AN: I updated a slight terminology change in two of my previous chapters by Swift's request.
The book floated towards a very surprised Ken. "...So it's my turn now," Ken said in surprise.
"Yes it is," Novice replied with a small smile as he was thinking about doing a little something for Ken.
Ken then opened the book and started reading.
Flying Shadow! Stingmon!
Once again, the title card showed a silhouette of Stingmon, ready to strike an opponent down.
"I'm going to say this now," Novice piped up, "Stingmon is among the coolest Adult level digimon I've ever seen."
This compliment made Wormmon blush a little.
"Someone's getting embarrassed," Miyako teased the digimon who opted to wiggle out of the girls line of sight next to Ken.
"Great weather today, huh?" Jaune idly said as the group was once again on the road in the morning, having stayed the night in Toy Town, which was honestly one of the funnest things they'd done. The twins had even said it was like spending a night in some place called Disney Land back on Earth, which someone apparently nicknamed the 'happiest place on Earth'.
"I've been to the Florida's Disney World when I was in third grade," Novice replied with a wide smile, "My family got drenched in some of the rides while I somehow stayed dry, and we had to get my little sister a new change of clothes for reasons I can't remember... Good times."
"Surprisingly yeah, it felt a bit more humid this morning so I thought we wouldn't have this much sun out." Gomamon added his own bit.
"I'm just glad it isn't too cold out today." Wormmon said, shaking a bit as he imagined how freezing it could get the closer they were to the middle of the island.
"I suppose the temperature has started dropping somewhat recently." Ren noticed.
"...I think we had a similar problem," Mimi commented, remembering a time it was freezing.
"Think it's cause we're getting closer to the mountain?" Veemon mused.
"Can't say for sure...but I wouldn't say it's impossible," Gyro said. "Still though...our next landmark should be the Fanbeemon Hive...considering they're probably big bees, you'd thinking finding a hive would be easier…"
"We didn't encounter Fanbeemon... What do they look like," Taichi wondered aloud.
"Just let Ken read and you'll find out," Novice said with a small smile.
"It doesn't help that it's not showing up on the map." Weiss said with a sigh of annoyance.
"I'm sure we'll end up finding it soon." Tentomon tried to reassure her.
"I hope we do, maybe we could take a bit of honey if we ask them nice enough?" Ruby wondered.
Novice chuckled a little, "That reminds me, I'm surprised it's not Honeybeemon hive."
"Honeybeemon," The Children, and surprisingly, all the digimon questioned.
"These guys," Novice said before snapping his fingers and an image of a Honeybeemon appeared.
That earned some wide eyes out of everyone.
"Is that a-!?" Armadimon gaped.
"The digimental of Knowledge?" Iori finished.
"Yup," Novice spoke happily, "This is the result of digimental of knowledge being used on... drumroll please..." Novice spoke as a drumroll was heard "...Veemon!"
"ME!?" Veemon exclaimed in disbelief.
This also earned various looks of shock from everyone else... Before everyone burst into laughter.
"What!? What's so funny," Veemon asked, not getting the joke.
"You... and Knowledge," Miyako commented, laughing harder.
Veemon shut up with a grumble at being laughed at.
"Well, at least you'll be directly asking them and not stealing." Palmon said with a shrug.
"Still, we won't be able to do much if we don't find them first," Pyrrha said...right before the sky seemed to darken. "Huh, must be a cloud."
"Actually...that's not a cloud," Gabumon said, pointing upward and all of them looked up to see that it was a large Digimon.
The best way to describe the Digimon that was flying above them, was a giant, mechanical wasp, it's lower abdomen lacking a stinger and looking to have a long range weapon instead, while instead of wings it had thrusters on its back and on its shoulders.
"Is that Waspmon," Tentomon asked with a head tilt.
"Ok… what Digimon is that?" Pierce asked, while eyeing his brother, who was twitching while looking up.
Right… he'd almost forgotten Gyro had a fear of wasps.
"He's afraid of wasps," Agumon asked in amusement.
Black snickered openly, which made everyone give her a curious look.
"BLACK! DON'T YOU DARE!" Novice shouted, causing Black to flinch and cover her ears. Though Novice gave the Children an apologetic look, "Sorry about the yell, but-" "Novice is terrified of wasps or anything with big stinger," Black interrupted with a snicker.
"...SÄ SENKIN(Why you)!" Novice roared before taking out the stick and tried to hit Black with it. Only, the cat chose to run away which turned into quite a chase.
"Umm... Ken, should we continue," Wormmon asked as they heard Novice cursing at the black cat avoiding another swipe.
"...I think that would be the wisest," Ken said, feeling awkward about this scene. As did everyone else.
"That's Waspmon, he's kind of like a security guard in a way." Agumon said, while making sure his partner was ok.
Digimon Analyzer: Waspmon
Waspmon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Cyborg Digimon. Guardian of the hive, it's antennae have high reconnaissance ability, making him the perfect sentry to search for intruders. If any Digimon comes close to the hive, they should expect to be quickly interrogated by this fast Digimon, as his four thrusters allow him to move in any direction in quick bursts. Its special attack is Turbo Stinger, which rapid fires the cannon on its abdomen.
