Black:...What're you planning?
Me: What do you mean?
Black: It looks like you're more interested in seeing someone suffer more than usual. You turning into an evil Overlord or something? *snickers*
Me:...Don't compare yourself to me.
Novice made the book float towards Mimi with a very devious look. "I think I'm going to enjoy this session," The Overseer said as he made a look that unnerved most of the Children.
Mimi felt very apprehensive, but she decided to read anyway.
Palmon's Angry Evolution!
As usual, the title card showed the silhouette of Togemon.
"How long have we been walking down this way?" Ruby idly asked as the group was making their way through the sewers.
"Not really sure, but I think it's only been an hour at most," Palmon said.
"For a shortcut, this is really taking a long time," Yang groaned, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible.
"It kind of did," Taichi commented, "Despite us trying to pass the time by singing."
That memory earned some chuckles from the seven Children and digimon.
"Don't complain, you're not the only one suffering through this dump," Weiss deadpanned.
"Feels like this tunnel just keeps going, doesn't it?" Jaune sighed.
"Hey come on guys, don't talk about stuff like that," Pierce said.
"Pierce is right. We should be focused on what's ahead," Pyrrha agreed.
"Easier said than done though since we can't really see anything," Ren sighed.
"Then how about we talk a little to pass the time?" Gyro suggested. "So, what do you guys all want to do when we find our way back to Remnant?"
This time it was Takeru who chuckled at the memory, "We didn't so much as start talking, but we kind of just drifted there."
"Cookies!/Pancakes!" Ruby and Nora said respectively at the same time.
"I wished for barbeque," Yamato said remembering the incident fondly now.
Yang smiled at her sister, before tilting her head as she thought about the question "I guess for me… a nice shampoo really." she said with a shrug.
Sora raised an eyebrow, "Just a shampoo?"
Novice responded by shrugging, "Anything that could restore her hair would probably do."
"Right," Mimi commented, remembering how much effort it takes to maintain hair. Though even she doesn't take it to the level Yang does.
"A nice long bath in an actual bathtub." Weiss sighed out.
"I wished the same," Taichi recalled fondly.
"Reading a book in bed." Blake said in her usual tone.
"I think I'd rather like to meditate." Ren said, smiling a bit.
"Urgh, they're so boring," Black complained about not hearing anything interesting.
Novice sighed at his partner, "You do remember Blake's favorite reading material, right?"
"Oh, right, it was meow... Oh come on! You asked me," Black complained with a glare.
"Did you seriously think that would make a difference," Novice retorted with an evil grin.
"What would you have liked to do in that situation, Black" Iori asked innocently.
This earned a worried look from Miyako, "Iori... I'm not sure we want to-" "Novice," Black interrupted, which earned a confused look from everyone.
"I'm sorry, what," Iori asked, not sure if he heard that right.
Black smiled wickedly, "I would like to do Novice." Black looked mildly surprised at being able spout that one. That confusion was cut off when Novice whacked her with Viisauden Keppi again.
"Over twenty years and there are still innuendos that I don't recognize immediately," The Overseer lamented in his head. "Mimi, please keep reading." Novice then motioned for the Chosen of Purity to continue.
"Looks like we all have something to look forward to when we go back," Pyrrha smiled.
"What about you though?" Pierce asked the crimson haired girl, earning a thoughtful hum from her.
"I think…" she smiled after a moment "No, I KNOW the first thing I'm doing is calling my sister."
"Who's Pyrrha's sister," Hikari asked out of curiosity.
Novice sighed a little, "I don't know. I do have a guess as to what her name is, but I think we should wait for the story to reveal it. Because I could be wrong."
"Oh, okay," Hikari accepted with a small sigh.
"I'll probably do something like that myself." Jaune said with a sigh "Need to call home and apologize for just leaving like that."
"I think for me and Gyro it's pretty dumb though." Pierce said with a laugh.
"We mostly just want to kick back and play some video games for a bit." Gyro said with a smile, Pierce grinning in agreement.
"That's what Takeru wanted to do," Yamato revealed with a small snicker.
"HEY!" The Chosen of Hope wasn't happy about it.
"Come on, what's the big deal," Daisuke said with a grin.
"Video games make you dumber," Miyako retorted.
"No they don't!" Daisuke, Novice and Taleru shouted in unison. Surprising each other.
This earned some laughs out of everyone.
"Hey, its cool," Yang chuckled. "But you had a good idea. I dunno about you guys, but I'm fired up now," she grinned.
"Okay then, let's race to see which side can reach the end of the tunnel first!" Veemon said.
"You're on partner," Pierce grinned.
Before they could start to race though, they all stopped as they heard a strange sound come from deeper back into the tunnel, making them turn around in a bit of confusion.
"Oh crap," Agumon complained with a grimace. As did everyone else who knew what was coming.
"Crap is the right word," Taichi agreed with his partner.
Before they could start to race though, they all stopped as they heard a strange sound-
"Mimi you red that part already," Palmon commented from her spot next to her partner.
"No I didn't," Mimi said in confusion.
"Yes you did," Ken said from his seat.
"Now could you please read forward," Sora also asked from her seat.
Before they could start to race though-
"Okay, that's enough of that," Novice said as he shot sparkling light into Mimi's head from his finger tip.
"What did you do!?" Koshiro demanded in concern.
"...The simplified answer is that I gave her 'anti-repressant'. As the name implies, it prevents Mimi from repressing anything," Novice said simply.
"It won't hurt Mimi, will it," Palmon asked in worry.
"It won't," Black said with a small yawn, "Though she might lose her mind when whatever she was repressing comes to her mind."
"I'm sure it's not that bad," Novice said, honestly thinking that Mimi was just overreacting.
Deciding to brave through whatever may come, Mimi continued reading.
"Are… are there Digimon that live in the sewers?" Jaune asked after a moment.
It seemed like Novice's spell was doing what it was supposed to.
"Honestly? Yes, only one type of Digimon at that." Gomamon replied, suppressing a shudder.
