Chapter 5: The First Step
"Kotemon, get behind cover!" Emily screamed. Kotemon sprinted along the paved road, the night-time atmosphere all but helping them see past the gloom around them. Fire chased him like hounds as he jumped behind a parked car. Emily was already there next to Sam, Starmon and FlaWizardmon. Their opponent this time- a gigantic red T-Rex with bright blue eyes and an angry expression- looked none too pleased at the lack of people to crush. All of the houses had their lights turned off, but Emily knew that would all change if they kept up the fighting any longer, and the damage, though nothing too serious yet, done to the car was definitely going to raise some questions.
"Any ideas Em?" Sam asked in worry. "Because until then, FlaWizardmon is going to have to get really physical."
"We could probably do it if we called the others, but they'll take too long to get here. We have to do this in under three minutes."
"Alright then! Starmon, use an underground Meteor Squall manoeuvre!"
"Right! Come on brothers! Let's do this!" The Starmons all flew out of cover, Pickmons diving under the ground rapidly, followed by Starmon himself. They all shot out of the ground rapidly, slicing through the red dinosaur's flesh as they did so. It roared, swinging its tail around angrily at them. It let out a stream of blazing orange fire, shooting all of the Starmons back to the ground. Starmon got wacked back to Sam like a golf ball.
"Sorry brother, we weren't strong enough," he moaned.
"Calm down bro, you did awesome." Sam summoned them back into his Xros Loader. "Then it looks like we don't have much of a choice anymore. FlaWizardmon, Kotemon, Digi…" Sam was interrupted as the T-Rex roared in pain, collapsing onto its knees. A huge, gaping wound split open its chest like a ripe melon. What could've only been another digimon jumped in front of the T-Rex. It looked like some form of bi-pedal lizard with purple scales and thicker grey armour on its chest, clearly natural. Its upper body was clothed only in shoulder pads and a silver helmet that covered the top half of his long dragon-like head, even his eyes (that is, if you shoes to ignore the enigmatic red tattoo on its chest). A mess of long spiky red hair could be seen trailing down to the small of his back. He wore a pair of baggy green trousers.
"Tsk… So you can only take that much?" it snarled in a low, growling male voice. He leaped forward, and with a flurry of blows too fast for the human eye to catch, assailed it with a barrage of blows. His tail swung down hard on the dinosaur's head, the creature crashing into the tarmac face first. The smaller dragon leaped off of him, landing neatly next to the dinosaur's tail. He grabbed its tail, large indents appearing in it as he swung the dinosaur around angrily. He released it, the dinosaur going flying like a missile over their heads, the wind billowing over them, sweeping their hair back. Before it could even touch the ground, it started to blur into a yellow digital haze, its data breaking apart. Instead of flying into the air, the threads of data flew back towards the victor, entering his chest. "What a weak enemy… Giving up before you could even crash into something…" The reptile digimon looked down at Sam and Emily with distaste, before turning to walk away.
"Emily, get data on him," Sam said instantly, but it was already gone, as suddenly as it had appeared.
"I couldn't finish scanning him," Emily said in disappointment. "I got his name though. We should ask the others tomorrow if they've heard of anybody called Strikedramon… And we should probably get out of here before anybody starts asking about the burn marks everywhere!"
. . .
Sam opened the creaking door slowly, peering into the house nervously. The lights were all off, and not even the tiniest sign of life seeped through the shadows.
"Alright, the coast is clear guys," Sam said. FlaWizardmon looked around inside cautiously before taking a step forward. His silhouette in the dark looked bizarre with his large wizard hat. Embers were glowing faintly from behind the goggles, but there wasn't enough light to see anything by. Starmon looked even more odd, floating eerily through the air like a ghost. Sam certainly knew he wouldn't want to be surprised by them in the middle of the night. They tiptoed up the stairs like cartoon characters, over exaggerating each extended step. Sam stopped, the other two crashing into him. They all scuffled for footing before they were still again. He turned his bedroom doorknob slowly. The lights were off.
"Whew! We made it!" FlaWizardmon yelled.
"Shut up!" both Starmon and Sam hissed at once. Suddenly, the lights flashed on. His mother stood in front of his bed, tapping her foot impatiently with an expression that looked like thunder.
