Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Love Evolved ❯ Flight of the Ouryuudamon ( Chapter 1 )

Love Evolved

By Lord Tarsisk

Soyez influencé-Be influenced!

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Italic Text indicates someone's thoughts.

"Someone's speech…" As if you couldn't tell that one. Honestly, some people are just plain stupid.

--- Indicates a transition between different times, scenes, and/or points of view.

~~~ Indicates a transition between memories or visions (but same real scene and time and same POV.)

Warning: For those with weak or disabled, non-functioning robotic hearts; those with extreme attachments to their morals or their pants; and those who consider nudity to be a form of art: This is not for you! (Well, maybe I'm a little extreme, so you people can go ahead, but you won't like it.) This story will NOT contain sex of any kind, but it will include minor character death and romantic, lovey-dovey situations, as well as broken hearts and shattered skulls. Warning.

As always, I don't own the subject matter, but seeing as they're not busy or doing anything useful, I will now take them from their holding cells and use them for my own "Emotional Reward." Just don't sue. In fact, any jumpy lawyers can stop reading this right now.

Again: As always: Be Influenced, and review. This is my hardest worked fic yet. I think I deserve a little feedback.

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Flight of the Ouryuudamon

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That day, Koushiro sent them to destroy another Dark Tower.

Above, the sky was a brilliant shade of indigo, with puffy white clouds hanging lazily, seemingly just beneath it. Below, a rolling mountain range created a long, serene valley, thick with tall trees and brushes, painted with strokes of brown and green. The thick overgrowth filtered the sunlight through the green and yellow leaves, causing colorful shadows to dance around their faces. Six Chosen blinked for a few moments, while a couple pulled out their D3s and looked around.

A young boy of twelve with a vest sporting flames sighed; he loved coming here, and they didn't do it nearly enough these days. Daisuke removed his goggles and brought a hand to his forehead, shadowing his face from the brilliant, apparently green sunlight. He looked at the others.

The nearest boy, also twelve years old, with golden hair under a white hat, commented on their position.

"Isn't it weird how we never collapse all over each other when we come out here, but going back leaves us tangled-"

"Like a bad game of twister? It is weird. I'd have to ask Koushiro-kun why that is."

Miyako, the oldest girl in the group at thirteen, with purple hair and developing breasts and extra-large glasses, interrupted him, as she was fond of doing. Takeru didn't mind, though; he walked over to the other girl in their group and held her hand, smiling.

Daisuke, for one, didn't care why they didn't tangle out here. He stood, on one rock, listening to a stream nearby, the trickling found peaceful. "Hey, Ken-kun," he asked, turning to another boy who wore a gray suit, sported blue hair, and had a sad look in his eyes, "why on earth would you put a Dark Tower here? I mean... I can understand deserts, but this nice little valley?"

Ken, probably the smartest of their group, sighed, looking away. "If you remember, I wasn't quite myself back then," he said quietly, referring to the Kaiser Days, "so I'm not quite sure." He frowned, and was sad little for a few moments.

Ken had been infected with a Dark Seed, that had not only made him super-intelligent and incredibly athletic, but had also turned him into an evil slave, under the control of a possessed man by the name of Oikawa through a powerful Digimon named Arukenimon. Ken tried not to dwell on the Kaiser days.

Miyako shot Daisuke a glare that promised swift death, and Daisuke didn't pursue the thought, though he wondered-a dangerous thing-how Koushiro could've missed a Dark Tower. In truth, he believed that he and his fellow Chosen had been a little hard on Ken-as he'd said, he wasn't in his right mind.

Daisuke looked over at the other girl in their party-Hikari was taking her socks off and dipping her feet in the shallow brook as they spoke. Ignoring the conversation, she hummed a song to herself, totally at peace with the environment. Daisuke studied her for a moment, and he found a similar peace, enjoying the way the bubbles floated around her feet, how she was so happy.

