The plain plains

[Inori]

Wizardmon seemed to be smiling at Nyaromon as he handed her some food. "Of course."

When Yang made his attempts at Wizardmon's name, Inori chuckled quietly. Her partner took it all in stride with a surprising amount of calm, considering his clear dislike for nicknames and the like.

Wordlessly, he reached into his pockets, and pulled out more food and offered it to Yin and Yang. He gave out an exasperated sigh as he glanced back up to Inori, and shook his head.

[Dante]

Nyaromon accepted Wizardmon's gift with a smile. He was very nice to her, and she had a feeling it might have something to do with how pleasant she was in contrast with the other two. She ate happily, pondering the odd company she'd fallen in with. They seemed kind of a motley crew, but they fit together, like the pieces of a very strange puzzle. Her fortunes were odd to pair her with such a team. Still, it didn't seem so bad to be with them. Wizardmon was good company, at least. Inori hadn't spoken enough to really register with Nyaromon, and Dante was interesting, if confusing at times. The less she thought about Shiv and his partners the better, truthfully, but they had their own bizarre charms that had her pondering a long word that started with M that she didn't entirely understand how to pronounce. Definitely a strange group, but she imagined they would go well together once they got used to each other. When she had finished the food, she turned to Wizardmon and smiled.

"Thanks very much," she said politely.

[shivdeeviant]

Yin took the food graciously from Wizardmon and handed some of it to Yang. Yang was beginning to turn blue. As soon as he got the food, he was unable to hold it in any longer.

"-Ton-sama!" He shouted, then clearly looking relieved, he went and sat by the fire. Yin gave Wizardmon a look that stated clearly how sorry he was at Yang's behavior then floated over to join his brother.

They stayed there for a time, just the two of them opposite from Nyaromon. Yin looked almost sadly into the fire. Yang munched happily on his food.

Yin's mind was wandering to an older time, from when he was still just a baby. The fires of the camp turned into fires from elsewhere. His friends were crying, a large shadow was moving through them, and one by one the cries were silenced. The roar of the fire sounded through his mind like a howling wind, and the tears trickled down the side of his face against his will. The shadowy figure turned to him, its eyes aglow with a malevolence that matched the grin on its face. He turned to run away...

"Yin?" Yang broke into his nightmare, "I said are you going to finish that fruit? You've hardly touched it.'

Yin's eye's refocused as he became aware of his surroundings again. The first sensation that came to him was the ever present sense of danger emanating from Alchemon. The second was the fact that tears were indeed trickling down his face. Yang looked worriedly at his brother. Yin shook his head, the errant moisture on his face disappearing into the twilight air.

"Of course!" Said Yin with forced bravado, "I'm starving!"

He then dug into the fruit as though it had committed some grievous shame against his family and soon the fruit was no more. Yin burped a little.

"That was very good! Thank you again, Wizardmon-sama. Those pockets are quite handy. I do believe that I will go to bed now. Yang don't stay up too late, we have watch later."

"OK, Yin! I promise!" Yang put his hand to his forehead in mock salute. Yin floated over to Shiv and settled down at Shiv's back.

As soon as Yin's breathing turned normal, indicative of sleep, Yang turned to the others at the fire.

"All right!" He stated in a loud whisper, "Who's ready to have some fun?!"

[Inori]

"You should go to sleep." Wizardmon stated in an annoyed tone. "You need to be rested for when it's your turn to keep watch. Or go bother Alchemon...I'm sure he would be more then happy to have fun."

Inori raised an eyebrow at her partner, then nudged him. The wizard digimon sighed heavily.

"What I mean to say is, I would like some time to speak with Inori alone." He said in a forced even tone. Inori smiled slightly and nodded in agreement.

[Dante]

Nyaromon bowed as best she could considering her current form and hopped over to Dante, wanting to nestle herself up next to her partner, but noting that he didn't seem to be sleeping well. Perhaps he was having an unpleasant dream. There wasn't much she could do about it short of waking him up, though, so she got as close as she dared, curled her tail around her, and drifted off to sleep, close by should Dante need her, but not so close that he'd roll over and squash her or something.

Dante continued to stir slightly, but showed no signs of waking any time soon. Whatever discussion Inori and Wizardmon were about to have, it wouldn't register in Dante's world at all, so embroiled was he in the world of his dream.

[shivdeeviant]

Yang gave a brief thought, then ran right up to Alchemon's Hiding spot in the dark part of the bushes.

"Hey! Alchemon!" Yang cried, "These losers don't want to play! Would you like to?"

