Dennis sat quietly on a small cliff overlooking the enormous valley, the day had been long and it was slowly turning to afternoon. His body seemed to almost glow against the sunlight as if he was a newborn child. Nonetheless he was relaxed, almost in a jolly mood. But this mood of his however was often disturbed by a presence close by to him. When this happened he would look towards the disturbance, sigh and then lie back down. "If only he had something BETTER to do..." he thought to himself in an annoyed tone.

Not far away sat Blitz Meteor's core Digimon and Dennis' partner, Agumon. The small yellow dinosaur Digimon was looking over the small cliff, annoyed in a sense, impatient more like. From where Dennis was, he could hear Agumon huffing and puffing. Dennis knew why but he did not want to set his partner off. Finally, out of the blue, Agumon said, "How long now?!"

At that moment, Dennis stopped his daydreaming and looked over to his partner and quickly said, "Relax Mr. Angry, they still haven't come back yet. And they will return soon, just take a chill pill."
It was in a jokingly fashion and Agumon relaxed a little bit when he heard this, snickering to himself in silence but chose to seem like he was keeping his temper still. Just in case Dennis thought he had won. Nonetheless though, the answer to Agumon's question came sooner than he thought when two familiar faces arrived.

The first to return came with the sound of loud feet making a small rumbling noise in the ground. The blue dragon digimon Veedramon had returned, along with the five Gotsumon accompanying him in their DigiXrossed form, SteelVeedramon. Essentially it meant Veedramon had a nice set of armour covering him with some more close quarters techniques to back him up, making him quite formiddable.

The other figure to arrive was from the air. The great bird warrior Garudamon quickly arrived from the other direction, immediately landing behind the others instead from the front. Veedramon was more the heavy member asides from when Agumon was Greymon and Garudamon was the scout member but also boasted the best offensive power of the team, meaning she was quite unmatched at this moment. The Gotsumon acted as their infantry and when banded together could be quite formidable.
"About time." Complained Agumon.

Dennis smiled and brought out his Xros Loader Digivice and said "Reload.", followed by a green light that enshrouded SteelVeedramon and removed the five Gotsumon from him, followed up with all five of them lined up horizontally in front of Dennis.
"So what's the word?" Asked the tamer. Veedramon was the first to speak up,
"We have scouted the surrounding area close by but still no sign of the cloaked tamer. We did however see some rather powerful Digimon called Okuwamon and Tuskmon hunting and so we quickly hurried back here. They should not be a problem for us as long as we're banded together or keep our distance."

Garudamon then spoke following this in a more concerned tone compared to Veedramon, "I have seen no signs of that tamer either. I might recommend we broaden our search but for now I'm worried about alerting our presence to a Megadramon and Gigadramon on the move. They bare the markings of BlackImperialdramon's army. Most likely that general is looking for more domains to take over."
Dennis sat back down and then said "Return Gotsumon." before sending his five rock digimon back into his Xros Loader, mostly to give them a rest. Though Dennis was still learning how to operate his team he was catching on rather quickly. He then made a bit of a yawn. He was reasonably tired and as long as they stayed here they were quite safe for the time being. He then said, "We will camp here for tonight. I need to rest as I'm sure the rest of you do. Veedramon, you will take the first half of the night shift and then Garudamon you may then do your half of the night shift. For now, we set up base camp until tomorrow."

Agumon quickly leapt up and said, "Let me help out too! As Greymon I can watch out for anyone too Dennis!" He seemed rather excited instead of moody all of a sudden.
Dennis shook his head however and responded with "No. After what happened earlier I don't wish to risk it. As Greymon you turn into a total freak in regards to your mood. You want to smash the living daylights out of everyone. Too dangerous right now until I can figure out how to control you."
Agumon quickly retorted, "I can't help it. As Greymon I feel the need to fight, and whilst I may turn into a total brute about it sure, I'm a great asset to Blitz Meteor."
Dennis sighed, he was not in a mood for arguing.
"I will think about it." He said, giving in.
Agumon grinned though Garudamon looked at the young digimon with a concerned look. Veedramon meanwhile sat down completely before lying down on his side and rested his head, letting out a loose sigh.

