Lilithmon: Alright next on your training is *Knock Knock* Urgh! Who is it this time!?
It didn't take long for the Children to find Minervamon and ask her about where Black was. The godess digimon even offered to lead them to Black's location. Although she did warn them that judging by her voice, the feline digimon was now a demon lord digimon. But that wasn't the real problem. The real problem was that as soon as they reached a certain hallway, an invisible wall stopped the Children and their partners from going on, but for some reason it didn't stop Minervamon.
Thinking fast, Iori thought of sending a message to Lilithmon through Minervamon. The godess was skeptical about the plan, but agreed.
And when Minervamon came back, it seemed like Lilithmon had thought three steps ahead with her answer. Because she had listed questions that she thought the Children would ask and the answers to go with them. The list was as follows:
Q1: Why does Novice only give the same answer when asked about his system?
A1: Because he had bewitched himself to not be able to speak, write or otherwise reveal what he knows.
Q2:Why did he do that?
A2: My guess: To prevent any possible leak on his part.
Q3: What was that recording?
A3: Most likely a message made for anyone who managed to capture him and would be trying to get information out of him.
Q4: If Novice himself can't reveal knowledge about his security system, then how can he use it?
A4: Either he hadn't thought of that and he can't, or he set the spell to break if someone does hack his system somehow.
That last one made everyone sweatdrop. Hoping that the latter one was the case.
Regardless, this explained a lot. Novice practically sealed all the knowledge in his head about the security so that he wouldn't be able slip it to a wrong person. Assuming he had proper failsafes. Something that everyone else thought was... questionable. Although then the conversation turned to why Novice wasn't allowing them access to where Lilithmon is. But most of the girls shrugged it off as their host not wanting them anywhere near her. A sentiment they wholly understood.
Well, with those questions answered for now, the Children and their partners spent few more minutes until they decided to return to the reading room.
But when Novice himself appeared back...
"What happened to you," Gatomon asked their host with a quirked brow.
"I'd rather not say," Novice replied while putting a cold bandage around his blackened left eye.
"Who did you anger, Swift?" Mimi asked making a wild guess.
Judging by the look on Novice's face, the pink haired girl hit the nail on the head. Then with a sigh, "Okay, a long story short. I decided to show Swift a certain event from a world I'm watching while saying it was so cool. As you can tell he didn't agree with me." To emphasize his words, Novice tapped the cold bandage lightly, wincing a little.
"How can disagreement make him that angry," Iori asked skeptically.
"...The kind that involves gory details, which in hidnsight I should've seen coming," Novice said, seemingly realizing it just now. "Aaanyway," Novice quickly said before anyone could make a comment, "You guys wanna get down to business?"
"...Might as well," Taichi said, while looking towards everyone for confirmation.
"I am interested in what happens next," Biyomon admitted, earning various sounds of agreement.
"Perfect," Novice said as he took a seat and the book floated towards Veemon.
"Really?" Veemon asked in excitement.
"Yup, your turn," Novice said with a smile.
*Music*
The start of the new opening startled the Children for a moment.
"Oh, right. Forgot to mention, this one has a new opening," Novice said cheekily, earning several annoyed looks. Which were soon dispelled as the Children and their partners started listening.
Narration: The Digital World, a strange and wonderful world populated by the mysterious life forms known as Digimon. Though they are beings made of data, they are no different than any other living being, desiring only to live their lives peacefully. However, a great evil threatens the world, and in its hour of need, 10 heroes have been called to protect it. Standing hand in hand with their Digimon partners, their Digimon Adventure continues!
The scene opens up to show various locations in the Digital World, followed by shots of various Digimon living together in peace and harmony, until a series of shadowed figures appear, seemingly causing darkness to fall over the land. The scene changes to show the 10 Chosen Children with their Digimon standing at a cliffside with their Digivices in hand, before they raise them up, the Digivices igniting with a bright light.
The title screen then forms. "THOR Alter: Digital Story - Myotismon Saga"
"Wow," Daisuke commented in wonder.
"Myotismon saga?" Gatomon asked out of curiosity.
"Many consider Myotismon to be the best villain in digimon," Novice said with a smile, the Overseer was no exception with that sentiment. Then again, the more monstrous creatures always facinated him, whether undead or demonic.
Tafu no haato nandodemon tatakau to kimeta toki kara tomaranai my roodo
The scene changes to show a grassy path as a number of footsteps run through it, as the scene shifts to show a group of humans and Digimon running across the field.
Chiisana puraido seotte kobushi wo nigitte mata ippo ippo gooru wo mezashi zenryoku shissou!
The scene shifts to show the group clearly, as they run across the field, happy/determined expressions on their faces, some of the Digimon even jumping a little in joy, the group in high spirits, while around the hunters' necks their Crests began to shine brightly.
"...Do you guys think that this scene could be real on our world one day," Hikari asked, sounding hopeful.
"It would be nice if it did," Takeru added in.
Novice was glad to see that both the Children and the digimon seemed happy at the idea. The Overseer so wanted to tell them so badly, but that would risk them accidentally averting that bright future.
Tamani tsurai hi datte atte omodori ni ikanakute sora ga namida de nijinde meitemo
The scene changes to show rain falling as the group take shelter under a thick group of trees. Gyro and Agumon as well as Ruby and Palmon are looking out at the rain, while not far behind them Yang and Pierce are sitting against one of the trees with Veemon and Biyomon. To the side, Weiss and Blake were looking over a scroll, double checking the area they were in, with Tentomon and Patamon looking over their shoulders, while in the middle Nora was seemingly telling some kind of big story, while Ren, Jaune, Pyrrha, Salamon, Wormmon, Gomamon, and Gabumon were all listening...with varying reactions from wry amusement (Salamon and Ren), confusion (Wormmon and Jaune), to honest amusement (Pyrrha, Gabumon, and Gomamon), before they are all interrupted when they noticed light start to shine in as the rain begins to stop.
Everyone looked at the scene with varying levels of amusement or nostalgia about their experiences in the digital world.
Ashita wa kiito egao ni naru kara...daijoubu!
The group look out to see Gyro, Pierce, Agumon, and Veemon standing out of the shade, and looking at the rays of the sun that cut through the clouds, before they turned to look at all their friends and with big grins, flashed thumbs ups.
Osoreru koto wa nani mo nai yo
The scene changes to show the 10 Digivices shooting beams of light into the Tags, releasing the 10 Crests that fly into the sky, before shining brightly as they release their energy, covering the screen in light.
The Children and the digimon waited with baited breaths about what many of them presume to be a shot of the Ultimate or Perfect level digimon. Well, Wormmon more than others.
"Ore wa tsuyoi" to shinjite...iza ikou ze!
The light reveals the 10 Adult Digimon glowing brightly, before they all begin to transform as they are bathed in the light, revealing a quick shot of all 10 Perfect level Digimon.
The shot was too brief for anyone to properly see, much less identify all Perfect level digimon.
"Mou shinpai nai yo omae nara" sou sora ga waratteru ki ga shita!
The scene focuses on each of them in quick succession, starting with MetalGreymon who has his Trident Arm at the ready, followed by AeroVeedramon glowing with energy, to WereGarurumon in a ready stance and Zudomon ready to strike with his hammer, followed by JewelBeemon with his spear at the ready and Angewomon ready to shoot a Holy Arrow, then Lilymon with her Flower Cannon ready, and Garudamon ablaze with fire, ending with AtlurKabuterimon charging forward and HolyAngemon with Excalibur drawn.
Except now they saw the Perfect levels more clearly, especially Wormmon, who's eyes were shining with a million stars. Something that Ken noticed with great amusement.
Ase to namida no kazu kitto kagayakeru
The scene changes to show the Hunters with their weapons drawn and opening fire, as behind them their partners did the same, hitting an army of Digimon, lead by DemiDevimon, causing them all to explode as the group landed before the blaze.
"And there's Myotismon's greatest mistake," Novice said with an evil grin. Although he knew that the DemiDevimon he will eventually get will be much more dangerous.
Moshi fuan ni natta toki datte
The scene changes to show a cheshire grin as the scene shifts out to reveal Witchmon on her broom as Myotismon's rises out from the shadows, his army behind him in the background.
Gatomon looked at Witchmon, wondering briefly if this was her replacement. Seeing as her other never became part of Myotismon's army.
