Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hey guys this is the announcement for the rewrite of TSDTRW. I'm super excited to start writing again so if there's anything you guys wanna see in the story drop a comment here and I'll see what I can fit in!!

Chapter Text

With the dying breath of the Ancient Warriors and Lucemon sealed away and the Digital World at peace; the spirits were given to the Celestial Angles. Fire and Ice were given to Ophanimon. Wind, Thunder, and Light are given to Seraphimon. And Darkness, Water, Steel, Earth, and Wood were given to Cherubimon. However giving that much power would be an oversight on the part of Ophanimon and Seraphimon.

 In the years after the defeat of Lucemon the strong Elemental Factions that made up the digital world began to crumble soon becoming a thing of the past. The harmonious seclusion that was the digital world was no more. Even with their respective Ancient digimon leading them every society has their problems. Soon the only thing dividing Digimon was the constant Human Digimon vs Beast Digimon battles. Cherubimon let his paranoia get the best of him. He’s incessant belief that the other Celestial Angels were plotting against him led him to wage a war.

 In reality it was Lucemon leaking his aura into Cherubimon trying to create chaos even in his sealed state. Yet it seemed that the outcome would be the same even without the help of Lucemon.

 Due to this war, the spirits in the hands of Ophanimon and Seraphimon were spread across the Digital World, returning to where the original Warriors dwelt. Seraphimon was imprisoned in a cocoon of energy while Ophanimon was forced into hiding.

 In hiding Ophanimon discovered a closely connected parallel world.

 The Human World.

 The inhabitants weren’t digimon but creatures that were weak in stature. However the smaller sized ones called “Children '' seemed to possess qualities that could be beneficial to her. She sent out a SOS in the form of a ‘game’.  The children were all sent to the train station where they were randomly sent to areas of the Digital World. Ophanimon was looking for the children who would find the Warrior Spirits and save the Digital World. The others were just extra collateral, if you would. 5 children who would represent their Warrior counterparts down to their very core.

 Ophanimon made the right choice depending on those earth children. At first they weren’t suitable to fight mere in-training digimon, however countless battles, mistakes, accidents, and triumphs the children prevailed. Along the way gaining an unexpected new member. Then as predestined, the children defeated Lucemon just as the ancient Digimon did before them. 

 Then the children were allowed to return home, however when they got back they realized they had changed. 

 No longer human. 

They could control the elements of their spirit, they had enhanced abilities and muscle memory couldn't forget the gruelling training they received. They could only confide in each other. Never speaking of the other world they experience in fear that they would be experimented on or put into a mental facility for sounding crazy.

 It was almost a year later during the summer time  that the Digital World showed up again. The Warriors thought it would’ve been their chance to go back, to see their spirits, their partners, again. Unfortunately, Ophanimon had contacted the Warriors and told them about a new evil in the Digital World, but they would not be needed. 

 The Warriors decided to have a meeting at Shibuya Park to discuss the situation. Like always Kouji and Kouichi were the first to arrive.

 “How much you wanna bet Takuya’s last to the meeting?” Kouji glanced at his twin brother.

 After their time in the Digital World, their relationship had gotten 10x better, well that was considering before it was nonexistent. Kouichi kept his hair short and changed his clothes to more of a grey and black get up. The most surprising bit though was his new leather jacket. Well not really considering his stint as Duskmon, Kouichi retained some of his more sadistic characteristics. On the other hand, Kouji dropped his dark blue attire for a more blinding white ensemble. He however kept his bandana as a memento.

 “I would bet nothing as that's a trick question. He’s always late.” Koichi replied from the shade of the tree.

 “Whats up, Ying Yang Twins.” Zoe called waving her hand from a short distance away.

 After the Digital World, Zoe came out of her shell and started making friends, at least genuine ones. However she knew her fellow Warriors would be a constant source of support. She let go of her pink hat and now went with a butterfly clip in her hair. She wore a pink crop top that showed her midriff, with skinny jeans that still allowed her to move around if the need be.

“Hey Zoe” came from Kouichi but Kouji was too busy hiding his blush. It was apparent to everyone in the group the feelings Kouji had for Zoe. Even though that made a problematic lob=ve triangle situation between him, Takuya, and the aforementioned Warrior of Wind.

“Hey Zoe, what’s up with the outfit?” Kouji couldn’t even look her in the eye.

“What, I can’t look cute?” Zoey put on a pouty face.

Kouji began to stutter, “Y-y-yeah you can.” 

She just shook her head as if to say ‘Yeah that’s what I thought’. 

“Well it looks like the gangs almost back together!!!” They all turn to look at,  now a very muscular, J.P give a thunderous howl. It was very fitting for the Warrior of Thunder. Ever since the team got back J.P took his health very seriously and began to take up boxing after the style of Beetlemon.

J.P was running to give the three of them, who were quite tiny, a group hug. “Oh, I missed you guys.”

He failed to notice that he was cutting off their air supply. After releasing the three from his hold, he spoke again. 

“Hey, where’s Mr. Strategist?”

They all look up at that statement seeing that Tommy was a stickler when it came to being efficient and following plans to a T.

In terms of who changed the most it would definitely be Tommy. He grew up fast both figuratively and literally. The group never really choses to comment on the consequences of said growth. 

Suddenly a head full of brown hair could be seen running full speed, almost as if he had jet propulsion. Turns out the boy did indeed have the extra help, his hands behind his back as fire was shooting out of them.  

The incoming body caught the Warriors by surprise causing them to all scream as he came to a stop right in front of them. 

“Takuya what the hell. You could’ve killed us and what made you think using your powers in public was a good idea!?” Kouichi was shocked, to say the least.

“Well, I thought, hey I’m always the last one to things I would try to be the first to this one, but I guess it didn’t work since I’m last again.” Takuya was scratching his neck with at least a look of remorse. 

“So impulsive you would think you would’ve changed by now.” Kouji chimed in with no real heat. 

“Actually…” Zoe began to tell Takuya. 

“Good thing I didn’t take the bet.” Kouichi snickered from the shadows.  

“Sorry guys.” 

The group turned around once again to see their final member. Tommy looked as if he was gliding on the pavement. This should be impossible, but that word has been thrown out their vocabulary since they stepped foot in the Digital World. Like Zoe he let his big orange hat go, instead, he now wears a green headband to keep his grown-out hair away from his face. He wears ripped jeans now with two white bears on the left leg. He kept his white t-shirt with the green trim but he now sports a green fingerless glove on his right hand.

“Hey guys, so so so so sorry I’m late, you guys know this, like, never happens, but Shinya is very manipulative. I told him I had this meeting today but he thought it would be a good idea to stay up all night playing video games. Then somehow he turned off all my alarms so I just woke up like 2 minutes ago.” He somehow said in-between breaths and still sounded coherent.

"Why would you listen to him?” Takuya looked at Tommy in disbelief. It was like the youngest of the group to be off his game but when it came to Shinya most things were thrown out the window. 

“Well, you know that look he pulls that he uses to get his way all the time,”

Takuya nodded his head. “Yeah he used that with everyone at home they were all under his spell.” Takuya could only laugh. 

Though the other Warriors were confused. “Who’s Shinya?” 

Takuya and Tommy looked at each other thinking of how to describe him.  

“Well, he’s definitely…,” Takuya started.

“Unique.” Tommy finished in a tone the other warriors haven't heard him use before, endearment? 

“Who would’ve thought that Takuya’s younger brother and Tommy would be best friends?” Zoey as if she was thinking about the possibilities.  

“Yeah he’s a cool guy and almost nothing like his brother, I’m sure you’ll meet him one day or another.” Tommy assured the others. “But now that we’re all here let's commence this meeting about what Lady Ophanimon told us.” 

They all sat in the shade of the tree, in something that resembled a circle. Takuya chose to start the conversation in the most Takuya way possible, smoke coming out his ears. 

“How could the Mistress tell us that we can't help the Digital World!?” Takuya hollered in his frustration.

“Takuya, calm down Lady Ophanimon must have a reason for not allowing us to go.” Tommy touched a cold hand to Takuya’s almost fiery back to stop the boy from combusting into flames in public and drawing too much attention to them.

“Yeah, Taki let's be real we all miss the Spirits, but maybe Lady Ophanimon just wants us to have something that symbolizes a normal life after the literal war we've been through.” J.P tried to lighten the mood.

“Please that’s if Lady Ophanimon feels like carrying about our wellbeing that day.” Zoe rolled her eyes.  

“But still, as much as it hurts me to say it, Takuya is right. Can we trust the protection of the digital world to some children who don’t know how the world works?.” Kouji was hesitant to agree but he did.

“Aww thanks, Kouji, you do like me.” Takuya teased 

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Kouji said with no particular venom. 

“Do you think we should just wait it out and see what happens?” Kouichi spoke up. 

“It seems like the best option. There’s not much we can really do. The train station is still collapsed and even then is the gate to the digital world even still working? There’s just too many variables we can’t account for right now.” Tommy spoke his thoughts aloud to the group.

The others nodded. As decided, the Warriors chose to wait. And to the surprise of the Warriors, they were never called upon even as they saw Digimon becoming news in Odaiba, dubbed “monster sightings”, the Warriors just sat back and watched.  Essentially they were replaced. Moving on with their lives never forgetting about the other world that was calling their names, that they longed to return to. 

And they were fine with that… 

Yeah right.

 Two days later In Odaiba 

“Are you kidding me!? Why is it so hot in here?” Zoe was furious. She and Takuya were on a “friend date” to Tokyo Tower when suddenly the heat started to crank up. Takuya just looked at her as if she was crazy.

Zoe heavily rolled her eyes. “Oh I forgot you're constantly hot so you wouldn’t notice the heat.” 

“Well gee Zoe I know I'm good looking but, hot? Thanks for that” Takuya let out a laugh. Takuya was sure he didn’t flinch at the hit he received.