"And just where have-" she stopped her sentence mid-way, spying the two guests. Everyone froze. The tension in the air could be cut with a butter knife. For the longest ten seconds of Sam's life, he had no clue what to do. And then, the scream. An ear splitting, heart rending scream. Pandemonium broke out. The rest of that night was a blur to everyone involved, but Starmon for one could remember the broomstick stung like thunder, swinging rapidly and beating at whoever was unlucky enough to get too close, even Sam if he wasn't careful. Sam's logical words fell on deaf ears, and only when they were already outside on the lawn did it look like his words were having any effect at all.
"Stop! Mom stop! They're harmless!" Sam screamed.
"What… What are they?!" she asked in shock. "Stay away from them! They could be violent!"
"They won't hurt me Mom, they're my friends."
0
"Why does everyone call us monsters?" Starmon said dejectedly. Sam gestured at Starmon.
"See what you've done now? You've hurt his feelings!"
"Sam you have no idea what those things are capable of! Or even what they are!"
"I know what they can do already! Look at this…" Sam dipped his hand in his pocket and pulled out his Xros Loader. "See this? It means I'm partnered up with Starmon, the small guy you called a monster. We work together to stop the bad digimon from hurting regular people. FlaWizardmon is my friend just as much as Starmon is to!" Even in the dead of night, Sam could see all of the colour drain out of his mother's face. She took a few tottering steps backwards.
"Wait, this is all too much for me… You have a lot of explaining to do!"
. . .
Emily wasn't sure whether she was still dreaming or not.
"Sam, can you please pass the salt?" his mother said.
"Yeah sure. Flare, chuck the cereal over."
"No problem."
"Flare, Sam, no throwing your food at the table."
"Yes Mom," Sam and FlaWizardmon both replied simultaneously.
"Sam, tell him to stop taking my sunglasses!" Starmon cried, hiding under the dinner table while what looked like a small six year old version of Sam waved them around in the air. "I can't be seen without my glasses!" If it wasn't for the digimon, the whole scene would look like a normal family minus the father, eating breakfast. Sam's mother didn't seem fazed in the slightest by the floating, trying desperately to get his glasses back while keeping his eyes shut.
"Fsimon, gif Fstmn hif glaffef bfack," Sam said with his mouth full of Corn Flakes, milk dribbling down the side of his lip without a care. Emily cautiously entered the dining room, not sure what to say or do. With what looked like a struggle, Sam swallowed down the food.
"Yeah, it looks kind of weird, but you'll get used to it," Sam said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Come on, call in Yoshi to, I know he's out there." Emily pushed a button on the side of her Digivice, then with her free hand typed in 'You can come in… I… think…'
As soon as she pushed the button on the side again, Yoshi was by her side, as if he'd never left. He blinked in surprise at seeing two more humans getting along with digimon.
"Are you also a friend of Sam's?" his mother asked sweetly. "Sam always has friends over but it's fun to see new faces around sometimes."
"It didn't seem so fun last night," FlaWizardmon grumbled to himself.
"Again, I'm sorry about that," she said apologetically. "You see, once I was attacked by digimon when I was younger so I thought that the same was happening to my baby. Of course, I didn't know what you were even called back then, and it was another digimon that saved me then as well, so I guess there are nice digimon to aren't there? So, are you another one of Sam's partners?"
Geez she's taking this well, Emily thought to herself. Yoshi remained dead silent, as if he hadn't just been asked a question.
"Sorry about that," Emily apologised. "He's really shy around strangers. He's my partner."
"Well then, take a seat. We still have two chairs free so go ahead." Hesitantly, Emily and Yoshi took a seat at the breakfast table, pulling a bowl towards herself while Kotemon poured her some cereal. Everybody else seemed so at ease, as if there was nothing at all wrong with dining with monsters, yet Emily felt uncomfortable in her own skin, and even more awkward just for it. She looked at Sam, seeking help, but he didn't even notice, bragging to his little brother about all of the battles he'd gotten into. FlaWizardmon muttered silently to himself as he placed a small white handkerchief on his hand. He removed it again, Starmon's sunglasses resting in it. He passed them to his smaller friend who flew into them immediately, the glasses looking like they were made just for him.
