Wira Digital Chapter 41: Forever Friends, a digimon fanfic

It was in the middle of the night in the Digital World, a clear cloudless night with three half moons. Over the sky, three humanoid figures flew in the air. They seemed to possess wings to aid them in their flight. The one leading the flight seemed to be wearing a rather bulky armor, which shone with green and gold amidst the moonlights. The second was tall and clearly feminine. Flanking the trio's rear, the third was the shortest out of the three. They flew together quietly amidst the middle of the night.

The trio flew towards a mountainside region and descended at a clearing. By this time, it was clear from their profiles that all three of them were females. One of them didn't possess wings – the presumed wings was actually her cloak, which billowed down her back when she stepped foot on the ground. Together they walked, seemed set on their destination.

After a minute of walking, the trio of women reached an opening of a cave. Entering the cave with calm alertness, it didn't take them long before they reached two rock statues which resembled centaurs. The women noted that instead of bearing horse-like features, the centaurs looked more like a bull and a ram.

"Vajramon and Pajiramon, obviously," the smallest of three women said. She glanced at the one standing beside her. "Would you like to do the honor?"

The flowery woman smirked and extended her right arm. The vine that coiled around her arm stiffened into a pointed rapier. She rose slightly over the air and swung her glowing-in-red arm with a strong, firm command of: "Roses Rapier!"

The vine-rapier extended towards the two statues, radiating with pink aura and with red energy spiraling around it. It struck the two statues and destroyed them into data particles.

"Greetings, ladies," a dark, deep yet attractive voice said.

The three women whirled around in surprise and saw two figures standing at the cave entrance. Their figures were shrouded in darkness with the faint lights of the night passing beside and above their profiles. A moment later they saw the newcomers' profiles clearer – they were a humanoid feline with flaming red hair and a taller humanoid with angelic and demonic wings. Their hearts skipped a beat upon the sight of the two higher-ups of the Darkshadow Brethren – the Hellion and Virago Generals.

Lucemon gave the women a piercing glare from his ice blue eyes. "That's quite far enough. Your meddling shall stop here," he said calmly.

Persiamon smirked haughtily. "You shouldn't have left your safe haven where you're at your best. Whatever possessed you to leave Lost Mountain and walk the ground with us mere mortals?" she said snidely as her emerald eyes glinted with malice. She brandished her sharp crimson claws and leered at the ladies.

xxx

WIRA DIGITAL

Chapter 41 – Forever Friends

xxx

"What a quiet week," Adam said as he strolled out of the computer classroom on Saturday afternoon. He felt an arm slung easily around his shoulders and met his cousin's gaze, lazily grinning at him.

"It's getting real boring," JD remarked. He looked at the girl walking by his side and cocked up an eyebrow. "Don't you think so?"

"Boring?" Liu Ying grimaced and adjusted her schoolbag on her shoulders. "It's been a pretty eventful week for me with all the students and reporters hounding me about the kidnapping this whole week. I'd give anything to have a boring week."

"Oh yeah." JD and Adam looked at each other and nodded in understanding.

The news about Liu Ying being kidnapped that Monday had spread like wildfire at the school after it being announced on the news and Tuesday newspapers. Whether it was because she was allegedly rescued by the Wira Digital or that the Deputy Prime Minister was said to be the kidnapper's target, nobody really knew. But for the past three days (she was absent to school on Tuesday) Liu Ying had constantly been hounded by her friends to get details about her kidnapping. And to top all that, reporters also had waited up for her outside the school premise on Wednesday and Thursday, but they were ordered to go away by the school principal who had gotten tired of them calling her office to get her opinions about that matter.

"Anyway…" Liu Ying eyed JD's right knuckle which was currently rested on Adam's right shoulder. It had a medical plaster taped on it. She had to suppress a smile upon the memory of how JD got that small wound on his hand. "How's your hand?"

"Oh, this?" JD grinned. "Don't worry about it. Having a resident first-aid guy living with me helps a lot." At this, Adam chuckled.

"Really, Josh? Just last night, you were whin---ummph!" The 'ummph' resulted from Adam's mouth being clasped tight by JD's hand to stop him from speaking. Liu Ying looked at the cousins curiously, JD shrugged with a smile while Adam struggled to remove JD's hand from his mouth. And to Adam's dismay, Liu Ying then shrugged it off as well.

The previous day, when there had been miraculously no reporter hoping to get her story, she had decided that it would be safe for her to walk home. JD however had suggested him and Adam to accompany her, since they came to school by bikes and it would be no problem for them to walk her home. The suggestion proved to be rather well-thought of, as while the three of them walked to Liu Ying's home, two reporters jumped out of the bushes by the playground, intercepting them by surprise. The reporter had been Rita Kaur and her trusty cameraman sidekick Chia. Surprised of the sudden ambush, Liu Ying had been deeply flustered – she was after all kidnapped at the exact same spot. Rita Kaur had pursued her questions relentlessly, then without the restriction from the school principal. However she hadn't count on JD suddenly moving on the cameraman and punched the video camera's lens. The lens shattered to pieces, damaging the whole camcorder as well as throwing the poor cameraman on the ground.

It was a brash attempt from the blond teen to shut the reporters up, but it had worked. They had scampered away instantly.

"Think they'll show up again today?" Adam asked after JD moved his hand away from covering his mouth.

"I really hope not," Liu Ying said with a shudder. She looked around to see whether there was anyone nearby before continuing. "Today, as I've told you, my family and I will be going for a dinner at the Dato' Sulaiman's house," she said with a whispery voice to the two boys.

"That's great," Adam smiled. "It's not everyday you get to dine with an important figure."

"Humph. We are important figures too, y'know," JD said, pointing towards himself. "Too bad only we know that we're important."

Adam and Liu Ying both chuckled at the blonde teen's remark. They were then joined by Manny and Gayathri who had just exited the computer classroom.

"Anything we missed?" Gayathri inquired, seeing her friends laughing.

"Nothing that you don't already know," Liu Ying explained, pointing at JD's hand and made a gesture about the dinner with the Deputy Prime Minister. She had informed her fellow DigiWira about it in advance, just in case that there was a Digimon attack. "So what are your plans for today?"

"Oh…me and the girls are going out shopping," Gayathri said with a smile. "Heard that there's a sale today and it has been a while since I go shopping with them."

The other four DigiWira shared a knowing look and smiled at their bubbly friend, who was known for her love of shopping.

"What are you guys up to today?" Liu Ying asked the three male DigiWira.

"Just hang out," JD said. "Adam wants to learn some of my Capoiera moves and we invited Manny to come along as well."

Manny nodded. "Thanks for inviting me," he said with a smile. He looked at Adam thoughtfully. "If you want I can teach you a move or two which I learned from my Ninjutsu classes."

"That'll be great!" Adam beamed with delight. "I've always wanted to learn some martial arts but I just couldn't find the time."

"I hope nothing goes wrong today," Liu Ying said melancholically and looked at the other DigiWira. "The reason Dato' Sulaiman chose this day to invite us for dinner is because it's been three years since my father's death. My family and I will go to father's burial ground first to pay our respects, before heading to Dato's house."

The DigiWira were quiet before Gayathri empathically reached out and grasped Liu Ying's shoulders. They then separated at the school gate with their plans for the day set in mind.

xxx

"It's been ages since we do this," Belinda Foo said wistfully as she twiddled the sushi on her plate with her chopsticks. "Hanging out together and all."

"I'll say." Gayathri put a small roll of sushi in her mouth as she idly watched the other customers of the sushi bar the three of them were at. Then she eyed the three shopping bags they had placed on one chair – the clothes they had bought for that day at Subang Parade – the town's first shopping complex. Their shopping trip was fun and now they were having a mid-afternoon break, but for Gayathri she felt that the atmosphere between her and her friends were rather tense. Sure, they exchanged jokes and gossips, but whenever she had been looking elsewhere she'd feel her friends gazing at her with what seemed to feel like suspicion. Gayathri didn't know what to make out of it but it made her uneasy.

