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.

46. Chapter 46

As promised, Novice was helping Mimi with her coffee experiments, although there was the hiccup called Novice doesn't drink coffee. He never acquired a taste for it. But that didn't stop Mimi from testing some bizzarre concoctions. Worst part is, Novice apparently remembered that an acquintance of Mirei in the game he previously mentioned apparently made that exact recipe.

Which leads us to the sickbay.

"...Do I even want to know how something like coffee caused this?" Asked Ophanimon who was nursing Koshiro who was suffering from a pretty bad food poisoning. The poor fool decided to be nice and test the deadly poison that Mimi had made.

"Yes, Koshiro has no taste." Mimi huffed, while Novice made gagging motions behind the Chosen of Purity's back to Ophanimon. While the angelic Digimon seemed to scowl at the lair's master's antics, she did understand that whatever concoction was put into Koshiro it had really done a number to his digestive system.

"Will Koshiro be alright?" asked a very worried Tentomon.

"He will, do not worry." Ophanimon said with a sigh. "Although he will need an hour or two to recuperate enough to not warrant watching."

Tentomon looked down as he sat on a chair that was next to Koshiro's sickbed. "Can't you use that healing beam on him?"

Novice shook his head, "It would heal whatever damage was done to the intestines, but until the worst of the poisoning has passed it wouldn't do much of anything."

It took some time, but Koshiro was back up again, although his stomach would be a little... upset for a while. Meaning that he can't eat anything that isn't easily digested.

Also, Takeru had asked about a maid he saw carrying Black on a cushy pillow. The Chosen of Hope said that the maid seemed familiar somehow. The kids got a little suspicious when Novice's face lost color at that declaration before he dashed out to who knows where.

The Children got a little impatient when they hadn't heard from him for a while, so they decided to start the reading without him. The book was right in front of them after all, and from what they could tell, it didn't have any defenses on it. Other than that it won't let them skip ahead.

Tentomon offered to read this time, hoping that doing so would get Koshiro's mind off his current state. While no one understood how the ladybug Digimon got to that conclusion, they didn't question it.

And so, Tentomon opened the book with his three digit hands and looked for the appropriate page.

The Titans! HerculesKabuterimon & UlforceVeedramon!

The title card on the screen showed to large shadows who's shapes they couldn't really tell, but the title was pretty telling.

"It's me!" Veemon and Tentomon managed to say in unison.

"Titans? That sounds cool." Daisuke commented with a grin.

"Of all the places they could have copied and used on this mountain…" Pierce sighed as the hot sun was beating down on them as they walked through the long stretch of asphalt road. "Why did it have to be fucking Route 66?!" he angrily demanded as true enough, there was a sign right there that said 'Route 66'. The very same one from America.

All eyes turned to Mimi, the most likely person to know about it.

"I know it's an old highway." Mimi said with a shrug, "Not much else. But i heard it goes through some very hot areas... So maybe that's why Pierce is angry."

"How long have we been going down this road?" Floramon asked tiredly. After the Forest area dissolved, most of the Digimon who rebelled opted to leave the mountain, but Floramon, Deramon, and Waspmon all chose to stay with them.

"I lost count," Deramon sighed, though he seemed pretty okay. It was likely due to him once living in a desert area too.

"Not to worry, I can see a city in the distance," Waspmon said.

"Who's the leader of the city?" Veemon asked.

"Machinedramon." Was the universal response.

"That would be Machinedramon, and he's cold hearted and ruthless from what we've heard." Floramon answered.

"In more ways than one."Koshiro agreed.

"Right. THAT one," Blake frowned, remembering their encounter with that particular Dark Master.

"Still...we'll be in a city, so maybe we'll have more familiar terrain to work with," Salamon mused.

"Or he could have the entire city be his personal base," Tentomon sighed.

Despite themselves, all the Children who were in the city area chuckled.

"Right...or that…" Salamon groaned.

"Well...I guess there's no point in thinking about it too much if we haven't even gotten there, right Ruby?" Palmon asked, before turning around. "Ruby!" she shouted in alarm, catching all their attentions, as Ruby was lying on the ground, having clearly collapsed.

Minutes later, the group was gathered under a bus stop they had managed to find, Ruby layed down on the bench.

"Dammit, she's burning up." Pierce sighed as he removed his hand from her forehead.

"What's wrong with her?" Hikari was the first to question, remembering how she was in a similar situation. But hers was summer flu, and last they checked Ruby wasn't recently sick.

"What happened though? She was fine recently. And last I checked she didn't have a cold, right?" Nora asked in confusion.

"Not that we know of." Blake said, shaking her head.

"Yang would be the one with that answer." Weiss added.

"Or Gyro, considering how much time the two spent together when we were on Remnant for that one week." Tentomon tacked on.

"Sadly… none of those options are available to us right now." Ren sighed.

"Is she going to be ok?" Palmon asked in worry.

Gatomon's ears drooped a little at her feeling the same thing when Hikari needed help.

Pierce looked back at Ruby for a moment, before nodding as he turned back to Palmon "Yeah, she should be fine with some rest. As for the cause… I may have an idea."

"What is it?" Pyrrha asked.

"You all remember when she got pissed off at MetalSeadramon, right?" he asked, receiving nods from everyone "That was her Silver Eyes awakening."

"Jo?" Sora was the first to say while the Chosen of Reliability was consulting the guidebook.

"...It says that the initial activation of Silver Eyes caused Ruby to be knocked out." Jo commented, "But afterwards it had no adverse effects."

"So it gets used more in the canon." Yamato concluded.

"That's what the text seems to imply." Jo confirmed.

"Why is that special?" Wormmon asked.

"Because people with Silver Eyes are not only rare, but they have the power to be the bane of all Grimm, though they've also been shown to harm humans, and now, Digimon as well." Pierce further explained.

"I'm guessing Ruby's eyes awoke in the canon timeline?" Gabumon asked knowingly.

Pierce nodded "Right, it happened when she, well, witnessed the original Pyrrha's death, it pushed her over the edge and activated them, the result being she managed to turn a giant Grimm Wyvern to stone, and somehow made Cinder… lose some parts if you will. Although the last bit is due to Cinder strangely having a Grimm bonded to her, and don't ask how, it's just plain weird."

At that moment the door to the reading room opened, allowing Novice to enter. The Overseer looked... done.

"What happened to you?" Miyako was the first to ask.

"Nothing, just... Black made my life more difficult." Novice said before plopping on his seat with a weary sigh. Then he also rubbed his face a little. No one noticed that there was a very faded outline of a hand print on it.

The Children and their partners shared a look before deciding to move on.

"Hey, Novice. How did Cinder get a Grimm bonded to her?" Gomamon then asked.

"What?" Novice asked before looking to the screen and seeing the scene that was being played. "Oh, you started without me. Well, I'm not sure... And honestly, given the damage Cinder took from Silver Eyes, I'm not sure I want to know."

"Okay, but why did she collapse?" Ren asked, wisely not questioning the Grimm bond.

"Well...I don't know. All I know is that originally after she used it, maybe it was the shock, the stress, the exhaustion from the Battle of Beacon adding up with it too, but suffice to say she only woke up...I'd say about a week later," he explained. "There really isn't much info on the Silver Eyes, so for all I know, this is a side effect of awakening it."

"A week?!" Came out of everyone.

"The timeline wasn't specified, leaving the audience to draw their own conclusions." Novice said simply as he checked something on a holographic screen. Suddenly two messages popped up and he checked them. The Overseer visibly deflated at the content.

"Do you... want to talk about it?" Sora asked carefully.

"Hm?"

"About what was on that screen." Sora clarified.

"I appreciate the offer, but this isn't something any of you can help me with." Novice smiled at everyone.

Deciding to take Novice's word for it, Tentomon continued reading.

"Meaning the only person who would have the actual answers…" Patamon trailed off.

"Is Summer Rose." Salamon finished with a sigh.

"So, what should we do then?" Waspmon asked, he was confused about the things mentioned in the past tense, but he didn't pay it mind at the moment

"It would take too long to explain." Taichi was grateful for Waspmon not asking questions right now.

"For now? We should get to the city as soon as we can, then find somewhere to rest," Pierce frowned. "From there...then we'll make a plan."

"Right," the others nodded, Waspmon carrying Ruby so they could cover ground faster.

"Geez...who designed this city? Frankenstein?" Pierce asked, as they looked around at the city that looked like a hodgepodge of various cities, seeing as he could see landmarks from New York (Statue of Liberty), Rome (the Colosseum), Paris (the Eiffel Tower), and several others.

"I can even see parts from Mistral." Pyrrha pointed out as she saw what looked like landscape carved out into the sides of cliffs, though she assumed some of the area was also mixed in with Japan from Earth, seeing as the two shared some similarities.

"So this time it's a combination of cities from Earth and Remnant." Sora commented at the sight.

"I can even see Atlas… and mixed in with some buildings from Earth I think." Weiss noticed.

"Yeah, that's Saint Basil's Cathedral from Russia… and that over there is an ugly sight." Pierce added with a grimace as he looked to the left and saw a mansion that had a… literally, a swastika banner hanging in front, obviously dating back to the Nazi regime.

"Wait, that's my mansion!" Weiss realised as she saw where he was looking.

Pierce blinked slowly at that "Huh… so even the Digital World thinks your dad is like Hitler… good to know." he said, before tapping the shell beneath him "Safe to say we're going there big guy."

The Children didn't feel like laughing at that fact, but Novice did let out a small chuckle. The Overseer briefly wondered what they were taught at school about that period in time.

"I figured as much." AtlurKabuterimon said with a laugh, having had to go all the way to Perfect to carry everyone.

Once they were inside, finding a room was easy. Seeing as this WAS her home, Weiss knew it like the back of her hand. The question was...which room to use…

"Hm...seeing as we're in the middle of enemy territory...maybe a room we can evacuate out of quickly if needs be?" Patamon suggested.

"Did you do something like that?" Yamato asked the ones who were in similar situation.

"I didn't think of that." Taichi muttered.

