Alamo Diaries 01: Riverwalk Battle

Six child digimon stood within an alley leading out of a massive city. The ragtag group looked around, nervously, trying to find a means to get away from their pursuers. The golem among the group considered it just pure luck that they managed to pass through the city without getting caught by the thugs chasing them. Their pursuers strolled through the city without any problems from others, but there was a sense that they didn't 'own' this place like most of the other towns they've been. The child-level digimon hoped it meant that they have reached the outskirts of the gang's territory.

"There's a temple not too far from here, Gotsumon," what looked like a small collection of gears spoke up, referring to an ancient building in the distance. "We could seek sanctuary there."

Gotsumon nodded, looking back over the remainder of the group. Gotsumon had trusted the Hagurumon's judgment for a long time. He would not question it now. "Whatever we do, I don't know how much time we have until we're spotted," another voice from above the group informed. The tan-furred hamster with bat wings for ears, Patamon, continued to fly almost backwards as the group continued forward.

Floramon looked up at Gotsumon with anticipation. Her arms with flowers and a stamen for hands wrapped around a white-furred dog, who looked more curious than scared. With her long ears, you could easily confuse the Terriermon for a rabbit.

The one Gotsumon worried about the most was actually the oldest of the group, a fur covered elephant-like animal with smoke for legs, stubbed arms, and an even shorter trunk. The Tapirmon glared back into the city, waiting to ambush their followers. "Tapirmon, don't think about it. If we don't run, we'll all die, even Terriermon," Gotsumon told him, taking advantage of his responsibility towards the youngest member of the group. The tapir digimon backed up and scowled, knowing the golem was right and hating it.

"Let's go," Gotsumon said, as the group made a break for the temple. They dashed through the plains on the outskirts of the city, hoping to get as much distance as possible between them and the thugs. It wouldn't be five minutes before they covered about a quarter of the distance to the temple, and Gotsumon looked back to notice the figures that looked like cacti dressed in sombreros and cloth ponchos. Without legs, they looked like ghosts. Gotsumon swore to himself, knowing they were as good as caught if they didn't move faster. The Ponchomon effortlessly closed in on the group, gliding across the open plain.

"Sparkling Thunder!" a feminine voice cried out from the direction of the temple. A lightning bolt struck one of the Ponchomon, causing it to disperse to data much to the group's amazement.

"Get in," a robotic voice told the group. The Gotsumon looked at the entrance to see a mechanical beetle standing by the temple. The group thought it would be best to listen to the Kokuwamon's order, rushing into the entrance while the Ponchomon scattered in different directions out of fear and confusion. After taking a few steps into the temple, they turned around to see the Kokuwamon and a weird red creature that looked like a cross between a rabbit and a lizard with a peacock-styled tail walk in.

"You guys are lucky. If they weren't so easily scared, we would have been done for. So, what was that all about?" the Elecmon asked, looking over the group of child digimon with suspicion.

"Long story short, Revolmon found us and decided we would be good target practice, then sent his thugs after us when we escaped," the Gotsumon spoke up, walking forward.

"Which Revolmon? There's gotta be thousands of them," Kokuwamon explained.

The refugees looked at each other in confusion. "You have not heard of Pail Dramon's gang?" the Hagurumon asked, turning to their hosts. "They've only dominated the region as long as most of us remember."

"We haven't had any problems since we eliminated Nanomon." The machine shrugged.

"We must be out of their territory then," Hagurumon said, before doing a double take after realizing what Kokuwamon just said. "Wait...you eliminated Nanomon!" The two digimon nodded. "That's not possible unless you were...destined digimon?"

"Yes, our human partners are at home on their world now," Elecmon told them. Many of the refugees stared in shock, wondering if they really stumbled upon two of the digiimon that have become legends in their world. Tapirmon just kept a reserved expression, really skeptical of the two digimon.

Kokuwamon started to walk down the hall. "Come with me. I'll show you where you can rest. Just do us a favor and stay in there."

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A cool breeze passed over a schoolyard basketball court on what would normally be an unseasonably warm day for late October. The sound of the ball pounding against the paved gravel court echoed throughout the area, with kids cheering on two players. One of them was an African-American kid that was trying anything he could to get past his opponent as he dribbled the ball. He wore a gold Lakers t-shirt with red shorts. He tried everything from fakes to 360 spins to crossovers to try to get past his defender.

The defender was a brown-headed white boy that wore a black Spurs t-shirt and blue jeans. It was hard to believe that the jeans weren't hampering the white boy's footwork as he kept pace with the ball-handler. No matter what happened he would stay in front of his opponent. When his opponent attempted a fake, his arm would go in that direction, but the rest of his body wouldn't move, or take a step in the other direction as he read the ball-handler's movements. He was definitely taller than the ball-handler, but you could tell that the only part of his size he would take advantage of was his reach. He preferred to play in motion rather than use his height to block shots.