“Takuya, not the point. Also do you feel that?” Zoe brought her hands to her arms in an attempt to comfort herself, there was an ominous presence nearby . She glanced around the people in the tower. Her eyes falling on an extra tall cloaked figure. 

“Totally not suspicious.” Zoe pointed at the figure to show Takuya. Ever since the Warriors felt the digital world open again they’ve been on edge. Even though they all voted to not do anything at the moment, members of the group kept finding themselves in situations involving digimon. Just yesterday Kouji and Kouichi found themselves a Raremon with Kouji’s enhanced smell. 

Another thing that came along with their new found control over the elements each warrior got a sense heightened. Takuya, like a lizard, has increased regenerative abilities. Tommy almost went into shock when his hearing enhanced. Kouichi now had something he called ‘soul sight’. J.P got the least interesting taste but he wasn’t complaining so Zoe guessed it was alright. Zoe herself got eagle-like eyesight. Kouji has an enhanced smell, and Takuya was quick to give the boy the nickname ‘mutt’, which he didn’t appreciate all too much. 

It turned out to be a useful ability as it turns out he can sniff Digimon out. Kouji said that digimon have a certain smell that's different from humans, and explained it as, 

“They smell like what tv static looks like? Or you know when you put a 9-volt battery on your tongue? Yeah that's what it smells like.” 

Zoe just took his word for it as that seems like a lot to unpack. She let her inner monologue drop as the cloaked figure began to move as if he was searching for something. 

Zoe went to follow the guy but Takuya brought his arm up to stop her.

“Wait a second.” Takuya started staring intensely at the stranger. “Zoe, that’s a digimon, a fire elemental looks like.” 

“Are you sure? Maybe the AC just cut out, it is summertime.” Zoe knew he was right but she wanted to keep the charade of normalcy for just a bit longer.

She got her answer when she heard an exchange nearby. 

“And what about that guy with that big coat on. Like it's already hot and it's such an ugly color too!” A girl with a pink dress said to her friend.

“Mimi be quiet, what if he hears you?” The girl in the yellow shirt whispered back. 

The stranger did indeed hear them and the stranger ripped his coat off to reveal a Deathmeramon burning with bright blue flames. Zoe and Takuya were ready to jump into action when suddenly a Palmon and a Biyomon appeared beside the two girls.

“Don’t tell me these are our replacements?” Takuya dropped his stance in disbelief.

“I for one don’t mind the added female rep in the defenders of the digital world. What, girls can’t get the job done Takuya?”

“Zoe you know that's not what I meant” Takuya didn’t need the wrath of the wind right now. 

They both watched as two rookie digimon digivolved into a Togemon and Birdramon flying on top of the tower to deal with the Deathmeramon. The two warriors were ready to chase after the two girls but a few steps into the chase the tower began to shake. 

“Oh don't we have the best luck?” Zoe said aloud. The two braced themselves trying to find the cause of the tremors. 

“Looks like Deathmeramon’s flames were so hot he started melting the infrastructure of the tower” Takuya took a look outside. The tower looked like it was seconds away from becoming the next Leaning Tower. 

“So what do we do? We can’t just let all these people die!?” Zoe sweeped her arm showing the panicked occupants of the tower. 

“Well we’re already at a disadvantage due to the lack of spirits, plus more fire isn’t gonna help the most we can do is try to stabilize the tower until someone arrives to help.” Takuya turned toward Zoe with determination on his face. 

Zoe nodded as she let out a sigh. Controlling the wind isn’t hard persay, it usually has a rep of being unpredictable and wild. Wind is nothing more than a science and Zoe is more than happy to say she has mastered it. However how the hell she’s gonna be able to use it to stabilize a tower without destroying it with the force of the wind will be something else entirely. 

“Well here goes nothing.” 

Zoe could feel her eyes change in the symbol of the Warrior of Wind, her body gaining a slight pink aura. The wind picked up in the tower. The shaking stopped as she used compressed air pockets to stop the tower from moving. Both from side to side and melting straight down.

Luckily she didn’t have to hold it long as Takuya let out a “Well I’ll be damned.” Zoe let her focus drop just slightly to see what he was so shocked at, and sure enough a Greymon and a Kabuterimon had entered the fray. The Kabuterimon held the tower up while the Greymon went to fight the Deathmeramon. 

She let most of her compressed wind to drop and let the Kabuterimon do most of the work. “Well looks like it's more than just two girls defending the Digital World then Takuya.”

The battle ended with Greymon digivolving again into a Metalgreymon and dealing with the Deathmeramon. So at least their digimon can go ultimate, their replacements aren’t totally out of their league.

4 Days Later Odiba 

“Guys I think the Digital World is being displayed across the sky.” J.P was the religious guy mostly making decisions based on fact, even more so now that he can basically power whatever circuitry he creates. But if a god did exist, he wonders what kind of sick joke they were playing on him now.

On the other line of the call laughing could be heard. “J.P did you have too much chocolate again?” Takuya snickered. 

“Now actually I have some very decadent WHITE chocolate covered strawberries, but that's beside the point. Literally go outside and look up at the freaking sky. It makes no sense but- Just go look guys.”

He could hear various rustling on the group call and then a bunch of indignant noises. 

“That’s definitely the Digital World”

“It’s changed a lot.”

“Do you think-” 

Everyone knew where Zoe was going with that last bit but no one wanted to finish her statement. And they didn’t need to as J.P was enveloped in a bright yellow light as he was filled with a calming sense of familiarity. 

He opened his eyes to Ohpanimon’s old throne room. Her throne is decorated with wheels that seem to have known existent eyes that follow your every movement. The color scheme matching hers the teal throne with gold accent like her wings. 

“You’ll get to see your spirits again?” J.P snapped his head to the left to see Kazemon hovering over a crying Zoe. Zoe reached out a shaky hand as if she touched the spirit she would end up disappearing. 

“How? Why?” Zoe looked on the verge of having a complete meltdown of… happiness? 

“I brought them here, my warriors.” 

Each of the six immediately kneeled immediately in the presence of Lady Ophanimon. The group had grown quiet and conversations ceased. J.P knew that his friends got tense, some more than others. He gathered enough courage to take a glance at Kouichi.

It was like he thought, the shadow twin was trying to make himself appear smaller. 

“Lady Ophanimon.” Takuya kept his acknowledgement short and respectful.

The thing J.P disliked about Lady Ophanimon was that due to her vizor you couldn’t get a read on her. The only expression you could see is her mouth. And it was always trained in this perfected publicity act. 

“We don’t have much time as we don’t know how long the connections between the two worlds will be maintained.” Lady Ophanimon raised her lance and arched it to display a group of seven figures. One was especially familiar and terrifying even with it’s tiny child-like stature.

“You all should be aware of who is standing before you.” 

“The Seven Demon Lords.” Tommy spoke up from where he and Kumamon were standing. J.P finds it funny that now Tommy towers over the polar bear when they used to be the same height. 

“Yes, thank you young Tommy. These are the Seven Demon Lords each representing a sin of humanity. Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, and Lust. You already defeated their leader Lucemon, but in roughly 4 and half millenniums you’ve been gone the others are beginning to rise to power,”

J.P most have heard her wrong. The others were in the same line of thinking.

“4 millenniums? That's impossible, it's only been a year!” Takuya said with a raised voice as he stood but he quickly went back to the kneeling position.

“No, wait a minute Takuya, originally we were in the digital world for months and when we got back there was roughly an hour difference in time.” Tommy spoke with a furrow in his brow like he was doing the math in his head. Well so was J.P and everything made sense.

“If you do the math Taki, it makes perfect sense. And let's be honest we would be foolish if we were to think the time in the digital world would stop just because we weren’t in it.” 

“Yes, time has passed and now there is more evil for you to face. Luckily the Digidestined are handling another of the Demon Lords as we speak even if they don’t know it.” 

Kouji let out a snort. “Is that what you're calling our replacements? Digidestined?” 

Lady Ophanimon’s mouth twitched up in a smirk. “Oh, is that what you think they are? Your replacements?” 

Kouichi spoke up for the first time since being teleported here. “Well you didn’t come to us when the digital world open back up the first time, hell you told us to stand down.”

Lady Ophanimon’s smirk fell and before anyone noticed she was flying across the room with lightning speed.  

A clang rang out the room. J.P braced himself as he looked over to Kouichi hoping he was ok. Lady Ophanimon had her lance raised in Kouichi’s direction but luckily Lowemon and Lobomon had their weapons parrying hers in an attempt to stop her. 

Kouichi had a scratch on his cheek as blood trickled down slowly.

“Don’t question my actions boy. You do as you're told. You are nothing more than my pawns in a game of chest. Now we can make this game enjoyable for all of us or we can play this game kicking and screaming. The only thing keeping you here is the fact that somehow the Digital Gods saw fit to have Darkness be a necessary part of the defenders of the Digital World, and I would be foolish to go against their will.” 

Kouichi let out a laugh as he wiped the blood from his cheek and wiped it on Lady Ophanimon’s lance. “Then I guess you're stuck with me.” 

Lady Ophanimon withdrew her lance and walked back to her throne. “You are not to interfere with the Digidestined till I say you can. They are instrumental to my plan and I wont have you messing this up. Don’t think I don’t know about the Tokyo Tower incident nor the Raremon.”

J.P saw Zoe flinch and Takuya clench is fist. A chorus rang out.  

“Yes, Lady Ophanimon”

“First, I need you to train in the meantime. I’m giving your spirits back and you would do me no good if you were dead,”

This is why Lady Ophanimon creeped J.P out. The next thing she did was give the motherly smile that radiated warmth and caring. 

“So please take care of yourselves.” 

Lady Ophanimon raised her staff in a motion of dismissal but she stopped shortly before and gave a final farewell message.

“Oh, and please be nice to the new Warrior that will be joining you.”

J.P could hear the gasps and questions come from the other warriors as everything became a blinding light

Chapter Text

4 Years Later

Groans fill the air as dust clears from the makeshift arena. Bodies strewn across the arena  as the warriors laid out tired and battered.

