Title: Return to the Frontier

Author: AikoNamika

Warnings: Original Characters (attempts not to make them Mary Sues/Gary Stus, but they're still original), language, occasional violence, an author who's often just making things up as she goes along.

Pairings: None at the moment, and if any it will probably just be vaguely hinted.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon: Frontier, or any of its related merchandise. They belong to rich people in big offices, while I'm just a girl with personality problems. However, all original characters, original Digimon, and the plot line belong to me, and there will be severe consequences if I see anyone stealing!

Note: I'm working with a combination of the English anime and what information I can glean off of websites – if something seems completely screwed up, well then you know why.

Additional Note: The little commentary-thingies at the end of the "episodes" will be done by my muse/plot-bunny wrangler, Nall. Just so you know who the heck he is. ::nods::

Another Additional Note: Review responses are at the end.

Nall: Well, the gang's split up to go look for the new Legendary Warriors, and lucky Takuya got to go to the mountains and deal with Moiraemon, the Warrior of Earth. She put him down pretty quickly, but he's at least gotten her to listen to what he said about her being human. Before he could do anything else, though, she knocked him into a rock and took off. Better luck next time!

Chapter 3: Let's Rock and Roll!

Takuya woke up early, the faint morning light greeting him as he opened his eyes and slowly levered himself into a sitting position. He grinned as he realized that he didn't hurt nearly as much as he should – being half Digimon did have its advantages, he reflected. He healed a lot faster than in human form, and the shift from Digimon to human or vice-versa seemed to take care of a lot of wounds.

"Okay – so last night I found the Warrior of Earth. Then I proceeded to try and convince said Warrior that she was human." He paused for a second, and then his brow furrowed. "I wonder why Moiraemon was female. I mean, Grumblemon wasn't...Maybe it has to do with the Spirits changing to reflect their new bearers? Or something like that..." He shrugged. "Well, getting thrown into a rock wasn't too fun, but at least I got it through her head, or at least partially through her head. I just hope I don't have to do too much more to finally get her back to human."

Takuya finally stood up the rest of the way, stretching out and looking around the clearing. The damage from last night was a lot more obvious in the morning light – the smashes and slices from Moiraemon, and the scorch marks from his Salamander Break; he winced a bit at destroying that beauty, and then sighed heavily. He hadn't come to the Digital World to destroy it even more – he'd come here to help keep it from succumbing to the darkness that had overtaken it this once more, so that he would never have to see it in the falling-apart state that it had been in when he'd first traveled here. It had been terrible to watch the beautiful place slowly disappear last time – he'd be damned if he let that happen again!

"Of course, with my luck it'll take a month to actually track her down, then we'll go through another battle like that and then she'll disappear again – and so on and so forth. Oh well - I guess I'd better start looking for her again," he muttered, and then picked up his backpack, scuffing dirt over his campfire and starting down the trail once more. He pulled out the meat apple he'd saved for himself last night, munching on it a bit as he walked and thought. Fortunately, chicken didn't taste too bad when cold.

For some reason the mountains didn't seem quite as beautiful today – the air was colder and had a chill to it, a hint of darkness that had been absent from the warmth of yesterday. There weren't any other Digimon anymore, not even the few he'd seen the previous day, and the all-encompassing silence unnerved him in a way he hadn't anticipated at all. Idly he wondered if the change in his surroundings might reflect the battle that had happened last night – Moiraemon was a Warrior of Earth, maybe the mountains themselves (her element of earth) were reflection her mood. Maybe he'd gotten through to her last night, at least partially.

"I hope so. I also hope she got a good look at the guy who trapped her like that – if we know what he looks like, this search could go a lot faster," he mumbled to himself. Takuya didn't want to have to spend forever trying to convince Moiraemon that she was who he said she was, and for a moment a memory ran through his mind – Beowolfmon and Duskmon battling it out, neither willing to concede to the other, Kouji trying to convince the other to become a human again as Kouichi snarled his hatred of his own twin brother. That battle had shook him far more than he'd expected it to, the knowledge that brother was fighting brother like in the American Civil War so long ago...but it was worse than even that, because both fighters were, at heart, only kids. They'd been eleven years old then, and they'd faced things that many adults could never have survived, and come through it all fairly intact – heck even Kouichi managed to wake up and be with his brother. He shook the melancholy thoughts out of his head and hoped to high heavens that Moiraemon wasn't somehow secretly his sister or anything weird like that, because that would have just been too much to stand...

Takuya was prepared for a long walk with several hours spent looking in every nook and cranny for the other Legendary Warrior. He wasn't prepared for her to suddenly appear right in front of him on the path, her eyes – which he could now see were pale gray – glaring at him fiercely from behind her helm.

"What did you do to me?" Moiraemon's harsh question startled Takuya, and he took a step back, dropping his bag to the ground to keep it out of his way.

