OK this was very odd...Technically this story should have been done THREE years ago...set back after set back kept pushing the date until I decided enough as enough. It helped to turn this into a story that sort of ties in Season 3 of my pokemon/digimon crossover series so that's what I did. I collaborated with  omni-aura to finish this up. This story takes place just before Max and Hackmon enter the ice cavern in Chapter 2 of book 3.


my half of the trade for  omni-aura

Max belongs to me
Konjou belongs to Omni-Aura as well.
Hackmon and digimon as a whole belong to Bandai.


enjoy.

---

Blue Cross Roads




Walking through the wooded areas of Johto, Max was eager to get his eighth badge from the blackthorn city gym. It was one of his last obstacles he would need to overcome in order to finally make his way into the Johto league. He recalled, that last time during his original quest, he was forced to remain locked in his Guilmon form, and thus unable to continue competing in the previous year's Silver Conference. “Hey...Your really should try picking up the pace. You'll never be a great knight like Gankoomon if you slack off.” Max shouted cheerily, approaching a clearing with a river blocking their only way forward.



“I'm coming I'm coming!” Out of the bush, a small Hackmon followed behind Max. It looked to be panting, and upon reaching the water, fell in! It was a humorous site, and one that got Max laughing. As the dragon began to float back to the surface, his cheeks became red with embarrassment, bubbles following along the edge of it's muzzle. “That's not funny...”



Leaning forward, Max grabbed ahold of the Hackmon's paws, slowly dragging him out of the cold river water. “So...how are we supposed to get through this? It's so vast and I don't think you have any water pokemon on you right?”



“Not quite yet...But I don't think we'll need to use a water pokemon.” Max winked, looking at the water, and trying to judge the distance it would take to get across. “did you forget who you're talking too friend?”



When no response came from Hackmon, Max simply lifted the poor guy off the ground, hefting him up onto his back. “Aaaalright! Ready?”


"Hold...What are y-!" Came from Hackmon who cried out as he held around his tamer's waist as the human companion he was traveling with, leapt over the water but rather than falling into it, he stood just a few feed above it. "Oh yeah...light step technique...I forgot you could do that..." He used one claw to put his goggles on over his eyes as if to blot away his embarrassment.


Max, on the other hand laughed as he continued to make his way down the river until he spotted a fork in the river and a blue furred fox similar to a Renamon was hovering above the water. It definitely had him curious. "Uhm hey there. You don't look like you're from around these parts...are you going into town?"



The Renamon's ears flicked lightly in response to the pair. A moment later he replied. “Meditating here, enjoying nature's embrace, provide peace and calm.” He spoke in Haiku, then opened his eyes to get a look at the two interrupting his quiet time. “Observant. I will eventually...but...what brings the two of you so far from the roads and out of modern civilization?”



Hackmon and Max both looked to one another, before the latter finally replied. “We're on our way to grab our 8th gym badge.”



That would have been all of it, except Hackmon decided to reach forward, plucking at Max's ears and pulling them. “He's a digimon...you may as well ask him instead of trying to be secretive!”



The Renamon looked at Hackmon, and nodded. “You are correct...I am a digimon. You may know them to be called Renamon, but I assure you, I'm not any average Renamon that you may have met. Was there something you needed to ask?” He calmly moved out of his meditative state and began walking towards the pair.



“Oh...right! Erm...” Max rubbed the back of his head, watching the blue furred Renamon approaching them and started explaining how they'd met with other digimon in the previous city who'd gone rampant. “They all seem to have the same underlying symptoms of glowing red eyes.



The Renamon nodded. “You know, some digimon already have red eyes...but I understand, though I've not faced any like that. If so they'd have been defeated already.”



“riiight...” Max let the word trail on for a moment, and turned his attention to Hackmon. “What do you think partner?”



Hackmon shrugged his shoulders, turning to the side. “You do what you want. I've tried stopping you before but it doesn't help.”



With a nod, Max turned his attention back to the Renamon. “If you're sure of your abilities, would you mind having a sparring match with us? I find that it's easier to know a person's true intentions after a battle's been had.”



