TWILIGHT BASE_ _ _|

A gunshot rang out through the dark, shadow filled room.

"You Want Nene to do WHAT!" Sparrowmon cried out in shock and horror as she kept her two hand guns aimed directly at The armored bulk called Dark Knightmon.

"You heard me properly the first time." He 'tisk'ed as he brushed off a small dent in his shoulder armor, where one of the bullets fired by Sparrowmon had grazed off. "In order for her to get what she wants, I must first get what I want."

"And that involves...?" Sparrowmon spat out the word. "Seducing one of the generals?"

"I must have a strong, fit replacement once I collect enough Dark energy." the Knight noted. "If not through the Red or Blue generals, then perhaps through a descen-"

SPWANG!

His eyes widened slightly as twin bullets shot past his ears.

"She's Only a Kid!" Sparrowmon cried out. "I won't let you have your way with her!"

Meanwhile, in a corner, one of the Monitamon shuddered. 'Sparrowmon's rage is at an all time high today!' she thought. 'I just hope DarkKnightmon doesn't do anything too drastic...'

There was a few more seconds of strained silence, before Dark Knightmon began to laugh.

"What's so funny!" Sparrowmon glared. "Well?"

"Your seriousness does not fit your voice." DarkKnightmon replied.

"Ehhh?" Sparowmon blinked, and then...

WHAM!

She crashed into the far wall as DarkKnightmon lowered his foot from the kick he just delivered.

"Do not make me do that again." The armor'd bulk noted before turning to leave.

Sparrowmon opened her eyes just long enough to send a death glare at him. 'I'll get him for this...! Even if I have to...!'

*cue Title Theme*

DUST ZONE! The Adventure in the Ruins!

THE VOID BETWEEN ZONES_ _ _|

"oooohhh!" ChibiBastemon, the princess/diplomat/child-tourist from Lake Zone, looked around in awe at the massive floating spheres around them. "So those are the different zones?"

"Yeah." Zenjirou nodded, although slightly annoyed that the young princess had chosen him as her ride. "Just look behind us."

Indeed she did, and sure enough, there was the sphere containing Lake Zone. "Wow...! It looks so small from up here!"

"The Space between Zones can never be reliably measured!" Jijimon started from his spot on Taiki's Back. "That is why even though we just left Lake Zone, the Zone itself is now thousands of miles behind us!"

"That's so cooooooool...!" The princess looked around in awe, then something caught her attention. "What's that?" She pointed up at a pair of Zones floating close enough to be contained by a secondary sphere.

"Green Zone and Island Zone!" Taiki smiled after a moment. "So that's why travel between them is possible!"

"Yes, indeed..." Jijimon laughed. "Although I never suspected that's how our homes looked after all this time!"

"It sure is different that's for sure." Zenjirou started, then jumped slightly as he caught sight of a speck of data flying off of Jijimon's staff. "Oi! The Space is starting to delete your staff again!"

Jijimon jumped slightly. "Looks like our time's up then!" With that he reached over to grab the princess' hand, and re-entered the Orange Xros Loader.

"Daww! Why did we have to come back in for...?" The Princess complained.

"Did you want to be deleted?" The elder scolded. "Your sister would skin me alive if I let that happen!"

Taiki just laughed. "It's okay, though! We're almost at the next Zone!"

"I hope it's somewhere dry..." Zenjirou sighed. "Dry and warm..."

"That'd be nice!" Lila commented from the Red Xros Loader. "Maybe a nice tropical jungle? I could go for a Nice hot spring!"

BAGURA EMPIRE_ _ _| UNKNOWN ZONE_ _ _|

"Eh? Where's the big behemoth at?" Lilithmon asked as she emerged from the hallways leading to her personal quarters.

"Blastmon?" Tactimon asked jovially. "Or did you mean that glaringly red object you've left in the main hanger?"

Liltihmon narrowed her eyes at the Tactician. "Red object...?" She pursed her lips as she thought back... "Red...Red...?"

"The Mugendr-" Tactimon was cut off as Lilithmon let loose an exclamation of "OH YEAH! That thing!"

"I'd almost forgotten about it!" she smiled. "Thanks for reminding me!" She frowned. "But I wasn't talking about Meky-chan at all."

Tactimon laughed. "Right right." He grinned under his helmet. "Blastmon is mining for crystals again."

"Of course Of course..." Lilithmon smirked slightly. "Hey, remember when he was nothing but a head?"

"Oh, if only things were as simple as they were back then." With that shared bit of relived history between them, they laughed.

SAND ZONE_ _ _|

The light died away as Xros Heart exited the Space between worlds and re-entered the Zone.

"Damn, it's bright." Shoumon winced at the... Three suns that hung above them.

"And dusty..." Zenjirou coughed as he covered his mouth with his hands. "Is this Dust zone?"

"No." Dorulumon shook his head. "This is Sand Zone." he corrected.

"Sand Zone?" Taiki asked. "So there's a Dust Zone as well?"

"They used to be part of the same desert originally." Dorulumon explained. "Dust Zone formed from the Capital City of that region, Sand Zone formed from the ruins the Capital was built around."

"So once we restore the Zones...?" Akari started. "Then they'll be reunited?"

"Hard to say." Dorulumon frowned. "Some of the Zones have drifted apart far enough that you'd never be able to tell it was once a part of another zone." he sighed. "Sand and Dust Zones may end up separated if the World is reunited."

"History, right here." Jijimon grinned. "I couldn't have said it better myself!"

The princess crossed her arms and huffed. "That's great and all, but who's going to carry me?"

"Eh?" Zenjirou blinked.

"I'm a princess!" She started. "You don't expect me to walk all the way across the desert, do you?"

The RedPickmon laughed as he jumped onto Zenjirou's head. "Of course not! We expected you to stay in the Xros Loader!"

With an annoyed glare, Lila swatted the Pickmon off of Zenjirou. "Idiot." She grumbled.

"Well, then..." Taiki blinked. "What now?"

ELSEWHERE_ _ _|

"Blastmon Samaaaa!" A Vilemon cried out in horror as he and his two companions flew down the tunnels towards their shiny, glorious leader. "Blastmon-samaaaaaaa!"

