Updated: 4/11/21

I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON ADVENTURE, 02, TAMERS, FRONTIER, SAVERS, OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 18: Gathering the Troops

Adventure Digital World: Location: Infinity Mountain Forest

Playing in the shallows on the river's shore were two Tokomon, three Tsunomon, a couple Koromon, five Tanemon and four Motimon.

Patamon launched himself off of Haru's shoulder towards the In-Training Digimon.

"Hey guys!"

"A Patamon?" one of the Tokomon said, looking up from where it was playing with a Tsunomon.

"You Digivolved!" cried the Tsunomon, recognizing who Patamon used to be. "When did that happen?!"

The other In-Training Digimon squealed excitedly and hurried over to see Patamon, not noticing Gabumon, Biyomon or the five humans until Patamon introduced them.

Keisuke and Saito looked at each other, both wondering what the chances were that their partner could be among the group.

For the remainder of the afternoon, the five adults found themselves playing with the young Digimon. Like when Yumi had unknowingly met her partner again for the first time, Saito and Keisuke found themselves bonding with one of the Koromon and Motimon more than the others in the group. They tried asking the young Digimon if they could remember meeting humans like them before, but the youngsters only wanted to play and ignored their prompting. It was as amusing for Haru, Yumi and Hiroaki as it was frustrating for Saito and Keisuke.

Nevertheless, as the sun went down on their fourth day of traveling together, the team of older DigiDestined bedded down for the night with the young Digimon. Considering that it was the Digital World, none of them should have been surprised to be woken up in the middle of the night again, but this time it wasn't by something as obvious as a herd of rampaging Boarmon.

Hiroaki was the first to wake up. At first he'd thought that it was just the nightmare he'd been having, but something seemed amiss. Saito was next and his stirring woke up Yumi and Biyomon.

"What's wrong?" she yawned.

"…I'm not sure," Saito admitted. "Hiro?"

"…Something doesn't feel right," Hiroaki admitted, before shaking his partner awake. "Gabumon, wake up."

"…Wha?" the wolf Digimon muttered. "What is it?"

"That's what you and I are going to find out," Hiroaki said, getting to his feet.

Gabumon scrambled up as well.

"I'll come with you," Saito said, also getting up.

"Sai!" Yumi cried after him softly, but he only flashed her a smile before following Hiroaki.

"What's wrong?" Haru mumbled, rubbing his eyes as he sat up.

"Where are Sai and Hiro going?" Keisuke asked, also awake now due to all of the commotion.

"We're just going to look around," Saito said reassuringly. "Go back to sleep."

"Not likely," Keisuke yawned. "Not till you two come back at least."

"Don't worry," Gabumon said. "I'll keep them safe."

Many of the In-Training Digimon were mumbling and shifting in their sleep, but only one of the Koromon woke up. No one saw him slip away after Saito and Hiroaki.

"So what do you reckon it is?" Saito asked Hiroaki as they began to patrol further out around where the others were camped for the night.

"I really don't know," Hiroaki sighed. "Something just… feels strange."

"I feel it too," Gabumon admitted. "It's making my fur stand on end."

"Your fur is a coat you can take on and off, not an actual part of your skin," Hiroaki chuckled.

"Well, it's still standing on end," Gabumon huffed.

Saito smiled, listening to the two of them argue about Gabumon's fur. Then he heard a soft giggle. Turning around, he spotted their little follower.

"What are you doing awake?" Saito asked, kneeling down in front of the Koromon.

"They're silly," Koromon said. "Where are you going?"

"We're just taking a night stroll," Saito said, not wanting to worry the little guy too badly.

"A stroll?"

"Yeah." … It wasn't like he could just leave the little guy there though. "Wanna come along?"

"Sure!"

Saito picked up the Koromon and hurried to catch up with Hiroaki and Gabumon. The two hadn't noticed that he'd stopped. Just as Saito caught up to them, however, Hiroaki threw up a hand in the universal "hold up" gesture.

"What is it?" Gabumon whispered.

"Don't you two hear that?"

Everyone was quiet for a moment, ears strained to pick up the sound.

"It sounds like humming," Koromon said softly.

Hiroaki startled, only just now noticing the fourth member of their party.

"Humming?" Saito repeated, looking down at the little guy in his arms.

"He's right," Gabumon agreed. "Like a machine of some kind."

"I thought so," Hiroaki mused. "Can you tell where it's coming from?"

