The vibrations from under the seat were comforting and soothing, suppressing the anxieties she had of the night. The lights of the store fronts that were merely metres away from the car blurred past in her sight, creating a beautiful mural for her eyes to take in. Sinking into the cushioned passenger seat, she gave a blissful sigh. Such wonders were out there in the urban night.

"I heard the reviews for it were pretty good," the words caused her to glance over, her dark brown eyes meeting the light green ones in the other seat. In turning her head towards the owner, a large egg shape mass projecting a pale golden light was caught in the corner of her eye, zipping past them at the same acceleration they were heading at.

"Aidan," the words involuntarily escaped her mouth, her body moving to it's own accord. Her eyes dropped down, and she shuffled her body closer to the middle of the car to place her brown skinned hand on his arm. "We can see another movie. I know it isn't in a man's tastes to see something like this."

Something's wrong. Was this how it was?

The boy chuckled, causing her to blush out of embarrassment. She just didn't want to embarrass him by seeing it. "Come on, Dee. If I wanted to see something specifically, I would not have giving you the chance to decide." He shone a confident but affectionate smile at her, causing the girl to shrink away and remove her grasp, but not before the boy grabbed it with his own hand. "You know this is one of those times I would kiss you, but I am driving."

Her eyes closed as she chuckled lightly, feeling the touch of his fingers slip away and moving her hand to tuck some mixed brown and pale pink highlighted hair behind her ear. She opened them up, only to see his own gaze fully returned to the road but beneath his lower lids were streams of blood rushing to his jawline.

Her voice was chipper and her facial features remained in a happy state. The girl could not make her worry, fear and horror surface no matter how hard she tried. "If you say so."

I'm lost. I-I can remember it, but I don't know anymore.

But he faced her again, the streams vanished from his skin, but so too did the surroundings. The dashboard, seats and the safety harnesses fell, but she could still feel the belt around her front and waist. The outside and the hood of the car melded into darkness, even though the night breeze from her open window was felt. All that was there was the two of them.

But even that started to change. Her companion turned transparent, the dusty blond strands of his hair and tanned complexion mixed with the black that surrounded them. Behind his form were two small lights, set an equal distance apart from themselves, but they were approaching them and getting larger as they came.

Aidan. Why?

The distance between the pair and the lights was closing in fast, and fear bubbled inside her mind though panic refused to show in her body movements. She was frozen, and was starting to see past the boy as her eyes were only catching the lights. Closer they came, with awesome speed until they were close enough to plow them over in seconds.

But the male's words came right before impact, apparently unfazed by the doom that was encroaching on them.

---

Nerves shooting up and down her spine jolted her body and muscles into consciousness. Devika Rukmini lay motionless, allowing her senses to reawaken. Her whole body was stiff, as if the teen had been sleeping more than a day. The darkness under her lids was soon softened by what little light was available outside of her senseless world. Feeling came back to the girl's body, although the texture that she felt was not what was expected. The ground was softer than she imagined it would be, and when she opened her eyes she meet with darkness in the one that was covered by a patch and uncomfortably large green in the other.

What? She closed them. Creating fists repeatedly only to open them later and switch the position of her appendages, getting a feel for how much room there was around her, assisted her body in feeling more alive.

The surprises came to Devi with just how much room was around her and that her previously aching body lost those very pains.

Rolling onto her hands and knees, the girl pushed herself off the ground with surprising ease, though her mind had not received the same amount of energy as her body and still wandered in darkness. Getting to a sitting position helped Devi clear her head as the girl took a few moments to take in the foreign grounds.

It was fairly evident that the girl wasn't where she last thought she was, unless the thick trunks of the trees surrounding her and the grass underneath could somehow fit inside an elevator. Confusion struck her; was she abducted when she walked out the hospital and dumped in a forest outside the city? Frowning it wasn't likely. Her body, though stiff and asleep, felt better than it had before, the muscle pains that she had for the past while just disappeared. It just did not feel like that was a likely scenario.

Wait. Confused even, more her left hand grappled it's way to her face, feeling around for the eye area. The patch was still on. If she was targeted for abduction, surely they would have removed it to confirm the girl's identity. If my injuries are gone, then maybe...

A painful yelp came from her throat when the last of the adhesive was torn off her skin as she clutched her eye in her hand. Removing it and her hand slowly, Devi sighed in disappointment.

No change. The girl was still blind on the left side.

Shaking her head, the dark skinned teen got herself into a standing position and crumpled the patch into a ball to stuff into the pocket of her denim capris, annoyed at the selective healing magic of where she was. Taking in the area for a moment, she spotted something of which she remembered; her violin case. Rushing over, a mix of brown and pink bouncing behind her, her fingers flipped the locks of the case open to examine what was inside. The instrument itself was unharmed but plucking the each of the strings caused her to cringe at each vibrating sound; the surroundings and change in the air made them horribly out of tune. Opening the pockets of the case, at the narrow end, she found her rosin box (the stone still intact inside), her wallet, keys and cellular phone. Not even bothering to check if anyone robbed her of cash, instinctively Devi reached for the phone but found both display screens non-functional and black.

"What?" I should still be able to get service. Pocketing the phone, she closed the case and knelled for a moment beside it on the grass. "Where am I?"

"Are you sure this is the way Mura-kun?" Tsuki worriedly asked her draconic partner as he made a path through the thick folliage with his beloved Tsurugi. The Ryuudamon had insisted on departing from the existing trails for some reason, and was leading his tamer through heavily overgrown terrain. His orange fur and black armor gleamed whenever he passed through a spot of dappled sunlight that managed to pierce the canopy above.

