DarkFoxKit: Hello there. For anyone who had followed me before, it's been a while since I updated anything on my own account. Lately I've only been updating Digital Phantom, but that was on my co-writer's account. We decided to have this on my account, but we do worry it may cause confusion since this is actually a sequel to Digital Phantom, not its own self contained story. We do try our best to fill in the holes for anyone who may not have read Digital Phantom, but there will be a lot of information lost on those who hadn't read Digital Phantom before diving into this story.
ZAFT: You can find Digital Phantom on my own account ZAFT_Convoy on and AO3, so feel free to read it on either one. I will also try to help clear up any confusion since I can reference the fics myself. :3
DarkFoxKit: But Digital Phantom is a pretty long story, I know it will be daunting to read, especially for those who may only be mildly interested. So we do hope Digital Phantom Frontier will still be a good read for those who hadn't read the prequel, and if you are interested, feel free to read Digital Phantom afterwards.
ZAFT: One more thing, Digital Phantom is a Danny Phantom story with Digimon characters involved, so if you're looking for it, it's in there, both on and AO3. Or just type it in the search bar. Anyways, on to the actual story!
Digital Phantom: Frontier
Chapter 1: Destiny is Calling
Agunimon stood in ruins, his body was weak, he knew he would revert back to Takuya soon. He looked around him. His friends… Koji, JP, Zoe, and Tommy… even Koichi, who sacrificed himself to save them… everything they had done together… was all in vain. They lied there, unconscious, their fractal codes showing on their bodies. Agunimon was the last one standing, and he was standing… before a being that might as well be a god.
"Do you understand yet?" The shadowy being said to Agunimon. "You were never a match for me. But not to worry, killing you would be a waste. I have a much better use for you and your fellow Legendary Warrior's powers."
Agunimon staggered back. "No… this… this can't be happening…" He had been so sure they would win, and yet… why? Why did we lose? What went wrong? Is this… Were we really fated to lose the whole time…?
The shadowy being floated closer to Agunimon. Agunimon wished he could move, to fight, to run, to do anything at all. But he couldn't. All he could do was stand there as the being got closer.
"You're mine now," The shadowy being sneered as it reached a hand out at Agunimon's face, covering up his eyes, plunging his sight into darkness.
All Agunimon could hear was the sound of the being's sinister laughter before everything went cold.
Takuya Kanbara yelped as he fell off of his bed, covered in cold sweat. He blinked a few times, seeing that he was back in his room, and it was morning. He could hear the sound of cars just outside his house. And he could feel a breeze. He noticed his window was slightly open.
Ugh… that dream again… Why do I keep having that dream? Takuya wondered as he rubbed at his eyes. I feel like it's real, but it can't be real, right?
It certainly felt real to Takuya, and he was sure he had that dream more than once now. But it likely didn't mean much of anything, after all, it involved people he never met before, and he was apparently some kind of strange being with armor and the power to use fire. Now that was unbelievable.
I'm probably just having weird dreams due to eating weird combinations of food. Either that or I'm just having weird dreams in general. Takuya mused to himself as he got up from his bed. What a dream to have, and on Shinya's birthday too…
Takuya yawned before he stood up from his bed. He needed to get to school before he was late, he didn't have time to be worrying about weird dreams.
Takuya gave a sigh. School was mundane, as usual. He headed straight home after school was over. First of all, it was Shinya, his little brother's birthday, and second, he didn't really have a lot of friends to hang out with anyways. He sat down at a table while his mother was cooking up something, and talking to his father on the phone at the same time.
Most of Shinya's birthday dinner was already done and set out on the table, including a nice, big, strawberry birthday cake that was sitting in the middle of the table. It had about 8 candles on it that had yet to be lit. Takuya wanted to taste the frosting of that cake, because it looked really good, he was hungry, and he was bored. He had to wait for their father to get home before they could start eating, which was why his mother was on the phone right now.
"But honey, you can't be late tonight, it's Shinya's birthday." Takuya's mom groaned.
"And tell dad I want something big, like a forklift!" Shinya blurted from where he was reading comics on the floor.
"Mind your manners, Shinya." Their mom scolded as Takuya slowly reached for the frosting on the cake. "And don't even think of eating that cake, Takuya!"
Takuya halted before removing his frosting covered finger, fixing the strawberry he had pushed over. He had no idea how his mother knew what he was doing without even looking at him, she must have eyes on the back of her head or something.
"Man, I'm so bored…" Takuya grumbled. "My whole life is boring…"
Takuya sighed as he put the finger with the frosting into his mouth. It was good, he just wished he could actually eat a piece of the cake.
"I wonder what Danny and Andy have been up to since I last saw them? Their lives are never boring…" Takuya grumbled. Makes me wish I had stayed in America… At least I could be with Danny and Andy on this day instead…
Takuya groaned to himself. "It's just boring… and more boring…" However, a beeping from his cell phone got his attention. "Huh?"
He glanced down at the phone, which had a message beeping on it. "Do you wish to start? YES or NO".
"Incoming message? And yet no sender? That's weird…" Takuya murmured. "Still, it's probably better than being bored." He reached out with a finger and pressed the YES option on his phone.
As soon as Takuya did that, a female voice spoke up, and it seemed only he could hear it. "Takuya Kanbara. It's time to decide your future Takuya." The boy looked around, but that confirmed only he was hearing the voice.
"Hey! Wait a minute, who is this? What do you mean 'my future'?" Takuya said as he stood up and grabbed his phone.
"Your destiny is calling," The female voice replied.
Instructions appeared on the phone, telling Takuya to take the 5:45 Shibuya train at Jiyuugaoka Station.
"This is way better than being bored. My destiny? That sounds pretty cool," Takuya muttered. Though… I feel like if Andy was here, he'd tell me to ignore it, because it's so suspicious. But… Danny would be all for it.
Looking at the clock, Takuya saw it was already 5:37 P.M. The station was a long way by foot. Huh? Aw man… I'll never make it… Takuya thought as he looked at his phone again before he grinned. Although that's never stopped me before!
Takuya reached and grabbed his hat and goggles that were sitting on the chair's back.
"I'm going out, Mom! I'll be back in time for the party!" Takuya quickly said as he started rushing out the door.
"But Takuya-" Takuya's mom started to say, but he was already out the door.
Takuya was running down the streets as fast as his feet could carry him. The sun was already starting to set at this point. He started running past a kid and his father playing soccer together. The kid kicked the ball, but then the father got distracted with a phone call, and the ball went rolling past him and into the street.
"Dad!" The boy cried out.
"Sorry! My phone's making a strange noise," The father apologized.
Takuya was already running to the street, so he figured he may as well catch the soccer ball while he was at it. Besides, he was an expert soccer player.
"I'll get it!" Takuya called back before running to get the ball. As he stopped the ball and kicked it back to the father and son duo, Takuya was unaware of the truck coming up on the street.
Takuya kicked the ball back, but he turned his head when he heard the loud noise coming right at him. His face went pale, and his eyes went wide as the large, 18 wheel truck was coming right for him. The driver had been distracted by the strange phone call, but then he noticed the 12 year old boy standing right in front of him. The driver let out a shocked gasp as he stepped on the brakes and swerved the truck to try to avoid hitting the boy.
Takuya saw the incoming truck and dove to the side, just barely missing getting hit. He landed on the ground and panted. Oh wow… That was way too close! The boy thought, feeling his heart racing.
"Kid! Are you okay!?" The truck driver asked in concern and worry after stopping the truck.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Takuya replied as he looked at his phone. "Aw man! I have to get moving!" He exclaimed when he saw the time. It was 5:43 right now, so he only had 2 minutes left.
The truck driver, the father, and son were watching Takuya run off, not seeming to be bothered by the fact he almost got run over by a truck.
"Uugh, why did I get this phone message at the last minute!?" Takuya groaned as he ran through the city, trying to get to the destination.
Finally, after what felt like forever, Takuya made it into town and was racing to the station. Takuya could hear the station announcer announcing the trains were boarding. He saw he only had one minute, as it was 5:44. Takuya ran to the ticket dispenser and reached into his pockets, only to find he had no cash on hand.
"Aw man… I knew I should have asked for more allowance!" Takuya groaned as he slammed his head into the ticket dispenser in his frustration.
A shadow was watching Takuya from afar. Though Takuya had no idea about this shadow. The ticket dispenser suddenly showed some lights, like it was glitching out for a moment, before a ticket came out of it.
Takuya looked down, seeing the ticket before him. "Huh? No way! A ticket! Maybe this is destiny!" He exclaimed as he grabbed the ticket and ran to catch the train.