"…There," Gabumon and Koromon said as they pointed a claw and ear in the direction back down the mountain where they'd started searching for the In-Training Digimon.

Saito and Hiroaki traded apprehensive looks before nodding in a determined fashion. They followed the sound, it's volume increasing as they got closer to whatever the disturbance was. Occasionally the humming would suddenly get louder before dying back down. It was that increase that must have awoken them back at camp.

Finally they reached the section of the river where the In-Training Digimon had been before the Boarmon had gone on a stampede. They traveled even further to where they had reckoned the herd had been before running from whatever it was that had spooked them. Down below in the middle of the plain was a black box of some kind. There were four Tankmon trawling around it while a Datamon worked on the box.

"The humming is coming from that black box," Saito mused, watching as the humming picked up in pitch again.

The black box sparked and zapped the Datamon. The tiny machine Digimon swore, before getting back to trying to open the box.

"It looks like they'd finished digging it up recently," Hiroaki said, pointing out the turned up dirt that the Tankmon were now flattening with their circling. "The ground wasn't like this when we were here this morning."

"Right. For some reason they waited for night to do it." Saito frowned. "I don't like the look of this, Hiro. Whatever's in that box… I don't think we want those Digimon to get it."

"Do you want me to Digivolve?" Gabumon asked.

"As strong as you are, Gabu, I don't think even you can take on five opponents at once," Hiroaki said grimly. "We should go get the others."

"Uh… I don't think they're going to give us a say in that matter," Saito gasped, ducking down and dragging Hiroaki with him as one of the Tankmon launched a missile over their heads. The missile detonated behind them and sent them all tumbling down into the valley below.

"Right! Change of plans," Hiroaki cried. "Gabumon! Digivolve."

"GABUMON DIGIVOLVE TOOO… HOUKOMON!"

While Houkomon dealt with the Tankmon, Hiroaki, Saito and Koromon all scrambled for cover away from stray shots. One got a little too close to Saito, causing him to trip and fall, dropping Koromon in the process.

"Saito!" the little guy cried. He suddenly felt a surge of energy and found himself digivolving into Agumon. A well-aimed Pepper Breath attack detonated several blasts before they came even close to the man he was protecting.

"Agumon?!" Saito cried, both excited to see his partner and incredulous that finding him had turned out to be so easy.

"Are you alright?" Agumon asked.

"Fine," Saito said, grinning down at his old friend. "It's good to see you, buddy."

"It's good to see you too, now that I remember who you are," Agumon laughed before turning serious. "It looks like Houkomon could use some help. You and Hiroaki get out of here. I'll take care of these clowns."

"No arguments here," Saito said, pulling out his digivice that was now reactivated. It's screen shone brightly for a moment and Agumon found himself digivolving again.

"AGUMON DIGIVOLVE TOOO… GREYMON X!"

A Greymon slightly bigger than what Tai Kamiya's Agumon Digivolved into appeared with sharper looking horns and jaws that let out a loud roar before charging at the Tankmon to back up Houkomon who was struggling to out run all of the fire power coming from the four enemy Digimon.

"Greymon X, huh?" Hiroaki said when Saito caught up. "That's new. He used to be a normal Greymon before."

"Well it's been a thousand-odd digi-years since we last saw each other," Saito grunted. "I'm sure a lot's happened."

"I wonder if this change affects just this DigiVolution, or the rest of his DigiVolution line," Hiroaki mused.

"Run now, theorize later!" Saito huffed.

The two human men ran up the embankment to return to where they'd been before tumbling down into the valley. Once they'd regained the high ground they turned back to watch the fight.

"Mega Blast!" Greymon X roared, taking out a Tankmon before swiping another away with his tail. Houkomon was still darting around, drawing the fire away from their DigiDestined partners.

While Greymon X and Houkomon were preoccupied with the Tankmon, however, the Datamon was trying to get away with the black box. It was kind of pathetic really, because the box was twice the size of the Datamon and was obviously heavy.

"Houkomon!" Hiroaki shouted. "Get Datamon!"

His cry only got the Tankmon to rally, however, and neither Greymon X nor Houkomon were able to disengage and go after the smaller Digimon.

"We'll get him!"

Hiroaki and Saito jumped; surprised to see Yumi, Haru, and Keisuke coming towards them while Hirotorimon flew over their heads and soared over to Datamon with Piddomon right behind her.

