Hi everyone. I know it's been forever since I've updated this, which I am sorry for, but a lot has happened. I moved back home to the US for one back in May of this year and had been job hunting and such. I've been pretty busy dealing with that and this job I do currently have, but I'm in the process of searching for another one. That aside, in the last chapter, I mentioned a photo. Just so you know, the photo was of the children and their last day in the Digital World from Adventure (01). The youngest girl that Eiji recognized was Hikari. I only used her because her features were pretty much the same, and not a big change, like say with Takeru who grew a lot in height.

For this chapter, as you can see by the title, it's going to discuss what exactly happened to Iori and his friend right before being sucked into a gate to the Digital World, and introduces the character of Nohemon. You also get a bit more dealing with the "Dark Digimon" and his followers. Hope this doesn't bore you all too much, and thanks if you're still reading. Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with Digimon; Toei and Bandai have that right.

Chapter 18: "エイジさんはどこですか？僕達の不思議な誘拐です…"
"Eiji-san wa doko desuka? Bokutachi no fushigi na yuukai desu…"
"Where is Eiji-san? Our mysterious abduction…" Nohemon's Targets!

"So-so c-c-cold," a boy who looked to be no more than six shivered and sneezed. He wrapped his thick blanket around him a bit more and took in the heat of the fire that his two rescuers had built for him. Along with this boy sat a small white Digimon along with a rough-skinned one.

The area that he'd ended up in was quite snowy; a winter wonderland most would call it. The lakes nearby were partially frozen, which allowed the Digimon who could adapt to such conditions, to swim in them with no problems at all. When found, the tiny boy had been covered with snow.

"Are you okay?" the white, big-pawed Digimon asked. "You've been out for most of the day now. It's good that you were found, or else you would've frozen to death."

"I'm okay," he gave him a weak smile. "Thanks a lot, Gomamon."

"It's nice to see you again, d'gya!" the sluggish, rough-skinned Digimon chimed in.

"Same here, Armadimon. It has been a long time."

"I missed you a lot, Iori!"

Iori hugged his Digimon partner gratefully.

"Iori, how did you get here?" Gomamon asked suddenly.

"And how come you look smaller than what I remember you being?"

"I really don't understand how I managed to get here, Gomamon, and I have no idea why I'm younger, Armadimon. It's like I've aged backwards, yet, I notice I have on my Digital World clothing and I also have my D-Terminal and D-3. I didn't have them on me before I ended up here. They were in my bag."

"So what happened?"

"Hmm, well it all started when I was coming from my grandfather's dojo-"
x x x x
"No, wait Eiji-san." She turned to face him once again. "W-would you mind if I walked you home?"

The young girl looked up at Iori in pure astonishment. A person she truly respected had just offered to walk her home. A person she had purposely intended on meeting up with. After purchasing her items, she noticed Iori walking towards the door of the store. She hurried herself out so that she'd bump into him on purpose just so she'd have an excuse to talk to him. "Walk me home?"

"Yes; it's the least I could do for holding you up. I'm sure your family is worried about you."

"Okay, but what about your family?"

"I will worry about that later," he stated confidently. 'I'm surprised that ojiisama didn't pass by us, unless he used an alternate route to get home.'

The usually talkative girl was at a loss for words, her cheeks going slightly pink. She gave him a smile. "Hida Iori-kun, I would be happy if you walked me home."

With that, the two left the store and headed towards Eiji's apartment building.

She pointed to the bag draped over Iori's left shoulder. "Hey, what's that stuff you're carrying?"

"This is just my Kendo equipment. I just finished up a session at my grandfather's dojo. He specializes in kendo."

"That's cool! What level are you? How long have you been practicing? Which kind do you take? I heard that there were different branches of kendo or something like that."

"Levels are called 'grades'. I'm at hachi-dan (level 8) and I practice modern kendo. I think you're thinking of Kendo forms. There aren't really too many differences, only the swords used seem to vary and the attack stances practiced may be a bit different. I'm looking forward to using other swords, like the *bokuto, but my shinai is the one I like to practice with most. I've held a bokuto, though, which has about the same weight and size as my shinai. My grandfather is ready for me to start using real swords, but he should know that I'm much too inexperienced for that."

"Wait…you can use real swords in a kendo tournament?"

"No, and if I did, I would probably switch from studying Kendo to *Iaidou. Kendo is actually good to study prior to taking Iaidou as it teaches you discipline and certain stances and katas that are shared. That aside, I truly feel that my grandfather was joking. I'm not even ready to use a bokuto, even though I feel I could master using and practicing with it, if given the chance."

"Oh, well, that's nice," she answered routinely. She wasn't really too interested in martial arts; she just wanted to get her potential new friend to open up a bit.

