Hello, sorry this would've have been done sooner but sometimes I let myself get distracted for too long.

So... here we are... last day of the year. It hasn't been too bad, at least to me personally, I mean, I did watch the final .tri movies so that's clearly a good thing.

Shoutouts for the reviews left by GreenD109, MadDogLucario96, God of the Challenge, and DigimonAT0318.

All that said, let's move on. It seems Sora seems to have wandered into a bit of a predicament...

Chapter 15: Sundown Showdown! Starmon and Revolmon!

Digital World. May 25th, 2002. 0942 Hours.
P.O.V. – Sora Takenouchi

I skip tennis practice for today and what do I get for it: I get pursued by a swarm of Airdramon hot on Birdramon's tail! I thought today might be quiet and that Piyomon and I could at least survey the Digital World in order to give the guys a hand with what our next move is. I still really can't believe that I can come home and find Piyomon waiting for me. Mom and her got along beautifully, but then again, they both came and saved me from Phantomon during the fight against Vamdemon. Dad was also home for a few days as well, and he's adjusted to her quite well. Of course, he has a lot of questions which I think he's relating back to his studies… I just hope he doesn't use her in a lecture. Back to the crisis at hand, all was well the moment we arrived. Takeo was staying at the new headquarters and although he said I probably should've waited from some of the others to come around, I assured him I would be fine. Big mistake. After a few minutes of flying through the air, a whole group of controlled Airdramon jumped us in some rocky canyons and were now trying to blast us out of the sky.

"Birdramon! You've got to go faster! They're getting closer!" I shouted.
"I'm trying, Sora! But I just can't shake them off!" Another blast nearby rocked us.
"Try to avoid them for a bit longer, I'm sending a message!" I had my D-Terminal and was typing 'Emergency! Send help!' I managed to hit send but then Birdramon was struck in the wing and we began falling out of the sky!
"Sora!" "Birdramon!" We screamed for each other. Birdramon managed to keep me from hitting the ground, but that didn't stop her from taking the full force of the crash when we slammed into the ground. When the dust cleared, I looked back and saw Piyomon in terrible shape.
"Piyomon!" I cried as I ran over to her.
"So…ra…" She moaned before she closed her eyes. There were only two pieces of good news right now. The first one was that the Airdramon that followed us had went away, probably thinking that they finished us off or something. The other was a town I could see in the distance, which may be a good place to hold up until help arrives, or at least get Piyomon out of the sun. Hang on, Piyomon. I'll get you to safety.

P.O.V. – Third Person

In Hikari's room, Tailmon was looking at her reflection in the mirror while grooming her ears and humming a song.
"Tailmon, hurry up!" Hikari insisted.
"Just a second, my fur is sticking up…" She told her. "Besides, isn't there a human saying about not rushing things like 'Rome wasn't built in a day.'?"
"No, but it burned down in one." Hikari chuckled. "That's a joke Ross-chan has in response to that quote. Come on, already!"
"Okay, let's go!" Tailmon jumped off the table.
"You're always grooming…"
"Is that so bad? Stop teasing me!"
"But we're just going for a walk." The two of them headed out, but Hikari left her D-Terminal and would be unaware of the SOS signal that Sora sent out.

Meanwhile, Takeru and Patamon were dead tired and sleeping hard as a reward for all the hard work they had been doing for the Digital World.
"Patamon…" Takeru muttered in his sleep.
"Takeru…" At Daisuke's apartment, he had just come back into his room after a large breakfast.
"Aah, I'm full!" He said as he stretched his arms while Chibimon was playing with the D-Terminal.
"You ate so much in the morning already…" Chibimon reminded.
"Chibimon, you too. I'm going bankrupt this month!" Chibimon was practically unobservant to all the empty boxes and bowls of food around him. The D-Terminal chimed as Sora's message flashed on it and Chibimon's mood darkened.
"Daisuke!"