"Is it something strong?" Weiss asked warily.
"If only it were that simple," Tentomon commented with a sigh.
"Oh no, it's very weak, it's just…" Tentomon trailed off, unable to bring himself to say it as he shuddered with a sound of disgust.
"Ok, what has you guys so spooked?" Gyro couldn't help but say, completely confused.
"What was it in there," Veemon asked with a shiver at the thought of his seniors being scared of something.
"You'll find out soon enough," Gabumon said remembering the terror of having that happening to his pelt.
As the Digimon was about to answer, they, well, got their answer, as barreling down the tunnel towards them was a huge group of slug like Digimon with green skin and blue spots, it's eyes standing on stalks and unfocused, its tongue hanging out its mouth stupidly.
"Numemon." all the Digimon said with a groan.
"Oh, right. Those guys," Veemon commented, knowing how disgusting those things are.
Digimon Analyzer: Numemon
Numemon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Mollusk Digimon. Among the different species in the Digital World, Numemon stands at the bottom of the barrel, truly, it is the weakest Digimon species to exist. However, most other Digimon prefer to avoid it, thanks to its special attack which… uh, which makes it throw its poop… I wish I was kidding.
"So are we," Sora commented on the analyzer.
"Let's get going. These guys aren't strong, but they're DISGUSTING," Biyomon said with a shiver.
"I'm afraid to ask, but how bad are we talking here?" Yang asked...and she got her answer when one of the Numemon threw something at her, narrowly missing her, but they could all see what had landed on the ground.
"...they throw their own poop…" was the flat observation by Gyro.
A moment passed, before it was broken by Pierce shouting "Run for your dignity!"
The Children couldn't help it, despite understanding fully why Pierce shouted that, it was still funny enough to make them laugh.
That set everyone off, as they started double timing it.
Eventually they took a sharp turn into what appeared to be like a side exit from the sewer system, running as fast as they could through the tunnel which slowly started to turn into a simple stone cave like area, until…
"I can see light, keep going!" Agumon shouted as everyone ran as fast as they could, and when they reached the literal light at the end of the tunnel, all basically jumped as they hit the edge of a thankfully low cliff, falling into the marshlands that could be seen for miles.
"We should be fine here," Tentomon said once they caught their breath.
"Why is that?" Weiss asked.
"Because Numemon hate light," Patamon replied.
"Because Numemon hate the light," Wormmon supplied, and true enough, they found the Numemon cowering at the edge of the tunnel.
"Thank Oum for small mercies," Blake sighed. This was one of the more demeaning moments of her life for sure. A killer monster? They could handle. Being pelted with droppings...that was a line they didn't want to have to cross…
Black suddenly snickered about something.
"What's funny," Mimi asked, though she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.
Black looked like she was contemplating something before shrugging. "Before I became Novice's partner I liked to punish my subordinates by throwing them into pit with an army of Numemon. It was surprisingly effective, especially to all my female minions," Black said remembering some of the incidents fondly. "The Numemon were lucky that I found a use for them, otherwise I would've exterminated their disgusting specie," the black feline digimon then said with a small frown.
The Children weren't sure which part was more horrible, Black once upon a time imprisoning her subordinates to be pelted by Numemon, or the casual way she said she would've exterminated an entire species of digimon.
"Moving on," Novice said with a warning tone towards Black.
"Yeah...I think I'd have died of embarrassment," Jaune groaned, and that was saying something since him and humiliation were old friends.
"Sure are," Tentomon said with a snicker, earning a mild glare from Gomamon.
"Let's just keep moving on," Pyrrha sighed, though she also hoped they didn't have to deal with those things anytime soon.
"...Oh no," Mimi commented having a look of horror on her face.
"Mimi? What's wrong," Palmon asked in worry.
"...I didn't want to remember this," Mimi said with a light sniffle.
"Mimi, it's okay, we don't blame you," Sora said, giving her friend a comforting hug.
"What are Sora and Mimi talking about," Hikari asked in worry, never having heard of this.
Taichi gave his sister a sigh, "If it's what I think it is... Something that none of us can really blame her for."
Swallowing a hiccup, Mimi continued reading.
"Agreed," everyone nodded before continuing on their way.
It was after a good 10 or so minutes of walking that the group came upon yet another oddity of the Digital World.
"Is… is that a field of vending machines?" Nora asked, blinking, even she couldn't come up with this, and she had the craziest dreams.
"...How crazy are we talking about," Jo asked, even though he would probably regret it.
Novice had a thoughtful look, "...Nothing too crazy if you ask me." And then he shrugged.
"That's not very comforting coming from you," Black commented with a serious look. Too serious for the Children's or their digimon's liking.
"Yeah, I'm not even questioning this world anymore, and it's only been a few days." Gyro said dryly.
"...so...anyone wanna see if we can actually get a drink from one of them?" Ruby asked.
"We just assumed they wouldn't work," Jo commented before giving a meaningful look towards Mimi, "Except one of us."
"Hey! I had to try," Mimi retorted, before looking down a little,"But now I kind of wish I hadn't."
The second generation gave Mimi a concerned look at what those innocent looking vending machines could do.
"I don't know…" Blake seemed uncertain.
"I agree. We probably shouldn't fiddle with anything we don't need to," Weiss agreed. "We don't even know what might be in the drinks if you actually got something."
That made the Children stiffen a little.
"...I never thought of that," Koshiro was the first to comment.
"Neither did I," Jo added in.
"Good point," Ruby nodded in understanding.
"Yeah...but tell that to her…" Pierce deadpanned, causing them to turn and see Nora having put in a coin into one of the machines.
"...So Nora's the victim here this time," Sora commented, while Gatomon dragged her paw down her face.
"Why is she just rolling with it?" Jaune said with a groan.
"Because she's Nora," Novice stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Though you have to admit...aren't you all a LITTLE curious as to what's gonna happen?" Gyro chuckled wryly.
"The sad part is we can't deny that…" Ren muttered with a face palm.
