Let Your Spirit Evolve

Chapter 7: Training Days

"Someone care to remind me why I'm the only one not allowed to participate in the spirit control training?" Lia asked with a bored expression on her face as she picked at blades of grass. After their meeting with Owlmon the previous day, it had become clear that they weren't going to convince the Digimon to fight against the Feudal Lords. So instead of trying to go behind Owlmon's back and recruit Digimon to fight, the group had decided to stay at the village for a few days and try to Digivolve and test out their control over their spirits. As soon as they had woken up, they headed out to a patch of clear area behind the medical building getting prepared to start their practice.

"Because we already know how to deal with our spirits," Kouji commented easily.

"Still not seeing the point here."

Zoe turned around from where she was standing with Tommy and Kouichi to smile at her fellow Field Hockey player. "What he means is we want to make sure that we can control our spirits perfectly before we let you take a crack at it. If we have perfect control we'll be able to intervene just in case you're not as set with yours."

Lia sighed dramatically and rested her head on her fist as she sat cross-legged on the grass in between Bokomon and Neemon. While Lia was busy pouting, the others got ready. Takuya grinned excitedly and looked towards the others. "Alright, you guys ready?"

"Ready!" The others replied automatically. Takuya grinned and pulled out his D-Tector.

"EXECUTE! SPIRIT EVOLUTION!" Fractal code surrounded all of the teens before disappearing and showing the Legendary Warriors.

"Agunimon!"

"Lobomon!"

"Kazemon!"

"Kumamon!"

"Bettlemon!"

"Loweemon!"

Immediately Lia perked up and looked at the group in awe. "Okay that is so cool!" She exclaimed enthusiastically, looking over her friends.

Takuya tensed his arms and grinned, hopping around on his toes. It was a rush to be back as Agunimon once again, and he'd missed what it was like to evolve. "Just like riding a bike!" Takuya smirked, looking towards the others. Zoe and JP were testing their wings as they took to the skies, racing one another. Kouichi and Kouji were testing their punches and kicks while Tommy blew out cold air from his mouth, grinning and laughing. "Power test! Who wants to go first?" Takuya asked.

"I do! I do!" Tommy cheered, jumping around the group.

Takuya nodded to the younger teen and moved back so he was standing near the spot that Lia and the two smaller Digimon were with the rest of the gang following close behind. He noticed the Liamon that he had seen the day before—and a few others—walking out the back door of the healing building and picking a spot on the grass to watch the training. He smiled slightly and was going to wave to them when he felt something poking his foot. He looked down and saw that Lia had crawled over to him and was now poking at his foot in curiosity. She quickly moved on to poking Kouichi's, looking as if she was going to make her way down the line of legendary Warriors. Takuya fought off the urge to roll his eyes and smiled.

"Alright, Tommy, give it a go!"

Tommy nodded and stood a good distance away from the group so there wasn't the possibility of them getting injured. "Crystal Breeze!" Tommy blew out a large breath of icy wind, freezing the ground in front of him.

"Alright Tommy, aim for this!" JP shouted, hefting up one of the logs he and Kouji had been sent to cut to use for practice. He threw the log in front of the younger teen and immediately Tommy pulled out a large blaster and took aim.

"Blizzard Blaster!" Frozen snowballs flew out of the blaster and hit the log, shattering it to pieces of splintering wood. JP threw another log and Tommy put away his blaster before starting to run towards the piece of wood, jumping up and turning his body into an icicle. "Frozen Tundra!" He went straight through the log, splitting it in half. He landed on the ground and formed his body again before turning to smile at the group. "Everything seems good!"

"Try using your beast spirit," Bokomon advised.

Lia—who had been poking at Zoe's wings—stopped and looked at the studious Digimon in confusion. "What's a beast spirit again?"

While Bokomon and Neemon—though the latter wasn't all that helpful—explained to Lia what a beast spirit was, Tommy nodded and fractal code surrounded him again. "Kumamon, slide evolution… Korikakumon!" Tommy appeared in his large and intimidating beast spirit form, his two axes in his hands. On cue, JP tossed a log up in the air. Tommy turned immediately and grinned. "Frozen Arrowheads!" The arrowheads on his braids wrapped around the log before Tommy pulled out his axes. "Avalanche Axes!" He tossed the two axes which cut through the log.

