The wild wood was intimidating, it seemed to breathe, and have a life of its own, and every tree in this forest was older than they were. A man in his mid-thirties was running for his, clutched in one hand was the fox fire Sphere, and he wore a backpack overflowing with various object with a symbol of the merchant guild on it. The back was slowing down, but he rather die than drop his merchandise. He stopped to see if he had gotten away, and looked for whatever chased him, and where his digimon partner was. the forest was now silent all around him, why was this happening to him the sphere should be protecting him, he paid the tribute, but this thing was chasing him, a man on a black horse, it was too dark to clearly see their face, he exhaled glad to have escaped his pursuer, he caught sight of his digimon partner, and it was making its to him. Before his digimon got to him, the person on horse emerged out of no, the merchant screamed, and ran, but in a panic dropped the sphere, he couldn't see anything any more like the darkness had swallow him whole, the rider seemed to be illuminated, the merchant tripped because he couldn't see where he was going. The rider now advance on him, it picked up the fox fire sphere, it lit him up showing he had no head, then the rider threw the sphere, it vaporized the merchant as it smashed against him, leaving toy version of the his head in his place, its face a gap in a scream. The headless got off his horse and picked it up.

Digimon Sync Episode 19 "Don't be Afraid of the Dark"

Kitsumon had taken position beside Wilhelm, she was on constant watch, she kept him advised of the path and if it was safe for them to keep going. Wilhelm had given the Fox Fire sphere to Mikuni; she kept it always in the palm of her, like it was some sort of weapon. Takajin watched her still annoyed about what Mikuni had said to his sister, she had no right to say that, she is his family not hers. But some of it was true, his sister tended to freak out at the any sign of trouble that was to be expected from someone like her that suffered had been shelter almost all of all of her life, and she suffered a major trauma as a child.

He made his way to the back of the wagon, and sat beside Hikaru, she still hadn't spoken since being scared senseless by Kitsumon, and that childish game she played on her in the forest. He sat beside his sister and placed his arms around pulling her into a tight hug. "Everything is going to be ok now" he said trying to get her to respond, she just stared blankly at the ground. He now gritted his teeth, thanks a lot Kitsumon now I have to pick the pieces up of his sister he thought to himself, and mumbled under his breath.

There was no sunlight that could breach its way into the forest, it was complete darkness, the only light but not very much of it was the fungus on trees, it wasn't comforting at all, and it made it hard to know if it was night or day, and how long have they been in there. Kitsumon was the only thing keeping people from harm in aging wasteland of a forest. She had told them that there are far more dangerous things in then Kitsumon herself and they have been stirred up for some unknown reason, that the fox fire sphere is not strong enough to keep anyone safe anymore. This was a confusing statement since Kitsumon is a hybrid, and would be as nearly as powerful as a mega without the fear of old age, Hybrids don't age past how old they were the day that their powers manifest, Kitsumon doesn't look older than her late teens but she could be hundreds of years old. It was thanks to her though that they could see everything on the wagon making everything glow with a strange aura.

Takajin absent mindedly stroked the top of his sister's head, he felt like he was the older one of the two, even thought it was reverse. She has suffered a trauma when she had been a child, she was nearly attacked by wild digimon.

"We should just leave her at the next village, she will only get in the way" said Mikuni turning to look at Hikaru and Takajin.

Takajin gritted his teeth "We aren't leaving my sister anywhere, she is a digidestined like us" Takajin replied trying not to yell at Mikuni, he knew she was slightly right in what she said, but he wasn't going to admit to that. "Hikaru will improve"

"When, she had shown some courage in the Village of Crispin, but she has now reverted back into a sniveling coward" She sighed walking in front of Hikaru and Takajin, looking him in the face. She raised her hand to slap Hikaru. Something suddenly grabbed her by the wrist and floored her. Standing over Mikuni was Juniko.

"If you ever attempt to lay one hand on my friend, I will break that hand" Juniko said letting go of Mikuni arm.

For a minute there was a slight look of shock on Mikuni, it has been a long time since someone has ever caught her off guard like that, she got up and composed herself "I warned you that she will get us killed" she said before going back to where she had been seated before.

Juniko sticks out her tongue at Mikuni giving the raspberry, and turns toward Takajin, and instantly landing on her face in front of him, making the gesture before pointless. Takajin face palms in embarrassment.

Kitsumon appeared out of nowhere in the back, directly in the center. She looked from each of the digidestined "I forgot to warn you, do not under any circumstances break the Foxfire sphere, it will turn you into an inanimate object, if you can't stop it from breaking don't look into the light it as it breaks, close your eyes, whatever is out there will try to take it from you, and break it" she was gone, and was sitting beside Wilhelm like she had never moved from seat at the front of the wagon.

