Zandermon: ok, here I am, back with more, I haven't forgotten about my story`s but again i`v had trouble getting stuff out of my head.

Ranamon: yea, your skulls a little too thick

Tommy: that's mean

Zandermon: anyway this out no and the next chapter of guardian is almost done, I have a half finished finale to "Betrayal" and thinking of adding another chapter or two to "Birth of Hazard" but until then please make do with this and leave a nice little [or big] review for me

Frontier: Spirit evolution [Chapter01: The 5:47 out-bound Train]

Human world: Takuya Kanbara`s home

Saturday 16/01/06: 5:30Pm

Takuya's vague attention skimmed between his brother, playing with toys, to the window, then to his mother, arguing quietly with their father about coming home for his brothers birthday party, then to the clock, and once again to the window.

He paid little notice to any of it as he absently reached a finger toward the cake on the table.

Boredom had settled in around mid morning, his whole life seemed full of monotony, the same old school work, same old dad not spending enough time with his family, same old fights with his little brother, he was tired of it all, he wanted something new.

"Don't touch that cake takuya" Hm, same old mom, with eyes in the back of her head. He pulled his hands away the white butter-cream icing of the cake, and wondered if he should set right the lopsided strawberry marring the perfect formation around the edges.

He decided against it and slumped back in his chair, returning his semblance of attention to the window.

A light buzzing sound came from the back pocket of his jeans. It was his phone, vibrating against the chair making a sound like an old weathered whoopee-cushion. He pulled the phone from his pocket; it had been last years best, but quickly outdated as time flowed on.

A message was displayed on the screen, flashing intermittently on a light grey background. "[TAKUYA KANBARA, YOU CAN MAKE A DIFERANCE, DO YOU WANT TO RECIVE YOUR DESTINY? -Y-/-N-]"

Takuya raised an eyebrow "Make a difference…? Destiny…? This is weird" he stole a glance at his mother, who`s argument had become a little more heated, his brother continued playing, completely oblivious. The TV played in the background, some dumb kid`s show the kid was in to.

Takuya readjusted the squared goggles that he wore over a green cap turned the wrong way "Well…" he sighed "It can't be worse than this" and he pressed the option marked "[-Y-/]"

At a small flower store in shibuya: 5.30Pm

Koji Minamoto watched as the shop assistant wrapped the flowers in coloured paper. He had consented to buy the flowers for his stepmother in an attempt to make up to the woman for things said and done sense she had married his father.

He asked himself though whether he really wanted to make up with her, if he cared whether she forgave him or not, and after only a brief second of thought he came to the conclusion that he did not, the woman could rot in hell for all he cared.

She would never replace his mother, whoever she had been.

The standard Nokia theme bleated insistently from his jacket pocket. Dejectedly, he plucked the phone from the dust depths of the pocket and eyed the screen. "[KOJI MINAMOTO, DO NOT WORRY, ALL YOUR QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED, WILL YOU RECIVE YOUR DESTINY? -Y-/-N-]"

"All my questions" how many questions did he have, how many unknown facts pursued him day and night "If any at all can be answered…." he pressed the "[-Y-/]"

"[TAKE THE 5.47PM OUTBOUND TRAIN FROM SHIBUYA STATION, HURRY]"

He paused, wondering if this was just a joke, if he should just put his phone back into the confines of his pocket, but he shook his head "No, I have to find out" "Excuse me…" he said to the woman, who had just finished wrapping the flowers, she looked up.

"I was thinking, if I paid now could you save these here for me to pick up later?"

"Sure" she said kindly smiling at him and tucking the flowers under the counter. Koji handed over the 450yen asked for on the tag and thanked her with a nod. Leaving the store, he accelerated to a sprint, heading in the direction of the station.

Hardly a mile from that same store, JP Shibayama exited a small, colourful building with a rucksack crammed full of many varieties of chocolate. An instrumental version of `Tay Zonday`s, Chocolate Rain` emanated from the bag and JP thanked his stars that he had put the phone at the top.

