And now, back to our story.

Disclaimer: Digimon is not my intellectual property. Seriously, I've been tested.

LAST TIME:
KIYOKO: With GranDracmon out of the way, all we had to worry about was a way to get back home. But we soon found another thing to worry about. Turns out GranDracmon wasn't the real leader of the Digi-Agents, since we found a transmission from him to someone he called "master." Things quickly went from bad to worse as a bomb went off. Daichi had us looks for the power source for the entire castle to shut it off. It was actually the Digi-Egg of Knowledge. Isamu was the one to lift the egg, but he doubted himself, something that's happened twice apparently, even after he picked it up. Still, now that the bomb's out of the way, it's time to start the search for the so-called Unifier.

Chapter 36
Knowledge

The group walked out of the castle to see the area as barren as when they first arrived. There was no sign of any obstacles, much less the barrier that GranDracmon claimed to have placed around them.

Isamu, however, was more focused on the Digi-Egg of Knowledge. On their way out of the castle, he had put it in his backpack for safe keeping, since there were no hostile Digimon around. But "out of sight" did not mean "out of mind" for him. He had been wrong in his convictions before about the other two eggs, but he just couldn't see a way around this one.

"Looks like it's smooth sailing from here on out," Dracomon said, banishing any other thoughts from Isamu's mind. Suddenly, a large object crashed onto the ground, sending dust flying everywhere. When it settled, the object was fully visible: a large robot with gray-colored plating. Its body was wide and its arms were so long, they dragged along the ground, more than one could say for its stubby legs. It had only one eye that looked freakishly organic behind its casing. It also had two hemispheres on different parts of the body: blue on top and red on its chest, beneath its skull-like face.

Daichi pulled out his D-Power and activated the Analyzer. "Mekanorimon," he said, "a champion level virus type android Digimon. It has the strength and force of a tank, and its Bright Beam attack will leave you more than blind."

"ACTIVATING MESSAGE FROM GRANDRACMON," the robotic Digimon said in a monotone voice. The orb on its front began to glow and a holographic image of a smaller GranDracmon appeared.

"So, you survived the explosion," he said in his sickeningly charming voice. "Indeed you are better than I thought. But then, I don't believe in making mistakes. And this Mekanorimon is more than just a messenger. And don't be fooled by the fact that he's supposed to be a champion level Digimon. Being a robot, I made a few upgrades to it, giving it power that can stand up to an ultimate. Now, my most trusted henchman, strike!" The image disappeared and Mekanorimon held up its hands.

"GYRO BREAK." Four disks launched out of the arms toward the Digi-Destined. Everyone dodged before the disks could come close to touching them.

"Guys, Digivolve!" everyone shouted.

Wormmon Digivolve to… Stingmon! Stingmon Crest Digivolve to… JewelBeemon!

Digi-Modify! Digivolution, activate! Crest Digivolution, activate! Dracomon Digivolve to… Coredramon Blue! Coredramon Crest Digivolve to… Wingdramon!

Digi-Modify! Crest Digivolution, activate! Gatomon, Crest Digivolve to… Angewomon!

The three Digimon formed a triangle around the mechanical Digimon. "Wing Blast!" "Spike Buster!" "Celestial Arrow!" All three attacks struck Mekanorimon and exploded on contact. However, something shot out of the smoke and into the gloomy sky. They looked up and found Mekanorimon hovering in the air.

"JET PROPULSION SYSTEMS SUCCESFULLY INITIATED," it said with its robotic voice. "BRIGHT BEAM." The orb on its chest began to glow and fired a red laser at the Digi-Destined Digimon. Everyone flew to avoid the beam.

Both Daichi and Kiyoko each pulled out a card. "Digi-Modify! Aerial Display, activate!" Wingdramon started flying faster and avoided Mekanorimon's attack easily, allowing him to land a Sonic Lance attack. However, it was not strong enough to pierce the chassis.

"Digi-Modify! Andromon Lightning Blade, activate!" Angewomon's gloved hand shifted into a sharp spire. "Lightning Blade!" She waved it and an arc of electricity appeared, hitting Mekanorimon, but doing no discernable damage.

JewelBeemon flew in close behind Meknorimon. "Shot Claw!" He thrust his gauntlet toward the robot's casing, but it left no real mark.

