Minervamon: ...What are you doing?
Impmon: Preparing my next prank.
Minervamon:...Are you planning to play on Novice's fears again?
Impmon: Nope. Something better.
"Any questions before we start?" Novice asked, smiling at the group.
"Just one, who is reading the next one?" Agumon piped up, earning a small laugh from Novice.
Before the man had a devious idea, "Agumon, can you read?"
The fire lizard looked highly offended at the question, "Of course I can!"
"Good, then you just volunteered," Novice said as the book flew to the yellow reptile's lap.
"...You're kidding," Agumon said, wanting this to be a joke.
"No I'm not." Novice's smile betrayed his words.
"Just do it, Agumon," Taichi said, giving his partner a supporting pat on the back.
With that, Agumon opened the book from the appropriate chapter.
Semi-Perfect! Greymon VS Greymon!
The title card showed Greymon facing Greymon with what looked like a collar.
But what they were focusing on was the "Semi-Perfect" part. What could that mean?
"Starting to wonder if we made the right choice…" Jaune groaned.
"Yeah...maybe going into the desert of all places wasn't such a hot idea…" Yang admitted.
"Please don't say 'hot'," Weiss and Palmon both groaned. Right now the group, having escaped Etemon, and intent on putting as much distance as possible, was making their way through a desert that bordered the mountains they'd been in.
"They're suffering from the desert too, huh?" Koshiro commented in sympathy, as did the others who had to go through with that.
"Remind me again why we're going through the desert," Gomamon panted.
"Because we thought this would be a good place to hide from Etemon until we figure out our next plan," Wormmon and Tentomon sighed.
"...I fail to see how that would work," Yamato commented, seeing as there weren't really any places to hide.
"We just had nowhere to go," Sora added in.
"Technically we already know our next plan. We just need to find somewhere to implement it," Gyro said as he was currently walking in the front of the group.
"Right, figuring out how to get that Crest to work," Ruby nodded, looking at the where she knew Gyro had his Tag, now with a Crest in it, hidden under his clothes.
"Kinda wish we could find another projector or something. Maybe then we can ask Gennai for an instruction manual or something," Pierce couldn't help but chuckle.
"That could've been useful," Taichi sighed as he looked at his partner with some regret. Agumon being too focused on reading to notice it.
Their thoughts were interrupted momentarily by a snort they heard from Novice. "Don't mind me, just continue," the Overseer said, though it looked like he was trying to hold back laughing.
Unfortunately, none of the Children were born yesterday. "You thought Agumon couldn't read, didn't you," Mimi accused with a disapproving look.
"Moving on!" Novice quickly said, not realizing that he just confirmed the accusation.
"Dunno about a projector, but I think I see something over there," Nora said, Salamon hopping on her head to get a better look.
"Hey! I think its an oasis!" Salamon said, her eyes brightening up.
"I think we just found where we can plan...provided that's not a mirage," Ren said, to which Gyro put on his goggles and activated its binocular function.
"Looks real to me. Let's go guys!"
"Right!"
"Ah...this shade feels nice…" Palmon sighed contently as the group was now gathered near the water, everyone having gotten a drink and some time to rest.
"Did you guys run into an oasis," Wormmon asked the first generation.
"Yes." Was the universal answer.
"...And that's where the food torture started," Agumon added in, shivering at the memory. He felt so bloated and a little sick.
"Sorry." Taichi apologized.
"So, how should we start to figure out how to make the Crest work?" Agumon asked.
"How about we recap what we know about the process so far," Weiss suggested, earning a few nods from the others.
"First of all it takes a lot of energy, so a Digimon can't do it if they're out of power," Blake started.
Koshiro nodded, "Mm-hmm. That's a good start." Though he was worried about where this was going. All of the seven were.
"Nothing a bit of lunch can't fix," Pierce said as he and Gyro opened up their pouches to start digging into their supplies.
"Second, it tends to happen more easily when the need is there, namely their corresponding partner is in danger," Pyrrha frowned.
"Out of the question," Gyro said, shooting that idea down.
"No objections here," everyone else nodded.
Taichi lowered his head again in shame, of being reminded of how much he pushed his partner.
"So I guess first order of business is lunch then," Patamon said, and on cue, several growls were heard.
Being in an oasis, finding food wasn't too difficult, and with the supplies they had, it wasn't long before everyone was eating their fill. However, Gyro frowned a bit as he looked at his food, wracking his brain to think how best to approach the issue. He'd already eaten some food so he wasn't too hungry anymore, and considering how much energy evolution usually needed… "Here," he suddenly said, pushing the remainder of his food to Agumon.
"Hm? What's wrong, Gyro?" Agumon blinked after he swallowed his food.
"Well, seeing as evolution needs a lot of energy as is, I figured going to a higher level might need more so…" he shrugged at the end.
"I get it, so maybe he'll need extra energy to evolve to the Perfect level," Weiss said in understanding.
"Not sure if it'll work or not, but...its worth a shot," Gyro admitted.
"Okay then, let's try it," Agumon said, accepting the extra food and soon at his fill...though he seemed a little stuffed after that, but not too bad.
