YELLOW (Birthdate March 3): Ah! I make my return this chapter. I will do my very best with my role!

IXEN (January 1): Um... Do you best, Yellow-san. This chapter was finished earlier than expected. The 2 weeks of required work wasn't even enforced. Oh well, that just means that Author will have to use that week for the next chapter since I don't really enjoy this one.

TAICHI (N/A): But I guess that can't be helped since Denthasus doesn't own Pokemon or Digimon. By the way, why don't you just use the author's penname or even real name, Ixen?

IXEN (January 1): Because I hate Author with a passion for abandoning me and saying her name would be like Daisuke actually using honorifics when addressing Takeru... Be glad I'm actually supporting Author's current work with this story. Now read on.

~GOLD~

"Gold, stop the attack!" Red's words came too late as Explotaro already unleashed Ultimate Fire Technique on our new junior.

"Dia!" Pearl moved towards the flames but everything moved so slowly. I hoped it was slow enough for the kid to get out of the way, but even I knew that time would still be too fast for the funny man of the duo.

I clenched my eyes shut and prepared myself for the consequences but a surprisingly quick command from Chef Slowpoke turned things around.

"Me First!" he cried childishly. I looked back up towards the one-sided attack and noticed a pink blob was returning Explotaro's Blast Burn.

Both attacks died down and Pearl was left weak-kneed. He collapsed to the ground with a sigh of relief. When he recovered enough, he stood back up and yelled angrily at his slow friend. "What were you thinking, Dia!? You could have gotten killed!"

"I wanted to stop the fight." Dia opened his arms and let out a bright smile. "We're all friends after all!"

"Friends?" I asked and looked at Goggle Brat. "There's no way I could ever be friends with a brat like him! He started it!"

"I was just doing my job of protecting the Digital World!" Goggle Brat yelled back. "If anything you're not supposed to be here!"

"Why you!?" I grabbed him by his fiery jacket.

"Gold, put him down." I didn't listen at first, but I then realized it was Green so did as I was told.

"You can't seriously trust them, can you, Senior Green?" I asked.

"Well, why not?" Red landed beside me and offered his hand out to the others who Pearl was watching over. "We should give them a chance and the benefit of the doubt." He smiled at the Green Clone. "Sorry about that. I'm Red by the way. First thing we need to do is to clear up this misunderstanding."

Green Clone nodded and smiled back. "My name is Taichi. And I guess some of the misunderstanding stemmed from us attacking first." He looked over at Goggle Brat sternly.

"It wasn't my fault, Senior Taichi!" Goggle Brat looked at me. "He was trying to capture a Digimon with those weird monster balls."

"That was because Senior Green told me to! He was going to figure out what these strange creatures were because there was nothing in our Pokédex about them!" I cried.

"How was I supposed to know that!? The Digimon here are free-roaming so if anybody captures them, it probably means they're up to no good!"

"And how was I supposed to know that? I'm not even from here, so if I see a weird creature, I capture it like a trainer is supposed to do."

The two of us furiously glared at each other and it took a while for Red to calm me down. "Well, it looks like I'll have to tell Ruby to let your two friends go."

"Already did," the beauty-obsessed boy arrived with the others. "Platinum, Sapphire, and Senior Crystal explained the situation when Dia ran off." He looked at the charred battleground and frowned. "You must have had quite a battle, Senior Red."

"No, that was all Gold," Red said with a smile. "But that gave you enough data on how our moves work, right, Green?"

Green closed his eyes and nodded. "I suggest we don't use the Ultimate Techniques unless absolutely necessary. Typhlosion appears to be about ready to faint."

Surprised, I went to inspect Explotaro. Using Blast Burn twice in a day in this strange world put him in bad shape. I felt bad so recalled him for a long rest. "You did a great job, partner." I looked around and wondered if there was a place I could recover energy at. "Is there a Pokémon Center or something around here?"

"Gold, it's not like we're in our own world," Crystal stated. "I have some potions you can use later, but we've got to conserve our supplies."

"Supplies? You won't need them here," a boy my age with blue hair said. "We can just go back to our world and get food."

"There's another world that is connected to this one?" Sapphire didn't understand and neither did I for that matter.