Yareba dekiru to jibun shinjite
The scene changes to the hooded figure holding her D-Ark before she pulls down her hood, revealing her identity as a woman who looks like an older Ruby albeit with longer hair, Renamon by her side as behind them Gennai, Keenan, Falcomon, and Wizardmon stand with small smiles on their faces.
Ashiato ga oshiete kuretta zutto...NEVER GIVE UP!
The final scene shows the Chosen Children falling through the sky with their Digimon, all of them grasping each others hands/limbs, before their Digivices shine brightly, and the scene changes one last time, revealing them all standing together, their hands joined in an oath, determined looks on their faces.
When the opening ended, everyone had one questions that they wanted to ask.
"Any questions regarding the people that haven't been properly introduced in the story yet will be ignored," Novice said with an evil grin, earning looks of varying levels of annoyance and disappointment.
Battle on the Lost Island!
The title card showed a floating island, which sadly didn't rise too many questions. After all, some of them were almost disappointed that they never saw something like this. Although for the first generation, Spiral Mountain without any of the areas woven into it came close to it, though.
The blistering desert sun bearing down… a vast expanse of sand… the monotony broken by the sound of an engine.
"Any changes so far?" Gyro asked, a pair of sunglasses on his face.
"Slow movement, just like every other day we've checked." Pierce answered, looking down at his D-Core, before scrambling for it as they hit a bump in the road.
"So, at least Pierce and Gyro ended up together," Agumon commented.
"As did their partners," Novice added in with a smile, "Not sure if it was because of Pierce's semblance or the universe not wanting to separate these two."
No one was sure how to take that statement, so Veemon kept reading.
"Do you think we're gonna see everyone again?" Veemon wondered from his seat.
"It's been three weeks since we all got seperated back in Etemon's territory. I'm sure everyone is at least moving to meet up with the others." Agumon reassured from next to him.
"Three weeks!?" Armadimon exclaimed in alarm.
"Taichi was separated from us too for days," Jo added in.
"Sorry, guys." Taichi apologized.
The Chosen of Reliability rolled his eyes, "It wasn't a complaint."
"At least we were lucky enough to find a jeep." Gyro said with a small grin as they blazed through the desert as fast as they could in an open air jeep.
"Yeah… sucks for those Digimon that tried to rob us though." Pierce said with a snicker.
"Wait, what?" Came out of most digimon.
"You would think word had spread about Gyro and all the other humans by now that everyone would NOT mess with them." Agumon muttered as he thought back to the group of Toucanmon they had left tied up and attached to a tree.
The mental image of toucan like digimon tied up to a tree was quite a funny one, although Novice seemed like he was on the verge of a laughing fit.
"Fun fact, kids," Novice piped up, "Toucanmon are armor type digimon formed from Hawkmon and the Digi-egg of kindness."
"WHAT!?" Was the universal reaction to an armor digimon formed from digi-egg of kindness to be an evil bandit. Which was soon followed by laughter at the irony.
"Still...it really makes you realize how...big...this world is, huh?" Gyro sighed...before he shook his head. "Nope, nope, not gonna let myself start to think that way. Come on guys, we gotta keep moving. We'll find something eventually," he said.
"Right," the others nodded. The four of them continued driving down the area, seemingly nothing for miles...until suddenly what seemed to be a fog of some kind settled in.
"Okay...weird weather today…" Pierce mused as they slowed down a little due to the lower visibility.
"That's never a good sign," Mimi said, getting a few flashbacks from when Myotismon went to all out war.
And then the ground started to shake "Is that an earthquake?!" Veemon asked, gripping the side of the jeep.
"I don't think that's an earthquake." Agumon said slowly as he looked around in the fog, seeing some humanoid, and some beast like shapes.
"Are those Digimon?" Veemon blinked.
"Looks like it...though I don't like the way they're headed right for us…" Pierce gulped slightly.
And then the forms of the various Digimon all became clearly visible, with one group clearly composed of more animalistic Digimon, and another composed of humanoid Digimon.
"What's going on?" Palmon was the first to ask.
And they were fighting… no, scratch that, it was more precise to say they acted like they were at war with one another, and the twins and their partners were stuck in the middle of it.
"Hands off the car!" Gyro shouted as one Digimon (which he would later learn to be called Yasyamon) jumped on it to get to the beast Digimon on the other side, before Gyro swerved the car and threw him off, making him roll in the sand as he was left behind in the dust.
"Why are they fighting," Biyomona asked from Novice.
"Let Veemon read," Novice said with the tiniest of frowns.
"Uh… I think we got BIGGER issues than them trying to get on the jeep." Pierce said, his face pale as he looked ahead, Gyro focusing straight ahead instead of his peripheral vision, and quickly understood what the problem was when he saw the large mass of land gliding along the sand towards them.
"Oh… crapbaskets!" he shouted just as they collided with it and the jeep was lifted into the air, with its passengers being thrown off, the twins managing to grab their partners as the landed in separate areas of the land mass, which soon moved up into the air, and with the fog surrounding it, it was like any other cloud.
"...Okay," Was the most intelligent thing Gabumon could think of. Actually, it was probably the most intelligent thing anyone could think of at the moment.
"I think we need to start packing helmets…." Gyro groaned as he and Agumon got up from where they landed.
"What happened back there though?" Agumon blinked.
"We crashed into a floating/flying landmass," Gyro deadpanned.
"...should I be worried that's not weird anymore?" Agumon sighed.
"When you've played as many video games as I have, less and less things faze you… especially JRPGs." Gyro said.
"What's a JRPG?" Agumon asked in confusion.
"Japanese Role Playing Game." All the Children said in unison. Yes, all of them.
"Story for another time, because we have guests." Gyro said as he hiked his thumb over his shoulder, and both of them heard sounds of surprise, lots of them at that.
They both turned around, seeing they were in some sort of village that was composed of wooden houses built on top of a lake, or at least the edge of it.
"...Guys, did anything like this happen to you," Hawkmon then asked from the first generation.
"No, I don't recognize this place," Yamato was the first to say, followed by various confirmations from the others and their partners.
"Hey, where is this island on digital world," Gomamon then asked.
"...I doubt this island exists in your digital world," Novice admitted, earning surprised looks. "Parallel realities, remember?" That reminder seemed to work as everyone had an understanding look.
And hiding, rather poorly mind you, behind some rocks, where what Gyro believed to be a kindergarten worth of newborn Digimon and at least one Child Level, judging by the glimpse he could see from peering over the stone.
"Okay...they don't SEEM dangerous," Gyro mused...though he still fingered Ascalon all the same. "Uh...we come in peace?" he tried.
Tentatively, a head poked out from the rocks, belonging to a bear wearing a backwards cap "No joking?"
Gyro laughed a bit "No joking… I don't like waving it around, but I'm one of the Chosen Children."
"Really?" the bear asked, his eyes lighting up at the question.
This entire scenario earned chuckles from the guys and awws from the girls.
"Really. I mean, you've probably heard how none of us look like a Digimon at all right?" Gyro pointed out.
"Yeah, well, they said you look roughly like a humanoid Digimon, but nothing beyond that." the bear like Digimon added as he came out "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Bearmon."
Digimon Analyzer: Bearmon
Bearmon. Vaccine Type. A Child Level Beast Digimon. A shy Digimon at first, Bearmon is quick to open up to others and easy to become friends with. When battles start though, he shows off his surprising physical strength and is a reliable ally to have. His special attack is Bear-cub Punch, driving his fist into his opponent as hard as possible.
"Well, it's nice to meet you Bearmon, I'm Gyro, and this is Agumon." the gogglehead said as he introduced himself and his partner.
"Nice to meet you as well!" Bearmon said with a grin as he bowed at the waist.
"So, where did we land exactly?" Agumon asked.
"The Beast Digimon village. It's one of the villages on the island." Bearmon answered easily.
"...okay," Gyro nodded slowly. "I'm guessing this island must be pretty big then to have more than one village...and its floating in the sky if what I saw before we landed was right…" he mused.
At his words though, Bearmon's expression became glum. "It's not THAT big…" he frowned.
"...okay, I feel like I stepped on a landmine here, but I'm guessing there's a reason I'm not gonna like for why there are more than one village on this island if the space isn't THAT big…" Gyro frowned.
The Children and their partners also felt worry about the possibility.