"Yes, Lady Moon." Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi replied stoically, between arcing cuts of his blade. "This is the fastest route which does not critically compromise our safety. No Digimon of any significant size or power live in this immediate area."

Tsuki cocked her head down at the dragon, nearly knocking her new hat off. It was black with two red stripes and a crescent moon clip. It matched well with the black tank top and black plaid skirt she had chosen to wear that day. She didn't usually wear skirts, but it was a nice change after how long she had been unable to change clothes. Even her very favorite pair of shorts got old fast when she was stuck with it. "How do you know Mura-kun? You were trapped in Orochi's belly for a long time, weren't you?"

"Very," the dragon answered. "It's just logic though. Big Digimon wouldn't fit through here without leaving signs, and powerful Digimon leave signs of their own if you know how to look. Besides Lady Moon, wild Digimon are not inclined to change their habits or their territories without provocation, even after many years."

"If you say so Mura-kun," Tsuki shrugged. She then shifted the arm she was carrying Luna in. The small bulbous, silver Moonmon was still asleep. The battle with Orochi had worn her very thin, Tsuki couldn't imagine her first partner would have survived even just a little more damage. It was a sad thought, especially after what happened to One-bozu...

"Unusual," Murakumo said suddenly, regaining his tamer's attention. "There is someone up ahead after all."

"Who?" Tsuki asked, suddenly worried.

"It's hard to tell," the Dragon answered, stalking forward softly and listening carefully. A few odd twangs of sound later he had his theories though. "It seems likely to be a human peasant... with some sort of musical instrument." Another few steps, a little more listening, "whoever or whatever it is though, I believe they're alone. For the moment at least. I doubt they'll pose a threat, let's continue onward Lady Moon."

A tamer? Without a partner? "Let's go meet them Mura-kun. If it's a tamer without a partner they're either new or they're in trouble, we should say hi and see if they need help."

Murakumo turned and looked up at his tamer. "I admire your compassion Lady Moon. As long as there's no danger we can do as you wish."

"Thanks Mura-kun," Tsuki said with a smile and patted the Dragon's armored head.

Murakumo led Tsuki toward the source of the noise, and sure enough there was human girl there in a small gap amongst the trees, sitting in the grass next to an instrument case and looking very distraught.

Um, hi," Tsuki called nervously to her fellow human, keeping a distance so as not to spook her. Though the armed and armored form of Murakumo might very well accomplish that anyway.

((Had a little trouble with it, but far from my worst work ^^))

Devi sighed for a moment before she caught the sound of a voice. Looking over to the source with her good eye, her breath froze in her throat. To her side was a silver haired girl, around her own age with oriental Asian features standing in the foliage of the trees. She looked normal enough, at least as normal as Devi could assume. It was the beast by the other girl's feet that shook her nerves.

Her muscles went rigid at the sight, almost similar to a fearful cat. Her eyes could not move from the orange furred, samarai armour wearing beast. The confusion in her mind was instantly replaced with fear and a small hint of curiousity as to what that was. Sitting on one knee and groping the ground for the case handle, Devi took her gaze off the dragon wielding a shiny sword and looked to the girl again, this time taking note of the odd bubble in her arms. Except it was no bubble; Devi could see what looked to be closed eyes and a mouth on the lower portion of its body.

So did that mean that there were multiple creatures in wherever she was? They did not appear to be anything that was from Earth. And from the appearance of the girl holding the smaller one, maybe that meant that there were some that were harmless.

Although the Ryuudamon caught her attention again. He was holding onto a saber. It didn't cause anymore fear for her at the moment and caused her curiousity to spark slightly more than her fright.

The dark skinned girl relaxed a bit, body sagging a little bit but not moving from where she sat, brows furrowing in confusion again. Squeezing her eyes to open them again, in case this was some bizarre creation of her subconscious in a dream, she looked to the girl again suddenly remembering how rude she was being.

"H-hi. Uh, if you don't mind, where am I and," she nodded her head to the dragon, "what is that?"

Tsuki smiled patiently as the stranger startled, then calmed and looked over Murakumo and then Luna. Tsuki could vaguely remember when she was new and scared like that. She could also remember a couple times she was much less new, but much more scared...

Finally the inevitable question was asked. "H-hi. Uh, if you don't mind, where am I and, what is that?"

"Um, that's..." Tsuki started, but she was cut off by Murakumo.

"I am Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi," the small dragon said, "the Sword God." Speaking of blades, he banished his back to wherever it went when he wasn't using it. "And I am Lady Moon's yojimbo."

The Ryuudamon's response caused a nervous chuckle from his tamer. "Um, that's nice Mura-kun, but I think she means in the larger sense." The silver-haired girl cleared her throat and prepared to try and explain, a duty which would usually be handled by the more capable Luna. "Um, you're in the Digital World, it's... a weird place, it's really big too, and it's filled with creatures called Digimon, like Mura-kun and Luna-chan here." Tsuki shifted the silvery bundle in her arms again. "Most of them are pretty nice, but some of them are really, really mean..."

The pet dragon spat out words and phrases that only added to a headache for Devi. They sounded very similar to where the other girl was from; maybe that meant that the creatures, the Digimon, here were all Japanese? Or were they the same as their human, or was it whatever they choose to be?

...Did they even have countries here? Were they tied with Britain?

