Digimon being thrown out of one.

"What?! What I'd do?!" it shouted.

"You tried to steal from me!" the Gotsumon, most likely the owner of the hut shouted, shouted.

"Oh come on! It was on tiny bobble that you probably wouldn't have missed."

"It was a family heirloom! It worth a fortune!"

"Which is why I tried to steal it! I mean-no I didn't. I was just looking at it."

"Get out of here before I decide to make you a trophy on my wall!"

"Fine! Didn't like your stupid rock house anyway you stupid...rockhead!"

As the door slammed shut, the obviously unwanted guest turned around and almost left when he felt a strange feeling in the base of his skull. He turned around and saw the strange long hair human looking at him.

"What the hell are you staring at?!" he shouted.

Jon looked at the irritated Digimon then down to his Digivice then back to the Digimon and then back to his Digivice again.

"No," he muttered. "No! No! No!"

"You found your Digimon partner." Rebecca stated from behind him.

"This can not be my partner!" he shouted, pointing to the Digimon in question.

"'Partner'? What are you talking about?" the confused Digimon asked.

"Nothing! This doesn't concern you because it's obviously a mistake."

"It is not a mistake. You know it isn't." Rebecca told Jon.

"But he steals."

"And Wizardmon walked in on the girls when we were bathing."

"But that was an accident, this one did it on purpose!"

"Damn right," the hedgehog-like being boasted

"It does not matter. He is your partner. You know it because you felt the pull." Rebecca said calmly.

"Excuse me. Can one of you two humans please tell me, what the hell you're talking about?!"

Jon turned to the Digimon and gave him a fake smile.

"Well apparently, you're suppose to be my partner so we can go out to fight off the evil Digimon and save this world from corruption."

The Digimon simply stared back at him for a minute.

"Nah screw that," he said and started to walk away.

"See, there ya go," Jon quipped, turning back to Rebecca.

"If you have doubts, perhaps you should talk with Angewomon. She seems to know which Digimon are our partners."

"You called?" a voice next to them asked, cause them both to jump in surprise.

"Don't do that!!" Jon shouted as he waited for his heart rate to return to normal.

"Sorry," Angewomon replied, trying to hide a chuckle.

"You sound like Jennifer." Rebecca told Jon, then turning to Angewomon. "We think we found another partner Digimon...but he's not too co-operative."

Angewomon nodded as she took in the information then turned to were the Digimon in question was still standing and looking at them. She smiled and raised a hand, causing him to float over to them.

"Whoa! Hey! What the hell's going on?!" he shouted.

The angelic Digimon ignored him and gently placed him down in front of Jon.

"He is indeed your partner. And his name is Quillmon," she stated.

"Don't tell them that!" Quillmon protested.

"How can this be my partner?!" Jon asked.

"He just is. I'm sure it time you two will learn to work together."

"Not likely cause I don't plan on staying with you jerks. Pfft, saving the world! Why should I put my neck on the line for a bunch of Digimon I've never even met?" Quillmon asked, standing on his hind legs and crossing the others over his chest like arms.

"Because if you don't then Serpentmon's forces will completely conquer this world," Angewomon explained.

"So? If you know how to survive it won't matter. You just gotta get on their good side.

"See?!" Jon interjected. "He's willing to side with the enemy! There's no way he can be my partner!"

"Yeah there's no way I can be his partner! Cause I don't partner up with stupid, large smelly humans."

"Smelly?!"

"Yeah smelly, you gotta problem with it?!"

"Yes and I have a problem with you!"

"Oh really? Well, come on then?!" Quillmon shouted and made a fighting gestured.

"And what are you going to do, bite my shins?" Jon retorted.

The Digimon shrugged. "Good place to start," he agreed and then sunk his teeth into the human's leg.

Jon shouted and kicked his leg out until the rapid hedgehog leg go and landed a few feet away from them. He then grabbed his injured leg and hopped up and down as he tried to soothe away the pain.

"He bit me!" he cried out.

"Sit down Jon. If you keep bouncing it'll just hurt worse." Rebecca said as she tried to get the boy to stop hopping.

"Fine then just bring that thing over here I can run it through," he grunted glaring at Quillmon.

"Oh just try it human," Quillmon glared back.

"Why don't you just be quiet Quillmon." Rebecca said as she glared at the small Digimon, not realizing that her magic had decided to activate again.

"Why don't you come over here and make me!"

"You would not want me to. I kick HARD." Rebecca said as she tried to look at Jon's leg, wishing that the annoyance would simply go away.

"And I bite HARD! Just ask your mate there!"

"Yeah I already know that," Jon groaned as he looked at the wound. "Probably have rabies now."

"Hey I resent that!" Quillmon shouted then thought about it. "What the hell are rabies?"

"My WHAT?!" Rebecca yelled out. She then stalked over to Quillmon, grabbed the small Digimon by the scruff of the neck and shook him, "What do you mean? Answer me."

"What? You two aren't mates?" he asked, genually confused.

"What do you mean by that? Where I come from 'mates' can mean many different things."

"Boy you humans are dense," he muttered. "I meant that you're together for life, doing the nasty, having children, nagging him until he wants to die. All that crap that comes from having a mate."

Rebecca stared at the small Digimon, she was barely containing her anger. She wished she could get away from the disgusting bag of digital flesh she was holding, but she didn't think she had enough strength to throw Quillmon far enough away. It was then that she noticed the wind had picked up. Realizing that her magic had been released again, she hurled Quillmon as hard as she could. A gust of wind picked the small Digimon up and carried him to the creek, where the wind stopped and dropped the hedgehog like Digimon in the water. Seething in anger, Rebecca didn't notice how badly her body had began to shake.

"I can see this is going to cause some problems," Angewomon said, looking at the shaking girl.

"No kidding," Jon added.

"Keep that....thing away from me Jon. I just might end up killing it."

"I just might end up helping you."

"No, neither of you will kill him," Angewomon said in an authoritive voice. "As hard as it may be to accept, he is one of the chosen Digimon and therefore MUST stay alive and fight with us. As for his attitude...well...we'll deal with that as we go."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Quillmon asked, pulling himself out of the creek.