"We'll explain on the way," a boy with short red hair said. He was carrying a yellow laptop on his back but nobody seemed to think it was strange. "First, we need to bring you to where we live. The closest way out is just a short distance from here." He pointed towards the south and closed his laptop.

Red and Green looked at each other. The brown-haired boy nodded and Red took the lead. "Okay, let's get ready. Grab your things and we'll be ready. Crys' team picked some fruit so make sure to pack up most of it with us."

Green Clone looked to his group and shrugged. "We should help. If anything, it helps to be prepared, right?" He smiled down at his orange dinosaur. "Come on, Agumon."

Everybody returned to the village but I stayed behind. Green didn't move at all either until everyone else was gone. I looked up at my senior and frowned. "You don't trust them, do you, Senior Green?"

"Not yet, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt. As for your blunder, expect an hour more to be tacked onto your training regimen."

I jumped at that but Green already started to follow the others, leaving me with no chance to argue against it. I glared at the ground and kicked at the dirt. I really hate this place and that Goggle Brat.

~KOUSHIRO~

"It's just right up ahead," I pointed out as we neared the mini television.

When it was finally in sight, the boy wearing a baseball cap and goggles frowned in disappointment. "This is it? It doesn't seem like much."

"Maybe, but it's important to us. That's the only way we can get home," Takeru said as he stepped up to see if he could open the gate. When nothing happened he looked at Miyako worriedly.

She knelt down and had a look for herself what was wrong, but gave me a look that told me we couldn't connect to the computer lab. "I can't find Jun on any channel."

Daisuke crossed his arms. "I knew it was a bad idea to let my sister be in charge of watching the lab." He reached into his pocket for his D-Terminal. "Let's see…" He spent a few minutes sending her a message then waited for a reply. "Jun says that the computer can't connect to the gate."

Mimi went over to the computer. "Does that mean the gate to America is closed too?"

I turned on my laptop and got to work on the portal. "Let me see if I can fix it. There's no way we can be stuck in the Digital World again!"

Everyone sat around me in small groups. Both of our teams were slightly apart from each other except for the few who easily got along with each other. There were two people who were watching me, but I didn't mind. One was the girl who had been with Dia when Takeru introduced him to us. I didn't know her true name, but I guess the title as lady fit. The other was the green-eyed boy with spiky hair and a red-orange dragon following him. Whether it was his true name or just a code they used, everybody referred to him as Green.

"This is a rather interesting program. What is it that you are doing?" Lady asked me.

"I'm trying to see if there is any type of interference that is preventing us from connecting to the computer we came from. So far, I don't see anything strange. Can you please read me the numbers coming up on the sidebar?"

"Five, eleven, fifty-three, forty-one, twenty-five."

I shook my head when the numbers didn't match the signal the television was receiving. "The portal is connecting to a different place altogether." I looked over at Daisuke and Jou. "Jou, I need Shuu to take a look at the computer in the lab. Daisuke, let Jun know that we'll need her to cover for some of us with our parents. I don't know how long we'll be stuck here, but it's better to have a story prepared so our families won't worry too much about us."

"It's that bad, huh?" Taichi said. "Well, I guess there's nothing else we can do."

"So this means all of us are stuck here," the boy with the red and white baseball cap stated. He looked to his friends. "If there's nothing to do, we might as well train then." He looked over at Green. "Will you be joining us, Green?"

The boy shook his head. "I'll just stay here, Red. But I want Gold to run an hour training session against Machamp, Scizor, and Charizard." He glanced at his dragon and sent out a four-armed wrestler and a crimson red insect creature. The three nodded and surrounded Gold, causing the younger boy to gulp.

Many of the trainers left towards a clearing while everyone else watched. Lady returned my laptop to me and went on to train a small white and blue squirrel against Red's yellow mouse. I watched for a while before tuning the noise out.

Eventually, it became evening in the Digital World and we were still stuck. I rubbed my eyes because we were getting nowhere. Jou finally received a message back from his brother and the news wasn't good. "How can the computer have no gate? We've been using that computer all year to gain entrance to the Digital World."

Tentomon sighed but jumped when we felt something close to an earthquake. "What was that?" he asked.

