The Freedom Fighters

The Freedom Fighters
The Freedom Fighters is a minor team consisting of Hideyoshi, Mina; Gobli the Goblimon; Neko the Strabimon; and Hime the Floramon. Together, these four fight for the freedom of all Digimon--not just those who have chosen one side or another.

According to Neko, her tamer Mina is expected to fulfill a great destiny. In her words, " Mina is the only tamer who can pay the price of freedom. " As their Digimon, they are the ones who must carry the burden of their tamer's pain upon their backs and even become the price for her life and the freedom she fights for.

History
The original Freedom Fighter is believed to be Hideyoshi, Mina herself. However, as a tamer in the Digital World, it is impossible for her to do anything alone. Her primary partner, Goblimon, was hatched in her apartment the day she arrived in the Digital World. They met a girl named Kyra Evans at the park whom Mina befriended in a short period of time. Learning that Kyra served under Insomnia, Mina decided that she would try to find a way to free her friend from the clutches of the Dark Mistress in spite of the fact that she did not want to enter the war.

The Freedom Rite

They met Neko at the Tavern & Grill in the Digital City as Bastemon. She was their waitress and still carried a grudge from her history with Goblimon. However, this was the time that she got her "hunch" about Mina's destiny and decided to help the team. She suggested that they try to find a Digimental in order to gain more power to which Mina refused. Neko rendered the girl unconscious with a karate chop to the back of the neck and the three were on their way to a monk temple in the mountains. The Locomon could only go so far up the mountain and the trio had to walk the rest of the way. They were ambushed by a group of Dinohumon who kidnapped Goblimon and would have kidnapped Mina were it not for Neko's protection. She left Mina in a small dark cave where Dinohumon could not fit and distracted them. Returning later that night, the depressed tamer revealed her story of life on earth to the attentive Bastemon. They created a bond similar that night: Mina felt that Neko was very much like a mother figure and Neko had a maternal instinct to protect the girl that fell asleep in her lap.

The next morning, the pair of them scouted and found a vast city in the center of which was the monk's temple, guarded by the Dinohumon. Neko informed Mina that she'd heard a disturbing rumor about a city in the west whose inhabitants were brainwashed. They disguised the human teenager as a Lilymon and went to the temple where they were warmly welcomed by a man named Sanzo, Yoh. He invited them to dinner and both he and the girls observed one another as they made pleasant conversation. When asked their names, Mina presented the false name of Sakura while Neko provided the name Ailuros. Promising them a tour of the temple and its gardens the next day, they were lead to a beautiful room by a monk that Neko recognized: Tadamichi. She tried to ask him questions about the rumor of a Digimental, but he responded only that he would return at ten o'clock.

They spent some time in the room discussing the strange situation in the city and Sanzo's role in it. Mina explained to Neko that it was very similar to a type of government called Totalitarianism where the ruler would persuade people that everything they did was for ‘the good of the state’. In Totalitarianism, the ruler would also have a 'secret police' whose purpose wasn't to enforce the law, but instead supposed to maintain the political power of the state. Before they went to sleep, Mina asked Neko about the name she'd given Sanzo. The Bastemon revealed that it had been her mother's name and that her real name was Sekhmet. However, because the monks were from Japan, they had called her Neko. Tadamichi returned as promised at ten o'clock and revealed to them the story his master had told him.

Tadamichi's previous master (also a monk) had come to the temple in search of a legendary egg with the power to digivolve a digimon. The legend stated that the egg was with a special monk, D’Arcmon and that only those worthy of it would be able to call it forth. He lead them to the statue of D'Arcmon in the garden whose hands were shaped as if to hold something. Tadamichi had told his master that he suspected the Digimental could be found at the statue, but his master always said that he (Tadamichi) was being imaginative. Mina asked Tadamichi if he knew where the Dinohumon had taken a Goblimon. He requested that she take off her costume and took the pair of them to the factory where all of the new recruits were taken and shown what to do.

