It has been about an hour since Novice got out of the game of "50 questions" with the original seven Children and their partners. Well, the questions all boiled down to: "Why do Remnantians have it easy?"
No matter how much Novice tried to explain that things were just different, they just wouldn't have it. Even pulling the "You kids couldn't drive anyway." didn't work. Which was why they all took a break to blow off some steam.
Speaking of which, Black was giving her human a look that he didn't like. It was the kind of look he had when he was staring at a delicious steak. Which is why Novice knew that Black would soon want to become Lilithmon again so they could do the horizontal tango, but he would not have it.
In other news, Impmon somehow messed with the foodstuffs to make them taste of... Well, no one was even sure what they tasted like, but it was something disgusting. Which made the imp run around the lair with Agumon, Gabumon, Gomamon, Biyomon, Veemon and even Gatomon chasing him, while Novice was left with fixing whatever damage the little rascal had done. Strangely, none of the Three Babysitter's foodstuffs were touched. Guess Impmon didn't have a deathwish.
After the chase, which ended when Novice had undone the damage and caught the little rascal, Agumon and Gabumon asked to use the Arena so they can kick Impmon's ass. Unfortunately, Novice refused to let them. Although the Overseer did look thoughtful for a moment.
Anyway, after that incident, the gang was ready for another chapter. With Novice deciding with a dice that the next reader is... Gatomon.
The white feline was skeptic about this, but picked up the book anyway.
Phantom Flames! Kyubimon!
"Huh?" Was the universal reaction to the silhouette of what they assume is Kyubimon. Now they were interested.
"Man am I glad we found this RV. It makes going through the desert sooo much easier," Yang grinned as she and Biyomon watched the landscape go by. On a whim she'd put her hand out a little...and was met with the arid desert wind, so she pulled it back in and closed up the window quickly, enjoying the cool airconditioning. Though, Gyro purposely didn't set it to full blast, saying that if it was too cold, they'd be hit extra hard by the heat if/when they had to get out of the RV.
"Rub it in our faces, why don't you," Palmon complained. Her partner sharing the sentiment, as did everyone else.
"Yeah, the heat's real bad for some of us." Biyomon said with a nod.
"Not me." Agumon said as he walked past them towards the front, having evolved back from Koromon rather quickly after they left the colosseum a day ago.
"You don't count! You're a fire lizard!" Gomamon complained from his spot in a small tub of ice water to keep hydrated.
"...I wish I was him right now," Gomamon grumbled, before a large tub of ice water appeared in front of him.
"Knock yourself out," Novice said simply, having been the one who made it appear. So the seal jumped in, enjoying the coolness.
"You know complaining will just make you warmer right?" Jaune said with a raised eyebrow as he ate a sandwich.
"I have every right to complain." Gomamon muttered as he crossed his flippers.
Without the tub, their Gomamon would probably be agreeing with that.
When he didn't get a reply from Jaune, he looked up, and noticed him staring elsewhere, following his eyesight to see him looking at Pyrrha who had just stepped out of the bathroom with her armor obviously back on, though she hadn't put her circlet back on and her hair was down.
"Probably wishing he had showered with her," Black snickered, assuming that was what had happened.
"Ignore her," Novice said, while preparing to use the stick.
He rose an eyebrow, before looking back at Jaune in confusion "Why are you staring at her?"
"Oh, uh...no reason," Jaune quickly said, realizing he was staring. On the side, Pierce hid a knowing grin at the little moment, one Gyro had as well, though he was more focused on driving.
"I guess Jaune noticed her now," Sora said with a smile.
"Still...its great that we have this vehicle, but without a direction to go, we're not going to make any real progress…" Weiss frowned as she was fiddling with her scroll again.
"Weiss does have a point. Where do we go from here?" Tentomon asked.
"Well...we know we need to find the Crests...and that the Tags light up when we're near them...though that doesn't really help us much for directions," Blake sighed as she sat next to one of the windows, Patamon resting on the cushion next to her.
"We can't forget about Etemon's Dark Network either," Ren added. "We don't know how far it stretches. For all we know, its spanning all of Server."
"Did it," Ken couldn't help asking.
"Not as far as we know," Koshiro said. At least, considering how powerful Myotismon was compared to Etemon, and none of the Children believed that the vampire would have allowed Etemon to have any influence in his territory.
"...Etemon and Myotismon had a non-aggression treaty if I remember right," Gatomon said, not really wanting to remember anything that had to do with those days.
"Then that means he'd be able to find us no matter where we go," Ruby frowned.
"Then we'd better beat him as soon as we can," Wormmon frowned.
"On the bright side, we've got 3 of the Crests already. Not to mention how strong Greymon's evolution was. If that was it when it was incomplete, I can just imagine how frikking strong he'd be when he's got the complete version," Pierce encouraged.
Another pang of jealousy hit the first generation at the Remnantians being in higher spirits than they were.
"That's true," Palmon nodded, before out of curiosity walking to the cockpit. "Hey, what's that?" she asked, pointing at something in the distance.
"Huh?" Agumon blinked, looking where she was pointing and… "Is that a giant cactus?"
"I...think it is…" Gyro blinked, not sure what to say.
"Can we see?" Palmon asked, looking at it with a bit of wonder, to which Gyro couldn't help but chuckle a little, remembering the the small plant DID turn into a big cactus.
"I remember wanting to be a giant Togemon to give everyone a nice shade," Palmon commented.
"That would've been nice," Mimi said with a sigh. If only evolution wouldn't cost energy, they might have actually done it.
"Sure," he nodded, and set a course for the cactus.
"Hey, what's going on up here?" Ruby asked as she poked her head into the cockpit.
"There's a giant cactus over there." Agumon pointed ahead.
Ruby blinked a few times, before squinting as she looked ahead "Huh, well what do you know?" she muttered, before sitting on the empty passenger side seat.
"Any particular reason you came up to the front?" Gyro asked curious.
"Yang and Pierce started acting like a couple again. I don't feel like watching that." she said with a shrug, making Gyro laugh a bit.
"No." Novice said with a tone of finality to Black who had her mouth open in an attempt to say something.
"...Killjoy," Black grumbled as she curled herself.
"That'll probably be how you act with a guy… or a girl, I'm not judging." Gyro said, before adding on the last bit.
"Guy, I've never been really interested in anyone, but I'm positive I'm straight at least." Ruby answered.
"How do you know for sure?" Gyro asked her with a raised eyebrow, not really looking straight at her as he had to concentrate on the road, so he missed her blush as she glanced at him.
"...She likes Gyro," Sora thought with a small smile. Judging by the small smile on Mimi, she realized it too. The others either didn't notice or simply didn't show any outward reaction.
"... Reasons." she eventually said a bit nervously, and Gyro easily guessed she was embarrassed about something, but couldn't tell what.
The drive to the cactus was quick, the RV covering ground no problem...until they noticed something. "Huh...there's no shadow," Agumon blinked.
"Guess we were driving to a mirage…" Gyro blinked.
"Unlike us, who ran towards a mirage in hopes of getting into a shade," Gabumon complained.
"You were wearing that fur even there, so I don't envy you," Yamato added in.
Which earned sympathetic looks from the others who remembered how much Gabumon didn't want to be seen without the pelt.
"Aww…" Palmon deflated as the cactus vanished into thin air, while Ruby patted her on the back. However, as that happened, their Digivices began to react.
"Huh?" Ruby blinked, and checked. "Guys...why is there a white dot on our radar?"
"Another new function?" Takeru sounded out. First it tracked Black Gears, now it was tracking something else.
"Something good if the color is any hint," Patamon added in.
"These things just keep showing more and more don't they?" Gyro said as he looked at his own, seeing that there was a white dot not too far from their current location, turning the RV towards where the dot was as he slowed down a bit since it wasn't too far, till it showed that whatever it was, it was just a few feet in front of them.
Leaning out the windows to get a better view, they didn't see anything of note at first… until they looked at the ground, and saw a projector, just like back on File.
"...That would have been useful," Agumon complained.
"Oh, that's cool. I'll go tell the others." Ruby said as she walked back into the main portion of the RV while Gyro, Agumon and Palmon got off and went towards the projector, soon being joined by the others.
