Yes, yes, argue with me that I'm starting too many stories. This, however, is a personal project of mine (and, if you've looked at my profile, a really long time coming). Back, oh, let's see…three years now? Anyway, I stumbled upon a fanfiction called Pokemon and Digimon: Clash Worlds by Pete the Rock. It was the first fanfic I had ever read, and got me on the path towards my eventual authorship here. However, while I did like the story, a few parts always bothered me, especially in its sequel. "Why did/didn't X happen to Y, so that Z occurred? Y should have had W happen to him/her, and then be kidnapped by V…" and so on and so forth. Over the years, the idea has fermented inside my mind, and up formed a three-story trilogy, much like Deliverance from Evil, only shorter in length. A mini-DfE, if you will.

The first story you may see several parallels to Pete's work of six years. The only reason for that is because of how my work plays out. Taking a few of the ideas in the story, I added them to the bulk of my original plot devices, creating a fic that may bear about 10% resemblance to Clash Worlds, but with 90% original, pure, bona fide Ketchum Kid storyline tracking. Actually, take off a few percentage points of that figure. It's about 85% original, 5-10% inspired by Clash Worlds, and 5-10% inspired by DfE. That seems about right, I think…

Well, enough of me ranting. You guys are here for the story, right? So look down, and enjoy the first chapter!

Aura and Light

A Pokemon/Digimon Crossover

Chapter 1: Shadows of War

The Digital Forest on File Island was about as dark and creepy as any forest at night. Never mind that they happened to be only a stone's throw away from Primary Village, or that they were on a search and rescue mission for one of their own; after being on The Haunted Mansion during her date in Tokyo Disneyland earlier that day, she was not yet ready to go into another creepy area.

That was the feeling going through the brain of Yolei Inoue at the present moment. She was with Davis and TK, on one end of Primary Village. Tai, Matt, and Sora were on the opposite side of the village, with Izzy and Joe forming a perpendicular tandem with Ken and Cody. They had been searching the area for the last few minutes, following a distress call from the one Digidestined who had happened to be answering a distress call herself.

"Ooh…thish place ish giving me the creepsh alright…" At least Veemon agreed with her. "You shure that we haven't looked thish way before, Davish?" The goggle-head in question groaned.

"For the fourth time, Veemon, yes! We can't give up on Kari that easily! We'll search every corner of the Digital Forest for her!" TK sighed.

"Actually, Veemon's right on this one, Davis," the blonde-haired boy corrected. "This is where we started our search area; look, you can see Primary Village through the trees." Davis growled. He knew that TK had been right, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Butt out of this, PK!" he snapped. "This is a matter between a man and his Digimon." Yolei slapped her forehead in frustration.

"Davis, you're doing it again," she muttered. "When can you ever pronounce his name right?" The red-haired teen in the flame leather jacket jerked his head away from her.

"Yolei, you have no way to comprehend what goes on when two men go after the same girl."

"Since when have I ever said that I was after her?" TK wondered. This set Davis off of his horse.

"Never after her? You two are practically joined to the hip, that's how close you two are! I'd pay an arm or a leg to get in that position with Kari!"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?-!" Yolei boomed. The purplette moved closer to Davis and yanked his ear to the ground. "Your obsession over Kari is duly noted, thank you! But she's a big girl; she has Gatomon by her side, so she should be able to hold out until we find her. Until then, let my ears be on the lookout for trouble, not for your ranting!"

"OW! OW! Lemmie go, Yolei!" Veemon suddenly noticed something.

"Look! Patamon and Hawkmon are back!" Sure enough, the blue imp had spotted the two Digimon descending from the sky. The worried expressions on the two Digimon's faces told them that they wouldn't want to hear what they had found.

"Hawkmon, what's wrong?" Yolei asked. "You didn't see her?" The miniature hawk shook his head.

"No," he reported.

"But we did find these strange Digimon in the area!" the other Digimon, Patamon, exclaimed.

"Huh?" TK was confused. "What do you mean, 'strange Digimon'?"

"Just as I said it TK," the small winged piglet remarked, "strange. They didn't communicate with us when we tried to talk to them, even though they seemed to understand us."

"They are like nothing I ever saw before," Hawkmon added. "There was a black, fire-breathing one with horns on its head, and another that shot ice from its mouth and had really sharp claws."

"Wait, so you were attacked by them?" Davis asked.

