Digimon: Symbiosis (Remastered)

by Dragon Champion Zero

Everything changed the night the sky lit up. Now, with everything in two worlds laying on the line, they'll have to join together to survive and overcome - in the most literal sense possible.

25. Chapter 25: A Warm And Cold Welcome

Been somewhat sluggish to start the year. But let's change that by getting this out there.

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Chapter 25 - A Warm And Cold Welcome

—

The harsh lights cast a sour pallor over the bare metal hallway. An ambiance of harshness, coldness, almost brutality…a perfect match for the stiff, angelic digimon currently traversing them. Her eyes were sharp and vicious, her posture stiff and aggressive, and her temperament as dangerous as anyone else's in the entire complex.

And that was a lot of danger, given that they were Emperius.

"Incompetent simpering fool…hiding away in the darkness while our destiny slips from our grasp…wrapped up in his useless schemes while we watch our power be undermined by weaklings…incapable of even the slightest semblance of leadership…and would it kill him to add some actual lights here?! What is this fake-light trash?!"

"You might be well-served to mind your tongue, D'arcmon." The angelic digimon wheeled around, raising her staff defensively; a Phantomon had glided in through the walls, looking down on her with his typical coolness. "It is only by the grace of our leader that you remain within these walls, and continuously making a pest of yourself is more likely to revoke that grace than anything."

"For the Ancients' sake! Don't sneak up on people like that!"

"My job is to sneak up on people like that. To make sure the wrong ones don't get any further. Though I'm tasked to operate by a definition of 'wrong' that is more circumscribed than I would venture is wise."

D'arcmon scowled. "I don't care if he doesn't want to see me. I want to see HIM. And he needs a dressing down after this debacle, it's a disgrace that this happened to us. You shouldn't be coddling him, Craniummon never would have stood for this."

"I guarantee you I have deeper insight into what went on in Craniummon's mind than you do, particularly considering that you never managed to understand why he rejected you as his lieutenant. And I know much more about what is going on with our leader than you do as well, and what has been going on is anything but coddling. He suffers deeply over these losses, and strives to try to understand what happened and to return us to the right path. Unlike yourself, who wouldn't find the right path if it was outlined for you."

"Eat slime, hoodhead. I know what I'm doing."

"And you would be the only one. Learn your place, D'arcmon, or you'll suffer the consequences. Emperius has only limited patience for malcontents who try to create division."

The only reply to that was a derisive huff. "He's the one creating division. If everyone followed me as they should, that would be true unity, and would lead us to victory rather than failure. Enough of your worthless lectures, I'm going now." She turned and headed further down the hall, Phantomon watching after her but making no further effort to intervene.

The lights got dimmer closer to the doorway, shrouding D'arcmon in near darkness by the time she reached it. Just another thing that rankled her. How can anyone operate in such suffocating darkness? It's nothing but a shroud to hide one's failures. If they truly followed the light, all would be seen and all would be known. There is no glory in darkness… She pressed her hand to a panel, and the door opened up…and she was immediately bathed in a cloud of odd-smelling smoke. "Gah! Damnation, have you never heard of ventilation?"

"If you want me to vent, warn me that you're coming." The deep, smooth voice came from the corner of the room, from a figure who was barely visible from the darkness; the room was even darker than the hallways, shrouded in a blackness that even the light from outside barely penetrated. This darkness was banished, along with the smoky haze, as a whirring sounded overhead; lights rose up, though they weren't the brightest, revealing the black aesthetic of the room, the walls and ceiling and floor looking almost like voids in space with the furnishings almost floating in space. Only the far wall, decked with monitors and console controls, departed from the consistency.

D'arcmon only let the door close behind her after the lights were on, and she turned to focus on the subject of her ire as he rose up from his bed. Talons clicked on the floor as he stood, and wings spread behind him, the inky pinions almost seeming to melt into the backdrop. A tall body, on the leaner side with modest muscle hidden by a coating of ebony feathers, standing just over 3.2 meters tall, a fair bit larger than the irate angel. He folded his arms, looking down at D'arcmon, glittering gold eyes peering over a long, black beak. "D'arcmon. I'm surprised you deigned to come here, considering how much you despise me."

"The only joy I get out of your presence is scouring you into the earth," fired back the angel digimon harshly. "And I've got plenty to scour you over today, Havocravenmon."

"Of course you do. Night forbid you ever have anything to say that benefits anyone other than yourself."

"At least I'm doing something other than asphyxiating myself. You seem content to choke yourself to death in here."

"And I'm sure you'd be first in line for the funeral march. Is there any reason I should bother letting you squawk about, or should I just tell you to go away now and save myself the trouble?"

D'arcmon narrowed her eyes at Havocravenmon. "This is a perfect example of your lacking leadership. Refusing to listen to feedback and take the ideas of others into account. You aren't even showing the barest hint of respect for me! Not even bothering to garb yourself." She pointed towards the armor haphazardly piled against the wall near the bed - Havocravenmon's usual wear, currently not being worn.

"You don't get to show up unannounced and then complain that I'm not prepared to receive you."

"If you were a good leader you would never let yourself get caught off-guard like that."

Havocravenmon's eyes narrowed. "And you're telling me that wasn't you yapping at Phantomon out there for 'ambushing' you? Despite the fact that you know full well that he guards the commander's chambers?"

"Don't try to change the subject! This is just more proof of your leadership failures!"

"Yes, yes, more proof of my 'leadership failures,' just like literally everything else I do in your eyes. Your words would carry more weight if they weren't so single-minded all the time. We all get it, D'arcmon - the very act of my breathing is enough to offend your delicate composition. You are more than free to leave if you don't like it…I would even forgo the usual betrayal penalty if it meant I never had to hear your indignation again."

"I'm sure you'd love that, wouldn't you?" snapped the angel. "Drive me away and then run Emperius all the way into the ground. I actually CARE about our divine mission, I want to see us succeed and revel in the glory of our world where only the powerful reign! And I don't want to let some half-baked twit with no capability as a leader ruin it all for us! You don't have a tenth of the vision that Craniummon had!"

Havocravenmon knew what that really meant - he didn't have a tenth of the fanatical frothing Craniummon had. D'arcmon was cut from a very similar cloth to their departed founder and leader - substituting fanaticism for rationality, charging forth assuming things would work rather than actually trying to make them work. To her, Havocravenmon's more calculated and analytical approach was just evidence that he wasn't cut out for this…never mind that it had brought them more success than they'd had since the Knights of Liberty had risen up to counter them. The fact that he got results was the reason Craniummon had promoted him in the first place…but she would never hear that, she was still wounded that she hadn't gotten the position after her endless sucking up to him. No, he knew full well what D'arcmon's damage was, and he would have gladly been rid of her…but forcing her out would rile up the faction of their forces that loved her, and the last thing he wanted was an internal schism. Enduring her idiocy was just what was required, unless he could get her to leave of her own volition, which he doubted was going to happen.

"Whatever vision Craniummon had he no longer has, because he's dead. I'm doing my best to ensure that his vision comes to fruition, and your obstruction of me is not helping to serve that cause. Again, if you don't like it, you can leave. I'll be more than happy to take feedback from people who aren't constantly berating me and actually have something useful to offer. Which, by the way, any time you want to start that would be fine by me."

"You wouldn't listen to my wisdom anyway. You're a stubborn fool."

"I can't say I'm surprised to hear that from one of the light. Lights are important parts of projectors, after all."

"What does that have to do with anything? Quit trying to babble about irrelevant things!" Of course she didn't catch on…then again, Havocravenmon was sort of counting on that.

"In order for it to be irrelevant, your visit here has to be relevant to something. And so far, you haven't don't anything more than rant at me. If you're here for a reason, out with it."

D'arcmon gave off a frustrated growl. "Insufferable bird. It's about the tainted ones! We haven't had any movement on them in days! We're supposed to be taking that world as ours, how can we do that if we don't get any orders?! Bad enough you flubbed the first one, now we're supposed to sit around waiting for who knows what?!"

"Are you suggesting I simply mindlessly send more of our people to their deaths purely to satisfy your bloodlust? Are you volunteering?"

"I would command them much better than you have. If you're just going to sit around in your room and mope, then you're not capable of doing the job."

Havocravenmon took a deep breath. "D'arcmon, it doesn't matter how many times you not-so-subtly hint at it, I'm not handing Emperius over to you. If you think you're up to it, try to take it by force. Until then, I'm going to lead as I see fit."

"You're not even leading! You're sitting in your room, smoking paxi sticks! Drugging yourself up while our destiny is crumbling before our eyes! Dulling your mind rather than doing the right thing and throwing us out there to prove our supreme power! If this is leadership to you, no wonder no one came back from that assault!"

Havocravenmon glowered as he stepped towards D'arcmon. "What I do in my own room is my own business, D'arcmon, and if you don't like it, you know what you can do. And for your information, the reason I'm using an admittedly large amount of tranquilizers is that it's hard to review footage of my troops getting systematically eradicated by traitors and tainted ones without them."

"Review…what? You couldn't possibly know what happened over there."

