Ranma and Flamemon exited the digiport at Furinkan High and started to make their way back to the Dojo. Flamemon sighed and then spoke to his partner. "I don't like this Ranma. The enemy knows we exist and all we have on our side is you, 2 Armor Digivolution capable digimon, 1 that will be capable of Armor Digivolution once she digivolves to a rookie, and 3 green as grass newbie digidestined who haven't even found their partners! At the moment I think we were better off when it was just you, me, and even Darcmon! At least when it was just the three of us we could move fast and everyone could pull their weight. The other Digidestined seem to basically be batteries for their partners."

This blunt, but somewhat accurate, description of the others irritated Ranma slightly because it hit something that annoyed him about the others. They were good kids from what Ranma could see. Hell, Taichi did in impressive job leading a bunch of city kids to survive in a wilderness that was far more dangerous than any on Earth that Ranma had been to in his life. Their bonds with their partners was close and deep like the bond he had with Flamemon and that was something any Digidestined could approve.

However, their attitudes to their positions as both Digidestined and Chosen Children grated on Ranma. Why didn't they train themselves to help out their partners? T.K. and Kari were somewhat understandable given that they were taking care of Kari's partner. Fresh and In-Training level digimon required lots of care and constant attention to make sure they didn't do something dangerous. Ranma had heard no mention of the group doing even basic physical training to stay fit beyond what was required at school. Physical training was something Ranma excelled at since it was part of martial arts which he loved. He knew that he took it very seriously even for Nerima where the students were ranked the best at physical activities in all the Special Wards. Ranma would have needed to excel in his physical abilities even without his duties as the Chosen Child of Duty or love of martial arts given the craziness he was exposed to in his life. Still, one would think that the others would at least take up track so they could get out of their partners' ways in a fight.

Ranma mused as he cleaned the gutters of some houses on circular route back to the dojo that perhaps Huanglongmon had even more foresight than he gave the digital entity. Ranma knew he wasn't normal by most definitions of the word before he got his curse or even before he met Flamemon. Even as a little boy he spent way too much time training in martial arts to be considered normal. The schools his father had selected for him before Furinkan either had a martial focus or were rowdy places where one had to be tough to survive. He was raised to be a fighter/survivalist with an outdoor specialty and he was one of if not the best at this for his age in Japan. Drop Ranma in the middle of the forest buck naked and he could thrive. Give him a martial arts competition and he would come out on top every time.

However, these skills and abilities came at the cost of social skills and even general knowledge sometimes that most people would consider basic. Ranma knew that major part of his problems in Nerima, besides his insanely crazy luck, was his poor people skills. Contrary to popular opinion, Ranma was well aware that he had the social skills of someone who was raised by wolves. There were days that Ranma wished that he had been raised by wolves; that friendly Garurumon couple he and Kenny had meet had been a great help when the duo started their time in the Digital World. It was just that trying to gain those skills would take away time from training that Ranma needed to keep his head above water in the Nerima insanity. This of course meant that Ranma often didn't have the skills needed to avoid situations where his martial skills were necessary to save him from pain.

Yet another one of those annoying damned if you do and damned if you don't situations where having a silver tongue would be very helpful seemed to be on the horizon to Ranma as he approached the Tendo Dojo. A quick glance revealed Shampoo's bike on the outer wall of the complex and Ranma could detect Akane's anger laced chi coming from the home. These two things were not a good sign for him and delaying going home would just make things worse. The one time he tried to delay coming to the dojo he literally had to rent out the neighbor's doghouse for a week while his dad, the Tendos, and the other fiancées calmed down.

Ranma and Flamemon jumped down from the roof of the neighbor's house and land at the front door. The duo opened the door and Ranma lazily kicked off his shoes so that they landed in their storage box. Flamemon grabbed the small brush Kasumi had left near the shoe storage and cleaned up the soles of his feet. He did not want to get on the eldest Tendo daughter's bad side on this issue. The duo walked with all of the dignity available to a condemned person. Shampoo and Akane were shouting judging from the voices. However, Ranma and Flamemon couldn't understand what the two were saying thanks to the walls and the anger in the two young women's voices.

Unfortunately for the condemned, Nabiki spotted them before either Ranma or Flamemon could gain any solid information on what was going on. Nabiki quickly diverted her sister and Shampoo's attention hoping to avoid a fight in the house involving her sister. "Why hello there Ranma, I see that you and Flamemon are back from your trip. It's rather interesting to see you on a long term quest that lets you return home every day."

