Updated: 4/11/21

I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON ADVENTURE, 02, TAMERS, FRONTIER OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS!

Chapter 13: Getting Somewhere

Frontier Digital World: Location: Forest Terminal

After being escorted from the castle by Nefertimon, Shinya looked around in awe as he and Yutaka made their way through the Forest Terminal to the very platform that they'd arrived on when they came to the Digital World. At the time they hadn't noticed that they weren't on Earth anymore and therefore hadn't really looked around much. Everyone had been too concerned for their brothers and the other missing children to pay attention to their surroundings, but Shinya did remember that the station had been empty. Now the terminal was busy with a wide variety of Digimon bustling about. The two humans tried their best to pay attention to Bokumon who was pointing out specific Digimon and naming them while they waited for a Trailmon – who were apparently train Digimon like the one that had brought them to the Digital World in the first place.

Yutaka seemed to be soaking in the information that was being given to them, but Shinya found himself snickering at their other Digimon companion. Neemon's random comments more often than not resulted in Bokumon either hitting him over the head with a paw or his book, or Neemon getting the waistband of his red pants snapped. Shinya had begun to tune Bokumon's lecture out by then though and stared at the many Digimon that walked by. Sometimes they stared back at him, so he'd wave, while others ignored his and Yutaka's presence altogether like it was normal for humans to be waiting for a Trailmon in the Digital World.

Finally, after what felt like forever, there was a loud "Woo! WOOOOO!" and a Trailmon that looked like a brown caterpillar with massive sharp teeth pulled into the station. According to Bokumon, the Trailmon's name was Worm and that Worm was the Trailmon that had not only brought Shinya, Yutaka, and all the families to the Digital World, but that he'd also been the Trailmon that had first brought Takuya, Zoe, JP and Tommy to the Digital World at Flame Terminal at the beginning of their first adventure.

"Come on, Shinya," Yutaka said as he took hold of his hand and led him onto the train car after Bokumon and Neemon. The four of them situated themselves on two booth benches that were facing each other by a window. Yutaka allowed Shinya to have the window seat so that he could see the view better. Shinya knew, however, that in taking the aisle seat Yutaka had put himself in a position that enabled him to keep an eye out for trouble and keep Shinya safe. The gesture reminded him of Takuya who had done the same thing many times before.

"How long until we get to Flame Terminal?" Shinya asked while they waited for Worm to start moving.

"It'll take all day I'm afraid, even by Trailmon," Bokumon sighed. "In fact, I think we have to stay the night in Breezy Village before reaching our destination. The different Terminals are quite far from each other."

"It took us weeks to get here from Flame Terminal when we walked," Neemon piped in.

"That's because we kept running into trouble and Grumblemon!" Bokumon huffed. "Though I suppose in hindsight, if we hadn't walked, Zoe, JP, and Tommy wouldn't have found their Spirit Partners, and Koji and Takuya wouldn't have found their Beast Spirits."

Bokumon began blabbering on again about adventures that had already been talked about before, so Shinya tuned him out and looked around to see what kind of Digimon were in their car. On the bench by the door there were a couple of Digimon Shinya recognized as Agumon. The two yellow dino-Digimon were currently telling jokes or some other funny things to each other. Sitting a couple booth sets behind Bokumon and Neemon's bench were a group of four rock Digimon that all looked alike, one was a tan-brown color while the other three were a dark grey. Shinya remembered that Bokumon had pointed them out earlier. The dark grey ones were Gotsumon and the light brown one was a Meteormon. Two similar looking white ones joined them a couple minutes later. When he asked about them, Bokumon turned around in his seat to get a look at them and said that the white ones were Icemon. Apparently Gotsumon only changed in color and abilities when they Digivolved. When Shinya twisted around in his seat to see what Digimon were behind him, he spotted two flower-fairy Digimon. Bokumon identified the pink one as Lillymon and the red one as Rosemon, Lillymon's Mega level DigiVolution. The last passengers to board their train car before Worm finally left the station were a trio of Mushroomon who took a seat in the booth of benches right behind Shinya and Yutaka.