“Why is it again we continue to go through with being Warriors when we have to train like this?” Takuya could barely feel his limbs as Agunimon stood over him in astral form.

“Because the Digital World needs us. The Digidestined haven’t died yet, but I would rather know the Digital World is in capable hands not those of amateurs.” Kouji said as Lobomon helped him up from the floor.

“They just got 3 new members after most of the original 8 moved to middle school. So now there’s even more kids we have to worry about.” Zoe was breathing heavy as Kazemon flew around her. 

“Great! Need I remind you guys that we still haven’t found the Warrior of Earth, and on top of that, if you guys haven't noticed it's been 4 years.” Tommy was pacing back and forth as Kumamon was trying to get his partner to calm down.

Lady Ophanimon was never one to be patient, Tommy knew that all too well. The warriors expected their new ‘recruit’ to instantly appear in front of them seeing as Lady Ophanimon was so keen on them welcoming the person. That wasn’t how it went, however. Days turned into weeks, which turned into months, and then years. All without a bit of an energy signature related to a new Legendary Warrior.

“Lowemon have you not sensed anything?”

The lion warrior shook his head, “I haven’t felt any spirits that felt like those of the Earth. Even though we’ve met in a different lifetime, I honestly don’t know if they would radiate the same energy. It’s entirely possible that merging with the new warrior of Earth has changed them completely.”

“What do you mean their energies could be changed?” J.P dodged a punch that came from Beetlemon.

“Well the base spirit will always have the same kind of well, ‘spiritual energy’. When you meld that energy with a human it results in a new energy that is unique between the bond of the spirit and said human. So even if I knew the purified spirits of Earth, I wouldn’t even know what kind of energy to look for.” Lowemon explained with a contemplative look.

“So what?” Tommy moaned in agitation.

“I think 4 years was the digital gods being far too generous. If we don’t find them soon it could possibly be too late. I don’t know what Lady Ophanimon was thinking, aren’t we more than enough? We have to work with these Digidestined, and train a new Warrior. We all know being a warrior is way more taxing than how the digidestined fight.”

“Tommy I think you need to chill out.” Takuya said from across the makeshift arena.

“Oh you think you're a funny man or something Takuya? I don’t need a Bakumon controlling me to attack you. I have the balls to do it of my own volition now.” Tommy walked over to Takuya, the air turning frosty as Tommy’s emotions began to flare.

“Tommy it wasn’t even like that but please be my guess as your older brother figure, it's my job to humble you.” Takuya wasn’t the least bit bothered by the warriors of Ice actions as he met hostility with the same energy the temperature returning to normal.

They never talked about it but the air around the warriors was getting tense. The overlooming thought of an impending battle that they had to prepare for without any direction was taking its toll. ‘Train’, that’s all that Lady Ophanimon had to say for direction. They had to train for an enemy they had no knowledge of.

“Guys, let’s just end it here today. Clearly we need a break, before we end up seriously injuring one another.” J.P was beginning to become the peacemaker of the group over the years.

“Fine Shinya is supposed to be spending the night today anyway.” Tommy stomped away as Kumamon waved goodbye to the group.

“Is this the puberty most human boys go through?” Kazemon tilted her head in wonder.

“Oh my god Kazemon, no. Tommy’s just worried is all. He loves to overthink when the situation doesn't call for it.” Zoe was worried about their youngest. But Kazemon did have a point, Tommy did seem to be on edge lately.

Near the Himi House 

“Tommy this isn't healthy.” The bipedal polar bear floated around his partner in concern. Over the last few years Tommy has begun to become restless, paranoid, and aggressive. The spirit thought back to a specific moment a year ago. Tommy almost blew up at the spirit over seemingly nothing.

“Kumamon, I assure you if it was unhealthy I wouldn't be doing it.” Tommy had his hands in his pockets as he walked ever so slowly back to his home. The action in question was staying up all night researching and preparing for the Demon Lords. Unlike his friends he wasn’t planning on just going into the next battle with just the orders of Lady Ophanimon.

“Tommy you know they worry about. I know you’ll be fine but it's always nice to take a break every now and then.” Lumamon disappeared back into the digivice as they finally reached his house.

Tommy entered into the house hearing sounds from the kitchen.

“Thank you Mrs. Himi, your cooking is amazing as always.” Shinya sweet talked the residents of the Himi house.

“Aw, thank you Shinya dear, but I was just doing something simple.” The matriarch of the Himi household was blushing from the compliment. If only her boys would  compliment her cooking like the young Shinya did. She let out a sigh as she continued to eat.

“Would you like help with the dishes afterward?” Shinya asked.

“Oh no dear I couldn't ask you to do that, you're a guest in my home. If only my boys shared your sentiments.” Shinya scratched the back of his neck and gave a small grin. Tommy gave his friend a fist bump as he took his seat by his older brother Yutaka.

Yutaka leaned over to his brother Tommy. “Why can’t you be more like your friend?” 

Tommy looked at his older brother. “We’re friends because we're different not because we’re the same.” Tommy chose not to include the ginormous huge crush he had on Shinya.

As dinner came to an end the boys both dismissed themselves and  went upstairs to play videogames. “Hey Tommy have you heard the news? All those strange monster sightings?”

Tommy stopped mid attack giving Shinya the chance to come back and win the first round of their fighting game. Tommy knew this conversation was bound to happen sooner or later. Shinya was way too curious about his surroundings and what's going on in the world. It didn’t help that he had two points of access to the digital in him and his brother Takuya. Honestly it is surprising he hasn’t asked any questions up until now.

Seeing as digimon have been appearing in the news for a while now, it was only a matter of time. The warriors have been doing some investigating over the years since Ophanimon still hadn't contacted them. They caught glimpses of the aftermath of battles, and no one missed when the sky displayed the battle against Apocalymon. However right now Tommy had a different problem to deal with, Shinya could never know about the Digital World. 

“Fake News. You shouldn't believe everything you see on TV you know. Shinya I thought you were smarter than that.”

“Really? I mean can all those people really be crazy though? And remember the sky incident with the kids in Odaiba? Tommy I know i'm not crazy” The one thing Shinya and his brother have alike are their unquestionable persistence.

“I think it's fake, but you should focus more on the video game Shinya, do you want to lose for the tenth time today?” As if on cue Tommy’s character snapped Shinya’s character's neck ending the second round.

“Aw, not again, wow Tommy you’re really good at video games.”

Tommy could only grin. “Yeah, the skill comes in handy more than you would think.” He thought back on how he met Korikakumon. Who would’ve thought playing with his older brothers Atari would come in handy one day in a world full of digimon.

 “Well I'm tired, I'm going to bed.” Tommy the boys got into Tommy’s new bed he got thanks to his growth spurt so it was significantly bigger than it used to be. Enough that the boys could share and still have enough room to spare.

After a few minutes the Shinya decided he wasn't tired just yet. “Hey Tommy, are you awake?”

“Well I am now.” Tommy gave a small laugh.

“I need to tell you something but I don’t think you would believe me.” Shinya was holding his breath in worry.

“Why wouldn’t I believe you? I don’t think many things are impossible nowadays.” Tommy turned over to face Shinya.

“Ok well, I think I’m being haunted.”

Tommy tried to hold in his laughter. It didn’t work.

“Hey, it's not funny. I’m being serious.”

“I’m sorry Shinya. Go on why do you think you’re being haunted?”

“For the past week I’ve been having these weird dreams. It always starts out the same, I’m in this giant cavern. I call out to see if there’s a response and it's the same every time. My own voice comes out and in return the low rumble comes back saying the same thing. I don’t know what to do!”

Tommy was trying very hard to not invalidate Shinya’s musing but it was getting very hard. He didn’t actually know what the problem was and if he could even consider the situation an haunting persay.

“So you’re in a cave, then what happens.”

Shinya scrunched his eyes in an attempt to recall the dream. “Well then after a few times of me calling out to the cavern, it starts to shake like something is coming, or like daring me to move in deeper into it. But the dream ends before I ever have the chance to make a decision.”

Tommy put his hand to his chin in a contemplative gesture. “Maybe you're feeling indecisive about something and this is your mind telling you that you need to make one.”

Shinya shrugged but ultimately rolled over shutting off the light and saying goodnight.

Shinya soon began to snore, also a trait he and his brother share. However, before he could dwell on the fact Tommy’s Digivice went off. Tommy quickly went to silence it. 

“Dammit, hopefully Shinya didn't hear that.” Tommy looked over at his friend, he was still snoring. After Tommy was sure of it he began to make his escape. Unbeknownst to him a rustling could be heard.

Tommy used his new found Warrior abilities to make his way over rooftops to the Kanbara house. He was always one for being tactile and efficient. As he came closer to the residence he saw his fellow warriors. Feeling a little mischievous, he decided to scare his friends.

Back in the Digital World, for a short time Tommy and Kouichi had trained under some Ninjamon, for a rather um, questionable mission, but apart from that left them with some cool ninja moves. Like for one, learning how to erase one's presence.

“Can you believe it the world is literally being flooded with Digimon and Ophanimon hasn’t contacted us once?” J.P asked the group.

“Yeah no kidding, I called a girl I used to know from Italy and they’re over there too.” Zoe was starting to get worried.

“To be honest with you guys I'm not so damn sure these Digidestined have everything under control.” Kouji said, already expecting the looks of disbelief, which he indeed did get.

“I can kinda see your point, maybe that's because I'm your brother, but all these digimon showing up yet still no incidents or casualties? I guess these new digidestined must be doing something right.” Kouichi was sure to put emphasis on something. The group could tell he didn't see the need for the new Digidestined. 

Tommy took this chance to spring upon the unsuspecting group. The Warriors yelped in surprise. “Ha, you guys should see the looks on your faces.” The noise caused Takuya to come out of his house. “About time you guys showed up I've been waiting. 

“OK OK Mr. Leader” The warriors went inside the home to have another meeting. 