"Sam." Sam froze, sensing the seriousness behind his mother's voice. "I'm glad to know that you'll be protected by Flare and Starmon, and I know I can't stop you from trying to hunt digimon, but please. For my sake, be careful." Sam sucked in a breath, unable to reply. "Please."
"Don't worry Mom," he said. "I won't get into trouble, just for you." He pulled his goggles off his forehead, staring at his reflection through the glass. "I promise…" He stood up, the screech of the chair scratching apart the heavy atmosphere. "I'm just going up to my room." Emily looked at Sam's mother as he marched up the steps. She nodded her head in approval. She stood up along with Kotemon and followed Sam up the stairs, Starmon floating after them.
His bedroom door was still left open when they entered. It didn't look like it was in any state to live in for one thing, with his bedsheets strewn all over the floor, crumbs littering the ground and mattress. A deflated football was at the foot of the bed, a blue baseball cap sitting comfortably on it as if they were made for each other. The smell of dirty socks hung in the air like some strong and pungent perfume from a far-off exotic land. Sam was definitely getting the raw end of the stick once his mother showed up. He was already at work, sweeping the crumbs off of his bed aggressively before tossing his blankets onto it in a heap.
"Sam?" Emily asked. He wheeled around in surprise at the sound of her voice.
"Oh, didn't see you there… Yeah, it's pretty weird isn't it? Having digimon running around the house with no problem…"
"How come you can let them out without your Mom freaking out?"
"She did at first," he clarified as he stealthily pushed a dirty sock under his bed. "She was attacked by a digimon during the D-Reaper incident, but she was also saved by a tamer and his digimon, so it looks like she gets that not all of them want to rip our heads off. As long as I don't go out late at night like with the Tyrannomon then they can stay. Speaking of last night…"
"I know, that Strikedramon guy afterwards right? I've already asked Jay about it. He said he would Skype us about it later in the morning. I've got my laptop so we might as well let him know we're online."
"Why can't he just give us his phone number?" Sam grumbled. "It's not like Sype ever actually works..."
"Stop complaining already." Emily glanced around the room momentarily. "Although on second thought, you might want to actually make the room fit to live in!"
. . .
The orange tinted sky above Jay's head was filled with slow moving clouds, streams of data shooting across the stratosphere like rainbows, winged beasts flying below them. The tree bark dug sharply into his back as he leaned against it. A strong gust swept along the sea of dry brown grass, rippling as it travelled through Jay and his partner. The heat of the day was no longer as harsh against his back in the late afternoon.
"Jay, when're we going to tell them we're back home?" Bitemon asked with a sombre expression.
"Not yet partner," Jay replied. "Right now we still have to stay here, make sure that the flow of the Digital World doesn't change any more than it already has. And more importantly, to make sure he doesn't come through while we're gone… Going home to my family just to tell them I have to stay here every night will just hurt them even more…" His small reptilian friend stared up at him with concern.
"I don't believe that. I think you just don't want to face up to them." Jay laughed, the sound hollow even to his own ears.
"We've literally fought demons, and lots of them to. I don't think a talk with my family would scare me…" Jay felt his Digivice vibrate slightly in his pocket. "Good thing I got that modification last time we stopped by the centre." He pulled it out of his pocket and slashed a card written Net Ocean through it. A pixelated image of Emily and Sam squashed together on the screen appeared, a cream coloured wall behind them.
"Hey, Jay, we need to ask you something," Sam said, the image lagging behind his words. "You know everything about digimon so we could only ask you. Have you heard of a digimon called Strikedramon?" Jay furrowed his eyebrows in thought.
"Oh yeah, I was meant to tell you guys about it. Why, you met one?"
"Yeah, but he looked like he was on our side," Emily pointed out. "I'm guessing Sam wants to capture him…"
"I said no such thing!" Sam retorted. "I don't capture digimon! If I did though, he doesn't seem like a bad guy…"
"Anyway," Jay interrupted. "Strikedramon is one of three closely related ancient digimon. It is cousins with X-Veemon and Veedramon, and it can Digivolve into either Cyberdramon, AeroVeedramon or Arresterdramon. If it has a gold band on its tail it came from a Gumdramon, if not then either Veemon or Monodramon. Physically its really dangerous in close-quarters but it doesn't have many powerful offensive attacks. Great in a skirmish, but useless in competitive battles unless it's just there to DigiXros. If one of you had a D-3 I'd suggest using a Dramon Destroyer or Dramon Breaker card against it. Remember, very fast, high defence, but low special offense and stamina."
