Disclaimer: The following is a work of fan fiction written by someone who enjoys creature collector franchises. Pokémon is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, The Pokémon Company, Creatures Inc. and Satoshi Tajiri. Digimon is owned by Bandai, WiZ, Toei Animation, and Akiyoshi Hongo. If you want to support the official releases, worry not. Lord knows there is plenty of merchandise to choose from.

Listening to as I get infected: Boots through the undergrowth (Little Nightmares 2)

The Crest of a Master Chapter 12: Lekismon Snaps Part 1

Widget Woods Edge

Lillie's eyes darted back and forth between the Digivice's map and the landmark in front of her. According to the map, her group was getting close to another human. All they had to do was walk through a forest.

Too bad the forest didn't look the least bit inviting.

What stood before Lillie's team was a woodland composed of looming trees that lacked leaves to the point they appeared to be dying. Despite the mostly barren branches, sunlight dimmed as soon as it hit the forest giving off the appearance of dusk even though it was the middle of the day. To top it all off there was a carpet of fog that lined the ground making it hard to tell where you were stepping let alone see if there was a path to follow.

"So," May edged away from the woodland entrance. "Do any of you guys know anything about this place?"

"Oh, I've heard a lot of things about those woods," Gargomon said, smirking.

"Real things or ghost stories?" Goh asked dubiously.

"Real ghost stories," Gargomon's smirk widened as his voice lowered. "These are the Widget Woods. It is a place riddled with so many campfire stories that it's been voted the most haunted place in the Digital World. I've heard that even ultimate level Digimon avoid walking through here, unless they want to be cursed."

"Oh, come now, Gargomon," Biyomon rolled her eyes. "Stop trying to rile everyone up. Just because a location appears uninviting doesn't mean it's cursed or haunted."

"Actually, Gargomon isn't making this up," Lunamon chimed in. "I've heard stories about this place too. For example, they say there's a hidden mansion deep within the woods where a party of Digimon went missing. Nobody knows what happened to them, but when other Digimon went to check the mansion, the walls were covered in claw marks and all the doors were locked from the inside."

Garurumon perked up. "Do you think it was the asylum escapees?"

"A-asylum?" Lillie took a step back.

The canine nodded. "I heard that there was a breakout from an asylum and all the escaped patients took refuge in these woods."

"Oh," May stood back with Lillie. Lillie could see her body start to shiver a bit. "That sounds lovely."

"That sounds like in-training stuff. You guys want a real scary story?" Gargomon's voice lowered again. "A long time ago, the Widget Woods was fabled to be the most lush and vibrant forest in all the Digital World. Digimon from all around would flock here to take in its beauty. But not all the guests were friendly."

Gargomon began to slowly circle around the group. "One day, the forest was visited by a powerful Digimon. This Digimon was so strong that he, along with six other Digimon, actually managed to slay Anubismon, god of death and ruler of the Dark Area."

"Why did they go after the god of death?" Lillie tried to imagine someone trying to slay Yveltal and what might happen to someone who would try to offset the balance of the Pokémon world by killing such a prominent legendary.

"Immortality," Gargomon replied. "You see, these seven Digimon were so strong that they thought that they could team up to fight a god, and they were right. They slayed Anubismon. But they didn't receive immortality. It's said that Anubismon was so disgusted with the sinful lives of his murders that before he dissolved, he placed a curse on them. He made it so that when they died, they would not reincarnate."

At this point Gargomon had made his way to the back of the group. As he continued to speak, his voice became lower, huskier. "One of those seven Digimon came to this forest and challenged the MirageGaogamon who watched over these woods to battle. He won, but not before the MirageGaogamon landed a fatal blow. As the cursed Digimon tried to heal himself, he realized that he wasn't dissolving like a usual Digimon."

Lillie felt the hairs on the back her neck stand up as Gargomon breathed the last part of his story into her ear. "He was ROTTING!"

At that exclamation, both May and Lillie screamed and jumped forwards crashing into Goh leaving the three kids in a pile. Standing over the tangled mess of humans frantically trying to get up, Gargomon laughed and slapped his knee with one of his gun hands. Garurumon and Biyomon tried to help the humans up, a task made slightly more difficult by Lillie who jumped back anytime either of them got close to her. Meanwhile, Lunamon began to scold Gargomon for his jump scare.

"Gargomon!" Lunamon shouted. "You know Lillie is afraid of Digimon! Leave her alone!"

"Relax," from her spot in the pile, Lillie could see the dog rabbit roll his eyes at the moon rabbit. "She only freaks when she's touched, right? I didn't lay a gauntlet or an ear on her, right Lillie?"

Lillie tried to respond, but all that left her mouth was sharp gasps of breath. When the hound noticed this, his smile switched to a frown. "Wow, you've got it bad. Don't ya?"

"I-I'm fine," Lillie quickly regained her motor function and tried to untangle herself from the pile. "Gargomon's right. I'm okay. It was just a ghost story. The forest is probably safe."

"I couldn't agree more. Let's go in."

All the chaos came to a halt. In contrast to the humans dogpiled on the ground, Gary was walking straight into the woods with his usual confident strut.

Goh was the first of the humans to pick himself up. He ran forward and grabbed Gary's shoulder before he could make it to the forest's edge. "Are you crazy!? Why do you want to go in there?!"

