Digital Phantom Frontier

by DarkFoxKit

Takuya Kanbara was just a normal 12 year old Japanese boy, when he suddenly got a call to the Digital World. There, he meets new friends who were also called to the Digital World. They meet with some Digimon who are willing to guide them. But these Digimon seem to be hiding something from them.

8. Chapter 8:The Legendary Warrior of Earth

ZAFT: Hope you all are ready for the Fourth of July coming up!

DarkFoxKit: Meh… for me that just means my neighbors are going to spam their fireworks all night, making it noisy for me.

ZAFT: Ooof… That sucks… Well, it will be a quiet fourth where I am. Fireworks were canceled in Chicago.

DarkFoxKit: Wait, really? Why?

ZAFT: Crime rate, and they didn't want to stretch the police thin.

DarkFoxKit: Oof… well, make sure to stay safe. But for now, let's get on with the chapter.

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Chapter 8: The Legendary Warrior of Earth

Takuya was woken up from his sleep when he felt wind blowing against his face. His body felt stiff, and something was squeezing his waist and chest uncomfortably so. Instead of the softness of a bed, grass, leaves, or whatever he had been laying on against his back, it was something rough and hard. Takuya slowly opened his eyes, trying to see what was going on.

Drowsy, Takuya's eyes started to clear up as he saw what looked like the rocky ground that was far away.

"Guys, wake up!" A voice called out frantically.

"We're dangling from a mountain!" Another voice called out.

"Hurry, wake up now!"

Takuya's eyes snapped open fully when he heard the voices. "Huh?! W-what the heck?!" The boy exclaimed as he stared at the ground below. "What's going on here?!"

Takuya wasn't the only one to wake up and found themselves dangling on the mountains. The rest of them soon woke up, and saw they were tied up by some rope, and they were staring down the mountain. They all screamed and freaked out.

"Why are we up here!?" JP shouted.

"I don't like it up here!" Tommy yelled.

"Don't struggle! You might break the rope holding you!" Lopmon warned, who was tied up as well.

Takuya saw Patamon, Labramon, Kokuwamon and Biyomon were all tied up, so they couldn't fly.

Koji growled as he looked up. The KaratsukiNumemon were above them. "You dirty snails! What are you doing?!"

"You're awake? Good! Now listen up! We'll give you back to your partner, in exchange for our women!" The mustache KaratsukiNumemon stated.

"You dirty sneaks! Is that why you brought us here?" Takuya yelled.

The mustache KaratsukiNumemon shook his head. "It's you who are the dirty sneaks! Sending your little Digimon minions to tell us you are kind and helpful strangers, when you're really Legendary Warriors!"

"I don't understand!" Zoe wailed. "What's wrong with that?! And what do you mean 'our partner'?!"

"Last I checked, they didn't have any partners in the Digital World!" Biyomon called out.

"The time for your games is over, soon you'll be back with your ally!" The mustache KaratsukiNumemon stated.

"What are you talking about!?" Koji yelled.

"We don't have any allies that would care about giving you back your women!" Labramon called.

"Don't play dumb! We know you're all with Grumblemon!" The mustached KaratsukiNumemon shouted.

"What!?" The children reacted in shock.

"Why would you think we're with Grumblemon!?" JP shouted. "We don't even know the guy!"

"I think there's a misunderstanding here!" Tommy yelled.

"Grumblemon was the one who threw me and Labramon out of the cave!" Koji exclaimed.

"That was a clever trick, to make us help you so you'll gain our trust!" Another KaratsukiNumemon stated. "Not to mention you messed up our hard work piling that haystack."

"I don't think they're going to listen to reason…" Kokuwamon sighed.

"This is why I said not to reveal you're Legendary Warriors to others! So stuff like this doesn't happen!" Lopmon grumbled.

"Look, what can we do to prove to you we're not in cahoots with Grumblemon?" Zoe called.

Before anyone could say anything, something caused a large hole in the side of the mountain.

A voice emanated from inside the hole that was created. "Now give fractal code, or bad things happen!"

"Says who!?" Takuya demanded.

"Says me, Grumblemon!" A gnome-like Digimon stated as he came out of the hole, revealing himself to the group.

"That's Grumblemon?" JP frowned.

"Look at that symbol on his chest!" Zoe pointed out.

"It looks just like one of the symbols on that wall back at the Candlemon village!" Tommy recognized.

"So Grumblemon is a Legendary Warrior?" Takuya asked with a frown. "Well… that would explain things…"

"You think?" Koji hissed.

Grumblemon was studying the children that were tied up. "Human children? You the ones who took Legendary Spirit?"

"What? How do you know about that?" Koji demanded.

"So you are the human children causing trouble lately!" Grumblemon grinned. "Finally, me had been waiting for you!"

"Grumblemon!" The mustache KaratsukiNumemon called out, holding out some blades over the ropes. "If you want to save your allies, give us back our women now!"

The kids began to freak out when they saw how close the blades were to their ropes.

"Me, allied with human children? Don't make me laugh! Me only after Spirits they have!" Grumblemon laughed. "Now me claim Spirits from human children for Lord Cherubimon!"

Grumblemon took a large sledgehammer out from the mountain, and everyone began freaking out.

"Wait, what's going on here? You mean you aren't allies!?" The KaratsukiNumemon asked in shock.

"That's what we've been trying to tell you!" Tommy cried.

"Oh, this is bad!" Patamon gulped.

Grumblemon smirked before he swung the sledgehammer at them.

"Try to move up!" Lopmon shouted frantically to the panicking children.

Luckily, since all of them had learned how to battle at some point, they were able to move their bodies up despite being tied up, barely dodging the sledgehammer that hit the mountain side hard enough to cause it to shake. The KaratsukiNumemon dropped their blades to hang on.

Koji growled as he saw what was going on, but he also saw an opportunity to get free. He pushed off the wall and swung up, the spinning blade coming at him. The blade cut the ropes around his chest and arms, allowing Koji to fall free. He knew what he had to do. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his D-Tector.

"Koji!" The others called out for him.

"He'll be fine! He knows what he's doing!" Labramon shouted. I hope…

There was a bright flash of light to where Koji was falling as he activated his Spirit.

Pulling out his D-Tector, Koji was quick to act next. He held up his D-Tector and the white digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen as he formed the familiar fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the energy of the Spirit entered his body. His eyes became red as his hair shortened and turned almost platinum in color. A white helmet covered his head as white and blue armor covered his body. He grasped the familiar beam sabers and swung them a few times before clasping them around his waist and firing off his arm laser. "Lobomon!"

Now as Lobomon, he grabbed onto the rope that was still tied to the post. He used it to swing himself at Grumblemon, kicking him right into one of the houses.

While Lobomon was dealing with Grumblemon, the KaratsukiNumemon quickly slithered down to the others, quickly pulling them up onto the posts, and untying them.

"I'm so sorry." The mustached KaratsukiNumemon said. "I've made a grave mistake."

"There's no time for that right now." Takuya said. "We've got to act now! Koji's going to need our help."

Speaking of Koji, they saw Grumblemon kicking Lobomon down into more houses.

"Koji may have some fighting experience, but Grumblemon is in his element here, and he's probably been fighting as a Digimon far longer than Koji has." Labramon frowned worriedly.

Lobomon was now dangling from one of the houses, hanging on with just his two hands. Grumblemon stood over him and grinned.

"Once you die, me can just take your Spirit!" Grumblemon stated before he stomped his foot on one of Lobomon's hands.

Lobomon cried out in pain as he felt the pain of Grumblemon's armored foot on his hand. He released the hand that had been stomped on from gripping the edge of the hole, leaving him hanging there by just one hand. Grumblemon sneered as he stomped on Lobomon's other hand, causing the armored humanoid Digimon to cry out in pain again, but he didn't let go. Instead, Lobomon just clung even tighter. He wasn't about to let go this high up.

"We have to help him!" Zoe quickly said.

"You guys better hurry and Spirit Evolve before it's too late!" Kokuwamon quickly said.

"We'll see if we can do anything to help," Biyomon said.

"Be careful, Grumblemon is a Legendary Warrior too," Lopmon warned.

"We will." JP replied as the other human children got out their own D-Tectors.

The other four kids called forth their own fractal code around their hands as the outlines of their Human Spirits appeared on their D-Tector screens. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" The four children cried as the rings of fractal code became cocoons surrounding them.

When the code cocoons dissipated, the other four Legendary Warriors were shown in place of the human children.

Without any time to waste, Beetlemon, Kazemon, Agunimon, and Kumamon went to help Lobomon.

In the house, Grumblemon raised up his hammer to slam it onto Lobomon directly, causing the Warrior of Light to gasp. He couldn't dodge the blow to come, and if he tried, Grumblemon would just stomp down on his hand again to keep him in place.

However, before Grumblemon could slam his hammer onto Lobomon, something grabbed onto his hammer. Confused, Grumblemon looked up to see Beetlemon had grabbed onto the hammer.

"Careful, you could hurt someone with this," Beetlemon stated before he picked up the hammer, and Grumblemon along with it, onto the outside walls of the house, where Agunimon was waiting.

Meanwhile, Kazemon flew into the house while holding onto Kumamon. She landed over the hole Lobomon was dangling from.

"Give me your hand," Kazemon said to Lobomon.

Lobomon looked down.

"Cut the macho act and give me your hand," Kazemon grumbled, a little exasperated that Lobomon was still holding onto his pride.

"It's either that or you fall to your doom," Kumamon stated coolly.

Realizing Kumamon was right, Lobomon didn't like it, but he accepted he would have to swallow his pride and accept help for once. He reached up his free hand and took Kazemon's hand in his own.

Without any hesitation, Kazemon pulled Lobomon back up into the house so he wasn't hanging there and vulnerable.

Meanwhile, above them, Agunimon and Beetlemon were duking it out with Grumblemon.

"Pyro Darts!" Agunimon was throwing fiery darts at Grumblemon.

Grumblemon used his sledgehammer to block the fiery darts.

Beetlemon gathered electricity into the horn on his head and charged at Grumblemon. "Lightning Blitz!"

