I was going to update sooner, but I've been busy with things.

"It's not too bad. Aside from it being a bit chillier at night than I thought it'd be."

Her dad grunted in reply, digging around in the box that was near the cot. The thing was full of various items, which were steadily being scattered about on the ground by the man. Sitting at the tent door was Yoko, who was watching her mom cook breakfast over the campfire. She knew her dad wasn't actually paying attention to her; she just felt like talking at that moment. Maybe it was because she was used to being near at least one of her friends just about every day. No matter if they were at school or on vacation, they had stayed together. Back in the Digital World, talking with them had been the only way that she kept herself calm enough to think. The stress would have driven her nuts if they hadn't been around.

"It is a bit nippy," Salamon commented.

Yoko looked at the pup. Salamon was buried in a pile of blankets that Yoko's mother had turned into a makeshift bed for the Digimon. She was hardly visible underneath the mass of fabric; the upper half of her face was the only thing that could really be seen.

"But you're covered up," the redhead pointed out with a laugh.

"You could always come join me."

Yoko grinned and hopped up. "Not a bad idea!"

She scooped up a blanket from the bed and plopped down behind Salamon. Throwing the blanket over her, Yoko wrapped it around her and Salamon, pulling her partner as close as she could before picking her up and placing her in her lap. A few feet away, her dad chuckled at the sight. When Yoko noticed, he turned away and continued his search. He wasn't face enough to keep her from spotting him smirking. She snuggled close the pup in her lap, a wide smile on her face. Salamon had a content look on her face.

"This is much warmer."

"Just because of my body heat," Yoko said, grinning. "I'm so glad it's Sunday already."

Her dad, having heard the comment, stated, "We've only been out here for a day."

"I miss everyone," she replied.

"You hang out with them too much. They're bad influences."

Groaning, Yoko let her head hang down. "Why's he have to be like that?" She whispered the question with annoyance in her voice.

"He worries about you."

"He doesn't need to. I'm not some little girl who can't defend herself anymore."

Salamon craned her neck upwards to stare at the redhead. The expression on Yoko's face worried her, but the girl rubbed her hands against her face. When she lowered them, she was once again smiling.

"I guess it doesn't matter. It just drives me crazy because he always does that." She ran her fingers along Salamon's back absentmindedly. "He knows the reason why I'm able to stand up for myself now is because of Daiki and Mikami."

Her dad pulled his head out of the duffle bag he was messing with to look at the girl. "Yoko, do you know where the GPS is?"

"That's what you were looking for?" Yoko asked, giggling. "You left it in the car."

Grumbling under his breath, Hurren pushed himself to his feet and made his way out of the tent. She leaned forward to watch him only to see her mother laughing at him. She wondered why he wanted the GPS. Maybe he had something planned. If so, she was more than likely going to object. She would rather stay in the tent covered up than go outside to participate in whatever activity he was thinking about. Salamon made a curious noise, nudging her partner to get the girl's attention. Yoko looked at her.

"What is a GPS?"

"Global positioning system. It lets you see where you are and how to get to places."

The pup tilted her head to the side. "Why would he need that?"

"I have no idea, but I'm not looking forward to it."

"It could be fun."

"That'd be a first," Yoko said jokingly. "He has a really different idea of fun than I do."

A cry of, "Aha!" drew their attention. Yoko's father was holding up the small GPS, rather pleased that he had found it. He motioned for Yoko, making her sigh. She stood up and let the blanket fall on top of Salamon. The Digimon stuck her head out to watch the redhead head over to the man. Yoko knew he was up to something; she just hoped it wasn't one of his usual plans. If it was, well, she was going to run for her life.

"We're going to go walk some trails," he explained, "and go see the waterfall."

"Is that all?" Yoko asked. A waterfall? There was no way it was going to be anywhere near as impressive as everything she had seen in the Digital World.

"There's a cave behind it we can go into. There's supposed to be a tunnel that leads to a hot spring."

This made the girl gasp. "A hot spring?!" She exclaimed, bouncing on her feet. "Let's go!"

"I knew you'd like that! Let's get everything secured and then we'll head off."

Yoko dashed back to the tent, almost throwing herself down onto the bed as she grabbed her backpack.

"Okay, since I know you probably don't wanna walk for that long," the redhead said, "I'm gonna empty this thing out and put all your blankets in there so I can carry you. Don't worry; I won't zip it up."