The trainers looked amongst each other. A girl wearing a blue bandana placed an ear to the ground. "I felt smaller tremors while we were training but we stopped an hour ago so it's not us. It feels pretty unnatural."

The boy beside her frowned and fixed his knit cap. "But I can tell it's not due to a Pokémon's move. Could it be an attack?" His hand moved closer to a ball as he looked around us cautiously.

All of us were silent for a while until my computer received an alert. Tentomon quickly handed me the laptop. "Koushiro, you've got a message from Gennai."

I straightened up at that. "Really?" I pulled it up and was surprised to see it was a video call. "Gennai!" It took me a while but I noticed something was different with the digital anomaly. "You seem different, Gennai."

All of the Chosen Children looked towards me and gathered behind me. "I know, Koushiro. I just sensed a change in the Digital World. Are you all on File Island?"

We all looked at each other oddly. "No, we're on Server Continent."

Gennai seemed worried with our answer but noticed the other people with us. "And those are?"

"Dex Holders," Red stepped forward. "We're not from their world or this world." He looked at his friends. "We're trying to find a way home."

"I see…" Gennai thought about it carefully. "I suppose I must look into this further. Children, please come visit me in my home immediately. There is much to discuss. As usual, just follow the light and hurry." The call ended and we all looked up.

A searchlight appeared in the distance and we started for it. Many of the trainers didn't move yet so I paused and looked at them. "There's nothing to worry about. Gennai is a person we definitely trust."

Green studied me carefully, his intense stare causing me to shiver. He said nothing but nodded for those around him to get going. He passed me and walked over to Red who was wondering what he was doing. Iori saw the entire thing and came back to speak with me.

"I don't trust them, Koushiro," he stated seriously. "The way they battled and trained earlier, it reminded me of how the Kaiser used to pit the Digimon against each other. And their whole idea of capturing creatures in those balls and keeping them indefinitely doesn't seem very trustworthy."

"Yes, but I think it is all so very intriguing. Besides, their creatures just might be similar to those we've been encountering everywhere."

Armadimon looked up at his partner. "We can't just judge them by what they are used to and how they act in contrast to us, Iori."

Tentomon nodded. "And Koushiro, you shouldn't get off track. Everyone else is leaving us behind."

I noticed he was right and looked towards Iori. "Let's hurry!"

The younger boy nodded and went ahead. As I started to take off, I heard static coming from the TV and looked back. There were blurry shapes taking form but since the signals were scrambled and everybody else was already so far ahead, I decided to ignore it.

~YELLOW~

I did my best to keep up with the boy who was guiding me through the Digital World. He didn't seem to want to be here, but when I asked about it he gave me a warm smile and said it was nothing. His partner Digimon was a small purple dragon who was very friendly to me. Monodramon and Ryo… The two had the same bond I had with all of my Pokémon and just seeing that made me trust them immediately.

Ryo said he's been here before while Monodramon thought it was cool compared to the Digital World they were from. So there were a lot more Digital Worlds, but where exactly were we?

I thought back to the day before the Dex Holders' Reunion. The giant turtle turned out to be Ebonwumon and he asked me to return with him to his world where I could help with something. I couldn't say no, but I didn't even get a chance to tell the others. They must be worried about me not showing up and Blue even went through the trouble of calling me so I wouldn't be late.

This was important though. The others would understand when I meet up with them once again. The first thing I had to do though was learn as much as I can about the Digital World from Ryo. I had to learn the differences between my healing powers at home and here. It was a bit difficult but I had to quickly master my ability or else Ryo and I wouldn't be able to go home. It didn't help that I get extremely tired after using my abilities for long periods of time.

I was even more tired now as we hiked up the mountain. "Infinity Mountain," Ryo told me at the base. "This is the iconic mountain of File Island. A lot of adventures begin here and they all end on the mountain. Let's hurry."

By now, the sky was already getting dark. I wanted to collapse out of exhaustion but that would do us no good because if I did, I would have slept until noon the next day. I yawned and checked to see if Chuchu was okay. My friend was able to keep up but seemed worried about me.

"It's okay, Chuchu. Just a little farther. I'll keep going until then." I looked up ahead and noticed Ryo was getting farther away from me. I hurriedly ran after him and slowed down when I caught up.

