Sorry for the delay, had some things to deal with but I should have a regular upload schedule now (hopefully) so enjoy!

Lucas's head was killing him. If he had ever had to guess what a hangover felt like, this was ten times more unbearable and one hell of a deterrent to never drink. He groggily pried his eyes open to see soft white clouds rolling lazily across the light blue sky, the sun occasionally hiding behind the passing clouds he could faintly hear the rustling leaves of distant treetops. The last Lucas could recall, it was early morning and he was further up the mountain when he confronted Leya but it was definitely close to mid-day now and based off the sound of leaves he was closer to the foot of the mountain. He noticed he was lying on a surprisingly soft bed roll, his head resting on an equally soft pillow; definitely too soft to be his, so who's was it? Lucas groaned, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to wake up further. When his eyes opened once more, he sat up and almost jumped in surprise as he found himself face to face with the large blue muzzle of his partner.

"Heya Lucas! 'Bout time you woke up!" Lucas rolled his eyes as he shook his head at Gaogamon. Even after so long of being with him Lucas sometimes could still find himself not used to his partner's constant peppiness. Usually just seeing his goofy grin usually cheered him up when he was down but today it wasn't enough.

"So I'm assuming Leya kicked my ass and she got away?" Lucas asked, despairingly. He already knew the answer, he had stupidly rushed in too fast and got his ass beat by an Elite. He clenched his fist; he heard the rumors about how strong she was by herself and he still thought he could handle her. Gaogamon opened his mouth to speak but another voice cut him off.

"Oh you definitely lost but I wouldn't say that I 'got away' nor did I technically kick your ass; it was more of a singular violent head-butt that did you in." Lucas turned to look behind him and to his astonishment, he saw Leya sitting cross-legged on a small boulder holding her head in her hands, a bored yet smug look on her face. She had different clothes on than the first time he had saw her; this time she wore a black cropped jacket with the hood up over her head, her hair flowing down from under it with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows over a light grey tank top, along with dark grey almost black cargo pants and black combat boots. With all that dark clothing she was wearing on the relatively warm day it was becoming, Lucas couldn't figure out how she wasn't drowning in her own sweat by now.

"To be honest, I didn't think I had hit you that hard but after your body immediately went limp I hurried and moved you to my camp so I could make sure you were alright. So yeah…sorry 'bout that." Lucas stood up and towered over her with a scowl on his face, his temper rising.

"What are you still doing here? Did you just want to rub in the fact that I got beaten by you so easily?! Or did you wanted to pity me, cause I don't need it!" Leya barely moved her head to look him in the eyes; they looked so...distraught. Lucas felt so taken aback by her gaze he felt his anger ebb away.

"No...You were hurt, and hurt by me no less...I couldn't just leave, I had to help you, especially considering we are both looking for the same person and you're not a bad person, a hotheaded jerk maybe but not bad." She paused turned her gaze away from Lucas and fidgeted a bit, like something was bothering her.

"You can say it's because I'm a big softy or it's because of my crest or whatever, but I hate leaving others behind, I hate leaving injured people when there something I can do to help...and I hate not knowing where my friends are..." She pulled her legs up to her chest and held them tightly.

"I'm looking for Will too...I don't know how long it's been since you've seen him, but for me and a lot of my friends it's been coming up on about seven months. And over the last few months it seems like I'm the only one that seems to care that he's gone."

Lucas felt a pang of guilt along with the realization he had come to; he and Leya were in the same boat of not knowing where Will was and he practically accused her of foul play earlier. He kicked himself mentally; the girl in front of him didn't seem capable of anything remotely malicious let alone hurting or even possibly killing her friend. Lucas sighed and sat back down on the bed roll.

"Hey look...I'm...sorry for you know... accusing and attacking you..." He apologized scratching the back of his head. He felt his mouth almost twitch into a small smile after he felt a fist lightly punch his shoulder.

"It's alright...I had to deal with a lot worse than a kid with an attitude problem over the years." Leya paused, a frown slowly forming on her face.

"Hey I got a question...?"

"Yea?"

"Not many people I know are actively looking for Will so, if you're looking for him, doesn't that mean you are one of the Guardians?" Lucas turned to her with a completely puzzled look on his face.

"You know, Will's old team before Gennai lumped me, him and a few others into a team of sorts." Leya explained.

"A Guardian? Pssh, no. Those guys are pretty much Elites like you. If anything I would have thought you were one of the Guardians." Lucas scoffed then shook his head.

"Nah…Will had saved my life a while back and I gotta thank him for it and find some way to pay him back you know?"

