Digital

Chapter 15

A New World

Chapter edited on: 8/3/11

Thanks to everybody who reviewed the last chapter.

Previously in Digital:

"To recap. Your first priority is to keep an eye out for Harry and Hermione and to capture them if possible. Your second priority is to make friendly contact with the creature or its kind. Under no circumstances should any of you engage it in combat. Try to find out as much as you can about these creatures: where they come from, how many there are, what their goals are, anything like that. Try to become friends with them if possible.

That is all, any questions?"

Nobody answered.

"Very well then, I am going to team up with the minister to look for them, perhaps I can find out something useful with this new project of his. You have your orders. Good luck. Meeting adjourned."

And now the continuation:

Digital World: Somewhere on the lowest digital plain.

It didn't take long for Harry to wake up. Only three to four seconds if one were to have timed it correctly.

One second he was standing in his 'mind room' listening to EGO, the next everything went completely dark, before he was suddenly bombarded from all sides by a very bright white light; bright sunlight to be exact, overwhelming amounts of bright sunlight, in its purest form, which seemed to come at him from all directions at once.

"Ouch!" he cried out.

Quickly closing and covering his eyes he tried to shield them from the sudden onslaught of bright light, only managing to partially shield them in time to spare him from the worst of the sudden shock and sharp pain. Luckily the ordeal only lasted for several seconds.

Slowly, waiting patiently for his eyes to adapt, he opened them again. Finally, after several seconds, Harry took his first look around what he knew would be his first glimpse of the digital world.

"Well, that's…nice!" he said out loud, obviously not impressed by what he was seeing, the tone of his voice contributing his feelings quite nicely.

Sand! All around him, as far as the eye could see, nothing but perfect white sand. Dunes upon dunes of perfect white sand marred in its perfection only by several lone cacti or other desert like trees, some small; only just reaching up to his knees, others huge; towering above him like majestic statues of old.

'Welcome… to the Desert!' EGO said from within his mind.

"You don't say!" Harry said sarcastically.

'What? You don't like it?' asked EGO, it was more a statement than a question.

'It's a roasting hot desert! What's to like?' Harry responded sarcastically, this time in his mind. 'Of course I don't like it, it's hot, it's dry, my eyes hurt, I have a headache… and... worst of all, I have no water with me,' Harry finished realizing with dismay, realising that that was indeed the case.

EGO laughed, clearly not sympathetic to his host's sudden plight, not in the least, something that annoyed Harry greatly.

'Oh you're not going to find any water anywhere around here Harry,' EGO said merrily, enjoying his hosts dilemma.

'What? How am I supposed to survive without water?' Harry asked horrified. Judging by the heat he would only have an hour, perhaps two tops to survive without it. 'Surely you realise that…'

'Harry,' EGO said interrupting him, 'you're a digimon, your completely digital, and while Hermione is here, she too is digital. Everything becomes digital by default once it enters the digital world. We are literally data in a computer program! You don't need water, you don't need food, you don't even need rest…unless your hurt that is, and even then it's called regeneration, not rest… in fact, come to think of it, you don't need much of anything anymore,' EGO said, grinning mentally.

Harry groaned.

'As for the landscape…well you'll get used to it, and if not today, then perhaps tomorrow, or the day after,' EGO said laughing. Harry mentally rolled his eyes but nevertheless let a small smile creep over his face. Perhaps it wouldn't be too bad here after all, he thought.

'Anyway…let's get down to business. One word: Hermione! The digital world is not a safe place for a tamer without their digimon. We are supposed to be protecting her!' EGO said, becoming serious again.

Hearing this Harry immediately sobered up and nodded. 'Your right, we should be,' he said. Any idea where to look? What can you tell me about this place? He asked looking around again. There was no sign of the tamer anywhere.

'This, Harry, as you have probably already guessed, is the desert plain. There are other plains too of course, like the ice plain, the jungle plain or the forest plain. If you really want some water then there is always the ocean plain too. Though its all fake,' EGO said going into teacher mode.

'Each plain has its own types of digimon. The Desert plain for instance is one of the lowest plains in the digital world; it is usually where the weak In-training and Rookie type digimon stay, which is good for us as we wouldn't survive long against anything higher on the digital food chain at present. There might be a few Champions and Ultimates around here somewhere, sure, but they tend to prefer to stay away from us weaker digimon, so don't be too afraid, the chances of meeting an unfriendly one are quite rare. However, having said that you should of course stay alert at all times.'

'Other plains like the Ice plain and the Jungle plain have other types of digimon, usually Champion and Ultimate type digimon with a few Rookie stragglers who wish to become stronger faster, at a greater risk, though there aren't many of those for obvious reasons. As a simple rule the higher up the plain the more powerful the digimon that exist there.'

'Finally, at the very top plain the most powerful digimon preside, Ultimate type Digimon like the Deva's: the personal assassins of the Sovereigns. Mega type digimon like the Olympus Twelve: who are also the royal bodyguards of the Digital King, the royal knights, or the Sovereigns themselves, which I have already told you about. Don't worry, luckily, the higher digimon don't usually travel to the lower plains but they have been known to do so from time to time. Besides, the higher digimon don't usually care about fighting and absorbing data from weaker digimon unless they are annoyed by them. That's another thing to keep in mind: Only digimon of higher or equal level can raise your own strength level. Fighting weaker digimon, unless it's in huge numbers, is actually a waste of time.'