A dark grey-ish figure flitted through the night. It had crow wings, smoky armor with a twisted symbol of sound around her belt, long black hair, and a blank face hidden behind a purple visor. It's name was Tokismon, formerly known as Hotokismon, and even before that as Tori Namid and tonight she knew would have much to do. Since the demon lords had shifted into the background with the reality shift, some sleeping, others merely watching for the right moment, Tori had become Lillithmon's personal ears, eyes, and hands, to cause as much chaos as possible.

That duty had led her to this area where death and the law of tooth and claw ruled. If she had the emotions she would have smiled, or shuddered if she could remember herself long enough to do so. But for now, she had a mission. The general BlackImperialdramon was going to make a new move against Apollomon sooner or later, sooner if she could help it. And, as was always the case, it was always best to rub the humans in Apollomon's face. There were a few unknowns working with BlackImperialdramon already but none of them truly stood out. Then Tori caught wind of a new type of tamer, with a digivice used, not to digivolve primarily, but to combine digimon. An interesting idea, much like my fushion evolution or the DNA digivolve of others, but to a greater extent... She mused.

So after reporting back to Lilithmon, as Kyofutorimon since the demoness seemed to despise her human form so, Tori was about to finally approach this boy. The question was how best to do so. Going as a human was tempting but the virus always got uncomfortable when she was in her human form, so it would have to be as a digimon, and she doubted coming in as a demon bird would win her any points. It would have to be as Tokismon, perhaps from a fight... yes that would work.

Tori waited until it dusk than she used one of her own attacks, while she was flying to damage her armor and wing. It hurt but it would be worth it, she was sure. Young tamers were always idealistic. She lost altitude quickly and made sure she was flapping loudly and once she was near enough she judged she wouldn't be too hurt she lost all control and crash landed near the camp. Her wing was even more badly injured, her side appeared scorched, and her lip now bled freely. It wasn't hard to fake the cry of pain, "Aruuagh, *cough* H..Hel..Help, Please. *cough*"

By dusk a small campfire had been set up, mainly kept as discrete as possible in the event BlackImperialdramon's army descended upon them. At the very least, they would be well ready for an ambush if it presented itself. Any Digimon that passed on by were pretty much uninterested and it was mostly an occasional Flymon or Hajiramon. Dennis sat there staring at the camp fire, deep in focus with Garudamon close by. The great bird digimon had her legs folded together along with her arms enclosed as well as her eyes closed up, meditating in a sense. Veedramon meanwhile was watching across the area for signs of anyone approaching and Agumon was on the other side of the campfire fast asleep. The peace was broken though when a sound was heard and a growl from Veedramon came up.
"We've got company." He said.

Dennis got up to see what appeared to be a bird digimon of sorts landing at their campsite. Just as the tamer was about to send Veedramon out to attack it, he realized the bird digimon was injured and was landing a little further off. Dennis immediately yelled out "Halt!" to Veedramon. The Blue dragon stopped but continued to remain on guard however as the bird digimon landed and walked to them. Its voice was unmistakeably female and appeared to be in great pain with what seemed like a damaged wing and other parts of her body.
"Aruuagh, *cough* H..Hel..Help, Please. *cough*" came the bird digimon's voice.

Dennis quickly came over as did Garudamon who had also been disturbed and Agumon just woke up, wondering who or what was going on.
"Don't try to move too much without help. Here, let me give you a hand and we can sit you down." Said Dennis in a worried tone.
Dennis quickly placed a shoulder under the bird digimon's bad wing and brought her over to the camp site before sitting her down. The others didn't say anything but they were concerned, all except Veedramon who continued to act quite serious.
"Tell us what happened." Said Dennis.