Dina Fadlullah demurely spooned her miso soup without speaking much, but her eyes caught Belinda's. Gayathri saw her two best friends exchanging looks and wondered what was up.

"Gaya…we've been thinking." Belinda eyed Gayathri directly. "Lately it seems that you were always…unavailable to do the stuffs we usually do."

Gayathri stopped eating; the sushi she was balancing with her chopsticks slipped off and landed on the green wasabi paste. She was caught off guard. "I…I've had something I had to do."

Belinda sighed as she swallowed her sushi. "That's just it, Gaya. Just when did you start using 'something' when you're with us? You're always the one who's not into hiding anything, but we can't help but notice that lately, you seem to have a lot of things to hide from us. What gives?"

"Bel…" Dina said, placing a placating hand on her friend's shoulder. "Calm down a bit."

Bel shot a pointed look at her friend. "Dina, you're as curious as I am. Don't back out now. I think we deserve an explanation of at least – One – what she's been up to lately. This past one month or so in particular. Two – since when did she hang around Chang Liu Ying, Adam Ariff, JD Kamaruzaman and Manny Abah as often as she does with us? The five of you seem…clicked. I don't know why. With Manny or Adam I can at least understand, but also with Liu Ying, and, and…with…JD? And three – just how on earth did you manage to be close to JD? I've been trying to get him to notice me for ages and failed, but he seems friendly around you and Liu Ying…not to mention all over his newfound cousin and chummed enough with Manny although they seemed to be enemies at first, according to the gossips. What gives?"

Gayathri took some time to process Bel's questions as she thought of how to answer them without divulging the fact that they were the DigiWira. She wanted so much to tell them, but Jackie had advised against it. She trusted her friends, but she didn't know how they would handle the knowledge. It might scare them off and she didn't want to risk that. But she had to admit that she'd seen this coming. The last one month, ever since Adam had joined the team, her DigiWira commitments had increased so much that she always had no time to spend with her girlfriends. When it was only her and Liu Ying, the Digimon attacks at the Digital World were never too serious and they always were able to take care of it quickly. The gap of the battles had been between two to three weeks before Adam came in. Her life outside of her DigiWira commitments was not affected at all.

But when Adam joined her and Liu Ying, SkullSatamon began releasing his Generals. The threat level they faced instantly increased, culminating in the appearance of Manny and JD as the evil Blue and Red ShadoWira. Battles began taking place frequently, as much as every alternate days in one week if not daily. Gayathri began having troubles coming up with excuses for her best friends whenever she had to miss hanging out with them during the afternoons after school, or shopping trips over the weekends.

After Manny and JD reformed and became DigiWira themselves, the threat augmented even more with the appearances of the Puaka Generals. The DigiWira had found themselves detained in the Digital World for a span of three days as the Puaka Generals focused their attacks on Adam. She had been lucky that her family had been made known of the fact that she was a DigiWira by then, and Anding had been instrumental in covering her disappearance when Dina and Bel dropped by her house, wondering about her sudden disappearance. Unfortunately, the girls had been friends so long that Anding himself had trouble thinking up of believable excuses on her behalf, and those he had given were fairly weak that the girls had doubted about it. It didn't help much that Gayathri too hadn't thought of explaining herself to her friends. The suspicions increased.

And then when peace prevailed momentarily, not even Dina and Bel, but also some of the school populace had begun to notice that the five DigiWira hung out with each other rather often. Just a month before, the five of them weren't seen with each other as they had their own group of friends, but after the fiasco with the Puaka Generals they had forged a bond so tight that they began hanging out with each other naturally. Of course Gayathri still remembered about her friends but even so, Dina and Bel had noticed when she constantly moved back and forth between the two groups of friends she had. It didn't help that Gayathri never really gave them a complete explanation of how she was able to become such close friends with her fellow DigiWira.

"Gaya?" Dina asked soothingly, snapping Gayathri out of her reverie. "It's ok if you don't answer. But I wish you do answer. After all, we're best friends right?" She smiled slightly before continuing, "Do you still remember when we started being best friends?" She asked that with hope that it would diffuse the tenseness of their current situation.

"Of course. We met when we were…Standard Five." Gayathri was confident of her answer but was surprised to see a brief scowl crossing Bel's face.

"No, we've been best friends since Standard Four, when we were ten. I can't believe you've forgotten that."

"Bel…come on. It's not like it's ruining our friendship," Gayathri protested weakly.

"Seems like it has," Bel mumbled as she stuck one sushi into her mouth grumpily.

"Bel, that was uncalled for," Dina hissed as Gayathri gasped. "We've agreed to ask Gaya about this, not forcing her to answer. Why are you…?"

"Dina, it's alright," Gayathri cut in quickly. She blinked once, not believing that this day had finally come. She had thought that her active duty as a DigiWira would eventually put a strain in her relationships with Dina and Bel, but never thought that the day would come. She loved her fellow DigiWira, but she also loved her best friends. She was left in a fix – how could she answer them when she didn't know how to do it without divulging the fact that she was a DigiWira?

Her thoughts were stopped short when they heard a commotion coming from the main boulevard of the shopping mall. The ground shook slightly as explosions were heard. People were heard screaming and running around in panic. The patrons of the sushi bar where she and her friends were at stood in panic and some were already exiting the establishment, some out of curiousness and other out of fear and to get to safety. The girls quickly abandoned their meals and clutched their shopping bags, ready to exit the establishment. But while Dina and Bel were heading inside the mall's department store to get to the exit located away from the commotion, Gayathri – with her DigiWira instinct roused – was turning to head towards the boulevard.

A hand grasped her wrist and yanked her away from the boulevard's direction. She spun and met with Bel's glare. "Are you nuts, Gaya? It could be those crazy bad Digimon out there. Let the Wira Digital handle them and let's get out of here!" The tallest of the trio tugged Gayathri's arm towards the department store.

"I want to check it out first. You two get to safety, okay? Here, take my bag." Gayathri then immediately took off towards the boulevard before her friends could stop her. She heard her friends screaming fearfully as the mall shook, calling her back to safety. Part of her wanted to turn back to join them, but she needed to know the situation and contact the boys. Perhaps they could take care of the Digimon threat and she didn't have to reveal herself to her friends.

She reached the boulevard and saw a familiar Digimon whom she hated so much. 'Astamon? Of all the Digimon I have to see, it's got to be him?'

"Gayathri, what do we do?" Floramon inquired from within the Juara Digivice. "I can fight Astamon as Fairymon so that you can go with your friends."

"No, Floramon. Astamon's way too powerful for you. Puspamon's the best bet we have now but if I merge with you Dina and Bel will notice that I've disappeared. I'll have to call the boys."

Gayathri took out her cell phone from her handbag. She flipped open the phone and was about to dial Manny's number when she heard familiar voices.

"Gaya! What on earth are you thinking? It's dangerous out here!" Bel called out. Trailing her closely was Dina, looking aghast.

"AHA! It's you!" She turned her attention back towards Astamon upon hearing his triumphant exclamation. Her eyes widened upon seeing the Majin General approaching her with his hands stuck inside the inner part of his suit. A lecherous grin made him look even more hideous and Gayathri felt compelled to release Floramon and Digital Access into Puspamon so that she could blast the Digimon away. She was even feeling tempted to dart away with her super speed or scream her lungs out; anything to deter the general.

But she couldn't. Not when Dina and Bel were around. What would they think about her?