Shut up and stop. The command to herself was swift as Devi gulped, trying to get control of her thoughts and put them together. Go one step at a time. One thought at a time. Don't act crazy.

Trying not to dwell on the Ryuudamon's choice of words (or what they meant) and concentrating more on the girl, the older human listened attentively, but that didn't seem to last long. When the words of the Digital World came out of Tsuki, the fear that her dragon and waking up a strange forested land came back, stiffening her muscles again. It was something that she had to try to stop, or it'll wear her body out too much.

"Digital world," Devi carefully repeated when Tsuki was done her vague explanation. As she did, the Indian teen caught a rather sad mental image of being stuck in a digital clock. She was nowhere near a computer or programmable object when she blacked out, save the now useless phone. So how was it that she came here?

"Most of them are pretty nice, but some of them are really, really mean..."

The honesty the Asian girl gave was comforting, and relaxed her a bit, making Devi smile slightly; she didn't have the time or the right mindset to question if it was true or not. "Digimon," the word came out funny from her mouth, though not really hindered by the English accent. "They aren't from Earth then. And I guess, I'm not standing on Earth anymore..." Devi's words were not intentionally directed at Tsuki, but more just to comfort herself. The notion of the possibility that she was on another realm of existence was frightening.

Best to start with some small questions first...

"These Digimon, where do they come from here?"

((Super happy K-ON! OP music got me in the mood to post X3))

((How did a couple hours of thinking time turn into most of a month of procrastination? Sorry ^^; ))

Tsuki nodded encouragingly as the new girl thought out loud about her situation. The conclusion that she wasn't back on earth anymore was a simple enough one and didn't need any particular response.

"These Digimon, where do they come from here?"

That, however, was a very good question, on Tsuki honestly hadn't put much thought into before. "I don't really know," she admitted sheepishly. "They're just sort of everywhere, I don't think they come from anywhere specific."

The silver-haired girl looked down at Luna, and suddenly found herself wishing even more that the Moonmon were awake. Luna was always so knowledgable about things like that. Without her, Tsuki was struck by the sheer number of questions that went without answers. Instead she looked down to Murakumo hopefully, "do you know Mura-kun?"

The dragon looked from one human to the other and back again. "Digimon come from many places, but a vast majority of the lower classes come from the Village of Beginings, in the plains past Kusanagi. If one were looking for a source of our kind, that would be the first place to look."

Tsuki nodded at Murakumo's words and then looked back to the new girl. "Well, there's your answer... I think."

She had to admit it. While the only other human around was being as helpful, pleasant and sweet as Devi could dream of, the dragon at her heels simply wasn't. Not that this 'Mura-kun' was outright rude to her, but in the case where she wanted answers and useful ones, the Ryuudamon was severely lacking in that department. Thoughts of the sabre he wielded when they approached the dark skinned girl and the fear that he gave her faded into simple frustration as his unclear answers.

Rubbing her face with a hand and sighing, Devi silently wished that this was a dream. "Not really what I meant," she hoped that Tsuki would not take her words the wrong way, but shrugged it off, "but okay I guess. Except I have no clue where this village is or anything for that matter. Is there someway to find out?"

She paused for a minute, to try and let the other girl, or perhaps the confusing furred and armoured dragon answer her, then licked her lips. It was a bit of a habit with her and new people. "My name's Devi, by the way."

((Eh *shrugs* gets the job done <.<))

((Indeed it does ^^ As does this, or so I hope. Either way I'm not letting myself get away with not providing a prompt response this time.))

"Except I have no clue where this village is or anything for that matter. Is there someway to find out?"

Another question that momentarilly caused Tsuki to stumble. Murakumo could just tell the girl how to get to this 'Village of Beginings,' and Tsuki could do the same for the city, albeit with less than perfect confidence given all the back routes Murakumo had chosen to take in their recent wanderings. Then she remembered something Luna had done with her D-Ban a couple times.

"I think there's a map or something..." Tsuki started, while fumbling about with her digivice's buttons with her spare hand.

"My name's Devi, by the way."

"Nice to meet you Devi," Tsuki managed a bow between frowning at a holographic display of a Ryuudamon and various statistics that popped up from her D-Ban, and nearly losing her grip on Luna. "I'm Tsuki."

Finally a rough map of the digital world came up, all the different types of terrain grouped up in their own areas instead of mixed up and spread all over the place like they would be in the human world. Bold red lines zig-zagged across its face, marking the Trailmon routes.

Tsuki frowned at the map. "Well, however I did that, it might help you." She pointed to the equivalent gadget on the other girl's wrist. "Other than that, if you can find train tracks and follow them to a station, the Trailmon can take you almost anywhere you want to go. I think there were some back that way." The silver-haired girl now pointed back down the path Murakumo had cut through the woods with his blade.

A memory of a previous incident in which she had been forced to follow the train tracks for any hope of survival boiled up in the girl's mind, dampening her mood somewhat.

((If I missed/forgot something, do tell me. ^^))

Nodding as Tsuki returned her introduction and fiddled with the device strapped to her arm, Devi searched for the same item. Her brown eyes found it on her left wrist, and she tried momentarily to pry it off, then felt frustrated as the silver base didn't budge or appear to have a seam on the strap. Pink sore wrist and tired body, she waited patiently for Tsuki to finish finding the map function of the D-Ban and was surprised that it came up as a hologram instead of just appearing on the surface of screen.

She'd have to do her own exploring with the device soon enough. Though for now, Devi's appeared black and unresponsive.

"Other than that, if you can find train tracks and follow them to a station, the Trailmon can take you almost anywhere you want to go."