"NO!" the other three shouted as once.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex was beyond cursing. He was beyond throwing rocks in hope of getting someone's attention. His voice had gone hoarse from yelling for Luxmon to come help him. He couldn't be sure, but he thought that his lips looked a bit blue when he stood still long enough for him to see his reflection. Alex was sure his body must be near freezing because he was shivering so hard.

This is how Jennifer found him when she came through the bush looking for Luxmon. Not realizing that she had stumbled on Alex's bathing spot. She stopped and grumbled about not being able to find her Digimon.

"Hey!" Alex yelled, his voice rough.

"AHH!" Jennifer yelled as she broken from her thoughts. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking that." Alex's hoarse voice replied.

"I'm looking for Luxmon. I didn't know you were still in the water....aren't you cold?"

"No, I'm fucking peachy. My lips are naturally blue."

"Oh, ok. I'll let you finish your bath then." Jennifer said as she started to walk away.

"You should be the fucking blonde. I'm freezing. Get me out of here!"

"Well if you're going to talk to me like that. I'll just leave you in there."

"Then I'll die of pneumonia, you idiot!" Alex yelled hoarsely.

"And the world would rejoice! Would it kill you to be nice?" Jennifer yelled back.

"Yes, yes it would! Just get me out of here! I can't bend my knees, and everything's numb from my waist down."

"You don't have to yell." Jennifer said as she walked closer to the creek. "You aren't naked are you?"

"No. I won't care if I was. Just get over here!"

"I'm coming, just hold your horses."

"If I had a fuckin horse, I would have gotten out of here already." The boy complained.

"If you're going to keep talking like that I'll leave you in there. Maybe it'll cool off your temper." Jennifer said from the bank.

"Maybe I'll cool YOU off." Alex said as he sent a splash towards the girl.

Jennifer jumped back and away from the water. She then turned and started to walk away. Alex seeing her walking away yelled out for her to stop. She turned around and glared at the boy and stalked back so she was close enough for him to see her.

"Why should I help you? You're an obnoxious jerk! I was going to help you. All you had to do was shut-up till I got you out of the water. But obviously that's too much for you to do."

"Look I'm freezin' my nuts off here. Are you going to help or what?" The male digidestined asked.

"Fine. Don't try to pull me in, or I'll leave you here." The annoyed girl said as she grabbed the near-by tree and reached out to help Alex.

"Whatever." Alex said as he grabbed her hand and tried to pull himself up.

Jennifer almost let go when she felt how cold his hand was. She then strained and pulled the boy up slowly. His now water logged jeans making it difficult to get him out. His shaking at the cold wasn't helping either. After struggling for a good five minutes, Jennifer finally managed to help Alex get out of the water. Once out the boy curled up and started shaking trying to get warm. Jennifer huffed as she set her backpack down and began to rifle through it to find her extra blanket. When she found it, she pulled it out and put it over Alex. Rubbing his back, arms and legs through the blanket, she tried to warm him up.

"Why did you bathe with your jeans on?" Jennifer asked, hoping to get his mind off how cold he was.

"Couldn't get the fuckin' things off." Alex replied through chattering teeth.

"Why not?"

"My knees swelled up. The damn things got stuck and I couldn't get them off. If I did, I wouldn't have been able to get them back on." He told her.

"I see. We'll have to see if Wizardmon can try to heal them. You can't keep using Luxmon as a taxi." She replied as she continued to try and warm the shivering boy up.

"That asshole can rot for all I care! I asked him to help me out and he ignored me! He cleaned my shirt and vest then took off."

"He was probably still embarrassed. He walked in on us girls when we were still in the water. He probably didn't want to cause any trouble." Jennifer explained.

"So...did he see anything?"

"I wouldn't know." She replied as she rubbed a little rougher on his back.

"Ow! That hurts!" Alex cried out.

"Oh sorry. Did you say something?"

"Yeah, did Wizardmon see your puppies? Did it get him hard?"

Jennifer replied by rubbing his back harder causing the fibers of the blanket to dig into his skin.

"OW!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After he had thoroughly dried himself and dressed, thanks in part to Wizardmon drying his clothes, Ray set off to find Sam about getting his tools, and consequently his vest and belt, back from her. He walked around blindly for a bit until asking one of the Gotsumon if they had seen her. In return to his question he received a rather snippy answer that she was "Over there somewhere". He hastily thanked them and then walked off in the direction they had pointed out, wondering what he had said to make them so upset. He shrugged it off as he continued his trek and soon enough found Sam kneeling before her bike, working away with something but he her body blocked his viewpoint as to what exactly she was doing. He was slightly surprised to see that she still didn't have her motorcycle leather on. He ignored it and walked over to her.

"Hey," he said when he was standing over her.

She inclined her head towards him for a second before turning back to her bike.

"Hey," she muttered in returned.

"Uh...you need any help?"

"Nah, I'm almost done here."

"Alright. So what's the damage?"

"Nothing major. There were some tiny cracks I had to patch up in a makeshift fashion, but it shouldn't cause me any problems. Hopefully I'll find the time and resources I need to really fix it."

"You sure it's going to be OK?"

"Should be. Trust me if anything starts to go wrong with this baby I'll know it."

"I hope so. Don't need anyone else getting hurt."

"Anyone else?" Sam stopped her work to think about the statement. "Oh right, Alex. You know I actually forgot that he was hurt."

"How could you? He's been complaining about it nonstop," Ray replied with a shake of his head. "I feel sorry for Jennifer."

Sam stopped her work and gave him a questioning look.

"She had to pull him out of the creek and help him dry off," he explained. "And of course he complained the whole time.

The blonde snorted. "That's not surprising. But she had pull him out of the creek? What about..."

"He still had his pants on. Which is a lot more than I had when you came sneaking up on me."

"I didn't sneak up on you!" she shouted standing up for the first time to stare in his eyes.

"Well you could have told me you were there sooner before I got out of the water!"

