"Welcome to my Nightmare"
Here is the next chapter. Please enjoy and review!
The group of humans and digimon stood in the forest watching as a Trailmon rode by on a track that was above the forest they were in, Daisuke sitting on the large tree that had fallen with Neemon in her lap as Bokomon stood by with a calculating look and the others were standing below them watching as the train went.
"I believe the Forest Kingdom is beyond that track." said Bokomon.
"Sure looks big." Takuya commented as the group all looked out to where the track was above the forest they were in.
"Hey, Bokomon, how much further do we have to walk to the Forest Terminal?" asked JP.
"Don't worry. You should only have to walk a little bit more." the chicken said.
"A little bit more? These little bits are killing me!" JP groaned hanging his head down in misery.
A few hours later the sun was setting and Daisuke was running ahead of everyone.
"Wait up!" Takuya yelled as he, Zoe Koji went after her.
"Man, isn't it time for a dinner break? I'm wastin' away here." JP asked as he came over a hill they just ran down.
"We didn't even get any breakfast yet." Tommy said standing next to him.
"I think we better stop here and make camp." Takuya said.
"It's been a long day for all of us." Zoe said.
"Yeah, whatever." Koji said.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Daisuke said coming up to the Warrior of Light and took his hand in hers, making him smile down at her, then he frowned in thought.
How did she influence him so easily?
Takuya on the other hand was watching them sadly with how his sister seemed to run to Koji instead of him.
"Does that mean we're stopping?" Tommy asked.
"Does that mean I get to eat? And lie down? And eat? Yes!" JP said making Daisuke laugh at his eagerness for a rest.
She noticed Zoe pick up some strange colored apple from the ground and presented it to the group.
"Look what I found. I hope its edible." the blonde said.
"It's called a meat apple." Bokomon said.
"Meat apple?" the boys asked.
"Yes, each one has the flavor of a different meat. Quite nutritious actually." Bokomon said.
"Where'd ya find that thing?" Takuya asked pointing at the apple.
"It was just lying on the ground. There has to be a tree somewhere nearby. Bokomon, will you help me find some more?" Zoe asked as she began to run off to look for the tree and the chicken started to follow her.
"Certainly." He said.
"Can I come?" Neemon asked making Bokomon pause and grab the bunny's pants and started dragging him off.
"Oh, all right." He sighed.
"Goodie, I love meat apples!" Neemon said.
"Well bully for you." Bokomon muttered and Tommy started to follow them too.
"Wait for me!" the little boy yelled.
"Well I guess we better gather some fire wood." Takuya said.
"I'm not gonna have to lift anything heavy am I? I don't like doing any heavy lifting. Can't I just get the twigs?" JP asked.
Feeling annoyed at the complaining, Daisuke picked up the apple that Zoe had dropped and she then threw it at JP's head making him yell in shock.
"All right, who's the wise guy?" he asked.
Daisuke pointed over at Takuya and JP turned over to the goggle head.
"Hey, Taky, what's the big idea?" he demanded walking over to Takuya.
"What're you talking about?" Takuya asked.
"Don't play dumb. You threw the meat apple at my head." JP accused.
"What? Who told ya that?" Takuya demanded.
Koji quickly picked up the smirking Daisuke and walked off with her before she was caught.
"Daisuke did." JP said.
Just then, realization dawned on the two boys as they turned to the fox, only to see she had been saved by the wolf who were both far away from them.
"And I thought Shinya was the evil twin." Takuya groaned.
(Later on that night…)
"How can you not start a fire? I mean, you are the Warrior of Flame, after all." Daisuke commented as she watched her brother struggling to start the fire by rubbing a stick on a piece of wood from her place with the others as they stuck the apples on sticks to cook.
"Oh, be quiet." Takuya groaned as he struggled to start the fire, Koji rolling his eyes from his place next to him.
Daisuke went back to work sticking apples on and then looked up when she saw the Warrior of Thunder smiling hungrily down at one of them and licked his lips.
"Apple, you're my best friend." he said taking a bite.
"Disgusting!" he yelled.