Down the block someone had other plans. “Why do I feel like I'm sneaking into my own house?” Shinya sighed, as he walked up to his front door.

"So we all know why we're here so let's get this thing started. It's time to get some answers. We don’t have much time." As Tommy was going to call Lady Ophanimon, the door suddenly burst open.

Shinya was standing at the doorway looking calmly at the Warriors, but more specifically, Takuya and Tommy. “Yeah time to get some answers indeed.” Shinya seemed to display no type of emotion, almost a calm fury.

Takuya rose from where he was seated on his bed. He quickly crossed over blocking Shinya from being able to view into the room. He brought his hands up to grasp his younger brother's shoulders. SHinya looked into his brother's eyes with an unsaid expectancy.

“Shinya, there are some things you just shouldn’t know about, and it would be better if you didn’t.”

Shinya’s face fell as his brother continued to lie to him, so he tilted his head so that Tommy was in view, his best friend and the person he trusts the most.

 “Tommy.” 

Tommy looked from Shinya to Takuya and back to Shinya. He began to bite his lip in thought. If he told Shinya the truth he would be exposing his best friend to the Digital World and all the hardship that goes with it. However he must have heard a lot of the conversation already, and he already asked about the monster sightings...

“Shinya, let’s have a chat,” he turned back to the group “We’ll be back in a minute.” 

Tommy took a hold of Shinya’s hand and dashed out the house.

“So that was Shinya, didn’t think we would meet him like this.” Kouichi broke the silence in the room. 

“Tommy better make the right choice.” The eerie way Takuya delivered the sentence, the message rang loud and clear. 

The smoke coming out of his ears didn't help either.

Tommy and Shinya arrived at the park and sat on the swing set. “What is so important that you guys have to hide it from me? You think I wouldn’t notice over the years, the way you and Takuya would sneak off and do stuff with your friend group? I’m not stupid Tommy.” Shinya looked at his feet as he swung back and forth in small motions. 

“It's not that we don’t want to tell you, it’s just that once you know you can’t unknow and if someone sees you fit for that something we can’t tell you about then you will be thrust into turmoil, trials, obstacles all stuff that your brother doesn’t want you to go through. “ Tommy was trying to explain it to him in a way that wouldn’t reveal too much.

“And what about you, Tommy, what do you think is the best thing to do.” 

Tommy knew exactly what was to come of the unexpected entrance of Shinya, and he knew Takuya would likely kill him for it.

“I think that the moment you heard our conversation you became a part of this, and I fear that you will have to go through what we did. So first I want to say I’m sorry for dragging you into this, second I going to tell you everything, and third I want you to pinky promise me that now and in the future to never do anything stupid and reckless and always have my back and know that I will have yours.” 

Shinya gave Tommy a smile and held out his pinky. Tommy took his pinky and then the sacred promise was complete.

Tommy then began to tell Shinya everything. From the text to the cellphone to fighting Lucemon to the Myotismon and Apocalymon incident 3 years ago. He explained to him the recent Digimon news and the new chosen group of children. He even told him about Ophanimon’s order to welcome a new Warrior.

Shinya’s eyes grew big. “Tommy, you’ve been looking for a new Warrior and the dreams I’ve been having  about being in a cavern, do you think that could mean anything?”

Tommy left out a sigh. “HI honestly don’t know Shinya. She told us that 4 years ago. If you were the new Warrior we would’ve known long ago. Unless you werent ready? And all of a sudden you were, who knows but lets pray that isn’t the case.” 

Shinya thought about it for a second. Did he really want to be a warrior? Hell yeah he did. "Tommy I think it could be me you guys were looking for! Kouji and Kouichi are brothers, what's wrong with having another set on the team? And I know with me and you fighting together we would be unstoppable." Tommy chuckled at the naive passion of his friend.

"Shinya being a Warrior isn't all fun and games. There is the all too real possibility that you can, will, get hurt. And I don’t know what I would do if you did. " Tommy looked over to his friend as he watched him sit back with a look.

"But Tommy, didn’t you say you would have my back? I know you wouldn't let me get hurt."

Tommy had to duck away before Shinya caught him blushing a deep red.

“Well, I think it’s time to get back.” Shinya nodded. “Race ya?” “Oh you’re so on.” The boys ran all the way back to the house. Once they got back they were both out of breath. They got upstairs and went to face the music.

“Tommy, Shinya, you guys are back.” Zoe seemed eager to know how the conversation went. 

“Shinya is now part of the plan.” Tommy said it confidently but on the inside he was nervous about how Takuya would react. “Tommy, I thought you of all people would understand why I didn’t want Shinya to know about the Digital World and Digimon.” Takuya seems more disappointed than anything. 

“Takuya you’re right but that’s also why I told him. Think about it, if Shinya has been catching on to our weird behaviors, he is a Kanbara you know better than most. If he wants to find something out, he will. So would you rather he be exposed to Digimon in a controlled environment or a dangerous one? If one of the higher powers of the digital world saw fit for Shinya to be a Digidestined or hell even a Warrior it would be best for him to be informed of what he would be a part of than be searching for something and get himself into trouble.” Takuya agreed with Tommy’s logic but that was still his little brother.

“Ok, you’re right Tommy but what if he gets hurt?” Tommy snapped his head to Takuya. “He won’t get hurt because he’s sticking by my side, he is now my responsibility, as his best friend and the one who dragged him into this mess.” Takuya seemed satisfied after that. During the argument Shinya was blushing at the thought of Tommy claiming him as his responsibility.

“Hey Shinya, come here” Zoe patted the spot next to her. “So what do you think of all the stuff Tommy told you? I know it’s probably a lot to think about.” 

“I think that maybe, it would be cool to be a Warrior like you guys, cause all Tommy talked about was how great you guys are.” Zoe, Kouichi, Kouji, and J.P looked at their youngest and thought about what Shinya told them. “He really thinks we’re that great?” Kouichi said in a small voice. “He must have been humble then because if anything it’s him and Takuya who saved our butts in the digital world the most.”

Kouji would hate to admit it but it was true. “Guys now that that is settled can I call Lady Ophanimon to start asking for answers? Tommy pressed a button on his D-Tector and Lady Ophanimon appeared as a hologram in the middle of the room. 

“Yes, Tommy?” 

“Lady Ophanimon I come to you with a favor.” She looked down at Tommy

“Yes, my warrior?” 

“If I may be so brass, I ask that you post as a-“

“I already know of your plans, young one. You plan to go to school with these Digidestined.” Tommy looked up in shock.

“I will post as this recruiter lady or whatever, but only because in doing so you have found a suitable host for Earth.” The whole room gasped at what Lady Ophanimon was hinting at.

“Oh no, you cannot be serious.” Takuya seemed as though he would faint.

“Oh no, you cannot be serious,” Shinya said the same thing but way more excited.

“Yes, Shinya Kanbara, out of the four spirits of Water, Steel, Wood, and Earth. Earth was the only one to have found a human partner. The now purified spirits of Earth shall be your guides in the near future so I suggest my warriors train you in the way of such beings.” Ophanimon gave Shinya a small smile.

"So that means I get to be a warrior just like you guys, alright.” Shinya pumped his fist in the air. Shinya’s cell phone began to beep and glow in his pocket. When he took it out it transformed into a brown D-Tector. “Your Spirits are already in the D-Tector young Shinya but you must first bond with them before you can digivolve.”

“Tommy, you better pray to the digital gods that my brother doesn’t get killed.” Takuya glared at the boy. Tommy would say he was scared but he faced much worse. Takuya will learn to forgive him later.

Lady Ophanimon was on the verge of leaving when her monitor beeped. Lady Ophanimon turned toward the Warriors. "My Warriors, it seems that I have found something interesting." The Warriors look at each other, Lady Ophanimon's face had the slightest formation of a smirk. 

This caught the Warriors’ attention, Lady Ophanimon had never really shown emotion as clearly as she is now. "I believe that one of the Demon Lords was the mastermind behind a certain boy Ken Ichijoji." The Warriors were speechless and in shock.

"Wait you said that the Demon Lords laid dormant this whole time, all this time one had the power to influence the human world,” Zoe said frantically. J.P went over to calm down the Warrior of Wind. If the atmosphere before was heavy it was straight crushing now.

“Wait I’ve heard of this Ken Ichijoji apparently he was some super genius that was so smart he gave his teachers homework.” Tommy explained to the group. “Wow that's crazy, it's said He’s moving to Tsukishima General High School in Odaiba.” Someone read off an article 

“So what do we do now?” Shinya, who was one of the calmest, although that’s because he didn't really know what the Digital Worlds was like, asked the room.

Tommy sat in an almost serene state, as he began to think. 

Takuya tried to assure his fellow Warriors. “Guys it doesn't matter who we’re up against we’re the LEGENDARY Warriors, they don't call us that for nothing.” That made the group laugh at their leader’s antics. 

“Now that everything is settled with the move, we need to focus on training Shinya.” Tommy spoke with an eager tone. All the other Warriors looked at the newcomer with pity.

“Why is everyone looking at me like that?” Shinya swallowed the growing lump in his throat

“Oh we’re gonna have tons of fun.”

Chapter Text

Shinya cringed back at the look his friend was giving him. “Quite the sadist, that friend of yours.” J.P joked toward Shinya. 

Shinya gulped, “Go easy on me please.” Tommy sighed, “Unfortunately we don't have that luxury. You will be doing combat with the twins, elemental tuning with me, and scenarios with the rest.” 

Since it was nighttime the Warriors decided to go back home and sleep, deciding to start Shinya’s combat training tomorrow in the forest area of Shibuya Park.

As the next day came and the training session drew closer Shinya was beginning to feel a little nervous. 

“Tommy, I'm getting butterflies in my stomach.” Tommy chuckled at his best friend's antics. 

“You’ll be fine. You were chosen for a reason, if they didn't think you could handle it the Spirits wouldn't have chosen you.” Tommy placed a hand on his shoulder. Tommy would be lying if he said he wasn’t worried at all. The twins wouldn’t go easy on Shinya, he did tell them not to. 