The Indian girl frowned. She had only been in this plane of existence for less than five minutes and had no idea just where everything was. How could she know where to go?

Well this village place that the Ryuudamon mentioned at least seemed like a start of sorts. The idea of following rails just in the hope of bumping into something was not a keen one in Devi's mind. At least, by herself.

"Thank you," she smiled, seeing the trouble that Tsuki had gone to to bring up that holographic map and juggle the tear-drop in her arms. Gulping, her cheeks flushed a bit, slightly hidden by the pigment of her skin. "Would it be possible for you to come with me to this village? If you're not doing anything else that is. I just..."

I just don't want to be alone in this place. Devi couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence and just smiled brightly at the younger teen instead, hoping she would silently understand.


((Let me know if there's anything the matter or what. I don't really have much of a planned path, so I'm just trying to go with the flow ^^;;

You can also do some modding by this time if you want to too :3))

((Okay, a few days later than originally planned, but here we go.))

"Would it be possible for you to come with me to this village? If you're not doing anything else that is. I just..."

Tsuki was startled for a moment, but understood where the question was coming from. Devi was new, which is stressful enough by itself, but her partner had yet to appear either, even as an egg. Without that protection and guidance, Tsuki was worried about how far Devi would make it before catastrophe befell her. The ojnly problem was, ironically enough, the main things keeping Tsuki safe right now. Murakumo had been relatively cordial to Devi so far, but the dragon was obsessed with safety and security first and foremost, he'd be hard to sell on the idea of another companion, no matter how temporary.

"Well, I suppose..." she started, looking back and forth between the dragon and girl. "It sounds like fun to me, but Mura-kun has been deciding where we go lately, and I don't know if he wants to go back that way..."

The Ryuudamon in question though, seemed distracted from the conversation. He wandered toward the edge of the area and stared off into the woods intently. "Lady Moon," he spoke at last, "we've been detected. I hear at least one tree-born hostile, not especially large, but making a feeble attempt to hide its approach."

Tsuki frowned at that, "not now..." No time to dally though, she jumped into action. "Hold Luna-chan for me," she said, passing the Moonmon to the other human so she could have both hands free. She pulled out her cards, and whipped her glass revolver out of its hiding place. The sunlight coming through the gaps in the canopy above poured through the transparent gun, gathering and coalescing in its chambers.

Murakumo, for his part glowed brightly as his frame grew larger and more powerful. "Evolve to... Gin Ryuumon." What resulted was a fearsome quadruped dragon, his orange skin protected by black samurai armor as it had been in his previous form. While he lacked a sword in this form, his heavy, armored tail and his sharp armor-piercing claws driven my his muscular forelegs were all the weapon he needed.

Sure enough, as predicted, a creature moved through the foliage and came to a stop on a nearby branch. Lanky, green, and amphibious, the creature seemed as though it would be rather unhappy in any environment. Rather than sitting in protected sockets as they would be in most creatures, the Gekmon's eyes perched atop its head, somehow staying attached despite no visible reason why they would. What's worse, one of the eyes was more than twice the size of the other. A shiny copper horn was wrapped around its neck, and a long, sour note peeled out when the the Gekomon blew into it.

"Kekekeke," it cackled down at the humans.

"Well, I suppose. It sounds like fun to me, but Mura-kun has been deciding where we go lately, and I don't know if he wants to go back that way..."

The response made the girl inwardly groan. Though he didn't have a negative attitude toward her, Devi also didn't feel that the dragon would accept Tsuki to come with her or understand the meaning of her request. And the Asian teen seemed to have had the same thoughts, or general idea since she knew Murakumo far more than just a few moments. It made the older girl a little more comfortable to feel that Tsuki had similar thoughts on the matter.

At least for the second. The Ryuudamon seemed distracted from their conversation, gone outside the range of her usable right eye, and for a good reason. Soon enough too many things were happening around the girl as she moved her head in his direction, and had the slumbering Baby Digimon thrust into her arms. Though Tsuki seemed to have more than enough comfort clutching her, these Digimon were still so incredibly foreign to Devi. Holding her in both arms like a child, her arms shock with jumping nerve impulses, but she could not ignore the wonderfully smooth and almost gelatinous touch of the Moonmon's skin on her bare arms. The two bracelets, one gold and the other silver, on her right wrist clinked together as the human shifted her arms to better accommodate Luna.

But touch of the peaceful Digimon of Tsuki's was torn by what happened to Luna's friends. The silver haired girl drew out what looked like playing cards, and produced a clear cased gun, unnerving Devi that her could-have-been-guide-and-friend had such a weapon. And even then the auction of Murakumo scared her even more as he grew larger and longer into a quadruped armoured dragon seemingly on desire. Instinct came in when Devi clenched her right hand into a fist and her arms squeezed against her chest, forgetting that she held the Moonmon and no doubt crushed her slightly.

"W-what is that?" Eyes wide at the mutated lizard that came out of the bushes. Shock of the weapon, of Mura's change in form and finally the strange Gekomon was bearing down on Devi far too quickly that her eyes started to water. But from fright or stress, it was not known. "A-a Digimon...?"


((Wow, only like, two things of dialogue. I think I'm getting bad at that XD;;))

Luna was unstirred by the nervous squeezings, her soft body simply yielding for now. The Moonmon was just that tired apparently.

"W-what is that? A-a Digimon...?"

"Yep," Tsuki nodded watching the amphibian intently even as her D-Ban began spewing forth data. "Gekomon, adult level, virus type. Uses his horn to attack with sound."