'Then there is also supposed to be another hidden plain somewhere, but besides the Mother herself, only the digital king the digital mother's proxy and perhaps a sovereign or two are supposed to know where it is. (though some lower digimon might have traveled to it by mistake at times) It's supposed to be the plain where the Digital Mother supposedly resides.'

Harry who had until that point been listening to what EGO was telling him, was suddenly distracted by a sudden overpowering feeling of urgency and immense fear and dread. It seemed to come from somewhere near by but he couldn't place it.

'What was that…did you feel that?' he asked.

'Yes, I did…it's Hermione. As her digimon you are connected to her and can feel when she is in danger. The closer you are emotionally to your tamer, the better you get as sensing their emotions at a further distance. You love her so you should be able to sense her from a fair distance. Others, who are not as close to their partners would not be able to do that until they grow closer to each others. She seems to be in danger! Let's use your 'closeness' to our advantage. Quickly! Do what I say. Try to clear your mind,' EGO quickly said.

'What?' asked Harry surprised.

'No time for questions, try to clear your mind,' EGO said.

'How,' asked Harry, becoming anxious. He didn't have a clue what to do.

'First of all stay calm…there is no need to panic, now trust in your instincts; it should happen automatically, just try to clear your mind. Open yourself up to your natural senses,' EGO explained calmly.

Harry shrugged. Doing his best to ignore his increasing worry, he tried to clear his mind.

'Good! Now… try to find her in your mind, listen to what your senses tell you. Search for her presence, feel her presence… try to home in to what you can sense…it should tell you the way to go to find her,' EGO continued calmly.

'How?' Harry asked again.

'Just trust in yourself, it will work, trust me,' EGO replied.

Not having a clue in what he was doing, but trusting in what EGO was saying, Harry first tried to clear his thoughts, then tried to sense Hermione in his mind.

At first there was nothing, just feelings of urgency and panic, just what you would expect from a worried mind. But then he suddenly felt a pull coming from somewhere to his left.

'Good, you have it, see, it was easy. Now! Follow the pull. Notice a white line in your mind. Try to follow It,' EGO's voice in his mind said.

Nodding mentally Harry did so.

Suddenly Harry saw a picture, or rather a hazy vision of a very afraid looking Hermione as a vision in his mind.

'Good, now, try to expand the picture,' EGO continued. 'Try to visualize what is around her. Let your senses guide you to her.' he added calmly. Harry did so.

Suddenly the vision seemed to grow and Harry could see Hermione climbing up a tree. She seemed to be doing her best to get away from a creature below her on the ground, a creature that seemed to be staring right at her.

'A Kyaromon,' EGO said with a sigh of relief. 'Ah that's nothing. I thought it would be something dangerous, like a Rookie, or maybe higher. That's only an in-training digimon,' EGO said with a half smile.

'Just like me,' said Harry, absently.

Suddenly the digimon seemed to swing its tail at the tree making the whole tree shake fiercely, almost knocking Hermione of her branch. Looking at Hermione's face Harry noticed that she seemed to be screaming.

'On the other hand, perhaps it would be better if we hurried after all,' EGO said frowning mentally, making a mental note to work on her own ability to defend herself soon. Her inability to defend herself and above all, her tendency to scream at the smallest sign of danger was beginning to get ridiculous.

Harry blinked. "Did that tree just wobble?" he asked aloud, incredulously. 'How could something that small have so much power?' he wondered.

'It may be small, but be careful, its tail sure packs a nasty punch,' EGO answered. 'Quickly, let's help her. Follow the direction of the pull you felt earlier. It will bring us to her,' EGO said quickly.

Harry nodded and quickly began to follow the pull. Quietly, he cursed his current smaller size. Harry was used to the higher speeds of his 'Rookie' form 'Kitmon'. His current 'in-training' form couldn't move any where near as fast.

Speaking of which, he didn't even know his current name yet. 'Any idea what I am currently called?' he asked.

'No, I don't, but Hermione's digivice should be able to tell us, let's ask her later,' said EGO.

A few minutes later, Harry could hear a scream coming from somewhere in front of him.

"Get away from me, NO!, please, leave me alone! Nice bunny, Stay away, HELP!" Harry heard Hermione scream.

Harry forced himself not to roll his eyes. Running around another dune, Harry saw Hermione cowering, high up in a large prickly cactus. Below her, Kyaromon, which Harry now knew the digimon was called, was looking up at her, like a common dog would do when looking up eagerly at a cat, just waiting for her to fall.

If the situation hadn't been so serious, Harry might have laughed. Kyaromon looked similar to an overly large, 30cm high, white furred, brown-tipped eared rabbit, with a long racoon type tail added on for extra beauty. Not dangerous at all…right?

'Wrong! Never underestimate a digimon Harry, no matter how sweet, weak, cuddly or friendly it may seem. Truth is; they are all highly dangerous and sneaky instead' said EGO, who was reading his thoughts. 'It might be the last thing you ever do,' he added quietly.

'And believe me when I say; that one is not friendly at all. Watch out for its tail! It has been known to be able to even harm Rookie type digimon with ease,' EGO warned.

Remembering the tree, Harry simply nodded. Anything that small, which could cause a tree to shake and nearly fall, with a single blow of its tail, should not be taken lightly.