"At least he's not like me," Taichi said with some relief.
"What do you mean," Daisuke asked, not knowing the details.
It was Sora who decided to answer, "Taichi started essentially force feeding Agumon until it looked like he would pop."
"Yeah, I felt sorry for him," Biyomon added in, while glancing at the lizard who felt mildly green at the memory.
The said memory was alleviated by the fact that his other wasn't overly stuffed like he was.
"Should I tell them," Novice wondered in his head.
"Now...I guess the next bet is to try and have him evolve to Adult," Gyro mused.
"But...wouldn't that just tire him out if it doesn't work?" Jaune questioned.
"I'll be okay," Agumon said. "I've gotten pretty used to evolving, so it shouldn't be a problem if its just evolving."
"Right then, let's try it," Gyro nodded, and one evolution later, and Greymon as standing just outside the oasis. "Now for the hard part…" he sighed, pulling out his Tag and Crest. "What the heck am I supposed to do with these…?"
For some reason, that line earned various sounds of amusement.
"So…" Pierce said through stifled laughter. "Are you quite done playing Chuunibyou, brother?" he laughed.
Sora tried not to. Really she did, but the spot on comment and everyone else's laughter forced her to join everyone else. Chuunibyou described Taichi at the time so well that they just couldn't help laughing at the irony.
Which of course made the Chosen of Courage want to crawl under the sofa to hide from the embarrassment and shame.
"Har har, I'd like to see you do better," Gyro said dryly, while not far away Greymon sweat dropped as he sat on the ground. For the last half hour or so, Gyro had been trying all manner of ways to try and get the Crest to activate, from trying to see if it could be attached to the Digivice in anyway, to trying to see if it needed some kind of gesture, to well...admittedly hammy phrases as if the crest had some kind of activation phrase.
"I'm sure I could have done waaay better than 'Its evolving time'," Pierce laughed.
And now Black and Novice joined the laughing, the latter of the two having held it in long enough.
5 seconds later and everyone was watching Pierce being chased by an irate Gyro swinging his swords around angrily.
At this point, Agumon had to pause in reading, because he just couldn't do it with how he was laughing.
"Can you please stop it already," Taichi practically begged.
As the laughter soon ceased, Novice decided to move the topic slightly away from Taichi, "Would you guys like to hear my theory on how the Crests work aside from how they are activated." The activation he left out simply, because they already knew that.
"Sure. If you have one," Koshiro said eagerly. The others were a little curious.
With that, Novice started, "While the digimon would need more energy, it's already mostly handled by the Crest. The digivice transmits the evolution triggering energy through the Crest itself, using it as an amplifier."
Koshiro nodded at this, "That's actually what I have hypothesized."
"In other words, we don't need to get stuffed," Tentomon added in.
"...But we had to learn that the hard way," Taichi said with a sigh.
"Well… at least we know we can probably stay in Adult Level longer now." Greymon said, trying to look for the positives of the situation.
"That's true," Salamon nodded.
"So...are we going to stop Gyro, or wait till they both get tired?" Veemon asked awkwardly. On one hand it WAS his partner being chased. On the other hand...he didn't feel like getting caught in the middle of that...not even if he evolved into Veedramon.
The Children and their digimon couldn't help chuckling at that line. Although Taichi was a little more subdued.
"Stop them, because something weird is going on." Jaune said as he pulled out his tag, which was glowing softly.
"I guess they're going to find Jaune's Crest this time," Jo commented, "Like we did mine."
Greymon glowed as he reverted to Agumon at that moment "I'll do it." he said simply, before running closer to the two "Hey Gyro! Stop chasing your brother! Jaune's tag is glowing!"
Thankfully that did it as Gyro stopped running, with Pierce sagging in relief as he panted after being chased around so quickly and getting several threats of his goatee getting chopped off, Yang coming up to him and letting him lean on her as he caught his breath. "Geez, remind me never to bring up anything regarding this again. I thought for a second there he was seriously trying to take my head off," Pierce sighed.
"So, glowing tag?" Gyro asked as he got closer.
"Yeah, I'm thinking that maybe my crest is nearby." Jaune said with a shrug.
"Well, that would be the most sensible idea yeah." Gyro said before jumping to the top of one of the palm trees around the oasis and looking through his goggles for anything of importance, stopping when he spotted something "I see a colosseum over North of here." he called back down.
"It sounds like as good a place to search as any." Pyrrha said before they started heading towards it… though as they walked down a dune, Nora tripped on something and rolled the rest of the way down.
"What's a cable doing in the desert?" Wormmon wondered as Salamon ran down the dune and tried to pull Nora out of the sand mound she'd rolled into with only her legs sticking out.
"It's part of Etemon's network," Koshiro explained to the second generation before they could even ask.
"Well...seems like this cable leads to the Colosseum too, so...I guess we'll find out?" Ruby said with a shrug.
