Chasing the Stars [invite]

[ambermon]

Amber leaned against a tree, while Dorumon simply sniffed around. Amber, despite now having Dorumon with her, lately, she had been feeling even more alone. She had a friend in her partner, but everyone else around her seemed even more like an enemy in contrast. "Dorumon." Amber muttered softly. "What's your world like?"

Dorumon blinked, sighing heavily. He had been avoiding thinking about his home. All the digimon he left fighting for their lives while he was stuck here. "The digital world was a wonderful place once. Beautiful forests, fields, mountains, oceans. A place of freedom, and beauty." Dorumon responded quietly.

Amber could tell that Dorumon wasn't letting on the whole story. For such positive words, the little wolf-esque raptor digimon seemed quite unhappy. "Was?" She ventured, hoping she wasn't pushing him to hard.

Dorumon exhaled deeply, and pondered telling her off. "It... isn't anymore." Dorumon explained, scratching nervously at the ground. "There is this army that has been attacking the digital world. They obliterated many homes, destroyed countless digimon and stolen many digi-eggs. Our world is now under threat. My friends are probably already dead or dying, and I am stuck here!" Dorumon howled, suddenly turning and ramming himself into a tree.

Amber immediately went to Dorumon's side, holding him back. "Don't! Don't hurt yourself." Amber gasped. She then froze as she suddenly felt Dorumon's teeth on her arm, he hadn't bit down, but it sure felt like that was his initial intention.

Dorumon had to use every ounce of restraint to fight the urge to bite Amber's arm off when she grabbed him. He quickly released, briefly stunned at himself. "I-I... I didn't mean, you surprised me..." He stuttered, suddenly feeling very bad for himself. "I'm... sorry." He finished, looking away.

Amber relaxed, inspecting her arm momentarily, but only found a minor cut. She had been thoroughly alarmed, and part of her felt the urge to flee. "Don't... Apologize. I didn't realize it was such a difficult subject. I'm sorry for prying." Amber responded quitely.

Dorumon relaxed a bit, but kept his gaze on a stone on the ground. "I want to go back to the digital world. Save what is left of my home and make who's ever responsible pay for destroying my home, my friends and the peace in our world. I haven't found anyway back though." He went on anyways.

Ambermon sighed quietly, putting a hand on the Dorumon's head. Such feelings of loyalty, and protectiveness were new to her. It felt odd thinking about them. Before Dorumon there was no intelligent being she would ever put her trust in, not one before she could extend a hand of friendship to. "I'll help you get home." She said finally, her tone resolute. She had no friends here to protect. Any human she came across could die in a hole for all she cared. She only had Dorumon, and she'd protect his friends.

Dorumon blinked up at Amber. He wished more humans were like her, it was a shame that it wasn't meant to be. "Thank you Ambermon."

[Mistral]

"We were too late ..."

The human girl and the lunamon hid behind some bushes as an extermination squad of Hypnos abruptly stormed into the shrine within the forest and killed a digimon that emerged there. The lunamon had planned to try to save whoever emerged, but he arrived too late and hypnos beat him to reaching first to the now dead digimon.

"We should return to home"

"The duty of a magician of love is never complete, this magical item is pointing at our next destination!"

Mistral, completely focused in the shiny points in the digivice, followed the source of such presence while the lunamon sighed, it was highly unlikely that it was a recently emerged digimon due an actual digital field would cause an even bigger signal and more intense beeping, so the most logical explanation was that the signal belonged to a digimon with a human partner. Despite knowing this, he still followed Mistral rather than stopping her. The chance was small, but it was possible that the digimon there was one that successfully emerged in the human world and lived in the forest, so it was worth the risk inspecting that signal.

"Sidequeests, sidequeests <3"

Not very far, the duo found the digimon whose presence was detected by Mistral's digivice: A dorumon who as lunamon predicted, was partnered with a female human. Clearly the best option now was to retreat to prevent any inconvenient as the dorumon's partner most likely also detected the presence of lunamon through her digivice.

"The digimon has a partner, now we should leave before there is a misunderstanding"

"If there's people in troubles we must help!"

The lunamon wished to depart and avoid the duo as some tamers were prone to demand battle against other tamers, but the insane magical girl had other plans and wanted to "help" the people that was alone in the forest.