Beetlemon's electric horn hammered into Grumblemon. Grumblemon let out a yell as he was thrown back into the mountain walls. But this allowed Grumblemon to dig into the mountain.

"That's not ideal…" Beetlemon frowned.

Back in the house, Lobomon looked up at Kazemon and Kumamon, they just helped him. He couldn't believe it. But maybe they weren't as useless as he originally believed.

"Thanks…" Lobomon said.

"I'm just glad you actually accepted our help," Kumamon replied.

"Yeah… Maybe I was being a bit prideful…" Lobomon admitted, a slight flush rising on his cheeks. "And… Maybe I was wrong about you guys…"

"Hey, don't mention it, everyone needs help once in a while," Kazemon said.

"Okay, listen, here's the plan… I'll deal with Grumblemon, you two get the women, and the rest of the KaratsukiNumemon, to safety," Lobomon instructed. "You got it?"

"Actually, Lopmon and the others are doing that right now," Kumamon explained. "Since they can't fight, they left Grumblemon to the rest of us."

Lobomon blinked in surprise before he shook his head. "Okay, that changes things. I guess those other Rookie Digimon aren't that useless either." He admitted, forcing down his pride a second time. He then looked back at Kazemon and Kumamon. "Do you think you two can handle fighting Grumblemon with me?"

"We've managed to handle ourselves up to this point, so let's see if we can keep up with you, big boy." Kazemon grinned.

Lobomon just cleared his throat before he jumped up to join Agunimon and Beetlemon. Kazemon and Kumamon were about to join them, but they both looked around for a moment.

"Kazemon, this might not be the best time to bring it up… but doesn't this whole thing feel familiar to you?" Kumamon asked. "I mean I feel like… we've battled someone like Grumblemon before on the side of a mountain… it's not just me, is it?"

"No… Now that you mention it… I feel it too." Kazemon replied uneasily. "I feel like I've done this before, but I can't remember doing this."

"Neither can I… but it feels like we did… I've felt this way too back at the wind factory." Kumamon frowned. "What do you think it means?"

"I don't know, but we can't worry about it right now." Kazemon replied. "We can try to figure this out after we defeat Grumblemon."

"Right…" Kumamon nodded.

Kazemon picked up Kumamon and flew him up the hole of the house, putting him down near the others.

"What's going on?" Kazemon asked when she noticed how agitated the others looked.

"We can't find Grumblemon," Agunimon answered.

"What?" Kumamon blinked. "But weren't you guys fighting him?"

"Grumblemon dug into the mountain." Beetlemon explained. "We don't know where he could come from."

"So you lost him?" Lobomon frowned. "He could be anywhere!"

Meanwhile, Patamon, holding onto Lopmon, Kokuwamon, holding onto Labramon, and Biyomon flew into the cave where the girl KaratsukiNumemon were being held.

"There, that's the cave!" Labramon pointed out.

The Digimon landed onto the floor of the cave. They saw the female KaratsukiNumemon behind bars.

"Look! More Digimon!"

"Are you here to help us?"

"Yes, we're here to help you. I brought some help this time!" Labramon smiled.

"Oh, it's you! You were here earlier with that human child!" The KaratsukiNumemon smiled in recognition.

"Alright, stand back, we'll bust you out," Biyomon warned.

The KaratsukiNumemon quickly moved as far back as they could.

"Alright, altogether now!" Patamon said before he blew up like a balloon. "Boom Bubble!"

"Blazing Ice!"

"Spiral Twister!"

"Power Surge!"

"Retriever Bark!"

All 5 attacks collided with the bars, tearing the bars apart, and freeing the KaratsukiNumemon.

"Right this way, ladies!" Kokuwamon gestured outside.

The female KaratsukiNumemon left the cave almost too eagerly. They were just glad to be free.

The rest of the KaratsukiNumemon were there to greet their formerly captive fellows. It was a big happy reunion at the moment.

"Alright, we should get you all out of here. It'd be dangerous to stay here in case something happens," Lopmon quickly instructed.

"Me see you~"

That caused the Rookies to freeze for a moment before they turned around, seeing Grumblemon just appearing in the now broken cell.

"G-Grumblemon!?" The Digimon shouted in shock.

"You think you smart, but you fall into trap!" Grumblemon snickered.

Grumblemon took out his sledgehammer.

"Run!" Biyomon shouted. "RUN!"

The KaratsukiNumemon didn't waste any time getting the heck away from there. Biyomon, Kokuwamon, Patamon, Lopmon, and Labramon quickly ran to the entrance of the cave, but Grumblemon hit the side of the cave with his sledgehammer, causing a rockslide to cover the cave entrance just after Kokuwamon and Biyomon flew out. Leaving Patamon, Labramon, and Lopmon inside.

"Oh no! They're trapped!" Biyomon gasped.

"What do we do!?" Kokuwamon gulped.

"Go get the others, now!" Biyomon quickly said. "This shouldn't be happening…"

Kokuwamon didn't hesitate to go back to the battle site. He just hoped he would be back in time to prevent something bad from happening to the others.

"What do you want from us, Grumblemon? We're not Legendary Warriors!" Lopmon demanded.

Grumblemon was looking at Lopmon for a moment. "Maybe not, though something about you is familiar… have we met before?"

"No, I don't believe we have," Lopmon replied. "And I'd prefer not to meet you again after this first impression."

"Why'd you trap us here?" Labramon growled.

"You with humans! You be perfect for leverage." Grumblemon smirked.

"As if we'd let you use us against our friends!" Patamon snapped.

"Oh, you not get choice!" Grumblemon sneered sinisterly. "You be perfect bait! Humans give up Spirits to get you back safe!"

"Like he said, we're not going to let you do that!" Labramon snapped before she lunged at Grumblemon, biting his hand with her teeth.

Grumblemon yelped as he felt Labramon's bite. "OW!" He began to try and shake Labramon off.

Lopmon and Patamon didn't hesitate to run at Grumblemon while he was dealing with Labramon. Lopmon tackled Grumblemon with his horns, and Patamon punched Grumblemon's nose. It was a crude way to fight, but they were small, weak, and trying to survive, they were desperate. They were trying not to give Grumblemon any time to retaliate.

"Blazing Ice!" Lopmon shot out an icy wind that froze Grumblemon's feet and lower waist, trying to keep him from moving. Something's wrong…

Patamon shot out a Boom Bubble at Grumblemon's hands, making him drop the sledgehammer.

This shouldn't be happening. Grumblemon was supposed to be fighting with the Legendary Warriors. Lopmon frowned as he used his claws to scratch Grumblemon's face.

Labramon shouted out with her Retriever Bark at Grumblemon's ears.

Why is Grumblemon here? Why is he paying any attention to us at all!? Lopmon continued thinking as he was shoved into the ground by Grumblemon's hands.

Soon, Labramon and Patamon were punched down, and hit with the sledgehammer. All 3 of them were down.

"Me get Spirits from kids with you as leverage. You surrender, you live." Grumblemon grinned.

It can't end like this. Lopmon frowned. Think… think… "The children don't care about us."

"What?" Grumblemon frowned. "You lie. Minomon saw you hanging out with kids."

"They just want to use us to get them around the Digital World," Lopmon stated. "We're just taking them to a destination, then we go our separate ways. They only protect us so we can guide them. That's all. They're not interested in anything more than that. And they can find any other Digimon to guide them. Who wouldn't help a Legendary Warrior after all, right?"

Grumblemon didn't know what to think, but if what he had seen with Duskmon and BlackGatomon was any indication, he wasn/t about to be fooled so easily. He grinned at Lopmon. "Nice try! But me no fool! You important to children, even if you deny it!"

"What?" Lopmon frowned, surprised his tactic wasn't working. "Why would you think we're important to them?"

"Y-yeah, we're not important at all to them," Patamon spoke up.

"They just like traveling with someone, they can easily replace us," Labramon added.

Before Grumblemon could respond, the rocks that were blocking the cave entrance were shattered by Beetlemon and Lobomon's sword.

"Labramon! Are you alright!?" Lobomon called out in a worried tone.

"Patamon, we're here to rescue you!" Agunimon shouted.

"Are you hurt at all, Lopmon?" Kumamon yelled while being carried by Kazemon.

"That answers your question?" Grumblemon grinned.

"Shut up…" Lopmon grumbled.

"You may have Spirits, but me have Digimon close to you!" Grumblemon sneered. "You give me Spirits, or they get it!"

The Legendary Warriors frowned as they saw Grumblemon standing over the injured 3 Rookie Digimon.

"Were we too late?" Biyomon frowned in worry.

"Maybe, they look like they got beaten up pretty badly…" Kokuwamon said in concern.

Did we mess up? Did we get too close to them? Lopmon frowned to himself.

Lobomon clenched his fists. There was no way he, or the others, were giving up their Spirits. But he didn't want to lose Labramon either. A quick glance at the others revealed they were also concerned about the other three Rookie-level Digimon as well.

"A hostage situation… what do we do?" Beetlemon asked. "We can't just give him our Spirits."

"But if we don't, he might kill them." Kazemon frowned.

We might've gotten too comfortable… thinking we knew what was to come. We let our guard down. Lopmon realized.

Lopmon looked over at Labramon and Patamon. While they were hurt, they both had a defiant look in their eyes. They haven't given up yet.

We may have let our guard down, but so did Grumblemon. Lopmon realized.

Lopmon and Patamon nodded to each other as they subtly reached out to Labramon, who lied still, but had her eyes slightly opened, watching them reach out to her.

"Just let them go!" Agunimon begged. "They haven't done anything to you!" Despite looking like he wasn't that phased by what was going on before him, Agunimon was freaking out deep down. And he wasn't the only one; every one of the other Legendary Warriors were slightly freaked out. Then again, they had never encountered a hostage situation before either.

Kumamon frowned. Even he was out of ideas. They could try to attack, but he didn't want Grumblemon to kill the Digimon that had been helping them get this far and teaching them about the Digital World.