"One digimon did return from the assault. A MailBirdramon. One I send over there specifically to scout and observe. I've been watching everything he brought back, all the footage of our people getting trounced by a significantly smaller number of…creatures. Even Marsmon and Suijinmon…what was done to them was beyond anything I had anticipated. The capabilities they have over there…we were not properly prepared. And that's why I haven't sent anyone else over there yet, because I'm trying to figure out what we can do that will result in a better chance of success than blindly throwing people at it to get deleted until we maybe get lucky."

D'arcmon refused to let that mollify her. "You simply didn't send the right people. We wouldn't have traitors if you did a better job."

"Oh? And who, pray tell, were the right people?"

"The ones you didn't send, of course."

"As useless as you always are."

"How dare you! I'm worth more than you ever could be! You who tries to act like you're so smart, you've been outsmarted by a bunch of humans!"

"You haven't fared so well against the humans yourself with your approach. Need I remind you about the utter failure of your precious Ashinkaimon?"

D'arcmon recoiled a bit at this, quickly getting defensive. "You don't know that it failed. It could still be over there causing chaos."

"I've seen no evidence of this in MailBirdramon's footage. There was no sign of Ashinkaimon anywhere. I did say that sending an incomplete prototype was not a wise decision." Havocravenmon took a tiny bit of pleasure in D'arcmon stewing over that; she couldn't win on that one, it was all her project and Havocravnemon had very deliberately been hands-off on it, not finding it a wise investment but letting it occupy her time. "And as it is, yes, I'm afraid I must admit to being outsmarted. That's an unfortunately easy thing to happen when you lack knowledge. Watching this footage is meant to educate me more on what was actually going on over there, so that I can use that knowledge to adapt our strategies and perhaps give us a better chance of success."

"Oh, really? Then what, oh genius, have you figured out about them? What incredible secrets have humans been hiding from us, who they didn't even know existed?"

"Sarcasm isn't your strong suit." Havocravenmon rubbed his eyes with one hand. "The humans have…weapons that I never would have anticipated them having. I wonder if they truly didn't know of our existence, to have something that specifically crippled our kind without affecting anything else. And some of them deliberately fighting in defense of humans…I have to think that they found a way to suborn some of our less mentally stalwart fighters, or the forced conscripts that I warned Craniummon weren't so amenable to our message. Without getting closer to that, I wouldn't know what they did, but I know that it means that they are more adaptable than we expected for a species with such physical uniformity as theirs. But the tainted ones…"

"They are so few in number. You should have taken care of them already."

"Don't you think I wished that I could? How that damnable Zetta Unit managed to escape in that fray after the sealing is inexplicable. And then going and doing this…it's unprecedented. How could it possibly have happened? I wish I could capture one of them and get them to reveal their secrets…but this is the first time I actually got to SEE them fight. And…they're terrifying. They look so much like digimon, but there is this…aura about them that seems so foreign. They fight with a tenacity I've rarely seen. And they are undoubtedly quite capable, not just in raw power but in tactics. I wish I'd seen this before, the reports were always so fixated on power, they never really touched on the adaptability aspect…I'm truly impressed, I would have to say-"

"No!" D'arcmon suddenly shouted. "Do NOT even THINK about saying it! They are tainted! They are WRONG!"

Havocravenmon glared at D'arcmon. "Oh, shut up. Recognizing the reality is important to combating it. And the reality is-"

"No!"

"-that they are as strong as, or stronger than, a comparable digimon."

"How dare you! Giving credence to these abominations! Craniummon would have had you drawn and quartered for such blasphemies! They have degraded themselves, diluted their digimon purity! They are worthless pieces of garbage unfit to lick my boot heels!" D'arcmon pounded her staff against the floor, sending little light sparks out that rapidly fizzled.

The avian was unswayed. "A mindset like that is the fastest way to getting killed, and unfortunately I think that's a large part of the reason we've struggled against them. We should never have underestimated this foe, but it's hard not to when you hear that they lack the power that a digimon has…we've been overlooking some things, most likely, though I'm still not sure what. What is clear to me, though, is that the humans aren't as soft and yielding as I'd imagined…and it's given me reason to think that perhaps our approach needs to be adapted."

"You-!" D'arcmon gasped in shock. "You can't be suggesting we PRESERVE the humans?!"

"They may be useful. I figured extermination made sense because they had nothing to offer…but clearly, I was wrong about that. Perhaps we can use their knowledge and what they're capable of to our advantage."

"You…are the most idiotic, ridiculous creature I have ever had the misfortune to be tied to in my entire life!" The angel was clearly out of sorts now. "The mere suggestion of allying with such inferior creatures is lunacy beyond compare! How can we be the agents of the success of the powerful by giving our fate over to inferior life forms that would be defeated by the most paltry among us?! And to think that any of them would even consider it at that?!"

Explaining was probably futile, but Havocravenmon tried anyway. "I saw some interesting things in that footage, you know. Including an attempt by some humans to actually try to attack the tainted ones themselves…they were, in fact, very nearly more successful than we were. If we were able to engage those humans, we might find them amenable to supporting our cause…their insight could help us make inroads in that world that we couldn't before. I believe that the focus of our next incursion should be trying to reach those humans. Making use of the weak is not a bad thing, if it leads to us gaining power…and if they can somehow be empowered like the tainted ones are, perhaps they could be even more useful to us."

"You would create MORE tainted ones?! What, next are you going to offer the ones that have been ruining us to join Emperius?!"

"Don't be ridiculous. They clearly would not be open to such a thing right now. But…I wonder. I think there's a very strong likelihood that they will try to come over here…they must have a way of creating a PTM or some equivalent thereof by now, surely Zetta Unit has been trying to make that happen. They would seek to disrupt our plans more proactively, rather than trying to play defense while we adapt…there's little question that they will come to try to take us by storm, and I'm already preparing active defenses for when they find one of our outposts or strongholds. But that will leave their world shorter on defenders. Perhaps…if we can confirm their presence here or their absence there, we can set up another assault and try to establish a persistent force over there. With any luck, they won't realize we've transferred ourselves there until it's too late…and then, with the leverage we have, perhaps we can force them to listen to us. I'm trying to figure out how we might do that, but Craniummon was so certain that there was an opening with-"

"Enough of this madness!" barked out D'arcmon. "It never...EVER...ceases to amaze me how unbelievably obtuse you can be. Our destiny can only be found within the strength of the worthy digimon! Not in bowing and scraping to worthless creatures with no innate power whatsoever! I'm done trying to reason with you. Go ahead and squawk your stupid ideas to everyone, maybe that'll be what convinces them you need to be turned inside out." D'arcmon smacked the door panel and marched out, muttering and stomping with clear indignity.

As the door shut behind her, Havocravenmon's face turned much darker. "Thanks for nothing, bitch. I have enough to deal with without you riding my ass with your worthless commentary! Maybe you should try being worth more to Emperius than a hole is to a bucket if you want to have any say with me!" He pounded a fist against the wall, though it accomplished nothing more than giving him a sore hand; the calm that the paxi sticks had induced was a memory he yearned for already.

He forced himself to sit back down on the bed, trying his best to settle himself down. It would have been easier if anything had been going their way lately…it had only been weeks ago that he was on top of the world, feeling unstoppable. Who would have thought it would be humans who would be responsible for spoiling that? True, there were some digimon responsible as well, but it had to be the humans who had made things happen in the first place, Zetta Unit had been crippled beyond hope, he had seen to that…

There was a distinct demoralization all around Emperius at the most recent defeat, and that was what he was trying to fix. Those who were the mast fanatical and mindless about their 'destiny' were the hardest hit, as they usually were - how many of those fools expected never to meet any resistance? The ones Havocravenmon preferred, though, they were like him…they knew victory was no foregone thing, but a struggle they would have to endure. As they had all their lives - they were the ones who were outcasts, exiles, unwanted, and didn't cast any illusions about a world that hated them, that they could 'build bridges' or 'teach others not to hate.' His vision for Emperius was one of vengeance - of the abused and maligned proving their superiority and crushing those who hid their weakness behind numbers and oppression. Those who followed him were used to setbacks…they'd be the ones that would weather this best and help make that vision a reality.

The others…well, cannon fodder was sometimes needed, too.

His mind went back to the humans, and the 'tainted ones,' as was their common term for them. To them it was about the digimon diluting their 'purity', sullying it with the weakness of humans…they couldn't imagine such a union bringing strength. But Havocravenmon had known they needed to be taken seriously, once he found out why their early scouts and disruptors weren't returning. It was unthinkable to see it happen…and disconcerting to see them so effective. No, it was clear that this was no corruption, this was a union of power…and that was what Emperius sought, was it not?

If they were ours…there would never be any further question of our victory. But how to get them? Craniummon had an idea…he always said they were vulnerable, they had histories, they suffered at the hands of others…but being as strong as they were and directly combating us, there seemed to be no way to reach them. And then that day…he was so excited, he said he understood, that the lizard was the key, that once he had told him what he knew that there was no chance he wouldn't side with us. If only he'd told ME what that was! Idiot should have known better than to try to march up to him in the heat of battle…at least I won't make the same mistake. I need to know what Craniummon knew…if there is an opening there, the fate of Emperius may depend on it.