When they arrived, Tadamichi informed them he could not go in. Neko hugged him which caused the monk to begin fighting his blank state of mind. The Bastemon slapped him hard which knocked him back to his normal self. Together, they entered and found Goblimon had been brainwashed. Sanzo showed up at that time with his secret police of Dinohumon. Tadamichi himself took on the Digimon and Sanzo, giving Neko and Mina a chance to get away with the mindless Goblimon. They returned to the statue of D'Arcmon where Mina tried to get her partner to snap out of his state. Again, Sanzo interrupted the conversation and began monologuing on his ideas of brainwashing making everyone easier to control and the State. Mina argued back that feelings, thoughts, and speech were a choice that everyone had a natural right to. Tempers flared and the more the tamer carried on about the freedom of making one's own decisions, a light began to appear between the firm hands of the D'Arcmon statue. Sanzo ordered Goblimon to kill her and the Digimon was in the process of choking his own tamer when Neko urged Mina's beliefs onward. Finally, upon the human calling out the word Freedom, the Digimental of Freedom made its debut.

The light from the egg returned Goblimon to his normal self. He recognized his tamer and his surroundings. Mina took the egg and discovered that one Dinohumon was serving Sanzo on his own: he was Sanzo's partner. With Goblimon protecting Mina, Neko took on the rest of the Dinohumon by herself. Once the opportunity presented itself, she snatched away the pendant around Sanzo's neck that he used to brainwash Digimon. The second she tossed it to Gobli, Sanzo knocked her out; his Dinohumon held Mina captive as well. Sanzo tried to bargain for the pendant and the Digimental in exchange for Mina's life. At the moment that Dinohumon was about to draw his giant blade, Akinakes, the need to protect consumed Goblimon and the Digimental. He Armor Digivolved to Pucchiemon.

He attacked the Dinohumon with his Love and Fire Arrow, freeing Mina from the creature's grasp. Neko awoke and rejoined them, the trio standing back-to-back with one another. She helped to support their fight against the Dinohumon with her own cards and the final blow was dealt by Pucchiemon himself: a triple-charged Heartner Beam washed the totalitarian of all negative feelings to the point he was acting goofy. The considered his punishment, but it was Tadamichi that stopped them. The Dinohumon took their own form of justice out on Sanzo's partner by killing him and, next, Sanzo himself. The shock of the brutal murder combined with a severe lack of energy from using too many cards in the fight caused Mina to pass out.

On the train ride home as she slept, it is revealed in a flashback that Neko requested Tadamichi to brainwash the human girl so she did not remember the deaths. "She will come to experience death in time," as Neko explained. Returning to the present, Goblimon inquires what she meant by that and Neko then states outright that Mina is the Digital World's only Freedom Fighter and that she will have fights where she lose things that are important to her. "There is a cost of freedom that no one else can pay except her."

Neko's Contract

Upon their return to the Digital City the next night, Neko's boss starts yelling at her to work tables. She tried to explain she'd been out saving the world, but he barked at her and hustled her on. The boss turned to Mina and Gobli to inquire about Neko's excuse which the tamer confirmed by showing the man the Digimental of Freedom. Gobli popped off an exaggerated version of the story and the boss decided to treat them for their heroic deeds. He asked Mina what she wanted to eat and, nervous about being put on the spot, she couldn't properly answer. Neko made a suggestion about grilled cheese and the boss tried to ask Mina if she wanted a job "dressing up in a lil costume" but that was as far as he got with his sentence before something bashed him in the back of the head. Neko was furious and exclaimed that Mina wouldn't be his mascot. She took off her apron and they stormed out, Goblimon making sure to grab their order to go before they left.

They sat down on a bench not too far from the Tavern & Grill where they sat down to eat. Gobli explained that people who were the mascot of that restaraunt ended up in low places later. Neko assured Mina that she was too good for that and remarked that she was a waitress there because "nothing else fit her". Abruptly, the tamer announced that she wanted Neko to be her second partner. A spat occurred between Neko and Gobli which was ended by Mina's comment on how great of a team they were and that it was not a competition to protect her. Neko agreed to be her partner.

The second they shook hands to make the "contract" of partnership, Neko devolved to her Child/Rookie form of Strabimon. Instantly, Mina hugged her and told her she would give Neko a name. The Strabimon reminded her tamer that her name was Sekhmet, but Mina said she preferred Neko anyway. Gobli tried to make a pass at Neko who threatened to rip his arm off and together the trio returned to Mina's apartment to eat the rest of the dinner.

