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 - Bold New Frontier is a fanfiction idea. Please support the official properties.


The Tamer v3.0 - Bold New Frontier

Chapter 13: Sorcermon and Ophanimon

Koji wasn't sure what to think of the royal treatment they were receiving from Monzaemon, especially after all the trouble they'd caused fighting their way into the castle. And apparently, all it took was for Tomoki to beat the giant teddy bear in a video game. And Monzaemon's logic about using video games as a 'test of character' made no sense to him. But he really wasn't going to question it since the giant bear was just about to feed them a dinner of mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese. Perhaps not the fanciest dinner but certainly not the worst thing he could be eating.

Tomoki shoveled the food into his mouth while Tamer took small bites, but Neemon was the most bizarre. In between shoveling the mac and cheese into his mouth with his hands, he would stuff some into his pants pockets.

"Is the meal not to your liking?" Monzaemon asked.

"No, it's fine. I'm just…taking this all in," Koji answered sheepishly, moving the food around on his plate without eating.

"I understand. I understand. Toy Town is very peaceful compared to a lot of the other parts of the Digital World. But it's because we are a neutral zone compared to a lot of other parts of the Digital World. No one side of the conflict dares attack us out of fear of reprisal from the other side. Much the same way, no one dares come here out of fear of provocation. So take it easy and relax while you are here for there is nothing to fear," Monzaemon explained to Koji, who wasn't sure how to explain to the giant teddy bear that there was probably another reason Toy Town wasn't attacked. Put plainly, the town was just not tactically important, with nothing to offer to either side beyond some more ground to defend if it was ever claimed. But the bear didn't seem to understand how bad using a video game as a qualifier was - how would the bear understand tactics?

"You should eat while you have the chance. There's no point in letting yourself starve," the Guardian Spirit's voice echoed inside of his head. It was right and he set about moving the first spoonful into his mouth when the table shook and he found himself staring right into what appeared to a pale man with blonde hair dressed like Gandalf the White. Koji yelped and fell backwards off the chair.

"How'd you get in here!?" Koji blurted out.

"You're not here to fight us, are you?" Tomoki stood up from his end of the table with his digivice ready to use.

"What? No! I'm here for the digidestined," the digimon said.

"So you are here to fight!" Tamer declared. The new digimon just stared in silent disbelief, and stepped back right into a bowl of mashed potatoes. The wizard realize it was on the table and it hopped off.

"Sorry! Sorry! I didn't know I was on the table," he apologized, wiping the potatoes off his feet with his cape. The apology was little comfort to Monzaemon who seemed ready to cry at the loss of his mashed potato dish, prompting more apologies from the wizard.

"So who are you and why did you ruin my potatoes!" Monzaemon roared angrily, slamming his stuffed fist on the table so hard that it made a big squeaky noise. As it did, the door burst open and dozens of toy soldiers marched in to surround the wizard. A few of them raised up their toy guns, taking aim straight at the wizard and slowly pushing him back against a wall.

"Right! Introductions! My name is Sorcermon and I am a servant of Lord Seraphimon," the digimon finally introduced himself with raised hands.

Koji noticed Tamer put a hand to his chin and feared for whatever this guy was about to do next, "He wouldn't happen to know an Ophanimon, would he?"

And there he went making up words again. Sorcermon jumped at the name and pointed at Tamer, "Yes! Yes! She's the one who said we should take a more active hand in guiding you! But my master Seraphimon forbade it, preferring to let destiny take its course. But he's been incapacitated and that's why I'm here. Ophanimon feels we need to accelerate your progress if we're to get a hold of the current situation before it gets out of hand."

Tamer began to smile in a way that made Koji uncomfortable. Tamer made his way around the table to join Sorcermon and asked, "Oh! So are you going to take us to her?"

"Ophanimon? Yes! The sooner you meet with her, the better," Sorcermon answered. Tamer's smile widened and he opened his mouth to speak only to be interrupted by Tomoki shouting.

"No! You said you were going to take us home and that's what you're going to do!" Tomoki pointed his spoon at Tamer in a manner that he probably thought was threatening but really came across more as a child throwing a tantrum.

"Besides, what happened to finding the others? You can't just go home without finding Bokomon! Plius, JP and Zoe!" Neemon chimed in quietly.