Just then the digimon attacked the tree again, giving it another quick smack with its tail. The tree cracked and wobbled, creaking heavily under the strain of the hit, but luckily it didn't fall. Hermione screamed again but managed to stay up on her branch.

"Someone help!" she screamed, grabbing on to the tree tighter in the hope that she would not fall, all the time doing her best to avoid the prickly bits.

Noticing that he couldn't afford to delay any longer, Harry decided to act. "Leave her alone!" he roared, then, not giving the digimon a moment to react, he charged.

The digimon didn't realise Harry was there until it was already too late. Using every bit of strength he had, Harry smashed into it using a full body force tackle.

With a squeal of pain Kyaromon stumbled and hit the ground a few meters away. However, before Harry could even blink, it quickly got back on to its feet and counter attacked.

A second later it was Harry's turn to feel pain as he was hit head on by the digimon. It had moved so fast that Harry had been completely taken by surprise. Barely repressing a cry of pain, Harry stumbled and fell to the ground.

'Damn that hurts,' Harry thought, clenching his teeth as he got back up again.

'Careful it's coming round for another attack… Dodge!' EGO warned. Harry barely managed to dodge in time just barely escaping from the full force of a second full body tackle attack, however, even so, he still got nicked slightly by the passing digimon.

'It's too fast,' Harry gasped as he felt another slight decrease in his energy level.

'No, you're just too slow! You're not skilled enough yet. How about using a special attack!' advised EGO.

'What? How?' Harry frantically asked, gasping as he just barely managed to dodge a third attack. He didn't have a clue what he could do.

EGO groaned. 'We had this already. Listen to your instincts, its automatic,' he answered. 'Just tell your body to use your special attack, it will do the rest.'

'But…'

'Trust me. Trust in yourself, it will work,' said EGO. 'Careful now…Dodge!' he called out again, but this time Harry was too slow. Once again he was hit head on by a full force tackle.

With a gasp and a yelp of pain, Harry stumbled and fell to the ground.

'Do it… NOW!' EGO roared.

Losing himself purely in instinct, acting automatically, Harry reacted.

"Pyro Beam"

Suddenly, a red beam of red light left Harry's mouth. Not expecting the attack Kyaromon couldn't dodge it in time and was hit directly by the beam, which lifted him off the ground and blasted him into another near by prickly cactus.

A high-pitched squeal of pain later Kyaromon collapsed to the ground.

Harry winced. 'That had to hurt,' he thought feeling somewhat sympathetic towards the digimon. However his sympathy didn't last for long.

Gasping as he suddenly felt very weak from the last hit Harry stumbled and barely managed to stay on his feet. Breathing heavily Harry chanced a look at Kyaromon.

Kyaromon didn't seem to be much better off either. Breathing heavily itself it tried its best to get back off the ground, stumbling at first, but finally managing to get back up.

'Quickly, before it attacks again. Finish it off,' said EGO urgently.

For a second Harry hesitated but then he started to charge.

Seeing his enemy come Kyaromon's eyes widened slightly but instead of dodging he suddenly stood still instead.

EGO's eyes widened as he realised what was happening and he swore.

'SHIT! Wait! Dodge!' he said frantically, recognised the tell tale glow of the beginning of Kyaromon's special attack. Forcefully taking control of Harry's body EGO attempted to dodge at the last second but due to the split half second needed to gain control of Harry's body he was unable to dodge fully in time.

"Shippo Swing"

Kyaromon's tail began to glow and then it began to swing towards Harry, managing to graze Harry with enough force to knock him to the ground. The force of the landing and sudden shock dazed EGO causing him to suddenly loose control of Harry's body and black out.

Harry, suddenly finding himself back in control and what was worse completely on his own, panicked. Acting purely on blind instinct he charged just as Kyaromon started to charge too.

The next second both digimon hit each others at the same time with two full body tackles and then both fell to the ground, dazed.

Harry gasped as his energy dropped to a dangerously low level. He was now barely alive… again.

Quickly looking at Kyaromon Harry gasped once more as he saw Kyaromon flicker as its data momentarily destabilized, before barely reforming again a second later.

Recognising his imminent victory, but also imminent defeat if he wasn't careful, Harry frantically tried to get up but collapsed back on to the ground. He was extremely weak now.

'EGO! Help!' he called out. But EGO didn't answer. EGO...wasn't there.

'Shit!' he swore as he realized that EGO really didn't seem to be around anymore. Harry couldn't sense him. Now he knew why EGO wanted him to train and to be able to hold his own in a fight without his help. EGO wasn't always going to be around to help him, literally.

'EGO?' he called out again. But again, like before, there was no answer.

Desperately trying his best to get back up Harry stumbled at first, but finally, barely managing, he raised himself off the ground.

Quickly, looking at Kyaromon Harry noticed that it was having the same difficulties that he was having, perhaps even more so. Realising that it all came down on who got the next hit first Harry quickly summoned the rest of his remaining available strength for one last attack. However Kyaromon was faster.

Seeing Kyaromon charge once more Harry's eyes widened. In absolute desperation Harry did the first thing that came to his mind.

"Pyro Beam"

Using the last bit of his remaining strength Harry made one desperate last-ditch effort and fired a second Pyro beam at Kyaromon.

Kyaromon's eyes widened as he saw the beam coming and tried to dodge, however, it was too late. Unable to dodge Kyaromon closed its eyes and waited, resigned and defeated, for the inevitable beam to hit and hit it did.