The dark kid tried another crossover, facing his defender. He crossed once, attempting to fake his opponent out. The defender's body seemed to shift as if he was going to follow it. However, when he sent the ball in the other direction, following through on the crossover, the white kid's right hand whipped forward and knocked the ball away as he stepped back into the other direction. The dark kid attempted to recover the ball, but the white kid let his momentum carry him through, getting in between the ball and his opponent. The white kid recovered the ball and just held onto it. The crowd of kids around them crowed at the sight.

"You've gotten better, Rich. You were just a scrub the last time I faced you," the dark kid said, breathing hard after the display. He had a hard time believing that the defender did a number on him, after shaking off many that have tried to do just what he did.

"I had to improve one of these days," Richard shrugged like it was nothing, but showed no real signs of cockiness.

Dwayne just shook his head with a smirk. "Man, am I glad to see you back," he remarked.

"Well, I'm glad to get out of 'Misery'," Richard replied.

"Misery?" Dwayne asked, confused. "You always seem miserable now."

Richard shook his head. "It's my dad's nickname for Missouri, now. He actually agrees with me that moving to Saint Louis was a mistake."

"Ouch." Dwayne cringed, gaining a hint of his old friend's current attitude. He tried to reconcile his memory of a young grinning boy and the sour preteen before him, having some trouble believing they were the same person. Even now Richard seemed serious and reserved, and this was what he was like relaxed.

"You dressing up as Ryu like normal tonight?" Dwayne asked, deciding to change the subject. He remembered how Richard always liked to dress as the Street Fighter for Halloween.

"I'm not dressing up for Halloween. It just seems stupid," Richard replied.

"Don't be such a spoiled sport," a female voice said from the crowd. Dwayne and Richard turned to see a blonde white female approaching them, a friend of Dwayne's that moved here shortly after Richard's family moved away. She's the only other person besides Dwayne that Richard would open up to even slightly. The girl was wearing jeans herself with a navy shirt. "It's fun to dress up."

"To each their own." Richard shrugged. "I still have to go down to the Riverwalk with my dad and sisters tonight. I'm not looking forward to it honestly."

"Why not ask your father if we can come along?" Rita suggested. "Besides, I don't mind younger kids."

"She has a point. My parents shouldn't mind." Dwayne shrugged.

"We'll see. I'll see y'all later," Richard said with a sigh. He dropped the ball and went through the crowd, rushing home.

"Bye, Rich," Dwayne said, as he watched Richard disappear through the crowd. "I'm worried about him, Rita."

"What scares me is that if you hadn't told me what he really was like, I'd be like the other creeps here," Rita said with a sigh, looking over at the guys who leered wearily at Richard as he walked past them.

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A couple of Mexican-American children were ducking behind fences and other obstructions, hiding while trying to get home from school. Any onlooker would think they were suspicious, but neither of them cared. The older child looked like he was about ten years old. He wore a black shirt and jeans. He was carefully stepping, not trying to make a sound, as was the younger girl that was with him. She was wearing a pink striped shirt with the same colored shorts. The two watched several older teenagers and young adults as they passed through, hoping that they wouldn't be noticed. All of them wore black clothing, marking them as part of the same gang.

The boy sighed as they came to an open spot where the gang members would definitely notice them if they walked through, their home only several feet away. They had two options stay hidden until the gang members went away, which may take hours, or make a break for it. He reached into his pocket and took out his house key, seeing no other way out of the situation.

One of the teenagers suddenly looked down the road before flashing the rest of them a signal. At that, the young men scattered in different directions. The boy put an arm out in front of the girl to make sure she didn't move, as to not draw attention to them by any of the men that passed them. "Let's go," the boy told the girl, who seemed confused about what just happened until a white SAPD car pass them by. Both children doubt it was anyone from the gang unit, but they could take what help they could get. The boy looked around as they reached the front porch of their home and slid the key into the bolt lock. Just as he turned the key, he opened the door quickly and rushed inside with his sister before closing the door behind him, locking it as quickly as he could.

The boy walked into the den and flopped down onto the couch. While he seemed disturbed almost all the time, his body language gave away more than usual. The girl looked at her brother with a look of concern. "Jorge, are you okay?" she asked.

Jorge saw the look in her eyes and shook his head. There were several thoughts and emotions flowing through his head with no way for him to express them, nor did he really want to. "It's nothing, Victoria," Jorge told the girl, not wanting to trouble the girl with what he was thinking. There were more important things for him to focus on now.

Victoria didn't buy it, but there was nothing she could do. As much as she wished to, she could not understand her brother. She just wanted to help him in some way.

"Go do your homework," Jorge told her. "I have things to do." Victoria simply nodded and walked to her room to do just that. It was less that he really wanted to be left alone, but he really had chores to get done on top of his homework. He didn't mind it too much, since it gave him a distraction from his own thoughts.