Koji breathed a sigh of relief, who at least knew he was not alone when it came to how off putting Tamer could be. Tamer seemed resigned to step back when Sorcermon pointed at him, "Are you referring to the girl, the boy, and the Bokomon? They're already at Ophanimon's castle. They're waiting for me to collect you."

"Well, there you have it! Our friends are in another castle. Looks like we have to go to Ophanimon. Crazy how that all worked out, isn't it?" Tamer said excitedly, strolling over to the wizard's side.

"A little too well," Koji said quietly.

"I swear, you're doing this on purpose," Neemon remarked quietly as he joined them. Koji did his best to withhold a gag as he heard the macaroni squish in Neemon's pockets with every step the little digimon took.

"I'd say it sounds like a trap if you ask me," the wolf spirit's voice remarked, something Koji was inclined to agree with. Everything that happened seemed a little too convenient. First he was roped into helping save Tomoki and now he was likely going to be taken to another part of the Digital World. But he didn't have any better ideas at this point and nowhere else to go.

"When are we going?" Koji asked.

"Right now, actually," Sorcermon answered, snapping his fingers.

Koji instantly felt sick, as if he'd just gotten off a very nauseating roller coaster ride and felt the need to throw up. He collapsed to his knees and retched, feeling something he hadn't eaten make its way up out of his stomach - but what came out was just straight bile.

"Oh man, you too?"

Someone helped pull him up onto his feet, and he placed a hand on them to steady himself, "Thanks."

"You feeling okay?" he looked to the side and saw it was Zoe who'd helped him stand on his feet. He really did keep getting helped by this blonde, didn't he?

"I'm fine. Just surprised. Where are we?" Koji asked, looking around and taking in their new environment. There was no mistaking the fact that were still in some kind of large stone castle, although now the interior decor actually looked like the interior of a castle instead of children's play room. Light filtered in through stained glass windows that depicted various scenes of angels slaying demons, knights in white armor battling monsters, and other great feats that must've been from the Digital World's past.

He also took note of JP and Bokomon. Neemon was relieved to see his counterpart again, practically jumping with joy at the sight of his partner. Tamer seemed to the be the only one openly expressing his relief to see the others, but everyone else seemed lukewarm about their return.

"This is Ophanimon's Castle. Or…well, she doesn't like the term castle but that doesn't stop anyone from calling it that," Sorcermon answered.

"And what exactly is Ophanimon's Castle?" Tamer asked incredulously.

"I don't understand the question," Sorcermon replied.

"I'm just wondering if the castle was built or if she just moved into someone else's castle," Tamer said, speaking rather quickly.

"It's at least a few years old. I admit they did take a few years to build it but I assure you that Ophanimon didn't just move in to another castle," Sorcermon replied. The answer satisfied Tamer and he fell quiet for once. It was actually kind of nice to see him silent. Now that the questions were done, Sorcermon motioned for them to follow, "Follow me, please. It's urgent that you speak with Ophanimon as soon as possible.

Sorcermon started leading the way, Koji trailing just behind the others. Zoe was along side Tamer, quietly whispering to him, "What the hell was that about?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to know if this was one of my people's castle," Tamer whispered quietly, "If it was, that would've meant we could take you guys straight to the Hallowed Bastion. But Sorcermon said the castle was built years ago. Which means we're still traveling."

"Oh," Zoe whispered.

"There's one other thing!" Tamer whispered back. "Don't mention I'm the Digimon Tamer to Ophanimon. I don't know who she is and I don't want to assume she'll blow us all up in case we have a history I'm not aware of."

"Are you joking? What happened to wanting to find Ophanimon and asking her to talk some sense into digimon?" Zoe asked. The question of the hour and Koji was inclined to think that Tamer did in fact make up half of the words that he said.

"You know how Grumblemon could become Gigasmon? Same thing, only I just realized I don't know who or what Ophanimon was before she was Ophanimon," Tamer replied as they continued further into the castle.

"I can't figure you out, y'know that?" Zoe mumbled under her breath.

"Either everyone thinks you're the guy who can end the war or the guy who'll make everyone's lives worse if you get involved," JP added quietly.

