Birdramon was flying on the sky. The camera approached and Sora was seen holding on to Birdramon's foot. Sora saw the camera and smiled. "Hello! Well our left the village real early and had made a lot of progress today. Ryoga keeps going the wrong way so they have to be careful. Let's watch."

Ryoga stood still and thought for a moment. 'Akane... I feel very good today. I've always liked being on the mountains. Being so high reminds me of my eternal love for you. It feels to sore above everything else and it might even reach the sun. I feel lucky Akane. My team has the ideal members on it and I'm sure we can defeat the others easily. And once it becomes clear how superior I am to Ranma I will be able to confess my love to you.'

"Um.. Ryoga" Goku asked "Are you ok?"

Ryoga had lost track of time. "Uh.. yeah! I was just taking a deep breath of fresh mountain air. Let's keep moving." He had a big smile and started walking. The rest of the team just looked at him.

"What's he talking about? We're in the middle of the desert." Ash said.

"Pika.." *little sweatdrop*

"Now I know why they call him the eternal lost boy" Izzy said.

"Who cares where he thinks he is. As long as we keep going in the correct direction there's no problem." Freya said.

"Right, according to the map the dessert village shouldn't be far from here."

Goku drunk some water. "Well let's go, or else we'll lose Ryoga."

"Yeah, and we all know how easy that is." Ash said.

The whole team continued their journey.

About half an hour later the Yellow team arrived at the little desert village. It was only a group of tents around an oasis. Most of the people seemed to be merchants and their families.

"Are you sure we can find out about a badge here. These people do not look trustworthy." Freya told Izzy.

"I know what you mean. But it's worth a try."

"Did I hear something about a badge" a voice behind them said.

Everyone turned around. They saw a short guy with a brown mustache. "I think I might have seen something that might be what you're looking for. What does this badge look like?"

Goku took out the badge and showed it to the short man. "It looks like this one."

The short man tried to grab it but Goku was quick to react and pulled his hand back quickly.

"Do not be so paranoid my friend. I only wanted to get a better look at it."

Goku held it in front of him. "You can get as close as you want but I'm not giving it to you."

The short man took a good look at the badge. "Ah yes. I have seen something like that around here."

"Where?" Ash asked.

"Wait my friends. Do you think I give information for free? If you want to know where to get the badge it's going to cost you."

"We don't have any money."

"Well, then I can't give you any information."

"Fine by me. Let's go!" Freya said. The team started to leave but the short man got in their way.

"Do not be so hasty. Maybe we can make some sort of deal. I could trade my info for say.. that yellow mouse" he pointed at Pikachu.

"Pikapi!!" Pikachu got angry.

"NEVER!! You can't have Pikachu." Ash said.

"You people are hard to negotiate with. Very well, I'll settle for the big bug."

"Izzy!" Tentomon said. He hid behind Izzy.

"You can't have Tentomon either." Izzy said "Look, we have nothing of value for you so let's leave it at that. Sorry to make you waste your time."

The short man said "You people make a tough bargain. Tell you what, the badge I saw is only part of a small treasure. So here's my deal, you take me with you. I guide you to the treasure, you keep the badge and I keep the rest of the treasure. How is that?"

"Let us talk about it" Izzy said.

"Fine."

The team went into a huddle and whispered to one another. Five minutes later they broke up the huddle.

"Fine, it's a deal."

"Ah.. you won't regret it. My name is Ishum."

"So when can we leave?" Freya asked.

"As soon as I get my things. You can wait for me next to the oasis."

"Fine."

Ishum left and the yellow team went to look for something to eat first.

Ishum went into a tent, inside was a large man wearing a military uniform. He had a black beard and his was missing his left thumb.

"Are those them?" Ishum asked.

"No, but I bet they are other participants." Said the mysterious general.

"You still want me to guide them to the fortress? I could lose them in the desert you know."

"No, if they have the same level of power as the ones that cleared my base then they might be useful. Had I known about the challenge before I would have taken the appropriate precautions earlier."

"OK But one more thing. I want half of what you promised to pay me now."

"You will be paid at full when you bring them to the fortress."

"That's bad business. But knowing the Red Ribbon it would be unwise to turn you down."

"You're a smart man."

"What are you going to do if by any chance they wish to fight like the other team? The word outside says you got beat up pretty badly."

"That's none of your business. We will be ready if the situation calls for it. Now get going before they get suspicious."

"Right. I'll have them there by tomorrow night."

Ishum left.

The yellow team had found a small restaurant and had been given a free lunch. Goku had eaten enough to feed the whole town, twice. The owner wasn't worried though, he knew he was going to get paid by the ultimate challenge committee. They went to the meeting place and found Ishum again.

