Reading THOR Alter: Digital Story

by Novice4129

I can't believe Swift himself asked me to make a reading story... I mean... I do have knowledge about Digimon, but... FOCUS! I hope I do a good job with this.

45. Chapter 45

The Chosen decided to take a small break. Their heads were spinning about the possibilities of what their predecessors as well as the ones that the Remnantians had would be like. Sadly, Novice refused to reveal anymore information about their predecessors than he already had. Still, Koshiro was allowed to use his gifted laptop finally to start working on possible anti-virus. Of course... considering that they have no idea what kind of virus they will be dealing with the Chosen of Knowledge wasn't even sure where to start from. Except, since Novice slipped out that it affects digimon he had something to start with. Taichi, Yamato, Daisuke and Ken were training Omegamon and Imperialdramon, so that they would be prepared for whatever it is that would threaten them later. Perhaps they could even beat this "black knight".

As the Children were doing their own thing, Novice had disappeared off to somewhere. Later on when the girls found Ophanimon, she revealed that he was doing a purification ritual. The girls looked confused about that, but the angelic digimon showed them. She led them to a room which was made to look like a waterfall in the middle of a forest. Honestly, if they didn't know this place was some kind of station, they would think they were outside.

But what they found strange was Novice sitting on a rock in a meditating state, wearing a white robe. And the waterfall was raining down upon him, but he didn't flinch.

"That is purification water that flows from that waterfall." Ophanimon explained, "As the name indicates, it purifies what it touches. Novice is using this to increase his holy power."

"He can use holy power?" Hikari said in awe.

"...How do you think I ultimately beat Beelzemon." Novice commented, never opening his eyes.

"But if you're after holy power then... why are you trying to control the Seven Demon Lords?" Sora then asked.

Novice opened one eye before replying. "...The Seven Demon Lords are a side project. Controlling them is just a stepping stone in me completing my primary project. Unfortunately, there were a few hiccups I didn't take into account."

"Like what?" Miyako asked with a suspicious look.

"...I'd rather not say. Mostly because it's a long story that I don't feel like going into." Novice explained before getting out of the waterall.

Then Mimi had a thoughtful look, "But in order to have holy power, don't you need to be... you know...pure of heart and body?" The Chosen of Purity looked awkwardly from that.

It took a few moments before Novice realized the meaning, "No. But it would help." Then he took a towel from a nearby branch and started drying his hair.

These caused the girls to share a look as Novice checked something from a holographic screen. "Hm?" The Overseer questioned as he noticed something and took a closer look. "...Interesting."

"Huh?" Came out of the girls.

"Nevermind, we should probably get back, once I've changed." Novice then said before giving the girls a look.

It didn't take much for them to figure out their host wanted privacy so they left.

After some time everyone was back in the reading room. Although everyone had stocked up on snacks again, mostly due to Agumon, Gabumon, Veemon and Wormmon needing energy. And then everyone else wanted some too.

Novice was once again in his chair, dressed up and dried. "Before we get on with the next chapter, I just received notice that there's a new alternate version of you guys."

"...Come again?" Jo was the first to question.

"There's an alternate version of you guys where your adventure begins in 2020."

"So we're all adults in it?" Daisuke was the first to ask.

"No, no. I meant that you guys were born in 2000s not 90s." Novice corrected.

"Why did that reality form?" Koshiro then asked.

Novice shrugged, "Beats me. Sometimes new realities just happen."

"What other differences are there in that reality?" Iori asked out of curiosity.

"Don't know yet. I'll investigate when I have the time." Novice shrugged before grinning, "In the meantime, Wormmon, you're up." And then the book floated to the caterpillar.

"Me? Does this mean?" Wormmon couldn't hold the excitement in.

"Only one way to find out," Ken said, not wanting to admit that he was also curious.

With that, Wormmon opened the book from the appropriate page.

Giant Warriors! Vikemon & GrandisKuwagamon!

The title card showed the silhouettes of the two digimon in question.

"It's two again?" Gatomon commented.

"Any idea who could be who?" Armadimon asked, bouncing in place a little.

"Well... Since Wormmon is the reader right now and one of those is a Kuwagamon..."

""Kind of ironic." Agumon commented, seeing as Kuwagamon have been their enemies a lot of times.

"But then who's Vikemon?" Hawkmon then asked.

"I'm sure the story will tell us." Jo commented, although he already had a guess from what little things he could see from the title card.

"You know, when we find Puppetmon, who wants to turn him into a chair?" Yang deadpanned as the six of them had been walking for quite a while now, trying to find the rest of their group. So far zilch. After their impromptu juggling and flight, suffice to say they REALLY wanted to tear the marionette a new one. Literally.

"I'm not surprised." Yamato commented.

"I think we all wanted to rip him apart." Patamon agreed.

"I'd pay to see that!" Chuumon said as he peaked out from Jaune's hood, reminding them he had been hiding there for the most part.

"I think we all would," Gomamon said. "But that can probably wait till after we get back to the others."

"I'm just glad Ruby, Palmon, Pyrrha, and Gabumon are with them. Two Ultimates are better than none when we're smack dab in the middle of a Dark Master's territory," Gyro sighed.

"That could've been useful." Takeru commented, but he was still glad they made it through no problem.

"Even then I'm sure they can handle it," Agumon said, earning a nod of agreement from his partner.

"Still, that aside, what Mirei just told us… it was pretty surprising." Biyomon said, looking up at the sky as she thought back on the conversation they had with the one who chose their partners just a few minutes ago.

"Doesn't help that I'm pretty sure there was stuff she wasn't mentioning. I don't think it was related to us specifically, but still… were there other humans who came to the Digital World before even Summer?" Gyro wondered, thinking back on Mirei's last few words to them.

No one had forgotten Mirei telling about those that came before. But none of the Children thought Novice would answer any questions even if they didn't think the story might explain at some point. Although it might be a long time from now.

"Somehow I don't think we'll be finding out anytime soon," Jaune sighed. "Still though, it was nice to know we'd been doing a good job," he smiled wryly.

"Let's not pat ourselves on the back just yet," Yang said, though she smiled at the memory too.

"Yeah, let's do that after all the Dark Masters are gone," Biyomon nodded.

Novice was surprised none of the kids were commenting on that, but varying expressions did cross them and their partners so they must be thinking about something.

"Question is...where do we go?" Gomamon asked. As if to answer his question, they saw something seemingly falling from the sky.

"...is that a meteor?" Agumon blinked.

"Oh no." Jo muttered.

"What?" Taichi was the first to ask as Wormmon paused in reading.

"...Just keep reading." Jo sighed as Mimi looked a little worried.

"It...sure looks like it," Gyro said flatly, not sure what to think, but it wasn't long before the object crash landed somewhere a good distance away.

"...should we see what that is?" Jaune asked cautiously.

"No." Mimi and Jo said together.

"I...think we should?" Gomamon tilted his head a little, all of them more than a little unsure what to do exactly.

"We just said no." Mimi added in, despite knowing that the Chosen of Remnant can't hear them.

"I don't see this ending well." Chuumon said nervously.

"Define 'ending well'," Agumon said dryly. "Cause so far most things have ended pretty badly in their own way," he said, referring to the explosion that separated them after killing Etemon, Vale being badly damaged by VenomMyotismon, and most recently, Whamon dying in the process to defeat MetalSeadramon.

"Okay, what was that meteor?" Daisuke finally asked.

"MetalEtemon." Gomamon commented.

"For us at least." Palmon agreed, hoping that it was an actual meteor.

"...fair point…" Chuumon conceded.

"Well, we have two Ultimates on our side, so whatever we run into, we should be able to manage it… hopefully." Yang said, before tacking on the last bit after a moment of silence.

Mimi looked down in worry, "SaberLeomon was Ultimate and he couldn't hurt MetalEtemon.

"If he wasn't such an idiot, we would've been toast." Gomamon agreed.

"We'll have to be careful though, who knows what that was." Biyomon said as the group started heading towards the crash site.

However, before they could reach the crash site, they found something else. "Okay...wasn't really expecting to see him here," Yang admitted as they found Ogremon of all Digimon under a pile of broken branches and carrying some wounds on him.

"Was this how you guys found him?" Sora asked Mimi.

"More or less." Mimi said with a small smile at the memory.

"Let's just get him somewhere else and treat his wounds." Gyro said as they went up to the Digimon. Sure the last time they'd seen him was...less than ideal...but he did prove he wasn't quite as bad as he tried to make himself out to be, so...yeah.

"Mimi couldn't leave him like that." Jo commented with a small smile.

"That sounds like Mimi." Koshiro commented with a smile of his own.

As they were lifting him up to swing his arms over their shoulders, Ogremon groaned as he slowly opened his eyes "Wha… what's going on?"

"Nice to see you're awake." Jaune said as he was looking over the medical supplies he had in his pouch while Gyro and Yang carried the large Digimon.

"Wait… the Chosen Children? You're back? Why are you helping me?" Ogremon questioned in confusion.

"Because they're not monsters." Hikari said with a small smile.

"Well, that depends on how you want to look at it," Gyro said. "Take it as either us helping cause we can or helping cause we owe ya for some of those trees for our boat. Whichever sits better with you," he shrugged.

"Ah… I see…" Ogremon said after a moment, nodding to the explanation "How long have you been back?"

"Just about a day more or less, we already got rid of MetalSeadramon." Agumon said.

"Good… one down and only three more to go." Ogremon said with a sigh of relief, glad to hear one of the Dark Masters was gone.

"What were you doing here though?" Yang asked the large Digimon as they finally found a decent spot to place him underneath a large tree.

"I came with others from File Island. We were hoping we'd be able to deal with the Dark Masters ourselves." Ogremon grimaced after that "It… didn't go so well. We had to split up a while back, and I've been on my own since then, taking out some of their soldiers, since you never know how much of a difference one more or one less can make."

"He's not wrong." Mimi said with a smile, "This is why I thought we needed allies."

"It did make defeating Piedmon and his army easier." Jo commented with a smile.

"Not a bad plan," Agumon nodded. "So who else was with you?"

"There was Andromon, Thundermon, Centarumon, Waspmon, some of the FanBeemon, Whamon and Leomon, we left Meramon on File to watch over it since he'd evolved into a BlueMeramon by then. And before you ask, no, my rivalry with Leomon isn't over, we just agreed it can wait till AFTER the Dark Masters are data dust." Ogremon explained.

"A rivalry?" Everyone who knew Ogremon and Leomon parroted.

"Wait, it's just a rivalry? I thought you wanted to kill Leomon?" Gomamon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Kill- WHAT?!" Ogremon practically screamed "Why would I kill Leomon?! I just want to be stronger than him, not kill him!"

"That's not what our Ogremon said." Palmon commented before looking a little down.

Mimi also looked slightly sad at remembering how Ogremon cried at Leomon's death despite claiming he hated the lion.

"But WHY do you want to be stronger than him?" Biyomon asked, curious about that part.

"Because everyone always says that us Ogremon are just idiots who can't amount to anything." Ogremon said bitterly "So I thought to myself 'Hey, if I can beat a strong Digimon, that'll make everyone shut up!' and while I would love to steal a SkullGreymon's femur like the first ever Ogremon managed to do, I'm not suicidal."

It honestly baffled everyone that Ogremon would want to beat Leomon for such a reason.

Mimi also smiled a little. She remembered how she made Ogremon think a bit about how him wanting to defeat Leomon was a bit of a contradiction. Especially when the green digimon didn't want to think about Leomon being gone.

"Well… it's a decent idea, I'll give you that." Gyro said after a moment "By the way, I'm curious about something, do you know what happened to our ship?"

