Chapter 39 – The search: part 1

DoruGremon flapped his wings powerfully. Next to him flew Omnimon, who from time to time took a quick look at his partners Tai and Matt, who rode on the red dragon. The four were looking for DexDorugoramon, who had been forced out of him by DoruGremon's will. But the others were also looking for the dragon throughout the digital world, which is why they split into teams of four. With his eyes DoruGremon flew over the area, when he sighed heavily.

"Are you blaming yourself again, DoruGremon?" Omnimon asked him.

"Yes..." he confirmed.

"Don't blame yourself for something you didn't do." Matt said.

"However, I started King Drasil, triggering a wave of terrible events." DoruGremon said.

"That's true..." said Tai, but smiled and looked at him sympathetically: "But you can't do anything about it. Piedmon's sphere was to blame, basically Piedmon himself..."

"Thank you..." the red dragon took a quick look at the two people on his back: "Despite this, I should have withstood the sphere."

"Don't be so negative, DoruGremon." the fused Digimon instructed him: "Sure, you created a lot of problems, but you tried to prevent them. With your self-made copy, you have regained control of yourself... Besides, you are not alone. We're here to help you, so you don't have to do something on your own."

"You're right-" DoruGremon sighed, closing his eyes briefly: "I'm just constantly resenting myself, instead of focusing on what's important... I'm glad to have you as friends."

He smiled softly at Omnimon as he nodded to him. Then the red dragon breathed out relaxed before flapping his four wings. It was still weird for him to be free of Piedmon's sphere. Before he was taken over by it, he had fought against the influence every day, for every hour, for every minute and for every second. This fight had been very tiring and in the end he had lost it.

At that thought, DoruGremon shook his head. He shouldn't remind it now. He had to do everything he could to find DexDorugoramon and defeat it.

A whistling sound rang out, so that the ears of the red dragon stood up. Purely out of instinct, he began to growl and looked around where the noise came from. Tai, Matt and Omnimon also looked through the area as something approached them. The fused Digimon raced over to DoruGremon and swung his Grey sword to steer an energy beam in another direction.

"What the?!" the blond-haired man asked, looking up at Omnimon.

"Omnimon!" cried Kari's brother, "Who are we attacked by?"

"I don't know yet!" shot the fused Digimon back: "However, I assume that the attack came from an ultimate-level digimon..."

Another whistling sound rang out. The red dragon narrowed his eyes briefly before they widened with horror. The beam wanted to strike directly into him. DoruGremon didn't hesitate for long and flapped hard with his front wing pair, so that he went higher into the air.

"DoruGremon! Bring Tai and Matt to the ground." Omnimon ordered.

"Okay. Hold on to my coat, you two." the red dragon instructed her.

"Okay." Tai confirmed his words, before digging his hands into DoruGremon's fur.

He himself was quite surprised how soft this actually was.

The red dragon finally started to dive by leaning slightly forward and folding his wings. Shortly before he reached the ground, he unfolded his wings again and landed almost majestically on the ground. Tai and Matt immediately climbed down from his back. The brown-haired man suppressed an emerging curse and looked at Matt, who looked around. They still had no idea who had attacked the group.

DoruGremon narrowed his eyes before taking a deep breath.

"DoruGremon digivolve to... Alphamon!" he cried, before pondering how to help Omnimon fight DexDorugoramon.

Meanwhile, the fused Digimon noticed something from an angle of the eye and immediately pulled the Grey blade. In this he gathered energy before unleashing it with a swing. The something was caught by a wave of energy and hurled back, and it began to growl furiously. Meanwhile, Alphamon's eyes narrowed. In front of them was DexDorugoramon, who was fuming and gathering energy in his mouth, which it wanted to shoot at DoruGremon. However, Omnimon attacked him with his Grey Sword. He was still unable to use his Garuru cannon, so he could only rely on melee combat. The white knight swung his sword and wanted to hit DexDorugoramon by the neck, but it raised its arm and blocked the attack.

The purple dragon fired a green ray from his mouth from a short distance and hit Omnimon in the chest, causing him to be thrown back.

