Things are still going really slow with this series. I promised myself two weeks ago when I posted Chapter 1 that I'd focus only on Return to the Digital World, but my head is currently alternating between Kamen Rider Kiva, Kamen Rider Gaim, and Jūden Sentai Kyoryuger. And Kiva is the only one I even have an upcoming fic for! Part III is really slowing me down, and whenever I do get into a Digimon headspace, I'm focusing on ideas for the Next Generation sequel to this series, which at this rate won't be up for another decade!

But here's Chapter 2, hope you all enjoy it!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Digimon or any of its characters. Kyōsuke, Lexi, Juan, and the evil Digimon are mine, though.

WORD COUNT: 1743

Sunday, April 8th, 2007

Juan didn't know how he should feel about this. He understood why Lexi wanted out. Who could so easily accept that they had to save a whole world? If she had her own goals, who was he to condemn her for pursuing them? And he was a bit tempted to just walk out as well. This was going to be dangerous.

But at the same time, he'd seen what Kyōsuke had done when he'd gotten his new powers. He'd completely thrashed that huge monster. Juan wondered what it would be like to have that kind of power. Even just a small fraction of it. Maybe his parents would stop treating him like a four-year-old. It had been difficult just to convince his Mamà to let him go out today. Thankfully, Tomoki had gotten the idea to introduce their families, especially after discovering that they lived on the same block, and the Himis had invited the Cortezes over for dinner last night. He'd met Tomoki's parents and his older brother Yutaka, as well as Yutaka's fiancée. More importantly, Mamà had come to approve of Tomoki as a good kid, and after some careful appealing, had allowed Juan to hang out with him without checking in every half-hour.

If he got powers like Kyōsuke, maybe he could finally show his mother that he could take care of himself. And as he thought about it, he made up his mind. Maybe he couldn't fault Lexi for abandoning this to pursue her own goals, but the Digital World was the way he would achieve his goals.

The ride on the Trailmon was fine; everyone just chatted amongst themselves, except for Juan, who just stared out the window, thinking about it all. They were ready when the bumpy part came this time. Juan grabbed the side of the bench to keep himself from falling over. He took a look at his reflection in the window, and saw a lean creature made entirely out of vines, only a pair of deep green eyes peeking out. A second later, he was back to his normal self.

So that was what he would turn into. 'What'll it be like to Spirit Evolve?' he wondered, 'Will it be painful? Or is it more like a sugar rush? Granted, Mamà's never let me have sugar in almost my entire life, so I guess I won't be able to tell.' He sidled over to Tomoki. "Hey, Tomoki?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"What's Spirit Evolving like?"

Tomoki seemed stumped at the question. "Um, I don't really know how to answer that, dude. I guess it… it kind of makes you feel like you've suddenly become stronger than you used to be, like you can do anything."

Juan's eyes widened in surprise. "It sounds incredible."

"Well, you see, I was kind of the baby of the group last time. I was scared and alone without my parents protecting me, but then I got my first Spirit, and soon I started depending more on myself than other people. Of course, I still had to rely on the others a lot. But I didn't mind. They needed me to watch their backs, too."

"You guys are all really good friends, aren't you?"

"Yeah. It's kinda funny, really. If you take a bunch of kids who wouldn't even talk to each other in the school hallway, and put them in charge of saving an entire world, they'll eventually become inseparable no matter what."

"Maybe, but I bet the six of you just clicked when you first met."

"What made you think that?"

"Well, you guys get along so well now, there couldn't have been any problems with you friendship before."

Tomoki actually burst out laughing. Juan could only stare at him. His guess wasn't that ridiculous, was it? "Are you kidding?" Tomoki stuttered as soon as he stopped laughing, "You have no idea how many issues we had. The worst was Kōji and Kōichi's problems with Dusk-" He stopped suddenly, growing serious. Juan noticed that the twins were both listening in, giving Tomoki a warning look. "No, I shouldn't be telling you about that."

"About what? Why not?"

"It was just a really hard time for us, especially those two, and I don't think they really want me blabbing about it. But I'm sure they'll tell you newer guys when they're ready to face it again."

"It was that bad?"

"You have no idea."

Kōji and Kōichi both had dark looks on their faces as they stared out the window, suddenly very quiet.

"That sure is a long way down," Juan commented, looking over the edge of the gorge, "We're not really climbing down there, are we?"

Takuya was a little concerned over that kid's reluctance to do anything that involved a tiny bit of risk. But they'd fix that in time. After all, they'd already convinced Kyōsuke to be a little more open-minded. "Don't worry," he teased, "If you fall, there's a river you can land in at the bottom."