"Gekomon bandit!" Murakumo shouted up into the tree. "Submit to justice and your death shall be swift and painless."

The amphibian didn't take up this offer though. Instead he jumped down out of tree onto Murakumo's face and scratched at the dragon's eyes with his webbed hands. Murakumo bucked about wildly and tried to shake the assailant off, but the Gekomon clung on with the aid of a trio of suction cups on the tip of his tongue.

"Mura-kun!" Tsuki shouted with concern. None of her cards would be helpful in this situation, and she didn't trust her aim with the glass revolver when the target was clinging to her wildly moving partner like that.

((Okay, I don't know what the point of this post is, but it's all I could come up with for the moment. Maybe you'll find something useful here, but if not, I'll keep thinking on it.))

"Adult? Virus?" Devi muttered under her breath after hearing the words come from Tsuki. Did that mean that this mutated frog could make her sick or something? Mentally sighing, she tried to remind herself to not notice the terms being used floating around. She could ask Tsuki about them later.

Or with any hope and luck, never have to hear them again.

Murakumo was in trouble, finding a rider that he did not particularly like clinging on to his hide. Forgetting that she was actually holding onto the Baby Digimon, Devi watched the dragon flail about in panic and found the same rising emotion in herself. Her breathing accelerated, and she felt in danger even though she was a good distance from the Gin Ryuumon. But instead of the teen's body freezing up on her, Devi rose quickly and in a clumsy manner, started back peddling until her body felt the rough bark of one of the trees surrounding them.

I don't understand. This is too much.

Both eyes turned to the back of Tsuki's head, brown eyes wide and dark brown and pink strands of Devi's bangs already starting to dampen because of the sweat.

"I'm sorry."

And with that she turned and bolted into the tree foliage, running blindly through it as her feet and body tried to stabilized themselves due to the uneven ground. Behind her, the sound of a battle as she left what would be her first friend here and her violin case, which served as a connection to the world she originated from.

But in her arms, the exhausted Moonmon...

((Let me know if there's anything wrong here))

Tsuki watched the flailings of her draconic partner with concern. This was not a good thing, but she didn't doubt that Murakumo would defeat this nemesis either. It seemed Devi was less confident though, understandably, and the new girl rand off into the woods with Luna still in her arms.

"I'm sorry."

This allighted far more panic in Tsuki than the battle did. "Devi-chan!" She yelled after the escapee. She quickly turned back to MuraKumo who was still struggling with his unwanted passenger, "I have to go after her Mura-kun!"

The dragon slammed his head into a tree, hard, smashing the Gekomon in between and forcing him to loosen his grip slightly. "No, Lady Moon, I forbid you to leave my protection in a combat scenario. I am far beyond this bandit's ability to threaten. We will pursue her after I have deleted it."

The Gekomon blew into its horn hard, causing waves of sound to pour out into the nearby forest. As close to the amphibian as Murakumo was, it caused quite a bit of pain to his sensitie hearing.

Tsuki looked back and forth a couple times, covering her own ears to dull the sonic attack, and she amde her decision. Once the sound stopped, she slashed two cards in rapid succession and ran off into the woods after Devi.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Divine Box
Number: C07
Type: Single Target
Duration: 3 Turns
Effect: A cube of light materialises around whatever the user wishes (be it a Digimon, person, object or building), and completely protects it from any attack from an Adult-level Digimon or below. If used on a Digimon, it will regain ten points of health every turn for three posts.

Name: LadyDevimon's Gift
Number: U14
Type: Single Target
Duration: Remainder of the battle
Effect: Increases the affected Digimon’s speed, as well as the strength of its next attack, by 50% each.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Lady Moon!" Murakumo shouted angrily, but there was nothing he could do to stop her. A glowing box materialized, sealing him and the Gekomon that still managed to cling to him in. At the same time, his strength welled up, further sealing the superiority of the dragon's abilities over those of the amphibian. For now, he'd simple have to focus on destroying it so there would be nothing to slow down his pursuit when the barrier came down.

"Sorry, Mura-kun," Tsuki shouted back, putting her faith in the dragon even as she ran after Devi in hopes of closing on her substantial head start.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

As Devi ran through the woods with the sleeping bulb in her arms, something curiously watched her from a distance, moving silently through the treetops. This was an unplanned occurence, but it could be turned to her advantage. It could indeed be Hitsuzen, the unexpected event that was nonetheless inevitable given the ingredients that led up to it, a moment, among many, in the flow of fate.

"That doesn't belong to you," a soft, somewhat sad, feminine voice spoke down to Devi from outside of her field of vision.

The vocal blow of the Gekomon's from far behind her still managed to reach Devi's ears, but the distance saved her from the pain it brought to Murakumo and Tsuki. Nevertheless, it turned into a distraction for the girl as part of her wanted to stop and find out what was becoming of the other teen and the other told her to run.

And then a voice, sounding like it came out of nowhere managed to come to the dark teen's hearing range, loud and clear above the hard breathing and crunch of the floor.

I don't get what's going on!

Confused at what to do and very startled at what was going on, she made the mistake of closing her eyes while still moving and her foot got caught in a surfaced tree root. Eyes whipped open as she came crashing down and arms releasing the Moonmon to brace her own body for impact, she fell flat on her chest with stinging wrists and knees, and now scuffed up gray and white sneakers.

