Okay, time to rejoin our friends in their quest to save the Digital World. Shall we?

Disclaimer: Do I own Digimon? Eh he he he... WROOOOOOOOOONG!

LAST TIME:
ISAMU: With Groundramon knocked out, we really had nothing to do. So I decided to take a look around. As Wormmon an I walked, we found the Digi-Egg of Friendship. I didn't really want it, since I was the one who ordered Stingmon to take out Groundramon. Suddenly, an Infermon came along, looking for a midnight snack. We tried to battle him, but it was only until I realized what friendship means that I picked up the Egg and Armor Digivolved Wormmon to Togemogumon. We beat Infermon and came back to a revived Dracomon and a sighting of Taomon's card.

Chapter 13
Acceptance

Once again, the Digi-Destined found themselves walking along a trail with a steep drop on one side. After they woke up, they started to walk up the mountain trail, hoping to get closer to the card they saw last night. Isamu wore his tag around his neck, waiting for it to shine.

As they walked, Dracomon noticed that Daichi was more silent than usual, like he was in deep thought. "Hey, DigiWorld to Daichi," he said, "you in there?"

Daichi turned toward Dracomon. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Dracomon did not look convinced. "Is this about what happened yesterday? I told you, nobody's to blame."

"Actually," Daichi said, "I think it may have been my fault."

"And I thought I had a hard time last night," Isamu said, indicating he could hear them. "At least I had a legitimate reason."

"Yeah?" Daichi said. "Well, let me put this in a way you can understand. Remember SkullGreymon?"

"You're talking to the guy who has every season on DVD," Isamu said.

"Why, what's wrong?" Wormmon asked.

"In the first season," Isamu explained, "the main character Tai tried to force his partner to Digivolve after he got his crest. But his emotions corrupted the process, and Greymon became SkullGreymon and nearly destroyed everyone."

"Sound like anything that recently happened?" Daichi asked.

"Aside from that part about corruption," Isamu said, "but I bet you have something for that as well."

"I remember feeling angry at Cerberumon," Daichi said. "He challenged our reason for being here and all I wanted to do was shut him up for good."

"I think we all did," Dracomon pointed out.

"But you weren't the one with the card," Daichi reminded him.

Isamu sighed. "I won't deny that what happened yesterday was not our best day. But you can't blame yourself. Not even I know everything about Digivolution."

The group remained silent for the rest of the walk. As they neared the light that the card created, Isamu kept his eyes on his tag. They all stepped under the light and looked around. The tag didn't glow, and no sign of anything resembling a crest was seen.

"Hey, let's not give up yet," Daichi said. "Remember, my crest wasn't exactly at 'X marks the spot.' Spread out."

"Uh, Daichi," Isamu said, "We're not exactly in the forest anymore. There aren't really any places to spread out to." Daichi grunted in realization.

"Although," a dark voice said, "if you want to be spread out, I can help you with that." A portal opened and Cerberumon jumped out in front of the Digi-Destined's path.

"You again?" Isamu said. "I don't suppose you sent that Infermon at us last night?" (Daichi looked at him incredulously. "Infermon?" he asked. "Long story," Wormmon replied.)

"Although I know what you're talking about," Cerberumon said, "that Infermon acted on his own free will and was never associated with me to begin with. No, my new partners are…"

"Are?" everyone else repeated anxiously. Cerberumon howled and created another portal. Two serpentine Digimon with wings flew out of the portal with graceful, but obviously deadly, aerial maneuvers. One was orange and decidedly evil-looking, while the other was gray and more mechanical. Aside from that, both Digimon looked exactly the same from the size of the wings, to the faceplates, to the cannons on both sets of arms.

"I figured if two are better than one," Cerberumon said, "then three would be much better."

Daichi pulled out his D-Power. "Okay, the orange one is Megadramon, an ultimate level virus type dark dragon Digimon. He simply lives to destroy and can break through almost any defense. The gray one is Gigadramon. Same as Megadramon except he's an android Digimon. He was created for air battles."

"Now, my teammates," Cerberumon said, "attack!" The two dragons swooped in with their arms ready.

Digi-Armor, energize! Wormmon Armor Digivolve to… Togemogumon, the Crystal of Friendship!

Digi-Modify! Digivolution, activate! Dracomon Digivolve to… Coredramon Blue!

Coredramon took off and started to do battle with the two Dramons. "Blue Core Blast!" The attack flew to his targets, but they both dodged swiftly. "Dark Side Attack!" Megadramon yelled. He held up his arms and fired two missiles at Coredramon. He flew up to avoid the shot but inadvertently flew to meet Gigadramon. "Genocide Gear!" The mechanical dragon turned to his side and started to spin, striking his metallic wings on Coredramon's body.

Meanwhile, on the mountain trail, Togemogumon and Cerberumon were squaring off. "I had heard of this new form you recently acquired. But pitting ice against me is a poor choice."

"I didn't pick it for its elemental advantages," Isamu said with a smile. "Maddog Fire!" Cerberumon started breathing flames. "Crystal Shield!" The ice crystals on Togemogumon's back flew up and made a wall that, surprisingly, held against the fire. "I picked it for its defense," Isamu finished. "Hail Barrage!" When the flames stopped, the shield broke apart and the shards threw themselves at Cerberumon.

Up above, Coredramon tried using a Strike Bomber against Gigadramon. "Ultimate Slicer!" Suddenly, as if from nowhere, an attack that felt like many blades hit Coredramon. Daichi looked to find Megadramon with its arms in attack position.

