Sorry I took a lot longer with this one. This one really had me struggling for a while.

I'm gonna be fully honest, this is the weakest chapter I've ever written. Sorry, Koushiro, you drew the short straw on this one. Still, I suppose it's at least better than nothing... and better than some other things I've seen.

Shoutout to Dreaw Mac and foggsaurus8 for the faves and follows.

And shoutouts to MadDogLucario96 and DigimonAT0318 for the reviews. Oh, and Vietnam123? Yes to your question, I will do Diablomon's Counterattack and .tri as well as Hurricane Touchdown very soon. Now I'm kinda looking forward to writing .tri because DigimonAT gave me a really good idea of what to do with that. You know what I mean. ;)

Anyways, you've been waiting long enough.

Chapter 20: Jungle Warfare! Blossomon!

Chosen HQ, Odaiba District, Minato Ward, Tokyo, Japan. July 15th, 2002. 1123 Hours.
P.O.V. – Ross McGlathery

"Would you please stop flying around and just fight us!?" Daisuke yelled. I just laughed. At Chosen HQ, we had been bringing in a lot of enmities that made it more like a cool hangout. TV's, console games, movies, it almost felt like we were normal kids minus the whole fate of the Digital World in our hands. Takeru, Ken, myself and Daisuke were currently playing Super Smash Bros. Melee with Takeru as Link, Daisuke as Fox, Ken as Ness and myself as Kirby. I was currently just flying above the arena of Fountain of Dreams while the others were all beating each other up, much to Daisuke's frustration and my amusement.
"You complaining about it only makes me want to do it more." I told him.
"That's it!" He got up and walked up to the GameCube and turned it off.
"Aw…" "Come on!" "Spoilsport!" The three of us complained.
"You brought this on yourself. I'm never playing that with you again."
"You're just mad because you were in last." I teased.

"Actually, it's good you switched that off, it's about time we get to work." Koushiro got our attention. We turned around to look at him working on the computer with Tentomon right next to him.
"So what exactly is the plan today, Koushiro-san?" Miyako asked.
"Simple, we go into the Digital World, smash a Dark Tower, give the Kaiser a headache, and then go home." Daisuke sat up and bragged.
"It's getting more complicated than that, Daisuke-kun." Koushiro said. "We're slowly beginning to reach a major problem."
"What kind of problem, Koushiro-san?" Hikari questioned.
"It's this whole fight. We- we're not going to be able to keep it going for too much longer." Koushiro admitted.
"What? What's the problem?" Daisuke sounded confused by that. "All we need to do is knock down Dark Towers and help free the Digital World from the Kaiser's control. What's so hard about that?"
"Daisuke-kun, we can't keep doing that. All we've been doing is knocking down those Dark Towers and Os- the Digimon Kaiser just keeps building up new ones." Ken said.
"Ken-kun is right. This whole plan is really just not getting us anywhere in terms of stopping him." Koushiro nodded.

"Right now, we're getting caught up in a war of attrition. None of us can keep going to the Digital World and taking out a multitude of Dark Towers without getting some sort of rest." I held up my finger to keep Daisuke from speaking as he was about to say something in disagreement. "Not even you, Daisuke, so don't you try to argue."
"I agree with Ross-san. There are some days where I feel more exhausted to go to the Digital World. I still want to save it of course, but my body keeps telling me that I need to rest for a little while before going back into the fighting." Iori agreed with my concerns.
"The only good news right now is that it's summer break which gives us all day to deal with the Kaiser in the Digital World and not just a few hours in the afternoon after class." Takeru pointed out.
"Of course, that still doesn't change the fact that the Kaiser still has an advantage over us." Tailmon spoke up. "He still has a full twenty-four hours to be able to do what he wants while you all get a fraction of that."
"Yeah, you all still have to go home and rest." Patamon added.
"Well, surely he has to rest too." claimed Daisuke.
"Yeah, but he simply just wakes up and goes to immediate work." V-mon muttered.

