The Crest of a Master

by PizzaSpino

When the Digital World is in peril it doesn't just turn to a regular group of kids. It turns to a group of kids raised in a world centralized around raising and battling monsters! Join Ash and Agumon as they make new friends, battle an army of monsters, and hopefully save both of their worlds from an ancient evil.

27. Many Meetings Part 1

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

Listening to as I put on my name tag: Fudie (Digimon Hacker's Memory)

The Crest of a Master Chapter 27: Many Meetings Part 1

?

Dawn was falling. Down, down, down. She wasn't sure where she was. The first thing she felt when she got here was the rush of wind against her back brought on by her decent. Falling, falling, never stopping.

Opening her eyes, Dawn gasped. Above and around her were floating islands. The islands were jagged and brittle, almost like someone took a land mass and broke it up into smaller pieces. Some of the chunks of land didn't even look like they came from the ground. The looked more like the gridded textures of someone generating land on a computer.

Far above her, Dawn could make out a figure. It was hard to tell from where she was. The most she could make out was a pair of flapping wings, a long, serpent tail, and a bright glowing chest. As the figure flew off, Dawn could hear a loud, pained roar echo around her.

No sooner had the flying creature vanished that Dawn had fallen past all the islands and into something else. Almost immediately, Dawn was blinded. She had to squint her eyes to even begin to make out where she was now. It sort of looked like she was in the middle of intersecting rings, or wheels. Lining the brim of the rings was a series of bright, white eyes all of which were staring at her.

Before Dawn could even begin to question what she was witnessing, she fell out of the rings and into complete darkness. It was only thanks to the glowing construct above that she could make out the massive monster from her dream flying overhead. The beast flew in a circle, like a Mandibuzz, before diving down straight at Dawn.

"Dawn," a disembodied feminine voice came from the space next to Dawn.

The chained beast was coming closer. In the distance, Dawn could make two more figures following the beast's descent. A pair of roars, similar yet different from the first winged figure, sounded off. Dawn wasn't quite sure what the roars belonged to, but they sounded draconic.

"Dawn," the voice spoke again. This time, Dawn could feel the voice's owner. She was grabbing onto Dawn's shoulder, gently shaking her. "Dawn!"

Passenger Car

"Dawn," Sorcermon said, giving Dawn's shoulder a gentle shake. "Dawn."

"Huh, wha?" Dawn blinked awake. She patted the seat beneath her and was pleasantly surprised to find it was one of the cots from the infirmary and not an endless void.

"Come with me. I've got something to show you!" Sorcermon said excitedly.

"Is it an eye ring?" Dawn asked, still half asleep.

"That is an odd inquiry, but no," Sorcermon pulled Dawn away from bed and toward the infirmary car's front door. "We are about to arrive at our destination!"

Pushing the door open, Sorcermon stepped aside to allow Dawn a look. I little far off in the distance, Dawn could make out a city of rubble and buildings in shambles. The only two intact structures were a tall, old fashioned building with architecture which made it look like it was taken straight out of Johto. This building was dwarfed by a massive colosseum which sparkled as though it was made of diamonds.

"Wow. We're finally here!" Dawn breathed, dream completely forgotten. After all this time, all those hikes through blizzards and close calls with wild Digimon, Dawn was going to make it to the temple safe and sound!

Ears ringing from the gunfire, Dawn was completely deaf to the strangled dolphin cry Dolphmon let out before dissolving into glowing dust.

The smile that had been forming on Dawn's face fell. She returned to the infirmary car. "Sorcermon, how is Meramon's egg?"

Sorcermon pointed over to a makeshift nest comprised of blankets and pillows. "He seems to be in good condition. It may take a while for him to hatch, but the egg shell is in one piece and the infirmary is fairly warm."

"That's good," Dawn sighed. Placing her hand over her chest, Dawn could feel her heart beat a mile a minute.

"Dawn," Sorcermon said slowly. The ice wizard studied his partner with concerned eyes. "If you are not feeling one hundred percent today, it would be completely understandable. I'm sure if we let the other chosen Digimon and their partners know, they'll let you have some time to yourself or we can even ask to delay your visit to the temple if needed."

"No! No! No! This is way too important!" Dawn waved her hands rapidly. She placed a smile on her face. "Besides, I've been dying to meet the others face to face. There's no way I'm missing a second of this!"

Despite Dawn's insistence, Sorcermon continued to stare at her with uncertainty. "Well, if you insist."

"Insist I do," Dawn grinned. She then grabbed Sorcermon by the shoulders and began pushing him out of the car. "Now out! We've got a good first impression to make and my hair needs to be styled in less than an hour!"

Dawn (Around the horn)

Station

Aside from the stadium and the Johto tower, the only building that was sort of intact was the train station. It was a lot larger than the station Dawn had departed from with a grand empty building standing behind her filled with dead shops and dusty benches of various sizes for the verity of Digimon that had used them in days gone by.

"Thanks for the ride!" Dawn called out to Worm and his crew. Both Elecmon and Palmon stood on the back of the caboose, waving good-bye to Dawn and Sorcermon. Even Worm gave the departing pair a loud, farewell whistle.

Dawn watched as the train drive away until it was a speck in the distance. She then sat down on a bench. "Guess we just need to wait now."

Bringing his hand over his eyes, Sorcermon squinted his eyes and stared off in the opposite direction of the departed Worm. He then pointed out towards the barren landscape. "I don't think we'll have to wait for too long!"

Looking over where Sorcermon was pointing, Dawn stood up. Coming in fast was the largest Ninetails she had ever seen. Well, ever seen in person. Thanks to her Digivice's Digidex app she was already familiar with this Digimon.

