Chapter 24 – Challenges

Three figures flew across the sky of the digital world. Two of them repeatedly dodged the attack of the third. This activity was observed by four humans. Akira just stretched in boredom and dropped her torso into the grass. Why did Dynasmon have to help SaviorHackmon? Had it anything to do with the Royal Knights?

Tai and Matt chatted quietly about the legend. As they turned around in circles, they changed the subject of studying in America.

Meiko herself watched anxiously her partner, SaviorHackmon. He just parried a sword blow from Omnimon. As the dragon man flew higher into the air, Akira's partner approached him from behind and hurled him to the ground with his left claw. SaviorHackmon, who was equally surprised and shocked, couldn't catch himself and hit the ground with a dull sound. This created a cloud of dust, which quickly dislocated.

"SaviorHackmon!" the black-haired woman shouted in horror and rushed to him.

"Bah! I have earth in my mouth!" he said, straightening up before shaking.

"Are you alright?"

The dragon man looked briefly at his partner, while his eyes narrowed slightly. Then the lids widened again, while a similar scenario played out darkly in SaviorHackmon's thoughts. The dragon man was pulled out of his thoughts when Omnimon and Dynasmon landed next to him.

"You're fine," Omnimon said after looking briefly over the dragon man's body.

"Yes... I only have earth in my mouth," SaviorHackmon said, spitting out the earth with a groan: "Bah... I hate it when I have earth in my mouth..."

"If you just complain about that..." Dynasmon said, looking at Akira, who rose up and stood up to him.

"What exactly happened?" asked Akira.

"I attacked SaviorHackmon from a blind spot and threw him to the ground," her partner said.

"That's not fair, Dynasmon," she looked at him reproachfully.

"Hey! In a real fight, the opponent can attack from the blind spot!" he immediately defended himself.

"Yes... I was absolutely terrified," moaned Meiko's partner.

"But unfortunately, if they attack in a blind spot they gain the upper hand in a fight," Omnimon said.

There was a silence. After just over a minute, Akira bit her lower lip impatiently. She generally didn't like being silent for so long.

"Do you want to continue training?!" she asked annoyed.

"No... It's enough for me now," SaviorHackmon said, somewhat insulted, before returning to Hackmon.

Omnimon also digivolved back to Agumon and Gabumon. Both Digimons were actually pleasantly surprised that they digivolved not to their in-training level, but to their rookie level. That was actually a good sign. Both were apparently accustomed to the fact that they now had to fuse into Omnimon more often.

"Hm? Why didn't you go back?" asked Akira Dynasmon.

"Have you forgotten, human?"

But this caused his partner to snort him aggressively:

"What am I supposed to have forgotten, digimon?!"

"Hey!"

"Well, what should I have forgotten?!"

"That I can only create distortions on my ultimate-level!"

"And why have you created one on your in-training level?"

"What do you mean?!"

"When we first met Doc Azuma, you created a distortion at your in-training level, have you forgotten?" she folded her arms in front of her chest.

"That's true. However, it is far less strenuous to create a distortion at my ultimate-level than at my in-training level."

"And then there was the thing where we travelled through the digital world!"

"The first time or the second time?" he growled.

"Akira!" suddenly Matt shouted.

She and Dynasmon turned to the blonde-haired man.

"We want to get back into our world soon," Matt said.

"Okay, okay. But he started!" she raved.

"No, you are the one!"

"Pah! You're way too stubborn for your own good!"

"I am not too stubborn for my one good!"

"Then shut up!"

Dynasmon grabbed Akira by her shirt with two of his claws and lifted her up to his face.

"I just became your partner because I wanted to get stronger!" he growled: "That's why you don't need to tell me what to do and what I have to leave!"

"Hey, you two!" Tai shouted now: "We want to go back to our world. There we are better protected from King Drasil!"

"Okay, okay!" said Akira's partner, letting her go, so she hit the ground from a few feet high.

"Next time, please sit down!" she hissed, straightened up and removed the dirt from her clothes with her hands.

Dynasmon did not pay any further attention to them, but created a distortion through which the Digiritter and her partner digimon went.