Eh, what could possibly go wrong?

 “Now come on, the twins are waiting.” The pair walked down the path to the place chosen for their training, however, they only saw Koji. Koji was standing in a small clearing with a kendo sword construct in his hand. It seems as though he was doing some training of his own before Shinya’s. Koji noticed the pair entering the clearing. “Oh, good we can start now, Shinya come stand in front of me.” 

Shinya gave Tommy one last look as he gave a nod of confirmation.  Shinya studied the Warrior of Light. He wore a sleeveless white t-shirt and black shorts, with his hair tied up in a messy bun. He had a coat of sweat on his body from earlier. He didn’t seem to be breathing hard at all. 

“Um, I thought this was training with you and your brother?” Shinya cocked his head to the side. 

Shinya felt a tingle run up his spine. He whipped his head around to come face to face with the other twin. 

“Oh wow, for a beginner you have nice spatial awareness. Most digimon and people alike notice too late.” Koichi made a noise of approval. 

Shinya didn’t want to know which people Kouichi could be referring to, and he thinks he would like to keep it that way. Kouichi was too nice for things like that.

“First rule of combat: Always be aware of your surroundings. Make sure to notice all your enemies, those seen and unseen.” 

Shinya nodded. Koichi came to stand by his brother. “Ok, for your first lesson all you have to do is land a hit on us,” Koji stated. 

Shinya couldn't help but laugh. “Isn’t that a little too cliched, I mean it's just like every shounen anime I’ve seen.” Koichi shrugged his shoulders. Tommy let out a laugh from the sidelines, Shinya couldn’t go a second without referencing one of the shows he was currently obsessed with.

 “Maybe so, but it still holds its purpose. The lesson ends when you tag us.” Koji spoke.

Shinya was determined, how hard could it be? “Ok then, Lets to the damn thing.” 

Shinya rushed forward using his soccer experience to get the jump on the twins. The twins didn’t expect Shinya to just go for it. They both jumped out of the way in different directions, Koji to the left and Koich to the right. Koji made a small sword of light, while Koichi stuck to the shadows. 

Shinya began to focus on Koji, because as far as he knew he couldn't blend into the shadows. Shinya’s brain was racing as he quickly tried to come up with battle tactics. He picked up a nearby rock and threw it at Koji following right behind the stone. 

“You think a rock would hit me?” Koji slashed the rock out of the air, easily seeing Shinya’s plan he brung the blade back as he jumped to the right using the momentum to redirect Shinya. Shinya who was flustered stumbled, seeing that Koji was a bust he went for his brother who was still by the shadow.

 He leaped toward the Warrior of Darkness and he was close, sadly Koichi melted into the shadow appearing right behind him. “You're gonna have to be quicker than that Shinya.”

 It went like that for another 30 minutes, the twins and Shinya playing a game of cat and mouse. Shinya switches targets from twin to twin after every failed attempt. Tommy was beginning to wonder if Shinya would actually tag the twins. 

Across the open area, Shinya was thinking the same thing, “Why won't you guys just stand still, how am I supposed to be a Warrior if i can't even win at a game of tag.” 

The ground began to shake, almost reacting to the wavering of emotions from the young Kanbara . The twins looked at each other unsure of what was going on. Tommy’s face began to lift in a smirk.

“Well would you look at that.”

“Shinya, it's ok if you want to take a break.” Koji doubted the younger boy would take him up on his offer. 

“You know I can't do that, you heard Tommy, we don’t have time to take breaks, I know the Demon Lords aren’t. I have to get stronger if I want to protect the people I care about.” Again the area began to shake this time tremors getting stronger, cracks beginning to form in the ground. The cracks began to move toward Shinya and centering around him.

As if answering Shinya’s need to be stronger, the ground stopped shaking and in the center of the cracks a huge mallet made out of the earth shot up next to him. “Wha-Whats this?” Shinya didn't know what was happening, but suddenly the name ‘JishinTsuchi’ came to mind.  

The three other Warriors were in shock, only his first day as a Warrior and he had already started using his element. Koji turned his nose,  “Oh this is interesting. Your scent has changed, Kouichi can you check his Spirit Core?” 

Shinya was just plain confused now. “What do you mean I smell, I know I put deodorant on and what's a Spirit Core.” 

Tommy laughed at that. “No, Shinya you don’t smell. After becoming Warriors, all of our senses became highetend. And well Koji become a mutt who has a really good nose,”

Koji threw a dagger made out of light in Tommy’s direction. Tommy just let out a laugh as he stopped it with a wave of his hand freezing the moisture in the air.

“Anyways, digimon and humans have a different scent. SInce we are practically the fusions of digimon and humans, we have things about us that set us apart from the normal human. Kouichi’s gift was the ability to see this inner core of a person.”

Kouichi took over from Tommy. “Yea, if I focus hard enough I can see the inner workings of a person. A regular human’s core would just be a plain grey, nothing to it. A digimon’s core would be grey too, just more staticy. However, when it comes to us warriors, our spirit cores are a mix of the two and they shine bright with the color of our element. You know since we are the physical embodiments of those elements.” 

Now that was a lot for Shinya to take in and he didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Shinya picked up his new weapon and gave it a wide swing, seeing that it was surprisingly light. “Ok so basically, since this hammer/mallet thing appeared, I'm getting closer to being a Warrior like you guys?.” Shinya gave his new weapon a wide swing with a huge smile.

“Cool.”

The twins got in defensive positions reading themselves. Instead of an attack however, Shinya jumped into the bushes with a new found resolve. He had to rethink how he would go about tagging the twins.

“Use your surroundings, young Shinya.’

He didn’t want to think about the implications of him hearing a voice in his head, but he went with it anyways. So he whispered to himself, “Lets see what I can do.” 

He circled around the twins so that he was behind them. He didn't expect to go unnoticed but that wasn't his plan anyway. He leaped out of the greenery swinging his mallet. He missed of course causing the twins to jump back. The mallet struck the ground causing a crater to form. Not giving them a chance to react he will the earth that stuck above the ground to grab the twins ankles. The twins were stuck in place.  Shinya pumped his fist in the air. “Yeah, I did it.”

Though the celebration gave the twins time to break the hold of the earth. “Shinya, on the battlefield it is never wise to celebrate too early. That's how people get hurt.” Shinya hung his head, as he was sure that he had finally got the drop on the twins.

He created an opening that the twins took advantage of. Koji tossed daggers at the unfocused boy. Shinya looked up in time to barely dodged the incoming projectiles. Kouichi teleported to the shade behind Shinya and summoned tendrils made of darkness to restrain him. 

Shinya yelped, “ Kouichi, what the hell, isn’t this what they do on the websites mom says Takuya shouldn't be on?” Kouji, who was going to attack Shinya stopped in his tracks. The restraints also loosened up as Kouichi began to laugh uncontrollably.

 “Wait, you can’t be serious, Takuya looks at that kinda stuff?” Kouji shook his head. Shinya saw that they let their guard down and attacked. He gripped JishinTsuchi breaking out of the tendrils and also tagging Kouichi. Not making the same mistake he trapped Kouji up to his neck in dirt. He walked toward Kouji and tagged him. “So does this mean we’re done?”

The twins smiled, “Wow, who knew Takuya’s younger brother would play dirty. Yet you did manage to tag us so, yes Shinya, we’re done.” Tommy went to his best friend and gave him a high five. 

“Good job on your first lesson Shinya, however this is just one of many I hope you know.” Shinya instantly deflated. “Wow this Warrior stuff is harder than it looks.” The group laughed. 

“I have a Kendo lesson I have to get to, I'll see you guys around.” Koji ran off in the direction of the park. “Are we done for today or…” Shinya was looking to relax but it seems like he wouldn't get the chance. Tommy and Koichi looked at each other with contemplative looks. 

“We might as well since it's not too dark and this is a good spot for it.” Koichi suggested.

 Tommy gave it a thought, Shinya just now unlocked his elemental prowess. Observing the training with an outside perspective, he could see that Shinya has raw potential as he has already formed a weapon and sensed Koichi in shadows.

 “Are you ready for some elemental training from an icy hell?” Tommy gave his friend a wide smile even the Cheshire Cat would envy.

After the combat training the boys were sitting in a triangle shape. “Ok, so Shinya, what we know about the Warrior of Earth, albeit he was evil at the time, is that his skill set was for a lack of a better term earth based. He loved to borrow into the earth making pitfalls, he used his mallet to push the earth upwards, and could gather it to bulken up his defenses.” Koichi explained it to Shinya.

“I'm gonna be able to do all that?” Shinya asked.

“That’s what we are assuming, yes.” Tommy answered.

“But since we don’t have any more knowledge it would be best for us to go to your spirits for help.” Shinya could hardly contain his excitement.

“Wow, I can’t wait to meet them, what were they like?” Tommy and Koichi both looked away in an act of avoidance.

“Come on guys it can't be that bad.” Sinya pushed.

Koichi put his hand on his face. “Well as his former teammate, I can say with no shame that your spirits have the mental capacity of a 5 year old.”

 Shinya’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding right?”

Tommy shook his head, “Unfortunately no he is not, but then again these were the cursed spirits of earth so they might be polar opposites.” 

Shinya let out a sigh of relief. “So how do we contact them?”

Tommy and Koichi pull out their D-Tectors. Getting the hint Shinya pulled out his. Tommy and Koichi’s D-tectors lit up as their spirits became holograms. Kumamon and Lowemon sprang to life. Kumamon looked around, “Tommy buddy what’s going on?”

He looked around to see Shinya. “Oh you must be Shinya, hi I’m Kumamon, Tommy’s human warrior spirit.”

Shinya looked at the polar bear creature. “Wow, I didn't expect you to be so small”

 Kumamon put his hand on his chest in the classic ‘You wound me’ pose. “It's not my fault all the height went to Korikakumon.” Lowemon gave a snort. “I’m pretty sure that's not how that works Kumamon.” Shinya turned to the man lined with lion armor.