"...probably the best we can do," Ren nodded, moving to help Salamon get Nora out. With that they continued on their way to the colosseum.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the desert, Etemon's trailer was moving through the area. Inside, Etemon was seated before a screen showing his next destination...while he had a few bandages wrapped around him. "Damn that Renamon...always getting in my way. I guess I should be glad she's not a Chosen Digimon, or that could have been a problem," he growled. "Oh well, I'll deal with her and her group after I'm done dealing with the bigger fish. Just you wait. I'll stuff you all like turkeys!" he laughed as his trailer continued to its destination.
"...And we had hard time even hurting him," Gabumon complained, remembering all their humiliating defeats against Etemon.
And then he blinked when his screen started beeping, looking back at it "What's this now?"
Outside, a Gazimon was following next to the trailer on, strangely, a moped, with big enough tires that it could gain traction in the sand.
And then he almost crashed into the sand when Etemon suddenly shouted out from inside the trailer "STOP!"
"What's wrong, Lord Etemon?" the Gazimon asked as the trailer stopped and open, revealing Etemon fiddling with his controls.
"Seems something just got caught in my Dark Network. Let's see...area L-7...ah! That's where the Colosseum is!"
"The Colosseum? That's really far away," one of the Gazimon said.
"So that's why we didn't meet him back then," Gomamon commented at the luck they had about Etemon being too far away.
"True, but that doesn't mean I can't still prepare something special for the Chosen Children," Etemon chuckled as he started to make a call to his followers in that area.
"Wow...it feels like we're in Rome," Pierce whistled.
"Rome?" Tentomon asked.
"A city back in our world. The colosseum is a lot like the one there too," Gyro quickly explained.
"What is a colosseum anyway?" Agumon asked curiously.
"Nicely? Its an ancient stadium. Not so nice...it was a place where warriors were often made to fight to the death." Pierce said simply.
"That's actually pretty accurate," Iori commented, earning surprised looks, "What? I was curious about it one day."
"Remnant has its own stadium as well actually." Weiss said idly.
"You mean the one for the Vytal Festival, right?" Blake asked to clarify "I've never seen it before personally."
"What's it like?" Daisuke asked out of curiosity.
"Not talking," Novice replied, not wanting to spoil the surprise. But then Biyomon raised her wing. "Yes?" The Overseer asked the pink bird.
"What's Vytal Festival?" Biyomon asked.
"...I'll tell later," Novice said after a moment of internal debate.
"Yes, that seems about right," Pyrrha nodded.
"Though...since when did a colosseum have a soccer field in it?" Jaune couldn't help but ask, pointing at the two nets, painted field, and of course, the ball in the center. There was even a large television screen up at the back of the stands.
"Honestly...its kinda refreshing to see such a tame oddity," Yang couldn't help but say.
"We decided to play a little soccer on that field," Sora commented, remembering that part fondly. Especially when the digimon were interested too.
"But Taichi decided to be a killjoy," Palmon huffed.
Taichi just turned his head away at being a jerk at the time.
"Good point," Jaune chuckled, before noticing the glow of his Tag becoming stronger. "Looks like my Crest is somewhere in the field," he reported.
"Well, I don't see anything that could be an obvious crest… maybe it's hidden?" Gabumon suggested.
"How?" Veemon commented. Earning mildly amused looks from the first generation.
"Then let's search the field. We're bound to find it eventually," Gomamon suggested.
"Sounds like a plan," Veemon nodded. With that, they began searching the field, using Jaune's Tag like a dowsing rod of sorts in a massive game of 'hot and cold'. Eventually…
"Hot!" Nora grinned as Jaune's tag glowed brightly at one of the goal posts.
"Huh. Same place as last time," Gomamon commented."
"Okay...the tag's glowing brightly, but where is the Crest?" Wormmon asked.
"My guess...we'd better start digging," Pierce said, pinching the bridge of his nose, before Pandora shifted...into a shovel.
"Ok, how many forms can this thing take?" Biyomon said in confusion.
"That's what I want to know," Biyomon said. Unfortunately, the only answer the pink bird got was a shrug.
"A lot." was all Gyro said as they started moving the stone tiles on the floor away.
"...I wonder..." Black mumbled, having a devious thought.
Which earned a suspicious look from Novice, "Whatever you're thinking, stop it."
"Huh, there's a black cable here too." Ruby noticed after they had removed a few of the tiles.
"Once is weird, but twice is starting to get suspicious." Palmon said.
"Isn't it, twice is coincidense," Wormmon asked, earning slight chuckles.
"That's not how the saying goes, but you're right about that." Yang said with a frown as she looked at it.
"Oh, hey, I think that's the crest right here." Gomamon said as he dusted some dirt away with one of his flippers, looking at a marking that looked like a cross with triangles in it's corners.
As if in response to his words, the stone slab it was engraved on started glowing, before slowly shrinking down, the others stepped off of it, before it was now a small grey crest that flew into Jaune's tag.
"That makes two now, we just have to figure out how they work." Gyro said with a sigh of relief.
"So...since we just found the Crest...anyone up for a game of soccer before we move on?" Ruby suggested.
Before anybody could even agree to the idea, they all stopped as they heard the huge TV come to life, as it produced a clapping noise.