"Yes!" Blastmon turned his head towards the three creatures. "What is it?"

"Blastmon-sama!" A Vilemon started. "There are intruders in the tunnels, Evil!"

"Hmm..." Blastmon snapped his fingers. "Fetch me more crystals!"

"So you can power up and destroy them, evil!" a Vilemon asked in hopeful glee.

"No, so I can clean myself up!" Blastmon shook his head, as if his minions just didn't get it. "All this sand's making me as dull as Scorpiomon-chan over there!"

The Scorpiomon commander jumped slightly at the insult. "HEY! It's not our fault we're made out of bones!"

ELSEWHERE IN DUST ZONE_ _ _| WITH THOSE MEDDLESOME INTRUDERS_ _ _|

Kiriha raised an eyebrow. "What now?"

Nene sighed. "I don't have a clue."

They were blocked by a door.

A Giant door to be specific.

"Hm..." Kiriha walked over to one side of the door and examined it. "There's an indent that looks like it could fit my hand..."

Nene went over to examine the other side. "Same here."

"I wonder what it means?" he looked over the inscriptions on the door. It wasn't written in any language he recognised...

So perhaps...?

"Reload: CYBERDRAMON!" Kiriha held out his Xros Loader.

There was a flash of light, and then a massively alien creature appeared before them.

"Kkkk.." The beast started. "Kiiiireeeehaaa..." it asked in it's limited vocabulary.

"Can you read the inscriptions on this door?" Kiriha asked his big, giant, alien puppy-dog from another universe.

The beast's blank face just stared at the wall in response.

SOMEWHERE IN THE DESERT ABOVE_ _ _|

"Wa...ter..." Shoutmon gasped. "Need...Waterr..."

"Bleh..." Cutemon spit out a bit of sand from his mouth. "it's so dusty, Kyu!"

Akari sighed. "Why couldn't we find an oasis or something...?"

Ballistamon sighed inwardly, then began scanning the horizon. "Searching for Oasis."

"Eh?" Taiki cast a glance back at the mechanical beetle.

A few moments of resting (relatively so) under the hot sun passed by as Ballistamon scanned the Zone for a nearby oasis.

And then...

"Forget about scanning!" Shoutmon jumped up suddenly. "LOOK!" he pointed towards a shimmering mass of green in the distance. "WATERRRR!" And, suddenly rejuvenated, Shoutmon was gone in a puff of sand.

"Wait up!" Akari and Lopmon were after him in a second, and everyone else a moment later.

"Wait! N'gah!" Ballistamon sighed, then started following them. "That's not an oasis!"

Despite the digimon speaking the most words that any of them had heard from him, nobody paid any attention to Ballistamon's warnings until it was too late.

"WAHH!" Sudeenly, not a second later, Shoutmon and Akari fell into the Sand, Dorulumon, and the other larger digimon just a few moments later, and then everyone else.

"What in the!" Shoutmon gasped as he surfaced for air.

They were in a massive, spiraling, whirlpool of sand, and in the dead center was one of the Scorpiomon.

"Hehehe, well lookie what the cat draged in!" The scorpion snickered. "You fell right for my mirage trick!"

"Taiki!" Akari cried out. "Xros Four!"

"I can't reach my Xros Loader!" He cried back.

"Damn it!" she roared.

"Dorulumon!" Cutemon orderdd. "Drill Blader! Drill Blader!"

"Eh?" Dorulumon wasn't normally one to take orders from his own Student, but, desperate times called for desperate measures. If Cutemon had an idea to get them out of this...

With only a slightly forced efford, Dorulumon managed to point his Drill tipped tail downwards through the swirling sand, and enlarged it until it matched the size of the sand spiral. "DRILL BLADER!"

With a mighty roar, he spun his drill tipped tail in the opposite dirrection as the sand spiral.

"Eh?" Scorpiomon's eyes widened. "What in the name of...?"

Unfortunately for Cutemon, the reached outcome was not the desired effect.

Fortunately for Cutemon, the reached outcome saved their lives easier than the desired effect...

Even if it DID cause the bedrock underneath them to break, dropping them into the tunnels below.

MEANWHILE_ _ _|

The first clue that something was amiss was the fact that the room was glaringly pink.

"Well..." Kiriha frowned. "I think we used the wrong door."

"No, this should be right." Nene noted. "But still..."

The second clue was that there was a single, massive bed in the center of the chamber, covered in pink cloth and dressings.

"...I think we did open the wrong door." she grimaced inwardly. DarkKnightmon had specifically said the door on the LEFT. "That, or someone's toying with us."

The third clue was that, upon entering the room, a chrome Digi-zoid door had slid into place, locking them inside.

Now, There had been an instruction the door had said to use (or Cyberdramon had translated as thus) to pull a hidden lever to escape should the door seal itself again.

This was the fourth clue:

That lever? Yeah, someone had jammed it with a dagger, sealed it with a magic spell, and then shot the internal mechanism to pieces for good measure. And that someone was currently laughing to himself as he wandered the tunnels that made up the maze like Under-ground of Sand Zone.

MEANWHILE AGAIN_ _ _|

The first hint that something was amiss was that there was sand leaking from the stone roof.

"Hm?" Blastmon blinked as a grain of sand landed on his nose.

The second hint was the loud drilling sound from above.

"That's not quite right..." Blastmon looked up at the rooftop.

The Third hint was a very loud "CRACK!"

"What the!"

And the fourth was the army that suddenly landed on his back.

"WAAAAHHH!"

Once the dust settled, Akari groaned as she rubbed her head. "Well, that was eventful!"

"Dorulumon..." Taiki started. "Let's never do that ever again."

"Agreed." Dorulumon nodded.

"What'd we land on anyways?" Shoutmon asked as he looked down at what they landed on...

"Me." Blastmon noted calmly as his eyes and Shoutmon's met.

"WAHHHH!" The Rowdy Rocker screamed suddenly as he took to the air. "BLASTMON!"

"RUN!" Someone yelled, and then, like a sand storm in Minkata, Xros Heart was gone.

"After them!" A Vilemon started when...

"ACKKKKK!" Scorpiomon cried out as he fell from above.