"Huh…That's really noble, Lucas..." Leya nodded in response and then frowned again, turning to her thoughts. Why had she been so sure that Will had mentioned Lucas before? She tried to recall where or when he did but the only thing she could remember was him saying Lucas was his teammate, though for some reason Leya couldn't remember seeing his face during the conversation. It was like a dark haze was covering it, blocking that particular detail of her memory and his voice sounded as though it was stuck on a skipping record repeating the words: 'Lucas Star was one of my old teammates' over and over again. She felt her stomach turn as her mind wondered if this had something to do with her virus. By now she would have been stupid for not noticing something was definitely wrong with her; first it was the weird dream, then the mood swing that made her hurt Lucas, and now even it seemed her memories were being affected. She even took into account the different colors that appeared when she had materialized her sword earlier. If what Alex said about her body was true, which with him and the fact that his crest is that of Life was most likely true, the digital parts of her body becoming corrupted were beginning to seriously change how she acted and even how she thought.

"So…Leya? How can you do the whole, you know, sword summoning thing?" Leya sighed. She figured Lucas would ask about her sword, everyone who had seen it does. She had to admit that it wasn't normal for a Digidestined to summon anything let alone a whole sword to fight other Digimon; in fact she was the only Digidestined in known history to have that ability. She flashed him a small smile.

"Heh, if I told you I'd have to tell everybody that ever asked me! Besides, I kinda like the whole "mysterious swordsman" thing I got going on."

"Aw come on, that's not fair!" He whined.

Leya laughed as she stood up and picked up her one strap bag that was leaning against the side of the boulder she had been sitting on and threw it over her shoulder. Trying to explain why she could summon her sword would take all day and she couldn't waste any more time. She had to find Will and fast; not just for herself but possibly the rest of the world. It seemed that ever since Will disappeared, new factions of Digimon and Digidestined had popped up waging war against the Sovereigns, her own team had pretty much disbanded, the remaining Digidestined from the siege lost their will to fight, and the new generation would rather use the title of Digidestined to move out of their parent's house early and live in the Digital World than actually protect it. Bunch of freeloaders, Leya thought with disdain.

"Well anyway…seeing as you're feeling better and I'm on a bit of a time crunch, I'm gonna dip outta here. You can keep the bed roll, consider it an...um...apology gift." Leya turned on her heel and started walking off towards the forest at the foot of the mountain.

"Wait couldn't I come with you?! I mean we are both looking for Will." Lucas jumped up and ran forward, grabbing Leya's arm and spinning her around to face him. He wasn't quite sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him but he could've swore he saw her eyes flash a light shade of purple just for a split second.

"Ah! Uh… Heh…Well, the thing is…Um…Look, it's not you… it's me." Leya mentally kicked herself for using that cliché breakup line for this situation. She scratched the back of her head, hoping to jump start her brain for coherent sentences so she didn't put her foot in her mouth again. Her sudden fidgeting made Lucas suspect there was something more to her than what she was letting on.

"I'm sorry Lucas you seem like a really nice guy and would be nice to travel with you but I'm afraid I can't have you holding me back right now." She stumbled over her words, quick to make an excuse.

" 'Holding you back'?! I'm not some fucking kid; I can take care of myself!" Lucas growled, his temper threatening to get the better of him. Leya threw up her hands in a faux surrender.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Okay sorry wrong choice of words but like I said you have nothing to do with it. Besides if I wanted you to tag along I would've asked you come with me otherwise…I'm not gonna lie… I'm a bit of a flight risk." As if on cue, a huge shadow flew over the two, accompanied by a sudden torrent of wind strong enough to knock Lucas back away from Leya and to the ground. When the wind died down, Leya was no longer in front of him but miles away in the air riding on the back of a black and golden armored dragon.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" He screamed after her and her partner's fleeting forms. Lucas hastily packed up the bed roll in his bag and hopped on the back of his partner.

"Gaogamon, come on we are going after them!"

"But Leya said she-"

"Forget what she said! She is our best lead to Will and she is hiding something. And I am going to find out what."

"Nice timing there buddy." Leya breathed a sigh of relief as she leaned back on Komodomon's armor and put her arm over her eyes. She was really glad that Komodomon showed up when he did. Not only did it keep her from having an awkward moment after making that pun, but kept her from attacking Lucas again. In the moment that he had grabbed her arm to stop her, Leya didn't see Lucas as some kid she had just met but as the one creature so horrible that haunted her dreams still even after she killed had him some time ago and she had almost summoned her sword to attack him instinctively. Leya swore under her breath; now she was having hallucinations. She was getting worse and what was really scaring her was how fast her condition was deteriorating.

