Jessie stumbled out of the train because she wasn’t ready for the step downward as she exited the vehicle. She had almost regained her balance when she tripped over a rock that was right outside of the train. Before she hit the ground, Shadow grabbed onto the back of her sweater and managed to keep her from falling over.

“Watch your step,” a voice from behind said, a little late.

Jessie spun around to see where the voice came from. However, the train left at high speed right after it spoke, so it didn’t give her much time.

“The train was a –mon.” Shadow informed his tamer.

“Oh,” Jessie said, staring at the train as it rapidly faded out of view. “Uh, I didn’t expect it to just drop us off and speed away. When will it be back?”

Shadow shrugged.

“Great…” Jessie said sarcastically. She glanced at her watch and saw that it read 6:00 in the evening. Apparently the train ride took longer than she thought.

“Alright, while we’re here, how ‘bout we do some hiking?” Jessie said, but she didn’t wait for an answer from the Black Agumon before she started off into the mountains. Of course, Shadow quickly followed along.

It was rough trail that Jessie chose, but it was the smoothest she could find. Most of it was uphill, all of it was rocky, but still Jessie enjoyed herself.

Shadow got tired quickly, but made no complaints as they carried on. Eventually it got dark, making it even harder to carry on. Jessie tried to keep going, but it wasn’t long before she accepted the hard fact that they would have to rest there in the wilderness that night.

The place she decided on was nice enough. It was a large patch of even dirt with a few trees blocking some of the cold wind.

Jessie got herself comfortable with her hands behind her head and faced upward. She had never seen the stars so well before, having lived in a bright city all her life.

“What’re,” he paused to swallow, “those?” Shadow asked from his position right beside Jessie.

“Stars,” Jessie said simply.

“What are stars?”

Jessie didn’t answer for a while. Shadow began to think that she didn’t hear him or she just didn’t want to answer, so he clung to the knowledge that these things shining brightly in the sky were called stars as he continued to gaze at them.

“I’ve heard,” Jessie said. “Somewhere… That stars are all the dreams that never come true.”

Shadow’s eyes widened as she saw something fly across the sky.

“Shooting stars,” Jessie said, having seen it too, “Are dreams that come true, I guess.”

“What are dreams?” Shadow asked.

“A dream is something that you’ve always wanted and thought about getting. You know, it’s something you’ve always dreamed about.”

“Do you have any dreams, Jessie?” Shadow asked.

“Everyone has dreams.”

“There’s that many dreams that didn’t come true?”

“There are a lot.”

“How many are yours?” Shadow asked.

Jessie sighed, perhaps annoyed by all the questions or maybe annoyed at the nature of the questions. “At least half of them,” she said.

Shadows eyes scanned the sky. There were so many, though! Could she have so many dreams that would never come true? “That many?” He asked. Then, he spotted something that made him gasp. He pointed toward it with excitement. “There’s a big star there! That must be a big dream that never came true!” Pain shot through his throat. He had raised his voice too much, the pain was terrible. He grabbed his throat and made a moaning that sounded very much like crying.

Jessie turned her head toward Shadow and gave him a curious stare. The Agumon really believed everything she was saying. She rubbed the top of Shadow’s head playfully. “Stars aren’t dreams that never come true, they’re just flaming balls of gas million of miles away,” she said. “And the really big one is just the moon.”

“ReAAlly?” Shadow’s voice cracked as he spoke, a look of disappointment across his face.

“Rest your voice,” Jessie said. She turned to her side, facing away from Shadow and curled herself into a ball, hoping to get some rest.

((And so begins Jessie and Shadow’s first adventure. A mod would be very much appreciated ^^ ))

The minutes ticked by, lapsing gradually into hours as there was naught save the murmur of the wind and a few dark clouds drifting across the sky.

Then the serene silence was interrupted. Booted feet scuffed on the rock, a human form wrapped in a thick navy blue coat. His cane tapped upon the ground with each step, though it seemed more for show rather than balance as his movements were slow but steady and sure.

Coming to a stop over Jesse, the mummymon looked down upon the tamer through his narrow, cunning eyes. "Rise and shine, little human."