After Alphamon developed a plan, he flew to his white counterpart and wanted to help him. But before he could even reach him, Omnimon crashed with his back into him and both hit the ground, forming a huge crater beneath them.

The fused Digimon immediately straightened up, but soon after, he returned to Agumon and Gabumon. The two rookie-level Digimon moaned and went to their partners.

"It was stronger than thought..." the yellow dinosaur wailed and closed his eyes.

"Or we are still weakened by the fight against Alphamon." said the reptile digimon, looking at the said digimon.

"Do you think?" Matt asked the two.

Gabumon nodded and explained:

"We still can't use the right arm as Omnimon."

Alphamon was shrouded in a bright light before it faded and revealed Dorumon. He shook briefly and then went to the others.

"You can't change it, Gabumon." said the purple dragon depressed: "I myself still feel the consequences of our fight and the ejection of Piedmon's sphere."

"Just as I thought." the blonde-haired man said.

It would also have been surprising for him if Dorumon did not feel any consequences from the fight. Matt quickly pushed that thought away. He wondered why DexDorugoramon had disappeared so quickly. Tai himself was more concerned about Meiko, who, although he wanted it differently, was with Sora.

The brown-haired man even doubted whether Phoenixmon was able to protect his girlfriend and Sora. As for SaviorHackmon... he still couldn't digivolve to his ultimate-level.

Tai would be calmer if Meiko's partner had already reached his ultimate-level, because he knew how strong Jesmon was. Or had SaviorHackmon already reached his ultimate-level and he didn't mention it?

After all, he had his memories from his previous life. Again, the brown-haired man knew that if a partner was to reach his ultimate-level, it would depend heavily on his partner. In this case, Meiko would have to overcome her inner darkness, as stated in the prophecy sent by the Homeostasis to Izzy.

"Tai!" exclaimed Agumon, ripping him out of his thoughts.

"What is it, Agumon?" he asked.

"We want to move on." Dorumon said, "Dorumon warp-digivolve to... DoruGremon!"

The red dragon bent down so that Tai, Matt, Agumon and Gabumon could climb on his back. Then DoruGremon hit his wings vigorously and rose again into the air.


"Let's see... If I were a dangerous digimon, where would I be?" quipped Yolei, who rode on Ornithmon's back.

"In a castle." Magnadramon replied: "Myotismon and the Dark Masters were in castles."

"But you omitted that DexDorugoramon, according to Dorumon, has only a will to self-preservation." the primeval bird replied: "Which in turn means that it is unlikely that it will live in a castle."

"Right..." the pink dragon nodded to him briefly: "What do you mean, Kari?"

Kari, sitting on the back of her partner, looked into the distance, lost in thought.

"Kari." Magnadramon shouted after her.

Again, no reaction.

"Kari!" Ornithmon tried.

But again, Tai's younger sister gave nothing of herself.

"Kari!" yelled Yolei.

"Huh?" Kari looked at the other woman in a slightly surprised way: "What did you say, Yolei?"

"Magnadramon asked you something," she explained.

"Oh, sorry. I was immersed in my thoughts..." she admitted, somewhat embarrassedly: "So, what did you ask me, Magnadramon?"

"Where DexDorugoramon could be." her partner replied.

"Hm..." Kari thought briefly, but then she shook her head: "I have no idea."

Yolei sighed heavily. She remembered how the teams were split. Tai and Matt were in a team, as Agumon and Gabumon were able to form Omnimon. She and Kari were in a team because they got along well, as were Meiko and Sora. But the other teams were strange.

Why did Ken have to be on a team with Joe, Mimi with Cody and Davis with T.K.? Especially with Davis and T.K., the young woman had her concerns. Both were constantly arguing. So wouldn't it have been better to team up Davis with Ken and T.K. with Joe?

"What are you thinking, Yolei?" Ornithmon asked her.

"Huh?" she blinked in amazement: "I just wonder why Davis is on a team with T.K. and Ken with Joe. I mean... Davis and T.K. don't really understand each other and Joe would be better off with someone else, for example with Mimi or even with Izzy."

