Disclaimer: Digimon is a franchise owned jointly by Toei Animation and Bandai, and conceptualized by Akiyoshi Hongo. Doctor Who is a property owned by the British Broadcasting Company created by Sydney Newman. The concept of The Tamer v3.0 - Bold New Frontier is a fanfiction idea. Please support the official properties.


The Tamer v3.0 - Bold New Frontier

Chapter 10: The Other Warrior

Koji made his way through the Digital World quietly, taking in the sights and sounds of this strange new world. There was so much about this world that he didn't quite understand, despite having been here for what must've been a week at this point. Looking back on it, he wondered what happened to the kids who came to this world on the same train he did. But on further reflection, he realized it was better to not think about it. He'd lucked out by gaining the help of the Guardian Spirit when he first came into the Digital World.

He had no reason to think the kids he'd met on the train were so lucky. It did make him wonder about the other kids he met only a few days before, and the power of the Fire Spirit that they had with him. The more he thought about it, the more he wondered if he was supposed to stay with the kids he came here with and protect them. Would he have done a better job than that kid with the fire spirit? Or would have it turned out the same? With him losing half the kids in his group to a horde of rampaging digimon that he didn't see coming? Was Koji worse for actually abandoning his group the moment the train stopped? He pushed those thoughts from his mind as he reminded himself of a simple fact that he learned years ago.

He was simply better off on his own.

"Help! HELP!"

But that didn't mean that he couldn't help others if he chose to. He turned towards the noise and saw what looked like a large green snail with arms frantically running towards him. Although perhaps creeping was a better choice of word with how slow the digimon was moving. He strode to the panicked digimon and asked, "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"My village is in danger! A horrible digimon called Grumblemon has taken all our village's daughters and he's threatening to kill them if we don't give him the fractal code for this region of the Digital World!" the digimon screamed.

"Okay. Let's pretend I know what half of those words mean. What can I do to help?" he asked.

"We need your help to rescue our women! What else?" the digimon said. Maybe that was a dumb question.

"Alright. I cant rescue people. What do I call you?" he asked.

"KaratsukiNumemon," the snail replied.


Zoe awoke the next morning to daylight streaming in through the windows and on her face. In fact, it looked like she was the first one awake out of the entire group. She rolled to the side to see Tamer's sleeping bag still empty and immediately remembered what JP had said the night before about being used by him. She didn't want to think it was true, especially since he really did genuinely seem to be trying to help them.

At the same time, it was hard to dismiss the fact that he'd led them from one situation to another with alarming regularity. And the fact that he ran out of the office shouting something about the Ophanimon he claimed to know nothing about didn't help. The more she thought about it, the more she began to wonder if Tamer was in fact just using them to his own ends.

These thoughts were interrupted by the loud rumble of her stomach and sudden hunger pangs that was far too loud for this early. And to her embarrassment, it stirred Tomoki and Bokomon from their sleep. The little boy was the first one up, "What was that?"

"Nothing," Zoe said quickly, as she scrambled out of her sleeping bag, "I'm going to go get some food."

"Did someone say food?" JP asked, now stirred from his own deep slumber.

"I'm going to get something to eat," Zoe said, quietly making her way out of the room to avoid being the butt of their jokes about her rumbling stomach. A lifetime of being the odd one out in Italy had taught her to make herself scarce if she ever did anything embarrassing, and this was definitely one of those times. She came out onto the factory floor to see it busy with digimon going about trying to set up more places for the refugees to sleep, while others were busy handing out food for the digimon to eat. And that was perhaps where the first bit of incompatibility reared its ugly head between the two groups.

The Floramon and Mushroomon preferred to eat rotting fruit and dirt, which the Kokuwamon didn't have outside whatever was laying outside the factory. Meanwhile, the Kokuwamon 'ate' by putting batteries into their mouths and spitting it out once they stopped sparking with electricity. And absolutely none of that was palatable to her. In fact, she was sure it would make her sick. Thankfully, she noticed a few Kokuwamon dragging what looked like bowls of rice porridge on a cart.

If there was any food that they were going to be able to eat, it was that. She hurried down toward the factory floor to meet the Kokuwamon, only to bump straight into the one person she wasn't in the mood to see in that moment. Tamer, who grabbed her immediately upon seeing her, "Good! You're awake! I've been asking all night and making preparations! We have a long trip ahead of us if we're going to get to our destination today!"

