I'm not sure why the Properties page is broken, but hopefully that gets fixed soon. Anyway, getting this out at a much more reasonable point in the month. Aim is going to be early-middle in general.

Chapter 3: The Fire Burns Brighter

—

When Reyn woke up that morning, his mind briefly registered everything that had happened the previous day as a dream. That was quickly disabused when he heard grunting from his open closet door. As he looked over, he could see Salmandmon, using his clothes hanger bar to do pull-ups. He blinked a bit as he sat up, observing the very strange sight. "…What in the world are you doing in there?"

"Oh, hey, Reyn. Sorry, I was up early, got bored." Without even breaking stride…it was clear Salmandmon was very familiar with the exercise. "Figured I'd let you sleep, but it's kinda been a while."

"How long have you been going at that?"

"Dunno. Kinda dropped count in the 600s."

"Uhm. Are you sure you should be putting that much strain on your body after what happened yesterday?"

Salmandmon scoffed. "I feel fiiiiine. My leg doesn't even hurt that bad!"

"Doesn't mean much. Also, how did you get up there?"

"Climbed."

"…On that leg."

"I said it feels better! Also, I made sure not to put much weight on it! It was a bit of a tricky climb, I had to use the door frame instead, but I got up and didn't do any damage! And this just exercises my arms, so it's all good."

"Uh-huh. Aaaaand exactly how did you plan on getting down?"

Salmandmon paused, hanging there for a moment as he looked around. "Uhm…I…uh…might have not gotten to that part yet."

"Shocker." Reyn got up from the bed and grabbed Salmandmon, hauling him to the bed to avert disaster. "Yeech. Now my shirt's all wet. Well, it needed washing anyway."

"You coulda left me up there until you were doing doing whatever you need to do." Salmandmon stretched, clearly still antsy. He ran a claw over the wound on his leg gently, trying to assess how far along the healing was.

"What we need to do is go downstairs and have a chat with Mom and Dad. Following up on our promise yesterday, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. You sure they'll be all right with everything we discussed?"

"No, but they know about you, so we might as well give it a shot. Though I think it'll be a hard sell on the 'I don't want to talk about why I'm here' part."

"It's for your own good, I swear it. The more people who share in the secret, the more trouble it gets to keep it."

"I hope you're right, buddy. Well, let's get going…"

—

Close as they were, Iris and Derek knew each other's habits and quirks fairly well. One thing Iris had learned is that, if you wanted to talk to Derek openly and honestly, you'd call him when he knew his dad was out of the house. So, following a quick text to confirm that that morning, she made the call - but, unlike most days, they did so with speaker and camera on.

"You've got me all curious now," remarked Derek; the view of him was not exactly steady or well-framed, since he was holding his phone in his hand. On the other end, Iris gave a much better picture - she'd crafted a mount for her phone that she could attach to the end of her bed. Something she'd often said she'd make for Derek, but he'd always demurred. "I can't remember the last time you were this antsy to do a face-to-face call."

"Well, I guess it's just a really exciting, wild thing that I really couldn't help but want to share," giggled Iris. "I'd talk about it, but…well, I think it'd have more impact if she talked for herself."

"Huh?" Derek didn't know what to make of that in the moment…but just a couple seconds later, he saw exactly what Iris meant, and it was the second time in the last twelve hours that he was completely dumbstruck. Shockavimon had flapped into view, landing on the bed next to Iris. "That…no way!"

"Uh…hi…" Shockavimon's voice was nervous, as was her expression. "I guess you're that guy who was in the dreams all the time, huh?"

Derek's mind tried to scramble for a response, but he was relieved of the duty a moment later. "Shockavimon!" Suddenly Blackcanismon rushed towards Derek, trying to put himself in the view of the camera. "How magnificently cathartic to perceive your voice!"

"Whoa! Don't shove him off the bed, BC!"

"It's fine! Gah, hang on…" Derek sat up more and stretched his arm out, trying to get both of them into view. "Iris, I'm beginning to think I need to take you up on that offer."

"Toldja," Iris laughed. "So that's Blackcanismon…I had a feeling."

"Wait, you did?"

"You remember yesterday when I told you about the dream I had? How the gang was all going somewhere weird and then there was a bright flash and all that? Well…maybe you've guessed by now, but that wasn't just a dream. They all came through that day…and when I finally got Shockavimon to spill the beans about it and confirm it, I was sure that Blackcanismon had to be finding you somehow."

"Admirably perceptive!" exclaimed Blackcanismon. "Undoubtedly a pristine compatriot to our distinguished avian colleague!"

"She's good," agreed Shockavimon. "Though it makes it tough when you're trying to avoid saying certain things, and she can read you like a book."

"Hm, certainly inconvenient. Dare I query the quantity of unfortunate revelations professed unto her?"

"Nothing I think would complicate things more than they are. I'm pretty sure you're safe, I doubt Derek understood half of what you could say to him in the first place."

"That's a pretty close estimate," admitted Derek. "This is so wild…not just Blackcanismon coming around, but the others…it feels like I'm seeing an old friend, even though I know I've never actually met you before."

"It is pretty crazy to think about, huh?" Shockavimon was clearly more relaxed than the initial introduction. "But I suppose that's a good thing…I'm not particularly great with strangers, but it's going away a lot more just because of that familiarity. And also because BC's there, I suppose he's probably a good judge of character."

"The elevated esteem with which you regard my veritability judgments is scarcely bounded by physical constraint," riposted Blackcanismon dryly.

"It's good to see you again, too."

"So, Iris, when did this happen?" asked Derek. "It had to be after we talked with Isaac, right?"

Iris nodded. "Yeah, not even that long after, really. I was walking around and…well, somehow Shockavimon ran into me. I don't really understand it the way she said it."

"I don't understand it myself," said the bird digimon. "It's like I felt something pulling me to you somehow, but I don't know what the heck it could've been."

"An equivalent phenomenon occurred to foster our assemblage as well," said Blackcanismon a bit pensively. "Fascinating…such a peculiar concordance…"

"Understanding or not, I had so many questions," continued Iris. "So we decided to meet back at home. Since they've been trying to keep a low profile, I think getting inside was probably a good idea. I'm just hoping we're able to keep it from Dad. You know how he is sometimes, he likes to rush up and check on me…really wish I had a door lock."