"Because it's the fastest way to the temple," Gary replied before giving Goh a smirk. "Don't tell me you're scared by a few tall tales."

"If those tall tales are about a forest that has 'death' written all over it, then yeah!" Goh fired back. "I don't care if it takes longer, I'd like to take the route that sees us meet up at the temple in one piece!"

"Oh yeah," Gary turned around to face the group and folded his arms. "And where exactly is this safe route?"

"Anywhere but that forest," to emphasize his point, Goh motioned to the stretch of warm sunny meadow behind him.

"Hm," Gary studied the meadow for a bit before turning his attention back to Goh. "Funny, this field reminds me of a couple of places we've already visited. Like that calm lake that was home to a wild Seadramon which tried to freeze us. Or that lovely valley where we were ambushed by a hungry Gailmon. And who could forget that quiet city that was filled with kill bots."

Goh's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that it doesn't matter whether we go into the scary woods or someplace that's picture perfect," Gary explained. "Something is going to pop out and try and kill us. But if we take the woods, then we can get to the temple faster."

"Yeah, well," Goh gave the forest one last look before addressing the rest of the group. "I think we should put this to a vote."

Gary shrugged. "Fine by me. I guess our votes should be obvious. What about you, Garurumon?"

The white Arcanine loyally walked over to Gary's side. "I'll go wherever you go, Gary."

"Two can play at that game!" Goh shot his partner a grin. "Isn't that right, Gargomon?"

"Meh, I'm abstaining," Gargomon replied.

Just like that, Goh's smile turned into a look of shock. "What?!"

"Gary made a good point. No matter where we go some wild Digimon is going to attack us," Gargomon folded his arms. Or at least tried to with this barrel gauntlets. "So, I don't see any reason to vote one way or the other."

"Well, I'm not going into the axe murder forest," May voted. "I don't care if we're just as likely to die anywhere else. This place just gives me the creeps."

Biyomon straightened herself up and stood next to May. "I personally don't buy any of these ghost stories. But if eases May, I'll vote 'no' to the forest."

This brought the vote to three against the forest, two for the forest, and one undecided. Lillie looked down at Lunamon to see the rabbit had brought her paw up to her chin in what Lillie had come to recognize as her thinking pose.

Meanwhile, Lillie's thoughts turned to the journey as a whole. Their objective was to unite with all the humans transported to the Digital World at the temple and from there find a way to defeat Millenniummon and go home. Right now, the two obstacles that stood in her team's way was distance and the wild monsters which inhabited the continent.

So far, the monsters had been kept at bay by the two champions in their squad, Garurumon and Gargomon. Both Digimon were agile and adaptable on the battlefield and were able to defend themselves and the rest of the group with some powerful attacks. But outside of battle Garurumon had the edge in utility.

Sure, Gargomon seemed to have experience in survival training in the form of navigating, hunting, and first aid, but he wasn't someone you could just hop on for a ride. Garurumon, on the other hand, had the size, speed, and stamina to carry multiple people across a stretch of land at a given time. Or at least he could if Lillie didn't almost pass out from getting on top of him.

Lillie felt her mouth dry as all eyes turned to her and Lunamon for their vote. A part of her agreed with Goh that they forest did not look safe, but another part of her knew that speed was a luxury that they could not afford all because of her. Because of Lillie's fear it took her and Gary forever to meet up with May and Goh. This fact should have stopped being relevant after the team became too big to all fit on Garurumon's back, but then Goh came up with the idea of having Garurumon shuttle the group across some of the shorter stretches in two trips with small groups. This plan would only work in the few peaceful areas the travelers hiked across, but it would have helped speed up the adventure. If it had not been for Lillie's fear.

Which brought Lillie back to the vote. Take a risk through the forest and regain some time lost or plot a trail around the woodland where Lillie would no doubt continue to hold the group back.

Lillie's hands clinched around the straps to her travel pack. "Let's go."

From her spot on the ground, Lunamon looked up at Lillie with unease. "Are you sure, Lillie?"

"Absolutely," Lillie nodded. "It's just like Gary said, we're bound to encounter unfriendly Digimon no matter what route we take. But this way we'll have more time on our side, and we can't afford to waste that. Not when there are good Digimon fighting to save their world or people back home who don't know where we are."

Both thoughts haunted Lillie. The more time she caused the team to waste, the more Digimon would be lost. Digimon who were hoping that their rag tag team of beginning trainers would somehow save the day.

Then there was the family factor. The longer Lillie stayed in the Digital World, the more she wondered how her family was taking her absence. She was too young to remember her father, but according to her brother and the mansion staff the poor woman was devastated and had shut herself off only brought out by her children.

As for Gladion, would Gladion even know Lillie was gone? It had been ages since she last seen her brother walk off into the night and she hadn't heard a phone call or seen an email. She wondered if her mother was somehow keeping tabs on him because she never seemed worried. But then again Lillie hardly heard from her mother either so it was all just one big guessing game.

In any case, none of these concerns could be dealt with in the present. For now, Lillie had to focus on getting to the temple. From where she was standing, she could see that her words struck a chord with the rest of the party with May and Goh looking uncomfortable at the mention of their families and Gary giving her an approving smile.

"Alright," Lunamon hopped onto Garurumon's back and looked down at Lillie. "If you really feel this strongly, I'll go with you."