After he'd given his answer on the subject, he'd gone quiet again, which bugged the girl. "So, Iori-kun, what was bothering you earlier?" she blurted out. "Are you ready to tell yet? You said something about letting down a friend."

"Well, yes, I did," he shyly responded. "The friend I was referring to was my Digimon partner, Armadimon. I promised him, before we parted ways, that I wouldn't be so judgmental of people who have done wrong in their pasts. I promised to be more trusting of people and to be less suspicious of them. I haven't really kept that promise..."

"Is that all? You shouldn't feel bad for something like that. I'm sure you have good reasons for having trouble with forgiving and trusting people." She looked over at him, and seriously asked, "You do trust me, don't you Iori-kun?"

"Of c-course I do, Eiji-san. I trust you a lot." He looked away from her, keeping his eyes forward. "If I didn't, I don't think I would have shared what I had with you just now."

These words made the girl smile brightly. "That's all that matters to me, then! You're still a nice person overall, and that's what truly counts in my book."

He grew quiet again from the girl's words. He still didn't understand why he felt so guilty. Was it because he had always felt that one should go through with whatever he promised? Real men keep their promises, he always felt.

"We should be getting to my place soon," Eiji announced as she grabbed onto Iori's right arm to help pull him along. "We only have about four more blocks to go."

Iori felt his face growing hot, and his cheeks going slightly red. He wasn't used of this type of attention from a girl.

"Ne, Iori-kun," Eiji began to look around, "did you hear something? I thought I heard someone say something. It wasn't you, was it?"

He shook his head. "There aren't many people on this walkway at the moment, but I'm pretty sure I heard something too. I was trying to make it out."

The two looked back. "I guess it was just our imagination."

"Yeah, I guess it was," Iori nodded. 'I hope that it was. I just have this strange feeling...something's just not right.'

"Iori-kun, look," she motioned. A few paces ahead of them, was a short figure wearing a straw hat (with scraggily looking blonde-hair sticking out from underneath), leather gloves and boots, a long hoodless cloak, thick, dark-green long-sleeved shirt, which they noticed when he stretched his arms up, beige-colored pants, and it looked as though the stranger had some type of a bird on his right shoulder. "I'm getting a very strange vibe from that guy."

"So am I. Just stay close to me, Eiji-san. I will protect you if anything happens."

Eiji nodded, and grasped Iori's arm tighter. Iori was acting like a knight. The young girl couldn't help but respect that and found it kind of flattering. "Arigatou, Iori-kun."

"S-s-sure thing, Eiji-san."

The two quickened their pace and walked by the person (the crow on his shoulder cawed at them eerily), not giving him any type of contact. They grew a bit perturbed as the cloaked person began to follow them. Iori, at first, thought it was just a coincidence, so he tested him. Whenever he fastened his pace (as did Eiji), he heard the stranger do so. When they slowed down, it was the same for the cloaked person. Iori decided to walk as fast as he possibly could, but the footsteps behind them grew in pace; they then started to jog a bit and both looked back to see if this person had stopped following them. Lucky for them, he had, and the pair of them went back to walking briskly.

Eiji let go of Iori's arm. "I wonder what was with that cloaked guy, and why do I still feel weird about him."

Before Iori could respond, the cloaked stranger appeared right in front of them. "So there you are. You're definitely the ones I was looking for." Neither could see his face, as the shadow from his hat shielded it pretty well.

Instinctively, Iori stepped in front of Eiji, and pulled out his shinai as quick as possible, as it was wrapped up originally. "Get away!" he warned, his bamboo sword in hand.

"I don't have time for these silly, childish games. I can only stay in the human world for a short time before the gate I used to get here, closes. You're the two that my client seems to fear and wants me to kill you off now." His crow spread its wings and cawed deeply.

"Your...client?"

"Kill us?" Eiji asked in confusion. "What did we ever do to him?"

"It doesn't really matter. I don't ask questions, I just do what I get paid to do. I have my orders to kill you before getting summoned back," he told the pair hastily. "Now let's get this over with." He reached behind his back and pulled out a bow and an arrow. He had a quiver of arrows hidden quite well due to his cloak. He lifted his head slightly, which allowed the two to finally see his pale, straw like face.

"It's a Digimon! What is a Digimon doing here in our world?"

"Iori-kun, what kind is it? Why does he carry a crow around with him? He looks like a scarecrow."

Iori kept his stance, ready to hit at anything that was thrown at him. "I don't know."