"Chosen Children...Chosen Children…" came Gennai's voice from the projector as they crowded around it, and before long, the projection appeared.
"Good to see you again Gennai." Gyro said with a small grin and a wave as the man appeared before them in the projection.
"It's good to see you as well. And I'm glad you've made it to Server." Gennai greeted with a nod as he smiled.
"So, how's the reception here? Have enough time to explain everything?" Pierce asked with his hands behind his head.
"It's better." Gennai said, before grimacing "But Etemon's Dark Network causes a lot of connection errors, so it's likely I don't have much time to talk to you."
"Of course he doesn't," Taichi said with a sigh.
"...I still find it odd that he doesn't look like an old man here," Takeru couldn't help saying.
"It's fine, we'll wait until we meet you in person then." Pyrrha said with a shrug.
"Buuut, if it's something I can explain quickly, I can definitely help. I STILL have more time to talk than on File since the signal is stronger," Gennai quickly added.
"In that case, we've found 3 crests so far, and I think I was able to activate mine halfway, because Greymon was surrounded by an aura of what we think his Perfect Level is." Gyro explained.
"That's good news, and yes," Gennai nodded. "You see, each Crest represents a virtue/concept. To activate your Crests, you need to show what the Crest represents, in the way that best shows its nature," he explained. "The Semi-Evolution you triggered means that while you were on the right track, you were still off on the kind of virtue/concept you needed to show."
"...That's a more useful information than what we got," Yamato said in annoyance.
"Wait for it," Novice said, before this could escalate.
"I see," Gyro nodded. "So...what virtue WAS I supposed to show?"
"About that…" Gennai scratched the back of his head. "I'm not sure…"
"How can he not know!?" Everyone shouted in unison.
At that, everyone face faulted. "How can you not be sure?!" Jaune asked incredulously. "Didn't your group make them?!"
"Well, yes, but, that was another division. I was part of the one in charge of overseeing the Digieggs." Gennai explained with an embarrassed shrug.
That explanation calmed them down somewhat.
"Come to think of it," Koshiro said with a thoughtful look, "A project like that might need more divisions."
"So Gennai was in charge of the digieggs, while another was responsible for the Crests," Tentomon summarized.
"Maybe a different group was also working on digivices," Yamato threw out.
Jo shook his head," I doubt it, the Crests needed to work with digivices. Unless the digivice group was working closely with the Crest group."
"...That does make sense," Hikari agreed.
However, Gatomon decided that this debate wasn't important and kept reading.
"Well… I guess that's a good reason." Veemon said with a sigh.
"Okay, next question," Weiss sighed. "Etemon made us fight another Greymon earlier, and in the fight it evolved into a skeletal monster. SkullGreymon, he called it. How in the world is something like THAT possible?" she asked in disgust, remembering the monster.
"Well...Digimon have multiple Evolution paths, which is why they are so varied," Gennai started. "While evolution itself isn't inherently good or evil, what triggers it can have a strong impact as well," he sighed. "What you saw is what we often term 'Dark Evolution'. Unlike the average evolutions, Dark Evolution is often time caused by negative stimuli and/or emotions, which 9 times out of 10, will result in a berserk Digimon that is unable to tell friend from foe…"
"Okay….that's bad…" Nora gulped. "How do we avoid that?"
"Oh don't worry, I'm sure you're all well on your way. You need simply raise your Digimon well," Gennai said with a smile. "Only with a good upbringing can Digimon evolve in the way that best suits them."
"Well… I'd like to think we're doing a good job so far." Yang said with a smile as she patted Biyomon's head.
"...She's more confident than I was," Sora said, envying Yang for being more optimistic than any of them.
"They're definitely doing a good job of that." Tentomon agreed.
"Still though," Weiss frowned. "If there's ever any problems, don't be afraid to tell us, okay?" she said to all the Digimon.
"Of course," the Digimon all nodded.
The first seven frowned a little as they remembered how low their spirits were at the time.
Gennai smiled at the sight...but soon frowned when his projection started to waver. "I'm afraid I'm almost out of time. Good luck, Chosen Children!" he managed to say, before the projector went dead.
"And there he goes," Ren said, scratching the back of his head.
"Well, we got some helpful information out of him at least." Gyro said with a shrug as they all walked back into the RV, with Gyro flipping a switch above himself after getting seated, which turned on a set of two way speakers, letting him talk with the others without having to shout.
"More than we got," Yamato said with a small frown.
"To be fair...," Novice piped up, "...the Gennai you all met may have not had all of his faculties." The Overseer twiddled a finger around his head for emphasis.
It did make sense, seeing as Gennai seemed a little senile at the time.
"So, basically now all we gotta is keep doing a good job at taking care of the Digimon, and figure out what each virtue was assigned to us." Jaune summed up the important part of the conversation.
"Pretty much, yeah," Blake nodded.
"They really were more confident than we were," Jo said with a sigh.
"Come on, Jo," Gomamon said as he leaped out of the tub and into Jo's lap.
"Hey!" the Chosen of Reliability did not appreaciate getting wet with ice water.
"We all turned out okay, I mean, look at me," the seal digimon said, while patting himself, completely ignoring his partner's state.
"...That's debatable," Jo said with a glare. Which earned muffled laughs out of everyone else.
"Speaking of virtues though…" Ren suddenly said, before pulling out his Tag. It was glowing.
"Whelp, you guys see the glowing Tag," Yang chuckled. "Gyro, we're gonna go Crest hunting again."
The others didn't see it, but the screen now had Ken's undivided attention. He was curious about if Ren's Crest is the one he thinks it is.
"Right. Ren, please come to the front. We'll use your tag as a dowsing rod," Gyro nodded.
"Okay...this is weird…" Ren frowned as his Tag stopped glowing, but soon started glowing again.
"Yeah...I'm starting to think wherever your crest is...its not stationary," Gyro nodded with a frown.
"That's...very possible," Ren admitted.
"So...what? We're looking for a slab of rock on wheels?" Veemon joked.
That earned small laughs at the mental image of the said slab on wheels.
Gyro was about to respond to that...but suddenly stopped.
"...what? Did I guess right?" Veemon blinked from the back.
"Well...more like a slab of rock...possibly on a cruise liner…" Gyro said.
"A cruiser liner?" the second generation along with their partners parroted in unison.
A very long silence went through the RV at that "... I'm sorry, what?" Weiss eventually said.
"A slab of rock… on a cruise liner… I wish he was joking." Ren answered, seeing the same thing Gyro was, their partners staring with wide eyes.
"Great, this again," Koshiro sighed, earning the second generation's attention.
"Is this the cruiser you guys boarded for a time," Hikari asked Taichi. The younger Yagami having been told about this event.
"We're in the middle of the desert." Blake tried to counter.
"Blake… when has this world ever made sense?" Nora, of all people, said, just as stunned as everyone for once.
"She's not wrong," Koshiro agreed, despite being surprised by Nora being smart.
As was everyone else, especially Gatomon. "I thought she had no mind," the white feline couldn't help thinking.
As if to further hammer it in, the sound of a horn/vent that would normally be present on large ships was heard, and no longer being able to resist, everyone in the back stuck their heads out of any available window...and beheld the massive cruise liner passing by...through the sand.
"Dear Oum, what's next, an upside down pyramid?" Yang said incredulously.
Seven out of eight pairs of the first generation laughed at Yang's comment, earning questioning looks from the first generation.
"...Is there an upside down pyramid," Iori decided to ask.
"Yes there is," Sora said with an amused look, before adopting a thoughtful look. If Yang's Crest is what she thought it was... would the blonde get caught by Datamon? The Chosen of Love had a hard time picturing that happening.
"Let's not even consider it." Patamon said, shaking his head at the idea.
"Still though...if Ren's Crest IS in there...how are we supposed to get onboard?" Pyrrha asked...and in response, the ship stopped, and a doorway opened with a platform extending, welcoming them into the interior.
"...Okay, that was easier than with us," Gabumon commented.
"How so?" Veemon asked with a head tilt.
"Mimi had to charm the crew," Palmon said, earning a "Hey!" from the said girl.
"...obvious trap is obvious?" Pierce deadpanned.
