The moon shone down upon the lands of the Golden King.

Strewn across the sands and plains of the capitol, the blood of the fallen stained the earth, the indifferent moonlight glinting off of it and into the eyes of those who lay dead and dying.

From the far west, a force of nature had come to reap the sins of the Golden King and his Deities; a force of nature with radiant sword in hand, accompanied by a great beast and the two who had turned their backs on the Golden King.

His empire, carved out over the course of many bloody years, laid in ruins around him. So used to the resistance given by the weak masses of the still-young world, his armies had been but a paper tiger against the vicious draconic storm; at least, those of his armies that had not turned on him when the opportunity to escape their shackles was presented.

Lying wounded in the ruins of his citadel, the Golden King felt rage build within him.

His reign would not end tonight. The goal to which he strived for those who had left him would not be left unfulfilled; the empire he had spent his life founding would not be destroyed by the hands of the ignorant and the visionless.

So, hearing the scream of power from the approach of his most despised foe, he pulled himself from the rubble and steeled his body.

He was the single strongest being upon this earth, God-Tree or no God-Tree. He would crush the white destroyer and the great dragon who accompanied him beneath his heel, and he would carve out his empire again with a bloody-minded determination. From the two of his Deities that had survived the battles, the one still able to fight was his greatest and most loyal warrior; he would see to his traitorous brothers. Their scum bodies would be incinerated beneath the rage of the sun, and the spirits of steel and darkness would be reclaimed from their wretched ashes.

His foe neared, and called to him.

And obliging him, the Golden King let out a bellowing roar of rage and leapt towards him as his treasures filled him with all the power they could call forth.

As the world around them shattered.

He ran.

A razor-sharp ribbon sliced at the earth inches from his feet. He stumbled briefly, thankful that his ankle had not been - no, now wasn't the time for that! Only one thing mattered - losing the Knight that chased him. The sudden blow between him shoulder blades told him it was not going to be an easy task. His fall to the ground confirmed that conclusion. The Royal Knight approached, and he did the only thing he could think of: he pulled out his gun.

"sleight of hand!"

"Scarlet Tempest!" The Royal Knight drove away the rapidly-appearing smoke, but in vain. It was cleared only to find himself alone. "Where did you go! You won't find me so easily destroyed, you realize!" And of course he did; that was why he was now hiding, far up in a full-leafed tree. He couldn't see Lordknightmon below. With any luck, that meant Lordknightmon couldn't see him either. He could still hear the Knight breathing - probably waiting for the moment he moved, to lash out with those ribbons once more at the sound. He moved to activate his gun once more - perhaps he could manage another Sleight of Hand, truly get some distance between them. Afterwards, he could figure out a new place to lay low. Westward would probably be a worse option - all the Knights and Olympians, as opposed to this one - but maybe they wouldn't suspect to find him there. Could buy him a month or so, pore over a few maps of the Eastern half of the Digital World to pick the best route to safety and anonymity.

It was only then he became aware of a stinging sensation that covered him head to toe. Hesitantly, trying not to disturb any leaves, he looked over himself. No bee digimon, no.

Those light tendrils, though, now that was worrying.

"line of fire!" The liquid metal, searing hot, flew through the tendrils to no effect. He yanked at them, trying to pull them away - now they bound his wrists. Unhappy memories of what happened at Bacchusmon's last party resurfaced as he made one more desperate to pull away, bracing his feet against the branch he had been laying upon. Even if it hadn't been futile, one of Lordknightmon's ribbons slicing through the base of the branch made escape impossible. He fell - no, was now being PULLED - to earth. He caught a glimpse of Lordknightmon's stunned expression before the tendrils yanked him through the ground, into darkness, and letting him fall at last.

And that was how Arcutomon departed the Digital World.

--

It took a while for his senses to return. The first was smell - rotted. Stale. Smoky. Like visiting a burnt village. Next was touch - rough, damp, very much solid. Stone? No, not quite...concrete, probably. Wet concrete. A factory city? Sound returned - motors, possible Trailmon? Yeah, a city.

He raised his head and blinked. A city for certain, but no city he had ever seen before. The buildings were too tall, too narrow. He turned - at the far end of the alleyway were - well, at this distance, they looked like toy cars, but he saw no windup keys and surely, closer, they'd be much too large.

"What the actual fuck."

Ah, a voice. Arcutomon turned to ask the digimon where he was and froze. While not the smartest digimon, he did consider himself fairly well-traveled and able to recognize most species of digimon. At first, he briefly considered the idea of an unarmored Angemon, but the hair was too short and the wrong color, and where were its wings then? A human? But then where was its partner? Unless...

He paled. Well, those few humans muttered about over campfires had to have come from somewhere, right? This human seemed unfazed, raising its - his, maybe, had sounded male but one never knew until they asked - hands and curling them into fists.

"What the hell are you?"

"lost." The joke seemed to have no effect. "where am i?"

"Hanyo territory." Well, that didn't help. Human seemed rather calm considering he had at least a meter on him. Hell, his gun was bigger than this guy. Speaking of... He reached at his back and pulled out the rifle. Still intact. Good.

He was then aware of a sudden blow in his gut. Shook him up a little but not harmful. The human, on the other hand, was cursing quite loudly. He wanted a fight? Arcutomon elbowed him, knocking him to the ground, and pressed the opening of the rifle against the human's chest to keep him down. Not that it kept the boy from glaring. Arcutomon leaned forward, hand sliding down the gun's barrel to hold it in place, until he was kneeling (with the knee pressed against one of the boy's legs to keep him still), staring down at him.

"let's get something clear. i'm not human. to be entirely blunt, it would take no effort on my part to end your life this instant." And the boy spat at him, missing but still irritating Arcutomon. Not that it was helping his growing dizziness. "i can't tell if you're brave, stupid, or suicidal." Utterly deadpan, and the boy seemed uninterested in telling him which it was. Arcutomon sighed. He at least expected a blustering retort on how he was wrong for insinuating he was dumb. He just pitied the boy now. Or was nauseated by him. Or the nausea was something else entirely. Whatever. He stood back up, removing the gun from the human's chest. "don't attack me again, got it?"

"Got it." The human huffed before getting up. Still sounded annoyed, but now he was crossing his arms. "So, what are you, if you're not human?" How such a simple question could sound so rude baffled Arcutomon, but fine.

"lost. and a-Ah!" He clenched his teeth, falling to one knee. His legs were shaking, the nausea was almost blinding by now - kid was shouting, he couldn't wholly make it out. He curled his arms around his stomach - and suddenly it wasn't there. Nothing was. Not even the nausea. He opened his eyes, and found himself looking up to the human.

"...are you- what the hell just happened?" He blinked and looked around. Yes, he was lower... and yes. He had a tail again. An orb of light floated over his head. Oh....this was embarrassing.

"i dedigivolved," Kapurimon said.

"What?"

"dedig-"

"Yeah, what does that even mean?"

"don't mind it. it's still me. i can still kick your ass." The boy scoffed. "howling hertz!" A brief attack, but it felt good seeing the human fall down.

"You little bastard!"

"so i've heard." So he just needed to find a way back home. And get back up a few stages. This wasn't going to be easy.

It was then the light started moving. Kapurimon watched as the light approached the human, who took more than a few large steps away. Not far enough - the light sank into the back of the human's hand. Lines began spiraling outwards from the spot, forming zigzagging lines that extended past his wrist and into his sleeve. What was going on? And then another bit of confusion, tinged with terror, joined his own. And Kapurimon knew and the terror eased and soon the lines faded into invisibility.

"...what was-?"

"you're my tamer?" Kapurimon looked him back over. "really?"

"Tamer? What for?" And he could feel a loose sense of curiosity. Well, why not.

"well, it means you help me fight other digimon."

"And if I don't?"

"well...the world could be endangered. or i could die."

"So it's important, huh." Kapurimon's stomach sunk - he knew that smug feeling oh too well. The same feeling whenever he got the upper hand. "I'll help you, on one condition."

"i don't think it works that way."

"Oh? You can fight without me?" Kapurimon was tempted to issue yet another attack to wipe that smirk off the human's face. "Alright. See ya." Wait, the bond was two-way, wasn't it? Damn it all.

"what do you want?"

"My request is simple." Despite the level tone, Kapurimon had not missed that sudden flare of loathing. "When we're done, you kill Uncle Daiki for me."

"what! i can't-"

"Do you need me?"

"well, probably-"

"Then do we have a deal?" Kapurimon sighed. Maybe he could make it in this world. Maybe not. Probably not if he had to partner with a human without his choice.

"sure. deal." He kept his gaze to the ground as his new tamer picked him up.

"You're smart, Kapurimon." An awkward silence. "Is that-"

"supposedly part of the digivice."

"Oh. As I was saying, I suppose if I'm to be your tamer, you ought to know my name." And Kapurimon successfully squelched the instinctive reaction to roll his eyes at that sudden burst of ego. "It's Natsuki Araki. Remember it."

"yeah, sure." It was then they both heard the footsteps behind them, and Natsuki turned to see another human.

"Shit, Natty, you're still here?"

"Yeah, I heard something."

"Police?"

"No. Some dumb kid dropped a toy." He held up Kapurimon by his tail. "Though figure I'll go drop it off. Don't need people poking around here."

