How I met BlackWarGreymon. Part 8.

Everything goes still and silent. Arukenimon doesn't even dare to breathe. Mummymon stares in fear and the others
have expressions of disbelief. I move the tip slightly closer, to the point that the cold steel actually touches her.

"I said let them go!", I repeat, with more confidence this time.
"A-Arukenimon...", Mummymon says weakly, more afraid than she was.
"... Fine", she says after a brief pause and they both release their grips.

Keeping the katana held firmly in place, I esort the two back to their car where they turn to their less menacing
human forms. Mummymon still looks afraid. I keep the sword held there until they're in the car and Mummymon starts
the engine. Then I quickly step back.

"This isn't over... I won't forget this, and someday I'll find you when none of your friends are around. We'll see how
much good that little toy of yours will do you then", she said in a low voice. It wasn't a threat. It was a promise.

I stand there and stare at them as they drive away, unsure of how to feel. I managed to help the other humans, and to
fend those two off for now, but I may have just signed my own death warrant. I almost jump as I feel a hand on my
shoulder and turn to see the boy in the hat with the small digimon on his head giving me a somewhat stern look.

"That was really reckless...", he starts, and then a small smile appears on his face. "But thanks",
"But you should leave work like that to your partner", the digimon on his head proudly says.
"Speaking of which, where is he or she?", the goggle-headed boy asks.
"Well, I uh...", I start but he interrupts me.
"They really shouldn't have left you alone like that! It's dangerous to be alone here", he comments.
"I don't really...", I try again.
"Then again, I guess you have that sword... where'd you get that thing anyway?", he asks.
"Daisuke, let him talk! Sorry about him", the purple-haired girl says embarressedly.
"It's okay...", I say shyly.
"So, where is your partner?", the other girl in pink asks me in a calm voice.
"Uhm... what do you mean by 'Partner' exactly?", I ask confusedly.

They all look surprised at that.

"You don't know?", the girl in pink asks, shocked.
"Do you mean you don't have one?", the boy in the hat asks me.
"Is this, like, your first time here?", the girl with pink hair asks me.
"Can we go get some food?", the blue dragon asks, mimicing their shocked tones for some reason and causing an
awkward silence as everyone stares at him. "... Sorry...", he says, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.
"I agree with V-mon! We'll need to keep our energy up if we're gonna protect the holy point!", the googgle-headed
boy announces.

Hearing him say that instantly makes me think of BlackWarGreymon. They mentioned protecting the holy stones but he
said he was destroying them. Does that mean these kids are his enemies? Are they the 'chosen children' he mentioned?
And why did he tell me to find them if they ARE his enemies? He didn't follow me, he would have come out by now if
he did, so he wasn't trying to use me to find them for him. All of the other kids and digimon agree in the end to go
get food at Digitamamon's restaurant.

"Do you want to come?", the girl in pink asks me in a kind voice.
"Well, I was actually just leaving there when those two showed up...", I tell her.
"You can still come. I mean you don't HAVE to eat anything", the boy in the hat says with a smile.
"Well, alright then", I say and follow them.

'Great... ANOTHER guy getting between Kari and me...', the goggle headed boy thinks to himself.

When we get there Digitamamon and Bakumon are running out of the restaurant with Digitamamon shouting something about
a spring. None of the others seem to know what he's talking about, but since he left they decide they might as well
make themselves some food. I help them out and with everyone working together it only takes about a half hour. Then we
all sit together at a large table and they start eating, complimenting themselves for doing a great job cooking.

"By the way, my name's Daisuke. That's Takeru, Miyako, Ken, Iori and Hikari. Kari for short", he says, pointing in
that order at the boy in the hat, the girl in the orange hat with pink hair, the purple haired boy that I recognize
from the news, the short boy and the girl in pink.
"And I'm V-mon! That's Patamon, Hawkmon, Wormmon, Armadillomon and Tailmon!", the blue dragon tells me, pointing at
each digimon one by one.
"My name's Podge", I say somewhat shyly.
"Kind of a wierd name...", Daisuke says, and Miyako slaps him on the back of the head for it.
"It's just a nickname", I shrug. "I'm not originally from Japan",
"Oh, so YOU'RE the new kid at school we were told about", Takeru says with a friendly smile.
"I guess so", I say with a small smile in return.
"So what brings you to the digital world?", Hawkmon asks me.
"... A computer?", I say after a pause, unsure of how exactly I got here.
"Do you have a digivice?", Ken asks me, which is the first thing I hear him say.

My mind flashes back to the wierd little thing that came out of my computer right before I came here. I had been so
distracted by all of this that I had completely forgotten about it. I search my pockets and luckily find it. I show
it to them all.

"Is this what you mean? It came out of my computer", I explain.
"That... doesn't look like our digivices", Iori comments.
"Maybe it's a new kind", Miyako shrugs.
"What?! How come he gets the new one and we don't?", Daisuke says jealously.
"So what does it do?", I ask them.
"Basically, it lets you digivolve your partner", Takeru explains.
"But you'll have to find your partner first", Kari says with a smile.
"Right... how do I do that?", I ask them nervously.


They all exchange glances confusedly, as if they're all waiting for someone else to answer. Despite them all having
their own partners they don't seem to know how to find a partner. They all shrug simultaneously to my disappointment.

"This'll sound really cliched, but... Destiny I guess", Takeru says with a smile.

