"Fox Spin Kick!" Renamon cried, sending a barrage of whirlwind kicks into Guilmon's stomach. The force sent him flying through the door of the concrete building and into the wall, which splintered into a web of cracks.

"Guilmon!" Takato screamed again. He turned to Ruki, hate dripping from his eyes.

"Hey!" a voice cut through the silence, "What's going on here?"

A boy with short black hair ran towards them down the path. "Who the hell are you?" Ruki demanded.

"My name doesn't matter," he answered, holding up a green D-Arc, "But your battle is going to start drawing attention."

"Another Tamer!" Takato gasped. How many were there really in the city?

Ruki raised her eyebrow. "And another D-Arc. Where did you get that?"

"That doesn't matter," he answered, "Just break it up."

A Terrerimon jumped onto his shoulder. "Yeah, or you'll be sorry!"

Ruki snorted and then laughed. "Whatever. Let's go, Renamon. I'm getting bored."

"Of course, Ruki," she replied, vanishing as the orange-haired girl ran down the forest path.

The boy ran up to Takato. "What was that about?" he asked, "And was that Ruki Makino?"

Takato gave a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I think I made her mad somehow." He blinked, "Hey, weren't you in my junior high last year?"

"I was in junior high last year, yes," he nodded, "My name's Jenrya Li." He cocked his head to the side, "But you're a Tamer, and you have the same D-Arc model that I have. Interesting…"

"Hey, guys!" Terriermon cried, "I don't mean to break up your conversation, but that dinosaur digimon just ran through the hole in the wall."

"What?" Takato asked, running into the small concrete building, "Guilmon!"

The Legacy of Courage

Chapter 3

Solitude-Hikari Yagami

Takato ran through the newly created hole in the wall and down the stairs. Guilmon was at the bottom. "Guilmon!" he shouted, "Don't run off like that."

The dinosaur blinked. "But I smelled digimon, Takatomon, but I think they're hiding."

Takato looked into the room that stretched out before him, far larger than the concrete building above. Despite the size, there was only a small desk in the center, one that contained a rectangular black box and what Takato guessed was an old computer monitor and keyboard. There was an egg-shaped device next to it.

"What is this place?" Jenrya asked as he and Terriermon walked down the stairs.

"I don't know," Takato said, holding up his D-Arc, "I found this upstairs and it somehow made the drawing of Guilmon come alive."

"Drawing?" Jenrya asked, "You mean you created him?"

Terriermon nodded. "That's why I didn't know what kind of digimon he was." He blinked, "Wait, you just found a strange device lying in a creepy building in the middle of the wood and you not only picked it up but took it?"

Takato studied his D-Arc and had to fight the sudden desire to drop it. He gestured to the desk. "What's that? An old computer?"

"It is," Jenrya said, peering at the rectangular box on the desk, "And I think it's on."

He tapped the keyboard and a loud whirl filled the room. The monitor blinked to life, displaying a blue screen. Jenrya gasped. "Windows XP?"

"XP?" Takato asked, "I've never heard of that."

"Yeah, I bet," Jenrya answered, amazement in his voice, "I've only seen it in my grandfather's old computer books."

His grandfather? "It's that old?"

Jenrya nodded again. "Yeah, and it's logged on." He tapped the monitor and then blushed. "Right, this is way before touch screens." He moved the egg-shaped object, which, in turn, moved a small arrow on the screen. He pressed a button on the object and the log-in screen vanished.

"No password," Jenrya frowned, "What is…"

The monitor now displayed the graphic of a smaller, TV-like image, which, in turn, displayed basic graphics for a human with short brown hair, a girl, judging by the figure. An icon for a small, dog-like creature was at her side.

"Takatomon?" Guilmon asked, "What's going on?"

"Yeah, I wanna know that too," Terriermon said from Jenrya's shoulder, "Is that a human and Plotmon?"

"Plotmon?" Henry asked.

"Yeah!" Terriermon said, with a roll of his eyes, "Isn't it obvious?"

Jenrya continued to stare at the monitor. He moved the arrow over a large red button on the bottom right-hand corner and clicked.

The whirl grew louder from the box as the monitor flashed with light. The boys and their partners leaped aside. A human girl and a Digimon emerged from the screen and landed on the floor.

"See!" Terriermon pointed, "A Plotmon! I told you."

Guilmon leaned closer to sniff their scent while the boys were frozen, studying the girl on the floor. She had short brown hair and wore a green school uniform. Takato knelt down to help her off the cold floor but her eyes snapped open. He jumped back with a slight yelp.