I shouldn't have left Labramon behind. I should've kept her close. Lobomon gritted his teeth, and his hold on his sword tightened.

"What wrong? Take too long and they become Digi-Eggs!" Grumblemon warned, smirking at the other Legendary Warriors.

When Lopmon and Patamon's ear and wing reached Labramon, the little dog let out a whisper. "Cure Liquor."

Labramon licked them, giving them healing liquid.

Patamon and Lopmon felt the restorative effects of the Cure Liquor taking hold. Their wounds were slowly healing, and they felt their strength returning as well. But they had to 'play dead' a little longer. They couldn't let this opportunity go to waste.

"Who give me Spirit first?" Grumblemon grinned.

Kumamon noticed Patamon and Lopmon were waiting, and they didn't look that beaten up anymore. He wasn't sure what they were planning, but he figured they were waiting for an opportunity. And he was going to give it to them.

Kumamon jumped out of Kazemon's hold, landing in the cave.

"Kumamon? What are you doing?" Agunimon asked, surprised.

"You want our Spirits?" Kumamon asked. "Then come and take it."

"What?!" The others were shocked.

"Kumamon, we can't!" Agunimon protested. "If we do, then the Digital World will be in even more danger!"

"I hate to admit it, but Agunimon's right." Lobomon agreed. "It's too much of a risk and danger."

"If we do nothing, then we'll lose our Spirits and our friends," Kumamon stated, looking back at them. "We need to trust in them."

"What do you mean?" Beetlemon asked.

"Warrior of Ice as smart as ever, be first to give Spirit," Grumblemon said as he walked towards Kumamon. "Hand over the Spirit before me have to beat it out of you."

As Grumblemon walked past the 3 Rookies, Lopmon and Patamon stood up on their feet. Labramon couldn't heal herself, so she had to stay down. But she did her job, now the rest was up to them.

Lopmon and Patamon charged at Grumblemon, both of them tackling the gnome as hard as they could right at the Legendary Warriors. Grumblemon let out a yell as he was launched forward. Kumamon didn't waste time grabbing Grumblemon and threw him out towards the others.

Grumblemon yelped as he was thrown from the cave. Seeing this, the other Legendary Warriors were quick to react to the incoming gnome Digimon.

Without as much as a second thought, Lobomon struck first, swinging his light sword at Grumblemon as hard as he could. "Lobo Kendo!" The glowing white energy blade slashed into Grumblemon's exposed left arm, leaving a nasty slash wound.

Beetlemon was next to attack. "Time to bring you down, you annoying gnome! Thunder Fist!" Beetlemon sent gathered electricity from his hands at Grumblemon as well.

"I'll make sure the winds will bring you down! Hurricane Wave!" Kazemon shouted as she shot out little twisters from her fingers at Grumblemon, who was now spinning in the air and getting quite dizzy.

Agunimon saw his chance to attack as well. "Time to end this!" He shouted as he jumped up and concentrated his fiery power so that flames flickered from the openings in his armor. "Pyro Tornado!" He spun around, fire enveloping him in a twister.

The fiery twister engulfed Grumblemon, and Agunimon emerged to give the gnome Digimon a nasty kick to the stomach.

Grumblemon let out a scream as he hit the mountain hard.

"Jeez, after all that, he's still in one piece," Beetlemon grumbled.

Lobomon knew he should focus on defeating Grumblemon, however his worry for Labramon made him ignore the Warrior of Earth, and ran into the cave to check on Labramon.

Lobomon knelt down beside Labramon. "Labramon, are you okay?" He asked, concern audible in his tone of voice. He was also shaking slightly, worried about the Rookie Digimon.

Labramon looked up at Lobomon and gave him a small smile. "I'll be fine… just need some food and rest later… You need to… focus on… Grumblemon…"

"Is everyone alright?" Agunimon asked, looking at Patamon and Lopmon.

Kumamon had been checking on Lopmon and Patamon too.

"They look to be alright considering how beat up they were earlier," Kumamon said.

"You can thank Labramon for that. She has the ability to heal," Lopmon explained.

"But we're still pretty banged up. We're no match for a Legendary Warrior, I'm afraid," Patamon sighed.

"We need to defeat Grumblemon before he comes back and gets another 'bright' idea." Lobomon growled out. "I hate that annoying gnome."

"I think all of us are in agreement about hating Grumblemon." Beetlemon huffed. "We can't just sit here yapping away. He's bound to come back."

"We'll take care of them, you just beat that Grumblemon," Biyomon spoke up as she and Kokuwamon landed in the cave.

"Don't worry, big guy, Labramon is our friend too. We'll make sure she's okay," Kokuwamon said to Lobomon.

Lobomon hesitated, but he knew he had to give these other Digimon a chance, so he nodded after a few moments of hesitation. "Just… be careful. I don't want anything to happen to her." He admitted.

"Heh… don't worry, we'll take care of you. Now go, before Grumblemon regains his strength," Lopmon said.

The other Legendary Warriors looked at them worriedly, but they nodded. They had a fight to finish. However, as they came out of the cave, they noticed the sky had darkened considerably. It started to rain.

"Ugh… Great… It's raining." Agunimon grumbled. "This will make it harder to use my fire."

There was a sudden flash of lightning.

"That's loud… and dangerous. I don't think we should be this high up during a thunderstorm…" Kazemon frowned nervously.

"Maybe not… but this might give us an advantage when that annoying gnome comes out," Beetlemon said as he saw the mountain looking wet, and some of the rocks and mud were falling from the rain.

"How badly were you guys hurt?" Biyomon asked the other Digimon in concern.

"Yeah, you looked like you got beaten up quite a bit," Kokuwamon added as he carefully helped Labramon onto her feet.

"We could've gotten hurt a lot worse… we were lucky Grumblemon wanted us alive to use as hostages," Patamon answered, sighing.

"But we also realized just how outclassed we really are compared to Legendary Warriors," Lopmon said. "If Grumblemon hadn't lost focus on us, and knew about Labramon's healing powers, we would've been done for."

"Yeah, that was a pretty bad situation to be in," Biyomon agreed.

"They… really grew attached to us… didn't they?" Labramon weakly noted.

"They… I guess they did…" Lopmon frowned. "A part of me believed they would've left us to die because there was no way they would give up their Spirits for some Digimon they just met a week or two ago. But I was… lying to myself. I had hoped to avoid this… potential issue when we decided to go with them."

"Well, we can't help it, I suppose." Patamon grumbled. "We'll just have to be more alert, and be more prepared for if this happens again."

"But the fact that it did happen is what worries me," Lopmon said as he looked at the others. "Why would Grumblemon suddenly come after us? Why didn't he stay focused on the Legendary Warriors? Why would he think we were important to them?"

"I mean we were traveling with them, wouldn't that be a big enough hint?" Kokuwamon asked.

"Yeah, but… they had other Digimon following them before, and Grumblemon never cared about them." Lopmon frowned. "What else has changed? What have we influenced since coming here?"

"I don't know, but I think we should keep an eye out for anything that hasn't happened before." Kokuwamon replied. "We can't be too careless like we were this time."

"I don't think being too careless is the issue here…" Patamon frowned. "The truth of the matter was before our eyes. We can't deny it anymore. The children have grown attached to us."

"And that is a fate worse than if we were to get wiped out here…" Lopmon added grimly. "You know what needs to be done when the time comes… and when it does… how do you think they'll react?"

"I'd hate to see how the kids will react." Biyomon admitted. "They would be heartbroken…"

"We can't just stick with them though." Kokuwamon pointed out.

"You think I don't know that?!" Biyomon snapped. "I'm well aware of what we can and can't do here!"

"Jeez, no need to get snappy at me!" Kokuwamon quickly said, raising up his arms in defense.

"It's… my fault… I stuck with Koji… despite knowing the consequences…" Labramon frowned.

"It's my fault too… I thought it'd be easier to keep an eye on them if we stuck with them instead of just watching from afar," Patamon admitted. "Lopmon and Biyomon suggested we stay away from them, but…"

"What's done is done," Lopmon spoke up. "Lamenting about how we should've gone about things won't help us now. Instead, we should focus on what we can do."

The other Rookie Digimon nodded in agreement.

"Lopmon's right." Patamon said. "We need to stop moping and focus on what we can do to help. Those kids may be strong, but they will need our help if it comes down to it."

"They'll have to learn to handle things on their own later, and we should prepare them for that," Biyomon commented.

Lopmon heard Beetlemon shouting out an attack. "I think things are about to escalate, we better prepare ourselves."

"Then let's go." Patamon said as he began to flap his wings and hovered off the ground, before picking up Lopmon.

As he flew out of the cave, the others followed him, with Kokuwamon carrying Labramon.

Outside the cave, Beetlemon was taunting Grumblemon. "Hey, where are you Grumblemon? C'mon out, you fraidy cat! Or are you just going to hide like the annoying little gnome you are?"

Grumblemon, finally recovered from the onslaught, came out of the mountain and tried to hit Beetlemon with his sledgehammer.

"Look out!" Kazemon warned.

Beetlemon managed to dodge the sledgehammer, and it was time to put his plan into action. "Thunder Fist!"

Beetlemon summoned lightning to his fist and punched into the mountain. The lightning from his fist went up the mountain, seemingly missing Grumblemon.

"Hehe, nice shot dorkus!" Grumblemon taunted.

But Beetlemon just gave a smug chuckle of his own. "Who said I was aiming at you?" He chuckled.

A loud rumbling got Grumblemon's attention as the rocks above came crashing down. Grumblemon's eyes went wide as the torrent of water and rocks came down on him with such force, it pushed him out of his little hole and down the mountain's side.

"Nice shot!" Agunimon exclaimed with a big grin on his face.

"Hey, where are the KaratsukiNumemon?" Lobomon asked.

"Over there!" Kumamon pointed out, he was currently being carried by Kazemon again.

They saw the KaratsukiNumemon were off of the big mountain, and had been slithering onto one of the smaller ones together.

Seeing the KaratsukiNumemon all together again was a relieving sight.

"Wow… I'm glad they are alright." Beetlemon admitted. "It must be nice to be back with your family."