"Then let me introduce myself for your inquiring minds..."
x x x x
(Digi-Analyzer On)

Cloaked Digimon: I am *Nohemon, one of the most skilled "bowmon" assassins known in the Digital World. Whenever I am given a task, I always fulfill it, and I never show mercy, so don't bother asking for it whenever you are targeted by me. You should also watch out for my crow; there's more to it than what it seems.

(Digi-Analyzer Off)
x x x x
"What do you want with Eiji-san and me?!"

"I already told you; to kill you since my client, for some unusual reason, fears you."

'I really wish Armadimon were here,' Iori thought direly. He then urgently whispered, "Eiji-san, I want you to run when you get the chance. I'll hold this Nohemon off while you get to safety."

"I'm not leaving you behind!" she hissed back.

"You don't know how bad some Digimon can be. I have more experience than you with this."

Growing tired of the discussion, Nohemon had ordered his crow to attack the two. The bird flapped its wings and shot out some type of bright green sphere. Fortunately, Iori saw the attack coming, and pulled Eiji aside. The attack left a giant indention in the nicely paved sidewalk.

Since Iori was so distracted over Eiji's welfare and safety, his guard was slightly down, and he pretty much left himself open. Nohemon quickly loaded his bow effortless, ready to shoot. Iori remained in front of his companion, determined to not let any harm come her way. Nohemon smirked as he launched the attack. He was curious as to how serious a fighter Iori truly was.

Iori, who was very good where defense was concerned, swung his bamboo sword, knocking away each and every arrow that came at him. 'I wish I had that wooden sword with me instead. I'd be able to fight better since it's stronger.'

'Not bad at all. He definitely means business, but he won't be able to block these off forever, and he's not going to leave that girl's side to come at me, which would give him a bit of an advantage since he's probably better with close-range fighting. It doesn't matter too much. I wasn't paid to play with them.' Nohemon launched his attack again, but none of the arrows seemed to go towards his two victims.

Iori was partially relieved, due to the fact that the arrows were coming at him so fast, he couldn't figure out where they would've ended up either way. Keeping his eyes on the arrows coming towards him, he didn't notice Nohemon's shooting one in particular upwards. The arrow transformed into a net and landed on the both of them. Due to his being startled, Iori ended up dropping his sword.

"You may be good with your sword techniques, kid, but I'm quicker and have a lot more experience with being out in a real battle. I wouldn't be surprised if all you've ever done were tournaments."

Iori glared at the Digimon disdainfully; he was actually right. His combatant skill was a bit weak. Sure he'd won various matches and kendo tournaments, but he'd never had to experience it in an uncontrolled setting.

"I'm sorry, Iori-kun," apologized Eiji in a dull, sad voice. "I should have listened to you. Why am I so stubborn!"

"Eiji-san..."

"Now you're going to die, and it's going to be all my fault, just like with my father! If it weren't for me, he'd still be alive! If it weren't for me, he wouldn't have gotten mad at my mother and hurt her! If it weren't for me, he would have never gotten into that accident!"

"Don't' say that! We will get out of here somehow."

"I don't see how you actually expect to," Nohemon commented as his bird companion cawed loudly as it flapped its wings. "That net is made with the strongest material from my world. Even a Tyranomon wouldn't be able to slice through that material, and I doubt your weak little bladeless sword could either."

Nohemon loaded his bow and held it towards Eiji. "Nohemon! Let her go! She's not even a Chosen Child!"

"Look, I don't ask questions," he told him dully, "I just do what I'm paid to do. She matches the description that was given to me, and she's with you, isn't she? Might as well get rid of both of you since it'll be inconvenient to leave her behind."

"Maybe I should die," the girl murmured while rocking back and forth on the cool, cement ground. "If I'm dead, then no one else will get hurt because of me."

Iori kneeled down and grabbed her by the shoulders. She refused to look at him. "Don't say such things, Eiji-san! No person deserves to die unless it's his time to go! You should know that better than anyone! You do not drive people to their deaths nor are you bad luck! I refuse to let you believe that!"

"I know," she sighed heavily, "I just...I just..."

The girl couldn't hold back any longer and launched herself at Iori. She began to cry, something she'd never done publicly. It was like she was relapsing.

Iori was a bit taken aback over this display and was quite hesitant when she threw herself at him, as he wasn't used of this side of her. When in school, everyone knew of Eiji's being a tough girl and not the type to cry for any reason.

One time, that Iori recalled, Eiji was roller-blading to school and was challenged to skate as fast as she could. Not sure as to what, but she skated over something which caused her to trip and fall. Her scrapes and scratches were terrible and the school nurse looked horrified when she scrambled into school, but she just smiled and said, "I guess I lost this race." No one had ever seen this girl frown once, since she was always so outgoing and seemingly content. The young Iori now understood that the girl was obviously wearing a mask, just like Takeru. It took him a while to fully understand his older friend due to that reason.

