A new world (Book 2 chapter 1)


Max kept his eyes glued to the television screen of their hotel, two months had passed since their confrontation with Delta and he lost his human form. Since then all of Max's time and effort had been spent on training his pokemon for next year's championship, as well as improving his own physical abilities as a Guilmon. Jesse, Flare, and Kevin all breezed into their qualification rounds in the silver conference. At this point they were in the championship rounds with Flare hitting the top 16 while Jesse and Kevin carried their way all the way to the final round.

Sitting atop his head was his Bulbasaur, yes a BULBASAUR. After their encounter with the darkness and a perverted light they reached a united decision to use Kevin's evolution device to return his companion to it's base form.

"So it looks like their pretty evenly matched. It could go either way..." Fang let his presence be known, he was a grey furred wolf with red markings lining his body in different locations, a by product of his human soul being transferred into a newborn pup's body. Sitting in his lap was a young Charmander, who interestingly enough the canine decided to name Charmy.

Max offered his canine relative a bucket of popcorn, which they shared between themselves. "You think so? I'd say that Jesse has this one in the bag. Just watch and see."

With the brothers snuggled on the couch, they turned to the television. Jesse's Nidoking and Kevin's Salamence were in a dead heat, neither could gain ground on one another. That was until Kevin had ordered his Salamence to dive down at Nidoking with a dragonbreath attack. This turned out to be a mistake however since Nidoking had thick thick skin, he was about to endure most attacks and remain a large threat and due to this he managed to grab his dragonic opponant by the fangs and released a hyper beam at point blank. When the dust cleared they could see both pokemon had taken signifigant damage, but only Nidoking remained standing in the middle of the field.

"Salamence is unable to battle! The victor and NEW Johto league champion is Jesse!" The ref pointed in Jesse's direction, whose face appeared up on the jumbotron within the colluseum.

Max took a small nibble of popcorn, chuckling. "Told ya he'd win...And now he'll get a one on one battle with Lance tomorrow morning. What I wouldn't give to have had that opportunity..."

It was at this moment Flare chimed in, having finished cooking a few burgers in the hotel room's kitchen and as always, his Charmeleon companion was leaping at them and making grabby paws. "No no! These are for everyone! It's a victory celebration that someone in our group managed to win the championship!" Flare was an 11 year old boy, he wore a red shirt with the pokemon fire symbol at it's center and a silver pokeball pendant around his neck. Like his name...his hair was colored a unique orange and yellow, giving it the appearance of a raging fire when the wind hit it.

Charmeleon let out a dissapointed sigh, snapped his fingers and sat on the couch with one good left eye and a cybernetic right eye, he watched Jesse being interviewed just after the trainer had been named champion.

"So then, You're this year's lucky champion! And you get to challenge Johto's number one trainer tomorrow, how do you feel about all of this?" The reporter asked directly to Jesse, who despite his best attempts at looking cool on camera, had been blushing the whole time.

"Uhm...well I don't really feel like the champion this year. I didn't have the opportunity to battle the one trainer I wanted to compete against, but I'm hoping he'll have what it takes next year to make it." Jesse replied calmly, then rubbed his chin. "Uuuh can I go now?"

That got a small laugh from the reporter and she simply shrugged her shoulders. "Not the type to hog all the attention huh? Well...if you could give any aspiring trainers advice what would you say to them?"

Jesse took a small breath at this point, he didn't feel like he should be the one to be giving ANY advice, but he dug down and searched for the most reasonable answer, and it was one Max taught him. "Try your best, and don't change your ways for anybody. Be yourself, and don't let others tell you otherwise."

Jesse was a year older than Max. 11 years old and going 12 in just a few months, he was a lost soul two months prior to these events and was unknowingly the vessel of the darkness incarnate, Reapermon. He let his hair grow out to his shoulders since then and even dyed it a brighter shade of blue. Strapped to his pants was a pokegear, housing the spirit of darkness that took the place of reapermon. Had it not joined with Jesse in the battle against Reapermon, he or Max might not be alive right now.

Grinning, Max took one of the burgers and took a bite, it surprised him just how good a cook Flare was despite the guy's lack of insight in some cases. "Same old Jesse...he was always shy infront of crowds, I'm surprised that Nidoking hasn't intervened."