"Hello forest wanderers, the magician of love is here to help!"

The harm was already done and once more the lunamon was dragged into having an encounter with another tamer-digimon team. They most likely already knew somebody was near, so he hoped the dorumon and his tamer were reasonable enough to speak rather than fight.

"Do not jump to wrong conclusions, we are not looking for battle; my partner only wanted to help"

With some luck, the girl and the dorumon would do nothing they could regret, but if battle were to be involved, he wasn't slow and would quickly enter in a fighting stance more than ready to defend his companion

[ambermon]

At first it seemed like they'd have a peaceful day ahead of them, but then Dorumon caught the scent of an approaching digimon, and human. A snarl escaped his jowls, as he turned to face the intruders, however, oddly enough, Dorumon ceased, merely to stare at the two, or rather, just the Lunamon. He took in the creature's scent. He remembered it, but not quite the face. Amber however, had no such familiarities holding her back from going at the duo, and she was quick to tell them off. "We don't need your help. Go--"

"Hold it." Dorumon growled, flicking his tamer with his tail. She stared at Dorumon indignantly, before backing off, and going on to just glare at the oddly dressed girl. Dorumon went back to staring at Lunamon, before slowly approaching. "Who are you? Should I know you?" Dorumon asked quietly, only darting suspicious stares at the Lunamon's tamer every few moments. "You wouldn't happened to have been a Wizardmon at some point have you?" He inquired, finally matching the scent to the being he remembered.

[Mistral]

It was rather strange, the dorumon somehow recognized that the lunamon used to be a wizardmon and even more suspicious was that he seemed to have met him in the past.

"Indeed, I used to be a wizardmon long ago, but fatal injuries when facing a dangerous foe almost claimed my life; only the help of my partner saved me from dissipating into data."

"That's what Magicians of love do!"

As he spoke, he looked at the dorumon, something about him seemed to be familiar; he was neither one of the inhabitants of the numemon bar nor one of the digimons he managed to save from hypnos and other tamers, the only logical answer was that he met him in the digital world.

"The only dorumon that would have any reason to recognize me were the ones that defied the enemy army during their siege on our city ... could you be one of them?"

When their city was sieged, many digimon joined the resistance and bravely fought against the enemy. Between them there was a small group of dorumons that rained metal balls on the enemy, acting as improvised "archers" in human terms. The wizardmon at that time didn't pay much attention to each dorumon individually, and that was why he had a hard time trying to remember this dorumon in particular

[ambermon]

When informed that Lunamon had been attacked, and then saved by his partner, the Dorumon gave the human a long, studying look. Some how he would never thought this particular human was capable of saving a life. She certainly seemed different than most humans he came across. Well, there were always exceptions to everything, Amber was one, and this one too it seemed. He knew Lunamon was not the kind of digimon to crave power, and certainly was the type to repay a debt.

Dorumon allowed himself to relax a little as he turned back to Lunamon. Unfortunately though the Lunamon had entered the correct range as to where he knew him from, but it seemed he had let the identity of one of his own friends slip his mind. "One of them? Pfft. It's me, you dupe!" The Dorumon half barked half laughed. Dorumon had lead the group of Dorumon against the enemy, and had been a friend to Wizardmon. They tended to disagree with a lot of stuff, but they did have their agreements, and had stuck together in the fight against the enemy. "Well, this is my own partner, Ambermon. Never thought I'd take a partner, but she's proven a worthy partner. Nothing like most of the humans here." He added the last sentence with a scathing tone.

Amber didn't say anything as she stood a distance away from the group, arms crossed, and gaze only turning their direction in order to deliver a cold glare. Though the Dorumon had kept an open mind for his old friend, Amber was not of the same mind, and held no exception for the hate she had for humanity. Whatever the Lunamon said about the human was a lie, and Amber wouldn't believe anything different.

"Everyone had been wondering where you went. You disappeared in middle of the battle and no one saw you since..." said Dorumon, this time though more serious. Dorumon had been angry that Wizardmon had vanished on them. Sure, it wouldn't have changed the outcome of the battle, but if he had been fighting, he could have saved a few lives. However, meeting him here, it seemed quite obvious what had happened. "So you got sent here did you? That's why you disappeared?"