"Are you two alright?!" Yumi demanded once she and the others joined Hiroaki and Saito.

"We're fine," Saito said, smiling reassuringly.

"Is that Greymon?" Haru asked. "He looks a little different than what I remember."

"He's Greymon X," Hiroaki explained. "Apparently his DigiVolution line has changed slightly."

"Just glad he's on our side," Haru laughed. "He looks pretty mean."

"So one of the Koromon was your partner after all," Keisuke mused.

"Yup!" Saito grinned. "Now we just have to find yours and we're good."

"You're a little behind the times, dear," Yumi huffed, pointing down next to Keisuke where there was a tired looking Tentomon. "While you two were off exploring, a Bakumon showed up and started attacking us. It shot off a Nightmare Syndrome attack at Keisuke and one of the Motimon digivolved into Tentomon to protect him."

"Poor Ten took the brunt of the blast," Keisuke said, looking down at his partner.

"I'm fine, Kei," Tentomon sighed. "But those nightmare attacks sure take it out of you."

"Patamon and Biyomon Digivolved after that and managed to pin him down," Yumi said as she started digging in her pack.

"I can't believe a Bakumon would attack In-Training Digimon," Saito said, sharing a worried look with Hiroaki. "They're normally good Digimon feeding on bad dreams to give the dreamer good ones, or has that changed too since our time?"

"I think he was after us," Haru said. "He didn't really attack the In-Training Digimon."

"He wasn't himself," Yumi added, pulling a dark ring out of her bag. "He ran away scared the moment Piddomon blasted this off his arm. It was wrapped on top of his holy ring."

"What is that?" Saito asked.

"I have no idea," Keisuke said, frowning. "It's some kind of mind-control device."

"Wait a minute. Let me see," Hiroaki said, taking the ring from Yumi. "I think I've heard about something like this. It was something that Matt talked about during the time he needed me to take him and some of his friends on a camping trip to cover for TK and his friends going to the Digital World. Gennai would know."

"Great," Yumi huffed. "We can go meet back up with him now that everyone's partner has been found."

"I don't mean to interrupt," Tentomon tittered, "but something seems to be happening down there."

Everyone turned their attention back down below to the battle going on. All of the Tankmon were down for the count, but Datamon was putting up quite the fight. Of course, Datamon was an Ultimate level Digimon and all of the others were only at the Champion level, but they were stronger than your average Champion level Digimon. As four high grade Champions against one average Ultimate, they were dead even.

"They need my help," Tentomon said, taking off before Keisuke could stop him. "TENTOMON DIGIVOLVE TOOO… KUWAGAMON!"

The newly digivolved Kuwagamon cut clean through one of Datamon's arms with his surprise attack. That made the Ultimate level Digimon very angry, but with only one arm, it was harder for him to fend off the other Digimon and they took him down in no time, which was great because Kuwagamon dedigivolved the moment he finished that first and last attack.

Tamers Digital World: Location: Entrance to Level 3

It had taken them a few hours to climb their way up to the third level, but they managed to reach it without incident. Most of their Gekomon guard had returned to their village, but a few, including the lead guide, had remained with them with their ShogunGekomon's blessing.

"Wow," Kai sighed, looking back at their group as they bedded down for a rest period. "It looks like we're amassing an army."

"In a way, we are," Alice mused. "All of the Digimon here want to help Takato and the others fighting in that other world. I imagine that if we succeed in reaching the Sovereign and find a way to reach that other Digital World, these Digimon will go to their aid.

Kai and Minami nodded.

"I wonder how everyone's doing over there," Minami mused as she unrolled her sleeping bag.

"Last thing any of us saw was everyone traveling to Himizu City," Alice said. She was currently using the communicator Yamaki had given her and was typing up a report. "Hopefully they've made it by now and are figuring out their next move."

"And staying alive," Kai said. "Very important, that."

Minami giggled and Alice shook her head.

"Speaking of important things and figuring out our next move," Gatsumon grumbled from his spot next to Kai, "what are we expecting from this level?"

"It's hard to say, isn't it?" Minami mused, looking around her.

There wasn't much to see. It was just a stretch of cave walls. They wouldn't have known that they'd reached the next level if it weren't for the fact that the stairs had stopped and the ground had become level.

"We'll do what we've done the last two times," Alice reasoned. "We'll try to find this level's inhabitants and see if we can find some location of significant meaning that might lead us to the next level."

