Chapter Text
Warmth. But that was normal; it was Summer after all. And yet, it felt different at first. Just a very subtle yet noticeable change in temperature from the moment he fell asleep (he did fall asleep, right?) and the moment he was just now waking up.
It was warm but cooler. The sunlight wasn't quite reaching his eyes, blocked by a tree providing helpful shade. How did he fall asleep? Aizawa-sensei, and especially Tiger, would definitely give him an earful for sleeping when he should be training. To think he went out of his way to sign up for this special Summer training camp, which took in students from all over Japan, and here he was, wasting away the opportunity by dozing off.
He should probably open his eyes right now.
"..."
The Sun hung high in the sky. Was it morning before? Did he really sleep all the way until noon? How did he even manage to sneak away to do something like that?
Midoriya Izuku tried to move his head, only for a sudden uncomfortable feeling to overwhelm him. It wasn't quite like his head hurt, nor was it really nausea; it was a dizziness of the kind where you sit up too quickly, only he definitely hadn't done that. The feeling went away quickly enough and he ran a hand through his head as he sat up on the grass with a groan.
"I have to get back to camp... m-maybe if I apologize enough times, I won't get in trouble..." he mumbled to himself as he slowly took in the environment around him. He seemed to be pretty deep in the forest surrounding the Wild Wild Pussycats' campsite; he couldn't hear any of the other members of his class doing their training (members like Katsuki and Kouji were pretty hard to miss, given their respective trainings).
Although the more he looked at the forest surrounding him, the more something felt... off. He wasn't exactly a botanist or anything, but the trees around him looked rather different from what he'd grown accustomed to in the campsite; they were wider, a more purplish-grey coloration of their trunks, and they twisted in often bizarre shapes (could trees really bend like that?).
"How far away am I...?"
Please, let him not be lost.
Izuku rubbed his legs, which felt a bit tingly for some reason, and that's when he realized he wasn't in his school tracksuit. This was odd, since that was the first thing they put on at 5:30 in the morning. He was wearing the same outfit he was wearing last night, a pair of brown cargo pants, and a green shirt that said "coat". So did that mean-
"D-Did I not go back to camp last night...!? What other explanation is there, if I never got dressed for morning practice, does that mean I slept all night in the wilderness, everyone must be worried about me, what even happened last night, I need to get back right away before-"
He stopped his frantic mumbling as he realized something else. A fuzzy shadow on the very corner of his vision, staring right at him.
Slowly turning his head, he saw... a cat. Or at least, someone who looked like a cat, since, well... they were standing on two legs. Their fur was snow white, with a bushy and lengthy silver mane that stretched down their back. On closer inspection, given their rounded ears and the fur at the tip of their tail, it was more likely some kind of lion mutation, more specifically. And given the blue armor they wore (covering their torso, hands and paws, and a visor resting on the forehead), were they a Hero? They were really small too, only reaching just about Izuku's waist; did the Wild Wild Pussycats have a mentee or something?
"..." Izuku looked at them.
"..." and they looked at Izuku.
"..." and he looked at them.
"..." and they looked at him.
"...uhm-"
"You're Izuku...?" the tiny lion asked.
"Oh! Y-Yes, that's me!" things quickly fell into place, Izuku guessing that this person really was here on behalf of the Pussycats to find him. "I-I'm so sorry for all the trouble I caused! I have no idea how any of this even... eh?" Izuku blinked, seeing the look on the lion's face grow more and more... disappointed?
"Th-That can't be right!"
Izuku blinked, clearly surprised. "E-Eh?"
"No! You can't be Izuku!" the lion adamantly claimed. "Izuku is supposed to be strong, a-and gallant! But you... you just look like a wimp! This is all wrong!"
Izuku felt an arrow sharply burst its way through his self-confidence (but it's OK, there wasn't much of it to begin with). "I-...I'm sorry...?"
...but, wait, did someone at the campsite describe him a strong and gallant or something...?
The lion only seemed more and more distraught each time Izuku opened his mouth. "No, no, no! This has to be a mistake! The old man must've gotten it wrong! You can't be my partner! You can't!"
Izuku flinched. While he had no idea what this was about, it was getting a bit uncomfortable to watch. The lion was acting more like a little kid than a Hero, student or otherwise, as he threw a tantrum over Izuku. "W-Wait, h-hold on, please! What do you mean 'partner'? Is... is this some kind of training exercise? I thought you were here to rescue me!"
The lion frozen, staring wide eyed at Izuku. "Rescue y-...?" and those wide eyes quickly welled up with tears, the lion falling to the ground as its tantrum only magnified. "No, no! You're not Izuku! You're not Izuku! Waaaaahh!!!"
Another flinch, Izuku nervously hovering over the crying lion. "Ah-! Wait-! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I-It's OK! P-Please stop crying! Please!"
"Spadamon!" a voice called out from deeper in the forest, urging Izuku to look in its direction.
Not long after- "Spadamon! Ha ha! Spadamoooon!" a small dragon leapt out from some bushes, "Hey! Hey! Spadamon! Look! Look! Spada-...mon?" the tiny dragon blinked, staring down at the crying lion. "Spadamon, is this a new dance?"
Izuku could only stare in amazement at the small dragon. Was this another kid with a mutation Quirk? It had to be, right? Sure, he was looking at a teal dragon that seemed like it jumped right out of a fairy tale, with tiny red wings and two red horns on the back of its head, but that wasn't out of the realm of possibility for Quirk when you consider Heroes like Godzillo. Was he near some kind of camp for small kids, the lion boy did say he was supposed to be partners with him, was this really some kind of training exercise, did he just hit his head really badly and forgot the entire morning, or maybe-
"Hey, mister, why you mumblin'?"
"Eh?" Izuku blinked, realizing he was doing his muttering again as he looked at the small dragon.
"Ha ha! It's funny!" the dragon smiled brightly at him, which at least urged Izuku to smile back, even if a bit awkwardly.
"Dracomon!" another voice called coming from the same direction the dragon had come from, "Dracomon, don't run off ahead without me!"
Izuku's eyes widened in recognition as the figure stepped into view: vivid orange hair tied up in a ponytail on the left side of her head.
As she noticed him, she quickly recognized him too. "Ah-! You're from Class A!"
Izuku quickly got to his feet, "And you're from Class B!"
"Itsuka! Itsuka!" the tiny dragon girl jumped up excitedly before makings its way back to Kendou Itsuka, quickly hugging her leg, "Hey! Hey! Itsuka! Look! Spadamon's doin' a funny dance! Look, look!"
