Trade Up

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

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'Thoughts'

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

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Sasuke Uchiha

Tamer Digital World

He taps his foot with his arms crosses over his chest as he waits for the grey Digimon known commonly as Gazimon. Over the pass few days, the short Digimon had become fretful and skittish but what really got his arousing temper was the fact that the Digimon forbade him from go Digimon hunting and the bunny eared Digimon hadn't told him why he's not aloud either. He privately would love to delete and then absorb the grey monster's data but he highly doubts his 'benefactor' would approve of that and he might find himself returning back to Hidden Leaf before he's got a chance to work on fine tuning his new abilities that he's discovered.

True, they were minor like blowing exploding bubbles but he's managed to alter them enough to add a fire element to them by using a bit of chakra. On learning that it was an ability known to most types of in-training Digimon, it made him eager to begin deleting and absorbing rookie Digimon. He could only imagine the possibilities of adding their traits to his fighting style.

After all, with every Digimon absorbed, even the fresh and in-training types, he felt stronger and more energized. He could only imagine what kind of power he'd receive by continuing up the chain of Digimon levels, it was enough to make him drool, just imagining how badly out class his elder brother would be when they met up again after he's absorbed a few of the highest level Digimon around.

Although, it did get him to thinking, how was it that a Digimon advance to those higher levels? After all, if the ones he's been deleting and absorbing were only babies and really young children then it means, if you follow that course of logic, that the rookies were preteens, champions to be teens or young adults, ultimates were older adults, and megas to be elderly. Although, unlike with humans, the more advance the age, the more powerful and skilled they get until they're at peek performance, which is when they become megas, likely the oldest Digimon around.

Too caught up in his thoughts, he missed Gazimon's arrival, his thoughts trying to puzzle out whether to ask his Digimon guide or to just forget about it since, in the end, it wasn't relevant at this time.

-(V)-

Gazimon

He arrived to find the brat brooding about something, though he doubts that it's anything important other then trying to calculate how many more young Digimon he needed to delete and download before taking the chance to confront a rookie. He's under no delusions that when that finally happened, he'd better watch his back or else find a giant fire ball heading in his direction.

Although those kinds of worries were now on hold since it seems that Daemon had decided to reward him by allowing him to finally Digivolve into his champion form, something that's getting harder over the pass year and it seems as if nobody knew why that was either. He grins as he considers the course of action he plans to take now.

After all, to stay safe he needs to keep a few steps ahead of the brat and the only thing the brat respects is raw power, even if the boy despises it when he's out classed by it. He does find it odd that the brat's never seemed to develop homesickness since he's been here, in the Digital world.

With a mental sigh, he makes a throaty sound to snap the brat out of his brooding. The boy's black eyes glare at him, as if it wasn't the brat's fault that he didn't hear him coming. 'Oh boy, if you think I'm bad, brat, wait until you deal directly with the boss himself.' He muses privately to himself, keeping a smirk off his furry face.

"So then, do you think you're ready to have another go at me, brat?" He asks with a hint of a smug look on his face. His arms around his waist as his tail tip flickers from side to side.

A flash of cold fury enters and fades out of the brat's eyes before the brat stands up in a way that screams boredom. Though to his eyes, he notices how stiff the brat's shoulders were as well as how stiffly the brat's walk is as the kid walks a few feet towards him. A slightly hungry look enters into the kid's coal eyes for a few seconds before the kid looks away from him.

"Good, now then, I'm feeling generous so feel free to take five free shoots at me before I decide to defend myself." He says as he gives the kid a confident smirk and makes sure that his body language read how unconcerned he was about this upcoming fight. After all, it's true, it won't matter if all five hits touched him, for before there would be a sixth, he would initiate his reward and Digivolve into his champion form, which would also get rid of his injuries that he received during his time as a rookie.

