A/N: Hey everyone. That is, if anyone is actually reading this, but anyway….Yeah, I know I said once every couple weeks, but me being me, I starting writing chapters out of order. Then, when I had the next three chapters ready, I decided I didn't like something that I did at the start, and I just finished rewriting this one. shrug At least I know what I'm gonna do. Well, with that said, go ahead and read. AND REVIEW!!!!

Strikemon's POV:

Where is he? Bloody forest... I grumbled, forcing my way through yet another bush.

"Strike claw!"

"AHH!" I dove to the side as a metal claw flew by me and impaled itself in the ground.

When I got to my feet again, there was a claw at my throat. "Nice to see you again Aidan."

"Dammit Tharos! You trying to kill me or something?"

The Strikedramon laughed. "Nah. If I was the other claw woulda hit you by now."

Only after he said that did I notice the thin wire connecting the first claw to his robotic right arm. "When'd you get that installed?"

"Not too long ago. It was a pain to work out the details, but it's a bit more reliable now, I think." With a yank, he brought the claw back and reattached it to his arm. "So, why stop by? I'm sure it's not for my company."

"I have an injured friend. I thought you might me able to help."

"I suppose so." He said with a sigh. "Kids these days. Always getting into trouble."

By the time we got back to the island, a slick bundle had been pushed up by the shore.

"I can use that." Tharos picked up the bundle and walked into the trolley.

"I hope this works...".

"It should. You'll know by tomorrow, either way." Seadramon's head rose slightly above the water as he spoke.

"Right." Turning, I walked into the trolley, where Tharos was examining Ryu's wound. "So how is he?"

"Not as bad as you may think. It already seems to be healing a bit."

"Really?"

"Thing is, no digimon that I know of can heal this quickly. No...actually that isn't really correct. I know of one other that heals like this." He said, shooting a rather pointed look at me.

"What?"

"There's something about the two of you that greatly speeds up healing. Is there something you're not telling me?"

"You're imagining things, Tharos." I said with a nervous laugh. He's onto us...

"If you say so." He said with a small smile.

"Hmm...how long do you think he'll take to heal completely?" I asked.

"Another couple hours, give or take. Why?"

"We came to the forest for a reason. If I can take care of it by myself, when he wakes up, we can leave immediately."

"Need a hand?"

"Ummm...can you keep an eye on him instead?"

"Heh. Sure. I'll keep an eye on him till he's awake."

"And then?" I asked suspiciously.

"I don't know. I'll think of something then."

Walking over to where Ryu lay, I removed the gauntlet from his right arm and put it on. "Okay. I'll be back a little later. Keep him safe!"

Tharos' POV:

Keep him safe? Of course I will. I save his tail so many times and he thinks I'll just let his buddy get hurt? No thanks at all...

Walking over to where the other dragon lay sleeping, I carefully hoisted him onto my back and ran out of the Trolley.

Strikemon/Aidan's POV:

Now, how to get this thing working...there! The map display lit up, and a dot appeared in the middle of the forest.

Following the map, I found a small clearing, where another dragon statue stood. Well, I guess this is the place. Now, where's the guard? I don't want to make the same mistake.

After circling the clearing for a few minutes and after seeing nothing but a few dead trees to one side, I flew lower, and landed with my back to the statue.

I saw something move out of the corner of my eye, and threw myself to the side as something shot past.

"Branch Drill!" A second object shot toward me, and I barely managed to dodge that as well.

Tracking the attacks back to their source, I saw a Woodmon emerge from the grove of dead trees. A Woodmon! Pure genius.

I grinned as I felt a flame spark within me. "I don't want to waste time fighting you, so I'll make sure that I end it with one blow." Quickly taking to the air, I flew above the living tree and fired off a Pyro Bomb directly into its hollow interior. The resulting blast send up a large cloud of dust and debris, but it seemed like I had won the battle.

"Okay, now that that's done with, I just need to retrieve the—!" a series of vines wrapped themselves around my arms, legs and torso.

The digivice bleeped and a long glowing (Duskmon-style) blade formed in the dragon's mouth.

Thanks. I needed that. I thought. And I can add my own blades into the mix while I'm at it. I sliced the vine off my right arm with my tail blade, and worked to free myself from the others.

...Not fast enough though. The second things started exploding around me, I realized what had happened—the dead tree was alive again. It had somehow evolved itself up a level to a Cherrymon.

"Strike Claw!" Something came crashing down on the vines that were still binding my left side.

"Move you idiot!" The something shoved me back and jumped away as another round of bombs exploded.

When the smoke cleared, I saw Tharos standing a little to my right. "Looks like I have to save you again Aidan."

"I was doing fine."

"Whatever. You may want to move though." He leapt into the air as more explosions rocked the area.

"Strike Claw!" Through the smoke, I saw him launch his right claw into the cherrymon's side, then use the wire to pull himself in to strike it again.

I can help. With a roar, I launched off another Pyro bomb, but unlike Tharos' attack, all mine did was leave a few scorch marks on the thing's trunk.

Figures. He hits it and it gets hurt. I hit it and nothing happens.

I felt the flame in my core blaze up and a small grin slid across my face as I evolved.

"Tharos, get out of my way!" I yelled as I started running for the Cherrymon.

He looked up, considered a moment, hit the tree a few more times and jumped back, out of range.

As soon as he was out of the way, it turned its attention back toward me. "Cherry bomber!"

"Blaze Wall!" The wall of fire stopped the attack long before I even had to slow down.

When I was a couple meters away, I fired off another Nova Barrage. Admittedly, the initial blast didn't do nearly the damage I was hoping for, but it did have the added benefit of setting the tree ablaze.

Moments later, an even larger explosion sent me into the ground as the Cherrymon exploded, and I blacked out.

"Ugh…" I opened my eyes and sat up, realizing that I was no longer in my Blazedramon form.

"Here." Tharos grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet. "Nice job, hitting the high explosives with a fire attack at point blank range. Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Shut up Tharos." I growled.

"Why? It's quite amusing. Hell, it's downright hilarious. Big bad baby dragon blowing himself up."

With a snarl, I launched an attack of my own at him, but he dodged my claws and kicked me back into the blast crater.

"By the way, you'll be glad to know that he's healed. He should be up any minute now."