The Renamon closed his eyes before lifting a paw to flick Max on the forehead, to which Max staggered back, rubbing his head where he'd been flicked. “Sparring with someone without a proper introduction? Have to say that is a little hasty. Though It's not like digimon really introduce themselves in battle. With us it's usually fight first, talk later.”



“I guess I deserved that...Alright! My name is Max Smithy.” Max grinned wide, holding out a hand to shake.



“Konjou.” Konjou reached out and shook Max's hand with a paw before walking 30 feet to give the two of them a wide enough space to begin their match and held a paw out in front of him as a sign he was ready.




Max and Hackmon looked at one another, before the dragon started strolling to the comforting shade of a nearby tree and laid back. “You're the one that wants to test him...I'll just watch.” Max nodded in agreement, turning his attention back to Konjou as red flames began to swirl around his body, enveloping him and dissipating a few moments later to reveal a Guilmon in his place.



Konjou was slightly surprised when the transformation took place, but remained focused. “That doesn't seem like spirit evolution...Interesting.” He motioned his paw to beacon Max to come at him.



Quick to the punch, Max's blue eyes turned into slits as the Guilmon species typically did when they were going into combat and surged forward to strike Konjou with a rock breaker. Though it didn't go as planned, if anything it went wrong right from the start as Konjou grabbed Max's paw at just the right moment and pushed him away and towards the river. “Ack! Wha-Woah!” Max hopped a bit in an attempt to stop his momentum and just barely managed to avoid falling into the water. “What...was THAT?!” He exclaimed, charging again and trying to use his tail to trip up the Renamon.



Konjou was ready for this and seemingly vanished. From Hackmon's perspective however, he could see that the Renamon was crouching over Max's tail. The dragon rumbled a bit with his eyes narrowing. “Look behind you!”



Max blinked and turned his head around to see Konjou over his tail, but he barely had a moment to react as Konjou grabbed him by the shoulders and flips the Guilmon into the air, sending him flying a good distance away. Max was dumbfounded! He was flying in the air and about to fall into the water again when he tried to calm down. “OK...let's try this...” He growled, his body glowing and he started forming a slide of light that guided him back onto solid ground. “You're quick...and countering you is turning out to be tricky...”



Konjou closed his eyes. “A lot of practice and focus is all it takes.” He then opened his eyes again as he held up a paw in the air. “Anymore?”



Creeping around to circle Konjou, Max kept his eyes on the Renamon, trying to find a weakpoint, before standing upright. “I'm certain now that you're not corrupted. Otherwise you wouldn't be countering me like you are. How do you do that? You say it takes practice and focus but that's incredibly vague.”



“Indeed.” Konjou stood straighter, taking it as the fight having ended. “I learned plenty in becoming a martial arts master. Care for a lesson?” He asked, turning slightly to stare at Hackmon. “You too. You could learn something here too.”



Max was quick to agree, Hackmon voicing Max's opinion as well as his own. “IF it helps us reach our ultimate goal then it can't hurt to learn new things whenever we can.”



Konjou nodded and stepped over with a relaxed expression. “Very well...First off, when engaged in battle, do you feel a sense of tension around you?”



The duo looked to one another before Hackmon answered. “Isn't that the case with everyone?”



“Yes...But...” And Konjou walked around them, looking over the two of them. “Have you ever tried to sense...or rather read what they are about to do. Your opponent I mean.”



Max scratched his cheek as he thought about that. "But wait...how'd you sense my intentions? I understand anticipating your opponants moves but how can you sense what I'm going to do?”



“When we fought, I sensed the intentions behind your attack and countered them. Which helped in figuring out if you were about to punch or strike with your tail...as you did.. Let's have a lil test, shall we?” He asked, holding his paws out infront of Max. “Try looking, and using your power to see which paw will flick you and counter it.” The boy gave a nod in understanding and kept his eyes on both paws. He moved his head in accordance to his instincts and received a jab to his forehead with the right paw. “You're letting your mind control where you think it's going to come. Don't think. Just feel it. As if we're in battle. Maybe this will help...” Suddenly a blue flame hovered over each paw, a smile on the fox's face. “This should make things a lil easier. Ready?”



It was slight, but there was a shift in the left paw's flame and Max caught it. He drifted to the right and avoided the paw as it came at his forehead. “Nice work. Now you just need to learn how to do thhat without a visual cue.” Hackmon added, his voice a rumble.



