User blog:Dewandrop/Fan: Digimon Transcendence: Part 5

Part 5: Illusions
…A holograph…

Leomon fell to the ground in laughter. Slipping from his hiding spot, Ogremon held onto the tree in hysterics.

“Oh, ohhh. I’m-” *snicker* “I’m sorry…you should’ve seen your faces”

“C’mon, let’s go…” Rex uttered coldly

“No no…wait…erhmm…mmm…” Leomon straightened himself out “It wasn’t all fake” he began, fighting back his urge to laugh.

“She really is someone, she potentially could’ve been a digidestined” Ogremon explained

“Potentially?” Delphi queried

“Yeah, she-”

“Almost got sucked into a spiralling vortex of blue light as a child” Wyatt interjected, looking down at the ground

“OK fine, then you tell the story…” Ogremon grumbled

“So she’s...”

Wyatt nodded at Chad without looking at him

“Who?! She’s Who!?!?” Falco insisted. Wyatt sighed as he closed his eyes

“An old friend”

“So she’s completely oblivious to this? That she could’ve been a digidestined? But she has a digivice…”

“Which is exactly why Lilithmon and her coven have use for-”

“Wait… there’s more than just Lilithmon after her!” Chad exclaimed, interrupting Leomon

“Hecatemon and Morganamon” Ogremon explained

“We got a transmission from Lotosmon not too long ago”

Leomon brought out an object that resembled the digivices. A purple woman appeared as a holograph from the object. Supporting herself up, using a sceptre that had been struck into the ground, the woman spoke.

“Someone, anyone, please help. Asuramon has been corrupted, Tiamon has been usurped by Lilithmon. One by one their comrades are being controlled against their will. Brave as they were, Themismon and Pitchermon could not stand up to Hecatemon and Morganamon. They were destroyed by the attack” Lotosmon began to dissipate into sparkles “You are their last hope…” as a whole, the image of Lotosmon refracted.

“Lilithmon forcefully replaced Tiamon, a digimon based off of Tatiana and Mab. Lotosmon was one of Tiamon closest friends along with Ceresmon and Rosemon”

“There’s a story that goes that there was once a Shakamon who sought to find friends and so reverted into Asuramon. He then roamed the digital world meeting many unique digimon including Tiamon, Petermon, Pitchermon and Themismon” Ogremon explained

“Hmm, Themismon” Delphi pressed the screen of her digivice. Swiping in a circular motion with her finger, a holograph screen with details appeared. “Themismon. A Mega-Level digimon. Resembles Themis-”

“Themis?” Falco asked

“The female statue who’s usually in front of courthouses, symbolises justice” Wyatt explained

“Themismon wields a Dragonscale sword and wears Dragonscale armour. Associated with the constellation of Libra” Delphi continued

“Oh, haha, clever, instead of the weighing scales that Themis usually carries around, it’s Dragonscales” Perri gathered

“How about the other one?” Falco asked

“Pitchermon. Champion-Level…” Rex paused “…Champion?...”

“He was fighting for a just cause. It didn’t matter what level he was, as long as he could do his part” Chad figured. Wyatt smiled at Cadomon.

“A noble trait” Falco commented

Impressed, Rex stretched his mouth and nodded “It says here that he resembles Ganymede and that mounted on his shoulder is a vase-like object that releases a burst of water at his enemies”

A whimper caused the digidestines to shift their attention. From behind Leomon shivered a cluster of baby digimon

“Ah, digidestines, these digimon are to travel alongside you as Ogremon and I have done, and will continue to be doing. They no longer have a home and it’s imperative that we help those whose lives and homes have been ravaged by destruction” Leomon enjoined

“Aww, they’re so cute” Perri commented. Sensing their apprehension, Perri resisted the urge to approach “What are their names?”

“Popomon, Bombmon, Zurumon, Kuramon and Datirimon” the baby digimon had now started bouncing on the spot. As the Fresh-Level digimon leapt up, a startled Leomon found himself to be their perch.

“Good. Now that that’s settled we can make a head start for the next platform disk. We’ll meet you there digidestines” Ogremon stated “Oh, and while you’re in the human world, you should find Wyatt’s friend. She’ll need protecting from Lilithmon”

“We received that message just recently, but we were shocked to learn that these events had taken place about 1½ years ago” Leomon admitted

“What?” the digidestines exclaimed in unison

“Fortunately Lilithmon has been thwarted inadvertently on numerous occasions from reaching the human world” Ogremon mentioned

“So…the last few months…” Rex began

“Mmhmm. You may not have realised it but your actions prevented any progress in Lilithmon’s plans. Before that there were other digimon who delayed and defied her, so for the time being the girl in the human world is safe” Ogremon stated

“Wait. How are we supposed to defend her from a Mega-Level digimon? All of our digimon have, equivalently, only ever reached the Champion-Level” Perri observed

‘I dunno, digivolve again” was Ogremon’s reply. Ogremon had now found himself tightening a loose thread in his armour. Sitting down by a nearby river, Ogremon began to fish. Leomon mean-while had been busy attempting to make sure the restless Fresh-Level digimon did not stray too far.

“Gee. Thanks for the help. How are we supposed to do that?” Falco asked

“Well you’ve done it before so-” Everyone’s ears pricked up at Ogremon’s statement. For a mo-ment it seemed as though time was standing still. Leomon face-palmed.

