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Alarms and sirens went off, flaring red and white and green in a room with nothing but computer monitors, showing various regions and sub-sections of the Digital world: Net Ocean, land masses and the continents, individual islands of the File archipelago -- all of which were close to being under siege. But as for the other regions of the digital world? Fire rained down upon them, armies of digimon came for them, and places that were safe, villages that once were safe havens for refugees were now a hotbed for the forces of evil.

Above the monitors that showed all of the destruction was another, but this one was different. It didn’t show any known location in the digital world nor did it show any location at all, but what it did show was a room. It was one with nine chambers, all a different color. Within them were nine digieggs, devices that looked like stopwatches, and necklaces each with a crest inside them.
On the monitor was a timer.

8:30:05

Eight minutes and thirty seconds. Just under nine minutes until all hope was lost.

That is, of course, if Jericho Watson wasted time.

“Through all of the damage the world has been dealt, the losses of valiant warriors of both sky and land, they must live.” A man with what could be described as a heavy English accent that the humans call said, standing next to a large Lion-like DIgimon.

“Jericho, what are you planning?” Liamon asked in his deep, primal voice.

As he leaned forward, fingers tapping away on the keyboard at such record speed that the older man had a focused look on his face. The moment he began typing away, the images of the Digital World under seige were replaced by a screensaver-like image, symbols and a myriad of ones and zeroes meshing together, connecting with each other, various sounds from beeps to subtle roars began to almost cancel out the impending doom from outside the room Jericho and Liamon were in.

“Jericho!” Liamon spoke up once again, this time getting his attention.

“I’m doing what I can to give us a chance.” Jericho didn’t look at Liamon, but rather the monitor above him with the nine digieggs. “Do you understand, Liamon? They are our only hope!”

5:00:00

“Five minutes left.”



“Liamon!”

From behind them, the door to the laboratory opened up and three Knightmon burst through the door, metal swords aimed high as they came charging for Jericho. As they did, Liamon jumped in front of them, brandishing sharp fangs at all three, zipping through the air, digging his claws and fangs into the Digi-Chromzoid-clad digimon. Despite being ultimates, Liamon was too fierce of a digimon to have any difficulty with them.

They were reduced to data before their swords even hit the ground.

With a smirk, Jericho spent the next four and a half minutes writing over five-thousand lines of DIgiCode and in that time, it was slowly becoming apparent what he was doing. One by one, each mini-chamber that had those digieggs inside them were teleported out of the facility. They were being sent to a place far away from where they were.

“Only three left to go…”



From above, unlike before where the Knightmon came barging in like amateurs, there came a shockwave that sent Jericho and Liamon flying in opposing directions. Where Liamon crashed into steel pipes, Jericho found himself back first against the solid steel wall. He grunted with agony as he saw Liamon lay what he had to assume was unconscious, but then he saw long, tendril-like arms with red nails. He knew that was the obvious sign of a Devidramon.

“So, if Devidramon is here, that could only mean.” Jericho narrowed his eyes, trying not to make any sudden movements.

The thing about Devidramon, while he wasn’t all that bright, the many eyes on his head could see all things at once. So if there was a hint of movement from any direction, he would see it. But this posed a problem because Jericho needed to get back to the computer. He had to make sure those last three were teleported away safely. If even one of them fell into the wrong hands, who knew what would happen…

“Digi...Destined…” Devidramon’s raspy voice always rubbed Jericho the wrong way like the acid dripping from its mouth. “Where are the DIgi-Destined!” It roared and its many eyes glowed a piercing red.

“Liamon!”

Devidramon turned its large, demonic body towards Jericho, lunging for him but then a zap of an electric shockwave hitting it from the back. It didn’t make it budge, but Liamon now had the beast’s undivided attention.

Jericho used this opportunity to lunge himself to the computer. He cursed under a breath as he didn’t have enough time. Another curse as he bit his lip, hiding back a scream that desperately wanted to come out.

As the battle between the two digimon raged on, Liamon’s grunts and roars met Devidramon’s unholy screams, Jericho had to think. He couldn’t get the other three out of here. He knew the last remaining three would likely be taken by the undead army, but that didn’t mean they would be granted their power.

With fast fingers, Jericho coded a barrier around all three that remained. In the moment it was activated, the three crests glowed brilliantly with the color each crest was unique with. After five seconds, ther would be a protective barrier that not even the Demon Lords could break.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t do more, but..” Jericho hit the enter key, sending an email to the Six DigiDestined. They wouldn’t know what this meant, but…

“Jackson, Wesley, Ryana, Cherrie, Sierra, Alexis - you’re our only hope.”

As the message was sent, it also triggered something else. All of the monitors, which were all back to showing the scenes of carnage had all but been replaced with a countdown timer.

00:00:25

Jericho looked back, seeing Liamon nearly finishing off Devidramon. With a single swipe of his claws, Devidramon’s form was reduced to data. Liamon hunched over, clearly exhausted from several battles over the course of the past ten minutes, but Jericho could only smile.