Harry winced sympathetically as Kyaromon suddenly cried out in a loud high pitched squeal of pain, which stopped abruptly as the digimon suddenly exploded, literally, into hundreds upon hundreds of tiny bits of data.

Harry didn't know how he knew that it was data, he just knew.

Remembering EGO's lessons telling him to absorb any data he saw, because it would make him stronger, Harry slowly crawled towards the free floating data.

'How do I absorb it?' he asked himself as he lay before it. Somehow the answer came to him a second later. Or rather, everything just happened automatically. It turned out all he had to do to absorb the data was to go near to it and... let it in. The free data actually seemed to be actively searching for him, (or another host) so it was actually very easy.

Suddenly the data began to move towards him and enter his body at a steady rate. Immediately new information started to appear in his mind and Harry suddenly knew all about Kyaromon's whole life. Everything he ever did, his victories, his close encounters with deletion, his everyday experiences… Everything! Right up to the shock, pain and accepting dismay it felt at the moment he was hit by Harry's Pyro Beam.

Soon the rest of the data was absorbed into his body. Finished with the act, Harry, relieved that he had evidently won the battle and that he was in no more danger, simply let himself drop and, exhausted as he was, was soon out like a light.

He never noticed EGO's return.

EGO came back to reality with a snap.

'Quick, let me…Oh!…You did it!' EGO said, first surprised, then relieved as he noticed that Harry was in a full regenerative sleep. Somehow he had won the battle, even without his help.

Taking a few moment to read his mind and assimilate Harry's experience of the battle and those of Kyaromon, EGO smiled. Harry had done well.

'Well done! You did it! Well done indeed. Impressive, considering you weren't even at full strength and had no real practical experience to begin with either,' said EGO, even though he knew Harry couldn't hear him at the moment. He was really relieved that the danger had passed.

Taking a few seconds to check that harry was OK and that there would be no problems, EGO settled down to wait.

Hermione's POV

Hermione didn't know what to think.

An hour ago her life had been completely and utterly turned upside down.

She didn't know what was happening. She didn't know where she was. She didn't have a clue what she was supposed to do and what was even worse, just a minute ago she had been seriously afraid for her life…again. A large rabbit had attacked her! A rabbit of all things!

At least it looked like a rabbit, she really couldn't be sure.

Ok, so it had a long tail. Rabbits were not supposed to have long tails. Well, at least not that long and definitely not like that. She was sure of it. But then again, rabbits were also supposed to be nice, friendly and cuddly. Right?

All of those stories and books she had heard and read about rabbits had never mentioned anything about dangerous beasts, beasts which could shake and topple trees with a twist of their tails.

She didn't know what to believe anymore. She felt betrayed. All of her precious books had never told her anything about this. They had all failed her... miserably.

Then another creature had come! It had a small red roundish body, had a furry foxy tail and small pointy ears, yet, it was not quite a fox. She had never seen anything like it before. Just another things her books never mentioned. More betrayal! Hermione really was beginning to lose her trust in books right now. They just didn't seem to help much anymore.

Hermione wasn't sure whether to be thankful or not when the new creature suddenly started to fight the other creature, instead of going for her.

On one hand she was now safe...kind of, at least for now. But that didn't mean that she would stay safe for long. For all she knew it was just fighting the other for the exclusive right to have her as its next meal. Not a nice thought to say the least.

Suddenly a red beam left the mouth of the red creature and Hermione watched shocked, wincing slightly with mild sympathy, as the 'rabbit' was hit and knocked into a tree.

Judging by the sound it made it must have been very painful.

"What was that?" she asked, thinking out loud.

Not expecting to actually receive an answer Hermione jumped in surprise when the small box like device, which had appeared to her earlier, started to speak:

DIGIMON DATA ACCESSED!

DATA RECEIVED!

SPECIAL ABILITY – PRIMARY: PYRO BEAM – LEVEL 3 - LONG RANGE ATTACK!

Shocked, Hermione looked at the box.

"What are you?" she whispered.

CLASS X EXPERIMENTAL D-LINK, ALPHA CLASS BATTLE TECH DIGIVICE. REG: EXP 92472-748-276!

Confused, not really understanding a word, she nevertheless asked: "And what are those...'things'?"

ERROR! UNKNOWN OR FAULTY COMMAND! PLEASE REPHRASE REQUEST!

Hermione frowned.

"What are those creatures that are fighting?"

SCANNING!

ACCESSING DATA!

DATA ACCESSED!

Suddenly a picture of the 'bunny' appeared.

DIGIMON NAME: KYAROMON

DIGIMON CLASS: VACCINE TYPE, BETA LEVEL DIGIMON

DIGIMON TYPE: HOLY BEAST DIGIMON

CURRENT DIGIVOLUTION LEVEL: IN-TRAINING

ACCESSING DIGIMON ABILITIES!

ABILITIES ACCESSED!

SPECIAL ABILITY – PRIMARY: SHIPPO SWING ! LEVEL 3 - SHORT AREA, CLOSE COMBAT ATTACK!

TAMER DATA: WILD!

ACCESSING DATA!

DATA ACCESSED!

A picture of the red creature appeared.

DIGIMON NAME: XMON

DIGIMON CLASS: DATA TYPE, ALPHA LEVEL EXPERIMENTAL DIGIMON!

DIGIMON TYPE: MAIN ROYAL LINE, FOX KITSUNI!