"Yeah." The guy laughed. "See ya in a month." Natsuki nodded curtly and began walking to the far end of the alleyway, towards the giant toy cars. Then-

"natty?"

"Don't you fucking dare."

"not part of the conditions, natty." Kapurimon stuck out his tongue. If he was stuck with this guy, he was going to make the most of it.

The rain slammed the ground hard.

"Bloody goose chases," A tall being clad in thick silver armour muttered towards its companion, another being clad in the same armour, "We came all the way from the sodding capitol to satisfy some old coot's night terrors, haven't we?"

An irritated grunt from his companion confirmed he felt much the same; though it was rather hard to clue out over the barrage of noise from the rain impacting the ground around them.
The two Knightmon were part of a regiment dispatched to the edge of the 'Wild Woods', as it was termed by those living in the capitol. Said regiment had been personally dispatched with full gravitas by Omegamon himself; whatever the reason for them being here, the Lord Captain of the Royal Knights evidently regarded it with the most utter caution and seriousness.

Not that this did anything to help inject any enthusiasm into many of the Knightmon who had been dragged from their comfortable period of respite to go patrol a rain-shellacked patch of land teetering on the edge between one of the most dangerous areas in this part of the Digital World and the rest of the Western Sector; not only had their leisure been disrupted by the mission, it was fairly evident from what they had been told and how he had chosen to accompany them that the mission was at Wisemon's behest.

Whilst seemingly respected within the ranks of the Royal Knights himself, the shadowy apparition was far less popular amongst those outside those ranks; not only was he irritatingly glib regarding official matters, he was also of enough esteem with the higher-ups that he could give orders to anyone who wasn't one of the thirteen sitting Royal Knights.

As it stood, the only thing keeping the regiment content with their mission were the two other figures present with them; one of the Inner Circle themselves had been dispatched on this mission, the silver-and-crimson warrior who had been born and raised in these very parts. So long as decorum and unity was kept, anything that the Knightmon and other species in the regiment could not handle would be torn apart by the blade that had ended the life of one of the Four Holy Dragons themselves. As for the other figure, one of the recently-elected Outer Circle Knights had accompanied the other Knight; as far as the Knightmon were concerned, the Indigo Maelstrom was one of their own, having long served with them prior to finally achieving his evolution into his Ultimate form.
"Anyway, how much longer you reckon we have to stay out here for?" The first Knightmon began again towards his companion again, muttering something obscene under his breath as the rain intensified, "They can't keep us out here for much longer than a few days, right?"

"Dunno. That bastard obviously told Lord Captain something that spooked him good," The second Knightmon replied, finally answering his friend with more than just the low grunts he had been churning out for the past hour or so, "We could be out here a while."

"Bollocks."

Meanwhile, roughly a kilometer away, the situation was rather different.

"I'll assume that your men haven't found anything of significance yet?" A cloaked figure roughly the size of an average human male intoned towards an indigo humanoid many times his size, in a tone that implied what he said was less a question and more a statement.

"Not yet, no," The indigo giant replied to the cloaked figure, "I assure you, though; we're working as hard as we can to find the traces of anything unusual or untowards."

"I'll take your word for it, then." The cloaked figure replied, cold sarcasm evident in his tone as he turned away from the indigo giant, who did his best to mask the intense feeling of irritation he was experiencing, before turning and marching back to a cluster of Knightmon in the distance.

At the same time, the hooded figure shook his head and turned away himself, waving his hand jauntily to summon what appeared to be an extremely large book; even when closed, the object was bigger than the figure himself, and an unseen force around it seemed to deflect any of the rainwater from hitting it.
Muttering something about memory, the figure waved his hand again, and the book instantly decreased in size. Now roughly the size of a normal book, the grimoire's pages began to turn by themselves as the figure began to float upwards into the sky; and as he reached the altitude he wanted, he settled on the page he wanted.

He was certain that what he had felt had not been a mistake; he'd definitely sensed something the other night, something chillingly familiar. And it was not just him- he was more than aware that the majority of the regiment were unhappy that Omegamon had dispatched them at his behest, and on a better day, he would have simply found that amusing; but what they were unaware of was that Yggdrasil himself had implored Omegamon to authorise the mission, claiming to have had a similar experience to him.

Unlike the regiment and the purple giant that commanded them, Wisemon remembered the first major war with the Olympians all those years ago; and if Yggdrasil found a matter serious enough to tear itself away from managing the Digital World and come talk to the Lord Captain, it would have to be a damned serious matter.

As it was, the only two on the mission aware of Yggdrasil's involvement were Wisemon himself and the silver-and-crimson giant from the Inner Circle, who Wisemon observed had been within the perimeter of the 'Wild Woods' for quite a while now.
Feeling a little curious about the progress of the Knight, Wisemon reached into his pockets and pulled out two small orbs; and letting go of them, they rose into the air as the grimoire before him suddenly erupted into motion, pages turning and turning as the stones ignited into radiant light alongside Wisemon's golden eyes.

He could see it clearly now; the Knight wasn't far from here, and he was drawing even closer as Wisemon spied on him from across the fabric of reality.
In fact, he was drawing very, very close; even as Wisemon saw him draw close to the edge of the woods from his vision, he suddenly heard the Knight himself as he tore through the trees at breakneck speed, loudly enough to be heard some distance away.

Wisemon pondered; as... passionate as the Knight could be, he was almost as glib as Wisemon himself when it came to official matters. He had taken on the mission with a sense of casual boredom; perhaps as a chance to visit the lands he called home for a day or two, kill a few ferals like in the olden days. As difficult as the bastard could be at turns, Wisemon knew he was a being of simple pleasures; but to see him this seemingly worked up about something was disturbing, he had to admit.

So, as the thundering of his approach became ever-louder, Wisemon narrowed his eyes and scanned the image of the approaching warrior.
And then his eyes widened as he saw what was tucked beneath his arm.

"... It can't be."

The stones and book disappearing into the aether, Wisemon descended to the ground at high speed, and began to shoot towards the point where the approaching Knight would emerge from the forest. At the same time, the indigo giant and the rest of the regiment slowly turned and began to do the same as the thundering noise finally began to attract their attention over the torrential pounding of the rain.

With a crash, the silver-and-crimson Knight emerged from the forest, the impact of his mighty body upon the ground causing it to shake as he slammed both of his feet upon the earth beneath him.
"Is this what we were looking for?" Dukemon asked, placing what he had found before Wisemon when he looked up and noticed the cloaked figure. His deep voice carried an uncharacteristic tone of surprised solemnity that almost disturbed the Demon Man Digimon.

"... No," He replied to Dukemon, as the air around them was filled with shouting and the sound of thundering footsteps as the others with them noticed what the silver-and-red Knight had found, and began to approach them at a much faster pace, practically stampeding towards them in disturbed curiosity.

"But things may be more serious than I believed they were," Wisemon said in a similarly solemn tone, as his eyes glanced towards the markings running down the humanoid figure's right arm.
__________________________________
A Few Thousand Miles Away...

The Digital World was split into two sectors; the Western Sector and the Eastern Sector. The split was cultural, with the Western Sector being the domain of the Olympians, and in recent centuries, the Royal Knights; but the split was also physical in the form of the Spine of Malice.

A gigantic mountain range several thousand kilometers long, running the majority of the Digital World's largest continent. To the west of the range lay the bulk of the territory of the Olympians, and to the east laid the domain of Goddramon of the Four Holy Dragons, and beyond that the territories of the other Holy Dragons. The Spine, as most called it, was considered to be one of the most dangerous areas in the Digital World; for much of its length, it was inhabited by a variety of tribes and groups that were said to combine the worst aspects of the inhabitants of both the Western and Eastern Sectors, with the sheer penchant for war and conflict of those living in the West, and the xenophobic hostility characteristic to many of the civilizations in the East. It was considered a massive 'achievement' to make it through the range alive, let alone mostly unharmed, and the Olympians acknowledged this.

The villages that spanned the breadth of the foot of the range were considered important resources by the Olympians for their positioning; those who came from the Eastern Sector over the Spine were likely to take refuge in the villages, take their rest there after their gruelling experience. The villages were well-protected by them for this reason; whilst it was uncommon for those who lived in the mountains to come down and attack, it happened, and the inhabitants of these villages were mostly those that would be unlikely to defend themselves well from this kind of attack. As such, the Olympians had formed a working relationship with these villages; they would protect the villages from harm and keep them stable, and in return, the villages would accept those who came across the borders with open arms and allow them to be recruited by the Olympians.

Today, in one of these villages skirting the edge of the Spine, the atmosphere was wracked with tension.
A few days ago, something extremely unusual had happened; two refugees from the East had been pursued down the slopes of the closest mountain in the Spine, and the last of those pursuing them had been cut down only a few kilometers from the village. As fortune would have had it, none of the villagers had been harmed; a few of the Olympian soldiers stationed in the village had been wounded and even killed by those pursuing the refugees; but compared to the potential damage, the reality was miraculous by comparison.

