The Crest of a Master

by PizzaSpino

When the Digital World is in peril it doesn't just turn to a regular group of kids. It turns to a group of kids raised in a world centralized around raising and battling monsters! Join Ash and Agumon as they make new friends, battle an army of monsters, and hopefully save both of their worlds from an ancient evil.

10. Trigger Happy Gargomon

Disclaimer: The following is a work of fan fiction written by someone who enjoys creature collector franchises. Pokémon is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, The Pokémon Company, Creatures Inc. and Satoshi Tajiri. Digimon is owned by Bandai, WiZ, Toei Animation, and Akiyoshi Hongo. If you want to support the official releases, worry not. Lord knows there is plenty of merchandise to choose from.

Listening to as I research: Haven City Walking Theme (Jak 2)

The Crest of a Master Chapter 10: Trigger Happy Gargomon

Cable City

"Well, this is depressing."

After weeks of traveling through the wilderness, both Goh and May were ready for civilization. When the two of them first saw the skyscrapers off in the distance, they thought that they had found it. But as they approached, they were met with disappointment.

Instead of a sprawling metropolis, the group of travelers found themselves outside of an empty dystopia. Every window, whether from a tall tower or a small shop, was completely dark. The outsides of the buildings were in disrepair with broken glass, crumbling decks, and eroded plaster. There were bits of graffiti scattered about, but it did little to cover up the dying, grey concrete. Even the plants that would normally be growing over and trying to reclaim the abandoned urban environment were absent. It was as though life just perished the second it tried to take root here.

Currently, Goh and May found themselves sitting at what was probably once a train station. Like the city, the station had seen better days. The tracks were mostly eaten up by the ground with only one, lone, rusted car falling apart on what was left of the railroad. Neither human felt like venturing inside the station behind them on account that its roof was completely caved in. So, they just hung out by the creaky benches.

May choose to collapse on one of the seats. In contrast to their dull surroundings, May had a bit more splash to her pallet. She kept the long bangs of her chocolate, brown hair held to the sides of her head with a bright, red and white bandana. Her light-skinned, thin body was also clad in red with a short-sleeved shirt, black shorts, a yellow fanny pack, and red and yellow shoes. Her blue eyes glazed over in exhaustion while her head rested in her gloved hands.

"We finally find a city and it turns out to be a ghost town," May sighed. "And I here I was hoping to get a decent meal. I'm tired of freeze-dried food. Aren't you, Goh?...Goh?"

In contrast to May, Goh sported more mellow colors with his black pants, grey shoes, and grey, short sleeved hoodie with a red Poké Ball insignia for a bit of color. Like May Goh had a slim build, though his skin was tanner, and his dark hair was much shorter with a few dashes of naturally red highlights.

"Hello. Earth to Goh," May called out.

Goh's eyes snapped away from the station map displaying the city. "Huh? Oh, yeah."

May's eyes narrowed. "What did I just say?"

"That you're tired of camp food," Goh rolled his eyes. Of course, he was listening. He'd been told off enough by his childhood friend, Chloe, to know that one of the fastest ways to get on someone's bad side is to constantly tune them out. And because May was the only human around for Arceus knows how many miles, Goh decided to be polite and keep an ear open for her.

"What are you even doing?" May got up from her bench and walked over.

In response, Goh held up a digital camera. "Documenting."

"Again? Do you even have any memory left on that camera? Ever since I've met you you've been taking pictures nonstop," May said.

"Hey, if I'm going to be abducted and forced to do a job I didn't volunteer for, then I'm going to spend some time doing what I want to do," Goh defensively huffed. "I'm a scientist, so I'm going to do some research."

"Now, now. There's no need to be at each other's proverbial throats."

There was a flutter of wings as an avian Digimon about half the size of Goh and May landed between them. This Digimon was covered with bright, pink feathers with blue tips on the crest of her head and tail and a single, curled blue and pink feather in the middle of her forehead. Her upper limbs were tipped with long, red claws which made them look more like feathery arms as appose to proper wings. The yellow-scaled lower limbs followed a similar pattern of displaying a perfect blend between human and bird curling up like talons while she flew and flattening out into feet once she hit the ground.

The Digimon looked up at Goh with her blue eyes and opened her red beak to speak in an overly polite tone which had given Goh the impression that this Digimon was either upper class or at the very least went to some kind of etiquette school. "My apologies, Goh. While May may have sounded uncouth, I can fully assure that she did not mean to offend. Am I correct, May?"

"Uh, yeah," May blinked, mauling over her partner's words. "I don't think I was being uncouth, Biyomon."

"Don't worry. You're fine."

"Hgh!" Goh grunted as he felt a familiar weight leap onto his shoulder.

Goh didn't need to turn his head to know what kind of Digimon he was now carrying. The creature that was now perched on his shoulder was about a foot high and looked like it could either be a canine or a lagomorph. It had four stubby limbs ending in black, dexterous digits that allowed this Digimon quadrupedal or bipedal movement. On top of his head was a small horn sitting between a pair of floppy ears almost twice as long as its body which ended in three, stubby digits. Color wise, the Digimon was white with green paws, ear tips, ear stripes, and collar fur.

Right now, the Digimon was standing on Goh's should with his upper arms crossed. One of his ears was wrapped around Goh's forehead, holding the Digimon's body up, while the other ear hung limp. "You did nothing wrong, May. Goh here just needs to stop taking things so personally."

"Terriermon," Goh grumbled. "Would it kill you to ask me if you wanted a ride?"

"It's a trade, Goh," Terriermon responded. "You let me ride you now and if I Digivolve into something big enough to carry you, then I will return the favor."

"Don't think I didn't notice that 'if,'" said Goh as he gave his partner the side eye.

"Ah, there you are."

All four members of the travel party turned to see their massive escort coming around the station's corner. Though he was still missing an ear from the fight with the MailBirdramon, Elephantmon was still a large and imposing figure. It was good that the elder of Terriermon's village was such an accommodating escort or they may have turned into some wild Digimon's dinner a long time ago.

"Scouting complete, sir," Biyomon said, straightening her back. "Neither Terriermon nor I were able to find any hostile Digimon in the area. If I may be so bold, sir, I think this should make a fine rendezvous to meet up with Garurumon's group."

"Very good," Elephantmon nodded. The massive Digimon then began to lower itself to the ground. With his main body closer, Goh could better see the injuries the pachyderm had accumulated. Some were scares from battles that predated the current war while others were fresh from traveling with the humans. Judging by Elephantmon's heavy breathing, the new wounds were starting to take their toll.

"Are you okay?" May asked, her eyes darting over the slashes and bite marks that decorated the elephant's side.

"It'll take more than a few feral Digimon to do me in," Elephantmon responded as he gently waved her off with his trunk. He then turned his attention to the other two Digimon present. "Can I trust the two of you to keep these humans safe once I leave for my village?"

At this inquiry, Goh felt the ear that Terriermon was using to hang on to his head tighten to pull Goh into a headlock while the other ear began to roughly noogie his scalp. "Relax! You've babysat us for long enough. I'm pretty sure we can keep these squirts out of trouble for a couple of hours."

"Terriermon! Quit it!" Goh yelled as he tried to wrestle the rabbit dog off his head.

"Hmmm," Elephantmon's eyes studied the duo for a moment before his trunk lifted itself towards Terriermon. "Terriermon, may I have a world with you. In private."

"Why? What are you guys going to talk about?" Goh asked.

Completely ignoring his partner's inquiry, Terriermon leapt onto Elephantmon's offered trunk. "Sure. What do you want to talk about?"

Elephantmon didn't respond until Goh and May walked a fair distance away. Goh strained his ears to try and pick up on the conversation, but the most he could hear was "Terriermon, I can see the way you…"

But before Goh could hear anything else, the silence at the station was interrupted by May. "Welcome to an all-new installment of May's Expedition!"

Whipping his head around, Goh could see that May had used her fingers to form a mock frame and was looking through it like a camera lens. "Today we join our favorite explorer as she uncovers the mysteries of an abandoned train station from another world!"

Goh blinked. Okay, she had no right to question his documenting habits. "What are you doing?"

May turned her "lens" on him. "Killing time. This is the first break we've had in days so I'm playing an old game. Whenever my family would go on vacation, I would pretend to be a documentary filmmaker. Traveling the world, seeing all the amazing cities, exotic regions, what more could a girl ask for?"