There was peace, except for the fact that she was already involved-and with his best friend, and bitter rival, at that. Takeru leant over her, and she smiled… Daisuke turned away, determined not to let it ruin his day. He'd known for many months now that Takeru and Hikari were a couple, an item, and a solid one, from the looks of things.

Daisuke took a step towards them, but missed the one wet rock he was likely to find outside the stream; he slipped, and went heels over head for the ground. Veemon shook his head, and looked away, but he was sporting a grin.

"Ouch," Daisuke muttered, and the others stifled a laugh. To get them going, he started a largely faked laugh, but soon it was real and the others were laughing as well and the seriousness of why they were there seemed to fade away. Daisuke rolled over and stood up, and looked at the two by the stream.

Takeru and Hikari had saved each other's life several times, even before Daisuke had laid eyes on her, almost two years earlier. He looked around, a found Iori looking up at him.

"Daisuke, why aren't we going? Koushiro-kun told us the Dark Tower was here. We should find it!" he said, with the insistent-sounding patience he had acquired from his grandfather. Iori and his grandfather both practiced some form of Martial Arts-Daisuke couldn't remember the name off the top of his head.

Daisuke thought for a moment-a dangerous thing. "I guess because of them," he said, pointing at Takeru and Hikari. "They enjoy this. That Dark Tower isn't going anywhere; calm down."

Iori subsided, and went over to Ken and Miyako, whom were speaking silently. Daisuke was now alone, except for his one and only 'best-buddy:' Veemon. Veemon was also looking at Takeru and Hikari. Veemon sighed, and looked up-and jumped: Daisuke was watching him.

"Uhh… Hi?"

"What are you doing?"

"Just wondering… I guess she's taken, huh? I mean, you like her… right?"

Daisuke nodded, and was about to say something when Miyako cried out in a loud voice, "Come on! Let's GO ALREADY!!" right beside Ken's ear, who fell backwards, as did Iori, clutching the sides of their heads. They groaned, but Miyako, pumped as she was that they were doing something again, ignored them.

Daisuke smiled, but wondered how they could've missed a Dark Tower, having long since destroyed what they thought was the last of them, after their battles with BlackWarGreymon and BelialVamdemon. Hoping that there wasn't some evil Digimon to have to deal with again, he gripped his D3 and cried, "Digimental Up!"

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"Veemon… Digimental Up to… Flamedramon!" A red blast of flame erupted from Daisuke's D3 and engulfed Veemon in an inferno that would've killed any other living thing instantly. The ball of flame grew, as Veemon expanded in size, becoming a little over seven feet tall, his tail, legs, and arms becoming better proportioned to his size. A massive head-blade shot out of his snout, red leg and arm guards forming-and the ball of fire exploded, somehow causing little damage to the surroundings.

"Hawkmon… Digimental Up to… Halsemon!" And a red bolt of lightning shot from Miyako's D3, causing Hawkmon to jump in the air, growing massive, fixed wings, and a helmet for his head. In a tornado of wind, the red bolt ceased and Halsemon burst into being.

"Armadimon… Digimental Up to… Digmon!" Armadimon suddenly became encased in a mound of earth, and this rock-hard armor changed and grew with him as his shape changed and grew into a massive insect, with drills for claws and a giant drill on his nose. His back became stiff and rigid and sliced down the middle, allowing insect-like wings to emerge… the mound of earth erupted, leaving him free.

"Tailmon… Digimental Up to… Nefertimon!" White light shined on the small cat, as it grew to a more animalistic, horse-like white figure. Her head now resembled something like the sphinx; except for she was still a she. Beautiful feathery wings grew from her sides, and as the light paled and dimmed, Nefertimon took to the air beside Halsemon.

"Patamon… Digimental Up to… Pegasusmon!" Golden arrows and stars bombarded Patamon, and his ear-wings morphed to normal ears while he too grew wings out of his back… his form changed quickly from that of a rodent to that of a majestic, golden horse…

"Wormmon… Evolve to… Stingmon!" And Wormmon was bather in a great glow until he was seven feet tall and humanoid. His shoulders grew protected by massive shoulder blades, and he grew insect wings similar to Digmon's. Now fully green with black armor, he took to the air with Ken on his shoulder.

