Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or the characters.
Chapter Recap: During their encounter with Rika, the Digidestined allied with the local Tamers to take on both the skilled Renamon, a strange yet powerful Wendigomon, and a stubborn Apemon. However things got weird when a strange blade appeared to Guilmon during the battle, and a Gorillamon bio-emerged as well! While Wendigomon unfortunately escaped, the combined might of the Digidestined and Tamers were able to defeat both Apemon and Gorillamon before sending them back to the Digital World while Rika made herself scarce. And unknown to them, a small Digimon escaped into the city…
Chapter 4: Armor and Upgrades
In another part of the city, Renamon landed in a nearby alleyway while carrying her Tamer, carefully lowering her to her feet while looking around to make sure they weren't spotted.
"Rika I-"
"Not. Now." She sharply replied, cutting her partner off as she pulled out her Digivice, her mind drifting back to the unique models the others had... as well as those new forms their partners could achieve.
Renamon flinched but remained silent per Rika's wishes, however something about that fight felt… off to her. As if it was being observed by someone from afar. Someone that could prove problematic in the future… and that strange sword the red Digimon held was connected to them.
After a few minutes of silence, Rika finally spoke. "Renamon, I need you to do something for me." The Tamer then turned to face her partner. "Those new Tamers that we fought, I want you to follow them, find out just what their end goal is, and the source of those… Armored Evolutions if you can." She demanded before walking past her partner and towards the busy street. "No matter what though, don't engage them… yet."
"Understood." The Fox Digimon nodded before vanishing into the shadows.
Not too long after the fight, the Digidestined and Tamers had relocated to a nearby park, conversing about the random Digimon popping up around the city, as well as the young girl who'd attacked them. Meanwhile their partners, half of which had reverted to their In-Training forms, were currently playing with Terriermon and Guilmon in the jungle gym… while Gatomon opted to just sleep in the trees above them.
T.K., on the other hand, seemed more focused on Takato's partner in particular. "...so you're telling me you actually created your own partner?"
"Yeah!" Takato smiled, eager to share his story with him. "I just put my drawing through my Digivice and got his egg. Then it hatched, we met in a back alley, an unlucky rat got his attention, and now he lives with me."
"...how exactly does your Digivice scan a drawing?" Kari chimed in, genuinely puzzled as she eyed Takato's D-Arc. "In fact, how did you use all those cards? Our models need a secondary device just to help them Armor-Digivolve..."
"I guess the D-Arc model was just built for it? Though how I have no idea..." Takato pondered for a bit. "Who made this thing, then?"
"I'm not totally sure of that myself, especially since they were formed from our normal scanners." Henry chimed in. "The only obvious part is that someone had to add this so it's compatible with the cards; that much is apparent from a merchandising standpoint. But the real question is, did they intend for it to be used in real battles?"
"Wouldn't be that much of a stretch considering how they link with your own partners pretty easily." Cody added. "Speaking or which, how did Terriermon become your partner?"
"It's a… it's a bit of a long story." Henry replied, his expression softening a little. "He sort of just… came to me when I was gaming, though I'm pretty sure even he doesn't have much context on exactly how he did it…" The Tamer added, averting his gaze as he turned his attention to the rest of their Digimon, who were now playing a game of tug of war with a discarded jump-rope they found.
Terriermon swung on the jungle gym with his usual smile. "I dunno either. I just remember fighting a Gorillamon and then I ended up in Henry's room. Honestly, that's all I remember before meeting Henry."
"Right, because I got you in a video game. Though that just raises further questions." Henry then turned to his partner. "Did me starting that file create you, or did you already have a life before I got the game?"
Terriermon landed on the ground and lifted his ears in a shrugging motion. "Momentai, I prefer not to worry about it."
"Well if I had to guess, I'd say maybe your game somehow linked to the Digital World-" Yolei began, only to get cut off.
"Guys! I think we're ignoring the Elephant in the room here!" Davis spoke up, getting the rest of the group's attention. "...how in the world is there a Digimon card game? Let alone a video game based on them!?"
All of the Digitdestined went silent at that. Granted, that very thought had been lingering in their minds since the battle ended...
"It's actually been a thing for a while, around these parts anyway." Takato tried to explain as he pulled out his own deck of cards. "After that whole 'publicity stunt' a few years ago a lot of Digimon merch started popping up, and it got even more popular after that whole Omegamon Promo..."
T.K.'s eyes raised. "Wait, promo? You don't mean..."
Yolei gasped in realization. "The whole thing with Omegamon fighting Diablomon! Man, that takes me back!"
"So wait, that whole incident wasn't just a promotional video?" Henry inquired.
"Heck no, our friends risked their necks bringing down that oversized spider!" Davis claimed with a proud smile.
"Man, Kazu owes Kenta a lot of money..." Takato mumbled to himself... before his eyes widened in realization. "Wait, so does that mean you guys know the legends!?"
Kari blinked in confusion. "Legends?"
"Yeah! The heroes who fought all those Mega-level Digimon three years ago!" Takato explained, quickly flipping through some of his cards for reference material. "I mean, most of us only had rumors and secondhand info to go off of, but a lot of sources claimed there were at least eight heroes who fought them... and some of them had these partners!" After searching through his deck a little more, Takato pulled out cards of Agumon, Gabumon, Tentomon, and what looked like an off-color Palmon.
Intrigued, T.K. took a look at the cards. "Let's see here… yeah, that's four of them, but… um, why does Palmon have a purple flower?"
"Yeah, that's definitely odd. I thought it was pink…" Yolei added. "And why's the name different?"
Henry glanced at the card as well. "Oh! That's an Alraumon. It's actually a close relative of Palmon. Not much of a difference outside of the color, though; it's not as clear-cut as say, Agumon and SnowAgumon."
Yolei couldn't help but smile. "Wow! You know a lot about this stuff!"
Henry gave a sheepish grin. "Well, I've just been dabbling in a bit of light research is all..."
"So we have our own merchandise?" A small voice asked from above, Takato then felt a bit of weight on his head and looked up to see Patamon gazing down at his cards. "Sooo cool! Hey, where are our cards? We were on the front lines too, y'know!"
"Hmm, I think I might have Angemon-" The goggleheaded Tamer stopped the moment he registered Patamon's words. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"
"Gatomon and I were part of the group too, although we didn't join until a little later..." Kari added sheepishly.
For a few seconds it looked like Takato's mind had completely shut down as he just stood there holding his deck... only snap back to reality as he turned around and started flipping through every card he had.
"Uh, what are you-" Kari began, only for the young Tamer to turn around holding cards of both Angemon and Gatomon.
"Can I please have your autographs!?"
T.K. and Kari both looked a bit surprised, but their looks quickly turned to a dawning realization. Of course the boy who's been a Digifan since Digimon were discovered would want their autographs.
"I… don't see why not…" T.K. chuckled with a bit of embarrassment.
"I could always get you my brother's autograph if you want." Kari added with a smile.
"Handing out autographs already? Careful dude, you're following in your brother's footsteps and we all know how many fans he's got!" Davis teased as he casually elbowed his friend, earning a round of chuckles from the rest of the group.
"Pyro Sphere!"
Said laughter was immediately interrupted as the group turned to see Guilmon, glaring up at a charred part of a tree he just blasted, growling menacingly.
"Gah! Guilmon, what are you doing!?" Takato shouted in panic, frantically rushing towards his partner.
"Something... something was watching us..." The red dinosaur growled, not taking his eyes off of that spot.
"I felt something too, but… it's farther away right now." Gatomon said as she landed next to him, taking a battle stance.
"You mean it came and went that quickly?" Kari asked and the rest of their Digimon quickly regrouped with their respective partners.
Meanwhile, a certain yellow fox was watching from afar, analyzing them from a distance, having just barely avoided being exposed. 'So those two are connected to these supposed Legends…' She thought to herself, narrowing her gaze as she focused on the young girl and her Gatomon. 'If they really are... why didn't she Digivolve normally? she's already at Champion level and yet…'
"Scowling like will give ya stress lines, y'know." A foreign voice whispered from behind her.
Renamon felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand as she quickly turned around with her fist outstretched... only for it to be caught by would look like a young girl dressed like a Nun. "Who are you? And why are you here?" Renamon inquired as she leapt back and took her stance. "I can tell that you're a Digimon, at the very least."
"Well, you can just call me 'Noir' for starters. And as for why I'm here…" The Digimon smirked before leaping on to the edge of the building, casually walking along the thin edge with little to no balancing issues. "…the same reason you're here actually. Mostly to spectate, get some info, all that jazz."
"How did you figure that out so quickly?" Renamon was quick to ask, now even more on edge.
"Oh gee, a mysterious figure watching from the shadows, whatever could she possibly want?" Noir mused in a faux worried tone with a mocking smile. "All that, plus it's pretty clear you're not a people person. No wonder you and your partner work so well together..."
"You've been spying on us…" Renamon snarled, clenching her fists.
Noir shrugged at this accusation. "More or less, you guys put on quite the show while dealing with those wild Digimon-"
"Power Paw!"
Only to be cut off as she swiftly dodge to the left, narrowly avoiding Renamon's fist, which was now covered in blue fire. "I have no need to know any further. You went near Rika. I'll make sure you never get anywhere close to her again! Diamond Storm!"
"It's cute that you think that'll work." Noir scoffed as the Fox Digimon fired several sharp objects at her, only for the Nun to dodge each one. "You might as well be throwing leaves at me!"
Gritting her teeth, Renamon immediately rushed towards the Nun, deciding that close combat would be a better option… only to catch a movement out of the corner of her left eye. She quickly leaped back just as a golden, triple-pronged lance slammed into the floor, halting her advance.
"I believe our orders were to not draw attention to ourselves, Noir." A new voice chimed in.
Glaring in the direction the lance came from, Renamon spotted another Digimon standing atop the bulkhead of the stairway. This one looked a lot like Noir, however her attire was white and pink.
Noir simply rolled her eyes at the newcomer. "Oh come now, Blanc. I'm just toying around with her a little."
"And giving us away at the drop of a hat," Blanc sighed in annoyance. "I swear, you never listen; you always go off to do your own thing."
"But the real world is just more fun to hang around in!" Noir replied, laughing with childlike innocence. "And this Renamon is pretty entertaining!"
"That may be the case, but your impatience may have cost us our position." Blanc groaned as she rubbed her forehead in annoyance. "Now she knows we're here."
"That's not really a bad thing though, is it?" Noir smirked as she eyed Renamon. "After all, she's only your level, little sis."
