We're finally heading back to Robert and seeing how he's faring against Shibumi. I won't keep you guys long but just a reminder, I love receiving reviews! I hope you guys enjoy and thanks to all the supporters out there!

-X-

Translate Mountain – 2:40 PM

Shibumi could still feel the intense heat of the lava making him sweat like one of his father's pigs on the farm in summer. The cooling feature of his clothes weren't enough to keep him from feeling like the main course on the hibachi but that wasn't important. He had to concentrate on getting that golden key, wherever it was in that wretched place.

"Why did Apocalymon hide it here?" Shibumi muttered.

Groundramon snarled without giving a real answer. It often unnerved the boy to see his own partner behave in such a way that he was almost unrecognizable. Yet, despite the change in behavior that Groundramon goes through, the dragon Digimon still went to great lengths to protect Shibumi.

Shibumi continued walking along the narrow ledge while Groundramon clung to the walls right beside him, using the large claws on his back to hang on. When the human boy glanced down at the bubbling lava, he could see words rising up with the steam. The Japanese child stopped for a moment as he watched the different terminology for the word hello passed him by.

Hola

Bonjour

Konnichiwa

Aloha

Ni hao

"Spanish, French, Japanese, Pidgin, Chinese…"

When Shibumi first showed up to this world, he passed over this very volcano and he inhaled some of the rising smoke. Suddenly, he no longer spoke his native tongue, Japanese, yet everything he heard was in that language. It was certainly peculiar but he supposed it helped him understand the language of the Digital World, whatever that would be.

"Let's keep going," Shibumi sighed.

He took a step forward and that part of the ledge gave way under his weight, if Groundramon hadn't used one of his claws to keep the boy from falling, he would've plummeted right into the hot molten rock. That would've been a rather pitiful death for someone who aimed to unite the world under one thought. But it at least confirmed something for Shibumi, that his partner would be there no matter what changes he went through.

Groundramon's pupils were trained on his partner. "Be… more… careful…"

It was hard to remember, did Groundramon ever speak to him in that form? If he did, then it wasn't much. Actually, did he ever say anything besides the names of his own attacks? Shibumi barely saw the Ultimate's mouth move. But it did, right? It couldn't have just been his imagination.

Maingat

Försiktig

Makini

Attento

Vorsichtig

"Tagalog, Swedish, Swahili, Italian, German..." Shibumi blinked, those weren't words for hello.

Careful? That was the last word that Groundramon had uttered. Did this volcano repeat words that other beings had spoken? But Shibumi hadn't said hello. Did that mean that either Leomon or WereGarurumon had? They were probably here for a joyful excursion, WereGarurumon had probably shouted the word into the mouth of the mountain, waiting for the alternate-lingual echoes.

Shibumi still wanted to eliminate opinions because it made so many beings hate and destroy each other, how could anyone want that? But at the same time, he wished he could do that without robbing others of their free will. Was such a thing possible?

"Shibumi!" Robert suddenly called from above.

The boy looked up to see his pursuer, mounted on Hisyaryumon's back as they flew downwards. Shibumi didn't have any more time to waste so he jumped off the ledge and smashed his scythe into the wall, slowing his descent to an outcrop near the bottom.

"Groundramon! Stall them!" Shibumi called before searching around. He had to find the golden key before Robert caught up to them.

Unfortunately for him, Robert was also willing to take dangerous risks to achieve his goals which he proved by jumping off of Hisyaryumon and landing on a piece of a land across from Shibumi. The blond quickly ran forward and using his spear as a pole vault, landed in front of the other boy.

"Don't run away," Robert huffed. "I just want to talk."

Omilía

Govorit

Phūd khuy

Hadith

Disputatio

"Greek, Russian, Thai, Arabic, Latin…" Shibumi swung his scythe around and pointed it at Robert, the blade shining in the light. "Sorry, but I don't feel much like talking." The boy lunged forward with his weapon ready to behead.

"Whoa!" Robert yelped as he blocked the attack with his spear. "Are you trying to kill me?"

Shibumi kicked his foe's weapon out of his hands before using the momentum to spin around and make a swing at Robert's ankles. Lucky for the goggle-head, he was able to jump over the attack. "That's kind of the idea."

The two of them swung and stabbed their weapons in an attempt to strike the other one down. Well, in truth, Robert was just trying to defend himself since he didn't actually want to hurt the other human. But either way, both of them were still exerting energy in a space that was already hot enough as it was, if they continued their physical activity, they could end up passing out from heat stroke.

"Calm down!" Robert shouted. "There's no need for violence here!"

Both of their blades clashed and their faces got just few inches from each other, sweat falling down and evaporating as it hit the ground. Shibumi was breathing quite heavily and Robert knew that if they didn't end this soon, the boy was likely to collapse.