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A caucasian boy walked out of the barn. He seemed a bit big under the flannel shirt he wore, but that came more from his build than anything, something that would happen to you after doing hard work everyday for five years or so. He wouldn't complain about that, he enjoyed it to some extent. Of course, he'd rather play football like any other boy, but living out in the Texas Hill Country in general wasn't too bad for him. It beat living in the city.

Clint turned his head as he heard the sound of a circular saw ripping through some wood. His father was working on some repair job for a neighbor again. He started working odd jobs to supplement the money they earn from their crop and livestock. No one really made enough money on family farms anymore. Many families had to get a job in town just to supplement what they earn from their farms. His father refused to do so and settled for doing odd jobs to stay close to home, where he could spend more time with his family.

He opened the door into his house quietly, knowing his sister was still asleep. The boy's mother just got off of the phone as he walked in. "Who was that?" the boy asked, curious to who the woman was talking to.

"The neighbors invited us to a Halloween party tonight." The woman sighed. "I shouldn't go, it wouldn't be a good idea to bring Tina along."

"Mom, you need to get out more. I can stay and watch Tina for you tonight," Clint suggested. He had a good idea which neighbors invited them to the party, so he wasn't really interested. Some city folk moved out to a property next door to them. They don't do much with the land itself, and the father commutes to work. They have a son that's younger than him, but he doesn't know anything about them. Clint guessed it was a sign of the times as people from the city move out to find a quiet place to live.

"Are you sure?"

Clint nodded. "You and Dad enjoy yourselves. I can take care of Tina and if anything goes wrong, you won't be too far for me to call you."

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"So what do we do next?" Floramon asked as the group sat around the room Kokuwamon set aside for them. There was a general sense among the group that they couldn't hide here forever. One day they would have to continue on and try to live like normal, but how would they start?

"I have no clue. I guess we just wait a couple of days for things to blow over. Hopefully, Revolmon will give up on us and we'll be left alone," Gotsumon spoke up, pacing around the room. The room fell silent with a bit of uneasiness. Gotsumon seemed disturbed, as he replayed the image of the Elecmon frying the Ponchomon that was chasing them. Suddenly, he turned around and punched the stone-bricked wall out of frustration, not even denting it. Everyone with the exception of Tapirmon looked at Gotsumon with wide eyes.

"Punching a wall is not going to solve anything," Tapirmon muttered, before asking, "Now, what's your problem?"

"This is just pathetic. We've been running from those guys for weeks, and in the end, all it took was for one of them to be killed and it scares the others away. If we had done that, it might have saved us a lot of trouble."

"It wouldn't have worked," Hagurumon reassured him. "Elecmon and Kokuwamon are chosen digimon. They're stronger than us, and if we were able to kill one of the Ponchomon, they wouldn't have been scared of it."

"You put too much faith in those two," Tapirmon remarked. "Besides, Hagurumon's right, it wouldn't have the same result."

Gotsumon looked down. "I know. I just hate not being strong enough to keep us out of trouble."

"Live another day and you will become stronger," Tapirmon said. "Trust me, I know how you feel Gotsumon. I want to be stronger just so I can get back at those guys, but if we don't survive now, it won't happen."

Gotsumon nodded before looking up around the others. However, something didn't seem right. There were only four other child digimon sitting in the room with him. He tried to figure out who was missing. Then, he mentally kicked himself for not realizing it sooner. "Where's Terriermon?" the golem asked, even more frustrated.

Outside the room in the halls of the temple, Terriermon walked silently. Her curiosity got the better of her and she just wanted to see the rest of this place for herself. When she came up to another room hearing voices talking inside, she stopped and pressed herself against a wall by the door and listened in on the conversation.

"These six digimon must be for the new team," a voice she recognized as Elecmon said. "I mean, Benjamin did leave six D3s in the portal room."

"Honestly, I do not even want to consider the possibility," Kokuwamon's monotone voice replied. "I just don't want to see anymore innocents involved in this."

"They look like they've been through enough to handle it. I wouldn't be surprised..."

"I'm not letting them near that portal room. They were trying to get away from danger. I don't want to put them into even more."

Terriermon chuckled silently as she listened to the conversation. It was hard to believe that she herself could possibly be a chosen digimon like those two, but there was something else that was tempting, the idea of having a human partner that she could consider a close friend. Honestly, she enjoyed the company of the other six, but she was younger than all of them. She couldn't really relate to anyone, no matter how much Floramon tried to be a sister to her.

With that thought in mind, she continued to walk down the halls. If she got to the portal room, maybe she could find a way to the human world. She thought about going to get the others, but who would believe her? They would eventually notice she was gone and start searching for her anyway.

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The Riverwalk was a man-made divergence of the San Antonio River. It had walkways running on both sides of the river with several bridges to go across. There were ferries that floated up and down the river. Stores, restaurants and clubs were along the river with the Rivercenter Mall being a main entrance to the area. Right now, the sidewalks were crowded, filled with families that have children trick-or-treating or party-goers trying to get to one of the clubs that lined the river.