They continued on until they reached a large metal door. Sorcermon traced a pattern in the air with his hand and then snapped his fingers, bringing the metal doors to life and they slowly slid open. On the other side was a large empty room with a stone altar on the far side. Draped across it was a red cloth with golden trim and tassels. But the one thing that was absent from this room was Ophanimon.

"Uh, so where's Ophanimon?" Bokomon asked.

"Sleeping probably," Sorcermon said, ushering them all inside and closing the doors with another snap of his fingers. Once the door was sealed behind them, Sorcermon proceeded up towards the altar and began rapping his knuckles against it. "Ophanimon! I've got the humans here! Ophanimon! Wake up!"

"Is anyone else incredibly underwhelmed so far?" JP asked quietly, scratching the back of his head as he looked up at the altar quietly.

"Yep. I thought things would be a little more…I don't know…fancy," Tomoki answered.

"I can't believe we're missing macaroni and cheese for this," Neemon frowned, reaching into his pockets to snack on a handful that he'd stuffed in his pockets.

"Neemon! I thought I told you to stop doing that. That's not sanitary and you haven't washed those pants in a long time," Bokomon sighed quietly.

"It's fine, see!" Neemon countered, still munching on the mac and cheese. If he noticed everyone else making gagging noises, he didn't say anything. Or he did and chose not to say anything about it. Either way, Sorcermon continued banging on the altar until a bright light shone in through one of the ceilings. A splendor of lights shining every color of the rainbow that reached down to touch the altar and bring it to life. And then a yellow paw with razor sharp claws reached out from behind the table.

"AH!" Sorcermon jumped back and everyone else gasped as a white cat emerged from underneath the altar.

"Will you keep it down!? My head is pounding! And turn off the lights! You know I hate that!" the cat grumbled as she crawled onto the altar, massaging her head and quietly grumbling about noise. She opened and closed her eyes a few times, blinking until she took notice of them standing in the room.

"Who are these idiots?" the cat asked.

"Who are we!? Who are you!?" JP answered indignantly with a pointed finger at the cat.

The cat continued massaging her head, "Oh, it is way too early for this crap."

"You were drinking again, weren't you?" Sorcermon asked quietly, producing a bottle of water from inside his cloak and offering it to the cat.

"Never you mind what I do," the cat answered, snatching the water bottle and guzzling it down before Sorcermon had the chance to protest. She finished drinking and took a deep breath, quietly thanking Sorcermon for attending to her. "Now, who are you guys and what are you doing in my castle?"

Her castle? It couldn't be. Koji swapped glances with everyone else nervously and found they were all sharing the same thought. Tomoki asked, "Um…Ophanimon?"

"Gatomon, currently. Holding that form takes a lot out of me and I need to conserve my strength while I have it. Now who are you?" Gatomon asked, sitting on the edge of the table and crossing her legs. Her tone and posture exuded the kind of power that they expected out of Ophanimon, but to see it coming out of a digimon who was only slightly taller than a house cat made it impossible to take seriously. And the fact that she seemed annoyed wasn't helping.

"This is a joke, right?" Koji asked quietly.

"I assure you that it is not a joke. This is Ophanimon and she has asked you here for a reason," Sorcermon answered, "I thought you were going to be Ophanimon for this?"

"I was. Then I had some wine. Now I've got a headache. So I'm guessing these are the kids I was waiting for? The digidestined?" Gatomon asked.

"Yes, that's right. These are the chosen children," Sorcermon introduced them. Gatomon tilted her head to the side, sizing up each of the children carefully.

"Huh. I have to admit, I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't this. These guys look dopey," Gatomon answered, to inspect them more carefully.

"We're right here, y'know," JP said.

"And are you as disappointed as I am?" Gatomon fired back, stopping at Koji. He didn't like the little creature getting so close and stepped back to put some distance between them.

"Wow, moody much? You remind me of Matt," Gatomon frowned as she continued circling the boy. Koji looked to the others for some kind of explanation to who Matt was and got only blank stares in return. Her attention went to Zoe next, and she passed over the girl silently to inspect Tomoki. "Why does the short kid always have a goofy hat?"

"I am not short!" Tomoki protested.

