I do not own anything.


Chapter Five: Struggle in the Forest

"Can this day get any worse?" Jun whimpered. As soon as she said the words she half expected some snarling monster to burst from the bushes and maul her. For a moment she actually wondered if she'd fight back if something did. No such thing happened, all was deathly quiet. Having the time to herself she simply cried not caring if anything saw her.

Her mind drifted to Matt, both in anger and still in kindness. She'd forgotten her purse in her joy-induced daze and went back to get it, unsuspecting of the brutality she'd find. Almost everyone had something broken or was bleeding from some body part, more horrifying was everyone seemed to be wielding chairs and instruments like weapons. What broke her heart the most was seeing Matt using her guitar like a baseball bat, that wasn't what it was meant for, hell she wasn't even sure if he would even use it! A sob erupted from Jun's throat as she remembered seeing the instrument she'd spent three weeks crafting from scratch for her crush. Three weeks reduced to a bloodied, bruised, hunk of metal in less than an hour. She was so stunned by the sight she didn't even realize the police had practically swarmed around her and even then her eyes stayed solely on Matt who seemed like a deer caught in the headlights.

Seeing him in that position was just too much for her to handle and she fled, not caring she'd forgotten her purse again. When that thing had grabbed her in its tentacles she'd wished oh so dearly that she hadn't been so rash and rushed out. A bitter laugh erupted from her throat as she remembered telling Davis not to be so rash, now she felt like a hypocrite. It still amazed her though how her anger at the blond had changed into joy when he saw her arriving to rescue her, just like a prince on a cybernetic wolf.

Maybe about a year ago she would have believed in such fairy tales. If life was a fairy tale she wouldn't be stranded in the middle of some godforsaken forest with a horde of monsters after her. Where was she anyway?

For the first time Jun surveyed her surrounding taking note of how eerie everything looked. The entire world looked like a negative photograph, black and white and maybe a little shade of gray here and there. Fog seemed cover the forest for as far as Jun could see. In some areas it was thick while in others it was light. The air was moistly and the grass felt a little wet like rain had come had passed through only a few days ago. Running her hand through the grass she didn't feel any insects crawling along nor did she hear the chirping of birds. Scratch that she couldn't hear anything, no animals, barely any wind to rustle the leaves, and not one monster.

That should have made her happy but it made her feel even more scared. "This is the Digital World? No way, it doesn't look anything like what Davis, Veemon, or Izzy described." This world seemed like one that held nothing but death and emptiness. Walking through the forest only confirmed her suspicions when she found no sign or life. She pressed her hands against the trees to find they felt cold and dead despite their normal appearance. Jun knew better than to call out hoping for an answer. For all she knew those two digimon were still around, or whichever one had survived that little battle in the river.

When she found a tree high she decided to climb up for a better view of the forest. Reaching the top Jun considered it a miracle when she saw what looked like a sea-side town in the far off distance. The problem was there were dozens upon dozens of those black obelisk between her and the town. Vile began rising in Jun's throat. She doubted any of the obelisks would have a portal back to her world, worse it meant more of those horrific Digimon would be around. "But where the hell are they?"

Far to Jun's right she saw one of the obelisk collapse shaking the area like an earthquake. Even from probably miles away Jun could hear the roars of vicious creatures engaged in battle. Frantically she scrambled down the tree and took off running in the opposite

As soon as she started running Jun felt the forest come alive around her; the wind which had be non-exist before suddenly began to howl rustling the leaves and the trees once dead seemed to bend back and forth. Jun could feel the air rushing past her with every step she took yet the fear didn't reside, only grow deeper. Gaps in the trees became black abysses that nearly made her trip over herself. From some far off distance Jun smelled smoke meaning there was a fire going on somewhere within the forest. The idea of a fire going on somewhere didn't seem to terrify her as much as the idea of running into that tentacle Digimon did. It may have been her imagination but she could swear she heard the battle was getting closer.

CRUNCH!

A pain-filled howl tore through the forest meaning one of the combatants had lost the battle. Jun remembered DemiVeemon telling her Digimon were digital beings but they still had things like blood and organs. From the screaming those precious innards had most likely been crushed. A howl of triumph blasted Jun's ears nearly making her stumble in her mad dash. Catching herself she continued sprinting, unaware that if she had stopped she would have noticed the tree root that blocked her path. Her feet caught the root perfectly making her fall into the ground on her cheeks then roll off the hill she'd unknowingly been running on. Dirt, muddy leaves, and blades of grass flew into Jun's face while her already soaked clothing became stained from the earth. Jun tried to stop herself only to realize she was out of control.