Thus she froze on her spot, unresponsive of her friends' frantic screams for her to run away from the menacing Digimon. She was about to do just that when her vision was obscured by what looked like golden dusts. She saw Astamon already thrusting his hand towards her and realized that the Digimon was the one who'd thrown the dusts at her. Feeling her head spinning, she spun around to warn her friends to get away when to her horror; she saw both of them slumped on the ground. Then her own vision blurred before she felt a hand caught her falling body.

xxx

Feeling her eyelids heavy and a mild headache, Gayathri had to force herself to open her eyes when she heard a suppressed sob. That alerted her instantly and she saw Dina and Bel, both tear-stained and looking absolutely horrified, huddled to each other. They saw that she had woken up and immediately went to her.

"Oh, Gaya, it's so horrible here." Dina was the first to speak, her voice stricken and quivering. Her usually neat hair was slightly disheveled, and her face was tear-stained and slightly marred with dirt. Her clothes, usually neat and pristine, were dusty. "These…creatures and horrible monsters…"

Bel was sitting, looking horrified. Her condition was no better than Dina, and Gayathri supposed that she wasn't faring any better too. She felt bad seeing her two best friends here with her – she'd rather be captured alone because she knew who she was up against. And if she was alone she wouldn't be restricted. But that wasn't possible now so Gayathri quickly sit up and assessed her surrounding.

They were currently held captive inside a cave, apparently, judging by the dim light, narrow walls and low stone ceilings. A dark yellow semi-opaque force-field was erected to prevent them from escaping. Through the force-field Gayathri could see that across the cave another force-field had been erected with three females – apparently adults – were being held. But on a closer look Gayathri saw that the women were dressed rather oddly to pass as humans – two of them even had wings. One of the winged women was donned in heavy green armor while the other was garbed in a warrior-like outfit. The third woman was a flower woman in red leather and green cape. One thing all three of them shared in common was the fact that they were all wearing identical thick plain gray collar around their necks. They had their faces obscured, as all humanoid Digimon usually was, but it was plain obvious that they were greatly weakened. They looked like they had been detained for days.

'They're Digimon,' Gayathri deduced silently.

Two shadows appeared from where the light came from. Gayathri held her breath, but sighed with relief upon seeing that they were the Duskmon. Two of them. 'Good, no sign of Astamon.'

Seeing the Duskmon and the feminine Digimon, Gayathri realized that she must now be at the Digital World. But why would Astamon capture her and her friends? Gayathri groaned lowly as a suspicion of Astamon's reason of capturing her came to mind – the demonic Digimon was pretty enamored by Puspamon. Looking at the three women, she wondered whether they were caught by Astamon as well. All three of them were beautiful females.

A choked sob pulled Gayathri's attention back to her friends. She realized that if it weren't for them chasing her they wouldn't be here, detained, scared out of their wits. She decided that she needed to comfort them. She groaned – her D-Terminal was in her handbag and her handbag was not with her. She only had her Juara Digivice. She could release Floramon but decided against it for now. If her friends were threatened she would not hesitate to Digital Access, but for now she decided that she'd hold out as far as she could.

'We've found Liu Ying from the signal of her Juara Digivice when she got kidnapped. Surely the guys can find me here too.'

With that thought etched in her mind, she crept towards Bel and Dina and tried to comfort them.

"We should have run away to safety," Bel said slowly. She sounded scared and lost at the same time.

"I know," Gayathri said softly. "I'm so sorry…it's because of me you two are captured as well."

"Don't say that," Dina said, wiping her flowing tears. "It's not your fault. You were just curious. We chased after you because you're our friend. You're our best friend. We couldn't just leave you there."

Gayathri was touched by Dina's comment and momentarily was tongue-tied. Then she gave a warm smile at the distraught girl and pulled her close in a half-embrace. 'I really wish I can tell you about us, but we've agreed to keep this as a secret.'

"Why are you so calm, Gaya?" Bel asked amidst her own silent sobs. "Aren't you scared? We're in the middle of who-knows-where and you're not freaking out at all."

Gayathri wasn't scared. Puspamon could easily take care of the Duskmon should they attempt to harm her or her friends. But saying that out loud wouldn't be a good idea. Thus, she gave Bel and Dina a firm grasp on their hands and smiled. "We're in this together. I hope the Wira Digital will get here soon. They'll save us, I'm sure. That's why I am not scared." She then gave a gentle nudge for both girls to rest their heads on her shoulders, hoping that it would calm them down.

"Why are you still so nice to me? I was rotten to you back at Subang Parade," Bel said with a low voice. She looked up at Gayathri. "I shouldn't be so suspicious to you. You must have your reasons."

"I'm not blameless either for that," Dina murmured. "We're sorry."

"There's nothing to apologize, girls. I'd have done the same thing you two did if one of you acted like I've been doing. I wish I can explain it to you, really I do. It's just that…." Her voice trailed off upon seeing the two Duskmon stopping in front of their force-field prison. She felt her friends tensed up, heard them gasp in fear and quickly squeezed their shoulders comfortingly while glaring back at the Duskmon. The Duskmon returned her gaze dispassionately. 'If you don't move away right now…' she willed with her mind, and to her surprise the Duskmon moved away. Dina and Bel were trembling and Gayathri hoped that the others would come to their rescue in time.

xxx

JD skillfully made a back flip before spinning around and delivered a perfect flying kick with a loud fighting shout. Then he bent down and touched his right hand on the ground, propelling his body up in a 45 degrees angle with only his right hand firmly planted on the ground for support. Another back flip ensued followed by a backward cartwheel before he stood up, sweaty and with a smug expression on his face.

"Show off," Adam muttered with a smile at his cousin. His words however betrayed the impressed look radiating from his face.

"With skills like that, he has the right to do that," Manny murmured as he took a sip of his mineral water.

Adam leaped down from the table where he was sitting and approached his cousin, handing a small red towel at him. "You're going to teach me those incredible moves?" he asked hopefully.

"That and more," JD said as he took the towel and wiped his face. He threw a grin at Adam before asking. "How come you didn't ask me to do this earlier? It's almost a month since you moved in with me. I could have taught you this from last month and you'd be a pro by now."

"Umm…" The dark-haired boy looked away from his cousin's inquiring face for a moment, mildly embarrassed about the question. "I was…shy, I guess."

JD snorted. "Shy? With me? What on earth for? Remember I told you about this shy-nonsense? It's not like I'd say no. I could use the practice too." Adam smiled sheepishly and JD shook his head, remembering that every now and then Adam still had his reservations. Despite one month had passed since Adam moved in with his family, the younger boy still was in the process of getting used to his new life.

The three DigiWira were currently at the park close to JD's house, and as they had mentioned earlier, the more skillful JD and Manny were showing Adam some of the martial arts moves they had learned from their trainings, as per the youngest out of the three guys had requested. Adam had no real training other than some moves which his late brother had taught him, and since he had committed himself to the first aid society at school he wouldn't be able to join any of the martial arts clubs at school. Thinking that having at least some basic skills in martial arts would improve his fight when he and Patamon were Aldiyamon, Adam had asked the two former ShadoWira to teach him some of them.

"Where and when did you learn Capoiera, JD?" Manny asked.

"I started when I was about six. It's something I picked up when I was still at Australia," JD answered easily. "A guy lived across the road was doing his moves one day and I happened to be outside when he did that. Got curious and I asked him about it. Turned out he owned a dojo downtown. You can guess what happened next."

"So you've been doing this for ten years already," Adam said. "Wow. No wonder you're so good in this."

JD gave Adam a lopsided grin before looking at Manny. "When did you start with Ninjutsu?"

"Form One," Manny answered. "There was a Ninjutsu Club at my old school and like you, I got curious about it. So I signed up." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully before continuing, "I'm actually pretty much a novice in Ninjutsu because I was more active in the swimming club then. There's not much I can share with you two."

"At least you can share something. I have nothing to give but a lot to learn from you two," Adam mumbled. "I didn't even master the few Silat moves my late brother taught me…" He became silent for a moment, looking slightly downcast before shaking his head off with a sigh.

