27 ~Only human~

'Who's that again?' uttered Ryosuke, annoyed. The group had just escaped Calmaramon and crossed the river, and was yet to recover from the fatigue. Their enemy, however, was not intending to give them any time to rest. As soon as all of them had got to the solid ground of the other side, another wave of assault was launched.

'Whatever that is, it must not be a friendly one.' Mumbled Amy not sooner before she instructed BlueMeramon to create a shield of ice to block the raining snowballs, which, not surprisingly, exploded upon contact with the shield. The digi-destined were already running as soon as the smoke caused by the explosion was cleared. Yuzuki took a look back, and confirmed that their attacker was, also not surprisingly, a digimon, with a pretty small body size. It had skin whiter than the ice blocks at the river, and wore dark green armor. The launcher it held in its right arm was almost as large as the digimon himself in terms of length.

'That'd be Kumamon.' Muttered Takumi. 'And if I'm not mistaken, he'd be one of the last two of the hybrids left.'

'That's good.' Replied Lillymon. 'Then why are we running?'

'Because.' The redhead replied. 'Yuzuki and Kaoru haven't recovered yet.'

Their pursuer seemed to be in no mood of waiting for them to complete their conversation. Kumamon fired a dozen more snowballs from his launcher, dashing at the same time to catch up with the digi-destined. None of the snowballs hit the kids directly, however they proved that even just hitting the road would be enough to make the escape ten times harder. Maybe it'd be easier had the snowballs just hit the digimon rather than sending up sands and mud from the blown ground.

'Soul predator!' yelled MetalPhantomon as he created a shockwave from a swing of his sickle, which seemed to have hit their pursuer precisely. More smoke came afterwards, and there were the wired, chain-like sound that came from the smoke layers. None of them stopped the destined's will of running, though.

They continued running, ignoring the protest from their feet until an object was thrust upon them. It was a spinning one, so none of them could really tell what that thing was. Anyway, it was about to ht Yuzuki, one of the last one in the group, before SaviorHuckmon knocked the spinning object back. Upon contacting the object he estimated that it was something sharp, like a knife. The object was thrown back to its rightful owner, who was soon revealed to be a rolling ball of whiteness, accelerating. The wired chain-like noise was then cleared that they came from the edged objects the digimon was holding hitting the ground.

BlueMeramon fired a couple waves of fire, but were all ignored by the rolling digimon. MetalPhantomon helped by generating a few more of the shockwaves, which were also dodged by the digimon. As unwilling as they were, they had to admit that the one chasing them was truly agile.

The distance between them went short, and became shorter and shorter as the white rolling digimon speeded up. He didn't make any attempts to attack anymore, simply rolling fast to catch up with the destined. And he was doing his job well. In a few seconds he had already approached the digi-destined, and quit his rolling form as he revealed his true outfit. The digimon looked a bit like a bear, with white fur and two horns on his head; axes held firm in both of his grips.

'Let me guess, that's the Korikakumon you'd spoken of earlier?' uttered Ryosuke.

'I don't think now's the time to talk about that.' Muttered MetalPhantomon as he raised his arms to block an incoming strike from the hybrid. To his surprise the hybrid was not too strong in terms of physical strength. Without much effort MetalPhantomon swung his arms, and knocked Korikakumon back, who then gave out a roar. It was mixed with anger and madness, and was even crazier seeing that the roar was actually coming from a human being whose consciousness should not have been destroyed completely. But there was no time to hesitate. The hybrid was the enemy now; that's the notion that had kept the destined fighting. Making up his mind, MetalPhantomon struck, using the back of his sickle to hit the hybrid in the head. He was still no used to killing humans.

Korikakumon jerked back, and threw his axes at the destined. Petermon managed to smack one of them down, but got himself injured in his left thigh by the other axe. Korikakumon retrieved the axes and proceeded in approaching Petermon, who was now lying on his stomach, immobilized by his wounded leg.

Though anyone there could've saved Petermon, a blast of missile was what actually did the job.