"…Phantomon. If you have a moment?"

In two instants, Phantomon appeared behind him - unlike D'arcmon, there was no startle in the avian, he sensed the ghost's presence before his appearance. "I have every moment for you, Havocravenmon, who leads us to glory."

"Let's not be too presumptuous. We're in private."

"It will be you or no one, I have all the confidence in the world of that. Do not let worms like that angel sway you to doubt."

Havocravenmon gave a quite wry laugh. "SHE can do nothing of the sort. She is an irritant, not a challenger. Our actual foes are much more frustrating. Phantomon, I know I've asked this of you before, but now I fear it takes on a more urgent relevance. Are you sure Craniummon told you nothing about why he was so sure he could convert Salmandmon to our side?"

A rueful headshake from the specter. "My apologies, commander. I'm afraid he did not leave me privy to this quest of his…all I know is that he thought there had to be something in his history that he could use. What little I know is that Salmandmon was active in the South during the time of Gradwen…but he was already in the service of the Kaiser then, so it hardly seems like that was what would excite him. But he was very secretive about the research…almost like he didn't want something to get out. It was unlike him, he was rarely secretive about anything, but I can only imagine it was something that, if it was known, would have led others to question him, and he knew it."

Havocravenmon bowed his head in thought. "The way he was, and the way his followers were, there was precious little he thought wouldn't be eaten up out of his hand…I wonder…hm, no, it's too early for that. I need more information. Do you have any idea what sorts of things he was looking at for his, uh, research?"

"Some knowledge, not much, but the archivists would likely know. I'll see if we can get you some of those materials…if anyone can figure out what was going on in his head, it would be you, commander. You always were able to get through to him in ways others could not."

"Less than I would have liked. And on that subject…how are the preparations?"

"Finalization has been confirmed. The transfer is being organized and should be ready within roughly ten days. Your other project is also ready…though, I admit, I still wonder why you wanted to prepare a backup so quickly. Everything that has been put into this seems to be more than enough to stand against anything we could think of."

"It seems that way, doesn't it? Craniummon's grand plans were often impressive…and almost equally often ended in disaster for unforeseen reasons." Havocravenmon let out a bit of a sigh. "I have done what I can to shore it up, since too much was invested to stop it by the time he fell, but there are still weaknesses and anyone prepared enough will find the crucial flaw exploitable, despite the added defenses. I think it likely that if anything goes badly, it will be on the early end rather than the late end. Being prepared now may save us in the end."

Phantomon was quiet for a moment. "I see. Your mind is quite impressive, commander. I only hope you can weather these stresses…that is what pressures the mind more so than the body."

"You and me both, Phantomon. Thank you…for aiding me."

"It is but nothing, commander. I swore myself to the cause of Emperius and Craniummon. I haven't given that up merely because of his death…and I have sworn to ensure that another does not fall under my watch. Even if you have more tools than Craniummon did to protect yourself from physical harm, though, I see the strain your mind takes on…"

"The consequence of being the way I am…but don't worry, Phantomon, I've been through stress before and I've endured." Figuring out how to suborn the tainted ones was going to require a lot more of his mental resources, though…he hoped he had enough left over to defray the stresses of his position. Perhaps it WAS a good idea to filter more of the irritants out…

—

"…yn…Reyn…c'mon, man, it's been way too long…"

Reyn gave a quiet groan, and his eyes blinked open, then squeezed shut as they were flooded by sunlight. "Oof…"

"Finally!" Salmandmon sounded far more relieved than impatient as he helped Reyn sit up, letting him open his eyes without being blinded. Reyn still looked groggy, but he was starting to get his bearings. "Jeez, you really had me worried there…"

"I did? Uh…how long was I out?"

"Well, uh, I don't exactly have a timepiece on me, but it sure felt like a long time…maybe close to an hour?"

That got Reyn's attention. "What? Really? I was down that long? Jeez…sorry, you must've been a bundle of nerves over me."

"I mean…your vital signs were fine, so…" It was an evasive response that was about as clear as any direct one.

"…When did you figure out how to check vital signs?"

"From your brain, mister 'I don't want to be a doctor.' I think that's something I picked up from the merge, though I feel like maybe I learned about it from our dream-link before that even. How're you feeling?"

"Like I haven't slept well. Wait, did you…you were awake, right?"

Salmandmon nodded. "Yeah, I didn't get KOed like that. I, uh…I don't know why, exactly, but I think…MAYBE…a PTM calibrated for digimon isn't, uh, ideal for humans…"

Reyn groaned and rubbed his head. "Now he tells us."

"Oy, you're one to talk about that. And I didn't think of that beforehand. None of us did…I guess we were too caught up in what we were going to be doing. Not that it really would've mattered, I think, how the heck were we even going to test that? None of us were experts, even Data barely knows how it works."

"Yeah, I get your point." Reyn pushed himself to his feet, taking a look around. He could hear waves crashing not far away, and there was a slightly salty or briny scent in the air. Water was stretched over the horizon in one direction, while land stretched seemingly endlessly in another. The terrain was rocky with grassy patches here and there, not much in the way of trees. "…So, this is the digital world…huh. It doesn't FEEL that different…"

Salmandmon nodded. "It probably wouldn't, yours didn't feel that different to me. Though, you'll probably notice the differences a lot more when we start getting around people…THAT'S gonna be a culture shock, probably on both ends."

"Trueeee…so, any idea where we are?"

"Thankfully, yeah, we're up in the northeast of Tetraquaz. These are the Canarade Cliffs, overlooking the Lascadian Ocean. It's a good place to go and collect your thoughts - there's not really any towns or anything around here, it's just nice and quiet, nothing but open air. Unfortunately, no Catalysts, but I wasn't expected to drop right down on one."

"That would be a bit too convenient…wait." Reyn looked around, and suddenly the real issue clicked. "…Where is everyone?"

Salmandmon sighed. "THAT, I only wish I knew."

"Wait, what? I thought we were all gonna come down together!"

"That's what I thought, too! I don't know if it was our slapdash PTM or just that the hole over here is a lot bigger, but…no signs of anyone else." Stating that did not seem to be leaving Salmandmon with any easy feelings. "I was really hoping we'd be able to go around together…I don't like the idea of having to search for them. But I guess there's no helping it."

"Damn. Already things are off to a banging start. But then why should any of this be easy, it hasn't been up to this point…any ideas for how to find them?"

"Short of just wandering around? Zippo. But as long as we have to search anyway, we might as well go towards the one thing I DO know about."

"You're talking about the Catalyst, right?"

"Bingo. I know just the one I want to go to, too. There's two that I'm familiar with in Northern Tetraquaz. One is held in the Volcano Pit, the fire-type commune in Dzempher Caldera. The other is at the Temple of Solano in the north central. We definitely want to go to the latter."

Reyn nodded. "I'm going with your judgment, but I feel like I should ask why."

"You might get an inkling when I tell you that's where the Order of the Flame is based out of."

"Huh? That…wait, that's that group the Flaremon who was attacking Paledramon was with, right?"

"Yeah, and it's got me a touch leery about how they might react to you," sighed Salmandmon. "I don't think they're all with Emperius, but they're…well, I've heard they've gotten to be a bit on the fanatical side. Granted, they're in a conflict with the Frigid Souls, but still, I kind of would rather not take the risk that they see you more as an enemy than an ally."

"Got it. Temple of Solano, then. Wait, weren't you saying people weren't supposed to, uh, 'own' Catalysts? Why are these in places that are built around them?"

"Well, they're allowed to be administered, on the promise that they can't be denied to those who want to use them. I mean, it's not like someone couldn't walk off with them, so having them be watched over and guarded tends to be a good thing. Some of these places are made specifically for that, shrines and temples housing the Catalyst for protection and a landmarked point of access - the people there aren't 'owners', but attendants, helping those who arrive and keeping it safe. If they start barring access, though, that's when the Kaiser steps in."

"Huh…I think I've got plenty to learn still about all this. If they're sort of guarding it, does that mean I should be worried about whether we'll have to get, uh, rough?"

"No way, that shouldn't happen at all. Relax, Reyn, the digital world isn't THAT dangerous. We'll probably barely be fighting outside of Emperius. Let's just worry about getting there."

"Right, I guess either way that's what we need to do…we're, uh, not going to have to walk all the way, are we?"

Salmandmon snickered. "We sure are…if by 'all the way' you mean 'all the way to the Transfer Point and then from the Transfer Point to the temple.'"

"That sounds like a way better 'all the way' than what I was thinking of. Let's go."

—

Reyn's wake-up experience might not have been the most fantastic, but it could have been far worse. He could have experienced the one Skylar had.

I don't know what I expected when I got over here…but there is no way in HELL that it could have been as bad as this. Skylar was huddling his arms close to his body as he trudged through the snow towards the village that felt like it was far too far off. Waking up under a blanket of snow was an unpleasant experience it itself, making him wonder if he'd somehow gotten caught up in an avalanche and dreamed up the whole mess with digimon. But it was clear once he'd actually gotten above the snow that that wasn't the case...which didn't leave him much more information about what the case actually WAS.