Derek nodded in commiseration. "Oh, yeah, that does sound like it would be a problem. I think I bypassed that at least."

"Wait, your dad knows?"

"Yes, but no. He doesn't know anything about Blackcanismon and I'm not inclined to say a word about that. As far as he knows, 'Shadow' is a stray who approached me last night, acting very friendly and lacking a collar or any identification. I convinced him that I didn't trust the dogcatchers to treat him well and thought that he was too gentle to deserve to suffer like that, so I wanted to take him in while I tried to see if I could find the owners. I'm actually pretty amazed that he agreed to it."

"I'm not," Iris remarked. "He agreed to it because he knew you were going to do it anyway."

"…Yeah, probably. Guess he figured he can keep better track of me if he knows what I'm doing. But anyway, I have to go out and get a collar and leash, and some other pet stuff to keep up the ruse. At least that's all I have to do…"

"Your paternal figure rapidly exited my benevolent graces upon suggestion of my castration," grumbled Blackcanismon.

"…Yeah, Dad suggested I get him 'fixed.' I think Blackcanismon nearly blew his cover here. Thankfully, I think he bought it when I said that wasn't my decision to make, but the 'actual owner's.'"

"Shame, that's a missed opportunity," cracked Shockavimon. "Maybe a few snips would snip his word length in half, too."

"I anticipated minimal sympathies from the singleton teammate bereft of such desirable organs," Blackcanismon huffed indignantly.

"Anyway, veering quickly away from THAT topic…" Derek jumped in, "You said that whole gang got through? So…do you think…"

"Oh, YEAH," replied Iris immediately. "There's no way it could be anything else."

"Mind looping us in on this?" asked Shockavimon.

"Our other friends. A few people we know who also shared the dreams…I think it's likely your friends were probably drawn to them as well."

"Huh? Are you sure?"

"'Twould be the ideal scenario, in my interpretation," said Blackcanismon. "Their presence at our intended rendezvous location was insignificant even in the olfactory domain. Alternative prospects would promise to be considerably less fortuitous."

Shockavimon bowed her head. "I guess you're right. Well, it probably means they're safe, at least…though I'm worried about Salmandmon. If he went chasing after that impulse on that leg of his…"

"We'll have to get in touch with Reyn and see," Iris ventured. "Though, if Salmandmon was hurt, it'd probably be for the best if he was with Reyn. His parents are doctors, and he knows a lot of first aid stuff. He'd at least be able to do something about it."

"You'll have to get a head start over me," said Derek. "I've got to make a run to a pet store. And hope that I can find something there that Blackcanismon can choke down, because I doubt I'm gonna be able to get away with sneaking a lot of food."

"You gonna try to teach him any new tricks?" cracked Shockavimon.

"Perhaps this novel education will include mechanisms for silencing farcical comedian avians," shot back Blackcanismon.

"Sounds good! I'll let you know if I see any!"

—

"So, that's the basic story. And I know there's some things you might want to know more about, but I really think it's best, for the time being, to just…not spread too much about what's going on. I'm worried that if it gets out, it'll cause a panic that might give some people the wrong idea about why I'm here, so for now, the less I say, the better."

Reyn could tell by the looks on his parents' faces that they were struggling to take it all in. He couldn't blame them - this was a hell of a lot to drop on a person.

"…So. If I'm understanding this right…" Treylor said slowly, "you two know each other because of…dreams? Dreams that you think were actually connected to your lives?"

Salmandmon nodded. "Trust me, it sounds just as unbelievable to me as it does to you. But Reyn and I talked about a few things…we definitely each remember some episodes that actually happened to the other. This definitely is NOT a normal thing and I have no explanation for it, it's just how I can explain a few other things."

"And you're from a whole other world, and you're here for a reason, but you won't tell us?" asked Minerva uncertainly. "I don't know…it kind of makes me worried that something's going to happen that we're not ready for."

Reyn could see Salmandmon's brow furrow, and that made him a bit nervous. So he jumped in. "I trust him that if he thought it was better for us to know, he'd say something. He's…experienced in having to deal with trouble."

"Are you, now?" Treylor looked at Salmandmon once again. "A little warrior, huh? Guess that explains why you were able to endure that gash in your leg as well as you did. Well, that and the whole 'I can breathe fire' thing."

"…I guess there's not much point in denying that. Yeah, I've, uh, seen my share of battles. I want to assure you, though, they were all for good causes. And Reyn's right…I'm trying to keep things under control here because I don't want you caught up in things if I can help it. It's…" Salmandmon sighed - it was so hard trying to say things without saying too much. "Look. I guess you can probably assume it's not something good by the fact that I don't want to talk about it."

"I could guess that by the fact that you were talking about there being a panic," remarked Minerva.

"Dammit. I didn't even realize I said that…okay, yeah, that's true. I don't want to create panic over here. I also don't want anyone who might be looking for me to think they can get to me through someone else. The less you know, the more they can focus on me and not pay any attention to you. But I swear, if it comes to be in your best interest to know what's going on, I'll tell you. I'm not going to hide it stubbornly just because, but I also don't want to overexpose myself."

Treylor's face slowly turned to a grin, and Reyn caught it. "Don't even start, Dad."

"What?"

"Don't 'what' me. You got your Dad Joke Face again."

"All I was gonna say was-"

"Dad!"

"-I don't know how he could overexpose himself anymore when he's not wearing anything already."

Reyn cast an exasperated look towards his mother. "I'm bringing the jar back out."

Minerva couldn't help but smile. "Okay, but we still need to be able to pay our mortgage, so just one fill."

Salmandmon blinked a bit at this whole exchange. "Gotta say, I was not expecting you guys to take this as well as you have."

"In the ER, you have to learn to expect the unexpected," said Treylor. "You never know what's going to happen in a given day, and it's pretty much going to happen whether you're ready or not, so learning to be open to anything is paramount. This may be about as unexpected as it gets, but it's happening, so I just need to be ready to deal with it however I can."

"I might not have that kind of experience, but, well, surgery is a lot of work under pressure, you have to be able to keep your cool," agreed Minerva. "I won't lie, this is…a lot. It feels like some weird book or movie or TV series. But if I let myself get too rattled, lives could be on the line. Regardless how I feel, I have to stay as calm as I can."

Salmandmon looked over at Reyn. "I think I see where you get it from."