((This assumes both fell asleep and didn't wake up as soon as Mummymon got near them))

Jessie was in a very deep sleep by the time the Mummymon came. It had been hard for her to go to sleep at first, the fact that it was cold and she was in the wilderness were very hard circumstances for her to overcome. Her exhaustion eventually forced her to go to sleep.

"Rise and shine, little human."

Shadow awoke immediately at the noise. He had never been fully asleep anyway. The voice that he heard, though he knew almost nothing about it upon just waking up, he knew it didn't belong to Jessie. This was knowledge enough for him to declare it an enemy.

Jessie's eyes opened slowly at first, but upon seeing the feet in front of her they opened wide. Her first guess, in her current, not fully aware state, was that it was a dream. However, the last time she thought that it turned out that it wasn't and she didn't want to risk it with this thing.

She rolled a full circle away from the creature's direction and quickly stood up. From her position, she was able to see the creature's full body.

Shadow hadn't left his spot, but he had changed his stance. He growled, glaring at the Digimon that stood before him. Whatever it was or whatever its intentions were didn't matter, what mattered was that it was there. It being there made it a threat.

Shadow attacked. He opened his mouth wide and attempted to chomp down, as hard as he could, on the Digimon's leg.

It was hard to tell what Mummymon thought of Shadow's rash action, or even if he acknowledged it. The teeth sank deep into his shin, and yet the undead digimon didn't even flinch. Didn't look at the Black Agumon, or even show any other remote sign of discomfort or annoyance. Though since Mummymon a creature wrapped in bandages beneath his overcoat, Shadow would probably be left with a musty, dusty, bitter taste in his mouth.

"Would I be correct in assuming you have only recently arrived in this world, young one?" again he addressed Jesse in his calm and slow voice.

Shadow snorted. The Mummymon’s leg did, indeed, taste terrible. He quickly released and let out a few coughs, trying to get the dust that had made its way into his throat out. He glared at the creature, growling quietly.

“Shadow, heel,” Jessie said quietly and nervously.

Shadow didn’t hesitate in obeying the command. He ran to Jessie and stood by her at her heel, growling and snarling like an angry dog from there.

"Would I be correct in assuming you have only recently arrived in this world, young one?"

“Uh huh,” Jessie said slowly. According to her D-Ban, this creature was a Virus, perfect level called Mummymon. She just hoped that it wasn’t hostile.

The mummymon's cunning eyes flickered across Shadow for one brief instant as the reptile stood by growling, but as before he seemed to deem the Black Agumon not particularly worth his focus.

He nodded once as Jesse spoke. "I am Adgaia, a pleasure to meet you," his slow, pleasant tone fell silent, and the mummy offered the young human a slight nod. He seemed friendly and formal, and yet it would be perfectly normal for someone to sense something sinister about him.

"Welcome to the mountains," he continued, gesturing with his empty hand to the vast, jagged landscape around them. "But I must advise you, this particular area is taken by a group that, to put it mildly, dislikes guests."

"I'm Jessie," the girl said, her tone not super friendly and with a hint of nervousness. She gestured toward the Agumon beside her, who was still obviously angry with the Mummymon. "I call him Shadow." She tried to ignore the way he was acting.

"I don't like it, Jessie," Shadow growled quietly to his tamer, referring to the Mummymon as an 'it'.

"We appreciate the warning, but fortunately we're leaving as soon as it gets bright," Jessie said, ignoring Shadow's statement.

((Sorry for the late and not very good post. I got Guitar Hero III yesterday and ended up playing it all day ^^; ))

((Yeah, there's a friend of mine who got that as soon as it came out, then stayed up until 3 AM to beat it on medium. He's still at it on the higher difficulties. And this is one of those adventures I'm making up as I go along anyways.))

Adgaia again disregarded Shadow's hostility, but bowed as Jesse introduced herself. He tapped his cane briefly upon the rock, listening as the young tamer continued.

"I suppose. But the shadowrunners discovered you almost the moment you entered the mountains," As if to emphasize his point, a few rocks tumbled down from a rocky outcropping further up. A slender, inky purple form shifted, a shadow in the darkness. Red eyes gleamed for the briefest moment, but whatever it was did not move from its high vantage point. "They are scouts of the Dread Legion, just as I am one of its commanders."