'What took you so long?' immediately recognizing that the attack came from his partner, Eiji uttered to Pteramon, who had technically abandoned them previously.

'Shut up and follow me!' replied Pteramon, flying away at a direction where more woods could be seen before anyone could give any responses, leaving the destined no choice but to do so. MetalPhantomon carried Petermon as they ran. The smoke layer caused by the explosions didn't last long, and though they hadn't been looking back, Yuzuki could be sure that she heard a high-pitched scream as they ran. No sign of any followers was there, hopefully.


Piedmon looked at his fingers as he moved them randomly. He then lowered one arm, turned his head at Cyberdramon, and then he switched his gaze at something else. Aimlessly, he returned his sight as his fingers, counting. 'Two left.'

He couldn't help but feel a bit grave about all this. He had discovered the Spirits himself, though accidentally, and had used them as a price for Cyberdramon to work with him, and had expected his "treasures" to function well. Now only two of those were left, and yet one of them didn't seem to be working correctly.

'I thought Duskmon was just an accident.' He mumbled.

'What are you talking about?' Cyberdramon responded, still not leaving his work. On the screen of his computer were blueprints, results of his work for Piedmon, though he really didn't consider it that way. He was just doing his own research, and didn't really care how his commercial partner would use them. 'I had warned you about the risks of using human as the base.'

'And I have expected you to reduce those risks.' Muttered Piedmon. 'Kumamon is not under control as well.'

'I told you once that the phenomenon can be used to collect rare data.' Said Cyberdramon, finally turning from his computer. 'But I have collected enough. If the subject remains incontrollable, then I shall clean up the mess myself.'

'And that's gonna be so entertaining.' Whispered Piedmon secretly to himself. If there's ever one thing that he enjoyed about his partner, that'd be his style of battling. Maybe he can clean up more than one failed subject.


'You left us behind just to find a cave?' uttered Eiji. 'We'd have passed the river so much easier it you'd been there.'

'As least he came back.' said Takumi, trying to lower the tension a bit. They were right now inside a cave near the river, in a hidden corner where they didn't need to worry about being found, though their enemy seemed to know every corner of the digital world better than they did.

'Petermon, are you feeling better?' the first concern of Yuzuki really wasn't about their hiding place, seeing that Piedmon could find them no matter where they were. Petermon, having been injured in the battle earlier, was healing quickly thanks to Ryosuke's card. Still, he was in no shape of further battling any other enemies, even just a champion like himself.

'I'm fine.' replied Petermon weakly. 'And how many times do I have to tell you, just call me Peter.'

'I think we have other things to discuss.' Interrupted Amy. 'I don't suppose any of us here want another attack at night?'

'There're just two left.' Mumbled Takumi. 'And I don't really think taking then down one by one would be a problem.'

'Just one more.' Mumbled Petermon. 'And I can get BurningGreymon.' He hadn't forgotten the reason why he'd been with the digi-destined, to find BurningGreymon, the one who'd burnt his village into ashes. And when he did so –he swore to himself silently –the hybrid would be dead, human or not.


Kumamon walked, or tried to, before he fell next to a rectangular boulder. His entire body was shivering, as if he couldn't control it. The darkness brought by the night had hindered his vision, but he could still see clearly the outline of things around him, of himself.

'What happened to me?' that was something he'd have said had he been able to do so. Simply by looking around at the strange environment had already taken away his ability to speak, not to mention seeing his own hands becoming exceptionally white with only three fingers on each hand. He wandered around, and saw how he looked like now with a nearby pond. It had already been a miracle that he had not yet committed suicide, if he could do that.

He felt weak, almost like he'd been put to work all day without rest, which was true, only without his knowledge. During his whole life he'd never been in any woody regions before, at least not alone. He started to panic; his pace quickened despite the rapid loss of energy. The night was a complete darkness; there was no light, no sound that could guide him to anywhere safe. The only thing he remembered having seen was a river nearby, which seemed to have been frozen for quite a while and had been demolished quite recently. He dared not to visit that place; for fear that he should fall into the river and meet his end just like that.