JD, knowing that Adam had inadvertently touched a sore spot, quickly interjected with a pat on Adam's shoulder: "Capoiera, some basic Silat andNinjutsu, and the power of teleportation…those are pretty potent combination to make up a formidable fighter."

Adam blinked twice before scratching his head. "I never thought of it that way, actually. I just want to be ready should any Digimon would engage me in a close physical combat instead of just blasting them with some power attack and then teleport away. The Radiant Faith technique works well in a close combat – we tried that once with Mephistomon. But thinking about it now, I think that our move was pretty clumsy compared to how the two of you handle yourselves when you're Satriamon and Samudramon."

JD nodded and grinned lopsidedly. "No worries. When we're done with you, you should be a good enough fighter."

"So…we start now?" Adam asked eagerly.

JD and Manny exchanged looks before focusing their attentions at Adam. "Know what? Let's start with some basic stretch I showed you last night. Then it's chin-ups, push-ups and sit-ups."

"No moves?" Adam asked, sounding somewhat disappointed.

JD chuckled and flexed his left arm, causing his biceps to bulge. "Your hands are used to support your movement and weight, so a pair of strong arms will really help." Amused of seeing the crestfallen look on his cousin's face, he added with a pat on Adam's shoulder. "We'll do that, and then we can proceed with one of the basic Capoiera moves. Sound good?" Both Adam and Manny agreed instantly.

And so for the next one hour the three DigiWira boys enjoyed themselves with the basic first step of Brazilian art of dance-fighting, accompanied by the upbeat tempo music which was blaring from Adam's cell phone. They would have gone for another step when their D-Terminals beeped, alerting them immediately. Adam took his D-Terminal and read the message relayed by TobuCatmon as the other two boys loomed over him to take a look at the message as well.

DigiWira, I have detected a strange emergence from your home world to the Digital World recently. However something is blocking the Sun Staff from displaying it wholly. I think it would be best for you to investigate about this, if you are not doing anything. I have not alerted the girls, as Liu Ying has said that she has a meeting with someone important and Gayathri is going out with her friends.

Signed, TobuCatmon.

"The message's pretty vague," JD noted. "Think we should check it out?"

"Maybe we should take a quick look just to make sure everything is ok," Adam decided. "With the Darkshadow Brethren around we can't be too sure."

"TobuCatmon won't call us if there's nothing," Manny agreed.

JD nodded. "Then we better go back to my house – our Digimon partners are all there."

The three boys returned to JD's house and saw their partners were currently engrossed with the Playstation 2 videogame in JD's room. Penguinmon looked angry as Patamon seemed to be defeating him – the former having wings for hand didn't help him much in using the player controller, and Patamon's front feet served equally well as hands. On the sidelines, Agumon, Salamon and Gatomon watched the two players whilst cheering for the ones they were rooting for. Agumon, with claws as hands, couldn't play the game as well so he pretty much settled in cheering role. All Digimon looked up when the three DigiWira barged in the room.

"Anyone up for a trip to the Digital World?" Adam asked. "It's nothing serious from the way TobuCatmon sounds in his message, but we think it might be best if we take a look."

"Thank goodness. I'm up! I'm done playing anyway!" Penguinmon huffed in disgust as he placed the controller down. His early instinct was to throw it but he didn't want to risk JD's wrath upon him.

"No, he's done playing because I've beaten him twenty-five to zero," Patamon said. Penguinmon stuck his tongue out towards the bat-winged hamster.

Everyone approached JD's computer and booted it on. Suddenly JD let out a groan and took a few steps. He was clutching his stomach.

"Uhh…you guys go ahead first."

Adam glanced towards JD. "Something wrong Josh?"

"Nothing. Nature calls, and from the feels of it, it's gonna be a while." JD grinned sheepishly and fetched his towel. "I'll join you two later ok?"

"We'll call you if we need you, then."

xxx

Aldiyamon and Samudramon appeared within showers of white orbs at a clearing leading towards a reddish-gray mountain region. Vegetations were rather scanty and the sky was a faint shade of purple, marking that they were now at one of the nether regions of the Digital World – parts were usually best left untouched. But TobuCatmon had mentioned of a strange activity taking place here. The two Wira Digital approached the mountain cautiously and halted when they saw two Duskmon guarding an entrance to a cave. Quickly they took cover behind a large rock and peered out.

"Duskmon!" Aldiyamon whispered. "TobuCatmon's right. Something strange is going on here."

"They're not the only ones around. Look up there." Samudramon pointed upwards and they saw two Velgemon perched on the mountain peaks. Then something stirred from the back of the mountaintops and a black hulking avian figure emerged. Coated in darkness, it was a great bird with raven-colored feathers tipped with violet. The armor coating its beak and face was gold and so was the pestles mounted on its wings. But the most peculiar feature the bird had was the fact that it had three legs instead of two. The Wira Digital quickly ran a scan on the avian to get its facts.

xxx

: DIGIMON ANALYZER :

Name: Yatagaramon
Attributes: Ultimate level, Vaccine type

Attacks:

Mikafutsu No Kami – Yatagaramon channels the power from the pestles on its wings towards his third leg and fires a data-breaking beam towards its enemy.

Haguro – Yatagaramon blankets its surroundings in darkness with the black light emitted from its wings.

Guren Tsume – Yatagaramon ignites its claws with flames to attack the enemy.

Guren Dama – Yatagaramon unleashes fireballs from the cobalt pestles on its wings.

xxx

"With these many Digimon at the entrance, the Darkshadow Brethren must be guarding something inside the cave," Samudramon deduced carefully.

"I can teleport inside the cave and have a look inside there," Aldiyamon offered. "We won't have to engage them in a fight."

"I don't know if that is such a good idea," Samudramon said. "There might be…oh, no. Not him again."

The Wira Digital saw a humanoid materializing outside the cave, and Aldiyamon noticed that Samudramon seemed to have encountered this Digimon previously. He hadn't met this Digimon but had heard of him. Instantly both Wira Digital became wary – if a Darkshadow Brethren member himself was present here, something important must be inside the cave. The two champions of good exchanged glances and reached an unspoken agreement as they watched Astamon adjusting his suit and sash.

"Wonder how my pretties are doing right now?" They heard Astamon spoke to himself as he entered the cave.

"I don't like the sound of that," Samudramon groaned. Aldiyamon gave him a questioning look which prompted him to elaborate. "The first, which was also the last time Puspamon and I met Astamon, he called Puspamon 'sweetheart'. I don't know whether he's like that with all girls, or just Puspamon." The now-humanoid merman's mouth was set thin, looking absolutely tensed.

"Well, he said 'pretties', meaning that there's at least more than one girl inside the cave," Aldiyamon pointed out.

Terrified screams echoed out from the cave. "That confirms it," the white knight said. "Astamon's holding at least two girls hostage inside there. We've got to save them."

"I'll go inside," Samudramon said immediately. "I've seen how Astamon fought – I can battle him. Can you take care of the Digimon outside?"

"Sure thing. I've taken five Velgemon before. I can handle it." Aldiyamon held on Samudramon's wrist. "We'll teleport at the entrance of the cave and you go in while I ambush those Duskmon from the back."

A conspiratorial smile appeared from Samudramon. "At the Batu Caves, I've discovered that the Duskmon are pretty much weak against water. I'll give you a head start so that you only need to take care of the Velgemon and Yatagaramon."

Aldiyamon grinned. "It's a deal."

The Wira Digital teleported over the entrance, and the lights generated from Aldiyamon instantly alerted the Duskmon about their arrival. The two brutes turned around, but before they could do anything they were blasted with Samudramon's Deep Ocean Submerge, which drowned them. Samudramon had been right – the water attack had incapacitated the Duskmon almost effortlessly and with another blast of the same attack they were deleted. Angered squawks were heard coming from the sky and Aldiyamon stepped out from the cavern's entrance while Samudramon entered the cave.

