Chapter 12: Inferno
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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, just the few OCs scattered throughout this fic.
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Ed didn't know what to think when he came across the large, robed, demonic-looking digimon at the bridge, but here he was, enjoying his hospitality. The chubby teen knew there had to be something up, though. Such a digimon couldn't possibly be good. There was a reason why he was classified as an evil digimon on his card, though for some reason Bandai screwed up the name, calling him Creepymon instead of Daemon, which according to Ed was totally lame.
The robed digimon had organized a grand feast for the Digimon Tamer and a large number of his counsel. For some reason, the chubby black-haired boy expected the Mega digimon to be a sort of dictator and not have a counsel. Then again, Stalin probably had one while he was ruling the Soviet Union. There had to be a way he kept everything straight without micromanaging.
"So, where do you hail from, Ed," the robed digimon inquired of the black-haired boy, seemingly in good cheer. There was no doubt about it, Ed didn't trust him. Still, he would try to respect him, lest he get on his bad side.
"Well, I'm from a country in the real world called the United States. That was where I was born at least," Ed responded in between bites of fruit.
"United States… That's not what I call a very colorful name, but to each his own."
"How many humans inhabit that country," Anubimon asked. It had been a few hours since his meeting with Keith Jackson and he felt a little guilty about not letting the blond man take the boy home.
"Uh, about 300 million, I guess," Ed replied.
"It sounds quite large," MachGaogamon said, ripping off a piece of a T-bone steak with his teeth. "Are there many Tamers where you're from?"
"To be honest, I don't know," the chubby boy responded after finishing off a piece of fruit that for some reason tasted like cooked meat. "I mean, I would assume that there are a number of other Tamers in the States but I haven't met any of them. I haven't lived there for about six months, though, so there might be more now."
"Hmm… Interesting. Are there many countries?" Daemon asked, somehow eating a piece of fruit.
"I don't know how many, but there are a lot. I guess over a hundred," Ed replied, not having really thought about it that much. "There are seven continents and on most of those, there are quite a few countries each. The main exceptions are Australia and Antarctica, which either contain only one country or don't have anybody living there permanently."
The digimon at the table were all astonished. "Your world is far vaster than I imagined," Daemon commented, wiping his face with a napkin.
Ed chuckled nervously. For all he knew, this digimon was going to use this information against his world. He didn't want that.
###
As soon as the champions had digivolved, they moved forward to attack. "According to my Scouter Monoeye, the main weak spot on this digimon is the cable that forms the neck," Sealsdramon told the rest of the group before pulling out a pair of knives.
"Okay, everybody, attack there!" Tadashi told the group before looking at his digivice for information. However, he was beaten to the punch by Ayaka in giving the other the information on the Tamer in front of them.
"His name is Gunter Kaufmann, or at least that how I guess his name is pronounced. I'm not sure how to pronounce the U with two dots above it." The girl looked over at Tadashi, who realized something.
"The guy's German. Yeah, it's pronounced like the I in machine but with your lips really round. I have an uncle in Germany named Günter." He scratched his chin.
"Wow, and I thought English vowels were bad," the girl commented wryly.
"The rest of your pronunciation's pretty good, though," Tadashi complimented her.
The digimon moved forward, ready to strike and they did.
"La Pucelle!" D'Arcmon yelled, striking with her sword.
"Fira Bomb!" (check attack name) Firamon yelled, shooting an energy blast with the crystal on his head at the neck of the large, insectoid digimon.
"Death Behind!" Sealsdramon shouted, tossing one of his knives at Infermon's neck.
"Dark Vapor!" Ranamon yelled, shooting a cloud of noxious black fluid at the enemy digimon.
When all the dust settled from the group of attacks, the group was disturbed to see that there wasn't a single scratch on Infermon.
Gunter grinned at the sight of these Tamers failing. He knew that he had them right where he wanted. He didn't want this battle to end so quickly, though, so he decided to play around with them, getting rid of them one at a time. The truth was that when the Digimon Queen had her partner brainwash him, she pulled out the worst desires from inside of him and sealed away his best traits such as self-control and kindness so that he was the twisted husk of the man he once was.
