Home Sweet Homes (AU22 BFTW)

Jucki and Gatomon lay motionless and unconscience outside the germany digipoty. There bodies battered and bruised, no more worse then their egos and hearts. For being shunned out of your own home is the ultimate insult. Both were badly damaged, however their assailants didn't finish the job, because they were both alive, barely, but alive.

Standing on a hillside were three figures, the first figure took the appearance of a human though on closer inspection one would noticed that the figure was far from human. Attached to her shoulders, was a plate, on the back of the plate were two long cables. The human figure was actually and AI, standing behind the young AI were two digimon. The digimon were partners to the AI, the AI was their Tamer. The three had left the city of Neo Arcadia a few hours prior to investigate the source of a strange signal that had appeared to the young Tamer's D-ark. They had been visiting the city mainly for updating on the young AI's programming, though visiting friends was definitely not out of the question. However their visit had been cut short, when the strange signal had appeared.

The young AI tamer held out her D-ark, attempting to hone in the signal. When the D-ark didn't hone in on signal, the young AI dropped her arm down in frustration. She looked around at the landscape trying to gain any clues from the region. However it all looked the same to here.

"Damn" the young AI muttered "We are getting no where"
"The D-ark isn't honing in the signal Retrace?" asked the angelic partner.
"No Lucemon it isn't"
"That is odd, I wonder why it isn't" commented her second partner.
"I am not certain Kotemon, I could theorize all day with no answers" said Retrace.
"Hmm..." said Kotemon.

Sighing Retrace held out her D-ark again, the signal spun around the screen never honing in on one section of the screen. Retrace bit her lower lip waiting for the signal to stop. For a while she thought it wouldn't, however finally the signal stopped spinning, it was registering in the northwest corridor.

"Yes!" said Retrace "We are heading northwest"
With that the three began heading northwest, Retrace kept the D-ark close to her side just in case the signal changed direction. After spending two hours of traveling, they had finally arrived at the source. For a moment they didn't see anything, which lead to further confusion. Finally both Lucemon and Kotemon spotted something in the distance, the three went to investigate. When they arrived, they saw two figures lying on the ground, one being human and the other one clearly a digimon. They noticed immediately that the two were unconscious, it appeared that they had been in a vicious fight due to the numerous bruises on their body. Retrace motioned for her partners to kneel next to the strangers, and she proceeded to take her own pack off and kneel now. Together they proceeded to administer medial aid to the two strangers.

Jucki slowly opened his eyes, struggling just to do that. He noticed some strangers attending to him. He tried to speak but his throat was in pain. He turned to see Gatomon, however she was still unconscience.

The attacked they had suffered was like no other. It was 3 piedmon. Nothing that Michangelomon couldn't really handle, however the leader, he seemed more directed, as if he had inside information, like if he had a trainer. He knew where to attack and where to direct. It was the last thing Michangelomon needed on a diplomatic mission, to his home country. He's been keeping the identity a secret, as to not cause an issue of human and digital implications. When the fight broke down, however, it seemed that Germany had their own defenses set. It seemed odd that these Piedmon took him out, yet they were defeated by humans. He tried to get help from hospitals but they all feared governmental backlash and budget cutting. He was finally able to get to a digiport. Once he got to the otherside he quickly separated.

The three worked quickly on the two strangers that they had encountered, administering salves, patching and mending all the wounds that they could find. Once they were done, Retrace placed medical supplies back in her pack, the three stood and backed up from the two.

"So what do we do?" asked Lucecmon.
"I am not entirely certain" said Retrace.
"We could take them back to the city"
"Yeah we could but we won't make it back before night sets in" said Retrace

Both Retrace's partners looked at the sky, they noticed that the sun was beginning to set in the horizon. "Wow" said Lucemon "I never noticed we spent that much time out in the field"

"Indeed" said Retrace "We spent quite a few hours searching for the source of the signal"
"So back to my original question, what do we do?" asked Lucemon.
"I suppose we camp here tonight" said Retrace "Build a camp fire here and wait until the morning before we start moving again"
"What if they don't wake up?" asked Kotemon.
"Then we find some way to carry them" said Retrace.

Both Lucemon and Kotemon looked at Retrace, with expressions of amusement and shock. "How do you propose we carry them?" asked Lucemon "I mean the Tailmon is easy but the human?"