The royal angel spread his wings and saw the giant figure of Yatagaramon, flanked on each side by a Velgemon, looming over him. Quickly he summoned his Heavenstar Gladius sword and readied for battle.

xxx

"Hello, my pretties…enjoying your stay here?"

Samudramon quickened his pace along the caves as he heard the echoes of Astamon's leering voice. He was at a clearing and saw a narrow corridor up ahead. Faint light seemed to emanate from it and Samudramon could make out a distinct shadow of Astamon on the stone walls. However he was stopped short upon hearing a quivering fearful voice which responded to Astamon's taunt.

"Gaya….what horrible monster…"

'Isn't that Dina's voice?' Samudramon wondered in surprise – his human half easily recognized the voice as Dina Fadlullah was his classmate. But the name Dina had spoken had caused him to gasp softly. 'And Gayathri's here too? What is going on here?'

He crept along the corridor, careful not to make a sound. The corridor led him to a ravine which was blocked by wooden banisters and over them; something was glowing from below, casting eerie shadows over the cave's ceiling. Approaching the banister, Samudramon peered down and saw a small circular clearing underneath, lit by several torches hung on the walls. Astamon stood at the middle of the clearing, laughing gloatingly towards a semi opaque force-field glowing with green hue. Inside the force-field, to Samudramon's surprise, were Gayathri, Dina and their friend Belinda Foo. The merman Wira Digital saw another force-field set opposite the one containing the girls, with three humanoids imprisoned within it. All of them were female and they looked like they had been drained out of their energies from the way they slumped at the floor.

'How did they get here?' Samudramon wondered.

'Will you stop with all the questions so that we can go down there and rescue your girlfriend?' Penguinmon shouted shrilly inside their joined minds, causing Samudramon to wince.

Samudramon realized that Penguinmon was right, and quietly summoned his metallic trident. Grasping it tight, he pointed the trident towards Astamon and called out, "Cosmic Thunderstrike!!"

The lightning bolt struck Astamon squarely on his shoulder, blasting him towards the nearby wall. Astonished gasps were heard coming from the girls, and Samudramon jumped over the banister before summoning a pillar of water to descend safely.

"It's a Wira Digital!" he heard Dina squeal excitedly.

"He's Samudramon!" Belinda joined in, sounding happy. "He's come to save us!"

Samudramon saw Gayathri gazing at him with a smile, and nodded. Warily pointing his staff towards Astamon, who was beginning to rise from his fall, Samudramon released another blue thunderbolt which electrocuted Astamon again, causing the demon to let out an irritated groan. Seizing the chance while Astamon was down, Samudramon quickly darted towards the force field, thinking of how to break it and release the girls. He tried touching it but the force-field responded by jolting him with thunder. Smirking slightly, Samudramon shook his hands and knew instantly how to lower the force-field.

"Stay back, everyone." Samudramon rose his trident up and spun it swiftly, transforming it into the Double-Edged Thunderblades before thrusting it through the force-field. The barrier instantly jolted Samudramon with lightning bolt but Samudramon, being a Wira Digital of water and thunder elements, could withstand it. The collision of two thunder elements caused a tear to form underneath the place where Samudramon thrust his trident into. The tear enlarged gradually and became a hole, just big enough to get a girl out one of the time.

"Girls, look," Gayathri said, pointing at the hole. Samudramon nodded at her, looking visibly strained. She realized that they didn't have much time. "Dina, you go first, quickly."

Dina quickly crawled through the hole and scrambled up her feet as he heard Samudramon groaned loudly. The thunderbolts from the force-field seemed to be overpowering the Wira Digital – Samudramon was seen shaking and his feet were pushed into the earth gradually. "Bel, Gaya, quick!" she cried in panic.

"Bel, go." Gayathri gave her friend a gentle push towards the opening and watched Belinda crawl out to safety. The two girls huddled outside and Gayathri took a deep breath before moving towards the hole. But she halted when Samudramon let out a pained cry and was thrown off his feet towards the wall under the banisters. She gasped – out of worry for Samudramon more than the fact that she was still trapped inside.

"Gaya!!" Belinda and Dina cried out.

Samudramon groaned and rubbed his chest in pain – the force-field was stronger than he'd thought. He rose to his feet and attempted to move towards it, wanting to get Gayathri out before noticing that Astamon was also getting back up his feet. Panicked slightly he turned his gaze from the villain to the trapped Gayathri and the girls. Gayathri would be safe for the time being inside the force-field, and he'd deal with Astamon, but first he needed to get Belinda and Dina out to safety. He approached the two distraught girls and gave Gayathri an apologetic look, relieved slightly when the girl returned it with an assuring nod, mouthing silently for him to take the girls away.

"Come on, you two…I'll get you to safety," Samudramon said gently towards the girls.

"But…what about our friend?" Belinda asked, shocked upon hearing that Samudramon was suggesting that they leave without Gayathri.

"We can't just leave her here! She's our friend." Dina was already tearing up again.

"Girls, don't worry. Just follow Samudramon to safety. I'll be ok in here, and I'm sure Samudramon will rescue me later. You two need to follow him so that you won't be in his way if he needs to battle the enemy," Gayathri said with empathy.

Dina and Bel were both struck with how calm and mature their friend sounded, and nodded involuntarily, not resisting Samudramon as he led them toward the stone staircases which led towards the corridor and eventually outside. Once they reached the corridor, the girls spun and looked at Samudramon with tear-stained eyes.

"Mr…uh…Samudramon," Bel said awkwardly, not knowing how to address the heroic figure before her. "We'll be ok here. Please save our friend. We'll stay here where it's safe."

Samudramon contained his mild amusement of hearing Belinda addressing him so politely and assessed the situation. He nodded and gestured towards the other side of the corridor which would lead back to the clearing before the entrance. "Don't go all the way out yet; there's a battle taking place outside." He gave them an assuring smile and added, "Don't worry. I'll see to it that your friend will be safe." With that he turned around and went back towards the inner side of the cave with the girls staring at his back in awe.

He saw that Astamon was already on his feet, looking absolutely miffed but unhurt. Gayathri was already clutching her Juara Digivice.

"Where are the girls?" Gayathri asked.

"Safe," Samudramon replied quickly. "Hang on, I'll get you out."

"Heh, don't act like I am not here, you brat!" Astamon roared and threw his knife to stop Samudramon from approaching the barrier. "Your arrival is certainly unexpected, but no matter. Those escaped girls aren't the ones that I want. I have Puspamon and the sacred ladies of the Lost Mountain with me."

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch, Astamon! Floramon, Access!" Floramon appeared before Gayathri and without wasting time, Gayathri called out, "Digital Access Digivolution, HAA!!"

Unbeknownst to Gayathri, two pairs of amazed eyes were currently watching her as she merged with Floramon in swirls of pink light, transforming within a pink hurricane into Puspamon. They gasped in disbelief and awe; all the while their best friend was actually one of the famed heroes of their country.

"I can't…believe it…" Dina whispered. "Gaya…that's why she'd been too busy to hang out with us lately. I…I never expected her to be Puspamon."

"Oh dear," Belinda gasped. "I…I'd been such a jerk to her earlier at Subang Parade. I…she…she never told us this."

"Maybe she can't…" Dina's voice trailed off as she observed Puspamon standing in place of Gayathri inside the force-field.

"Jelita Shocker, Powered Up Mode!!"

Puspamon glimmered with bright pink aura as a shining sprite emerged from her body. The sprite slammed upon the barrier with swirls of hurricane before passing through it. For a moment, the barrier reacted to the sprite by attempting to electrocute it, but it was no use as the sprite seemed to be more forceful. The barrier shook wildly before exploding into data particles as the sprite flew through it, slamming upon the force-field opposite it. The barrier combusted before the sprite diminished into data as well.

"NO!" Astamon shouted, astounded.