“Alright, guess the cat’s out of the bag…no pun intended…around 7½ years ago an anomaly oc-curred where a Hypnosmon distorted part of both the digiworld and the human world. Whilst asleep your consciousness somehow entered that realm and one by one your digimon digivolved to their ultimate stage to defeat one of Hypnosmon’s henchmen each. When it came time to battle Hypnosmon, your digimon once again digivolved to their mega forms, but unfortunately the defeat of Hypnosmon meant the collapse of the world he’d created. Your memories of your time there were completely wiped, and anyone who had witnessed the events had their memories partially wiped as well. We don’t know what your ultimate or mega forms are, but we have all the confi-dence in the world that you’ll be able to reach them again” Leomon assured

The digidestines remained quiet for the most part as a multitude of thoughts circled through their minds. There was a whole portion of their life that they could not remember. There was a whole other side to the digimon they thought they knew everything about. But was that such a bad thing? It’d be like getting to know someone they cared about for the first time all over again.

“Then let’s give it a go. We’ve reached the higher stages before, and we can do it again” Chad ex-claimed, trying to build up enthusiasm

“That’s the spirit” Leomon praised

“Yeah, woo” Ogremon cheered sarcastically as he turned around from his fishing

“It’ll be so neat to see what I turn into!” Kotemon aspired

“Alright then. It’s time to save the digital world! It’s time to find Wyatt’s friend and protect her! Let’s do this! Time, to head back!” Stepping valiantly on the disk Chad raised his head up high…nothing.

“Looks like Lilithmon has gotten wind of our plans” Falco figured

“If she can’t go, then she’ll make sure that neither can we, typical” Perri stated in an unsurprised tone

“We should probably start heading towards the nearest manual portal spot, like the one between the pillars, from when I first arrived. Lilithmon’s probably sealed most of the discs, but maybe check any ones we pass by along the way, just in case. Leomon, Ogremon, do you know where the closest manual spot could be?” Wyatt asked

“It’s quite far off. But we can probably make a start by heading down to the beach” Leomon stated

As a group the digimon and digidestines made their way past the disk and headed for the slope leading down to the shoreline. A sparkling sea stretched far out into the horizon. The sun blazed down a gentle golden light as a soft breeze cooled them.

“Haha, fools! You’ve stumbled into my domain!”

“The four of you are so lucky, I just met mine, and Wyatt’s been apart from Cadomon for years, you guys got to hang out with your digimon since birth, how cool” Chad stated

“Oh, I only met Kazemon as an Otamamon just a little while before Wyatt and Cadomon reunited” Perri mentioned

“Hey!” From atop a small sandcastle decorated with pink and blue shells, a puny, silver and red, crab-like digimon hoisted himself up

“Monodramon” Falco stated in an almost nonchalant manner. Monodramon batted the crab-like digimon away with the back of its claw, destroying the top of the sandcastle in the process.

“How dare you! Don’t you know who I am! I am Crabmon, I– whoa!” crabmon expressed out of unease. Kazemon had picked him up by the shell from behind

“Aww, how cute!”

“What are you doing?! Let me go!” Crabmon flailed its claws, unable to reach Kazemon

“You see cute, I see lunch” Ogremon stated

“Guess that means it’s back to the sea for you” Kazemon said. With a small toss she sent Crabmon a short distance into the sea. Bloop.

The group continued to walk along the stretch of beach containing silt-like sand. A wave rolled Crabmon back onto land. Quickly he regained composure.

“Wait, come back! I will destroy you! Hey! Wait up!” Crabmon scuttled, barely able to keep up with them.

Slowly, the sun moved across the sky. Closer, it edged its way towards the horizon. The bright blue sky was now streaks of violet, pink and orange. Onwards the group trudged.

The night’s approach was accompanied by a fog. The digidestines had travelled quite a distance and were now approaching a cliff. Atop, a crumbling castle sat. Its ancient doors creaked as a cold wind whisked past. Lightning slashed through the sky, illuminating the surrounding area. The trees now resembled sharp claws; contorting, leafless. Thunder roared as waves crashed into the side of the cliff.

“Nope. Nope, nope, nope nope” Falco stated, turning back. Rex pulled him around. “Couldn’t we just stay in the forest?” looking towards the forest, a row of sharp, glinting teeth hissed at the group as a dozen pair of glowing red eyes blinked at them. In another grumbling flash of light, a downpour of water bombarded them in droplets. Rushing up onto the land-bridge like cliff, the digidestines were astonished to see the castle’s drawbridge lowering. From out of the castle gal-loped a digimon with a human head and torso, but a grey stallion’s body. The digidestines stopped. The digimon’s moustache melded into its long beard. On its head it wore a golden helm with red brush-like bris-tles sticking out at the top. Pointing one of the rounded swords it wielded, the digimon yelled

“Beam Blade!” a beam of light streamed forth. The digidestines jumped out of the way.

“Cadomon, digivolve to!...Garoumon!”

“Kotemon, digivolve to!...Wizardmon!”

“Kazemon, please get everyone to safety” Garoumon enjoined “Propulsion Wave” Garoumon knocked one of the digimon’s swords out of its hands. The digimon raised the other.

“Solar Slash” as the digimon slashed at the air, a crescent blade of energy spiralled towards Wizardmon and Garoumon. Wizardmon intercepted with the sun on his staff. Lifting the staff with both hands he blocked an incoming attack. Moments ago, the digimon had galloped within physical striking distance of the two.

“Propulsion Wave” Garoumon knocked the digimon back a great distance.

As the digimon continued to feud, a while away, Wyatt used his digivice to search up the digimon’s identity

“Chironmon, an Ultimate-Level digimon. Digivolving from Centaurumon, this digimon possesses knowledge that far surpasses most. Its exceptional combat skills also make it a formidable warrior and excellent guard”

“Beam Blade!” Wizardmon was thrown back into Garoumon

“Wizardmon!”