"Our only true option in terms of defeating the Digimon Kaiser is to find him and his headquarters and stop him once in for all." Koushiro said.
"Easier said than done." I mumbled.
"Wait; hold on a second, Koushiro-kun. What exactly do you mean by 'stopping him once and for all'?" We all looked at Ken who had just stood up. "I mean, don't get me wrong, we need to stop him of course, but what exactly do we do then once we have him? He's still my brother…"
"Well, I don't know if I speak for everyone here but I know that I wouldn't try to truly hurt him." Iori assured him.
"Our goal should just be to bring him back to the real world, more than likely it will involve him kicking and screaming." Miyako informed.
"But what's to stop him from simply coming back to start all over again?" Takeru wondered.
"If we get our hands on him, we'll smash his Dark Digivice to keep him from returning and then have him thrown into a mental asylum just to keep him from doing anything drastic to Ken-kun and his family." I know Ken didn't like that last bit, but Osamu is clearly insane, and will probably try to harm Ken if he is indeed stopped.

"The problem with this whole thing is that we have no idea where exactly he is. We haven't seen or really heard from him since he capture and Dark-Evolved Agumon back in May." Hikari said. Koushiro got up from the computers and walked over to the projector we had and turned it on. It then showed a map of the Digital World; well, the black and white box map we had that signified which areas the Kaiser controlled and which ones he didn't. He soon grabbed a long ruler and used it as a pointer.
"Well, if that so called 'Kaiser Line' was any indication as well as the newly discovered 'Imperial Line', as Ross-san calls it, further north…"
"Which we still need to plan in order to break through it, I'd remind you, Koushiro. Taking on six Dark Towers in one area is going to be a challenge." I interrupted.
"Exactly, but if these two perimeters are any indication, then the Kaiser's headquarters is somewhere around this area." He used the pointer to circle a large region that was south of large ocean.
"That's still a wide area to search." Iori admitted.
"And what about what exactly the headquarters is? For all we know, it might look completely inconspicuous or under the waters of the ocean." Takeru expressed a concern.
"Incon-what?" Daisuke questioned.
"It means not as visible or attracting attention." Ken gave the textbook definition.

"Look, how's about right now we just do what we've been doing for the time being and focus on what to do at a later date?" suggested Hikari.
"Good idea, Hikari-chan. There are still a few more areas in between a freed area and that 'Imperial Line'." Takeru nodded.
"And once we get through that, we can focus on where exactly the Digimon Kaiser is hiding in that region." Ken added.
"It don't matter where he is, I'll dig him out, dagyaa!" claimed Armadimon.
"He won't be hiding forever." Hawkmon agreed.
"Still, I'm worried about why he's been so quiet lately." Wormmon spoke in a soft tone.
"Whatever it is, Wormmon, we'll deal with it like we have with everything else he's thrown at us!" Daisuke pumped his fist.
"I'm with Daisuke-kun. He won't beat us as long as we stick together." Ken said.

"Well, then, if there's going to be no more discussion about future plans, then I suppose we should get going to the Digital World." Koushiro sighed.
"Koushiro-han! I've got us an area we can deal with a Dark Tower!" Tentomon proudly stated.
"Well, you guys will have to deal with it without us. I'm tired." Guilmon finally woke up from his nap. Understandable, we've been fighting almost non-stop for the past few days.
"As much as I'd like to join the fight today, Guilmon's right. We need to take a bit of a breather for today." I told the others.
"That's alright, Ross-san. I'll give them a hand today." assured Koushiro.
"Good luck." I gave them a thumbs up which they gave back.
"Digital Gate, open! Chosen Children, let's roll!" Miyako shouted. The room filled in a bright light and the others vanished. Guilmon closed his eyes again while I turned back on the TV and got to waiting for them to return.
"Attention all aircraft, incoming from Stonehenge confirmed on radar. Drop below two-thousand feet and head south to exit combat area."
"Two-thousand feet? What do they expect us to do? Go underground?"
"Head towards the ravine and terrain mask. Use the crevasses. Get low and stay low."
"What are you talking about?! It's suicide to fly into that ravine!"