"And that'll be loads of fun," Gotsumon huffed. "What if this place is anything like where those other kids ended up when they arrived in that other world? This could be a maze. What if we end up traveling in circles?"

"We'll mark the walls," Alice suggested. "That way we'll know where we've been and can figure things out from there."

Gotsumon grumbled some more before falling asleep. Kai chuckled to himself before following the rock Digimon's example. Minami smiled at the pair before scooting over next to Alice.

"Have any of your reports been going through?" Minami asked.

"I think so," Alice said, frowning at the device. "Never when I first type them up, but every report I have stored as pending delivery delivers itself every time we unlock a level. See?" she said, angling the device so that the other girl could see the device's mailbox. "It's empty now apart from the one I just wrote, but before we started climbing up to this level I had two reports waiting to be sent. The three I wrote before that were sent after we unlocked Devimon's Needle."

"So if, hypothetically, we were to return to those levels we shouldn't have any problem sending messages back to our world," Minami mused.

"Hypothetically," Alice agreed. "I don't know about you, but I have no desire to backtrack just to test that theory."

"Me either," Minami giggled. "Granted, going down levels would be a lot easier on us then going up has been."

Alice chuckled, shrugging. "What? You don't like working your calf and thigh muscles?"

Minami tried to muffle her laughter with her pillow, shaking her head.

Alice smiled at her friend, gently pushing her over so that she sprawled across their sleeping spaces. But then she thought she heard something from further down the stretch of cave ahead of them. She was on edge in an instant, body tensing as she tried to figure out what the sound was.

"Alice?" Minami said softly, noticing her friend's tension.

"Shh!" Alice hissed, remaining quiet for a moment before shaking Kai awake. "Kai! Wake up."

"Huh? Wha?" the boy mumbled, jolting awake, his feet kicking out and hitting Gotsumon.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" the rock Digimon growled only to be shushed by the girls.

"What is it?" Kai yawned.

"Don't you hear that?" Alice asked.

Kai and Gotsumon were a lot more alert now, trying to hear what Alice had. It was a low growling sound that made the hair on their arms stand up on end.

"I'm going to wake Jijimon and Babamon," Minami said as quietly as she could before hurrying away.

Before she even got more than a few steps, there was a lot of loud barking and snarling. Minami shrieked, bolting for the old mega Digimon who were already rousing with everyone else.

"Rock Fist!" Gotsumon cried as he fired his rock attacks at the pack of Cerberumon that were attacking.

The several Chuchidarumon, Chrysalimon, and the lone Infermon that had come with them rallied to defend Alice and Kai and the smaller Gekomon. Jijimon and Babamon were moving into action as well, encouraging the human children to stay behind them.

"Gotsumon!" Kai cried when one of the Cerberumon knocked the rock Digimon back. He broke through the ranks of fighting Digimon to get to his friend. Alice and Minami called out to him, telling him to come back, but the boy didn't listen.

"Hang in there, buddy," Kai grunted as he hauled the rock Digimon to his feet.

"Kai?" Gotsumon wheezed in his winded state. "Why…?"

"Please," Kai said with a grin. "Like I was going to leave a friend behind?"

Suddenly a bright light shone from above and floated down to hover in front of them.

"Is that what I think it is?!" Kai gasped, reaching out and taking hold of the light, which dimmed at his touch and formed into a D-Power just like Takato's but blue all over with grey bits. There was also a blue card resting below it in his hand as well.

"Well I'll be," Kai breathed. "I'm a Tamer… and you're my partner Gotsumon!"

"Awesome!" Gatsumon cheered, feeling energized by the light the Digivice had come in. "…What does that mean, exactly?"

"It means we're not out of this fight. Are you ready to digivolve?" Kai asked, grin beaming from ear to ear as he held up the blue card.

"Digivolve?!" Gotsumon cried. "Hell yeah! What are ya waitin' for?!"

Kai swiped the card like he'd seen Takato and his friends do. "Digi-modify! DigiVolution activate!"

"Wow!" Gotsumon cried as he lit up with the light of digivolving. "Gotsumon digivolve toooo… Monochromon!"

Kai gaped in awe at the sight. The tiny rock dude that had barely reached his elbow was now this great big dinosaur that looked like it was built like a tank. He wasn't sure what kind of dinosaur he was supposed to be, but it looked like it was related to a Triceratops, only without the twin horns on the forehead. It could be related to a rhino… but Kai didn't really care. Monochromon looked cool!