“Wait, so I know there's two spirits for each, Human and Beast, but how is Kumamon a Human spirit when he isn't human looking?” The two pairs busted out laughing, to Shinya’s annoyance. “Hey I’m serious.”

Koichi’s laughter died down a bit. “We know, that’s what makes it funnier. You haven't met our other spirits yet, but Kumamon is definitely the most Human spirit of Ice.”

Now Shinya was even more curious. “Well that was enough about our spirits, it's time to contact yours.” 

Tommy tried to reign the conversation back in. “Have either of you met the purified spirits of Earth?” Lowemon perked up, but Kumamon just shook his head. “I haven’t met them but I think Lowemon has.” 

Everyone turned towards Lowemon not knowing what to expect. “Kumamon is right. I have met them. The Human spirit of Earth is Baboongamon, he was selected to be the warrior of Earth instead of coming from the Ancient’s Code.” The group was confused. “What do you mean he wasn’t made from the Ancient’s Code?” Tommy was especially confused as it was common knowledge the spirits were made directly from the Ancient digimon, and poor Shinya didn't get anything past ‘Acient’s Code’.

“As you know, each warrior spirit is the Ancient code split into two digimon. However the Ancient Warrior Digimon AncientQuakemon was very prideful, he went behind the backs of the others, and instead of splitting his power into two different digimon he held a contest to see who would be fit to hold the title.” Everyone seemed to understand so far so Lowemon continued the story.

“Baboongamon was all about power and strength. Honestly wasn’t one of the best digimon, but he won the tournament and proved his strength to AncientQuakemon. So Ancient Quakemon gave the title of the Human Spirit of Earth to Baboongamon with 30% of the Ancient’s Code being added to his programming. Being a digimon who got a place among ‘Digital Gods’ Baboongamon gained a prideful attitude and an egotistical demeanor. To put it simply he’s a prideful bastard. Even though he was given some Ancient Code he did not come directly from the code. '' Lowemon finished his story with a huff. 

The others just looked at the lion warrior in disbelief. Shinya most of all. “But I thought the Warriors were supposed to be fighting for peace and justice in the digital world. He doesn't sound like a warrior to me.” Shinya just couldn't believe it. 

Tommy gave a knowing sigh. “Well, in a sense your right. The legendary warriors protect the digital world from evil. That doesn't mean they are all nice digimon. They each have their own sets of values and how they would run their select factions. Seeing as there were ten there was bound to be differences.”

 Shinya shook his head with a new resolve. “It doesn't matter how he became the warrior spirit, he’s my partner now and we’ll do our best to protect the Digital World.” In almost as a response Shinya’s D-tector began to glow and envelop the group. “That's big talk coming from such a weak human.”

Shinya opened his eyes to see a throne made out of rock before him. He seemed to be in a cave lined with torches. The air was a bit stuffy almost as if the cave was underground. He quickly saw that he was the only one that was transported there.

“Wait a minute, this the same cavern from my dreams!”

Shinya found the voice that insulted him. On the throne sat, well, more lounged, Baboongamon. He was a large rock encrusted brown baboon. His hands and feet were covered with rocks, he even had a vizor made of the stuff. Shinya couldn’t believe he actually saw anything. “You seem to think I accept you as the rightful bearer of the Spirits of Earth?”

Shinya glared at the digimon in question. “Um I know I’m new and all but, I wouldn't have received the D-tector if I wasn’t meant to.”

Baboongamon sat up at the challenge. “Oh, that! No, the Ancient Code saw you fit, not me. Look at you, you couldn't even throw a punch, much less save the Digital World.”

Something in Shinya began to stir. “You do realize that not everything has to be resolved with violence?.”

Shinya began to walk toward Baboongamon. Baboongamon looked only mildly interested. “I know you were told my story. I beat every digimon in the Earth Faction, obviously everything can be solved by violence.” Baboongamon’s fangs began to show as he smirked.

 Shinya stopped, that something Shinya was feeling was beginning to heat up. He felt his skin begin to crawl and heat up. “If you try to resort to violence every single time, there are bound to be times the other party won't want to fight.”

Baboongamon raised an eyebrow, “Then that's gonna be a hard day for that other party, listen closely Shinya-boy, THE WEAK DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE.”   

Yup, Shinya was sure what that feeling was. It was boiling rage like molten lava. “Wow, my human spirit is nothing but a bully. It's weird you know, I’ve always wanted to beat a bully, and now I can with no consequences.” The earth surrounding Shinya began to respond to his heightened emotions, as if reading his mind, pieces of rock and stone began to gather around Shinya’s fist.

Baboongamon let out a howl, he bared his fangs. “That’s right Shinya-boy come at me like the Warrior of Earth should.”

In an instant Baboongamon dropped his smirk. He lifted a rock covered finger and a wall of rocks was erected in front of Shinya. 

“That won't stop me Baboongamon, I need your power to protect those closest to me. And nothing is gonna get in my way.” Shinya punched the wall to bits as he continued toward Baboongamon. 

Baboongamon, still not taking Shinya’s resolve seriously, erected more walls. “Really, it's funny that you think YOU can beat ME, THE MIGHTY Baboongamon!” Baboongamon howled at the thought. 

Shinya still did not deter from his course. “I will not fall behind. Tommy and everyone else are counting on me. I. WILL. NOT. BE. A. BURDEN!” He conjured up more rocks to his other fist. He kept plowing through the walls not letting Baboongamon stop him. “Ok so you can throw a punch or two but what of it? Are you ready to take a life if need be?” 

Baboongamon finally got off the throne in a sign of acknowledgement. He banged on the ground with his rock covered fists and the resulting quake made a crater resembling a small arena. “As the Warrior of Earth, we have the power to bend the very Earth to our will.” As to prove his point he banged the ground again and the earth began to form three small statues. “These are Sunarizamon, relatively low in level, being only a rookie, but they are best known for their camouflage. Go Sunarizamon, give him hell.”

Baboongamon wanted to break the spirit of this tiny human. He has obviously never taken a life before, he probably doesn't have the balls to.

Shinya was taken aback at first, he wasn't sure what to do. He was just trying to condemn Baboongamon for not having characteristics of a warrior and now here he was debating if he should destroy these digimon or not. “I will not fight those who don't want to fight, that's nothing more than being a bully.” 

But apparently the Sunarizamon weren’t against fighting. Two of the Sunarizamons threw themselves at Shinya, while the other was throwing rocks as ranged support. Shinya raised his hands in an x in front of his face, blocking the attacks from the two Sunarizamon. 

Shinya was beginning to realise that he really needed more training. He felt sluggish and out of breath. Trying to put some distance between him and the attacking digimon he jumped back some feet. He summoned JishinTsuchi to keep the Sunarizamon at mallet length. Baboongamon returned to taunting his self-proclaimed partner. “Wow a mallet? As you can see your fists are the true weapons of Earth.” As if furthering his point, Baboongamon destroys the Sunarizamon giving range support with one punch, disintegrating the poor digimon.

“NOOOO!” Shinya screamed as the Sunarizamon was scattered into nothing but a few pebbles. “How could you?” Shinya used JishinTsuchi to vault himself over the Sunarizamon and send himself flying over to Baboongamon, attacking him with a flying kick.

Baboongamon blocked with his staff as he grinned wildly. “That’s it Shinya show me that wild rage I know you have in you! You think your friends haven’t done things they aren’t proud of? Don’t tell me you truly believe that during war there won’t be lives lost?” Baboongamon slammed his fist together to create a shockwave, Shinya simply jumped back and rushed forward again.  He gripped his mallet tighter as he swung downard, leaving a crater where Baboongamon once stood. “You have to be faster than that Shinya.” 

Flashing back to his earlier training with the twins, Shinya decided to try the same strategy. Commanding the Earth around Baboongamon to grab his heels. However this time he knew a simple hold wouldn’t work on the Spirit, so after the Earth hooked onto Baboongamon, Shinya added spikes that cut what should be Baboongamon’s ACL.

Baboongamon hissed in pain. “Now this is fun! Shinya come on and finish me!” Baboongamon purposely left himself open to attack knowing Shinya wouldn't go for it. Shinya to his own credit and did not take the bait initially. ‘Think back on everything. Baboongamon has been goading me this entire time. He was taking cheap shots, but never something too below the belt.’ Then it finally clicked for Shinya.

Baboongamon was mistaken, Shinya swung JishinTsuchi in a wide arc, however he stopped short of actually hitting Baboongamon. “Come on Shinya, do it, END ME!” Baboongamon began to yell at Shinya.

Shinya just let out a sigh. “You can drop the act now, Baboongamon” Baboongamon’s face fell into a frown before he let out a hearty laugh. Shinya dropped his mallet, and that was the wrong move. Baboongamon’s laugh turned into something that wasn’t friendly.

“Oh, Shinya-boy, this isn’t what you think it is.” Baboongamon backhanded Shinya causing him to fly across the arena. “There is no act, I needed to see if you were willing to take control of your power, and you failed.”

Shinya was trying to catch his breath as the wind was knocked from his lungs. “What are you talking about, what do you mean I failed?”

Baboongamon somersaulted back to the throne and sat down regally. Shinya looked for the cut he knew Baboongamon should have on his foot. There was no sign of injury anywhere. He turned toward the area of the battle and found the remaining Sunarizamon were returned back to the earth. 

“Shinya-boy, you have been chosen to wield the powers of Earth. That is no small task, we pride ourselves on the fact we are the strongest. Commanding absolute control over the battlefield, bending it to our will crushing our enemies. If you refuse to take even the lives of fake digimon you will slip up when the actual time comes and that will be worse than any moral conflicts you could have afterwards.” Baboongamon’s posture changed to show he was dead serious.

“Yes, Those Sunarizamon were not real, they were just statues I made, the only reason they moved was because we are in the Spirit Realm” Shinya was confused.