"That's Kyubimon!" Dawn exclaimed. She watched as the large fox charged closer and closer to the train station. As the fox approached, Dawn noticed more travelers. There were a couple of humans sitting atop Kyubimon's back along with a couple more mounts trailing behind her. The first Dawn instantly recognized as an Onix, the first Pokémon she had seen since arriving in the Digital World. The second mount was a large Digimon who resembled a Tyrantrum with a horned helmet, Greymon.

Before long, Kyubimon leapt on to the platform where she came to a stop. She knelt down to let off her riders, a girl with long blond hair and a slightly older girl whose ginger hair was pulled to the side in a short ponytail.

"Hello! Nice to meet you!" Dawn said as she zoomed over for the first human contact she had in over a month. She shoved her hand out toward the pair. "My name is Dawn, better known as SpotlightQueen! The wizard behind me is my partner's champion form: Sorcermon!"

Sorcermon tipped his hat. "Salutations!"

The blonde girl was the first to accept Dawn's hand. "Hi Dawn! My name's Serena, also known as PokePuffPower, and this is my partner, Kyubimon."

"Pleasure," Kyubimon replied in a calm, polite tone. Had Dawn not just seen Kyubimon charge in, she would have never guessed that she was just running by how composed the fox sounded.

Next was the ginger girl. "And I'm TomboyMermaid, but you can call me Misty. My partner didn't want to crowd Kyubimon, so she's currently riding Greymon's back."

Just as Misty finished her brief introduction, Onix pulled into the station. Atop the Onix's head was a teenage boy and a Gotsumon. The Onix slowly lowered its head so that its passengers could climb off. The teen boy hopped off the rock snake and returned it to its Poke Ball. "Thanks for the ride, Onix. Take a goo rest," he said before turning toward Dawn. "I'm guessing you're SpotlightQueen, since you're by yourself. My name is Brock. As you can probably guess, I'm RockSolid."

While Dawn went over to return Brock's greeting, Greymon came stomping into the station. Atop his back was a boy with a cap and an amphibious Digimon that Dawn was pretty sure was Misty's Betamon. The boy stood up on Greymon's neck and cheered. "We made it!"

Greymon joined in with Ash's cheers supplying his own victorious roar. Said roar accidently knocked the boy off his perch causing him to plummet to the ground next to Dawn. Most of the rest of the group gave a collective, sympathetic cry of "Oooo!"

Dawn reached down to help the boy. "Are you okay?"

"He's fine," Greymon said, though he did give Ash a gentle sniff. "Ash is a tough human."

"He's right," Ash said weakly. "I'm good."

"If he has brain damage, we probably won't notice," remarked the Gotsumon dryly.

"You seem…pleasant?" Sorcermon stated in a confused voice.

"Thanks I try," Gotsumon replied, clearly not caring.

"You should see him when he's mad," Brock said in good humor.

While Dawn and the other humans helped up Ash, the Betamon scuttled down Greymon's back and onto the station floor. When she saw Dawn and Sorcermon, she began to walk forward. And then back. Forward again, then back. Finally, she came forward and introduced herself in a quiet voice.

"Hello. I'm Betamon. I'm really happy that you were able to arrive here safely," Betamon greeted. Her piece said, she retreated to Misty's side where her trainer reached down to gently pat her.

With everyone else's introductions finished, it was Ash's turn. He dusted himself off and grinned at Dawn. "Thanks for the help. My names Ash Ketchum and I'm going to be a Pokémon Master!"

Greymon followed up Ash's introduction. "And my name is Greymon. My goal is to kick butt and save the day!"

"Could you do that without breaking Ash's neck?" Misty asked exasperatedly.

"Relax, Misty. I'm not made of glass," Ash huffed.
"No, but you are made of bones which do break," Misty replied.

"Well, they didn't. So you don't have to lecture us," Ash said dismissively.

That comment, or at least how it was said, got Misty scowling. "Well, excuse me for caring!"

Serena inserted herself between the two. "Misty, you don't have to worry so much. Ash has been riding Greymon for a while now. He's been able to keep his balance while Greymon is running or fighting. I think he's becoming a good rider."

"See!" Ash folded his arms smugly. "No need to worry!"

"I've heard that line before," Sorcermon muttered.

"I wouldn't say that," Serena was now directing her lecture toward Ash. "Just because you are able to handle yourself doesn't mean you should throw caution to the wind. Standing up on a still active Pokémon, or Digimon, isn't safe and you shouldn't just do it because you feel like it."

"My thoughts exactly," Misty sniffed victoriously.

During this argument, Dawn leaned over to whisper to Brock. "Are they always like this?"

"Sometimes," Brock shrugged. "We have the occasional verbal sniping, but it comes from a place of caring."

"Just be careful when they get heated," warned Gotsumon. "If you reach your hand in you might lose it."

The squabble came to a close when Kyubimon loudly cleared her throat. "Now that we are all together, shall we check in or do you wish to do more thorough introductions?"

"I say we save the get to know you stuff for later when everyone is here," Greymon voted. "I hate repeating myself."

"I agree," Misty nodded. "I just hope they don't take too long."

Brock brought out his Digivice and opened up the map. "It doesn't look like it should take too long. Maybe less than an hour."

"And when they get here we're going to stay at that resort-looking building, right?" Serena asked looking up at the tall building peaking over the station's roof.

"That is correct," Kyubimon nodded. "That hotel is owned and run by the temple. Its main purpose is to house Digimon seeking council on evolution or wisdom from the temple guards. Since we are going to take the temple's trials, we will be required to stay the night."

"Now there's a test I can get behind. Staying the night at a luxury bathhouse," Misty gushed. Her eyes then narrowed suspiciously. "Wait, is this place haunted?"

"Not to my knowledge," Kyubimon replied.

"Are we going to be kidnapped in the middle of the night?" Misty continued, hands on her hips.

"I wouldn't know."

"Are they going to spy on us?"