"Hey, why's the mountain glowing?" Agunimon asked, who was hanging onto a rope ladder.

Biyomon flew in beside Kazemon. "What the heck?"

Kokuwamon flew in as well, still carrying Labramon. "Is that…?"

Patamon came up as well, carrying Lopmon. "Oh… that's…"

"The mountain's fractal code…" Lopmon finished.

Indeed, in the large hole Beetlemon created, there was a large string of code exposed for all to see.

"I didn't think I'd expose it with that plan of mine…" Beetlemon admitted.

But as soon as Beetlemon said those words, Grumblemon reappeared from another hole he dug into the mountain.

"Uh oh! Grumblemon's back!" Kazemon exclaimed as she put Kumamon on the rope ladder with Agunimon.

Lobomon was on the post where the rope ladder was, and he could only watch as well.

"I see…" Labramon frowned, seeming to know what was about to happen. "Kokuwamon… put me near Lobomon."

Kokuwamon just gave a silent nod before he flew over to the post. "Here… she might be safer with you right now."

Lobomon blinked, but he didn't protest. Instead, he took Labramon into his arms. "Thanks." He said gratefully.

Patamon flew closer to Agunimon and Kumamon.

"Are you guys alright?" Patamon asked.

"We heard a loud noise," Lopmon added.

"We're fine, but… I don't know for how long." Kumamon frowned.

"Thank you for finding fractal code for me," Grumblemon said to the group. "Can't find without you. Now rid you with Beast Spirit!"

Grumblemon held up a figurine in his hand.

"Wait… Is that…?" Agunimon gasped. "I've never seen a Spirit like that before!"

"Execute!" Grumblemon exclaimed as fractal code surrounded him. "Slide Evolution!" The fractal code dissipated, revealing a new Digimon in Grumblemon's place. "Gigasmon!"

The new Digimon was dark tan all over his body save for the chest and stomach, which were a lighter tan color, and he had lighter tan marks on his arms and legs. His eyes were brownish orange, and he had spikes from his shoulders, knuckles, knees, head and his elbows. The Digimon also had a large nose as well.

"Who is that Digimon?" Lobomon asked, feeling nervous for some reason. "And why does it feel like I've seen this Digimon before?"

"You're not the only one…" Beetlemon admitted. "I'm getting that feeling too."

"I know I am…" Agunimon gulped. "I feel like I've faced this Digimon before more than once, and yet… This is the first time I've seen this enemy…"

"So you guys are feeling that too?" Kumamon asked.

"This isn't the time to be thinking about that!" Biyomon shouted. "He's going to attack!"

Gigasmon grinned before he jumped into the air and began spinning around. "Quagmire Twister!"

The large twister was coming at them. Kazemon, Biyomon, Beetlemon, and Kokuwamon had to fly away quickly, but the others hanging onto the rope ladder and the post were vulnerable.

"It's coming!" Lopmon shouted.

"We have to get away from here!" Agunimon quickly said.

"We're not going to be able to outrun it!" Lobomon warned.

"Brace yourselves!" Patamon shouted.

The Quagmire Twister reached the group, spinning them around in a dizzying manner, breaking the rope ladder and the posts completely off the mountain. Soon, Kumamon, Lopmon, Agunimon, Lobomon, Patamon, and Labramon all began falling.

Yup, I'm gonna be sick from all this… Lopmon groaned.

Kumamon had an idea hit him, as if it had been done before. "Hey, grab onto me!" He instructed before turning his body into a large spiked icy mass and sticking to the cliff-face. "Frozen Tundra!"

Kumamon grew his body into large icicles as big as he could to catch the others. Lopmon, Lobomon, Labramon, Agunimon, and Patamon landed on the crystals that Kumamon made.

"Oh that's cold…" Patamon shivered.

"Tell me about it." Agunimon hissed, feeling the cold rushing through his body. He had to push down the urge to use his fire to warm himself up lest he hurt Kumamon. "I'm feeling it worse than you right now…"

"Just try to hang on," Kumamon said.

Beetlemon tried to stop the Quagmire Twister, but when he did, he ended up getting spun around before crashing into Kokuwamon, making him fall. Beetlemon quickly turned around and grabbed onto Kokuwamon. At the same time, Biyomon was sucked into the Quagmire Twister, since she wasn't fast enough to avoid it. She let out a yell and Kazemon quickly flew in to grab her and get her away from the twister.

"Hang on!" Kazemon shouted as she managed to grab onto one of Biyomon's wings. "I've got you!"

Biyomon gripped Kazemon's hand tightly.

"Execute. Slide evolution!" Gigasmon called out after landing, and a cocoon of data wrapped around him, changing him back into his previous form. "Grumblemon!"

Grumblemon smirked at the group, seeing how they were scrambling just to stay on the mountain. "You more pathetic than me thought. Didn't take much to put you down. Here me thought you actually strong!"

"Execute!" Grumblemon called out, surrounding himself in a cocoon of data once again. "Slide evolution! Gigasmon!"

"Wait a minute!" Agunimon exclaimed. "What's going on here?!"

Why does this seem so familiar? Why do I feel like I know that form, what it's called? Agunimon thought in confusion. I don't understand…

"He can change forms!?" Lobomon frowned.

"He has two evolutions!" Patamon pointed out.

"Normally that's common among Digimon, but this is really bad for us." Lopmon frowned.

"Now I take fractal code in name of Cherubimon and finish you off!" Gigasmon stated.

As if to taunt the other Legendary Warriors, Gigasmon began to eat the fractal code of the mountain, sucking it into his mouth. As soon as the code was gone, the mountain began to rumble. "Fractal Code Digitized!"

"He's eating the whole mountain!" Beetlemon shouted.

"I can see that!" Kokuwamon yelled over the storm and the shaking.

"There's nothing we can do now…" Kazemon frowned.

"Our mountain is no more!" The KaratsukiNumemon shouted as they watched in horror seeing their home being consumed.

The mountain trembled and shook, holes began to appear on the once majestic mountain as more of its fractal code was being eaten away. Kumamon eventually lost his grip on the mountain walls, as it was all crumbling underneath him.

Agunimon, Patamon, Lopmon, Labramon, and Lobomon all screamed as they fell away from the mountain, unable to escape or find a way to save themselves. They quickly grabbed onto each other's hands and paws.

"Whatever happens, don't let go!" Agunimon shouted.

Kazemon, Biyomon, Beetlemon, and Kokuwamon were all blown away as well, unable to stay stable in the air. With the mountain crumbling away, it caused the heavy winds to blow them back. Both groups were falling further and further away from each other.

"I… can't hold on… much longer!" Lopmon shouted as his tiny hands weren't meant for gripping for long.

"Lopmon, hold on!" Kumamon shouted, feeling Lopmon's hands slipping.

The heavy winds and the fall was making it harder for them to hold on. Soon, Lopmon slipped out of their hands, as did Patamon, and even Labramon ended up letting go due to her paws being unable to grip their hands. They all screamed as they spun around in the air.

"Guys!" Agunimon cried out, but he couldn't do anything. Patamon was too far away for him to grab onto. Kumamon and Lobomon could only watch in distress as Lopmon and Labramon also were separated from them.

---

Agunimon, Lobomon, and Kumamon were falling through a tunnel. It turned out, they ended up going through some kind of tunnel through some of the mountains that was left after Gigasmon consumed the big mountain. They got separated from Kazemon, Beetlemon, Biyomon, Kokuwamon, Patamon, Labramon, and Lopmon as well. Their energy was low, so their Spirits ended up degenerating them back into their human forms while they were still falling.

"How long is this tunnel!?" Tommy shouted.

"How should I know?!" Koji shouted back

"This tunnel seems to go on forever!" Takuya screamed. "Does this ever end?!"

As if to answer Takuya's question, the boys were soon flung out of the tunnel and into the open skies.

"... None of us can fly…" Tommy stated.

Then they fell, again. They all screamed until… they landed on something soft, spongey, and bouncy. They all blinked in shock and disbelief that they were still alive. Then they fell back down, realizing they were in a giant ball pit with giant, colorful balls.

"H-how are we still alive?" Tommy asked after they managed to land, though they had to find their way out of the ball pit.

"The ball pit?" Takuya asked in a joking tone.

"That's not funny…" Koji grumbled. "We just fell from high in the air into a ball pit, which shouldn't have saved us."

Tommy frowned as he pushed some of the balls out of his face. "Where… are we?"

"It looks like a giant… playground, I think," Takuya said. "... But the real question is what needs a playground this big?"

"Why do I get the feeling we're going to find out?" Tommy groaned.

Takuya looked around, something feeling very… familiar about this place. "I… feel like I've been here before…"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Koji muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you implying something?" Takuya growled.

"Guys, can we not fight and just get out of here?" Tommy spoke up.

The 3 boys had to pull each other out of the large ball pit. Once they were out, they began walking around the area.

"What do you think happened to the others?" Takuya asked.

"I don't know… we all got blown away when Grumblemon began eating up the mountain." Tommy frowned. "Zoe, JP, Biyomon, and Kokuwamon got blown in the opposite direction, so I doubt they're anywhere near here."

"But what about Lopmon, Patamon, and Labramon?" Takuya asked in concern. "They were with us and then we got separated from them."

"And to make matters worse, Labramon was still injured when we got separated." Koji frowned. "I don't know if she can last much longer without treatment."

Tommy frowned as well. "They probably didn't fall too far from us… but I couldn't tell you where they are…"

"Great, so we have to find them as well as the others." Takuya sighed. "Well, we'd better start looking for them, we won't find them just standing around here."

"We also need to figure out where we are," Koji grumbled.

As they looked around, they couldn't help but notice how there were a lot of neat looking toys scattered around the place. Then they saw what looked like a flying toy robot in the sky.

"Is that… a robot toy?" Takuya asked.

Tommy stared up at the robot toy. He felt like he had seen it before, though it could've just been something he saw on TV with his parents. Still, despite the situation, he was a little kid. So he couldn't help but smile with interest.