"It was easy to get out when things got dangerous." Sora added in to ease the boy's mild guilt.

Weiss mused about it...and nodded. "I think I know just the place," she said, before she lead them to a room that was actually pretty close to a back entrance, so if needs be they could get away quickly. The only thing was that it was a bit smaller than some of the other rooms available. "Sorry about the space, but this is where Klein's room would be in the real mansion."

"No problem, I think we prefer this to your parent's room… or Shitley's room." Pierce said.

"Huh?" Came out of everyone when part of Pierce's line was censored.

"Some of you are far too young to hear something like that." Novice said as he had a small snicker himself. "Let's just say it was a joke on Whitley's name."

Weiss snorted at the name, catching a few of them off guard "Ok… that one was good." she said after a moment.

"Is Weiss' little brother really that horrible?" Hikari asked, finding it hard to believe that a younger sibling could be that horrible.

"Depends on how you view it." Novice replied, "He's... a real piece of work sure, but I wouldn't go and call him the worst sibling in multiversal existance."

"You've seen worse, right?" Takeru said apprehensively.

"You have no idea." Novice said with a small smile.

"We should probably see if there's any medicine around, maybe we could alleviate Ruby's symptoms." Ren suggested.

"Could aromatherapy help her?" Floramon asked as she raised her flower shaped hands.

"Well… possibly, it's worth a shot I suppose." Pyrrha said after a moment of thought.

"It will help her relax if nothing else." Jo commented, "But it's not exactly a cure."

"As expected of a doctor's son." Novice commented.

"Let's look for the medicine while they do that." Veemon said to his partner.

"Right." Pierce said, before turning to Weiss "You're the one who knows where everything is around here."

"Of course, follow me." Weiss said as she left the room with Tentomon, Pierce and Veemon in tow.

On their way to the medical room (which Weiss said was more like a doctor's clinic complete with an actual doctor) they stopped halfway through a hallway, Weiss looking up at a painting on the wall with narrowed eyes.

"...I know Weiss is rich, but that's really rich." Daisuke commented on the house apparently having it's own doctor.

Though others were more interested in what the painting was that Weiss was glaring at.

Pierce stepped up next to her to look at it, and found it was the same family portrait that had been shown in Volume 4 "What's the story behind the sad looks?"

"Back when Winter and I actually cared about HIS opinion, we ended up disappointing him, though we still don't know why to this day, and of course, my little brother saw it as an opportunity to play kiss up." Weiss answered.

"...That's not how a family should look." Yamato said with a scowl.

"I wonder if our parents could've stayed together." Takeru commented.

"Takeru?" Patamon looked a little worried.

"Some people argue that it's better for kids to have divorced parents than ones that are forcibly maintaining marriage." Novice commented, "Also, to my understanding, your parents are still on speaking terms at least."

"You're right." Yamato said simply, "Things could've gone a lot worse. Like us not being allowed to see each other."

This made Gabumon have a question, "How was your family, Novice?"

"Hm?"

"You said that you had parents and a sister." the pelt wearing digimon clarified.

Novice was about to say something before taking another look at the Schnee family portrait, "Okay, replace that portrait with all happy faces, then gender-swap the youngest and middle kid and you basically have my family."

"You were the middle child?" Miyako asked in wonder.

"Yup." Was the single answer.

Then Ken had a different thought, "That magic you used with Iori and me, have you used it to talk to your family?"

"I think we've gotten a little off-track here." Novice said before ushering Tentomon to continue reading.

Koshiro also encouraged Tentomon to keep reading, having a feeling that their host doesn't want to talk.

"So, born a little shit then, good to know, won't have qualms about kicking him in the balls if I meet him then." Pierce said with a smirk.

"What?" Iori let out in small confusion. "What balls?"

Everyone else looked surprised at that, especially Novice who didn't expect the term to not be censored.

"You... don't need to know." Miyako said carefully, not wanting to use 'I'll tell you when you're older'.

"Why not?" Iori asked with a look of suspicion.

"You'll figure it out as you grow older." Novice said quickly, "But right now, it's not important."

Iori looked miffed at that, but accepted the reasoning.

"Even mom doesn't like him, she said he reminds her too much of his father." Weiss added.

"Speaking of that, besides catching up, did you and your mom talk about anything else before we left?" Pierce asked.

"Well… she mentioned how she's thinking about doing something in regards to the company, though she's not sure what that could be." Weiss said with a sigh.

Pierce hummed in thought at that, before grinning a bit "I'm reminded of a fic I read once, there's a few interesting details I won't bother you with, but the main thing is an idea I'd like to give to your mom."

The Children gave Novice a look at the mention of a fic.

"Don't know. It's not like I've red every single one that popped up." Novice shrugged.

"I'm sure she'd like to hear them," Weiss nodded. "At any rate, this should be where the medical supplies are kept," she said as they arrived at their destination.

"Here's hoping this mansion is a complete copy of yours," Tentomon said as they went through the medicine cabinet in the room.

"Well...I found some stuff for fevers but...think this would help?" Veemon asked as he held up medicine for the common cold mostly.

"There's nothing here for anything worse than a cold or a light fever…" Weiss confirmed after a few minutes.

"We found a pack of cold medicine, but that was empty." Taichi commented with a frown at the memory.

"Damn...this...might not be enough…" Pierce frowned.

"How about we bring this back anyway. Maybe it'll at least help lessen the fever," Tentomon suggested.

"That's fair," everyone nodded before taking the medicine the found with them...and a few extras just in case.

"Well, lowering the fever is a good thing." Jo commented.

"Jo, is that really a good thing?" Koshiro piped up, "I remember reading that fever is body's defense mechanism to... overheat the bacteria and viruses in our bodies."

"Well it depends on how high the fever is." Jo explained, "In case of infants, having a high fever can be very fatal. But in any case, you want to make sure that at least the head is cooled. Placing a cold pack on neck also helps with that. Besides, in Ruby's case, this fever is unnatural."

The Children hummed at this knowledge, while Novice had a small smile. That was relatively common knowledge, but he could still see that the material prepared for the Chosen of Reliability won't go to waste.

On their way back though, Weiss stopped in front of the painting again and pulled out her weapon "I've always wanted to do this." she said with a small grin, before using it to cut out the parts that contained her father and little brother.

"I get the feeling you've been needing THAT for a long time," Pierce chuckled lightly.

"Let's just say having time away from Remnant gave me plenty of time to think too," Weiss said with a satisfied look.

When they got back to the room Ruby was in, the first thing they were met with was a relaxing scent. "...that feels really good after a long day like this," Tentomon couldn't help but say.

"Why thank you," Floramon said. "I'm not sure how much its helping with the fever, but at least everyone is feeling relaxed again."

Veemon looked around the room a bit "Where are Blake and Patamon?"

"They went out to be lookouts just in case, Waspmon went with them and degenerated himself to FanBeemon to avoid being spotted." Gabumon answered.

This reminded Taichi about how he entrusted Takeru to protect Sora and Hikari while he and Koshiro went to find medicine. He was still thankful for the two getting out before the mansion they hid in was blown up.

"Right. Good idea," Weiss nodded in approval. As it was, the fact remained they were still in enemy territory. "At any rate, we found some medicine...but its only for light fevers."

"But it might be able to help lower the fever, right?" Palmon asked hopefully.

"That's what we're hoping for," Pierce nodded, before going over and propping Ruby up a bit. They quickly helped her take the medicine and laid her back down. So far she was still out, and the fever didn't seem to be going down much…

"Looks like there's no choice." Ren said after a few minutes of waiting.

"We need to go look for better medicine for her." Nora finished with a nod.

"Weiss and I will go with our partners, it's best if we're as small as possible for this, to avoid Machinedramon finding us easily." Pierce said quickly, so the others didn't get too gungho about it.

"It'll be tough, the merged landscapes means I don't know where the closest hospital to the mansion is. And hacking Machinedramon's network to get that information could be risky, for all we know, he could be monitoring it." Weiss mused.

At this point Koshiro looked down in shame. Weiss just pointed out the very mistake he made.

"Koshiro, none of us could've known that Machinedramon tracked your accesss." Taichi said with a small sigh. In hindsight, they should've thought of that, but Koshiro's track record of hacking things in the Digital World got them a little too confident.

"Thanks, but I still should've thought that Machinedramon would be capable of monitoring the city's network." Koshiro said, less of an argument and more of a statement.

"You can't get everything right, no matter how much you want to." Mimi commented before looking awkward. "Umm... Koshiro... I'm sorry that my coffee gave you food poisoning."

"It's okay." Koshiro stammered. He wasn't sure of the damage to his intestines, but the Chosen of Knowledge at least felt alright.

"My fault for not even trying to stop her." Novice added in with a small chuckle.

"She's right, he could be capable of tracing the signal, and since our scrolls can connect to each other easily, there's a risk of him finding us as well." Pyrrha added.

"So in other words, it's best if we avoid having to try to hack for information, but if we absolutely have to...make sure the scrolls are disconnected," Pierce nodded.

"That… or I COULD try something… I have an idea which may possibly work, but I'll have to be quick about it." Weiss said after some thought.

Koshiro remembered what he did to make it harder to be tracked, but that backfired. Hopefully Weiss could think of something better.

"We'd better save that for if we really need to then," Tentomon said.

"But for now let's go. The sooner we get what we need, the sooner we can get back," Veemon said.

"We'll keep an eye out for enemies," Deramon volunteered. "I'm quite good at playing a bush."

Everyone let out small laughs at Deramon's declaration.

"I can also spread my roots. That way I'll know if anyone is coming near," Floramon said.

"I'll help too," Palmon added.

Mimi turned to her partner, "Palmon, could you do that?"

"Yes, but I would have to be rooted to one place." the plant digimon replied.

"We'll take care of the mansion defenses. You four just worry about getting the medicine," Ren nodded.

"Alright, we're counting on you," Pierce nodded before he, Weiss, Veemon, and Tentomon soon left the mansion.

"I can't believe we're doing this. Again," Weiss sighed.

"Hey, if it works, it works, sure as hell is working on those things too." Pierce said, glaring at something ahead.

