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I will keep this short because I could fill tons of journals with everything that has happened to me since the last chapters and who would read them anyway. So I'll just say this: a huge thanks to Vysil Without him this one wouldn't have been possible!

Disclaimer: You know the drill! I don't claim ownership todigimon, non-original characters and so on. All others may be used withpermission. This part includes consensual sex between an anthro and a human. Ifyou are offended by it, or don't like it, either skip the scene or don't readit at all. You have been warned.

Chapter 4: New Purpose

Born fromchange the choices we make essentially come down to two ways. Either you rejectwhat is happening, ignore your life's progress and remain who you are. Or youlearn to accept the choices you have made and maybe find something more. Embracing ambition could lead to a new purpose.

Very little and inconsiderable things can be incredible,like having your favorite dish or nice weather when you have the time to enjoyit. Sadly these things tend to become common with time. Then there are the moreamazing yet possible events. For example winning in a lottery or overcoming aterrible illness. These are often unlikely nonetheless not less amazing.

The more Sam read of the digivice the more he realized that this device was onan entirely different level. It was simply incredible, given that its functionsapparently transcended the possible. He studied the manual for what felt likehours. All along he deciphered the text for Aurora and discussed with her whatit meant. Basically the core of the digivice's purpose was to establish a linkbetween two beings, in this case the human and the renamon. If he understood itcorrectly they could communicate through the digivice.

"So, what does this mean communicate?" asked Aurora after he explained it toher again. "Does this mean speaking through the digivice with each other?""Not only that, but seeing in each other'smind," answered Sam. He found the exact phrasing of the manual oddly vague andhard to grasp, in some cases however it made sense. Maybe the manual was tryingto hint at more somehow hidden meanings, otherwise Sam couldn't explain thestrange word constructs there.

"It sends thoughts?" Aurora just guessed from his words. "Thoughts, emotions... Everything you perceive and feel can be experienced onboth sides!" Sam couldn't keep his excitement under control. This was likebeing a kid in a toy store and someone said you could keep everything you foundin the store as long as you could carry it. Now he had the feeling of full armswith just the digivice in his hands. Aurora seemed to absorb the informationmore lightly than him.

"Oh, that definitely sounds promising. I can imagine some uses for sharingfeelings." The renamon threw a lusty look at Sam that distracted him from hisother thoughts absolutely. He started to get ideas about 'communicating'with Aurora. Then he shook them off, there was time for this later. "Even memories and strength is considered as communication by the digivice. And I think that is what happened in the fight with Golemon," said Sam, which made Aurora frown at him. When they fought the champion level digimon a single cardcombined with the power of the digivice had made Aurora strong enough to defeatthe foe. Still Sam had gotten hit and somehow miraculously survived the attack. Even now she didn't quite know what exactly had happened there. Maybe sheshould be thankful, if it weren't for the digivice Aurora probably wouldn'thave had the courage to confess her love to Sam.

"Look, as I said before the cards can save power, objects and much more. So byswiping a card that contained strength through the digivice this strength wassent to you. Then you defeated Golemon and absorbed its data, which healed yourwounds." Aurora nodded. So far everything Sam said was clear. "After that youmay have sent some of the data, your ability to heal, or maybe bothunconsciously to me and thereby saving me from near death." The renamon tookher time to grasp Sam's meaning. She remembered the rush of strength from thecard, followed by the increase of power due to Golemon's code. But she didn'tremember feeling weaker by giving Sam some of her power. If all of this wastrue, then how had she done it?

"If you say it like that it does make sense. So, you think I can use thedigivice, too." A little surprised by Sam's assumption Aurora thought about it. When the digivice suddenly appeared and reacted to Sam she felt a little leftout, but all of this sounded like this thing was there to help both of them andto bring human and renamon together. That sounded great to Aurora, she wouldn'tmiss out on feeling closer to Sam and the part about emotions or memories wasquite exciting.

"I do, otherwise I can't explain what happened. However I still have to figureout how to make the digivice work at all. Let's start with a littleexperiment!" On the table right next to the digivice rested the augmentedreality glasses of Sam's father. It was a pair of crude synthetic glasses heldtogether by a simple frame made out of wire and other electrical parts. Theysurely didn't look fashionable, but they never needed to. When Aurora had foundthe glasses Sam was reminded of the day his father had given them to him. Hewas full of hope and dreams then, as he showed the glasses to little Sam.

'You always thought this technology was the future,' spoke Sam in hismind, as if he was talking to his deceased parent. A sudden sadness overcame Sam and he tried his best to suppress it. He didn't want Aurora to feel bad forcausing this little trip down memory lane. 'I wonder what you would havesaid about the digivice... Maybe it would have been the society-changing tool youhoped to create. And what about Aurora, would you have accepted her?' Thinkingback on his father Sam found that after ten years his memories of the man justbecame more blurry, yet he liked to believe that his old-man would haveapproved of Aurora and accepted her into their family with open arms.

Ending this train of thought, that didn't lead anywhere, Sam looked for thecorresponding gloves, which didn't take long fortunately. He put the gloves onand was aware that Aurora was watching him with clear anticipation. Next camethe glasses, without a word he put them on as well. Flipping a switch theaugmented reality - for short AR - equipment started up and lines of textappeared in his field of vision. The AR stuff took quite some getting used to,all of this text and icons over his normal visions was very confusing. Sam hadalmost never used this technology, but hopefully he would soon. He issued a setof voice commands from the digivice's manual and hoped for the best. A littleloading symbol appeared, followed shortly by a 'CONNECTING SUCCESSFUL'. So much for the hard part! Looking around Sam found that except for the glowingsymbol in the corner of his field of vision, nothing had changed. Somehow hehad expected much more from the strange and unexplainable device.

Confused Sam walked in front of the computer screen, where all the objects fromthe installation of the digivice remained. They looked a little different,somehow sharper than before. Sam had an idea, but could it be that simple? Withone of his hands he reached for the screen, stopped short right in front of itand grabbed a symbol of the digivice in the middle of the screen with hisgloved hand. As he moved away from the computer screen again the symbolremained in his hand. Pleased that it did work Sam moved around, the symbol inhis hand, until he suddenly let go. Light shot from his hands while all aroundthe room icons and symbols appeared. It was a symphony of colors that theglasses enabled him to see.

'As if the AR equipment was made just for this day,' thought Sam withpleased astonishment. He just stood there in awe, watching the moving andshining objects, when he noticed Aurora. The renamon looked around as well. Shehad an admiring glance just as he did. Was she able to see all of this, eventhough she had no glasses or anything? He wondered aloud as the objects aroundthem began to settle for a more ordinary sight.

"You can see that?" Aurora nodded. To her it looked like moving bits of codethat assembled to different shapes. However this movement was accompanied by aslight green and bluish glow that she couldn't quite place. It just feltsomehow different than the rest. All of it happened so fast that Aurora had theimpression of standing in a storm of data.

"This is remarkably weird... yet beautiful," said Aurora as the storm died down. "I've never seen anything like it." She moved to Sam, who stood still in themiddle of the room like a conductor before leading an orchestra. If somethingthat beautiful happened again, Aurora wanted to stay by Sam's side and at leasthold his hand. As the renamon went to him she barely touched an icon, whichlooked like a hand holding a question mark. Immediately the object reacted toher contact, it opened up almost in an exploding manner. She was so startledthat she sprung to the side, ready for battle and eyeing the place where theicon just was.

"Relax, this is totally normal. Though I didn't expect you could touch thesethings, much less that you could see them." Sam appeased Aurora, who calmedvisibly. Looking at the vanished icon he saw a video starting. It explained thebasic AR controls, how fortunate. Tipping, holding, moving and resizing all ofthis was pretty basic stuff. But some controls were of use, like a helpcommand, which could be issued by drawing a question mark. He felt adventurousnow, so he began to draw question marks on random objects, while Aurora made alittle room for him.

"Mode control," began the textual explanation of a pretty big icon. "There arefour modes that enable the different functions. Exploration mode allowstracking highlighted targets through their coordinates." Sam was reminded offollowing the compass to the Other Worlds store. "Battle mode ensures the quickuse of tactics and cards." This probably happened while fighting Golemon. "Analyze mode enables the thorough use of available information. Data Modeallows the management of information and cards. You are now in 'analyze mode'." Sam couldn't discern whether he had experienced the last two before, but thisexplanation was still helpful. Maybe all of this could help him understand thedigivice. He touched the symbol for mode control, which changed into a turningwheel. As Sam turned it all symbols around them altered themselves, some justmoved, while others grew or vanished. The procedure was over in a matter ofseconds and even though the room hadn't really changed, it had a differentimpression now.

"Look at this," said Aurora, who was standing next to a glowing object. Walkingover to her Sam realized that she held the cards in her paws and aside fromthat part of him noticed how close they stood to each other and how beautiful Aurora was. He focused his attention on the cards again. Through his glasses Sam saw a faint glow around the deck of cards.

"I wonder what that means..." He took one of the cards from her and as Samstudied the card, which was framed by a red light, lines of text started toappear. With curiosity Sam read the text, it was a summary of the card'sproperties or in this case it's content. "Well, would you look at that? This here says that this card was made in ourlast fight," spoke Sam smirking. All of this was exciting and he was itching totry more of the digivice's unbelievable powers. It seemed to be the keycomponent to unveil all the mysteries that had revolved around the human andthe renamon.

"It does look like Golemon's code, but I can't say what part of him it isexactly. However the design suggests it's something violent." Sam was surprisedthat Aurora could detect so much just by looking at the card, it clearly had adigital component, but to him this part was undecipherable. Maybe the digivicepresented everything different to her, this way she could understand the factseven though she couldn't read human writing. Did she see the letters at all? Orit just had to do something with her being a digimon. Back in Aurora's worldeverything would probably be some kind of data.

"You are right! It's one of Golemon's attacks, the rock punch." As he said thatto Aurora Sam wondered what would happen if he swiped the card through thedigivice, providing that it did work at all. Would Golemon's fist appear out ofthin air to punch a nonexistent enemy, or would it give someone the power touse the rock digimon's ability? Before he could ponder any more Auroradistracted him with a question.

"So how does this work?" The question was simple and so far Sam had no realanswer. In these situations Sam's father used to say simple questions needsimple answers. His wisdom, or at least the part of it that Sam was able toabsorb, was always helpful. "Well, there is one easy way to find out. Pass me the digivice and we will findout." He couldn't think of any better way than just using the card. Aurora gavehim the digivice. Card and device in hand Sam hesitated for a moment.

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" asked the renamon a little worried. "No, actually... But I'm out of ideas. Do you want me to stop?" This could bedangerous and Sam didn't want her to get hurt. She may be vastly stronger thanhim, that didn't mean that she was invincible though. Getting a beating wassomething Sam could manage, but seeing her in pain was something else entirely,even more so after they had just become a couple. Maybe he should just leavethe digivice be and let it do whatever it does the whole time. Simultaneously hehad the distinct feeling that nothing would go wrong.

"Go on. I just wanted to make sure that you are determined." Aurora justshrugged, for she was just as curious as Sam was and wanted to get familiarwith this thing if it did live up to its promises. Nevertheless Aurora didn'twant to sound too eager. Her parents had often reminded her to mind hermanners. "Just do it."

With the card in one hand and the digivice in the other Sam stood therecreating a moment of tension, as he hesitated for a short moment. Determined hedrew the card through the digivice's scanner. His vision reacted to this eventalmost instantly. First of all the card changed, getting entirely blank, eventhe text disappeared. Then the digivice got surrounded by glowing light, whichseemed to flow out from the little object. Right above his hand Sam saw asymbol for a fraction of a second. It had looked like the mix between a numberand an arrow. Sam wasn't sure why the icon had appeared, but shortly after itleft the light from the digivice flowed to Aurora and concentrated around herleft paw.

The renamon could see everything clearly, she watched in awe as the coderearranged itself around her. It condensed, solidified and formed a big rockyfist, just like Golemon's hands had been. Flexing her changed fist Aurora triedto move it. To her satisfaction she found everything in working order. Hermovement wasn't impeded by the rocky fingers and she could feel everything likenormal. Actually her changed fist felt even stronger than before, though itlooked ridiculous to have one paw at roughly double the size of the other. Ifthere had been a target Aurora would have loved to test this appendage, but Sam's room didn't seem suitable for fighting. With disappointment and somerelief Aurora realized that the code around her paw seemed to be unstable. Itwould disintegrate in a matter of moments, which could be a problem in a realbattle.

Sam just watched the renamon with interest and not until she seemed unperturbedby the sudden changes did he realize that he had held his breath in concern. Now that Aurora was clearly safe Sam could focus on what the card and digivicedid. To him Golemon's giant fist on her slender and beautiful body looked justsilly, however useful it may be to have a hand of rock that can punch throughwalls. She flexed her changed fist. It looked like Aurora could move the rockyhand with ease. All of this was amazing! Sam could think of many ways, whereusing the strengths of defeated opponents could be useful and if he got this towork, maybe he would be able to do more miracles with the digivice.

In the corner of his vision Sam suddenly registered something. There was atimer, which decreased fast. He had the distinct feeling that the numbersbelonged to Golemon's fists. Of course using these powers indefinitely wouldhave been too good to be true. Now only seconds remained until the timer wouldreach zero. Right next to the rapidly decreasing numbers were other symbols,their purpose was unknown to Sam. Still his curiosity drew him to the symbols. With his gloved hand he touched one randomly, which flashed alive for thefraction of a second.

Suddenly Sam felt a tickling sensation on his right hand, surprised he lookedat it. He saw the hand changing, just like Aurora's had before and momentslater Sam had the ridiculously huge fist of Golemon instead of his normal humanhand. The digivice's manual had claimed that it was possible for Sam to use thecards for himself, though he never would have guessed that it did work. Now Samcould see clearly that it was possible. With the sudden urge to punch somethingthe human inspected his new fist. All of this was just strange, he didn't loseany feeling or flexibility, yet his hand felt awkward, like it didn't belong tohim. Before long the timer reached zero and the rocky fist dissolved into thinair.

"What do you think?" asked Sam after a moment of silence. The digivice didn'tcease to amaze Sam and the human still wondered where it did come from. For themoment though he had different ideas and started to make plans in his head whathe would try next with this unbelievable technology. Aurora herself seemedthoughtful as she watched the digivice, then she looked at Sam.

"This is cool! Let's do more stuff." With childish glee Sam realized that shewas at least as excited as he was. It was good that they shared the sameenthusiasm and apart from that Sam had the distinct feeling that there was moreto all of this. The cards were either a useful tool or the key to everything. Whatever they were Sam needed to figure them out for many reasons, one of themwas, that he wanted to help Aurora return home and apart from that there washis own curiosity. Maybe all these unexplainable mysteries would finally end. "Come on. There is much we have to try."

There was a deafening bang. Blood and burnt flesh rained in all directions. Nicholas Kane couldn't care less that he got splattered with gore. Finally thelast one was gone, replacing the thrill of the hunt with boredom. This wholemission had started so promising. It was three days ago, when the colonel had briefed Kane's unit. Sitting in aplane all of them were strapped to their seats, as the engines thrummednoisily. Except for the colonel only the other five members of Kane's unit werepresent. Jameson their radio operator, Vazquez specialty explosives, Turnerclose combat master and last but not least captain Mitchell, who was theirleader.