"Please tell me it's not a case of two villages hating each other," Ken said in worry.
"Close enough Ken," Novice said while lightly stroking the cold bandage, wincing at it still hurting.
"I said don't tell me," Ken said with a scowl.
"Well…" Bearmon started...then the explosions happened.
"What the?!" Gyro and Agumon gasped, as a building exploded, and out from the smoke, several Digimon appeared, throwing the village into chaos as several of the residents exited their homes and tried to fight back. While many did manage to fight back, the fact remained the assailants had the element of surprise, and thus several of the residents were deleted before they could put up much of a fight.
"It IS a war in there," Armadimon exclaimed in worry.
"But why," Iori mouthed out.
"One of the dumbest reasons in human, or any history really," Novice said with a melancholic shrug.
Just as they were about to get up, ready to put a stop to this fight which was turning more and more Digimon back into eggs by the second, a canon was fired, and the attackers retreated.
Gyro turned around, knowing the cannon was fired from behind him, and his jaw dropped at the sight of the large tank, and by large, he meant HUGE, bigger than any of the houses in the village.
"Okay...that's something you don't see everyday," Agumon blinked.
"You're telling me," Daisuke commented at the sight of the cannon.
"I'm guessing those Digimon attacking has something to do with the problem?" Gyro asked.
Bearmon just nodded sadly, before turning as they all heard footfalls, seeing what looked like a large purple grizzly bear with red armored gloves and shoulder pads. "Bearmon, there you are," he said. "I've been looking all over for you again."
"Big brother…" Bearmon sighed slightly.
"Family resemblance is definitely there." Gyro muttered, with Agumon chuckling a bit in agreement.
As did many of the readers. Even if the joke was a little obvious.
The still unnamed Digimon turned to look at them, looking at them curiously, before turning back to his little brother "Who are these two?"
"One of the Chosen Children and his partner." Bearmon answered simply.
"The Chosen Children you say?" a new voice cut in, and Gyro turned to look at… a white hippogriff, with a few blue stripes in its feathers and a strange pendant around its neck, looking like half of a golden egg with a wing coming out of the side.
"Lord Hippogriffomon… what are we going to do about this?" the larger of the two bears present asked, turning to the eggs.
Digimon Analyzer: Hippogriffomon
Hippogriffomon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Mythical Animal Digimon. A sort of chimera-esque Digimon, he is the leader of the Beast Digimon village on the floating isle. When in battle, he becomes a truly ferocious beast. His special attacks are Heat Wave, shooting out a incredibly hot wind from his beak that can melt through stone, and Sonic Voice, letting loose an earth shattering screech.
Hippogriffomon looked at the eggs, their fallen comrades, a sad look in his eyes "It pains me to say it… but it seems we have no choice but to resort to full scale war. Go and spread the word Grizzmon."
Digimon Analyzer: Grizzmon
Grizzmon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Beast Digimon. Although he appears to be just a beast at first glance, he possess the spirit of a trained and honorable martial artist. Surprisingly nimble, he's able to use an enemy's power against them and reverse the tide of battle with ease. His special attack is Bodystrike Reversal, flipping the opponent down as they attack and striking at their vitals at the same time.
"At once sir." Grizzmon said with a nod, before running back into the village to deliver the message.
"Wait what? War?!" Agumon and Gyro said in alarm.
Hippogriffomon nodded sadly. "Yes, you see this island is locked in a terrible conflict," he started sadly. "We, the Beast-type Digimon only wish to live peacefully, but the Human-type Digimon that also live on this island have been attacking us lately. We've tried to settle things peacefully but they just keep coming, and now it seems we have no choice but to fight back…" he said, tears welling up in his eyes that soon fell to the ground, showing how heavy this decision was weighing on him.
"So it's a war between humanoids and beasts," Koshiro commented, sounding disappointed.
"But... why?" Tentomon mouthed out.
"For the dumbest reason, to my understanding, because they're different," Novice said simply.
"That can't be all there is to it," Takeru argued.
"True," Novice admitted, "But it's usually, one side starts a fight, the other side escalates and everyone believes that as long as the other side exist there can be no peace. So the war goes on until ultimately both sides are gone."
"...How do you know that," Hikari asked in worry.
"Seen a couple worlds where that happened," Novice said with a sigh, "And for the record, there were ones where peace was ultimately sought by both sides simply because everyone was tired of fighting."
"That's…" Gyro started, frowning, not understanding just why this conflict even existed.
"It's horrible." Agumon finished with a frown.
"It would do us good if you joined in this battle young one, morale from one of the Chosen Children aiding us would be great for our warriors." Hyppogriffomon said with a hopeful look.
"...1000 yen says Pierce is on the other side," Taichi suddenly said.
"What?" Was the universal reaction.
"Think about it, we know that Pierce landed on a different part of the island," the Chosen of Courage pointed out.
"...That's bad," Sora said, especially if the brothers were forced to fight each other.
"...I doubt Gyro and Pierce could fight each other even if they wanted to,"
Gyro had to think about it for a good while "It's… not something I can decide so quickly, and I'd need to speak with my brother as well, he also landed on this island."
Hippogriffomon nodded "Of course, please, take the whole day to think of your answer." he said, before flapping his wings and flying into the village.
Once he was gone, Gyro sighed and looked down at Agumon. "Well buddy, looks like we're really in it now," he sighed tiredly. Of all the things they'd had to get wrapped up in, why did it have to be a war?
"A self imposed rule I placed on myself," Novice suddenly said, "Never intervene with wars, especially ones you know nothing about."
"But you said you helped in taking out the crazies in your Earth," Miyako pointed out.
"Discreetly, and I only made that rule for myself after that so I wouldn't accidentally make it worse," Novice shot back easily.
"...He's not wrong," Koshiro said, understanding Novice's reasoning, "You might make the tensions worse by accident and you may even accidentally help bad people."
The Overseer smiled at someone getting it.
"So...this fighting has been going on for how long?" Pierce asked as he and Veemon were talking to what looked like a child in a kendo uniform that was just a size too big for him and a bamboo sword at his hip, though the fact he had horns coming out from the top of the head, a tail poking out the back, and two glowing yellow eyes behind the mask made it obvious it was a Digimon.
"Okay, so Pierce is really on the other side," Daisuke commented.
"A really long time…" the Digimon sighed, looking sad.
"But why are the Beast-type Digimon attacking? They can't be attacking for no reason, right Kotemon?" Veemon frowned, referring to the Digimon as 'Kotemon'.
Digimon Analyzer: Kotemon
Kotemon. Data Type. A Child Level Reptile Digimon. Day in and day out, Kotemon can be seen training with his bamboo sword, honing his skills to one day evolve into a great swordsman Digimon. Nobody has ever seen what he looks like underneath his mask, always managing to prevent anyone from seeing his face. His special attack is Fire Men, igniting his sword on fire and performing a traditional kendo strike with it.
"I wish I knew…" Kotemon sighed. "But that's how it's been. Now both sides attack each other and at this rate, there's been talks of us possibly going to war…"
"That's...VERY bad…" Pierce gulped.
Again, the Children and their partners agreed.
Before the conversation could continue, they felt the ground shake a bit, as down the steps they were sitting on, a group of Beast Digimon suddenly ran in and started attacking, dead set on doing as much damage as possible, before one of them was smacked away by the flat of a large blade belonging to a green humanoid reptile Digimon that seemed to have a sort of native american vibe to him.
"Brother..." Kotemon said softly, though he didn't seem particularly happy despite what said Digimon was clearly doing to protect the town.
"Who would be," Mimi commented, hating this whole scenario. This was like the Dark Masters all over again, except the other side isn't truly evil.
"Kotemon! Get to safety!" the Digimon ordered.
"Dinohyumon, sir! The Beasts are aiming for a pincer maneuver!" another Digimon that looked like it was wearing a mask and wielding a pair of wooden swords (and Pierce recognised it as the same kind that had jumped onto the jeep earlier) said as he deleted another attacking Digimon.
Digimon Analyzer: Dinohyumon
Dinohyumon. Data Type. An Adult Level Dragon Man Digimon. A powerful warrior of a Digimon, he wields his huge sword, Akinakes, into battle. He holds his beliefs high, and is willing to put his life on the line for them. His special attack is Lizard Dance, wielding his sword in a dance of death through his enemies.
