It had been a few minutes now that Novice had suddenly left without explaining who he was planning to let loose.
And then shadows unraveled at one spot and out of them came Novice. "Whelp, now that that's dealt with. I think we can get on with the next chapter," the Overseer said happily.
"Who did you release," Ophanimon all but demanded, now getting right in front of Novice.
"Whoa, relax," the Overseer said, taking a healthy distance.
"I shall do no such thing, until you explain yourself," the angel digimon replied sternly.
"Oh, calm your milk tanks, lady," said a voice that didn't belong to anyone who had previously been in this room.
"WHO SAID THAT!?" Ophanimon shouted, looking around for whoever dared to spout something that vulgar.
"I did," the mischievious voice that came from the back of Novice's chair. Turning towards it, everyone saw a blackish purple imp. The thing had short sharp claws acting as toes and a short tail. It was wearing red gloves with three fingers and a red scarf around it's neck. Interestingly enough, on it's torso was a yellow smiley face with sharp teeth. Finally, we come to it's stark white face with green eyes, a stub of a nose, and currently a smug grin.
"...Impmon," Ophanimon said with a glare under her helmet. Then her mouth opened in shock, before turning a furious look towards Novice. "That better not be the Impmon I think it is," the angel said through gritted teeth, which made Novice nervous.
"Ehhehheh... If I say 'yes', will you try to kill me," the Overseer asked nervously.
At that moment, Ophanimon grabbed him by the front of his shirt and started shouting.
Much to the Children's confusion, it sounded like Ophanimon was giving him some kind of lecture, with the Overseer trying to explain himself so they couldn't make out what they were saying.
"Uhh... Hello," Biyomon decided to say to break the ice with the newcomer.
"Hey there," Impmon said, jumping off his perch to walk closer to the Children. "As you may have heard, my name is Impmon," the digimon introduced himself.
The Children and their digimon briefly introduced themselves to the newcomer.
"So, you're the kids and digimon Novice over there mentioned. I must say, I'm unimpressed," Impmon said with a cheeky grin.
Most of the Children and their digimon frowned at this guy's attitude.
"I mean, struggling against trash like Devimon, Etemon and Myotismon," the imp digimon continued.
"Who are you to say something like that," Veemon shouted, clearly offended by the imp.
However, Impmon decided to ignore the blue dinosaur and looked around, "Sooo, I heard Lilithmon is also around, where is she?"
"She tried to mind control me and is now in solitary confinement," Novice answered simply. Having finished the shouting match with Ophanimon. The angel having left with a grumble.
Impmon whistled at that, "Wow, you were able to resist her charms? Not bad." Despite the compliment, it sounded a little patronizing.
Which, of course, Novice didn't appreciate, "Don't forget I'm the one in charge here." At that, Novice waved his new and improved digivice. The Children don't know this, but this is a D-Scanner. A black one with a poison green grip. Interestingly enough, the screen was within a heptagon instead of hexagon, and within each point is a colored LED light. One is green, one is yellow, and one is light blue. The rest of them are grey.
"Okay, I get it," Impmon said, waving his hand dismissively.
"I'm glad we understand each other," Novice said, but no one was sure if he was serious, "Anyway, do any of you need snacks, a bathroom break? Or maybe just a small break."
"...I think we're good," Taichi said unsurely, glancing at everyone else.
The Chosen of Courage was rewarded with awkward, questioning, or unsure looks. Or a combination of the three.
After that, it looked like Novice had a thoughtful look, "...With that, I believe Impmon should read the next chapter."
"What?" The Children and their digimon called out in unison.
"What?" Impmon added in, "Why me? I don't even like reading."
"Now now," Novice said in a pacifying manner, "That TV will give visual support and proper voices, so you don't need to do much."
"...Okay then." the little imp shrugged after a moment of thought, "Let's get this over with." After those words, the book floated to Impmon who had taken a perch on the armrest of Novice's chair.
The Dancing Ghosts, Bakemon!
The title card of course, showed the said ghost digimon.
"Oh joy," Jo groaned.
"What," Miyako asked, "What happened to you back then."
"Just let him keep reading," Sora said with a sigh.
The mist covered the waters of this area as an eerie tranquility seemed to permeate the waters. Said tranquility was soon broken by the sound of someone losing their lunch.
"Of all the ways he had to separate us, WHY did it have to be flying?" Jaune moaned miserably, having finished throwing up after landing, his tendency to get airsick once again rearing its ugly head.
"...Him too huh," Jo commented at the sight of the poor blonde, "Except I got seasick."
"It must really suck that you get sick whenever you're in the air," Gomamon said, patting his partner on the back to help relieve the symptoms while they floated on the water on top of Jaune's bed.
"Yeah...my entire family suffers from some form of motion sickness. I'm just glad I'm not my dad. He'd be throwing up every few minutes right now," Jaune sighed, and eventually he felt his stomach settle.
"Uhhh... Jo," Iori sounded out unsurely.
"I wasn't that bad off," Jo said, realizing what the youngest of them wanted to ask. "More importantly, it would've been nice to have more support at the time." At the last part, the Chosen of Reliability gave a meaningful look towards Gomamon.
