Shuriken16: Lmao no not stealing your ideas you're just really good at predicting me XD Or maybe I'm just predictable? Hmm... But you aren't right about everything that's going to happen, still plenty of intrigue left but I would say the story will likely be done by between chapter 50-55 if I had to guess. I've finished writing this arc and am partway through working on the FINAL Arc.

Also I'd like to go on record and say that this might be one of my favorite chapters I've written for this story! So I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did XD

. . .

Doctor Braun

. . .

"Relax doctor, the situation is being dealt with and we've salvaged all we need to."

"I don't think you understand, between this thing eating our data on the server, and those monsters appearing in Tokyo throwing the electrical grid out of whack we might lose the entire thing!"

"Your point? I just said we've salvaged all we need to."

"Yes but... W-What about Annika? If the server is completely deleted her mental data will be wiped too!"

"She's a corpse, Braun. And her usefulness as an asset isn't worth keeping, do you understand?"

"I-I... Yes sir..."

"Then as soon as that thing is destroyed and isn't locking us out, activate the server purge."

"Right, I'll be ready."

As their call ended, his eyes lifted to the screen before him, watching the footage of Annika who remained sobbing to herself. She'd been crying for what seemed hours, after learning the truth about her parents. She remained blind to the world around her, she wasn't some out of control program she was just a young girl who'd lost everything.

Braun clenched his fists tightly, "No matter what Caster says... You're still alive, aren't you?"

. . .

Thomas

. . .

"I tested out a temporary gateway portal using the signals connecting our Digivices," Thomas explained as some of the spare suits offloaded pieces of equipment procured from a local computer store. "Just last night, actually, so I've got the ideas to tweak it fresh in my mind."

Grayson's eye twitched, "Well I'm glad I know now what that particular red flag that crossed my desk was..."

As the extra CPU's were placed around the living room, Thomas and Kokuwamon started moving between them connecting cables and linking everything back to his laptop. "You've got an IP Address for the server right? That's all I need to open a door once we're set."

"Done," Grayson nodded, arms folding over his chest. Before a ping on his phone got his attention, he looked to the screen after pulling it from his pocket before his eyes widened. "Son of a-"

"What's wrong?" Thomas questioned, as he turned on power to the other CPU units.

Grayson sighed before answering, "Good news and bad news, the good news is your friends have taken care of the breach in Tokyo."

"And the bad news?" Kokuwamon asked, tilting his head.

Grayson turned his phone around to show them the screen, a video played of an armored digimon with a flaming sword cutting another digimon in half. "It's already hitting social media, and we don't have the luxury of a massive storm and evacuation like last time." Shaking his head, "We won't be able to stop this from going public, not for long anyways."

"We'll worry about the cover ups after we save the internet, how does that sound?" Thomas replied simply, not seeming to care much about things being exposed.

Before Grayson could answer, the front door opened. "Sir, I've got the Rhode's boy."

Thomas perked up immediately, looking to the door as Cody stepped inside alongside Shamanman, following the man working for Grayson. "Glad you could make it, have you been filled in?"

Cody looked to Thomas, smirking lightly. "Yeah something something end of the modern world or something like that?"

To which Thomas shrugged, "Eh, close enough... Oh yeah!" He looked back towards his parents who were waiting patiently at the far side of the room. "Mom, Dad, this is Cody." He introduced with a smile, "And his partner Shamanmon, they saved my life more than once when we were in the Digital World, and maybe once or twice in the real world..."

Cody blinked as he received the praise, looking towards Thomas' parents. "Uh- Well I don't know if I'd go that far... Nice to meet you." While Shamanmon waved politely from behind.

Thomas' father stepped forward and offered Cody a handshake, "Well in any case, thank you for looking after my son." Which Cody accepted. Before the older man quirked an eyebrow as he got a better look at the young delinquent. "You aren't... In a gang are you?"