The girl looked around the room before focusing on them. She jumped to her feet, holding the still sleepy Plotmon in her arms. "W-who are you?"

Takato held up his palms. "Don't be scared! We're not going to hurt you."

She backed up to the wall. "W-where are the others?"

"What others?" asked Jenrya, "We just found the…" He trailed off, gesturing to the computer. "Um, I'm Jenrya Li."

He stared at Takato. "Oh, right. Um, I'm Takato Matsuda. Uh, what's your name?"

The girl swallowed. "Hikari Yagami."

Takato gasped. "Yagami?" He focused on the Plotmon, "A-are you one of the First Tamers?"

She blinked. "What?"

"Chosen," Jenrya clarified.

She glanced at the computer. "Where is Taichi Yagami? Where's my brother?"

"I…I don't know," Takato admitted, "I think he probably died a long time ago."

She hissed. "No! What year is it?

Takato turned to Jenrya; this was just like a sci-fi anime. "It's 2070."

Hikari paled. "No…" She shook her head, "It's can't be!" She raced past them and up the stairs. "Taichi!"

"Hey, wait!" Takato cried, running after her, but by the time he made it up the stairs and out the door, she was already too far ahead on the path to catch up.

Yamaki stood at the window of the conference room that overlooked the lobby, frowning as Yuko greeted the short man before ushering him to the elevator. He jabbed his cigarette into the ashtray before forcing himself to smile, or as close as he could ever get. The door opened and Yamaki bowed. "Minister Hashima. Welcome."

"Ah, Yamaki," the Minister smiled, stepping inside before Yuko closed the door. "Good to see you."

That was a lie.

The minister continued as he sat in the chair across from Yamaki. "I'll get right to it, Yamaki, after years of planning and billions of yen spent, the committee is starting to question why you aren't having any results."

Yamaki clenched the armrest of his chair. "Well, sir, we are having results. The Digimon who have crossed over are being exterminated by our Hunters…"

"Not as many as those children, from what I've heard," he retorted, "As if these 'Tamers,' weren't bad enough, there are countless websites on the internet that talk about the Digimon. Your efforts at suppression isn't working. The committee is already thinking about cutting your funding and turning your Hunter program over to the military. You need to contain the reports of Digimon crossing over and find a way to eliminate these Tamers."

Yamaki blinked. "Sir, they are only children…"

"I don't care," Hashima spat, "They're a security threat. We need results or you will be replaced."

Yamaki had to bite his lip. "Yes, sir."

The Minister nodded and rose from the chair. "We'll be in touch."

Yuko opened the door. "I'll show you out, sir."

Yamaki waited until the door shut before smacking the ash chair off the table. It crashed into the wall and shattered.

AAAAAAAAAAA

"Takato?" Hirokazu asked. His friend did not answer, continuing to stare out the window. He rolled up his napkin and threw it at the other boy's nose. "Yo!"

Takato turned to him. "What?"

"You've been spacy all day," Hirokazu said, "And now you're not evening touching your lunch."

Takato glanced down at his box of fried shrimp. "I've just got a lot on my mind."

"I hope you're not trying to scam us again."

Takato growled. "It's not a scam!" he hissed. "I am a Tamer! Last night…" He lowered his voice, "Last night I fought against Ruki Makino! And then we found this underground bunker where one of the Chosen was sleeping in suspended animation."

Hirokazu rolled his eyes and even Kenta frowned. "Your stories are getting better. You should start writing them down."

"I'm not lying!" he hissed.

"Then what was that Chosen doing there?"

"I…I don't know. That's why I need to find her."

Hirokazu laughed. "Look, if you need a girl that badly, then what you need to learn is to keep it in your pants."

Takato's cheeks turned red and grew darker when Juri walked over. "What? Takato needs a girl? Will I do?"

"I don't know," Hirokazu said, "Takato's been a little frisky lately; first he can't stop talking about Ruki Makino, and now he watching girls while they're asleep…"

Takato reached his hands for Hirokazu's neck while Juri pouted. "Well, Takato, are we still going to have that study session later?"

Crud! "Um, s-sorry, Juri, but I need to…that is, I…"

Her pout turned into a scowl. "Oh, well, that's fine, go have fun with your girlfriend."

"She's not a…" he stuttered, "Juri, wait!"

Hikari fed Plotmon a piece of her sticky bun while she sat on the bench, watching the people walk past. She had always pictured the future with most technology, flying cars, robots, and even space travel. From the small amount she had seen since waking, aside from advanced cell phones and faster internet, it was pretty much the same as her time.

