We're back!
Hey everyone, I know it's been a while, two months exactly, but we finally got a new chapter of Digital Story... only took us a day to do it too, which is pretty nice.
Though, I do want to explain a bit why it took so long before something came out.
Simply put, we've been working on putting other ideas down to 'paper' (digital really, but who cares?) since we wanted to strike while the iron was hot on those ones, make sure to milk them a bit as we got the ideas... and, not gonna lie, we got... a good few, like... I think 6 or 7 stories, maybe more? Yeah, we got a lot, and we put down the first chapter for each of them so we had a base to work up from on them now when we returned to them.
So, if you ever wonder why it's taking me so long to release a new chapter, chances are good I'm working on a chapter for a story I'm not releasing just yet.
And now that we have that out of the way, hope you enjoy the show!
Beast of Lightning! Strike forth, Raimon!
"Talk about one heck of a crazy adventure recently, huh?" Gyro mused as they were currently examining his and Pyrrha's Digivices. After the recent event, it seems the energy in theirs specifically had increased by a large sum, no doubt to support the Jogress Evolution again in the future.
"We finally worked with our missing 13th member, and all it took was a rampaging science experiment on a rampage to get us all on the same page for once," Pierce snorted.
"Shame it ended up being a one time deal though…" Ruby frowned, as the group remembered what had happened.
Omegamon descended to the ground, letting Gyro and Pyrrha jump down before he glowed, splitting back into two as he reverted all the way down to Koromon and Tsunomon.
"Better than last time I guess. Probably have more energy than back then." Koromon said with a sigh before Gyro picked him up.
"That was… rather amazing." Oren admitted, before he noticed everyone was looking at him and his partners, making him sigh "Well, this was bound to happen someday."
"Yeah… so, you gonna tell us your reasons, or are you still gonna keep it to yourself?" Gyro asked "Since I doubt what you told us was the WHOLE story."
Oren frowned a bit at that "I don't particularly want to bring that up."
"Figured as much." Yang sighed with a shrug.
"Normally, this would be the part since we'd be asking you to join us since you're supposed to be one of us, but… that doesn't matter to you, does it?" Pierce said with a frown.
"Not really no. I still plan on making the Digital World better my own way. You're all still free to join me though." Oren told them.
"Out of the question. We clearly disagree on the very nature of the Digital World, so until you realise that you're smothering it and stopping it from growing, we won't be able to properly work together." Gyro shot down the idea on the spot.
"Then it seems our alliance is at its end then," Oren sighed before walking past them, Lopmon and Terriermon following him without hesitation.
The Chosen didn't say anything, just watched as the Chosen Child of Fate left, still set on his own path.
"I'll take something to REALLY shake him up to make him see he's been doing things wrong." Jaune frowned.
"So something earth shattering then… yeah, that's gonna be hard to find." Gomamon said.
"Well until something like that happens all we can do is keep moving forward. Be it on Remnant or in the Digital World," Pyrrha frowned.
A heavy silence descended on the group, before Nora decided to break it up. "So...guess we should keep looking for more Digimentals first? We already have seven of them, only five more to go. Six if you count the one that's for Oren."
"Yeah… he's bound to have one too, isn't he?" Aile said "I mean, at first it sounded like it would just be for you guys since you hit Ultimate, but then me and Rusty found ours."
"Yeah… say, how close are we to Oniyuri?" Agumon asked.
"Pretty close actually, we should be there tomorrow." Blake said as she looked over the map.
"Then we've got one more chance to check on the Digital World before we fully focus on our plan to deal with Tyrian LONG before he can cause any further damage to our side," Gyro said firmly.
"Right," everyone nodded.
With that agreed, Weiss immediately booted up the program they were using to keep an eye on things in the Digital World. At the same time she started seeing if she could find any Digimental signals. Eventually… "Found one," she reported.
"Great, where is it?" Jaune asked.
Tentomon looked at the screen and if he could he would have frowned. "Hm...looks like its in one of Oren's territories," he said.
"Well that complicates things a little," Veemon sighed.
"Any info we can find about the area?" Palmon asked.
Weiss nodded and started working on it. A new program Gennai had made for them would allow them to get a grasp of the areas they were aiming for via various drones he spread out to give them some eyes on the ground. Based on the images they were able to get, the area seemed legitimately peaceful. Basically an example of an area where Oren's Kingdom seemed to deliver on its promise.
"Everything looks safe there… I suppose we won't need our usual numbers." Ren said.
"Right, in that case… at least two of you that are missing their Digimentals, and one who has theirs." Gyro said before taking out the wheel and setting up the balls accordingly. The team they would be sending out this time around consisted of Ruby and Palmon, Pyrrha and Gabumon, as well as Rusty and Bemmon.