"Ok, what's wrong with Gyro?" Yang said, finally noticing how the goggle head was acting.
"Is he dancing or something?" Biyomon said in confusion as he kept twitching.
"Gyro's afraid of wasps, mostly because when he was a kid he ended up stepping near a full hive, and, well, let's just say it hurt like hell." Pierce explained.
The other humans winced in sympathy at that.
As did every human in the reading room... Well, ones that weren't chasing after a black cat that screwed them over. Speaking of which...
"Hey!" Hikari complained as Black chose to jump on Hikari's head. Taichi was about to shout Novice to stop, only to notice that the Overseer had stopped on his own.
"Black... get off of Hikari's head," Novice said in a threatening tone. If he swung now, he would risk hitting Hikari should Black dodge it.
"...Nope," Black said with a cheeky grin. Which was wiped off when Gatomon grabbed her black counterpart by the tail.
"Yes you will," Gatomon said before yanking the black feline off of Hikari's head and onto the floor.
"You annoying little-OW!" Black yelped as Novice took his chance to get his whack upon the cat.
"Sorry about that," Novice apologized as if he didn't just do something that in hidnsight looked stupid,"Let's move on."
Ken chose to continue reading as Novice returned to his seat.
"Halt! In the name of the hive!" Waspmon shouted as he descended near them, and everyone blinked as Gyro was suddenly behind Pierce.
An awkward silence descended, before Ren decided to step forward. "We're sorry for the intrusion. We won't be here long if that's alright."
Waspmon looked at all of them, humming in thought "How do I know I can trust you?"
"Well, besides the fact my brother is scared of you and wants to leave?" Pierce said dryly as Gyro was still behind him, looking from over his shoulder, though he had to wince as one of his ears was suddenly flicked and he could feel the glare on the back of his head.
The Children couldn't resist, they had to laugh at Gyro's reaction. Even though, Novice demonstrated the overreaction of the century.
Waspmon would probably have blinked at that, if he had normal eyes that is "Why is he afraid of me?"
"He was stung several times by something that looks very similar to you." Pierce said, giving the short version.
The mechanical wasp paused a moment at that, before lifting up his abdomen slightly showing a blaster type of weapon "I have no stinger on my body."
The Children laughed at this exchanged. Something about Waspmon pointing out his lack of stinger was just so funny.
"Oh thank Oum that actually helps." Gyro sighed out as he stepped back from behind his brother. Clearing his throat a little, and with some difficulty, looked at Waspmon. "So...uh...you're the guardian of the Fanbeemon hive, right?"
"That is correct, though it is not a hive per say, as we are currently building something far more glorious than a simple hive." Waspmon spoke, pride evident in his voice.
"Oh, what are they building," Iori asked out of curiosity.
"What are you building?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, an echo," Armadimon joked, but sadly no one found it funny this time.
"Is it something big?" Patamon added, curious.
"It is our grand masterpiece, the glorious aerial Royal Base, from which we will soar through the skies of the Digital World." again, the pride was obvious in his voice.
"...That sounds grandiose," Sora commented unsurely.
"Wow, you're building something like that? Cool," Ruby said.
"If it's alright, could you show us where it is? Your hive is one of the landmarks we were told of to get to Infinity Mountain," Ren asked.
"That is reasonable. Our hive IS one of the closest landmarks, yes," Waspmon said, before giving them all an appraising look. "You all seem honest enough. Very well, I shall help you. However, if you so much as TRY to do anything out of line…" he left the threat hanging, his tone nothing short of menacing. "Is that understood?"
"Crystal," everyone gulped.
"...Well... at least he takes his job seriously," Daisuke commented with a sweatdrop.
As Waspmon turned, hovering ahead, the others followed behind him, still a bit nervous.
"Think he'll let us take some honey?" Nora whispered.
"I think now REALLY isn't the time to be thinking with your stomach Nora." Salamon hissed quietly at her.
"Agreed," Gatomon agreed with her other.
Fortunately it seemed either Waspmon didn't hear them, or he heard them but didn't care, as he continued onwards. It wasn't long before the group saw their next destination as they made it out of the woodland areas.
"That… is a very big hive." Weiss said slowly, looking up at the huge mechanical hive that appeared a quarter finished around a tall and wide oak tree.
"Yeah, it is," Mimi commented in slight awe.
"Very impressive. It looks like their even using Chrome Digizoid to make it." Tentomon said as he eyed the hive.
His words caused a few blinks "What's Chrome Digizoid?" Gyro asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The strongest metal in the Digital World, it's even tougher than Titanium." Tentomon answered easily.
"Wow. Wonder if we could get some of that," Ruby said in awe.
"Thinking of upgrading Crescent Rose even more?" Yang half-teased. She had a feeling if that wasn't what Ruby was thinking, it would be now.