"Nice work Tommy!" Zoe complimented.

Tommy walked over to sit by Lia—causing the ground to rumble as he dropped down—and gestured to the field. "Who's next?"

"I guess I'll go," JP spoke up, walking towards where Tommy had just been.

"So you're like a yeti now?" Lia asked randomly, petting Tommy's furry arm slightly.

Tommy shrugged. "Kinda," he said in his gruff voice.

Lia beamed. "Cool!"

"Lightening Blitz!"

The two looked up in time in order to see electricity shoot out of the horn on JP's head. Striking a couple disks that Kouichi had started throwing. Kouichi then threw a log and JP's body glowed gold as he tackled the log, decimating it. "Proton Slam!" Another one was launched into the air and JP's fist glowed gold, crackling with electricity. "Thunder Fist!" JP punched the log and destroyed it. "Alright! Next level!" JP smirked. "Beetlemon slide evolution… MetalKabuterimon!"

"Let's not use your Electron Canon, JP. That takes too long to charge and we don't want to destroy anything accidentally," Kouji rationalized.

JP nodded as the mentioned twin tossed a log into the air. JP charged electricity into his now mechanical arms and shot it out at the log, destroying it. "Bola Thunder!" As soon as that was done, JP reverted back to Beetlemon—not wanting to remain in his bulky beast spirit mode for an extended amount of time—and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Alright, who's next?"

"I'll go," Kouji volunteered, trading spaces with the Warrior of Thunder.

Lia looked up and snorted. "This should be good."

Kouji fought off the urge to roll his eyes and instead focused on the task at hand. He nodded over to his twin who threw the log into the air. He raised his wrist and charged the energy of the weapon on his left wrist. "Howling Laser!" The laser shot through and destroyed the log, shattering it to pieces. Kouichi tossed another one into the air and Kouji moved forward with his kendo swords, slicing the log in two. "Lobo Kendo!"

"Wait is he like a wolf Jedi? He totally has light sabers!"

Takuya burst out laughing at Lia's comment, bending over and clutching at his stomach. "They really do look like light sabers!" Takuya managed to choke out in between laughs.

Kouji glared over at their 'leader' before fractal code surrounded him. "Lobomon slide evolution… KendoGarurumon!" Another log was thrown and Kouji quickly went to work. "Lupine Laser!" Kouji knew he'd be able to complete the attack. What he hadn't planned on was for it to be so powerful. He was pushed back due to the force and he decimated the log, turning it into nothing more than a pile of ashes and striking into a nearby tree, melting a large piece of the trunk.

"Whoa, what was that all about?" Kouichi asked in surprise that his twin had used so much power.

Kouji shook his head in surprise. "I don't know. I just used the same kind of power I did whenever I used this last time."

"Well, I guess you should work on controlling that."

Kouji gave his twin a 'no duh' look before he decided that one overuse of power was enough for one day and reverted back to Lobomon before walking over and shoving Kouichi forward. "Your turn."

"I don't recall volunteering."

"You were volun-told."

Kouichi rolled his eyes and walked to the same area that Kouji was just standing in. "Alright JP, let it rip," Kouichi spoke up, tensing as a log was thrown his way. He lifted his lance and started twirling it. "Shadow Lance!" He cut right through the log and turned as another was thrown his way. He gathered energy in the lion head on his chest, before shooting it out. "Shadow Meteor!" The log was completely destroyed though Kouichi looked far more in control than his twin did.

"Can I call you Simba?" Lia called out as she looked out at Kouichi and his lion-esque form.

"Only if you are okay that I may start singing I Just Can't Wait To Be King."

Lia grinned and then turned to look up at Kouji who was standing next to her. "Why can't you be fun like that?"

"Just use your beast spirit, Kouichi," Kouji said, ignoring Lia's comment and trying to ignore her poking at his leg.