Looking into the void, made Takajin anxious, it seemed to stretch on forever in front of the wagon, like they were riding right into nothing. Only thing that kept that there was nothing was the wild digimon making their routinely noises, this also crept him out, this made him homesick for Digitopia. Out of nowhere it was like something was in front of them visible for a mere second, then it was gone, couldn't make out what it had been, it was like even it couldn't make up its mind at what it was. But Kitsumon didn't even react to it like she didn't even see, maybe it was his imagination.

A voice came out of the darkness "one of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong" it said. Then all of a sudden something slammed in the wagon, the side that was impacted shattered; Hikaru fell out, followed by her brother. Whatever it was impacted again, Juniko was thrown from the wagon before it slammed into a tree.

Juniko instantly got to her feet, and ran toward the sound of the wagon crashing into the tree, there she found Kitsumon, Wilhelm, Huang and Mikuni standing around the wreckage of the wagon, it was smashed to shreds "where is Hikaru, Takajin, and Huang?"

"They fell out on the first impact of whatever attacked us" said Mikuni pulling out the foxfire sphere "I'll go find them, that is what a champion does"

"I am right here" said Huang stepping out of the wreckage of the wagon, he had only suffered some minor scraped, he was carrying Babdymon, who seemed to be knocked on conscious but was only sleeping like usually indicated by the fact he was talking about food in between snores.

"not a good idea, it's better you stay in pairs, going out their alone I'll go with you" Juniko stated looking around hoping that Takajin would pop out of nowhere, that he wasn't in danger, she wanted to find him now before something happened to him.

"Ok but stay out of my way" Mikuni answered, and began walking without waiting for Juniko to catch up with her "first we are going to retrace the path using the wreckage knocked off by that things that attacked it"

Lopmon followed by Mikemon caught up with Mikuni, and Juniko. Mikemon sniffed in every direction, from the look on her face, she wasn't having any luck "the forest's bog is making it impossible to pin point their scents.

-Unknown-

Takajin was the first to his feet, he helped his sister get up, she was more like a puppet the way she was now, he sighed because he had to guide her back to the others in pitch darkness, and at any time that thing that attacked the wagon could come for them. He held his sister tightly by the hand so nothing could separate them, he went two feet, when he stepped on something that shouted Ouch, it was Moonmon, he helped the little digimon, he wondered if his digimon partner was somewhere a head of them too, for this is a moment he desperately needed Sunmon.

At this moment a hand grabs hold of Hikaru, and forcefully pulls her away from Takajin, the hand pulled her into the darkness of the forest, Takajin ran in the direction his sister had been pulled in, only to come face to face with a huge digimon that looked like a bull with a metal thing on its left hand, Takajin went to run in the opposite direction but behind him was another bull-like digimon. how did this happen was he going to die in this forest, or were they more illusions like Kitsumon and Wilhelm had explained that this forest was full of them. He stopped only to test that theory, he stepped to the side, and they both walked into each other and then they were both suddenly gone, leaving Takajin alone now. Those things were only a distraction to get away with his sister, he went to follow, and that's when he stepped on something that ended up being his digivice. He looked around there was no sign of Sunmon.

-Wagon wreckage-

"I don't know who is doing this to my forest; if I did I would take care of it myself, this is my home, the digimon that live in it, and the villagers that live on its border are all my family, whatever does harm to them is my enemy" said Kitsumon growling at Wilhelm, who had asked her if she was the actual one doing this.

"I am sorry I brought it up" Wilhelm replied backing away from a very angry looking Kitsumon, who could have ripped his head off at the moment if she really wanted to. "But what about my wagon, it's where I make a living?"

"there is nothing wrong with you wagon, what you see is just an illusion" said Kitsumon as she continued to growl at Wilhelm, she walked over and kicked the wagon it was now whole again "see whatever did this made you think it was torn apart, and almost tricked me as well, which is really hard to do." She craned her head to her shoulder, her right ear twitching "your friends might be in so much trouble, since it was almost powerful enough to nearly trick me"

"in this forest what could be more powerful than you?" asked Wilhelm looking confused, he mindlessly scratched his chin without knowing it.

"As far as I know there shouldn't be anything, I control this whole area, unless something has migrated here, the world has gotten weird, and things seem to move into places they don't belong" Kitsumon answered Wilhelm's question.

"what do you mean the world has gotten weird?" asked Huang finally speaking up, as he never thought anyone else was worth, the only person he ever talked in this group before was Juniko, she seem like the only person he could relate, he spoke up now because now because Kitsumon statement made him curious.