"Alright boys! The mission is simple and easy," said the colonel. He must havebeen old enough to be retired. "We're going to drop you off and from there youmake your way north. There is a small enemy outpost there. Your mission is toscout and acquire information. In three days we will pick you up again." Thatdid sound easy, almost too easy.

"How strong is their fortification? And how many men are we facing?" asked Mitchell the colonel. "Satellite images show, what looks like an old empty warehouse, we couldn't seeany heavy weaponry, but be ready for anything. As for numbers, there areapproximately 30 men stationed, so I advise you to remain unseen. There will beno radio contact. We don't want you to risk being spotted." Seemed like anawful lot of manpower for an outpost that was assumed to be insignificant. Probably that was the reason why his team was sent to scout.

"What will happen when the mission is finished?" "After we have your report of the situation it will be up to command to decidewhether this enemy should be taken care of... If you ask me these fuckers shouldbe obliterated. Any more questions?" The situation seemed manageable toNicholas Kane, but it wasn't his place to suggest anything. Everything wasclear, so they began the mission. It started by the book. They jumped off theplane, landing with ease, before the long hike to the north began. Yet itwasn't long before it started to go horribly wrong.

The landscape around them couldn't decide whether it liked dry rocky paths withscarce bushes or overgrown woods more. At the moment it was like a mixture ofboth, a mountainous wood so thick with plants that you had to watch every step. Mitchell was at the front scouting ahead, though remaining in sight, next came Turner and James making their way through tall grass, while Vazquez and Kanemade up the rear.

"Hey Kane, I heard some things about you." Vazquez broke the professionalsilence. He didn't seem that bright. "Like what?" Kane liked to keep it short and straightforward. People thatdidn't get to the point had something to hide. Even so it wasn't like Kanedidn't have something to hide. "Well, that you are an insane shooter for instance. The guys at the base saidif one gave you a sniper rifle you could hit anything." Vazquez started to geton Kane's nerves. For a moment he considered shooting him.

"That is the whole point of rifles... increased accuracy," was his only answer. Shooting Vazquez was not an option of course. The others would frown upon suchan act. He was part of the unit and therefore still of use to them and it wouldbe a total waste of bullets. The team halted suddenly a small stream had crossed their way and right infront of them was a rocky ledge, which was at least sixty feet deep. Luckily itwasn't that steep, still the wet rocks would be a pain to climb down.

"What do we do now?" asked Jameson as one after the other looked down. On thesides the ledge seemed to go on forever, vanishing into the woods. "We go around of course," was Turner's answer. No, looking for a way would costthem precious time, so Kane interfered speaking unemotional. "Going around could take us hours or longer. We have to carry out the mission." Everyone was turning to Mitchell now. As captain he was the highest rankingofficer of them, his decisions would be carried out by either of them. Helooked thoughtful for a moment, and then he sat his backpack down and retrieveda rope.

"We are climbing down." As Mitchell fastened the rope to a nearby tree,everyone got ready to climb down. The captain was the first one and though youcould see that he had to watch every step, he reached the bottom with ease. Turner and Jameson followed. "About some rumors I heard..." Vazquez got on Kane's nerves some more. When theother two were safe Kane started to climb down with the help of the rope,ignoring that Vazquez tried to talk to him.

"Is it true, that you got the best result in the stealth tests ever? This guythat owes me money said that they didn't find you for days, the instructorsassumed you ran away until you just showed up." It was true that Kane'sdouble-edged reputation was building up. It was true and at the same timerandomly exaggerated. Vazquez was following him down. The rocks were slick withwater and moss, which made every step quite insecure. "Less talking, more climbing." Kane grunted in an attempt to shut Vazquez up. As he shifted his weight on one stone, he noticed that it was a little loose,but Kane paid it no mind.

"You don't talk much, do you...," stated Vazquez before he stood on the same rock Kane just was upon, and suddenly it gave in. Vazquez lost his footing, hittingthe nearby rocks. He groaned loudly as he twisted his ankle, however withoutthe rope and Kane holding him it could have been worse. Immediately the otherscame to help them down.

"Are you ready?" Sometime later they were in the woods. Aurora stood in afighting stance on one side. "Give me your best shot!" Opposite to the renamon several feet apart was Sam,his only defense being a little piece of paper. It was a single empty card. Samheld the card in front of him like it was a giant shield that would block anyattack. Yet the card was just a little piece of paper, too small to defendanything.

Aurora started to get second thoughts. So far experimenting with the digivicemight have been all fun and games. But if this didn't work she was about to hit Sam with one of her strongest attacks. What would happen if she hurt him? Thiswas something entirely different from a light sparring. And if her lover gothurt Aurora would be devastated, she already had the feeling that the last timewith Golemon was her fault and she never wanted to see Sam hurt like thatagain. Still Sam had insisted and he seemed sure that it would work. What shedidn't know was that Sam was skeptical as well. Sure Sam had read theinstructions on the digivice's manual and some other cards had worked as well,but he couldn't get rid of all the fear. Instead he just tried to suppress hisdoubts and trusted that the digivice would work its unexplainable magic.

"This is the last chance", Aurora gave him an excuse to back down. They couldalways go back to Sam's room and forget about the digivice. Maybe they couldget to know each other more. Aurora would gladly give up the digivice and allthe stuff it could do if it meant they would be safe, but a part of her knewthat there was no true safety, not in this world and surely not in her'seither. The human answered her by shaking his head. "OK, here it goes." Just tobe sure Aurora gave him another short moment to reconsider. 'I really hopethis works.' With those thoughts Aurora jumped in the air releasing herdiamond storm right in Sam's direction.

From the human's point of view everything happened almost too fast to noticeanything. Aurora turned into a yellow blur as she jumped into the air. Heroutstretched paws were framed with bright glowing shards and the next moment Sam was blinded as the shards flew at him. After reading the manual of thedigivice and testing more and more of its features Sam had memorized all themotions. He knew everything he needed to get this to work. Sam even managed tomake some more simple cards like strength and speed, with Aurora's help ofcourse. However seeing this attack rushing at him, these powerful shards that looked to Sam like a sparkling rain of hurt, or the special effects of an expensive action movie, was something entirely different. Everything seemed to slow down and for a moment he froze, while his brain just contemplated one thing.

'Oh shit!' In this moment, while his mind just zoned out thinking that he was done for yet again, Sam's body reacted entirely on instinct. Flicking one of his gloved hands the digivice activated itself. To Sam, who still wore the AR glasses, it looked like the card itself began to glow and in front of the paper appeared some kind of swirling vortex, which sucked Aurora's attack up like it was nothing. All the shards vanished into the nothingness directly in front of the card, leaving Sam unscathed by the diamond shards. What it didn't absorb however was the force with which Aurora's attack lunged at him. Like some kind of recoil the full force hit him and sent the still not entirely mentally present human falling, with a loud thud he landed on his back.

"Sam, are you alright?" When her attack was out of the way and she could see clearly again Aurora wanted to make sure that Sam was alright. As soon as she saw him lying on the ground and grunting in pain she ran to him with worry in her tone. "No! Did I hurt you? I am so sorry!" Once she realized that Sam was alive and moving Aurora calmed somewhat. While Aurora tried to help him up Sam groaned, the whole ordeal had left him dizzy. Everything around him was a bit blurry, but he could sense Aurora clearly, as she fussed over him.

"Let me tell you one thing." Sam's voice was nothing more than a whisper, with his eyes closed, as if this was his dying breath and he could hand Aurora all of his feelings with a mere sentence. More worry crept ever so slowly into her face until Sam spoke up. "Remind me not to do that again!" Opening his eyes Sam smiled at her, but found Aurora at the same time angry and strangely relieved. "You... Don't make me freak out like that again! Or I will give you a reason for regretting your fun." Aurora scolded and punched him lightly in the chest.

"OK, you win. I surrender!" Raising his arms in defeat Sam gave in before Aurora could assault him again. Nevertheless Aurora pounced him making Sam groan once more. As Sam lay there with a vengeful renamon on top of him, who tried to get her point across, he felt happy and apologized to Aurora several times until she let go of him. Suddenly they laughed and every stress was forgotten. With both of them on the ground now, Sam still on his back and Aurora had finally settled on his side with her head on Sam's chest, he sighed. Never had Sam felt so happy and yet it was mere days ago that he had stared at the blankness of a screen and later a sheet of paper, totally confused and lost. 'It feels like this was ages ago.'

While they lay there silently and Aurora was lost in her own content thoughts Sam looked at the cards they had managed to create so far. In the deck had been just twelve empty cards, while the rest contained things, which origins were unknown to Sam, so he had focused on the empty ones first in hopes of learning how to fill them. Now three of them weren't blank anymore. One for speed, one for strength and the last one contained the diamond storm, this card also showed a picture of the attack. All of these were from Aurora, stored for safekeeping should one of them need the extra power. "I can't believe it worked", muttered Sam more to himself than anyone. The digivice's purpose was still a mystery to Sam, yet he would be stupid if he didn't use the kind of power the strange thing offered. Aurora raised her head and looked at the cards as well.

"Do you want to try them?" Sam looked at her dumbfounded and not sure what she meant. "You did promise me more training, remember?" Needless to say that Sam remembered their first training session, it was just yesterday that they had fought here in the woods. Then he had been vastly outclassed by Aurora's powers, nevertheless Sam had done his best to show her his fighting skills. After he had lost their matches again and again Sam had promised to do more training with her. However back then Sam didn't know that he would have these extraordinary pool of powers to draw upon, much less that these forces came from what looked like a plastic toy and some playing cards.

"Why not? Could be fun to try it. Also thinking back on everything that has happened to us one never knows whether we might need the cards soon." Hopefully they wouldn't, at least Sam prayed that it wouldn't be a life and death situation again. So Aurora stood up, before giving Sam a leg up. They assumed positions several feet apart and Sam made sure that everything was ready. With the AR glasses on his nose, gloves on his hand, cards in one hand and digivice in the other, he surely didn't look like a fighter. Always wearing the glasses seemed like such a nuisance to Sam now, if he lost them or they shattered in a fight because he took a hit, their whole advantage would be gone. Maybe Sam could find a way around this problem. For now he decided to take some extra time to prepare, this was just training after all.

"Just one moment, please", he said before scanning the cards for strength and speed with the digivice consecutively. In his vision appeared several lines of text and other kinds of information, again he saw some kind of arrow symbol that directed the cards' effects either at him or at Aurora. So Sam chose the former, with a motion of his hand, to be an equal match to the renamon. At first he felt nothing and stuffed a little confused digivice and cards in his pockets. When he decided to put the glasses away as well he felt it. Out of nowhere there was a sudden rush of adrenaline that imbued him, making him a little uneasy. Sam instantly reminded himself that this was just training and not the real deal.

In any case this power felt really strange like he was on drugs or something, yet at the same time he felt better and simply stronger than before. Sam instantly focused on his opponent, in this case Aurora. All of this was so intoxicating that he couldn't suppress a little doubt. Somehow Sam felt active like someone had pressed his power button, he just had to do something to release this extra energy or he would burst. Sam actually had problems to form longer thoughts or keep himself from focusing on this sparring fight. 'Maybe I shouldn't do this too often.'

With a short nod Sam signaled that he was ready and Aurora did so as well. Then without another warning Aurora attacked instantly. Sam saw that she didn't rush at him with her full speed, but the renamon wasn't holding back either. As she lunged at him with one of her paws, Sam brushed her attack to the side with his arm. This would have been the perfect moment to counterattack, however Sam didn't use this opportunity. He wanted to see how much stronger and faster he was now, strangely it took more of his restraint not to hit back, than the human had imagined. Instead he let Aurora test his defenses once more. The renamon followed her failed strike with a low kick. Seeing the attack long before it reached its target Sam stepped backwards avoiding Aurora's kick entirely.

'This is almost too easy!' Until Aurora used all her strength Sam blocked or deflected every attack with ease. He himself made some half-hearted advances, which Aurora avoided, too. Some blows were exchanged, while Sam was reminded of their last training. The human felt like he had to break down Aurora's reserve to turn this into real training, just as he had done the last time. Maybe he could use one of the same tricks from the sparring fight back then. It was worth a shot. So after parrying another of Aurora's strikes Sam started his offensive. He aimed at her head, but not with all of his might, while Aurora reacted fast. After seeing her in action Sam should have known that she wouldn't fall for the same trick again, instead of ducking under his attack the renamon parried the blow, before turning a little and moving in herself in order to hit Sam with her elbow. She was good, Sam had to admit that. However Sam intervened in her attack by leaning back and using his momentum to kick at her, which caught her by surprise.

Both of them backed off after that panting a little. Sam's ruse might not have worked again, yet he realized satisfied that none of them was holding back anymore. This time the training wasn't a fight of strength against trickiness anymore, no they had the same strength now, this was a fight, which was entirely dominated by technique and skill. Only now did Sam discover that this was where he had an edge over Aurora. Surely the renamon must have fought more terrifying battles and real enemies than Sam had, but he had years of practice were Aurora didn't even know this fighting style. He saw it in some of her movements, a kind of uncertainty and most of the times she seemed to react more instinctual than practical. 'Maybe Aurora and other digimon as well rely more on their special powers than mundane fighting skills.' Sam tried to keep this idea in mind for later.

After they had fought for a while it became apparent that Sam had the upper hand here. To Sam's satisfaction this time Aurora was the one to land on her back again and again. When both of them were trying their best to catch their breath the human raised his hand to signal a stop to their sparring. "I think it's time for a break." Aurora agreed, so they just sat down on the ground to rest a little. In his exhausted state Sam didn't feel any effects of the cards anymore, he took that as a good sign. Anyway after all the excitement of the last days Sam regretted that he had been neglecting his self-defense training for quite some time. If they saw more crazy stuff like a giant rock monster, it would be high time to keep in shape.

For a while human and digimon just enjoyed their rest lost in thought. Aurora was still quite surprised that Sam could through the digivice now keep up with her, even defeat her, their first sparring had been very different. Yet it wasn't the fighting that bothered her, it was something more personal. Sam and Aurora were mates for not even a day now and Aurora didn't regret her decision, she probably had never been so sure her entire life. No, it was something else that bothered her. Hearing Sam speak about his deceased father, or his worrying mother, had made Aurora realize that she actually knew very little about him and she was determined to change that.

"Sam?", disrupted Aurora his train of thought finally. "Yeah?" He looked at her inquiringly, though still a little absent, too. Glancing back at him Aurora tried to collect all her courage to voice her thoughts. "I want to know more about you." A little confused Sam looked at her, so Aurora continued. "The past days there was so much going on and we didn't really have the time to talk about each other... But we are mates now, we should trust each other with anything! Looking at you I just know that I want to spend my life with you. I trust you and I want you to trust me, too, Sam. How else could we grow closer if not by talking about us?" Sam didn't really have to think about what Aurora said. There were no second thoughts about the renamon in his mind, it just felt right to be with her and Sam didn't want these warm and happy feelings ever to end. So why shouldn't she know anything about him? If there had to be just one person with which Sam could share his feelings and thoughts it would be Aurora.