"Umm… that's pretty detailed," Sam mumbled.
"So you've met one before?" Emily asked. Jay shook his head.
"Not up close at least. They aren't very common and prefer to travel alone. If you met one without it challenging you, it was probably hunting something that it thought was more challenging."
"What?!" Sam yelled in anger. "So it thought I wasn't a threat did it? We'll see about that, the next time I meet him I'm challenging him to a battle! When Starmon mops the floor with him he'll think twice about what he thinks about us!" Jay fought back a chuckle from below his throat.
"No offence Sam, but Starmon isn't exactly the strongest digimon in town. If you weren't such good friends already I'd suggest finding a new partner, but for now you should stay away from Strikedramon. If he's still around town, he's really dangerous, understood?" Sam huffed angrily, disregarding everything Jay had said.
"Don't worry Jay, I'll try and keep this guy out of trouble. We'll call you if there's anything we don't understand about digimon."
"Always here to help."
"But Jay… where are you two anyway? You're always disappearing, and we don't even know where you live. If there's an emergency, we've got to know where you and Bitemon are." Jay looked at Bitemon who just shrugged his shoulders in response.
"I guess it can't hurt to tell them," he said to Bitemon, then turned back to his Digivice. "We're in the Digital World right now. And we're there most of the time if you need us."
"The… Digital World?!" Sam stammered in shock. "How did you get there?"
"It's complicated," Jay said as he scratched the back of his head nervously. "An old acquaintance of mine left a port open for me. I've been here for a while now." Emily's forehead creased in worry.
"Don't your parents know where you are?" Jay hesitated for a brief moment before answering, hoping his brief pause was hidden by the video lag.
"Yeah, they've got a rough idea." It wasn't completely a lie, his dad at least knew where he was. His dad always knew where he was. Sam nodded his head, completely oblivious to the slight mistruth while Emily didn't seem to buy it.
"Okay then…" she finally relented. "One final thing though, Leo said we would all go to the Digital World over the summer right? Well we're running out of time then, so shouldn't we get some kind of training schedule for what to expect in there?" Jay laughed loudly, much to Emily's confusion.
"It's not that simple silly!" Bitemon said while Jay was recovering. "Our world is strange for humans, you can't just learn what to do!"
"Still, we have to learn to work together though, so we still have to meet up, discuss priorities, what we're going to pack…"
"Alright, alright, I see your point," Jay said finally. "So what, a full group meeting to discuss stuff? We're not actually going to get any work done though, just telling you in advance."
"Worth a shot," Sam said. They all organized a time and the usual place, finally exchanging phone numbers as well.
"Anything else I need to know?" Jay asked.
"There's one more thing," Emily said. "Jay, take care alright? We see nearly nothing of you. We worry sometimes." Jay almost felt bad, knowing that he was probably always in the most danger out of there group.
"Don't worry, I'll try." He closed down the connection as he shoved the gadget back into his trousers. He furrowed his eyebrows in thought.
"What's wrong Jay?" Bitemon asked in concern.
"Nothing, it's just…" Jay paused for a moment.
What was I thinking about? Jay asked himself. "I was just thinking that it's not just the number of digimon that's odd, it's also the type. Such rare digimon don't appear in the human world every day you know."
"Really? That's what you were so worried about?" Bitemon asked sceptically.
"Isn't that enough?" Before Bitemon could reply, a loud beeping noise sounded from his Digivice. He yanked it out again to see what looked like a holographic compass on it, the red needle swivelling around erratically before pointing to his left and turning green. "No time to talk now, we've got a digimon on the loose, and it looks like it's in Digi-Quartz." Bitemon leaped into the air excitedly as a grin spread across his reptilian face.
"Yay! A fight! A fight!" The pair ran off quickly towards the portal to the human world, Jay already informing every body of the emergence.
. . .
"Time Shift!"
The time-dimension portal pulled itself open, bringing into Digi-Quartz with it the small troop of tamers. Sam, Emily, Jay and Leo looked around curiously, their digimon hovering around them protectively.