Halsemon, Pegasusmon, Digmon, Stingmon, and Nefertimon hovered with Miyako, Takeru, Iori, Ken, and Hikari riding on their backs; Flamedramon could only jump really high, and he scooped Daisuke in his arms and they soared, too.

"Takeru and Iori will look to the north of the valley; Miyako, you and Hikari can take those ridges there; Ken and I will go south," Daisuke called, separating the children into their Jogress Pairs. "It shouldn't be too far. Whoever finds it, email the rest with the position."

"Right!" they agreed, and took flight. Daisuke loved being in charge-at least, he loved doing something important again.

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Miyako and Hikari flew across the mountains, away from the valley. Hikari looked down-Miyako was flying slightly to her right and below her. With the rushing wind, they wouldn't be able to hear each other, so she grabbed her D-Terminal and began typing, as carefully as she could, lest she drop it. She hoped Miyako could understand her.

--Miyako, ne thing from your view

She waited a moment, watching Miyako typed her response: --Not yet, tho there's a massive pack of DM below, right beneath the thin patch of gray clouds

Hikari looked, and sighed. She wanted to ask Miyako a burning question, but couldn't find the perfect time. Now, however, seemed to be right.

--Mi, you need 2 help me

--With what?

--Takeru. He won't go any further with me. It's like... he doesn't want to move forward.

--U want to kick it up a notch, u mean

--Y.

--Hmm. Not much I can do, but I'll think.

Hikari's D-Terminal started beeping: INCOMING MAIL… RECEIVING… DISPLAY Y/N? Hikari hit the "Y" key. Daisuke had already found the Dark Tower, but he and Ken wouldn't go further, because Ken's Stingmon would Digivolve if they got too close, and they were quite high in the air.

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"Fire Rocket!" Daisuke smiled as Flamedramon launched a fiery attack, and since his attack was combined with the rest of the Digimon's, the Dark Tower was dispatched rather quickly. Of course, Flamedramon could've destroyed the Dark Tower with one hit, alone, but that would've been unfair to the others. Ken and Stingmon approached, smiling.

Miyako's D3 started beeping with a sense of urgency. She frowned. "Guys?"

They looked at her, while Takeru held Hikari's hand but wouldn't actually look at her too often.

"Can someone tell me this isn't what I think it is?" she pointed to her screen of her D3. Ken came over. He frowned, and the others stopped smiling.

Ken looked up with a worried look on his face, and then yelled, "In the air! Now!"

Ken didn't often yell-and when he did, it was time to listen, so Daisuke wasted no time. With the Dark Tower destroyed, Daisuke was free to properly Digivolve his partner. Flamedramon Devolved into Veemon, then cried, "Veemon!"

Daisuke held out his D3, and it began to glow.

"Digivolve to!"

"Exveemon!" and there was a flash of light as Veemon morphed, and then he stood, a massive humanoid with a blue lizard-like appearance, large sinuous muscles (much more muscular than Flamedramon,) and another large head-blade on his snout. Exveemon, an Adult, had wings. Daisuke climbed up, and they heard a loud rumbling as they took off. The ground rushed away from them and the others approached.

They weren't two moments too soon, for the pack of Digimon-the ones that Miyako had spotted earlier-rumbled into the clearing where the Dark Tower lay in ruins. About fifty of them took position around the clearing.

They were the oddest-looking Digimon that he'd ever seen. They were all one type of Digimon: a pale, brown skinned lizard with large, powerful legs and sharp claws on all fours; his arms were short and not of much use; his back was covered in black armor, ribbed with purple hinges that allowed flexibility. On his head he wore a black and gold helmet with a red ruby in the middle, and golden wings at his ears.