Iori awkwardly hugged her and tried his best to comfort her. "Don't worry, Eiji-san, we will get out of here somehow," he whispered. "I promise to help keep you safe, and I'm definitely a man of my word."

Nohemon rolled his hollow eyes at the scene. 'Gag me,' he thought as he readied himself to attack.

Right when Nohemon launched the arrow, a cyclone seemed to open up from the sky, and a bright light shined over the area.

Eiji got out of Iori's arms quite alarmed. "What's going on?"

"Hopefully, a miracle..." he answered softly.

The cyclone seemed to land on the two and engulfed them both. It went back towards the sky and closed up. "Damn it!" Nohemon cursed as he threw down his weapon in anger. "I took too damn long!"

That was the last Iori saw of both Eiji and Nohemon. In the portal, he was separated from his friend. During this trip, he noticed a few changes within himself, like his shrinking in size. He also noticed that on his chest, there were two shapes, which vanished, and seemed to form one. The two shapes that combined were Jou's Crest of Sincerity (Reliability) and Koushirou's Crest of Knowledge. The shape that formed looked like a combination of both.

After he got out of the portal, he ended up crash landing into some snow. Iori stood and brushed the snow off, while shivering slightly. The chilling wind was so strong, that his face had started to go pink. He had no idea where he was. Examining his snowy surroundings, he noticed he was on a hilltop, near a cave entrance. A bit farther away, he thought he saw what looked to be more caves and maybe a village.

He called out for his friend, which showed to be a big mistake. By him yelling, he had awakened a peacefully sleeping Mojamon (Mojyamon). The big snow beast wasn't too happy to find a human in his area; especially one that had disturbed his peaceful slumber.

When the Digimon equivalent of Bigfoot approached Iori, he did the only thing he could do...run. As Mojamon chased him, constantly trying to hit him while using his "Bone Bone Boomerang" attack, Iori ended up tripping, sliding down the steep, icy hill into a bank of snow. The impact from the fall knocked him unconscious. When Mojamon didn't see Iori anywhere, he snorted, and hiked back to his cave to get some well-deserved rest...
x x x x
Meanwhile...

"Gomamon!" Armadimon called as he rushed into what he and the others dubbed "headquarters". It was pretty much a cave that they used for injured Digimon or either as a place to lounge around. Lately, it was mostly being used for the former. "I was playing out in the snow, and some of the Digimon and me heard some weird sounds coming from the hilltop, d'gya."

"What sane Digimon would go up there at this time of the year anyway?" Gomamon asked with a groan. "The Mojamon up there are hibernating, and if you wake them up, they're crankier than usual, not to mention more difficult and dangerous to deal with since they don't seem to think straight."

"One of the *YukiAgumon said he thought he saw something land at the bottom of the hill into one of the snow banks, d'gya. Some of the *Yukimibotamon mentioned seeing something too along with some of the other Digimon, d'gya."

Gomamon sighed regrettably. He was enjoying his leisure time. "I guess we should go check it out, even though, as far away as the Mojamon village is, I doubt a YukiAgumon could've seen anything actually falling. I bet some Digimon decided to go on a little hiking trip, woke up one of the Mojamon up there, ran away in fright since that Icicle Rod attack can be deadly, and ended up falling and injuring himself, if someone is actually there." Gomamon trotted towards the cave's entrance. "I'm glad you're hanging around for a while. We might have to do some digging if a Digimon fell into one of the snow banks."

Armadimon smiled proudly, and rolled alongside Gomamon, leading him to where the other Digimon claimed to have heard all of the commotion. When they got to the area, it was snowing heavily. Gomamon faintly saw the marks made by someone sliding down the hill, although, they were almost gone as the newly fallen snow had covered it.

The two continued to inspect the area, the visibility growing even worse. "We should go back; a snow storm is coming, d'gya."

"Yeah, I was about to say that. It'll be making its way to our area soon, and it's about a twenty-minute walk from here for me. About ten for you."

Giving up, the two started off, but Gomamon caught a glimpse of something. He went over to inspect what he had seen from the corner of his eye. "Armadimon," the small white mammal called, "over here! There's someone here." He inspected the specimen a bit closer, as Armadimon rolled up to him. "I see a hand! That means that this must be a human!"

"A human? There haven't been any humans in the Digital World since Iori left. Maybe it's just a Digimon that have human characteristics, like Angemon, or Angewomon, or Lilymon, d'gya."

"We'll worry about that later; just help me dig this human or Digimon or whoever out. We don't know if he can take this type of weather," Gomamon slightly panicked.