Liamon wasn’t his partner in the same way those Digimon would be to the Digi-Destined, but there was no denying that he cared for the Lion DIgimon as much as he could. And that’s why he couldn’t let him suffer the same fate - not if he was going to be of any help.

“Liamon…”

“So, this is the end of our partnership.” Liamon smiled through his obvious pain. “Jericho, it has been an honor to--”

“I’m sorry. You aren’t done. I might be, but--”

Jericho’s hand was under the computer station and he pressed a button. Before Liamon could get in a single word, his form was surrounded by a bright light similar to the same light that teleported the DigiDestined’s future partner’s to an undisclosed location.

“Liamon, please help them. Mentor them in ways that I could not. And if they prove to be worthy enough, tell them to look for the light in the sky. When the time is right, they will know what that means.”

He knew Liamon could hear him. He knew that his will would be carried on through his good friend. And when the timer reached zero, Jericho knew that it was all in their hands.

A flash of light originating from the monitors consumed The Facility, taking all enemy digimon — and Jericho Watson — with them.

It really was in the kids’ hands.

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As the sun began to set on Ridgewood Utah, the golden rays hitting the Great Salt Lake that separated Ridgewood from Salt Lake City, the backdrop of the Wasatch Mountain Range was given a brilliant mix of reds and oranges and yellows, traditional 4th of July festivities exploded all around town. Great displays of fireworks that would make Time Square jealous exploded into the sky, whistling, screaming, howling into the almost-night.

But this was in the city. Up in Wasatch mountains, specifically at Camp Ridgewood that had over fifty adolescents, who officially were there for “special reasons”, they might hear the faintest whisper from the city. Visually, they might have the best view in the house. Maybe there are a couple who enjoy being so far away from the chaos of the festivities. Maybe it’s just the fact that they can watch it from afar that is enough for them. Or maybe there might be a couple who feel bummed out they aren’t able to be up close.

Whatever their opinion, Camp Ridgewood is about to undergo their own festivities as some campers will gather around an unlit fire. However, there might be a small group that have other ideas.

As they prepare this, six campers specifically will receive a weird email. They won’t know how this Jericho Watson got their private email - be it Yahoo, Gmail, or whatever they happen to have, but one thing will be clear: it’s not an accident.

And the moment they receive this strange E-Mail, that’s when the real mystery begins.

As the diluted sounds that emitted from the town and the fireworks that exploded up in the sky were muffled through the walls of the mess hall, Wesley could hear it all. It sounded like everyone was having a good time. Even those who were at camp probably were gathered together in some way and were enjoying the company that they kept.

All except Wesley. And it was by choice, obviously.

Okay, that's a lie. The choice was rarely something he ever had, but he didn't know how to be the kind of person that would socialize with others like him. Sometimes he didn't even think he was like the other kids, or that they would like him. Between the energetic ones and those who almost frightened Wesley, part of him just wanted to stay close to his vest until he went home, but the voice of his brother always seemed to echo in his mind whenever he felt those feelings consume him.

Make friends, it would say to him.

Don't isolate yourself.

Sure, there have been moments when Wesley tried to come out of his shell and not fall back into the same habits he always had, but it was difficult. He was the one his father put all of the expectations on and that often led him to spend a lot of time alone. And sometimes, in his solitude, he'd find comfort in the photos he was taking. The photos he was looking at right now.

Wesley moved by the window and heard the sounds. He took photos of the sky. First with his phone. He wanted to snap some test shots before he used his actual camera, the one with polaroids. He wanted to get the angle right so he didn't waste a shot.

But as he was aligning his phone with the sky, an alert came up from his E-mail. It was from someone named Jericho. They were talking about something that he had no idea about.

No, maybe he did? It was such a blur to him. Dreams of something he was convinced by the adults that he fantasized. "It was over six years ago, right?" Wesley thought aloud. That sight of two monsters. The sight of a red dinosaur and a giant preying mantis-looking creature. It was something that visionaries in the movie industry would think of. So surely it wasn't something that actually happened...Right?

Wesley shook his head as he closed out of his email and went back to his camera. He had the shot of where in the sky, so now all he had to do was take the shot with his actual camera.

But just was going to just that, his phone stopped working. Not in the way that apps typically failed. It completely stopped working. It shut off without warning and that stood out to Wesley for a myriad of reasons. The biggest one, thought? He had just finished charging it back at the cabin. So why did it completely shut off.

He tried to turn it back on, but after a few failed attempts, the mystery just got weirder and weirder. He was just grateful that his camera wasn't digital. A classic camera that could take normal photos.

I wonder if anyone else had this trouble...

That thought stayed in the back of his mind for a few moments until it weighed on him and then it weighed heavier and heavier until he couldn't take it anymore. As he gathered his things, he stepped outside. The sounds from the city became even louder and Wesley just looked around for...anyone who might've been experiencing the same thing.