“Garoumon!” Chad and Wyatt exclaimed respectively. Chironmon pointed a sword at the two digimon.

“You have shown yourselves to be worthy foes, I issue you a challenge. At the North-most bor-der’s South gate lies a castle. That’s where we shall finish our duel” Chironmon stated

“No Chironmon! Finish them off NOW” a disembodied voice bellowed.

Emerging from the castle, a handsome digimon, as well as a digimon wrapped in a Golden Fleece cloak frowned.

“The North path is within a treacherous mountain. IF they survive, then it proves all the more that I have attained great power, that is, once I defeat our adversaries” with that, Chironmon disap-peared in a flash.

“Don’t think you have won digidestines” came the same bellowing voice from before. It was clear now that the handsome digimon had been the one who’d spoken previously. He and the digimon next to him vanished. The skies cleared, replaced by a speckle of stars. Wyatt and Chad ran over to Garoumon and Wizardmon to help them up.

“You guys did great” Wyatt praised.

“Yeah, you were totally awesome” Kazemon expressed, elated. Ahead, Salamon, Patamon and Monodramon headed for the castle.

“Wait” Falco called out. The three rookie digimon tripped over themselves. “That castle could be loaded with who knows what”

“He’s right guys” Delphi agreed

“We’ll scope it out” Leomon volunteered, pointing a thumb towards Ogremon.

“Why you gotta drag me along too” Ogremon complained. After a few minutes, the two gave an all clear. The digidestines and their digimon entered the castle.

Walking along the stone corridors, Chad felt a cold gust zoom past. A shrieking laughter sent a shiv-er down his spine.

“Just lost data, relatively harmless” Leomon explained. As the others continued walking, Chad saw a portrait’s eyes move. Hurriedly he ran after his friends.

“There’s four bedrooms, though one doesn’t really have any beds so… regardless, Ogremon and I will take that room along with the baby digimon. The other three rooms have four beds each. I trust you’ll be able to sort things out. Goodnight” Leomon greeted before heading through a door. In groups of two the digidestines headed through a door with their digimon.

In the morning, the group set off from the castle. Their night’s rest had gone relatively undis-turbed. Heading down the land-bridge, they made their way into the forest. The digidestines had pooled together some of their supplies for breakfast. The de-activation of the discs the day before had come unexpectedly, and the digidestines had not anticipated that they’d need to pack supplies for more than a few days. Fortunately, Leomon had what seemed to be a never-ending knapsack of food supplies; only collecting more as they’d journeyed along. Before long, the group had reached the entrance to a cave. It had taken them nearly a whole day to traverse the forest, the sun had started drifting from its uppermost point in the sky.

“So, according to Chironmon, this cave’s path is treacherous. Perhaps it would be wise to set up camp” Falco suggested.

“Mmm, we’ll need all our strength for tomorrow’s trek” Rex agreed. They set to work. Falco and Wyatt went in search of dry wood whilst Rex and Chad cleared a perimeter, upturning soil around the edges. Perri and Delphi had helped Leomon forage and collect more supplies. Ogremon supervised. Returning to camp with the firewood, the boys diligently worked at building a fire. Soon, the sound of splintering wood, billowing smoke and glowing embers lifted into the sky. On Y-shaped branches dug firmly into the ground, long branches were placed. A kettle and cooking pot were suspended by their handles over the roaring fire. Setting up six tents, the Digidestines prepared their sleeping bags. The digimon seemed content to sleep outside beneath the stars.

With the morning sun, Leomon snuffed out the remaining flames with his foot. Rising, the group packed up their belongings and headed for the cave’s entrance. Immediately they were met with the sound of gushing water. From beside them a stream of water burst out from the side of the cave wall. It plummeted down, forming a rapid river. Ahead of the group was a wall of rock. A signal on the digidestine’s digivices mentioned that the Digimon could not be stored within for the time being.

“What? Are we supposed to swim through the cave?” Falco wondered. Falco, Delphi and Rex peered over the edge where they stood. A falling cone of rock was immediately crushed upon be-ing immersed in the rushing waves.

“Maybe we could fly across. Coredramon’s wingspan is a bit too large, but Kazemon, Wizardmon and Angemon might be able to take us. Are they up to it?” Wyatt asked. Perri, Chad and Rex looked towards their partners. The three digimon nodded.

“Chad, Wizardmon, would it be alright if Wizardmon used his magic to levitate everyone else, so that there’s no-one’s left behind?” Wyatt asked

“No problem” Wizardmon smiled, lifting up his thumb to signal the go ahead. Wyatt looked to-wards Garoumon

“Garoumon” Wyatt began

“My thoughts exactly” Garoumon replied, as though reading his mind. Garoumon glowed before de-digivolving to Cadomon. Leomon and Ogremon also de-digivolved

“Oooohhhh” the baby digimon admired. Steadily, Cadomon, Liollmon, Goblimon, Salamon, Monodramon, Wyatt, Chad, Falco and the baby digimon began to float. Angemon held onto Rex, whilst Delphi held onto Angemon. In her arms, Kazemon carried Perri.

“Wait, this isn’t too much of a strain on Wizardmon?” Wyatt checked with Chad

“I can probably handle a few more” Kazemon offered

“Delphi and Salamon?” Wyatt asked and suggested

“Great idea! That way I can still protect Delphi if need be” Salamon beamed. Delphi hopped off of Angemon and onto Kazemon.