"What do you mean by that?! The only time I even touched you last night was to put you into a hold, and then you threw me into a rock!" The accusation had put him on the defensive, and when he was on the defensive, he didn't make the smartest decisions too often.

"You cast some sort of spell! Played with my mind! Now I doubt everything around me and it's all your FAULT!" Her voice rose into a shriek, and he started, then yelled and tumbled backward away from her blade as she slashed at him. Takuya scrambled away again, yanking out his D-Tector as fast as he could.

"EXECUTE! SPIRIT EVOLUTION!" He was surrounded for a moment by Digicode and then with a shout, "Agnimon!" the Flame Warrior appeared. With barely a second to spare, he lifted his arms, the metal armor blocking the blow, allowing him to keep himself from being cleaved in half. "Look, I don't want to hurt you!"

"Then why did you tell me those lies?!" She leapt back, extending a hand outwards. "Granite Barrage!" Stones were flung at him, and Agnimon did his best to dodge them all, though several struck true. However, those stones also loosed the tight reign he'd held on his temper. He was sick and tired of simply playing keep away with this Digimon, and he wanted her to know that he wasn't just your ordinary enemy!

"That's it! Burning Salamander!!!" He spun about in place, flames encircling him as he then leapt forward, slamming a kick towards her, the flames blasting her as well.

"Arg! You little...Boulder Slice!" He leapt aside, and the battle commenced. Neither was holding back, but as Takuya had gotten a good night's sleep and food, he had a bit of advantage over Moiraemon, who had spent the entire night contemplating the words which he had told her, trying her damnest to figure out if he had been lying, wondering if he could have been telling the truth with the blankness of her memories to prove him right. 'But it's a lie, I know it is! Wouldn't I remember if I had been human? I mean...I would, wouldn't I?'

The entire night she'd been unable to sleep, wracked with doubts and fears and rages – she'd wanted to find the bloody human who had caused this and rip him to shreds, but she couldn't push herself out of the hiding place she'd claimed as her own that evening. No matter how she'd raged and sworn to kill him in her mind, some part of her cried out in protest, and that part of her was large enough to keep the rest from fulfilling that wish. So Moiraemon had been reduced to snarling at her own weakness while staring into the darkness through the entrance to her cave in fear, unable to go forward or to go back – unable to dismiss the claims entirely or prove their truth. She wished she knew what was real and what wasn't; the uncertainty was enough to drive her crazy!

Her distraction, as she became lost in her thoughts, was her undoing and Agnimon connected fully, sending her backward into the rocks behind her. She groaned in pain, her head spinning as she tried to sit up, and found she had no energy left. If she had been a normal Digimon, she would have been on the edge of devolving to her previous level, she knew that, but somehow she knew that wouldn't happen – or at least not in the way that it happened to the others.

'How could I be so weak right now? I should have been able to take him out easily!' She was nearly wailing within her head, and she stared up at the approaching Digimon with as much anger as she could manage – she couldn't seem to manage to do anything else. 'It's like I was deliberately holding back...But why?!'

It was then that Moiraemon took one last look at the black wall which blocked her memories – and saw a weakness. It was starting to crumble. Before her she could see a black bubble flickering in and out of sight, and the weaker she became the more she could see it.

Agnimon saw it too, and suddenly understanding dawned on his face. "That's it, Moiraemon. That is what is keeping you trapped like this! Destroy it, you have to!" He wasn't sure if she'd listen, considering the fact that he'd been fighting her just a few seconds ago. Darkness flickered all around her, partially seen for a while and becoming far more defined as the seconds passed. Around the edges he could catch glimpses of fractal codes as her own body tried to save her by taking her down to a lower energy level, though it was having problems because of the barrier.

He need not have worried about her willpower – she fought against the barrier, desperately trying to pierce it and free herself, find out the truth behind all of this. Her energy drained away faster and faster, and it began to get harder – then her sheer stubborn will kicked in. She would not be defeated by some black bubble! Never! With a shout she pointed her clasped hands at it – and pointed her mind toward that weakness in her mental wall that should allow it to be destroyed completely - and there was something in her grip that she didn't remember having before. Moiraemon wasn't afraid at all, because the 'something' emitted a friendly warmth that reassured her that it wasn't harmful, that it was there to help her. A light emitted from it, piercing toward the barrier with a beam from the top of the...whatever in her hands, and she yelled out as she focused everything she had on making that light go through.

Agnimon stared as the Digimon pointed her hands toward the barrier, a D-Tector that he'd never seen in her hands with light blazing from the top of it like some sort of glowing lance. Without understanding why, he lifted his own D-Tector, and light sprang from the top to match hers. The two met, burning away the darkness as they connected as a symbol appeared on both screens for just a moment – Ophanimon's symbol, the one that had brought all of them to the Digital World in the first place – and he cried out as a flash of light blinded him. When the glow faded to bearable levels and he could see once more, a girl floated in the light, her features indistinct; directly in front of her a Spirit floated, a D-Tector held loosely in her left hand. She opened dark eyes, and then the Spirit receded into the D-Tector as she fell forward onto the ground.