Luckily for him, it seemed that he wasn't meant to die yet. In the darkness he wandered for an unknown period of time –he'd lost count. Almost when he was about to give up, he saw light. The gentle blue light was like the best thing he'd ever seen in his whole life –he'd never been so grateful to see light.

Without any hesitation, he walked toward the light.


'We can't just spend the night restless.' Suggested TigerVespamon. Though the battle previously didn't wear him out, he was concern for his partner, who had already fallen asleep near him.

'Peter, where is that Fortress you'd mentioned before?' asked Eiji. He was struggling to get his eyes open, but he wanted to fulfill his role as the leader, and didn't want to rest before everything was settled. 'I think we should go there at once after tomorrow morning.'

'I don't know for sure.' Answered Petermon. 'Like I'd said, I haven't been around for quite some time, and I can't tell you how far the Fortress is from this cave, but it shouldn't be too far away if we're still near the river.'

'I have another question.' Uttered Amy. 'How can you be sure that whoever live in that Fortress would welcome us? They might have joint Piedmon already.'

'I never really thought of that.' Replied Petermon.

'Though I have doubted that we might have come the wrong way, I can be quite confident to say that Piedmon's base is near.' Said Takumi. 'They'd tried very hard to stop us from proceeding recently.'

'I hope that's true.' Muttered Ryosuke. He hadn't acted like himself lately –all the events had given him enough stress that he couldn't quite remain his normal self, as if the world was telling him that he had to change his attitude by throwing the various circumstances at them. And he felt like the world had succeeded in changing him if that was the case. He used to make decisions quickly without much consideration, and that seemed stupid to him now; he used to keep looking at things as optimistically as possible, but now that seemed just like he was lying to himself.

They stayed silent for a while until a soft, gentle noise of grass joined the conversation.

'BlueMeramon.' Uttered Amy. Immediately her partner "turned off" himself and left the cave lightless. 'Wake the two sleeping beauties up.' she said to Takumi, the one closet to Yuzuki and Kaoru, in an almost commanding tone. Petermon drew his knife, and got to the right hand side of the cave entrance, ready to slice any enemy.

'Help…' an unexpected, child-like voice was the first to come. That, however, did nothing to lower the alertness of the digi-destined. They'd experienced much of Piedmon's strategy, and could not easily trust anyone –anything could be a trap of the trickster.

No other sounds were produced soon after the cave was darkened. Yuzuki and Kaoru woke up, and were told briefly of what's happening. Convinced by the quiet that things should probably be safe, Amy let BlueMeramon lit a slight spark on his right hand, which provided enough illumination already that they could see clearly the source of the noise.

'That's the digimon that attacked us earlier today.' Immediately identifying the digimon that was lying on the cave entrance, Petermon warned the others. 'He looks…dead.'

'Dead?' uttered Eiji as he approached the digimon. He could see by the time he was only a few meters from the digimon that he was indeed Kumamon, and was pretty dead-looking. However, knowing that hybrids didn't die that way, the leader of the team wouldn't let his guard off. He poked the hybrid's back, testing if anything responses would be given. Kumamon, although not having huge movements, jerked a bit for the irritation, much to Eiji's relief. 'Alive.' He confirmed the others.

Almost immediately after the announcement that the hybrid was not dead, Kumamon sprang up, seemingly shocked. His breathing frequency increased tremendously; his pupils enlarged; every part of his body showed that he was scared. 'Where am I?' muttered him as he jerked backward. 'What happened?'

'Is he…?' Amy whispered to Eiji, completely ignoring Kumamon. Their leader, too, ignored the hybrid as he nodded in return. Kumamon continued asking; his voice shaky; in fact, his entire body was shivering. Ryosuke was the one to approach the hubrid.

'You won't be harmed now.' He whispered. 'What do you remember?'

'I…I don't know.' Replied Kumamon. Judging from his voice, Ryosuke could tell that whoever was inside the hybrid was just a kid, maybe not even older than him. 'What happened to me?' his high-pitched childish voice echoed round the small cave again.