"Man, I can't get in any attack with these guys," Coredramon said to himself.

"Of course not," Megadramon said. "We are Lord Cerberumon's prized battlers."

"We complement each other," Gigadramon continued. "What one can't do, the other can."

"When one is in trouble…"

"…or when one needs backup…"

"The other will be there to help!" they both said in unison.

Daichi watched as Coredramon tried to battle with the twin-like Digimon. He looked through his cards but saw nothing that could beat such a combination.

"Dark Side Attack!" "Guilty Claw!" They both hit Coredramon. Daichi realized that, since he was a champion level Digimon, Coredramon would not last longer.

"Coredramon!" he yelled. "You're going to have to Digivolve!"

Isamu turned around at Daichi's words. "Did I just hear you right?" he asked. "You want Coredramon to Digivolve after what happened?"

"It's the only way I can save him," Daichi said.

"A noble gesture," Cerberumon said, as he tried to break through Togemogumon's shield. "But you do realize that you won't be able to battle in this field. The very name of Groundramon reveals the only terrain on which he can battle."

"Even if he could fight," Isamu continued, "you wouldn't be able to control him."

"As long as it'll save Coredramon, I'll take that risk," Daichi said.

"Same goes for me," Coredramon said weakly. Daichi's crest began to glow.

"Then let's do it!" He put his hand on his crest and revealed the new card as he did last time. "Digi-Modify! Crest Digivolution, activate!"

Coredramon straightened up and glowed bright blue. "Coredramon Crest Digivolve to…" Daichi expected to see the same changes being made as last time. However, the main body did not try to hunch over on all fours. The wings became larger and almost looked like they grew feathers, but still reptilian. The tail grew longer and his back became equipped with a large blade pointing forward. When he stopped changing, he was still blue. "Wingdramon!" he said in a surprisingly chivalrous and clearer voice than before.

Daichi stood there amazed. "Uh, not that I'm complaining or anything," he said, "but what happened to Groundramon?"

"I'm not sure," Wingdramon admitted, "but at least we won't have to worry about air combat." He turned toward his opponents. "So, which of you wants to be first?"

"Dark Side Attack!" Megadramon fired the missiles from its arms and they flew toward Wingdramon. But before they could touch him, Wingdramon seemingly disappeared. As the two looked for him, he reappeared behind them.

"Yikes! That was fast!" Daichi commented. Even Togemogumon and Cerberumon stopped their battle to watch the dragon dogfight.

"Very well," Wingdramon said to Megadramon.

Daichi pulled out a card. "Digi-Modify! Power Charger, activate!" The blade on Wingdramon's back lit up. "Sonic Lance!" He flew toward Megadramon at high speed and impaled him. The dragon convulsed for a bit and disappeared into specks of data.

"Hey Digimon, hey Digimon," Isamu said in wonder.

Wingdramon turned to the mountainside. "Save it for when you hear this, Isamu; I think I may have found something. There is a design on the wall above the card that may be your crest."

"Too bad you won't have a Digimon to use it with," Cerberumon said. "Styx Killer!" "Crystal Shield!" Cerberumon attacked Togemogumon but the hedgehog-like Digimon had already summoned his shield. Cerberumon kept slashing at the ice barrier, but he was suddenly forced back by a flap of Wingdramon's wings.

"Go! I'll hold them off," he said. Isamu took this opportunity to De-Digivolve his partner to Wormmon and then Digivolve him into Stingmon. Stingmon grabbed Isamu and the two flew up to find the pattern Wingdramon told them about. It didn't take long to find, and Isamu's glowing tag confirmed that it was a crest. The crest looked like the top and sides of a trapezoid with the bottom missing. On the bottom of each of the sides, there was a crescent shape, with the concave sides of each one touching the end its respective line. The whole design made it look like a set of scales.

Isamu held his tag up to the crest. The design glowed dark green as did the tag. The area around the crest also glowed and it seemed like the wall the crest was on began to shrink. It finally became a small, dark green plate with the crest on one side. The plate floated over to him, flipped around, and slid itself into the slot of the tag. The tag glowed one final time and the light stopped altogether.

"Now, let's get down there," Isamu told Stingmon.

"Agreed," Stingmon said.

The two floated down to the battlefield and landed near Daichi. "Score two for crest finding!" he announced.

"Gigadramon," Cerberumon shouted, "help me finish off this flying fool." Gigadramon charged in with his Genocide Gear attack. Wingdramon dodged it with no trouble. "Wing Blast!" He flapped his wings hard and fast and created a shockwave that knocked Gigadramon out of the air and on top of Cerberumon.

"Get off me, you fool!" he ordered. Cerberumon pushed up and knocked Gigadramon off him.

"Forgive me, my lord," Gigadramon said. "Without my other, they have exploited my weakness."

Cerberumon growled. "Don't talk to me about weakness. I'll not have such a thing on my team. Maddog Fire!" He unleashed his fire attack on Gigadramon. The dragon screamed in pain and dissolved. The flames kept coming until he was gone completely.

Cerberumon turned to the humans. "So, which of you will be next?"

Yikes! He just destroyed his own teammate! Will the Digi-Destined be able to fight something like that? To find out, keep reading Digimon: Digital Monsters!

Well, since Isamu's got his crest now, I'll update my unofficial contest for figuring out what his and Daichi's crests are. With this chapter and next, maybe it'll be much easier for you guys. But you better get your answers in soon, because the crests will be named during the chapter after the next one. Remember, Marvel-approved No-Prize for the first ones to get them right.

This is CF, signing out.