Armadimon began to dig through the snow ferociously with his claws, while Gomamon did so, only a bit slower, with his paws. Since it was snowing harder, they had to be really quick so that the snow wouldn't recover the body.

After a couple of minutes of digging, they had the victim all dug up, which caused the two to gasp at the sight, especially after realizing who he was. His Digital World attire was a dead-set giveaway.

"It's Iori!"

"What's he doing here?! He shouldn't be here, d'gya."

"We have to get him someplace warm. He's already turning blue!"

"How are we going to get him back? We're too small and not fast enough to get him back with the way it's snowing!"

"You're right!" Gomamon evolved to Ikkakumon. He picked up the unconscious boy and put him on his back. Armadimon rode along to make sure Iori stayed put from the wooly Digimon's running. They both made it safely back to headquarters, and hurriedly did their bests to get Iori's body temperature back to normal...
x x x x
Iori shivered and snuggled up more in the blanket after he and the other two finished their tales. "That's quite a story, but the question now is, why are you here?" Iori sneezed to Gomamon's question in response. "Maybe you should drink some more hot tea to help warm you up. This is as warm as we can get this place."

"Yes, some more tea would be nice."

"Hey, Betamon, we're out of tea! Could you bring us some more?"

After a few moments, a green tadpole like Digimon hopped to Gomamon's side, holding a bag filled with tea leaves, in his mouth. Armadimon, had gone to get some water. When everything was gathered, Gomamon began to brew the tea.

Iori watched on in amazement as Gomamon managed the task. "How did you all learn to do that?"

"Palmon gave us this. She also told us where to get these particular leaves...but none of them grow near here. She said they're perfect for pretty much anything since it's her own special blend," Betamon explained. 'We have to now days with these stupid attacks going on.'

"She showed them how to brew the tea too, d'gya."

"Well, actually, I already knew how." Gomamon poured out a cup of steaming tea for Iori very carefully. He still couldn't get the hang of using his paws for such a thing. "Jou's shown me how to."

Iori accepted the tea. The hot steam coming from the cup felt very soothing and relaxing. "Thank you, Gomamon." He took a sip of the herbal beverage. He felt his body warming up already. "Since I've awakened, I've been meaning to ask this of you. Why are you and Betamon here? It's so snowy."

"This weather doesn't bother me," Betamon squeaked. "I got used of snow when living with Michael in New York."

"I'm just rolling by; besides, the snow is fun, until those snow storms hit."

"What exactly is going on here? Why was a Digimon sent to the real world to kill me and my friend, Eiji-san?"

The three frowned and let Iori in on everything that had been going on. "We're not sure on everything, but that's the rumor," Gomamon explained. "Some Digimon with a lot of influence is trying to take over our world, and sending in his troops to conquer different areas."

"That's terrible! We have to stop those Digimon, but I must find my friend, Eiji-san, first!" The boy set his cup of tea down and stood. Unfortunately, his legs couldn't support his weight, and he fell back to the ground.

"Iori, you have to get your strength back first. You've been asleep since we found you yesterday. You haven't even eaten anything yet!"

"Gomamon, I'm fine," he grumbled, as he tried to stand again.

"Iori," Armadimon drawled, "you're still not completely well! Stop being stubborn!"

"Eiji-san is in trouble!" Iori was determined to leave, regardless of his current state. Every bone in his body could've been broken, and he still would've tried going out in search of his friend. "She doesn't know anything about the Digital World! She could be hurt for all we know!"

"Don't worry," Betamon assured the young boy, "Yukidarumon (Frigimon) is already out searching for her. He's on his...third round, I think. We had to wait for the storm to pass last night before he could go out again."

"But I just told you about her. How would you know to send someone out to look for her?"

"After those two got you here last night, you kept mumbling in your sleep about finding your friend and some other gibberish. We pretty much figured out what you meant, so I told Yukidarumon to go out and search, along with his team, the area that Gomamon and Armadimon found you in, and to even check out where all the Mojamon are. The search has been narrowed down, for the most part, since we know we're looking for another human.

"He should be getting back soon with a report."

"I hope they do. I made her that promise...I don't want to break it..."

"Promise? What do you mean, d'gya?"

"Nothing much really. Anyway, what are you going to do about the Digimon that's been giving you all trouble?"

"There isn't much we can do," Betamon sighed. He looked to be extremely exhausted. "We just keep them away by evolving to our adult (champion) levels. Lucky for us, nothing higher than an adult has ever attacked here, so we don't have much trouble driving them off, or, unfortunately, resort to deleting them."

Iori truly disliked the sound of that. He really hated the concept of anyone's life being taken, even if it was an enemy since he still believed, in the back of his mind, that some people could be reformed and changed, which he learned through both Ken and Oikawa, but, he still judged people if he found they'd had a dark, "evil" past at one point.