He, like takuya, and Koji before him, discovered and read the message presented to him "Destiny huh…? Sounds cool, I'm in"

"And so," he said in his mind, impersonating the voice of the narrator from his favourite anime "armed with a bag of chocolate, our hero sets of toward his destiny"

Tommy Himi panted heavily behind the trunk of a medium sized tree, roughly in the middle of the park, his mouth was dry, and he was absolutely terrified, anyone who thinks that school bullies strike only on the weekdays is a fool.

"Hey Tommyyy…" a male voice called from only a short few paces away "Come out come out wherever you are…" He shivered, and hoped they would soon move on. Tommy had never been brave, he was small an easily frightened, a perfect target for sadistic creeps such as the four who chased him.

At first he did not realise that his mobile had vibrated, he was shaking so hard that the extra sensation was barely noticeable. But after a minuet or two [in which the four bullies walked away] he recognises the feeling in his leg, and hesitantly l took out his phone and read the display.

"[TOMMY HIMI, BE STRONG AND ACCEPT YOUR DESTINY, WILL YOU ANSWER? –Y-/-N-]"

He answered "[-Y-/]" and, after reading the directions given, broke cover and ran as fast as his short legs could take him, crying out as the four bullies leapt out of there own hiding places and started after him.

Tommy felt like he was going to be sick.

Zoe Orimoto took a long sip of coffee from the porcelain mug, it was good coffee, the best the café had to offer, and their logo was on the mug. As said logo was dangerously similar to the Firefox logo, Zoe suspected the café may be in for some copyright issues.

She set the mug down and cast an eye over her fries, their food was great, and they sold everything from the mundane `fish and chips` [which she herself had chosen] to the most delicate foods from Japan, China, America, even Italy, the country she had been raised in.

Popping a fry between her lips with a smile, Zoe turned her thoughts to the clothes she had spent the day procuring from a multitude of clothing stores in the mall. She couldn't wait for a chance to wear them. "School may be living hell" she thought sourly "But the rest of my life is great… I guess"

suddenly the food tasted like cardboard in her mouth as she recognised the group of girls, about her age, who had just entered the café looking, all of them, as if they were each the queen of a very impressive country. She kept her head down and hoped they would not notice her.

They were the five most popular girls in her school, and all of them hated her. They were all covered in the best and most expensive of everything, clothes, make-up, perfume, hair-extensions, the lot, Zoe wondered that their parents had not been forced into poverty… to the best of her knowledge at least.

She swallowed, and found that her mouth was dry. It took her several goes to down the food and by that time, she had been spotted.

"Ha! Well if isn't the little Italian slut!" Zoe winced and thanked heaven that the other than the five girls the café was mostly empty, the owner and cooks were in the back, only the bored looking cashier was there and he seemed deliberately uninterested.

Why they called her `slut` she would never know, not once in her life had she acted remotely like a slut, and she hated perverts with a vengeance. Unable to ignore them, Zoe raised her head cautiously and looked at the girl who had spoken. It was Orihime, a brunette with a peculiar hatred of her; she was the worst of the lot, and their unofficial leader.

Zoe glanced back at her food, it was only half eaten, but she quickly decided it wasn't so nice after all. Grabbing the bag with her new clothes, she stood to leave but one of the other girls, a little shorter than her with honey coloured hair, grabbed her by the arm with a sneer "Your being rude" she said with and impish giggle "Orihime`s speaking to you"

The brunette smiled and said "Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot, your too good to talk to us aren't you" the bag was snatched out of her hand by the same girl who had grabbed her arm and passed to Orihime before Zoe could even react.

"Wow… there are some nice clothes in here" Orihime chuckled "But you don't need these, you`d probably prefer to walk around naked anyway"

Suddenly she was being pushed out of the door by the other four girls, only a simple sign had been needed for them to get the message and become violent with her. zoe landed on the ground outside the café, scraping her knees on the rough concrete.

