Even though it was the last person he expected to respond, Caelyn was glad for the response. He saw the other group gathering and decided to move over to them and see what they thought would be best.

"So, what do you guys think? Hot scorching desert.. or shaded resourced forest?" Even though he laid out a easy choice in his mind for the group, Caelyn would accept whatever answer they gave. "Also, hi. My name is Caelyn." He blushed realizing his terrible manners. He quickly returned to the subject to hide his embarrassment. "So, if its an ultimate digimon it would wipe us? I'm not up for that. Why don't we make a choice and get moving before we have to discover if the beast is faux or not?" Caelyn shoved his hands into his pants pockets as kind of a nervous tick, and he felt something odd. "Huh, when did I get this?" It was a teal and white device that looked almost like a stop watch? No that wasn't it, this must have been the items the recording was talking about.

As if to pull him from thought Falco responded: "I slid it in their when we were walking. I had found it next to you when we first met." Caelyn was impressed he hadn't even noticed! "You are sneaky!" Caelyn said with a grin. It's a good thing it was for me, Caelyn thought to himself. Because if I would have found it, I would have kept it anyhow. Falco bowed to the half attack half compliment. He could tell there was some underlying tone, but only because she had tricked Caelyn.

Caelyn shook his head and returned his focus to the group. "So, have we decided?"

"These people ask so many questions I'm not sure where to start. . ." Tinkermon mutters to herself as she mulls over what to say. "Siiiiiggghhhh." She voiced out, "Fine, I'll just let you decide for us Anna. I'll just rest on your head here." The little pixie just slumped on Anna's head with a really relaxed face.

"If we're traveling together, I say the forest. Deserts are sandy and hot. . ." Annaliese said fairly calm. "I've seen things on T.V. about people dying in the desert. I don't want that, plus, the witch's house in Hansel and Gretel was in the forest. Maybe we'll find one in this world." As serious as she was, Anna was still a little girl with the thoughts of childish nature among those of an adult. "Wouldn't that be interesting?"

From atop the girl's head Tinkermon muttered, "What's with the nice and innocent act all of a sudden? Geez." Lucky for her and perhaps even Anna herself that the German girl didn't hear the comment. "Well, whatever."

While Derek wasn't happy that the attention didn't stay focused on him for very long,but he knew better then to push it. Syakomon took the time to explain what the box said about Digivices and the paths they could take. While the boy would honestly prefer to be the only hero,he also had no intention of traveling this unknown and dangerous place on his. "My vote goes to desert. if there are more monsters we have a better chance to see them without all the trees."

After the whole monsterthing Syakomon couldn't help but wonder if his partner was simply going against the group."Yeah and they will also see us much easier. That plus all the other dangers of the desert means I'm in the forest group."

Ellen glanced at Annaliese as she voiced her opinion on where they should go. Ellen didn't really like either option, honestly, but if there was no third choice, she knew which way she wanted to go. "I, err, think forest would be better," she said, her voice timid and somewhat shaky. "I mean, if we went through the desert, we'd probably die of starvation and dehydration."

"Among other things," Lopmon added.

"Yeah..." Ellen awkwardly shifted her weight from one foot to the the other. "If we go through the forest, it will be cool, there will be spots to take shelter, and w-we're more likely to find food. Like.... mushrooms, fruit and all that stuff." As she spoke, Ellen suddenly wished she hadn't thought about food because she now felt a little hungry. Less than an hour ago, she had been back home in her warm house, her parents sitting round the table and the whole lot of them feasting happily on pancakes. Now that she was alone in a strange place with a group of strangers, she now deeply wished she had something to consume, be it a full meal or simply a biscuit. She needed some kind of sustenance.

"Good, so it is decided. We can all make formal introductions as we go I would assume. And don't worry, we will search for food as we go. I am sure we can scrounge something up in the forest." Caelyn added with a growl of his stomach. "Looks like you aren't the only one a bit hungry!" Falcomon made a noise he hadn't heard before in agreement to Caelyn's assessment. "In any case, its only getting closer to dark. I'm thinking we need to find out answers sooner than later."

Caelyn gathered what little he had, and nodded to Falco. "Shall we?" "We shall!" The digital monster responded with a slipped amount of enthusiasm. "Falco, a little much yea?" Caelyn turned around so she couldn't see him grin. He knew if she could, she would be blushing at the blunder.

