Chapter 6

Part 1- Reports

- "So they not only failed with their mission, but deliberately revealed themselves to the very people they were supposed to be spying on?" It took quite a bit to get Manuel riled up, but this, this was more than enough. "With allies like this, it's no wonder we are where we are today. At least they seem to be united again now, according to Salamon, anyway."

- "I had literal minutes to find someone to help me before I lost track of one of the groups, I did what I could." Patamon thought a bit before adding. "I don't think Salamon could have done much better, had it been her watch."

- "No, I guess she couldn't." Manuel sighed. "Why did it end up like this? After all that's happened, I get one chance to make up for everything I've done, and what do I do? I somehow manage to miss with a spell that's supposed to find its target on its own."

- "Manuel, don't be so hard on yourself, if it wasn't for you there wouldn't be a fighting chance at all."

- "A fighting chance? Hah. There isn't one anyways. I do one final push to fix it all when it's almost shot to hell, and I somehow manage to make things even worse by dragging in a bunch of unrelated nobodies and sending them off to a battle where they have no chance of winning and…" Manuel took a deep breath, but somehow managed to lose the air almost immediately.

- "What?" Patamon cast a troubled look at Manuel, and followed his caretaker's gaze to the table. "Oh no."

- "Yeah, the crest of Light is gone."

- "It's not just that." Patamon sniffed. "I smell bat."

- "As in a newly digivolved DemiDevimon out for trouble, I hope." However, Manuel didn't sound very hopeful.

- "No, as in Him." Patamon looked as grim as a winged hamster could look, which in his case was quite a lot.

- "Great, and here I thought that that was the one problem I had managed to get rid of. Guess I deserve that for believing that anything ever gets better where I'm involved."

Part 2- Square Town

In retrospect, Thomas realized that he shouldn't have left his drink unchecked during his lunch. His dreams had gone from random and weird, to downright psychedelic. The talking animals were understandable, they were probably just something he had caught up during some kid's show, and the random road signs were his mind's way of telling him to stop wandering around in circles and face his life head-on. However, he couldn't quite figure out the metaphorical meaning of a small town made out of cushions, apparently populated by giant Easter eggs. The reason had to be some kind of mind-altering substance.

- "So, any particular reason why Paula hates you, Thomas?" Michael asked while Matilda went ahead.

- "Sophie's fault." Thomas answered spitefully.

- "She again? What's she done this time?"

- "Tried to set me up. Here I was, talking to Paula about something completely unimportant and she has the nerve to, to…"

- "I think I understand. You've got it hard." Michael sat down on a cushion. "I say you keep trying."

- "What? No way, Sophie's pure evil, there's no point in talking to her."

- "No, with Paula. You know what I mean."

- "You're a very annoying person sometimes, Michael, you know that, right?"

Michael merely smiled.

- "I'm just trying to help."

- "Brother, there are other things here." Matilda said. "Chicks, from the looks of it."

- "Wait, there are girls here as well?" Thomas looked up at the girl where she sat, perched on a particularly large stack of cushions.

- "No, babies. Except they're non-human." Matilda corrected him.

Michael and Thomas climbed onto the stack as well, and, just as Matilda had said, there they were. Dozens of small rock cradles, each with something tiny, but distinctly inhuman, silently sleeping in it.

- "What are they?" Thomas asked Michael.

- "Maybe we should take one home, I'm sure the girls would like them." Michael joked.

Suddenly, Matilda tensed.

- "Duck!" She shouted, and threw herself and the others off the cushion-stack. Moments later, a lightning bolt grazed the place where the three had been standing.

- "You keep your hands to yourselves, dirty thieves." A small, rodent-like creature, not unlike a red and blue meerkat, had somehow gotten up behind them, and was now standing dangerously close to Thomas's face.

- "Would you believe me if I said he was joking?" Thomas said.

- "Can not be too careful. This is the Primary Village, and I cannot risk anyone harming it."

- "Wait, the Primary what?" Thomas blurted out before he remembered that the hallucinations probably wouldn't bother making sense.

- "You do not know about the Primary Village? How can you not remember the birthing place of all Digimon? Are you fish?"

- "The name's Thomas, thank you for asking, and I am definitively not a fish."

- "Ok Thomasmon, just one question, why were you here, if not to steal all of my babies?"