"Let's see, who should be defeated first?" he asked himself, grinning maliciously. He pulled out a small, six-sided die and thought about it, mumbling to himself. "One or two, blondie, three or four, the dark-haired girl, five or six, Fabio."
"Why the heck does everybody have to call be Fabio?" Yuji asked in contempt. "Do I look like the kind of guy who would be on covers of crappy romance novels with hot chicks?" Then he thought positively about it. "Wait, does that mean I'm hot too?"
"I wouldn't go that far," Miki responded, narrowing her eyes at the nutjob in front of them.
The brown-haired German tossed his dice. This was just like one of those old table-top RPGs that he plays every so often, though instead of deciding his attack power, it was deciding who he would attack. And it landed on the number four.
"Infermon! Attack the blonde girl's partner!" he yelled out, watching as his partner turned his head.
"Network Grenade!" It yelled, charging at D'Arcmon while in his cocoon form, who promptly dodged, only to have to evade a second attack.
Ayaka had already pulled out her deck to defeat this enemy digimon. "Digi-modify, Speed Activate!" she yelled, slashing the card and watched as D'Arcmon flew before she was right behind her enemy. At the same time, Sealsdramon, Ranamon and Firamon were preparing attacks. Their Tamers had each slid cards to increase their attack power against this enemy and so the digimon were a bit better prepared this time, each striking with their attacks.
"La Pucelle!" D'Arcmon yelled just as she stabbed Infermon in the neck with her sword.
"Death Behind!" Sealsdramon yelled, shooting a knife at the enemy.
"Flame Dive!" Firamon shouted, dive-bombing the enemy like a meteor.
"Dark Vapor!" Ranamon called, unleashing large amounts of black acid.
The attacks actually seemed to do a little damage this time, but nowhere near enough. Infermon realized that D'Arcmon was on his back, attempting to destroy his neck, so he flew her off and unleashed a Spider Shooter attack.
D'Arcmon thought about her partner as she saw the red orb of power head straight for her and how she had failed both her and Tadashi. She knew she was the first line of defense against the boy's enslavement, no, their enslavement to the Digimon Queen, but she still felt as if she had failed everyone there.
Then the attack struck and she was knocked out cold.
###
It felt good taking a bath for the first time in days. Okay, he would actually take showers more often than not, but still, it was nice to actually relax a little bit.
He sunk himself into the pool, enjoying the warm water of the public bath area as he did so. Apparently Daemon's group had gotten info on how humans bathe from a Jijimon and Babamon who had met a group of Japanese kids and felt that humans were fine with bathing together as long as they were separated by gender. That didn't apply to Ed, since he wasn't anywhere near comfortable with that concept having been raised in a culture where people almost always bathed alone, but since there was nobody there, he could enjoy himself.
Or at least there was almost nobody. Prokyomon was swimming on the opposite side of the bath from him and splashing. "What are you doing?" Ed asked, grinning at the digimon.
"Oh, nothing, just having fun. I haven't been in water before so this is different. I don't know about how it feels on my skin, though, but at least it's refreshing."
Ed then did something. He created the biggest splash he could and caused the digimon to hit his back against the other end of the pool before jumping out and shaking the water off of him. "What was that for?"
"Oh, nothing. I just thought I'd mess with you," Ed remarked, grinning slightly.
"Yeah?" The digimon asked before jumping up in the air. "Cannonball!"
The resulting splash caused a large amount of water to end up on the ground around the two partners and for Ed's face to be covered in water.
"Please behave yourselves in there!" Ed heard from the other side of the door to the bath. "I don't want to clean up any messes, young men!"
"Okay, don't worry about it! Everything's alright!" the chubby boy called out to the pool cleaner.
Prokyomon floated to next to Ed. "You started it," he teased.
"Hey, you were the one splashing around earlier," Ed objected, pulling his partner next to him and giving the digimon a noogie. He hadn't had this much fun in a long time.
###
When D'Arcmon fell down from the sky and devolved, she was in a spot that her Tamer couldn't reach, causing Ayaka to worry.