Zoe stood up carefully, noting that the girls had gone back inside and were ordering there meals. He knees were white where the skin had been scraped and a small bead of blood was welling up on the left cap, she wiped it away with an index finger and sighed.

"Bad idea to wear a skirt Zoe" she mumbled as she dusted of her clothes. Another glance back showed Orihime trying on a scarf form the bag while her four underlings glared darkly in Zoe`s direction "I hope…" Zoe growled "That that bitch ties the dumb thing too tight and chokes!"

Zoe began walking toward home just as her phone began ringing; it occurred to her then that she was very lucky they had not taken the phone also. The message said "[ZOE ORIMOTO, YOU ARE SPECIAL: DO YOU WANT TO RECIVE YOUR DESTINY? –Y-/-N-]"

"Yes" Zoe thought, and without hesitation, pressed the button.

Takuya rushed onto the train just as the door hissed shut behind him, for a moment he just stood there, hands on his knees and breathing heavily, he doubted that he had ever run faster in his life. As he regained his breath and took hold of the overhead handrail, takuya spotted another boy standing opposite him.

He was about takuya`s height, his raven hair was tied back in a short pony-tail. A bandana adorned his head and the main colour of his clothing seemed to be blue. His dark eyes were fixed on his cell phone, one of a similar make to takuya`s, he did not seem to be aware of anything around him but the phone, and seemed, takuya thought, to be a bit of a loner.

Though curios, takuya dismissed the boy in favour of his own thoughts which, now that he had the time to think comfortably, came bombarding into his mind.

While he had been running [and forgetting the first rule of the road that your parents teach you] he had come within inches of being hit by a truck. This in itself was not so strange, what puzzled him, was that he could have sworn that someone had pushed him out of the way… someone strong.

And that had not been the only odd occurrence of his trip so far… there had been that thing with the ticket…

He had searched his pockets for money to insert into the machine in return for a ticket, but he had found none, but, after punching the machine in frustration [and receiving a warning look from a station guard] it had presented him with the correct ticket, despite his lack of money.

Takuya bit his lip thoughtfully and wondered if that was what destiny was, something that happens even if you screw it up. He looked at the bandana wearing boy opposite him, he was still watching his phone waiting… perhaps he to had received a similar message to his.

He was about to open his mouth and ask when the boys phone rang… at the exact same time as takuya`s.

JP held the elevator doors open for a small kid with a weird hat who was followed by four other kids, all of them older. One was a little shorter than JP with blonde hair; another seemed a little geeky and wore thick glasses. The third had darker hair than his friends and seemed to be sneering at the kid.

The last, JP noticed with excitement, was a girl, with chocolate coloured hair [JP`s favourite colour] and matching eyes. With a grin, JP caught the girl`s eye and winked. Surprised, the girl gave him a slightly nervous smile, and then presided to ignore him. Slightly affronted, but not disheartened, JP allowed the door to close and continued to smile at her.

Suddenly, JP wished he had not eaten so much chocolate on the journey, as the elevator plummeted at a fantastic speed. The plummeting death-trap came to an abrupt hold which shook the all to there bones, all of them had pale faces and one look at the kid told JP that he should get out of there before he tossed his lunch.

The doors hissed open and he was the first out. Looking around at the massive underground hub, with a huge luminous clock directly above his head, a roof over a hundred feet from the ground, and more trains than JP had ever seen gathered in one spot, it soon became apparent that they were to board one of them.

JP, being as he was went strait to the one that seemed closest to the elevator; picking another chocolate bar from his backpack "For medicinal purposes" he told himself "That elevator was hell"

Tommy, after regaining his composure, left the elevator at a quick pace, heading for a sea-blue train next-door to the one chosen by JP. Fear shot through him as the leader of his four pursuers [the blonde] and the one with the glasses grabbed him hard by the shoulders and began laughing.