Shinya slumped back in his seat when they started moving.

"Bored already, squirt?" Yutaka snickered.

"No," Shinya sighed, shaking his head. "Just… anxious I guess."

"Is that why you were checking out the other Digimon in the car?" Yutaka asked, looking amused. "We've only just started and you're already looking for bad guys. In that case, keep an eye out for the flower girls. They may look cute but they could be deadly. After all, there is that saying that females are often deadlier than the male."

Shinya snorted.

"I'd suspect the Mushroomon brothers," Neemon piped up. "They attacked us that time we were in Breezy Village."

"Zoe had to Spirit Evolve in order to defeat them and scanned their fractal code to return them to being more pleasant fellows, but that is beside the point," Bokumon added. "While I doubt that they are evil, they can be horrible pranksters. If you're going to find any potential enemies in this car it'll be one of them."

"Hey! We can hear ya you know!" cried one of the Mushroomon. He had turned around in his seat to glare over Shinya's head at Bokumon and Neemon.

"Hey, I remember ya!" another one said as he scrambled out of his seat and came to stand beside Bokumon. "You were in Breezy Village with the girl who became Kazemon, the Legendary Warrior of Wind!"

"That's us!" Neemon agreed, nodding his head.

"What are you two jokers up to now?" the third Mushroomon asked from over Yutaka's shoulder.

"We're on our way to Flame Terminal," Neemon answered.

"Why's that?" the first Mushroomon asked.

"It's our home," Bokumon said, gesturing to himself and Neemon. "Which is why we were assigned by Lady Ophanimon and Lord Seraphimon to bring the new Warriors of Steel and Wood there."

"You tellin' me that these two humans are new Legendary Warriors?!" gasped the third Mushroomon loudly, staring at Yutaka and Shinya.

Now the other Digimon in the car were staring too.

"Did he say Legendary Warriors?!" squealed the Lillymon as she and her Rosemon friend skipped over to gawk at Shinya and Yutaka. "You two are new Legendary Warriors?!"

"Which ones are you?" the Meteormon asked.

"What are your names?" an Agumon asked.

"Ah…" Yutaka and Shinya blinked, not sure how to take suddenly being mobbed by the other occupants of the train car.

"I… I'm Shinya," Shinya finally spoke up. "I'm the new Warrior of Wood."

"And I'm Yutaka," the older boy stated. "New Legendary Warrior of Steel."

"Steel and Wood huh," a Gotsumon grumbled. "A new Arbormon isn't so bad I guess, but a new Mercurymon?"

"Now, now," tisked Rosemon. "I'm sure that the humans are a lot nicer than the previous versions of the Legendary Warriors."

"Who?" Shinya and Yutaka frowned.

"The old corrupted Legendary Warriors of Wood and Steel," Bokumon explained before he began regaling the two humans about the horrible deeds concerning the tainted versions of their Spirit Partners.

After that though, the next few hours of the ride was spent explaining their trip to Flame Terminal and answering questions about being the new Legendary Warriors. This eventually led to the revelation that Yutaka and Shinya were Tommy and Takuya's brothers. Shinya got a lot of sympathy from Rosemon and Lillymon concerning Takuya, but bringing up his brother's death had put him in a slight state of depression. He didn't want their sympathy and just wished that the flower Digimon would leave him alone and pester Yutaka about Tommy or something.

