Disclaimer: Digimon is a franchise owned jointly by Toei Animation and Bandai, and conceptualized by Akiyoshi Hongo. Doctor Who is a property owned by the British Broadcasting Company created by Sydney Newman. The concept of The Tamer v3.0: Brave New Frontier a fanfiction idea. Please support the official properties.


The Tamer v3.0 - Bold New Frontier

Chapter 3: The Wolf Of Light

It took them a while to run back to Bokomon's home and gather some supplies to use for their trip. Zoe felt a little silly, having to empty her bag full of rocks in front of the others so that they could put food in there. JP quietly thanked her for not immediately swinging it at him the first time he opened his mouth and tried to flirt with her.

"Is that what you were doing? I thought you were being creepy!" Zoe said as she helped Bokomon pack her bag with rolls of bread and assorted dried fruit.

"We should just be glad she had the common sense to bring a bag," Bokomon said, as he threw some supplies into a sack he had in the floor, "Because we're going to have to carry this stuff on our backs."

"By we, you mean me. Don't you?" Neemon frowned.

Bokomon nodded, "That's right. What else would I mean?"

Neemon sighed, "I don't remember agreeing to come with you."

"Well, I suppose you could stay here and patch up the holes in the wall," Bokomon mused. And that was all it took to get Neemon to decide he did in fact want to travel across the Digital World with them. And it was just as well too, for the digimon they passed as they left began to wonder as to what had happened to Cerberumon.

Some were talking about seeing a pink figure fleeing the town while others were talking about seeing a great big pillar of fire shoot out from the ground. All the talk turned into hushed whispers whenever they walked past, encouraging them to move at a hurried pace to get out of the town as quickly as possibly.

At the edge of the town, they found nothing but miles of open desert as far as the eye could see. This didn't deter them from leaving the town if it was their only shot at getting home. Once they were a safe distance from the village, JP was finally free to ask, "Boy, so what was all that about? You'd think those guys were afraid or something."

"They are. We are in a war, Y'know," Bokomon said.

"War? What war?" Tamer asked from the front, "I only napped for like...thirty minutes! What did I miss?"

"Thirty minutes? This war has been going on for months now!" Bokomon said.

"Months!?" Tamer repeated dumb founded.

"Okay, so there's a war on. What's that about?" Zoe asked curiously.

Bokomon sighed, "I suppose the conflict was inevitable ever since the unification. Long ago, there were two Digital Worlds. But then the unification happened and the two worlds became one. But the unification was not peaceful - there was confusion and terror. Many digimon found untamed wild where their homes used to be. Others found that the digimon they knew didn't survive the unification, or had lost memory of who they were before the unification. So three Digimon - two from one world and a third from the other - rose to try and lead the Digital World to peace. But peace is elusive and hard to maintain. Soon those three began to squabble amongst themselves about how to best lead and govern the Digital World. And soon, their squabbling became conflict. Digimon sided with one or the other. Everyone took a side, and friends turned on each other. What was once a tumultuous peace gave way to open violence. And now the war has spiraled out of control."

"You seem pretty knowledgeable about all this," Tamer remarked cheerily.

"Not really. It's all in this book that's been in my personal library since before I could remember," Bokomon admitted as he raised up the book for them to see, "I don't really know where it came from but it's never been wrong yet. I can only assumed it came from one of the Digital Worlds when the unification occurred."

"And we're supposed to believe a magic book just appeared in your house?" JP asked incredulously.

"We both just watched Takuya or Tamer or whatever turn into a digimon. This is not the strangest thing we could learn," Zoe pointed out for him.

JP frowned, "Yeah. Good when are we going to eat? I'm hungry!"

"Yeah, it would be about dinner time back home," Zoe agreed quietly, "And we will have to stop and sleep at some point."

She was just glad it was already late in the day. Because she couldn't imagine walking through this with the blazing heat of the sun beating down on then. But that just made her worry about something else - their parents were definitely at home worried sick about them. If they weren't they would be. She wished there was a way she could tell them she was fine. That everything was fine. That there was nothing to worry about. But how was she supposed to tell them that?

"I see a mountain in the distance! Maybe there's a cave we can hide out in for the night?" Takuya said, pointing to a mountain peak that was slowly beginning to appear in the distance.