As Tori tried to get her head straight from the crash landing she noticed a Veedramon charging before the human stopped him. That was good, she wouldn't be forced to slide evolve and ruin this whole thing. The next thing she knew she was being supported by the human and pulled to the camp fire. She sat down with no small amount of relieve before looking over at her wing and muttering over her breath. It wasn't broken but it hurt...a lot. She took a minute to orient herself before slipping into her role.

"Thank you, I didn't expect to find anyone out here. Let alone anyone capable of helping," Tori took a shuddering breath before continuing, "I was attacked a while back. Guess I flew too close to some of Apollomon's goons and I had to push myself to get out of there and this far away. My guess they were scouting against BlackImperialdramon or something." She explained, grinding her teeth in real pain. She should have landed more carefully, no problem though the virus and Lilithmon's pendent would fix that soon enough.

"I'm Tokismon, just a freelance flyer. I guess a cross between a merc and a scout. Typically they know better but I guess this mission was a little high priority. You wouldn't happen to have any water would you?" The spirit warrior asked.

"Sure thing Tokismon, Agumon fetch me that bucket of water now!" Ordered Dennis, turning to Agumon because he was the closest. Agumon sprang to action immediately and grabbed a nearby bucket that was filled with water and hurried to his tamer's side, handing the bucket to him. Dennis quickly retrieved it from Agumon and then placed it close to the new arrival. Calmly Dennis said "Please, drink as much as you can and then tell us what happened."

Garudamon was also extremely concerned and also added, "If what you say is correct then that means there could be a full-scale war in the area, meaning we can't stay for long. Strange though that I did not see any of Apollomon's forces. Then again they could've been on the ground at the time and more younger Digimon too." She said. Veedramon remained serious the whole time, "Nor I for that matter saw any Digimon that were from Apollomon's army. But even so, I could've missed them or they probably were a fair way off." He said.

Tokismon gave a half shrug with her good shoulder, wincing at even that movement and smiled at Agumon when he brought the water and took a long drink. Then she grapped a piece of charcoal by the fire and turned slightly towards a nearby rock. "Like I said, it was a small scouting party, they were trained and clearly didn't want to be seen. You know that the southern digital world has a huge cave system right?" Tori asked, drawing a quick diagram of the area.

"A large section of caves, no name, just called The Caves, for how extensive they are, are just west of here, from where I flew from. I had just finished up an assignment and was heading back to a Axel city. It was getting late so I decided to set up camp in one of the cave mouths and stumbled into them. Everything just spiraled from there. They fired some shots, I went up and they got a few lucky hits while I was trying to gain. Thankfully, as I'm sure you've noticed Garudamon, there are perfect thermals around the valley from the heat and wafting off the desert. It's normally an enjoyable flight, today it was just painful gliding until I spotted you guys and crashed."

Tori took a moment to pull out an old piece of cloth, ripped from her shirt in human form to soak it in water and clean her wing of blood and her side. "What their doing is anyone's guess but it's no secret Apollomon and BlackImperialdramon hate each other and will take down anything between them to get at the other one. I just happened to be in between today. Hssss..." Tori gasped at the last moment because she had just pulled out a broken feather and was reaching for the others while she let the others digest what she had just said.

Veedramon nodded, "I know of that place. The caves could've made an ideal area for Apollomon's forces to be stationed, not to mention the thermals from the valley could've easily enhanced the fire Digimon too. That makes matters not so good for where we are currently." And Veedramon turned to Dennis. "We could be down to our knees in Apollomon's forces and we wouldn't even see it coming. Might I suggest we move to another spot that is more safer." He suggested.
Dennis nodded.
"They could be massing together for an attack and I don't think we want to be around when that happens." And then quickly noting Tokismon's injury added, "Garudamon, you can carry Tokismon. But the question is will you be ok for now Tokismon? I don't want to move you as you look in not so good shape at the moment. What can we do to help?"