Widget Woods Forest

The forest was very much a 'what you see is what you get' deal. The second the team crossed the tree line, the lights dimmed casting a dark veil across the landscape and the temperature instantly dropped. Lillie found herself rapidly rubbing her arms to try and get back some heat, a task made slightly more difficult by the fog she and her traveling companions kicked up as they moved through the woods.

Suddenly, there was a high-pitched howl off in the distance. Garurumon paused and perked up at the call.

Gary paused to look up at his partner. "What is it?"

"A warning," Garurumon's mane shifted signaling that the ears hidden amongst all the fur were swiveled forward. "If we don't leave, we'll be in grave danger."

Goh took a step back. "That doesn't sound good."

"Could be a bluff," Gargomon's normally floppy ears were both raised in the air listening to the unknown Digimon. "This guy's voice lacks oomph. It's probably a rookie. Usually, these kinds of calls are made by the pack's leader, one of its stronger members, or the pack as a whole."

"Then why make the call?" Lillie wondered out loud. "It makes sense for all those other options to issue a warning as a show of strength. If they come across as strong, the intruder won't want to risk a fight with them and neither party has to suffer damages. A lone rookie making the call just projects vulnerability."

"Or here's an idea. Maybe the reason a rookie is making the call is because that's how strong the Digimon in these woods get. After all, if the ability to Digivolve past rookie has been turned off and wild Digimon are prone to getting in turf wars with each other, then it would only be a matter of time before the number of champions start running low," Gary smugly supplied.

Biyomon gave Gary an uneasy look. "I can see why you would arrive at that conclusion. But if I may, I don't think any rookie in their right mind would bring unnecessary attention to themselves, wild or no."

Gary just waved her off. "Then it shouldn't be opening its mouth," he then looked back at Garurumon. "Garurumon, show that pup what a real howl sounds like."

At his partner's command, Garurumon threw back his head and issued his own howl. When the other Digimon didn't respond, Gary continued to march forward. "There we go. Crisis adverted."

"This guy," Goh grumbled but non-the-less followed along.

May hung back a bit until Lillie came walking forward. As soon as Lillie was close, May made a beeline towards the blonde and began to chat. "That was smart observation."

"Oh, thank you," Lillie felt a mild blush on her face. "My family runs a Pokémon rehabilitation center so I kind of grew up around monsters and know a lot about their behaviors. Digimon have some differences such as their ability to talk and build cities, but there is some overlap. Really my deductions could have been made by anyone who studied monster pack etiquette."

"That's more than I can say about myself," May's shoulders sagged a bit. "I'm not really good at anything."

"Don't say that! You're really good at, um," Lillie tried to think of something May was good at, but ever since May and Goh met up with Lillie's group Lille found herself clicking more with Goh and Gary as fellow Pokémon enthusiast. May mostly hung around with Biyomon and when it came time to set up camp the brunette didn't seem to excel in anything. Competent enough to help out, but she didn't seem to stand out in any particular way. So Lillie just went with the most generic complement she could muster up. "You are really nice!"

"Uh, thanks," apparently May had enough social skills to read between the lines and know that Lillie's complement just confirmed her previous statement.

Realizing that her comment didn't help, Lillie quickly tried to change topics. "Well, monster biology and camping aren't for everyone. What do you want to do?"

May sighed. "Isn't that the million-dollar question. What I want to do is eat good food and see different places, but making good money as a travel or food blogger is a long shot. My dad was going to hook me up with a sponsorship and an old friend of his to send me on a Pokémon journey, but I don't really like Pokémon."

"Does you dad know about this?" Lillie asked.

"Not really," May hung her head. "But he didn't want me to just hang around the house doing nothing, so it was Pokémon or bust. Well, until my Digivice skyrocketed me here. Now it's Digimon or bust."

"Well, I wouldn't say that's the worst outcome," Biyomon had fluttered over from her spot on Garurumon's back with Lunamon riding on her own back. The pink bird quickly trotted over to the pair of girls and joined in the conversation. "I for one have very much enjoyed your company!"

May gave her partner a weak smile. "Biyomon, I love you, but you're the only thing I can stand about this place."

"It's not that bad," Lillie quickly defended. "True, the Digital World is dangerous, but there are plenty of things to enjoy. Like the Digimon themselves," Lillie gave Lunamon a smile which the white rabbit returned. "I've learned so much about them from befriending Lunamon and traveling their world, but I still have so many questions. For example, we know they're called Digital Monsters but outside of the mechanical Digimon like the Mekanorimon and their connection to the Digivices there doesn't seem to be anything digital about them. When I first met Lunamon I thought she was a new species of Pokémon."

"Until I spoke. Then you screamed," Lunamon giggled.

"Well, yes, I was startled," Lillie tried to hold herself high. "But once we got to know each other I discovered there was nothing to be afraid of."

"Then why can't you touch Digimon?" May asked. "You don't have any problems talking to them and you even like watching the wild Digimon when they aren't attacking us. So, why do you freak out when one of them gets too close?"

Lillie's gaze cast down at the foggy ground. "I don't know. For most of my life I've been able to get close to Pokémon, but one day I just woke up and I couldn't touch them."

"That's it?" May gave Lillie a searching look. "What about before that day? Did anything happen?"

