Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Morphs: A Digimorphs Tale ❯ Thieves of Oceania ( Chapter 10 )

Digimon / Digital Monsters and all related trademarks belong are copyright to Toei animation / Saban entertainment. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission.

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Steve's world was spinning. Literally.

In the midst of his ordeal, he remembered the tornado that had swept up him and his friends. He remembered screaming in the middle of the whirling madness, losing all track of his friends in the process.

After what seemed like forever, the spinning finally stopped. Steve felt himself falling and opened his eyes.

What he saw was that he was high in the sky, plummeting headfirst towards the ocean at an astonishingly rapid pace.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" He screamed in panic, through he wasn't sure exactly what for.

For one thing, Steve as a human hated heights. For another, Flamedramon was a fire Digimon, which obviously didn't belong in the sea. And third, the force of hitting the water from this height would be rather painful.

Perhaps it was all those things.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!!!!!! NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

SPLOOSH!

"AAAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!! WATER!!! HELP!! HELP!! MY FIRES ARE GOING OUT!! HEELLPP!!!!"

And Steve continued splashing about until he realized he looked like a complete idiot.

(Steve sweatdrops.)

"OK…that accomplished nothing." He muttered, spitting out salt water, partially glad that there was no one around to see him freak-out.

Treading water to keep afloat, Steve studied his surroundings. Not like there was much to see. It was water in every direction as far as eye could see. There was no sight of his friends, where ever they'd been thrown to.

Steve hoped they were all right, but now found himself with problems of his own.

"Let's see…I can keep swimming here and hope a Whamon swims by and decide to give me a lift. If not, I'll eventually fall asleep and drown and die."

Glancing around, Steve remembered he was alone.

"Geez, this sucks. I don't even have anyone to annoy with my jokes." He sighed. "Let's see…"

His first thought was evolving to Gargoylemon and flying towards land. Problem was that he didn't know which way land was and his Digivice's map feature wasn't exactly a top-class map.

He could easily drain all his strength before getting anywhere. Also being above the ocean during the day meant he wouldn't get any drafts or thermals and he'd have to flap his wings more times.

So, that left him with plan B.

"Guess this Digimetal will come in handy after all." He grinned, looking at the image of the Digimetal of Faith on his Digivice. "Digimetal up! Faith's vessel….Depthmon!"

In a flash of light and Digicode, his Flamedramon form changed into the armored body of a merman.

His main body and shoulder armor was a light blue with gray claws, waist area and tail. His head was covered by a scuba diver style helmet, with an oxygen mask over his mouth and two 'horn' coming out of the back of the helmet. Orange tuffs of hair also sprouted out from beneath the helmet. His face section was covered by a silver visor/shield, making it impossible to see his face from the outside.

All of a sudden, Steve felt completely at home in the water.

"Wow, this is cool." He commented, flipping his dolphin-like tail about. "All right, back to business!"

Diving down, he swam beneath the waves. Despite his sense of urgency, it was impossible not to stop and admire all the marine life around.

Seaweeds, urchins, sea anemone, colored corals and schools of fish that dispersed as Steve swam through them. It was fun on his part too, being able to stay underwater without having to come up for air.

Steve happened to touch the choker around his neck and felt the Crest of Courage keychain hanging down from it.

"Raindramon…I didn't really get a chance to say goodbye, but thanks for everything, you and the other Digimetal Knights. Now, I have to do things on my own."

Steve's journey carried on for hours until he came across an underwater signpost, pointing him to a town called Oceania .

He was on top of a high ridge and glancing down at the town in awe. It looked like any other town except for the fact that it was underwater. Almost of the buildings had domed shaped roofs, some of them being transparent.

"An undersea city? Hmmm…maybe I can get some directions there!"

Speeding up in excitement, Steve kicked his tail harder as he swam down the ridge. There was a marked road along the seabed, lined with shells which led towards the city.

Steve was just thinking that his luck was looking up when suddenly, a large crate was shoved out from behind a huge rock and onto the road.

Unfortunately, it was also right in his path. And Steve was going too fast to stop.

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"Arrgghh…ooww…" Steve moaned, blinking.

He opened his eyes and found himself glaring up at a brightly lit ceiling. Steve knew he was no longer underwater, and yet, he felt like he was floating.

"Huh?" He wondered, pulling himself up.