There was another cloud of dust, and then Blastmon asked very calmly. "Scorpiomon-chan?"

"Erhm, Yes Blastmon-Sama?" The SubCommander asked back.

"Please get off my head?"

He did so.

"Scorpiomon-chan?"

"I apologize sir!" he bowed. "We shall go after Xros heart immediately!"

"No." Blastmon said. "You'll get a bucket of water, and wash all this sand off of me!"

The Vilemon collapsed to the ground.

MEANWHILE YET AGAIN_ _ _|

"After them!" A gaggle of (lighter toned) Scorpiomon chased after Xros Heart.

They had been lucky Blastmon had ordered the group in the main chamber to do other things.

Not so much to have disturbed the miners during their lunch break.

"GYAAHHH!" Zenjirou cried out in horror. "How can they be skeletons and Scorpions at the same time?"

"You're asking THAT?" Lila sent him an incredulous glare. "THAT out of all possible things!"

Eventually, they ran into a dead end, erm. Rather...

They ran into another group of mining Scorpiomon ALSO on their lunch break.

"HEY! They're union workers, aren't they!" One cried out.

"GET THEM!" Another cried.

And now Xros Heart were stuck between two groups of angered miners.

"How'd we even get into this mess?" Shoutmon groaned.

"Bad luck?" Akari asked back.

"le'me try!" the Princess called out suddenly as she reloaded from a Xros Loader.

"Eh!" Taiki jumped slightly. "Wait a second!"

"Hi!" Chibi-Bastemon bowed. "I'm Princess Bastemon of...!"

"A Princess?" One of the scorpiomon leered. "You don't look like any princess!"

"Well I am!" She huffed.

"Where's yer crown, Princess-hime?" Another Scorpiomon asked.

"I don't have one!"

"Then ye ain't a princess then, lass~!" A third Scorpiomon roared.

"Erm..." the Princess took a few steps back. "Diplomacy check fail?"

"Yeah, I'd say they aren't interested in Diplomacy." Shoutmon gripped his Mic Stand tightly.

"No interest in diplomacy?" A PawnChessmon reloaded, now wearing a fancy fedora on his head. "Then Allow me!" He pulled out a Key from a non existent pocket.

"Eh?" One of the scorpiomon blinked. "You're gonna unlock our brain's or something?"

"No. I expected it to be a hand gun!" The PawnChessmon sighed, exasperated as he stared at his key ring. "I always end up drawing the wrong thing at the wrong time! My Gun when I want to unlock my door, and my key when I want to shoot someone!" he shook the key in a rather annoyed manner.

THWANG!

A bullet wedged itself into the floor before one of the two Mining groups' leader.

"Ehhh...?" his eyes widened, as did everyone else in the room. "Well... See!" The PawnChessmon aimed his key at another random Scorpiomon. "Now You fear my Key! HAH! No-one can refuse the diplomacy offered by the number one Problem Sleuth!"

Taiki blinked, as did everyone else in the room. "What...?"

RedPickmon reloaded as well, ALSO wearing a fancy hat. "And I'm the Ace Detective!" he had a key-ring just full of keys in his mouth. "Fear my mighty strength!"

Lila paled. "What are they going on about now?"

"Ehhhh...!" several of the Scorpiomon were retreating away from the supposedly bullet filled Keys.

Suddenly, another bullet shot off, this time deleting one of the Scorpiomon.

"This Is Stupid!" a new voice cried out, rather annoyed at all the silliness.

Ballistamon turned his head towards the owner of said voice, and nearly jumped. "Revolomon!"

"Howdy!" The humanoid digimon with a gun for a torso, and a wild-wild-west dressing sense twirled one of his revolvers, in salute from his spot on the ledge above them. "Now then! This here's a stick up! Hands in the air!"

Zenjirou's hands went up.

"Not you you, dummy!" Revolomon sighed and gestured towards the Scorpiomon. "I meant them!"

"Oh." Hands went down.

"Now then!" Revolomon turned towards Xros Heart. "I'll just be absconding with these lot-!"

(RedPickmon cried out suddenly "ADVANCE OR ABSCOND!"

Immediately echoed by The one PawnChessmon. "ADVANCE OR ABSCOND!"

...Nobody knows what they're talking about anymore.)

"-And be leaving you scorpions to wait here for the heat death of the universe!" Revolomon grinned under his bandanna. "So let's GOOOOOOO!"

By the time Sub-Commander Scorpiomon found the miners standing around like the baffled creatures they were, Xros Heart had already escaped into the mining tunnels.

"AFTER THEM!"

As if the Miners didn't have good enough reason to hate Xros Heart (Besides that they were Bagura and had no other reason), Revolomon had stolen a Mining cart.

"Hey! Yeah! Now this is the way to travel!" he beamed as the cart (containing all of Xros Heart that had been outside the Xros Loader) raced along the tracks.

"Revolomon." Ballistamon sighed.

"Eh? What is it?" The Bandit asked back. "You're still not mad that I left you in Kave Zone, are you?"

"You know each other?" Taiki asked.

"Yeah yeah!" Revolomon waved nonchalantly. "We go way back!"

"Loosely." Ballistamon replied.

Shoutmon blinked. "You know, this has got to be the most I've ever heard out of you in one day!"

"Ah ha ha! Ballistamon's always been one of those 'strong, silent' types." Revolomon laughed as the cart hurtled around a corner. "Woah...Eh... Nearly lost my balance there!"

"Revolomon." Ballistamon tried again.

"Yeah! What?" he asked back.

"Why are you here?" The beetle asked. "I thought you said you'd give all this up after Museum Zone."

"Yeah.. Funny thing..." Revolomon started to sweat. "After you got pulled off to where ever it was." he blinked. "Fighting Bagura and what not? Hey! You're Part of Xros Heart, aren't you!"

"Revolomon!"

"Sorry sorry!" he apologized. "Well after you got pulled off into that weird storm shock thing-a-ma-bob, I got stuck here, so I figured, well..." he laughed nervously. "Once more for old times sake?"

Ballistamon would have narrowed his eyes if it were possible.

