Chapter 1: The Hunters and Hunted

Hello! This is Hope10032, reporting to you live! Yes, in many people's perspectives I disappeared off the face of the earth, but here I am again! I'm still debating with myself about a few key parts of my other stories, so I decided to try writing this to get the gears working again! I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own digimon. Duh.

Dark clouds formed overhead, as the wind blew ferociously against anything it encountered. A figure's silhouette could be seen atop a soaring skyscraper, watching the night go by, unaware of what was about to happen. His white wings folded behind him, for the wind could easily catch them and send the angel-like demon tumbling through the air, the mysterious being was still despite the strong breeze. In this particular form, he was no bigger than a child, bearing the appearance of one as well. His eyes searched the skyline around him, until they caught sight of what he had been searching for.

"They have arrived," he smirked evilly. "Now is the time for the fun to begin."

In the distance, a bright light cut through the darkness as it ripped a hole in the pitch black sky. The gale stopped abruptly and all appeared calm. Six figures could be seen descending as if from the heavens, each separating and heading their own direction in bursts of red, blue, green, pink, dark purple, and white lights. The sight resembled strange shooting stars dancing across the night sky.

The figure on the roof smiled darkly at the fate he had caused his enemies, before he too was swallowed up in a mixture of black and white. The clouds began to dissipate from where they had gathered, before all returned to the peaceful dark it had been before destinies were changed. Not another creature had seen the lights, nor had born witness to the beginning of the new struggle that would surely accompany this event.

A mostly brunette boy with goggles on his head raced through the streets. If any random onlooker would care to notice, they would see that he was seemingly talking to himself.

"Are you sure that it's this way? Who knows if we're headed the right way," the boy complained. In his right hand, he held a crimson colored device. The machine's screen glowed a faint blue and a voice could be heard emitting from it.

"Of course I'm sure, Tagiru! I am the one and only wild child of the Digiworld!" the voice pronounced proudly. "My nose never lies. This should be a really good find!"

"Okay! Let's follow that sense and hope it leads us to super stardom!" Tagiru replied eagerly back to his partner.

"You'd be an idiot to stop here!"

Ten minutes later, Tagiru threw his garbage away in a nearby trash bin.

"Whew! You were right, Gumdramon! That was the best ramen I've ever tasted!" he exclaimed with joy. Stars could be seen dancing in his eyes.

It had been about a year after the Quartzmon incident and all of the Hunters and former Generals had been reunited with their partners and other digimon. Even Ryoma was able to meet up with his real Psychemon, and they've been bonding ever since. Kiriha and Nene, the two Generals, became Hunters themselves, gaining permission from the old clockman before he disappeared again.

Though he had declared the hunt complete and further stated that there wasn't as much of a need for Hunters anymore, Digimon still seemed to be showing up in the human world. Not to mention that they weren't even in Digiquartz anymore, but the real world that people lived in. It was now unofficially the Hunters' duty to protect the secret of the Digimon and prevent trouble from occurring.

"Tagiru! You slacker, what the heck do you think you're doing?" a familiar voice rang out. As Tagiru turned to see who was calling him, a boy roughly a year older rushed past him. It was too quick to determine many details, but he noticed that he was wearing a bandana over dark hair.

"Tagiru!" the same voice from before shouted even louder. "Do you have digibites in your ears? Get over here!"

The mentioned goggle boy turned to see his fellow Hunter, Yuu, along with his idol and greatest inspiration, Taiki. The blonde was obviously the one who had called out rudely.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Tagiru inquired brightly. Yuu furrowed his brows in anger.

"Don't 'hey guys, what's up' us! Did you forget what Taiki had told us?"

Huh? Tagiru thought. Taiki? Did something important happen? It was at that moment when realization struck him hard. That's right! Taiki said that something had been bothering him since last night! We were going to meet up and investigate.

"Eh-heh, oops," Tagiru guiltily laughed. He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I guess I kinda forgot."

Yuu exhaled loudly in exasperation, wondering why he still puts up with this idiot. Taiki just smiled and laughed at the interaction displayed. Whether they admit it or not, they get along pretty well, he thought.

After Yuu was finished lecturing Tagiru about the importance of punctuality, the trio headed off to investigate anything that may have triggered Taiki's unease.

The previously mentioned bandana-wearing boy was making his way quickly through the crowd, shoving those who didn't move without a care. He was confused and lost in a strange world that he woke up in. One moment he had been hanging out with all of his friends in a park, the next he was awoken by the sounds of cars and trucks honking in nearby traffic on roads that were unfamiliar, in a town he's never visited.

Koji needed to find the others fast.

He sped down the street like a blur and came out of the crowd breathing heavily from his rush. Finding a quieter street corner, he pulled out his D-tector and began trying to fiddle with it. As usual, the thing didn't seem to want to cooperate. There was one last thing he had to check. Spotting a secluded park not too far from where he stood, he rushed to the cover of the trees.