Neither could the Children who knew what happened to them with those vending machines.
After a few moments where Salamon had caught up to Nora, climbing up to be on her head again like usual, the carrot headed girl finally pushed one of buttons on the soda machine… only for the front of the machine to fall forward, Nora moving out of the way with a yelp.
And inside the machine was… a Numemon.
"Okay, what happened to you guys with this guy," Hawkmon asked, now increasingly worried.
"Just let Mimi continue," Sora commented, putting her hand on the girl's shoulder for moral support.
"Oh Oum dammit not another one." Pierce said with a groan.
Numemon blinked, seemingly a bit surprised at suddenly being found, before his eyes landed on Nora, blinking again, and then raising one of his stubby arms "Wanna go on a date with me?"
"WHAT!?" Miyako cried out, before giving a concerned look at Mimi who nodded to answer the unspoken question.
"...This can't end well," Daisuke commented, knowing what a normal girl would do in this situation.
Back at the group, Ren could be seen with his eyes darkened and about to march forward before Gyro and Pierce held him back.
Nora looked down at the Numemon for a moment, before shaking her head "No thanks, you're not my type."
"Whuh? How come she didn't try kicking that thing," Daisuke asked in surprise.
"Nora isn't exactly a normal girl," Novice commented having guessed what Daisuke must've thought.
"Aw." Numemon sighed out, sagging his body down "At least I tried I guess." he then looked towards the group, and then back at Nora "Would any of the other girls be interested in a date?"
Now Sora looked worried. She wasn't sure about Ruby and Pyrrha, but the other three girls would definitely do something possibly violent if the Numemon asked them."
"I… don't really think so." Nora said, shaking her head slowly, she thought it would be best to spare the slug from getting a scalding remark courtesy of Weiss or a very unnerving look from Blake.
"Awww…" The Numemon sighed, but ultimately accepted the offer. "Well, can't blame a guy for trying. Thanks for actually being nice about it," he said, before picking up the front of the vending machine...and closed his little hiding spot up.
Seven out of twelve Children and their partners had a disbelieving look, especially Mimi.
"...So they didn't get chased by those things," Yamato commented, earning various questioning sounds from the second generation.
"What," Ken asked, wondering what that meant.
"...Mimi called the Numemon a lowlife which made it and it's friends mad at us," Palmon commented with Mimi looking down in shame.
"...It was sunny at the moment," Mimi defended herself weakly.
"But it got covered with clouds," Palmon pointed out.
"See Mimi," Novice said with an evil smirk, "That's how you deal with someone you don't like asking you on a date the first time."
"...First time?" Biyomon asked with a head tilt.
"You can be more insistent if the guy is persistent," Novice said with a shrug.
"...I guess," Mimi commented with a depressed sigh.
Nora blinked, before shrugging and walking back to the others.
"Huh...for once we settled something peacefully," Weiss blinked. After how their other encounters had gone, this was actually a surprisingly refreshing change.
Mimi let out a few tears at realizing how they could've possibly avoided that whole incident if she wasn't so mean to that Numemon.
"Mimi," Palmon sounded out before hugging her partner.
"Hey, none of us were mad at you back then, and we're not gonna start now," Taichi said supportively.
"...Thanks." Mimi mumbled almost inaudibly.
"Let's be thankful for that and just move on then." Gyro said with a relieved sigh.
"I'm surprised the Numemon up top are more hospitable than the ones in the sewers." Gabumon mused.
"We wouldn't know," Yamato commented dryly.
"Maybe it's thanks to just that? Where they live?" Pyrrha wondered.
"I guess it could be something interesting to figure out… when we're back home of course." Weiss said, before adding the last part with a sigh as they started walking through a forest in the marshlands.
They fell into a comfortable silence after that, focused only on moving onwards, until…
"Is… is that a giant teddy bear?" Pierce asked with a raised eyebrow as he and everyone else looked up at the giant yellow teddy bear.
"Monzaemon," Palmon commented at the sight of the digimon.
"That's Monzaemon, he's the mayor of Toy Town and just loves to play games with people." Veemon answered, relaxing.
Digimon Analyzer: Monzaemon
Monzaemon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Puppet Digimon. A Digimon in the shape of a large teddy bear, they aren't much of a fighter, and are usually the kind to look for peaceful solutions to conflict. This is reflect in it's special attack, Lovely Attack, which sends out hearts that trap it's targets and fills them with a feeling of happiness.
"Huh...," Koshiro sounded out, "That was new.". Then again, now it kind of explained his attack's purpose.
"Play games huh? What kind of games would he play if he had a black gear stuck in him?" Jaune couldn't help but ask dryly.
The Digimon all stalled at the question, as the possibility hadn't crossed their minds yet. "That's...a really good point…" Gomamon admitted.
"Sorry everyone, not to sound like jerks, but after the last few times, we'd rather believe EVERY Digimon we see might have a Black Gear stuck in them until proven otherwise," Pyrrha said. "It's kind of part of being Huntsmen. You either stay on guard, or you end up dead."
"That sounds a little depressing," Gabumon commented.
"Remnantians, remember," Novice pointed out again.
Gatomon also sighed, "I hate to say it, but he's right."
"Your world is scarier than we thought…" Gabumon shivered slightly.
"No kidding," Wormmon commented, which earned him a small hug from Ken.
"You have no idea." all the hunters said together.
Apparently, Monzaemon chose that moment to notice them, as his squinted red eyes moved down to look at them "Welcome to Toy Town children, allow me to welcome you."
"That sounds more ominous than it should." Ren pointed out.
"It didn't sound like that to me at first," Mimi commented on the first few seconds of meeting Monzaemon.
"Split up and run!" Gyro shouted as everyone quickly did just that, running off in different directions, their Digimon partner at their side.
Apparently them suddenly scattering like that confused Monzaemon enough for a few moments that he didn't know where to go, before walking off after one of the pairs.
As it turned out, the pair he was running after was Ruby and Palmon.
"Of course it was," Palmon grumbled a little.