The other two, the dark haired boy and the girl, stood of to the side watching. They, unlike there friends, were not laughing, Tommy sometimes wondered whether the two holding him bullied them too, though they seemed to be friends.

Tommy felt himself being pulled and buffeted towards the second train, a red one, which he thought he ad seen another boy board just a few moments ago. At the blondes' command, dark haired boy pulled open the door and tried not to make eye contact with Tommy.

A hard shove sent Tommy flying through the door where he collapsed to the floor of the train. As the door slammed shut he heard raucous laughter from outside, but two of the voices producing the sound seemed, somehow, fake.

Takuya stumbled out of the train, once again breathing hard; this was where he had been told to get off, now he just had to find the right place. Behind him, Koji re-read the message and, unlike takuya, he knew exactly where to go.

Seeing the boy from before running off, and remembering that he had also received a message, takuya quickly weighed his options, and decided to follow him. Both of them failed to notice a third boy, looking very alike to Koji, jostling his way through a hoard of boarding and exiting passengers, as he tried to get off the train.

Zoe ploughed through the pushing and shoving civilians, narrowly avoiding more than a few handbags and briefcases that almost caused her injury. After sparing with an ancient rickety legged man with crutches for the next spot in the line exiting the carriage, Zoe spilled out onto the platform with a small boy, a pregnant teenager, and a one armed veteran.

Gasping for breath, Zoe began running towards her goal, barely a moment later, she collided with a raven haired boy wearing a green jacket and a blue cap, they both bit the dust feeling winded. Zoe scrambled to her feet apologising repeatedly and helping the boy to stand.

Kouichi Kimura managed to stumble out a few words to tell the girl that he was fine and ask if she he was hurt, she denied any injury and after apologising one last time she bolted away in a great hurry. Kouichi stared after her for a moment before remembering that he too was in a great hurry.

Looking around quickly, he spotted his quarry, the boy who so resembled him in every way, and ran towards him with renewed energy.

Takuya saw the boy with the bandana walk stoically into the elevator and picked up his speed. His hart jumped into his throat as a hurricane blew past him with force nine winds. He blinked, and realised that the supposed hurricane was infract only a girl, blonde, and about his age.

She stepped into the elevator and leant against the wall, panting. As takuya drew nearer the elevator doors began to close. With an extra burst of speed, takuya dived through the closing doors like a professional goalie fiving for a ball.

The doors closed tightly behind him as he stood and began to rub his bruised head where it had hit the wall.

Kouichi, despite his best effort, had arrived too late. He came to and abrupt halt as they closed behind the strange, goggle-wearing boy, anger built up inside him and he slammed his fist against the door and growled.

But wait! He was hopeful again, there was always the stairs.

Zoe wobbled out of the elevator and, due to a seriously upset stomach, boarded the closest of the many trains. Koji, seeming to be unaffected by the vicious treatment of the elevator, chose the blue one that Tommy had failed to get to minuets before. Takuya was sprawled out on the floor of the elevator, feeling sick and stunned.

When, finally, he managed to raise groggily to his feet, and step by wobbling step leave the elevator, and stare around at the room, fascinated by it`s size and contents. He saw with a start that he was the only one now on the platform, all of the countless trains seemed to be full, and some were beginning to move!

This realisation flooded through him like a burst dam, with his legs still shaking and hart pounding, takuya again began running "It looks like destiny involves a lot of running! What have you gotten yourself into takuya?" The closest train was the one he had seen the hurricane girl chose, but as he ran it too started moving, just like the others. He was only a few feet away, his arm outstretched

The closer her got the harder it was to keep up, he was almost ready to give up, destiny be damned, and go back home, then his fingers brushed the railings, and, thrusting his arm out further, he grabbed hold of the bar and pulled himself onto the balcony of the train.

Tommy gripped the green covering of the seats tightly, his eyes were fixed on his feet and his hat, large enough to fit a boy twice his size, concealed his face from view. Zoe and JP sat opposite each other a few feet farther down the carriage.