Flipping over, with her own hands stamping her hair to the forest's floor, making movement not only difficult but painful until she realized the problem, Devi's eyes whipped around the area of trees to find the source of the voice and used her hands and feet to lift her butt off the ground and move backwards with the hope of finding another tree to lean back against. Unfortunately, having only one eye usable provided little use in trying to find the thing that spoke to her and she kept frantically turning her head every which way in case something visually changed at any second.

Her whole body was shaking, that much was noticeable. So much adrenaline, confusion, fear and exhaustion was overflowing in her body, making just about every fibre in her form shake uncontrollably. Even so much as to make the bracelets on her right wrist clink together. She wanted so much to quickly crawl over to Luna and hug her tightly as if she were a stuffed animal that could make everything that was happening around her go away in a snap. But she was finally glued to one spot.

"Who are you?!" she screamed into the trees, forgetting the statement of thieving Luna and the notion of notifying the other inhabitants of this forest of her presence never crossed her mind at this point.


((Because I feel the need to, let me know if anything I'm doing lately needs to be redone XD;;))

Murakumo stared directly into the misshapen, mutated eyes of the Gekomon. The simple-minded amphibian stared back, even as slimy drool dripping from it's long tongue spotted on Murakumo's armor. For all its faults, the tenacity with which it clung to his sacred adornment was somewhat admirable. For all the trouble it had caused him and his Lady though, there was no other recourse than to crush it with his claws.

The Gekomon prepared to blow into its horn again, but this time the Sword God was not going to allow it. Repeating a tactic which had yielded earlier success, the dragon slammed his head, and the Gekomon attached to it, into the wall of the cell that imprisoned them. This time the viral creature was forced to entirely release him, and it fell the short distance to the grass below.

"Tekkoujin!" Murakumo yelled his judgement, driving claws straight down at the Gekomon. It wasn't defeated quite yet though, and managed to roll its body out from beneath the claws just in time to suffer no more than a couple brown lines across its back from the boosted attack.

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"Who are you?!"

"No need to shout," came the intial response, with a somewhat dissatisfied tone, "I'm not going to hurt you, and anyone else that could in my presence has vastly better ways to be spending their time."

The elder Digimon sighed a little. Was it really worth showing herself to someone even loosely affiliated with Tsuki at this stage? No, she dismissed the thought, it probably wasn't, but this was the path she was going to follow anyway. One who believed in the concept of Hitsuzen as much as she did had to recognize that she had no other choice.

So, she allowed herself to drop out of the branches and float slowly to the ground below. Her oversized ears caught the air like parachutes. It was of course inferior to actually flying, but she knew better than to take a form that could further frighten the overly-agitated human girl. So she showed herself as a Lopmon, a biped with over-sized ears and undersized limbs, that bore some resemblance to a dog and some to a rabbit, but was truly not significantly akin to either. Her brown fur was punctuated by a few white markings, and she bore a constellation of three short horns on her head, too small to be a particularly effective weapon.

As soon as she landed, she turned her use of her large ears from wings to hands, scooping up Luna off the forest floor and cradling the small Digimon. "If you're going to steal someone else's partner, at least be careful how you handle it," she said sternly, holding the Moonmon out for Devi to take hold of again.

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Tsuki ran through the woods after Devi, or at least in the direction the other girl had last been seen running. Her cards were still clung in one hand, getting sweaty, while her glass revolver was firmly gripped in the other, ready for trouble. She couldn't shake the feeling that was something was wrong though. Well, somethign wrong beyond the obvious that was. The silver-haired girl could have sworn she was running in a mostly straight line, and yet, that was the third time she had passed the tree with the red maple leaves and purple pinecones, with the same oversized caterpillar calmly ignoring her and munching on the bizarre foliage. Not to mention that whenever the sounds of Murakumo's battle started to fade behind her, they would suddenly pick up again.

At the sound of the voice's second comment, Devi's body eased a little and the involuntary shaking stopped. Though the words that this other being would not hurt her could have easily been a lie, the reassuring effect that those words would have on anyone worked to near perfection.

But her mind was still ablaze. What if this calm, wise sounding female was just like the strange grotesque Gekomon behind her? Or worse.

Until she was given the visual treat of a brown and white rabbit that floated from above. Being in the emotional unstable form she was, Devi's eye first caught sight of the trio of horns on the Lopmon's forehead before any other details. But they were small in size, and soon enough the teen was more interested in the beast's overgrown ears that she used to scoop the miraculously still unconscious Moonmon. With trembling fingers, Devi plucked Luna from the Child's grasp and continued to hold the little Baby Digimon against her chest with both arms around her.

"If you're going to steal someone else's partner, at least be careful how you handle it."

"P-partner?" she repeated, a little stunned and unfortunately, more confusion and worry grew from inside. Tsuki never mentioned anything about partners. "I do not believe that I know what you mean. And I did not steal her."

It was at that moment that three electronic beeps alerted the brunette to the device on her left wrist before it began making sounds similar to a computer when it boots up. Devi raised her left wrist up to take a look but her spine jolted when a large holographic display that featured a picture of the Lopmon in front of her as well information tidbits. Looked like the Digimon Analyzer function of her D-Ban decided to start working.

"You are... a L-lopmon?" even with everything that was happening around her, it was not hard for Devi to connect the dots.

((*sighs* And once again a moment of irresponsibility spirals out of control... Sorry for the massive wait LaiLai ><))

The Gekomon's dripping toungue swirled about grotesquely in the confined space of the box. It seemed perfectly content to taunt the dragon as he wrested his claws from the ground with a modicum of effort. It was not enirely as it seemed though, as the tongue suddenly grew several fold in length and whipped Murakumo hard upside his head. "Tongue Attack!"