Kouichi grinned before he was wrapped in fractal code. "Loweemon slide evolution… JagerLoweemon!" Kouji, Tommy, and JP all started tossing logs into the air and Kouichi tensed, releasing a rapid burst of dark energy. "Ebony Blast!" When he destroyed nearly all the logs tossed his way the gems on his body started to glow and a dark energy in the shape of a black lion shot out. "Dark Master!" Kouichi reverted back to Loweemon and then looked over towards Takuya and Zoe, the only two who hadn't practice yet. "Who's next?"

"Ladies first," Takuya spoke up with a bow, gesturing for Zoe to move forward.

Zoe mock bowed in response. "Why thank you kind sir." Zoe flew over to where Kouichi was standing before the Warrior of Darkness vacated the area to let her have the field. Immediately Tommy and JP tossed logs into the air and Zoe smirked, creating thin tornadoes from her fingertips. "Hurricane Wave!"

"So that's why you picked 'Twister' as your field hockey name!" Lia shouted in realization, causing Zoe to laugh before she dropped down to the ground and placed her hands down to start spinning.

"Tempest Twist!"

"Nice job Zoe!" Takuya complimented as the blonde destroyed the log targets. The Warrior of Fire immediately felt the looks of his friends on him, and his cheeks dusted a pink color.

"Kazemon slide evolution… Zephyrmon!" Kouichi and JP tossed another log and Zoe's paws turned red as she flew towards it, cutting through the log with her energy charged paws. "Plasma Paws!" She turned when she sensed Kouichi tossing another log and lifted her hands up. "Hurricane Gale!" Blades of pink energy ripped through the log with the force of a tornado and caused Zoe to smirk. "Looks like it's your turn Takuya!"

Takuya grinned and swapped out with Zoe, making a show of stretching out his back and muscles. "Alright, let 'em fly JP!" Takuya said enthusiastically. JP quickly complied, tossing out two logs at a time. Fire started at his fist. "Pyro Punch!" Takuya shouted as he punched forward and sent a fire dragon towards the two logs, charring them. Kouichi and Kouji tossed more and Takuya made fire appear from his gauntlets. "Pyro Darts!" He tossed the small bits of fire at the logs, causing them to be burned. Tommy tossed around four logs into the air and Takuya grinned as he was enveloped in fire. "Pyro Tornado!" He spun towards the logs before he kicked the logs out of the air, each one of them setting on fire. Takuya stopped spinning and looked around at his work and smirked. "Piece of cake! Agunimon slide evolution… BurningGreymon!"

Takuya nodded over to Kouichi, JP, and Tommy who quickly tossed logs into the air. The canons on his arms twisted around and he fired off solar heat wave laser blasts. "Pyro Barrage!" The force of the blasts shocked everyone, pushing Takuya back and completely destroying the logs and hitting the same tree that Kouji had, splitting it in half. "Whoa, that was weird!"

"What was that?" JP asked in confusion. "Why are you and Kouji having trouble with your beast spirits?"

Takuya shook his head. "I don't know. Let me try another one!"

Kouji tensed. "Wait Takuya, I don't think you should—"

"Wildfire Tsunami!"

Takuya erupted in fire, waves shooting out towards the spot where the others were standing. Lia screamed in fear as she saw the fire heading their way. Zoe grabbed Neemon and Bokomon and flew out of the way with JP following a split second behind her. Tommy leaped into the air while Kouichi jumped out of the way. Kouji stooped down and scooped Lia up before jumping into the air, just out of the way of the blast in the nick of time. The flames quickly died down and Takuya stood in the middle of the scorched earth sheepishly. He looked towards his friends who landed back onto the ground and were glaring at him. "Sorry guys my bad!"

"Your bad? You nearly killed us!" Lia shouted at Takuya, clinging onto Kouji's neck in fear.

"You humans are quite interesting."

The group all paused and turned to look at the Digimon that had spoken in order to see Liamon looking at the group with curiosity. Seated on either side of him were an injured Gabumon and Patamon, looking just as intrigued as Liamon seemed. Liamon tossed his mane as he shook his head, a throaty chuckle filling the air. "I've heard stories of humans that can turn into Digimon, but I had never seen it before. This is truly a treat."

"You've heard of us?" Tommy asked curiously.

"All Digimon have. Stories of young humans fighting to defend the Digital World have become part of our history. The stories told of your kind have been the most intriguing," Liamon commented easily.