Everyone got curious, seeing as the screen didn't show what Pierce meant yet.

"Why can't we just break them again?" Veemon asked.

"Because it's likely they regularly report in, so one missed report, and poof, the place is on high alert." Tentomon answered.

"Still… I didn't think I'd ever fight an Atlesian Knight." Weiss added, looking at the few Atlesian Knights roaming the streets.

"What?" Taichi, Koshiro and their partners let out in unison.

"...That didn't happen with you guys, did it?" Veemon asked.

"No, the streets were empty, until Machinedramon's forces tracked my accesspoints." Koshiro agreed.

"But they didn't have robots. Only digimon." Agumon added in.

"Considering that they have some of Atlas's factories here, I'm not surprised they used it to mass produce the things to act as sentries." Pierce said with a frown.

"I suppose… but did we have to use boxes again?" Weiss grumbled.

"Hey, it's working right?" Pierce shot back.

"They shouldn't." Koshiro said, despite finding himself laughing. As did everyone else at the Remnant team once again using video game logic.

Weiss chose not to dignify that with an answer…

"Anyway, we should keep moving," Tentomon sighed.

"Yeah, the shop is just over there," Veemon nodded.

"Let's just get this over with," Weiss sighed as they put on their...disguises...and made their way to the shop, the sentries not once seeming to register the oddity of a random box.

"It shouldn't be that funny." Hikari said through her giggles.

"Robots are stupid." Gatomon dead-panned, being the only one who found this sad, rather than funny.

Once they were inside, they wasted no time in raiding the stock in the shop. The problem was, it seemed many of the supplies were..not that different from what was already available in the Schnee Manor.

"Dammit." Pierce sighed "Still nothing."

"And it's not like we can just give her more of the same thing. She might overdose if we do, and things could only get worse from there." Weiss added as she looked at bottles containing the same pills and liquids they had already given to Ruby.

"What do we do now?" Tentomon asked. "We can't keep randomly searching."

Weiss frowned, looking around...and spotted a computer. "...I may have an idea," she said, before booting up the computer.

"What do you have in mind?" Pierce asked.

"We can't do a random search, but we can't risk hacking either," she said. "So I'm gonna send them on a little wild goose chase while we find what we want. We won't be finding anything stronger than what the mansion already has if we hit normal shops, and the only place that would have that are hospitals."

"Okay?" Veemon blinked. "I don't really get it."

"...I'm with Veemon on this one. How do you plan on sending Machinedramon's forces somewhere else while looking for somewhere we can go at the same time?" Tentomon asked.

"Like this," Weiss said as she opened up a search and a map, and typed in 'radioactive equipment'.

Pierce looked at the screen in confusion for a moment, before his eyes widened in understanding "Of course!" he exclaimed, the two Digimon jumping in surprise at his sudden words, while Weiss smirked at him catching on.

It took a moment for everyone, but then it was Jo who figured it out. "Of course!"

"What?" Gomamon was the first to ask.

"Tentomon, keep reading, the story might explain it."

The ladybug digimon did as told.

"What is it?" Veemon asked.

"Hospitals make use of radioactive equipment all the time with certain treatments, x-ray scanners and the like, meanwhile, you can find radioactive equipment in certain other areas…" he trailed off.

"Like a military base, or even a power plant from what you two said about Earth several years ago." Weiss finished as she memorized all the locations, before adding in the specification of 'weapons' into her search, cutting down the number of results by at least half. "Alright, now we disconnect, and they'll think we're trying to find powerful weapons to take them on with." she said, closing the search engine and shutting the computer off.

Koshiro slapped his forehead, "Why didn't I think of that!"

"Because, we were much younger than them." Sora said with a sympathetic look.

"Also you would've had to think about being tracked in the first place." Novice added in, "You already searched for hospitals, so that trick wouldn't have worked after you figured it out."

Koshiro visibly deflated at being told the cold hard truth.

"So, while they attack weapon depots and the like…" Tentomon trailed off, finally getting it.

"We raid some unguarded hospitals." Pierce finished with a grin.

"We'd better hurry. We don't know how long it'll take for them to attack the locations they'll think we're at, so we have to get to the nearest Hospital quickly," Weiss said.

"Right. Lead the way," Pierce nodded.

"...I just feel so stupid." Koshiro said with his head hung low.

"Welcome to the club." Yamato added in.

"You're not alone in that." Mimi added in with an embarrassed look.

"So far the plan is working like a charm," Pierce reported as he and Veemon were on lookout duty while Weiss and Tentomon had raided the hospital they went to. Right as he said that, an explosion happened in another section of the city. "A little too well possibly."

"Well...this confirms one thing at least," Weiss frowned. "Machinedramon seems to be the most militaristic of the group. We can expect army tactics moving forward."

"Yeah...also I don't think the Manor is gonna be safe forever," Pierce added. "Call it a hunch, but I think we'd better think of where else we can hide that is less...open...of a target…"

"No, I think you may be right…" Weiss sighed. With how easily they were blowing up locations, the mansion would be all too easy a target.

Once again, Taichi felt grateful to Sora and Takeru for getting Hikari out well before the manor they hid in was blown up.

"Well, as long as nothing forces him to change to carpet bombing, we'll be good, and Murphy can't twist that around in my face because they only just STARTED to blast things sky high." Pierce said, glaring at the sky, as if daring the gods to prove him wrong.

"But it's only a matter of time before he realizes he's not getting us, so…" Tentomon trailed off.

"Let's just go back…" Veemon suggested with a gulp.

"Right, but before that…" Weiss frowned, booting up a nearby computer. "This may or may not be a good idea, but I'm going to type in food locations," Weiss said. "Unless anyone else has a better idea of where to mislead them, I'll start in a minute."

"Let's not blow up important things just yet," Pierce said, stopping her, before typing in a new search option.

"...why would we want to get clothes?" Weiss asked.

Everyone gave a blanched look.

"We don't, yeah. But seeing as he's bound to realize something is fishy soon, at least this might slow him down a little," he said, before entering the search, and they all soon ran away. They were now racing against the clock.

"Umm... wouldn't that make Machinedramon more suspicious?" Iori pointed out.

"...Iori has a point." Armadimon surprisingly pointed out.

"...I want to say that Pierce is an idiot like Daisuke, but I feel like that would be an insult to Daisuke this time." Miyako said with a conflicted look.

"...Thanks?" Daisuke wasn't sure how to take that.

"We're back! Did anything happen while we were gone?" Veemon said as they reached the mansion.

"Nothing's happened here so far," Deramon said.

"But I don't think its going to be that way for long," came Blake's voice as she, Patamon, and FanBeemon came down.

"We saw a fleet mobilize a bit earlier," Patamon reported.

"Right, any noteworthy Digimon among them?" Weiss asked as they all hurried inside.

"Several." Blake said with a grimace as she pulled up her Analyzer with some highlighted entries of what they saw.

Commandramon, Sealsdramon, Pteramon, Tankmon, Mekanorimon, Assaultmon, Elephamon, Bulbmon, and several others, making for a rather...extensive...army.

"We only had to deal with Tankmon, Mekanorimon, and Giga- and Megadramon." Taichi commented.

"Daaamn…" Pierce could only whistle. Neither of the previous Dark Masters brought an army THIS diverse to the field.

"And just like the previous two, they're all part of the same 'Family'. Metal Empire," Weiss noted.

"Huh...think Piedmon is the same?" Veemon mused.

"Yeah, his were called, Nightmare Soldiers." Biyomon commented.

"Definitely something to consider, but not right now," Tentomon said as they were soon in Ruby's room.

"We got the medicine!" Weiss said as they brought out the medicine.

"Okay, let's give them to her now," Palmon smiled, as they quickly administered the medicine.

"Now while we wait and see what happens, we've got another issue to worry about," Pierce said.

"What now?" Wormmon frowned.

"Well...to find the medicine AND to throw Machinedramon off, we sorta...lead them on a wild goose chase," Tentomon said.

"But we doubt it's going to work for long," Weiss frowned.

"That's...bad…" Ren gulped, realizing what they were going for.

"We're not gonna like this at all, are we?" Deramon sighed.

"Nope, seeing as we think they might try carpet bombing the city on the logic that they'll have to hit us eventually…" Pierce shook his head.

"They did." Agumon commented.

"What's the plan then?" Wormmon asked.

"We need a place to escape towards, sure this room is a back door, but all it leads to is the outside of the mansion, right?" Blake asked as she turned towards Weiss.

Weiss nodded "Right, and we'd very likely be sitting ducks outside right now. So we need another route." she said as she tried to remembered every little detail about her home, which was harder than it should be. Eventually a thought clicked. "The cellar!"

"...okay, I don't think raiding the drinks are gonna help us," Nora said.

Novice chortled a little, but no one else laughed. Although Nora's assumption was still a little astounding.

"No, the cellar has a secret passage in it. It was built as an emergency escape just in case the mansion ever needed to be evacuated without anyone noticing," Weiss said. "There's even a small room down there which we can move Ruby to so we can leave in a hurry if needs be," she added, though she seemed less...enthused...with the last detail, though nobody asked her about it.

"That'd be a good place as any for us to prepared," Pierce nodded. "Alright, everyone, don't leave the mansion. We'll move Ruby inside, then everyone be on the lookout. The moment anyone sees any signs of Machinedramon's forces coming, we get into the cellar."

"Uh...before we do that though, I should mention something…" Weiss added. "I've...never actually gone into the passage, so I have no idea what's in there or the way through…"

"...okay...that dampens the plan a little...but still viable," Blake said.

"That's true." Ken agreed, before frowning, "Except even if Weiss did know, there's a chance that it's not the same."

Everyone agreed with that sentiment.

"Yeah, I think we'd all rather wander a dark corridor than be blown to smithereens," Nora gulped.

"Besides, even if you had navigated them before, with the merged landscape, it's unlikely the tunnels would be the same." Pyrrha added.

Ken blinked at Pyrrha pointing out the same thing he did.

"Right, that's true," Ren nodded. "Alright, we'd better start moving. We don't know how long we have before they start attacking."