Ken and Cody sat opposite to each other and looked at each other tacitly. Then they lowered their heads with heavy sighs, while their partner digimon Wormmon and Armadillomon played happily together. All four were in Ken's apartment. The two humans have been pondering for a while. Next to them steamed tea in two opaque glasses that Ken's mother had prepared. Now Cody's partner was hopping on the bed. Wormmon looked at him briefly before smiling and joining him. Then they both jumped happily on the sleeping place. At some point they didn't want more and just laughed.

"How can we make it?" Cody asked his friend, taking a sip of tea.

"I have no idea... Izzy always says: Whoever seeks new strength must overcome his darkness," he said, folding his hands in his lap.

"I don't think that will work until we want to have our partners digivolve to the ultimate-level. So... How do we let our crests shine so that Wormmon and Armadillomon can digivolve to their perfect-level?"

"My crest means kindness, yours justice... But how can we prove that we are kind and just?"

"Good question..."

"I have no idea."

"With Yolei, it was that Hawkmon always wanted to be a part of her family. Maybe it's because of that."

"Your approach is good... However, our family members already know that we are DigiDestined and have partners."

Ken deliberately did not say parents. For Cody his father had already died. He had protected a friend from a crime, so the bullet had drilled into his chest. Cody's father then collapsed and died at the scene.

"How did Meiko activate her coat of arms?" asked Ken at one point.

"According to Tai, she believed in herself that she was strong..." his friend replied.

"Strength... That's her crest, isn't it?"

"Yes..." he nodded before he thought: "Armadillomon, Wormmon. What do you want or do you want to achieve so strongly that you would do everything you could?"

He recalled that Hawkmon desperately wanted to become a member of Yolei's family.

"Hm...", the green insect pondered: "So I want me to win as a stingmon against an perfect-level digimon."

"That's weird," the armadillo laughed: "I want that too!"

Both Ken and Cody looked at their partner tacitly.

"T-that..." Wormmon's partner stammered.

"How can we find someone who fulfils your desire and does not kill you?" his friend asked.

"Um..." said Armadillomon.

"How about we were to help you," said a female-sounding voice.

In the middle of the room were Guilmon and also a white weasel with several golden drawings on the body. It wore a gold ring around its neck, while the tail ended in a kind of golden bell. The ears of the weasel were long and at the top dark blue. On one of the ears it wore a red earring. The nose of the digimon was pink, while the golden eyes were looking at the humans. The weasel ran on two legs, which looked strong compared to the slender body. The two arms hung loosely to the side. There were three red claws on both the arms and the legs.

"Kudamon!" cried Cody in amazement.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" she replied softly.

"Yes," Armadillomon said.

The armadillo remembered who Kudamon was. She had once given information about King Drasil to Davis, Cody, Yolei and Ken, as well as their partners.

"What exactly do you mean that you would help us?" asked Ken.

"We will fight your digimon," Guilmon said.

"But we take care that we don't overwhelm them," the weasel said.

"But here? In our world?" the eyes of Armadillomon's partner widened.

"No. This would be too dangerous, because then people could be drawn in," Kudamon replied, before briefly shrugging her ears.

Behind her and the red dinosaur appeared a distortion.

"We're going to fight in an interim dimension," Guilmon said.

Both DigiDestined looked at each other briefly and nodded. It was a really good idea to fight them. Together with the two digimon and their partner, they jumped into the distortion and reached another dimension.

"So... Here we are," said the red dinosaur: "Guilmon warp-digivolve to... WarGrowlmon!"

You could already see that WarGrowlmon was Guilmon's perfect-level, as it had also red scales. Like his rookie level, he walked bent over two powerfully built legs, each ending in three white claws with black lace. On the foot were one large and two small triangles. The top of the large triangle pointed towards the claws, while the two smaller ones sat on the flat side of the large triangle. There was also such a triangular symbol on the knees.
However, the two smaller triangles sat on the long, upper side. Around the thighs was a ring with golden engravings. The Digimons' belly was white, while he wore a kind of jet pack with two scoops as a protection from his chest. The bottom of the jet pack was silver, while the top had a dark red. On the protection was the distinctive triangle symbol, which Guilmon also wore on his chest. Two metal parts that WarGrowlmon used to fly protruded from the jet pack.
A long "metal tail", which had no function, hung rigidly from the chest guard. WarGrowlmons' mouth and temples were protected by red metal, which was not a Chrome Digizoid. The yellow eyes seemed rather scary, although WarGrowlmon was a gentle digimon. The white-silver mane would blow in the wind if there had been natural forces in the intermediate dimension.
The arms themselves were wrapped in grey metal. Especially the forearms wore strong protectors with a large blade. The long, red tail was black at the top, while before that two also black rings were pulled. Close to the base of the tail was also a black ring. In general, WarGrowlmon looked as if he had had an accident with a machine. He didn't really like his perfect-level, because he was a lot slower than his rookie or ultimate-level.