Takuya frowned. "So there have been other humans who've come to the Digital World?"

"That is what the stories say."

Patamon tilted his head to the side, looking towards Takuya and Kouji. "Why are you two humans having trouble with your spirits?"

The two mentioned teens shared a look, both not sure why they were having difficulties. When both boys saw that they weren't going to come up with an answer, Kouji merely shrugged his shoulders—becoming vaguely aware that he was still holding onto Lia. "We used the same amount of power that we did when we were here six years ago. I'm not sure what the problem is."

"Have you humans continued your training?" Gabumon asked curiously.

JP shook his head. "No, we couldn't take our spirits with us."

"Gabumon means have you continued to maintain your physicality," Bokomon replied.

"Oh, well we've all played sports," Zoe answered with a shrug. "I don't see how that would change anything."

"You humans… these sports… did they require precision and control?" Liamon asked.

"Oh I get it. I see what they're trying to say," Kouichi spoke up with a smile. The others all turned to look at Kouichi in confusion, and the boy shrugged nonchalantly. "Tommy and I played soccer, JP played tennis and Zoe and Lia play field hockey. All of those sports require precision and control on the parts of the players. Takuya and Kouji played football which requires power and strength. Since you two have more power than you did when you were younger you have to figure out a way to adjust your levels to use your beast spirits."

Takuya pursed his lips in thought before nodding. "That makes sense."

"And you guys said that I would be the one to lose control," Lia snorted, rolling her eyes.

Kouji glared down at the girl in his hands before he placed her down on the ground and nudged her forward. "Alright if you are so confident then show us what you've got," he challenged the redhead.

Lia stuck her tongue out at Kouji and walked out into the middle of the field, swapping out with Takuya and pulling out her D-Tector. She sucked in a deep breath and pressed a button on the device only for it to do nothing. Frowning she pulled it close to her face and started poking at all the buttons, trying to get it to work. "Hey, how does this thing turn on?" Lia called out, pouting as she looked to her friends.

"Just put your hand where the grip is and your thumb on the little grove on the side! Then just squeeze the side and scan the fractal code that'll appear on your other hand," Zoe answered her friend.

Lia frowned, obviously confused, before she shrugged and just followed the advice her blonde friend had given her. She held the D-Tector the way Zoe told her and was surprised when a fractal code did start surrounding her left hand. She scanned it and fractal code wrapped around her. "EXECUTE! SPIRIT EVOULTION! Estrellamon!" The fractal code disappeared and the spirit that the others had seen on the Trailmon was in the place of the redhead. "Whoa! This is so weird!" Lia exclaimed, looking down at herself. She grabbed at the golden hair and blinked. "Hey! I'm blonde! So is this what it's like to be you Zoe?"

"I really don't think your new hair is the biggest issue right now," Kouji retorted before Zoe could answer Lia's comment. "Just test out some of your skills. It'll be second nature to you."

"Fine Captain Killjoy," Lia pouted before she focused on her task. She motioned for JP to toss a log and as soon as he did she reached her palm forward a large golden beam of light shooting out and charring the log. "Star Shooter!" Lia grinned and was about to comment on how cool that was before Kouji threw out more logs. Lia raised her hands up towards the sky and several little balls of light appeared before she directed it towards the logs. "Star Shower!" The light struck the logs and charred them, making small holes in the wood. Lia grinned and pumped her fist in the air. "Woo! I told you I can do it!"

"Try your beast spirit before you start getting too excited," Kouji retorted, crossing his arms across his chest.

Lia stuck her tongue out at him before turning to look to Zoe. "How do I go to beast spirit?"

"Hold the same button down and swiped your hand again!"

Lia pulled out her D-Tector and quickly followed her friends' advice. "Estrellamon slide evolution… Solamon!" When the fractal code disappeared, instead of the blonde Digimon dressed in gray, there stood a female Digimon with red hair—with blonde streaks going through it—decked out nearly in all red armor. Her armor looked similar to Kouji's when he was Lobomon, with the exception that hers was more streamline, entirely red with black outlines and she didn't have the scarf he did. She had black armor plated boots that ended at her shin and a black helmet that covered the top half of her face and some of her hair. Lia looked down at herself and a smile pulled at her lips. "Alright admit it, I look badass don't I?"

