Band practise had just finished in R.I.P.E (Revelation Institute for Performing Education) and out walked Thomas. He stowed his tenor pan sticks in the messenger bag hanging off of his shoulder and was off. He had distracted himself from thinking about his strange dream on Friday night by doing anything to keep his body moving, he even offered to do his brother's chores for free; however he was so accustom to the walk from his practise to home that he sometimes got lost in his thoughts. As Fanglongmon had told them they apparently had the power to reload their partners but neither tried, for fear of looking like an idiot. He did ask his friend about it and she admitted that she indeed had a dream with those events, both of them even going over the dream and finding no differences in events or descriptions.

"Emily just sent you a message, it says that she accepted one of the new raid boss quests and wants your help to do it," Bearmon told him this through the headphones. His voice almost drowned out by the song he had been playing in class.

"Tell her I said ok," Thomas replied, thankful for the distraction. "Oh and tell Red Jet, hopefully he can keep her from going in on her own." From there on he started aiming his thoughts towards the game and why they had released an unadvertised update. His father refused to answer claiming that he had nothing to do with it.

My hearts racing trying to catch up with you,

The light that you let of is gold...

I can't shake the this feeling it fills the room,

These chills didn't come from the cold.

They came from you.

They came from you.

Thomas realized he was home when he felt the air-conditioner cool his face and hands. The red headphones were removed from his ears and put back on their usual place around his neck. The song then stopped.

Cream walls surrounded him as he passed a red cushioned couch with wooden frame in the centre of the room. Sitting on the piece of furniture was his brother Samuel watching their flat screen television while wearing red shorts and a life jacket covering his white t-shirt; 9 years old, loud and never backing away from an argument made him any parent's worst nightmare with a television being to only thing to keep him in check. "Did he bring anyone today?" Thomas asked. He received a nod in return, "I'm pretty sure that they went to his bedroom this time." The teen thanked his little brother before quickly making his way upstairs, hoping to avoid their father and whoever his 'mate' was.

He got to his room and changed into more comfortable clothing; black sweat pants and an orange shirt with 'Camp Half Blood' circling a Pegasus emblazed on the front. By doing this however he revealed multiple scars on the bottom of his left wrist. He placed his D-phone onto the dock to charge while he went back downstairs to check on Samuel and get a glass of sprite. The child was good for another 3 hours at most and Thomas was just about to take a sip from his glass when a woman who looked like she belonged on a magazine cover walked into the kitchen wearing his father's white robe. Her skin was the color of hazel nut and silky smooth, hair seeming to be made from drops of honey flowing to her shoulder blades and her face looked like it was crafted specifically to attract men.

He opened their large black fridge and handed her a bottle of water before telling her "If you go into the living room please leave the child alone."

"I just want to ask the name of my boyfriend's first son," she said with a smirk.

Thomas however wasn't amused and his face didn't change from its unemotional state, "I would tell you but we probably won't see each other again in a week so there's no point." He said with a sigh. "Oh and he isn't your boyfriend, you're just another notch in his bedpost." With that he left the woman and went back to his room.

0000

Thomas sat down at his computer desk located on the right of his door. As soon as Bearmon saw the look on his tamer's face he asked what was wrong, his tone resembling that of a parent interrogating their child how they got bruises on their face at school. "My dad has a 'guest' over…" He explained and the cub nodded in understanding. Thomas' eyes drifted slightly to the left and landed on a picture frame right next to his D-phone. The picture inside was of an elderly woman wearing the same locket he had around his neck, smiling widely and holding a shoebox wrapped in Christmas paper. "You there bud?" he heard. Thomas hadn't even realized he was rubbing his locket until he heard his partner speak. "Sorry for spacing out like that. Lets check on our guild mates shall we?" Bearmon nodded with a fake smile.

0000

The base of Neo-Neverfail (someone already created the Neverfail guild) was the same office room where all of them met as a group the first time, seated across from each other were Dream, Red and their respective partners by their side. When Soul appeared in front of them his two other guild members both had an expression of extreme relief however each for different reasons.

"You never make a hero babysit and then keep her waiting."