"Then let me get my golden key," Shibumi exhaled.

"You're not in any condition to lead negotiations," Robert argued. "Just put down the scythe."

Shibumi scowled as he kicked Robert's hands, causing him to let go of the spear. He used his scythe to toss the weapon away before placing the scythe in a way that gave Robert no place to run. "Then I guess there is a need for violence."

As for their partners that were fighting above, it was clear that Hisyaryumon had the advantage due to the fact that he could fly. Groundramon didn't even have a ledge to keep his footing so instead, to gain his own personal advantage, he dug into the volcano wall where Hisyaryumon couldn't hit him in his blade form.

From the other side of the volcano, Groundramon busted through spinning with the iron sphere on his tail swinging at full force. "Megaton Hammer Crush!" Hisyaryumon narrowly avoided getting pulverized by the destructive weapon though his skin still got grazed by one of the metallic spikes on the sphere.

"Groundramon, stop this!" Hisyaryumon shouted. "Don't you remember me? Don't you remember when we were friends? Brothers?"

Groundramon clung to the wall and gave no response other than a sinister growl. "Scrapless Claw!"

"Every Direction Wheel!"

The two attacks collided with each other, causing Groundramon to lose his grip on the wall and start plummeting down to the bottom of the volcano. Hisyaryumon, using a long-range move, was perfectly undamaged but he didn't want his foe to fall into the boiling magma so he quickly flew down and pushed the other dragon away and onto the ground. When the heavyweight Digimon landed on solid rock, it caused the whole place to shudder, causing the human boys to fall onto their butts as rocks fell from above.

It was too dangerous for a big fight in there. Shibumi even considered taking the match outside when he heard something metallic drop with a clink. He whipped his head around before noticing a shimmering golden light nearby.

"That has to be it!" he gasped as he scrambled for it.

Robert's eyes widened as he realized that the other boy picked up the golden key. That meant that he and Hisyaryumon were going to be big in trouble but there was no way that they could get the key out of Shibumi's hands before he was able to use it. So instead, they had to at least get to a different battlefield.

"Let's get out of here!" Robert called after his partner.

Hisyaryumon nodded in agreement before flying skywards, letting Robert jump and latch onto the end of his tail as they flew out of the mountain. As they were heading out, they could hear what sounded to be a key turning and clicking before the volcano erupted in a blue light.

"D-Lock 3 Disengaged! Initiate Digivolution!"

"Groundramon Digivolve to…" Robert tried to look back to see what monster they would be facing but he was blinded by the light of evolution so he couldn't really see. "Breakdramon! Tazer Strike!"

Immediately after his evolution was complete, missiles came flying out in the shape of drills as Translate Mountain started crumbling. Some of the drills flew past Robert and Hisyaryumon, scratching them and injuring them before they crashed into the ground. The shock from the impact with the ground seemed to have degenerated Hisyaryumon back to his Rookie form.

"…He… demolished the entire mountain?" Robert huffed.

"What unbelievable power," Ryudamon gulped.

From the debris and rubble stomped out a dinosaur that was composed out of all kinds of heavy construction machinery, like bulldozers, tractors, cranes, and more. Drills lined his spine and were at the ends of his two tails while the two claws that were on his back in his previous form, was replaced with heavy-duty cranes. The most intimidating part about this Digimon was his sheer size, he nearly rivaled that of the mountain that he now stood on top of. There was no doubt that this combination of man-made machine and myth-based legend was stronger than anything they had ever faced before in battle.

Digital Analyzer: Rumor has it that Breakdramon was destined to destroy everything, leveling it to the ground. He supposedly possesses the power and ability to surpass all machine Digimon. However, in exchange for this godly power, he gave up all the organic parts to himself, losing his motivation and emotions. It is for that reason why he is known as a weapon of mass destruction and why he will never falter when he takes bodily damage. When he passes through an area, everything will be reduced to nothing.

Shibumi stood on top of his partner's head. "Robert! This is the kind of power that my partner has! Surrender now and I might decide to spare you!"

"As if I'll take that offer!" Robert snapped as he stood back up. "We won't be losing to you, Shibumi!"

"You don't stand a ghost of a chance against my partner."

"I won't know unless I try!"

For all the confidence that Robert displayed, he was definitely worried about the outcome of this battle. He was at a clear disadvantage against this behemoth especially since he'd never taken on a Mega before and he was all alone. But still, it was like he said, he had to try.

Suddenly, a familiar voice reached their ears. "Maybe we should even the playing field first."

A twister and a glowing orb came flying in before making stops on either side of Robert, dropping off two kids and two Digimon each. The goggle-head could not have been more ecstatic when he saw all of his friends there, smiling and ready for battle just as their partners were.