Puspamon fluttered beside Samudramon, and saw the three women weakly tried to move. "Samudramon, those Digimon are weakened greatly. They'll need your help to escape. I'll take care of Astamon." She gave her friend a warm smile and urged him to go. The smile vanished when she turned her gaze towards Astamon.

"Hellfire!!" Astamon screamed, pointing his machinegun towards Puspamon.

"Hibiscus Hurricane!!" Puspamon's tornado of flowers pulled Astamon's machinegun out of his hands, and Puspamon willed the tornado to slam the machinegun over the walls, wrecking it instantly. Seeing Astamon glaring at her, Puspamon smiled sweetly as her Black Rose Staff appeared in her hands. She raised the wooden staff up and called out: "Dream Rose Mirage!!"

"Oh, shit!" Astamon swore, but it was too late. A giant rose appeared before Puspamon and Astamon unwillingly found himself unable to pull his gaze away as he was drawn into Puspamon's hallucination technique. He shrieked when thorny vines wrapped themselves around him, trashing wildly in agonizing pain.

"Bye, hotshot!" Puspamon was about to finish off Astamon when a swirling portal of purple energy appeared before the shrieking Astamon. From it, to Puspamon's surprise, Doumon and Shawujinmon emerged. They shot Puspamon a deadly gaze before Shawujinmon released a stream of water towards Puspamon, slamming her against the wall.

Doumon chanted a spell and pasted a scroll over Astamon's forehead. Astamon stopped writhing and blinked in confusion before realizing what had just happened to him.

"Puspamon!" Samudramon called in worry, and was about to go to her aid before a hand caught his wrist.

"Young warrior, you're no match for all three of them," the angelic woman in green armor wheezed. "But if you can remove this collar from my neck, I can fight them off."

Thinking that it wouldn't be too hard, and having a help would increase his chance in battling Shawujinmon, Doumon and Astamon, Samudramon quickly grasped the collar tight and tried pulling it out. Grunting slightly, Samudramon felt the collar starting to break before it was split into two. "There…" he said, turning back to face the villains, who suddenly looked pale, as if they had just seen a ghost.

"It was that collar which prevented me from using my powers, but now that it's gone…"

Samudramon was about to turn around before his vision was blinded by a glorious burst of golden light. The light dissipated as soon as it had appeared, and standing before Samudramon was the same angelic woman, but she didn't look weak anymore. In fact, from the way she stood, it seemed that she had been completely rejuvenated. There was a majestic aura emanating all over her, from the way she carried herself, her glistening emerald armor and her golden wings and weapons. Samudramon felt humbled over her presence. 'She's magnificent!' Samudramon thought.

"DAMN IT! Ophanimon's been set free!!" Astamon screamed fearfully.

'Ophanimon? Isn't she… is she the same Ophanimon Adam talked about? The one who restored the power of his White DigiSphere and Digivice?' Samudramon wondered, recognizing the name.

Ophanimon pointed her golden javelin towards the three Darkshadow Brethren and called out mightily, "EDEN'S JAVELIN!!"

A burst of golden energy spewed forth from her sword and slammed upon the Majin, Kappa and Shaman Generals. The cave was brightly illuminated by the golden energy, followed by terrified and pained screams from the generals. Doumon was heard shouting something else before the lights died away…and the generals were nowhere in sight.

"Are they gone?" Puspamon wondered as she approached Samudramon and Ophanimon.

"I doubt it," Ophanimon answered, lowering her javelin and met the gazes of the two Wira Digital. "They have escaped."

"Rats," Puspamon said. "I was hoping that you'd ridden them off once and for all."

"Perhaps some other time," Ophanimon said with a warm smile as she knelt down to help the other two women, who still appeared drained. She glanced back at Samudramon. "Will you…"

"Oh. Sure!" Samudramon quickly tore the collars away from the other two women and Puspamon assisted Ophanimon in supporting them up. Samudramon gazed at Ophanimon before addressing her. "You…are you the same Ophanimon who has restored Adam's White DigiSphere's power?"

Upon the mention of Adam's name, the angelic woman smiled. "Indeed I am. You must be his friends."

"It's an honor to meet you, Ophanimon. I'm Samudramon and she's Puspamon. We've heard a lot about you from Adam." Samudramon bowed slightly, which was an amusing sight as he was almost a foot taller than Ophanimon.

Puspamon recalled the story TobuCatmon told him – about how Grademon had searched for Ophanimon to obtain her power of light in order to energize the White DigiSphere. She was now standing face to face with the one who'd given Aldiyamon his power. She couldn't help but to feel awed by the glorious Digimon's presence. Silently she recalled the Digimon Analyzer to learn their identities better.

xxx

: DIGIMON ANALYZER :

Name: Ophanimon
Attributes: Mega level, Vaccine type

Attacks:

Eden's Javelin – Ophanimon releases a burst of holy energy beam towards her enemy from the javelin she wields. This attack is especially strong against dark-based Digimon.

Sephirot Crystals – Ophanimon summons crystals and use them to attack her enemy. The crystals are able to tear upon the Digizoid alloys.

Virtuous Throne – Ophanimon unleashes the holy Throne – her winged unicorn – from her shield to paralyze her opponent.

Seven Star Union – Ophanimon summons seven orbs of light and slams them upon her adversary. This attack is akin to a Seraphimon's Seven Heavens.

xxx

: DIGIMON ANALYZER :

Name: Rosemon
Attributes: Mega level, Data type

Attacks:

Roses Rapier – Rosemon wields the vine on her right arm as a sword and attacks her enemy.

Thorn Whip – Rosemon whips her enemy, turning it into her slave.

Ivy Hug – Rosemon summons vines to immobilize her enemy.

Forbidden Temptation – Rosemon summons the power from her Tifaret crystal and releases a burst of energy from her whole body.

xxx

: DIGIMON ANALYZER :

Name: D'Arcmon
Attributes: Champion level, Vaccine type

Attacks:

Beatings of Love – D'Arcmon crosses her two swords and releases holy energy beam towards her enemy.

La Pucelle – D'Arcmon uses advanced swordsmanship skills to overwhelm her enemy.

Beauty Stunner – D'Arcmon releases a pink thunderbolt from her scepter, stunning her foe.

xxx

"The honor is mine, young warrior," Ophanimon said warmly. "I don't see Adam with you."

"He's outside…as Aldiyamon. He's fighting off a Digimon called Yatagaramon," Samudramon supplied.

Ophanimon looked concerned. "Then we better go outside. He might need our help."

xxx

"Haguro!!"

Yatagaramon soared towards the sky and flapped its wings, releasing waves of black light which blanketed the surrounding in night-like darkness. The attack gave Yatagaramon the advantage of stealth within the darkness – with this technique its opponent could never see it coming. Yatagaramon's black feathers would blend nicely with the darkness.

Of course, Yatagaramon didn't count Aldiyamon being the Wira Digital of Light. The silvery-white radiance emanating from the angel's wings never left him; instead it grew brighter and amidst the darkness Aldiyamon was like a guiding beacon. He looked around, searching for Yatagaramon. He could hear it, but he couldn't see it yet.

"Darkness? Let's see if I can't fix that, you birdbrain." Aldiyamon let out his Solaris Firebird which slowly caused the darkness to part. He detected Yatagaramon retreating within the part where it was still dark and pursued it with his firebird of light aura glowing about him. Then, locking in the bird's target Aldiyamon unleashed the Solaris Firebird, watching as it tore apart the darkness before slamming against the dark bird.

Yatagaramon let out a pained squawk and soared towards the air. It repeated the same attack once more and again it was nighttime. But once again, the darkness attack was nullified, this time with multiple beams of lights released by Aldiyamon. Yatagaramon let out a growl unbefitting its avian status and streaked down with unrivalled speed as its claws burst with flames of darkness. With a screech Yatagaramon launched its Guren Tsume upon the vulnerable-looking angel, but was surprised when its claws hit something that burned with pure light. Blinking, Yatagaramon saw that Aldiyamon had surrounded himself with a silver energy sphere.

