Disclaimer: Digimon is a franchise owned jointly by Toei Animation and Bandai, and conceptualized by Akiyoshi Hongo. Doctor Who is a property owned by the British Broadcasting Company created by Sydney Newman. The concept of The Tamer v3.0 - Bold New Frontier is a fanfiction idea. Please support the official properties.

The Tamer v3.0 - Bold New Frontier

Chapter 6 - JP's Electric Liberation

No one was more surprised by their current guest than the Floramon Elder who led the village. There was a boy calling himself 'The Digimon Tamer'. THE Digimon Tamer. When she looked upon this human boy in front of her with the stupid clothes and the funny goggles, part of her wanted to believe it was true. But part of her wanted to believe this conflict could come to a peaceful resolution. And she'd long since learned that wishing for something didn't always make it possible.

Still, she felt some glimmer of hope when some of the village's guards charged in to her home with this boy, claiming that he'd called himself the Digimon Tamer. She bid her guards to go stand watch outside while she questioned him. They threw him to the floor before storming out, leaving the boy to dust himself off, "What magnificent guards! They're so violent!"

She cleared her throat and asked, "The guards say you called yourself 'The Digimon Tamer'."

"To be entirely honest, other people do that. It'd be weird if I did that. Though I supposed I could start talking in the third person," the boy remarked.

That certainly was an answer the Digimon Tamer would give. But that didn't necessarily make him the Digimon Tamer. She cleared her throat, "And what evidence do I have that you are who you claim to be?"

"A fair question. I've changed my face a few times so I'm probably completely unrecognizable. Would it help if I asked how do I know you are who you're acting like? Any old Floramon could come in here and act all grumpy," the boy fired back.

She wasn't in the mood for games and promptly smacked him on the head, "Don't mock me boy! I could easily have you hung from the branches! Are you the Digimon Tamer or aren't you?"

"I already answered several times. You and your villagers are the ones who keep asking if I really am," the boy responded.

Floramon closed her eyes, feeling her patience beginning to wear thin. He was right though. She stood up and began pacing, "So then...how are we going to go about proving that you are who you claim to be?"

"You tell me. I've already said it several times," the boy responded.

"We need the Digimon Tamer now more than ever. The story goes that the Digimon Tamer could end a war with but a mention of his name. That armies fled on sight of him," Floramon remarked, earning a snicker from the boy. She turned on him, "If you are who you claim to be, surely a fight would be no issue for you. I'll send you to fight against my strongest guard. If you win, then you really are the Digimon Tamer. If you're not, we'll hang you with the rest of the traitors."

"I can't help but feel that this is escalating for no real reason," the boy responded. She ignored him and headed towards the door of her home and called for the guards. They would get to the bottom of things, one way or another. This boy would tell them who he really was, or he'd be punished for wasting their time.

The Kokuwamon led Zoe, JP, Bokomon, Neemon and Kumamon through the brush and overgrowth of the village, until they eventually reached a small outflow pipe that leaked all manner of foul smelling fluid. The Kokuwamon gestured at it, "We can use this pipe to sneak back into the factory."

"Okay…and why aren't we using the door?" Kumamon asked, peering into it.

"The Goblimon watch all the entrances. We've each tried to escape several times but the Goblimon got wise to each attempt until they started locking up every entrance. They even started blocking up hallways so that if we tried to flee, we'd have no choice but to hurry down a bunch of dead ends. This outflow pipe is the only way out they're not watching," the Kokuwamon explained.

"Then why haven't you guys just tried escaping?" JP asked.

"Because the Goblimon would notice if we all just disappeared and come after us. Now come with me," Kokuwamon said, sinking down to his knees to crawl into the pipe.

"Yeah, I'm not crawling in that muck," Zoe said, covering her mouth to fight back an overwhelming urge to puke. The smell along was offensive to every single one of her sense.

"Same. that's disgusting," Neemon said, slurping on his pants juice while Bokomon stared in disbelief.

"I never would've assumed you had a sense of cleanliness," Bokomon teased while Neemon stuck his tongue out at him.

Kumamon took a sharp inhale of breath and exhaled a blast of cold air that froze the sludge as it leaked out, "Crystal Breeze!"

The sludge turned into black ice that disappeared straight into the pipe and into darkness. Still at least they could crawl in without getting dirty. But that wasn't going to do anything about the horrid smell coming out of it. Neemon was the first one in, dashing in without thinking as he said, "Hooray! Adventure!"