"Kudamon warp-digivolve to... Chirinmon!" she shouted.

Chirinmon had a more noble and elegant shape than WarGrowlmon. She walked on four legs, which were decorated in front of the hooves with gold rings and a white metal part that looked like a cloud. The lower legs were black, while the upper legs and part of her body were wrapped in a beige fabric.
She herself wore greenish plates with yellow edges around her body. The plate on the back was fastened by a grey strap. From two green plates protruded yellow jagged metal parts, which in turn ended in white feathered, large wings.
Chirinmon's neck was covered in green scales, while the front featured white-silver scales. The head looked like a mixture of dog and dragon. Part of the head was protected by a greenish armour, which ended in two horns. Below the horns were ears, the inside of which was green and the outside yellowish. The black nose didn't help her smell much. But she didn't mind it too much. Instead, she relied on her two bright beard hairs, which were attached to the lower, white side of the head.
On Chirinmon's forehead sat a red, long horn. Behind the three horns was a red-orange mane, which mixed with the white underside of the head. But you couldn't describe it that accurately. The yellow tail of the digimon was winding at the tips in itself and did not appear very mobile. Nevertheless, Chirinmon could be seen to be able to become very fast.

"Then we want to, or Armadillomon?" said Cody, looking at his partners.

"Okay!" he replied: "Armadillomon digivolve to... Ankylomon!"

"Wormmon, are you ready?" asked Ken Wormmon.

"Yes! Wormmon digivolve to... Stingmon!" he said.

"Before we start fighting," WarGrowlmon said, "We should identify who is fighting whom."

"Good idea," Chirinmon agreed: "I'm faster than WarGrowlmon, but I'm not that strong for that."

"Then I'll fight you," Stingmon replied firmly.

Kudamon's perfect-level nodded toward him and flew several meters away. Meanwhile, Ankylomon and Guilmon's perfect-level also moved away from the humans. WarGrowlmon immediately sent two energy shakes to Cody's partner. He was able to dodge to the side with difficulty, but one of the shakes hit his side, so that he fell on the unrecognizable ground.

Ankylomon straightened and ran to his opponent in a slow gallop. Then he threw himself at it. Guilmon's perfect-level, however, caught him with his arms and hurled him back on the ground. Cody's partner then rammed his morning star into WarGrowlmon's stomach, but that didn't seem to make much of a point to him as he grabbed him by the tail. He swirled four times around his own axis before letting go of Ankylomon, so that he was thrown by him. With a dull impact, he was left lying.

"Ankylomon!" cried Cody, and wanted to run to him.

"He's not done yet," WarGrowlmon said, "Let's go! Get up again, Ankylomon!"

He awkwardly straightened up and looked at his opponent. He was breathing heavily, but he didn't want to give up. He had to keep fighting.

"It's enough... Ankylomon..." his partner said, "You have no chance against him..."

/Cody... I will... win.../, Ankylomon thought, before screaming angrily and running to his opponent.

WarGrowlmon wanted to laugh at his stupidity, because Cody's partner had experienced that this was of no use. But he didn't want to make him angry and waited for what Ankylomon was up to this time. To his disappointment, he wanted to throw himself at him again. With two energy surges, Guilmon's perfect-level hurled him away. Cody clutched his digivice and looked at his partner as he ran back to WarGrowlmon. Again and again he did this, although it brought nothing. After a short time, Ankylomon lay heavily breathing and barely raining on the ground.

Meanwhile, Stingmon tried to dodge Chirinmon, but she was much faster and kicked him in the stomach with her hind legs. The insect man was thrown through the air, but caught himself and drove out his purple blades.