- "We're just lost. And it's just Thomas. No 'mon' or anything."

- "Ookay? I you are not fish and your names do not end with 'mon', then what are you? Biblios? No, they are eradicated. Humans? You are humans, right?" He laughed, as if he had just told a spectacular joke.

- "The second one."

- "Good one, good one. If I did not still think you were thieves, I would consider inviting you to supper. No, seriously, what are you?"

- "Yes, we are humans." Michael said. "A person who calls himself Manuel summoned us here. And while I'm at it, Manuel seems very much human."

- "Oh. Oh god." The rodent seemed to have lost his breath. Eventually, he found it. "I mean, he's been talking about it ever since he came here, but I never thought he'd go through with that stupid plan."

- "Ok, now, what plan?" Thomas said.

- "I don't know, I mean, I've heard a bit about how he got this magic scroll or something from his old place, and now he's trying to perform some incredibly special super-spell to summon a bunch of Humans from the Human World, but I never put much stock in it. Crazy, that's what that man is."

- "Ok, can you…" Thomas began to say something, but Matilda stopped him.

- "Are we still a threat?"

- "Well, I guess not. Not now. I mean, if a bunch of Humans came and tried to take a Digi-egg from here, I bet he'd actually be sad if I stopped them."

- "Good." Michael said. "Now that we've lowered our proverbial swords, I'd like to introduce myself. Michael Dale." Michael kneeled down and extended his hand.

- "My name is Elecmon, Michaeldale." Elecmon said and shook it.

- "Just Michael, thank you." Michael laughed.

- "And I'm Matilda Dale." Matilda said and shook Elecmon's paw.

- "Elecmon."

- "I already told you my name, but we might as well make it formal. Thomas Anderson." They shook.

- "Elecmon. Now, what would you all think about a nice fish."

- "Is there anything more?" Thomas asked.

- "Well, there is more fish. And then you can relax and help me with the babies. Except if you help with the babies there won't be any relaxing."

- "Sounds like a good idea." Michael said. "Except we'll have to go after we've eaten. No insult to your hospitality, but we came here with some other humans, and we split up. Thomas especially needs to meet them again."

- "What? I never said any such thing."

- "No." Michael replied calmly. "But you were thinking, weren't you?"

- "No, I wasn't."

- "Do you have any idea what they are talking about?" Elecmon asked Matilda.

- "Probably a girl."

- "Oh, yeah. Always been wondering about that. What's the point, really?"

- "Among humans, it's a form of procreation."

- "That sounds weird. How's that working out for you?"

- "We prefer not to mention the specifics."

- "Oh. Yeah, we don't really like to talk about our life cycles, either. So, how about you help me go get the fish?"

- "Maybe. But Michael said that we should go looking for the others, and when he says something, he always has a good reason."

- "Yeah, except if you stay with me, I can help you with the searching. I know some guys on the island, and they know some other guys too. Because, let me tell you, this area is very hard to find your way on, and people who walk through it usually end up on strange tracks. If you do not get help from me, you will never find them."

Of course, saying such a thing is known as tempting fate, and is a very dangerous business. If done without caution, the universe itself conspires to prove you wrong. Like what happened in this case. Elecmon had barely finished the sentence when Sophie, Paula, and Robin came rushing out of the forest, hunted by the confused pair of Sukamon and Chuumon.

- "Then again, I could be wrong." Elecmon added.

Part 3- Birthright

There was a rustle among the unhatched Digi-eggs.

- "They're here. They're here. They're here." Said a small voice that continued to repeat itself for a while.

- "I believe that they will choose me." Followed the next one, a voice full of pride.

- "Are you stupid?! My shell is much shinier." Snapped a third one.

- "But mine has the nicest patterns." Said a vain voice.

- "I am by far the strongest one of us. Oh yes, they will choose me." The fifth voice was a cold, calculating one.

- "Uh, guys. How can you know all that?" Said a somewhat goofy sixth voice. "We're inside of our shells, so we can't see what we look like, and how are they supposed to know our power levels? Besides, they might choose all of us."

- "Shut up!" Said voices one through five in unison.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Neither do I own any Digimon except for those that are created by me. They are owned by their respective owners. I do however own any and all characters I have created on my own and they may not be used by anyone else except those who want to (though it would be kind to ask first).