"Like I told you before 'Dreamer'," Red said irritated, "he told me you would try the raid on your own, and even I'm not stupid enough to do that." Electricity shot from the younger tamer's eyes to Dream's; a sight Soul had grown accustom to in the few days that they spent together.

"Kotemon would you possibly hit the kid's head with a burning-"

When Soul cut her off and asked for information about the raid she had chosen, Dream pulled out her D-phone and showed him a poster meant to encourage people to partake in it.

The poster showed the silhouette of something humanoid holding a blade in a reverse grip. Above it captioned 'Mysterious murders all over File Island. Can you stop them?'

"How could I resist?" she asked him, smirking.

This was one of the few raid quests that Soul had little information on. None of the guilds he knew with people he could get along with had any members that took the quest, most of them saying something along the lines of 'too high a level for that reward.' All he really knew was that the entrance to the dungeon was a specific building in the metropolis section of the virtual island. File Island was separated into 6 sections; each with different characteristics. Western Area was is located in the western side of the desert section (no duh) where it is perpetually cold and dark mirroring night, however the blue orb players saw in the sky was said to be a 'cold sun' according to the description on their website.

"Umm," Red started, "aren't raids supposed to be this huge thing that takes a real full guild to do anyway?"

Dream burst out laughing, Bearmon smiled slightly, Kotemon gave the newer player an apologetic look and Soul shot the girl a disapproving glance, despite his want to grin.

"Things work a little differently here," Soul told him, "in this game raid bosses are just slightly more powerful so if you took on a low level one then you would have the same chance as something 10 levels higher. Knowing the final Dreamer as I do-" he smiled slyly and glanced over to the girl seeing an expression that looked as if it could (and would) murder him in cold blood, "-I knew that she would have taken a quest that's a few levels higher than her."

Red Jet nodded in understanding. The boy then dug in his pockets and pulled out five cards, going over them. Dream stood up and started towards the door saying, "The only one I really wanted help from is here, so let's go." Everyone nodded in agreement and passed through the door.

Once outside Starmon's inn the three pairs turned left and the more knowledgeable players led the less experienced to a train car being sheltered by a large tarp held up with four rods. When Red glanced at the wheels he noticed that after a certain point the tracks had nothing to support them and were suspended in midair.

After stepping up to the train car Dream touched the tip of her D-phone to the door and scrolled down a list of locations. When she found the right one the door swung open and the group stepped inside. They were greeted by a much better interior than one would have guessed based on the look of the 'station'. The floor was covered by a white carpet. With the walls and roof reflecting the color. Six rows of two seat benches protruded from the same walls that housed the doors with three on each side, the material the benches were made of appeared to be the same as a plane seat. Dream and Soul decided to sit in the back of the car while their partners sat in the seat beside them.

Agumon and Red gladly sat together in the front. They looked out the small window situated in the wall right next to them and noted the loading screen that it housed.

"How was your talk with Chris?" Soul asked. He could see the embarrassment creeping into her avatar's features. She placed her head in her hands effectively covering her face. "It started well and then the bell rang." Soul winced, familiar with the wish to have more time. "How did you know about it anyway?"

The boy motioned towards the two sitting next to them chatting up a storm. "Check your conversations." He said, "Apparently Kotemon can talk up a storm if you get him in the mood." Dream looked at her partner dumbfounded before slipping her phone out of her pocket. As she was about to look for evidence of her partner's little talks with Bearmon everyone heard a chime followed by a voice that would not sound out of place in a commercial plane. "City of steel has finished buffering. Please exit car." Dream smirked, ready for the battle that she signed herself up for.

Before stepping out of the virtual vehicle Soul Scythe pulled his shades over his eyes while Dream scrolled down her items list until finding the desired item. She selected it and a pair of shades appeared over her eyes, hiding their violet color.

As the train doors opened the first thing Agumon noticed was metal. It was a metropolitan state fashion from the material. Streets were steeled in iron, towering skyscrapers refined in chrome which reflected the golden rays of sunshine on their surfaces causing Red and Bearmon as well as himself to shield their faces.