"How was I suppose to know you're standing up?!"

"Look I-" Ray held up his hands as a gesture to stop. "Look this isn't getting us anywhere right now. Are you done using my tools?"

"Actually yes," Sam replied, placing the one she had been holding in one of the pockets on the belt and then handing him it and his vest.

"Thank you," he replied as he took them and slipped them on. "Now I'm going to get the others together so when you finish up here find the rest of us. We'll probably be in the middle of the village."

"Alright," she nodded.

He nodded in return and turned to leave but then stopped after taking only a few steps.

"Oh by the way, have you seen Tentomon? I was looking for him while trying to find you and didn't see him anywhere."

"Probably just walking around. It is a big village after all."

"Hope that's all," Ray said, mostly to himself.

"Why's that?" Sam asked, curious as to the concern in his voice.

"I dunno. I just have this feeling that something's not right."

"You're probably just being paranoid. Not surprising after everything we've just been through."

"Yeah. And maybe being the leader is already starting to get to me."

"Hey," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We all trust you to be a good leader. And if you're concerned already that just shows you've got what it takes."

"I hope you're right," he replied, sounding less convinced.

"Of course I am. I'm always right."

"Gee with that kind of attitude maybe you should be the leader."

"Nah, the only time I want to be a leader is in traffic."

Ray let out a soft chuckled then gave her a quick goodbye before heading out to round up the others.

"Oh hey Ray," she called out to him.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking over his shoulder to her.

"You have a really cute butt."

He replied to that statement with a few mumbled words and a bright red blush forming on his cheeks. He stumbled off again, trying to remember just what he was going to do again. Unfortunately in his daze he failed to see the broad smile on Sam's face as she went about rechecking the repairs on her bike.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carrying Wizardmon, Luxmon walked back into the village. The larger Digimon was hoping to find the smaller's partner. The Gotsumon who seemed helpful earlier now seemed a little on edge bordering on rude. Luxmon decided that dealing with several small, rock-like Alex's was not something he enjoyed. It was as he was about to ask another Gotsumon for help that he saw Angewomon. Walking towards the angelic Digimon, Luxmon saw Rebecca, Jon and a short distance away, a soaking wet Digimon.

Once seeing his partner, Wizardmon tried to get out of Luxmon's grasp, but the little Digimon's struggles were futile due to the fact that he had nearly exhausted himself again. Luxmon's strong arms carefully held the wizard as he tried to escape. Once Wizardmon had realized that he was going nowhere, Luxmon walked closer to the group. He was trying to see if he could recognize the new Digimon, however the identity of the Digimon was unknown to him. Luxmon was almost beside Angewomon when he realized that Rebecca was shaking. As he had not been near enough to hear the conversation that preceded this, he had no idea why the girl was quaking. Thinking that perhaps it would be better to return later, Luxmon tried to back away only to be noticed by the angel Digimon.

"I think it would best if you stayed," she advised him. "After this little...spat is over we're going to regroup with the others."

"Perhaps. I did not want to cause Rebecca concern however. Wizardmon used up too much of his energy again." Luxmon explained to her.

"And I am fine. I CAN walk. I am merely tired." Wizardmon groused from his place in the larger Digimon's arms.

"Perhaps it should be best for you to set him down. After all, you will need your strength for when you have to carry Alex again."

"Yes, I see what you mean. That human loudmouth is as heavy as the wizard." Luxmon said as he set Wizardmon down carefully.

"Thank you." Wizardmon said as he stood beside the two other Digimon.

Rebecca turned to get away from both Jon and his partner Digimon, as she turned she saw Wizardmon and Luxmon standing beside Angewomon. Walking over to them, ignoring Quillmon, the girl still shook a little but it was barely visible now. "Wizardmon. Are you ok? You look tired."

"I will be alright Rebecca." The wizard replied to her question.

"That's good to know. You can help keep that....thing away." Rebecca said as she pointed towards Quillmon.

"Like I'd want to be near an ugly human female like you," the Digimon retorted.

"Like you'd know what a beautiful human female looks like." Rebecca replied, trying to put her emotionless mask back in place.

"I know it wouldn't be you."

Quillmon then let out a shout of pain as Jon conked him on the head with the end of his sword.

"What was that for?!" he shouted.

"For being an asshole," Jon replied.

"Who is this annoying Digimon?" Luxmon asked Angewomon.

"Quillmon, my partner. Unfortunately," Jon muttered.

"For me," Quillmon added.

"Shut up."

"Make me!"

"You really want me to?"

"That is something I would love to see." Rebecca commented.

"So would I..." Jon said threateningly.

"Please, let us just go find the others," Angewomon spoke up, trying to break up another fight.

"Fine." Rebecca said as she walked away from the group, Wizardmon trying to keep up with her long strides.

"I take it they did not get along." Luxmon commented to the angel Digimon.

"Not at all," she replied with a sigh. "It's making things very difficult."

"I can see that. What happened to cause Rebecca's distress?"

"He has a big mouth," Jon answered him, pointing down to Quillmon.

"No, I just tell the truth," the Digimon defended himself.

"Well there is such a thing as withholding that truth so you don't hurt people's feelings."

"Not in my world."

"Must be a pretty small world."

"Hey!"

"Perhaps you should be silent. It would be best for all. We will not be forced to silence you." Luxmon growled at the small Digimon.

"Ooooh, I'm scared! Big old, tentacle headed Digimon is gonna hurt me!"

Picking Quillmon up, Luxmon raised the little Digimon up until he could look him in the eye. "I will if I must. And I assure you it will NOT be pleasant, or something to write home about."

"Hey come on, I was just kidding around," Quillmon replied then chuckled nervously.

"Do whatever you want to him. Not gonna hurt me any," Jon remarked casually.

"Some help you are."

"You brought it on yourself."

"See that you keep your 'kidding' to yourself." The large Digimon said as he dropped Quillmon.

Again, Quillmon let out a sound of pain as he fell rather unceremoniously on his behind. He straightened himself up and then followed by behind the small group, making sure to keep out of Luxmon's reach.