"Be careful brother, I don't like the feel of this place," Starmon said.
"Yeah, something seems off somehow," FlaWizardmon said from within the Xros Loader. "It's familiar somehow…" Emily was already holding up her own Digivice to her face with Yoshi walking slowly in front of her, his sword held up in front of his face. The alternate city street looked lonely without any people on it. Only the remnants of time itself with the red skies and ruined infrastructure. A low wind howled between their ears, thickening the air's eerie atmosphere even more.
"Okay guys, there's no guarantee that this guy is violent," Leo said. "Don't attack unless you get attacked yourself. Understood?"
"Understood," they all replied back affirmatively. Leo and Emily went one direction with Yoshi, Starmon and DexDorumon, while Jay and Bitemon went the other way as Sam reloaded FlaWizardmon to follow them.
"Why are we splitting up again?" Sam asked in confusion.
"So we can head him off," Jay said, staring intently at his Digivice. "If I'm reading this correctly, then we should both converge on his position at the other side of this building here. The guy will be trapped."
"Ah, I see…" They walked the remainder of the distance in awkward silence, taking a right corner as soon as they got the chance. "Sooo… What kind of digimon do you think it will be?"
"I can't tell that from such a long range."
"Oh…" Another awkward silence. "You don't normally work with others do you?"
"Not really. I kinda spent the last year of my life in the Digital World, remember? I spent most of that time with Bitemon but I didn't really have many human companions."
"Must've been awesome though! No parents, no school, just running around on your own on an adventure!" Jay laughed.
"Well, it was kind of fun, but you really do start to miss people, and that was only after a week. Imagine how I felt after a few months! And then there was looking for food. The first week is the toughest since you don't know what's edible and what's not, or where to even find it. Lucky I had Bitemon at my side!"
"I guess I didn't think about it like that, though it must have-"
"Hold that thought," Jay snapped. Sam slowed to a standstill, FlaWizardmon crashing into him from behind. A large silhouette stood at the end of the road, sniffing at the air for something. It was huge, the size of the large dinosaur digimon from the previous night, and twice as mean looking. It took a few slow lumbering footsteps closer to them, coming closer into view.
Instead of red, this one was orange with dark blue stripes on its thighs and arms. The upper half of its head was covered by a dark brown bone carapace with a horn sticking out of its nose and two more from the side of its head. Its maroon eyes looked anything but friendly.
"Another Tyrannomon?" Sam asked. Bitemon shook his head, his eyes showing slight unease.
"Oh great, it's a Greymon," Jay said. "Not a fun guy I can tell you that much."
"How about we sneak attack him and be done with it?" Sam said, clutching his goggles.
"No, he's already seen us," Jay said. "They're not blind, and they're not stupid either."
"So how come he hasn't attacked us yet?" Sam asked in confusion.
"Maybe he's looking for something, or someone. I'm going to go talk to him."
"Are you out of your mind?!" Sam screamed. Jay ignored him, walking cautiously up to him.
"Excuse me, Greymon sir, are you lost by any chance?" Jay asked nervously. "You're not in the Digital World anymore, this is Digi-Quartz. If you need to get back I can help you." Greymon looked down at him. He lowered his head so that they were staring at each other face to face.
"Are you together with that FlaWizardmon over there?" he asked.
"Why do you ask?" Jay questioned.
"I've been tasked with returning him to Lord Bane. It's nothing personal, I'm just doing my job here."
"Your job? What do you mean?"
"The details aren't important, but if he comes with me then I promise none of you will get hurt. As much fun as it is to smash things, your partner over there looks dangerous. I'd hate to cross his path." Bitemon pointed to himself innocently.
"Who, me? I wouldn't hurt a fly!"
"He probably couldn't hurt a fly!" Jay joked. "But why would Lord Bane even want FlaWizardmon? If-"
"You can have him over my dead body!" Sam screamed. "Flare is my friend! Why should I let you kidnap him like that?!"
"If you think about it, you're the one who kidnapped me…" FlaWizardmon mumbled. "But even so, you can't let him take me back! I'm not sure who Lord Bane is, but I'm pretty sure he just wants the remnants of that green gem!" Greymon let out a deep breath in frustration while Jay turned around to him, swiping his hand across his throat signalling him to cut it out.