Soon after the group moved south, hoping that the forest would provide them with shelter and food. What their new mysterious mentor ‘forgot’ to mention was that the Firewall Island had a purpose: To test the metal of those who wished to enter the digital world, and see if they were worthy. And the first challenge for the digidestined was already waiting for them.

As soon as they made preparations for their first night and made themselves as comfortable as they could for sleep, the forest filled itself with spooky noises, and in the shadows past the fire their digimon partners set up, movement could be seen.

As if the forest itself came to life, suddenly the group found themselves surrounded by three Mushroomon throwing their mushroom mushes at their victims while making earwrenching screeches.

While Derek wasn't happy that his suggestion was ignored he knew that the forest was of course the best way to go, so he went along with the others without complaining. For the rest of the day he made no more attempts to be the center of attention, knowing that if he it too often he would considered untrustworthy by the others which all things considered could be dangerous.

After the group had made their so called but before Derek could fall asleep on the cold ground they were suddenly attacked. He immateriality began climbing the closest tree, hoping these strange mushroom creatures would either ignore or be unable to follow him. Syakomon meanwhile tried to reason with their attackers. "We don't want to fight, we're just travelers."

Gavin followed the group through the woods with Labramon near his side, the dog glanced everywhere Gavin couldn't be bothered to look towards. He read and walk until the sun became too low to read anymore. At one point, he pulled out his quilt and wrapped his body in it, he couldn't care if anyone wanted to share it was only big enough for him and maybe pub if he stays close. He was suspicious of the other kids and teens, the few times he spoke it sighs, grunts and mutters. In reality, he was too indifferent about being here. It was better than his home life, he doesn't have to work on boring things anymore without a reason, he has a reason now to head to the woods, it's reason he didn't agree with but it's a reason. Better than the previous eighteen years.

The moment the group stopped walking and the digimon started the fire Gavin laid on a patch of grass and was quickly asleep. A soft snore could be heard from his sleeping figure. Labramon freaked out a moment worried that Gavin fell or pass out but was relieved to hear him snoring telling pup he was sleeping normally if freakishly fast.

Before Labramon could relax and lay next Gavin, a group of Mushroomon came out of the bush behind the fire and surrounded the group, Labramon was in an offensive stance near Gavin, who was still asleep though all this. He looked at Darek and Syakomon who were trying to avoid a fight, but the Mushroomons are already attacking, Labramon used his Retriever-bark to try and send the mushroom mush away from the group.

Somehow Gavin was still asleep.

The daytime was quite a walk. In fact, Annaliese was a little jealous of the fact that Tinkermon just had to fly or rest on someone's head. She was even beginning to think there was a fairy shape starting to indent itself into her hair. The Fairy Digimon wasn't all too heavy so she didn't mind too much.

On the trip, she had Tinkermon carefully explain to her the whole Digimon rank system. What was the difference between a Rookie and Champion? Or an Ultimate!? OR even a Mega!!?? She hadn't expected that digimon could change however. "So Digimon can change forms if they have enough data?" Annaliese asked her partner curiously.

"That's right. All of us here? We've not gotten enough to do much but be our cute little selves." Tinkermon replied with the cutest little smile the fairy could come up with. "Though I've heard things about Digimon who've gain a lot of power too quickly and go mad. Some of them go completely berserk, and others just can't hold back. One way or another it's dang--" "LOOK OUT!" Something small voiced as Annaliese came to a conscious state.

"What?!" Anna exclaimed sitting up, as she heard the sound of metal hitting . . . Something not completely metal. Then an explosion. Tinkermon was not far in front of her with some kind of spear like object. If the spikes on her shoes weren't intimidating enough, that thing was. "Tinkermon?"

The small pixie digimon was battle ready from the looks of it. "Less questions more not getting blown up, all right? I know you probably need your sleep but that can wait for now." Her eyes were on something, planning something perhaps.

Annaliese followed the pixie's eyes to where she saw. . . a Mushroom? With a face and arms and legs? "What are these?" Anna said loudly enough to barely hear herself.

Tinkermon must have at least understood she'd be confused. "Mushroomon. Not exactly friendly. They're typically ill-tempered. No real surprise they'd attack us out of nowhere." Something came at her out of the corner of her eye and the little fairy swung her spear with all her might, returning the incoming bomb and hitting near the ground the Mushroomon stood. "Just be careful of what they throw, alright? It's kind of dangerous."

Falcomon was already taking an approach of ranged combat, not wanting to get in close with these particular monsters. "Watch for their ranged attacks, got it! Thanks, tinkermon." Caelyn nodded in acknowledgement to the helpful creature.