Did anything happen? Well, she remembered that she was visiting her mother's workplace with her brother. At some point she got lost and tried to find her mother when…

Bright lights

Tentacles

It had her…It was pulling her in

There was a roar…Another creature came barreling down the corridor…It was leaping straight at her…

"Lillie!"

"Huh?" Lillie blinked and looked around. She had come to a complete stop and was now hunched over, grasping her arms, and shaking. All around her were concerned faces from both human and Digimon alike.

"Are you alright?" Goh asked, cautiously stepping forward.

"What where you guys talking about?" Gary asked shooting May an accusatory glare.

"Nothing!" May's hands flew up in the air in a surrender motion. "I was just asking her why she's afraid of touching monsters, that's all."

From her spot on Biyomon, Lunamon made a reach to give Lillie a comforting pat, only to remember herself and pull away. Instead, she gave Lillie a sympathetic smile. She looked as though she was about to say something, when suddenly her four ears sprang up. "We're being surrounded!" she shouted.

At these words, the Digimon formed a circle around the humans. For a moment, there was nothing but silence. Lillie could have sworn she saw the shadow of something moving off in the distance, but it disappeared as fast as it appeared. Before Lillie could point it out to the rest of the group, Gargomon called out. "Heads up! We have fireballs!"

Just as the hunter warned, a barrage of fireballs came raining down from all directions. The group of humans and Digimon scattered to escape the flames, but in doing so they left themselves vulnerable to a direct attack.

Bounding out from the fog were several large, lupine Digimon. Unlike Garurumon, whose muscle mass was evenly distributed throughout his body, these Digimon had more bulky front arms creating massive forepaws and just as impressive red claws. Their bodies were covered in dark blue fur that flared out into thicker, red fur at its elbows, mane, and tail. Bound to the attacking Digimons' faces were magenta interfaces on their foreheads and heavy muzzles around their long snouts from which fire would spring from every so often.

Surrounded, panicked, and in danger of either being burned or slashed, this was the perfect time to scan the new monster.

"Loogarmon, champion level," Lillie read. "It's constantly generating and releasing magic through the flames in its mouth. Its special moves allow it to shoot out the fire with Howling Burner or cover itself in flames with Flame Blow."

True to the Digidex's description, the Loogarmon began setting the forest ablaze. What was once a dim, quiet atmosphere was now lite up by the flames and snarls of the savage wolves. One of the Loogarmon began to charge up another Howling Burner, only to be stopped by Garurumon's own Howling Blaster.

Another Loogarmon was running through Gargomon's lasers igniting its body as it did so. It looked like it was about slam into Gargomon only for the Gatling hound to bound out of the way at the last moment allowing the wolf to collide with another Loogarmon.

While the champion Digimon clashed the humans made a quick getaway. For her part, Lillie's eyes continued to dart around as she sprinted after the other kids. It was part of a new protocol they discussed after the Mekanorimon incident. Step one: let the Digimon engage the enemy while the humans escape. Step two: seek shelter somewhere safe either close enough to watch the Digimon as they fought or further away if the battle became too dangerous. Step three: use the Digivices' to give orders from a safe distance.

"Over here!" Biyomon, who was still carrying Lunamon, waved the humans over to a ledge away from the fighting. It was actually a good bit of scouting as it could allow Gary and Goh to watch their partners from the side lines while using the raised earth and roots sticking out from the ground as cover.

The humans scrambled over to the earth wall using the roots sticking out to climb. Lillie almost made it to the top when she reached over the ledge to grab hold of something to pull herself over. Unfortunately, as she pulled herself up she began to realize that what she was holding onto felt alive. Looking over the edge, Lillie saw that she managed to grab onto one of Biyomon's legs.

What happened next would haunt Lillie's nightmares for years.

Seeing her hand touching a Digimon, Lillie's mouth opened to release a startled scream. Spotting her, May acted fast and dived down to grab Lillie's hand and cover her mouth. But it was too late. One of the Loogarmon had heard the scream and turned its head. Its glowing eyes locked onto the humans.

"Run!" using a sudden burst of strength, May managed to yank Lillie over the edge and the two took off after the rookies and the boys.

Immediately, everyone charged towards a thick groove of trees hoping to cut off the gigantic lupine. It only slowed the Loogarmon down. Though it couldn't fit through the thin gaps between the saplings, its gargantuan paws only needed to swipe once to snap the trees apart and continue its pursuit. The same applied to a thicker oak tree the kids slid around.

Seeing that the foliage wasn't an effective barricade, Lillie called out to her partner. "Lunamon! Blind him with your bubbles!"

From her spot on Biyomon's back Lunamon turned around unleashed a sea of soapy bubbles. "Lop-Ear Ripple!"

The bubbles flew at the Loogarmon's eyes. Just like with the trees before, this only served to slow down the predator as it shook its head back and forth snarling in an attempt to shake off the bubbles. When it finally cleared its vision, the kids were on the verge of making it to a small cave dug into the side of a hill.

Roaring the Loogarmon pounced and landed right next to Lillie. For a brief second, Lillie's eyes were locked on the wolf, taking in the details. In between the stuttering spurts of flame the Loogarmon's jaws seemed to leak a thick, black fog not unlike the clouds of hot air someone would breathe on a cold day. Lillie could also make out the eyes of the beast, crusty and leaky around the edges while the real eye was glazed over with a sickly white film that glowed. Then there was the way the Digimon breathed. It was panting, labored. Was this Digimon sick?