Splash!

During the first few seconds Jun spent under the river's waters she flashed back to when she was trapped by those damned tentacles. The fear she felt re-entered her body along with renewed strength, in a matter of seconds she pushed herself out of the river then scrambled onto land. "I've had it today with water." She whispered placing her arms around herself.

BOOM!

Jumping into the bushes was the first thing Jun thought of doing. They were large enough to hide her completely and she could peep through them without being seen by anything that didn't look too closely. Four black shapes appeared moving down the water before stopping at the shore.

"Oh my God…" Jun whispered watching them emerge from the water. One by one the black shadows stepped onto the land forming what Jun could only describe as humanoid fish-men. Their bodies looked like jet-black ink was oozing out of their scaly skin, skin that was barely visible through the darkness that seemed to run off their bodies. Their fingers were webbed like some frogs and they had weird fins in place of ears on their heads. What was most terrifying were their eyes; wide, white, and contain gray irises with black dots. All of them stood at about six feet each with skinny builds that made Jun think they must have been built for speed rather than for muscle. They were like some kind of monster you'd see in an old horror movie expect they were very real and if Jun screamed they wouldn't hesitant to prove how vicious they could be.

"Damn that Daemon!" one of them screeched holding what looked like a burnt harm. "He had to start calling in the DeviDramon just to make our-"

"Yes we know already!" a second one barked silencing the first one. It growled low in its throat sounding like some kind of predator. "Between Daemon and Dagomon there isn't going to be a world left to rule. Damn them! Damn those accursed DigiDestined!"

They all seemed to nod in agreement at the creature's accusation. Jun was puzzled, what had her brother and his friends done to this things? He'd never told her anything about these strange creatures.

"What should we do now? Now that Daemon's gained more ground he's back even with Dagomon." One of them stated. "At this rate they'll discover our hideout and wipe us all out." There was fear in the creature's voice.

"For now we head back and stay the hell out of both their territories. Rumor is Daemon's planning something in the Human World so the best thing to do is wait and see." The leader growled out shaking its fist in anger.

The four fish-men moved on, not even taking a look around their surroundings much to Jun's relief. When they were out of sight she rolled out of the bushes, releasing the breathe she'd been holding in.

"That was way too close," Jun said curling into a ball. "And those things were way too hideous to be digimon." She yawned, realizing she'd finally reached the limit of whatever strength she had left. "I'd better find some place to hide." She said dragging herself through a series of bushes and overgrown tree roots. "This…should…work. I only…need a…few…minutes." She'd found a nice little hole between some of the tree roots where she could pull some leaves over herself. With any luck anything passing buy wouldn't notice her. Once Jun was sure she was well hidden her fatigue won out carrying her off to sleep.


Jun was awoken from the infinite darkness of her dream to the dropping of rain on her skin. At first she thought it was just her imagination however soon the rain started coming down in full force. "Great, more stupid water." She grumbled rising from her little fox hole. "Worse than any camping trip I've ever been in."

The maroon haired teen decided to follow the river to the town she saw yet she'd do it at a distance. Every once in a while she'd climb up a tree to get a look at the landscape. Notable there were more of the black obelisk edging closer to the sea. From what Jun theorized they were like territory markers, where they were she saw more devilish looking digimon flying around. The same multi-colored lights flowed into the obelisk from the sky in the exact same manner they did when she was on Earth. The further Jun walked the soggier she felt the ground become along with the feint smell of salt water reaching her noise, that's how she guessed she was going the right way.

She had just passed a giant tree when she felt the ground rumble like an earthquake was starting. Clinging to the tree Jun turned her head in all direction trying to discern where the newest horror was coming from. As it was called, woman's intuition kicked in prompting Jun to climb to the top of the giant tree. A tidal wave swept through the forest, even reaching the tree top. It wasn't as bad as she thought it was however the water did still reach her legs before reseeding.

"Death Crush!"

"Dark Blast!

"Twin Scissors!"

"Crimson Claw!"

Explosions rocketed across the sky like fireworks nearly making Jun fall out of the tree. "Oh shit!" she yelled realizing the rival factions had started battling again. Jumping down just in time Jun hit the ground running off. Screw the town, she needed to get some place safe!

Attack names and explosions nearly shattered Jun's ear drums. A mini-earthquake seemed to rock the forest every second or tear away a section of the forest. Jun ran, slid, and jumped over whatever stood in her way. She didn't care that she'd probably gone far off the path she'd planned out, odds are it was probably destroyed by now.