The Children and their digimon remembered how much of a weapon nut Ruby is... But some of them shivered a little at the thought of the damage she could cause with metal like Chrome Digizoid.
"Obviously, and hey, if we get enough, maybe I could try to upgrade all of your weapons too." Ruby said, jumping a bit on her feet with a grin.
"That… that sounds like it could be pretty damn awesome." Pierce said as he grinned at the thought.
"Well, don't get too excited yet. Chrome Digizoid is...well...its not overly rare, but its not something you just give out," Palmon said, dampening her partner's mood a little.
"Oh... right," Yamato commented, having forgotten that part.
"Well...we'll see how it goes," Gyro said reassuringly. "Maybe we can try to mine some of it ourselves."
"I'd appreciate if you refrained from doing so," Waspmon said. "It is hard enough to find Chrome Digizoid on File, so we were fortunate to find a mine that met our needs."
"Well…" Pyrrha started, looking at everyone as she may have an idea "Do you know any other places that might have some?"
Waspmon paused at that, bringing one of his hands to his chin "Perhaps… yes, maybe on the continents. Most likely you may find some on the likes of Folder, WWW, and Server. Truth be told, they're more abundant than this island, but they're also more dangerous at the moment, hence why we chose to build here. Though, WWW might be a somewhat safer option for you all, as it serves as the home for the Digimon known as the Olympus 12, a group of protectors if you will."
That spawned some interest from the Children, especially Koshiro. Not just the other continents besides server, but also the protectors of the WWW continent.
"Huh...that's interesting," Jaune blinked. "Wait...so we're in a SAFE Island?"
The first generation of Children chuckled at the reaction. After all, they too were surprised about there being digimon more dangerous than Devimon.
"Yes, why would you think otherwise?" Waspmon asked.
More laughters. Even without a great evil at works, the digital world isn't exactly a safe haven.
"Oh...nothing much…" Jaune sighed, his face now one that screamed lemons at the thought that all the times they were in danger...and they were in what is considered SAFE by this world's standards.
"Yeah...the idea that we're in the 'Prologue' or at least 'Chapter 1', isn't the most comforting huh?" Pierce said, patting his back.
"That's... pretty good comparison," Takeru couldn't help commenting.
"Yeah, I think I wouldn't be surprised if we had to go to those places." Veemon said with a frown.
Every Child and Digimon stared at Novice with a highly suspicious look.
"Spoilers," Novice said with a smile.
"Oh boy this isn't gonna be fun." Gomamon said with a sigh.
"Not like we'll have much choice though," Yang pointed out.
"...let's just keep walking…" Pyrrha suggested, to which they all nodded in agreement, the Hive soon coming up into their close up view...and they couldn't help but stare at how big it was. "Wow...I knew it looked big from afar, but this is REALLY big…" Pyrrha marveled.
"Of course. Once completed, this will be a self sustaining aerial base. Large enough to account for the needs of all the residents," Waspmon nodded.
"...so uh...is there a door, or do we need to fly up there?" Nora asked, noting a few openings up top, where they could see some small figures going in and out, no doubt the Fanbeemon that lived in there.
As if to answer her question, a hatch opened and unfolded into a ramp.
"...Okay, that's cool," Veemon commented. Many of the boys agreed.
"...neat," Nora blinked.
With that the group went inside, ushered in by Waspmon, but when they got inside…
"Ah! Waspmon, you're back!" a young voice sounded from up top, as an overgrown bee with large green eyes and a serrated stinger flew down from somewhere up top, a red scarf around his neck.
Digimon Analyzer: FanBeemon
FanBeemon. Virus Type. A Child Level Insectoid Digimon. A strong, dedicated worker of a Digimon, always willing to assist others with its cheerful personality. It gets along the most with plant Digimon, and has the duty of bringing back data to assist in the construction of it's home. Its special attack is Gear Stinger, firing several tiny serrated stingers from it's abdomen.
"So that's what a Fanbeemon looks like," Taichi commented.
Idly, the group noticed he was the only FanBeemon to carry an article of clothing on him, as they payed attention to him.
"FanBeemon, Worker 0948, what progress have we made since I left for patrol?" Waspmon asked, completely serious.
"They use numbers to designate themselves," Iori wondered aloud.
"Efficiency, kiddo," Black said from a comfy basket with soft pillows that wasn't there before. "What?" Black questioned at the stares she was getting, "I'm not gracing his lap with my form after being hit that hard."
"Black has very limited authorization in my lair," Novice then said, realizing what they were staring at,"Meaning she can make certain things of comfort to appear."
The Children and their digimon nodded at that.
"Sector 8 has gone from 24% completion to 30% in the hour since you left, the boost was thanks to a travelling group of Floramon who pointed us in the direction of a nearby meadow where we were able to acquire more data." the FanBeemon said with a salute.
Waspmon nodded in acknowledgment. "Very good. That puts this weeks progress a good 3.7% faster than before."
"...They really sound like construction workers," Jo commented with a chuckle.