The fight soon became intense, forcing Pierce and Veemon to grab Kotemon (and any nearby baby Digimon) and get them to safety. Back in the fight, the Digimon of the town had managed to counter attack, boxing the attacking Digimon in...until the Digimon started to glow, and promptly exploded, taking several surrounding Digimon with them.
"Suicide Bombers?! Cowards!" Dinohyumon said in outrage as their attackers were now gone, but in their wake were a number of DigiEggs to show their fallen comrades…Dinohyumon grit his teeth in anger, before he and several others turned to another direction, looking ready to charge forward. However…
The Children had looks of shock and horror on their faces. As well as all of the digimon. Miyako was even hugging Iori who looked like he wanted to cry.
Biyomon, Palmon and Gatomon were also hugging their respective partners to comfort both them and themselves. Taichi even wrapped Hikari into a one armed hug for good measure.
"You okay, Takeru," Yamato asked his brother in worry.
"...Yeah." The Chosen of hope didn't sound like it, but Yamato also knew that he shouldn't press the issue either.
"Stop!" came a new voice, this one feminine.
The new Digimon that descended from atop a nearby home looked somewhat tribal, but the wraps around her head looked a bit like a berret, her arms, legs, chest and upper face covered in a gold colored armor, four angelic wings on her back, a pair of swords sheathed on her lower back, while in her hand was a staff that held what looked like half of a golden egg with a small wing attached to it.
"Lady Darcmon, we can't just let this go unchecked anymore!" Dinohyumon said, enraged for his comrades that were defeated and reverted to eggs.
Digimon Analyzer: Darcmon
Darcmon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Angel Digimon. A low-ranking Angel Digimon, some call her the 'Goddess of the Battlefield'. She swiftly cuts through her foes with her sword, La Pucelle, a weapon apparently forged from the lost data of a holy maiden. Her special attack is Bapteme d'Amour, attacking with a graceful and magnificent technique with her sword.
"Be that as it may, we can't just rise to the bait, it's clear the Beasts want a reaction from us, and charging blindly would only lead to our downfall." Darcmon admonished.
"...She's not wrong," Gatomon agreed.
"But…!" Dinohyumon tried to protest, but Darcmon stopped him, holding her weapon to the side.
"We must not let ourselves become like the Beasts. More importantly, we should see to it that the fallen are taken to safety. Their rebirth is far more important than revenge," Darcmon said.
"First time I'm meeting her, but your boss here is making a lot of sense." Pierce said as he walked down the stairs, catching the attention of the Digimon as they turned towards him.
"Yeahp! Before you charge in blindly, figure everything out, and make sure everyone is ok, I learned that the hard way." Veemon said as he had a Chibomon sitting on his head.
Strangely, no one felt like commenting on that. Especially Taichi, who also had to learn this the hard way.
Darcmon nodded in agreement to what they said as she turned back to the warriors "They are correct, let us first get our fallen to safety, then asses the situation as best we can, only then will we decide on our next course of action."
Dinohyumon still seemed ready to defy the order, before feeling a tug at his pants, looking down to see Kotemon holding one of the eggs, bringing a sigh from him as he finally relaxed his posture, looking back to Darcmon. "As you say, Lady Darcmon."
As the warriors gathered the fallen, Darcmon turned to Pierce "Thank you for helping in calming them. I do not believe we have met."
"Ah, no problem, I've seen how bad things can go when someone runs in based purely on their emotions." he said, an image in his mind of a slash of red, and an arm going flying. He shook his head clear of that image quickly though "And my name's Pierce, my friend here is Veemon, we kind of got caught up in the middle of a fight earlier and then got swept up onto the island, I got seperated from my brother at the same time though."
The screen showed the image Pierce had in his mind, and the Children and the digimon winced at the sight. Then they glance at Novice, who's hand had clenched into a fist.
"...Who was that," Patamon found the courage to ask.
"No one important." Judging by how much Novice was clenching his fist, he was lying. He still had fantasies about ripping the perpetrator's soul out and feed it to a soul eating demon.
"I see," Darcmon nodded kindly. "Well, you are both free to stay here for the time being. If we see your brother, we will be sure to inform you," she said as she turned and walked away with the other warriors.
"...she seems nice," Veemon commented with a nod.
"Yeah, Lady Darcmon is a kind and wise leader," Kotemon nodded in agreement. "She really wants nothing more for this fighting to stop, but…" he sighed as he trailed off.
"Guess someone just needs to talk sense into the Beasts." Pierce said with a sigh.
Kotemon nodded slightly, agreeing mostly with the talking idea, before looking a bit more happy "By the way, if you're looking for your brother, I MAY have an idea of where he could be."
"Eh? You do?" Pierce blinked. "Well...where would that be?"
"And how would he that Gyro might be there," Miyako asked aloud.
"Nice place," Veemon commented as they now found themselves in what appeared to be either a cave or ruins of some kind.
"Yeah, it's kind of become a meeting spot with a friend of mine." Kotemon said, and they could tell he was smiling.
When they properly entered the ruins, they were met with…
"Well… this is quite the welcoming committee." Pierce said, blinking as he saw not only Gyro and Agumon, but also a Beast Digimon (Bearmon, but he didn't know this yet), a gaggle of Fresh Digimon and… the three troublemakers, of all Digimon.
"They're there," Wormmon said in surprise. "How did Kotemon know that?"
"Better question, how are those three there?" Jo interjected, giving a questioning look to Novice.
"I stopped questioning it," Novice said with a shrug, "I wouldn't be surprised if they were in this room right now."
At that moment everyone started looking around, searching for the troublemakers.
Except, Koshiro and Jo who realized Novice was trolling them. As did the others and they weren't amused.
"Moving on," Novice then said quickly.
"Honestly, seeing these three was not what I expected when I woke up today." Gyro said dryly as Pierce went up to him and they bumped fists together.
"Well, we weren't going to just stay at Piximon's place forever you know?" Dorumon answered, and Pierce noted him and his friends seemed more relaxed than the last time they'd met.
"Yeah, we won't get stronger if we just stay in one place." Ryudamon said with a sage nod.
"At the very least we know when it's time to run from a fight… boy did Piximon make sure we knew that." Zubamon said, shivering in slight fear as he remembered some of the training they went through.
"I'm guessing you three ended up here by accident too, then?" Agumon asked.
"...pretty much, yeah," Dorumon sighed. "We've been living here so we don't have to deal with the fighting outside. I mean, come on! No offense you guys, but the others must be pretty nutty to be fighting over the fact that half the Digimon here are 'human-types' and the other half are 'beast-types'."
"None taken, its dumb," Kotemon and Bearmon both nodded.
"Those two are friends, aren't they," Yamato asked, to which Novice nodded simply.
"Speaking of which, looks like we were on opposite sides of the conflict, huh?" Gyro mused.
"Looks like it. So...compare notes?" Pierce checked.
A few minutes later, and the result was…
"One of them is lying." Gyro and Pierce both said together, nodding in agreement.
"Not exactly hard to figure out," Hawkmon commented.
"What makes you say that?" Bearmon asked.
"Well, from what we can tell, both sides are basically mirror images of each other," Gyro said.
"Both sides think the other is in the wrong and claim the other is attacking for no reason, and both sides have a leader who seems torn between finding a peaceful solution or exacting 'justice' on the opposing side. You can probably see the big problem with this picture," Pierce sighed.
"So the question is...who's the one who's really lying?" Veemon frowned.
"Any bets on who's the liar," Novice asked, while making a betting pool appear out of somewhere.
"...No bets," Most of the Children said in unison.
"I bet-" "Daisuke stop," Hikari said, cutting the frizzy haired boy off, "If he's willing to bet on something like this he must know we can't get it right."
"He would?" Daisuke asked in shock.
Miyako rolled her eyes, "After everything he's done you think he wouldn't be capable of that?"
Daisuke conceded to the poin.
"Well...if we look at what little we've seen...I'd say Hippogriffomon seems a bit more suspicious...but that's only cause he seems more willing to go for the war option," Agumon sighed.
"He wasn't always like that," Bearmon pointed out.
"That's what we thought too. Being a leader IS stressful, so this is nowhere near enough proof," Gyro nodded.
"I can vouch for that," Taichi admitted, remembering the pressure he sometimes felt at being the leader.
