“Hurry up, a’ight? This building always gives met the heeby jibbies.”

Claire grunted and glared after her partner whom kept them moving at a quick pace. Night had fallen since their departure from the icy glacial lands though the temperature hadn’t risen by much. With the darkness came bitter chill that, while not as bad as the cold of the artic-like world they left behind, was still not comfortable.

Ahead of them the city sprawled, a hum of noise and denizens enjoying the night. Standing sentinel just outside of the city was the large skeletal form of an abandoned building of some kind. Many of the walls had been knocked in by, what Claire could guess, some type of battle, leaving only the frame and a carpeting of debris. She sighed, watching her breath pool in warm mist before floating away.

Something felt off. Something was not right and thinking about it was just giving her a headache. For example...

There were hundreds of kids to go missing between the year 2000 and 2010 only to reappear, talking about a Digital World. Her parents had been part of the children to reappear. What she didn't understand was that no one had disappeared since then or at least...

Well...

There had been one girl and she had stirred up some curiosity but it had been thought to be a kidnapping. Then there was that boy in the class down the hall... But that would mean that the Digital World was starting up again. At least, that is the only conclusion she could draw.

She sighed again, feeling somewhat drained. If she had known that she would have been sucked into this world, she would have packed some things up. Like her mom's Swiss Army Knife and some extra clothes and a thicker coat...

Something off indeed. A shift in the slow, dreary wind's flow, a bit of a chill in the air, dead grass underfoot. A soft noise that could have simply been the wind, but didn't quite feel like that, growing louder and more insistent with each step.

"Nyoooooooo~" A quiet, creeping voice eventually intoned, clear as bell, definitely not the wind. A shape started emerging from the ground ahead of Claire and Kash. First, just a conical black tip, slightly askew. As it rose, seemingly growing out of the ground like some bizarre plant, the conical shape continued to grow, until a red stripe across the black surface emerged, followed closely by a flat circle of black fabric.

There, on the ground, sat a large witch's hat, about two feet across at the brim. As bizzare at it already was though, it stirred, shook, and took to the air, hovering a few feet off the ground. Then, as suddenly as it had levitated, it took off, zipping through the air toward Kash.

"Nyooooooooooo~" The hollow voice came again, as black sparks rained down from the air beneath the hat toward the Kotemon. "Necro Magic~"

At the first ghostly wail Kash stopped and stood stock still, eyes wide and body trembling. And then as the hat formed she screamed, back pedalling backwards to get away from the hat. And then it attacked and Kash swung blindly. "GIT ON!"she screamed, swinging her Kendo stick less like a sword and more like a bat.

Claire herself gasped and stumbled, tripping over debris. She threw her hands backwards, trying to catch herself and also trying to get out of Kash's strike range. Her hand hit the ground painfully hard and she winced, hissing through her teeth. Still recovering a bit, she barely noticed as something feathered and covered in silk darted forward.

She did, however, see as the blur came to a halt in the form of a lithe, black owl in a silken kimono. The bird reached into the folds of its sleeves and quickly sent a flurry of whirring, bladed fans zooming towards the attacking hat.

"Its not a good plan to be walking about here at night,"said the bird smoothly, casting a bright green eye back at Claire. "Especially upon first arrival, Claire." Claire's eyes widened, noting that this was the second of these Digimon to know her name.

"How did you-"

"Later."

The floating hat floated upwards as Kash swung wildly, trying vainly to repel it. The moody howl it emanated belied the glee of having its opponent at such a disadvantage. "Nyooooooooo~"

The hat's fun was cut short though, as the fans cut through the air toward it. A phantom arm had to be swung into their path to absorb the blows, though that was painful too, even if not as bad. The strike did accomplish something else though. The space beneath the hat no longer appeared to be empty. a ragged white sheet draped down from the hat, its shape suggestive of a floating orb of some kind being hidden beneath. A gaping, fanged mouth and two blood-red eyes were plastered upon the sheet's front, and two ragged arms emerged from the sides.

The Soulmon stared at the newcomer, stared right into her eyes, and sent hypnotic waves toward her, trying to instill fear with his magic so that the Falcomon would be less able to oppose him. "End Trance." Kash was momentarily disregarded as the less able opponent.