Konjou nodded in agreement. “Which is where your power comes in.” The flames vanished above Konjou's paws. “Try to sense them now. Don't focus on where I might strike. Feel for it.”



Max did just that, trying to avoid the next smack to his forehead and failing miserably. He got a red spot in the middle of his forehead for his troubles. “You're thinking too much. Feel it...and use that power.”



“My...power? Hmmm maybe THIS will work...” Taking a deep breath, Max concentrated on himself until a round sphere of light energy enveloped his body. He looked like a miniature sun if not for the fact it could be seen through and thanks to his manipulation of the light he was able to dim it so that it didn't burn the eyes of anyone who looked directly at it. “Alright...try it now.”



Konjou nodded. “Use your instincts and let's see how this works.” He looked into Max's eyes and just as quickly as before, jabbed his paw forward, and watched it miss as Max tilted his head over to the side to avoid the impact. The combination of his natural instincts and the light barrier made it easier for Max to catch on to Konjou's strikes, as his timing grew more in sync each time. He used his left arm to dodge a flick from the Renamon's tail, and lifted his right leg to avoid another swipe. By the time the third paw flick came around however, Max fell on his backside, that's when Konjou stopped.


“Max...what happened?” Hackmon asked, looking amazed and helping Max sit up straight. “You were doing amazing...”



“What do you THINK happened?” Max asked, rubbing his head. “I got dizzy...using light energy like that...it's resourceful but draining. So my limit's pretty low right now when fighting like that. I'll have to find a better way.”



Konjou handed Max what looked like a piece of candy in a gum wrapper. “This will help restore your energy. Remember that feeling though, you may not need to use that power in the future.”



Looking at Konjou, as if recognizing him for the first time, he accepted the candy with a smile and popped it into his mouth and started swallowing it when he got an alert from his pokegear. He changed back into human form so that he could access the pokegear on his belt and cringed. “Oh...we should get going. We spent too much time here already.”



Hackmon leapt onto Max's back to get a look at the notification on the Pokegear and let out a small groan. “We better go! I wanna make sure we get there in time for dinner!”



Max understood. Hackmon was a ravenous eater...always hungry.and he most certainly never skipped a meal. No matter what. To ensure that accidents wouldn't happen, Max took a slip of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Konjou. “We need to head out sorry. If you need a favor from us then give me a call on that number. And if you're ever in the digital world, look up the Tamer HQ. Our friends there should be able to take care of you if you need something.”



Konjou looked at the slip of paper for a moment then watches the two of them run out towards the direction of the ice caves. Setting the paper away, he pulled out a small device with the screen flashing blue, then a holo compass appeared, pointing in the direction that the tamer and partner had run off to. “Hmm...danger ahead for them.” He put the device away calmly. “I'm sure they can handle it.” The Renamon turned away just as a thought crossed his mind. “though...they are in a hurry...so I guess I'll help them with this.” He smiled to himself as he looked back in the direction of where Max and Hackmon had run off.




Max, with Hackmon riding on his back, was rushing through the trees as he tried to get into the ice cavern quick. He was stopped in place when a large bone impacted the top of the cavern and caused a heap of rocks and debris to seal up the entrance. Max started looking around the area around them, trying to find who sealed off their entry into the caves. The answer came to him quickly enough as the bone club went flying back into the hands of it's owner. An apemon stood on a tree branch, eyes glowing red in an indication that it was corrupted and roared a challenge at the pair. Quickly grabbing his Pokegear, he found the device had quickly pulled up data on their foe. "Apemon...Vaccine champion type digimon. It's attacks are...well...looks like the digivice is being a little finicky today.”



"Let me at em. I'll set em straight!" Hackmon hopped off Max's back, and blinked when Max grabbed his cape. "I know kid. Don't kill...I'll try to keep my attacks toned down." With that the two digimon went at it. Hackmon charged at the Apemon and even jumped on it's head as he worked his way behind. As he hit the ground he swung his paw and was surprised when the Apemon's reflexes were good enough to block his hit with the bone club and then kick him back. "It's a shame our opponants aren't under the same handicap..." Hackmon grumbled.