"Okay. Tell me about it later! I'm starving and that rice porridge looks good!" Zoe said, pushing past him towards the cart before it disappeared. Tamer instead followed after her, leaving her unsure how he could still have so much energy after being awake for so long. Did he ever get tired? Or hungry? Or anything?

"No, you'll want to hear this, Zoe! I asked around and some of the digimon know where to find Ophanimon! If we find her, she can talk some sense into the other digimon and maybe put an end to all this fighting!" Tamer said excitedly.

Zoe stopped just short of another step, thinking back on everything that JP had said the night before and turned her attention back on Tamer, "What?"

"Ophanimon! We find her, talk to her, and maybe put an end to this conflict!" Tamer said again. No, that was enough for Zoe. JP was definitely on to something.

"Who cares about Ophanimon? I thought you were trying to help us get home," Zoe asked of Tamer expectantly. If he was nervous or uneasy, it didn't show on that excitably goofy smile of his. And she didn't take it as a good sign that he continued on as if she hadn't said anything.

"Ah! See, that's the beauty of it! Apparently we'll pass her on the way to the Hollow Bastion! It wouldn't be an inconvenience at all! We literally have to pass it on our way there!" Tamer said with that manic smile of his that she didn't really appreciate. Zoe wasn't in the mood to deal with this either and continued on without him, hurrying after the food cart and finally intercepting it just as the Kokuwamon was about to take it through a door further into the factory. She apologized to the Kokuwamon as she grabbed some bowls for herself and the others, passing any extras on to Tamer as he continued talking about going to this Ophanimon to plea with her about ending the war.

Zoe was tuning him out at this point so she could instead focus on getting some of the rice porridge in her stomach. Normally, she wouldn't have been too excited for it but several days living off of bread and fruit made this smell delicious. Plus, the scent reminded her just a little bit of being at home and eating her mom's home cooking. And that thought gave her pause as she wondered what her family was doing now, and how worried they must've been to know she had just gone missing one day.

Worse, she wondered how many other parents were in that boat of wondering where their children had gone - she hadn't counted how many kids were in that secret station, but enough to fill a small school was definitely a safe bet. Tomoki was the youngest one she knew of but there were definitely more kids his age in this situation too.

"Digiworld to Zoe. Anyone there?" Tamer asked, waving a hand in front of her face to get her attention. He had stacked the other bowls in his other arm, resulting in them wobbling precariously.

She slapped his hand away and asked, "What?"

Tamer wobbled for a second, trying to keep the bowls from falling out of his arms before answering, "I was saying a quick trip to Ophanimon won't kill anyone!"

She rolled her eyes when she realized he was still going on about Ophanimon and grumbled under her breath, "We'll ask the others. If they say no, then that means no. We want to go home. What part of that aren't you getting?"


"No."

"Nuh-uh."

"I thought we were going to the Hallowed Bastion."

"I don't care where we're going, as long as we can eat something other than bread and whatever this is."

The chorus of no-s was music to Zoe's ears as she watched Tamer try to explain to the others why they should go to Ophanimon, "It's just a quick detour! Nothing more than that! We won't even be going out of our way! We have to pass it to get there!"

"Listen guy, we want to go home!" JP reminded him.

"Yeah! Your promised!" Tomoki added, applying some much needed guilt to remind Tamer how much they would rather just be going home.

However, Tamer recanted, "No, you're right. I did promise. You want to go home and take you home I will. Everyone get packed up because we're heading out as soon as you're done eating."

They finished their breakfast quickly before heading out of the factory, to the open encampment where the refugees had been staying just a moment ago. There Zoe and Tamer both spirit evolved into Kazemon and Agunimon, carrying half of the group each through the air. Or rather, zooming in something that resembled drunken flight since Zoe was still barely able to control her flight and Agunimon could only propel himself through the air for so long before he needed to propel himself again with a swift blast of his rocket attack.

The uneasy rocking made their passengers nauseous as they soared through the air. Tomoki complained loudest, "I don't feel so good."

"Me either! How much further?" Neemon whimpered, covering his mouth as he tried to hold back a barf.

"At the rate we're going. We'll get there around sun down!" Agunimon answered, earning a chorus of groans from the group.