"I-It's not a dance!" the lion (Spadamon, apparently) petulantly shouted.
"Eh?" the dragon (Dracomon, it seemed) blinked, "It's not? Then you really were cryin'?"
"I-I wasn't crying! either" Spadamon pouted as he quickly wiped the tears from his eyes.
"Ehhh? Ya weren't?" Dracomon tilted her head.
"No! I was just angry! Angry because-" Spadamon quickly aimed a finger at Izuku, "This impostor claims he's Izuku!"
Izuku flinched at the accusation, "I-I'm telling you, I really am Izuku..."
"Whaaaat?" Dracomon looked at Izuku, "Hey, hey, Imposter-san! Are you really saying that? Are ya? Are ya?" she stepped closer, clutching Izuku's pants leg to shake him as she repeatedly asked.
"I-I- it's just-" Izuku had no idea how to respond.
"Dracomon, stop bothering him!" Itsuka called, which quickly got the dragon to stop doing what she was doing, and just giggle as she bounced back towards her.
"Hee hee! Itsuka! Itsuka~!" Dracomon happily sung.
"What!?" Spadamon jolted, "Th-That's Itsuka!? You really found her?"
"Dracomon did~! She did~!" Dracomon cheerfully answered.
Spadamon stared up at the ginger-headed girl, then slowly back at Izuku. And tears quickly formed in his eyes again as he fell on his back, flailing his arms and legs in another tantrum, "No! No! No! No! Why's this happening! Where's Izuku! I want to meet Izuku! Whaaaaa!!"
By this point, Izuku was done being surprised, and just resigned himself to silently sigh at Spadamon's continual and vocal disappointment in him.
"It was... Midoriya-san, right?"
Izuku blinked, looking back at Itsuka at her question. "Th-That's right! And you're... Kendou-san?"
Itsuka smiled and nodded. "That's right. I'm so relieved to see a familiar face. Do you know the way back to the camp, Midoriya-san?"
Izuku was also pretty relieved, but if even Itsuka was lost out here... "I'm afraid not. I don't even remember how I got here."
"Hmm... you too, then..." Itsuka said, which quickly told Izuku she was every bit as lost as he was. "I don't even remember waking up this morning, and considering I'm not wearing the tracksuit..." she looked down at her outfit, a sensible peach-colored top with a blue vest on top, and baggy jeans.
"Those are the same clothes you wore yesterday?" Izuku asked, which Itsuka nodded. "It's the same with me." he brought his hand up to hold his chin in thought, "But what exactly that means, I can't really say..." he thought about it a bit longer, then gained a slightly more uneasy expression. "Y-You don't think our teachers somehow knocked us out, and dropped us off in the middle of the forest as some kind of test, do you?"
Itsuka blinked. "Come on, they wouldn't do-..." and then stopped, her expression flattening as she remembered how many times their own teachers had lied to them for some kind of lesson. "...O-OK, maybe I wouldn't put it past UA, b-but what about them?" she motioned at Spadamon (who was lying face down on the ground as he wallowed in self-pity) and Dracomon (who just poked at Spadamon's side as she giggled), "I mean, they seem to be just a pair of kids; wouldn't it be dangerous to just leave them lost in the forest like that?"
Izuku hummed and nodded, agreeing with Itsuka that that was a flaw in his reasoning.
"Although, we were given this..."
Opening his eyes, Izuku blinked as Itsuka opened up her vest, showing off a small but strange device that was hooked on an inner pocket. Izuku wasn't really sure how to describe it: it kinda looked like a watch, but too big to fit on the wrist, and without any strap to do so anyway. It had a small screen in the center, three buttons on its front, with a fourth one on top of it, and a shape that kinda resembled a dorayaki.
"What's- Wait, we?" Izuku asked, and Itsuka nodded as she pointed, Izuku following her finger down to the hem of his pants. Sure enough, he had the same device clipped on. He quickly picked it up in order to inspect it more closely, the device fitting perfectly in his hand. "What are these...?"
"No idea. I tried pressing every button I could to turn it on and try to find out, but nothing worked."
"Itsuka! Itsuka!" Dracomon called as she tugged on her pant-leg. "What's that? Is it food? Is it tasty?"
"I-I don't think it's food, Dracomon-chan." Itsuka answered with a smile, the dragon girl quickly understanding and leaving her be. "Well, anyway, whatever happened, we should probably try and find our way back to camp."
Izuku nodded in agreement. "Right. I'll just use my Quirk real quick to jump into the air, and see if I can get some sense of how far we are." Izuku stepped back a bit, placing the strange device back where it was, then braced himself. He felt the familiar sting of One For All coursing through his entire body... but something felt off. I'm using 5% of my power... but why does it feel so weak? he wondered and let himself raise it up just a bit more. 7%, still too weak... 9%, still not good enough... this was crazy, he'd never gone past 10% before without wrecking his body in some capacity, but he was nearing 30% and he still felt too weak!
It took him double that before he finally felt he was at the same level as he normally was only at 3%! Was he simply too dazed still to recognize what was going on, and he really was at 5%? Something to think about later; Izuku leapt straight up into the air, landing atop one of the main trees surrounding them, peeking his head out from the leaves at the highest point he could get to get a good view of what was around them.
Well, there were trees. And more trees. That was probably to be expected; they were in the middle of a forest, but he couldn't see any clearings or anything. Thankfully, his scouting mission wasn't a total failure.
"Do you see anything?" Itsuka asked from ground level.
"Yeah! There's a wind turbine a ways off from where we are!" he called back.
"A wind turbine? I don't remember there being any of those near the camp!"
Izuku jumped off the tree (again, feeling like he needed to use 60% of One For All just to make the landing) and nodded. "Yeah, me neither. But there's more: I don't see any mountains around either."
This got Itsuka noticeably more nervous. "But that's impossible! We were surrounded by mountains; we can't have gone so far off that we'd lose sight of them!"
"Itsuka?" Dracomon asked, "What's going on? What're you and Imposter-san looking for?"
"Ah- Uhh... Dracomon-chan, was it?" Izuku crouched down to be closer to her level, "We're looking for a way back to our camp. Did you and, uh... Spadamon come from somewhere nearby?"
The dragon blinked, but she quickly smiled. "Ah! We came from the village!"
"There's a village around here?"
Dracomon quickly nodded to answer Itsuka. "Yeah! It's that way! That's where we come from! Jijimon-jiji lives there!"
