Black was seriously regretting her actions. Not because of how it made Hikari feel, but because of how she felt right now.
"Ow!" Black cried out as she once again felt the Stick of Wisdom hitting her on the head. Courtesy of Gatomon. You see, Novice had Black tied up with holy chains so that the Children and their digimon could punish her in a way they saw fit. It was Gatomon who suggested each of them getting a turn hitting the black feline. Although Iori and Armadimon refused because they didn't feel comfortable hitting the defenseless mon, even if the said mon is a grade A jerk. Taichi of course was more than happy to whack the evil cat. Daisuke was also more than happy about raining punishment on the digimon. For some reason, the others weren't as eager to hit Black.
The rest of them just didn't feel like bringing anymore harm upon Black, despite how distressed she made Hikari. Even the girl herself didn't feel like it. Not that Hikari would stop them even if they did. Of course, Gatomon herself wanted to go last, thinking that the last one would hurt the most. Aside from Gatomon, none of the other digimon felt lik hitting the black cat, either because they thought it wouldn't really help or because they simply didn't feel comfortable about the punishment.
"What do we learn Black?" Novice knew that the kitty would never truly learn, but it would make her focus on nursing her injuries for a while.
"Never again try to scar Children," Black replied, wanting so badly to nurse her injured head, but she was too tied up to do that. Quite literally.
"Good," Novice said before turning towards the youngest girl, "Hikari, are you okay?"
"Y-yes I am," Hikari said, trying to sound reassuring, but she was clearly still rattled by Black's revelation. Something that the older girls shared as a very scary thought appeared in Sora's and Mimi's minds.
"Umm... Novice," Sora asked timidly.
"I wouldn't be surprised," Novice said with a tired look. This earned him a surprised look from the two girls. "Your question is written all over your faces," the Overseer explained, before giving them all a sympathetic look, "For the sake of your sanities, please leave it at that." He didn't have to tell the two girls twice.
"...Can we start the next chapter," Hikari then asked, surprising everyone.
"Hikari, are you sure," Taichi asked in worry.
"Yes, please," Hikari said almost sternly. She just wanted something to get her mind off of this horrible thought. It's not even that she didn't want kids one day, but she has overheard her mother mentioning what happened to those that got a kid too early.
"Alright then," Novice said as he made a ten sided dice appear on his hand, and a bowl into the other. Then the brown haired man threw the dice into the bowl. It landed on number six. "Palmon, you're up," Novice spoke up earning surprised looks out of everyone.
"Why me," Palmon asked with a bewildered look.
"Because the dice said so," Novice said as if that explained everything. Then with a wave of his hand, the book floated towards Palmon.
Palmon wasn't sure if she should be the one to read this, but the plant digimon soon felt Mimi patting her on the back supportively. "Okay, I'll do it," Palmon then said and opened the book, which was a little large for someone of her size.
Etemon, Setting the Stage of Evil!
The title card showed Etemon with a guitar.
"Of course, we get him already," Mimi complained at the sight of second evil digimon they had to face.
"What were you expecting, Mimi," Palmon asked, earning small laughs already from everyone.
"I'm not sure if I look forward to this," Patamon then said, ceasing most of the laughter.
"Why not," Iori asked with slight worry.
"You'll see soon enough," Takeru said with a small sigh. It wasn't just Takeru and Patamon who weren't looking forward to this, everyone of the first generation was worried to varying degrees. But none more so than Agumon.
The morning sun greeted the group as they all awoke from their slumber. "Morning already, huh?" Gyro yawned, before rubbing his back a little. As much as they appreciated Whamon's help...his back was not a very comfortable bed...not that he or any of them were gonna actually SAY that.
"It sure didn't stop Mimi from sleeping in," Biyomon said with a knowing look.
Mimi didn't feel like dignifying that with an answer.
"Why didn't we sleep on the boat again?" Pierce asked as he stretched his body outwards and sighed in relief when his back cracked slightly.
"Because we knew we'd be arriving this morning and we're sending the boat back with Whamon." Weiss said as she tried, and failed, to stop a yawn.
"Oh yeah…" Pierce sighed. "Well, at least we left those three trouble makers on the boat. No way they're getting out of there now."
"That could actually work," Jo said, nodding in approval, "If Whamon never opens his mouth, they won't be able to get out."
Everyone stopped and gave him a look at his words "Pierce…" was the only thing Veemon sighed out.
"Yeah, I realised it the moment I said it." Pierce said with a groan.
None of the Children or the digimon understood what everyone's problem was with Pierce.
"Let's...just get on land when we get there…" Jaune sighed. He sincerely hoped, even if it was likely in vain, that for once Murphy didn't screw them over. He had a feeling they wouldn't survive having to take care of those three on top of trying to NOT get killed by the next evil Digimon that would no doubt try to kill them.
"Oh... right," Agumon was the first to comment about Murphy's law being invoked.
"And I just realized that, Whamon might accidentally open his mouth," Jo added in, feeling a little stupid.
"We shall be arriving soon," Whamon said, as they could now see the fast approaching land...and it was a LOT of land.
"That's a really big island." Patamon said in awe.