'It's okay.' The black-haired boy said in a comforting tone. 'It might sound crazy, but you're currently in the digital world.' He said, pausing a few seconds for the hybrid to get accustomed to the circumstance. 'And…you were once…dead.'

Immediately he regretted having said that. Kumamon, apparently believing what he said, started to panic again and, even though he appeared to not know how to use his launcher, gripped it and raised it with his two arms. The destined digimon got to their battle-ready state, but was stopped by Ryosuke.

'Hey.' He said softly. 'It's fine. You're not dead now.'

'Then what has happened to me?'

Ryosuke knew he hadn't been making much sense, but he couldn't have done anything better. He was simply telling the truth, which hurt much to both of them. 'Basically, you were killed five years ago, and were resurrected in this form.' He talked as slowly and clear as possible. 'Just let me finish this first. I know it must be hard for you, but you will be fine, just like us.'

Kumamon listened silently, maybe just too afraid to say anything.

'You are basically a digimon now.' It was tough for Ryosuke, but he still had to say that out, not willing to hide anything from Kumamon. Secretly he cursed Piedmon for doing such thing to a kid who seemed to be younger than him, which meant that whoever was inside should not exceed ten years old. Though not liking a normal lifestyle, he still hated Reapermon for taking everything from a little child like that –his friends his parents, everything that mattered to him, had been taken away from him the moment he was killed. And Piedmon, or whoever was helping him with the Spirits. He just couldn't tolerate him for turning such an innocent kid into a weapon. It was at that moment when he understood why Kaoru hated Reapermon so much.

Kumamon stayed in silence. Ryosuke continued to explain, about how he was supposed to be obeying orders blindly, and how lucky he was to be able to retain his own consciousness. Every words that came out of his mouth hurt almost as much as they did to Kumamon, but he felt that the hybrid had the right to know what had happened to him.

'So…what has become of me?' uttered Kumamon, depressed.

'You're still yourself.' Said Ryosuke. 'Inside. Nobody can change that.' He then got an idea, perhaps a bad one, but he felt like that would help Kumamon, and that's why he said. 'Maybe you can tell me things about you. What's your name anyway? I don't want to call you like a digimon.'

'Thomas.' The hybrid whispered.

'Well, can I just call Tommy? Anyway, maybe you can tell me more about the past, maybe that helps.'

Kumamon, or Thomas, then proceeded in talking about his past life. For a moment Ryosuke was scared that he might have made a mistake asking Thomas to recall the history of himself that had been taken away from him, but as time passed he was more relieved as Thomas seemed to be getting less and less depressed.

The others said nothing, confident in leaving Ryosuke with the hybrid.


'Another failure.'

'Well, we've got plenty of them to use.'

'Incorrect, we have only eleven of those left.'

'Then you better get things done the right way.'

'I am. Ten would be enough, after all.'

'Would you mid if I ask: How did you preserve all these bodies?'

'You will not understand.'

'Well then just get to work, and what's that noise?'

'Another failure. '

'Then treasure the remaining ten.'

Kumamon, now identified with his human name Thomas, woke up in fright. He turned around to see that he had been with the digi-destined all night, and hadn't left the cave since then. There were rays of light coming from the cave mouth, just thin lines indicating that the sun had risen. He then turned his head to the other side to see that the destined were fast asleep.

The idea of running away immediately occurred in his mid, but he was stopped unexpectedly by Eiji, who seemed to be awake for quite some time.

'To be honest, I didn't trust you at first.' The blue-haired boy said. 'So I sacrificed my sleep to have an eye on you, to see if that was some sick tricks of Piedmon, if you would turn against us after we're unconscious. But I have to admit that I should be ashamed of myself to have had that idea.'

Thomas said nothing, looking at the cave opening aimlessly as he held his now three-fingered hand up to block some sunlight from the entrance.

'Hey.' The familiar voice of Ryosuke came from behind. 'How're you feeling, Tommy?'

'I…I saw some wired things.' Replied the hybrid. 'Like some clown and alien-looking thing talking –about something that they preserve. They said they had ten left.'