"Obvious trap is obvious," everyone, hunters and Digimon, all nodded in agreement.
This made the original seven blush a little in embarrassment. They didn't consider the possibility of this being a trap.
"Right, so, most of us should try and keep as much attention as possible while Ren looks for his crest… Nora, go with him, your brand of distraction isn't subtle enough for this." Gyro said, adding the last part quickly, earning a disappointed sound from the hammer crazy girl.
"...I can imagine what her brand of distraction would be," Gatomon commented dryly.
"What kind of distractions would we need?" Ruby asked.
"Pierce, Yang! Be sexy!" Gyro said, grinning a bit.
The older Children blushed at that command.
"Be what?" Iori asked, the earplugs blocking the last word.
"Nothing!" The older children and Miyako shouted in unison.
"They could always just, meow," Black said, before frowning at being reminded that the green ring is still very much functional.
"Consider yourself lucky," Novice said, while discreetly putting the stick away.
"Can do!" the blonde couple said together as they high fived.
"Maybe Blake and Weiss should head for any room that contain documents or books, not only would that mean they need to keep an eye on them, we can learn some more stuff as well." Jaune suggested.
"Good idea," Jo commented.
"Good call. Besides, I'm not saying this to be rude, but I'm pretty sure Blake and I have the best memory retention skills out of all of us." Weiss said.
"Not even gonna disagree on that one Weiss-cream." Yang said, and the grin was audible as a few groans sounded out.
"One of these days Xiao Long." Weiss muttered with a sigh.
"But not today," Gyro sighed. "We'd better do this as fast as we can," he said, before driving up the platform and into the liner.
When they got in, the place seemed almost deserted...save for what appeared to be a few Numemon milling about, wearing sailor uniforms.
"Umm... That's the crew?" Miyako asked, while giving Mimi a questioning look.
"...Yes," Mimi said, not wanting to remember that time.
"...You're the bravest," Miyako said with admiration, earning surprised looks, "Charming lowlifes like that for the sake of your friends."
Mimi couldn't help blushing at the purple haired girl's interpretation of their desperate act.
Gyro hummed in thought, thinking of a way to grab their attention, before having to stop himself from laughing at a rather funny one "Ok, question, Pyrrha, how good is your acting?"
"I've been in a few commercials before, why?" she asked, wondering where this was going.
"And how many celebrities have you met that were total jerks?" Gyro added, his chuckles starting to spill out.
Pyrrha blinked at the question, before understanding what he was getting at "oooohhh… I think I can do that. Given the proper preparation of course."
"What are they doing?" Daisuke asked, not yet getting it.
"You'll see," Novice said with a grin.
"Here, you'll want these." Yang said as she held out her sunglasses to the scarlet haired girl.
"This too." Pierce added as he lent her his jacket.
"Feels like something's still missing." Gabumon said as he looked at his partner.
"Oh! A scarf!" Biyomon said as she realised what was missing.
"This could be funny," Biyomon commented, having figured out what the plan was.
Pyrrha hummed as she looked around, before looking down and grabbing the cloth tied around her waist and moving it to her neck, placing it like a scarf.
"Yeah but now something's missing from the legs." Jaune said with a contemplative frown.
"Oh! I got this one!" Ruby said as she unhooked her cloak and passed it to Pyrrha, who tied it around her waist, making it look somewhat like a long skirt.
"For everyone's information, that cloak is Ruby's most priced posession alongside/ next to Crescent Rose," Novice said, earning curious looks.
"And voila, one stereotype celebrity, order up!" Gyro laughed.
"Right," Pyrrha nodded. "Now for the character…" she started, coughing a little to clear her throat. "Out of my way, can't you tell I'm in a hurry? Honestly, children these days…" she said, and punctuated it with upturning her nose a little.
"...She's good," Agumon commented.
"...Is she really acting," Patamon couldn't help asking.
"Snobbish… but how do you do with angry? Say your coffee isn't made the right way?" Pierce asked.
"This isn't what I asked for! Do it again right this instant or I'll speak to your manager!" Pyrrha said, adding a scowl into the mix.
"I don't think I like it when you're acting that way…" Gabumon grimaced despite knowing it was all an act.
"You and me both," Gabumon commented. Pyrrha had appeared so nice so far that it felt odd to see her like this, even if it was an act.
"That just means it's good," Pierce snickered.
"Besides, it's only going to be for an hour at most, so you won't be seeing her like this for long." Gyro said as he, Ren and their partners stepped into the main part of the RV.
"Personally I do feel a bit uncomfortable doing this role." Pyrrha admitted as she broke character, frowning a bit.
Some of the softer ones of the team felt just a little bit relieved at hearing that.
"She's not bad, but threatening their livelihoods would also be good," Black commented on Pyrrha's performance.
"...You would know," Novice commented. And everyone else in the room found themselves agreeing.
"Well, we know you won't be meaning anything you say, so you don't have to worry about insulting anyone." Jaune said, earning a nod and a small smile from her.
"Alright, we'd better not take any longer than needed. Let's go," Ren said, to which everyone nodded, and making sure all their weapons were at the ready.
"Hey, wait, I think we can make this better." Veemon said as he went into another room in the RV, before coming back and carrying a rolled up red carpet over his head.
"...Why do they have a red carpet?" Wormmon asked.
This snapped the others at attention, realizing that something like that isn't really needed usually.
"...Maybe the RV belonged to a celebrity?" Armadimon guessed.
Which made Hawkmon's eyes widen," If that's the case, then where are they now?" That question made everyone wonder if the Remnantians accidentally stole someone's vehicle.
"Don't think too much about it," Novice said, although now he himself was curious... he would have to ask Swift about it.
"Ok, I think this is going to be a lot of fun." Gomamon snickered.
"Stay out of sight you guys." Gyro said to Ren, Nora and their partners before opening the door and rolling out the carpet at the same time.
The Numemon inside blinked at the sight, before 7 of the remaining 8 humans and their Digimon got out, and stood in two lines on opposite sides of the carpet. "Presenting, her Royalness herself, Queen Pyrrha!" Pierce practically shouted as his face was turned away from the Numemon, because if one looked he was on the verge of cracking up just from saying that as Pyrrha stepped out and looked as important as she could, with Gabumon following behind her stiffly, trying to get into a role, which one though, even he couldn't tell.
"Eh? We were getting someone THAT important?!" The Numemon gasped, and suddenly they were scrambling to try and get together a proper welcome, somehow tripping over themselves despite not actually having legs.
What followed was a fight greater than fighting Etemon. Namely a fight to NOT laugh at how the Numemon had fallen for this hook, line, and sinker. Eventually, the Numemon were now escorting Pyrrha (and Gabumon, who she said was her loyal butler) to what was apparently the 'royal suite'. "Oh, and do attend to the rest of my entourage. I will have need for them later," Pyrrha added before leaving the room.
The Children and their digimon weren't sure which was funnier here. Pierce calling Pyrrha a queen, or the fact that the Numemon fell for it.
"I shouldn't enjoy this so much," Mimi said, feeling a little bad for Numemon in this scenario.
"I know, but it's their fault for falling for it so easily," Palmon said, earning several laughs.
It wasn't long before the others were being escorted out by the Numemon, leaving the area all clear for Ren and Nora, along with Wormmon and Salamon to get out unnoticed. "Wow...Numemon are DUMB," was the only thing Salamon could say to what they'd just seen...and nobody could deny what she said.
"Nothing new there," Gatomon added to her other's statement.
Slowly, everyone reached their destinations as they made sure that some of the Numemon were kept occupied with them, with Weiss and Blake finding a small library, and Tentomon and Patamon were 'accidentally' making books up high fall down by acting absent-minded.
"Huh, that's interesting," Blake mused as she read some supposed history books. Seemed the Digital World had quite a bit of lore and symbolism, as well as borderline legends, including the legend regarding them.
"...Could you give us any of those," Koshiro asked, getting curious about this.
"...I'll see what I can do," Novice said as he opened a holographic screen before typing something.
"Glad you found something useful," Weiss grumbled in distaste.
"Why?" Blake blinked.