“Tommy never said anything about a Spirit Realm.” Baboongamon further explained.

“The Spirit Realm is how we Spirits communicate with our partners, yet you normally wouldn't be able to access it yet seeing as you only just acquired your powers.” Shinya more or less understood.

“So was the whole not being worthy thing a lie too?” Baboongamon gave a smile that showed his fangs.

“I wasn't lying when I said that the Code saw you fit and I didn’t. I see potential in you Shinya-boy. Just don’t fail me again. I wouldn’t want to have to face an angry Tommy, he is the one who asked me to give you a chance.” Shinya’s jaw dropped. 

“Um, I don’t think I heard that right? Did you just say that Tommy came up with everything that's happened in the past hour?” Shinya didn't know if he should be impressed or mad. “Wait but I thought the only person who met you was Lowemon and he didn’t really have that high of any opinion of you.”

Baboongamon could only laugh. “It is true that Lowemon is the only one to properly meet me in the past. However his telling of the story was biased. I do believe that the Digital World is no place for the weak, why else would there not be any in-training digimon. However that was a digital world of constant war, there is a new digital world now. With this new world I have begun to change, if ever slightly, I still love a good rumble every now and then but it does get a bit lonely being stuck in a cave with only statues to talk to.” 

Shinya found his logic rather flimsy, AND his monologue also rather cliche, but all he needed to know was that Baboongamon would lend him his strength. 

Baboongamon raised up onto his feet and walked down to Shinya. “Shinya you, like Earth, stayed grounded in your principles and never waivered. Your values might be different from mine as I fight for me and you fight for others, but you have shown that I can trust my powers to you. Plus it's better than sitting around this cave!” Baboongamon laughed and reached out his hand as Shinya took it.

Thus Shinya bonded with his Human Spirit. Shinya’s D-tector began to glow and Baboongamon went in. Shinya held up the device as a hologram of Baboongamon appeared. “Oh, but gaining your Beast Spirit will be MUCH harder than this, that old dull ore is such a drama queen.” Shinya couldn't lie and say he wasn't at least a BIT curious to find out about his beast spirit. “Aren't Beast Spirits supposed to be 10x stronger than Human Spirits? Who even is my ‘purified’ beast spirit?”  Baboongamon rolled his eyes. “So many questions, I will however leave you with a name. Gogmamon.” With that the hologram Baboongamon disappeared and Shinya’s fatigue finally caught up with him as his eyes closed and he drifted off.

Shinya opened his eyes to see Tommy and Kouichi hovering over him like you would see in the cartoons. “Hey Shinya seems like you met Baboongamon.” The two sat back so Shinya could get up. As Shinya sat up he swung a rock cover fist at Tommy. “Oh Shinya, you didn’t really expect to hit me did you?” 

Shinya’s fist indeed did not hit Tommy, but instead hit a small ice shield. Shinya only laughed, “It’s the thought that counts right?” Tommy began to laugh with him.

 Kouichi watched the pair have their conversation. ‘What a pair.’ He thought to himself, ‘I wonder if the original Ice and Earth warriors had this kinda bond.’ 

Shinya looked at his rock covered fist. “It's weird really, one minute I'm playing videogames with Tommy the next I’m fighting my partner Warrior Spirit. You never know where lifes gonna take you, you know?” Tommy and Shinya nodded. “Or how a train ride can change your life.” 

“Or a fall down the stairs,” Kouichi added.

 Shinya perked up at that statement. “I thought Tommy was joking when he said, you went to the digital world after you fell down the stairs.” Kouichi laughed at Shinya's confusion, because to be honest he was saying the same thing when it happened to him all those years ago. “I told Cherubimon the same thing. I think i said something like ‘So, you expect ME to believe that the moment my head hit the floor, my LITERAL SPIRIT was whisked away to another dimension!’ I was pretty much in total disbelief.” Shinya gave a nod of understanding.

 Shinya turned his attention back to Tommy. “So, that was my elemental training? You were right, not as bad as everyone made it seem.” Tommy's smile grew, “SEE, I told you my plans aren’t anything too dramatic. But I think that's enough for today, seeing as we go back to school tomorrow.” Shinya tilted his head at that. 

“Um we still have another week before school starts right?” Kouichi gave a sigh. “Wow, he really is just like his brother.” Tommy shook his head “You don’t know the half of it, Shinya you do know that today is the 6th right?” Shinya looked shocked at the implication that his break was over. “That can't be true!”  Shinya shot his hands to ruffle his hair but he forgot one was still covered in rocks. Some say you can still hear the scream echo around the forest.

The Next Day

Tommy checked his watch as he walked toward the Kanbara house. “I swear if those boys are not up, there’s gonna be hell to pay.” They knew that Tommy was a stickler for efficiency and punctuality. Tommy got to the house and knocked on the door. 

Mrs. Kanabra opened up the door and smiled. “It's always great to see you Tommy, I don't know what those two would do without you.” Over the years he couldn't count all the times that he had to wake Shinya or Takuya up so they wouldn't be late to school. 

“Thank you Mrs. Kanbara. I'll go wake them up then. So much easier now that we all go to the same school.” Mrs. Kanabra gave him a nod and stepped to the side so he could enter the home. Tommy went up the stairs and toward Takuya's room first since he was the hardest to wake up. He knocked on the door to be polite then went in. 

Takuya, as expected, was sprawled and tangled up in his blankets. “Takuya it's time to get up, we have a train to catch!” Tommy got closer so he could scream in his ear. Takuya stirred for a second then returned to sleep. Tommy sighed outwardly, but on the inside he always liked this part of their morning routine. Tommy closed his fist tight and concentrated on the moisture in the air to freeze it into ice cubes. He slipped some into Takuya’s shirt so he would get the message. Takuya shot up outta bed. “Ouch, what the hell Tommy I heard you the first time.” 

Tommy gave him a look. 

“Ok, maybe I barely heard you but I still did.” Well that was one down and another to go. Tommy went to Shinya’s room across the hall and went to knock but Shinya opened the door before he could. Tommy sadly let the ice evaporate back into the air. “Wow, what a surprise one of the Kanbara got up on his own.” 

Shinya at least had the decency to look flustered. “Actually the vibrations you gave off told me you were here.” Tommy raised an eyebrow. 

“Oh one of my new powers! You see now that I'm connected to the Earth. I can sense the changes in it. Like vibrations due to feet moving and slight changes due to conversations.” Tommy nodded. 

“Makes sense I guess, but either way you would still be asleep and be late for our first day at a new school. WHICH, might I also remind the both of you,” Takuya came across the hall mostly dressed in his uniform, but he had his tie knot messed up. Tommy turned around to fix it, “Is also a recon mission on information on the Digidestined.” Shinya rarely saw Tommy be this serious before. 

“Tommy are you ok, you seemed stressed.” 

Takuya only laughed. “Oh, that's right you haven't met Mr. Strategist yet. This is how he normally acts when the Digital World is concerned, and his track record for being accurate is pretty long.” Shinya nodded his head in slight understanding. 

“Well enough talking, getting dressed. I’ll be down stairs waiting for you two, you got 3 minutes.” Tommy turned on his heel and went to the front door to put his shoes back on. The boys came behind him only a minute later. The boys said bye to their mother and they began to head for the train station. As the boys paid the 500 yen price for the ride Tommy brought out three bracelet shape items. 

“J.P finally finished the wrist communicator mode for the D-tector.” Tommy pulled out 3 metallic bands, each with their respective symbols on them. He gave the bands to Shinya and Takuya. “So instead of having to think about your D-tector all the time it is now a new and trendy accessory. You just put your D-tector in the slot and,” Tommy check the train car just to be sure.

He pulled out his D-tector and put it in the slot. The D-Tector fused with the band and the band turned into a cyan colored band. The Kanbaras did the same with their D-tectors and bands, Shinya’s was brown while Takuya’s was red. “It works exactly like the D-Tector but it's just in bracelet form. J.P did say that he added some cool functions. If I remember everything, he said we can now summon weapons in a more solid form, Digivolving is the same you just swipe your fractal code over the center of the band, and scanning digimon you just need to touch them.” Tommy ended his short presentation with his hand on his chin thinking if he forgot anything. 

“Wow, that was a lot of information.” Shinya was slowly beginning to become overwhelmed. 

“You get used to it after a while, but simply we now have upgraded digivices thanks to J.P” Takuya chuckled at his brother. 

“But speaking of information drops, I kinda got lost in what our plan is supposed to be again.” Takuya scratched his head waiting for Tommy’s sigh. “Takuya, having been on a team with you for so long I’ve learned to adapt to some of your certain characteristics.” Tommy reached into his bag and pulled out a little notebook. Takuya took the book and began to read it.

TAKUYA’S GUIDE TO ULTIMATE DIGIDESTINED RECON

Step 1. We are going to a new school so this new term we will be the new students. Try to bring a moderate amount of attention to you. Seem friendly but courteous, but try not to be in the spotlight too often.

Step 2. Our true objective is to look for the Digidestined. We know little of them only that Ken Ichijoji is likely to have a connection to them seeing Demon was using him.

Step 3. Once found alert the others, make only minimal contact with the Digidestined. If you can try to be a “school friend”.

Step 4. Once steps 1-3 are done you will just monitor them till something comes up. Knowing the digital world, it's only a matter of time till the Demon Lords find a way to get to Earth.

Tips: The Digidestined might like to spend their time as a group all together so be wary of groups of moderate size, especially those that seem to have a diverse makeup. Also a good way to scout faster is to join a club and/or team ( I suggest soccer).

Shinya took the book from his brother to read it. “Wow, this is actually quite easy to understand and thorough.” Tommy only smiled “Like I said I’ve learned to adapt.” Takuya let out a huff. 

“For some reason I feel like I'm being insulted, but I guess i can't complain because this actually really does help.” 