"Well folks, I hope you ate well, and I also hope you have plenty of water. It's going to take more than a day to get there."

"Don't worry about us. Just take us there." Ryoga said.

"Don't say I didn't warn you. If you rent a couple of camels we might get there by tonight."

"We can't, we'll walk all the way."

"If you insist."

The team left the dessert town following Ishum.

Sora was still in town as she saw the Yellow team leaving. "Well, it looks like the yellow team is on it's way to the second bash. Or are they? Will this merchant really take them to the badge? Or will he just trick them at some point? Well, I hope the yellow team is careful. But we still need to show what the other teams are doing so I leave you with Brock. Hi Brock!"

Biyomon was flying next to Sora. "Sora is still melting! Let me help you Sora."

"Will you quit that!? I'm not melting!"

Brock was behind bars. "Well as you can see I'm in no position to tell you what the Red team is up to. I only now they left early in the morning. Officer Jenny told me she would let me out today as soon as she was sure I could leave town without being seen. In the mean time let's watch the Red Team in action."

The Red Team was walking along a road in the forest. Trunks and Mako were leading. Haruka, Tai and Agumon were right behind them and Quina was at the very back.

"Come on Tai! Ask her!" Agumon said.

"Agumon! You just don't ask things like that!" Tai said

"Why not?"

"You just don't!"

Haruka couldn't help but notice. "Do you want to ask me something?"

"Do you really like other girls?" Agumon said, Tai grabbed his mouth but it was too late. Tai and Agumon just froze there looking at Haruka.

Haruka smiled "Your digimon friend can quite blunt at times."

"You don't have to answer that, don't pay attention to him."

"And what do you think?"

"Um..I..."

"I thought so."

"I don't get it" Agumon said.

"You shouldn't put restrictions to love, you just fall in love with someone and let your feelings guide you."

"Is that your answer?" Tai said, now getting a little bolder.

"No, that's the way I feel." Haruka continued walking.

Tai and Agumon just stared at Haruka, Quina caught up with Tai.

"Why you stop? You hungry?"

"Um.. no. Come on! Let's catch up with rest of the team."

Trunks and Mako were chatting as they walked.

"And you're going to inherit the company. Wow!"

"It's not as great as you think. When you lead such a large company you can't get more than 2 minutes to yourself."

"2 minutes?"

"That's how long it takes me to go to the bathroom."

"*giggle* But doesn't it feel nice to be so important?"

"I don't feel so important."

"Why not?"

"Well, I'm not as smart as my mother. And I'm not as strong as my father either. And I don't think I'm the right person for my job."

"Well, maybe you just need to get used to it."

"Is that the way life is supposed to be? Get used to it? You're the lucky one, you can pretty much do anything you want."

"I lost my parents when I was real young. It has been tough for me, I envy you. You didn't have to go through what I did. It isn't easy being me you know."

"Sorry, I guess we all have to deal with different challenges through life."

"We would make a pretty unique couple you know."

Trunks suddenly stopped walking, Mako stopped shortly afterwards and looked at Trunks.

"What did you just say?"

Mako blushed "It was just a comment. It didn't mean anything."

Trunks blushed as well "Yeah, you're right. I can't believe a made a big deal of it."

Trunks and Mako resumed walking but kept quiet for a while. Suddenly they heard Tai screaming. "Race you to that sign up ahead!!"

Then they heard Agumon "I bet I can beat you Tai!"

Both of them ran past Trunks and Mako.

Trunks asked "Why did we choose a kid as our captain?"

Mako said "Cause we were afraid of each other's egos."

Haruka came up to Trunks "And I think we all saw a little bit of ourselves in him."

"Haruka? What do you mean?"

"Look at him."

Tai and Agumon were wrestling because they both considered themselves the winner of the race.

"I have to admit to being like that when I was his age." Haruka said.

"Well, I could have been a bit like that too." Mako said.

"Not me. I was a shy and quiet boy."

Haruka and Mako: "Yeah right!"

Quina caught up with them. "Why you stop? You hungry?" He/she then saw Tai who was rolling around with Agumon and laughing. "I understand! You going to challenge winner."

Trunks, Haruka and Mako laughed.

"Um.. well let's keep on moving." Trunks said.

The team continued their journey for another couple of hours. After a while the road became uphill and they had reached a considerable height. The team stopped when they saw a lonesome cottage.

"Think anybody is there?" Mako asked.

"Well. We won't find out just standing here. Let's go knock on the door." Tai said.