Takuya just barely made it onto the train as the doors closed. Takuya was out of breath, unable to believe his luck. He sat down to take a moment to breathe and relax. However, he started hearing more phone rings and beeping noises. He blinked as he looked around. He saw other people seemed to be getting phone calls or text messages too, though most of them ignored it. Takuya saw a boy who appeared to be about his age standing across from him. The boy looked familiar, though Takuya was sure he had never seen this boy before.
The boy had his black hair pulled back in a ponytail, and had blue eyes. He wore a dark blue bandanna around his head that had black tiger stripes on it. He wore a dark blue jacket with a white shirt under it and dark gray pants with blue and white sneakers on.
Huh? Did that boy get a message too? Takuya wondered curiously. And… Why does he look so familiar? Why do I feel like I know this kid?
Takuya's own phone beeped, and he quickly looked at the message he received.
"Transfer to the 6 o'clock subway from Shibuya Station." The female voice stated.
Takuya paled as he saw the time on his phone was currently 5:54, so he had about 6 minutes to make it to the next train.
"Aw, c'mon! I'm trying the best I can here!" Takuya groaned, already feeling the pressure to reach the station in time.
The shadow was watching Takuya from the train's roof. It turned its attention to someone else for a moment, but kept its eyes on Takuya.
The train began to pull into the station as time ticked away. When the train came to a stop, the doors opened and Takuya walked out, confused. "Now what? Where do I go from here?"
Takuya paused when he saw the boy with the long hair walk past him. Maybe… he knows… Takuya decided to follow the boy, hoping he would get an idea on what to do next. Not to mention, Takuya couldn't help but feel like he knew this boy from somewhere.
Takuya ran through the crowd of people, trying to catch up to the other boy. For a moment, Takuya lost sight of the boy, but as he turned his head, he saw the boy getting on an elevator. Seeing this, Takuya made a beeline for the elevator. "Hey! Wait!"
Someone else started running behind Takuya. "Hold that door open!"
Takuya glanced back to see who was running behind him, and saw… the same boy…? He was in a hurry though, so he didn't get a good look before turning back to the elevator before him. Maybe his eyes were just playing tricks on him. He saw the elevator's doors were closing, so Takuya made a dive for the closing elevator.
Takuya managed to get inside the elevator, but just barely as the doors finally slid shut. "Ow!" Takuya groaned as he rubbed his head; he had smacked head first into the wall of the elevator.
When the elevator's doors closed, it began moving down.
"Ugh…" Takuya looked up at the boy, and he didn't see the other boy who was running behind him earlier. I guess he didn't make it.
Takuya saw the long-haired boy before him. He grinned nervously. 'H-hey… Did you get a message too?" He asked, pointing at his own phone.
The boy looked at Takuya in an annoyed expression, without even saying a word to him, the boy turned away from Takuya.
"Aw man, you could at least answer me!" Takuya grumbled before the elevator began to pick up speed, descending faster and faster.
This caught both of the boys' attention. Takuya saw that they were past the B2, which was supposed to be the bottom of where the elevator could take them, but instead, it kept going. Takuya turned around, being able to see through the elevator. It looked like they were going down some kind of glass tube, and there were more glass tubes with elevators going up and down really quickly. Takuya was starting to wonder what he had gotten himself into.
Soon, the elevator they were in slowed down before it landed at the bottom. The doors opened, showing them what looked like an underground train station. There were other people here too, but they were mostly kids, around Takuya's age, if not a little older or younger. There were also different colored trains parked out on several different tracks.
"Huh? So weird…" Takuya murmured as he observed the kids milling around.
His phone beeped, making Takuya look down. "It's up to you now. Which one will you choose?" The female voice asked.
Takuya looked ahead and saw the other boy with him was running off. "Hey! Which one are you choosing?" But Takuya got no answer. "Man, my phone talks more than he does…"
Takuya noticed a large clock that was hanging over the station. The minute hand pointed at 6 '0 clock, and let out a bell ring. A couple of boys pushed a smaller boy into one of the trains just before the doors shut. Takuya blinked as he looked at the brown train for a moment, something about it caught his attention, though he couldn't say why.
The shadowy figure was right behind Takuya, it reached out to him for a moment, but then stopped. Then it suddenly let out a shout in Takuya's voice. "Takuya! Run, get on that train! Go for it, Takuya!"
Takuya didn't know what just happened, but he heard… himself yelling at him to get on that train? With no time to spare, because the train was already starting to leave the station, Takuya made a break for it.
Takuya ran as fast as he could. "Aw man… Destiny sure involves a lot of running!" Takuya groaned out as he ran. Finally reaching the end car, Takuya grabbed onto it and hauled himself aboard, just as the platform came to its end.
Takuya was taking a moment to catch his breath, because he just barely made it on the train, again. He looked up and saw that other boy, who was riding on a different train. The two of them looked at each other for a moment, before the tunnel walls separated them.
"Aw man… Wherever I'm going, I'm sure gonna get there in a hurry…" Takuya groaned to himself. "This had better be worth it…"
Takuya decided to open the door from the caboose, and walked inside. He looked around the cart, not seeing anyone else in here. "That's strange… there's nobody here… this… isn't a ghost train, is it?"
Unlike most kids his age, Takuya knew ghosts existed, thanks to his aunt and uncle back in America. They were a couple of ghost hunting enthusiasts, and while he had never seen a real ghost before, he knew they existed somewhere. He just hoped he wasn't unlucky enough to be on a ghost train. He ran forward, going into another cart.
Takuya's worries about this being a ghost train eased when he finally saw some people. There were 3 other kids. One was a tall, chubby looking boy who had brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a blue jumpsuit with yellow pockets and cuffs on the sleeves and legs, and matching sneakers. The second was a girl with blonde hair and green eyes. She wore a purple beanie, vest and skirt with a white and blue striped shirt that showed her middle. Her socks were lavender as well, and she wore pink and purple sneakers. The last boy was younger than the rest of them, and wore a big orange hat on his head. He looked to have brown hair, and wore a white shirt with green on the neck and sleeves. He wore pants that had suspenders hanging down, and he had teal and green sneakers on.
The 3 looked at him curiously.
"Um…" Takuya started speaking, feeling a little awkward; there was a reason why he didn't have many friends at school. "So… uh… are you guys here because of the phone thing too?"
"Yeah," The girl confirmed. "So… with you here, that makes 4 of us. I wonder if that means anything?"
"Um… I don't think so…" Takuya awkwardly said. "Um… Why did you guys get on this train?"
"Look… I only got on this train because it was closest to the elevator," The chubby, taller boy replied. "Could you stop asking so many questions?"
"Jeez, sorry…" Takuya grumbled.
The chubby boy sighed. "No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't be rude to you like that. I'm just nervous."
"Um…" Takuya turned to the girl. "Is there a reason why you picked this particular train?"
The girl giggled. "To be honest, it was just the closest one to the elevator. I kinda wanted the pink one, but… I don't know, my feet just led me to this one."
Takuya sighed, realizing he wasn't going to be getting many answers. Great… So these guys just picked this train because it was the closest? Talk about boring…
"Hey, so… do you like chocolate?" The chubby boy asked, looking at the girl. "My name is Junpei Shibayama, but you can call me JP. What's your name?"
"I'm Izumi Orimoto, but you can call me Zoe." The girl introduced herself.
"I'm… I'm Takuya Kanbara. Nice to meet you." Takuya said with a bit of a nervous grin.
"Um…"
Takuya heard a more timid voice speaking up. He, JP, and Zoe turned their attention to the smallest boy here. He looked a little nervous, most of his eyes were covered by his hat.
"I'm… Tomoki Himi, but… I… like to be called Tommy…" The boy stated. "Though I… don't remember why I wanted to be called Tommy… but some kids liked to tease me for liking a name that's not Japanese… and I… didn't really mean to get on this train… some bigger kids pushed me on here, and the doors closed before I could get out."
"Wow… that's harsh…" Takuya muttered.
"Why are kids always picking on me?" Tommy asked as he looked up, crying.
"Hey, Tommy, don't worry, you're safe with us," Zoe promised, not liking to see little kids cry.
"I knew… I shouldn't have left without my brother, but… he was being so mean… and I wanted to prove him wrong; that I can take care of myself…" Tommy frowned. "A lot of good that did…"
"Jeez… the kid's like a faucet…" JP grumbled.
"JP! That's rude!" Zoe scolded.
Before anyone could say anything else, the train began to make a loud sound. It didn't sound like a proper train, it sounded like someone was yelling. The lights in the train suddenly went out, darkening the entire area. The group of kids looked on in shock and worry. Then there was a sudden bump that caused everyone to fall and tumble on the floor.
Takuya groaned as he regained his bearings, only to feel something appear over him temporarily, like an overlay of sorts. He felt it fade away, only to glance over and see the same thing happening with the others. Each of them had what looked like a blurry overlay appear over their bodies before it faded.