JP looked bored, the train had just begun to move and already he was hungry. Zoe gazed out of the window as the darkness of the tunnel swallowed them up, it dawned on her then that she had no clue where she was going… only why.

No-one looked up when the door slid open, all were to busy with thought`s, fear, and chocolate. Takuya peered in cautiously and saw the three occupants; he walked in and took a few steps forward.

"Uh… hi"

Takuya sighed, two of his companions in the carriage had been completely uninterested while he tried to be friendly, one, the girl, had seemed preoccupied with thoughts that seemed to be important to her, she sat there with an almost, but not quite frown on her face.

"Jeez…" takuya thought "You`d think she was trying to figure out the meaning of life, she doesn't seem so bad though, just preoccupied" she had at least introduced herself, she was called Zoe, it was a name takuya did not hear often, but a good one.

The second, an overweight boy in a blue and yellow jumpsuit, had had his attention entirely focused on his chocolate, or on Zoe, who was sitting opposite him, his attention seemed to rotate between the two objects of interest, this cycle had been broken only to wink at takuya saying "watch this" then he had offered an unopened bar to her, introducing himself as JP.

She had broken her thoughts long enough to thank him but refuse kindly, not wanting to cause offense, then turned back to the window.

"Watch this" my ass! Who does he think he is, James Bond? Hmph, show off"

The third child had kept his head down and had begun shaking when takuya tried to speak to him, it had only been when the kid had let a slight whimper escape his lips that takuya had realised that he had been crying, why, he had no clue, but he had thought it best to leave him alone, and had not pressed for his name.

"Poor kid, things must be bad for him… or maybe I'm just scary"

An unexpected jolt, and a pickup in there speed, knocked Zoe from her thoughts, caused JP to drop his chocolate, and for the kid to jump to his feet, his eyes darting wildly, he was no taller standing up than he was sitting down.

They had emerged from the tunnel out of the side of a mountain, the train seemed to be flying, until Takuya realised that the track was a simple monorail, practically invisible against the air. They travelled at unimaginable speeds.

The track took them over canyons, under mountains, and past huge lakes. As there journey progressed they began to see strange things, the first of these was a large flock of white, cloud-like blobs with faces, that floated through the air and pressed themselves against the glass window`s.

At this Zoe completely freaked, and the kid threw himself under the seats, again beginning to cry. The creatures vanished as the train shot into the mouth of another funnel in the side of a cliff. Inside they seemed to slow down a little, and they all hoped they were coming to a halt.

But then there stomach`s lurched, as if the track and the ground had vanished, and the train now plummeted to an unknown fate. It was pitch black, and impossible to see anything, or even decipher whether or not they were really in danger.

As they picked up speed, Takuya`s skin began to burn red hot, there was now physical evidence of a flame, but he could have been in an inferno. He collapsed to the ground, it did not hurt, but he had never experienced such a feeling.

Cowering under the seats with his eyes tightly shut, Tommy felt a chill run down his spine, he shivered as the temperature dropped and he ears turned red, his breath came in clouds and the tips of his fingers became numb.

Zoe grabbed onto the overhead railing and gritted her teeth, she could feel the gale force winds rushing past her, her hair whipped about her head and her hair blew around her thighs, she closed her eyes against the force of nature and wondered how many windows had been left open.

JP`s hair stood on end as huge amounts of energy flowed through his veins giving him a surge of adrenalin he was not used to, his fingers crackled and the tips of his ears sparked, he could not understand the feeling, like holding onto cattle wire and receiving shock after shock.

Another jerk shook them as they landed back on the tracks and thundered back into the light, while they were still shielding there eyes from the sudden light, a chorus of ring-tones and themes broke out among the four children.

Each pulled out a different phone; the four objects were each glowing with a different coloured light. Red, white, purple, and yellow, each colour shone with a brilliance that radiated throughout the carriage as the object transformed, and became new, completely different devices.