"We probably shouldn't stay here," Gomamon stated seriously.

"What do you mean?" Betamon asked before sipping on his cup of tea.

The water mammal heaved out a distressed sigh before answering, his voice lack of any amusement or lightheartedness, something not very common with the playful jokester. With all that was going on, and his constant worrying about the Digimon in the area he'd agreed to help protect, had finally taken its toll on him. He was grateful to have both Betamon and Armadimon around.

"One of those henchmen went after Iori in his world; one of the most feared Digimon known to all of us here...Nohemon. He isn't particularly strong, but his skill level is off the scale! He always succeeds in pulling off his missions, and can never be caught, by the looks of it, by any Digimon of authority. Even if he encounters a Digimon on a level much higher than his own, he'll just find the weakness, and delete him. How he actually manages this is completely unknown.

"What if he followed Iori here and whoever he is working for knows it already? We did have that big snow storm last night, so maybe that worked as cover, but there's a slight possibility that that may not be the case and he's already on his way here."

"Should we evacuate?"

"I don't know what to do, Betamon." Gomamon's manner was so depressing, that Iori couldn't help but feel bad.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to cause so much trouble."

Armadimon patted Iori's back. "Don't you worry, d'gya. It's not your fault that these things are happening."

Iori nodded pitifully. Even though they said it wasn't his fault, he couldn't help but feel slightly responsible. His being in the village was putting the lives of the Digimon there in danger. Then there was also the fact that he didn't know what had happened to Eiji and didn't know if she was safe or not. 'What am I going to do...what can I do?' the boy pondered as his three Digimon friends continued to discuss the situation...
x x x x
Back at a large castle...

"How could you be so incompetent!" Nohemon's client's cohort yelled at him. "You allowed them to escape!"

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean for it to happen," he apologized hastily. "It took me a good while just to locate that kid. When I was about to perform my deed, a strange looking gate opened up from the sky and took the both of them away."

Nohemon and his client's loyal supporter were in the candle-lit throne room of the castle. Nohemon's client despised most light, and kept the entire castle dimly lit. This bastion had once belonged to that of the feared Vamdemon (Myotismon), but it was remodeled to accommodate its current owner. Right at that moment, a tall Digimon wearing a red hooded-robe entered the room. He took his seat on his velvet throne.

"What is your progress?" he asked briskly as he made himself comfortable. "It's decent news, I hope."

"I'm afraid not, sir. Nohemon failed to do away with the youngest child..."

After he was done telling the story, the robed Digimon glared down at the small, scarecrow Digimon. "I thought you were the best assassin in all of the Digital World!"

"I am, sir, but they were summoned back before I could do anything. It took almost half a day to find him since you didn't have too many leads for me to go on. That girl was even more of a challenge to find since she's not a Chosen Child. She doesn't even seem to know what they are...entirely. I was actually wondering if it was a mistake and if there was another girl I was supposed to have been looking for."

"Quit with your excuses! Sir, what should we do with him for failing so miserably? He's had almost an entire day to get them since they've arrived here in the Digital World. I've also seen him in action, and he's very quick and skilled. He could've killed them before the gate took them in!"

Calming down, the dark Digimon tapped his finger, looking to be in deep thought. He coughed slightly before answering. "I say we let him live."

"You must be joking, sir! He didn't succeed with killing off the youngest of the Chosen Children!" He glowered at Nohemon, ready to swing his sword at him. "He failed you! I say we murder the bastard for being useless!"

Nohemon twitched slightly from the offense. He had the audacity to insult him? 'If I could only kill this moron to show him how skilled I truly am, but that'd make me look bad if I did. I don't kill paying customers…usually'

"But you seem to forget…he always gets the job done," he answered firmly while narrowing his glowing, purple eyes at his second in command. This caused him to quiet down, and to stop questioning his superior's motives. "Just because he's failed this one time, does not mean he will let it happen again."

"Yes, that's very true," Nohemon continued to suck up, as much as he resented it, "I am very reliable and faithful to my paying clients."

"I'm sure that you are," he answered with a nod, even though it seemed his mind was elsewhere.

"Something isn't right. I sense you have something else in mind for me."

"Maybe. How would you like to do another job for me to make up for this one you made a mess of?"

"Okay, keep talking..."

"Those children you were sent to assassinate weren't the only ones I wanted dead." He stepped down off of his throne and made his way to the other side of the room. He stared out of the window located on the opposite side of his throne, but the dark, blood-red curtains were drawn shut. It was like he had x-ray vision and was staring through the crimson material. "There are others," he explained, his back to the two, "it's just that those two seem to have some type of a curious power or aura coming from them, especially that girl..."