"Right!" everyone nodded, before they all got to work. Palmon, Nora, and Salamon quickly moved Ruby to the cellar room, while Weiss, Pyrrha, Tentomon, and Gabumon raided the mansion of any provisions they hadn't already taken, just in case. Meanwhile, Pierce, Blake, Ren, Veemon, Patamon, and Wormmon were all patrolling sections of the mansion, keeping eyes out the window for any signs of incoming Digimon, FanBeemon, Deramon, and Floramon doing what they could to help the various tasks as needed.

Minutes later, all they could do was wait, checking for any signs of movement towards their location, and it was likely the most tense they had ever been so far.

Pierce looked out a window, hiding within the shadows, watching explosions ring out through the city, likely Machinedramon was catching on by now though, since he'd noticed some areas blowing up a bit more, either collateral or intentional, he couldn't tell.

"Dammit… if only we had Gyro and the others here, at least that way a full frontal assault would be a viable option with 5 Ultimates… if Ruby recovers fast enough that is." he sighed, honestly, he wondered how his brother took command so naturally at times, although he himself was doing his best to pick up the slack.

Yamato had wondered the same about Taichi occasionally. The Chosen of Friendship almost thought he was completely obsolete when he was... angsting.

"Don't worry, you're doing just fine," Blake said. "We're all having it hard, but we've been able to hold up so far."

"Besides, we're all in this together," Veemon added, earning a chuckle and nod from his partner.

"Hey, what's that?" Patamon said, pointing out of the window.

The three of them were soon looking at the direction...and saw several black dots in the sky.

"Okay, time's up!" Pierce gasped, before calling everyone, giving everyone the gist of it, as they all started rushing to the cellar.

Once everyone was gathered, Weiss wasted no time and threw open the cellar door while Nora had Ruby slung over her shoulder, the girl still looking weak, but her fever had started to go down, so all good signs. Whatever the case, the group soon ran into the door, and through the tunnels, before the tremors started. "Not to sound sentimental, but I can't help but feel...apprehensive...that my family's mansion is about to be demolished…" Weiss couldn't help but say as they ran.

"Hey, this is a near perfect replica. We don't blame you for thinking its your house," Veemon said as they kept running, and the tremors became worse.

"Their nearly here." Ren realised quickly enough.

"Blake! What's up ahead?" Pierce asked, having told Blake to lead the group due to her night vision and the tunnel being dark.

"A fork in the road, which way do we go?" she answered back.

"Uh…" Pierce frowned, before gulping. "Semblance don't fail me now. That way!" he said, pointing randomly to the left, and at that moment his Crest glowed a little. However, at that moment the choice was taken out of their hands, as a MASSIVE explosion rocked the manor above, causing a cave in from the vibrations.

Veemon got a hopeful look at the glow of Pierce's Crest. Sadly, since Machinedramon wasn't around, no one else felt as eager.

After a few moments…

"Is everyone alright?" Ren asked after coughing through some dust.

"I...think so…" came Blake's voice.

"Ruby's okay too!" Nora reported.

"Great, now let's...shit…" came Pierce's voice when he finally realized something. "The cave in blocked the left path…"

"What are you talking about, the path is right...oh no…" Pyrrha realized what had happened. They'd been separated by the cave in.

"What do we do now?" Patamon asked, as he and Veemon were thankfully still with their partners. Everyone else was on the left side.

"...you guys go first. We'll find another way," Pierce said.

"Well this sucks." Armadimon complained.

"You said it. At least their partners are with them." Hawkmon agreed.

Everyone agreed with that sentiment.

"Are you sure? Maybe if we tried we could…" Gabumon started, but…

"No!" Pierce said quickly. "The last thing we want is to risk another cave in. We HAVE to get away from here. We'll be alright, you guys find a safe place first!"

The left side looked at each other with uncertainty, but ultimately nodded. "Alright," Ren nodded.

"But be careful you guys," Nora said.

"We'll find you as soon as we can," Weiss said before they were soon going down the left path.

"Well...looks like we're going exploring…" Blake sighed after a minute. If nothing else, she could still see through the tunnels…

"Right, Faunus have night vision." Jo commented.

"Not all of them." Novice corrected, "Though many do."

Ruby groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. "Where…?" she blinked, looking around. They weren't on the road anymore. From the looks of it they were in some kind of underground room. That and she noticed she was lying on a bed of...well...miscellaneous things, but somehow it was mainly straw or something like it.

"Boop." she heard as she felt two fingers on her forehead, turning to look at Nora's grinning face "Glad to see you're up."

Everyone let out small snorts at Nora booping Ruby.

"Nora? What happened? How'd I get here? And where IS here?" Ruby blinked.

"Let's see… you collapsed because of a fever, which means we had to look after you, you're here because I carried you of course silly, and here is just this big system of underground tunnels below the city in Machinedramon's area." Nora listed off.

"Wait, what?" Ruby blinked. "I...missed a lot...huh?" she sighed...before noticing something else. "Uh...where is everyone else?"

"...Does anyone else think Nora is a little too casual with the way she lists things?" Wormmon said with a sweatdrop.

"Yes." Was the universal answer.

"The others went to scout the area. We have to make sure there aren't any of Machinedramon's forces lurking around," Nora frowned at that one. "They should be back soon though."

Right on cue, several footsteps were heard as the rest of the group soon returned.

"Ruby!" Palmon all but glomped her partner upon seeing her okay.

"...I wonder how they convinced her to leave Ruby's side." Gatomon muttered since she refused to leave Hikari's

"Probably with Nora being able to protect her or to move her away fast if needed." Novice shrugged.

Ruby laughed a bit as her partner jumped at her "Good to see you too Palmon."

"Nice to see you're awake Ruby." Pyrrha said, relief evident in her voice.

"How long was I even out exactly?" Ruby couldn't help but ask.

"Roughly 4 hours, possibly a bit more, we didn't really bother to check since we were in a hurry." Tentomon answered this one.

Ruby nodded in acceptance at that, before noticing something "Hey, where are Pierce and the rest?"

"There was a cave in earlier, and it split us up into our two current groups." Ren said with a sigh.

"What?! Then we need to find them!" Ruby tried to get up...a little too quickly, and soon was on the ground again.

"You shouldn't push yourself too hard just yet," Palmon said in worry.

"She's right. We don't even know if there are any other effects that might happen," Weiss agreed.

"Effects?" Ruby blinked.

"Pierce theorized that the reason you collapsed is due to how you awoke your silver eyes recently, he said that in canon, you passed out for about a week after triggering them." Salamon explained.

"My silver eyes?" Ruby blinked, before remembering what she did against MetalSeadramon. "So that's what they were…" she mused.

"At any rate, we were scouting the area and you wouldn't believe what we found," FanBeemon said. "This isn't just an underground tunnel, there's practically an underground city here!"

"What?" was the almost flat question the chosen and their Digimon all gave, as FanBeemon had been with Deramon and Floramon.

"Its true! This place is so big, we even saw a whole bunch of houses here and there, though they were more like apartments in a way," Deramon said.

"Hey, Sora." Miyako piped up, "Didn't you say the place you ended up to was metrostations from all over the world?"

"Yes, that's what it was." Sora affirmed, "But we fell into a hole that Machinedramon made when he attacked us. It's possible they're in a different area."

"Oh, okay." Miyako accepted that explanation.

"Wow...that...seems like we'll have a lot of ground to cover…" Wormmon sweatdropped at that.

"Well, we should look into it, maybe we'll end up finding the others if we're lucky." Gabumon said.

"Just as long as SOMEONE is careful." Weiss said as she looked at Ruby dryly.

"Alright, I get it, no running off." Ruby said with a sigh as she got up slowly.

The tunnels were, as expected, expansive. Honestly, it looked like a massive subway station mixed with a residential area in some parts.

"Damn...you could hide an army down here…" Nora couldn't help but whistle.

"Please don't say that," Tentomon deadpanned. The last thing they wanted was to have to fight an army down here when they'd been separated even further than before.

"...I think they just invoked Murphy." Patamon commented, earning a series of looks.

"You just had to say it." Takeru sighed. The flying guinea pig covered his mouth in embarrassment.

"Still...it's incredible they could hide all this down here…" Floramon mused. "We're so deep I didn't even notice it when I was spreading my roots up top."

"Guess that gives a whole new meaning to the word 'Downtown', huh?" Ruby couldn't help but say, earning a few chuckles.

The readers chuckled at the good pun.

"This would be the part where Yang or Pierce complain that nobody would have found it funny if they said it." Pyrrha said with a slight smirk.

"Too true." Gabumon commented, earning more laughs.

The mirth didn't last long though as Salamon's ears perked up. "Uh...does anyone else hear that?" she asked.

The group all stopped and listened carefully. "Hey...I think I hear it too," Nora said.

"Same here...I think its coming from that way," Gabumon said as they all soon followed. What they found…

"Get to work you maggots!" came a cruel voice followed by a whip crack. The scene they found was that of a black teddy bear, clearly sewn back together several times, claws on his left hand, a red cape hanging off his back, and sewn onto his left arm was the japanese kanji for evil.

"Oh no. Not him again." Hikari said with a glare at that evil teddie bear.

"Is that a Monzaemon ripoff?" Nora wondered silently.

"Close, it's WaruMonzaemon, pretty much the anti-Monzaemon." Salamon explained.

Digimon Analyzer: WaruMonzaemon

WaruMonzaemon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Puppet Digimon. Opposed to Monzaemon, WaruMonzaemon is a cruel Digimon who prefers to deliver pain and suffering rather than joy and laughter. Its left arm is equipped with the Bear Claws, a weapon fashioned out of claws he stole from another Digimon. His special attacks are Heartbreak Attack, releasing broken hearts from his body that fills anyone they touch with a sense of despair and hopelessness, and Custom Claw, growing his weapon to a larger size before attacking his enemies with it.

"Work! Work! Work! THEN you can go die you worthless slugs!" WaruMonzaemon laughed as he cracked his whip, forcing a large group of Numemon to keep working on the machines they were strapped to. "You may be lowest of the low, but at least THIS way we're getting some use of from your existence!"

