Author's Note: It's an update! The story's alive! Special thanks to bugatik as well as everyone else who encouraged me to continue the story even years after it had ended.

Chapter 7: Oasis

"Hey, would you mind not staring at me? Your inferiority might start rubbing off." Jalith said.

"Come on, you'll attack me the second I look away." Tamas said. His face was red and sweating, and his breathing was as ragged as Mesme's and Sediba's. "Ugh, I haven't had a good meal in days." Tamas rubbed his stomach for emphasis, and then widened his eyes in horror as he realized he hadn't had any meals since he arrived in the Digital Plane.

Saldramon grunted in reply, scooping a stone off of the ground and nibbling it. All of the children besides Rhia stared at him.

"What." Sediba said.

"I don't know what you're confused about," Scarabmon said. "Rocks have data and energy just like anything else. Of course, it's not particularly beneficial data for organic type beings, unlike you'd find in meats or breads and…" Scarabmon looked around at the children and hesitated. "… That's not how it works in the other world at all, is it?"

"Not even close." Jalith said.

"Uh, where could you get real food?" Mesme asked, "This place doesn't exactly have much."

"I've been leading us there all day." Reavmon announced, interrupting the conversation.

"Jeez, couldn't you tell us earlier?" Piramon said. Tamas was too weary to care how little the fish-thing had been saying, but the fact that she kept smiling was more than a little creepy. Reavmon grunted in reply and pointed ahead, to where the roof of a wooden building started to appear over the crest of a hill.

OOOOO

"What is this place?" Tamas asked as he stared at the walls made of wood and paper, materials too shabby even for imperial construction.

"I don't know why you're asking me." Jalith said with a sniff. "This place is clearly human."

"The fallen one has more experience in this matter, but I agree that this kind of construction could only be human." Rhia said with a sage nod.

"I've never even heard of this kind of construction, how can this possibly be human." Tamas said as he tried to read the strange runes painted on the walls.

"Well, I can't say about the specifics, but the layout looks a lot like the other human buildings I've been in." Mesme said, pointing to the doorways and the desk in front of them as if it was self-explanatory.

"You, green guy, help me out here." Tamas said, pointing at Sediba. The necron twitched and bit at his lips.

"Well, I don't any personal experience to rely upon." Sediba said. Tamas smiled hopefully. "But the data I have recently acquired seems to indicate that this is the most human building ever made."

"Oh, come on!" Tamas yelled.

"You!" the group turned their heads to see something squat, humanoid, and covered in bulky robes and a tri-cornered hat standing in one of the inner doorways and pointing at Reavmon. "Build a bath-house you said, all the best tamers were from 'Japan' you said. That's the first human I've seen in seven years and he's white." Reavmon, for his part, seemed to be more interested in his claws.

"White? What does that mean?" Tamas whispered to Saldramon.

"I don't know. You look brown to me." Saldramon grunted, turning his head away.

The squat person coughed and walked behind the counter, stepping onto something so he could be eye level with the five kids.

"Well, I need all the business I can get, so show me the money kids. Oh, and don't worry about the currency, I've got an in with a money changer."

Tamas stuck his hand to his coat's pockets and pulled out the few deci-thrones he had scraped off the floors of Telris Hive.

"Um, does any… one… Tamas' eyes looked over his companions. Mesme was shivering in fear, Rhia was angrily muttering something under her breath, Sediba didn't look like he had anywhere to fit any kind of money even though he was furiously tapping on his glowing green orb, and none of the digital beings were making any kind of move to pay.

"Very well, since I want you penniless beggars' help, I'll cover the expenses this time." Jalith said. He flicked his arm out, and a small pile of squares made of black metal fell on the counter. The squat thing sucked in its breath and took half the pile, leaving Jalith to take back the other half.

"Very well," the thing said. "My name is Rogutamamon, and I am happy to welcome most of you-" Rogutamamon glared at Reavmon. "to the Pax Digitus, your rooms are the first two after the door on the right, and the baths are through the door on the left, just past the changing rooms."

"Baths?" Tamas asked. "Why are their baths?"

"Huh? This is a bath-house. The bath's are for the customers." Rogutamamon said.

"How long do we get?" Tamas' hands were twitching nervously, and he had an odd grin on his face.

"Well, if you stay in too long you'll probably faint but-" before Rogutamamon could finish Tamas had sprinted through the left door, leaving everyone else behind looking very confused.

"Did I… miss something?" Scarabmon asked.

"Well, a swim does sound good to me." Piramon said. "Come on, Mesme lets join him."