From within the sphere, Aldiyamon held on his protective shield, grimacing as it shook upon being clawed relentlessly by Yatagaramon. The Deistic Guard shielded him perfectly from Yatagaramon's onslaught, but it left Aldiyamon with no other way to escape or attack back. He'd had an easy time dispatching the Velgemon but Yatagaramon evidently was in a completely different league from the two avian brutes. Aldiyamon was further left at a disadvantage upon discovering that Yatagaramon was actually a Vaccine-type Digimon instead of Virus-type, which rendered his light techniques ineffective against its dark-based attacks.

Then he remembered his Capoiera lesson from JD. As Adam, he still couldn't carry out the moves as well as JD, but now as Aldiyamon he could at least give it a shot. An advantage of being a Wira Digital was the fact that he was very flexible in his techniques as compared to the rigid ways Digimon fought. Channeling his power to his feet and hands, Aldiyamon lowered his shield, giving Yatagaramon a perfect opportunity to strike him, should he was unprepared. But Aldiyamon was anything but that. So, when Yatagaramon loomed towards him with its burning claws, Aldiyamon threw a punch towards the giant bird with a yell of "Radiant Faith!!"

His punch connected to the center of Yatagaramon's third claw, causing the bird to stagger in midair, taken by surprise. Seizing his opportunity, Aldiyamon threw another punch in the air, this time releasing a beam of light from his hand which hit Yatagaramon squarely on its chest. Taking advantage of Yatagaramon's situation Aldiyamon flew towards it and halted right under its beak. With a grin that would make his cousin proud, Aldiyamon made an agile back flip, kicking Yatagaramon's golden-armored beak forcefully. Yatagaramon screeched in anger but Aldiyamon was ready with another attack – this time unleashing a kick which knocked the wind out of Yatagaramon. Then he whipped out his sword and slashed the air, creating a pillar of golden light which blasted towards Yatagaramon. Confidently, Aldiyamon whirled around and grinned, knowing that his Heavenstar Gladius would delete Yatagaramon.

A couple of seconds passed by and Aldiyamon frowned. There was no sound of Digimon combusting into data. Instead there was a loud screech, pained and furious, coupled with a deadly sound of something crackling menacingly. Aldiyamon turned around and saw Yatagaramon still alive, and its eyes were now crimson, drowned in bloodlust.

"MIKAFUTSU NO KAMI!!"

A stream of purple energy beam slammed upon Aldiyamon and caused him to plummet towards the ground with a loud explosion. A crater was formed and Aldiyamon found himself unable to breath as pain shot all over his body. Clutching his chest Aldiyamon rose from the crater, gasping upon seeing his whole body phasing in and out. Quickly he took a deep breath and harnessed the basis of his teleportation power – the power to dissemble and reassemble the molecules of his body. Slowly the pain receded and Aldiyamon became solid once again.

'That was too close,' the angelic knight thought, seeing the violet sky was once again blanketed in darkness. Underneath the silver manteau, Aldiyamon frowned. 'It's time to give an all-out attack before things get out of hand. And I've had enough hearing attack names that I can't understand."

Aldiyamon blinked out in showers of bright lights and reappeared at Yatagaramon's eye level, a hundred meters away from the giant crow. He flexed his metallic wings to that they crossed his chest and pointed his sword and hand forward. A white phoenix aura radiated from his wings as he shone bright as a star in the midst of darkness, completely unaware of two pairs of eyes that were watching him from the caves below. Regally he called out: "FINAL PURIFICATION!!"

Yatagaramon was blasted with beams of radiant white lights which spewed out from Aldiyamon. The beams of the Mega-class technique pushed it further towards the high heavens, enveloped it in furious whirlwind of light before tearing its whole body apart. With a loud parting screech Yatagaramon combusted into data particles and the night-like sky turned to day once again.

Aldiyamon's whole body sagged as he teleported onto the ground, and dedigivolved – having used his Final Purification he was no longer able to retain his Wira Digital form.

Adam and Patamon's prone bodies were still for a while, before Adam slowly raised his head up. His vision was slightly blurry, but it quickly readjusted itself. He saw two pairs of legs, one in light pink jeans and the other were bare underneath the knees. Looking up in confusion, Adam's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing two much unexpected people. 'Oh no…how did THEY get here?'

"Adam?" Dina asked, perplexed and sounding amazed at the same time. "You're Aldiyamon?"

"You guys are the Wira Digital? You and Gaya…and…" Belinda slapped a hand on her forehead when realization struck her. "That can only mean…JD, Liu Ying and Manny…no wonder you guys are so close with one another! We…we've wondered why…we never would have thought that you guys are the Wira Digital. It…it's unbelievable!"

Adam looked at Dina and Belinda and sighed, realizing that his cover was blown. "What are you two doing here?" he asked finally while sitting up.

The girls were about to explain when Adam's attention shifted to the cave entrance where Samudramon and Puspamon emerged, along with three Digimon whom Adam had thought he'd never meet again. He gaped in shock, and quickly stood up and ran towards them.

"Ophanimon! Rosemon! D'Arcmon!" He eyed them one by one before looking at Ophanimon confusedly. "What…how? I thought you three would remain at the Lost Mountain?"

Ophanimon placed a hand at Adam's shoulder, gazing at the boy with adoration. "It's a long story," she said.

"Hey Adam," Rosemon greeted with a weak voice. "Didn't think you'd see me again now, did you?" D'Arcmon snorted towards the flower-woman at her comment, before turning to look at Adam, giving him an acknowledging nod with a brief, no-nonsense, but strained smile.

Adam's cheeks became fairly pink as he avoided Samudramon and Puspamon's questioning looks – he had conveniently skipped the intricate details of his encounter with Rosemon when telling the other DigiWira about his adventures at the Lost Mountain. "Not really…but it's good to see you again, nonetheless."

Puspamon stared at Adam, and then at Belinda and Dina who were now approaching her. Questions raced through her mind – why would Adam be in his civilian form instead of Aldiyamon while in the company of Bel and Dina? She tensed when both of them were in front of her, and stifled a gasp when they each grabbed her hand. At her 6'5'' height, the two girls were considerably dwarfed – both stood no higher than her shoulders.

Belinda was the one who squealed in excitement first. "This is so surreal! I can't believe that my friend is a Wira Digital! You should've told us…but I think maybe there's a secret code or something which prevented you from telling us?" Upon seeing Puspamon looking at her with a badly-attempted confused look, the sporty girl snorted. "Don't look confused or pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about, Gaya! We saw you transform back at the cave."

Puspamon sighed as she exchanged a look with Samudramon. With a faint pink glow she regressed to Gayathri and Floramon, and Samudramon joined her, dedigivolving into Manny and Penguinmon.

Formerly clutching Puspamon's hands, Belinda and Dina saw that they were now holding their best friend's hand. With an excited squeal she gave Gayathri a hug. "So this is your big secret huh Gaya? I never saw this coming. This is really amazing! Wow…" She released Gayathri from her embrace and beamed. "I'm so… so proud of you!"

Hearing her friend's declaration, Gayathri beamed as well. "You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you guys about this!" she said, sounding excited as well. "I'm so relieved that you two know about this now! I'm sorry for keeping this from you, but we have agreed not to tell anyone else but our immediate family about this."

"We understand, don't we Bel?" Dina said.

"You bet! It must be a great responsibility, Gaya, having to protect the country from evil's attacks," Bel said with a pumped fist. "I totally understand. All the superheroes – Spiderman, Superman, Batman – they all have secret civilian identities so it's only normal, I suppose, for Puspamon to have secret identity…identities…too." Gayathri and Dina sweatdropped upon the comparison as Belinda eyed the plant-reptile creature that was standing beside Gayathri.

"Girls…I'd like you two to meet Floramon." Gayathri gestured towards her Digimon partner smilingly.