"That's cruel." Koshiro commented on the poor Numemon. Everyone agreed with that.

Novice on the other hand was happy that Black wasn't here right now. She might have said something that ticked the Children off.

"What the hell?" Deramon ground out silently.

"Something like that… it's horrible." FanBeemon said.

"How should we do this?" Nora asked, knowing they weren't going to just leave it as it was.

"Fast for starters, or… maybe we could draw him away instead and free the Numemon." Ruby said, tapping her chin as she wondered which idea to go with.

"Draw him away, huh? Shouldn't be a problem," FanBeemon said, before flying over. "Gear Stinger!" he called out as he fired several small serrated stingers at WaruMonzaemon, catching his attention.

"What the?! Who are you?!" he growled.

"Nya nya! Can't catch me!" FanBeemon taunted, before firing again, further annoying WaruMonzaemon.

"Why you! Come back here!" he shouted as FanBeemon flew away, the bear hot on his trail.

Everyone laughed at the idiotic bear running after the bee.

"It's actually similar to what we did." Takeru commented, still laughing.

"Huh...that was easy," Ren blinked, before they set about freeing the Numemon.

It wasn't long before all of them were free, the Numemon cheering for them as they got out of the room. After a few minutes, they ended up in an empty room, the Numemon still cheering.

Looking back, Hikari felt minor embarrassment when Numemon worshipped her like she was a benevolent goddess. Which she probably was to the Numemon at the time. Her mood soured as she remembered what happened to them.

"As nice as the cheers are, is FanBeemon gonna be okay? I mean...that WAS a Perfect he was up against…" Palmon asked.

"He's pretty fast, he should be able to get away," Ren frowned. "If nothing else, he's smart enough to know when to aim to get away…"

"And WaruMonzaemon isn't exactly smart." Sora added with a small smile.

However, as if to answer the question, a nearby wall exploded and in came WaruMonzaemon...though rather than flying in, he looked like he was thrown in.

"Had enough?" Waspmon smirked as he came in...then noticed the others. "Huh...didn't realize we were going to where you guys were…" he blinked.

"Wait, wasn't that guy Perfect?" Daisuke then asked.

"Yes, but... not too strong." Gatomon admitted.

"We?" Weiss asked, right as 3 new Digimon entered.

The first was draconic in appearance, being a quadruped reptile with four wings, one pair smaller than the other, though his body was actually covered in red and white fur rather than scales, his tail had the appeared of several tails twisting together, the tip held in place by a golden spike shaped ornament, and on his snout was a sword like horn, right in front of a triangular red jewel.

The second was a black chinese dragon with a red underbelly, golden horns sprouting from his head and a sort of golden metal covering most of his snout, in each hand, he held an orb, one teal, and another orange.

The third was the only biped of the group, his whole body covered in golden armor, and instead of hands he sported swords where they should be, even his tail was a sword, and he had another coming out of his head, while sporting a 20 on his chest.

"Who are those three?" Agumon asked with a headtilt.

"Keep reading, Tentomon." Taichi encouraged, thinking that the story would explain.

"Do… do they look familiar to anybody?" Palmon whispered to the others.

"Now that you mention it...yeah…" Pyrrha frowned.

The three newcomers saw them and smiled. "Oh hey, didn't expect to see you guys again," the red dragon said.

"...okay, you definitely recognize us, but we don't. Who did you three evolve from?" Ren asked.

The golden one chuckled "I guess it was to be expected. If it helps, we met Gyro first, and then met the rest of you on your ship."

The answer was met with several slow blinks, before their eyes went wide.

"It's the Troublemaker Trio." Gomamon was the first to say.

"Wait, it's you three?!" Weiss exclaimed in shock.

"That's right." the black dragon said with a nod "Though we have new forms, we're still the same… if not older at least." he laughed at his own words "You can call me Hisyaryumon."

Digimon Analyzer: Hisyaryumon

Hisyaryumon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Beast Dragon Digimon. Clad in thick, shining scalemail, this Digimon soars through the skies unbound. It has a calm demeanor, and with it's great mobility has total control over the skies. His special attacks are Seiryujin, transforming into a giant katana to slice his enemies down, and Tenryu Suishoukyu, throwing his two crystal balls which ricochet everywhere to attack his enemies.

"As for me, I'm Duramon." said the golden Digimon.

Digimon Analyzer: Duramon

Duramon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Weapon Digimon. Eternally training, this Digimon tempers his blades constantly, even though it knows not what the future awaits. Capable of transforming in a greatsword, he is one of the strongest weapon Digimon. His special attacks are Grasslash, a powerful slash that can cut even Chrome Digizoid clean in half, and Blindead, firing a beam in the shape of a 20 from his chest to deal massive damage.

"That sounds strong." Gabumon commented on the Weapon Digimon's ability to cut Chrome Digizoid.

"And I'm DoruGreymon." finished the furry dragon.

Digimon Analyzer: DoruGreymon

DoruGreymon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Beast Dragon Digimon. A powerful dragon Digimon that can hold back even the most powerful of holy and dark warriors with a mere sweep of his wings. Most people expect it to be a mindless beast, but in actuality he's quite wise and cunning. His special attacks are Metal Meteor, firing an iron ball of super high mass ten times greater than his own body, and Bloody Tower, skewering the enemy with his tail and flinging them into the sky.

Some of the Chosen chuckled at the description of DoruGreymon being wise. Something that they had a hard time associating with these three.

Agumon on the other hand was fascinated to see another Greymon.

"Okay, a lot of questions, but I think we can all agree we can save it for after we deal with the bear," Weiss sighed.

"Yeah, that works," the three chuckled, before everyone's attention was on WaruMonzaemon.

"Uh…" WaruMonzaemon gulped, before making his decision. "Bye!" he shouted as he went for the door.

"Oh no you don't! Turbo Stinger!" Waspmon shouted, firing his attack.

"Metal Meteor!"

"Blindead!"

"Tenryu Suishoukyu!"

The four attacks went flying, but in a bout of fear, WaruMonzaemon reached the door and managed to close it...only to be sent flying when it unsurprisingly exploded.

"We kind of did that with the one we faced too." Biyomon commented proudly.

"Come back here you coward!" Hisyaryumon shouted as they gave chase...but no dice, he was gone.

"I guess he was just a bully in the end." DoruGreymon sighed out.

"At least he's not bothering us anymore." Duramon added.

"But we'd better get moving," Pyrrha frowned.

"Right, since he got away, no doubt he'll tell Machinedramon," Ruby nodded.

"And THAT would be a real pain…" Waspmon groaned. Sure they were gonna fight him eventually...but they'd rather not do it just yet. "Right, let's move."

"Hey Novice, did he-" "Tell Machinedramon? Yes." Novice interrupted Takeru, "His reward was to be scolded for not reporting to him immediately. Followed by being blasted to smithereens."

"I'm not surprised." Yamato said with a scowl.

"You can all come with us if you want," Nora said to the Numemon with a smile, to which they all nodded and suddenly the group had grown like crazy.

"...how long have we been down this tunnel?" Patamon idly asked.

"Lost count after the last 3 hours or so…" Pierce sighed.

"At least its bright…" Veemon said in consolation.

"Still...we've been here for quite a while and still haven't found anyone," Blake frowned.

"Reminds me of some video games, big world, but empty as heck." Pierce said, trying to make a joke out of it.

"Those kinds of games are kinda annoying." Daisuke complained.

"You said it." Takeru agreed.

"Well...I guess that's both good and bad…" Blake said...before she stopped. "Wait."

"What is it?" Veemon asked.

"I hear something. Something's coming...and I think it might be big," she frowned.

"Machinedramon?" Patamon gulped.

"If it's big, then probably." Agumon commented.

"Possibly. For now let's hide," Blake said, as they found a fence of sorts, and soon hid in the shadows behind it and a few pillars.

Slowly, the sound of something could be heard, the two hunters nodding slowly to each other and readying their weapons, while their partners tensed, ready to evolve at a moment's notice.

Slowly the sound came closer...before it stopped...followed by what appeared to be footsteps. And they were coming closer.

Blake narrowed her eyes in confusion, the soundsteps sounded rather light, at least lighter than what Machinedramon likely sounded like, and there seemed to be… two of them?

"Maybe it's Andromon." Taichi suggested.

Her confusion cleared when one of the two became visible.

"Andromon?" Pierce blinked in confusion, Andromon stopping in surprise and turning to them.

"I knew it." Taichi pumped his fist at guessing right.

"The Chosen Children?" he said, just as surprised as they were obviously.

After coming over their surprise, the small group stepped out of their hiding spot, seeing who Andromon was accompanied by.

Standing next to him.. And reaching just above his ankle, was a small grey spherical Digimon with red gloves and boots.

"Mamemon." Takeru commented at the sight of the digimon.

And standing some feet behind them was what they quickly confirmed to be GrandLocomon.

"So, who're you?" Patamon asked the small Digimon.

It chuckled in response "I guess it's been a while, but, really, don't you remember another small Digimon shaped like a ball?"

They blinked at that, thinking back, before Veemon snapped his fingers "I know, you're Thundermon aren't you?"

"Ahh! So it's the Thundermon from File." Iori let out in surprise.

Thundermon, or rather, his evolved form, nodded "That's right, and as of now, you can call me Mamemon."

Digimon Analyzer: Mamemon

Mamemon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Mutant Digimon. A Digimon that evolved in a harsh environment, wielding destructive power that surprises most opponents. It is one of the faster Digimon in existence, and combined with his power, he becomes nigh-unstoppable. His special attacks are Smiley Bomber, shooting off his hands like rockets and making them explode against his enemies while they grow back, and Buster Dive, leaping high into the air and crashing down on his foes.

"Glad to see you all are okay," Patamon smiled. "But why are you all here? Wasn't File safe?"