A symbol appeared on the screen of each device, and an electronic noise emanated from them, like the dialling tone of a computer, but higher pitched. A voice spoke from the four machines, each in perfect synch, it was a woman's voice, and she sounded pleased to be speaking to them.

["Welcome to the digital world, you have been singled out from the hundreds summoned here, these are your D-tector`s, they are the path to your destiny"]

After that the four children had been more sociable, even the kid, whose name was Tommy, although he was still rather timid, they had discussed what they thought was happening and why, but Takuya noticed that one subject they all avoided was there reason for coming.

The hooting of the trains whistle reverberated through the train as they slowed. Expecting this to be leading up to yet another roller coaster experience, all four children clung to anything they could find that was fixed down. Each of them felt rather foolish when they realised that they had come to a complete standstill, there journey was at an end… or so they thought.

The doors opened of their own accord and the group stepped out cautiously. They were standing on the platform of a large station; the theme seemed to be "volcano interior" or perhaps "fires of hell. Every thing was red, brown or orange, and made of stone or steel. Burning torches lined the wall and, surprisingly, a digital clock hanging from the roof gave the time [although it seemed to be set to a different time zone as each noted "That clock`s wrong…"]

"All right" a large unfamiliar voice spoke "Be off with Ya, I've got work to do" They all looked around startled "Who`s there!" Takuya yelled, Tommy was hiding behind his leg. The voice spoke again "Sheesh, you don't have to shout I'm right here, big red guy, wheels, with the carriages, the guy who just dragged your lazy asses all the way from the human world!" The four were shocked; slowly they turned around to face the train that had brought them here… it had a face, and was speaking to them.

JP shook his head dejectedly "Great… were inside an English TV show" The train looked confused, as did the other three humans, he looked at them oddly "You know… That Thomas thing with the blue engine…" he was interrupted by an angry whistle from the train "My name ain't Thomas! I`m a Trailmon! Worm to be exact! And for another thing, I'm red not blue!"

He let out a burst of steam and began moving off again, leaving the station behind, they heard him call back "Now push off! If you don't want Cherubimon`s goon`s to catch you that is!" each one of them was sufficiently confused, poor Tommy looked like he had been permanently put off train travel.

Taking the initiative in the confusion, Takuya led them all out of the station, or at least he hoped it was the right way out.

Kouichi… that was his name right, he was sure of that at least, he stared around at the all prevailing darkness that surrounded him, in his state of confusion and unrest the shadows seemed oddly comforting… he welcomed them, loved them… then panic returned as he realised that the name, his last connection to whatever he had been was gone!

He struggled to regain the memory, but the shadows seemed to have invaded his mind too for that was all he could find, darkness within, and darkness all around. A satisfied chuckle which was ubiquitous and frightening washed over his senses and he looked around for the source, but again all he could see was the darkness… that wonderful, motherly darkness…

His mind clouded, and tears fell from eyes that saw only black. Just as sleep was about to pull him down into the inky depths of he consciousness, the voice which had laughed spoke, and it spoke with a voice that danced on the line between benevolence and malevolence.

"You weep for the loss of a name? a name is nothing, lose your destiny, then you may weep…" it chuckled again before it continued "But you, boy, are being offered a destiny, one that you can chose and manipulate, one full of the darkness you love"

As he listened to the voice, everything it said made sense… what was a name? For him as he was to poses a name would be to name an empty husk… there was nothing to name, just a lump of flesh with no future… no destiny.

"Who are you?" he heard himself ask "Do you have a destiny?"

"Mine came to me long ago, all I have now is to enjoy it…! But yours ties in with mine, in fact, I hold it here in my hand.

A large black hand emerged from the darkness; the smallest finger was twice the length of his height, short sharp claws protruded from the fingertips, it had only three fingers, and the thumb seemed slightly flattened. Closer inspection showed him that the blackness of the hand was in fact a mass of coarse black fur.