Blanc looked incredibly annoyed by that comment. "H-Hey! Don't go announcing my level like that!"
While the two continued bickering, Renamon could only stand there in disbelief and rapidly building fury. Not only was the Digimon in black a level above her, but she had the nerve to not consider her a challenge… and insultingly referred to her as entertainment! "That's enough!" Renamon snapped, raising her voice to get their attention as she took a step forward, her palms burning with blue flames once more. "I will not have my strength disrespected and trivialized by some immature Champion-level!" She snarled, slamming her fist together for emphasis as she assumed her fighting stance once more.
"Oooh, I think I touched a nerve~!" Noir chuckled as she reached into her dress, pulling out twin revolvers and casually twirling them around…
…but just as she was about to pull the trigger, Blanc chimed in. "That's enough, Noir! Our master is expecting us. We need to leave at once."
"Awwwww, do we have to? I just got the guns out and everything!" Noir whined in a pleading tone.
Blanc simply looked at Noir with sheer annoyance. But before she could retort, a white blur dropped down onto the roof, kicking up a dust cloud that engulfed the entire area, keeping the new arrival obscured from the vixen's sigh.
At first she was tempted to rush in and deliver the first blow, but as Renamon glared at her new opponent, a sudden feeling of pure dread shot through her. 'Just what… are you?'
The figure said nothing as it approached her, swiftly drawing its sword… before turning her attention to the two Sistermon, who'd gone surprisingly quiet the moment it showed up. "He's going to be very upset if you're late… go. Now."
"Fiiiiiiine." Noir pouted as she put her revolvers away. "I guess I can toy with the fox later. See you soon~!"
"W-Wait! Hold it!" Renamon shouted, but in the span of a few seconds, the new Digimon's blade was now inches away from Renamon's face, her glare alone forcing the vixen to instinctively take a step back. "I'll only say this once; it's best that you don't interfere." And with those words all three Digimon immediately vanished in a gust of wind, leaving no trace of their presence on the rooftop save for the two craters.
Renamon narrowed her eyes in fury, but quickly inhaled deeply to calm herself. She would worry about those three later, right now she had to focus on these new Tamers… with that thought in mind she vanished vanished from the rooftop in a swirl of wind and leaves, reappearing in a tree just close enough to listen in on them… and hopefully out of the red one's sensing range…
"Well, whatever it was, it seems to have gone away now." Gatomon yawned shortly after speaking. "At this point, I'm about ready for a catnap..."
"Does this mean we have to go home now?" Guilmon asked, now lacking any semblance of the battle-ready attitude that was there just a little while ago.
"Y'know... it might be more beneficial if we left at least one of the laptops here..." Cody began, getting everyone's attention as Upamon hopped on to his head. "Think about it, this way we'll have a quicker method of getting here instead of wasting money on the train..."
"...and we'll be able to handle any wild Digimon that show up if you guys are busy!" Henry finished with a smile.
"So in other words, you're saying we not only have fast travel, but we can also team up against any enemy Digimon that come our way!" Davis summarized everything that was just said.
"And we'd have a one-way trip to the Digital World now!" Terriermon cheered from atop Henry's head. "It'll be nice to visit home after so long.. assuming I remember where in the Digital World I used to live..."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves buddy..." Henry replied, his expression becoming slightly nervous, although no one seemed to notice. "Last thing we need is you picking a fight with that Gorillamon if we meet him again..."
Kari spoke up next. "Well, if that Gorillamon shows up, we'll be ready!"
"Yeah, you can count on us to help." T.K. followed up.
Patamon flew upward next to his partner. "I'll give them a Star Shower they won't forget!"
"And they'll be eating a Rosetta Stone to the face!" Gatomon further added.
"That reminds me…" Takato mused, glancing at Kari's D-Terminal. "Before you guys leave I got to know… how did you get those Armor forms?"
Davis smiled as he proudly puffed out his chest. "Well, it all started when Kari was in danger, and that's when I-"
Yolei quickly grabbed his ear and pulled him back, cutting him off. "We'll tell you next time we drop by." She groaned, much to the amusement of the rest of the group.
As the two groups prepared to part ways, Renamon decided that she'd heard enough and silently teleported away.
Rika would want to hear about this…
Meanwhile, in Hypnos' massive control room, the two women sitting in the elevated seats could only watch as the last few signals seemed to pulsate in place before slowly shrinking into nothingness.
"The readings seem to be more stable, sir." Riley explained as she continued typing, tapping into some of the security footage across the city. "Thankfully there doesn't seem to be any major damage in the public areas... save for a couple of isolated locations."
As she spoke, her boss simply continued to flip the lid of his lighter as several images appeared onscreen. Some of the quality was fuzzy, but one could still make out the images of the creatures fighting each other. "Pause on that frame. It looks clear enough to make something out."
"Enhancing now…" The blonde confirmed, the blurry image revealing what looked like a rabbit and a horse fighting an ape and a larger rabbit.
What really got his attention however, were the two figures not too far from the battle. 'So there's even more of them interacting with humans now… as if things aren't complicated enough as it is…' He mused it to himself, his eyes narrowing behind his glasses as he turned to the two women above him. "Tally, make sure any and all security footage is removed from the public servers. Riley, have our field agents close off access to the areas where these fights took place."
"Understood sir." Both women replied in unison as they quickly got to work.
'No matter how much these beasts think they're alive, they're still nothing but data.' The man thought to himself, his grip on the lighter tightening as he glared daggers at the footage playing on loop before him. 'And no matter what, we will rid our world of their kind, one way… or another.'
Later that night, a small group had gathered together under a large bridge close to the riverside park. While Davis, Cody, and Yolei had all gone home for the day, T.K. & Kari had called a meeting with their brothers as well as their old friends: the original Digidestined.
It had taken some convincing, but the group had managed to work this meeting into their busy schedules, with even their Digimon joining... although Mimi had to communicate via voice chat due to still being in America.
"...and that's the gist of it." T.K. finished, having just regaled them with a quick recap of their experiences in Shinjuku.
"Wow," Matt responded, breaking the silence. "That's something else, alright. A whole other group of DigiDestined in a different part of Japan. Kinda makes me wonder how many more there are."
Tai put his arm around Matt and lightly teased him. "You're just gonna ignore the giant Mammothmon in the room? We've got a whole franchise based on us now!"
Matt looked slightly annoyed. "I didn't wanna focus on that just yet, but I guess we might as well get that out of the way."
"Honestly, that's something that might need a bit more digging." Izzy added. "Why did this multimedia franchise come out of the incidents three years ago, even though it was slowly covered up?"
"To be fair, it would've been pretty hard to cover up the whole Myotismon incident, or the Digital World appearing in the sky for that matter..." Sora chimed in, her thoughts drifting back to their early adventures. "A lot of civilians got involved in that. So maybe a select few people were able to spread some info?"
"Hey, do we get… uh, resegals since we're on these cards?" Agumon interrupted, excitedly flipping through some of the cards Takato let Kari borrow.
"It's pronounced 'residuals', and I'm not sure if that's how it works-oohh! That's me!" Tentomon explained, only to cut himself off as he picked up a card of a differently-colored MegaKabuterimon. "Wait, why am I blue?
Palmon couldn't help but comment on the Alraumon card. "And why did they get my name wrong? And my flower?"
"Apparently, it's a different species?" Gatomon shrugged. "There's quite a lot of those."
As the Digimon continued to look through the cards, Joe adjusted his glasses while looking at a card with the image of Zudomon's hammer on it. "So these new 'Tamers' just swipe a card and give their partners new attacks? Exactly how does that work?"
"From what they know, apparently their Digivices were formed from unique card scanners…" T.K. explained. "Even they're not sure about exactly how it happened…"
"To be fair, we don't know the origins of any Digivices besides our own." Mimi pointed out. "Even the D-3's are a total mystery to us since they just popped out of those Armor Digi-Eggs."
"The weirdest part is how we got ours." Kari pulled out her own Digivice. "Our D-3's were upgraded from our older models. How did that work in the first place?"
"My guess is that something was made over time to better utilize the power of those Digi-Eggs," Izzy speculated. "Though now I'm just wondering how many there are, as well as their exact origin."
"Who knows for sure?" Matt rested his back against the wall. "The Digital World's always been kinda weird about how stuff works. Remember the phone booths?"
"Oh, don't remind me about those…" Sora responded with a chuckle.
"And the fact that one of the stores took U.S. dollars instead of yen." Joe shuddered. "Bad times..."
"Speaking of which... I don't suppose you found out exactly why Digimon are showing up in the real world again?" T.K. asked, turning to face Izzy.
Unfortunately, the Digidestined of Knowledge could only shake his head in disappointment. "Trust me, I checked and searched for any possible weak points within the boundaries of the Digital World, but any leads I came across were just dead ends."
"What about Gennai?" Tai chimed in optimistically. "Pretty sure he should know something…"
Izzy slumped in his chair, massaging his temples in irritation. "That's actually another thing that's been bothering me, ever since we regained contact with the Digital World I've been trying to contact him… but he's gone off-radar."
Matt sighed with a slight annoyance. "Of course. That guy's had a pretty bad habit of showing up, giving cryptic exposition and then disappearing for days on end."
"Still, he's been unresponsive for this long...?" Joe had to ponder this as well.
Sora also added her two cents. "It doesn't seem like him to disappear at a time this crucial. I kinda wish we knew where he was, at the very least..."
"You guys don't think the Digimon Emperor… did something to him, do you?" Mimi mused, concern evident in her voice.
"I feel like if he had gotten his hands on Gennai, he would have at least used him as a hostage or something…" Kari pointed out. "If there's one thing that guy likes it's to rub his superiority in people's faces."
"Speaking of the Emperor, there's actually something important I've been meaning to bring up…" Everyone turned to see Biyomon as she flew up and on one of the tree branches. "We didn't think anything of it at first, but some of his forces have been attacking local villages in the northern parts of the Server Continent."
"What's weird is he doesn't seem to be that focused on enslaving Digimon…" Gomamon added. "And the places his forces attack are really far out of his territory…"
"That far north, huh..." Tai stood up, thinking. "You don't think there's something important over there, do you?"
"Unless he wants any Crests, I doubt he's gonna find anything." Matt retorted. "We got all of them in the Server Continent, remember?"
"I dunno, Myotismon had my Crest locked up safe and sound." Kari spoke up. "Shot in the dark: maybe there's more than eight?"
The entire group went silent upon hearing that, each of them contemplating the possibility of a ninth Crest. Granted, the vision they'd witnessed years ago indicated that only eight were originally made, but then again a lot of time had passed since their adventures in the Digital World. If Armor Digi-Eggs based on their Crests could be invented in that time, could a new Crest have been created as well?