Miyako looked at her D3. There was no data on this Digimon; no one had ever seen it before, she guessed, though this didn't surprise her. But as long as they didn't make a sound… they were all deadly quiet… The Digimon didn't look up, the Chosen knew they would be hard pressed to take on fifty adults, they still remained silent…

The wind blew past, and Takeru could catch parts of their discussions. Some of the new Digimon were conversing rapidly, in a strange language… he shook his D-Terminal, the syntax wouldn't line up-then it beeped, and he nearly fainted.

The Digimon didn't look up. Takeru sighed with relief, and began copying their discussions into emails which the other Chosen began reading…

"Without the Tower - not enough energy to Evolve - Dorugoramon won't be able to Jump - Where did the Destined go - Sacrifices for more - "

The Black Tower exploded, without warning, and it sent rockets of black metal blazing into the air; the pack of Digimon looked up.

"Oh, shit!" Daisuke cried, as several of them started pointed at the "Destined" they were looking for. But the pack of Digimon couldn't fly, and the minor attacks they sent into the air were easily avoided.

Soon, Miyako was laughing; Iori, who realized they probably weren't going to die soon, started smiling.

"Ha, ha, you can't get us! Nyah!" Miyako taunted.

Hikari pointed and the others looked. They heard a vicious scream, and watched in horror as one of the Digimon started tearing into another, slamming an energy attack into its head, while another started tearing at his limbs. Hikari gasped, while Miyako looked away. The Lizard exploded into flesh, blood, and data, and several of the others began absorbing the energy, getting ready to Evolve.

Ken stared. If they did this to enough of their numbers, they wouldn't have to fight fifty or so Adults… just about twenty or so Perfects. He blanched, and called out to Daisuke, "We need to Jogress! Now!"

"Why? Fewer Digimon… shouldn't it be easier-"

A large flash of light interrupted him.

"Ryuudamon… Evolve to… Ouryuudamon!"

"Miyako-kun? Care to keep taunting them?" Hikari asked with a slight hint of sarcasm. Miyako shook her head, and looked as if she would crap her pants.

There were more flashes of light, and more Ouryuudamon appearing. The Chosen sweat dropped. Ouryuudamon was a great serpent-dragon Digimon, covered in golden scales that went the length of his seven-meter body. At the base of his tail there was a large shining blade. Instead of wings, he had two massive, two meter long platinum blades tipped in more gold. Sprouting from his sides were golden, almost elegant arms holding smaller platinum-gold blades that reminded Daisuke of large butchers' knives. His dragonhead roared, and the sound nearly caused the Chosen's eardrums to pop. From his ears sprouted purple hair, and his red ruby on his forehead was now a solid diamond, covering his skull.

The Chosen turned and flew as fast and as hard as they could; not daring look over their shoulders, they heard more explosions of data and evolutions, more sinister "Ouryuudamon!" calls. They couldn't make it to the television set, so Ken sent an email calling for any Ultimate-capable Chosen to come and save them, because they most certainly needed rescuing now…

Exveemon and Daisuke landed first, followed by Ken and Stingmon, and the two Chosen immediately called out "Jogress Evolve!"

Exveemon and Stingmon shot up into the air, performing a carefully mimicked dance before they met and there was an explosion of light.

"Exveemon!"

"Stingmon!"

"Jogress Evolve!"

The two Digimon merged quickly into a large, humanoid dragon-insect with guns at his hips and a red facemask on his head, black and green armor covering his blue body. "Paildramon!" Then another burst of light: "Paildramon! Ultimate Evolve! ImperialDramon!" and he was a gargantuan quadruped with black and gold Arm Blades, a large cannon on his back, and red wings. They now had one Ultimate, who might be able to fight five or so Perfects at once and still have a chance at winning.

Takeru and Iori turned to each other, while their Digimon Devolved then Evolved into Angemon and Ankylomon, an angel and a large spiky armadillo, respectively.