"Let's just say Etemon has an ego bigger than Beacon Castle if this 'autobiography' is anything to go by," Weiss said, tossing the offending book aside.
"Of course he does," Iori commented dryly.
"The last Etemon who had that kind of ego got a bullet in it's head from Beelzemon," Black added in remembering the incident fondly.
"Well...this place is...lavish…" Gyro mused, while Agumon and Palmon were salivating at the spread of food before them, he and Ruby having found the dining room.
"Well...this is a fancy cruise ship so...I guess it makes sense," Ruby blinked. "So...should we?"
"Let me check," Gyro said, before turning to the Numemon. "Hey, mind if we help ourselves?"
"Go right ahead!" one of the Numemon quickly said, though the frantic tone implied it was more not wanting to incure the 'Queen's' wrath.
More chuckles from the Children and their digimon.
"I remember how I got the treatment I deserved when I threatened to wipe out the Numemon Town," Black said with a sigh.
"Numemon Town?" The Children, their partners and Novice asked in unison.
"Yes... sadly, their idea of a feast did not agree with me, so I wiped them all out," Black explained, soundin proud of her accomplishment.
"What a surprise," Novice commented sarcastically.
The Children and their digimon on the other hand glared at the feline. Sure the Numemon are disgusting, but to wipe them all out just like that and sounding proud of it? No. Just no.
"...well, that's good enough for us," Agumon shrugged before he and Palmon started digging in, much to Gyro and Ruby's amusement.
The biggest distraction on the ship though would have to be attributed to Pierce and Yang.
The two of them were in swimming outfits, the ship has clothes in all sizes honestly, with Yang wearing a simple yellow string bikini with a thicker strap and Pierce wearing a pair of red swimming trunks, while both had their Digivices (Pierce had his attached to the waist of his trunks, and Yang had hers attached to the front right strap of her bikini) and Tags (and Crest in Pierce's case) with them, just in case, as they relaxed on top of a floating seat in the pool.
The older guys blushed a little at the sight of Yang, as did the older girls at the sight of Pierce.
"Why did I not see that coming," Novice thought in mild amusement.
"You remember me in a micro-string bikini," Black then asked out of the blue, causing everyone to stare at them. Judging by the blush on Mimi's face, she was the only one who knew what such a bikini looks like.
"Darn it Black!" Novice shouted as he made the stick appear in his hand and smacked the cat on the head.
"Totally worth it," Black thought through the pain.
"...Ignore them," Gatomon said, before returning to reading. The fact that she said "them" wasn't lost on Novice.
"I know we're just being a distraction, but this is actually pretty nice." Yang muttered as she rested her head on Pierce's chest.
"Yeah, and at least we found some sunscreen." Pierce said as he had an arm around her waist.
Not far away, Veemon and Biyomon were floating with a pair of swim rings, the two mon clearly having more fun playing in the water, though they did glance at their partners. "Yang and Pierce have gotten a lot closer since the cave, huh?" Biyomon commented.
"Yeah, though I wonder what the humans mean by they're a 'couple' now," Veemon mused.
That earned small laughs at their ignorance. Their partners had a basic idea of what being a "couple" means. Though not in great detail.
"I dunno, but for some reason they kept getting embarrassed whenever I asked," Biyomon shrugged as the watched the two humans cuddle up a bit, before resuming their fun in the water.
"Cannonball!" Gomamon suddenly shouted as he jumped into the water, splashing his fellow mon.
Veemon sputtered a bit as water got in his mouth while Gomamon resurfaced "The heck was that for?"
"I'm being the biggest distraction possible for the Numemon while Jaune is making sure Pyrrha is fine… plus they said it's more believable if she has one of her entourage with her." Gomamon explained, grinning a bit.
"...That's not wrong," Mimi said, having seen some shows about celebrities back in USA.
At that, Veemon and Biyomon looked to the side, seeing a group of tired Numemon covered in paint for some reason, joining the ones who were quite obviously staring at Yang.
"What did you do?" Biyomon asked slowly.
Gomamon's grin was one of pure mischief "A lot of stuff."
"I wanna see!" Gomamon cried out, having returned into the tub earlier.
"Okay...seems we're getting closer," Ren mused as they walked through the ship as quietly as possible, careful to avoid any crew members they happened to see.
"Aww." The seal groaned at not knowing what actually happened.
"Where are we anyway?" Nora wondered as she looked around.
"Near the engine room." Wormmon answered idly.
"How can you tell?" Salamon asked with a raised eyebrow, in response, Wormmon pointed with one of his claws… and they saw sign with an arrow pointing ahead that read 'Engine Room'. "Oh…"
Everyone heard a palm impacting a face. Turning towards the sound, they found out that the source was Gatomon who was embarrassed by her other.
"She's not like you," Hikari said, petting her partner.
"Seems my Crest is in the engine room then…" Ren said as true enough, the Tag was glowing brighter the closer they got to the Engine Room.
"Betcha it's powering the whole boat somehow." Nora said with a grin.
"...Is it really," Ken asked, finding this a little too familiar for comfort.
"Ken." Wormmon sounded out.
"Honestly? I wouldn't be surprised if they managed that." Ren said, shaking his head with a sigh as they continued on, eventually entering the engine room, his tag glowing brighter by the second as they stepped past many moving parts.
"This place is pretty big." Salamon said in awe.
"Looks like we're going to be at it for a while." Wormmon said with a sigh.
Meanwhile, up on the deck, a pair of eyes watched various security feeds...as well as the couple and Digimon playing around in the pool. "Hm...so the Chosen Children have boarded my ship," the one watching mused. "But then….how is it they've made all the Numemon think they're VIPs?!" he crowed to himself, before groaning. "I guess this is what I get for hiring Numemon for part time help…"
"Yes it is," Taichi was the first to voice what the others were thinking.
"Still though, I should probably contact Lord Etemon first just to make sure I know what he wants me to do," the figure said, before moving to another room with a monitor, and trying to patch through to Etemon. However… "Strange...I'm not getting any reception," he frowned.
"Come on you idiots! Work faster! My Dark Network isn't going to fix itself if you all work at a snail's pace!" Etemon shouted at a trio of Gazimon who were working at his console.
"We're trying sir but we can't figure out what's going on." one of the Gazimon said, before receiving a fist to the head.
"I don't care for any excuses, just get it fixed!" Etemon practically roared at them.
"Yes sir!" the trio said together before starting to work faster.
"So Etemon was still trying to fix his network at the time," Tentomon commented.
"Good for us," Gabumon said with a small smile.
"And the Remnantians," Iori added in.
"There, that should put the Network out of commission in this area for a while," the white robed figure said as she finished bombarding one of the Dark Network terminals with light from her Digivice.
"Even better," Takeru added with a small grin, which was shared by Patamon.
"It is a shame that the network is more resilient than the gears," Renamon frowned. "However, it DOES have its uses…"
This made Koshiro a little curious, "Hey Novice, how does your system work?"
Novice raised an eyebrow, "Why do you ask?"
"Well... it's just, you seem to be able to do a lot of things with it. I was wondering if you have proper system security," Koshiro said, before adding quickly, "I mean not to say you haven't, but-" "Don't worry Koshiro," Novice said with a smile, "My system is immune to all hacking attempts, physical or magical."
"Are you sure... I mean, there's always a weakness in any system," Koshiro pressed on.
"Not in mine," Novice said proudly, "My system is immune to all hacking attempts, physical or magical."
"Here we go again," Black groaned.
"You just said that, Novice," Tentomon said with a confused head tilt.
"...Did I?" The Overseer's confused response was not what they expected.
"Just stop asking him," Black said with a stern look, "All you will get is an endless loop."
The Children decided to take Black's word on this and continued.
"Yes, it does," the figure nodded. "We must hurry, Renamon. The Chosen Children may be in danger, especially if they're on HIS ship."
"Understood," Renamon nodded, before grabbing hold of her and they both vanished.
"Hmm… oh well, I suppose it doesn't matter, after all, if I at least capture them, he's sure to reward me." the figure cackled… before suddenly squawking like a bird when his attention shifted to another screen "That… that little… he dares make a mess of MY room?!" finally having enough, the figure jumped off his lookout, aiming straight for the pool area.