"Hey hey! Don't give me that look!" Revolomon countered. "You woulda done the same thing anyways, since Bagura's been plunderin' the treasure anyways, I figured I might as well take it all back!" He defended himself. "I mean, it's not theirs after all!"

"Revolomon!"

"And really! It's just Blastmon's goons! He's not even interested in the Code Crown!" Revolomon countered. "Only all those expensive, beautiful, wealthy jewels and all those expensive, tasteful, beautiful bracelets and..."

"REVOLOMON!" Akari interrupted this time. "We get that they're expensive and beautiful already! Just Move along already!"

"Sorry, sorry!" he laughed nervously again. "But you know Blastmon! He'll eat anything shiny if it'll make him glow like the suns! It'd be such a waste if he ate all that expensive stuff an' what not and it just went to waste!"

Ballistamon sighed once again. He would be getting nowhere with that one anytime soon.

IN THAT ONE CHAMBER AGAIN_ _ _|

Thankfully, Sparrowmon thought as she punched a hole through the far wall, DarkKnightmon's little tricks and traps to get Nene to do something she'd regret weren't going to work so long as she was around.

"Thank you, Sparrowmon!" Nene smiled.

"Hehe! Anytime Nene!" She gave a thumbs up and a wink.

Kiriha blinked. That digimon was strangely familiar for some reason, looking a lot like that girl that had told him about Magma Zone's troubles. But that wasn't possible. There was no way the girl and the Digimon were on in the same.

It was just a coincidence. That was all.

Just like it was a coincidence that the door Sparrowmon had destroyed no longer lead into the chamber that they had come in from.

"Now then, which way shall we go?" Nene asked as she looked left and right down the hallway they were now in.

"I Say..." Sparrowmon smirked as she glance up. "We go that way!"

A SHORT TIME LATER_ _ _|

Near Simultaneously, another massive door was found by our heroes, Xros Heart!

"Eh... I coulda sworn this door looked different before..." Revolomon scratched his head. "It had a set of hand prints on it... Not... hearts and beds?"

Akari narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure we didn't take a wrong turn then?"

Yes, instead of the round door with imprints on the sides, this 'new' door was rectangular, looked like a face, had hearts for eyes, and a bed on it's forehead.

"Well, it's not entirely possible." Jijimon stated as he exited the Xros Loader. "From what I recall, the tunnels underneath Sand Zone are prone to shifting about of their own accord!"

"Eh?" Shoutmon blinked. "So you're tellin' me this maze of a place moves?"

"That seems about right." Dorulumon nodded. "Dust Zone had a set of underground ruins that seemed to have been separated from Sand Zone."

"You know a lot about this Dust Zone." Taiki asked. "Did Bagura conquer it?"

"No." Dorulumon shook his head. "Not before I left at least."

"So how are we going to open this then?" Zenjirou asked with a step forward.

"Hmm..." Revolomon examined the door. "Well, if I'm right and this is the Other entrance for the ruins...?" his eyes quickly scanned over the group. "Well, the instructions for the other door just called for two people to press hands on a wall. Easy enough to duplicate on one's own as it were." He hmmfed. "But this...? I don't even recognise half of these symbols!"

Ballistamon sighed. "Revolomon."

"Yeah?"

"Stop avoiding the point already."

"Oh... Saw through that did you...?" he paled slightly.

"So what's it say then?" Akari asked.

"Simple enough." Ballistamon commented. "The symbols Revolomon's reading are just decorative."

"Eh?" Revolomon jumped. "They are not!"

"Then why can't you decipher them?"

"Erm...Ah..."

"So we've got to look at something else then?" Akari's eyes panned up the door. "Oh... You've got to be kidding me..."

Shoutmon blinked. "It wants people to ha-" he paused mid sentence as his brain warned him that the young, impressionable princess was still within hearing range. "To, erm, ah, take a nap?"

Ballistamon tried to clarify. "This door should lead to the proper-"

"But this was where the other door was!" But Revolomon cut him off, catching onto Shoutmon's last second substitution rather quickly. "The one that I Could open!"

"Maybe Bagura beat us to the punch?" Taiki offered. "And since they're using the original set of tunnels, it changed to the only other door it has?"

Revolomon nodded. "Yeah yeah, that makes sense!" He then frowned. "But that brings us back to the first question..."

"Oh for crying out loud." Lila groaned. "Somebody KISS someone already!"

And so, with that awkward bit of silence falling among the group, let's...erm...

Let's cut to the Op. then!

Creatures born in the digital realm: Digimon. Although made of data, they laugh, fight, and cry just like us! They're our special friends! Let's gather up as many teammates as we can to come along with us on this marvelous adventure through the world!

"DIGI-XROS!"

*Cue Never Give Up! (Tv Size) By Sonar Pocket*

After an... erm... How to put this lightly so that prying ears won't hear?

(The princes sneezed, as if someone had just indirectly mentioned her. "Wh...?"

"Bless you." Ballistamon replied.)

Well, after that awkward cut away and... Shenanigans!... The door was opened and Xros Heart was wandering through the tunnels.

"I can't believe they actually went through with that." Dorulumon shook his head with a sigh.

Suddenly, the entire tunnel seemed to shake.

"What the...?" Taiki blinked.

"Earthquake?" Akari asked.

"That sounded more like an explosion." Revolomon noted.

ELSEWHERE_ _ _|

"RANDOM LASER!" Sparrowmon cried out as she fired off the laser mounts within her jet boosters.

There was a crack, and a kathoom as the roof above them erupted into rubble.

Kiriha coughed at the smoke screen. "Well. That was..."

"Hehe..." Sparrowmon grinned slightly. "Sorry, Nene, I think I over did it..."

Looking up, one could see straight up to the crystal blue sky above.

MEANWHILE_ _ _|

As they reached the now open door, the entire chamber shook with the force of an explosion.

Blastmon raised an eyebrow. "Ehh? What was that?"

"Some idiot in B-Mine probably just took out a support." A Scorpiomon noted.

"Just what we need, a miner revolution." A Vilemon groaned.

"Atleast we aren't on Mars then!" Blastmon commented, then strolled into the entrance.

"What's a Mars?" Another Vilemon asked.

"Who knows, who cares. Just as long as we don't get red shifted." The SubCommander sighed. "The last thing we need is getting killed by some guy named Parker."