"Hey, Rob, missed us?" Babel smirked.

"Sorry we're a bit late," Daisy added. "We got tied up."

Robert's smile became even broader. "Hey, don't worry about it, you guys showed up just in the nick of time. Though I must say, you guys look like you just came out of the best costume party of the century. Where did you guys get the new threads?"

"A village dojo."

"An antique shop."

"An underwater utopia."

"A used-to-be refugee camp."

"Sounds like you guys had quite the adventures without me," Robert laughed before getting serious. "This time, I know for a fact that we won't lose to you, Shibumi. It's about time we knock some sense into that pompous skull of yours!"

Candlemon hopped over to the fallen Ryudamon and helped the dragon Digimon back onto his feet while the others joined them. It was obvious that they wanted to catch up on everything that had been going on for each of them but it wasn't the time then.

"It's good to see you guys again," Ryudamon breathed. "Though you were kind of cutting it close there. A minute later and we would've been grounded into the actual ground."

Candlemon grinned. "Oh? Then you're saying you would've lost if you fought without us?"

"Ha! As if! You guys might have your silver keys now but I got mine first so I'm the most experienced out of the five of us!"

"Hey, hey, Ryudamon," Betamon chirped. "What's Robert?"

Ryudamon blinked, a little puzzled by the amphibian's question. "What do you mean?

"Well, Daisy is a knight and Rai is a mage," Salamon answered.

"And Janyu is a martial artist while Babel is a pirate," FanBeemon continued.

Betamon's head bobbed up and down enthusiastically. "So what's Robert?" They all turned to the one human that they hadn't identified just yet. Judging from the armor that he wore that was similar to Ginryumon's, one could say that he was… "A samurai?"

"A shogun!" Robert shouted, holding his spear high above his head before getting the back of his head hit by both Babel and Daisy. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"Well, while a shogun was the commander-in-chief during feudal Japan, it doesn't necessarily mean they fought any battles of their own," Janyu stated. "Not to mention, with the abolishment of feudalism in 1867, there really isn't such a thing as a shogun anymore."

"Right, because there are knights, pirates, and mages exist in today's day and era," Robert guffawed.

Shibumi, standing over them, couldn't believe that they were having such a conversation when they were supposed to be fighting him and his partner. It made him question if the five of them really were the heroes of legend. But despite the fact that he should've taken the chance to attack them while they were distracted, he couldn't help listening in on the discussion which led him to telling his partner to hold back for now.

"Hey, for your information, I have ancestors who were knights during the medieval times in Western Europe," Daisy corrected. "Therefore, I have every right to don this armor and claim myself to be a knight. Unlike you, traipsing around in samurai armor."

"Guys, now isn't the time to fight about this kind of thing," Rai sighed, remembering that she played mediator between these guys.

"And Rob does bring up a good point," Babel chuckled. "Okay, how about this? You're a shogun samurai! How does that sound?"

"I'll shorten it to shogun," Robert grinned.

"Are you done?" Shibumi drawled. "Because Breakdramon is getting bored and when he's bored, he likes to bore holes. Usually into living things."

"That is some morbid word play," Daisy murmured.

It seemed like Shibumi was done being courteous to them as he gave the signal for his partner to start attacking once more. The mechanical goliath let out a shrieking roar that made the victims anyone who had functioning eardrums. "Destroyed Rush!" The two shovel arms struck the ground repeatedly, breaking it apart but despite the tremors he sent towards the five humans and their digital partners, they weren't as unstable as one would expect them to be.

"Now that we're all together, we definitely won't lose to you!" Robert shouted as they all held up their bronze and silver keys.

"D-Locks 1 and 2 Disengaged! Initiate Warp Digivolution!"

"Ryudamon Warp Digivolve to… Hisyaryumon!" "FanBeemon Warp Digivolve to… CannonBeemon!" "Salamon Warp Digivolve to… Hippgriffomon!" "Betamon Warp Digivolve to… WaruSeadramon!" "Candlemon Warp Digivolve to… Mistymon!"

WaruSeadramon circled around the humans, gathering them up and out of the way of Breakdramon's attack while the other four kept the beast's eyes on them. Babel pulled his pistol out of his holster and aimed at Breakdramon's head, opening fire at Shibumi.

"Be careful not to hurt him!" Rai told him.

"Relax, it's like a rubber band snap except it hurts a hell of a lot worse," Babel chuckled. "Also, it fires out energy, not bullets."

Shibumi was having trouble trying to hang on to his partner's head while simultaneously deflecting the attacks with his scythe. So at some point, he was forced to slide down Breakdramon's back and find his footing on the ground where the other five humans were dropped off to face him. It was time for them to settle things their way.