CURRENT DIGIVOLUTION LEVEL: IN-TRAINING!

ACCESSING DIGIMON ABILITIES!

ABILITIES ACCESSED!

SPECIAL ABILITY – PRIMARY: PYRO BEAM! LEVEL 3 - LONG RANGE ATTACK!

TAMER DATA: AVAILABLE!

ATTEMPTING HIGH LEVEL DATA ACCESS!

OMEGA CLEARANCE REQUIRED!

ACCESS GRANTED!

DATA ACCESSED!

TAMER CLASSIFICATION: HUMAN - FEMALE!

ORIGIN: TERRA - SOL!

SUB SPECIES: MAGICAL!

NAME: GRANGER, HERMIONE!

Hermione was shocked.

"What!" she whispered as she heard her name.

"What does that mean?" she asked mesmerised.

ERROR! UNKNOWN OR FAULTY COMMAND! PLEASE REPHRASE REQUEST!

Ignoring the digivice, Hermione looked at the battle. Both digimon seemed to be in bad shape.

Suddenly she saw the red creature attack and get hit by the rabbit.

It was at that moment that she suddenly fully realised what was happening.

'Wait! If I'm that digimons tamer, then that means...'

Her eyes widened and one word shot into her mind.

HARRY!

Hermione screamed as she saw the rabbit attack again while 'her' digimon seemed to be on the ground, supposedly helpless. But then another red beam suddenly flew from its mouth, again.

Unable to dodge the beam the rabbit was hit then it suddenly exploded, literally. It literally exploded into hundreds if not thousands of little bits of multicolored ones and zero's.

Frozen stiff, Hermione stared.

She knew what the ones and zero's meant. She had read enough books to know that data was usually illustrated as billions upon billions of one's and zero's. But weren't they usually invisible?

Blinking Hermione tried to stay calm. She was beginning to get used to being surprised lately, but this was quite a shock to her.

Silently she watched as the red digimon crawled closer to the floating data, then, she gasped when the data suddenly flew into it.

It was only due to the fact that the data didn't seem to harm it, that kept her from interfering.

Mesmerised by what she was seeing, Hermione continued to watch as the last bit of data flew into 'her' digimon.

Then a few seconds later it collapsed.

Hogwarts, Headmasters Office

Albus Dumbledore headmaster of Hogwarts school and leader of the order of the phoenix was sitting quietly in front of his desk staring into space. Only one topic was on his mind: the whereabouts of a certain boy when an alarm suddenly went off.

Jumping from the sudden shock of hearing the shrill wailing sound, he jumped out of his chair and ran to the cupboard where he kept some of his most precious items, some of them were objects which were tied to the boy of his contemplations: Harry Potter.

Looking at the items in question he grumbled as he noticed that the tracking devices he had placed on the boy when he was one year old were still inactive... well, they were active, just not showing anything anymore.

Ever since that blasted boy had disappeared on that dreadful day the charms had malfunctioned and Albus did not know why.

Then there was the item that showed his emotions. Currently the device was telling him that he was currently sleeping, but that he had also felt worried, great fear, anxiety, followed by fear again, before finally settling on relief just moments ago. Feelings which clearly pointed towards a dangerous moment taking place, like a battle or similar.

A third item in the cupboard showed who he trusted and who his friends were, as well as who he hated, or who he simply didn't like. Currently it showed that he didn't really trust anybody anymore. Well, he did trust some people all right, just not whom 'he' wanted him to trust.

Right now there were only two people who he seemed to trust with his life, literally, if the item could be believed. Those people were: Miss Granger and a second person who Dumbledore couldn't make any sense out of. It was as if that person, whoever it was, wasn't actually real. But that couldn't be right, could it? For the item to pick him or her up he or she had to exist. Strangely enough it didn't even show a gender, something that confused Dumbledore even more. It was as if that person was an… 'It'? But that was not possible …or was it?

Looking further Dumbledore frowned when he noticed that he was currently on the: 'treat with extreme mistrust' list, a position he shared with a few others. He smiled a bit when he saw that Severus Snape was on the: 'Only for Hell and beyond' list, a position he shared with only three others, namely, Peter Pettigrew, Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black and Tom himself. Harry truly hated that man.

A fourth item showed his current level of magical allegiance. Magical allegiance meant how far he lent to a certain side; holy, white, light, gray, dark, black or demonic. It showed the type of wizard he was and what type of magic he practiced. Most children were light or gray, while most Death Eaters would be dark with a few extremists leaning towards the black, while he himself was Grey.

Frowning to himself, Dumbledore noticed that Harry didn't seem to be anything at all. Just another strange anomaly for him to look into. It was as if he currently didn't have any magic at all, or as if he was currently, somehow, shielded from his scans.

Finally, he reached the item he was most interested in, at this moment at least: ''His health'.

Yes, just as he thought, Harry must have been in a battle as his health was nearly in the black, which stood for death, but not quite and it… seemed to be regenerating quickly at an amazing rate. 'Weird! What could do that?' he asked himself.

Either way, whatever had happened, Harry had evidently survived it. Walking back to his seat Albus wondered what it could have been. Did a few Death Eaters attack? Was it something else?

He simply didn't know.

Albus Dumbledore hated being left in the dark. Normally he knew everything but lately nothing seemed to be going his way.