Down below… "Hey...did anyone hear something sound like a big chicken?" Pierce couldn't help but ask as he and Yang sat up.
"Huh...I thought it was just my imagination," Veemon frowned.
"I think I see where that came from though," Gomamon said, pointing upward.
"And there's Kokatorimon," Agumon said, shivering a little at the memory of what happened to him.
The figure landed at the edge of the pool, revealing a large white bird that looked a bit like a chicken, with a row of black feathers like a mohawk on the back of his head… though the fact his already sharp looking beak had razor sharp teeth in it was somewhat concerning, even if the large peacock spread of feathers behind him made him look somewhat silly.
"Oookay...who's the big chicken?" Yang blinked.
"Chicken? Chicken?!" the Digimon roared. "I am NOT a chicken!"
Kokatorimon's response, earned lots of laughter, especially at the hilariously angry face showed on the screen.
In response, the 3 mon in the pool jumped out. "Careful! That's Kokatorimon!" Biyomon warned.
Digimon Analyzer: Kokatorimon
Kokatorimon. Data Type. An Adult Level Giant Bird Digimon. An oddity among bird Digimon, Kokatorimon evolved in a way that made him lose the ability to fly, his legs being the most developed part of his body. He prefers to end his battles quickly rather than waste his energy. His special attack is Petrifier, turning Digimon to stone with a laser like gaze.
"Glad someone knows who I am, and as a reward...Petrifier!" Kokatorimon shouted, firing a beam from his eyes, which hit the three mon dead on, and when it was over, the three had been turned into stone statues, frozen in time.
This earned a horrified look from the second generation. And the first wasn't much better, even though they had already fought through this once.
"H-he turned them to stone," Wormmon said, shivering at the thought.
"Yeah," Taichi confirmed, remembering how it felt seeing Agumon like that.
"Ah, now I get what his name is." Pierce said a bit nervously as he and Yang quickly got out of the water.
"And what would it be?" Yang asked him, regretting that they'd left their weapons with Gyro, along with Pierce's pouch.
"A Cockatrice, it's a type of bird that can turn people to stone, usually you need a golden needle or something to change them back." He explained.
Kokatorimon blinked "Wait, how do you know about the golden needle thing?"
"If I remember right, that appeared in a video game," Daisuke said, finding the golden needle familiar.
"Final Fantasy series," Takeru specified.
Pierce looked at him for a moment "Huh, didn't think that was the same thing here."
"Well, it's ONE way of changing them back." Kokatorimon explained with a shrug, his eyes closed, and when he opened them, Pierce and Yang were gone "... I hate these kids."
"Idiot." Was the universal thought everyone had about Kokatorimon right now.
"I hate that we had to leave them behind." Yang said with a grit teeth as she and Pierce ran through the ship.
"We didn't have much of a choice, we didn't have enough time to grab all three of them and run, besides, I hate to say it, but they would have slowed us down." Pierce said with a frown "At least, Kokatorimon won't hurt them, he'll probably hold them as hostages until he's caught all of us."
"That's not a comforting thought," Jo said, having some scary thoughts about Kokatorimon breaking the statues.
"Yeah, hate to say it, but you're right. We need to find the others and warn them before-" Yang started, but never got to finish, as the walls in the hallway they were in suddenly came to life, and before the two surprised hunters could do anything, they'd grabbed hold of them and pulled them towards the walls, both of them slamming against the walls, before their limbs were absorbed into the walls, embedding them and leaving them helpless, as both of them were trapped in an X-like spread position, both struggling to escape, but all that did was tire them out more as they strained against the solid metal.
"...That never happened," Sora said, being shocked that the wall did that.
"The ship never came to life for you?" Miyako asked.
"No it didn't," Taichi said, although he was caught pretty early.
"Oh, good, you didn't get too far." Kokatorimon said with a sigh as he found them a minute later as they still tried to struggle free.
"What the hell is wrong with your ship?" Pierce couldn't help but ask because this was anything but natural.
Kokatorimon chuckled "Let's just say I have a really good right hand mon."
"So someone is controlling the ship?" Koshiro concluded.
*Ding! Ding! Ding!* was then heard from the speakers, courtesy of Novice.
The two continued to struggle, to which Kokatorimon just laughed. "You two can stop trying. This ship may not be Chrome Digizoid, but its still strong enough to hold a pair of humans. All you're doing is tiring yourself out...and giving a show for one of you," he laughed, before grabbing Pierce's crest with a smirk and walking off as the two started being moved away by the wall.
Thankfully, the screen didn't show the "show" that Kokatorimon mentioned, but that wasn't what everyone was worried about. The first seven were worried if the Remnantians would be strapped on a net and left under the blazing sun.
Meanwhile, Pyrrha sighed as the Numemon had FINALLY left her alone. "Glad they're gone. I was afraid I'd have to keep up the act for longer," she sighed as Gabumon and Jaune sat on nearby chairs.
"Well, they're gone now," Gabumon said, also glad she could drop the act.
"Well, gotta admit, you were really good at acting," Jaune complimented...before he noticed something strange from his Digivice that was on the table.
"She must be if the Numemon were scrambling around like that," Black couldn't help commenting.
"Something wrong?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yeah...two of us aren't where they're supposed to be," Jaune said with a frown. "If I'm reading this right, its Yang and Pierce."
"Think something might have happened to them?" Pyrrha asked in worry.
"Almost definitely, but the signal is still here, so I think they should be okay," Jaune frowned, before taking out his Scroll and texting everyone else. 'Something happened to Yang and Pierce. Be on guard.'
"At least they found out faster than we did," Yamato commented.
At that same time, Gyro received the text, making him frown as he hoped his brother and Yang would be ok "Let's be careful, we don't know what this ship has in store."
"Right, we should probably start by regrouping." Ruby suggested, having seen the text as well.
However, they soon got a reply text from Ren. 'Still searching for Crest'
"Well...that complicates things a little…" Gyro frowned. 'Alright, we'll be careful while maintaining distractions. You two keep searching for the Crest.'
"So, what do we do?" Agumon asked, curious.
Gyro hummed in thought as he started pacing around the room, trying to come up with a decent plan… but sighed as he couldn't think of anything "I guess let's just look around for now."
"We'll probably figure something out along the way." Palmon said.
Gyro sighed again, nodding a bit "Yeah, I guess so."
Using the Digivice as a guide, they made their way through the ship, trying to locate Yang and Pierce...starting from the pool. However, when they got there…
"Oh my god…!" Gyro gasped, while Ruby had to bite back a scream, and Agumon and Palmon were shaking in fear at the sight of the petrified Digimon. "Guys...we got a BIG problem…" Gyro said through his scroll, before taking a photo of the sight.
"That's an understatement," Palmon commented.
"...Did any of you guys get turned into stone," Miyako asked the first seven digimon in worry.
"Me and Agumon," Gomamon replied, shivering in his tub that was slowly becoming warmer.
"How did you turn back," Ken asked.
"Birdramon and Togemon beat Kokatorimon," Sora replied with a smile.
To say everyone else was horrified would be an understatement. Ren and Nora quickly redoubled their efforts to find the Crest, while the others were all but ready to regroup and prepare for a counter attack...especially Jaune who...well...Gyro was pretty sure he looked the way he did in canon when he was yelling at Cinder in Volume 5...and he couldn't blame him at all.
"...What is he talking about," Biyomon asked in worry.
Novice thought of it for a moment before with a sigh, he made the screen show Jaune's angry face he had at Cinder. And everyone looked horrified. What did this Cinder do to make Jaune look like this?
"What did this Cinder do," Taichi asked, bracing himself.
"...I shouldn't say that," Novice said, before taking a look at everyone's faces. They weren't going to let this go. "Fine then... In the canon, Cinder killed Pyrrha," Novice explained, earning horrified looks out of everyone. "But the worst part is... moments before Pyrrha got the guts to kiss Jaune before sending him away, thinking that she had to fight Cinder alone," the Overseer added with a sigh.
"What an idiot," Black said without a care.
"Shut up, you evil cat!" Mimi shouted at Black, causing the feline to jump in surprise. It wasn't just Mimi who was angry at Black though, everyone else was glaring at the evil cat digimon.