Agumon was the one to break the silence, shifting his attention from a card with WarGreymon's shield on it. "Would he even need a Crest though? I mean, he was able to force me to do Digivolve without one..." He mused, shuddering at that particular memory.
Tai winced at the thought, recalling how the Emperor turned his best friend back into SkullGreymon… and then forced him to become a blue MetalGreymon after creating the Dark Spirals. "That begs the question; how was he able to even make you go Ultimate?"
"Still trying to figure that out myself." Izzy sighed, remembering how he stayed up almost all week researching that particular phenomenon with no results. "Even after scanning the D-3s I couldn't find any type of coding that allowed you to just force someone else's Digimon to Digivolve..."
"So what? Are you saying he basically hacked his?" Matt summarized with a more livid expression.
"That could be a solid enough theory." Izzy mused. "He's a smart kid, after all. If anyone could do it, it's him. Only one problem..." He then turned to Matt. "There's an even more probable explanation at play. I think it might be powered up by some kind of dark energy…"
Kari flinched at this, wrapping her arms around herself as she leaned against the wall, although only T.K. seemed to notice.
"Wait, guys!" Gomamon began, getting everyone's attention. "Remember how Emperor used the Dark Spirals one at a time? Well, what if... that's all he can afford to send after us?"
"Hey, you're right!" Agumon realized. "Not much changed between when I was under a Dark Spiral's control and now!"
"So you're saying the Digimon Emperor has an actual budget?" Patamon responded.
"So there's a limit to how many he can control..." Izzy mused to himself, taking a moment to bring up a map of the Server Continent. More specifically the various locations with Control Spires, each one in close proximity to each other. "If that's truly the case, we could use this to our advantage."
"So just drain their resources and he's out of options!" Tai declared.
"He'd still have his Dark Rings, but we won't have to worry about him turning Agumon into that blue MetalGreymon again." Izzy continued. "Still...it'd be nice if we knew how those things were made in the first place-"
"GIVE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW!"
A sudden scream from Gatomon got the group's attention, everyone turned to see the cat Digimon chasing after Biyomon, who was laughing while holding on to one of the cards.
"What even is this?! Why does it look like some creepy old guy in a fursuit?!"
"NOW, OR YOU'RE GONNA SEE WHY BIRDS RUN FROM CATS!" Gatomon kept chasing her around the room.
"I should, uh...I should probably take care of that." Kari went to try and calm Gatomon down.
"Biyomon, give the card back." Sora said in a deadpan tone.
"Now now, we're judging Gatomon's weird cosplay phase-" Palmon snickered, earning a glare from the cat Digimon as she swiped it from Biyomon, the rest of the Digimon holding back their laughter.
"...the hell is a Betsumon?" Matt inquired, glancing at the card over her shoulder.
Back at Takato's house, he was laying in bed. He was far too excited to fall asleep; an encounter with the DigiDestined that saved the world three years ago tends to do that.
"I still can't believe it, I actually met the Legends themselves..." The goggle-headed Tamer whispered to himself, lifting his notepad above his head and flipping over to Guilmon's page. A sense of wonder and pride welled up within him as you remember the day he first created his partner... and now they'd actually be helping the Digidestined. "Man, Kazu and Kenta would freak out if they heard about this!" He chuckled as he flipped through a few more pages… and came across some early sketches for a possible Champion form.
"Oh yeah..." Takato thought to himself. "I never actually finished this, did I?" He then remembered the other kids' Digimon, and how they were in their DemiVeemon, Poromon and Upamon forms. "Oh! I never even gave him an In-Training form! Or a Fresh one! I better get straight to work on this!"
With a newfound determination in his eyes, Takato got to work sketching Guilmon's evolution stages, starting with the Champion form…
However, just out of his line of sight on his desk, the screen on his D-Arc lit up for a few seconds, a red icon similar to the one on Guilmon's chest flashing on the screen before it went dark again...
Rika sighed deeply as she made her way down the busy streets of Shinjuku. It was a boring Saturday morning, which gave her a lot more time to seek out and defeat any Bio-Emerging Digimon.
However, she was more focused on those supposed DigiDestined she'd met the other day, and going by what Renamon had told her, they were apparently connected to the original group in some way…
"Those five… are they really connected ? Not only that, but two of them supposedly are two of the original DigiDestined." She put her sunglasses on as she searched for her next target. "This just got a bit more interesting."
Suddenly, the cars, the people slowed down, as if time itself had stopped, and the colors of her surroundings became a dimmer shade, the sole indication that Rika had been drawn into her partner's pocket dimension. While it was still unclear to Rika on how Renamon could do this, she didn't question it. Glancing to her left, she saw the fox Digimon emerging from the darkest shade of this realm. "So, have these so-called DigiDestined arrived?"
"They have." Renamon landed next to her partner. "When is the perfect time to strike?"
"We wait until they've split up." Rika replied, casually gazing at her reflection on the screen of her D-Arc. "I plan finishing what we started with that Gatomon in particular."
"Sounds good to me." Renamon nodded. "We'll make sure to let them know their place."
At the park, Takato rushed towards the playground with Guilmon by his side. He'd barely been able to stay asleep last night, his mind going through several ideas, scenarios, and even card combinations that he could use on the field!
"I can't wait to show them what I've come up with," Takato excitedly said to himself. "This is gonna be the best thing ever, I can just tell!"
Guilmon noticed his partner right next to him. "Takatomon looks happy!"
Unknown to either of them, a figure obscured by the shadows observed them from the branches above, her gaze focused on the red dinosaur. However her attention quickly shifted to another individual rushing through the trees...
As the two reached the playground, they found none other than Henry and Terriermon waiting for them, with the laptop their new friends provided him already opened with it's screen glowing.
"Looks like you're bright and early!" Henry called out. "Doesn't even look like you got any sleep to begin with."
"Dunno if you can blame me..." Takato stopped to catch his breath. "I mean, it's the Legends themselves!"
"Yeah, definitely with you there. Never thought I'd meet them either. Terriermon's been pretty restless since then."
Terriermon did an ear stand on Henry's head. "Those guys were pretty fun to hang around! I can't wait to see them again!"
Suddenly, the screen cleared up, revealing several figures within the light of the screen. Seconds later, Davis, Yolei, Cody, T.K., & Kari emerge from the digital gate, each of them holding the In-Training versions of their partners.
"Sorry if we made you wait too long!" Kari began as their respective partners completely leaped out of their arms and started playing with Guilmon.
"No worries, Takato just got here himself." Henry reassured them as Terriermon jumped off his head to join the rest of the Digimon.
"Yeah… staying up almost all night takes a lot out of you." Takato confessed typically, still as eager as ever despite the loss of breath. "So, are we ready to do this?"
"You know it!" Davis responded. "Glad to have you on the team, man!"
"Looking forward to working with you two!" T.K. gave them both a smile.
Not too far from where the group was conversing both Renamon and Rika were watching. The fox Digimon staying hidden in the branches as she listened in while her Tamer eyed the group from behind a tree.
Rika in particular seemed more focused on Kari than anyone else. While there were many different rumors surrounding the legends, one of the few consistencies was the fact that one of them was apparently connected to what many refered to as a "Crest of Light".
'Yesterday during the fight... her partner called herself the Angel of Light right after she Digivolved...' The Tamer mused to herself. While at first she wrote it off as a coincidence, she couldn't help but notice something about Kari's demeanor that bothered her.
"Rika..."
Her partner's voice brought her out of her thoughts as the fox Digimon landed next to her. "...we may need to change our course of action..."
T.K. began explaining their situation. "Alright, so we need as many hands on deck as possible to take down the Control Spire in this area. But due to the portal here..."
"Someone needs to stay behind to watch for any Digimon bio-emerging in the real world, right?" Takato chimed in. "I guess a minimum of two would do..."
"I can stay here," Henry stated. "I know the city layout a bit better, so if anything happens, we can get to the fields quicker."
"Awwww, but that's boring!" Terriermon whined, then pouted. "I wanted to bust a Spire..."
"I guess I'll stay too." Cody added. "You guys can take the tower down."
"Then it's settled, you guys ready to go?" Davis smiled before turning to their partners, all of whom cheered in response.
Smiling, Yolei aimed her D-3 at the laptop, the rest of the group quickly gathering behind her while Henry and Cody carefully backed out of range. "Then let's do this! Digi-port, OPEN!"
And with that, the laptop started glowing and a bright light engulfed Takato, the Digidestined, and their respective partners, pulling them into the Digital World. However, in the midst of all this a yellow blur leaped out of the trees and right into the light just before it died down.
Unfortunately for the group, Henry and Cody had been forced to avert their eyes due to the portal's brightness, leaving everyone oblivious to the new "addition" to their group...
The five of them, along with their partners, touched down in the Server Continent's mountain region.
T.K. couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic. "Definitely been a while since I was in this area." He smiled. "Matt and I were looking for some of our friends here."
"Oh yeah!" Patamon remembered. "This is where we found Izzy right after MegaKabuterimon flew out of the ground."
"Yeah. I think he mentioned fighting a Vademon here." As T.K. turned around, he noticed something about Takato. "Wow, the Digital World really decked you out, Takato!"
Takato blinked in confusion and took a moment to inspect his clothes… only to realize that they had vastly changed.
His attire now consisted of denim black pants with his D-Arc clipped onto the belt and a red long-sleeved jacket with black trims and live that ran along the sleeves, and on both shoulders and the back of said jacket was the same symbol from Guilmon's chest.
"What the-when did it do this?" He asked as he looked it over. "Not that I'm complaining, but none of the fogged areas did this before!"
"Maybe The Digital World just has a good sense of fashion?" Kari chuckled.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." T.K. added before focusing on the mountain ahead of them. More specifically, the Dark Tower that loomed over the summit. "Okay, if we're going to take this thing down we need to do it quickly... and that means avoiding the Emperor's patrolling forces."
However, as the group headed off to deal with their newest target, Rika and Renamon observed from a safe distance.
"So, this place has a so-called Digimon Emperor, does it?" Rika started musing to herself. "I guess this could provide a decent challenge. This guy probably has a lot of strong Digimon at his disposal."
"Indeed..." Renamon agreed, glaring at the top of the mountain with her eyes focused on the Control Spire looming in the distance. "It'll be a good way to test our capabilities in battle."