“Angemon, can you handle Falco and I?” Monodramon asked

“Sure thing” Angemon confirmed. Sorting into their groups, Angemon flew off first followed by Kazemon, then Wizardmon. Carefully, the Digimon avoided the stalactites above and the crashing waves below. Eventually, everyone landed on a platform block, the river disappearing off to the side through an eroded out cave. Before the group, a rope bridge with rotting wood swayed over the returning river.

“Isn’t this a little cliché?” Delphi mentioned.

“The river’s seemed to slow though” Perri commented. Below, stalagmites pointed up between the flow of the water

“It doesn’t really help that they make the fall more dangerous though” Falco said. Though the stalactites had vanished, the ceiling was now much lower.

“We won’t be able to fly across this time” Kazemon observed. De-digivolving, Kazemon became Otamamon, Wizardmon became Kotemon, whilst Angemon became Patamon.

“Hey, our digivices say we can store our Digimon again” Rex piped up “It might be easier if there’s less of us trying to get across”

“Good point” Monodramon mentioned as he and the other Digimon headed into their respective partner’s digivices as light. Excitedly the baby Digimon bounded across the bridge, Worried, Li-ollmon and Goblimon rushed after them. The bridge shook furiously but remained intact as they arrived at its end. One by one the digidestines made their way across. A path winded ahead. Soon, the digidestines came across a pile of rocks at an incline. Carefully balancing over the slightly shifting stones they were faced with… another wall.

“Great” Falco said

“No wait, look, at the top, there’s a ledge” Rex pointed out. Bumps jutted out of the stone wall. Cautiously, the digidestines scaled the towering slab. The baby Digimon bounded up, using the protrusions as perches before moving onto the next. Liollmon and Goblimon digivolved in order to climb. Once Leomon and Ogremon had reached the top, the group skidded down a small slope before walking through an archway. Columns of stone than thinned in the middle impeded their path. Between each column was a space. Peering through, the digidestines could see a long drop to what appeared to be flat ground. The columns seemed to surround this space, as, to the sides, more columns bordered narrow ledges which led to a wide path on the opposite end. The digides-tines shuffled across the ledges, backs and hands by their sides against the wall. As the last of the group squeezed through, they were met by several waves of stone, blocking any view of what might be ahead of the wide path. Walking to the section of the wide path where the waves began, one at a time the group placed their hands on top of the first curve, lifting themselves up and over by having their arms carry their body weight as they jumped. The next two waves were not as easy to get over. Both were progressively higher than the one preceding them and required the digidestines to jump and grab onto the top before lifting themselves up. The next two waves were lower than the wave they had just scaled, but were the same height as each other. That, however, could not prepare them for the behemoth that lied ahead.

“How are we supposed to get over that?” Falco exclaimed

“Ogremon could lift you, then I could lift Ogremon” Leomon suggested

“Ohhh no. You’re not dragging me into another one of your plans” Ogremon stated “Hmm. What if we climb the wave first and leave indents with either our claws or weapons”

“But we have no idea how fragile that wave could be. If it crumbles, we’d be stuck” Rex countered. A flash of light.

“I think I can help you out. Kotemon, digivolve to!...Wizardmon!”

One by one Wizardmon lifted the group to the top of the wave.

“Hey! It’s the cave’s exit!” Falco exclaimed. Before them was a large, mostly empty, dome shaped part of the cave, at its other end to the side, was an arch with light pouring through

Floating over to the opposite side, Wizardmon levitated the group down.

“Ah”

“Wizardmon!”

“Nice aim sister”

Wizardmon winced as he held his shoulder. Kneeling down onto one knee he had one eye closed. Chad ran to him. Two cackling Digimon flew overhead, seemingly having appeared from out of nowhere.

“It’s nothing. Just a sharp blade of air” Wizardmon reassured

“Just a sharp blade of air, perhaps you should get another taste”

“Thunder Ball! Magic Game!” Wizardmon launched moments later at the Witchmon’s threat, rising up as though he had never been injured. Mid-air, the ball of lightning transformed into several lightning strikes, electrocuting the two Witchmon.

On the ground, the two Witchmon quivered as they rose to their knees.

“HOW DARE YOU!” one of the Witchmon shrieked.

“You’ll pay!” the other spat.

“Rawww” two Mojyamon came stampeding towards the group from the back end of the cave. The group’s Digimon emerged from their digivices

“Salamon digivolve to!...Gatomon! You two have the nerve to be angry, you started it” Gatomon growled. As a Mojyamon came rushing towards her, Gatomon whipped him out of the way

“Who asked you? And besides you’re not supposed to hurt a lady” the Witchmon countered

“And if either of you were proper ladies, that’d be true. Otamamon digivolve to!...Kazemon!” Kazemon stopped the Mojyamon in their tracks.

“Grrr” the Witchmon slammed the infatuated Mojyamon on their heads “What are you doing, get her!” the Witchmon commanded

“Patamon digivolve to!...Angemon! Hand of Fate!” the Witchmon and Mojyamon narrowly dodged the attack

“An Angemon! Nope we’re outta here” the Witchmon and Mojyamon fled

“Aww, Cadomon and I didn’t get to join in on the fun” Monodramon whined. The other digimon de-digivolved to their rookie stages. Together, the group made their way to the archway of light. As they emerged they were met by a vibrant orange sky. It seemed to be late afternoon. A dense forest stretched out beyond the small cliff which they stood on, and in the forest’s midst was a cas-tle. Chironmon stood sentinelled at the castle’s drawbridge.

“So. You came” Chironmon simply stated. Swiftly the digimon drew his sword. It glinted. The ground quaked as a path opened up. The trees seemed to move aside.