As for WaruSeadramon who turned back to check on the fight between the Digimon, he could see that everyone was just trying their hardest to avoid getting struck down while flying around Breakdramon. They had to be extra-cautious after all, since they were only Ultimates, they didn't stand much of a chance against a Mega if they were to face him head on. They needed to be smart and without even talking about it, they were all aware of that fact.

"Taser Strike!"

With a total of six drills on his body, Breakdramon was able to let them loose on each of them, two for Hisyaryumon for good measure. They practically acted as homing missiles as each of them attempted to avoid getting bored into.

Mistymon was the first to evade getting struck by the drill as he cut open a rift in the air that sent the drill into another dimension. The magical warrior moved around to help the others with their dilemmas while two of them focused their attacks on Breakdramon.

"Thunder Javelin!" "Nitro Stinger!"

The two attacks didn't even make the monster flinch as their energy-based blasts only bounced off his armor. Breakdramon then whipped around at a speed that was contradictory to his size, causing his two tails to cut into the two attackers, sending them flying off.

"Let's try physical attacks!" Hippogriffomon called out as her front claws glowed brightly.

Mistymon joined in with his blade and Hisyaryumon made his own contribution by becoming the Legendary Dragon Blade as the three of them charged forward. However, Hippogriffomon was knocked away by one of Breakdramon's shovel claws and the other grabbed Hisyaryumon in sword form and used him to parry and strike Mistymon.

"Hey! No one said you could use me as your weapon!" Hisyaryumon called out before getting rudely discarded.

"Gravity Crush!"

Mistymon and Hippogriffomon slowly rose out of the ground to see that the mechanized dragon had somehow lifted off the ground and was on his way to flatten the two of them. If he succeeded, they surely would've been destroyed. So they were lucky when WaruSeadramon came to their rescue.

"Go all out!" CannonBeemon commanded.

"Every Direction Wheel!" "Sky Rocket Infinity!" "Heat Wave!" "Blast Fire!"

It was a wave of intense heat, blazing hotter than the inside of Translate Mountain; that enveloped Breakdramon and covered him in a cloud of dust. It was supposed to be strong enough to leave him with scratches and wounds but all it did was make the beast angrier. His enraged roar made sound waves almost physical as the Chosen Digimon attempted to keep themselves still and not pushed back.

"What is with this guy? Is he invulnerable?!" Mistymon huffed.

"I never thought a Mega level Digimon was this strong," WaruSeadramon added.

"Everyone stay calm," Hisyaryumon reminded them. "We've gotten out of nearly every scrap before by working together, we can definitely take this guy on."

But even so, the few pinches they couldn't get out of on their own were those against Digimon that were one level higher. Like the time they were facing NeoDevimon for the first time. There was also that time that they were fighting Clockmon and Mekanorimon but had to be saved by Shibumi himself. If Shibumi's singular Ultimate partner could defeat the foes that they had trouble with, how could they hope to defeat him in his Mega form?

"I'm sure that Dracomon is still in there!" CannonBeemon called out as he avoid Breakdramon's shovel arm. "If we can reach out to him, we might have a chance of getting him to turn back to normal and maybe talk some sense into Shibumi!"

"CannonBeemon may be right. We can't fight him when he's in full-out rampage mode like this," Hippogriffomon agreed.

As for the humans' battle, Shibumi knew that he wasn't much of a match for five others, no matter how much longer he had been surviving the Digital World. It was just too much of a disadvantage in a battle amongst humans to be outnumbered the way he was. But there was one hope for him, the other five would hesitate in causing too much bodily harm to him while he was prepared to sully his hands with blood.

"Since he's a human, let's try avoiding conflict," Rai said before flipping a few switches on her staff and swinging. Upon waving it in an arc, a pink cloud of dust creeped towards Shibumi at an alarming pace. While he had no idea what it was, he knew that he probably shouldn't inhale it.

As the Japanese boy backed away from the dust, Babel fired some bullets aimed to stun or at least damage the younger boy. But Shibumi was skilled as proven by how he wielded his scythe to deflect the blasts. Unfortunately for him, with the distraction of the pink powder and pirate's pistol, he almost didn't notice Janyu making his way around the powder and towards Shibumi.

Janyu ducked under the blade of the sickle before releasing a flurry of spin kicks at the boy. However, to the bespectacled boy's surprise, Shibumi was able to absorb the blows with his free hand while still blocking the bullets with his weapon. Shibumi grabbed Janyu's ankle, keeping him still.

"You're trained in kenpo?" Janyu gasped.

"Better than you are at tai chi," Shibumi smirked.

The smug grin was immediately wiped off his face as he was forced to duck under the swing of Daisy's sword coming from behind. He also ended up letting go of Janyu's leg which allowed him to regroup with Daisy and Robert who had both made it over to their side.