"Yeah, I'd like to do that too," Goh agreed. "Not sure why you're pretending, though. We're literally documenting an alien planet." To emphasize his point, Goh held up his camera.

"Uh, I'll let you do the actual documenting," May gave Goh a nervous smile. "I'm just trying to forget that something is trying to kill us every hour."

"Now, now. No need to be so somber," Biyomon got up from where she was roosting to pat May on the back. "True, we have had a rough road. But despite the constant danger you are still alive. I would say that is a marvelous achievement for someone who had just left her nest!"

"Uh, thanks, Biyomon," May said gratefully, though she didn't look any less nervous.

As Goh watched Biyomon comfort May, he couldn't help but to feel a spike of envy. While Biyomon's posh mannerisms were a little over the top, the avian had been nothing but polite since he met her. As opposed to his own partner whom he didn't exactly hit it off well with.

Sometime Ago

Having just gotten over his initial freak out at being sent to a parallel world with talking Pokémon, Goh was given sometime alone with Terriermon to get acquainted. For a while, neither of the two said anything to each other. Terriermon just studied Goh with an unreadable poker face while Goh awkwardly looked back and forth between the dog and the device in the palm of his hand.

Opting to put off talking to the hound he was forcibly partnered with, Goh fiddled around with the Digivice. After clicking a couple of buttons, a holographic displayed popped up showing a picture of Terriermon in addition to scrolls of text showing stats and encyclopedia entries. 'Terriermon, rookie level,' Goh mentally read to himself. 'Though he's small and cute, he's actually a Combat Species capable of tussling with Digimon more than twice his size. He can spit concentrated blasts of heat using Bunny Blast or spin to make a Terrier Tornado. Some Terriermon are born with a twin, Lopmon, which they can team up with to create a Double Typhoon.'

"So, uh, Terriermon," Goh awkwardly began. He may have not asked to be in this situation, but he was going to have to work with Terriermon. So, he might as well start getting to know him. "It says here you have a twin. Uh, where is he. Or she?"

The dog's black eyes squinted at Goh. "I don't know. Where's your twin?"

"What? What makes you think I have a twin?" Goh asked in surprise.

Terriermon shrugged. "Well, I thought I'd ask since you're asking me."

"I'm asking you because this entry says that you might have one!" Goh snapped. Terriermon was starting to remind him of some of the more smart aleck kids he met at his school.

"Welp, sorry but I'm an only Digimon," Terriermon said dismissively. "But enough about me. What are you into, kid?"

"Me?" Goh didn't know what to be more taken aback by: the sudden subject change or the fact that something that was shorter and didn't sound much older than him called him a kid. "I'm a researcher."

"Researcher?" Terriermon tilted his head.

"Yep," Goh smiled proudly. "You see, the world I'm from is inhabited by monsters called Pokémon. I'm gathering information on them so that I can find and capture the rarest Pokémon. I was actually just hired on by my friend's dad to work in his laboratory."

For a moment, Terriermon just stared at him. Then the Digimon smiled. "Oh, so you're a nerd."

It was at that moment that Goh decided that he didn't like Terriermon.

Back to Now

Speaking of the little Digimon, Goh could hear the rapid pitter patter of Terriermon's paws coming closer. Before Goh could address the dog, Terriermon leapt up and balanced himself on top of Goh's head.

"Here's the deal," announced Terriermon. "As you guys have probably already guessed, that MailBirdramon attack took a lot out of Elephantmon."

"Will he be okay?" May asked.

Goh could feel the weight on top of his head shift, probably Terriermon weaving May off. "Trust me, he's been through worse. He just needs some rest. After all, the big guy's been carrying us non-stop."

"Oh dear," Biyomon's claws clasped in concern. "Is there any way which we can assist?"

"Nope," Terriermon responded as he climbed down Goh's head and onto his shoulder. "We only have so much medical supplies and both me and the big mon agreed that we shouldn't burn through them all just yet. Believe it or not, his wounds aren't fatal. He just wants to lay for a bit. In the meantime, let's eat!"

"Now that's a plan I can get behind," May smiled and grabbed at her stomach. "What's on the menu?"

Goh could hear a loud zipping noise come from behind him as Terriermon opened Goh's backpack. There was then a crinkling sound signifying that the dog rabbit took out some bags. "MREs!"

"Again," May groaned. "Don't we have anything else?"

"Well, we're not by any rivers, so no fishing. And we probably shouldn't risk going into the wilds to hunt or forage," Terriermon mused. "We might be able to cook some rats if we can round up enough. Hey, May, do you mind grabbing that one next to your foot?"

Both Goh and May looked down at May's foot. Sniffing her sneaker was a rodent that was not large enough to be a Pokémon, but still big enough to elicit a scream from May. While Biyomon and May chased off the pest on the ground, Goh grabbed the pest on his shoulder.

Holding Terriermon up to his face, Goh tried to put on the most intimidating glare he could muster. "How many times have I told you to not to go through my stuff?"

"Relax, I was just grabbing the food. It's not like I was reading your journal," Terriermon responded, rolling his eyes. "On an unrelated note, what's a Mew?"

Before Goh could snap, Biyomon and May returned.

"May has vanquished the rat!" Biyomon announced.

"Great!" Terriermon effortlessly twisted out of Goh's grasp and landed on the ground. "Now if we can catch a couple more and get a fire going, we can have a meal!"

In response May's face scrunched up in disgust. "Ew, no. We didn't catch the rat. We just chased it away."

"Don't worry, May," Biyomon patted the back of May's legs. "You'll capture the rat next time. It was a marvelous first attempt, though. Just keep following my instructions and you will be a huntress fit to fend off Millenniummon!"

"Heh, sure," judging by the nervous smile on May's face, Goh was willing to bet that May was intentionally flubbing Biyomon's rat hunting instructions. Not that he could blame her, he wasn't too keen on the idea of rodents for lunch either. Though he wouldn't be against learning how to hunt if that somehow translated to being ready to fight Millenniummon.

Just thinking about the name of that creature caused a wave of anxiety to build up. Goh tried to be optimistic like that Ash kid, he really did. But like the rock guy said, they didn't have enough information to go up against the giant, reality distorting monster. If only they could get to the temple faster, then Goh could start questioning the Digimon sages or comb through their archives or….

Wait. That was it!

Goh jogged back to the map display and began to clean away the dust.

"What are you doing?" Goh heard May ask.

"I'm looking for a library," Goh answered. "Maybe we don't have to wait until we reach the temple to start learning about the first human or Millenniummon. If the books in the city's library are still in good condition, then we can start figuring out a plan."

"Of course! Goh, you're a genius!" May exclaimed.

Goh felt his ears heat up as he proudly smiled. "Yeah, well, it helps to be resourceful in my line of work."

As Goh continued to study the map, he was disappointed to see that most of the words were faded. Well, that was okay. If he couldn't get the answers right away, then he just needed to do some detective work. Biyomon sounded fairly educated, maybe she knew how to navigate a standard Digimon city. "Hey Biyomon, do you know where cities keep their universities or libraries? Or if they have any identifying marks on a map?"

"Um," Goh looked over his shoulder to see that the bird had bashfully drawn into herself. "I am sorry. I have never visited a city before."

Dang it. Goh was about to turn back to the map when he heard Terriermon sound off. "You know, you have another Digimon you could ask."

"I thought you lived at Elephantmon's farming village," Goh said bluntly.

"Yes Goh. And as decreed by the Digimon rulers of old, every Digimon must stay in one village. Never venturing into the outside world or even speaking of it," Terriermon sarcastically responded.

Goh decided to ignore his partner's lip in favor of getting to the expedition. "So, you've been to cities before? Have you been to this one?"

"Not this one," Terriermon shook his head. "But I've seen several that look like this place. If you're looking for a university or library, then you've got to head to the heart of the city. That's usually where they keep that junk."

A part of Goh wanted to ask Terriermon for some more details, but ever since their first meeting Goh decided to leave the snippy dog bunny to his own devices. The only times Goh ever spoke with his Digimon was when Terriermon would address him and even then, Goh liked to keep those interactions short. If Terriermon was bent on being a difficult conversation partner and a pest, then why bother?

"Wait, should we really go into the city?" May scanned the area as if expecting a wild Digimon to pop out of the ground at any moment.