Thomas was unable to resist, "Ahahahaha- Told you- AHAHAHAHAH!"

Cody clenched his teeth as he glared at the chair bound genius, "Hey SHUT UP!" His cheeks bright red.

"Can we focus!" Grayson barked, "We've still got a crisis on our hands here, can you open a doorway or not?"

Thomas blinked at his outburst, before shrugging. He made his way over to the laptop, while Kokuwamon ran a final HDMI plug to the large flat-screen TV. "You got that IP?" But didn't wait for an answer, "Just punch it in on this keyboard."

Grayson nodded slowly, looking to one of the nearby suits. Who came over and did just that, tapping away at the keyboard. "What now?"

"Now, we hope this doesn't brick every CPU in the house." Thomas said simply, as he plugged his Digivice into the machine. The moment he did so, the lights began to flicker throughout the house, and the TV screen rippled with light, a swirling vortex making up the center of the screen. "Alright, we've got out doorway, no way to know for sure how long it'll stay open." Looking to his partner and Shamanmon, "You guys ready?"

Kokuwamon nodded eagerly, "Yes sir!"

Shamanmon grinning as he held up his club, "Let's rock!"

Without any further delay, the duo of digimon jumped into the TV screen and were instantly sent hurdling through cyber space. Quickly leveling out as they flew down a long tunnel of light, racing towards their objective.

"This is wild!" Shamanmon exclaimed as they went, "It's almost like when we first came to the human world!"

"Just keep your eyes forward," Cody said, his face appearing on a small holo-screen behind Shamanmon as he watched through his digivice. "No wandering off."

"Right!" Kokuwamon replied, "I'll lead the way! I've got the way forward memorized!"

Thomas appeared over his shoulder as well on another small screen. "We'll be watching, and we'll support you however we can!"

. . .

Kuramon

. . .

The tiny digimon had continued devouring every piece of data it could get its hands on, converting it all into power. For what exactly, it wasn't sure. But it's body began to warp and shift, unable to contain how much it had devoured already.

"Kuramon... SHINKA!"

Growing actual legs equipped with sharp claws, while retaining it's single eye.

"Tsumemon!"

The strange digimon looked around briefly, seeing just how much more there was to devour. Narrowing it's eye, before it began to clench it's body, tensing up and small bits of data broke off from it's body! Each one began to shift and warp, glowing as they started taking shape! In mere moments, there were five more Kuramon hovering around Tsumemon. It blinked in surprise, looking between them while they all silently watched.

Tsumemon couldn't explain why, but it felt connected to them. Like, they weren't just clones, but extensions of it's own body. Lacking a will of their own, but respondent to it's own.

All it took was a thought, and they began to spread out and devour data as well. Collecting it for the main body, while Tsumemon did the same and continued to feast...

. . .

Kai and Madison

. . .

"Last update we received, your friends were preparing to open a gateway into the net." The rather scary looking man in a suit explained, as the driver continued taking the recently picked up teens and their Digimon towards some government facility. "But communication is still choppy, it'll be some time before we know how things are progressing on that end."

Kai nodded, "Right, okay..." Looking down at Kotemon snoozing in his lap. Thinking about everything he'd learned after being picked up by CS:GO's Tokyo division. "Out of the frying pan, I guess..."

"Lets hope they can hold on," Madison noted, patting Tsukaimon's head. "Our digimon are pretty tuckered out as it is..."

"Yeah, it'd be dangerous to send them right back into a fight in this condition." Kai agreed, "They need time to rest and recover their strength."

"It'll be more dangerous if we let this situation grow further out of control." Their oh-so-polite host grunted in response, crossing his arms. "We might not have the luxury of waiting for the right time."

Kai was about to respond, when Madison beat him to it. "And just rushing in halfcocked will only make things worse, so our friends will have to do for now."

The suit sighed and shook his head, "Fine, you're the ones with the monsters..."