"So you agree your hat is goofy," Gatomon answered. Tomoki groaned as Gatomon proceeded towards JP next. She didn't say a word as she proceeded on to Tamer, her eyes narrowing as she examined him carefully before she finally walked away.

"There might be some hope for you guys. Shorty reminds me of TK too much and blue over there is too moody like Matt. You two don't happen to be brothers, do you?" she asked, stopping to look at them.

"Please," Koji groaned, unsure of how the cat could see any kind of resemblance between the two of them. They looked nothing alike and the kid was way too whiny to be his sibling. Although now that he thought on it, the Guardian Spirit was being eerily quiet right now. Normally it would've said something to him but so far it had been eerily quiet.

"There's no way I'd be related to a jerk like him," Tomoki answered angrily, gesturing to Koji as if he were the one who'd been insulted by the comparison.

"Right. So you five are the Chosen Children I was trying to get here. I was wondering what you five looked like," Gatomon nodded quietly.

"Wait, you're the one who sent us the messages on our phones?" Zoe blurted out loudly.

"Yeah. Well, I actually cast a really wide net when I did that. Thing about prophecies is they're vague and the only part that made sense was that you would make your way to the Spirits when it was time for it to find you," Gatomon explained, hopping back onto the altar. She traced a pattern onto its tail and a window of light opened in front of her. Gatomon leaned into it and instructed carefully. "Attention! Your time in the Digital World is up. Please make your way to the nearest Locomon and return to the Human World."

She traced a pattern into the altar again and the window disappeared, prompting each of their digivices to hum to life. Koji reached for it to see a new message had been received, but Gatomon cleared her throat before he could play it to get their attention. "Ignore that. It's not for you. It's just easier to send the message to everyone."

"Okay, so what was that thing about a prophecy?" JP asked quietly, resting his hands on his hips.

"I suppose it's time we get to that part," Gatomon sat back down and crossed her legs. "So, I'm Gatomon, one of the three Digimon who helped to unite the Digital World after the 'Merge'. My friend Seraphimon and I came from one Digital World, while Cherubimon came from the other Digital World. We were trying to keep things peaceful, but that didn't work out. One thing led to another and now we have digimon from the different worlds unable to get along. Seraphimon found a prophecy that said a bunch of kids would be the ones to come save us, but we disagreed on how to go about it. He wanted to let destiny take its course and have things work out on their own. I wanted to be more proactive and actually get you guys here faster, as well as nudging you guys in the right direction."

"Hang on! You're doing all of this based on some writings?" JP repeated sarcastically, "And you know this prophecy was real because?"

"Because it came from the Ancients," Gatomon answered, swiping her tail along the altar so that the room came to life with various images of texts, drawings, paintings, and carvings. Koji was at a loss for how many were showing up but what really worried him was just how many seemed familiar. Him hanging off a cliff by some snails - although the image depicted all of them being captured. Another image showed them arriving by train. As they marveled at all the images, Gatomon added, "The prophecies aren't always one hundred percent spot on but they're usually in the ballpark of what will happen. The problem with the prophecies is they're so vague that it's impossible to actually tell what they're talking about. Like that million points of light one. That was stupid."

"So because a prophecy said we're supposed to end this stupid war, you called us here from another world with our phones. And you were able to make a call across worlds, no problem," JP said mockingly, but his sarcastic tone was not appreciated by the cat.

"If you wanted sense, you shouldn't be talking to a cat that lives in your version of the internet," Gatomon answered. JP did his best to retort with a response but was left speechless. Gatomon snorted at him. "If you're done whining about everything, the next step for you guys is to go out and gather the Beast Spirits to use in conjunction with your Human Spirits."

"There's more Guardian Spirits? Do we have to find them? The voices are annoying," Tomoki said quietly.

"Voices?" Gatomon tilted her head, tilting her head towards Sorcermon expectantly. He shrugged back and Gatomon frowned disapprovingly.

"We do, but they're being awfully quiet right now," Zoe answered sheepishly.

"I'm enjoying the silence to be honest. It's nice to be able to hear myself think," Tomoki answered.

"I guess you would. The spirits probably echo inside your head - can't imagine that's a lot of fun. But yes, you do need to find them. The prophecy states that you need to activate all the powers of the Guardian Spirits. Also something about Cherubimon not being the real cause of the problem or something. That part was kind of vague," Gatomon explained quietly.