The whole ordeal helped pass the time however, so when they pulled into some metal city station where the Gotsumon, Icemon, and the Meteormon got off, Shinya felt a bit better. They still had another four hours before Worm pulled into Breezy Village Station for the night though so at least Shinya hadn't been bored with a lack of conversation. The Digimon still on the train had caught him and Yutaka up to speed on what had gone on in the castle while they were preparing that morning before setting out for Flame Terminal. Apparently in the other Digital World the DigiDestined had burned Takuya's body in a funeral pyre instead of burying him. Shinya was touched to hear about the services that the Digimon in the castle and surrounding villages had apparently performed that morning as well. The one that Lillymon and Rosemon described sounded like it had been beautiful if he was to believe the shower of flowers and an ever-burning torch that had been placed in a shrine somewhere in the castle. Apparently the flower Digimon were on their way to Flame Terminal to help with a special memorial ceremony that would be taking place in a few days. They couldn't give him too many details about it though since they didn't know much themselves, but it sounded like a memorial and shrine to the Fire Warrior was going to be constructed there.

Sometime around sunset Worm pulled into Breezy Village Station and told them that this was as far as he was going until morning. Lillymon and Rosemon insisted on treating Yutaka and Shinya to dinner and paid for their lodging that night. The Mushroomon brothers were also very happy to help set them up in what was apparently the best room in the village's hotel. It was there that the two new DigiDestined were introduced to the Mushroomon's business partners, the Floramon. Whether it was because they were now Warrior DigiDestined or because Shinya was Takuya's little brother, Shinya and Yutaka (as well as Neemon and Bokumon) were treated well and waited on hand and foot in Breezy Village. If this was how they were being treated in what was considered a small Digimon village, Shinya wondered what their reception was going to be like in Flame Terminal. As they were settling down for the night, Shinya turned on a TV that had recently been installed in their room, and found that all the DigiDestined in the other world were sitting back and reminiscing about all the happy and fun times that they'd had with Takuya. It was as Koji, Zoe, and Tommy were talking about a trip that they'd all taken to Disney Sea that he began to fall asleep curled into Yutaka's side, the older boy wrapping a comforting arm around him as he continued to watch the TV.

The Adventure Digital World: Location: Infinity Mountain

Finally, after getting the equipment shielded from the elements and confirmation from Gennai's base that it was transmitting properly, the entire team began their trek back down the mountain. Hiroaki was happy to catch up with his old friends and learn about everything he'd missed. Saito and Yumi were all too happy to show him the pictures they had of their children, gushing about how cute they were. Haru was arguing with Keisuke about Star Trek again, much to everyone else's amusement when Haru began to cuss out the computer tech in Klingon because Japanese words had apparently failed him. Keisuke then turned to Gennai and began asking questions about this new Digital World. Now that conversation was more interesting to listen in on and Hiroaki learned some more about Matt and TK's adventures.

It was getting late again though so they had to stop halfway down the mountain and make camp. Thankfully no Digimon attacked them this time, setting a more relaxing atmosphere as Digimon and humans alike asked questions and shared adventures. It was amusing to watch Saito narrate some of their more action packed adventures. The man had hardly changed at all from the young excitable teenager that he'd been when they'd first met. Yumi and Haru hadn't changed much either, all three of them still holding on to their youthful energies and personalities. Keisuke had changed a lot from how Hiroaki remembered him though. Keisuke was more… practical.

Keisuke was the oldest member of the original DigiDestined team. He'd had this nervous and self-doubting personality, never confident in his actions or decisions, and had a tendency to fall back on his techno-babble whenever he was pressured. He was also a bit of a hysteric in the beginning. Now the man was composed and self-assured. He held his own in a conversation now instead of backing down like he had in the past whenever someone talked over him. He was also easily the smartest man in the group, understanding even more than Hiroaki did at times when talking to Gennai.

Hiroaki knew that he was also different from when he'd been a teenager. He'd been a lot like Saito, so the two had gotten along easily, but where Saito was brash, more of a doer than a planer, and would jump right into the action winging it, Hiroaki had been more knowledgeable, contemplative, and liked to go into things with at least an outline of a plan. Now that he thought about it, back in the day he and Saito had been a lot like how Tai and Matt were now. They had always had each other's backs. Saito had always been willing to hear out his plans (most of the time), and they'd always double-checked a situation with each other before going out guns blazing.