BACK WITH XROS HEART_ _ _|

"Eh... Hold up a second..." Revolomon started suddenly as he dropped a few gold coins onto the floor.

"Hm?" Taiki glanced back. "What's wrong?"

"I'll tell ya in a minute." Revolomon snatched up the coins, then dropped a few bullets onto the ground, watching them roll. "Hmm..." He snatched those up as well. "Hey, anyone mind telling me if they noticed anything off about this tunnel?"

"It's steep!" Zenjirou remarked. "I feel like we've been climbing up hill ever since we started!"

"Yeah..." Lila crossed her arms. "That's so annoying!"

Revolomon turned towards Ballistamon. "Hey, remember AA's place?"

Ballistamon's eyes would have widened if they could. "Oh no."

"Oh yes." Revolomon gulped, panic starting to flood his voice. "NOBODY MOVE!"

Click.

The one PawnChessmon out of the Xros Loader gulped. "Too Late?"

The stone underneath his foot had been a pressure plate.

A low grumbling started to fill the tunnel once more.

"That doesn't sound good..." Zenjirou noted with a whine.

"Tell me..." Revolomon asked off handedly. "Has anyone seen the first Indiana Jones movie?"

"Yeah..." Taiki nodded. "Why...?"

"'Cause we may want to..." Revolomon's eyes widened as his fears were confirmed.

A massive, rolling, gigantic BigMamemon was rolling down the tunnel right towards them. A huge grin plastered on it's face.

"RUUUUNNNN!"

ON THE SURFACE_ _ _|

"Well... That was a waste of time." Kiriha dusted off his shoulders.

"Yes." Nene hmmfed as she ran a brush through her hair. "One dungeon down, then."

"Eighteen to go?" Kiriha frowned.

"Yup." A sigh.

Suddenly, the sound of screaming emerged from the exit hole behind them, soon followed by the sound of something massive rolling.

"Did you hear something?" Kiriha asked.

"Nope." Nene replied.

"I could've sworn I just heard..."

"Just the Kodokugumon."

"Oh...Okay..."

Sparrowmon sighed. 'Nene...'

BELOW TH-

"ROWDY ROCKERRR!"

Twin cries of mic swinging might broke twin holes into the two sides of the chamber walls, allowing All those being chased by the rolling BigMamemon to escape certain doom.

(It also Rather rudely interrupted my scene change notation! Good timing, guys. Just Fantastic!)

After a few moments of panting, gasping, and general recovering from a near death experience, Revolomon started laughing.

Ballistamon glared at his friend from across the tunnel. "Revolomon!"

"Sorry! I'm Hahaha Sorry!" He snickered. "But that was hilarious!"

Akari growled. "Hilarious?"

"Yeah! That was THE most comically designed boulder trap that I've seen in years!" Revolomon wiped a tear from his eyes. "I mean- Come On! Did you See that stupid grin on it's face?"

There was silence for a moment before Lopmon started laughing too. "Hehehehahah..."

Soon enough, Shoutmon joined in, and, a second later, everyone was laughing as well.

ABOVE_ _ _|

Kiriha blinked. "Are you sure you didn't hear anything?"

"Nope." Nene replied.

WITH BLASTMON AND COMPANY ! ! ! XDD

Suddenly, something massive and loud and ROUND veered down the tunnel towards them.

BigMamemon then subsequently squashed several Scorpiomon and continued towards Blastmon.

"Fuu." With a simple flick of the wrist, BigMamemon was brought to a deadstop by Blastmon's fist. "You're dusty."

BigMamemon blinked, then his "XD" Styled face turned to a ":(" styled face a second before he shattered into data.

"B...Blastmon Sama!" A vilemon gasped.

"Let's GOOOO!" He cheered. "Adventure awaits!"

The SubCommander Scorpiomon blinked. "...And he's one of the Core Three...?"

XROS HEART_ _ _|

They had found a bridge.

A Bridge that spanned over a gigantic pit, surrounded by waterfalls on all sides.

"Just over this way's where my hideout is." Revolomon started. "From there we can work our way around and get to the surface again!"

"I'd rather stay in here." Akari sighed. "It's so cool in here..."

"I'd rather be on the surface." Zenjirou commented from his perch atop Ballistamon's head. "This bridge is way too high!"

"Ah relax! It's just fine!" Revolomon grinned.

And so they started across.

By the way, I may make note of the fact that this bridge is VERY Long.

So much so that by the time they'd made it half way across, Akari was already bored, and had dragged the five Digi memories out of her pocket. "Eh... I forgot they reset like that..."

"Hm?" Revolomon cast his eyes back, and gasped. "WOAH! DigiMemories!"

"Yeah." She smiled and held them so their pictures showed. MarineAngemon, MagnaAngemon, Leviamon, Agumon, Garurumon. All pictures shining brightly. "They're back to normal already!"

"What d'ya mean by that?" Revolomon blinked.

"When you use DigiMemories." Shoutmon explained. "The picture blacks out, and you can't reuse them until the picture comes back."

"So they need to recharge or something?" Revolomon blinked again. "Huh... I never knew that."

Silence resumed for a few moments, and then it just had to be asked.

"So how do you use DigiMemories?" he frowned slightly.

"Well..." Akari was cut off by a distant cry of "THERE THEY ARE!"

A glance back revealed Blastmon and his company of Digimon.

"It's Blastmon!" Dorulumon growled. "One of the three Generals!"

"RUN!" Taiki ordered.

And so they ran.

"Not yet you don't!" Blastmon cried out, then launched himself across the bridge.

"AIEEEEE! He's going to kill ussss!" Zenjirou wrapped himself around Ballistamon's horn.

"Shiny Diamonds Of Great Pizza Makers Long Past! THE TREASURE! ISSSSS..." Blastmon cried out as he...

...crunch...

...Soared right over Xros Heart and smashed against the wall on the other side.

"ow." The General squeaked.

Taiki blinked as Blastmon fell off the wall, crashed into the bridge underneath it, and continued falling into the water pit below. "Time for a swiiiiiim!" he cried out five seconds before a distant splash could be heard.