Salamon wondered if her partner had just gone insane. Yoko pulled Salamon from her nest and proceeded with stuffing the blankets into her backpack. She made sure to leave a space in the center, which she deposited Salamon into. The pup was thoroughly confused, but she wasn't going to complain. After all, this was a chance for her to avoid walking. Normally she wouldn't mind trotting along a few paths, but she wanted a little longer to relax. Yoko pulled up the zipper enough to make sure Salamon wouldn't fall out, leaving plenty of room for her to poke her head out. The redhead was careful when slipping the backpack onto her shoulders.

"I'm ready!" She stated, hopping out of the tent. "Oh, I can't wait to soak in the hot spring!"

"Calm down, kiddo. We need to get there first," her mother told her, though the woman was finding her daughter's reaction to be funny.

Her father put their valuables into their car and locked it. "Alright, time to go."

Yoko's mom couldn't hold back a laugh. "What about breakfast?"

"Oh, right. I forgot," Yoko said.

"Come on, you two. Let's eat before you run off and complain about being hungry."

"I would never," Hurren grumbled.

0~0~0

It was quite a while after eating that they found themselves closing in on the waterfall. Hurren had asked about Yoko's time in the Digital World, so she and Salamon told them the story. They left out a few details on purpose, but told him nearly everything. Seeing as how he knew about the Digital World already, they figured there wasn't a point in hiding anything from him. Her mother was listening to music, so they were pretty much in the clear. Hurren's reactions varied; when she mentioned the times that she had found herself in danger, he seemed to tense up. Telling him about the various successful battles and saving Digimon made him smile ever so slightly.

"Sounds like you went through quite a lot."

"I think that's a bit of an understatement, dad."

"What about Mikami? Where's her partner?"

Yoko could feel Salamon shift and whine quietly. She could understand why. Impmon had been her friend and had done everything he could to keep her and the others safe. Yoko hadn't thought about how any of the Digimon felt; it probably affected them more than the humans, besides Mikami.

"If you really want to know, ask Mikami," Yoko told him. "I don't think it's my place."

Her father's face fell, understanding what she meant. "I see. Alright. Well, I'm proud of you. You helped a lot of Digimon."

Smiling, the girl nodded. "By the way, how do you know about the Digital World?"

He turned to her, tapping her on the nose. She made a noise, scrunching up her face. "I think that's a story for another time," he said. "There's the waterfall."

She knew he was avoiding answering her, but she didn't mind. He turned around and yanked the earbud out of his wife's ear, pointing at the waterfall. Yoko dashed down the trail leading to behind the waterfall. Her parents caught up to her quickly, scolding her for running off. They could tell she wasn't paying the least bit of attention to what they were saying, however.

"Why are you so excited for hot springs?" Salamon asked.

"I haven't been to one in years! We used to go all the time until dad started working more. Are you gonna join me when we get there?"

"Of course I will."

"Good! I was gonna make you anyways."

"How nice of you."

"Yep! I'm the nicest person ever!"

They made their way behind the waterfall. Salamon seemed curious about it, but Yoko was in too much of a hurry to listen to her. The pup could understand to an extent, thought she wished Yoko would calm down. Her level of excitement was rather impressive. Had she always been like this? The answer was more than likely yes. Though she did wonder; Yoko had mentioned something earlier that Salamon realized was a bit odd. 'I'm not some little girl who can't defend herself anymore.' What had she meant by that? Obviously it would have been harder for her to stand up for herself at a young age. So why had she sounded resentful? Yoko probably wouldn't answer her if she asked, so Salamon kept quiet. There was no point in making the girl talk about something that she clearly didn't look back on fondly.

It took them a little over ten minutes to reach the bath house. Yoko burst through the doors, throwing her arms up into the air happily. She immediately dashed into the changing room as soon as her mother handed her what Salamon guess was her bathing suit. Salamon waited patiently outside the room, the receptionist fawning over her. It was a strange thing, though she would be lying if she didn't admit that the look on the woman's face while she was petting the pup wasn't funny. Even so, being doted on by someone other than Yoko was a bit strange.

The redhead came bouncing out of the room wearing a white one piece, a giddy look on her face. She scooped up Salamon and ran to the entrance to the girls' side.

"You're gonna love this!" She declared.

"I would hope so."