"It's a possibility."

"I thought you were looking forward to this resort," Ash commented.

"I am, I just don't want to be disappointed," Misty sighed. "Every single time we've been given a break from camping it comes with some kind of string attached like fighting a monster or feeding a small army of Guilmon."

"That last one might be the more challenging of the two," mused Sorcermon.

"At this point, I don't think being suspicious is unreasonable," Misty concluded. "Just keep your eyes peeled the second we check in."

"Speaking of checking in," Brock spoke up. "We could either do that now, or we could look around a bit and wait for everyone else to come in and check in with them."

"Not much to look at," Dawn noted. She stared at the ruins of what was probably a once proud city. Maybe it would be fun to look around if she was an archeologist, but knowing about the ongoing war and what probably happened here, she'd rather not.

Ears ringing from the gunfire, Dawn was completely deaf to the strangled dolphin cry Dolphmon let out before dissolving into glowing dust.

A shudder ran down Dawn's back. At least Digimon didn't leave dead bodies. She wasn't sure if she could handle one of those right now.

"What about that large building?" Ash asked zeroing on the shiny stadium.

"That would be Cendrillmon's Colosseum," Kyubimon answered. "It's probably one of the few tourist friendly places left."

"Why don't we check that out," suggested Greymon. "I've always wanted to see it."

With nothing else to do, everyone headed on over to the stadium. Little did they realize that they were being watched. A small, blue-eyed figure perched atop the station's roof watched the group leave. As the group rounded a corner, the figure's tail twitched and it silently retreated into the shadows to follow the new arrivals.

Cendrillmon's Colosseum

The colosseum, was every bit impressive up close as it was from a distance. Massive doorways to welcome in larger Digimon, statues of various Digimon guarding the entrance, and torches that held fresh smelling ash showed that there were still Digimon taking care of the empty landmark. Now that Dawn was right next to the building, she could see the structure was not made of diamond but some kind of sturdy glass which had the petals of roses embedded within.

"Amazing to see how this place is still standing," Misty thought out loud. "Like, the hotel could have been rebuilt after the city was destroyed, but I don't think anyone would have been able to repair this place with the lack of man power and all the resources that have been funneled into the battlefront."

"You're assumption is correct," Sorcermon nodded. "From what I read, this is in fact the original colosseum."

"So, how isn't it cracked?" Dawn asked looking over at a large clock tower that had toppled nearby.

"It is said that Cendrillmon's friend group hosted a number of fairy and pixie Digimon who helped her build this colosseum as well as her own Ash-Covered Castle," Sorcermon explained. "Thanks to a combination of their enchantments as well as some spells casted by Cendrillmon herself, the architecture of these buildings were able withstand the most devastating of Digimon attacks."

"Guess you'd have to make them like that if you wanted to build a place for Digimon to brawl," Ash mused as he inspected a statue of a Digimon that resembled a humanoid Walrein with a massive shell and a war hammer. "It must have taken a lot of work."

"Well, I'm glad she went through all that trouble," Serena said looking up at the colosseum. "I'd hate it if this place was destroyed. It's beautiful!"

Next to Serena, Gotsumon looked up and squinted. "Kind of hard to look at with the glare that glass is giving off."

"It is on the shiny side," Sorcermon agreed.

"That fire flying towards us doesn't help," noted Greymon.

"Fire?" Serena questioned.

Now everyone was looking up at the colosseum. Hovering just above the building was a massive fireball with a pair of long wings. As the fire descended, Dawn could see that it wasn't just a giant, flaming ball, rather it was a giant, flaming bird. Holy snap! It was the legendary Moltres! The very Pokémon whose flame was used to ignite the torch for Pokémon Leagues the world over! No, wait, wrong. What would Moltres be doing in the Digital World?

By now Ash knew the drill and took out his Digivice to scan the gargantuan phoenix. "It's Birdramon!" he exclaimed.

Birdramon let out a loud shriek while the rest of the Digimon backed away to make room for her. A lot of room. Between Birdramon's main body size and wingspan, Dawn was pretty sure this was the largest champion level Digimon she had yet to see.

When Birdramon finally touched the ground, a pair of humans and a much smaller Digimon climbed off her talons. The first of the passengers was a girl around Dawn's age with a red bandana. She was followed by a boy with a high collared shirt with a small white Digimon with long ears riding his shoulder.

The long-eared Digimon, which Dawn identified as a Terriermon, spotted Dawn and the rest of the humans. "Our TOA was just a few minutes. Can you guys really not stand still for that long?"

"Sorry!" Serena apologized. "We just wanted to do a little exploring. We didn't mean to give you guys trouble."

The boy flickered the Terriermon in the temples. "Ignore him. He's just trying to give you guys a hard time. He'd probably do the same thing if our roles were reversed."

Terriermon folded his arms. "I admit to nothing."

Ash was the first person to go up to the new arrivals. He thrust his hand forward and gave them both a big smile. "Nice to meet you guys! I'm Ash and my buddy standing behind me is Greymon!"

"Hey! How're you doing?" Greymon greeted, bending down and placing his snout right in front of the two new humans.

"Uh, fine," the boy said backing away in an attempt to regain some personal space. "My name's Goh. And this is Terriermon."

"Howdy!" Terriermon greeted. One of his ears swung forward and grasped Ash's offered hand.

The girl, who also backed away (though more from Greymon's fanged mouth than Ash), smiled and grasped Ash's hand after Terriermon let go. "Nice to meet you, Ash. My name is May and Birdramon is my partner."

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Birdramon said. She then stepped back and did a sweeping motion with her wings reminiscent of a curtsy. Her graceful movements contrasting the blazing inferno emitted from her body would have made for a beautiful display, if she didn't accidently set one of the nearby buildings on fire.