It was only after allowing his reptilian eyes to adjust to the constant glare that Agumon saw the riders. Avatars perched atop the backs of digimon varying in both species and level- most were quadrupeds within the range of champion to mega- traveling down the streets. While some moved at a speed to rival a motorcycle others seemed to take a more scenic approach, ogling the metal apartment complexes, homes or shopping centers with various names attached above the entrances with strips of- you guessed it- metal.

The group moved deeper in the city and they even passed through a park and despite the trees being forged luckily the grass wasn't. "Just be glad the food doesn't have pieces of metal in it," Bearmon whispered.

0000

As the other two double checked their modify cards Dream was on her D-phone, going over something before looking up at the office like building and nodding. "This is it." Suddenly she sprinted to the door shouting something along the lines of, "LEEROY JENKINS!"

Kotemon ran along with her. Agumon stared slack jawed, Red had a giant drop of sweat behind his head, Bearmon was snickering and Soul let out a loud sigh. "And that is why I'm always here." The pink haired teen said slightly annoyed before him and Red followed her inside, only to find Kotemon fighting off a group of Guardromon. The red machines surrounded him and launched a volley of whistle blowing mini-missiles at the lizard who somehow managed to evade the strike without so much as a dent on his armor. The two or three missiles that didn't just go spiraling outside of the circle even managed to delete some Guardromon sending their data flowing into Kotemon.

While Agumon ran to fight alongside his teammate Bearmon stayed beside his partner. Both knowing that the two reptiles could handle Guardromon easily.

"Pepper Breath!"

"Fire Men!"

As Kotemon ran his burning shinai through the unfortunate Guardromon standing in front of him Agumon's fireball burst through the two others with the both of them absorbing the particles that flew their way. While he was slightly surprised that it took them almost 10 minutes he reasoned that it was probably due to the terrible relationship of their tamers.

Soul called the other two over and they made their way past scattered office desks to an elevator. Once inside Dream put pressure on the B10 button and leaned back against the steel wall as it lit up. As the small box descended to their destination, Red went over his 5 cards again, this time pairing up two of them and showing the combination to his partner who nodded in approval. Soul scrolled through a list of songs before selecting two in succession and setting the device back into his pocket, Bearmon raised an eyebrow at this and he only mouthed the words "you'll see," in response.

"Stay out of my way, kid." Dream said before turning to her friend, "Have any strategy for our resident hero?"

"I would need to know exactly what the boss is. Just keep Kotemon ok until I think of something." Dream smiled cockily just as the door opened to reveal a cavern which miraculously wasn't made of steel. It looked natural and about the size of a football stadium, with holes randomly placed in different spots on the walls and rhinoceroses roaming in golden armor with red and silver decorations.

Name: Rhinomon

Level: Armor

Type: Vaccine

Attacks: Ain Soph Aur, Split Blade

Even though this is a form Patamon obtains by using the Digi-egg of miracles, its power is roughly that of a champion. It can attack a long range target using balls of fire with 'Ain Soph Aur' and is able to pierce their opponent by using "Split Blade."

"This is just the boss's cannon fodder." Bearmon stated.

"Well Red, we lead them away so our local 'hero' can get a good clean boss fight and none of us end up regretting this. Ready?" Soul finished. Red Jet nodded and the four of them stepped out of the elevator, alerting the Rhinomon to their presence.

They ran along the wall with the armored rhinos following closely. After making sure that outside was clear Dream walked out the small space. She used the map function of her D-phone to guide her and Kotemon in the direction of the boss. As they made their way through the cave it both surprised and relieved Dream that there didn't seem to be any Rhinomon in path she took. When the small tunnel finally ended she found herself in a small arena. Sitting in the middle was a humanoid digimon wearing navy seal like armor. Both his eyes seemed to be covered by some kind of high tech goggles with the left eye blue and the right red.