"Emergency! Send help... Sora." Iori read off the message at his own home. Behind him, Upamon had put himself in Iori's kendo equipment and somehow was swinging the Shinai. "Upamon, we've got a problem!"
"What's wrong, dagyaa?" Iori just picked him up and placed him under his shirt as he ran outside and headed to the headquarters. As he was running right past the Inoue's store, he was quickly knocked off his feet as he accidently blindsided Miyako who was caring multiple boxes of food.
"Miyako-san, I'm sorry!" He apologized.
"Iori, it's you! It's not like you to rush…"
"I got an e-mail from Sora-san!"
"Dagyaa!" Upamon shouted from under Iori's shirt.
"From Sora-san?" Miyako questioned. After quickly helping cleaning up the mess the two of them made, they headed to the headquarters with the Digimon in tow.
"Hurry up, you two!" Ken exclaimed as he rolled by them on his bike.

P.O.V. – Miyako Inoue

"I freaking warned her not to go!" Takeo shouted as we walked in, finding Daisuke the only Chosen Child present.
"Warned who about what?" Ken asked.
"Sora and Piyomon were here earlier and decided to check out things in the Digital World. I tried to tell her to wait for one of you to show up just to give her some backup but she went ahead anyways! Now she's apparently in trouble."
"Takeru and Hikari-chan?" Daisuke questioned. I guess he was expecting them to be with us.
"They're not here with you?" I said as we both pulled our Digimon out from under our shirts.
"Maybe they didn't notice the e-mail." Iori guessed. Though that is very strange, it's not like them to miss something like this.
"They could be on a date!" I suggested.
"Eh!" Daisuke quickly jumped out of the chair he was sitting in.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

"Well, is anyone else coming, Takeo-san?" Ken wondered.
"I don't know. I have no idea what the others are doing right now."
"Then we'll go without them."
"Alright." Daisuke nodded as I walked over to the computer screen.
"I got the area where Sora might be, but I can't be sure. It's within in the general area where she went, but you'll probably have to look around. Word of warning: you're on the frontier of the Kaiser's territory; Koushiro thinks his territorial expansions are all being focused in this region."
"Don't worry, we'll be extra careful today, Takeo-san." Iori assured him.
"Digital Gate, open! Chosen Children, let's roll!" I cried.

Just our luck, we get transported to a desert with a sandstorm raging at the moment. Daisuke used his goggles to cover his eyes but the rest of us had no real way of shielding our eyes other than by covering them. By the time it died down, we could now see we were in the middle of what I had to assume was a junkyard what with the burnout cars, wrecked televisions and other trashed appliances. We looked ahead of us and could see a small town with a water tower up ahead. The thing about the town was… it looked familiar.
"It's a town that you'd see in the Wild West of America!" Daisuke exclaimed. I took another look around and like with that volcano, something was missing.
"I can't see any Dark Tower." Iori observed.
"There has to be one somewhere…" I said.
"Maybe there's a clue about it somewhere in town." Ken started to walk forward with all of us following.

As we got into down, the place was really eerie.
"Ken-chan… this place gives me the creeps." Wormmon was worried.
"I'm with you, Wormmon. This place is like a ghost town, dagyaa!" Armadimon agreed. The sounds of silence were interrupted when we heard an old time piano beginning to play.
"What's that?" I wondered.
"Sounds like a piano playing." Iori said.
"Well, if there's a piano playing, then there's only one place it would be. Let's go check out the saloon." Daisuke pointed to the building. We all ran after him and walked in through the swinging doors. We saw the place was empty though the piano was here, but it must have been one of those automated players as nobody was on it while it kept up its song.
"Hello?" "Anybody here?" "Excuse me?" "Anyone?" We all called out through the saloon to get someone's attention if they were there.

"It's a Digital World!" A voice cried out. "Welcome to Wild West Town…" We all turned to the bar as we heard the voice from that direction. "I'm this town's defender of justice… Starmon!" Sliding up from behind the bar was a large silver star Digimon with boots, gloves, and a large cowboy hat. "You look mighty parched. Take a seat while I get you something." We all took his offer and sat at the bar before he poured a bunch of mugs full of some white liquid and slid them down to us. I hope that isn't alcohol, none of us are of the drinking age. "This town welcomes you all. Have some Welcome Milk!" Oh it's just milk.
"Welcome Milk?" Ken questioned.
"The air is dry here in Wild West Town, so we get thirsty. Once again, welcome!" He began drinking his own mug of milk. "Aah, delicious."
"Well, I guess now that you mention it, I'm thirsty." Daisuke admitted.
"Me too." Both I and Iori said.
"What hospitality from this defender of justice!" V-mon cried. "Thanks!"
"Thanks!" We all said as we took a drink from our mugs too.
"Good drinking."