"I'm pretty sure those things are raw, so they need to be cooked first." Daisuke said, sweat dropping when she saw Neemon had taken a bite out of a raw apple too and had a sour look on his face.
"She is right. Only a ninny would eat them raw." Bokomon said.
"I wish you told me that before." Neemon whimpered making the chicken growl in annoyance.
Shaking her head at them, Daisuke looked over to Koji and Takuya to see that they had the fire roaring.
"Hey, the fire's ready. Let's go cook these things. I am starving!" she said.
"Took the words outta my mouth, D!" JP said gathering his apples like everyone else.
They all sat around the fire, Takuya and Koji taking the two 8 year olds' apples in the fire to cook since they were the youngest.
"Hey, Bokomon, anything in your book about a Beast Spirit?" Takuya asked.
"I haven't seen anything." The chicken said.
"If it's not too much trouble, could ya take another look?" Takuya asked.
"Certainly." Bokomon said as he pulled out the book and began flipping through the pages.
"I'm afraid I still don't see anything." He said as Neemon began touching one of the pages, rubbing at it.
"Paws off, baggy!" Bokomon snapped at him.
"But I think I found something. This page seems to be folded over. Maybe there's other stuff inside." Neemon said and Bokomon checked to see that he was right.
"Oh, it's a miracle, you're actually right. This changes everything. It seems there are two Spirits for each of the Legendary Warriors." Bokomon said making everyone gasp.
"The first is the Human Spirit like Agunimon, then the second is called the Beast Spirit. That explains where Gigasmon came from, but how did he summon the Beast Spirit?" Bokomon asked.
"I wonder what life would be like as a beastie." Neemon said.
"Let's feed you to one and you can find out from the inside. Don't you realise; this means the children may have the power to Spirit Evolve again?" Bokomon said frowning at the bunny.
"Well then, if Bokomon's right, each of us should be able to get a Beast Spirit." Koji said.
"But if that's true, then we're only half way there." Zoe said making JP groan.
"Oh man, it's like starting over." He said.
"But isn't it a good thing?" Daisuke asked.
"I mean, we're not that strong now. With these Beast Spirits, we'll be able to stop Cherubimon and these bad Warriors from hurting us and the Digital World." She said.
"Well, I'm willing to give it a try. Beast Spirit Evolution, here we go!" Takuya said pumping a fist with a smile.
"Yeah!" everyone cheered while Neemon poked Bokomon, repeating his name until he got slapped.
"Is this a good idea?" Neemon asked.
"What's the matter with you? We have to help you find your Beast Spirits as soon as possible; after all, it may be the only way to save the Digital World. We haven't even made it to the Forest Terminal; we're running out of time. These Beast Spirits must be our number one priority." Bokomon said.
"Nope, not good." Neemon said.
"What is not good?" Bokomon asked glaring at the bunny, who then pointed at the fire.
"The meat apples, while you're talking, they're burning up." Neemon said making everyone look to the apples to see that they were glowing red around the skin.
Everyone then yelled out as they grabbed at their apples, trying to save them before they burned and were uneatable.
"Mines like a meat bun." JP said.
"This one tastes almost like a chicken drumstick." Tommy said.
"Mm, this one is pork chop." Daisuke said.
"I think I'm eating prime rib." Takuya said.
"Yeah, gingered pork." Koji said.
"Mines osubuko!" Zoe cheered falling on her back.
Suddenly, thunder boomed as storm clouds rolled in to hide the three moons that were shining in the sky and the stars.
"Hey, you're blocking the view." JP complained as they were covered in darkness except for the fire.
"Something is happening." Tommy said.
Looking off into the forest, the group all saw the trees had some sort of screen on them that were showing images of different places on it, such as an airport, mountains, towers and tall buildings.
"Wow, a TV." Tommy said.
Everyone stood up and walked over to check them out, standing in the middle of the forest to look them over.
"A bunch of 'em." Takuya said.
"That is pretty sweet." Said Koji.
"Whoa, tree TV. I hope it isn't all travel channels. I wonder if we can get music videos." JP said excited.
"Hey, wait a minute. That's our world. Those scenes are from back home." Zoe realized.