Name: Sealsdramon

Level: Champion (raid boss)

Type: Virus

Attacks: Death Behind, Scouter Monoeye

A Cyborg digimon whose name and design are based off of Navy Seals dramon. It is incredibly flexible and uses it speed to stab their opponent in the back with 'Death Behind'. By using 'Scouter Monoeye' it is able to identify the weakness of any digimon in 2-3 seconds. It is Rumored that 1 in 100 Commandramon without partners are able to digivolve into Sealsdramon.

Dream sent a screenshot of her scan to Soul. About 10 seconds later a reply popped up. "Most of his lore talks about him like an assassin. He has a weak defense so as long as you can actually hit his body and not some kind of defense you should be good. Keep Musyamon moving and don't blink. Please start watching doctor who so you get my reverences XD." Her hand glowed blue and the light flowed into her D-phone causing its screen to explode in the same color. Kotemon was enveloped in an egg of light and Dream looked at her screen when the light had dimmed. She really appreciated that the developers actually went through the trouble of adding a tamers style animation whenever their partners digivolved. "Kotemon digivolve too…" His kendo armor was ripped off (painfully) revealing a black being in the shape of a human; it began to grow before new armor attached itself to his body. "Musyamon!" Kotemon's new form burst out of his energy egg. It looked to be a traditional samurai in orange armor with large purple feathers on his back and a katana at his left side. "So Musyamon, are you ready?" he nodded before replying. "Yes Lady Dian." Dream raised her eyebrow.

Ever since the first time Kotemon had gotten to the champion level that was what he called her. The thing that she found most interesting was that while a rookie he still called her by her first name. As long as people he was comfortable with. (Don't know what you meant with the sentence prior but it doesn't seem right. It seems like something is missing.)

The two went around the corner and came face to face with their target who immediately stood and assumed a position that resembled a karate master about to strike. Musyamon grabbed his Scabbard with his left hand and gently pushed on the seppa to revealing a gleaming blade. Then with his right hand he grabbed the leather covered hilt and stood ready to attack. The NPC ran at them with his hands simply trailing behind him and suddenly a section of the armour covering the side of its thigh opened shot out a small object. Sealsdramon caught it rather quickly. The samurai digimon now had his blade in front of him ready to block any attack that he could. In the blink of an eye two blades clashed and Dream saw that a Rambo hunting knife was the opponent's weapon. Musyamon was about to push his blade forward when their opponent back flipped out of range. He didn't stay there for more than a few seconds however and Dream recalled the advice her friend had given her.

"Don't stay still!" she shouted. Her partner nodded and sprinted after their target in a crouched manner. He took his blade and positioned the tip next to the side of his head.

"Shogun Sword!" he shouted, thrusting the blade forward just as a flame started to cover it. The flame launched itself in the direction he was facing which led it to Sealsdramon. On its way it quickly took the shape of a Chinese dragon, and sped up somehow growing in size the farther it went. The blazing beast engulfed him however Sealsdramon simply swiped his arms as if swatting a fly and it was put out. He again stood ready but this time already holding his weapon. Musyamon slashed at his foe in a horizontal manner and the 'assassin' blocked it with ease. Instead of distancing himself this time Sealsdramon assaulted the samurai with a knee to the stomach and as soon and he had bent over in pain the NPC tried bringing his elbow down on the back of Musyamon's head. The samurai had just barely dodged it by shifting his body weight to the side and crawling away.

As she saw her partner greatly outmatched Dream thought it time to give some to give more than verbal help. "Digi-Modify! Aero Wing Activate!" red dragon wings shot out of her partner's back (replacing his feathers that were only for decoration) and he launched himself away somehow not getting stricken again.

"Scouter Monoeye!" Sealsdramon's red eye began to glow as he calculated the weak point of his flying foe. He was poised and ready to throw his knife at the small tears in Musyamon's new wings when he noticed something. Dream saw the way he was positioned and took out 3 cards, timing herself so that her move wouldn't be anticipated. It all happened in a few seconds. The blade went flying. "Digi-Modify! Hyper chip Activate!" Musyamon's speed picked up and it sailed past him. The problem was that he was no longer the target; the knife hit the roof of their battlefield and rocks half the size of Dream started raining. Sealsdramon had found a weak spot in the top of his cave and was already a safe enough distance that the resulting rubble from that small area wouldn't land close enough to hurt him. And Musyamon turned just in time to see it all coming at once.

