Shining symbols of white-yellow DigiCode floated all over a stone brick room that looked like a mages workshop. The DigiCode thrummed with power, such that seemed to want to lash out from its shaped and contained form. Branching off of each of them were tendrils of pure energy which tied each symbol to another, creating a complex canvas of gleaming magic. As the canvas wove together it became a sphere tethered to six powerful digimon. These digimon were Piximon, Gravimon, Sanzomon, Taomon, Mercuremon, and Baalmon. They all sat in a circle casting the spell above them, each of them famous scholar magicians whom had pledged themselves to this work. For a moment the brightness of the energy waned, and then suddenly a bolt of black and red destructive power tore off from the main construct tearing at the walls of the chamber.

Wisemon shouted to the wizardmon at his side, "They are interfering with the spell. I need you-" he was interrupted by another bolt of energy booming across the room. Wisemon narrowly avoided it and pulled wizardmon out of the way as well. After they regained their feet he put his hand on Wizardmon's shoulder, "I need you to to take this journal far from here to the school of sorcery," Wisemon shoved the journal into Wizardmon's hands. "This contains all my work on the relation between the people of the two worlds. I will stay and do my best to stabilize the spell and ensure we finish the task at hand. The sacrifices we made to pull this off, we can't let them go to waste, and if we don't stop him its our server next."

Wizardmon glanced beyond Wisemon to look at the circle of powerful digimon involved in the casting of sorcery. Each one slowly reverting to younger and younger forms. Giving up their very energy and data to form the programming of the spell. A great sacrifice of the scholars that worked here in the tower. Digimon Wizardmon looked up to for years. "Wizardmon you must go, as fast as you can. Take my research and protect it. Get the school to follow through on my designs. I truly believe those children are our last chance." Wisemon turned back to the net of code above him and began to pour his own energy and data into it.

Wizardmon gave one last glance back and took off down the stairs of the tower. He could hear the energy of the spell tear at the walls of the building as he ran further and further down. He ran and he ran, out the door of the tower and he followed the road. He knew the direction to the school. Its where he was born, but more important to him it's where he met Wisemon. Wisemon had brought him and other students back to his tower to pursue his research. They all knew what they were signing up for, most seeing it as an important job but to Wizardmon it was his home. He was raised here among the other students and scholars. They remained though to finish their task, one that would leave them reduced to digi-eggs. While in the original plan Wisemon and Wizardmon would look after their slumbering friends, but plans change and now his task was to leave them behind and deliver the research that would give the children the tools to fight.

---

An unseen digimon could be heard snickering to himself, "Did they really think I wouldn't notice? Me of all digimon?! Using children was practically my idea in the first place." The digimon in the shadows suddenly stopped his laughing, "But if they really think these children will save them, they're horribly wrong." Then picking up with a lighthearted lilt in his voice he asked, "I think I'd know better than them, right?"

"Um, yes sir?" Shakily said a Kokabuterimon .

"Rhetorical question little one... And why are you so nervous? It's a buzz kill. This is supposed to be fun. So relax, sit back and enjoy the show. I already enacted plans for a welcoming party and it's being handled by exactly who you think. I'm not gonna lie Kokabuterimon, I'm pretty excited to watch it all unfold."

---

Two years ago a lifeline was cast into our material world. That lifeline was in the form of six digi-eggs left in the care of six chosen children. Children whom would look after them, raise them, and bond with them. Each digimon had been tagged with a rune for them to be located in the future and now these runes served as anchors for the spell Wisemon's troupe had cast. A spell that would bring these future heroes to the digital world to start their adventure.

Six portals pierced through the barrier between our worlds, bordered by shimmering symbols of rotating DigiCode that sustained their existence. Around the children their worlds seemed to stop all accept for them and their digimon. Their digimon, through the link to the spell, were compelled to seek out these portals, bringing their partners along in tow. As they and their partners approached the portals the portals themselves sprung at the duos, giving them no choice whether to enter or not. No chance to heed the risks or question what and why.