Just as Max said this however, Nidoking scooped Jesse up in his arms, growled at the camera's to back off then stomped down the road, leaving a trail of dirt flying from the ground in his absense.

"You were saying?" Charmeleon remarked, pressing his nose into Max's cheek, before snatching a burger from the tray and munching on it.

"Hah! Alrighty! Comeon you know that tickles!" Max laughed, pushing Charmeleon's nose away in time to watch the reptile stuff his face. "Nidoking is just as protective as always, though he wasn't ALWAYS so aggressive."

Nidoking slammed open the doors, panting with sweat dripping down his face. "WHO wasn't always so aggressive..." He promptly flopped onto the floor belly first.

"Jeez! You covered that ground in less than a minute!" Max walked over to the panting pokemon and laughed, bringing him a bottle of water, which the large ground type guzzled down in seconds.

Once the ground type was finished with the water, he tossed it at Max, who let it bounce against his snout harmlessly. "Next time I'm digging our way out of the crowd...too much work running..."

Max rolled his eyes, as did Charmeleon who walked by, poking the Nidoking's sides. "Maybe you should have just let the interview go as scheduled...it looked like it would have only lasted a couple more minutes."

This time, Nidoking used his tail and shoved Charmeleon aside and let out a deep breath. "In hindsight...I could have handled it better but I didn't."

"Well then Jesse...you're going to be battling Lance tomorrow morning aren't you excited?" Max asked, grinning like a kid, he seemed to be in much higher spirits now that Jesse was back.

Jesse grabbed a burger from the tray and munched down on it, after a good few bites he decided to reply. "I dunno if I'll go to that match Max. Until I've beaten you in the championship I haven't really earned my new title. You deserved a fair shot and you were robbed of it at the end. So...Lance is just going to have to wait till you get your body back."

Everyone's jaw dropped just like that, baffled by Jesse's decision but Max simply grabbed Jesse's arm. "NOO! You can't do that! Ya gotta battle him for all of us! Just because I can't doesn't mean you should deprieve yourself of such an honor!"

"You know what?! You can't even go to the battle! You promised Pyre that you'd ride with him back down into the union cave, so why are you so dead set at getting me into the battlefield?" Jesse shot back, giving Max a playful push.

With a push right back, Max laughed. "Because it's been our dream to meet Lance one day. Sure neither of us originally planned to become trainers...I was going to be a Ranger, and you a police officer but now we ARE. and it's the highest honor to be given the opportunity to battle such a prestigious trainer!"

Jesse rolled his eyes, but gave a short nod. "Fine...After that I'll hitch a ride with Scavenger to the digital world. I have a lot of making up to do before I can head out there, and I'd rather make amends with the people I've hurt. Starting tomorrow RD and I will be going across Johto to reform all of the victims I made suffer."

Flare raised an eyebrow, smiling. "Ah! So then where is RD right now if you two are supposed to be making this SUPPOSED trip."

it was Fang's turn to reply this time, ears flattening. "He's at the casino. WAIT! Don't tell me HE'S going to be making the trip to the digital world too!!"

With a quick nod, Jesse handed a burger to Nidoking who gulped it down in one bite. "He's curious about the digital world, plus he promised the old man there he'd come back."

Flare jumped in between the group, releasing confetti from a popper and laughed. "So then Max, Fang and I are the first group while you, Scav and RD are the second."

"Right." Jesse took a deep breath, looking out the window. "I think that Kevin wanted to come too, but he has to go back to Hoenn now that his quest was fulfilled. Life as the son of a corporate big wig must be tough..."

Max and the rest of the group looked down to the table, none of them exactly wanted to see Kevin leave but it was inevitable. "Does...anybody know when he leaves?" The guilmon inquired.

"Actually...his plane takes off in about an hour. So I think we have time to go see him off at the airport!" Fang pulled himself off the couch, rubbing his fur to even it out. "Let's go!"

That did it, everybody imediately got themselves ready, cleaned the tray and glasses that they used for their celebration and put everything away. Now rushing to the airport, they found Kevin standing infront of the airport building, just about to step in before Max tackled him to the ground. "No you don't! You don't get to leave without saying good bye mister I'm too cool to get teary eyed!"