"By the way…" I spoke up.
"What is it?" Starmon asked as he walked to the other end of the bar with his back to us.
"Have you seen a girl with red hair? Goes by the name Takenouchi Sora? She had a Piyomon with her?" I asked.
"Sora? Piyomon?"
"Did either of them come through town?"
"Yes! I have!" He turned to us. We all got excited to hear that. "I've also been searching for them. Finger snap…" He muttered to himself as he did what he said. He turned his back to us again and suddenly a whole digital wall of wanted posters appeared with a 'Wanted: Dead or Alive' reward for both Sora and Piyomon!
"What?! A wanted poster! What have they done!?" I shouted.
"They escaped here from the Digimon Kaiser… So, as sheriff, I was looking to protect them."
"Well, that's a relief… judging from those posters, I thought they had done something bad." Iori said.
"Iori-kun… no way either of them could do something bad." I told him.

"Indeed…" assured Starmon.
"Unless Piyomon was controlled by an Evil Ring or something…" Daisuke pointed out which caused Starmon to have a spit take where he shot his milk upward like some sort of milk fountain. He then tried to cough the rest of it out.
"Ah, I beg your pardon…" He took off his hat… and revealed a disturbing object attached to his head.
"An Evil Ring!" We all shouted.
"I thought it was strange… there are no defenders of justice in the Digimon Kaiser's towns!" V-mon dismissed.
"That's not what you said before at all!" Daisuke reminded him.
"Those who say they're on the side of justice end up being no good…" Armadimon said.
"Now it's a bit too late to say that." Iori countered. I wonder though how he feels about that line… considering his father was a police officer.
"Oh well, you found me out!" Starmon threw his hat in the air and his eyes turned from normal blue eyes to red ones. "Digimon Kaiser-sama's orders were very clear. 'Any Chosen Children that are found are to be executed immediately, for crimes committed against the ruler of the Digital World; such crimes included insurrection and carrying acts of terror against the Kaiser.'"
"Wait!? What!? We're the terrorists!?" Daisuke exclaimed.

"Oh, Osamu… have you really gone that far? To be willing to have us all executed for fighting you?" Ken whispered to himself. "Where's the Digimon Kaiser now?" He asked Starmon.
"He's making an Evil Spiral…" Starmon chuckled. "…better… no, much better~!" We took the opportunity of him having his back turned to run out the door and get out of town, as it sounded like Sora and Piyomon weren't here and we were not sticking around to deal with Starmon. "Meteor Squall!" We heard Starmon yell and suddenly the whole sky began falling on us as these meteors were exploding all around us. We all were eventually struck by the blasts and could no longer escape. Starmon laughed the entire time as he tied us up then threw us into the jail before locking the cell door.
"I guess I'll go make a scaffold in the graveyard for you…" He laughed once more as he walked out. We all looked out the window to see a large gallows that apparently was out near the graveyard.
"Dammit!" Daisuke cursed.
"Guys…?" A voice from the dark corner of the cell moaned.
"Sora-san!" We all exclaimed.

P.O.V. – Sora Takenouchi

The others quickly ran over to where Piyomon and I were holding in the cell.
"Sora-san! You're alright!" Miyako exclaimed.
"Yeah…" I nodded. "Thanks to Piyomon… but she…"
"She looks really bad." Ken observed.
"She took a hard hit after those Airdramon shot us out of the sky. She's been asleep ever since."
"So… what happened?" Daisuke asked.
"We were trying to escape a pack of the Kaiser's Airdramon that got the jump on us and we fell near here… at first everything was fine as I carried Piyomon into town to try to get her some help… I thought maybe it was a lucky break when Starmon welcomed us with some milk."
"Let me guess, he attacked you as you walked up to the town." Iori assumed. I nodded once more.
"That Meteor Squall attack devastated us. I was barely conscious when I saw that cruel sheriff practically stomp on Piyomon's head!"
"That explains why you look somewhat ragged as well." Miyako observed.
"We've been here for most of the day, just waiting for Starmon to finish constructing that gallows which he's going to hang us from."

