The field hung in the middle of the park, obscuring
whatever was inside it from view. Suddenly, a thin
line appeared in the middle of the field as it was
suddenly cut in half. The field disappeared, returning
to the digital world.

A ghostly figure hung in the middle of where it had
parted the field. A gleaming scythe was held in one
hand as it glinted in the moonlight.

“I smell fear,” he intoned as he floated off into the
night.

<><><>

“Oow!”

Lee’s grandfather, Tseng Chin, lowered his hand
as Lee rubbed his head in pain. “You are not
focusing, Lee,” his grandfather admonished.

“It’s a hard technique, grandfather,” Lee said in a
pathetic reply.

“The technique is special, handed down throughout 
our family for generations. You MUST learn it.” 
Tseng sighed. “It is not simply a fighting technique.”

“Then what is it?” Sharmamon asked curiously.

Tseng’s glasses seemed to catch in the moonlight
as he straightened up. “The Swallow Dance is a
technique of harmonization between body, mind
and soul. If you do not realize what it’s power is
for, or if one part of your whole being is not in
synchronization with the rest, then how will you
be able to perform the technique?”

“I... see.” Lee said slowly, not understanding the
point of the exercise.

Tseng’s eyes dilated. “Lee!” He suddenly knocked
Lee to the side as a spray of blood erupted from
his grandfather’s chest.

“GRANDPA!” Lee shouted in horror, spinning
around.

“My, that was refreshing.” The Phantomon stood
over his grandfather. “Hmm... still breathing. I’ll
remedy that.”

“Sharmamon evolve!” his skin ripped off and he
reformed into the short ninja digimon. “Ninjamon!”
He leapt up and several stars appeared in his
hands. “Iga Style Shurinken Throw!”

Phantomon deflected the stars with a spin of his
scythe. He raised it and slashed at the pair, the
weapon biting into the ground, creating a huge
trench with the massive slash. “You are more
trouble than it is worth. Prepare to die.”

<><><>

Digital Diaries : Adventures 2003

written by Shaun Garin

everything applies here. I don’t own digimon
but I do own most of the characters in this series.

<><><>

File 15 : Dark Messenger

“Hell Fire!” The shower of fireballs forced the
Phantomon back as Raine and Cerberumon ran
up.

Raine knelt down beside Lee’s grandfather as she 
rolled him over and began to run her Tricorder 
over him. “He needs medical attention or he won’t 
last the night.”

“Too bad. All of you won’t last long enough to
call.” Phantomon raised his scythe and created
a large gash across Cerberumon’s leg.

“Ninjamon! Get him!” Raine shouted as she took
off her shirt to staunch the blood from the large
gash on Mr. Chin’s chest.

“Iga Style Shurinken Throw!” The stars actually
bit into Phantomon’s weapon. The phantom
digimon looked at it and seemed to smirk, despite
the lack of facial characteristics.

“I’ll be back.” With that, he disappeared.

“An ambulance is on its way,” Raine said as she
lowered her cell phone. “Lee? Are you okay?”

Lee was white, trembling as he stared at the
blood pooling around his grandfathers torso.
“No.... grandpa.....”

<><><>

“How is Mr. Chin?” Raine asked, standing up as 
the doctor walked into the room.

“He’s lost a lot of blood, and we had to restart
his heart a couple of times during surgery. He’ll
be in the recovery ward for at least several
months.” The doctor shook his head. “No normal
mugger could have done this to him. The gash
is too clean, too deep to be a simple knife.”

“And Lee?”

The doctor checked his clipboard. “He refused
to leave his grandfather, even during surgery. He’s
in the recovery room. Mr. Chin will be receiving
visitors after an hour or so. Now, if you will
excuse me, I have other patients to take care of.”

As the doctor left, Raine sat down heavily as she
buried her face in her hands. Labramon sat at her
side, pretending to be a stuffed animal, as with
Ninjamon. Labramon was nursing her leg, Raine’s
handkerchief tied around it.

The doors flew open, revealing a worried Mrs.
Chin. “Raine!” she called as Raine looked up.
“Where’s my son and father in law?”

“Mr. Chin is recovering from emergency surgery
and Lee is at his bedside. They’re admitting
family only.” She motioned to Ninjamon who
was sitting at her side. “Take him with you.”

The woman nodded as she picked up Ninjamon,
checked in with the front desk and ran down the
hall as fast as she could.

<><><>

“Lee? Lee! Damnit Lee, look at me!”

Lee kept staring at his grandfather. He was still
dressed in the clothes he had worn for two days
straight. His hair was unwashed and his eyes
wore a dull expression.

Raine sighed. “Lee, I know you can hear me
so don’t play dumb. What happened to your
grandfather was not your fault.”

Silence greeted her as she scowled and sat
down beside him. “Lee, he risked his life for
you. And I know that you would do the same.
Don’t worry, your grandpa will recover.”

Ninjamon and Labramon exchanged glances
as Raine cast a glance at the beeping monitors
and the clock. “I have to go. I’ll bring your 
books from school.”