Yoko set Salamon down on the edge of the pool and slipped in. She looked at Salamon, who was already sliding into the water. The warmth had been noticeable as soon as they entered the room, but once in the water, Salamon noticed just how warm it was. It had an immediate relaxing effect on her that made her sigh lightly. Beaming, Yoko settled down and leaned her head back.

"How's it feel?" Yoko asked. She already knew the answer.

"It feels great."

"All the aches and pains just kinda flow out of you. This is why I always loved hot springs."

"I can see why."

"After a long week of school, dad would bring mom and me here to relax. Since I—" She paused, staring up at the ceiling. "I, uh, used to get bullied a lot. It was easy for kids to pick on someone who didn't like to fight. Soaking in the hot spring made it easier."

"'Used to'?"

"Yeah, before I met Mikami and Daiki."

Salamon tilted her head to the side. "When did you meet them?"

"It's been about four or five years," Yoko said, a reminiscent look on her face. "A bunch of kids had me cornered on the playground and were beating me. Daiki and Mikami showed up and Mikami just watched as Daiki beat all the kids up." She laughed. "As soon as they all ran off, Daiki looked at me and said, 'What's up, sis?' It was the weirdest thing. After all, I hadn't met him before! Both of them stuck around me anytime they could after that. I didn't like it at first because I thought they were just pitying me, but they both said they enjoyed my company. We just became friends after that."

"They really do care about you, huh?"

"I'm lucky to have them, that's for sure," Yoko whispered. "Okay! Enough of that! What do you think of this world so far?"

"It's definitely different from the Digital World," Salamon said. "It's calmer. And the way you humans get around is a bit weird."

"What? Cars? You haven't even gotten a chance to ride on airplane!"

"An airplane? What is that?"

The redhead giggled and tried her best to explain to her partner. She was reminded of when she was little; she would always pester her parents into telling her about things, from little things to how machines worked. Salamon wasn't like that, of course, but having to put into words what exactly an airplane was made her think of her father teaching her the things she wasn't taught in school.

"…and that's what an airplane is!" She declared. "What do you think?"

"Sounds a bit scary," Salamon admitted. "Being inside a giant metal contraption? It doesn't sound nice…"

"I was scared the first time I rode in one, but it's not as bad as it sounds! They have little screens that you can watch movies on and—"

Boom!

Startled, Yoko threw her arms back to grab the side of the spring as the ground shook. Salamon latched onto the girl's arm, eyes wide. Once the shaking stopped, Yoko grabbed Salamon and scrambled out of the water. She dashed out of the room to find the receptionist cowering behind the desk. Salamon was set on the floor so the redhead could check on the woman.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

"T-there was a huge—"

"Where are you, DigiDestined?"

Frozen in place, Yoko felt a chill go up her spine. "Oh, no." She spun around and ran to the door. "Come on, Salamon!"

"Yoko! Where are you going?" Her father shouted, having exited one of the other rooms.

"Stay in here, dad, I'll be back soon! Just make sure mom and the receptionist stay safe!"

She could hear him yelling at her, but ignored him and instead grabbed the door handle. He would be mad at her later, and probably yell at her, but there were more important things to worry about than her own wellbeing. One of Laylamon's underlings had somehow found a way to her world, and she wasn't going to let him stay without a fight.

She swung the door open but stopped, staring. Her eyes trailed upwards to the face of the massive Digimon standing there. She took a step away from the armored ox, hand fumbling for her Digivice. The Digimon raised one of the swords in his hand and swung it downwards. Yoko jumped to her left while Salamon leaped to her right in time to avoid the weapon. It hit the ground and dug into the ground, shattering the stone walkway.

Pulling out her Digivice, Yoko looked down at it as it scanned the beast in front of her.

"Vajramon. He's an…an Ultimate?!"

The sound of stone against made her wince. She watched as Vajramon pulled his sword out and look down at her.

"You're rather fast for a human."

Paralyzed with fear, Yoko could only stare. The expression on the Digimon's face shifted to disappointment as he raised the sword once again.

"Too afraid to move. That's pathetic."

He swung the sword down. Yoko closed her eyes, shaking.

"I won't let you!"

Her eyes snapped open to see Gatomon slam her foot against the sword with enough force to redirect its path. It hit the ground only a few inches away from Yoko, who turned her head to gape at it. The cat landed and looked back at her in concern. The redhead was in disbelief, wondering how her partner had Digivolved.

"Don't worry, Yoko, I'm here for you. I'll protect you."