"It's not exactly the same thing." Blake said in a bit of amusement.
"We're probably going to encounter one of those evil Digimon Jijimon warned us about soon." Agumon said with a frown.
Taichi frowned a little, "We didn't even think about the next evil digimon coming after us when we landed."
"Maybe we should have," Yamato added in, "Would've saved us a lot of trouble."
"How so," Daisuke asked the Chosen of Friendship.
"Just let Palmon read," Agumon said with a small sigh. He was hoping that his other wouldn't have to go through what he did.
"Hopefully we managed to find at least one of the crests before fighting them." Gabumon said in worry.
"Well, if we don't, no need to worry," Gyro said. "There's always the ultimate secret technique," he said, gaining interested looks from everyone...except Pierce, who already knew where this was going.
"What is it?" Salamon asked, Nora also leaning closer.
As did everyone else, getting interested in what this supposed technique is.
"Why it should be obvious. When faced with an opponent that could slaughter us easily, and the fate of the world isn't IMMEDIATELY at stake, there's only one thing left to do. Tighten our butts...and run for our lives!" Gyro laughed at the end.
He was not surprised when he witnessed several facefaults at his words.
Contrary to the Remnantians, the Children and their partners burst into laughter at what probably should've been obvious answer.
Novice also laughed while having taken Black to lay down on his lap while petting her. The black feline would never admit that her human knew exactly where to scratch to make her relax and forget all of her pains.
"THAT'S your brilliant plan?!" Yang all but roared as she was less than pleased at him riling them up only to give them that kind of plan.
It was amazing how Palmon was able to read through her own laughter.
"Oh? You have something better then? By all means, share YOUR brilliant plan with the rest of us." Gyro told her dryly, and was met with silence. "Thought so."
"Yeah… I'm with Gyro on this one," Ren admitted, seeing the wisdom in the plan.
"Same here," Wormmon nodded, followed by a few murmurs of agreement from the other Digimon as well.
"Can we take potshots at them at least?" Ruby asked as she held up Crescent Rose.
"By all means, it'll piss them off and be hilarious for us." Gyro said with a grin as Ruby pumped her fist with a small 'Yes!'
"That may not be so smart," Ken said having a mental image of what Daemon would do if he was sufficiently angered.
"I agree with Ken," Wormmon added in, having horrible thoughts about the demon lord, even as Imperialdramon.
Any further conversations were halted when they realized that they had arrived. "This is as far as I can go," Whamon said. "I wish you all the best of luck."
"Thank you very much, Whamon," Pyrrha smiled as one by one they soon got off from his back.
"Thanks again for taking the ship back. It'd probably be better back on File than with us," Blake said.
"And it's a good thing we didn't wake up those troublemakers." Gomamon said with a snicker.
"Their probably still asleep and don't know that they're going back." Palmon said with a laugh.
At the mention of the trouble-makers, the Children and their digimon found themselves smiling in amusement. Although some of them felt that those three would appear again.
"Well, we'd better not take too long then," Biyomon nodded.
"I wish you all the best of luck. If you follow this path, you should reach a village of Koromon. They should be able to help you get started on your way," Whamon said, before he soon turned around and was on his way back to File.
"Take care Whamon!" everyone was waving until he was gone from sight.
"Alright, we have a long road up ahead, so let's cover it as best we can." Gyro said with a grin.
"Welp, you're the boss." Nora said with a grin of her own as they all started moving, and reminding everyone of the conversation they had the last day, where Gyro had brought up the issue of who should be the leader.
"Did you three decide who the leader was at this point," Miyako felt the need to ask.
"No we hadn't," Koshiro admitted, before glancing at Taichi,"It took Taichi disappearing for a time for us to realize who our leader was."
"Really?" The second generation asked in wonder.
"Even I didn't realize that," Taichi admitted, remembering how the thing was just sprung up on him one day.
He had been quickly silenced before he could suggest Jaune and Ruby as everyone said it should be him, even his brother.
At the very least, he was able to make it so that should he not be available, they would look to Ruby and Jaune for guidance.
"...Why does Gyro want Ruby or Jaune to be the leader," Gabumon asked Novice, "Is it really that important to him."
Novice had a thoughtful look at the question as he wondered how he should answer, "It has to do with canon RWBY events. That's all I'm saying."
The trip down the path was rather uneventful, something the group was glad to have...albeit the fact that it was taking a while to even find the village with nothing but rocks around them.
"Okay...I know Whamon said this was supposed to be the path to the Koromon village, but...where is it?" Blake frowned.
"We...really should remember to ask for an estimate of how long a path will take next time," Tentomon sighed as they continued down the path.
The Children and their digimon felt embarrassed at another hindsight moment.
Along the way, Agumon took a tentative sniff, and turned to the others. "I smell Koromon. That way," he said, pointing to what appeared to be trees in the distance.
"A forest? Well, that's definitely more reassuring than barren rocks," Pyrrha nodded.
"Let's go then," Palmon smiled, to which they did.
It wasn't too long after that before the village was in sight. However…
"...okay...this isn't what he said would be here…" Weiss frowned, as what met them wasn't a village of Koromon, but a village of Pagumon.