"A flying toy robot! That's so cool!" Tommy smiled as he ran after the robot.

"Hey, wait up!" Takuya exclaimed as he chased after Tommy.

"Get back here!" Koji called as he chased after Tommy and Takuya. I don't know which of them is worse, the little kid or the goggle kid. At least Labramon never ran off on her own.

The toy robot landed near some more toys. Tommy saw a cool looking race car track for toy cars. He always wanted one of those, though his brother wouldn't stop nagging at him when he asked his parents to get him one. Now he finally had a chance to try it out.

"Hey, check it out!" Tommy said as he ran over to the race track, and put a toy car on it.

The toy car began moving on its own through the race track. "That's so cool! It actually moves on the track!"

"Where did the flying robot go?" Takuya asked, looking around for the flying robot.

"Don't sit down!" Koji growled out. "We don't have time for this!"

"Koji, just calm down. We're not going anywhere, so we can at least try to figure out where we are, and the best way to do that is to look around." Takuya explained.

"Jeez… don't encourage this behavior. Tommy's supposed to be one of the Legendary Warriors, yet here he is acting like a baby," Koji grumbled.

"I should be the one saying 'jeez', you're acting just like my big brother," Tommy responded back. "Besides, who leaves good toys like these lying around? We might as well try them out, it could lead us to some clues."

"I fail to see how playing with toys could give us clues." Koji grumbled.

"Hey, at least try to act like a kid." Takuya huffed back.

"What does that mean?" Koji growled back.

"You're about the same age as me, right? Why are you acting so grown up?" Takuya retorted.

"I'm only acting this way because someone has to," Koji replied. "We're not here to play with toys or play games, we're here to get to the Forest Terminal and save this world. We don't have time for this."

Tommy let out a sigh as he picked up the car as it came across him and put it down on the grass. He turned to the two boys. "Well, if you don't have time to investigate the toys, then we should move on." Koji really is just like Yutaka… Although I am worried about Lopmon and the others.

"Finally…" Koji grumbled.

"But where would we start to look?" Takuya asked as he looked around. Again, something about this seemed familiar to him, and he didn't know why. I swear, this place feels so familiar, but I can't figure out why… Have I really been here before or is it just my imagination?

"Is something on your mind? You haven't responded to what I said," Koji spoke up.

"Huh?" Takuya blinked as he looked at Koji. "Sorry. It's just… I feel like I've been here before, but I don't remember coming here until now." He admitted.

"Really?" Koji raised an eyebrow.

Takuya looked at Tommy. "Come to think of it… didn't you say something about 'us too' before? When we started saying something felt familiar?"

Tommy looked up at Takuya. He had been feeling that sense of familiarity with this place too, but he tried to ignore it since he didn't know why he felt that way, and it was clear Koji didn't want him getting distracted.

"Yeah…" Tommy answered. "Every now and then I get a sense of deja vu. Like I've been here before or experienced something like it before, but I don't know why since I have no memory of experiencing anything like this before."

"Yeah… I've been getting that too." Takuya admitted. "Like when I saw the fractal code of the Woodmon. Something about that was familiar, like I had seen that before."

"Are you sure you're not just imagining it?" Koji asked. "Look, I don't understand it either, but that's not important right now. We need to find Labramon and the others as quickly as possible."

"Oh, I see why you're so uptight, you're worried about Labramon, aren't you?" Takuya pointed out.

Koji blushed. "I… S-So what if I am?! Aren't you worried about Patamon and Lopmon?" He retorted.

"Of course I am!" Takuya replied back, feeling his anger growing slightly. "But I'm being serious when I say I feel like I've been here before when I haven't been to this place until today!"

Tommy frowned, wondering how long they were going to argue. Tommy didn't notice something was at his foot before he tripped over it. Tommy groaned a little, having landed on his face. Koji and Takuya were still too busy arguing to notice he fell. Tommy turned around to see a little pig toy was sitting there, looking all cute and innocent. Tommy blinked before he reached out and picked it up. Is this thing a toy or a Digimon?

Tommy poked around its head before he pushed down the odd black ear, causing the pig to start oinking cutely. Tommy flinched back for a moment, worried the pig was gonna spring to life and kick him or something. But all it did was oink a little.

"Tommy, are you serious?" Koji groaned.

Tommy looked up, seeing that Koji and Takuya were looking at him. They likely stopped arguing and saw him 'playing' with the pig toy.

"Look, we decided that this isn't the time to play around," Takuya lightly scolded.

"No, that wasn't it…" Tommy frowned, feeling rather embarrassed that he was caught 'playing' again, even though he wasn't really intending to play with another toy.

"Then why did you pick up that pig toy?" Koji asked as he folded his arms, clearly not pleased.

"I tripped over it and thought it was a Digimon…" Tommy admitted.

"Don't be stupid, anyone could tell that's a toy," Koji grumbled, thinking Tommy was lying to make an excuse for why he was playing with another toy.

"I didn't…" Tommy frowned.

"Hey, don't start crying on us," Takuya said, thinking Tommy was going to start crying because of what Koji said.

This, of course, insulted Tommy. He just narrowed his eyes and turned away from them. "I wasn't going to cry!"

"Okay, I'm sorry I assumed that!" Takuya said as he held up his hands. "Look, let's just get moving. I want to find Lopmon, Patamon, and Labramon sooner rather than later."

Tommy frowned as he looked down at the toy pig in his arms. He missed having Lopmon with him. Lopmon seemed to understand him better than the others did.

Takuya noticed Tommy's frown and sighed. "Oh man, now I feel bad…"

"Why? Because of him? Little baby has to grow up some time," Koji grumbled.

"You have to grow up some time, Tommy, you can't always rely on Mom and Dad to handle everything," Tommy remembered his brother's voice saying to him.

"Hey, you have to remember that Tommy is only 8 years old!" Takuya snapped at Koji's cold attitude.

"All the more reason he needs to stop acting like a spoiled little kid." Koji grumbled back.

"Do you even have any brothers or siblings younger than you?" Takuya snapped back.

Koji paused for a moment. His first instinct was to say he had a sibling, but he stopped. Of course he didn't have any siblings, he didn't know why he would think otherwise.

"No, I'm an only child," Koji replied.

Takuya felt his anger dissipate at that. "Oh… I… I didn't know…"

"I don't know what it's like to have a brother." Koji continued, but he frowned as he said that. He felt like he did know what it was like to have a brother, but he couldn't figure out why. It was confusing to him, and it showed on his face clearly.

"It's not always what it's cracked up to be," Tommy said softly as he put the toy pig down. "But listen, I'm sorry if you see me as a little kid who gets in the way. But I am trying to help in my own way. Believe it or not, I think there are unconventional ways these toys can help us."

"Like what?" Koji asked.

Tommy pointed at a toy train that was running on the track. "We're all a bit tired from that fight with Grumblemon, right? How about we use that to get around this place?"

Takuya chuckled. "That's a smart idea, Tommy."

Koji huffed. "Or a dumb one."

"Hey, do you have anything nice to say?" Takuya shot back.

Koji just looked away from Takuya, trying to act like he didn't care about what the other boy was saying.

"Well, Takuya and I can ride the train. And you can stay here, and trudge on foot as much as you want," Tommy stated. "We'll let you know what we see when you eventually catch up to us."

Koji shot a glare at Tommy, but he felt his legs aching from the walking and from being in that fight. "Fine…" He reluctantly conceded. "We'll do your dumb train ride."

"Alright, let's hop aboard!" Tommy smiled.

Tommy and Takuya ended up riding on the head of the train, while Koji was stuck on the caboose. He was feeling quite embarrassed, and hoped there was nobody else watching him riding on the toy train with these children. Though admittedly the train was getting them around a lot faster than on foot.

"Well, isn't this faster?" Takuya asked as he looked back at Koji with a grin on his face.

"Just don't mention this to the others…" Koji grumbled, feeling his face burning with his blush of embarrassment.

As the train was moving down the tracks, something moving caught Tommy's eye. It looked like a giant teddy bear that was walking.

"Hey! It's a giant walking teddy bear!" Tommy exclaimed happily.

But then Tommy suddenly got a sense of unease as he looked at the teddy bear. He suddenly felt like his heart was beating much faster in his chest. There was something off about the teddy bear, or something about it that made him very uneasy.

What's this feeling? Am I… scared of that teddy bear? Tommy frowned.

Takuya, however, remained oblivious to Tommy's sudden sense of fear and unease towards the teddy bear.

"Hey, maybe that teddy bear knows the way to the Forest Terminal." Takuya said. "Why don't we go ask?"

"I'm game." Koji said, feeling like the other boy had had a good idea for once.

Takuya looked at Tommy. "Hey, c'mon Tommy. We're going to ask how to get to the Forest Terminal, or at least where we are or if he'd seen the others."

"A-are you… sure that's a good idea?" Tommy asked. "We… don't know anything about that bear…"

"What? You can't be scared of that thing, it's just a teddy bear. Heck, you're a teddy bear when you Spirit Evolve," Koji pointed out.

"I am not!" Tommy snapped. What am I doing? I shouldn't be scared of a teddy bear. This is ridiculous.

Tommy got off of the train and followed the two boys, though he stayed behind them.

"Hey! Hey!" Takuya called to the teddy bear. "Hey, buddy! Wait up!"

The teddy bear stopped and looked over at them. Then it immediately ran at them.

"Look out! It's going to attack!" Tommy suddenly shouted.

Before Takuya could react, the bear grabbed Takuya and threw him to the ground. Tommy gasped for a moment. Then the bear raised up his paw and smiled. "I am still undefeated!"

Then the bear picked Takuya up on his feet, and turned him around to face the bear. "Now we wrestle for the championship title!"

"Wrestling…?" Tommy asked. "Aren't you going to turn all dark and evil, and attack us with your claws or something?"

The teddy bear Digimon turned to face Tommy. "Why would I do that? I just want to play and have fun!"

Tommy was about to answer, but he had no answer to that really. He had no idea why he would even think of the teddy bear turning all dark and evil in the first place. "I… don't know…"

"Are you crazy, Tommy? This teddy bear could crush us!" Takuya exclaimed as he grabbed Tommy's hand and ran with Koji behind them.