"Believe me, I feel the same about you, Aurora, and I guess we really had much on our minds these past days." One should think that Sam was still trying to get over all this stuff - discovering that there was another totally different world besides earth and meeting several residents from there, fighting for his life, using some kind of impossible technology, almost dying and finding your love, your soul mate in the form of another race. Yeah, that was a lot to take in. Though somehow Sam was alright with the changes in his life, they felt simply right. Aurora's presence made it more bearable of course. "Alright, what do you want to know? I am an open book! Even though I think there is not really much to tell." Aurora smiled, she was glad that Sam felt that way. The renamon didn't really know where to start though. So she began with the first thing that came to mind, as to avoid any metaphorical landmines in the future.

"Could you tell me about your father?" She remembered how Sam had reacted when talking about the deceased parent. Actually she didn't want to press the issue or to remind Sam of painful memories, however getting to know his family was important to Aurora.

"Ah, my Dad. Is that what's bothering you? That I am still sad about his passing." Aurora shrugged apologetically, though she said nothing. "Don't worry that came to pass long ago. Well, what can I tell you about my old man?" Sam had to think about it for a moment, he didn't really have much memory left of his Dad. "My father was an engineer, but if someone asked him about it he would say that he was an inventor on his way to find the future. His name was Thomas Willem Thornton, though most of his older friends had called him Will, I never learned why." Remembering as much as he could Sam found it almost strange what small details came to his mind first. Maybe it was these little things that had defined his father. "He and my mother met at college, but it was actually Tera that brought them together. You remember her, don't you? I mentioned Tera yesterday. Later my Dad worked for Proteus Science, he was really proud of getting that job. They had the best scientists, you know. Used to tell stories about what they were working on... One day he came home and said 'I have dreamt of a better future, but today I have seen it' and then he picked me up and just laughed that happy laugh of his. I was very little back then and I remember it clearly because it was my birthday. He had gifted me the AR glasses, I played with them for hours, even though there was just one program that worked, which showed only test pictures." There was an awkward silence. Aurora stared at Sam, who seemed not that sad, yet the renamon felt as if she would cry any moment. Before continuing Sam looked at Aurora, with a little smile on his otherwise unmoved face.

"That's who he was, I guess. He tried to accomplish something great, to make the life for everyone better and had an unbelievable gift for working with machines. But then someday ten years ago there was a catastrophe at Proteus. To this very day nobody quite knows what happened there, was it a malfunction, or a terrorist attack? I'm not even sure what I believe about that. Still there was this huge explosion... They didn't even find my Dad's body, with the chaos that followed I doubt that they even tried. After his death my mother and I were lost, knowing that he would never return. She concentrated on work, doing double shifts until she wouldn't think about him anymore and I... I tried to be like Dad, because it felt like he still was there, you know. Though after years I realized not everyone is meant for greatness, I didn't have his gifts and surely didn't have my Dad's confidence. So his dreams started to dissipate and so did my memory of him... We have little pictures of him now, my mother locked them away after a short time and I don't blame her for it. Yet if I try to remember his face now, all I see is a blur." Sam finished his story and silence returned. To Aurora his story was heartbreaking, she wasn't so sure now whether this had been such a good idea.

"Oh, Sam. I am so sorry for your loss." She hugged him close and he returned the affection instantly. However he might feel about his deceased parent, Aurora felt now closer than ever to Sam. They stayed like this for a long moment. While Sam just enjoyed her closeness Aurora was lost in thoughts. 'The death of his father had been sudden and unexpected. While his mother had grieved herself Sam must have felt alone. Now he sounds like he has given up on his father... It must have been quite hard.'

"My parents are still alive, though I know what it's like to feel like a disappointment to them. Or what it feels like to be alone, even though there are people around you." Aurora wanted to share something personal about her as well. That was only fair. So she looked at Sam, who seemed to be transfixed by the beginning of her tale. "I am the youngest in my family. With three sisters and four brothers I shouldn't complain, there was always someone, even though two of my brothers and my oldest sister died before their time. You see my mother Lekira is a priestess and my father Roven an esteemed warrior. I don't know what that would mean in this world, but back at home... if it meant just one thing, then that they were really, I mean really strict. There were so many rules that sometimes I didn't know what to do. Don't show fear or weakness, be silent, be polite and follow orders! All of my siblings seemed to have no problems with it, when my brother became a warrior my father practically burst with pride, though he said it was not appropriate to show too much emotion." Sam had a feeling where her story was heading and he felt sorry for her. Being an only child he never truly could understand what it meant to stand in the shadow of one's siblings. Still he saw it sometimes with his friends, even though the twins should have no issue with age differences.

"They sound pretty distant and cold, if I might say so." He didn't want to interrupt Aurora's story, but Sam couldn't quite imagine what that must have been like. As long as he could remember Sam and his parents had been close. Aurora's mother and father however almost sounded like they didn't truly love her. Now he felt even worse for her.

"They were doing their best, I guess. Life at home is hard, there has been always those digimon that thought they could take everything from my parents and others might just be very pragmatic. They tried to teach us what we needed to survive, or at least what they thought we needed and my siblings were naturals. While they fit perfectly in our family I did not so much. More often than I can remember was I scolded, most of the time I was by myself, because everyone else was busy, and the rest of the time I just tried to do what was expected of me. That was when I started to be afraid to speak my mind, instead I said nothing at all and tried to be this perfect docile daughter, while my siblings made my parents proud." That explained her behavior somewhat. Sam had thought of her in the beginning to be at least a little repressed. Maybe it was good that she was away from her family now.

"I felt as if when I was around someone, or simply at home, that I couldn't be myself, which depressed me greatly. There was just a part of me that waited to be discovered and wanted the commands, this mental torture, to end. So I stayed away from my family, or anyone else for that matter. Being the odd one out I started to stray from home without my family's knowledge, as if I was looking for something, or tried to discover the world in my own solitary way. At first I just wandered the streets of my village, but ever so slowly I strayed farther and farther from home. Outside there by my own, I didn't really find myself, but I was happy, there was nothing that held me back at least. Someday however I got discovered, I've never seen my father that mad before. He screamed at me and forbid me to ever leave our home, while I just stood there and said nothing." That must have been really difficult for her. No one that could understand her and then getting the one thing that brings happiness taken away.

"I was so angry that I ran away in that same night. Leaving a note that I would never return I abandoned my family and our village. After that I ran until I couldn't see my home anymore, until it began to rain and I had to look for shelter. Finally I had found a dry place to sleep, that was when I saw the light. I don't quite remember what had happened then, I must have touched the strange light, the next thing I know however was that I ended up in your room in this world." That meant that she left her home mere days ago. Sam hadn't expected that her story turned out to be this most recent. He had had enough time to forget his father, but what about Aurora.

"Don't you miss them?" Sam looked at her with sadness, still holding her in his arms. At this moment he promised himself more than ever to find a way for Aurora to return home. "I do. At least in some way", whispered Aurora. A single tear left her eye and matted her yellow fur. "But it is better this way for now! With you I have the feeling that I finally can be myself. Whoever that is..." Aurora was surprised as Sam suddenly held her head. Gently he wiped away the tear.

"Just tell me when you find out who that is." That made Aurora smile again. Her doubts about sharing their stories were gone now. More than ever she felt secure in Sam's arms. She kissed him and Sam immediately returned the kiss. There it was again, the kindled flame of their love, which just burned brighter and brighter with the passion of their kiss. Aurora's paws caressed Sam's back as he held her close and before long they had to break the kiss, wanting more. "Let's get back to your house, Sam. I have a different kind of training on my mind! Race you there!"

Up and down, back and forth, there was nothing constant except for the inevitable change. The more one studied the peaks and lows, the more it looked like a heartbeat, an uncanny one at best, nevertheless there was an indisputable resemblance. Over and over the shape repeated itself with only minor almost imperceptible differences. Essentially it was just a simple animated graph, yet it could mean so much more if they were able to decipher it.

By all means Daniel had never seen a signal like this, it astonished him, made him wonder what it meant and how the hell this could work. When he had returned from the meeting with the task to analyze the signal in order to understand their unknown enemy or even develop strategies against whoever caused this, Daniel had explained everything to his team and they had started at once. So far they had nothing.

'I can't believe this. The signal is way faster than everything we have and looks quite different from normal connections through the net. Somehow I get the feeling that the guy who made this has serious hardware power.' According to all the data Mr. Bain had given to Daniel, no one had managed to crack the code of this thing so far. It shouldn't even cause anything, but log files, witness statements and tons of other information proofed that this totally foreign signal was able to communicate with all kinds of network technology. Regardless of hardware, software and security the signal seemed to reach its destination, wherever that was for all tracing attempts had failed. All in all the signal was not just a mystery, it was just impossible. "Any ideas?" asked Daniel his team while they pondered over the best recording of the signal.

"I'll pass." Ben shook his head, clearly out of his depth here, just as all of them were. "I translated the signal, but got nothing. Presumably this is some new kind of encoding, encryption or even language." Ben didn't elaborate his findings, he rarely did and seemed just as dumbfounded by this as Daniel.

"How does this work?" Confused Daniel stepped closer to the huge screen that displayed the signal. Mr. Bain really had spared neither trouble nor expenses. What would he do if they couldn't find anything useful? "OK, let's get over everything we know for sure." Daniel noted that only Ben looked at him, the other two members of his team seemed busy at the first glance. Ever so unfocused Ric sat in his office chair and spun around, while Nina looked at her own screen and typed something. After working with each other for years Daniel's team was used to different working morales though.

"We know the signal comes through the net from somewhere around here", spoke Daniel as he pointed at a large, marked area on a map. This was their best guess concerning the origin of the signal, yet they had no certainty with just the data from Mr. Bain. "And we know that the signal uses intelligent algorithms to react to tracing and counterattack attempts." "What about tricking this algorithm? Maybe we can figure out how it works, if we can force it into a situation where it fails", interjected Nina without ever looking up from what she did.

"That might be not such a bad idea. By observing it closely and how it reacts..." Leaving the rest of the sentence hanging in the air Ben shot an inquiring glance at Daniel. This plan could work, however there was a tiny problem. "For that we would have to know where and when the next attack is, which is what Bain actually wants us to find out. Let's focus, guys! There must be something that we are missing." It was like a puzzle, they needed more pieces to finish the picture and it seemed like the most crucial piece was gone. Or they just looked at the false side of the puzzle.

"I don't know what you think, but who has this kind of stuff. And here I thought we had the coolest hardware, jeez!" Ric stopped his spinning just to get more comfy in his chair. Silently Daniel had to agree, at least somewhat. If one believed Mr. Bain all of this had something to do with Proteus. Was that really the key to finding the cyber terrorists? The fallen empire that had been Proteus Science has been lost for ten years now. Daniel had worked there, but he still questioned the connection Mr. Bain had made and wasn't sure about his supposed inside knowledge either. He hadn't even worked for a full year there, before Proteus was destroyed. The shock of the downfall of the company however had burned the memories of the place partially in his mind. Of all the days he had gone there the last one remained most clear in Daniel's head.

"You work too much, Daniel", one of his colleagues had said during the lunch break as he had looked down at Daniel sitting at his desk. Daniel had interrupted his work right then a little baffled. Why shouldn't he focus on his job? The work was important and Daniel had wanted to leave a good impression. "Well, I don't want to be fired after working just some months here. A little hard work could even give me a little extra credit." The other man had just shrugged Daniel's argument away.

"There is no need to overdo it, but I guess I can understand passion at work. Do you want to know what I am working on? I think I discovered something important today." Already interrupted in his work Daniel had had enough time to talk. "Not another of your prototypes? How can I ever keep up with you, Will!" complained Daniel in fake desperation. They had become fast friends at work, even though Will was about twice as old as Daniel. Will had always liked to talk about the more exciting projects he worked on. "No, it's nothing practical like that. Just a theory and the first design I guess." Will made a short pause as he seemed lost in thoughts before finally continuing. "You know the basic principle of a quantum computer?"

"Of course - more computing capacity by using several bits at the same time and all the rest of it - do you think I don't keep up with the newest tech?" It wasn't so easy to sum it up in one sentence, but Daniel guessed that Will wanted to get at something else. "Just checking what they teach you these days. So, imagine there was a possible way to create a signal, which encodes several data streams." That sounded really exciting, if it did work at least.

"You can do that? How do you know whether a signal contains multiple data streams?" Will shrugged with a little smile. "I am still working on it. My first idea is to either make the signal predictable or to send messages first, that indicates what's coming." Will had explained to him how he had planned to make this technology work, before they had resumed their work eventually. "That's it", said Daniel finally as he returned from his trip down memory lane. He was surprised that he didn't think about this in the first place and even more taken aback by the fact that this really had something to do with Proteus. Shortly he explained his idea to the others. "So you think some kind of special signal will allow us to predict when another attack is coming?" Ben seemed a bit skeptical and Nina was unsure as well. Maybe this was a false hope, but it was the first idea they had.

"He is right!" Ric spoke up pointing to the signal on the screen. "Look at the peak at the beginning and the gaps in the signal. There is a pattern here." Just like that Ric got up and wrote numbers with his gloved hand on the screen. All of them took the time to decipher the numbers next to the signal, the sequence looked right.

"Perfect, with the numbers we can discern whether a next attack is coming, even before it happens. This could be our early warning system!" In that moment Miss Marlot, Mr. Bains secretary and assistant, stepped into the room. She held a clipboard with documents, like she nearly always did. Remembering her manners she cleared her throat.

"Mr. Bain wanted to inquire about the status of affairs and I need you to sign this, Mr. Connor." She handed the clipboard to Daniel, who scanned the documents quickly. It was nothing really important, so he just signed it. "It looks like we are on to something, though there is no way to tell at the moment." Miss Marlot seemed satisfied with that explanation and just nodded, when Daniel returned her clipboard she left without another word. "That woman definitely needs to relax!" Ric was the first one to speak again.

"All employees here seem to be a bit peculiar", answered Ben, who must be referring to Major Kane. Daniel had to admit the Major made him cringe a little as well. Mr. Bain didn't seem normal either. "You know, guys, I took the time to look into our employer a little", confessed Nina. "So that's what you have been doing." Daniel shouldn't complain, even distracted she did her work. "Yeah and guess what, I found nothing! Neither Mr. Bain nor Miss Marlot exists, there is absolutely zero info about them anywhere. I've even gone so far as to ask at the DOD about them." The Department of Defense was the last place Daniel and his team had worked at, so naturally they still had some connections.

"What did they say?" If someone had to know Bain it was the government. The business man had far too much influence to not appear on someone's radar. "Bain must have been a pretty high up agent, from which agency I don't know. Several years ago something must have happened though and suddenly Bain vanished. They thought he went rogue until he began with business investments." Daniel had never been truly sure about Mr. Bain. The man truly had power, money and connections to get these resources. Had the business man another hidden agenda? So far he had shown nothing else than the desire to protect the country from a cyber-war.

'I should keep an eye on everything or I might end up on the false side', thought Daniel as his team started to plan the early warning system. He was full of doubts and every day just seemed to make them bigger. Between the involvement of Proteus, Mr. Bain's power and the infamous Major Kane, Daniel almost felt like he was surrounded. Who could he trust truly, his team? Daniel needed to make sure that he didn't end up with his back to a wall.

"First! I won." Aurora was shouting as she reached the backyard of Sam's house. The human still had to catch up, while Aurora took the time to rest and catch her breath. Maybe the racing part was a little too much. Feeling exhausted and dirty from their training the renamon waited for Sam. "No... fair! You had... a head start." Sam was totally out of breath and had to speak between gasps. His clothes were soaked with sweat and made him look tired out, too. Nevertheless he fished for his keys and opened the back door. They slipped inside, where Sam instantly poured himself a glass of water.