"Was Whamon wrong," Veemon asked the first generation out of curiosity.
"No, he wasn't," Taichi responded simply.
"Not these jerks again," Yang growled, remembering her last encounter with this type of Digimon.
"Easy there, Yang. Not every Digimon of the same species is like all the others," Pierce said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Still though...didn't Whamon say this was supposed to be a Koromon village?" Gyro mused.
"And I DO smell Koromon...but I don't see them…" Agumon frowned.
"Okay, what is going on," Hawkmon asked, noting some sour looks some of the first generation had.
"Just let Palmon read," Takeru said. While this memory is a little sore for him, he doesn't hold a particular grudge. Just healthy caution the next time he saw Pagumon.
"You sure?" Patamon asked.
"Positive." Agumon said with a firm nod.
"In that case, let's keep our guard up, Agumon's nose hasn't been wrong so far." Gyro said as they fully stepped into the village, having remained outside to have their conversation.
"Welcome~ Welcome~! To our Pagumon village!" The Pagumon practically sang the moment they saw the newcomers, giving them basically the red carpet treatment.
"Okay...they're...friendly…" Jaune said awkwardly.
"Too friendly, right?" Nora chuckled under her breath, but just enough for the others to hear.
"Yeah, that's about right," Jaune nodded.
"Keep our guards up then?" Salamon chuckled.
"Yep," the other Digimon nodded.
"Hey, do you guys know where the Koromon village is? We could have sworn it was over here." Pierce said, playing the part of a clueless person, the others quickly catching on… but the Pagumon didn't.
"Ah, they, uh, moved out!" one of them said nervously.
The second generation took note of how nervous that one Pagumon was.
"Y-yeah! A few years ago, so, we decided to take the houses they left behind." another one agreed, sweating a bit.
"Is that so?" Ruby pressed, making them sweat a bit, before… "Boy, you all are lucky," she said cheerfully, making them breath a sigh of relief at having successfully fooled these suckers. Little did they know that when the group was out of sight, Gyro and Ruby did a fist bump.
"...They're pretending!?" Daisuke exclaimed in disbelief at the Pagumon.
"Yup. And we fell for it like suckers," Gomamon admitted with a smile.
"That's not something to smile about," Palmon growled at the seal.
All the while the second generation gave them a look of "Really guys?"
"They're not the only gullible ones, if memory serves," Novice said, preventing a roast fest before it could even begin.
"...At least they let me bathe," Mimi said, finding a silver lining.
"And then Taichi and Koshiro walked in on you," Black said from Novice's comfy lap with a cheshire grin.
"Is that true, Taichi," Hikari asked, directing a sour look at her brother. As did Miyako, while Koshiro was somehow spared.
"It was an accident," Taichi immediately defended, "I thought Mimi was being kidnapped."
"That's what it looked like, yeah," Palmon confirmed.
"...this stuff isn't another illusion, right?" Veemon said cautiously as he eyed the fruit laid out for them. It seems the Pagumon were laying it on extra thick by treating them to a feast...while singing about how their village was a village of happiness.
"One way to find out I guess," Wormmon said, before taking a bite. "...seems real enough to me."
"Isn't that what we all thought about the food Devimon left out though?" Gabumon said as he eyed an apple suspiciously.
"Yeah, but I'm putting some of it in my pouch, and it's all still there, so I think we're good this time." Pierce said as the Pagumon had 'graciously' allowed them to restock on supplies.
"I seriously feel stupid," Takeru couldn't help saying.
"I think we all feel that way," Yamato said consolingly.
"Glad to hear that," Patamon smiled as he ate a bowl of grapes.
"Still, I gotta admit, I always thought Pagumon were rascals. Guess I was wrong," Gomamon said, winking a bit at Gabumon.
"Guess that just shows you shouldn't believe everything you hear." Biyomon added, faking a cough to hide a laugh.
This conversation made Gomamon look down a little, seeing as he was the one who said that Pagumon being jerks was just a rumor.
"Yeah, that's right," the Pagumon nodded as they gave them more food.
"Guess Pagumon are actually really nice Digimon," Veemon chuckled.
"And they make good food too," Wormmon added, figuring a bit of truth would make the act all the more believable.
"Smart move," Ken couldn't help complimenting. Although Wormmon wasn't sure if he himself was that smart.
"Thanks for the compliment," more Pagumon smiled.
Once the meal was done and the sun had set, the group were asleep...or so it seems. Once the Pagumon were sure they were asleep, they left the hall quietly. What they didn't notice was Salamon opening one eye, then in a move that could easily have been sleep movement, nudged Patamon, who in turn nudged Tentomon, and so on. Once the group was sure their 'gracious hosts' were gone, they all had to fight to suppress some snickers at how well that went. It was time to get to the bottom of things.
"As much as I don't like Nora, I have to admit that she's smarter than you guys. If you fell for a trap as obvious as this," Gatomon said with a sigh.
"Gatomon, that's not nice," Hikari scolded her partner. For once, Gatomon didn't think anything of being scolded by her partner.