"Yeah, pretty much." Reyn returned attention to his parents. "I think that's about it…nothing else I can think of on my end."

"Then I guess we've got as much as we're going to get," concluded Treylor. "Hopefully that's all we need. Well, then! I think after all that, we could all use a good, hearty breakfast. Especially our recovering patient here."

"Now that's something I can get behind!" Salmandmon said eagerly.

"Well, I should hope so! It'll be hard to eat if you get in front of it!"

Reyn rolled his eyes. "That jar is gonna be full by the end of the week at this rate."

—

"Oh, Reyn! Good morning to you again!" Corrine smiled warmly as she met Reyn at the door. "I suppose you're here to see Skylar again. Have you two come up with anything about that strange thing in the sky that night?"

"Well, we're trying to work things out!" Reyn replied, doing his best to keep an even expression. "I mean, it's not something anyone seems to have seen before, so it's hard to figure out, but we've got a couple ideas - weird ones, maybe, but hey, why not get weird?"

"Oh? That seems outside of what I'd usually expect from Skylar, he always likes to be very straightforward."

"Well, I think he came around once he found that there weren't any weather events that explained it. Either that or he's humoring me and researching things on his own when I'm not around."

"Now that sounds more like my dear boy. Well, you two have fun, regardless! And if you come up with anything, I'm sure everyone would like to know!"

"It's nothing!" came a voice shouting from the living room. "People need to relax. One bright light in the sky and everyone loses their cool - there's a bright light in the sky every day! It's call the sun!"

"Marcus! You stop that! What's the harm in trying to figure out the truth?" Corrine went back to admonish her husband - an opportunity better than Reyn had ever dared to hope. He quickly motioned outside, and from the bushes came Salmandmon, cloaking himself as best he could as he limped towards the door. It wasn't exactly the best cover, but with no one watching, he was able to get in and get to the stairway without issue. From there, Reyn hefted him into his arms and carried him up, just as a precaution - the reptile's leg had indeed improved significantly, but it was still well short of 100%.

After a brief stop at the top to look out for either of Skylar's siblings, Reyn quickly headed to the bedroom and opened the door to step in. "Hey, Skylar, I think I've found out something about what the hell?!" His train of thought was totally derailed as he caught sight of the blue dragon on the bed.

Skylar jumped a bit when he heard that and wheeled around. "Ah! It's not what it…looks like?" He too blinked as caught sight of Salmandmon. "What…in the world is going on here?"

"Well, well…" Salmandmon grinned a bit over at Breezedramon. "Couldn't keep yourself from getting in trouble, could ya, Breezy?"

"Hey! Look who's talking!" Breezedramon protested. "You're even in a human's arms!"

"Keep it down, you two!" admonished Skylar. "I've already had one close call. Reyn, close that door tight…guh, why won't they let me put a lock on this door?"

"Close call, huh?" Reyn asked, setting Salmandmon down on the bed. "Which one, big sister or little brother?"

"Both, almost. Benny was the one who came in…ugh, I had just enough time to come up with an excuse, calling him a stuffed animal. But of course he wants to HOLD the stuffed animal, and I think I got him to buy that there's a hole in him and I need to get it fixed. Then he tries to go and get Kirsten because she likes to sew…" Skylar rubbed his head. "I managed to keep her from actually seeing anything and told her I was telling Benny a story to try to get him out of my room, and I think she bought that, but still…this is a mess."

"Huh…why don't you just tell them the truth?" asked Salmandmon. "I mean, that's gotta be a pretty hard secret to keep."

Skylar shook his head. "Doubt that it would end well. Dad…doesn't really like things that aren't 'normal.' I heard him calling out down there about the sky anomaly, he's really annoyed that people keep talking about it. You know how he is, he wants life to be quiet and predictable, anything strange and he doesn't deal with it well."

"Oh…well, I guess that makes sense."

"So…you too, huh…" Reyn looked over at the dragon. "So, if I remember anything right…that's Breezedramon?"

"Yep," said Skylar. "And that's gotta be Salmandmon. Crazy…I never thought I'd actually see him when I was awake or anything like that. How did this happen to both of us?"

"It's more than that, though." Reyn clasped his hands and rubbed his chin. "Salmandmon says all five of them passed through. So…there's three others. And three more of us…"

"What are you talking about?"

"Sky, seriously, you can't have forgotten. Iris? Derek? Isaac? All of them had the same dreams, just like us! How much do you want to bet that they're sitting there in the same situation as we are?"

"Oh, right…wait…Isaac had the dreams, too?" Skylar frowned. "I'm hoping you're messing with me on that, I was really hoping to be focused on something that had nothing to do with him."

Reyn rubbed his head. "Skylar…it's been over a year and a half now. Are you ever going to let this go?"

"Not until he does something about it. The ball's in his court. Besides, there's no certainty that you're right. Just because we know there are three other creatures out there doesn't mean that it's necessarily going to follow that specific pattern."

"Denial sounds like a scream," cracked Salmandmon.

"Don't you start on me."

Reyn, rather than replying, pulled out his phone and pressed through a few items. He popped it onto speaker as it rang, and then the other side picked up. "Hey, Reyn. What's up?"

"Hi, Isaac. Quick question, where's Datacarnomon in your room right now?"

Dead silence for about ten seconds at the other end before Isaac responded. "…Sitting behind the far side of my bed looking at some of my spec sheets. What the hell, Reyn?"

"God dammit," griped Skylar. "Fine, you win."

"Wait, is that Skylar's voice? Reyn, what's going on here?"

"Salmandmon showed up at my house yesterday. Breezedramon did the same with Skylar. Those names sound familiar?"

"…Son of a bitch. So Derek and Iris?"

"Presumably. I haven't talked to them, but it would only make sense."

"Dang. I probably should've asked more…I, uh, got a little too caught up in talking robots with Data. Who says I just lost a bet…dang, I did, didn't I?"

"Figures, first thing he does over here is make bets," Salmandmon said with an eye roll. "Thought I mighta lost mine, too…how soon did you get made, Breezy?"

"Hey! You were betting that I'd get found first?" Breezedramon yelped.

"DOWN, please!" Skylar said desperately. "You're gonna get found about six more times if you insist on being that loud!"

"Sorry, Sky." Breezedramon gave the grinning Salmandmon an exasperated look.