Jessie's gaze grazed the spot where the red eyes appeared just long enough to get a glimpse of them. Her head jerked to a position for her to get a better look at the area, however, she wasn't able to identify what it was, or confirm that there had been anything there at all. She turned her attention back to Adgaia when he spoke.

"They are scouts of the Dread Legion, just as I am one of its commanders."

Jessie's head tilted and her face showed an interested expression. "That's an interesting... Occupation?" Jessie said. "What exactly is the Dread Legion?"

"To simplify it, the Legion is a conquering army. Much of the mountains is within the grasp of our Emperor, and elements have begun scouting other areas for addition to our territories." Adgaia's tone remained remarkably light and pleasant considering.

His head tilted slightly to the side, as though he was listening intently to a voice from far away. "Seems there's a few rabble-rousers in the vicinity engaging my fellows. Care for a demonstration of the legion's might?"

"Hm? The Legion's power?" Jessie's head tilted to the side with curiosity. "Would it be smart to watch? I mean, you said they didn't like guests, wouldn't that mean that if they spotted me they'd attack?"

Shadow still hadn't stopped growling, in fact, his growling had only gotten louder as the conversation went on. Why didn't Jessie want him to attack it? It was probably trying to trick them into a trap or something. From what he saw, there was absolutely no reason to trust it. There was plenty reason to not trust it though. For one, he was part of the Dread Legion. Whatever it was, it didn't sound friendly by its name of its description. The only thing that made him confused was why it didn't attack them during their sleep if it was its intention to harm them.

"Ad-gai-a," Shadow growled with a pause between each syllable. "I didn't hear anything," he swallowed. "How far away is it?" He didn't want to follow the Mummymon anywhere, he was mostly asking to see if it would answer him.

"Oh," Adgaia said casually. "They're not without reason. Every once in awhile the Legion comes across a tamer that interests us. A pity the last one didn't accept our offer." His words concluded with an irritated frown.

He continued to largely ignore Shadow's snarls, perhaps merely fueling the Black Agumon's dislike of him. But, he did answer the question raised. "A short ways down the mountain," he pointed with his cane toward a valley below. Flickers of light danced up from the crevice, a multitude of colors and magnitudes, likely the battle he described.

"But... if you don't wish to see, perhaps you would be so kind as tell me why you've come to these mountains in the first place? Seems an odd place to come and sleep."

The Mummymon had actually answered Shadow's question, something he didn't really expect by the way it had been ignoring him. He didn't have time to ponder this long before the lights from below caught his attention. He finally stopped growling as he stared wide-eyed into the direction of the lights. It had be to quite a battle to make all of that light and color. His interest had been breached. He really, really wanted to see what was going on now. Still, no matter how strong his curiosity, he didn't want to trust this Digimon.

"But... if you don't wish to see, perhaps you would be so kind as tell me why you've come to these mountains in the first place? Seems an odd place to come and sleep."

"Uh huh," Jessie mumbled, still not entirely sure why she had wandered so far into the mountains to get herself into her current situation. "Well, I was curious so I went on a train, the train left dropped us off and left, I decided to go hiking, I got a little lost, it got dark, we went to sleep. Really it just wasn't one of my brighter plans," Jessie glanced once in the direction Shadow was staring. "If you can guarantee these Legion people won't attack us, I suppose there's no harm in taking a look at what's going on."

Shadow moaned and prodded Jessie. "I don't lIIike it," Shadow whispered the statement he had said earlier, his voice cracking slightly.

"Rest your voice. And don't worry about it, we'll take a peak then go," Jessie said quietly to her partner.

"The ones battling below are common footsoldiers. They are incapable of disobeying orders given to them by their superiors, and they already know not to harm you or your partner. Come," he said, with a flutter of his coat in the wind the Mummymon set off at a brisk but not unmatchable pace for the duo, down a path that wound through the rocky landscape but without a doubt led toward the valley below where the continuing flashes of light showed the battle still in progress.