Akane and Shampoo turned their heads to look at arriving duo just as Nabiki hoped they would. Nabiki kept her expression calm and collective, but on the inside she was letting out a massive sigh of relief. For all the accusations of heartlessness, the middle Tendo sister did care about her family. She didn't want Akane's temper to write a check that Shampoo would happily take out of her hide and that was a best case scenario. Nabiki knew her sister was a good martial artist, but she also knew that Shampoo was better. Ranma was strong and skilled enough as a fighter to handle Shampoo in a fight and Nabiki knew that the lavender haired amazon cared too much for the lug to fight him with the potential to maim the boy.

Shampoo smiled at Ranma and lunged for him to hold him in a glop. In a chipper tone Shampoo said, "Airen! It's been so long since I've seen you." She pulled Ranma closer to her so that her impressive bust was pressing into Ranma's chest.

Ranma gulped and nervously said, "Yes Shampoo. It has been a few days since I last saw you."

The Amazon warrior looked up at her beloved and said, "A few days? Ranma, it's been almost two weeks! I know you're supposed to be doing something important in that other world, but can't you take the time to visit me?" Shampoo missed her husband and wanted to spend more time with him. Between her studies, helping out Great-Grandmother, and fending off Mousse she didn't have a lot of free time. Having Ranma's time when she had free time eaten up with this quest he was on really annoyed Shampoo. She respected the fact that Ranma had duties placed on him by a god and even admired that he pursued those duties with complete diligence. However, Shampoo was a young woman who needed time with her husband and she was bound and determined to have that time!

Flamemon butted in to add his two cents. "Look Shampoo, you're a little out of the loop so let me fill you in on something. We're stuck fighting an army of enslaved digimon with only Ranma, me, an annoying champion digimon, and a few other digidestined. These other digidestined aren't exactly A list material at the moment. Some of them haven't found their digimon partners yet! Maybe your granny hasn't told you yet, but Ranma supposed to get her help in whipping those digidestined and digimon into shape. If you want to spend time with him why don't you try to get on her good side so that she lets you help out?"

Soun and Genma burst into the room when they heard what Flamemon had said. They both shouted out at the same time, "That is completely unacceptable! If Ranma is to train anyone it should be here-" Both masters of Anything Goes were cut off by Flamemon punching their throats as he jumped up. These punches were followed a second later by kicks to force the duo to the ground.

Flamemon landed on Soun and Genma's heads. Everyone in the Tendo household turned to look at the human-digimon trio wondering what was going to happen. Flamemon looked down at the two masters and shook his head. "Look Genma, I may not personally like you, but I respect you as a teacher of high level martial arts. However, your ideas of training are too dangerous for anyone not a martial arts prodigy like Ranma or a digimon. The others are city kids used to living with caring parents in good neighborhoods. Their last time roughing it was 4 years ago and the newbies are even softer. If we let you help out on training them then the dojo would be taken away from the Tendos by lawsuits sent by the kids' parents."

Genma and Soun's faces turned deathly white at the thought of losing the dojo. Flamemon then continued his assault. "As for Soun, I'm sorry to say sir that you haven't taught anyone martial arts in years. We need to turn the other digidestined into warriors yesterday and can't wait for you to shake off all of the rust in your training abilities. Ranma is the Chosen Child of Duty for a reason and will go to great lengths to complete his duties as a digidestined. Asking Cologne for help was the best solution he could find to a bad situation. The other alternative is to make a similar deal with the devil you guys made."

A chill ran down everyone's spines at the thought of the Grand Master of Anything Goes. No one really wanted to spend more time with Happosai if they could avoid it. Shampoo, Akane, and Nabiki gave Ranma a questioning glance. The young man kept his face stoic to hide his thoughts about what Flamemon had just said. However, Ranma knew that he would make a deal with the proverbial devil if it was necessary. He had a duty to the Digital World and his partnership with Flamemon. Everything else was secondary to that.


Taichi and Yamato led, Kari, T.K., Patamon, Nyaromon, and the new digidestined out of the middle school computer lab. It was a path they had occasionally taken from the computer lab when they had stayed in the Digital World a little longer than they intended as students in the school. The older teens let out sighs of relief once everyone was safely out of the school without being discovered. They then lead the group over to a secluded part of a nearby park where the rest of the known digidestined were waiting.

Sora and the others were surprised to see the extra company with Taichi and the others of their group. The older digidestined waiting in the park looked at each other and then Sora nodded her head. She walked over to the arriving group and politely said, "Hello Taichi and Yamato. It's good to see you Kari and T.K. I hope your first day at school went well? Could you please introduce me to your new friends? I don't recognize them from summer camp."