"Move!"

Just before the Loogarmon could bite into Lillie, she felt a body shove her aside out of the wolf's grasp. Landing on the ground Lillie caught sight of Gary standing between her and the champion Digimon. Though the Loogarmon missed its first target, it wasn't going to let this interloper off easily. No sooner had it landed on the ground that the wolf's head snapped around straight at Gary. The boy was able to pull back from the muzzle fast enough to prevent his arm from getting snapped off in the cage, but not fast enough to prevent the wolf from scrapping his elbow on one of its fangs.

The Loogarmon was about to follow up with another attack but was blasted by Garurumon who had leapt over the pair of humans. Not wanting to allow his opponent another shot at its human charges, Garurumon seized the Loogarmon by the neck and violently jerked his head. There was a loud snap right before the Loogarmon went limp and dissolved into data. Meanwhile, the other Loogarmon began to dissolve from the excess of laser bullets that riddled their hides.

For a minute, all was still. Every stood frozen where they were listening to the crackling of the Loogarmon's fire. Before anyone could say anything, they once more heard howling in the distance, this time it sounded deeper and louder than the rookie's howl from earlier. It sounded closer to more Loogarmon.

"We need to move!" Gargomon ordered. There was no opposition.

As the group made their way away from the battle site, everyone went over the damages. Both Garurumon and Gargomon had made it out fine with Gargomon practically spotless and Garurumon sporting just a few singes. Thanks to the quick actions of the champions, none of the humans nor the rookies received any wounds, except one.

"Are you sure it's okay?" Lunamon asked Gary. The gash on his elbow wasn't deep, but it was fairly bloody. The team had to stop once they put a fair bit if distance between themselves and what they could only assume was back up Loogarmon to assess and treat Gary's wound. "I heard that Loogarmon fire can leave nasty burns."

"It's fine," Gary was now in the process of mopping up and slathering the wound with the healing ointment. "I think it got me between flame breaths. Lucky, huh?"

"Personally, I consider it lucky to NOT to be ambushed by a group of beefed up Houndoom," Goh grumbled while he packed up the med supplies.

Gary just rolled his eyes. "Still sore about losing the vote? Come on, at this point this is just another afternoon for us. Am I right, ladies?"

Both Lillie and May shifted uncomfortably and stared at the bandaged-up scratch. May was the first to speak. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Gary cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, uh," a faint blush appeared on May's face, and she drummed her fingers together. "It's just, doesn't this seem a bit like one of those old fashion horror movies? Like, we were just attacked by a group of monsters and one of us got, sort of, bitten."

"What are you saying?" Gary asked, folding his arms.

"You aren't going to turn into a Lycanroc, are you?" May blurted out.

At first, Gary said nothing. Then he started breaking down into laughter. "You seriously believe that myth?"

Biyomon looked up at her partner. "What's a Lycanroc?"

"It's a kind of Pokémon," Lillie responded. "They come in two forms: the calm midday form and the wild midnight form. They're pretty popular Pokémon where I'm from, but I haven't heard any real-life cases of people turning into them."

"Because it doesn't actually happen," Gary had stopped laughing long enough to put his two cents in. "It's just an old superstition that got adapted old horror movies."

"Oh! So these are some of your fables?" Lunamon had completely perked up. "Could you tell me more?"

"There's not much else to explain," Goh elaborated. "People used to watch how ruthless some Lycanroc could get when fighting and believed that if you were bitten, they'd transmit some of that aggression to you turning you into another Lycanroc."

"Interesting," Lunamon looked between the two humans. "So, you believe that Gary is now going to turn?"

"What? No!" Goh said a little exasperatedly. "It's just like Gary said, it's a debunked superstition."

"Then why are you backing away from him?" Lunamon pointed out.

At this observation, Gary looked over at his fellow humans to see that, indeed, they had put a fair bit of distance between themselves and him. "Are you guys seriously thinking about this? Those weren't even Lycanroc!"

"Well, yeah. But the DigiDex entry did say it breathes magic fire. So, maybe, it can curse you?" May half-heartedly rebutted.

Gary pinched the bridge of his nose. "You've got to be kidding me."

Garurumon walked up to Gary and placed part of one of his massive paws on Gary's shoulder in a comforting motion. "Don't worry, Gary. Even if you transform into a bloodthirsty Pokémon, I'll still be your friend."

"You know what? Gary's right. This is all really silly. We don't have to worry about him turning into a Lycanroc or anything like that," Goh said, still keeping a fair bit of distance between himself and Gary. "Right, Gargomon?"

The gun dog, who had been surprisingly quite during this exchange, leaned over to give Gary's bandages a quick sniff. "I don't know about this Pokémon stuff, but I don't like how those Loogarmon were behaving."

"What do you mean?" Gary pulled his elbow away from the rabbit dog. "They attacked us. Just like any other wild Digimon when we entered their territory."

"Maybe," Gargomon frowned. "But I've met Loogarmon before. And I've never seen them with glowing white eyes or huffing those black clouds."

Lillie perked up. "I noticed that too! Do you think they were sick? Do Digimon get sick?"