"Okay, I understand, but what does tha-"

"They weren't the only two I wanted you to go after," he repeated. He turned around to face his guest. "There are others."

"What do you mean 'there are others'? I'm not a damn babysitter, you know."

"I'm not sure entirely, but I think there are about 12 or 13 of them. I've only come in contact with the younger ones of the group, including the boy you went after."

Nohemon's hollow narrow eyes went wide, and his face scrunched up a bit, bothered at the idea of having to waste his time on such a task. "Twelve…thirteen? That's too many!"

"For someone as skilled as you, it shouldn't be a problem," the robed Digimon told him plainly.

Nohemon stormed over to the robed Digimon and pointed a finger at him. "You are going to pay me extra for this job."

"Don't worry," the Digimon's loyal colleague spoke up, "you'll get your money."

"I'd better!" he threatened. "I don't go out and work, unless I get paid. I don't care who you are."

"Don't speak to him in that way!"

"I can speak in any damn way I want, now pay me or else I walk!"

"As he said, you will get your money. Now, there was some prophecy of Chosen Children returning to this world in case a new evil was to threaten it. It's pretty much the same as with the other set of Chosen Children who fought against Vamdemon, Apocalymon, and BelialVamdemon. Those Holy Guardians seem to always seek out humans to help whenever this world is in a bind, not counting the Southern Guardian who isn't all that cooperative in general.

"All of them actually seem to fear me, and those like me, which is why they seem to send out for help. Luckily, I took care of this incident dealing with these children, since the prophecy mentions how the Chosen Children can only defeat me. I was already prepared for them, despite what Angellina or even that stubborn Gennai thought.

"Gennai was extremely foolish for trying to stop me on his own. He now has the mind of a paperweight."

"How can you change a prophecy?"

"The ones who were summoned and brought back are now children, thanks to Sorcerymon."

"So you're telling me that the ones brought back weren't children? The two I went after in the human world were pretty much kids."

"Not young children," the colleague explained. "The oldest one to be brought back, was almost 18 years old; he's probably about ten or even younger now."

"I guess that is a bit of a difference," Nohemon stated dryly, not really caring much, "just explain this prophecy thing more."

*"It was destined for me to break away from that world in which I was imprisoned and I always knew about that prophecy about Chosen Children being the key to defeating any evil that threatens this world. At the time, I knew that BelialVamdemon wouldn't succeed with his task since he was sloppy and ill-prepared. It was more so a last-ditch effort for revenge, and when he did finally reveal himself, he showed to lack true ambition, future planning, or common sense, unlike me. He killed off those loyal to him; I already know that moves like that are truly foolish. If he'd had Archenmon and Mummymon by his side to fight, I'm sure they would've defeated those children and their partners easily. As for me, getting rid of those Chosen Children is only part of my plan, not counting the one by the name of Ichijouji Ken. He's the one I truly want.

"I didn't really mind when I was forced to that barren sea. It gave me the chance to grow stronger, and to think things through thoroughly. My colleague, myself, as well as Sorcerymon, were plotting against BelialVamdemon the entire time anyway."

The archer nodded knowingly. 'So, he's the type to double-cross if it suits him. There's a chance that I may not get paid. I may have to end up killing him myself. It'd save those kids the trouble.'

"As for that prophecy, Sorcerymon managed to gain knowledge and of that foolish girl's dreams and visions of how the kids should all be young to defeat any evil that comes to this world."

"But doesn't this Angellina person have connections to the Holy Beast Guardians? Wouldn't they have just told her she's wrong?"

He shook his head. "She's never been wrong where her visions have been concerned. She's very clairvoyant, so the guardians believe everything she says and dreams. That girl has had these visions, even though they're a bit different from what was originally prophesized, but the guardians have so much faith in her, they'll just assume that they're wrong before admitting that she might be, especially after the incident with the Digimon Kaiser, which led up to BelialVamdemon's return.

"Thanks to our technically infiltrating their defenses, all of the children are so young, that they're extremely vulnerable and Ichijouji is actually worth more to me."

"If they have no chance of even touching you, why are you bothering to have them killed off?"

"It's just that girl, mainly. There's just something unusual and mysterious about her, as well as the boy that was with her."

"But she's not even a Chosen Child. That boy said as much. How did you even find out about her? She has no history here like the other ones apparently do."

"Angellina's visions. One of them kept focusing on a young girl who was close to the youngest of the Chosen Children summoned. After hearing about that from Sorcerymon, who in part, learned it from that fool, Gennai, who we hypnotized into describing all of Angellina's visions to us, it'd been constantly bothering me. I didn't really understand why it would for the reason you brought up…she's not a Chosen Child. Even Gennai didn't seem to understand it. Either way, we allowed Gennai to make contact and tricked the girl into thinking they should all be younger.