Tai went to knock on the door. An old man answered "Yes? How can I help you."

"Um.. hi! My name is Tai. My friends and I are on a journey, you see we're actually participating in a contest and..."

Suddenly a little girl appeared from behind the old man "Wow! You're here! You're here! See grandpa? I told you they would pass through here. Please come inside!"

"Well, according to my granddaughter you are welcomed here. If it's not much of a bother why don't you come in."

"No problem!" Tai signaled for the rest of the team to go in.

There were 5 people living in the house. The old man(Steve)and his daughter(Paty), her husband (Tom)and her two daughters. The one to greet them had been the youngest(Gwen), the other was more or less Tai's age(Melanie).

"Everyone on the island is talking about the 3 group of travelers." Gwen said.

"She keeps talking all day about it." Melanie said.

"It's a shame they won't air the show on this island until the competition is over." Tom said.

"Well, it makes sense. It would give us a chance to spy on other teams." Haruka said.

"Hey Grandpa! Maybe we're on TV!"

"I doubt it" said Mako "To my knowledge we're only being filmed at certain times of the day."

"Why can't it be at this moment today?" Tai said.

"Well, I guess it's a possibility."

"Oh dear!" Paty said "I'm such a mess, how embarrassing!"

"Well, we had some time to rest." Trunks said "Thank you for your hospitality, but we have to get going."

"Oh of course! We won't delay you any longer." said the grandpa.

Tom said "Hey! Maybe I can help you. After you cross this hill the path will split up in two. Head left and about an hour later you'll see a cave next to the road. Now ever since this whole challenge thing got started some strange noises have been coming out of there, so maybe there's something there for you."

"Hey thanks!" Tai said "What are we waiting for then. Let's go."

The Red team left the cabin. The whole family waved good-bye as the heroes were heading into the sunset.

After they left Brock arrived at the cottage, he knocked on the door and Tom answered. "Yes?"

"Hello! My name is Brock and I'm a host for the ultimate challenge! May I have a word with the family?"

"Very well." He turned around "Everybody come outside."

The whole family went outside.

"Now what did you guys think of the Red Team?"

Melanie said "That boy with the goggles was real cute."

Gwen said. "They were great!!"

Steve said "Well they seemed to be nice people. But the little dinosaur scared me a little."

"Grandpa! He was cool!"

"Kids will always like dinosaurs."

Brock looked at the camera. "Well, the Red Team didn't appear to do much today. We did get some wonderful insights about them, and they're fan count went up by five. So I guess it was a good day for them. Now Mina will take over and show us the mischief of the Blue team. Go Mina!"

Mina was holding a lantern. She was in the woods and it was getting dark. "Well the Blue team are in the woods. I'm not sure but I don't think they are too far from the Red Team. But they're not that close either. Well anyway, the blue team is starting to camp. Let's watch how they are doing."

Beruche and Ranma had gathered enough wood to start a fire.

"Well Vivi, it's your turn." Ranma said.

"OK, stand back. Fire!"

Suddenly the wood caught fire.

"Better than any lighter." Mimi said. She was caressing Ponyta.

"Poneee."

"Where are Beruche, Kari and Gatomon?" Ranma asked.

"They're not far, they're just relaxing." Mimi said.

"Well I'm going to train a while. If you'll excuse me."

Ranma had tied a piece of thick leather around a tree and he began to practice his kicks and punches.

"Hey Mimi, what does Ranma have against that tree?"

"Nothing Palmon, he's just training."

"Then he should just leave the tree alone!"

"Palmon, just let him be."

"I don't like it."

"I can understand Palmon" Vivi said. "I didn't like it when my fellow Black Mages were being mistreated."

"*sigh* Let's just call at a night all right?" Mimi said "Let's go into the tent so you don't have to look at that any more"

"OK"

Mimi and Palmon went inside the large tent.

Vivi was left alone with Ponyta. "Um...so... you want to play cards?"

"Ponee.."

Beruche and Kari were laying on the ground. Gatomon was laying on Kari's lap.

"It's a shame the woods are too thick to see the stars" said Beruche

"Yeah... but just being like this is nice." Kari said. She was scratching the back of Gatomon's neck.

"No complains here." Gatomon said.

"Um.. Beruche?" Kari asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you plan to be a mother?"

Beruche was surprised to hear such a question. "Um.. why are you asking?"

"Just curious."

"Um.. Well I haven't really given much thought about it. I really can't imagine myself being the motherly kind."

"Oh.."

Kari looked up "That's butterfree."