"Hey wait! The championship!" The teddy bear called after them as it chased after them. "Oh, I get it, you wanna play 'tag'!"

"This guy is nuts!" Koji yelled. "And fast!"

"Why would a teddy bear want to wrestle with humans?! We're not giant teddy bears!" Takuya wailed.

Tommy wasn't sure what to think of the strange situation they were in, but he saw what looked like a big pirate ship ride he would see at an amusement park or a fair. "Quick, hide on the ship!"

The three boys ran onto the ship and ducked down as low as they could.

"You guys are good at this!" The teddy bear exclaimed as it ran past the ship. Slowly, the three boys peered over the edge as they heard the heavy footsteps leaving the area.

The 3 boys slowly lifted their heads up from the ship they were on, glad to see the teddy bear was running off in the other direction.

"That was a close one… who knew teddy bears could be so dangerous?" Koji frowned.

"I think one of my cousins has a fear of teddy bears, and he may be right on this one," Takuya remarked.

"I don't know about him… I don't think he's malicious, but I still feel uneasy with him," Tommy said, still trying to figure out why he thought the bear may be dangerous even though it looked, and sounded, like the teddy bear just wanted to play, after all, while he may have been a little rough with Takuya, it didn't look like he really hurt the boy.

"I certainly didn't want to do this wrestling thing… And certainly not as a human…" Takuya grumbled. "Besides, you didn't get thrown down by him…"

I feel like there are worse things than getting thrown down by that teddy bear. Tommy rolled his eyes.

"Come on, let's get off of this-" Koji began to say when the ship they were on suddenly started moving, swinging up, causing the 3 to yelp and hang onto something.

"Why is this thing moving!?" Tommy yelled as he clung onto a post. "Nobody's managing it!"

"I don't know, just hang onto something!" Takuya shouted back as he gripped the sides of the ship so hard, his hands began to ache.

"This is so not our day!" Koji exclaimed as he also gripped the sides of the ship. "Someone needs to stop this thing so we can get off of here!"

The ship started to swing higher and higher, allowing them to see something they weren't expecting to see. There were trees on the horizon that looked like they were below where they were. They also saw more land that looked far away. They saw clouds that were a lot closer to them than the land was.

"What the heck…? Are we… floating?" Takuya asked, looking very confused.

"Floating? That doesn't make any sense!" Koji yelled, though he was also seeing what Takuya was seeing.

"M-maybe we're… on a floating island? I mean this isn't quite our world, remember?" Tommy spoke up.

"A floating island? That… may be where we are." Takuya admitted. Why does that sound familiar? I feel like I'm experiencing deja vu somehow…

Tommy frowned before the ship started to swing again. Tommy had never been that good with fast rides, and he was starting to get a little motion sick.

"I-is anyone else starting to get a little sick?" Tommy asked.

Koji grew a bit pale in the face at Tommy's words. "Don't look in my direction, kid!"

Takuya balked. "H-Hey, don't point him at me!"

It's a good thing I haven't eaten since yesterday. Tommy groaned.

The ship finally started to slow down until it came to a stop. Seeing how the ship had finally stopped, Tommy quickly crawled off of the ride just in case it would suddenly start up again, though he needed a few minutes to… settle his stomach.

"H-hey, are you okay, Tommy?" Takuya asked as he followed Tommy off the ship. Koji also exited the ride, never so glad to be back on the ground. Err… the floating island…

"Y-yeah… yeah… just… give me a minute," Tommy answered.

"Hey, if you want, I could give you a piggyback ride," Takuya offered.

Koji huffed. "Give me a break. The kid can walk, can't he?"

Takuya growled at Koji. "Hey, he just got off of a ride that made him sick! It wouldn't hurt to give the kid a break from walking, would it?"

"Sure, if you want to get hurled on." Koji retorted. "Besides, what if we're attacked while you're carrying him? You'd be too slow to run away. Why don't you think about these things?"

"Hey, at least I think about others, unlike you!" Takuya retorted grumpily.

"It's fine, Takuya, I can walk," Tommy spoke up, wanting to stop this argument. "I've been through worse."

Takuya blinked as he looked at Tommy. "Are you sure?" He's been through worse? I know we've been through combat but… something like that sounds worrying…

"Yeah, I mean compared to falling off a mountain that's being eaten by a monster, that ride was pretty tame," Tommy explained. "Besides, I want to find our friends too."

"Yeah, good point." Takuya said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "We know we're on a floating island, but where are Lopmon, Patamon, and Labramon? We didn't get a good enough look from that ride."

"That's assuming they even fell on the same floating island we did," Koji pointed out.

"They probably did, they weren't too far from us when we got separated in the air," Tommy said. "I'm sure they fell into the same tunnel we did."

"Then we need to keep looking for them." Takuya said before looking around and he saw what looked like a house of some kind just ahead of them. "Hey! Why don't we see if there's anyone in that building that can help us?"

"Is that… a house decorated as a cake, or a giant cake made to look like a house?" Tommy asked, seeing the building himself.

"Who cares? If someone can help us, I don't care what 'house' they live in," Koji remarked.

"C'mon, let's go." Takuya said as he began to walk to the house. "Maybe someone lives there. We won't find the others just standing around."

The boys walked into the house, unaware that they were being watched.

"Human children on our island?" A black lego-like Agumon remarked.

"Yes, they're here, like I said they would be," A shadowy figure said from behind the toy-like Digimon. "But they're not the main targets you should be worried about, ShadowToyAgumon."

"You mean those Digimon that fell onto our island?" The ShadowToyAgumon asked. "The ones you emphasized as a threat?"

"But of course. You see, those 3 Digimon don't belong here," The shadowy figure explained. "Them being here is disrupting the balance of this world. The only way to save the balance is by destroying them."

"Then we shall find those three Digimon and eliminate them as well as capture the three humans. They will be useful down the road." ShadowToyAgumon snickered evilly.

"If they become too much for you, don't be afraid to use this," The shadowy figure said as they gave ShadowToyAgumon a small jar that had a mysterious green liquid ooze inside. "Be warned, don't take too much at once, as it will corrupt your Digi-Core."

"Oh, we will definitely make use of this~" ShadowToyAgumon grinned as he took the jar carefully in his toy-like hands. "You have been a most generous ally."

"Just doing my duty of preserving what should be preserved," The shadowy figure replied.

ShadowToyAgumon turned to the big yellow teddy bear who was playing with the kids earlier. "Monzaemon, capture one of them and lead the others into the castle! We know at least one of those Digimon is in the castle, we must find the other 2 before they get away."

Monzaemon looked decidedly terrified though. "W-why can't we all just get along and play with each other?"

ShadowToyAgunmon glared at the pacifist bear. "We'll never get anywhere if you refuse to cooperate."

"Why don't you try giving him that special liquid? Just a drop though," The shadowy figure suggested.

ShadowToyAgumon grinned sinisterly. "An excellent idea." He said as he took off the lid of the jar and dunked one of his claws into it. Removing his claw, ShadowToyAgumon approached Monzaemon. "Here, a little… gift… for you." He chuckled darkly as he held his claw out and let the liquid drip onto Monzaemon's body.

Monzaemon, while he seemed naive and playful, knew that wasn't a gift of goodwill. But he stood frozen as the liquid dripped on him, and was absorbed into his body. Fractal code surrounded Monzaemon's body, and transformed him. Gone was the friendly looking yellow teddy bear, and in his place was a black, torn up, mean looking bear with a large claw on his left hand. He had an unnatural glow on his body as well.

"Ooooh, I like this stuff already~" ShadowToyAgumon grinned sinisterly.

---

Meanwhile, Takuya, Koji, and Tommy were inside the house. It looked like the place had shelves and stands all over the place. There were colorful different kinds of sweets and toys on these shelves and stands. But what was most surprising was it looked like someone had been eating some of this stuff. They saw an open jar, and some empty sticks. They heard what sounded like someone munching from behind one of the stands.

"Do you guys hear that?" Takuya asked as he tried to determine where the munching was coming from.

"Yeah, it sounds like someone eating." Koji replied, getting tense. "We're not alone here…"

"Maybe it's the person… err… Digimon, that lives here…" Tommy suggested nervously.

"Why would they be hiding behind something if that were the case?" Koji asked.

"Hmm?" The muncher stopped eating when they heard voices.

The group tensed up, realizing the muncher likely knew they were there.

Suddenly, something white jumped onto one of the tables of the stands and blinked in surprise. "Koji?"

Koji blinked as he saw the muncher. "Wait… Labramon?!" He exclaimed, both shocked and relieved to see the Rookie level Digimon he knew so well. "Was that you eating out of sight?"

Koji saw what looked like pink sparkling frosting on Labramon's muzzle.

"Well yeah, I wasn't sure if I had to pay for these, and I needed food to heal my wounds," Labramon admitted before she jumped off of the stall and ran over at Koji and the others, wagging her tail. "Look, I'm feeling a lot better now! And I'm glad to see you guys! I thought I was alone here."

"Yeah, we did too." Koji agreed as he knelt down and patted Labramon on her head when she reached the three boys. "I was really worried about you."

Takuya snickered. "Wow, it looks like Koji's a sweetheart after all if he's being this kind to Labramon!"

"Shut up! Labramon has been helping me while you guys were stumbling around," Koji grumbled, trying not to blush.

"Wait, what about Lopmon and Patamon? Weren't they with you?" Tommy asked.

Labramon frowned and shook her head. "They weren't with you?"

"No." Takuya admitted. "We got separated and have been looking for them ever since we wound up here. In fact, you're the first one we came across."

"Well, I'm glad we found Labramon, but we can't just leave Patamon and Lopmon alone here." Koji said as he stood up. "We need to get moving and see if we can find them."

Tommy walked over to one of the stands that had cotton candy on them. He smiled as he picked up a yellow cotton candy to try it out. It was good. Tommy then picked up a pink cotton candy and walked over to Takuya.