"Hm..." Kari pondered: "You're right. But Davis and T.K. in particular can work well together, even though they often argue. Everyone respects the other and tolerates his opinion, which cannot be more different. However, the strong differences of opinion allow them to produce very good solutions. That's why I think they're in a team."

"Why do you think so?" was Magnadramon's question.

"Because T.K. had told me." smiled the brown-haired woman, brushing over her partner's velvet fur.

"You have a crush on T.K., haven't you?" suddenly Yolei smiled.

"I-I have not!" she cried, turning her head away so that her friend would not see her reddened cheeks and so that she would not receive the confirmation.

However, turning her head away alone was a confirmation for Yolei.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to tell him." Ornithmon's partner said with a wink.

"Thank you..." said Kari, again petting Magnadramon's fur.

"You like my fur very much, or Kari?" the pink dragon asked her: "As often as you pet it..."

"Your fur is so soft, Magnadramon. I feel like I'm on a cloud when I ride on you..." she enthused, lying flat on her partner's body to feel even more fur on her skin.

"I get jealous..." Yolei muttered, brushing Ornithmon over his feathers, which were on his back.

"Hey! I can't do anything about the fact that I don't have a soft coat!" complained the primeval bird.

"Come on... You're certainly faster than some other Digimon, aren't you?"

"I'm rather slow compared to other bird like Digimon."

"You only say this because you're offended, Ornithmon." Magnadramon said.

"I'm just jealous!" the primeval bird corrected her: "I wish my feathers would be so soft."

"Hm?" the pink dragon saw something in the distance.

"There's someone here." Ornithmon replied.

"Really who?" was Yolei's question, while Kari suspiciously narrowed her eyes.

"I have no idea." she replied.

"We should fly closer." Magnadramon said, speeding up her flight.

The primeval bird also flew faster. The stranger Digimon gathered energy in its mouth and fired it at the two Digimon, which dodged to the side.

"Holy Fire!" Magnadramon cried, firing a whirlwind of fire from her mouth.

"Cosmic Ray!" Ornithmon released a dark energy from his beak.

The purple something crossed its arms and blocked the attacks without effort. Then it let out a scream and threw the partner out of the air. Both hit the ground. Their partners were equally surprised by the attack, as they did not expect that Magnadramon and Ornithmon would hit the ground.

"Is everything okay, Ornithmon?" Yolei asked him.

"Argh! What was that attack?" was his question as he tried to stand up.

However, he had no strength and hit the ground again before turning back to Poromon.

"Are you doing well, Magnadramon?" asked Kari with concern.

"I'm still alive..." she moaned, before she digivolved back to her rookie-level Salamon.

The small, cream-white dog pointed her head upwards and watched as the attacker disappeared into a distortion.

"Why did it attack us and then run away again?" asked Kari, astonished.

"Maybe the Digimon was DexDorugoramon... who then tried to collect information about the attack patterns of our partners." Yolei suspected.

"Then the others should not attack it!" cried Poromon, flapping his small wings despite the exhaustion.

"Right..." Salamon agreed: "Yolei. Please write to the others not to attack DexDorugoramon."

"Okay." Poromon's partner quickly tapped into the communication device: "Don't attack a purple dragon or DexDorugoramon – Yolei. Is it okay?"

"I think so... The problem is that Tai, Matt, Sora and Meiko don't have communication devices." Tai's younger sister said thoughtfully.

"Then we have to inform them differently." said the small, pink fur ball.

"And how?" asked Salamon: "We're far too exhausted to digivolve."

"Then we just run." Yolei said, starting to run.

"And where are the others, Yolei?" was Kari's question, which stopped her friend.

Poromon's partner slowly turned to Tai's younger sister and stared at her.


"Hm?" Davis looked at his communications device.

Yolei had written him a message.

"What's going on?" T.K. asked him.

"Message from Yolei."

"And what does she write?" was Magnamon's question as he jumped to the side.

The group of four was fighting DexDorugoramon, who had surprised them on their way to a mountain range.

The golden Royal Knight flew into the air and tried to hit the enemy with a punch. Meanwhile, Seraphimon tried exactly the same thing from the same direction, causing the two partners to collide. Magnamon cursed loudly and insulted the angel Digimon loudly.