"It's rare, but there are toxins and viruses that can put a Digimon under the weather," Lunamon answered. She then put on a thoughtful look. "Come to think of it, the Gulus Realm Burst is said to send Digimon into a frenzy. Maybe those Loogarmon were infected."

"Could also be black gears," Gargomon supplied. "They're not viruses, but I hear that if you jam one into a Digimon's body they start to attack anyone and anything that moves."

Both Digimon's musings were cut short by a loud whine from Garurumon who was now hovering protectively over his human.

"Of course this is all speculation," Lunamon quickly stated. "Even if there was some kind of affliction who's to say it can affect humans?"

"Yeah," Gargomon gave Gary another look over. "There's no signs of any infection. We'll just keep an eye on Gary and make sure he doesn't get hairier. Or rockier. Hey, what are the signs someone is turning into a Lycanroc?"

"Alright, we're done here. Let's keep moving," Gary began to walk forward when the team heard another howl. This time it was softer.

Garurumon perked up. "It's the same rookie from before. He says he wants to talk."

Goh sighed and scratched the back of his neck. "Why not. We're already in deep, might as well figure out what's going on."

With that, the group began to move out in the direction of the howl. As they walked Lillie noticed Gary, who usually strived to walk in front of the group like their leader (a title that she got the feeling Goh would not agree with), lingering behind. Lillie hung back to speak with him.

"How are you feeling?" Lillie asked.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired," Gary replied. Made sense. Between all the hiking they've done and the latest Digimon encounter Lillie was feeling a little drained as well. Still, she couldn't help but to glance at his bandaged wound.

Spotting Lillie's gaze, Gary just pulled his elbow away and picked up his pace. "You need to relax," he called over his shoulder. "It'll take more than just an oversized Lycanroc to take down yours truly."

Lillie hung back, eyes still glued to the bandages. "I guess," she mumbled.

"How are you doing, Lillie?"

Lillie was broken out of her thoughts by Lunamon floating down next to her. Looking into the rabbit's hopeful eyes, Lillie considered telling her what was on her mind. She considered telling her about her concerns about traveling. About how she felt like she was holding everyone back. About how they could have avoided injury if she wasn't so slow.

About how the Digivice clearly made a mistake when it chose her.

"It's noth…"

THUNK

"Huh?" Lillie tapped her foot down again. Instead of the usual squish that came from a humid forest floor, Lillie felt something more solid. Reaching down through the fog, Lillie's hand touched something firm and cold. She looked over to Lunamon. "Are patches of metal ground common in the Digital World?"

Lunamon closed her eyes in thought. "Maybe in some places, but that doesn't sound like the ground. It sounds hollow."

Bending down to feel around, Lillie found that not only did the metal patch have perfectly squared off edges, but felt like it might have had a handle too. Was this a trapdoor?

Before Lillie could investigate further, Goh's voice came from up ahead. "Lillie! Hurry up! We found the Digimon!"

Putting her investigation on pause, Lillie rose up to continue forward towards her friends. She and Lunamon didn't have to travel far as she found the rest of the group next to a riverbank at the foot of a steep cliff. Standing up on one of the cliff's lower ledges was a new Digimon. At first Lillie thought it was a smaller Loogarmon, but upon closer inspection she could see several differences.

This new Digimon was about the size of one of the larger rookies and stood on all fours. It was covered in dark blue fur save for its white snout and tail tip with large, red claws sticking out from its paws. The canine was accessorized with belts and bandages strapped around its legs and a magenta interface on its head much like the Loogarmon. It glared down at the group below with red eyes.

No time like the present to scan it.

"Loogamon, rookie level" Lillie read off her Digivice. "Don't be fooled by its cute appearance, they are proud Digimon with a painful Spiral Bite. Just like Loogarmon they can breathe magical fire using their Howling Fire attack."

"Looks like all the idiots have arrived," said the Loogamon in a condescending tone.

"Hey! Who are you calling idiots?!" May snapped back.

"The morons who ignore warnings, that's who," snarled the Loogarmon. "What part about 'grave danger' do you not understand?"

"We're sorry," Garurumon apologized. "We just thought that you were a wild Digimon trying to scare off competitors for his territory."

Loogamon didn't look impressed by this response. "What kind of dumb rookie issues a territory howl?"

"Uh, maybe the same dumb rookie who mouths off to a champion who could snap him in half with his jaws?" Gargomon supplied. Lillie was incline to agree. Ignoring that her mother taught her to be polite on principle, it didn't strike her as a wise move to shout insults at a carnivorous monster that was more than twice her size. All things considered, everyone was lucky that Garurumon was a kind soul and not like those Loogarmon.

"Whatever," Loogamon huffed. "Just get up here before a Loogarmon spots you."

Once the group had climbed up the cliffs, they followed Loogamon to a large ledge which overlooked a large raging river. In the middle of the ledge was a campfire and a bundle of leaves which Lillie could only assume was the Loogamon's makeshift bed. This theory was proven correct when the rookie sat down on the pile to watch the rest of the group find their own spots.

"You'll be safe here," Loogamon explained. "Those Loogarmon aren't right in the head. Unless you do something to make your location obvious, like howl at the top of your lungs, they won't look for you."

"Do you know what's wrong with them?" Goh asked.

The Loogamon's ears flattened against his head. "No," he admitted. "But I'm sure they used to be my pack."