Yumi had been their conscience of sorts. She was always thinking about safety to the point it had almost been annoying, but her practicality had saved their butts more times than any of the boys would ever have admitted back then. Haru was the laid back member of the group, just going with the flow. As the youngest team member he'd just flown under the radar a lot in the beginning, but he'd been pretty good at settling arguments and disputes. Of course his childish behavior and apparent lack of concern had gotten him in plenty of arguments with Keisuke, but those he'd just brushed off unless Keisuke struck a rare nerve. There'd been a lot of arguing in the beginning during their time in the Digital World, but by the end of it they'd become a team and the best of friends. Looking back on it now, Hiroaki was surprised that he'd allowed himself to drift away from all of that. He hadn't seen any of them in the last eighteen years. They had all obviously kept in touch with each other though…

"Hey, Mr. Grumpy Face," Yumi smirked as she plopped down next to him. The two of them watched Saito, Haru and Keisuke argue about whose fault it had been the time a ticked off Monzaemon had chased them through a hedge maze. "What's up?"

"I've just been thinking," Hiroaki sighed.

"Uh oh," Yumi snickered.

"Reminiscing really," Hiroaki corrected, smiling. "And wondering how I let it happen."

"Let what happen?" Yumi frowned in confusion.

"Let myself drift away from you guys," Hiroaki sighed again. "I've missed this."

"You mean watching those three make fools out of themselves?" Yumi laughed as they watched the other three humans make faces as they mocked one another. Haru made a particularly hilarious expression as he ran in place exaggerating Keisuke being scared of the Monzaemon that had chased them. Keisuke then proceeded to smack the shorter man upside the head, leading to a tussle on the ground with the Digimon laughing and egging them on. Saito was trying to break up the fight.

Hiroaki shook his head, running a hand through his hair.

"So you kept to yourself," Yumi shrugged, still snickering at the spectacle before them. "You were busy with your new life, new job, new wife, and then your new family. We understand and we're just glad that we're all back together again, extenuating and horrible circumstances aside of course."

"Thanks, Yu," Hiroaki said, smiling gratefully.

"It's all right," Yumi smiled back, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as they watched the spectacle going on before them. Saito had failed in stopping the fight and had actually joined in at some point and was now grappling on the ground with the other two. "Gods, it's like they're teenagers again."

"I suppose we'd better go break it up," Hiroaki laughed.

"If we want to get any sleep tonight we should," Yumi agreed.

After the fight had been broken up (it had been more of a play fight anyway), the camp settled down and everyone got some sleep. The next morning, everyone packed up quickly and managed to arrive at the base of the mountain by early afternoon.

"This is where most of us part," Gennai informed them. "While most of the Digimon and myself will return to the base, you five, Gabumon, and the Palmon will proceed to the Primary Village. If you don't find your old partners there, you may learn from Elecmon where you might continue your search. Hiroaki, here is a map of File Island and a communicator. When you've all found the other partner Digimon, report back on the communicator and I'll give you instructions on how to get back to the base."

"Thank you, Gennai," Saito said as Hiroaki took the map and comm. device from the digital man.

Gennai nodded and with that all said and done, he and the bulk of their Digimon scouting party left for the base.

"Primary Village isn't far from here," one of the three Palmon that had remained said.

"We should be there by night fall," another informed them as they began heading off into the forest.

"Do you guys really think we'll find any of our old friends there?" Yumi asked.

"Who knows?" Keisuke shrugged. "What do you think, Gabumon?"

Hiroaki looked over at his old friend as the Digimon thought the question over.

"There is always a chance someone is there," Gabumon admitted. "But I wouldn't count on it. Not a lot of Digimon remain in Primary Village after reaching their In-Training forms. But that's not what I'm most worried about. Very few of the old world Digimon are around anymore with their memories intact. Most of us have been reborn with new data as new Digimon. And fewer still remember their past lives before being reborn in Primary Village again."

"But you did," Yumi pointed out hopefully.