"Can't you be more careful, Seraphimon?!" he cursed.

"You can't be careful!" Seraphimon exclaimed angrily: "Seriously, you just flew into me!"

"You flew into me! Not the other way around!"

DexDorugoramon growled a bit as if it were offended and disappeared into a distortion.

"Why am I in a team with you at all!" the golden knight raved.

"I ask myself too." Seraphimon replied.

Davis and T.K. observed the dispute tacitly until the latter said:

"Normally we always argue..."

"Yes..." the red-brown-haired man grinned: "But it's because Magnamon is undergoing a personality change... Or rather a digi-puberty!"

"digi-puberty?" Matt's brother looked at him.

"Puberty for Digimon!" he began to smile stupidly.

"Is there anything like this for Digimon?"

"Don't know."

"How do you get this term?" sighed T.K. and rubbed his eyebrows annoyed.

"Well... Digi stands for-"

"This question should not be answered..." he interrupted him.

Both then remained silent. At some point, Magnamon and Seraphimon were far too exhausted to continue arguing, which is why they returned to their rookie levels.

Veemon wondered why he had argued with Patamon in the first place. Perhaps, he suspected, it was because they had barely worked together. Or because they didn't get along very well in their previous lives.

Whatever the reason was... it was kind of weird that their partners often argued, with Davis in particular jealous of T.K., because he got along particularly well with Kari, in which the red-brown-haired man had a crush on.

While the blue dragon was thinking about it further, the hamster flew to the blonde-haired man and sat on his left shoulder.

"What are we doing now? DexDorugoramon escaped us," Patamon said, hanging his wings.

"Hm..." Davis pondered aloud, entangled his arms.

"Maybe the others will find it." T.K. suggested.

"And how?" the red-brown-haired man dropped his arms to the side and looked at Matt's brother inquiringly: "We have a meeting place, but it will certainly be a while before the others are there..."

"But we can still go there." Veemon said after joining the others.

"Good idea..." Matt's brother agreed.

The group of four, which could not be put together in a less favourable way, made their way to the agreed meeting point. This was the lake of Seadramon, which the group had met on their first trip through the digital world and he had attacked them, because Tai had accidentally stepped on his tail tip. The suggestion that the DigiDestiend met there, by the way, came from Mimi. She really wanted to have a meeting place that everyone knew.

Eventually, T.K. Davis began to ask.

"Do you still have..." he was looking for the right words: "A crush on Kari?"

"Huh?" the red-brown-haired man hadn't expected.

"I just wonder if you still have a crush on Kari..."

"Where does this suddenly come from?"

"I was just immersed in my thoughts and I was thinking of Kari..."

"Hm... I see. Yeah, I still have a crush on her!" shouted Davis.

"Are you her boyfriend?"

"What?! No! How do you get there?"

"Sorry, for this question..." the blond-haired man looked down ashamed.

"You have a crush on her" he grinned.

"I can't lie... So, yes."

"Why don't you tell her?"

"Well... I think Kari has a boyfriend. My first thought was you... but it's someone else."

"Hm... Maybe Joe?"

"Nonsense! He and Kari hardly know each other." T.K. shook his head in disbelief: "Besides, I rather believe that you have a crush into someone else."

"Oh, do you think so?" he smiled mischievously.

"Yes... In Akira."

Davis immediately laughed hard until he got abdominal pain, while the blonde-haired man tacitly stared at him.

"My belly hurts!" the red-brown-haired man held his belly: "How do you get on with it? Seriously?! Me and Akira?!"

"Well... You two are pretty similar."

"She's older than me."

"Well? Age has nothing to do with it."

"Do you speak from experience?"

"No... Like this or like that... I don't want to admit it to Kari until this thing is finally over," said the blonde-haired man: "And what about you and Akira? Will you confess to her?"

"For the last time! I have not a crush on Akira!" cried Davis, moving further ahead to symbolize to T.K. that the subject was over.

"As far as I know, she has a boyfriend in America." Matt's brother added.

Veemon's partner grumbled a little and walked faster. Meanwhile, Patamon grinned at his partner.

"You like to tease him, don't you?" the orange hamster asked.