'Ten?' the word "clown" immediately gave Ryosuke the impression of Piedmon, and the number "ten" sounded familiar as well. He spent some time recalling anything regarding Piedmon, so deep in though that he didn't even notice his fellow teammates' waking up.

'Why'd you keep mumbling "ten"?' asked Takumi, causing Ryosuke to spring back in surprise as if the redhead appeared from nowhere. 'You don't have to scare me like that!'

'I though you noticed that we've woken up.' replied Takumi. 'Anyway, why do you keep saying that number again and again?'

'It's Tommy.' Answered Ryosuke. Though it felt strange to Takumi to use a human name to call a digimon, he was a bit surprised that he had actually gotten used to that, thanks to Petermon. 'He thinks he saw Piedmon in his dreams, saying something about only ten left.'

'Are they talking about the hybrids?' suggested Takumi almost immediately. 'You know, there're ten of them in total.'

'But then what about "left"? Are you suggesting that there're more than tem hybrids originally?' asked Ryosuke, though he instantly thought of a better way then asking. He asked Kaoru about the number of deaths of caused by Reapermon, and got the answer "twenty-one"

'That's sick.' Commented the black-haired boy. 'So they've wasted ten of those dead to get the hybrids working?'

'I guess so.' Replied Lillymon, unwillingly agreeing her partner's hypothesis.

Ryosuke tried hard to forget about that, and stayed close to Kumamon. It seemed almost out of his character to the others that he could actually be gentle toward another living being.

'Well, they're similar in age.' Explained Amy, turning to point at Yuzuki and Kaoru. 'Like those two.'

They were soon on their way to the Fortress again. Though initially lost, Petermon was, hopefully, able to find the right way back. It was a broad road, covered in only random bushes, and no trees as cover like the places the team had visited before, and therefore, kind of dangerous. Despite that, the group decided to keep moving on that way, hoping to reach the Fortress before anyone could find them.

'What is this Fortress?' asked Kumamon on the way.

'I don't know that either.' Replied Ryouske. 'But I think it's kind of a place where we can be safe for a while. It wouldn't have been named "Fortress" otherwise.'

'I miss my home.' Uttered Kumamon.

'I'm sorry about that, but I really can't do anything about that.' Replied Ryosuke softly. It was really rare to see the black-haired boy to be so close to someone. Though he was a particularly outgoing member in the team, none of the others had seen this side of him before, and could be sure that he had become friend with a former enemy quickly. 'But you can start a new life there. We've been in the digital world for quite a while, and have seen various places. There're some really nice places here.'

Kumamon stayed wordless, walking silently for the rest of the time. Ryosuke tried to talk with him all the way, about how he could still be with him as a friend even in the form of a digimon; about how beautiful the digital world could be and how Thomas might enjoy it; about how having a second chance to live sounded purely amazing. He avoided anything about his previous life, though; not willing to let the memories of the past hurt him. From the occasionally smile from Kumamon –or Thomas –he could tell that he was succeeding in lightening the little kid inside the hybrid up.

That was when a strange noise suddenly appeared from nowhere. It did nothing to the digi-destined except for hurting their ears slightly, nor did it do anything special to the digimon. The only apparent effect was on Kumamon, who seemed to be in enormous pain upon hearing the strange call.

'Who's that?' shouted Lillymon while her partner was busy taking care of Thomas. 'I know you're hiding somewhere, show yourself!'

The other digi-destined also got themselves ready for whatever might come to them. Knowing that no more hybrids except BurningGreymon were out there, they could be pretty sure that their enemy this time would be a tough one.

Nothing happened except for the sudden stop of the whistle.

'Show yourself!' this time it was SaviorHuckmon who shouted.

In the sky, at the direction of the river, a dimensional vortex appeared just like the time when the digi-destined fought Chaosdramon. Along with it came the strange whistle again. Kumamon covered his ears with his hands, dropping the launcher on the ground, but that didn't seem to help much; he fell to his knees, then lay on the ground entirely, rolling and thrusting out of agony.

'Stop it!' yelled Ryosuke.