"Although, to be honest," he bellowed, "I just want to make sure nothing does happen. There's a possibility that they may end up at their regular ages, and like that, they'll be more of a threat to me." He smiled a bit, though unseen since his hood always kept his face hidden. "It's also fun."

"I'm not understanding this completely," the colleague tossed Nohemon a roll of bills, "but who says I actually have to. A job's a job." He pulled out a money pouch he had hidden underneath his shirt, and stuffed the money in. When done, he put it back in place. 'I think I'll drop by Digitamamon's diner for a quick bite before going back out.'

"I'm glad you see things my way, now go and kill off that girl and that boy, and don't you dare lay a finger on the one named Ichijouji; he's no use to me dead."

"Yeah, I'm on it." The scarecrow raised his right arm and whistled. "Let's go!" His feathered companion, who had been resting on one of the beams of the ceiling, cawed as he flew down to Nohemon, landing on his raised arm. With his partner by his side, Nohemon took off to commence his search of Eiji, Iori, or any other child he may encounter.

"Sir, do you think he'll be able to find them? The Digital World is so big."

"I believe he will. He did manage to find one of them on a whim, according to Ebemon, but he's no true threat to me, so I told him he could do whatever he wanted with that child. As for the Digimon that were trying to protect the child, I'm allowing Ebemon to do whatever he wants with them too."

"So that's why you went easy on him?"

He returned to his seat and chuckled lightly. "Of course. Anyway, it'll be quite refreshing knowing that I'll soon be in control of the Digital World and of the human world. I'll be able to transform it into a world I can fully live in. I'll finally get the recognition I deserve, and all Digimon, and humans, will bow before me."

"What about Sorcerymon and me?"

"Don't worry. Unlike Vamdemon or BelialVamdemon, I don't kill those who help and remain loyal to me."

"I'm glad that you wouldn't do that to us."

"I can be trusted when it comes to my allies. I knew ahead of time that BelialVamdemon couldn't. I figured he would get rid of me the first chance he got since it's in his nature to do something so incredibly stupid."

"Well sir, I'll go check up on the progress with Ebemon for you."

With that, the Digimon Colleague left his superior, who couldn't help but laugh as he closed the throne-room's door...

Author's Notes

Note 1: A bokuto is a wooden sword and Iaidou is an art form which teaches how to smoothly use and control a sword.
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Note 2: Nohemon is a real Digimon, everyone. There are other evolutionary paths for this particular Digimon, but the one that sticks out for me is Wormmon. If using the Digimental of Purity (Sincerity), this is what Wormmon would evolve to. Just so you know I tend to favor most of the armors connected to the Purity Digimental. A few of my favorites are Yashamon (V-mon), Kabukimon (Tailmon), Shurimon, and of course, Nohemon.

I changed the information a bit for Nohemon, though. For his official profile, if I'm remembering correctly, the crow atop his head is his true form. I changed it around so that Nohemon is the one in control, and the crow just listens to him like an obedient pet.
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Note 3: YukiAgumon, which translates to SnowAgumon, was the first "snow related" Digimon I could think of off the top of my head. Yukimibotamon, which translates to SnowBotamon, is the Baby I (Fresh) form of Tailmon (Gatomon). Yukimibotamon were seen in episode 25 of Digimon Adventure 02. They were the Digimon that the kids were trying to keep safe from Golemon. This is also the episode where Hawkmon evolved to Aquilamon for the first time.
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Note 4: This is pretty much where the "alternate storyline" comes in for this fic. After the defeat of BelialVamdemon, all of the Dark Seed children ended up with Digimon Partners of their own, as well as a Digivice. Everyone also ends up knowing of the existence of Digimon by the end of the Adventure 02 series. For this fic, no one knows of Digimon except for a select few, the Chosen Children and their parents/relatives who witnessed the BelialVamdemon stuff years earlier, and the Dark Spore children didn't receive partners or Digivices and dismissed the entire incident off as a bad dream.

Fic Chapter Change

I changed the sword conversation. Like with any art, you have to master a lot before moving on to a new weapon or skill. In Iori's case, he'd be pretty young to be practicing with the bokuto (木刀), which is a wooden sword. As mentioned, it can be about the same size as a shinai, which is the split bamboo sword that most all are probably familiar with, or a katana.

I pretty much fixed a plothole. Originally, the evil Digimon here was pretty much saying that Sorcerymon interfered with Angellina's visions. That's just, well, strange, right? I never did explain how. The change is that they extracted all of that information from Gennai when putting him under.