As Sasuke's sandals dig into the sandy ground, the boy's hands ball into fists since Daemon has yet to send replacement weapons for the brat, which forces the brat to use physical attacks, jutsus, and his newly acquired Digimon type attacks which were mostly a stream of bubbles that explode. He can't help but feel smug, after all, the brat was rarely out of his sight and the only time that happens is when the brat has gone hunting for young Digimon to delete and then absorb. So he already had a rough idea of what kind of attack pattern the brat will be using, after all, the brat isn't very creative when it comes to trying new attack routings.

This is likely due to lack of training partners and too much success with the way he normally attacks as well, so he's already moving to the left as the brat blurs and within a few seconds, he twirls to the right. He leaps backwards and as he lands, he couches as a stream of red bubbles coming flying his way. He's already rolling on the ground as they explode loudly, sending bits of fire in all directions.

"My turn!" He sings out and after leaping a few feet away from the brat, he can't help but smirk as excitement races through his being. "Gazimon Digivolve too…" He calls out before being engulfed by a shell of black light. "Fangmon!" He howls out as the shell breaks apart, revealing him in his new body, complete with a total make over.

The scent of the brat's unease and surprise makes him grin even more, showing off more of his new pointed teeth. At the sight of the pale brat going even paler, he feels a deep satisfaction at being the reason for that fear. His ears pick up the sound of a racing heart and it only takes him a second to realise that it's coming from the human right in front of him.

"Blast Coffin!" He growls out in a different voice then his previous evolution. A ball of black energy gathers in his open jaws before launching itself in the brat's general direction, he misses on purpose, after all, as long as the brat remains healthy and under his thumb, it's more then likely that he'll receive the ability to advance to ultimate level.

The blast sends the brat flying through the air and causes him to land on his back. He walks casually towards the boy ninja, the scent of fear causing him to feel very satisfied with himself at the fear he installed in the pale boy known as Sasuke. He stops about a foot away from the boy; it was as if he could taste the boy's very bitterness over being over powered in such a seemingly casual way.

"So then, do you like my new form, human? Cause I'm not going back to being Gazimon anytime soon, if ever, so you better reconsider your 'treatment' of my advice and position or I'll bite a finger or a toe off, understand?" He says in his new voice, using a gruff tone.

Sasuke nods his head rapidity and he nods in approval. "Good, now, go pack. We've spent too much time in this area and it's likely that the Sovereign Digimon already know of your activities, which means that they might already guess who our 'benefactor' is. So, there's likely a strong group on its way to foul our time in this world." He says and he notices the brat rolling his eyes on hearing about their likely enemies. "Considering whose dimension we're staying in, I wouldn't be surprised if those heading our way are a pair of Devas." He adds and on noticing the blank look on the brat's face, he explains, "The Devas are a group of twelve ultimate level Digimon answering to the phoenix Sovereign Zhuqiaomon, a mega level Digimon who owns this part of the Digital world. Which means that he's not your average mega Digimon, get it?"

The startled look that turned to fear with a hint of loathing meant that the brat understood that they were in some deep trouble if they were captured and Daemon decided to wash his hands of them. After all, he'd likely get off lightly, being a Digimon hired to do a job, but the boy on the other hand… The phoenix Sovereign hated humans with a fiery passion and it really didn't help that Sasuke not only deleted those considered helpless and highly unable to defend themselves but he also loaded their data, something that only Digimon were allowed to do.

As he watches the pale boy race off to get packing, he feels his tail wag back and forth as he watches the brat. Then with a final swish, he turns away from the brat and heads off to try and confusion their trail so that the pair of Digimon likely on their way here would, hopefully, split up to follow a few false trails out of this area.

-(V)-

Dorumon

'This would be so much easier if I Digivolve into my champion form, then we'd make better time since I know Naruto's capable of keeping up with us on the ground.' He thinks as he trails behind his partner since Ryo's currently flying over head, riding in his partner's arms. 'Though I doubt it would help any, after all, most of this guy's trail is evident on the ground and I do have the guy's scent, as foul as it is.' He adds silently to himself as they moved over the sandy ground, heading in the direction their minor tracking abilities point in.