But perhaps more miraculous was the nature of one of the refugees, and also what it meant for the power of the other; the number of those that had pursued them down the mountain was large, eclipsing the size of any raiding parties that had come to attack the villages in recent memory. Many more of the soldiers stationed at the village could have died in battle if not for her turning her powers on her pursuers; it was not weakness or fear that caused her to flee from the horde behind her, but fatigue and concern for the well-being of the other refugee.

The nature of said refugee was one of the causes of the tension in the air; these villages had heard the stories of her kind, but this was the first time that they had ever seen one in the flesh, and the level of protectiveness the other refugee exhibited for her helped to rack up that tension further.
The other cause was that one of the Olympus Twelve themselves had chosen to show up in person and see to recruiting the refugees.

"So, have you made a decision?"

Within the small house, two humanoids sat at a simple table. One of them was clad in blue and silver armour, and exuded an aura of grace and composure. The other was clad in black, with the upper half of her face covered by a mask as she did her best to remain indifferent.

"No. Give me some time," The latter of the two replied to the question of the former, as she looked over towards the bed in the corner where her companion laid.
The girl had only been awake a handful of times in the past few days; the stress of the last few months had evidently gotten to her, undoubtedly triggered by the chaos of the events of a few days ago.

"I assure you, she'll be perfectly safe in the capitol. Should you accept our offer, you'll be given high-ranking positions and the appropriate accomodations."

In response, the figure clad in black seemed to hiss slightly.

"So you say."

The silver-and-blue figure's response was to sigh.

"Look, it's ultimately your choice, but let me level with you. Other members of the Olympus Twelve wouldn't be giving you the luxury of a choice, and you'd be getting a far, far worse deal out of it."

"Whatever. Let -me- level with -you-; I need some time to decide. I don't exactly feel like possibly getting myself involved in a bloody war as a trade-off for what you're offering."

The figure in black was suddenly conscious of a shift in the atmosphere around the silver-and-blue figure.

"I somehow doubt that."

"... Pardon?"

"I heard from the men stationed here about how you put down all those savages from the Spine. Particularly, I heard about how you seemed to enjoy it."

If she was conscious of the shift in atmosphere before, it was practically stifling her now; the aura of grace and composure surrounding the silver-and-blue figure had been replaced with something wholly different. The aura of something wild and untamed, of something thirsting for blood and battle.
The black figure shivered a little bit. Not out of fear, but out of longing. Out of kinship with the animal that seemed to be hiding in the God Warrior before her.

"See? It's not the war that's breaking the deal for you, is it?" The silver figure asked, smirking beneath her helm as she practically stared into the soul of the figure in black, "Please don't feel like I'm forcing you, but whatever it actually is that's breaking the deal for you, get it sorted out and come and talk to me when you're ready. I'll leave the choice with you; just consider everything and make it well."

And with that, the figure got up from the table and headed for the door, leaving the black figure behind her-

"It's her."

"... Ah, yes."

The silver-and-blue figure turned, seemingly more understanding now that the black figure was being more honest.

"I'm not sure exactly how much your men have told you, but maybe they mentioned why I didn't just slaughter all those bastards chasing after me. I'm considering her as much as I'm considering myself. You're right, maybe I don't care about stepping into a bloody war. Maybe I'd fucking enjoy it, like some kind of psychopath. I'd even get to be in the top sodding brass for a change. But I have her to consider too, and I'm not even going to consider accepting your offer until I'm sure it's right for her."

In response, the silver-and-blue figure stared at her, taking in the outporing of brutal, honest emotion.

And the black figure was slightly taken aback as she offered a simple nod in return.

"I understand. My men told me a lot; take as much time as you need to make the decision, there are always men here to escort you and her to the capitol. We'll be happy to accomodate you here if you decide not to join us."

"... Thanks," The black figure replied, sounding genuine as the silver-and-blue figure graced her with another nod, and turned to leave for real.

And as one figure disappeared, another took the opportunity to step in.

"She must really be interested in recruiting you, if she's willing to put up with you getting shirty with her," A small figure with a face fully obscured by a jungle of white hair, clad in ragged garb and holding a staff ending in a cat's paw.

"Seems that way," The black figure replied, slumping down onto the table as the village elder approached her. Jijimon was blunt and somewhat sarcastic at turns, but something about the elderly Digimon was soothing to her. It seemed to be the case with the other Digimon in the village; he had quickly pacified them after the chaos of a few nights ago, and had seen to it that the dead were quietly given their due and the two refugees accepted.

"So, you actually planning on accepting her offer or not? Cut the standoffish crap; I just want an honest answer."

"It's like I said," The black figure replied, "I'll make the decision based on what's best for both of us."

"Che. Typical," Jijimon replied with a sigh, shaking his head and hobbling over to the bed in the corner.

"Look, I almost died getting through the Spine alive. I'm not throwing us into another potentially horrifyingly danger-"

The black figure was cut off by a young voice.

"I'm fine with whatever decision you make."

The black figure paused. Froze.

"You've been awake a while now, haven't ya?" Jijimon asked the girl lying on the bed, as she rolled over from facing the wall to facing Jijimon and the black figure.

"Yeah, I have. I was listening."

"... Ru- Look, you make the decision. I don't really care about all this Olympian and Knight bullshit one way or the other, but it's not my decision to make if you don't want to."

"I don't mind, really, I don't!" The girl replied to the black figure, "You can make the decision, Lilithmon!"

"Well?" Jijimon intoned towards Lilithmon, as she stared at her partner, deep in thought.

"... I'll go find Dianamon," She responded to the girl, getting up from her chair and heading for the door, "Just get some sleep."

And with that, Lilithmon left and, nodding, the girl gave into the fatigue that still wracked her and fell asleep once more.

Yotsuba had managed to sneak out of a nearby restaurant—of course now dressed up as Yotsuba instead of as Yosuke. A blonde wig now covering her natural short black hair, and now dressed up in a girl’s version of her school’s uniform, no one would have even guessed that she was biologically a boy and not a girl. Since she never went home right away after school, she always preferred to dress as she felt comfortable, since she would almost always have a chance to change back into her boy uniform by the time to go home for dinner, and her parents would be none the wiser.

Of course, times like this were always when Yotsuba wasn’t exactly sure what to do for the three or so hours before she’d have to go home. She figured there would be a lot of wandering a bout, maybe grabbing a bowl of ramen and then checking by some stores for anything that might interest her. Yotsuba wasn’t in the biggest mood for food at the moment. Oh, but there was a toy store nearby; maybe she would take a look!

Daintily walking into the toy store, she gave a small wave and peeped out a “Hello” before walking through the store, looking at the shelves filled with stuffed plush animals. She had her fair share of plushies at home—which her parents didn’t necessarily approve of, but they caused no problems to her schoolwork so they said nothing—but more were always nice.
Yotsuba near instantly picked out the stuffed animal she was going to buy: a rather big bunny looking… thing with pink on the ends of its ears. This was, without a doubt, the most adorable toy that Yotsuba had ever seen, and as such, would be hers this instant. Picking it up and giving it a hug, she walked over to the counter, setting the toy on the counter.

”Hi, I’d like to buy this one, please,” she said, desperately trying her best to work her female voice. The guy behind the counter picked up the stuffed animal, looking for a price tag.

”This thing doesn’t have a tag on it. Not for sale. I must have put it out by accident. Just set it back where you found it, thank you,” the man told her, handing it back to her.
Yotsuba took back the stuffed rabbit toy with a frown, walking back over to the shelf. At first she reached to set the toy back, then took a glance to the side, before opening her backpack, getting ready to stuff the toy in it.

”Don’t worry little guy, I’m gonna give you the best home you could ask for. Just don’t move and don’t make a peep,” she said before giggling to herself. After all, it wasn’t like a stuffed animal could move or talk, right?

Patting the stuffed toy on the head and smiling, she closed her backpack and quickly skipped out of the store, squeaking out a goodbye to the owner. As soon as she was outside, she opened up her backpack, smiling to see the toy was still there.

”Well, that owner doesn’t need you anyways. Plus having no price tag is like being for free, right? Anyways, once you get home you’ll have the best life ever,” she whispered in a sing-song voice, opting to keep the backpack open for her new friend to get air to “breathe”. Of course, while Terriermon didn’t speak up just yet, he was definitely grateful to be picked up by who seemed like a nice human girl, as well as infinitely grateful that he could now breathe with ease.

Meanwhile, deep inside the Wild Woods, those within the communities and groups thriving within the vast forest found their own tensions brewing.

In the southern sector of the forest, in a glade marked by the presence of a gigantic structure made of wood pulped and molded by the labours of thousands of workers, two impressive figures convened at the very center of said structure whilst a cluster of smaller and less impressive figures gathered around them, anxiously milling about in the tension of the issue at hand.

"Are you completely sure that he's not here?" The first of the figures, a brilliant green humanoid insect asked the other, in a tone saturated with bitter irritation, "Sure that he didn't just bite off more than he could chew fighting a feral?"

"Pretty fucking sure," The second figure, a much larger humanoid insect, this one a brilliant gold, replied, "Pretty sure we'd have heard if he got punked like a bitch by a feral."

Despite being the center of attention in the chamber, the two spoke in hushed tones. They (or at least one of them- the other simply complied) didn't wish to exarcebate the tensions already present in the chamber, amongst those gathered there.