"Last I saw it was still docked at the harbor in File City, though the town has been relocated recently to the base of Mount Infinity, and we dug a canal that the ship moves along to reach the town, and the harbor is on a lake now." Ogremon explained with a shrug.

"Cool. Glad to know that, since we liked that ship," Agumon nodded.

"And done," Jaune said as he'd finished bandaging Ogremon's arm and putting it into a sling. "This is the best we can manage for now."

"It's a good job." Jo commented on Jaune's work.

"Eh, its fine," Ogremon said. "Better than lugging a broken arm around anyway. I'm just glad my clubbing arm wasn't the one broken or I'd be in BIG trouble."

"Let's play~!" came a familiar and VERY unwelcomed voice.

"Very unwelcomed, indeed." Gomamon commented.

"You said it." Palmon agreed.

"Me and my big mouth," Ogremon groaned, realizing he'd probably just invoked murphy with his last words.

"I'm more curious to know how the heck you found us so fast!" Gomamon groaned as all of them turned to a tree where Puppetmon was standing.

"Well, my entire Woodmon platoon just vanished, so I figured something fun had to be around, so here I am," Puppetmon chuckled. "So then, let's play 'Riddle me this'!"

"Alright, fine, give us your riddle, but if we answer it, you get out of here!" Gyro growled, his hands wanting nothing more than to grab Ascalon.

"Okay, what's really annoying, and is about to disappear?" Puppetmon grinned.

"That's not the riddle he gave us." Gomamon commented.

"Oh? What riddle did he give you guys?" Ken asked.

"What am I missing?" Gomamon replied.

"How would we know?" Veemon said, earning a round of laughs.

"No, that's the riddle." Jo said, trying to hold his laughter with poor results.

"How is that even a riddle?" Gatomon asked, looking just amused.

Gyro glared at Puppetmon for a few moments, knowing what the Digimon considered the right answer, and in that case, decided to go for broke "Your stupid, retarded grin!" he shouted, before adding, "Blast him!"

Everyone laughed harder at that.

The group didn't waste any time as they unloaded their moves on him, even Ogremon pitched in with his own move. Unsurprisingly, Puppetmon evaded easily, but that was the opening they needed to get some distance.

"Okay guys, Ultimate time," Yang said as she and Gyro moved to grab their D-Crests, but then…

"Oh yes." Biyomon said eagerly, wanting to see her Ultimate form in action again.

They heard a… well, Gyro would call it a cry of courage or something of the like, essentially a Tarzan shout, but it was the voice that was doing the shouting that made them pause.

"Wait a second…" Gyro said with narrowed eyes, the voice sounding familiar.

"Yup, it's him." Mimi and Jo dead-panned. Or at least they tried, seeing as the effects of Gyro screwing with Puppetmon still had an effect.

"Who the heck is that?" Jaune said as they looked around the area, before catching a glimpse of something moving beyond the trees.

"It's… ME!" a VERY recognizable voice shouted as they landed on a tree branch.

"Oh for fuck's sake." Yang groaned.

Yang's swear was thankfully censored.

"Not him again." Agumon added.

"Didn't Pierce and AeroVeedramon waste this guy already?!" Gomamon glared.

"Who the heck are you?!" Puppetmon demanded.

The figure chuckled. "Don't you know a superstar when you see one?" he grinned, revealing himself to be….Etemon. Only unlike before his body was a metallic gray with a notably more well developed physique, while the Monzaemon doll on his waist was now that of a WaruMonzaemon, and on his chest was written Strongest in Japanese. "Now applause, applause!" he grinned his usual cocky grin as he clapped his hands...and funnily enough producing the same sound as one of those monkey toys carrying cymbals. After a few moment he stopped and looked at them. "It's been awhile, Chosen Children."

"So… let me guess, it's MetalEtemon now?" Gyro asked after a moment.

MetalEtemon laughed, showing off his solid gold teeth "Someone's a smart cookie! That's right, I'm all new, all improved, and heavy metal!" he said while striking several bodybuilder poses.

Digimon Analyzer: MetalEtemon

MetalEtemon. Virus Type. An Ultimate Level Cyborg Digimon. Once again, this Digimon is still the self proclaimed King of Digimon, now with a fully metalized body of Chrome Digizoid. He is a powerful fighter who uses underhanded tactics to win a battle, having several skills that can embarrass his opponents. His special attacks are Number One Punch, a powerful strike that can easily crack a diamond and Dark Spirits Deluxe, calling down dark lightning to strike down his opponents.

"I'm surprised Banana Slip isn't listed here." Novice commented.

"What?" Was the universal reaction. Aside from Mimi, Jo, Palmon and Gomamon that is.

"Yup, he throws a banana peel at the opponent's feet so they slip on it." Jo said with a sigh.

"...Seriously?" Daisuke asked with a look of disbelief.

"You're making that up." Patamon accused.

"I wish he was." Mimi said with a sad smile. Looking back, that was a little funny. "He used it against Puppetmon."

"I wish I had seen that." Takeru said with a small laugh, something that most of the others agreed with.

"How the heck did you come back?!" Jaune groaned.

"I'm glad you asked," MetalEtemon said, before turning around, and pulling out a microphone and stand from...somewhere. "It's a story that will have everyone listening in tears~" he said in a singing tone as his usual song started up somehow. "After my battle with AeroVeedramon, I was sucked into a black hole as you all know. Inside the underworld, my body was broken down and regenerated over and over. Man it was horrible. But I managed to survive without dying completely, and do you wanna know why? Cause all I could think about was how much I wanted to get you brats back for making me go through that! After I finally became MetalEtemon, I made my grand return to this world on this very day!" he grinned as he started 'singing' again. "All so I can get my revenge~! My deep hatred and anger let me return to this world~"

"Did you have to suffer this?" Sora asked with a pitying look.

"Yes." Was the simple answer.

"I'm sorry that happened to you." Iori said, being pretty sure that the audio was softened up just for them.

"I see it hasn't done anything for your singing skills," Biyomon groaned.

"Is it finally over?" Ogremon asked, looking like he was ready to go deaf from how horrible that singing was.

"Thankfully." Yang said with a sigh, not taking her eyes off the monkey in case he tried anything.

"Now then…" MetalEtemon started before cracking his knuckles with a grin "Where's the other kid and his Veemon? I'm gonna start with them."

"Uh… he knows!" Jaune said quickly as he pointed at Puppetmon, who blinked at the action.

"What?" Was the universal reply.

"Huh?" was all he could say before having to jump back as MetalEtemon landed in front of him.

"So, you know where the others are, do you kid? In that case, show proper respect to your elders and hand the information over before I have to discipline you." MetalEtemon said, his grin still in place.

Puppetmon growled "Hey! I'm not a kid!" he said, before hitting MetalEtemon with his hammer… in the shin.

"Hey! Watch it!" MetalEtemon yelped as he hopped in place, grabbing his shin "That stung you little brat!"

"Slowly… slowly now… their focused on each other." Chuumon whispered as the group slowly inched away from the area to let the two Ultimates duke it out.

"Okay, that was smart." Gabumon commented as everyone laughed a bit.

Once they were a good enough distance, they ran full tilt. "Nice thinking there Jaune," Gomamon said with a grin.

"Yeah, now what are the odds they'd actually kill each other?" Jaune said.

"...eh, I wouldn't hold my breath," Yang shrugged. "Doubt we'd get THAT lucky."

We weren't that lucky." Mimi commented.

"True. So plan to deal with them later," Biyomon nodded.

"Why not now?" Armadimon asked, "They have two Ultimates."

"Against two Ultimates." Hawkmon pointed out.

"I took out MetalEtemon." Gomamon said with a grin.

"Because he was an idiot." Jo countered with an unimpressed look.

"Alright, so we're in agreement?" Ruby asked, earning nods from everyone. Despite their current situation, they knew that as long as Puppetmon controlled the area, they wouldn't be safe, especially their teammates who had been separated. With that in mind, and after much discussion, they'd come to the conclusion that the best way to handle this now was to take the fight to Puppetmon, preferably removing him from the equation as soon as possible.

"Alright then, since we know where Puppetmon's house is, our first order of business should be to either assault and defeat him there, or if he's not around, assault and secure it," Weiss said. "Based on what Ren told us, there aren't many if any Digimon there, so odds are resistance will be minimal."

"It wasn't." Taichi sighed, "There were RedVeggiemon's hidden outside the house."

"But they were no match for us." Gatomon said with a small smile.

"True." Tentomon agreed.

"Though we can't forget about the 'toys' Puppetmon has lying around…" Pyrrha added, idly shivering a little at the mental image of a house full of toys meant to kill things...and Puppetmon thinks that's 'fun'. REALLY puts into perspective the kinds of sickos the Dark Masters are.

"Basically, don't touch anything." Gabumon said with a nod.

"Unless we're positive about the way it works of course." Tentomon added, earning another nod of agreement.

"Alright then, I guess we should get going as soon as we can," Veemon said. However…

"Hey...were those roots always covering the path?" Nora asked, as everyone turned to where she was looking and noticed that the path had been blocked by an abnormal amount of roots, branches, and bits of plants.

"...no it wasn't…" Blake frowned, as everyone was soon back to back.

"Careful everyone, it might be the enemy," Wormmon said.

"Anyone see anything?" Pierce asked.

"No, whatever it is, we can't see it! But seems like its controlling the plants!" Palmon said, as true enough, the trees around them were moving, vines, branches, and roots growing and moving at an unnatural rate.

"Then we'd better take out the source!" Patamon said as he started to fly upward to try and see if he could see anything. However…

"Cherry Bomb!" was heard as small projectiles flew at Patamon, who narrowly ducked back down and avoided them.

"And there it is." Patamon commented on the attack.

"Okay...who uses that attack?" Ren asked, to which Weiss quickly flipped through her Scroll.

"Here it is! Cherrymon!" she reported, right as said Digimon emerged from within the trees… showing it was also a tree, albeit one with leaves acting like a mustache and glowing yellow eyes peering through it's bark, with six arms, and walking with a cane in hand, though the cane didn't seem to be needed as it had several root like legs.

Digimon Analyzer: Cherrymon

Cherrymon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Plant Digimon. Known as the Lord of the Deep Forest, it is a wise Digimon that has lived many years, capable of tempting those gullible enough to heed his words. His body is able to produce a mist that catches those within inside an illusion, with few managing to escape. His special attacks are Cherry Bomb, flinging the small cherries that grow in his foliage, letting them explode upon contact with the enemy, and Vine Frenzy, shooting out vines from his foliage that attack enemies as if in a wild frenzy.

Yamato had some flashbacks on the Cherrymon that he met. "Novice, that Cherrymon I met. Was he-"

"Puppetmon's minion? Yes." Novice replied.

The Chosen of friendship let out a sigh as he covered his face.

"Yamato?" Takeru said in worry.

"...I never told you guys, but it was Cherrymon that gave me the idea I had to beat Taichi." Yamato admitted with a sigh, "I'm sorry for being stupid."

"Hey, it's alright. You got better in the end." Taichi said with a small grin at his best friend.

"Not on my own I didn't." Yamato replied with a smile of his own.

"What's your point?" Jo chimed in with a smile.

"...Nothing I guess." Yamato chuckled.

"So we meet at last, Chosen Children," Cherrymon said. "Your journey ends here."

"Right, like we haven't heard that one before." Pierce said, rolling his eyes as he drew Pandora, the others drawing their own weapons as well.