But it had only gotten worse. Because he'd woken up alone. No other humans. No other digimon. Not even Breezedramon was there. He'd tried calling for him, tried to find him in the snow, but the connection that they had wasn't doing a single thing. An annoying buzzing was going through his head here and there, making it harder to focus. And in the end, he had had to come to the only conclusion that he could: something had gone wrong, or at least not to expectations, and he was, as a consequence, utterly alone in an icy wasteland with no idea what he was doing or where he was going.

Because apparently, the universe just wanted to make this already nigh-impossible task even HARDER.

It was unnaturally dark around…Skylar got the sense that it was daytime, but the clouds overhead were so dark that it almost felt like night. It didn't make for great visibility, but he could see houses off in the distance…with no better ideas, he headed towards them, fighting through the snow and blowing wind. Not helped at all by the fact that his garb was a lot lighter than was appropriate for the weather, a sky-blue shirt with Skydramon's glyph on the front and shorts, both of which felt a lot lighter than what he usually wore in the first place and barely any bulwark against the icy bite of the wind. It felt improbable that he wasn't going into hypothermia already, but as long as he had breath, he had to try to keep going and hope that something went his way…not exactly the most ideal approach, but what other options did he have? About the only thing he could do in his favor was slow down the wind around him, to keep it from biting quite so hard on him. It would have been nice if he could have changed the weather a bit more dramatically, but that was clearly not within his capabilities. Yet, at least…and if he ever wanted there to be a possibility of defying that yet, he needed to survive.

But it seemed as bad as ever once he got to the village. It wasn't huge, but neither was it extremely small…but what it was was dead. The buildings were boarded up, as bulwarks against the cold and snow most likely, and there wasn't a single soul outside. He'd been hoping that maybe some icy digimon were around who could at least get him inside somewhere, but there was no one…he wasn't even entirely certain there was ANYONE in the village, or at least anyone still alive. The few doors he tried didn't move even slightly, locked tight or blocked off, he couldn't tell and it hardly mattered.

This is as bad as it gets…how am I going to get out of here? I don't think I can last long enough to get to warmer areas, not like this… Despair was starting to eat at him. None of them had expected things to go this badly…what did the others have to be thinking? Was Breezedramon panicking like crazy? Was he going to fail his promise that quickly?

Then he saw it…a larger building, off a modest distance past the far end of the village from where he'd entered. It looked like a large castle of some kind, large and imposing…but it offered at least one more chance for an escape from the icy chill of the weather around him. Could he make it? He had to try…too much was riding on his success for him to surrender to failure this quickly.

Breezedramon…I hope you're all right. I hope I didn't miss you in the cold out there…I'll never forgive myself if I let you freeze to death out there…

—

Breezedramon, thankfully, was not in any danger of freezing to death. Which didn't mean he wasn't in trouble.

Sky, where did you go? And why can't I find you? And why can't I hear you? And why can't I figure out how to get away from this damned forest?!

The blue dragon was in a perplexing situation, one that he really didn't need in the slightest. He'd come to his senses in the middle of a forest, a much better transfer trip on the face of it than his first. But he quickly ran into a multitude of problems. First, he didn't know where this forest was, he'd never encountered it in his life. Second, there wasn't anyone else around to help him, including, most distressingly, his human partner who he kind of needed to use most of his power.

And, most importantly, he didn't know how to leave.

That should have been the easiest thing to do, really. It sure sounded simple enough. But when Brezeedramon had flown over the forest to try to get his bearings, he'd been shocked to see a literally endless sea of trees that stretched off in every direction. It seemed like the forest was actually endless - something that couldn't possibly be true, but his eyes didn't give him any other conclusions to arrive at.

It could be an illusion…but I've been flying around down here for ages now, too, and I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere. And whenever I fly up it feels like I end up coming back down in a different spot! None of this makes any sense! How am I supposed to find my way out of here when this place doesn't make sense at all?

No answers were coming to him, but he kept flying around anyway. He had to hope that he found an answer somewhere…and soon, before Emperius got to him or to Skylar.

—

It was a lot for Reyn to take in. The world superficially looked and felt very similar, but it operated VERY differently, in a lot of ways. The first major divergence being the Transfer Points - strange machines apparently dotting the continent that allowed for quick travel between them. According to Salmandmon, it was rare that one could find themselves further out from a day's travel from the nearest one…but if one went down, it could mean a bit of a trek to the next closest if they weren't lucky. Thankfully, their being down was a relatively rare occurrence. Actually using one left him feeling a little loopy, but it fortunately passed pretty quickly, and Salmandmon had said that that was common for unfamiliar users - he was likely to get used to it in time.

Of course, there had been one thing he HAD been expecting, but it was still odd to run into another digimon at their destination point. A Bullmon who seemed to be looking to travel himself, and was equally unprepared to see a human flash in front of his eyes. Thankfully, he was more curious than anything, lacking the hostility that Reyn had unfortunately gotten accustomed to. He certainly hoped that was going to be a trend in the coming days, it would make things a lot easier…

Salmandmon was helping him as much as he could, filling him in on what he could and what was most important. Of course, there were still things he didn't know about…including one of the finer details.

"So, I can't help but notice that I'm not wearing what I came over with." Reyn's garb wasn't exactly outside of his usual style - a red T-shirt with a flame motif (including what looked very much like the glyph of Salmandmon's seal, for some reason), jeans shorts, and tennis shoes - but it also wasn't nearly as heavy as what he'd been wearing at the moment of departure. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say you didn't have anything to do with that."

"Sure, Reyn, I carry around spare changes of human clothing just on the off chance I run into one."

"Well, you'd probably be one of the few who actually might have a reason to. But, uh…that leaves me wondering what happened."

"Sorry, bud, I can't help you there. Wearing stuff was never my thing, most of my forms aren't even good for that. You might have to ask a digimon that actually wears something, they might have some insight. Me, my scales are good enough for anything."

"Aw, but you'd look pretty dapper in a nice little suit or something."

Salmandmon stuck out his tongue. "Bleah. I don't know why anyone would want to wear something like that. It looks mad uncomfortable."

Reyn couldn't help but chuckle. "Anyway, doesn't that seem weird, though? Like, why would I be wearing anything other than what I started with?"

"I couldn't even begin to guess. You're the first time a human's ever been transferred, so there's a ton of unknowns. It shouldn't have changed anything, we didn't come through with anything unusual like that, but…well, again, maybe there's a calibration thing. But you're not likely to find a good answer any time soon."

"I hope this Catalyst business is more straightforward than this."

"Well, we're almost to the Temple of Solano, so it should be…" Salmandmon trailed off as they got closer to the building. It hadn't been so obvious from a distance, but now that they were getting a better view, they were seeing what the Temple of Solano was like…and it was NOT a good look. Holes in the walls, parts of the building seemed to have fallen, and there was debris scattered everywhere. "Oh, jeez…this place has seen better days. What happened?"

"Were they attacked, you think?" asked Reyn uncertainly.

"…I can't see any other good explanation. At least people are still around, so maybe it wasn't a total disaster…" Indeed, there were a few digimon around, most of which seemed to be working on repairs. Reyn's eyes wandered to a couple gathering up some pieces of scattered masonry and collecting them in a wheelbarrow of sorts. He had a vague idea of what kinds they were from dream memories and bits and pieces he'd picked up from the merging. Greymon and Tyranomon. Fire-oriented, makes sense…wait. Weren't they supposed to be…bigger?

At first he wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him, maybe they were further away than it looked, but closing the distance made it clear that that wasn't the case. Two digimon that were usually pretty macro-sized were much closer to Reyn's scale - still considerably taller, but not giant-sized. "Sal? Aren't those guys usually huge? Or am I misremembering things?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, they usually are. Those guys are just using compression algorithms."

"Compression algorithms?"

"Yeah. Digimon that are big like that, they don't really have their own towns or anything - they're too large to really have anything built for them. So usually they go out on their own and do their own thing out in the open. But some of them want to live more in a community, so they get these compression algorithms that basically allows them to pack their size into a smaller container. Generally same shape and all, but scaled down enough that they can live with digimon more our size. They can turn them on and off when they want to, unless they're actually within city limits - there's measures in place to make sure they can't get big suddenly and go all kaiju rampage on the place. The KOL used those a lot, made it easier to house our forces."

Reyn was marveling at that new revelation. "Wow. I had no idea you guys could do that…should I have remembered that from the dreams?"

Salmandmon shrugged. "Dreams are tricky things! I only remember kinda random details myself for the most part. Anyway, I'm guessing that they're part of the temple's caretakers if they're like that, you can tell it's not exactly built for that size of digimon."

"How would an actual-size one get to the Catalyst if they wanted to use it?"

"Most likely brought out to them. Fortunately, we should just be able to walk right in."

So was Salmandmon's plan, but it couldn't have been that easy. And the lizard felt his heart sink when he saw the firmly-closed doors and the Meramon out front, keeping anyone from entering. He looked up at the two as they came towards the entrance, raising a brow when he saw Reyn. "…Well, this is a surprise."

"Hopefully not a bad one," Reyn replied, trying to sound casual and jovial, as much to hide his nervousness as to come off as non-threatening.