"Whoa that's so cool!" Tommy exclaimed excitedly from his spot by the others.

"So what can you do?" Takuya asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lia shrugged. "Don't know! Let's find out!" Kouji and Kouichi took that as their cues to start tossing logs into the air. Lia raised her hands and small marble sized red balls formed before she tossed them at the logs. "Sunspots!" As soon as the little marbles hit the logs they exploded, bursting on fire and turning the wood into ashes. The twins tossed out another few logs and Lia stuck her hands out, gathering red energy in her palms and shooting it out to destroy the logs in a burst of energy. "Solar Flare!" The two boys tossed out three more logs and Lia crossed her arms over her chest, her entire body starting to glow red like Zephyrmon's paws when she used her Plasma Paws attack. Lia shot off and kicked and punched at the logs melting right through them and slicing the in half. "Solar Radiation!"

Lia stopped her attacks and looked at the group, beaming at them. "I'm freaking awesome!"

"Nice work Lia! You got the hang of that pretty quickly!" JP complimented.

Zoe smirked. "Well I told you us girls have our secrets to being so awesome."

"I see you warriors have begun some practicing."

The group all turned towards the area that Liamon, Gabumon and Patamon and saw that Owlmon had made his way out of the building and was standing on the grass looking at the Legendary Warriors with a smile on his face. "Uh yeah…" Takuya said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. He didn't really know what to say after the meeting yesterday and he wasn't sure if Owlmon would be against their training. "You don't mind, do you?"

Owlmon shook his head. "I do not mind your training. You are all guests here and are permitted to do as you wish, within reason of course."

"Thank you so much for your hospitality," Zoe thanked, bowing and ruffling her wings slightly in the process.

"It is no trouble, I assure you."

"We plan to head out tomorrow morning," Takuya announced, looking to his friends and seeing them nod. "With our power management training going well we think we're ready to confront the Feudal Lords and we don't want to waste any more time."

Owlmon nodded. "Then we must prepare a grand meal to show you off with."

"No, you don't have to go to the trouble," Kouji cut in. "We wouldn't want to impose."

"It's no trouble! After all, we're all counting on you to save our world, so the least we can do is prepare you a proper meal," Owlmon insisted, nodding to the injured Digimon watching the discussion before turning to walk back into the healing center. "I'll go begin making the necessary arrangements."

As soon as he was gone the group sighed, releasing the breath they had all been holding in. "Well he sure is persistent isn't he?" Kouichi said as he pressed the button on his D-Tector to revert back to his human form. The others quickly followed his lead—with the exception of Lia who didn't know which button to press and needed Kouji to demonstrate—before they walked over towards where Liamon, Gabumon, and Patamon were. "So… is there anything we could help you or any other Digimon with?"

"Well the healing center is short-staffed," Gabumon suggested.

Patamon nodded eagerly. "Yeah, there's not enough healing Digimon to go around."

"And we need people to watch the younger Digimon," Liamon added on.

Takuya nodded and gave the three a large grin. "Well we're your people! Don't worry we can help out, no problem!"

"…and it's gone!"

The 'ooh's' and 'ahh's' and squeals of excitement from the young Digimon put a smile on Kouichi's face. He watched the Digimon look at JP's hand in amazement as they tried to see where he had made the quarter disappear off to while Tommy acted just as surprised as the Digimon to increase the effect of the trick. Ever since they had assured Liamon that they would help pick up the slack, Kouichi, Tommy, and JP had taken to watching the younger Digimon with JP entertaining them with magic tricks. At first they had only had a small group of Digimon, but after word of JP's magic tricks had spread all the young Digimon—and even some champion levels—had gathered around the Warrior of Lightning, entertained by his tricks.

"That's amazing JP! How'd you do that?" Tommy asked animatedly.

JP wagged his finger at the boy and grinned at the crowd. "Ah, ah, ah, a magician never reveals his secrets! Now, does anyone wanna see another trick?"

"Me! Me! Do another trick!" Nearly all the younger Digimon called out while the older ones nodded in agreement.