"And we didn't exactly see much of Darcmon either, so for all we know, she could be using the old 'benevolent leader' trick," Pierce admitted.
"I don't really wanna think like that, but I guess its possible," Kotemon frowned.
"Now we just need to catch them red handed." Dorumon said in thought.
"Easier said than done." Veemon said with a frown.
"Well… Hippogriffomon mentioned there'd be some kind of war meeting tonight, I can probably manage to get more information out of him by pretending to be going along with this war idea." Gyro said, even though he clearly didn't like the idea.
None of the Children or the digimon could blame him.
"I guess that's a start, don't know how I'll manage to get information out of Darcmon, but I'll try to do the same." Pierce said with a nod.
"By the way, I've been curious ever since we got here, but what's with the mural?" Agumon asked, turning to the wall in the back of the room.
"It depicts a battle between Ornismon and the Great Server." Kotemon started, gesturing to the mural that depicted a large bird fighting against some kind of crystal like being "Ornismon was a powerful evil Digimon that destroyed everything in his path, and he was sealed away after being defeated by the Great Server."
"Didn't Weiss say something about a Server that wasn't the continent when she was talking about she and Ruby had learned in Centarumon's ruins?" Gyro wondered in remembrance.
"I think she did." Pierce said with a nod, before turning to them. "Who is this 'Great Server' anyway?"
"Well...we...don't really know," Kotemon admitted.
"Do you know Novice?" Veemon decided to ask.
"I have a good guess, but I'm not saying it," Novice replied with a small smile.
"Of course he doesn't." Everyone thought.
"The legends say he's some kind of god, though they can't seem to agree if he's just a protector or if he made the Digital World," Bearmon explained. "We don't even know his name actually…"
"Well… at least he protects the Digital World when it needs the help." Veemon said with a shrug.
"A god of the Digital World, huh? Interesting. From the looks of it, he might also be the reason we're here, seeing as Weiss DID say the legend said he gave the Digital World the legend about us," Gyro mused.
"As long as he's not a Jerkass God, it's all good as far as I'm concerned," Pierce sighed.
"...Hey Novice, the one you're thinking of, was he mean?" Sora asked out of curiosity.
"...In one instance, yes," Novice said after a moment of thought, "But this god wasn't truly evil."
"How so?" Armadimon asked.
"Because this being simply... wasn't able to comprehend humanity or digimon properly," Novice said, trying to explain it to the best of his ability without spoiling too much.
As Gyro went up to look at the mural more closely, he noticed an indentation in it just below the image, it seemed like an oblong shape of sorts with a wing on each side, making him hum in thought as it looked familiar. Eventually he sighed, shaking his head as the information he wanted escaped him. "At any rate, we should focus on how best to stop the fighting. The way things are going, both sides are just going to suffer more and more."
"Right. First things first though, we should get more information. If we can figure out the root of the problem, maybe we can stop it," Pierce nodded in agreement.
"You'll really help stop the fighting?" Kotemon and Bearmon asked, bright expressions on their faces.
"Of course. Nobody's gonna benefit from all this," the brothers and their partners nodded.
"And you can count on them. I mean, they saved our Island from Devimon, so I'm sure they can stop the war," Ryudamon added helpfully.
"Thank you!" Kotemon, Bearmon, and all the babies smiled happily.
After their little meeting concluded, the group exited the ruins, about to head back to their respective areas to gather information, but they were met with an unexpected, and at the moment, unwelcome sight.
"Kotemon… what are you doing here? Especially with one of them?" Dinohyumon asked sternly, growling as he looked at Bearmon, who hid behind Gyro and Agumon.
"Oh no." Sora muttered in worry. A worry shared by everyone else.
"Brother…" Kotemon muttered nervously, a bit afraid.
"Yasyamon." was all Dinohyumon said as he turned to the Digimon with the two wooden swords
Yasyamon nodded, walking towards the group and reached out to grab Bearmon… only to be sent flying back by a strong gust of wind and a punch to the face. "Hands off, or I'll RIP it off," Gyro growled. A fight between the older Digimon was one thing, but he'd be damned before he let them do anything to the kids.
"They better not," Agumon said while glaring at the screen.
"Yeah!" The others agreed-
"I'd listen if I were you… who knows how badly my own hands might slip." Pierce said casually as he rested Pandora on his shoulder. "If you guys want to fight, fine. But leave the kids out of it, they clearly want nothing to do with this war."
Dinohyumon looked like he was about to retort, before a war cry was heard, and everyone turned to see Grizzmon and several other Beast Digimon charging towards them, forcing the Human Digimon to dodge, and before long more joined the fray and once again it was an all out battle.
As the battle went on, the newborn Digimon were all crying and the two younger brothers were sobbing, they just wanted all of this to stop.
The girls and their partners looked like they themselves wanted to cry. Except Hawkmon and Gatomon who simply frowned at the scene. Everyone else either patted their partners. Or in Takeru's case, hugged a little harder.
"Would you morons just stop already?!" Pierce shouted, but the fighting Digimon all ignored him.
Gyro grit his teeth, growing more and more angry and annoyed as they kept on fighting "We said… STOP!" he shouted the last word at the top of his lungs as a hurricane force wind whipped up and slammed most of the fighting Digimon into the walls of the surrounding area.
Dinohyumon and Grizzmon though had managed to hold themselves in place, and seemed to ignore what had happened, rushing at each other, murder in their eyes, before both of them were slammed into the ground by Veedramon and Greymon.
"Either you both stop this right now, or we MAKE you stop," the two adults growled angrily.
After a few moments, it seemed like the two had conceded, so they let them go. Getting up, the two steadied themselves, before calling to their respective siblings. While the fight had been ended, it was clear it had done nothing to help the situation, as the two older siblings told their younger siblings to not play together anymore, before the two factions went their separate ways.
As the brothers saw them leave, a look at each other was all they needed before they nodded in silent agreement. This war had to stop, and it had to stop soon.
No one could agree more. If not for the adults then for the little ones who just didn't want to fight.
"So first things first, we need to figure out who's really causing the fighting, right?" Agumon double checked, earning a nod from his partner. "But are you sure they'd be willing to let us in after what we did earlier?"
"They may not be happy, but they want to win even more. They saw what my Semblance can do, and that'd likely make me prime soldier material," Gyro said simply as they walked through the town, Gyro tuning out the propaganda speech that Hippogriffomon was giving through a PA system.
Eventually, they reached Bearmon's home, seeing him sitting on a bench in the back of it next to the lake, looking glum as all the Fresh Digimon were crowded with him.
"How you holding up?" Gyro asked as he leaned against the railing, right next to the gap in it that let people get into the water by way of the ladder.
"Could be better." Bearmon said, clearly depressed by the turn of events.
"Can't blame him," Daisuke said in sympathy, which was shared by everyone else.
"If the kids are exposed to that kind of violence too early... Who knows how that will affect them later," Jo added in, equally worried.
"Don't worry, we're still planning on stopping this, and knowing my brother, he has the same plan I do, and it'll buy us plenty of time so that Dorumon and the others can investigate, it helps they stayed in the ruins when we left." Gyro said, trying to reassure him.
"Well… they WERE in the ruins." Agumon muttered, looking into the water, where Dorumon and Ryudamon where stealthily heading towards them, they were doing good though, he'll give them that.
"If you don't know what you're looking for," Gomamon commented at the sight of the troublemakers sneaking in the water.
Gyro looked into the water, smirking a bit, before making a quick cutting motion with one hand to the ones in the water as he heard heavy footsteps make their way towards them, Grizzmon coming into view soon enough.
"Gyro, that power you showed earlier… we could definitely use that in the coming battle." Grizzmon said, appearing at least a little uncertain of asking this.
"Well… I suppose it could certainly help put a stop to all the fighting. And that's what we all want after all, for the fighting to stop, right?" Gyro said, making a grand show of thinking about it.
"R-right, we Beast Digimon just want to live in peace, but the Human Digimon just won't give us that." Grizzmon said, completely falling for it.
"Well then, let's go see Hippogriffomon about this in that case." Gyro said, walking back out of the house with Grizzmon, Agumon following behind.
When they were gone, Dorumon and Ryudamon poked their heads onto the balcony, Bearmon turning to them in surprise as they grinned.
"Why are their grins not comforting," Gatomon asked with a slight feeling of dread.