"That one is pretty. Nice colorful wings, nice big eyes, cute little feet, nice looking belly button"

"Yeah... hey wait! Butterfrees don't have belly buttons."

"Then what's that on it's belly?"

Beruche and Kari: "IT'S A BADGE!!"

Unfortunately the butterfree got scared and started to fly away.

"I'm on it!" Gatomon said, she climbed a tree and started to chase Butterfree by jumping from branch to branch.

Beruche and Kari were running behind them.

"Where's a pokeball when you need one?" Beruche said

Kari said "Gatomon is faster, she won't take long to..."

Gatomon fell to ground asleep.

"Gatomon?"

"What happened?" Beruche asked.

"I forgot, Butterfree can throw sleep powder from it's wings."

"Well you try to wake up Gatomon and I'll look for that butterfree."

Beruche left.

Kari took about 10 minutes to wake up Gatomon.

"Uh... what happened?"

"You took an unexpected nap."

"Where's butterfree?"

"Beruche went to look for it."

Beruche came back, her hair was a mess, her clothes were torn in various places and she had a few bruises.

"Beruche! What happened?"

"Who would have thought that Butterfree had bigger and larger friends who look like beetles."

"Um.... Heracross?"

"Yeah. that's what they kept saying." Beruche fell to her knees"

"Beruche, I'm sorry." Gatomon said.

Beruche smiled and showed Kari and Gatomon the badge. "But I got what I wanted."

Kari and Gatomon smiled, Kari then hugged Beruche. "You did it."

"Just because I'm pretty doesn't mean I'm not a though cookie."

Just then they heard a faint noise, the noise became louder and it became clear it was screaming. The screaming sound got closer and closer and Ranma finally hit the ground in front of them.

"Ranma! Are you OK?" Kari said.

"He should be OK His head broke his fall." Beruche said.

Ranma had a blank stare on his face. "I was just training and then the large cactus just hit me and.. and.."

"Togemon hit you? Why?" Gatomon asked.

"I bet she had her good reason. Come on, let's head back to camp. I need to look in the mirror and inspect the damages done to my beautiful self."

Beruche and Kari walked back to camp, Gatomon dragged Ranma. "One big cactus... two big cactus... three big cactus..."

Once at the camp Beruche showed Mimi, Palmon and Vivi the badge.

"all right! We now have 2 badges!" Mimi said. "We're on a roll."

"Hey Mimi! Tell them what you've found as well" Palmon said.

Mimi showed her digivice and everyone saw that it had a little dot on it's screen and it was beeping. "This means another one of the digidestined is close by. My digivice can guide us to him."

"Sure." Beruche said. "Kari."

"No.. the digivice works as a locator. It doesn't work with Kari because she's close to me."

"I see, we should avoid them then." Ranma said.

"Are you kidding!? This is our chance to get their jewel!"

"We shouldn't risk it, what if we lose our's while trying to get theirs? I mean if we can use the deegithingy to know they're close, they can do the same no?"

"That's right. They'll also know we're getting close. But I doubt they'll be able to tell it's us. Kari and I are too close for two chosen children to appear on the digivice." Mimi said.

"Um.. but can't it tell you which child is it?"

"Um.. No. I don't know either if it's Tai or Izzy."

"Well, we should look for them and see if we can see who they are before they can."

"Then what?"

"I'll come up with some scheme to get their jewel. Trust me, when I was working for the Black Moon I came up with lots of schemes."

"Hey! That's great!" Vivi said.

"How many worked?" Ranma asked.

"Well... um none."

*everybody sweatdrops*

"But this is different!"

"How?"

"I'm not the villain of the story so I don't have to lose by default."

"She's got a point" Mimi said.

"I'm against trying it." Ranma said.

"I can of agree with Ranma." Vivi said.

"Well I'm with Beruche" Mimi said.

"Me too!" Kari said.

"Three against two, I win." Beruche said.

"But I'm the captain!!" Ranma said.

"Your role is to be the representative of the team, I didn't hear when they told us we had to do everything your way."

"Fine!! We'll do it your way. But we all know who to blame if things go wrong. I'm going to my tent, you coming Vivi?"

"OK Goodnight girls"

"Goodnight!"

The girls put out the fire and went to their tent. Ponyta slept between the two tents.

Mina was in the woods, she had butterfree on her shoulder. "Well, the blue team got lucky and got their second badge already. But how long can their luck hold out? Like I said earlier the Red team is the closest so their the team in question. Will they notice something wrong and take the necessary precautions? Well, we'll get to see what happens next time here in the Ultimate challenge! For now this has been Mina Aino reporting for the Ultimate challenge, see ya!"

(To be continued...)

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