He peered into the shadows, and saw a pair of eyes looking back at him. The eyes gave him such an icy stare that Yang stopped his prancing and nonchalantly turned around, hands on his hips, humming a nonsensical tune. After reaching a slight distance away from the spot, Yang broke into a run and then cuddled between Yin and Shiv. Shiv turned over and put an arm around the brothers in his sleep. The two digimon squirmed closer to the boy's warm embrace.

In the shadows, the owner of the eyes smiled.

[Inori]

"You're getting easier to anger you know?" Inori murmured to her partner once Yang had fled back to his partner. Apparently, it was something assumed that the alchemist digimon had shot down the notion of playing with Yang...and likely stated something creepy to get him to run back like that. Inori would tell him off later.

"I--" Wizardmon started, then sighed. "My apologies. I can only take some things for so long. I will try to keep my irritation in check."

"At least around the others for now...things seem to be on edge as is, and I don't want to add to that." She sighed, rubbing her face. "While Dante and I share closer opinions on Shiv now, I can't help but feel it's better we stick together for now."

"I agree...to some extent." Wizardmon replied in a carefully measured sort of tone.

"Let's..not talk about him." Inori stated, leaning back and looking up at the sky.

"That would be preferable." He added, watching her actions carefully.

"Let's talk about you." She grinned, shooting him a sidelong glance. The wizard digimon visibly startled at this.

"Me? Why would you want to talk about me?" He half asked, half demanded.

"Because last time we talked about me. That makes it your turn, traditionally."
To Wizardmon's dismay, her grin remained firmly in place.

"I do not like this tradition of yours." He crossed his arms, looking terribly indignant.

"Is it that bad?" Inori asked, shifting so she was looking directly at her partner...the smile on her face shifting to a more thoughtful even expression.

"It is uncomfortable to talk of with others." He fidgeted slight, trying to show his discomfort as much as he was saying it.

"Tell me then...why are you so much farther ahead of the others?" Inori leaned forward slightly.

"What do you mean?" Wizardmon tilted his head slightly.

"Like...Alchemon stays as Alchemon all the time...Yin and Yang stay in one form most of the time, and you seem to be a step or two ahead of everyone else."

"I told you I did not like my other form, did I not?" He asked, shifting in place as Inori nodded. "I am understating my seething distaste for it. It drove me to be what I am now, you could say."

"How could it be that bad?" Inori paused briefly to observe her partner's resentful expression before she continued. "I mean one bad form--"

"That's just it!" Wizardmon stated a little louder than usual, jumping to his feet. "It wasn't just one. It's been all three!"

"Ah, you're going to wake the others..." Inori winced, feeling bad for interrupting Wizardmon's rant...but he didn't seem to mind as he continued with a lowered voice.

"All three, Inori...in a way you of all people will understand. Most digimon in their youngest stages have some form of attack meant to ward off enemies. I was told that if another comes after me all I can do is run, because if I got hit it would be all over for me. Mokumon DigiCores are much more vulnerable than anyone else's, after all."

"DigiCore?" Inori asked carefully, figuring Mokumon was the name of a specific type of digimon. Wizardmon took a breath before he explained.

"It's the source of a lot of our power you could say."

"Power supply...got it." Inori nodded, then gestured for him to continue.

Wizardmon was pacing back and forth at this point. "That was the worst of the three. It's depressing to say the one after that was the best. At least I was on fire then. Mind you that seriously limits contact with others." He made vague gestures as he spoke, not once ceasing in his pacing.

"Going from being forced to hide from everyone to not being able to be close to anyone...some sovereign was probably feeling particularly spiteful the day my previous forms were designed. And then to top it all off, a candle."

"A candle?" Inori raised an eyebrow. Wizardmon made a frustrated sound.

"A candle. I trust you not to start laughing..." He didn't even stop to see his partner's reaction, or at least, not until he was forced to. Inori grabbed his hand as he passed by her. He fixed her with a curious look.

"I'm not going to laugh, promise." She smiled. "But your pacing is putting me on edge. Please, sit down?"

Complying with his partner's wishes, the digimon sat next to his partner as she spoke up again.

"What is so horrible about being a candle?"

"What isn't horrible about it?" He grumbled. "No legs, meaning I had to jump everywhere on a base that was awkward and heavy. If I miscalculated, it never ended well. Couldn't get too close to normal fire, as being made of wax is not particularly convenient. I couldn't stand it."

"Must have taken a lot of training..." Inori commented idly.

"Patience, practice and time." He responded after a moment. "Of which I had plenty."