"Are you as thirsty as I am?", he asked and as Aurora nodded the human handed her something to drink. With the refreshing coldness of at first one, then more glasses of water, Aurora started to feel better, Sam seemed calmer as well. Their breathing started to become more normal, though Aurora could feel that her heart still raced for several reasons. Sharing her story with Sam had relieved Aurora greatly and hearing something so personal about him made her only feel more trusted, more loved. Thinking about this, however sad their past might have been, brought a smile to her face combined with a warm, comfy feeling, because now they were together.

"Care to join me for a shower, my love?" Hearing Sam say that, his hand outstretched as if to lead her on, made her flush. There was no way she would deny such a nice touch from her mate. So she took his hand giggling a little. He led her to the bathroom, closed the door behind them and then without another warning kissed Aurora. A little surprised but not in a bad way, Aurora felt his lips on hers. She sensed the warmth of his body and put her arms around him, as if she never wanted to let him go. Feeling herself grow hot with arousal Aurora increased the passion of the kiss using her tongue, to which Sam happily complied. Then suddenly they broke apart, not for the lack of air, but rather because Aurora wanted more. She could see it in Sam's face, which was filled with lust.

"Come on, lose the clothes!", she commanded him. Sam did as he was told, while Aurora stepped into the shower to turn the water on. Cold wetness poured down on her, so she tried to adjust the water temperature the way Sam had shown her. Before long the water was to her liking and Sam stepped beside her under the stream. The water soothed their aching limbs, but it was the presence of their true love that made the pain and exhaustion forgotten.

Sam kissed her again, wanting to be as close to his love as possible. As they stood there naked under the running water in the shower, their lips joined and their bodies pressed together, they lost themselves in the passion of the moment. He could feel her soft breasts touching his chest and Aurora felt his hardening manhood poking at her. Aurora's paws slowly travelled down her lover's side, tracing the outline of his athletic body until finally she found his member and started to caress it gently.

Moaning Sam broke their kiss, at the same time his hands found her breasts to fondle them, which made Aurora shudder. Their loving touches became faster and bolder. With a groan Aurora felt her crotch growing hot and wet from all the arousing touches. She wanted more, so in her lust crazed state Aurora pawed Sam off faster and faster. The human hesitated as he likewise felt his pleasure rising. He wanted to return the favor so one of Sam's hands moved down her belly and settled between Aurora's legs. There Sam began to caress her warm, needy lips, which elicited more moans from the renamon. With his fingers Sam teased her slit, taking his time to rub her clit as well, before plunging one digit into her pussy. As the finger penetrated her Aurora almost cried out, instead she bit her lip and then stopped Sam.

"I can't take this anymore. Let's do it already." Sam nodded sensing her eagerness. Holding her steady he waited for her to guide his member to her entrance. When finally his dick touched her pussy lips, Sam looked at Aurora's eyes. There he saw determination, love and lust. Eventually Aurora rocked forward, she felt the wonderful fullness as Sam's cock penetrated her and rubbed along her insides. At the same time Sam felt her tight walls gripping his member and together they moaned. They stayed a moment like this enjoying the ultimate closeness as their crotches met, but before long Aurora began to build a slow, steady pace, while Sam held her. She raised her lower body until Sam's cock almost left her insides fully empty, then rocked forward to impale herself on his shaft again. The pleasure growing Aurora moaned, she was growing closer and closer to her release, just as Sam could feel his climax nearing. Aurora started to gyrate her hips a little and the motion intensified, it almost was like Sam's cock turned her insides out, spearing her walls in every direction. When their breathing turned ragged, Aurora increased pace and force, practically hammering with her crotch at Sam's and every time their flesh met there was a lewd wet slapping sound. All the restraint gone human and renamon alike moaned freely, Sam even started with rocking motions of his own. Drawing painfully close to her climax Aurora held on to Sam. She just needed to cum now and used all her strength to get there. Finally she came screaming, her walls constricted Sam's cock, as a gush of fluid erupted from her vagina. Not being able to move anymore Aurora stopped her motions, but Sam didn't and as he hammered at her crotch he just intensified and drew out Aurora's orgasm. Then with a shout Sam came as well. Jizz exploded into Aurora's pussy and mixed there with her fluids. It took quite some time for them to come down from this powerful climax. The water was still running, though washing seemed negligible to them at the moment. When they had calmed enough Sam pulled and their love juices dripped down just to get rinsed away by the water. "How about a round two?", asked Aurora. Sam almost pounced on her.

Much later they emerged from the shower, clean, satisfied and generally in a good mood. Aurora still tried to dry up her fur with a towel, while Sam began to dress. When he was done Sam sat down on his bed, that was when he saw his cell phone. "Oh, shit! Three calls and one text." Aurora seemed unperturbed by his alarm, she probably still needed to know about human phone habits. "It's from Tera. She called when we were training." "Tera, the friend of your mother? Who is a warrior that used to defend the law?" Aurora looked at Sam inquiringly. Dried enough she put the towel away and sat down right next to Sam.

"Yeah, that's her. Though it sounds a little dramatic if you say it like that. Let's see what she wrote." Sam pressed his phone then read Tera's text message to Aurora. "Your mother asked me to look after you, but when I was here today you weren't there. I clearly heard your cell phone though! Which teenager leaves his cell at home? For your sake I hope you have a good explanation. Come by tomorrow, or I will have to tell your mom and drag you here." Sam felt really stupid for totally forgetting about his cell phone now, all of this could have been avoided. There probably was just one way to get out of this potential mess, he had to appease Tera. "So that is what this Tera wrote? It sounds a little... I don't know... harsh?" Sam understood what Aurora meant. Tera was one of those people that were really hard to describe.

"I know, she can be like that. But she is a good friend and usually she just wants the best for me, or my mother in any event. Still this could be a problem, Tera is not the most charming person I know and she has a key to our house. We were lucky that she didn't catch us. I don't know what she would have done then." Sometimes she had a 'hit-first-speak-later' tendency and that wasn't even on her worst day. However Sam shouldn't complain, to him she was always open and caring, though in a vastly different way compared to his mother.

"Maybe we should just tell her. We can't avoid your family and friends forever", stated Aurora as she folded her arms. She resented staying hidden all the time, yet she got that this wasn't easy for Sam either. "I would love to introduce you to everyone, I do believe. Though it isn't a simple as that, I fear that they wouldn't understand it..." What would Sam do then? He didn't want to lose his family, but he didn't want to upset Auroraeither. There had to be a way to get them to accept Aurora, Sam just needed more time. "I think Tera wouldn't the best person to start with. Being a detective and ex-Cop she could jump to wrong conclusions. Please bear with me a little longer, I will find a way to get you to meet them." Sam looked at Aurora pleading until she sighed.

"OK, don't worry I won't pressure you." That was a huge relief to Sam. However it still left his next problem. Sam had to make sure, that Tera didn't suspect anything, which was perhaps close to impossible. Maybe if everything turned out great tomorrow, Sam could tell her about Aurora. Having someone like Tera on his side could be what he needed to understand what was going on. Yet knowing his luck Sam had a feeling that Tera would only complicate everything. As if Sam hadn't enough stuff going on! Still there was no way around it and he did promise Aurora more training, so why not ask his old teacher for more moves. All in all he just hoped for the best and tried not to fret too much. Until tomorrow Sam will have enough alone time with Aurora to keep himself occupied, he wanted to show her more of the human world, to talk with her, discover more about the digivice, though most importantly he wanted to see the renamon laugh and be close to her.

"So what do you want to do now?" He put his arm around Aurora, while her tail swished curious. There was more than enough time to worry later. Maybe he wouldn't even need to dodge questions and metaphorical bullets with Tera, Sam surely hoped so.

Hours later the unit camped in the dark. Vazquez was hurt badly from his fall and still needed help walking, but now he had time to rest. When it was Kane's time to keep watch, he looked in the woods, spotting little animals rustling in the bushes. Mitchell came over to him and sat down, the captain had barely slept.

"Vazquez is holding us back," whispered Kane after a while. "So, you want to leave him?" Mitchell seemed surprised, while Kane just shrugged. "In his current state he is more of a burden than of use. He jeopardizes the mission." "We won't abandon a fellow soldier, whatever the cost. Don't bring it up again!" Mitchell got up with a weird look and Kane couldn't say whether it was anger or disgust. He just didn't understand. If Kane knew one thing, it was that only success defined your value. Everything had to work perfectly, otherwise there was only suffering.

On the next day they went on to reach the outpost. They took turns to help Vazquez, who was surprisingly quiet. Mitchell and Kane were carrying him, as the other two made up the front. After their last talk Mitchell hadn't spoken a word to Kane, which was probably for the best. The plants slowly got more scarce giving way to more dry grounds.

"Looks like we're getting closer to the outpost," said Jameson. Vazquez grunted, relieved. "We should be extra careful. There may be enemy troops in the area. Be ready for anything." When Mitchell advised them they readied their weapons before moving on. On their way Kane started to get a strange feeling. Something wasn't right, but he couldn't say what. Alert he looked around, finding nothing out of the ordinary. Jameson, followed shortly by Turner, looked around as well.

As Jameson set his foot down there was a clicking noise. He could barely scream, "Mines!" Then there was a loud explosion. Dust and soil rained everywhere, making them cough and there was a disturbing ringing in Kane's ears. When the air was clear again Mitchell stumbled forward to look at the remains of Jameson. The explosives had blasted half of his body, he was already dead. With grim determination Mitchell picked up his dog tag. A little to the side Turner began coughing and wheezing. Mitchell was preoccupied, so Kane went to look at Turner, after setting Vazquez down. Although Turner had stood close to Jameson he had avoided most of the blast, but several sharp fragments had hit him. There was a bleeding cut on his throat and one had punctured his chest, so that he had trouble breathing. Kane could do only one thing; end his suffering, so he reached for the knife.

"What are you doing?" said Mitchell suddenly behind him. "I'm helping him." The captain shook his head, clearly enraged. "He is still alive!" Kane frowned and gestured to the pained Turner. "Look at him, he can barely breathe. There is nothing that we can do for him except give him a fast and painless death," explained Kane. It was obvious that Mitchell wasn't in his right mind. They stared at each other, while Turner bled. Moments later the man stopped breathing. Both of them looked down.

"I told you so." Maybe Kane had gone a bit too far with the last part. The captain's gaze didn't leave Kane, as he picked Turner's dog tag up. Mitchell wore them around his own neck and on him they looked like medals of Honor. "You are sick, Kane," said the captain finally. "If I had known that you were such a psychopath before..." However before he could finish his threat Vazquez called, they had almost forgotten about him.

"Guys, I know this is bad timing but there is movement ahead!" Kane and Mitchell listened and sure enough there were many footsteps ahead. As fast as they could they went to Vazquez. They picked him up searching for cover. Fortunately there was a big rock, so they ducked behind it while readying their weapons. Suddenly someone shouted and then there was gunfire everywhere. Kane and Mitchell answered with shots of their own, before covering down again, even Vazquez tried to help.

"They are too many, we don't stand a chance," shouted Mitchell as he started to reload. "I have an idea, but you have to memorize the enemy positions. Five on the left side and four in the middle, did you see more?" After Kane had said that, Mitchell got up and started shooting. "Actually it's three in the middle now. I see four on the right, too."

"What are you planning?" asked Vazquez, who still had problems standing up. "Can you tell me if there are mines left?" Vazquez nodded before he answered. "I saw at least three more... Look for a blank spot on the ground." Now Kane had to reload, when he was done he reached for a grenade. Kane pulled the pin with an audible clink.

"OK, I'm going to create a distraction. After the explosion you start shooting, I will take the left, Vazquez the middle and Mitchell will take care of the right side." They agreed quickly. As fast as possible Kane rose and threw the grenade, before ducking down again. It sailed through the hail of bullets totally unharmed, landing right next to the mines. Seconds later there was an impressive bang. All three of them rose and started shooting through a cloud of dirt, not all of their enemies were too stunned to shoot back though. One could barely see or hear anything, only when Kane was quite sure that his side was clear he started to cover the middle with bullets as well. Men fell and metal bit into flesh. The dust started to clear and Kane saw that he was the only one standing, there was no enemy movement. First he inspected himself, he was bleeding, but not badly, it looked like he had just been grazed. To his side lay Vazquez flat on the ground, the remains of his head and face splattered around him. Behind him was Mitchell, also on the ground, though still breathing. His elbow, stomach and the side of his throat got damaged, leaving him bleeding slowly and painfully. The captain looked like he couldn't move anymore, only his eyes fixated Kane with rage.

"I'm not an idealist like you... it's just that my youth has been... troubled," said Kane to him while Mitchell tried to kill him with this look. Kane drew his knife. "This is the only mercy I can offer!" He rammed it into Mitchell's body with precision, the captain died immediately. Kane had no second thoughts about any of his former teammates. Just out of duty he picked all their dog tags up and hung them around his neck, like Mitchell did before. But on Kane the dog tags looked more like trophies than medals. Taking his time to pick up all useful equipment and making sure, that he didn't step on any mines, Kane pressed on. He still had a mission to fulfill. There were fifteen bodies lying around him, some died in the explosion, others by bullets. Now approximately half of the enemies were dead, it was the perfect opportunity to dispatch the rest, too.

Sam stood in front of the small building that he knew so well and he felt like he had stepped into an old memory. Years ago Sam used to come here three times a week, it seemed like that was only yesterday though. Tera's place was a small building that was wider than high, it was opposite of a gas station. On one side it was framed by an adult bookstore, on the other by a mix between gun shop and hardware store, over both of them were several floors of living space. These buildings loomed over Tera's place like they wanted to suppress the small structure.

Needless to say this wasn't really the best neighborhood, after leaving the police Tera no doubt couldn't afford anything better. Everyone around here knew that the presence of someone like her improved the living situation though. She had proved that by 'arresting' some thugs that were stupid enough to try to rob the gas station. The police in general weren't quite happy about her initiative, but her old buddies on the force as well as Tera's neighbors had congratulated her. After that her small business had strangely become more popular. Sam walked to the door, there was a sign right next to it that read 'Teresa Adams, private investigator, martial arts school, self-defense lessons' followed shortly by the opening times.

'Looks like nothing has changed', thought Sam as he looked at the small building, before he spied Aurora on the roof, who nodded at him then vanished into thin air. They had spent the rest of the last day mostly talking, Sam had explained her more basic things about the real world and how the digivice worked, while Aurora told him more about digimon in general and renamon in particular. Sam found the things she told him about the culture or mating habits quite interesting, but they tired of speaking eventually and did other things to occupy their minds... and bodies. When it got dark they had slept in each other's arms. On the next morning Aurora had spoken to him, while Sam prepared a light breakfast.

"I want to accompany you, when you visit Tera." Sam looked over his shoulder at her, but before he could assure his mate that everything would be fine she continued. "I know what you want to say, that I should stay here, so no one can see me and that everything will be fine. Anyhow if something should happen, like another digimon attack, and I am not there... You can't change my mind, I will look after you, Sam!" Sam had stopped his cooking there to look at his lover. What Aurora said made sense.