While they eat Takeru and Kari start telling me about their first adventure in the Digital world, about Devimon first
and Takeru's partner Angemon having to sacrifice himself, then their journey to a new continent and their battles
with Etemon, then Myotismon and going back to the digital world where Kari met Tailmon, then onto the Dark Masters and
how they had to leave their Partners when the gate to the digital world closed. Afterwards Ken told me about how he
was first called to the digital world and became the Digimon Kaiser but doesn't say much about it, mainly what
BlackWarGreymon had already told me. And after that they explain to me what Arukenimon and Mummymon had been doing
up until now. And then they mention him again.

"Then one day", Miyako starts, "while we were destroying control spires, Arukenimon showed up and used 100 control
spires to create BlackWarGreymon."
"He beat us brutally, and we couldn't fight back because he was so strong...", Veemon says shamefully.
"Even after we jogressed he was too much for us", Wormmon agrees.
"Luckily, he thought Arukenimon was too weak for him too and wouldn't obey her because of that", Iori says.
"I feel really sorry for him...", Kari says, and everyone looks at him. "He seems so sad...",

Nobody says anything for a moment. Judging by their expressions, none of them seem to disagree with her. After a while
they all finish eating and we clean the dishes together. Then they decide to go and find the last Holy Point to protect
it. Firstly, though, they all digivolve their partners except for Kari. They each point their digivices at their
partners. Each one starts glowing and the glow expands to an egg-like shape with streams of data surrounding them.
Each one in turn calls out their name, then the word 'Shinka', then the name of their adult form.

Veemon has grown in size to about BlackWarGreymon's height, with his head changing shape to become more draconic. The
horn on his nose now looks like a silver spike and is much longer. His eyes remain red, most of his body remains blue
with his lower jaw and belly still white. He has grown two large, white wings and now has an X like shape on his chest.
His limbs have become more muscled as well. He calls himself XVmon now.

Wormmon changes more dramatically. He becomes humanoid in shape, with a head that narrows to a point near where his
mouth would be. His eyes are large and orange, pupiless now. He has grown red-brown hair and long, striped antennae.
He grows two pairs of clear, dragonfly-like wings. His chest looks muscled now, as do his arms and legs, but everything
is covered with either green or black armor. His hands are very large, with black armor covering them with silver,
spike-like fingers. There are halved rings, black in colour, on his shoulders with spikes on them. There are also
protrusions on his ground that seem to have two spikes sheathed in them. His thighs are black, with his lower legs
covered with green armour. His feet are covered with black armour with two, large, silver claws on each. He calls
himself Stingmon.

Patamon also changes dramatically. He now looks like an angel, with six large, white, feathery wings. There is a
golden sun-like object on his left shoulder, with blue ribbons wrapped around his left arm and right leg. He wears
a brown belt with a gold buckle. A long piece of blue fabric drapes down from it. Four round pieces of gray metal
decorate his chest and torso. He has brown hair that stretches all the way down his back, and a helmet covering the
upper hald of his head with a cross-like shape decorating it. His entire body apart from the face is covered by some
white piece of clothing. He calls himself Angemon.

Armadillomon changes less dramatically, growing a lot in size as the others all did of course. He now looks like an
Ankylosaurus. His shell remains the same colour, golden-brown on the top and purple on the bottom. His most notable
new feature is a large, mace-like hammer on the tip of his tail. His feet are covered by the armour now and also have
rings on them similar to the ones on Stingmon's shoulders, black with spikes on them. Four similar black spikes
extend from his back, and four on either side where the top and bottom parts of the shell meet. On each square of his
shell on the top there is a smaller spike the same colour as the shell. He now has a pair of horns on his head, forming
a crescent shape. Four small spikes extend from his forehead aswell. He calls himself Ankylomon.

Hawkmon remains the same colours, but becomes more bird shaped. His talons and beak remain yellow. He grows a pair of
black horns that curl forward towards his beak. His head is still covered with white feathers, but with some black ones
covering his face. The rest of his body is a deep, blood red colour, except for the tops of his wings, from which
white feathers tipped with red grow. He looks basically like an eagle with horns.

With everyone in their adult forms, they all run out of Chinatown and into the forest beyond. Then everyone's digivices,
even mine, start beeping. I hold mine up, looking at it confusedly, and turn it around so the green bulb-like part
points upwards. To my surprise an image of a map is projected from it with a small, glowing point on it. I stare
blankly at it, and the others look back with wide eyes.

"Uhm... is this normal?", I ask them.
"Mine has never done that before!", Daisuke says jealously.
"Well, having a map to follow isn't exactly a bad thing. It just means we'll get there faster", Tailmon comments.
"Alright, lets go...", I say, trying to hide how nervous I was.

I hadn't told any of them about my past encounter with BlackWarGreymon, but I was sure they'd find out soon enough.
But what would they think once they found out? I practically lied to them, and I'm friends with one of their most
dangerous enemies. How would they react? And since I was with BlackWarGreymon's enemies, what if the two of us ended
up as enemies on the battle field? I couldn't fight him, obviously, and even if I was able to I wouldn't be able to
bring myself to. I had no idea what I'd do when we ran into him. But I kept those feelings hidden.

We all ran through the trees, some of the digimon flying above the canopy, until we emerge into a clearing. Arukenimon
and Mummymon are there in their human forms near a spring of brown water, that judging by the smell is chinese soup.
There's a large, round stone floating above the spring and at the other side of the clearing I see him.

BlackWarGreymon is standing there, staring directly at me, which the others seem to notice. They glance from me to him.

I start slowly walking towards him, despite the other kids trying to stop me. Once I'm a few meters away from them I
stop. BlackWarGreymon doesn't move for a few moments, but then raises a hand, his palm facing upwards, and forms a
small, blood-red energy ball.