"Oh come on, seriously?!" Ruby shouted in annoyance, before glancing back ahead, seeing there weren't that many trees in her path, nodding to herself as she grabbed Palmon and picked her up "Hang on tight!"
"Wha-?" was all Palmon had time to say before Ruby suddenly rocketed forwards with her semblance, leaving a trail of rose petals behind… which became useless to follow her when she cleared the forest and started to move around everywhere, scattering the petals all over the place so she'd be untraceable while she quickly tried to find a hiding spot.
The screen showed how Ruby was zipping around the trees rather comically, which earned laughs out of everyone. Including Mimi and Palmon, despite the plant digimon finding sympathy for her other.
Thankfully, she found one thanks to some help "Hey! Over here!" whisper shouted a Numemon from his hiding spot in a trench as Ruby zipped into it, quickly covering her mouth when she felt the ground shake under Monzaemon's stomping. A few tense moments passed, before finally they stopped hearing Monzaemon's heavy footsteps. Once they were sure he was gone, they all sighed in relief.
"I guess he really does have a Black Gear in him. Monzaemon don't usually behave that way…" Palmon said, sticking her head out to see the retreating form of Monzaemon in the woods.
"It's a shame though. He sure seems like he'd have been really nice…" Ruby frowned, peeking out as well.
Sora smiled at Ruby's words, "Yes he was. Without the Black Gear."
"Oh yeah, he was the best," the Numemon agreed, poking his eye stalks out. "He was always so nice to us whenever we came into Toy Town for some fun, but one day he suddenly changed. Now he goes and catches anyone who so much as comes near the town," the Numemon explained sadly.
That surprised everyone a little... But then again... Numemon seemed to like to hang out around Toy Town openly when Monzaemon became normal again.
"I guess Monzaemon is normally nice to anyone," Patamon finally commented.
"Don't worry, we'll make sure he's back to being a good Digimon again. All we need to do is remove the Black Gear," Palmon assured.
"You will? Thanks!" the Numemon smiled, before adding, "By the way, wanna go on a date with me?"
"Not again," Mimi commented with a slump.
Ruby sweat dropped a little at that. "Uh...thanks, but no thanks. I'm a little busy actually," she declined politely.
"That so? Bummer," the Numemon shrugged.
"See Mimi," Novice said with a cheeky grin, "You don't always have to be mean."
"I already know that, thank you very much," Mimi responded in indignation.
Black snickered discreetly at the ire directed at her human. "You don't know when to keep quiet, do you?" As much as Black wanted to say that outloud, she wasn't willing to risk getting hit by the stick for a while now.
Thankfully, the Numemon was able to show them the way to Toy Town, though he didn't go further than the edge of the town so as to not risk being caught.
Ruby and Palmon didn't stay in the main road for long though, quickly ducking into an alley way as they started to move around through town, hidden behind the houses.
As they were passing a pair of trash cans however, the two stopped when they heard them rattle, getting ready to run in case it was a hostile Digimon, only for their faces to come up blank when the lids were lifted.
Inside the two trash cans, had been Gyro and Agumon. "Yo." the two said together.
"Oh, so Gyro managed to escape," Taichi commented dryly. Despite the experience he had in Toy Town feeling like bad dream even right after being returned to normal, it still wasn't a pleasant memory.
The two girls continued to stare for a moment, before they sighed out in relief "Oh thank Oum. I was worried for a moment there." Ruby admitted as Gyro and Agumon climbed out of the trash cans.
"Yeah well, sorry for the scare. That was literally the only place we could hide in when fluffy the terrible tried to laser beam us to death," Gyro sighed, brushing off any dirt, thankful that the trash cans were actually very clean.
"Lucky them," Agumon grumbled.
"You guys were right, he definitely has a black gear in him. Everything about him is wrong now," Agumon said.
"Tell us about it," came Biyomon's voice as she and Yang poked out from behind one of the nearby roofs.
"Oh, Yang too," Sora commented.
"Never thought I'd see the day I actually had to dodge giant heart shaped bubbles," Yang added in agreement.
"We weren't so lucky," Biyomon grumbled.
"...How many of you were caught," Armadimon asked.
"Everyone except Mimi and Palmon," Gomamon replied.
"At least all three of us got away safely," Ruby said as Yang and Biyomon came down to their level.
"Where is everyone else?" Palmon asked.
"We haven't seen them yet, but this town has gotten strange," Agumon said.
"Strange how?" Ruby and Palmon asked.
Instead of answering, the others pointed to a nearby square, where they saw several Digimon playing with toys...or rather, it honestly looked like the roles were in reverse, as they were being chased by a number of toys, going on and on about how happy they were...in voices that honestly sounded more brainwashed than actually happy.
"...It was just us in there," Takeru commented with a headtilt.
Novice shrugged a little in his seat, "It's possible Monzaemon you guys faced wasn't targeting digimon, or that he was so recently infected that he didn't have time to do that yet."
"...that's just disturbing…" Ruby shivered.
"...Looking back on it, it kinda was," Mimi commented, remembering that it just looked weird.
Six victims shivered ever so slightly, happy that they didn't have to see themselves in that situation again.
"Doesn't help when they just look tired from all the running they've been doing." Gyro pointed out, as the Digimon were very clearly exhausted.
"We gotta save them." Ruby said with a firm nod after a few moments.
"Yeah, but first we should find where the others are, I think it would be better if we all came up with a plan together so we don't all suddenly launch different plans at the same time and we just end up hurting ourselves." Yang said, earning a nod from Ruby.
"That's a good idea," Jo commented.
"We'd better get moving then. And stay out of the streets. The last thing we want is for Monzaemon to find us," Biyomon said, earning a nod from her friends.
The trip though the town was a tense one, as even though they were in a town that looked like it came out of a fairy tale, the presence of various mon who were being played with by toys served as a reminder of what the black gears could do to even the nicest of Digimon. This was honestly starting to feel less and less like a search through a town, and more and more like some covert spy mission with how they were constantly on guard, and kept checking corners to make sure it was all clear.