"You're kidding. From all the way over here? It'll take us days to get there!" JP complained.

"Weeks actually! And only if we walk!" Tamer snapped his fingers, "But I've got an idea I've always wanted to try this and now that I can become a digimon, this is my best chance to try it!"

"And what exactly did you have in mind?" JP folded his arms.

"Okay, hang on. You're going to love this! Execute! Spirit Evolution!" Tamer said, raising the device over his head and letting a beam of light stream out of it so that it enveloped him. It wrapped itself around his body, turning into fire and swallowing him whole until it faded away - leaving behind the armored form of Agunimon. He cracked his knuckles together and proclaimed, "Okay, so who's first?"

"Uh…" Zoe paused as she tried to make sense of what he was thinking.

"I'll go!" Neemon volunteered with his arms over his head excitedly. Agunimon scooped the digimon up over his arms and sat him on his shoulders, "Okay. Hang on tight. I don't really know if this'll work but I say half the fun is finding out!"

Neemon wrapped his legs around Agunimon and held onto his hair for dear life, "I'm ready!"

"HERE WE GO!" Agunimon said, punching the ground beneath him so that a blast of fire shot out. The resulting explosion propelled him into the air and Agunimon went soaring. He positioned himself so that his arms were in front of him and punched the air behind him. Another blast of fire erupted from his hands, propelling him forward so that he went flying towards the mountains in the distance.

"Okay, I have to admit that was pretty cool," Zoe nodded in surprise as Agunimon's simulated flight allowed him to fly forward until he disappeared into the distance. As quickly as he disappeared, the explosions drew closer until Agunimon came crashing back in front of them.

He landed with such impact that it created a small cloud of sand, "Sorry! Sorry! Still working on the landing."

He took a minute to dust himself before turning to the others, "So who's next?"

The others were just as terrified of this mode of transport. After all, what evidence did they have that Neemon was still alive at…wherever he'd gone? Neither JP nor Tomoki were particularly volunteering so Zoe raised her hand, "I'll go."

"Okay," Tamer said, taking her by the hand and lifting her on to his shoulders. She immediately regretted wearing a skirt today of all days and closed her legs together around his head, making sure to also hold onto the horns on his head for dear life, "Try to hang on."

"It's not like I'm planning on letting go. Just try to not get us killed," she said as Agunimon adjusted to go flying. Before she could say anything else, Agunimon punched the ground and they were immediately in the air. She screamed in terror first, mostly from how unexpected the flight was but also from the fact that the others very quickly became tiny specks on the ground. Then Agunimon did the same thing and began punching the air behind him to propel them forwards.

Once she was accustomed to soaring through the air - or rather, falling through the air with the occasional rocketing upwards - she found herself staring in awe of the world below them. Down there, it all looked like miles of desert. Up here, she could see a forest in the distance, mountains beyond the mountain they were heading towards, another small village in opposite direction and a crystal blue lake far away. And as they soared, she gasped, "Wow."

"Now comes the part I don't quite have yet," Agunimon announced, adjusting his arms beneath him and allowing himself to fall a little further than he had before, "Hang on."

He punched towards the ground slowly, creating just enough force to slow their descent but still allowing them to fall towards the ground. Again and again, he punched towards the ground as they fell until a small speck became visible in the distance. A small speck that turned into Neemon waving at them, "Hey!"

And he opted to stand right in their path.

"WATCH OUT!" Agunimon called out as he tried to angle his landing to avoid hitting the little rabbit. It didn't matter because he still slammed into the ground with enough force to create another dust cloud. He lowered Zoe down and she could feel her legs shaking from the flight, struggling to adjust to being on solid ground again after being sent careening through the air in such a way.

But in the end, her legs gave out from under her and she collapsed besides Neemon. The little digimon ran up beside her and patted her back, "Don't feel too bad. I had jelly legs too! Here, have a juice box."

"Thanks," Zoe said as she reached for it until she vaguely remembered him saying something about keeping the juice box in his pants, "On second thought, never mind. Thanks for the offer though."

"Are you sure? It's really good!" Neemon said. When she nodded, the little digimon took out a straw from his pants, and started sipping at the juice box in front of her. Ew. How could anyone just start drinking out of something straight from their pants like that?