"So, what should we do about them?" one of the Pagumon asked as they bounced out of the village.
"I say we lock them in the cages," another suggested.
"No, we should rob them blind," another smirked.
"Rob them blind AND stick them in cages," another laughed.
"...Is it weird that I want to punch a Pagumon right now," Agumon couldn't help asking. The urge to hit these little rascals was rising.
"You're not the only one," Gabumon agreed. Seriously, the more these guys talk, the more he dislikes them. As did everyone else, especially Patamon.
"Hey, what are you lot blabbering about?!" came a new voice.
"Ah! Gazimon!" the Pagumon all said in surprise, turning to see three Gazimon looking at them.
"Seriously though, what are you talking about?" one of the three Gazimon asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The Chosen Children are here!" one of the Pagumon said with a grin.
"Seriously? Wow, guess they got here a little early." the first Gazimon said, blinking.
"Did they actually fall for your act?" the last Gazimon asked with a snicker.
"Hook, line and sinker." the leader Pagumon said with a laugh.
"What a bunch of idiots." the second Gazimon laughed.
The last line was directed at the Remnantians, but seven Children and digimon felt like it was directed at them. Which in turn made them feel very stupid for ever falling for that act.
"Well then, keep them in the village. In the meantime, I'll inform Lord Etemon of their arrival," the first Gazimon said, before running off into the distance.
"Roger~!" the Pagumon all said, before getting devilish smirks. Unfortunately for them...they weren't as private as they'd have liked.
"Called it," Gyro said as he and Agumon were watching from a nearby tree.
"And I don't need to think too hard about what happened to the Koromon. I can smell them. They're nearby," Agumon said.
"Yeah, but for now we gotta go back. Can't let these little bastards know we're on to them just yet," Gyro nodded.
"Guys," Iori called out, noticing how down the seniors looked, "What happened here?"
"...Because of our stupidity, Tokomon was kidnapped," Takeru finally admitted.
"Oh." Was the universal response the second generation gave. They had a pretty good idea of how they would react if their partners were kidnapped in their infant stages. Which caused Miyako to hug her partner, while Ken tightened his grip on Wormmon ever so slightly. Iori put his hand over Armadimon, not wanting to think about what would happen if he was kidnapped as Upamon.
"Hey, like I said earlier, you were kids who didn't know better," Novice said consolingly as Black purred in his lap at the treatment she was still getting.
"Right," Agumon said, before both of them quickly made their way back to the village, Gyro sending a quick text using his scroll to tell the others to get back to the hall.
At the same time, the Gazimon that had been running actually kept going on for several hours, the sun eventually rising as he reached his destination, already hearing the music in the distance.
Quickly enough, a trailer came into view, being pulled forward by a Monochromon, and the music was even louder as the side of the trailer slowly opened. From the trailer smoke came out as the sound of guitar solo was heard. "Yeah yeah!" came a voice from within the smoke, revealing what appeared to be a monkey-like Digimon, though it was hard to tell what he was exactly due to the fact his body seemed to be some kind of suit. He had a pair of sunglasses on, and what appeared to be a Monzaemon doll at his hip. "Who's the strongest in the world?" he smirked. "That would be me, the great Etemon!"
Digimon Analyzer: Etemon
Etemon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Puppet Digimon. The self proclaimed King of Digimon, Etemon is a surprisingly powerful opponent, contrary to what his appearance would have you believe. A musician at heart, Etemon is nonetheless a smart enemy and combines his love of music with his love of fighting. His special attacks are Love Serenade, which weakens Digimon of a lower level and can even cancel evolution in some cases, and Dark Spirits, launching an orb of energy that consumes the data of whatever it touches.
"...Really?" Was the most intelligent comment Daisuke, or any of the second genereation had about this monkey. "He doesn't look strong," the Chosen of Courage and Friendship added in.
"Trust us, he is," Palmon commented, remembering their humiliating defeats against him.
"All hail Etemon! The king of Digimon!" the Gazimon called with a grin...and got a knock on the head for his trouble.
"Quiet! You're way too loud for this early in the morning!" Etemon scolded.
"Shouldn't you follow your own advice?" Gazimon muttered as he rubbed his head, thankfully Etemon either didn't hear him, or chose to ignore it.
As much as the first generation disliked Etemon, they couldn't help but laugh at the poor Gazimon's misery.
"Now then, the plan is almost ready, I'm going to catch those Chosen Children when they get here later today, and I don't want your stupidly loud voice alerting them from where they are on the ocean." Etemon said with a grin as he looked at a digital map that was on the wall of his trailer.
"Uh, sir? That's an outdated transmission." Gazimon pointed out.
Etemon's grin fell as he heard that "Say what?"
"The children arrived at the village we stole from those Koromon yesterday." Gazimon added.
"SAY WHAT?!" Etemon shouted this time, before slamming a hand on his computer, the image updating with the latest transmission, showing that the group had indeed landed further down south the previous day "Stupid computer! These things should beep when they update!"
The Children couldn't help laughing at Etemon's anger at the innocent computer.