'That's not quite nice.' A terribly familiar voice came out from the vortex. 'We haven't seen each other for so long and you don't even say hello?'

'Piedmon.' Mumbled Yuzuki, immediately recognizing the playful yet menacing tone of the mega.

Piedmon did nothing to stop the noise, leaving Kumamon struggling for free from the effect of it; the mega stepped out of the vortex, landing in an absurd manner. The vortex, however, didn't close after that. Another shape was seen flying out of it before the vortex collapsed. So fast was it that the digi-destined could hardly get a glimpse of what that digimon was. As soon as the shape came out of the vortex, the strange and torturing noise stopped. The shape landed, a lot cooler than Piedmon did.

The digi-destined soon realized who that shape was –Cyberdramon.

'So they're together.' Mumbled TigerVespamon.

'I've told you many times.' Argued Takumi.

'What do you want?' demanded SaviorHuckmon; blades at ready.

'Do you want me to tell you the whole story, which I'd much enjoy to do; or should I just tell you the aim of our little trip here?' replied Piedmon pleasantly in his chillingly casual tone. Nobody gave any responses. 'Well then, I suppose you all want to hear the whole story again?'

Cyberdramon was the first to have a move, stepping forward with his double-ended lance in his grip. Piedmon extended an arm and stopped him from advancing, saying. 'Just let me enjoy the moment, and then you can have all you want, please~?'

'If you have any last words, now'd be the best time to say.' snarled Ryosuke, glaring at Piedmon, who didn't seem to care at all. The digimon on the destined's side all held up their weapons, aiming at the two.

'Remember when I tell you about Millenniummon?' Piedmon started, not caring about the digi-destined's threat at all. 'Well, that can basically be divided into two parts: First, his dimensional power. As you must have observed we have acquired his ability to produce these things we call Portals, though not perfect, resulting in my having to come all the way here to open another single-way Portal to send things back to the human world.'

'What's the second then?' demanded SaviorHuckmon.

'Well, Millenniummon is known not only for his dimensional ability, but also his firepower.' Explained Piedmon. 'I'm not sure if you have seen our Chaosdramon before, that's simply fascinating.'

'So you dissected Millenniummon to get his cannons?' uttered Takumi in disbelief.

'No. That'd be a terrible waste.'

'Then what about them?' yelled Ryosuke. 'What do they have to do with you?'

'Well, they're presents.' Said Piedmon. 'For my scientist friend here.'

'So you're the one responsible for making them into weapons!' Ryouske's gaze now turned to Cyberdramon. Cyberdramon said nothing, simply walked forward, raising his lance. Piedmon didn't stop him this time, instead he gave a smirk to the destined, making them feel even more uneasy.

'Subject has been proved to be a failure.' Said Cyberdramon as he approached Kumamon, who had resumed his standing position weakly with Ryosuke on his side, supporting him in standing. Cyberdramon's tone sounded almost double as creepy as Piedmon's, having a machinery and deep monotone, almost like he had to use a computer to talk. There was no emotion in his tone, matching his appearance.

'No!' shouted Ryosuke as he stood in front of Kumamon, extending his arm in a protective position. 'I won't let you hurt him; he's the only one to remain human, and he's my friend!'

Cyberdramon, of course, gave nothing about the declaration. He raised his free arm, ready to strike as he rapidly swung it in the air.

Ryouske didn't know what kind of attack that was supposed to be, but for a moment he felt like he was about to die, to be torn into pieces by whatever was coming from Cyberdramon. What came to him, nevertheless, was from his left. He felt a soft push, and, being unprepared, was pushed aside. The next moment he could react, Kumamon was already lying on the ground, dying. Though there was no blood on him, he flowing of data streams basically meant the same.

Ryosuke got to Kumamon as soon as possible, holding his shivering hands. There were three scratches on the hybrid's chest, right below his neck, probably the future cause of death. The hybrid kept mumbling things, but was too weak that none of any words he wanted to say could come together. His body temperature was increasing.