"Do not worry, May. Elephantmon, Terriermon, and I did a thorough scouting job and found no signs of any wild Digimon nesting anywhere nearby. We should be perfectly safe," Biyomon assured.

With that, the group left a note for Elephantmon and sent a note on the DigiChat. The team then set off to the interior of the city. Had they looked back they would have seen the rat venturing out again. They would have seen the rat begin to scurry around before coming to a halt at the city boarder and high tailing it back to the safety of the sewers beneath the train station. After all, it was common knowledge amongst the local rodent population that crossing over into the city meant certain death.

The Inner City

For the most part, the inner city was just like the outskirts. Dreary, depressing, and dead. But that didn't stop Goh from whipping his camera out every five seconds to snap some pictures.

"Goh," Terriermon called over to Goh who was taking some pictures of a broken-down store with flickering lights. "Do you want to keep moving or not?"

"I'll catch up in a minute," Goh called back.

Terriermon plodded up to his partner and looked at what he was currently studying. "That's the ground, Goh. There's plenty of that next to the library."

"I'm not looking at the ground," Goh said with a hint of irritation in his voice. "I'm looking at the street."

"Oh, big difference," Terriermon said sardonically.

"Look, we don't have roads like this back home," Goh explained. He pointed to a section of the road. "See that, that looks like a circuit board. Which tells me that this city had so much tech that it had to be wired into its infrastructure."

"Yeah, cities are high tech," Terriermon shrugged. "It's just how they are."

"No, you don't get it," Goh started gesturing at various structures as the two continued down the street. "This is a city built by monsters! Back home, all of civilization was built by humans. Pokémon only lived in cities if they were either owned by humans or adapted to live in an urban environment. But this is a city built by monsters for monsters."

"Well, we didn't build them for the pigeons," Terriermon said in a tone that was still flat, but there was a hint of amusement creeping in.

Goh continued. "And because Digimon all have different sizes and body types, then their cities must have been built in a way to accommodate. Take that for example."

Goh pointed at a large door to a shop which had a couple of smaller doors carved into it. "Because Digimon come in different sizes some buildings have multiple doors with different sizes or just one giant door. I'm guessing the giant doors were automatic to allow the smaller Digimon to get inside."

When Goh turned to look back at Terriermon, he was expecting the usual smart aleck remark. But instead, the little hound was just smiling. "Actually, you've got it right. I'd add on that there's a lot of shops that are just stalls or don't bother with doors at all, but you've got the basic idea."

At this confirmation, Goh felt a small swell of pride. He always considered himself more of a cryptozoologist than an archeologist, but that didn't take away from the rush of a correct deduction. His eyes scanned for another foreign feature. They locked onto what looked like a landing pad with a rotting basket. "Where hot air balloons used for transportation?"

"Nope," Terriermon responded, popping the "p." "Those were baskets used by flying Digimon like Birdramon or Xiquemon. They were basically the crosstown express."

"You guys didn't have any vehicles?" Now that Goh thought about it, it would be pretty hard to make a transport for a Digimon. Especially someone like Terriermon who had stubby limbs.

"We had vehicle Digimon," Terriermon responded. There was a slight tremor in his voice. It didn't sound like he was about to cry, but Goh couldn't quite place what it was. "If the train station wasn't so broken down, we may have seen a Trailmon. There also might be an airport on the other side of town. That's where you would have been able to see guys like Blimpmon or Cargodramon. They had to build the train station and airports far away from each other or else the flying vehicle Digimon and the train Digimon would start fighting over who was better."

"Wow," Goh breathed. He remembered how amazed he was when he first met Elephantmon, a creature that was just naturally a cyborg. Since then, they had seen some other Digimon that were mechanical, but they all resembled animals. But now it sounded like there were Digimon like Lampent and Bronzong, Digimon that looked more like manmade objects. Except these guys were big enough that you could climb inside them.

Goh was about to ask about the café that had a bunch of fuel canisters out back when he heard some snickering followed by cackling. He looked down to see that Terriermon had doubled over with laughter.

"What's so funny?" Goh asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"Y-you're such a big nerd!" Terriermon chortled. "Just geeking out over everyday junk. It's kind of cute. Kind of like that time you tried to pay a vending machine."

Goh didn't respond. He just scowled and proceeded to stomp away to catch up with May and Biyomon. Anything else that exited Terriermon's mouth was ignored. To think, that Digimon was starting to look like an alright guy.

"Hey Goh!" Goh looked ahead to see May and Biyomon standing on top of a wide staircase that led to a massive, marbled building.

His target in sight, Goh charged forwards. He panted for a moment upon reaching the top, but then picked himself back up and headed straight for the doors.

"Hey, guys! Wait up!" Terriermon called from the bottom of the steps. Once the little Digimon made it to the top, he glared up at Goh. "Don't ditch me like that."

"Sorry," Goh huffed. "Guess I was too busy geeking out over this everyday library."

"Seriously?" Terriermon let out an exhausted groan. "It was just a little teasing. I was trying to laugh with you. You shouldn't take this stuff so personally."

Before Goh could retort, May opened the front doors. As she headed inside, she looked over her shoulder. "So, library?"

Sighing, Goh decided to let the situation go for now. He took out a lantern from his backpack and lit it. The library, though dark and haunting, looked to be in better condition than the streets outside. The books were a bit dusty, but otherwise looked intact. A couple of the lights flickered signaling that the building, just like certain stores outside, still had some kind of electric current. The building even maintained the typical library smell.

"So, where should we start," May brought her own lantern over to an area with a large window which added more light. "This kind of stuff is more up my brother's alley."

"Yeah, I'm more of a computer guy myself," Goh noted as he tried to turn on one of the library's computers. All he was able to accomplish was to get the screen to flicker before it permanently blacked out.

May walked over to a shelf and started to skim the titles. She then called over to Biyomon. "Hey, Biyomon. Could you fly up and search the higher shelves?"

"I suppose I could," Biyomon said nervously as she tapped her pointer claws together. "But I don't think I would be of much assistance."

"Why?" Goh looked up. The light was dim, but there looked like there was enough to see.

Biyomon casted her gaze at the ground. "I cannot read."

Everyone looked up at this confession. "Really," May questioned. "Because you sound so educated."

This comment seemed to lift Biyomon's spirits. She looked up at her partner and gave her a small smile. "Thank you."

"It's alright. I can take the top shelves," Terriermon offered. The little Digimon then spread his ears out, twisted, and leapt. His assent was less a straight trip up and more like a spiral reminding everyone who watched him of a helicopter or one of those propeller toys. At the peak of his arch, Terriermon grabbed onto a shelf with one of his ears and steadied himself. He then proceeded to hang onto the shelf with his ears while reading the various book titles. Shaking his head, Terriermon leapt off his shelf and spread his ears like wings to glide to another shelf.

Sometimes Terriermon would grab a book to give it a closer look or a quick flip, but then he would just shrug and toss the book over his head and onto the floor. He would repeat this process again and again until the top shelves were practically raining books.

"Hey! We're down here!" Goh shouted as a paperback went whizzing by his ear.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to hit any of you guys," Terriermon called back. He then took out a fairly hefty looking volume and gave it a quick flip before unceremoniously dropping it. He then glided over to another shelf.

"You weren't even done with that shelf!" Goh yelled. "What if you miss over something important?"

"Oh yeah," Terriermon scoffed as he sent another book soaring. "Because the secret to defeating Millenniummon is totally going to be written down in 'Carapace Maintenance for Dummies.'"

"Well, you could at least act like you're taking this seriously!" Goh fired back.

"I am taking this seriously," Terriermon jumped on top of a bookcase and began flipping through a massive tome before dumping it. "Here's an idea, why don't you pick up some books instead of micromanaging me? Because I'm starting to think I'm taking your idea much more seriously than you."

"You don't take anything seriously!" Goh retorted. "I don't know who's in charge of this chosen Digimon stuff, but they made a mistake when they paired me up with you."

With that, Goh stormed off. As he exited the room his foot swept past a red light that, like the rest of the faulty equipment in the city, flickered on and off. It stayed on long enough to both detect Goh's foot and to send off a message.

Elsewhere

Meanwhile, in an abandoned laboratory, a console came back to life. Though no one had used this computer in ages, it was able to boot up fast upon receiving a message from a scanner imbedded in the library. "Non-Digimon detected. Initiating Pest Control Protocols."