"Uh, sir? They actually do… I think you may have muted it… by accident of course." Gazimon said, adding the last part when Etemon turned to him and he could feel the glare behind those sunglasses.
More laughs at Etemon's expense.
Etemon growled. "Now my plan is ruined! I'll never forgive them for this!" he said as if this was somehow the Chosen Children's fault, something that made even the Gazimon sweat drop as he watched Etemon fiddle with the controls, causing the harness on the Monochromon to be released, allowing it to run off. But when it did…
"And you kids had trouble with this pathetic excuse for a digimon," Black grumbled without bothering to open her eyes.
"Compared to you perhaps," Novice retorted, knowing that anything less than an Ultimate is just fodder for the Demon Lords.
"Arise, my Dark Network!" Etemon called out, as a pair of black cables rose out of the ground, forming what appeared to be tracks, the trailer starting to be pulled along, to which the Gazimon scrambled inside before it closed.
"Won't you be gathering your followers, sir?" the Gazimon asked.
"No need. I'll be more than enough to handle the Chosen Children," Etemon said arrogantly as his trailer was pulled to his destination.
"Unfortunately, he's not wrong," Gomamon said, remembering how the evil monkey tossed him around like a ragdoll.
That earned worried looks from the second generation. If their seniors were truly powerless against Etemon at this point, then they had to wonder how they managed to stay away from him.
However, little did he know that not far away, a pair of figures were watching. The first, dressed in a white robe and hood, similar to Gennai's robe save for the color, that covered their features turned to their companion, who nodded and soon took off after the trailer.
"Aren't those the people from the opening," Gatomon pointed out.
"Looks that way," Jo agreed.
"Isn't today just a lovely day?" Ruby said.
"It sure is," Palmon nodded as the two were lying down.
"What are they doing," Mimi asked in disbelief at the two relaxing, despite the approaching doom.
"Just the kind of day that makes you wanna lie down and do nothing all day," Yang said as she and Biyomon were also lying down.
"That's right, its a lovely day to lie down!" The Pagumon agreed as they danced around the village.
"...they're seriously buying that?" Weiss sweat dropped from the roof she was sitting on a bit further away.
"Just roll with it," Tentomon said, as all over the village the others were doing their best to keep the Pagumon distracted so they didn't notice Gyro and Agumon not being in the village.
"Oh, okay," Mimi sounded out, understanding the ploy.
At the same time, Gyro and Agumon were discreetly walking through the woods, following the scent of what Agumon was positive were the Koromon that are supposed to live in the village.
Eventually, they reached the waterfall that was near the village, and Agumon took one last sniff of the air "I'm positive now, the Koromon are here."
"When we were searching for Tokomon, I picked Koromon's scent while I was at it," Agumon informed the second generation.
"Then let's free them." Gyro said as the two walked behind the waterfall, finding a cave that had quite a few locked cages full of Koromon, one of them looking up at the two newcomers.
"Who are you?" he asked a bit fearfully.
"I'm Agumon, and this is Gyro. Don't worry, we're here to free you, after all, I was a Koromon once as well." Agumon said with a smile, trying to reassure them.
"Hm...these are all simple locks. Normally I'd suggest smashing them, but I'd rather not accidentally hurt someone," Gyro mused, examining the locks, before pulling out a lock pick. "Thief games don't fail me now," he said, before getting to work on the locks.
"...I'm not sure video games are good for teaching lockpicking," Miyako said with a skeptical look.
"Weirder things have happened, trust me," Novice said, while glancing at Black who was probably pretending to be asleep.
"Hold on, you two ain't allowed to do that!" came a new voice from behind them. Turning they were met with the sight of two Gazimon, their arms folded in front of them, looking rather cocky. "You two and all the Chosen Children are going to be offered up to Lord Etemon."
"I'm guessing Etemon is the evil Digimon that's got control of this area," Gyro sighed.
"Sounds like it," Agumon frowned.
"He's not just any Digimon," the first Gazimon growled.
"He's the king of Digimon!" the other Gazimon smirked. "So you'd better show him the proper respect."
"Which is none," Black said, raising her head and glaring at the screen, "I hate that monkey and it's sick idea of music."
That reaction surprised the Children and their digimon a little.
"I got all his respect right here," Gyro deadpanned, before well...flipping them the bird.
What the Children saw on the screen was a black cube appearing over Gyro's hand. This earned confused looks from the Children.
"Sorry I didn't feel comfortable showing you guys that," Novice said while motioning towards Iori. Signifying that it was primarily for him.
"Oh you asked for it now," the two Gazimon growled. "I'm sure Lord Etemon won't mind if we took out one of the Chosen Children first."
"Oooh, two Gazimon are going to attack us. Whatever shall we do?" Agumon said melodramatically, before he and Gyro shared a knowing smirk.
"Oh, we know!" they chuckled, as Gyro grabbed his Digivice, causing it to shine.
"I almost feel sorry for those Gazimon," Tentomon said, probably smirking if he could.
"I don't," Agumon said, remembering how he got beaten two on one until Taichi arrived. Although it was satisfying blasting them away as Greymon.
"Agumon, Evolution! Greymon!"