Taizou watched the battle as well, wishing he could do something to help. The buzz-haired boy grimaced at the sight of the various digimon fighting against Infermon. There was no way that they were going to win with only three Champions against one very powerful Ultimate.
He also wondered about something else: Gunter Kaufmann was speaking native-level Japanese, something that was nigh-impossible for foreigners to achieve since the language was so different from European languages such as English and German in areas such as vocabulary, grammatical structure and syntax. He half-expected the German teen to make a mistake every other word but it wasn't happening.
Then he remembered how his meeting with the Digimon Queen was entirely in Japanese despite how she was from France or something. And she, for some reason, retained the semblance of a foreign accent. Then again, it could have just indicated how vain the girl was. Maybe the girl's partner somehow extracted the information on the Japanese language from Taizou's mind when he infiltrated it.
Taizou simply gritted his teeth at that one.
Then there was the question of what he was doing here. He had to do something to help in the battle. D'Arcmon was out while Sealsdramon and Ranamon were getting clobbered by the enemy. However, there was something else going on. He noticed that Infermon was practically ignoring Firamon. Of course, the Queen is after Tadashi, so maybe she'll go after him last, the brown-haired boy thought. Immediately, he started forming a strategy in his head.
"Tadashi!" he called out for his blond friend.
"Yeah, what is it?" he asked, distracted by the battle.
"Have Firamon hold back. Yuji and Miki, try increasing your partners' attack power as much as possible."
Tadashi looked at his friend with an expression of disapproval. "What? Why should I have my partner hold back?"
"Simple, because your partner's the only one that hasn't been attacked by this guy and because of that, he has the highest stamina. If you hold him back and have the others wear Infermon down until they're taken out, you'll have a higher chance of winning against this guy." Taizou hoped that his explanation made sense. However, Tadashi didn't seem to get it.
"No, there's no way I'm going to do that," the blond replied.
Taizou was aghast. "Come on, man, I'm trying to help you out!"
"Yeah, and why should I listen to your advice. You're not in the battle." Tadashi wasn't going to budge. His partner was going to fight.
"Come on, man, think about it. You have to be practical. He's not going to attack you." The brown-haired boy felt as if he was getting nowhere.
Tadashi thought about it, however. He didn't agree with Taizou, but the brown-haired boy's observations were true. The digimon they were up against wasn't attacking his partner.
So, he pulled out his digivice and spoke into it at his partner using one of the upgrades that was recently installed. "Firamon, get close and attack any weak points. He won't attack you!"
Taizou was glad that he was able to get the blond to change tactics somewhat, even if he didn't exactly listen to his advice. He just hoped that this battle was won and not lost. He knew the consequences and didn't like them.
Tadashi felt he had to move forward. He didn't want to lose this battle. No, he couldn't lose it, wouldn't lose it. He was going to win and that was final.
He refused to lose hope.
###
Gunter was observing the battle from behind Infermon. He realized that the digimon would eventually run out of stamina if he wasn't careful. Still, he would enjoy himself. He was having too much fun toying with these guys in front of him. For once he was even smiling.
The three opponents he was going up again decided to unleash another joint attack. Ranamon rode Firamon while Sealsdramon flew using the Hyper Wing card. The three digimon attempted to strike at the inside of Infermon's mouth. However, the trio of attacks was merely absorbed by the ball of energy that the digimon had been forming inside of his mouth.
"Infermon, attack Sealsdramon!" the burly German yelled out and, lo and behold, the giant bug launched his attack at the assassin, causing him to be thrown back towards the other team.
"Sealsdramon!" Yuji called out, frightened by his partner. At least the assassin was somewhere safer than where the knocked out Salamon was. Still, as soon as Yuji ran up to him, the digimon devolved.
"He's way too strong," Commandramon remarked, struggling to get up. "The only way we could possibly defeat this guy is if one of us reached Ultimate."
Yuji realized that wasn't all that probable. For some reason Blue Cards weren't working and the Digignomes weren't giving them out for that reason. The only other method was by use of crest programs, but he didn't even know what any of their crests were.