Richard's family had just left the Rivercenter Mall, traveling with the crowd and traveling business to business with the other families. Rita walked alongside Richard's sisters, dressed in a costume that had bird-like legs and wings and wearing a mock breastplate. The younger girls seemed happy with Rita, talking to her like a big sister.

"She's good with kids," Richard's father remarked, a plump middle-aged man. He was still wearing his work clothes, having left for the Riverwalk as soon as he got home from work.

"She baby-sits for several of the families in our neighborhood," Dwayne explained. He decided against wearing a costume for Halloween, not wanting Richard to feel completely out of place. "She seems to like it, but I think she's just making up for not having any brothers or sisters."

"She can have my sisters," Richard remarked.

"RICHARD!" The older man yelled. Richard tensed. Mr. Thompson glared at his son. "You better lighten up."

Look who's talking, Richard thought, deciding it was safer to shut up.

"Ouch," Dwayne cringed, after hearing the man's deep yell. "I'd like my eardrums. Thank you."

Richard remained silent and tense for a while, then slowed his pace down so that he was behind his father. Dwayne followed him to see if he would be okay. Rita excused herself from the two younger girls and took a couple of steps back to join them. Then, the white boy began to relax. Richard said. "It's been years since I've been here. Ever since that river parade for the Spurs back in 1999."

"You mean the asterisk season?" Dwayne asked, more to be annoying than anything.

"Watch it, bud," Richard replied, glaring at Dwayne. He like many Spurs fans took serious offense when Phil Jackson, the Lakers' coach, called the season an asterisk season due to it being a shortened season. That was the first time the Spurs won the NBA Title.

"Hey, at least they earned it last season," Dwayne said, backing away and holding his hands up, trying to defend himself. Dwayne started to see where Richard got his attitude.

Richard sighed, as he relaxed. Thinking over what to say next. "Do you remember what happened during that parade?"

Dwayne realized what Richard was talking about. Even though it was four years ago, he remembered it clearly. During the parade, the water started to splash around violently. Most of the ferries nearly capsized due to the sudden change in the water. There wasn't supposed to be such choppy water here, but Dwayne and Richard noticed something then that the others couldn't see. Strange beings were swimming in the water or standing on the surrounding buildings. They seemed to be the cause of it, but no one else seemed to notice. In fact, a vast majority didn't see anything that could have caused it. "Yeah, I remember it," Dwayne said. "All too well."

"You guys weren't the only ones that saw weird monsters," Rita remarked.

Richard nodded, reassured that he wasn't the only one going crazy. "I just want to know why I have a strange feeling of Déjà vu. Like something like that event is going to happen again."

Dwayne and Rita looked at each other after Richard had said that. Then, they turned to look at the boy and nodded, confirming they had the same strange feeling. The three began to look around cautiously for any signs of anything like that happening. "At least, I'm not the only one," Richard said with a sigh.

Before they could even blink, the three older children heard screams coming from further down the walkway. The noise grew louder as the crowd from further away seemed like it was rushing towards them in an attempt to find a way out of here, some people even falling into the water as they were shoved out of the way. Dwayne immediately grabbed Rita and pulled her along with him towards the outer wall of the nearby store as the crowd with them turned to run. Richard wasn't as lucky as he felt an arm hit him in the mid-section and shove him out of the way. As he was shoved out towards the middle, he swore he saw strange orange and green shapes that looked like ghosts. He swore he saw the debris from the damage they were causing, broken tables and merchandise from dealer carts flying through the air. Then he suddenly felt cold as he hit the water, only considering himself lucky that he didn't land flat on the surface. He quickly got his footing on the concrete bottom and stood up in the shallow water, probably only four feet deep. Much of the stampede of people cleared as he waded toward the sidewalk and pulled himself out, completely soaked.

"Rich, are you okay?" Dwayne asked as he rushed to his friend, now sitting on his knees at the edge of the walkway.

"I'll manage," Richard said as he slowly stood up under his own power. Then, he looked towards the ghost shapes he saw earlier, Rita walking up to the boys as she looked at the same monsters causing the havoc. "Not again," Richard muttered, watching the ghosts rush toward them.

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As Kokuwamon walked out of the room, he jumped back and bumped into Elecmon just as five of the child digimon from before rushed past him. He suddenly yelled at the group running off, "Hey! I told you to stay in that room!" However, the group didn't seem to listen as they continued down the hall.

"One of them is missing," Elecmon noticed, catching the robot's attention. "I think it was the Terriermon."

"Great," the machine replied sarcastically, before rushing off where the group had ran to. He had to head them off at the portal room somehow. Even if they were chosen digimon, if they appeared on the other side, the human military could go ballistic.