"I did," Gabumon conceded with a nod. "Because I had faith that no matter how long I waited, Hiroaki would come back someday and we'd be friends again. I just knew it somehow."

Hiroaki smiled fondly down at his Digimon partner.

"Maybe we all did," Haru mused, looking down at his digivice. "I mean, we've all been holding on to these old pieces of junk even after all these years, haven't we?"

Saito, Yumi and even Keisuke smiled, looking down at their own inactive digivices. It was certainly something to think about as they made their way through the forest on a mission to reunite the whole original team of DigiDestined and partner Digimon.

Tamer Digital World: Location: Level 1 - Raiser's Plateau

The next morning began with a heat wave. Normally Minami didn't mind the heat, but it was really hot after the cooler temperatures they'd had during the memorial service. At least there was no hot sun beating down on them. The sky was still that stormy grey it had been ever since they'd arrived in the Digital World. She noticed that Alice was already up talking to Jijimon and Babamon. Kai was still asleep, however, sprawled out on the mat he'd been given to sleep on. A lot of the Gotsumon were already up bustling around, cleaning things up and maintaining the small shrine they'd made in honor of the fallen Warrior DigiDestined of Fire. Chuchidarumon were making what Minami assumed was breakfast while the Chrysalimon, Infermon and Diaboromon could be seen in the distance doing something. The only Digimon that were still asleep were the Jagamon.

"Good morning."

Minami jumped a bit and spun around to see one of the Chuchidarumon smiling down at her. Or at least, she assumed it was smiling. It's eyes were crinkled in a way that suggested that the Digimon was smiling. That was one of the strange things about some of these Digimon. They didn't appear to have any mouths until they opened them to eat. It made her wonder how Digimon like the Chuchidarumon could talk without opening their mouths. Rika's Renamon could be like that sometimes as well. Were they telepaths or something?

"Ah… Good morning," she stammered in reply as she bowed. "Can I help you?"

"I just came over to inform you that breakfast is ready. Maybe you can wake your friend so that he can eat with you and Miss Alice," the Chuchidarumon suggested.

Minami nodded and began to shake Kai's shoulder.

"Kai, it's time to get up."

Kai only grumbled and rolled over onto his other side. Minami sighed.

"Breakfast," she stated in a clear voice.

Kai shot up and looked around for the meal she spoke of. She couldn't help but giggle at his reaction.

"This way, dears," the Chuchidarumon called to them before heading off towards a growing line of Digimon.

Alice joined Minami and Kai after they'd all gotten their food and sat down on a patch of earth near a small group of Jagamon. She informed them of what she'd been talking about with Jijimon and Babamon.

"Babamon thinks that the main lock for this level might be in what the Digimon call Devimon's Needle," she informed them. "It's apparently the biggest landmark on this level of the Digital World. It's a tall cone shaped mountain that goes straight up to the next level, making it the most direct travel route to get there, but it's impossible to climb to the top."

"Then how are we supposed to get to the next level?" Kai frowned in confusion.

"Apparently there is a hidden spiral staircase inside the mountain that takes you straight up to the top and to the next level," Alice mused. "Problem is, no one has been able to enter the mountain to take those stairs."

"So the lock we're looking for must be on the outside," Minami mused. "If we make it into the mountain, we can make it to the next level."

"That's the idea at any rate," Alice agreed.

"Great!" Kai grinned. "Right after we eat, we should go straight there."

Minami nodded.

"I told Jijimon and Babamon as much earlier," Alice stated. "They're going to be accompanying us on our trip it seems. They want to make sure that we get to the Sovereign all right and see that Kenta and Kazu get help sent their way."

"Sweet!" Kai laughed. "Our own Digimon guard!"