His hope was gone.
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Ed got out of the bath after drying off and putting on a robe that the digimon had provided. He walked toward his room where he found a Wisemon waiting. The digimon was looking out his bedroom window when the black-haired boy entered, but he turned around as soon as he shut the door.
"Eduardo, there is something we must tell you," the robed digimon said.
"What is it?" Ed asked, wary.
"A few minutes ago, a number of Daemon's spies spotted the Digimon Queen's armies. They are merely a few hours away. We have no idea how they've moved so fast but we have to get you out of here."
The American was astounded. "Wait, you mean… But I just got here!"
"We know. We're sorry that this has to happen. We found a series of passages that go underneath the digital world and we're going to take you to the Sovereigns' level where it's safest."
Ed didn't know how to take that. He didn't like the idea of going even deeper into the digital world since that meant that it would be even harder for his father to get to him. Then again, his father would want him to be safe even if his chances of getting home were far less.
The black-haired boy made his decision. "Okay, I'll go if that means that I'll be safe," he said with conviction.
Wisemon nodded. "Okay, now get ready. I'll wait here."
Ed was startled by that. "Couldn't you wait outside the door?" he asked, not wanting the digimon in his room while he was getting dressed.
"Okay, I'll do that. I forgot that humans need privacy. Digimon have no such desire." The robed digimon walked out of the room and shut the door behind him.
"So, we have to leave, again?" Prokyomon asked as Ed took off his robe, facing away from his partner.
"Sounds like it. Then again, we wouldn't want that girl attacking us in the middle of the night, would we?" Ed asked while putting on his boxers before reaching for his shirt.
Prokyomon was seriously down. "Oh, man, I was hoping to stay here a little longer."
"You and me both," the black-haired boy responded, putting on his pants and reaching for his shoes. "I wanted to stay here until my dad got here from the real world."
Ed sat on his desk, getting ready to put on his shoes and socks. He glanced over at his computer case and wished he at least had enough time to do something like draw a picture on the notebook he has in it or something.
Oh well, he thought, putting on his shoes. Not very many things last forever, do they?
He got up and headed out the door. "Okay, where to?" the black-haired boy asked.
"We're going to be going with Daemon to the departure point and then you're going to take a flying digimon to the sovereign level," Wisemon explained. "There's also a team of Tamers that hasn't been brainwashed that's currently fighting Infermon. We're hoping that they win and if they do, we'll send them after you."
Ed was surprised at that one. "There's a group of Tamers in the digital world that's fighting Infermon? How come I haven't detected them yet?" he asked. He pulled out his digivice and checked their location, not seeing them. He did, however, find six digimon signatures.
There were two Champions and three Rookies along with the one Ultimate. The odds didn't look good, especially if Infermon managed to take on an entire forest worth of digimon. Then again, he heard that Infermon simply ran away from them as quickly as he could.
Still, he worried that this other team of Tamers wouldn't survive. Maybe one of them would reach Ultimate. Gunter did it somehow, even though the chubby boy had no idea how.
He clenched his fist, hoping that they would win.
###
It was down to the two of them. Ranamon realized that she wouldn't be attacked as long as she was on Firamon's back. "Okay, honey, we're going to have to take this guy on, just the two of us."
"Yeah, I realize that," Firamon spoke. "Unleash an attack of ink against this guy. My fire attacks should make that a pretty lethal combination. Make it big!"
"Gladly. Dark Vapor!" she yelled, unleashing as much ink against the enemy digimon as possible so that Infermon's head was practically covered in the stuff. Then Firamon's jewel started to glow bright orange.
"Fira Bomb!" he yelled, unleashing a large fireball at the enemy, causing Infermon to burst into flames.
Gunter had already guessed what his enemies were planning, so he had a modify card lined up. "Digi-Modify! Shellmon's Hydro Cannon activate!" he yelled, sliding the card through his purple digivice with a red ring. The large virus shot the attack against the ground, causing the water to bounce back upwards, getting rid of the majority of the flames and ink.