"Well now, I'm impressed you kids managed to make it all the way out here." Etemon said as he appeared on the television.
"And there he is," Agumon said in annoyance.
"How did you even find us?!" Pierce shouted incredulously.
"I have my ways." Etemon said with a grin that simply served to annoy them.
"Man, the boss's Dark Network is pretty awesome huh? All those cables spread all over the place." everyone could hear a voice say in the background of the television.
While Etemon's jaw dropped in disbelief at what just happened, it was time for the hunters and Digimon to grin at the accidental information. The grins turned into chuckles when they heard the sound of fists impacting skulls, no doubt Etemon giving whoever had given them that tidbit a good whack on the head. "W-well, that doesn't matter!" Etemon suddenly said. "Because this place will be where you all die!"
Despite Etemon making a threat that once made the first generation scared, they couldn't help laughing at the idiots that work for him.
"Can't even get proper servants," Black said with a cheshire grin.
"Yeaaah, I don't think so," Ruby said, as they started to get away. "No way we're gonna sit here and wait till you come!"
"Who said I would do the dirty deed myself? I have a surprise for you all actually, a special guest who'll do the honors for me." Etemon said with a sinister grin.
"Oh yeah? I doubt it's anyone too smart if their working for you." Gyro couldn't help but take a chance to tick the monkey off.
"He's not wrong," Yamato couldn't help saying, causing another round of laughter.
Etemon scoffed, before his grin returned "While their not the brightest, they can get the job done. Ladies and Gentlemen! I give to you, the one, the many…!" Etemon started as everyone could hear the rapid approach of heavy footsteps, before a shadow was visible coming down one of the colosseum entrances. A very familiar shadow at that "GREYMON!"
"Okay...that's...different…" Gyro admitted. Of all the mon he had expected Etemon to sic on them...he wasn't really expecting another of his partner's kind.
"He's got one of those cables around his neck, and his helmet is pretty scarred." Agumon noted as this Greymon's helmet was indeed covered in many battle scars.
"Well, if he's sending Greymon after us…" Gyro started, before grinning slightly "Time for a mirror match, Agumon!"
"Right!" Agumon said as he ran forwards while Gyro's Digivice glowed.
The first generation, especially Taichi had high hopes for this fight, because Gyro's Agumon wasn't stuffed and therefore, should do much better.
(Play Brave Heart)
"Agumon, Evolution! Greymon!"
"Now let's begin!" Etemon grinned. "Its show time!"
The fight was soon on as the two Greymon clashed, their horns meeting each other. After a few moments, Gyro's Greymon reared his head back and landed a strong head butt against Etemon's Greymon, causing it to reel a little, before countering with a strong tail strike, causing Gyro's Greymon to stagger a little, but he soon pressed the offensive, running forward and ramming into Etemon's Greymon, knocking him back, before Etemon's Greymon countered with a grapple, the two soon locked in a stalemate.
Taichi couldn't help smiling at this fight not being as one-sided as it was with them.
"Kick his ass buddy!" Gyro shouted as he pumped his fists in the air.
"Yeah! Go Greymon! I mean, go, our Greymon!" Veemon added, before correcting himself.
"Grab him by the tail!" Pierce added his advice into the mix.
Gyro's Greymon heard him, and did just that, managing to grab hold of his opponent's tail right as it was being swung towards him, and actually threw Etemon's Greymon aside.
"Nice!" Agumon couldn't help cheering at his other.
"Heh, you're not bad," Etemon admitted. "But that was just the warm up! Arise, my Dark Network!" he called out, as cables appeared from the ground, and attached to the collar around his Greymon's neck. Immediately Etemon's Greymon roared and charged forward, Gyro's Greymon managing to stop him...before he was soon pushed back, followed by a strong horn strike, sending him flying back. Before he could get up, Etemon's Greymon grabbed him by the tail and started spinning him around, before throwing him aside, causing him to slam into the nearby spectator seats. Gyro's Greymon tried to get to his feet, but he was soon being stomped on by Etemon's Greymon who was roaring as if in a frenzy.
"Hey! That's cheating!" Daisuke and Veemon protested in unison.
"Hey! That's cheating!" Nora shouted as she pointed at the screen.
"Oh, an echo," Hikari couldn't resist saying.
"No rules kid! Nothing says I can't power up my weapons in a fight." Etemon sneered.
"Well, he's right about that. But that means we don't have to play by the rules either." Weiss said as she grabbed her Digivice.
"Guess he didn't think about that," Miyako commented with a slightly evil look.
"I'm already on it." Tentomon said as he flew towards the fight while Weiss's Digivice glowed.
"Tentomon, Evolution! Kabuterimon!"
"I'll go too!" Patamon said as he followed after Kabuterimon while Blake's Digivice started glowing.
"Patamon, Evolution! Angemon!"
It still felt odd for Takeru that Angemon was also joining these fights.
The two Adults slammed into Etemon's Greymon, knocking him off his feet.
"Are you alright, Greymon?" Angemon asked, as Kabuterimon helped him on his feet.