Terriermon had already found the room with a shimmering blue air, swirling in one place, as if drawn in by a small black hole. Looking around, the room didn't have much in it, just six pedestals where some strange devices of different colors were placed. One of them had the screen flashing bright light from it, while the others remained silent. The dog approached the device before touching it. "Is this the D3 they were talking about?" Terriermon asked.

"Terriermon!" she heard Tapirmon yell, obviously angry at her for running off. "What do you think you're doing!"

"Just looking around. Nothing looks dangerous in here," Terriermon remarked. Then, she noticed the other D3s had become active as the group entered the room. The D3 she held even started making a high pitched beeping sound, as if something was going to happen that shouldn't "Uh, ohhh..." she said as she began to believe that something was wrong.

Kokuwamon rushed into the entrance as a bright flash of light filled the room. He was forced to cover his eyes to avoid a sensory overload for a few seconds, but when the light subsided, the six child digimon that had entered the room had disappeared, along with the D3s. Kokuwamon sighed. "It starts."

On the other side of the portal, in the human world, the military officers in the supercomputer room of Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Major General Hank Thomas was already getting frustrated as it was. Just minutes ago, some digimon had realized over San Antonio, and he couldn't even find his own son to take care of it, with the other members of the Oklahoma team being busy with other priorities.

"Sir, we've got an incoming message," one of the technicians reported from a terminal. Then, the technician cursed out loud. "No, it's being rerouted!"

"That doesn't make sense," Thomas replied, even more frustrated that before.

"You're telling me. One moment something was coming through the gate, then it got sent southward, literally." The technician was frantically trying to recover the 'message', but to no avail.

"Southward? Can you track where it went?"

"Yes, sir." The technician started to type a few commands to trace where the previous message went, then went silent for a few seconds. "It went through the gate that opened over downtown San Antonio, sir."

General Thomas could only come up with one reason for that to happen, another team had been activated. However, all he could do was send some kind of support to the new group. The children here were out of the question. San Antonio had plenty of military facilities between Fort Sam Houston and two other air force bases, but neither of them really intended for combat use. "I hate to say this, but they're on their own."

"Sir? We can't leave San Antonio to..." another officer spoke up.

"I wasn't talking about the civilians!" the general interrupted, before taking a couple of breaths to calm down. "There's not much we can do to support the new digi-destined in San Antonio." The last comment left the officers confused even more.

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The confused children stood their ground as the 'cacti ghosts' rushed towards them. As the ghosts approached, Richard grabbed Rita and jumped off towards one of the buildings as the first one swung a bat down at them, smashing the concrete beneath it. Dwayne side-stepped the same bat. Then, the ghost turned towards him and swung again, forcing Dwayne to back up. After a few steps and realizing he was close to the edge of the walkway by the water, he dove to the side to dodge the next swing. He swore he heard two impacts as he hit the concrete. Looking back, he noticed a second ghost tried to attack him from behind and ended up hitting his ally just as his ally hit him, causing them both to disperse into data. "That works," Dwayne said, gaping at the place the ghost were.

Richard scrambled to his feet after he landed with Rita and stepped over the girl to stand in front of her. Another ghost tried to swing its bat down at Richard, only for Richard to reach up with one hand and catch it. About time I learn to block, Richard thought. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as he felt sharp pain throughout his stomach. A large fist had just smashed into him, making him double over with his arms over his stomach and seething in pain. "Richard!" the boy heard Rita yell as he crumbled.

"Rich! Get away!" Dwayne called as he rushed behind his friends and grabbed the girl, pulling her out of the way. It seemed as if the ghost was ready to finish Richard off there, but froze when he saw the boy glaring at him with a look that promised death. He suddenly pushed himself up with his legs and jumped back, getting some distance between the ghost that hit him. Richard had never got into fights. When bullies tried to push him around, he just took his beatings and let things move on, which kept him out of trouble. Now, he had never wanted so much to rip something limb from limb.

Looking around his surroundings, Richard looked through the debris left from the chaos and noticed a steel pole that was sitting on the ground from one of the vendor booths and just within reach. If he could get to it before the creature could rush him, he could probably challenge it on even footing. Without thinking about it, he lunged for the pole and picked it up, which while lengthy, he found it long enough for him to use easily. The ghost had rushed toward him as he lunged for the pole and swung down towards Richard, just as Richard swung the pole upward and blocked the bat.

"Rich, I swear you're nuts," Dwayne muttered, looking around for anything that could be used as a weapon, needing to help his friend in anyway possible.

"Something's different about him, it's like he's snapped," Rita said, noticing the intense anger in Richard's eyes.

"You would, too," Dwayne remarked, picking up a nearby board broken off from another vendor cart. He immediately dropped it when he saw another ghost about to attack Richard from behind. "Rich! Behind you!" Dwayne called out.