Monochromon let out a loud roar before charging at a Cerberumon that was harassing the Gekomon, the long horn on its nose impaling its side and shattering it to bits of data, which he absorbed.

"Volcanic Strike!" he cried before spitting out balls of lava at more of the dog Digimon that were attacking.

The battle continued for a while, but eventually the team of Level 1 & 2 Digimon defeated the Cerberumon and sent the remains of the pack running with their tails tucked between their legs.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Kai yelled, running up to Monochromon after the chaos of battle died down.

"Felt awesome," Monochromon said in his low growl.

"Man, you and I are going to make a great team!" Kai cried as he hugged Monochromon around the neck.

"So Kai and Gotsumon are partners now, huh?" Babamon mused as she and Jijimon approached Minami and Alice.

"Looks like it," Minami said, smiling as she watched the pair chatter excitedly.

"It's not really surprising," Alice mused. "Kai and Gotsumon have practically been inseparable since they met. I would have been more surprised if Kai had some other Digimon for a partner."

"True," Minami laughed. "They make a great team."

"And at least one of us has a partner now," Alice sighed.

"I'm sure you and I will find partners of our own before our time here is over," Minami said, smiling reassuringly at her friend.

"…There's only one Digimon I want for a partner," Alice said, her expression going sad, "and he's gone."

Minami studied her friend's mournful expression. The blond had told her about Dobermon. It was ironic that they were attacked by Cerberumon, because according to Dobermon's DigiVolution line, that's what his Ultimate level DigiVolution was. Seeing her friend's grieving expression reminded her of Labramon.

"…Yeah. Me too," Minami whispered.

Frontier Digital World: Location: Flame Terminal

Shinya and Yutaka were settled down for the night sleeping when they sensed something. At first they couldn't be sure what had awoken them in the middle of the night so they went back to sleep only to wake up again a little while later. After another failed attempt to fall back asleep, the two decided to take a little walk around the village. It was quiet and no one was out and about. They wandered past the little houses like Bokumon and Neemon's and through the empty main streets of the shops until they found themselves back at the locked gate to Takuya's shrine.

Shinya stared at the glow of the fires that could be seen over the gate before turning and walking away. Yutaka wordlessly followed him until they were at the Trailmon station. A Trailmon was sleeping next to his platform, so they walked as silently as possible past him to the back of the terminal where the tracks left the ground of the cliff and continued into the sky where the terminal that led to the human world was supposed to be.

They both stared off into the sky where the tracks became no longer visible and wondered about finding a way home to Earth.

"Need a lift?"

Both boys startled, staring wide-eyed at a black Trailmon pulling a single passenger carriage.

"Where to?" the boys wondered.

"The human world of course," Trailmon said.

The two boys shared a surprised look before nodding. Maybe this was what they woke up for. They both just had this feeling that they were supposed to board this Trailmon.

Once aboard, both boys stared out the windows in awe as the strange Trailmon pulled away from the station and rolled along the tracks into the sky. It was like a surreal dream, watching the ground fall away into the night sky.

"Yutaka?" Shinya whispered. "Are we dreaming?"

"If we are," Yutaka mused. "It's a nice dream."

Shinya nodded.

For a while the boys didn't say anything more, just watched the clouds and the Digital World's three moons float through the sky. Then everything suddenly went black. Shinya cried out in surprise, jumping in his seat back into Yutaka. The older boy's arms wrapped around his middle to steady him and prevent him from falling to the floor. Shinya startled in surprise. The arms around him didn't feel like Yutaka's. When the lights came back on, Shinya stared around at the terminal they were pulling into and he remembered it as the one that had been under the Shibuya Train Station. This is where he, Yutaka and all of their parents had boarded the train that took them to the Digital World. Were they really back?

"…Shinya?"

"Yes?" Shinya said, looking back behind him and found that he wasn't looking at Yutaka anymore. Instead it was a Veemon, like that Davis kid's Digimon, only this guy was silver in color instead of blue.

"Yu…taka?" Shinya gasped.

"You're a Digimon!" they both exclaimed. "Huh?"

Shinya looked down at himself and saw that his arms were covered in feathers. He rushed to the first reflective surface he could find in the train car. He looked like a bird. He was covered from head to toe in black, white and reddish-brown feathers and had a long black beak instead of a mouth.