"Here, try some!" Tommy smiled. "We haven't eaten since yesterday, so we should at least have a snack before we have to do any fighting, right?"

Takuya felt his stomach growling. "I think that's a good idea actually. We do need to get our energy up so we can Spirit Evolve again if we have to."

Koji frowned. "What are you two doing? We don't have time sitting here stuffing our faces with candy. We have to get to the Forest Terminal, we're not here to have fun at a carnival! Are you listening to me?"

"What am I supposed to do? We're floating on an island, and none of us can fly!" Takuya pointed out.

"And you're just giving up? It's like you don't want to help your friends, look at what you're doing now!" Koji scolded.

"I don't see you coming up with a plan," Takuya argued.

"Hey, Koji?" Labramon spoke up, holding a blue cotton candy by the stick with her mouth. "You should eat something. Being hungry is making you grumpy and grouchy. And Tommy's right, you can't fight at your best if you're hungry."

Koji frowned, but he did have to admit, eating something would do wonders for his low energy levels. That, and his own stomach growled in agreement with Tommy and Takuya. With a sigh, Koji took the cotton candy from Labramon and took a bite as well. "Fine, I'll eat, but only to rebuild my energy."

"That was the idea," Tommy sighed. So dramatic…

"But look, I'm not just eating, we also have to think about the other Legendary Warriors," Koji spoke up, not wanting to lose the momentum he had when scolding them earlier.

"You mean that Grumblemon?" Takuya asked as he furrowed his eyebrows a bit. "What about him? We got our butts kicked by him."

"It's not just him. The fact that a Legendary Warrior was on the enemy side, who's to say the other 4 aren't as well?" Koji pointed out. "We have to prepare ourselves for the worst case scenarios. We weren't able to take Grumblemon, so we wouldn't stand a chance against the others if they turned out to be on the enemy side as well as we are now. And then what would happen to us if we lose?"

Tommy slowly put his arm down that was holding the cotton candy stick. It wasn't that what Koji was saying was wrong, but something about what he was saying was bringing up an unsettling feeling in his gut. It was like he was listening to someone else speaking, coming up with battle tactics, preparing for another battle, preparing him for something. It was unpleasant, and Tommy didn't like it, even if he couldn't think of who or what.

"I hate to admit it, but you do have a point." Takuya grumbled. "But we can't worry about that now, we need to focus on Lopmon and Patamon. Finding them needs to be our priority. Then we can talk battle plans and all that after we find them. Besides, can we not talk about this right now?"

"I understand we need to find the others, but why talk about this later? Because you don't want to talk about it in front of Tommy?" Koji asked. "I don't care if he's young, he's here, he's a Legendary Warrior like we are. He has to face this reality whether he wants to or not."

Tommy blinked as he realized Koji and Takuya had their attention on him. Tommy looked up at them. "Sorry, it's not that. I just… I'm not sure, I've been feeling weird all day. But if I've been holding you back, I am sorry. I'm just trying to help."

"Koji's gotten used to focusing on the mission and dangers," Labramon explained. "It's just hard for him to think he's not wasting his time while being in a toy-like place. I know I'd feel the same if the food didn't help heal me."

Takuya smiled and walked over to Tommy. "It's okay. Koji's just hard to warm up to. But he will, don't worry." He said gently as he patted Tommy's hat in a reassuring manner. "C'mon. Let's see if we can find Lopmon and Patamon."

"Labramon, did you see where the other two fell?" Koji asked.

"I was pretty out of it when we were falling," Labramon admitted. "I think I remember seeing one of them falling towards a big castle though, but I'm not sure where the other fell to."

"Then we should head to this castle to see if we can find which one of them fell there." Takuya suggested. "Who knows? We may find the other one along the way."

"And maybe we'll find someone who can help us get off this island," Tommy added, smiling a little.

"Fine, I suppose it's better than wandering around with no plan," Koji sighed.

"That's the spirit." Labramon smiled.

Takuya noticed Koji lightened up a little more with Labramon around. He then grinned. "Who knew having Labramon around would make you act more openly and a bit lighter?" He joked, unable to resist using Koji's element in a pun.

Koji blushed. "Do you always make puns?!" He exclaimed, trying to hide his blushing face.

Tommy couldn't help but smile a little at that, this felt more like banter rather than a full blown argument now.

The 3 boys and Labramon began leaving the supposed candy store.

"Have you noticed how empty this place is?" Tommy asked as they were walking. "Besides that teddy bear, we haven't really seen any Digimon that live here."

"Yeah… It's very strange." Takuya agreed. "It's like this place is deserted or something."

"All the more reason we should be on our guard." Koji grumbled. "We don't know if something is lurking here, or if the Digimon that lived here were all taken out or what."

"If the Digimon were taken out, what were they taken out by?" Takuya asked.

"Not sure. Could've been one of the enemy Legendary Warriors. Grumblemon was able to devour an entire mountain after all," Koji said.

"Those poor KaratsukiNumemon, they lost their home." Labramon frowned. "There wasn't much we could've done to stop it…" Could we have though? Would it… have been the right thing to do? We aren't supposed to… interfere too much.

"Yeah… and we got beaten by Grumblemon, so we couldn't stop it ourselves." Koji growled, clenching his fists. "We had the power to beat him, but he just got stronger and then we not only lost to him, but the KaratsukiNumemon lost their home as a result of us losing."

Tommy and Takuya both frowned as well.

"I don't like what happened either. But it looked like all of the KaratsukiNumemon were able to evacuate in time before Grumblemon consumed the mountain," Takuya said. "I'm sure they'll be alright."

"Probably. Our main concern is facing Grumblemon again later, and the potential other Legendary Warriors if they turn out to be working for the enemy." Koji frowned.

Takuya grumbled. "Yeah, but we need to find Patamon and Lopmon first, then JP, Kokuwamon, Zoe, and Biyomon. Once we find them, then Grumblemon and the other Legendary Warriors can be talked about. I don't want us to come up with a plan and leave the others in the dark."

"We will find Lopmon and Patamon first, but it might be wiser to meet up with the others at the Forest Terminal, since that's where we were going to begin with," Koji suggested. "I'm sure they'll have the same idea too."

"I'm confident they will," Labramon agreed.

As they were walking, however, Tommy suddenly got a tingle down his spine. He felt goosebumps going over his body as he felt a malicious presence coming up from behind him. He turned around, only to see a sight that was from his nightmare earlier when he saw that teddy bear. The bear was in his darker, more sinister form, with that large claw.

What? How!? Tommy gasped, shocked that the bear was in that form, but even more surprised he had imagined that form way too accurately.

The shock caused Tommy to hesitate for far too long, giving the dark bear enough time to reach out and grab the boy, holding him so tight that Tommy couldn't get to his D-Tector.

Only Labramon saw what happened to Tommy while Takuya and Koji were busy talking. She let out a gasp. "Tommy!"

Takuya and Koji looked back at Labramon's gasp, only to see what looked like a giant, messed up teddy bear carrying Tommy away.

"What the?!" Takuya gasped. "Isn't that the same bear from before?!" But Takuya, despite saying that, was having serious deja vu all over again. He was sure he had seen that teddy bear before as well. He froze for a moment as he had a flash of himself facing down that teddy bear with someone at his side, but he wasn't sure who. It looked like one of his twin cousins, but it was too fuzzy to make out clearly.

Gasping, Takuya shook his head. Wow, okay… that was weird… Why did I have that flash… like a memory or something?

"What are you doing!? He's getting away!" Koji yelled, snapping Takuya out of it.

Takuya realized that Tommy was in trouble, and shoved down the weird flashbacks and hurried after the bear. "What happened to that bear!?"

A name popped into Takuya's mind. "WaruMonzaemon."

"That bear… it's called WaruMonzaemon." Takuya said. "I… don't know how I know the name, but it came to me."

"WaruMonzaemon? Well whatever, let's just Spirit Evolve and-" Koji began to say when WaruMonzaemon turned to face them with a sinister grin.

Tommy blinked, he suddenly had a bad feeling. "Watch out, guys!"

"What's he doing?" Labramon frowned.

"Heartbreak Attack!" WaruMonzaemon summoned a black heart that floated towards Takuya.

Takuya gasped, having the feeling he should avoid that floating black heart. Aw crap! This isn't going to be good if that hits me!

The black heart ended up hitting Koji though, who was behind Takuya. It popped in front of Koji's face, and Koji suddenly lost all will to continue the chase, he couldn't even stand anymore. He was down on his hands and knees and started tearing up.

"W-why… am I so sad all of a sudden?" Koji sobbed.

Labramon frowned before she ran ahead, growling. "Retriever Bark!"

Labramon unleashed a wave of loud barking at WaruMonzaemon, making him have to cover one of his ears with his free arm. Tommy hissed as he was hit by the attack too.

Takuya growled. "Be careful, Labramon! You're hitting Tommy as well!" He exclaimed as he took out his D-Tector from his pocket. "But thanks for that! I can take it from here!"

Takuya didn't hesitate to call forth his fractal code around his left hand. He held out his D-Tector and the blue digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he formed the familiar fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. "Agunimon!"

Now evolved as Agunimon, the Warrior of Flame wasn't going to get WaruMonzaemon get away with trying to kidnap Tommy. "Let him go!" Agunimon exclaimed as he lunged at WaruMonzaemon, a fist drawn back; he wasn't having fire coat his fist because he didn't want to hurt Tommy.

WaruMonzaemon was hit by Agunimon's punch, which caused the bear to stumble back a bit, but he still stood strong.

"That's one strong bear." Agunimon frowned.

"He's an Ultimate level Digimon," Labramon warned. "Like Cerberumon was."

Koji was still crying, it was clear he was out of commission for this fight.

Agunimon knew he couldn't risk using his fire, but he still had the physical strength of a Digimon, so he figured going close quarters was the next best thing if he didn't want to hurt Tommy. WaruMonzaemon might be strong, but he has only one arm free. That means he can't fight as effectively. I can use that against him…

Agunimon threw his weight into a roundhouse kick, aiming at WaruMonzaemon's head from the evil Digimon's right side. If he can't use his other arm to fight back, I think I can do this.