When they were panicking because many of their friends and comrades had disappeared into thin air, the least they needed to hear was that one of their leaders had done the same.

"Tch. Typical Atlur," The first figure, JewelBeemon said, spitting out his bitterness in one blunt comment before raising his voice to address those present; "Listen up, all of you!"

He was barely heard above the din of those present, and they kept gabbering on amongst themselves.

A second passed. Bitterness began to creep back into JewelBeemon's face.

And then his friend spoke for him.

"SHUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTHS AND LISTEN!" MetallifeKuwagamon practically roared, the frightening sound booming from his gigantic frame and immediately silencing those present.

"We currently have no idea as to the whereabouts of any of those missing, aside from the fact that it's unlikely that they've left the Woods," He began, nodding appreciatively towards his brutish friend's contribution,

"Neither are we currently aware of why the Royal Knights are combing the area. The... representative that they sent into the Woods confirmed that it's a highly confidential matter."

At this, those gathered in the room began to talk amongst themselves again.
JewelBeemon was perhaps the most respected of the Triumvirate ruling the local area, but even he was not immune from controversy. Whilst he lacked the brutish nature of MetallifeKuwagamon or the flightiness and stubborness of AtlurKabuterimon, he found his own area of personal controversy in his 'fascination' with the world outside of the Woods.
Those living in the Woods considered themselves a tough lot, and there was truth to this. Whilst they were disorganized and so did not boast the raw power boasted by the leaders of the other civilizations in the Western sector, they were a hardy bunch that could live through situations that would drive many, more powerful Digimon insane.
JewelBeemon was a proud example of this fortitude, but this was undermined by the fact that he almost seemed ashamed of his roots at times; whilst this was not the truth, his obsession with the rest of the Western sector and his efforts to communicate with them did not go unnoticed by many.

A sudden bang upon the arm of his chair by MetallifeKuwagamon spooked the chattering masses again, and silence resumed. It was best not to aggravate the gigantic bastard, lest he see a reason to turn that aggravation to violence.

"What we do know is that it isn't a problem exclusive to us," JewelBeemon resumed, nodding towards MetallifeKuwagamon again, "Word from others further up in the Woods is that there have been a string of disappearances in their areas, too. Similarly, we can likely confirm that Ferals are not the cause of the issue; there have been no attacks from Ferals reported in the last week, and sightings of them outside of their natural territories are at an all-time low."

This time, the crowd remained silent, processing what they were told.

"That is all we have to report upon. Go, remain calm, and look for those missing if you must." JewelBeemon concluded, rising from his chair, spreading his wings and flying out through a gigantic hole in the roof of the chamber into the labyrinthine complex above.
The crowds finally piped up again as MetallifeKuwagamon did the same, deploying a convergence of magnets and electricity from his back that formed into the shape of wings before he rose up from his chair and towards the chambers above.
___________________________________
"So, what are we going to do about Atlur?"

"We keep quiet about him being missing for now, but look for him in the meantime."

Several minutes had passed since the meeting in the chamber below, and JewelBeemon and MetallifeKuwagamon now sat in the residential chamber above. The intended throne room of a failed settlement by a

Waspmon colony, the room was extremely spacious, enough so that even the hulking MetallifeKuwagamon had no problems in terms of space. Noticeably sparse, the only real decoration of the room besides a few very spartan beds were a few thrones sitting in the middle of the chamber.

One of the thrones, one large enough to seat another being the size of MetallifeKuwagamon, was noticeably empty.

"Fine," MetallifeKuwagamon replied to JewelBeemon as the latter laid out the plan, "Just make sure nobody finds out about this, and we're golden."

"Right." JewelBeemon replied, before slumping back into his throne.

"Anyway, you were saying before we had the meeting?"

"Oh, right," JewelBeemon replied again, straightening up as his friend reminded him of where he'd been forced to leave off in the conversation they'd had prior to the meeting.

"So, there's another fucking war coming?" MetallifeKuwagamon asked, his tone and punctuation making his attitude towards the matter clear.

"According to Dukemon, yes there is. Tensions have been brewing again, and what they found earlier certainly isn't going to help with that."

"Wonderful. And you're going to have to fill me in on that, you know? Keeping the masses in the dark is fine by me, but lock me out of this and I swear to God I'll break you."

"As if you'd be capable of it," JewelBeemon snapped in return, an angry glint going through his eyes as MetallifeKuwagamon levied his half-threat, locking furious eyes with the larger Perfect before continuing with;

"But fine, I'll let you in. According to Dukemon, what they found apparently wasn't what they were looking for. All I can say is, if a live human isn't what they were looking for, I don't want to know what they were actually looking for."

At this, MetallifeKuwagamon froze stiff.

"... Bullshit."

"I only wish. Dukemon showed me it, Covenant and all."

"Well, fuck."

"Now you can see why I want to keep so quiet about all this," JewelBeemon groaned, slumping into the throne again, "If the masses find out that there are humans running about in the Digital World again, they really are going to think that the end of the world is coming."

"I hardly blame them. Bloody meatsacks never cause anything but trouble."

"That's certainly true here, at least. Soon as both the Olympians catch on to the fact that a human showed up, things are going to get nasty between them and the Knights. And from what I've weaned from my meetings over the last few years, the next war is going to be a big one now that the Knights have come into their own and both of them are as strong as they've ever been."

"And let me guess. You want to get involved in this?"

"Shamefully, yes. Dukemon and the other Sanctum Knights have acknowledged our control of this region of the Woods, and they're willing to cut a deal with us in order to obtain more territories on this continent. We can't stay in the dark ages forever, Metallife. We have to act sooner or later, and now's as good a time as any."

"Look, I don't care if they offered you the fucking Lord Captain post, we're not getting involved in that stupid fucking war. It'll come, it'll go, and it'll hopefully knock both the Knights and the Olympians back into the shit where they belong."

JewelBeemon sighed.

"Look, let's just drop this for now, okay? At the very least, I'll concede that we shouldn't discuss this seriously until we find Atlur."

"True," MetallifeKuwagamon acknowledged with a nod, as he returned to accepting the wisdom of JewelBeemon, "Let's just end this until the bastard shows up again, agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Very well. I have time to spare, I'll go see if I can find him."

And with that, the private meeting between the two members of the triumvirate ended. Spreading his makeshift wings again, MetallifeKuwagamon rose from his throne into the air and exited the chamber through the tunnel that opened from the ceiling of the great room.

"Ok, so what can you do?"

"well...i can stun some other digimon."

"That's all?"

"i'd have to digivolve for anything else."

"Ok, what could you do-"

"i don't think i'll be back up to that form for a while."

"...have you ever heard how utterly useless you are?"

"yes. have you?"

"Anyways, so. When you digivolve. What can you do?"

"it's been a while..."

"What, you don't remember?"

"just give me a second, will ya? ...ok, i can shoot these gears that can cause damage or insanity-"

"I don't think I'll be able to see a difference if everyone's like you."

"good thing you don't need to be smart to be a tamer."

"Cute. Is that all?"

"well, i can also crush enemies between my own gears."

"Really? That actually sounds pro- wait. How big will you be?"

"um...add a few decimeters?"

"..."

"you know, i don't think hitting your head against that notebook's gonna help me get any bigger."

--

Classes were over for the day. Fuyuki didn't mind that, no. He didn't mind the chance to spend some alone time with Yuu either; even if 90 percent of everything they said went well over his head, he still liked hanging out with them. The heavy books that had broken Yuu's bag and that today's time was just helping Yuu get home to finish some project on 'excitotoxity inducement in the human brain' (might as well said it in English for all Fuyuki understood), he did mind that a bit. If Yuu picked up on it, they didn't say anything, and Fuyuki preferred that - he was never good at trying to parse Yuu's attempts at insults and Hoshiko was sick today. Yuu was instead attempting to educate him on the role of glutamate (wasn't that in some of those freeze-dried dinners?) in the brain, and Fuyuki made sounds of assent on the rare occasion Yuu stopped talking - he would've nodded were it not for all the books.

Finally, the two reached the apartment Yuu lived in. Why Yuu seemed to live so far away from their university was confusing, though it did mean at the least, they tended to hang around with Fuyuki and Hoshiko after classes and help study whenever they were ahead on their projects. Fuyuki certainly wasn't going to complain about that.

"You need help carrying these in?" He shifted the books - and briefly staggered as one threatened to slide off. Yuu grabbed it before it fell.

"I do not believe so. The lift is working." They began taking the books from Fuyuki's arms - Fuyuki helped them finish, now feeling the soreness shoot through his arms. "Do accept my gratitude for your assistance."

"Not a problem. Good luck with the psych stuff." He paused. "Can you actually open the door?" Yuu looked at the handle and tried to shift the books to open the door. This time, Fuyuki caught the sliding books.

"...could you accompany for a few moments more?"

"Sure!"

It was a mercifully brief trip to Yuu's apartment, holding the books in his aching arms until Yuu unlocked their door and dismissed Fuyuki for the day. He smiled and waved as he took the lift back down, trying to ignore how much his arms hurt and wondering how Yuu had carried the books all day, much less attended classes. Then again, a lot of things about Yuu were best left unquestioned. Besides, he had to get home soon, back in the other direction. Tonight was a kendo class after all, and he needed to drop off the day's notes at Hoshiko's place. He rounded the street corner, in too much of a rush to keep from colliding with the girl on the other side.