Garudamon seemed a fair bit joyful to help out the fellow bird digimon. It was true that she was passionate about helping others in need, especially digimon of her type. To her, Tokismon was like a family member. Veedramon meanwhile had the urge to question his tamer's motives. They had only just met this mercenary, and from his experience, mercenaries weren't exactly the best allies to have. Still, he felt at odds with this newcomer especially.

Tori nodded in agreement, even though she knew that what she was telling them was the best lie she could think of, which said something for how much time she'd been with her superiors. She gritted her teeth and pulled out the last broken feather before looking to Dennis. "I'll be fine, I've had worse than this and gotten through it. Besides, you guys don't have to do any of this, most of the digimon I work with wouldn't anyway." She said thoughtfully, telling the truth for once.

"I just need help to fold it back into place while we travel," she said grimly, knowing that it was the sensitive muscle bruising that was causing all this pain and not a broken bone did little to make this less painful. "By the way, what are you guys doing out here anyway? Humans aren't all the common around here you know..." she said, sounding slightly suspicious about the whole thing suddenly.

Dennis suddenly snapped to attention as if he had forgotten something or had been stung by a hornet in his backside. "Oh yes, introductions I forgot." and with a quick cough to clear his throat he said, "My name is Dennis Scott, the general of the faction Blitz Meteor." and then he pointed to each member of the team. "This is my partner Agumon, followed by his friends Veedramon and Garudamon, and then we have the five Gotsumon who are currently in my Xros Loader right now." He then turned to Garudamon and said, "Carry her."

Garudamon nodded and quickly walked over to Tokismon and gently lifted the smaller bird digimon in her talon-like hands. Once she did this, she then said, "How about if I carry you and then tend to the wound when we find a new area to rest at?" Whilst Garudamon asked this, Dennis said "In answer to your question as well Tokismon, I'm not entirely sure how I got here but all I know is these friends of mine have helped me out and I'm sticking with them. We're trying to find someone right now."

Tokismon gritted her teeth as Garudamon picked her up. She took careful note of everything Dennis told her. "Sure, with a bit of concentration I'll be able to accelerate the healing a bit. But I won't be able to do so until we stop though. It is nice to meet all of them by the way," she responded. She looked over a Dennis, curious for once.

"Just who are you looking for by the way? I have traveled quite a bit, it is possible I have heard at least some rumor about who ever it was, or I could get you in contact capable of helping you," Tori offered, feeling a possible opening.

The sound of a loud roar of something in the distance broke the conversation instantly and Veedramon quickly responded in an alarmed tone, "We can't stay here Dennis. Sooner or later we will be caught."
"You're right." Said Dennis. "Let's leave and then we can play 20 questions and answers once we're out of imminent danger."
Quickly he said, "Return Veedramon.", and with a flash from his Xros Loader, Veedramon sent his friend back into the device. Following this Garudamon kneeled to Dennis and Agumon without even having to ask what was happening, allowing the two to climb on.
"Fly Garudamon." Said Agumon. Then with a quick rush of wind, Garudamon stood up and leapt into the sky, with her occupants cradled in her claws.

For most of the way, they remained quiet except the sound of Garudamon's beating wings they broke through small clouds. At the very least they were at a good height where they were less likely to be seen. But then, once he was sure they were out of danger, Agumon asked,
"Where is a good place to land Tokismon? We'll need to establish base camp sooner or later as nightfall is not exactly far off."

Tori watched as Dennis used this new digivice, it seemed more similar to the iC version so far, but with the odd ability to combine digimon it was dangerous indeed. She knew Dennis had failed to answer her question, but that just meant it would take a little bit more time to figure out this boy. As they flew Tokismon looked over the area.

"The enemy was in the west, but they were heading to the south. Just pick the first area that looks well secured to you in the northeast sector," Tokismon said, eager to get out of the sky and back to work with this boy.