Ryo didn't seem to notice since he was lost in his thoughts. He stared far out ahead and Monodramon became worried. "Ryo?"

"Hm?"

"You haven't said anything during the entire hike. I'm tired. Aren't you?"

"Mm…"

"Can we stop?" When the boy didn't answer, Monodramon stopped walking. "You're acting cold again," the Digimon said sadly.

That snapped Ryo from his trance and he turned to look at us. He gave us an apologetic smile. "Sorry. I was thinking of something. It looks like we've gone pretty far today. Do you want to stop?"

"How much farther is it until the peak?" I asked.

The boy looked up. "Not far. In fact, if we spend another thirty minutes, we'll be able to get there in just a day."

I let out an exhausted sigh but remembered all of the training I had to go through when Red was missing. I had to get stronger so I could see him and the others again. "Okay, let's go. There's no point in stopping now if we're so close to our goal."

We were about to start again when we heard a roar nearby. I readied my fishing pole but Ryo placed an arm out in front of me. "It's just the resident Digimon fighting each other. There's no need to bother them."

I nodded and followed him again as he took the lead. Although we only had a short break, I was feeling reenergized because I knew our destination was only just a short distance away from when we first started. I looked up at Ryo and decided it was a chance to learn as much as I can about the Digital World and why we were climbing the mountain.

He thought over his answers carefully before answering. "The Digital World is a place for dreams to come true. I've been to many Digital Worlds before and all of them seem to hold that trait in common. The Digital World is connected to a human world where only humans and animals live. There is no such thing as a Digimon since they only exist here."

"That's completely unlike where I'm from," I said. "Humans and Pokémon live together. We don't know everything about Pokémon but that's why people like Professor Oak study Pokémon. That's why he created the Pokédex!" I held out my very old Pokédex for Ryo to see. I stared at it with determination. "He wanted trainers to be able to bond with Pokémon."

"That seems to work just like my D-Arc," he reached into his pocket and showed me the small device. It resembled a Pokégear but was bulkier and had a slot built into its side. "This is what shows that I'm a Tamer. Not just any Tamer though, Monodramon's Tamer."

"So there are a lot more Tamers in this world?"

He paused and thought about it. "Actually no. I'm the only Tamer in this world. In the world Monodramon and I have been living in, there are a lot more Tamers with their own Digimon. In this world, there are Chosen Children. They have a machine completely different from my D-Arc known as a Digivice. They have the same basic function of analyzing and evolving Digimon."

"Huh? Pokémon evolve on their own. The Pokédex have a function to prevent evolution." I looked down at my Pokémon clipped to my belt and let out an embarrassed laugh. "I didn't want my Pokémon to evolve so used it a lot, but when they finally did evolve, they helped me through a tough situation."

"Is that so?" Ryo smiled at me.

"Yeah," I nodded. "I thought that once they evolved, they wouldn't be the same friend I had. But they're no different and I know that now. A lot of trainers collect Pokémon to train and become strong. I collect Pokémon to make friends so it was a shock at first when they changed. But everyone is still the same so we'll always be friends." Chuchu smiled up at me and I picked her up.

Ryo stared at me for a long time before looking up towards the sky. "You're really kind, Yellow. It reminds of a small boy I once knew." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before resuming his explanation of the Digital World.

There was a lot that I didn't understand but I did learn that the Digimon were important to him and many other humans. It was just like how the Pokémon mean a lot to me and my friends. As a Tamer, he trained and battled Digimon while trainers did the same. Ryo explained it easily and I tried to keep up with each word he spoke.

Eventually, we made it to the top and he finished telling me about the human world and how it was different from the Digital World. "The human world is a lot more advanced, but the technology that people develop helped to create the Digital World. The origins of each Digital World are unique, but stem closely to the human world. Since both are tied, if anything happens to one world, there will be consequences for the other." We stopped walking and he looked at me sternly. "That is why we will have to act if something is wrong. I might not know how your world is involved, but will you fight too?"

I nodded with determination. "I'm not good at battling and I don't like fighting, but I will anyways. As the Healer, I have to do what I can."

