Aftet the whole fiasco with the Numemon, Kockatrimon and Mimi getting her crest of sincerity, we were finally back on track.

Although, I could feel slight tension between Agumon and Tai. It was as if they were scared about something.

"Raya.." Tk said, clenching my hand tightly, "Do you think you'll ever transform into that dark form again?" He asked.

I sighed and looked dowm at him reassuringly, "I doubt that'll ever happen again, Tk. None of us would let it."

Tk smiled and jumped happily. Matt was smiling too, but mostly at the fact that Tk was happy and that I was able to make him happy.

I turned around, smiled and waved at Matt, but he quickly turned away with red cheeks.

Confused a little, I shrugged and turned back to the desert path we were following.

"Okay, I admit a little breeze would be nice, but it's still a beautiful day, don't you think Agumon?" Tai asked cheerfully.

"Yeah, maybe for a scorpion." Agumon said.

"It's beautiful, isn't it, Joe?" Mimi asked gazing upon her new crest, "And every crest we've found so far has been different."

"Yeah, but, we need to learn how to use them." Joe said.

"Or else our digimon could digivolve all messed up, right?" Sora added.

"Yeah, but none of that really matters until we find all the crests." Matt said.

"Hmm," Izzy hummed in thought, "I think you're probably right about that one, Matt. Maybe the crests' power comes from having them all."

"Well, maybe we should just ask Raya, since she's the one who can sense where they are." Tentomon suggested.

All eyes were aimed towards me. I chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment.

"Sorry, but you're asking the wrong girl. Just because I can sense them, doesn't mean I know a lot about them." I said, shooting down their hypothesis about me.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Tai shouted from up ahead, "If we're gonna take some downtime, we should at least find some shade."

"Oh, thanks, Tai!" Tk shouted, "We're just in the middle of an important digi-conversation about the crests and everything and then you made me forget what I was saying. You be in charge of finding the shade, we'll catch up."

Tai and Agumon looked at each other, when all of a sudden, the ground beneath the two opened and swallowed them up in a large hole.

We were all shocked, "What happened?" Tk asked.

"Something grabbed them from underneath." Joe said. Just then, something came out of the hole with Tai and Agumon.

"It's Kuwagamon!" Matt shouted. The large red digimon threw Agumon and Tai of its pincsers, shooting them off in different directions.

"Is it the same one, really?!" Izzy screamed.

"It's Kuwagamon all right, no mistaking that ugly face." Palmon said, "But he was sure bigger than the last time."

I held my arm in front of Tk and looked down at Luna on my shoulder.

"Luna, stay here and keep the others safe, I'm gonna go help Agumon." I said, she nodded and jumped down onto the sand.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon shot out a fireball at Kuwagamon. The large digimon screamed in pain but it wasn't enough to defeat him.

"Uh, guys we've got a real problem. This is guy is much stronger than before." Agumon said backing away from the digimon.

I ran as fast as I could to Agumon, "Agumon!" I yelled. Agumon turned around and smiled brightly at my outstretched hand.

He held out his clawed hand and I grabbed tightly. In an instant, I was enveloped in a bright light and a minute later, I had transformed into my Agumon form.

"Hurry, Agumon! Digivolve! You have to become Greymon!" Gabumon shouted.

I looked over towards Tai who was standing shakily in the sand, but his expression showed much hesitation.

I looked down at Agumon and I could tell that he was nervous about digivolving too.

This was quite the predicament. Both human and digimon partner are scared to digivolve. I could tell that they were thunking about SkullGreymon, but they need to get over this.

"Hold on, Agumon, Raya! Stay away from his crompers!" Tai shouted.

Kuwagamon opened its mouth and was aboit to take a bite out of us.

"Guys, move! Get out of the way! Do something! Get back!" Gomamon yelled in fear, but Agumon was frozen.

All of a sudden, Tai rushed to Agumon and tackled hin out of harm's way. I crouched down and avoided the attack.

"Thanks a lot." Agumon said. Kuwagamon tried to attack again, but I stood up, feeling a strange warmth over take me.

I took in the deepest breath I could take and shouted, "Baby Burner!"

From my mouth came the largest fire blast I had created in this form. The fire engulfed Kuwagamon, causing him to scream in pain and slow him down, but not stop him.

"Pixie Bomb seek and destroy!" We heard someone shouted. I looked up and saw a small black ball hurtling towards Kuwagamon and hitting him in the head.

In an instant, Kuwagamon was reduced to digital dust. We all sighed in relief, but Agumon and Tai were buried in the sand.