"...That actually sounds kinda cool when you put it that way," Daisuke commented on the covert spy mission part.
Mimi allowed herself to smile, "It kind of does."
Unfortunately, they eventually reached a point where they were forced to move out in the open for a little, so they tried to do so as fast as they could. "How is it, Biyomon?" Yang asked as her partner was currently flying up to get a peek.
"I don't see him, so we should be clear," she reported.
"It would be hard not to notice him," Veemon commented.
"And yet he still managed to sneak up on everyone," Novice commented with a cheeky grin.
Hikari turned towards brother at hearing that," Really Taichi?". The Chosen of Courage looked down in shame, as did the others who Monzaemon managed to capture.
"Okay everyone, let's go!" Ruby said, as they all quickly went through the square. Unfortunately, they were only half way through when they heard a familiar stomping coming their way.
"Uh oh, he's coming!" Palmon gulped.
"How did you evade him, Mimi," Miyako asked in worry.
"...You'll find out in a second, probably," Mimi said, adding the last part due to the possibility of this being different.
"In here, hurry!" came Jaune's voice as they turned to see their friend coming out of a nearby manhole. Deciding not to think too much about it, they dove in after him, closing the lid along the way. Just in time too, as Monzaemon stomped through the square, looking around, and idly scratching his head. He'd sworn he thought he saw something, but ultimately shrugged and moved on.
"I guess it didn't go like that," Palmon commented about it being Jaune who opened the manhole and not another Numemon.
A moment passed, Gomamon peeking from the manhole, before lowering it with a sigh "We're in the clear, he didn't notice you guys."
"Oh thank Oum." Gyro breathed in relief, looking around to see who else was present.
There was Jaune and Gomamon obviously, as well as Pyrrha, Gabumon, Blake, and Patamon.
As well as a few Numemon.
"...Never mind," Palmon said in embarrassment.
"Been hiding in the sewers huh?" Yang asked, wiping some sweat from her brow.
"The Numemon have been rather helpful in staying hidden." Blake said with a simple nod.
The second generation turned towards Mimi with a questioning look.
"What?" Mimi asked, getting a little uncomfortable.
"Were the Numemon helpful," Ken was the first to ask.
"Yes they were," Mimi admitted.
"At least they aren't from the same group that threw poop at us earlier." Patamon said from Blake's arms.
"They keep asking for dates though." Pyrrha said with a strained smile.
An awkward pause went through the group at that. "Ah...yeah, that other Numemon did the same for me," Ruby chuckled awkwardly. "At least they take rejection well...as long as you're polite about it…"
Novice opened his mouth to speak up...
"I could've been nicer about it! I get it already," Mimi snapped at the Overseer who looked suitably chastised.
"I'm gonna punch him." Yang and Gyro said together darkly before nodding at each other.
Unbeknownst to everyone else, Daisuke and Taichi shared a similar train of thought if the Numemon asked a date from Hikari.
"No punching the annoying, but helpful Digimon," Blake said, though a little half heartedly. Clearly she was also getting tired of the persistent slugs.
"...Yeah, that was getting annoying," Mimi commented. Thankfully a simple no shut them up... for a time anyway.
"I had zero tolerance for those questions," Black commented, earning various looks from others.
"...Did you kill every Numemon who tried to ask you to a date," Gatomon asked, causing the others to have a worried look. Sure the Numemon are disgusting and annoying, but outright killing them still sounded a little extreme.
The black feline gave the white feline a dead pan look, "What do you think?"
"Well, enough about that. Did you guys happen to find the others?" Agumon asked, quickly defusing the situation.
"Not yet. Fortunately these sewers stretch through the town, so we've been using them to search," Gabumon explained.
"Aside from the smell, this is actually pretty good," Patamon said.
"Was it...?" Sora asked from Mimi, not wanting to finish the question.
Thankfully Mimi understood." Yes." Was her grumbling response.
"Right," Gyro nodded. "So...any places you haven't seen yet?"
"Haven't been on the east side of town yet." Jaune said with a shrug.
"That's probably where the others are then." Palmon voiced her opinion.
"Let's go!... Which way's east though?" Ruby said, before pausing and asking more quietly a moment later.
Everyone chuckled at that.
"Follow us," Pyrrha said with a light chuckle, before turning to the Numemon. "Thanks again for all the help."
"No problem. If you can bring Monzaemon to his senses, we're happy to help," they nodded, before scampering off.
"Oh thank Oum they didn't ask again." Blake said with a sigh.
More chuckles, even mildly uncomfortable ones from the girls.
It ended up taking a few minutes to get to the east side of town, as they had been on the west side when they went under, having to go all the way across to the other end of the place.
After a few checks in various locations, they didn't find anything, having had to quickly retreat when they heard the familiar stomping. However, eventually they came out of a manhole...which was inside of a house for some reason. "Huh...strange place to put a manhole," Biyomon commented.
"Tell me about it." Pierce said as he peeked from behind a large treasure chest, relief in his voice that it was them.
They couldn't help it. The timing was just funny to the Children and their digimon.
"Oh hey, is everyone else here?" Yang asked as she came out of the sewer, helping Ruby up.
In response, the rest of their group either came out of unlocked chests, or moved out from a pile of toys.
"Good, everyone's here then." Gyro said, being the last to come out of the manhole.
"Yeah, and Pierce has been busy picking locks." Veemon said with a grin.
"Um… why?" Jaune asked after a moment.
"That's what I want to know," Hawkmon commented with a suspicious look.
"There are Digimon trapped in some of these chests." Ren said, which earned a few muffled noises from a few chests.
"Oh." The hawk digimon sounded out.
"Right, let me give you a hand." Blake said after a moment, reaching into her pocket, and honestly, no one showed any ounce of surprise when she pulled out a simple bobby pin.
"So is it true that every woman has like, hundreds of these?" Gyro asked in amusement.