"Well, if I can't stop you. You won't have any problems to remain unseen I guess", acknowledged Sam with a shrug. Then he handed her the digivice and the cards. "But take this! We should be prepared. If there is another attack you will surely sense it before I have my gear ready." Sam tried to make a habit of carrying the AR glasses and gloves with him all the time, Tera however would find this new style quite certainly rather conspicuous. After that they had killed the time by amongst other things preparing new cards.

Now in front of Tera's place Sam was relieved to know of Aurora's presence. It wasn't that he feared another strange incidence or an outburst from Tera, no she just gave him confidence and as simple as that Sam walked through the door of the building. He entered a small hallway, which led to the locker room on the right, the gym straight ahead and stairs to the left climbed to Tera's office. Instinctively Sam entered the gym. The gym, as the biggest room of the building, had enough space to train in various forms. All kinds of sports equipments from dumbbells to sandbags laid around and there was even a small fighting ring. Sam poked around, but he couldn't see Tera, for this time of the day the gym seemed strangely empty. Just one person was there. Tall, dark-skinned and muscle-bound he seemed intimidating to most, Sam knew him well enough to know that there was no reason for that though. Zachary worked for Tera, as long as Sam could remember and he had always been kind to Sam. From time to time Zach was in charge of the training courses in Tera's school, so whenever she was too busy Zach replaced her experience easily. Mostly however Zach did all the little stuff around here, like cleaning and the maintenance of the equipment.

"Hey, Zach! Have you seen Tera?" Zach was sweeping the floor and hadn't noticed Sam in the slightest until he spoke. Then the tall man turned around with a grin on his face. "Heya, boy. You back for some lessons, huh? Haven't seen you much around here lately." Sam just shrugged to that. There was no denying that he had let things slide. "Well, don't want to keep ya. The boss is in her office." Thanking him Sam turned around and went to Tera's office. A little nervous, he took the stairs to the second floor. On this floor was nothing more than Tera's apartment and a cramped room which functioned as her workplace. Reaching the door Sam saw that it stood slightly ajar. He tried to swallow his nervousness, then knocked before entering her office. Tera sat behind her desk brooding over some kind of paper work. With her long hair and athletic body Tera seemed younger than Sam's mother Helen, though both of them were in their late thirties. Despite her handsome appearance Tera had a knack for drawing mixed reactions, and to Sam's knowledge all of her relationships in the past hadn't really worked out.

"So, the prodigal son has returned", called Tera a little sarcastically as Sam entered the room. "Really?" Sam rolled his eyes and crossed the room to sit in the chair in front of Tera's desk. "Is this situation so dramatic that you need to quote the bible?" In his mind Sam still had conflicting thoughts, Tera was like family and he should trust her fully, yet to Tera most things seemed black and white, she had never flinched when it came to hard decisions. All in all there was just no telling what the detective in her would do. "Maybe", was all she said. Then Tera just stared at him, as if she expected Sam to snap like a twig in this little interrogation game. Sam had to admit the thought to spill his guts crossed his mind, either through Tera's magical stare, or his own guilty feeling.

"I am sorry." Finally Sam broke the pause to look at Tera's unblinking eyes. "I know I've been distant in these past days, I guess mom told you as much, and I am sorry that I wasn't there yesterday..." When Tera was still staring at him totally unmoved, he continued. "Actually I don't know what else to say." Finally Tera showed some kind of reaction, which had to mean that she was alive after all and not some kind of statue. She uttered a sound that was something between a compassionate sigh and a dismissive chuckle.

"You are being irresponsible, Sam! But what's worse is that everyone is worried about you. Leaving to who knows where, forgetting your cell phone and even when you are around you seem unmotivated, at least so I'm told since you don't talk to anyone about what's going on. Your mother needs to rely on you, for she has other worries at he moment." Tera had just barely raised her voice, regardless Sam knew that she was angry. All of the things she said were true, he hadn't really talked to anybody about his troubles, not to his mother, not to Tera, even his friends didn't know what was going on. They all sensed though that Sam was struggling to find his way, at least so it was before Aurora arrived. Sam could hardly believe that he had spent most of his time in apathy just days ago, it felt like an eternity now, even though Sam still couldn't answer what he wanted to do with his life.

"What do you want me to do?" Sam hadn't spent much time thinking about his future since Aurora arrived, if he closed his eyes now he saw her in it, yet everything else was a blur. Hearing Tera talk about this made him very uncomfortable, of course he knew that she didn't mean to and was only trying to help nevertheless it felt like being pressured.

"I don't know, just do something!" Tera leaned back in her chair gesticulating. "Go to college, talk to your mother about it, get a job... You can become a garbage man for all I care, but don't shut everyone out!" When she said it like that it sounded so easy, except that it wasn't. The fact that most people could pinpoint exactly who they wanted to be and what they wanted to do, with some kind of unshakable determination, had always bewildered Sam. "I just..." Sam faltered. Actually he didn't want to say anything on that matter and Tera must have sensed it, because she rose while changing the subject.

"Let's go down. If I have to be the one to slap some sense into you, I will! Besides you could use some training." Tera walked around her desk and grabbed Sam by the collar, dragging him out of the chair with her. Surrendering Sam just followed her, everything seemed better than facing questions he didn't want to answer and enduring her investigative stare. Sam had a feeling that she was suspecting something, a little distraction seemed right on cue then.

On the roof of the building of this Tera person Aurora was confused. Sam regarded this human as a close friend of his family, yet Tera seemed very different to what Aurora had expected. What did this human woman want to accomplish? So far Aurora had only discerned that she claimed to help Sam by supporting him in choosing a purpose, though Tera's words merely upset Sam more. Aurora wasn't sure if she liked Tera, but for her mate she surely would try.

'Sam should find his true purpose on his own terms and time. No one should force a different path upon you.' Aurora knew what she was talking about, her parents had taught enough about doing what someone else wanted you to. By all means Aurora didn't want Sam to undergo what she had learned to despise. As Aurora heard movements she too shifted on the roof and found a sloped window there. Crouching low, so no one would see her, the renamon approached the window and looked down. She saw a huge training room there, Aurora didn't recognize the function of all tools there, yet she instantly detected the fighting ring, which was quite akin to those in her world. Then Aurora saw Sam and Tera as they entered the room, they wore strange clothing around heads, hands and feet, probably to protect themselves, and without another word they stepped into the ring. 'She looks pretty... at least in her human way.' This Tera definitely had a body to be proud of, though Aurora hadn't much knowledge about appearances in this world. 'Moreover Sam said she is quite a fighter.' Aurora couldn't suppress an emerging feeling of slight jealousy. That was stupid of course, Sam was her mate and Aurora knew that he loved her. Yet Tera was a human, where Aurora was not. After a short warm-up both humans assumed fighting stances, which made Aurora think again.

'Tera is his teacher, so her technique will be better... Maybe she is even better than I. Sam managed to surprise me even without the aid of the digivice. What if something happens to Sam... or between them?' Aurora couldn't shake this terrible feeling. The training was something the two of them had shared, now there was Tera. Somehow Aurora wanted Sam to win, he just had to and with a little help she would make sure of that. Reaching for the digivice Aurora remembered, what Sam had told her about how it worked. She pressed a button on the little thing and at once a round object made of code appeared over thedigivice. As Aurora turned the thing with a flick of her paw the code turned red. 'Perfect it works. Now I just need one of those cards.'

Standing in front of Tera in the fighting ring of the gym Sam was ready. At least as ready as he would get, given that it was too late to refresh all of his skills. Maybe his sessions with Aurora would help him a little bit. So all in all Sam had mixed feelings about this, still the alternative, more talk and apologizing, wasn't really better.

"Let's see what you can remember", stated Tera and began to move. At that moment however, Sam felt the adrenaline rush again, as the power of the digivice or its cards filled him entirely. The feeling of this unexpected energy distracted Sam for a moment. While it burned through him, making his muscles twitch a little like they yearned to move already, Tera's foot hit Sam's chest and he staggered back, surprised. Yeah, he still had to get used to these side-effects of the digivice, or whatever it was that caused this strange battle frenzy. Regardless Sam thanked Aurora, it must have been her, inwardly for helping him out.

"You are not even trying. Again!" Tera yelled and moved once more, though to Sam it looked like she was slower now. With ease Sam could predict where she tried to hit him. Instinctively he began to move out of the way, then it occurred to him that perhaps he shouldn't show off that much. Otherwise Tera would without doubt realize that he was way stronger than a human of his age and size could be. So instead of avoiding the blow entirely, Sam moved his arms in the way to block her kick.

"That's better. Now show me what you've got!" Stepping several paces back Tera assumed a defensive position and as Sam moved in on her he had to remind himself to hold back. Nevertheless his speed must have been surprising for Tera just barely parried his strike. "Getting serious? Good, maybe this will help you blow off some steam. Come on!" Tera was still talking, whereas Sam had to concentrate to get coherent thoughts. Either Tera had so much unused strength that she could talk to Sam casually, or the digivice sucked that much. Well, perhaps Sam shouldn't complain. After a short moment Tera resumed her attack with more force and instantly their training got more serious.

"So I see, you haven't quite lost your touch", Tera said as Sam's hand grazed her shoulder. Although Sam was trying harder now, he didn't use his full power yet. It unnerved him that despite his awesome card powers Tera could keep up easily. "That's good, because I have a proposition for you." "What kind of proposition?" Sam panted between words, focused on blocking Tera's attacks. Even so one of them hit Sam so hard that he staggered back surprised.

"You could work here." A kick from Sam against Tera's legs unbalanced her. "I can use some extra help and it's better than staying at home... doing nothing all day!" This again, it looked like Tera didn't want to let this go. Sam however wasn't sure, if he wanted to decide. Agitated by her words, at least a little, Sam used all his might to strike Tera with his fist. He hit Tera, who fell on her back instantly, while Sam hesitated scolding himself inwardly for being careless. "You surely have the talent, Sam... but you lack discipline and conviction." Quickly Tera rolled to the side, to avoid an assault from Sam, which never came. When she was out of his immediate reach Tera sprang dexterously to her feet.

"I don't know... What would I even do here? I am not that good to help teach your classes." Tera shook her head as if she couldn't believe what Sam said. Right after that she put him on the defensive. "That wouldn't be all you can do. I need help with repairs, this place is falling apart, and I know how good you are with a toolbox." Partially that was true, Sam did all the repairs at home and there was his constantly breaking down car, yet most of the time he did feel like he didn't really have a clue what he was doing. Between improvised fixing and a real job with responsibility was a big difference. "So, what do you say?" They hadn't stopped their sparring in the slightest and at that moment Tera rushed at him.

"I can't!" Maybe he would have jumped at this opportunity to get behind the wheel of his onward moving life days ago. Now however Sam had Aurora and she was his top priority. He would use all of his time to help Aurora find a way home, so that she could make up with her family, or to just be with her, which meant that Sam's own life choices just had to wait, especially when Sam still couldn't decide what he should do.

"Bullshit!" screamed Tera as her fist connected with Sam's head. Totally distracted by their conversation Sam hadn't even seen her getting this close. Pain erupted from the left side of Sam's face, he was thankful for wearing at least some protection. Otherwise this would have been way worse. "What else are you up to so that you can't do something productive?" There was a huge frown on her face over questioning eyes that tried to pierce Sam for his secrets. Right then he knew that Tera suspected something, which probably was very bad. Technically Sam would have tried to approach the topic of Aurora and his secrecy carefully, with Tera's worries about him Sam realized that this wasn't such a good idea though, at least momentarily.

"Look, I just can't", Sam said head hanging down. After a long pause, in which Tera eyed him with an unreadable glance, she spoke again. "Whatever! You don't have to tell me. Promise me one thing though, think about my offer." That was at least some kind of compromise, yet Sam had a feeling that Tera was still suspicious of him. "OK, I will think about it", agreed Sam, to which Tera nodded satisfied.

"I guess that was enough training for today." She started to remove her protective gear and threw them in Zach's direction, who had watched their entire fight silently. The tall man caught everything, while Tera left the fighting ring. "But if you want to hear my opinion you should come here more often to train, you have shown some serious skill today." Sam followed her and removed his protection as well. "The boss is right about that, boy", interjected Zach with a serious face. Sam shrugged inwardly, he was actually more surprised that Tera could keep up with him through the digivice enhanced body.

"You can go now", said Tera when all of the protective gear was removed. "But don't do something stupid, young man and stay in touch either way. Otherwise I will have to come over again! I wouldn't want to explain your mom how you got bruises on your pretty face." The last part was almost menacing, though Sam knew that Tera didn't mean it, that was just who she was. So quite relieved Sam left Tera's place. He was glad that he had avoided a major catastrophe with his mom's best friend, even though it didn't go as smoothly as Sam had hoped. Later Sam met up with Aurora, who appeared out of nowhere again with a concerned look on her face.

"Are you alright, my love?", the renamon asked as she came closer. Sam guessed that she must have heard or seen everything. The windows on the roof of Tera's gym were great for lighting the place, but also useful for someone spying like her. "Yeah, thanks for the help there by the way. The extra power was a huge advantage." He didn't really want to talk about what had bothered him that much. It felt like this was his problem alone and if he looked around no one else was so unsure as him. "Don't evade the question. I can sense that something's upsetting you." Aurora wanted to help him. Though she still had mixed feelings about Tera and what the woman had said, for one thing Tera was right, Sam should talk to someone. "We are mates, don't you forget that! I am here for you!" Sighing Sam looked into the renamon's deep blue eyes. There was something calming in her loving gaze.

"You are right. I guess Tera shook me up a little", admitting this Sam took Aurora's paw in his hand. It gave him strength and confidence. "Believe me, it was not my intention to make my friends and family worry about me. I was lost until you came along." Sam smiled as he thought about it and his face managed to lighten up Aurora as well. "And if I think too hard about my future, I feel lost again. It's like... I don't know... like there is still something missing. Except from knowing that you will be in it I just can't decide what my path will be. Do you get me?"

"Yeah, I know the feeling." She remembered Sam's story clearly and realized just know how alike they were. Both of them were trying hard to find themselves. Understanding this Aurora didn't want to be in Sam's way, to hinder Sam from discovering who he was. "You could work for this Tera, you know. She seems... nice and I am sure you would get a hang of all the tasks there. You don't have to worry about me", said Aurora even though parts of her contradicted. Of course Sam would be perfect to help the woman out, Aurora had no doubts about that. Yet she wanted him by her side as often as possible.

"I wouldn't mind working there. Maybe that would even shatter Tera's suspicion, so no one would be looking for you", agreed Sam while Aurora looked down. Inwardly she cringed for in her mind raged utter chaos. Aurora felt like she was holding back Sam and that he should do something important, simultaneously she somehow despised Tera and cursed her for being a better match for Sam and most importantly, the wish to meet his family blended with all that. She simply didn't want to be the biggest secret anymore that only got to see Sam when no one was around. Family was important, and Aurora had to be an important part of Sam's life, so why shouldn't she get to meet all of them?

'Because it is not as simple as that and you know it! If Sam has to decide between you and all the people he loves...' Aurora just couldn't think about what would happen then. Because if she did she would just fear to be left alone in this strange world. Somehow the human sensed the storm that ravaged Aurora's mind. As he looked at her Sam saw frustration and a bit of sadness. 'Does she think that all of this is her fault? Or is it something else that is bothering her?' he thought before finally understanding the problem. The perfect idea to reassure Aurora and maybe to ease Tera's suspicions came to Sam.