"Tai, Agumon, Raya! Are you all okay?" Sora asked.

"I think we're okay." I ssaid transforming back as Luna jumled into my arms.

"What the heck just happened to us?" Tai asked.

From the corner of my eye, I saw something small and pink moving on the sandy ground.

I looked down and saw a small pink digimon with white wings, bright eyes and holding a staff in its hand.

He hummed a happy and carefree toon as he waltz right past Tai and Agumon.

"Oh, wow, a tiny powder puff with wings!" Mimi gasped.

"Just don't use it on your face." Sora said crouching down on the ground to get a better look.

"And where's Kuwagamon?"

"Oh, man. Maybe that's him." Tk suggested. The little digimon faltered in his footing and spun around to face us.

"I am no enemy. Nope. Nope." He said, "If anything you are your own enemies."

Biyomon quickly rushed to her feet in excitement.

"Oh, oh, I've heard of you. You're the famous Piximon, right?" She asked.

"You are?" Mimi asked, gently scooping Piximon into her arms.

"Piximon is famous in the digital world for his skills and training nut few have ever met him. His secret home is the traning ground for all great digimon fighters."

I stared at the little digimon, getting the odd sense of familiarity from him. But then again, I've been getting a lot of that feeling since we came to this world.

"And I've heard all about you, too. Though I must admit, I'm only impressed by the Digi-mage." Piximon said.

Everyone was confused.

"You seven are supoosed to be the digidestined. Ha! You'd better be more careful or you'll end up digi-dinners! Yep, yep without my spears and magic, not to mention Raya's amazing attack, he'd be eating you with a side of digi-fries." He jumped out of Mimi's arms and onto the sand, hopping towards me.

"That's gross! Thanks a lot." Mimi said.

"And that's not all." Piximon said, jumping onto my head as my arms were taken by Luna.

"You digimon there, you're supposed to be protecting the children but half the time, they're protecting you. I wanna see some guts! I wanna see some courage!"

"This guy reminds me of a gym teacher I once had." Matt whispered.

"He's right, we just don't have any guts." Palmon said lowering her head in shame.

"Don't we get points for enthusiasm?" Gomamon sarcastically asked.

"But the news isn't all bad. Yep, yep, from now you're all gonna train with me." Piximon said.

"But why?" Sora asked.

"Let's not be too hasty, Piximon." Tentomon said.

Piximon turned around on my head and faced Tai and Agumon.

"Especially you two!" He pointed his staff at the duo of courage, making said duo gasp loudly.

"You heard me. You need lots of help and I've got the perfect extreme training program just for you."

"Did I hear him right?" Tai asked.

"Sounds kind of extreme." Agumon said.

"Yep! Follow me!" Piximon jumped from my head and walked away on the ground.

A little confused and skeptical, we eventually followed him with me being the closest to Piximon.

"Piximon, I've got a question." I said.

"Go right ahead, Raya. Ask away." He said.

"Have we met before? You seem kinda familiar to me."

Piximon laughed and turned around but walked backwards.

"You must've really hit your head pretty hard, yep yep!" He said, "You were actually my student. The first human I ever taught."

Everyone gasped hearing the answer to my question.

"Yep yep! This child was a very obedient and lovely student, she did exactly what she was told without a single complaint and got it done right the first time. It will be good to have you back at my training grounds again, Raya."

We walked a while longer, but my mind was full of many more questions. Mostly I was asking myself, would I be able to remember everything about my past time in the digital world? Or would I remain clueless for forever?

"Are we there yet?" Mimi asked.

"Just a little further." Piximon said.

"That's just about the seventh time you've said that." Joe said.

"I think he's lost." Matt said.

As I looked around the area, it seemed to become familiar.

"I think we're just about there, you guys." I said.

"What are you talking about, Raya?" Luna asked confused like the rest of the group.

"Raya is correct." Piximon said stopping, "Here we are. This is the place."

We looked around, but saw nothing but sand and cacti.

"What are you talking about? There isn't anything here." Sora said.

Piximon jumped into the air and spun his staff in the air.

"Pixi Portal!" He shouted, opening a portal to another place in the digital world.

"Whoa, it's a hole in the desert." Mimi gasped.

"Am I the only one who thinks that this looks like trouble?" Joe asked skeptically.

"Relax, Joe. I mean, Raya probably went through here and she came back alive." Tai said optimistically.

Piximom ushered us through the portal and walked down a long path in a jungle.

"Wow, a jungle inside the desert." Tai said.

"I bet you've got lots of friends to olay with ya." Tk innocently said.