"Oh, I intend to deliver," Cherrymon said, before snapping his finger, before the sound of buzzing could be heard, as from the surrounding trees, a small swarm of large bees appeared, though they were a bit similar to a moth as well, and they were obviously an evolution of Kunemon judging by the similar appearance.

"That's Flymon, avoid the stinger at any cost." Weiss said seriously after a quick check.

Digimon Analyzer: Flymon

Flymon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Insectoid Digimon. A Digimon capable of flying at high speeds, it's buzzing is said to be capable of numbing the senses when they are in large enough numbers. Its body is protected by a hard shell, and when it catches its opponents in its talons, it strikes them down with it's stinger. Its special attack is Deadly Sting, shooting off its stinger at its enemies, and any Digimon struck by it will be poisoned and slowly die.

As if in response to her words, several of them fired their stingers out, forcing them to dodge, to which several hit some nearby trees….which rotted almost immediately.

Everyone who hadn't seen the damage Flymon's attack does paled a little.

"Am I glad we never got hit by that." Veemon said with a shiver.

"...okay, NOT getting hit by that…" Salamon sweatdropped.

"Don't need to tell us twice. Evolution time?" Gabumon said.

"Evolution time," The others nodded as the hunters grabbed their Digivices. However…

"Wait!" Pierce suddenly said. "Ruby, Pyrrha, you and your partners better stay on the sidelines for now."

"Huh? Why?" the four of them blinked.

"We're about to fight one of the Dark Masters after this. You guys need to save your strength for the main course," he explained.

Taichi nodded in approval of the plan.

"Good thing they already thought of that." Koshiro agreed.

"He's right. When it comes down to it, you four are our best shots right now," Weiss nodded, understanding the logic.

"We'll handle these guys for now," Nora said with a grin, one the Digimon all matched as well.

However, just as they were about to evolve…

"Nitro Stinger!" was heard in the sky as several shots of some kind rained down on the Flymon, quickly deleting them and leaving burns on the ground.

"Who was that?" Gatomon was the first to ask.

"The heck?" Pierce blinked in confusion before looking up at the sky, seeing a yellow dot quickly zooming down.

"Is that where those shots came from?" Veemon blinked, as the source soon came into view.

"Hey, isn't that a CannonBeemon?" Palmon said when they could see the Digimon in question.

It looked like a large robotic bee with a cannon replacing its stinger, carrying something that looked like a cross between missile pods and the walls of a hive on it's back.

Digimon Analyzer: CannonBeemon

CannonBeemon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Cyborg Digimon. A Powerful Digimon that takes his role as a guardian of the skies seriously. The pods on his back carry a large amount of various weaponry, most of which though are rocket launchers, which he uses to rain down hell on his enemies. His special attacks are Nitro Stinger, firing several rapid bursts of energy from his main cannon, and Sky Rocket Infinity, unleashing it's full ordinance on it's enemies.

"You will not harm the Chosen Children!" CannonBeemon declared, before opening fire on more of the Flymon, deleting them.

"So he's a friend." Takeru commented on the new digimon.

"What?! How did you know of our plan?!" Cherrymon growled.

"Let's just say a little bird told us," came another voice, as another figure descended. "Turbo Stinger!" the figured called out, firing several rapid shots, hitting the roots and opening a path. "Go!" the figure which soon revealed itself to be a Waspmon shouted.

"Waspmon?" Ken commented, "The one they met on File?"

Novice smiled as he knew the answer, but simply motioned for Wormmon to continue.

"I won't allow it!" Cherrymon growled.

"Yes you will! Royal Nuts!" another voice called out, before a number of egg-like objects hit Cherrymon, causing him to grunt in pain, while CannonBeemon and Waspmon soon made short work of the remaining Flymon.

Moments later, a Deramon ran out of the bushes, followed by a Floramon and some other Digimon, like a few Woodmon and a Vegiemon, at the same time as CannonBeemon and Waspmon floated closer to the ground.

"So they joined immediately." Agumon commented.

"If these digimon are anything like the ones we encountered, I'm not surprised." Sora commented, remembering how they hated Puppetmon.

Cherrymon narrowed his eyes when he looked at Deramon "So… it was you wasn't it?"

"What gave you the first hint?" Deramon growled "This is what happens when you take away my tavern! Royal Nuts!" he called as he shot the egg shaped seeds right at Cherrymon's face. "Hurry!" he shouted at the Chosen.

Gatomon and Hikari perked up." Wait, that's the same Deramon that had that tavern at the town where Ren and Wormmon visited." Hikari was the first to say.

Everyone was a little surprised by this. Then again, they also met digimon who had aided them previously.

"Well, you heard the bird. No point in fighting an unnecessary battle," Blake said, to which they all ran through the opening, while the attacking Digimon covered their tracks, peppering Cherrymon with attacks that left him unable to stop them before soon running as well.

"They got away…" Cherrymon growled. "To think they would betray Lord Puppetmon so easily…" he frowned. He was angry...but strangely intrigued by this.

Meanwhile…

"Drill Nose!" Puppetmon growled as he ran forward with his nose spinning like a drill.

"And we're back to Puppetmon and MetalEtemon fighting." Gomamon commented.

"Banana Slip!" MetalEtemon countered, causing Puppetmon to slip on the banana peel. "Had enough, kid?"

"Not even close! Bullet Hammer!" Puppetmon countered, forcing MetalEtemon to dodge.

"Is that all? At least try to make me fight," MetalEtemon taunted...before he suddenly slapped himself. "What the-?!"

"Alright, you'll fight then, but yourself!" Puppetmon said with a laugh as he used his strings to control MetalEtemon's body, and to him, there was only one logical course of action… "Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!" he laughed as Etemon started hitting himself in the face. After a few moments of this, the monkey was thoroughly dizzy, to which Puppetmon eventually cut the strings. "Bored now. I'm going home," he said as he walked away.

As much as the Chosen and their partners felt disappointed, they figured that the Remnant crew wouldn't be this lucky. They certainly weren't.

"Wait...what about the Chosen Children…?" MetalEtemon tried to get to his feet after falling to the ground.

"Oh that? Obviously that other one was lying. You were just stupid enough to fall for it," Puppetmon shrugged before walking away.

"S-seriously?!" MetalEtemon groaned at that, before falling on his face thanks to the beating he'd ended up dishing himself. "I'll get them for this…!" he seethed as he felt his anger rise up again and soon pushed himself up to his feet. With that in mind, he started swinging into the forest again, intending to beat those kids into the ground when he found them.

"He'd have to find them first." Armadimon commented with a grin.

"You just jinxed it." Hawkmon dead-panned.

"Think we're far enough?" Jaune asked.

"We've been running for a while, so...probably," Gyro nodded.

"Still, that was pretty sneaky back there, pitting them against each other. Nice," Ogremon chuckled. "I'd say I didn't think you had it in ya, but then again, you DID threaten to drown me that one time, so guess those are your fangs showing."

"You'd be surprised at how easy it is to trick idiots." Jaune shot back.

That earned small laughs from everyone.

Ogremon blinked for a moment, because for some reason, that almost felt like an insult directed at him. Eventually he decided to shrug it off and just assume the idiots were Puppetmon and MetalEtemon. Sides, he was in no state to pick unnecessary fights.

"Now then, we should think about what to do when we encounter one or both of them again," Agumon said. However, just as he did, a familiar Tarzan call was heard.

Everyone turned to give Armadimon a look.

"Hey! You can't blame me for this!" The armadillo protested.

"...well that was annoyingly fast," Yang deadpanned.

"Makes you wish we had full Chrome Digizoid weapons instead of just a coating." Gomamon groaned.

"Then I'll dice him like an onion," Agumon deadpanned. "WarGreymon's armor is Chrome Digizoid."

"We'll help," Biyomon and Gomamon both said in response. Yeah...they all weren't in the mood for MetalEtemon's nonsense. However, just before they could turn to fight, a trio of figures suddenly appeared from the vegetation, and before any of them could say anything, they were grabbed and tossed onto the back of the lead, figure, who soon sped off, leaving a bewildered MetalEtemon who was just in time to see that.

"...da heck just happened?!" was all he could say.

Ironically enough…

"Okay...what's happening?" Yang blinked from how fast that just happened, as the group now found themselves on the back of a saber toothed tiger… that had a lion's mane. Flanking it where a panda walking on two legs with a red scarf around its neck that was dragging Ogremon along by his hair, and an almost weasel like creature with pink fur, sickle shaped hands, and a mane of blue hair behind it's head.

Mimi immediately smiled at the sight of SaberLeomon. Jo also was happy to see the Ultimate beast digimon.

The others, found it in themselves to feel sorry for Ogremon for being dragged by hair.

"Well...we just got pulled away by these guys," Biyomon said. "And so far they don't seem hostile."

"Considering they're pulling us AWAY from MetalEtemon...seems like it," Gyro said. "Though...doesn't this guy right here seem...familiar to you guys?"

"I'd contribute to this… but I'm too busy being RAGDOLLED RIGHT NOW!" Ogremon raged as he kept bouncing off the ground while being pulled along.

Everyone knew they shouldn't laugh, but it just looked too comical not to.

The group was moving for a while, before finally they came to a stop in what appeared to be a small town in the middle or just outside the forest area. "Huh...seems like this would have been a nice place once upon a time," Gomamon mused.

"Not really," Jaune deadpanned as he pointed at a familiar building.

"...you're right. I take back what I said…" Gomamon agreed flatly at that. The building his partner was pointing to was...Digitamamon's diner.

"Wasn't that by a lake?" Daisuke questioned everyone.

"When the Spiral Mountain was created, a lot of places got... misplaced." Jo relayed what SaberLeomon told them three years ago.

"Well, the good thing we can take out of this, it looks completely run down, so I doubt he's here." Gyro said after a moment.

"Good point," Jaune nodded, before they turned to the Digimon that brought them here.

"So...seeing as you guys got us away from MetalEtemon...you guys friendly?" Yang asked.

"You could say that," the sabertooth said. "It's been a while, Chosen Children," he said as the three of them were covered in light and in their place were Leomon, Dinohyumon, and Grizzmon.

"So they were these guys." Taichi commented, referring to Dinohyumon and Grizzmon.

"You guys?!" Gyro blinked in surprise. Not actually expecting to see the latter two as well.

"Leomon! Oh man, I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's good to see you again!" Ogremon said, relief obvious in his tone.

Leomon chuckled "And it's nice to know you were able to survive on your own Ogremon."

"Who are you two though?" Biyomon asked as she looked between Dinohyumon and Grizzmon.

"Gyro, Pierce, Veemon and I met them on the Lost Island where we fought against some of Myotismon's followers, meet Dinohyumon and Grizzmon." Agumon introduced the two Adult Levels, who smiled in amusement.

"Nice to see you again Gyro." Grizzmon said with a nod.

"It's too bad the kids aren't with us, they would have loved to see you again." Dinohyumon added.

"So, those forms you guys took were your Perfect Levels?" Yang asked curiously.

"Well… it's the case for the two of us." Grizzmon said as he nodded at Dinohyumon.

"But blondie here reached Ultimate." Dinohyumon finished with a grin as he pointed at Leomon.

"As amusing as this is, let's at least talk inside." Leomon said flatly, before turning to the diner and walking in.

Seeing as they had more allies, Mimi dared to hope that this Leomon would survive MetalEtemon if the monkey showed up again.

"Thanks for the assist," Veemon said as they were now in another clearing, the Digimon that helped them gathered around them.

"Huh...didn't expect to see you again. Thanks again for the drinks last time," Ren said, looking at Deramon, honestly not expecting to see the random bartender they'd met a while ago back when they were separated.