Takuya stared at what he had seen before something beeped loudly in his hand. Looking down, Takuya saw his cell phone was glowing before the glow dissipated, revealing a new device in his hand. It was black with a red grip, and the screen had a silver spiked hexagon around it with a red background inside the hexagon. There were three buttons below the screen and one on the left side, with a scanner of some kind on the top right side.
"W-what's… going on?" Takuya wondered aloud, shocked at what he was seeing.
"Welcome to the Digital World, Takuya." The woman's voice said from the device his phone turned into. "This is your D-Tector."
Takuya looked up, and saw the other 3 were looking at their own kind of 'D-Tector' in confusion and awe. They appeared to be just as shocked as Takuya was.
"WOOWHOOOOOOOO!"
The voice was so loud that it made all the kids in the train cover their ears.
"Ow… Man… You could hear that all the way on Mars!" Takuya groaned as he rubbed his ears with his hands. "That was loud!"
"Hey… look out there, guys!" Zoe pointed out the window.
"A-are those ghosts?" Tommy nervously asked.
They saw what looked like white blobs floating in the sky. They had little black eyes, and a small mouth.
"They kinda look like little squishy marshmallows," JP joked.
Zoe was looking on curiously, but then something else caught her eyes. She saw what looked like a pink bird of some kind, but not any bird she had ever seen. It was flying through the sky, then it stopped and looked at them. The bird blinked its blue eyes, the eyes looked to have intelligence behind them. The bird then looked to be in distress before it quickly began flying ahead of them like it was in a hurry.
"That's weird…" Zoe muttered. "Why did that bird fly off suddenly?"
"Does anyone find it weird that the bird was pink?" Takuya asked.
"Maybe the loud train scared the bird off," JP shrugged.
"Look, I think we're coming up to a station!" Tommy pointed out.
Indeed, the train was coming up to some kind of factory looking place, that had flames coming off of them from the roof. But that wasn't even the weirdest part, the weirdest part was that it looked like they were on a floating island, and chunks of it were missing.
"Um… Is it just me, or does it look like this place is floating in mid-air somehow?" Takuya asked nervously. Aw man… Maybe I should've stayed home… At least I wouldn't be in this world I know nothing about…
The train finally came to a stop. The doors opened. Takuya, JP, Zoe, and Tommy crowded together, and saw these strange little creatures staring back at them. These creatures looked like gray balls, with long floppy ears. They had a mischievous smile on their faces, red looking eyes, and yellow pupils.
"Are these human kids?"
"We haven't seen any in, like… ever!"
"Try not to break them too fast, guys!"
Takuya was unsure of if they all should leave the train, but then a gust of wind pushed the four kids out of the train and onto the platform.
"That first step's a doozy," The voice that sounded like it was coming from the train chuckled.
"Is it just me… or did the train just… talk?" Takuya asked in surprise and confusion.
"Hey now, I'm not just a train, I'm Trailmon. And I'm alive, just like you, though I'm way better looking than you scrunched up little humans. Anyways, this is Flame Terminal, the heart of a Digimon Village," The train, Trailmon, answered.
"Digimon village?" Takuya asked, confused. I've never heard of something called a 'Digimon' before…
"Hey there, buddies!" The strange ball creatures said, gathering around the group.
"You must be those human kids we've heard so much about."
"Yeah, those guys have been looking for ya! Wonder what happened to them?"
"W-who's been looking for us?" Takuya asked, unsure he liked the way that was being said.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" The creatures giggled mischievously.
"Wait a minute! What if we don't want to be here?" Tommy quickly asked. "Can't we go back?"
"Sorry, kiddo." Trailmon Worm replied. "If you want to get home, you'll have to find another way! I can't take you back home. I have other routes to run!"
"Hey! Why are you just leaving us here!? You're the one who took us to this place!" JP shouted.
The Trailmon started backing away, leaving them. "Hey yourself, I've got a schedule to keep!"
Soon, the Trailmon disappeared on the tracks.
"Great, now what do we do?" Zoe frowned.
"I can't stay here! I need to get home!" Tommy yelled before he took off running towards the tracks in the air, and there was nothing but a dark, cloudy abyss below.
Takuya saw Tommy running to the tracks and gasped. "Wait! Tommy!" He cried as he chased after the kid. "Come back!"
Tommy didn't stop, he started to walk on the tracks precariously.
"Tommy! This isn't helping, you're going to fall!" Takuya shouted.
Tommy stopped for a moment, looking down, then he looked back. "... I… um… I need to get home… my parents will be worried…"
"... I'll find us a way back home!" Takuya blurted out suddenly. "I mean… if we came here one way, then there must be another way to get home, right? There's no need to put yourself in danger like this."
Tommy turned back. "Y-yeah… you're right… I… I lost my head there for a second… I'm coming back!"
Tommy turned himself around and started to walk back, but then there was a sudden shake that caused Tommy to lose his balance.
"Tommy!" Takuya called out in worry.
Tommy grabbed onto the rail with his arms and legs, but now he was too scared to get back up or to move.
"Hang on! I'm coming!" Takuya said as he moved to get onto the tracks. He wasn't going to let this kid die because of his own mistakes.
However, before Takuya could get onto the tracks, a sudden burst of green flames caught his attention. The flames were burning some buildings, and the buildings were turned into what looked like… some kind of code. And two creatures he had never seen before started running towards him.
"Now look at what you've caused me to do!" The white creature with the pink waistband exclaimed as it and its companion, a yellow rabbit creature with red pants on, ran towards Takuya. "I don't think they'll be able to hold her back for much longer!"
Then they ended up crashing into Takuya, whom they didn't even notice until they crashed into him. Both of them looked at just what they crashed into with curiosity.
"This is…" The white creature began in disbelief. "Are you a human?"
"You think everything's a human," The rabbit creature remarked.
"Be quiet," The white creature snapped before pulling out a magnifying glass to study Takuya more. "You've gotta be human, you fit the description perfectly…"
"I'm a human, so what?" Takuya remarked, feeling uneasy that he was being observed so closely by these two creatures.
"Oh, quick introductions, you can call me Bokomon. And this clueless dolt is Neemon," The white creature quickly introduced. "We were actually looking for-"
The self proclaimed Bokomon was interrupted by a loud roar. Takuya gasped when he saw a brown and pink ball shooting past him, and hit the wall. The brown and pink ball fell to the ground, revealing to have large, floppy ears. And appeared to have been holding onto another creature that was orange, and had wings.
"Ow!" The orange creature groaned as the brown and pink creature let go of the orange creature. "I hate being thrown into walls…"
"I took the majority of the impact…" The light brown and pink creature groaned as well.
From what Takuya could see, the light brown and pink creature looked like a rabbit of some kind, with three horns on its head. And the orange and white creature looked like a large hamster with bat-like wings on its head.
However, they weren't the only things that had Takuya's attention. There was something growling in the green flames.
"Um… what is that thing in the flames…?" Takuya asked nervously; he was feeling like this thing was a predator of some kind, and he was its next prey target.
"That is one bad dog. Her name is Cerberumon, she's a powerful Digimon that specializes in fire, and uses Emerald Blaze as her main attack," Bokomon explained.
"Where's the Ancient Spirit? I must have that Spirit!" The canine creature called Cerberumon demanded.
"We told you! You're not getting your claws on it!" The light brown rabbit shouted, despite looking injured, and having some of his fur singed from the fire.
"Ancient Spirit?" Takuya muttered. It sounded… familiar in a way, but he wasn't sure why it did.
"I can sense the Spirit's presence all over this town, I must find it and absorb its power!" Cerberumon announced. "You don't know what kind of powers you're dealing with."
"I think it's you who don't understand the power," The orange hamster snapped back.
"Hey! What's going on!?" Takuya called out.
The two creatures didn't notice Takuya until now, and they turned their attention to him, shocked.
"T-... it's you!" They both shouted.
"Um… Do I know you two?" Takuya asked. "And… how do you know me when I don't know either of you?"
"You two will be destroyed for interfering with me!" Cerberumon snapped before she opened her maw. "Emerald Blaze!"
Cerberumon shot out green flames at them.
"RUN!" The light brown bunny shouted before he and the hamster with wings jumped off of the tracks and into the air.
Takuya didn't know where to go, but he certainly couldn't stay here or he would become nothing but charcoal. He ran to the only place he could think of as the green flames came at him, Bokomon, and Neemon. He ran to the train tracks where Tommy was hanging off of, while also carrying Bokomon and Neemon.
"Is that a little kid on the train track!?" The orange hamster shouted in shock.
"Crap!" The light brown bunny hissed. "We were not prepared for this!"
Takuya ran to Tommy, down the track as carefully and quickly as he could. He reached the younger boy and picked him up. Looking back, Takuya saw the tracks and part of the terminal were also vanishing. "Aw man! This day just got worse!"