The children awoke on a beach, the smell of salt strong in the air and the sun beating down from above high in the center of the sky. The weather was warm and humid but the sea breeze was cool and soothing. The sand was an unfamiliar pinkish color and the sea a deep blue of the ocean.Bordering the beach was a forest with tropical trees and vines of all sorts of reds and blues in accompaniment to the normal green one would expect. Footprints of recently present creatures dotted the beach, with baskets half filled with supplies like sticks, reeds and fruit left beside them. Though one would expect the noise of critters in the woods, or birds in the sky, it was instead distinctly quiet in the area. Leaving only the six children and their digimon together on the beach, left alone with their piling questions.

Leo gradually woke up to the sound of Daisy the Labramon’s voice, and her tongue licking his face. “Leo! Wake up!”

Leo yawned, sat up, and looked around. The last thing he remembered was taking a walk through his neighborhood, when suddenly the world literally stopped except for him. Then Daisy had run off, and when Leo chased after her, he was swallowed up by a mysterious portal.

Now here he was on the beach. The sand was pink, the ocean was blue, and it looked like a bright sunny day! If Leo had known he was going to get magically transported to the beach, he would have brought a bathing suit so he could at least go swimming! He slowly rose to his feet. “Wow! This kind of thing only happens in cartoons and video games. Where are we anyway?” With the exception of the sound of the ocean, the place was oddly quiet.

“I don’t know, but look! More humans!” Sure enough, their were other kids on the beach too. The Labramon ran up to one of them, and started licking their face. “Wake up human!”

"Wake up human!"

The unlucky recipient of the Labramon's tongue lay face down on the beach. He sported a black shirt, blue jeans, and an ocean blue unzipped hoodie. And he also had a pair of squared goggles wrapped around his head, but they weren't actually covering his eyes. On the sand beside him was a white sports duffle bag, with a blue baseball team logo plastered on it. It's contents amounted to a baseball practice uniform, left-handed baseball glove, two wooden bats, and a single ball. He groaned and slowly regained consciousness and tried to push the creature off him.

"Hey, knock it off Yuki." he said as he rubbed the grogginess from his eyes. Evidently he hadn't yet noticed that the thing licking him was not who he thought it was.

"But I'm over here, Tadashi." said the Blucomon, his voice coming from off to the side somewhere.

"Huh? But then who...?" the sleepiness left him and Tadashi finally saw the friendly looking dog, "Oh... just a dog." he said, not actually registering the fact that she had talked to him a second ago. Then he shot to his feet, "Oh crap, where are we? I'm supposed to be at practice now!" he snatched the nearby sport bag and was about to make a run for it, only to now fully notice his surroundings.

"Um, I don't think we're at home anymore, Tadashi." said the Blucomon, walking up beside him. His icy armored scales gleamed in the sunlight in a way that made it almost look crystalline.

In the end, it was the itching that brought Captain back to the waking world. He groaned as he sat up, scratching everywhere he could reach and knocking what felt like sand loose from his fur. Ah, that explained it - his fur, good at trapping heat, was also annoyingly good at trapping dust and sand, and other small particles.

Except, he and the kid weren't anywhere near sand before... before.

Captain opened his eyes to a vast shoreline and the ocean, something he'd only witnessed on television and in magazines beforehand. He'd thought it looked amazing and he would grumble from time to time about the kid taking him to the beach sometime. Now, he sort of regretted it. His eloquent, comprehensive opinion on the matter was: beach sucked. Give him a sunny day, a clean towel, and a clear window any time. He shook his head, sending a cloud of sand flying from the fur on his head and ears, and he sneezed. Alright, normally, his instincts were dead on. That tomcat outside could not be trusted, and what had happened? It spent every visit to the Baker household hissing and pawing at the window that separated it from Captain. A teacher from one of the kid's stories rubbed him the wrong way? Well what do you know, guy had issues. Point was, Captain was very used to trusting his instincts. So when his instincts demanded he go for a walk and take the kid with him, sure, maybe they were gonna a stray for the kid to smuggle home, or the kid was going to ake a new friend. At the very least, nothing bad would happen.