"Hey, Dorumon?" He perks up as he hears his partner say something to him. "Yea?" He asks once he get into pace with the blond. "What do you think your ultimate form will be like?" The whisker marked preteen asks him out of the blue.

"Huh?" He says in startlement, not expecting that question. "I know, but, well, it's kind of hard not to wonder about it once you run out of original things to think about. I mean, it's hard not to wonder when there's a Digimon that's pretty much a full time ultimate in front of our eyes, huh?" Naruto says, rambling slightly with a slight look of embarrassment on his face.

"I wouldn't be surprise if I Digivolve into another furry dragon, after all, the fur is something that three known forms share, right?" He says on a light note, it worked as the blond smiles broadly and nods in agreement. "Guess so, I get what you're saying, after all, Cyberdramon doesn't have much in the way of fur and likely didn't have much of it in his lower forms. After all, most beast types keep their fur coat and I guess being a Beast Dragon means you'll keep your fur too as you advance through the levels of evolution." The blue eyed whisker Tamer says, flashing him another grin before they continued in silence.

Dorumon could only sigh as he spotted the line that signalled that the day had passed, which means they were now looking for a place to set up camp. They traveled for another thirty minutes before they just stopped at a point and Naruto allows his pack to drop to the ground. Cyberdramon carrying Ryo lands within a few feet of Naruto and himself. He stretches his body in hopes of relaxing his muscles; it's something he learnt from living so long with his friend and partner.

It amuses him to see Ryo also stretching as he walks around the camp; it's likely that Ryo's backside likely grew stiff after sitting in the crock of Cyberdramon's arm all day long. He turns to look at the blond and finds Naruto sitting cross legged as the whiskered marked boy going through his purple pack. The blond pulls out a new shirt, vest, jeans, and other such things.

"Err… I don't suppose everybody could, I don't know, turn away while I change?" Naruto asks with redden cheeks. "Why don't we ask Cyberdramon to block our view?" He muses and turns to look at the quiet dragon Digimon. "Well, Cyberdramon, you want to do it?" Ryo asks his partner.

"If I have to." The larger Digimon says with a slight snarl and within seconds his partner is hidden from their view. It takes a few minutes before Naruto walks from behind the taller Digimon with his old cloths in his arms. "Looking sharp." Ryo calls out and the blond just shakes his head as the younger Tamer heads back to where his pack is.

"So then, did you want to continue on with your story or did you want to have a match?" The blond boy asks once he's done stuffing the cloths into his pack. "I think I'll skip having a match for tonight, Hige." Ryo says and Naruto sighs as he gives his head a shake.

"Well then, I'm sure the rest of your life story will take up most of the night, huh DK?" Naruto says in an overly sweet voice, he sighs as he curls up on the ground, waiting patiently for Ryo to begin his next set of adventures. With a nod, Ryo gets this look of concentration on his face as the teen gathers his thoughts, much like the look the teen had last night. "It was about six month after the end of the Digidestine's adventures with the Digital world. I'm fairly sure you've seen that movie called Our War Games, right?" Ryo asks and his partner nods while he remains silent like last time Ryo told them a bit about his history. "Yea, I remember seeing it." Naruto says.

"Well then, I sure it won't come to any surprise that I watched the whole thing happen on the computer while I was at a friend's house." The older dimensional hopper pauses there for a moment before adding, "I'm sure you figured out who that friend was." Naruto replies softly, "Ken Ichijouji."

Ryo gets a slightly bitter smile on his face as the partner of Cyberdramon nods before continuing. "Anyway, as we turned to do something else on the computer, Veemon appears with a D-3. According to the small blue dragon a Diaboromon escaped into the Digital world and guess who's summoned to defeat it?" Ryo says and pauses for a few seconds before continuing this tale.

"Ken wanted to help and so he followed me into the Digital world. I met up with Tai and Agumon before heading off. Ken stuck around Primary Village to wait for Veemon and mine return, after all, Diaboromon was hiding out in the same place that Devimon used as his base." Ryo says. "You'd think that a rookie wouldn't be able to take out a mega level Digimon like Diaboromon but Veemon did." Ryo adds before growing silent for a few moments.