Lee didn’t reply as Raine picked up Labramon
and left the room.

“That was rude, Lee,” Ninjamon admonished.

As usual, the still silence greeted him. “Damnit
Lee, stop blaming yourself!” Ninjamon snapped.
“Master Chin is strong, he’ll pull through. You
need to focus, there are people out there who
are in trouble because of that Phantomon. You
have to get up and fight!”

“Shut up,” Lee said softly.

“You know I’m right,” Ninjamon said, folding
his arms.

“Shut up. I never wanted to be a digi-destined.
This digivice has given me nothing but trouble
since I got it.” He threw down the digivice,
the wires inert. “Leave me alone.”

Ninjamon slid off the chair and said, “Fine.
I’ll leave you alone for a while.” He left through
the window as Lee resumed his silent vigil.

<><><>

Ninjamon walked along the telephone wire as he
thought to himself. ‘Lee’s taking this too hard....
way too hard.... I wish he would open up a bit
more when we’re at home.’

Ninjamon hopped to the nearby building as he
looked down on the city. It was growing dark,
a perfect time for Phantomon to strike again.

The phantom digimon had been quiet for most of
the week, almost overdue to strike again.

Ninjamon did a triangle jump off of a building and
hopped to the top of a skyscraper. “I know you’re
out there somewhere,” he said to the air. “I’ll
find you and make you pay.” His fist clenched
as a faint scream split the air. “Speak of the devil...”

<><><>

“... Lee....”

Lee snapped to alertness as he found his 
grandfather looking at him. “Grandpa! Don’t 
move, you’re still injured.”

“Ha, takes more than a minor cut to take down 
your grandpa.” To Lee’s surprise, his grandpa sat
up in the bed. “You seem surprised.”

“How.... no one can heal that fast!” Lee sputtered.

“Au contraire. One CAN.” Lee looked at his
grandfather as he said, “Lee. Our family has a 
technique, passed down through the centuries to 
exploit one’s Chi. With it, one can do many things. 
Chi is the life-force of all creatures, even the
 smallest insects have it. With training, you can do 
what I do.”

“Will I be able to help Sharmamon defeat
Phantomon?” Lee asked.

“Yes, but only with training. You know the first
step already.” his grandfather answered.

“I do?” Lee asked, astounded.

“Yes. You care for people. That is the first step. 
Now go, your partner may need you.” His
grandfather turned over and fell asleep.

Lee nodded and rushed away while pulling out 
his Digi-locator.

<><><>

Ninjamon held a gash on his side with one hand 
as Phantomon hovered before him. The squat 
ninja was guarding a girl and a wounded guy. 
“I smell fear,” the Phantomon intoned. “it is a 
pleasant smell. And tastes delicious.”

“You are not going to kill anyone tonight. I will
take you down.” Ninjamon’s eyes narrowed.
“And I will do that.”

“You?” Phantomon mocked. “You don’t even
have your pathetic partner with you. Will you
even be able to stop me?”

“We will,” Lee said, skidding into view.

“Lee?” Ninjamon asked. “What happened? Why
aren’t you with your grandfather?”

“He’s all right,” Lee assured his partner. His eyes
narrowed. “Now lets take down floating and ugly
before he kills anyone else.”

“I doubt it. You can try though. Soul Chopper!”
The scythe came down as Ninjamon dodged it.

“Ninjamon, go!” Lee shouted. “Try the other
side!”

Ninjamon leapt to the other side as he threw a
few Shurinken. The metal blades clashed against
the weapon Phantomon held. Lee frowned. “No
good, he’s blocking every shot we take.”

“I wonder,” Raine said from behind him. Lee
nearly jumped out his skin. “Can he block
two attacks at once?”

“Where did you... oh never mind.” Lee returned
his full attention to the battle as Ninjamon faded
in and out of a whirling tornado of leaves.

“You can run but you can’t hide,” Phantomon
said, slashing at movement behind him. Ninjamon
reappeared, crying out in pain as he landed with
a painful thud.

“Ninjamon!” Lee rushed over. “Are you okay?”

“Damn, that hurt,” Ninjamon groaned. “Lee,
you have to get away.”

A yelp of pain and Phantomon rose up behind 
Lee and smirked. “So dies a legacy before it 
begins.” His weapon raised up and came down.

Lee clenched his eyes shut, waiting for the blow
that would finish him. Suddenly, a bright glow
flared out from his D3 as Phantomon stopped in
mid strike, cursing and floating backwards from
the light.

“Ninjamon super-evolve!” The squat ninja
reformed in a flash of light. “Piximon!”

Piximon flew out from Lee as he smirked at
Phantomon who was just regaining his eyesight.
“Lights out ugly. Fairytale!”

Phantomon had no time to cry out as a safe
crashed down on him, spilling data everywhere.

Piximon floated over to Lee as he asked, “Are
you okay?”

“Yeah.... thanks for saving me,” Lee said.

“Thanks for evolving me,” Piximon replied as
he helped his partner up.

“Anytime,” Lee said warmly.