"It is," Andromon nodded. "...for the most part," he added with a frown. "But either way, we all knew the problem wouldn't get better if we did nothing, so we decided to come here to try and stop the Dark Masters, or failing that, act as a resistance movement to at least hinder them. So far that's all we've managed to do…"

"Well, at least you're all safe, on our end, we've already managed to defeat MetalSeadramon and Puppetmon, Machinedramon's next on the list now." Pierce answered.

"That's good to hear." GrandLocomon started "For a while now, I was the only one who had even remotely enough strength to defeat Machinedramon, but knowing you've defeated two of the Dark Masters already will help… though, aren't there supposed to be more of you?"

"...If only we had more Ultimate level allies, things would've been easier for us." Mimi commented, "Maybe less Digimon would've died."

"It is what it is." Novice said consolingly, "The ones that passed away were reborn in the end."

Mimi did smile a little at that reminder.

"We had a bit of an accident earlier, a cave in split us up, now we're looking to reunite with the others." Blake answered, earning what she assumed was a nod from the locomotive shaped Digimon, if the slight tilt of its front was any indication.

"Right, well, if you're looking for them, let us help. I've been helping our little rebellion by being our main mode of transport. I know these tunnels well," GrandLocomon offered.

"That'd be a big help," Veemon grinned.

"Great, hop on," GrandLocomon smiled as they boarded him. Once inside, Andromon took a few cables and connected them to himself.

"I will act as our navigator," he said. "I've managed to hack into Machinedramon's network, and from there we will be able to gain a map of the area."

"I'll provide a look out from up here," Mamemon added as he hopped onto the roof and nestled himself into a small groove.

The trip through the tunnels was moving a lot faster, as now it was possible for them to find the paths that they should take. However…

"I'm detecting a disturbance up ahead," Andromon reported. "I think it may be Machinedramon."

Veemon started bouncing in his seat, waiting with baited breath of seeing his other going Ultimate.

"And if he's causing this much trouble, I bet its cause he's found the others!" Pierce said in alarm.

"Then we'd better hurry!" GrandLocomon said, going full speed ahead.

"Cocytus Breath!" MetalGarurumon shouted as he fired the stream of cold energy, coating Machinedramon in ice.

"Grandis Scissors!" GrandisKuwagamon followed up, but when his attack hit the ice, it was stopped dead, before the ice exploded and out came Machinedramon looking no worse for wear.

"What?!" Came out of everyone.

"But I finished him with one strike!" Agumon complained.

"You had Dramon Killers." Novice pointed out.

"And... there's no telling what new abilities this Machinedramon might have." Jo added in with a look of slight worry. Less for the Chosen of Remnant, and more for their digimon friends.

"That's impossible! He took both of those and nothing?!" Ren gasped, eyes wide.

"Guys, look out!" Pyrrha warned, using her Semblance to just barely manage to pull them both out of the way when Machinedramon countered with his Infinity Cannon, causing the area to tremor violently from the explosions.

"This is bad! We need to do something!" Salamon frowned.

"But what can we do? He's taking their attacks like they're nothing!" Palmon asked frantically.

As if to answer their question…

"Dynamic Entry!" came a familiar voice, as Machinedramon was promptly ran over by a train. Literally.

Novice waited with baited breath for the reactions to that... Nothing, other than laughs at Machinedramon being run over. Quickly opening up the holographic screen, Novice looked disappointed at what he found, "Right, the volume containing that wasn't released yet."

They all had to take a moment to process the scene they just saw "Was… was that Pierce sticking his head out of GrandLocomon and shouting at the top of his lungs?" DoruGreymon asked, blinking several times.

"I… think it was." Ruby said slowly, being carried by Weiss and Nora at the moment as she was feeling too tired to properly power her crest.

Mimi looked disappointed at Ruby not even being able to power up her Crest. Then again, she wasn't sure how much Rosemon would help, when MetalGarurumon and GrandisKuwagamon couldn't hurt Machinedramon.

"Follow them!" Pyrrha said quickly snapping out of her confusion as the large group quickly followed after them all.

"I don't know how to feel about this, walking right into danger like this." one of the Numemon said nervously.

Hikari stiffened at the Numemon still being with them.

"If you want to turn back, go ahead, we won't hold it against you for being afraid of Machinedramon." Weiss said, glancing at the small army of slime Digimon that were following them.

"Keep in mind, we're about to fight a ruthless Ultimate Level Digimon. There's no shame in choosing life," Ren assured.

The Numemon looked uncertain, but ultimately...they realized where they stood in a battle. "Thank you. We'll never forget this," they said as one before they turned and left.

Hikari let out a small sigh in relief at at least the Numemon not being destroyed for nothing.

"There they go," Nora said.

"It's better this way," MetalGarurumon said. "If they'd joined us, they likely wouldn't have survived…"

"Now then, we'd better go help the others. There's no telling how long before…!" Tentomon started, but…

An explosion happened, and GrandLocomon was thrown through the wall, landing on the ground with a skid. "Owww…." he groaned.

"...that happens…" Tentomon finished lamely.

Tentomon's antennae drooped at his other's lame delivery. But others were more focused on GrandLocomon being hurt.

"Before you jump into that melding pot, word of advice...watch out for the claws...and the cannons…" GrandLocomon said dizzily. "I'll jump back in just as soon as the room stops spinning."

"He's fine." Gatomon crossed her paws in amusement, earning small laughs.

"We'll keep that in mind…" GrandisKuwagamon said as they all sweatdropped, before quickly turning to the fight and running towards it.

When they got there, they were met with the sight of AeroVeedramon and HolyAngemon evading a barrage of cannon shots, while Andromon soon tried to attack Machinedramon...only for him to throw him aside, as while the Perfect was holding his own remarkably well...not quite enough.

However, when he tried to strike again, Andromon held one of his claws down. "Now!" Andromon shouted, before his allies unloaded their attacks on Machinedramon, causing explosions to cover the Dark Master...only for him to emerge unharmed.

"What the hell is that armor made of?!" Pierce growled.

"A futile effort. Unlike my comrades, I actually bother to upgrade myself. Aside from my Chrome Digizoid armor, this new coating of Adamantium metal serves me well," Machinedramon said. "You cannot defeat me."

"Adamantium?" Was the universal question from Iori, Miyako and Ken.

Pierce let out a rather loud… and long lasting groan after hearing those words "Dammit Marvel!"

Mimi's eyes lit up at hearing that, "I think there was a comic book of that name in america."

"Franchise." Novice corrected, "And yes, Adamantium does appear in it. In several issues actually. The most famous of which you're no doubt about to hear."

"Wait, you know what that is?" Weiss asked.

"It's a metal from a comic book, one of the characters in them has his skeleton coated in the stuff, and it makes him just about impervious to bullets." Pierce explained, his annoyance clearly visible on his face.

"...why the heck are fictional metals appearing here?" Salamon couldn't help but say...before it clicked. "Oh...right...data from both worlds…"

Once again, the first eight felt like they had it easy compared to the Remnant crew.

"So, how do we beat that kind of metal?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well...there were a few ways from the comic including…" Pierce trailed off before he slowly looked at Pyrrha...with a rather wicked grin on his face.

"Should we be worried." Yamato asked, wondering if they should cover the eyes of the youngest ones here.

"Yes and no." Novice replied.

"Huh?"

"Uh...why are you looking at me like that?" she asked a little nervously while GrandisKuwagamon and MetalGarurumon had joined in the fight, and were only just barely holding Machinedramon back.

"Adamantium can be affected by magnetism. A villain with Magnetic abilities pulled the coating out in one story," Pierce said.

"Okay...gory image aside, you want Pyrrha to do that?" Ren checked.

The said gory image played out in everyone's minds to varying degrees of disturbing.

"...Did that...?" Miyako let out nervously.

"...Do I have to answer." Novice said, not sure if he should. Though judging by some of the looks everyone had, he might as well have said yes.

"Yep," Pierce nodded.

"Well...I'll try," Pyrrha said, before focusing...and soon scrunching up. "There's...a lot of metal. I can do this, but he's gonna need to be still…"

"How powerful was the character with magnet powers in comics?" Gabumon asked, getting curious.

"...Powerful enough to throw buildings made of metal, if I remember correctly. In other words, far more powerful than Pyrrha." Novice said, trying to strain his memory.

"Well, try to focus on one part of his body to make it less dangerous by pinning it down, like one of his arms, it'll make the job of keeping him still easier." Ruby suggested.

"Right, that I can do." Pyrrha nodded, before focusing her attention on Machinedramon's left arm, trying to subtly keep it pinned to his body.

However, this proved harder than expected, as after a moment or two of being pinned, the pressure suddenly increased and he broke free. "That is also pointless. I've ensured that my systems are running at optimum capacity, and with the help of my network, I've been able to get my hands on all your existing battle data. You have no way to defeat me," he said, before with a strong swipe of his claw, the Digimon that had been in the fray, were blown back, causing them all to hit the ground.

"...Okay, that's cheating." Wormmon commented.

"Okay, this guys not all talk…" MetalGarurumon admitted.

"Okay...so he's strong, and he's got a brain under that armor…" Palmon frowned.

"Question is, how do we get around that?" Salamon said.

"You won't! Infinity Cannon!" Machinedramon growled, before firing.

"Heaven's Gate!" HolyAngemon countered, absorbing the cannon shots into the gate. " That same trick won't work forever!" he shot back.

"Same trick...that's it!" Weiss realized.

"You have a plan?" Blake asked.

"Yes, he says he's getting data from his network. But do you see any cables attached to him?" Weiss pointed out, and they realized that he did NOT have any.

"Is this plan going somewhere?" Waspmon asked.

"He's connecting to his network wirelessly. That means…" she continued, pulling out her scroll and began working on it faster than she'd ever done. Machinedramon seemed to notice, and moved to stop her, but the Troublemaker trio suddenly jumped him.

Koshiro's eyes widened as he figured out what Weiss was planning, "Is she..?"

"Koshiro?" Tentomon paused in his reading.

"...She's trying to shut Machinedramon out of his network." the Chosen of Knowledge said.

"How is she going to do that?" Palmon asked.