"Ah!" May squealed. Apparently Birdramon set the building ablaze when one of her wings grazed in during her bow. Both May and Birdramon's eyes widened and Birdramon immediately began kicking up dirt to try and smother the rapidly growing flames.

"Allow me to assist! Drowning Aquarius!" Sorcermon slammed his staff into the ground conjuring up a geyser of water to douse some of the fire. Besides him, Greymon and Kyubimon began assisting Birdramon in kicking dirt over the flames.

"Betamon!" Misty said, holding up her Digivice. Betamon nodded and stepped forward.

Betamon Digivolve to…Seadramon!

While Seadramon sprayed ice onto the fire, Brock took out one of his Poke Balls. "Geodude, help us out with Sandstorm!"

The ball unleashed a Geodude onto the field who clapped his hands together summoning a sandstorm that finished off the fire. With the fire successfully snuffed, everyone cheered and congratulated each other.

"Why was everyone concerned in the first place?" asked Gotsumon. "It's an abandoned building that was already falling apart."

"Sorry about that," May said bashfully. "Birdramon is still getting used to her size and power. We're trying to figure out how to control her flames."

"No need to worry," Dawn reassured. "Nobody was hurt."

"That being said, I think you should revert Birdramon to her rookie form for now," Brock suggested in a gentle yet serious tone.

"Good idea," May said wincing while behind her Birdramon glowed and shrank down to a pink bird Dawn's Digivice identified as a Biyomon.

Biyomon performed another bow, though this time she didn't do the curtsy. "Thank you for cleaning up my mess. I promise to work hard to temper my flames."

"Don't worry. You're not a bother," Sorcermon said modestly. "Seeing as how we all reached the champion level, I think we all understand that while the transformation comes with a basic understanding of our new powers it takes time and practice to fully master these forms."

"I still sometimes forget how big I am too," Seadramon said in a little voice.

"Besides, it's just like Gotsumon said, no one is using this building anyway," Ash reassured. He then walked over to the burnt building and gave it a good knock. "It's even still intact!"

Just as Ash finished his assessment, another large Digimon came rocketing down out of the sky, demolishing the building. The Digimon's landing kicked up a massive cloud of soot causing the surrounding humans and Digimon to cough and cover their faces in an attempt to protect their eyes. When the cloud cleared, everyone was able to see the blue dragon standing atop of the rubble.

"What did we miss?" asked the dragon.

A little girl with voluminous hair peaked out from behind the dragon's head and began scolding the dragon. "Coredramon! I said to land next to the building! No on it!"

Coredramon just smiled Mareepishly "Whoops. But you've got to admit, it was a pretty cool entrance!"

"Ugh, you're such a kid," the girl sighed. She then smoothly made her way to the ground with a climb and a jump. Landing, the girl introduced herself to the rest of the group. "Sorry about Coredramon. My name is Iris. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"You're Dragons For The Win, right?" Dawn asked.

Iris blinked in surprise. "How did you know?"

Dawn looked up at Coredramon before giving Iris a wink. "It's just a hunch."

"Ah, yeah, I guess it's kind of obvious," Iris replied with a small blush.

Suddenly, another Digimon leapt off of Coredramon's back. This one resembled an armored, white Lopunny. The Digimon let down a girl with long blond hair who stumbled for a second trying to regain her balance. Serena rushed forward to help the Digimon catch the girl.

"Thank you," said the blonde girl as she straightened up. "I'm still trying to master the art of riding a Digimon that's riding another Digimon."

"Why don't you just ride Coredramon?" Ask asked, blinking in confusion.

At that question, the girl began fidgeting with her fingers. "I…kind of have a problem with touching most Digimon."

Ash stared at her before his eyes widened in realization. "Ohhh, I get it. You're a germaphobe!"

The girl stared at Ash before erupting in giggles. She waved him off while she explained. "That's not it. It's because it's hard for me to get close to Pokémon and Digimon kind of remind me of Pokémon. Lekismon is the only Digimon I'm able to safely touch for a while."

"Lillie and I have been training to extend the amount of time we can come in contact with each other," Lekismon added on. "I'd like to think we're making a lot of progress."

"Wow, it must really stink having a hard time getting close to Pokémon," Ash mused sympathetically.

"Speaking of stinking," Iris said pointedly as she rounded on Ash. "Why would you assume a germaphobe would have problems riding Coredramon?! Are you trying to say something about my Digimon?"

"I wasn't trying to insult your Digimon!" Ash snapped back. "Germaphobes are just the first thing that pop into my head when I hear someone can't touch something!"

"Make peace, we are all on the same team," Sorcermon said placing himself between Ash and Iris. "Perhaps we should take this time to go around and do some proper introductions. I'll start. My name is Sorcermon. I am a wizard in training and I specialize in healing, water, and ice magic."

As soon as Sorcermon finished, Iris zoomed away from the wizard and hid herself behind one of Coredramon's legs.

"That was weird," Dawn muttered. She caught May's eye causing the other girl to simply shrug.

"Let's see," Serena muttered looking around. "I think we have almost everyone. All that's missing is-"

Before Serena could finish that though, a Garurumon came galloping into the middle of the gathering. Dawn took a couple of cautious steps back. She was more than familiar with this Digimon thanks to the packs of Garurumon wondering around the artic (too many close calls). Dawn relaxed when she saw the large Arcanine let down a human boy.

Despite sharing Dawn's negative experience with Garurumons, Sorcermon had no trouble extending his greetings toward the wolf. "Excellent! We were just about to do an around the horn introduction!"

Garurumon's eyes darted back and forth between Sorcermon and his staff. "Please don't swap my brain."

"Sorry?" Sorcermon asked, taken aback.

Whatever further conversation that would have resulted from that wacky interaction started was quenched the second Ash and the Garurumon's trainer locked eyes. Just like that everyone stilled. It took a moment before the situation clicked in Dawn's mind. Right, this guy must have been Gary, the guy who Ash challenged to a showdown.