"They are insurgents," Adgaia spoke as he walked along, no doubt explaining those whom the Legion battled against below. "Calling themselves the Obsidian Order. Previously they only ran and hid among the shadows, not daring to take challenge us, but lately they've been launching hit and run attacks against our forces. But we managed to catch one of their raiding parties in an ambush moments ago."

((cue timeskip to arriving at the battle, if you don't mind))

"Here we are," said the Mummymon, coming to a stop on a ridge dotted with rough shrubbery. Below them stretched a now-dry riverbed, the winding currents had died away and left a large, flat area for the battle to commence.

A dozen purple forms that almost seemed to be made from the shadows themselves prowled like hungry sharks around a handful of diverse digimon whom stood back to back, watching their foes. There was a flutter on the breeze, creatures that might have been bats swooping through the night.

One of the prowling shadows leapt forward, intent on attacking the form who stood at the center of the surrounded warriors. But the pale, cloaked humanoid, a Wizarmon, sent a powerful lightning bolt scorching towards his assailant. By the light of the attack, the lean, powerful form of a wolf was revealed, with wickedly sharp foreclaws and bat wings growing along the sides of the head and neck.

The Sangloupmon was struck in the gut, landing with a crash among its kin who still prowled their slow circle around their prey. The warriors in the center remained where they stood, neither side attacking for the moment.

"The ones battling below are common footsoldiers. They are incapable of disobeying orders given to them by their superiors, and they already know not to harm you or your partner. Come,"

Jessie frowned, a somewhat annoyed, yet confused look across her face. After a moment of hesitation, she followed behind Adgaia. Shadow walked at Jessie’s heel, his eyes not leaving the Mummymon.

“Here we are,”

Jessie approached the ridge and stood about two feet away from the actual edge, from there she watched the event unfold. Her mouth dropped open half an inch at the sight of what occurred. She turned toward Adgaia, her head tilted slightly to the right with interest. "So, which ones are the Obsidian Order and which ones are the Legion?” She asked.

"The warriors in the center, the Order, those surrounding them, the Legion." Adgaia explained, resting his cane upon the the rocky ledge and sweeping his leering eyes across the battlefield.

The Wizard's attack had also illuminated his fellows, a humanoid dressed white with a pink cloth draped from his body, an ornate helmet covering his head from the bridge of the nose up, twin wings on his back, Pidmon. Another creature, bipedal as well but with the draconic influences, white and blue scales, three-clawed hands, and a body largely encased in golden armor. Magnamon. Rounding out the outnumbered warriors was a small feline covered in pure white fur, with gloves on her paws, tufts on her ears, and a long tail adorned by a ring. Tailmon. The three seemed to look to Wizarmon as their leader, between the distance, his cowl, and the pointed hat on his head, his face was barely visible, but his eyes blazed with determination.

"Ohhhh," drawled the mummymon "When will you give up, Kradis?" he clearly knew, or at least knew of, the Wizarmon leading the Order's warriors below.

Several the circling Sangloupmon suddenly stopped, then in a flash they bombarded the surrounded warriors with dozens of needle-like spines. But the Wizarmon's shout echoed across the valley and the sticker blades were deflected in all directions. At another shout, the stalemate broke, the calm was over, the the maelstrom began again. The four stayed back to back as the wolves closed in, howling for blood as the blows came too fast for the eye to track.

"They'll be dealt with soon enough," Adgaia wore an unkind, malicious smile on his face. A high, piercing shriek like that of an enormous bird of prey shattered the night sky. Wind suddenly hammered the ledge where the trio stood, a broad form shooting overhead. A long tail whipped behind it, huge leathery wings spread to either side of a long, spindly body, and as it banked toward the valley below, the four red eyes could be seen gleaming in the darkness. "The Order is unwilling or more likely, simply unable to field the forces necessary to oppose us. They merely delay the inevitable."

"The warriors in the center, the Order, those surrounding them, the Legion."

"Hmm," Jessie moaned, one finger tapping her chin. She kept it in mind as she watched the event continue. Even as she did, she couldn't help but be slightly afraid of what could happen if the creatures spotted her. Adgaia had said that they wouldn't attack her, for whatever reason, but these creatures fighting below still gave her a feeling of fear that she couldn't avoid. They were, of course, Digimon, like Shadow had explained shortly after she had first arrived in the Digital World. How were they doing the things that they were doing? Where did the needle-like spines come from? How were they deflected?