"That mutt is going to eat up the whole Digimon Village!" Bokomon hissed, seeing that Cerberumon was sucking up the ground that she just burned, turning it into data.
The light brown bunny and the orange hamster ran at Cerberumon and tried to stop her. The light brown bunny tackled the dog's side, trying to stab her with his horns, and the orange hamster tackled Cerberumon's head.
This only annoyed Cerberumon, and she turned her body, slapping both the smaller creatures with her tail, forcing them off of her.
"She's too strong…" The light brown bunny hissed after pushing himself back up to his feet.
Takuya felt the tracks starting to shift downwards. "Um… I don't think we're out of danger yet either…" He muttered, feeling the tracks shifting downwards even more. His feet started to slip as well.
Tommy, Bokomon, and Neemon all yelped, seeing that they were starting to fall into the dark abyss below. Hearing their cry, the light brown bunny looked over at them. He frowned worriedly before he looked at the orange hamster.
"Come on, we have to save them!" The light brown bunny said.
"Are you sure? Isn't this what's… supposed to happen?" The orange hamster asked.
"Us being here is already interfering with the normal course of events, who's to say that hasn't caused a butterfly effect already? If we don't save them, they could die," The light brown bunny warned.
The orange hamster frowned, but he knew his companion was right. There was no time to question, they had to act now. The two creatures ran to the edges of the land as Cerberumon was eating up the data. Just as Takuya, Tommy, Bokomon, and Neemon were about to fall, the two creatures jumped down to them.
"Hey! Grab hold of us!" The orange hamster shouted, holding out his black paw.
The light brown bunny was doing the same, reaching out to them.
Takuya couldn't really reach out unless he let go of Tommy, but he knew he had to do something. He shifted his grip on the younger boy, holding him as tightly as he could, before reaching out with his free hand to grab onto the closest creature's paw.
JP and Zoe could only watch helplessly, they didn't know what to do as this was happening. They just know that Takuya and Tommy were in danger.
Takuya managed to reach the orange hamster's paw. Tommy nearly slipped from his grasp, and yelped. Then he saw the light brown bunny getting closer to them. He quickly reached up and grabbed onto the bunny's hand. Bokomon and Neemon held onto Takuya and Tommy tightly as the orange hamster began to flap his wings hard to slow their descendant, and the light brown bunny inflated his wings that they almost looked like a couple of balloons.
"There! Land over there!" Bokomon instructed the two, pointing at a piece of land that remained intact.
The orange hamster and the light brown bunny did as instructed, directing their descent to land on the rocky outcropping that was before them. Though due to the amount of weight the two small creatures had to carry, they ended up crash landing onto the outcrop, sending Takuya, Tommy, Neemon, and Bokomon on the ground, while the bunny and the hamster landed further away facefirst. Takuya noticed his D-Tector had flown out of his pocket upon the crash landing.
"Huh…? My D-Tector…?" Takuya noted as the device began to point at what looked like a pillar of fire. A beam of light shot out of the scanner, pointing at the fire pillar directly. "What…? Why is it pointing at that fire?"
As if reacting to the beam of light from his D-Tector, something exploded from the bottom of the pillar of fire. And a bright blue light replaced the pillar of fire. Though the blue light was clear like glass, Takuya was sure that it was some kind of fire from the intense heat he was feeling from it.
"What is that?" Tommy asked, looking quite surprised himself.
"That's… the Spirit!" Bokomon spoke up, getting to his feet. "I've never seen it before with my eyes."
Takuya could see a figurine appearing within the blue flames. "That's… the Spirit that dog was looking for?"
The bunny and the hamster managed to get back up. They looked over at the figurine for a moment.
"So it's here…" One of them muttered, though Takuya didn't know which one.
Were those two looking for the Spirit too? Takuya wondered. Why is everyone after this Spirit?
"The Spirit! I finally found it!" Cerberumon shouted as she jumped down and landed not too far from the group.
Takuya looked at the Spirit and back at the black dog creature. He knew he had to protect Tommy, but that Spirit seemed quite important as well, which told him that letting this dog thing get her grubby… paws… on it was a bad idea as well. Aw man… I have a choice to make, and I don't like either one!
Takuya saw a broken metal pipe on the ground next to his D-Tector, which was still pointing at the Spirit. He quickly picked up the pipe as Cerberumon was charging at them. The boy held up the pipe just as Cerberumon opened her maw and bit down on the pipe, crushing it with her teeth. The bunny and hamster jumped on top of Cerberumon before she could rip into Takuya. They were scratching and biting at her as much as they could.
Cerberumon roared as she jumped away from Takuya, trying to get the two annoying creatures off of her. But every time she got them off, they would jump back onto her again.
"Blazing Ice!" The bunny took a deep breath and fired out an icy wind from his mouth, freezing Cerberumon's maw before she could use another attack.
"Boom Bubble!" The orange hamster expanded his body to a balloon level before firing out a large air bubble at Cerberumon's back, pushing her down.
The bunny looked back at Takuya. "What are you waiting for!? Go get that Spirit!"
Takuya blinked before he nodded. "R-Right!" He said before he turned, running towards the flames. I hope that fire doesn't hurt me! Wait… Why the heck am I running towards the flames anyway? Shouldn't I be running away from them?!
Cerberumon noticed the human child heading to the Spirit. She wanted that Spirit's power herself, she was not about to let this strange human get his hands on it. She crushed the ice with her teeth, and swiped her paw at the bunny and the hamster, pushing them into a wall before she jumped towards the pillar of fire. Takuya gasped as Cerberumon came at him, tackling him into the flames as well.
"T-Takuya!" Tommy shouted in concern.
"Don't go in there! You'll get burned!" Bokomon warned, holding Tommy back from running in there.
"B-but Takuya's in there!" Tommy pointed out worriedly.
As Cerberumon approached the Spirit, Takuya knew he had to do something. He didn't have a weapon though, so all he could do was try to punch and kick Cerberumon. However, he didn't need to do anything, because it was then that Cerberumon's body began to burn, almost as if the Spirit's power was trying to drive her away.
Cerberumon couldn't take it and jumped out of the flaming pillar, rolling on the ground to try to put out the fire on her body. Tommy, Bokomon, and Neemon were shocked when they saw this.
"Oh, no… Takuya…" Tommy frowned.
"I think he'll be fine…" The bunny said weakly as he and the hamster approached them.
The two smaller creatures looked pretty banged up.
"My, you two have certainly seen better days," Bokomon commented.
"Maybe we need to make you some tea?" Neemon said.
"Don't be stupid! Now isn't the time for tea!" Bokomon snapped.
"Wait… how do you know Takuya will be fine?" Tommy asked.
"He's not burning," The hamster said before pointing back at Takuya, who was standing in the pillar of fire, looking to be just fine.
In the fire pillar, Takuya did indeed feel just fine, and he found this quite odd. "Huh? H-how am I not burning alive right now?" He asked as he looked himself over, trying to see if any part of him was on fire.
However, something caught Takuya's eye, and he turned to face the figurine before him. It was calling to him almost, making Takuya stare at it, as if in a trance. "Ancient Spirit…"
Something about this felt very familiar, and it also felt right. Takuya could almost see an armored man walking towards him, and he was walking to the armored man. Like some invisible force took over, Takuya called out.
"SPIRIT!" Takuya cried out as he held out his hands, his D-Tector floating off the ground and flying right into his waiting hands. Takuya pointed it at the figurine, and a beam of light shot out of the scanner, sucking the figurine into the D-Tector.
"What happened?" Tommy asked, watching the whole thing.
"Now… things are about to get interesting…" The bunny chuckled softly, almost knowingly.
Takuya looked at his D-Tector as the symbol of Flame appeared, and he heard that female's voice. "It is time."
Takuya held up his D-Tector and the blue digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he formed a ring of fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his canine teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. "Agunimon!"
Takuya, now known as Agunimon, felt this power flowing through him, like it was meant to be his. It made his body feel more… alive… and he knew it was his, no one else's.
"What's this!? How could a human use the power of the Spirit and turn into a Digimon!?" Cerberumon shouted in shock.
"What?" Tommy frowned, not sure what to make of this. "What did he turn into?"
"Someone really cool!" Neemon shouted in awe. "Or maybe someone really hot, because he's on fire!"
Bokomon was flipping through a green book he took out from his belly warmer. Tommy couldn't help but wonder if there was a pocket dimension of some kind in that belly warmer.
"No way…" JP and Zoe were watching this whole thing from above, they couldn't believe what they were seeing either.
"Is that really Takuya?" JP asked.
"If it is… he sure doesn't look like it…" Zoe noted.
By now, Tommy and Neemon got behind Bokomon to see a drawing of the same being who stood before them now.