"A bit of a random party this time around, but works for me," Rusty shrugged.
"Have a safe trip everyone," Penny smiled.
"As long as things stay peaceful, that shouldn't be an issue," Gabumon chuckled as they soon entered the Digital World.
It was a peaceful day in this area of the Digital World, as a sleepy little town could be seen down the hill they'd emerged from. All in all it was an idyllic little bit of scenery. "Nice place we ended up in this time. Really DOES feel like everything is okay," Rusty mused.
"At least that means we shouldn't have to worry about any trouble." Bemmon said in relief.
"Either way we should search for the Digimental as soon as we can, then return to the others," Pyrrha said, earning a few nods of agreement. Using their D-Crests they were able to pick up a signal...which seemed to lead them right towards the town. Going towards it, for once it seemed there were no issues whatsoever. The town was peaceful, and with the overall happy atmosphere that surrounded the town, it made even the usually slightly oppressive Crystal Spire look like it was a monument that was the pride of the town.
However, as much as they could enjoy the atmosphere, especially since even the town guards were content to leave them alone as long as they weren't trying anything, they had another problem. Namely...the signal of the Digimental.
"Why is the signal coming and going?" Rusty groaned.
"You'd think the Digimental is moving or something," Bemmon frowned.
"I sure HOPE not…" Palmon groaned, remembering the Crest of Kindness.
"Well, nothing we can do but keep searching I guess," Pyrrha sighed as they did so. However, after another few hours of searching, unsurprisingly they were starting to get hungry.
"Okay, I vote we take a break for lunch," Ruby said, earning a few sounds of agreement.
"How about we go over there?" Gabumon suggested, pointing at what appeared to be a diner located near a lake.
"That's a good place," everyone said with a small smile.
The group soon made their way to the diner which was styled like a typical diner with a simple yet comfortable looking design and decor. When they got in they saw a number of tables and chairs set up, with what looked like a backdoor that led to the edge of the lake which also had a few tables and chairs, while the counter was to the side with a window to allow the cashier to immediately ring up the orders.
And the Digimon running the place all seemed to be of the same type, but with different colored bodies, looking like small furry creatures with giant burger shaped hats.
"And these are…?" Pyrrha trailed off in confusion.
"Burgamon, the best Digimon to run a restaurant." Gabumon said.
Digimon Analyzer: Burgamon
Burgamon. Vaccine Type. A Child Level Food Digimon. A Digimon that absorbed data from various fast food chains, it obtained the skills to make hundreds of different types of burgers so it can help feed hungry Digimon around the world. Should someone cause a commotion at their restaurant, they can expect to be swiftly thrown out. Special attack is Delicious Patty, placing the opponent inside of a huge patty before kneading them… at least it's nothing disgusting.
"They look pretty cute." Ruby said with a smile as she watched the Burgamon walk around the diner, delivering food to customers and cleaning empty booths.
"They're friendly, helpful, and they cook pretty well so...yeah. They're usually pretty great," Palmon chuckled.
"Well then, let's take a table then," Bemmon chuckled.
The group did just that and before long one Burgamon came over with the menu. "What'll it be?" he asked in a friendly tone...before noticing who it was. "Oooh, I had heard some rumors the Chosen Children were hanging around town, but didn't think they were actually true," the Burgamon blinked.
"We have a bit of business to deal with around here. Don't worry, from what we can see it shouldn't cause any disturbances in your town," Pyrrha said.
"No problem then! So, what can I get you all?" he said, handing them the menu.
The group looked over the whole menu quickly, before making their choice and handing it back to him "Alright, I'll be back with your order in a few minutes."
"Nice town really. Gotta admit that places like this almost make you think Oren has a point. ALMOST," Palmon mused.
"Yeah...for someone so smart, his plan is kinda too…" Rusty tried to find the right word for it.
"...too short term?" Pyrrha guessed.
"...that and a little nuts considering how fundamental Evolution is," Rusty mused.
"He's not a bad person but…" Ruby sighed.
"He's kinda taking this too far," Palmon agreed. "Though...the Kingdom idea isn't bad if he can make more towns like this."
"Keyword is 'if'." Gabumon noted with a frown "Gyro's said it himself, it's not gonna work out in the end. Maybe for small towns like this, sure, but big areas? WILD areas? It doesn't work there."
"And why we need to try and show him that BEFORE he does something that results in something he can't easily fix," Pyrrha sighed. "Last time was already a close call as it was."