"Better than how he's gonna be real soon," Greymon growled, fire bubbling up in his throat. "Mega Flame!" the attack hit Etemon's Greymon, knocking him back...but he was soon up and kicking real soon.
"He's pretty tough," Kabuterimon observed. "But we're tougher! Mega Blaster!"
"Kick his butt," Patamon cheered.
Etemon's Greymon took the attack head on, getting pushed back a little, but soon began pushing back, and actually knocked the attack aside, though he seemed a little winded.
"Holy Rod!" Angemon called out, before striking the side of his head with his staff, knocking him aside, but he was soon back on his feet, and fired a strong Mega Flame at them, causing them to scatter.
"What kind of steroids is Etemon using on this Greymon?!" Jaune couldn't help but ask incredulously. "Its 3 on 1 and he's still fighting back!"
"This didn't happen in our fight," Koshiro informed the second generation, "We were trapped under one of the goal posts until we found Jo's Crest and by extension, a way out." Of course, what Koshiro decided to leave out was the fact that they fell into a hole, before getting out.
"Then let's put the odds in our favor then!" Gomamon said, before turning to the others "Let's go everyone!" he said before running forwards, all the other Digimon following him as the remaining Digivices glowed.
"Gomamon, Evolution! Ikkakumon!"
"Wormmon, Evolution! Stingmon!"
"Gabumon, Evolution! Garurumon!"
"Salamon, Evolution! Gatomon!"
"Veemon, Evolution! Veedramon!"
"Palmon, Evolution! Togemon!"
"Biyomon, Evolution! Birdramon!"
At the sight of the now 10 to 1 fight, even Etemon had a 'I did not think this through' look on his face as his sunglasses slid down a bit. "Uh…" he started, thinking about how to make a counter...without sounding like a complete hypocrite (he had SOME standards)...he ultimately found himself at a loss as his Greymon was now losing very badly due to basically having 10 Adult Digimon ganging up on him.
"I kind of feel sorry for Etemon's Greymon," Ken said, finding sympathy for the beast despite the situation.
No one bothered to counter that, seeing that it seemed almost unfair now.
"I feel like I should be feeling bad about this, but somehow I'm not," Gatomon snickered as she delivered a Neko Kick to her target's head, knocking him aside.
Especially when Nora's Gatomon pretty much voiced their thoughts.
"Probably cause this is oddly cathartic," Ikkakumon laughed before launching a Harpoon Vulcan, sending Etemon's Greymon crashing into the stands.
"Stay down if you know what's good for you!" Garurumon growled.
"Uh...boss?" One of the Gazimon started, all of them staring at the slaughter.
Etemon finally got his wits about him, before turning to them. "Set the Dark Network to full power! We're going to use THAT!" he ordered.
"R-Roger!" The Gazimon nodded, eyes wide, before doing as ordered.
Back in the fight, the cables suddenly started glowing with red electricity.
"What is he planning this time?" Armadimon questioned.
(End song)
"That doesn't look promising." Pyrrha said as the electricity seemed to pump into the Greymon's body.
"Definitely not. Guess we should get in there just to be safe." Gyro said as he pulled out Ascalon, the others following his example as they grabbed their weapons and went close to their Digimon, some of them mounting on their backs, or in Gyro's case, getting up to the top of Greymon's helmet.
"...Can they really deal with whatever is happening to Etemon's Greymon," Hikari wondered in worry.
"How you holding up buddy?" he asked as he readied himself to use his semblance, the wind shifting ever so slightly.
"A bit better now that everyone's here. But be careful. There's no telling what Etemon's planning." Greymon said.
"Right," everyone nodded. However, they soon got their answer, as Etemon's Greymon roared, before his body started to glow.
"Is he...evolving?" Ren frowned.
Taichi took a look at his partner who was also looking into the human's eyes. "You don't think..." The two said in unison, before Agumon returned to reading.
"Seems like it," Blake grit her teeth.
Etemon's Greymon started to grow, its form shifting, and when it was over…
"W-what the hell?!" Yang cringed at the sight.
"No way!" Sora gasped.
"What IS that thing?!" Ruby shouted, somewhat fearfully.
"A nightmare," Mimi added in, shivering at the memory.
"That's… that's just wrong." Weiss said, her face one of disgust.
"You're telling us," Tentomon commented on Weiss' words.
"THIS is what Greymon evolves into?!" Jaune shouted as he fell down on his butt.
"With dark powers, yes," Jo answered Jaune's question, despite himself.
"Surprised?" Etemon laughed.
"What the HELL is that thing?!" Gyro shouted, anger in his tone, because whatever it was, it just felt WRONG.
"I give to you… SKULLGREYMON!" Etemon shouted in glee as standing several feet over everyone was a gigantic, skeletal dragon, that honestly looked nothing like a Greymon, a large, organic looking missile attached to it's back while some sort of core pulsed in it's chest.