"That's… Agunimon!" Bokomon stated. "He's the Legendary Warrior of Flame!"
"Legendary… Warrior?" Tommy blinked, feeling like that sounded familiar, but he was sure this was his first time hearing about this.
Agunimon held up a hand and swiped it, causing the flames around him to dissipate, as if on command. He was clearly not messing around if his body language was anything to go by.
"Even so, I'll still defeat you and take that Spirit from you!" Cerberumon shouted.
"Are you sure about that?" The hamster asked.
"Shut up!" Cerberumon snapped before she jumped towards Agunimon. "Emerald Blaze!"
Agunimon turned around, seeing the incoming blast of green fire. As if on instinct, the Warrior of Flame flipped out of the way, avoiding the Emerald Blaze attack like it was nothing. He landed in front of Tommy, Bokomon, and Neemon as soon as he was out of the way of the attack.
Agunimon easily scooped up Tommy, Bokomon, and Neemon into his arms, and jumped up high, heading back to the top of the station, where Zoe and JP were.
"How'd he do that!?" Cerberumon growled.
"Hehe… he's a Legendary Warrior, what did you expect?" The bunny pointed out. "You just awakened Agunimon's wrath."
Agunimon set Tommy, Bokomon, and Neemon down in front of JP and Zoe. He looked at the other two kids. "Keep an eye on Tommy and these two. I'm going to finish this fight." Agunimon said, his voice sounding just like that of Takuya's.
With that said, Agunimon then jumped back down to face Cerberumon himself.
"Whoa, he's so cool!" Tommy smiled.
"Very cool!" Zoe agreed.
JP huffed, feeling a little jealous that Zoe's attention was all on the boy who turned into some kind of creature.
"You two! You both interfered with my search for the Spirit!" Cerberumon growled at the bunny and the hamster.
"Hardly, you were the one who attacked us," The orange hamster snapped. "You caused our group to scatter, and get separated, and you even attacked two innocent Digimon!"
"For what it's worth though… I hope once you get reborn, you'll try to become a better Digimon," The bunny stated.
"You say that like I'm already dead!" Cerberumon hissed. "But you two will be the first to get reborn!"
Cerberumon charged at the two smaller creatures. The bunny and the hamster braced themselves.
"I don't think so!" Agunimon exclaimed as he landed in front of the two smaller creatures and managed to catch Cerberumon in the middle of her charge. He braced himself, digging in his foot claws so he didn't get pushed back so easily.
"Agunimon?" The hamster spoke up in surprise.
"You're helping us?" The bunny asked.
Agunimon was a little surprised to hear the two creatures - no, the two Digimon - didn't expect him to help them.
"Why wouldn't I? This big mutt was attacking you as well, right?" Agunimon retorted, trying to keep Cerberumon back. "I won't sit back and let something happen if I can help it!"
Agunimon managed to throw Cerberumon back.
Cerberumon growled angrily before she had the two dog mouths on her shoulders move a little. Their empty eyes glowed a purple light, surrounding the area in darkness. "Portals of Darkness!"
Holes surrounded them, leading into a dark dimension of some kind below. Agunimon, seeing this, quickly turned around and picked up the two Digimon just before a hole opened up underneath them, and they fell into the dimension.
Agunimon held onto the two smaller Digimon tightly, trying to keep his wits about him as they fell deeper into the darkness. It was so strange. He was able to see like it was twilight out, but there was nothing around him except an odd fog, if it could be called that.
"Let's see how well you fare against me on my turf!" Cerberumon shouted as she launched herself into the dimension.
The holes above them closed, covering them in darkness. Cerberumon's form disappeared into the darkness. She started to claw at Agunimon, who was also trying to keep the two Digimon safe.
"You'll never escape the darkness!" Cerberumon shouted.
Agunimon found he had to curl into a ball to keep the two smaller Digimon safe. The only reason he was able to keep them safe from physical harm was because of his armor that he wore, which was the only thing holding back the strikes from Cerberumon's claws.
"Agunimon… You don't have to protect us, just fight back! We'll be fine," The orange winged Digimon said, wanting Agunimon to fight back.
"You'll die if I leave you vulnerable…" Agunimon replied, grunting as he felt another slash against his back armor.
"We can still fight too," The light brown bunny Digimon assured. "Just trust us, please?"
Agunimon frowned at this. He had seen how the two had barely held their own against Cerberumon. "Are… Are you sure…?" He wasn't too sure about this plan.
"Hey… we have you now," The orange winged Digimon reminded. "We've got this. We'll distract Cerberumon, and you come in for the kill."
Agunimon blinked before he gave a nod. "Okay… Just… be careful…"
Agunimon let them go. The second the two were free, they quickly ran to the side.
"Hey Cerberumon! You're so weak, you couldn't even defeat two Rookie level Digimon!" The orange Digimon taunted. "No wonder you need the Spirit's power!"
Cerberumon emerged from the darkness in a rage. "What was that?!" She shouted as she lunged for the two smaller Digimon.
"Tiny Twister!" The light brown bunny spun around so quickly that he turned himself into a small light brown tornado.
Cerberumon's face was being constantly slapped by the bunny's ears, though it didn't hurt her, it did distract her. Agunimon saw his chance.
"Let's see how she likes a real tornado!" Agunimon hissed before fire began to flicker from the openings in his armor on his shoulders, wrists, knees, and ankles. Slowly, he began to spin around himself, the fire engulfing his form as he spun faster and faster. A fiery twister was formed in a matter of seconds. "Pyro Tornado!"
The bunny moved away as Agunimon engulfed Cerberumon in his flaming tornado. Cerberumon cried out in pain as she was being burned by the Spirit's flames.
The bunny landed next to the orange winged Digimon. Both of them looked up in awe as Cerberumon was taken up into the sky, and the dark dimension was broken. JP, Zoe, Tommy, Bokomon, and Neemon were all watching from the top, seeing the fiery tornado breaking through.
"Is he okay?" Zoe asked in concern.
Just as Zoe asked this, the flaming tornado died down, revealing Agunimon kicking Cerberumon in the stomach, hitting her Digi-Core in the process.
"I'd say he's better than okay!" Neemon said.
Cerberumon let out a pained scream as a ring of code appeared on her torso.
"No… How could I have been defeated? And by a human child no less?!" Cerberumon coughed out before her form became a black silhouette.
"The Spirit would never obey the likes of you." Agunimon replied before he held up his D-Tector. "Time to claim the fractal code!" He pressed the button on the side as the scanner on top lit up, the screen showing the symbol of Flame. Agunimon swung his arm, running the scanner over the ring of code. "Fractal Code… Digitize!"
When Agunimon scanned the Fractal Code, Cerberumon's body scattered into bits of data. The data reformed into an egg, and the egg flew off into the sky.
"What happened?" Zoe asked.
"Cerberumon's essence was reformed into a Digi-Egg," Bokomon explained. "It's headed back to Primary Village, most likely, where Cerberumon can start her life over again. Hopefully she gets better parents to raise her."
"Wow… Really? That's… Kinda odd…" Zoe murmured, not sure how to feel about that exactly.
"Not really, that's how things are for us Digimon," Bokomon shrugged.
"So you guys are called Digimon?" Tommy noted.
"So is that some kind of monster or something?" JP asked.
"In a sense, it stands for Digital Monsters," Bokomon answered.
"Hey, look, the hot guy is landing," Neemon pointed out.
Agunimon landed on the ground below, with the bunny and the orange winged Digimon looking at him in concern. Lines of code surrounded Agunimon, covering him for a moment, before the codes disappeared, leaving Takuya where Agunimon was.
Takuya fell to his hands and knees. "Wow… that's tiring…" The boy panted out, feeling like his energy had been wiped for some reason. Takuya took a moment to gather himself before looking at his D-Tector. "But… how did I know how to do all that stuff…? And… What happened to me?"
"Hey… are you okay?" The orange winged Digimon asked in concern as he and the bunny approached him.
"I'm… not sure…" Takuya replied, he was still in shock at what just happened.
The bunny looked up to see the other human children, Bokomon, and Neemon were coming down.
"Come on, let's go," The bunny quietly said to the orange Digimon.
The orange Digimon frowned as he looked at the bunny, but he didn't argue, and both of them walked away as the others started to gather around Takuya.
"Hey… you okay?" JP asked Takuya, who shook his head.
"If you call being confused okay." Takuya retorted.
"Jeez, just asking…" JP huffed.
"Sorry, just… What the heck happened?" Takuya asked.
"Do you mean before or after you became a Digimon?" Zoe asked.
"Um… both?" Takuya muttered. "I don't know…"
"I thought it was really cool how you fought that dog, and turned into Agunimon!" Tommy smiled. "And you saved me… so… thanks for that."