"I would advice you boys to not ask that question," Black commented with a cheshire grin, earning a surprised look from Novice.
"Since when did you gain ability to be nice," the Overseer asked from his partner.
"You don't rule with fear alone." Was the simple response.
"Ruby has none, but she doesn't care a lot about her hair." Yang said with a shrug.
"Yeah, cause I'm not crazy about it like you are miss I-punch-everything-that-touches-it." Ruby shot back.
"Does Yang really do that," Sora had to ask. She didn't like if something happened to her hair, but Yang sounded a little extreme about it.
"I wouldn't be surprised," Novice said with a smile.
"This coming from the girl who calls her weapon her baby?" Yang added with a smirk.
This one earned disturbed looks towards Novice who had a thoughtful look. "Let's see... she used it to chop vegetables, takes a bath with it, and even sleeps with it."
"...And I thought Nora was crazy," Gatomon commented.
What Novice left out however, was the fact that those examples came from a fan comic he once red.
It basically ended with Ruby pouting, and Gyro having to try not to pat her head because of how adorable it made her look.
Again, it was amazing how adorable Ruby looks despite being older than any of the Children.
"Okay, hair aside," Weiss sighed in mild annoyance. "What are we going to do about Monzaemon? Clearly he's also infected by the Black Gears, but as we've all had close calls with his 'Lovely Attack', a head on attack is inadvisable."
"Well, he has a zipper on his back right? Let's just pull it down and get the gear out." Nora said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
And that was when Mimi's palm impacted her face. "Why didn't I think of that..." It honestly sounded like a sob.
"Mimi." Palmon sounded out as she hugged her partner.
"Mimi, it's fine," Sora commented, also hugging her friend lightly, "Everything turned out fine in the end."
"...I still feel dumb," Mimi said, now sounding less depressed.
"I know the feeling," Novice commented with a tender smile, "But like Sora said, everything turned out fine in the end."
Everyone paused at her words, before groaning as they realised they hadn't thought of that "I still don't get these sudden bouts of wisdom she has." Salamon groaned while shaking her head.
"You get used to it," Ren shrugged.
"...I wonder about that," Gatomon commented.
"Plus they can be pretty helpful," Gyro admitted.
"At any rate, our first priority is to avoid the Lovely Attack," Veemon said, breaking the awkward air. "When me and Pierce happened to find him using it on some Digimon, he said something about their 'emotions being erased', which probably explains the weird behavior of the mon out in town."
"And got it." Pierce muttered, the chest he was working on finally unlocking, opening it as a group of Digimon similar to Palmon popped out of it, only they had purple flowers on their heads.
"Aruraumon." Palmon commented in surprise, before Novice could open his mouth.
"Huh?" Came out of the other Children.
"A variation of Palmon," Tentomon clarified.
"Thanks for getting us out of there," one of them said. "We were trapped for hours!"
"No problem. But I think you all might want to lay low for a while. At least until Monzaemon is back to normal," Pierce said.
"How come you guys… and girls," Gyro said when some of them shot him a mild glare "Got locked up in here?"
The Children couldn't help chuckling at that little mix up.
"Monzaemon's Lovely Attack didn't work on us." came a voice from the other chest in the room… which had what looked like a green Kunemon, a purple Patamon and a Gabumon with a pink body instead of yellow.
"Dokunemon," Wormmon commented.
"Tsukaimon," Patamon commented.
"Psychemon," Gabumon finished.
"What is this, recolor city?" Jaune muttered as he eyed the Digimon that had come out of the treasure chests.
"A lot of Digimon kinda look like each other, only with different colors," Gomamon said.
"Yeah, and I'm probably one of the Digimon with the most versions out there, I know there's a Black variant, a white variant called SnowAgumon, and even one that exists specifically as a teacher at a school somewhere out there." Agumon counted off his fingers.
Everyone, even the digimon were staring at Novice for a confirmation to the last one.
"He forgot ToyAgumon and it's black variant," the Overseer said, misunderstanding the problem here.
"Oookay, that last one was weird," Gyro blinked. "Still though, why didn't the Lovely Attack affect them?"
"We honestly don't know. For some reason it just didn't, and when we woke up, we were locked in these chests," some of the Digimon said.
"Strange… I wonder what the difference is between you and the others?" Pyrrha mused, looking at them curiously.
"Well… maybe it has to do with toys?" Ruby said, bringing attention to her "I mean, this place is TOY town, and all the other Digimon were being chased by toys."
"I dunno, I mean, I take care of my toys, and some of my friends who didn't are out there… could that be it?" the purple Patamon wondered.
"That's probably the case," Koshiro commented, remembering what Monzaemon told them after coming back to his senses.
"I suppose it makes sense… if the same is true for the rest of you?" Weiss asked the other trapped Digimon, earning nods from all of them "Then that's the most likely case."
"Okay, so that's one mystery solved," Yang sighed out.
"The problem is it doesn't really help us much," Ruby sighed.
"I think no matter how you look at it...some of us need to be the bait," Pierce groaned in annoyance.
"That doesn't sound like a good idea," Gabumon commented.
"I hate to say it, but Pierce probably has the right idea," Taichi also commented.
"Oh man this is gonna suck." Gyro said, rubbing his forehead.
"Maybe we should also figure out who pulls down the zipper?" Jaune suggested.
"I can do it. I'm pretty fast, so he won't see me coming." Ruby said, grinning just a bit.
"With her speed, that's very true," Hikari commented.
"That's fair. I'll be one of the distractions," Blake volunteered. "My Semblance is quite useful for these kinds of situations."
"I'll do it too, I can probably annoy him a bit by throwing stuff at him from the rooftops." Pierce grinned after a few moments.
"...That sounds awesome," Daisuke commented.
"Or dumb, if he gets caught," Wormmon commented back.
"I'm sure Piere is careful enough for that not to happen," Ken said, not sure if he was trying to reassure Wormmon or himself.
"I think I could probably do it as well." Ren said after a moment.
