As it turned out, what Novice had in mind for Koshiro was using the Arena to recreate Vademon that the Chosen of Knowledge hated after hearing what the digimon wanted to trade his curious heart for.
It didn't take long for Koshiro and Tentomon to blow the thing up several times for stress relief. But the amount of hate the boy was showing scared many of them a little, especially Mimi.
Thankfully Koshiro and AtlurKabuterimon didn't spend too much time on deleting the fake Vademon over and over again. And when the duo came out of the Arena, Koshiro seemed much calmer than before.
After that, the team had a little talk with him and as it turned out, blasting the thing was cathartic. Making him feel like he had proper vengeance, despite the Vademon not being real.
With that out of the way, the gang was once again in the reading room. Although some of them took a bathroom break.
"So then," Novice said before waving his hand at the book, "It's Mimi's turn," Novice said as the book started floating towards her.
"Huh? Why is it- Oh no," Mimi said as she remembered the incident that she was probably going to read about. And get shamed, for being the way she was at the time.
"What is it," Miyako asked in worry.
Instead of answering, Palmon placed one of her leaved on Mimi's arm, "Mimi, it's okay now. I've already forgiven you back then." The plant digimon was smiling.
"As have I," Jo chimed in with a smile of his own.
"Well... I'm not sure if I've-OW!" Gomamon cried out at the pinch Jo was giving him.
"It's in the past now," Taichi added in before the seal could say something stupid.
"That's right." Agumon nodded eagerly.
"...Thanks guys," Mimi said before opening the book from the page that might reveal her at her worst.
The Flower Fairy! Lillymon!
The title card showed silhouette of Lillymon.
"Wait, what!?" Mimi exclaimed, earning everyone else's attention.
"You mean, Ruby makes my other evolve already?" Palmon commented with a small smile.
"You mean, Palmon didn't become Lillymon here," Miyako asked in curiosity.
"No, that happened in Odaiba," Sora said, wondering what happens with Ruby to accelerate the process here.
"Pedal! Pedal! Pedal!" Agumon and Veemon said encouragingly as Gyro and Pierce were paddling the swanboat they'd found when they reached the water...too bad being a swan boat, it meant the speed wasn't the fastest.
"It really wasn't," Taichi said, while giving a playful glare at Agumon, "It also didn't help that someone was enjoying the fact that they couldn't pedal." Agumon had the decency to turn away with a sheepish look.
"That was mean, Agumon," Gomamon said with a small snicker.
Which earned the small seal a pinch at the tail tip. "You were in on it," Jo said with a scolding tone while his partner glared at the treatment.
This earned various looks or sounds of amusement from the people inside.
"How much further?" Pierce asked.
"Shouldn't be long now. I think we should see the coast soon," Gyro said.
"It's pretty foggy though." Agumon added after a moment.
"That didn't happen with us," Jo said with a curious look.
"Can't be helped with how early in the morning it is." Veemon said with a shrug.
"Makes sense," Koshiro shrugged, "Fog tends to form during early hours after all."
"Good thing we got the radars, or this could have been very annoying," Pierce sighed. "Still though, hope its not another situation like Jaune. I mean, whoever is in wherever we're going hasn't been moving around much."
Mimi had a pretty good idea where they were going if the person Gyro and Pierce were moving towards hadn't moved much. "I just hope Ruby didn't end up like me," the Chosen of Purity thought with worry.
"If they are, then hopefully we don't have to cut a figurative bloody swath this time…" Gyro sighed as well.
Eventually, the large form slowly came into view through the early morning fog, the brothers looking up curiously from high it was, until they were able to identify it.
"Is… is that a pagoda?" Pierce asked as he saw the very tall japanese style castle.
"It's that castle where we found Mimi," Taichi said, partly dreading what Ruby might have become, assuming it was her in there.
"I guess? This place sure likes to have different kinds of architecture." Gyro muttered at the end, shaking his head with a sigh.
"Well...at least we know where they are," Agumon offered weakly.
"Eh, we'll take that," Pierce shrugged as they soon got on dry land again. Not wasting any time, they made their way to the castle. Fortunately the drawbridge was already down so getting to the front entrance was an easy enough thing to do. When they opened the front door, they were soon met with an odd sight.
A large number of frogs with what looked like tuba's around their necks, and overgrown tadpoles, running around, panicking as they all talked over one another.
"...Was it like this with you guys," Daisuke asked the two guys who were in a similar situation from what he could tell.
"...Yes." the said guys dead-panned wondering what outrageous demands were gotten from them this time.
"So… these are?" Gyro asked, letting the question hang.
"The frogs are Gekomon." Veemon said, pointing to one of them.
Digimon Analyzer: Gekomon
Gekomon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Amphibian Digimon. Though it looks rather silly, it has a surprisingly pleasant singing voice. It can even replicate the sounds of various instruments using its horn and strange tongue. Its special attack is Crash Symphony, attacking the enemy with high frequency vibrations.
"And the tadpoles are Otamamon." Agumon added.
Digimon Analyzer: Otamamon
Otamamon. Virus Type. A Child Level Amphibian Digimon. A Digimon who spends most of its life underwater, making its skin softer than most other Digimon. It occasionally climbs to the surface to do vocal training. Its special attack is Lullaby Bubble, singing a mysterious melody that puts enemies to sleep.
"Wonder what's the rush for these guys," Pierce mused as they tried to listen in on the frantic amphibians.
"So busy so busy!" they said frantically. "The Princess needs honey and tea!"
"Huh... that's different," Taichi commented in mild surprise.
"No, she needs onion soup!"
"That's different too," Gomamon commented.
"You're wrong, she needs a soothing potion!"
"That too," Jo muttered as the cogs were turning as he felt like all of these had something in common. And then it hit him,"Is Ruby sick?"
"WHAT!?" was the universal response.
And then Sora had a thought, "Honey and tea are used to soothe a person's throat."
"Supposedly sick people eat soup," Yamato also added in, remembering the few times he or Takeru were sick.
"But what's the 'soothing potion' for," asked Hikari who couldn't come up with what was supposed to be soothed.
And on and on the Digimon argued back and forth, apparently trying to prepare something for some 'Princess'
"Still, it sounds better than what Mimi was demanding," Taichi said while giving the said girl an evil grin.
"...If you bring that up again I will find a way to poison any food you might get," Mimi threatened in embarrassment.
The group looked at all the Digimon running frantically, before Gyro and Pierce nodded at each other and brought their fingers to their lips and each letting out a loud whistle that halted everyone and brought attention to them.
"Ok, I don't know what's going on, but all of you, take deep breaths, you look like you need it." Gyro said, the Gekomon and Otamamon looking between each other, before slowly doing that, and already they looked more relaxed.
"Alright, you were talking about a princess? And how she needs something?" Pierce asked, hoping to understand what was going on.
One of the Gekomon nodded as he stepped up "Right, the princess isn't well, so we're trying everything we can to make her feel better."
"So Ruby is sick," Ken commented, now interested.
"What exactly is the problem though? Some kind of cold?" Agumon asked in confusion.
"She's lost her voice!" one of the Otamamon said, about to panic, before another motioned for him to breathe deeply.
"Why were they panicking again," Armadimon asked with a head tilt.
"Probably for the same reason I was treated like a princess," Mimi said with a sigh before continuing to read.
"I can see how that's an issue, but is it really a cause for panic?" Gyro asked, not seeing how this was that bad, since the 'Princess's' voice would come back eventually with enough rest.
"Because she was supposed to sing for us to awaken our lord. But there's only one song we know could wake him up, and she couldn't sing it because she didn't know the language, so we've had to not only give her vocal practice, but also teach her a whole new language." the Gekomon in the front explained further.
"So it is like Mimi's and my situation," Palmon commented, "Except Ruby is unable to sing right now." This made poor Mimi look more ashamed of her dark past.
"Mimi... what did you do," Miyako asked in worry for her idol.
"...I may have made up excuses to avoid singing and take advantage of their desperation," Mimi admitted in shame.