Allowing their heartbeats to merge, Takeru and Iori called out, "Jogress Evolve!"

"Angemon!"

"Ankylomon!"

"Jogress Evolve!"

And they, too, merged quickly into a massive teapot/china-esque Digimon resembling a Japanese artifact with legs and arms that looked none-too flexible. He was white, shiny, about eleven feet tall, and had golden highlights. "Shakkoumon!" So they had one Ultimate and one Perfect.

Then, Hikari and Miyako looked at each other. Their Digimon returned to Tailmon, and Hawkmon whom immediately became Aquilamon, a massive red and white eagle with black horn/tusks. They cried out like the others, "Jogress Evolve!" and Tailmon and Aquilamon swirled into each other.

"Tailmon!" "Aquilamon!"

"Jogress Evolve!"

And from the evolution appeared "Silphymon!" who was a humanoid Digimon who had a very human-looking head, but its lower body was covered in brown feathers and it's feet were large, yellow talons with white claws at the ends. She wore a visor over her face, and had small wings on the back of her muscular arms, covered in white fur.

Now, one Ultimate and two Perfects all flew up, forming a defensive line they wouldn't let the Ouryuudamon pass. The Chosen stayed on the ground, holding whatever feeble weapons they could-a rock here and there, or a strong branch. The valley was not meant for violence, and all at once Daisuke wished they hadn't come.

ImperialDramon, Shakkoumon, and Silphymon took position in front of the advancing Ouryuudamon, all of whom had the sense not to attack from one direction. ImperialDramon dove and launched the first blast: "Positron Laser!" he cried, in the twin voices of Stingmon and Exveemon. His cannon glowed, and with a whoosh of released energy, it fired, sending a particle beam as big around as Daisuke was tall straight through the closest Ouryuudamon's face-the lizard was set alight, and his armor blackened, his flesh bubbled, and he body exploded in a burst of light and crimson blood.

Another Ouryuudamon came at ImperialDramon, and sliced at his head. ImperialDramon ducked just in time, dropped underneath, and slashed at Ouryuudamon's underside, but with the dragon's armor it caused no more than a small flesh wound. He turned, his gun recharged, and lined up a shot-if he could do this right-he fired his Laser once more, sending it through not just the one Ouryuudamon but three, through the underbelly, a head, and a chest. All three erupted into fountains of blood and sinew, their screams echoing throughout the valley.

ImperialDramon then raced after two more Ouryuudamon, who spiraled to avoid his deadly laser gun. He dove after them, the ground beneath him blurring with speed, and explosions rocked the sky around him-suddenly with a bang there would be a dirty great cloud of smoke right beside him, then it would rush away, as ImperialDramon blew past-he ducked, narrowly avoiding a burst of energy above him-wait, behind him, now… He powered his Positron Gun and fired, searing the wings and back of one of the Viral Digimon, who shrieked in pain and tumbled down, below, behind him.

Silphymon flew around behind one of the Ouryuudamon, and began forming a bright red ball of electricity between his hands, and released it with a terrific cry of, "Static Force!" in the dual voices of Tailmon and Aquilamon. The Ouryuudamon's wings folded and burned, the skin melted off of his frame, and he tumbled from the sky, and Silphymon saw ImperialDramon racing after another Dragon-

He kept diving, and the ground began rushing up at him, and the other Ouryuudamon continued falling, determined to escape him. The pair kept falling, faster, faster, and faster; the ground rushed up at them, faster, faster, and faster-

ImperialDramon pulled out of the deadly dive, and watched with satisfaction as the pursued continued falling, ignorant of ImperialDramon's ceasing. He rammed the ground with enough speed to tear a long, straight gash in the ground, and there was an explosion of data. ImperialDramon smiled, then turned and flew back to the deadly swarm of dragons in the air ahead of him, light shining off of their deadly wing-blades, the swarm sparkling golden-black in the clear blue sky.