"Well if my assistant Kouichi could join me?" JP asked, cueing the boy into the fact that it was his turn.

"Huh?" Kouichi muttered, walking up towards JP.

JP walked up to him and frowned. "Well of course you can't hear me! What's this in your ear?" JP pretended to search in Kouichi's ear before pulling out the very quarter that he had made 'disappear' in the first place. The crowded broke into applause again and they'd begun chattering amongst themselves wondering how JP had pulled off such an amazing trick.

"You're doing great JP," Tommy whispered to the boy.

Kouichi nodded his agreement. "Yeah, you've brought in quite a crowd. It looks like they forgot about the Feudal Lords for a few minutes."

JP smiled and started preparing his next trick. "That's the goal. I just wonder how the others are doing in the healing center."

Hectic would be the only way Takuya could describe working in the healing center. There wasn't ever any time to rest or slow down and it seemed like there were new Digimon flooding in every few seconds. He'd bounce between patients, trying to bandage them up and help them until the healing Digimon would come in behind him for a more thorough treatment and he would find that no matter how fast he moved it wasn't fast enough to keep up with the influx of injured. He looked up from the bandage he was fastening around a Flymon and looked over towards Zoe who was a row behind him speaking with Bokomon regarding an injured Baromon.

Thankfully Bokomon had taken initiative and started creating a list of all the Digimon that had been herded in, where they were located and what their injuries were. It had made things a lot easier for the four teens and the other Digimon buzzing around to help. Even Neemon had started pitching in, running bandages and other supplies out from the back room to all the 'nurses' that needed them.

Zoe looked his way and gave him a look that clearly meant she knew how tired and helpless he was feeling before she directed her attention back to her patient. Takuya bid farewell to the Flymon he was helping and got up to move to the Ninjamon five mats down. As he walked towards his next patient he looked over and saw Kouji and Lia on the other side of the room. Kouji had evolved to Lobomon and was holding onto the trunk of a fidgety Elephantmon while Lia tried to apply ointment and bandages to the burn on the appendage. He wondered why Kouji had needed to evolve when he noticed the redhead had a large red mark on her cheek that looked trunk-shaped. Takuya took a second to be thankful he hadn't gotten any fidgety and angry patients before he threw himself back into the never endless cycle of work they had to do.

Takuya had no idea how long he'd been working in the healing center, but before he knew it, he felt someone's hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Zoe looking down at him with a tired smile on her face. "Hey Takuya, we get to go on a break now."

Takuya sighed and relief and finished the bandages he was working on before standing up and walking with Zoe towards the back room where they had had their meeting with Owlmon just the day before. As soon as they walked in they spotted Kouji sitting against the wall with Lia laying her head in his lap, the Warrior of Light holding an ice pack to the left side of her cheek. "What happened?" Zoe asked in confusion.

"I got bitch-slapped by an elephant."

Kouji rolled his eyes and looked at the two teens that had just entered. "Elephantmon had a burn on his trunk and when Lia tried to put ointment on it, he jerked back in pain and accidentally hit Lia's face."

"I saw the red mark earlier," Takuya commented walking over to sit across from Kouji with Zoe sitting beside Takuya, leaning against his shoulder slightly. Takuya had to fight the smile that threatened to appear on his face and instead looked to Lia and Kouji. "How's it look?" Kouji lifted the ice pack and Lia sat up to show the purple and blue splotch starting at her chin and going halfway up her cheek. "Ouch, that looks like it hurts."

"It does!" Lia complained laying back down in her spot on Kouji's lap while the boy placed the ice on her face again. She sighed suddenly and shrugged. "But I can't really blame Elephantmon; he looked like he had a pretty bad burn on his trunk." The group fell into silence for a moment before Lia frowned and looked at Takuya and Zoe. "Is this what it was like the last time? All this… pain?"

"It was bad last time," Zoe answered with a sad sigh. "But somehow this time seems worse."

Kouji nodded his head, agreeing with Zoe's observation. "If we don't take out these guys soon, who knows what will happen to the Digital World."

Takuya clenched his hand tightly. "Don't you worry guys, we'll save the Digital World, and we'll take these guys down no matter what!"