Would it have been better if I had stayed at Alex's instead of running off on a whim? Leya groaned as she questioned her own motives. I mean it's not like I got a real lead or anything and the only person that would probably help me is in increasing danger the longer I'm around him.

"Leya...!" She sat up at the sound of her name being called.

"What's up Komodo?"

"Have you been listening to me at all?" He glanced back at her. She had been so deep in her own thoughts that she didn't even realize Komodomon had been talking to her.

"I'd be lying if I said yes." Leya chuckled sheepishly. Komodomon rolled his eyes, turning his head back towards the open sky.

"Well if you had been paying attention you would know that I found a possible lead to Will." She almost fell of her partner's back in shock.

"Wait...Wh-What?! Seriously you found something? How?" He chuckled at Leya's surprise.

"There's the reaction I was looking for. Anyway I was saying that while I was out scouting, I came across a village that heard word of sightings and a warning about a lone wolf-like Digimon with red markings on its fur roaming the northern mountains. The locals said that it definitely wasn't a Garurumon or any other of the usual wolf Digimon that they have seen."

"So no one saw a human with it?" Komodomon shook his head solemnly.

"Not only is this Strikemon partner-less, but it is seemingly feral; it won't let anyone near it, anybody that does gets attacked." Leya felt her heart stop for a split second. All her previous concerns vanished about herself, replaced by an overwhelming sense of hope.

"We need to hurry then! If Strikemon went feral then that means something bad happened to Will!" Komodomon's neck twitched.

"Leya I understand the urgency here but…I really think we need to go back to Alex first."

"What? Why?! We are so close we actually have a lead and we need to help Strikemon! Leya argued.

"I understand that but don't think that I haven't noticed your episodes lately; the sleepwalking and the mood swing that had you almost seriously injured a friendly –albeit a somewhat asshole-y- Digidestined added with the nightmare you told me about, honestly I'd feel a lot more comfortable if you got checked out first." Leya began to feel a strange sense of panic, like she had been watching a horror movie and was starting to feel anxious for the characters on screen. She couldn't go back to Alex, not now, not when Strikemon was close and possibly hurt.

"Komodomon, it would take too long for us to go all the way back to Alex's then head north. I mean, we're almost at the border anyway why don't we just help Strikemon THEN go to Alex's?" Leya suggested with a small amount of pleading in her voice. Komodomon said nothing, but made a slight turn towards the north.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Leya squealed, hugging Komodomon's neck. She couldn't see him but she could tell he rolled his eyes.

"You're lucky I like you." Leya scoffed.

"Nah, you love me." Komodomon chuckled in response as he sped forward.

"Are you sure you saw it around here?"

"Yeah of course I'm sure that beast nearly used me as a damn chew toy! It was just as big as a Garurumon, but twice as nasty." A flustered Pixiemon squeaked.

"Luckily for me, it got bored of clawing after me once I hid up higher in a tree than it could jump and then took off towards the old ruins." The young woman questioning the Digimon sighed, running her fingers through her short blonde hair, closing her eyes for a few seconds feeling the warm breeze flow through her royal blue trench coat. She had been on this Digimon's trail for the past week ever since she heard rumors of a Strikemon roaming around in the North. However, no matter how fast she arrived it seemed as though she had just missed her target.

"Thank you for the information, Pixiemon. I can take it from here." She dismissed the tiny Digimon who gladly took flight away from the forest. The woman took in her surroundings. There were several fractured and damaged trees around her, most were covered in either large claw or bite marks but there were a few that had distinct burn marks. Many of the trees showed signs of claw marks up the length of the tree as if Strikemon was attempting to climb up them but all stopped at the same place: about fifteen feet up the tree. What she found interesting as she followed the damage in the small clearing however, was that the damage to the trees only appeared to be on the trunks in her immediate area in a near perfect circle until there was a sudden bee-line of splintered wood and trampled bushes towards the north-east. The woman frowned. Something or someone had kept him in this clearing like it was a concrete enclosure before allowing him to run towards the ruins. She sighed, what was hopefully just going to be a simple search and secure mission had turned into a possible hostage situation. She ran her fingers through her hair again, then chuckled as she found herself suddenly smiling. Of course her mission wouldn't be as simple or straight-forward as she had anticipated, then again she should've expected things wouldn't had gone as planned when she dealt with anything concerning Will Murphy.

After all, Lisa was not only Will's former teammate but she was also his ex-girlfriend.