Their conversation was soon put to an end when the food came, and they were soon digging in. As it turned out, the Burgamon of this diner lived up to their reputation. All in all it was an enjoyable meal and they were quickly half way through it.
However, they didn't get to finish the meal when someone else entered the diner. Someone quite attention catching. And it wasn't just their appearance since he slammed the door open.
His appearance however… it was a WereGarurumon, only with black fur and white stripes, with green camo pants instead of the regular blue jeans. And they noticed the Crystal Ring on his arm wasn't a ring… but a spiral.
"Looks like Oren perfected that thing after the accident." Bemmon noted as they all watched the ShadowWereGarurumon walk into a booth and crash down into it, kicking his legs up on the table.
"May we...help you?" the waiter blinked, carrying the menu...which was roughly taken from him.
"Yeah, I'll be taking a whole roast duck, and make sure to make the skin nice and crispy, peking duck style," ShadowWereGarurumon said, not even looking at the menu.
"Um...I'm sorry sir, but that's unfortunately not on our menu," the waiter apologized...to which ShadowWereGarurumon reached out and grabbed him by the 'collar' with his fingers, before pulling him closer.
"Well then, I guess you'd better add that to the menu right now," ShadowWereGarurumon said simply, the underlying threat VERY clear.
"What is with Oren and his stuff ending up in the hands of jerks like this?" Gabumon growled a bit, not just because of what ShadowWereGarurumon was doing, but also because of the fact that he was giving their shared species a bad name.
With that in mind, he couldn't help but get off the chair he was on, and seeing where this was going, the others quickly did the same. Was this the smartest move? Maybe not. But it was almost definitely the right thing to do in this situation. "Hey buddy, why don't you ease off on the help and just order something actually on menu," Gabumon said, glaring at ShadowWereGarurumon.
"Oh?" ShadowWereGarurumon smirked a bit. "And who are you to tell me what I can or can't do? In case you didn't notice, this town's protection is now in my hands," he said, showing off his Crystal Spiral. "I think that deserves a reward, don't you think?" he smirked.
"I'm thinking the King made a mistake giving one of those to you," Gabumon glared.
"Oh yeah? And just what are you going to do about it, tiny?" ShadowWereGarurumon said with a grin, before flicking Gabumon's horn.
While Gabumon's flare was certainly an angry one… Pyrrha's was downright murderous as the virus type was suddenly yanked to his feet because of the bits of metal on him, held by the fur near his neck by Pyrrha "Talk to my partner like that again… see what happens."
"Sure. Like I'd want to talk to a mon who has to hide behind a human," ShadowWereGarurumon smirked.
Everyone went dead silent at that, to which Pyrrha turned to the Burgamon manning the cashier. "We apologize for the damage. We'll be sure to either fix it or pay for it," she said simply...before she hurled ShadowWereGarurumon right out the nearest window.
The Chosen were soon out the door going after ShadowWereGarurumon who'd picked himself up. "Well now, I wasn't looking to twist any arms, but you brats just made me WANT to do it," he snarled.
"By all means, try it if you can," Pyrrha said, Gabumon by her side.
"...think we should be helping or…?" Bemmon asked.
"I...think this just got a bit personal for Pyrrha and Gabumon," Rusty winced.
"Yeah...we should probably wait until they actually need help," Ruby gulped.
With that said they stood to the side, and kept watch on the fight that would soon begin.
ShadowWereGarurumon didn't wait for any prompting and charged forward. "Time for you to learn what it means to oppose one of the King's Spiral Knights!" he smirked.
Pyrrha just silently deployed her weapon in javelin mode "Just stop puffing hot air and fight me."
"What does this LOOK like?!" ShadowWereGarurumon roared as he aimed to punch a hole right through her...only for his knuckle to get stopped cold, before he was lifted off his feet and flipped like a jackhammer a few times.
"You have no idea who you're fighting do you?" Gabumon chuckled as Pyrrha tossed him into the lake, to which he soon leaped out of the water, looking quite pissed.
"I don't know and I don't care who you are, but I'm gonna make you regret that!" he growled as he leaped into the air and aimed a kick right at them, but both got out of the way, before Pyrrha countered with her javelin, forcing him block which quickly made him realize she could actually hurt him with that, forcing him to keep his attention on her...which gave Gabumon the chance to get behind him and…
"Petit Fire!" Light his ass on fire.
"YOOOOOOWWWWW!" ShadowWereGarurumon screamped, hopping in place as his behind was ablaze with blue flames before he jumped in the lake again to put it out, emerging with a growl a moment later "Little runt… You'll regret that!"
"What are you, a broken record?" Gabumon shot back in amusement.