The usually fearless Claire felt her gut clench at the ghostly wail as the attacking Digimon's attack too affect on her, perhaps more so than the mysterious Digimon aiding them. Her heart hammered and her blood roared in her ears, drowning out the noise of her D-ban alerting her to the attacker's species. In the back of her mind, a picture of her dad playing with some other child played out like an ugly hideous film in her mind. The two of them cast long shadows that gripped at a part of her soul she thought best left unexplored...

The Falcomon struck out with her claws, aiming to chase the Soulmon back. It was a wavery, the Soulmon's attack having been at least a big successful on the proper avian. Her hooked beak snapped and her green eyes narrowed. "Foul shade,"she squawked. "Be gone and leave this child be."

Her green eyes turned towards the somewhat disoriented Kash and sent an order toward her. "Samurai!"she called out. "Come help! Lend your brave heart to slay the evil villian!"

Kash looked to her, orange eyes still wide. She seem to be set back on her proverbial feet and instead turned her attention towards the Soulmon. "Right!"she screamed, the declaration sounding courageous and noble had it not been for her strong southern accent.

Flames licked up the wooden sword and she raised it above her head before charging. "Fire Men!!"she said charging towards the Champion with her own fire a flame. No stranger digimon was allowed to save her tamer after all.

"Nyoooooooo~" Soulmon howled in mournful glee as he floated backward out of the newcomer's reach. This was truly excellent to the ghost, so much helpless prey to torment, a rare treat. No amount of baleful glee though, could save him from Kash's fiery attack, which struck him in his unguarded back and sent him tumbling through the air.

When at last the ghost righted himself, he floated upward to try and put himself beyond the realm of further melee attacks and became invisible beneath his hat again. As it had been during his first attack of the battle, black sparks rained down from the floating hat toward Kash. A fitting torment for a Digimon who lacked the ability to attack at such a distance herself.

Kash quickly scrabbled back but still the black sparks fell upon her armor and sizzled the metal. She quickly moved to swipe them off, trying to avoid any serious damage from the range attacker. She grit her teeth and growled, growing frustrated at the fact she was kept at bay by the black sparks.

"Oi! Girlie! A little help! Iunno where to hit!"

The Falcomon gave her a dirty look before reaching into the sleeves of her kimono once more. She slung outward, sending her bladed fans spiraling toward the floating red hat. As far as she could tell, it was the hat that assisted the ghoul's appearance and disappearance. If that was handled post haste, then this fight would become so much easier.

"Stay back, Claire,"she said so sharply that you could hear the click of her beak as it close shut once more. Her harsh warning was unnecessary. Claire was still trembling from the ghostly fiends first attack and was having trouble pulling herself back together.

She took a deep, anxiety filled breath and stood up on shakey legs, blue green eyes wide. They narrowed slowly though, as a new feeling over took the fear. Anger burned in her stomach. How dare this ghoul do that to her? What gave him the right?

She growled. "Kash,"she hissed. "Finish it."

The fans struck true, and Soulmon's precious hat was knocked from its perch atop his head, from whence it plummeted to the ground. The ghost was suddenly entirely visible, and quite helpless. There was no other choice but to descend rapidly after the hat, grasping after it desperately, and throwing a few random handfuls of sparks toward the opposition, lacking the presence of mind to aim properly.

"Oh no you don't!"

Kash dived for it, alighting her kendo stick. She was aiming to burn that wretched thing to ashes and leave it a black smudge on the earth. She growled and slammed the burning stick down. She was purposefully non too careful about hitting the fiend.

Her orange eyes drifted from the battle and toward her tamer. Claire was stumbling to her feet, a look of trepidation, anger, and perhaps an inkling of fear still dancing in her blue green eyes. They narrowed, fist clenched and she stood to her full height, watching the battle on.

Her last words to Kash echoed in the Kotemon's ears and she quickly gathered them close and held them close to her heart. Right. Time to get to business.


While the Kotemon took the direct approach, the Falcomon circled around on foot, her Kimono flaring out in bright reds and blues. The bird's eyes were set hard on its prey and she quickly took flight, disappearing into the air with a flurry of feathers and silk. He kimono fluttered open at the front as she soared, revealing a colorful barrage of feathers. She reached into the the depths of her clothes and pulled forth a bamboo bomb, about the size of a bowling ball.

She soared higher and higher, circling around with the potent explosive, awaiting the perfect chance to drop the bomb.

Soulmon pivoted and desperately grasped at Kash to try and keep her from attacking his preciouis hat, but it was too little too late, and the ghost issued an ear-piercing shriek of pain when the hat ignited and quickly burned down to ashes.