"Well... assuming that the network has security, Weiss would have to crack through or bypass that to get to the network itself, then she could possibly either lock Machinedramon out or scramble the network itself. Either way, Machinedramon would lose his advantage." Koshiro explained.

"One of them at least." Taichi added in, remembering that Adamantium coating.

"Hey, didn't anyone tell you it's not nice to try and pick on a lady!" Duramon said mockingly as they started wailing on him, but all that did was annoy him, as with his coating, even Duramon's attacks weren't getting through.

Weiss had no intention of wasting the time they'd bought her. She worked on what she was doing like her life depended on it...and honestly, if she was right, then not just her life, but the lives of all her friends depended on it too. Taking everything she'd learned through her time in the Digital World, she went over the data she had, and found what she was looking for, hacking into Machinedramon's network. That's when she found the next roadblock. It seemed the network was indeed directly linked to Machinedramon...and boy was he mad that she was trying to hack into it.

"Miserable girl!" Machinedramon roared, actually getting angry...before AeroVeedramon and HolyAngemon tackled him, holding him back.

"Okay, that has to mean that Weiss is onto something." Gomamon commented.

"That's usually how bad guys react when something they don't like happens." Patamon added in.

"Hear, hear." Novice grinned.

"Okay, I think it's safe to say we need to buy Weiss time for this. Everyone, go Perfect!" Tentomon said, as everyone who hadn't already evolved (save Weiss who was fully focused) quickly did so.

"Floramon, you stay back. I'll try to help however I can!" Deramon said, before running to the side and pelting Machinedramon with his Royal Nuts, but never staying still lest he make himself an easy target.

While this was happening, Weiss continued to frantically work, making her way through as many security systems in as little time as she could, using every bit of information she'd gathered up till now to decode and break through security. All the while the battle raged, Machinedramon hell bent on squishing her like a bug before she could crack the system, but the Digimon weren't letting him get an inch, even as they got knocked into the walls and ground time and time again.

"I hope whatever you're doing is gonna turn the tables, cause he's wiping the floor with us!" Angewomon groaned after getting blasted back.

Weiss didn't say anything, completely focused on the task at hand. She had to make this work. She had to get through the system, had to cut off one of the key parts of Machinedramon's power. As long as the system was feeding him data to counter them, they wouldn't be able to win. If she didn't...what the heck was she gathering all this knowledge for if it couldn't even save her friends?!

Weiss' determination and her conviction of her use of her knowledge really hit home for Koshiro.

Everyone else was also reminded of how Koshiro saved them mulitple times with his thinking.

At that moment, her Crest started to glow, and her fingers began working even faster, and before she knew it. She was in. "I'm in!" she shouted, before she immediately pulled the plug on the extra power and information that Machinedramon was getting the only way she knew would be permanent. By destroying it all.

At that moment, several explosions happened through the city, and a backlash soon happened as Machinedramon roared in pain as his body was covered in sparks and his vision danced due to the abrupt and destructive loss of his network. "He's lost his Network, and any boosts he's been getting from it! He's down to his own powers now!" Weiss shouted.

"...That wasn't what I had in mind, but it works." Koshiro commented on Weiss going so far as blowing it all up.

"GLAD to hear that," DoruGreymon groaned as he shook his head to get the dizziness out.

"Impossible! How could a mere human crack my systems?!" Machinedramon growled.

"You're right, if it was just me, I probably wouldn't have succeeded," Weiss said. "But this wasn't just me. I've been learning so much since coming here, and I've met people who've taught me so much. Everything I've learned, its went into breaking through that defense you put around yourself. You're not going to have your way anymore! Put up as many defenses as you want. I'll use everything I've learned and tear them all down!" Weiss declared, and at that moment, her Crest shone brighter than ever, as a pillar of purple light shot out of her and into the sky, the Tag floating up before shattering, the Crest flying into her body and the light all focusing into her hand, quickly taking hold of her D-Core, changing it into a D-Crest with a purple grip "Tentomon!"

"Way ahead of you!" Tentomon said as he flew ahead, Weiss aiming her D-Crest at him.

(Play Brave Heart)

The Crest of Knowledge appeared on the glass covering, before the light erupted from the D-Crest, the Crest flying out with the beam, before flying into Tentomon who turned the same color as the Crest. "Tentomon, Warp Evolution!" Tentomon called out as he did a backflip and released a burst of light from his body. The beam soon revealed Kabuterimon, who released another beam, revealing AtlurKabuterimon, before releasing one final beam. The form that emerged was without a doubt an evolution of Kabuterimon, and compared to his Perfect form, he was gigantic, sporting both stag beetle pincers and rhino beetle horn on his head, a golden shell quickly to started to flash into existence all over his body, starting with his legs, followed by his arms, his body, and finally his head, before a golden carapace appeared over his back, bearing the Crest of Knowledge, and splitting open to reveal his wings as Tentomon's green eyes flashed for a moment through the holes in his new form's helmet. Lightning arched off his body and into the air around him, suddenly leaving him in the middle of a storm cloud with thunder cracking overhead as he let off a huge discharge "HerculesKabuterimon!"

"That's my Ultimate." Tentomon said, his green eyes sparkling, "I look so awesome!"

"And strong." Gomamon commented, before puffing his chest," But not as strong as Vikemon." Everyone chose to ignore that.

"Keep reading, keep reading." Veemon continued, hoping to see his other also evolving soon.

Machinedramon, actually losing his composure at the insolent girl's words, roared in anger...only to be tackled and thrown aside by the newly evolved Digimon.

"Woah...he just lifted that guy up like he was nothing…" Mamemon said in awe.

"That's cause he's HerculesKabuterimon now," Weiss couldn't help but grin as she looked up her partner's new form.

Digimon Analyzer: HerculesKabuterimon

HerculesKabuterimon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Insectoid Digimon. A Digimon carrying data from both the Kabuterimon species and the Kuwagamon species, granting him all the perks with none of the flaws. Having regained the wings he lost as AtlurKabuterimon, he now sports a higher range of mobility, and is said to be able to travel the Digital World at supersonic speed. His special attacks are Giga Blaster, firing an extremely powerful beam of lightning energy from his main horn and Horn Buster Kai, ramming the energy with his electrified horn.

"So strong." Tentomon couldn't help muttering in awe.

"So you've reached Ultimate as well," Machinedramon said as he got up, but didn't seem the least bit worried. "It won't make a difference," he growled.

"We'll see about that! Horn Buster Kai!" HerculesKabuterimon flew forward, ramming into Machinedramon, the Dark Master grunting as he braced against the attack, getting pushed back, and electricity surging through him, but slowly the momentum slowed, and he managed to push the attack aside, to which HerculesKabuterimon quickly regained his distance.

"That armor is STILL holding up?!" MetalGarurumon growled in disbelief.

"Adamantium is REALLY sturdy…" Pierce admitted.

"Virtually indistructible." Novice commented, "According to many entries." That had to be added as he received many stares.

"There's gotta be SOMETHING we can do…" came AeroVeedramon's words as he and HolyAngemon landed nearby and reverted back to their Child forms out of exhaustion.

"Hey! I'm supposed to evolve too!" Veemon complained at his other reverting.

"Uhh... Veemon, they have evolved from Child forms before." Daisuke pointed out.

"Oh, right." The blue dinosaur had the decency to look sheepish.

"Sorry we couldn't do more though…" Patamon said apologetically, to which Blake just picked him up and smiled reassuringly.

Patamon looked a little disappointed that his other couldn't do much, but at least he was able to do something.

"So I guess we really DO have to get that coating off of him," Pyrrha frowned. "But we need to hold him still!"

"I got this!" came a familiar voice as GrandLocomon was now charging at full tilt, aiming right for Machinedramon.

The Dark Master didn't have a chance to evade or move, as he was forced to brace once again, GrandLocomon slamming into him, and pushing him back considerably, before HerculesKabuterimon slammed him from behind, the Dark Master finding himself pinned between the two Ultimates.

"Pyrrha! Do it now!" HerculesKabuterimon roared.

"Right!" Pyrrha nodded before she focused once more. This time she focused on trying to get rid of the metal coating. The metals were very well melded, to the point it wasn't easy, but slowly but surely she could feel it falling under her control. However, as she pushed as hard as she could, the metals only slowly started to separate, starting with the claws, the metal coating coming off of his main body bit by bit. However, no doubt Machinedramon wasn't about to let her do this unimpeded.

Growling, he continued struggling, but the two Ultimates held tight, before he suddenly jerked his head back, slamming into HerculesKabuterimon, forcing him to let go a little, before he stopped fighting, causing GrandLocomon to accidentally push him right into the larger Ultimate, sending him back, before regaining his footing, and soon stopping the train shaped Digimon again.

"Oh, come on!" Armadimon complained at the mechanical Dark Master's trick.

(Stop Song)

"Your efforts, while plentiful, will only result in one outcome." Machinedramon said, before using his right arm to grab hold of GrandLocomon and lift him upwards, surprising the locomotive Digimon.

"Let him go!" Mamemon shouted as he and Andromon ran forward to save their friend, the same with GrandisKuwagamon and MetalGarurumon, but at that moment Machinedramon turned to them and with a roar, used GrandLocomon as an impromptu bat, knocking them all away, the two Ultimates reverting to their Baby forms after they landed, having stayed too long in their current forms.

Wormmon and Gabumon winced a little at their others reverting.

"I'll admit, you've all caused me quite a lot of trouble. But your luck ends here," Machinedramon said coldly, his cannons extending and aimed right at GrandLocomon's head. The others who still could fight tried to run to help, to stop what was about to happen...but all they could do in the end was watch as the cannons charged up.

"Finish this for me, okay guys?" GrandLocomon managed to say, looking one last time at his comrades before glaring at Machinedramon defiantly, right before the cannons were fired. The force blew holes right through his head and body before he shattered into data shortly after.

"Do we have to watch someone die every time before someone gains new power." Mimi sounded more tired than sad.

Sora placed a hand on her friends' shoulder. "I don't like it either."

Novice looked around the room. It seemed like either the Children were growing numb, or they were just depresssed. The Overseer considered letting them have some therapy with Ophanimon.