"What? It's-" Black was interrupted by Novice covering her mouth.
"I know it's true, but if you can't talk about it with empathy, then shut up," Novice whispered into the cat's ear. "Do you guys need a moment? Or can we continue," Novice then asked.
After a quick word among the Chosend Children, they decided that they would continue.
However, before they could agree on a plan…
"Well well well, looks like you saw something you weren't supposed to," came a new voice, as they all turned to see Kokatorimon...and he had Pierce's Crest in his wing.
"I'm guessing you're the one in charge of this ship," Gyro started cautiously, body tense, same with Ruby, Agumon, and Palmon. The Digimon before them may have looked silly, but they already saw what he might be able to do.
"That'd be me, yeah," Kokatorimon smirked. "I'm feeling in a good mood today, so how about this. Hand over the Crests, and I won't send you to the stone age. Literally," he squawked.
"...Who's going to believe that?" Gomamon said while glaring at the oversized chicken that dared to stone him.
"That's...very generous of you," Ruby said slowly, though her tone made it clear she wasn't buying it anymore than Gyro was.
"Not Ruby or Gyro," Palmon said giving the said chicken on the screen a glare.
"Careful, that's Kokatorimon," Palmon said slowly.
"Kokatori? Shit, he's a cockatrice. Careful for the eyes. That's how he petrifies," Gyro said, just low enough for the others to hear.
"Right," everyone nodded, looking ready to bolt.
"So...will it be the easy way? Or the har-" Kokatorimon didn't get to finish, as he was suddenly tackled from the side by a figure letting out an angry war cry...and he was soon squawking in pain as the figure started stabbing him.
As much as the Children and their digimon dislike Kokatorimon, seeing the bird digimon getting stabbed was still painful to watch. Especially for Iori, who's eyes Miyako covered.
"Holy shit…" Gyro breathed in awe as he looked at Jaune going ballistic on Kokatorimon, having the mind to cover Ruby's ears when he started spouting some REALLY hateful things.
Lucky for them, the said hateful things weren't broadcasted through the speakers of the reading room either.
"You killed them...you killed them!" Jaune roared. "I'm gonna turn you into a fillet you bastard!" he roared as he started swinging at Kokatorimon like a madman using Crocea Mors's new mode.
"I ain't going down...THAT easily!" Kokatorimon growled despite the pain, and looked straight at Jaune. "Petrifier!"
"Jaune!" the others shouted in alarm...before a blur shot through the deck, and snatched Jaune out of the way, the Petrifier hitting a random pool umbrella, turning it to stone.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief at Jaune avoiding being turned to stone.
"You got guts, kid, but that wasn't a very smart move," came a familiar voice, as Jaune was in Renamon's grasp.
"Let me go! I'm gonna kill him!" Jaune was still on a rage high that he barely registered his near petrification.
"Stop! Your anger, while understandable is misplaced. We need only defeat him to restore those petrified," she said firmly, causing Jaune to stop short.
"T-they're...Gomamon is alive?" Jaune asked, hope returning to his voice.
"Of course he is," Jo said, more for the second generation than anyone else. Even himself.
"Not if I have something to say about it!" Kokatorimon crowed angrily. "Get them!"
At his words, the ship started to shift, and suddenly the metal walls seemed to stretch and grow arms, grasping for them. "Okay...this is pushing it…" Gyro gulped at the sight of the metalic arms growing out of the seemingly suddenly alive ship...though he also noticed only metal was doing this. The wooden boards around the pool were unaffected.
"That's not much of a comfort, considering most of the ship is made of metal," Ken commented in worry.
"Should we run?" Agumon gulped.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Gyro nodded. "Ruby, please."
Ruby immediately grabbed the two Digimon, before running away with her Semblance, while Renamon vanished in a blur with Jaune, leaving him to escape via use of his semblance as well.
"Tch! They got away…" Kokatorimon growled, pulling himself to his feet. The injuries hurt, but nothing he wouldn't recover from eventually. "No matter, they've got nowhere to run, not as long as I have these five," he laughed, looking at the three petrified mon and the tag in his wing.
This wasn't even surprising that Kokatorimon would try to use the partners as hostages.
"Their escape was better than Mimi's and Sora's," Black said with a snicker, earning curious looks from the others.
"Don't you dare," Sora said with a threatening tone.
Unfortunately, this was the one time, Novice was torn about letting Black tell the truth, and see the look on everyone's faces. Or stopping her and saving the girls from embarrassment.
Unfortunately, during his inner musings, Black had already revealed that the two escaped in only towels. Much to the said two girls' embarrassment.
Luckily, none of the others commented on it. They didn't have a death wish.
"Why didn't you stop her," Mimi asked Novice who was now regretting his indecisiveness.
"Forget him," Sora said coldly, causing a stabbing pain go through Novice's chest.
"Okay...seems like we got away...for now…" Ruby sighed, before looking at Gyro and Jaune. "But what about Yang and Pierce? They must still be somewhere on this ship," she said, while the boys were busy warning everyone else not just about Kokatorimon, but about how the ship was apparently alive. Despite the dangers they'd agreed to regroup, though Ren and Nora were now being a lot more...rushed...in their search, knowing that they couldn't leave the ship without the Crest.
"You won't have to worry about them, my partner is taking care of freeing them as we speak." Renamon said, easing their worries somewhat.
"That's good at least," Hikari said, trying to forget the fact that Novice didn't save Sora and Mimi from embarrassment.
"Ok, that's good, I'm guessing your partner is the one who shot at Etemon the other day?" Jaune said with a relieved sigh.
"That is correct. However, she won't be able to do it unless we keep Kokatorimon busy. While Kokatorimon IS the captain of this ship, he's not the one who really controls things. That would be the REAL owner of this ship," Renamon said. "Where he is though, I do not know. He could be controlling the ship from anywhere…"
"Right, so we gotta fight him...AND keep the owner's attention…" Gyro frowned...before brightening up when he heard some footsteps. "And it looks like we'll be having help," he said, as he turned to see that everyone else had found them...and he also noticed a few knocked out Numemon.
"...What kind of digimon can control an entire ship," Iori wondered in thought.
"I was wondering it too for a time," Novice admitted, before smiling, "Then I felt very stupid when I didn't think of it."
"Sorry about the wait. We tried to hurry, but...there were some distractions…" Blake said.
"Hey, no problem. We'll get you all up to speed first," Ruby said, before recounting what happened so far.
"Where is it? Where is it?" Nora frowned as she started pulling off some parts of the ship. For some reason, they STILL hadn't found the Crest, even with Ren's Tag which should have pointed them in the right direction.
"If the Tag acts as a dowsing rod, then why haven't they found it," Patamon asked in confusion.
"I just don't get it," Wormmon frowned.
"I know what you mean, we should have found it by now," Salamon agreed.
Ren didn't say anything as once again the Tag that had been glowing brightly...dimmed. "But we're in here, the Crest is definitely in this room, but…" he frowned...before a thought crossed his mind. "Maybe...maybe someone already has it."
"Huh?" Nora blinked.
"Maybe the reason why we can't find my Crest is because someone already did and is actively moving it around," Ren suggested.
"Well that explains it," Takeru said, realizing how annoying that might be.
"But if that's the case...what do we do?" Salamon asked.
Ren thought about it...he SERIOUSLY thought about it, but looking at the situation...he had only one option. "Nora...break everything."
The two Digimon paled at the words, especially when Nora grinned.
And the Chosen and their digimon paled too. Although with Gatomon and Gomamon, you can't really tell the difference.
"Got it!"
"Oh no," Gatomon groaned, fearing for her other's life.
Back with the main group, they were looking for a good place to prepare for a fight...when Pyrrha (now having removed her disguise) opened her scroll...and the ship shook. "Oh dear…" she blinked. "Guys...I think stealth is out of the question now."
"I'm afraid to ask, but why?" Tentomon sighed, to which Pyrrha showed them her scroll.
"Because Nora has finally lost her mind," Gatomon commented in annoyance.
"I'm convinced that she's mildly psychotic," Novice admitted.
"...Mildly?" Gatomon parroted in disbelief.