Apemon was preparing to throw it's bone at them again, when Hackmon's eyes caught sight of a red aura enveloping the bone. “This is dangero-”



Hackmon didn't have time to finish his sentence as the bone flew at them, the wind speed itself was enough to send his Cape flying all over the place. Max's quick thinking with a light barrier kept the two of them from getting walloped. When the bone bounced back into Apemon's grip, Max's barrier went down and he collapsed, rubbing his forehead. “I knew using my light so soon was a bad idea...”



“Leave it to me Max...” Hackmon stared at his tamer who was too fatigued to move and growled. “I won't let you hurt my friend!” Hackmon sprang to action, his tail turning rapidly like a drill and chipping away at the Bone club. “Teen ram!!”



The Apemon staggered back as it grabbed it's bone which was cracked in it's center. It bellowed in their direction and stomped it's feet a few times in frustration. “Heh...You upset? That's what happens when you hurt my friends.” His tail was numb after the effort. He was annoyed by the fact that his attack hadn't outright shattered the bone. Whatever was corrupting this Apemon also improved it's bones density. Banishing the pain from his mind, Hackmon started circling around the Apemon, making sure it stayed focused on him and him alone. “That's right big guy...keep all eyes on me.”



It looked like it was working, for a moment. But the Apemon lifted his fist and threw a series of flaming fists in Max's direction, to which Hackmon's eyes widened. “Hey! I'm your target not him!” He then stopped in his tracks as another flaming fist came charging in his direction. He lifted up his paws to avoid the flames but was knocked into a nearby tree, leaving a nasty crunching sound in it's wake as his impact scraped away quite a bit of tree bark. Looking up from where he was left sitting, he noticed Max had been transformed due to the flames into his Guilmon form. “Thank goodness...” Hackmon didn't have any such resistance though, and he looked to his cape which had a few embers eating away at the fabric which he quickly snuffed out.



The apemon took one step forward, and began throwing it's bone towards Hackmon. There was a brief shout from a voice nearby “Shoda!” and then there was the sickly crunching sound as the bone made impact. White dust coated the area as if to shroud Hackmon's grisly fate. The Apemon clapped his paws together and started dancing, believing it had won this battle.



Max pulled himself up to his feet and tried to get a sense of Hackmon's life force with what light he had left in him right now. With great effort, Max opened his jaws and shot a Pyro sphere in the monkey's face, which made the Apemon go still. He stopped dancing and looked in Max's direction, fangs showing in a hateful growl as he threw a few more flaming punches in the Guilmon's direction, but they were suddenly blown away, with nothing but the Apemon's bone club in the paws of Konjou who stood infront of Max, Hackmon leaning against Max suddenly and panting. “Whew...That was close...” Hackmon rumbled, looking up. “We'd be lunch meat if it wasn't for you...”



The Apemon didn't look too pleased that his bone was used to defend them as he started stomping his feet around in irritation. Konjou tossed the bone back, which the Apemon caught no problem but the force in which the bone was throne, sent him flying into the mountain side. Both Max and Hackmon stared in stunned silence as Konjou faced them. “Thank me after we're finished.” Stretching his arm out, a digivice appeared in Konjou's left paw, as well as a card in his right which spun lightly at his claw tips before he slashed the card into the digivice. “Digi Modify...Energy...Stamina activate.” He said, holding out the digivice towards them as a beam of light enveloped the two, wounds they suffered from their encounter having healed up in moments.



As the fatigue left his body, Max took a quick look at the digivice and nodded. “It's different from my uncle's design...” He then narrowed his eyes. “We can't digivolve though. Any excessive force and we might end up deleting this guy. Any ideas?”



“I defeat and contain. I don't delete.” He sensed Apemon was recovering from his collission with the mountain. “Do you wish for me to assist you in this battle?”



Hackmon quickly pushed Max down so that the boy was forced to sit. “I'd rather leave you out of this battle.” When Max protested he flicked Max on the forehead with a claw. “It's not physical stamina or energy that he needs. It's light energy. And you need it bad. So sit down, rest up and do that Soul Charge thing to quickly rebuild that stamina of yours.” Hackmon's tail smacked into the ground, leaving a dent within it that was shaped like the tip of his tail.



“O-Okay...” Max blushed, but relented as he closed his eyes and crossed his legs.