Given their interactions on the group chat and how spunky Ash was, Dawn was half expecting the boys to start a shouting match or just forgo the Digimon battle and throw fists on the spot. But neither boy said a word. They just stared at each other, studying one another.

"Should we do something?" Dawn whispered to no one in particular.

Coredramon leaned down and replied to Dawn in a low voice. "I've seen this before."

"Really?" Dawn asked.

The dragon nodded his large head. "This happens all the time in the wild. When two Digimon are about to fight over a territory it tends to occur in three stages. This is the second stage, the stare down. It's when the two opponents size each other up."

Okay, that seemed about right. Dawn whispered her next question. "What's the first stage?"

"Roaring," replied Coredramon. "They'll try to scare the other off by showing off who has the louder vocals. We saw that step in the DigiChat."

"And the third stage?" Dawn probed.

Coredramon's eyes narrowed. "They fight."

At the word fight, Dawn's eyes flew to the colosseum. It was kind of perfect, if those two were looking to duke it out a stadium would be the classic answer. Looking back over at the two, Dawn could see that even their Digimon were beginning to circle each other, though the atmosphere between those two was completely different.

"It's great to see you're in good health, Greymon," Garurumon greeted as he began eagerly sniffing at Greymon's tail. "This new body really suits you!"

"A know, right?" Greymon grinned. "You're looking pretty sleek yourself. Bet you've been knocking all kinds of skulls together."

"Oh, I just run around and breath fire," Garurumon said modestly. He sat down and wrapped his tail around Gary's shoulders. "Gary does most of the work. I just do what he says."

Greymon gave Gary a dismissive snort before turning back to Garurumon. "Don't sell yourself short. I just know you've carrying your team on your new spiky shoulders."

"Uh, hi, Terriermon here," Terriermon piped up. "Just thought you should know, there are four other Digimon Garurumon has been traveling with. We kind of pitch in too. Just putting that out there."

"Oh yeah. Sorry. I'm sure you guys are great too," Greymon quickly apologized before returning to conversing with his friend. "So, what kind of fights have you been getting into? Because my team managed to bring down an ultimate!"

"Huh, you wouldn't tell their trainers hate each other the way those two act," Goh said thoughtfully as he watched the two champions interact.

Misty nodded in agreement. "I think said trainers could take a lesson or two out of their monsters' books."

Before the conversation could go any further, Brock brought his fingers up to his lips and whistled. Once he saw that he had everyone's attention, he spoke in a loud and clear voice. "Okay guys, I know that some of us have some unfinished business to take care of, but right now everyone is tired. I think we should put off fights or any other activities until tomorrow. Is that alright?"

"I can do that," Gary said giving Brock a shrug.

Ash took another minute to glare at Gary before replying with a "Yeah."

"Awesome!" Dawn said clapping her hands together. "Well, since we're now all here, why don't we do what Sorcermon suggested earlier and introduce ourselves?"

"Fine by me," Serena said before sparing the tired ride Digimon a glance. "But we might want to keep them short. Maybe just list your name, where you're from, and what your job is or what you want to do."

"Perfect! I'll start," Dawn turned to face the assortment of humans and monsters. "My name is Dawn! I come from Twinleaf Town in Sinnoh and one day I'm going to be the top Pokémon Coordinator!"

"What's a Coordinator?" May asked causing Dawn's jaw to drop.

"You don't know what a Coordinator is!?" Dawn exclaimed. This was a travesty! An injustice! What rock had this poor girl been living under?!

Before Dawn could fix the universe by explaining in depth exactly what a Pokémon Coordinator was and how the world was a better place because of Pokémon Contests, Dawn felt Sorcermon place his hand on her back. Dawn's partner then cleared his throat. "For the benefit those who arrived late, I'll redo my introduction. My name is Sorcermon. I come from a village up north where I was training to be a spell caster. I specialize in ice, water, and healing magic which I assure everyone has nothing to do with misplacing brains."

Sorcermon then pointed to May, signaling her to go next.

"Uh, hi. My name is May and I'm from Petalburg City in Hoenn, though I just moved there from Johto," May said. She then paused to think before continuing. "At the moment I don't really have any big ambitions, but I would like to try different foods and see the world. Well, my world. Not that there's anything wrong with this world."

Once May awkwardly finished her intro, it was Biyomon's turn. The avian Digimon hesitated before speaking. "It is a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Biyomon and I didn't really come from a village or have a job before becoming May's partner. I was a wild Digimon."

This admission earned Biyomon a collection of reactions form the people who didn't travel with her ranging from wide eyed surprise from Sorcermon to a skeptical huff from Greymon who decided to voice his doubts. "Wild Digimon don't talk."

"Perhaps I wasn't born with the ability to speak," Biyomon sniffed, now speaking with more conviction. "However, as you can plainly see, I have earned that skill through hard work and tutoring."

"I guess it makes sense," Brock reasoned. "From what I've heard, the key difference between a wild Digimon and a civilized Digimon is where they were hatched. It's a perfect example of nature vs nurture. It must have been hard learning a completely different way of life."

"Oh, it was very difficult," Biyomon nodded earnestly. "Doctor Kabukimon started out by teaching me behaviors in exchange for food. As I progressed, I became more aware of what was happening and he was able to teach me more complex manners."

"Well, I'd say your hard work paid off. I'd say you're more cultivated than certain Digimon who grew up in civilized society," Misty reassured Biyomon while glancing at a certain dinosaur.

"Don't think I can't see where you're looking," Greymon grumbled.

"Misty's right, you really do come across as a refined, young lady," Brock complemented causing Biyomon to beam. Brock then addressed the rest of the group. "I'm Brock and I'm the Gym Leader for the Pewter City Gym in the Kanto region. I specialize in rock type Pokémon."