With a grunt, Kevin looked up at Max with a blush."I...didn't know how to say goodbye...but I do have something for you guys. I'm glad you guys showed up, of course I figured you'd show up anyway."

Max helped out Kevin, the green haired trainer digging into his backpack and taking out a sketch pad. WIthin the sketchpad was a portrait drawing of the whole group, Max, Fang, Kevin and Flare were standing together, holding a banner with the digimon symbol for light, while in the background RD, Charmeleon, Salamence and Nidoking were having an eating contest next to Pyre, the large Arcanine just snoozing in the drawing. "Heh... I...spent quite a few nights working on this. I hope you guys will remember me whenever you look at this."

With a laugh, Max accepted the portait and held it infront of everyone else who joined in the laughter, Max handed the portrait to Fang rather than Flare so it wouldn't get ruined and started covering his eyes, tears streaming down. "I'm...gonna miss you Kevin...we'll always be team Light Bringers...no matter where we all are got it?"

Kevin blushes, looking to the side as he stared tearing up as well, he embraced Max in a hug and sighed. "Light bringers to the end...No...FRIENDS to the end. You just get your body back alright? And come down to Hoenn whenever you have the chance alright?"

with a nod, Max let go of Kevin and wiped away his tears. "I definitely will! After I get my body back and win the Johto league championship I'll come right to hoenn! We'll travel like we did here!"

Flare then leaped in, hugging Kevin tight. "And I'll be right there with the-OWWW!"

Charmeleon was right there, tugging at Flare's pants, claws digging slightly at his skin. "Oh no...we barely got permission to go to the digital world Flare! After we help Max on his quest we have to get back to work! Remember that was the deal when we left the island!"

Max, as usual, translated what Charmeleon said, chuckling the whole while, Flare blushing however at being scolded.

Kevin was about to make a remark, when he heard the announcement that everyone needed to board his plane and sighed. "Well guys...you have my pokegear. Call me when you get back from the digital world. I gotta go but it's not goodbye!" He ran into the building, turning only to give one last wave and rushed to the plane.

Max and the group sighed when Kevin dissapeared into the building, after a few more minutes watched the plane take off. "Well...Max I think we should get going now too. It'll take us awhile to get back to Violet city and union cave." Fang commented, nuzzling his brother to cheer him up.

Rubbing his chin after the nuzzle, the guilmon nodded, taking out Pyre's new pokeball. The massive Arcanine's ball broke months back when he was converted partly into a digimon. Thanks to Fang and Kevin's smarts they were able to repair it and allow it to store digital beings, sort of like the digivice from the television show.

With one good toss, Max released the ball and the contents infront of them. Pyre materializing infront of them in a mix of light and strings of code. Flare and Charmeleon were quick to leap on but Max took a little longer in hugging Pyre's head. Even if all was back to normal he still felt deeply attached to the canine pokemon as the only remaining and living link of his human grandfather.

"You've said your goodbye's Max? It might be more than just a few months that we're away." Pyre warned, sniffing and licking Max's body.

Max laughed at the tickling sensation of Pyre's cold, wet nose pressing against his scales. "Yeah I know...I've given my mom a call through the professor's lab. Just said goodbye to Kevin too." Fang climbed up Pyre's leg, while Max climbed over the canine's head.

Pyre kept his head still until the trainer was safely on his back before he nodded. "Well least you had the decency to tell everyone goodbye. Wait a minute...we're missing somebody..." He looked over his back and did a bit of counting. "Where's Chaos?"

Waving a hand dismissively, Max smiled. "Oh! Chaos left this morning, he said he promised somebody that he'd come back after he helped us beat Delta. Strangely even though he lost his digimon powers he still retained his power to open portals."

Pyre gave Jesse a short nod before sprinting away, they were now on their way to the union cave. "I guess he's going to look for his own way of getting his body back. Regardless, do you understand why we're going to the union cave?" He shouted, he was moving so fast they wouldn't have heard otherwise.

"Not really! I just figured you want to go back to the last place you saw gramps!" Max shouted, his eyes mostly closed to protect them from the strong winds.

a low rumbling sound came from Pyre's throat, indicating a chuckle of amusement. "That's part of the reason why! You'll see for yourself why we MUST go there rather than why it's an option!"