He smiled at me in relief. "It's good to hear that because now I know I won't have to rely solely on myself like the last time I was here. From now on, we'll be partners." He offered out a hand and I shook it.

I looked at him curiously. When we met and on our way up, he was distracted and lost in thought. Now, he seemed more open and like a refreshing ray of light. "The last time you were here, did something happen?"

Ryo nodded gravely. "But that no longer matters. What does matter is finding the source of this signal that keeps showing up on my D-Arc." He pointed at the red dot that was blinking.

We heard another roar and this time, Monodramon jumped up and prepared for battle. I did the same with Chuchu and was surprised when a large man with a lion's head came out with a small sword out. "What are you doing on Infinity Mountain?" He saw that we were children and re-sheathed his weapon. "So you are humans. Are you Chosen Children?"

"Chosen Children?" I repeated before remembering Ryo telling me something about them earlier.

"Yes," Ryo quickly replied. He raised his D-Arc. "Are you a friend? Or an enemy?" He was being very cautious and I could see why. The giant beast seemed to be strong enough to overpower Monodramon and most of my Pokémon. It didn't help that it has been a while since I was in a battle.

"A friend. My name is Leomon and I protect the weak and powerless of File Island. I was in the Village of Beginnings when I sensed a dark presence within the peak of Infinity Mountain."

Ryo looked at his D-Arc curiously. "Is that what's showing up on my screen?" He turned to me after a while. "We definitely need to check it out now."

"Let's go, Chuchu!" We went down the direction towards where Ryo pointed and paused when we saw a giant gold pyramid pointing out of the ground. "What is that?" I placed a hand on it and quickly retracted it when I felt a cold menacing presence.

"It is not a Dark Tower that has plagued the Digital World until recently," Leomon replied. "I cannot sense life so it is not a Digimon. Strange, I feel a life force around here filled with hatred."

Monodramon began growling and seemed prepared to destroy it. "Ryo…"

"No, Monodramon. Not yet." Ryo calmly studied it and placed a hand on it. He knocked on it and frowned. "It's hollow, but I don't know what it could be." It shifted suddenly causing Ryo to jump back. "Should we destroy it, Yellow?"

"I think so. It feels dark and evil," I answered.

"Okay," he nodded. "Let's go, Monodramon!"

"Thunderbolt!" I cried. Chuchu ran forward and let out a charge of electricity towards the pyramid.

Monodramon charged towards his target. "Charge Knuckle!" His claws broke through the pyramid and it disappeared.

"Alright!" Ryo said but he stopped when the mountain began to shake uncontrollably. "Woah!" He steadied himself as best as he could and looked towards the empty area where the pyramid had once been. "What's going on?"

The mountain was beginning to split open and I called out Peesk. The Butterfree grabbed hold of me and I threw my line out towards Chuchu and Monodramon. Leomon grabbed Ryo and jumped into the air onto higher, more stable ground. The tremor only lasted a few minutes revealing a large store of black gears within the mountain.

Leomon set Ryo down and growled. "Black Gears… We'll have to destroy them before someone uses them for evil purposes."

Ryo and I nodded but before we could act, another violent earthquake wrecked the entire island. From where we stood, we could see File Island breaking apart and beginning to drift away from one another. Far off into the distance, the ocean seemed to be disintegrating and it was spreading towards File Island. Gears began flying out of the open chasm we created and I thought I heard all of my friends yelling from somewhere.

"Red?" I asked aloud and looked around. "Pika?" I didn't see them or anything else because at this point, all of the Digital World seemed to be dissolving into nothingness.

"Yellow!" I heard Ryo yell for me and I turned towards him.

We'd be separated at this rate and I still had to learn from him. I cast my line out towards him and managed to wrap it around his arm. Peesk couldn't hold on to me for long so I recalled him and held on tightly to Chuchu and my fishing pole.

~TAICHI~

Gennai had us sit outside since there was no way all of us would have fit into one room comfortably. That and there was the threat that we would break into an all-out brawl and it would benefit everyone if we weren't indoors. After explaining to each other what Dex Holders and Chosen Children were, we were split apart into both groups, still filled doubt about the other's intentions. Gennai disappeared into his home to see if he could use the new information for anything and I doubt we were going to see him for the rest of the night. This left us alone and I was sure the tension was going to force a fight to break out sooner or later.