Taichi chuckled and said, "No need for the cloak and dagger stuff Sora. These three are new digidestined that we discovered today. Meet Davis, Iori, and Miyako. Sadly, we haven't met their digimon partners yet. However, we did get to meet Ranma and found two of those digimental things that T.K. learned about from Ranma. In fact, T.K. and Kari both got those digimentals and an upgrade to their digivices as well."

Davis, Iori, and Miyako were quickly introduced to the older digidestined and then the older digidestined were informed about the day's adventure. Nyaromon spoke up once everyone was on the same page. "So what is our plan for tomorrow? We still have to find the others' digimon partners, free the enslaved digimon, and stop this delusional digidestined who is calling himself the Digimon Emperor. I think we should plan things out if we can instead of flying by the seats of our pants."

Mimi spoke up and said, "Maybe Patamon should try Armor Digivolving Nyaromon? I mean, from what I was told it sounds more like you're putting on an outfit than the regular digivolving we're used to seeing. If we know what he can do in his armor form we can plan better."

Joe fiddled with his glasses and spoke up. "We might want to take a rain check on that idea Mimi. It's a good idea, but I don't think this is the place for Patamon to try out a new digivolution. What if his armor form is huge like Greymon or Togemon? There would be massive panic if a huge digimon suddenly appeared in the park!"

Koushiro nodded his head before he added his two yen to the discussion. "Remaining calm and not causing a panic is our best course of action. Let's look at what we have to work with at the moment. According to T.K. and Patamon, Ranma told them when they last met that there were only two digidestined besides the Emperor whose partners could Armor Digivolve before Flamemon was altered to be able to Armor Digivolve. We can assume that Ranma's source of this information is good since it came from the Digital Sovereigns. T.K. and Kari have both recovered digimentals and had their digivices upgraded like Ranma's is supposed to have been. They are logically the two digidestined that Ranma spoke of when he and T.K. talked in Nerima."

"We also have Davis, Iori, and Miyako and their new digivices to consider. From what I've been told, the new digivices were sent to them when Ranma touched the Digimental of Hope. The Digital Sovereigns must have selected them to be digidestined since they and their partners would be compatible with Armor Digivolution. Ranma seems to think that their partners are connected to digimentals and I have to agree with his reasoning. Our digimon were living on their own due to the Dark Masters attack before they were hatched. It makes sense that the partners of the new digidestined would be near digimentals as they were created because of the need to use digimentals against this new enemy. Having their digimon partners anywhere else unless in reaction to enemy actions is illogical."

Yamato frowned and said, "I don't know Koushiro. That just sounds too convenient for me. We had to deal with a lot of crazy things just to get our tags and crests."

The genius of the team looked Yamato in the eye and replied. "That was in reaction to the Dark Masters and their subordinate's actions. Gennai and the Agents initial plan had been wrecked for years before we were first summoned to the Digital World. Looking back at our adventure and considering what little we've heard of Ranma's adventure, it has become clear to me that our side was never able to recover from the Dark Masters' opening attacks. We won, but we won a pyrrhic victory since the Digital World needed to go through the Great Reset."

Koushiro paused for a moment to look at the new trio before continuing on. "This time our side isn't hurt as badly. Negating our ability to have our partners' digivolve seems to be our enemy's biggest asset. It's a major problem, but it's one that we have work arounds to deal with it. Some of us by lucky accident had partners who could Armor Digivolve. The Digital Sovereigns also were able to find new digidestined who could have Armor Digivolving partners' decades if not centuries sooner. Please keep in mind how much faster time use to pass in the Digital World relative to Earth."

Iori frown as he thought about what Koushiro had just said. He still wasn't really sure what to make of being a digidestined. It was interesting to go to another world, but it seemed that there were many responsibilities attached to this privilege. He politely coughed to get everyone's attention and then said, "Excuse me, I don't have a lot of experience with all of this so please be understanding if I'm about to make a major mistake. It sounds like finding Davis, Miyako, and my own digimon partners is very important. Wouldn't it be a good idea to look for these digimentals since they seem to be the best clue we currently have to finding our partners? Even if Koushiro and Ranma are missing some clue in where our partners are, having the digimentals will give T.K., Kari, and Ranma an advantage. At worse, we'll just have the digimentals on hand when our partners are found."

The older digidestined turned to look at Iori thoughtfully. The looks were starting to make Iori nervous as he wasn't used to being at the center of attention of a group of people. This was especially true since the people paying attention to him were his upperclassmen and thus he was supposed to be respectful to them. Joe broke the silence and said, "Iori has a good point." A round of agreements quickly followed from the others which lifted Iori's spirit.