"I'm trying to be patient with you kid. I admire your willingness to protect your friend, but I have to get that guy back to Lord Bane. It's just part of the job, hope you understand."
"If I come with you what will happen?" FlaWizardmon asked.
"Lord Bane will deal with you for your incompetence. Nothing worse than getting deleted. It's not that hard to understand really."
"Wait, what do you mean getting deleted?!" Sam yelped. "I can't let you do that! You'll have to fight me for that! Touch him and I will hunt you down!" Greymon's patience seemed to snap just then, his eyes changing from brown to red.
"That's it! If you feel so confident then prepare to die!" Jay leaped backwards just in time as it started spitting flames. FlaWizardmon stepped in front of him just in time.
"Flame Cloud!" he yelled, and not a moment too soon. The flames licked around the pair, barely roasting their eyebrows. "I can't hold this shield for long. What was with that sudden personality change?"
"Fire Men!" another voice yelled. Yoshi leaped into the air, swinging his kendo stick down on Greymon's head. "Fire Kote!" he somersaulted off of his head as Greymon bit down on his own flames, smashing his stick against his large arms. Kotemon jumped backwards as Starmon and the Pickmons floated next to him.
"Jay, Sam, look at his tail!" Leo yelled as both he and Emily ran towards the group. Sam observed Greymon's thick tail in confusion.
"Hey, there's some weird metal ring on its tail. Should I be worried?"
"Worried? You should be terrified!" Leo screamed. "That's a Dark Ring, used to control digimon and turn them into mindless slaves! This guy has no conscious to have mercy with!"
"He seemed pretty rational to me," Jay said. "He must have been fighting hard against it to have that much control. That also means he must be in a lot of pain… I can't believe Lord Bane would put this guy through so much trouble! Bitemon!"
"Do I get to Digivolve yet?" Bitemon yelled excitedly."
"You to Starmon, you ready?" Sam yelled.
"Yoshi, we're gonna DigiXros!" Emily shouted, her Digivice already glowing as it prepared to adjust to Sam's Digivice.
Jay slashed a card through his Digivice, the card turning blue as he did so.
"Digi-Modify! Matrix Digivolution!" Bitemon rose into the air, growing larger and more ferocious as he became Fangdramon.
"Bitemon, no… Fangdramon Matrix Digivolve to…" His fangs lengthened and sharpened, becoming more ferocious and savage like. His muscles rippled with power, sharp blade-like claws coming out of his elbows. The hazard symbols on his chest and forehead began glowing before only the centre triangle turned black again, the outside triangles staying radiation green. His eyes began glowing red, the pupils narrowed down to slits. Gone was the cheerful and innocent Bitemon. "VenomFangdramon!"
"My turn, my turn!" Sam yelled. "Starmon, Kotemon, DigiXros!" The two shot into the air while Leo slashed his own card.
"DexDorumon Digivolve to…" His armour stretched and grew, his wings stretching wider on his back. "DexDorugamon!"
Fangdramon roared uncontrollably, swinging his tail angrily at Greymon. Greymon caught it in his arms, the impact sending out shockwaves.
"Nice try rookie, but a bit too predictable!" he yelled. Flames lit up in his mouth.
"Oh no you don't!" Yoshi yelled, charging forward with his swords on fire. Greymon swung VenomFangdramon aggressively, using him like a bat to whack Yoshi back to the earth with a 'thwack'. VenomFangrdamon roared angrily, scratching Greymon before spitting a toxic green blast at him.
"Careful, we don't want to destroy him!" Jay yelled. "Just break the dark ring on his tail!"
"What? But I don't know how to hold back!" Fangdramon yelled, smacking Greymon in the face with the back of his claws. Greymon snarled menacingly.
"Nova Blast!" he yelled, bathing VenomFangdramon in flames.
"Not so fast!" Sam yelled. "DexDorugamon, can I borrow your body for a second?"
"Uh… Sure, go ahead," he said.
"Right on! FlaWizardmon, DexDorugamon, DIGIXROS!" The two of them clashed together in the air in a swathe of red and silver light. When they landed on the floor again, FlaWizardmon looked roughly the same, while DexDorugamon had completely transformed. His body was split down the middle with his legs on either side, his whole body completely mechanized. The front part of his body was also gone, replaced with two cannons on each side of his body. FlaWizardmon was in the very centre of the two halves, his goggles now placed over his eyes instead of his forehead.