Something crashed into the ground behind her throwing into the air briefly before gravity brought her back down. Coughing into the dirt Jun turned her back to see a downed digimon, it black dragon with a large gaping hole in its chest. Bits of data were licking out of the wound like blood. A screeching cry from above kicked Jun back into her sprint leaving the wounded digimon behind to whatever got to it first.

Two beams of red light raced past her blowing a few trees apart right before he eyes. Spinning on her heel Jun ran to her left only to find more projectiles raining down on top of the rain. With hell raining down on top of her Jun briefly considered giving up and just letting one of the attacks put her out of her misery.

What's the point of this? You know you can't survive this. You're not a hero like your brother or have anything worth living for. The man you loved has rejected you. Just accept death, it'll be over fast.

Where that voice came from Jun had no idea but she delivered a fierce response, "Shut the hell up!" The very people the voice mentioned invaded Jun's mind, their smiling faces and laughter. She was going to see them again! No matter what!

Once the darkness of the forest had frightened Jun however now she searched for it, some dark corner she could hide in. She spotted one she could dive for. She was about to move for it when one of those black dragons tore through it and a digimon Jun couldn't make out. It absorbed the data of the slain digimon before turning its red eyes on Jun. They were the same as those of the squid monster that had pulled Jun into this damn nightmare only more predatory. These were the eyes of a heartless, cruel animal.

Jun was rooted to the spot with those damn eyes glaring at her. The dragon roared at Jun before lunging at her with its claws.

The roar snapped Jun out of her fear-induced trace just in time to drop to the ground. Grabbing a rock Jun slammed it into the creature's claws earning a small growl of pain and annoyance.

She was probably double backing to where the battle was, that was good since she'd take anything over the evil looking dragon now chasing her down. Suddenly Jun dropped to one knee, grabbed another, large rock and heaved it directly at the dragon's head. Now the dragon was ticked off it raised its claws for another claw swipe when a fist shaped blast of green energy slammed into its right side.

"Pummel Whack!" A deep, manly voice yelled as another blast hit the dragon again.

Jun nearly jumped when she saw the new monster, it looked an ogre. It had flowing white hair, four tusk like teeth in a mouth already full of sharp teeth, scarred green skin (from what she made out),horns, wore a black loincloth, black bracers, was about six and three feet tall, and wielded a rather dangerous looking bone club.

"Betcha didn't see that coming did ya ugly?" It boosted in a proud voice.

The dragon lunged at the ogre with its jaws only to meet the bone club in a shatter crack. Raisin the club again the ogre continued beating the dragon until it delivered one final smack to the head that ended the dragon's digital life. It dissolved in a pile of data that was quickly absorbed by the ogre. It then turned its fierce eyes on Jun.

"Stay away from me! Please!" she cried backing up against a tree with both her arms covering her face.

"Hey! Hey! Relax!" It shouted lowering its club. "I'm not going to hurt ya', not unless you shape shift into some slimy black man- fish."

Slowly Jun lowered her arms to get a second look at the digimon. Indeed it had lowered its club and no longer looked like a blood-thirsty demon. "Fish-man? You mean you saw those things too?"

"Saw 'em? I've been hunting them! They've been causing all kinds of trouble in the Digital World! Earned one heck of a bounty and as the Digimon Hunter I refuse to let my prey slip away!" He boosted.

"Digital World…" Jun muttered relaxing her shoulders. "Are you…a…a Digimon?"

'Yep." He stood proudly holding his bone club tightly. "My name's Orgemon, the Digimon Hunter!" Orgemon took a few steps closer before offering his hand to Jun. "I gotta say I wasn't expecting to run into a human here of all places. What's your name?"

Looking into his eyes Jun could see the club wielder meant no harm to her. That was a relief. 'J-Jun, Jun Motomiya." She took his hand, it was ruff but also a little softer than she expected.

A radiant blue light suddenly appeared between the two of them illuminating the darkness of the forest. The light felt warm and saintly on Jun's dirty skin, slowly it began to drift towards her. Holding out her palms Jun yelped in shock when a small blue device fell from the light into her palms. Orgemon's jaw was on the ground while he eyes darted back and forth between the device and Jun.

Holding the device closer Jun recognized it from the descriptions she'd gotten from Davis and the others. "Is this a Digi…"

"A Digivice!" Orgemon declared staring at Jun like she'd grown three heads. "Th-That means you're my, I'm your…we're partners!"

"Partners? Heh, just like Davis and…Veemon." Jun said before falling forward into Orgemon's arms. The strength she'd gained from her little nap had been all used up.