"Eh. Was only a matter of time. But if you're here for a sightseeing tour, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to disappoint you. We're closed down, and the Catalyst is under strict protective custody."

"Seriously?!" Salmandmon groaned. "We can't even go in for a moment?"

"Even if I let you in, it's not here at the moment. We've moved it until we've made the repairs and shored up the security. And we aren't letting anyone in on where it is."

"I know I'm new around here, but I thought that was kind of against the rules?" asked Reyn.

The Meramon nodded. "Believe me, I'd rather it wasn't this way. It's supposed to be accessible and usable by all. But we have to be careful right now…someone actively came after it, and under those circumstances, we have to keep it secure for now so that it can't be taken from us for good. We got permission from the Kaiser, and we're going to try to get it back in here as soon as we can, once we're sure we can filter out the scummy elements."

"So it was an attack," muttered Salmandmon.

"What do you want to bet it was our favorite people who came after it?" remarked Reyn. "Emperius making our lives harder even when they're not deliberately trying to."

The Meramon cocked his head. "You…know about Emperius?"

"They're the reason I'm here…you're not the only one they've been causing trouble to."

"No kidding! I thought that was all just bluster…they've actually been attacking the human world? Jeez…well, I suppose there's no reason not to say it, then. Yeah, it was them. A bunch of them came after us pretty hard…they messed the temple up pretty badly, but we used the Catalyst's power to drive them away, at least."

"I suppose it's good that they can't get at it now," sighed Salmandmon. "Still, that's a bummer, we were hoping to use it ourselves."

"Well, I know there's still one available at the Volcano Pit. You might try there…they've been a bit on edge, though. Not sure they're gonna be as easy around a human as I am…also don't think a human can use them, but I guess if you want to try, you're free to try, just hope you're ready for disappointment."

"I'll keep that in mind." Reyn was a little less worried about it, but this seemed not the time to delve into the long story. "I guess we shouldn't keep you from your work, then…good luck fixing things back up, hope they don't come to bother you again."

"Thanks. We'll be fine. You stay safe, though, if Emperius is really after humans I doubt they'll be happy one's over here."

"I can almost guarantee they won't be happy to see me. I'll watch my back, thanks."

The two left somewhat dejected, their hopeful quick success dashed against the rocks. "Gah…why can't ANYTHING just go our way for once?" ranted Salmandmon. "I swear to all that's good and decent, I'm gonna blow my top at all these setbacks! We finally get to do ONE thing that actually pushes back and already three different things go wrong! Yet Emperius can shoot their guys through a PTM and land almost right on top of us without even trying! ARRGH!"

"Easy, buddy…" Reyn was trying to help calm Salmandmon down, though he couldn't exactly blame him for his ire - he was starting to get pretty annoyed with things himself. I know there were going to be bumps in the road, but right now it feels like there isn't any road at all, just the bumps. "What do we do now? If this place is out, and you're worried about the Volcano Pit…"

"Rrgh…this is where I wish I knew where another Fire Catalyst was. There used to be at least four in Northern Tetraquaz, but two of them vanished from where they were supposed to be…no one's sure if they were stolen or they just, well, up and disappeared on us."

"They…can do that?"

"Well, maybe. They sure as heck appear without warning, why not disappear?" Salmandmon shook his head. "But they seem to be doing so more than usual in Northern Tetraquaz…not just the Fire ones, several others have vanished as well. Maybe it's not natural, but we have no way of knowing what's behind it if it's not…but that's not going to help us right now. I think before we risk the Volcano Pit, we should see if there's anything else we can find. There might be one that I wasn't aware of somewhere."

Reyn let out a quite chuckle. "We're gonna have to do some research, huh? Man, what a time not to have Skylar or Isaac around."

"I know, right? But I think we're a bit late in the day for that…let's head over to a town I know pretty well, Rinikua. They're one of the few towns that already has a 'humans welcome' policy - not that they've ever used it, but the Kaiser's encouraged it since he's been wanting to get those bridges built. We should be able to get some grub and some shut-eye there."

"That sounds as good an idea as I could come up with. You're paying, though."

"Of course I am. Your parents fed and housed me, the least I can do is do the same for their son." The emphatic response to his not-entirely-serious remark caught Reyn slightly off-guard, but he decided not to question it; it had been a stressful day already, perhaps he just was a bit too wound up.

—

By Skylar's estimate, the castle was somewhere between half a mile and three-quarters of a mile from the town. It felt like a HELL of a lot farther.

The chill was really getting to him by the time he arrived, and then he had a rather large staircase to ascend to get to the only doors he saw…at least at that point the castle was somewhat breaking the wind that was blowing in his face. But it wouldn't help nearly enough, if there wasn't warmth inside, he was done for, he had put everything he had into getting here and he wouldn't last a night outside. If the doors didn't open, he was going to have to try to break them down and hope that such a thing was possible…it seemed extremely unlikely, but his life had been fueled by extremely unlikely lately, if that was all he had to count on…

He was stumbling pretty badly by the time he reached the actual doors. They were huge, and covered from top to bottom in ornate designs, with features that looked like wind or cloud motifs, swirls and streaks all over. A very interesting look, which he might have been more interested in if they weren't in the way of him actually surviving. There was a handle on the door, which he tried to pull…no reaction. He tried pushing…also no reaction.

Dammit. Are they really gonna make me try to do this? Ngh…I guess…I have to at least try… Taking a deep breath, he tried to channel up some of that wind energy in him, though he wasn't sure what he was going to do with it. They looked pretty sturdy, they weren't just going to blow over, maybe he could unleash something sharp enough to-

The door suddenly began to glow. Skylar blinked. Uh…what?

Something felt different…he hadn't even attacked, but the door was reacting to him now, where it hadn't before. And he felt something give…cautiously he pulled again, and this time the large door opened to him, sliding with relative ease it spite of its massive size. …Right. You know what, I'm just going to take the win and go with it, because right now survival is more important than questions.

He stepped inside, pulling the door shut behind him. The inside of the castle was fairly dark, lit only by some glowing crystals here and there, and not very well. It wasn't exactly toasty, but it was much less harsh than the outside, and his shivering soon stopped. I doubt I survive that trek out there without the merging…hopefully I don't have to make too much use of that resilience…who am I kidding, I'm definitely going to have to. Jeez, I hope Breezedramon responds to my probes soon…

At the moment, Skylar's primary concern was to figure out what was going on in his emergency shelter. It was dark, it was empty, and it seemed like no one had been here in quite a while. Despite that, it wasn't in disrepair…in fact, it came off as relatively well-kept. This doesn't strike me as a place that was attacked…this place seems to have just been left as it was. Was there an evacuation? But there's no mess around that would suggest that someone left in a hurry. It all seems very orderly…maybe everyone just…left?

It seemed like an unlikely conclusion, so clearly gathering more data was the key. He started to wander around the castle, staying mostly to the hallways and mostly just looking into rooms. Lighting was not always good, so he stepped carefully, trying to see if he could get a sense of anything. Everything else seemed to be backing up the notion that this wasn't an attack or a hurried escape, though…everything inside the rooms seemed to be fairly orderly. Bookshelves were perhaps dusty but not in disarray, tables were orderly, there was even a kitchen that looked to have been unused in a while but was as tidy as anything. It was eerie in a way, and yet not…nothing about the place felt particularly threatening to Skylar. It also was a touch warmer deeper within, without so much direct access to the outside.

Most bizarre place I've ever seen. Makes me wonder why they left if there's no reason to…I mean, I guess the snowstorm outside is a reason, but it can't be like that all the time…right? Skylar paused, then shook his head. I'm in a whole different world. I can't take anything for granted here.

He made another turn and saw a stairwell off to the side. He stepped past it, then stopped. An odd feeling was striking him…it felt like he was being drawn down those stairs. He wasn't sure why, but it was the first odd feeling he'd had since he'd stepped inside. And that felt meaningful to him. It could be a trap of some kind, but…that feels unlikely. This place wasn't under siege, and it doesn't feel like a place of combat. I haven't even seen any weapons rooms or anything.

Slowly he descended the stairs, being careful as the lighting was as dim as ever. The stairs took a turn, and then stopped at a door. Cautiously Skylar pushed the door open, and shielded his eyes as light flooded them. Oof! I guess that's where they hid all the good lights. As he blinked them open, he was able to step in. The room he was in was very unusual…he could hear running water, and quickly sourced it to some fountains and a moat on the left side of the room. The moat surrounded what looked like a raised island of tile, in the center of which was a cage around an altar of some kind…and in the center of that altar was an object the likes of which he'd never seen before. A sphere that glowed blue, with swirling energy within that was without a doubt the source of that pull he was feeling. And even without knowing precisely what it was, Skylar KNEW it was important.

Holy crap! That…that HAS to be one of those Catalyst things. But how do I get to it? That cage looks pretty sturdy.

He stepped up to it, passing over the bridge to inspect the area. The cage was made of some heavy metal, and Skylar knew immediately he wasn't busting it open. But it had a door…that was locked, of course. There was a placard on the door above the lock, which was unlike anything Skylar had seen before - it had a digital display on it, which was currently blank, as well as a set of gearwheels on each side, one upper and one lower. Skylar played with the wheels a bit, and found that they rotated through a set of symbols which briefly flashed an unknown glyph before turning into a familiar letter to him. Weird…is it…auto-translating to something I know? I'm not even sure how that works…I don't suppose someone wrote the password on this plate, but… He let the lock drop and looked at the placard.