"Diaboromon was just a lure set to riel me to the Digital world. It seems Millenniummon was still around. The mountain that we were on, Millenniummon blows it up and in doing so split the Digital world in two. Ken on one half and myself on the other. Ken did met up with Wormmon and does go on his own adventures, like clearing dungeons and finding items needed to correct the rift. I really miss him." The older Tamer says the last part softly and he can't help but feel for Ryo.

After all, he does sometimes miss having those Gotsumon show up to visit Naruto and him. For a few seconds, he can't help but feel a bit homesick for that valley that he met Naruto in. He can't help but wonder if anybody moved into that cave that Naruto and him had been living in.

"Along the way to confront Millenniummon, I found pieces of Digi-Eggs and with nothing better to do, I just keep them. In time I did make my way to Millenniummon floating island and then the guy decides to get cryptic on me!" Ryo growls, clearly annoyed even after the event. It takes a few seconds for Ryo to calm down to continue with his tale, "Anyway, it uses out that those pieces of Digi-Eggs could be used to unlock this gate that Millenniummon set before Ken and I. They formed a Digi-Egg of Desire and it seemed that only I could make it react."

"The door opens and Ken, our partners at that time, and myself are engulfed by darkness. We soon find ourselves in Millenniummon's world, a barren waste land with a sphere that is the guy's castle. In time, we do make it there and while Millenniummon is polite to me, he's out right rude to Ken." Ryo says with his eyes flashing in anger, it's clear that Ryo didn't like how Millenniummon acted to his young friend back then.

"It was a challenge but in time, we did manage to defeat Millenniummon. He was laughing as his body broke apart! The Digital world returns to normal, though Millenniummon returns only to explode, sending out Dark Spore throughout the air." Ryo says. "Ken pushes me out of the way and gets hit by a spore coming at me. Millenniummon chuckles as he declares that he can't die as long as my power is eternal and then he vanishes, leaving me with Ken who's beginning to burn up."

Naruto says, "Must have been hard, he saves you only to become one of the bad guys of season two." He nods in agreement with his Tamer on that one. "I wasn't around to witness that nor to try and prevent it." Ryo states as he runs a hand through his hair as the older Tamer stares into the ground, his gaze kind of misty as Ryo likely replays the events in his mind.

Then Ryo closes his eyes and turns his face up to the 'sky'. "We can turn in if you like." Naruto says after a few seconds but Ryo just shakes his head. "No, I think I should continue. I need to get what comes next off my chest and maybe you'll see why I kind of prefer to go at life on my own." Ryo says, turning to look at Naruto and then flickering to look at him before turning to look at Cyberdramon.

"You see, I had been nursing Ken back in the real world and after a few days, Ken points to his computer and mentions that there's something that might interest me on it. So, I go and check, I found a page containing a quiz for potential participants in something called the D-1 Tournament." Ryo tells them. "It perked my interest so I started to fill out the questions. After answering a few questions I can't help but noticed that the test was rigged since it seemed that I knew all the answer to the questions, so I turned to ask Ken about it and he said he didn't know anything about it."

"So I completed the quiz and once I had picked one of the Sovereign Digimon and then that particular Digimon's shadow appeared and abducted me from Ken's room. It wasn't long until I found myself in the Digital world once more and I found myself not far from Piximon who then told me that the Digital world needed my power once more." The older Tamer says and then shakes his head. "I, of course, was sceptical about this since I'm usually only called to the Digital world to deal with Millenniummon, so I asked why and the pink Digimon told me about how the Harmonious Ones, just another title for the Sovereign Digimon, had called for a tournament to be held and that the other children were called to participate as well. I was then directed to the arena so I did."

Ryo sighs before continuing, "I was kind of surprised how many kids showed up. Most of them called themselves Tamers and after talking with some of them, I headed to Gennai's to find a monitor with Ken on it." A slight smile grows on Ryo's face and he can only guess how close Ken and Ryo were before Ryo was forced to leave his home world. A slight glance over to Naruto shows that the blond, too, understood that as well.