"Everyone's gearing up for a war right now." Pierce said, as he looked at all the Digimon that were getting ready for combat.
"Probably because of what happened at the ruins earlier." Veemon supplied.
Pierce nodding, finding that made the most sense, before stopping as Dinohyumon stood in front of him, narrowing his eyes slightly at the Digimon "What do you want?"
"Listen, that other boy earlier was one of the Chosen Children, yes? I mean, you two look alike, and you're one of them." Dinohyumon started.
And that rang alarm bells in Pierce's head "How do you know that?"
"Lady Darcmon told us about it." Dinohyumon answered, not realising the issue.
Pierce mentally frowned at that, knowing for a fact he hadn't revealed that to the Angel Digimon "I see… well, you're not wrong, but what does this have to do with what's going on?"
Now that it was mentioned, how did Darcmon know about it. Unless she had just heard the rumors. That was the thought everyone concluded.
"That power he showed earlier, you must be able to do something similar, right? Some kind of amazing ability like that?" Dinohyumon asked.
Pierce had the feeling he knew where this was going, and was about to brush him off, before he noticed Zubamon walking across a rope in between two houses behind Dinohyumon, with Kotemon and a group of Fresh Digimon following him, so Pierce quickly decided to play along "Yeah, something like that. Let me guess, you wanted me to help with this upcoming fight?"
Dinohyumon nodded, a hopeful look in his eyes "Then, does that mean…?"
"I guess I have no choice. Fine, I'll help." Pierce said with an extravagant sigh, Veemon catching on that he had something in mind, so he stayed quiet and just nodded in agreement.
"That's great!" Dinohyumon exclaimed with a grin "Come! We must speak to Lady Darcmon now! She'll want to hear this."
"I wonder if they're planning to make her slip or something," Daisuke wondered eagerly.
"Okay, so we're all here," Dorumon nodded as Kotemon, Bearmon, and many of the Baby and Fresh Digimon were gathered at the ruins. "Now we need to start. Gotta find proof on who's actually causing the war."
"But how do we do that?" one of the Babies asked.
"Easy. We spy on the leaders," Zubamon said as if it was the easiest thing in the world.
"...Sure," Hawkmon commented," Sneaking into a village without being seen."
"Lurking around the houses of the leaders," Tentomon added in.
"Which are probably guarded heavily," Gomamon contributed.
"And the infiltration is done by idiots," Gatomon finished.
That earned some laughs, but they all hoped that the troublemakers would find something.
All the young Digimon from the island looked at him as if he was crazy, making him blink as he stared back "Was it something I said?" Zubamon asked Dorumon, only to receive a shrug.
"Are you sure you can help…?" Bearmon asked glumly. Suddenly this plan wasn't looking so great…
"Eh don't sweat it! I mean, what could go wrong?" Ryudamon asked brightly.
"He did NOT just say that," Ken winced at Ryudamon tempting the universe.
Meanwhile…
"...why do I feel like someone just tempted the universe?" the brothers asked...suddenly...simultaneously...with deadpan expressions...while they were nowhere near each other.
"...Twin thing?" Sora Daisuke sounded out unsurely.
"Twin thing." Everyone else accepted. Better to just roll with it.
Back to the ruins…
Ryudamon suddenly sneezed, scratching his nose in confusion. "Huh...that was weird…" he commented, before shrugging. "Anyway, let's do this. First things first, we gotta find both Darcmon and Hippogriffomon and then we can…" he started, but Zubamon suddenly shushed him.
"Do you hear that?" he asked, as he moved to where he thought he heard something, the others following him.
"What is it?" Dorumon whispered as everyone kept low to the ground while following him.
"Talking, two voices, male and female." Zubamon answered, completely serious, the sudden shift making the kids all think that he may just be dependable after all.
Novice frowned a little, if he had gotten the betting pool started he might bask in everyone probably guessing it wrong by now. Sadly it was not meant to be.
"Wonder who it is?" Ryudamon murmured as the trio all crept out slowly, looking in every direction, upwards included, before silently and slowly peering over the edge, finding a shocking sight that the kids, while they didn't see, could hear, and all recognised the voices now.
"It's coming along nicely now." Darcmon said, proud of her work obviously.
"Indeed. Once this battle is over, we'll be able to gather enough data to restore Ornismon. I'm sure our lord will be pleased to have such a powerful tool to aid him in his conquest." Hippogriffomon added, pleased with himself.
"Both of them!?" Mimi cried out in outrage.
"Those monsters." Palmon growled.
Everyone was a little angry at both leaders being liars.
"It certainly took a while, but we did well," Darcmon chuckled. "Still though, this war was a brilliant idea."
"Now now, I can't take ALL the credit, your silver tongue was perfect for getting the plan started," Hippogriffomon chuckled.
"Well, at any rate just a little more and we will have enough. Then we can finally leave this island and its stupid inhabitants," Darcmon smirked cruelly.
"And she's supposed to be an angel digimon," Gatomon hissed at the disgrace in front of her.
"How could she," Patamon added in.
"You're lucky Ophanimon isn't here to see this," Novice piped up, "She would have Darcmon's head on a pike."
Dorumon and Ryudamon pulled back from the edge, looking to each other with wide eyes "This is…" Ryudamon started.
"One hell of a scoop. The others will want to hear this." Dorumon finished with a nod, the two of them turning to Zubamon… only to see he had climbed on top of the small wall that stopped people from falling over, the both of them looking on in confusion.
And then he jumped.
"What the heck is that idiot doing!?" Taichi and Agumon exclaimed in unison.
Others either had blanched looks or palmed their faces.
They didn't even have time to scream in shock, as Zubamon fell like a rock, latching onto Darcmon's head and started attacking her, blinding her at the same time while she screamed in confusion.
Hippogriffomon was so stunned in shock at the sudden development, he didn't notice as Dorumon and Ryudamon came completely out of cover, looked to each other, and nodded, before leaping down, the both of them falling on his back… and suddenly biting on his wings, making him suddenly squawk at the pain.
"Okay, this is funny," Gabumon commented at the mythical beast's and the angel's suffering.
"Yeah, it is," Daisuke added in with a small cheer.
Eventually the two evil Digimon grabbed hold of them and threw them off. "You...you heard that, didn't you?" Hippogriffomon growled.
"Yeah we did. What are you gonna do about it chickenhead!?" Dorumon shot back, already charging his energy, knowing his friends were doing the same.
"Chickenhead?!" Hippogriffomon balked at the insult.
Everyone laughed at that insult. Even Biyomon and Hawkmon despite being avian digimon themselves.
"You children don't realise the trouble you're in." Darcmon said, striking her palm with her staff.
"We know plenty enough hag!" Zubamon shot back.
"HAG?!" Darcmon practically screeched.
More laughs, although visibly more nervous, seeing as calling a woman a hag is always dangerous.
"Yeah, so try and get us, you old fossils!" Ryudamon taunted.
"YOU BRATS ARE DEAD!"
"Goddamn brats! As my dad used to call us affectionately," Novice said, making an imitation of an older man's voice on the first part.
And with that the trio did an about face, and started running for their lives, the two Digimon after them...leaving Bearmon and Kotemon to having heard the whole thing, now knowing what they have to do.
They nodded to each other, about to leave, before ducking back as they saw what had to be the evolved forms of Dorumon and Ryudamon take off into the skies, Zubamon's evolved form on Dorumon's back, with Darcmon and Hippogriffomon chasing after them.
"Go kids, warn your villages!" Veemon cheered, earning multiple looks out of everyone. "What?"
"You're the one reading," Iori deadpanned.
"...So?" Veemon even tilted his head in confusion.
"Just keep reading," Novice said quickly.
It was after a minute that they finally left, intent on stopping this battle before it got any worse.
Meanwhile strangely enough, the fighting had actually stopped. Not because they'd made a truce or anything, but because everymon's attention was focused on one of the islets, specifically one where a fight was happening.
Two large figures suddenly rammed into each other, revealing them to be Greymon and Veedramon who were fighting for dominance, while a pair of figures jumped off their backs, and suddenly clashed in mid-air, revealing to be Gyro and Pierce, their weapons locked in a clash of steel.
"They're not seriously fighting are they?" Hikari asked in worry.
As they fought, the various Digimon from both sides were cheering, some even holding up some DigiEggs, no doubt whoever had fallen in the battle.