"What kind of pipe is this?" JP asked, peering in after the little rabbit.

Without skipping a beat, the Kokuwamon started crawling in after Neemon, "A sewage pipe!"

"Gross," Zoe stuck her tongue out in disgust, trying her best not think about the sewage they were about to crawl into. She took a deep breath and covered her nose before going in, then remembered she was in a skirt. She took a step back and shoved JP in front, "You first."

"ME? Why? What did I do?" JP demanded bitterly.

Zoe gestured down at her skirt and grumbled, "I am not going in front of any of you boys. I'll go in after."

"Are you sure don't want to just run away?" JP raised an eyebrow, seeming to imply he wasn't the guy who usually ran at the first sign of trouble. Zoe responded with a swift kick to his butt and grumble. JP threw up his hands and just went in after Neemon, followed by Kokuwamon and Bokomon.

That just left Kumamon who seemed perplexed about the whole situation, "I don't get it. What's the big deal?"

Zoe gestured down at her skirt again, "Are you serious?"

Kumamon stared back at her for a moment, before his pale white fur turned a bright shade of pink. He stumbled into the pipe and stammered out, "Yeah, okay. I'll go."

She just sighed and face palmed, "Boys."

She covered her nose and hurried back into pipe after them, doing her best to ignore the smell as they proceeded in until eventually they reached a ladder to climb out into a small back room. The Kokuwamon explained, "This is the janitor's storage closet. The Goblimon don't usually watch this area. Defrost the water as soon as we're all out."

Kokuwamon proceeded to check the door while everyone else climbed out. Zoe was glad she had everyone else go ahead of her, embarrassed to think about what perverted things would've gone through any of the boys' minds. Well, maybe JP's mind. Bokomon and Neemon seemed like they had other things they were interested in and Tomoki was definitely too young to understand. Or at least, young enough that he needed a minute to figure it out.

Still, it was nice to be able to breathe fresh and clean air once she was out. Or rather, not sewage. The factory smelled of metal and rust so it was only marginally better in her book. Once they were all safely out, Kokuwamon gestured for them to follow closely behind and led them out into a narrow corridor. They hurried quickly through the halls, stopping abruptly every time Kokuwamon did to avoid patrols and navigate the complex maze. Eventually, he took them into a large room full of bunk beds with luggage bags at the end.

The sight of the beds was a small comfort and JP wasted no time throwing himself into one, "Aw yeah! A bed! I don't care how old and moldy it is. This beats sleeping on dirt by a long shot!"

Kumamon joined him by flopping on the bed and cheering, "Yeah, it does!"

"Gus! Focus! We're here to help, remember!" Zoe reminded them, feeling like she was her mother.

JP groaned in annoyance and Kumamon sat up to face them, "Yeah, yeah. So! What's the plan?"

"Wait here. The Goblimon won't be checking in here so you can hide out until we're corralled back in for the night," the Kokuwamon explained, peering back outside to make sure they hadn't been followed. After a few moments, the Kokuwamon reopened the door. "I need to head back! They'll have noticed I've been gone too long. Please! Wait for me to get back!"

And with that, the Kokuwamon was gone. Zoe had to admit that she felt really uneasy about all of this. She didn't like the fact all the sneaking around and, more worrisome, she didn't like being in this place with only Kumamon able to fight. The tension began to eat at her and she had to pace the room to keep herself from panicking. Eventually, JP noticed and stood up, "Hey! What's your deal?"

"I just don't like sitting here like this. I want to go home and we can't do that if we're stuck in here!" Zoe admitted.

JP nodded in agreement, "I get it. I do. But can we just enjoy the beds for a little bit until he gets back?"

"That's what worries me. What if he doesn't?" Zoe pointed out, noticing the concerned look on JP's face.

Now it was Bokomon's turn to agree and he sighed, "It is possible we walked head first into a trap without thinking."

"Kinda like Tamer?" Neemon asked.

"That wasn't so much walking into a trap as much as it was walking into a police station and screaming arrest me!" Zoe countered.

Neemon simply tilted his head to the side and asked, "What's a police station?"

She should've expected that response. In all the time they'd been in the Digital World, she hadn't seen any thing resembling police. Or emergency services, now that she thought about. What exactly happened if someone was injured? Or someone went missing? She guessed they didn't really have time to focus on those kind of things with a war going on. And if the fighting was anywhere near as intense as what they saw earlier in the day, she was surprised things weren't in more disarray. So for now, all they could do was sit here and wait.