While Waspmon was talking, the Huntsmen and their Digimon were talking amongst themselves. "Wow, they're rather...efficient," Weiss blinked.
"Well...they ARE bees, so I guess that makes sense," Jaune scratched the back of his head.
"Like busy bees," Gabumon commented, earning some stares from the humans and some digimon. Which was followed by laughter.
"Well said, Gabumon," Yamato commented, patting his mildly embarrassed friend's head.
"Yeah, Fanbeemon are amongst the most efficient workers in the Digital World," Tentomon nodded in agreement.
"Hey, Gyro, are you ok?" Agumon asked his partner, nudging him.
Gyro looked down at him "Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." he shrugged "Bees are a completely different thing for me, so I'm not afraid of them."
"Not to Novice," Black commented with a snicker.
"...Zip it," the Overseer said in a menacing tone.
"Though the bees aside...man, feels like we walked into a sci-fi set all of a sudden," Yang remarked, noting how high-tech the hive looked inside.
"That's because the Fanbeemon are actually borderline cyborg Digimon, though they still count as insectoid," Gabumon explained. "They're also really good builders."
"I...guess that makes sense," Jaune scratched the back of his head. Honestly, he didn't really fully understand, but he felt it'd be better not to ask too much.
"Something Jo could've done sooner," Gomamon commented, earning a light whack on the head from said human.
"Excuse me." they all heard, turning their heads to see the same FanBeemon standing close to them "Waspmon told me to act as your guide while in the base, to make sure you don't step into an area that's still under construction." he said, giving them a small salute.
They all nodded at that, before looking between each other, trying to figure out where to go from here.
FanBeemon seemed to notice how confused they were, and they could see amusement in his eyes "I'm just gonna say this now, you don't have to worry about me being uptight or anything like that, I'm probably the most relaxed worker in this place."
"...That doesn't say much," Biyomon commented, "I mean, he sounded professional, but wouldn't that mean that the others would be more uptight than that then?"
"You have a point," Patamon commented.
"Well… good to know you're easy to talk to then." Gyro said after a moment.
"So...anyway, Waspmon said you're headed for Infinity Mountain. Nice place from what I can tell, not that I've ever been there. The cold doesn't really agree with us and all that," Fanbeemon said, starting to ramble off.
"Okay...so he's a lively one…" Veemon sweatdropped.
"...Never mind," Biyomon commented, retracting her previous statement.
"Uh...Fanbeemon?" Ruby asked, stopping the Digimon that was now rambling off in his own little world.
"Yes?"
"So...you were gonna give us a tour or something?" she asked, remembering what he'd said earlier.
"Oh yeah. Right this way," Fanbeemon said happily, before leading them on what soon became a grand tour of the place.
The Children couldn't help chuckling at Fanbeemon being such a chatter-box.
The base was certainly even bigger on the inside then they had expected, several times going up or down different floors.
"First on our stop is the sleeping quarters, as you can see some of the others are sleeping in here, that's because their the night workers."
"So they even construct the base at night," Koshiro commented in slight awe at the amount of thought put into this.
"Cafeteria right here, we mostly serve honey, but we also have plenty of vegetables and fruits."
All the digimon had some thoughts about the various foods they might have.
"Welcome to the engine room, don't touch anything, but you can look since only us workers understand how this all works."
"Umm..." Koshiro sounded out.
"I don't have blueprints for that," Novice replied simply, causing Koshiro to slump a little. "It's not like you won't have your hands full with all the blueprints I gave you in that scroll and laptop." Novice thought with a sweat drop.
"Next up, engineering bay, this is where we build most machines that are going to be making this base work when it's finished."
"Down here is the cargo room, just a simple area where we store everything."
"Wow, you were serious when you said this was a self sustaining base," Weiss couldn't help but say. The efficiency of this hive was on the level of some of the Atlesian factories.
"That's saying something." Novice felt the need to say.
"Of course. We have to plan and do this all properly, or we'll be in big trouble later if something goes wrong," Fanbeemon nodded. "But all this wouldn't be possible if it weren't for Waspmon keeping the perimeter safe so we could focus all our efforts on building."
"Speaking of Waspmon, is he always so… militant?" Blake asked, pausing to find the right word.
"Pretty much, he was always like that even as a FanBeemon apparently, his first priority was always security." FanBeemon said with a shrug. "But under that he's a real nice guy. Always looking out for the hive's best interest."
That earned smiles out of the Children and their digimon.
Ren silently thought about Waspmon, and couldn't help but notice a few similarities that gave a nostalgic look to his eyes as he thought of someone.
That raised a few questions in everyone's heads, especially Ken's.
Wormmon noticed how Ren's pace had slowed, twisting his body to look at his partner's face "Ren? Are you ok?"
"I'm fine. It's nothing," Ren reassured his partner. It wasn't exactly nothing, but it wasn't important at the moment, so as it was, they were better off not knowing.
"Knowing what," Ken asked from Novice.
The Overseer shrugged at the question," I can't answer that yet."