"Hey! You were the one who was blowing up at the smallest things," the seal digimon protested.
"Now what do we do?" Gomamon asked.
"Well...first things first, let's find dry land," he sighed. "Think you can call the Marching Fishes to help us out?"
After a moment of letting that statement sink in, Jo palmed his face. "Why didn't I think of that!?"
"You mean to tell me that using your fishy buddy to help you out didn't cross your mind," Impmon asked with a snicker.
"Hey! I'm not a fish," Gomamon complained.
Which earned a laugh from Novice, and some of the others.
"Oh yeah, didn't think of that." Gomamon muttered, about to do so, before both him and Jaune blinked as they noticed something emerge from the foggy waters and drift towards them.
"Is that a crate?" Jaune asked dryly.
"Looks like it yeah." Gomamon shot back, just as dry, before the two looked at each other, sharing the same thought 'Obvious trap is obvious'. "So...what do we do with it?"
"Oh, great," Jo complained again as his intelligence is once again insulted indirectly.
"To be fair," Novice piped up. "That box could've come from anywhere."
"Okay, what is in that box," Gabumon asked, getting curious about both Novice's statements, and the fact that this box is apparently a trap.
"...think you can puncture a hole in it?" Jaune suggested.
A moment after his suggestion, the crate's top was blow off, as a screaming Ogremon came out "Don't you freaking dare you damn kid!"
"Oh," Gabumon commented.
"I tried to warn him about the box being suspicious," Gomamon said while giving his partner a grin.
"I know, I know," Jo commented, "I was just desperate to have something good happen, okay?"
As much as the Children and their digimon wanted to rag on him, most of them understood his plight at the time. Especially Mimi.
"Why not? Obviously you were planning on killing us." Jaune said, crossing his arms, feeling rather confident considering Ogremon was a few feet away from him and his club seemed to be just shy of hitting the bed at this distance.
"Doesn't he realize that he doesn't have a weapon," Yamato commented at Jaune's sudden confidence boost.
"And my other didn't get to eat," Gomamon added in.
Ogremon looked away nervously, caught red handed, before raising a finger up "Just a moment." he said, before crouching down into the crate and rummaging about.
"He has stuff in there?" Gomamon whispered.
"Does he," Agumon felt the need to ask.
"No he didn't... At least none that I could see," Jo replied.
"I'm betting on some weird logic being in play." Jaune whispered back.
"Ah ha!" Ogremon said suddenly as the two focused back on him as he rose back up, holding…
Jaune blinked as he was staring at Milo and Akuo, Pyrrha's weapon and shield. Milo itself seemed pretty banged up, and Akuo looked to have rust over it. "Where the heck did you get those?" he blinked.
"Better yet, why," Koshiro commented.
"Ah, Devimon kind of wanted me to throw them into the sea, but I forgot." Ogremon answered sheepishly.
This answer from Ogremon earned some blanched looks.
"...Okay, how does that work," Sora had to ask.
"Devimon picked his minions poorly, that's how," Impmon said with a snicker, "Seriously, he could've thrown them away any time, or better yet, right now."
At the last part, the Children were wondering if the Ogremon they knew was also that stupid... Well, in their experience, he was a little smarter than this one... Emphasis on "little".
The flat stares the two gave him at that were priceless. Eventually Jaune sighed, rubbing his head in mild aggravation. "So...I'm guessing there's a reason you took those out, right?'
THe Children couldn't help it, they burst into laughing at the looks Jaune and his Gomamon were giving.
"I'll hand them over if you promise not to make me drown." Ogremon said a bit nervously.
At that moment, Jo looked at Gomamon with a look that said "Don't tell me."
"...Well... Ogremon grew up in mountains, so... maybe he can't swim," Gomamon said, catching the meaning.
"...I feel so stupid right now," Jo said, while covering his face with his hands.
"You and me both," Gomamon. added with a grumble.
"Deal." Jaune said immediately, catching the lance and shield, before watching with a bemused look as Ogremon took out a paddle and started paddling away from him as fast as possible.
"Did Ogremon have a paddle," Sora felt the need to ask.
"...We didn't stay around to see if he did," Jo admitted.
The two watched him disappear into the fog, before Gomamon finally broke the silence "You've got a pretty good poker face."
Jaune let out a sigh as his shoulders sagged in relief "Yeah, well, I was afraid he might try to kill us for the whole conversation, glad he was scared of drowning," he nodded, before inspecting the weapons again, seeing that the damage to Milo seemed to make it be stuck in it's javelin mode, while the edge of Akuo was just as rust covered as the front. "Damn...Pyrrha's not gonna be happy when she sees this," he sighed, before shaking his head. "Anyway, about the fishes?"
"Oh, right! Marching Fishes!" Gomamon called out, summoning the school of fish who were soon pushing the bed. "So...where are we going?"
"...So you guys didn't think to do that," Iori asked for confirmation.
"No... Gomamon evolved into Ikkakumon and fought Ogremon enough for us to get away," Jo revealed.