“Wha-”

“Cherrymon” Wyatt said, answering Rex’s question

“Yeah, the brown leaved, moustache-less kind” Falco added

“Enemies” Monodramon growled

“Wait. Look at their faces. They don’t seem like they want to fight” Delphi pointed out. It was true, the tree-like digimon quivered as Chironmon came galloping through

“Here he comes!” Rex called out

“Monodramon digivolve to!...Coredramon!”

“Otamamon digivolve to!...Kazemon!”

“Cadomon digivolve to!...Garoumon!”

“Patamon digvolve to!...Angemon!”

“Salamon digivolve to!...Gatomon!”

“Kotemon digivolve to!...Wizardmon!”

“Aaack” came a booming screech. Darting out of the castle swooped a large blue, wide-winged dragon with a sword on its back.

“Wingdramon!” Perri exclaimed “But what’s that?” emerging from behind the sword was another digimon. “Memoirmon, a forgetful digimon based off of Random Access Memory (RAM). He wears a cloak made from the golden fleece of a ram” a digivice mentioned

“Coredramon?...” Falco seemed perturbed by his digimon tensed stance and low growl. Suddenly Coredramon sped upwards. Angemon and Kazemon followed him.

“Wingdramon have the ability to digivolve from blue Coredramon” One of the digivices mentioned. Falco put Coredramon’s behaviour down to a rivalry. Fighting Chironmon; Gatomon, Wizardmon and Garoumon unleashed a barrage of attacks

“Propulsion wave!” A rush of water struck Chironmon like a geyser

“Cat’s eye beam!” Gatomon released a beam of light

“Thunderball!” spheres of golden electricity bombarded the half-man-half-horse digimon

In the air, Angemon aimed his attacks at Memoirmon, whilst Coredramon went head to head with Wingdramon. Kazemon had released devastating winds which hit Wingdramon but also ricocheted off onto Memoirmon and Chironmon

“Hand of Faith!” Angemon sent Memoirmon plunging into the forest below. “Ah!” Wingdramon had struck Angemon with his long whip-like tail. Coredramon and Kazemon gasped. Meanwhile a “Solar blade!” from Chironmon had caught Gatomon off guard. Delphi and Rex ran to their digimon

The other digimon reacted with concern as they held off Wingdramon and Chironmon

“Gatomon…” Delphi began

“I’ll be alright. Cheer on the other digimon for me” Gatomon smiled through a half opened glance

“You can do it” Delphi cheered. The digidestine’s digimon began to move Chironmon and Wingdramon back

“No! How is this possible?” Chironmon raged through gritted teeth.

“Wing blast!” Wingdramon shouted suddenly. Kazemon and Coredramon were struck by a Shockwave of energy. “Explode sonic lance!” the attack pummelled Kazemon and Coredramon down.

“Solar blade!” the full force of Chironmon’s ‘solar slash’ and ‘beam blade’ sending Garoumon and Wizardmon skidding back into a tumble

“Blaze sonic breath!” breath exceeding the speed of sound came rushing down. Coredramon was barely able to lift up his wings on time to shield from the attack. Coredramon could feel his strength waning as Wingdramon flew closer. Digging a sword into Wizardmon’s cape, Chironmon raised his other.

“Coredramon! Digivolve to!...”

“Wizardmon! Digivolve to!...”

Falco’s digivice was now in full glow. Coredramon began to morph, becoming more upright. His wings more tattered and maroon. Adorned with an armoured body suit, his claws sharpened becoming more profound. On his head he gained a light brown helm “Cyberdramon!”

Chad’s digivice shone with a radiant glow. Chironmon’s sword was flung away by the burst of surrounding light. Wizardmon began to grow taller. Silver armour, with intricately designed gold markings were donned upon him. Beneath, he wore maroon, but billowing out from the armour were cloths of commanding purple. His hat, also made of cloth, had an armoured section with protected his eyes. A sword formed in his grasp. Orbs glinted in his shoes, shoulder pads, on the armoured part of his hat and his blade. In his other hand a sphere appeared “Mistymon!”

Cyberdramon flew up, tackling Wingdramon at supersonic speeds. Mistymon’s attack launched Chironmon back.

“Core blast!” Combining his sphere and sword, a flourish of fire, ice and lightning erupted from his blade. “Crescent Tornado!” a storm of glowing moon-shaped lights ravelled around the giant enemy dragon. Wingdramon lost its ability to remain airborne. The attacks caused Wingdramon and Chironmon to smash into one another. “Core Blast!” “Crescent Tornado!” shadows vanquished from Wingdramon and Chironmon.

“Ugh, what happened?” Chironmon stated groggily, holding his head

“If you find out let me know” came Memoirmon’s voice as he woozily stumbled out of the forest. Chironmon noticed the six youths approaching a Mistymon and Cyberdramon

“Wow!” Chad exclaimed, elated. “You’re so awesome!” Chad complemented Mistymon

“Yeah! You were like woosh, and then you were like woooossshhh! And they were like aaahhh” Falco described in front of an amused Cyberdramon

“You…” the six friends turned towards Chironmon “You’re the digidestined” Chironmon paused as he thought for a bit “but I…”

“It’s OK, you were under the control of Lilithmon, Hecatemon and Morganamon” Perri excused

“Oh, but regardless, I apologize for any grievances that I may have caused you, wait, I know; around this bay, there’s a manual digiport that Lilithmon does not know about” Chironmon men-toned “But beware, Piscesmon’s domain lies along the stretch of coast” Chironmon heeded. Turn-ing to Memoirmon Chironmon spoke “Old friend, you should probably head to your domain to see what chaos those witches have inflicted

“I think you are right” with that, Memormon bounded off

Thanking Chironmon for the information, the digidestines headed towards the cove. Nightfall had set in quickly, The digidestines had made it three quarters of the way with the pillars to the digiport now in sight

“Hold *wheeze* hold everything” Crabmon panted. “Jeez, why do you move so FAST” Crabmon took a second to catch his breath. “Now *gulp* Now you will pay!” Crabmon raised one pincer up in the air whilst sticking the other out

“Crabmon digivolve to!...Ebidramon! Ebidramon digivolve to!...Carcinusmon!” the red lobster dragon grew. Gold covered Carcinusmon. Shackled to his robust pincers were cuffs with chains. His claws were dark in colour and his shell was broad “Carcinusmon digivlve to!...GigaCarcinusmon!” GigaCarcinusmon was Rose-Gold and looked like a hybrid between a lobster and a crab.