Gyro had to fight not to laugh his guts out as he saw the Gazimon's confidence literally evaporate as they looked up and up and up till they saw Greymon's chin, their ears drooped and their pupils becoming pinpricks as they realized they'd just bit off more than they could chew. It didn't help that Greymon had busted part of the cave entrance by just growing to this current size. "So...still wanna 'take us out'?"
"NOPE!" The Gazimon both shouted as they did an about face and tried to run for it.
"Mega Flame!" Greymon called out, and the Gazimon were launched out of the cave and down the river.
"After the beating I got, that was very satisfying," Agumon commented with a grin.
"Wait, you were getting beaten by those two," Veemon asked in surprise.
"I wasn't there with him at the start," Taichi explained simply, still remembering the state his partner was in when he found him. At least Agumon wasn't beaten bad enough to prevent him from evolving.
"That cave was also where I was taken as Tokomon," Patamon added in.
"...They didn't do anything to you, did they," Hikari asked in worry.
"Other than saying mean things, no," Patamon said, being thankful for that small mercy.
Gyro chuckled at the sight, before grabbing his scroll from his pocket and hitting Jaune's number, the call being answered seconds later "You guys can drop the act now, we found the Koromon."
"Uh, yeah, about that, we kind of dropped it already when we found a Botamon in the village, then Pierce grabbed the Pagumon in a net that shot out of Pandora." Jaune answered.
"Guess they missed one," Yamato said, slightly eager to see the Pagumon in the net.
Back in the village itself, the Pagumon were loudly trying to break free of the net, before Pierce slammed the bottom of his weapon into the dirt next to the net. "If you don't shut up soon, I'm gonna use you guys like a pinata, and then Yang's going to use you as a punching bag!"
As if to emphasize the point, Yang grinned as she cracked her knuckles. At this point the Pagumon all wisely shut up.
"...I feel a little sorry for them," Sora said with a pitying look. As much as the Pagumon were mean, the Chosen of Love wasn't sure if they deserved what Pierce had in mind for them.
"I don't," Patamon said without any real hate to them. It's not like the small mon could hold a grudge for three years.
"I see…" Gyro chuckled. "Well, we'll get the Koromon out. You guys come as soon as you can," he said, before hanging up. "Alright then buddy, let's get the Koromon out."
"Right," Greymon said, as he used his strength to rip the cages open, while Gyro picked the locks on a few. It wasn't long before the Koromon were all free.
"Thank you!" they all cheered, glad to be free.
"No problem," Gyro grinned, before he noticed their friends had arrived...and he couldn't hold the smirk back when he saw the Pagumon all still trapped in a net. Now he wished they'd left more cages intact. Maybe spending some time in them would teach the Pagumon a lesson. Oh well, there were less Pagumon than Koromon anyway so…
"Wait, if there are less Pagumon, then how were they able to take over Koromon village," Armadimon asked in confusion.
"Gazimon probably helped them," Iori replied, before Novice could open his mouth. Armadimon nodded at the explanation, seeing that it made sense.
A few minutes later had the Pagumon all bouncing in dismay as they were now locked in the remaining cages. "And stay in there until you realize what you did was wrong," Salamon said as the Digimon all blew raspberries at them, even Agumon who'd reverted by now.
Gatomon shook her head in amusement of this. Hikari was less amused, but not by much.
"Now then, I'm sure you all want to go back home, but do you need any help?" Ruby asked the Koromon.
"Nah, we're good. Thanks again for saving us," the Koromon smiled. However…
"Ahem. Testing, testing. Hey, is this thing on?!" came a new voice, one that clearly came from a microphone.
"And there he is," Palmon groaned a little.
"Lord Etemon!" the Pagumon smirked. "Oh you all are gonna get it now! Lord Etemon is the strongest ever!" they laughed...until Nora casually tipped their cages over, causing them to fall in a clang, rattling them up a bit.
"Thank you," Black said, earning laughs out of everyone. "I wasn't trying to be funny," the black feline said in annoyance.
"So the boss is coming early, huh?" Pierce frowned. "Now might be a good time to use that secret technique, bro."
"Don't think that's gonna work." Gyro said as the opening in the middle of the waterfall caused by the rocks having risen let everyone see the trailer as it rolled into sight, with who they assumed was Etemon standing on top, a guitar in his hands.
"Etemon wasn't right in front of us back then," Koshiro said as he remembered the incident, "We saw a giant hologram."
"Oh great. We need to find an escape route now." Jaune said nervously.
"The cave goes on pretty deep." one of the Koromon said, specifically the one that was holding onto the lone Botamon that the group had found in the village.
"We need to distract him then." Pyrrha said simply.
"Maybe make him believe he was able to defeat us so he doesn't come running." Weiss added lowly.
"I dunno what you lot are planning, but its not gonna work! Dark Spirits!" Etemon called out, throwing a sphere of dark energy, forcing them to dodge as a section of the cave wall was destroyed.
"Okay, no choice. Time to evolve, guys," Pierce frowned. At that Veemon and Gabumon stepped up.
"How outclassed are they," Daisuke asked, knowing what a Perfect level digimon could do, but maybe strength in numbers could help.