Just as Takuya finished, his digivice went off. “It looks like Zoe is calling.” Takuay pressed a button on the com and Zoe appeared in a mini hologram. “Hey Takuya, is Tommy and Shinya with you?” Takuya nodded his head. “Me, Kouji, and Kouichi are already at the school and we found some information. It seems that Ken Ichijoji is in Class 1-B with Shinya and Tommy. Also it seems Lady Ophanimon made it so the rest of us are in the same class in Class 3-A.” Takuya nodded his head.

 “So this makes our job easier right? Does everyone know what route they're gonna take for recon?” Zoe gave a wide smile. “Yeah actually, I'm joining the tennis club, Kouji is joining the kendo club, and Kouichi is oddly going for the chess club.” That got an odd look from everyone. 

“Hey, I heard Ken likes the game and I actually wanna do some investigating of my own.” Kouichi could be heard in the background.

 “Hey I’m not one to judge. Oh our train just arrived, we'll be there in 2.” The trio got off the train as they made they’re walk to school. Unexpectedly two of the trio were tackled by two fast moving objects. Thankfully Takuya had his warrior experience and Shinya took those summer gymnastics lessons. Instead of falling on their faces they each reached a hand down and twisted their bodies into a roundoff. They even added an ending pose for comedic effect. Tommy clapped for the two. “Wow, ten outta ten for both.”  

Not lingering on the boys he turned to see who bumped into them. On the ground were two similar looking boys, not enough to be twins but enough to be weakly related. “Ow that hurt.” The smaller one of the two said, he seemed to be a first year like him. The older looking one seemed to be in his third year, at least second year, with a lot of hair on his head. Tommy just noticed that both of the boys seemed to have googles around their necks. He reached out both of his hands to the boys. “Hey I’m Tommy, it seems like you ran into my two friends.” The boys looked up at him, each taking a hand to get up. However before he could get names from the two of them a girl, probably the older one's sister by the way she hit him, came up from behind them scolding them both. “What did I tell you both about running without paying attention to where you're going.” 

The older one gave her a pleading look. “But if we didn't run we would be late.” Shinya and Takuya perked up at that. Tommy looked at his band, which also was a great watch, and indeed if they didn't hurry they would definitely be late. “Yeah, seems like your brother is right. If we don't hurry we’re gonna be late. And it definitely won't be a good look to be late on your first day.”

The trio now group of six ran to the school and went their separate ways after that. The original trio to the teachers room to ask for directions and the others to their classes. “Takuya, remember the notebook, try not to stand out too much ok?”

 Tommy tried to go over the plan one more time. “OK OK Mr. Strategist, I get it. Don’t worry I have the other to help me if need be.” The trio split up and now it was just Shinya and Tommy again. Shinya tossed a look at Tommy. “You ready partner?” Tommy gave him a determined look. “Ready as I'll ever be for the first day of highschool.”

Tommy and Shinya stood in front of the class as they each wrote their names on the board and introduced themselves. 

“Hi, Im Tomoki Himi, but most people call me Tommy.” Tommy bowed and gave a smile that apparently the females of the class liked because the room was filled with oohs and ahhs.

However that pales in comparison to the looks Shinya was receiving. Shinya bowed then introduced himself “Hi, I’m Shinya Kanbara” When he was done he put his hands behind his head in a lazy-esque manner. Some girls practically fell out their seats swooning over him. 

This caused a sleeping tuft of familiar looking hair from his nap. The boy shot up and pointed at the two. 

“It’s YOU.” 

The whole class shifted their attention to the boy. The girl next to him pulled him down. 

“Davis, stop it, you're making a fool of yourself.” The boy, now Davis, gives her a look 

“But Kari, it's those guys from this morning.” The girl, Kari, recognized them too. She must’ve felt bad for them as she put a hand on the back of his head and forced his head down as he bowed. 

“Im sorry, this bumbling idiot is Davis Motomiya, and I’m Kari Kamiya. Again sorry for this morning.” Tommy waved his hand in a dismissive manner. 

“Oh it's fine, and those two have been dropped on their heads enough as it is.” Shinya laughed until he caught the jab. “Hey, my grades are pretty great. I'll have you know.” 

The teacher put the conversation to rest though. “Since you two seem to be acquaintances with the two you can sit behind them.” 

Shinya and Tommy did as such and made their way to the back of the class. “Wow Davis you sure do make a good impression.” A blonde boy that was sitting next to Kari jokes. 

“Shut up T.J, I make great impressions. Tell him Ken.” This caught Tommy and Shinya’s attention. The minituare group made up of the six kids turned their attention to none other than Ken Ichijoji himself. “Davis, when I first met you, you did a slide tackle that almost took me out of our soccer game. First impressions aren't your strong suit.” Ken started shaking his head. 

Davis gave an insulted look. “Ken! I thought we were friends? Partners? How could you?” Ken, Kari, and T.K laughed at Davis’ antics. 

Tommy on the other hand was in a state of shock. “It can’t be this easy.” Shinya let out a chuckle. “I’ve been trying to tell you Tommy, we are living in a full blown shounen anime.” 

T.K caught the tail end of Shinya’s statement. “Hey, did you guys say something? Im T.K by the way, Davis likes to mess it up on purpose.” 

Tommy just shook his head. “We were actually wondering about the clubs here at school.” Tommy wanted to keep the air of obliviousness as he laid out in the recon plan. 

“Oh there are tons of clubs here, I’m in basketball, Davis is in soccer, Kairi joined the newspaper club, and Ken is in chess. There are still plenty of clubs besides those too. Sports, activities, interests, they got them all at Tsukishima General High School.” T.K gave a welcoming smile. 

Shinya gave a laugh. “Unlike my brother, soccer isn’t really my favorite, I’m more of a basketball guy myself. Tommy, weren’t you looking into the soccer club?” 

Tommy nodded his head. “Yeah, his love of soccer just rubbed off on me.” 

Davis looked over to him. “Wow, that's great then you two should come to practice after school today so the coach can see what you got.” Tommy nodded. 

T.K tilted his head in Shinya’s direction. “Yeah same for you Shinya, you can come by as well. Luckily, basketball ends earlier than soccer so we can watch Tommy and your brother.” 

The conversation came to an end when the teacher cleared his throat. “If you guys have finally finished talking we can start the lesson.” The teacher turned back around to the board and began to write.

Meanwhile in Class 3-A

Takuya finished introducing himself and walked down the aisles, pretending not to be affected by the stares. He took his seat by Kouichi with Kouji and Zoe behind them. “Sorry for being late, we ran into some trouble on the way here.” 

Kouji gave a scoff. “We never expected you to be on time.” 

Takuya gave an offended look. “Come on Kouji, it wasn't even my fault this time. These two guys bumped into me and Shinya, if Tommy didn't go to help them then we wouldn't be late.” 

Kouichi gave a sly smirk as he poked Takuya’s cheek. “Oh so now it's Mr. Strategist fault? Wow, hell must’ve froze over.” 

Zoe gave a small giggle. “Now Kouichi, stop teasing our fearless leader. Can’t you see he’s just heated over the fact he’s late?” 

Takuya not finding the conversation very funny scanned the class. His eyes landed on a big mane of hair. 

“YOU!”

 Takuya stood up and pointed at the unsuspecting boy.  The group of warriors looked at their leader in disbelief. 

“Welp, there goes not standing out.” Kouji leaned over to Zoe. 

The boy in return matched Takuya’s energy. 

“FROM THIS MORNING!” 

Before anything could come out of it, both boys were dropped back in their chairs with a sore spot on their heads. 

“Takuya stop” 

“Tai, stop it”

A girl with red hair was the one to hit the boy, Tai. “Come on it's only the first day of school and you're already causing trouble.” The scene was an exact parallel to what happened in the younger class. Both boys settled down and began to take notes over what the teacher was teaching. However he couldn’t shake that the red headed girl was vaguely familiar.

However in a Takuya fashion he was never one to stay awake in his classes. He will swear later that he tried but it was just too boring.

“Takuya.”

He shot up from his seat but he wasn’t in class. He turned in a full circle and from the columns of fire and the bright orange sky, he was positive this was the spirit realm. Agunimon was standing a little bit aways the fire dancing around him with glee. Takuya jogged over to his partner.

“Agunimon, now I wasn’t paying attention anyway, but why did you feel the need to summon me in the middle of school.”

Agunimon tilted his head in confusion. “School? I won’t even pretend that I understand you humans in the slightest. Did you happen to forget the impending danger of the Demon Lords?”

Takuya let out a sigh. “No, I didn’t forget. What did you find out?”

Agunimon held out his hand and a tag floated in his hand. “We have four days. Before the Demon Lords make contact with the Human World. This is one of the tags that the digidestined use to digivolve their partners. It is the Crest of Courage. Lady Ophanimon, has made it clear she wants you children to return these to their holders.”

Takuya let out a bigger sigh and the flames flickered. “Four days, some stupid tags, and six Demon Lords. How wonderful, I know why don’t you say we have to fight them with our hands tied behind our backs?”

Agunimon looks at Takuya with a blank stare. “Well I don’t know if I should tell you the rest now.”

Takuya had to hold back another complaint. Agunimon held up his hand to stop the boy. “The Digital World has changed, Lady Ophanimon has told you I’m sure. That means the rules have changed Takuya, you wont start at full power. Even achieving your Beast Evolution will be a little difficult. So that means no Aldamon, no EmperorGreymon, and no Susanoomon.”

Takuya almost lost it. Agunimon let out a laugh at his partner. “Now now Takuya, if it wasn't hard would it even be fun?”

“Please wake me up

Chapter Text

Guys life has been so hectic that i didn’t really have time or the available energy to focus on writing and giving the story and characters my all. But I have found the renewed passion and creative strokes to begin on the revamp process of this story. I have big things planned not only for our Warriors and DigiDestined but for the whole DIGITUAL WORLD!!!!! Not to be that crappy fanfic author who does this kind of updates but I want y'all to know I back and back for good this time!!!