"Mimi it's in the past now," Sora said supportively.
"She's right you know," Novice spoke up from his seat with a smile, "You came through in the end."
"Not on my own," Mimi said with a downed look.
"We all stumble sometimes, trust me I know," Sora said supportively.
"Not just her either," Yamato added in with a meaningful look.
"I think it's safe to say that we all had our bad moments," Taichi said, earning various signs of agreement.
With that, Mimi was able to continue.
"So… this princess is someone you found recently then?" Veemon asked, figuring she probably wasn't from the area if she didn't know the language they wanted her to sing in.
"That's right, and she kind of looked like one of you." one of the Otamamon said as he pointed at Gyro and Pierce.
They both blinked at that, and quickly came to the same conclusion "What Digimon was with her?"
"Palmon." the same Otamamon answered simply.
"So it's Ruby then. Glad we found her." Gyro said, sighing in relief, before he looked back at the gathered Digimon "Thanks for looking after her, she's the youngest of our group so we were a bit worried something may have happened to her."
"Oh, right," Daisuke commented, having forgotten that little detail.
"It was like with Hikari and Takeru with us," Agumon commented, earning an annoyed look from the two in question.
"Another one of you showed up a few days ago though, she said something pretty close to what you did." Gekomon added.
"Really? And what Digimon did she have with her?" Pierce asked.
"A Biyomon." Gekomon said… simply.
"Yang too then? That's good, I've been missing her." Pierce said with a grin, happy his girlfriend was here.
"So Yang openly showed herself," Biyomon commented, sounding a little happy.
"Well, Yang is Ruby's big sister," Gabumon commented, remembering how Yamato was with Takeru.
"She's not here right now. She went with some of the other for some herbs that might help the Princess," One of the Otamamon explained.
"Figures she'd be worried." Gyro said with a smile "Can you take us to see the princess then?" he asked, some amusement in his voice as he tried to picture Ruby as a princess.
All the older siblings among the readers could relate to Yang wanting to help her sister.
"Well, if you're her friends, sure," one of the Gekkomon said, before leading them to one of the upper floors, and to a door...which ironically had a rose on it. "Here's her room," the Gekomon said. "But please be quiet if she's resting."
"That means you Veemon." Pierce said quickly.
"Oi!" Veemon said in annoyance at suddenly being called out.
"Pierce isn't wrong," Hawkmon commented, earning a miffed look from their Veemon who crossed his arms in a pout.
"To be fair, you DO get pretty loud at times." Agumon told him.
"Oh, come on," Veemon groaned, which earned him a pat on the head from Daisuke.
Veemon crossed his arms and grumbled under his breath, unable to deny it.
Gyro laughed awkwardly at that, before knocking on the door a few times, waiting to see if anybody would answer it.
He only had to wait a few moments, before it opened, and a familiar pink flower poked out from the door.
"Yes?" Palmon asked as she poked the rest of her head past the door, before she smiled and was quickly hugging Agumon and Veemon "Guys! You found us!"
"Good to see you too Palmon. So, how's Ruby?" Gyro asked as he crouched down, chuckling a bit when the plant Digimon hugged him and Pierce as well.
"Our Palmon isn't that affectionate," Agumon commented.
"Hey!" Palmon protested, before looking down, "Well... I was just wondering why Mimi was the way she was at the time." The plant was hugged by her partner.
Apparently she was really glad to see them.
"She's asleep right now. Her throat still isn't pretty good, she can't even talk normally." Palmon said with a frown, before inviting them into the room.
And in all honesty, it looked pretty modest, save for the fact the bed was rather large and it had curtains around it. It really didn't look like the stereotype Princess room, but it definitely fit Ruby.
"Unlike with Mimi," Gomamon commented with a snicker.
"Gomamon," Jo said in worry as Mimi growled at them.
"Relax, Mimi," Novice called out from his seat, "Remember, everyone has their bad moments."
"Like you," Mimi snarked at the Overseer who visibly slumped. Which was soon forgotten when the door to the reading room opened, allowing entry for Lotosmon.
"Am I too late to join this," the fairy digimon asked as she looked at the paused screen.
"Not at all, sit down if you'd like," Novice said and a lavish easy chair appeared next to him.
"...Can you make it less lavish?" Lotosmon asked, earning a face-palm from Novice before he complied. "Thank you." With that, the fairy sat down.
The tea table did feel somewhat out of place for a room that belonged to Ruby though, but at least they had a place to sit down at as Palmon started to recount how exactly they ended up here.
"After we got separated by that explosion, me and Ruby were wandering for a little while, then when we got close to this castle, the Gekomon asked us to come and see if one of us could awaken their lord. They said Ruby's voice was pretty good, but they had a specific song they wanted her to sing, it's called 'I Wish' but Ruby didn't understand the words, so they've been teaching her how to read it, and she's also been doing vocal practice. But, she ended up practicing so much she lost her voice." Palmon finished with a frown "So, the Gekomon have been trying to find a way to help her voice heal, and a few days ago, Yang and Biyomon arrived and they decided to help out, so they went with some of the Gekomon and Otamamon to look for some herbs that are supposed to be a good remedy for sore throats."
"Huh? That's different," Mimi commented.
"How so," Iori asked out of curiosity.
"Because with me and Palmon, I simply chose 'I Wish' because it's what I like to sing," Mimi explained.
"I see…" Gyro frowned. "I'm guessing you guys aren't going anywhere until you've helped them, so….anything we can do to help?" he asked.
"Well… do you know the language the song is in?" Palmon wondered, going to a dresser in the room and coming back with a lyrics sheet and showing it to him.
Gyro had a quick look at it "Ah, no wonder Ruby doesn't understand it, it's in japanese. So… the song is called 'I Wish' huh? I think I've heard about it on Earth before actually."
"Wait a second!" Ken suddenly called out, "Hasn't this entire story been in japanese? How can Ruby not understand?"
Novice sighed, he should've figured that this would come up sooner or later. "It's not," Novice said simply, "It's all in english. However, I cast a translation spell over all of you that translates speech and writing between japanese and english."
"So, from our perspective we are talking in japanese, but from your perspective we speak in english," Koshiro summarized.
"Precisely," Novice said, pointing at Koshiro with a smile.
"What about that language we heard you speaking multiple times," Wormmon asked, "Why can't we understand that?"
"The spell isn't set to affect my native tongue," Novice replied simply, "I like to sometimes mumble things that I don't want others to eavesdrop on."
Unfortunately, that made everyone look at him in mild suspicion. But considering how shady he tends to be sometimes, the Children and their partners are almost used to it.
"Can you sing it?" Palmon asked hopefully.
"I mean… yeah, but it won't sound right sung by a guy with a voice like mine, maybe if I had a softer and higher pitched voice it could work." Gyro said with a frown.
Taichi and Jo grimaced at the memory of their pathetic attempts. Aside from their voices, Taichi got the words wrong. And Jo isn't exactly a singer.
"Then I guess all we can do is try and help Ruby get better," Veemon sighed.
"Or we could try singing it anyway," Agumon suggested...but was promptly met with deadpan expressions. "...what?"
"Do I really need to answer this?" Gyro said dryly.
Agumon slumped down at that.
"...How did we ever let them," Jo grumbled, earning everyone else's attention. Including Mimi's who had a blanched look.
"Wait, you guys tried to actually sing it," Mimi asked.
The looks on Jo's and Taichi's faces was all the answer she needed.
And then the Chosen of Purity burst into laughter, "I wish I could've seen that."
Now that Mimi said it, everyone else were laughing to varying degrees at the poor fools trying to sing a song that was vocalized by a woman. Including Yamato who knew how much work one has to actually put into singing.
"So...now what? We just wait till Ruby wakes up?" Pierce asked.
"Or maybe we could try singing different songs to see if they work?" Veemon added.
Everyone blinked at that "Well… it's worth a shot." Palmon said with a shrug.
"...You guys didn't think of that?" Takeru asked at the sound of two palms impacting faces of their owners.