"We're gonna have to talk more about this. Not now, though, my dad's pulling me away, wants me to go run some errands with him. I'll have to get back in touch later, okay?"

"Yeah, definitely. Later, Isaac." Reyn turned off the phone. "Okay, so, that's that part settled. But that still leaves tons of questions. Like, how all of us just so happened to find each other…that seems way too unlikely to be a coincidence."

"I've actually been hashing that question out with Breezedramon," reported Skylar. "And I think I have a grain of an idea in that regard. Breezedramon told me that when he was flying around aimlessly, he felt himself drawn to where I was. Enough that he actually swooped down into my window."

"PLEASE tell me your window was closed," cackled Salmandmon.

"HEY!" Breezedramon yelped indignantly, before remembering and lowering his voice. "I didn't FLY into the window! I landed just fine! I just, uh, lost my balance a bit and banged into it trying to get back in place!"

"Ah, close enough far as I'm concerned. You're such a goofball, Breezy."

Breezedramon looked over at Skylar in exasperation. "You see? They all call me that!"

"I don't recall ever denying it," Skylar replied innocently. "But anyway, this is a good time to test. Salmandmon, did you happen to feel any sort of draw like Breezedramon did?"

Salmandmon nodded. "Yeah. It was like an itch in my head that wouldn't go away until I went to where I was being drawn to. I didn't feel any relief until I was actually inside…that was where I met Reyn. Of course, it, uh, wasn't probably the greatest first impression to be knocked out and bleeding on his floor…"

"Bleeding?" Breezedramon looked over at Salmandmon again, finally noticing his leg. "Sal! Don't tell me you hurt yourself again!"

"Er…yeah, kinda. I wasn't as careful as I should've been, I know, but I was having trouble thinking about that! My head was just caught up in things, it was like I had to get in there! At least that older guy helped out with it, even if it was kinda weirdly crude." Salmandmon pointed to his leg, which the dragon inspected closely.

"…What…did he…actually SEW it up?"

"Yeah."

"Wow. That sounds barbaric."

"I know, right? But it's actually pretty helpful. I guess when you don't have QuicKnit, it's a good way of making sure the wound holds together."

Skylar turned his head towards Reyn, raising an eyebrow. "Were you, by any chance, going to tell me that your parents knew about Salmandmon already?"

Reyn looked blankly back. "Did I not tell you that already?"

The white-haired boy sighed, rubbing his head. "Reyn, I swear, those words are going to be etched on your gravestone someday. You really need to start keeping notes about things you need to tell people about. Like, that could be really important if I had to go somewhere with Breezedramon in a hurry, having someone who wasn't constrained by secrecy around would be kind of important to know!"

"Sorry, Skylar…"

"Tch…well, whatever. At least I know now. Ahem…anyway, now I have to get to you. Did you feel anything yesterday around early to mid afternoon?"

Reyn thought for a moment. "Hm…yeah, you know, I don't really know if it was a pull so much, but I was feeling awfully distracted. Like there was something that really…needed my attention or something. You think…"

"I think that was the same thing," agreed Skylar. "You know, I read about something vaguely similar to this once in a fiction book a while back…"

"Wait, you read for fun?" Reyn cracked with a grin.

"EVERYTHING I read is for fun," Skylar declared rather grandly.

"Snrk. Nerd."

"And don't you forget it. Anyway, the main character of this book had something they referred to as 'psychic magnetism.' A draw that brought them into the vicinity of the supernatural, or something like that. It's certainly not a perfect analogue, but I feel like this has shades of that. We were drawn to each other somehow…maybe for reasons similar to the reason we've had these dreams."

"But how would we become psychofigumantally magentafortized?" asked Breezedramon.

"Is he always like that?" Reyn asked Salmandmon.

"ALWAYS," the lizard replied back.

"I don't have a good answer to that question, I'm afraid," Skylar replied, ignoring the other two. "It would be tough for me to know something like that anyway, I've never heard of anything like that happening in real life. Then again, I never heard about this 'digital world' either, until you showed up."

"You mean you didn't dream about that?" asked Salmandmon curiously.

"There's a whole lot in the dreams that I don't think I picked up on properly. I could recall that you were fundamentally different creatures from us, but not exactly how. I'm guessing, though, that since you're here, you know a whole lot more about us than we know about you."

"Eh…kind of, but not really? I mean, we haven't known about the human world THAT long. There are a bunch of people who've been doing research, though, trying to figure out more about you so that we could try to make contact safely for everyone."

"They found out a whole bunch of really crazy stuff, too!" Breezedramon exclaimed. "Like there are a whole ton of similarities and stuff!"

"Oh, yeah, that was a big thing," agreed Salmandmon. "There's an uncanny amount of overlap. Like, some basic stuff like certain cultural bits, the similarity between a lot of our forms and creatures that exist in your world or legends about creatures that don't exist, certain concepts like angels and demons and whatnot, not to mention that a number of digimon have very human-like appearances in some ways…"

"And the language?" asked Reyn.

"Nah. Language for us is all Universal Basic Standard. Any human who hears us will understand us, we'll understand any human. At least, as far as the words go, no guarantee about understanding their thoughts and all."

"As if you needed a language barrier for that," Skylar remarked dryly. "How does that even work, though?"

"Don't ask me, I just know the fact, not the reason. If anyone knows, it'll be the scholars. But yeah, there's a lot of differences, but enough overlap to really get your attention. Gave a huge boost to Origin Resonance Theory when that information started coming out."

"Origin Resonance Theory?" asked Skylar.

"Some weird stuff that Sal's obsessed with," remarked Breezedramon with an eye roll.

"It's not weird and I'm not obsessed with it," insisted Salmandmon indignantly. "It's just cool. It's like this…there's a theory out there in our world that at one point long ago all our worlds existed in the same plane. And then something happened that caused them to split apart into some kind of, uh, what was it again? Me, meta…meta…metaphysical? I don't really know what that means, but it's like layers that don't exist in normal space or something. Anyway, the idea is that there are these planes with different…styles of the same world, I guess, on them. And they aren't all together anymore, but they're still kind of in sync with each other, so that there's some overlap in things about each world."

"So you're saying there are other worlds beyond these two?" posited Reyn.