"Geodude," Geodude floated next to Brock and folded his arms.

"I'm Gotsumon," Gotsumon simply stated. Everyone waited for him to elaborate, but the rock Digimon just stood there.

"You're RockSolid, right?" Goh asked Brock, breaking the silence. "You mentioned having Pokémon in one of the chats. Do you have any others on you?"

"Just one," Brock replied taking out Onix's ball. "Come on out, Onix!"

In a flash of light, Onix towered behind Brock. While the Digimon who had traveled with the rock snake took his appearance in stride, the Digimon who had yet to meet the large Pokémon took a moment to comment on their new travel companion.

"Now there's a big boy," Terriermon whistled.

"Interesting, both Onix and the smaller rock Pokémon seem to have an earth affinity just like Excadrill," Lekismon observed. "The way Lillie described human and Pokémon relationships, it sounded like certain humans favored certain types. I wonder if the Digivices favor geomancer lovers."

"Whatever the case, Onix and Geodude seem like much friendlier Pokémon than Excadrill," Biyomon remarked.

"In that they actually bother interacting with us at all," Terriermon remarked.

"Cool!" exclaimed Coredramon who immediately stomped over to Onix. "Is he tame? Can I pet him?"

"Go on ahead," Brock said, patting Onix's side. This earned him a happy sounding noise from Coredramon which could best be described as a cross between a growl and a screech. The dragon reached out and began stroking the serpent with surprising tenderness one would not expect from a giant lizard.

While Onix was leaning into Coredramon's claw, Garurumon carefully studied the snake before sighing. "Nope, doesn't ring any bells."

"What's got you down?" Gary asked his partner.

"When I heard that the other group had some more Pokémon, I was hoping that one of them would be the same kind the first human used," Garurumon explained. "Then maybe I could use them to trigger some memories from my past life."

"That plan would have been a long shot," Gary stated with a frown. "Back home, there are hundreds of different Pokémon species. Even if every human here had a full party of six unique Pokémon, odds would still be that none of us would have the same species the first human had."

"When you put it that way, I guess it was doomed to fail," Garurumon muttered as he continued to watch Coredramon pet Onix. Finally he plodded on over. "Can I have a turn?"

As Coredramon stepped aside to let Garurumon sniff Onix, Brock turned his attention to Iris. "If I recall correctly, you are the only member of your team who said they brought a Pokémon to the Digital World."

"Yeah, but if it's okay with you, I'm not going to let him out. Excadrill isn't one for large crowds," Iris said bashfully. She then smiled and spoke with more confidence. "My name is Iris and I'm from the Village of Dragons in Unova. My goal is to one day become a Dragon Master."

From where he was sitting next to Onix, Coredramon piped up. "Hi I'm Coredramon. I'm both Iris's first dragon and a ranger. If you have any animal or nature issues, I'm your mon."

Misty spoke up. "Since we're talking about people with Pokémon, I'll go next. My name is Misty and I'm one of the Cerulean City gym leaders."

A cough erupted from Gary that sounded suspiciously like laughter. Seeing as how the other humans were now looking at him, Gary waved them off. "It's nothing. Go on."

Narrowing her eyes, Misty continued. "As I was saying, I'm the competent member of my gym and my goal is to be a Water Pokémon Master."

Misty took out her Poke Ball and released a Staryu. The starfish Pokémon wrapped its arms around Misty's own arm making it look like a fancy arm guard. Dawn having seen pictures of Staryu's before noticed an oddity with this particular Pokémon.

"What happened to it?" Dawn asked. "It looks like its missing some limbs."

"He lost those in a battle with a Kyukimon," Misty confirmed solemnly.

"Yeah, that'll do it," Terriermon nodded in agreement.

"But don't worry, so long as his core is unharmed he can grow them back," Misty added on.

Behind Misty, Seadramon coiled into herself when she saw the massive crowd turn their attention onto her. When she spoke, it was in a quick mutter. "My name is Seadramon and I was a dock worker. I hope we can get along."

Not wanting to bother the clearly shy Digimon, everyone turned their attention to the next human, Gary. Catching their looks, Gary put on a smarmy grin. "Gary Oak, Pallet Town in Kanto. Future champion."

Dawn's eyes wondered over to Ash. It looked like the boy was about to say something, but Kyubimon placed her pay on his shoulder and gave her head a subtle shake.

Meanwhile, Garurumon finished up investigating Onix and returned to sit at Gary's side like an obedient Houndour. "My name is Garurumon and I used to be a ground's keeper. But all I really did was pickup after people. It's nice to finally meet everyone!"

Garurumon then pointed his muzzle over to Serena who caught the preverbal baton. "Hello! Serena here and I'm from Vaniville in the Kalos region. I'm currently looking into becoming a Pokémon trainer, though I admit I haven't really thought much about what I want to do after getting my first Pokémon."

Kyubimon walked back over to Serena and dipped her head in a polite bow. "My name is Kyubimon and I recently graduated from Shurimon's Academy. I am a combat specialist and look forward to working alongside this group."

"Alola!" Lillie brightly said after Kyubimon finished her introduction. "My name is Lillie and I hail from Melemele Island in the Alola region. I hope to one day be a Pokémon researcher."

"How do you plan on doing that if you can't touch Pokémon?" Ash asked.

"Don't be rude!" Misty scolded.

"It's a work in progress," Lillie admitted with a slight blush.

"And my name is Lekismon," said the rabbit. "I aim to take advantage of my status as a partner Digimon to become the world's greatest anthropologist."

"Anthro-what?" Greymon asked tilting his head.

"She wants to study humans," Lillie elaborated.