"No we didn't," Jo admitted. This earned more laughters out of everyone, including Lotosmon who still managed to look at the two boys in pity. If you could even tell she had eyes.
Minutes later, the group was down in the room where the lord of the Gekomon was asleep in… and he was BIG.
"Wow, talk about a wide load." Pierce said, before Gyro elbowed him in the gut.
"It was quite rude," Lotosmon commented.
"So, what's his name?" Agumon asked as he ignored the currently doubled over Pierce.
"ShogunGekomon apparently." Palmon answered.
Everyone was silent for a moment at that, until… "Why isn't anyone saying anything?"
"I dunno, I think we were all expecting something to happen when we heard his name, don't know what though, it's a weird feeling. Oh well, maybe it'll happen later." Gyro said with a shrug. "So…" he turned to one of the Gekomon that were in the room. "What's the story behind this guy?"
"Interesting thought," Lotosmon commented with a small smile,"Although calling out someone's name only works if they are under a curse which requires you to utter their name."
"That was oddly specific," Hikari commented.
"I may have seen one or two such cases," Lotosmon shrugged.
"Well...it was about 300 years ago…" Gekomon started.
"Wait...300 years? He's been asleep for that long?!" Pierce blinked in surprise.
Everyone gave the three pairs involved with this incident a curious look.
"Yeah, we were surprised too," Taichi admitted.
"Well...yes...but anyway, our lord was known for and prided himself for his singing voice. He was undefeated when it came to singing. However...one day he was challenged to a karaoke match and lost completely and utterly. The shock caused him to fall into a depression, then sleep...and now he hasn't woken up since…" the Gekomon sighed. "It is said that when he hears a voice singing more beautifully than his own, he will awaken."
"And does it HAVE to be the song 'I Wish'?" Agumon checked.
"Well...technically no, but it WAS his favorite song, so we figured…"
"That if you had someone with a good singing voice that fit the song try and sing it, it would give the intended effect," Gyro nodded in understanding. "Clever."
"Very," Tentomon agreed, "But was it the favorite of the ShogunGekomon you faced?"
"Don't know, we never asked," Agumon said.
"But that also means maybe if we use another song with a good voice it might work too," Pierce nodded.
"Well, if you can do so you're welcome to try," the Gekomon nodded. "We'd really rather not have the Princess push herself too much, she's been nothing but helpful since she came here," he smiled.
Which made Mimi feel just a little more ashamed of becoming so selfish and taking advantage of the poor Gekomon and Otamamon
"Alright then, let's give it a go," Gyro nodded.
"I'll go first. I got an idea," Pierce said, before turning to the Gekomon. "How good are you guys at playing just music?"
"We can play any song with any instrument as long as you give us the notes," the Gekomon puffed his chest out in pride.
"Great, cause I got a song I need you guys to make for me," he said, before explaining the details. It wasn't long after he was standing on stage, with several Gekomon ready with the instruments.
The Children and the digimon were rather expectant on what Pierce was planning to sing.
(Play Eyes of Zoro from the One Piece soundtrack)
The song started off mostly instrumental, though it had a sort of techno vibe to the sounds, before the lyrics finally hit.
Tenohira no suna sarasara to ochi
Kumo wa nagare nochi seiten
Shio wa hiki mata michite yuku tsuki o miru
Roukaku wa mata kuzuresari
Hito wa nagare todomaru mono to
Se ni omou mata kibou to iu yoake mae
Gekka no hana tsuyu no shizuku
Kanashimi wa ta ga tame ni fukiareru...
Yume o mita otoko-tachi wa
Chizu ni nai michi o isogu
Kono fune ga tadoritsuku no wa
Maboroshi da to shite mo...
koko ni aru no wa tashika na mono
Ichiaku no kaze karakara sugite
Daichi kawaki nochi ni ame
Midori moe mata karehatete nemuru toki
Hi o kakonde wa yoru no utage
Hito wa hitori hitori ga tsudoi
Ge ni yukai mata karisome no yume o miru
Gekka no hana fukarete iru
Owaru tomo shirenu tabi sakihokoru
Yume o mita otoko-tachi wa
Osorenaki kokoro motome
Kono karada sutete miru yume
Maboroshi da to shite mo...
koko ni aru no wa tashika na mono
Gekka no hana tsuyu no shizuku
Kanashimi wa ta ga tame ni fukiareru...
Yume o mita otoko-tachi wa
Chizu ni nai michi o isogu
Kono fune ga tadoritsuku no wa
Maboroshi da to shite mo...
koko ni aru no wa tashika na mono
(End Song)
The Children and their digimon clapped at Pierce's performance. Especially the guys, most notably Taichi, Daisuke, Takeru and Yamato along with their partners.
"He's not bad," Yamato commented, being the male singer in their group.
As the song ended, several of the Gekomon were clapping at the performance, before they all looked up… and saw their lord was still asleep.
"Well… I don't know if I should be feeling insulted right now honestly." Pierce said with a sigh as he walked off stage.
"Sorry, don't get us wrong, the song was great, but I guess it's just not what our Lord wants," one of the Gekomon said. "But thanks for showing us this song, it'd be great for another day."
"Seriously, how did we NOT think of that," Taichi berated himself.
"To be fair you knew that 'I wish' had an effect for certain," Novice spoke up, earning everyone's attention, "And no offense to you two, but I doubt you would have done any better even if the song was different."
"Are you just going to take that," Gomamon asked Jo who had slumped a little.
"He's not wrong," Jo said, but he wasn't too depressed or embarrassed at admitting that singing wasn't one of his talents.
"Okay, so I guess next is…" Gyro mused thinking what he should sing before…
"We wanna try!" Agumon and Veemon said.
Gyro blinked at that, looking down at the two of them "Well… I guess you can try. What do you two want to sing though?"
"Hm...well...how about we try that song the Gekomon said their lord liked?" Veemon suggested.
Taichi and Jo groaned at that.
"I take it Gomamon and Agumon didn't sing very well," Biyomon commented with a pitying look.
No one needed a vocal answer, because it was written all over the two boys' faces. No it did NOT go well.
"Yeah, that might be good," Agumon nodded in agreement. Their enthusiasm...wasn't shared by their partners judging by the deadpan stares the two humans were giving them. "...what?"
"Just… oh god this is NOT going to go well." Pierce started, before muttering the last part.
"Come on, have some faith," Veemon berated the partner of his other.
"You're not a singer yourself," Daisuke shot back, remembering the few times that the blue dinosaur sang to himself.
Gyro sighed "Gimme a few minutes to translate the lyrics into something more clear to read at least."
Minutes later, and the result was… painful to the ears.
"Why are they so bad?" Palmon groaned as she covered what served as he ears.
"I should consider myself lucky that I wasn't there to hear that," Palmon commented, earning a groan from Agumon and Gomamon.
"This is what's called being tone deaf." Gyro said,having pulled some earplugs from his pouch, and having just barely heard Palmon's question.
"So yeah, sorry guys, but I think that's a DEFINITE no," Pierce deadpanned, causing the two to slump slightly, before getting off the stage.
"Alright, my turn," Gyro sighed, getting on the stage.
"What do we play this time?" One of the Gekomon asked.
"Actually, if you could get me an acoustic guitar, I'll be able to do it myself." he requested, surprised the Gekomon a bit, before one of them ran off, and returned a few minutes later with just that, handing it to him.
It didn't take too long to set up this time compared to others, Gyro making sure the guitar was perfectly tuned, before he soon started playing.
"I wonder what he's going to play," Gabumon wondered.
(Play Tobira DOOR (acoustic version) by Yamato Ishida)
"Wait, WHAT!?" was the universal reaction to a very familiar name at the name of the artist, which caused the song to pause
"Why is an acoustic version of my song here!?" Yamato demanded, feeling like he was being plagiarized for his song that he wrote himself.
This earned a surprised look from Novice. "...I... don't know," Novice said honestly, not expecting that.