"Just a few more trips and we'll be done! Be right back!" Agunimon turned around and took off into the air again. It took a few more back and forth trips for him to finally transport everyone there. First was Tommy, who curled up into a fetal position upon arrival. Then came Bokomon, and last was JP who kissed the sand and wept, "Ground! Finally! Solid ground!"

"Alright…that was a work out. Who's hungry?" Agunimon said, disappearing into a flash of light that left behind only Tamer. He proceeded to make his way towards Bokomon's sack and took out several loaves of bread for them to share, along with some apples.

"Hey! I only packed enough for a few days! Don't gorge yourselves!" Bokomon complained.

"This is only for a few days?" Zoe asked incredulously, "This looks like it'll only last us until tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning? How often do you humans eat?"

"Three times a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Give or take. Some people eat snacks," JP answered.

"You look like you do more than that," Neemon snorted.

"Yeah, fat jokes. Sure," JP frowned as he sat down on the dirt and took a bite of the loaf he'd been given. Zoe just quietly nibbled on her bread, trying to enjoy every bite of what was probably going to be her last decent meal in a while. Once they'd finished eating, they made their way up the mountain in search of a place to rest until they found a small cave where they could rest their heads for the night. Takuya transformed into Agunimon one more time to light a fire for them, then offered to take watch for the night while they rested.

Tomoki had been keeping mostly to himself in that time, and continued to do so by laying down furthest from the others while using his hat as a pillow. JP rested his head against a cave wall and seemed to be sleeping. However, the way she shifted uncomfortably made it obvious that this was just a feint. He was wide awake. At this point, it seemed like Bokomon and Neemon were the only ones actually asleep.

"Hey...you guys still awake?" she whispered in the dark.

"Yeah. Can't sleep. Still hungry," JP answered back, "And we know you're still awake Tommy. The echoes makes it hard to miss the whimpering."

"I told you, my name is Tomoki," the boy protested.

"Right right. Sorry," JP rolled his eyes, "Look kiddo. We're all in this together, so quit whimpering already and calm down."

"Be nice!" Zoe protested, slowing her way over to the little boy and patting his back, "Hey! Forget about what JP said. He's being a jerk. It'll be alright."

"You say that but we're still here," Tomoki whimpered, "I...I just want to go home."

"We all do, so will you knock it off with the pity party?" JP grumbled.

"Not helping!" Zoe said again angrily, just about ready to go ahead and smack JP across the face. Seriously, what part of not helping was he not getting?

And of course, the guy had the need to defend himself, "I'm just saying, he needs to open his eyes and realize what kind of situation we're all in here! We all want to go home! We're all stuck here! Crying isn't going to do anything about it so-"

"You're not helping!" Zoe protested, "Don't you get it? Tomoki got bullied! So leave him alone and think about what you're doing!"

"Stop fighting. All of you," Tamer said from the cave entrance, "Seriously, you're going to bring some angry Digimon our way and then we'll have to deal with that."

"Yeah. Easy for you to say," JP complained, "You can turn into that cool thing and you were sleeping in the way to this crazy place! It was the end of the day for us!"

"Yup. You got me," Tamer threw up his hands and came inside the cave, "I was sleeping. And truth be told, I don't know much about you guys. So...who are you? I got your names...but where you from? Grade? Likes? Dislikes? Stuff like that."

"Are you for real?" Zoe asked.

Tamer nodded, "Yup. How else are we going to get to know each other?"

"Why though?" JP asked.

"Well, we're stuck here together. Might as well get to know each other. So...what's everyone's story?" Tamer asked again.

"Why don't you go first? Since you're so eager to do this," she said.

"Yeah okay. So...my name is The Digimon Tamer, you know that part," he began, "I'm...several hundred thousand years old. I'm an Ancient. And until...a couple hours ago, I was trying to stop a runaway train. That parts still fuzzy. I vaguely remember a fox, a robot rabbit dog thing, and a spider that might've actually been an octopus. My favorite color was blue back then but I'm kinda rocking this red I've got on...I don't quite remember where I got it."

"Y'know, there's no point in us playing this game if you can just make stuff up," Zoe grumbled.