“Rahhh” behind them a creature emerged from the sea

“SERIOUSLY. Stay out of this Piscesmon!” GigaCarcinusmon snapped

Piscesmon had a mouth like MegaKabuterimon except blue. A helmet like Centauromon and shoulder shields like Vikemon sat on the digimon times two, one on either end of what resembled a long boat.

“Titanic twister!” Piscesmon shouted. A maelstrom rose into the air before heading down towards the digidestines.

“Crescent Tornado!”

“Hurricane Wave!”

Cyberdramon and Kazemon deflected Piscesmon’s attack

“Fool’s gold!” Glowing golden lights appeared and dashed like comets towards the digidestines

“Hand of faith!”

“Cat’s eye beam!”

“Propulsion wave!”

“Core blast!”

Angemon, Gatomon, Garoumon and Mistymon sent GigaCarcinusmon’s attack right back

“Aaargh!” the two enemy digimon yelled as shadows dispersed from them.

After an exchange of pleasantries with the digidestines, the two digimon submerged back into the ocean. Continuing their journey, the group arrived at the pillars. Holding up their digivices, a swirl-ing rainbow opened up. As the digimon returned inside their digivices, the digidestines made their way through the digiport. Suddenly, Leomon, the baby digimon and Ogremon found themselves being swept through.

A wave of surprise washed over the group as the found themselves knocked over by a tumbling Ogremon and Leomon. The baby digimon bounded happily around the pile-up.

“Rrhhmm” the group groaned

Several minutes later, the group had re-gained their composure.

“C’mon, we should go look for the girl” Leomon suggested

“But we don’t even know where to start looking” Rex mentioned

“Let alone a name” Falco added

“What is her name?” Delphi asked Wyatt. Wyatt and Chad shrugged.

“Typical boys, don’t remember a girl’s name” Perri joked “Hmm. How should we go about this?”

“The park is the last place I saw her, but asking around is probably out of the question, that was around 15 years ago, but it might be a good starting point” Wyatt suggested

“Agreed” Rex seconded

“C’mon. I’ll lead the way” following Chad’s lead, the group set off towards the park.

The streets had been fairly empty that day. The group hadn’t passed by many people, and to those that they had, Leomon and Ogremon were explained away as fancy dress costumes.

“We’re here” Chad had exclaimed. Hands in his pocket, Falco had turned his head slowly from side to side.

“This is it…?”

Perri gave Falco a slap across the arm and a glare

“Wait” Delphi approached a nearby tree. Turning to the side she spotted a trapezoidal boulder covered in moss. The river close by teamed with fish.

“I’ve been here before. Those fish, the orange and silver ones with black markings, you can only find these here, at least in this part of the city. I think I might know the girl you guys are talking about” Delphi said “She’d feed the fish sometimes, but she use to arrive after we’d leave, howev-er, she and I use to go to the same school, I’d see her around occasionally. I think the school’s this way”

With Delphi at the front of the group, the group moved closer to finding her old school. Leomon and Ogremon de-digivolved to Liollmon and Goblimon to avoid detection.

“I don’t get why we have to de-digivolve, everyone around here knows about digimon anyway” Goblimon grumbled

“It’s not the humans we’re trying to avoid, it’s other digimon” Liollmon explained

With the school now in sight, a golden bell tolled drearily as a rogue wind swept past. Within a semi-circle held up by two brick pillars on either side, the bell served as the structure’s focal point. A mosaic pathway was lined with trimmed plants that seemed to guard the entranceway to the school.

“Fancy” Falco stated. On the school’s doors were two knockers; one in the shape of a lion’s head, the other an ogre.

“I’m starting to like this place already” Goblimon said.

“Delphi. Delphi is that you. Wretched girl!” a stick thin lady with flat hair and a pointed nose began to march her way towardscthe group. Delphi was so nice, it was hard to imagine that anyone could hate Delphi

“Ms Kinchin” Delphi whispered through a feigned smile

“Why aren’t we running” Chad said in a hushed tone, also through a feigned smile

“YOU KNOW VERY WELL THAT THERE ARE APPOINTMENTS AND RULES AND -..”

“That’s quite enough Ms Kinchin” a softer voice stated from behind the group

“Miss Oalwell” Ms Kinchin had stated in flat regard. Hiding a helpless, disgruntled look, Ms Kinchin departed

“She never did take much of a liking to you did she?” Miss Oalwell leant down from the top of the stairs to give Delphi a hug. “For no reason, well, no good reason too. Now, what brings you here?” Miss Oalwell asked politely.

“There was a girl, from my year, who left suddenly about 15 years ago” Delphi mentioned

Miss Oalwell turned around.