Before Richard could look, gunfire echoed through the canyon of buildings. The Ponchomon in front of him dispersed into data. Then, he turned around to see more data floating and dissipating, having been killed by gunfire.

"SAPD finally gets here," Dwayne remarks as several men dressed in police uniforms rushed into the vicinity. More gunfire echoed through the area as the police engaged the mob of creatures.

"I don't think it'll be enough. We practically need the freakin' army down here," Richard told him as he rushed back to the group with one arm over his torso. "There's just too many, but something's not right. As chaotic as they seemed to be, they're looking for something." Richard looked over as several Ponchomon searched every inch of the area.

Richard leaned his head back and sighed in frustration. He had already expected a bad day, but nothing like this. He just expected to be stuck with his sisters all night. Instead, he was stuck with his friends where they could easily be killed.

"There has to be something we can do," Dwayne spoke up.

"All we can do is find a way out of here, but I don't think that's possible considering this place is crawling with those things," Richard told him. "I wonder if any have reached the street level."

Then, he noticed something above him, what looked like streaks of light shooting down towards them. "What's that?" Richard remarked, getting Rita's and Dwayne's attention. They looked at the same streaks of light, then, noticed three of them shoot off in different directions, with the remaining three still shooting towards them.

"Get back," Dwayne ordered as the three lights shot down towards the walkway. The children covered their eyes as the impact kicked up some dust and debris that had already been spread everywhere. Even the Ponchomon stopped as their attention was averted towards where the lights had impacted. When the dust cleared, three small creatures stood where the lights impacted.

"I am so gonna kill Terriermon next time I see her," Gotsumon remarked, before getting smacked in the back of the head.

"You won't do such a thing," Floramon growled dangerously.

Hagurumon sighed. "If you two would stop bickering, maybe you would notice we are caught in the middle of a mob of Ponchomon."

The two other child-level digimon fell silent as they became aware of their surroundings, seeing the wreckage and the masses of Ponchomon and humans that got left behind. "Uh, oh..." the golem remarked.

"More of them?" Dwayne asked, ready to either dash out of there or jump the three new creatures.

"Don't, Dwayne," Rita finally spoke up, stopping Dwayne from making any drastic moves. "I don't think we need to worry about them. They aren't like the others."

"This isn't good either way," Richard told them. "Those ghost things look like they're ready to attack us." Richard noticed that not all of those glares were aimed at the three creatures that just arrived, but at them as well.

Rita began to look around in a panic. "There's gotta be a way out of here," she said.

"Only one," Richard replied grimly, narrowing his eyes as he looked out towards the mob.

"Through them?" Dwayne asked, as if knowing what Richard was thinking. Richard only nodded in response. "Then, we're doomed."

The mob lunged towards the group of digimon and children, who froze in place as if waiting for their lives to come to an abrupt end. It was frustrating enough to the digimon that they couldn't find a way out of the situation. Enough tension built up between the three that they could think of only one thing to do.

Gotsumon and Hagurumon fired off a barrage of rocks and gears as Floramon sprayed a cloud of pollen over the field. Several Ponchomon suddenly stopped as the cloud spread before either a rock smashed into them, which caused them to disperse upon being hit, or a gear was embedded into them. The ones that were stuck with the gears ended up turning on their comrades and attacking them before another Ponchomon would kill them. Before now, what the three child digimon had done would have caused them to gape in disbelief, but now, they just didn't care, caught in the heat of battle.

"Awww...right!" Dwayne crowed as the attack caused what was left of the group to back off, now afraid of being killed. "I can't believe that just happened."

"I don't think they'll be that lucky again," Rita said, looking at the three digimon now worn out from the onslaught. "We gotta help them somehow."

"How?" Richard asked. "I know how you feel, but we don't stand a chance against those numbers. I had problems with just one of them."

Dwayne glared at Richard. "There's more to this than simple logic, Rich. I don't care if the only thing you can think of is that we dive head first into them, there's gotta be something."

Richard remained silent for a few minutes before he picked up the pole he dropped on the ground earlier. "Grab something to use as a weapon. Those things attack, we step in. Rita, be prepared to get them to safety."

Dwayne and Rita nodded. Dwayne took a look around and found another pole that had broken off from a vendor stand. Both of the boys held their steel poles in front of them, ready to strike at a moment's notice. Just as another wave of attacks rushed towards them, the boys dashed out and jumped over the three digimon. Richard held up his pole as he blocked the punch headed his way, the pole bent towards the boy under the pressure. Dwayne side-stepped his Ponchomon and swung his pole down on the bat and pinned it down, keeping it in place. That Ponchomon dropped his weapon and tried to punch Dwayne, who sidestepped it and let the punch put a hole in the concrete.

The three child digimon looked confused by the humans trying to help them. Neither of them looked like they could actually do much against the mass of adult-level digimon. Then, they noticed the devices attached to the humans belts, the same ones they saw back at the temple before Terriermon got them shunted into this world. "Are they...our human partners?" Gotsumon asked.