Our conversation was soon interrupted when we heard moaning in my lap, meaning that Piyomon was coming to.
"Piyomon!" I cried.
"Are… are… are you okay, Sora?" I almost had tears in my eyes.
"Me? Am I okay? I was more concerned about you being okay!"
"It's alright… I've suffered much worse…"
"Well, at least we're okay… for now. But with what you just said, Sora-san… we need to get out of here now before we find ourselves hanging from the rope." Ken looked around the room for a way out or something.
"Allow me! V-mon Head!" V-mon charged into the back wall but it was so thick, all it left was an imprint of his face. "That's a tough wall…"

"Armadimon." Iori spoke up.
"What, dagyaa?"
"Armor-Evolve into Digmon and break the wall."
"Well, about that…"
"What is it?"
"I'm too hungry." Armadimon's stomach growled.
"That's right… we didn't have breakfast…"
"Dagyaa…"
"Huh?" Piyomon perked up as she heard a sound from outside.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I heard something!" We heard what sounded like a horse before spur boots began walking towards the door.
"It's getting closer…" Miyako whispered.

The door swung open and a weird Digimon was looking right at us. It had arms and legs and wore a cowboy hat, but it's chest was just one big revolver, not to mention the two smaller ones he had in his hand.
"Ally of justice~! ...Revolmon." The gun Digimon cried. None of us were really convinced with this guy. He ran right up to the gate. "H-hey, what is it!? You don't believe me!?"
"Those who say they're on the side of justice end up being no good…" Armadimon told him.
"Exactly!" Iori chimed in.
"I bet there's an Evil Ring under that hat!" V-mon accused.
"You kiddin' me? The Digimon Kaiser could never control me!" He took off his hat. "Look!"

"Then, the scarf!" Miyako suggested.
"Look!"
"Boots!" Iori said next.
"Look!"
"Gloves!" I spoke up.
"Look!"
"Shirt!" Ken's turn.
"Look!"
"Pants!" Miyako said again.
"Look!"
"Underwear!" We all quickly doubled back to look at Daisuke.
"Look look lo- Don't-don't-don't look! That's enough!" Revolmon quickly got his clothes back on.

"You mean… you really came to rescue us!?" Miyako couldn't believe it, much like the rest of us.
"Geez… exactly!"
"Hooray!" We all cheered.
"I want to play cards with the girls!"
"Ehhh!?"
"So I'll only rescue the girls."
"No way!" Daisuke shouted.
"Rescue us too, please…" V-mon cried.
"I don't want to play cards with the guys…"
"I knew he was no good, dagyaa…" Armadimon said with scorn.
"Rather than no good, I'd say he's strange." Iori believed. He thinks strange, I think pervert; why else would he only rescue us? Revolmon aimed for the gate and fired a shot that opened the door.
"Girls, out." He motioned.
"What about us?" Piyomon and Hawkmon asked. He shrugged his shoulders and led us out to his coach while locking the door on the guys with a multitude of locks and handcuffs! We then got on the coach that was being pulled by a non-existent horse.
"Off we go!"

P.O.V. – Iori Hida

After a little bit, the door opened once again and it turned out to be Starmon who was whistling to himself before he sat at a desk and pulled out a lunchbox. I guess it was his lunch time.
"Thanks for the meal!" He shouted to himself. He then probably noticed all the locks on the gate and turned to us. "Huh? No way!" He must have thought that all of had escaped… until we walked forward.
"Revolmon came and took the girls." Daisuke informed.
"He said he only wanted to play cards with the girls." Ken added.
"Strange, isn't he?" I said. I swear, I could see a rage bar above Starmon as he exploded in anger.
"Damn Revolmon! I'll get you once and for all!" He ran right back out the door, clearly preparing to hunt down the gun Digimon.
"Daisuke…" V-mon spoke up.
"What?" Daisuke asked. We looked down to see all three Digimon with their mouths wide open and drooling a river.
"There… lunch." We looked to the table to see that Starmon had left his food.

"If I eat that, I can Armor-Evolve to Digmon and bust our way out, dagyaa!" Armadimon informed.
"If I could get loose from these ropes, I could use a Silk Thread to bring us the food." Wormmon told us.
"Armadimon." I got him to turn his attention back to me.
"What, dagyaa?"
"Imagine my rope was food and bite it."
"Food?"
"Just do it. We don't have much time."
"Okay, okay!"