"Eh, stuff like that happens at times," Deramon shrugged. "At any rate, boy were we glad to hear you'd all returned," he said, before gesturing to some of the other Digimon in the clearing. "Up till now we've been forced to work for Puppetmon or die, but now that you're all back, we've decided to rebel."

Taichi chuckled a little, which earned him some looks.

"Taichi?" Sora questioned.

"You remember how the Deramon and Floramon we met were when we put them on the cannon." Taichi said in amusement.

"Oh... right." Sora smiled a little despite herself.

"Uhh, what are you talking about?" Miyako asked, not remembering hearing this part.

"Oh, well... when we infiltrated Puppetmon's house we found a cannon that could be used. We put Deramon and Floramon on it." Biyomon started explaining.

"They didn't want to at first." Patamon continued.

"But once they did, they seemed a little... eager to blast Puppetmon with it." Takeru added in with a small smile.

"Lemme guess, if you didn't pretend to be his friends, he'd delete you?" Pierce asked knowingly.

"And there's why." The Chosen of Hope commented.

"Oh...? Well... I guess it makes sense." Ken said, easily imagining what the opressed digimon might do to Puppetmon given the chance.

"That's pretty much it yeah." Floramon answered with a nod.

Digimon Analyzer: Floramon

Floramon. Data Type. A Child Level Plant Digimon. A Digimon that exists as a strange mix of reptile and plant, the leaves on her head act like a hard helmet to protect her from overhead attacks. She can spread her roots underground and use them to listen from far away. Her special attack is Allergy Shower, spraying pollen from her arms which induces an allergic reaction to anyone that breathes it in, no matter how powerful they are, hindering them in fighting.

"I can easily believe that." Ren said with narrowed eyes, thinking back on what he had seen earlier.

"Good thing we were nearby as well, now we can really land a hard hit on that psycho kid." Waspmon said, and the chosen all blinked as they looked at him… and FINALLY noticed the red scarf around his neck.

"Wait… you're the FanBeemon who gave us a tour of the base back on File, aren't you?" Pyrrha asked in realisation.

"That's me!" the Waspmon practically chirped, confirming that yes, it was him. "I know what you're thinking 'wasn't he a worker?'. Well...after the thing with the Dark Masters, times change, and the hive needed more warriors so...I volunteered," he said simply. "A bunch of the others also did the same so there are a lot more Waspmon now around the hive."

"Then...this guy is?" Wormmon looked at CannonBeemon.

"You're the Waspmon we met back in File, right?" Ren guessed.

"That is correct. In order to better protect the hive AND the island, I fought hard and eventually reached the Perfect level," he nodded. "However, while not ideal, the hive is secure for now, so the two of us decided to come here to try and put a stop to the Dark Masters. Understandably that has been rather...difficult."

"Well, the level gap has been a big factor in that, so yeah..." Waspmon added.

"...SaberLeomon couldn't defeat MetalEtemon because of Chrome Digizoid coating on his body." Jo mentioned to everyone.

"Maybe he could've beaten Puppetmon if he went up against him." Gomamon commented.

"Maybe." Palmon muttered as she looked to Mimi.

"Well, we have four Ultimates of our own on our side, though we only have 2 on hand, since the others got separated from us." Ruby said, earning a nod of understanding from CannonBeemon.

"Right, I figured you must have had at least one since you defeated MetalSeadramon already." he said simply.

"So...anyway, we were planning to go and beat Puppetmon before Cherrymon got in our way," Nora said. "Wanna join in?"

"Yes! Oh Server yes!" the Digimon in Deramon's group all said. At the same time. With a borderline maniacal look in their eyes.

"See what Taichi meant about them being eager?" Koshiro commented on the Digimon who wanted revenge on Puppetmon.

"Ooookay...repressed rage...we can work with that…" Pyrrha said as they all sweat dropped.

"That can be very deadly." Novice commented as he wondered if he would have to face that one day with the rest of the demon lords... Especially Lucemon.

"So...onward to Puppetmon's house?" Patamon asked. The answer he got was the Digimon suddenly pulling out war flags...which depicted axes with Puppetmon's head underneath. Yeaaaah….they'd been wanting this for a LONG time. With that in mind the group was now marching towards the Dark Master's home.

The Children and their partners found themselves agreeing with Novice.

"...Is it wrong that I feel sorry for Puppetmon." Iori asked with a conflicted look.

"Not entirely." Novice said with a look of understanding, earning curious looks. "I felt sorry for Puppetmon at his final moments. He never understood what it was that he didn't have."

Everyone looked confused.

Novice shook his head, "You'll understand."

Wormmon took it as his cue to keep reading.

"Well, this place sure has seen better days," Yang couldn't help but comment at the dump that was once a popular diner. Though she and Biyomon were careful of the wording they used since they remembered that this was a bit of a sore spot for Jaune and Gomamon. Then again, she doubted anyone would want to remember a time they were tricked into borderline slavery.

"Agreed." Gomamon commented.

"Well, let's pull up some chairs. I get the feeling we might be here for a while," Jaune sighed, as he and Gomamon idly cleared up some debris to make space...only to blink when they removed some of it to reveal 2 pairs of eyes. They blinked. They eyes blinked. Then the owners of the eyes started screaming.

"No!" Gyro snapped, shutting up the screaming. "That's a hilarious trope otherwise, but mind the volume! We'd rather not attract one of the two Ultimates trying to kill us."

"Who's even down there?" Biyomon asked as she peered into the hole.

The eyes blinked again when they saw her "Miss Biyomon?"

Biyomon blinked in confusion "Do I know you?"

"It's probably Otamamon and Gekomon." Mimi commented on the situation, earning curious looks.

"Why do you guess that?" Miyako asked with a curious look.

"Just a hunch." Mimi said with a smile.

"I-It's us!" one of the two hidden Digimon said, before crawling out of the hole and revealing themself to be Gekomon, and the other Digimon with him to be Otamamon.

"See, I was right." Mimi commented.

"Come to think of it, they did call Biyomon 'miss'." Sora commented in thought.

"Oh hey, you're from the castle aren't you?" Yang realised.

"That's right! It's so great to see you here again." Otamamon said in obvious relief.

"Are the others here too?" Biyomon couldn't help but ask, but quickly regretted it when she saw the glum expressions on their faces.

"We were scattered in the chaos. When the Dark Masters took over, the formation of Spiral Mountain tore our castle apart…" they said sadly.

"Harsh…" Agumon frowned in sympathy.

"Well...if you guys want, you can come with us," Gyro suggested. "We're gonna be fighting the Dark Masters, but we might as well stick together for safety."

"You'll let us?" they asked hopefully.

"The more the merrier," Gomamon grinned...before he was bowled over.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" they cheered.

"Glad they're happy." Hikari giggled at Gomamon's other being showered in affection.

"I'm not a toy." Gomamon said with an annoyed look. Even while Jo found himself looking amused.

"Glad you're happy," Jaune sweat dropped before moving to get them off of his partner.

Leomon cleared his throat after a few moments "Now that the matter has been settled, I believe we were going to have a discussion here."

"Right, well… first some bad news you should all know, Whamon and Piximon both sacrificed themselves to help us." Gyro said somberly.

Leomon looked down at that, nodding solemnly "I see." was all he said in a quiet tone.

"Then we must make sure their sacrifices were not in vain," Dinohyumon growled, slamming a hand on the table.

"Yes, until the Dark Masters are dead, peace will never return to this world," Grizzmon nodded in agreement.

"On that note I think we're all on the same page," Ogremon. "But we should also remember about that jerk Etemon. To think he'd come back," he commented.

Leomon nodded. "It would be prudent to deal with MetalEtemon soon as well. While he isn't a Dark Master, his designs would be similar to theirs."

"Fortunately after our little trick, I doubt he's gonna be buddies with the Dark Masters anytime soon," Gomamon smirked, earning a few chuckles from the ones who were there.

"What kind of trick?" Dinohyumon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Jaune made him believe that Puppetmon knew where Pierce was, even though he probably doesn't." Agumon said with a laugh.

"I see." Dinohyumon said with a small smirk "Clever trick."

"Even if he knows it was a trick, his pride won't let him ally with the Dark Masters now," Grizzmon smirked. "Not after he picked a fight with one."

"But on that topic, the main issue is this," Gyro said as he pulled up the analyzer on MetalEtemon. "His body is now Chrome Digizoid. We'll need to get through that first."

"WarGreymon's armor is made of Chrome Digizoid, so I should be able to break it," Agumon said.

"And if needs be, Zudomon's hammer is also made of Chrome Digizoid," Gomamon added.

Gomamon grinned as he remembered making the crack on MetalEtemon's body, which allowed SaberLeomon to finish the evil monkey.

"Okay, so we got weapons that can harm him. So what? We take him out as soon as we can?" Ogremon asked.

"Well...yes," Gyro admitted. "But I doubt it'd be THAT easy."

"We should think up possible plans as well." Yang suggested as she started up her own analyzer "What are the names of your evolved forms?" she asked as she looked at the trio that got them away from MetalEtemon.

"Well, I turn into Pandamon." Grizzmon answered simply.

Digimon Analyzer: Pandamon

Pandamon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Puppet Digimon. It keeps a straight face and has a rather blunt personality, prefering to be straight and to the point. Despite its simple appearance, it is a powerful Digimon, most opponents usually lowering their guard to mock it before being defeated. Its special attacks are Animal Nail, attacking the foe with claws hidden in its hands, and Bamboo Punch, striking the enemy with a powerful hit that somehow summons up leaves on contact.

"My own Perfect form is called Kyukimon." Dinohyumon continued.

Digimon Analyzer: Kyukimon

Kyukimon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Bewitching Beast Digimon. A Digimon that can manipulate the wind around it into sharp blades able to leave scratches on even the toughest of Chrome Digizoid armors. It's said to be the source of strange tornadoes that can appear out of nowhere. Its special attacks are Blade Twister, spinning around and creating a small tornado that launches blades of wind at its foes, and Trinary Star, the blue star shape on its head shining and blinding the enemy, leaving them open for attack.

"And my Ultimate Level is SaberLeomon." Leomon finished.

Digimon Analyzer: SaberLeomon

SaberLeomon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Ancient Beast Digimon. Said to possess explosive mach speed power, SaberLeomon is easily capable to run faster than the wind. His sharp claws and fangs are rare instances of a Digimon possessing a natural coating of Chrome Digizoid, though they are not indestructible. His special attacks are Nail Crusher, smashing his powerful claws into the enemy and tearing through any armor with ease, and Infinity Arrow, hardening the hairs in his mane and firing them off like small darts.

"What?But SaberLeomon couldn't break through." Jo said in confusion.

"Think of it this way, would a steel fork be able to pierce through a solid chunk of steel." Novice said simply.

"No it wouldn't." Koshiro commented, "The fork would bend even if it hit with the necessary force."

"Well, Kyukimon leaving scratches on Chrome Digizoid sounds useful." Mimi said hopefully.

"Scratches aren't very big damage." Yamato rained on the Chosen of Purity's parade.

"But what about Zudomon's hammer?" Veemon then asked.

"That thing is solid Chrome Digizoid, which means it has more mass, and therefore can withstand the force necessary to break through a coating." Novice said.

"Well, that last bit is convenient," Agumon blinked.

"I doubt I'd do much besides break my claws if I attacked him head on though, unless of course he was weakened first." Leomon added with a slight grimace.

This seemed to hammer in what Novice said.

"Right, so we should use one of the oldest tricks in the book when dealing with him," Jaune nodded.

"What's that?" Gomamon asked.