Daisuke greatly distrusted them and so did Iori and a few others. The idea of trainers capturing Pokémon and keeping them for battle sounded cruel, but I don't think that it was as simple as that. I wanted to give these 'Dex Holders' the benefit of the doubt and it looked like their leader thought the same.

After a long moment of silence between both groups, the boy with red eyes and spiky black hair stood up and faced us with a yellow mouse following him. He only took a few steps before the creature came after him. He quickly noticed and cast it a stern glance. He nodded towards the red and white balls stacked in a pile next to the mouse. "Pika, stay there with the others."

I understood his intentions and stood up too. Agumon was about to come after me, but I shook my head towards him. "It's okay, Agumon. I'll handle this on my own."

We met face to face in the center and gave each other a sturdy stare. He was older than me by a few years so was naturally taller. There was something about his smile that made me lower my guard and he immediately offered out his hand for me.

"I'm Red."

I accepted his handshake and smiled back. "Taichi Yagami." When our hands touched each other, I felt some sort of shock and my D-Terminal and Digivice reacted. I immediately let go and was rather surprised that happened.

He let go too because a small red machine resembling a D-Terminal and a weird device that looked like a Digivice began to go off. Alarmed, we both checked our equipment. There was nothing different about my Digivice, but my D-Terminal's screen revealed an icon that looked like a ball Red used to store his creatures.

Red studied his small device and frowned. "That's weird. I don't have a call on my Pokégear…" He turned to the red device in his other hand. "And my Pokédex isn't malfunctioning."

"Neither are my D-Terminal and Digivice." I stared at the four machines, thinking what just happened was strange. I remembered back to my first adventure and frowned. "Red, do you believe me when I tell you that the Chosen Children try to protect the Digital World?"

He looked at me oddly but nodded. "Every Dex Holder has been in the middle of some catastrophe or another, but we always fight to right any wrongs we face."

"Then we're on the same side," I finally stated.

"It seems so." He looked to his friends and crossed his arms. "But not everyone agrees."

"Yeah." I glanced back at my friends. "Maybe we should get them to talk to each other?"

He thought about then called out towards his mouse. "Pika! Come on over!" The small rodent rolled over the balls and Red immediately started on getting everyone's attention. "Green! Gather everybody here!" Red turned to me with a smile. "Let's see what we can do."

I nodded and looked towards my friends. "You all come over too."

"What's going on, Taichi?" Sora asked.

I shrugged. "I'm not sure. All I do know is that we're a bit torn up because there is doubt on whether or not we work together. As Chosen Children, we cannot have those thoughts or feelings because we always work as a team."

Koushiro nodded. "We can learn from them and also teach them about the Digital—"

"What is there to teach us?" the boy with burning gold eyes was leaning on his billiard cue. "Where we're from, we're full-fledged heroes. You're just a bunch of half-pint brats living in a video game world."

"This isn't some kind of video game!" Daisuke yelled back. "This is a real emergency and you wouldn't last a night in the Digital World on your own!"

"You wouldn't either with your lizard thing! Heck, I could survive with just Togetaro alone!"

Both glared at each other and when things were about to escalate, Yamato stepped in. He grabbed Daisuke from behind and pulled him backwards. "Now isn't the time to be fighting!"

"Well why not? These people are used to fighting all the time. I want to see if they're as strong as they say!"

"Even stronger!" the explosive boy exclaimed. He was about to reach for a ball, but he froze when he was met with an intense glare from the girl standing beside him.

She had clear blue eyes and was wearing an outfit that didn't seem to fit her personality. Despite that, she managed to force the boy to stop what he was doing so she could lecture him. "Gold! You can't keep picking fights with them!"

"So now you're siding with them instead of me?"

"I'm not siding with anyone right now. I just think that you should calm down and think before you talk. We're nowhere close to anywhere we're used to and you can't go around antagonizing everyone you see."

"But Goggle Brat started it!"

Daisuke tensed up but with Yamato still holding onto him, he couldn't say or do anything. Instead, Iori spoke up for the boy. "Even so, we don't condone with you capturing the Digimon. Pitting even those creatures you have against each other isn't right."