Steve realized he was floating in what seemed like a large rectangular fish tank. Judging from the cupboards and other furniture around, it looked like he was in somebody's room.

"Oh good, you're awake." A deep voice spoke.

Steve gasped at the figure that stepped in from the adjacent room.

"Black…Wargreymon?!"

It was indeed the black, armor clad Digimon, just that he wasn't wearing his claws over his hands.

"You sound so surprised kid. Not from around here?"

"Yeah, I'm from…" Steve caught himself just in time. "…an ocean, far…far away."

He didn't exactly want to go round announcing he was from another world. It would only complicate things, and possible get him into either a lot of trouble or unwanted attention.

Just gotta pretend I'm your typical, average aquatic Digimon. How hard can that be?

"I see." BlackWargreymon nodded.

"By the way, where is here anyway? Is this the city?"

"Indeed, this is Oceania , a town along the middle sea. You had an accident and I brought you to my place."

"Ow, yeah, my head still hurts a little." Steve rubbed his head and felt that his helmet was off. "Feels like I got hit by a bus."

"You swam at full speed into one of my crates actually." BlackWargreymon told him. "You would've probably broken your skull if you weren't wearing this. You youngsters can only think about going fast instead of thinking ahead."

BlackWargreymon held up Steve's helmet, which looked dented and had its visor broken.

Geez, what a grouch. But I think I should thank him nevertheless.

"Yeah, thanks." Steve said.

"By the way, you breathing all right? You had gills and I wasn't sure whether it was safe to leave you out of the water."

Gills?! Now that his helmet was off, Steve ran a hand over his head and felt he had a long snout. He felt something else at his cheeks too; his gills. But even through his head was out of the water, he could still breathe.

Wow, I must be able to breathe both in water and on land! Then the helmet's just to help out. Man, I'm going to look really stupid if I don't know my own anatomy.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Steve replied. "But I thought this city was underwater?"

"Haha, never been to a city before? Or did you hit your head that badly?"

BlackWargreymon walked to the side and pulled open a trap door built into the floor. Steve saw water beneath. He then turned and looked out a window to see water outside.

"This building is underwater, just that it utilizes a pressure system to keep the upper levels dry. I happen to need it for my work."

Steve felt like a complete idiot, through he tried his best not to show his frustration at not knowing a thing.

"But what's a Digimon like you staying underwater for? Should've you be up on land or something?"

"Well, I lost my old job and I had to find work." BlackWargreymon sighed. "Even if it's not exactly where you want it."

"Erm…what do you do down here?"

"Come down and see for yourself." BlackWargreymon said, dropping down into the water.

Steve pulled himself out of the tank and followed through the trap door, realizing BlackWargreymon probably had something inside that helmet of his which allowed him to breathe underwater.

"Awesome…"

It was clearly a shop, with various weapons like swords and guns attached to the walls. Pieces of armor were also put up and smaller items like daggers and small motors in display cases.

"This an armory or something?"

"Yes, although I end up mostly doing repair work for the Digimon around here." BlackWargreymon told him. "I need to work with fire or delicate equipment sometimes. That's why I need the dry area upstairs. Which reminds me…"

BlackWargreymon held up Steve's helmet.

"Seems like you need this repaired."

"Erm…I can't exactly pay." Steve muttered nervously. He had received some travel funds from the Digimetal Knights, but they weren't exactly very much.

"Never mind. Since the accident was partially my fault, I'll do it for free."

"Really? Wow, thanks." Steve said happily. "You're a really nice guy."

BlackWargreymon just waved a hand as he began to take measurements of the helmet. Steve unclipped his Digivice and pushed a few buttons, seeing if it would pick up anything. He was glad that it was still intact.

"You've got one of those too?" BlackWargreymon asked from behind the counter. "A Coelamon came by with one of those earlier asking if I knew what it was. And that was one thing I was absolutely clueless about."

Another Digivice?! But whose? Wait a sec… Steve suddenly remembered he had been holding on to Sekata's Digivice before being caught in the storm. And he hadn't had it with him when he landed in the water…

"The Digivice! Did you remember what color it was?! Was it black and gray?! Who brought it in?! Do you still have it now?!" Steve began asking, grabbing onto BlackWargreymon's shoulders.

"Whoa, slow down kid. Yes, I clearly remembere it was black. But the Coelamon took it with him saying he was going to try and trade it off at the marketplace…"

"Thanks! I've got to get it!" Steve yelled, dashing out the door.