After a quick discussion, the gang had decided on separating into two Teams in order to cover more ground while leading an assault on the Control Spire from both fronts. Team 1 consisted of Davis, Veemon, Yolei, Hawkmon, Takato, and Guilmon, who would focus on the west side. And Team 2 consisted of T.K., Patamon, Kari, and Gatomon would attack from the east side. With both Teams using the dense forests for cover in case any patrolling Digimon came their way.
"So… this Digimon Emperor, what exactly is his deal?" Takato asked, eying the Control Spire at the summit.
"So far all we know is that he's looking to just take over The Digital World. You know. Kinda normal bad guy stuff really." Davis said as he kicked a rock. "He's also a Grade-A manipulative jerk who makes Digimon act out their worst impulses."
"With those Dark Ring thingies right?" Takato exclaimed, to which Davis nodded. "Yeeesh, that's just… outlandishly cruel."
"You don't know the half of it." Yolei chimed in, narrowing her eyes in frustration. "He's used them to turn some of our friends against us more than once, all the while laughing like it was some sick game to him." She shuddered, remembering how Andromon and Agumon had been forced to do his bidding.
"Wait… a game but… aren't Digimon all alive?" Takato asked with shock. Guilmon whimpered a bit at that. "I mean what does he gain from any of this?!"
"Maybe he's doing it to study which Digimon are better choices... maybe he's just getting a kick out of it and enjoys hurting others." Yolei almost growled those words out. "Either way he needs to be stopped and fast."
"And that's where we come in!" Veemon cheered, striking a fighting pose as he rode on top of Guilmon. "With every Control Spire we destroy, the Emperor loses more territory."
"And less territory means less minions for him to throw at us." Hawkmon added, landing on a nearby branch as the group reached a long stone bridge built over a deep valley.
However as the crew started across the bridge... a simple DemiDevimon giggled as he watched them walk on as if they were safe. "Oh the Emperor's gonna LOVE hearin' this! Hehehehehe!"
Back at the Digimon Emperor's base, one of his many screens started beeping before changing to reveal an aerial map of the mountains, as well as a red blinking dot that pinpointed the trespasser's locations.
"...like clockwork." The Emperor chuckled to himself, quickly typing in several commands in quick succession. "I'll deal with those three nuisances soon enough. But first..." His finger hovered over the final button as he turned his head to a second screen that displayed T.K., Kari, and their partners. "...let's take one of my new "pets" out for a stroll, shall we?"
"So Kari, it's kinda wild working with these other Digi-Destined, huh?" TK asked as they continued their walk.
Kari smiled a bit as she turned to face him, walking backwards in the process. "Well yeah but I mean it never hurts to have more help don't it? That being said..." She took a moment to think as they made their way under a stone arch. "...I'm kind of worried about that Rika girl. She seemed waaaay too aggressive for a DigiDestined."
"That probably explains her partner." Patamon added as he landed on TK's head. "They seemed to work well together, but at the same time it didn't feel like their bond was as strong or genuine as ours..."
"Almost like they're in some… agreement. Like they think it's just gonna be temporary and that's it." TK said as he plucked Patamon off and rubbed his back. "I hope it doesn't go that far for her yet."
"Same here, agreements like that rarely turn out positive." Gatomon sighed, her eyes narrowing as she recalled her years of servitude under Myotismon. "That Renamon in particular-"
Whatever she was about to say next was quickly cut off as the ground started to rumble... right before a large pillar of sand and rocks erupted behind them, prompting the two DigiDestined to quickly pull out their respective D-3s.
"RRRRRAAAAAAAGH!" A huge Digimon with a metal head roared as the rocks around it seemed to slowly become a bulky and muscular figure that had strange wrappings on it in odd places and two large spikes on its back!
"Whoa! Who is this guy?!" Kari asked as she pulled out her D-3.
Digimon Analyzer:
Name: Golemon
Level: Champion
Attribute: Virus
This Rock Digimon was discovered when an ancient curse was digitally analyzed. This unfeeling Digimon will not move unless ordered to. Its Sulfur Plume attack fires superheated gases from the small stacks on its back.
"Looks like the sneak attack plan is a no-go." TK said, pulling out his own D-3 as he backed away, with Patamon and Gatomon quickly putting themselves between the hulking Digimon and their respective partners. "Ready Kari?"
"Aaaaand yoink!" A young female voice shouted as the two felt their D-Terminals snatched off their persons.
The culprit was a rather small, imp-like Digimon, a few inches shorter than Gatomon in height. Its entire body save for its white face was a bluish-purple, it had long floppy horns and bat-wings. It wore a black suit with a pink tie, had a red marking on its forehead and held a staff with a pink swirl on the top.
"Oooh dear, I hope these two things aren't important! Please tell me if they were important!" She cackled.
"Where the heck did you come from!?" Gatomon snarled... right before bolting to the right just in time to avoid getting crushed by Golemon's first.
"As if we didn't have enough problems!" Kari groaned, aiming her D-3 at the new arrival.
Digimon Analyzer:
Name: PetitMamon
Level: Rookie
Attribute: Virus
Mischievous and deceitful, these Mini-Devil Digimon love to spend their times pranking others. Cowards at heart, they will flee from any fight they think they can't win.
"And I have a VERY good reason to think that this is one I won't win! Finders keepers and all that!" PetitMamon taunted before bagging the terminals and running off.
"We need to get those back, Gatomon!" Kari shouted, ready to give chase, only to be held back by her partner.
"But what about tall, dark and rocky here?!" The cat Digimon pointed out.
"Leave him to us!" T.K. shouted, aiming his D-3 at Patamon just as his partner flew towards the hulking behemoth.
"Be careful TK..." Kari replied, glancing at her friend over her shoulder before running after the fleeing Digimon, her partner joining her as Patamon was engulfed in a beam of light...
Digivolution:
"PATAMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO... ANGEMON!"
"Let's take him down, Angemon!" TK shouted as Golemon roared at the duo in response.
"CRUSH YOU! TURN YOU TO RUBBLE FOR EMPEROR! FINALLY HAVE PEACE!" Golemon yelled before charging at the two with hands raised before bringing them down on Angemon, who caught them easily with his own.
"...ok, I'm just gonna say it; this is too easy."
Takato and Davis stopped walking as they turned to face Yolei. "Uh... what do you mean? This is supposed to be a sneak attack, right?" Takato asked, not noticing that his partner has started sniffing the air.
"That's just it, we've been sneaking towards the Control Spire for half an hour and we haven't come across a single Digimon!" She retorted, spreading her arms for emphasis. "I can't be the only one who thinks something's off, right?"
"She's right. It feels too nice… we shoulda faced at least a couple of Champions." Hawkmon agreed, starting to feel a little on the edge himself.
Guilmon himself suddenly got fierce looking and intense as if he smelled something bad coming.
"Wait, I think Guilmon-WHOA!" Takato yelped as the ground started to shake!
"RAAAAAGGGHHH!"
A fierce roar echoed throughout the forest as the bridge they'd recently crossed was engulfed in a massive pillar of flames! Then, a single figure lumbered out of cloud of debris, its glowing crimson eyes glaring at the Digidestined as it snarled menacingly.
It looked like a Tyrannomon… only its colors had been inverted and it's overall body had seemingly mutated into something fiercer. Its claws were longer and now had metal blades bolted onto the tips, multiple brown belts were wrapped around its wrists, and its fangs had grown long enough to pop out of the edge of its mouth.
"Oh man… I have that card!" Takato beamed in excitement.
"I'm ninety-five percent sure I can still take him!" Veemon boasted, cracking his knuckles as he stepped forward.
Davis shot Yolei a look. "...still think it's too easy?"
Digimon Analyzer:
Name: DarkTyrannomon
Level: Champion
Attribute: Virus
A Tyrannomon whose body was infected and corroded by a vicious computer virus. While its sturdiness and offensive power grew immensely, it was transformed into a frenzied Digimon who identifies anything it sees as an enemy.
"That thing's gonna go on a rampage! We need to stop it now!" Davis yelled, pulling out his D-Terminal while Veemon jumped off of Guilmon, ready for a fight. "Digi-Armor Ener-!"
"NUH UH UH!" A cocky and sniveling voice said as Davis felt his D-Terminal leave his person in a flash! Yolei was just as slow before the shadow grabbed hers as well and vanished!
Sniffing the air, Guilmon snarled as he glared at a nearby tree. "Pyro Sphere!" He roared before launching a fireball into the branches and setting most of them on fire!
"HOLY-WATCH WHERE YOU'RE AIMING!" A small, bat-like Digimon with red talons screamed as he flew out of the flaming tree, holding both Davis and Yolei's D-Terminals.
"Hey! Those are ours you miserable little-" Yolei shouted, rushing after the diminutive Digimon in rage.
"Uh, Yolei!?" Hawkmon shouted, quickly holding his partner back and turning her towards the massive behemoth. "We still have him to worry about!"
"HA! FINDERS KEEPERS!" The Digimon cackled as he started to try and fly away! "And now my master is gonna reward me with powers beyond-!"
"VEE PUNCH!" Veemon landed a solid hit on the small Digimon, knocking one of the terminals loose!
"GAH!" DemiDevimon grunted in pain as he was quickly sent spiraling out of control. Not wasting a chance, Hawkmon swooped in and snatched the remaining D-Terminal from the talons of the bat Digimon.
"Nice shot!" Davis smirked as he quickly caught the falling D-Terminal... only for another roar to echo throughout the area. The trio turned to see DarkTyrannomon stomping towards them!
"Aaaaand that's my cue to leave!" DemiDevimon as he adjusted himself in mid-air and took. "Later losers!"
"Oh for the love of-Takato! Go after him!" Yolei shouted as she turned to face the behemoth.
"Uh, shouldn't Guilmon and I stay and help?" Takato asked, nervously looking up at the massive Digimon while his partner growled menacingly.
"If that runt gets back to the Control Spire he'll bring back reinforcements!" Davis explained as both Veemon and Hawkmon quickly got in front of their partners, ready to battle. "We'll handle this guy! You focus on stopping that DemiDevimon!"
"RIGHT! On it now!" Takato yelped as he and his partner ran after the smaller Digimon.
"Alright, now we just gotta take care of tall, dark, and ugly here!" Davis shouted, narrowly dodging the beast as it slammed its tail down towards him and Yolei.
"I'm ready whenever you are Davis!" Yolei shouted, aiming her D-3 at Hawkmon while her friend did the same with Veemon. "Digi-Armor Energize!"
To their surprise, however, as their partners were levitated into the air, the symbols that appeared behind them seemed to have switched.