"You okay?" Robert asked their comrade.

"Better now," Janyu nodded.

They turned their eyes back on the other boy who continued to impress and surprise them as he displayed his ability to block Babel's bullets without even having to look. "That was rather cowardly, don't you think, Margaritka?" Shibumi scowled.

"Hey, you're the one doing that," Daisy commented, referring to the expert handling of his weapon. "We're just using everything we can to our advantage."

"Not very honorable for a knight."

"A knight works for justice which means cutting down the root of evil and malady," Daisy told him before pointing her blade right at him. "And in this case, that means you, got it?" She didn't even let him react before she was up in front of his face, swinging and stabbing with her sword as if she was slicing through melted butter.

"She went from Japanese style iaido to European fencing?" Robert blanched.

Shibumi barely had the time to protect himself with his scythe as he avoided getting cut by the blade and he was also forced to do a backbend, holding on to the ground with one hand in order to evade the arc of one of her swings and an iron ball that nearly took his head out. The projectile continued on its path until it exploded against a rock, releasing a smoke that caused Shibumi to cough and squint.

Janyu was the only other person who knew about that iron ball that was latched onto Babel's harness. It gave the Chinese boy the chance to move in and disarm Shibumi by hooking his arm on the handle of the weapon and then sending a skyward kick at the other boy's back, sending him flying.

"Janyu switched from tai chi to muay thai?" Rai gasped.

"That was pretty impressive, you guys!" Robert praised. "I never thought that you guys would learn various styles of martial arts and sword fighting!"

"It's not over yet," Daisy frowned.

The body of Shibumi, flying through the air, vanished and only leaving behind a pile of old clothes while the physical person was nowhere in sight. It was almost as if he had left behind a substitution to take the blow. To make matters worse, the weapon that Janyu had taken out of Shibumi's hands was only a long stick.

"How did he do that?!" Robert groaned.

Shibumi had been training himself to fake taking hits so when Janyu had kicked him, he had actually jumped a millimeter before the impact would've hit him. Not only that, but using Phantomon's cloak, he was able to turn invisible and thanks to months of training, he perfected the art of twisting in midair to evade attacks. But in this case, he used it to confuse his enemies.

"Damn it," Babel muttered. "I can't shoot what I can't see."

"He must use a similar mantle as mine," Rai added.

The five of them tried to be as quiet as possible to see if they could detect Shibumi's movements using senses other than sight. But Shibumi wasn't an idiot; he obviously knew how to keep quiet in situations such as these.

Robert heard what sounded to be a knife whizzing through the air at an alarming speed so he pivoted on his heel and held up his spear horizontally, blocking the scythe that nearly cleaved him directly down the middle. The fact that Shibumi could've killed him though left the other four humans in shock as they didn't think that even Shibumi would go that far to attain his goals.

Shibumi had his scythe hooked on the spear so he yanked back with the intent of disarming Robert but he hadn't expected said boy to have such a strong grip on the weapon. Shibumi ended up pulling Robert with the spear and striking his shoulder with the blade in the process, slicing it clean open and having blood spurt out, stray droplets hitting his stunned face.

"Gah!" Robert yelled out as he tumbled forward.

"Blood…?" Shibumi breathed in a hoarse whisper.

"Yeah, that's what happens when you cut someone!" Daisy snapped.

Robert got onto his knees, hand pressed firmly on his cut shoulder but then he realized something, the wound was somehow stitching itself back up. "I was going to say that it wasn't that bad but now it looks like it really isn't that bad."

Rai, unbeknownst to them, was using her staff to send the stored medicine through the data streams in the air into the wound which was what was patching up Robert. With the fact that he was going to be okay tucked into their minds, Daisy and Janyu continued their onslaught of attacks on Shibumi who took a moment but recovered enough to continue blocking them.

While they were going at it and Robert was waiting for his shoulder to stop stinging, Babel lowered himself down to Rai to ask her something. After getting confirmation, he removed one of the iron balls from his harness and awaited her instructions.

"Twenty degrees to the left," she whispered. "A speed of approximately five meters per second should be sufficient. Given the changes in the wind… give it two more degrees. If I'm correct, there should only be a twenty-five percent margin of error in these calculations."

"That should be good enough," Babel nodded. "And don't worry, I'm calculating with you so if you're wrong, we both are."

Robert had noticed the two of them conversing quietly and wished he could hear them but then he watched as Babel rolled one of his iron balls along the floor like a bowling ball. That was when their aim became apparent as Shibumi walked right onto it and slipped, falling onto his back. This gave Janyu the time to remove the scythe out of Shibumi's grip and for Daisy to hold her blade at his throat. It was obvious that she wouldn't go through with slicing his throat open but all she needed was to keep him hostage for the moment.