Kai chose to ignore that remark, and looked down at his Digivice, "I sure hope Cody and Thomas can handle things until we get there."

Madison flashed a smile, gripping his hand lightly. "I'm sure they'll be fine, Thomas is a resourceful kid after all..."

. . .

Kokuwamon and Shamanmon

. . .

"I can see the opening up ahead!" The metal beetle digimon called out, "That didn't take nearly as long as I expected!"

"That's because we've got you on a direct connection to the server," Thomas explained, appearing on the holo-screen behind his partner. "Just had to bounce off a satellite and maybe take a backdoor into a few Cyber Core subroutines."

Grayson's voice following in the background, "You did what?"

"Here we go!" Shamanmon grinned, gripping his club tight as they flew through the entrance. Emerging from the tunnel into the massive cyber space, the hole that had made up their entrance disappeared in an instant behind them. "Hey... Was that supposed to happen?"

"I have to keep any and all exits closed or that thing could get out into the internet." Thomas stated, "So for now, you're locked in."

"No problem!" Kokuwamon assured, turning to look across the vast sphere they were trapped inside. "We'll zap this bug real quick and get out!" Narrowing his eyes as he began to search, "There! I see something moving!" Spotting a tiny blob eating away at more files. "Come on!" Leading Shamanmon as he started flying towards it, as if the proper rules of gravity didn't apply in here.

"Wait!" Shamanmon cried out, spotting something else to their flank, "I see something too!" Two, no three more of the same little one-eyed blob! "Uh... I thought there was just supposed to be one digimon."

"There is only one-" Grayson's words hitching as he peered through the screens as well. "Oh god dammit..."

Thomas reappearing as he tapped away at his keyboard, "Hmm, they're multiplying... A quick scan shows they're connected to a central unit," He explained, "Like drones, they're spreading out to eat more data that is automatically transferred to the main body!" Quickly adding another subroutine to his own laptop, "I'll keep a scan running on the server so we can keep track of how many there currently are so we don't miss any!" A second later, a number appeared just over his screen.

249

"What!? Already!?" Grayson exclaimed, "There was only one like an hour ago!"

Cody swallowed nervously, "You sure they're gonna be able to handle that many?"

"Relax," Thomas replied, waving him off. "They just need to eliminate the main body and these drones should die off."

"Okay," Shamanmon nodded, slowly turning as his eyes darted between the various Kuramon. "How do we know which is the main body?"

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"I'm picking up a slightly larger data mass than the others," Thomas answered, "Up near the center structure... What is that?" The digimon following his gaze towards the large sphere hovering in the middle of the server space.

"Might be where they were housing that girls consciousness," Grayson answered. "But whatever that thing is doing up there can't be good, so get moving!"

"Right, no time to waste!" Kokuwamon nodded, the duo flying up towards sphere. Circling around to the top, they spotted a digimon larger than the others. This one had legs on it at least, "I think we found our source!" The two slowly hovering closer to the sphere's surface to land.

"Aw he's just a little guy." Shamanmon chuckled. "Maddie would love him."

Cody blinked, "Yeah, you're not wrong..."

The moment their feet touched down however, Tsumemon's eye turned away from the data it was snacking on. Landing on both of them before it's eye narrowed sharply, "Shin'nyu-sha!" And all of a sudden, every eye in the surrounding area turned on them as well.

397

Kokuwamon held up his pincers, sparks flying between them. "There's a term for what we just did, isn't there Thomas?"

"I believe you're thinking of kicking a hornets nest," He answered, looking around at the number of Kuramon glaring at them right now. "And I'd say that's a pretty accurate assessment."

Their eyes began to flash, and instantly Shamanmon cried, "MOVE!" Both he and Kokuwamon spread out in different directions. Evading the small laser beams being released from their eyes, they burned harmlessly against the sphere's surface beneath their feet.