"Veemon, Evolution! Veedramon!"
"Gabumon, Evolution! Garurumon!"
The two Adult Digimon were soon out of the cave, and wasted no time in beginning the counter attack.
"V-Breath Arrow!"
"Fox Fire!"
"Hey, no shooting at the star!" Etemon smirked, before with a strong punch, he destroyed both attacks. "Looks like you kids need a lesson in respect!" With that, he jumped off his trailer, and landed a strong kick to Garurumon, sending him reeling back. Veedramon tried to grapple him, but Etemon soon lifted him over his head, and threw him at Garurumon.
"That outclassed," Taichi replied simply, before frowning, "And that's not even the worst part."
That made the second generation worry a little.
"Is that all you got? If so, then you guys don't stand a chance," Etemon laughed.
"Crap...this guy is WAY stronger than Devimon," Jaune gulped.
"Should we all evolve?" Gomamon asked.
"Something tells me that's not gonna work here," Gyro frowned. "We need to find an escape route."
"But where would we get that?" Blake asked. However, before they could start discussing, a grating sound could be heard. "What IS that?!" she shouted.
"Love Serenade!" Etemon grinned as he began to 'sing', causing Veedramon and Garurumon to roar in seemingly pain, before they reverted to their child forms.
Despite the audio being slightly altered here, the noise was still ear grating. Especially for Gatomon and Black who were holding their poor kitty ears, "Kill it with acid!" For some reason, everyone agreed with the black cat's words.
"My strength's gone…" Veemon groaned.
"Mine too…" Gabumon groaned.
"That song...its taking away all our strength…" Patamon groaned as he landed on Blake's shoulder.
"That's the worst part, right," Wormmon asked the first generation.
"Yes." Was the universal response.
"Okay...this...is REALLY bad…" Pierce gulped. Their enemies powering themselves up was one thing, but the power to sap the strength from their Digimon...how the hell were they supposed to beat that?
"Man, who thought this would be so easy? Oh wait, I did." Etemon said with a laugh "I knew you kids wouldn't be able to hurt me, Chosen or not." he said as he cracked his neck, and took a step forward, until…
"Koyousetsu!" a feminine voice called out as several glowing leaves show down from the sky and striked where Etemon was about to step, making him stumble backwards.
"What?" Was the question everyone voiced.
The monkey man growled as he glared up at the top of the waterfall with a look of pure fury on his face "Dammit, not you again! Quit butting into my business Renamon!"
Though the group couldn't see at first, quickly enough, a yellow figure landed a few feet in front of Etemon, letting them see who this 'Renamon' was.
The figure was revealed to be a bipedal yellow fox with a feminine frame, wearing purple sleeves on her forearms while her blue eyes were narrowed at the simian.
Digimon Analyzer: Renamon
Renamon. Data Type. A Child Level Beast Man Digimon. A powerful Digimon, even amongst Child Level, Renamon is easily able to take on Adult Level Digimon with nothing but her fists. Calm, cool and collected, Renamon fights strategically, and is known to be rather blunt with her words. Her special attack is Koyousetsu, firing several sharp leaves at her target.
"Hmph, if you actually bothered to think, you'd already know the answer to that request," Renamon smirked, seemingly not the least bit intimidated by the Perfect level before her.
"Is she insane," Biyomon asked in worry. As much as she was wondering who this Renamon was, she was more concerned about the fact that a Child level digimon was mouthing off to a Perfect level.
"Tch!" Etemon growled, before smirking. "Well you talk big, but I know you had to have been nearby. You don't have the strength to evolve anymore than these twerps!"
Renamon however smirked. "Since when have I needed to evolve to fight back?" she chuckled. "After all...I'm not alone."
At that moment, on the top of the rocks, the figure in white reached into their robe...and pulled out a Digivice much like the one Keenan had, but colored silver instead. They then reached into a pouch at their hip...and drew forth a card.
(Play Slash! By Oota Michihiko)
The card spun in the air for a moment, before a hand grasped it. The figure soon brought the card which had a magnetic strip on the side, and scanned through the slot on the side of their Digivice. "Card Slash!" they called out, their voice feminine but strong, revealing them to be a woman. At the same time on her Digivice screen there was the image of the card seemingly splitting and opening revealing a mass of data and parameters inside. "Snimon!" she declared as she finished scanning the card, the image of said Digimon appearing on the screen.
Back at the fight, Renamon's gloves glowed, and from them a pair of curve sickles grew out, leaving the Digimon now armed with a dangerous new weapon.
"What the heck!?" Was the question everyone had about this new development.
"Ok, what the hell?!" Gyro said in shock as he looked at the sickles.
"That's not natural at all! Those things belong on a Snimon!" Tentomon said as the sight was even more confusing for the Digimon.
"Did anybody else hear that thing about a card slash?" Nora asked as she had a hand cupped next to her ear.
"Now that you mention it, yeah." Ruby said with a frown.
"What's going on," Tentomon asked frankly, seeing that this whole thing didn't make sense.
"The voice almost sounded familiar honestly." Yang added, just as confused as her little sister.