The Elder Floramon stepped out into the make shift arena in the center of their village. A long time ago, it had been their hot spring that attracted so many digimon to their relaxing little village. The mere sight was enough to bring the Elder to reflect on better times - before the fighting, when the digimon would all help each other during those confusing times. But then someone had attacked the spring - draining it of all the hot water. With their greatest attraction gone, the visitors stopped coming. Blame was cast - someone had to be responsible for the attack on the hot spring. Sides were taken as digimon who'd been friends for their entire lives blamed each other. Fear and paranoia reigned where love and peace used to be. And all that remained were digimon unsure of who was here before the unity, and who appeared during the unity.

In an attempt to restore the peace, she expelled half of the villagers - everyone they suspected of being an outsider to their village. Those who appeared after the unity of two worlds.

She pushed those thoughts aside, watching as the other Mushroomon escorted the boy out into the center of the hot spring. Facing him was a wooden tree digimon using its roots as legs and its branches as arms - Woodmon. Their strongest fighter, who's strength in battle alone had saved so many lives.

The boy was pushed forward in confusion, and he turned back at the Mushroomon guards walking away, "Is…is this a dried up hot spring? Y'know I can just climb out of here, right?"

"You'll have to get past us!" one of the Floramon shouted, and the boy finally seemed to notice all the villagers gathered around the edge of the hot spring. The boy clicked his tongue and looked back towards Woodmon, his expression switching between surprise and calculation. He was thinking, and the Elder Floramon didn't like that. She really wanted the boy to be the Digimon Tamer, so the thinking would be a good thing. But until there was no doubt, that calculating expression had to be treated with the same caution as anything else.

"I don't suppose there's a small chance you'll want to talk this out?" the boy asked.

Woodmon stamped one of his legs on the ground, "No."

"Didn't think so," the boy sighed, taking a moment to stretch out his arms and legs. The Woodmon didn't hesitate to run in and attack, charging towards the boy who continued to just stand there stretching. It seemed the fight would be decided rather quickly and the Elder Floramon would be able to rest easy, until the boy dove out of the way at the last second.

Woodmon slid to a stop, turning slowly to face the boy and roared, "This'll go a lot faster if you don't run."

"But I like being alive," the boy fired back. "Besides, I really don't want to fight you. I'd think someone like you would've been tired of that too."

"I am tired. So the faster we get this over with, the better," Woodmon fired back, dragging his feet along the ground in anger.

The boy just scratched his head, "So instead of just…I don't know, not fighting, you decided to hurry up and attack me again?"

Woodmon just charged again, and the boy waited until the very last second to step out of the way. This further angered Woodmon who turned around and roared, "STAND STILL!"

The boy just stared, "Um, no? I don't want to die. What part of that aren't you getting? Here's an idea! How about instead of trying to kill me, we talk things out. Like rational people."

"I'm going to enjoy shutting you up," Woodmon said. This time he raised up his arms and charged forward to strike the boy. "BRANCH BASH!"

The boy side stepped the attack and shrugged, "Yeah, people have told me I talk too much. They're also usually trying to kill me. It tends not to work out for them. So before you join that long list, how about I shut up after you answer some questions for me? Why are you fighting? I mean, I get that there's some kind of reason, but are you really okay hurting digimon who used to be your friends?"

"Don't boil down our struggle to some black and white issue that belongs in a children's story book," Woodmon growled, retracting his arm from the dirt. He took another swing at the boy, who continued to side step the attacks. And with every strike, the elder Floramon could see Woodmon was becoming more enraged. "You have no idea what we lost! What I've lost. How many people have died! How many more will continue to perish until this is all settled."

"At some point, you have to realize that everything you gain won't be worth what you've lost. It certainly won't bring back those who've died," the boy said, finally taking a good leap back away from the attacking tree. He retreated a good distance away while Woodmon continued to catch his breath. "Let me put it this way, if there was another answer, then would you take it?"

"You think we wouldn't?" Woodmon growled.

"I think there's one you haven't tried: forgive," the boy answered. "Live in peace."

Woodmon paused for only a moment. His brow furrowed and his mouth came open to reveal grit wooden teeth within. Then he roared, "HOW ABOUT I TAKE AWAY EVERYTHING YOU CARE ABOUT? THEN YOU CAN TELL ME TO FORGIVE!"