"Wow, this prophecy sounds super helpful," Koji pocketed his hands.

"Well, it's what I've got to go off of. Which is a lot more than what I ever got before," Gatomon grumbled. "Do you want to see it?"

"The prophecy?" Tomoki repeated.

"Sure, I don't see why not," Gatomon shrugged, swiping her tail across the table again to draw another pattern.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea," Tamer said quietly.

"Oh well," Gatomon said, finishing drawing the pattern and summoning one of the images in front of the others.

"How exactly are you doing all that? I love a good magic trick but I'm stumped," JP asked.

"We may have borrowed some of this technology from one of the Ancient's temples," Sorcermon explained.

"You mean stolen," Tamer remarked.

"If you want to call it that. Who's gonna care?" Gatomon replied, gesturing back up to the prophecy. It was an image of a stone tablet with writing in more of those strange characters they didn't understand. Gatomon stared at them patiently, as if she were expecting them to read it before her eyes widened. "And this is the part where I realize none of you can read that, can you?"

"We don't speak whatever that is," Koji pointed out.

"Okay, that's on me," Gatomon sighed. "It says-"

When two worlds become one and war spreads through the land,

A light will rise from the dark and spur conflict between the three.

The Chosen Children will call upon the power of the Guardians,

Light will become one with Dark

The Beast who can balance both will destroy the World

And a miracle will occur.

Please conserve ammo.

"-Got all that?" Gatomon asked.

"Was that supposed to make sense?" Zoe tilted her head to the side.

"Okay, so assuming the three is supposed to be you, Seraphimon, and that Cherrymon or whatever…I'm guessing the 'Chosen Children' is us. So that part about the light and the dark: is that referring to that Lucemon guy from that Bokomon was talking about?" JP thought aloud.

"That is a possibility, JP," Bokomon remarked. "The Guardian Spirits did leave their powers behind to be used those they deem worthy."

"I don't want to be a drag, but what if we don't want to get involved in this? What if we just want to go home?" Zoe asked, reminding everyone else of how eager they were to return home. As she finished speaking, Koji noticed Tamer wince in pain. Tamer turned his head away to avoid unnecessary attention and began massaging his temple as if he were nursing a headache.

Gatomon's expression didn't change as she explained to them, "Honestly, you could leave. That would literally be giving the middle finger to destiny and the prophecy, and believe me I would love nothing more than to be the one who would be able to do that. The problem for you guys is doing that we don't know what the consequences of that would be."

"Come again?" JP asked.

Gatomon made a noise like a snort as she smiled, "Yeah, that sounds pretty convoluted and stupid doesn't it? At the risk of sounding pretentious, destiny tends to catch up with you even if you don't want it to. You can try to leave, but my best guess is that the thing you're supposed to defeat here will just go on to ravage this world before moving on to destroy your world. And neither of us wants that."

"You expect us to believe you suddenly care about us and our world after you dragged us all to be here?" Tomoki pointed out.

"I think what Gatomon meant is that the problems of this world are just as much a problem of your world," Bokomon explained.

"No. Well, yes. But also, I'm very fond of a couple of humans in your world and I would hate to see anything happen to them. But I guess you guys should do whatever it is you want. At the end of the day, all I can really do is give you a push. If I were to fight you, I think that would make me the bad guy? Or, I don't know. Going against destiny tends to have weird results," Gatomon reasoned, making a motion as if she were gesturing for them to leave already. She paused halfway through doing it as her eyes widened with surprise, "Oh! And before I forget, there's one more thing: you'll probably meet someone named the Digimon Tamer at some point. If you do, don't listen to a word he says. Let me repeat that: do NOT trust a word he says. He'll go by a bunch of other names - Tai, Taichi, Takato to name a few. I can't reiterate this enough. The Digimon Tamer should not be trusted."

That last part caused everyone to look at Tamer standing there quietly, still wincing uneasily. If Gatomon noticed, she didn't say anything.

"That's probably the first decent bit of advice that we've gotten," JP remarked, smirking in Tamer's direction.