"I don't want to decide on a path now. But I have decided something else. Clearly Tera wouldn't be the right person to look for help, she will probably get on our nerves some more, I know she's good at that. Which means we could use help, or at least an alibi when Tera comes snooping around and finds no one." "What are you getting at?" asked Aurora still quite confused. Sam just smiled. "I want you to meet my friends."

High round walls surrounded him. Unrelenting, powerful stone encased the space and the walls were exactly eight yards apart from each other. The stone looked perfectly carved and had a granite like color, even on a molecular level one had to concede the perfection of the materials. Countless stones like the other formed an ideal cylindrical room, which was only disturbed by an opening in the wall that functioned as an entrance. Without seams the structure looked impossible, while having an ancient feel to it, yet here it was - the tower one of the grandest structures the old man had ever comprehended. Though even after all this time the old man couldn't be sure that he truly apprehended the tower.

'Patience is a virtue', thought the old man after waiting for some time. It seemed that not everyone saw it like that. His rival, the others and perhaps several forces the old man hadn't detected so far, were moving to change the outcome of this conflict. Which was the only reason why the old man was here in the tower waiting. He needed allies! Otherwise the old man saw catastrophe at the end of this. Furthermore, the old man had his own agenda to follow, which was actually entirely independent from the end of things. There were old promises to fulfill.

Finally his potential associate arrived. The old man saw a male human, whose clothes suggested long and troublesome travels. If the rumors were true, this person was perfect for what the old man needed, which was essentially a question of life and death. This human could make a difference in several ways.

"Welcome, I am glad that you agreed to this meeting...", greeted the old man the newcomer until he was interrupted by the human, who seemed overly displeased. "Don't you dare say my name! You haven't earned it." The newcomer swept an interested glance over the old man. After examining the old man from head to toe he didn't seem to find anything unsatisfactory. "You can call me wanderer." His demand to disregard names was presumably appropriate, at least in his position. With a little smile the old man deemed the title the wanderer had chosen quite fitting. "Very well, wanderer. It is an honor to confer with one of your kind that is gifted in such a unique way."

"Yeah, yeah and I would be honored, too, if I didn't despise your kind. Pleasantries out of the way, what is it you want?" spoke the wanderer not enraged yet quite dismissive. Maybe the old man shouldn't have been surprised by the apparent rejection, he had done many things one shouldn't be proud of, as did the others, still this was somewhat of a setback.

"Simply put I need your help. Many lives are at stake." It would be disastrous should the dark-hair be allowed to have free reign. Once more the old man was needed to oppose his rival. Nevertheless the old man was in many ways responsible for turning this conflict into a war. 'He offered peace and what did I do? I said nothing, as always.' There was guilt in the old man, something he didn't acknowledge very often.

"Lives?" asked the wanderer with a fake laugh. "That's rich! Everyone knows your kind doesn't care for people." Intended as hurtful, the words of the wanderer didn't faze the old man in the slightest. He could understand the wanderer, because his own past was full of purposeful mistakes. "We do, yet it is in our own particular way. Please believe me, that out of my utmost sincerity, this time, I only wish to save, who will be hurt, and preserve, what will be lost."

"Why should I believe you? This could be a trick or something equally ambiguous. What is your angle here?" As was expected the wanderer had many questions. Few of them could be answered sufficiently, but first of all the old man needed his attention. "How can I prove you that I am sincere? I came far, to a place where I can be harmed, and yet it seems that this is not enough." Though it was a neutral space the tower was a place of power that wasn't open to everyone. From experience the old man knew that everyone could be killed here. "You want to prove that I can trust you?" The old man just nodded, so the wanderer continued. "Then do something for me. I've heard that you were born as one of the ancient dragons, is that true?" A simple truth was all he asked? Somehow the old man had expected more risky tests. "That is true." Indeed there was no reason to deny his ancestry.

"Show me!", commanded the wanderer. For some this knowledge might have been surprising, the ancient dragons used to be a power that for a long time had no peer. Even so the old man was neither ashamed nor proud of his forefathers. He concentrated for a moment. Then his skin was slowly replaced by scales, the humanoid face changed to a reptilian muzzle and he grew a long prehensile tail, before stopping the transformation. As the human guise was now replaced with another one the wanderer didn't appear to be surprised, or worse resentful. "Are you satisfied?" asked the old man with a different voice. This body felt unfamiliar to him.

"Alright, elaborate why you need my help." Satisfied the old man realized that the tone of the wanderer seemed less unkind now. Out of reflex he changed back to his human guise. "I have found a special human boy, who will need help and guidance if he is to survive what is coming. Only a wanderer like you will reach him fast enough." A virtue patience may be, but in this case haste was mandatory. "Let me guess. He is so interesting that you decided to turn him into your champion." "Partially yes", agreed the old man sighing. It was simply necessary.

"Well, that must have earned you some attention." The voice of the wanderer was calm, though one could easily see hat he was agitated by this. "How many of your kind are involved?" "With me it's five", responded the old man expecting some kind of fierce reaction to this news. "Five! Five? Are you kidding me? That is utter madness, what do you expect me to do when five principles are running amok? No man would be dumb enough to walk into this war waiting to happen. I don't even understand what could possibly be worth this kind of trouble." Just as the old man had expected it. The wanderer's words rang true to their core and his overreaction was very reasonable in this situation, he even predicted the war. "The boy is worth the trouble." Walking back and forth the wanderer laughed nervous to this, though he didn't comment in the slightest. "It is my belief that he is the reincarnation of someone very important. Actually it was the human boy's beloved that gave me the notion."

"No, just no! You cannot possibly think that I would interfere with such business." The wanderer was pointing his finger at the old man with an accusatory glare. For a short moment he stared, then he simply turned around. "Look for someone else's help. I am leaving", he said and started to walk for the opening in the tower's walls. Even this was a perfectly natural reaction, the old man had seen it countless times before and had learned to anticipate such behavior. That is why he had kept, so to speak, one metaphorical ace up his sleeve.

"Her name is Aurora." Nothing more escaped the old man's lips and these four little words didn't fail in causing an impression. Instantly the wanderer stood still. Frozen like that he didn't move for an entire moment. Then he turned around, all doubts and well-deserved anger had left his face, instead there was only curiosity and awe.

"Aurora, the Aurora? You are not kidding, are you?" The old man didn't react as the wanderer returned to his former position. "If you really think she is the reincarnation of the true Aurora and she is in love with the boy that must mean you think he is..." He didn't need to finish the sentence, the powerful and inspiring name hung unspoken in the air. Looking back at the man opposite to him the old man merely nodded. "The soul knows what the body and mind need yet to comprehend." Suddenly the wanderer seemed quite shocked. Reincarnation was a terribly imprecise matter. But to the old man there was no shred of doubt about this, his heart just told him that this boy was the right one. He had to pay back a debt and finally the old man would get the chance.

"You said he needs help, otherwise he won't survive? Where is he now?" asked the wanderer. It was a good sign that the man started to develop an interest in this matter. His reluctance at the beginning seemed like it was from another time. "Yes, my adversary is moving as we speak. They are in a world that calls itself 'Earth', though I don't know if you are familiar with it." As a wanderer the man should know many such names.

"Oh, yes 'Terra' in one of their old tongues. I have been there before", stated the wanderer lost in thought. "So, can we make a deal?" The old man's voice startled the wanderer out of his thoughts, who then seemed to consider everything he had heard here. Many times had the old man pondered what would happen if the wanderer, the only potential ally that could help him at the moment, just refused. It was unthinkable, which was why the old man shouldn't let it happen at all. However he spared those plans for the last resort. Calm and patient the old man merely waited, just like he always did.

"We can make a deal", said the wanderer finally. As always the old man's patience paid off. "I have three conditions though. The first one is that I receive one favor either from you, or the boy." Demands were to be expected from someone who was simply unable to understand the big picture. "That sounds reasonable. Very well, you have my word! What about the second condition?"

"I guess you and your kind are affecting the boy and his lover. Whatever you and the others are doing with them, I want it to stop! No one should get coerced like this. If they are who you say they are, the boy and his love will stay together regardless of your influence", stated the wanderer determined. This was a more daring request, maybe even impossible to fulfill. "We had their best interest at heart and I can't promise to remove all the touches, only they could do that. But I will do my best to protect them from such influence", agreed the old man. Of course this was easier said than done. "Let's hear your last condition then."

"It's nothing major. Just that my assistance won't start until I arrive and will end at the moment the boy decline's my help." The third demand was unexpected, a feeling the old man had thought to be lost and forgotten. For a short moment he faltered considering what the wanderer wanted to achieve by this condition. Of course the phrasing was the key. "That is only fair I guess, but when will you arrive", asked the old man and tried to be kind, while his mind tried to unravel the mystery. Nervous the wanderer cleared his throat.

"Not earlier than in two weeks." Two entire weeks, to the old man and his kind that time span was nothing more than the blink of an eye, to a human however it was an entirely different matter. Countless things could happen to the boy, without the control of the old man. "Why so long? I expected a wanderer like you could arrive there in mere moments." Normally this would be unacceptable. Always patient the old man gave him the chance to explain himself though.

"That is right, but in this case I have to take precautions. Do you know who will be hunting him if they know who the boy is? No, we have to avoid that from happening", concluded the wanderer and held his hand out to seal the deal. Two weeks were an awful lot of time in this case. Indefinite possibilities could turn out, without the chance to prevent them. Yet it looked like there were no other option. 'Patience is a virtue and it looks like it is necessary here', reminded the old man himself. He took the man's hand and shook it.

Just hours ago Sam had thought that it wasn't possible to feel any more nervous. All the talk with Tera still remained in his mind troubling him as a reminder of that. But this matter was another kind of scary, it was totally different from fearing to be discovered by a martial arts teaching, quite temperamental detective. Now it was only about pouring his heart out to his closest friends and sharing his newest deepest secret.

'Don't worry Sam, everything will be alright', he told himself and almost believed what he thought. In his mind he spoke with a calm voice that somehow reminded him of a fortune cookie. He nearly expected it to say something like 'happiness can only come from sincerity' or 'if you do not face your fears, you can never be courageous', these sayings had at least some truth to them. So a little troubled and a little determined Sam drove to the mall to meet his friends, who luckily were free for the rest of the day and were glad to hang out with him. Aurora followed him out of sight and would appear on his signal, since Sam didn't want the twins to freak out before he had time to explain everything. But how exactly could he do that? 'Remember how you said I needed a girlfriend? This is her, and look she isn't even human!' Yeah that wouldn't work out. He just had no idea how to drop this kind of bomb on them, but he would try for Aurora's sake. Aurora deserved a normal life with caring friends, an understanding family and a loving mate, who would go to the ends of the earth and back again for her, even more so after what had happened at her home. Therefore Sam would try his best, although he didn't know what would happen today. Just in case he had the digivice and the other gear within reach. The last time at the mall Craig's gang had wanted to have a face-off with him and Sam surely didn't want to get in a situation like that again.

Still totally lost in thought Sam hadn't realized that he had arrived and walked inside the mall. His friends were already there waiting for him at the exact same spot as on the day he had seen them last. It felt like walking into a déjà vu. "Hey guys!" greeted Sam out of reflex and the twins looked back at him. Kate had been looking at her cell and Josh had just sat there leaning back, as if he had tried to nap a little. Both of their faces lit up as they saw Sam.

"Why do you keep us always waiting, man?" Josh held his fist out and for a moment Sam was confused, then he scolded himself for forgetting their own special handshake. As their hands touched in the familiar pattern Sam felt somehow relieved and more relaxed. "Nice to see you Sam!" said Kate when the boys were done. "You know we won't have that much time to hang out when the semester starts." That was right, soon the twins were off to college, leaving him behind.

"I know, we should use the time to have some fun! But I also wanted to talk to you two." Josh just shrugged to that. "What's there to talk about? I mean, what could be more important than gaming and eating chili-cheese dogs?" Sam knew instantly that he would miss the quite unique Josh, and his sister that was ever rolling her eyes to his comments, too.

"Josh, don't be so stupid. This sounds important! I guess it's not about going to college with us, even though that would be great." Of course Kate guessed wrong. Whoever would expect that he discovered a resident from another world and fell in love with her must either have a freakish imagination, or a total nutjob. "No, that's not it", admitted Sam and braced himself for the one the most awkward conversations he could think of, at least at the moment. "Is it about Craig and his bullies?" Oh, no, what are these thugs up to now? After these assholes almost killed Sam he had hoped to never see them again.

"What about them?" The twins shrugged a little unsure. "They barged into the police with cuts and bruises everywhere, screaming that they had been attacked by a monster." Josh shook his head in disbelief. It sounded crazy, but Sam knew that it was the truth. He would never call Aurora a monster, though that was past extremely rude. "There is even an article in the newspaper. Crazy idiots, must have smoked something! One of them seems to be missing though, don't know who, and to be frank I think they somehow deserve it." For a moment Kate shot her brother an angry glance, yet she didn't retort. Craig hadn't made many friends in high school.

"If it's not about those thugs, what else did you want to say? What is so important that you drag us down here?" asked Kate in played annoyance and Josh happily interjected before Sam could say another word. "Besides the striking looks of course, or the privilege of our company. Yes you may bath in our glory! Fancy words, I know. I learned them all from her." He grinned and pointed at his twin sister, who seemed to agree for once. Smiling Sam was sure that talking to them was a way better idea than opening up to the hard-ass Tera.

"I will delay the bathing in glory till later, I think", said Sam to change the topic. 'So this is it, the moment of truth.' They needed to go somewhere that wasn't as crowded to meet Aurora though. "Come on, follow me, we can talk on the way." Walking past fast-food joints, a huge fountain and various shops, Sam didn't know where to start. As the words didn't come fast enough is mind chose the option to stutter senselessly. "Well, you see... there is... I..." There was absolutely no easy way to talk about this.

"Sam, we are your friends. You can talk to us, don't be embarrassed", tried Kate to help him, even though the reason for his verbal diarrhea was totally false. He wasn't embarrassed. Well, maybe it was just a little bit accurate. "I know what's going on", barged Josh in with a huge grin on his face. "You found a girl!" That was at least partially right and when Sam didn't deny it Josh grinned only more, while Kate produced an 'oh' in a slightly surprised voice. "Tell me is she hot?"

"Actually she is...", began Sam and wanted to tell them slowly and carefully about Aurora, but he couldn't finish his sentence. Suddenly there was a loud beeping sound from Sam's pocket, he instantly reached for the digivice and saw it flashing irritatingly. 'What does that mean? Another digimon maybe.' Sam cursed inwardly for the bad timing. Right then all around them sounded a cacophony of noise, as countless technical devices, like TVs in one of the shops across from them, sprang on. They showed test pictures and different pixels, while producing terrible sounds, all in all it looked like they malfunctioned. Sam noticed that not all devices acted up, how strange.

"Is this a blackout or something? What's going on here?" Kate looked around confused, Sam's behavior must have unsettled her some more. He said nothing, there probably would be some kind of danger, so he reached for the AR gear and put it on. "Why are you wearing glasses and gloves, Sam?" "Don't worry, everything will be alright!" He tried to comfort them, though he saw bewilderment and even a little fear in their eyes. Then the fog appeared. It poured out of the fountain much faster than natural mist could and didn't as much as limit their sight entirely. No, what the fog did was stranger than that. It circled them, clinging to walls and open space to surround them.