"Jijimon...?" Izuku blinked, and was starting to wonder if maybe all of these people were related. He looked over where Dracomon pointed and stood back up. "That's the same direction I saw the wind turbine, so I guess it's as good a direction as any to go towards. Let's go." he looked at Itsuka who nodded in agreement.
"Pfeh!" Spadamon scoffed as he slouched on his side. "Look at this guy... he climbs up a tree, and suddenly thinks he can act all leader-like... it's pathetic!"
"Spadamon, let's go back to the village! See Jijimon-jiji!" Dracomon hopped.
The lion sighed and stood back up. "Alright, alright... but I'm not going there to follow you!" while he spoke generally, he aimed his finger directly at Izuku, "I'm only going back so Jijimon can confirm what I already know! That you're not Izuku!"
Izuku's shoulders sagged, but he let it pass; at least Spadamon was going to come along without a hassle, so the four of them could actually make it to civilization. But Izuku quickly remembered to ask something rather important: "Say, Dracomon-chan..." he figured he'd get a straighter answer from her than Spadamon, "How do you guys know our names?"
The dragon glanced up at him as they walked and hummed in deep thought. "...I don't know!" she cheerfully exclaimed, "As soon as Dracomon saw Itsuka, Dracomon just knew right away it was Itsuka! Ha ha!"
Izuku couldn't say he was particularly happy with that answer, and a quick exchange of looks with Itsuka told him he wasn't getting anything more complicated than that from Dracomon. So he figured it wouldn't hurt to try- "A-And you, Spadamon...?"
"Hmph! Don't get so full of yourself!" the lion scoffed. "I just mistook you for Izuku at first, that's all! But Jijimon will get this all straightened out, I'm sure of it!"
"Is this Jijimon a friend of yours?" Itsuka asked.
"Jijimon is the village elder." Spadamon answered, "He knows more about everything than anyone we know."
"Jijimon is very smart! He's as smart as he is old!" Dracomon giggled.
"I see." Itsuka nodded before turning to Izuku, "At least we know there's an adult around. They should be able to help us." Izuku nodded in agreement, and the four continued their trek across the forest.
It took a while, a bit longer than either Izuku or Itsuka felt comfortable with, but they finally reached the wind turbine the former had spotted before. Unfortunately there was still a bit of a journey back to the village, but at least they knew they were halfway there. The wind turbine itself wasn't particularly notable, maybe a little smaller than Izuku was expecting, but other than that, it was just a regular wind turbine.
But there was a single cable leaving it. And that cable was connected to a randomly placed kitchen blender.
That got Izuku to stare a bit as they got closer, as naturally quite a few questions were raised inside his brain. Who would build a wind turbine just to power a blender? Why have a blender sitting on the ground in a random part of the forest? Who would ever need a blender in the middle of the forest? And most importantly, why would you build a giant wind turbine just to power a blender!?
"That seems a bit wasteful, doesn't it?" Itsuka said what Izuku was fervently thinking, getting him to chuckle a bit.
"Well, at least it shouldn't be too long before we reach that village, right?"
"Yeah!" Dracomon skipped.
"Another twenty minutes or so." Spadamon answered, which got Izuku to flinch.
"Th-That long!?" how did these kids manage to get all the way out here!?
"...Midoriya?"
The voice got Izuku to suddenly stop. He recognized that voice. "Jirou-san!?"
Sure enough, the familiar shape of his classmate made itself seen as she stepped out from the other side of the wind turbine. "Holy crap, it is you!"
"Jirou-san!" Izuku quickly gained a wide smile at the sight of his classmate, and he quickly ran over to her. "Jirou-san, do you know what-"
"What we're doing all the way out here? I was kinda hoping you would know." she answered with a light sigh. Naturally Izuku was a bit disappointed, but he couldn't hold it against her for not knowing either.
"Let me guess, no memories at all since last night?" Itsuka asked as she approached.
Kyouka shook her head. "None whatsoever. I'm even wearing the same clothes I was wearing then." she lightly motioned at her favorite The End Of Villains grey t-shirt and black leggings. But she then got a better look at Izuku, realizing he was wearing the same thing from last night too. "Same?"
"Same..." Izuku nodded with a light sigh. "It's so weird. If we'd woken up at the same time we always do, we should definitely be in our gym clothes and not-"
"Who's your friend, Kyou-chan~?"
Izuku trembled as he felt someone's breath right on the back of his neck. Turning his head, he'd find someone quite blatantly invading his personal space, a pair of wide dark-brown eyes and plump lips beneath a head of fawn-colored long hair. Once the information reached his brain and told him he was this close to a girl, his face quickly reddened as he jumped in embarrassment, sputtering incomprehensible gibberish.
"Ah, yeah, this is Utsushimi Camie." Kyouka said.
"Just Camie is fiiiine~!" the girl cheerfully exclaimed.
"She's with the second-years, and finds herself in the exact same situation we're in. Camie, this is Midoriya Izuku, and Kendou...?"
"Kendou Itsuka." Itsuka bowed lightly as she introduced herself. "Pleasure to meet you."
"We're all from UA." Kyouka concluded.
"Hello, hello! Like, it's so cool to meet you! I'm a second-year at Shiketsu, but I'm way confused about where we are now!" despite that, she sounded incredibly positive and happy, a small but sunny smile stuck on her lips.
Once Izuku was over his little embarrassment-attack, he could've probably told she was from Shiketsu just from the way she looked. Unlike UA, Shiketsu was incredibly stingy about the use of their uniforms, and even outside of school, students were expected to wear their uniforms on official business. While everyone else was wearing casual clothes, she was wearing the same white shirt, black and orange jacket (which was tied around her waist, no doubt due to the heat) and black skirt, and the iconic Shiketsu black and orange peaked cap. Both Kyouka and Camie had the same curious device Izuku and Itsuka had, clipped on their skirt and jacket respectively.
"I-It's nice to meet you too, Utsushimi-san..."
"Camieeee!" she playfully whined. "Like, you don't have to be so stuffy with me, friendo~!" she winked, which got Izuku to blush all over again.
"'Ey, what are we? Chopped livah?"
As was getting customary, a new voice made itself heard, but this was another one Izuku didn't recognize. He peered past Camie, and as a small part of him was expecting, there were two small beings nearby: one resembling a shaggy white dog with floppy burgundy ears and a lengthy burgundy tail, and the other some kind of lanky yellow possum(?) on two feet wearing brown long johns, and with a somewhat shifty look on his face.
Kyouka's expression flattened at the possum(?), but started introducing them. "This is Neemon, apparently..."