"Are there versions of us in that world!?" Takeru then asked, causing everyone to stare at the very confused looking Overseer.
"...I... I honestly don't know. I never thought it was possible," Novice said as he looked thoughtful then he snapped his fingers, "It's also possible that the name of the artist and the song here is just a coincidence."
"Is it," Yamato asked with narrowed eyes.
"Just stating a possibility, "Novice said defensively, "I told you, I'm not omnipotent or omnicient. There are still a lot of things I don't know."
The Children and their digimon were a little rattled, but Novice did make sense with his explanation. So Mimi chose to continue reading.
The song started off slow with a few strums of the guitar, before he starting singing.
Totsuzen yatte kuru shoutai fumei no fuan itsumo bokura wo neratteru
Uke uri no chishiki kudaranai joushiki bokura wo madowaseru
Sonna mainichi ni iyake ga sashitara kyouto ni demo yuku no kai?
Shiranai furi shite sugosu yori mitsumeyou bokura no shinjitsu
Kore dake wa yuzurenai jibun no puraido mune ni hisomase...
Hashiridasou dare no tame demo naku tomatteru yotu mashi dakara
Toumei na kuuki kirisaite mabushii ano umi ni mukatte
Oh keep on running keep on running
Find out your reality
Atarashii tobira no mae de gusugusu shiteru hima wa nai
Josou tsukete tobidasou ze sono tobira keriagete
Kimi datte kitto dekiru
Mienai fuan ga kimi wo tsutsunda kimi no me ga mayotteru
Yuragu jishin itsumo to chigau bokura karada wo furuwaseru
Sonna jibun ga iya dakara hiza wo kakaete iru no kai?
Me wo tojiru no wa hayasugiru mitsumeyou bokura no shinjitsu
Muryoku nante koto nai bokura no yuuki furishibotte...
Mitsuke dasou dare no tame demo naku akirameru yori mashi dakara
Okubyou na kimochi furihodoite hontou no kotae sagashite
Oh keep on running keep on running
Find out your reality
Atarashii sekai no tobira kagi nanka kakatte inai
Jishin motte susumou ze sono tobira keriagete
Kimi nara kitto mitsukerareru
Hashiridasou dare no tame demo naku tomatteru yotu mashi dakara
Toumei na kuuki kirisaite mabushii ano umi ni mukatte
Oh keep on running keep on running
Find out your reality
Atarashii tobira no mae de gusugusu shiteru hima wa nai
Josou tsukete tobidasou ze sono tobira keriagete
Kimi datte kitto dekiru
Kitto tadoritsukeru kara...
(End Song)
Everyone had various expressions of disbelief. All of them had heard Yamato's song, but not this version of it.
Yamato had a haunted look in his face, "That's... I used an acoustic guitar as an inspiration to write the song."
"Gyro was also pretty good singer," Mimi had to admit. None of the girls could disagree with that.
"He might even be better than Yamato," Daisuke commented idly.
"Hey!" the Chosen of Friendship didn't like that.
"He's just saying that because his sister is crazy about you," Novice said with a grin.
"Don't I know it," Yamato groaned at the memories of the fangirl.
As Gyro strummed the last few notes on the guitar, the Gekomon clapped just as much as with Pierce, even though their lord didn't wake up, it was still nice to hear other people sing.
And thrown into the sounds of clapping was a whistle being blown just loud enough for everyone to hear it, making everyone turn to the door to see…
"Ruby! When did you wake up?" Palmon asked, a bit surprised to see her partner as she ran up to her.
And as Gyro looked at the young reaper, he blushed a bit as he saw her wearing a long black dress with red accents that stopped at her ankles, it was slightly poofy like a princess dress, but not overly so, and the only piece of her original outfit she was wearing was her hood and cape."Wow...uh...nice dress…" Gyro said when he regained his senses.
"She does look cute," Sora admitted, smiling at Gyro blushing.
"And less flashy too," Gomamon commented, earning another scowl from Mimi.
"What kind of dress was it," Miyako asked out of curiosity.
Novice had a smirk as he snapped his fingers and a holographic image of Mimi in the princess dress appeared in front of everyone.
"NO!" Mimi screamed at the sight of a slightly smug look that the image had. Thankfully the image didn't last long.
"They asked," Novice said, earning a disapproving look from Lotosmon.
"...For some reason, I can easily picture that being our Mimi," Tentomon commented, earning a glare from the said girl who's face was also rivaling Ruby's signature cloak in color.
Ruby smiled, and blushed a little bit at the compliment, before walking over to them and placing a hand on each of their shoulders and smiling brightly, as if to say she was happy to see them.
"Good to see you as well." Pierce said, having gotten the gist of it.
"So, practiced so much you lost your voice huh?" Gyro asked in slight amusement.
Ruby puffed up her cheeks in annoyance...too bad it made her look absolutely adorable...before she pointed at the still sleeping ShogunGekomon, then mimed waiting for a very long time, then showed a look of desperation on her face, before crossing her arms, as if saying she couldn't just let the Gekomon be when they explained the problem to her, not when she could do something about it.
Mimi looked even more ashamed of herself at the mere thought of Ruby being this much better than her from the beginning.
"Which do you think is better, being born good? Or overcoming one's evil nature through great effort," Novice asked, which earned him a set of glares.
"Wrong phrase for this situation," Lotosmon said, before trying herself, "You may have been corrupted for a time, but you still pulled through for everyone in the end."
That seemed much better, seeing as Mimi felt better about herself.
"I think I get what you mean yeah, can't just leave them hanging if they've been waiting for a few hundred years for him to wake up." Gyro said with a nod "By the way…" He blushed a bit "What did you think of the song I played?"
Ruby blushed a little, before nodding her head, and giving two thumbs up and a big smile. The message was obvious.
Gyro chuckled a bit, nodding in thanks.
"Say, Ruby, how was Yang when you saw her?" Pierce asked, sounding a bit worried.
This interested everyone, especially Sora. Seeing as the Chosen of Love was affected by DemiDevimon's lies so much that she believed it wholeheartedly for a time.
At the mention of her sister, Ruby's expression turned glum. She folded her arms and slowly shook her head, looking utterly downtrodden, before doing an exaggerated shrug. The best she could do to say that Yang...wasn't doing so well...and she had no idea why or how to help.
"I see…" Pierce frowned. He'd been worried about her for a while now, remembering the look she had when they'd saved her from Datamon. He'd wanted to have been there for her but...it seems things just weren't allowing that to happen… "So...when is she gonna be back?" he asked.
Ruby seemed to sigh, before shrugging, meaning that she honestly didn't know, though it was clear she was hoping that they would return soon. Fortunately, it seemed they were in luck that day, as just as she did that, a Gekomon came running in. "Big news! The search party has returned!" he reported.
"I hope Yang is okay," Patamon commented in worry.
"I think we all do," Takeru added in, which earned him various signs of acknowledgement.
"Talk about convenient!" Palmon said with a smile as they all followed the Gekomon back to the main castle.
"Lots of convenience these days really." Agumon said, blinking in thought.
No one felt like commenting on that.
"Well, I think we should hurry and meet up with them," Veemon said. "Or I don't think Pierce is gonna wait for us," he added with a chuckle as true enough, Pierce was already running for the main hall.
"Ahh, young love," Lotosmon said with a wide smile.
When they did reach the main hall, there was a pause as Pierce entered it, and the first person he saw was Yang, and despite the fact she looked like she hadn't slept much recently, she still looked like her usual self.
When she saw him, he noticed her expression did brighten...but it was still...weak compared to how it usually was. Heck, Biyomon seemed very worried as well…
The Children and their partners wondered what could be causing Yang's state. Although some of them do have an idea.
He wanted to talk to her, really he did, but from the looks of it, the Gekomon wouldn't be letting them...at least not until they got all the herbs they'd gathered.
When the Gekomon finally cleared away with all the herbs, Pierce finally went up to the lilac eyed girl and hugged her.
"I missed you." he murmured as he held her close, relaxing when she rested her head against his shoulder.