"I'm not sure how far we got until I got tired and turned back," Gomamon added in, "I'm just happy Sora and Biyomon saved us."
"Honestly? I have no idea. But anywhere's gotta be better than floating in the middle of the ocean, right?" Jaune shrugged.
"That's true," Gomamon nodded.
Meanwhile, a fishing rod flew through the air, and landed in the water.
"Do you really think it'll work that well?" Gabumon asked as he sat on the edge next to his partner.
"Oh, so it's Pyrrha and Gabumon here," Sora commented.
"Well, a mushroom is better bait than none at all at the least." Pyrrha said after a moment.
"Hold up, they have a bait," Biyomon asked in disbelief, "As in actual bait?"
"...You didn't have one," Armadimon asked with a head tilt.
"...No," Sora admitted, "We used a branch, hoping that a fish would think it was a worm."
As much as most of the others tried, they couldn't help letting out tiny chortles of laughter. Much to Sora's embarrassment.
Gabumon nodded as he ate one of the few mushrooms they had found "That's true I guess, at least their tasty."
"We didn't find any," Biyomon complained, while glaring at the screen.
Pyrrha hummed lightly in agreement, before noticing her lure suddenly going under, and feeling weight on the line. "I think I got a bite! And it feels like a big one!"
"Huh? Did they really catch a fish," Gomamon then questioned. Remembering that Jaune and his Gomamon weren't drowning last they saw them.
"Really? I'll help!" Gabumon said as he helped her pull the rod. The two struggled for a moment, before they pulled whatever it was out...and it was only an instinctive reaction from Pyrrha activating her semblance on instinct that stopped them from getting metal to the face.
"What metal," Ken wondered aloud.
"Oh… Jaune's not going to like this." she said with a grimace as she looked at the weapon that was Crocea Mors, the blade snapped in half, though the shield/sheath seemed to have been ignored.
"Ouch," Taichi winced at the weapon's state.
"Didn't he say his weapon was a family heirloom?" Gabumon added with a frown.
"Hopefully we manage to repair it before going back." Pyrrha added as she realised how much trouble her friend would be in should he come back with the family heirloom in pieces.
"Double ouch," Novice added to Taichi's previous statement.
Gabumon was about to talk again, before closing his mouth as he turned his head to the water, hearing a peculiar sound "Do you hear that?"
Pyrrha paused as she had been about to cast out her line again after putting Crocea Mors down, trying to hear what her partner could "It sounds like someone swimming." she said after a moment.
"Could it be Jaune," Miyako wondered aloud.
"No, it's a huge school of fish," Impmon snarked with a small snicker.
Straining their eyes, they looked out to the mist, trying to see if they could see what was making the sound. At first they didn't see anything, but slowly but surely, something was coming into view.
And once it did, they were treated to the sight of Jaune and Gomamon, sitting on a bed, while it was being carried by a huge school of rainbow fishes.
"It looks like you were both right," Hawkmon commented, earning a mild glare from his partner, and an eyeroll from Impmon.
Pyrrha blinked, once, twice, before rubbing her eyes to be sure they weren't playing tricks on her, eventually deciding this was real and setting down her makeshift fishing pole as she waved to the blonde knight, which he returned with a relieved smile.
When Jaune set foot on land, the small group relaxed a bit, glad to have found each other after being split up, before Jaune looked around a bit "Where's your bed?"
"Over there, it fell in the water and we jumped off and landed on the ground here." Pyrrha said and gestured to an upturned bed which kept crashing against the coast a few meters away.
"Biyomon and I were flung off of our bed, when it crashed," Sora admitted, not liking the memory.
"Well, that would have hurt." Jaune said with a wince "Glad you're alright." he told her with a nod, which made her smile at him.
"Oh, I almost forgot." she started with a grimace, before lifting up Crocea Mors, which she had put back into the sheath, before pulling it out in front of him, seeing his face fall at the broken blade "It was like this when I found it, I'm sorry Jaune." she said as she handed it to him.
He shook his head "It's not your fault, besides, Milo and Akuo were in similar shape when I found them." he said as he nodded at the javelin and shield which he had handed to her after landing.
"Okay, I have to ask," Yamato piped up, "If Devimon really did steal their weapons, why didn't he simply destroy them?"
"Because he was an idiot," Impmon supplied helpfully and with a wicked grin.
"Or he didn't feel like putting effort into destroying them," Novice added in, before smiling, "Either way, a dumb move."
The Children couldn't disagree with that.
Pyrrha examined her weapon again, before shaking her head. "Its not so bad. I can still use it more or less, and I can always have it fixed when we get back to Remnant," she said.
"Yeah, same here," Jaune smiled. "Heck, since Crocea Mors isn't a mechashift weapon, it shouldn't be TOO hard," he said.
"You'd be surprised," Novice spoke up, before looking more thoughtful, "Except... Crocea Mors isn't an enchanted blade bathed in blood of Hell Demons and having the lingering malice tempered with..." The Overseer trailed off as he noted the disturbed looks on the Children's faces. "...Ahhem, please ignore me. I'm just rambling."