Maybe he should've questioned his instincts a little more when they told him the weirdo glowing portal was harmless, but everyone was entitled to a mistake or two, right? As long as neither of them got hurt-

The sudden realization that the kid was not at his side made him feel sick. He twisted and turned, looking to either side of him (were those... other humans? Further down the shore?) before looking behind him. Ah. There was Katsuo, stirring and pushing himself up off the sand. Captain stifled a snicker as the kid spat out a mouthful of sand and pulled off his glasses to rub away the sand. So, wherever they were, good to know sand was universally an issue, for human and digimon alike. Seriously, why was the beach so popular?

Captain got to his feet and strutted over to Katsuo as if he hadn't panicked over possibly losing his kid mere moments ago. Katsuo seemed to have deemed his glasses clean enough and put them back on, only to take a moment to cough and spit out what was probably more sand.

"Jeez, kid, if you told me this is what the beach was all about, I would've bothered you less about going." He grinned as Katsuo huffed.

"I guess I don't have to ask if you're alright-"

"Ask anyways, it feels good knowing you care." His grin grew as Katsuo managed to get up on his knees and really look around for the first time. Captain did as well - it was very different from home to be certain but somehow, it felt - familiar? Natural? Right. It felt right.

"Where do you think we are?"

"I... think this is where I came from." There was no point in trying to hide it or deny it. Katsuo seemed to have a sixth sense for being lied to, and it always made Captain's job of keeping him safe that much harder. He wondered if Katsuo would bombard him with questions, but the kid surprised him - he just got to his feet.

"Are you sure? I mean, you were an egg when we met." He seemed distracted by their surroundings, but Captain decided to entertain the question anyways.

"Well, yeah, but it just feels right somehow. You know, like after you stretch for the first time after sitting still for forever and a day? You know exactly what I mean."

"Homework's important." Captain frowned; normally, the kid was a bit more spirited about this line of discussion, but he seemed focused on their surroundings. So he did what came naturally - he jumped behindthe kid and hopped up to cling to his shoulders.

"Somethin' going on in that big brain of yours?" And this close, he could tell the kid's breathing had grown a tad shallow.

"Cap, why do you think there are so many abandoned baskets along the beach?" Captain frowned at the simple question and looked around. He wouldn't call them 'so many', but he counted several of them, now that the kid had mentioned it.

"I'm gonna guess it doesn't mean everyone went out for a swim, huh." He let go of his kid and flicked his ears. It was quiet - which felt weird as well, after coming from a city-like area, but even then weren't there birds at the beach? He thought of the commercials on tv, where squawking birdcalls would accompany the breaking waves, and mentally compared it to the silence around them. It sent shivers up his spine. He then remembered - the humans! "Any chance the baskets are theirs?" He gestured towards them. Katsuo tore his glance from an oddly-shaped footprint and looked to the others - two awake, the rest stirring bit by bit.

"Maybe?" He bit his lower lip. Captain could tell his kid could probably use a distraction.

"Hey, Kid." He held up his arms, which would easily reach Katsuo's ears were he closer. "Carry me over? I'll do the talking. I'm better at it anyways."

"You are not!" Katsuo bristled. For a moment, Captain figured he miscalculated just how stressed Katsuo was, being somewhere this unusual. Then, Katsuo sighed and picked Captain up under his arms. To the unaware, it looked like a child carrying a massive bunny plushie (and a strangely-made one at that, Captain had overheard a few times). "Sorry. Didn't mean to snap."

"Just weird, yeah." Captain nodded as the two headed over. They caught snippets of speech - English, it sounded like. "Oh. You wanna introduce us or should I?"

"I can. I should ask about the baskets anyhow." Despite their attempts to keep their voices down, they were close enough to be overheard speaking Japanese. Katsuo cleared his throat, and Captain could tell the 12-year-old was taking a moment to remember his lessons (their lessons, really, Katsuo had taken great pains to repeat them for Captain).