P.O.V. – Koushiro Izumi

As soon as we got to the Digital World, we could see that we had ended up on a cliff that overlooked a large and very thick jungle.
"Wow, it's like looking at the Amazon." Iori was in awe of the sight. It was quite impressive but I get a feeling that what it looks amazing from a distance; inside it is a whole other story.
"So anyone able to see that Dark Tower anywhere in there?" asked Takeru.
"I don't see it, Takeru-kun." Hikari admitted.
"It's probably somewhere in that jungle…" Ken said.
"Which means we have to go in there and find it." Daisuke concluded.
"What? Are you serious? We could easily get lost in there; it looks like we wouldn't even be able to move in there!" Miyako shouted.
"The Dark Tower is somewhere in this area, and if we can't see it then it is more than likely is in that jungle." I explained.
"You aren't serious about going in that mess, are you Koushiro-san?" Miyako sounded very concerned. Maybe she claustrophobic or something of that nature? However, she makes a good point, that jungle looks very nasty on the ground.
"No, I don't think we should go down in there. Daisuke-kun, Iori-kun, stay here. The rest of us will get into the air and try to find the tower. When we do, we'll come get you and we'll take it out." Everyone nodded in agreement and a few short Armor-Evolutions later, we were all in the air.

Due to the fact that ForceBeemon was actually smaller than me, I was riding with Takeru on Pegasmon. Yes, ForceBeemon is strong enough to carry me but I'd rather be on something a bit larger while flying above that mess.
"See anything yet?" I asked Takeru. We had all split up in the air so we could get a wider search area and find the tower quicker.
"Nothing yet… man, finding the tower in that dense jungle is going to be like trying to find a needle in a haystack."
"It's down there somewhere; this was definitely an area under the Kaiser's control. The map was sure of it." Tentomon insisted.
"No one is doubting you, Tentomon. It's just this is turning into quite the challenge." I assured him.
"Takeru… up ahead… I think I see something…" Pegasmon turned our attention forward. We soon saw some sort of sharp flower objects spinning ahead of us… and they were coming our way!
"Look out!" Takeru shouted as Pegasmon quickly turned out of the way. He dodged the first group of those things but another group was launched out of the jungle and heading for us. Something was clearly trying to bring us down.
"More of them! Keep avoiding!" I warned. Pegasmon tried his best to try and dodge them all but there was just too many of them. Soon one of the flowers got lucky and exploded right underneath us which caused Pegasmon to get hurt and knocked us off causing us to fall into the jungle below.

The impact clearly blacked me out as I soon found myself coming back to consciousness. I tried to move my limbs but I couldn't. I almost began to panic as I thought I had broken everything or I had ended up paralyzed. Thankfully, it turned out as soon as I opened my eyes, my lack of movement was due to me being entangled in a whole bunch of vines. I looked over and saw that Takeru and Patamon were also tangled up near me but they were still unconscious.
"Tentomon?" I loudly whispered. Whatever brought us down was clearly somewhere in this jungle and I didn't want to antagonize it or draw its attention to us… yet.
"I'm here, Koushiro-han." I heard him whisper. I looked down to see that he was tangled up and he was actually slowly cutting his way through the vines that had us entangled. "You guys took a nasty fall. Thankfully, these vines kept you from having a very rough impact."
"Very fortunate indeed. Can you get us out?"
"Just a few more vines and you'll be free, then I'll have to get Takeru-han's off of him."
"Okay, well, be careful. I don't know what brought us down and I get the feeling we don't want to encounter it without the others."
"Speaking of others, you should message them, tell them you're all right and where you guys are."
"I agree with you on messaging them, but there's no way we could be able to tell them where exactly we are in this mess." I sighed.

After a little while, Tentomon finally got Takeru out from his mess and safely brought us down to the jungle floor, albeit very slowly but it was a long drop so we had to take our time.
"You doing okay, Patamon?" Takeru asked his partner who was resting on his head.
"I'll be okay, but I just need a bit to rest." Takeru soon turned back to me.
"So what do we do now, Koushiro-san?"
"We clearly were getting close to somewhere we shouldn't be or else we wouldn't have been brought down like that." I theorized.
"So you think the Dark Tower is somewhere around this area?"
"Indeed. I believe that the tower is very close actually and I think it might be in that direction." I pointed north.
"Are you sure? We really don't want to get lost in here."
"No need to worry, I can just become ForceBeemon and find our way out." assured Tentomon.
"Good idea, but let's save that for later. We're going to need you for whatever brought us down. I'm guessing that Digimon is guarding the Dark Tower." I believed.
"Must be very powerful if it brought us down. Might be a Dark Spiral Digimon." Takeru guessed.
"Let's just hope we can find it before it finds us."