"Wha!" he squawked, flapping his winged arms in alarm.

"Shinya, calm down," the Veemon said with Yutaka's voice.

"Calm?! CALM?! Taka, I'm a bird!" Shinya cried.

"Kitsutsukimon, apparently," Yutaka mused.

Shinya turned around and saw that Yutaka was using his D-Tector to identify him. Shinya did the same, finding his own D-Tector somewhere within all his feathers on his person where his pants used to be. He didn't even want to know where Yutaka had found his. His D-Tector analyzed Yutaka and identified him as Silver Veemon.

"Weird." Shinya said. "Why are we like this?"

Yutaka-now-Silver Veemon shrugged, tucking his D-Tector away behind his back. Again, Shinya didn't want to know where that was. In comparison to his new bird form, Silver Veemon had no clothes or pockets to store anything in. He could only assume that Yutaka had stashed his D-Tector in one of his back pants' pockets before being turned into a Digimon.

"Here's your stop," the Trailmon reported as they pulled up to the center platform at the terminal.

"What do we do?" Kitsutsukimon asked.

"…We go up," Silver Veemon said, exiting their carriage and stepping onto the platform.

They entered the elevator and rode up to the main level of the station. Like it was in the Digital World, it was the middle of the night and the station was closed. It was a little spooky, actually. The two boys-turned-Digimon hurried out of the station and onto the equally empty streets. According to the clock at the station it was a little after 3 in the morning.

"…What now?" Kitsutsukimon asked.

"We could walk around, I guess," Silver Veemon said, heading off away from the main shopping district and towards the residential areas.

Kitsutsukimon didn't question the direction and followed his older friend's lead. A half hour later they were at a local park Shinya remembered seeing Takuya play a lot of his soccer games at. At the edge of the field was another small shrine for Takuya. They'd seen a few of them as they passed by schools and other local areas. Shinya wasn't sure how he felt about them.

As they left, they passed an old fountain that hadn't been turned on in years. Silver Veemon paused, his ears twitching when he heard a soft sound.

"What is it?" Kitsutsukimon asked.

"I'm not sure," Silver Veemon mused. "If I didn't know any better…it sounds like crying."

The two turned back towards the fountain and peeked over the tall lip and saw what looked like a girl sitting inside, curled up in a fetal position.

"Miss? Are you okay?" Yutaka asked.

The girl's body stiffened before her head tilted, peeking up at them through long wavy black hair with bright blue eyes. She stared. They stared back. Then she let out a loud shriek and they scrambled back, alarmed. Kitsutsukimon found himself falling onto his back, his stick-like bird legs flailing in the air. Oww… he'd landed on his tail feathers. Silver Veemon was still on his feet, but his eyes were wide in alarm, his tail pointing straight up in the air like an exclamation point.

"You-you-you're Digimon!" the girl cried, pointing at them as she stood up in the fountain.

Now that she wasn't curled in on herself, the two boy-Digimon realized that she was older than she'd initially appeared. She was a young teenager that looked like she was around 13-14 years old.

"…Uh… kind of?" Kitsutsukimon stammered.

"We are part time, anyway," Silver Veemon said. "I'm Yutaka Himi and that's Shinya Kanbara. Though I guess right now, we're Silver Veemon and Kitsutsukimon right now."

"Kanbara…" the girl said, staring at the bird Digimon. "Like Takuya Kanbara?"

"…He was my older brother," Kitsutsukimon said softly, his eyes catching on the mini-shrine by the soccer field.

"His brother…" the girl repeated before looking at Silver Veemon. "And you're…"

"The older brother of Tommy Himi," Silver Veemon said. "He's the Ice Warrior DigiDestined."

"…According to the papers your families vanished the same day that the TVs started airing that Digital World stuff," the girl said, climbing out of the fountain to crouch at eye-level with them.

"I guess we did kind of vanish," Silver Veemon mused. "All of the families of the DigiDestined from our world were told that if we wanted to see them again, we needed to come to the Digital World."

"Is that how you were turned into Digimon?" the girl asked.

"No, we were still human there," Silver Veemon said, frowning slightly. "We're not really sure how we became Digimon. We were riding a Trailmon back here to our world, but when we got here we were like this."

The girl stared at them curiously, but before she could say anything more a loud male voice suddenly called out.

"Umi!"