"Well she hasn't tried to kill her friends yet," Novice shrugged, not counting Nora's yandere moments in Chibi.
"...well...look at it this way," Gyro said lamely. "If Kokatorimon wasn't going to be distracted before, he sure will be now…" Right as he said that ANOTHER explosion shook the ship.
"...so...wanna just go 'screw it' and make as much noise as possible?" Ruby suggested.
"...yeah, I think that might be just what we need right now," Patamon nodded.
"Are you going to be okay, though?" Gabumon asked Renamon.
"Oh don't worry, I'll be able to keep up when the time comes," she smirked.
"Okay then, let's bring this ship down," Gyro said, as their Digivices glowed.
The Children probably shouldn't find this satisfying, but they and especially their partners felt some satisfaction of the Remnant crew bringing destruction on Kokatorimon's ship.
Kokatorimon was NOT having a good day...okay, it STARTED as a good day, but it was now going to hell. "Tch, I knew I should have killed all of you when I had the chance," he growled down at his two hostages, currently tied to what appeared to be a steel drying net.
"Yeah? Well...your mistake…" Pierce managed to say, albeit rather tiredly. The two of them had been stuck like this for a while now, and the heat beating down on them was sapping their strength. If they were stuck here for too long, they'd be in trouble.
"...How many of you were tied into that," Wormmon felt the need to ask.
"...Everyone except Sora and Mimi," Jo said, remembering the horrible time.
Kokatorimon growled...but soon stopped when he heard something explode on the upper deck. "I'll deal with you two later," he growled, before turning around and going to the source of the explosion.
"Well...at least we know the others are giving him hell...too bad they don't know where we are," Pierce sighed.
Yang grit her teeth as she tried to struggle free again, but nothing. "You know, when I said I wanted to work on my tan...this isn't what I had in mind," she laughed weakly, though she was starting to lose focus. She'd been stubbornly trying to break free, but as things were, all she did was tire herself out even more.
"Very soon the heatstroke will set in," Novice said a little too casually for everyone's comfort. Everyone that wasn't Novice or Black that is.
"Yang, stay with me! We'll get out of this, okay?" Pierce said in alarm. If she passed out now...
"That, I will make certain of," came a new voice, or rather one they HAD heard once. Looking up, they saw a figure wearing a white robe looking down at them, a sword in hand, though they recognized the designs of a mechashift weapon when they saw one.
Aside from feeling elated at Pierce and Yang being saved, Veemon had a question, "Is she from Remnant?"
"Not telling," Novice said with a grin.
"But mechashift weapons are a thing only in Remnant," Iori pointed out.
"Therefore," Armadimon continued.
"She's from Remnant," the two said in unison.
"...You win," Novice said in mock defeat at being bested by a third grader.
"You...you're the one who was helping Renamon the other day…" Pierce managed to say.
"That would be me yes, glad you figured that out quickly." the woman said, a smile barely visible in the shadows of her hood.
"Who… are you though?" Yang said, shaking her head as she tried to stay conscious.
"Can't say, not yet at least." she answered, before starting to use her sword to cut the ropes.
"Any special reason?" Pierce asked as one of his arms was freed, rotating it slowly to limber it up.
"Too many questions would be asked, and you kids are on a tight schedule at the moment. One day you won't be so hard pressed for time though." she said, finishing up on him and moving to free Yang.
"...So she is planning to tell them," Sora said with a smile.
It wasn't long before both were freed, and were soon back on deck, though Pierce was supporting Yang as she was still a little out of it. "Here," the robed figure said as she gave them a pair of canteens, to which they drunk greedily. They'd gotten quite parched thanks to their little 'tanning session'. "Now then, your friends are no doubt keeping Kokatorimon busy, but as long as HE is in control of the ship, they'll find the fight to be a little harder than expected. Don't worry though, Renamon should be able to help them, though…" she pulled out her Digivice and a holographic screen appeared, revealing a bunch of metal limbs, as well as Kokatorimon firing his Petrifier almost wildly...though it seemed everyone was doing a good job of evading it, so that was encouraging. But as they watched, the ship shook.
"What was that?" Pierce asked.
"If you mean the screen, that's just a special feature of my Digivice Ark, or D-Ark as we like to call it for short. It lets me see and hear what Renamon sees and hears," the figure said. "If you mean the ship shaking, that would be your hammer happy friend destroying the Engine Room to help your quiet friend search for his Crest," she said as if talking about the weather.
"Interesting," Koshiro said, finding this new digivice more facinating.
"That could be handy," Jo added in.
"Digivice Ark? So, is that like an evolution of the ones we have?" Yang asked, looking at her own which was still on her bikini strap.
"It's one of the possible evolutions for it at least, yours is called a Digivice Core, or D-Core for short. They're the most basic form of Digivices one can possess. Mine started out as one too," the figure explained. "But enough about that, I think now is the time to stop playing around, Renamon." At her words, the D-Ark began to glow.
At the fight, Renamon smirked as she evaded another attack. "Understood."
The Children and their digimon were interested in what Renamon evolves into.
(Play song EVO)
"Evolution," the voice of the D-Ark declared, before the wireframe egg was formed and out came silver waves of energy. Renamon had a confident smirk as she was cocooned in the energy.
"Renamon, Evolution!" she called out as her skin and fur peeled off, revealing a wireframe of her body, before her form began to shift, going from bipedal to quadrupedal, her tail splitting into multiples, and overall her form became more beastial. Eventually the cocoon couldn't take it anymore, and burst apart, revealing her evolved form. It was clear she had evolved from Renamon, as her fur remained the same color, gaining a yin-yang symbol on her forehead and on each of her shoulders and thighs, a large white and red rope around her neck with what looked like bells at each tip, sporting nine tails behind her, the tip of each lit aflame with a blue spectral fire that covered each of her paws "Kyubimon!"
"A nine-tailed fox," Miyako said in excitement.
The battle field was suddenly swathed in spectral flames, the various limbs trying to grab and/or hold them down destroyed in an instant, while Kokatorimon was left frantically backing away when the flames tried to reach at him. All combatants stopped in a mix of surprise and awe as the new Digimon landed in their midst.
Digimon Analyzer: Kyubimon
Kyubimon. Data Type. An Adult Level Bewitching Beast Digimon. A powerful Digimon, on par with some more weaker Perfect Levels, Kyubimon is a graceful fighter, never wasting her movements in battle. Her spectral flames feel cold, yet burn far more intensely than anything a Dramon-Family Digimon could ever send out. Her special attack is Koenryu, spinning into a flaming wheel, and creating a dragon of fire to burn her enemies to ashes.
"She sounds strong," Biyomon said in awe, which was shared by everyone else.
"This farce has gone on quite long enough," Kyubimon said as she stalked towards Kokatorimon, her flames burning away any metal limbs trying to grasp at her.
"S-stay back! I...I still got hostages!" Kokatorimon said.
"You mean THESE 'hostages'?" came an amused smirk, as the hooded figure suddenly teleported in...with Yang and Pierce, along with the stone statues of Biyomon, Veemon, and Gomamon.
"Poor Kokatorimon,"Veemon said in mock pity.
"Yang!" Ruby tackle hugged her sister.
"You alright, Pierce?" Gyro asked in worry.
"Yeah, we're fine," Yang couldn't help but chuckle as her sister hugged her.
"Definitely way better than HE'S gonna be real soon," Pierce added, glaring at Kokatorimon.
"Uh...I still got one card to play!" he started...before the floor exploded under them...and out crawled out Ren, Wormmon, and Salamon, looking a bit...charred...and Nora who was laughing as she got out. Then something came down and hit Kokatorimon on the head (making him lose his grip on Pierce's tag, with Ruby quickly speeding over to catch it and give it back to the goatee sporting blonde), revealing a Hagurumon who looked dazed, dizzy, and a little dented.
"Hagurumon?" Tentomon parroted before his antennaes stiffened in surprise, "Was he the one controlling the ship?"
"The ship won't be fighting us anymore," Ren coughed, before holding up his Tag which now contained a Crest, lavender in color, looking like a budding flower of some sort.
Ken felt odd seeing the Crest of Kindness in another's hands, but he supposed it was fitting for what he had seen of Ren so far.