"You shoulda seen it when I first got it." Piximon said.

"Oh, no!" Sora shouted, pointing out past the trees.

When we all looked at where she was pointing, we saw Etemon's trailor running across the desert sand.

"Oh, it's Etemon's trailer." Mimi said

"This is not good at all." Joe obviously began to slightly panick.

"And right outside the front he is, too." Piximon said, scaring us a little, "No need to worry, he won't be able to see us through the barrier. He sees nothing but desert."

We kept walking for about another hour or two, when the trees became more sparse and the jungle soon became stone and rocks.

We stoppwd in front of a large set of stairs.

"Well, here we are. Home sweet home is just up these steps."

Everyone but me groaned. I was actually seeing a memory of my time here.

A younger me was standing in front of the large set of steps, holding my digiegg close and tight.

"Come on, little mage. We have to hurry to begin your training." Piximon said.

"But, I cant climb so many stairs. My leg-" I said.

"Is something you need to make stronger, or else you'll never be able to move forward and fight alongside the future digidestined kids."

The younger me nodded and began the long trek you the steps.

"Raya. Raya!" I heard someone shout. I snapped out of my trance and looked down at Tk and Luna who stared at me worryingly and confused by my out of focus look.

"Sorry, what's wrong you two?" I asked.

"We've been climbing these stairs for a minute and you've been staring off into space." Tk said, "Are you okay?"

I shook my head and smiled at the young boy.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I was just lost in a memory." I said.

"Are you remebering your past here, Raya?" Matt asked from behind me. I turned around and saw most of the group struggling to keep up with the small group of us ahead and Piximon.

I nodded, "Yeah, slowly but surely I am remembering bits and pieces of my time in the digital world. Let's just hope I can remember enough to keep us safe."

"Yep yep, you truly are something, little mage." Piximon said, "You always cared for others more than yourself. That's some selflessness you've got there."

"Yeah, and that selflessness almost got her killed." Matt muttered under his breath. Tk heard it and sighed, remembering the day I pushed him out of the speeding car.

I sighed and glared at Matt, silently telling him to stop reminding Tk of that day. He didn't speak for the rest of the trip up the mountain.

By the time we made it up the mountain, the sky was painted red and the sun was going down. Piximon promised food at his place, and that gave the group enough drive to make it up.

Piximon's home reminded me of a theatre from early ages where Shakespeare and other writers would direct and write plays for the people.

Not my favorite part of history.

In the center of the home was a large life-like statue of Piximon, to which he proudly showed off.

"Umm, you said something about food?" Joe asked.

"Ah, yes. But first you must earn it." Piximon said.

"I should've known there would be a catch." Gomamon said exhaustedly.

Piximon laughed and twirled his staff, magically summoning buckets of water and rags.

The buckets and rags fell in front of everyone except me, Agumon and Tai.

"You all must scrub the floors. All the floors." He said, gesturing out to all the floors of his home.

Everyone groaned and complained, but Piximon keot them quiet and pulled me, Luna, Tai and Agumom aside.

"All but you four." He said leading us away, "I have a special chore for Day and Agumon. But as for you, Raya and Luna, I must speak to you in private."

"Aww, why doesn't Raya have to earn her meals?" Tai whined.

"Because she has already completed her training with me. There is no more I can teach her, nor learn from her. Now come and no whining."

"Maybe he'll have us paint the place." Tai muttered.

Piximon led us to another location in the mountain. He stopped at a large and dark cave.

"Well, this is it. Yep yep." Piximon said, "Come on into the cave. Raya, Luna, you wait here. I won't be gone long."

I looked over at the courage duo and nodded, "Good luck you two."

They nodded back and went inside the cave. Not even a minute after they went into the cave, Piximon came flying back out, grabbing my hand and leading me back towards the house.

"This is your training!" He yelled, "You must find your way back."

He dragged me back to the house and led me to another room. This room was barren, just two purple pillows om the floor, a window and a single incense candle lit and filling the room with the smell of lavender.

"Please Raya, sit. There is much we need to discuss." Piximon said, sitting down on the pillow closest to the window.

I quietly sat down on the other pillow and sat Luna on my lap.

"Okay, what did you need to talk to me about?" I asked.

Somehow, Piximon's cheerful features turned saw and scared. I could tell that this was going to be a serious topic to talk about.

"Dear Raya," he began, "I was assigned to train you by Gennai. He sensed so much power in you, and since you're the Digi-mage, you were and still are a powerful target for dark digimon."