"That's right, Zoe. It's called the TV Forest, a video gateway to the Human World." Bokomon read from the Book.
"Now that's really weird." Koji stated.
"It's my school. It never looked so pretty to me. Oh, look, the cherry tree's blooming." Zoe said as she touched the screen of her school.
"I love cherries. You know, come to think of it, I love pretty much every kind of food. By the way, is this pre-recorded?" JP asked.
A flash of orange and pink lights made Daisuke turn to a TV tree and walked over to it to see two kids that reminded her of Takuya and herself were walking together in a park.
They reminded Daisuke of her older brother and herself because the girl who had brown hair and was dressed in pink and yellow was her exact age while the brother was Takuya's age and he wore a pair of circular goggles in his wild brown hair.
Feeling curious, she placed her hand on the images and watched in awe as she saw a sun symbol flash on the boy in orange while the girl had a snowflake symbol flash in pink on her.
Unknown to Daisuke, her mark of Harmony was glowing in gold on her forehead while Koji turned to her curiously as he saw what she was looking at and he was confused by it.
"My mother!" Tommy then gasped breaking Daisuke out of her trance as everyone turned to the Warrior of Ice.
"For serious?" JP asked.
They all saw the vision of a park with a woman standing there with Tommy's hair, eye color and skin tone.
"You weren't kidding. Your mother's very pretty, Tommy." Zoe said.
"Oh, Mom." Tommy said with tears in his eyes.
Just then, the clouds were moving away from the moons and the light was returning to the forest, so the TV's were fading way.
"Wait, where are you going? Don't leave me! Please! MOMMA!" Tommy cried as the woman's image faded away.
(Later on…)
Everyone was gathered around the fire looking upset at what had transpired before, Tommy still crying a bit while the others were thinking about their own mothers.
"I bet my mom is really worried about me." Zoe said.
"Cheer up little buddy. Go on, try my apple. It's hot dog." Takuya smiled as he held out his apple to Tommy who's head was bent.
Zoe turned to them and smiled.
"Tommy could be your little brother." she said.
Once again, Daisuke felt jealous at this, but pushed the feeling back.
Takuya looked over to her to see her glaring at the fire and was curious as to why she was doing so when he heard a strange sound from above and looked behind him only to see nothing, so he turned his attention elsewhere.
"Hey Koji, are you falling asleep?" Takuya asked the boy who was leaning against the tree a few feet away from them.
"Sleep? Tch, I'm lucky I'm not bored to death." Koji said crossing his arms and turning away.
"Hey bud, what's your problem? He needs a nap." JP frowned.
"He's just grumpy." Zoe said walking over with a smile.
"Hey, JP, maybe Tommy would like to see you use some of your magic." She suggested.
"Magic? Since when?" Takuya asked.
"Since I was a kid myself. Ladies and germs, I present to you the magic of Howie Do That." JP said as he stood up.
"Yeah, yeah." Zoe cheered and clapped as she, the digimon and Takuya sat in front of JP.
"All right." Takuya clapped with a big smile.
"Observe; nothing up my sleeves. I happen to have this beautiful red scarf here." JP said as he pulled it out of his pocket on his chest.
"But now this blue one wants his friend back." JP said as he pulled out the other one as Tommy and Daisuke were paying attention now.
"Yeah, put 'em back." Takuya encouraged.
"That wasn't my trick yet. We'll put 'em together and a twist here." JP said as he closed his hands over the scarves and rubbed then together.
"Ta-da! My clothes line." he said as he showed that the scarves were now different smaller parts tied together.
"Wow!" the group gasped.
"Yes my friends, but this is just the beginning. I will now bring them back to normal." JP said as he closed his hands over them, rubbed and revealed they were two again.
"Now how did he do that?" Bokomon asked.
"Well, I guess that explains where he got his stage name from." Takuya clapped.
"It doesn't explain why he's so annoying." Koji grinned over at the group.
"Do another one." Takuya encouraged as Tommy stood up and went to the fire to grab another apple.
"I don't know if I know anymore. In fact I don't know if I know how I did the last one." JP said.