"Make a crack so we know where to apply the pressure," he said simply.

"Probably easier said than done, but definitely a viable option," Yang nodded in agreement.

"Come on, he's an idiot." Gomamon said, "It should be easy."

No one else seemed to share that confidence.

"Sounds like a good as any plan unless anyone has any other ideas," Grizzmon commented.

"Melt him down could be an option." Gyro said with a shrug after a moment, glancing at both Agumon and Biyomon.

A Nice combination of Gaia Force, Crimson Flare and wind from his semblance might just reach the melting point for Chrome Digizoid for all he knew.

All eyes turned on Novice.

The Overseer shrugged, "I don't know what Chrome Digizoid's melting point is."

"Morbid...but sounds highly effective," Dinohyumon nodded. They couldn't afford to be picky at these times.

"I'm glad I'm on your side." Chuumon said with a shiver.

"Trust us, the world we came from needs us to be this way at times," Yang sighed, before shaking her head. "But anyway, it's agreed. Be it making a crack or melting him, we'll do what it takes to beat him. And in the off chance Puppetmon shows up too, go for option 2. He's made of wood, afterall."

"... I don't know what it says about us that we'd love to see one of the Dark Masters burn." Gekomon said after a short moment, Otamamon nodding in agreement.

"It says you're pissed the heck off at them." Gomamon answered simply.

"Our home was destroyed, our friends are Server knows where, and we've been on the run ever since. What do you think?" the two deadpanned.

"I'm thinking we DEFINITELY got more party members," Biyomon chuckled awkwardly.

"And I think we might have to make use of one of those plans," Grizzmon growled, peeking out one of the windows, to see a familiar monkey coming into the area.

Somehow everyone managed to not be too disturbed at everyone being so happy to go for such morbid options, but at least their minds would be taken off by MetalEtemon getting a beating.

"Alright, there's the house...wow, you weren't kidding when you said it looked like something out of a children's book…" Blake commented with a sweat drop at the end.

Except they switched to the house-invading team. when some of them were looking forward to MetalEtemon's beatdown.

"Well… I guess it makes sense since he acts like a little kid." Patamon said after a moment.

"You know, if he was a human or a faunus, he'd probably be one heck of a case study for a psychiatrist." Pierce said idly.

"Huh… kinda weird when you think about it that way." Nora said in response.

"Well, as interesting as that might be, sadly we will be depriving the world of psychology of another certified whack job to work on," Weiss said flatly. "Any objections?"

"None." The Children and their partners said, despite no one asking their opinion.

"None!" several shouts came as a bunch of the mon that came with them ran forward...suddenly with a battering ram they made from a tree.

"...they DO know he doesn't bother to lock his doors, right?" Tentomon blinked, that little tidbit from Wormmon earlier while preparing had been… enlightening as to how smart the Dark Master was.

"I don't think they care," Ruby sweat dropped, as the door to the house was broken down in one charge. "But they have the right idea I guess. Charge!"

"I think they just wanted an excuse to destroy Puppetmon's house." Biyomon commented with a sweatdrop.

With that they ran forward, only to stop when an explosion happened, and the battering ram team was sent flying back, dazed and a covered in soot, but alive.

"Didn't anyone teach you to knock?" Puppetmon asked with an annoyed frown as he came out of the door, looking more like that one neighbor who keeps getting unwanted guests.

"Of course he's home when we try this." Salamon groaned.

"Hey! I wanted to say that." Gatomon complained at Wormmon reading too fast, earning a round of laughs out of that.

"We DID spend a good few minutes on planning alone." Palmon added next to her.

"More than we did." Tentomon commented.

"Whelp, no choice I guess. Let's smash him AND the house!" Nora said.

"Oh? So you want to play? Fine then, let's play a new game!" Puppetmon smirked, before he jumped up on the roof and got into his 'control room'. "Take this!" he said, as the door suddenly closed shut, followed by several windows and hidden compartments opening to reveal a number of cannons and guns.

"...That's different." Koshiro commented on what the house did.

"Let me guess, it didn't have guns and cannons." Ken dared to ask.

"No." Agumon and Taichi said in unison.

"Yeah, somehow, we saw this one coming, didn't we?" Veemon asked dryly, honestly not surprised, before everyone answered in the affirmative. That was as far as they COULD get, before the cannons started firing, forcing everyone to back off.

"Okay, we need to take out those weapons. If we don't then we're the ones about to be blasted sky high," Pyrrha frowned.

"Should we go Ultimate now?" Gabumon asked.

"Yeah, I think now is a good a time as any," Ruby nodded.

"Alright then, go all out everyone!" Blake said as they grabbed their Digivices and Crests.

Everyone quickly evolved, and were soon facing off against the house. Now...normally one would think with like 7 Perfects, 2 Ultimates, and a number of other levels here and there, one house would be a simple matter. However, it should be noted that said house was built by one of the most childish and insane of the Dark Masters so…

"Da hell is this house MADE of?!" AeroVeedramon demanded as MetalGarurumon had opened with a salvo of missiles...and the house was STILL standing instead of being a pile of rubble. Heck, it was now returning fire.

"Seriously?" Yamato commented on the sight. He had only witnessed the tail end of their confrontation with Puppetmon's house, so he didn't see how tough it was.

"My guess, which is pissing me off just to admit it, Chrome Digizoid." Angewomon said with a groan as her arrow didn't even scratch the building.

"Same with me." Gatomon admitted.

"You'd think a house would be easy, but no, it just had to be tough." AtlurKabuterimon muttered under his breath in annoyance.

"Like it?" Puppetmon laughed. "I had Machinedramon help me build this house! It's made of the toughest material he could find, and some of the hardest wood in the area!"

"...that explains a lot…" JewelBeemon deadpanned.

"I swear, if he says the wood is called Adam Wood, I quit." Pierce muttered, knowing how tough that would be.

"Huh?"

"Huh...how'd you know what the wood we used was?" Puppetmon blinked. "That stuff is super rare."

Novice started laughing, which earned him confused looks.

The best way to describe Pierce's expression at this point… would be 'done with this shit' "A house… made out of the same kind of wood that the Oro Jackson and Thousand Sunny are made from… never have these next words been so true: KILL IT WITH FIRE!"

"Okay, what are Oro Jackson and Thousand Sunny?" Taichi asked, now getting curious.

Novice laughed for a moment longer before seeing everyone's expression. "...You're serious- Hold up." Novice opened a holographic screen and started looking something up. After a moment his mouth made an "Oh.". "Okay, everyone who have red a manga called One Piece, raise your hand."

Daisuke and Takeru raised a hand.

"Okay, Oro Jackson is the ship that Gold Roger sailed in." Novice then said earning a surprised look from the two.

"What?!"

"Yup."

"Wait a second, what chapter is that mentioned in?" Takeru then asked, granted, he hasn't red every single one.

"That chapter hasn't been published yet in your Earth." Novice said, "Which is also why I'm not telling what the Thousand Sunny is."

"Umm... Takeru?" Yamato questioned his little brother.

"Oh, right. In One Piece Gold Roger was the king of pirates who sailed around the world. Something that no one else did in that manga." Takeru explained.

"So... in other words, this Adam tree is very durable stuff." Koshiro summarized.

"Yup." Novice admitted.

"Okay..." No one was sure if they got it, but they chose to just leave it at that.

"With pleasure!" the Digimon growled, though more in annoyance at Puppetmon's smug look, and opened fire.

"Let's try some Fire Dust!" Weiss said, before handing some of it to the others who made use of Dust Cartridges.

"Let's see how well this would work," Ren nodded, before they opened fire. Sure there was some fire...but then a sprinkler system came on and doused the fire...which wasn't THAT much to begin with…

"...I guess Adam Wood isn't very flammable." Iori came to the only logical conclusion.

"Makes sense." Koshiro admitted, "Does that manga have superpowered characters?"

"Yes it does." Daisuke confirmed.

Now it made more sense that this house can take a hit.

"Okay...this is gonna take a while…" HolyAngemon frowned.

"Is that it? Boooring," Puppetmon sighed. "Here, I'll let you play with these guys too!" he said, before the ground in front of them broke and out of it crawled out a small army of Digimon. Honestly, they looked very much like Vegiemon but with red bodies, and instead of it's vine like arms being simple, they turned into spiked clubs near the tips.

"Let me guess, the RedVeggiemon army." Ken said with a pitying look, though not for his seniors or the Remnant crew.

"Yup." Was the universal reply.

"Let me guess, these are RedVegiemon?" Ruby asked dryly.

"Got it in one." Weiss responded just as dryly as she looked at her Analyzer.

Digimon Analyzer: RedVegiemon

RedVegiemon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Plant Digimon. Compared to Vegiemon, this Digimon boasts a lot more power in its body, though that is still only on the Adult Level. It's more intelligent than its yellow counterpart, being far more cunning in battle. Its special attack is Hazard Breath, spreading a stink gas from its mouth.

"Get them! Get them!" Puppetmon laughed as the RedVegiemon charged forward. He didn't for a moment think they'd be able to actually beat them, but at least they'll slow them down more.

"Okay, this is SERIOUSLY annoying!" Rosemon growled, knocking aside a RedVegiemon, before grabbing one with her whip, and in a moment of annoyance, threw it back at the house. The RedVegiemon flew through the air...and lodged into one of the cannons which promptly misfired.

A moment of silence descended on the fight, everyone looking at what just happened...before the attacking group looked at the RedVegiemon with the most vicious smirks ever.

"...I know they're enemies but I still feel sorry for them." Hikari said with a pitying look. One that was shared with Ken.

"I would be mildly worried if you didn't." Novice said as he too felt a little sorry for the evil veggies.

"Uh...is it too late to surrender?" one of the RedVegiemon asked lamely, before well…

"Probably." Gabumon quipped with a grin.

"...seriously?" Puppetmon actually deadpanned as the attacking Digimon were soon on his RedVegiemon like a school of piranha, grabbing as many as they could only to throw them at the house, causing more of his larger armaments to misfire when they got clogged. "Well...at least I still got the weapons they can't clog up," he mused...right before several more explosions happened, as they'd started aiming for those weapons, destroying them.

"You know, isn't it just funny in a strange way when the bad guys practically GIVE us a way to beat them?" Nora laughed as she sent another RedVegiemon flying into one of the remaining cannons.

"Someone called this phenomenon, Villanous Blunder Number 16: Using ammo that can be turned against you. Or minions in this case." Novice said with a chuckle.

That earned small chuckles out of everyone. It was pretty apt description.

"Honestly? It kind of is," Pyrrha chuckled as MetalGarurumon froze another armament solid.

Everyone agreed.

"Less talking, more smashing!" AeroVeedramon laughed as the last of the weapons was destroyed.

"Now come on out Puppetmon! Your house is out of tricks!" Waspmon said.

"Your end is nigh, you overgrown plank!" Deramon added.

"Out of tricks, eh? We'll see about that," Puppetmon chuckled, before he jumped up to the attic...revealing it was some kind of cockpit, and started flipping a few switches.

"...I was wondering if it had that function." Koshiro said, still amused at how the weapons were destroyed.

Pierce twitched when he heard a certain… sound, coming from the house "No…"

They all watched as parts seemed to be moving around through the various windows, bits of machinery coming together.

"No, no, no…"

The house at this point seemed to be rising upwards out of the ground.

"No no no no no no! FUCK!" Pierce finally shouted, because towering over them… was a giant robot made from the house.

Once again, the f-bomb was censored, but now the second generation was staring at the house-turned giant robot.

"...I thought you guys were exxagerating a little." Miyako commented on the house robot.