"Spiking Finish!" he shouted, aiming at her.

But Kudamon's perfect-level flew into the air and flapped with her wings.

"Holy Wave!" she sent an invisible wave of energy that Stingmon captured and threw to the ground.

Then Chirinmon rushed towards him and held her red horn by his throat. However, the insect man kicked her and flew several meters away for safety. Kudamon's perfect-level measured him with a calm look before she quickly rammed him with her body. Stingmon stumbled and tried to stand against her. But he had his difficulties for two reasons. First, his opponent had rammed him at incredible speed, which already built up certain strength. And secondly, Chirinmon, though she had said she was weak, had an indescribable power. The insect man could no longer hold and was thrown several meters through the air. He slammed to the ground with a dull noise. Chirinmon approached him. She didn't expect him to attack her in any way. However, he did. With last force he kicked her in the face, before his forces left him and he lingered exhausted on the ground. His opponent was able to catch up quickly and went back to him.

"That's ridiculous," she scoffed, "I thought you'd be stronger."

"Stingmon!" shouted Ken and rushed to him.

"Ken..." he quipped, but couldn't stand up.

"If this was a real fight, I would have killed you now... together with your partner," she said, looking disappointedly at the two: "You lack strength and willpower. How do you ever want to win against King Drasil and defend humanity?!"

"I... don't know," Ken bowed his head in shame.

"Then give me your crest and your digivice," Chirinmon asked him.

"What?!" he said, terrified.

"You are weak and unkind," she deliberately provoked him.

"That's not true!" Stingmon exclaimed angrily: "Ken is the kindest person I know!"

"Why did you lose to me?" was her question.

"Because you're way too fast for Stingmon!" his partner argued.

"Too fast? I told you that I am fast, former Digimon Emperor."

"Stop calling me that! I have already paid enough for my actions as the Digimon Emperor!"

"Really?" she looked at him: "If that were the case... Why is your Digivice still black?"

"It's just black!" Ken remarked as he grew increasingly angry, closing his eyes.

Then he took a deep breath.

"Because you dyed it like this," Chirinmon said, "I'll tell you one thing. If Stingmon doesn't manage to digivolve to the perfect-level, he will sooner or later go back to the digital world and leave you alone."

"You can't judge me for my Digivice. In addition. Even if Stingmon could never digivolve to his perfect-level... he remains my friend," Ken replied, turning to his partner.

He nodded to him. The young man looked at him kindly.

"You know, Chirinmon... I have friends who appreciate me. And I have my parents who support me. My partner taught me kindness. This allowed me to make friends! And if you don't see that, then you're blind!" his crest began to shine.

"Stingmon digivolve to... JewelBeemon!" his partner shouted.

JewelBeemon could be described badly and generally it looked very funny. He wore green armour with several bright yellow bubbles that sat on his arms, thighs, chest and forehead. The insect man had two forward-facing claws on his feet and a backward-facing claw. In his right hand, he held a rod with a star-like, blood-red tip. JewelBeemon, like his champion level, also had four wings on his back and two feelers on his head.

"Thank you, Ken," his partner thanked: "Finally I'm able to digivolve to my perfect-level."

"Very good," Chirinmon nodded to the two of them: "Then we keep fighting!"

Meanwhile WarGrowlmon also insulted Ankylomon and Cody.

"Pathetic!" he grumbled: "Weak."

"You have not shown any mercy," the boy replied.

"I have shown no mercy?" he repeated, growling: "I haven't even used one-eighth of my strength... You are just looking for the blame for others and not for yourself!"

"So we had... from the beginning... no chance against... you...", moaned Cody's partner.

"Yes. According to your skill already. I've never seen such weak adult-level digimon in my entire life," WarGrowlmon said, angrily banging his tail on the ground: "It's no wonder Alphamon beat you a year ago... as weak as you are."

"I'm sorry," Cody apologized.

"You don't need to apologize... Cody," Ankylomon said, "It's my fault... In a real fight, I would be dead now because I'm just so weak."

"Each trait influences others to reach the next form," explained Guilmon's perfect-level: "But what happens to those who can't reach the next form?"

"They're going to be killed," the boy quipped.