"There's nothing left to take," the boy replied glumly. That seemed to pause the other villagers for a moment but it only served to anger Woodmon further.

"I CAN STILL TAKE YOUR LIFE!" he roared before charging again to attack. The boy cursed and turned to run as Woodmon gave chase. It seemed this fight would not be settled as quickly as they expected.

It was after dark by the time the door to the bunks flew open and a bunch of the Kokuwamon filed in. Right away, everyone scrambled to get under the beds and hide as the Kokuwamon filed in. Peering out from under the bed, they could see some Goblimon ushering the bug digimon inside, "Hurry up! You had your batteries! Now go to bed! Boss wants ya rested for tomorrow!"

Once the last of them were inside, the Goblimon slammed the door shut on them and sealed it. Now left only in darkness, Zoe crawled from under the bed and dusted herself off. Most of the Kokuwamon jumped in surprise to see them there until one called out, "Calm down everyone! These are the people we saw earlier! The ones who helped to stop the fighting! They can help us!"

"I still don't get why just leaving isn't an option," JP wondered aloud. "We literally just snuck in here. Why can't you all just sneak out?"

"Because if we leave, they'll hunt us down! Besides, this is our home and we're not going to give it up without a fight!" one of the Kokuwamon snapped. JP just raised an eyebrow at them skeptically.

"It sure seems like you already did," he finally remarked.

Zoe wasn't entirely sure when she'd become the voice of reason but she didn't like having to do that when it came to these two. And she wished JP would stop being such a pain right now. She tugged on his ear, "What is your problem?"

"My problem is I want to go home! And I don't want to get dragged into somebody else's problems!" JP answered. She just groaned at his selfish explanation. Sure, she wanted to go home too but it sounded more like he didn't want to have to do any of the work for it.

"You're such a pain, y'know that?" she grumbled, letting go of his ear and turning back towards the other digimon, "So…what can we do to help?"

"We were hoping you could help us kick the Goblimon out of the factory," the Kokuwamon answered.

Kumamon's patience was beginning to wear thin, "Yes, we know that. How? I hope you had a better plan than just run around beating everyone up. Because I can't exactly take on an army of Goblimon for you."

"You seemed to be doing pretty well outside," one of the Kokuwamon remarked.

"Yeah, but that was a few of them. Not all of them," Kumamon replied, crossing his arms defensively. "I can't exactly take on all the Goblimon at once."

"Please! You have to help us!" the Kokuwamon pleaded. Zoe racked her brain as she tried to think of a plan. They couldn't just go around attacking the Goblimon. Kumamon was one digimon, he couldn't take on all of the Goblimon! But then again, perhaps he didn't have to. The hallways were fairly narrow.

She turned back towards the Kokuwamon, "Is there a dead end hallway anywhere in this place?"

"That's a fire hazard and a workplace violation," Bokomon pointed out.

"So those Goblimon probably put a ton of them in!" Neemon added gleefully.

"The rabbit is right. The Goblimon boarded up a lot of the exits to funnel our movements if we ever tried to escape again. Why do you ask?" The Kokuwamon who helped them in explained.

Zoe nodded and snapped her fingers excitedly, "Perfect! That's exactly what we need!"

"Yeah, a place where we can all get boxed in before they capture us," JP remarked sarcastically.

Zoe snapped at him, "If you're not going to contribute anything helpful, then will you shut up?"

That seemed to be enough to cow JP and he sat back down on one of the beds in defeat, "Fine! I'll shut it."

He ran his hands across his lips similar to zipping up a jacket and fell silent. Zoe just hopped he actually would be. In either case, she clapped her hands together and turned back towards the digimon, "So! Here's what I was thinking! We use one of these hallways to lure the Goblimon into a trap. That way, Kumamon can funnel them down and he only has to fight a few of them at a time. Then, while they're distracted, we take out as many of the Goblimon as we can from behind. How's that for a plan?"

"I don't like the part where it's me fighting them one at a time," Kumamon protested quietly while the Kokuwamon conversed amongst themselves. It seemed that they were onboard with the plan at first, until Kumamon pointed out the obvious flaw. "I'd also need one of you to come with me and show me the way because I sure as hell don't know my way around. And since it's a dead end, you'd basically be stuck with me until this whole thing is over."

After that, any excitement for the plan quickly fell apart. Zoe was about to remind the Kokuwamon that they were the ones who asked for help but stopped when Bokomon added, "This is also a weapons factory, isn't it? Which means the Goblimon will be swinging more than clubs and sticks when we pull off this plan."