What was it about these 'Digimon' that made them able to do things like this? Could Shadow do things like that?

"They'll be dealt with soon enough"

Jessie's thoughts were interrupted when she heard the shriek and felt the wind blow against her. For a moment, sheer terror went over her as the creature flew overhead. As she got a better look at it she only felt more fear, but relief as she saw that it wasn't going after her.

Shadow glared at the figure as it flew overhead. As much as he wanted to attack it, he knew that Jessie wouldn't want him to. Just like he knew that Jessie wouldn't want him to ram into the Mummymon and push him off the ridge. He kept quiet from his position, observing everything carefully. Something was sure to go wrong eventually. He couldn't easily shake the feeling that the Mummymon was no good and he wasn't about to try hard.

For better or worse, if Shadow did have a change of heart and elected to knock into the Mummymon, between the undead digimon's proximity to the edge and overall lack of attentiveness to anything save the battle below, he'd likely succeed. Adgaia hummed contentedly to himself, as though watching a battle unfold was no more pressing than waiting for a bus. "Not going to use that tamer gadget on your wrist?" Even though he addressed Jesse, he made no effort to face or even look at her. "It'll identify each of the digimon fighting below. Or have you not yet learned how to operate it?"

Despite appearances, the Order's warriors were at an advantage. The Sangloupmon could not use their sticker blades with so many of their fellows in the line of fire, and the numbers likewise made it difficult to approach for melee combat. Kradis's fellows took their advantage in earnest, and in seconds several of the Sangloupmon had fallen.

The Devidramon circled above the battlefield but did not engage, its four ghastly red eyes settling upon the battle below as though it waited for some unknown signal to join the fray.

Kradis, a veteran warrior of the Order, was filled with the usual chilled calm he displayed during battle. As claws slashed, lights flashed, and two more Sangloupmon were destroyed, his eyes briefly found the distant ledge were the spectators stood. That mummymon... Adgaia? But... he squinted, trying to make out the figures along with the undead commander. Who're they? Could the Legion finally have succeeded in recruiting a tamer to their ranks? But his diversion cost the wizard, a Sangloupmon's vicious claws raking across his torso.

With a cry of pain he stumbled backwards, Magnamon catching before he could fall. But like any predator, the seven remaining Sangloupmon sensed the weakness and prepared to press the attack.

"Uh," Jessie moaned, still getting over the startle that the winged creature had caused her. After a moment, she spoke, her tone was normal but she kept a close eye on the creature flying above them. "I'm not exactly sure how to use it. All it ever does is say some crap about attributes or levels."

When she finally started to accept that the winged creature wasn't doing anything, she glanced back down to the battle. Just as she did she saw the hooded Digimon take the hit in his torso. She then noticed the wolf-like Digimon taking the opportunity and attacking harder. The battle had her full attention again.

Shadow watched everything carefully. He let out a quiet growl as he saw the Wizardmon spot them, but stopped when he saw it take the hit to the chest. It didn't seem to him like the battle would last much longer. The sooner it was done, the sooner they could leave, since Jessie seemed to have changed her mind on getting just a quick look at the battle.

As Kradis regained his footing with Magnamion's aid, Tailmon and Pidmon rushed forward to cover their comrades against the advancing Sangloupmon.

The two nodded to one another, ready.
"Cat's Eye!"
"Fire Feather!"

Tailmon's eyes glowed violet, attempting to lull some of the attackers into a trance and leave them vulnerable to the volley of flaming feathers shooting from Pidmon's wings. But it seemed the Sanloupmon would not fall for the hypnotic attack as they charged, dissolving into shadows so that the attack passed harmlessly and their charge resumed.

In a flash of steely claws Pidmon was deleted, several Sangloupmon at once too much for even the trained warrior.

"Neko Punch!" Tailmon screamed, lashing out with her claws at her comrade's killers. But although one fell, the others rounded upon the much smaller foe.