For a while, Yotsuba had been more or less focused on quietly talking to her new best supposed stuffed animal friend, not quite caring about the strange looks she was more than likely getting from passerby. Out of what seemed like nowhere, Yotsuba felt like something hit her, hard. She tumbled to the ground, her backpack—and Terriermon, flying a few feet away. Luckily for Yotsuba, she didn’t hit her head on the fall too badly, but she quickly felt the top of her head and her hairline, all to confirm that her wig wasn’t slipping off. Luckily for her again, it wasn’t, there wouldn’t be any worry about her being revealed; she let out a small sigh of relief.

Of course, upon sitting up and dusting herself up, her eyes widened, realizing that her new pal had flown away, and was probably dusty and dirty now. In reality, Terriermon wasn’t too harmed by it, just a bit disoriented. She quickly ran over, picking up her backpack and dusting off Terriermon’s head. ”Sorry about that little guy, you’ll be ok,” she whispered reassuringly.

Yotsuba narrowed her eyebrows shortly after, ”Hey you!” she started, not yet turning around, ”You better apolo—“ she added angrily before turning around, seeing the rather cute boy, and turning a bright red, her train of thought instantly stopping. Terriermon was rather confused as to why Yotsuba suddenly stopped being so angry.

Still holding her backpack, Yotsuba glanced off to the side, a smile on her bright red face. ”H-Hi…” she stuttered out to Fuyuki. ”Sorry about running into you, t-though! But if you wouldn’t mind, I know me and my little pal would both appreciate a small apology?” she asked, a rather goofy smile still on her bright red face as she held forward her backpack to show Fuyuki her “friend”, Terriermon doing his best to keep absolutely still.

As he tore through the forest like a man possessed, MetallifeKuwagamon repressed the urge to yell out to AtlurKabuterimon, wherever he was.
Experience had long since taught him that it would only draw the wrong kind of attention, and so he kept silent. Or as silent as he could be with the speed he was moving through the thick gathering of trees, at the very least

He had been travelling steadily north for an hour; by now, he was well within the confines of the nastier parts of the great woods, where the ferals roamed freely.
Everything was silent, however; eerily silent, beside the sound of his own movement. Any other noise was either non-existant or too quiet to be heard over his movement; thus, ferals were unlikely to be nearby.
However, here and there, there were signs of a struggle; signs of a struggle that MetallifeKuwagamon knew full well could be from his friend. Trees were uprooted or even smashed, the ground was blackened in places, and the air stunk of death and decay in others.

MetallifeKuwagamon was not a being pre-disposed to caring about others; but the slightests hints of concern began to creep up upon him as he went further and further into the woods, and found these traces of a struggle more and more common.
And then, one and a half hours after he had set out, the air was finally filled with noise.
____________________________________________________________________
Pain.

That was all the great lion could comprehend as the flames consumed it, its mind too panicked for it to even scream as it was attacked.

The lone figure moving through the woods had scared it- and in its moment of fear, it attacked the interloper without a second thought. But as the flames it blasted the lion with ravaged it and tore it apart, it wasn't even given the chance to register its folly.

The pain was intense, but lasted only for an instant. The fires burnt strong and fast, and within a moment, the lion was nothing but ashes on the wind, with not even a scream to mark its demise.
____________________________________________________________________
MetallifeKuwagamon pressed forwards, a sudden roar in the distance spurring him on.

That was the characteristic roar of a SaberLeomon; a common feral Ultimate in these parts. Whilst dangerous, they were weak, with a Perfect of MetallifeKuwagamon's calibre being able to dispatch one with only a small difficulty. And if the roar of SaberLeomon signified a confrontation with AtlurKabuterimon, the work of two skilled Perfects would cut it down with swift brutality.

Convinced his friend was ahead, MetallifeKuwagamon prepared to call out-

Before the roar of SaberLeomon was drowned out by an even greater roar; and before that roar was drowned out by a powerful flash of light and heat.

MetallifeKuwagamon froze.
That definitely didn't come from AtlurKabuterimon.

He composed himself, backed away.
Whatever that flash was, SaberLeomon was now gone. Whatever it was, the Ultimate-level feral had been obliterated in an instant.
MetallifeKuwagamon was suddenly all-too aware that whatever caused the flash was utterly beyond his ability to combat; even he, famed for his hardheadedness and stubborn aggressive behaviour, was frozen stiff at the thought of whatever it was that caused this.

Despite everything, he was a man of the woods; even he knew that when an insurmountable threat presented itself, it was best to retreat.
Quickly, he turned, swallowing his pride. If he moved quickly, perhaps he could avoid being noti-

"You there."

MetallifeKuwagamon froze once more, his stomach dropping into the icy pits of the ninth circle of hell.
The forest descended into silence once more, the only sounds violating that silence being the sound of MetallifeKuwagamon turning around.
And the sounds of footsteps upon the forest floor.

From the thicket of trees ahead, from the smoky clearing burnt away by the flash of light, a figure emerged.
And from this figure emanated a chilling sense of death.
It stood no taller than any of the other humanoid Digimon that MetallifeKuwagamon had ever encountered, and yet there was something deeply, deeply unsettling about it.
It was not the appearance; certainly, even if its appearance was terrifying, it would have no effect with how the thick brown cloak enveloped it in its entirety.

Rather, it was the aura of death that hung about it.

MetallifeKuwagamon recognized it from before; it was the same feeling he'd experienced when he'd found those signs of struggle earlier. Whatever this thing before him was, it was responsible for those signs of struggle.
Those signs of utterly one-sided, hopeless struggles.

"Are you looking for something?"

The figure spoke again; and this time, MetallifeKuwagamon registered the voice as masculine. Deep, but smooth.
It- he drew back his hood, raising his head to stare directly at MetallifeKuwagamon, revealing a head with a fiery shock of hair and a horned helm that covered the top half of his face, and left his eyes fully visible.
And if his stomach was already in the icy pits of hell, it suddenly found a way to drop even deeper as those eyes bore straight into him.

Those eyes were cold, focused. They were the eyes of a killer. MetallifeKuwagamon was no stranger to these kinds of eyes; but even he flinched as they stared straight into his soul and out the other side, as if judging him and finding him wanting.
He was nothing before this monster. Those goddamn eyes alone were too much for him; the total overwhelming sense of death seeping out from the figure was drowning him in a freezing sea of fear. Adrift in a frigid ocean of terror, without anything to protect him from the cold.

For a few moments, those eyes stared at him, cold, baleful, judging.
The figure blinked.

And then the aura of death just seemed to fade away.

"Is that better?" The figure started up, staring at MetallifeKuwagamon in the same way, but yet without conveying a single fraction of the overwhelming sense of destruction they had just a few moments before, "I apologize for causing you any distress, though I'd honestly have expected a man of the woods to be of stronger character than this. This world still has a few things that can surprise me, it seems."

The aura of death gone, MetallifeKuwagamon found his stomach rise from the pit of ice it had sunk into.
And alongside it, his infamous temper.

"The fuck's your problem!?! Who the hell are you and what are you doing here!?!"

The figure before him didn't even blink at the sudden shift into anger.

"That's not important right now. Are you looking for something?"

"Answer my question, goddammit!!!" MetallifeKuwagamon replied, his anger overtaking the common sense and sense of self-preservation that had risen up within him just moments before.

This time, the figure did give a palpable reaction; as the gigantic insect before him grew angry, he merely sighed.

"Are you looking for something or are you not? I think that's a simple enough question; or am I in for another surprise?"

For a few moments, MetallifeKuwagamon just glared at the figure before him, visibly gauled by the figure's attitude and the way he barely even reacted to his fury.
But then, with an aggressive sigh of his own, he gave in. He evidently wasn't going to get anywhere like this, and the niggling sense of fear left at the back of his mind let him know just how much chance he stood of forcing the information out of the figure.

"I'm looking for an AtlurKabuterimon. Big blue motherfucker, about the same size as me."

"Is he the same way you are?"

"The hell is that supposed to mean!?!"

"Just answer the question. Is he as dim as you are?" The figure asked, his eyes assuming a piercing glare; just for a fraction of a second, but enough to unsettle MetallifeKuwagamon and coerce him into compliance.

"You piece of- Alright, yes, fine. Fuck it. He's a big stupid idiot like me. Too much of a soft touch to do much with it, though. Happy now?"

"Why would it make me happy?" The figure replied to MetallifeKuwagamon, ignoring his mounting frustration, before he turned to point to the east, "But this may make you happy; I encountered an AtlurKabuterimon a few hours ago, and he headed off in that direction. If you keep going that way, you may be able to find him."

And with that, the figure turned to leave.

"... Thanks," MetallifeKuwagamon said to the figure, sounding at least a little grateful to him as he swallowed the anger that had been choking him moments before.

"Think nothing of it," The figure said offhandedly, before he disappeared into the woods and was felt no more.