“Great, now you’ve gone and upset our only lead, guess it serves her right for scaring off the nice lady. How could she remember someone leaving from 15 years ago?” Goblimon grumbled

“Because no-one ever leaves unless they graduate, Goblimon” Ms Oalwell stated “Her name was Hailey. Her family had seemed rather upset but unnervingly calm when they’d taken her out of the school’s care” Ms Oalwell mentioned. Her expression suddenly saddened “I can’t tell you-”

“Please Ms Oalwell, she’s in great danger” Delphi pleaded. Wyatt turned to Chad.

“You know, if a pen and paper just so happened to land in front of Ms Oalwell’s feet, and she just so happened to scribble down something, she wouldn’t really be telling us…oops” Wyatt dropped a notepad and pen from his pockets

Ms Oalwell gave a smile as she knelt to pick up the stationary; scribbling something down before giving a puzzled expression. Turning the notepad around she pretended to jot something else down. Delphi and the group noted what had been written. Turning the notepad back, Ms Oalwell ripped the page from the book before handing back the pen and notepad to Wyatt. In silent thank you’s the group made their way out of the school.


 * 1) 123 Broomlyn Street, Pointview’s Crescent

The group had memorised the address.

A row of similar homes, with similar stoops stood side by side. As Chad had bounded up the steps to No. 123, Wyatt walked alongside. After three quick knocks, Chad and Wyatt stood back and waited. The door unlatched…

A man with greying hair and a moustache stood beside his wife. The wife’s hair was the shade of Hailey’s.

“Yes?” the man had said sternly

“Is Hailey home?” Wyatt said. The man seemed to grow larger.

“Why?” the man had grown subtly more ferocious

“Oh Harold, stop it, you’re scaring them, Hailey’s working at the moment dears, she should be home later tonight” the woman had intervened

“Thank you so much” Perri had waved. As the group began to leave, the couple closed the door. The baby digimon’s stomachs began to grumble.

“That seems like a good idea, let’s go find somewhere to have lunch” Rex stated.

Catching a bus, the group were driven 10 blocks down, before the bus turned towards a road fac-ing the sea. Heading to a food place by the beachfront, the group admired the crystal clear glass walls and solar panel roof. Sitting at a table, the digidestines looked at the menu whilst the digimon waited outside. As the busboy served them bread and fruit, Perri waited until his back was turned. Sneaking out, she gave the fruit and bread to the digimon. Returning, Perri took one of the menus on the table.

“Are we ready to order” came the waitress’s voice, the digidestines kept behind their menus

“I’ll have-”

Wyatt’s menu had dropped as a clattering resounded throughout the restaurant. Wyatt and the waitress had looked up simultaneously.

With wide eyes Hailey began to back away before running

“Wait” Wyatt began

“Not quite what I’d pictured…” Chad stated. Wyatt ran after Hailey. Chad followed. Two busboys blocked their path.

“Please, you don’t understand” Wyatt tried to explain. The other busboy had wrapped himself around a squirming Chad

A bike had sped off across the street in front of the food place. Grabbing Chad by the arm Wyatt raced out of the food place; the rest of the group right behind them.

The sun lay low on the water’s edge, the sky dashed with a blush of orange. The digidestines caught a glimpse of spokes race into a nearby forest. Following behind, the leaves crunched under-foot.

“No…” Wyatt’s shoulders seemed to droop. Any sign of the bike and Hailey had vanished. Dejected Wyatt turned around.


 * WHAM*

Wyatt found himself tackled to the ground.

“You can’t be here. You were gone. You got sucked into a portal and you were gone” Hailey’s knees dug into Wyatt’s legs as she gripped his wrist tightly. Hailey’s expression began to change from ferocity to melancholy “You saved my life. You never came back. You left me…”

“I’m here now” Wyatt said breathily through the shock

“Aww” Perri, Delphi and Chad had said

Tears began to flow from Hailey’s eyes as she’d let go and knelt beside Wyatt. Wyatt sat up.

“I’m sorry” Wyatt apologised to Hailey, whose hair had been in a long ponytail over her shoulder. Hailey looked up at him and gave a small laugh

“Still as polite as ever” Hailey said. Wyatt helped her up.

“So”

Wyatt and Hailey’s hands let go of the other’s

“Aren’t you gonna introduce us” Chad beamed. A flash of light leapt out of Wyatt’s digivice

“Yeah, aren’t you gonna introduce us” Cadomon echoed. Hailey had flinched momentarily.

“Is that a-”

“A digimon, yep. Cadomon to be exact” Cadomon said. Hailey approached him with caution.

“N-nice to meet you Cadomon” Hailey stammered

“And nice to find you!” Shrieked a voice overhead. Above appeared to be a witch with straggly grey hair in tattered clothes. Chains and buckles clanged around her outfit.

“Cauldron’s disaster” the creature spewed. Cauldron shaped purple lights bombarded the digidestines. Wyatt shielded Hailey, falling to the ground. The other digimon emerged from their digivices, blocking the attack with their own to prevent it from reaching.

“Ooohh. You mangy filth” the digimon had fumed, her long, wide, black skirt had jangled. In this time the digimon, including Goblimon and Liollmon had digivolved to their champion stage or equivalent.

“Hah. You’ll have to catch me first” zooming up, a trail of cloud seemed to head for the heart of the city. Helping Hailey up again, Wyatt began to move with the rest of the group

“Wait” Hailey snagged the sleeve of Wyatt’s attire

“Let me come with you” Hailey said

“We can’t. We couldn’t put you in the middle of that much danger” Wyatt had said “They’re after you-”

“Because of this?” Hailey held up the yellow digivice. Wyatt nodded

“Please follow us, we’ll protect you” Leomon reassured. Heading in a separate direction to Hailey, the digidestines flew towards the heart of the city.