Library

In another section of the library, away from Terriermon and his avalanche of books, Goh slammed a history book on a table. He tried to look through it for something on Millenniummon, but seeing as he was completely unfamiliar with the history of the Digital World he had no idea on where to start. There was also no mention of Millenniummon in the index of this book, so maybe he should just move along to another book?

Dang it. Looks like Terriermon had a point in skipping through all those books. Well, he still shouldn't have been hurling them down at everyone.

"Goh?"

At the sound of May's voice, Goh turned around to see the girl standing in the doorway to the hall. "I was wondering if you needed any help."

"It's fine," Goh grumbled. "Everything is fine. I work better alone anyway."

"Okay," May awkwardly stood by the door for a minute, eyes searching between Goh and the hallway back. Finally, she spoke again. "It's just that, ever since I met you and Terriermon, it always seems like you guys are…fighting? Okay, maybe fighting is a strong word. But you guys never seem to get along."

"What's there to get along with?" Goh muttered. "You've seen how he is. He's constantly in my personal space, picks apart half the things I say, and I constantly have to tell him to keep out of stuff!"

"Yeah," May agreed staring off into a distant bookcase. "I know just how you feel."

"No, you don't," Goh continued to rant. "Biyomon's perfect. She's friendly, polite, and she actually knows what table manners are."

"Actually, I was thinking about my little brother."

That gave Goh pause. He snapped out of his tantrum and faced May. "Your brother?"

"Back at home, I have a kid brother. I know Terriermon calls you a nerd, but that just because he hasn't met Max. He's constantly reading Pokémon books, watching battles, and citing facts."

That description gave Goh flashbacks to his own childhood. "Sounds like a cool guy to me."

"He's also the biggest know-it-all in the world," May groaned. "It feels like I can't say anything around him without him correcting me. It's not like he's Mr. Perfect. Did you know that I once spent a week looking for my PokéNav and got in trouble for losing it? Except I didn't lose it. Max lost it when he took it without my permission! And then…"

"I'm sorry," Goh interjected. "Was this going somewhere?"

"Uhh, right," May bashfully rubbed the back of her head. "Do you have any siblings?"

Goh blinked at this question. He had Chloe, but she was just an old friend. "No, I'm an only child. But with how you talk about siblings it's probably better that way."

"Well, yeah, siblings can be a pain in the butt," May admitted. "But that's just Max's bad side. He's still a really smart kid and, even if he can get on my nerves, he has a good heart. If I just focused on all of his negatives, I'd miss out on all his positives. Like the times he tried to cheer me up when I was having a bad day or when he shared his lunch with some hungry Pokémon."

Catching the confused look on Goh's face, May nervously smiled and shrugged. "What I'm trying to say is that, yeah, you and Terriermon are obviously not related. But you are partners. So maybe you should, I don't know, find some way to get along? He might be a pain, but he's got to have a good side."

Before Goh could reply, a loud series of booms sounded off from the other side of the room. He and May scurried over to one of the bookshelves and peeked around the side. There, stepping out from a door, was a robot. The robot was rectangular and grey with short legs, long cable arms ending in claws, and a dome on top of its head. It's only organic component, an eyeball peeking out from the grills near the dome, swiveled around.

There was only one thing to do in a time like this: scan it.

"Mekanorimon, champion level. It's a Digimon with no will of its own and needs someone to pilot it to move. Its special attacks are Gyro Ball and Twinkle Beam. Wait a minute," Goh looked up at the domed cockpit. "Where's the pilot?"

"Maybe the pilot is just short or is ducking in the cockpit?" May suggested.

"Lifeforms detected behind shelf."

Both Goh and May stiffened when they heard the Mekanorimon speak. It sounded just like a robot out of a sci-fi movie or cartoon. With their cover blown, May gulped and stepped out from behind the shelf to nervously wave at the robot.

"Hello," May greeted tensely. "Is there anything we can help you with?"

"Pests detected within library confirmed," a red panel in the center of the robot's chest began to light up. "Initiating extermination protocols."

May sighed in relief. "Oh, thank goodness. It's just here for the rats."

"Targeting," a thin, red light beamed emitted from the red panel on the robot's chest and swerved onto May's head.

Just before the robot could fire off a laser blast, Goh seized May's wrist and pulled her back. "May," he said in a panicked voice. "I think we are the rats!"

As if to prove Goh's point, the Mekanorimon fired off several more lasers blasting the shelves apart. Not wasting another moment in that death trap, Goh and May fled out into the hallway.

"Do you remember the way back to the Digimon?" Goh called to May, trying not to focus on the heavy footsteps that never seemed too far behind.

"No!" May cried, narrowly avoiding another laser. "It took me a while to find you. Every room looks the same!"

The pair kept running through the maze of dark hallways until they ran into a dead end. May banged at the walls, despite to find a door in the poorly lite area. "WHO DESIGNS A HALLWAY LIKE THIS?!"

THUMP!

Both kids froze. They were now trapped. The only way out would be to somehow sneak past the bulky machine which was creeping closer with each step. The laser panel on its chest began to glow, causing both humans to press up against the wall in a futile attempt to back away.

But no laser fire came out.

"Laser in disrepair," announced the Mekanorimon. Before either human could breathe a sigh of relief, the robot raised its long claws. "Switching eradication methods."

"SCREEE!"

Just as the Mekanorimon was about to dice up Goh and May, a shrill bird cry came from down the hallway. Before the robot could advance, it found itself assaulted by a large, pink bird.

"Biyomon!" May gratefully cried out.

May's partner didn't respond. Instead, she just kept fluttering and pecking at the Mekanorimon all the while screeching like an angry Fearow.

"Stand back, citizen," the Mekanorimon stopped its advances. It then began to gently swipe at Biyomon to shoo away the angry bird. In response, Biyomon fluttered up to the dome and began pecking at it. One of the clawed arms came crashing down at Biyomon who leapt out of the way in time. The claw then smashed through the dome leaving it wide open.

"Spiral Twister!" cawed Biyomon. She hovered over the broken dome and summoned a small vortex of emerald flames which shot down into the machine's opening. The fire then ignited the rest of the Mekanorimon burning it form the inside out.

As the robot erupted into flames, Biyomon landed in front of the humans. May reached out to pet her partner but had to jerk her hand back when Biyomon whirled around and snapped her beak. For a moment the bird hissed at the humans, her feathers hackled. Biyomon then calmed down and blinked a couple of times.

Catching the taken back look on the two human's faces, Biyomon immediately began straightening her feathers. "Terribly sorry about that. Terriermon and I heard a ruckus and split up to find you. Let us meet back with him, shall we?"

With that, Biyomon walked around the burning wreckage and down the hallway. Before following her, Goh whispered to May. "Have you ever heard of the 'Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'?"

May gave him a small nod. "We watched it around Halloween once, yeah."

One Trip Down the Hallway Later

After a number of odd turns and dead ends, the trio were able to find Terriermon who was holding a small tome in between his ears. "Hey guys, what," Terriermon stopped to sniff the air. "What smells like burning electronics?"

"Terriermon!" May released a massive breath before slumping against the wall. "Am I glad to see you. We were just cornered by a Mekanorimon and…"

A dark look replaced Terriermon's usually laid-back expression. "Okay, expedition's over. We need to get out of here."

With that, Terriermon headed for the library entrance, but not with the same carefree attitude from earlier. This time his movements were quite, precise. He would often raise up his free ear in a stopping motion before heading forwards, using tables and shelves as cover before taking a look around and motioning everyone else to follow.

Taken aback by this change in character, Goh began to follow the Digimon before voicing his decent. "It's alright. Biyomon took out the Mekanorimon."

Terriermon looked over at Goh. "Was there a pilot?"

"Uh, no?" At least nobody tried to escape the wreckage when Biyomon's attack hit.

"Then there are others," Terriermon asserted. "Mekanorimon never work alone. They are either piloted or they have some master control program puppeteering them. If they are being controlled from a distance, then they are supposed to travel in groups to cover each other."

While May and Biyomon traded concerned looks, Goh's eyes narrowed. "How do you know that?"

Terriermon carefully crept closer to the front entrance. "I used to know someone who was really into science and junk. He had this routine where he would read some article on some new experiment or discovery and then seek out the nearest person to blab about it with. Namely me," as Terriermon spoke, Goh noted that his ears dropped ever so slightly.

Biyomon spoke up. "Pardon me, but what would those Mekanorimon be doing here? This city is abandoned."