Veemon hovered over the Crest of Love, and Hawkmon hovered over the Crest of Courage.
Armor-Digivolution:
"VEEMON ARMOR-DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"
"HAWKMON ARMOR-DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"
Immediately several wisps of wind shot out of the Crest of Love, swirling around Veemon's entire body like a cocoon of wind. As said cocoon began to grow bigger and take shape, Davis could see the transparent form of Biyomon; the original bearer of the Crest of Love, hovering over it, her form quickly shifting into Birdramon, then to Garudamon… and for a brief moment he could see the silhouette of a creature that resembled a massive bird with four wings.
Just as it vanished the cocoon of wind was dispelled, revealing what Davis could only describe as a land-based version of Halsemon. It was a quadrupedal beast with red skin, orange stripes, a long green mane that extended across his back and right up to its tail, and pricing crimson eyes. It had a sky blue underbelly and tusks near its mouth, and its head was covered in silver armor similar to Halsemon's helmet, only with the wings curved upwards to resemble horns and a red colored Crest of Love with curved marks on the sides.
Hawkmon in turn was engulfed by a fiery tornado that erupted from the Crest of Courage, bathing his entire form in flames. As they grew wilder and larger, Yolei could see the transparent form of the original bearer of the Crest of Courage; Agumon, hovering over the flames. His form then shifted into Greymon, then into MetalGreymon, which was then followed by WarGreymon… and for a split second, she could see Omegamon with his Grey Sword drawn.
The flames then exploded outwards as it vanished, revealing a large dinosaur just as large as DarkTyrannomon with blue-scales and red stripes on his body, fierce green eyes, a light blue underbelly and red hair. He also wore a white and red necklace as well as feathers with red tips and red and yellow striped feathers on the back of its head.
"SETHMON, RAGING FORCE OF LOVE!"
"ALLOMON, PREHISTORIC COURAGE!"
Digimon Analyzer:
Name: Sethmon
Level: Armor
Attribute: Data
The overwhelming power of the Digi-Egg of Love was too difficult to control and in turn made Sethmon much more violent in battle compared to Halsemon, practically making them polar opposites. He has the power to exhale raging winds hotter than the scorching desert.
Name: Allomon
Level: Armor
Attribute: Data
Allomon is particularly ferocious even among other Dinosaur-type Digimon, to the point where his relationship with Tyranomon is viscously hostile. This Digimon prides himself in his powerful leg strength and is able to run at blistering speeds.
"RAAAAH!" DarkTyrannomon roared at the two new Digimon that challenged his power. He charged at the quartet with his left claw raised but the two Digidestined hopped aboard their partners and managed to avoid the beast at the last second, leaving him to embed his claw in the ground.
"WHOA! Veemon, I didn't know you could turn into that!" Davis exclaimed as Sethmon leaped over DarkTyrannomon's swinging tail.
"You ain't the only one! But I'm not gonna look a Gift-Horsemon in the mouth!" Sethmon smirked as he turned to face the thrashing Digimon.
"Neither will I!" Allomon replied, getting into a fighting stance as he locked eyes with DarkTyrannomon, a sudden burning sensation welling within him as he snarled at his opponent.
"Ok so, we can actually swap Digi-Eggs… am I the only one wondering exactly how long this has been an option!?" Yolei called from atop her partner, her mind already going over how many forms Hawkmon could take with the other Digi-Eggs.
"We can focus on that later!" Davis replied, eying the Dark Ring on DarkTyrannomon's tail. "Right now, we gotta take him down and make sure Takato has backup!"
"On it! Tusk Driver!" Sethmon shouted, his tusks glowing bright blue as he rushed towards his opponent.
"RRRRAAAAAGGGGGHHH!" The beast howled as Sethmon's tusks dug into his tail, causing an incredible pain that only fueled his rage and the fire inside him... a fire that was quickly belched out! "Fire Blast!"
"Oh no ya don't! Dino Burst!" Allomon roared, exhaling a blast of hot air which collided with the fireball mere seconds before it could hit Sethmon.
"My turn!" Sethmon snarled as he leapt back and inhaled deeply, suddenly a reddish-orange orb of fire appeared in his mouth as his stripes started to glow. "Feel the wrath of the scorching hot desert! Heat Storm!" He roared, detonating the orb and unleashing a powerful blast of superheated wind upon his target.
Despite its thick hide, DarkTyrannomon couldn't hold his ground against the intense heated wind and was forced to drive his claws into the ground as he was blown back a few feet.
"Oh yeah! You showed him, Sethmon!" Davis cheered as his partner snorted.
"Ah it wasn't much. This guy's just a pushover now thanks to our combined power!" Sethmon roared in triumph as he glared at the downed dinosaur.
"And you weren't a slouch either, Allomon!" Yolei smiled, giving her own partner a reassuring head-pat.
"All it took was having him face some-mon his own size is all!" Allomon replied with a proud smile, digging his claws into the ground as he readied himself for another attack. "Now how about we make sure this bully stays down, eh?!"
Suddenly, DarkTyrannomon let out a feral snarl as his claws extended and were engulfed by a black aura. Then, the behemoth let out a menacing roar as he lunged towards the group.
"Brace yourselves!" Yolei called out.
"Dark Nail!"
"Seriously, give it up already!" PetitMamon shouted as she flew through the trees with Gatomon in hot pursuit, leaping from branch to branch while Kari followed close behind.
"Not a chance! We need those terminals back and you're forking them over!" Gatomon snarled as she then launched herself at PetitMamon, tackling her out of the tree and pinning the little thief down. "GOTCHA!"
"OW, OW, OW, OW, OW! OKAY OKAY YOU WIN YOU WIN!" PetitMamon squealed under Gatomon's claws.
"Good job Gatomon!" Kari smiled, stopping to catch her breath as she caught up to the two. "Now let's get back to-" Before she could finish, something caught her eye. Just a few feet away from both the thief and her partner was a shadow flying straight towards them… the shadow of a Dark Ring! "GATOMON LOOK OUT!" Kari screamed, rushing towards them both as a small gap opened up on the ring, ready to clamp onto whichever unfortunate Digimon it hit first.
"What are y-GAH!" The feline yelped right as she was tackled off of the struggling PetitMamon… with the Dark Ring quickly clamping down on her neck before the Mini-Devil Digimon could escape. Soon her body started to glow deep red, as if it was trying to force out a Digivolution like it has on many others and nothing Kari and Gatomon could do could stop it! "N-NO WAIT! G-GET IT OFF! GET! IT-EEEEAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!" PetitMamon screamed… before cackling madly as her body was engulfed in a tornado of dark energy!
Kari and Gatomon could only watch in horror as the imp's entire form was twisted and changed into a grown woman with pale skin, red lipstick, unnaturally large hands, short blonde hair, and glowing red eyes with black marks around them. She now wore a red dress with multiple zippers, a black cape, a red pointy hat, a black cat tattoo on her left arm, red elbow-length gloves with two golden blades on the back of her hands, and black boots.
Digivolution:
"PETITMAMON! DIGIVOLVE TO… WITCHMON!"
Digimon Analyzer:
Name: Witchmon
Level: Champion
Attribute: Data
A prideful yet cruel Demon Man Digimon who hails from another dimension called "Witchelny". While she despises customs and rules, her masterly over sorcery is rumored to rival Wizardmon's as a result of her diligent training. She rides a broomstick dubbed "The Blue Comet" and is always followed by her black cat familiar.
"Well this just went from bad to worse…" Kari mused as Gatomon pulled herself out her grip, putting herself between their opponent and her partner. 'Wait, what happened to…' Looking around, Kari saw that the D-terminals had been hurled across the field by the force of Witchmon's Digivolution and quickly got to her feet, rushing towards the nearest one.
"Oh no you don't!" Witchmon cackled as held out her arm, suddenly her black cat tattoo was engulfed in a red aura and came to life! It swiftly pulled itself off her skin and shot down towards Kari… only for a yellow blur to dart out of the trees and slam into the cat spirit! The spirit in turn retreated back to its owner while the blur landed right next to Gatomon, revealing…
"RENAMON!?" Kari exclaimed in shock. "When did you-"
"We followed you two after that embarrassing display." A familiar voice chimed in. Looking over her shoulder, Kari saw none other than Rika step out from behind a tree, her arms crossed as she glared up at their opponent. Not unlike Takato before her, her attire had changed upon entering the Digital World. She now wore black fingerless gloves with the yin yang symbols on the back, knee length jeans, and a jacket similar to Takato's, the main difference being that hers was sleeveless, was colored deep blue with patterns in the form of wisps of smoke, and a symbol of a broken heart on her back. "Seriously, how'd you let that little imp get the drop on you?"
"It's kinda hard to focus on the little guy when you've got a Golemon trying to crush you!" Kari said defensively, though Rika just rolled her eyes at that.
"Not exactly the best excuse, but it works for the moment I suppose." She scoffed before looking at the brainwashed Witchmon.
"HEY IF YOU WANNA GET BLOWN UP OR RIPPED TO SHREDS THEN WAIT YOUR DAMN TURN!" Witchmon shrieked as the cat spirit shifted back into her tattoo.
"Oh? Scared to take us both on?" Gatomon smirked as she got into a fighting stance, however, Renamon simply narrowed her eyes.
"Don't mistake my assistance for some form of comradery." The Vulpine Digimon scoffed as her paws were engulfed in blue flames. "I'm here for her data, nothing more!" Not waiting for a response, she rushed towards Witchmon and leaped into the air. "Power Paw!"
"KYAH!" Witchmon screamed as she was struck across the face, sending her flying backwards!
"How pathetic. And here I hoped you would pose a challenge." Renamon growled in disappointment. "Either way. I promise to make this quick and as painless as possible."
"No no no no!" Witchmon growled before getting up. "I. Will not be beat! BY SOME NOBODY FOX LIKE YOU!"
Before anyone could retort, Witchmon's right hand was engulfed by what looked like a cyclone of deep red wind. "Let's see you endure this! Baluluna Gale!" She snapped before swiping at her opponent, sending out five blades of wind that tore through the very ground itself!
"RIKA MOVE!" Renamon shouted as she quickly grabbed Rika and Kari right before the attack could reach them.
"KARI!" Gatomon yelled, having barely avoided the attack herself, wincing at the sight of the cuts along the ground where her partner once stood. "Are you okay?!"
"Y-yeah! Just a bit shook up is all!" She said with a slight gulp. Shaking her head, Kari quickly held out her D-3 as the D-Terminal glowed. "It's time even up the odds, Digi-Armor Energize!"