Her time. She filled her lungs with each breath to stop the oncoming panic attack. "Plotmon," she said, "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," the digimon said from her lap, "Should we keep trying to find the others?"

After they left the two boys who woke them, Hikari ran to her apartment, only to find a young couple living there. Of course, Taichi could not return there when he woke. She bought time at an internet café but could not find him online, nor any trace of any of her friends. With no other plan, she and Plotmon spent the night at a motel. The man behind the counter thought it was odd that she was using old yen bills in such perfect condition, but he took them all the same.

"It's so weird," she said, "Everything feels the same, but at the same time, it's different." She stood and brushed the crumbs off her pants, "I guess we should just keep looking for the others and…"

People started yelling and running past her. The sky flashed light lightning, but there was no thunder, only a loud voice declaring, "Mega Buster!"

Hikari gasped and Plotmon asked, "Kabuterimon?"

She hoisted her partner into her arms and they pushed through the crowd until they saw a familiar blue insect digimon in the sky. Was it Koshiro?

The digimon swung his arms at a small human-like digimon in a red and white jumpsuit. What kind of digimon was that? No, that was not a digimon, it was a human!

A blade emerged from the human's gauntlets and he maneuvered through Kabuterimon's arms before slamming it into the beetle's head. The digimon roared and his body vanished in an explosion of data.

"Hikari!" Plotmon whispered.

"Yeah, I know." The ones that chased her and the other Chosen, the ones that forced them to hide in those pods were still around.

"Thank heaven for those Hunters," a woman said beside her.

The other woman nodded. "We'd be overrun by those creatures without them, but my son claims they're just like the monsters in his card game."

Hikari's ears perked. Card game?

"Oh, that Digimon game?" the first woman asked, "My children are obsessed with that."

The two women continued talking as they wandered off, but Hikari stared at her feet. "Plotmon," she whispered, "Let's find a game store and find out more about this card game."

"Hey!" Jenrya called.

Takato guided Guilmon out of the building in the park. "Terriermon!" the digimon called.

The other digimon gave a short wave from Jenrya's shoulder. "Hiya!"

"I'm surprised you're still here," Jenrya said.

Takato shrugged. "I didn't know where else to put him and besides, maybe Hikari would have come back here…" He swallowed, "Do you know anything more about the First Tamers?"

"Well, I don't want to waste your time by telling you something you already know. So, what do you know?"

"Well, um, what I've heard, I heard at the card tournaments. Um, the First Tamers were the first humans to be partnered with digimon and each one could reach the Mega level, but the Hunters killed them all."

Jenrya nodded. "Yes. The Chosen were far stronger than us, yes, but only Taichi Yagami and Yamato Ishida could reach the Mega level. They weren't betrayed by anyone, and…" He gestured to the building, "I guess they survived for a lot longer than we thought."

"Do you think they're really still around?" Takato asked, "Besides Lady Hikari, I mean."

Jenrya hesitated. "I…"

"But we know a lot more!" Terrerimon perked, "We were…"

"Quiet," Jenrya barked. He forced a smile and bowed to Takato, "Forgive me, we can talk more later. We need to look for Princess Hikari."

"Where should we start?" he asked, "Would she go to her old house?"

"That's a good idea but do you know where she used to live?"

Takato frowned. "Oh, no, I don't."

Jenrya pursed his lips. "What a second." He turned to Guilmon. "Can you smell Digimon? Get their scent, I mean."

The digimon nodded. "I smell digimon with my nose."

"He knows that," Takato said, rubbing his forehead, "I think what he wants to know is can you find Plotmon's scent? The one from last night."

Guilmon cocked his head and then smiled. "Oh, yeah. I remember what Plotmon smelled like."

"So if we walked around the city, you'd be able to see if Plotmon was nearby?"

The dinosaur nodded. "Great," Jenrya smiled, "I think that's our best bet right now."

"Fine, great," Terriermon said, "But what about Guilmon?"

Takato looked at his partner, who was sniffing a squirrel. "What about him?"

"He's a little obvious, don't you think?" Terriermon asked, "We walk down the street with him and every Digital Hunter in the city'll come down on us!"

"Oh, right," he blushed, "Um…wait! I've got an idea…"

Hikari dropped onto the bench and pulled the plastic off the stack of cards. "It's a starter pack," she explained to Plotmon, "I can remember Taichi playing some kind of card game like this when we were younger, but…"

She trailed off as she checked the first card in the stack. "Agumon…" She flipped through the rest of the deck, "Piyomon, Kunamon, Greymon…" Her stomach opened into a cold pit, "These are digimon…."

