Prologue - Into the West

I whistled cheerfully as I fiddled with the engine of the Hummer in my garage.

Hmm… Almost done…

"Lopmon, pass me that last spark plug, eh?"

"Right Willis!"

A sudden crashing noise from behind me caused me to jerk upward, hitting my head on the hood. I turned and glared at my other digimon, who was on the computer, paying and loosing a racing game.

"Terriermon!"

He looked up at me.

"Eh heh… Sorry Willis. But this is awesome! Look at 'em blow up!"

I shuddered as I got a sudden image in my head of Gargomon driving the Hummer around like a maniac, shooting at other cars with his gun arm. I quickly resolved that Terriermon would never get the chance.

"Here Willis!"

I smiled down at Lopmon, who held the other spark plug in his hands.

At least one of them's well behaved.

I took the spark plug and turned back to the engine, screwing it in. Hoping this would do the trick, I hopped in the driver's side and turned the ignition. The low rumble a moment later told me it was a complete success. The monstrous SUV was a great deal quieter than it had been.

Shutting the car off, I whiped my blond hair out of my eyes with the back of my hand so I wouldn't spread the grease around.

Putting the hood down I went to the door into the house to wash up.

That's when we heard it.

I could have sworn he was dead, but that's the digital world for you.

"WILLIS! DESTROY!"

Diaboromon.

I turned around to see the hulking mass peeking in the garage door. A quick glance showed Lopmon and Terriermon readying for a fight, so at least it wasn't that one of them mutated into him.

The only problem was that my D-3 was on the other side of the room on my work bench next to the laptop and D-Terminal.

Then, another imposibility occured. Diaboromon backed off, fully into the driveway.

Now or never.

Irushed across the room as Terriermon and Lopmon moved forward towards the mega leveled digimon.

Mega! Last time we had major back up and barely made it! Lopmon and Terriermon were reverted back to their digi-eggs!

Grabbing my D-Terminal and D-3 I quickly gave us a chance.

"Digi Armor Energize!"

Armor

Digivoution

Terriermon Armor Digivolve to… Rapidmon!

Amazingly enough, Daiboromon turned and ran! I glanced at my two digimon.

"Rapidmon, keep on him, but don't attack unless it's necessary. Lopmon and I'll follow in the car."

"Right!"

"Gotcha, boss! Rapidmon's on the case!"

As I gunned the ignition, Lopmon hopped into the passenger seat. I hoped Diaboromon would at least have the courtesy to stay away from the police.

'But officer, I have to catch the weapon of mass destruction I made on my computer…' Yeah, that would go over well.

Tracking Rapidmon with my D-3, we made our way onto the highway, then up into the mountains. I had no idea where Diaboromon was leading us, but the longer it took, the longer I'd have to plan a method of attack.

Taking a mega with a champion and an armor digimon did not sound like a fair fight. I'd have to even the odds somehow.

But, even as we got closer, I still hadn't figured anything out… and then we were there. Diaboromon was stopped, and Rapidmon just hovered there, for once doing what I'd told him.

Probably his self preservation instincts kicking in. Even he's not dumb enough to take on a mega right now.

As I pulled up, I stopped the Hummer and Lopmon and I got out. Diaboromon looked at us.

"WILLIS! DESTROY!"

"Yeah, we got that monkey-boy."

I glared.

"Rapidmon!"

"What?"

Diaboromon gave what on anyone else would be a grin, and opened his arms wide to the sky.

"WEB WRECKER!"

"Oh boy…"

I ducked back inthe car, Lopmon hot on my heels. Rapidmon was hit, but it only seemed to stun him a little, not the near deletion level damage I was expecting.

In the next instant, I realized that Rapidmon wasn't the target. In the sky, a vortex started forming, and the wind was picking up fast. I made a quick descision.

"Rapidmon! Get in here, quick!"

I opened the sun roof, and Rapidmon managed to aim his dedigivolving form right through it, the digi-egg tumbling into the passenger seat next to him and Lopmon.

I closed all the windows just as the wind got strong enough to drawn us up and into the vortex. Then everything went black.

---

I pulled the vehicle to a stop, and glanced back at the two digimon in the seats behind me.

I sealed the cocpit and and my partner hit the launch button, sending our digimon out to retrieve the human.

There was one question on all our minds.

What kind of idiot would wander into the wasteland without a Digi-Bug? Or even an encounter suit?

---

I came awake to a familiar sensation. Terriermon jumping on my chest, and Lopmon yelling at him to stop. It culminated, as always, with Terriermon teasing Lopmon over the edge, and then Lopmon would tackle him to the floor.

I waited for the tackle, then got up. If got in the way of Lopmon's tackle, I usually wished I hadn't.

I blinked my eyes open and looked around.

I didn't recognise the room. It was white and sterile in appeance.

Uh oh. That means it wasn't a dream.

"You're lucky to be alive, son."

I looked over. I saw an older man, with what I knew to be a Gladimon at his side. His brown hair was thinning, and he seemed to be wearing a gray uniform. He smiled comfortingly.

"Why were you doing in the wasteland without protection, anyway?"

I felt Terriermon hop into my lap.

"Well, it looks like we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto!"

I groaned more from habit than anything else. Lopmon hopped up beside him.

"I don't know what I was doing in any wasteland. I don't think there were any wastelands near where I was. But after what Diaboromon did…"

The man nooded quietly.