“Well I know I can handle the Apemon. But I'm sure you want a piece of him after hurting your partner.” Konjou glanced down at Hackmon, while producing a barrier around Max that would shield him. A smile formed on the corner of the Renamon's lips.



“Of course I do. Max said that's a digivice...can you DNA Digivolve?” Hackmon asked, Watching as the Apemon was coming at them with a red aura enveloping him like wildfire.



Konjou shook his head, and produced a paper Talisman that hit the Apemon in the forehead. “Kofuusatsu.” He snapped a claw and the talisman exploded on contact, Apemon rolling back as his head was charred from the attack. “I can't DNA digivolve. Although...”



Hackmon cringed as he watched the Apemon rolling around to put out the fire. “Well there must be some other way. You have better control over your powers than I do.”



The Apemon's aura grew more fierce as it started digivolving right infront of the pair, transforming itself into a Gokuwmon, an ultimate level beast man digimon. Konjou had held the digivice of his infront of Hackmon with bright words illuminating the holo screen. “Team up? YES, NO.” It seemed to be giving them a choice. And Hackmon didn't have to think twice, he immediately slammed his paw into the YES icon with a grim look of acceptance on his face. “I will protect my friends and become a Knight. Even if I have to team up.”



The moment the YES button was tapped, a bright light enveloped Hackmon, as well as Konjou as their bodies grew in sync with each other. “Good. Then let us help your friend, Knight.”



Hackmon nodded, growling as the Gokuwmon thrust it's rod into the ground. “Lightning attack!” It howled, as lightning started bursting out of the ground, yet Konjou and Hackmon managed to avoid the attack just milliseconds before impact, which collided into the barrier than Konjou had provided Max, but it remained steady. He wondered how they managed to avoid the attack in unison...But he figured Max must have felt that way when he was using his light to predict Konjou's moves. “Let's put this big dirty monkey to sleep.”



Konjou nodded, the two of them stopping just infront of Gokuwmon and the Renamon tapped a button on his digivice. “Digi-Xros!”



“Wait...did you say Digi-Xro-” That was as much as Hackmon got out. His body started glowing brighter and hotter before he was sent flying in Konjou's direction and flung into an orb that surrounded the fox. “Renomon...Hackmon...DIGI-XROS!!”



Hackmon's body started splitting into pieces once it entered the sphere. His body starting to cover Konjou's own as a suit of armor. His back feet attached to Konjou's to form heel claws for better stability, while the front claws of each of his paws broke into 9 pieces and attached to the tips of his tails, the head of Hackmon, attached to Konjou's left paw, with a gun barrel similar to Omnimon's protruded from the mouth, and his tail attached to the Renomon's right paw and straightened out to a sharp short sword. The cape attached to his neck with the Goggles resting just on Konjou's forehead. He lifted the Hackmon cannon upright and announced his new transformation. “Renomon: Rogue Knight!” The process itself took only a second or two. The orb shattered as if to reveal the new digimon combination that was made to combat the Ultimate Gokuwmon.



Opening one eye, Max took a look at their sudden new change in appearance and found himself reminded of the Soul Cross ability...but this was a bit more bizarre...Soul Cross involved two digimon becoming one new entity. “Good luck.” Was all Max said, watching the battle while focusing on regenerating his light powers.



Konjou looked over his new armor and the blade that he held in his right paw and smiled. “Guess you did want to protect your partner.”



“Of course I do! I'll become a royal knight. And if it means joining with you to protect my partner then I'll do it.” Hackmon answered Konjou through telepathy. He couldn't really do it any other way.



“Super lightning cannon!” Gokuwmon howled, letting a surge of lightning discharge from the end of his staff. Konjou did nothing to try and evade the attack, other than grip the blade in reverse and with a single fluid motion, cut the lightning in half. The whole idea that lightning could even be cut, baffled the monkey, who charged without a second delay. Just as he had before with Max, he skillfully avoided the Gokuwmon's swipes, with the occasional parry of his own sword. Konjoumon eventually had enough and when he found the opening he'd been waiting for, he took a single step forward and started slicing at the Gokuwmon who managed to avoid each slash yet his staff broke into 4ths...then 6ths and finally it just broke apart entirely.