Miyako piped in, "Good thinking Iori!" She then turned to Taichi and asked, "So does this mean we're going to look for our partners?"

Taichi nodded his head and then moved to lean against a nearby tree. "It currently sounds like our best plan. T.K., can you contact Ranma and see if he's heard of any more digimental locations? I think we should all send our partners emails to see if they've heard any rumors about digimentals. Speaking of our partners, we should also pull them out of the Digital World if we can meet up with them. Getting Agumon to agree might be a bit tricky as he might think the risk of these Dark Rings is better than the risk of Mom's cooking." That got a quick round of chuckles from everyone that knew about Mrs. Yagami's cooking skills.

Another frown came to Yamato as he realized a potential problem. "Hey Koushiro, were you able to find another digiport with that scanner of yours? If we're relying on the digiport in the middle school for access to the Digital World than how are we all going to continuously get to the digiport unnoticed?"

Everyone turned to look at the red head computer genius only to see a frown on his face. "Sorry everyone, but I'm basically having to rewrite the entire program for my digiport scanner. My primary focus for the program was to predict when a digiport would open and how long it would stay open. The ability to scan for new digiports was an unintended bonus. That primary purpose is obsolete thanks to these new digivices. I'm trying to create a new version that focuses on finding digiport locations in our world, but I make no promises on when I'll get that accomplished."

Miyako spoke up, "Can I help you? I've got some experience working with computers and computer programs."

Koushiro nodded his head, "Any constructive help would be appreciated."

Joe spoke up and said, "That's good news, but that still leaves us with only having the digiport in the middle school for the time being. Yamato's right that we need to know how to get access to the digiport unnoticed."

Taichi stood up strait with a grim look on his face. "We, as in all of us older kids, are not going to be regularly going to the Digital World." Everyone snapped their heads to look at Taichi as he continued on speaking. "We're currently separated from our partners and our partners cannot Armor Digivolve. We don't even know if our partners are safe from these Dark Rings and I don't want to find out. It's going to be up to the Armor Digivolving part of the team to carry the fight until we can figure out a way for our partners to digivolve in enemy territory."

The leader of the digidestined group paused for a brief second before we walked over to T.K. Taichi placed his hand on T.K.'s shoulder and said, "You're going to have to be in charge of the Armor Digivolving part of the team T.K. The three new digidestined are going to need someone with experience to show them the ropes. You've got the most experience between you and Kari T.K. I also know you and know that you'll do everything in your and Patamon's power to get everyone out safely. Ranma may seem to be similar, but I don't know him like I know you."

Davis frowned seeing TA get put on the center stage by Taichi like that. He didn't like how close the new kid at school was to Kari. Part of him wanted to be the leader. After all, he had experience being a leader from his time on the school soccer team. Davis did not blurt out his thoughts and kept his mouth shut. He could see that to this group he was the new kid. The fact that Ranma Saotome, the hero/boogeyman of his older cousin's stories about Nerima, was involved made him realize just how serious this all was in reality. He just hoped that the crazies that his cousin talked about didn't get involved.


The sounds of battle could be heard coming from the Tendo Dojo late into the night. Ranma and Agunimon were locked hand to hand with each other and sweat rolling down both their faces. They split apart at an unknown signal and then resumed their attack on each other. No special moves were used by either fighter as the match continued on. This was a test of pure martial arts skill and physical ability. Ranma had the upper hand when it came to skill and practice in this sort of fighting. Agunimon was slightly faster and far stronger. However, Ranma had way more practice fighting human-sized and shaped opponents in this manner even if he was physically outclassed.

Again and again the Chosen Child and Digimon Partner attacked each other. Each time they meet left Agunimon a little weaker. Sometimes it was him just wasting energy in a futile attack. At other times Ranma delivered a painful blow that got through the digimon's defenses. The fight wasn't one sided as Agunimon returned a fair number of attacks at Ranma. It's just that Ranma was able to bend with Agunimon's attacks insuring that he stayed in control of the battle because Agunimon was never able to give as good as he got.

Forty-five minutes into the spar Agunimon had to concede after a vicious blow to the back sent him kneeling on the floor. "That's enough Ranma. I yield." Agunimon dedigivolved a few seconds after he spoke and he turned back into Flamemon. Ranma walked over to his partner and helped him back to his feet. There was a thick sheen of sweat covering Ranma's body and his silk clothes were utterly soaked as they clung to his muscled form.