The humans called for Breakdramon's attention who was tossing their partners around like rag dolls. He had used his Gravity Crush in order to stomp down on CannonBeemon and WaruSeadramon, thankfully, their size was enough to keep from getting destroyed though it did leave two flatted In-Training Digimon in his wake. His two shovel arms had grabbed onto Hippgriffomon and Mistymon each, flattening them into the ground and scraping them along like they were sponges against linoleum. But Hisyaryumon probably had it worst of all as his body was bored into by the drill on top of Breakdramon's head.

"CannonBeemon shared his theory with us!" Janyu shouted. "Let our partners go and we'll let yours go."

"And then let's have a serious talk. No more of this unnecessary violence!" Rai added.

Breakdramon dropped his three victims who all reverted to their In-Training forms, obviously a repercussion from evolving into Ultimates twice in a day and from losing a fight to a Mega. The machine stared down at his partner who was completely defenseless as he stared back. Knowing Dracomon, he would definitely surrender for Shibumi's sake and for just a moment, a look of recognition passed through his eyes.

For just a moment.

"Machines are easy to reprogram," a robotic voice said.

"We just need to infect them with the Dark Chain virus," another chimed in.

"Just do a little bit of rewiring and done!"

"You have a loyal servant of Apocalymon!"

From behind Breakdramon rose Hagurumon and Solarmon, looking more emotionless than usual. A dark portal opened over the gears' heads and the speechless onlookers all felt a shiver go down their spine as Apocalymon's malevolent laughter hit their ears. The greatest evil in the Digital World had finally achieved it, his strongest slave.

Breakdramon let loose a roaring shriek that shattered the eardrums of the humans. It was unlike anything that they had ever heard before and Shibumi tried calling out his partner's name but Breakdramon only reacted by trying to crush them all with his shovel arms.

"Look out!"

WereGarurumon had Janyu, Daisy, and Shibumi in his arms in an instant as he fled the scene which was of the ground complete upturning itself. Turuiemon was able to gather up Robert in her own arms while Leomon picked up Babel and Rai.

The earth shook beneath their feet as they ran off into the woods where Gokuwmon was waiting for them. The ape had gathered several clouds to create an escape vehicle for the Chosen Children who were all dropped off onto the cloud. Musyamon soon showed up with all of their partners, aside from Breakdramon of course, in her arms as she let them off.

"What are you guys doing?!" Robert yelled.

"You have to go without us," Leomon told them. "We've taught all of you everything you need to know."

Rai felt tears threatening to pour down her face as she grabbed onto their old teacher's hand. "No, we're not leaving without you!"

"Be brave, be strong, young ones," Leomon said.

"Wish I could've gotten to know all of you brats better," WereGarurumon smirked.

"There's still a few things I could've imparted on you," Gokuwmon chuckled.

"Be sure to make me proud, shānzhài," Turuiemon grinned.

"Thank you for reminding me of my dream," Musyamon smiled.

The cloud started moving at high speeds despite the protests of the kids who were all reaching out to try and grab onto the Digimon. But it was like trying to grab air because their fingers slipped right through theirs as Breakdramon released another Taser Strike attack. The last sight they saw of their Digimon friends was of their backs as they each took blow of a drill and their data floated off into the azure sky.

There was, of course, a sixth drill that continued following them. It stopped short though, as if it had hit an invisible obstacle which it had. When the obstacle revealed himself, Shibumi was the one in shock as he realized that it was Phantomon.

"No…," he croaked out.

Phantomon slowly turned to face them as he drifted towards the ground, giving one last smile to Shibumi for being his friend when others found him to be nuisance in his own home. "Good luck out there… Shibumi. Don't… forget to… write…"

"Leomon!" "WereGarurumon!" "Gokuwmon!" "Turuiemon!" "Musyamon!" "Phantomon!"

Black Abyss – 6:15 PM

NeoDevimon pressed his palm on the face of his new mask, shifting it ever so slightly here and there to ensure that it was still there. To think that his true self had nearly been unleashed upon the world. He was lucky that Apocalymon had been keeping tabs on him or else he would've gone more than overboard.

"You fear your true self too much," Apocalymon remarked.

"If either I or you could control it, I would release it," said NeoDevimon. "But because I cannot, I shall keep it sealed with this mask. Perhaps one day, I will be able to let loose. Like a day when you do not exist so that I may hope to destroy the world myself."

"You'll have nothing to gain through destruction."

"Why would I want to rule this lifeless clump of dirt?"

This was the strange relationship between Apocalymon and NeoDevimon, they were not really master and servant though they address each other as such. Rather, NeoDevimon only serves Apocalymon to repay the debt of having his mask. It also made certain that the fallen angel wouldn't fall prey to the beckoning whispers of the Dark Chain.