The German was getting bored and irritated. It was getting obvious that hitting Ranamon and leaving Firamon for last was just going to take too long.
"Infermon Attack!" he yelled out and the virus aimed and fired.
"Spider Shooter!" Infermon yelled out. The attack came suddenly and shockingly, engulfing both Ranamon and Firamon. The two digimon fell on the ground in front of Tadashi and Miki.
Gunter smiled widely. This was easier than he thought it would be. He had Tadashi almost ready for his mistress. And so he walked toward the group as Tadashi fell down in front of his partner, grinning as he neared the blond.
Tadashi couldn't believe it. They had lost. There was no way that he would be able to find Takato's team. He wanted so badly to believe that he had as much potential as the boy that helped defeat the Devas and the D-Reaper.
"No, don't give up," Firamon told his partner, trying to move. Orange feathers from his wings fluttered through the air around the blond boy. "Remember what we need to do?"
Tadashi nodded. He wanted to find Eduardo and then find Takato and the others. He remembered that even as Gunter neared him. The tall German lifted the blond by his yellow shirt. Tadashi had a look of defiance on his face, even as Gunter grinned.
There was no way he was giving up while there was a possibility. He had hope that he would see his friends again and he would hold onto that hope even if he died right here or lost his mind to the girl.
Yuji was the one to strike Gunter across the face, causing the German to let go of Tadashi and face the long-haired boy. "What was that?" he asked, his expression angry.
"Guess what, loser! Even if you defeated our partners, there's no way you've defeated us. There's no way that witch is going to take us!" Yuji yelled at the German.
"You lost, you idiots," Gunter said calmly while glaring holes into Yuji and cracking his knuckles.
Tadashi didn't believe it. His partner was the only one that was still at the Champion level and even he was flickering. He couldn't hold his form for much long.
Still, there was no way that the blond was going to let this guy take him and his friends to serve some girl who was obviously evil. Besides, he still had things he needed to do. Saving the other Tamers and meeting the black-haired boy from that vision. There was no way he was going to lose.
"Not a chance!" he yelled out at the top of his lungs. He wasn't the smartest tool in the shed but he realized that he was going to win here. There was no way he wouldn't since if he didn't, those visions wouldn't happen.
His digivice had a green glow. Tadashi picked it up and looked at it. The crest of Hope was emblazoned across the screen.
Then it exploded in green light and so did his partner.
SUPER DIGIVOLUTION_
"Firamon digivolve to…!" the digimon yelled, changing into a bipedal version of himself that was ready to strike at the enemy in front of him. He had broad shoulders covered in metal and a long mane that went wildly down his back. The new, upright form caused his claws to glow with bright flames. "… Flaremon!"
Tadashi looked at the digimon before him. He couldn't believe it: his partner had reached the Ultimate level.
"Way to go, man!" Yuji cheered.
Taizou smiled at the sight as well, despite not having been able to participate in the battle himself. "Good job," he said even as Solarmon started to stir.
"Awesome!" Miki shouted.
"Yeah, this is great, Tadashi!" Ayaka cheered, hugging the blond boy who was taken aback.
Gunter, though, was startled by the sight. He realized two things: Firamon's health and stamina were back up to 100% while Infermon was still damaged by the numerous attacks the Champions had inflicted on him. There was only one way this battle was going to go and he knew what would happen if he lost.
His eyes turned into saucers. He started to stumble, a trait of his normal self that shouldn't have still been there. He knew he was going to lose.
He was feeling an emotion that should have been expunged from his psyche as soon as he was brainwashed by the Digimon Queen's partner: fear.
###
Ed walked with Daemon toward the exit point which was located inside the vast ruins beneath Oppidum Septentrionale. There were numerous other digimon with them. Apparently since the Queen's army was on its way, the cloaked digimon had sent out an evacuation order and the only ones remaining in the city were numerous volunteers that were going to use the city to defeat as many of the Queen's forces as they possibly could.
"So, are you staying?" the black-haired boy asked Daemon as he neared the vast gate that led below the level of the digital world they were in.