"Ouch..."

---

In three other parts of the Digital World the other five Legendary Warriors searched for their targets, each hoping that they'd be able to find them and save them from themselves. Izumi was flying over the range of islands where she'd found her Beast Spirit in Shutumon's form; Junpei and Tomoki foraged through a thick forest fruitlessly, looking behind every nook and cranny with no luck at all; Kouji and Kouichi were still on a Trailmon, the twins watching the passing scenery with matching dark eyes as they tried to propel themselves faster, further along the track so that they could find their target and get back to save the Digital World as soon as possible.

And somewhere in the darkness around the DigiWorld, a creature unseen by any living eye snarled in rage at its loss of the Warrior of Earth and the appearance of these more experienced fighters.

"I shall not make the same mistakes that fool Lucemon made..."

-tbc-

Nall: Geeze – what a load for a guy to bear. Now that Moiraemon is back to her human form, will she be able to remember who she was before? Even more, who is she? Takuya's gonna have a lot of fun with this one... Of course, once everyone's gotten back to the Great Angels, they're gonna have to deal with whoever that guy was...

::Offstage::

Nall: Sorry about the long wait, folks – there was a little trouble with the pacing of this chapter, and Aiko re-wrote it about fifteen times before she finally decided to split it into two chapters. If this one seems a little short, it's probably because a majority of the original text went into the next chapter – the timing was off if she ended it anywhere else (and it took her a few tries to find were to end, too).

Aiko: As my dearest muse said, I sincerely apologize for my long absence – I hope the gap between this chapter and the next is a lot shorter (and it should be, seeing as the next chapter is almost complete...). School's going to be interfering with my writing time a lot, but I'll do my best to get this story written in a timely fashion!

Nall: On that note, Aiko works best when she knows that people like her work – yes, that was a very unsubtle hint to review! Both of us love hearing from those who read this fic, even if it is just a "good fic" or even a "u suck." Okay, we don't really like the second type, but if you want to offer us constructive criticism, we'll love you forever and give you sugar. Well...Aiko will, at least. ::nods and ducks as the authoress tries to hit him:: On that note, I think I'll take this chance to get out of here...

Bluesakuramon – Yep, Moiraemon and all the rest of the four new characters and their Digimon are mine and mine alone. I admit that I'm borrowing a lot of names from mythology (the Moirae were also known as the Three Furies), but the concepts of their appearances are all from my mind. And nope...Moiraemon is female. You'll just have to wait to see the rest, though...

Dragons star – I hope the pacing in this chapter works out for you...I was having a lot of trouble with it, and I still don't like how it turned out. But I didn't want to just leave it hanging either, so I'll see what I can do to revise it eventually. After I finish the story, that is... I hope I don't reveal the answers to all your questions too soon! Where would be the fun of that, after all?

Dragi – I'm glad you liked it! Hope this chapter met your expectations too!

Senagirl – I'm really pleased with the way the twins are turning out. However, if you're looking for them to "go after" someone in the romantic way, you're probably going to be disappointed. If you're looking for them to "go after" someone as in who they're searching for...Then you'll just have to find out, won't you? ::evil grin:: The same concept applies to the genders of the other three Legendary Warriors – wait and see!

Fallen Angel of Oblivion – YAY! Thank you, I love you! ::offers you massive quantities of sugar:: The sites are a lot of help! And no, this isn't a rewrite of anything – it's new for me, both in the fact that it's Digimon fanfiction, and the plot itself. Do you have any idea what the original one was? If so, could you give me the link so I'm not plagiarizing anyone? Thank you!!! By the way...Did I get the right equivalent attacks for Agnimon right? I wasn't too sure, but I did the best I could...

Scarred Dragonia – Okay! ::gives you chocolate chip cookies:: Sorry about taking so long to update, though! And you're adding my fic to your Favorite stories list?! :squeals and glomps you insanely while dancing around and yelling like a cat with its tail stepped on::

fireclaw – Eee! ::hugs fireclaw:: So cool to see you reading my fics! While I know I can write the insanely complicated rpg posts, they're not exactly conducive to casual readers – you need to have a huge vocabulary to understand most of the words I use in them, plus it takes me a good while to get each post written, even though there's really not all that much happening in them. My characters tend to be quite taciturn. Except for Kaji and Folie, of course...::gryn:: Thank you for offering to be my beta! I don't think I need to much help on this one, though some advice and constructive criticism is always welcomed – but I've got an idea for a fic that takes place mostly in the middle of the 2 universe that involves two of the 4 characters, but I'll talk to you more about that on AIM...