"Honestly, no one really knows for sure yet, but that's the idea. Mind you, it's all a theory, and it's a long way from being proven as hard fact…for one thing, we have no idea how or when or why things would have split apart in the first place. All we know right now is that there's at least one other world on one other plane, and it's this one. I don't know how it was discovered, it might've just been a complete accident…like, how would you even search for something like that in the first place?"

"I'd certainly be curious to hear more about it, at some point," said Skylar. "But at the moment I think I need some time to process everything I've already found out. It's a lot to take in…feels like a lot of what I thought I knew just got flipped topsy-turvy. And I can only imagine what it's like for you guys - at least I'm still in my own world."

"It's been an experience already," admitted Salmandmon. "At least we're pretty well-equipped for something like this. Well, I am, at least, not sure about Breezy."

"Remind me which of us got a great huge gash in his leg falling from the sky and which of us glided gently down to safety again?" countered Breezedramon indignantly.

"Hey, it's not like we weren't expecting to have some misadventures somehow. Might as well get 'em out of the way early, right?"

"You might have even fewer if you actually told us what was going on," remarked Reyn. "I mean, we know this world, there's probably something we could do for you that would make your lives easier."

"No! We can't do that!" exclaimed Breezedramon. "It could be a catamarastapy!"

"It would seem to me that if you're here because of a potential calamity," observed Skylar, "then time would be of the utmost importance. And rather than trying to blindly navigate on your own, wouldn't having allies in whatever your task is be useful somehow?"

Salmondmon and Breezedramon looked at each other, then Salmandmon spoke with a sigh. "You…have a point, I guess. But, I'm sorry, I'm just…worried about you getting caught in some kind of crossfire. Not even with what's on the other side…we know that humans aren't aware of us, and I have to imagine that we might not be…well-received, at first. If they think you're in league with us and we're causing trouble, you guys might be in a whole lot of trouble as well. If you got hurt because of me, I don't know if I'd ever forgive myself for that, knowing that I could have avoided it."

"Sal…I dunno." The lizard did a double-take as he stared at Breezedramon again. "I know we wanted to do this on our own, but…do we really know what we're doing? I mean, like, more than just what we wanna accopromontatanish. There's a lot to figure out still! And weren't we gonna say we had to find help anyway?"

"I…ngh…I wasn't expecting…" Salmandmon closed his eyes. "Don't take this the wrong way, guys, but…you're…kids."

"Well, that's a bit of an overstatement," Reyn remarked. "Okay, yeah, we're young, but it's not like we're little tykes who can't do anything without mommy and daddy around. Besides, my parents would probably be happy to help out, too."

"…Mine, maybe not," sighed Skylar. "That said, there's still things we could do for you. We might not be old enough to drive you around or anything like that, but I like to think I'm fairly intelligent and know how to work my way around Google. At the very least, we could help you form a plan - but it would be harder to do that without knowing what kind of issue you're facing."

Salmandmon wasn't entirely moved. "Okay, maybe that wasn't exactly the right word. But still, it's something that I don't know if I feel right asking about at your stages of life. Still…I guess it wouldn't be right for me to be the only one making that decision, especially if Breezy disagrees. But we're gonna have to talk it over between us as a group before anything like that happens. Which means I guess we should find a way for all of us to get together and discuss the matter…well, at least we're probably all not far away from each other. Once we've had a chance to talk, we'll know the best way forward."

"I suppose that's fair," agreed Reyn. "And you probably need some more rest time before you go anywhere anyway."

"Hey, your dad said my leg was coming along really quickly!"

"And that doesn't mean it's all fixed already." Reyn shook his head, chuckling and looking over at Skylar. "I can't get this guy to sit still."

Skylar grinned and laughed a bit. "Trust me, I get it. Breezedramon is squirmy as hell, too."

"Hey! It's hard getting used to a new place like this!" protested Breezedramon.

"Doesn't mean it's not true. Reyn, would you get in touch with Iris and confirm that she's part of this? If I know them, if she's involved, she'll already have confirmed that Derek is. Then we'll know who to coordinate with so we can help these guys meet together."

"Sure, no problem." Reyn nodded and rose up, picking up Salmandmon. "Whoof…did you gain ten pounds since yesterday?"

"You just need to work out more," Salmondmon replied, sticking his tongue out at the human.

"Or maybe you need to eat less. You must've had twice as much at breakfast as I did, and you're half my size."

"Fuel for the fire, baby. Besides, I gotta recover, right?"

"Might split something other than your leg apart if you keep that up."

"He won't," chimed in Breezedramon. "He's always like that. Data says his stomach defies the laws of physics."

"I'll believe it. Sky, you wanna run interference so we can slip out?"

"Sure thing." Skylar was shaking his head as he stood up. "Man…hard to believe what's happened in the last couple days. Guess you weren't that far off with your 'aliens' crack after all, huh?"

"Closer than I ever expected I would be," agreed Reyn. "And who knows what else is coming?"

—

It was a bright, sunny day, and relatively warm for early April, being in the high 50s. A fair few people were out and about, and at first glance, nothing would have stuck out about Reyn and Iris walking down the streets, talking with each other as they headed towards Eglin Park. But it wouldn't have required even eagle-eyed attention to notice something odd going on around them - the wavering, almost smoky trails that appeared on the ground from time to time, or the unusual distortions in the air that seemed to flicker an image here and there. Perhaps it was good fortune that the people who passed by were absorbed in their own things, and not paying too much attention to what was going on around them.

The walk gave Reyn and Iris a chance to catch up on what had happened with them. Iris could of course confirm Derek's involvement, making it five for five for the expected suspects. Reyn looped her in on what they'd talked about with Skylar and the plan to try to get the digimon together for a meeting between them. And though neither one spoke of it, they were both subtly aware of just how odd it was that things just didn't feel as abnormal as they should have, given what they were actually experiencing.

"I don't know what people would think is crazier - the situation, or the fact that we're not treating it like it's that crazy," said Iris as they reached the park. "My dad would probably still be freaking out, I doubt he'd have stopped screaming to take a breath."

"He probably would, but only because his body made him," remarked Reyn.

"Ah, of course. Thank you for the clarification, Dr. Kessilik. Are you still pretending like you're not gonna follow in their footsteps?"

"Hey, I'm not a doctor-type! I just can't help but pick up on stuff!"