While Quillmon had distanced himself from the group, Jon walked over to Rebecca so he could more easily talk to the dark skinned girl.

"Sorry about what he said," he apologized for his Digimon.

"Why are you sorry? He isn't. So far everyone's Digimon has fit their personality. So you must really be like him." Rebecca replied, trying to get rid of the other Digidestined.

"Oh don't insult me! Why do you think I was so adamant about NOT having him as my partner?"

"Perhaps you do not want to be faced with the truth."

"That's not it at all! I'm nothing like him!"

"That has yet to be seen."

"Well who are you to judge anyone? You've barely said anything to the rest of us and when you do it's usually so emotionless it's hard to tell what you think."

"I judge from what I see. And it is far better to not be an open book for anyone who knows how to read can manipulate you."

"So judge a book by its cover, that's a great way to go through life."

"Considering how it usually proves to be the same as the text, it suits me fine." Rebecca argued back, getting annoyed at Jon. He had said she judged people, but he was doing the same thing.

"Well that's going to come back and haunt you someday. And probably soon," he said, then looked directly into her eyes. "Look, we're going to have to work as a team which means eventually you're going to have to trust someone, most likely with your life."

"We shall see whose life needs to be entrusted."

"I guess we will."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After nearly half an hour, the group finally reassembled in the center of the Gotsumon village. They gathered around an old stone picnic table and after Quillmon was introduced to everyone else, they began to plan their next move.

Unfortunately, the one who needed to be listening the most, their newly appointed leader Ray, was too busy trying to think of where Tentomon might have gone too. He discreetly looked around to see if he could spot the red, bug type Digimon among all the dark gray stone Gotsumon, but he still had no luck. It was like Tentomon had simply disappeared and it made that bad feeling he had early grow even stronger. Something really wasn't right here. Were the supposedly friendly Gotsumon just setting them up for a trap? Or was it simply that one of the other Digimon that had attacked them early had come back and kidnapped him? Neither of them were a very good option but if they first one was true then...

"Hey Ray!" Sam shouted in his ear, causing him to jump slightly.

"What?!" he shouted back, still surprised.

"You weren't paying attention, were you?"

"Uh...well...no," he sighed, lowering his head. He raised it after a second to look at the others. "Sorry guys I'm just worried about Tentomon."

"Where is bug-boy anyway?" Alex asked.

"That's just it, I don't know," Ray admitted.

"You lost your Digimon....That's just great." Alex retorted.

"Hey at least I have a partner!"

"I don't see him anywhere. Maybe he decided to take a hike."

"With this bunch of jerkwads around I'm not surprised," Quillmon spoke up. "No self-respecting Digimon would be caught dead with you humans."

"So I guess you don't respect yourself then," Jon retorted.

Quillmon's eyes widened at that. "No! I meant....I just...shut up!"

"Why do we have to put up with two Alex's?" Jennifer muttered to Jon.

"Because someone up there hates us. Especially me," he replied.

"Figures. We can't ditch him can we?"

"No. Believe me I already asked."

"Damn. I guess we'll just have to put up with the two of them. I wish I had brought more aspirin now." Jennifer joked quietly.

"You and me both. At least you don't have to have him as your partner," Jon muttered and laid his hand on the table.

"If I did, I'd probably end up killing him." Jennifer replied as she patted Jon's hand in sympathy.

"OK, OK, Jon's partner sucks can we please get back to what we're going to do next?" Sam interrupted.

"Obviously we need to find Tentomon. Ray needs him if they are going to fight." Rebecca said calmly.

"Right. So we should all go looking for him," Ray said then was about to stand up when a group of Gotsumon walked up to them.

"Before you exert yourself further maybe you all should have a drink," the lead one offered. "You wouldn't want to dehydrate yourselves, now would you?"

"I must admit, I am thirsty." Luxmon told the group.

"Yeah it would be nice to have some water I didn't just bath in," Jon added.

"Now that you mention it...I'm kinda thirsty too." Jennifer grinned.

"Hey I'll take anything that's free," Quillmon spoke up.

"I bet you would," Jon muttered.

Rebecca nodded her agreement, "Something to drink would be welcome."

Angewomon simply nodded in agreement.

While the others accepted the offered water, Ray initially declined. He wasn't trying to be rude but that uneasy feeling continued to gnaw at the back of his mind. That combined with the need to find Tentomon made it hard for him to sit back and relax.

"Uh...look I appreciate the offer and all, but I think I'll walk around a bit. I need to find my partner," he explained.

"And having some water in your system will only help you," Sam advised.

"I don't have time for this."

"So you'd rather just walk around with a parched mouth? None of us have had any water for about two days now. That's not healthy at all."

"I'll be fine. It'll just be for a little while."

"Fine! Go off and get yourself killed for all I care."

"Maybe I will."

Jennifer, realizing that Ray would most likely end up getting himself hurt if he left the group now, stood up and put a hand on Ray's shoulder, "Sorry Boss-man, but I can't let that happen. We ALL need the water."

"But I-" Ray started to protest.

"But nothing. Sit," Sam replied, pulling him back down into his chair.

Ray let out a grunt of protest but caved in and decided to at least try some of the water. Besides if he didn't, Sam and Jennifer might hurt him.

With the decision made, the lead Gotsumon gestured for another one to bring forth a loaded tray with hollowed out stones they used for cups. Once they were all passed out he one carrying the tray stepped back from the table, followed quickly be his brethren. They passed an unseen devious smile between themselves as the humans and their Digimon began to take long sips from the cups.

"This water tastes different...what did you put in it?" Wizardmon asked the lead Gotsumon.

"Just a few special ingredients we have," one of the Gotsumon spoke up.

"Oh? What kind of 'special' ingredients? And when do they kick in?" Quillmon asked, taking another sip.

"Oh it should kick in really soon. You should feel a lot better." Another Gotsumon replied.

"Wait? Just what are you-?" Ray started to ask a bout of light-headness suddenly overcame him.