"...That was awfully specific." The Children thought, wondering if he was talking about a personal weapon or something. Deciding to spare themselves from the paranoia
"Maybe you could ask Leomon for help once he's free from control? He does use a sword after all." Gabumon suggested.
"Using a sword isn't quite the same as making one, but I'll keep that in mind," Jaune nodded. "At any rate, where are we anyway?"
"Not really sure," Gomamon said, looking around. "This mist is way too thick, and with how the island got broken apart, I can't tell any landmarks."
"It would help if we could call any of the others, maybe they could see a fog covered island from where they are." Pyrrha said with a sigh.
"Don't they have those Scroll things," Wormmon pointed out.
"Yeah." Jaune sighed in agreement… before facepalming three seconds later "I knew I forgot something." he said as he pulled out his scroll, going into his contacts and tapping Gyro's number before putting it to his ear and waiting.
"It's all those little things that just slip your mind sometimes," Novice commented with a wide grin.
He waited for a quite a while, before he got an automated message, but it wasn't Gyro's voicemail.
"We are sorry, but the person you are trying to reach is too far away at the moment, please try again later."
"...well, it was worth a shot," Jaune sighed, not at all surprised things weren't gonna be that easy.
"At least he tried," Takeru commented.
"So now what do we do?" Gomamon asked.
"Either we keep trying fishing...or we explore the area. Maybe we'll find something," Pyrrha said.
"I think I already did." Gabumon said as he looked behind everyone as the fog started to slowly lift from the area.
When they all turned around, they followed his eyes to see what looked like a church standing on top of a hill.
"Well… that's ominous." Jaune said after a moment.
"Looking back on it, yes it was," Jo admitted.
"I feel like I should know this place." Gomamon mused.
"That's because I think this is Overdell Graveyard." Gabumon said with a hand on his chin.
"Overdell Graveyard?" Pyrrha asked.
"Of course they would realize it before we did," Biyomon sighed.
"Yeah, I heard Digimon called Bakemon live in this area," Gabumon said.
"Let me guess. They're ghost or zombie Digimon, aren't they?" Jaune sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Ghost, yeah," Gomamon nodded.
"...we landed on a horror movie set come to life…" was the groan that came from the blonde.
"Oh, I'll show them horror if I could," Impmon said with a snicker, earning a light smack from Novice.
"Ghosts are usually the kind of beings to try and trick people, right?" Pyrrha asked with a hand on her chin.
"Especially Bakemon, they love their illusions." Gomamon answered.
"Why is it, that these guys know more than we do," Gomamon asked, getting tired of Remnantians making them look stupid.
"Don't ask me," Novice said defensively.
"Well that's just great." Jaune said with a groan "Alright, the guys said that ghost grimm were a thing, so they had a few ideas that could have worked, and they might for a ghost Digimon as well."
"What are these possible weaknesses?" Gabumon asked.
"At least we figured out one," Sora commented.
"They said that a chant, holy water or a cross might work. They didn't know any chants, and don't know how water can qualify as holy, but a cross is pretty easy." Jaune said as he went up to a tree and snapped off two branches before putting them to the correct size "Alright, now I need something to tie it with." he muttered, before blinking as Pyrrha handed him a vine she had used for her fishing pole, taking it with a smile as he tied the two branches together into a makeshift cross.
"For the record, you need a certified priest to bless the water. Of course, sometimes a phony tries to sell regular water as holy water," Novice explained with a small shrug.
"...are you sure that's going to work?" Gomamon asked, looking a little skeptical at the makeshift cross.
"Honestly? I don't know. But something's better than nothing, right?" Jaune sighed.
"Did you guys use any of the mentioned weaknesses," Gatomon asked out of curiosity.
"Jo chanted a sutra, which weakened them," Sora replied.
Gomamon tilted his head in thought at that before shrugging "I guess that's fair."
"We should be careful on our way up, we don't know if any traps have been put in place." Pyrrha advised, the others agreeing with her as they started on the trek up the hill towards the top.
"Speaking of which," Gomamon said with a snicker.
"Don't you dare," Jo said in a warning tone.
"...You were still convinced that there would be humans up there," the seal digimon said with a snicker.
"...Still?" Taichi asked in disbelief.
"Really?" Yamato added in shaking his head.
"...Jo sounds like he was pretty unreliable," Iori commented, causing the poor guy to slump in shame.
"Emphasis on was," Novice piped up, "But look at him now."
"Novice is right, Jo," Takeru commented, "You saved me from drowning back in Odaiba."
"He saved you from what?" Yamato asked, having heard of this for the first time.
"Oh. Oops," Takeru said, covering his mouth. He thought that Yamato didn't need to know that at the time, so he never told him.
However, that's not what Yamato focused on, "Jo, I'm sorry about what I said."
"It's fine, remembering it is just so embarrassing," the Chosen of Reliability said with a small sigh.
What they found at first seemed abandoned, but as they got closer, they saw what appeared to be a festival of some kind...and from the looks of it, there seemed to be humans there.
"Are those humans?" Gabumon asked.
"Are they," Daisuke asked.
"No." Jo and Sora said in unison.