"Forest Master Transformation!" came Puppetmon's voice from the robot. "Puppetrobo!" he finished before laughing his usual laugh. It was clear he was looking forward to using his new toy.

"...well...you always DID want to have a giant robot...too bad it's not us using it," Blake couldn't help but say. "Don't worry though, it's not like you tempted fate or anything," she said, giving a pointed glare at Waspmon and Deramon, both of whom were looking away sheepishly.

"This would be sooo cool...if it weren't about to try and stomp us…" Ruby admitted.

"Well...get ready everyone. We've got our work cut out for us…" Weiss said as they all stood at the ready.

"That house was very annoying." Agumon complained at the newly dubbed 'Puppetrobo'.

"But it fell apart the moment Puppetmon was defeated." Biyomon said with a slightly hopeful look.

"Except Puppetmon is inside it this time." Yamato said with a disappointed look.

"Oh Chosen Children~ come out come out wherever you are," MetalEtemon grinned as he looked around. "Now...where could they be, I wonder~" he smirked...before running to the diner, as it was easily the best place to take cover, and promptly smashed open a wall...with his body. "Heeeeeere's MetalEte-!"

He didn't get to finish as he was met with a Dramon Killer to the face, sending him flying back out.

Everyone laughed at the horror-cliche subversion.

"You didn't SERIOUSLY think we weren't expecting that again, did you?" WarGreymon smirked as the group stepped out of the Diner.

"You made a BIG mistake coming after us again," Gyro said.

"Yeah, cause now we're gonna send you back to hell, and this time you're STAYING there," Yang said, cracking her knuckles, though she was only wearing one of her Gauntlets. The other one was unfortunately still in need of repairs so she put it away for now.

"Let's go everyone!" Leomon said, earning sounds of agreement from his companions.

"Leomon, Warp Evolution! SaberLeomon!"

"Dinohyumon, Super Evolution! Kyukimon!"

"Grizzmon, Super Evolution! Pandamon!"

"I don't need a fancy evolution to kick your butt!" Ogremon said, swinging his club around.

With that, the four of them charged forward.

"Blade Twister!"

"Bamboo Punch!"

MetalEtemon saw the two attacks coming and smirked, before just flexing his muscles as the attacks hit, sparks flying from where they hit, but not causing him any damage. "Nice try, but my body is Chrome Digizoid!" he laughed as Pandamon continued punching him and Kyukimon continued trying to cut through the metal, before eventually knocking them both away. "Nothing can harm me now!" he laughed.

"Of course it can't be that easy." Hawkmon sighed.

"We'll see about that! Fist of the Supreme King!" Ogremon shouted, launching his attack using his right arm, while his club was secured on his back.

MetalEtemon just smirked before letting the attack hit. No effect.

"Nail Crusher!" SaberLeomon followed up. However, once again Etemon just flexed and let the attack hit, pushing him back a bit but it didn't seem like that attack hurt much.

"I told you already, I'm invincible!" he laughed.

At the same time, Jaune had been watching the whole thing, before going over to his fellow hunters and pulled them closer. "You guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That MetalEtemon's let his new powers go to his head? Yeahp." Gyro nodded.

"Considering he didn't even bother evading SaberLeomon's attack, yeah, I think it's safe to say he's on a power high," Yang agreed.

"Which worked for me." Gomamon said while rubbing his front flippers together like an evil genious.

Jo said nothing, but he did hope that it would work for the Remnant crew too.

"So what's the plan?" WarGreymon asked, having stayed behind in case MetalEtemon tried anything.

"We feed that ego of his and THEN we strike," Jaune said.

"Oooh, so we make him feel even MORE invincible, then we crack his ego AND that coating. Nice," Gomamon and Biyomon said in approval.

"But for that to work, we need to get him a bit more...emotional," Jaune said, before turning a little. "Chuumon? We'll need a bit of help."

"Huh?" Chuumon blinked.

Exactly the reaction of the readers.

Back at the fight…

"Are you all stupid or something?" MetalEtemon laughed as the attacks hit, but weren't doing significant if any damage.

"Cheese Bomb!" came Chuumon's voice as a hunk of cheese was suddenly thrown at MetalEtemon.

MetalEtemon almost casually caught the attack, and looked at it in amusement. "Seriously?" he laughed. "Are you so desperate you'd resort to throwing food at me? Oh well, I suppose I could go for a bite," he laughed...right before the cheese exploded in his face. Unsurprisingly he was fine. Though his sunglasses were a little cracked and his face rather sooty from the explosion. "...you die first, rodent."

Despite Chuumon painting a huge target on his back, it was still funny to see MetalEtemon getting angry.

"Okay...now he wants to kill me. What now?" Chuumon gulped.

"For now? Get him to be careless," Jaune said, before turning to MetalEtemon. "Hey banana brain! Your songs sound so bad, it breaks glass then makes it break more!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" MetalEtemon roared, before he soon ran towards Jaune, who did an about face and ran. "COME BACK HERE SO I CAN RIP YOU IN HALF!"

"That is a huge blow to his ego." Takeru commented with a small grin.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

However, right as he was running, he was hit in the face when a clawed gauntlet and a hammer suddenly got in his way, causing him to do a rather impressive back flip.

"You should watch where you're going. You could get hurt," Zudomon taunted, while WarGreymon snickered.

"Why I oughta-!" MetalEtemon started, but didn't get to finish as Phoenixmon promptly landed on his face, looking very much like a bird just casually perching on something, completely ignoring the muffled and outraged cries of the monkey.

Now everyone was full on laughing at the remnant crew pretty much just making fun of the evil monkey. Especially when the screen showed MetalEtemon struggling under Phoenixmon.

"Is it wrong I'm enjoying this plan so much?" she snickered rhetorically.

"No." Biyomon commented, earning a disapproving look from Sora. Or it would have been disapproving if Sora wasn't trying to hold back laughter.

"NOPE!" everyone else laughed, all of them enjoying this plan a bit more than they probably should.

Eventually MetalEtemon had enough, and Phoenixmon was forced to get off when he basically threw himself off the ground. "Okay, that's it! No more mister nice monkey! Dark Spirits Deluxe!" he shouted, and everyone was ready to dodge. However, what they DIDN'T expect, was for not just one bolt, but several bolts of the attack coming down in a barrage, knocking everyone around.

And now all laughing ceased. This was getting serious.

"Okay...that wasn't part of the plan…" Yang groaned from where she'd been thrown a bit.

"Yeah...I think we all figured that much," Ogremon groaned in agreement.

"Now then, as I was-" MetalEtemon started, but stopped when he felt something hit the back of his head hard, causing him to see stars for a bit.

"Who said we were done?" Zudomon managed to say, though he seemed rather winded, seeing as he'd taken a good hit while protecting Jaune and Chuumon who were under him. Thank the Server his shell was nice and hard.

If Zudomon didn't look so winded the readers would've found this scenario funny again. Still, it was lucky indeed that Zudomon's shell is pretty hard.

"We're still standing too," Jaune said, inwardly gulping thickly as he knew the monkey would come for him, as he switched his weapon to bastard sword mode. With all the stuff MetalEtemon had been taking, maybe, just maybe, this was the chance they needed to make a crack in his armor.

"You'll be regretting that real soon," Etemon smirked as he walked towards them. However, just as it looked like he was going to go up close and personal... he smirked. "Dark Spirits Deluxe!"

"Wait, what?" Zudomon and Jaune gasped, having fully expected MetalEtemon to do things up close and personal like he'd always done before.

"Did he catch on?" Was the first thing Tentomon could think of.

"No way. He's not that smart." Gomamon protested.

"What? You didn't think I'd not realize you kids like to pull shit on me? I figured you wanted me to get close for some reason, so no dice!" MetalEtemon laughed as the lightning came down, only with MUCH greater intensity.

"...You were saying." Tentomon said in a smug tone.

"...Shut it." The seal pouted.

"No!" SaberLeomon shouted, before jumping forward, blocking the attack with his body. Time seemed to stop for everyone when the attack hit, the only they could hear was SaberLeomon's roar of agony as the attack nearly pierced right through him, but his body held, leaving him to fall on the ground next to Jaune and Zudomon, reverting back to Leomon.

There was shocked silence on the battlefield for a moment, before it was replaced by MetalEtemon's laugh "What an idiot! He was already hurt and he takes one full one! Can you get any dumber than that?!"

And then the others saw red.

And not just them as most of the guys looked at the screen angrily at MetalEtemon's laughing face.

"No... Not again." Mimi said, covering her face at seeing Leomon dying again.

"You bastard!" WarGreymon roared in rage as he flew straight for MetalEtemon. Something the others soon followed, even Zudomon.

As for Leomon, the hunters and Chuumon were quickly by his side.

"Dammit, no!" Gyro growled, the only wound Leomon had was a burned patch of skin on his back, so any damage done to him was internal, reducing their options at the moment.

Leomon groaned as he tried to lift himself up, only to fall back on his face, his breathing ragged "I suppose… this is how it ends."

Palmon noticed how Mimi was holding back a sob before scooting closer and hugging her partner. Mimi managed to hug back.

Jo was also looking down. He had come to conclusion that they couldn't have done anything more back then, but it still stung a little.

"Do NOT say that damn phrase!" Yang said, her eyes red, angry at MetalEtemon, and probably something else, but she wasn't sure what else right now.

"We are NOT losing another of our friends to monsters like HIM!" Gyro added.

"No...it's alright. I know you all can win. You can save this world and restore it to how it should be. Don't worry about me, I will return to the Primary Village of File Island, and some day we'll surely meet again…" he said, his voice getting weaker.

"No! Just… FUCK no! We aren't losing you!" Jaune shouted, actually surprising the others with his rare cursing. "Enough innocent Digimon have died already. I am NOT going to let you join them!" he shouted, and at that moment, his body started to glow, both with his aura and with the light of the Crest around his neck.

"This is…!" Gyro's eyes widened when he remembered the white glow coming from Jaune's aura, and he soon felt a grin form on his face. Jaune had just activated his Semblance. "Jaune!" He said, catching his fellow blonde's attention "Place your hands over Leomon's wounds and focus your aura there. Don't question me and just do it."

Jo was quickly on the guidebook which had once again filled itself out. "...Jaune's Semblance can amplify a person's Aura. Supercharging someone else's Semblance, or increasing Aura's healing properties."

"But... Digimon don't have Aura." Sora piped up.

"Wait... wasn't it explained that digimon powers had a similar principle to Aura and Semblance?" Koshiro then muttered in thought,"Maybe... it can work."

This thought filled everyone, especially Mimi with hope. Maybe she wouldn't have to see Leomon die again.

Jaune was surprised at the command, before doing as told, and finally noticing how his body was glowing, but putting that aside and closing his eyes, focusing on the spot where his hands were, trying to will his aura there… for whatever reason, it… was working?

He opened his eyes in confusion, staring at where his hands were, moving them away ever so slightly to see that the burned patch of skin was slowly fading away. "What's going on right now?"

"Your semblance." Gyro answered "Volume 5 revealed it finally, it's something a few fans have called Amplify, since your aura works as a natural boost to other people, so right now, you're enhancing Leomon's natural regenerative abilities."

"I am?" Jaune blinked, more than a little surprised at what he was capable of, but he didn't stop. He didn't stop until every last part of it was gone, and though still in a bit of pain, Leomon soon got to his feet, his wound gone.

"I… I'm still alive?" he said in confusion, he was ready to simply fade away and let his data reconfigure, but it seemed that's not how things would go.