[The lock will open for one with the soul of Stormdramon.

Enter the two passwords that represent the most important things to Stormdramon.]

Skylar's brow furrowed. Stormdramon? I've never heard of that one…yet another reason I wish I had Breezedramon with me. Maybe he'd know about that one. Well, until I get some insight, I'm not getting in here…hopefully I'll have time to figure this out.

He set that part of the room aside for the moment and walked over to the other. There was another orb, this one bright white from a distance, on another altar there, but it was far from a mirror image; there was no water on this side, the orb here was unobstructed by anything and didn't give off the raw sense of power that the presumed Catalyst did, and the altar was up a few stairs, raised to a higher height than anything else in the room. And looking up, Skylar could see a channel to the very top of the castle, maybe even out into the open air…he couldn't tell, it was hard to tell if the darkness was the sky or some kind of panel. It gave the orb a sense of great importance, and Skylar couldn't help but be curious. He took a closer look at this orb, and his eyes widened. It looked like a snowy hellscape like the one he'd just come through, enough that he thought it might be looking outside for a moment.

Weird…I wonder what that means.

Out of curiosity, Skylar reached out and touched the orb. On contact with his hand, he felt an odd chill to it…this orb was certainly special too, though it didn't speak to him the way the presumable Catalyst did. Still, it felt like he had a connection with it, though he wasn't sure how or why. Doesn't feel too pleasant, wish it was warmer…huh? No sooner had he had that thought than did the image start to flicker inside. He pulled his hand away, and it stopped flickering, staying on that snowy image. Did it…just try to change what was inside by what I was thinking?

Skylar regarded the orb for a moment, contemplating an action. …To hell with it. I need to try this. He reached out, touching the orb again, and tried to envision a sunny scene from late spring or early summer. At the same time, he channeled a little bit of his own energy into the orb…he watched as the scene inside changed from that snowfield to a much more pleasant grassy field with sun shining, blue skies, all the works. It even felt warmer, comfortably warm like a nice day. Neat…that's not what I expected. Wonder what it's all ab-GAH!

Suddenly Skylar recoiled as he felt a pulse of energy from the orb. He watched in awe as a beam of light suddenly shot from the orb up that chamber above it. Another pulse washed over him, not affecting him in any way he could determine but he could feel an energy about it. …Uh-oh. I hope I didn't just mess something up big-time…

Now felt like a good time to leave this area, and Skylar hurried back towards the stairs. But as he ascended, it was clear something had changed. The castle felt warmer, the lights were brighter, things felt less dormant than they had been…it was still as empty and idle as before, but it felt oddly more welcoming than it had. Skylar knew there had been a reaction to what he'd done, he didn't understand it but he knew something had changed.

But he didn't know HOW much. Not until he looked into another room, and caught sight of the sun shining through the window. A sun he hadn't seen at all since he got here. Suddenly, Skylar felt a strong urge to run back to the main doors, an urge he didn't deny, tearing down the hallway that was no longer obscured by darkness and into a main room that felt like a whole host of lights and other things had been turned on. Once again he was hearing water, though he couldn't see where it was at the moment…but outside was more important, and he opened up the doors once more.

What greeted him was a far cry from what he'd escaped from. The dark clouds were progressively vanishing, allowing the sun to beat down. The air was so much warmer, it felt like a proper bright and sunny day. The snow was melting rapidly, replaced by a progressively larger sea of green grass. The whole world felt like it had been turned on its end, and for once for the better.

And that was when it hit him. A weather control machine. The orb controls the weather here! That beam must have gone into the sky or into something else that channels the effect…incredible! This world is full of wonders…ah! If Breezedramon was out there, maybe he'll be all right, too! Maybe I should go look for him now that hypothermia won't be an issue…huh?

Something else caught his eye. The village…what had seemed like houses and huts so quiet that he'd thought they were abandoned were opening up, and creatures were coming out. And that was when Skylar realized that this was a potential issue. How are they going to react to seeing a human? Are they going to be angry about the change? Was that snow supposed to be here? I…well, I can bring it back if I have to, I can tell them I didn't know it was going to change, that would be as honest as I've been since this whole thing started…

He was going to find out soon, as a bunch of digimon were flying his way. A half-dozen, consisting of a pair each of Gargoylemon, Shadramon, and Butterflymon. Skylar swallowed hard…if they attacked first and asked questions later, there was no way he could take them all on. He half-thought it would be better to hurry back inside…but, they swooped down before he could actually make with it.

"No way! It's a human! A human saved us!"

"I never even knew they were actually here! When did that happen?"

"He must be the rebirth of the hero! Only he would arrive at our direst hour!"

"Look at his hair! That's the hair of royalty!"

"Bring him down to the village! The people have to see their reborn king of the winds!"

"W-wait a second!" Skylar stammered. "King?!"

"It can only be!" declared the Gargoylemon. "Only one person could have saved us - the legendary king Stormdramon!"

If things hadn't been screwy enough already, now Skylar felt like he might actually pass out. …What the HELL have I gotten myself into now?

—

"I'm just saying, to me it looks more like a city than a town."

"What's the difference? I mean in human terms."

"Uh…well, I'm not sure if there's any OFFICIAL difference, but to me, towns are pretty small and spread out, while cities are a lot larger and more dense."

"Well, for us, it's really just a size thing. Everything's pretty compressed, because we don't really use vehicles so much…well, they might on the other continents, but definitely not here, and I don't really know if they make other distinctions. Anyway, cities and towns do often have Flash Points - they're like mini Transfer Points, very city-specific - so that makes getting to more distant places on foot easier. But because it's mostly foot traffic, things are pretty tight…not like humans who all drive those big cars. Which seems kinda dangerous if you ask me."

"That's a bold statement coming from a denizen of a world where there are literally people who can casually throw around thermonuclear explosions like nothing."

"Hey, I only said KINDA dangerous," snickered Salmandmon. "Oh, hey, speaking of danger…what's going on there?" He pointed towards the edge of the town, where a half-dozen digimon were engaged in a skirmish. It seemed to be four on two, which was typically unfair odds. Squaring off on the disadvantaged side were Palisademon - what looked like a knight clad completely in blue armor wielding a poleax, except there wasn't any clear sign of anyone actually inside, just two shining lights where eyes might make sense - and Crashmon - a brown bipedal rhinocerotid with one shoulder bearing a wicked-looking spiked shoulder guard. Facing them down were a Dorulumon, Kogamon, and Vegiemon, led by an unusually-colored Musyamon - blue where he was normally red.

"Don't come any closer!" ordered Palisademon. "We're not going to let you pass!"

"I'd like to see you stop us this time," replied the unusual Musyamon with a dark laugh. "You don't have your little posse to protect you now. You think you can beat all four of us?"

"We don't have to, IceMusyamon," replied Crashmon steely. "You know full well that the other town guards will be ready even if you get past us. How many times do you raiders have to be beaten before you figure it out? You're not going to win."

"Hah! We'll see if you're still that cocky once we're running out of town with Rinikua's Grand Treasure! Get 'em, boys!" At the command, the Dorulumon, Kogamon, and Vegiemon rushed forth, challenging the pair of guards. Palisademon immediately started playing more defense, raising a barrier to forestall the Dorulumon's attacks, while Crashmon rushed at Vegiemon, trying to get his solid fists in range while the flora digimon kept backing off and hurling leaves at the rhino. Both of them were in danger of being flanked by Kogamon, though, and the ninja was taking aim at the more vulnerable Crashmon, trying to cut at his legs.

The IceMusyamon was merely watching, gloating as the guards seemed to be getting overwhelmed. That was, until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to look…and was immediately met with Burnreptimon's sucker punch, tossing him straight to the ground. He was up again in a few moments, outraged. "How dare you! Who the hell do you think you are?!"

"Just someone who isn't fond of jerks trying to cause trouble," growled Burnreptimon, punching his fist into his hand. "Call off your goons and run or you're going to regret it."

"Pfah! I'll show you!" IceMusyamon raised his blade, which flashed a bright blue and let loose a chilling aura. "Frozen Ninja Blade!" He swung at Burnreptimon, who jumped back and countered with a Pyre Rush, which was just dodged. IceMusyamon kept swinging, not relenting or giving Burnreptimon another chance to surprise him; Burnerptimon watched, waited, played evasive, and then took his chance, on one swing where IceMusyamon got a little off-balance, he rushed in and slammed his fist into the warrior's face once more, sending him staggering. Another Pyre Rush, this time connecting, threw IceMusyamon onto the ground, his sword's blade getting dull from the heat.

"Had enough yet? Or do I have to start getting serious?" hissed the reptile.

"Guuuuuu…you'd better hope you live to regret this one!" IceMusyamon rose again, channeling that icy energy into his sword again, which took on the visage of an icy dragon over his head. "Feel the pain of failure at my hands! Arctic Shogun Sword!"