Tamer just took offense, "What are you talking about? I didn't make any of that up."

"Uh huh, sure. And I'm the King of France," JP rolled his eyes, "Okay, if you won't be honest, I'm not playing this game."

"I have been honest," Tamer replied. She had to admit that it was very hard to take him seriously when she wasn't sure she could even trust a word he was saying.

Still, she found herself volunteering information of her own, "I'm Zoe. I'm ten, in fourth grade, and my family just moved back to Japan from Italy."

"Oh cool. So are you half Italian? I ask because of your hair," Takuya gestured at her.

Of course he asked. Everyone asked. Zoe shook her head, "No, I'm just like that. Mom thinks the sun in Italy bleached my hair."

"It's really pretty though," Tomoki finally spoke up.

"Aw, thanks," Zoe said, just happy that Tomoki was finally talking to them, "What about you Tomoki?"

"I'm Tomoki...I'm eight. And I don't want to be here," he said quietly.

"Yeah, we know. What do you like?" Tamer asked, probably coming off ruder than he intended.

Tomoki whimpered, "I like video games."

"Heh. That's more than we've gotten from him all day," JP smiled, "I guess it's my turn? My name's Junpei but you guys know you can just call me JP. I'm a cool and easy going guy. I'm also king of France and I like a cutie when I see her."

Zoe really hoped he wasn't looking at her when he said that because she did not want to have to interact with this right now. Thankfully, Tamer prevented JP from making any more attempts at flirting by laughing, "Okay, king of France. Are you going to make us eat cake since we're all so hungry?"

Now Zoe was laughing. JP frowned, "I don't get it."

"Cause, Y'know...Marie Antoinette? Wife of King Louis the XVI? She said 'let them eat cake'?" Zoe explained. The blank looks on JP and Tomoki's faces told her they still didn't get it and she sighed, "Never mind. I'm surprised you know about that, Tamer."

"Studied it back in the academy," Tamer answered, "Scored lowest in my class. But at least I was the top of the bottom."

"Great. So you're stupid," JP sighed.

Tomoki chuckled. Probably the first laugh he'd had all day. It was surprising and the rest of them fell quiet in shock. It didn't last long because the boy quickly realized they were looking at him and he quickly turned away from them.

"I think Tomoki has the right idea. It's time for all of you to get to bed," Tamer said, stretching his hands over his head, "You guys get some rest. We got a long trip ahead of us."

"What about you?" Zoe asked as Takuya made his way back up to the cave entrance.

He gave her a thumbs up and smiled, "Apparently, I was asleep for months. I think I should probably try to stay awake for a while."

With that, he was back to guarding the entrance into the cave. Zoe wanted to feel better about the fact that they had someone looking out for them but that just made her more nervous. After all, they still didn't know all that much about Tamer or Takuya or whatever. And it wasn't like he had been honest with them so far. He lied about his name. Who knew what else he was lying about? Did he really know a way back to Tokyo? Or was he just pulling them along? The fact that it was hard to tell didn't help things. She sighed and rolled back over to try and get some more sleep.


Tomoki awoke some hours to the unmistakable sound of rustling and rolled over to see JP shuffling on the ground. Zoe appeared to be asleep and Takuya was humming to himself at the cave entrance. His eyes were heavy and craved a return to sleep but JP's eating was too loud to drown out, "Hey! Do you mind keeping that down?"

"Hmm?" JP looked back over, his mouth smeared in hastily eaten chocolate. It took Tomoki a moment to register what he was seeing, but he became envious once he did, "Hang on! You have chocolate?"

"Yeah! Want some?" JP said, producing a chocolate bar from his pocket. A chocolate bar that appeared to be melted or at least eaten from the way the wrapper was falling apart. Tomoki shook his head, "No thanks."

"Eh, more for me," JP said as he continued eating the chocolate bar. It was a shame too. Tomoki could really go for a bar of chocolate right now. Or some ice cream. Maybe a cake. Pie sounded pretty good too. Just thinking about it was making Tomoki miss home more. If only he hadn't answered that mysterious summons on his phone. Then he would've been home free and away from this horrible nightmare.

He just wished JP would stop eating so loudly, "If you're going to eat, can you please eat more quietly?"