Although Kazemon hadn't said anything aloud, part of her wondered just how far she could rely on Tamer to be leading them to the Bastion. After all, they were strangers in this world and she had no real idea if they were even going in the right direction. All she really had was Bokomon and Neemon in her arms to tell her if she was beginning to drift slightly in the wrong direction.

"That's always been the thing I didn't like about the Ancients. You could never tell if they were just using you or not. What with all their talk about being the Custodians of Destiny or whatever garbage they were spewing. And trust me, that gets very annoying," Kazemon's guardian spirit thought. That didn't exactly put her mind at ease or make her feel better about their predicament.

Still, she soared through the sky after Agunimon, keeping her eye on him to make sure he wasn't deviating too far from the direction he'd taken off towards. But that changed when Tomoki shuffled in his arms and started gesturing down. Kazemon followed his pointed finger to see what looked like a boy dangling off a length rope that a bunch of snails were threatening to cut. It was hard to make out what exactly was going on from so far up in the sky but she could vaguely make out what looked like a troll who appeared very unimpressed.

"Hey! What's that?" Neemon asked.

"Oh dear, it looks like they're planning on dropping that boy to his death," Bokomon declared.

"We should help him," JP said.

"I thought you guys just wanted to go home?" Agunimon stuck his tongue out at them playfully.

"Don't be a jerk!" Kazemon spat at him, turning to dive towards the boy on the rope. Both Bokomon and Neemon held on to her for dear life as they descended quickly, barely able to contain their screams. She couldn't blame them either as she was certain they would slam into the mountain and splatter along the wall.

"You still haven't gotten the hang of landing," the guardian spirit said into her head.

"Don't worry, I can land," she answered back, not realizing she'd said it aloud until Bokomon responded.

"You do know how to land, right?" Bokomon screamed at top of his lungs.

"Uh…yeah. That just means stop flying right?" Kazemon answered nervously. Both Neemon and Bokomon screamed even louder after that, alerting everyone below to their arrival. The snail digimon slowly crawled out of the way as Kazemon ended up slamming into the wall and crashing straight through the wall into a dim cave. It was nowhere near as bad as all her crashes the day before, but she definitely didn't want to go do that again.

"Please don't waste my powers getting yourself killed like that. I'd hate to see the one I chose to wield my powers get killed because they decided slamming into a wall counted as landing," the spirit's voice echoed in her head. Because that was what she needed to hear in that moment.

"Did anyone get the number of that wall?" Neemon asked.

"Yes, it was pain," Bokomon answered.

"What was that?" one of the snail creatures asked.

"It looks like another one of those Guardian Spirits!" another declared. "So you called for help, did you?"

"YOU'VE HAD ME TIED UP ALL NIGHT! HOW THE HELL WOULD I CALL FOR HELP!?" she heard the boy shouting back at them. There was a certain familiarity within his voice that she couldn't quite place, especially since they hadn't met any other humans in this world. Well, none except for that one kid.

Then it clicked and she jumped up, "Koji! Is that you?"

"Do I know you?" Koji's voice echoed back.

"We met at train station! Remember? On the elevator! You also saved my friends from a group of Pagumon in the forest!" she shouted back.

"Ha! That proves it! She knows you! That means you called for help!" the slug digimon declared.

"HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?" the boy screamed back at the snails.

"Okay, is anyone following this?" Bokomon asked.

"You're not?" Neemon asked back.

Kazemon pushed the two digimon off her and straightened herself out, needing a second for the shaking to stop before she even attempted to flutter out of the hole they'd made into the mountain face. But she got outside just in time to see Agunimon crash into the cliff face beside her. She gasped, worried that JP and Tomoki may not have survived the crash landing when she noticed that Agunimon had rolled onto his back to cushion the landing. On the one hand, that had saved Tomoki and JP. On the other, both boys were shaking from the impact and barely able to stop their heads from rocking back and forth.

"You really need to work on landing," JP groaned, massaging himself.

"And flying," Tomoki added.

"Yeah, I'll get right on that," Agunimon grunted, adjusting to set JP and Tomoki down on outcropping. Although it was so narrow that the two boys had to press themselves against the wall to keep from falling off.

Tomoki leaned forward slightly to see Koji hanging from a rope and called out, "Are you okay?"

"DO I LOOK OKAY!? GET ME DOWN!" Koji shouted back.