"And this is Labramon!" Camie quickly picked up the shaggy dog, holding him up so Izuku and Itsuka could see him better. "Isn't he just the cutest!?"
"It's very nice to meet all of you." Labramon spoke with a courteous bow of his head.
"Yo." Neemon casually introduced himself, making a V-sign with his tiny hand.
"Labramon! Neemon!" Dracomon cheerfully hopped over, "You guys found them too! That's great! Dracomon found Itsuka too!"
Kyouka glanced between the small dragon and lion. "You found some too, huh?"
"Y-Yeah..." Izuku said. "That's Dracomon, and this is Spadamon..."
The lion quickly scoffed. "I can introduce myself, Impostor!"
Kyouka blinked and looked at Izuku, who just gave her a light sigh and an expression that screamed "I don't know either".
"We're on our way to the village these guys came from." Itsuka spoke up.
Kyouka nodded. "We were heading there too, but stopped here just to rest a while. Feels like we've been walking for hours under this heat."
"And it was so cool and I remember it being so chilly yesterday too!" Camie whined, "That's the only reason I even have my jacket with me!"
"We're good to go now though, so we won't keep you."
Izuku nodded. "Alright, I think it's better we get to the village as quickly as possible, just so we at least know where we are. Let's go."
With everyone in agreement, the group carried on their journey.
As they did so, Izuku still felt it prudent to ask: "Did either of you guys find a sign of anyone else?"
Kyouke shook her head. "No, it's just been us two- well, four."
"I take it you woke up, and found these little guys standing by you?" Itsuk asked.
"Yep!" Camie answered with a bright smile, "Labramon was protecting me from any bad people while I slept like a baby! He's such a little gentleman!"
"Dracomon protect Itsuka too!" the little dragon cheered, which got Itsuka to chuckle."
"That's right, Dracomon was protecting me too."
Izuku smiled and looked over at Spadamon as the lion marched at the front of the group. "So you were..."
Spadamon jolted, sputtering a bit. "I-I was only looking out for you because I thought you were Izuku! The right one! H-Had I known you were just an impostor, I wouldn't have bothered!"
While he maybe should be a little hurt, Izuku couldn't help but find how embarrassed Spadamon sounded to be a little cute. "Then you and Neemon must've been the sa-"
Izuku stopped when he saw the sheer icy look on Kyouka's otherwise expressionless face. "He was asleep."
"'E-Ey, you should take it as a compliment!" Neemon argued, "I felt confident there was no danger, and ya didn't need me to protect ya!" this earn a light huff from Kyouka, but she did seem to warm up a little bi- "I mean, have ya seen your mug while ya sleep? Ya could scare off anything looking like tha-AYE!" Neemon squeaked as Kyouka's earphone jacks on her earlobes suddenly stabbed into Neemon's neck; a deadly move Izuku had seen used on Minoru and Denki a lot, and hoped to never be on the receiving end of.
But Izuku quickly noticed something was off. He had a habit of over-analyzing Quirks, and that included his classmates'; all the times he'd seen Kyouka's Earphone Jacks in action against Minoru and Denki had allowed him to pick up how strongly she channels her heartbeat through them, and what she was using on Neemon was considerably less powerful than she used to. While it could just be that she isn't really interested in hurting the little guy, considering what he experienced earlier with One For All...
"Have any of you used your Quirk since you woke up?"
The group blinked, looking at Izuku after he asked the question out of the blue.
"Not really." Itsuka answered.
"Haven't, like, had a reason to, no?" Camie said.
"Just now, on this smartass." Kyouka added with a slight leer towards Neemon.
"But have you tried using it to its full potential?" turned to her, getting Kyouka to blink. She took a moment to think, before Itsuka letting out a light shout caught their attention.
"Wh-What is this!?" Itsuka stared at her hands, which were now about twice their normal size; a far cry from what her Big Fist could normally achieve. "I-I'm trying as hard as I can, but this is as big as I can make them!"
Camie took in a short breath before she blew out a twinkling light-purple smoke from her mouth, and within it, crude images like scribbled drawings appeared and dance around for only a second before vanishing. "Woah! Like, I haven't made illusions that lame since I was in elementary school! What gives!"
"Now that you mention it..." Kyouka realized, "When I tried using my Earphone Jack earlier to detect anyone nearby, it was like I couldn't hear anything past just a couple meters or so."
Izuku hummed. "I was afraid of that... the same thing happened to me with my own Quirk; it's like nearly all of its power's been siphoned away from me."
"Itsuka! Itsuka! What's a Quirk?" Dracomon asked, waving her arms to get attention.
"Eh?" Itsuka blinked, "What do you mean, what's a Quirk? Shouldn't you know that by now? I mean, isn't your Quirk..." Itsuka trailed off as the four kids(?) both looked at her with obviously no idea what she was talking about, which only got Itsuka to feel more awkward. Did they really not know what Quirks were? Then how else would you explain the way they look? Were they just not told for some reason, or...
"You guys... what are you?"
Izuku's mouth maybe asked that question faster than his brain could decide whether it was a good idea or not. The group of strange animal-like figures all looked between one another, and their answer was as simple as if he'd asked what color the grass was.
"We're Digimon!" answered Dracomon, cheerfully.
"What else would we be?" said Neemon with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Isn't it obvious?" scoffed Spadamon.
"Digi...mon...?" mouthed Kyouka, clearly baffled by this.
"What's a Digimon?" Camie question.
"You mean... you're not humans...?" Itsuka asked, albeit a bit hesitantly.
And sure enough- "What's a human?"
Dracomon's question was so simple and innocent, but it didn't make the student group any less nervous. All of them had been working under the assumption these were just humans with Mutant-type Quirks, but now they couldn't be so sure. There was always still the possibility they were animals with Quirks, just like Principal Nedzu was, but then why not introduce themselves as that? Why didn't they know what humans were? If they lived in a village, surely there must be humans there, right?
Izuku exchanged looks with the three girls, their collective uneasiness only growing. The most they could do now was wait, and hope they could find answers at the village, and whoever (or whatever) this Jijimon was...
Of course, that was just too much to ask for, and they were left with only more questions once they arrived at the village.
For one, the village looked like it was made for toys, each hut being about as tall as the Digimon that followed them here; even Minoru would have a hard time getting inside one of these huts!
Second, when all of the villagers showed up to greet the Digimon, they didn't look any more like familiar animals than they did. Most of them didn't even look like animals at all. They looked like... well, heads. Bouncing heads with no limbs, some fuzzy some not, some with a single horn in their head, others with antennae, and some just looking like walking jelly.