I was a little surprised, but not by much. I figured being a Digi-mage wouldn't be the safest, but to be a target of dark digimon while traveling with my friends, I wouldn't be able to take it if one of them got hurt.

"So, where are you going with this?" I asked.

"Piximon, please, be honest with us." Luna said, "What can you tell us about the Digi-mage? If we can know more about what Raya is supposed to me, then we may be able to help the others a lot more."

Piximon sighed and flew closer to the crystal tag around my neck.

"I see you've been given the tag. Then I cannot leave you in the dark like I did in the past."

He flew back to his seat and told me everything he knew.

"The Digi-mage is an all powerful child as said in the prophecy given to us by our guardian digimon." He began, "The prophecy states that the Digi-mage is one of pure heart and care more about others than themselves. The Digi-mage is able to connect with digimon no matter their power, type and rank, most believe that it is because they possess the same type of heart as a courageous digimon. But with this power comes risks."

"What kind of risks?" I dared to ask, my hands shaking in slight fear.

"If the Digi-mage isn't used to their powers, they can be drained of energy and forced to sleep for some time. Even when they are used to their power and can use them perfectly, they are walking with a target om their backs. Yep, yep, that's a bad thing to have. If a digimon with dark intentions takes a hold of a Digi-mage, they will try to extract their abilities and use it for their own selfish goals."

It was silent for a moment.

"What happens if a Digi-mage if their power is taken from them?" Luna asked.

Piximon didn't answer for a minute, but he eventually sighed, "We don't know what will happen. So please, Raya, be careful on your journey. Devimon tried to do the same thing the last tike you were here, but his plan backfired and sent you back to your owm world without any memories of this world."

I nodded and smiled gratefully, "Thank you, Piximon for the talk. I promise, I'll make sure to stay safe."

Piximon smiled and flew on top of my head, "That's good. You really know what to say, Raya, yep yep."

I chuckled and stood up, walking to the door and out of the room.

"Raya, are you gonna tell the others about this talk?" Luna asked.

I shook my head, "No. If the others found out about this, then they'll focus all their attention on how to protect me, they'll even keep me from fighting alongside the other digimon. I can't make them worry like that. Not when they have so much more to think about."

"Ha! Always the selfless one, yep yep."

When we caught up with the rest of the group, the moon was out and my friends were asleep.

I said goodnight to Piximon and went inside the guest room to sleep myself. But am hour later, I was awoken by rushed footsteps and shushing noises. I opened my eyes and saw Matt and Izzy rushing out of the room.

"Luna," I whispered, waking up my partner, "We have to go. Matt and Izzy just left." Luna didn't hesitate to jumo into my arms as we rushed to follow the two.

We followed them outside and stopped around the corner to listen.

"Something's wrong, Tai and Agumon never came back." Matt said.

"So what do you think happened?" Izzy asked. Suddenly, I felt a warm feeling in my chest and the tags around Matt and Izzy's necks began to glow.

"You see that?" Matt asked happily.

"Prodigious." Izzy gasped.

"When they glow it means the crests are nearby." Matt said.

"Yes, but that also means that Raya can feel it too."

I stepped out of the shadows of the corner, by body free and outlined with a blue and purple glow.

"Indeed I can feel your crests." I said, spooking the two, "Follow me to your crests." I turned around towards the exit and began walking with Matt and Izzy close behind me.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Matt? Maybe we should've brought Tentomon and Gabumon with us."

"Let them sleep, besides the crests have gotta be in the barrier, plus, Raya brought Luna with her."

I began to run, feeling the crests nearby. We kept searching until morning.

"Raya, are you sure the crests are nearby?" Matt asked as we passed through the trees.

"Are yiy seriously doubting me here, Matt?" I asked, "Trust me, I can feel the crests and they're nearby."

Matt sighed and turned to Izzy, "Why do you want to get a crest?" He asked.

"Mostly it's because of Kabuterimon." Izzy answered, "I would very much like to see what stage he will digivolve into after that one. Isn't that the reason why you're looking for a crest?"

"No." Matt said, "I want to use the crest to digivolve me. Not into a digimon, but to make me stronger and smarter, maybe learn something new about myself, you know, reach my next level."

"Oh, interesting. Are you sure you don't want to evolve for Raya?" Izzy snickered making Matt's face turn red.

Just then, we made it to the edge of the barrier, confusing Izzy and Matt, but not me. I could feel the crests near the well in the distance.

All of a sudden, a bright light shone near the well.

Thinking all about the crests, we made a bold move and went through the barrier to the well.

I stayed out of the well, since the rope connected to it wouldn't be able to hold more than two people.

So Matt and Izzy went down.