"Creepy", said Josh before shutting up. Why did the fog do that? It was as if it wanted specifically them and no one else present. Without another warning a huge figure appeared in the mist. Slowly the outline was recognizable, bipedal with a huge head, legs and tail, but small arms, it resembled a T-Rex. "This must be candid camera or something! Where is the flash mob?" Even though Josh tried to rationalize it there was a big dinosaur in the mall now and the twins shook in fear.

'Black Greymon', read a text next to the thing seen through Sam's glasses, there was more info, but Sam had other worries now. The digimon stepped out of the mist and instantly saw three small humans, eyeing them like dessert. 'Please just ask for directions!' Instead Black Greymon roared fiercely and took a deep breath. Sam had a feeling of what would happen next.

"Guys, take cover!" But the twins didn't move, they just stared at the digimon. Running as fast as possible Sam crashed into the twins to get them out of the way. At the same time Black Greymon spat a big dark fireball in their direction. The three humans hit the ground and just where they had stood before was now a small crater, debris rained into all directions. Dizzy Sam rose slowly, as did the twins, while Black Greymon started to advance. Finally on his feet Sam yelled loudly.

"Run!" He led the twins away from the digimon to one side of the mist. As fast as they could they dodged another of Black Greymons fire blasts, which shattered a shop's window instead. More debris and glass shards exploded in several directions. 'I have to get them to safety. Then it's payback time!' Finally they reached the mist and started to walk through it, at least the unnatural weather didn't show any kind of resistance. With the twins right in front of him Sam ran on, until a fireball hit the ground directly behind him and knocked Sam from his feet. Again he hit the ground, this time harder than before.

It took a long moment for him to see clearly once more. The twins had vanished into the mist and Sam heard Black Greymon roaring behind him. Suddenly there was a yellow blur. Aurora appeared in the fog right in front of Sam, as she saw him lying on the ground she seemed shocked. The sound of Black Greymon advancing behind them was unmistakable. 'Perfect the twins are out of the crossfire and Aurora is here.' Reaching with her paw out to him Aurora wanted to help Sam up.

"Get away from him you monster!" screamed someone. Sam looked in the direction of the voice and saw Josh and Kate. The twins had armed themselves with sharp stones and other debris, but instead of distracting the true enemy those fools focused on Aurora. Wanting to stop them from doing something stupid Sam tried to scream at his friends, but his voice was drowned out by Black Greymon's roar. The twins threw their projectiles at the renamon. Aurora didn't see the attack coming, she was too worried about Sam to mind his human friends. In horror Sam watched frozen. As he saw the stones flying through the air, it was as if something broke inside him and it just hurt. One stone hit Aurora hard on the back of her head, while another sharp shard grazed her cheek leaving a thin bloody patch in the golden fur. Instantly Aurora looked back at Sam's friends, who reached for more of the primitive missiles.

"You won't get him", yelled Josh and threw again. Before he hit Aurora however the renamon just vanished. Dumbfounded the twins stared at where she stood just an instant ago. They recovered fast from their shock. "Come on, Sam! We have to leave or these monsters will kill us." The twins began to turn around, intent on leaving. After rising from the ground Sam merely stared at them, still in utter disbelief.

'They called her a monster.' In his mind he saw the same scene over and over. How his supposedly best friends attacked the most important person in his life. Naturally the twins didn't know about Aurora, it wasn't really their fault. Fear had motivated them and they had tried to help Sam. Yet this didn't change anything. The shock was ingrained in his mind, maybe forever. At that moment Sam realized one thing. 'This was a mistake!' Perhaps there would never be anyone, who accepted Aurora. Maybe there was no one, who could understand Sam, too. All of his attempts to even try to trust someone, be it Tera or the twins, had failed. If this meant that he couldn't have both and needed to choose between Aurora and his old life, until someone was able to accept the renamon for what she was, the choice was painfully easy. His friends would leave him either way, and head for college soon. Nonetheless it hurt a great deal to do what Sam was about to do.

"Go on without me", was all he managed to say in a very detached voice. He felt a need to be distant about this, otherwise Sam feared that the pain of letting his friends go would be too great. Then he turned around without looking back. Sam didn't know, whether his friends had heard him, or if they were still waiting for him to flee. A part of him hoped that they would just go and forget him, another hoped that they would turn around to follow him and take a leap into the dark by Sam's side. 'Why did it have to turn out like this?' There was pain in him, mixed with a little sadness and regret, though one feeling started to overshadow the rest, anger. Not towards the twins, or himself, it was someone else that Sam was mad at. 'Time to bring down a giant lizard!'

Avoiding one strike after the other Aurora tried her best to distract Black Greymon, while Sam's friends escaped. It was clear that she had frightened the two humans and Aurora hoped that Sam would forgive her for that, so instead of unsettling them more the renamon taunted their newest enemy. She barely heard what was going on with the humans, but as Sam emerged from the mist Aurora saw that something was wrong. Reaching for the digivice and a hand full of cards her lover looked somehow hurt.

'Is that my fault? The meeting with his friends had meant much to Sam, and it did to me as well... Now it's screwed up.' Aurora bounded past Black Greymon right under the digimon's nose, who followed her with his eyes. To the strong champion level a small renamon was nothing more than a nuisance, yet Aurora was the closest challenger for it. While Aurora did her best Sam activated the cards, code shot around them distracting Aurora and Black Greymon alike. As one stream of data hit Aurora, she could feel the instantaneous boost of her strength and she thanked Sam silently, who was glowing with fragments of code as well. Black Greymon seemed surprised by this, though he took only a moment to recover before swiping at Aurora with its tail. With ease Aurora ducked the attack, rushing to Sam's side.

"Perfect timing, I started to tire of him", she said to Sam, who looked at her a little disturbed. Aurora felt the unsettling power that the digivice provided as well, though she didn't think that this was all that was bothering Sam. "Well, you know that I am always there for my mate! Are you hurt?" She had just some minor scrapes. "No, I am ok", assured Aurora. In front of them Black Greymon roared again. Even though the enemy digimon eyed them menacingly, it seemed uncertain of what to make of this situation. Most likely it had never seen a human before, even more one that radiated strange code fragments. "So, anything I need to know about Mr. Lizard?" A little tense and shaking, because of the digivice perhaps, Sam's gaze never left their opponent. "Well at first it's a Mrs. Lizard", answered Aurora with a hint of a smile. Sam looked at her questioningly.

"You are kidding right?" "No, I am not." The Black Greymon seemed annoyed that her enemies were not focusing on her. "OK. Anything else about Mrs. Lizard then?" Black Greymon used Aurora's and Sam's apparent distraction to prepare an attack, as she inhaled as deeply as possible. "She is strong, but not that fast. Look out for the head and tail." Before Aurora could go on a huge fireball rushed at the lovers, with the enhancements from the cards however they jumped out of the way easily. They moved on circling Black Greymon, Sam on her left and Aurora on her right. Now Black Greymon unsure, which opponent she should focus, so she tried to keep both of them in her field of vision.

It was the perfect opportunity to attack, Aurora saw it and Sam did so, too. While Black Greymon looked back and forth between them, stepping back a pace or two, they rushed at her. Sam from one side, jumped skillfully over Black Greymon's tail as she tried to smack the human and Aurora charged her paws with power as she ran on. Driven by an unusual rage Aurora felt how much stronger her attack was, imbued with the energy from the cards. While a kick from Sam mostly fazed Black Greymon, Aurora had enough time to slip under her again and before Black Greymon could defend herself Aurora's glowing paw hit her chest. There was a small explosion as the energy discharged. Hurt Black Greymon reeled backwards, with the force of Aurora's attack she almost fell over. Aurora was surprised by her own strength, the digivice's power sill tingled in her begging to be released it felt like a small burning sensation, when it came with this strength however Aurora would gladly endure it.

'Wow!' Astonished Sam saw the impact of his lover's special attack from a front row seat. Just one hit almost toppled an enemy over, who was nearly three rimes her size. 'That must be due to the cards. We still don't know what exactly they do.' His own experience with this kind of power made Sam careful. There was something strange about the adrenaline rush caused by cards and digivice. But all this had to wait. "I will kill you both for this! You will be erased from this plane", spoke Black Greymon angrily through clenched teeth. So she could speak, what a surprise. Nevertheless Sam guessed that she wasn't open for negotiations. He realized that his own attacks did little to harm Mrs. Lizard and even Aurora's show-off move from before didn't do much damage. They needed a plan.

Disappointed Aurora saw that Black Greymon was still moving, she must be stronger than Golemon, who alone had been quite a challenge for her. Yet Aurora had Sam's help, and some extra power now. Though it didn't look like this would be an easy fight. Bringing room between herself and Black Greymon Aurora watched, trying to think of any strategy that would work here. Too late she saw that Black Greymon ignored Aurora and focused entirely on Sam.

As Sam looked around Mrs. Lizard suddenly advanced on him. She probably thought that he was the easier target and she had a point there. With her head held low Black Greymon charged him, trying to stab Sam with the horn on her head. There was no blocking such an attack, at least not if you were a small human and Sam didn't want to test the limits of his digivice powers; unbelievable awesome as they are. So instead Sam dived to the side in a risky move to avoid Black Greymon's head entirely. It worked out. Faster than naturally possible Sam sprang out of the way and rolled off the ground. When he rose again however Sam was met by Mrs. Lizard's tail that crashed into him. Taken by surprise the force knocked Sam into the next wall right beside a distribution box with huge cables. Pain erupted from Sam's whole body, as everything around him blurred. After several moments Sam could see clearly again. Aurora was engaging Mrs. Lizard to keep her from attacking Sam. Like a yellow flash Aurora rushed around, she dodged a fireball before jumping on Black Greymon's head and hitting her eye. This irritated Mrs. Lizard greatly, but before she could ram Aurora with her head on the ground the renamon slid down the dinosaur's tail. For all Aurora's actions did to upset and distract Black Greymon, it didn't truly weaken her.

'We still need a plan!' Again Sam looked around. There was the slightly damaged fountain where Black Greymon had appeared, several holes in the ground, the distribution box next to him and broken stuff everywhere. Suddenly Sam had an idea. 'The distribution box, that's it!' He looked the thing over, a huge power cable vanished into it from below. With his superior strength Sam ripped the cable from the box, sending sparks in several directions. Behind him Mrs. Lizard roared, Aurora seemed to keep her quite busy. Again Sam pulled on the power cable breaking it free from the ground. Now satisfied Sam turned around. Aurora had managed to push Black Greymon back almost the whole way to the fountain. Sam tried to estimate whether she was close enough. It just had to do. Throwing the cable forward as precisely as possible with a long big power cable Sam watched how it landed just mere paces from Mrs. Lizard, who was quite occupied with keeping Aurora away from her.

'Now for the hard part', thought Sam as he reached for the deck of cards. He looked for the one card that he had kept for special occasions like this. It was Aurora's signature move, which Sam had stored just yesterday. 'Remember how she does it. Jump into the air and aim true!' Sam scanned the card with the digivice and saw with his AR glasses how the energy of the card seeped into his body. This was accompanied by a feeling unlike any other. A spark was ignited within Sam that very quickly turned into a huge fire in his chest, it was only contained by a thin layer that functioned like a dam, which was prickling with energy and slowly threatening to burst. Before Sam could analyze some more what exactly happened inside him he took a running start. He wasn't really sure what he had to do, but at some point Sam jumped into the air out of instinct and then he just released the pent up force, which crystallized in the air in front of him. Time seemed to stop as Sam aimed for the edge of the fountain behind Black Greymon. Sam hoped that this would work otherwise he wasted one of his better cards. Abruptly the time flow normalized. The diamond shards flew at the fountain and hit it perfectly, exploding with a loud bang. Mrs. Lizard and Aurora, who seemed to notice him again just now, looked at him surprised. "You missed", growled Black Greymon with a grin. The water from the fountain burst free from the destroyed structure and flooded past Mrs. Lizard's legs. Quickly Sam gestured for Aurora to move out of the way, fortunately she understood and jumped into safety. It was not a moment too late. The water touched the power cable and instantly shorted, electrocuting Black Greymon in the process. For a long moment Mrs. Lizard shook like a leaf in the wind, as the electricity flowed through the water into her body. Then she stopped moving and fell over. Before Black Greymon even hit the ground she shattered into data.

"Missed, as if!" said Sam then sighed exhausted. All strength from the digivice left him immediately and Sam felt sore all over. Silently Aurora came to him, while Sam gestured to Black Greymon's data that hang in the air. "Do you want to?" Aurora shook her head. "This one's yours." Remembering what Sam had read in the manual he gestured with his gloved hands. Black Greymon's code started to move in his direction, so Sam reached for some empty cards. To his surprise two of them were filled. One looked like Black Greymon's fireball, while the other showed a different picture. It was clearly a digimon and at the top stood 'Black Agumon', the glasses showed Sam even more than that, but Sam didn't quite understand the numbers and symbols there.

'Is this a new kind of card?' Sam decided to study it another time. Looking around Sam took in the destruction Black Greymon's appearance had caused. The strange fog was already dissipating, so he could see the craters and debris clearly. Not a soul was around, which was probably for the best. "What a day!" Sam sighed once more. They stood there resting for a moment, until Aurora broke the silence. "I am sorry about what happened with your friends", apologized Aurora and he was instantly reminded of what still felt to Sam like a betrayal. Though he couldn't say whether he or they had been the turncoat.

"Don't bother, it's not your fault that they were so ignorant." Sam wasn't sure what he should do about them now. The twins had seen Aurora and sooner or later would worry about him. He just wanted to get this behind him. "I cannot really blame them either, if Black Greymon hadn't appeared..." Sam didn't go on, instead he looked at the destruction again. Luckily no one was hurt, but what if this happened again? What if another digimon went on a rampage in the real world.

"What about introducing me to your friends? Will we try that again?", asked Aurora curious. This outcome disappointed her, she really wanted to get to know those close to Sam. But she wouldn't pressure him, for Aurora sensed that something had gone wrong between him and his friends. "Please don't get me wrong, but I think that it wouldn't be such a good idea. They are not ready to accept you, maybe sometime in the future, maybe never!" He looked at Aurora, who watched him closely. "I don't want anyone to stand between us, even if it's my best friends. Because I'd rather turn my back on everyone in this entire world, than on you." Aurora couldn't believe what Sam said, he really had chosen her over his friends. It was as all her fears of this day were wiped away with a single sentence from Sam's lips. This made her love him even more, though at the same time she felt sorry for him and guilty for being at least partially the cause of this.

"I love you", she said hugging him. Then they kissed shortly. "And I love you, too", answered Sam after their lips had touched. "All of this madness made me realize one good thing though." Sam took in the damage onceagain. Thinking about what would have happened if he and Aurora hadn't been there made him just more determined. "What is that?" asked Aurora.

"I know my path now. This destruction here makes it perfectly clear to me, what my new purpose in life will be. I want to stop this kind of thing from happening! Should digimon come again to this world, I will either try to appease them, or stop them from hurting innocents. We were lucky to be around today, who knows what might have happened otherwise. Therefore I need to understand what brings them here at all." Sam was convinced about doing this. It was like suddenly everything was clear and he scolded himself for not seeing it in the first place. Something big was going on here, if he wanted to prevent such destruction Sam needed to know what that was and more importantly he needed any assistance he could get. "Will you help me with this ambition, Aurora?"