He tried to continue his sentence but the world disappeared into a fog of swirling colors. His whole body seemed both heavy and distance at the same time. He barely felt his mouth move as he tried to form coherent word and slurred something out before his head plopped down on the stone table.

"Ray! Hey what did you....do?" Jennifer asked, standing up quickly before she started to sway. She seemed to move in slow motion as she collapsed onto her chair.

The others quickly followed this pattern and within a minute they were all laying hunched over the table. The Gotsumon laughed at their own handy work before they began setting up their captives to present to their master.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rebecca groaned at the pounding in her head as she awoke. When she tried to wipe the fog away from her eyes, she realized that she was tied up and could hardly move her arms or legs. Great, tied up again, she thought as she tried to wiggle the ropes around in hope of loosening them. It was only when her wrists were getting raw that she realized that the ropes were tied too securely.

"At least Jennifer's not awake yet." Rebecca murmured to herself.

She heard another groan next to her and looked over to see Sam walking up and pulling at her ropes as well.

"Oh this is just great," she muttered. "This is really starting to become a bad habit with us."

"I know. At least Jennifer isn't awake yet." Rebecca replied in a quiet voice.

"HEY! Get these damn things off ME!" Alex yelled as he woke up.

"Eh? What the hell? Did I hook up with some really freaky girl last night?" Quillmon muttered as he came too as well.

"Damn. I was hoping that was just a bad dream," Jon groaned.

Luxmon and Wizardmon woke silently. They looked at each other and groaned at the situation they were in. Luxmon angry with himself for getting caught again. The wizard was disappointed in himself for getting caught by such a simple trick.

"What happened?" Jennifer asked still slightly dazed by the drugs coursing through her body.

"We were captured. *Again*," Sam retorted.

"I told you something didn't feel right here," Ray said after had woken up.

"Is this really the time to discuss this?"

"Where is Angewomon?" Rebecca asked as she took a total of those who were awake already. "Or Wizardmon and Luxmon."

"The wizard and I are awake." Luxmon responded for himself and the smaller Digimon.

"Over here," a new voice spoke up.

Everyone looked as best they could to see Tentomon tied up next to a still unconscious Angewomon.

"Hey buddy, there you are!" Ray spoke up.

"Yes, I was detained by the Gotsumon. I over heard them planning...well this."

"Nice of ya ta tell us, BEFORE this happened bugboy." Alex yelled from where he was, his knees hurting from the ropes tied around them.

"I was going to but they blindsided me."

"Great going Buggy."

"Hey leave him alone! I'm sure he tried his best!" Ray defended his partner.

"Well obviously it wasn't good enough, geek-boy." Alex retorted.

"Enough!" another voice cried out, revealing to them the group of Gotsumon standing nearby. "Damn you humans are annoying! You should be thankful we don't just kill you right here."

"Untie me and say that ya walkin' gravel pile!" Alex yelled at the Gotsumon.

"No. We're saving you for our master."

"Damnit! At least loosen the ropes on my knees. Yeah little rock jerks, they'll kill me before this master of yours shows up."

"Good. That'll probably be less painful than what our master has in store for you?"

"Fuck you you little turds." Alex yelled before he managed to turn his body away from the Gotsumon.

"This is going to be bad." Jennifer muttered to Jon beside her.

"Very bad. If I could just..." Jon trailed off as he struggled against his bonds to try and reach his sword.

"What are you trying to do?" Jennifer asked quietly, hoping to avoid being noticed by the Gotsumon.

"They didn't take my sword away. If could just get unsheathe it I could cut our ropes."

"Where is it? Maybe I can reach it." Jennifer whispered to him.

"On my belt, under my coat," he replied, keeping an eye on his captures to make sure they weren't paying attention to them.

"Alright." Jennifer said as she rolled over so that her back was to Jon's. She then began searching for the handle to Jon's sword, in hopes of getting free from the ropes. After a few attempts to get the sword, she managed to get one of her hands on the handle. The only problem now...would be to draw the sword but not hurt Jon at the same time. Jennifer hesitated, trying to think of a solution to the new problem.

"Hey! What are you two doing?!" one of the guarding Gotsumon asked, walking over to them.

"Shit! Quick, think of something," Jon whispered.

"Play along." Jennifer whispered back and she let go of the sword handle and quickly found Jon's hands. Grasping them as tightly as she could, she lowered her head to her chest and made it look as though she was crying.

A questioning look crossed Jon's face for just a second before he realized what she was doing.

"I'm just trying to comfort her. She's very emotional and doesn't do well in these situations," he "explained".

"So instead of just being weak physically you humans are weak emotionally as well. Oh yeah, I REAAAALLLY have faith in YOU saving this world," Quillmon retorted.

"Would you shut up just this once?" His partner returned.

"I don't want to die here." Jennifer wailed convincingly, "I want to go home and get married and have a family."

She continued her act as long as she could before she 'broke down' to sobbing again. Her head curled to her chest, and her hair covering most of her face from the Gotsumon.

"Can't someone make her shut up?!" Another of the Gotsumon yelled, holding his stony ears. "This is annoying!"

Jennifer sobbed then let out another wail. And once she had made sure the Gotsumon were distracted, she let go of Jon's hands and grabbed the sword's handle again. Carefully pulling it out from its scabbard.

"Be VERY careful with that," Jon advised, suddenly regretting where he placed the sharp weapon

All Jennifer could do was nod as she was still wailing to keep the Gotsumon distracted. Slowly, she moved the sword handle up until her fingers could feel the blade. Stretching her wrists as far as she could she carefully grabbed the sword and began using it like a saw to cut through the ropes. She had to work slow to avoid cutting herself, but at the same time she realized that she had to work as quickly as she could, her wailing wouldn't distract the Gotsumon forever.

"Hey, I think she's up to something," a Gotsumon said to another.

"Looks like it," another replied.

"Maybe we should go check it out."

They two nodded to each another and started to walk over to the fidgeting girl, but were stopped short when Sam tilted her body upwards and practically fell down on one of them.

"Hey! Get back over there you stupid girl!" the one still standing yelled and kicked her in the stomach.