"Riku?!" the girl – Umi apparently – gasped as she jumped to her feet and an older teenage boy raced towards them, only to come up short when he spotted Silver Veemon and Kitsutsukimon.

"Friend of yours, Miss?" Silver Veemon asked.

"Huh?" Umi asked, looking down at him before blushing, realizing that she'd never introduced herself to them. "Oh! Uh, no. He's my big brother, Rikuto. And I'm Umi. Umi Takahara."

"Pleased to meet you," Kitsutsukimon and Silver Veemon said, bowing. The young man did look a lot like Umi. His hair was a little long and had the same wave, but his eyes held a greenish tint to them instead of the pure bright blue she had.

"Ah…" Poor Rikuto didn't look like he knew what to say to them so he turned to his sister. "Umi, what are you doing out this late? If Eri and Kisuke find out you've snuck out again…"

"What?" Umi snapped, glaring at him. "They'll ground me? Again? They are going to send us back to the orphanage anyway, Riku!"

"Umi!" Rikuto said, grabbing her by the shoulders, shaking her a little. "They are the third set of foster parents we've gone through in the last five years. I'm almost 18 now! What's going to happen once I'm too old to remain in the foster system with you?!"

Umi bit her lip and looked away. "I know. That's why… I'm running away."

Rikuto sighed and pulled her into a hug. "Where are our bags, Umi? You knew I'd come after you."

"You always do," the girl said, smiling, before pointing to the fountain.

Rikuto sighed, shooting the Digimon an apprehensive look, and headed towards the fountain Umi had been hiding in.

"You're running away?" Kitsutsukimon asked.

"We are running away," Umi said, watching her brother.

"Where are you going to go?" Silver Veemon asked.

"Who cares?" Umi huffed. "As long as we're together."

Kitsutsukimon and Silver Veemon hummed, trading concerned looks before a keening sound could be heard coming from their D-Tectors. Kitsutsukimon drew his out and so did Silver Veemon.

"What's it mean?" Kitsutsukimon asked.

"…Something isn't right," Silver Veemon said before a Digimon profile appeared.

"…Flymon," they read before there was a sudden buzzing noise in the air.

Umi suddenly screamed and when the two boy-Digimon looked up they saw a bee looking Digimon like the one that had attacked the chamber where TK, Matt, Koji, Rika and Kari had ended up in when they first arrived in that other Digital World.

"Get down!" they cried out to the brother and sister as the insect Digimon flew overhead.

"How did he get here?!" Kitsutsukimon asked.

"Who cares?!" Silver Veemon said. "We have to take him out before he hurts someone."

Their D-Tectors glowed and they found themselves changing into their Warrior Spirit forms.

"Mokuseimon, get Umi and Rikuto clear!" a newly Digivolved Tetsukomon said as he drew his broadsword.

The Warrior of Wood nodded, gathering Umi up in his arms before rushing over to Rikuto who'd taken cover in the empty fountain.

"Stay down," Mokuseimon said, setting her down next to her brother before stringing his bow, nocking an arrow, and joining Tetsukomon in fighting Flymon.

The two worked well together, but the advantage was with the flying Digimon.

"We have to ground it somehow," Tetsukomon said before getting blasted back by a lightning attack.

The Steel Warrior cried out in pain as his metal armor vibrated with the attack.

"Yutaka!" Mokuseimon cried, darting over to the older Warrior and assumed a protective crouch.

Umi and Rikuto watched, eyes wide with fear and awe as they watched the fight.

"We have to help them," Umi whispered.

"How?" Rikuto demanded. "They're Digimon. We're only human."

"So are they," Umi said. "They are the brothers of Takuya and Tommy, The Warrior DigiDestined of Fire and Ice."

Haru frowned, lips pursed as he stared at the wasp-like Digimon before looking back at the fountain.

"If we can get the fountain working," the older brother mused. "We can spray it. Maybe Flymon is weak against water, like bees are."

"Riku, you're brilliant!" Umi beamed, turning her attention to the body of the fountain too, finding the box that she knew used to power the fountain's spray.

The siblings tinkered with it a moment and after a while, a trickle of water began to bubble out of the old pipes, but just because the fountain's pipes were open didn't mean that water was being supplied to it. Umi pointed Rikuto in the direction of the spigot that would direct water to the old fountain. Rikuto had to break cover from the safety of the fountain's bowl, but managed to creep over to the water house where all of the park's water hydraulics were maintained. It didn't take him long to find the wheel that would turn on the water for the fountain. With a grunt, he managed to turn the rusty wheel that released water to the fountain.