Back at the fight, Etemon was hardly impressed. "Your new toys don't scare me! Dark Spirits!" he called out as he threw the orb at Renamon. However, Renamon was much faster, disappearing in a blur as the orb flew past where she had been. Renamon suddenly appeared in front of Etemon, and with a quick slice, cut some of his suit. "Hey! I just had that dry cleaned!" he growled. "That does it! You're Data Dust when I'm through with you!" he roared as he lunged for the fox, who avoided without much difficulty. Landing a quick kick to his head, Renamon managed to make hims tumble a bit.
The Children and their digimon weren't sure whether to question how this Renamon had Snimon's sickles, or how a Child level was able to hold their own against a Perfect level.
"Run! Go through the cave!" Renamon instructed the Chosen Children, before going off to fight Etemon. "I will hold him off!"
"Are you insane?!" Biyomon said in alarm.
"You should listen to them. There's no way a Child Level could ever beat a Perfect like me," Etemon grinned...only to yelp when he suddenly had to dodge a sudden gun shot.
"A Perfect Level is afraid of a gun?" Renamon snarked at him.
Instead of answering normally, Etemon growled as he started to try and attack her again, having to dodge both gunshots and Renamon's sickles.
"Guess we don't have much of a choice." Gyro sighed, before turning around "Come on! Let's head deeper!"
(Song end)
As the song ended, it was like the spell had been broken.
"Before anyone starts bombing me with questions," Novice started, "I will explain what just happened. You see, D-Arks, as those digivice are called, can scan a digimon card and use the data to modify their partners. This is called, Card Slash."
"So that's why Renamon had Snimon's sickles," Koshiro said in thought.
"Where do those cards come from," Daisuke then asked.
Novice smiled at the question, "That will be revealed in time."
The Children chose to accept that part of the explanation. But Iori still had one more question, "Did these, D-Arks appear in an anime of us?"
Novice looked thoughtful for a moment, "Yes and no. They do appear in an anime called Digimon Tamers, but that's no longer about you guys. That anime has a different cast. Fun fact, Renamon is one of them." That last one was added as an after thought.
"...Okay," Mimi said with an uncertain look, unknowingly voicing what everyone else was thinking. This was a lot to take in.
"You guys need a moment to take this in?" Novice questioned.
"Uhh, no. I think I'm good," Ken said, before glancing at everyone else. This earned a series of agreements. They could digest this later.
"Dammit! I knew we needed those Crests, but I never thought we'd need them THIS badly!" Pierce growled as they ran. That little run in with Etemon really hammered it in how outclassed they were right now.
"For now let's just get away from him so we can regroup!" Pyrrha said.
"Good idea!" Gabumon nodded tiredly.
Aside from them, the Koromon joined as well. "This way!" one of them said as they took a few turns through the cave. Eventually they reached what appeared to be a dead end, but they also noticed the odd carving on the wall, one that resembled a sun of some kind.
"What's this thing?" Agumon said as he looked at the carving, for some reason it felt… nice, like it was something good.
"We were told that if anything bad ever happened to the village, we should come here, and that it would guide the way." one of the Koromon said.
"Did somebody predict today would happen or something?" Jaune wondered.
"If so, they should have been more precise in their words." Gyro said with a sigh, before him and everyone else blinked as the area around them was starting to glow in an orange color, the brightness concentrating on the carving.
Then, the wall blocking the way started to shrink while glowing even brighter, until it was the size of a thumb.
"Is that…?" Ruby started in surprise as she looked at the small orange object that floated in front of them all.
"A crest." Gyro said in awe, before the crest flew into his tag, locking itself in place "MY crest?" he corrected himself in surprise.
"So Gyro carries the Crest of Courage," Sora said in slight awe, "Does this mean that Yang would get the Crest of Love?"
This of course made everyone else have the question if their Crests would go to the Remnantian with their partner. But this also meant that Ken was wondering if Ren would get the Crest of Kindness.
"You will find out later," Novice said with a small smile.
"Well, at least there was a good reason for it to be here." Pierce said, bringing everyone's attention back to the front, as they noticed the crest has been hiding what was essentially a back door out of the cave.
The group stepped out of the cave, revealing a mountain range. "This is the mountain far from our village," one of the Koromon said.
"We'll hide out here for now until things calm down," another said.
"Stay safe all of you," Agumon smiled, while Gyro was looking at the Crest they'd just gotten.
"Guess we finally got a Crest, huh…" Gyro said slowly, before grasping it tightly. "Now we have a fighting chance," he grinned.
As the book shut itself, Jo shook his head, "If only it was that simple." Those words came from the fact that they didn't understand how the Crests worked at the time.
"What Crest does Pierce get," Daisuke then asked Novice, seeing that the Crest of Friendship would probably go to Pyrrha.
"You'll find that out later," Novice said with a small chuckle.
"For the record," Black spoke up, having been surprisingly quiet for the most part, "I want Beelzemon to put a bullet in Etemon's head."
"Sorry, but no dice. As much fun as that might be," Novice said a little too casually, which sadly didn't make the Children nervous anymore. They were getting used to his weirdness.