"G-Gatomon…"

"It's okay to be afraid, you know, but you need to get up."

The look of determination in Gatomon's eyes made the girl swallow past the lump in her throat. Nodding, Yoko slowly got up, still shaking. She had a duty as a DigiDestined to fight, no matter how afraid she was. It was time that she stop cowering in the face of danger. Squeezing the device in her hand, she glared up at Vajramon, who was now watching with curiosity.

"You may be big, but we'll still beat you! I won't let you hurt the people I love!"

White light burst out of her Digivice, engulfing both her and Gatomon.

"Gatomon Digivolve to…"

The cat began to grow, her body elongating and becoming more humanoid. A white glove with two wing-like protrusions materialized on her left hand. A ribbon wound around her right arm, up over her shoulders, and down her left arm. A helmet formed on her head, obscuring the top portion of her face.

"…Angewomon!"

"So you were able to Digivolve," Vajramon rumbled. "No matter. I'll still kill you!" He shouted, swinging the sword down.

The angel spun around and scooped Yoko up into her arms before flying upwards, dodging the sword in the process. The massive weapon hit the ground, causing dirt to be flung up into the air. She set Yoko down a safe distance away and smiled at the girl.

"Be careful," Yoko said.

"Don't worry about me. Stay where you'll be safe."

Angewomon turned and set off into the air. Vajramon had hefted his sword up once again when she stopped a short distance in front of him. He glowered at her, moving one sword back to prepare a swing. The angel raised her left hand, a sign to show that she was challenging him. With a swift movement, he swung the sword at her. She dodged to her right.

"I won't stand for you threatening my friend," Angewomon stated. "I would like if this could be settled peacefully, but I don't think that's an option."

"You're right. It's not."

Angewomon moved her other hand up. The wings on her glove grew and a string of energy connected them, forming a bow. Hooking the string with her index finger, she pulled it back, an arrow forming as she did so. She let the arrow loose, striking him in the shoulder. The second sword came from below her. She barely moved out of the way in time to avoid it, watching it pass by her. She prepared another arrow when she found Vajramon viciously swinging both swords as fast as he could. It made it hard for her to dodge the attacks.

He's trying to keep me from firing my arrows…, she thought. He's a lot faster than I thought he'd be.

She let herself drop down, surprising the ox, and flew off to the side quickly. She pulled the bow string back and shot him in the left foreleg. Vajramon bellowed and turned to stab her with one of his swords. She twisted out of the way and shot an arrow through his wrist. Growling, he swung the other weapon at her. She folded her wings in front of her, a shield made of pink energy forming. The sword hit it, sending her backwards into a nearby tree. The sound of cracking made her move in time to watch the tree fall.

That was a rather hard hit. Angewomon ducked out of the way of another swing, frowning. Nocking another arrow, she shot him in the shoulder again. Several more followed, causing Vajramon to drop the sword in his left hand. A swing made her sidestep, the ox's blade hitting the ground and leaving a large gouge when it was removed. She fired arrows at his leg, causing it to buckle. He caught himself and took another swing at her. She raised a hand, a ring of energy surrounding Vajramon that made him freeze.

"What—!"

Angewomon put her arms in front of her, palms together. As she moved her arms back, a large four-pointed star made of pink energy formed in the space between her hands. "Consider this your punishment! Heaven's Charm!"

The energy shot towards the ox and rammed into him, tearing through him. He dropped his remaining weapon. Both shattered into bits of data as he disappeared.

Angewomon landed on the ground and turned at the sound of Yoko's voice. The redhead let out a cheerful cry and threw her arms around Angewomon. With a laugh, the angel put her hand on her partner's shoulders.

"That was amazing! I can't believe it!"

"I couldn't have done it without you," Angewomon said.

Yoko yelped when the Digimon suddenly shrank, landing on the ground as Salamon. The pup laughed sheepishly. "Oops. Guess I ran out of energy. We should probably go get your parents."

"Haha, yeah. They're gonna be really worried." Yoko scooped up Salamon with a wide smile. "What are we gonna tell the others?"

"We'll figure that out when we see them. I want to relax. Vajramon did get a pretty good hit in."

"Sounds good to me!"

The fight scene was a little weak since I've had a bit of writer's block. The focus wasn't really on the fight anyways, so I guess it's not too bad. In other news, if you've ever had questions concerning the story, or want to ask the characters questions, you can do so on my tumblr. Here's to hoping I can update again soon!