"Just give it up already. We'll let you go if you promise to apologize and not do something like that again," Pyrrha frowned, switching to sword and shield mode.
"After what you did?! Not happening!" ShadowWereGarurumon growled jumping on to the shore, before he fiddled with his Crystal Spiral. "I'm taking you down if it's the last thing I do!" he snarled, before the Spiral glowed brightly and suddenly he was moving a lot faster.
Pyrrha gasped and tried to stop him with her Semblance, but he actually powered through it.
"Whoa!" both of them gasped and barely managed to evade.
"Let's see your fancy tricks fight me now!" ShadowWereGarurumon smirked, before charging forward, to which Pyrrha blocked with her shield, even as she was thrown back, but quickly used her Semblance to try and adjust her position to allow her feet to make contact with a nearby tree and rebound back. At the same time Gabumon was doing his best to keep ShadowWereGarurumon distracted, allowing Pyrrha to land a few hits which despite his increased power, didn't stop him from taking damage from her weapon.
ShadowWereGarurumon roared in anger, and started throwing punches and kicks more wildly. The two of them did their best to evade, but like it or not a strike or two was going to hit. Pyrrha managed to handle them, but one kick got lucky and hit Gabumon, sending him flying right into the diner again, bouncing off a few walls and ending up in the kitchen with a loud crash.
"Ow." he hissed out after the world stopped spinning, some of the Burgamon pulling him up to his feet and fussing over him "I'm fine… my pride's more hurt than anything." he told them, before running back outside, and seeing his chance when ShadowWereGarurumon had his back turned to him, jumping him and grabbing him by his face "How about you try THIS?!" he shouted before spitting out a Petit Fire right in his face.
ShadowWereGarurumon roared in pain, before grabbing him and hurling him away, fortunately towards the water this time, which he landed with a loud splash.
"Gabumon!" Pyrrha shouted in worry before diving in right after him.
"Don't think you're getting away brat!" ShadowWereGarurumon said and was about to chase her, before he was bodied by Vanguamon.
"She might want to take you on solo… but I think we can keep you here at least and she won't complain." Rusty said with a smirk, tilting his hat up using one of his pistols.
Pyrrha was quickly swimming through the water, and saw Gabumon looking like he was having a hard time swimming to the surface due to being disoriented by the impact. Quickly reaching him, she helped him right himself, but before they could swim to the surface, they noticed particles start to gather in the water and circling them. The two of them looked in surprise, but thankfully they didn't have to wait long as the particles gathered in the form of sparks which thankfully seemed self contained somehow before what they really were was soon revealed, causing both of them to widen their eyes in surprise.
Back at the fight, ShadowWereGarurumon was proving to be quite an annoying enemy as he was able to match Vanguamon's mobility, though Ruby and Rusty proved to be able to keep him in place as between Ruby's Semblance and Rusty's bullets, ShadowWereGarurumon was forced to balance his offense and defense, not to mention having to avoid the occasional Poison Ivy path low to the ground to trip him up. However, the group had other things to worry about too.
"Hey, are Pyrrha and Gabumon okay? They've been in there for a while!" Palmon shouted.
"I'll dive in and help if needs be. Keep this jerk busy!" Rusty shouted...but that was when Pyrrha and Gabumon resurfaced. "Never mind!"
"Guys! You'll never guess what we found!" Gabumon smirked as they got to the shore, and Pyrrha held out the item they'd found, a Digimental, one that was black in color and vaguely shaped like a shoe with a jagged horn on the tip, as well as her Crest.
"It was in the water the whole time! That's why we couldn't get a good lock on it!" Pyrrha said.
"Great, now show us what it can do!" Ruby grinned.
"With pleasure!" Pyrrha and Gabumon grinned as well as Pyrrha held it over her head. "Digimental, Up!"
(Play 'Break Up!')
A black void appeared as the Crest of Friendship was spinning in the void, data floating around it as the Digimental of Friendship appeared, spinning in the air followed by Gabumon before they settled on opposite sides of the void, forming a triangular formation with the Crest. "Gabumon, Armor Evolution!" Gabumon called out as the three came together and a burst of blue lightning filled the void as waves of it were released while Gabumon was covered with the energy, behind him images of Garurumon, followed by WereGarurumon, and finally MetalGarurumon appeared as his form started to change, becoming larger and quadrupedal.
Finally, the sparks cleared, revealing a lupine Digimon just a bit shorter than Garurumon, with icy white fur and dark blue stripes, wearing a black helmet over his head with Gabumon's yellow horn coming out his forehead, the Digimental having become a black armor over his whole body, along with covering the tops of his legs, the jagged golden horn sticking out his back and sparking with electricity as the Crest of Friendship was on display on his chest "Thundering Friendship! Raimon!"