"Execute: Spirit Evolution!"

A flash of light exploded in the area and when it finally dimmed, a white humanoid wolf figure was standing where Koji had been. Lobomon tested out his abilities, even summoning his light sword. He then transformed back into a human, but something didn't feel right. There was something off, almost weird, about his form now. As he tried to identify the issue, Koji noticed that the symbol of light had imprinted itself onto the back of his right hand.

"What in the Digiworld…?"

BEEP BEEP

"Look! The digivice picked up a digimon signal!" exclaimed Tagiru. He and the other two had been wandering about aimlessly until the machine went off.

The coordinates showed that the digimon that had appeared wasn't too far off.

"Dang it! The signal disappeared," Yuu complained. It was true. The small dot on the radar had indeed vanished. They then decided it to be best if they checked out the location anyways. Just as a park was in view, the same guy who had rudely shoved Tagiru passed by them again.

"Hey, you!" Tagiru shouted.

"There's no need to shout. I'm right in front of you," the stranger glared. Now that he was standing right in front of them, as the boy had stated, Tagiru could make out the boy's features.

The stranger had black hair that was pulled into a ponytail and a blue and brown bandana covering his head. He had a yellow shirt and blue jacket with with yellow highlights. His pants were dark gray and he had white and blue sneakers on his feet. A scowl seemed ever present on this guy's face. He seemed to be about Taiki's age.

"Why did you shove me?" Tagiru asked with a fire of vengeance burning in his eyes. The stranger only raised an eyebrow and moved to walk past them. Tagiru and the other two watched as this boy around Taiki's age walked down the sidewalk, lacking any of the rush that he contained during the previous meeting.

"What's up with him?" Yuu wondered. Tagiru voiced his agreement, which was rare for them to ever agree. Taiki only watched silently, a feeling that the guy who just passed might be important later on. He decided to act on his feeling and rushed to catch up with the bandana boy, leaving Tagiru and Yuu flabbergasted at his action.

"Wait up!" Taiki called. The new boy stopped up ahead with a deep sigh of annoyance.

"What is it?" he asked rather harshly. Taiki didn't flinch in the least, having been used to Kiriha's own attitude.

"What's your name? Maybe we can be friends." The stranger raised an eyebrow at this proposal, so Taiki continued.

"I think we may have started off on the wrong foot."

The stranger snorted at this. His look said it all.

May have? I don't really care right now so leave me alone.

Taiki caught the message but bravely trudged on anyways.

"Can I at least know your name?" The stranger sighed again before finally answering.

"Koji Minamoto."

Taiki smiled after finally receiving his answer.

"It's very nice to meet you Koji. My name is Taiki Kudo, the blonde is Yuu Amano, and the brunette is Tagiru Akashi. I hope we can become friends."

Koji humphed and turned to walk away again. This time, Taiki let him, but not before he managed to spot the weird symbol on the back of Koji's right hand.

I wonder what that is? Taiki thought to himself. Things just seemed to keep getting more interesting around here.

As he returned to the two younger Hunters, they immediately bombarded him with questions.

"What was his name?"

"Koji."

"What did he want?"

"It was none of our business."

"Why would you talk to a jerk like him?"

"He wasn't that bad. He reminded me a bit of Kiriha." After the questions finally ended, the trio made their way into the park to try and find any clues on the mysterious appearance and disappearance of a digimon.

"Nothing! All that fuss over nothing!" Yuu cried in exasperation. Tagiru seemed extremely disappointed as well, while Taiki took it all in stride.

"It wasn't nothing. The signal definitely showed signs of a digimon. Perhaps this one is more stealthy or something."

They decided to check the surrounding area, but there was no sign of a digimon appearing.

BEEP BEEP

"Huh? Guys, look here. It says that a digimon appeared again but this one has a different signature. It's also quite a bit away from here." Yuu announced with excitement. They were off on another search for another mysterious digimon.

"Well, at least this works," said a newly evolved fire warrior. Agunimon checked over himself. Gauntlets, check, armor, check, hair, check. Everything was in order. Now he just needed to figure out why he ended up on top of a tall building. And where he was, of course.

"Slide Evolution!" BurningGreymon appeared in a vortex of flames that shot up into the sky.

Oops, he thought. I hope nobody saw that.

The large dragon spread his fiery wings and took off into the sky, searching for a scent of his friends.

"Hellfire!"

A shout from below came accompanied by many bullets.

To be continued.

Thank you for reading! I apologize for spelling/grammar errors. I'm trying my best.

To prevent confusion as much as possible, below is the ages of the characters basically. Some of the characters listed may not be featured or vice versa.

Junpei (JP) - 16

Takuya, Koji, Izumi (Zoe), Koichi, Taiki, Kiriha, Nene, Akari - 15

Tagiru, Yuu, Ren, Ryoma, Airu - 14

Tomoki (Tommy) - 12

Thanks again for reading and stay tuned for the next chapter!