"Must be hard not being able to get messages from him." Naruto says. "Yea, but, who knows, maybe one day…" Ryo says with a bit of wistfulness in his tone and his partner nods in agreement. "If I ever met him, I'll tell him you miss him." Naruto promises and then the older Tamer chuckles slightly before a playful grin appears on his face as Ryo says playfully, "If you ever do, I'll wear a shirt that declares you to be my master for a month without wearing anything over top of it."

"Deal!" Naruto exclaims and they shake on it, sealing the deal. "Why do I get the feeling that you just condemned yourself?" Cyberdramon says in his gruff voice causing all three of them to turn to look at the ultimate level dragon like Digimon. It was kind of easy to forget that the Digimon was around since he rarely speaks, mostly allowing Ryo to do the talking for both of them.

"Maybe because Naruto's like some kind of demi-god or a demon when it comes to lucky chances and gambling?" He decides to add his two cents in a light hearted tone. The two humans exchange looks before the blond of the two shakes his head. "Can't take it back, we sealed it with a handshake." Naruto says on seeing the look on Ryo's face. "Ah come on, do a pal a favour!" Ryo whines with a slight smile on his face, making it hard to believe that Ryo really wants to take back the bet.

Naruto crosses his arms with a stubborn look on his face. A look he knew too well. "He's not going to budge, Ryo. It's just better to find a tasteful shirt, take it into a tailor, and be prepared to wear it when the time comes." He says and his best friend nods in agreement. "Or I can just find a Digi-Gnome and have those little guys create one for me." Ryo muses thoughtfully.

It's not long before silence hangs over them once more as they enjoy the lightening of the mood. "Anyway, let's get back to my story." Ryo says and it takes a few minutes before Ryo's ready to continue with his story.

"Anyway, Gennai hands me a D-Terminal so that I can communicate with Ken where ever I am while in the Digital world. I then head back to the arena as we're addressed by one of the Sovereign Digimon about the goal of the tournament and how you pass through the five grades. Agumon, Wormmon, and Veemon offer me aid and so, I headed out to train in the dungeon that I had access to." Ryo says with a sigh. "It was a pattern really; everybody was expected to go train in a dungeon before being able to challenge the lowest grade that you haven't fought in. The head of the fifth grade was Izzy, the fourth grade was headed by Willis, the third grade was headed by Mimi, the second grade by Matt, and the first grade by Tai."

Ryo's lips press together for a few seconds before the older Tamer continues, "It seemed that the whole tournament was a hoax set up to train me. That it was predetermined that I would win it. It was all to prepare me for Moon-Millenniummon." "It must have really hurt to have heard that." Naruto says and Ryo's eyes close as he nods.

"You closed yourself off, didn't you?" He asks after a few seconds. "They did apologies but… They betrayed my trust by lying to me, not even asking if I was willing to fight the new and improved Millenniummon." Ryo says with a hint of bitterness. "I did march off to attack his new base. Moon-Millenniummon welcomed me, even went as far as to tell me how he and I were Yin and Yang, there fore neither of us could die while the other lives. He then invites me to fly with him through worlds of time, causing the island to explode."

"I guess the Digidestine all think I'm dead because of that." Ryo says and neither Naruto nor him knew what to say after that. In time, Ryo lies on his back and Naruto moves to be closer to him. After a few minutes, he allows himself to relax and curls tighter into a ball as Naruto rests his head on his bushy purple tail.

Sleep slowly descended upon the group at its own pace.

-(V)-

Naruto Uzumaki

"Looks like somebody decided to teach someone a lesson." He can't help but say after they arrive at the site viva Cyberdramon airlines with Dorugamon trailing behind them while he is riding on Cyberdramon's other arm crock.