"Strange fellow." BlackWargreymon sighed. "He talks like he needs it to save the world or something."

The next second, Steve burst back into the shop.

"Could you…erm…direct me to the marketplace, please?"

(BlackWargreymon sweatdrops.)

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Steve moaned in exhaustion, leaning against the wall of a shop.

He'd spent hours swimming around the market square, going from shop to shop and Digimon to Digimon. He did find the Coelamon after a long while, who'd traded the Digivice off to a Crabmon at an antique shop.

And by the time he'd managed to find the shop, Crabmon had sold it to someone else. So, he'd followed trail after trail until it had finally run dry.

"This sucks, I don't even know if it really was the Digivice or not."

Steve glanced at his reflection in a mirror at the shop's window, his first time seeing his Depthmon form without the helmet. He realized he had a Flamedramon-shaped face, minus the horn on the nose. His scales were blue with brown eyes. Steve could see the gills at the sides of his head, moving as they did their job of extracting oxygen from the water.

His orange hair was a mess too, and Steve combed it back as best as he could with his claws. Not like it helped much considering he was underwater.

"So there you are! I've finally got you, you thief!"

"Ugrh!" Steve gasped as he was pulled around. "Hey! What's your problem?!"

He found himself facing a very angry looking Hangyomon (aka Divermon).

"Don't try to act, I know you stole this from me!" Hangyomon growled, jabbing a finger at Steve's Digivice.

"Hey buddy! This one's mine!" Steve argued, holding his Digivice up defensively. "If you had something that looks like this stolen, it wasn't me!"

Hangyomon glared at it for a while.

"Guess you're right. It's a different color. Sorry I bothered you." Hangyomon muttered before swimming off.

"Something tells me he's not satisfied with that." Steve said to himself, clipping the Digivice back onto his belt. "Still, looks like it might be Sekata's Digivice after all. Maybe I have a…"

That was when he felt something brush past him. Instinctively, he reached down for his belt and found his Digivice missing.

"Hey! What the?!"

"I got it! Let's split man!" A voice called from the side.

Steve turned and barely caught a glimpse of two Gomamon dashing down an alley. One of the Gomamon had a pair of square-shaped goggles strapped around his head.

"Hey! Get back here! That's mine!" He yelled in outrage, giving chase.

"Bro, he's after us!" One of the Gomamon said, looking back.

"Don't worry, just follow me!" His brother replied.

"Excuse me! Sorry!" Steve called as he pushed between a Gesomon and Octomon.

The Gomamon brothers led him into a large crowded shop and down an aisle. The one with the goggles kicked at a shelf, causing its supports to come lose.

"Hey!" Steve caught the shelf with his shoulder, shoving it back into place to prevent it from hitting anything else in the store. "Don't do that…yargh!"

The brothers kicked a lamp stand, which Steve had to catch and straighten. Steve rounded a corner and found the two making faces at him in front of a shelf of crystal vases.

"Why you little rats!!" Steve dove for them in rage, only to have the smaller Digimon move away and send him crashing into the shelf. "Oh crap!"

It may have been underwater, but the vases went flying nevertheless. Steve desperately raced about, catching each one before it could strike the floor, wall or ceiling. He was panting by the end of the circus act.

"Dammit! When I get my claws on those two, I'm gonna...aarrghhh!"

The shelf was shoved down onto him, not only smashing Steve to the ground, but the crystal vases he'd worked so hard to save as well.

"GGARRGGGHHH!" Steve roared, pulling himself out from under and pile and going after the Gomamon with goggles.

Surprisingly, the Gomamon just stood there and smile. Steve was almost within reach when he felt something tug at him. Glancing back, Steve realized the other Gomamon had hooked a couple of bungee cords to his back. And the cords were currently pulled taunt.

"OH SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIITTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!" Steve screamed as he was abruptly jerked back, sending him crashing into a whole line of shelves.

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The Gomamon brothers were silently giggling as they watched Steve being dragged away, screaming in protest.

"Hey! Let go of me!! I was framed! Those little pip-squeaks are the ones who did this! I'm innocent!!!!!"

Meanwhile, the brothers were standing and watching, looking all cute and harmless. (Complete with the angle rings above their heads.)

"What's going on here?!" An Ikkakumon demanded, swimming onto the scene.

"Daddy, that big mean Depthmon's been chasing us around for no reason!" The goggle head Gomamon said with a teary eyed-look.