"Hi!" Floramon chirped happily as she grabbed the hands of her DigiWira's friends, shaking them with so much enthusiasm. "I've heard so much about you from Gayathri and I'm so happy to finally meet the two of you!"

Dina and Belinda nodded as they bore their gazes on Gayathri appraisingly. "Girl, you've got so much to tell us!"

Gayathri giggled. "I can't wait to fill you two with the details."

xxx

"When we saw you leaving that night, Rosemon was the one who voiced her question – of whether it was really necessary for the three of us to remain for another century in the Lost Mountain," Ophanimon explained when all of them had gathered at the Forest Sanctum. "I had my reservations at first – I was appointed long ago to be the guardian of the mountain in return for me to gain my power. It was a deal I have made with the previous guardian of the mountain when she had finally reached her deletion age. I could not leave the mountain because I am bound to my promise, but Rosemon and D'Arcmon both have no such obligations – they were there because I took them while they were still in their DigiEggs when I first stepped in the mountain. So I offered Rosemon and D'Arcmon the possibility for them to step out of the mountain and lead regular lives at the Digital World's physical plane as opposed to the astral plane where the Lost Mountain would be for a century. They were eager to have lives outside the mountain, but I could see that they were also reluctant to leave me here.

"That night just moments before the Lost Mountain would return to its astral plane, I went along with Rosemon and D'Arcmon to give them a proper send off. But never did I anticipate bold moves from both of them as the mountain was about to disappear. Rosemon seized me with her vines, and together they pulled me out and off the mountain, just a few seconds before the mountain disappeared."

The DigiWira, the partners, their new friends Dina and Belinda, as well as TobuCatmon, all chuckled at Ophanimon's story. However they stopped when they saw Ophanimon looking slightly troubled by this.

"Would there be any ramification of you being out of Lost Mountain, milady?" TobuCatmon asked.

Ophanimon sighed. "That was the first thing that had crossed my mind when I was out of the mountain. For several days, we stood guard there in anticipation, wondering about that. But then I saw that I probably had nothing to worry about." She looked like she was concealing something, but nobody pressed her to divulge it. "Anyhow," she said with a smile. "With that settled, we decided that we would aid you in your battle against SkullSatamon's evil forces. Throughout this past one month, we have been tailing the two servants of SkullSatamon – Sorcerymon and Shutumon – and go one step ahead of them as they tried to locate SkullSatamon's entombed henchmen, and destroyed them. However, our actions were noticed by Lucemon and Persiamon and they confronted us at that Saffron Cave. We were captured and I realized one possible side-effect of us being out of the Lost Mountain."

"What's that?" Adam asked.

Ophanimon seemed to be considering her answer for a moment before she finally replied to Adam's inquiry. "When I first came to Lost Mountain, it was because this part of the Digital World had been terrorized by four demonic Digimon known as the Four Terrors. Villages and cities were destroyed and many Digimon were killed. An elder told me of the legend of the Lost Mountain and I went there to ask for power to beat the Four Terrors. The then-guardian of the mountain told me that I could harness the mountain's power to trounce the Four Terrors if I remained there as its guardian. I didn't have a choice as the Four Terrors were already approaching the Lost Mountain, so I agreed to it and became the next guardian of the Lost Mountain. The mountain's sacred power propelled me to my final Digivolution level, and with its power I alone had been able to send the Four Terrors to their doom. Then I discovered that should I leave the Lost Mountain, I would lose the power the mountain had given me. And as a guardian of the Lost Mountain, I am bound to remain there until the next chosen guardian comes along to claim the position."

"But you're still Ophanimon," Adam pointed out.

"I discovered that I'd lose my power…not my Mega form," Ophanimon replied. "But…although I have retained my Mega power and my angelic form, the power I possess now is no better than average Mega Digimon. If the Four Terrors are still around, I could never beat them. Similarly, Rosemon also lost her Mega-class power, now having only powers on par with above-average Ultimates. And D'Arcmon's power is akin to regular Champions, despite as an angel she should be possessing powers rivaling Ultimates. This was why Lucemon and Persiamon were able to beat us quite easily – Lucemon, despite being an Ultimate, has powers rivaling many strong Mega Digimon. Persiamon's power is also not something to be looked down upon."

Everyone took a moment to process the information. Adam, Manny and Gayathri, and their Digimon partners, exchanged nervous glances when they heard about what could be the next threat they would be up against. Dina and Belinda, now aware of their friends' situations, also had a foreboding feeling about it.

"But didn't you manage to beat Astamon, Doumon and Shawujinmon back at the cave?" Manny asked. "And the three of them are all Darkshadow Brethren generals."

"Were they accompanied by Lucemon and Persiamon, I might not be the victor," Ophanimon said, hinting on how powerful the two were compared to the other three.

"Look at the bright side, everyone," Adam said. "At least now, we have more helps in battling the Darkshadow Brethren. That ought to count for something."

"And I don't have to hide my being a Wira Digital from my best friends," Gayathri said and smiled at Dina and Belinda, who both murmured their agreements.

"So…what do we do now?" Manny asked.

"Ladies, you are more than welcomed to stay here," TobuCatmon offered. "And DigiWira…and friends…I suppose it's getting somewhat late, and with the threat of the day has been taken cared of you might want to head back to the Digital World. After all, Dina and Bel's parents might be wondering about them."

"Right." The DigiWira huddled at the TV set. Adam took out his Juara Digivice and gave a smiling look at their new allies. "It's good to see you three again and I think I'm looking forward to battling the Darkshadow Brethren with you three."

"The feeling is mutual, Adam," Ophanimon said. "Goodbye, for now."

"Girls, hold my hands," Gayathri said. "We're in for a bumpy ride."

"What do you mean?" Dina and Bel asked simultaneously as Gayathri held their hands tight.

"DIGIPORT OPEN!!"

xxx

The bathroom door opened and let out a wave of warm steam as JD stepped out, fresh out of shower and with a white towel fixed around his waist. A smaller tower was flung on his shoulders. He walked into his room and saw Agumon looking at him expectantly.

"Any message from Adam and Manny?" he asked, while drying his damp hair using the small towel.

The miniature T-rex shook his head. "No…no messages."

"Maybe they've taken care of it…but what's taking them so long?" JD wondered as he looked at the clock. It had been two hours since Adam and Manny went to the Digital World, and if they had been able to take care of the threat there, it shouldn't be taking them this long. It was the reason why he'd decided to take a shower – his friends or TobuCatmon would've called him if the threat was high. He shrugged.

Suddenly his computer's monitor flared with white lights. Silhouettes of people and Digimon were visible, and JD frowned. He could see five people instead of two. The lights died down and the blonde boy's mouth opened slightly in surprise. There were three girls along with Adam and Manny, and two of the girls were staring at him unblinkingly before one looked away.

"Oops…" Adam said with a sheepish smile at his cousin. Behind him, Belinda squealed, Dina blushed, Gayathri frowned and Manny strained hard not to smile.

xxx

Meanwhile…

Renamon digivolve to…Devidramon!!

Tsukaimon digivolve to…Devimon!

'Excellent,' Lucemon thought. ''It won't be long before the Puaka Generals reach their Ultimate forms once again, and then, my plan is set. The ladies' escape does not concern me; once the Puaka Generals reach their Ultimate forms, I will have them take care of those ladies so that they will not interfere with my plans.'

xxx

Author's Notes:

It really took me a while to get this chapter ready, with its three subplots combined in one. This chapter covers Gayathri and her two friends, the relations between the three DigiWira guys, and also the reappearances of Ophanimon, Rosemon and D'Arcmon. Surprise! There is a reason for me to make them appear, and Dina and Belinda will make somewhat regular appearances from now on instead of recurring. The same goes for the three ladies of the Lost Mountain.

As always, I look forward for your comments. Until next chapter, bye!