Juan just got even more nervous. "B-but I can't swim!" he whimpered.

"Quit scaring the guy," Kōji said, clearly annoyed, heading for the trail, "Now are we going or what?"

They reached the bottom of the gorge in no time, and were greeted by a swarm of Candlemon.

"The Legendary Warriors have returned!" the Elder Candlemon announced to his cheering people.

"Much better reception than last time, huh?" Takuya whispered to Izumi, who nodded enthusiastically. This was a huge improvement compared to that surprise attack.

"Nice to see you guys, too," Tomoki greeted them, "But we could really use some help."

"There are some new evil Digimon popping up," Izumi explained, "and we need to get all the Spirits back in order to stop them. They've all returned to their old hiding places. So, we thought it'd be great if we could visit some our friends and still get our jobs done at the same time."

"My Ice Spirit hasn't shown up here, hasn't it?"

The Elder grinned. "Why, yes, actually. It reappeared just last week, along with another one much like it." The teens exchanged glances. Another Spirit? Whose was it? Juan, Shin'ya, Lexi, or maybe Kōichi?

"Well then," Takuya announced, "Let's get Tomoki's Spirit back and figure out who gets the other one."

The others shrugged nonchalantly. Izumi, however, turned and headed back up the trail. "Good luck, then," she called over her shoulder, "I'll go on to Soyokaze Village to grab my Spirit and meet you guys back at Flame Village, okay? Seeya!" She winked and started running up to where Angler sat waiting somewhat patiently.

"Hey, wait up!" Kyōsuke shouted, chasing after her and waving goodbye to the others, "I'll come with you!" He caught up with her. "Just in case you run into trouble before you get to your Spirit."

She rolled her eyes but didn't argue. "My hero."

"Now, what are we waiting for?" Tomoki insisted, hurrying over to where the Candlemon had pointed. Takuya and everyone else laughed and started to follow him across the river on stepping stones.

It was unnaturally cold in that nearby ice cave, but, just like the Candlemon had said, there were – not one – but two Spirits floating side-by-side. Tomoki quickly claimed his own, but there was still the question of whom the other Spirit belonged to. The only thing Takuya could determine was that it was neither of Kōichi's Spirits of Darkness. "So how do we tell?" Junpei asked the room in general.

Takuya cocked his head as he looked at it. "Well, when Kyōsuke became Gnomemon, I noticed he looked like a good version of Grottomon. The colouring on this Spirit kinda looks like Ranamon. So it's Water."

"Kyōsuke said that when he found his Spirit yesterday," Shin'ya recalled, "his D-Scanner reacted. Maybe that's how we know whose Spirit it is." He and Juan both pulled out their D-Scanners and held them up, but nothing happened.

"So that leaves only one person – Lexi."

Yellow eyes darted around, taking in the surroundings. She was in some sort of canyon with a deep river. It was rather annoyingly cramped, swimming up the shallow, narrow stream, not like the wide ocean she was used to. The water tasted odd, too. It lacked the salty flavour of seawater. A group of Gomamon came into view, scattering and retreating onto shore as she passed. Each of her seven tongues nearly darted out to grab one, but she resisted the impulse. An even bigger meal awaited her if she stayed on task.

Then she saw them. Ten humans, just waiting to be – no, wait. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven… where were the others? The Warriors of Wind, Earth, and Water were nowhere in sight. Oh, well. The three of them had no chance of thwarting Master's plans alone. As long as the other humans were destroyed, Master would be pleased. To her delight, three of the humans possessed a Spirit each, and a fourth Spirit was nearby, unclaimed. Excellent, plenty of power to offer Master.

Eventually, the remaining humans began to cross the river. Perfect. And there was a bunch of smaller Digimon tagging along with them. They would make quite a tasty side dish.

She rose from beneath the surface, wailing. The Warrior of Wood screamed the loudest as she grabbed him and his friends – all but one; the Warrior of Light had jumped out of reach, just barely. He pulled out his strange device, the ones the Warriors used to summon their full power. Quick as a whip, one of her tongues darted out and grabbed it. It tasted awful as it slid down her throat. The Spirit of Water was next; it had a much better flavour. She turned, dove back under, and swam downstream, making sure to keep the humans' heads above the surface. Master had insisted they were to still be alive when she brought them to him.

And besides, meat always tastes so much better when it's so fresh that it's still screaming as she eats it.

How about that? You may notice that, like with Part I, some parts of the story are completely unchanged. This is because I don't rewrite the whole thing - I don't have the time for that - I take the old story and edit it. So only certain scenes will be completely rewritten or replaced.

Until next time!

Spectre