Shakkoumon cried, "Kachina Bomb!" and knives from his chest shot through one of the Ouryuudamon, who bellowed, landing on the ground close to the Chosen children, all of whom cried and backed up. THUD! It created a small crater. Shakkoumon watched to make sure that the Chosen weren't hurt, then cried in pain and was knocked forwards as another Ouryuudamon shot his "Laser Blade!" at his back. Shakkoumon fell over, and struggled to get up.

The Ouryuudamon flew over him and powered his "Laser Blade!" attack, and Shakkoumon picked himself up, too slowly…

The Ouryuudamon was about to fire, ImperialDramon noticed, as he bashed the side of his own unconscious Ouryuudamon's head. He paused, and started rotating in the air, gathering speed-

ImperialDramon's Ouryuudamon began waking up, and ImperialDramon screamed with anger as he let go of the Viral dragon, launching him with terrific speed towards Shakkoumon.

Wham! The dragon landed on top of Shakkoumon, and was blasted into data by the other Ouryuudamon's "Laser Blade!" attack. Shakkoumon fell over once more-

But at least he wasn't dead. Takeru and Iori cheered, then Hikari cried, "Look out!"

ImperialDramon was turning too slowly, and all at once cried in pain while a pair of knives impaled themselves into his right side. They exploded on contact, searing the flesh; his muscles went limp and his wing crumpled, melting from its frame; he began losing altitude. He turned in midair, so that he was going to land on his tail, and fired his Positron Laser straight up, eliminating his Dragon attacker. Blood rained down on him, proof that he wasn't falling as fast as he could have been.

Silphymon discharged his own Ouryuudamon, and looked over to see ImperialDramon falling. He dove, and tried to slow his fall (far too massive to lift on his own.) Shakkoumon moved between the falling pair and the nearest Virus to give cover, and cried out "Aramitama!" and shot a burst of red light from his eyes, knocking an Ouryuudamon unconscious. He watched with grim satisfaction as the dragon plummeted from the sky, then turned to watch ImperialDramon impact in a thick group of trees, shaking the ground; a loud WHUMPF and several small crashes, and the trees around ImperialDramon shattered, while Silphymon was blown away from the blast.

Three volleys of black razor-sharp blades flew down from the sky and sliced through ImperialDramon, shredding the rest of his wings, crumpling his Cannon, and removing patches from his armor. Iori winced, hearing the dings and bangs as they started tearing away at his metal coverings.

Ken and Daisuke stood in horror, gazing into ImperialDramon's unconscious eyes, hoping that maybe he would awaken and by some miracle save himself-

They couldn't hear anything, not the cries from above as more and more knives started raining down on them, tearing the ground apart, blasting large boulders, cutting more and more of ImperialDramon's armor off; nor the screams from below, as another Ouryuudamon landed and exploded and the Chosen cried for help, for someone to save them, or just for the sake of crying-

A pair of knives-

Time seemed to stop, Daisuke's vision went blurry, and he couldn't move or try to save him-

The knives sliced through a patch of ImperialDramon's visible flesh, digging themselves into his blue body, stained blue now. ImperialDramon screamed in pain, but still remained immobile-

"Wake up, ImperialDramon!" Ken cried, while Daisuke only whispered, "Come on, Vee. You can't lose now!"

Another Ouryuudamon (they were few now, only six left) came down from the sky, a black shadow blocking the bright sun, and dove, knives first, into ImperialDramon, causing himself to explode on contact, while ImperialDramon screamed again, a vicious, guttural scream. Pieces of the Lizard's body rolled and tumbled away from the injured warrior.

Iori screamed in fear as the trees around him began rupturing, bursts of light rendering him temporarily blind, while the crashing and splitting of trees created flying missiles of bark and wood, whizzing past his head, and he cowered and ran, blind, luckily avoiding many trees.