"Okay, you don't need to yell. Geez," JP sighed.

"I'VE BEEN UP HERE FOR HOURS! I'LL YELL ALL I WANT!" Koji roared.

"SO YOU ARE WORKING TOGETHER!" the snails shouted in unison.

"I'm just going to kill you all now and take this area's fractal code," the yellow troll looking digimon finally said.

"Shut up! We'll deal with you in a second!" the snails shouted back at the yellow troll.

"Or more accurately, right now!" the yellow troll shouted, beginning to glow with the same light as the others when they spirit evolved.

Kazemon gasped, "How does it have that power!? I thought only we could do that!"

"There are ten spirits and you only have four…well, five of them," Bokomon answered.

"So you admit to being the holder of the Guardian Spirits! The Legendary Warriors!" the snail shouted back at them.

"Will you stop talking about that!? NOBODY CARES!" Koji snapped at the snails.

"Execute! Spirit Evolution! Grumblemon! Digivolve to! Gigasmon!" the digimon roared as the light faded away, revealing a large rock monster with its head shaped like a single pointed horn.

"Okay! Does anyone want to explain what the hell is going on!?" Kazemon asked, still trying to follow the chaotic series of events.

"These snails are called KaratsukiNumemon, they're being terrorized by that guy called Grumblemon, I offered to help but they thought I was working for him instead, so they tied me up as leverage to use against him, and now he's trying to destroy the mountain because he's just as confused and annoyed as you are," Koji said rather quickly.

"Got it! They're bullies who need to be put in their place," Tomoki said matter of factly.

"I don't know about that. They sound more like they're just desperate," Koji answered, shaking his head as he noticed the rope holding him in place was starting to unravel. "Never mind that! Someone get me down from this thing!"

"WITH PLEASURE!" Gigasmon shouted, slamming his fist against the cliff face and shattering the hook that was holding Koji's rope in place. Koji wailed as he fell, prompting Kazemon to spring into action. She leapt out of the cave and dove towards Koji with her arms stretched forward. As fast as she was going, he was falling even faster. Still, she was able to grab the rope just before it fell out of reach and he fell too far down.

"I got you!" she cried out, wrapping the rope around her arm and adjusting her direction to fly back towards the top of the mountain. It took a few tries to get an upward trajectory going, and Koji yelped in surprise as she pulled him up towards where he had been. Above them, she could see a fight had broken out against Gigasmon, the KaratsukiNumemon, and Agunimon. Tomoki and JP had spirit evolved to both Kumamon and Beetlemon. Kumamon froze the side of the mountain to make it harder for the snail digimon to stay on the cliff face, while Beetlemon used his electricity to try and zap Gigasmon.

Agunimon punched his way through the air with streaks of fire, trading barbs with Gigasmon who hurled large rocks at the champion level digimon to little avail. Simply put, Agunimon's fire did nothing against the giant stone digimon and he was too agile to actually get hit by any of the thrown debris. But seeing the sight of the two digimon fighting each other was enough to give at least some of the snails pause, as one of them asked, "Wait a minute! Why are you two fighting each other? We're right here!"

"You want us to fight you?" Beetlemon asked.

"I mean, no. But you're the Legendary Warriors! That's kind of your thing?" one of them answered.

"No it isn't! Who told you that?" Beetlemon fired back.

"Uh, you did? When you attacked our village and took all of our women hostage?" another fired back with a confused accusation.

"When would we do that? Why would we do that?" Kumamon asked.

"Because…you're Legendary Warriors?" one said, finally uncertain of what he was saying and definitely willing to question what he was saying.

"This is the dumbest conversation I've ever had," Beetlemon groaned as he introduced his face to his palm.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you guys! I…we…whatever Gigasmon over there is doing has nothing to do with me! Or these guys!" Koji shouted back at them. The eyes of the KaratsukiNumemon widened in dumbfounded stupor, leaving them open to another attack from Gigasmon as he slammed his fist into the mountain side and shook the cliff face. Some of the snails were thrown off the cliff face from the vibrations, while others found themselves clinging to crumbling stones of rock as they plummeted downward.

"Dammit! Cut me loose!" Koji shouted back up Kazemon.

It was her turn to be surprised by his demand as she raised an eyebrow at him, "Are you kidding me?"