"WHAT?!" Steve cried in outrage. "That's a lie! They're the ones who s…mmuurrghhhhh!"

An Octomon guard stuffed some gooey gel over Steve's jaws, preventing him from saying everything else.

"We're sorry about this sir. This fellow won't be hurting anyone else."

"Should've we check those kids too?" A Hangyomon, the same one from before, asked.

"By all means." Ikkakumon replied.

The Gomamon walked forward and calmly allowed Hangyomon to search them. Hangyomon scratched his head as he came up with nothing.

"Well, I hope that proves it." Ikkakumon said.

"I suppose." Hangyomon nodded.

Steve continued to struggle, uttering muffled cried as the guards dragged him away. The crowd slowly begun to disperse, seeing the action was over.

"Come on you two." Ikkakumon ordered.

"Yes dad." The brothers replied simultaneously.

However, once their father turned his back, the brothers pulled out what they'd hidden beneath the thick fur on his back…the orange/red and black Digivices.

"Cool, now we each have one." The mischievous brothers gave each other high fives.

The brothers didn't realize that a WaruSeadramon was watching them from the shadows.

"The Digivices? Hmmm…those kids may actually have saved us a lot of trouble. I'd better tell the boss about this…"

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This totally, absolutely SUCKS!!! Dammit! Lemme outta here!!

Steve pounded on the walls of his prison in frustration. Their way of detaining trouble makers was locking them in a transparent sphere until a decision could be made about his sentence. It didn't help for his ego that the sphere was located outside the town hall, right in the center of the city.

He'd been screaming so much that the guards that stuffed more of the goo over his mouth and now his jaws were stuck shut. Even his attacks didn't have much effect on his prison.

At least night had fallen and there wasn't anyone out the point and stared at him in his embarrassing situation.

Steve somehow fell asleep in the midst of his exhaustion and was awakened by a tapping sound. The Gomamon brothers were outside the sphere, making faces at him. Forgetting everything, Steve charged in rage, only to smack his face against the wall.

The pair then waved the Digivices in front of Steve to taunt him.

GGaarrgghh! Those little…I'm gonna snap both their scruffy necks and download them alive!!!

The Gomamon suddenly stopped with panicked looks on their faces. Steve was wondering if they'd somehow heard him when a huge shadow fell over them.

The brothers screamed in panic as they were snatched up by a long, serpent-like form. Steve barely even had time to react to the WaruSeadramon swimming away as an even larger shadow fell over him.

"Oh, what do we have here? One little Digimon trapped in a cage?" It was a gigantic, ferocious-looking MetalSeadramon. "Ah well, every little bit of data helps."

Steve stared in horror as MetalSeadramon opened his jaws. A bright light began to flash, indicating that he was preparing to attack.

No! NO! NOO! Steve pounded on the walls. This is NOT the way to die!!!!

"Ultimate Stream!"

The beam of blue energy released and Steve closed his eyes. He was utterly surprised when the beam didn't reduce him to atoms, but instead blew the side of his sphere open.

Dizzy with tension, Steve pulled himself out and saw MetalSeadramon lying on his side, groaning. BlackWargreymon leapt down and landed beside Steve.

"You all right kid? Looks like I got here just in time."

Steve would've kissed him if he wasn't currently occupied. Mumbling, Steve pointed to the goo at his jaws.

"What? I can't hear ya kid, you've got goo in your mouth."

Well, DUH!

"Watch out!" BlackWargreymon grabbed Steve and pulled him away as MetalSeadramon fired again. The warrior stood up, raising his claws. "You go save the kids, I'll take care of this one."

Steve nodded and took off in the direction WaruSeadramon had gone. Apparently, he was having more trouble with the Gomamon brothers than he expected.

"Gargh! Come back here you little pests!" WaruSeadramon roared, easily giving away his position.

Steve followed as he chased the brothers into a dead end alley.

"Grrr…Now I've got you!" The evil Digimon snarled at the terrified brothers.

Steve swam up behind him and put a finger to his jaws.

"Hey mister! Help us! Please!"

Oh! You idiots!

"What?!" WaruSeadramon spun around and Steve punched him in the face. "Argh! Grrr! Dark Blast!"

Steve swam down to dodge the dark, purple energy burst and unleashed his Sargasso Drag. Cables shot out from his claws and wrapped themselves around WaruSeadramon's body and mouth, rendering him unable to attack.