"It seems that way," Hagurumon spoke up, not believing that they could actually be chosen digimon.

"Hey, you three," they heard a feminine voice call them from behind. They turned around and saw a girl motioning for them to go with her. "Let's get you out of here."

Gotsumon looked over at the girl, then looked at the boys that protected them. Seeing the two boys trying to defend them made him feel guilty for even thinking of running away. "No."

"What? You can trust me," Rita pleaded.

"I know," Gotsumon said. "That's exactly why I can't run now." Gotsumon turned back to notice both boys' devices were starting to shine and beep in a rather ominous tone. Then, the Gotsumon rushed towards the Ponchomon the darker boy was dealing with. He rammed head first into it and both started to fall towards the water.

"No way," Dwayne remarked as the device on his belt made a high-pitched noise. Before Gotsumon could hit the water, a pillar of light erupted from him, causing everyone to shield their eyes.

"Gotsumon, evolve!" Gotsumon shouted as his body started to change composition from that of solid rock, to a golem of solid ice, growing slightly as the changes take place. "ICEMON!" Just as the evolution finished, both digimon hit the water. Icemon suddenly jumped out and back onto the walkway. "Next," Icemon remarked.

"Stay with the girl," Hagurumon told Floramon as he floated towards Richard. He fired off another gear which embedded itself into the Ponchomon he was holding off. The Ponchomon suddenly turned around, and started to attack one of his comrades, but he was quickly punched through and killed. The new Ponchomon charged down towards the gear. "Stay away!" Hagurumon started to flash a bright light just as the golem did before. "Hagurumon, evolve!"

When the light faded, a small ball with arms and legs and a thunderbolt attached to what could be considered its forehead bolted out towards the attacking Ponchomon. 'THUNDERBALLMON! Thunder Bomber!" The small ball rammed straight into the Ponchomon and electrified it, causing it to disperse into data. "We should hurry and destroy these guys before they do too much damage."

"I'm doing as much as I can here," Icemon griped, firing off balls of ice that exploded and froze all those that came into contact with it. Thunderballmon started firing thunderbolts at the Ponchomon, but as they continued their attack, one Ponchomon managed to slip through and rush towards Rita and Floramon.

"No!" Icemon yelled, about to fire off another Iceball Bomb at the Ponchomon, but Thunderballmon appeared in front of him before he could blink.

"You'll hit them!" Thunderballmon told him, before starting to chase after it. Even if he caught up with the Ponchomon, stopping Icemon made it impossible for him to do so in time.

Floramon was standing her ground as Rita tried to back away. She refused to let this thing get to the girl by any means necessary. Just as the Ponchomon was about to swing, the same bright light that engulfed the other two child digimon did the same for Floramon. Both the Ponchomon and Thunderballmon backed off from the flash, covering their eyes. "Floramon, evolve!" she shouted, all the tension building up as the light subsided. A creature much larger than any of the adult digimon there floated above the ground. It looked like a woman, but her legs were that of a bird, as well as having bird wings, white feathers covering the 'bird' portions of her and a breast plate covering her chest. "HARPYMON!"

"Cool..." Rita mouthed, looking at the new creature that stood in Floramon's place. The harpy glared down at the ghost, who had frozen in place and stared up at the new digimon.

"Wind Seeker!" Harpymon swung an arm, letting out a white 'bladed' beam of wind out. The vacuum ended up slicing the ghost into two before it dissipated. "Not one of you touches a hair on those children," Harpymon growled at the rest of the Ponchomon.

Harpymon's appearance had finally done it. The Ponchomon, scared out of their minds, started to run for the portal that they came through. However, just as they were about there, a barrage of meteors fell from the sky, striking each one of the Ponchomon and causing them to dissipate, save for one. The one remaining looked around in panic before he turned around and found himself gunbarrel to face with a machine that had a revolver for an upper body. Another form, a star that had eyes in the middle of it with arms and legs, stood behind Revolmon.

"Pathetic coward," Revolmon remarked before shooting the lone Ponchomon, killing it instantly.

"Starmon and Revolmon," Icemon hissed, glaring at the two new digimon.

"This is the end of the line for you three," Revolmon remarked. "Once you're dead, we'll find the other three and that will be that."

"Good luck," Harpymon remarked. The three children gathered behind as the digimon either stood or floated in front of the two new enemies.

"Just because you're bigger now doesn't mean you're stronger than us," Starmon told the harpy. "Besides, you're hopeless once those humans are dead."

It was then that Thunderballmon noticed that Revolmon wasn't looking at the digimon, but between them and at the children behind them. "Don't think so," he said as he shot towards Revolmon and slammed into him, letting out a large charge of electricity into the machine, causing Revolmon to scream out loud. Starmon reached over and slapped the ball away, and looked down at his comrade

"Revolmon, are you okay?" Starmon asked, looking visibly concerned.