"Now then, how about we head back to the cafeteria? It's almost time to eat after all." FanBeemon suggested after a moment, earning nods as they all went back there, and now that they were actually stopping and not just quickly moving on, the smell of honey was easily noticeable in the air.
"So, how does this work?" Weiss asked as she looked at the various machines that seemed to be food dispensers.
"It's pretty easy, just put in a number, and then type in the kind of fruit or vegetable you want, and if you want honey, grab a bowl, put it under, and then just hold that button until you have enough." FanBeemon explained as he pointed to each button on one of the machines.
"That sounds handy," Wormmon commented, noticing that Ken seemed to be a little down for some reason.
But Novice noticed it too, "I guess now is the time." With that thought, Novice made a black leather bound book appear in his hand before opening it. "You kids, just keep reading, there's something I need to do," the Overseer explained to the Children that had questioning looks.
"Do you have any Diginoir?" Tentomon asked in front of one of the machines.
That question made all the digimon perk up.
"Oh wow, now that you mention it, I could go for some too." Palmon said with a smile.
"We do actually, we harvested some Diginoir trees and planted them in a green room, that was going to be the next thing I would have shown you." FanBeemon said.
"What's Diginoir?" Nora asked, though the main thought on her mind was how edible it was.
"Yeah, what's that," Jo asked, noting how the digimon looked at the mention of it.
"It's… uh… how do I explain this?" Salamon wondered.
"Diginoir is a pretty sought out food in the Digital World," Agumon said. "They're...well...it'd be easier if we just showed you," he said as he soon got his claws on a container. "These things grow on Diginoir trees, which grow in various locations all over the world."
"...It looks like a containter," Hikari commented.
"It...looks like some kind of biscuit or snack container…" Gyro blinked, looking at the object.
Hikari couldn't help blushing at Gyro commenting something similar.
"That's because it is a container," Gabumon added, picking up one, and opening the top. "The Diginoir is inside of course," he added as he started pouring out what looked like small ring shaped grains/bits, and once he had a small handful, he tossed them into his mouth and started munching. "And they taste REALLY good too."
"Umm... Novice," Patamon sounded out, before a bunch of Diginoir appeared in front of everyone.
"Knock yourselves out," Novice said with a smile before turning to Black, "Oh Blaaaaack. I got some yummy Diginoir." The brown haired man said while dangling one right above his partner as the other digimon opened theirs.
Black was not impressed. "...How easy lay do you think I am," the black feline said dryly.
Novice opened his mouth to reply before his brain fully processed the wording. "...You're lucky that the kids don't understand what you mean by that," the human whispered at Black, before returning to his book.
"They're also really easy to eat," FanBeemon added. "You can cook them in all sorts of ways, from frying them up, to even boiling them into a soup or stew."
That revelation made Mimi hum in thought.
"I suppose we should try and find any of these trees then out in the wilds." Pyrrha said as she accepted one of the grains from Gabumon, tasting it and finding it did taste rather good.
Gyro hummed as he looked at the can Agumon had in his hands "What happens if you plant one of the cans, would a tree grow?"
That question made all the humans raise an eyebrow.
"That makes no-" Weiss started with an exasperated look, before being cut off.
"Of course, from what we've seen, the tree sprouts from the lid of the container a few days after being planted, it starts out small of course, but give it time and you have a nice Diginoir tree." FanBeemon answered easily.
"...I have seen some amazing things in the digital world," Jo commented with a look that said "I'm done". "But this takes the cake," the Chosen of Reliability said in dead pan.
"You're telling me," Koshiro commented.
Weiss was trying to find words as her jaw moved without a sound, before finally settling on "This world has no logic."
"How so?" Tentomon questioned with a head tilt.
"Yeah, that's kind of why I figured something weird might be possible." Gyro said as he took a few cans from the machine and put them in his pouch to plant them later.
Overall, the food in the cafeteria was rather good, and nothing went wrong as the group ate… well, except for a lot of FanBeemon staring at Nora as she placed her head under dispenser and pushed the honey button and just kept on swallowing everything.
"...Why am I not surprised," Gatomon commented with a sigh.
"How is she doing this?" The FanBeemon guiding them asked as he looked on.
"Trust us, we tried to figure it out already, we still don't know." Yang said, palming her face.
After finally pulling Nora away from the machine before she emptied it of all honey, they had just stepped out of the cafeteria, when the hunters all stopped as they heard their Digivices start to beep.
"That's probably not a good sign." Veemon said as the Digivices were on the Black Gear radar and one was close.
"Is it a Black Gear," Iori wondered aloud.
"Emergency! Emergency!" another FanBeemon shouted as he flew past them and into the cafeteria, the group stepping back in to hear what he had to say "Waspmon has gone berserk! He's attacking everyone and destroying the base!"
"Sounds like it," Armadimon commented.
"Called it," Veemon deadpanned. It was a little worrying how easily they'd gotten used to having to deal with Black Gear infected Digimon that hearing about one didn't even phase them anymore.
That would've been a disturbing thought if the Children hadn't gotten used to the danger in the digital world... Well, some of them more than others.