"Magical Game!" Kradis had recovered, blasting the wolves backwards with a powerful surge of arcane energies. But he was too late, the Tailmon had been deleted by the lupine adversaries. This left the wizard alone with Magmamon, the odds growing worse by the moment.

With another piercing screech Devidramon suddenly broke from his position over the battlefield. Dive-bombing toward the two surviving order members, he seemed intent on bringing the battle to a close.

Magnamon shouted something inaudible at this distance to his comrade, before vaulting into the air and launching a barrage of missiles. Kradis called something after him, but then hung his head. When his gaze rose again, his eyes fell for milliseconds upon each Sangloupmon before he simply... disappeared. One minute the Wizarmon was there, the next, gone as though he'd never been there to begin with.

Devidramon was lost in a cloud of smoke and fire as the missiles struck, but the demonic dragon's swoop was hardly hindered. With cruel red claws he met Magnamon as the warrior rose higher into the air, slicing the hapless armor digimon clear in half before his body exploded into data. With an ominous wind, the data dispersed, drifting deeper into the mountains.


At the cliffside, Adgaia glanced over at Jesse. "Well, you'd best figure that sort of thing out. The digital world is a dangerous place, if you don't have allies to look after you, you must take care of yourself."

Wityh a dark chuckle he watched the conclusion of the battle. "So like you Kradis," he gave a toothy smirk. "Run away and leave your comrades to die."

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you," said a sudden voice. Sure enough, standing behind the trio, each of whom was likely to feel some degree of alarm, was Kradis the Wizarmon. Wounded but alive from the battle below, his eyes burned with an inner fire, his staff leveled at the Mummymon standing at the cliff edge.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you,"

Shadow spun around, growling and snarling as soon as he heard the voice. Again, he was faced with a threat. Unfortunately, this time there were two threats: Adgaia and Kradis. He could chop down on the Wizardmon's leg like he had tried on the Mummymon, that would leave both him and his tamer open for a surprise attack from Adgaia.

"Pepper Breath!" He roared. A ball of fire escaped from Shadow's mouth and hurled toward the Wizardmon. He stood at Jessie's heel still, in between her and Adgaia.

Jessie turned around just as fast as Shadow did when she heard Kradis. She was, to put it lightly, very amazed when she saw the ball of fire fly from the Agumon's mouth.

The situation had turned to a very surprising one. Not only had Kradis suddenly appeared behind them, but Shadow blew a ball of fire from out of his mouth. So he did have some kind of power like the other Digimon had.

She felt Shadow's claw poke her hip lightly. She took a glance to where he had prodded her and remembered the sword sitting in the sheath strapped to her belt that she had bought in the city. She drew the sword and held it with two hand in front of her. She was clueless of how to actually successfully use a katana, but maybe she could get lucky and hit something other than herself with it.

"Magical Game!" blue light leapt from Kradis's golden staff, a tendril of it reaching out and slamming into Shadow's fireball. The flaming projectile was knocked of course by the mage's spell, sending it crashing harmlessly into a cliff face.

"Tamer," Kradis's green eyes settled on Jesse with utmost seriousness. "Whom do you serve? Is it the likes of the Legion?" But his staff remained leveled at the Mummymon, apparently not believing that Shadow or the sword-wielding teen constituted a serious threat to him at this moment.

Adgaia strode several steps forward but still remained between Shadow and the cliff edge, eying the human with beady-eyed interest. "Good," he murmured under his breath. If that Agumon is already showing outward hostility toward Kradis, perhaps it would further us toward the girl considering the legion her ally. There was a flurry of navy blue as the Mummymon swung his overcoat off, revealing the grayish skin and tan bandages of his true form. In his hands he held a large firearm of unusual design, Obelisk. But he was only readying himself battle, not yet willing or perhaps not yet risking to engage in battle until he knew where Jesse felt her loyalties were, and how Kradis would respond.

"Uhm," Jessie grunted in response to Kradis' question. "One... second..." she crouched down in order to get close enough to whisper to the Agumon beside her.

"I don't think either of them are going to be hostile toward us until we attack one. I think is we attack Kradis, Adgaia will help and visa versa," she whispered, hopefully quiet enough for no one else to hear. "This seems like a dangerous situation but we've been hanging with Adgaia this whole time and he hasn't done anything too suspicious so I think we should side with him."