"Hikari, what's going on?" Plotmon asked, "Why are there cards of us?"

The girl dropped the cards onto her lap and she held her head in her hands. "I don't know! Oh, Plotmon, it feels like we went to sleep and woke up in a completely different world! Everyone else is gone! Why didn't they wake me up too? Why did they leave me alone like this?!"

Tears started to fall down her cheeks. Plotmon nudged her head into Hikari's shoulder. "We'll figure it out, Hikari, don't cry." She smiled, "Hey, I'm still here with you, right?"

The girl laughed and hugged her. "Oh, Plotmon…"

The Child digimon gasped. "Look!"

Two Evilmon swarmed around the jungle gym in the park, empty save for a little girl cowering at the top of the slide. "Scream and whimper," one laughed, "The cries of humans are like poetry to us!"

Hikari shoved the cards into her pocket and jumped to her feet. "Let's go, Plotmon!" she cried, pulling out her digivice, "Evolve!"

Plotmon breathed in and waited for the familiar rush of energy but exhaled in surprise. "Nothing happened!"

Hikari studied her pink-trimmed digivice. "Why? Why won't it work?"

The second Evilmon dropped down and swiped at the little girl. She cried and he darted back to the air. "Haha!"

"All right, fine," Hikari said, "We'll just attack him as is."

"I haven't fought in this form in a long time," Plotmon said, "I hope I'm not rusty!" She took a breath and screamed, "Puppy Howling!"

The soundwaves struck the Evilmons and they turned on her. "It's one of those half-breed Tamers!" one shouted.

"Let's exterminate them," the second said.

"I'll take care of it," the first said, rushing at Hikari and Plotmon. Plotmon executed another Puppy Howling, but the Evilmon only laughed. "You call that a scream? Ha! Here's mine! Nightmare Shock!"

The sound waves struck Plotmon, throwing her into Hikari's arms before it tore up the ground. The little girl cried as the Evilmon threw a small dart of energy near her feet. "We've got to finish this quick."

"I know," Plotmon said, jumping back to the ground, "I'm trying. Sledge Dash!"

She charged at the Evilmon and headbutted him. He fluttered back and Plotmon raced to the second Evilmon, only for the first to grab her back legs and throw her aside.

Hikari turned back to the little girl. The second Evilmon had his claws ready. "Time to kill you and move on!"

He dropped down and swung.

"Fireball!"

A ball of swirling flames struck the Evilmon from behind and he tumbled through the air before crashing to the ground. Hikari watched as a red dragon-dinosaur ran onto the battlefield, throwing off a trench coat that he must have been wearing in a ridiculous disguise. He charged at the Evilmon. A boy followed him, one with scraggly brown hair pushed down by a pair of goggles. "T-taichi?" she gasped.

The boy turned to her, no, not Taichi, it was the boy from last night; Takato. "Princess Hikari!" he cried, "Are you okay?"

Princess? "Y-yeah, but that girl…"

"We got it. Don't worry." He flashed a grin and she saw her brother again.

The Evilmon growled and shot into the sky, missing the dinosaur's claw swipe. "Guilmon!" the boy shouted, pulling a card out of his pocket, "Here! Card Slash! White Wings!"

He slid the card through the side of what had to be his digivice. His partner, Guilmon, grew a pair of blue wings! He flew after the Evilmon and tackled him back to the ground.

Takato climbed up the slide and hoisted the girl into his arms. "Here, I've got you." He jumped down and gave her a gentle push, "Go!"

The girl bowed in thanks and ran from the battlefield.

Hikari turned back to Plotmon as her partner headbutted Evilmon. She studied her own digivice; could she do that? She pulled the cards from her pocket, the first one a Tailmon. New world, new rules, what was she supposed to do?

The Tailmon card flashed, almost like it was a hologram, before turning fully blue. The shock made her drop both card and digivice and they touched each other. The blue card merged into Hikari's digivice, which shifted and twisted into a shape similar to Takato's.

The world was spinning around her, Taichi and the other Chosen danced across her mind, but she managed to focus on lifting her new digivice and sliding a card from her deck through the slot on the digivice's side. "Card Slash! Greymon!"

"Woah!" Plotmon cried, "What's this? What am I feeling?"

The Evilmon laughed and shot at her. Plotmon gasped and cried, "Mega Flame!"