"Annika-chan o mamore!" Tsumemon cried as it lunged at Kokuwamon, grabbing onto the scrambling metal beetle and beginning to scratch at him with those sharp nails.

"Agh! Hey! Ow! Get off!" Kokuwamon whined, grabbing at it with his pincers. "Ngh! Coming at ya Shamanmon!" Firing up his electric pincers, sending a bolt right into Tsumemon's body. The tiny digimon let go in an instant, being blasted by the electric jolt right towards the green Goblin.

"Game over!" Shamanmon cried, gripping his club with both hands, mimicking the form he'd seen Cody use before swinging as hard as he could. Striking Tsumemon and sending the little digimon flying off the sphere, hurdling through the empty space. "Ha! Perfect swing!"

"Eh, your form could use a little work." Cody shrugged, "But still, nice job."

"Don't congratulate him on a job half-finished," Grayson replied, "Stop screwing around and finish it off!"

"Right!" Shamanmon nodded, forming a ball of flame in his. "SHAMA-BOMB!" Smacking it with his club, and sending it hurdling towards Tsumemon.

But before it could hit mark, a dozen Kuramon got in the way. Acting like a shield, all of them being destroyed by the blast but preventing Tsumemon from getting hit at all!

Shamanmon's eyes widened, "Th-The others blocked it!?"

Thomas grimaced, "They're smart enough to protect the main unit... This isn't gonna be easy."

385

Back in Thomas' home, his mother and father were watching intently. The man of the house swallowing nervously, "I knew this was going to be scary but..." Having never seen Digimon fight before.

Before his mother suddenly gasped, "E-Everyone! Check your screens, the message changed!"

"What!?" Grayson pulled his device out in an instant, everyone else doing the same. "Oh... Oh shit."

The message displaying to all screens with any sort of internet access to the Cyber Core, now had something entirely different displaying across them. Rather than a message, it was now video feed from within the digital space, a side view of Kokuwamon and Shamanmon.

"That's not good..." Cody muttered, his voice audible in the background as well.

Shamanmon tilted his head, "Wait, why?"

"Because it means this whole thing is being broadcast throughout the world," Thomas answered, "To every screen there is..."

"Whoa really!?" Shamanmon grinned, waving his arms. "Look Granny! Can you see me?! Cody I'm on TV!"

The punk teen tensed up, "DON'T USE MY NAME DUMBASS!... Also hi Granny, if you're watching..."

"It hardly matters at this point," Thomas replied, "Let's just focus on our object-" Before he was interrupted by a notification appearing on his phone. "What? An email..." Before he opened it up, his eyes widening. "I-It's from the Digimon..."

"Anika-chan o kizutsukenaide!"

Cody blinked, "Uh... If this thing is locked into the server how does it have Thomas' email?"

"Good question," Grayson grunted, rubbing his chin. "There is just way too much we don't understand about this thing."

"Well what is it saying now?" Cody asked, looking between those in attendance.

"No hurt Annika." Grayson translated, "Or something to that effect..."

Thomas narrowed his eyes, looking back at Grayson. "Something isn't right here, you can feel it too can't you?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I'm thinking we need to ask the owners of this server some more questions."

"Tsumemon... SHINKA!"

The cry sounding through their devices drew all eyes back to the server space, light erupted near the point of Shamanmon's attack. Before a long, gangly digimon with an actual proper head, two eyes and a mouth appeared. It had long arms with big hands, and many tentacles making up the rest of its body!

"Keramon!"

"It evolved a gain!?" Cody exclaimed, "Oh man, I'm getting some serious Arcadiamon flashbacks right now."

Without any warning, Keramon went right on the attack. Charging Kokuwamon and Shamanmon at full speed, striking before they had the chance to react! It extended it's lower tentacles and wrapped around Shamanmon like an octopus.

"Agh! G-Get off me!" He growled as it bound his arms and legs before spinning and throwing him off of the sphere. "Waaaaagh!"