The dragon-shaped ice blast let out a chilling screech and rushed at Burnreptimon…but there was no intimidation on his end, as he crossed his arms in front of him. "Heat Field!" That blazing barrier rushed into existence around him, and the icy force was vaporized on contact, leaving nothing but a loud hiss in its wake.

IceMusyamon recoiled as he saw Burnreptimon completely nullify his attack. "N-no…impossible!"

"…Really? I'm Fire-oriented, you're Ice-oriented, is it REALLY that much of a surprise?"

"Damn you! Rrgh!" IceMusyamon glanced over at his cronies; Vegiemon was reeling and not engaged in the battle, while Palisademon was trying to bar Kogamon from getting to Crashmon while the rhino was pummeling Dorulumon, who seemed to be getting quite weary. The two seemed to be handling the more even numbers better, and that must have been obvious to IceMusyamon. "Fall back! We'll try this again another day, when there aren't any damned interlopers around!"

The other three raiders rapidly beat a hasty retreat, Burnreptimon leaping up and over them to make sure they didn't take any shots at him as they passed. With the four raiders putting fair distance between them, things were settling down, and Burnreptimon headed over to check on the guards. "You two all right?"

"I think so." Crashmon had a few cuts on him, but nothing too serious, while Palisademon's armor seemed mostly unmarred. "Thanks for the step-in, stranger…huh, I don't think I've ever seen your kind before."

"Call me Burnreptimon, and there's a reason for that. Those guys have been trouble before?"

"Them and every other raider band in the area," grumbled Palisademon. "Ever since the governor brought back that gleaming statue or monument or whatever it is, I don't really care, it's nothing but trouble. I honestly almost want to let one of them take it just so everyone can go after them instead, but I can't put everyone in Rinikua at risk for that…"

Burnreptimon cocked his head. "Statue? Is that the 'Grand Treasure" they're talking about?"

"Apparently! Someone started some idiot rumor that there's a mother lode of jewels and goodies and such inside it, and apparently there's all this big money in the middle of a small town with a modest town guard…they seem to think they can just waltz in and take it effortlessly!"

"We've had attacks every few days, and they show no signs of slowing," added Crashmon. "All over a rumor we don't even know is true. It sure doesn't SOUND like there's anything inside of that thing, it might not even be hollow…Sun Of Fortune my ass, it's nothing but a curse. Well, hopefully it won't deter you from sticking around, I promise you're not going to be called into action, we try to keep control of things ourselves."

"It's fine, I don't mind helping out a bit. But we can't stay long, we have business to take care of."

"We?" Palisademon asked. "Is there a Sukamon up your tailpipe or something?"

"…Oh, right. Tch, this pronoun business is annoying. Well, I suppose you'll understand in a moment." Burnreptimon began to glow, and split back apart into Reyn and Salmandmon. Both Crashmon and Palisademon staggered back a bit and let out aghast cries.

"Reminds me of our 'display' back at the BICI," remarked Reyn.

"You know, it never DOES get old," Salmandmon cackled.

"That…you…no way!" Crashmon's jaw was nearly dropped to the ground. "An actual human? And…you were…you two were Jogressed or something?!"

"We're leaving it at 'or something' for the time being," replied Salmandmon. "All I can say is that this isn't a standard thing for humans, Reyn here is just one of a few really special ones."

"That's incredible! I never even knew if I'd get to see a human in my lifetime, much less one like this!" Palisademon gushed. "Well, please, sir, I bid you welcome to Rinikua! I think you'll be popular here, we've prided ourselves on being one of the first towns to deem humans welcome, and now I hope to see everyone act on it!"

"Hopefully that popularity won't be too overwhelming…" Reyn said a bit nervously. "But it's a welcome change either way."

—

Breezedramon didn't know how long he'd been flying around…he only knew that it was too long, by the fact that the sun was setting. And he was starting to get really frustrated by just how useless it had been.

Flying for an age in a straight line hadn't worked. Following the paths along the ground hadn't worked. Trying to use landmarks hadn't worked - he'd come across ponds, but that hadn't helped him navigate in the slightest. He didn't really know what else he had at his disposal, this whole place felt like it went on forever and he was no closer to figuring out a way out than when he'd started. And all this while Skylar and the others were who knew where - they certainly weren't here, there was no way he wouldn't have spotted at least one of them by this point.

What the hell even is this place? It feels outright impossible! I'd think I'd know about a forest in Tetraquaz that was THIS large! So much of the damned continent is a barren wasteland as it is! Rrgh, it just has to be the WORST time for it, too…Sal was right, our luck is horsesh-YOW!

Breezedramon, having been embroiled in his frustration, hadn't been paying attention to his weaving along the paths, and hadn't realized there was something unexpected in his path until he'd already collided with it. Down he and the unexpected obstruction went, landing in a heap on the ground. "Owww…" muttered Breezedramon. "Dang it, I just had to find the one thing that wasn't air in my way."

"I'll forgive you if you get off me before my spine decides it wants to keep this angle," mumbled the feathery obstruction.

"Oof, sorry, one sec…" It took a moment, but the two managed to disentangle from each other. As they brushed off, Breezedramon looked over the other digimon, the first he'd seen since he'd gotten here. He was an avian digimon, only abouth a meter tall, with a green-feathered body and an eagle-like head of off-white, with one large feather extending from the front of his head off the back in a low sweeping fashion, and a short spear strapped to his back. Oh, hey, this is an Avimon! He looks kinda like Shockavimon except a little bigger. Wonder if he might know her…wait, no, her bird thing, probably not.

"So…sorry to see you." The Avimon's voice was rather morose.

"Huh? Why are you sorry to see me? Besides the whole flying into you thing, I mean…"

"Well, if you're in here, then you're condemned to a slow, agonizing death as well."

"…Well, THAT'S not very pleasant. What do you mean?"

Avimon sighed. "This place…it's impossible to get out. No matter where you go or what you do, there's no way to escape. I had no idea…I was just looking to rest in this little patch of trees, and then my head started to spin and I found myself in this place that just…doesn't end."

"It's got to end, though!" Breezedramon insisted. "How can a little patch of trees just go on forever?!"

"You haven't noticed? Must be because you haven't been here long. I'm going on five days here now, I've been trying to figure out what's going on…this forest? It loops endlessly. If you fly long enough in one direction along the paths, you'll end back up where you started. Trying to fly up above the trees, you just see the endless repetitions all around you. And it's super hard to land back in the same place where you started, it seems like it pulls you to descend in this one specific crossroads with the big rock at the corner - you've seen that, right?"

"Oh, man…" Breezedramon deflated a bit. "Yeah, I saw it…I thought I'd seen several of them, and they were just similar-looking…so it's just one big looping forest? How is that even possible?"

"I tried flying for a full day in one direction, at least as long as I could until my wings couldn't manage anymore. I counted…jeez, I actually lost count, but it was over 45 iterations. If it's not endless, it must be just about. I can't imagine there's not a digimon behind it, but you're the only one I've seen here. And I really hope I don't see any others because I don't want them meeting the same miserable fate we are." Avimon's head hung low. "I don't know if I can even go on anymore…I don't want to spend day after day being miserable and hopeless."

"Hang on, now!" Breezedramon yapped suddenly. "Who said it's hopeless?!"

"I did, just now. What's there to hope for? It goes on and on without end, no way out, no one to save us…"

"Then we'll just have to save ourselves!"

Avimon gave Breezedramon a look. "Look, I know you just got here…you'll start to feel it in a few days yourself. I guess maybe we'll get a chance to talk to someone else, but I can't imagine it'll be long before we're at each other's throats and one of us goes too far…and if it's me, I'll be taking care of myself just after."

"Don't talk like that!" demanded the dragon. "Look, I know it looks bad right now, but this place has GOTTA have a secret to it! If it's not natural, and there's no WAY it can be natural, then someone's behind it, and all we gotta do is figure out who and get 'em to let us go! Or we might even find the way to bust out without dealing with them! I've got too many people counting on me to be all devibalanitstated and stuff!"

Avimon blinked at the dragon. "Uh…what now?"

"Never mind! Look, we're gonna get out of here. It's not gonna take us days! It fact, I think we'll be able to get out tomorrow! We'll put our heads together and we'll figure something out! Look, it's getting dark, probably not the time to be recconatimantiniganinatering, but we can talk about what we've seen and maybe work on a plan of action for tomorrow! You just gotta cling to that hope, and try to do everything you can!"

"You make that sound a lot easier than it is…have you ever been in a situation that's felt hopeless?"

"Oh, you have NO idea. Maybe I'll have to tell you about it so you can get some confideranteratance!"

Avimon rubbed his head. "If you do, please try to tell it in a way I can actually understand…"

"Right, yeah, I'll try to slow down on the big words. C'mon, let's get something to eat, those fruit trees are better than nothing." Breezedramon lifted off again, Avimon trailing behind as they headed for one of the familiar points. Sky…I hope you're okay out there. Hopefully we can talk tomorrow, because I might need some genius help with this…

—

Apart from being more compact and perhaps a bit scaled up compared to what he was used to, Rinikua didn't actually seem that unusual to Reyn. The buildings seemed like they were relatively modern from the outside, though they varied pretty widely in style. It had him a bit curious who designed them, and what a digimon architect would look like; considering they had to accommodate a lot more different shapes and sizes than a human one, it had to be a lot more challenging of a job. Perhaps something he could learn about if they got through this crisis…Reyn couldn't help but be fascinated about this vastly different world, it was a shame he didn't really have too much time to appreciate it at the moment.