"Yes," Hawkmon nodded. "I don't think it's a good idea to remain split up with those things around. We may be in danger, along with all of Primary Village!" The three DigiDestined looked at each other, concerned. The rescue mission now was beginning to look as if it was spiraling out of control.

"We still can't give up on Kari and Gatomon, though," Davis said firmly. "They're in danger as much as we are. Patamon, Hawkmon, go out one more time to try and find the two of them."

"But what about those weird Digimon?" Yolei asked.

"We won't engage with them," TK decided. "I agree with Davis. Those Digimon are making it all the more urgent to find her." Yolei was shocked. TK…is agreeing with Davis?

"Wa - ! But…ooh, fine!" she groaned, defeated. She turned back to Hawkmon "Hawkmon, be careful, alright?" The little hawk Digimon saluted his partner.

"Righty-oh!"

"You be careful too, Patamon," TK added.

"Of course!" the piglet replied. "We'll be alright."

"Good luck, guysh," Veemon said. The two Digimon took back to the air, and returned into the thickness of the forest.

"Let's get in touch with Matt and the others," TK suggested. "They're going to need to see this." Davis held up his D-3 Digivice.

"I was already thinking of that, TP."

"It's TK!" Yolei snapped, her frustration instantly back.

"Forget it, Yolei," Veemon groaned. "It'sh never going to shink into him."

Hiding behind a tree, Kari and Gatomon peered around. The two Digimon were still there, trying to sniff the tandem out. One of the creatures was a black dog, with a red-furred snout, black skeleton-like humps on its back, and a pair of ivory, ram-like horns on its head. The other was black as well, standing on two legs and boasting a rather large set of claws. Its red crest, ears, and tail would suggest fire, but it, in fact, had ice-attribute attacks.

"Are those two ever going to quit?" Gatomon muttered.

"Dunno," Kari speculated quietly. "They seem to be the types that are good at tracking. The brunette sighed. "I should have never taken on that rescue alone. We should have waited for backup." The white cat Digimon placed a paw on her partner.

"It wasn't your fault," she stated. "Everyone else was busy, and Elecmon seemed to be in a real panic. It wasn't like we could ignore the distress signal."

"You're right…" Kari looked back at the two Digimon, who seemed to be communicating with each other…except they weren't really talking like other Digimon. "It looks like they haven't found us yet."

"That's what they seem to be arguing about," Gatomon translated.

"Huh? You're actually able to understand them?" The cat Digimon looked quizzically at Kari.

"You can't hear what they're saying?"

"I can, but it sounds like they're just saying the same thing over and over..."

"Weird…besides that, let's use this time to contact the others on our location."

"Right." A small river happened to be behind the two. Kari had taken out her Digivice, and was about to type, when some rather loud bubbles floated up to the surface.

"Huh?" Before Gatomon could say anything else, a Digimon suddenly shot out of the water. To be precise, it stuck its neck out0, for the creature was a massive blue and cream colored sea serpent. It had a pair of white fins jutting out near its face (along with several others along the top of its body and tail), a pair of blue whiskers on either side of its face, and had a forever angry expression on its face.

"GYARRR!"

"EYAAAH!" Kari shrieked. "WHAT IS THAT THING?-!"

"DON'T KNOW!" Gatomon exclaimed. "JUST RUN!" The two made break for it down the river, the giant sea serpent in pursuit. Their screams also alerted the other two Digimon, who joined in hot pursuit.

The serpent's roar, meanwhile, had carried on for a sizeable distance through the forest.

"What was that?" Patamon wondered.

"I don't know," Hawkmon replied. "But whatever it is, it's angry."

"Do you think Gatomon and Kari could be near it," the piglet asked, a worried expression forming on his face.

"I hope not, but it may be the best hunch we've had all night. Let's just hope it's wrong."

For about a minute, Kari and Gatomon continued their frantic run along the river, their three pursuers in tow. They rounded a bend in the river, where the path formed a steep valley, and had to screech to a halt. There, blocking the route ahead, was an older man. Finding an adult in a Digital World was unusual in itself, but what made it more peculiar was his clothing. Black rippled pants, black rippled long-sleeved shirt, a silver vest with black bands near the bottom, a curious letter G…it looked as if he was from outer space. To top it all off, his hair was blue…not dyed like Mimi or Yolei did to their hair. He had natural blue hair.

"Well," the man said. "I was wondering why my Gyarados was acting strange." He talked with nearly no emotion in his voice. As he spoke, the sea serpent pulled up alongside. The dog came running down the path from which they had been running, and the other Digimon took up a post on top of the cliff. Kari and Gatomon were now trapped.