"Well, we don't have you on file anywhere, so we know you're not from here. Is there another city that survived the World Crash?"

I looked at him, not knowing what to say.

"World Crash? I… don't think I'm from anywhere near here then. Where am I?"

The man smiled a little.

"Well, you're in 'Refuge', last bastion against the wasteland."

"And the wasteland is…?"

He blinked.

"Well, that's interesting. You're either telling the truth or suffering from both amnesia and halucinations."

"The wasteland is the area that's toxic to humans. It's pretty much everywhere that Refuge isn't, but there are supposedly a few other safe pockets here and there."

My head was starting to clear a bit.

"Okay… so what's that World Crash thing?"

The man shook his head.

"Man, you really are messed up, aren't you? The World Crash is when the digital world collapsed, and it took most of the real world with it, creating the wasteland. For all intents and purposes the real world and the digital world are one now."

I looked at him in stunned horror.

"I… don't think I ever remember anything like that happening."

The man clapped his hand on my shoulder. "Yes, well, you're safe now, and by Baihumon, you'll be better in no time."

My brain came to a crashing halt.

"Baihumon? As in 'Sovereign of the Westrn Quadrant' Baihumon?"

He grinned.

"Well, finally. Some common ground."

My eye twitched.

"Not that common. I'm from the Eastern Quadrant, under Azulongmon."

He and his Gladimon looked at eachother.

"Crossing the Quadrants…? But that's supposed to be impossible."

Terriermon laughed.

"Are you kidding? There's a guy from the Southern Quadrant who can go back and forth any time he wants!"

I knocked Terriermon on the head, and ignored his grumbling.

"Yeah, but that doesn't help us. We don't know how he does it."

Terriermon huffed.

"Rain on my parade, why dontcha?"

The man cleared his throat. I blushed a little out of embarassment.

"Sorry."

"Not a problem, son. Wat's your name?"

"Willis. And you are?"

"Commander Jacob Turrent. Leader of Refuge."

My eyes bugged out a bit.

"Isn't it a bit… unusual for the ruler of some place to stand watch next to a stranger's hospital bed?"

He paused for a moment, considering.

"I suppose you're telling the truth then. You simply expect things to be different. And no. It's not that unusual for me to watch over a stranger on a hospital bed, but strangers appearing are very unusual."

"Huh?"

He smiled again.

"Refuge only has a population of several thousand people. Everyone contributes something useful, or we're all dead, get me?"

I nodded slowly, not sure if I understood or not, but I went with it.

"In this kind of place everyone knows their jobs. They can get along without me for a bit. But we dont have the peope to spare to watch somebody. Especially someone who might be a danger, get me?"

This time I nodded solidly. This place obviously operated at near military levels of precision. He continued.

"So that leaves the question of what to do with you. I'll be honest. I like you and I think you're a good kid. But in a place this tight, no one's going to trust you to do much of anything without supervision."

"People you can't spare."

"Right. So… how strong are your digimon? At least we've assumed they're both yours."

"They are. Lopmon and Terriermon came from the same digi-egg. They can both digivolve to champion, and I've got a digi-egg that can turn Terriermo into a low-level Rapidmon."

If I was going to be stuck here for a while, it'd be best to play it safe, and tell the truth.

"An ultimate…"

I shook my head.

"No. Funny man here becomes an armor level digi-mon, but his power level is between champion and ultimate instead of champion and rookie. He's slower than a real Rapidmon too."

The man nodded, a slight twinkle in his eye as he noticed my hand clamped firmly over Terriermon's mouth, the only thing keeping him quiet.

"Fine. Well, the only idea I have at the moment is to put you with a scavenger team. I asked about your digimon becauase they're always encountering hostile digimon out there."

"And the team can keep an eye on me for you."

He nodded.

"I don't think you're a spy from the Crimson Guard, but if people know you're being watched, they'll breate easier."

"Crimsn Guard?"

He nodded.

"They've somehow created another safe zone out there. But rather than work with us, they'd rather just take what we find for themselves."

"Great. So it'll be other humans after us too, out there."

"Yeah. Okay. You've got another week until you've fully recovered. You're here until then."

I nodded, then something occured to me.

"I don't suppose you've seen my stuff, have you?"

He nodded.

"I'll have someone bring in what we found."

"Thanks."

---

A week later I walked down the cooridor towards the garage that was designated for the team I was joining. All week I had both looking forward to and dreading my release. I had my Laptop and my D-Terminal with me, my digivice on my belt. No one had mentioned the Hummer, but I was both relieved and concerned when I discovered it next to the digi-egg of fate in my D-Terminal. I let it pass, hoping I could simply retrieve it once I got home.

Opening the door to the garage, the first thing I spotted was the 'digi-bug'. A bit bigger tan my Hummer, (I love my car) it was a non-descript gray. It had six wheels on it, and a turret on top.

Snazzy.

Leaning against the vehicle was a boy about my age with spiked brown hair. He wore a green jacket over a yellow shirt and jeans.

The digimon sitting at his side was a cat digimon about the size of a Gatomon, but clearly wasn't. If anything it resembled a small, young lion. A Leormon.

The boy was talking to girl with long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She wore black jeans and a camoflage tank top that nicely hugged her chest.

Standing in front of the 'digi-bug' was what I assumed to be her digimon. It looked a little like a black Agumon with metal legs, camoflage paint, army jacket, a helmet and an M16. Commandramon.

The girl noticed me first.

"So, you're finally here, rookie."