In the meantime, the digi-destined were at alarm, positioned to get ready for the oncoming fight, but not making any moves, knowing that their foe would strike faster than any of them could, and could demolish the entire group in no time.

'Hang on, I'm getting you healed.' Mumbled Ryosuke with tears all over his face; frantically he found his digivice and the healing card, barely having them in his grip as his impatience caused his grip to shake. He swiped the card with the digivice, hoping to heal the hybrid before it was too late.

Nothing happened.

He tried again, and again for countless times. Still, nothing happened. 'Why isn't it working!' he murmured as he tried again. The same result was the only thing to come to him.

Piedmon, watching by the side, laughed at the scenario. 'Technically it is not a digimon, of course your card can not work.' His tone was purely playful this time, with the menacing nature replaced by the mocking in the voice. Ryosuke, however, was in no mood to pay attention to that. He continued to try and use his card, only to be stopped by Kumamon, holding to his wrists weakly. He kept mumbling the words that never formed.

Cyberdramon was impatient as well. He had taken down his failure, but there were more in front of him. Though he had much appreciated the digi-destined's effort of making his hybrids better, they had proved themselves to be too much of a trouble, and had to be eliminated when the chance was there, which was now. Cyberdramon raised his lance-holding arm as the destined digimon raised their own weapons; both sides ready to strike.

Cyberdramon seemed furious –something not supposed to happen on him. Piedmon used the explanation 'He has to destroy his own creation; that hurts!', but anyone knew that was not what was happening. The flashlights on the Scientist's head flickered rapidly in a seemingly random pattern as the dragon leaped. SaviorHuckmon was the first to respond, also leaping forward. But their blades never met. An arrow flew straight at Cyberdramon and prevented him from getting to SaviorHuckmon. Cyberdramon backed off, keeping a few meters from the digi-destined.

'Where'd that come from?' uttered Eiji as he looked at his back –where the arrow came from, soon his question was answered by the sounds of marching and the sight of a group of digimon. They were too far away that none of the group could really tell what kind of digimon were there, nor could they tell if they meant to help them, or just missed and shot Cyberdramon. Either way, the arrow had saved them for a while.

A little while later the digi-destined could tell that the group of digimon was not their enemy; more arrows jetted at Cyberdramon, and, hardly coincidentally, they all avoided hitting the destined. The arrows, however, could harm neither Piedmon nor Cyberdramon.

'Sagittarimon, armor level, vaccine type.' Information of the digimon appeared in the screen of the destined's digivices as the group approached them. The digi-destined now had a good look at their supposed rescuer –they had the appearance of centaur, though their lower limbs looked more like a bear's than a horse's. They each held a red bow in one hand, and aimed at Piedmon and Cyberdramon. From the far end of the group came a humanoid digimon that looked like a girl with a sneak-like hat. She was holding a sword almost as large as herself.

'Minervamon, mega, virus type.'

'Please come with us.' Said Minervamon. 'We can't hold them for too long.'

Who are you guys? That was what Eiji would've said, but he decided that they really should escape first, facing Piedmon and Cyberdramon together. With that in mind, he told the others to follow the group of Sagittarimon and go with them.

Ryosuke however, was not willing to go. He held tight to Kumamon, whose body was now stone cold and motionless. However unwilling he was, he had no choice but to go with the others as Lillymon X dragged him away from the dead hybrid. Piedmon and Cyberdramon showed intension of going after the digi-destined, but were delayed by the arrows shot by the Sagittarimon.

Ryosuke saw things with his tear-filled eyes. He saw the couple of Sagittarimon that stayed behind and got killed; he saw Kumamon, the friend he'd just made not long ago, decomposing back into data bits and vanished. He shouted, and yelled all the way while being forced to go with the rest of his team, but nothing could be done anymore.


About the name "Tommy", those who watched the english dub version should be quite familiar with. Unfortunately I'm not one of those, which made me quite surprised to see that name in Digimon wiki when I started to do research on Kumamon. That's right, I decided to name him Tommy before I knew he's called that way in the show...

But now, only one more hybrid to go, and still there're seven chapters more, how did I write all that?