After breakfast, the three humans, Jijimon, Babamon, the first Gatsumon that they'd met, some Chuchidarumon, and an Infermon with some Chrysalimon set out back through the canyon heading towards Devimon's Needle. Thankfully the landmark wasn't far away from their current location and when they reached the other side of the canyon early in the afternoon, they saw the tall and impossibly thin looking rock formation that stretched high into the sky so far that the top couldn't be seen as it faded into the tip that gave the landmark its name. The group then began the arduous task of searching the base for anything that might indicate a way inside the mountain. All afternoon they had no luck and as everyone began to tire, they settled down for a rest.

When they were all awake again they renewed their efforts to find an entrance to the mountain's tunnels. After hours of searching Minami was beginning to feel discouraged until Kai cried out, saying that he'd discovered something. Everyone rushed over to where he'd been searching with the Gatsumon.

"Check it out! Gatsumon found it," Kai beamed at her as she and Alice peered over to see what he'd found.

"…It's a rock." Alice frowned down a large round rock that was about the size of their heads.

"And yet it's not," Kai smirked as his hand moved to touch the rock and phased through it, the rock going staticy like a bad hologram when he touched it.

"Ok, so it's not a rock," Alice mused as she crouched down to get a better look at Kai's discovery.

"Hey, wait a sec," Kai frowned as his hand moved around in the strange object. "There's something in here."

After a few minutes of Kai fiddling, there was a loud click sound.

"Whoa," the boy blinked. "There's a catch-switch of some kind in here. I'm gonna pull it, ok? Maybe you guys should stand back."

Alice nodded and pulled Minami back a couple meters. Minami watched the tan-skinned boy nervously as he pulled whatever was in the not-rock. There was a loud clang when Kai was done pulling and the ground began to shake. Then the wall of the mountain in front of Kai seemed to explode, sending a large cloud of dust billowing out and hiding Kai from their sight.

"Kai!" Minami cried in alarm as she pulled her arms up to shield herself from the dust cloud.

When the dust settled, Minami stared in awe at the great opening in Devimon's Needle's side. The inside was lighting up with strange red lights that flickered on and off until they turned green and remained on. The mountain began to hum and the green lights grew brighter and brighter until they were nearly blinding. When the lights reached their brightest, they flashed and a charge of green energy flooded out of the tunnels and shot up the mountain where it pulsed, rippling across the sky. There was a loud crackle in the air that had everyone covering their ears. Looking up, Minami noticed that the red and black orb in the sky now had a pink beam shooting out of it and was touching down somewhere in the far distance.

"Wow… Did I do that?"

Tearing her eyes away from the beam of pink light, Minami noticed Kai, sprawled on his back covered in a thick coat of sandy dust gazing up wide eyed at the sky.

"Congratulations, Kai, you've just unlocked the next level to the Digital World," Alice smirked.

"I did?" Kai blinked up at her.

"You did!" Minami cried as realization and excitement of what had just happened filled her. "Oh, Kai, you did it!"

She rushed over to the boy and hugged him tightly.

"I guess I did," Kai laughed as he hugged her back. "I could have done without the sand bomb that came when the doors opened though."

Alice and Minami laughed as the Digimon began cheering and celebrating.

"All right, all right! Yes, yes, the level is unlocked," Jijimon grouched. "Yeesh! You'd think that they'd done somethin' amazing'."

"Enough, cheering!" Babamon snapped. "Just because we can now enter the mountain doesn't necessarily mean that we can reach the next level. You all can cheer when we actually get there."

Everyone reigned in their excitement, but that didn't stop the excited whispers as everyone began to make their way inside the now dimly lit tunnels of Devimon's Needle.

"Onward and upwards I guess," Minami said.

"Right," Alice nodded. "Come on, Kai."

"Yeah, yeah," Kai sighed as he began to brush himself off.

Together the three of them followed the Digimon and began the long climb up to the next level of the Digital World.

Well it looks like everyone's finally gotten started! Will Hiroaki and his friends find any of their old partners in Primary Village? What can Shinya and Yutaka expect when they reach Flame Terminal? And will Alice, Minami and Kai be able to make it through to Level 2 of their Digital World? Well I guess you'll just have to find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!