"I can help them if I spirit evolve! But I can't do that while my hands are tied!" he explained to her. Kazemon didn't like that idea, but she also didn't really have time to contemplate it. She could catch some of the KaratsukiNumemon in her arms, but she could catch a lot more if she wasn't holding Koji in her arms. And she was pretty sure he couldn't fly.

No, there was no time to think on this. She had to act. She pulled the rope up in her arms to untie the boy, taking care to still have in her arms once the ropes was undone and asked, "Are you sure about this? You can't even fly!"

"Yes! Now go!" he answered back. She let him go, trying not to watch as he plummeted down towards the ground and turned towards the falling snail digimon. Her heart raced as she threw herself at the nearest KaratsukiNumemon, hurrying to catch one and spreading her wings to control her descent towards the next digimon.

"Execute! Spirit Evolution! Lobomon!"

A bright flash of light blinded Kazemon's peripheral vision and she desperately wanted to make sure Koji was okay but knew she had to focus on helping as many of the snail digimon as she could. She was just glad they were too busy screaming to notice she was the one grabbing each and everyone of them as the fell.


Kumamon used his ice powers to create an outcropping to catch the falling KaratsukiNumemon but knew it was a vein gesture at this point. Truth be told, there were too many of them for his small control of ice powers to stop from falling. If they were to have any chance of victory, they needed to stop Gigasmon before he tore the entire mountain apart.

"Beetlemon! Kumamon!" Agunimon shouted to get their attention as he weaved through Gigasmon's many thrown projectiles. "You need to find the hostages and get them to safety before Gigasmon bring the mountain down on top of wherever he hid them!"

"And where the hell are we supposed to start looking for them!?" Beetlemon asked, gesturing towards the mountain before them. The mountain was so large in scale that it would take them days to explore every nook, cavern, and fissure on its surface to find all of the hidden digimon.

"I don't know but that cave behind him that he seems so damned determined to protect seems like a good place to start!" Agunimon shouted, gesturing behind the massive rock digimon.

"And how are we supposed to get back there!? This guy is big enough to sit on us and crush us if he wanted to!" Beetlemon shouted back.

"You have the power of lightning and the power of ice on your side! You'll figure it out," Agunimon answered quickly, still focusing on the fight with Gigasmon. Beetlemon clicked his tongue in disapproval while Kumamon just tilted his head to the side, trying to think of a way past the rampaging digimon. It seemed impossible with how big he was and with the size of the rocks he was throwing.

"You may not need to get past him," Bokomon said, poking his head out of the little crater that Kazemon made when she crashed into the mountain. His sudden appearance, startled both Beetlemon and Kumamon, almost sending them toppling over the edge from the surprise.

Kumamon took a moment to regain his composure and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"This cavern we're in seems to connect to the one that Gigasmon is guarding! You may be able to come out behind him this way!" Bokomon explained, thumbing back into the tunnel.

"That could work," Beetlemon said, peering into the cave. It was dark inside and he could barely see far in but that didn't deter Kumamon from just jumping in.

"Good, then we can get that bully from behind and put him in his place!" Kumamon shouted, running ahead without a thought for safety or his own mortality. Beetlemon's heart sank as he realized they'd found themselves roped into helping others again, but realized there was no way they were going to be allowed to just walk away from this with Gigasmon throwing rocks around.

"Kumamon! Slow down! We don't know what we're walking into here! We can barely even see!" Beetlemon shouted after the little digimon but it was too late. Kumamon had already run further in with Bokomon and Neemon on his heels. He sighed at being ignored and hurried in after them, taking caution to keep just a short distance behind them in case they ran head first into what looked to be a trap. Besides, it was safer to be moving slower because he couldn't actually see that well in the dark.

But all that caution went out the window when he felt the mountain tremble from another explosion somewhere outside.

"CRAP!" he cried as he rushed further in to the cave until he could see day light again. As Bokomon had said, they'd come out just behind Gigasmon with his back to them. Kumamon was slowly sneaking up behind him and Beetlemon was ready to join when he noticed several cages just to the side. Inside were more of the KaratsukiNumemon although these ones looked scared. And maybe just a little effeminate? Was that the right word?

These digimon were whimpering, and huddled to the far end of the cages as they tried to keep as far away from Gigasmon as possible.

"Psst! Hey! Look!" Beetlemon called out to Kumamon to get his attention. The bear turned around and his eyes widened in surprise at the sight of all the captured digimon.