"O! M! G! You are just the cutest little bean!" Camie cooed as she picked up one of the bouncing heads, a purple one with two crooked ears. "What's your name, you widdle cutey-bootie~?"
The tiny creature blushed, turning its eyes away from Camie in embarrassment. "I-I'm... Yaamon..."
"Yaamon's shy!"
"Nice lady!"
"So big!"
"Pick me up! Pick me up! I wanna be big too!"
The other tiny creatures crowded and hopped around Camie with excitement and curiosity.
"This... is too much..." Itsuka claimed, bewildered at how this was turning out. "Are all of you guys Digimon too...?"
"Yeah!" said a pink head with two antennae on it.
"But you don't look like a Digimon!" said a green head with four stubby feet, and a plant growing out of its, well, head.
"It's true! You don't! You don't!" said a tiny hamster-looking grey creature with a yellow mohawk and yellow spikes coming out of its backside.
"Why do I get the feeling things are only going to make less sense here..." Kyouka muttered, which Izuku could only sigh in resigned agreement.
"What is all the commotion out there!?"
They heard a voice call out from deeper in the small village, before a tall young woman with a hime cut barged her way out of the larger hut in the center. Her hair was lavender, and she wore a very expensive-looking white waistcoat over a pale purple shirt, a baby blue sweater tied over her shoulders, clean white dress pants and a white beret atop her head, along with a grey satchel carried around her shoulder. "Has this Jijimon come back ye- Oh!" her expression changed from annoyance to surprise, and a bit of relief. "Oh, thank goodness! People!" she marched out from the hut, making her way closer to the other students. "Finally! I knew someone had to be out there looking for us, and now we're saved!"
Izuku and the others blinked, but only Camie actually seemed to recognize the other girl. "Oh! You were at the camp too!"
"Hm?" the girl blinked, "What are you on about? Of course I was there! Isn't that why you're here? Because I disappeared?" she sighed as she held her forehead, "Good grief, did they send other students on a rescue mission...?" she stood up straighter before introducing herself, "I am Intelli Saiko, second-year Hero student at Seiai Academy. I'm the one you came looking for, right?"
Kyouka frowned slightly at the attitude on display; if she really thought they were here to rescue her, she could show just a little bit more gratitude. "Sorry lady, we're every bit as lost as you are."
Saiko blinked, her expression quickly growing incredulous. "What!? Th-That can't be right! Are you seriously telling me all of us somehow got separated, and got lost in this wretched forest!? Unbelievable! I thought the Pussycats specialized in mountain rescue, but here we are; six students lost under their watch!"
"Wh- Hey, slow down! What do you mean, six students?" Itsuka looked past Saiko, and sure enough, another figure crawled out from the larger hut, but this one she actually recognized. "Kodai!? You're here too?"
The gloomy-looking girl with black hair and a simple white summer dress stood up, her eyes widening so slightly it barely made a difference. "Kendou-san..."
"Well, this is just fabulous!" Saiko scoffed. "I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere, who knows how long before rescue gets here, and all I can do is rest on my laurels waiting for this Jijimon character who might not even exist, surrounded by these bizarre things who-"
"W-Wait, back up a second!" Izuku asked, "You said Jijimon isn't here?"
Saiko blinked, but quickly answered. "He is not. We were brought here to speak with this man, and he has the gal to be away in a matter of life and death!"
Izuku quickly noted Saiko also had one of those strange devices attached to the straps of her satchel, and as Kodai Yui got closer, she too had it clipped to the sash around her dress. But just as importantly were the Digimon that were following. Up to this point, as strange as some of the sights have been, he could still somewhat make sense of everything as strangeness that wasn't totally impossible in this world. He hadn't yet ruled out the possibility these Digimon were nothing more than mutated animals, perhaps ones that have lived all their lives so deep in the forest they had never interacted with humans before, explaining why they wouldn't know what those were.
But seeing these two Digimon made it incredibly harder to believe that.
The one that had walked up next to Saiko was wearing cardboard as clothes. And not in a simple "cardboard cutout" kind of way; he was covered head on toe in some kind of makeshift cardboard box armor: his shoes were cardboard boxes, his pants were cardboard boxes, his arms and torso, and the head was literally a plain cardboard box with one large left eye drawn on it, while the right eye had a small hole on it that made the Digimon's real eye orange-glowing (and kinda creepy, to be perfectly honest) eye faintly visible. But it was the one who bounced next to Yui that completely turned Izuku's world on its head.
It was a candle.
A candle with arms and a face, hopping on its candlestick.
And a lit wick with a large flame that he was pretty sure was grinning right at him.
Izuku did not know what to think anymore.
"Saiko, are these friends of yours?" the box creature asked, but this only seemed to rile up the young woman.
"What did I say about acting so familiar around me!?" she aimed a finger down at the quickly-growing-scared creature, "For all I know, you could have been the one to kidnap me!"
"Saik- I-I mean, Intelli-san, no! I would never do that!" the creature waved his arms, desperately trying to plead his case.
"Hey, go easy on the guy, will you?" Kyouka was quick to butt in, "We're all kinda freaked out, but these guys are clearly just as out of the loop as us!"
"Bakomon is nice!" Dracomon stepped up to defend the other Digimon.
"Then how did he know my name, huh!?" Saiko countered. "This whole thing reeks of a planned Villain attack! They planned on kidnapping a bunch of students from their camp, possibly as hostages, or worse, some attempt of brain washing them into joining their ranks!"
"So they left us all scattered in the middle of the forest where we could wake up?" Itsuka argued back. "Seems like a strange plan, don't you think?"
Saiko opened her mouth as a rebuttal, but then paused to think about it for a moment. "I suppose it would be unlikely these Villains just accidentally dropped all six of us behind while they made their escape..."
"W-We shouldn't jump to any conclusions just yet..." Izuku stepped in, albeit a bit intimidated by this girl. "The Digimon have been nothing but helpful so far, so let's just hear them out, alright?"
Saiko aimed a rather icy glare at Izuku, easily getting him to jolt, but she did seem to quickly drop. "Oh, fine!" she relented, "I suppose there's nothing we can do beyond waiting for this Jijimon fellow anyway..."
Camie seemed to ignore the conversation, skipping over to Yui and the little candle following her. "And who's this cheerful dude~?"
"Candmon." Yui simply answered.
"Hiya! Nice to meet ya!" Candmon waved its gooey wax arm. "Labramon, you found your partner too!"