Steve spun the evil dragon round several times before letting go, sending him spinning off, screaming into the distance.

"Thank you, thank you so much!" The two Gomamon jumped into his arms and hugged him. "We're so sorry!"

Fine! Fine! Just tell me how to get my jaws unstuck! Steve's voice was muffled as he pointed to his jaws, but the brothers got the message.

"Oh, I get it!" The goggle head Gomamon smiled. "Hargh!"

He slapped his claws in front on Steve's face, giving him a shock.

"Arggh! Why you little pip-squeaks!" Steve growled, strangling the Gomamon.

"Hey mister, he got your jaws free!" His brother said. "You just needed a good scare to do it!"

"Oh? Yeah, thanks." Steve muttered, using his claws to pick out the remainder of the goo.

"We're really sorry about what we did to you today." The goggle head apologized again. "It was just a joke…"

"Yeah, a way overboard joke!" Steve yelled angrily.

BOOM!

An explosion from nearby rocked the area.

"Oh no! BlackWargreymon!" Steve gasped. "Quick, I need those Digivices back!"

"Here, please take them." The two Gomamon bowed, offering their Digivices.

"Finally." Steve said happily. "Hey, you two have waterproof Digimon Cards or something?"

"Yeah, here." Goggle head showed him a hand of cards.

"Let me borrow this." Steve grabbed one and swam back towards the battle.

BlackWargreymon was using his black shield to guard against MetalSeadramon's Ultimate Stream attack. Despite his efforts, the warrior was slowly being pushed back and finally, his shield shattered, sending BlackWargreymon smashing into a wall with a cry of pain.

MetalSeadramon stood over his opponent, ready to deliver the finishing blow when Steve came up behind him.

"Card Slash! Offense Plug-in A!" The sections on his arms glowed as his attack charged. "Bubble Bomb!"

"Whoa! Cool!" The Gomamon brothers gasped from their hiding place.

"Rraarrghh!" MetalSeadramon growled as Steve's attack connected with the back of his head. "You'll pay for that fool!"

"Oh really?" Steve taunted. "Would you like cash or credit?"

MetalSeadramon charged and lashed at Steve with his tail. Steve was caught at the side of his head and stunned long enough for MetalSeadramon to wrap around him in a Hell Squeeze attack.

"Now you'll…uragh!"

BlackWargreymon had leapt up and jabbed his claws into MetalSeadramon's side, causing him to let go of Steve.

The pair swam behind MetalSeadramon's body.

"He's too heavily armored." BlackWargreymon commented. "It'll take me too long to cut through, even with my Dramon Killers."

"If I can get him to open his mouth, think you can take him out?" Steve asked.

"I think I know what you're planning." BlackWargreymon nodded, swimming off to the side.

MetalSeadramon had turned around by this time and was coming for them.

"Hey! Over here!" Steve called. "Sargasso Drag!"

Firing off the cables from his hands, Steve hooked them around the sides of MetalSeadramon's head. He quickly swam in circles round the aquatic Digimon. By the time MetalSeadramon realized what was happening, he was already entangled. Steve however, wouldn't be able to run with his cables still attached to MetalSeadramon.

"RRaarghh!" Enraged, he opened his mouth and began to charge up his Ultimate Stream.

"Now!" Steve called.

Roaring, BlackWargreymon dashed out, bounced off Steve's shoulders and spun towards MetalSeadramon.

"Black Tornado!" He shouted, putting his claws together.

MetalSeadramon realized what was happening, but it was too late to cancel his attack. BlackWargreymon cut through the sea dragon's head, separating it from the rest of his body. His Black Tornado then proceeded to rip through the rest of MetalSeadramon's body, tearing it to shreds.

MetalSeadramon's head hit the seabed as the rest of his body broke up into data particles.

"This devil's spirit…my water's faith will purify! DIGI-CODE SCAN!" Steve called out, raising his Digivice. He sighed in relief as the blue data stream flowed into his Digivice.

"Yargh…I'm…back…" WaruSeadramon gasped, dragging himself onto the scene. "Now, you're…gonna…Huh? Ugh oh…"

What he saw was Steve and BlackWargreymon standing over MetalSeadramon's decapitated head. BlackWargreymon raised a claw and waved it in front of WaruSeadramon.

"Dramon Killer…" He smiled with a smirk in his voice.