His meeting with the minister had been a complete disaster. Fudge, the bastard, seemed very happy that Harry was missing and wasn't allowing him the use of any of the ministries resources to find Harry. In fact he had expressly forbidden it.

The order could find no trace of Harry or Miss Granger and through his spies, he knew that Tom had no idea either. Nor had there been another sighting of the mysterious creature. It was as if it had all disappeared from the face of the earth.

Using the elder Grangers as bait had showed no results at all either. It was as if the two simply didn't care what happened to them, even after threatening Granger in the newspapers to put the Grangers into Askaban for high treason if she didn't hand herself in. It was something that annoyed him greatly.

Then there were also the other failures:

Fawkes had been unable to find him, something which was extremely rare. Normally he had no problem finding anybody as only the fidilius could stop a phoenix. Did that mean he was currently under a fidilius charm? It was possible after all. But that would mean he would have had to have had help…from another magical person…one with experience too, since the fidilius was not an easy spell to cast. Another thing to put onto his list, to look into later on.

Potters owl, which, under his orders, had stayed at Hogwarts that summer, had also been unable to find him, which was even stranger since she had a bond with the boy which would have been able to reach him, even through the charm.

Finally he had even tried to send Dobby the house elf to find the boy, but the blasted elf had not only shown him the finger and called him 'a bad bad wizard'… during the middle of a governors meeting no less. He had also handed in a letter of resignation too. Something unheard of for an elf. He hadn't been seen since.

Shaking his head once more, Albus went back to his desk. These days he just didn't know what to do anymore.

Picking up a letter which he had written two days before Albus sighed as he put it into the 'to send' pile.

It was time to call in a few favours and if necessary, to make a few more threats. Something he hated to do but it was becoming increasingly necessary to do so. All for the greater good, of course. Perhaps a bit more manipulation would help too, he thought as he started to stare into space again.

Where had everything gone so wrong?

Back in the Digital World

'It's ok Harry, its normal, everybody is afraid during battles. I would have been surprised if you hadn't been. You wouldn't be the first to panic either,' EGO said with a laugh. 'As for luck…well…you may call it luck if you wish, but personally I only believe in skill and the right moves at the right time. In the end who cares. So you had luck, that's neither here nor there. The fact remains, you survived, he did not. In the end it doesn't make a difference how you win, as long as you win. Well done!'

Harry smiled.

If had been several days since Harry had woken up again, this time in Hermione's arms and he was currently having a battle debriefing with EGO.

Hermione was sitting beside him, going over everything she had been told during the past few days while waiting patiently for 'her digimon' to finish his conversation with his 'alter EGO'.

It was strange at first, but she was slowly getting used to thinking of Harry as a digimon...not just any diimon but 'her' digimon...and of herself as his tamer too and also of Harry having conversations with himself at odd moments of the day. At first she had been extremely worried but after Harry had explained it to her, with the help of EGO, what he was only talking with an inbred training gene, (weird that) she had slowly started to warm up to and accept that he was in fact not going mad.

Suddenly Harry started to speak out loud. It was in a different voice than the usual. It sounded somewhat deeper.

"And if I'm not mistaken…yes…we can attempt it now," EGO said.

Hearing this Hermione looked up startled.

"Harry? Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yes of course, sorry, that was EGO speaking, we have decided to use a deeper voice when he is speaking, so that you can differentiate between us," Harry replied, switching back to his normal voice.

"Ah, I see," said Hermione. Just another thing to get used to, she reminded herself, quietly.

"Hermione, we would like to attempt a digivolution process, however we need your help to do this. Could you take out your digivice please, so that we can get started," said EGO, using the other voice.

"EGO, is that you?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, it's me, can you please do what I asked," said EGO.

"Sure!" she said, taking it out.

"OK! Listen carefully as this is going to be a very important lesson. I couldn't help realising that you have been very dissatisfied lately...right?" EGO asked.

"Well, ...em...the thing is I..." Hermione started to say but was interrupted almost immediately.

"Yes or no will do fine, Hermione, we don't need assay answers here," said EGO, in a strict voice.

Hermione blushed

"Sorry" she said.

"We don't need sorry's either as you have done nothing wrong, please, just answer the question," said EGO, this time kindly.

Hermione nodded. "Well... yes…but…," she answered.

"That's what I thought," said EGO interrupting her again, making Hermione frown.

"Well that's going to change from now on'.

"Oh!" said Hermione, her frown changing to a look of half confusion, half expectation.

"It's high time that we start to train you as a tamer," said EGO, keeping his voice kind, though it had the distinct strict no nonsense edge to it.

Hermione didn't say anything, instead she simply listened.

"So, the first thing I am going to teach you is how to make power-up cards. Would you like to take a guess at what they are?" EGO asked.

Hermione thought for a second then answered: "From the name I think you are referring to something which can be used to make something else stronger...right?" she asked.

EGO nodded. "Yes, that's right. D-Link Power Cards were first invented by tamers who wanted to find a way to gain an advantage against stronger digimon, digimon which were too strong for their partner or indeed partners to defeat, digimon like the Champions, Ultimate's or even the mighty Mega's."

Hermione nodded to show that she was listening.

"D-Link Power-up Cards are, like the name says, data cards which can be used by your digivice to increase the powers or abilities of a digimon, usually your own. There are multiple types of card types: 'Booster cards; like a 'boost speed' card, which increases the speed of your digimon to two, three or maybe even more times its normal speed, depending on the level of the card used, letting it attack and move faster than usual, thus giving it an advantage over the other digimon.