"Okay, so we got our distractions. Now, not saying Ruby won't do her job, but I think we should have some backups for that part too," Jaune said. "You know, just in case something goes wrong."
"I'm almost as fast as she is when I'm in the air, so I think I can have that part covered, even though I can't fly at the moment." Gyro said after thinking about it.
"Oh, that's right! His weapons are gone," Iori said in realization.
"Okay, and everyone else be ready to attack if things go pear shaped then," Jaune nodded.
"Look at you, taking charge like that." Gomamon said as he nudged Jaune with a grin.
Jaune smiled bashfully as his partner said that "Well, I wouldn't go that far, I'm just giving suggestions really."
"Makings of a good leader, I must admit," Novice commented, "A good leader gives orders, but a better leader also listens."
"Jaune, it's fine, every group needs a leader, and honestly, I think ours has a few in it." Pyrrha told him with a smile as she put her hand on his shoulder.
"I wonder how long it takes until they start doing horizontal tango and 48 other positions," Black said, almost experimentally. Which earned confused looks from the Children.
"Uhhhh... What?" Biyomon was the first to question.
That question was soon followed by Novice giving Black a whack from the stick. "Ollaanpas sitä nokkelia(Aren't you being clever)," Novice grumbled having realized what Black's comment meant after a short delay.
Once again, Black had figured out a loophole... The Ring doesn't block dirty euphemisms that Novice doesn't understand immediately... Sadly if he can't understand them, then the Children are less likely to get it either. Oh well, a win is a win, however small.
The brothers shared a quick knowing look at the sight, but the situation made it so they had to hurry. "Okay everyone, we'd better get ready. We'll likely only get one shot at this," Gyro said with a nod.
"Right," everyone nodded.
"You guys might want to lay low for now. If this doesn't work, we may need to come up with a new plan," Nora said to the freed Digimon, none of them objecting to that idea.
Gatomon was once again surprised at Nora doing something logical and/or reasonable.
Minutes later, everyone was moving through town discreetly, this time to try and find Monzaemon so they could start the plan.
"Do you see him Wormmon?" Ren asked his partner who was hidden on the roof of the house they were hiding behind, having drapped a cocoon over himself which could hide him well enough due to the roof being white.
"Huh. That's pretty smart," Ken commented.
Wormmon looked over the area silently, narrowing his eyes when he saw a pair of yellow ears peeking from the top of a house a few streets over, before he crawled back down to Ren "I found him."
"Alright, let's do this." Pierce said, holding a few things he was ready to throw while Veemon held two trash can lids in his hands. Once Monzaemon was nearby… "Hey you! Build-a-Bear knockoff! Is that fur supposed to be corny or are you just that cheap?!"
The Children didn't know what Build-a-Bear is, but the latter part was still funny.
Monzaemon promptly whirled towards them at the words, and his eyes started to twitch as he received an old banana peel on his nose while two trash can lids were being clanged together.
Pierce and Veemon grinned at him, before quickly running and turning down a street as Monzaemon started chasing them. "Pooh Bear is after the honey!" Pierce shouted.
"Pooh Bear?" Everyone asked in unison.
"A stuffed bear that loves honey," Novice relied, having fond memories of the Finnish dub. One of which he was pretty sure had one of phrases he liked to use with his family.
On cue, Ren and Blake darted out of their hiding spots, Wormmon and Patamon peppering Monzaemon with their moves, Ren using the terrain to confuse the large Digimon, and when he tried to strike at Blake who was seemingly moving less, his paw met empty air as Blake seemingly vanished, the thing actually being one of her clones.
"She really is a ninja," Hawkmon commented in awe, despite armor evolving into one himself.
Thankfully, because of how much he had to bring his attention somewhere else, he didn't have time to use his Lovely Attack, so the group was able to lead him along while only having to worry about his laser eyes.
As for Monzaemon himself, he didn't realise he was being moved along towards the center of town, he was too focused on trying to get everyone to just stop moving and for the noise to cease. However, before he could make any headway, Biyomon, Tentomon, and Patamon were soon in his face, firing their attacks from various angles, forcing him to start swatting almost blindly at the fliers. Little did he know, he was leaving himself wide open, as Ruby dashed and jumped off a building, aiming for his zipper like a guided missile, and grabbed hold.
"I got it!" she called out victoriously, pulling it down….only for it to get stuck a third of the way down. Her eyes soon shrank till they were pin pricks at this snag in the plan...and it seemed Monzaemon had finally realized what was going and he wasn't impressed. "THE ZIPPER GOT STUCK!"
"Of course it did," Patamon grumbled in annoyance.
"I'm not going to just leave it so easy to pull down." Monzaemon said, before he started shaking his body from left to right, Ruby getting swung around as she was still hanging onto the zipper.
"Ruby!" Palmon said in worry, before her eyes turned up to Monzaemon's head, her mouth forming into a snarl "You… you… let her go!"
(Play Brave Heart)
At that moment, Ruby's Digivice glowed bright, sending the signal and calling for the light that released the stream of data.
"Palmon, Evolution!" Palmon called out as the data flowed into her, before her form changed. "Togemon!" instead of the small humanoid plant she was, she now stood as, quite literally, a giant cactus on two legs, boxing gloves on her arms as three holes where on her face, two to represent her eyes, and one for her mouth, a tuft of orange colored grass on top of her head.
"Was that how you evolved, Palmon," Veemon asked out of curiosity.
"No, I just got angry that Monzaemon was attacking the Numemon who helped us. Even though they couldn't win," Palmon said.
It was surprising to hear that Numemon would go that far to help.
Ruby felt her finger slip as she was forced to let go, and was soon flying in the air, but instead of landing on the hard ground, she felt herself being caught in an oddly soft pair of hands. Blinking, she looked up and saw the form her partner had taken. "P-Palmon?" she blinked in surprise, partly at seeing her partner evolve...and also due to the form itself. A cactus wasn't quite what she was expecting.
"I'll admit, I had the same feelings," Mimi said in good nature.