"Study humans," Serena hummed. "It's kind of weird being seen as an object of study, but it does make sense given humans are basically aliens here. Say, Lekismon, what have you learned so far?"

"A lot!" Lekismon said enthusiastically. "So much that I've had to ask Lillie to copy my notes to the DigiFile app! For example, my latest study has been on the Island Challenge from Lillie's homeland. It's been very fascinating."

Ash perked up at the word "challenge."

"What's the Island Challenge?" Ash probed.

"The Alola Island Challenge is a series of rites trainers can undergo when they turn eleven," Lillie clarified. "The main goal is to gather different Z-crystals that are scattered throughout the isles. Sometime the crystals can be found sticking out of the ground, but most of the time you have to battle for them either against a totem Pokémon or one of the islands' kahunas."

"Huh, sounds a lot like the Pokémon League and its gyms," Ash said thoughtfully.

"Ah ha! I've heard about this!" Lekismon's eyes sparkled. "Do you plan on participating in the Pokémon League of your region?"

"You bet!" Ash declared, pumping his fists.

"Excellent!" Lekismon took out a pen and notebook and bounded over to Ash until she was right in his face. "Do you have a strategy in mind for building your Pokémon team?"

"Uh, find Pokémon and train them?" Ash answered now looking nervous that his personal space was being invaded. Dawn noticed Greymon's eyes intensify on Ash when he mentioned training Pokémon.

"So you're making this up as you go. Interesting," Lekismon muttered jotting down some notes. "What do you anticipate as your greatest challenge?"

"The league?" Ash said uncertainly.

"Can we save this for later?" Goh asked, interrupting the interrogation.

"Oh!" Lekismon's flattened against her head as the rabbit began to blush and chuckle nervously. She quickly shuffled back over to Lillie. "Sorry, got carried away. We'll continue this conversation later."

With Lekismon back by Lillie, Terriermon gave Goh's shoulder a little smack. "Our turn!"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Goh grumbled rubbing his shoulder. When he addressed the rest of the group, he sounded a little unsure. "Okay, I'm Goh and I'm from Vermillion City in Kanto. As I mentioned in a previous chat, I help out at a Pokémon laboratory as a researcher."

"Already? But you're so young," Serena commented.

A blush spread across Goh's face while a note of pride entered his voice. "Okay, so maybe I'm not a full-fledged researcher, yet. I'm just getting started. My friend's dad had me gathering some data on the Pokémon at the local park when I got my Digivice, but I do have some plans on how to find rarer Pokémon by studying weather patterns and-"

"Settle down, Goh. These are supposed to be short introductions. Not autobiographies," Terriermon chided his human. Before Goh could respond, Terriermon began his own intro. "Nice to meet everyone! My name is Terriermon and I was working as a farm hand before Goh came to pick me up."

"Hey, I was a farm hand too before Pegasusmon took me in," Greymon noted with surprise.

Ash blinked in surprise. "You never mentioned being a farm hand before."

"You don't know everything about me," Greymon grinned showing off his impressive teeth. "Anyway. Hi, I'm Greymon."

"And I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in the Kanto region! My goal is to be a Pokémon Master!" Ash declared with bravado. There was a moment of silence before Ash spoke again. "…So what now?"

"Well, what were you guys doing before we arrived?" May inquired politely.

"Checking out this stadium," Greymon said nodding towards the building in question.

"Oh, Cendrillmon's Colosseum," Garurumon's tail gave a little wag. "Good choice. That place is always popular with the tourists."

"Well, it wasn't so much a choice as it was a process of elimination," Gotsumon said dryly, looking around at the miles of destroyed buildings.

"Hm, Cendrillmon," Dawn said thoughtfully. She took out her Digivice to look up the Digimon in question. The device displayed a picture of a humanoid, female Digimon. She had porcelain, white skin and wore a light blue leotard with a belt around her waist. Loosely hanging just below her shoulders was a short, white, fur coat held in place by the fluffy sleeves of her arms. The coat trailed out into a long, elegant, silk cloak. The Digimon stood on two long legs which resembled glass spikes and her the upper half of her head looked like a helmet incasing a bouquet of roses matching the glass trapped flowers that made up her chest. Flowing out from behind the helmet were locks of long, blond hair.

"Cendrillmon, mega level," Dawn read. "She was born from the tale of Cinderella and likes to hold "balls" where she'll fight other Digimon. During these fights she could skewer other Digimon with her legs using Matrimonial Strike, fire a laser beam using Prism Data Break, or summon a legend of familiars to suicide bomb her opponent with her Noble Family Arts. Yikes."

"I actually remember Cendrillmon from Professor Labramon's history classes," Serena spoke up. "According to him, Cendrillmon's Colosseum was used as a neutral zone during Millenniummon's first manifestation. If any of the warring states had a beef with each other, they would select a champion to fight in her stadium rather than waste resources battling each other."

"Though there were the occasional attempts of underhanded sabotage and spies," Kyubimon noted. "Honor is not often rewarded during times of desperation."

"Still, that was pretty accommodating of her, allowing the other nations to use her place to work out some of their grievances," said Lillie. "She must have really valued peace."

"Ah, but it wasn't just about peace. Cendrillmon had an alternative motive," Serena said with a sly smirk. "Marriage."

There were several surprised cries of "Marriage?!" before Serena continued. "You see, Cendrillmon had a philosophy that a Digimon showed their true character in the heat of battle. So, she hosted balls in order to see if there was a Digimon who was worthy of being her prince."

"Did she find anyone she liked?" Misty asked, curious.

"Rumor has it that she was fond of the first human," Kyubimon answered.

"The first human fought here!?" Ash asked, now looking back up at the colosseum with renewed interested.

Serena nodded. "As the human's reputation grew, a number of individuals would challenge him here to either test him or defeat him. Rumor has it that Cendrillmon proposed to him after one of these encounters."