"BLASTMON SAMA!" A Vilemon gasped.

"LIKE THIS!" Akari suddenly cried out as she pulled out the MagnaAngemon DigiMemory. "DIGIMEMORY!" with a flash, the Card slid into the Red Xros Loader. "ACTIVATE! MAGNAANGEMON'S HEAVEN'S GATE!"

There was a dual blinding flash of light as the Digimon materialized.

"The Power of Destiny, flowing through time:" MagnaAngemon quoted as he stood upright, brandishing his glowing energy sword and armor. "Charting the Course of the Universe!" he swung his energy sword in a circle, creating a small tear in space leading directly to the surface. "HEAVEN'S GATE!"

There was a sudden blast of wind, pushing- no- sucking- no- PULLING the Scorpiomon and Vilemon through the gateway.

MEANWHILE_ _ _|

Spontaneously, a gust of wind rushed past the two generals, temporarily blinding them from the sudden light show materialization of the Scorpiomon and Vilemon.

"oooohhhwhat a ride...Evilu..." A Vilemon groaned.

"Kiriha." Gureimon started from the Xros Loader. "Not to be a nag, but..."

Kiriha smirked. "Our turn!"

BELOW_ _ _|

"Well..." Revolomon's jaw had fallen to the floor in shock. "That was..."

"Going easy on them!" Shoutmon groaned. "I would've used Leviamon!"

"Leviamon would've been overkill!" Akari rationalized. "And we All would have landed in the water with Blastmon."

"But Akariiii..." Shoutmon started.

"Besides! I didn't know what MagnaAngemon would do, and I wanted to know!" She pouted. "So there!"

Taiki sighed. "Well, then..." he turned and stopped when he saw the condition the other side of the bridge was in. "Um..."

But the collapsed bridge wasn't the only odd thing.

For, where Blastmon had hit the wall, there was now a beeping, metallic device embedded into the wall.

"I wonder what that does." Lila asked.

"No clue." Revolomon blinked. "I've never seen it before."

"It's a Transportalizer!" RedPickmon wildly mass speculated.

"No. I"d say it's more close to an Escapilizer." PawnChessmon remarked.

A moment later, the device let loose a blinding flash, and, sudddenly, there was now a massive golden chamber fit snugly into the corners of the room...

For some reason, the bridge was still in the center of the chamber, only partially buried by the floor.

"Looks like it's a Sendificator." RedPickmon remarked.

"More like a Mixologizer." PawnChessmon Debunked that theory.

"This..." Revolomon's eyes widened like a child let loose upon a candy store. "This is the Pharaoh's tomb!"

MEANWHILE_ _ _|

"MEGA FLAME!"

A Vilemon yipped and yowled as his tiny, green rear was pan sear-roasted by Gureimon's fire attack.

"Hehehahaha!" Gureimon grinned. "Come here my tasty dinner!"

"CRASH BOOM!"

Sparrowmon's primary attack was to split apart into five different after images, slice through her opponents with blinding speed, and refuse together.

It was a handy trick to escape ICBMs, Giant Garbage Disposals, Mass Blender Shredders, and any riders were brought along for the ride as well, so that was a plus!

"Sparrow-chan's so cooooolll!" The Monimon in Nene's arms beamed. "She's so fast and isn't afraid of anyone!"

A Monitamon next to them frowned. 'Not even DarkKnightmon can keep her down for long.'

"NIGHT HAWK!" MailBirdramon cried out as he let loose a stream of plasma onto a Scorpiomon, deleting it instantly.

...Elsewhere, Blastmon dug himself out of the sand. "I wish I had someone to love me." he pouted as a Vilemon flapped over to him.

"Blastmon Sama! Blastmon Sama!"

"YES!" He jumped to attention.

"Blue Army and Black Army are here! The Grey One threatens to Eat Usssss!" The Vilemon pleaded.

"Blue and Black?" He laughed. "I'll make them Laugh!"

"Eh...?" The Vilemon blinked.

THE PHARAOH'S CHAMBER_ _ _|

"Are You Light Or Dark?" A massive, booming voice asked all of a sudden.

"Eh?" Taiki looked up at the massive sarcophogus mounted on the wall.

"Do You Serve the Light, Or The Dark?" The voice asked once more.

Taiki glanced to Akari, then to Shoutmon, then he replied. "We fight for the Light!"

Silence for a moment, and then...

FWHAM! The Sarcophogus flung open, revealing the massive, golden digimon Called Pharaohmon. "Prove It." he demanded.

"You want a fight then?" Shoutmon glared. "Taiki!" He ordered. "Xros Four Now!"

But, instead, Taiki stared up at the Pharaoh. "This is a test of reaction, isn't it?"

Pharaohmon simply repeated himself. "Prove It."

"Fine then!" Akari pulled out her Xros Loader. "Everyone...!"

"Wait a second!" Taiki held out his hand as he narrowed his eyes. "You asked if we served Light or Dark, and based on what we did to your reply..." he snapped his fingers against his goggles. "You'd know if we were lying or not!"

Pharaohmon started laughing. "Perceptive." There was a flash of light, and the towering digimon was replaced by a small, glowing, purple phantasm of a creature, resembling the Pharaoh's head. "Most charge in blindly, unable to make even a Scratch on me."

Taiki just smiled, while Shoutmon, and most of Xros Heart, just stared blankly at the scene.

MEANWHILE_ _ _|

"PRISM FLASHUUU!" Blastmon's attacks weren't even hitting his targets. "DIAMOND MACHINE GUUUUNNNN!"

That blasted Sparrowmon was just too quick to even be hit. Same for MailBirdramon.

And Gureimon... Gureimon was either frying the attacks with Fire, or eating them due to... Whatever...

"Let me hit youuuu!" Blastmon pouted.

"How's about NO?" Sparrowmon cried out as she split into energy waves. "CRASH BOOM!"

Meanwhile, The Monitamon suddenly jumped. "Nene Sama!"

"Yes?" She looked down.

The screen changed to the Pharaoh's chamber, Showing Taiki taking the Code Crown from Pharaohmon, and Akari receiving four new Digimemories. "Xros Heart has Taken this Zone. Should we tell Kiriha?"