"What are you talking about? I finished my chocolate bar already," JP answered.

Then what was that rustling? Tomoki sat up, trying to concentrate on the sound of the rustling but it was hard to tell with the fire slowly dimming. But his hair stood on end as he heard a cough come from the darkness. The noise startled JP and he jumped to his feet with a speed Tomoki would've thought impossible until just now.

It took Tomoki a second longer to sit up and the the others were finally awakened by the noise. Tamer rushed in and asked, "What's going on?"

"Something moved! Over there!" JP panicked, pointing in the general direction of the Josie they had heard. Tamer raised an eyebrow and stepped towards the darkness, "Hello?"

"What are you doing? It could be dangerous!" Zoe protested.

"We're in the Digital World. If it hasn't eaten us already, it's probably not going to," Tamer said in what must've been his idea of being reassuring, "Hello? Who's there? It's okay! We're friendly."

But was it? As he said that, a small little ball with eyes hopped out of the darkness. It looked kind of like a bunny with its long floppy ears, only it lacked anything like limbs or a body. The little head bounced up and down, "Do you have something yummy?"

"Oh! I know this digimon! It's a Pagumon!" Bokomon said knowledgeably, "Be careful, though. They're as mischievous as they are ravenous."

"Oh...was that all?" Tamer walked back towards one of the bags and pulled out a small bun of bread for it, "Here. Have some bread!"

"That's not yummy," the Pagumon stuck out its tongue. It sniffed the air and hopped towards PJ, sniffing the air around him before hopping around happily.

"Oh, I know. I bet it smelled by chocolate bar!" JP said as he took a chocolate bar out of his pocket. He sank down to one knee and offered the bar to the small little bouncy ball. It sniffed it once before taking a bite and hopping excitedly. It cooed and cheered as it swallowed and JP couldn't help but chuckle, "Huh, y'know you're kinda cute when you're not creepy."

"More!" the Pagumon said.

"He smells yummy," another voice said from further within the cave, drawing the groups attention further into the darkness. Against all sense, Tamer rushed between the group and the figures emerging from the darkness. More Pagumon. About twenty or thirty of them.

Butterflies fluttered inside Tomoki's stomach and a strong desire to run came over him. Of course it had. He had been in a situation like this too many times before. The Pagumon didn't seem as nice or as cute as they were trying to present themselves. He wanted them to go away. He wanted them to leave him alone.

"Whoa, I don't think I have enough for all you guys," JP murmured, checking his pockets to see how much more chocolate bars he had. Tomoki couldn't help but notice the alarm on Tamer's face or the annoyance on the face of the Pagumon.

"I really wish you hadn't said that," Tamer said aloud, readying the device he had in his pocket.

"What, why? These things look harmless!" JP said as he picked up the small Pagumon, "Aren't you, little guy?"

"GET HIM!" one of the Pagumon fried at the top of its little lungs, as the others charged forward at the older boy. Tomoki knew it and he immediately turned to run out of the cave, trying not to look over his shoulder at the pursuing digimon.

"Spirit Evolution! Agunimon!" Tamer's voice cried out as Tomoki saw the flashes of red light behind him. Fire roared and voices screamed, but Tomoki refused to look back. He just wanted to get as far away from here as possible. That's the tactic that had always worked best for him. Run away.

He'd only made it a few steps out of the cave before he realized what he was doing, and fear gave way to disappointment. What was wrong with him? Why did he have to be like this? Why was he so pathetic? The tears started streaming down his face, but that didn't stop him from running. All he could do was tip his hat down to hide his face, although what good did that do when there was no one to hide his face from? Rather, all it did was reinforce how childish he was being and make it hard for him to see.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Tomoki heard a voice say from behind him. He turned his head slightly to see JP running just behind him with more of those Pagumon following after. Tomoki yelped, "What are you doing!? Why are you following me!?"

"I don't know! I saw you run and it seemed like a good idea!" JP answered, panting for breath and gasping as he tried his best to keep up. Yes, that was why Tomoki started running. But now it wasn't looking like such a good idea with neither Takuya nor his digimon powers around.

"Where's Tamer or Takuya or whatever he's calling himself!?" Tomoki cried back.