Orgemon caught his partner in his arm still looking dumb founded. "Ah hell this has been one hell of a day." He took one look at Jun before gently easing her into one of his arms. He knew a place where they could be safe, he just had to make sure they both made it there.


Jun was beginning to grow tired of waking up with neck cramps due to sleeping in the wilderness. This time though it was slightly better due to the make-shift pillow her head lay on. At first everything was foggy but soon her vision cleared. She remembered being saved by Orgemon and being given her Digivice. Gingerly she sat up to see Orgemon sitting across from her, a fire crackling between them, examining her Digivice.

"Hmm, first time I've ever seen one of this things up close and personal. If I hadn't see them those kids use them I wouldn't believe they were anything but paper weights."

"Do they come in red?" Jun quietly asked catching Orgemon's attention. "It doesn't look anything like Matt's. It's kind of like the one my brother has."

Quietly Orgemon trudged over to her and dropped the small device back into her hands. "Word was all the younger DigiDestined got different Digivices then the last batch. Who was your brother?"

"Davis Motomiya." Jun answered sitting up. "With his mouth and hard-head I'm sure someone must have heard of him."

Orgemon put his head on his tilted head in deep thought. He glanced at Jun's hair then snapped his fingers. "Yeah I know him! The DigiDestined of Miracles and second leader of the DigiDestined!"

Jun dropped her head in slight laughter at the titles her brother had been given. "So all his boosting was for real this whole time."

"You're his older sister right? How come no's ever seen you before?" Orgemon asked offering her some berries he kept in a pouch on his waist.

The berries tasted amazing though that might have been because Jun hadn't had anything to eat in probably a day. "You see I was introduced to all this digimon stuff only about a year ago. It was around the time some freaky digimon called Malo-something tried to take over my world and your world. Before then I was totally clueless."

"MaloMyotismon huh?" Orgemon spoke the name with obvious disdain. "Yeah I know him, he nearly destroyed the entire Digital World and screwed with your world too! I busy relaxing when Joe and Mimi called to fill me in!"

"Joe and Mimi? You mean you know them?" Jun leaned forward over the fire.

"Yeah," Orgemon glanced at his arm with an expression Jun knew meant he was recalling some special memory. "They huh…their partners tracked me down and said they needed my help so I decided to repay my debt to them."

Jun had the feeling all wasn't as her new partner was telling her. There was a fondness in her voice that was only used when one spoke of friends. In the short time she'd come to know Orgemon she'd already guess he had a "tough guy" image he would try to maintain at any cost. In that regard she found he was like some people she knew in her life, both good and bad. "Thanks for the berries." She offered them back to Orgemon who shook his head.

"Keep them for later. You'll need them more than I will Jun." He said resting both his knuckles on his knees. "So how'd ya get here? I wasn't expecting to run into a human in this forsaken place."

Jun visible shook as the memories came back to her. She was scared to tell him but deep down she felt she could trust the brutish looking digimon. Was this what Davis and DemiVeemon talked about when they described the partnership between humans and digimon? Whatever it was she went with it and told Orgemon everything though she left out the part about her running away after what she thought was a rejection of feelings. Orgemon listened intently and when he was done he turned towards the ceiling of roots.

"So bad place bad timing huh? Hah! That seems to be the trademark of you DigiDestined doesn't it?"

"Beats me." Jun shrugged her shoulders. "I'm new to this whole DigiDestined thing. All I know is its scary and crazy. What about you Orgemon? This isn't the Digital World is it?"

"This place? Nope, way too gloomy even for a Virus's taste." Orgemon said confirming Jun's suspicion. "As for me I was hunting a flock of DeviDramon and those weird fish-men things when I stumbled onto a Control Spire in the Forest Sector."

"Control Spire?"

"Those big black towers you keep seeing everywhere. I thought with the Digimon Emperor gone we'd seen the last of those damn things! Anyway I wasn't about to let my prey get away so I chased them through a crack I saw in the Control Spire and I've been here ever since."

Jun tucked her knees in when she asked her next question. "So what is this place?"

"Well according to rumors it's called the Dark Ocean." Orgemon spoke the voice with an edge of caution. He may have been the Digimon Hunter but there were things even he feared, this black and white hell being one of them. "No one knows that much about it but most doubt it exist and those that do rarely speak of it. It's hard to get to and said to be ruled by some super evil Digimon."

"Well it exists all right!" Jun laughed harshly. She began fiddling with her Digivice. "So I'm a DigiDestined, what does that mean?"

Orgemon grunted at her question, "It means you've been chosen to help stop a new threat to the Digital World just like your brother and his friends."