An 'Alteration card'; which may let you add a wing to your digimon, thus giving it the ability to fly.

A 'Defense card'; which lets you put a shield around your digimon, temporarily protecting it from harm.

A 'Regeneration card'; extremely rare due to the immense amount of power needed to make them, which can instantly restore a digimon to full health...this also includes the legendary 'Life Card,' which is even rarer, which can even bring you back from the dead IF the data is still available and hasn't been adsorbed yet,...or, and this is the card which we are about to make… a 'Digi-evolution card,' which, as the name says; can make a digimon digivolve to their next stage, temporarily, without the need to gain the required experience from battles before hand."

"Yes!" asked EGO amused, noticing that Hermione had her hand up to ask a question.

"You said that a digimon can digivolve with the use of a card even if it hasn't gained the required experience yet, but what if the digimon already has the level of experience, does it still need to use the card to evolve?" she asked.

EGO, nodded, very pleased that Hermione had asked that particular question. Once again he was pleased that Harry had chosen her as their tamer. True, she tended to panic a lot and had a loud scream, but… when it all came down to it, she was smart, loyal, dependable and had great potential, something which they would all make good use of. The other two things they could work on.

"I'm glad you asked that particular question Hermione, because the answer to that question is in fact… No! A digimon can, in fact, evolve to the next stage whenever it feels like it, and believe me, most do! That is why we have wild Ultimate's and wild Mega's, not to mention the Sovereigns. The only Digimon who de-digivolve back to their Rookie stages are; those who are too badly damaged to keep their higher forms and those who need to do so for personal reasons, like to stay hidden, since more powerful digimon are usually larger and can be easily seen by others due to their size. Digimon who have tamers do this often for this very reason."

"Now, your probably wondering why they don't digivolve to the more powerful forms at the start of a battle if they can do so at will, yes? Again, the answer is quite simple: While it is indeed possible, it takes a lot of energy to transform without the help of a card. It is not therefore not always feasible to do so in battle.

A Digimon needs to be at 100% energy, before it can transform without the help of a card.

Secondly, a Digimon who transforms usually uses up 25 to 75% of their available energy to transform. Depending on the level they are transforming to, this can be the deciding factor between a win and a defeat.

Transforming to a Rookie uses up 25% of a digimons energy, so you would actually only appear as a Rookie digimon with 75% of your energy, until you rest.

Transforming to the Champion stage uses up 50% of the digimons energy. The Ultimate stage, in turn, uses up 75% of the digimons energy, so you can see why it is never done during a battle as, in the case of the Ultimate, you would only have a meager 25% left, of your original starting amount, before you even start to fight. Digimon tend to rest after the transformation, not fight."

"Wait a second," said Harry suddenly, switching over to his normal voice. So your telling me, I can transform to my Champion stage whenever I feel like it, provided I am at full power beforehand?" he asked surprised.

"That's right, that's exactly what I'm telling you," said EGO in the deeper voice.

Hermione shivered slightly as she heard the two voices at the same time.

"Nice!" said Harry a huge grin on his foxy face, which freaked Hermione out even more.

"Ok, now that that part of the lesson is over, let's show you how to create the card," said EGO.

Immediately Hermione became very interested.

"Do you see the red, blue, yellow and black button on your digivice?"

Hermione nodded.

"They have to be pressed in a certain order to make cards. Now listen carefully and I'll tell you the order you have to press them to make a Normal digivolution card," EGO instructed.

"Normal?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, there are three types of digivolution cards:

'Lesser'; which digivolves a digimon to its Rookie stage.

'Normal'; Which digivolves it to its Champion stage and;

'Matrix' which digivolves the digimon straight to its Ultimate stage.

Each card uses a certain amount of energy to make. The more energy is used when creating a card, the higher the cards power and the effect it produces when it's used," said EGO.

"What about for the Mega stage?" asked Hermione

"Ah yes, smart girl, the mega stage is different as it's called a biomerge for a reason. You see, you can't reach it with a card. It can only be reached with pure trust between the tamer and their digimon and only after the digimon in question can digivolve by itself at will into its Ultimate stage. Even a card can't help you there. This will be your homework for the next few days, along with the combination's to make a few cards. Harry, even though you are the digimon, you too should study this part as it is just as important for you as it is for her," said EGO

Both nodded, Hermione physically and Harry mentally.

"Good, now! Hermione, listen carefully:

Red is the colour of the virus.

Blue is the colour of data.

Yellow is that of the vaccine.

Red weakens and has the potential to cancel out blue.

Blue weakens and has the potential to cancel out yellow.

Yellow in turn can weaken or cancel out red."

"The first and final button you press has to be black - the first to activate the sequence, the last to end it - also, the end colour before the finishing black has to be the the colour of the digimon type you wish to make the card for, otherwise it won't be compatible with the digimon. In your case since Harry here is a data type digimon you are making a data type card. Not only that, but it is important to notice that he is also an alpha type data digimon who are again different to beta type digimon.

Alphas, as a rule, are stronger and generally more advanced than Beta class digimon. There are universal cards, which can be made for all to use, but they take twice to four times as much energy to make. Sometimes even more.

So far so good?" he asked.

Hermione nodded.

"Ok! Repeat after me: Black, red, blue, blue, yellow, red, yellow, blue, blue, red, blue, black!"