"Shamanmon!" Kokuwamon gasped, before narrowing his eyes and sparking his pincers to life. "Alright you asked for it!" Charging forward to attack Keramon, but the wild digimon attacked by extending both its arms. They stretched out and grabbed Kokuwamon by the shoulders, pinning his arms to his sides. "Eh? Uh oh..." Before Keramon started spinning, "Agh! W-Wait no! I take it back you didn't ask for anything!" Before releasing and throwing Kokuwamon off of the Sphere as well.

543

The metal bug bounced across a particularly rigid data stream before flipping and leveling out beside Shamanmon. The Goblin digimon shook off his own flight and glared back at Keramon. "Man this guy is annoying," Before forming a fireball in his hand. "Maybe a few more of these will-"

But before he even had the chance to hurl it, Keramon opened it's mouth and light began to glow from within! Before it began firing off bolts of pinkish-red energy at them!

Both of them evaded as best they could, Shamanmon gritting his teeth. "Fine lets play ball!" Swinging his club, he sent one of the bolts shooting right back at Keramon.

The strange digimon blinking as it raced towards him, "Eh?" Before hitting him square on, exploding right in his face.

"Nice one Shamanmon!" Cody fist pumped.

But as the smoke cleared, they'd see Keramon's body all burnt and twisted it. It began to shake off the soot and burns while no less then thirty Kuramon formed up into a swarm behind it. Kokuwamon clicking his pincers nervously, "Oh dear..."

Suddenly the Kuramon surrounding Keramon began to change as well, evolving into Tsumemon, while a few even transformed all the way into more Keramon!

"They're all evolving now!?" Grayson exclaimed, "This is bad, really bad!"

"Yeah we'll they aren't the only ones who can evolve!" Cody exclaimed, gripping his Digivice. "Come on Shamanmon!"

Thomas nodded, "You too Kokuwamon!" Before bringing up another program on his PC. "Time to test the remote control program!"

Both Digimon nodded, feeling the power start to surge in their bodies! "RIGHT!"

Digivolution

Keramon's swarm hesitated, watching as the light enveloped their enemies.

"Shamanmon Digivolve to!"

"Kokuwamon Digivolve to!"

The world getting it's first view of their Digivolution as Shamanmon grew larger, golden fur growing over his body and his wooden club was replaced by one made of hard bone. While at the same time, Kokuwamon grew larger in size, turning from a metal beetle to a full blown mech. The two champions emerging from the light in their new forms ready to fight.

"Apemon!"

"Mekanorimon!"

Keramon seemed to haven shaken off it's initial awe, and in wordless order, had it's swarm unleash their attacks. Each and every one firing off bolts of light towards the champions.

Thomas had a hand on his mouse and another on the keyboard, "Alright, let's hope this program works!" Engaging thrusters, Mekanorimon flew straight up evading the attacks. While Apemon swung from a data stream to avoid them. "Nice, a little stiff but I think we can work with this!"

Thomas' dad watched worriedly, "Is this... How you always fight?"

"Nah, usually I'm inside of Mekanorimon during this part."

"Both parents exclaimed, You're WHAT!?"

Apemon spun through the air, flipping as he tensed up and made his fur stand on end. "Furious Spike!" Returning fire with a barrage of his own razor sharp quills. They cut through a number of the attacking little digimon, but the Keramon scattered for the most part, evidently sensing the danger. "Dammit, I bet the main one is running!"

"Thomas can you track it?" Mekanorimon questioned, his single eye darting between the Keramon all around. Their numbers were steadily increasing, as the Kuramon that kept multiplying were starting to evolve as well. And with each evolution, they were each capable of consuming more data and producing more Kuramon drones!

939

"Hang on, tracing the signal... Getting harder to track remotely." He replied, "There! It's running along the far wall!"

Mekanorimon's eye traced to the designated target, locking on. "The weapon controls are yours! Full power to the main gun!"