"This guy is worse than a bully!" Kumamon growled under his breath when he rejoined Beetlemon, "Who the hell does he think he is?"

"It doesn't matter. We need to get these digimon out of here," Beetlemon said.

"Don't! If Gigasmon catches any of us trying to escape, he said he'll kill us all!" one of the snails squeaked.

"It's alright! We're here to help! These digimon are wielders of the Guardian Spirits!" Bokomon introduced, causing the digimon to all gasp in terror.

"Get away from us!"

"You're with Gigasmon, aren't you?"

"Any help you can give us will just make it worse!"

"Yeah, that seems to be the running theme whenever we get involved, huh?" Beetlemon thought aloud, noticing the horrified reaction of the snail digimon. He swallowed nervously and tried to apologize only to be cut off by Bokomon.

"Not helping, Beetlemon," the little book holder chastised.

"Hang on. I have an idea that'll kill two birds with one stone," Kumamon said, pushing his fingers together in the shape of a square and examining the cave entrance.

"Did you have to use the word kill?" Beetlemon asked as he noticed the snail digimon start shaking even more. Kumamon didn't answer, examining the cavern between his fingers as he traced a path from the cages to the cave entrance where Gigasmon was busy throwing rocks at Agunimon.

"Whatcha doing?" Neemon asked.

"Finishing my plan in my head," Kumamon answered, his tone more than just a little off putting to everyone else. Beetlemon wanted to say something to the little bear, maybe ask if he was okay. But the truth was he was a little too scared of the bear to actually say anything. Truth be told, he was starting to sound a little bit like Agunimon with his with crazy ideas. Just as Beetlemon summoned up the courage to finally speak, Kumamon hurried back to the cages and rubbed his hands together excitedly.

"Care to fill us in?" Bokomon asked, just as the digimon started protesting their presence.

"Something that happened to me a lot and payback is over due!" Kumamon said with a wide grin.

"Red flag?" Bokomon asked.

"Crimson."

"No! Go away!"

"Yeah!"

"No complaining while we save you guys," Kumamon interrupted.

"Maybe yelling at them when they're scared isn't a good idea, Tomoki," Beetlemon reasoned with the bear. Kumamon seemed intent to just ignore him at this point and started creating a small path of ice that led from underneath the cages to the cave entrance.

The whole being ignored thing was starting to get on Bettlemon's nerves and he grumbled, "Hey Tommy! If you're done being a jerk, how about you fill us in on what you're doing?"

The sound of that name finally caught Kumamon's attention and he turned and snapped, "That's not my name and you know it!"

"So you can hear me," Beetlemon raised an eyebrow.

"Quit bickering the two of you and tell us the plan already!" Bokomon complained, smacking the two digimon with his book. Beetlemon had no idea how heavy that book was or how strong Bokomon's arm was. Then again, he'd have to be if he could lug that book around all the time.

"Fine! Fine! You're right," Beetlemon grumbled quietly, massaging his head.

"HEY!" Gigasmon roared, finally looking away from Agunimon just long enough to notice that they had been sneaking around behind him.

"Oh no!"

"He sees us!"

"You should've just left us alone!"

The KaratsukiNumemon had broken out into a full panic now and were desperately trying to ram the inside of their cages to push it away from Gigasmon.

"No! Go towards him!" Kumamon shouted, spreading out another layer of ice that stretched its path all the way past the entrance. Beetlemon's head went from Kumamon to the cages to the ice trail before it finally all clicked in his head. There were too many cages to carry out. But if they pushed them out along the ice, they'd slide down the mountain.

"Oh I get it! Nice thinking, Kumamon," Beetlemon shouted, rushing towards one of the cages and pushing it towards the entrance.

"What are you doing!?"

"Leave us alone!"

"Don't worry! Just sit tight and let Kumamon do all the work!" Beetlemon said, digging his heels into the ground and pushing the cage forward until it started to slide out from under him. With each step, it began to move a little faster until it started sliding without him. He let go and doubled back to the next cage, just in time for Kumamon to leap atop the cage and continue laying down a path of ice.

"Oh! I see! This way Neemon!" Bokomon announced, dragging Neemon with him to the next cage. The pair started pushing another cage, but barely got it to move until Beetlemon joined them. Just as they got it moving, they heard a loud crash and looked ahead to see Gigasmon knocked aside by the sliding cage.