"Yes!" Mimi cheered as she got up and hugged Palmon tightly.

"M-Mimi... I can't breathe." A little too hard.

Fortunately the pink haired girl realized it and loosened her grip, before realizing that everyone was staring at her. "...Sorry." Mimi said meekly before sitting back down, still holding Palmon.

"It's fine, we understand." Sora said with a smile.

"Yes, now please, sit back, despite being healed, you aren't in any shape to fight." Gyro said.

"I'll make sure he doesn't move from here." Chuumon said as he jumped up to Leomon's shoulder, getting an amused look from the lion.

"Uh… not to break the moment… but Jaune's still glowing." Yang said, as they looked back to Jaune, who was indeed still glowing, but now it was coming from a very specific spot.

"My crest?" Jaune realise as he pulled it out, the crest glowing a bright light. "Why is it glowing like this?" he blinked, not expecting that to happen.

Gomamon's eyes turned into the size of saucers as he along with everyone else realized what this could mean.

"Wormmon... keep reading." Gomamon said slowly now trembling in excitement.

And Jo would be lying if he said he wasn't excited too.

"Well, you weren't going to let Leomon die no matter what. Heck, you wanted to save him so much you activated your Semblance, and I dunno about you but I don't know what's more reliable than saving a life on the brink," Yang said with an encouraging grin….right before a punch was heard, and Gomamon came rolling towards them.

"Oww…" Gomamon groaned, having been knocked out of his Perfect form.

"And I think it'd be REALLY reliable if you helped Gomamon reach Ultimate about now," Gyro added half jokingly.

"Yesyesyesyesyesyesyes." Gomamon chanted, now bouncing in place.

"Okay, Gomamon, take it easy." Jo was getting a little concerned for his partner.

Jaune blinked, before letting out a small chuckle and nodded. This was what he always wanted. He wanted to help people, to be there for them when they needed him...and now, he was going to do just that. With that realization, the light coming from him turned a gray-ish color, before a pillar of light erupted, the Tag soon shattering to reveal the Crest of Reliability which soon entered his body.

"Can I go Ultimate now?" Gomamon managed to ask in his usual tone, though the excited grin showed how he really felt.

"Sure thing, buddy," Jaune nodded, before grabbing his D-Core, turning it into a D-Crest with a grey grip, and pointing it at Gomamon.

(Play Brave Heart)

The crest of Reliability appeared on the glass covering, before a beam of light erupted from the D-Crest, flying in the air before entering Gomamon, who turned the same color as the Crest, and did a backflip. "Gomamon, Warp Evolution!" he called out, releasing a beam of energy, revealing Ikkakumon who turned and did the same, revealing Zudomon who repeated the process one more time. The light covered the scene to reveal a new form, the body being large and covered in thick fur all over save for his hands, several belts wrapped around his forearms with one around his waist that held a loincloth, a pelt of some kind hanging off his shoulders, his tusks were still present coming out of his mouth, but they were hard to see through all the fur on his upper lip, almost looking some form of mustache. The area around him then shifted slightly, becoming underwater, as a pair of round shields appeared on his shoulders, each of them sporting the Crest of Reliability, followed by a viking helmet appearing atop his head, and finally, a pair of large maces on his back, attached to each other by a chain, and each sporting a hole at the bottom. Then his body gained color, his fur a bright snow white color, his hands black, his fur pelt beige, and when his eyes snapped open, they were the same green as Gomamon, before he let out a roar that reverberated through the water, as it suddenly flash froze, before shattering apart from his maces being fired off from their handles, as if they were rocket propelled flails, retracting them shortly as he stood proudly among the ice and snow and punched his fists together "Vikemon!"

"So... AWESOME!" Gomamon was now jumping in joy.

"Gomamon, please-" Jo said before feeling a hand on his shoulder. Turning to the source, the Chosen of Reliability saw Koshiro smiling at him.

"Let him have this." Koshiro said.

Wormmon frowned a little at Gomamon getting to go Ultimate first. But he chose to read, hoping that his evolution wouldn't be far behind.

"Whoa...who's he now?" Yang asked.

"Hang on...here it is. Looks like he's Vikemon now," Gyro said.

Digimon Analyzer: Vikemon

Vikemon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Beast Man Digimon. With fur as hard as Chrome Digizoid, Vikemon is known to several as The Frozen Warrior, making his home in the coldest environments of the Digital World. With the morning star known as Mjollnir on his back, he can destroy even the largest mountains in a single swing, the shockwave capable of rattling dimensions. His special attacks are Arctic Blizzard, flash freezing his enemies before smashing them to pieces with Mjollnir, and Viking Axe, striking his foes with glowing punches that freeze whatever spot he hits.

Everyone caught onto the Frozen Warrior. The description they red in the chapter that the legends were cited.

MetalEtemon growled as he was stuck fending off multiple attacks, though since he'd managed to knock out Kyukimon, Pandamon, and Ogremon back, he at least only had to deal with WarGreymon and Phoenixmon. Though both were starting to be a problem. "Give it up already! No way you can be-!" he didn't get to finish as something hard and metal slammed into the side of his face, sending him tumbling away.

"No, we can beat you anyday of the week!" Vikemon growled as he walked over to join his friends.

"Yes! Get him!" Gomamon cheered, swiping his flippers wildly. Much to Jo's embarrassment.

"Wanna do the honors?" WarGreymon offered.

"With pleasure!" Vikemon growled before shooting out his morning stars again, smashing into MetalEtemon, causing him to skid back, and so focused was he on them he didn't notice the small crack in his armor.

"You all are REALLY getting on my nerves!" he growled. "Number One Punch!" he jumped forward, but was stopped when Vikemon merely turned to the side, while WarGreymon brought up his Brave Shield, Etemon soon stumbling back after his punch failed to break through. However, he didn't give up and tried again.

"...Now he's being stupid." Agumon commented with a grin.

"Viking Axe!" Vikemon called out, striking the ground, causing it to freeze, and causing MetalEtemon to slip and fall on his butt on the ice.

"Yes!" Gomamon cheered at MetalEtemon's humiliation.

"What the heck? Of all the days I forgot my ice gear!" he grumbled as he tried to get up. However, this gave Gyro and idea.

"Guys, what happens when you heat then cool metal REALLY fast?" he said. The three of them blinked, before their eyes widened in realization.

"Koshiro." Yamato said, earning the Chosen of Knowledge's attention,"What does happen?"

"I think it's better the story explains it." Koshiro said, even though he had an idea.

"Right!" all three nodded.

"Crimson Flare!"

"Gaia Force!"

The two attacks hit, but they weren't intended to have much force behind them, so much as adding more heat.

"Heh. I barely even felt that!" Etemon grinned, feeling more confident than ever.

"Laugh while you can! Arctic Blizzard!" Vikemon shouted, blasting him with a burst of cold air.

"What's this? Some nice air conditioning? You shouldn't have," MetalEtemon laughed.

"Heh. Must be tough being stupid," Phoenixmon chuckled.

"Huh?" MetalEtemon blinked.

"Don't you know what happens when you heat up then cool metal?" WarGreymon smirked before the sound of cracking could be heard.

MetalEtemon looked down and gasped in horror as his entire body was now covered in cracks. "W-What?! WHY?!" he shouted.

"I knew it." Koshiro said with a small grin.

"Metal becomes really brittle when it's cooled too fast after heating up," Vikemon smirked. "Also, I'm not done yet. But before this, I should mention. My Mjollnir is ALSO made of Chrome Digizoid!" he grinned.

Novice frowned a little at the tidbit. That was something he had to learn the hard way during his early days as an Overseer. Not to mention if you add some... questionable materials into what you want to make.

"Oh yeah." Gomamon said, now having finally calmed down somewhat.

"N-no way! You're not gonna!" MetalEtemon gasped.

"Oh yeah! Say goodnight monkey man!" Vikemon grinned as the Morning Stars on his back were launched forward, hitting the weakened metal of MetalEtemon's body, and broke right through, leaving a sizeable hole in his chest.

"N-NO WAY!" MetalEtemon cried in dismay as he soon dissolved into data, and once again, he was gone from the Digital World.

"Good riddance." Mimi said almost coldly. Not that anyone could blame her.

(Song end)

"Good riddance." Vikemon said, before reverting back to Bukamon, blinking in surprise "Ok… that's a weird sensation."

Aside from small laughs at Vikemon saying the same thing, Gomamon started looking at Novice eagerly. The Overseer ignored it, having an idea why the seal was staring at him so expectantly.

"Yeahp, all that power just poofing away, pretty jarring." Koromon said with a sage nod.

"You just hate losing your hands and feet." Yokomon said knowingly.

All the digimon that had gone to Perfect and then to their baby forms agreed.

"In any case…" Gyro started, before clapping Jaune's shoulder "Good work." he said, before turning to everyone "To all of you at that. Now we just have to keep this up against the Dark Masters."

"Hopefully the others are going to be able to do the same." Yang said in slight worry as she looked out towards the visible treeline in the distance.

"This is REALLY annoying!" AeroVeedramon growled as they were forced to evade. With how the robot was fighting, by now they'd had most of the Digimon that rebelled, including Deramon, run for cover, while they along with CannonBeemon and Waspmon continued to fight. It seemed that the 'Wind Guardians' (another ironic name) who were Puppetmon's 'playmates' were mostly made up of random mon that Puppetmon basically picked on a whim, so their combat prowesses...not really up there.

If there was anything that could be remotely called a silver lining...was that Puppetmon didn't seem to care who was in the way, as while none of them had been hit, several of the remaining RedVegiemon had met their end when they were accidentally crushed by the robot, not that Puppetmon seemed to care.

"As usual." Yamato commented with a sigh.

Ren grit his teeth again as he kept hearing the mad puppet's laughter while he had just stepped on several RedVegiemon who had been blown back. It was clear their lives meant about as much as a pile of dirt to the Dark Master.

Ken was also having a bit of flashbacks on how he thought digimon were just data and not living beings.

"We can't keep this up forever!" CannonBeemon reported, hitting the robot with more armaments. "Perhaps we should do a tactical retreat," he suggested.

"If only Puppetmon was outside." Gabumon muttered

"That...might be a good idea," Waspmon admitted.

"Hate to say it...but they might have a point," Nora grunted, using her hammer to fend off another attack.

Ren frowned at hearing that...but nodded. "You may be right. We've done quite a bit of damage already."

"Okay, everyone, get ready to retreat!" Ruby said.

"Oh no you don't!" Puppetmon growled, moving to grab anyone who was still close by, which in this case was JewelBeemon, who had just narrowly avoided being stepped on a moment ago. However, CannonBeemon also saw that, and gasped.

"Look out!" he shouted, ramming into JewelBeemon who reverted to Wormmon in surprise...leaving himself to be caught in the robot's grasp. "Agh!"

"No! They already saved Leomon." Mimi cried out. Once again she was hugging Palmon a little too tightly.

"Mimi calm down." Sora said firmly, "I'm sure they'll find a way to save him." Then the Chosen of Love hugged her friend. It seemed to calm Mimi down.

"CannonBeemon!" Waspmon shouted in alarm and horror as the hive guardian was being squeezed in the arm.

"Hahahaha! I got one of your friends. Don't you dare run away or I'll squish him!" Puppetmon laughed.

"You… heartless bastard." Ren growled, his grip tightening on his weapons, the scene before him similar, yet different at the same time.

"I'm heartless? You're the one who ran off while we were playing and wrecked my toy room!" Puppetmon shot back. "But that doesn't matter," he smirked cruelly. "If you don't want anything to happen, you'll all stay right there!"