"Locking on... Firing!"

"Tri-Beam Lasers!" Mekanorimon cried, unleashing the beam from all three lenses on his chest. They raced through cyber space, cutting through any Kuramon or Keramon that got in the way. But the attack never hit it's mark, striking nothing but the wall of the server space and erupting in an explosion. "That's a miss!"

Thomas released an annoyed groan, "I was afraid of that, it isn't much but there's just enough latency between us I can't make a clean shot remotely!" Before looking to Cody, "It's going to be up to you and Apemon to finish that thing off."

Cody nodded firmly in response, "We'll get it done," Looking back to his digivice, "You hear that? The main one is ours to deal with!"

Apemon swung himself from another data stream, beginning to head towards the main Keramon. "Then let's go!"

1584

A swarm of Kuramon attempted to get in his way, but were almost immediately blasted by another beam from Mekanorimon, followed by Thomas' voice. "We'll do what we can to keep the swarm off you!"

"Thanks!" Apemon grinned, closing in on the target.

Mekanorimon saw a group of Keramon coming in front their flank and redirected course, "Try this! Gyro Break!" As Thomas opened fire, releasing a swarm of those disc shaped bombs, causing a series of explosions to erupt through the server space.

While Apemon angled his descent towards Keramon, "I've got you now!" His fists erupting in blue fire, "Magic Monkey FIST!" At the last second however, Keramon changed course. Turning and lunging at Apemon, it wrapped around his neck and face, "Gah! Ngh! G-Get off of me you little-" Before it's body began to erupt with light!

"Keramon... SHINKA!"

Apemon was nearly blinded as the light erupted against his body. The tendrils currently wrapped around his neck suddenly grew longer and thicker, the main body of Keramon becoming hard and rigid like a shell. When the lights faded, Apemon was essentially tangling with a big chrysalis!

"Kurasarimon!"

Cody could see what was happening, noting the sharp blades at the end of those new tentacles. "Apemon get out of there!"

But it was too late, "Data Crusher!" The edges of those blades began to light up, before stabbing into Apemon's bound body.

"AAAGH!" He cried out, as shocks were sent into his form from every point of contact.

"APEMON!" Mekanorimon cried, "Let him go!" He shouted, starting to fly towards them with his limited motor control. Before being forced to halt as the swarm surrounded him, what must have been hundreds of Kuramon and Keramon from all sides, each with their eyes aimed a him.

3875

Kurasarimon finished with Apemon, spinning and throwing him at Mekanorimon, the swarm making space to allow him inside. Once the ape digimon crashed into the mech however, they swarm opened fire. Hammering the duo with a barrage of fire from all sides, leaving no way to escape or block. Battering them both while Mekanorimon attempted to cover Apemon's body, their human partners forced to watch in horror.

It lasted for a short few seconds, but when it was done the bodies of Apemon and Mekanorimon were left drifting together in the server space. When they didn't move, the swarm dispersed, as did Kurasarimon, to continue collecting data.

"Apemon buddy, say something!" He called out into his digivice.

"A-Are they... Dead?" Thomas' mother dared to ask.

"No," Thomas shook his head, "If they were dead, their bodies would break down and disappear, they're just knocked out or maybe stunned." He explained, watching as the number of those strange digimon continued to increase exponentially.

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"We're getting nowhere fast." The boy genius said, looking back at Grayson. "They're converting files into energy to evolve and multiply, once they start getting into the big stuff like video files they're gonna grow even faster."

8730

"W-We aren't... Finished yet." Apemon's voice chimed through Cody's digivice, as his body shuddered when he tried to move.

"That's... That's right!" Mekanorimon added, metal creaking as he righted himself in the air. "We'll evolve too, we'll take this thing down together!"

Thomas and Cody looked to one another, their digivices starting to glow bright in their hands. The duo nodding while the adults looked on in confusion, "Hell yeah!"

Jogress Digivolution

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