Digimon Analyzer: SkullGreymon
SkullGreymon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Undead Skeleton Digimon. A Digimon who focused only on fighting, even in death, it wanted to continue to battle, and as it's skin rotted away, it's skeleton continued to do battle. It doesn't have a shred of intelligence left, and as such, is a threat to the whole Digital World. It's special attacks are Ground Zero, firing the organic missile on it's back for massive damage, and Curse Breath, breathing out a deadly, poisonous fog.
"...Taichi I thought it was your Greymon that turned into SkullGreymon," Daisuke said, having been told the short version of the incident. As were the rest of the second generation.
"It was... but this is different," Taichi said, being in a state of disbelief himself.
"Now then, as a parting gift, I'll tell you this much," Etemon laughed. "I have absolutely NO control over SkullGreymon. When he's out on the field, he'll fight and destroy till there's nothing left in sight! So long, Chosen Children. It's been fun!" he mocked.
The group couldn't retort as SkullGreymon was soon advancing. Realizing the danger, the group quickly moved to get some range. "Is this...really Greymon's evolved form?" Pierce couldn't help but ask. The idea that their friend would evolve into this hideous thing...it wasn't comforting at all.
Pierce's feelings were easy to relate to. Except they actually saw their friend turning into the said hideous thing.
"I don't know," Veedramon said. "Everything about him feels wrong, but I can't say if that's really supposed to be his evolved form or something else."
"Whatever the case, he's our enemy right now!" Pyrrha said, as true enough, SkullGreymon took a swing at them, forcing them to dodge.
"I don't care if he's a Perfect or what! There's 20 of us and only one of him! We can take him!" Gyro said encouragingly, earning nods of agreement from the others.
Novice chuckled at this, "He will regret saying that."
The Children couldn't bring themselves disagree. After all, the second generation still remembers how SkullGreymon decimated a pack of DarkTyrannomon.
"Gyro's right! Let's break his legs!" Nora agreed, shifting Magnhild into its launcher mode, and fired several grenades at SkullGreymon.
"She's got the right idea here!" Veedramon nodded. "V-Breath Arrow!"
"Let's take this creepy thing down!" Yang agreed, firing several shots, while Birdramon flew overhead and launched a Meteor Wing at SkullGreymon.
"You know what," Pierce smirked. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
It was a little disturbing for the Children to see some of them so eager in taking the SkullGreymon down. Until they remembered that this monstrosity isn't Gyro's partner.
At that, everyone who had a long range move fired everything at SkullGreymon. The attacks all hit, causing SkullGreymon to seemingly rear back, the explosion and smoke covering the scene...before he walked out of it seemingly completely unaffected.
"Okay...shouldn't he at least have felt SOMETHING from all that?" Jaune gulped. He got his answer when Ikkakumon, Garurumon, and Togemon were promptly knocked away by a swipe of SkullGreymon's arm (Ikkakumon and Garurumon having had time to buck their partners off before the swipe hit).
"Probably not," Black said casually as she watched the massacre happening on the screen.
"Its like he didn't feel anything!" Blake said in alarm, something that made Weiss gasp.
"What's wrong?" Ren asked.
"Of course he didn't feel anything! He's a SKELETON! Skeletons don't feel pain!" Weiss explained...right as Birdramon, Kabuterimon, and Stingmon were knocked out of the sky.
"Are you saying the only way we'll have any idea if we're making any progress or not is by taking him out?" Ruby gulped.
"I'm afraid so…" Weiss admitted...right as Gatomon, Veedramon, and Angemon slammed into a nearby wall, leaving Greymon the last one standing.
"I'm starting to see what Novice meant," Hawkmon commented at the digimon being taken out.
"Okay...we need a new plan, and fast," Pyrrha couldn't help but gulp from where she was making sure that the Digimon were okay. Fortunately while that attack had been hard, it hadn't caused anything too severe.
Gyro looked around. It didn't seem like this monster was going to let them leave, and with how destructive just swinging its claws were...there was no way they'd get out of this unscathed if they tried running. With that in mind… "If we're gonna go down, it's gonna be in a blaze of glory! It's got one obvious weakness if you ask me, so let's see how much that core of it hurts! You with me, buddy?"
"...Did you guys figure that out," Miyako asked hesitantly.
"...Not at the time," Gabumon commented.
"And we didn't want to say it," Takeru added in. The reason why wasn't needed to be said.
"Always," Greymon nodded, as Gyro readied his swords again.
"Then let's go!" he said as he used his semblance to create a vortex of wind. "Give it your best shot! I'll do the rest!"
"Okay! Mega Flame!" Greymon fired his attack through the vortex, the wind feeding the flames and creating a massive burst of fire, hitting SkullGreymon dead on, but the monster quickly shrugged the attack off, but in its momentary distraction, Gyro was already upon it, and with a savage shout, he drove one of his swords into its core.
For the first time in the entire fight, SkullGreymon roared in pain. Sadly it wasn't enough, as Gyro felt something hard slam into his chest, sending him flying back, while also pulling his blade free. He would have hit a wall if Greymon hadn't stopped his impromptu flight.