"Er," Shadow grunted, not wanting to side with either of them. As much as he didn't trust the new arriver, he had even worse feelings about the Mummymon. He was sure that as soon as he left Jessie's side it would attack her. He didn't want to risk it. He looked at the Mummymon through the corner of his eye. He had kept in mind for a long time that one good shove would send it off the cliff. He didn't want to loose the opportunity and if they started fighting the Wizardmon they probably would.

As much as he wanted to listen to Jessie, he had come to the conclusion that, at least this time, she was wrong.

Shadow went with his plan. He moved as fast as he possibly could and attempted to ram into the Mummymon with all the strength he could muster.

((Err, really, really sorry this post was so late ^^; ))

((Quite alright ;) ))

Adgaia wasn't sure what he was expecting, but the blackish blur of Shadow suddenly slamming into his stomach wasn't it. "Miserable Lizard!" he snarled, pitching backwards, the barrel of his gun thrown to the side, leaving him momentarily defenseless. A vulnerability that was soon capitalized on.

"Thunder Cloud!" The Wizarmon's incantation rang with an indefinable strength, sending electricity crackling along the mage's sun-tipped staff before exploding forth in a lance like lightning accompanied by the tiniest of thunder claps, sounding not unlike a loud firecracker.

The Mummymon's words were lost as he pitched backward over the cliff edge, for a painful but possibly not fatal landing below. But alive or dead, he wasn't a concern of the three remaining on the cliff for now.

"I suppose that answers my question," Kradis propped his staff against the ground and held it like a walking stick while keeping his wary eyes trained on Jesse and Shadow. They'd attacked Adgaia. That meant they weren't members of the Legion. But then why would the girl and her partner be in the company of one of the Legion's commanders? Perhaps they'd been brought here against their will? He had questions, questions he could answer only by speaking to them.

"I am Kradis," the mage's head inclined ever so slightly, his alert-but-not-hostile gaze not leaving either as he did so. "Of the Obsidian Order. Who might you two be?"


The ground-based forces of the legion were of no concern, but the Devidramon that had arrived to mop up the battle wheeled higher and higher into the air, his quartet of unblinking crimson eyes locking on the cliffside throughout his ascent.

((Edit: This makes my 900th post O.o))

((Hehe, nice. Congratulations :D ))

"Of the Obsidian Order. Who might you two be?"

"I'm, um," Jessie said, still staring toward the cliff where the Mummymon had fallen. The surprise of Shadow suddenly attacking someone who hadn't done them any harm surprised her quite a bit.

"Jessie May," she introduced herself.

Shadow took his place beside Jessie at her heel. He glared at the Digimon from there, carefully watching its every move. It had helped him defeat the annoying Mummymon and hadn't yet attack him or Jessie so he refrained from attacking him for the moment.

"And this is Shadow," Jessie continued. She examined the Wizarmon, intrigued by the way its shape almost looked human and since she couldn't see beyond the shade of its hood she was almost convinced that it was human. Of course it wasn't though, it had used spells or whatever one might call them. Humans couldn't do that.

"Adgaia mentioned the Obsidian Order," Jessie said. "He didn't have anything nice to say about them. You have some kind of rivalry going or something?" she asked.

The Wizarmon respectfully inclined his head for a moment as the introductions were finished. His eyes flickered toward the rising Devidramon, but the demonic dragon still showed no particular desire to engage. Still, the mage did not fall into a false sense of security. Devidramon was likely acting as a sentry until other Legion forces could be mobilized to deal with the intruders.

"He didn't have anything nice to say about them. You have some kind of rivalry going or something?"

Kradis gave a snort, still holding his staff at the side. "Depends on whom you ask. The Order is engaged in far more than just fighting the Dread Legion. I think the reason we, that is to say, the Order, annoy them so much is because we're the only ones who can stand and put up an organized fight. Lone, wild digimon are no match, and most of the human/digimon teams who run across the Legion do not fare very well. Two in particular were nearly killed."

"Now," he said gravely "If you attacked one of their commanders, it's clear you're no friend of the Legion. You should leave this area immediately before their reinforcements arrive."