"Freaking asshole!" Pierce growled "He'll kill him anyway, that's how his kind work."

"He's right." Yamato said, "Even if any of them sacrifice themselves Puppetmon will just kill them all anyway."

"But we can't just leave him…!" Blake frowned.

"We gotta save him!" Waspmon said frantically.

"Should we...listen to his demands for now and wait for an opening?" Wormmon asked. CannonBeemon got caught to save him, so he was understandably feeling guilty.

"Though decisions like this… they're never fun." MetalGarurumon growled, keeping his targeting system locked on Puppetmon's mech, trying to use this chance to find a structural weakness.

"Well, what'll it be?" Puppetmon smirked.

Ren frowned and stepped forward. "We wi-" he started, but didn't get to finish.

"Don't!" CannonBeemon shouted, before crying out as the mech squeezed again. But he didn't care. He kept talking. "You must NOT give in to his demands! Not for my life!" he shouted. "The future of the world is at stake, and right now, doing nothing is the absolute WORST thing to do!"

Ren froze at the words, the exact same words, the ones that had pushed him to save Nora from the Grimm as a child.

The ones said to him by his father.

"You shut up!" Puppetmon growled, making the mech squeeze harder.

"I won't!" CannonBeemon growled in pain, before looking at the chosen. "Don't worry about me! If to save all of you and the future of this world, one life needs to be paid...I would gladly want it to be mine!" he shouted, before turning to Puppetmon and firing from the parts of his armament pod that was still uncovered, the missiles futilely exploding against the mech, before Puppetmon growled and had his mech cover the entire pod. However...this was what CannonBeemon wanted. "Save...this world…!" he said, before firing EVERYTHING he had left, and seeing as they had nowhere to go...exploded while still in the pods, causing a chain reaction, ending with a massive explosion that destroyed a portion of the arm holding him, as well as breaking off the section of the mech's 'face', revealing Puppetmon to all of them. When the light cleared, there was nothing left of CannonBeemon.

"...He destroyed himself rather than allowed himself to be used to destroy them." Ken said in mild shock. A shock that was shared by everyone. And now Mimi started crying again as she leaned into Sora's hug. The Chosen of Love now feeling guilty for giving false hope.

Ren stood there, his body still frozen, but this time in horror.

It was just like back then.

His father had died to give him a chance to escape the Grimm.

And CannonBeemon had died to give them a chance to defeat Puppetmon.

"Wow… what an idiot!" Puppetmon laughed. "My robot can still move, so I can just ask Machinedramon to replace those parts when I've squ-" he was cut off however, as an arrow whizzed past his cheek, embedding itself in the wall behind him before breaking apart into light, as he new sported a deep gash in his wooden face.

"Next time I won't miss." Angewomon growled in anger.

"You spit on the commander's memory… for that you deserve no mercy!" Waspmon added as he fired several shots at Puppetmon, forcing the Dark Master to dodge and duck, looking up when he heard something clink on the ground in front of him, seeing a small cylinder with a pink stripe around it… and then it blew up in his face.

Nora was on the ground, Magnhild's panel open with now one grenade missing, before she closed it back up as she looked up and glared at the Digimon as the smoke cleared away and showed that his clothes were now burned at the edge and had a few holes in them "Give me another reason to shove one down your throat punk… I dare you."

Gatomon really wished that the grenade had done more damage. As did everyone else.

"W-what the heck?" Puppetmon glared. "Who the hell do you think you are?!" he growled, pulling out his hammer, only to be met with a small barrage of attacks, knocking him into the air and making him drop his hammer. However, before he could hit the ground, several roots and branches cushioned his fall.

"Lord Puppetmon!" Cherrymon said, worry in his voice as he rushed towards Puppetmon.

"Perfect timing, Cherrymon," Puppetmon smirked, before turning to the Chosen, but he stopped him.

"No, you must not fight them right now!" Cherrymon said. "I had wondered why others seemed to flock to them so readily when they left, and I realized they have something you lack. If you fight them now…"

"You think I'm going to lose?" Puppetmon glared.

"My Lord, I…"Cherrymon tried to help him see reason, but Puppetmon was having none of it.

"Flying Cross Cutter!" Puppetmon called out, and suddenly Cherrymon had been sliced in half, shattering into data. "I don't care who you are. Nobody gets away with making fun of me," Puppetmon said coldly.

"He... He just saved him and Puppetmon just destroyed him." Miyako said in shock.

"This is how the Cherrymon Yamato met died too." Novice said with a sad look, "He tried to warn Puppetmon about you what he lacked and his reward was being blasted to oblivion."

"I can easily see that." Yamato commented with a glare at the screen.

"You…" Ren growled as he watched the Dark Master erase one of his most loyal followers so easily "You're the worst kind of person I've ever met."

"And why should I care? You won't be my friend, and if Cherrymon called me weak, then he's not my friend either!" Puppetmon said, as if it was simple as that.

Ren was silent for several moments "Friend? Of course he wasn't your friend. Nobody was ever your friend! Friends treat each other with kindness, something you obviously lack! You only care about yourself!" he shouted, losing his composure in the face of such a despicable person, his crest starting to shine brightly.

Despite focusing on reading, Wormmon felt a little excited of his other evolving and probably destroying Puppetmon.

"I care about those around me, I let them know as such, I help them when they need it, without asking for anything in return. Because that's how friends work!" Ren was practically raging at this point, the glow of his crest increasing and starting to spread to the rest of his body. The light continued to grow before it shot into the sky as a pillar of light. "I swear, I won't let anyone die because of your sick twisted sense of 'friendship' and 'fun'!" he shouted, before his Tag shattered, and his Crest entered his chest, the light gathering into his hand. He grabbed hold of his D-Core, which transformed into a D-Crest with a lavender colored grip. "Ready Wormmon?"

"Anytime!" Wormmon nodded with determination as he turned to face Puppetmon, while Ren pointed his Digivice at his partner.

(Play Brave Heart)

The Crest of Kindness appeared on the glass covering, before the light erupted and shot it out, going into Wormmon, who turned the same color as the Crest and did a backflip. "Wormmon, Warp Evolution!" Wormmon called out, releasing a beam of energy, which revealed Stingmon who turned around and repeated the process, revealing JewelBeemon, who turned once more and released one last beam of light. The being that emerged from the light was a large humanoid with insect like armor, sporting a single large eye in the middle of his head right above a set of mandibles, and coming out the side of his head were two large stag beetle horns, before a pair of clawed gauntlets appeared on his forearms, similar to the Dramon Killers in shape, hair appeared on the back of his head, and four long wings shot out of his back suddenly, before his carapace gained color, revealing it to be black with some white stripes scattered about, the wings an orange flame like color, his lone insect eye was a shining blue like Wormmon while his hair was a dark brown, the setting around him changing in a dark forest, before he spread his arms out, cutting down the trees around him as the Crest of Kindness appeared on his left forearm. "GrandisKuwagamon!"

"Okay... not what I expected." Wormmon commented on the appearance of his other's Ultimate form.

"Did you expect something more monstrous?" Ken asked with a small smile.

"...Yes." Wormmon said, although now he sounded happy.

"Like hell I'm gonna let you!" Puppetmon growled as his eyes flashed, and the robot started moving by itself, trying to crush them with its other arm. However, before it could hit, there was a flash, as suddenly GrandisKuwagamon was standing over Ren protectively...and the robot's remaining arm was promptly diced apart.

"...I feel like I'm being copied." Agumon muttered in annoyance.

"Oh don't say that Agumon." Taichi chastised playfully.

"The irony of me being a Kuwagamon aside, I'm liking the new claws," GrandisKuwagamon commented.

Digimon Analyzer: GrandisKuwagamon

GrandisKuwagamon. Virus Type. An Ultimate Level Insectoid Digimon. Known as the Demon of the Deep Forest, it is a powerful bug Digimon, and one of the rarest of its kind. It is known to be capable to match certain dragonic Digimon in terms of strength, thanks to the Gran Killers on his arms that can tear through any shell or metal with ease. His special attacks are Grandis Scissors, charging energy in his horns, and either using them to shred an enemy he catches, or firing it as twin beams of energy, and Demon Cross, slashing the air in front of him with enough power to send an X shaped wave of energy at his foes.

"N-No way…!" Puppetmon gasped, before he glared at them. "What the hell are you looking at!" he growled, throwing his strings out, catching both Ren and GrandisKuwagamon. "Heh, I got you! Now go fight each other!" Puppetmon ordered, pulling on the strings...but nothing happened. Both Ren and GrandisKuwagamon didn't move an inch. "W-Why? Why aren't my powers working on you?!" he demanded as he tried to tug on the strings more.

Ren didn't say a word, instead reaching behind him, and pulling out something which he promptly used to cut the strings, causing Puppetmon to stumble back in surprise. However, before he could recover, Ren surged forward, and jammed the object, an old but very sturdy knife, into Puppetmon's torso, actually breaching the wood and jamming the gears, causing Puppetmon to shout in agony. "Of course your abilities won't work," Ren said, his voice cold as ice. "None of us would listen to someone like you," he glared.

Yamato couldn't help smiling at Ren saying almost the exact same thing he did.

"Y-You…!" Puppetmon gasped venomously as he grabbed for his Flying Cross Cutter, but just as he drew it, a sudden flash happened and his severed arm fell to the ground, it and his weapon shattering to data.

"You should have listened to Cherrymon." Ren started, Puppetmon's eyes focusing on him "The thing you were missing? It's that you have no one to rely on but yourself. You don't have anyone who would willingly call you a friend." with that, Ren turned around, right as GrandisKuwagamon raised his claws, crossing them over each other "You lived alone, so alone you shall meet your end."

"Demon Cross!" GrandisKuwagamon called out, right as Ren ripped his father's knife out of Puppetmon's chest, taking out one of the gears and some of the wood. Puppetmon didn't even get to scream in pain before he was cut in four, shattering into data almost immediately.

(Song end)

"Its over," Ren sighed, feeling the tension leave his body, leaving sadness in its wake. They'd won, but once again...a good Digimon had paid the price.

Novice looked to everyone. They all seemed sad to varying degrees, despite the victory. Well that was to be expected.

Before anything else could be said, the ground beneath their feet started shaking, cracks appeared in it, and small pieces of earth rising up before shattering into data particles.

"Ren, we need to go." GrandisKuwagamon said, kneeling next to his partner.

"Right." Ren nodded, before climbing onto his partner's shoulder as they lifted off into the sky, finding the others had done the same and that they were apparently taking some help with them.

"Well… next stop I guess." Ruby said as she held onto Rosemon, before everyone flew off to their next destination.

Now, only half of the Dark Masters remained.

The book then shut itself and no one said anything.

"We can all take a break if you want." Novice told the readers.

"We'll take it." Taichi said, more for Mimi's sake than anyone else's.

"Hey Mimi, if you still want I can help you a bit with coffe experiments." Novice said with a smile.

"...Yes please." Mimi said, still a bit misty eyed.

"Oh, and before I forget," Novice said before making a holographic screen appear. "Jo, Ken."

The two didn't need further prompting as they took out their digivices. Then another set of lights came out of them and entered their digivices. Turning them into D-Crests.

"Wait a sec!" Daisuke let out "Does this mean we can't do Jogress anymore?"

This cause Ken and Wormmon to freeze.

"No it doesn't." Novice said with a grin,"Jogress is still possible with you two."

"Ken, can we try?" Wormmon asked eagerly.

"Please, Jo." Gomamon also practically pleaded his partner.

The two looked at their partners in amusement. "Sure thing." The two said and with that, the next break officially begun.