"... The fuck was that about?" MetallifeKuwagamon muttered to himself, feeling thoroughly disturbed as he began to move in the direction that the figure had pointed out.
____________________________________________________________________
Half an Hour Later

After the encounter with the mysterious figure, the dark atmosphere of the woods was almost comforting to MetallifeKuwagamon. The silence was at least less terrifying than the aura of death that had hung about the red asshole, and he was at least making progress towards finding AtlurKabuterimon.

But, in the silence of the trees and his fixation on his strange encounter, MetallifeKuwagamon failed to notice the real threat.
From the darkness of the undergrowth, several gold tendrils crept towards the gigantic insect, silently and stealthily, calculating and careful.
And when they struck, it was as quickly and brutally as could be.

And as MetallifeKuwagamon was pulled into the aether with a tremulous roar of horror and rage, the last thing he saw was a flash of blue.
____________________________________________________________________
Elsewhere...

Kazuya didn't want to admit it, but he was lost.

Muttering various curses under his breath, the 19-year old sat down on a nearby stone slab and pulled out his phone.
He had all day to get back home, but he still wanted to get back sooner rather than later. For all his quirks, he at least tried to keep some semblance of a personal routine, and getting lost on one of his bloody 'weirdo walks' (as his little sister had so kindly termed them when she discovered them) wasn't exactly conductive to that.
He'd heard about the abandoned buildings in the industrial sector of the city and had come all the way out to check them out; only to find that they were sealed off, having been snapped up by a bunch of hopefuls who had quickly decided to protect their investment from trespassers.

And that was all well and good in Kazuya's opinion, except now he'd come all the way out here for nothing, and the absolute lack of familiarity he had with the area meant he wasn't exactly sure which way to go to get back. The place was sprawling, almost labyrinthine, and there wasn't anyone about to ask for directions.

His only salvation was his phone; he'd never quite worked the stupid thing out, and he had the feeling that his older sister had given it to him as a joke at his expense, but it finally seemed as if it was going to have a use; he could get a connection in this part of the city, and he'd be able to use that to check his location and find a way back to the parts of the city he knew, and from there back to his apartment.

It seemed a sound plan as he loaded up the device and the GPS on it.
It was only unfortunate that fate seemed to kick him in the shins with delight as the internet on the phone suddenly and unexpectedly cut out.
Kazuya's eye twitched, his frustration at the situation mounting.

And then the phone went completely haywire as the air around him began to crackle with electricity.
As a gigantic metal shape fell out of the sky and smashed hard and fast into the ground in front of him.

"-ERFUCKER!!!!!!" MetallifeKuwagamon roared, the sheer volume of his voice knocking Kazuya flat on his ass in combination with the sudden shock of his arrival and impact.

Fuyuki managed to keep his balance from the collision, afflicted with nothing worse than a blow to the stomach and a mild headache. It took him a few minutes to catch his breath, and by the time he had, the girl he bumped into (or so he assumed, as she was kneeling over something) was on her feet.

"Hey you!" He paled, wincing a little. Ok, he probably had it coming. Whatever 'it' was going to be. Even if it had been an accident - which kinda didn't make it any better, actually. Then she looked at him, and blushed, apparently cutting off whatever tirade she had planned. Honestly, he had no clue how he did it, but it wasn't the first time this had happened and by now it was better to act like he didn't notice. If only he had any clue of how to do that. Even as she spoke, he could feel the blood returning to his face a bit too quickly and a desire to look at anywhere but her own blush.

And then she showed him the stuffed bunny. He blinked. Okay. The oddity did get his brain working again, at least.

"Well, it was my fault really, I should've been paying more attention. You didn't get hurt, did you?" He looked her over, pausing at the stuffed animal and then added with utter sincerity, "You or your friend?" A little voice that sounded like his brother scoffed at him for humoring her 'delusion'. Well, Rajesh considered his sword family. It wasn't like considering the plushie her friend would be end of the world either. Could be just as important to her. And there was still the little fact that he had knocked her down. If nothing else, he did owe her some respect and an apology. Wait, where was he? Oh, right. The apology. "I don't see any cuts, at least." He smiled. "Still, I'm really, really sorry. To both of you. I didn't mean to hurt either of you." He bowed shortly. He could afford to be a little late - once he was sure she was alright, he could ask to go.

Yotsuba smiled widely at the apology that was given to her and her new "stuffed" friend. She held Terriermon close, hugging him tightly with one arm, while adjusting her wig a bit with her free hand. Of course, to the uninformed observer, it would probably just seem like she was fixing her hair or what have you. "Thank you," she started, her voice cracking a slight bit as she was adjusting it. Although her voice wasn't all that low at all, working it to sound more convincing as a girl wasn't easy work by any means. "We both really appreciate it," she added. "Oh, I'm Yotsuba, and this is my little friend-- he doesn't have a name yet though," she said, offering a small frown before giggling a bit and then lightly holding onto one of Terriermon's arms, holding it out so as to "shake" hands with Fuyuki.

"Well, Yotsuba-" Fuyuki glanced down to the toy bunny. "-and friend, it's nice to meet you guys. I mean, not like this, kinda wish it'd gone better, but still." He took the toy's hand between finger and thumb and shook it. It felt... well, granted, he hadn't exactly had any stuffed toys around in a long time. Maybe they were all like that now. "Oh, uh, I'm Fuyuki." Wouldn't do to forget introductions on his end. He let go of the toy's hand. The longer he held it, the weirder it felt, even if he couldn't articulate why.

As soon as she heard the name Fuyuki, a lightbulb went off in her head. So THAT'S why he seemed so familiar! She brought Terriermon back to her chest, back to holding onto him-- luckily for Terriermon she wasn't holding on too tightly. "Oh, yeah, now I recognize you. We go to school together," she said, a wide smile on her face. Of course, Yotsuba quickly came to the realization that he wouldn't know her-- as she went to school as a boy, clearly he would recognize (well, maybe) recognize her there, but would have no clue who she was here. "But, yeah... it's nice to meet you, Fuyuki," she said, her smile getting a bit smaller as she started to get a bit more nervous.

"We do?" He looked her over again. He didn't think she was in the same year as he was. Above? ...maybe, he wasn't sure though. Below? ... no idea whatsoever. "Ah, sorry, but, hey, that's cool! Maybe we could hang out sometime after classes?" A bit rambly, but he did feel bad he didn't recognize her. Normally he made a point to at least know faces. He'd have to keep an eye out for Yotsuba.

Yotsuba turned a bright red when he suggested they hang out. He would really hang out with her? She was definitely more than a bit lucky today, it seemed. "O-oh yeah! That would be so much fun! Well... if you want to, of course, that would be fun. Yeah," she said, starting to ramble herself as her face seemed to turn more and more red. She'd have to make sure not to talk to him too much-- if at all at school, just to make sure that he would even less potentially suspect anything. "S-So... what are you up to over in this area?" she asked, trying to change the subject as best she could.

"Well, of course." At least Yotsuba seemed enthusiastic about the idea. He grinned. And of course pretend she wasn't blushing, it only made people nervous or upset. Fuyuki hated making people nervous or upset.

Well. That was an abrupt change. He blinked. "Oh, Yuu's book bag broke, they just needed help getting home." He shrugged. How he had made the space between 'book' and 'bag' audible was a bit of a mystery, but it was more accurate. "You hang out around here?" He scratched his head. It was possible she actually lived around here - he didn't see everyone in Yuu's apartment, after all, and there were a lot of apartment buildings. But asking if someone lived 'around here' just struck Fuyuki as at least mildly creepy.

Yotsuba gave a slight nod, "Well, I live near here, sort of," she said. She didn't want to give her exact location or anywhere near it out of fear of being found out that there was no Yotsuba that lived there. "I tend to hang around here a lot. There's a lot of places to go to and it's a nice area at least, not really dangerous or anything," she explained. "What about you? I don't think I've seen you around here very often," she mused, tilting her head to the side slightly in wondering that.

"Yeah. Uh-" Fuyuki pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "Yuu lives around here too. They say it's pretty quiet - dunno what they'd do if it wasn't." Partly because Yuu took their studies very seriously, and partly because Fuyuki had only seen Yuu lose their temper once.

Surprisingly, the bookworm was even more frightening than the mugger. It was a funny world they all lived in, and Fuyuki left it at that, since, hey, Yuu had been having a bad week, not like they were naturally a bad person.

"You know, if you ever, I dunno, need help with science homework, you could probably ask them for help. Just say Fuyuki sent you, they won't mind." Well, they would a little. But they'd reserve the curt words for him instead of her. A bit rambly there, makes you sound like an idiot, the little voice that sounded like his brother said.

She nodded, still holding onto Terriermon. "Well, that's a really nice offer Fuyuki, thanks," she said. "I'll make sure to take them up on it if I need to-- science isn't my strong suit," she said with a slight giggle. "But, uh... I think I should probably be heading home now, sorry," she said, a frown coming on her face. It wasn't like she wanted to stop talking to Fuyuki-- he was nice to talk to and cute as well. "But... uh... I'll talk to you later then? You can always find me in this area after school is out, usually. I like to get ramen after class, so you can always find me there-- and treat me, if you want," she said before laughing again. Of course, she wasn't serious about having him treat her to an after school snack, but hopefully he would find it just as funny.