Mekanorimon turned around. "TARGET LOCK: JEWELBEEMON. BRIGHT BEAM." Red light flew out of Mekanorimon's body orb and struck JewelBeemon at pointblank range. He was blasted back to the ground and De-Digivolved instantly.

"Wormmon!" Isamu ran up to Wormmon and picked him up. "You all right?"

Wormmon grunted, "It's stronger than we realized. Mekanorimon can handle all three of us at once. And its attack is too powerful."

"It just caught you off guard," Isamu said, hoping to make Wormmon feel better. He looked up and saw Wingdramon and Angewomon dodging a Gyro Break salvo. Man, I wish Gennai was here; he'd know how to handle a Mekanorimon. He thought back to the first season of the TV series, where a lone, younger Gennai took on an enemy Mekanorimon and…

"Wait," he said out loud, "that's it!" Wormmon looked up at him. "Wormmon, shoot a line up at Mekanorimon." Wormmon, who learned long ago to follow Isamu's more nonsensical orders, opened his mouth and let out a Silk Thread that attached to the robot near the top of the head.

"Guys!" Isamu yelled. The other Digi-Destined and their Digimon turned to Isamu. "Stand back!" Isamu grabbed Wormmon. The Digimon moved away from Mekanorimon. "Now reel him in!" Isamu commanded. The silk line grew taut, but instead of pulling Mekanorimon to the ground, Wormmon and Isamu were pulled up until they grabbed on to its body.

Wormmon reeled the rest of his line back into his mouth before saying, "That didn't go too well."

"Not the way I see it," Isamu returned. Without wasting time, he went to the blue top orb. He placed his fingers in the center and strained, like he was trying to rip it in half. Finally, the orb split in two and revealed a hatch; inside was a cockpit with a Bakemon at the controls.

The Bakemon looked up at Isamu and Wormmon and gasped in surprise. "Well," Wormmon said, "I thought we got rid of all of you."

"Something tells me you shouldn't be driving a complicated piece of machinery like this," Isamu added. He grabbed the Bakemon and threw him out of the cockpit before jumping in himself, with Wormmon following suit.

The Bakemon floated just beside Mekanorimon. "Here," Isamu said, "you should hold this." He took the Digi-Egg of Knowledge out of his backpack and threw it to Bakemon. The ghost Digimon caught it and immediately fell due to the Egg's increased weight. It landed on the ground and was instantly crushed, dispersing into data.

Inside Mekanorimon's cockpit, Isamu and Wormmon looked down, watching the Bakemon's fate. "How did you know there was a pilot in this thing?" Wormmon asked.

"Simple," Isamu answered. "I remember seeing Gennai pilot one of these in the TV show."

"Looks like Gennai was right about your experience with the show," Wormmon said.

"Uh, guys?" Kiyoko said from below. "Something's happening."

Isamu looked down at her and Daichi. "What's up?"

"After that Bakemon fell out," Daichi answered, "some of its data went back to Mekanorimon." Isamu was about to respond when some of the lights on the console started flashing.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Wormmon said.

"FINAL MESSAGE SEQUENCE ACTIVATED," Mekanorimon's robotic voice intoned. A hologram appeared on the dashboard in the image of GranDracmon once more.

"So, you managed to get to the pilot. I realized you might figure it out. But I did make one more adjustment that I may have neglected to mention. Should the pilot be destroyed, Mekanorimon will upload his data and gain what it is otherwise missing: a consciousness of its own. Try to fight that, if you can." The hologram disappeared and the panel continued to flash.

"PILOT DATA SUCCESSFULLY UPLOADED. AUTO-PILOT PERSONALITY PROGRAM LAUNCHED." There was a small pause before Mekanorimon spoke again. "FOREIGN LIFE-FORMS DETECTED." Mekanorimon suddenly flipped over, leaving Isamu and Wormmon to fall to the ground. Wingdramon quickly flew under and caught them both. He brought them both easily to the ground.

"What happened up there?" Daichi asked.

"Our job just got a lot harder," Isamu answered.

"Let me guess," Kiyoko said. "Our not-so-gracious host just super-charged him, didn't he?"

"Put simply," Wormmon answered, "yes."