Zoe really did not need this right now. She groaned, "You guys! Shut up!"

"Yeah, but the Kokuwamon are the ones who make the weapons! So why don't they just grab them first before the Goblimon can?" Neemon asked. That gave Zoe another idea and it was perfect, she just wished the inspiration for the plan didn't come from Neemon of all people. She turned back to the Kokuwamon and asked, "Do you guys thinks you'd be able to make off with some of those weapons at the assembly line?"

The Kokuwamon looked to each other excitedly for a moment, mumbling amongst themselves before a younger Kokuwamon cheered, "Definitely! Those Goblimon take forever to count anything past their fingers, so it'd take them a while to notice one or two of the weapons missing."

"What kind of weapons do you guys even make here?" Neemon asked curiously.

"Lead pipes and cannons!" one of the Kokuwamon remarked. Zoe wasn't sure if that was surprisingly mundane or not. The cannons she understood, those could be used to blow stuff up. But lead pipes? In a factory brimming with pipes? Why!?

They waited until early the next morning to set the plan into motion. The Goblimon came just as the sun was rising to corral the Kokuwamon back out onto the factory floor. The Kokuwamon who helped sneak them in to the factory also stayed behind with them, hiding them under the beds as one of the Goblimon came inside to make a quick inspection for any stragglers. Or rather, a lazy inspection as they watched the feet of the digimon barely make it halfway into the room before it turned around and went back out, "Okay, that's all of them!"

"Finally! I'm starving. Let's go eat!"

Once the door closed shut behind them, they crawled out from under the beds and Zoe asked, "Okay. Are we all ready?"

"As I'll ever be. Don't take too long. I can only do so much for so long. I'm counting on you guys to catch them from behind," Kumamon said nervously.

"Let me know how that goes," JP said, flopping back on top of a bed and folding his arms behind his head. Zoe just groaned, "What is your deal? You say you want to go home but it sounds like you don't want to do anything to get home. You just want home to come to you!"

"Yeah, that's it. I'm sure the fact that we keep getting sidetracked on what should be a straight shot home has nothing at all to do with it," JP fired back. "Not helping is the fact that you seem to think that this will make it go any faster."

"Come off it!" Zoe snapped at him. "It sounds like you just want everything to fall in your lap!"

"Guys, can we not fight before we pull off this plan? If JP just wants to sit this one out, he can," Kumamon pointed, massaging his temple. As annoyed as Zoe was at JP, Kumamon was right. They shouldn't be fighting right before they put their plan into action.

The Kokuwamon who snuck them in quietly added, "It's okay if he doesn't want to help. I understand. He doesn't know us and he doesn't want to trouble himself with helping us. Even if this doesn't work, we still appreciate the fact that you guys came to help us."

"Sheesh, guilt trip much?" JP sighed, closing his eyes on the bed.

Zoe just scoffed and went towards the door, "Forget about him. Let's go!"

She ushered them out and looked back at JP, annoyed at his sudden desire to just not help and confused about why he even came this far if he wasn't going to do anything in the first place. The first part of the plan was setting off the alarms and getting the Goblimon to follow them. Unfortunately for them, their plan fell apart when they immediately bumped into a patrol of three Goblimon in the hallway.

"Hey! Intruders!" the first Goblimon said, pointing a club at them.

"Sound the Alarm!" the second shouted, while the third charged at them.

"Icicle Punch!" Kumamon shouted as he leapt into action, punching the ground just ahead of them to freeze the hallway and send the three Goblimon sliding to the floor. From there, Kumamon was able to dispatch the first two but was unable to stop the third from pulling an alarm on the wall.

"Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!" a mechanical voice droned as a loud beeping echoed in the hallways.

Kumamon cursed at their luck and Kokuwamon panicked, "This way!"

"Well, this went south faster than I thought it would," Kumamon remarked.

"We need to work on your attitude, Tomoki," Zoe said quietly as she hurried after the two.

JP lay in the bed wondering what they were doing here and why they had to get all wrapped in this mess. He didn't want to be a part of any of this. He wanted to go home. He never should've answered that stupid phone call or gotten on that train. Why did he do it? Why didn't he ignore it like he usually did?

"So…you just gonna sit here and let your friends go into danger?"