Resting on the padded surface of the palm was a small sculpture, a totem, it showed the torso of a strange man in black armour with many eyes large and small scattered over his body, and the base of the totem was shaped as an octagon.

The boy without a name reached forward towards the totem, it seemed to lure him, call him, he felt like a fly to honey. But something stopped him. Addressing the shadows that hid the face of the one who claimed to be part of his destiny he said "What is it?"

"It is your destiny, your future, it is the spirit of darkness, and without this you were, are, and forever will be… nothing."

"Spirit of darkness…"as he stared at the eyes of the totem, he swore that something… like evil, or intent to commit evil, was shining in those eyes like the light which was missing from the world around him. This did not unsettle him, it did in fact, against all reason, force his hand to grasp the spirit.

The pain was overwhelming, and lasted for who new how long, maybe minuets or hours, days or weeks, perhaps months, or even years. But when the unimaginable pain faded there was not a doubt in his mind that he now had a destiny.

He had changed, nothing about him was the same, and even his body resembled the spirits with startling preciseness.

Something in the air told him that the voice was pleased; he knew that it was long before it told him so "Good…! I am proud of you, but now that you have accepted your destiny and entwined it with mine, you must also accept my command, my word is law."

He nodded hi head, all but his eyes were concealed behind pitch black headgear "Yes, master…" Another laugh rang throughout all of existence "Good, follow me, and be proud of your new name… Duskmon"

A crowd of strange creatures met them outside, each one was different [though none seemed to come past Takuya`s waist] there was one that was nothing more than a black blob with yellow eyes, another looked like a blue rabbits head with long ears and a nasty expression, one looked a ghost and was they realised one of the things that had pressed themselves against the glass.

But two of them stood out, not because they were any more spectacular than the others [which they were not] but because they were cautiously walking towards them as if they were rabid strays. One looked like a brown-cream hare with long upright ears and red shorts, the other was something like a cross between a koala and a dog, with cream coloured fur, a horn on it`s head, and a strange article of clothing around it`s waist.

Bokomon licked his lips and drew in a breath, they really were humans "G-Greeting`s human children, I am bokomon, keeper of the book and i…" he was interrupter by the hare in red pants "And I'm neemon, pleased to meet Ya!" Bokomon grabbed his waistband and pulled it back, letting it snap against it`s wearer "You idiot, I was trying to be dramatic!"

Takuya watched them with interest, but something nagged at his mind "Um… uh, Mr. Bokomon sir, I, I mean we, sorta need to know what's going on… we were told to come here for our destiny and, well, we were given these things" he pulled out the D-tector "But, we don't know what there for, could you tell us…?"

He looked curiously at it "I`m sorry, I can't… I don't have a clue what that is…?"

Takuya sighed "Well, could you at least tell us where we are?"

Bokomon smiled "Now that I can do, come with me and I shall show you… the book"

Bokomon had taken them to his home in the forest, literally, house home was a hollowed out and furnished tree which was rather comfortable on the inside. His book had been a strange thing, the writing consisted of shapes, and the things it said, well… odd. The pictures had been fairly decent and they said so, much to Bokomon`s pleasure. He had given them a crash course in digital world history and the abilities of Digimon.

Tommy looked scared out of his wits, as Takuya sat by him and put an arm round him the boy seemed to calm a little, Takuya smiled, the boy reminded him of his own little brother. Bokomon and Neemon were unusual but welcoming hosts, the children were offered food and a place to stay, both of which they accepted. After eating a set of hummocks were quickly set up and as the sun set over the digital horizon the humans and Digimon turned in for the night.

Ranamon sat perched on a rock beside her pool, hugging her legs, knees tucked under her chin. Today even swimming did not appeal to her, something was wrong, she could feel it. Grumblemon, Arbormon and Mercurymon were there too. The latter completely ignored her, Arbormon was asleep, but once again Grumblemon was getting on her nerves.