The Gin Ryuumon's head was knocked aside momentarily, but his eyes were of a particularly steely cast when he turned them back to the amphibian. "Gekomon bandit, you've doubtlessly earned yourself much honor by continuing to press against an opponent as thoroughly superior as I am, but my Lady needs me to protect her from her own foolishness right now, and the distraction you pose is unacceptable."

The Gekomon blinked blankly at Murakumo.

"A Mon of few words," Murakumo nodded, largely unaware that his archaic intelligence and manner had failed to find a suitable target in this instance, "I can respect that. I will be eliminating you now though. Please find a more suitable route in your next life, so that your karma may properly resolve itself."

The Gekomon blinked blankly at Murakumo.

"Tekkoujin!" The dragon shouted, driving his claws into the confused amphibian, this time they struck true, piercing three massive holes into its slimy body, from which poured particles of data. The misshapen eyes, the last thing to remain of its body, blinked blankly at Murakumo one final time before they too dissolved and faded away.

Murakumo nodded to the floating cloud one last time, and then he turned in the direction of his tamer's departure. The enclosure was moments from fading, and he would be ready to take up his best gallop as soon as it finally vanished.

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"You are... a L-lopmon?"

The Lopmon nodded, "yes, at the moment I am. No Digimon is merely one thing though, we lack the constancy of form your kind has developed. It is our strength, but at times I fear it may someday prove to be a weakness too." She sighed, "forgive me though, this is neither the time nor the place for such metaphisical musings."

"Regarding your confusion over the concept of partners," she began again, "humans who travel in our world are usually accompanied by one or more of our kind with whom they've formed a bond. What this means to them varies, from working companionship, to something resembling the closest of family. You'll have a partner too, in good time."

The small Digimon straightened up and took on a less dreamy tone of voice. "Forgive me my rudeness in failing to introduce myself. I am Sou Miretsu, high priestess of the Temple of the Lunar Mirror, one of the three Regalia. You may call me Sou, if that is most comfortable for you."

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Tsuki sighed with frustration and shortness of breath when she passed the odd tree and its occupant yet again. Running clearly wasn't working, so she turned toward the caterpillar and cleared her throat, "ne, um-"

"Shhhh," the Dokunemon hushed sharply, otherwise ignoring the human.

Tsuki frowned, but had no other options, and was thus undeterred. "Excuse me please, but-"

"Shhhhhhhh," the Dokunemon repeated, louder and longer this time. He continued to work on the tree, picking out only very select leaves and chewing them up quickly with his vertically-opening mouthparts.

Tsuki sighed and decided to try moving on one more time before attempting to deal with the insect again. As she walked away though, she doubted this one would be any more productive than the last few.

The rabbit's strange words and method of speech somewhat soothed Devi's frazzled nerves, which in turn made her more relaxed, but also a little more exhausted. The talk about their fluctuating forms made more sense now, since moments ago the girl witnessed her very first evolution with Murakumo turning from a short bipedal furry dragon into the strong armoured GinRyumon.

But a weakness. Those words bit and made a home deep inside her mind to stay. In Devi's human and Earthen mindset, she did not see just how something like having the ability to change forms could be burden. Plenty of writers, children and dreamers would love to have the ability to change into something else. Or be something else. How could that be a hindrance?

Even though she didn't understand it completely (or at least a Digimon's mindset on the matter), a seed of worry started to stem from those words.

"Regarding your confusion over the concept of partners, humans who travel in our world are usually accompanied by one or more of our kind with whom they've formed a bond. What this means to them varies, from working companionship, to something resembling the closest of family. You'll have a partner too, in good time."

"So then, this is Tsuki's partner. And I guess a Digimon can only have one partner, right?" Her gaze dropped to the little silver Baby in her arms. In the midst of that Gekomon showing up, Tsuki had willing given Luna to Devi to hold onto to free her hands. But the older teen fled the scene, leaving Tsuki behind. She wondered what kind of relationship the Moonmon and the Japanese girl had. If it was strong, it probably made Tsuki sick with worry that her friend was taken. "I didn't mean to take her; she was just in my arms when I ran. I'll find Tsuki again and bring her back."

When Sou introduced herself, Devi nodded in response. "My name's Devika, or just Devi," but as she spoke, her voice sounded weak and quiet. Sou sounded important, almost like royalty. Not just from her name and title, but from her mannerisms as well. The human as worried if it was proper to introduce herself as well.


((Crap response. Sorry about that))

((....Weirrrrrrrrrrrd post ^^;; ))

The box of energy fizzled out at last and Murakumo was like a bolt, his clawed feet devouring the ground, heedless of his surroundings. All the bushes and small trees that were in his way were bowled over and trampled into the ground as readily as grass. He had an unknown amount of ground to make up, and an unknown amount of time to do it. There was thus no margin for error, as far as the Gin Ryuumon was concerned.

There was something not right as he progressed through the forest though. The ground speeding below him started slowing down, even though his own speed remained constant. The dragon growled and redoubled his efforts until his muscles ached, but it only made things worse, until his progress stopped entirely, and he found himself stuck running on some bizarre, impossible treadmill of forest terrain.

“Treachery!” He shouted with anger. Exhaustion caught up to the Gin Ryuumon quickly, and he found that the undesirable motion slowed as he did, and eventually stopped altogether when he stopped struggling and took a moment to catch his breath. What a cursed puzzle.