Fuyuki leaned in a bit closer so his stage whisper was easier to hear: "It's not mine either." He didn't think that was a secret, though, what with the public posting of rankings. Good thing he was such a people person.

It was a little saddening to see her frown. On one hand, yeah, he couldn't stick around much longer either. On the other, he didn't want to see her upset. "Yeah - I gotta go to Hoshiko's place anyways. She didn't feel good." It sounded like a bit of a lame excuse, he knew. "But, yeah, sounds good. I'll try dropping by." And if he happened to have called in a debt to treat her, well, that'd be convenient. Then an idea struck him. "Oh!" His face lit up, and he pulled off his bag, digging around in it until he pulled out a scrap of paper and a pen. "If you wanna set anything up, though-" He finished writing and held the paper out to Yotsuba - his name and phone number. "-feel free to call, alright?" He beamed; hopefully, not too forward.

He did like hanging out with friends, though.

She held onto the phone number when he handed it to her, a rather goofy smile on her face as she turned a bright red. "Y-Yeah, I'll be... I'll be sure to call it, thanks," she said, almost unable to believe this was happening. Fuyuki was probably her biggest crush, so being able to get his phone number was like a dream come true. "Sorry that I have to get going so soon, but I'll make sure to call you as soon as I have the chance," she said, now holding onto Terriermon's arm again and waving goodbye to Fuyuki. "I'll see you later," she said before gently putting Terriermon in her backpack and turning around to go find a hiding spot to change back into her boy clothes and head home.

Fuyuki waved to Yotsuba until she was out of sight. That had been an interesting encounter. At least she was nice. He began whistling as he crossed the street - on his way back to his own apartment building, where both he and Hoshiko lived. If nothing else, it was nicely convenient to live so close to her. Friends ever since he was 9 and his mother and stepdad moved in.

The trip took a bit longer than he liked, and he knocked on her door. There was muffled voice, a banging sound, and swearing. Fuyuki rocked on his heels until the door opened, and Hoshiko looked up at him.

"You look awful." The words tumbled out, though he wasn't too worried; the two had known each other far too long to offend each other.

"It was worse earlier." She sniffled, walking back in. He followed after her, closing the door after himself. "What took you so long?"

"Yuu needed help carrying books, and then I met someone from school!" He beamed and paused. "Hey, you know a Yotsuba?"

"Who?"

"Ah. Well, no biggie. So, anyhow...."
--
Yotsuba quickly ran off after her encounter with Fuyuki, going down about a half mile or so until she reached a part of the area that was more or less empty, which was something she was thankful for. She started to walk into a nearby alleyway, once again checking the area to make sure no one was around. Once her paranoia had calmed down, she walked into the alley way, setting her backpack down and first taking off her wig.

"Whoa! You can just take your hair off like that? I didn't know humans could take their hair off like that!" Terriermon said, a look of utter surprise on his face. Yotsuba had seen the small, well, it definitely wasn't a stuffed toy anymore, talk, and let out a yelp, nearly falling backwards.

"You can talk? You can't talk, you're just a toy!" she screamed, thinking that it was now a good idea not to take her clothes off first.

"I'm no toy, my name is Terriermon! I'm just as alive as you are!" he told her. "I'm a Digimon! So... I'm not quite like you, but I'm alive too, just so you know!" he added.

"Oh... my... God... I made the best choice at the store!" Yotsuba shrieked excitedly, quickly picking Terriermon out of the backpack and hugging her new friend tightly. Of course, while she was incredibly excited for this new friend, she didn't even yet think about how she would hide a small talking animal... thing. Well, she had a long walk home, she'd figure it out. Hopefully.

“This shit’s broken.”

“considering it’s you, could be.”

“Hey, you stuck me with this. And you did it just fine before.”

“have you tried rebooting the system?”

“I am the system, you idiot. That’s a little tough to do.”

“try it anyways.”

“Maybe I should reboot you.”

“not gonna happen, natty, i - ...whoa.”

“Ok, how? Why the hell isn’t it working when I’m actually trying?”

“no idea. but look! hands!”

“I have no idea how you could possibly be older than me.”

“mostly by being a sneaky -”

“What?”

“did you feel that?”

“...is this a digimon thing?”

“actually, yeah. something else came through.”

“Well, fuck. ...good a time as any to see if this shit’ll work.”
--
It was in the office district, thankfully late at night. The skyscrapers stood tall and dark, no one working in them at this hour. It did not make the area wholly abandoned - those driving through towards stores or their homes had to contend with the sudden thick fog rolling in, covering the streets and the sidewalks and alleyways. In one of those alleyways, something large formed.

Its taloned feet dropped onto the ground, cracking the cement. Beads of moisture collected on its feathers, then scattered by a shake of its head. Its gaze easily pierced the fog - a bit of spillover from the Digital World. The way back was closed. That was fine. It would simply learn to survive here. To hunt in this new city.

The Allomon growled as it began to walk, seeking new prey.
--
Yotsuba had been spending quite a bit of that night talking to Terriermon. She had been learning all he had to tell her about the Digital World, good Digimon, bad Digimon, how he had to fight to survive at times. Life was easier for him compared to plenty of other Digimon, but not completely easy. She had asked him plenty of times how he ended up coming to her world, and it was something even he wasn’t sure about.

He had been there for a few weeks, finally stumbling across the toy store, and hiding there for warmth and a safe place to sleep at night. And luckily for both of them, Yotsuba had managed to pick him out and take him home-- albeit not in the most honest way.

Suddenly, Terriermon’s ears perked up and he let out a low growl as he leaped towards the window in Yotsuba’s room, grabbing onto it.

“S-Something wrong, Terriermon?” Yotsuba asked, crawling over behind her friend, who still seemed to be agitated for some reason she wasn’t sure of.

“There’s… something… out there!” he told her, still growling, with Yotsuba shushing a bit, hoping he would keep it down so her parents wouldn’t hear.

“What’s out there?” she asked in a whisper.

“A Digimon…” he told her, hopping off the window and taking a few steps back, before leaping at it, Yotsuba grabbed him and held him to the ground so as to prevent the chance at the sliding door in her room breaking from the impact or anything.

“Why is it making you so upset?” she asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“It’s big… and I don’t think it’s friendly. We have to get out there!” he told her, turning to face her as she let go of him.

“Are you crazy? It’s late… we can’t go out there! I’ll get caught!” she told him, biting her lip nervously.

“Come on Yotsuba, we have to!” he urged.

She looked at the ground, and after letting out a sigh, she nodded. “Ok, ok, just let me pack up my clothes and stuff and we’ll get going. I’ll think of some excuse to leave,” she told him, and Terriermon nodded.

It took a bit of time for Yotsuba to pack a suitable outfit and wig, along with some goggles she opted to bring just in case. She had Terriermon get into her backpack after and zipped it up, quickly heading into the living room, telling her parents that she had to go to a friend’s house to help study for a test they had tomorrow-- which worked, luckily.

After getting a block or two away from her apartment, she went into a nearby alley, putting on her outfit, a school uniform for girls, a blonde wig, and putting the goggles on her head (opting not to put them over her eyes yet). Terriermon hopped in front of her, starting to run off in another frenzy, Yotsuba trailing behind as quickly as she could.
--
Allomon stopped and sniffed the air. Data. Good to know that would be able to find suitable prey, wherever it was. It turned towards the smell and saw two figures approaching - one was unfamiliar, but the other other one looked like a Terriermon.

Roasted rabbit sounded delicious.

“Dino Burst!” The fire streamed from its mouth, aimed at the small Rookie-level. The other one, it could sample later. As soon as the fire started coming out of Allomon’s mouth, Terriermon and Yotsuba rushed out of the way.

“Ok, you stay out of the way, I’ll fight it. If you get hit you’ll get hurt way too badly by that,” Terriermon told her as he started to run towards Allomon as quickly as his feet could carry him.

Yotsuba gave a hard gulp, nervous about her new friend fighting this giant beast. She couldn’t let him go it alone, so she got up, following behind him-- albeit from a good distance.

Terriermon jumped up, quickly spinning.

“Terrier Tornado!” he shouted, before spinning so fast he looked like a literal tornado himself. The tornado shot away from him, moving quickly towards Allomon, and hanging in the air for a bit to watch as the small green tornado hit Allomon.

Allomon’s head turned at the force of the attack - but, unfortunately, it didn’t seem to have done much else. It righted itself, growling at Terriermon. Little thing had some fight, to be sure, and that was annoying in food, but so far this was all it had. So be it.

“Dynamite Head!” It charged at Terriermon, hoping to catch him before he could land and evade the blow.

Both Yotsuba and Terriermon grimaced as the attacked seemed to do just about nothing to Allomon. As Allomon started to charge at Terriermon, Yotsuba let out a yelp, but unfortunately couldn’t do much and was hit, and sent hurtling to the ground.

“Terriermon!” Yotsuba screamed, starting to run over as Terriermon got up, hurt, but still in good enough shape to keep fighting. Terriermon started running towards Allomon again.

“Bunny Blast!” he shouted, shooting a few blasts of superhot air at his legs before jumping up, shooting another one at Allomon’s face. The attacks to the legs made the Allomon stagger back, wincing. Its skull was apparently too hard to be affected by the Bunny Blast, but not the rest of its body. It shook its head and steadied itself before opening its jaw. Terriermon wanted heat?