"Of course, there has to be someone to lead these forces," the cloaked digimon responded, sad that his work since the D-Reaper war had come to naught. "I have a form that I was thinking of using for the upcoming battle. I know that I can't use it for long, but I figured it would be a good idea."
Ed knew something was up. "You're not going to survive this are you?"
"Most likely I won't. It's a shame. Someday I would like to go to your world." The digimon's voice was filled with regret.
"So, how come you don't want to take over the world or something?" the black-haired boy asked after a couple seconds, curious about the large digimon.
"I realize that world domination is pointless. When I was still a Rookie before the D-Reaper invasion began and I was forced to warp digivolve to this form, I met a digimon that was far worse than I was. That made me desire to change my ways, especially since he didn't want to recruit me for his own ambitions. Eventually I helped lead the forces that went against him during the D-Reaper invasion."
Ed was surprised by that one. "You mean there were digimon that sided with the D-Reaper?" he asked.
"No, it was more like a three-way battle. At the same time we fought the D-Reaper, we had to deal with this digimon as well and this digimon fought both us and the D-Reaper. The whole invasion was a very humbling experience."
The black-haired boy looked down. "I'm sorry I doubted you."
The cloaked digimon took it in stride. "No need to apologize. I understand. Meeting a Daemon should strike you with fear since we're so powerful and generally evil. And as it is, it's harder to turn good than evil."
Ed nodded. "Alright, if you ever go to my world and you're in Chile, look for me or my dad. His name is Antonio Urrutía and he's too big to miss. If you're in America, look for my cousins that live there. They live in Oxnard, California. Tell them I sent you."
Daemon smiled under the cloak. Then again, he always smiled under his cloak but this time he really meant it.
They had reached the gate. "Here we are," the city leader commented, indicating a large Blimpmon that was ready to take the Tamer and his partner down to the Sovereign's level.
"Well, good bye. Stay alive, man," Ed told the large, robed digimon.
"I'll do my best. Have a long, fulfilling life, Ed. And Prokyomon, keep an eye on this boy."
"You bet I will!" the raccoon exclaimed from his partner's shoulder.
Ed immediately boarded the blimp which was packed full of digimon ranging from a viral Ogremon to a vaccine-type Piddomon. The black-haired boy felt really out of place and immediately held onto a nearby pole as the bay door shut and the Blimpmon lifted off.
###
Flaremon stared down Infermon, holding his burning fists and readying himself for the oncoming battle. Immediately, the lion-like Ultimate spread his wings and moved forward, dodging a Network Grenade from the enemy digimon. The attack that flew by him seemed weaker than before. That meant that the digimon in front of him was losing stamina.
That was his chance.
"Crimson Beast King Wave!" he yelled, striking Infermon against the head with a lion-shaped beam of energy. The virus struck his opponent with one of his appendages, throwing Flaremon back. However, the lion was able to stop himself in mid-air.
Flaremon flew up into the air and engulfed himself in flames. "Red Lion Dance!" he yelled, heading straight for the digimon to kick and punch him in multiple spots, knocking the enemy digimon backwards hundreds of feet and leaving a massive trail of destruction ranging from the ground to the trees.
"Spider Shooter!" Infermon yelled out, shooting out an orb of pink energy at Flaremon. The flying lion moved forward, dodging the attack and dive-bombing Infermon with his fist.
"Crimson Beast King Wave!" This time, the attack caused a number of cracks to form all over the Virus' armor.
"Almost there," Tadashi said quietly while at the same time feeling wary of the large German that was standing next to him, watching the battle in shock. The other Tamers realized they needed to do something about the enemy Tamer in front of them.
So Taizou and Yuji jumped on him, attempting to restrain Gunter. Ayaka joined in along with Miki, who, while not wanting to break any nails, decided to help. The fellow teen was strong and apparently the Digimon Queen's brainwashing removed the majority of mental limitations on the teen's strength, causing him to throw all four of his fellow Tamers back. Gunter had an angry look on his face.
"You think this is funny! You think you can really win! Well, guess what, maggots, she's coming and she'll take you just like she took me!" he yelled.