"Gotcha." Replied Dennis, "Garudamon, head northeast and find us a place to land, preferably a high area where we won't be spotted."
"Sure thing Dennis." Acknowledged Garudamon who turned 45 degrees right from the direction they were heading. For a flying digimon Garudamon was an expert at navigation just like Veedramon was good at traversing terrain from ground level. Garudamon did not rush the flight either and kept a good moderate speed so as not to risk dropping any of the occupants.

Now more relaxed, Dennis said, "Now that we're out of danger, in answer to your question earlier, we are looking for a tamer that wore a dark cloak who attacked my friends a while back. We're still hunting this person as we want answers."
"This tamer is also responsible for attacks on my homeland. When I find this tamer I will bring justice upon them." Agumon responded, in a very hurt voice. It was true that he was quite upset about the ordeal still as many of his friends were lost on that fateful day a while ago. However, once they found this person Agumon would finally have payback. The yellow dinosaur then turned away and sat on his own, feeling quite gloomy.

Once settled in Tokismon mediated as Agumon explained exactly what was happening. She felt the the virus rush to her wing and with a snap the muscles relaxed and her side healed. Soon the armor would regenerate as well but now was not the time to work on that. "Hmmm," Tori said after thinking a bit, "Do you have anymore info about this tamer other than a black cloak? That isn't too much to go on."

Tori stood gingerly and worked out her newly healed wing, doing extensions as needed to see how well it responded. "I do have quite a few individuals who could help, but I don't want to direct you in the wrong direction and possibly even put you in danger."

Just before Dennis could answer, Garudamon said, "Found an ideal spot folks. I'll bring us down."
The great bird digimon flew into a gentle glide before slowly landing on a large cliff that was cut off on all angles with a large area of soft grass and a large tree in its center, an ideal spot to rest at.
"Good selection Garudamon." said Dennis, and carefully the bird warrior landed, resulting in a soft thud. Garudamon then kneeled and carefully brought everyone down, Tokismon included.

Dennis then said "Reload, Veedramon." and out came the fabled blue dragon. Veedramon looked amongst his surroundings before asking, "We're setting up base camp here Dennis?"
"Yes Veedramon, it's a good spot and we're high above the ground." Replied the general. Veedramon nodded.
"Very well, I will keep watch for the night as the original plan was."
And with that, Veedramon walked and then looked over a side of the cliff as well as towards the sky, keeping an eye out for any forces of the army of Apollomon and BlackImperialdramon but at the moment there was no one.

Garudamon sat down and crossed her legs before folding her arms and remained still almost like a statue. Dennis and Agumon meanwhile sat down, resting themselves near Tokismon. Dennis then said, "The person we are looking for apparently goes by the name of "General Samuel."
"And he has what seems to be a small army of darkness and demon digimon. Do you know him?" Asked Agumon to Tokismon.

Tori thought about what she was told, it was true that she was well traveled, but she really only involved herself with members that intrigued Lady Lilithmon or would make a significant impact on the war. She had heard of Samuel, she refused to give these humans the rank of general when they held no significant power, but it had been in passing the question was how best to lead on this young man and his partners.

"Hmm, just a small army? I don't typically deal with smaller groups, no real gain there. However, I have heard of this human. Nothing too definite, just that he can be a pain when his actions aren't prepared for but the General's I've contracted with don't tend to tell a mon like me all there is to know of course," she smiled...warmly? well she thought it was warmly, any way. It didn't matter that any conversations she had with the Generals could become very significant in the big picture, if not the nitty gritty.

"The last time I heard about him was when I was in General BlackImperialdramon's employe. Somehow the human got on a watch list or at least an advisory for the lower levels of troops. If you wanted to find out more you might want to start there, if you can get an audience with him that is," Tokismon advised Dennis.