Iris rolled her eyes. "Right, that totally explains your urge to butt in with those random facts. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised that you're handling this as well as you are, since apparently your dad thought nothing of stitching up Salmandmon's leg. I still don't know how that works, by the way."

"The stitches?"

"The FIRE, doofus. I touched Salmandmon for a second and it felt like brushing up against a stovetop. Thankfully without the gruesome injury."

"Oh, right." Reyn gave a shrug. "Honestly, I don't know any better than you do, and neither does Salmandmon. Maybe things work weird between our worlds. Anyway…" The red-haired boy took a look around, scanning for other folks. It seemed like things were good for them - Eglin Park was probably one of the better outdoors places to find seclusion anywhere nearby, being unlike most of the older parks in Braun. It was something of a new experiment in shady green space, being more woodsy than open like many of the city's outdoor spaces. It certainly wasn't total privacy, but it at least offered enough shelter for the digimon to drop their cloaking, especially as they went off the standard path. "I think we're good, you two can come out now."

"Finally!" Salmandmon's figure appeared clearly near them, the lizard sighing in relief. "So hard to hide out there. Too many yards with fences or animals. At least Shockavimon gets the advantage of people never looking up."

"At least YOU get the advantage of a hiding technique that works properly," countered Shockavimon as she appeared from the air. "I can FEEL it wavering every time I use it, I gotta be fading in and out constantly. Now I wish I'd practiced more."

"Well, you'll get more practice the longer we hang around here, so look on the bright side!"

"Yes, such a bright side to look on. What's that?" Shockavimon pointed to a baseball that Salmandmon was tossing up and down to himself.

"Ball of some kind. Found it in Reyn's yard. Figured we could toss it around a bit."

"You really cannot ever just sit down, can you? Do I have to give you a Stun Talon?"

"Hey, I'm recovering from a significant injury, I gotta keep the blood flowing and work those muscles to get them back into shape!"

"Yeah, about that…" Shockavimon folded her wings and gave Salmandmon a look. "I seem to recall one of us saying that they were going to stay put and not make that big-ol' gash in their leg worse. You wanna remind me who it was who was saying that?"

Salmandmon just grinned in response. "And I seem to recall someone saying 'don't get found out, whatever you do.' How long did you last again?"

"…The sun was still pretty high in the sky, I guess."

"Seriously? Hot damn! Data owes ME 500 creds! You totally got made before Breezy did."

"You were making bets on who would get found first? Is nothing sacred?"

"Nope. C'mon, let me throw the ball to you or I'll throw the ball AT you."

"All right, all right. I suppose it'd be good to practice throwing anyway, not my usual strength anyway…"

The two began to toss the ball around, Shockavimon making sure to throw mostly to Salmandmon so he didn't have to move around too much; he was moving better but still with a noticeable limp, and putting too much weight on the wounded leg did seem to make him wince a bit. Still, both seemed to be in reasonably good spirits…something that was not lost on the observers.

"Look at them…" Iris muttered, almost enviously. "In a completely new, unfamiliar world, around people who might freak out any moment if they knew they existed, already having had some pretty serious trouble, on a mission for who knows what purpose but it can't be good…and they're able to play around and banter with each other like it's a regular day for them. I can't imagine being able to do the same thing if I were in their position…I'd be completely losing it well before that."

"Yeah, they do seem to be handling it pretty well," agreed Reyn. "But I guess it makes a bit of sense…I didn't always know what was going on in those dreams, but I remember it could get pretty rough over there. They were in fights a lot…I guess when you're facing down peril every day, you learn how to deal with it, huh?"

"Maybe. You…remember the fighting, too, huh?"

"As often as it happened, for sure I remember it. And I remember feeling pretty frightened by some of the things they went up against…" Reyn's brow furrowed. "I feel like I know why they don't want to tell us about it. It's…hard, I guess, to know exactly what the deal was, but whatever they're locked in battle against…it can't be good."

"…So I wasn't the only one who was thinking that." Iris looked at the ground. "It changed, in the last few years, didn't it? That's when it really started to be a lot more of those kinds of fights…there were some before, too, but not like those ones. I didn't really understand them all, but I could feel it…they were important, they were facing danger for a cause. I wish I knew what the cause was, but with how scary some of the bad guys were…" She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know how she handles it…I don't think I could ever do anything like what they're doing."

Reyn was quiet for a moment, and then gave Iris a sidelong look. "Iris…I don't think you give yourself enough credit."

"Huh?"

"I've known you as long as I've been in Braun. I know how you are…you're a gentle and kind person, and you don't like stressful situations. But…I think you're tougher than you think you are. I see it sometimes in you, when a confrontation happens whether you want it to or not…you're not easily pushed around."

"…Maybe…" Iris wasn't entirely convinced…still, she had to admit, it was nice hearing someone say that. "But I think you'd deal with it better. You've got more nerve than I do."

"Hah…yeah, never thought anyone would be able to say THAT five years ago," Reyn laughed wryly. "Imagine saying that to me the first time you met me, it'd look ridiculous. And it's really because of you that I even managed to grow a spine in the first place…I don't think I'd have a chance to get that tough without a good example."

"I don't think I was the example for that…maybe you're thinking of Isaac."

"Well, Isaac DID teach me a few things, I guess. Though I think I returned the favor, too. But you were the reason I could even come out of my shell in the first place…nothing else really happens if not for you. And I don't think I've really said how much I appreciate that."

"Reyn…I'm just glad I could help…" It felt like not quite enough to say to something that heartfelt, but she wasn't really ready for it. Before she could think of something more, though, a shiver ran through her. "Brrr…did it just get colder?"

"Sure felt like it…" Reyn grumbled a bit. "Come on, it was just pretty nice out, where'd the warmth go? The sun's still shining and everything!"

They weren't the only ones noticing. "Sheeze! Does it always drop 30 degrees at random in this world?" Salmandmon complained. "It wasn't even this cold the first night we came through!"

"It doesn't usually do this, I don't know what's going on. Sometimes you can get a sudden cold front, but not like this."

"Just our luck then," huffed Shockavimon. "I'm glad I was moving around now…Iris?"

Iris didn't respond; all of a sudden, it felt like her heart was thudding in her chest. She didn't know what it was, but it felt like all of a sudden something was screaming to her, screaming of danger. "We…we need to go. We need to go!"