"Doruga Cannon!" he yelled.
"Alright, now we're in business!" Sam yelled energetically. "Flare, aim the cannon just below his head, shell, armour, helmet thing."
"Right on!" he yelled in both DexDorugamon and his own voice. A target reticule appeared over his right goggle lens. "Lock on!" With a monumental roar, he fired, two cannonballs covered in wolf-like auras shooting towards Greymon. The attack connected, knocking Greymon off balance.
"Too slow, too slow, too slow!" Yoshi yelled, his swords now on fire. "Shi-No-Tachi!" He swung them at Greymon's tail, flames lashing out at him. Greymon roared angrily, the very air quivering in terror as he blocked the attack with his arms.
"Rookie! I'll show you what a Champion can do! Nova Blast!" He spewed flames from his mouth, all the gathered digimon leaping out of the way while the immobile FlaWizardmon got roasted.
"This isn't working," FlaWizardmon spluttered.
"No, it isn't," VenomFangdramon added. "I could beat him easily if I wasn't worried about going easy on him!" Jay clenched his Digivice tighter.
"So what're we meant to do? I don't think I want to risk using any modify cards right now…" Before he could even finish, a flash of blue streaked through the air. Greymon collapsed to the ground, the pavement trembling on his impact. The flash of blue flashed by two more times, scratching his torso before stopping by FlaWizardmon.
"Strikedramon?!" He exclaimed in shock. Strikedramon looked at Flare with disdain.
"Are you struggling with such measly prey? No matter, looks like I've found a worthy opponent. He shot forward, punching Greymon hard in the chest as he tried getting back up. Again, he collapsed on the tarmac in a cloud of dust. He continued assailing it, beating into him with a hail of savage blows, caring little for the damage he dealt.
"Wait, Strikedramon, we don't want to kill him!" Sam yelled.
"If I don't kill him he'll probably kill you won't he?" Strikedramon stated. "You have no right to complain. This is my target anyway." Sam's eyes lit up briefly as he flicked his goggles.
"Hold on for a second… You're trying to target this Greymon right?"
"Yes, at the end of the day."
"And we're trying to hunt him right?" he asked Flare.
"That's how I make it out," Flare replied in confusion.
"And the power of a DigiXros works when all parties involved have the same goal right? When their hearts… Join together?"
"What're you playing at?" Leo asked. "Don't tell me you're planning on…" Sam continued speaking, completely ignoring his elder.
"Flare, you're going to have to reign this guy in. Strikedramon, we need your power. Forgive us afterwards, but we don't have much choice!"
"Wait, what're you-" Strikedramon began. Sam was already covered in a large yellow aura.
"FlaWizardmon, Strikedramon, DIGIXROS!" The two of them shot into the air in a flash of light, flames burning all around them wildly, threatening to incinerate everything near them.
"ARMOUR XROS!" They both cried as they clashed together, a huge flaming X crossing through their torso. A ball of fire burned in the air where they had fused, spiked claws coming out of it. The new figure fell to the ground with a soft thud. Strikedramon's grey scales had now turned deep blue, and instead of his normal clothes he now had red gauntlets, knee pads, a chest cuirass, boots and helmet, with yellow flame designs. His whole body had slimmed down quite a bit and long sharp blade-like claws stuck out of his gauntlets and boots, with a long spike coming out of his nose as well. Black tape was now wrapped around his biceps and a yellow V was on his forehead helmet, just beneath his horn. FlaWizardmon's goggles appeared around his neck, dangling before his chest.
"FlameDramon, The Fire of Courage!" he shouted, his voice completely different to Flare's relaxed voice or Strikedramon's intimidating one, instead more of a tenor, and more heroic. Emily's Digivice could already pick up its unique energy signature.
Name: Flamedramon, variation
Level: Armour (High Champion)
Family: Nature Spirits, Dragon's Roar
Attribute: Vaccine
Attacks: Fire Rocket, Flame Shield
Emily tapped her Digivice in frustration.
"That's weird, there's no other data on him here…"
"Allow me to introduce myself," FlameDramon said.