Then the teen received a tackle courtesy of Tadashi. "Don't yell at my friends, dirtbag," he told him angrily.
Meanwhile, Infermon's cracks increased in size until the flesh beneath was exposed.
"Crimson Beast King Wave!" Firamon yelled, unleashing a pair of powerful punches against his opponent, burning the Ultimate from inside out. The digimon screamed in agony before devolving back to his Rookie form of Keramon.
At the same time, Gunter screamed out in agony, holding onto the sides of his head as his mind was destroyed.
Then he fell limp to the ground.
The other stared at the sight for a few brief seconds, not sure what had happened, before Yuji spoke up.
"Dude, is he… dead?" he asked in a worried tone.
Ayaka hurried over to the German, feeling the teen's heartbeat before talking to the group. "He's alive," she said.
The team surrounded their enemy, unsure of what to do. Then Tadashi made a decision. "We'll take him with us," he said. He didn't want this guy to be captured by the Queen again. As it was, the teen was comatose.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Taizou asked the blond. "We don't know this guy and for all we know, the Digimon Queen is going to use him to spy on us."
Tadashi thought about it for a second, scratching his chin as he did so. "No, that wouldn't make sense. To spy on us through him, she would have to have access to his brain and for that to happen, she would need one of those telepathic digimon nearby."
"You know, Tadashi, you've got a point," Ayaka told him.
"No, we're not taking him," Miki said, matter-of-fact, getting the astonished looks of the rest of the team.
"What? Why?" Tadashi asked.
"Um, look at him. He's ugly. If we want another team member, he has to be a hot bishonen like on the cover of some of my favorite manga." The rest of the team seethed at that reasoning, glaring at her.
"We're taking him and that's final," Tadashi said, reaching down and lifting Gunter's limp body up from off the ground by the shoulder. "Can somebody help me?"
Taizou immediately went over. "Man, this guy's heavy."
Yuji looked over at Miki. "So, uh, do any of us qualify as bishonen?" the long-haired boy asked, glaring at the girl.
"Uh, you kind of do, but your hair is too long. And then there's Taizou, who needs to get his eyebrows waxed. And Tadashi needs to lose weight. There, I said it."
"You know, your reasoning is incredibly shallow," Ayaka told the girl.
"What? Come on, how come you can't agree with it. You know, if this Eduardo guy isn't hot, then I'm so going to die!"
The blonde continued glaring at her friend. It was just then when Salamon, Syakomon and Commandramon came back along with a bouncing digimon right behind them. Tadashi looked over at the digimon and recognized his partner. "What?" He pulled out his digivice and checked it. "Sunmon, In-Training Level. You de-digivolved past Rookie?"
"Yeah, I don't know why," the digimon remarked jumping into his partner's hands. "It must be a side-effect of digivolving to Ultimate like on the TV-show.
"But after Takato's partner reached Ultimate, this didn't happen," the blond said, still unsure.
"It must be a side-effect of using the Crest Program," Taizou observed.
"By the way, I also have our prisoner of war," Commandramon said, indicating that he was holding Keramon. "What should we do with him? Should we hold him hostage to negotiate a treaty with the Digimon Queen?"
"I don't think that would work," Taizou replied. "Besides, she effectively wiped Gunter's mind after we lost and we decided to take him with us." The brown-haired looked at his partner and smiled. "So, you ready to go, Solarmon?"
"Certainly," the now-awake digimon replied. "I see I missed a little bit while I was out."
"Not too much, man. Don't worry about it," his partner replied as they started the now-far-smaller walk toward the city.
It was about then that Tadashi realized someone was missing. "Hey, where's Agumon?" he asked the rest of the group even as he was practically dragging Gunter with Yuji's help.
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A/N: Well, that little mini-arc is over. Let's see what happens with our new German friend. And the American guy too. Can't forget about him.
As far as the team is concerned, my final plans are there to be eight members by the middle of the third arc. Hopefully the number of characters isn't too high. The eighth member will be a girl, though it won't be the one from the next chapter (unfortunately for those who like the girl in question. I have other plans for her).