He knew how much she hated him and loved to antagonise her, he had spent the morning flirting with her, and had been gleefully happy with her outraged reactions. Mercurymon had watched stoically but Arbormon, in defence of his friends [of which he counted not just Grumblemon but Ranamon and Mercurymon too] had stopped the fight and held them away from each other before she had killed him.

At Arbormon`s request the little troll had let her be for a few hours, until it had been revealed [in a conversation with Arbormon, who was the only one of them she actually trusted] that she felt something really bad was happening.

Arbormon had been sympathetic and, as was his nature, had delivered many pieces of advice which, at face value, were completely useless and had nothing to do with the current situation, but the wooden doll meant well and she had been grateful for it [though she did not say so as it would have been terribly embarrassing to do so among people who, for the most part, did not believe in gratitude]

Grumblemon however, had leapt at the chance to continue his mockery of the water spirit "Ha-Ha…" He had called in a piggish voice "Water-girl get spooked, Ha-Ha, you all squirmy, squeamish, and dumb too, you bad, me bad, we all bad, if bad things happen that good, get it dumb-dumb."

And other such mockery had followed. Mercurymon had watched in his usual, pompous, and self centred way, not twitching a muscle "Of course…" she admitted "He doesn't have any muscle, being the warrior of steel and all"

Her thoughts, and Grumblemon`s mockery, and indeed Arbormon`s sleep were then interrupted by the voice of Lord Cherubimon, ordering them to the meeting hall.

The hall was much darker than usual; all of the torches lining the walls had been extinguished. The only light, a dim blue one, akin to a bug zapper, highlighted the imperfections of the floor and gave everything a ghostly air.

The little light did not reach the corners of the room, meaning more than half of the hall was in complete darkness. That light was emitted by the Hologram of there master above the stone slab, his glowing eyes were focused on them as they entered the room and stood before him, heads bent in a sign of respect.

Cherubimon nodded in response "You may or may not be aware, that a multitude of human children have entered my world, and have gathered in mass at almost all of the terminals" Ranamon`s red eyes widened "Human children? Why would humans be here, what have they too do with this" for a reason unknown to her, she wished dearly that Cherubimon would not order them to destroy them.

"This however, is not important… for the moment, nor is it the reason I have called you here"

Footsteps could be heard in the shadowed corners of the room, someone seemed to be pacing in circles, just outside the range of the light. Ranamon wondered for a moment if Cherubimon knew it was there, if she should attack it before it made a move.

But that, she realised, was ridicules, of course Cherubimon was aware of it`s presence, he had probably invited it himself, and any move it made would be under his command.

"I called you to inform you of an addition to our ranks, as you know when the spirits of the legendary warriors were divided between myself and my former comrades, I was entrusted with the spirits of Steel, Earth, Wood, Water, and… the spirit of Darkness… the four of you I managed to create by fusing vast amounts of data with the spirits until you took form, this did not work with the spirit of darkness.

"However, I have, after much time, found a way to resurrect the spirit and now it has joined us… come forth, Duskmon"

The four warriors of the elements turned to greet there new comrade as he slowly emerged from the darkness. He was tall, as tall as Mercurymon, the tallest of the four of them; he was entirely encased in black armour, armour that watched them with a multitude of eyes small and large. He had no hands, or at the least, none that could be seen, instead, his steel –clad arms ended in jagged red blades.

Mercurymon stepped forward and greeted the warrior of darkness with many long and excessively polite phrases. But he was ignored, Duskmon seemed to be watching their lord Cherubimon, the other warriors did not interest him.

Ranamon immediately hated him, she now knew that he was the source of her discomfort, there was something… wrong, about him, and she could not place it. He worried her, he worried her a lot.

Zandermon: well there you go the introduction of duskmon and the beginning of Spirit Evolution

Ranamon: that duskmon gives me the creeps

Tommy: he makes my toe itch… wait, no that's just a spider in my shoe

Zandermon: and with that we'll leave you be, but please, please review.

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