Gary raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"

"They used to be Loogamon, like me," explained the wolf. "We were traveling across the Digital World to see as much of it as we could before, you know, Millenniummon destroys everything. Then one night we split up to look for food. I arrived back at the campsite, but no one else showed up. When I tried to track them down, all I could find was a group of rabid champions."

"Wait," May interjected. "I thought Digivolution was halted. If your friends were Loogamon, then how did they evolve?"

"I don't know," Loogamon glared into the fire. "But it couldn't have been natural. Not if they're acting like they Dark Digivolved."

"Dark Digivolve?" Goh towards Gargomon for some answers.

The gun dog did not disappoint. "Dark Digivolution is when a Digimon Digivolves while their core is clouded by dark emotions. And I don't mean they were just having a bad day, I mean they were in a bad place both mentally and spiritually."

Lunamon nodded. "I've read that Digimon who obtain their next level through Dark Digivolution are susceptible to going into berserk rampages. It doesn't matter if you're a friend or foe. As far as they're concerned they're in pain and will bring everyone down with them."

"I don't know if it was actual Dark Digivolution, but I do know one thing. When I tried to find out what happened to them I found the scent of some other kind of Digimon, one that I had never smelled before," Loogamon said darkly. "Whatever it was, I'm sure it must have been responsible for what happened to my pack!"

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Lillie offered.

Loogamon shook his head. "No. You need to leave before anything else happens. It's late, I'll show you the safest way out of the woods in the morning."

"Assuming I don't turn into a Lycanroc and start chucking boulders at everyone while they sleep," Gary said with a teasing smirk.

His smirk vanished when May tossed a large pebble at his head.

That Night

Despite her exhaustion, Lillie had trouble sleeping. At some point, she just got fed up with tossing and turning on her sleeping bag and got up to walk around. There wasn't really anywhere she could go, but it beat just lying there trying to force herself to sleep.

As Lillie walked along the ledge, she could see the smoke rising from the spot where her group had encountered the Loogarmon. Sighing, Lillie sat down and watched as the smoke ascended to the sky right below the moons.

"Lillie?"

Lillie jumped a little. Lunamon's steps were so quite that she hadn't heard her approach. "Lunamon? Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"My species is nocturnal," Lunamon took a seat next to Lillie. "Why aren't you asleep?"

"I'm just experiencing some insomnia," Lillie replied. The pair stared out into the forest before Lunamon turned to address Lillie again.

"Lillie, I," Lunamon's ruffles shifted as the rabbit cast her gaze at the forest below. "I wanted to say I'm sorry."

Lillie blinked. "Why?"

"Ever since Garurumon Digivolved I've been relying on him to take care of any threats we bumped into," Lunamon's ears folded back. "I've let him do all the leg work when we go scouting, I sat back and let him do most of the foraging, and whenever an enemy Digimon shows up, I hide behind him. I haven't been pulling my weight either as his comrade or your partner."

As Lunamon voiced her guilt, Lillie tried to give her Digimon a comforting smile. The same kind Professor Kukui or Hobbes would give her after a particularly tough day. "It's okay, Lunamon. Garurumon is a champion level. Taking on more responsibilities just comes with the territory. Or at least that's how I understand it works."

"Maybe," Lunamon mumbled. "But if I hadn't become so content with his and Gargomon's protection, I could have Digivolved earlier to help fight. But I didn't and instead May and Gary had to rush in to save you."

"Oh, hush!" Lillie scolded. "You did plenty in that fight. You were the one who alerted us that we were being stalked and your attack bought us enough time for Garurumon to take down that Loogarmon who was about to incinerate us. If anyone should be apologizing for your lack of evolution it should be me!"

Lunamon looked up at Lillie. "You?"

"Me," Lillie confirmed. "According to Gary and Goh, both their Digivice activated when they were in danger to allow their Digimon to evolve. That Loogarmon was right on top of me and I couldn't make you Digivolve to save my life! Literally!"

Lillie sighed and relaxed out of her rant. "Besides," she continued, a bit more subdued. "I'm the one holding everyone back. I can't ride on Garurumon or even hold onto Biyomon without breaking down. We'd already be at the temple by now if it wasn't for me. You might even have evolved already if you had a better human."

"That's not true!" it was Lunamon's turn to huff up. "Remember when you first arrived to the Digital World?"

"I remember almost deafening you with my screams," Lillie sighed.

"After that! After Moosemon explained what was happening and we went to my room," Lunamon smiled up at Lillie. "Sitting there and talking to you was the biggest relief I had felt since I first learned I was reincarnated from one of the first human's Digimon. I wasn't sure if my new human would like me or not since the old me was a mega level. But when we sat down and started looking through all my books with me, all those fears vanished. Maybe you can't touch Digimon and maybe you never will, but I still wouldn't trade you for any other human. You're my friend!"

At these words, Lillie's jaw clenched and she felt tears weld up in her eyes. Being on Alola, surrounded by people who both cared for and were treasured by their Pokémon partners was simultaneously a blessing and a torment to her. It was always heartwarming to find that wherever she went humans and Pokémon were getting along like one big, happy family, but that beautiful picture came with a sting of envy.

Lillie remembered playing with her mother's and brother's Pokémon growing up. She also remembered begging her mother for her own Pokémon each birthday only to be told she was not old enough. Then, when she was finally of age, she had developed this condition which wouldn't let her get close to any monster. All Lillie could do was just watch as her classmates played and cuddled with their own Pokémon knowing that all she could do was live vicariously through them.