As she listened Aurora sensed the conviction in Sam's world. She was glad that he had found a way, even though he was not sure how he would accomplish such a thing. In any case Aurora would be by his side and if they found out what was going on, maybe there was a way for Aurora to return to the digiworld. "Of course! Let's follow this new purpose together." They hugged again, happy to have each other. "Let's head home!"

With a quite perceivable sound Sam opened the front door. As he stepped inside he was practically assaulted by Aurora, who had to return from their fight at the mall by herself, the danger of Aurora being seen was just too great. Now however they were alone, no prying human eyes, no belligerent digimon and nothing else that could disturb the lovers.

Sam barely managed to close the door before Aurora's lips found his. All the worries and the frustration were instantly swept away from Sam's mind, instead it was filled with simple unified thoughts. The warmth of her body as she put her arms around him, the passion of the moment as her tongue invaded Sam's mouth, Aurora's breast pressing against his own chest, but most importantly Sam could feel how her love lit him up from the inside. It filled him with a warm contentment and at the same time with an unbelievable desire. Aurora felt the same way, as their bodies touched, she didn't want this moment ever to end, yet Aurora also knew that they were far from done. This would only get better realized Aurora excited and fumbled with Sam's clothes, while they moved into the living room.

Sensing her eagerness Sam began to help the renamon with removing his clothes. The lovers just untangled long enough for Sam to remove his shirt, pants and underwear. After that they embraced each other again. With fur against skin Sam reveled in the feeling as he simply held Aurora close. Ever so slowly he began to plant soft kisses on her neck, while Aurora's paws traced Sam's body with affection. Gentle sounds of approval were everything they needed to carry on. It didn't take long for Sam to grow aroused as he admired Aurora's body in his mind and with his lips. Smelling his virile scent Aurora knew that Sam was ready for more, she could feel his firm maleness pressing against her body, begging for attention. The renamon couldn't resist. Knowing well that Sam would enjoy it she licked her lips, as her tail wagged a little excited, and got on her knees to be on eye level with Sam's cock. Sam realized what she was about to do, letting the renamon do as she pleased.

Eyeing Sam's member for a short moment, Aurora couldn't help but admire his most sensitive part and with a silly grin felt a little possessive about it. It might be attached to Sam, but this was mostly her plaything. Her paw found Sam's cock first, giving it a gentle squeeze. Then her head moved forward and with short curious licks she began to caress Sam's member. His stifled moans on a clearly pleased face spurred Aurora on. Before long Aurora's paw held to the base of his shaft, while she began to suck on Sam's dick. As her tongue swirled around the human shaft Aurora ever so slowly swallowed more of Sam's maleness. He just enjoyed the pleasurable sensations, watching his furry lover working on his cock intently. Trying to focus as much as possible Sam wanted to hold on to the moment, but to no avail, he could feel himself getting closer and closer to his climax. Seeing her down there on her knees taking his cock with her muzzle, after all the teasing and excitement of today, was simply too much for him. Aurora sensed this and Sam's involuntary shivers combined with quiet groans of approval were music to her sensitive ears. With increased determination to please her mate Aurora moved faster. As her head bobbed up and down Sam's length, taking the cock entirely and applying more pressure with her tongue, Sam couldn't hold it in any longer. Moaning loudly he came into Aurora's mouth. The renamon tasted his seed and hungrily drank everything up. Feeling hot from her own actions Aurora was delighted as her mouth was filled. His cum intoxicated her, making her happy for pleasing Sam and more horny. With a smile on her lips she began to lick Sam's member clean the moment his orgasm subsided, as if this would satiate her own needs, which spread like a burning desire through her entire body.

To Sam the attention Aurora showed his cock felt just intense as ever, fueled by his love for the renamon. After recovering from his climax he saw that Aurora showed no intention of stopping, totally lost in the fervor of their feelings. Her ministrations had left Sam still rock hard and even though his rising desire told him that he wanted more, Sam just needed to return the favor first. Touching Aurora's head, then her shoulder, affectionately made the renamon look up. She stopped and rose, while looking into Sam's eyes, just like he did with her's. There was true love, a bottomless eternal truth that confirmed their feelings for each other. Putting a hand under Aurora's chin Sam raised her head and kissed Aurora once more. He could taste his own juices, but he didn't care at the moment. The kiss didn't last that long, and directly after this display of affection Sam guided Aurora to the couch in the living room. Without a moment of hesitation he lay down on the comfy piece of furniture and gestured for Aurora to join him.

No words were needed. Even in silence Aurora perfectly understood what Sam had in mind, even though her nether regions just wanted to get on with it Aurora had a better plan. Why not share this moment? So Aurora turned around and positioned herself above Sam in a sixty nine position with her lover, who didn't seem dismissive of the idea. It took a moment for Aurora to get comfortable, with her legs straddled over the human's chest, but soon she found herself in front of Sam's cock again. Likewise he beheld the full beauty of Aurora's slim furred legs, her round butt cheeks with the excitedly wagging, bushy tail above and most importantly her crotch. Sam traced her legs with his hands slowly before moving his head closer between them. Her pussy lips were clearly visible to him now, the fur around her vagina was slightly damp and she radiated heat as well as an arousing scent. As his hands travelled closer to the center of Sam's attention he put them on her ass, spreading her cheeks to get slightly better access. Directly above her lower lips Sam saw Aurora's tail hole and he wondered if Aurora would be open to a little ass play in the future. Finally after a long moment Sam didn't want to make Aurora wait any longer. With his tongue Sam licked her slit drawing a long moan from the renamon. Feeling the human tongue brushing over her folds Aurora was lost in the pleasure for an instant. It just felt so good as Sam's tongue slightly invaded her vagina, when it touched her clit. Then she reminded herself why she chose this position and focused on Sam's member between stifled gasps. Aurora inhaled his scent deeply, not wasting any more time she immediately resumed sucking his cock. Surprised by the sudden and intense feeling of her mouth around his shaft Sam moaned, before he matched her eagerness. He was determined to make her feel good as well. With one of his hands Sam rubbed her clit as he still moved his tongue in and around Aurora's pussy. The renamon could feel the pleasure rising, slowly nearing her climax, but she still needed more. Increasing her pace Aurora rapidly moved up and down Sam's cock, worshipping it with her mouth and tongue. Every coherent thought or restraint was gone, as in a lust-crazed state Aurora wanted her lover to reach his orgasm, just as she needed Sam to help her reach hers.

The human was similarly elated and happily complied by increasing his pace, too. After a moment he used his other hand to tease her lips with his fingers. When one of them sank into Aurora's pussy she gasped and almost cried out around Sam's member. Sam added another finger, fucking her hole slowly and moving them around on the inside. Being touched in all the right spots made Aurora realize how painfully close she was to her climax. It was like she was on the edge of these intense feelings and she just needed a little push. She began to push back with her lower body, trying to get more of her lover's fingers inside of her. The human himself neared his orgasm, too. Growing bolder he wanted to try something and see how Aurora would react. With one of his fingers that were covered in Aurora's love juices he slowly moved upwards from her slit between her firm butt cheeks until Sam reached her backdoor. Sensually he circled her hole before pushing his slick finger inside and wriggling it around a little. As Sam's finger slipped into her tail hole Aurora froze for an instant surprised. The feeling wasn't bad, just strange and it was just the thing she needed to drive her over the edge. Crying out Aurora came and covered Sam's face in juices that gushed from her vagina. Once the powerful waves of pleasure hit Aurora she raised her head to moan and her whole body shook involuntarily. Though with one of her paws she managed stroke Sam's cock hard and fast. Lapping up as much of her juices as possible Sam was sent over the edge as well by her almost painful stroking. Ropes of cum shot from his member mostly hitting Aurora's face and muzzle. The lover's just stayed like that riding out their orgasms, panting and sweating from their lovemaking. Aurora was the first to recover, she sighed satisfied but not quite satiated. Turning around on shaking legs she laid down atop Sam and looked at him lovingly. His face was covered in her cum, just like Aurora's was sticky with his jizz, which made Aurora smile amused. Lovingly she licked across his face, tasting her own juices and Sam chuckled, slowly returning the affection.

Still aroused Aurora began to rub her lower body against Sam's crotch after some time. He got the hint that she was still in the mood and it didn't take long before Sam started to get hard again. As Aurora's lower lips brushed over his growing shaft the renamon could feel the pleasure increasing again. She rose with her upper body so that she was sitting on his crotch in a cowgirl position and fondled her own breasts moaning. Pinching her nipples a little Aurora wanted to take Sam right there and now, luckily she didn't have to wait long. As Sam saw his mate atop him playing with herself, grinding her most sensitive part against his to tease him he instantly became aroused and rock hard once more. Feeling Sam's maleness press against her butt, made Aurora stop for a moment. She was more than ready for him and wanted nothing more to feel his cock inside her, so Aurora didn't waste more time. With one paw she steadied herself as Aurora raised her crotch, while she used the other to position Sam's member at her entrance. It took her a moment to find the right angle, which frustrated her a little, but then finally she was ready. Slowly Aurora lowered herself onto his cock. When she had taken his entire length Aurora sighed. She shot one last glance at Sam, who seemed equally content and at the same time just as inclined to go on.

After Aurora had gotten used to every inch of her lover's size, she began with a slow rhythm. Raising herself until Sam's cock left her almost entirely and she felt empty on the inside, before sitting back down again, which felt like being stretched till his shaft rubbed every spot on her insides. It felt just so great being as close to her mate in such a pleasurable way. Driven by her passion Aurora sped up. She moaned loudly as she bucked faster and faster atop Sam, who felt his own pleasure rise as well. Again Sam had time to admire the view, while Aurora did all the work. Her body rocking up and down, her tits swaying visibly with every movement and the pleased look on her face each time their crotches met with a loud smack. Aurora was practically hammering at Sam's cock now. Each time he felt her tight warm walls around his cock Sam had to stop himself from groaning out as well. It was all too much for him. Sam felt like he was on fire, he needed to cum badly even after all the fooling around. Led by his passion Sam raised his hands to knead Aurora's breasts, while she needed all her strength to keep a steady pace. Aurora answered his fondling of her tits and rubbing her sensitive nipples with a groan and fucked Sam even faster. Both of them could feel themselves growing closer to orgasm again. Sam thrust against Aurora to increase the feeling, while he still caressed her breasts. Then finally the lovers came. Aurora cried out once more, moving slowly and erratically while she rode out her orgasm and she felt a gush of fluids rushing from her vagina to meet Sam's cock and crotch. When his own climax hit Sam, he let go of Aurora's tits. Her pussy constricted around him, milking him for every drop of cum and Sam happily complied shooting his load deeply inside her. The feeling of being filled was even more incredible for Aurora and she reveled in all the pleasurable feelings. When their orgasms subsided the lovers collapsed on the couch, Aurora still atop Sam. Panting they just held on to each other and looked in the eyes of the one person they loved most. No words were needed, nothing was lost between as they shared this moment together. Both knew this would just be the beginning of a long night and hoped that many more like this would follow.

For the rest of the day and part of the night Kane observed the outpost from a distance, he was watching his prey to determine where he should strike. There were two watchtowers and six guards at all times, the rest remained in the warehouse mostly. Exactly eighteen men remained and only one of them seemed dangerous, a tall brute, who was also their leader. But Kane had a plan to kill all of them already, the preparations were halfway done.

In the middle of the night he crept closer, sneaking into their premises without being noticed. He got closer to two guards. One of them was yawning and the other stood a little aside pissing on the ground. These goons weren't attentive at all, this was almost too easy. Kane's prey was vulnerable now, which meant it was time to attack. From behind he gripped the yawner, put a hand over his mouth and slit his throat before he could do anything. He thrashed in his grip, making a gurgling noise. The other man mumbled something incomprehensible as he started to turn around. Kane moved as fast as possible. He rushed at the man, jumped, knife raised and buried it in his neck. Both of them landed on the ground, for a moment the man tried to fight, but then Kane slid his knife as deep as possible. The man stopped moving.

Like a predator Kane watched another group of watchmen and waited for the right moment. Without breaking a sweat two more guys lay on the ground. Neither the guards on the watchtowers, nor the remaining two had noticed anything. Probably they were too busy picking their nose to watch the night. Then he went to the now unguarded door of the warehouse, it was the only entrance. Using the remaining grenades and a bit of thin string he built a booby trap. With clever placement he timed the trap so that it would go off shortly after someone went through the door. After he was done he retreated to a safe position. Kane had found a good elevated spot, from where he could watch the outpost again.

The night slowly turned into the morning of the next day. Inside the warehouse the other men would awake soon and it was only a matter of time before someone would see four dead guys. No, Kane had waited long enough and prepared enough traps. It was time to lure his prey out. With his sniper rifle he aimed at one of the guardsmen. His shot rang so loud that the whole area must have heard it. The guard fell, as his head was ripped to pieces. Immediately the other guards cried out. Kane shot again and the next guard fell. There was a commotion inside the warehouse now, good. Another shot, this time at one of the watchtower guards. The man didn't die at once. Instead he stumbled back and fell screaming to his death. Kane had to reload. Then suddenly a tall man burst from the warehouse, it was their leader, just as Kane had foreseen. He didn't even realize the string that armed the grenades. The brute just ran on in Kane's direction. With another shot Kane dispatched the last guard. Turning around the leader saw him now. More men came from the warehouse, in that exact moment the grenades exploded. Hearing the explosion the brute turned around and saw his men dying. The whole building shook, as it started to catch fire. No one emerged from the explosion. Just the brute remained and he focused on Kane furiously. An enraged prey might by dangerous, but also easy to predict.

The leader charged Kane while shooting. Even if his aim was good, running while clouded with anger would have made it almost impossible to hit anything. Kane drew a pistol, his sniper rifle was too impractical and he left all the other guns behind. He shot two times, before the pistol clicked empty, so he threw it away. All of this was a diversion of course and the brute fell for it. It didn't take long for the brute's weapon to be out of ammo, too.

"I will kill you with my bare hands, if I have to," shouted the man with an accent. Kane had expected as much and retreated counting his steps. When he reached ten Kane jumped and turned around, waiting for his foe to catch up. The brute didn't realize that he ran into a trap. "No, more running away now!" He grinned as he got closer. Kane raised his fists as if he wanted to fight the man. He just had to come a little closer. This was the moment of truth. Nicholas Kane's heart raced, he only felt alive, when he had a real challenge, a true enemy. "I will make you wish you were dead," said the brute. He came closer. Just one more step! Kane laughed to provoke him even more. Then the brute took the last step. Under his leg was a quiet clicking noise and the mine went off.

There was a deafening bang. Blood and burnt flesh rained in all directions. Nicholas Kane couldn't care less that he got splattered in gore. The last enemy was gone, his remains painted the area thoroughly. So Kane just waited, for the next mission and the next challenging hunt. Major Kane awoke from his memory as he stood in front of Mr. Bain's office. The businessman's secretary sat behind a desk handing Mr. Conner something. He watched the latter with interest, there was something about this whole situation, like a bad feeling. Just as he did after his first real mission Major Kane waited for his next hunt as there was always a next hunt.

To be continued....