"See anything?" Izzy asked.

"It's really bright down here." Matt said. Suddenly, the warm feeling in my chest intensified, telling me that the crests were ready to be revealed.

My feeling was correct when the tags reacted to the stone walls of the well. I set Luna down on the sand and closed my eyes. I didn't understand how at the time, but my body became light and floated down the well, hovering in front of the two boys.

I held my hands out and called out for the crests.

"Crest of Knowledge. Crest of Friendship. Come forth." I said.

Two symbols, one blue, one purple, appeared from the walls, shrank and hovered in my hands. I turned back to my friends and smiled.

"Matt Ishida, child of friendship. This is your crest. Use it wisely." The small blue crest slid into Matt's tag.

I turned towards Izzy, "Izzy Izumi, child of knowledge. This is your crest. Use it wisely."

The boys smiled at their crests, cheering happily before climbing back out of the well.

The glow around me vanished as soon as we came out of the well.

"You guys ready to go?" I asked as Luna junped into my arms. But just as we were about to turn around and go back to Piximon's house, a loud roar tushed through the air.

A large shadow covered us and we turned around in fear to see a large, tall dinosaur like digimon with red skin, green stripes and terrifying purple eyes.

"Whe the heck was that?" I asked.

"That's Tyranomon, a huge digimon, with fire breath strong to cook us well done." Luna explained.

I looked behind as we screamed and saw Tyranomon about to attack. I looked down at Luna, and she had the same idea.

Just as Tyranomon shot a blazing ball of fire at us, I used my abilities and changed, sharing Luna's powers.

We lifted our hands and created a moon-shaped shield. It was strong enough to protect us, but since Luna was a rookie digimon, she nor I had enough strength to keep the blast from breaking the barrier.

We ran and ran towards the house, trying to escape while Luna and I attacked back at Tyranomon. We smiled in relief when we heard our friends coming closer to us.

"Here's a number I like to call 'Bye Bye Digimon. Bye Bye'" we heard someone shout from above.

We all looked up and saw black wires strung up in the sky and Etemon standing above it all with his guitar.

He strummed a note and the digimon became weak and tired, just like before at the Koromon village.

"It zapped them! Now they can't digivolve." Izzy said in fear.

"Raya, with me now!" Piximon said flying up next to me. I nodded then turned back to Luna.

"Stay put, ok?" I said. She nodded as I changed back to normal.

"Piximon! Let use your power." I shouted. My body was covered in a brief flash of light and revealed a new me when it was gone.

The large, white wings were on my back, wide and protective but wity some tears and rips. I wore a soft pink body suit with intricate markings all in gold. In my hand was a large staff identical to Piximon's. My hair was let down and gained pink highlights, completely new and different. Finally, small brown belt-like things were wrapped on my feet.

Without needing to be told, I raised the staff alongside Piximon and we created a shield. It's a good thing he was an ultimate level digimon, or else the shined wouldn't last against Tyranomon's fire blast.

"Tai, Agumon where are you?" Piximon asked the air, "You're friends are in trouble! We need your help."

"Tai, can you hear us? We need you and Agumon here, now!" I shouted.

All of a sudden, I felt a familiar warmth coming from a digivolution.

"We can't wait for Tai and Agumon forever, Raya, we need to attack!" Piximon said.

"There's no need! We jist have to protect the others while they handle it." I said confusing him, but his confusion disappated when Greymon burst onto the scene.

He roared and shot his Nova Blast at the black cables on Tyranomon. We cheered and cheered as the cables finally came undone and Tyranomon was freed from Etemon's control.

I turned back to normal and cheered alongside my friends, occasionally hugging Matt who turned bright red.

We eventually went back to Piximon's house and packed up our things. By the time we finished gathering our things, the sun was setting and the sky was turning dark from the oncoming night.

"Thanks Piximon, we've learned a lot from you." Matt said gratefully.

"Yeah like, how to scrub floors and starve half to death." Joe grumbled.

"Joe!" Mimi scolded, "That's just Joe's stomach talking."

"Far from over, your training is." Piximon said, "Remember, life itself is a training seesion learn all you can."

"Right!" We said.

We turned aorund to go, when Piximon patted me on the shoulder and turned me around.

"Remember, Raya, with your abilities you'll have a target on you always. Be careful." He said concerningly.

I smiled and nodded, reassuring him that I would be safe on my journey. Even as I turned away and caught up with my friends, I could feel Piximon's worried gaze from behind me.

I understand now my part in this team. And I would do whatever I could to keep them safe. Even if I were to get hurt.