All Max did was nod, he didn't want to open his mouth again lest he catch something he wouldn't like in his mouth. Even with Pyre's speed, it was nightfall by the time they reached the entrance to the union cave. "Alright...may wanna put Bulbasaur in his ball...remember what happened last time?"

Max burst out laughing, Bulbasaur however blushed when they recalled his cries last time. However when Max reached for the ball he bit his claw. "No I'm staying out. Besides...It's too cramped in that ball."

Yowling, Max carefully pried Bulbasaur's mouth off his claws and placed him back on his head, the small mon wrapping it's stubby paws around his bat wing like ears. "Comfy? Ouch..." He waved his paw a bit and laughed.

"Hmph...let's just go Max...I...I won't scream I promise." Bulbasaur replied with a shakyness in his voice, but none the less he held his breath as they stepped into the cave, well...Pyre stepped in while the rest of them rode.

Charmeleon smiled, carefully scooting over to Max and Bulbasaur, he positioned his tail between them. "There you go Bulbasaur, no need to be afraid when you got a good natural light source!" the reptile smiled kindly.

Another low rumble came from Pyre, it didn't take them long till they found the same tunnel Max had opened from before, door closed just as before. "Well Max, you're still the only one who can read these texts so go ahead and open the door like last time."

"Right!" Max climbed off Pyre's back, comedically landing on his backside due to misjudgement of Pyre's height and rubbed his tail. "Oww...I landed on my tail..." He whined and imitated a guilmon's nasilly voice before setting his hand on the wall, like before it shone with fire but it had no effect on his body like last time, it simply slid open for the party.

For the rest of the trek, Max remained on the ground, walking alongside Pyre to the room he found him in. "So...what's waiting for us in here Pyre? The only thing here from last time is the old booksack."

"Oh...well that's because it's hidden." Pyre grinned and approached the far end of the cavern and started digging into it. What came free from the rubble was a very old looking portal, it was held together by a full sized mirror. "Your grandfather created this portal. Several centuries ago and made sure it remained stable even after his descent using this mirror. Well...a mirror similar to this, Every generation we tend to alter the mirror through the use of magic."

Flare looked at the portal, poking the mirror a bit to see if it was solid but yelped when his hand slid right through the surface. "Ack! It's not even solid!"

"Of course not! Only the outer rim of the mirror is solid, the reflective surface has been converted to contain the portal, if the mirror is shattered the portal is lost forever, this portal...links directly to your grandfather's home Max." Pyre replied calmly.

Max stepped over, looking over the mirror in confusion. "You said my grandfather created this portal centuries ago...but no human could live that lo- Wait do you mean my grandfather on the other side?!"

Pyre grinned, giving a nod. "Indeed, as well as the one who recreated me. He's lived a long time...way longer than most should. Anyways this is the moment of truth Max...I can't come along with you guys as somebody needs to remain on this side to gaurd the mirror and prevent it from shattering while it's in use."

Max gaped, he was hoping Pyre could come with him but then gave a short nod. "Alright, I understand. I guess I'll talk to you using our new mind link." He pointed to his head with a claw.

"Ah yes...the mind link we aquired by our DNA digivolution. A perfect way to stay in touch even when we're worlds apart. So...I'll see you when you have your human body back?" Pyre asked with a kind smile.

"You know it! I'll be a changed Man...er mon...whatever!" He gave the best thumbs up he could, despite not having a thumb before jumping into the mirror. "Kawabunga!" He shouted before he started fading into the background of the mirror then dissapeared completely.

Flare looked stunned, he couldn't believe Max actually jumped, he gave Charmeleon a quick glance before shrugging. "Here goes nothing!" Before he tucked his legs in and cannonballed into the portal.

"Well now we HAVE to go in!" Charmeleon grumbled and dove in after his trainer.

"H-hey! Wait for me!" Fang was the last to jump in, letting out a howl of excitement

Once the anthro wolf had entered the portal the mirror reverted back to it's regular reflective surface, Pyre setting it to the side very softly and laying down. "Good luck boys..you're going to need it..."

(To be continued)