"Now stop that." Bokomon scolded as everyone laughed.
Daisuke gasped as she thought she heard someone talk in a deep voice while Tommy was covered in a purple smog that made his eyes turn blank and dropped his apple as the smog went inside him.
"Later on…)
Zoe and Tommy went to sleep in sleeping bags made out of leaves, the boy groaning as he looked to be trapped in a nightmare as Daisuke was sleeping against Takuya's side.
She had fallen asleep next to the fire, so he picked her up and leaned her against him.
"This stinks. I do a spectacular performance tonight and I still have to watch the stupid fire." JP complained.
"Stop complaining. We drew straws and you lost fair and square." Takuya pointed out.
"I'm just wiped out from all the walking. I think I need to pass out for a while." JP sighed.
"Hey, JP?" Takuya asked suddenly as a thought came up.
"I was wondering are you an only child?" he asked making JP look at him curiously.
"Yeah, but how could you have known that?" he asked.
"It's pretty obvious." Takuya chuckled.
"Big deal. What about it?" JP asked.
"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I just miss my little brother and big sister. Shinya is Daisuke's twin brother. it was their birthday the day we came to the Digital World. Aw man, we missed all the cake and ice cream. Jun's gonna kill me when I get home for keeping Daisuke out this long." Takuya said.
"Afraid it's little bit late for that now bud." JP smiled.
"Yeah. No big whoop." Takuya said, then looked down at Daisuke as she moaned in her sleep and cuddled closer to his side.
"Why aren't you and Daisuke close? I mean, she seems to tease and pick on you all the time and you always rather hang around Tommy. Why is that?" JP asked.
"I'm not sure. It's just…Daisuke's always been shy around people, so she clung to Shinya. They're those types of twins that can read each other's minds and finish the other's sentence. Shinya was always able to get her to open up. I guess because Daisuke and I are so different that we aren't close. She also never needed me to look after her, so I guess I always ran off to help Tommy because he needed me more than she did." Takuya said as he stared down at his sister.
"If ya ask me, she still needs you. I mean, she's a brave kid, but she's still a kid. If my big brother spent all his time around another kid, I'd be pretty jealous." JP stated.
Takuya thought that over and ran his fingers through Daisuke's hair when suddenly he heard a sound again and looked up to the sky.
"Did you just see a ghost?" JP asked.
"I saw something; I'm just not sure what. I think we're being watched." Takuya said making JP look around.
"Um, maybe it was a squirrel or something." JP said.
"I can't believe you didn't feel anything just then." Takuya said.
"I did, but I think it might've been just gas from eating all those meat apple if ya know what I'm saying and I think you do." JP grinned as he was ignored as Takuya held his sister close to him to protect her.
Tommy then started to wine and whimper in his sleep, waking Daisuke and Zoe up while Koji looked over at the boy.
He then stood up and grabbed a stick from the fire, everyone standing as they watched him.
"Tommy, what is it?" Zoe asked.
"I won't forgive you. I won't forgive you. I won't forgive you. I won't forgive you." Tommy muttered as his face was shadowed.
"There's something wrong with him." Takuya said.
"Hey, half pint, snap out of it." JP said as Tommy growled said raised the stick with the burning tip like he was about to strike.
"Tommy, stop that right now!" Zoe called.
"I will not forgive!" Tommy yelled.
"Now cut it out. This isn't funny, Tommy." Takuya called.
"I will never forgive any of you. You're going to pay for what you've done to me." Tommy swore as he threw the stick away and pulled out his D-Tector.
"Execute: Spirit Evolution!" he rasped.
"KUMAMON!"
He then used his Crystal Freeze on the fire and froze it as everyone gasped while Neemon woke up and fell out of the tree he was sleeping in waking Bokomon up.
"That's one angry bear." Takuya said.
"Kumamon." JP said as the group stepped back from the advancing bear.
"I'm tired of you bullying me." Kumamon said with glazed over brown eyes and then used his Crystal Freeze making the humans run away.
The attack hit a tree and made it break in half.
"He's gone completely crazy." Takuya said as they hid behind the trees.