At the moment, Sam regretted leaving her leather suit off because it would have provided more protection from the kick, but she pushed back the pain as the Digimon continued his assault. As long as they focused on her, then they wouldn't notice Jennifer's actions.

"Stop it! Leave her alone!" Ray cried out.

"You want some too?!" The Gotsumon closest to him threatened.

I hate it when I'm right, Jennifer thought as she continued to saw through the tough rope on her wrists. It wasn't until her wrists started spreading farther apart that she realized that she had cut the rope. Getting her hands free of the rope, she turned rolled over carefully and brought her hands around so that she could use the sword to free Jon's hands. She'd worry about the ropes on her knees and feet after she got the sword's true wielder free.

Jon struggled against the ropes as he felt them losing their grip. He just need a little more slack and he'd be able to get free. He stared at the rocky Digimon staring down at the now huddled over Sam, laughing at their handy work. When the ropes were finally lose enough, he slipped his wrists out, drew his sword out the rest of the way, quickly cut the bonds holding his ankles and then sprang to his feet. He cut down the two standing nearest him, surprised that his sword actually cut through stone and wasn't damaged, then quickly turned to Jennifer and sliced the rest of her ropes.

"Go! Free the others!" he ordered

"Right!" Jennifer said as she raced over to where Ray was. Kneeling down she began to fight with the knots in the rope.

"Worry about me later, free Luxmon right now to help out Jon," he requested.

"But if I get you free, you can fuse with Tentomon and fight." Jennifer replied as she continued to struggle with Ray's ropes.

"But I can't do that with them on my back," he nodded towards the approaching Gotsumon.

Jennifer struggled with indecision for a moment. Ray was the leader, and so he should be the first one freed, but he was telling her to free her Digimon instead. Luxmon was strong and a good fighter, but would he and Jon be enough to keep the Gotsumon away? Coming to a decision, Jennifer looked down at Ray, "Alright, I'll go. But I'm coming right back here when I get Luxmon freed."

"Alright. I'll be here. Hopefully."

"Right...." Jennifer said as she moved over to where Luxmon lay beside Wizardmon. Going to work as quickly as she could on the knots, she tried to ignore the voice in her hear berating her for leaving Ray at the Gotsumon's mercy, or lack there of.

"You did what was necessary. My strength will hold a good number of the Gotsumon off while you can free the others." Luxmon told Jennifer, as if sensing her unease.

"Well I still feel lousy about leaving him there." Jennifer said as she managed to loosen on of the knots. "These stupid knots are going to take forever to loosen."

"You are doing all you can do." Luxmon replied.

"Well it feels like I should be doing more."

"Not even Angewomon can be in two places at once." Wizardmon counseled the girl.

"Maybe not. But I just wish I could do something more." Jennifer replied as she pulled on the ropes holding Luxmon. A grunt escaped her as she fell back and landed on her backside. She looked down and saw that she was holding a piece of rope in her hand. She quickly looked to Luxmon's wrists and saw that the ropes had snapped and his arms were now free.

"How'd I do that?" She asked quietly, confused as to what happened.

"There is little time to think Jennifer. Snap the other two ropes so that I might fight while you rescue the others." Luxmon yelled at her, pulling her out of her thoughts.

Jennifer quickly set to work of breaking the other ropes. She tried grabbing a handful at first, but the ropes were too strong. So she snapped one section of the rope and let Luxmon deal with unwinding it from around his knees as she worked on the ropes holding his feet. As soon as the rope had snapped, Jennifer was up and running back towards Ray.

By this time, Jon had his hands full with keeping the ever-growing horde of Gotsumon at bay. It seemed that every time he took one down, two more would takes it place. He finally fell when one of them jumped him from him behind and forced him to the ground. The rest of them moved in and began to punch and kick him. Luxmon rushed over towards Jon, in hope of helping the boy. The Digimon was stopped by several Gotsumon intent on beating the resistance out of him.

It was as he attempted to battle through the smaller Digimon that Luxmon heard it. A loud rumbling coming through the trees. As the rumbling got louder, the ground began to shake. He didn't even realize what was causing the noise until a loud booming voice called out.

"Leave the humans for me. They're MINE!"

"Oh what NOW?!" Sam cried out.

"Now I kill you humans!" Stegomon growled to the group.

Ray's eyes widened when he saw the dinosaur Digimon. He recognized him as part of the group that had attacked them. The Gotsumon did keep mentioning "the master", maybe this is who they meant. And that meant...

"The Gotsumon were in league with those creeps along!" he concluded out loud.

"No! Really?!" Sam replied with heavy sarcasm.

Ray ignored the remark and focused instead on Jennifer.

"How are you coming with the ropes?" he asked with a hint of desperation in his voice.

"On the...last one for you." Jennifer replied as the rope snapped in her hand. She got up quickly, letting Ray worry about getting out of the broken ropes, and went to were Tentomon was laying and quickly set to work getting the bug Digimon free.

Once he freed himself, Ray stood up and finally took in the situation around him. The Gotsumon were still keeping Luxmon and Jon busy and were starting to advance on him and Stegomon was glaring down at him. He had never felt so helpless in his life. He wasn't a fighter on his own and even if he was he didn't have anything that could hold off any of them. He had to get to Tentomon and free them, then they could merge into TenchoTentomon and hopefully fight some of these creeps off. The only problem was GETTING to him.

Jennifer set herself to work getting Tentomon free as soon as she had gotten over to him. It hadn't been easy with the Gotsumon trying to block her way, but she had made it. The problem she was finding now was how to snap the ropes on Tentomon's arms, without hurting the bug. His arms were so small and the rope was tried quite tightly.

To her left, Ray pushed aside as many of the ravenous Gotsumon as he could, trying to close the gap between himself and the girl trying to free his partner. As he ran, one of the Gotsumon appeared in front of him and acting purely on instinct, Ray jumped over the stony creature and launched himself over to where Jennifer was still working on Tentomon's ropes. Unfortunately, he had put a little too much power into his leap and quickly realized he was going to crash right into her.