[Mistral]

"My apologies, it has been so long that I could not distinguish you from the other members of the dorumon squad"

Indeed, one of the dorumons from that particular squad proved to be more talkative and intellectual than his peers, when the dorumon squad was needed, he was always the one to answer the call and discuss regarding combat strategy between other things.

He then looked at dorumon's partner, and noticed that there was something odd with her ... almost as if she hold a huge grudge against something and her cold stare indicated that she wouldn't trust even an old acquaintance of her very partner. For courtesy the lunamon said nothing regarding her lack of empathy and cold exterior.

"It is reassuring to know you fare well and found a good companion; mine is Mistral, she acts weird and looks unreliable, but she's a good person and saved my life, for which I'm in debt with her."

"Hello hello, anyone who is a friend of Mir is a friend of JUSTICE and mine too!"

The dorumon might not know it, but Mir was the name that one wacky human gave to the lunamon just like how she named herself Mistral despite having a real name. The dynamic duo continued listening to dorumon's words and he finally mentioned about wizardmon's sudden disappearance in the middle of the battle. He simply couldn't help disappearing, it was a situation out of his control.

"Indeed, I was spirited away to the world of the humans in the middle of the battle. I'm ashamed for having abandoned my comrades in the middle of the battle, but the situation was out of my control and whatever sent me to the human world cared not about what I wanted."

[ambermon]

Dorumon gave Lunamon's partner another quizzical look. Weird was right, and he didn't particularly envy Lunamon. He himself probably would not have hung around this girl long even if she had saved his life. Any life saving this girl had done was likely only complete fluke. Not to mention he'd have no toleration for such ridiculous nicknames. "Well, Ambermon has her own faults." He muttered quietly so Amber wouldn't hear him. While Mistral was clearly oblivious enough that you could talk however way you wanted about her without her even noticing, Amber wasn't stupid, and he wasn't comfortable talking about her like that behind her back. "Life here's been fairly decent for us. We live out here and we've had to steal food and other items from town for the sake of survival, but we've been getting by."

Dorumon nodded when Lunamon explained what had happened. "Well, I guess I'm in the same boat here. Got transported here myself a few days after the battle. So far haven't found any way to get back yet." He growled, more in frustration than anything. "Well, have you had any luck finding a way back to the digital world? I guess not. You wouldn't be here if you had found a way to get back."

[Mistral]

The lifestyle of dorumon was at best deplorable, the lunamon couldn't believe that the one who once was a proud warrior now dedicated to petty thieving. It would be excusable if they lived in poverty, but his companion clearly looked like the daughter of a family with good income given that her clothes were in almost perfect state and her appearance was anything but the one of a poor person. He assumed that for some reason she separated herself from society decided to say something regarding this issue.

"I apologize in advance for what I'm going to say, but I do not approve of your lifestyle, your companion doesn't look at all like the kind of person that lives in poverty and has no choice but to steal for survival, and therefore I do not believe stealing is justified, that is just plain laziness of her part to use you as a petty thief.

Harsh but sincere words, the dorumon was better than this and the one he knew would never steal from others unless it were an unavoidable needed evil.

"Sadly I haven't had any luck finding a way to return to our real world, but I have reasons to believe that whoever invaded our hometown is behind all those incidents. An acquaintance I met in this world told me that some digimon emerged in this world not by accident but willingly, looking for something as if they were sent by a greater force in the digital world to the human world with that sole goal in mind. She tried to capture one of them, but they self-destructed themselves to prevent capture, clearly indicating their were trained agents who would rather die than letting their secret mission be revealed."

Unknown to them, black omnimon was behind both the attack to their home and the digimon appearing in the human world looking for the light of evolution. One of those days they would solve the mystery, but until then they were clueless about the truth behind all those incidents.

[ambermon]

When Lunamon went on, belittling their efforts to stay alive, based on pure assumptions from what she looked like several meters away. Rage boiled in his eyes, and he didn't even listen to anything of what Lunamon had said beyond that. They had their disagreements, but to basically spit on his, and his partner's efforts to stay alive?"Sorry? Don't try to soften such an unjustified attack with false words, Lunamon. If you were sorry about attacking me and my partner you wouldn't have done so in the first place!" Dorumon spat away the Lunamon's 'apology'.