The dog-shaped Digimon nodded as it followed next to Camie. "Yes. I was very fortunate."
"So the only one left to find their partner is Alraumon..." the box-covered Bakomon added.
"A-And me! I haven't found mine yet!" Spadamon quickly interjected.
"Alraumon?" Izuku blinked, "You mean there's one more of you out there?"
Bakomon looked up at him and nodded. "Yes. She left at the same time we did, but she hasn't come back yet..."
"Oh no... like, do you think something might've happened to her?" Camie worriedly asked.
"The forest can be quite dangerous, but there shouldn't be anything around here that any one of us can't handle." Labramon said.
"That's great to hear!" Camie smiled, a lot more relieved as she petted Labramon's head. "You little guys are so dependable!"
Itsuka was also a bit relieved, but she noticed Izuku chewing on his thumb in thought. "Midoriya? Is something wrong?"
"No, it's just..." he hummed, "It's just a theory of mine, but... all of us woke up in the forest, next to a Digimon, and-" he motioned at the device clipped to his pants, "With one of these on us, right?"
Itsuka and the rest of the group nodded.
"Then I don't think it's too much of a long shot to say these things might be connected... meaning, if there's still one Digimon out there..."
"Then there's one more student they're looking after!" Kyouka quickly pieced it together, Izuku nodding to confirm.
"If that's the case, maybe we should go try and find them. Just in case they need help." Itsuka said, which Izuku quickly agreed with.
"Eh!? You actually want to go back out there, and risk getting lost all over again!?" Saiko jumped in, "That's crazy! Look, the rescue team is more likely to check a village like this, so we should stay put and wait for them to come!"
"We don't all have to go; a few of us can stay behind in case help arrives." Izuku firmly said, clearly 100% committed to heading on search of the seventh student and the missing Digimon. The noticeable change in demeanor did seem to catch Saiko off-guard after how easily he was intimidated by her earlier.
"Midoriya's in Hero Mode now. You can't get his mind off of it once he gets like this." Kyouka explained, which did get Izuku to blush a bit even through his super-serious look. "So, what's the plan."
"R-Right!" Izuku quickly explained, "Even with our Quirk being weakened, Jirou-san's Quirk can still be useful in finding people; I have just enough of a boost that I can climb up trees to get a good look of the area around us."
"With my Quirk the way it is, I don't know how useful I'd be in a fight..." Itsuka lamented.
"Same." Yui plainly stated.
"Without tea, I can't access my brilliant Quirk." Saiko huffed, "I could probably figure out a way to get us out of here in no time if I could just get a sip..."
"Oh!" Camie raised her hand, "Maybe I could use my illusions as, like, a flare or something!"
"Alright, that works." Izuku nodded, "Myself, Jirou-san, and Utsushimi-san will go; you three, stay here in case someone who can help arrives. So, let's hurry up and-"
"KYIIIAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
A frightened scream pierced through the air, urging everyone to get their guards up and turn towards the forest. But for Izuku and Kyouka, that wasn't just an ordinary cry for help.
"That voice-"
"It's Ashido!" Kyouka quickly identified, just as they spotted a familiar shade of pink emerge from the bushes, running for dear life, as a small green creature with a purple plant on its head, large arms that resembled leaves but ended in three large claws, and stubby vine-like legs ran after her; no doubt the missing Alraumon.
As soon as this happened, Kyouka relaxed as a picture of Ashido Mina getting frightened by one of these Digimon painted itself. "I can't believe that girl..." she held up her hands, shouting: "Ashido! Relax! That thing is perfectly harmle-"
But then, a powerful gust of wind picked up coming from the forest, breaking apart several trees in the process. "Evil Hurricane!" an unfamiliar voice shouted, summoning another powerful hurricane forward that blew Mina and Alraumon off their feet, letting them tumble into the floor. And then from the destruction emerged a large oni-like shape, orange skin and clad in a tiger-print loincloth, with tiger-print armbands on each wrist, pierced ears and long grey hair. On his right hand he carried a large studded club, and his mouth was so large he never even closed it.
"GUWAHAHAHAHA! There ain't no use runnin', girlies!" the oni taunted as it stomped forward, "No one escaped the Howling Wind King!"
"That's Fugamon!" Labramon shouted as the vicious demon came into view.
"But Fugamon shouldn't be in the forest! His home's in the badlands!" Neemon said, but the question of why wasn't on any of the students' minds. Without hesitation, they all rushed towards danger.
"Stay here!" Itsuka shouted back at the Digimon, even as they could see the nervousness in her eyes at having to fight with a weakened Quirk.
"Hrm?" Fugamon took his eyes off the downed Mina and Alraumon, noticing the approaching kids. "What's this? Some friends you brought along? Good, saves me trouble of huntin' them down!" he raised the studded club before swinging it powerfully. "Evil Hurricane!" and launching a powerful gust of twisting winds towards the approaching students.
Izuku knew this was no time for half measures, and since his Quirk was weakened anyway, he did something that under any other situation was crazy. One For All 100%! his body crackled with pure power as he rocketed ahead of the other students, charging directly towards the raging winds as he spun his body around and raised his foot. He'd only just started training this technique during the camp as everyone practiced towards their Provisional Hero License Exams, it could easily fail and blow up in his face, but he knew it'd be the only way to stop Fugamon's attack. "Shoot Style: Manchester Smash!" he swung his leg down with a powerful axe kick, cleaving through the wind and dispersing it harmlessly before it could reach the others.
"W-What!?" Fugamon was clearly taken aback by this, giving the students just enough time to reach Mina and Alraumon. Camie and Kyouka knelt down to help, Izuku and Itsuka standing in front to shield the others from Fugamon, while Saiko and Yui stayed behind them just in case they needed to move the injured at a moment's notice.
"Ashido! Ashido, are you alright?" Kyouka lightly shook her pink classmate, who thankfully opened her tearful eyes.
"J-...Jirou...?" Mina was still a bit dazed, but other than a few scuffs, she seemed fine. "A-Alraumon... is she-?"
"She's fine, hun!" Camie answered as she already held the injured Digimon in her arm, Alraumon having one eye open as she smile down at Mina.
"Mina-chan... I'm so glad you're safe!" Alraumon said, which let Mina relax considerably. Unfortunately, that moment would pass very quickly, as-
"OI! So you brats have a trick or two up your sleeves; big deal! You'll be outta my way soon enough, and once I'm through with you, I'll raze that whole village to the ground too! GUWAHAHAHA!!" Fugamon cackled.