"Well" said Retrace "I could carry him, I mean being an AI, I am stronger than I use to be when I was a human"
"True" said Lucemon
"There is one other possibility" said Retrace "Do you think you guys can maintain your Adult form, for an extended period of time?"
Both Lucemon and Kotemon looked at each other then they looked at Retrace, Kotemon replied "I see where you going, and the answer is, we could though it is advised that we don't over exert ourselves"
"Sounds like a plan then" said Retrace "Alright, do you think you guys can look for some firewood?"

Both partners nodded and took off together, meanwhile Retrace began gathering some stones, and placing them in a circle. Once she was done, she sat down and pulled out box of matches and waited for the return of her partners. Several minutes later both of them came back with arms full of wood. They set the wood down and they arranged some of it in the stone ring that Retrace had built. Once arranged Retrace pulled out a match and lit it, placing it on the wood. Several minutes later they had warm fire fire going. Replacing the matches back in the pack, Retrace pulled out some food, and hand it to her partners so they could eat. The three sat sat in silence, waiting to see what would happen next.

It was a few hours until Jucki's body was finally able to maintain conscienceness. He opened his eyes to the pitch black night sky and a dimming fire. He slowly and gingerly pushed himself to his feet. He looked around for Gatomon and found her quickly by the fire, still knocked out. He was not to worried however, he was sure by morning she would be awake as well. He noticed the stranger as the one who was helping him. Once he established his surroundings he felt at his waist for something, "...my...my pack." he said with a hoarse voice. He looked around but couldn't find it.

the pack contained all of his pertain information. signed documents, transfer papaer, and relative works from the countries he's visited and has made treaties with. All were mere copies however he carried them in case he needed to show ID or to make arguments for peace. It also held his human I.D. which meant it held both his identities. He squinted his eyes but was having trouble seeing, partly because of the darkness and partly because of his still recovering body.

As Retrace stoked the fire, the sounds of groans caught her attention. She cast a glance towards the source of the sound and saw the human that she and her partners had attended to earlier start to stir. She watched as he observed and grew aware of his surroundings, then finally he spoke

"...My...my pack."

Retrace went back to stoking the fire, he mind reflected on the events of earlier today when she had found the pair of strangers. She tried to remember if there had been a pack that had accompanied them, when she couldn't recall if there was, she looked to her partners whom returned the same conclusion. She looked back towards the two strangers and replied.

"There was no pack in the vicinity of where we found you"

"There must be." he said walking away from the fire to search. The documents were too important to just let go. He needed to find where it went to. And he needed to find it now. Without those papers the year of diplomacy that he and the digital world have worked on could be lost in a heartbeat.

He searched through the darkness, between every crack and crevasse for it. He found a few papers which told him that it was around here somewhere, "Where could it be." he said his head pounding with a migraine.

Retrace and her partners remained with the camp fire, as the stranger got up and walked off to find his pack. For her partners along with herself, there was no reason to get involved at the moment, especially considering she didn't even know whom they were. From what she had seen thus far though, the human appeared to be alright, all that remained now was to see whether or not the digimon partner would be alright, the Tailmon in question was still unconscious. Once the Tailmon awakened, then that would be the point, when she either stayed with them our bid them farewell.

"One down" said Retrace "One to go"
"I wonder what this is all about" said Kotemon.
"Who knows Kotemon, these worlds have a bunch of strange people and we seem to be magnets to them" said Lucemon.
"That is putting it mildly" said Retrace.
"So what is the plan Retrace?" asked Lucemon.
"Wait and see if Tailmon over there wakes up"
"If she does?" asked Kotemon
"We leave, no reason to stay" replied Retrace
"Sounds like a plan" said Lucemon
"Indeed" replied Retrace

As Jucki continued to search he got farther and farther away. His head not thinking quite clearly and only able to focus on one thing.

Meanwhile, Gatomon groan and rolled over onto her back to reveal that the bag was in her hands, clutched tightly. She groaned again and let it go as her mind was starting to come back around, and beginning to feel the pain that was her injuries.