The snails inside the first cage cheered, shouting taunts as Gigasmon struggled to get up. Unfortunately for him, the second cage barreled past him at that moment. Which left the final cage for Bokomon, Neemon, and Beetlemon to move. With the three of them working together, they were able to get it sliding and watched as bowled Gigasmon over for a third time.

"Excellent work everyone. What now?" Bokomon asked, looking to Beetlemon for an answer.

"Leaving seems like a good place to start," Beetlemon answered, scooping Bokomon and Neemon up as he charged towards the exit. Gigasmon sat up just in time to see them coming and roared in anger. But Beetlemon kept running past him, hurrying out of the cave so quickly that he ended up slipping on the ice and sliding along its path. It was just as they went over the edge that he saw Kumamon had laid down a path of ice for them so that they could slide straight down to the base of the mountain.

"How did that kid come up with this idea?" Beetlemon cried out in surprise.

"Maybe he's just smarter than you," the Guardian Spirit's voice echoed in his head. That was not the answer he wanted and he cursed as they continued sliding down the ice path.


Kazemon and Lobomon finished catching the last of the falling snail digimon when a trail of ice appeared beside them. Kazemon looked up to see Kumamon riding atop a cage sliding along the ice, his arms outstretched to continue laying down ice for them to slide down. Behind him were two more cages, and what looked like Beetlemon sliding down the path as they screamed the whole way down.

Kumamon and the snails inside the cage screamed as the first cage hit the ground, scraping its way forward along the dirt until Lobomon charged the cage. He slammed it into it with his shoulder, his armor smashing the bars and breaking the cage to pieces so that its occupants went flying every direction.

"Heads up!"

"We got you!"

The KaratsukiNumemon they'd rescued earlier scrambled to catch their flying counterparts, while Kazemon positioned herself to catch Kumamon. She spun around from the momentum of catching him, gently lowering him to the ground as she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks," Kumamon answered, looking back up at the other cages. Lobomon had smashed the second cage as it slid past him, leaving only the third cage and Beetlemon. The beetle hero had only gotten about halfway down when Gigasmon appeared at the top of the ice slide.

"Don't think you can escape from me!" he roared.

"Uh oh. He looks mad," Kazemon gasped out, getting read to go flying up and meet the digimon. Just as Gigasmon leapt onto the ice, Agunimon crashed into the ice slide and shattered it so that Gigasmon was sent tumbling down onto the ground. Agunimon turned around to punch himself away from the debris, only to have Gigasmon crash onto him from above.

By then, the third cage and Beetlemon had reached the bottom of the ice slide. Both Bokomon and Neemon leapt off the champion, doing what they could to help Beetlemon up on his feet after being ridden down the entire side of the mountain.

"Are you okay?" Neemon asked.

"That must've been painful, sliding down all that ice like that," Bokomon answered.

"You have no idea. Forget about me. Is Agunimon alright?" Beetlemon asked.

"Don't worry! I'll go help!" Kazemon said, flying up to meet the falling pair of Agunimon and Gigasmon. The two were embattled in a very tight grapple as Agunimon tried to push Gigasmon off, while Gigasmon took every chance to punch Agunimon in the face as they fell. Kazemon wasn't entirely sure what she could do against a digimon like that but she wasn't going to sit back and watch as Agunimon fell to his death.

The first thing she did when she got close was pull Gigasmon off. But for her trouble, Gigasmon kicked her away into the side of the mountain.

"This is becoming a trend with you, isn't it?" the Guardian's voice echoed in her thoughts.

"Not helping," she said, leaping off the mountain again and darting towards Gigasmon. If she couldn't pry him off, she could at least hurt the digimon so that he passed out. She angled herself as she descended and proceeded to barrage Gigasmon with kicks, "ROSEO TEMPORALE!"

She unleashed a barrage of kicks upon Gigasmon, feeling her legs hurt with every strike against his rock hard body. With her last kick, she back flipped away and watched Gigasmon continue to lay into Agunimon all the way into the ground below. They struck the ground so hard that they created a small crater in the ground and kicked up a cloud of dirt.

"AGUNIMON!" Kazemon gasped.

"TAMER!" Kumamon cried out.