"Are you okay, Lillie?" Lunamon asked in concern.

"Mmmhmm," Lillie nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Thank you, let's go get some rest."

With that, the two made their way back to the campsite. Just as Lillie was about to lie down, she noticed something by the light of the flames. Gary, who was sleeping just fine when Lillie got up, was shaking within his sleeping bag. Leaning over to get a better look, Lillie could see that his skin was coated in a layer of sweat and that his breathing was looking labored.

Reaching out to feel Gary's forehead, Lillie frowned. She didn't need a thermometer to tell that this was a fever. "Gary?" she tried to shake him awake. No response. She got a little louder. "Gary?"

From her spot nearby, May drowsily got up. "What's going on?" she yawned. "Is something trying to eat us again?"

"Something's wrong with Gary!" Lille responded. That woke May up and upon seeing the state the boy was in, began waking up everyone else.

"Oh man," Goh muttered. He, along with most of the rest of the group, had pulled Gary free from his sleeping bag and was now looking him over.

"Do you think this has anything to do with the Loogarmon bite?" Biyomon asked.

"Wait, your friend was bitten!?" Loogamon asked in alarm.

"No, if he was bitten I think his arm would have been ripped off. More like he scrapped it on a tooth," Goh elaborated. He then gave Loogamon a questioning look. "Why?"

"Why didn't you say anything earlier!?" Loogamon yelled. "What if he caught what my pack has?!"

"If he did it's having a different effect on him," Gargomon observed. "It doesn't look good, but at least it's more manageable than if he was going crazy trying to attack everyone."

Lunamon looked over Gary's sick form with a growing look of concern. "Still, this doesn't look good. He doesn't look like he's in any condition to travel. Garurumon, do you think you…Garurumon?"

Everyone froze with the sudden realization that Gary's Digimon was surprisingly quiet. Looking over at the wolf the group could see that he was hunched over, hacking almost like a cough. At first he was just spraying out bits of spittle, but as Garurumon's wheezing worsened he began to breathe out black clouds not unlike the clouds that the Loogarmon had been exhaling. The wolf slowly rose to his feet in a clumsy stance taking a couple of steps to find his standing while his white fur darkened to a charcoal black and the blues stripes paled into white.

Finally, the corrupted Garurumon's now crusty eyes snapped open to reveal the same white glow. Snarling, the black Garurumon lunged forward to attack his former friends.

AN: Turns out that Gary does turn into a Lycanroc. But it only happens when no one, not even the audience, is paying attention. It's the most mundane case of lycanthropy I've never seen.

Okay, here's the deal. This was originally going to be one big chapter, but it was getting long and the BlackGarurumon transformation looked like a good spot to stop. So I decided to experiment and chop it up into two parts.

Alright, a couple of people have asked me about the time mechanics in this story. It's a bit of a spoiler, but I'm going take a moment to clear a couple of things up. This Digital World and the Pokémon World clocks have become synchronized due in no small part to Millenniummon's meddling. That being said, there are going to be time shenanigans.

Both Pokémon and Digimon have time travel baked into their lore so there are a few chronomancers wondering around. They come in two varieties: principled chronomancers who use their powers like scalpels delicately moving thing around to patch up the broken timelines and hopefully achieve the best outcome, and the chaotic chronomancers who are temporal wrecking balls that the principled chronomancers have to clean up after. You can probably guess which category Millenniummon falls into.

Now, I don't plan on doing a deep dive on these guys until we reach the mega level. That being said you are probably going to see some aftermath of temporal meddling or the mancers themselves pop up every so often so, keep your eyes open.

Reader Response Recess!

Ashpoke55: Hey! Nice to hear your working on you first story! As I said in my review, I'm not as familiar with Yu-gi-Oh Arc V as the original series and I haven't had much of a chance to read the original fic, but I'm glad you're putting your pen to the paper! Looking forward to what you come up with in the future!

Legoguy67: Okay, I know I promised you someone important this chapter, but because I'm cutting this up into two parts we'll be seeing him next time. Sorry.

I'm not sure if you read through all the author's notes or not (I usually don't), but in case you just skipped to the reader response I'm going to point upwards to answer your question on time. As for those two mysterious Digimon, we'll get back to those guys when we get back to Ash's group.

The one who reads and writes: See above for your inquiries about time in the Digital World vs Pokémon World time zones.

I'm not going to reveal too much on the Pokémon front, but I will tell you a couple of things. I'm not a huge fan of crossovers where one franchise completely outshines the other. I'm also not a fan of nerfing characters to just make other characters look better. As such I have some ideas on how to make Pokémon relevant despite the inevitable power gap.

As to how Pokémon will make their way into this story, let's just say that there will be some major upsets at the end of this arc. More on that after next chapter.

And with that PizzaSpino is signing off! Thank you so much for reading! God loves and so do I!

Digimon Introduced

BlackGarurumon: Champion, Virus, Beast

Loogarmon: Champion, Virus, Dark Beast

Loogamon: Rookie, Virus, Dark Beast

Next Time: One human down and a bunch of fire breathing wolves are on the rampage. Can Lillie and Lunamon solve the mystery of the forest? Also, who dug all these secret tunnels?