After a few minutes, Armadimon chewed his way out and soon got V-mon and Wormmon freed.
"Daisuke, just a little more!" V-mon almost finished untying Daisuke before he completed his task.
"Thank you, V-mon!"
"No problem!"
"Okay, Wormmon, your turn." Ken said. Wormmon nodded.
"Alright… hold me steady." Ken grabbed Wormmon and placed him on his shoulder like he was a rocket launcher. "Almost… almost… got it! Silk Thread!" Wormmon shot out his silk and it latched onto the food. He then pulled it back to the gate.

"I'm fine. You eat it, Armadimon." I told him. He needed it way more than I did.
"Thanks, dagyaa… Thanks for the meal!"
"Ken-chan…?" Wormmon didn't feel that comfortable eating while Ken didn't have anything.
"It's alright, Wormmon. You're gonna need it if we're going to take on Starmon." He told him. At the same time, V-mon was practically biting his nails as he wanted some as well.
"You ate plenty this morning! Control yourself." reminded Daisuke.
"Want some?" Armadimon offered.
"Yeah!" The three Digimon began scoffing down the sandwiches.
"I'm so full!" "That was good!" "Thanks for the meal!"

"Iori, I'm ready to go now, dagyaa!" informed Armadimon.
"Right. Digimental Up!"
"Armadimon, Armor-Evolve! Steel Knowledge, DIGMON!" He walked over to the back wall of the cell. "I'll take care of it!" He was very quick with his drilling as no wall stood a chance against him.
"You did it!" The rest of us cheered.
"Daisuke, Ken, it's our turn!" V-mon cried.
"Right." The both of them nodded. "Digimental Up!"
"V-mon, Armor-Evolve! Storm of Friendship, LIGHDRAMON!" "Wormmon, Armor-Evolve! Stinging Kindness, TETERMON!" We then all headed out to rescue the girls from Revolmon and Starmon.

P.O.V. – Sora Takenouchi

"Maybe if we all charge him at once?" Miyako suggested. Revolmon had taken us to a grassy ranch not far from the town before he pulled up a table and began wildly shuffling the cards. Meanwhile, Miyako and I were trying to figure out a way to get away from him and rescue the others.
"That won't be easy… you saw how he uses those guns…"
"Alright!" Revolmon jumped on the table as he finished shuffling the cards. "Well then, let the great card game between Revolmon-sama, the girls and their Digimon begin! Applause! Cheer!" We all clapped in order not to get on his bad side.
"Let's just play like he wants…" I whispered.
"Okay."
"Let's see… I start by raising two-hundred." Revolmon pushed some of his chips forward.

The hand Revolmon had was soon blown away as a shot tore through his cards.
"Who was that!?" He demanded an answer as he jumped on the table again.
"Revolmon! It's me." Starmon called out from the direction of the town. Great, just what we needed.
"So it's you, Starmon…"
"Revolmon, I challenge you to a duel!"
"A duel? Fine by me!" Oh, this really is not what we needed!

After a minute of quietly talking to each other, the two of them stood back to back.
"Three steps and draw." Starmon established the rules to Revolmon.
"Three steps, fine by me."
"I never saw this coming…" Miyako admitted.
"Yeah… although I guess it comes with the territory of a town set in the Wild West." I said.
"So who do we want to win?" Piyomon wondered.
"I guess Revolmon." Hawkmon decided. "All we have to do is play cards with him as opposed to meeting the hangman."

The two Digimon began stepping forward as they took their paces.
"One…" "Two…" "Three…" Revolmon turned right before Starmon said three and grazed him with a bullet.
"I win."
"You… didn't even take three steps!" Starmon accused Revolmon of cheating… which he did.
"You heard me, right? Three steps are fine by me."
"Th… that's not fair…"
"Victory is justice… Justice Bullet!" Revolmon fired a large bullet from his chest which blasted near the ground forcing Starmon to run away, all the while he kept firing. "Justice! Justice! Justice! Justice! Justice! Justice! Justice! Justice!"
"I don't know who has the Evil Ring anymore…" I moaned.
"Yeah… it's like the Gokimon brothers all over again." Miyako recalled the first time she met Mimi and when Palmon Armor-Evolved into Konteimon.