Kokatorimon swallowed nervously as he recovered from the hit to his head, looking around at the 6 Adult Level Digimon surrounding him "Um… Parlay?"
"What does parlay mean," Iori asked, being unfamiliar with the term.
"He's calling for negotiations," Daisuke of all people said with a grin.
"I don't think he's getting any," Agumon said with a snicker.
"You lured us here with one of the Crests, you tried to dry me and Yang like fish, you had this creepy ass ship try to catch us, and most of all, you LITERALLY stoned Veemon, Biyomon, and Gomamon...and guess what, the only way to turn them back is to kick your ass. What do you think?" Pierce said, his grin looking ready to split his face at the imminent payback.
"Eeep…" Kokatorimon gulped, as Kyubimon stepped forward, her tails fanning out and igniting with flames.
"Allow us," she said with a smirk.
"Make it painful," Jaune said dangerously.
"Done," Kyubimon said, before jumping up, and spinning till she looked like a furry ball of fire. "Koenryu!" The flames were shot out and formed a massive dragon head of fire, enveloping Kokatorimon, the bird screaming as he was pulled off the ground while on fire, and soon thrown into one of the smoke stacks where one of the furnaces were. What followed was a huge explosion as the smoke stack exploded with spectral flame and soot, as data flakes were thrown out...though some of them actually flew towards the group, and was seemingly absorbed by Kyubimon. Likewise the figure took out her D-Ark, and the holographic screen appeared once more, the data gathering and forming a card, which solidified and landed right in her hand.
After Kokatorimon was dealt with the group was facinated on how the mysterious person got a new card from the defeated mon.
"Huh...that's new," Nora blinked, while nearby, Veemon, Biyomon, and Gomamon soon returned to normal...and were promptly tackle hugged by their respective partners.
(Song end)
"Yeah, I was happy too," Jo commented, and he wasn't alone with those thoughts.
"Well that was a really...stressful day…" Pierce sighed as they were once more in the RV (he and Yang having also stopped to get their clothes back), and were now driving away from the ship.
"I can imagine. Kokatorimon isn't the strongest, but on that ship he has a significant advantage. Still, you all did well," the figure nodded as she and Renamon were sitting on the roof of the RV, the roof window open so the Chosen Children could talk to her still.
"Still though...was that Hagurumon REALLY that strong? I mean, Nora took him out easily enough," Biyomon asked.
"Well...Hagurumon can control machines, so yes, he had a significant advantage there...though to be fair, we never tried blowing everything up before," Renamon admitted, earning a laugh from Nora inside.
"For the record, Hagurumon is a Child level digimon," Novice felt the need to say, causing several jaws to drop at the fact that the Remnantians were having a hard time against a Child level digimon.
Before laughing as they realized how funny that was.
"Well...let's just be glad the worst is behind us," Gyro sighed. "Speaking of which, why are we going down this way again?"
"You'll see right about….now," the figure said, as on cue, Ruby's Tag started to glow. "You're not the only ones looking for the Crests. Our group has been looking for them too. We happened to find a Crest here, and due to its hiding spot, we decided to leave it be," she explained.
"Why are YOU looking for them though?" Weiss asked, a bit suspicious despite the earlier help.
"For you kids obviously, these things are useless to us, and they were made specifically for you anyway, so we were looking for them so that we could keep them safe until you all came to claim them." the figure said in amusement.
"That's nice of her," Hikari commented with a smile.
"That's very kind of you." Tentomon said while Weiss blushed in embarrassment.
"Now then, get ready dear, just a little more and we'll…" the figure started but was stopped short when a loud horn blared.
"Uh….guys? Why is the cruise ship chasing us?" Gomamon gulped.
At the sight, Renamon looked at the ship in surprise...before her eyes widened in realization...and her pupils soon shrinking into pinpricks. "We...never DID deal with Hagurumon, did we?" she gulped.
"...Did this happen to you guys?" Daisuke asked, the first generation.
"Yes, except we weren't sure who was piloting the ship," Gomamon replied, "All the Numemon abandoned it."
"...oh dear…" the figure gulped as well, before looking into the RV. "FLOOR IT!"
"Flooring it!" Gyro called back as he pushed the gas pedal down completely, Agumon looking out the window at the ship that was rapidly gaining on them.
"Gyro…" he said worriedly.
"I noticed!" Gyro quickly said, before noticing something in the corner of his eyesight "Let's hope this one's real!" he said, turning the RV so it went in the direction of another giant cactus, the ship slowly turning to stay on their tail.
When the RV got close enough, Gyro cheered when he saw the large shadow being cast by the cactus, before veering tightly around it, stopping just behind it.
"Oh, this is going to be funny," Patamon commented, remembering this part.
What followed as the ship crashed into it was, honestly, rather comical, as the ship flipped onto its back while leaning on the cactus, before the large vegetation righted itself, sending the ship flying into the air, as it then stopped short due to the Dark Network cable attached at the end… which was starting to tear and was sparking rather intensely, before finally, both it and the ship went up in a blaze.
"Ok… this would go really well with some popcorn." Gomamon said as he watched the flaming wreck fall back down into the desert sand, everyone having stepped out while Renamon and the figure stood on top of the RV.
"Okay, that was funny," Daisuke admitted at seeing the hilarious sight.
"I can't deny that." Blake agreed with the idea.
"Huh, my tag is glowing even more." Ruby noticed, before it floated out of her hands as, surprisingly, a large flower bloomed at the top of the cactus, and out of it came a stone slab with a marking like a teardrop on it, before glowing green as it floated down towards them and shrunk, until it inserted itself into Ruby's tag.
Mimi did recognize the Crest of Purity, but she chose not to comment on it. What was there to say after all.
"Well, guess that's your crest then." Yang said, looking back at the figure on the RV, about to ask her something, before noticing she, along with Renamon, were gone "Ah, darn it."
The others followed where she was looking, noticing the same thing "Well, I'm sure we'll meet them again soon enough, she did tell you that she'd explain things one day." Gyro said with a shrug.
"At least she told us a bit more on the Digivices." Ren said as he looked at his own.
"Anyway, five down, five to go, let's keep it up!" Pierce said with a grin as everyone got back in the RV.
As they drove off, none of them noticed something drifting off from the top of the vehicle.
A single white rose petal.
As the book shut itself, Novice waited on any reaction.
"A white rose petal," Sora commented, before a thought crossed her mind. "...Novice, is that person, Ruby's mother?"
That question earned some surprised looks from the others. Novice smiled a little, "Who knows." Then the Overseer got off from his seat, "I got something to do right now. And you're coming with me." At the latter part, Novice picked up Black.
"Where are we going," Black asked in suspicion, because usually when Novice needs her for something it's not something fun.
"Hey! You never answered... us," Mimi trailed off as Novice teleported out of the room.
"...He dodged the question," Miyako said in suspicion.
"...Does that mean, Sora's right," Yamato wondered, before turning to Sora, "Speaking of which, what makes you think that the cloaked woman is Ruby's mom?"
"Think about it," Sora said, "The last thing we saw was a white rose petal, and Ruby's mom is named Summer Rose. Don't you think there's a connection?"
Jo had a look of realization,"Now that you mention it, if Keenan was transported into the digital world, why not her too?"
Daisuke then decided to pipe up,"But why would she not tell her daughters that she's okay?"
Gabumon had a thoughtful look, "Didn't she say in this chapter that revealing her identity would cause too many questions at that moment?"
Takeru looked thoughtful for a moment, "...If I was in that situation, I would definitely have a lot of questions."
As the Children kept discussing the theory about who the cloaked woman is, Novice decided to give Black a little... "treat".
Black: What's this room?
Me: Wait for it... *switches on the lights*
Black: *Looks at a table in surprise* Is that...?
Me: Yup. I always wanted to see her suffer, but I'm not keen on inflicting them despite everything she's done. So I thought you might want to.
Black: Oooh, goody. When can I start?
Me: *takes out the digivice* Restriction 666 release. Opening the Purgatory gate held by the Lunar lock. Code Crown of Lust: Release! Have fuun~.
Lilithmon: Oh, believe me I will. *smiles evilly*