"Exactly," his partner agreed.

"You can be glad that we two are on your side... Otherwise you would be dead now! You are a disgrace to the DigiDestined!" raved WarGrowlmon.

Cody gritted his teeth and hugged his partner's neck. What a shame it was to be defeated. Had only he been stronger, they could have defeated WarGrowlmon.

"I'm sorry, Ankylomon..." the boy muttered.

"Don't apologize, Cody... We may be weak... but we are still friends.", Ankylomon forced himself to smile.

"Friends... I hate injustice," Cody replied sadly: "Everyone must experience justice, whether digimon or human..."

"I believe in Cody as well. Although I'm just wondering how you get justice..."

"It doesn't matter now... We will make it as friends."

Cody put his right hand on Ankylomon's head and nodded firmly to him. His partner straightened up. His legs were shaking, but he had gained new strength. Not because he was able to rest for a short time, but because Cody had encouraged him to continue.

"I will never give up on Cody's side," Ankylomon said.

"And I'm never going to let you insult us just because we're not as strong as you are! You just insult us because you expected something better. You said that you only use one-eighth of your real power, but you have used your full strength, haven't you?! Is that fair? No, it's not!" the boy shouted.

"How do you think I'm lying?" asked WarGrowlmon.

"Because otherwise you would have defeated Ankylomon on his first attack! I hate lies, I hate injustice."

"But this is happening, Cody. You can't prevent it. Crime is caused by inconsistency or greed. Such criminals deserve death," said Guilmon's perfect-level, though he believed otherwise.

"No one deserves death! Everyone has a right to live. Everyone has a right to justice!" shouted Cody as his crest began to shine around his neck.

"Do you really believe that?" was WarGrowlmons' question.

"Yes!"

The crestshone brighter than ever and enveloped Ankylomon.

"Ankylomon digivolve to... Brachiomon!" he shouted.

Brachiomon looked like a certain dinosaur with a long neck and four legs. His entire body was covered with yellow scales and blue stripes. The brown-red eyes looked down on Cody. The forehead to the muzzle was covered with brown scales, while above the eyes there was a grey horn.

"You... You have digivolved," Cody said, astonished.

"That's me. And I have enough strength again!" said Brachiomon.

"Then show it to me!" WarGrowlmon asked him.

Both Minomon and Upamon slept on Ken's bed. Both were completely parched by the fight against Chirinmon and WarGrowlmon. Although both have digivolved to their perfect -level, they had no chance against the two.

"Congratulations," Guilmon congratulated them: "Your partners have finally digivolve to their perfect-level."

"Thank you," Cody smiled.

"Why exactly did you want to fight our partners?" asked Ken.

Kudamon and the red dinosaur looked at each other briefly.

"So you assume that we did not act without a reason," the weasel noted.

"Yes. I don't think anyone is acting without a reason. There's always a reason why someone wants to achieve something," the young man said.

"King Drasil is planning to attack your world in seven places soon," Guilmon said.

"What?!" Cody said, terrified.

"And what places are they?" was Ken's question.

"Iceland, Germany, America, Brazil, Egypt, Russia and Japan," Kudamon replied.

"According to our information, most Knightmons will appear in Brazil and Egypt," the red dinosaur replied, "We will accompany you there and help you. In Japan, only a few will probably show up."

"Where did you get the information from?" the boy asked.

"Through a Knightmon spy who recognized me," said the weasel: "Through him we have the information... but the Homeostasis had already suspected something like this and ordered us to help you so that your digimon could digivolve to their perfect-level."

"So that we can stand up to the mass of Knightmon," concluded Minomon's partner.

"Exactly," Guilmon said.

"But what about Davis and Veemon? The latter can't digivolve to his perfect-level!" said Ken.

"We don't have any information about this... But I would advise them to stay in Japan," Guilmon said.

"Because only a few Knightmons will appear there, will they?" suggested Cody.

Kudamon nodded and looked at the two sleeping partner.

"And how do we get to these places?" asked Ken, "Stingmon and ExVeemon can no longer fuse together..."

"The Homeostasis will take care of it. It will create distortions to the countries," the weasel explained.

"Then let's let the others know," Cody decided, calling Izzy.