WaruMonzaemon glared at Agunimon. He may have the kid in one of his arms, but his other arm had his claws.

"Bear Claw!" WaruMonzaemon show out his claw at Agunimon.

Agunimon barely had time to move, the claw swiped at his side, nearly piercing through his armor.

Shit! Okay, maybe this won't be so easy, but I can't hesitate. Agunimon thought as he ducked under another swipe of the claws. He used his position close to the ground to do a sweeping kick at WaruMonzaemon's legs, trying to knock the other Digimon down and make him drop Tommy.

WaruMonzaemon wobbled around as Agunimon was kicking at his feet, but he held onto Tommy. Tommy wasn't feeling so great at being moved around like this.

Labramon was moving around behind WaruMonzaemon while Agunimon was trying to get WaruMonzaemon to trip up.

"Nobody picks on a little kid while I'm around," Labramon hissed before she ran at WaruMonzaemon and tackled him from behind, biting at his back.

WaruMonzaemon yelped as he felt Labramon bite into his back. Seeing Labramon and what she was doing, Agunimon flipped himself onto his hands and kicked up at WaruMonzaemon's lower jaw, throwing WaruMozaemon's head back with the blow.

Agunimon smiled, seeing how working with Labramon looked like they were going to save Tommy from this deranged teddy bear.

Tommy looked up at WaruMonzaemon, seeing how he was barely able to keep his grasp on the boy. Seizing his chance, he elbowed against the bear's side. This caused WaruMonzaemon to let out a yelp as he let go of Tommy, not expecting Tommy to hammer into him like that. Tommy quickly ran away from WaruMonzaemon.

"I'm free!" Tommy called out.

Seeing Tommy was free, Agunimon couldn't help but grin. He flipped away from WaruMonzaemon while Labramon jumped away from WaruMonzaemon herself. "Nice work, Labramon!" He called with a grin.

WaruMonzaemon suddenly ran at Agunimon at breakneck speed. Agunimon gasped, not expecting that.

"Heart Break Attack!" Without warning, WaruMonzaemon shoved a black heart into Agunmon's face, leaving him no room to dodge this time.

Agunimon was hit by the attack and he fell to his knees, feeling tears coming to his eyes, like he couldn't hold back the feelings of sadness and uselessness he was experiencing.

"W-why… do I feel like this…?" Agunimon whined.

"Agunimon! What's wrong?" Tommy called out, before recalling the attack that was used on him and Koji earlier. Heart Break Attack. "Oh… no…" It destroys their will to fight, feeling them with despair.

Tommy took his D-Tector out from his pocket, about to Spirit Evolve to save Agunimon. However, WaruMonzaemon saw this, and threw out another Heart Break Attack at Tommy.

Tommy's eyes went wide, and he tried to dodge, but he was too close. The heart popped in front of Tommy's face.

"Tommy!" Labramon called out.

Tommy fell to the ground. Strange memories started to invade his mind. At first he was thinking about his parents, and how he couldn't make any friends at school. Then he thought about his brother being disappointed in him for being such a spoiled brat. But then he thought of a boy in armor he had never seen before, giving him a disappointed look that hurt him more than anything Grumblemon did. He thought about Takuya, Koji, Zoe, and JP hating him, and wanting to hunt him down. It all made him filled with despair, so much that it crushed him, and nearly knocked him out cold.

"T-Tommy?" Labramon looked at the boy in concern. With the others, they just started crying, but Tommy was as still as a statue. "Are you… alright?"

Tommy was silent. He couldn't find the strength to speak, he was so distraught and detached from what was going on. Labramon was getting a bit freaked out at how silent Tommy was.

"T-Tommy! Tommy! Snap out of it!" Labramon exclaimed, running over to him.

WaruMonzaemon was intrigued, his Heart Break Attack never caused anyone to go silent before. Then again, he hadn't been a WaruMonzaemon for long. But this gave him the opportunity he needed. Agunimon was surrounded by fractal code, changing him back into Takuya, he had lost the will to keep up his Digimon form. WaruMonzaemon picked up the still crying Takuya, and ran towards the castle. Takuya hadn't been the target he was aiming for, but he would do.

"Oh, this is bad… please, wake up!" Labramon begged.

With WaruMonzaemon getting further away, the effects of the Heart Break Attack soon wore off. Koji finally stopped crying, and he regained his senses. Only to see Labramon distressing over Tommy, who was lying on the ground.

"Labramon? What's going on?" Koji asked as he got to his feet and ran over to her and Tommy. "What's wrong with Tommy?"

"I don't know! He's been like this since he was hit by WaruMonzaemon's Heart Break Attack. And Takuya was taken away…" Labramon frowned in worry.

"What?!" Koji exclaimed. "Of all the rotten luck… Okay, we need to snap Tommy out of this… trance he's in and get to the castle to rescue Takuya."

---

Hmm? Where am I? … I was… I was in the Digital World with the others… wasn't I? But… Which part of the Digital World am I in…?

Why did I get Kumamon? It was to save my friends from Candlemon… Takuya… no… it was… that boy and his group, wasn't it? No… it was Takuya… wait… why do I… have two different set of memories? They contradict each other…

Who's that? A man? He has… a Digimon with him, I think… No, I never met this man before. But… we're all talking to him…

Wait… Takuya, Zoe, JP, Koji, and… someone else… I think… someone who looks like Koji… They're all looking at me like I'm the enemy. What did I do wrong?

No… is this… real? Or is this… fake?

---

"TOMMY! SNAP OUT OF IT!" Koji shouted.

"It doesn't seem to be working…" Labramon frowned.

Koji frowned. "... I've never had a brother or anything when I was growing up… but I can't help but feel scared, seeing Tommy like this. I know I was being hard on him, but I didn't want to treat him any differently from the rest of us, because I could see that he is able to fight and think of plans. I didn't want him to get distracted with all these toys and sweets."

"Maybe instead of seeing what he was doing on the surface, you should've listened to what he was saying about what he was doing with the toys and sweets?" Labramon suggested.

Koji thought back on when Tommy was playing with the car, or followed the robot toy, or when he was holding that toy pig. Tommy said he was studying the toys to see if they would give a clue to who was here. And they ended up riding on a toy train that helped them get around. And when Tommy suggested they tried to eat sweets, he also mentioned that they couldn't fight well on an empty stomach, and it wasn't like there was any other food lying around.

Koji felt guilt hit him hard. "Wow… Now I feel like a real jerk." He muttered as he looked down at the ground. "Tommy was trying to help us, and I just treated him like a burden, a useless kid…"

"From what I can tell, Tommy is pretty smart for a kid his age, almost frighteningly so," Labramon remarked. "It makes me wonder what kind of trauma he went through to get like this."

Tommy opened his eyes, and pushed himself up.

"Tommy! Are you okay?" Labramon asked in concern.

"You're back with us," Koji said in relief. "What happened to you?"

Tommy frowned as he looked at Koji for a moment and looked around. "I… I'm not sure… Are we… dreaming?"

"W-what? W-why would you ask that?" Labramon asked, her heart stopping for a moment. No, no, no!

"I just… feel like I'm in a dream…" Tommy answered softly. "Like I have two sets of memories… I don't know which is real and which is fake…"

Koji frowned. "That Heart Break Attack must've really messed with your head. Just try to shake it off, okay? I need your help to rescue Takuya."

"Takuya?" Tommy frowned. "What happened to him?"

"That messed up bear took him away." Koji replied. "That stupid Heart Break Attack stopped all of us, including you, cold so he would get taken."

Tommy looked up, seeing the castle in the distance. He still felt odd, like this whole thing was surreal. He wasn't sure what to make of it. But… even if this entire thing was fake, a dream of some kind… Koji, Takuya, Labramon… Lopmon… and the others… they had to be real. And Takuya was in real danger. Tommy knew this wasn't the time to hesitate. He could try to piece all of what he saw together later, after they saved Takuya.

"Let's get to the castle… We have to go there anyway to find Lopmon or Patamon," Tommy said.

"Are… you sure you're okay?" Labramon asked in concern.

"I'm… I'll be fine," Tommy answered, though he didn't look all that fine.

"Are you sure?" Koji asked, clearly concerned about Tommy. "If you don't think you can handle this… I won't make you come with me…"

"Koji, I know I'm a kid, but I am still one of the Legendary Warriors," Tommy stated in a determined tone. "Takuya saved me more than once. It's time I repaid the favor."

Koji frowned a bit before sighing. "Okay. But I'm not going to hold it against you if you decide to stay out of the fight." He then hesitated before speaking again. "You… looked pretty shaken up by that Heart Break Attack…"

Tommy looked away for a moment. "... I've got… some things to figure out… but let's focus on saving Takuya first."

Koji couldn't help but feel worried for Tommy, whatever was going on with him wasn't normal, but Tommy was right, they needed to focus on rescuing Takuya, and the Digimon in the castle. Labramon was looking at Tommy, while she appeared to be concerned for his well being, and she was, she was worried about something else.

"Then let's get going," Koji said.

Koji and Tommy began moving, before Koji realized Labramon was lagging behind. "Are you coming, Labramon?"

"Y-yeah, I'm coming," Labramon answered as she began walking with them. Whatever that Heart Break Attack did… it must've broken a seal on Tommy's mind. Tommy already loosened the seal before according to Lopmon, so this just made it far worse… I don't know what to do in this situation. I just hope we find Lopmon and Patamon quickly.

---

pokemon fan 1991: DarkFoxKit: Indeed, the Digimon are unable to digivolve. Making things a lot harder for them. Also, we felt if they were capable of digivolving, they, along with the Legendary Warriors, would curbstomp everyone, and that wouldn't be very fun.

ZAFT: It's not that the Digimon don't want the kids to remember. There's a reason why, and that will become known in future chapters. It's more the enemy doesn't want the children to remember certain things, but that is all I will say due to entering spoiler territory. ^^'

DarkFoxKit: Heh, well, your theories are very interesting, keep reading and see if any of that happens~