"Incoming!" He shouted in a panic.

Jennifer looked up at Ray's shout and then quickly pushed herself back to avoid getting hit by the flying boy. Unfortunately this action caused him to land face down in the dirt. He groaned as he picked his head up and looked at her.

"Just...came to help," he muttered

"Then start on the ropes on his legs." Jennifer said as she went back to trying to get Tentomon's arms free.

"Right," he said as he shook his head to clear the cobwebs.

With the two of them working together they were able to free Tentomon in only a couple of minutes. When that task was accomplished, Ray instructed Jennifer to free the others and then turned to his partner.

"You ready?" he asked.

"I think yes," Tentomon replied, flying up to boy's eye level.

Ray nodded and then pulled out his Digivice.

"Then let's do this. Fusion evolution!" he shouted.

The now familiar light engulfed the two and within seconds the merged warrior known as TechnoTentomon stood in their place. He glanced around at the suddenly frighten Gotsumon and smirked as they backed up.

"So now who wants a piece?" he offered.

"I do." Stegomon's loud voice came from behind the group of Gotsumon.

"Well then bring it on!" TenchoTentomon challenge, taking a fighting stance.

"Gladly!" The dinosaur yelled as he charged towards the fused fighter.

The other fighter watched as the large reptile Digimon approached him. He narrowed his eyes behind his bug eye like goggles and planted his feet firmly on the ground. For his plan to work he had to wait for just the right moment. He steadied his nerves as the lumbering Digimon drew closer and closer until finally he was only a few sort feet away. That's when TechnoTentomon struck. The two insectoid arms on his backpack flung over his shoulders and charged up.

"Static Shock!" he shouted as he unleashed the deadly blasts of electricity.

His eyes widened in shock, however, when he noticed that his attack was having no effect whatsoever on his opponent. Stegomon took advantage of TechnoTentomon's shock and finished his charge. Ramming into the human/bug fusion, the dinosaur used his strength to throw the other fighter back. The fused warrior flew through the air, and many trees, before finally hitting the ground and sliding to a halt. He groaned and slowly picked himself up.

"Alright computer, give me the good stuff," he muttered as he flipped open the small computer on his forearm, but the answers were less than satisfying. "What do you mean 'No information available'?! Dammit. Now what am I suppose to do?"

"How about fight me." The dinosaur Digimon said as he plowed his way through the trees to where TechnoTentomon was.

Without another word, the human/bug merger fired up his jet back and took to the air. He then cut the jetpack engines and fell back down towards Stegomon. He buried the heel of his foot in the Digimon's head, dizzying him for a moment then wrapped his arms around the outstretched neck and then...tried to think of what else he could do.

While TechnoTentomon fought with Stegomon, Jennifer did her best to free the others. She had only managed to free Sam since the battle had begun, thanks to the Gotsumon interfering.

"I wish these annoying rock jerks would go away." Jennifer said as she tried to free Rebecca.

"No kidding," Sam replied as she tried to fight one off.

"Damn, they tied these rope tight." Jennifer commented as she struggled to snap the ropes on Rebecca's arms.

"I know. They have been digging into my wrists since I woke up." Rebecca commented.

While the girls struggled with the Gotsumon and freeing the rest of the group, TechnoTentomon continued on with his own fight. He had resolved to keep punching Stegomon in the head but they had little to no effect on him.

"Damn! What's this hide for yours made of?!" he cried out in exasperation.

"Give it up kid. You'll never beat me. I'm too tough for you." Stegomon grunted as he threw his head to the side, almost knocking the fused warrior down.

TechnoTentomon hung on for dear life as the angered Digimon in his grasp thrashed violently.

*I really should have thought out this plan better,* he thought ruefully.

Giving one final thrust of his head, Stegomon broke free from TechnoTentomon's grasp and whipped his spiked tail around to hit the slightly dazed Digimon. The Digimon in question flew limply through the air and once again landed harshly on the ground, this time near where the rest of the group was still fighting off the irate Gotsumon. He groaned and tried to stand up but he was still too out of his to keep his balance and fell back down.

"Damn idiot can't even fight!" Alex griped from where he was propped up against a tree.

"Shut UP Alex!" Jennifer replied as she broke the last ropes that bound Angewomon.

"Yeah, I don't see you doing much!" Jon added, from where he was holding an injured rib and still trying to fed off the stony horde with his sword

"Like I can even STAND! I've got no feeling in either leg freak-boy!" Alex yelled at Jon.

"Just shut up already Alex! Before I knock you out!" Jennifer said as she rushed past him and towards the group Gotsumon. She had finally gotten everyone free to fight.

"So now that we're all free what are we suppose to do? If that thing can beat TechnoTentomon the rest of us don't stand much of a chance," Sam cautioned

"Not unless someone else can figure out how to Digivolve." Rebecca stated, wondering if she would be the next one to evolve like Ray had.

"Damnit! I hate being useless! There's gotta be SOMETHING I can do!" Jennifer yelled out, her frustration and rage fueling her swings at the Gotsumon.

While she was trying to vent her frustration out on the small rock Digimon, Jennifer didn't see her Digivice's screen glow bright. It wasn't until she was encompassed in the light that Jennifer realized that something was happening. Staring into the brightness, she saw the outline of Luxmon. Just looking at his outline seemed to increase the connection between him and her. It was if they could predict what the other would do next.

*What....what's going on?* Jennifer thought.

*We are digivolving to help the others.* Luxmon thought back

*Will we be able to defeat him?*

*I do not know Jennifer. But we shall fight bravely.*

*Alright. Let's do it.*

Their bodies began to merge and fuse together, creating a new Digimon in blinding light.

"Hey, whoa, what the hell's going on?" Quillmon asked, shielding his eyes from the light.

"They're merging together. Apparently we can all do that as some point," Jon explained.

"So at one point I'm going to fuse with you? Oh that's just great!"

"And you didn't notice this when Ray and Tentomon Digivolved together?"

"No, I wasn't really paying attention."