"I'm really sorry Tommy." JP said.
Kumamon used his Crystal Freeze again making them run.
"Guess sorry wasn't the magic word." JP said as the attack hit a tree making it break and start to fall where Zoe was staring at it in fear as Takuya pushing her out of the way, rolling with her to safety.
"You OK?" he asked.
"Yeah." She said.
"Hey, how come Takuya gets to fall with Zoe?" JP asked as Koji and Daisuke watched Kumamon walked up the hill and stared down at them.
"Run you jerk." Koji said as he grabbed Daisuke and pulled her with him and JP ran as Kumamon tried to freeze them again.
"Looks like the only choice we have is to Spirit Evolve and take him out." JP said as the group stood together.
"I will never forgive you." Kumamon said.
"Spirit Evolve? I won't do it. There has to be another way to stop him." Takuya said.
"Right." Zoe nodded.
"I don't wanna hurt Tommy." Daisuke said.
"Sorry JP, I'm with them." Koji said.
"Fine well, what do you propose?" JP asked.
Kumamon then used his Crystal Freeze again making them all run off from the attack so they weren't hit.
"Come on, Zoe, take my hand. I'll protect you." JP said holding his hand out to take her own, but she wasn't looking at him as her gaze was on Kumamon.
JP then yelped as he tripped over a root and Zoe, who wasn't looking, stepped on his back and then jumped off.
"Sorry." She said.
"I'm good." He groaned.
Daisuke was being hidden by Koji and Takuya as Kumamon was walking down the path looking for them.
Suddenly, something moved through the trees making the three Warriors look over.
"What was that?" Koji asked.
"I know I definitely heard something that time." Takuya frowned.
"Was it a digimon? Someone needs to go after it." Daisuke said.
"Right." Koji said as he flipped his D-Tector.
"Execute: Spirit Evolution!"
"LOBOMON!"
Lobomon stepped out from behind the trees to face Kumamon while Zoe and JP were surprised.
"Wait a minute; I thought we all agreed not to Spirit Evolve. Who does he think he is anyway? Sometimes I hate him." JP glared.
"Koji must have a good reason. Maybe he knows something we don't." Zoe defended.
Lobomon then pulled out his Lobo Kendo and raised it into the air and yelled Ancient Spirit of Light as it gave up a bright light that filled the area and revealed the digimon responsible for the mess.
"There he is." Takuya said as he watched the warthog fly off.
"I'm gonna help Koji with Kumamon." Daisuke said.
"Right, I'll get that flying pork chop." Takuya said.
"Execute: Spirit Evolution!"
"AGUNIMON!"
"SAKUYAMON!"
"OK, now something is definitely wrong." Zoe said as she saw the siblings had evolved next.
"All I know is they broke the agreement and we have to protect Tommy." JP said.
"Lobomon, don't you harm a hair on that bear, OK?" Zoe called.
Kumamon then used Frozen Tundra and turned into an icicle to hit Lobomon, but Sakuyamon jumped in front of the Warrior of Light and created a barrier that stopped him and he jumped away, returning to his bear form.
"Kumamon, this has to stop." Lobomon said.
"In coming!" Agunimon yelled from the bushes.
This made Zoe and JP turn to see Agunimon was riding the warthog digimon out into the open and tried to buck the Warrior of Flame off.
"Rotten little warthog!" he yelled.
"What is he riding?" Zoe asked.
"Whoa, piggy!" Agunimon cried as he was thrown off.
"Tapirmon, a product of a medical sleep research computer program. His special attack is Nightmare Syndrome." The woman's voice spoke.
"Come back here you flying porkpie!" Agunimon yelled as he ran after him.
Tapirmon then flew at him and blasted him with Nightmare Syndrome, Agunimon getting lost in a nightmare where he saw his friends and sister attacking him, but he shook them off as he saw their smiling faces and the nightmare ended.
"It's only a dream. Tapirmon has convinced him that we're his enemies." Agunimon said making the two humans gasp.
"Oh no." Zoe said.
Kumamon was advancing on Lobomon and Sakuyamon, the fox pulling out a card as the bear had his Blizzard Blaster out.