However, right as her partners was levitated into the air, she noticed that the symbol appearing behind Gatomon wasn't the Crest of Light… but of Hope.
"Wait… what!?"
Armor-Digivolution:
"GATOMON ARMOR-DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"
Kari could only watch as her partner was engulfed in a bright light shining from the Crest of Hope. She could see the transparent form of Patamon hovering over her… before shifting into Angemon, then to MagnaAngemon… and then for just a few seconds, she caught a glimpse of a silhouetted figure that looked like a armored Angel with ten massive wings.
As the light died down, Kari was greeted by the sight of a goat with two long, golden curved horns, black fur and a white beard. She now wore a white and gold mask with a red gem at the center, shackles on each hoof, and a silver gorget inscribed with DigiCode with a golden bell hanging off of it.
"ORYXMON, THE PROTECTOR OF HOPE!"
Digimon Analyzer:
Name: Oryxmon
Level: Armor
Attribute: Vaccine
This Mammal Digimon acts a sentry, holding the duty of guarding treasures and ruins that hold important data from ancient times. Her primary methods of protection revolves around utilizing powerful barriers or immobilizing her opponents.
"Wha?! You never could turn into this before!" Kari yelped when she saw the new form her cat partner had taken. "And wait, does this mean we could do this with our Digi-Eggs the whole time?!"
"It's possible, but for now let's keep this Wicked Witch of Data from escaping! Mystic Bell!" Oryxmon shouted as her bell started to ring, sending out sonic waves that seemed to paralyze the Red Eyed Digimon.
"KYAAAH! WH-WHAT DID YOU DO TO MEEEEE?!" Witchmon barely managed to gasp out, falling off of her broomstick as she held her ears in pain as her body froze up.
Refusing to be shown up, Rika quickly drew one of her cards and swiped it through her D-Arc. "Digi-Modify… Leomon Activate!"
"My turn!" Renamon snarled, rushing past Oryxmon and towards the immobilized Digimon as the transparent image of the Lion Digimon appeared over her body. The Vulpine Digimon delivered an upward kick to Witchmon's chin, sending her high into the air before summoning a deep orange aura in the form of a lion's head on her right fist. "Fist of the Beast King!" She then hollered, thrusting her fist upwards and hurling the flaming lion's head towards her airborne foe.
"No! NOOOOOOO!" Witchmon yelled as the flames engulfed her form, swiftly burning her very being away data bit by data bit as she tumbled to the ground.
However she struggled to her knees, she looked up to see Renamon looming over her, her right hand still engulfed in a flaming orange aura. "And now to end this…"
"Hey what are you doing?! She's not in complete control of herself! Stop it!" Oryxmon yelled as she slammed into Renamon and knocked her away, causing the fires to dissipate while the Witchmon collapsed, whimpering in pain and fear despite the Dark Ring on her.
"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Rika snapped, attempting to pull out another card. However at that exact moment Kari grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Let go! You may not care about finishing her off but-"
"She can't fight anymore, look!" Kari retorted, pointing at the Witchmon, who in turn was writhing in agony. The Dark Ring around her neck then snapped off, rolling onto the ground with cracks spreading across it before shattering into pieces.
With no energy left, Witchmon's body glowed brightly as she reverted back to PetitMamon, injured, but still alive.
Despite this, Rika simply scoffed. "She's still a threat-"
"To who?! She's beat and traumatized right now!" Kari snapped back. It was true, the Rookie was now curled up in a ball, whimpering and cowering in fear of what the ring did to her and the burns she'd just suffered.
"Oh, please! She's just using that to get out of facing the consequences." Rika fired back. "And even so, it's just data. Why do you care so much?!"
Something within Kari flared up as she tightened her grip. "They are not just data! They-"
"Kari!" A familiar voice called out.
Everyone turned to see T.K. and Angemon rushing towards them both, the angel Digimon covered in a few bruises, but otherwise fine. "Sorry for the wait, we just barely managed to-" He came to an abrupt halt upon seeing Rika. "...what the heck is she doing here!?"
"We heard there was something going on that could make us stronger. How could we turn down an opportunity like that?" Rika just stated coldly before turning back towards PetitMamon. "Now if you two will excuse us we'll be finishing what we started now. Renamon?"
"Of course Rika." Renamon said as she walked over to the downed Digimon. "Diamond-"
"W-WAIT! I... I can give you information! Yeah!" PetitMamon pleaded just as Oryxmon intercepted the Vulpine Digimon again. "I can t-tell you what the Emperor's planning! J-Just keep her away from me!"
"Then I suggest you keep talking." Oryxmon growled, not taking her eyes off of Renamon. "Why is the Emperor suddenly so interested in the northern sector of the server continent?"
The Mini-Demon gulped and started explaining. "When he raided our village he claimed he was looking for special ruins... when we didn't know what he was talking about he just enslaved the strongest ones and captured everyone else."
"Then why are you helping him willingly?" T.K. asked, finding it odd that any Digimon would willingly work for such a tyrant.
"He didn't have enough resources to enslave every single Digimon in this area, so when he found us he offered to spare us in exchange for spying on you guys and stealing your D-Terminals." She continued, shuddering at the memory. "He even promised to make one of us digivolve if we did a good enough job..."
"And you believed him?" Oryxmon said with a slight rage in her voice directed at the small Digimon. "Even knowing what kind of being he is?"
"He was very convincing! And… a-and it was my one chance to..." PetitMamon started to stammer out, but stopped herself.
"I understand your feelings of wanting to matter and to have power. But the Emperor would have more likely enslaved you upon getting the Terminals." Angemon started firmly shaking his head in disappointment.
"Wait… 'us'? Who else did he spare?" Oryxmon asked.
The Mini Devil scratched her head for a moment while trying to remember… and snapped her fingers in realization. "Oh yeah! There was a DemiDevimon sent to patrol the other side of the mountain!"
Just as she revealed that bit of info, out in the distance an explosion rang out across the land!
"What in the-?!" Kari yelped. "What was that?!"
"Whatever it was, I doubt it's friendly! We have to destroy that tower!" Oryxmon exclaimed as she picked up Kari and placed her on her back.
Angemon quickly took to the air as T.K. climbed onto Oryxmon as well… only to glance back at Rika, who simply rolled her eyes as she watched the PetitMamon frantically flying away. "Y'know, if you want a challenge. I'm pretty sure there'll be several strong Digimon guarding the Control Spire..."
The Tamer scoffed before approaching her Vulpine partner. "Don't expect me to play along with whatever bone-headed strategy you try thinking up. I do things my way."
And with that statement, Renamon quickly picked up her partner and rushed towards the summit.
"Well, it's a start..." T.K. sighed, holding on tightly as Oryxmon ran after her.
"PYRO SPHERE!" Guilmon shouted as he launched another red orb at the fleeing Demon Digimon, who narrowly avoided the attack at the last second!
"YOWZA! CAN'T YA JUST LET A GUY GO CALL FOR BACKUP?!" DemiDevimon yelped as he ducked under another attack. "C'MON WHAT'D I EVER DO TO YOU TWO?!"
"You tried to steal my friend's D-Terminals!" Takato yelled as he kept running after him.
"YEAH BUT IT WASN'T PERSO-YAAOOOW!" One of the fireballs finally nailed DemiDevimon in the rump, interrupting his speech.
The demonic Digimon soon hit the floor, trying to put out the fire on his rump. "YOU'RE JUST A BIG MEAN!" Guilmon shouted as he started running towards him.
"A big me-how old are you?! One cycle or somethin'?!" DemiDevimon shouted back as he tried to get back up into the air. "Ain't no such thing as just 'big mean' or whatever! There's just the smart ones and the idiots! And guess which one you are?!"
"The ones smart enough to keep you distracted!" The goggle-headed Tamer smirked.
"The heck are you talking about-OOFF!" the diminutive Digimon was cut off as he slammed right into a thick branch, sending him spiraling out of control.
"There's your shot, boy!" Takato called out, prompting his partner to sprint towards the falling DemiDevimon, his claws now engulfed in flames as he leaped into the air with a mighty roar.
"Rock Breaker!"
"No no no, NOT IN THE FACE-" DemiDevimon screamed as he frantically flapped his wings. Guilman slammed his burning fist into his face, hurling him straight into a large boulder.
"Guuuuuhhh..." DemiDevimon groaned as he tried getting up, but Guilmon's growling kept him pinned, as did the three clawed hands that slammed him into it in the first place. "H-HI THERE! Listen, about me calling ya dumb and all earlier? Pffft! That wasn't m-meant to be serious!"
Guilmon simply snarled at him, small embers escaping his mouth as he exhaled smoke from his nostrils.
"I'm just gonna be blunt, tell us why you wanted the D-Terminals and I'll be nice enough to convince Guilmon not to make you his lunch." Takato replied while crossing his arms, while he was bluffing, he'd always wanted to play the "bad cop" at least once.
"OKAY OKAY I'LL TALK! Just keep your hungry Digimon away from me!" DemiDevimon whimpered in fear. "T-The Emperor wanted those weird Armor-Eggs for some sort of experiment!" He frantically explained. "I swear, that's all he would tell us!"
"Then wh-" The ground started rumbling yet again, cutting Takato off as he quickly reached for his cards. "Oh great, now what!?"
"RRRA! RAAA! RAAAA! AAAAAH! WAAAAAAGH!" A voice screamed out from the depths of the forest. Soon a bunch of trees were pushed out of the way to reveal a hulking simian-like Digimon with brown fur, red skin, stone clawed hands, a stone horn on its forehead, and a stone clubbed tail with a Dark Ring attached to it.
"OH YOU TWO ARE IN TROUBLE NOW!" DemiDevimon cackled evily at the sight of the beast.
Takato was quick to back away as Guilmon instinctively positioned himself between the hulking beast and his Tamer, growling menacingly despite the size difference between the two.
'This guy's skin must be extremely tough... Guilmon's gonna need a boost' He thought, quickly flipping through his cards until he came across the perfect option. "This outta even up the odds! Digi-Modify, Hyper Chip activate!" he called out, quickly swiping the card through his D-Arc.
"Glide Rocks!" The Beast roared as it slammed its massive tail into Guilmon.
However at that very moment Guilmon's body was overwhelmed with a sudden surge of energy and he held out his claws, catching the club's tail and holding it in place.
"Oh come on! Crush those two! Don't let this shrimp kick your sorry butt!" DemiDevimon roared at the attacking Digimon that could only roar at its opponents.
"What IS that thing?!" Takato soon stumbled upon his Digivice as a picture appeared on it, as well as the name of the monster.