"Its Togemon now," Togemon smiled before putting her down gently on the ground, then turning her gaze to Monzaemon with an angry glare. "You're gonna pay for what you tried to do to Ruby," she said as she lumbered towards Monzaemon. Despite the situation, any onlooker might have found this scene to be almost comical though, considering it was about to be a fight between a giant teddy bear and a giant cactus with boxing gloves.
The Children couldn't help laughing at the last part. It just sounded so funny when it was said out loud.
Digimon Analyzer: Togemon
Togemon. Data Type. An Adult Level Plant Digimon. She can store nutrient data in her body just like a regular plant, capable of using it to survive for long periods of time in a desert. It's impossible to discern what she's thinking from simply looking at her face, but once angered, her intent is very clear. Her special attack is Needle Spray, launching hundreds of prickly needles from her body in whatever direction she desires.
"Okay, this is probably one of the stranger matchups we're gonna see," Gyro blinked at the fight that soon unfolded. Togemon showed that her boxing gloves weren't for show as she landed a few strong jabs and hooks on Monzaemon's face, but the large teddy bear showed he was no slouch in a fight either, managing to pull off some strong counters. The exchange soon became rather back and forth.
"Uh...shouldn't we help?" Agumon blinked as he walked up next to Gyro.
"Not sure if we wanna get in the middle of that…" Gyro sweat dropped as Togemon landed a particularly savage strike. He knew a grudge fight when he saw one.
"Gyro's right about that," Yamato commented.
"But this still looks cool," Takeru commented. It was like watching a boxing match.
"So...we just sit here and do nothing?" Yang asked, sounding a little skeptical.
"Of course not," Pierce said, before taking off his jacket. "Go Togemon go! Punch that bear's stuffing out!" he cheered while waving his jacket.
The Children and their digimon couldn't help laughing at Pierce's idea.
"...that's one way to help I guess…" Ruby sweat dropped.
More laughters. While Novice shook his head a little in amusement.
Whether Togemon heard them was debatable, but either way, she was all too happy to oblige as she landed a rapid fire punch on Monzaemon, forcing the bear back, and even when he tried to use his eye beams, she punched him with an uppercut, forcing the beams into the air.
"Nice one," Veemon cheered, doing a few boxing punches himself.
Finally getting fed up of this, Monzaemon got some range, and jumped up. "Lovely Attack!" he called out, releasing a flurry of blue heart shaped bubbles. However, Togemon smirked as she saw the opening she wanted, and bringing her arms together, called out, "Needle Spray!" before throwing them to the sides, as a barrage of needles was launched from her body, aimed at Monzaemon while popping all the bubbles in the middle of he way. Monzaemon had only a moment to widen his eyes, before he was soon turned into the world's largest pincushion, crying out in pain, while his zipper was forced open and the Black Gear inside was violently thrown out, before he finally collapsed on the ground unconscious.
(Song end)
After a moment of making sure he wasn't getting back up, Togemon's body glowed as she reverted back down to Palmon, sighing in relief that it was over.
She didn't have much time to relax though, as Ruby quickly had her arms around her in a tight hug "That was so awesome Palmon!"
"Ruby… can't breathe…" Palmon gasped out as her legs flailed.
"...Sorry, Palmon," Mimi apologized, remembering how she did the same.
"It's okay, Mimi," Palmon said happily.
Several minutes later, the sun was starting to set, as Monzaemon had woken up, his body shrunken down slightly as now that he was sitting down he was roughly the same height as the hunters. All around them the Digimon that had been captured or manipulated were gathered.
"I'm terribly sorry for what I did," Monzaemon apologized. "As the mayor of Toy Town I had only wanted to increase the standing of toys. Toys are to be played with, not toyed with after all, so its important to take good care of them. I only wanted to teach that lesson," he said, bowing deeply. "However what I did was going too far, and even if the Black Gear pushed me to that extent, it was still wrong of me."
The Children smiled at Monzaemon's words. Even though seven of them had already heard it before.
"Don't worry too much about it, you weren't fully in control of your actions. Trust us, we've seen a few cases already so we have an idea of how it works." Gyro said reassuringly.
Monzaemon smiled, a warm and kind smile this time. "Thank you. I truly appreciate that," he said, before a thought crossed his mind. "Ah, while it's not much, I'd like to at least offer you all a reward for all you've done for Toy Town," he said as he stood up.
"What kind of reward?" Ruby asked curiously.
"Yeah, what kind," Armadimon asked.
"Just read and you'll find out," Taichi replied, having a good idea what it was.
Monzaemon laughed, a jolly one as opposed to the more sinister ones the others had heard from him earlier in the day "The REAL Lovely Attack." he said, before he released hearts from his body, pink this time as opposed to the previously blue ones.
Everyone was a bit surprised, but when the hearts wrapped around them and started floating up, they couldn't keep the smiles off their faces as a sense of joy filled them all.
"That doesn't sound like much of a reward," Iori commented, a little skeptical about this, even after everything he had seen in the digital world.
"...You would have to experience it to understand," Koshiro replied with a fond look.
As everyone floated around in the heart bubbles, one of the manhole covers was lifted up, a Numemon poking his head out "Hey! One of your girls interested in a date?"
"Not again," Miyako groaned.
"No thanks!" was the resounding answer from all the girls, even as they were still smiling.
Numemon sighed as he slumped forward "Some things never change."
With that, the book shut itself, even though the Children were still laughing at the girls rejecting the Numemon with such happy looks.
"...I think I wanna hurl a hairball," Black complained at the last part. Which earned looks of shock from everyone other than Novice and Gatomon.
"Don't mind Black, she doesn't like emotions she can't understand," Novice explained with a small smile.
"Oh I understand happiness," Black retorted, "I just become happy from different things."
"I know that, kitty cat," Novice replied with a small smirk.
"...That means screwing you over," Black had to add that with a snicker, earning an unimpressed look from her partner.
"...Tästä puhutaan vielä(We will be talking about this later)," Novice said with a threatening tone.