This only further cemented in Izuku and the others' minds that they had to put a stop to Fugamon no matter what. Izuku turned back, quickly shouting: "Get Ashido to safety! We'll hold him off as much as we can!"
Yui nodded her head and stepped closer, grabbing Mina to help her up. "My Quirk is useless here, as it is... I'll take her."
Kyouka nodded and handed the pink girl off to Yui. Camie then rushed to Saiko and shoved Alraumon in her arm.
"Wh- Hey, what's the big idea!?"
"Get her safe with the others; that's the idea, obviously!" Camie said with a light pout. "You said you can't use your Quirk without tea, right? Then you can't help as much as we can holding that ugly guy back!"
Saiko flinched, "Gh- H-How blunt of you! I'll have you know I have plenty of uses still thanks to my incredible intellect and strategic thinking, and I don't take kindly to-!"
"Just go already!" Camie hissed, which finally seemed to get Saiko to relent. With Mina and Alraumon in hand, the two girls quickly started heading back the way they came.
"Heavy Swing!" Fugamon shouted as he swung the thick bone weapon down on Izuku and Itsuka, both quickly jumping out of the way of it. As soon as Izuku landed, he immediately sprung towards Fugamon, landing a clean kick on the side of the Digimon's large head. Fugamon grunted and stumbled a bit, but he didn't seem too hurt by the attack. "Pesky little-! Evil Hurricane!" he quickly whipped up another gust of wind towards Izuku, catching the boy as he was in the air and blowing up a few feet away.
Itsuka took advantage of Fugamon's distraction, growing her fists as much as she possibly could to gather enough strength before delivering several blows to Fugamon's torso. Unfortunately she had to quickly step back, as the oni Digimon swung its arm witout any sign of pain to try and smack her away. Fugamon turned his attention to Izuku, raising his weapon to strike at her, only to suddenly be swarmed by a few dozen tiny and crude scribbled devils that hovered around his face.
"Wha- The heck are you!? Get lost! Beat it!" Fugamon swatted at the tiny devils, the illusion quickly dissipating and giving him a good look at Camie who was closeby. "That was your trick, wasn't it!? When I get my hands on ya, I'll pulverize ya!" he swung his club down, Camie quickly jumping out of the way as the bone punched into the dirt beneath.
Seeing an opening, Kyouka rushed in and let her Earphone Jacks extend, stabbing into Fugamon's arm to hopefully let her heartbeat vibrations be enough to get him to drop his bone club. Unfortunately, Fugamon swung his arm too quickly, smashing his forearm against Kyouka and sending the girl falling back with a shout.
"JIROU!" Izuku shouted as he got back to his feet after a rough landing, and immediately dashed as fast as he could towards Fugamon with his fist reared back. But again the oni Digimon was too fast, swinging his club and managing to catch Izuku in midair with the thinner part of the club, tossing him aside like an annoying fly. When Itsuka then tried to approach from behind, Fugamon stuck a foot back and caught her with a firm kick, also sending her down to the ground.
As they mad etheir retreat, Saiko suddenly stopped as she heard the cries of pain coming from behind them, looking back in fear. "I-It's hopeless! We're just too weak, a-and there's nothing we can even hope to take advantage of!"
Yui also stopped to look at her, her otherwise cold expression turning into a frown of concern for the others, but try as she might she couldn't think of any way to help them.
Further ahead, at the edge of the villaing, the other six Digimon watched in horror at how badly the fight was going.
"Itsuka... Itsuka is fighting..." Dracomon said with shakiness in her voice, but then her eyes grew more determined. "Dracomon can't stay behind while her partner fights!" she then dashed ahead, wings flapping furiously even if she couldn't actually lift herself off the air.
"Dracomon! Wait! It's too dangerous for us!" Neemon shouted.
"No! She's right!" Labramon said, "We must protect our partners!" before he too ran forward towards Fugamon.
"Haaaaaahhh! I'm burning up just sitting here! I won't let any harm come to Yui!" Candmon shouted as he jumped as fast as he could towards the heat of battle.
"I'm scared, b-but I have to protect Intelli-san too!" Bakomon soon followed the others as well.
Spadamon seemed to hesitate for just a moment, his eyes fixed on Izuku in the distance as he struggle to get up yet again. The lion clenched his teeth and fists, "What sort of knight would I be... if I didn't defend those in trouble!" and let out a warcry as he charged ahead towards the enemy too.
Neemon flinched as everyone rushed into battle. "Y-You guys are crazy, you hear me!?" but he paused and let out a groan, "I knew this whole business would be nothin' but trouble... OH, ALRIGHT! I'M GOIN', I'M GOIIIIIIIIIIN'! HYAAAAAAAAHHHH" until he finally dashed behind them with fearful tears in his eyes.
As the Digimon rushed past Yui and Saiko, Alraumon quickly jumped off Saiko's arms to join them in their rush. "I won't stand back and let Mina-chan get hurt either!"
"Eh?" hearing the commotion, Fugamon turned his attention to the charging Digimon. "More annoying flies!?"
Reaching the oni Digimon, Dracomon opened her mouth, unleashing a small burst of fire towards him. "Baby Breath!"
Labramon reached second, immediately barking: "Retriever Bark!" sending a vibrating ball of air as a projectile towards Fugamon, both attacks forcing the foe to raise his arm and shield himself.
"Nemesis Ivy!" Alraumon's large claws stretched from her hands, wrapping like vines around Fugamon's right arm.
"Gum Roll!" Bakomon tossed duct tape from inside his box sleeves, wrapping them around Fugamon's other arm, both Digimon then pulling on them to try and hold the larger Digimon in place.
"Gah! You pesky bugs! I'll kill all of ya!" Fugamon shouted as he began pulling against Alraumon and Bakomon. But before he could free himself-
"Bonfire!" Candmon jumped up and spat a fireball straight into Fugamon's eye, getting the larger Digimon to cry out in pain.
Seeing his opening, Spadamon dashed closer to Fugamon and summoned a small sword with a blue light to his hand, slashing it in quick succession to scratch Fugamon's face. "Blue Brave!"
Fugamon let out another shout of pain, the combined atacks actually forcing the oni down to one knee. With his head closer to the ground, Neemon rushed in with a fierce look on his face, stopped right in front of Fugamon and turned his back, sticking out his backside before- "Gassed Off!" letting out a deadly fart right into Fugamon's large mouth.