"They sure LOOK like it," Pyrrha said. "Of course, the keyword is 'look'," she added, earning a few nods from them all.
"Yeah, Bakemon are supposed to like illusions, so this would make sense for them to do." Jaune agreed as he held the makeshift cross in his hand. As they got close, one of the humans turned towards them, revealing he was wearing a rather bizarre mask on his face.
"Welcome," he said, his voice...rather off. It was clearly intended to be friendly but...it came across as rather off putting.
Despite that, they maintained their composure. "Uh...thank you," Pyrrha said. "So...are you all having a festival or something?" she asked, referring to how the 'humans' were dancing.
"Yup, they're smarter than you," Impmon said with a snicker, earning glares from the offended humans and digimon.
"Why yes. This is a very special carnival," the 'human' said.
"What's the occasion?" Jauned asked.
"It is time for us to give an offering to Lord Bakemon," the 'human' responded.
"Lord Bakemon?" Mimi asked.
"Just let Impmon read," Biyomon said with a sigh.
Jaune looked at the 'man' dryly "Wow, can you make it even more obvious?"
"Whatever do you mean young man?" the 'human' said in confusion.
"For starters, me and my friends are the only humans here, that much has been confirmed by a lot of sources that don't know what a human is. Secondly, Bakemon is a trickster, if anyone actually worships that, their weird."
Elsewhere on a snowy island shard a goggle wearing trickster god worshipper sneezed.
"What?" The Children and their digimon asked in unison.
"Loki, the Norse god of trickery," Novice said simply, before having a more thoughtful expression, "Although how Gyro worships him is questionable."
"And finally," Jaune started, before shoving his makeshift cross into the 'human's' face. The effect was instant as the 'human' stiffened, before their face seemed to crack, and with a pop, his form broke, revealing what could best be described as a bedsheet ghost with sharp teeth. "Your disguise sucks."
No one noticed Novice getting stiff at the sight of Bakemon. "Those things remind me too much of it." the Overseer thought, willing away the image of the only thing from his childhood that still terrifies him.
"That's Bakemon?" Pyrrha blinked. She was honestly expecting something a bit more...menacing than that.
"Yep, that's Bakemon alright," Gabumon and Gomamon nodded in confirmation.
Digimon Analyzer: Bakemon
Bakemon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Ghost Digimon. Known for being a trickster spirit, Bakemon prefers deceit over actually fighting it's opponents. They also have a weakness to religious objects and spiritual chants. Its special attack is Hell's Hand, draining the power of its enemies until they are at death's door.
The Bakemon recoiled, but it seems in the commotion, they'd attracted the attention of the other 'humans'...before all of them shattered to reveal more Bakemon. "...in retrospect maybe we should have waited till we were alone with him or something," Jaune sweatdropped.
"...I stand corrected," Impmon said with a sweatdrop, "They're just as dumb as you."
The Children chose to ignore that.
"Probably would have been a good idea yeah." Gomamon agreed nervously as he looked at the overwhelming numbers.
"Well, they can't get too close at least." Pyrrha noted as Jaune kept aiming the cross everywhere, the Bakemon recoiling away when it was aimed at them.
"But we can't fight these many at once," Gabumon added.
"Into the church! If they're weak to holy things, we should be safe in there!" Jaune said quickly, earning nods from all of them as they ran into the church, closing the door behind them. However, the Bakemon soon got in.
"Well, that place is their home," Hikari commented.
"In retrospect, this IS their home…" Gomamon gulped as they soon backed away to the altar.
"Guess no choice then...guys, get ready to evolve," Jaune said.
"Right," Gabumon and Gomamon nodded. However, before they could even try, one of the Bakemon flipped a hidden switch, and a trap door opened underneath them.
It seemed gravity was being slow to respond, as they all had time to look down, before soon falling down into the hole, hearing the cackling of the Bakemon as they fell.
"What happened to you guys," Agumon had to ask.
Jo let out a sigh, "Gomamon and Biyomon were unable to evolve and we were caught."
"How did you get out," Palmon asked, more curious than concern, seeing as this was past to them.
"Just let Impmon continue," Sora said with a sigh.
Several minutes later, the group groaned as they got up, looking around the area to see they were in a dungeon of some sort… though the Bakemon didn't seem to be too bright, as the door to their cell was wide open instead of closed.
"...really?" Pyrrha couldn't help but deadpan at the sight of the wide open cell door.
A sentiment shared by everyone else here.
"...Is this an army of idiots," Impmon deadpanned.
"Yeaah...Bakemon aren't the brightest," Gabumon sweatdropped.
"Does that answer you," Novice asked with a smile.
"...Bakemon are officially second dumbest digimon of all time," Impmon groaned.
"What's the dumbest," Agumon asked in mild suspicion.
"What likes dark and is smelly and disgusting," Impmon said slowly.
"...Numemon," Patamon stated with a sigh.
"Strange, but not really a bad thing," Jaune sighed. "At least we don't have to bust our way out...though we still have to find our way out."
"At least the cross is still ok." Gomamon said as he picked it up between his claws and threw it up at Jaune who caught it.