Surrounded by skyscrapers and the odd tree, the digidestines found themselves in a square off with the grey haired digimon.

“So you think you can take on old Hecatemon by yourselves do you, well, we’ll just have to change that now won’t we!” Hecatemon launched a barrage of attacks at the digidestine’s digimon.

“Hecatemon, a mega level digimon. Special attack: Cauldron’s Disaster. Data. Information un-known” one of the digivices had alerted

“What do you mean ‘information unknown’!” Chad shouted at the digivice. Falco shifted himself.

“WHAT?!?! How are you all putting up such a fight? You should have been destroyed by now!” Hecatemon shrieked, rising from an onslaught of attacks

“Ahh” the digidestines digimon had yelled, caught off-guard as an attack had hit them

“About time sister” Hecatemon spoke to a masked digimon in a purple cloak with glowing eyes. The inside of the digimon’s cloak was an emerald green.

“Hey no fair, below the belt move” Kazemon had shouted.

“Morganamon, a mega level digimon. Vaccine. Data unknown”

As the digimon began their attacks again, it had become clear that Morganamon was not to be tak-en lightly.

“Coredramon digivolve to!...Cyberdramon!”

“Wizardmon digivolve to!...Mistymon!”

The enemy digimon gritted their teeth as they struggled to hold back the combined attack of the digidestines. A snap. Two of the digidestine’s digimon found themselves ensnared in a ring of light each.

“Cyberdramon!”

“Mistymon!” Chad and Falco couldn’t approach

“It’ll be alright” Mistymon reassured

“But you have to stay back for now” Cyberdramon squirmed. Chad and Falco hesitantly held back.

In the settling dust, a third digimon emerged from between Hecatemon and Morganamon.

“Hmm, oh, my, my, my my. What do we have here?”

“Memoirmon!” the digidestines and their digidestines collectively shouted in shock

“Hm, not quite” erupting and shredding through the image of Memoirmon was a long beard. A digimon with a pointed nose, adorned in red and gold held a staff with an orb in a skull’s mouth at its end.

“Barbamon, we had no idea” Hecatemon said

“Off course you wouldn’t” Barbamon stated back. With a sharp swing of his wand, Barbamon struck the digidestine’s digimon with a quivering crescent wave of red energy.

“Cauldron’s Disaster” Hecatemon shouted before the digimon could get back up

“No” the word escaped Delphi’s lips as she and the others stood by. Barbamon turned his atten-tion to the humans. His staff glowed as he charged an attack

“Hand of Faith”

“Propulsion Wave”

“Cat’s Eye Beam”

“Hurricane Wave”

The four digimon’s combined attacks caused Barbamon to misfire, however it was at the digidestine’s digimon instead.

“NO!”

Small orbs of lights began to emit wispily from the fallen digimon’s bodies. Tears fell from the digidestine’s eyes. Delphi called out, screamed out to Gatomon, begging for her digimon to hear her. Hecatemon’s Cauldron’s Disaster pulsed, a mass of swirling shadows spiralled out of Mor-ganamon’s palms, deviating from her usual staff generated attacks. Barbamon salivated as red emitted from his staff.

The orbs froze

“Gatomon! Digivolve to!...” Gatomon began to become human, feathered wings sprouted from her back. On her head she wore part of a helmet which had wings and wrapped around her arms was a feathery pink boa “Angewomon! Celestial Arrow!” Angewomon launched an arrow

“Angemon! Digivolve to!...” Boots of metal appeared on Angemon, as well as an extra pair of wings. Gold wrapped around his chest as a purple shield and glowing sword, one of each, appeared on each arm. On his head, his helmet elongated “MagnaAngemon! Gate of Destiny!” A beam of light blasted out from a circular gate

The attacks pierced through the enemy digimon’s attacks, vanquishing Hecatemon and Morganamon in the process. As data dispersed around him, Barbamon launched rings at the digimon. Having only just risen up, Garoumon found himself bound by the ring of light. Kazemon, MagnaAngemon and Angewomon avoided and destroyed the rings. No, no! This can’t be!” Barbamon looked to them and began to holler in laughter. “You’re missing one! It won’t come true! It may be too late to stop the other two angels, but without a third…” Barbamon turned his attention towards Kazemon readying an attack. The attack pulsed

Garoumon! Digivolve to!...” Garoumon’s feet became more pronounced and wolf-like. Above his waist, he became more muscular and human. Wings appeared on his back as a wolf-head-like helm with gaps for the eyes sat atop his held. The knotted cloth remained on his arm as two golden rings surrounded his wrists “GarouAngemon!” GarouAngemon burst through Barbamon’s ring. “Howling Blizzard!” a ferocious glowing ice storm tore through Barbamon’s attack

“Gate of Destiny!” MagnaAngemon blasted

“Celestial Arrow!” Angewomon launched

All three attacks shattered Barbamon into fragments of data.

“Ahahahahahahaha” came a cackle from above. Looking up, Lilithmon carried an unconscious Hailey under her arm. Disappearing through a distortion the two were gone. Leomon and Ogremon came running towards the digidestines

“I’m really sorry” Leomon apologised “She was too strong”

“The baby digimon, they hid in Hailey’s outfit” Ogremon panted

“I’m going after her” Wyatt stated, holding out his digivice. The others did the same

“Count us all in” Rex stated, placing an arm on Wyatt’s shoulder. A portal of swirling rainbow col-ours appeared

“Wait” came an unfamiliar voice. Floating down in an outpour of light was a bead-less Sanzomon. “Sanzomon de-digivolve to!...D’Arcmon”

“Who are you?” Perri asked

“I’m D’Arcmon. I’m Hailey’s digimon”