"Falco, maybe show them some of your ranged attacks, but be evasive." Falcomon nodded as if already planning on staying away. The pair were so likeminded it was scary already. Caelyn just hope he could entrust this creature as much as he did. He drew his sword and watched the nearest pair of hostile digimon close in. Falcomon shouted out an attack and released some kind of smokescreen. It seemed to confuse the enemies. Caelyn felt a hand grab him and he flinched thinking he was caught, he realized it was Falcomon point up into the trees, so they ascended quickly before the smoke cleared. Falcomon held a feather over her beak and soon bamboo cylinders were dropping like bombs on the pair. They seemed unaware of the source of attack for now, but that would soon change they feared.

The Mushroomon were a little surprised at even seeing resistance, but they got over it quickly. The cheeky pixie dared fight back and was thus first on the line. And unlike their opposition which seemed to be half asleep and completely random, the mushroomon were a rather organized bunch.

With a look between each other, two of them flanked the unlucky pixie, making a grab for her with various degree of success, but cutting her escape routes none the less. Meanwhile the third one ignored the shell-alike’s pleads for peace. They weren’t getting paid (left alive) to be friendly. ”Laughing smash!” the last mushroomon invoked it’s attack, aiming at Tinkermon’s gut.

While the group was distracted with the three assailants, a pair of eyes and jaws ull of teeth that hungered for their cries were watching them from the shadows, for now amused enough not to intervene.

Seeing as their attackers clearly had no intention of stopping their attack, Syakomon decided to help Tinkermon out. Aiming at the Mushroomon who last attacked, he spit out several black pearls ."Black pearl shot."

Derek seeing how well the Digimon handled things calmed down a bit and since he didn't want to be seen as a total coward climbed back down the tree."Before anyone says it I know I'm not bravest person, okay?" He hoped that by pointing it himself he kept the others from making fun of him over it.

Akira watched in awe as the mushroom creatures attacked. He had been lagging behind and witnessed a lot of the fight.
"Well guess you had better help them." Akira said looking to Patamon.
"Yeah I suppose your right." The digimon replied flying forward as fast as he could.
"Boom Bubble!" Patamon shouted as he inhaled and released a blast of condensed air hitting one of the Mushroomon square on the head.

Ellen tried her best to keep up with the rest of the group, though she wasn't a particular fast walker and, at times, she would go into a little sprint in order to catch up.

During this time, Lopmon had once again decided to surprise Ellen by showing that he could use his overly long ears, which at first looked like they would keep him behind, to actually flying, or at very least glide short distances. Upon this discovery, Ellen had giggled slightly, as he looked somewhat ridiculous, but this moment didn't last long as the group were soon attacked by...

Mushrooms.

Living, walking, talking mushrooms.

The moment these creatures started throwing mushrooms, that somehow were actually useful as weapons, Lopmon dropped down from the air onto the ground, and got into a fighting stance. "Don't worry, ELlen!" he called back to her. "I got this covered!"

Ellen, however, was too busy running away and hiding behind a tree to listen. "I'm sorry!" she shouted at the strange monsters. "I promise I'll never, ever eat mushrooms again!"

Lopmon glanced at her and gave a loud sigh before turning back to the Mushroomon. "Blazing Ice!" he shouted, and fire a blast of cold air out at the Mushroomon from his mouth, attempting to try and freeze at least one of them.

Gavin slowly raised, confused by all the sudden noise, he rubbed his eyes and yawned. He was having such a good sleep too. He pushed the blanket off and stood up and stretched. He finally opened his eyes and looked around annoyed at being woken up. But he raised an eyebrow once he seen walking mushrooms throwing smaller mushrooms around.

"What did I miss?" Gavin asked nonchalantly while tilting his head. Labramon perked up and looked relieved that Gavin was up now. "Gavin you're awake!" Labramon yelled. But he focused back to the fight and did a second attack at the mushroom monsters, "Retriever-bark!" He released a sonic bark.

Gavin was confused he simply looked around for the others, all of which were busy doing their own thing. Gavin was still very annoyed at being woken up, so he picked up a rock and threw at one of the mushrooms. "Hey!" Gavin yelled at the nearest mushroom, "You mushroomy jerks woke me up!" Gavin yelled he sounded really angry. "I will tolerate a lot but wake me up when I'm asleep that is a sin that can not be forgiven," Gavin whispered, you can feel the poison in his words, Gavin grabbed the nearest stick he will help chase off these things so he can go back to sleep.