"It has been surprisingly helpful." Pyrrha noted.
"Thank Gyro and Pierce. I wouldn't have thought about it if they hadn't told me about this idea," Jaune shrugged. "At any rate, we should get out of here as fast as we can."
"Right, but we should keep our guard up. The Bakemon may not be the brightest Digimon we've met, but you never know what might be in this area," Pyrrha nodded.
"Good point," Jo agreed with Pyrrha.
"Yeah, it'd be pretty dumb if we got caught by some cheap trap," Gabumon nodded with a chuckle.
"Wasn't that what just happened to them," Gatomon asked dryly, earning laughs at that.
The group soon began making their way through the underground dungeon. So far it seemed the place was empty, as while there were a lot of cells, nobody was actually in any of them. In fact, they were starting to wonder if there even WAS anyone here...if they didn't accidentally come across a room that had a sleeping Bakemon in it. They could tell he was asleep by the literal snot bubble he had, and it was huge.
"...Doesn't that look like the Bakemon we tricked into feeding us," Gomamon commented to Biyomon.
"I'm not sure," the pink bird replied.
"...really?" was the dry observation from both Jaune and Pyrrha.
"Wow, this one must be a real idiot," Gomamon chuckled.
"How can you tell?" Gabumon asked.
"They say you can tell an idiot by the size of their snot bubbles."
"I'm pretty sure that's made up," Novice said wondering who came up with something that stupid.
"...that sounds like some kind of wive's tale, but somehow I'm inclined to believe it," Jaune sighed.
"How about we just take his food and avoid waking him up?" Pyrrha said with an amused smile.
"Yeah, would be good if we ate a bit more, we only had mushrooms earlier, and we don't want Gomamon and Gabumon to run out of energy if they have to evolve." Jaune said with a nod as they silently took the many bananas the Bakemon was guarding in the crate he was leaning against, the two Digimon quickly digging in once they were a safe distance away.
"Jo's rations weren't enough to keep my energy up as Ikkakumon," Gomamon commented.
"They were meant for bare necessities to begin with, so that's not really surprising," Jo admitted.
"Oh man these are good." Gomamon said with a relieved sigh as he ate through a few purple bananas.
"Surprisingly yeah, I never thought food that looks so weird would taste good." Jaune said as he ate one as well. Once upon a time he wouldn't think to touch something like a banana that was purple colored...but as with a lot of things, the last week in the Digital World broke him of any notions of normalcy...and crazy as it sounded, he would do it again in a heartbeat.
"Just like I was broken out of 'normalcy' when I discovered my powers," Novice spoke up with a small smile, "Not that such a thing as 'normalcy' truly exists."
"...Did you copy that from a book or something," Impmon asked.
"No." That dry statement was accompanied by the stick to Impmon's head.
"Easy you two. I know you're hungry, but don't give yourselves stomachaches now," Pyrrha chided lightly as she too ate one of the fruits. Despite the less than ideal situation, she couldn't help but smile at the moment. Ever since they'd been thrown into the Digital World, she'd been met with more and more unfamiliar situations, yet she couldn't help but feel happy. For the first time in a long time, ironic as it sounded, she felt like she was just a normal girl, among friends she could be herself around. In this Digital World, she wasn't the Invincible Girl. She was just Pyrrha Nikos.
"...She really hates her fame," Mimi commented.
"Hate is a strong word," Novice spoke up, "But yes, she's not enjoying it."
"Don't worry about us. We're fine," Gabumon said as he polished off another banana. By now they'd walked a good distance away from where they'd found the sleeping Bakemon, and so far nothing had really happened.
Apparently Murphy was bored, as even the thought of how uneventful it had been so far was enough to invoke him, evident by them having to quickly duck back into a corner when they found a few Bakemon floating around a room.
"The final obstacle," Daisuke said with anticipation.
"That's quite a lot of them," Gabumon frowned as they peeked out of the corner.
"Hey, I think I see the way out on the other side of the room," Gomamon added.
"So they're literally floating between us and the way out, huh?" Jaune mused. "Any ideas?"
"Why not go all out?" Pyrrha suggested.
"...that works," the three of them nodded. Sometimes simple was the best.
"That's true," Koshiro admitted.
(Play Brave Heart)
"Gomamon, Evolution! Ikkakumon!"
"Gabumon, Evolution! Garurumon!"
The Bakemon floating around the room heard the calls and turned to where the voices came from...and were promptly met with a face full of blue flames, courtesy of Garurumon's Fox Fire. The few that managed to evade didn't even get a chance to get their wits together as they were met with Ikkakumon's horn, throwing several of them aside.
"Let's get out of here!" Jaune quickly said as he and Pyrrha ran to the exit, and soon found open air as the entrance seemed to lead to the graveyard behind the cathedral...before their partners burst out of the ground behind them, seeing as they were too big for the door.
"I feel like this should be disrespectful, but I can't really bring myself to care after what happened," Pyrrha commented with a sweat drop as she noticed their partners had destroyed several gravestones when they got out.
"Those things are probably just for show anyway," Impmon added in.