Takuya blinked. "Um… you're welcome…?" He said awkwardly. "I… still don't know how I did that…"
"You managed to use the Spirit's power," Bokomon explained. "By doing so, you took on the form of Agunimon. I suppose you were able to do it with that strange device of yours."
"You mean… My D-Tector?" Takuya looked down at the device in his hand. "This little thing allowed me to become a Digimon?"
"Why don't you try it again and see if you can do it?" Zoe suggested.
Takuya frowned as he brought the D-Tector back up. "But I don't even know how I did it the first time!"
Takuya began to push the buttons randomly. "C'mon! Turn me into a Digimon! Power up, on… whatever!" He exclaimed in frustration.
As soon as he hit a few buttons in sequence, the scanner began to glow, but it was not for the reason Takuya wanted. "Fractal code, rendered."
"Uh… I think I broke it…" Takuya muttered as a stream of fractal code emerged from the scanner.
"Look at that!" Neemon pointed out in shock.
The fractal code began to cover a large part of the station, becoming bigger and bigger until it revealed itself as a large chunk of the missing land from the floating train station they were on. Takuya could see trees and little houses on that big piece of land.
"There's no way this is happening!" JP yelled in shock.
"Um… I think it is…" Takuya murmured. "Did… I do that?"
Happy and excited, Bokomon and Neemon started to run across the station and towards the new land Takuya just released. Takuya, Zoe, JP, and Tommy ran after them, and the little fur balls they saw earlier started moving too.
"I can't believe it! You brought back our little village!" Bokomon smiled.
"I didn't mean to!" Takuya exclaimed. "I was just trying to turn into a Digimon!" Aw man… What the heck is going on here?!
"So that whole fractal code thing… is that what brought back that village of yours?" Tommy asked.
"That's right! You see, our world is made up of fractal code, and with how Cerberumon was eating away at it, we were losing chunks of our world," Bokomon explained. "I should be surprised you humans were able to pull off such a feat, but considering how highly talked about you were, I guess it was to be expected."
"Highly talked about? By whom?" Zoe questioned.
"You really don't know?" Neemon asked. "I could've sworn they were friends of yours or something."
"Just who talked about us so highly?" Takuya asked before he blinked. "Wait… where are the winged hamster and bunny Digimon? I could've sworn they'd be just as excited as the rest of you guys and celebrate with you."
"What? They're not here?" Bokomon frowned. "I thought they'd want to stick around now that they found you."
Bokomon then pulled out that green book he had earlier. "By the way, I feel I should tell you, since you obviously don't know them. The orange Digimon is called Patamon, he's a small one, but he's a pretty determined Digimon. Despite not having a Holy Ring, he seems to show potential to use holy power. The light brown Digimon is named Lopmon, he's a precious Digimon that's usually known for being a crybaby, although I've never seen this one cry. He may be small, but he seems to exhibit quite the power himself. Those two, along with a few others, have been going around, looking for human children before you guys showed up."
Bokomon showed them drawings of Patamon and Lopmon, as well as the description for their species.
"So we just met two other Digimon? That's pretty cool, but why'd they just leave?" Takuya asked. "And… Why did they try to help me against Cerberumon?"
"I dunno, I guess it's because they were defending themselves earlier?" Neemon remarked.
"Cerberumon attacked them, and us, when we were discussing what to do. The rest of them got scattered, leaving only those two with us before they got blown back and we had to run. That was when we found you," Bokomon explained. "As for why they left… they were probably not sure what to do with so many of you around, or maybe they went to look for their missing friends."
Takuya looked down. "That must have been scary, being attacked like that… I know I was scared…"
The group were now walking across the land, heading into the trees. It was nice to get away from the hot train station, and all the smoke.
"So what about these furballs? Are they Digimon too?" JP asked.
"Yeah, they're called Pagumon. They're usually mischievous, but otherwise harmless unless you manage to rile a lot of them up," Bokomon explained.
Zoe shivered. "I will never understand how something so cute could be so scary, if what you say is true."
"I wouldn't worry about them," Bokomon said. "We should head back to my house for a moment to rest. I can probably tell you more about the Digital World and why you might've been brought here, especially since one of you managed to get the Spirit of a Legendary Warrior."
"Hey… do you think that means we could become Digimon too?" Zoe asked, looking at her own D-Tector.
"That'd be cool, wouldn't it?" Tommy asked, looking at his D-Tector as well. But… Why do I feel uneasy about it?
"It's possible." Bokomon replied. "I could also explain more about the Legendary Warriors if you'd like. It would be easier than just having you struggle to figure out who they are."
JP frowned for a moment. Something about this whole thing was bothering him. Seeing how Tommy was the closest to him, and the youngest one here, he took Tommy's arm and pulled him back from the group as they were walking.
"Hey, Tommy, c'mere a sec," JP whispered.
"Huh?" Tommy frowned as he looked up at JP. "What is it?"
"I think we need to leave here." JP said. "I'm not getting a good feeling about this whole thing."
"Why's that?" Tommy asked.
"This isn't our world," JP said. "You get that, don't you? We've never had Digimon or whatever in our world, or fractal code. Takuya turning into some kind of Digimon… don't you think that's weird?"
"I… guess so, but…" Tommy started.
"But what? Do you think he became some sort of superhero?" JP asked. "Take it from me, kid, this hero stuff is way overrated, and I should know. It's entirely too much work, and you always have to save some poor sap. Not to mention it's dangerous. Besides, for all we know, Takuya turning into a Digimon could mean he's losing his humanity, you know?"
Tommy frowned. While he hadn't really said anything about wanting to be a superhero, it did cross his mind for a moment. It was really cool to see Takuya turning into a Digimon and kicking the bad Digimon's butt like he did. But Tommy had been getting an uneasy feeling about it all too, so it wasn't like he completely disagreed with where JP was coming from.
"So… what do you plan to do?" Tommy asked.
"I plan to find us a way home, that's what, squirt." JP replied. "We can't stay here. It's too dangerous. Besides, weren't you crying about going home earlier?"
"I wasn't crying," Tommy huffed. "But… I guess I should go back home. I don't like making my parents and brother worry about me…" I feel like it wouldn't be the first time… but… wait, where did that thought come from?
Meanwhile, a blue Trailmon pulled up into the station, and opened its doors. The boy Takuya met earlier stepped out, and was looking at his own D-Tector.
"Koji Minamoto, commence your search." The female voice said over his D-Tector.
Koji scowled. "Search? For what?"
"The Spirit. Search for the Spirit, and your questions will be answered," The voice replied.
Koji grunted. "Not good enough. I'm not some lap dog you can just order around you know."
There was silence from the D-Tector.
Koji frowned before trying to ask again. "What is this Spirit anyway? And how do I know where to look for it?"
The screen on his D-Tector fizzled for a second, annoying Koji more, until a holographic compass appeared before him. It seemed to be pointing somewhere.
"What the heck is this? This just keeps getting weirder by the second…" Koji grumbled.
"Hey, you said it, not me," The Trailmon remarked.
Koji scowled again before deciding to get moving. It wasn't like he had anything else going on in this odd world.
Meanwhile, Tommy and JP were back in the station. JP saw one of the Pagumon on top of one of the strange buildings.
"Hey, maybe we can ask this little guy how we can get back home," JP suggested.
"Are you sure? Didn't Bokomon warn us not to rile them up too much?" Tommy asked.
"We're just going to ask him a question, not rile him up." JP rolled his eyes.
Tommy just couldn't help but get a bad feeling about this. He would rather ask that bunny… the one called Lopmon, or that Patamon Digimon he saw earlier. They helped them earlier, so they were more trustworthy than these mischievous furballs, surely. But it wasn't like he knew where they were, and asking a local was a logical idea.
"Hey, little guy!" JP called up to the Pagumon on the strange building. "What's up?"
"Huh?" The Pagumon frowned, looking down at them.
"We just want to ask you a quick question," JP said. "Do you know how we could get back to our world?"
"Buzz off," Pagumon huffed. "I have no reason to help you humans."
Tommy noticed that Pagumon looked a little more roughed up than the ones he saw earlier. He wondered if this Pagumon got into a fight with another Digimon earlier.
"I could make it worth your while." JP said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a chocolate bar. "How about some premium chocolate? If you tell us how to get home, this whole bar is yours."
Pagumon looked down, interested in seeing this strange new type of food he had never seen before. He jumped down at the piece of chocolate JP broke off from the bar and held up. He tasted the chocolate and immediately wanted more.
Pagumon turned back to JP and Tommy. "All you have to do is take another Trailmon. They're the only Digimon that can cross between our world, and yours."
"It's that easy?" Tommy blinked.
"Yup. Now fork that chocolate bar over!" Pagumon demanded.