"Because you were waiting for me?" She prompted. "Was it really that long?"

"I've known I was destined to do something for quite some time, even before it was specified such destiny involved you." He made a waving gesture with a hand. "It provided a good deal of motivation. Let us leave it at that."

"Alright." Inori conceded, glancing towards where Dante and his partner were resting. "Probably about time to wake him."

Wizardmon nodded, watching Inori stand and make her way towards Dante. Half of him felt inclined to ask her to keep the conversation they had just had between just the two of them. The knowledge of the weaknesses of his other forms was something he did not want spread around, especially with Alchemon present. The other half of him was confident she already knew the conversation was meant to remain private. If he wanted her to trust him...he aboslutly had to show his trust in her.

Inori carefully shook Dante, trying to wake him. "It's that time..." She offered when she was confident he was coherent enough to register what she was saying.

[Dante]

For a moment, Dante didn't wake, even despite her shaking. He awoke with a start, taking a deep breath when his eyes focused on Inori's face, he nodded and stood, waking Nyaromon as he did so. He walked out away from the group a little bit, taking over the watch so Inori could sleep. His original plan was to make a run for it at this time, while Shiv was still sleeping, but he found himself waiting. He needed time to think about the dream he'd just been roused from. It gave him pause, caused him to want to push back his plans. He sat down, looked up at the stars, and pondered.

Nyaromon was still a little sleepy, but her partner's state of mind was not lost on her.

"Are you okay, Dante?" she asked, referencing equally his dream and his earlier altercation.

"I..." Dante began before trailing off. He stopped and thought a bit before trying again to answer.

"I'll live," was what he managed.

"Want to talk about it?" Nyaromon asked, not willing to let him clam up on her. They had several hours to cover, and talking was the easiest way to do it.

"Not right now," he said, demonstrating an uncharacteristic level of antisocialness.

Nyaromon was about to press further when something caught her eye. It was like a little glimmer right in the corner of her vision, and she turned to face it.

"Dante? I think something's out there."

"Relax, Nyaromon. It's probably just Alchemon trying to scare you."

"Not him, Dante. I think there might be something else."

"Should we wake the others?" he asked, a marked change in his voice announcing his complete attention to the situation.

"I don't know. I might just be paranoid..."

The two were on alert now, looking around towards the bushes in an attempt to see what had set Nyaromon off her calm. Nyaromon wanted to believe that she wasn't going crazy. Dante knew from what time he'd spent with his partner so far that she wouldn't have drawn attention to her concerns unless she was convinced that something really was out there. So the two now looked for whatever was in the bushes, hoping it wasn't just Alchemon being a punk.

[shivdeeviant]

Deep in the shadows of the bushes, malevolent eyes watched with barely restrained glee.

"My, my." A voice came from the bushes, high-pitched and child-like, "It appears that the young one has become aware of us, Brother Dearest. Whatever shall we do?"

"There appears to be nothing for it, Sister Dearest," A similar voice came from the other side of the clearing, "We might as well come out!"

"Oh goody! Hee Hee!"

From opposite sides of the clearing, two Fangmon emerged, their wolfish grins dripping with saliva. They began circling the fire, and the subsequent three chosen, giving all of the digimon a decently wide berth. The firelight teased across their forms, leaving them partially cloaked in shadow.

"Hee Hee!" The first Fangmon giggled, "They look so tasty, Brother Dearest! I find myself so very hungry!"

"How unfortunate, Sister Dearest. We must remedy this situation!"

[Dante]

Dante and Nyaromon both looked over towards the voice at the same time. Dante paused until he could see the enemy, then spoke to Nyaromon.

"If there was ever a time for you to jump up a level like Yang and Yin did, now's the time."

Nyaromon didn't take her eyes off the Fangmon twins.

"Even if I did, I don't know if I could take them both. We have to wake the others."

Dante nodded.

"I'll wake them, you do your thing and try to hold the wolves off until our friends can join the fight."

Nyaromon hopped out of his arms and stood her ground, trusting that her partner would do the same. Dante moved towards the sleeping chosen, but his heart stood with Nyaromon. At his belt, his digivice glowed, feeding off of the unity in the hearts of the partners. They were both resolved to fight to defend their friends, and there was a power that arose from that.

"Nyaromon shinkaa! Salamon!"