"Yeah...let's hope we don't come to regret that anytime soon," Jaune nodded awkwardly.
"How dare you disrupt Lord Bakemon's domain!" came an eerie voice, as several Bakemon appeared from the cathedral.
"Yeah well, we didn't feel like playing along with the whole offering thing," Jaune said.
"For this transgression, you will all pay dearly," the Bakemon said in unison.
"Oh yeah? What are you guys gonna do about it?" Ikkakumon shot back.
"Uh...I don't think you should be provoking them," Jaune groaned.
"Relax, they're weak as heck, and we're at full power. What's the worst that could happen?" Ikkakumon waved off.
"You did NOT just say that," Gatomon groaned.
"...you DO realize you just provoked Murphy, right?" Garurumon and Pyrrha deadpanned at that.
True enough… "You have all earned the wrath of Lord Bakemon!" the Bakemon called out, as they, and several of the ones that were in the tunnels, soon gathered together in the air, seemingly circling around, before they seemed to merge together, revealing another Bakemon...only this one was easily 10 times larger than a normal Bakemon.
"I'm guessing THAT is Lord Bakemon. You HAD to ask, didn't you, Ikkakumon?" Jaune said dryly.
"And there it is," Jo commented, even as Novice's breathing became slightly more erratic as his mind kept replacing Lord Bakemon with a purple hill-shaped form that had a disturbing grin.
"Hey! Hands off my tail," Impmon exclaimed as Novice had grabbed Impmon's tail by accident.
"Sorry," Novice said as he shook his head to rid the image of the most terrifying thing ever... To him anyway.
"Yeah...that may not have been so smart," Ikkakumon admitted with a sweatdrop as the giant Bakemon descended.
"Hell's Hand!" he called out as from the 'sleeves' of his form, a pair of demonic blue hands shot out, grabbing hold of both Ikkakumon and Garurumon and throwing them both aside.
"Looks like his size isn't just for show!" Pyrrha said in alarm as she and Jaune got out of the way, avoiding a swing from the giant ghost.
"It really isn't," Veemon said in surprise.
Ikkakumon and Garurumon quickly got back on their feet and began counter attacking. "Harpoon Vulcan!" Ikkakumon called out, firing his horn, but Lord Bakemon grabbed it with his Hell's Hand, and threw it aside, causing it to explode in the distance.
"Fox Fire!" Garurumon called out, sending the torrent of flames, but Lord Bakemon shielded himself with his arms, and quickly dispersed the attack save for a few singes.
"Okay, he's holding his own against them. Not a good sign," Jaune frowned. "Well, in that case we'd better lend them a hand," he said, looking at his makeshift cross, and then to the advancing ghost. "And I think I know just how to make him stop."
"Are they going to smack him with that cross," Biyomon wondered aloud.
"Interesting idea," Novice said with a thoughtful look.
"What do you have in mind?" Pyrrha asked.
"Something crazy and stupid, I must really be out of my mind to even try it," he sighed, before running towards Lord Bakemon. "I've been spending too much time with Pierce…" the blonde muttered before saying, "Hey you! Halloween reject!"
The Children and their digimon couldn't resist laughing at the huge Bakemon being called a halloween reject.
Lord Bakemon turned to face the human, not impressed by the insult.
"Open wide!" Jaune shouted, before rearing back...and throwing his makeshift cross at Lord Bakemon. The large ghost blinked...before gasping when he realized what it was...big mistake, as when he opened his mouth, the cross went right in, to which he swallowed. Immediately he was grasping at his throat, or whatever passed as it, as he looked like he'd swallowed something VERY hot.
"That's the usual effect of holy relics on unholy beings," Novice said with a grin.
"I chanted a sutra to make it weaker," Jo commented.
"Yeah, it made him shrink," Gomamon commented.
"Thanks Jaune!" Ikkakumon grinned. "Harpoon Vulcan!" the attack struck true, exploding in Lord Bakemon's face and causing the ghost to cry out in pain, but through the smoke, a pair of Hell's Hand shot out, grabbing both the adult Digimon and began hitting them against each other, Lord Bakemon flailing around in pain, and dragging them for the ride.
"Okay...that's not what I had in mind," Jaune gulped.
"Well, no shit," Impmon commented.
"Okay, that didn't happen to us," Biyomon commented, remembering that all they had to do was use their attacks again to finish it off.
"I guess chants are more effective then," Novice said with a small smile.
"He's definitely weakened, but not enough," Pyrrha said, looking around frantically for something to help their partners. She soon found her answer when she eyed the large X on top of the cathedral. The METAL X at that. "I've got an idea."
"If you've got something, better make it quick. I think my plan may have backfired," Jaune gulped as both their partners were bodily thrown into a heap.
"Her, semblance," Koshiro guessed, "Is she planning to hit Lord Bakemon with that?"
Pyrrha nodded quickly before reaching out with her semblance, plucking the X off the cathedral. Straining a little, she willed the metal to warp, changing its shape, adjusting a few things...and before long she'd made a crudely shaped metal cross. "Take this!" she shouted, Lord Bakemon turning to see her...before the large makeshift cross was rammed into him, causing him to shout in pain.