Jun did a double take. Her? Save an entire world? She could barely save herself! "You're joking right!"

"Hey I'm not thrilled about this either!" Orgemon fired back. "Damn it I didn't wake up expecting to be in Leomon's shoes!"

"Leomon?" Jun asked. "Who's that?"

Orgemon shifted uncomfortably in his spot on the floor with his fists clenching and unclenching. A pained look passed across the Virus digimon's face, "A stupid idiot that was too thick-headed to keep his head out of trouble! He died a while ago so it doesn't matter so don't ask about it!"

Jun stiffened at the tone of Orgemon's voice however she didn't shrink back which impressed Orgemon. "Well sorry for asking. Okay, so if we're supposed to save the Digital World it means there's a threat right? If so then who's the bad guy we gotta defeat?"

"I have an idea who, Daemon." Orgemon answered.

"And that would be?"

"Well I don't remember much but according to legend there were this seven super-powerful, super evil digimon that raised hell in the Digital World. They all were said to have ruled over some kind of sin, like pride and greed or something." Orgemon looked at the crackling fire with transfixed eyes. "Somehow they were all defeated and sealed up in some of the tightest prisons in the Digital World. A while ago though, somehow Daemon managed to bust out and raise hell again on your world and mine. Word was the DigiDestined managed to defeat him by sending him here." Orgemon grunted in slight fury. "And now we're supposed to clean up the mess. Damn it I'm a hunter not a janitor!"

Ignoring the look of Orgemon's wounded pride Jun continued staring at her Digivice with fear dancing in her eyes. The story Orgemon had described seemed similar to a story she'd heard before but couldn't quite place. It didn't matter for either way she had a feeling she would be meeting this Daemon in battle. She'd barely survived a bone-thin flying dragon, how was she supposed to fight some super evil monster? Once more fear infested her body causing her to curl up into herself with tears threatening to fall.

Across from her Orgemon had stopped her brooding to notice his partner's fear-stricken state. He reminded him of Mimi when she stated she'd grown tired of all the fighting they'd been force to do. Orgemon couldn't blame her for being scared, even he was a little scared. He was an above-average Virus Champion with brute strength and the ruthlessness of a demon but he knew he was way out of his league. In that regard he found Jun and he were alike. More than that he'd felt a bond with this girl just like what Gomomon and Palmon had talked about. The old Orgemon would have abandoned this girl and the destiny he'd been thrust upon immediately, that Orgemon was no longer in existence.

Grabbing his bone club he hoisted it over the fire. "Bring it on!" he said in a boastful voice. When Jun looked up to him he saw shock. Good, if he could turn that shock into hope they might stand a chance of getting out of this negative world. "Taking on a Demon Lord, it'd be the ultimate challenge for the Digimon Hunter! Taking Daemon down in combat and holding his rope up high to let the world now it was me, the great Orgemon who deleted one of the greatest threats to the Digital World!"

At first Jun was simply stunned then she broke out into laughter. She had to put her hand on her sides to keep from falling over. "You sound just like my little brother Orgemon!"

Before long both were laughing joyfully feeling safe and happy since they both stumbled into this warped world. Once their laughter died down Jun looked down at her Digivice with a renewed sense of hope. If Davis could do this whole saving the world stuff why couldn't she give it a shot?

Unknown to her Orgemon's ears perked up suddenly, his face widening in surprise. Quickly he doused the fire and covered Jun's mouth with his other hand. Reading the expression on his face Jun went silent. Both of their eyes turned towards the roots that made up the "ceiling". Something was above them.

Normally Jun would have been scared but she could sense Orgemon right across from her with his bone club ready. Slowly Orgemon removed his head from her mouth meaning whatever was above them had left. Unwinding herself Jun accidentally pressed a button on the side of her Digivice causing the screen to glow brightly turning it into a makeshift flash light.

"That's defiantly going to come in handy." Jun said turning the light off. "Listen when I climbed up a tree I saw a town by the sea side. I was hoping heading down there would give me some answers."

"The town huh? Alright then in a few hours we'll set out for it."

"You know where it is? I was on my way there when that dragon attacked then I got all turned around."

"Nope but I can climb up the trees to see how far we are and from there it'll be easy."

Determination filled their respective eyes. Tucking her Digivice into her pocket Jun laid her head back on the makeshift. Orgemon would keep watch just a little longer to make sure nothing else came in their direction before joining Jun. This wasn't how he was expecting to spend his day but what the hell. Sometimes you just had to roll with the punches.


Please review I'd like to hear any feedback you guys have on the story.