WaruSeadramon looked down at himself with a nervous laugh. (And a big sweatdrop.)

"Er…hehe…er…I…erm…forgot…I&hellip ;left the kitchen sink running and didn't turn it off! Bye! Gotta run!"

The panicked sea serpent shot off like a rocket.

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Several days later…

"So, how did it go?" BlackWargreymon asked as Steve entered his shop.

"I got a formal apology from the town's leaders, and a full pardon for the mess." Steve replied. "That's enough for me. I heard you were the star of the show through. I saw how you turned MetalSeadramon's head into a wall ornament too."

"Well, I couldn't have done it without your help." BlackWargreymon laughed. "Guess I still have a lot of fight left in me after all."

There was a knock on the door and the Gomamon brothers stepped in.

"Hi guys!" Steve smiled. "How are the two of you?"

"We're OK." Goggle head replied. "Thanks to you guys. And, erm…"

He swam up and handed his goggles to Steve.

"It's my good luck charm, and I want you to have it."

"You know, I already have a helmet. These wouldn't fit well on me anyway."

"Then just keep them with you." Gomamon insisted. "And maybe, well, we hope to be heroes like you guys someday."

"I'm sure you will." Steve patted his head. "Nothing's impossible."

"Really? You mean it?"

"Of course." Steve winked. "As long as you remember the promise not to steal anymore."

"Cross our hearts and hope to die." The brothers exclaimed, crossing their front paws.

"Haha, and don't give me too much competition once you guys start kicking butt, OK?"

"OK!" The brothers replied happily. "We've got to go now. See you around sometime mister!"

Steve looked down at the goggles in his hand as the brothers left. They were gray in color with red straps and square shaped lenses.

"BlackWargreymon, you think you could extend these so they'd fit around your head?" Steve asked.

"Sure, but why?"

"I've got a friend who's around your size, and I think he'd look more fitting wearing these goggles than me."

"All right then." BlackWargreymon climbed up to his dry, upper level and walked over to a desk.

Steve pulled his upper body partially through the trap door and watched.

"So, tell me Depthmon, what's that other world of yours like?" BlackWargreymon suddenly asked.

"Huh?!" Steve nearly fainted. "How did you know that?!"

"From the first time I talked to you, I knew you couldn't tell your dorsal fin from your tail. You're from another world, not a sea far away."

"I'm sorry for keeping it from you, but…"

"Don't worry, I understand." BlackWargreymon replied.

BlackWargreymon listened with interest as Steve told his story. By the end of it, the goggles were ready and Steve stuffed them into his belt pouch, along with both Digivices.

"Just follow the map I uploaded onto your Digivice and you'll reach land soon enough." BlackWargreymon told him.

"Thanks again BlackWargreymon." Steve nodded, donning his helmet.

"Good luck." BlackWargreymon knelt down to shake his hand.

That was when Steve noticed the 'scar' on his chest, for lack of a better description. It was something like a black line that made a circle around the center of his chest. The armor within the circle seemed different from the rest of his armor, as if the center portion of it had been replaced.

"This an old battle scar?" Steve queried.

"Oh, you noticed?" BlackWargreymon said, looking down. "To tell you the truth, I'm not sure really. I've had it as long as I can clearly remember. I suffered from a bout of amnesia at one point, and I can't remember any of my lower forms. "

"Gee, that must really bug you."

"Not so, I've moved on. Still, someone once told me it looked as if I'd gotten a large hole blasted in my chest and then had it patched up. But I'm sure I would somehow remember such a traumatic experience. It could be something from my past life for all I know."

"You believe in reincarnation?"

"Some Digimon do, but I'm one of those with a neutral standpoint. I'll believe it once it can be proven. It's a wide world out there, and life is about finding out where you belong, what your hearts calls it a home."

"Yeah, you're right. Only I belong to another world, and I'm going to find my way back no matter what." Steve nodded with resolution. "Well, I have to be going now."

"Farewell Steve, take care."

A couple of minutes later, Steve poked his head back in.

"One more thing, what's my dorsal fin anyway?"

(BlackWargreymon faints.)

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Steve didn't think much of BlackWargreymon's story until he was several days away from town. He was relaxing and taking a break when it just hit him.

Where else had he heard of a BlackWargreymon who got his chest blasted open?

"No way…" Steve muttered. "That one was just a fictional character. Or was he?"

Guess some questions are best left unanswered…