"Back in the cave fighting more of them!" JP said back. Tomoki was sure now: JP was functionally useless. But who was he to think that when he was the one running for his life also? Heck, he was more useless because he was the one who ran first!

Tomoki could barely contain his whimpers before he let out a great big cry and wailed, "Aaah! Why did you follow me! Now they're chasing me too!"

"Come on! You're just gonna leave me out to dry?" JP whimpered.

"You're the one who was eating chocolate in the middle of the night!" Tomoki fired back angrily, "This is all your fault!"

"Yes, it's my fault that these things are crazy eating machines!" JP shouted back.

"THEY SMELL LIKE YUMMY CHOCOLATE! THEY MUST BE CHOCOLATE!"

"EAT THE HUMANS!" the Pagumon began chanting together behind them. They were dead! They were so dead! They were going to be eaten by these things in another world far from home. The tears started coming even harder this time. So hard that Tomoki was no longer able to see.

"Look out!" a voice cried out from above them. They both looked up to see a man in white wolf armor leap out of the trees to assault the pursuing Pagumon. Tomoki stopped in his tracks to watch the fight, only to have JP crash into him and knock both of them down.

JP pushed himself up and nudged Tomoki aside, "Watch it, kid!"

"You watch it!" Tomoki cried back, "You're the one who bumped into me!"

"Whatever! Who is that?" JP asked, rolling on to his back to look at their mystery rescuer. He was almost like Agunimon in how tall and imposing a figure he was. However, his armor was completely white save for some blue strips running along his back and legs. His new mystery digimon also wielded what appeared to be two swords made of beams of light in each hand.

Most of the Pagumon scattered or fled away as the wolf man took his first few swings at them. A handful of them stayed and tried to rush the wolf in one go, only to be knocked aside with ease. This did little to deter them from continuing to swarm the wolf digimon.

"Lobo Kendo!" the wolf man cried as he swung his sword around, destroying several of the Pagumon and reverting them back into the glowing clouds of dust called fractal code. That just left one Pagumon alone standing among the cloud of data against the wolf man. For a moment it seemed the wolf would absorb the data himself, but he didn't. Instead he raised one of his swords at the last remaining Pagumon and warned, "Back off. Now."

"You'll pay for that," the Pagumon answered. The data swirled around in the air, absorbing itself into his body and turning into a ball of light. The light swallowed Pagumon and he gave out a roar, "Pagumon! Digivolve to! Raremon!"

When the light subsided, all that remained was a large sludge/slime looking monster whose face was as ugly as the rest of its melting form. Teeth made of garbage and writhing maggots gnashed inside its mouth, making a smacking noise as its bulging eyes came to rest on them. The wolf man raised up his swords again, "Stay behind me, both of you. I'll handle this."

"You're going to fight the giant sludge creature? Are you crazy!?" JP blurted out.

"Not as crazy as you are to get chased by these things. What did you even do?" the wolf said, running at the digimon again with his swords raised. He put them away and raised up his arms towards the approaching sludge creature, "You guys are going to want to put your head down for this part. It gets…messy."

"Messier than a damn slime monster?" JP cried out.

"Do you ever shut up?" the wolf man answered. Tomoki nodded in agreement and watched as the wolf man's hands started to glow. On closer inspection, he had what looked like a small gun mounted on his wrist that was emanating a soft white light. Then in a blink, all the light burst out of the cannon and shot straight into Raremon's mouth, "Howling Laser!"

The digimon barely had a moment to react before it exploded in a blast of light, scattering slime and junk everywhere. For once, Tomoki was glad he was so short because all of the debris missed him. JP was not as lucky as it rained on him and left him soaked in a mix of garbage and sludge. JP cursed, and tried to shake off the gunk, "Hey! What gives!?"

"I told you to put your head down," the wolf man said, turning around to reveal he was also covered in the debris of the blast. As he said those words, the slime and garbage began to dissipate into clouds of data - creating the fractal code of all the deleted digimon. The wolf man produced a digivice like their own to absorb the data, then replaced it on his hip and looked down at them, "You two should get out of here while you can. It's not safe."

"Yeah? And what are you going to do?" JP asked, crossing his arms, "You're not just going to leave us! There could be more."