A while back...

It was a strange day all day. The whole calamity started in the morning, when her training flight was cancelled. The techs reported her Mi-24 suffered an electrical fire, seemingly from out of nowhere. So instead she was told to go to class, however her keycard was wiped of her access codes. When the microwave shorted out on her right in front of her commanding officer, he sent her to the barrack and proclaimed her cursed. She didn’t know if it was in jest. all she knew was that after she opened a certain e-mail, even her smartphone died, leaving her oddly freaked out and frustrated. What the hell was going on?

Deciding to take a nap before heading to a gym where she couldn’t (hopefully) harm any electronics, Nonna lied down on her bunk and slept like a log in a minute. The dream she had though was nothing like she ever had.

The place was something akin to a tiny town. It felt strangely real, even though the girl realized full well it had to be a dream. The living chess pieces all around her were a dead giveaway, although what on the world could cause her to dream this strange land up she was left guessing.

“It’s not a dream.” a feminine voice said behind her, but when the girl turned around, she couldn’t see the one that talked to her. “You wish to be strong, to be the best, isn’t that right?” the voice continued from one of the alleys. It seemed like no one else heard, and when she tried to grab one of the passing white pieces, her hand went right through. Curious, she followed after the voice.

“Just as I do. They tell me it’s impossible. But it’s not a word in my dictionary. I just need someone to help me find the strength. Someone like… you!” Finally Nonna seen the one speaking to her. Among the sea of white pieces stood what she guessed was a black pawn.

“Who and what the hell are you?” Nonna asked, still not sold on the not-a-dream thing. the answer she received was far less than satisfactory.

“You’ll arrive soon, I can feel it. It is pulling me towards the place as well. When you arrive, find me at the Electron Lake, I will explain everything!” the voice said, sounding like it was coming from greater and greater distance as the world wrapped everywhere around her. And then, the dream disappeared like somebody pulled the breakers on it, and the young Airman fell into deep sleep.

When she woke up, Nonna found herself at the shores of a lake, with a strange sword strapped to her side and a black pawn looking down on her. “I suppose you are not a dream - or whatever that was - right now.”

The black piece shook her head. “I am Pawnchessmon A digital monster. Digimon for short. I like your style!” her companion introduced herself, while pointing her lance to Nonna’s side.

Nodding and trying how the name rolled off her tongue, the girl responded in kind. “Nonna Anatolyevna Ivanova. But Nonna will do. And oooooooh! What is this?” she said as she saw the sword at her belt and drawn it to examine the weapon. She noticed it had buttons on the handle and a display built into the guard.

“I think -” the digimon said, “-that’s a digivice. It is what connects the two of us. Only with it can you help me digivolve.” Following that, she had to explain what digivolving was, along with the levels a digimon could reach. That in return spawned a whole lot of explaining about the digital world.

“so, let em get this straight. You want me to help you… digivolve… and if I get it straight, you need to draw data from me?” a nod. “I don’t get it but I don’T think I need to. But I am going to be missed. So I’ll help you, but in return, I want you to help me get home when my part is done.”

A handshake shook their deal before they overheard the rest fo the group and the message from the box, before promptly deciding that they didn’t need them. they were perfectly fine on their own, and hell would sooner freeze over before they would accept anybody’s help.

Caelyn and Falcomon used the smoke to better survey the combat area. What they saw was three mushroomon reeking havoc on Tinkermon. "Falcomon can you get over for an aerial attack?" Caelyn softly said to his new companion. She nodded and was jumping across branches in a flash. Caelyn knew he was going to hate himself for this act of bravery, but he needed these people for his own gains. "Hey, ugly fungus-heads! Over here!!" Caelyn unsheathed his sword and assumed a defensive stance. He had to trust in his new companions. Maybe this distraction would give the other members a chance to form some kind of plan. It seemed this encounter would test this group's mettle, and Caelyn was damn sure not going to fail.

In came the digimon, and Falcomon was still nowhere to be seen. Yes, it appeared Caelyn would hate himself for his stupidity after all. . .

With all of the confusion from the other digimon/human partners, Tinkermon was able to quickly slip out of harm's way, if that can be called "harm" at least. As she escaped she took a cheap shot or two with her spear at the Mushroomon and made her way back to Annaliese giving the girl a small laugh. "Hehehe, see, perfectly fine. These guys just made it easier to escape." She added in pointing to their allies.