"So...how long are we keeping this up?" Pierce grit his teeth as he pushed against Gyro's swords, slowly overpowering him as he WAS the one of the two with more muscle and power.
"...Never mind." The Chosen of Light sighed in relief. She couldn't imagine being in that kind of situation with Taichi. Actually, the very thought made a piece appear in her throat. Something that Gatomon noticed and nuzzled her head against her partner to comfort her.
"For as long as possible," Gyro shot back before breaking the lock and kicking his brother in the gut, pushing him back. At the same time Veedramon slapped Greymon with his tail, forcing the orange dinosaur to back off a little.
"I REALLY hope those three pull through," Greymon grunted, shaking off the blow.
"They have to," Veedramon grumbled before charging forward again.
Agumon and Gabumon looked at each other briefly, being reminded of their fight together when Yamato and Taichi had a falling out. The said Chosen were also remembering the incident, especially Yamato.
Back with the Digimon watching, on both sides a few Digimon asked their leaders why they weren't taking advantage of this chance to attack.
"Because we both agreed to this 'proxy battle' as the Chosen Children call it. As much as I'd like nothing more than to make them pay for what they've done, this is a means to end the war that will minimize casualties the most," both Dinohyumon and Grizzmon said, having no idea that they'd basically given the same answer. Of course they also added, "But be ready in the event the Beasts/Humans choose to violate the agreement."
"At least they didn't resort to all out war," Koshiro said, hoping that the kids will get to them in time. Still, Koshiro still had a question," Is Ornismon an Ultimate level digimon?"
"Yes he is," Novice said simply, "And a powerful one too."
That last statement didn't inspire confidence. Especially when everyone thought that MetalGreymon and AeroVeedramon probably don't stand a chance.
By now the brothers were clashing fiercely again. The one annoying bit of their little plan to stall...they had to fight seriously or else someone might notice the sorta ruse. Fortunately…
"WAIT!" came a group of voices, as everyone turned to see Kotemon, Bearmon, and a number of babies running to the scene, looking like they'd been running full tilt from wherever they had been, evident by how they were out of breath when they arrived.
"Bearmon?" Grizzmon blinked.
"Kotemon?" Dinohyumon said in confusion.
The confusion only doubled when the kids started babbling about something, but the mix of being out of breath and apparently whatever had them so worked up lead to well...it becoming an unintelligible mess.
"Uh, kids? Kids?" Pierce tried to get them to stop, seeing as they were actually giving NORA of all people a run for her money in the babbling department.
"Great." Gatomon's ears drooped as she let out that dead-pan statement.
"KIDS!" Greymon roared in their faces, causing them to stop...and push back some of their fur/clothes from the wind pressure of the shout.
"Thank you, Greymon," Gyro said a little dryly. Sure that got them to stop, but...well...the kids looked like they'd been through a wind tunnel. "Now, slowly, what's wrong?"
The kids took a DEEP breath, before finally… "THIS WAR WAS ALL STAGED AND DARCMON AND HIPPOGRIFFOMON WERE THE ONES WHO CAUSED IT ALL IN THE FIRST PLACE SO THEY COULD REVIVE ORNISMON!"
If this were an anime/cartoon, this would be the part where all sound died, complete with a record scratch at the bombshell the two kids just dropped.
"Huh… didn't think it was BOTH of them." Veedramon muttered, breaking the silence.
"Seriously?" Wormmon questioned, "That's all he has to say?"
After that, both armies could be heard discussing what they just heard, before one person from each came forward, Dinohyumon and Grizzmon, the two staring at each other for a moment, before turning to their little brothers expectantly.
"What exactly do you kids mean?" Grizzmon asked.
"We overheard Darcmon and Hippogriffomon talking with each other, they said they were planning on reviving Ornismon and giving him as a present to their master." Kotemon explained.
"So, their working together huh?" Gyro hummed in thought at that, before thinking about something "Hey, does Darcmon carry half of a golden egg with a wing on it with her?" he asked, turning to Dinohyumon.
Dinohyumon blinked at the seemingly random question "Yes… she does. Why do you ask?"
"Because Hippogriffomon has one too, right?" Pierce said as he turned to his brother, earning a nod.
"Which are probably a key to bringing back Ornismon," Jo concluded.
"And I saw a shape like that inside the ruins. The one with the mural of Ornismon," Gyro nodded...before a thought crossed his mind. "Where ARE those two anyway?" he blinked, realizing neither had been present on the battlefield.
Just as he said that, a pair of blurs landed on the ground, one large and purple, the other in shades of black and orange, kicking up a small dust cloud before they were revealed to be Dorugamon and Ginryumon, with ZubaEagermon on Dorugamon's back, looking mildly tired, compared to the other two who were completely exhausted.
"How long have those two been running?" Armadimon piped up.
"And what did ZubaEagermon do to tire him on Dorugamon's back?" Hawkmon added in.
"What the hell happened to you guys?" Greymon asked in surprise, not expecting them to see them land out of nowhere.
"Been… running… from… Darcmon and… Hippogriffomon… for the last… half hour… we pissed them off." Dorugamon explained while panting heavily for breath.
"And while these two handled running, I was on guard duty, deflecting whatever was thrown at us." ZubaEagermon added as he jumped off his friend's back, panting slightly.
"Oh, okay," Hawkmon commented, while nodding in acceptance.
"They should be… right behind us." Ginryumon finished, falling on the ground, Dorugamon doing the same "Give us a minute." he finished as they took a moment to rest.
"They've earned it," Sora commented with a smile, earning several sounds of agreement.
At that, all the others present looked up into the sky, and were met with the sight of the irate and exhausted pair of Darcmon and Hippogriffomon.
"We're not even going to pretend we don't realize you already know," Hippogriffomon glared.
"Wow, they're not even trying to lie their way out of this," Patamon commented, not sure if it was commendable or funny.
Apparently Veemon, Gomamon and Armadimon thought it was funny.
"Unfortunately for you...you're already too late!" Darcmon added. "Enough data of the fallen is already present!"
"And how exactly are you going to gather this data in the first place?" Gyro asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Knowing won't help you stop it, but it's thanks to this." Darcmon said, presenting her half of the golden egg "As soon as the two halves are reunited, all the fallen data will be absorbed into it."
"Neat… too bad you're going to lose it." Gyro said dryly.
"What the hell are you on abo-" she didn't get to finish as a shot rang out, and the golden egg half on her staff shattered into a million tiny pieces, both her and Hippogriffomon staring at it in horror.
"Nobody ever expects me to have a gun." Pierce said with a grin as he shouldered the rifle mode of Pandora.
"And now they committed villainous blunder number one," Novice announced with a grin, "Revealing your evil plan before it's execution."
This earned laughs out of everyone.
"Give it up you two," Veedramon growled.
"Its over!" Greymon growled in agreement.
"No…" Darcmon grit her teeth. "It's not over yet! We can still revive Ornismon...we'll just need to release so much data he'll HAVE to absorb his fill!"
"And guess what, you're all the new sacrifices!" Hippogriffomon screeched in agreement.
"Are they insane!?" Miyako screeched at the two maniacs.
"Probably," Novice said as he tested his covered eye again. It didn't hurt as much now.
"Wow… now that's what I call broken." Dorugamon said as he got back to his feet, having used the small conversation to rest.
"And I thought WE pissed them off, you just took the cake." Ginryumon added as he looked at Pierce.
"Maybe that helped pushing them over the edge," Yamato commented with a small chuckle.
"But in all seriousness, HOW do you two plan to win? There's only two of you and WAY more of us," ZubaEagermon laughed.
"...please tell me you did NOT just say that…" Pierce groaned.
"Uh...why?" the golden mon asked. On cue, the sound of something HEAVY was heard, as 8 golden rings had appeared on Darcmon's and Hippogriffomon's limbs, before releasing and falling to the ground with a MASSIVE thud.
"...hey, aren't those limiters? I didn't know some mon still use those," came a random voice in the crowd. Everyone on the immediate battlefield glared at ZubaEagermon who let out a weak chuckle.
"...Of course they were holding back," Takeru and Daisuke groaned in unison.
And then to add injury to insult, a spinning weapon of some sorts hit him in the back of head, before it returned into Gyro's hand, revealing that it was the two blades of Ascalon, attached together at the hilt, and with the blades pulled backwards, making it look like a discus type of weapon. "Next time you feel like taunting the universe, I'll hit harder," Gyro deadpanned.