"Oh! What did he say?" Dawn asked excitedly.

"He turned her down," Kyubimon said simply. "It's said that he was looking to return to someone who would be waiting for him at home."

"Dawww!" squealed most of the girls in the group.

"I guess you guys are really in to romance," Goh said looking around at the group in confusion, only to find Brock standing next to him crying his eyes out.

"Don't you get it!?" Brock wept. "Lost in a foreign world, never knowing if you'd live to see your loved one again, and then a queen comes along and tells you she wants your hand in marriage. Most men would crack in that situation, but not the first human. He held on to integrity and hope. It's so beautiful!"

"Would it even work out?" Goh wondered, bringing his hand up to his chin. "I mean it's obvious Digimon and humans have completely different biologies. Heck, I'd wager humans are more closely related to Pokémon than they would be to Digimon, even if some Digimon look humanoid."

"IT DOESN'T MATTER! SHE'S A BOMBSHELL! I'D DIE TO HAVE A WOMAN LIKE THAT! YOU HEAR ME? DIE!" Brock practically screamed as grabbed hold of Goh and shook his shoulders back and forth.

"Okay! Okay! I get it!" Goh shouted back.

"Make it stop!" cried Terriermon as he held onto Goh's shoulders for life.

"Here," Ash said with an unusually calm voice. "We're going to have our match here."

"Sounds good," Gary said casually. There was a brief pause where it looked like Gary was going to say something else, but he instead turned around and walked away. "Now, if you excuse me, Garurumon and I are going to take some R and R."

Garurumon got up to follow Gary, but first addressed Ash and Greymon. "It's really nice to see you again. I'll catch up with you guys later!"

"Huh, that was weird. I was kind of expecting a shouting match or for them to start fighting right away," Dawn stated as she watched the pair head over to the hotel. "Not that I'm complaining, it's just that with all the drama in the chats I was picturing a different meeting."

"I do suspect that's the case for some people," Sorcermon nodded. He looked over to Ash who had reverted Greymon to Agumon and was now having a discussion in hushed tones. "As for our new companions, I think they may share Cendrillmon's philosophy. The best way to judge a person is on the battlefield."

AN: Watch in amazement as the stupendous PizzaSpino juggles twenty or so characters at once! Will this glorious fanfic author be able to pull off this breath taking stunt, or will everything crash and burn!?

Not feeling fully satisfied with this chapter, but we've got a long road ahead of us and I imposed a deadline on myself for a reason. Moving along!

I was going to feature a whole bunch of character bits at the hotel like one of my interludes, but a round a horn with twenty different characters was taking up enough pages and time by itself. Looks like we might have to split this chapter into two, maybe even three parts. Hope you're happy with Dawn's segment.

Reader Response Recess!

Ashpoke55: At the risk of sucking the air out of the room, it's going to be several chapters before they get their crests and even then they won't begin unlocking their ultimate forms until the next arc. And even then I plan on spacing out the ultimate Digivolutions. That being said, Ash will be the first to unlock ultimate.

Matymegamax: As I plan on spacing out the ultimate Digivolutions, I am also considering hinting at the mega forms every so often. Maybe not quite as overt as Omegamon/Omnimon appearing to fight Argomon, but if you're familiar with Digimon you might be able to guess them. As for your guesses (I'm assuming they are guesses), they are all good megas that fit well with the rookies and champions that have been revealed. I don't want to spoil too much, but if I must: 1/10 correct.

The one who reads and writes: Ah yes, the beautifully messy web of a family tree we like to call Digivolution. While the most famous Digivolutions make sense like Veemon to ExVeemon or Ikkakumon into Zudomon, there are still more that seem out of nowhere. Most famous probably being hamster with bat wings into angel.

I personally prefer a Digimon with some logical flow. Like Agumon doesn't have to turn into Greymon, he could also become Tyrannomon, Tuskmon or even Airdramon or Monochromon. Heck, even the Gatomon line from Adventures, while nonsensical at first glance, does have a flow if you're familiar with Digimon Lore. Salamon and Gatomon both have holy rings which leads into Angewomon and then Magnadramon who is a holy dragon. You'll probably see some Digivolutions in this spirit as the series goes on.

I don't think Penguinmon and Piplup would be too adversarial, though they might get on each other's nerves from time to time.

While it's not outside the realm of possibilities for the other kids to get weird dreams, there is a good reason Dawn is getting prophetic visions.

You'll probably need more than one trainer to take on a Demon Lord, even if those trainers' Digimon are megas. The Demon Lords are a lot stronger than the average mega much in the same way Angemon is stronger than your average champion. There are also plenty of adversaries for the kids to lock onto as archenemies who aren't Demon Lords, so if you want to see a particular kid get a massive win against a Demon Lord, don't worry.

How will Digimon magic effect Pokémon World magic/superpowers? That's a good question. Digimon magic is a bit more of a soft magic system in that we don't know exactly what its rules or limitations are. We've seen examples from time to time like shapeshifting, possession, and opening corridors to alternate planes of existence, but no one series has sat the audience down and said this is how magic works. Personally I plan to keep magic flexible, but not overpowered so that Sorcermon doesn't get easy wins.

Yeah, I can't find Frailemon's data on any of my source websites, so I think he's just a well-drawn fan Digimon.

I like Team Rocket as well, though I did wish that the show didn't use them as much. Nothing against the trio, they are iconic loveable losers, but one of the things I liked about Black and White was that the show didn't feel the need to make Team Rocket the source of every episode's conflict.

To everyone else tuning in, don't be afraid to comment or criticize! Thank you for reading! God loves you and so do I!

Digimon Introduced

Cendrillmon: Mega, Virus, Puppet
Next Time: Ah, yes. I'd like the luxury suite with the queen sized bed. Say, what time is the breakfast buffet open?