P.O.V. – Takeru Takaishi

We walked through the hard jungle for what felt like an hour. It was tough due to how slow we had to go just to get through all the vines that were blocking our way. Soon, our D-Terminals began to beep, indicating that we had just gotten a message.
"It's from Miyako-kun." Koushiro informed me. "Alright! She said they found the Dark Tower and just destroyed it!"
"That's great!" I cheered.
"So, did they find out what brought us down?" Tentomon asked.
"Uh… she doesn't mention anything that was in the way of the tower." Koushiro admitted.
"What? The tower was left unguarded?" I asked.
"It appears so…"
"Then… what took us down?" Suddenly, the whole ground began to rumbled as it sounded like something big was close to us. "Why did I have to say that?"

We turned around and saw a very large Digimon tear its way right through a bunch of trees before roaring like a mindless monster. It looked exactly like that one plant Digimon that Pinochimon killed with his gun back in his manor during our last adventure… of course; this one was clearly five times bigger.
"Blossomon!" Patamon shouted. "A Perfect-Level Digimon that has great command over plant life. It's normally docile but cross it and watch out for its Spiral Flower; it can cut through anything!"
"Well, it clearly isn't docile, look!" I pointed to one of his thorny vines and on it was an Evil Spiral. It's multiple smaller mouths flared out their teeth and then jumped right at us, trying to eat us!
"Run!" Koushiro yelled. We turned around and got running as fast as we could while Blossomon was on our tail.
"Spiral Flower!" Blossomon roared and those flowers that attacked us earlier flew right towards us.
"Duck!" I cried as Koushiro and I hit the deck.

"It's no use." Koushiro admitted. "We can't outrun that thing and we can't contact the others right now. We have to fight it ourselves."
"Then let's do it. Hopefully, we can create some sort of signal to attract the others to us." I theorized.
"Digimental Up!" We shouted.
"Patamon, Armor-Evolve! Soaring Hope, PEGASMON!" "Tentomon, Armor-Evolve! Drilling Intelligence, FORCEBEEMON!" The two Digimon jumped up and got moving before another one of those mouths could take a bite out of them.
"We've got to focus on taking out that Evil Spiral, ForceBeemon!" Pegasmon said.
"Don't need to tell me twice! Swarm Strike!" ForceBeemon got close and quickly struck all the mouths to at least keep them distracted.
"Shooting Star!" Pegasmon's meteors rained down across the controlled Digimon that caused it to try to cover itself with its vines.

However, this thing was clearly much quicker than expected as its vines shot out and seized all of us.
"Takeru!" "Koushiro-han!" Our Digimon cried out for us. I could feel the vines wrapping around me and slowly tightening as Blossomon began laughing.
"Beam Drill!" "Rodeo Gallop!" ForceBeemon and Pegasmon either used their drills or legs to knock away the vines on them which caused Blossomon to scream out in pain. It also served as a distraction as the vines around Koushiro and I loosened and we escaped.
"Quick, while he's distracted!" Koushiro shouted to the Digimon.
"Right!" They nodded and flew out towards the rampaging Digimon.
"Needle Rain!" "Swarm Strike!" The two attacks spared on the Evil Spiral and caused it to shatter.
"Yeah!" We cheered.

"You guys okay?" Daisuke asked as we reunited with the others by the TV. Blossomon had just simply wandered away once he had been freed so there was no need for us to stick around. We got on our Digimon and just flew back to the cliff.
"We're fine… but boy, that one was a hard one." I admitted.
"That Blossomon was something else entirely… almost reminded me of fighting MetalGreymon." Koushiro said.
"Then let's just hope we don't encounter a Digimon like that when we take on in the coming days." Ken nodded.
"Agreed."
"Come on, we took out the tower so why do we get some lunch?" Daisuke turned around to walk towards the TV.
"Sure. Thanks for offering to buy for us." I told him.
"What? Wait a second…!"
"That's real selfless of you, Daisuke-kun." Hikari smiled. Oh, you clever girl.
"Ugh… yeah, of course I'll pay!" We all soon laughed as we headed back home.

Today was a tough one though, and it's only going to get harder…

Anyways, that one is handled. Again sorry for the shortness of it. Believe me, the next one will be much better because I was better planned with that one.

Take care, I'm gonna watch a playthrough of Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies

"Push the button, Frank."