Digimon Analyzer: Raimon
Raimon. Data Type. An Armor Level Beast Digimon. A Gabumon that evolved through the power of the Digimental of Friendship, gaining power over electricity thanks to it. Digimon that don the power of this Digimental will gain the ability to manipulate electricity in all its forms, as well as become far more agile than they were before. Special attacks are Lightning Lance, firing out a spear shaped blast of lightning from his horn, and Shock Crash, spinning like a wheel on himself before rushing at the enemy while charged with electricity.
Raimon didn't waste time, moving quickly. And boy did he MOVE.
ShadowWereGarurumon saw him coming and tried to land a strike at him...only for him to vanish in a blur as he was soon behind him and clawed at him, to which he tried to fight back, only for Raimon to repeat that, disappearing in a blur and attacking with electricity charged claws and bites.
"Hold still you springy bastard!" ShadowWereGarurumon roared, but Raimon wasn't bothering to listen.
"If you really think I'll listen, you're dumber than you look!" Raimon said, getting under him and ramming his horn right into his gut, sending him flying up and into the lake again.
"Again with the lake!" ShadowWereGarurumon roared.
"Oh, this time it was REALLY on purpose," Raimon chuckled before jumping into the air and spinning rapidly, forming a wheel as electricity charged around him.
ShadowWereGarurumon noticed it...and realized where he was. "...uh-oh," he gulped.
"Shock Crash!" Raimon declared, charging right for ShadowWereGarurumon and when he hit...well…
"Ooooh...aaaah…" everyone present couldn't help but say as they saw ShadowWereGarurumon light up like a christmas tree.
The light show continued for a few moments before Raimon landed on the shore, leaving ShadowWereGarurumon to pull himself back onto the shore and collapse on the ground, twitching. "If that's the best you got...you ain't...beaten me...yet…!" he gasped, twitching.
At that moment, Ruby's scroll started to ring, and she picked it up without looking "Yeah?"
"Alright, so… again, really sorry about not doing better screening." came Oren's voice on the other end, and he sounded rather apologetic.
"Yeah, you really need to fix that problem man." Ruby told him deadpan.
"Noted. I'll just... " he trailed off, and she heard tapping, before suddenly, the Crystal Spiral on ShadowWereGarurumon's arm broke apart into data, and he glowed before reverting to BlackGarurumon "There. That's him taken care of. At the very least, I did make sure to put monitoring equipment in these from now on… though the data relay is obviously quite slow."
"Yeah, work on that. And do better background checks too." Ruby told him, before hanging up, with BlackGarurumon sweating nervously.
"Uh, so…" he laughed awkwardly "Funny story about what I called you earlier…"
"Don't care." Raimon said as his horn started sparking "You have a three second head start."
BlackGarurumon listened on the spot and turned tail before running as fast as he could, with Pyrrha counting down on her fingers for her partner, and when she closed her hand, he aimed his horn "Lightning Lance!" and the spear shaped bolt of electricity flew out into the air, zig-zagging around the sky before striking down outside of town in an electrical explosion, with BlackGarurumon's form being sent flying sky high into the lower orbit of the Digital World… with the black wolf swearing he saw two humans and a cat of some kind cross paths with him in the air before he was nothing but a twinkle.
"Well, all's well that ends well I guess." Raimon said, before he glowed, the Digimental flying off of him and into Pyrrha's scroll while he turned back into Gabumon "Hopefully Oren does a better job at picking the guy who's supposed to be the peacekeeper for this town now."
"Cross your fingers." Palmon said in amusement.
"Either way, we got what we came for, time to head back." Pyrrha said with a smile, before the group left the town with a sense of accomplishment filling them… along with a nice meal of course.
And there!
A little short, I know, but we wanted the next event to be standalone since we managed to reach our minimum page count with this event alone, so we decided this was good enough.
Anyway, yeah, as you can see, event order is kinda different from how it was in 02, since Oren has the spirals a bit sooner then Ken did, and we also, quite obviously, took some inspiration from the Digimental of Purity episode for the setting, but went original, and halfway through, we realised that the focus had dropped onto Pyrrha and Gabumon because of the natural flow of what we had written, so we decided to make this the Digimental of Friendship chapter instead.
That happens a lot with us sometimes, we change our plans because of the flow of writing taking us down a different path, though, the grand plans are still set of course, those can't change because their central to how the story goes.
Though... we did get some ideas while writing this one for a character I'm sure you're all looking forward to seeing.
Hope you'll enjoy what we have planned for them, because...
The Adventure Evolves.