Fortunately for Reyn, he wasn't quite front and center on the celebrity circuit yet. The passers-by in Rinikua mostly contented themselves with excited whispers and gawking, neither of which were exactly Reyn's favorite thing but at least it wasn't mobbing him. Only a few of them approached, and they at least remained respectful enough to keep it short.

"Amazing…an actual, real live human!" The Agumon in front of them was a variant Reyn had never seen even in dreams before, with blue stripes and longer claws and tail. He was wide-eyed and staring at Reyn like he was magical. "They said it was just a matter of time, but I thought it'd be years still before one ever showed up!"

"That's so cool!" The other, a Zubamon, was hanging back a little bit more, but a little more grounded. "Hey, you might be in danger over here, want to see if you can wield me?"

Reyn cocked his head. "…Wield you?"

"He turns into a sword," explained Salmandmon. "Appreciate the offer, but don't worry, he can already defend himself, better than you might think."

"Now hold on a sec, having a sword might not be a bad idea, either…"

"Trust me, you don't want that sword," replied the unusual Agumon. "Get one that doesn't have a mind of its own, and won't get distracted by shiny objects."

"Hey! I gotta see if I'm shinier!" protested the Zubamon.

"I know you guys are excited and all, but we're here on business, not pleasure," stated Salmandmon. "At least you'll get to say you met an actual human, but you'll have to wait for another time to be 'wielded' or whatever."

The two departed, chattering with each other excitedly, allowing Reyn and Salmandmon to move on. "I feel like that's not what I remember 'Agumon' looking like in my dreams," remarked the human as he cast one last glance back at the one they'd been talking to.

"Yeah, that'd be the 'X' variant," said Salmandmon with a nod. "They popped up about a century ago after a really nasty virus ripped through one of the regions of Primarest…they were the survivors, with an antibody mutation that changed their data to inoculate them against the virus. They've spread out a lot more since, though they're still definitely a minority."

"Digimon have a lot of variations, huh? Like that Musyamon earlier…it wasn't like the one we fought back in Braun."

"Yep, that's an elemental variant. That's sometimes random, or sometimes environmental, or sometimes a digimon takes an unusual evolutionary path…there can be lots of reasons, but the long and short of it is that there are lots of potential elemental variants for any given digimon. Heck, I'm technically one of them! I'm a fire-element variant of the Lizarmon line. Probably the best one, in my opinion."

Reyn rolled his eyes and chuckled a bit. "So it'll be hard to predict what we might be up against even if we know the 'kind', huh?"

"Yeah, but most of them are color-coded, so you shouldn't have TOO much trouble. Right, here we are." Salmandmon stopped in front of a building, a nice rustic-looking brick building that had a kind of homely appearance - though that might just have been because Reyn's own house was brick as well. "Ketty Inn. Best place I've found to stay in Rinikua, and trust me, I've tried a few."

"I'm going to have to trust you, I couldn't tell you anything about them."

"Oh, yeah. Well, just follow my lead around here and you should be fine! I'm not too used to playing escort to unfamiliar people." Salmandmon stepped towards the doors, which slid open automatically; Reyn followed him inside, to a fairly cozy lobby. It looked pretty nice, he had to say, shiny and clean while still feeling like a place to live in rather than a sterile office or something. A lot of hotels looked too much like businesses to him…which, well, they were, but they could have at least tried.

A digimon popped out from the back, startling Reyn a bit. A tall, avian creature wreathed in black flames, reminding him of a Saberdramon…except, he didn't recall them having arms or standing like she did. "Wow! Is that a real human, or just someone in disguise?"

"Real human, and try not to tell everyone all at once," remarked Salmandmon. "Looking for a room for two, please, with an appropriately-sized bed, if you can."

"Sure thing! Dang, I'm gonna be known as the first inn to host a human!" The alleged Saberdramon pulled out some kind of machine and held it over Salmandmon's hand, waiting for it to beep, and then pulled it back and produced a couple of card keys. "Got an ideal room that should suit you both. I'll leave the rest to you, Salmandmon, thanks for stopping by again! And thanks for bringing a neat guest! Ooh, can I get a picture?"

"Maybe later," Reyn replied, hoping that the innkeeper would forget about that as he hurried after Salmandmon. Already he was wondering if this had been a bad idea…as much as the people around here were certainly positive about his presence, their excitement was going to make word spread about him being there, and there was no way it wasn't going to get back to Emperius. But on the other hand, it wasn't necessarily going to be easy to hide forever anyway…and maybe hearing about them would cause Emperius to turn their attentions towards them instead of his home world. At least, he hoped they were seen as enough of a threat to ease things up on the human world…

At least the room was as promised - the bed was certainly large enough for him, bigger than the one back at his house. Only one, but he was used to sleeping on the same bed as Salmandmon anyway. With the door shut behind, he finally spoke up about his question. "Who was that behind the counter there?"

"Oh, that was Saberdramon. I know, not everyone is at ease with a black flaming creature, but she's cool."

"I mean, she didn't try to bite my head off immediately, so I'm gonna say I trust your judgment on that. But aren't Saberdramon, like, thirty feet tall and, uh, bird-like?"

"Oh, yeah." Salmandmon chuckled. "Okay, time for your next lesson. We went over compression algorithms, now we cover stance mods."

"Stance mods?"

"Basically, cities like this, they try to accommodate as best they can, but there's a limit to how much flexibility they can have in design, and they really have a bit more of a preference for bipeds. So one of the biggest things that was invented was…well, have you heard the phrase, 'if the ocean won't splash you, then you should dive in'?"

Reyn looked at Salmandmon bemusedly. "No, I can safely say I haven't heard that phrase. Though it's probably similar to something we have in our world, that I can't think of at the moment."

"And probably sounds incredibly silly, like your whole 'gift horse' thing. But basically, that's the idea of stance mods. If the city can't be built to fit your shape, change your shape to fit the city. Like compression algorithms, they can be flicked on and off, though unlike those the cities don't require them to be active, because just being an inconvenient shape isn't typically an issue for the city, just for the person. There's plenty who've basically made the 'mod' their full-time state, though, because it's convenient. Makes sense that you wouldn't have seen it before, Emperius fighters probably wouldn't use them during an attack - they're considered less 'fight-optimal' for those who aren't naturally that shape."

"This place already feels super complicated," Reyn said with a shake of his head. "And yet I must be the crazy one, because I feel like I want to know more."

"I have the perfect solution for that," replied Salmandmon with a grin. "Order some food, gorge ourselves, and then conk out for the night. You'll be so busy with that you won't have time to wonder about anything else."

"Yeah, I'm gonna say, you can go ahead and do the gorging for both of us, I'm gonna sit here NOT trying to make my stomach explode."

"You'll come around soon enough, once you start needing more fuel." Reyn wasn't entirely sure whether Salmandmon was joking or not…and remembering what Iris had mentioned about their convergence a few days ago, even if it was a joke, he wasn't entirely certain that it wouldn't come true anyway. And that told him he REALLY wanted to watch what he ate while he was here.

---

Part 2 begin. Part 1 was the initial challenge in the human world; Part 2 starts in the digital world, and on the primary focus of gaining new power. It's going great so far, isn't it?

It's time for another episode of "The Author Cheats Like Dick Dastardly." A lot of the stuff mentioned in this chapter basically serve as excuses to use a far wider variety of digimon in settings they aren't naturally built for and giving myself many more options for filler characters. I have a decent smattering of digimon of my own designs, but it's hard to just make up new ones on the spot, and if there are plenty that exist already, why not try to take advantage of that? As with other worldbuilding things, just kind of assume that it all gets explained to everyone in due time, even if you're only seeing one set of characters talk about it.

We also get our first direct look into Havocravenmon - and far from our last. There are quite a few more scenes in this version than there were in the original, in the name of establishing the key players a bit better. The initial idea of Havocravenmon is the same as it ever was - essentially, the irony that an organization of fanatics was led by someone not nearly so fanatical - but I've massaged the character a bit, to make him a bit less sympathetic while not making him seem impersonable. From the outside looking in, he's clearly not a good person, but HE thinks he is, and he can convince others if that if they don't hold firm against his sway. Of course, I naturally need some...less subtle antagonists along with that. D'arcmon is fun to write, even if she doesn't get a lot of actual screen time.

Custom mon behind-the-scenes:
-Crashmon was another invention without a home, and another in the growing list of examples of "so we can all agree this author is a furry, right?" So I have a type, sue me.
-Palisademon was a poorly-developed idea meant to be part of a line whose final appearance made its mark in another fic, but was never actually used itself. I sort of revamped it into a 'living armor' concept for this.
-Avimon was originally a core digimon in that Adventures fic that Shadowdramon was from. Also like Shadowdramon, his personality is actually relatively consistent with that original idea.