Nene glanced over to Blue General as he once more Reloaded Cyberdramon. "No. Let's toy with Blastmon a little bit more."

"RANDOM LASER!"

There was another loud explosion and Nene smiled. "Besides, Sparrowmon's seemed a bit on edge lately. She could use the exercise."

The Monitamon noded. "Understood, Nene-sama."

"Eh? Who are youu?" Blastmon gasped as Cyberdramon's chest armor opened up, expanding suddenly to form a contracting cage around the crystalline Digimon.

Cyber Growled. "RAWR!"

"Am I being hugged?" Blastmon asked as a glowing white light began to form in Cyberdramon's chest cavity. "Does this warm feeling I feel mean you Love me?"

Cyberdramon let loose a blinding explosion of energy, the explosion rocking Sand Zone once again to it's very core.

TO BE CONTINUED!

NEXT TIME!

"Red Army. I've come to kill you."

"Not a chance, Ba'almon!"

"Even with that, I'll still be the ruller of this zone."

"It's an attack that makes you fall prey to her commands."

"FINAL SBAGON PUNCHHHHEEEE!"

"Angemon-Sama! Angemon-Samaaaa!"

"Next Time! Digimon Xros Wars! Chosen: The Goddess's Warrior!"

"Sh...Shoutmon! Snap Out of It!"

BONUS ZONE: KARAOKE SING OFFS!

KARAOKE ZONE_ _ _| SOUTH-WEST DIGITAL KARAOKE BAR_ _ _|

Kiriha raised an eyebrow as a Revolomon sat down next to him. "One mug of Frothy Water for me an' my pal here, please?"

"Sure thing." The Bar Keep, Astamon, smiled as he turned around to find the requisit Drink.

"I didn't say that was..." Kiriha started when, suddenly, the Other digimon that had sat down next to him piped in.

"Eh, I've never heard of that before!" Hangyomon frowned.

"Ah relax! I know how Diner Lingo works!" Revolomon shrugged it off. "It'll be fine! Put hair on yer chest!"

"But I'm wearing a diving suit!" Hangyomon remarked.

Kiriha sighed slightly. Of course, it was a public place. He couldn't expect customers to not come in unexpected.

"Here you go." Astamon started as he placed two mugs of glowing, orange... liquid in front of Revolomon and Hangyomon. "Two mugs of Ae'gura's Finest!"

Hangyomon stared at his drink in horror. "Is..is it supposed to be glowing?" he gulped.

Revolomon simply replied by grabbing the mug and taking a hefty drink. "Ahhh! Now that's the stuff!"

Kiriha's attempt at repressing a chuckle was thankfully muffled by the sudden flare of lights and someone yelling "YAHOOO!" Into the loudspeakers.

Astamon chuckled. "Well, that girl's at it again."

"Eh? Isn't that Lopmon?" Hangymon exclaimed suddenly, and that caught Kiriha's attention.

He and Revolomon turned to see three forms on stage as they started to sing. And, sure enough, Lopmon was one of the singers.

Kiriha blinked. So Taiki and Akari were here? Oh, yeah, there was Taiki over by the owner, and Akari was staring in shock at the stage. And... Wait, was that Nene over there? When did she get here?

"Ah..." Revolomon seemed a bit... tipsey now. "YEah.. that's Loppy allright!"

Astamon blinked. "Whoops. I think I gave him the wrong bottle!"

Meanwhile, outside, Dorulumon was once again avoiding potential embarrassment by staying outside. "Good grief..." he winced as the "Oware!" line from the next verse of the inside Karaoke filtered through the doors. "I Hope Cutemon's not involved in this..."

It was at that moment that he saw a small, human boy, dressed in a black business suit and wearing a ridiculously over sized hat came walking up.

"Hiya!" He grinned.

"Hello." Dorulumon narrowed his eyes. Something about this boy wasn't right. Sure, he'd seen non-general Humans around in the Digital World, but at this young an age? Now, sure, it was likely that there had been some odd age stats somewhere along the way, but to see a child so young... What was he? Only eight?

And to be wandering outside alone?

"My name's Deuce! What's your name?" Deuce grinned. That smile was unnerving too.

"Dorulumon." Dorulumon replied.

"Wow! There's a lot of rumors about a Dorulumon!" Deuce continued, his wide green eyes staring at the wolf. "About how he turned on Bagura and joined up with the legendary Xros Heart!"

"Eh? Sounds like a tough guy." Dorulumon commented.

"So you mean you're not him?" There seemed to be a bit of disappointment in the boy's voice.

"Could be, could not." Dorulumon started. "I mean, if you were him, would you really want to be spreading rumors about?"

"I Guess not..." Deuce shrugged, then placed his arms behind his head. "Well! In any case! What brings you to Karaoke Zone?"

"My friends and I are passing through." Dorulumon started. "And I'm not much of a singer."

"Ah... I hear ya." the boy nodded. "Hearts is the same way!"

"Hearts?" Dorulumon narrowed his eyes. That was an oddly suspicious name. His war senses were tingling now.

"Yeah! He hates singing, but Slick's always willing to give someone a last chance to sing if he can convince everyone." Deuce seemed to frown. "Stupid Felt."

Now he knew it for sure, this boy was gauging his reactions. But why? And what was the game he was playing? Slick? Deuce? Hearts? Those names sounded familiar somehow...

He just couldn't place it though.

"Yo!" Togemogumon grinned as she, Lopmon, and Terriermon dismounted the stage. "That was a blast! You should really sing more!"

Lopmon blushed. "No no, I really couldn't."

"Yeah, well, you've gotten your one song out of me for the night, Konata." Terriermon started. "Can we go home now?"

"But Kagamin!" Togemogumon's cat grin was still widening. "You chose all those Vocaloid Songs earlier, remember? And One of 'em's next one up!"

Terriermon froze. "W...What...?"

"Yup! That really fast paced one too!" Togemogumon was still grinning. "You know, that one from that...?"

"SHUT UP!" Terriermon clamped her ears around her friend's mouth. "I Got the Point already!"

Togemogumon pried Terriermon's ears away from her mouth and grinned even more. "So that means you'll be singing then?"

"Ugh..."