"Black Red, blue, blue, yellow, red, yellow, blue, blue, red, blue... black!" Hermione chanted, nearly missing the last black.

"Good, that's the combination you need to press to make a data type 'Advanced rank' digivolution card. The second lowest rank of all cards.' (Used for digimon up to Rookie level)

There are also other cards…:

'Normal Rank' cards (Normal/Trainee level) are used for Digimon of the in-training level only and can not be used by higher level digimon. If you use a card that's not compatible with a digimon level, then nothing will happen. (That's why nothing happened in canon after certain cards were used by the tamers...i.e Takato. Now you know why! :-))

'Advanced rank' (Bronze) cards are used for digimon up to and for Rookie level (i.e: The digi-evolution card to champion level)

'Adept rank' (Silver) cards are used for cards for digimon up to and for champion level (like the matrix digi-evolution cards, used to reach the Ultimate level)

'Elite rank' (Gold) are for digimon up to and for Ultimate level... –(Temporary digi-evolution to an alternate mega form – think of Megidramon…this should not be mistaken for the 'true' mega form which is only reached when bio-merging with a tamer)

...and 'Master rank' (Platinum) cards… which we'll all get to later. " -(Alternate Digi-evolution to an Armoured Mega stage (also different and not to be mistaken with the armoured stage of the true Mega form...note: not every digimon has one, true Mega form or fake)

"Now, please repeat it one more time.

"Red, blue, blue, red, red, yellow, blue, blue, red, blue, black."

"Wrong! It's Black, red, blue, blue, yellow, red, yellow, blue, blue, red, blue, black. Once again please, said EGO"

"Black, Red, blue, blue, yellow, red, yellow, blue, blue, red, blue, black," said Hermione.

"Once more" said EGO

Hermione did so.

"And again," said EGO.

Hermione did so again.

"Ten more times," said EGO.

Hermione gave him an ugly look but complied.

After three attempts she finally managed to do it ten times without a single mistake.

"Ok, well done, now, pointing the digivice at Harry, press the combination into your digivice."

Slowly Hermione pressed the colours into her digivice, extra careful not to make a mistake.

As soon as she pressed the final black button, Harry began to feel himself getting somewhat weaker, as a small part of his energy was taken to create the card.

A few seconds and a small flash of blue light later, a small blue card appeared near to the rear of the digivice.

"Well done, congratulations on your first D-Card," said EGO happily.

Hermione smiled.

"Now, why don't you use it," EGO asked.

Her eyes shinning, Hermione swiped the card through the small slot in the digivice.

Almost immediately after swiping the card though the device Harry's body began to glow white, then it started to change shape.

DIGIMONIFY! LESSER DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!

XMON DIGIVOLVE TO...

Suddenly Harrys' skin started to tear itself apart and then he started to grow until he reached a length of approximately two meters. That done, the skin began to reform itself and red fur began to appear all over him. Two of his small paws started to change and turn into two arms out of which grew two claw like paws. His other two paws grew larger and became two fully grown fox/human hybrid legs, making him suddenly stand upright on two feet, instead of four paws. His small tail started to grow out until it became a somewhat darker red, black striped, fully gown fox tail, which then grew to cascade down the complete length of his body, starting from the tips of his tail bone, right down the length of his legs, to end just a few inches from the ground. His head changed shape completely into that of a fully grown fox, complete with two green glowing eyes and two large pointy golden red fox ears which emerged from the tips of his head. A golden lightening bolt became clearly visible on his forehead. Finally, at his back, two somewhat angelic looking, white red and black feathered phoenix wings, reached outwards from his spine to extend and hover above his head in a majestic ark.'

KITSUNIMON!

Before Harry even had a change to blink he started to change again.

DIGIMONIFY! DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!

KITSUNIMON DIGIVOLVE TO...

Again Harry glowed bright white, then he became larger, his skin started to tear itself off his body before reconstructing itself back together again once more, he felt his arms change into legs. His body's shape changed so that he had to run on all fours. His body still retained the red fur it had had before, but his tail started to turn black, grow longer then split into eleven separate tails, covering the back of his whole body in a wide arc. Three of the top most tails continued to grow slightly larger, coming to a stop just above the rest. After that his two huge white feathered phoenix wings started to become larger, change colour from their former white to silver and red with black stripes, then grow out until they hovered around his larger body in a majestic arc. His head grew to twice its size with his green eyes glowing out from his face. Finally the middle of his forehead started to glow a bit and a golden lightening bolt extended out of his forehead, to be prominently displayed for the whole world to see.

PHOENIXMON!

Harry gasped as the final transformation completed itself. Taking a quick look at himself he grinned as he realised that he had changed back into his Champion form.

"Oh this is so cool!" he said happily as he once again felt stronger than ever before.

"Behold, one of the advantages of card evolution, while it is only temporarily if you haven't already naturally gained the level, it does however recharge you to full health when its used. An instant full heal with an added bonus if you wish to call it that," said EGO with a satisfied smile. His voice was now even deeper than before.

Harry nodded. 'I could get used to this,' he thought happily.

Hermione simply gazed at Harry, eyes wide. She had of course seen him in his full champion form beauty once before but it never grew old and this was the first time she actually saw him change into it.

"Wow," she said savoring the moment.

Then looking down at her digivice she started to grin. After a second she nodded.

Looking up she eagerly asked: "Guys, can we make a few more?"