"That was exactly what I was planning on doing since you guys thought it was a smart idea to go running around in the dark. Anyway, try not to go and get yourselves killed," he answered. He was about to turn and leave, but stopped as they heard the sound of rushing foot steps in the forest. Tomoki was about to scream and beg for him to stay when they saw the flicker of red flame coming through the trees. Agunimon, accompanied by Zoe, Bokomon, and Neemon.

"Tommy! JP! There you are!" the red warrior said, sliding to a stop in front of the two and checking them over, "Thank goodness you're alright. You guys ran so fast that we lost sight of you! Are you okay? You're not hurt? Good. Wait a second! WHO ARE YOU!?"

Agunimon jumped at the sight of the wolf digimon and took a fighting stance.

"It's okay! He fought off all the Pagumon that were attacking us!" Tomoki explained to the red warrior, who still eyed the white wolf cautiously.

He circled the wolf man a few times, growing on the digimon's nerves until he finally snapped, "Can I help you!?"

"Who are you?" Agunimon asked, "You're wielding a guardian spirit, same as me…but who are you?"

"And why do you want to know?" the wolf asked.

"His name is Lobomon! The Guardian Spirit of Light!" Bokomon said, reading aloud from his book.

"I meant who is he underneath the Guardian Spirit's power," Agunimon clarified, "But thank you."

"Don't you think you should introduce yourself first?" Lobomon asked.

As the two continued with their macho contest, eventually, the power of the spirit began to leave them and they regressed back into their human forms. Where Lobomon had stood a moment ago, now stood a boy wearing a blue jacket and sweatpants, along with a blue rag tied over his head. And out f the back of his head stuck a long blue pony tail that went to his shoulders. Zoe pointed at him excitedly, "Hey! I remember you! You were the guy on the elevator!"

"Still rude, I see," the boy responded. Zoe huffed and stomped her foot angrily, turning her head away in disapproval. The boy then continued on Tamer, "And as for you…you still haven't introduced yourself."

"Me? Okay," Tamer began carefully, "My name is The Digimon Tamer. But so far, no one knows that name or believes it which is a whole new experience for me. So you can just call me Takuya. And who do I have to thank for saving my friends?"

"Um, we're not friends," JP chimed in, but he was ignored. By now, Tamer and the mystery boy were circling each other like wild animals. Or two kids ready to throw a tantrum on the playground. Two kids who could transform into wild animals.

"What kinda kid has two names?" the boy asked.

"Your name, please," Takuya replied.

Thankfully, they were going to miss the joy of going through another fight that night. The boy just smirked at Takuya and finally introduced himself, "It's Koji."

"Thanks for saving my friend. And JP," Tamer replied.

"So you are paying attention to me!" JP said quietly.

Koji just waved him off and started walking back into the forest, "You're welcome. And keep a better eye on them so they don't get lost again."

And with that, he turned back into the woods and disappeared into the darkness. It seemed like Tamer wanted to say something to him but instead was just left gawking. When he finally regained his composure, all he said was, "What's with this guy?"

"You can talk," Zoe added, "Now how do we get back?"

"I don't know. We were all running so fast," Bokomon said.

"We were in a cave in the desert. How did we get in a forest?" Neemon asked, finally pointing out something that somehow all of them had missed. Just how far had they run?


Author's Notes: Our team of lost heroes somehow ended up in a forest. Will they find their way or wander lost for longer than they intended? And is Koji a new friend or foe for them to encounter? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v3.0 - Bold New Frontier due out in three weeks on Friday, April 9th at 8 PM CDT. Let me know what you guys thought in the reviews section! And don't forget to favorite to show support and to follow to keep up with all the latest updates! That's all for now, so let's look at previews for the next chapter:

Tomoki didn't care what any of them said. He knew it was dangerous and he didn't care. He was tired of crying. Tired of running and hiding. Tired of standing back as others took care of things for him. He wasn't going to do that any more. He stood up and cried out, "Ah! I can't take this any more! I'm coming!"

"Tommy! Wait!" Zoe called after him.

"MY NAME IS TOMOKI!" he shouted back. He was tired of hearing that name said that way. It made him sound like a cry baby who needed defending. And he wasn't going to cry any more.