Lopmon could only share a hopeless glance with the Palmon. 'May we live in interresting times.' they both thought.

Taiki collapsed into a chair with a groan.

"You look like you've ran the 450 mile dash!" Zenjirou noted wryly from across the table where he, Akari, and Lila were sitting.

"I found out what we have to do to get the Code Crown." Taiki stated.

Akari blinked. "And what's that?"

Taiki merely snapped his fingers as the stage lights once more flared into their spot light mode. "We sing."

"Erm...Uh..." Terriermon started into the Microphone. 'How did she rope me into this again?' "This is ah..." she glanced at the title on the monitor across the room. "A...Assault by Kagamine, Rin! I hope you enjoy!"

And so, with that, she nodded to Astamon at the bar who started the track.

It was rather...strange at first, what only being guitar, but then a gun shot rang out and then the song really kicked into high gear...

"A Fatal error has occurred." Terriermon started to sing. "My voice starts becoming raspy, What's happening? I'm stating to break apart!" Indeed, the lyrics were VERY fast paced, so much so that she was having a hard time keeping up. "That last installment Slipped a virus in, The avast was yelling 'I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate'!" A few quick deep breaths, and then she continued. "This voice can no longer Reach the edge of the world."

Togemogumon was grinning widely. "YEAH! SING IT KAGAMIN!"

"True, But..." Terriermon continued uninterrupted. "Right now, I won't give up on myself even though my body is like this and I lose all hope; I will still sing the melody, and let you listen to it." she was actually starting to cry at how sad the lyrics were getting, but still kept pace with the song. "I could hear from the sound of the fan and the noise of the H.D., It scratches around with nothing to stop it. I'm Scared, I'm Scared, I'm scared." During the next breather, she took a few moments to compose herself.

"Wow, she's pretty good!" Zenjirou whistled lowly.

Lila nodded. "She's really enjoying it now that it's just her."

Akari smiled. "She might just get the Code Crown..."

And so, the song picked up again. "Heruistic, Generic, Malware, Yamada Alternative, I didn't check for any of them, If I stopped file-sharing... But Now it's too late, It can't be avoided. If I reinstall, then it's okay, pattern Matching, altrogan infiltrated. The Bios Died, Recovery's out, My information's getting leaked out and It can't be stopped." A quick breath. "Who's that coming into my field of vision?"

At this point, Terriermon was lucky to even be saying the words right, let alone knowing for sure she was matching them up correctly to the right parts of the song. But, regardless, she continued on.

"True, But, Yes, In this world I've lived my life in, the only thing that I could call 'Hope' was You and only you." She paused quickly for breath, then concluded the song. "Even if my body is like this, Even if I lose my tomorrow, My singing melody is what I'll leave for you. I hate." And finally, a smile started to form as the song came to an end. "A fatal error has occurred, and my voice is starting to fade A...wa...y... What's going on here...?" and with that, she made sure to say every syllable perfectly and intentionally separate. "I'm slowly breaking apart!"

And that was that.

A few seconds of panting later, Terriermon turned her head towards the audience in the gathered bar clapping and cheering and even whistling in some cases.

"YEAH! That was awesome!" Shoutmon gave two thumbs up.

"Way to go, Sister!" Starmon jumped onto a table and whistled.

"NICE ONE KAGAMIN!~" Togemogumon roared from below the stage.

From the bar, Kiriha smirked. "That actually looks fun." he thought to himself.

"Hic." Revolomon burped up a glowing orange bubble.

"Now that really isn't right." Astamon frowned as he checked the contents of the bottle he had poured from.

"Um, not to offend." Hangyomon pushed his mug of orange glow water as far away from himself as he could. "But could I just have some Chocolate milk?"

"More Digi-noir." Kiriha added in.

As Terriermon climbed off stage, she was joined by her friends.

"NICE ONE KAGAMIN!~" Togemogumon roared once more. "I THINK YOU BLEW OUT MY EARDRUMS WITH THAT LAST NOTE, THOUGH!"

"That was excellently executed!" Palmon managed to say clearly before the pain of her broken tooth reared itself again. "owieee..."

"Sis! Cool!" The Poyomon (who you might have guessed is named Tsukasa) stared up at her big sister in awe and amazement. "Sing more!"

"No way." Terriermon shook her head. "That song was too fast for me, I'm seriously taking a break for now."

"AWWW..." Togemogumon shook her head out. "Er, I mean, Awwwww! But you were so good at it!"

Lopmon smiled as Terriermon turned towards them. "So what'd you guys think? Was I horrible?"

"You were great!" Cutemon smiled.

"Yeah! You can really sing solos well!" Lopmon nodded.

"That's one of my favorite songs, actually." Terriermon smiled back. "A Voice Program who gets hit by a virus only to come back as an anti-virus program? The First Virus Resistance story is really something unique." she sighed. "But I can't sing it too often, or even all three parts, it's just too fast."

"Yeah! But that's why we call her Kagami!" Togemogumon grinned. "She's so rough and tough like than antivirus girl!"

"Oh...Be quiet you!" Terriermon blushed slightly.

MEANWHILE OUTSIDE_ _ _|

Suddenly, Deuce's eyes widened. "Hey... Where'd you come from?"

Dorulumon blinks. "Eh?"

"You should run along kid." The voice behind them said suddenly. "It's too late to be running about like this on your own."

"Y-Yes siiiiir!" The boy then ran away as fast as his legs would carry.

Dorulumon caught sight of a single, black feather floating to the ground as he turned around. "It's...It's you!"

TO BE CONTINUED AS WELL!

A.N.: YOSH! This took... a lot of time to write. ^_^; But, it all turned out okay in the end. BTW, With the actual Xros Wars Still airing currently, I've got a few major plot tweaks planned for the transition into "Seven Kingdoms" around Ep. 29/30/31. Such as... It won't just be Omega appearing anymore, But Delta will be there too! ;)

Let's see if anyone can figure out THAT little reference. And I'll give one more hint: Symb0l R3pl4c3m3nt.

The Greek symbol Delta Will be part of the name, but not infront of it like Shout's new form'll be. ;)

Enough of this nonsense: I MUST EAT!

_DTC