She exhaled a ball of fire that struck Evilmon, deleting him in an instant. The data hovered in the air for a moment before being pulled into Plotmon. "Wow! What a rush!"

Hikari pulled her into a hug. "Plotmon, are you okay?"

Her partner nodded. "Yeah, what did you do?"

She studied her new D-Arc. "I…I used the card to give you Greymon's attack."

Takato and Guilmon appeared next to them. "You got a D-Arc too. Great, but we need to run."

"Why?" Hikari asked.

"Bad humans are coming," Guilmon hissed.

"Hunters," Takato clarified, "Come on!"

They ran further into the trees at the end of the park's field. Hikari looked over her shoulder and saw a young man in a blue and white uniform approaching the jungle gym.

They ran deeper into the forest. "I think we're fine," Takato panted, "The Hunters can't register a Tamer's partner, but we didn't want to be seen."

Hikari nodded. "Thank you." She bit her lip. "I…I apologize for running from you last night. It was just too much all at once and I…" She shrugged.

"No worries," Takato smiled. He stared at her. "Are you really Hikari Yagami?"

She nodded. "Yes. I am Hikari Yagami and I was born in 1991." She laughed, "That seems so weird saying that now."

Takato nodded. "Why were you in that pod? Were the Hunters really hunting you?"

"I don't know who these Hunters are, but a government agency went after us, yes. They killed my parents, killed a lot of our friends until Koshiro Izumi found a way to…like when you put a computer to sleep. We hoped that if we just hid for a while, they'd think they would have one."

She slouched. "It was only supposed to be for a month or two, a year at most. How could Plotmon and I have stayed asleep for so long? Why did the others leave and not wake me up? What happened to them? Plotmon and I are alone, we have no one to turn to. What are we supposed to do?"

Takato shifted on his feet. "I…I wish I could tell you, but, look, I'll help you. I promise I'll do whatever I can to help you find that answer."

She turned to him and thought of Taichi again. "Takato? That's your name, right?"

He nodded and she smiled. "Well, thank you, Takato." She breathed in and studied her D-Arc, "And maybe there's a reason me and Plotmon are here, now, in this new world."

She looked Takato into the eyes. "Goggles, huh?"

He shrugged. "It's a good luck charm. I've had them for a long time."

Hikari nodded again and smiled. "Well, Takato, do you go to school around here?"

"Before we start," Miss Asaji said, "We have a new student who will be joining us."

She motioned to the door and Hikari stepped inside, wearing a black fuku uniform. "Hello," she bowed, "I am Hikari Kamiya. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

"Why don't you take that seat near the back?" Miss Asaji offered.

Hikari nodded and made her way to her seat, smiling at Takato as she passed.

"All right," Miss Asaji said, "Let's continue our lesson from yesterday…"

Takato pulled out his notebook, pausing for a moment on the doodle of Guilmon in the corner. He was a Tamer now, made friends with another Tamer, one of the Chosen, and maybe started a rivalry with another Tamer. Life had certainly gotten stranger in the last few days, and he had to wonder how much stranger it was going to get.

Ruki watched Renamon's Fox Leaf Arrowhead tear through the Impmon before she leaped into the air, using her momentum to crush the imp's head with her leg. The orange-haired girl smirked in satisfaction as her partner loaded her data. With each win, they only grew stronger.

"There you are!"

Ruki turned slowly; a familiar boy with a Yuki Agumon stood behind her. "Oh, it's you."

The boy waited and then snarled. "I'm Yudai! You can't even remember that?"

"You were weak," she said with a shrug, "Why should I remember your name?"

Renamon landed beside. "Oh, I see that you evolved to Yuki Agumon again."

The white Digimon opened his mouth but Yudai hushed him into silence. "We're here to avenge our loss!"

Ruki crossed her arms and snorted. "Don't bother. You're still as weak as before."

Yudai growled. "You're a bitch!"

She rolled her eyes. "Really? That's the best you can do?" She paused and then smirked. "Tell you what. You prove you've grown stronger and I'll let you fight us."

"I don't need to prove anything!" he shouted. After a moment, he said, "What do I have to do?"

Ruki grinned a wicked smile. "There's this boy with a new dinosaur Digimon…"

Next:

The Legacy of Courage

Chapter 4

Conflict-Takato Matsuda

Did you enjoy it? Any criticisms or suggestions?

Author's note: I'm pleased to announce that I have a book scheduled to be published. If you're a fan of my fics here, please consider following my facebook page BCCharles46/