Annaliese looked around at the. . . What might have been carnage. If nothing else the mushrooms wouldn't last long. "So, how are you guys going to take care of them. Make sure they don't continue to attack us."

Tinkermon was just about to jump back in when she was asked. She took a second to think before answering. "Well, if they don't give up, they'll probably just have to be deleted." Afterward, she dashed off towards one of the Mushroomon to attack again.

Annaliese knew that they easily out-numbered the enemies, so it shouldn't be much of a problem. "I see."

As quickly as they came, the mushroomon were pushed back. One unfortunate individual was hit by Lopmon’s freezing attack and kept still on the spot as a coincidence had a few of the other attacks aimed directly at it. Unable to resist the strain, the digimon crumpled into data bits. The one attacking tinkermon was thrown aside by something exploding while the remaining one busied itself with Caelyn. All in all though, it was now one versus everyone, and the group seemed to work as a team, even if by complete coincidence.

Displeased with the failure of his goons, the Bakemon that has been observing the group suddenly getting pummeled by multiple attacks decided to move in itself. A loud, bone chilling shriek cut through the forest, and soon after it's white form, all with the toothy jaw and the black, beady eyes appeared in the trees. "Humansssss, I shhhall feasssst on your faeaaaaaar!" it announced it's intentions. Indeed, this meal was quite a rare treat to it.

Picking up the nearest human which happened to be Gavin, it raised it’s sheet covered arm and launched it’s attack: “Zombie claw!”

---

Meanwhile in the desert...
The sun has set and the searing heat was replaced by freezing cold. To the Russian though, that was a native temperature. "How can you stand this?" Pawnchessmon asked, jogging around to warm herself up. Nonna jsut smiled: "The town where I come from is called Murmansk. It's a port city that is so far north that the temperatures average above 0°C only 5 months in a year." Nonna said, continuing on in her steady pace. The fact that she appeared in the digital world in her winter attire certainly helped.

"I sounds like a place noone should willingly choose to live in!" the digimon exclaimed as she followed her partner. Nonna was silent for a while. "What's wrong?" the digimon asked.

Sighing, she looked at her watch. It has been still, which gave her at least some idea, but the thought was still unpleasant. "I hope the timeframe here is different than back home, or my life is as good as over. I'd be AWOL for the whole time here. If that's the case, whoever sent me here is going to die if I get my hands on them." the woman growled in frustration.

As if on cue, the sands in front of them started swirling. A second later, a Digmon burst through, making them both jump a respectable distance back.

"Friend of yours?"
"Gold rush!"
"Nope!"

Each of them jumped to one side of the impacting drill. Nonna lost sight of Pawnchessmon, but it worried her little. There was a way to let her frustration out right in front of her. Getting up and dusting her jacket off, she drawn her sword - digivice - whatever. "Advance! Get to his first rank!" she shouted, hoping the Chessmon would actually know chess terminology. Then she took a combat stance and charged at the big mon to draw it's attention.

That part of the plan was a success. What was a bit worse was the fissure that was opening in the ground and heading in her general direction. the girl jumped aside, barely avoiding getting swallowed by the ground. the digmon was about to execute another attack, however...

"Promotion! Pawn spear!"

Pawnchessmon's lance appeared from the other side of the Digmon's head before it exploded with golden radiance, obliterating it. Nonna seen it dissolve into grain sized bits that promptly headed in Pawnchessmon's direction. Her partner briefly wobbled before falling to her knees, completely exhausted. "Good job, for a rookie." Nonna winked. Pawnchessmon nodded in response. "You're nto a bad king either.All of them can make a good plan, but not many would enter the battle." Grinning with self satisfaction, Nonna helped the digimon to her feet and they continued on their way.

At the same time Derek was explaining his cowardice, the Mushroomon hit by Syakomon's pearls went for the counterattack. The plant Digimon threw one of it's bombs and hit the crustacean Digimon's slime-like body.

Rather than fighting back Syakomon once again tried to reason with the attackers."Listen we outnumber you, but if you give up we won't have delete you." The Mushroomon apparently took this warning as a threat as it threw a barrage of exploding mushrooms at Syakomon. "Fungus Cruncher."

Derek meanwhile decided to calm down the panicky fat girl, both because he knew how she felt and because he wanted to get her on his side. "Look I know you're scared and you're not the only one, but it looks the Digimon have things under control."