JP's eyes shot open at the sound and he scanned the room for any sign of someone else in the room. He was sure he'd heard something but he didn't see anyone else. He stuck his head under the bed in case there was someone down there and saw nothing, "Hello?"

"Hi!"

"Whoa!" JP jumped and rolled onto the floor in shock at the sound of the voice, not expecting to hear it coming from behind him. Or the raucous laughter that accompanied it. He poked his head back up to see nothing there and frowned.

"Ha! You look like a grumpy rabbit."

"Who keeps talking!?" JP grumbled angrily, looking up and down for any sign of whoever was talking.

"Yo!"

"GAH!" JP fell backwards again, this time feeling like something had just shouted in his face. He looked up and down the room in confusion. There was definitely no one else in the room with him, and yet he was definitely hearing a voice. There was only one possible explanation for him and he didn't care for it, "Oh great, either I'm crazy or haunted. Which is worse?"

"Definitely the first. You can do something about ghosts. You can't do anything for hearing voices."

"Gee, thanks," he replied back, unsure if he should continue entertaining the voice he was hearing. But it wasn't like he had much choice in the matter. He sat back down on the bed and looked around the room to make sure he wasn't crazy. He was definitely going to ignore the voice. The last thing he wanted was to get lumped into the group with Tamer.

"So, are you going to help your friends or are you just going to sit there?"

"Just ignore it and it will go away," JP said to himself.

"No I won't."

JP was about to tell the voice off when he alarms started blaring that sent him rolling off the bed in shock, "AH!"

"Looks like your friends have gotten started. Are you really comfortable just sitting on your butt while they put themselves in danger?"

JP stood back up and cried out, "Will you leave me alone?"

"Only when you get off your butt to go help your friends. Why don't you want to, anyway? Did they do something to upset you?"

Yep. He was definitely doing this. He was talking to himself. He grumbled, "I just want to go home! Why does that make me the bad guy?"

"You make it sound like they don't want to go home. I get the feeling they want it more than you do."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" JP snapped.

"Do you not hear the alarms going off around you? Your friends are out there risking their lives and you're just sitting here doing nothing about it. You say you want to go back to your home, but it seems like you're completely unwilling to do anything about it."

"And what am I supposed to do about it?" JP snapped, "It's not like I can digivolve like the others like Tomoki or Tamer!"

"Tomoki was the bear, right? If that's true then, neither could the girl. To be honest, it sounds like you're just making excuses at this point."

"I'm not…I'm not…"

"Brave?"

JP paused as he tried to think of answer to that. The voice wasn't wrong. For as much of a front he made about being social and tough, the fact was he was just as much as a coward as Tomoki was. And now that Tomoki could transform, he had become anything but. While he was still sitting here.

"You know what the meaning of bravery is, right? Being brave isn't not being afraid. It's being afraid but doing what you have to anyway."

"So what do I have to do?" JP asked.

"Well, the way I see it is you can continue to lay in that bed and do nothing, or you can get out there and help your friends! And if you do, I'll even lend you a hand with some of my power."

"Your power?" JP repeated quietly, trying to process what he was hearing until it all made sense. In fact, it seemed so obvious now that he thought about it. He was talking to a Guardian Spirit! He jumped up and hurried towards the door. "Okay! Where do I have to go!"

"Okay. First, what you have to do is find me. Go out the door and down the hall to your right. Try not to get killed."

"Gee, thanks for pep talk," JP frowned, swallowing a lump in his throat. He assured himself that things would be alright and stepped towards the door. He barely made it around the corner, but stopped as he saw a bunch of Goblimon running past. His heart stopped and he froze as they shouted at each other.

"Intruders are making their way to the back exit!"

"Never mind them! The Kokuwamon are revolting on the factory floor!"

"We can deal with them after the intruders! Now go!"

The Goblimon turned around and hurried back down the hallway. JP had no idea how all the Goblimon missed him when they ran past. He was just glad they did. And the voice didn't hesitate to mock him for it, "You're ability to go unnoticed is remarkable. Now go down the direction they came from. Make a left at the next turn and continue down until you reach a door. You can find me in there."

"Where exactly are you taking me?" JP grumbled.

"If I tell you, you probably wouldn't go. Now be a good boy and do as your told."

"I hope you know I'm going to punch you when I find you," JP grumbled. JP had to keep dodging more of the Goblimon, but eventually the voice's directions led him to a flight of stairs that went up. But at the top, he found the door the voice mentioned. And on the other side was a large room that overlooked the entire factory floor.