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"So then, this is Tsuki's partner. And I guess a Digimon can only have one partner, right? I didn't mean to take her; she was just in my arms when I ran. I'll find Tsuki again and bring her back. My name's Devika, or just Devi."

Sou nodded patiently as the human got all her thoughts sorted out and expressed. It was a lot to respond to, but it was bettter dealt with as a whole than as a smattering of parts.

“Well Devi,” the Lopmon began cautiously, gauging how much of her information Hitsuzen required. “Yes, that is Tsuki’s partner, one of them at least. She’s recently been traveling with my distasteful brother as well.” She frowned for a moment, then continued her train of thoughts. “I don’t know about the limits to how many human partners a Digimon can have. Humans can have several Digimon accompany them, and I’ve heard vague rumors about a Commandramon who’s had more than one tamer, but they’re unsubstantiated, from the furthest reaches of my information network. Ultimately it’s impossible to prove or disprove the possibility with our current resources.”

The Lopmon smiled a little grimly, “you can bring her back to Tsuki if you choose, it’s none of my business anymore.”

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Sighing with mounting exhaustion and distress, Tsuki once more reached the Dokunemon’s shrub. She didn’t want to bother the rude creature again, but she had no other clues to follow, just a big circle to run in until she collapsed.

“Ne, excuse me Dokune-san, but-”

“Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” the insect practically hissed. He was fussing over one of the pinecones, trying to open it up enough to suck out the pine nuts.

“Will you please stop stuffing your face long enough to help someone?!” Tsuki growled grumpily. She had a very, very long temper normally, but circumstances had shortened it somewhat, and the caterpillar’s demeanor had exhausted what little remained.

“You shut up now,” the Dokunemon replied, his southern US accent was rich and thick, like molasses was pouring out of his mouth. “This ain’t just any ordinary tree you know. This here is an Illusion Tree. Only a few of these left in the whole Digital World. If Ah eat the whole thing, the data will help me evolve, and Ah need to evolve real bad. If Ah eat it in the wrong order though, it’ll make an illusion Ah can’t handle, and y’all will be trapped in here with me.

Tsuki blinked at the truly bizarre answer, but she regathered her will, because that wasn’t an answer she could accept, with Devi who knew how far ahead, and Luna still with her. Both of them could easily have been in mortal danger by then. “Is that why I’m stuck running in circles?” She asked, already fairly comfident she knew the answer.

“Probably,” the insect answered with a verbal shrug. “Y’all will be free to go once Ah finished eating this thing, can’t do it the wrong way though.

Tsuki sighed and impatiently watched Dokunemon work, his previous tactic of carefully hunting for a choice leaf and gobbling it down quickly remained his MO. At least the leaves were starting to thin. It hopefully wouldn’t take too much longer.

"Brother?" Confusion accompanied by curiousity instantly nestled into her head again. If Sou was talking about the furry, armour clad dragon that was with Tsuki, since it was the only other digital creature around the Asian girl, how could they be siblings? The Lopmon did mention something of changing forms, so maybe she had the ability to turn into a Ryuudamon as well? Or was the relationship based aside from physical appearances? Surrogates maybe, or a kinship between friends?

Knocking the thoughts aside, Devi figured that she should not deal with a trivial matter such as that for now. How the Child in front of her and Murakumo were connected was none of her business, and the girl should act as such. "Never mind," she gave a nervous, but hopefully confident smile.

Of course, a similarity between the Ryuudamon and Lopmon in front of her could be seen squarely in front of the human when Sou 'answered' her inquiry. She gave just as much clarity to the matter as Mura did before when Devi asked about the world, although she was grateful somewhat to the brown rabbit's speech mannerisms.

“You can bring her back to Tsuki if you choose, it’s none of my business anymore.”

Then it was a way to get my attention? Devi gave a cautious brown eyed stare at the companion, unsure of what she truly was here for now. "If that's true, then what are you here for?"

"Brother?"

Sou suppressed a rather severe frown. That had been a poor choice of words. Of course things weren't that simple, but it would have much harder to explain the true intricacies of the relationship. They were created around the same time, for related purposes, and they absolutely hated each other. What more would they need to fit that mold?

Thankfully, the human retracted her own question, freeing Sou from attempting to respond without really explaining anything. For that subject fell outside the bounds of the information she could safely impart.

"If that's true, then what are you here for?"

At this Sou almost wanted to laugh. That was the question, wasn't it? What was she there for? It was the right path, it was the only path, it was Hitsuzen, but that didn't tell her a thing about why.

Witha bit of hesitation, she crafted a reply. "I suppose I'm here because I'm curious. I should stay far away from Tsuki, really, but I still like to check on her from time to time. Make sure Luna does what she was made to do. Make sure Murakumo hasn't misled her in his zeal. See the kind of people she meets... from a distance."

She allowed herself a small chuckle. "As for why I chose to talk to you, well, you made a poor choice by running out into the woods like that. It was frightening situation, I'm sure, but it was far safer close to Tsuki than it was to run away. She's got experience, cards, weapons, one of the greatest warriors I've ever known as her partner and protector. I just wanted to keep you from getting yourself killed."

There, a simple enough answer, neither dishonest nor an unacceptable breach of her secrets.

((Hmmm, not 100% satisfied, but it'll do. Tsu and Mura didn't really need a check in this time.))

Though it saddens me greatly, I have to finally throw in the towel and declare this thread closed due to inactivity. ^^; Oh well, better luck next time, eh?