"Iris! What's going on?!" Reyn started towards Iris, and then suddenly recoiled as she whipped around - and they all saw it at the same time. A tall, broad, bright-white figure, looking like a bear-shaped snowman, slowly advancing towards them through the trees. "Wh-what the hell is that?!"

"No way! It can't be!" shouted Salmandmon. "A Frigimon?! Here?!"

"Well, well, well…" The icy creature said, with a chillingly hostile and smug voice as it stepped towards the suddenly retreating quartet. "And here I was, wondering how long it would be before I could show these pathetic creatures their place in the world. And here I have not just them, but a couple of outmatched pipsqueaks who decided they wanted to play around with them. I must be the luckiest mon in both worlds."

"You stay back!" Salmandmon demanded, trying to step forward - and gritting his teeth as he was reminded of the leg wound. "Don't take another step, or I'll roast you where you stand, you big snowball!"

"Heh heh heh…don't make me laugh, lizard. You can barely stand upright, and you think you'll defy me? Don't think I don't know who you are, or what's happened to you. I'll gladly give you a front row seat to your uselessness, as I strike the first blow for the glorious reign of Emperius!"

Salmandmon's eyes widened in horror. "You…no. NO!"

"It can't be! Not this soon!" cried out Shockavimon.

"Oh, but it is! Now, are you going to be good and get out of my way, or do I have to show you just how little you are against us now?"

"Go to hell! Burner Breath!" Salmandmon's mouth opened and spewed out a potent jet of flames. The flames hit the Frigimon square, but it only made him step back a bit, not severely harming him. "Reyn! Iris! Run! Hurry! Leave him to us!" Neither Reyn nor Iris was moving, though; the whole scene had them in a state of shock. That was making things even worse for Salmandmon, who was starting to feel real panic. The danger he had been fearing was already rearing its ugly head, far before they were ready for it…and in the state they were in now, they were pushing their luck even taking on a Champion-level digimon.

Still, they had to try. He ran forward, delivering another Burner Breath, then had to jump back as Frigimon lunged forward with a Subzero Ice Punch; the fist smacked the ground, leaving a frozen patch. Shockavimon swooped behind Frigimon, spreading her wings wide. "Feather Bolt!" A flurry of electric sparks collided with Frigimon's back, but like with Salmandmon's attack, it didn't seem to do much beyond irritate the creature, and she had to scramble away from a swipe with one of those big hands.

Salmandmon turned back again, his eyes frantic as he exhorted the humans. "What are you waiting for?! Get away! This guy is bad news!"

"And leave you here?" Reyn responded shakily. "I can't do that!"

"Dammit, Reyn! This isn't-ah!" Salmandmon saw Frigimon coming at him out of the corner of his eye, and leapt back just in time to avoid another punch, Reyn and Iris suddenly scrambling away to put more distance between them and Frigimon but still not leaving the scene. The lizard landed with his weight on the recovering leg, clenching his jaw as he felt a pain in it; if he kept this up, he risked opening his wound up yet again. As if it needed to get worse…

"Pathetic! This is all the withered husk of Zetta Unit can do anymore?" The Frigimon was already gloating, despite having done little in the way of damage. "If only the rest of Emperius could see you now, feebly trying to buzz around me like flies! Why don't you give yourself up now? Maybe I'll let you live if you let me collect my trophies in peace!"

"T…trophies?" squeaked Iris.

"He…" Reyn felt his stomach lurch, and as he looked over at Iris's terrified face, he knew she was realizing the same thing. He didn't come here for them…he came here for US. What the good holy hell is going on?!

"Burner Breath!" Salmandmon wasn't about to give up, even as he despaired of their odds. Once again the Frigimon bore the brunt of the attack, and it looked like the repeated applications were starting to have an effect, as there was some wetness on the Frigimon's body; but he knew that wasn't yet nearly enough to really turn the tides, and he stumbled back a bit as Frigimon went for another punch, only barely escaping this time.

Shockavimon thought she saw an opening, though, and went in with her best effort. "Stun Talon!" She swooped at Frigimon's back, jabbing her talon into the icy body - it wasn't the most comfortable thing, but she'd dealt with worse. She tried delivering her paralyzing jolt to the creature, but it didn't take, and she was suddenly whacked by his arm and flung to the ground, almost hitting a tree. She tried to rise, but hitched, a look of pain on her face.

Iris cried out as she saw this, which unfortunately had the effect of bringing Frigimon's attention back to them. "Oh, you're still here! Good! I'd rather hoped that I'd be able to take a couple of flash-frozen humans back with me. Heh, seems you're already half-frozen as it is! Why don't you let me take you the rest of the way!"

The snowman digimon was closing in on them, but Salmandmon saw an opportunity. He focused hard, gathering heat at a point in space just next to where Frigimon was. "Take this! Blast Point!" The heat burst out all around that spot, catching Frigimon unaware and loosing a chunk of his icy body off of his side - a small one, but a significant one. He turned back towards the digimon, narrowing his eyes - as much of a victory as Salmandmon could hope for.

"Looks like you little pests didn't listen. Well, then, let's clean up this mess before I make a new one! Ice Breath!" He blew a powerful ice breath attack at Salmandmon, leaving a streak of frozen ground in the path. Salmandmon countered with his Burner Breath to keep from being frozen over as he hobbled out of the way. "Hrm! Well, the other one of you isn't moving…" He turned to Shockavimon, who was still struggling to rise. "One frozen chicken, coming right up! Ice Breath!"

Shockavimon tried to react, but her body wasn't letting her…but just as the attack was about to reach her, she felt something grab her from behind and dive out of the way with her; the attack hit the tree behind her squarely, freezing it over with a sheen of ice. The tumble threw her for a loop, but also seemed to kick her body back into gear, and she shook off the blow. As she looked back, she saw the last thing she expected. "Iris?!"

"Shockavimon…you're okay?"

"Iris, you've got to get away!"

"I couldn't let him…"

"You all insist on being this annoying? Why can't you fold like good little weaklings?" Frigimon was getting frustrated now, rounding on Iris and Shockavimon, but Salmandmon took advantage, unleashing another Burner Breath at Frigimon, this one blocked with an arm but making the snowman react. "Okay, I've had it with you! I'm putting your flames on ice! Subzero Ice Punch!" He stomped towards Salmandmon, who wanted to get away, but one step on his bad leg sent pain shooting through, leaving him not enough time to act. At the last moment, something yanked him away, letting the attack impact the ground once more. "Oh, come on!"