Without his hat, Soulmon was quickly left a pathetic and haggard thing, floating feebly in place. He seemed momentarily incapable of even rallying an attack to exact his vengeance against the small warrior who had destroyed his most precious possession.

The circling falcomon, smirked. "Move, Samurai!"she cried before releasing the bamboo bomb fromher talons. Kash looked up at the falling bomb and quickly dashed from the scene, encircling her arm around Claire's waist and pulling her further away from the undoubtable blast radius. Above, the bird took flight, soaring higher into the air, should any shrapnel be dispersed.

Claire was momentarily disoriented by her partners sudden surge but was quick to work out what was going to happen. She shut her eyes and allowed herself to be thrust to the ground, her head and face protected by the heavily armored Kotemon. She waited with held breath for the explosion; it didn't take long.

The bambo bomb slammed into the dirt, just to the left of the Soulmon, bounced up, and exploded loudly in a flare of reds and oranges. Dirt and debris flew up from the vicious bombing but whether the Soulmon managed to survive the blast was a mystery.

The ghost did not survive the blast, all that was left was dust and a floating cloud of particles of data. With one last pitiful whimper, "Nyo~" it floated away, carried off by the wind out into the distant plains.

((Short one, but it does the job, and there was really nothing more to say. Thread's all yours, do what you will with it.))

((And with that starts my solo. Its not my greatest work but it got the job done and I don't think it was too bad. ^^))

As the smoke cleared and the soulmon’s baleful wail echoed away, Kash finally allowed Claire to look up. She could see the graceful Falcomon from earlier fluttering down, kimono flaring out around her as she landed. The bird was not, however, greeted as one would greet an arriving champion. To the contrary, Kash roared her anger, storming toward the bird and grabbing her close by the lapels of her silken dress.

“What in the hell do ya’ think ya’ were trying?!”the Kotemon raged. “What if that had gone wrong and Claire had been hurt?!”

The Falcomon regarded the firey, canned lizard with cool green eyes and easily removed the dragon Digimon’s paws from her person with a thrust of her wing. “I had forseen that Claire was going to be fine,”she answered coldly, straightening her clothes and tugging them tight once more to hide the brightly colored chest plumage. She almost seemed embarrassed if the darkening of her beak was any indication. She did no allow that to deter or injure the crisp, cool, I’m-better-than-you look on her face.

Kash seemed to be prepared to continue the argument, unabashed by the fact that the owl Digimon was still somewhat taller than she was by a good couple of inches, when Claire’s voice spoke up.

“Forseen?”she said, interrupting the two creatures. “What do you mean? And who are you?”

The bird’s expression melted slightly at the sight of equally cool, mistrusting blue green eyes boring into hers, a smudging of soot across one cheek. She let a sigh escape of her beak before sliding her hands into their opposing sleeves. The Falcomon bowed, finally introducing herself.

“I am Fergie,”she said softly, rising back up to her straight back stance,”and I am a tell of fortunes… I saw clearly in the bones that I, one day, would meet you and assist you where your partner-” Her beak snapped at this word and her eyes, like hard, lifeless emeralds, swayed to the glaring Kotemon. “-would fail you… I am merely here to help you.”

Kash snarled at Fergie and surged forward, sending the opposition fluttering back. “We don’t need yer help,”she snapped. “We’re able to take care of our own! So gi-”

“Obviously not, since you haven’t felt the need to inform her of the time.”

Fergie landed deftly and slid her wings across her chest, watching the confusion flicker across the pair’s face. She grunted and sighed. “The Digital World’s idea of time isn’t quite the same as the Human World… Time in general, is not what humans consider it be. It doesn’t merely go in a straight line…”

She turned away from them and closed her eyes, trying to decide the best way to explain everything. “You aren’t in your present’s Digital World, Claire,”she started smoothly. “Not by a long shot…”

“So what… she’s in the future’s Digital World?”Kash asked, looking confused.

Fergie rolled her eyes. “No. For her, she’s in the past,”she said slowly. “Remember, time does not simply go in a straight line.. “ Silence pressed on the three beings, two of which processing the new information and the third watching them with patience. It was quite a lot to take in but it didn’t take too long for Claire to finally speak up.

“If you’re a fortune teller, why would you seek out the future? I already know what will happen.”

Claire moved towards Kash and carefully grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back. Fergie regarded Claire quietly. “You know what happens in the distant future, yes,”she said with a nod of agreement. “But how much do you really understand about your future… or your current present? Times have changed and you may find that what you knew then… is not what matches up to now.”