There was another flash of light, and Minomon and Chibimon fell to the ground. Daisuke found that he could now move and ran to Chibimon, Ken to Minomon. Hikari beat both of them, and Daisuke found Chibimon cradled in Hikari's eyes. She sobbed, and as he ran up he watched no movement from his partner, and his heart skipped a group of beats before jumping into his throat, he saw Ken attempting to nurse Minomon back to life again, but at least Minomon wasn't dead, he could see some form of movement from him-

Daisuke snarled, "That bastard!" and made a run for Ken with the intent of breaking his neck with his own fist, but Takeru, seeing his rage, grabbed him by the shoulder and ducked as Daisuke threw a left punch. "Chibimon's gone, he's-" he cried, tears streaming down his face, unable to finish the sentence, as if saying it would remove any possibility of it being undone. And he lurched forward, landing on the ground on his hands and knees, while Silphymon landed unconscious beside them. Shakkoumon soon followed, there were four Dragons left, but it seemed twenty had been four too many.

Ken looked over at Daisuke, feeling a pang of guilt tear at him as his best friend collapsed to the ground, while his Digimon was breathing and moaning in pain, at least he could moan…

There was a loud blast in the air, and several smaller ones, but no one noticed them, and they were all half-deaf anyways; all of a sudden there were a dozen explosions of blue and red energy, and the Ouryuudamon burst into magnificent shows of red blood and blackened body pieces, showering around them before disappearing. Taichi and Yamato flew on the backs of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, as they dove towards the group.

Hikari sobbed, as she was engulfed in a white light, and Daisuke looked up, helpless to save his best friend. He watched as Taichi ran over to Hikari, who shoved him away, occupied-

Yamato rushed over to Takeru, pulling him into a hard hug, making sure that he was all right, and Daisuke briefly saw that he and Taichi had saved their lives-but it was too late-

---

Everything was white-no, the world around him was blurry, now, unfocused, slow, and oddly quiet; there were jets of light shooting across the sky, in front of the trees-no, across his vision, because the blue and red flashes of light were the ones in the air… And all at once Chibimon realized that he had been in pain, a blinding pain. He'd felt as if knives were stabbing into his ribs, felt he would die-no, he was going to live…

He looked up, and saw a pale, glowing face, and an equally brilliant halo surrounding her… He knew that face… despite the pain he recognized Hikari, as her healing powers of Light flowed from her to him, saving his life… he remembered now, dozens of dragons, all fighting him… He tried to roll over, and ask why everything was so quiet, when his ankle cracked and he shrieked in pain.

Then he was in Daisuke's arms and Hikari was on the ground, with her brother holding her, and he and Daisuke were swinging wildly in the air, up and down, and everyone was watching them… Chibimon couldn't even hear himself scream… and he closed his eyes and felt it all go black… and now the pain was gone, it was peaceful here, he didn't want to wake up for a while…

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Takeru watched as the other Chosen and their Digimon left through the portal-was it his imagination, or did Yamato wink at him, after looking at Hikari? He let Tailmon and Patamon go through before he and Hikari did, but she held him back.

Takeru sweated, feeling her hand on his shoulder. As he turned around, her lips pressed against his cheek, then his chin; finally their lips connected.

His eyes open with shock, he wrenched himself free of Hikari's grip and stuttered, "Hikari! Ar-Are you-I mean, we could… be…" He listened hard for any noise that there was somebody around, but there was nothing. "…Seen…"

She scowled. "Takeru! Why must you be like this?"

Takeru sighed. "I'm sorry," he apologized, moving closer to kiss her back, but the moment seemed to be gone, and Hikari continued to scowl as they flashed through the television.

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There it is, Chapter 1 to Love Evolved. Some things to pontificate: Who are these new, unknown Digimon? How will Veemon deal with being saved by Hikari? What about Hikari and Takeru, and what's going to happen to their relationship? I'm not sure, but I hope we'll find out soon. I will post the next chapter as soon as I get a couple of reviews-not too much to ask for, is it?

© 2003 Lord Tarsisk (Not the characters, or anything else Toei owns, just everything else! Don't steal my ideas, or the insects will get you!)