One With Nature

Mina, Neko, and Gobli went to the Grassy Plains where they met up with quite a few other tamers: Kiwoharu Kimishima, her fierce competitor in the tournaments of a card game they play back on earth and his partner Io (a Lunamon; Ramir and his partner Rakesh (Psychemon; a cute boy named Garrett and his companion Syl (Strabimon); and Silver and Guilmon. They also met Sagittarimon and were all planning on camping out together when the war fell in around them. Beelzebumon showed up and killed Sagittarimon, instigating a fight between all of the tamers and Beelzebumon. Out of all the tamers, Mina was the only one that disabled his ability to fly which annoyed him to the point that she became the biggest threat out of all of the "puny humans". His inability to take flight became a more serious problem when Valkyriemon appeared, becoming his biggest threat during the fight. For the first time, Gobli digivolved into Ogremon and while Beelzebumon fought Valkyriemon, he summoned 4 Devidramons and one dangerous Chaosmon to attack the tamers. Ogremon and Neko, a boy named Sam with a Ravemon named Eric (The Chamelon), Syl the Strabimon, Io the Lunamon, and Valkyriemon covered as the tamers got to the Trailmon. Mina and Kiwoharu had to help Garrett to the Trailmon due to his injured ankle with their Digimon right behind them. Beelzebumon fled from the fight, firing a cannon shot at the Trailmon as a distraction technique. While the tamers were shaken up by the attack, none were damaged further.

On the ride back to the Digital City, Mina and Kiwoharu got to know each other a little better. The mask of Mina made conversation with him she ended up learning a great deal about him just before the real Mina and her mask got into an internal argument. Publicly announcing her dislike of cards (a lie) and saying she prefers karaoke, Kiwoharu asked for a private demonstration. She obliged, but his reaction was not what she had expected: he walked off and stayed away from her until the train pulled into the station where she got off.

The group returned to the apartment where Mina had a massive meltdown about what happened at the Grassy Plains, particularly the murder of innocent Sagittarimon by someone powerful and brutal like Beelzebumon. She demanded to go home at once, that she refused to fight in the war and an argument ensued between her and Gobli who insisted she show some backbone and trust in her partners. Neko knocked Mina out just before the panicked tamer was about to make a run for it and put her in the bedroom. As she was making spaghetti, she and Gobli began discussing how they could get their human companion out of using the mask and be herself. Neko suggested the need for a Crest and they could ask Wisemon of Oracle Mountain to help them find one. Rumor had it that Wisemon was working for Insomnia, but Neko suggested that he must have seen his own future and knew he would fall to darkness.

Again, it is mentioned that Mina is the Freedom Fighter and Goblimon stated that he would die for his tamer. It is then revealed through Neko's thoughts that she must have known about Gobli's destiny as well. Later that night, Mina came in while they were watching television and asked if she could join them. The three of them sat on the couch and watched TV together. The next day, they went shopping and Mina bought a battle visor from Kabuterimon's Arms 'n' Artifacts, equipment for camping, and Mina a new outfit.

Crestventure

Act I - Seeking the Door to Wisdom

The trio took a four day hike up Oracle Mountain and decided to stay the night at a "courtesy camp" on a ledge. They set up their camp using already stocked wood, ate, and the Digimon asked Mina about Japan. They began by discussing what Mina does for fun (Neko got offended when the mask answered) and she answered about tinkering with electronics and playing card games. The conversation lead to what Mina wanted to do with her battle visor which lead to a hard night's work of her playing around on her D-ban to get used to its features and components. She was successful in her endeavor and went to sleep at last.

The next morning, she told them that she had managed to wirelessly link her D-ban to her battle visor. She wanted to test it out, but didn't get a chance to do so since the group had to leave. They finished their hike up the mountain and came to an empty archway engraved with elaborate designs of books. Neko had to say the following to get the void to Wisemon's castle to open: " Open ye gateway to the ones who seek the wisdom of the Ancient within your domain! " An Airdramon came to pick them up and carried them to Wisemon's castle.

Acts II, III, and Final - When We Find Freedom

[WIP...]