Digimon Analyzer:
Name: Baboongamon
Level: Champion
Attribute: Vaccine
An extremely territorial Beast Digimon who builds its nest in cliffs and rocky mountains. If the rocks covering its skin are damaged or broken in battle they will simply regenerate over time and become even harder. The composition of the most battle-hardened Baboongamon are known to be more diamond-like.
Suddenly, just before the Behemoth could overpower Guilmon, a blur leaped down from the trees… revealing itself to be none other than Oryxmon. "Milky Erode!" She shouted, exhaling a stream of green flames at the now distracted behemoth. Before it could react Baboongamon was pushed back by the flames, screaming in slight pain as its rocks were singed.
Takato looked in Oryxmon's direction, then noticed Kari and T.K. on her back and Angemon hovering above them. "Hey, you made it right on time! But uh, who's the goat? And where's Gatomon?"
Oryxmon stood her ground. "Long story." Takato recognized a voice similar to Nefertimon.
"Let's just say Armor-Eggs can be used between partners. " Kari replied. "This is Gatomon!"
Takato finally realized what went on. "Oh. Well, uh...that explains a lot. Well, either way, it looks like we've outnumbered this monkey three to one!"
"Right!" T.K. and Kari both got off of Oryxmon so she could start fighting. "Angemon, you know what to do!"
"You too, Oryxmon!" Kari cheered her partner on.
The two took their stance along with Guilmon, as Baboongamon flung the rocks on its arms at the trio.
"Mount Stone!"
Guilmon and Angemon both used their respective attacks to counter the rocks, while Oryxmon just headbutted them with her large, rounded horns.
"Rock Breaker!"
"Angel Rod!"
As Guilmon's claws and Angemon's staff swatted away or simply tore through more and more rocks, Oryxmon saw an opening and acted upon it.
"Mystic Bell!"
She fired the same ultrasonic waves as before, leaving Baboongamon in a blind rage. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" It immediately went for another swipe with its tail with an angrier call of its other attack. "GLIDE ROCKS!"
"Now's our chance! Aim for the tail!" Angemon charged his fist and fired a beam of light. "Hand of Fate!"
Oryxmon shot another stream of green fire from her mouth. "Milky Erode!"
Guilmon fired a red-hot blast. "Pyro Sphere!"
All three attacks hit the Dark Ring, shattering it to pieces as Baboongamon quickly fell flat on its face, slowly regaining its senses. Immediately after, Davis and Yolei rode in on Sethmon and Allomonm having already dispatched their tyrannosaurus terror.
"Hey!" Davis shouted. "Need any help?"
"I think they got it." Yolei smiled as she turned her attention to the face down baboon… and then to Oryxmon. "Also, who's the goat?"
The goat Digimon simply smiled. "It's me, Gatomon! The Digi-Egg of Hope turned me into Oryxmon. And I'm guessing you two had a similar situation?"
"That's correct!" Allomon spoke, despite his mouth not seeming to move. "I got the Digi-Egg of Courage and turned into Allomon, and Veemon got Love and became a Sethmon."
Sethmon made as much of a grin as a wingless griffon with tusks could manage. "That's right! We sent DarkTyrannomon back to the stone age with these forms!"
"Good, with that out of the way we need to get to the summit immediately." T.K. pointed out, getting everyone's attention. "I'd rather we take care of things quickly before our new 'partner' gets in over her head..."
"Partner? What do you mean?" Takato asked in confusion. "Is there another Digidestined here?"
"Not exactly... y'see-" Before T.K. could finish, the ground beneath them shook as several explosions went off near the summit, followed by another roar. "Turns out, Rika made it here too..." He finished, rubbing his head sheepishly.
"The girl with the Renamon?" Yolei responded. "Sheesh, she's certainly persistent!"
"I'll say." Kari just held her head. "Almost killed that Petitmamon that took our stuff."
"Sheesh, that's a bit far!" Davis looked at the site of the explosion. "So I guess we're gonna find out what those two are fighting soon enough, huh?"
"Hmph... at least these losers put up a decent fight." Rika spat out as she looked at the fallen Golemon before her and Renamon. The beast made only a slight groan before its Dark Ring soon fell off it's body and clanked on the ground once before shattering into Data. However Renamon herself also seemed to be a bit worn out as well, her fur matted and messy, bruises and dirt marks on her from the battle, and her arm sleeves were torn a bit as well.
"Indeed... but they fell just like the rest." Renamon replied as she began to absorb its data.
...or the very least, tried to.
Renamon narrowed her eyes as the behemoth before her let out another pained groan as its body glitched every so often, as if it was having a hard time keeping itself stable.
"Renamon! What's taking so lo-" Rika snapped, only to notice her D-Arc beeping rapidly as a sudden message appeared on the screen.
[INCOMPATIBLE]
"What the-" Rika blinked before the Golemon let out a roar of pain before its body dissipated into data.
"NGH!" Renamon backed away, clutching her head in pain. "I...couldn't absorb it...! Our data didn't match at all!"
"What?!" Rika was in disbelief.
"I tried and my coding outright denied the Golemon's data. It seems to be trying to fight it..."
Rika facepalmed. "Great. So now we're getting digi-food poisoning from some ring."
"That isn't the painful part. I just felt minor pain from that." Renamon pointed at the strand of data that was once a Dark Ring. "That, however..."
"What, you're allergic to jewelry now?" Rika asked in a more sarcastic tone.
"That ring… something about it isn't right. When I attempted to absorb that, it attacked my mind. If it can control a Digimon that wears it, imagine if it was a part of my data." The Vixen then took a deep breath. "...I don't know what happened to cause such a rejection."
"We'll cross that bridge later. Right now we need to focus on the-" The Tamer paused for a moment as she took a good look at the Control Spire. Or rather, the massive vine that appeared to be wrapped around its lower half. "... Not even going to ask. Renamon, get ready to-"
Suddenly the ground started to rumble beneath their feet, as if something was trying to get loose...
"RIKA, GET BACK!" The Vulpine Digimon shouted as she quickly tackled her partner out of the way just as the ground beneath her burst open!
As a cloud of dust obscured most of the area, two large glowing red eyes glared down at the two menacingly, the Digimon growling in anger as it slowly lumbered forward.
"Okay, what the heck am I looking at?!" Rika scanned the creature with her D-Power. As she did, the dust cleared, revealing a giant monster covered in what appeared to be potatoes, with a sprout forming the tail.
Digimon Analyzer:
Name: Jagamon
Level: Ultimate
Attribute: Vaccine
A Digimon with a shell made from a hard substance resembling potatoes. Despite its docile nature and tendency to to just eat and sleep, its power is not to be underestimated. While hiding in its shell it uses its sprout to locate its surroundings, and attacks by firing off pieces of its rind which explode upon impact.
Rika was both shocked and stupefied. "U-Ultimate level?! This giant spud is an Ultimate?!"
Letting out another growl, the behemoth started inhaling deeply through its mouth, its body slowly expanding and bloating outwards. "Smashed... Potatoes!" The Jagamon bellowed as various potatoes immediately erupted from its body, all of them hurling towards the two...
"Dino Burst!"
"Milky Erode!"
"Hand of Fate!"
"Heat Storm!"
"Pyro Sphere!"
Several bursts of fire and powerful blasts of energy hit the descending potatoes, forcing them to explode in midair before they could hit the two, Rika and Renamon turned to see Takato, along with the entire group of Digidestined arriving at the battlefield with their respective partners by their side.
"What in the Digital World is that!?" Davis shouted, staring up at the behemoth in shock.
"...and why is it giving me a hankering for French Fries?" Sethmon mumbled under his breath.
"And now the DigiDoofuses are here..." Rika sighed to herself. "Hate to admit it, but I might need your help."
"Might?" Kari teased. "You almost got done in by an attack called 'Smashed Potatoes'."
"S-Shut up!" Rika said, blushing with embarrassment. "Besides, it's not like I have a choice! That living starch factory is apparently an Ultimate level!"
T.K. just got done scanning the creature. "She's right. Apparently, those potatoes pack enough of a punch to rival MetalGreymon's Giga Blaster."
"Potato nukes..." Yolei facepalmed. "Totally what we needed today."
"Whatever helps take down Mr. Potato Body over here!" Allomon stood his ground with Sethmon right behind him.
"Ya think a Jagamon's rind pieces would make for good french fries?" Sethmon asked, Allomon simply looked at him funny. "What?! All the fighting made me hungry!"
"Great, now he's got me thinking about it..." Oryxmon stood with them. "Let's just focus on distracting Spuds here!"
"Right!" Angemon flew above the lot of them, ready to fight.
As the rest of the group quickly charged towards the behemoth, T.K. turned his attention to Rika. "Guilmon's gonna need cover getting up there. Think you can handle working with a team for once?"
Renamon glared at him as if she'd just been insulted while her Tamer in question simply rolled her eyes. "Sure, relegate us to babysitting the lummox..." As she pulled out her desired card, she shot a glare at Takato and Guilmon. "Don't screw this up, Gogglehead."
"R-R-Right, I got this... I think..." He mumbled, quivering under her intense gaze. Turning his attention to the ultimate in front of him, he took a deep breath and quickly swiped the card, with Rika following suit. "Digi-Modify... Hyper Wing activate!"
"Digi-Modify... Airdramon activate!"
Guilmon let out an angry snarl as six white draconic wings erupted from his back. Renamon in turn got into a charging stance as the silhouette of Airdramon appeared behind her followed by the very beings' wings erupting from her back.
"Spinning Needle!" Renamon fired several needles from the wings, getting Jagamon's attention, while Guilmon looked for a good position to fire from. Jagamon turned to Renamon and tried to fire another Smashed Potato at her, which she barely dodged.
Jagamon ran forward while calling his attack. "Fried Potato!"
"Dynamite Head!" Allomon charged at Jagamon, barely able to block the attack and keep him from going much further.
"Keep him in place! Mystic Bell!" Oryxmon shouted as rushed in front of the behemoth and started ringing her bell once more, sending ultrasonic waves to disorient her opponent.
"GRAAAHHH!" The Jagamon hollered in pain as it took a step back, shaking its head in agony as It struggled to focus on which enemy to attack.
Seeing this as a prime opportunity, Angemon quickly charged up his fist with holy energy before crying out "Hand of Fate!", firing off a beam of holy energy at its face from the left.
Jagamon staggered as it took the hit. Sethmon saw his opening and charged at one of its legs, slamming its tusks right into its foot. "Tusk Driver!"