The light then shattered around the new Digimon and standing in place of the Jennifer was an female warrior. Over six feet tall, she stood dressed in ragged loincloth and bra. Round armor plates sat on her shoulders while a quiver of arrows and a sword hung on her back. She held a small shield on her left forearm and a bow in her left hand. A winged helmet protected her head but left her face open. Her cheeks were striped with green and brown vertical stripes that started above the eyes and ended at her chin. Her now long brown hair flowed from the bottom of the helmet in several tiny braids. The sandals that graced her feet laced up her shins, seeming to hold pieces of leather to her lower legs. There were also small armor plates protecting her knees.

Her stance told anyone who looked at her that she meant business, but it was when she opened her eyes that grabbed everyone's attention. Her pupils were almost solid black, and seemed to see into a person's or Digimon's very soul. The warrior glared at the Gotsumon.

"Well...uh...get her!" one of the Gotsumon shouted.

"Uh...hey didn't Stegomon say he wanted to take care of the humans?" another one quickly spoke up.

"Yeah!" one more agreed. "So...we shouldn't try to make him mad by taking away his challenge."

"Now...she could help me any day. Especially dressed like that." Alex said as he tilted his head sideways as he looked at the new Digimon.

"Of course YOU would notice that," Sam scolded him.

"Well," Jon started looking the new arrival up and down, "he does have a point."

"You too?!"

He shrugged an apology. "Sorry, can't help it."

"I'm surrounded by pervs."

The female warrior, ignored their comments and drew an arrow from her quiver. Drawing it in her bow, she sighted along the shaft of the arrow. She aimed and let her arrow fly. Mere seconds later a cry could be heard from the trees, a cry that sounded very much like Stegomon. Judging that she had time to let her guard down, the warrior walked over to where TechnoTentomon lay and extended her arm to help the other fusion warrior to his feet.

By now, the bug/human hybrid had finally regained enough strength to begin to pull himself up. He noticed the hand in front of his face and took the offering. Once he was on his feet he looked the newest Digivovled warrior over and then looked back at the group to see how was missing.

"Jennifer and Luxmon?" he asked, turning back to the female.

"Amazonmon." The warrior replied.

"Well it defiantly fits. So where's Stegomon?"

"In there, and in pain." Amazonmon said, indicating the near-by trees.

"What?!" TechnoTentomon shouted, his eyes nearly breaking his goggles as they threatened to bug out of his skull. "How did you do that?!"

"My arrows are stronger than his flesh. And I think I hit him in the softer areas of his neck." The female fusion told her friend.

"Softer spots?" the other replied, lifting his forearm computer to his face. "This thing said there was no info on him."

"A hunter can always spot the softest portions of skin on any animal. Technology can't quite master that, yet. No offense TechnoTentomon, but I don't think your computer can know everything."

"Guess so," he sighed, lowering his arm. "So anyway, shouldn't we go out and find him?"

"Why waste the energy? He is coming to us." The Amazon warrior said as she took another arrow from her quiver and drew it in her bow. "He will come out of the trees in front of us."

"You sure?"

TechnoTentomon had barely finished his question when the dinosaur Digimon rushed out of the trees straight at him. An arrow lodged in the right side of his neck.

"Yes, I'm sure." Amazonmon told the other fusion warrior, a bit of humor in her voice.

"Uh...guess so. So then, how do you want to do this?"

"Quickly." She said as she fired her drawn arrow at Stegomon's throat, lodging it in the left side.

A new roar of rage came from the dinosaur and he tried to attack Amazonmon, only to have his charge be met by her shield and strength.

TechnoTentomon watched the two struggle chided himself for not being able to help. He was suppose to the leader and yet here he was just standing around and letting his teammate do all the fighting. But he had already tried to stop Stegomon once and failed...miserable. What else could he-

"Wait a minute," whispered to himself as an idea began to form. "Hey Amazonmon, think you can hold him off for a bit longer?"

"Easily."

"Good. I got an idea, but you're going to have to move when I tell you to."

"That should not be a problem." Amazonmon replied.

TechnoTentomon nodded and then readied himself for his plan. His earlier electrical attacks had been too unfocused and board and that's how the dinosaur's tough hide had been able to absorb his attacks. But if he focused them on just biggest of the metal plates sticking out of Stegomon's back then maybe it could work.

*Alright, I'm going doing to get one shot at this so I better make it count,* he mentally prepared himself.

He flipped up his electrodes and then flew towards the large Digimon. He slammed into him and did very little to actually hurt them then quickly pressed the ends of his weapons on the largest plate he could find.

"Alright, move!" he ordered Amazonmon.

The female warrior nodded her head curtly and quickly jumped out of the way. Leaving the two other Digimon to fight. With her out of range, TenchoTentomon immediately shot massive volts of electricity through the dinosaur. As he had guessed, the focused attack on the metal plate caused the electricity to travel down into Stegomon's body. He howled and pain and thrashed about, trying to shake lose the cause of his discomfort. Amazonmon watched the thrashing dinosaur closely, she drew her sword and held it at the ready, waiting for her moment to strike. She waited until Stegomon was finally able to throw the Bug warrior off. Rushing in as the dinosaur Digimon reared, she thrust her sword into the soft underbelly of the beast. The Amazon warrior barely had time to remove her sword before Stegomon began to pixilate and his data evaporated into the air.

"It's done." Amazonmon said as she sheathed her sword and turned to help TechnoTentomon to his feet again.

She took a single step forward before a blast of blue energy caused the ground to erupt in front of her, knocking her back. She and the others all looked skyward to find the source of the attack and to their horror saw a pale female Digimon in a dark blue dress and hair staring down at them with a confident smirk on her face.

"Stegomon always was a big lummox, but he did make for a good opening act. Now it's time for the main event," she stated gleefully.

"Bring it on." The Amazon replied, drawing an arrow.

"Hey, which one is this again?" TenchoTentomon asked the other fused warrior.

"KuroiHimon," the floating Digimon answered. "And at the risk of sound cliche, it'll be the last name any of you ever hear."

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