"Really? I hadn't noticed." Ryo says dryly while he rolls his eyes. The ultimate level Digimon drops down, allowing him to leap off. He studies the sand and then the tracks of the Digimon. "I think whatever Digimon is with Sasuke must have Digivolved, see how these small track leap back and then suddenly, there's those ones, definitely four legged in nature. The blasted was a warning shoot, likely to intimidate the guy into submission. It worked, Sasuke scrambles away and then the Digimon bounces off in that direction."

He points off in the direction of the tracks. "How long ago was this?" Ryo asks. "I'd say a day or two. See, the sands haven't done covering up the tracks yet, so they're recent, though I'd say if we were a day later most of these would have been covered up by wind or something flying over head." He replies as he glances over to where his partner Digimon is hovering, causing the wind to stir up and begin covering tracks.

"Oops?" Dorugamon says in embarrassment and he chuckles slightly. "Anyway, we should head off in that direction since I'm sure that we'll find out if he's still in the area or not." He points in the direction Sasuke raced off in. "Shouldn't one of us follow the Digimon that he was attacking?" His partner wonders and he shrugs. "If the Digimon is important then we'll likely find his tracks with Sasuke's." Ryo muses and he nods in agreement.

It's not long before he's once more in the other crock of Cyberdramon's arm before they fly off in the direction of where Sasuke had fled after his confirmation with the newly Digivolved champion Digimon.

-(V)-

Daemon

Dark Ocean

He can't help but growl as his ability to observe the happenings beyond his prisons seems to be limited now. It's likely that the brat's hunting of young Digimon have alerted the Sovereign Digimon that he's not as handicapped as they had hoped. It seems like it was a good idea to leave his mark on the human and on the Digimon he has appointed to be the brat's guide.

Now he's trying to gather enough energy to send the pair from that Digital world to another one, one that from his observations a fellow Demon Lord had been seen in, Lucemon, the Lord of Pride. It also might give the brat a new goal to propose since according to rumours that he's gathered through observation of that world, there were ten spirits that could allow a human to transform into a Digimon, which should keep the Uchiha brat in the shadows until he's found one of those spirits and claim it.

He also learnt that those three angel Digimon who were set to watch over the Digital world have yet to achieve mega level yet, they're currently champion level which should allow Fangmon to survive more then one encounter with one or two of those angel Digimon.

'Too bad I can't check up on the demon vessel, but then, my viewing window doesn't allow me to see what occurs in any of the human worlds connected to Digital world. That one's been out of my sight too long and I highly doubt I'll know how to manipulate him. If any of the Sovereign Digimon ever encounter him, it's likely that they'll inform the blond of my crimes. After all, the brat does have strong moral fibre or else he would have long since resorted to bloodier means to get the respect of his home village.' He muses about the blond demon vessel he let loose in the known realms of the Digital world.

-(V)-

Sandaime Hokage

Hidden Leaf He sighs as he begins to rub his temples to ward off a headache. He wonders if he couldn't just take a vacation until the village calms down about the disappearance of their 'beloved' Sasuke Uchiha. He can't help but be sour about how much of an uproar has been cause by the young Uchiha's disappearance but then, he was the last Uchiha that's living within the wall of Hidden Leaf.

"Lord Hokage sir? I have another stack of complains about the Uchiha situation." A chuunin says as his guard opens the door to allow the man in. "What is it this time? Demands that we release him from our secret ANBU lab?" He asks and the chuunin tries to shrug as the man walks up to his desk to deposit the stack of papers.

"Sir? What do you really think happened to Sasuke?" The chuunin asks him as bold as daylight. "I think what happened to Naruto Uzumaki has happened with Sasuke Uchiha and anything we do is meaningless until one or the other decides to arrive back in Hidden Leaf." He says as he cleans out the pipe before putting some of his tobacco into the head.

"Then you think the… err, vessel is helping their captors to brainwash the Uchiha?" The chuunin asks. 'It doesn't matter what I say, they'll make up whatever they want to believe.' He muses sadly, not answering the man and within seconds, the chuunin leaves his office leaving him alone with his paper work.

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