Apocalymon chuckled softly. "This 'lifeless clump of dirt' holds more secrets than you could ever imagine." He shut up when he heard what sounded to be a mechanical door opening from afar, the creaking sound resonating throughout the empty space as if there were actual walls. "Ah, our newest ally has arrived."

From the depths of darkness, an atrocious roar echoed through. Hagurumon and Solarmon preceded the beast with the monster roar, the two of them with cables sticking out of their back which connected into various ports of the beast, Breakdramon.

For months Apocalymon had to wait and gradually infect Dracomon little by little until the dragon would be under his control without letting him know. And Shibumi was necessary to evolve Dracomon into the war machine that he was now. That was all the human boy meant to him. Even Hagurumon and Solarmon were clueless to these plans until they were completely reprogrammed. Now they were as mindless as any other Digimon enslaved by the Dark Chain.

"You are truly cruel, my lord," NeoDevimon stated.

"The ones who rule this world design the rules. If those rules are false or ludicrous, then only the fools will follow them," Apocalymon chuckled. "For someone to truly believe that the Dark Chain would one day wipe out an entire species and reborn them with the same set of values and ideas is beyond foolish. And that is exactly how I would describe Gorou Mizuno."

"I see, so that's why he went along with the Dark Chain plan," NeoDevimon nodded.

Breakdramon seemed to have calmed down once he was in the direct presence of Apocalymon though inside, he could not comprehend why. As the D-Sync encyclopedia had mentioned, he lost his emotional self in the trade-off to gain this monstrous power. But why? He couldn't seem to remember anything at all about his past. It was so fuzzy.

All it knew was that the creatures made of flesh, the ones that could bleed, they were his enemies as well as any Digimon that chose to side with them. They were arrogant beings that wanted to usurp the stronger. Logically speaking, only the strong deserved to exist in this world because they were the only ones who could survive. Yes, that was Breakdramon's sole purpose in living.

Lantern Cavern – 7:20 PM

The cloud had taken the kids and their partners over to Sanzomon's shrine who knew exactly what had happened to her student without needing them to tell her. Babel had asked for instructions on how to get to Lantern Beach which was luckily close by. At the current moment, they were taking a rest in a sea cavern and having dinner.

They ended up taking the deathly quiet Shibumi with them though as per Daisy's conditions, he had to be treated as their captive. They had tied his hands behind his back with some rope but once Babel had come back with some fish to cook, Daisy freed the boy so that he could eat.

"Janyu, Rai, the food is almost ready," Daisy called.

The other two children were at the entrance of the cave, hands clapped together as they prayed for the friends they had lost. There were six wooden crosses erected from the sand, each one for a lost ally. Everyone else aside from Shibumi had already paid their respects.

"We'll be right there," Janyu called back.

"Well hurry up because these guys may be small but they are ravenous," Robert stated, referring to their In-Training partners.

They had never actually seen these forms of their partners before so it took a while for them to figure out who was who exactly. Kyokyomon was Ryudamon, Frimon was FanBeemon, Kyaromon was Salamon, Bukamon was Betamon, and DemiMeramon was Candlemon.

"What about Dracomon?" Rai asked, hoping to get Shibumi to break his silence. "What's his In-Training form?"

Shibumi barely glanced up but they saw his lips move so that must've meant that he mumbled a response. Rai asked for him to repeat it but he just turned away and sulked. The other girl, Daisy, huffed in exasperation before spinning him around and shoving a fish into his mouth.

"Ow! Hot!" Shibumi yelped.

"He speaks!" Daisy smirked. "Now, I don't know how things work in Japan but usually when a question is asked, we expect a clear answer."

Shibumi rubbed his mouth a bit before speaking. "Babydmon… That's Dracomon's In-Training form."

"That sounds so cute!" Rai smiled.

Shibumi finally addressed the group seriously rather than moping around. "I don't get it. I've done so many awful things including enslaving countless Digimon with the Dark Chain. So why is it that you took care of my wounds, feed me, and try to get me to talk? If I were you guys, I'd have tossed me into the ocean with an anvil anchoring me down."

"That's much better than my burned at the stake idea," Babel joked, receiving a slap from Daisy.

"Shibumi, none of us blame you for what happened," Robert told him. "Besides, from the way you reacted to my bleeding, you actually had no idea that we could bleed in this world. I'm willing to bet everything I have that Apocalymon fed you a ton of tall tales about how everything in this world could be reborn, even us."

Shibumi was completely shocked. Robert had hit the nail on the head and it seemed like the others had figured it out as well.

"What about those Digimon that died? You don't hate me for that?"