Gatomon went on, "I mean it. The Digimon Tamer is a master manipulator, even if he doesn't seem like it. He will use you to achieve his own ends. Don't trust him. I've seen what happens to the people who do. A lot of digimon and humans I care about got hurt because of him. So do NOT trust him."

Zoe was the only one to state the obvious, "But the Digimon T-"

"-amer can't be trusted! Got it!" Tamer interrupted quickly. "So where will we find the next Guardian Spirit?"

"How should I know? The prophecy only says you guys will find them. You can hear those voices, right? Why not ask them," Gatomon shrugged mater of factly.

Tamer interrupted again before anyone could get off another word, "Well this has been very helpful and useful advice that I think we both agree is worth listening to. We'd best go off and go find the others Guardian Spirits, then! Let's go!"

Before any of them could protest, Tamer was already ushering them back towards the door. Koji opened his mouth to complain but Tamer was already whispering to them, "We'll talk about this once we're out of here and away from the scary cat."

"You're afraid of the cat?" Tomoki asked quietly.

"Do you kids even know where you're going?" Gatomon asked from behind them.

"I'm sure we'll figure it out! I mean, you're the one who said destiny works itself out or whatever," Tamer responded quickly. Over his shoulder, Koji could see Gatomon growing impatient at their hurried departure.

"I meant out of the castle," she clarified impatiently, finally getting Tamer to stop in her tracks. And finally, everyone had a chance to look back at him - both with a mix of confusion and alarm. Tamer's face was panicked, and he seemed anxious to end this conversation as soon as possible.

"What's this about?" Zoe whispered back at Tamer who barely managed to get his mouth open before Gatomon interrupted.

"Sorcermon. Do you mind?" she gestured again dismissively.

"Of course," the white wizard bowed, making his way from the altar towards them. He tipped his hat once he was beside them and set his fingers in a snapping motion. "Hold tight."

Once again, Sorcermon snapped his fingers and Koji felt his stomach turn inside out one more time as they were transported. Like before, everyone landed on their backs - some falling higher than others - but all of them groaning from frustration. When Koji had regained enough sense to look up from his spinning world, he saw the large castle gates that likely made up the entrance to Ophanimon's Castle. At first glance, it was kind of indistinguishable from Monzaemon's castle. If there ever was a difference, Koji wasn't sure that he saw it.

"Are you all okay?" Bokomon asked groggily.

"I'm fine! Good news is the macaroni broke my fall! The bad news is the macaroni broke my fall. Now there's macaroni all over the inside of my pants. I really liked that macaroni too," Neemon whined.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Zoe cried out angrily.

"It's just macaroni," Neemon whimpered sheepishly, shying away as Zoe stomped towards him. And then continued past towards Tamer who was massaging the back of his head. She lifted him up off by his collar.

"First you're making a big deal about going to Ophanimon! Now you can't wait to get out of there. Half of the digimon in this world want you on their side to help win some stupid war. Now Ophanimon back there was telling us not to trust you and you're just using us!?" Zoe went on, her voice getting louder with each word until she was practically screaming at Tamer.

"Y'know, if it wasn't her…it'd be me screaming at Tamer," JP remarked quietly.

"And that's before we talk about all that stupid prophecy stuff! Are you even trying to get us home!?" Zoe asked angrily.

"Yes. I promised didn't I?" Tamer answered nonchalantly.

"And how are we supposed to believe that when Gatomon was just telling us not to trust you!?" Zoe fired back.

"You're going to listen to someone you just met over someone who's been with you since the beginning of this journey?" Tamer asked back quietly.

"Right now? Yes!" Zoe snapped back at him. "Because at least she was consistent about all of it! What about you?"

"What answer could I give that you wouldn't immediately dismiss?" Tamer asked calmly, as if he wasn't being snapped at. Zoe let him go, well more like shoved him back onto the ground.

"Ow! I really should be used to that by now," Tamer mumbled from the ground, massaging his shoulder. He looked up briefly at the others and outstretched his hand. "Little help?"

"You are taking us home right?" Tomoki asked.

"I already said yes," Tamer said, picking himself up and dusting himself off. "Look, I can guess how this looks to you guys. Cards on the table, time. I knew about the prophecy and did want you to stay and help save the Digital World. But I wanted you to make that decision on your own, and I was hoping seeing what the digimon of this world go through would help you reach that decision. I certainly didn't want to manipulate you or lead you on."