"Who are you?" Kari demanded, holding up her Digivice. "Are you the one who was terrorizing Elecmon and Primary Village?" The man seemed to chuckle.

"I never imagined I was going to meet one of these famous 'Digidestined' so soon," the man continued, ignoring Kari's question. "I must say, it is fascinating, this Digital World is. It will be a great place to renew my operations, once I get ahold of my subordinates again."

"How are you here?" Kari asked. "Adults weren't given Digivices, let alone four Digimon!"

"I'm afraid that you are mistaken, miss," the man corrected. "I have no Digimon at all." This shocked the pair.

"N-No Digimon?" Kari stammered. Gatomon wasn't convinced.

"Yeah, and I'm a Labrador Retriever," she said dryly. "Kari, Digivolve me into Angewomon! If he's not going to give us a straight answer, then I will give him one!"

"Okay!" Kari prepared the Digivice for Digivolution. The man frowned.

"Weavile, Night Slash!" The creature on the cliff pushed itself off of the cliff. Its right claw emitted a dark aura, before the creature slashed Gatomon. Kari,, who was just about to activate the Digivolution, could only watch in horror as her partner was slashed hard enough to knock her into the water…if that Gyarados creature hadn't slapped her out with its tail, sending the cat Digimon into a face plant with the cliff side.

"Gatomon!" Kari went over to Gatomon, cradling her in her arms. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah…" the Digimon said. "…but I don't think I have the strength to Digivolve after that hit…"

"I was expecting to get a bit more out of you Digidestined, given the reputation I keep hearing about you kids," the man stated. "You lot managed to defeat not one, but several threats to this Digital World. It reminds me of how I was taken down, underestimating that brat and his friends…but no more. This time, I will have my victory! And to do that I will eliminate you Digidestined, one by one!"

The man snapped his fingers, and began to step backwards. Suddenly, in the ground between the two humans, a dark black portal formed. The edge of the portal crept up towards Kari's feet, and the Digidestined had to step backwards to avoid falling into it. But that wasn't the end of the torment.

As Kari was looking at the portal, two red eyes pierced through the dark abyss. The eyes grew larger, and began to rise out of the portal. The creature was otherwise bathed in darkness, indistinguishable in color or shape. It suddenly spread out a pair of dark wings, each with six, blood-red claws. A strange black substance dripped off of the wings, polluting the ground and water that it touched. Even the Gyarados, fearsome as it was, moved away from the creature, unable to compare in its presense.

Kari was horrified at the sight of this creature. "W-W-W-What is that?-!"

"The keystone of my success, and the instrument of your demise." The man swung his right arm out towards the two. "Giratina! Send these two to our world, where they shall do no more harm to my plans!"

"GIYOOOO!" The wings reared back, before lunging and snatching Kari and Gatomon off of the ground. The Digidestined couldn't even scream, yet alone struggle, as the dark matter on the creature's wings seemed to suffocate her. The creature then receded back into the dark portal, dragging Kari and Gatomon with it. The portal closed, and silence fell in the forest once again.

The man grinned. "Excellent."

"Hou?" The dog suddenly jerked its head up towards the cliff. "HOWU!" It proceeded to unleash a torrent of flames from its mouth, burning a bush near the top of the cliff…and scattering its hidden occupants.

"They spotted us!" Patamon exclaimed.

"I think now would be a good time to run!" Hawkmon suggested. The two Digimon began their retreat into the forest. Weavile was about to jump up the cliff to capture them, but the man held his arm out to stop them.

"Let them be," he ordered. "They are of no importance for now. It might be for the best to have them find out about us anyway." He chuckled. "After all, with one of them gone, the others will become demoralized, and soon they will all fall." He turned, and walked back down the river valley. "Gyarados, Weavile, Houndoom, come. It is time to retire for the night. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for the Digital World, one that sees me rewriting it with me as its God!" His companions followed, and they disappeared around the bend in the river. The only trace of an event happening that were left were a few nicks in the cliff, and the inky substance that remained on the path where a terrifying creature had appeared moments ago.

So Kari and Gatomon appear to be in serious trouble now. To what place are they headed? How will the other Digidestined react? And what is the mysterious man's next move? You'll have to tune in next time to find out, so read, review, and tell me how I'm doing! You can always find the latest news on this story and all of my stories at my forum, which I can be found on my profile page. Ja ne, everybody!

Ketchum Kid