"We must hurry though," Ren said, urgency present in his voice.
"Hopefully we stop him before he does too much damage." Wormmon added as the group headed back out of the cafeteria.
"Hey! Hold on! You're going to fight Waspmon?" the FanBeemon that had guided them asked in shock.
"We know what's causing him to go crazy, so the least we can do is try to help out." Gyro told him.
FanBeemon was a bit surprised, before looking thoughtful, nodding to himself after a moment "Follow me, we'll head to the security room and box him in an area he won't be able to escape from."
"That sounds like a good idea," Hawkmon commented.
"Right. Lead the way," Blake nodded.
Just a few minutes later, the group found themselves in the security room, where they could see several cameras were monitoring the base.
"Alright, first, where is Waspmon?" FanBeemon muttered as he flew up to the console and started looking at each of the cameras.
"I'll take the upper left side." Tentomon said as he buzzed up to the corner and started looking.
"I'll go down here." Patamon added as he settled in the lower left corner.
Biyomon looked at them, before shrugging "Guess I'll take the other side." she said as she flew up to the upper right corner, leaving FanBeemon with the lower right.
"That's pretty smart," Sora commented on the divided work.
"Yeah, four pairs of eyes are better than one," Mimi added in.
It only took a few moments before… "There he is!" Patamon exclaimed as he pointed at one of the screens.
"Okay, so what's the plan?" Gomamon asked.
"For now? We aim to box him in then try to remove the gear," Gyro said.
"In that case, I'll handle the boxing in part, we have controls here that lets us bring down walls between areas." FanBeemon said as he settled in front of the console.
"Like a base going into lockdown," Daisuke commented eagerly.
Iori didn't show it, but he was just as excited about this as Daisuke.
"Right," everyone nodded, before moving towards the location. The location in question was a sealed up launch bay. The area was large enough that they would be able to fight without much difficulties, but was also sealed up due to it being damaged recently due to an accident, thus making it perfect for this situation, as Waspmon wouldn't be able to escape unless he blasted his way out...but even than would take a lot of time, giving the Destined time to get there and stop him.
When the did finally reach the launch bay, they made sure to hide behind some of the equipment scattered about so they weren't noticed too easily. When they arrived, they were met with the sight of the crazed Digimon randomly attacking everything around him, the once dutiful and uniform guardian now reduced to a berserker who couldn't tell friend from foe.
"...That's a little sad," Hikari commented, feeling bad for Waspmon.
"Well, at least no one stayed down here." Ruby said as she peeked over the box she was hiding behind, before getting pulled back down by Palmon.
"Yeah, I don't think peeking is very smart right now," Palmon commented.
"I really wish we had our weapons right now." Yang said, eyeing her wrists in annoyance.
"I may have an idea to sneak up on him though." Gyro said, before looking at Weiss "Your semblance, how good are you at using it without your weapon as a conductor's baton?"
"Good enough, what do you have in mind?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Make some of your glyphs appear in random spots on one of the walls, it should catch his attention." Gyro shot back, with Weiss nodding as she took a deep breath, before starting to do just that.
"...Would that really work," Veemon asked with a headtilt.
"Making multiple shiny targets for something that attacks anything... Yeah, probably," Novice commented without taking his eyes off of a page he was reading. "...Nah, doesn't suit this purpose." the man mumbled before turning the page.
Several Glyphs appeared around the hangar, catching Waspmon's attention, and in his crazed state, he didn't think at all and aimed his weapon at the Glyphs.
They all watched him as he kept constantly firing his weapon at the glyphs, slowly spreading around the hangar as they tried to cover all possible angles of attack.
"...So that they can sneak attack to the Gear," Gabumon said in realization.
Though now there was the issue of what to use to attack with, as they could see the gear sticking out his back, so they just needed something to hit it with.
Eventually, someone did find a weapon though, as Ren held up a welder, looking around the crate he was hiding behind, glaring the gear stuck in Waspmon.
To meet someone that reminded him of the past, only to see them go berserk, it wasn't something he liked.
Ken paused in reading to wonder about who Waspmon could remind Ren of. Then he remembered the tragedy that was previously mentioned. "Could it be... someone from his family?" That thought made Ken's chest feel tight.
"Ken." Wormmon sounded out, snapping his partner out of it.
"Sorry," Ken apologized before continuing.
However, everyone thought that something was wrong with Ken, especially Miyako.
"Ren." he heard his partner whisper, turning his head to see Wormmon "Be careful, he's fast."
Ren looked at him for a moment longer, before he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly "Right, I will. Think you can make sure he keeps staring at that wall over there instead of turning all over the place?"
"I'll do what I can," Wormmon nodded, before using his Sticky Net as an impromptu grappling hook, getting to a higher position so he could have better aim. Once he was in position, he started firing a small barrage of Sticky Nets, soon covering several locations with the sticky substance. As expected, with how Waspmon was thrashing around, he was soon getting some of it on him, the effects slowly slowing him down a little as he tried to shake it off. Naturally the others weren't about to let THAT chance go to waste.