"Enough talk! Now you all die!" Darcmon roared as the two of them dive bombed for the two Chosen Children. However, before they reached them, they were forced to block as Dinohyumon and Grizzmon had jumped into the fray.
"All this time… you used us." Dinohyumon growled as he blocked Darcmon.
"We're going to pay you back tenfold for all the suffering you caused us!" Grizzmon added as he grappled with Hippogriffomon.
"And for all your help, we're forever grateful," Darcmon sneered. "You two were just TOO easy to manipulate!"
"So now be good servants, and be deleted!" Hippogriffomon laughed, before they knocked the two away, their powers now on the higher scale of their respective levels.
"Okay, that's not good," Biyomon commented.
"Okay...this looks bad," Gyro frowned.
"Go all out?" Pierce asked.
"You know it," Gyro grinned.
"Time to go Perfect then," Greymon and Veedramon agreed.
(Play Brave Heart)
The two D-Cores changed color before firing their beams into the respective Tags and releasing the Crests which soon released their energy upon the respective Digimon.
"Greymon, Super Evolution! MetalGreymon!"
"Veedramon, Super Evolution! AeroVeedramon!"
The two Perfect Digimon rammed against the attacking Digimon, and with a bit of effort, managed to push them away.
"Tch! To think both of the children who ended up here would have reached Perfect!" Darcmon growled.
"Nothing we can't handle!" Hippogriffomon smirked. "Sonic Voice!" he called out, releasing a screech of sonic energy, causing all combatants on the field to cry out in pain from the loud noise.
"Baptesme d'Amour!" Darcmon called out, before slashing at both Perfects, knocking them back due to their guard being down.
"Okay...these guys might be a bit harder than expected…" AeroVeedramon growled. "But we can still take them! Dragon Impulse!" he called out, firing his attack, but the two Digimon flew out of the way, evading the attack that tried to follow them.
"Giga Destroyer!" MetalGreymon added before firing his attack, the two missiles adding to the chase...only for the faster Digimon to trick the attacks into colliding with each other. "...okay, that didn't work so well…" he sweatdropped.
"This could be difficult," Agumon commented on Griffomon and Darcmon being a little harder to hit than they initially thought.
"Ok… this isn't going so well." Gyro said nervously.
"We need to deal some serious damage to them." Pierce added, trying to think of an idea.
As they were thinking, Ginryumon looked around, before spotting something "What about the tanks?"
The twins looked at him, before they looked to each side of the battlefield, seeing a few tanks scattered here and there, before turning back to each other, and grinning.
Back at the fight, several Digimon had joined in as well...but it wasn't going so well. It seemed the two had powered up quite a bit, seeing as they were knocking them all away, and even MetalGreymon and AeroVeedramon were starting to have trouble fighting them. "Why don't you fools just give up? It is your fates to be sacrificed to Ornismon," Darcmon laughed.
"Again someone who has the nerve to tell the fate of others," Patamon groaned.
"And telling them to give up," Veemon added with a snicker before continuing reading.
"Sorry, but we make it a policy to NOT take this kind of thing lying down," AeroVeedramon growled.
"Then you may continue suffering!" Hippogriffomon laughed...before they were both impacted by something, which exploded, sending them flying away.
"What the?!" Darcmon said in alarm...before they were pelted with more explosions causing them both to cry out in pain as they were ping ponged through the air.
"I hope that hurt!" Gyro and Pierce laughed from their tanks...while several other tanks came rolling by too, piloted by many of the now VERY angry Digimon. "This is for our comrades!" they all shouted, before a volley of cannon balls were fired, impacting the two flying Digimon.
"Ooooh...aaahhhh…" the Digimon on the ground couldn't help but marvel at the fireworks of pain going on in the sky. By the time it was over, they could see a very charred and VERY tired Darcmon and Hippogriffomon.
The Children and their digimon couldn't help it. They laughed at the ping pong match going on in the screen as Darcmon and Hippogriffomon were bounced from one explosion to another.
"Not...done...yet…" they gasped.
"Actually, I think this is where it ends," MetalGreymon said simply. "Let's finish them off!"
"Right!" all the other combattants nodded.
"Giga Destroyer!"
"Dragon Impulse!"
"Metal Cannon!"
"Tekkoujin!"
"Vantheon!"
The attacks all hit the two, causing them to fall from the sky, landing painfully on the ground...right in front of Dinohyumon and Grizzmon. "This...is for everyone who was deleted thanks you your plot," they glared.
"Lizard Dance!"
"Bodystrike Reversal!"
The two attacked without mercy, and in the last moments, the two treacherous Digimon could only utter a single thing.
"Lord Myotismon!" they shouted, a final cry of loyalty before they were both deleted.
This made everyone's eyes widen.
"They were working for Myotismon!?" Most of the Children and the digimon exclaimed.
(Song end)
Once the two were deleted, there was deafening silence on the battlefield, before a loud, roaring cheer came over everyone, the realisation finally sinking in that they didn't have to fight anymore.
Hours later, as the sun was rising (no one had slept from all the celebrating) the island had landed down in the desert, the twins and their Digimon in a brand new jeep as thanks for helping put a stop to the war.
"So, you three sure you don't want to come along?" Pierce asked the former troublemakers.
"Naw, we'll stick around here and help them rebuild for now. I'm sure we'll meet again someday though." Dorumon said with a grin.
"When we least expect it, no doubt," Tentomon quipped.
"I'm sure we will." Gyro shot back, glad to see that the three troublemakers had started to mature greatly. Maybe them stowing away wasn't such a bad thing after all.
"Too true," Iori commented with a smile.
"Take care everyone!" Veemon waved with a grin as the jeep started up.
"Make sure to double check new faces from now on!" Agumon added with a laugh as they drove away, getting back on the sand and on the road to finding their friends.
"Well, at least the island was able to make us gain some time, we're a LOT closer to the others now than we were before." Pierce said as he looked at his D-Core.
"Yeah, but…" Gyro frowned.
"Thinking about that name those two shouted?" Agumon asked, earning a nod.
"They were strong. Together they were stronger than Etemon...and they're utterly loyal to this 'Myotismon' guy…" Gyro sighed.
"Right...how strong must this guy be if he's got followers like that…" Pierce nodded, seeing the logic.
"Well...if he's who we're gonna have to fight next, then we'd better find everyone and fast," Veemon said.
"Right, full speed ahead, guys. We got a lot of ground to cover," Gyro said, as they sped down the path.
With that, the book shut itself.
"...So Myotismon had more powerful followers already," Gatomon muttered in thought.
"I guess the Remnantians might have it rougher than we did," Gomamon added in worry.
"That's assuming that they believe whatever lies DemiDevimon tries to shove down their throats," Jo added in, making several of the Children look down in shame.
The Children in question, Yamato, Mimi and Sora were especially worried. After all, Mimi threw Jo, Taichi and even Palmon into jail. Yamato actually believed that Jo was being a bumbling moron on purpose. And Sora believed that she was incapable of feeling love. Their Remnantian counterparts would go through the same thing.
At that moment, Novice clapped his hands several times. "Now now kids. No doom and gloom before they actually happen," the Overseer said cheerfully as he took off the bandage to reveal that while his eye was still a bit purple it could open and close without excruciating pain. Then a bling sounded out, indicating that Novice had a new message. Opening a holographic screen Novice checked it. But for some reason, the screen was blackened on the other side, meaning that the Children and their partners couldn't see what the message said.
"M-master Novice, this dumb-" Was as far as a woman's voice went before Novice shut it off in a hurry while looking like he was on a verge of panic attack.
"What was that?" Hikari asked in worry.
"...N-nothing to be concerned about," Novice said after schooling himself. "Perhanan paholainen(Darn devil)!" the Overseer screamed in his head. "Anyway, shall we move on?" Thankfully it seemed that the Children took his word on this and wanted to see what will happen next.
Lilithmon: Huh... Novice cut the feed. Maybe he was busy or something. Oh well, I suppose we can move onto the basics of pleasing him regardless. Or what do you think?
Cinder: If it p-pleases you mistress.
Lilithmon: Good answer. Now if we get no more interruptions we might both have some fun later with our "master".