"It said something about pest extermination," Goh muttered.

That comment grabbed Terriermon's attention from the front entrance. "Pest control? That sounds like overkill."

"You're preaching to the choir," May grumbled.

That answered the question on how Terriermon knew about Mekanorimon, but Goh couldn't help but to feel there were some blanks that the rookie was intentionally failing to fill. Before Goh could ask any more questions, Terriermon brought a paw up to his mouth in a shushing motion.

The remaining trio crept forwards and looked out the windowed front door and down into the street. Immediately Goh felt his heartrate rise. There were several other Mekanorimon making their way down the street towards the library.

"Oh no," May basically voiced Goh's thoughts. "What do we do?"

"Is there another exit or…" Goh began to muse out loud but was cut off by Terriermon.

"That'll just slow them down. I don't know anything about these 'pest control' guys, but regular remote operated Mekanorimon will keep pursuing their target unless they are given a new command or are shut down."

"So, what do you suggest?" asked Biyomon.

Terriermon looked around the neighborhood before his eyes fell on a particular building. A vicious smirk crossed his face, and he handed the book he was holding over to Goh. "I'm going to shut them down, hold this please."

Goh accepted the book. "Wait, what are…"

The doors swung open before Goh could complete his sentence and Terriermon went barreling down the library's steps. The rookie then landed on a streetlamp between the steps and a café with a sign out front of a humanoid robot holding a jug of oil. The sign read "Andromon's Machine Café." As the Mekanorimon stomped closer, Goh could see Terriermon lean back as though he was taking a deep breath.

No way. That dog could not be that crazy. "May, we might want to stand back."

"Why?"

As if to answer May's question, Terriermon unleashed a barrage of green, energy bullets at the café. More specifically at a large fuel tank left abandoned near the entrance. The reaction was immediate. The second the bullets hit the tank, it exploded. The explosion then engulfed the restaurant which set of any fuel, gas, or any other combustible substance inside. This culminated in one massive explosion which engulfed the Mekanorimon and sent Terriermon flying.

Before Terriermon could splat against anything, he spread his ears and glided around the area until he found a safe landing spot. He held one of his ears up in a stopping motion while the debris fell around him. Once the last chunk of metal hit the ground, Terriermon motioned for the rest of the party to come forward.

Biyomon was the first one to meet Terriermon at the bottom of the steps. "Are you okay?" she asked in a loud voice.

"You don't need to shout," replied Terriermon. "My species is built for ballistics. It'll take more than a measly explosion to turn me deaf."

Goh looked over at the smoking remains of the café, the robots, and some of the surrounding buildings. "You call that measly?"

"You should see a real explosion," grinned Terriermon. It was at this moment that Goh was starting to wonder just what kind of grenade was handed to him when the Digivice summoned him to become Terriermon's partner.

Just then, a robotic voice drew everyone's attention. A segment of one of the Mekanorimon had landed several feet away and began droning. "Unit has become incapacitated. Threat has escalated. Requesting back up."

"Okay," May began to pale. "Now's sounding like a good time to leave."

"No," Terriermon shook his little head. "These guys are locked onto us now. If we leave the city, it's very likely they'll follow us. And before any of you suggest that we try to outrun them, sorry, they can fly."

"So, we need to find the master control?" Goh took out his Digivice and turned on the map function. "Any idea which of these buildings could be housing it?"

"Um, I have an idea," May pulled out her own Digivice. "Whenever the police ask my dad for help finding someone, he uses his Staraptor to scout. Maybe we can do the same with Biyomon and the DigiView app."

"Makes sense," Goh agreed. "But wouldn't it be risky to send her ahead?"

"Well, I figured that since the other Mekanorimon called her a citizen, then they won't attack her unless she attacks them," May reasoned.

"That actually makes sense," Goh said thoughtfully.

"Let us do this!" Biyomon spread her wings and flew off. Her flight pattern was a bit wobbly as her limbs were more arm than wing, but her determination kept her airborne.

As Biyomon made her way around the city, the humans huddled in an alleyway with Terriermon for protection. Using the DigiView app, they could see the city below through Biyomon's eyes. It didn't take them long to find the newly deployed Mekanorimon.

There were multiple teams of Mekanorimon pouring out from one group of buildings in particular. The buildings looked to be a large facility. Biyomon tried to get closer, but when she did the Mekanorimon began firing at her declaring her an intruder and didn't stop until she backed away from the buildings. Then they just went back to ignoring her.

"Looks like an academy," Terriermon peered at the hologram over Goh's shoulder. "I'm betting some research nutcase got the crazy idea to use the Mekanorimon as exterminators. That or they were trying to program new protocols and were using vermin as dummy targets."

"Hey, check this out," Goh pointed to some of the robot units moving down the street on the holographic display. "They're sticking to the streets. None of them are going into any of the buildings. If we sneak through the stores and stay out of sight, we might find a way into their lab."

With that, the group began their mission. They stuck close to the shops, namely the ones which lacked a door or were left unlocked for the kids to sneak through. Biyomon kept watch over the Mekanorimon from a safe distance to make sure they didn't get close.

Alas, the stealth team was going to have to cross paths with the Mekanorimon at some point. As Terriermon peered out of a store, he could see a group of Mekanorimon patrolling the area.

"Isn't this a bit much for just pest control?" May whispered.

"To be fair, I'd be on high alert too if the local rats were able to blow up a fuel station," Terriermon whispered back.

"That wasn't us, that was YOU," Goh whispered pointedly.

"You're welcome," Terriermon whispered cheerily.

"Are you going to distract them?" May whispered as she ducked behind the door.

Terriermon shook his head. "Too risky. If I engage these guys, then they might call back up. We just need to watch and time their movements before we move."

With no better options, the group waited for an opening before crossing the street. Unfortunately, what little luck our heroes had ran out as all it took to garner the Mekanorimons' attention was one stray bird flying by overhead. No sooner had it released a quick chirp that it was disintegrated by lasers on the spot. It only took a brief moment for the robots to notice the pair of humans that were right under the raining ashes.

"MOVE!" Terriermon ordered.

He didn't have to tell them twice. Both Goh and May bolted for the nearest open shop. The Mekanorimon began to charge their lasers, but Terriermon leapt in the air and fired a series of pellets at the ground. This kicked up a cloud of dust which obscured the Mekanorimons' vision.

This tactic stalled the laser fire of the Mekanorimon that were already in the area, it did no good for the cluster of Mekanorimon that were blasting down the road on jet packs. But before any of the newly arrived robots could charge up their lasers, another voice cried out. "Spiral Twister!"

A vortex of green flames blasted the ground before the incoming Mekanorimon creating another cloud of dust as Biyomon swooped down into battle. Unfortunately, while the rookies' smokescreens may have made the Mekanorimon hesitant to fire their long range attacks, they had less qualms with short range brawling. For their part, Biyomon and Terriermon handled themselves well despite the obvious power disadvantage as they flew through and dodged attacks even misdirecting some of the Mekanorimon into attacking on another.

But in such an overwhelming onslaught, it was impossible for the humans to come out unscathed. Before Goh and May could make it to cover, a long arm grabbed Goh and lifted him in the air. The Mekanorimon at the other end of that appendage looked over Goh. "Scanning. Vermin confirmed," its laser panel began to glow. "Exterminating."

"No, you don't!" Terriermon flung himself at the cable like arm which threw off the robot's aim causing it to fire at another Mekanorimon.

"Bunny Blast!" Terriermon fired off more pellets at the hinges of the arm grabbing Goh, but it was not very effective.

"Citizen, you are attacking university property," droned the Mekanorimon. "Cease this at once or there will be consequences."

"Howling Blaster!"

Before the Mekanorimon could retaliate, a powerful eruption of blue fire ripped through the crowd blasting the arm that held Goh, along with Goh, into a nearby shop.

May

Within the mess of rampaging robots, May was on high alert. Already she was covered with a number of scrapes, some burn marks, and a couple of gashes from the accumulated near misses in the past minute. Had it not been for the sudden stream of fire, she wasn't sure how much longer she would have last.

May tried to get a look at her surroundings to see the source of the fire, not expecting to see said source barreling right at her. A loud scream erupted from May's lips as a large Arcanine-like creature landed next to her. She continued to scream as the canine grabbed her by the nap of her shirt's collar and bounded back and forth up the sides of buildings until it hit the roof top where it dropped her.