"We've been living under a freaking tree, struggling just to get our hands on essentials and keep our conditions vaguely liveable, and you have the audacity to tell us we are wrong for doing what we can to live? Just because she doesn't look the part? You haven't even gotten a decent look at her! You haven't even seen how we live!" He snarled, his body quivering with rage and back claws digging into the ground as he barely held himself back from mauling the mouthy little rabbit.

Amber from her position, was not in the least impressed by what she heard either. If Dorumon was angry, it was nothing to what she felt, and her rage coaxed her from her position to approach the group. "Dorumon treats you like a long lost friend, and you insult him for living?" She growled as she approached the three. "How about you leave your tamer out here in the woods with nothing to feed her or keep her warm and see how long she lives!" She hissed venomously

She might have passed for decent at a distance, but distance had a tendency of blurring the details. Up close, her greasy hair, and stench from lack of proper shower were far more noticeable, now she was standing right before them. Her clothes had several multi-colored stitches in them, the knees of her pants were patched messily, and the metal on the belts and studs attached to her outfit was rusted, and the zipper tag was missing. Her face was blemished, and skin looked less than clean. She may not have been completely helpless, but she would be helpless if she didn't steal what she needed to keep herself and Dorumon fed, warm and safe.

Dorumon stood rigid, his eyes a red hot glare, as he waited on Lunamon's response. Whatever the Lunamon said had better be good. Lunamon may have been a friend in the past, but now it seemed he had forgotten his own ideals and reduced himself to snuffy little pet digimon talking down to his 'inferiors'.

[Mistral]

"Thievery can almost never be justified, stealing from your peers when you had the possibility of working for your own nourishment is unfair for the others. What would you think if somebody came and stole what little you had using as excuse living in the forest despite being clearly capable of earning honestly his goods?"

He couldn't believe just how low the dorumon had fallen. He hardly knew him as they met per first time in the battlefield, defending their own home, but for the little time he knew him he thought he was an honest and hard working digimon. Yet, now he made a living as a thief and was unable to see the greater picture, only thinking in himself. And he couldn't even excuse her companion for she wore clothes that while damaged from living in the forest, they originally were fashion articles that no hermit would be able to afford.

"Criticism is not the same as insulting; back in the digital world I thought too highly about you if that is how you see things. The time we shared in our home was brief but I always believed you to be a fair digimon who would fight to bring justice on those that wronged the innocent, yet you are here stealing from the humans and demanding a girl who is mentally ill to be left alone in the forest only to satisfy your desire to prove that you companion was better than mine."

The lunamon maybe was a little too moralistic and idealistic compared with almost everybody who had a cynical view of life, but if something was real, was that he always did his best to help other even when it would nothing but misery to him unlike others who lived only for themselves and demanded others to be as miserable or even more than themselves in a vain attempt to feel superior to others.

"Before becoming the parter of this human child I lived freely in this world of humans and actively helped a group of digimon who suffered our same fate and got dragged into this new world. Every day was a struggle to survive as we had to look for food and to avoid being detected by humans, but even in the most dire situations we never stole from humans or other digimon. It was hard but knowing everything was the product of our hard work made everything good that happened feel better. This is related with the way I become a Lunamon because I always left the safety of our hideout to save recently spirited away digimon from both human tamers and themselves alike, my last act as a wizardmon being sacrificing my life to let a biyomon survive; while it might sound foolish for many, it was worth it for me as I remained honest to my ideals till the end and was rewarded with a second chance at life thanks to my companion, who saved me from becoming data with the light of her digivice. I might've lost my former identity and freedom, but I won much more as now I can make an even greater difference through my actions."

Probably the dorumon already knew that the lunamon was going to talk a lot, he was known for giving long lectures back in the digital world, but he couldn't help it because he always believed that everything should be solved peacefully through the power of the word, and that having to end up fighting was a defeat for everybody. And the group of digimon he talked about was the group of survivors that lived in an abandoned hotel renamed as numemon's bar by the inhabitants. Originally it was nothing but a ruined building no human would care for anymore, but through the honest hard work of everybody it become the last bastion of digimon hope in the human world.