"I am Flamedramon, The Fire Of Courage! By fusing together StrikeDramon's determination, and FlaWizardmon's courage, I have been born as an entity that fights against all evil! My Fire Rocket attack flame grills all of my enemies!"
"Shall I demonstrate?" he offered.
"Alright! Go Flare!" Sam shouted. Flamedramon shot into the air, his fists lighting up on fire.
"Fire Rocket!" he screamed, blasting out three fireballs at once. The blasts exploded on impact against Greymon. Greymon roared angrily, blasting out a stream of fire. Before the flames got anywhere near him he was already gone, at the other side of him. "Nice, Strikedramon's speed is a nice addition to my already awesome arsenal…" Jay stared in wonder.
"I don't believe it, a perfect DigiXros!" he shouted. "A fusion where both sides have almost equal control, this rookie shouldn't be able to do that… Wait, are you telling me that Santoryou Kotemon was also a perfect DigiXros? And that's why…" Whatever he was going to say was lost as Flamedramon set himself alight in a blazing inferno.
"Fire Rocket revised: Flame Shield!" He leaped towards Greymon, punching him hard in the chest, hurtling him towards VenomFangdramon. VenomFangdramon grabbed Greymon, tossing him high into the air.
"Finish the job rookie!" he yelled at Yoshi. Yoshi was already in the air.
"Right on it! Ichi-No-Tachi!" He hovered over Greymon, pointing both of his swords down. He crashed them onto Greymon's tail, sending them both crashing into the ground like a falling meteor. Shards of black metal flew wildly in the air as the dark ring shattered on impact, fragments of data flying with it. Greymon flickered as his data began to disintegrate.
"Not this time!" Sam yelled as he swiped his Xros Loader through the air. Two yellow rings wrapped themselves around Greymon's moaning frame. Sam swiped his Xros Loader one last time as Greymon disintegrated into red data particles. "Capture complete! Alright, I got a Greymon!" Sam jumped up and down in the air excitedly, pumping his fists each time. Flamedramon smiled at him before breaking up into the two separate digimon along with Santoryou Kotemon. Strikedramon looked at his own hands in amazement.
"Incredible… I actually DigiXrosed!" Sam looked at his Xros Loader in amazement as Greymon's image appeared on screen.
"You feeling comfortable in there buddy?" Sam asked. Greymon stared back at him with shame.
"I'm sorry, I must have caused a lot of trouble for you if I'm inside a Xros Loader… I don't know what I did, but I'll have to find some way to repay you won't I?"
"Don't worry about it, just rest up in here. You could start by helping us fend off wild Digimon with Flare, but trust me, I'll send you back home once we enter the Digital World in a few weeks, alright?" Greymon nodded his head sheepishly. "Glad we're in agreement. Emily?" Emily marched over to him, a sour expression on her face. "What's wrong?"
"I didn't get to do very much this time," Emily pouted. Sam laughed aloud.
"Come on, you and Yoshi got the last blow anyway!"
"No, that was mainly Starmon, I could feel it," Emily said. "Whatever, I'm just gonna go finish off that Maths paper due tomorrow."
"Wait, that was due tomorrow?!" Sam yelled in panick, returning FlaWizardmon to his Xros Loader. He clutched his head in panic as he ran off, forming a portal through the air. Jay smiled as Bitemon returned to his small stature again and ran up to him eagerly. He looked back at Strikedramon who was still standing on his own almost awkwardly.
"Well?" Jay said.
"Well what?" Strikedramon asked.
"Aren't you going to go after them? I know you want to." Strikedramon continued to remarkably blankly stare considering his lack of eyes.
"I hunt alone, I don't need people slowing me down…"
"I don't really think they'll be the ones who slow you down. Nor do I think you need a hunting partner. I think after getting lost in the human world, you just need a friend, right?" Strikedramon didn't reply. "Just don't absorb anymore data from digimon and he'll let you stay."
"So how do I get stronger and evolve if I can't absorb data?"
"Once you get a human partner, you learn that Digivolving isn't the only way to get stronger," Bitemon said. "And there are other ways to Digivolve to. Go on, go after them." Strikedramon hesitated for a moment, knowing that once he took that one step, there was no going back to his old life ever again. He took the first step.