"Well that's a pain, pretty sure he just broke my aura." he muttered with a grunt as he climbed back on top of Greymon's head after being caught in his arms "But even that, we're not stopping here, I'm not giving up until this abomination is put down!"
"Is he crazy!? Mimi couldn't help screaming. Gyro getting knocked around was painful enough to watch, but the guy wants to continue too?
"I'm with you all the way, Gyro!" Greymon nodded, and at that moment, a soft light shined within Gyro's clothes.
"Huh?" Gyro blinked in surprise, before fishing out his tag to find the Crest faintly glowing.
"Is he...?" Was the universal question everyone, especially the first generation had. Were they going to get MetalGreymon already? Or would they have TWO SkullGreymons.
(Play Brave Heart)
Gyro's Digivice sent out a flash of light, shooting into the back of the tag and out through the front, a projection of the Crest symbol flying out, as energy seemed to gather to it, before it released pulses of energy.
Greymon's body began to glow as he felt the energy flow into him.
"What?" Gyro gasped. "Did I...activate the crest?"
However, what happened wasn't evolution...sorta. Instead of transforming, Greymon was covered in an 'aura' of sorts, which started to change and shift, before it took the form of something larger than Greymon.
"What is that," Yamato couldn't help asking. This was new.
Wings formed within the orange colored aura, though there were shaped a bit oddly compared to normal wings, the left arm taking on a more bulky and blocky shape with three long claws at the end, and finally, the only other easily noticeable difference was that the back of the neck seemed to have fuzzy spikes on it.
Everyone recognized this as MetalGreymon. Or at least a silhouette of it.
"What the heck is going on?!" Jaune couldn't help but ask at the odd sight.
"I dunno, but whatever it is, I hope it helps us out," Ruby said, as by now the other mon had reverted to their Child Forms.
SkullGreymon didn't seem the least bit phased by the sight, and promptly swung down his arm, intending to crush Greymon...only for his arm to be stopped when Greymon lifted his arms, the aura mimicking his movements, and blocking the strike, stopping it dead. SkullGreymon tried to put more pressure, but he was soon pushed off, forcing him back a little.
Greymon didn't waste any time, and soon charged forward, the aura following, and when it made contact, SkullGreymon found himself being pushed back.
"N-No way!" Etemon jaw dropped at the sight of his berserker being mon handled so easily. However, he quickly regained his wits, and grit his teeth. "What are you doing, SkullGreymon?! Finish them already!"
Whether SkullGreymon understood the order or not was debatable, but the moment he regained his balance, he bent down, and fired the missile from his back. The missile flew towards Greymon...only for the aura projection to raise its left arm, and knock the missile aside, causing it to land a good distance outside of the colosseum with a massive explosion.
There was silence from everyone as the explosion in the distance illuminated the area brighter than the sun could, before they all turned back to the fight "Ok… I'm really glad that didn't hit us." Weiss said, a bit paler than normal.
"Can't blame her," Gatomon admitted, as everyone was a little terrified at the memory of fighting this thing.
"Good thing Greymon was able to do this aura thingy." Nora said in relief.
"Even though we don't know what exactly this is." Salamon added.
Etemon and his followers were too busy trying to pick their jaws off the floor right now to make any comments.
Back to the fight, SkullGreymon didn't seem the least bit deterred, and soon tried to attack again, only for Greymon to rear his left arm back. "Trident Arm!" he called out as the left arm of the aura projection extended, smashing right into SkullGreymon's chest and impaling him, while also pushing him back, till he hit the television screen, smashing the glass and getting embedded in it. Greymon immediately pulled his arm back, and moved for the finisher. "Giga Destroyer!" he called out, as the aura projection did...something...that ended with what appeared to be two missiles being fired from its chest, both flying to the helpless SkullGreymon, and the moment they hit, a massive explosion happened, destroying the screen and SkullGreymon.
With the enemy gone, the aura around Greymon started to fade, before his body glowed, and he reverted...leaving Koromon looking utterly exhausted where Greymon once stood.
(End song)
Even as the song ended, the Children and their digimon were still awestruck by what happened on the screen. It was actually a miracle that Agumon could even read.
Just as Gyro touched back down from where he'd been on top of Greymon's head, their attention was drawn upwards was something was floating down and glowing, before Pierce pulled out his tag… which was glowing "Two in one day?" he said slight surprise at what was apparently his own crest stopped in front of him, being gold in color with an M like shape surrounded by arrowheads, before it flew into his tag.
"The Crest of Miracles?" Daisuke sounded out, recognizing the Crest.
After that, Gyro focused back on his partner, picking him up "You feeling alright Koromon?"
"I'm tired… and kind of hungry." Koromon said as he sagged in Gyro's arms.
Gyro couldn't help but chuckle at that, leave it to his partner to be getting hungry after a fight "Sure thing buddy, I think everyone wants to rest now anyway."
"What was that aura thing though?" Ruby wondered as everyone went up to Gyro.
"I'm not sure, my crest glowed a bit, so I think it was almost like an evolution, but something was off." Gyro said.
This line made everyone stare at Novice.
"Keep reading. It'll be explained." the Overseer said with a smile.