Wingdramon started flying up again. "Angewomon and I will handle Mekanorimon. Wormmon, I know you want to help too, but you're still not at full strength for Digivolution to the ultimate level." With that, he flew up to join Angewomon.

"So, what now?" Wormmon asked.

"I think I know," Isamu said. He looked at the Digi-Egg of Knowledge, just a short distance away. "We may not be able to go ultimate, but we might get you to Armor Digivolve."

"But the only other form that can fly is Shadramon," Wormmon protested. "And I'm not good as him defensively."

"Maybe," Isamu said, "but perhaps we can use the Digi-Egg of Knowledge." Wormmon stared at him.

"But I thought you said you couldn't use it because you're not smart," he argued.

"After we got rid of Bakemon, I realized something," Isamu replied. "Knowledge means more than just knowing stuff; it also means using what you know." Isamu went to the Egg and picked it up. "Let's see what knowledge has given us." Wormmon nodded. "Digi-Armor, energize!" The Egg flew out of Isamu's hands and touched Wormmon, with the Crest of Knowledge forming where the two touched.

"Wormmon Armor Digivolve to…" Wormmon's body was surrounded by electricity as it grew. He still looked like a bug, but his form was now more akin to a beetle. The only real feature on his new body was a large dish, silver like the rest of him, that bore a purple Crest of Knowledge. His entire body looked mechanical. "Searchmon, the Radar of Knowledge!"

Isamu watched as his partner changed into his new form. "Not bad," he said. "But unless you can fly, will it even work?"

"Well," Searchmon replied, "half of knowledge is learning. So, class is now in session." He turned his body so that the dish was in Mekanorimon's direction. The dish then lifted itself, looking like a satellite. "Hertz Jammer!" Several electric waves flew out of the dish and toward Mekanorimon.

The machine Digimon suddenly jerked around. "LOSING CONTROL OF MOTOR FUNCTIONS. CAUSE: EXTERNAL SOURCE. LOCATING SOURCE… IDENTIFIED: SEARCHMON. SUGGESTED COURSE OF ACTION: ATTACK. GYRO BREAK." Four disks appeared out of his arms and flew toward Searchmon.

"Uh, Searchmon?" Isamu said. "Those things are coming in pretty quick."

"Not a problem," Searchmon said. "Deflector!" The dish on his back raised again, facing the incoming attack. The disks bounced off and hit Mekanorimon.

"Now to finish this guy off," Searchmon said. "Hertz Jammer!" Electric waves poured out of his dish and assaulted Mekanorimon full force. The robot started moving erratically, ending in an explosion. Pieces of Mekanorimon's body fell to the ground before each dissolved into data.

"Hey Digimon…" Isamu started.

"Hey Digimon," Searchmon finished.

Wingdramon and Angewomon landed and De-Digivolved. "So…" Dracomon said as he turned to Isamu. "Looks like that 'Digi-God' knows what he's doing after all."

"Dracomon, I'm already going to hear it from Wormmon," Isamu said. "But you're right."

"Twice in one day," Gatomon said. "What is the DigiWorld coming to?"

"Worry about that later," Searchmon said. "I'm picking something up." Everyone looked up at him as his dish titled upward. "There's some sort of wavelength coming from the east."

"Do you know what kind?" Daichi asked.

"I'm not sure how I know," Searchmon said, "but I think they're radio waves."

"Looks like your Knowledge Egg gave you some knowledge," Kiyoko said.

"Radio waves?" Isamu repeated. "Like communication?"

"What are you thinking?" Dracomon asked.

"Searchmon," Isamu said," is it possible that those waves came fromm that last transmission?"

Searchmon thought for a second. "Well, it looks like this signal can't be more than a couple days old, tops."

"If we could follow those waves," Isamu explained, "we might be able to find who sent that message. We could find the Digi-Agents' Unifier. Searchmon, lead the way."

"We could be in for quite a walk, though," Searchmon said. "I can't even tell where the waves' point of origin is."

"We'll make do," Kiyoko responded. "By now, we've probably gotten used to walking." Nobody spoke, but Searchmon turned east and began to move, with the Digi-Destined and remaining Digimon following him.

It's safe to say the Digi-Destined have a long and perilous road ahead. Will they come through? You'll have to see for yourself on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters!

This is CF signing out.