"May!"

Panting, May turned to see Biyomon flutter down from the Arcanine's back. "It is okay. I think this is the Garurumon we were supposed to meet."

Slowly, May's eyes looked up at the large wolf. It gave her a friendly wag. "Sorry if I was a little rough with you. I was afraid that if I was too slow that I'd lose you."

"You were fine," a boy with brown hair dropped down from Garurumon's back. He looked over at May and shot her a smirk. "Name's Gary. Nice to finally meet you."

"Hi, I'm May," May said dazed. She was still reeling from everything that just happened.

"Salutations Garurumon and Gary," Biyomon bent her knee and spread her wings as though she was doing a curtsy. "My name is Biyomon and I am May's partner. It is a pleasure to see you again, Garurumon."

"Hmm," Gary regarded Biyomon before taking out his Digivice. "Biyomon, rookie level. It's inquisitive and spends most of its time learning to fly. Her special attack is Spiral Twister."

Garurumon gave Biyomon a quick sniff before his eyes widened. "Wait, you're that Biyomon? The same one that…"

"Oh yes. That was me," Biyomon quickly cut Garurumon off.

"Wow. I know that Moosemon said that Kabukimon was a miracle worker, but I didn't think…wow," Garurumon muttered in surprise.

May looked up at the wolf. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, it is nothing. Really. I just needed some help and Garurumon and the other chosen seekers were kind enough to introduce me to him," Biyomon interjected. She then turned to Garurumon and gave him a pleading look. "Right?"

Garurumon looked back and forth between the confused kids and the desperate expression on Biyomon's face before responding. "Uh, yeah."

Okay. That was weird, but it was probably best not to dwell on it right now. May hissed at the pain racking through her body as she stood but was gratefully still able to stand. She turned towards Gary. "Where's your traveling partner?"

Gary jerked his head to the side. "Lillie and her partner are at the train station. Like you are supposed to be."

"We sent you guys a message," May defended herself. "Goh thought we could look for…Goh!"

Suddenly remembering her travel companion, May rushed over to the side of the building and frantically looked around. She could see some broken down Mekanorimon, some new Mekanorimon arriving on the scene, and a bunch of blasted and burned damage from the fight. But Goh and Terriermon were nowhere to be seen.

Meanwhile, the robots below began vocalizing new orders. "Champion level wild Digimon detected. Call re-enforcements and proceed to dispose of the vermin infected feral."

Gary joined May at the edge of the roof. "Vermin?" He said arching a brow.

"Wild Digimon!" Biyomon suddenly looked panicked. "I-I do not see any wild Digimon here. There must be some kind of mistake!"

"I think they're just mistaking me for a wild Digimon," Garurumon offered. "I am pretty big for a city dweller."

"And we're the vermin," May backed away from the edge. "We need to find Goh and Terriermon fast."

"Hostiles tracked. Preparing pursuit," chorused the unit of Mekanorimon below.

Gary climbed back onto Garurumon and held out a hand for May. "No, we need to leave."

"But," May was about to protest.

"If Goh is nearby, we'll only be putting him in danger if we search for him with all these guys chasing us," Gary explained.

May bit her lip, but Gary's reasoning was sound. She could also hear the hum of a squad of jetpacks powering up. Nodding, May took Gary's hand and climbed onto Garurumon's back.

Inside the store

Goh groaned in pain. Like May, he was covered in various scraps and burn marks from the brawl. Unlike May, he now sported some new bruises from when the bot grabbed him and the explosion which threw him across the street. When he tried to get up, various shocks of pain spiked across his body. He released a yelp.

"Oh no you don't."

From the corner of Goh's eye, he could see Terriermon firmly, yet gently pushed him back onto the floor. He then scampered over to the shop's counter and began diving through the drawers. "Should be somewhere….here!"

Terriermon popped out of a drawer victoriously holding up a first aid kit. He then hopped down to the floor and cracked it open and started taking out various bandages and bottles. As soon as Terriermon had what he needed, he began mopping up Goh's wounds.

"Since when do you know first aide?" Goh asked. Up until the crash landing with Elephantmon Goh and May had been unharmed. When they had gotten banged up by the MailBirdramon attack, Goh had volunteered to do first aid. So, he hadn't gotten a chance to see if Terriermon had any skills in that area.

"Who doesn't know first aide?" Terriermon indignity replied.

"Sorry," Goh winced as Terriermon dabbed at his wounds. "I just didn't think you knew how to take care of anyone. You kind of tend to be pretty immature."

"You think I'm immature?"

"How could I not?" Goh huffed. "You keep making jokes, even when we're inches from death, you have the table manners of a Snorlax, and you just admitted to looking through my journal."

"Yeesh. Tell me how you really feel," Terriermon rolled up a rag and handed it to Goh. "Bite down on this. I'm going to apply some ointment that's gonna sting. The Mekanorimon are gone, but if one of them just so happens to hear you scream, they'll be back in a flash."

Goh did as he was told and sure enough, the ointment stung the second it touched his skin. He groaned and hissed but did his best to keep the noise he made to a minimum. While Terriermon worked on cleaning Goh's wounds, he continued to converse. "Well, since we're airing our grievances, I'd like it if you talked to me a bit more. Outside of you scolding me, you don't really interact with me. Can you blame me for reading your notes?"

Once Terriermon finished dressing Goh's wounds, Goh removed the rag and spoke. "I didn't think you'd be interested in getting to know a 'nerd.'"

Terriermon tilted his head and gave Goh a confused look. "There's nothing wrong with being a nerd. A couple of my closest friends were nerds. Heck, if it wasn't for Hagurumon, I'd failed math class."

Wait a minute, math class? "You went to school?" Goh asked.

"Don't act too surprised," Terriermon laughed. "Before everything went crazy me and another Digimon from my village were able to win a scholarship to an academy to become explorers. Personally, I'm not the most studious guy. But I wasn't going to sit around and let a bunch of bookworms hog all the adventures."

Goh just stared at his partner. Since their first meeting Goh had written Terriermon off as a carefree joker and kind of a brat. It never crossed his mind that the little Digimon had its own occupational goals. Though, now that he thought about it, it made sense. While Digimon looked like Pokémon, they were also like humans in that they had culture, civilization. Dreams.

For a brief moment, Goh remembered the day that he discovered his dream. The day at summer camp that he stumbled across a Pokémon so rare that most people thought it was extinct.

"Did you get to explore anything?" Goh asked.

"Nah," Terriermon finished tying off another bandage. He then stood back and admired his handy work. "Just as I graduated, Millenniummon started flickering in and out of the atmosphere and the dominos fell from there. People were more interested in keeping the world together than exploring it."

As Goh looked over his bandaged arms, he could slowly see that Pokémon fade from his mind. Wherever it was, it was back in his home world. Even more out of his reach than ever now. "Back home, I had a dream. I wanted to be the first person to capture Mew. A mythical Pokémon that hardly anyone had ever seen."

"Bet that's pretty hard for you to do here," Terriermon mused. "Sounds like we both got screwed over by Millenniummon."

"Yeah," carefully, Goh stood back up. It was pretty amazing how fast the ointment healed. Was this what it was like for a Pokémon when they were sprayed with potion?

"Alright, so here's the deal," Terriermon hopped on top of the counter and looked around. "Garurumon lead all the other Mekanorimon away, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are some at the lab. And I don't think that they'll just let me waltz into their programmer's lab. So, we'll need a plan."

"Actually, I've been thinking about this," Goh began rummaging through the various miscellaneous items in the shop. "I think we can sneak by them if we've got a distraction. Was there an emergency light near the first aid kit?"

"What kind of distraction?" Terriermon reached into the draw and tossed Goh a flashlight. "Those Mekanorimon are only interested in us. Namely you."

"No necessarily," Goh swept the flashlight over the shelves until he found what he was looking for: canned meat. "They also attacked a bird, very different from humans, which leads me to believe that these guys aren't calibrated correctly. Maybe they'll just go after any animal."

"Including dead ones?" Terriermon said dubiously looking at the meat.

"I was thinking that we might use these to help fool their scanners into thinking something is alive," Goh smiled at his partner. "I saw a toy shop a block back. If we take a remote toy and cover it with meat, then maybe we can fool them into thinking it's a vermin to chase after."