"Hello. My name is Katsuo. My friend's name is Captain. Do any of you own the baskets along the beach?" Captain gave a lazy wave as Katsuo spoke. Hopefully, someone would claim responsibility, and the worry would be for nothing.

Axel Ryder and Faraday

A bit further down the beach, Axel groggily began to rise up. The sudden sunlight piercing through his safety goggles caused him to slam his eyes shut. Removing the goggles, Axel slowly re-opened his eyes as they adjusted to the new light. Before suddenly waking up on a random beach, he'd been on his back working on the wiring in an arcade cabinet at Brewer's. The last thing he remembered, Faraday had been pulling his leg, shouting for him to pull his head out of the machine. Axel had done so just in time for a portal to swallow up the duo and drop them... wherever they were.

"Oh crap... Faraday?!" Axel worriedly looked around the beach for his partner when he saw the Elecmon trapped with his head buried in the sand. Upon hearing Axel's voice, Faraday's legs kicked furiously in the as as if to free himself. "Hang on, buddy. I got you!" Dashing over, Axel struggled to pull the 80-pound Digimon out of his sandy prison. Eventually, the sand finally gave way and Axel lost his balance as Faraday fell on top of him, "Ugh... we really need to cut the ramen out of your diet, Faraday. I think you're getting too heavy for me."

"I can't help it if the noodles are tasty, Axel! Besides, if you really want me to stop eating it, then you need to stop buying it." Axel reluctantly conceded the point while Faraday sat up and took in their surroundings, "It's strange... I don't think we've been here before, but this place feels familiar somehow. Do you recognize it?"

Looking around, Axel really didn't have a clue. He hadn't been to a beach in years, and certainly had never visited one that had bright pink sand, "No. I don't think we're in Brewer's anymore, buddy. Hmm... Maybe those guys know something?" He noticed the group of kids gathering down on the beach. Strangely they all seemed to have a partner just like Faraday only theirs' were: a talking rock, a pink puppy, a frozen lizard, and... Axel really didn't know WHAT that thing with the little kid was. Faraday nodded his agreement and the duo began walking down the beach to join the rest of the group. As they approached, the talking rock had just introduced itself as Arthur, and the human with him as Trent.

"Uh... I don't think WE can answer that question," he said as Arthur asked about their location, "Last thing I remember, my partner Faraday and I got sucked into some weird portal." At the mention of his name, Faraday perked up and smiled at the assembled crowd.

"Hey there! I'm Faraday! While I would also like to know where we are, I'm also concerned about getting food. Axel and I were supposed to grab lunch before we got sent here, and I'm pretty hungry!" As if on cue, Faraday's stomach growled loud enough for all the assembled members of the group to hear. Axel put a hand on his forehead.

"Always thinking with your stomach first huh, Faraday...?"

"Hello. My name is Katsuo. My friend's name is Captain. Do any of you own the baskets along the beach?"

The kid was Japanese, but speaking English. Evidently he thought Tadashi was from America or something. Thankfully, Tadashi's parents had been making him take English lessons. They weren't exactly his favorite thing in the world but he had to admit they would be paying off big time now, "Don't worry, I'm from Japan too. I'm Tadashi, and the blue lizard over there is Yuki." he replied in English, jerking a thumb over in the Digimon's direction to indicate who he was referring to.

"I can speak English too! ...Mostly." said Yuki. He wasn't quite as fluent as Tadashi, but maybe this situation would be the perfect chance to practice more, "Guess I'd better practicing more."

"Not a bad idea, Yuki." said Tadashi with a thumbs-up approval, "In fact, let's make a challenge out of it. From here on, we're only allowed to speak English, got it?"

"Sounds fun, you're on!"

"Anyway," Tadashi returned his focus to the kid in front of him, "We have no idea who these baskets belong to." One by one, others spoke up. It sounded like nobody knew what the deal was with those baskets. And it also quickly became apparent that Tadashi wasn't the only one with a monster buddy.

"Hold on, let me guess... you all had that weird dream about an egg that became real, too?"