Jagamon winced and fell on its front upon context, barely able to keep itself up. Takato noticed the opportunity. "Now's your chance, Guilmon! Attack that spiral thing!"
"Pyro Sphere!" Guilmon roared as it aimed for Jagamon's tail.
At the very last second however, Jagamon let out another roar of fury as it turned around, its tail shifting out of the line of fire as it tried to swat at Angemon.
"Seriously?! Do you even know how to aim!?" Rika snapped.
"It's not like I have a clear shot, it won't stop moving!" Takato fired back before turning his attention to his partner. "Guilmon, see if you can fly in close! We need to shatter that thing point-blank!"
Not wasting a second, Guilmon spread his shining wings and took off into the air with Renamon following close behind.
"I hope this works." Renamon said. "I don't want my epitaph to say 'Attack of the Killer Potatoes' on it."
"That sounds tasty!" Guilmon said with a smile. "Does it come with peanut butter?"
Renamon's eyes rolled accordingly. "Just focus on destroying the spiral." Renamon flew in closer, with Guilmon following suit.
But just as they got close enough, Jagamon took another deep breath and bloated its body once more, the potatoes all across its body shaking rapidly as he screamed out. "Smashed Potatoes!"
Immediately various potatoes erupted from his body yet again and started raining down towards the two Digimon.
"EVERYONE, COVER THOSE TWO!" T.K. shouted, causing the rest of their partners to quickly aim their respective attacks at the descending onslaught. The collective blasts managed to splatter the potatoes, causing them all to be rather doused in their mashed forms. While some groaned at the feeling, a few Digimon seemed to like it and licked themselves a bit to get it off.
"Just needs some salt and pepper and it'd be PERFECT!" Sethmon roared proudly. "But for now I'll settle with cooking Jagamon with a side of Gravy!"
Unamused, Jagamon snorted as the small cracks in its outer shell started glowing as air was sucked into them. Shifting its focus to the four Digimon in front of it, the behemoth let out a fierce snarl as steam erupted from its body, propelling it forward at a speed normally impossible for something of its size.
"Fried Charge!"
"Oh crap, MOVE!" Allomon shouted as he and Sethmon quickly charged forward, inhaling deeply as they prepared to engage the Jagamon in a war of attrition.
Angemon quickly lifted T.K. and Yolei out of the line of fire while Kari and Davis rushed towards Oryxmon and rode her to safety mere moments before they respective partners launched their attacks.
"Dino Burst"
"Heat Storm"
Both Armor Digimon exhaled intense bursts of superheated wind, the combined might and pressure of both attacks were just barely able to halt the behemoth's charge, but the shockwave of both attacks colliding was enough to send Angemon flying and knock Oryxmon off her feet.
Thankfully however, throughout all the commotion Takato could see both his partner and Rika's landing right atop the distracted beast just as the effect of their cards wore off and their wings vanished, putting them within striking distance of the Dark Spiral.
"It's now or never, let's Make this count!" Rika shouted as she pulled out another one of her cards and swiping it. "Digi-Modify... Garurumon Activate!"
"Got it!" Not wasting a second, Takato quickly swiped his own card through his D-Arc, praying that the combined firepower would be enough. "Digi-Modify... Greymon Activate!"
At once, silhouettes of the familiar wolf and dinosaur appeared over Renamon and Guilmon, allowing for one final attack.
"Howling Blaster!"
"Nova Blast!"
A bright blue flame spewed from Renamon's mouth, and a giant orange fireball from Guilmon's. The two attacks struck the Dark Spiral point blank! A massive explosion of blue and orange flames engulfed the behemoth's tail, completely incinerating the dark spiral in mere seconds. The Jagamon roared in pain as its tail was engulfed as well, flinging it around in a desperate attempt to put the fire out... and unintentionally crashing into the Control Spire in the process. The Dark Tower, unable to bear the force or weight of the massive Digimon, collapsed almost immediately.
Just before things could escalate any further though, the behemoth's entire body was engulfed in a bright glow. Realizing what was about to happen, Guilmon and Renamon quickly leaped off as the Digimon began to shrink in size, not stopping until it was roughly half the size of a human.
'Just like the PetitMamon before…' Renamon mused to herself.
Upon reverting completely, the Digimon now resembled a human child with a potato for a head and potato slices for hair, wearing a yellow shirt with blue overalls and a red scarf.
"Wha...what happened?" The child said. "Last thing I remember, I was tending to my potatoes, and the next, this weird spiral thing snagged onto my overalls."
"This adorable little thing digivolved into that beast?" Kari asked in disbelief as she looked at the small Digimon.
"That's Potamon," Oryxmon responded. "In this state, he can't harm a fly."
Digimon Analyzer:
Name: Potamon
Level: Champion
Attribute: Vaccine
A Digimon that's read data on every kind of fry known to man, and wants to share how wonderful they are with everyone! Whatever you do, DO NOT CRITICIZE ITS FRIES. SERIOUSLY, DO NOT DISS THE FRIES!
After reading through the analyzer, Kari blinked in confusion as she stared down at the innocent looking Digimon, kneeling down she gave it a reassuring smile and patted them on the head. "It's okay little guy, the Emperor tried to take over this area but…" She glanced over at the remains of the Control Spire. "...there's no need to worry about that anymore."
"Still kind of we are that he chose to invade this area out of all places…" Allomon pointed out just as a similar glow engulfed his form, reverting him back to Hawkmon.
"We might have some idea on that…" Oryxmon exclaimed just as she reverted to Gatomon. "A PetitMamon we freed mentioned that the Emperor was looking for some special ruins, though what he wanted them for is anyone's guess."
The same light enveloped Sethmon, reverting him to Veemon. "Probably wants 'em for some ancient take-over-the-world doohickey. If he hasn't found it yet, then we're in the clear, right?"
The same light, as expected, reverted Angemon to Patamon. "Do you happen to know what's in those ruins, by any chance?"
Potamon gave it some thought. "Hm...what was there again..."
"Anything you could tell us would be nice," Takato assured. "We'll make sure the Digimon Emperor doesn't get his hands on whatever's in there."
"I don't remember the exact details, but there was a rumor going around that there was... a big stone, I think?" Potamon mused, trying his best to remember the exact details.
"Seriously? All the nonsense for some random rock?" Rika scoffed, disappointment and irritation evident on her face. "Such a waste of time..."
"Hey, if it's important enough for the Emperor to send his forces way out here then it must be powerful." Davis quickly pointed out.
"That sounds great!" Takato exclaimed. "We could definitely use some of that after all that happened!"
"Yay, fries!" Both Guilmon and Veemon cheered.
"Well, it sounds like everyone's in agreement. How about it, Rika?"
It was only at that moment they realized both Rika & Renamon had made themselves scarce. "I'm guessing that's a no..." Takato sighed in disappointment.
"Her loss, all the more for us!" Veemon cheered as the Potamon got ready to lead them down the mountain.
"You think she's going to be all right?" Yolei whispered to Kari. "She could get lost you know..."
"There's only one digital portal in the area." Kari explained. "If she had to follow us through it, she'll probably be waiting there when we get back."
However, she couldn't help but feel an odd sense of pity for the girl, even more so for her partner. 'Is fighting really all those two care about?'
Unknown to any of them however, the Demidevimon from before was watching them from afar, with a small camera attached to his left talon. "Well that was one heck of a fight, you got all the details boss?"
Back at his hidden base, the Digimon Emperor could only smirk as he watched the group leave. "Indeed I did. I must admit, I wasn't expecting these newcomers to have such... unique methods when it came to fighting." He mused as several other monitors started replaying captured footage from the Digidestind's latest battle.
Wormmon came in with a serving of, fittingly enough, baked potatoes. "That fight got me pretty hungry, so I figured you could use a pick-me-up, Master."
"Luckily for you, I'm in a rather good mood right now." The Emperor picked up a potato and ate it, grinning maliciously as he did so.
"There's one problem, though..." Wormmon said, worried. "They're onto our search for the stone."
"I wouldn't worry about that; they don't know what stone we're after anyway." Ken looks at the footage, and Guilmon in particular. "Still, though...I am a bit worried about that symbol on that one's chest. Guilmon, was it? Have there been any records of such a creature around here?"
Wormmon tilted his head in confusion, going as far as to climb up onto one of the chairs armrests to get a better look. "I don't think so. I haven't seen any Digimon like this before... maybe it's a new breed?"
"Hmm... if only I could get my hands on one of those new Digivices..." The Emperor pondered himself as one of the monitors changed to show a close-up of Rika's D-Arc. "And now they're using cards to fight..." After a few more seconds of thinking, the emperor quickly started typing in some commands. "My forces in this area and may be spread a little thin, but these potential resources shouldn't be overlooked..."
"But aren't we already using a lot of resources to make... well that...?" Wormmon asked, shuddering a little as he recalled the last time he'd caught a glimpse of his Master's secret project.
"Now Wormmon, you know we can't have too many resources..." The Emperor chuckled. "I wonder… if these new kids have upgraded Digivices could I possibly upgrade my D-3…? Maybe the same way I got the Digivice in the first place…"
Wormmon went wide-eyed. "Y-You don't mean… going back to THAT place, do you?!"
Right before he could respond however, one of the monitors expanded and changed to an aerial view of the Server Continent, revealing a bright red square over a canyon a few miles from where the Digidestined had just fought. "We'll put a pin in that option for now..." The Emperor stated as he zoomed in on the highlighted location, with a picture of a large cave showing up onscreen…
To Be Continued…
Will Rika's access to the Digital World become a hindrance to our heroes? What does the mysterious leader of Hypnos have against Digimon? Why have these strange Digimon taken an interest in our heroes? What could the Digimon Emperor possibly be searching for? And can the Digidestined and Tamers hope to stand against him?
Find out more next time, on Digimon United!
Sneak Peek:
"I did some digging and according to Andromon, the ruins the Emperor is looking for may date back to the very creation of the Digital World." Izzy explained as an aerial view of the Server Continent popped up on the screen. "Whatever he's searching for, it must be powerful…"
…
"This dream… it's almost like the one I saw with Rika and that FlareLizardmon… but where am I this time?" Takato asked as his transparent body floated above a part of the city he didn't recognize… only for a sudden explosion from one of the rooftops caught his attention… along with a Digimon he'd never seen before…
…
"Heh, you chumps still listening to those overglorified cheerleaders!? Gimme a break!" The new arrival cackled while juggling a blue and red orbs of fire. "Take it from a 'mon who's been there; relying on them only holds ya back!"
Next Time on Digimon United: Chapter 5: Trial by Fire (Part 1)