“It's over.” Was all Hackmon had to say to Konjou. The Gokuwmon roared a challenge and lifted a single fist to try and pound Konjou's head. Being stopped by the blade's flat end, producing sparks between their two attacks. It seemed odd to counter in this way and the Gokuwmon knew it...but then it would become apparent as Konjou pointed to the Ape's chest, which was glowing bright red. It then looked at Konjou as if to say 'please don't blow me up.' Konjou simply smirked and slid the Tail sword into a sheath that was hanging over his waist. As he did, a huge bang went off, enveloping the Gokuwmon who was sent flying in a burning heap before slamming into the ground next to Max, unconcious, but alive. Max could have sworn he saw something red, fly out of the digimon's body, but when he blinked, the red object had dissapeared.



Max slowly pulled himself up, having recovered enough stamina and light to move easily again. “That Digi-Xros looks handy...are you able to...Un-Digi-Xros?”



Konjou casually walked up to the Gokuwmon. His digivice appeared in his right paw as a small red ring appeared around the Gokuwmon. “Digi code, scan...” Came a voice from the device, a second later the Gokuwmon's burns had healed, and he reverted back into an Apemon. “Of course.” Konjou finally turned his attention to Max as the digivice spoke again. “Disbanding...”



There was another bright flash as Hackmon's body separated from Konjou and he was back in his own body again. The diminutive dragon looked over his paws, and sweat dropped. “That was weird...But it did the job...” He laughed, turning to Max who had already started cleaning out the rubble than had closed off the ice cavern. Hackmon gave a short bow to Konjou. “Maybe you can show us how the Digi Xros thing works some time. The way it felt...it's kind of how Max described the Soul Cross ability. Needless to say we wouldn't have done it without your help.”



“No trouble at all. Maybe you'd like to talk it out over a meal?” Konjou asked, pointing to the setting sun. “It'll be a lot worse in those caverns if you go in at night.”



Hackmon was just about to decline when his stomach started growling quite audibly. “Man...I was hoping we'd be in town by now and able to eat some good grub...” It was odd to see Hackmon acting like a child, but he turned to Max. “Can we set up camp for the night? We should rest up!”



Max had just finished clearing out the rocks when he heard Hackmon's request. He noted the desperate look for food on his partner's face and smiled. “Who am I to say no? We may as well rest up for the night.” Max relented.



Konjou chuckled softly, a smile creeping over his face. “I'll prepare dinner. I promise you won't be disappointed. We can exchange intel...like this Soul Cross you keep mentioning. And I'll tell you about Digi-Xros.”



“You got a deal!” Hackmon was quick to reply. He quickly walked over to Max and helped the boy pull out a small tent out of his bag. It wasn't a very big one...but definitely large enough to fit the two of THEM. The bickered amongst themselves as they started putting everything together. It didn't take long though for the two of them to calm down as the smell of campfire cooking filled the air. They could wait to enter the ice cavern. Right now they'd simply sit back and enjoy a time by the campfire with a new friend. The blue furred Renamon sat stirring a pot, occasionally adding some herbs and spices for taste.



After MAx and Hackmon had finished setting up the campsite, they settled down by the campfire. They made quite a ruckus while they were putting the tent together, it was a wonder why Konjou could handle it without getting caught up in their bickering. But after the sleeping bags had been rolled out they calmed down to the scent of the pot that was cooking the nights meal. "That smells good..." Was Hackmon's response, tilting his head up to smell the air, a bit of drool dripping down the corner of his muzzle, to which Max grinned. "You're drooling..."



Konjou added a few more things into the stew as he spoke. “You both seem really happy together, I can tell you like each other a lot. That's good in a relationship between a digimon and tamer.



Hackmon had just finished wiping the drool from his muzzle when it started flowing down once again as the scent hit his nose thanks to the winds current. “Oh man It smells so wonderful...”



Max only shook his head, laughing at Hackmon's lack of self control around food. “We'd only been partners for about a year or so. He keeps me on my toes but we only decided to be partners because of similar goals.”



“Well...” Konjou took a quick taste of the stew before stirring again. “You should be thankful you found each other when you did. Not many get that lucky.”



Max nodded, smiling. “Honestly I wasn't the one who found him...It's a long story but I don't want to bore you.”