"It felt like I had just half the energy from it honestly, something was missing." Koromon added.
"So… I guess you could say that was a Semi-Perfect form then?" Palmon said.
"Semi-Perfect?" Everyone parroted.
"Okay, this is getting old," Black said, having been mostly quiet long enough if you ask her. Truthfully, she was a little unnerved by the lack of reactions since the Semi-Perfect form. Did their brains get fried? The blank looks on their faces seem to support this theory. And yet, Agumon was still reading almost mechanically.
"That sounds about right." Ren agreed with the idea.
"Still though, even though we didn't see the full thing, Greymon's evolution looked pretty different from SkullGreymon." Yang pointed out.
"Well, it's like Koromon said a while back, his evolution line has probably the most variations out there." Biyomon remembered.
"Another type of Perfect Level Greymon then? Now I'm getting curious." Gyro said with a small smile.
"Me too. I hope we manage to get a hold of it soon." Koromon agreed with a grin.
"At least we had a productive day, considering we found two crests and Gyro was able to partially awaken his own." Blake said with a slight smile.
"Yeah, but we'd better get out of here quick. Don't think Etemon would take us destroying one of his followers AND this stadium too kindly," Pierce commented, before idly kicking a rock, not noticing his Crest light up for a moment...before the rock hit a wall that had remained intact, and the wall actually opened to reveal a secret passage.
Novice was a little worried now. The group isn't showing any kind of reaction to anything. Maybe he should let them have a loooong break to digest this.
"Ok, I'm pretty sure your semblance just decided to turn on right now." Yang said with a small laugh as they all entered the secret passage, using their scrolls to light the area (though Gyro was focusing more on feeding Koromon so he'd get his strength back).
They kept on following the passage for a few minutes until they reached what could only be described as a parking lot.
"This is starting to get a bit ridiculous." Pyrrha said with a raised eyebrow.
"We live in this world and even we think this is weird." Gabumon added, the other Digimon nodding in agreement.
"Hey guys?" Jaune said, looking in another direction "I think I just found something helpful."
With that the others turned to what he was looking at, and soon everyone was happy that Pierce found the passage.
"I'm driving." Gyro said with a grin.
"What!?" That simple line seemed to break the spell.
"Do they even have a license," Jo asked in disbelief.
"Gyro was driving a motorcycle back in Remnant," Takeru pointed out.
"Motorcycles and cars are different things," Yamato retorted.
The Children didn't notice it yet, but Novice let out a long sigh of relief at seeing signs of intelligent life.
Minutes later, in the dunes outside the colosseum, one of them suddenly exploded in a shower of sand as something drove out. It was big and almost truck-like in shape, with a build that made it clear this thing was made for some serious terrain. It was an 8 wheel RV, with a blocky shape to it. The cockpit was equipped with reinforced glass, and a pair of sturdy side view mirrors, what appeared to be high powered headlights, with a bumper made for ramming through dunes. The rest of the machine was the living space, with a few windows here and there. From the looks of things, it seemed the space was actually able to expand, to make for sleeping arrangements, with some storage compartments dotted around the space, a roof window to allow someone to look out from up top, and a couple of doors on the side that were bolted shut from the inside for security. The living space itself was pretty long, so much so that the front was semi-connected to it, allowing for the front to move a bit more freely to pull the back along, while still allowing the driver and co-pilot to get into the living space without needing to leave the vehicle. Overall, this vehicle could probably carry a sizeable group of passengers comfortably.
"Ok, this is going to be perfect to get around the desert." Gyro said with a grin as he drove around to get a feel for the vehicle.
"A little too perfect," Koshiro said with a sour look, which was soon creeping on everyone else.
"This is really fun!" Koromon said from the passenger seat.
"That makes one of us," Agumon grumbled.
"And convenient." Gyro added with a smile "I mean, there looks to be just enough beds for everyone when we extend the thing, plus we have a kitchen and a full working bathroom, it's the literal definition of a mobile home."
"No fair," Mimi complained. They had to suffer the desert heat, but they get to travel in a comfy vehicle.
"So, where are we heading next then?" Koromon asked after calming down a bit.
"Not sure, but wherever it is, I think we're going to find more of the crests." Gyro said, before they drove off into the desert.
And then the book shut itself.
"So... you kids okay," Novice decided to ask, despite first generation looking at the last scene on the screen like it had wronged them somehow.
"...I guess." Taichi said, his annoyance turning into a mild feeling of guilt at the memories that for some reason felt fresh. "Agumon, I'm sorry about what happened," Taichi then apologized to his partner.
"What're you talking about, Taichi? That's long in the past now," Agumon said, looking a little confused. They had gone over this years ago.
"...So... any questions?" Novice asked, and he instantly regretted it, seeing as he was now bombarded with them.
Ophanimon: The cat is surprisingly docile right now.
Lotosmon: That means more free time for us. Have you tried the Arena?
Ophanimon: Not yet. Why?
Lotosmon: There seems to be a setting on how much our target practice fights back.
Ophanimon:...How does it work?