"Missed you too…" she mumbled. He could tell she meant it, but she very much lacked the energy she'd usually say that with.
"...something's wrong...isn't it?" he sighed. "Don't worry...we can talk later if you're feeling uncomfortable about it."
"Why can't she just talk now," Iori asked, not understanding the situation fully.
"Sometimes it's best that you let the person talk when they're ready," Novice replied sagely.
"Sometimes," Yamato added in with a small sigh. "Not always." Was added in his head.
Yang nodded, thankful to him for being patient with her.
"For now though, please, get some sleep, you look like you really need it." he told her sternly.
She grimaced a bit "I've tried, trust me… mind staying close to me?"
He nodded at her request, before one of the Gekomon guided them to a room where she could get some rest.
When she was gone, Biyomon went up to Gyro and Ruby "I think Yang's afraid of something, or maybe it's something else, but it's not good." was the first thing the bird said.
"Sora?" Biyomon asked, seeing as her partner looked a little down.
"It's nothing. I just... might have an idea as to what's wrong," Sora said, earning everyone's attention.
"What is it," Ken asked.
"...It's probably about her Crest and the fact that her mother left her," Sora explained.
Ruby frowned deeply at that. She'd also noticed, but she couldn't do anything to try and help on account of her voice being gone still. Likewise, Gyro frowned at that. "That's not good...did she by any chance say something? Even in her sleep maybe?" he asked. Maybe if they had a clue, they could start to help her.
"Well… a lot of the times she did manage to fall asleep she'd seem to have nightmares, something about not wanting someone to go… I think she also talked about her mother once." Biyomon explained.
Everyone winced a little at that. "And that confirms it," Gatomon commented with a frown.
Gyro winced, having a good idea what the issue might be "So… abandonment issues." he said, glancing at Ruby, who nodded, because that sounded pretty much accurate.
"Do you know how we can help her?" Biyomon asked hopefully.
"That's….a tough one…" Gyro sighed, and inwardly winced at how much of an understatement that was. Heck, Yang right now almost looked like she did at the end of...Volume 3…
"How bad was Yang at Volume 3," Miyako asked in concern.
Novice looked hesitant for a moment before answering, "I'll just say, much worse than right now."
That did not inspire confidence.
"What caused it though?" Agumon wondered.
"Well…" Biyomon started, putting a wing to her beak in thought "I… I think it started around when we all learned what crests everyone has. Yang's crest is Love."
"Called it," Sora sighed.
"And she has to deal with THOSE kinds of issues…." Gyro sighed, already realizing how bad the situation could become if they weren't careful.
"What can we do?" Veemon asked, looking back from where Pierce and Yang had walked away.
"Honestly, the only ones who have a chance at being able to do anything to fix this are Pierce, Ruby and Biyomon." Gyro said with a sigh.
"Makes sense," Hikari commented, "Pierce is Yang's boyfriend, Ruby is her sister and Biyomon is her partner."
At that mention, Biyomon looked down a little. She really hoped her other could do a better job in helping than she did.
"How can we help her?" Biyomon asked seriously.
"The best thing you can do is be there for her when she needs it." Gyro said with a shrug.
"Alright. We can do that," Biyomon said as she and Ruby nodded.
"Now then, aside from that though, how are we supposed to use those herbs to make you feel better?" Gyro asked.
"We're supposed to use them in a potion!" One of the Otamamon said.
Gyro had a deadpan look on his face as he watched the 'brewing'. The Gekomon in charge of making it either enjoyed the atmosphere or he was just a massive ham...or mentally unstable...whichever might have been more accurate, as right now they were all in a dark room, with said Gekomon giggling slightly while he stirred a big bubbling cauldron...oh and he was wearing a witch's hat on his head.
"...okay, are we brewing a cure for Ruby's throat, or a potion to curse our enemies with?" Gyro couldn't help but deadpan at the sight. Seriously, this looked less 'make a cure' and more 'sinister spellcaster'.
"You know... I really wonder if that Gekomon is right in the head," Jo said with an apprehensive look.
"A cure for the princess of course." the Gekomon said, looking up from the cauldron as he inserted some thankfully tame looking ingredients, such as plants and extracts from other plants… like honey and other such things.
That made everyone look slightly less apprehensive.
"Been meaning to ask about that actually…" Gyro trailed off as he eyed Ruby who was sitting patiently "Why did you start calling her 'Princess'?"
"Honestly...it sorta started as a nickname one of us started, and eventually it stuck. She's been really nice and helpful, and she really does care. Like a princess in the old stories," one of the Otamamon explained.
Gyro nodded after a moment "Can't deny that." he said, while Ruby blushed a bit bashfully, though she was smiling.
"...For me... they just suddenly called me a princess and I liked it," Mimi admitted with a small sigh.
"Its done!" The Gekomon called out, finishing off with a bang on the pot, before he grabbed a heaping ladle and poured it into a sizeable bottle, several more loading it onto a tray and presenting it to Ruby. "Here you go, Princess. This will heal your throat," they said
"So, is this going to be immediate or slow acting?" Gyro asked as Ruby slowly drank the concoction, grimacing as she pulled the bottle away from her lips.
"Slow acting, she'll be good as new in an hour or so." the Gekomon said proudly.
"In that case, mind if I take a few bottles and the recipe? In case we ever need more." Gyro requested.
"It might be useful in the future," Koshiro commented.
"Could be," Jo shrugged, not sure himself but better safe than sorry.
"Of course! Help yourself! We have enough in the cauldron to last us a while anyway." was the answer, and Gyro nodded gratefully as he started filling a few bottles while the Gekomon wrote down the recipe.
"Alright then, so...now what do we do while waiting?" Agumon asked.
Ruby thought about it, before miming something that they could all easily tell.
"At once! We'll prepare a feast!" the Gekomon nodded happily.
All at once, the four partner Digimon present all had their stomachs growl. Hearing that, all of them couldn't help but chuckle, all agreeing that lunch sounded like a great idea. As such it wasn't long before they were all seated before a banquet with a full spread of various dishes. It seemed the Gekomon didn't pull their punches when it came to a feast.
"And this was when Mimi allowed herself to become selfish," Novice piped up, earning a small glare from the Chosen of Purity.
"Do we have to point out all of my bad moments," Mimi asked, not wanting to deal with anymore.
"Maybe we don't," Daisuke piped up, "We all know you came through in the end so why dwell on it?"
"That's... actually true," Miyako said in surprise. With everyone else being mildly surprised at Daisuke being this smart.
"This looks delicious!" Veemon grinned as he was about to dig in, something that Agumon and Palmon were ready to do as well.
"I wonder if Yang will come down to eat?" Biyomon asked.
"Probably not, she looked like she really needed the sleep." Gyro said with a frown as everyone started to eat.
"Pierce isn't here too," Palmon mused.
Ruby made a few gestures, earning an understanding nod from the Gekomon, before some gathered some food into a tray, going to the upper floors, no doubt for said humans.
"Good thinking," Gyro nodded, to which Ruby smiled.
Everyone agreed with that.
The meal was a more or less enjoyable affair, and by the time all was said and done, it was already past the time for the potion to work. Gathering with the others, Ruby took a small breath, before testing her voice, and found that yes, she could talk again with no difficulties.
"Finally." she sighed out in relief.
"Nice to have you back." Gyro said with a chuckle.
"Now, time to wake their boss up!" Ruby said, just about to run off towards the smaller castle where the sleeping lord was, but the Gekomon got in her way.
"Wait princess! You still need to let your voice relax a bit, it'll take about 2 days before you can sing again." the Gekomon who had brewed the remedy explained.
"...oh…" Ruby deflated. "Well...I guess waiting a bit more won't hurt."
"Well that's surprisingly inconvienient," Patamon commented, being surprised that they couldn't do it immediately.
"Don't worry Ruby, we'll be waiting for you right here," Agumon added, everyone grinning in agreement.
The next day had come, and Ruby was currently walking down into the dining room after having woken up and getting dressed.