"Of course" said Retrace with a sigh of dismay when she saw that the Tailmon had the bag. This was the type of the luck that they were use to having, it was the type of the luck that made their lives completely miserable by all standards. Kotemon walked over and took the bag. For a moment he examined it, it was nothing more than an ordinary bag. He walked over to Retrace and handed it to her, she set it off to the side, she had no intentions of opening, since the contents of it were none of her business.

"So what do we do?" asked Lucemon.
"We wait, I am not running in to the darkness after him, he will most likely come back on his own, and we can explain what happened. Hopefully he will be in the listening mood"
"With our luck, doubt it" said Lucemon.

Gatomon begin to stir a bit as she opened her eyes. She looked around and quietly asked, "Who are you?" Unlike Jucki, she had not seen them before this moment, she barely had the energy to fight but she knew that if it came down to it, she'd have to.

Jucki continued searching through the darkness. He came upon some trees where he finally stopped. He barely saw the glimmer of light from the fire and he realized that perhaps he had gone to far. That it would probably have been better to wait for the morning. As he started to head back he heard a laugh echo through the woods. He turned around but really couldn't see much. He turned back around to be spooked by a puppetmon standing right in front of him, "A tamer, and my neck of the woods. wounded and injured. It's like an early christmas gift for ole puppetmon." he said smiling, "....ooooh boy." Jucki said knowing this wasn't too good, "Tell you what puppetmon.--" he said approaching the digimon, "How about I--" he cut himself off as he punched the digimon and made a run for it back towards the fire.

The sound of a voice nearby brought Retrace out of her conversation with her partners. She looked over towards the source and noticed that the Tailmon had emerged from her state of unconsciousness.

"Well, I am relieved to see that you are alright" began Retrace "My name is Retrace Sheppard and these are my partners Lucemon and Kotemon. We found you several hours earlier, both you and your Tamer were in rough shape, however it seems that you two will make it."

The sounds of approaching feet caused Retrace to trail off, she turned her heard towards the sound and said "Someone is coming, most likely your Tamer. You see earlier it appeared that your bag was missing, we thought it had been seperated in whatever event that caused your injuries. We didn't realize that you were holding it, prior to him leaving to search for it, well I am sure he will be relieved to see you are alright like we were..."

As Jucki ran Puppetmon began to launch off his shots from his hammer, trying to destroy the tamer. As he reached the the fire noticed Gatomon awake, "Distract him!" he yelled to retrace and her tamers and he grabbed Gatomon on the fly and kept running off.

When he get just out of sight he took out his digivice and looked at Gatomon, "What's going on?" she asked hurrily, "It's a puppetmon. Listen, we need to become Michangelomon. I know we can't really fight, but I'm going we can bluff him away." he said as Gatomon nodded, "It's risky but lets see if we can." she said as the two prepared themselves.

Retrace sighed and she and her partners watched the tamer and his partner continue running. She brought her attention back towards the pursuing digimon, she held out her D-ark and obtain some information regarding the digimon. It was a Pinocchimon, virus type digimon, it main attack was bullet hammer.

"Of course we get saddled with this shit" said Retrace "This is the last time I help out a stranger"
"Nothing changes" said Lucemon.
"Indeed" said Retrace "You two ready?"
Both Lucemon and Kotemon nodded, on that Retrace activated her D-ark and evolved them. Lucemon became Lucemon Holy Dragon Mode and Kotemon became RhodoKnightmon.

"Angelic Winds" cried Lucemon, hundreds of golden feathers flew off his wings and took aim and Pinocchimon then they proceeded to slash the puppet digimon with their razor sharp edge.
"Spiral Masquerade" cried Rhodoknightmon. Then the knight became a blur to the eye and proceeded to slash the puppet digimon, with the ribbons that lined it body.

Puppetmon screamed out in what sounded like pain as he feel limp to the ground. All was quiet for as moment before he began to laughed. His cut wounded began to fill in with wood as he healed himself, "Your attack are nothing to me since this new dark aura has come upon the digital world. Quite frankly, I like it. BULLET HAMMER!" he yelled out about to attack back.

suddenly a bright light blinded him before it could launch, "Puppetmon. I suggest you stop this." said a deep honored type of voice. Michangelomon stood between the two, "first you chase that trainer off and now this. I should digitalize you, but I give you a chance to turn and leave." he said swords in hand, "This better work." Gatomon said to jucki within.