Below, he watched as groups of Kokuwamon ran around swinging lead pipes and steel bars. A few of them had managed to grab cannons and start firing them at the Goblimon, causing untold collateral damage to the surrounding building. Fighting them were groups of Goblimon trying to bring the factory floor under control. And even though the Kokuwamon had a numerical advantage, JP could see easily that one Goblimon was worth five of them. And he had to figure that a good number of the Goblimon were somewhere else fighting Kumamon and Zoe.

Where things stood, this fight was just too evenly matched but would end in a likely victory for the Goblimon. Still, that didn't stop the Kokuwamon from trying to take advantage of everything they had around them - tricking the Goblimon into falling onto assembly lines where they got crushed by moving machines, or knocking them into dangerous vats of bubbling hot metal. For their part, the Goblimon didn't need to trick the Kokuwamon - they just threw the little bug digimon into the machines or onto the assembly line.

At the center of the factory floor, several Goblimon had formed around a large crane structure that was automatically moving long sheets of metal from what appeared to be a loading area to the front of the assembly line.

"Okay, now what?" JP asked, as he looked up and down the room. There were several control panels along the wall with an assortment of buttons, levers, switches, and lights that he couldn't make heads or tails of.

"Pull the lever marked crane control."

JP looked up and down the control panel for the lever, trying his best to ignore the sounds of fighting below. Once he found it, he pressed it and watched as the crane stopped moving metal sheets around the factory floor. The grinding noise it made grabbed the attention of several Goblimon on the factory floor, who pointed as the metal sheet it was holding continued swinging from the inertia. The metal chain holding the metal bar snapped at the apex of the swing, sending the metal bar flying towards the control room JP was standing in.

"CRAP!" he dove to the ground, just narrowly avoiding getting crushed as the metal broke through the window and destroyed the wall he'd come in through. Glass flew everywhere, destroying the control panel and scratching JP's skin and tearing up his clothes.

"Finally. I'm free! Alright, you ready to get crack-a-lacking?"

"Did you just say crack-a-lacking?" JP asked, enjoying the brief moment of silence that followed his question. He looked up from the floor to see a small glowing light from the hall in the wall where the metal sheet crashed. It was the light of a guardian spirit. And it was also crackling like electricity arcing through the air. He got up, trying to ignore the pain of all the glass that tore up his clothes and skin.

"Alright, kid. You ready to accept my power?"

JP looked down at his digivice, trying to contemplate what he was about to do. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to get involved. But he had to. If he wanted to get home, he had to stop just standing by and being such a coward. Every instinct and voice of reason in him screamed to walk away, and he could feel his hands trembling in opposition to what he was about to do, "Yeah, what do I do?"

"Accept my power. Good luck!"

The electricity arced through the air and flew towards JP's digivice, causing his digivice to spark before it surged up his arm and into his body. Yet, it didn't hurt. In fact, JP felt an energy of excitement and cheer - like he could take on the world, "Execute! Spirit Evolution! Beetlemon!"

JP looked down at his arms, taking in the fact that he now had blue armor with golden trim over his body. And, he felt a little taller too. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in one of the shards of broken glass. He couldn't quite make himself out, but he could see through his burred reflection that there was some kind of large horn poking out the helmet of his armor.

Like the horn of a stag beetle.

Great. He was a giant bug.

"A giant bug that can kick serious ass!"

JP blinked, remembering that the guardian spirit was perfectly capable of hearing his thoughts. He sighed and cracked his knuckles, "Okay…what do we do now?"

"Liberate this factory and save your friends! Now let's show these Goblimon a little shock and awe!"

"I really hope you're not going to keep making these bad jokes at me," JP said as he turned around and leapt out the window and onto the factory floor below.

"Bad jokes? They're one liners!"

Kumamon, Zoe, and the Kokuwamon retreated into a far hallway until they reached a door that appeared to have been welded shut. It was the dead end hallway that they'd hoped for. But it was also completely terrifying to be on this end of it and Zoe had a new appreciation for Kumamon's reluctance to carry out the plan. The Goblimon were no less terrifying to see charging at them, even if only two of them could make it down the hallway at a time.

"Icicle Punch!" Kumamon cried out as he froze the hallway with a punch to send the Goblimon sliding.