She didn't see any sign of Yang last night, so she figured her sister was finally able to catch up on her sleep. So deep in thought, she almost missed the sound of metal creaking. Looking up, she was just in time to see a chandelier come off and fall down...fortunately she activated her semblance and avoided the chandelier that crashed into the ground.
"...That couldn't be natural," Palmon commented in suspicion.
"Ruby! What was that-?!" Palmon started as she came around the corner Ruby had walked out of, and stared with wide eyes at the crashed chandelier "What happened?"
"I think it broke off." Ruby said, looking at the ceiling, before going up to check on the chandelier… and quickly noticed something "Or something worse."
"What's worse?" Palmon asked.
In response, Ruby held up the chain the chandelier was hanging off of, with one of the links in the chain clearly sawed in half "It wasn't an accident."
"DemiDevimon," Seven pairs of Children and digimon said in unison.
The two didn't waste any time and quickly gathered the others.
"...10 bucks say its DemiDevimon," Pierce growled.
"Yeah, that little imp tried to keep Jaune and Pyrrha stuck," Agumon frowned.
"But why would he want to stop Ruby from waking up ShogunGekomon?" Veemon frowned.
"I don't think it's so much as stopping her from waking up ShogunGekomon as it is just stopping her in general." Gyro said with a frown.
"Oh, right, that little imp was going after Crests," Armadimon commented, remembering that tidbit.
"What do you mean?" Yang asked in concern, and she'd clearly had a good night's sleep recently.
"Well, with Jaune and Pyrrha, at first he was just trying to keep them stuck at a diner, but he also started to try and put them at each other's throats, to stop their crests from activating." Gyro explained "My guess is, he just decided to go for the direct route and get rid of Ruby directly since nothings happened to get her to stray from her Crest. Heck, now that I think about it...how DID you come to singing for the Gekomon?" Gyro asked.
"Well...we were wandering, and we saw the castle, hoping to be able to stay the night…" Ruby started...then it clicked. "Come to think of it, they seemed happy to see us, and they even asked us to try and sing...do you think that...DemiDevimon...had told them about us?"
"He did. He said a human with a beautiful singing voice was coming and that she could awaken our lord," one of the Gekomon spoke up, surprise and suspicion creeping into their ranks as they wondered if they'd been unwitting pawns the whole time.
"...I'm pretty sure Lilithmon would say something about those kinds of pawns if she was here," Lotosmon said, half wondering what the she-devil was doing that made Novice lock her up.
"That little rat's sneakier than I thought." Gyro said, nibbling his thumbnail in thought, before snapping his fingers "I got it, if he wants to attack Ruby, we'll just catch him in the act."
"Oooh, so we'll use the same trick as with Jaune and Pyrrha?" Pierce grinned. "Or at least something like it."
Everyone had grins at the thought of DemiDevimon being caught in the act and punished accordingly.
"Something simpler actually, we just make Ruby wait out in the open basically while we lie in wait." Gyro said with a shrug.
"That works, I doubt he could resists the opportunity." Biyomon agreed with the idea.
"I don't know about this." Yang said with a frown.
"You'll get first dibs when we catch him, besides, I haven't show it off much, but I do have a gun in this thing." Pierce said as he pointed to Pandora on his back.
Yang looked him in the eyes..before slowly nodding. "...alright...but if anything happens…!"
"If anything happens, we'd probably do worse to ourselves," Gyro said, dead serious.
"They better," Taichi commented, understanding Yang's feelings all too well.
"Agreed," Yamato added in, as a fellow older sibling.
Though their respective younger siblings rolled their eyes. As far as they're concerned, they've grown beyond being coddled by their brothers.
Ruby seemed a bit worried at how the conversation was going, but was quickly relieved when they simply nodded and the plan was a go. Now they just needed to set the stage.
"I'll be inside for a bit. Palmon, please don't disturb me," Ruby said gently, before opening the door to the music room she used to practice.
"But Ruby, aren't you still supposed to be resting?" Palmon asked worriedly.
"Don't worry, I won't be doing anything straining," Ruby reassured, before going into the room.
Once inside, she went to a box full of the music sheets and started going through them, her back turned to the open window.
Minutes later, as she was sat and warming up her voice, a small figure appeared in the window, unseen… or so they liked to think.
DemiDevimon grinned to himself, thinking about how this was just the perfect setup to get rid of her, and almost cackling in glee when she put on a pair of sound dampening headphones. This was just too perfect. With that in mind, he soon prepared his attack. His legs/claws came together and a syringe materialized, ready and aimed at the back of Ruby's neck. "Demi…!" he started...but didn't get far as he was suddenly caught in a net.
"And caught," Palmon cheered with an uncharacteristically evil grin. Which was shared by some of the other digimon.
"Well well well," came Pierce's amused voice. "Look what our little trap dragged in. A conniving imp."
"Wait what?!" DemiDevimon said before he was hoisted up into the air, tangled in the net.
"So, hook, line and sinker huh?" Ruby said as she turned around, pulling the headphones off.
"You REALLY just don't learn do you? You actually fell for the same trick we used with Jaune and Pyrrha," Gyro chuckled. "You're lucky he's not around or we'd give you to him to make a new rug with."
"But…" Yang glared. "You DID try to attack my little sister. So that's...gonna cost you." With that she cracked her knuckles, before they moved to another room, the Gekomon having prepared some kind of metal bar...and the net was hung on the bar...in a way that looked like a punching bag.
Everyone smiled a little at what was about to come on the evil little imp, except Hikari who found it in herself to pity the poor fool.
"W-wait! No! What are you doing?!" DemiDevimon tried to struggle free, only for his cries of protest to soon be replaced with those of pain.
"WAIT!" Veemon suddenly shouted, stopping Yang in surprise...before he borrowed Pierce's Scroll and set it on camera mode. "Please continue."
"Good going, me!" Veemon cheered, earning several laughs at this.
Everyone couldn't help but laugh at the action, before Yang obliged, the room now filled with the sound of DemiDevimon in pain...and a camera clicking.
After an hour or so of the pain, they soon brought the now battered and bruised imp to a balcony.
"AND STAY OUT!" the group roared before one shotgun powered punch later, and DemiDevimon was flying through the air, till he was little more than a twinkle in the sky.
"Was it smart to let him go," Patamon wondered aloud.
"Myotismon will do worse when he finds out of this failure," Novice pointed out with a grin.
"I don't doubt it," Gatomon agreed, "Actually, I'm surprised he hadn't gotten rid of him after the first three times."
"Perhaps he never considered it worth the effort," Novice shrugged. He remembered one villain taking a certain delight to their subordinate's failures. Although the said failures were mostly the said subordinate trying to usurp his master.
"Glad he's gone," Palmon huffed. Now they could probably continue in peace.
"Yep, and just a bit more and we'll be able to wake ShogunGekomon up. I think I'll get the song right this time," Ruby said, earning a few cheers from the Gekomon.
That night, the castle was quiet. Yang sighed as she walked to her room, Biyomon having gone ahead earlier.
"You've been doing that a lot," came Pierce's voice as he came up behind her, having followed her earlier. "You know you can talk to us, right?"
Yang turned to him, looking down with a frown "Yeah… I know." she sighed "I guess… I just don't know what to do. I mean, my crest is supposed to be what makes Biyomon stronger, but I don't know if I can actually make it work."
Pierce sighed, he could understand her feelings to a degree "This is about your birth mother leaving, isn't it?" if her wince was any indication, he hit the nail on the head. Frowning deeply, he didn't say anything, instead he went over, and pulled her into a comforting hug.
"Sometimes what you need most is something as simple as a power-hug," Novice said with a fond look.
"Speaking from experience," Hikari asked in curiosity.
"Yes," Novice replied simply.
She didn't react at first, until she laid her head on his shoulder, slowing bringing her arms around him, sniffling at first until she started to sob.
"W-what am I supposed to do dammit?" she asked through her tears as she clung to him.