Terriermon folded his arms and thought over this plan. "That sounds like a stretch. But I'm drawing up a blank on a better idea," he then looked up at Goh and grinned. "Let's do it."

As Terriermon leapt over the counter, Goh was about to climb over to join him when a thought crossed his mind. "Hey, Terriermon. You said that Millenniummon began appearing after you graduated school."

"Yeah?" Terriermon paused and turned around, ears perked.

"The war against the Forces of Chaos has been going on for centuries, right? Just how old are you?" Goh asked. Terriermon said that he graduated before the war, which begged the question on what the rookie was doing for centuries if not following his dreams. Then there was that sudden attitude shift after the Mekanorimon popped up. The knowledge, the skills, it didn't add up. "Who are you?"

In response, Terriermon just grinned. His voice was as childish as ever, but now Goh felt as though there was something different. Maybe it was the protected tone or the way he was standing, ready to jump into action at a moment's notice, but it was clear that there was more under the surface then the rabbit dog was sharing. "I'm your Digimon partner, Nerd."

Later, Outside the Lab

A little while later, Goh found himself and Terriermon sneaking closer to the university. Right before they reached the border, Terriermon yanked at Goh's leg. Heading the dog's warning, Goh barricaded himself behind some bushes and watched from an opening in the leaves. From his spot, Goh could see a couple of Mekanorimon stomping down the road.

"Guards?" Goh guessed.

"Yeah," Terriermon whispered back. "Okay, while I'm convince the pest control stuff is experimental, guarding is actually pretty standard. Mekanorimon who are programmed for guard duty tend to arrange themselves in a way that they cover each other's blind spots. Look."

Sure enough, as soon as the first couple of Mekanorimon passed by, another pair came around the corner. This meant that even if Goh tried to sneak behind the first group he'd be spotted before he could make it to the door.

"Then we just need to make a blind spot," Goh concluded. He reached into his backpack and brought out a couple of cans of meat and a remote-controlled mouse. He pealed back the opening for the meat and began smearing over the toy. Hopefully, it would be enough to fool the robot's sensors.

Once the mouse was sufficiently meaty, Goh grabbed its remote and began piloting it across the grounds. For a moment, the Mekanorimon did nothing. Then, one of the units began to watch the toy. For a moment, Goh thought his ploy didn't work. But then the robot spoke. "Pest detected. Initiating extermination protocols."

The Mekanorimon began warming up its laser which gave Goh time to direct the toy right by the other Mekanorimon. Completely focused on its target, the Mekanorimon didn't stop itself when its partner got in the way of the blast.

"Unit down, requesting back up," droned the Mekanorimon as it chased after the toy. The other Mekanorimon stopped their patrol and came over to help the first Mekanorimon chase the mouse. They all made such a commotion chasing after the speedy toy that they didn't notice a pair of intruders run up to the university's front doors.

"Wow," Terriermon blinked. "I'm surprised that actually worked."

"It was a gamble," Goh smirked as he dropped the remote. Now that he was at the entrance, he didn't need his diversion anymore. "But I'll take this over waiting for a distraction."

Terriermon smirked back up at Goh. "That would have gotten boring."

The two of them made their way down the school's hallways. It turned out that, aside from larger doors, Digital World hallways were not all that different from the hallways back home. Just as long, barren, and spooky. But at least there were no new Mekanorimon. Wait a minute.

"I'm not seeing any Mekanorimon," Goh thought out loud. "I don't think we're near the lab."

"You're right," Terriermon raised his ears. "I can hear those guys outside. It sounds like they're coming from another building."

Goh stopped to pear outside a window. From what he saw, the campus of the school had a fairly large yet simple design. All the buildings were circled around a large courtyard giving him a good view of the Mekanorimon's movement. He could clearly see the machines marching up and down the pathways and out of a building on the other side which Goh could only assume was the laboratory. "Then we need to head over there."

"Before we do that, there's something I need to do," Terriermon said from behind Goh.

"What's that?" Goh was about to turn, when he felt one of Terriermon's ears grab Goh by the shoulder. Before the boy could inquire or protested, he found himself flung into a closet.

"Hey!" Goh made a move to get out, but Terriermon had slammed the door shut and Goh could hear a crash indicating that Terriermon had moved something in front. Several test shoves against the door told him that whatever it was, it was heavy. "Terriermon! What are you doing?!"

"Sorry," Terriermon's voice was a bit muffled, but Goh could still hear it from the other side. "We've had too many close calls. Just stay there while I find the command console."

"Wait! What if you need my help?!" Goh continued to push at the door. "Hey!"

After a few more shoves and slams Goh began to feel his body ache again. He felt around the closet for a light switch or some content that could help him leave. Maybe he could use the faint light of his Digivice to…his Digivice!

Goh grabbed the device off his belt and quickly flipped it on to the DigiView. As soon as he did, the hologram displayed another part of the facility. It was still inside, but this building was occupied by Mekanorimon who were blasting lasers towards the "camera."

"Terriermon, where are you?" Goh frantically asked.

"Gah!" Through Terriermon's eyes Goh could see the rookie had backtracked into a classroom and was now looking for a way out. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Don't lock me in closets!" Goh fired back. "What was that about?"

Terriermon's sight settled on an air vent which he blasted open and moved inside of. "I didn't want you go get un-alived. I thought that was obvious."

"But it's okay for you to charge into danger?" Goh began pushing at the door again.

"In my defense, I was doing well until one of the alarms came back to life," Terriermon was now crawling through the vents. He was safe, but Goh could hear the Mekanorimon stomping beneath the vents, probably trying to figure out where the rookie went. "Which upgraded me from citizen to intruder."

Suddenly, a group of claws pierced the vents almost skewering Terriermon. "Oops, looks like they found the vent entrance. Guess they actually have a couple of brain cells in their processors."

SHINK! Another claw ripped at the vents. These ones were a bit further away. "Hey, kid," Terriermon's voice dropped all lighthearted teasing. "I'm sorry. A kid like you should have never gotten mixed up in our world's drama."

"It's fine," Goh felt the furniture in front of the door give a little. "I mean, it hasn't been all bad. I got to see a bunch of monsters and locations that no human has seen before. I complained a bit, but your world is really cool. I want to explore more of it with you."

Finally, the cabinet that was holding the door closed slid forward enough for Goh to squeeze through. Immediately, he ran to the window to see that all the Mekanorimon were converging on the building next door. Adrenaline pumping through his veins, Goh took off.

"Goh, listen," Goh heard Terriermon's voice come over the Digivice. "If I die, I want you to wait until the Garurumon comes to retrieve you."

Die. That word hits Goh like a ton of bricks. "Y-you're not going to die."

There was a sound of metal ripping. Goh looked down at the hologram to see that the vent had been ripped open and Terriermon was now swinging and tumbling through a crowd of robots. Though he was inches away from either a laser blast or knife-like claws, Goh could still hear his partner chuckle. "Don't sound so scared. Look at the bright side. If I go down, you can raise me from an egg. Maybe you'll get a more agreeable Digimon partner."

As Goh exited the building, he heard glass break. Locating the source, Goh could see that Terriermon had flung himself through a window and had now landed on the ground. Huffing, puffing, and covered with more gashes then Goh had, the little Digimon managed to keep standing to stare down the robots that were now climbing out of the building.

"I don't want a new Digimon," Goh shouted. "I want you!"

At Goh's words, a light began to emit from his Digivice. At the very same time, an orb filled with bolts of vermillion energy formed around Terriermon.

"Terriermon Digivolve to…"

The little rabbit dog began to grow until he was the size of a human adult. His fur's colors remained green and white, but the green was all focused on the upper portion of his head and down his ears save the very tips with new red whisker markings on his face. Terriermon's once stubby limbs grew out into more reasonably portioned arms and legs to carry his now larger body. Once the physical changes were complete Goh could see loose particles floating around in the orb come together around the new Digimon's body to create a pair of jeans and an ammunition belt strapped across his chest. Finally, the orb began to 3D print new mechanical appendages over the nubs at the end of the arms. These new "hands" were a pair of gauntlets shaped like a revolver cylinder with tiny, mechanical hands in the middle.

The bubble burst open and the new champion grinned and thrust his arms forward, ready to pump his enemies full of laser.

"Gargomon!"

"Now this is more like it!" Gargomon cheered. "Gargo Laser!" The cylinders on Gargomon's hands began to rotate as laser blast after laser blast fired out from its chambers, ripping apart the Mekanorimon on the spot.