Back at the fountain Umi squealed happily when water came gushing out. She'd clogged all but one of the fountain's spouts and with her hands, tried to aim the steady spray at the insect Digimon, hitting it in the side as it came at Mokuseimon again. Flymon screeched with rage at the unexpected spray and changed course, flying right for the girl, only to get hit in the side of the head by a large rock.

"Stay away from my sister!" Rikuto cried from where he stood in front of the water house, a pipe in one hand and another rock in the other. Flymon changed targets once again and zoomed towards the older human. Rikuto gulped, but didn't panic. He hit the rock at the insect with his pipe, but Flymon dodged and was soon upon him.

"RIKU!" Umi cried, her hand stretched out for him. Rikuto threw up his arms, bracing for impact.

Two things happened then.

The moment Rikuto moved his arms up to cover his face, a wall of earth rose up before him, shielding him from Flymon. Flymon hit the wall, only to get hit again from behind by a powerful blast of water, flowing violently from the fountain following the trajectory of Umi's reaching arm.

Flymon collapsed momentarily, twitching until Mokuseimon's arrows pinned it to the ground and Tetsukomon ran it through with his broadsword. Flymon shattered into Digital bits and the two Warriors found themselves staring at the very stunned siblings.

"Did…we do that?" Umi asked, looking down at her dripping wet hands.

Savers Human World: Location: American DATS HQ – Washington D.C.

After the fight in Times Square, Masaru and his Digimon friends found themselves on a plane to Washington D.C. where they were taken to the American DATS Headquarters. They were introduced to Director Hanson who in turn got them in touch with Captain… Director Satsuma. Plans were made for Masaru and co. to leave in the early morning and board a C-17 from the Marine Corps Base in Quantico for Yokosuka Naval Base, which was in Tokyo Bay and only an hour away by car from DATS HQ.

Masaru had been happy to speak with Satsuma again, and so was Kudamon. It appeared that while Masaru had been busy trying to return home to Japan, Satsuma had reestablished DATS and got the old team back together, including Ikuto, Masaru's father, Suguru, and his little sister, Chika. They would all be waiting for him when he arrived.

Tohma, Yoshino, Ikuto, Chika, Director Satsuma, Miki Kurosaki, Megumi Shirakawa, Hiroshi Yushima, …his father. He'd get to see them all soon.

"Aniki," Agumon grumbled from where he was curled up on the other half of the bed they were sleeping on in the barracks room they'd arranged for Masaru and his friends to stay in during the short time they were in Quantico. "You should rest. We leave in a few hours."

"I know Agumon," Masaru said, smiling down at his best friend. "But it's been years… I wonder how much has changed, how much they've changed… how much I have changed."

"It'll be alright," Lalamon sighed from her nearby perch. "We'll all be together again. That's what matters."

"…Right," Masaru said, closing his eyes and willing himself to fall asleep.

In the early hours of dawn, Masaru and his Digimon friends awoke, refreshed themselves, and were escorted to the airfield where they boarded the C-17 bound for Japan. They had a long flight ahead of them.

Oh wow. Things are happening in all worlds. What is in that box Datamon was protecting from Hiroaki and friends? Will Minami and Alice get their own partners even though they miss Labramon and Dobermon? What are Shinya and Yutaka going to do now with Umi and Haru? And what's waiting for Masaru back in Japan? Looks like we'll have to find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!

I think it's safe to say (because it's already kind of obvious) that Rikuto and Umi are going to be our new Warriors of Water and Earth. I debated a lot about what to do with the other Warrior positions. Some people wondered if I was going to use a couple of the characters from that Frontier episode about the other 4 kids that had come and stayed in the digital world that used to bully Tommy, but there were four of them and only 2 slots. Though it would have been a no brain-er to cast the girl as the water warrior, there would have been three boys to choose from for the Earth warrior. In Drowning Memories it was easy to fit Davis and Jun into the roles I needed filled, but here I didn't want to poll from other worlds so... I ended up making OCs. So far everyone has liked my OC character Mai Kurosaki in UGotD, so I thought I'd risk making OCs for the two open slots in the Warrior DigiDestined's roster. I have big plans for Umi and Rikuto, so I hope you guys like them. :)