Pierce was silent for a long moment, before he took a breath "I guess… I'm sorry in advance if this sounds cheesy, but think about what love is, in all it's different forms, and ask yourself if you've been doing it right."
"He's not exactly wrong," Lotosmon commented, earning varying nods from the Children and their partners.
Yang listened to his words, tears falling silently, but at a slower rate as she focused on his words "Is it really that simple?"
"Who knows? I'll get back to you once I find the perfect guide to the human emotional spectrum." he said with a snort, wanting to cheer her up, and thankfully, it worked, as she let out a chuckle at his words.
"Guess I'll be waiting a LONG time for that, huh?" Yang joked back, a small smile on her face.
Everyone else laughed at Pierce's joke too. After all, emotions are something that can't be explained with logic.
"There's the Yang I know and love," Pierce smiled.
Yang smiled a little at that, before she sighed again, wanting little more than to enjoy his embrace. But at the same time, it was getting late. Perhaps she was feeling bold...or vulnerable...but she asked her next question anyway. "Could you...stay with me tonight?"
The girls blushed a little at this. And most of the guys too(Iori being the odd one out).
"Minds out of the gutter, kids," Novice shouted out sternly, earning startled looks, "The only thing these two will most likely do is cuddle."
"B-but, Yang's with a guy," Hikari retorted weakly, causing her partner to shake her head.
And then Novice understood, it was the very thought that made their hearts race. "Voi pikkusia(Oh little ones)," Novice thought in amusement.
Pierce smiled at her, before he nodded "Sure, I can do that." he then gained a slightly teasing grin. "Just don't blame me if my hands wander in my sleep though."
"I was gonna say the same thing." Yang shot back, smiling more naturally as she punched his chest lightly, before walking back to her room with him, and unnoticed by both, her crest gave off a faint spark before fading.
As the others blushed a little, Sora had a relieved smile at the sight of Yang's Crest activating. There was hope for the blonde yet.
A light singing could be heard from the room as Ruby finished up her last bit of exercise. Tomorrow she'd be able to awaken ShogunGekomon, and when all was said and done, they'd be able to continue on their journey. "Perfect," she smiled as she put the sheet away.
"You're really getting good at that," came Gyro's voice, the boy having found his way into the room to get a better listen.
Ruby looked up in surprise, she wasn't in any sort of strange outfit or position thankfully, but she did blush a bit at someone listening to her when she didn't even notice, but she smiled nonetheless at the compliment "Thanks, I think I'm gonna be ready for the song tomorrow."
"That's good to know." he said as he sat down in front of her "So, how was it to learn a completely different language?"
"Kind of tough at first honestly, but I got the hang of it after enough lessons." she said confidently.
Gyro grinned a bit "Enough to hold a conversation in it?" he asked… in japanese.
The Children frowned a little since the translation magic made it impossible to tell when they changed languages.
"Sorry to disappoint you kids," Novice said, noticing the small frowns.
"I like to think I can." Ruby replied, also in japanese.
"Not bad, but that's just a few words, can you do more?" Gyro challenged with a friendly grin, still in japanese.
"Well, I guess I can try, it can't be too hard to string together a lot of words like I'm doing right now, right?" Ruby shot back with a grin, again, still in japanese.
Despite the translation being in effect, the Children and their partners found themselves laughing at the context.
The two looked at each other for a few moments, before they both started laughing.
"Ok, you definitely have it down pat." Gyro said, switching back to english.
"Thanks, like I said, it took a lot of work, but it was worth it." Ruby said, also switching back to english.
"It sure was. You'll do great tomorrow," Gyro smiled encouragingly.
Ruby nodded, before having to cover her mouth as she yawned "I think I'm gonna head to bed." she said, standing up and waving at him as she walked past "Good night."
"Night Ruby." he shot back, watching her leave the room, before doing the same a few moments later.
"You know... this could be perfect opportunity for DemiDevimon to try something if he was in any condition to," Wormmon commented idly with a thoughtful look.
"I doubt he's even capable of that considering what was done to him," Ken said with a smile.
Everyone agreed to that.
The next morning (after breakfast of course) had them all gathered before the sleeping ShogunGekomon, before Ruby went up to the stage. All the equipment was checked and double checked, the song ready. Ruby took a deep breath, before the music began to play and she started to sing. The song was perfect, showing the practice she'd put into it, and better yet, they could tell ShogunGekomon was reacting, little by little he was stirring, before he moved and let out a large yawn as he got up.
"Lord ShogunGekomon! You've finally awakened!" The Gekomon and Otamamon all cheered, while Ruby got off the stage, the hunters and their Digimon smiling at the sight of the loyal servants welcoming their lord.
….however that image was soon shattered when instead of a happy reunion, ShogunGekomon growled angrily and smashed the stage, before starting to smash the rest of the room.
"What's going on!?" Miyako screeched at ShogunGekomon going on a rampage.
"Probably the same thing that was with the one we faced," Agumon commented while glaring at the screen.
"What the heck is wrong with him?!" Gyro questioned.
"Is this another stray Black Gear or something?" Pierce couldn't help but wonder.
"If so, then here we go again," Yang frowned a bit, before pounding her fists.
Ruby however had other ideas as she ran forward. "Stop it! The Gekomon have been desperately trying to wake you up! Why are you doing this?!" she tried to reason with ShogunGekomon.
ShogunGekomon glared at her. "You think I care about that? I was having a great nap, and you lot woke me up!"
"But that's no reason to-!" Ruby tried again.
"Silence! I'm the Lord of this Castle! I can do as I please!" ShogunGekomon roared.
"He's a tyrant!" Veemon called while pointing at the screen.
"Yup," Gomamon confirmed.
Digimon Analyzer: ShogunGekomon
ShogunGekomon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Amphibian Digimon. A Digimon that evolved from a Gekomon who spent countless time in a karaoke system, and thus learned thousands of different songs. It is arrogant to a fault, believing itself to be above mistakes due to being a lord. Its special attacks are Samurai Tone, unleashing a powerful sound from its horns that blows its enemies away, and Horn Howling, shooting out an air bullet from his horns that can punch through steel.
"...okay, I'm gonna kick his ass," were the deadpan words that came from Yang, Biyomon, Gyro, Agumon, Pierce, and Veemon at the words of the arrogant Digimon.
"Just because you're the lord doesn't mean you can be a jerk!" Palmon said, and just as some loosened piece of ceiling that ShogunGekomon smashed up was about to fall on Ruby, a large boxing glove punched it away as she quickly evolved into Togemon. "And more importantly...don't you DARE look down on what the Gekomon and Otamamon went through to wake you up after 3 HUNDRED years! Togemon, let's teach him a lesson!" Ruby said, pulling out Crescent Rose.
The Children and the digimon still had the death of Vademon at the hands of Weiss fresh in their minds, but they weren't sure if ShogunGekomon can be taken down by a Remnantian.
"You got it, Ruby!" Togemon nodded as she pounded her gloves together.
"P-Princess…!" The Gekomon and Otamamon were moved to tears at her defending them like that without hesitation or doubts. Truly she was the princess they'd come to care for dearly. The sight was only made even stronger, as at that moment, a green light started to shine from within Ruby's clothes.
Everyone smiled at what his must lead to.
(Play Brave Heart)
Ruby's D-Core vibrated, before turning green with orange buttons. The beam of light was fired out of the Digivice, going through her Tag from the back and releasing the Crest into the sky. As the Crest of Purity ascended, it gathered energy before spinning in place and releasing the burst of energy, firing down the beam which flowed into Togemon. "Togemon, Super Evolution!" Togemon called out as light burst forth from here eyes and mouth, before at the top of her head, the 'hairs' began to change, a large flower growing out of her head, before it began to bloom. From within the blooming flower emerged a new Digimon, one completely different from Togemon, as it was more accurate to say this one was like a fairy, wearing an outfit made from pink flower petals, the top of her head surrounded in those same petals as long, green, thorn riddled vines came out from the bottom of those petals, mimicking hair. Her forearms were covered with green sleeves that had yellow petals at her wrists, while green boots covered her feet, yellow flowers on the ankles of the boots, and finally, four wings made of leaves appeared on her back. "Lillymon!"