"You know, our Wormmon could easily do the same," Veemon commented with a grin.
The vote of confidense made Wormmon once again move into a position where he can't be seen.
"Get him now!" Agumon shouted, as the various Child levels fired their attacks at the slightly disoriented Waspmon.
The attacks didn't seem to be doing much, but at the very least, they were keeping his attention splintered as he kept turning only to be hit in the back.
It was then that Ren took his chance, darting out from his cover, and when Waspmon was low enough, jumping up and grabbing onto the black gear with one hand, bringing up the welder with the other as he started using it on the gear, hoping to melt it off at the very least.
Waspmon's roar of pain was definitely unexpected, but if anyone had to guess, the Black Gear was possibly very sensitive to pain, like one big nerve cluster that stayed out in the open.
"...You know... I never thought of it that way," Koshiro commented in thought.
Though staying on wasn't easy, as Ren was getting tossed around so much he was reminded of the Seadramon incident.
That kind of comparison kind of made some of the Children wince in sympathy.
Eventually, his grip slipped, getting flung into one of the crates scattered about in the hangar, wincing a bit at the hit to his back, but thankful his aura took the hit.
But sadly, Waspmon took that moment to finally concentrate on something, namely Ren, and levelled his blaster at him.
Wormmon's eyes widened in fear when he saw this, before jumping down right as Waspmon fired "No!" he wasn't going to let his partner get hurt!
(Play Brave Heart)
Ren's Digivice started to shine in response, the signal being sent out, calling for the light that released a stream of data. "Wormmon, Evolution!" Wormmon called out as the data flowed into him, before he transformed. "Stingmon!" His body was now humanoid, covered in dark green and black chitin armor, his with spiked growths on his shoulders that resembled shoulder guards, his forearms were shaped like large black gauntlets, with each finger looking more like a claw, with a hole on top of the gauntlet for something to come out of it. His head looked relatively normal, like a helmet in a way with large ren compound eyes, a yellow Y on his forehead, red hair coming out the back of the helmet, two very long antennae, and finally, on his back were four long insect wings that seemed to be able to retract into his body.
Waspmon fired his blaster, but before any of the shots could hit, they were all knocked aside by Stingmon using the armor on his gauntlets. "Are you alright, Ren?" Stingmon asked.
The Children and their digimon let out a breath they didn't realize they were holding at the sight of Stingmon saving Ren.
"I'm alright…" Ren nodded, though he trailed off when he realized he hadn't actually heard his partner's new name.
"It's Stingmon," Stingmon said with a light chuckle. After what happened the last few times, he wasn't really surprised. But with that done, he turned to...well...it was hard to tell, but he was probably glaring at Waspmon. "I know you're not in your right state of mind, but get ready, because I don't plan on letting you off easy for nearly shooting my partner."
"And this is the partner you dissed as Digimon Emperor," Novice said, taking his eyes off of his book.
"Hey!" Daisuke exclaimed, surprisingly, "Ken's already suffered enough of that."
"Sorry, sorry," Novice apologized, before returning to his book.
"Daisuke... Thank you," Ken thanked his best friend.
Black shook her head at the exchange, "And he says, I'm insensitive."
Digimon Analyzer: Stingmon
Stingmon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Insectoid Digimon. An unusual Insectoid Digimon due to his humanoid appearance, Stingmon is nonetheless worthy of his skills, boasting a tough carapace, and being a swift flyer. He excels as an assassin, using precision strikes to take down his opponents after analyzing their body thanks to his natural calm nature. His special attack is Spiking Finish, extending one of the hidden spikes in his gauntlets and charging it with energy before piercing his opponent.
Waspmon didn't stand still as he aimed and began firing at Stingmon, but the nimble Digimon evaded the attacks with ease, before getting close and delivering a rapidfire kick, knocking Waspmon back.
"Nice job!" Miyako cheered with surprising volume... And then she blushed in embarrassment as everyone stared at her.
Waspmon growled before trying to ram him, using his thrusters at full blast, before rocketing towards Stingmon. Stingmon saw it coming, but as Waspmon was getting a bit too close, braced himself, catching the berserk Digimon and getting pushed back a little, but eventually managed to stop him, before grabbing hold of him and spinning around and around, and bodily throwing him into a nearby wall. Waspmon painfully pushed himself out of the small crater he was in, and soon began charging up power in his blaster. Taking aim, he let the power charge up more and more, aiming right for Stingmon.
Seeing the obvious attack coming, Stingmon got some distance and decided to end this fight. His shoulder armor extending, "Spiking…!" he started, rearing back a little. "Finish!" he called out as he flew forward, the spike from his right arm extending into what appeared to be a purplish spike of energy. At the same time Waspmon fired, the beam meeting Stingmon head on, but he soon powered through the beam, and before long, stabbed Waspmon in the abdomen. Waspmon screeched in pain, before the Black Gear embedded in him was violently ejected, smashing into a nearby wall where it shattered completely.