"Yes... It's always funny to see Davis getting upset." T.K. said.

Veemon accelerated to Davis and said:

"T.K. teases you all the time."

"I know..." he sighed.

"You shouldn't get upset about it."

"Yes, yes. But I hate to be teased!" he cried, but both Matt's little brother and his partner couldn't hear him.

"Despite this, it is just stupid when T.K. said that you have a crush on Akira..."

"Really!" Davis raised an eyebrow: "I have not a crush on her!"

"That's why you've been quite excited about your circumstances."

"Just because I first met Akira of all of us doesn't mean I've got a crush on her!"

"Really not?"

"Really not, Veemon." he assured him: "Also..."

The red-brown-haired man looked to the side briefly.

"Also?" the blue dragon repeated.

"There's also a girl in my class... I like."

"Wha-... What... What?! But... I thought you... Kari..." he stuttered with his eyes wide open: "I thought you have a..."

"I just wanted to annoy T.K. a little bit. Yes... In the beginning I had a crush on Kari... But now I just want her and T.K. to come together... that's why I want to make him jealous."

"Davis... you're really a great friend."

"I know!"

"Don't let this go up to your head." Veemon warned him, sighing.


"Hm..." Mimi pondered aloud as she looked over the field.

In the distance, she could see a forest.

"Hm..." Cody followed her.

"I can't do it anymore!" she exclaimed furiously.

The boy just sighed and shrugged his shoulders. Why did the woman have to get upset about it after just over half an hour of searching? Shouldn't she be glad the group hasn't met DexDorugoramon yet?

"Man... couldn't someone draw a map of the digital world? We got lost!" she continued to complain, and stopped: "Could we finally find this DexDorugoramon guy?!"

"We should not attack it... because it analyses our partners' combat data and then probably uses it to its advantage." the boy explained.

"Mimi... Calm down." Palmon said, turning to her partner: "There's no point in getting upset."

"Moreover..." Armadillomon said: "Let's not get lost. You're just too lazy to go any further."

"I'm going to show you that I'm not too lazy to walk!" exclaimed Mimi, and went on.

"It really did work." the plant digimon whispered to the armadillo and Cody.

"Mimi is very predictable." the boy replied, "If you insult her, she wants to prove that it's not true."

"And then we can use that to our advantage," Armadillomon said quietly.

"But don't let Mimi know... because then she will get even more upset-" Cody said.

"Of course." the armadillo nodded to his partner, smiling softly.

"What are you waiting for?!" Mimi shouted to the three of them: "We have to find DexDorugoramon and stop it until reinforcements come!"

"Okay!" Palmon replied, rushing to her partner.

Cody briefly shook his head and followed the plant digimon with Armadillomon.

The field eventually changed to a dense forest and the group sometimes had to climb over a tree trunk. Sometimes they had to climb under it, because the trunk was too high to climb. At some point, fog began to form.

"Man, this is a fog." Mimi groaned as she could no longer see her hand in front of her eyes.

"Yeah... I can't see anything anymore." Cody said, before hearing a grumble: "Was that your stomach, Armadillomon?"

"No." the Digimon replied.

Another grumble.

"Palmon, stop it!" Mimi complained.

"That wasn't me, Mimi!" cried the plant digimon.

Again, a grumble rang out and the group noticed someone approaching. A digimon was with violet scales appeared. It looked like a man with a dragon's head. On one shoulder rested a sword consisting of scales.

Mimi screamed in horror. Cody was also terrified and jumped on the woman. Tightly crowded together, they stared at the digimon. Palmon and Armadillomon trembled, because they could see that the Digimon was very strong.

"Huh?" the Digimon looked at the group in amazement: "What do rookie-level digimon do here? And what kind of Digimon are you?"

"W-w-we a-are hu-humans." the boy replied.

"W-w-we... we've been l-lost." Mimi added.

"No wonder... This forest here is cursed." said the dragon man, pushing his sword into the ground before leaning on him.

"C-cursed?!" everyone shouted.

"Yes... According to a legend, the body of one of the Seven Demon Lords is said to be sealed here... I think it was even Lucemon..." he seemed amused by the facial expressions.