OOOOO

Tamas let out another sigh as he sank a little deeper into the bubbling water.

"All I need now is a glass of peasant tears and I'd be like real nobility." he said.

"No human could ever match the pointlessly dark excess of real nobility!" Tamas opened his eyes to see Jalith beaming at him from the other side of the bath, with Sediba sitting quietly beside him.

"I see the 'Men' sign didn't refer to species." Tamas said, his spirits dropping. "Are Mesme and Rhia coming? What about the digital beings?"

"We are split by gender and origin, it seems." Sediba said.

"So you're a guy? I was wondering." Tamas said.

"Well, this bath-house wasn't made with necrontyr sexual dimorphism in mind, but there were only two options for people from the physical plane, and neither you nor Jalith have tried to kill me, so if the other eldar asks tell her I am most definitely male." Sediba said. Tamas shifted his gaze from Sediba to Jalith.

"Now that I think about, its too late to say I'm female, isn't it?" Tamas said.

"Disappointed about missing the sights?" Jalith asked. Tamas chuckled dryly.

"Hell no. One of them's a xenos and the other looks like a brat." Tamas said.

"Take that back." Jalith shouted. "Eldar look nothing like humans."

"Yeah, but I can't ignore the fact that she looks the same age as my sister." Tamas replied calmly. Jalith's tone shifted immediately

"You have a sister?" He asked, his voice filled with glee.

"Say another word and I'll…" Tamas paused. "Gouge your eyes out."

"Just my eyes?" Jalith said. "Amatuer." Tamas sighed.

"Well." he muttered. "This can't be that much worse than alien girl talk."

OOOOO

"You are really boring." Mesme said. Rhia continued to sit in the bath with her eye's closed.

OOOOO

"Did you really tell a guy to make a bath-house all the way out here?" Piramon asked as she swam laps around a bath much bigger than either of the ones for physical beings. "Not that I'm complaining. Living in a desert sucks."

"I joked about it, yeah, but I thought he started it as a side venture." Reavmon said with a casual wave of his arm. "I didn't think he was this serious about it."

"And honestly, that kind of judgement completely disregards the Rhanadandramon incident, among many others." Scarabmon said from his position on the side of the bath. "What were you even thinking?"

"It was a group of us all trading stories about all the disasters humans got involved in, since they started the Great War too. I just thought it would be funny to make a business out of it." Reavmon said.

"The Great War." Saldramon said slowly. He was lying down next to Scarabmon, but he lifted his head when he heard those words.

"That 'sage' mentioned it too." Spirimon said. He was sitting cross legged in the bath near enough to talk with the others. "What he said about the cycle, do you think it was true?" Reavmon's expression straightened.

"I hope not." Reavmon said. "I really do. But those robes, and that title he gave himself." Reavmon trailed off, pausing before he resumed talking. "I've heard rumors of an order that calls themselves the Ancients. Digital beings that used to have tamers thousands of years ago and still have their memories after reincarnation. I heard they were behind the scenes of a lot of things back during the Great War. If anyone had stumbled across a reality altering evil, they'd be the kind of people I'd wager on."

"Then let them deal with it." Piramon said as she came back around. "This is way over our heads."

"But we are chosen ones." Scarabmon said. "We're chosen partners of chosen children. The sage even recognized us."

"The sage was guessing." Reavmon said. "And the human admitted he was identifying us based on second hand information. Even if there are chosen children, he could have been wrong."

"How?" Scarabmon said. "Did he find the wrong group of humans, tau, eldar and necrons?"

"The grouping itself is a problem." Spirimon said. Scarabmon turned to face him. "Tell me, do you know what the necron and the eldar did to each other? Or what the eldar have done to themselves? Not even common enemies have overcome such hatred."

"But we're not enemies." Scarabmon said. "And we don't have to help them fight each other."

"Yes we do." Saldramon said. He pushed himself up so he was kneeling. "We are partners. We have to fight for them. That's our duty, right?" Reavmon sighed.

"No wonder you live out here." he said. Reavmon looked Scarabmon in the eyes. "Look kid, I'm know you want to get out of here. I know you want to make the universe play fair. But life will never hand you happiness, even if you are a chosen one."

"It's not about happiness. If I need to suffer then I will do so, no matter what." Scarabmon said. He and Reavmon sat there exchanging glares for a few tense seconds, but before anyone could speak up a ringing bell broke the silence.