Salamon was surprised. She'd been facing them down as Nyaromon. She knew that she hadn't tried to change, and Dante hadn't seemed to be paying attention to her. Yet somehow here she was...with legs. She took a moment to revel in the feeling. No more would she need to hop everywhere. No more would she be reliant on the others to fight for her. Now she had the power. Now she could walk, run, and fight. Though still confused at the unexpected change, she took on a combat stance and readied herself for battle against the two Fangmon. Even if she could only buy time for the others to wake, she would spend every ounce of strength she had.

Dante was just as surprised at her suddent transformation, and would have reveled with her, and ached to just watch her, or even to turn around and see what his partner had become, but he had a mission to attend to.

"Shiv, Inori! Wake up! Trouble!" he said quietly, but urgently.

He jostled both of them, keeping his eye out for an attacking Fangmon as he did so. He hoped that his attempts to rouse his traveling companions wouldn't result in a sudden pounce. Nyaromon guarded the other side, but she was the only one who could even hope to hurt these things, and if Dante couldn't at least wake a digimon, he was defenseless. To that end, he even nudged Wizardmon gently, hoping that one of them would wake up.

[shivdeeviant]

Yin heard the shout and was in the air in a flash. His eyes latched onto the two Fangmon with a gaze that looked into their strategy. He gave a quick glance at the situation.

The odds were not good. Their current strength wasn't enough.

Yin sighed, this was probably the most difficult thing that he had to admit, but they needed more power.

Shiv was awake in a flash. Or it was better to say, his eyes opened and he got up very quickly. Shiv hadn't slept up till that point, he was too busy planning his watch. This attack changed things though.

It also surprised Shiv on a small note that Dante had actually raised the alarm. He had guessed that Dante would only have risen Inori and her partners, leaving Shiv unguarded. Guess Shiv was useful after all.

Yang was up, but drowsy.

"What?" He mumbling, rubbing one of his eyes, "What is it? Huh?"

Shiv grabbed the rock digimon by the shoulders and dragged him to the fire. He put his back to the flames and gave a look at Yin.

"Don't say it, Human." Said Yin tersely, "I know."

Yin took a deep breath, and became enveloped in light.

"Kyokyomon shinka Ryudamon!"

The Fangmon stopped at these two digivolutions, their eyes widening slightly.

"Do you see that, Brother Dearest?" Said one, "These younglings have power! This changes everything!"

The other Fangmon looked even more excited.

"Indeed, Sister Dearest!" He said with more hunger in his voice, "They might be able to play with us before they are done! I do so hope they last longer than the others!"

"Indeed, Brother Dearest! Let us see what they can do!"

[Inori]

Wizardmon was quicker to wake then Inori it seemed as he was on his feet and ready to go as she was just getting up.

"Unexpected..." He muttered. "But overconfidence is generally a downfall."


"Mmm..what?" Inori rubbed her eyes. "Giant bugs?"

"No, angry cats. Be careful." He replied before moving towards Salamon to offer her help if she needed it.

Inori on the other hand haphazardly got to her feet. She preferred the option of mobility given the last few battles.

[Dante]

His task done, Dante turned to face his partner, and in turn face their common foes. He was a little annoyed that Shiv had woken up, even though he'd woken Shiv up on purpose. The reason behind that was no more or less complicated than as much as he hated Shiv, the boy's partners would be useful. Eventually the two would have to settle things, but in the meantime, the group had a common threat, and that meant that petty rivalries would have to be set aside for the time being.

"Anyone got a plan?" he commented. Even with everyone awake, it was still an ambush, and he wasn't very good at countering ambushes.

"Just one," Salamon commented, "Let's not get creamed..."

[shivdeeviant]

Shiv looked around quickly at the circling Digimon, then gauged his groups setup. He couldn't see Alchemon, big surprise.

"All right!" He shouted to the others, "Yin, Yang and Digimon formerly known as Nyaromon on Frontline! Wizardmon behind to give support! Dante! Protect Inori! Inori! Watch Dante's Back!"

Without waiting to see if the other chosen listened, he motioned to Yin and Yang as they charged the first of the Fangmon.

The Fangmon grinned ever wider.

"Yes indeed, little morsels." it said, "Soon we will play and soon we will eat!"

The Fangmon feinted a few steps backward, and in the flicker of firelight was suddenly not there!

Shiv stopped in his tracks, looking around frantically. How was that thing so fast? And where did it go?

There was a flicker of movement at the back of the group...

[Inori]

Inori glanced to Dante. "I have your back, but the choice of tactics is yours as well."

Wizardmon on the other hand, seemed a bit more compliant to commands. He knew what he was good at. Tightening his grip on his weapon, he began focusing...readying himself to attack the moment he felt confident he could at least have a better chance of making a hit.