"The world had become unstable for a while now, which is something I can't put my finger as the reason why, it's so weird of a feeling" answered Kitsumon with her left ear twitching madly, even talking about it made her feel uneasy like it was something deeply personal in nature.

-Unknown location-

Mikuni continued her search for the Subaru siblings Takajin and Hikaru, even though she didn't care for either of them personally, she was champion of justice, and it was her job to rescue them from whatever had destroyed the wagon, she was followed closely by Juniko. This girl had to stay close because Mikuni carried the foxfire sphere, and orb that let her see through the forests illusions. So far there was no sign of either of them, not even Juniko's digimon partner Mikemon or even her own Lopmon could catch their scents, it was rather irritating. This forest was thick with danger from all around them that even made Mikuni kind of anxious.

There was silence all around them suddenly; it was like someone had just turned the whole world on mute, Mikuni swayed the foxfire sphere from side to side trying to find whatever caused this to happen. There was nothing there, nothing what so ever not even trees, they knew they were in a forest but what was going, then there it was a person on a horse, the figure had no head that was on it, it began to laugh, which echoed all around them.

Mikuni held her ground, and Lopmon digivolved into Vasantmon, and charged the horseman without a head, but passed right through him, the horseman then charged at Mikuni. Vasantmon charged again at it but he passed through it again, Mikuni joined her partner in fighting, but at that point something struck Mikuni launching the foxfire orb into a tree, it smashed turning both Mikuni and Vasantmon into toy versions of their heads, this didn't happened to Juniko because she closed her eyes in time. Juniko decided to run for but because she didn't have the sphere she was running blindly in an unknown direction, and she was freaked out of her mind no matter how much training she had gotten for being a royal bodyguard nothing would have prepared her for this.

-Somewhere else in the forest-

Takajin was looking, he was surprised he was even able to see it with all the illusions in this forest, it was glowing like it had never had done before, the glow seemed to cut through the darkness, a white cloaked now stood in front of him, their back was turned to him so, so he couldn't see their face. The person was glowing, and they were cutting through the illusion too.

"Get out of this forest, your digivice will guide you out" said white cloaked, who was getting bright in glow with every word she said, making it hard to look at her.

"My sister is in here, I am not leaving without her or my companions" said Takajin being forced to look away from bright light the stranger was making.

"if you focus your digivice will take you to your sister, but once you find her you must get out of here a confrontation with what is causing this will be too much for you, the digidestined must not risk their lives so soon, you are not strong enough your bond with your partner is weak" she said before turning into a ball of light and flying into the sky, and leaving Takajin alone again. He focused on his sister and a beam of light shot from his digivice, and cut through the darkness. "I am coming for you sister.

-Mysterious Forest Cave-

Hikaru sat there, still lost within herself, she wasn't even reacting to the fact that she had been dragged into a cave deep in the center of the forest, there she sat where the thing that had dragged her there had left her, and the only thing showing she was still alive was her breathing. The cave looked like it went on forever because of unending darkness.

A silhouette stepped out of side tunnel, its breathing let you know it was there, otherwise the darkness hid it from sight, it walked toward Hikaru "I smell fear, Kitsumon didn't know that she was making you smell so yummy, I can taste the fear rolling off you in a waves" it said sniffing the air. "oh ya I got two of your friends here" it pulled out Mikuni and Vasantmon, and dropped them to Hikaru's feet, they were very visible because it was letting her see them "your companions will not leave here alive"

A fresh tear rolled down Hikaru's cheek, but she was too terrified to try to escape, it scarec her more into herself than she was before, so she just sat there like a living puppet.

It craned its neck, which was an audible cracking noise, as it walked toward Hikaru, it grunted in frustration "I really wanted to hear you scream, but maybe later I'll get that later, when I torture one of your companions right in front of you" it paused after saying to feel her reaction, then it snarled, it was because her fear did not increase from where it was already which made it angry at her now. It now stormed of cussing loudly.

-To be Continued-

Will Hikaru survive this fear eating monster, and will Mikuni be restored back to normal? To answer these questions, and more, please tune into the next Digimon digital monsters!

(Sneak preview- Digimon Sync movie: Chronicles of Dreams)

The girl opened her eyes "Tai?" she mumbled, and blinked as her vision cleared "Definitely not Tai, who are you, and where am I"

"I am Takajin Subaru, this is my digimon partner Coronamon and where you are, is the Crimson Valley from what it says on the map " said Takajin. "Who may you be?"

"I am Kari Kamiya, Am I in the digital world" asked Kari looking at the Takajin's digimon, "it doesn't seem the same as a remembered it?" trying to think of how she got here, she was heading to school than she was here, and how did the digital world change so much in over a year.

Coming Soon to a fic site near you!