The dragon man remained silent for a while and could only with difficulty pinch a smile. Eventually, however, he spoke.

"But that's a lie." he said.

"A lie?" repeated Palmon.

"Yeah... Nearby is the World Tree King Drasil." said the dragon man.

"How do you know that?" asked Armadillomon, looking at the Digimon with disbelief: "And who are you?"

"I live here... I was also part of the guards of the Royal Knights," the dragon man explained with a painful expression on his face: "Sorry I didn't introduce myself. My name is Dorbickmon."

"Dorbickmon..." muttered the plant digimon.

Somewhere she had heard the name before.

"I was good friends with a Royal Knight." Dorbickmon said as he sat down in the tailor's seat.

Cody, Mimi, Armadillomon and Palmon looked at each other briefly before they sat down.

"Please tell us about this world tree." the armadillo asked.

"Sure." the dragon man nodded and pondered briefly as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

What was the best way to explain it?

"We're waiting," the woman rattled angrily.

"Patience is the key. It's complicated and I'm still trying to find the words... Hm..." Dorbickmon pondered a little further before opening his lids again and saying: "Okay. The World Tree is actually King Drasil's outer shell. The core is located elsewhere. Probably in a digital space."

"Huh? And how do you get into this digital space?" asked Cody.

"By approaching the tree... But I would advise against it." the dragon man raged: "The tree is protected by a Royal Knight named Craniamon. But even this forest provides protection for King Drasil."

"To what extent?" was Armadillomon's question.

"The fog. This makes it hard to know exactly where you are... Look up." Dorbickmon told them.

Everyone was staring into the sky, but they couldn't see anything because of the fog.

"Even at night there is dense fog here." he continued.

"And with the fog, a grumble sounds." Palmon said.

"Grumble?" the dragon man asked.

Suddenly, the grumbling resounded. Dorbickmon jumped to his feet, grasped the handle of his flame sword, and growled.

"Who is there?!" he demanded, flaring his teeth.

A green laser raced towards the group. The Dragon Man swung his sword wrapped in flames in the direction of the enemy and cried:

"Tyrant Collbrande!"

The sword struck the stranger Digimon, but was pushed back. Out of the fog came a purple dragon and growled. Then DexDorugoramon uttered a marker-shattering scream.

"Crap..." the dragon man cursed: "Listen carefully. I'm stopping him. You're fleeing. You don't have a chance against this guy!"

"But what about you?" asked Cody uncertainly.

"You would just hold me back." Dorbickmon raved, placing his sword in front of his torso.

"But we can digivolve to our ultimate-level!" protested Palmon.

"Exactly! So let's help you!" continued Mimi.

"No!" the dragon man growled: "Flee, damn it again!"

Armadillomon looked at Dorbickmon. But then he decided:

"Let's do what he says."

"Okay..." his partner agreed.

The woman began to run, closely followed by the boy and his partner. Only the plant digimon stayed behind and said:

"Don't die, Dorbickmon."

Eventually, she rushed after her friends.

"Tch... This digimon reminds me of Rosemon..." the dragon man said, before shaking his head: "Anyway. Show me what you can do! Tyrant Collbrande!"

After only three minutes, Dorbickmon had to kneel down before exertion. He sucked the air several times in his open mouth and pushed it out there again, while his whole body was covered with injuries. DexDorugoramon growled at him furiously and collected green energy in his mouth. Meanwhile, the dragon man closed his eyes before a tear stole from his right eyelid. Dorbickmon heard the enemy growl, but he did not dare to open his eyes. He just felt that someone lifted him up and he couldn't feel any ground under his feet.

"Don't worry." said a soft voice: "I will take you to Primary Village, Dorbickmon."

"Thank you... But what about this thing, Sir Sleipmon?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it now, Dorbickmon." she said, quickly flying on, so DexDorugoramon couldn't catch up with her.

In the flight, Dorbickmon fell asleep with exhaustion. So he didn't even notice that he was taken to a cave and Sleipmon left him alone. Alone? No. Examon was in the cave. For the Dragon Emperor remembered that he was a good friend of Dorbickmon at the time of the Royal Knights.