Stop, Tommy." Lobomon said as he held his Lobo Kendo.
"My name is Kumamon and you are nothing but a big bully." He said.
"No, you're wrong." Lobomon said.
"Kumamon, you're under the spell of Tapirmon's Nightmare Syndrome! This isn't real. You have to fight it!" Agunimon called as he ran over.
Kumamon looked over at him, his voice getting through to him.
Agunimon then growled as he slammed his fists together.
"Takuya!" Zoe cried.
"Wait, don't do it!" JP yelled.
Flames swirled around Agunimon's arms as he looked over to Tapirmon to get ready to attack him.
"It's time to end this nightmare!" he said as he landed the hits with his flames, Tapirmon having data appear around him as Agunimon pulled out his D-Tector.
"Now for some purification. Fractal Code: Digitize!" he said downloading the data and Tapirmon's Power Ring returned onto his calf.
With the taint gone, Kumamon turned back into Tommy who was clueless as to what happened.
"Lobomon, Sakuyamon, wow, have you been fighting somebody?" he asked.
"It's good to have you back, Tommy." Lobomon said and Sakuyamon laughed as Zoe ran over with a relieved smile.
"Tommy, don't you remember? You just had a terrible nightmare." She said.
"Huh?" Tommy asked looking over to the others.
"That's right. You gave us quite a scare there young man. Tapirmon's dream made you think we were your enemies." Bokomon said.
"Yeah, but it was actually Cherubimon's fault." JP explained.
"Bakemon's better now. He didn't know what he was doing at the time." Neemon said.
"I'm sorry. From now on, I promise I'll only send you good dreams." Tapirmon said.
"Aw, mm-kay. So I had an adventure and I don't even remember it." Tommy said as he scratched the back of his head with a smile.
"It's good ya don't." Zoe smiled.
Afterwards, everyone started to walk back to the camp site since they had run off away from it during the attack.
"Thanks, Koji. I'm sorry I didn't believe in you. I owe you one." Takuya said.
"You don't owe me anything. Besides, you're the one who sensed something back there." Koji said.
"Huh?" Takuya asked.
"I always heard that savages rely on intuition." Koji said.
"You really hate being nice, don't cha?'" Takuya asked with a frown.
The two boys then shared a smile and then bumped fists.
"I'm not sure I'll ever understand them." JP said.
They all went to camp and lay down around the campfire as Tapirmon blew pink dust on them.
"Sweet dreams, children." He sighed.
Off to the side was Koji leaning up against the same tree.
"Now that is the way to sleep." Koji smiled as he watched the others all sleeping peacefully and then Tapirmon flew off.
His D-Tector then beeped making him grab it to hear what the new message was.
"Your Beast Spirit awaits, Koji Minamoto." The woman said as he stood up in shock.
Bokomon, Neemon and Daisuke heard and woke up to look over at the stunned Koji.
"But first, you have some growing to do." The woman spoke up making him frown as he stood up to leave.
As he went to leave, Daisuke got up as she watched him write a note and stood next to him.
"What're you doing up? Go back to sleep." He said as he set the note down under a rock so it wouldn't be blown away.
"No way. I'm coming with you." she said stubbornly.
"Look, Takuya would kill me if something bad happened to you." Koji said turning to look her in the eye.
"I can take care of myself and I've helped save you guys plenty of times. I won't get in the way." Daisuke said defiantly.
Koji groaned at this as Daisuke then looked up at him with watery eyes.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
Her bottom lip then quivered as her eyes got even more glossy with unshed tears and her hands were held up in front of her chest and she made a small whimpering noise.
Bokomon and Neemon watched in fascination as Koji's face grew red at the adorable sight of the look the girl was giving him.
"Please? I just wanna help." She whimpered.
Groaning in defeat, he covered his eyes from the sight and missed the victorious smirk that Daisuke had.
"Fine, let's just go before we wake everyone up." Koji said as he removed his hands to see the girl was now smiling happily up at him.
"Great." She chirped.
This girl was going to be the death of whatever man who married her.
To be continued…