"That sure sounds a lot like manipulation," Koji crossed his arms, thinking back on how much him wandering alone was his own volition and how much of it was under the influence of destiny or this prophecy. And if he were to act against it, how much of that would still be going under the influence of destiny? The more he racked his brain on it, the more annoyed he became with it until he decided he was done with this line of thought.

"Okay, so I didn't want to have to bring this up but Gatomon was right. If you don't stop this threat here in the Digital World, it will spread over and follow you back to the Human World. And you haven't even seen what the real measure of a digimon at full power is," Tamer explained, becoming much more serious than they had seen him be. "Remember Grumblemon? And how destroyed an entire section of the Digital World? He's still considered a weaker digimon. I've known digimon who can casually reduce mountain ranges to flat plains. Turn vast oceans into dry deserts. And that is what will come knocking on the door of your world if you don't stay. Everyone will be in danger. That includes your friends, your families, your home. You can go home if you want, forget about all this, do whatever you want. But all you'll really be doing is making yourself powerless when this comes knocking."

"This still feels like manipulating," JP observed. "What about going home?"

"If you really want to go home, I'll take you there right now. Well, not right now. We still have to travel, but then it's straight back to your world," Tamer answered quietly.

"He does have a point though. It sounds like you can't choose to simply run away or ignore this problem," Bokomon said to them quietly. "Leave or stay, it seems this danger is coming for your world as soon as it's done with this."

Koji didn't like any of this and he felt his stomach turning in protest. And going by the looks on everyone else's faces, they were just as uncomfortable with what had been dropped on them. How could they be comfortable with it? They'd just been told that the guy who promised to take them home had been trying to convince them to stay. Which meant even if they wanted to leave, there was no guarantee he wouldn't just try to keep them again. None of them were happy about this. None of them wanted this.

"Okay. So…," Zoe paused, still fuming from anger but at least trying to gather her thoughts and make sense of what she wanted to say next. "Suppose we stay. What do we do next?"

"Find the rest of the Guardian Spirits, of course," Tamer replied.


Crusadermon and Dynasmon waited within the walls of the Hallowed Bastion, among several other digimon who'd at least had the decency to assemble ahead of time. But they were still waiting on one more and they were getting impatient with every second they had to wait. After what felt like an eternity, Grumblemon entered last among the other assembled Digimon.

"Grumblemon! You are to appear promptly when you are called!" Dynasmon chastised him.

"I just took a zone's fractal code and had to walk all the way around the hole it left in the Digital World to get here! How about next time you teleport me here if you don't like waiting?" Grumblemon shot back angrily.

"Can we stay on focus? Every second we waste prattling is another second closer to our own defeats. Or did you forget we're fighting the clock here?" Crusadermon reprimanded them both.

"You're right. We should focus," Dynasmon nodded in silent agreement, turning to the other members of their entourage. "Things are progressing as planned. We're at the phase where you need to begin openly attacking the humans and taking the Guardian Spirits from them. From there, we can proceed to the next phase of the plan and usher in the return of our Lord. Is that understood?"

The others gave a loud yes of affirmation. Dynasmon nodded and declared, "Go forth! Hail Lucemon!"

"Hail Lucemon!" they answered in unison as they headed out.


Author's Notes: Who are these digimon about to go after the digidestined? Will the kids continued to follow the Digimon Tamer? And what is the next phase of this plan? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v 3.0 - Bold New Frontier due out in three weeks on Friday November 5th at 8 PM CST. Let me know what you guys thought in the reviews section! If you liked, it don't forget to follow to keep up with all the latest updates and to favorite to show support! That's all for now so let's look at previews for the next chapter!

Koji thought about it for a moment before responding, "Honestly? I want to just leave and go off on my own, but I get the feeling I'd just find my way back to you guys or that you guys would end up running back into me."

"You must be a lot of fun parties," JP replied.

"I get what he means though. I keep running into Koji," Zoe pointed out, "First the elevator, then that night in the forest, the cliff…it's like something is trying to keep all of us together."

She gestured ahead to Tamer, "And I think that includes him. We couldn't leave him if we wanted to. And right now, I really want to."