"...Or turn it into a proper cross," Tentomon commented, wincing at the sounds the metal made as it was forced into a new shape.
"Great idea, Pyrrha!" Jaune grinned, before turning to their partners. "Do it now!"
"You got it!" they both nodded.
"Fox Fire!"
"Harpoon Vulcan!"
The two attacks flew through the air, Lord Bakemon barely able to turn to see it, and with his powers so severely weakened, he could do nothing as the attacks hit, and he burst into scraps of torn cloth and data.
(End Song)
The two humans sighed in relief as the fight was finally over, while their partners surprisingly stayed in Adult level for once.
Before any proper cheering could commence though, the ground cracked open, a portion of it collapsing away, allowing everyone to peer down into it.
"It's the Black Gears isn't it," Gomamon commented dryly.
"I really shouldn't be surprised." Pyrrha said with a frown as they looked at the large amount of Black Gears in the earth, all spinning about for some sort of mechanism.
And then they suddenly stopped, before breaking down into pieces, and the island jerked to a stop, sending them to the ground. "What now?" Jaune groaned.
"Look over there!" Ikkakumon pointed into the fog, which they could see was starting to lift, and finally, gave them a view of Mount Infinity.
"Maybe we'll be able to get back now." Garurumon said.
"The others will most likely be making their way towards the mountain." Pyrrha realised.
"Yep." four pairs of digimon and humans commented.
"Then that's where we're going as well." Jaune said with a nod, before he climbed up on Ikkakumon and Pyrrha got on Garurumon's back while the two Digimon ran out of the graveyard and jumped into the water, Garurumon surprisingly being able to keep up with Ikkakumon.
"Could you actually to that," Yamato asked Gabumon.
"... I don't know," Gabumon admitted, "I mean, Ikkakumon isn't the fastest swimmer."
"HEY!" Gomamon exclaimed in indignation.
"Well, you're not," Impmon said, earning a glare from the seal.
They had to hurry, as there was no telling the kind of situations their friends were in.
As soon as the book closed, Novice got a message, that he chose to check. "Huh. Interesting," the Overseer commented.
"What is it," Palmon asked with a head tilt.
"Just some info from Swift on how Gyro worships Loki," Novice explained, "He just praises him and drops pranks on people online."
"...That's it," Tentomon asked in confusion.
"That's it," Novice shrugged.
Impmon suddenly had a questioning look, "Hey, Novice, what's that?" and pointed behind them.
"What's what," Novice asked as he turned in his seat. Then came face to face with a purple hill shaped form with blocky white teeth in a sick grin. It also had a huge black nose, and a pair of white eyes with tiny pupils, giving it a demented look.
"AAAAAAAARRRGH!" Novice screamed as he jumped off his couch and fired a blast of dark magic upon the thing which phased through.
All the while the Children and their digimon were now extremely worried. What was this thing that could scare Novice, who can control one of the Seven Great Demon Lords, to this extent.
"KUOLE! KUOLE! MIKSET KUOLE!(Die! Die! Why won't you die!)" Novice cried out in terror as everything he threw against the creepy thing simply phased through. Before it shattered into bits. Causing the teary eyed Overseer to blink as he realized what it was. "A hologram... WHO DID THIS!?" And then the rage set in, which made the Children flinch.
"Hey, Impmon, where are you going," Armadimon asked the imp digimon who froze mid-step of his next sneaky exit. Which of course earned everyone's attention.
"Impmoooon, sinäkö se olit(Impmon, was that you)," Novice asked in a sickly sweet tone, which caused the imp to turn around slowly. To see that Novice's eyes had lost all light and his smile seemed murderous.
Impmon didn't need a translation to know he was in trouble for making that hologram. "Escape!" With that exclamation, Impmon ran away. Only to trip as an energy cord originating from Novice's fingertip wrapped around the digimon's legs.
"Get over here!" Novice shouted as he yanked the little rascal into his arms. "Time to get spanked," the demented looking Overseer spoke up as he made the holy rod that he previously used to threaten Lilithmon appear.
"Oh, crapbaskets," Impmon whimpered as they were enveloped by a black field that prevented the Children and their digimon from seeing what would happen inside.
"...Should we be worried about this," Iori asked, having found himself hugging Miyako, who was hugging him back for comfort.
"...I think we should be," Taichi said, having half a mind to wonder what that thing was that scared Novice that badly, and another half to feel pity for Impmon for doing a prank like that.
"I wonder what he's doing to Impmon in there," Hikari asked in worry.
"Well, we're not hearing anything, so maybe nothing too bad," Ken said with hope in his voice.
"...Or that field is soundproofed," Koshiro voiced out, just as scared as the rest of them.
"...I want mother," Iori whimpered, surprising everyone.
For their surprisingly mature Iori to say something like that was very worrisome. Not that anyone could blame him as they witnessed the freak out of a century.
Impmon: No! Please don't!
Me: Naughty children get spanked.
*sizzling sound*
Impmon: NOHOHOHOOOOOOO!