Claire narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

Fergie shook her head. “I don’t have all the information on that subject…”she said softly. “For now, follow me… I have some things I believe belong to you.” The owl took flight and began to lead them toward one of the few buildings that managed to stay standing. It leaned ominously though, bits of its skeletal structure showing on the higher floors.

Claire was prepared to follow the bird without hesitation, thirsting for information on the matter. However, Kash’s paw on her wrist made her stop and look back. “Hold on, now,”she whispered. “I don’t trust this bird brain more than I can throw her… We should just go.”

Claire frowned. “It’ll be okay,”she said. “I need to know… and she says she has something that might belong to me.” She tugged her wrist from Kash’s grip and continued after the Falcomon. After a moment of nervous hesitation, Kash did as well, sticking close and just behind her tamer the whole way.

---

The building lacked any type of furnishing or anything of value. The inner walls looked as though they had been seared and burned and the floor was covered in debris and broken glass. Claire was thankful for her boots but Kash was left to tread lightly. In front of them, Fergie fluttered ahead. She had been silent, even as she lead them through the large, dilapidated building.

From what Claire had seen, it had to have been an apartment complex at one point. The first floor looked to be a lobby of some sort, with two halls branching off from it. They were heading down the right hall, passing many doors, some opened, some unhinged and ajar, and some simple burned closed. It wasn’t until the very last room, did Fergie flutter down to the ground.

The door was the first that Claire had seen that seemed to be closed of its own volition and not simply burned shut. It was also the newest door in this area, almost like it had be recently added. Fergie reached up to the handle and pushed it open.

“I have been staying here, waiting for your arrival,”she explained, allowing Claire the satisfaction of being right. The room was definitely an apartment, however shabby it was. The carpet was black but the human could see where Fergie had been stepping through out the days, leaving splotches of lighter, perhaps once white plush threads and prints. There was a couch that had probably been brought in; it was in the best shape which wasn’t saying much if one was to take into consideration that it sagged in the middle. The rest of the small living room was bare, piles of ash sitting innocently where other furniture might have been.

“It was fairly uncomfortable,”Fergie muttered, happening to notice Claire’s expression,”but well worth it. I knew you were going to come… I also knew that when you did, I needed to be there to give you… certain provisions.”

The bird moved behind the couch and hefted up a book bag. “This was to come, hours after your arrival,”she explained. She tossed it toward Claire and she caught it by one of the straps. She pulled it close and knew it was the bag she used for school. However, it did not carry school supplies anymore. Instead, much of its room had been taken up, instead, by folded clothes, a small, black box, her hand me down pocket knife, and, most startling…

“A hand gun,”she said softly, carefully pulling it out. It was a smooth silver color and on the stocky side. She raised up, holding it loosely, and checked the ammunition. She clicked it shut and looked back in the bag, finding a holster to put it in. Carefully she pulled the holster out and tugged it on, slipping the gun into the straps.

It was like a policeman’s holster, wrapping around the shoulder and chest area. It had required her to remove her coat before hand to fit it. She tugged out her mother’s pocket knife as well and dropped it into the safety of one of her pockets.

The next item she tugged out for examination was the black box. She opened it and found a small stack of cards. “For battle?”she asked, remembering her mother mentioning these quite often.

“Indeed,”Fergie said with a nod. “They might make your partner more useful.” She cast a glance at Kash, literally staring down her beak at the Kotemon. Kash replied to the bird with a bird of her own, making the Falcomon’s beak darken once more and her eyes to narrow dangerously.

Claire paid no mind to either of them though and instead slung the back pack onto her back, slipping the cards into her knee pocket of her cargo pants. “I suppose its time to go then,”she said, casting a look toward the Falcomon.

“Indeed,”Fergie said with a nod. “From here, I’d head toward the city-”

“That’s what we aimed to do, thank ya’,”Kash interrupted her, glowering her orange eyes before nudging Claire out the door. “That and the training fields. Good day,”

Claire allowed herself to be ushered out but not before catching one last warning from Fergie. “Remember, what you think you may know and what you actually know about the present may be two different things… be careful and I hope to see you once more…”

((Aaaaand with that this thread is done! Can I get someone to grade it? XD; ))

((I think Kashy deserves a solid .15 for the combined aspects of this adventure ^^

Closing 'er up now.))