The hunters and Digimon all stared in wonder at Togemon's new form. Compared to her previous form, Lillymon didn't seem built for power. However, if there was anything they'd learned since coming here, it was never to judge a book by its cover. Lillymon landed next to Ruby and smiled at her. "Ruby, let's fight together," she said.
Mimi felt a little jealous of Ruby at this moment, but then again she wasn't a trained fighter like the little red reaper was.
Ruby got over her wonder, and nodded with a smile. "Let's go, Lillymon!"
Digimon Analyzer: Lillymon
Lillymon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Fairy Digimon. Though she looks like a human child, Lillymon packs all the power of a Perfect Digimon in her body, and knows how to make use of it. She gets along most with those who have similar personalities to her, and it is said that wherever she flies, a fresh breeze will follow. Her special attacks are Flower Cannon, bringing both hands together as the petals on her wrists enlarge and form a flower with a cannon in the middle, firing an energy shell from it, and Vicious Vine, attacking the enemy with a thorned vine that shoots out from her wrist.
"Don't get cocky! Samurai Tone!" ShogunGekomon growled, before firing off his attack, forcing everyone to duck out of the way...and cover their ears...from the soundwave that blasted a hole through the wall.
Although the sound was greatly reduced from the speakers, everyone winced at the attack being that powerful.
"Okay, I've heard of dreadful musicians, but THIS is ridiculous," Pierce couldn't help but say at the sight of the destruction.
"You're telling us," Taichi commented, remembering how that thing was able to fight off Greymon, Ikkakumon and Togemon, "It took MetalGreymon to take him out."
"I was glad to silence him," Agumon said while crossing his arms with a proud look.
"Time to evolve?" Veemon asked rhetorically.
"Time to evolve," everyone nodded as the remaining Digivices began to shine.
"Agumon, Evolution! Greymon!"
"Biyomon, Evolution! Birdramon!"
"Veemon, Evolution! Veedramon!"
"Three Adults and one Perfect," Iori commented with a small smile,"Doesn't feel fair."
"No, but it's what he deserves," Armadimon commented in with a snicker.
Everyone found themselves agreeing.
The walls burst as the three large adult Digimon came out, dragging ShogunGekomon with them.
"Take this outside, guys!" Yang called out, though ShogunGekomon was struggling against the pull.
"You especially! Vicious Vine!" Lillymon said, whipping ShogunGekomon's leg, causing him to lose balance and allow them to throw him out...down the cliffside, where he landed in a heap, before the four of them followed after him.
"Take that you big meanie!" Palmon cheered at the evil tyrant getting his ass handed to him again.
"How dare you do that!" ShogunGekomon growled. "Samurai Tone!" he fired his attack again, blowing the three Adults back. "And now…!" he started again...but not before Lillymon came out, with Ruby in her arms who seen jumped out, and using her semblance, began zipping around him. "W-what the?!" he gasped, trying to swat at her, but to no avail, before Ruby hit him on the leg, causing him to roar in pain and try to squash her...before a Vicious Vine nailed him in the face, causing him to lose balance and fall flat on his back.
"I believe the saying is, the bigger they are the harder they fall," Gatomon commented with a cheshire grin, earning laughs out of everyone.
Including Lotosmon, "Good one."
"Nice try, but not good enough," Ruby and Lillymon chuckled before blowing raspberries at the large toad.
More laughters at the screen showing Ruby and Lillymon doing the said action in unison.
Mimi wouldn't say it out loud, but part of her wished that she and her Lillymon could do something similar one day.
At the same time, Gyro, Pierce, and Yang got out and saw the scene. "Okay, time for a little extra power," Gyro frowned, pulling out his Tag which soon started to shine.
"Greymon, Super Evolution! MetalGreymon!"
ShogunGekomon had just gotten to his feet, before he was met with a Trident Arm to the face, knocking him back, before he tried to brace against it, actually managing to stop it. "Gotcha!" he grinned.
"You sure?" Agumon said with a grin, remembering an incident with DeathMeramon
"You sure about that?" Gyro smirked, much to his confusion...before MetalGreymon promptly swung his arm upward, taking ShogunGekomon with it, before he was launched to the sky.
That earned a blink from the yellow reptile at almost saying the exact same thing.
As he was airborne, Ruby turned to the Gekomon and Otamamon. "Are you sure about this?" she asked.
"Yeah," they all nodded. "We did our duty to awaken our lord, but we don't HAVE to follow him. Especially a big jerk like him!" they all said.
"Well said," Ken said with a small smile. This taking down a tyrant seemed cathartic to him. "I still wish that I could do that to my past self." Thankfully that thought was almost completely a joking one.
"Alright. Let him have it everyone!" Ruby said.
"You got it!" they all nodded.
"Meteor Wing!"
"V Breath Arrow!"
"Giga Destroyer!"
"Flower Cannon!"
The attacks all impacted, creating a huge explosion, before ShogunGekomon was launched away, screaming as he went over the horizon and was soon just a twinkle in the sky.
(Song end)
"Good riddance," Mimi and Palmon said in unison.
Everyone agreed with that sentiment.
Once the battle was over, the evolved Digimon all reverted, with Lillymon and MetalGreymon going back to Tanemon and Koromon. "This is the one part of going Perfect I don't like," Koromon grumbled slightly.
"Yeah," Agumon agreed with his other.
About an hour later, the group stood in front of the main castle, Ruby finally having changed back to her usual outfit, as the Gekomon and Otamamon were seeing them off.
"Know that you will always be welcome here everyone, it was a pleasure to have you." the leading Gekomon said, as all of them bowed to their guests.
"Make sure the next time you guys pick a leader, you do a full background check on him." Gyro said jokingly.
"We don't want another jerk like that guy calling the shots after all." Ruby added.
"Or at least any of the Gekomon who would eventually replace him would stay good," Koshiro spoke up.
"Oh, right," Jo commented, "One of them could become new ShogunGekomon."
"We'll be careful with who we choose the next." Gekomon assured them, before the group left, waving to the Digimon at the castle, and headed in the direction of the last blinking dot.
As they did walk, Gyro hanged back a bit so he was next to Ruby "For what it's worth, even though you were interrupted, your singing was amazing." he told her with a smile.
Ruby blushed a bit at the compliment "Thanks." she said, before acting on an impulse, and giving him a peck on the cheek.
"Aww," Sora and Mimi cooed, while Miyako blushed a little with Hikari just smiling happily.
Although the guys also felt some form of happiness for the guy getting the girl, so to speak.
Gyro froze in place at that, before his face slowly became completely red, and you could practically see the steam pouring out of his ears.
"I… I don't know if I should be the overprotective big sister right now." Yang said, staring at the frozen Gyro and blushing Ruby.
"Meh, don't worry, Gyro's never had an impure thought about women in his life." Pierce waved off her concerns, as Ruby intertwined her fingers with Gyro's and tugged him along.
With that, the book slammed shut.
"I call BS on that claim," Novice called out, earning confused looks.
"Say what?" Was the universal reaction.
"About Gyro never having impure thoughts about women," Novice clarified before looking thoughtful,"Although... that depends on what classifies as 'impure' thoughts."
"Wouldn't that be like... picturing them unclothed," Gabumon asked, while grabbing his pelt protectively.
"...My big sis would've called it 'sign of being a healthy man'," Novice said with a forlorn look.
"You had an older sister," Daisuke asked, getting a little curious, "Was she nice?"
While everyone else wondered why Daisuke would ask that, Novice realized that he probably wanted to compare notes as a fellow younger brother of an older sister. "She was... except the time she threatened to put our little sister in the oven to keep her in line," Novice said, smiling at the last part.
"SHE DID WHAT!?" All the older siblings and Miyako cried out in shock.
"...Good times," Novice said with a fond look. This unnerved everyone.