OOOOO

Tamas unconsciously rubbed the robe he had been given to wear after the bath. It was the softest thing he had ever worn but he could tell that it didn't come from the world he knew, even if it was meant to copy human patterns. At least it actually looked human. The group of ten had met back up and were following Rogutamamon down a hall. when he reached the end he slid open the door to present two tables set with food. One tables was set high up with chairs around it and the other was set close to the floor with only flat pads surrounding it. As Tamas naturally gravitated to the table with chairs, he didn't notice Reavmon hanging back at the door.

"'Chosen Ones', huh?" Rogutamamon said. "Are you sure its not-"

"If it was just a scam I'd be hunting the guy down by now. And no, I didn't start this." Reavmon said. "Also, its bad form to spy on guests."

"I hear what I hear." Rogutamamon shrugged. "So what is your scam?"

"No scam. I'm trying to improve myself."

"Ah. ha. ha."

"Seriously. Do you think I chose that kid for my enjoyment?" Reavmon pointed to Jalith, who was currently busy trying to time the shouting of swear words while Tamas was reciting the longest prayer he could remember.

"Point taken." Rogutamamon said.

OOOOO

Once everyone was seated and ready to eat, the children finally noticed a problem. There was plenty of exotic (human) food set in front of them, but the only possible utensils were a pair of sticks at each place. Immediately, they looked over to where the digital beings were simply eating with their appendages.

"I suppose that would be the human method of eating?" Sediba said

"No, this is the most human place ever built." Tamas said. "And that's why they provided sticks to eat with."

"Yeah, these are definitely what I'd expect from humans." Jalith said as he rolled one of the sticks between his fingers.

"I'm sure you've used much worse things to eat." Rhia said.

"No, but we'd do it because its funny." Jalith said. "Humans were dead serious when they decided to eat with these." Absentmindedly, Tamas stuck on of the sticks into a bowl of rice, and was quite surprised when the rice didn't start shifting apart like the kind of dry grains he was used to.

"Come on, can we stop fighting?" Mesme said. "There's nothing wrong with you eating with your hands."

" 'You'?" Sediba asked.

"Yeah, well-" Jalith was cut off by Rhia.

"Wait. The mon-keigh's figured it out." she declared. Everyone's gaze shifted to Tamas who stopped to stare back at them. His hand was halfway between the table and his mouth, two sticks clenched parallel in his fist while they balanced a chunk of moist rice on top. Before anyone could interrupt him he quickly pushed the rice into his mouth and chewed.

"Slice of sweet bread." he said.

OOOOO

The sound of clanking gears and sparking electricity surrounded Jokaeromon, barely muffled by the holographic walls of his office. All of the walls had been temporarily set to black after Jokaeromon's unexpected guest had arrived. He let out a short loud sigh, and began talking.

"First off, this isn't where you meet me, so none of this counts as official. If you want this to be official, meet me in the city. Second off, I already know there's nothing out here you guys want so stop pretending you'll waste your time and troops attacking. And third off, your all wackjobs who need to grow up. That's not an official statement, by the way. Since this isn't where you meet me."

The other person in the room was only a rookie, but he didn't show any emotion in response to Jokaeromon, only a polite nod. The rookie stood on two feet but hunched over, a frame of metal poles resting on his pack and protruding a rusty spike on either side of the rookie's head. His scaly skin was grey and dry, and with red welts surrounding the claws on hands as big as a child's head. And on the back of his head were a pair of horns.

"One of them is here." The rookie said. "You met him."

"How did you- wait, nevermind. I don't want to know." Jokaeromon said. "He's an exile, by the way."

"Then he can be saved in this lifetime." the rookie replied.

"Yeah. Saved." Jokaeromon. "So is it just you or-"

"One fallen, one brother." The rookie replied.

"'And its just an in and out deal?"

"If you wish to pledge yourself-"

"No." Jokaeromon said quickly. He brought up one long arm so his hand could stroke his chin. This wasn't a situation where he could appeal to the other party's reason. Now that he had arrived, the only question was whether he would decide Jokaeromon needed to be purged. "I've really been trying to establish my... credentials as the neutral lord of the wasteland, and letting you just run around would really ruin that style. But…" Jokaeromon nodded. There was one more important thing to consider. "Screw those brats. I was going to hunt them down anyways, and they started it, so I'll just blame them. You can join my hunters if you want. Can't let you lead any troops, of course, but I'll tell them to heavily consider your advice."

"I thank you for you assistance." The rookie said. One claw thumped his chest. "In the name of the Brotherhood."

"Yeah, yeah." Jokaeromon said. "Now scram. I need to make an announcement."