Ranma gave his partner a tired smile and said, "Good match Flamemon. Lets' get some water." The duo walked over to a corner where some towels and two water bottles had been set aside before the match. Both Ranma and Flamemon quickly dried off the sweat and started to drink their water as they sat next to each other on the floor.

Once he was done with his water, Flamemon turned to look at his partner with concern in his eyes. He paused for a second unsure how to bring up what he wanted to talk about. The digimon finally let out a small sigh and said, "Ranma, what are you going to do about your fiancées? This whole situation you're in is a complete mess. I'll back you 100 percent no matter what you plan to do, but I need to know how to help you."

There was a small thud as Ranma slumped his back against the dojo wall and then he closed his eyes for a second in frustration. Ranma sent out a small weak pulse of chi and confirmed that there was no one else close enough to the dojo to overhear what he had to say. He then gave voice to his frustrations. "I can't think of a proactive plan to resolve this disaster Pops saddled me with at the moment as still keep a shred of honor thanks to that dishonorable lout. I can't really keep it intact since he shredded it with his short sighted promises. Still, I want to keep what remains I currently have with me."

It was painful for Ranma to speak of his issues with the Gordian Knot known as his relationship status. Sometimes that pain was quite literal as everyone seemed to jump in if it seemed he was about to make a move forward with any of the fiancées and he had to fight half a dozen battles with enraged would be suitors, rivals after the girls, people supporting one of the other girls, etc. The last time he did anything regarding the fiancées was when he fought Shampoo for her hand because she was under magical influence to hate him. Ranma knew from overhearing the rumors that many people thought he fought Shampoo because his pride wouldn't let him have one of the girls leave him.

Those rumors couldn't be further from the truth. Ranma would have been happy to lose a fiancée, or two, or even all of them. The catch was he wanted them to leave of their own free will. It wouldn't be honorable or right to trick the girls into breaking the engagements themselves since all of them would have to deal with more than a loss of face if the engagement ended. Maybe he could have done such a thing if he had a less caring heart, but Ranma knew himself well enough to know he could never deliberately hurt any of the girls to cause them pain.

A very world weary sigh escaped Ranma's lips as he solemnly spoke. "Unless they do something that seriously affects you or my duties as a Chosen Child I can't honorably act against any of the girls. The best plan I can think of is to just endure this headache as best I can and wait for the girls to decide among themselves if they want to pursue me. Hopefully, they'll get fed up and decide they want to try and break things off honorably so they can pursue a boyfriend with less baggage then me."

Flamemon frown when he heard his partner's plan. It was too passive for either of their usual style of problem solving. There was also a massive problem that he could see with the plan. He spoke up, "But what about your choice in the matter Ranma? Your plan leaves you as the prize to the most stubborn fiancée."

The digimon was surprised to hear a small self-mocking chuckle escape from Ranma's lips and then he muttered, "My choice? I haven't had a choice in this matter since Pops made his first engagement promise before I was born. The only way I'll get a choice is if I leave the Saotome clan and that is too much like losing for my taste. No Flamemon, I don't have a say in who I'll marry. I guess I should be happy that whoever I marry will have a say on her behalf."

Ranma then got up after saying that depressing thought and headed for the door. Flamemon didn't follow him sensing that his partner needed some time alone. The digimon sighed as he processed everything he had just been told. In his humble opinion, none of the girls after Ranma were a good fit for his partner. Flamemon would privately admit that he didn't know much about human relationships or romantic relationships in general. He'd rather focus on training than think about relationships.

However, Flamemon had been observing the various girls after Ranma since he knew the fiancée mess was something that bothered Ranma. What he had seen of the girls hadn't sat well for the digimon. He wasn't thrilled about the idea of any of them being married to his partner. Akane had too much of a temper and too low of a tolerance for the unusual for Flamemon. Ukyo also seemed to have too low of a tolerance for the unusual and from what Flamemon could see she wanted Ranma to focus on her self-appointed duties. As for Shampoo, her personality just rubbed Flamemon the wrong way and reminded him too much of Darcmon for his comfort.

Flamemon stood up and walked over to the nearest digital device which happened to be the thermostat for the dojo. He extended his arms out in front of him towards the thermostat with his palms facing it. The digimon closed his eyes and then started to pray. "Boss, I know you can hear me so please pay attention. I know you're busy trying to keep the Digital World safe from whatever darkness is behind the Digital Dork. However, can you please spare a little time to find a solution for Ranma's fiancée mess? I know he'd never ask you for help and that he'd want to solve it on his own. But, I can see its really getting to him. Any help you can give on this would be appreciated."