Kazemon fluttered down towards the ground, just in time to see Agunimon thrown out of the cloud of smoke and into the mountain wall again. It didn't create a cloud of dust this time but it did crack the mountain side with enough force to make it crumble. And just as Agunimon sank to the ground, the mountain wall split open to reveal a string of glowing ones and zeroes behind it.

The KaratsukiNumemon cried out in shock and terror at the sight of it. Even Gigasmon was floored when laid eyes n the string of numbers behind Agunimon, "This area's fractal code! It's mine!"

"Oh no you don't!" Agunimon stumbled, pushing himself back up and raising his arms up again to fight Gigasmon.

"Are you crazy! He just slammed you into the ground! You really want to go again!?" Kazemon shouted as she fluttered to Agunimon's side, trying to pull him away. Despite that, Agunimon stood his ground and looked ready to keep fighting. And in his eyes, Kazemon saw something she'd never seen before. It was a fiery resolve - a determination to keep going even if he wasn't physically able to. She tried to pull him away again but he just shook her off and charged ahead towards Gigasmon.

"EAT THIS!" Agunimon roared, his fist coming aflame as he leapt at Gigasmon. His fist made contact with Gigasmon's face and, for a moment, it seemed he'd managed to hurt the rock digimon. At least, that was how it seemed until Gigasmon knocked him into a tree so hard that it snapped in half. With nothing left in his way, he charged straight for the fractal code just behind Kazemon.

She had no idea what the big deal was, but she had to assume this fractal code had to be important if Agunimon was still trying to protect it. She charged Gigasmon as well, but was thrown aside before she could even throw a kick at him. Kazemon rolled along the dirt, scratching herself against all the rocks and debris along the ground. She stopped only when she regressed back to her human self, landing on her side so that she could watch Gigasmon reach the fractal code. As he laid his fingers against it, he began to glow and the numbers began streaming out of the mountain into him.

"This area's fractal code is mine! Feel my power grow!" he cried out, growing in size with every passing second that the power flowed into his arms. Once the light faded and the streaming numbers disappeared, the mountain began to crumble and dissipate, collapsing into clouds of data like so many defeated digimon had before.

Zoe felt helpless, only able to watch as the mountain disappeared behind her and left behind nothing. To see so much destruction happen so quickly was completely different from watching so many digimon die. All the while, Gigasmon roared with victory with his arms raised into the air. And as quickly as he went for the mountain, he ran off into the distance and disappeared over the horizon with a speed she never would've guessed he had.

"Where's he going in such a rush?" Beetlemon asked.

"We're dead! We are so dead!" one of the KaratsukiNumemon panicked.

"Let's get out of here!" another shouted, leading the way as the snails charged away at a pace they'd never seen before.

"We're going to die!" Bokomon added in a panic.

"Calm down! No one's going to die," Kumamon explained, trying to calm the digimon down.

"You don't understand! He took the fractal code!" Bokomon cried in a panic, "The data that makes up this part of the Digital World!"

"Yeah…and?" Kumamon asked.

"Now this part of the Digital World is going to disappear too! We need to run! NOW!" Bokomon said, trying to drag them away.

"What are you talking about?" Lobomon asked.

"See where the mountain was a minute ago? That's about to happen to everything within a mile of here! We need to go! NOW!" Neemon said, sounding more coherent than he'd ever had before. And if he was sounding coherent, Zoe could only shake in terror of whatever was about to happen.


Author's Notes: Our heroes have found themselves in serious trouble now. Will they be able to escape the impending disaster? Will they run into Gigasmon again? And will the heroes ever truly get home? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v3.0 - Bold New Frontier due out in three weeks on Friday September 3rd at 8 PM CDT. Let me know what you thought in the reviews. Did you love it? Hate it? And don't forget to follow the story to keep up with the latest updates and favorite to show support! That's all for now, so let's look at previews for the next chapter!

It felt like a memory he'd forgotten about a long time ago. The words were so familiar, echoing so clearly that he was sure he wasn't dreaming. It wasn't imagined but real. And yet it seemed so far away. He recalled two hooded figures standing over him, seemingly examining him up close but obscured by a very bright light that was just behind him.

"Are you sure about this?" the first asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. He…the half…thing is the best soldier in our military. He and that damned rogue Koromon. If we are to win this war, we need more like him. Like them!" the second answered with a certainty that bordered on madness.