Salmandmon didn't even need to look. "Reyn! What the hell are you doing?!"

"Trying to help!" Reyn hauled Salmandmon back and out of the way as Frigimon fired off another Ice Breath.

"You need to get out of here! He's going to kill you both!"

"He's trying to kill you, too! I can't just leave you here!"

"Reyn…agh…" Salmandmon clenched his jaw tight. Wounded as he was, he was almost a sitting duck for Frigimon if he was on his own, but he was also the only one making an impact, his elemental edge being their only hope at this point. At this point, he was willing to put his all into protecting Reyn, even if it meant that he ended up overdoing it and paying the price. "Reyn, let me go and get away with Iris and Shockavimon…you can't fight him, only I can…"

"No! I'm not gonna leave you to die here!" Reyn's thoughts were chaos, he was acting more or less on impulse. But every instinct was telling him not to leave Salmandmon, to protect him as much as he could. Maybe he couldn't channel fire like the lizard could, but he had to be able to do SOMETHING…but the ideas weren't coming to him as he faced down the angry glare of the Frigimon.

"You've tried my patience enough for insects! Die like you're supposed to! Ice Breath!" Beth Reyn and Salmondmon braced themselves, Salmandmon planning to push away and take the attack if it meant saving Reyn, Reyn steeling his grip to break them both out of the way…

Neither of those things happened. Both were suddenly frozen in place…briefly, both of them wondered if they had been too late and the attack had hit, but it didn't feel cold…in fact, it was suddenly warm, then hot, then VERY hot…then, just as both of them found enough thought to wonder what was going on, the heat flared up beyond everything else, and all thoughts went blank.

—

Just because the rest could see what was going on didn't mean they knew anything more about it.

Iris and Shockavimon had felt a terror shoot through them as Reyn and Salmandmon failed to escape the frigid assault. But that all changed when they saw the eerie glow behind the pillars of ice that had frozen in front of where the two were. They watched, enraptured, as what had been Reyn and Salmandmon disappeared into a shapeless form of raging red, rapidly melting the ice around them and causing it to shatter to pieces.

"What…what is that?!" Even Frigimon had been thrown off, taking a step backwards. They could do nothing but watch as the oblong red shape spun and shone, radiant beams of light shooting out of it as it coalesced into a new shape, the shape of a bipedal creature nearly seven feet tall. Powerful arms and legs emerging on a muscular torso, a long reptilian tail taking shape behind him, and the head of a lizard creature with blazing eyes opening to reveal a brilliant amber. The creature curled up, then burst out of the light with a fearsome yell in a whirl of potent flames, landing solidly on the ground and standing up tall in front of Frigimon.

"Frigimon." The creature spoke, in a deep, fierce voice. "I'd enjoy my last seconds, if I were you."

"You…you…I don't know what the hell you are, but don't think some weird parlor tricks are gonna stop me! Subzero Ice Punch!" Frigimon lunged forward, trying to deliver a blow to the reptile…but rather than moving, all the creature did was cross his arms in front of him.

"Heat Field!"

The air in a sphere around the creature suddenly turned an angry orange-red, just as Frigimon's fist got there. Instead of a freezing blow, Frigimon's eyes widened and he let out an agonized cry as his hand essentially dissolved before his eyes in the wake of the oppressive heat. He stumbled backwards, holding his crippled limb as he looked at the creature in horror. "No! No! How is this possible?!"

"All that big talk, and you're already running scared?" The reptile hissed with a cackle. "I'd tell you to chill out, but I think you're about to do the opposite of that."

"Damn you! You think this is some sort of joke?!"

"If it is, then the joke's on you." The aura around the creature dissipated, and another swirling blaze of fire surrounding the reptile's raised right hand. "Shame about your hand…why don't I let the rest of you join it! Pyre Rush!" The creature thrust his hand forward, and a violent outburst of flames billowed from it, enveloping Frigimon completely. A wavering cry of anguish was all that came out of Frigimon, cut off mid blow by his body dissipating into a cloud of data that scattered off into the wind, disappearing into nothing within seconds.

All that left was Iris and Shockavimon to stare with dropped jaws at the being in front of them. Both with a single thought on repeat in their minds: It can't be. There's no way. It's not possible. But no matter how many times it bounced back and forth, one thing remained true: there had been Reyn and Salmandmon one moment, and this new creature the next. And there was no way that the two had somehow slipped away in the middle of that melee.

"Iris. Shockavimon." The two were jarred back into awareness by the creature's voice. "Are you two all right?"

"I…I think so…" Iris said shakily.

"Sore, but I'll live…" breathed Shockavimon. "What…what are you? Are…are you Reyn? Or Salmandmon?"

The creature bowed his head. "…Yes. And no." Those blazing eyes opened again, a steely sharpness in them. "I…am both of them. I am Burnreptimon."

The remaster isn't just to improve the general writing, but also a good opportunity to fix rather major issues and oversights from the original. One of these was way too much vagueness between characters about the whole dream thing - I wanted to make more of a point that this was something they were all aware of and understood that connection, even if not its implications. Thus, more memories of the dreams, and more shared knowledge and understanding. For example, not just knowing their own partners, but the others as well, because they've been around each other for so long.

One thing that didn't change: Blackcanismon is still incredibly fun to write. The exercise in overly excessive verbosity is still quite an enjoyable one. I do think hit a slightly better mark of understandability despite that, which might just be because of experience. On the other end of that, I've also actually given him a concrete reason for that mannerism…though you'll have to wait a bit for that to show up.

Breezedramon is also quite fun to write, but for different reasons. He's got a pretty heavy comic relief aura about him, and it's fun to try to figure out his somewhat scattered way of thinking, to say nothing of butchering nearly every word of above-moderate complexity. I intend to make sure it gets conveyed, though, that silly and scattered does not mean he's stupid or somehow less capable.

Fair warning: people do tend to get rather chatty during battles. I justify this with the notion that it conveys a lack of respect for the opponent, and provides an indicator of the emotional momentum of the battle. In practice, it's largely to provide pauses for the reader to process the action, and partly because I enjoy writing dialogue.