"Yeah, let's finish them off first," Revolmon said, looking down to where Thunderballmon was batted away, only to see it had devolved to Hagurumon.

"That can wait. Let's get you out of here," Starmon told him, before glaring at the group of digimon and children. Then, he started to jump up to the street level before jumping from building to building.

"No, you don't," Icemon remarked, abut ready to launch a few more Icebomb Balls up in their direction.

"No," Dwayne said, placing an arm in front of the ice golem. "You'll hit civilians up there."

"Awww...man..." Icemon complained, disappointed that he let an opportunity to kill two of the gang's more prominent leaders right there. Then, fatigue set in as the other two adult digimon devolved.

"So, is there anyway we can get an explanation of what just happened?" Richard asked. No one would answer his questions as the police officers that had gone down to help deal with the crowd ran over to the children and pulled out their guns and aimed at them.

"SAPD! FREEZE!" one of the officers shouted.

The children raised their hands in the air, while the digimon stood ready for anything, but didn't move. "Hey, we're the good guys here," Dwayne tried to explain.

"I don't think they'll quite buy that," Richard remarked. He started shivering, still soaked from being thrown into the water. "Even if it is the truth."

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The children sat in the back of the police car, hands restrained behind their backs by cuffs. Richard grimaced as he still felt the effects of taking that punch. At least they had the decency to help dry him up, but his soaked clothing kept him cold. All three of them were wondering what they had done wrong. They were victims of the mob as well, all they did was fight back out of defense. What were they expected to do?

Dwayne turned his head back, looking with a worried expression at the other police car following them. That car held the three digimon that had helped them, which least deserved any sort of punishment. Then, the car following them slowed down and pulled over "What's going on?" Dwayne asked, now suspicious of what was really happening.

It wasn't much longer before the car they were in rolled to a stop, leaving the children with a sense of dread. Then, the officers opened the door to allow the children out. Richard looked up at the building that towered over them in confusion. "Wait, why are we at Santa Rosa Hospital?" Richard asked.

"Don't ask me," one officer asked as he walked up behind Richard and unlocked the cuffs on the boy's arms. He immediately grabbed a wrist and rotated it, before putting the arm back over his sore torso. "We were just told to bring you here to have y'all checked for injuries and take you home. Your parents have been informed, except for your involvement in the fighting."

"Then what happened to the digimon?" Dwayne asked, as he was released from his cuffs.

"You will meet them soon enough.."

The children looked at each other with confused expressions. Then, the officer sighed. "Look, I know you want an explanation and I don't have one. Just get inside and get looked at now, especially you," the officer pointed at Richard. "I'm sure you ended up with a cracked rib or something."

Master of the obvious, Richard thought, looking at the officer as if he was an idiot before turning away.

Rita and Dwayne looked at each other and shrugged before following Richard into the emergency room entrance.

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Richard sat in the waiting room with Rita, now dressed in dry clothes the police brought from his home for him, which hid the bandages wrapped around his chest and holding an ice pack against it.. He took the longest because they needed to take a chest x-ray, but they didn't find any broken ribs or lung damage. He lucked out and escaped with some badly bruised ribs. He would have to stay out of too much physical activity for a month at most. Rita had checked out okay, except for a couple of bruises from Dwayne and Richard pulling her out of danger.

He remained silent as he looked up at the television screen, which was now showing news coverage of the event. He glared at the TV when they said it was nothing more than a mob that got out of hand. Several were injured and the SAPD's SWAT team had to get involved. "Bull shit," Richard said. "There were hundreds of people down there that saw what happened. What's going on?"

"A government cover-up?" Rita suggested. "I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but they could be hiding it prevent a public panic."

"If that's the case," the boy started before looking back up at the screen, which had moved on to cover the weather forecast. "Then what have we gotten ourselves into?"

"I wish I knew," Rita replied.

Dwayne walked into the waiting room. "Hey, what are you guys so gloomy about?" he asked. "I don't know about you, but I'm ready to head home."

"I take it you're fine," Richard remarked as he stood up from his seat, wincing a little from his ribs.

"Hey, I didn't even let those things touch me. Why would anything be wrong?" Dwayne asked, holding his arms out to the side to show off.

Richard sighed. He wanted to smack this guy upside the head for his big ego, but he would probably end up hurting himself in the process knowing his luck. "Let's just go, okay? I'm already sick of this place."

The children walked out of the emergency room to see a different police car than the one that showed up earlier. Two different police officers opened the back doors for them to crawl in. "You may have to share a seat though," one of the officers remarked, leaving the children confused. Then they peeked into the door to see the three digimon, sprawled out over the backseat of the car, fast asleep.

"This should be interesting," Richard remarked as the children climbed in, trying to get the digimon to lie down on their laps. On the ride home, the children remained silent, lost in their thoughts about what just happened and what will happen in the future.