“Then keep it short if you wish.” He checked the consistency of the stew before continuing on. “Otherwise I can start telling you what it is you wanted to know about Digi-Xros.”



Max nodded a few times and took a breath. “I can't really say TOO much...it's classified stuff. But I'll make it short. A group of friends and I went to this place called the Dark world...It was an abandoned digital world that was in use before the current one was made. Hackmon was a descendant of those who stayed in that place. When we finished our business there, Hackmon and the rest of the residents came along with us to the digital world.



Hackmon remained silent, staring up at Max as he retold the tale. “My old Master, Gankoomon, before he died, Taught me that a royal knight fights for his own personal beliefs...so when I met Max after all the fighting had died down...I found it he was looking for the same reasons for why he fights...what his beliefs are. So we agreed to become partners so we could find those answers together.”



Konjou lightly nodded, listening politely before responding. “Which is why you both make a good team. Searching for the answers that will ultimately lead to your destiny. Where you both are bringing out the best in each other, which will make you stronger.” He noticed Hackmon trying to reach for the stew and batted his paw away as if he were a parent keeping a child from taking a cookie. “It won't be much longer.”



He didn't expect his paw to be smacked! Hackmon looked stunned but he set his paw back down, complaining. “but I'm starving!”



“You can wait a little longer.” Max added, rubbing the top of Hackmon's head. “Thanks though. It's important to have a goal to strive for. What about you? You don't seem to have a partner but you hold a digivice.”



“I never had one.” Konjou admitted, taking another sip. “A partner I mean.”



“Oh...I see...” Max looked down, wondering what he could say after that and stared at the pot.



“It isn't what you think.” Konjou gave a light smile as he turned to Max. “I was just born...and didn't have a human waiting for me to be partners with.” He took another taste of the stew and nodded. “You might say I'm...kind of a glitch in the system. Thus my appearance not being normal and all, I didn't even know I was a digimon until years later.”



Hackmon laughed, poking Max's ribs with a claw. “that sounds like you doesn't it?”



Laughing, Max batted away Hackmon's claw. “that tickles you know! But he's right. Except for me I didn't realize I was a digimon until I turned 10. As for partners, if you're ever looking for one, just go to the Tamer HQ like I suggested earlier. There are always aspiring tamers there so you never know.”



With a chuckle, Konjou took out a stone from a bag that he'd been carrying. It was attached to a thick stick that lifted the pot from the fire. “I've lasted this long without a tamer. Don't think I'd need one now. Do you?” Taking out three bowls from the bag that was attached to his sash, he started filling them with stew and took out an orb. It popped to reveal three fresh loaves of bread that plopped into the stew and he served Max and Hackmon their dinner. Along with spoons he dipped into the bowls. “Enjoy.”



“Heh to be fair, Max didn't need one either.” Hackmon rebutted about the tamer comment. Then when the bowls were filled he quickly started going to town on his portion. “It's about time!”



Max sweat dropped, before picking up the bread first. “He means thank you...I apologize for his manners.”



Konjou sat back down, lifting up his spoon. “You're welcome.” He then started to eat his portion.



Max took a bite of the bread first and his eyes popped open. It was crunchy on the outside...yet it was so soft and buttery on the inside...how'd Konjou whip up something like THAT and still have the bread unbroken. Max then picked up a spoonful of the stew and was similarly amazed. It tasted great! Everything was balanced...you could taste how each ingredient had complimented one another to create a parade of flavors in your mouth. He was just about to compliment the cooking when Hackmon lifted up his now empty bowl for seconds. “This kind of puts Doru's stew to shame doesn't it!?” He asked with a bright smile on his face.



“I don't think Doru would like that you said that...” Max finished his bowl next and set it down. “Thank you for the meal. That was amazing! You weren't lying when you said we wouldn't be dissapointed.”



“You're welcome. I'm glad that you approve.” Konjou noted the raised bowl and smiled. “Seconds?”


Hackmon nodded quickly, smiling wide. “Yes please...” And the night continued on like this. The trio sat over the campfire and shared stories with one another. It was a good night, the food was great and they finally had time to relax before they went back into the insanity that would no doubt rule their lives tomorrow.



(The end)