(Song end)
"That was awesome!" Veemon cheered, bouncing in his seat.
Stingmon nodded silently to himself as he retracted his spike and his shoulder pieces, before his body glowed as he reverted to Wormmon.
Minutes later, the group was back outside of the base, Waspmon in front of them with a few FanBeemon, their guide included, flanking him as they were carrying silver cubes of metal with them.
"You have my deepest thanks for freeing me of the influence of that strange gear, were it not for you I do believe the base would be nothing but ruins, setting us behind by several years. As such, I would like to offer something to you all for this great service you've done us." Waspmon said formally, before motioning the FanBeemon to move forward, handing the cubes to the hunters, the group looking at them curiously.
"They're giving Chrome Digizoid," Tentomon questioned with his antennaes going stiff in surprise.
"What are these?" Ren asked, turning the cube over in his hands a few times.
"These are cubes of Chrome Digizoid, we decided that, since you saved the base as a whole, a fitting reward was called for." Waspmon said, clasping his hands behind himself.
"So cool." Ruby whispered in awe as she practically had stars in her eyes while looking at her own cube.
"...She's like a little kid in a candy store," Sora said with a giggle.
"Or a cookie section of a bakery," Novice commented as he smiled at a page he found useful in his book.
"It was our pleasure to help," Ren said with a gentle smile.
"But the token of appreciation is really appreciated. We'll be sure to put these to good use," Gyro grinned, idly wondering what Azure could do with these when he sees them.
"...I can think of a few things," Koshiro commented, trying to put himself in the idiotic genius' shoes.
After everyone stored the Chrome Digizoid in Gyro's pouch, they all got back on their way, heading towards the mountains, the peak of Mount Infinity casting its shadow over them.
However, as they walked, Wormmon crawled over on Ren's shoulder. "Hey Ren...you were really happy when we helped Waspmon back there. Why's that?" he couldn't help but ask.
The Children and the digimon were also curious about this.
Ren blinked, but smiled a little. "You really want to know, huh? Well...he reminds me of someone I looked up to a long time ago," he admitted. "I guess in a way I saw a bit of myself in the residents of the hive in that way."
"I wonder who it was," Iori commented in thought.
Ken didn't say it, but he was also curious.
"Well, then I'm sure they'll be alright then," Wormmon smiled, something Ren did as well as he and his friends continued on their way.
With that, the book shut itself down.
"OW!" Ken suddenly winced, prompting everyone to look his way. And then they noticed Black running away from the Chosen of Kindness. When did she even get to him?
"There you go," Black said with a mild grumble as she passed something to Novice. "But you better keep your word." That was added with a glare.
"Yes, yes. I will," Novice said in mild exasperation before accepting the thing from Black that no one could see from a distance.
"Why did you pull my hair," Ken complained as he rubbed the area of his head where Black had pulled.
"I asked her to," Novice spoke up, spinning a single strand of Ken's hair in his hand, before taking a more serious expression, "Tell me Ken... Would you like to talk to Osamu?"
"...What?" Ken couldn't believe his ears. And neither could anyone else.
Novice raised the strand of Ken's hair, even though no one could see it from their distance. "By using your hair, I can temporarily call Osamu's spirit here. I'm sure there's a lot you would want to tell him,"
"B-but... that's not possible," Ken almos shouted as he stood up, unable to believe Novice's words.
"There are things that are impossible to me, but this isn't one of them," Novice said with a smile, "Of course... I won't force you if you don't want to."
"Ken...," Wormmon said, earning his partner's attention, "You told me about Osamu a lot... I think he would want to see you." Despite his partner's words, Ken wasn't sure if he could take seeing Osamu again.
But then his hand was enveloped by Miyako's. "Ken... I think you should talk to him," the purple haired girl said. When she was still just another Ken-fan, she had looked up information about Ken online. One of those mentioned the death of his brother Osamu. However, she never told this to anyone else. Then again, it was possible that the others may have seen it back when they were looking information on him.
Ken closed his eyes for a moment to consider... Then he opened them with a determined look, "I'll do it."
Novice smiled, "Alright then." And with that, he started to chant something from the book. While everyone else were looking at him with mild apprehension.
"Ken, are you sure about this," Daisuke asked, getting up from his couch and moving to his friend.
"...Yes... I need to apologize," Ken said firmly.
Daisuke was about to open his mouth, but then the strand of hair in Novice's hand shattered before a figure was forming in the middle of the room. It started hazy, but soon they were able to tell that it was a boy, about Ken's age. He was wearing a brownish green hoodie with short sleeves. Beneath the said hoodie was a long sleeved dark blue undershirt. He wore grayish blue pants and gray shoes. He had messy blue hair and glasses. However, his form was see-through, like a ghost.
"...Osamu." Ken said, still finding it hard to believe that his brother was standing in front of him.
"...Ken?" Osamu asked with hesitation, "Is that you?" The boy sounded confused.
Black: I'm holding you to that promise. You know that right?
Me: I already said I will! But first I need to make a little call.