"Power Surge!" Kokuwamon followed up, pressing his hands against the ice to discharge all the electricity in his body up the ice towards the Goblimon. There was enough electricity to stun and discharge the first few Goblimon. But the rest were only agitated by the slight shock, driving into a further rage as they came with their clubs swinging.

Zoe yelped and did the only thing she could do, stay behind both Kumamon and Kokuwamon while they led the assault. One of the Goblimon threw its clubs at them, flying past Kumamon and Kokuwamon to strike the wall behind them. Zoe tried to pick it up but was surprised at just how heavy the club was - she was barely able to lift it off the ground but the Goblimon were able to swing it around with ease using only one arm. These digimon were unimaginably strong. Perhaps JP had the right idea to sit this one out.

No, that wasn't right. They were doing the right thing. That's what she assured herself as she continued to watch Kumamon and the Kokuwamon be driven back with each advancing Goblimon. But she could also tell that the two of them were getting worn down with every one they beat. It was only a matter of time before they were completely overwhelmed.

"THUNDER FIST!"

A surge of electricity arced its way along the ice to the remaining standing Goblimon, shocking them all and sending them convulsing to the ground. They all paused and looked back down the hallway, past the Goblimon who were twitching uncontrollably on the ground, towards a large figure lumbering down the hall that seemed just barely big enough to fit. A tall bug man in dark blue armor with a golden trim who came to a stop just in front of them with his hands on his hips, "Did someone ask for a hero?"

"No," Kumamon answered, sending the bug man slumping.

"The help is appreciated, though," the Kokuwamon thanked their rescuer. But Zoe found the voice all too familiar and it only took his next few words for it to click.

"Oh, come on! Really?" he groaned.

It was JP in some kind of spirit evolution. There was a joke somewhere in his change from being a creepy boy to being a creepy bug. In fact, Zoe would call it a lateral move. And it made her burst out laughing at JP's attempt at what he must've thought was a pretty cool hero entrance. In between her fits of laughter, she was able to ask, "Is that what you're opening with, JP?"

"JP?" Kumamon repeated, looking back at the bug man in surprise. The little bear eyed JP up and down curiously, as if trying to measure him up.

The beetle digimon stepped back, "Will you stop that? And it's Beetlemon, now!"

"Beetlemon? Wait, you mean you can turn into a digimon too!?" Kokuwamon turned his head to the side in confusion. Yup, there was definitely no way she was going to be able to take JP seriously after hearing that his digimon name was 'Beetlemon'. In fact, it took all she had to stifle her laughter even further.

Beetlemon waved his hands in the air, "I can now! Also, I get what you mean about hearing voices, Tomoki. Or Kumamon. Whatever."

"You heard a voice too?" Zoe asked, caught off guard by that and now just a little jealous that she also hadn't heard any voices. Or at least, no voices that weren't the one trying to reach her via the phone.

"Yeah, it's weird. It told me where to find the Guardian Spirit and everything," Beetlemon said, gesturing behind himself, "We've cleaned up most of the Goblimon and there's only a few left still in the factory. So what should we do now?"

"We should probably tie these guys up before they get back up," Zoe said, approaching one of the Goblimon to poke its still twitching process. After poking it did nothin, she looked back at the Kokuwamon and asked, "So is there any place we can put all these guys?"

"There's a storage closet! We can keep them all in there for now until we figure out what to do with them!" Kokuwamon said excitedly. She sighed as she looked back at how many there were and realized they had their work cut out for them. Still, better now than never.

She stood up and sighed, "Well, let's get started."

Author's Notes: The kids liberated the factory. Things are starting to look up for our heroes! Now they can give a home to the digimon camped outside. Will they be able to end the fighting with Breezy Village? What about their mysterious followers? What are the two up to? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v3.0 - Bold New Frontier due out in three weeks on June 11th at 8 PM CDT. Let me know what you guys thoughts in the reviews section! And hey, don't forget to follow the story to keep up with updated and to favorite to show support! Now for some fun previews of the next chapter:

The Elder Floramon did her best to retain her composure. The boy had certainly defeated Woodmon in the most unexpected way. She wrestled with having to accept this boy. The stories said the Digimon Tamer was some kind of great warrior. The stories also said the Digimon Tamer was wild and unpredictable.

This was certainly both. And yet, it wasn't what she wanted to see. She wanted to see someone who can bring an end to the war. Not run around for hours until their opponent collapsed from exhaustion. There was only one way to settle this, "Fine. I'll do it myself."

"Sorry, what?" the boy said.