Agumon immediately sprung up and said, "I say we take that chance Dennis! Tokismon not only knows of this person but also of who may be able to locate them." His voice was ecstatic. Dennis meanwhile raised his hand back to his friend and said,
"Maybe." Still remaining mostly neutral on the matter but convinced nonetheless that it was possible that BlackImperialdramon knew where to find Samuel. Garudamon meanwhile seemed to be a bit worried about this but nonetheless remained silent.
"Isn't BlackImperialdramon supposed to be insane?" Queried Veedramon who was not too far away but still had his back turned.

"Hahahaha," Tokismon laughed at Veedramon's comment, "I suppose you could say that. I will admit he has certain prejudices against humans, after all he was defeated by them at one point, so it will be difficult to approach him. However, he is not stupid, he realizes the value of an ally just as well as anyone else." She looked at the doubtful group with a smirk on her face.

"Please, trust someone who has been around the great dragon general, he is far from insane," Tori said. "Driven and able perhaps, but not insane." She looked at the others, glad for now that the upper part of her face was hidden, it hid much of what she was thinking.

Dennis, though still hesitant gave in finally and said, "Very well Tokismon, I suppose we shouldn't bypass this opportunity. As the general of Blitz Meteor, I will take us all to BlackImperialdramon."
Agumon, smiling in agreement asked "Where can we find BlackImperialdramon?" Now that there was a lead, he wanted to locate this Samuel as soon as possible. Sure, BlackImperialdramon sounded like a Digimon who no one should approach lightly or with cockiness but still, it was a lead nonetheless.

Garudamon seemed satisfied judging by the smile on her face. She had total faith in Tokismon's words and also wanted to find Samuel and make him pay for his crimes. Veedramon meanwhile chose to remain distant. To him it didn't all add up well in his mind. Tokismon was quite concerning for him but decided to reserve his judgement until later. Still, Dennis wanting to accept this was awfully quick and almost seemed too easy.

Tokismon tried not to raise an eyebrow at the boy's decision, most were much more difficult to persuade, the major generals certainly were. Instead she smiled grimly, "BlackImperialdramon resides in the land of Exodus with rotations of his army. He will not be easy to approach and since I have always been hired out by the lower commanders I won't be able to get you an audience. You'll have to petition just like all the others." Tori warned, feeling that a little caution would gain some trust from the blue dragon skulking on watch.

As it is, you'll need to leave me behind if you want to make a good showing. He won't respect someone who fraternized with a mere merc, and trust me, you'll need all the help of a good first appearance and plenty of courage aside to even confront the dragon general," of course, Tori would do here own part, Dennis wouldn't see Tokismon for a while, but Kyofutorimon might be in the room during his audience, like a little bird whispering in the dragon general's ears with all the cunning her mistress cared to grant.

Dennis nodded, "Then in that case we had best get moving tomorrow. For now though we need rest."
Agumon appeared to be rather joyful of this decision. He had been hoping someone or at least something knew of this General Samuel who had attacked his homeland, going on a killing spree and eliminated his friends. The only friends he had left were Dennis, Veedramon, Garudamon and the five Gotsumon. The experience itself had been traumatizing enough though to want payback.

Veedramon meanwhile noted this but he did not say a word. The fact was still clear: Don't trust the newcomer. Whilst it was great they had a lead, he felt like Dennis was making a deal with the devil. Something that would give them a serious problem later on. He needed to keep a good eye on Tokismon, she was hiding something behind that innocence of hers. This was become quite a concern for him especially since Garudamon seemed to be that determined to follow as well. Nonetheless he would have to go along with the decision.

With the decision made Tokismon nodded, "Very well. Then if you don't mind I'll recover with you and we'll part ways when you head out. Like I said, you won't want me with you when you ask for an audience. Until then, I'm warning you so you're not alarmed, I'm going to mediate and heal myself up. So I won't be responsive until morning." she warned before settling herself and taking a pose similar to Garudamon's.

When she was sure all conversation was over she took a calming breath and summoned the virus around her wounds. It jumped up like a purple DNA code and flickered over her bruises. By morning she'd be ready to travel and make sure this boy and his entourage recieved a proper welcome from BlackImpieraldramon.