JP grinned. "It's all yours!" He handed the chocolate bar over before looking at Tommy. "C'mon Tommy! Let's go home!"
JP started running ahead, and Tommy hurried after him, only hesitating a little bit. Pagumon ate the entire bar of chocolate. "I want more of that stuff!"
Tommy ran after JP. "Do you think it was a good idea, giving him chocolate? I heard some animals die if they eat chocolate."
"He's not an animal, Tommy, he's a Digimon. I'm sure he'll be fine," JP said.
"But if we're leaving, shouldn't we at least let the others know first?" Tommy asked.
"If they want to stay, that's their thing. They don't need to worry about us." JP replied.
As the two were heading for the station, Koji was walking by. He saw them, but they didn't see him.
"... Why do I get the feeling those two are an accident waiting to happen?" Koji frowned.
The boy debated for a moment about what to do, then he shrugged. "I'm not their babysitter. It's their fault that they got in way over their heads."
JP and Tommy made their way back to the station, only to find a Trailmon sitting on the tracks, waiting for passengers to board.
"Hey, looks like we lucked out, there's already a Trailmon here!" JP pointed out.
They saw those white marshmallow Digimon they had seen earlier when they arrived in this world. They certainly looked friendlier than the Pagumon. They were blinking at the two humans curiously.
"Hey there, Trailmon, would you like to take a trip to the real world?" JP grinned.
The Trailmon blinked its one eye for a moment at them, before huffing. "No thanks, I just got back from there."
Jp frowned. "Aw, c'mon! Please?" He asked as he held up another chocolate bar. "How about a tasty down payment then?"
"Hmm?" Trailmon looked at the chocolate bar in JP's hand curiously. "Let me try that!"
"JP, are you seriously bribing a train to take us home with chocolate?" Tommy questioned.
JP didn't hear Tommy as he handed the chocolate bar to the Trailmon. The Trailmon opened its mouth and licked the chocolate bar with a giant pink tongue, right out of JP's hand. This caused both JP and Tommy to jump back from being startled by such a large pink tongue, and neither of them had expected a Trailmon to actually have a tongue.
Tommy knew the last Trailmon said how they were alive, but he didn't know what train monsters ate. He would've assumed coal or electricity, but definitely not chocolate.
The Trailmon instantly fell in love with the flavor of the chocolate bar. "Yummy! I'm off now!"
The Trailmon didn't hesitate to blow the whistle and started moving down the tracks quickly, leaving the two boys behind.
"... Maybe you should've told him to take us with him before you gave him the chocolate…" Tommy deadpanned.
JP deadpanned as well. "I think you're right…" He muttered. "I really need to think these ideas through…"
Although Tommy wasn't sure if he wanted to go home right now, despite not wanting to make his parents worry. He had been feeling split about it.
Suddenly, there was a horde of Pagumon that came in front of them. The little white Digimon saw these Pagumon and quickly slithered away. They didn't want to get involved with this.
"Uh… JP… I don't like the way they're looking at us," Tommy said nervously.
"Hey! Chocolate boy! Give me more of that chocolate! My friends want to eat them!" One of the Pagumon shouted.
JP gulped. "Those were the only two bars I had…" He said nervously.
The Pagumon stopped bouncing before they started discussing what to do with each other.
"Uh… JP… we should probably run now…" Tommy gulped nervously as the Pagumon was giving them a hungry look.
"Get them!" The Pagumon shouted.
The horde of Pagumon jumped at the two humans, trying to bite them with their teeth.
Tommy and JP were screaming in pain, trying to get away from the chomping Pagumon. They ran out of the horde, but the horde of Pagumon just followed after the two of them.
Meanwhile, Zoe and Takuya were looking at the houses. The houses were pretty small compared to what they were used to.
Zoe heard something rustling in the trees above her. She looked up and saw that pink bird she saw earlier when they were arriving in the Digital World. The bird was perched on the tree's branch, and was looking down at her.
"Hey… is that a Digimon?" Zoe asked as she pointed out the bird.
Takuya looked up. "I… think so… But I've never seen a pink Digimon before…"
"You only saw a few Digimon, Takuya, I'm pretty sure Digimon come in all shapes, sizes, and color," Zoe huffed.
"Well, excuse me for being curious." Takuya huffed back.
Bokomon was getting settled in the house, so he wasn't there to explain things to them currently.
"I just can't help but wonder… are you interested in us?" Zoe asked the bird.
The bird frowned, showing that it was capable of frowning, but didn't say anything. Instead, the bird flew off of the tree branch, and went somewhere else.
"I guess… that's a no." Takuya deadpanned.
"Or maybe it's just nervous around us. I mean it probably never saw a human before," Zoe pointed out.
"True." Takuya sighed. "But I can't help feeling like that Digimon is familiar somehow… Like I've seen it before, but this is my first time here. It's so weird."
Then Takuya noticed someone was missing. "Hey… have you seen Tommy?"
"Uh… I think he's with JP," Zoe suggested.
"And where's JP?" Takuya questioned.
"I finally finished settling in," Bokomon announced, opening up the window.
"That's great!" Zoe exclaimed to Bokomon with a grin on her face.
"Yeah, but we're missing two people, JP and Tommy." Takuya pointed out. "We don't know where they went."
"That's funny! Maybe they're playing hide-n-seek!" Neemon smiled from the window. "After all, Lopmon and Patamon are!"
"Hush…" Bokomon grumbled.
"Or maybe they were eaten by a bunch of Grizzmon," Neemon said.
"Okay, now I'm worried." Zoe frowned. "We should go look for them."
Takuya nodded. "Let's get going. We need to find them before something happens to them."
Takuya, Zoe, Bokomon, and Neemon started to walk around the woods.
"Funny how we went searching for humans to searching for more humans," Bokomon mumbled.
"You mentioned looking for humans before, right?" Takuya asked. "Who was looking for us before?"
"5 Digimon we've never met before came into the village one day before Cerberumon started eating up the fractal code," Bokomon explained. "Lopmon and Patamon were among these 5 Digimon. They were asking around if we had seen any human children here recently. We hadn't seen any, so we offered to help them search, and after a while, they began thinking you weren't here yet. And one of them mentioned that the humans we were looking for were special, and may help our world."
"So you think that these humans are us?" Zoe asked. "That's quite the coincidence."
"I wonder why they were looking for us though, and why they think we were special," Takuya said. "I mean… before I found that Spirit, I was just an ordinary guy, you know?"
"Who knows, they were pretty tight lipped on why they were looking for you," Bokomon said. "I'm more surprised Lopmon and Patamon didn't stick around when they finally found you."
"I get pretty tight lipped if I get peanut butter stuck to my mouth," Neemon commented.
"Oh, hush! No one asked you!" Bokomon huffed at Neemon.
While Takuya and Zoe were curious about these 5 Digimon that were looking for them, they had to find Tommy and JP before they got into trouble.
Bokomon looked up, seeing a group of small white Digimon slithering by. "Hey, Poyomon! Have you seen any human children recently?"
"We saw them being chased by some Pagumon back at the station," One of the Poyomon answered.
"Oh… that's probably not good," Neemon sweatdropped.
"Uh-oh, sounds like that group got riled up again," One of the nearby Pagumon said.
"What? What group?" Zoe frowned.
"There's a Pagumon who's the leader of a group of really mischievous Pagumon. Not all of us are as bad as they are, they take the cake," The Pagumon warned. "I'm not sure why their leader is so nasty though, he got into quite a fight with those 5 Digimon earlier. So if your friends did something to tick them off, they're as good as mush."
Takuya paled. "We need to find JP and Tommy, fast…" He gulped.
"But where do we start to look?" Zoe asked in concern and worry.
"The station might be a good place to start, since that's where they were last seen," Bokomon pointed out.
Takuya, now worried, mostly for Tommy who was only a little kid, started running towards the station. Zoe quickly followed after him.
Meanwhile, Koji was walking somewhere in the woods. The D-Tector was pointing him somewhere.
"Where is this thing taking me? This is getting old…" Koji grumbled as he was walking.
Koji then heard what sounded like whimpering. He looked away from his D-Tector to follow that whimpering noise. It sounded like an injured dog. He opened some bushes, and saw what looked like a white furred dog, with magenta furry, floppy ears, and a curly tail, lying on the ground. Its fur looked a little singed, but its front paw looked like it got bitten by some sharp teeth.
"H-hey!" Koji called as he ran over; he hated seeing a dog hurt, especially since he had a dog himself. "Are you okay?"
The dog looked up, startled from the voice. They didn't expect someone to find them, or at least not Koji. Koji approached the injured dog. The dog didn't growl at him, or tried to ward him away. Instead, it was looking at him with surprise, and curious eyes.
Koji knelt down and slowly held out a hand. "I'm not going to hurt you. Just… don't bite me please…" He said, a bit nervous.