"Justice! Justice! Justi…" And now it looks like Revolmon just ran out of ammo. "I… uh… ran out of ammo…" Knew it. Starmon was white hot with anger now as he was ready to rain down the most devastating storm of fury on Revolmon.
"I'll crush you! Meteor Squall!" Revolmon was quickly hit with the storm of meteors and crashed into the ground next to us. "You're next…" Starmon referred to us. "It's time for your execution!"
"Sora!" "Miyako-san!" Our Digimon got in front of us.

P.O.V. – Ken Ichijouji

"Lighdramon! Go after!" Daisuke ordered as he and Lighdramon charged ahead of me and Tetermon. Lighdramon jumped over the girls and charged forward towards Starmon.
"Quiet! Meteor Squall!" The storm of meteors struck once more which blasted the two of them into the air.
"Daisuke-kun!" "V-mon!" Both Tetermon and I shouted as we flew as fast as we could to rescue them before they hit the ground. We timed it close but Tetermon was able to catch V-mon while I grabbed Daisuke's hand, but he was still dangling above the ground below.
"Thanks, Ken-kun!" He said.
"No problem, you'd do the same for me!"
"Let me go!" V-mon cried to Tetermon. "I'll attack him as Fladramon!"
"Leave this to us!" Sora and Miyako shouted from below. "Digimental Up!"
"Hawkmon, Armor-Evolve! Wings of Love, HOLSMON!" "Piyomon, Armor-Evolve! Soaring Love, ROBINMON!"

"What?!" Starmon quickly panicked as the two birds took to the skies. They then dived on him and picked him up. "Put me down! Put me down! I ain't meant to fly!"
"With pleasure!" They both stated. "Tempest Wing!" "Cyclone Burst!" Starmon was caught up in the giant tornado they created and spun around until he was launched back towards town where he crashed right through his giant gallows in the cemetery. As it turned out, the Dark Tower was actually being covered up by it which explained why we couldn't find it! The sheer force of Starmon crashing into it caused the tower to come down, thus freeing the area from the Kaiser's control.

"The Dark Tower was here?" Daisuke questioned as we all walked to the cemetery to meet up with Iori who stayed in town.
"It must have been buried by the sandstorm…" Iori observed.
"And then what was still exposed was covered up by the gallows." I added as Starmon got back up with his Evil Ring now destroyed.
"The good news is that Wild West Town is free from the Digimon Kaiser's control." Sora said.
"And we found and saved you, let's not forget that." Miyako reminded why we were here in the first place.
"Yes, that too… thank you, everyone."
"Well then…" Revolmon climbed up on top of the destroyed tower. "This case has been solved." Wait, was he a detective or a bandit? "Let's play cards, everyone!" We all collectively fell to our knees in exhaustion. That guy will never give up.

"Sora-san? Shouldn't we go home?" Iori asked as we had been playing several hands with Starmon and Revolmon in the saloon.
"I guess…"
"You can't go!" Both Digimon exclaimed.
"We've had enough!" We all cried. I then sighed and slid half my chips into the pile as the turn had a 9, a 5, and two Aces.
"Ken-chan? What do those two A's mean?" Wormmon asked as he was looking at my hand.
"W-Wormmon! You're not supposed to tell!" I shouted.
"Nope." "I'm done." "I fold." "Nah." The rest of the table began to put down their cards as they folded leaving me the winner of the pot. I suddenly began to snicker before laughing.
"Well done, Wormmon." I then revealed my hand to show that I had a 2 and a 4 for my hand.
"Ehhh!?"
"Wow, Ken… you are evil." Daisuke said.
"Sorry, but I said before, I get competitive!" Everyone soon laughed after that.

It's still nice that despite everything that's happened, we can still laugh…

I am really proud about that last paragraph. Certainly better than if Ross was there, he would've just been singing 'Wild Wild West'.

One little thing to note, if you want a theme song for the Chosen Children in their war against the Kaiser, I thought 'May 10th, 1940' by Michael Giacchino would be a perfect fit... then again... that just signifies how much of a nerd I am, of which my own theme song would be 'White n Nerdy'. Heh.

See you all in a few days when it will be a new year... and get ready for eldritch abominations.

"Push the button, Frank."