“Dino Burst!” Again, flames swept out aiming at where Terriermon would likely land.

Terriermon started to land, and Yotsuba ran forward, not noticing the attack that Allomon was readying up-- instead wanting to protect her friend.

As Terriermon landed, he had already noticed that Allomon was getting ready to attack again, and grabbed onto Yotsuba’s goggles as best he could, using his ears to try and lift them away just out of range.

And as much of a longshot as it was, the two barely managed to avoid the flames, and the dust that was kicked up sending the two hurtling away a bit, knocking them both on the ground. They were down. It was was time to strike a finishing blow. Allomon opened its mouth-

“darkness gear!”

The attack impacted against its teeth. Allomon roared, growling at it faced the yellow-eyed Hagurumon floating not so far away.

“Dynamite Head!” It charged at the machine digimon, who dropped down to avoid the massive dinosaur. Footsteps approached Yotsuba and stopped, a very familiar face looking down to her before he spoke, voice same as it had been that afternoon:

“Tell me, you think the universe really likes you or is it just hoping for a repeat performance? Because there’s no way you should be alive right now.”

Yotsuba quirked an eyebrow, confused, while Terriermon was getting up. Once she realized who it was, her face turned red and she smiled, “Nice to see you too,” she said, trying her best not to be offended by the comment.

She finally got up, dusting herself off, “We were doing fine-- but thanks for the help,” she said, still smiling.

“Ok, ok, let’s get back to this,” Terriermon said, taking a moment to catch his breath before literally leaping back into battle to assist Hagurumon.

“Bunny Blast!” Terriermon shouted, shooting another barrage of superhot air blasts at Allomon, this time opting to aim for his body and legs instead of its head.

Yotsuba grinned and clenched her fists in excitement, turning briefly to look at her friend who had decided to help her out. “I didn’t know you had a Digimon too,” she said, before looking back at Allomon, cheering Terriermon on.

He raised an eyebrow at her before nodding curtly. “Picked up the bastard a few days ago.”

Allomon stumbled at the attacks Terriermon launched, and Hagurumon made his move: “gear roller!” He swooped at Allomon’s legs and, when close, rolled the left ankle between one of the hand gears and the main body gear. Allomon fell to the ground - not beaten but certainly crippled. Hagurumon came to a halt near Terriermon.

“...hi there.” The machine digimon waved. “friendly, i hope?” He looked to the Allomon, trying to right itself. “well, anyways, he suggested I just shoot darkness gears down allomon’s throat if he tries another dino burst. guessing you could do something similar.”

Yotsuba seemed confused. Despite only meeting him a few hours ago, something seemed… different about him, his mannerisms, something. She mentally shook the thought away, maybe he was like Terriermon in that he got a bit different during a fight?

When Hagurumon waved, Terriermon waved back, “Yup, I’m friendly! Just wanting to stop this big lug,” he told Hagurumon, looking over as Allomon was starting to recover from the assaults.

“Both of us attack when he opens his mouth and aim for the mouth, got it!” Terriermon said with a small smile before leaping up in the air again, waiting for the right moment to attack. Allomon snarled at the two Rookies. It was not going to be beaten by them - it refused. It opened its mouth, fire collecting in the back of its throat and giving it a ghastly look-

“now! darkness gears!” Hagurumon launched the small explosive gears. Terriermon nodded, prepping his attack, “Bunny Blast!” and more of the superhot air blasts shot from his mouth straight towards Allomon’s open mouth.

Both attacks hit where they needed to. The Allomon gasped for air that it couldn’t get before its head fell to the ground. Its outline grew fuzzy and pixelated before dissolving altogether, the dinosaur digimon vanishing into the aether. Hagurumon smiled.

“that went pretty good, terriermon.” He glanced to his tamer, who was impatiently tapping his foot. “i think i’m wanted elsewhere. sorry about him.” He flew over to the boy’s side. The boy gave Yotsuba one last contemptuous look.

“You can keep doing what you were trying back there. But don’t come crying to me if you or the bunny get killed. Come on, Hagurumon.” He walked away, the machine digimon muttering something under his breath.

Terriermon nodded to Hagurumon, “Yeah, we did pretty darn good,” he said with a small smile, watching as Hagurumon flew over, deciding to slowly walk over to Yotsuba now. Yotsuba looked at the place where Allomon once was.

“So is it… gone for good?” she asked and Terriermon nodded.

“Yup, we beat that thing, it won’t be coming back around these parts at all,” he told her. Yotsuba looked to face the boy.

“Thanks for the help, we might not have made it without you guys,” Yotsuba told the boy and Hagurumon, but looking confused at his next comment.

“H-Hey! We were doing fine before you came along!” she said angrily, crossing her arms and turning red. “He wasn’t like this earlier… I wonder what’s up with him…” she muttered to herself as Terriermon stopped next to her.

“Shouldn’t we go back home now?” he asked, poking at her leg slightly.

“Crap! You’re right!” she said nervously, grabbing her companion and running off to get changed and get home.

“What the fuck,” Kazuya mouthed to himself in utter disbelief as a big, gold SOMETHING just came crashing down from the sky like a proverbial flash of lightning, hurriedly backing away from the thrashing shape whilst he was still flat on his ass, “What the absolute and utter fu-”

“GOD FUCKING DAMMIT,” It shrieked with rage, climbing back to its gigantic feet with an earth-shaking stomp and promptly caving a nearby factory roof in with a single blow from a similarly gigantic fist, “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCKING FUCK WAS THAT.”

Kazuya didn’t really consider himself the person to fall apart under stress, but as far as ridiculous situations went, this was far too much, even for him- it was like he’d been scooped up from real life and dumped ungraciously into a crappy tv show. He was usually a fan of those things, but he certainly wasn’t a fan of this situation, whatever the hell it was, and so as the big metal thingie raged on, he climbed to his feet and turned, intending to take a chance on the fickle bitch known as lady luck, preparing to run as-

“OI!”

“Shitshitshit,” He hissed under his breath, the sudden yell from behind him making him jump before promptly freezing in place. Had it seen hi-

“Get the fuck back here, you little bastard.”

Yup. It had.
“Shit,” Kazuya muttered to himself again, before turning back to face the big metal thing as it lowered a demand at him. Best to comply with the thing that could probably squish him like a bug without a second thought.

As he turned, he noticed the creature seemed disoriented; he couldn’t clue enough out from the body language (considering how alien the body in question seemed to be) to make a confident judgement, but his knowledge of human body language gave him the impression of the creature that it (he? It sounded like a he. Unless it was popping steroids and 20 packs a day back home- did giant metal monster things even need those?) that it was distressed. Thinking rationally, it screaming and ranting in disbelief about something could have been a tip-off to that; but hey, it wasn’t like he was thinking rationally at the t-

“I said get back here!” It demanded again, this time growling rather than screaming or yelling as its (no, it’s definitely a he, giant monsters don’t need steroids and they probably don’t make cigarettes that big- what about a monster blunt, though? Probably not, just a figure of speech), voice brought Kazuya back to attention. He’d drifted off again. God knows how in this situation.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming,” He replied, trying to sound confident and calm, but only succeeding at sounding halfway between there and how utterly freaked out he actually was, “I’m coming.”

He relaxed a little bit as the metal monster didn’t fall back on screaming again, and he quickly began to edge closer as he seemed to relax itself.

“Where the fuck am I?” He asked, in a tone that seemed to make abundantly clear he was still pissed off despite the attempt at relaxing himself, as he eyed the small thing in front of him edge his way back towards him, “Tell me that and I’ll hold off on squishing you like a-”

Whatever presumably insignificant creature from back where he came from he was going to use as an example to illustrate the ease with which he could crush Kazuya, the young man would never quite find out; before he could finish his sentence, the electricity still crackling in the air burst out again and something came crashing down to earth with all the grace and dignity of a cat in cement shoes.

Right on top of the gold thingie.

“-VABITCH,” a hulking blue shape screamed out as it landed on top of the gold creature, causing them both to fall straight to the ground with an impact that shook it and, once again, knocked Kazuya flat on his ass.

This time, Kazuya seemed a little more prepared; compared to his initial reaction to the gold thing’s arrival, this blue thing arriving didn’t seem to have quite the same effect. Sure, he stared open-mouthed at it (well, probably a ‘he’, too- guessing the same logic applied to this one as the other one- why wouldn’t it?) for an increasingly long period of time as the two monsters rolled about on the ground, but there wasn’t quite the same feeling of being dropped into a crappy anime as before. Now things were just getting cliche.

Out of his thoughts and back in reality, it seemed like the gold thing had had the attitude knocked out of him a bit by having the blue thing land on him; at the very least, it seemed that way when, instead of violence or hurling abuse, he only opened his mouth and asked “A-Atlur? Is that y-you?” in a weak, groaning tone of voice.

“Yeah, it’s me,” the blue thing replied in a similar groan, before a limb reached out and grasped the nearby roof so that it could pull itself to its feet, “You get grabbed by those gold things too?”

“Y-yeah,” The gold thing replied, crawling across the ground and into the open space before it as the blue thing eased itself off of him.