"No…" Nora whispered in horror, Ren looking on with grit teeth.

"Bastard." Weiss growled.

"How dare you…" Pyrrha muttered, trembling, before her head snapped up at Machinedramon with a glare. "How dare you kill him!"

"And what of it?" Machinedramon said coldly. "It was only a matter of time before he met his demise, the same holds true for the rest of you. You may have defeated MetalSeadramon and Puppetmon, but the same won't happen three times. Your luck has run out, Chosen Children."

Veemon really wanted to yell the story to quickly get to the part where he evolves and gets to kick the Dark Master's butt, but even he realized that it was better to keep that in his stomach.

"Run out?" Pierce muttered, before his eyes snapped open, and if looks could kill, Machinedramon would be molten scrap right now "It hasn't run out you bastard! Because we make our own luck!"

Right as he said that, Pyrrha's hands glowed brighter than usual, and she pulled.

Machinedramon barely had time to let out a roar of pain, before his Adamantium coating was completely ripped off his body. However that seemed to take a toll on Pyrrha too, as she soon fell to the ground unconscious, to which the others quickly took her back to safety before the Dark Master could regain his bearings.

Seeing an opening, HerculesKabuterimon roared in anger, before he rammed his horn into Machinedramon, and this time, the Dark Master was sent flying, causing him to crash into a nearby wall, groaning as he got up.

"Still gonna call that luck?" Pierce dared as he looked the cruel Digimon in the eyes. "That's why you're going to lose here! You think every win we've scored was just us getting lucky, when we've made our own luck. You're not just fighting us! You're fighting anyone and everyone who has the will and wish to see you and all the other Dark Masters dead and dust! THAT is why we're not going to lose to you! And once we're done, we'll send Piedmon right after you too!" he shouted, his Crest exploding into a pillar of golden light around him while the Tag shattered apart and the crest sunk into his skin, the light quickly focusing down on his hand as he grabbed his D-Core, changing it into a D-Crest with a golden grip "Let's kick his ass Veemon!"

"Finally!" Veemon let out in relief.

"Right!" the blue Digimon shouted as he jumped to his feet and Pierce aimed his Digivice at him.

(Brave Heart restart)

The crest of Miracles appeared on the glass covering, before the light erupted forth, sending it flying out and into Veemon who turned the same color as the crest. "Veemon, Warp Evolution!" Veemon called out, as a beam of light was released from his body, revealing Veedramon, who turned and released another burst of light, revealing AeroVeedramon who repeated the process one more time. The resulting body was humanoid in shape with a draconic head that sported four horns pointed backwards, before pieces of blue and silver armor started to appear on his body, starting with shoulder pads, then gauntlets, armored boots, and proper chest armor. His body became colored in at that moment, in shades of blue, silver and gold armor, while his eyes were the same red as Veemon. A pair of silver bracelets appeared on each wrist, followed by a pair of wings shooting out his back, appearing similar to a cape, and finally, a large golden V shining into existence on his chest. The area around him finally settled into the middle of a tornado, the raging winds whipping around him while the Crest of Miracles appeared on the back of his right hand, followed by an energy saber shooting out from his silver bracelet as he swung it to the side, the tornado dissipating from around him to reveal clear skies "UlforceVeedramon!"

Veemon was not disappointed. "I look so cool."

"Yeah... he does." Daisuke added in with a grin.

"Woah!" Pierce breathed in awe as he looked up at his partner, he was actually tall enough that he could stand on his shoulder.

"I think we've officially hit overkill." Ruby muttered from where she was.

"You have no idea how right you are." Weiss said as she looked down at the Analyzer.

Digimon Analyzer: UlforceVeedramon

UlforceVeedramon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Holy Knight Digimon. One of thirteen Royal Knights said to uphold order in the Digital World, UlforceVeedramon possesses the highest speed amongst them, capable of reaching hypersonic speeds in a matter of seconds. His armor is fashioned out of Blue Digizoid, a more lightweight version of Chrome Digizoid that allows the user to be even faster than normal, and he wields the V Bracelets on his arms, capable of forming any weapon he wishes out of pure energy. His special attacks are Shining V Force, firing a ray of energy from the V on his chest, and Ulforce Saber, cutting his opponents to pieces with swords created from his V Bracelets.

"Royal Knights?" Taichi commented at the title.

"That sounds strong." Hikari commented.

"I wonder who the other twelve are." Miyako let out with an intrigued look.

Novice had a devious look before discreeting sending a small message.

Machinedramon was just getting to his feet again when both of the Ultimates landed before him...and boy did they look PISSED.

"Wanna open up this tin can?" HerculesKabuterimon growled.

"With pleasure," UlforceVeedramon agreed.

"Insolent upstarts! Don't think you will defeat me so easily!" Machinedramon growled, before lashing out with his clawed left arm, something that UlforceVeedramon met head on, igniting his V Bracelets that formed a pair of sabers made of light. A flash occured, and Machinedramon roared in pain as his left arm went flying, the sabers cutting through his armor as if they were butter. "Impossible! Even without the Adamantium coating, I'm still made of Chrome Digizoid!"

"Yes!" Veemon cheered.

No one noticed Agumon looking a little jealous.

"For a guy who thinks he's so smart, you're sure acting dumb right now," HerculesKabuterimon chuckled.

"Doesn't matter how hard your armor is. My blades are made from pure energy, perfect for cutting right through armor like yours," UlforceVeedramon smirked.

The Children and their partners had varying looks of realization at that.

"You bastards!" Machinedramon roared, before charging up his cannons. "Infinity Cannon! Full Blast!" he roared, his cannons practically bursting with energy, before he fired them in a constant stream.

"Not this time," UlforceVeedramon growled. "Shining V Force!" he called out, firing a V shaped beam of energy from his chest armor.

"Giga Blaster!" HerculesKabuterimon added, firing his best attack, the two attacks meeting the cannon beams head on, the attacks struggling against each other, before the attacks slowly overpowered Machinedramon's attack, sending the energy back and into his cannons, which promptly exploded from the overload.

Machinedramon roared in agony as more of his armor was ripped off from the explosion, the Dark Master stumbling back.

"Now he's almost defenseless." Gatomon commented on the Dark Master's state.

"Its over. You've lost," Weiss said simply, catching the Dark Master's attention.

"Over?" Machinedramon repeated, as if trying to comprehend her words. "No! This is NOT over! I will NOT be defeated by the likes of you!" he roared, as his eyes glowed red, and his body started to glow. "If I will die here, I will take you all WITH me!" he roared. "You will all die to my most powerful attack! Catastrophe-!"

"Wait, what?!" Taichi, Sora, Takeru, Hikari and their partners let out.

He didn't get to finish, as the two Ultimates were already upon him. "Take this somewhere else! Horn Buster Kai!" HerculesKabuterimon roared as he slammed his horn into Machinedramon, and with a might swing, sent him flying up through the ground and out into the sky above.

However, Machinedramon barely had time to register what happened as a blur shot up past him, before coming down again.

"Ulforce Saber!" UlforceVeedramon called out as several flashes went through Machinedramon's body, and time seemed to stop for the Dark Master.

"T-this can't be!" he managed to roar out before he was diced up like an onion, his body falling in a hundred pieces which soon shattered into data.

(Song End)

UlforceVeedramon didn't wait, zooming back down and landing at the same time as HerculesKabuterimon "Everyone climb on, we have to leave before the city disappears!"

Right as he said that, the ground started shaking around them.

"Come on!" Pierce said quickly, climbing up to his partner's shoulder, while a few of the others got in his hands, everyone else not capable of flight climbing on top of HerculesKabuterimon's head as they took back off into the air, soon watching as the third section of Spiral Mountain disappeared.

"GrandLocomon… his sacrifice will forever be honored in our memory." Andromon said sadly as Mamemon was sat on his shoulder.

"That's three down now." Pierce said, before glaring at the top of the mountain "Only one left. Wait for us Piedmon, we're coming for you."

A multitude of emotions crossed everyone as the book closed itself in Tentomon's hands.

"Novice." Taichi was the first to speak, "What was Machinedramon trying to do?"

"He was planning to self-destruct, and take them all with him." Novice explained.

"But... our Machinedramon didn't have that kind of power." Sora said with a worried look.

"Yes he did." Novice said, earning shocked looks, "You just never gave him the chance to use it." Then the overseer waved his hand, "And with all that done." Another holographic screen appeared which shot a purple and golden light to Koshiro's and Daisuke's Digivices, turning them in to D-Crests.

"Oh, yeah." Veemon shook with excitement at the thought of turning into UlforceVeedramon.

But then Ken realized something, "Wait, if Veemon can now go through the Veedramon line, does that mean he can't evolve into ExVeemon?"

Daisuke paled a little at hearing that. No ExVeemon means, no Jogress with Stingmon. Which means no Paildramon. Which means, no Imperialdramon.

"Don't worry, "Novice chuckled, "There is a small modification with Daisuke's D-Crest that allows Veemon to choose which line he wants to go through. I wouldn't want to deprive you of any of your previous advantages."

"This is so cool!" Veemon cheered, "Daisuke, let's test this!" The blue dinosaur already dragged his partner out of his seat.

"Hey! Don't pull me!" the Chosen of Courage, Friendship and Miracles protested.

"Koshiro, can we-" "Sure thing, Tentomon." Koshiro accepted, being a little eager to test this himself. Novice shook his head at the two's enthusiasm.

The rest of the Children and their partners were eager to also train some more, leaving Novice to rub his cheek that Ophanimon had slapped when she found out his dirty little secret. At that moment a message popped up. Checking it quickly, made the Overseer forget about his problems for a moment. But the Children and their partners had already left. "Later, I guess."

---

Lotosmon: Okay, Ophanimon. What did Novice do to make you this angry?

Ophanimon: You do not want to know.

Lotosmon: *crosses arms* Yes I do.

Ophanimon: *sighs* Very well. *whispers into Lotosmon's ear*

Lotosmon: He what?! Okay, I'm surprised you didn't stick Eden's Lance up his-

Ophanimon: Do not finish that sentence!