Red blankly looked towards the spiky-haired boy beside him. "Does he mean capturing and battling the Pokémon? There's nothing wrong with it but the way he said it doesn't sound right either."

The green-eyed boy closed his eyes and looked away. "This is a waste of time, Red. Let's just go and find a way home ourselves. We understand what this world is and what the Digimon are. We also understand that there is another world connected to here. Finding a way to our world will be a lot simpler if we rely on ourselves rather than," he looked towards us and tried to look for an appropriate description, "undertrained kids."

"Undertrained?" Yamato repeated and cast me a confused expression. I didn't really understand much either, but I think that was the best word he could find without outright insulting us, although undertrained wasn't really a compliment either.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Senior Green, Senior Red," Gold stated. "We're definitely strong enough on our own!"

"How about we just split up?" A blonde boy with green eyes offered. "I don't really want to stick around either."

Red looked towards the boy with surprise. "You too, Emerald?" He looked at the rest of the Dex Holders. "How about the rest of you? What do you say?"

The youngest girl wearing a pair diamond and pearl rings looked between both boys beside her. She hesitated but spoke up first. "I wish to follow Senior Green."

The boy on her right side frowned a bit. "Lady…" He looked towards our group and the girl before saying what he felt. "I… can't. I'll stay with Senior Red."

The other boy frowned. "Well, if Little Miss is going and that's how you feel, Dia, then I'll have to go with her. One of us has to watch over her."

The two were about to leave for Green's small group but Dia called out towards them. "Wait!" He slowly rushed up to them both and handed over two Poké Balls. "I… won't be able to watch them by myself."

The trainers looked at the Pokémon they both received and nodded at the slow boy. It must have been important because Dia became a bit glum as he walked back towards Red's group.

The red-haired boy with silver eyes looked up towards a girl with long brown hair. "I will follow them too…"

The girl nodded. "Just be careful, Silver."

Red looked at the remaining two who had yet to decide. A girl wearing blue stared intently at the boy wearing red and black. "Are you going too, Ruby?" She seemed to be hoping he'd stay.

Ruby studied both groups carefully before staring at the girl. "No… Those six will be fine on their own." He lowered his gaze towards his Pokémon and seemed to be thinking of something else. It was a bit odd because he didn't appear to be a strong battler, but the worry in his eyes showed a powerful fighting spirit that I've never seen before.

Red frowned at his half of Dex Holders. "Green, take care of yourself."

"You should worry about yourself first, Red." Green turned his back on us and signaled his small group to get towards the stairs. "Our priority is getting home and I will find a way to do that. Being with the Chosen Children means helping with the problems of the Digital World and since that isn't our fight, I intend to focus on our priority without distractions."

"What does that guy mean 'not their fight'? We're not distractions either!" Daisuke crossed his arms and frowned.

Red looked at my junior and sighed. "Don't worry too much about what he says. Green is like that."

The girl wearing a blue tank top and white skirt nodded. "Greenie is a nice guy deep down, but he has a lot of responsibilities that he can't just turn his back on. That workaholic will be fine working on his own team."

I stared at the flight of stairs leading up. "I guess we're going to have to allow them to go their own way then…" I thought back to the time when we were up against the Dark Masters but we all willingly split up. We didn't even start on this adventure yet and things were already falling apart.

As I was thinking, I felt the ground shake beneath me. I took a look around but the tremors were getting more violent, knocking me off my feet. I looked over to Green's leaving team and saw that they didn't even dare to go up the unstable stairs. Suddenly, Green reached for a red bug-like creature with powerful claws. "Bullet Punch!"

I couldn't see it well, but the bug charged forward at a blinding speed to knock away a tentacle that ended with a claw. It seemed familiar but I couldn't remember what it was.

All around us, more of those claws gathered as the small haven continued to shake. Understanding something was seriously wrong, Red pulled out his entire team and shouted, "Don't hold back, everyone! Help Green! Saur, use Vine Whip to pull the others back here."

Green noticed what Red was doing so nodded brusquely towards the five following him before sending out the rest of his Pokémon to fight. I turned towards the younger Chosen Children. "Hurry up and armor evolve! Agumon, let's go!" I pointed towards a tentacle and watched as my partner jumped towards it.