"WAAAGH! THAT'S DISGUSTING! PTHOO! PTHOO!" Fugamon cried out, "I've had enough of you twerps!" but he then quickly stood back up, swing his arms wildly with immense strength to throw Alraumon and Bakomon away. "Evil Hurricane!" he then swung his club to whip up another gust of wind, blowing away Labramon, Dracomon, Neemon and Candmon.
Spadamon stabbed his blade into the dirt, holding himself down against the strong winds. Once they cleared, he held his sword as he glared at Fugamon. "You won't get away with this, you monster!" he charged at Fugamon again, swinging his sword with a wild cry.
"Heavy Swing!"
Only to cry out as Fugamon slammed the bone club on top of him, forcing the lion back to the ground.
"Pfeh!" Fugamon spat, "You little pests should've just ran away when ya had the chance! But don't worry, I'll make your death quick!" he raised the club high above his head, before slamming it straight down on Spadamon. The force of the attack shattered the ground beneath it, but- "Huh!?" Spadamon wasn't there anymore.
Spadamon slowly opened his eyes, seeing Izuku's pained face just above him as he lay in his arms. "Wha-... y-you..."
"You again!?" Fugamon grunted. "Just lay down and die, ya brat! I promise, I'll make it painless!"
"I won't stand down!" Izuku quickly shouted back. "No matter what... I won't! Because Heroes... Heroes always save those who need help!"
Spadamon's eyes widened, seeing the sheer determination on Izuku's face. Even as he was hurt, even after the way he had acted towards him... he was willing to go this far just to save him? "A... hero...?"
Fugamon just scoffed. "Suit yourself, kid! When you're dead, you won't have to worry about that anymore!" raising his club as he drew closer, Fugamon cackled. "Heavy Swing!"
Spadamon closed his eyes as he suddenly shouted- "IZUKU!!" and felt his body heat up immensely.
And then, a light shone, coming from the small device Izuku had. A light so potent it actually momentarily blinded Fugamon to halt his attack. Yet somehow, Izuku didn't feel the need to close his eyes; the light just felt... natural, somehow. He then looked down at the Digimon in his arms, Spadamon's whole body beginning to glow that same vibrant light. Izuku's eyes widened as Spadamon leapt from his arms, standing between him and Fugamon.
And then, Spadamon's form began growing...
"Spadamon, Digivolve to...!!"
The glowing shape grew larger than a horse, taking on a four-legged stance. The tail split into two, as a wild braided mane grew out, two hooped earring appearing on each ear. Sharp claws at the end of each paw, and a fearsome face emerged from within the light. Spadamon had transformed into something; something wild and far more powerful than before!
"LIAMON!!" the giant lion roared proudly, standing imposingly before an flabbergasted Fugamon.
"W-W-What-what-what-what!? What just happened!?" the oni exclaimed, visibly growing frightened. "HEY! Y-You can't just transform like that! That's not fair!"
Liamon let out a low and threatening growl. "You, who so callously pick on those weaker than you, dares talk about what's fair?"
Fugamon flinched, only growing more nervous. "W-Well... uh.... y-you see...!"
"Your evil ways end here!" Liamon roared as he swung a clawd paw, smacking Fugamon to the ground in a single swipe.
Fugamon let out a pained screech as he fell, quickly scrambling himself back to his feet. "W-Why you...! You think you're a bigshot now that you gained a couple pounds!? Well, I'll show! I'll cut you down to size! Evil Hurricane!" Fugamon sent out another vicious gust of wind, but much to his horror, Liamon held his ground. "Wh-What...!? Impossible...-!"
Liamon glared at Fugamon before pouncing on his foe, slamming into the oni Digimon with immense power and throwing him further back. Crackling electricity then began gathering around Liamon's mane as he stood back up, before roaring out: "Thunder Of King!" unleashing a powerful bolt of lightning from his mane that aimed straight for Fugamon.
The oni Digimon shrieked as he failed too get out of the way in time, being struck by the lightning that blasted him and sent him flying through the air. He landed with a heavy thud by the forest's entrance, and very slowly and painfully dragged himself back to his knees. "Y-Yoouu... I-I'll pulverize-" but another powerful roar from Liamon made the oni jolt to his feet in fright. Fugamon clenched his bone clube tightly... then immediately turned tail and ran right back into the forest. "Th-... Th-... THISAIN'TOVERYOUHEARMEYOU'LLALLPAYFORTHIIIIIIIIIIIS!!"
As soon as Fugamon disappeared, Liamon's body began to glow once more before it shrunk drastically in size. The glow dissipated, leaving behind a tired-looking Spadamon who dropped down to sit on the floor with a heavy sigh. "Phew..."
Izuku was, at first, frozen in awe what what had happened, but as soon as Spadamon became visible again, he immediately rushed to his side. "Spadamon! Spadamon, are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah... I just... need to catch my breath, is all..." Spadamon said between gasps.
"Midoriya!"
"Spadamon!" the other students and Digimon quickly approached them with concern on their faces.
"You guys... are you alright?" Izuku asked, knowing full well that Kyouka and Itsuka in particular got hit pretty bad.
Thankfully they seemed fine, both nodding to assure him of that. "We're OK. You look way worse for wear than us." Itsuka said.
"Spadamon! Spadamon! That was so cool!" Dracomon jumped around excitedly.
"You Digivolved... you really Digivolved!" Candmon said with just as much excitement in his voice.
"I-...I did...?" Spadamon blinked wearily, still a bit dazed.
"H-Hey!" Saiko shouted as she and Yui approached, Mina following them as she looked able to walk again. "Wh-What in blazes just happened!? How did that tiny thing turned into that huge thing- What was that!?"
"That, young ones..." a voice carrying many years behind it caught everyone's attention as it drew nearer. "Is all the proof we need..."
Everyone turned to see what looked like a very short old man, with a lot of hair on his head, his fringe and beard completely covering up his face, oversized feet, and carrying an old staff with an ornament shaped like a cat's paw on top of it.
"Ah! Jijimon!" Neemon said, getting everyone else's attention.
"Jijimon?" Camie repeated.
"That's Jijimon?" Kyouka asked.
"Proof? Proof of what?" Saiko, meanwhile, kept focusing on her own question.
Jijimon stepped closer, paying close attention to Izuku. "Proof... that the legends were indeed true... seven humans, sent here at a time when our world needs them the most... wielding the Sacred Devices that hold the power of Digivolution... yes, you are, without a doubt in my mind... the Chosen Ones!"
The old man's words only raised more questions among the group. And the way he spoke instinctively told them there was much more going on around them than they could possibly imagine.
The adventure was only just beginning...