Janyu shook his head. "Why should we hate you when we haven't even heard the whole story from you? Besides, it was Breakdramon that had done it but Apocalymon who manipulated Breakdramon to do it. You are far from being the culprit of their deaths."

"But I made Apocalymon."

"And if just one out of the five of us had asked you to talk about your problems rather than droning on about our own," Rai said. "Then we might not even be in this situation in the first place. You made Apocalymon because you felt alone… right?"

"Communication is key in any relationship," Daisy stated.

"And conversation is supposed to be transactional," Babel added.

"Which means this time, we want you to tell us what's happening in your head," Robert finished off.

Shibumi sat there as he stared at the faces of the five kids he had been conversing with for months behind a computer screen. For the longest time, he believed that no one would ever listen to him and when they would, it wouldn't affect their judgment or decisions in any way. But if everyone in the world could stop and listen like these kids, maybe he wouldn't want to rid the world of opinions and lies as much as he did.

He wished he had known all this before it was too late.

"Apocalymon is too strong to defeat," Shibumi muttered. "You guys didn't even stand a chance against Breakdramon…"

Daisy sighed. "I guess that's it then." She glanced over to Robert and Babel who nodded in agreement with her, much to the confusion of the other two members. "Shibumi, if you want to head back home. Leave the same way you came here. We'll be heading off to find Apocalymon."

"Wait, you guys are planning on leaving him alone?" Rai gasped.

"That's way too dangerous!" Janyu agreed. "Half the continent's been overrun by Apocalymon's slaves and there's no doubt that the free Digimon will look to Shibumi with disdain. At the very least, we should help him!"

"It's like the man himself said," Babel stated. "He doesn't deserve our kindness or pity, why give it to him?"

"We have our own agenda to fulfill. We can't waste any more time on side quests," Robert added.

The three of them seemed determined to do things that way but before they could do anything else, Shibumi suddenly threw himself to the ground. It finally happened, the words flowed out of his mouth like a river as he explained everything. His family's problems, his mother's death, his father's insistence on making him a farmer, his one friend's betrayal, and Apocalymon's sweet words. But the one thing he wanted to say to them now was…

"Please! Save Dracomon!" he practically shouted. "It's all my fault that he's gone. I had thought that since Digimon could be reborn, I would be okay when they died but when Phantomon died for me… us… I realized… That I've made so many Digimon suffer a fate like this. Suffer this horrible, awful pain of… of losing a friend! And I… I don't want to lose Dracomon!"

There was a short moment of silence before Robert turned back around and took a step forward. "So if we save Dracomon, what will you do?"

"…I don't know…," Shibumi feebly replied. "I can't forgive myself but… if Dracomon is saved then I don't care what happens to me."

The three kids that were nearly about to leave him alone smiled to each other before helping Shibumi back up. It had been their plan all along to save Dracomon but they wanted to know what Shibumi wanted first. If he said he would leave Dracomon and go home, then he couldn't be the sixth Chosen Child. That's what they wanted to find out.

"You'll have to come with us," Daisy said.

"You do owe your partner an apology," Babel grinned.

Janyu and Rai finally got it.

"And once that's done, you can figure out what you want to do next," Janyu continued.

"But just remember that Apocalymon was the reason for all this," Rai finished.

That's when Shibumi remembered his other promise. It was that if he was wrong and if the world would be worse off because of him, he would fix it himself. There was no way he was going to break that promise now. It was up to him to right his wrongs.

"Thank you…," Shibumi sniffed. "Really."

There was just one problem. Like Janyu said, the continent really was overrun by countless slaves to Apocalymon. It would be nearly impossible to step foot into any territory without getting attacked by some small army of sorts. The only way to avoid it was probably by sea but it's not like they could ride Seadramon for days at a time.

"I present to you… Babel Jones's pirate ship!"

The other kids just gaped as they saw a wooden ship rise out of the ocean from inside a bubble made by MarineAngemon. It was given to the oldest member of their team by CaptainHookmon since the pirate Digimon wouldn't be sailing the seas for the time being. Not while he was on his honeymoon with his beloved underwater. This meant that Babel could use it for the duration of their travels so long as they were successful at liberating the world.

"Welcome back, Captain Babel!" Octomon and Divermon called from the deck.

"I'm a captain now," Babel grinned. "Guess that means I'm the leader."

"You wish," Robert and Daisy replied.

-X-

Apocalymon's plans are finally revealed and Shibumi has come to the realization of his wrongs. But they ended up losing some good friends and mentors throughout this ordeal. Will they be able to succeed in their fight against Apocalymon? Will they be able to save Breakdramon? Find out on the next Digimon: Children of the Past!

Long chapter, I know. But I hope you guys enjoyed! Whether you did or did not, please leave a review down below (telling me why/why not, obviously) and I'll see you guys in the next one!