"Shogun Sword!"

The samurai's sword had lit on fire again only this time instead of using it in a thrust he held it straight forward while facing the falling debris. The burning Dragon actually travelled in a spiral towards the ceiling with enough force to shift the rubble from its original course. With that he returned his attention back to the one he was supposed to be fighting. The only problem with that was the fact that he had again moved from his position only this time Musyamon had no idea where he was. Dream on the other hand kept a close eye on him and whispered his location into her D-phone relaying it directly to her partner. His wings vanished and he landed. Soon he was turning in multiple directions pretending to look for his opponent.

"Death, behind!" His whisper too silent to be heard and yet Musyamon was still able to intercept the attack. He swung his blade while turning, sparks flew from the connection of blade to blade and Sealsdramon was put into a series of backflips before his feet touched the ground. He slipped back with his legs spread and the hand not holding a weapon was pushed against the floor in an attempt to stop. "Double Modify! Victory Sword, Goliath Activate!" It was all or nothing. A huge sword appeared in Musyamon's free hand but this one wasn't traditional at all and looked like the kind of oversized sword a shonen protagonist would have. In fact it slightly reminded her of the sword used by Lily in Fairy Tail.

This was something that she and Kotemon had discussed after she had reached a certain point in 'Sword Art Online' and it was the only thing she could think of using to actually winning the fight. It might not have been going on for very long but every strike that Sealsdramon landed took out a decent amount of Musyamon's health and even a few more would lead to her being forced back to the village of beginnings with an in-training level digimon.

"Nitoryu Ninja Blade: Starburst Stream!" Musyamon brought his two blades to form an "X" shape in front of him and the katana lit itself with a blue flame from its seppa. As soon as the fire had reached the intersection of the swords it spread and completely engulfed the metal of the oversized weapon stopping at its "V" shaped hilt. Sealsdramon was running he same way he did at the begging of the battle towards the samurai and as soon as he got in range he was assaulted by a flurry of strikes too quick for him to keep up with what was happening.

Every single slash had left a trail in the air for a few seconds which resulted in at least 3 trails at a time and never was there a time in the 10 seconds that this lasted when those trails stopped. Eventually the Raid Boss just stopped moving and burst into particles that were absorbed by the tired samurai. As soon as that was done a blue orb enveloped the champion as he returned to his default level.

As her partner devolved back to his Rookie form Dream actually took in what they had just done, they actually bested a Raid boss on their first try! And alone on top of that! Sure Kotemon was heaving on the floor, literally out of Stamina and health which meant anything that could damage him would lead to him becoming an in-training level or lower but… They actually did it! And they actually pulled off Kirito's technique-despite it not being 100% the same-something that Dream was a large fan off.

That was when Soul Scythe and Red Jet decided walk in. "I can't believe I'm saying this but good job Dream." Red told her, his tone almost implying 'you did well I guess. I could probably do better though'. "What took you so long?" she asked, "I mean I handled it like a real digidestined but we could have used some back up from Grizzlymon."

"A barrier is automatically made when a player battles an NPC to prevent kill stealing and only comes down if you try to run or one of you is defeated." Soul told her. How could she forget that? It was one of the things that she was all for when she first started playing. "Red thanks for the help back there," Soul said, "Could you do me a favour and find something to do?"

The youngest of the group nodded. He pulled out his D-phone and before anyone could say a thing 2 green rings appeared above and below the orange lizard digimon and his partner. The rings crashed into each other at his mid section and Agumon and Red Jet were no longer there. The same happened to Dream. Soul just looked at his partner and the two logged out. He still had to do his homework and was supposed to play golf on Wednesday. It was going to be a busy week.

0000

Author's note: I am so sorry this took so long. Exams, performances and just lack of creative inspiration just ended up taking its toll on this chapter's progress. This is probably going to be the last time I'll take 2 chapters with each group until the end of the introductory ark. If you enjoyed the chapter please review. Even if you didn't, it's always helpful to get constructive criticism.