"Baby Flame!"

Eventually, Gennai's garden was filled up with Pokémon and Digimon fighting off against the tentacles. There were a lot of them swarming and with the earthquakes still going on, it was difficult for me to keep track of which side was winning. I was too focused on everyone else and before I knew it, Agumon was snatched up by a tentacle.

"Taichi!"

I reached a hand for my partner and ran after him. "Agumon!"

"Nefertimon!" I heard Hikari's voice and turned to see her partner captured too.

"Sky Uppercut!" The girl wearing a bandanna commanded a fiery humanoid bird to attack the claw, releasing Nefertimon, but another claw managed to grab the attacking Pokémon. "Chaka!" The girl turned towards Ruby to see if he could come to her aid. "Ruby!"

Unfortunately, the boy was backed into a corner. "Zuzu, Muddy Water! Popo, Shadow Ball!" All of his Pokémon were fighting back, but as more and more of the tentacles gathered around him, the less he could do to help his friend. "I'm sorry, Sapphire…"

"Fladramon, no!" Daisuke watched in horror as the flaming lizard was captured. He took a few steps forward but stumbled. "Come on! Fight back!"

I looked up towards the air battle and noticed things weren't faring well. Red and Green were flying around, but eventually the fiery green-eyed boy was dragged down from on top of his dragon. "Charizard!" Green seemed to care more for his dragon than for his own safety as he fell.

"Green!" The boy landed on top of a large pink balloon-like Pokémon. The girl sitting on top of it sighed in relief. "They've got even Charizard…"

"No matter," Green stated with unrelenting pride. "Blast Burn!" he roared towards the struggling Pokémon. The flames the fierce dragon erupted were quickly put out as more claws wrapped themselves around the Pokémon.

The pitiful sight forced me to turn to look away. "There's nothing we can do though," I said as I tried to think of a way for this battle to end.

Someone else fell from the sky beside me and I noticed it was Gold. "Togetaro!" The explosive boy clenched his teeth. "Damn it… You bastards won't get away with this!" He charged towards the tentacle holding his white kite-shaped Pokémon. He jumped and tried to use his billiard cue to pry open the claws only to be shoved away.

With less Pokémon and Digimon available to fight, both groups gathered in the center. Yamato and I shared a frustrated sigh as everyone else was beginning to lose the urge to fight. The ground cracked open and the walls of water around us began to disperse into space. Underneath us, the dirt began to slowly disappear, suspending us in empty space.

The others and I floated around for a while before I registered something large with tentacles coming out of the chasm of nothingness beneath us. All of the Digimon and most of the Pokémon were caught in its reach and it smiled darkly as it called out a despairing attack. "Death Evolution!"

"Everyone!" I watched as my partner was reduced to a Koromon.

"That's impossible…" Red floated beside me as some members of his team shrunk in size and form too. "Saur… Vee… Poli… Aero…" He froze with the remaining three of his team before he let out a frustrated shout alongside his yellow mouse. "Everyone!"

Still tightly holding onto its victims, Apocalymon smirked and laughed. "Darkness Zone!"

I clenched my eyes shut as everything around us began to be broken apart into data. I could feel my Digivice glow in a bright light as it tried to protect me, but I felt that I was most likely going to end up lost in the data world.

GOLD (July 21): I'll destroy that bastard with my own hands for what he did to my Pokemon!

IXEN (January 1): What would you destroy him with, Gold-san? Your Pokemon were de-evolved & Author made an equalizing system so a fully-evolved Pokemon isn't even strong enough to take on an Adult Digimon.

KOUSHIRO (N/A): Really? Now that doesn't quite seem fair. And that makes things rather unbalanced, doens't it?

IXEN (January 1): The way I see it, things are already unbalanced. But you can blame Author's brother for that decision. He helped with setting the strength system because apparently an Ultimate Digimon is superbly overpowered compared to, say, a Tyranitar. Legendaries are something different altogether though, but enough mechanics. For readers who want to know what happens to everyone sooner, remember to review. University starts soon, so I recommend doing so just in case Author neglects her responsibilities.