The dog blinked as Koji was inspecting its injured paw. Koji couldn't see any blood, but the markings definitely looked like it pierced through deep. "What happened that got you into this mess?"
The dog hesitated for a moment, before answering. "An angry Cerberumon didn't like me attacking it."
"A Cerberumon….? What's a Cerberumon?" Koji asked, still looking at the wound.
Koji didn't show it, but he was a little surprised to hear the dog talking. He wasn't familiar with this world, but if a train could talk, why not a dog? But this was clearly not an ordinary dog.
"A strong, mean Digimon that can shoot out fire, and bite really hard," The dog winced. "My friends and I got scattered when Cerberumon attacked us… I've been trying to heal my injury so I can find them."
The dog looked up at Koji. "Um… I don't believe we met… you're a human, aren't you? I'm Labramon."
"Koji Minamoto." Koji introduced himself, figuring it was best to be polite and not rude. "And yes, I'm a human."
"Koji, huh?" Labramon noted with familiarity in her eyes, which Koji didn't understand. "Okay… Did… any other human kids follow you to this world?"
"Not that I know of." Koji admitted. "But I did see a couple of other kids running around, so I don't think I was the only one who came here."
"Okay… Then this is no time for me to be laying down…" Labramon whispered. "What's going on with your D- uh… your um… d-device?"
"How should I know?" Koji grumbled. "I'm just following this map that came up. I'm supposed to find this Spirit, whatever that is."
"You're looking for the Spirit?" Labramon noted. "I see… so you don't…"
"I don't… what?" Koji asked.
"Uh… nevermind me…" Labramon sighed. "You keep going… you need to find that Spirit."
"I'm not leaving you injured out here, you could get caught by something," Koji said.
"What do you plan to do then?" Labramon asked.
"Take you with me, of course." Koji replied. "I can probably carry you if I have to."
"What? But won't I just slow you down?" Labramon questioned, surprised.
Koji tore off some parts of his jacket, and tied the cloth on Labramon's injured paw. "That should at least help a little bit. And don't worry about slowing me down."
Koji picked up Labramon. She was bigger than a small dog, but not too heavy. Labramon was more surprised that Koji was willing to take her with him, especially before he got his Spirit.
"I've had to carry my own dog before, so you're not that heavy compared to her." Koji admitted. "At least I won't be leaving you behind here."
Koji began to walk towards the area where the Spirit was located again. "I just hope this Spirit thing is worth all of this trouble."
Koji had a soft spot for dogs, though he would never admit that to anyone else. While this Labramon may not be a real dog, she was too dog-like for him to ignore.
Koji then saw an entrance to an underground cavern. There were stairs leading down. Labramon looked at the stairs herself, her nose twitching.
"It smells kinda funky down there," Labramon noted.
Koji grimaced. "It definitely looks like it's a creepy place."
Koji walked down the stairs, seeing that it was dark, though there were some lights from the holes in the walls. The small bits of sunlight were creeping down on them.
Meanwhile, Tommy and JP were currently hiding from the Pagumon horde that was chasing after them. Tommy was frantically pushing buttons on his D-Tector.
"Come on, do something! Digivolve me, or find a Spirit, or whatever! We need some help!" Tommy hissed at the device.
"Keep it down!" JP hissed as he was looking for any signs of the Pagumon horde.
"I'm trying to find a way for us to survive against those little monsters," Tommy hissed back.
"Why would you want to digivolve anyway? What if it's painful or something?!" JP shot back.
"It's not that I want to digivolve, I just want to get eaten alive even less," Tommy replied. "Don't you?"
A familiar light brown rabbit hopped onto a tree branch, and noticed the two hiding behind a small hill. He blinked, wondering what they were doing down there.
JP groaned. "We need to find a way to escape those little Digimon."
Tommy looked up when he heard what sounded like a horde gathering around. "Um… JP…? I don't think we're alone here…"
JP looked up to see what Tommy was talking about, and saw the Pagumon horde found them. JP and Tommy yelped as they quickly began running away, only for the ground under them to suddenly collapse, making them fall down, and Tommy dropped his D-Tector. The Pagumon horde stopped for only a moment as they fell, but they soon jumped down after them.
Lopmon floated down from the tree with his inflated ears, then he deflated them when he reached the ground. He picked up the D-Tector Tommy dropped and looked down the hole they just fell through. "Oh man… what kind of trouble did you get yourself into now?"
Lopmon's ears went up when he heard voices calling out Tommy and JP's name. He recognized those voices, and frowned. "... Patamon, where did you go? Don't tell me you decided to…"
Meanwhile, not too far away, Takuya and Zoe were calling out for Tommy and JP.
"Wow, they sure are noisy," Neemon remarked.
"We need to get a bird's eye view…" Bokomon sighed.
"Where could they be?" Zoe frowned.
"I don't know…" Takuya sighed. "But Tommy… He shouldn't be out alone in this place. He's younger than us, and he shouldn't be without his parents. I guess I'll have to keep an eye on him when we find them."
"Wow, look at you trying to act all mature," Zoe giggled.
"Hey, who said I was acting?" Takuya pouted. "I'm in the sixth grade you know!"
"Really? I didn't expect you to be in the same grade I am," Zoe chuckled. "I thought you'd be 2 or 3 years younger than me."
"You do realize by that logic, I'd be the same age as Tommy, right? Or at least close to it," Takuya pointed out.
"Still… When's your birthday?" Zoe asked, giving Takuya a bit of a cheeky grin.
"In August!" Takuya answered.
"I knew it, I am older. I was born in May. So that means I'm 3 months older than you~" Zoe smugly stated.
"So what?" Takuya retorted. "That shouldn't mean anything. It just means you're a bit older than me, that's nothing special."
"Whatever~" Zoe giggled, seeing how flustered Takuya was.
Then they stopped when they saw a familiar light brown Digimon standing before them. Zoe blinked, this was her first time really seeing the Digimon since he was too far during the Cerberumon fight.
"Oh my gosh! You're so cute!" Zoe smiled.
Lopmon blinked as he looked up at them.
It was Takuya's first time getting a good look at the Digimon himself, since he was a little busy in the battle.
"Hey… it's you!" Takuya exclaimed. "You're one of those Digimon who helped me against Cerberumon!"
"Yes, I suppose I am," Lopmon replied. "Call me Lopmon."
"You're just so cute!" Zoe squealed before she picked up Lopmon and hugged him.
Lopmon yelped, not having expected Zoe to pick him up and hug him like a plush toy, that was when he dropped the thing he was holding to the ground.
Takuya blinked as he saw this, only to perk up when he saw what it was that Lopmon had been holding. "Hey… That's Tommy's D-Tector!" He exclaimed as he knelt and picked up the device. "What were you doing with Tommy's D-Tector?"
"I ate him," Lopmon said.
"What?" Takuya blinked at such an answer.
"I was being sarcastic," Lopmon grumbled before jumping out of Zoe's arms. "You don't have to sound so accusatory. I saw that boy… Tommy, was it? He and that bigger boy fell down that hole over there, being chased by a horde of Pagumon that seem to really have it out for them."
Takuya looked down at the hole as he walked over. "They fell down here? That's not good…"
"What if Tommy got hurt or something? Or even JP?" Zoe asked in concern as she also approached the hole.
However, Zoe's foot hit a loose rock, and she began to slide down into the hole. She yelped as she grabbed onto Takuya, and Takuya grabbed Lopmon in an attempt to stop the fall.
Lopmon yelped, not expecting to be grabbed. He tried to inflate his ears, but he couldn't hold two humans at once, so his ears weren't able to slow down their descent. Luckily, however, they had a soft landing. There was a pile of hay just under the hole they fell through. Lopmon was on top of Takuya's face.
"Ugh… Whoever is on my face… can you please get off…" Takuya groaned out, his voice muffled by Lopmon's back.
Lopmon blinked before he rolled off of Takuya.
"Oh gosh! I can't believe we're still alive!" Zoe yelled, shaken up by the fall.
Lopmon looked around the area they were in. It looked like they were underground somewhere, and there were tunnels leading into darkness. Lopmon looked up at the hole they fell through. While Lopmon could glide down with his ears, he had no way of flying on his own. And Patamon wasn't with him to fly him back up, which meant he was stuck with these two or risk getting lost by himself down here.
Takuya groaned as he sat up. "Well, that was quite the fall…" He muttered as he rubbed his aching backside. "Good thing this hay was here, or we'd be hurt pretty badly."
"Hey, if you want to find your friends, we need to get moving," Lopmon spoke up to them. "They're likely still being chased."
Takuya looked ahead of them, unsure about the whole thing. But Tommy and JP needed help, so they had to go after them. "Well… I guess we just keep going ahead. We'd… best be on alert though in case something happens."