"Gargomon, champion level," Goh read off his Digivice. "He's a hunter who uses his powerful legs to run fast and perform powerful jumps. He can fire the twin vulcan's on his arm using his special attack: Gargo Laser."

"Eyes forward!"

Right, they were in the middle of a robot swarm. Goh looked up to see that Gargomon had blasted apart the first wave of Mekanorimon, but there were still more coming.

Gargomon backed up in front of Goh. "Hey Goh, remember my promise to give you a ride?"

"I don't think you're tall enough for that," Goh said skeptically.

"We'll make it a piggyback ride," unperturbed by the dubious look on Goh's face, Gargomon smiled. "This will be cool, trust me."

Well, it was either that or get overrun by angry robots. Goh climbed up on Gargomon's back and held onto his shoulders. Once the beast man was sure that Goh had a good grip, he bent his knees and launched himself into the air. As he bounded across the campus, Gargomon would unleash a hail of bullets on any Mekanorimon he judged to be too close. Sometimes he would also fire his lasers directly at the ground to give himself an extra push into the sky.

"One last jump, kid," Gargomon called back to Goh. "Hang on, it's going to be a doozy."

With those words of warning, Gargomon leapt over the roof of the lab building. He then directed his guns downwards and began firing at the roof. By the time he landed, a large hole caved into the ceiling letting him and Goh in.

"You good back there?" Gargomon turned his head to look at Goh.

"I think I'm going to hurl," Goh weakly replied.

"Not on me you're not," Gargomon squatted to gently let Goh down.

Though shaky, Goh was able to gain his bearings fast enough for the two to start running through the hallways to check every room. Finally, they stumbled across a room that looked to have a giant computer that wasn't flicking on and off like every other piece of technology in the city.

"I'm not good with computers," Gargomon stated. "Can you hack?"

Goh walked over to study the machine. "Not really. But I think I can try something."

Hearing another troop of Mekanorimon stomp down the hallway, Gargomon raised his arms to ready himself. "Well, whatever it is, do it quick."

The Mekanorimon rounded the corner. They began to charge up their lasers. Gargomon's own guns started to rotate back to life. Right before another shoot out could begin, all the Mekanorimon hummed and dropped to the ground like a bunch of puppets whose strings were cut.

Gargomon turned to look back into the computer room to see that Goh was holding the plug of the computer in his hands. The beast man then walked up to one of the robots and gave it a quick kick in the chest. The Mekanorimon put up no struggle. They just toppled like a bunch of dominos.

"I don't know whether to be impressed or disappointed," Gargomon muttered.

Later

With the Mekanorimon taken care of, Goh and Gargomon strolled down the street without a care in the world. Every so often they would come across a group of deactivated unites, but otherwise the city was back to its normal, dead, self.

"Ah, so, Gargomon," the words awkwardly exited Goh's mouth as he suddenly found it very hard to make eye contact with his partner. "I wanted to say sorry for what I said earlier. About you not taking anything seriously and wanting a different partner."

"Don't worry about it," as Gargomon said this, Goh looked up to see the gun dog casually shrug. "You're not the first guy to call me a reckless and you won't be the last. Besides, I kind of deserved some of your flack. Sorry about the journal stuff by the way."

"No! It's not okay!"

Both human and monster stopped walking. Goh felt his entire body tense up as he forced himself to look Gargomon straight in the eye. "Back at the lab you were talking about dying like you were completely cool with it and that's not okay! It just came out of nowhere and it made me realize that I don't know anything about you. I just wrote you off as a pest and either ignored you or fought with you. I didn't even try to get along with you."

Not bothering to wipe away the tears that were welling up in his eyes, Goh straightened up and bowed towards Gargomon. "Can you forgive me for being a horrible partner?"

For a moment, Gargomon said nothing. Then Goh felt one of the champions ears reach over to ruffle Goh's hair.

"Hey!" Goh whined. "Gargomon! This is serious! Cut it out!"

"Terriermon, I see the way you fuss over and tease your partner."

As Digimon were creatures born from data, concepts like parents and siblings were very foreign to them. However, there was always the exception which proved the rule.

It was a rare event, but every so often when a Digimon was reborn it would split into two. Whenever this occurred, it was almost inevitable that the hatched Digimon would take on the form of a Terriermon and a Lopmon. Two Digimon that were polar opposites, yet completely complementary.

"He reminds you of your brother, doesn't he?"

Terriermon hummed as he flipped through a comic book. Currently, he was riding in the passenger car of a Trailmon headed towards Searchmon's Academy of Science. While the long trip to his new home away from home ware away at him, the same couldn't be said for his travel companion.

"Hey, Lops," Terriermon turned to the passenger sitting next to him. "How are you not bored?"

Sitting next to Terriermon was a Digimon that was nearly identical. Biggest differences being the coloration of the fur replacing Terriermon's white and green with brown and pink. The Digimon rolled his little, black eyes at Terriermon and put down his magazine. "I told you to bring more entertainment than a comic book."

"I'm saving up for game console," Terriermon leaned back in his seat. "What are you reading anyway?"

A wide smile crossed the brown rabbit's face. "Funny you should ask," he held up the magazine to Terriermon. "Take a look at this!"

"Monochormon's Shop sale. Everything must go," Terriermon read.

"Not the ads!" groaned the rabbit. "The article."

"GranLocomon returns from latest multidimensional expedition. Discovers a world of 'Appmon.' Writes all about his findings," Terriermon looked over at his travel partner. "How does he write? He's a train."

"Well obviously he hired a ghost writer to…that's not the point!" The floppy eared rabbit stood up. "Don't you see? This is our future! Once we graduate from the academy, we can join an expedition guild and become adventures like GranLocomon! We can find the lost treasure of Lampmon! Meet new species of monsters! Discover the world the human came from!"

"Find Megidramon's lost prison, uncover a portal to the Dark Ocean, take a picture of Parallelmon that's not blurry," Terriermon recited in a mocking tone. "Yeah, yeah. We've been over this already. Chill, Lopmon. We'll get to do this stuff soon enough."

"Why does your mind always wonder to the dangerous stuff?" Lopmon mumbled as he sat back down.

A devious glint appeared in Terriermon's eye. "Because that's the fun stuff."

"I know fate has chosen you to be his guardian, so I shouldn't pry…"

"Terriermon!"

Terriermon looked up from his homework to find Lopmon standing at the door to his dorm room, arms crossed.

"Sup, bro?" Terriermon turned his chair and grinned.

"Don't pretend you don't know what's 'sup,'" Lopmon began to lecture. "I know it was you and your friends who set off that stink bomb!"

"It's alright. I made sure that you were on the other side of campus before I set it off," Terriermon could still remember the screams of terror as all the students ran to protect their noses while Professor GoldNumemon noted that it smelled just like his flat.

"That's not the point!" lectured Lopmon. "What if you got caught? You'd be expelled and then how would you be able to join me on an expedition team?"

"Eh," Terriermon just shrugged. "If that happens, I'll just join some military and find adventure there. It's been years since the last war anyway, so we're kind of due. Hey, maybe if it's big enough we'll get drafted. We can adventure together!"

"Don't even joke about that," Lopmon grimaced.

"But I must ask that you reign in your destructive impulses."

"Uh, Terriermon?"

Cracking open an eye, Terriermon looked over from his napping spot in the school's courtyard. Lopmon stood next to him, eyes downcast and paws nervously shuffling. When he spoke, it was in a shy and quite tone. "About that fight, I'm sorry. We got really heated and I said somethings that I shouldn't have. You're my brother, something most Digimon will never get, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't live your own life. It was just a dumb class project anyway."

Lopmon then bowed his head towards Terriermon. "You're right, I do need to branch out and meet other Digimon. I shouldn't have thrown a fit just because you wanted to team up with SnowAgumon."

For a moment, Terriermon said nothing. Then, he reached over with one of his ears and began ruffling Lopmon's fur.

"Hey, Terriermon!" Lopmon whined. "Cut it out!"

"You're such a dork," chuckled Terriermon.

"We cannot afford to lose this boy too."

"You're such a nerd," chuckled Gargomon.

"Goh!"

Both Goh and Gargomon turned to see May, Biyomon, Elephantmon, and a couple of new humans and Digimon approaching. Goh recognized the new Digimon as Garurumon and Lunamon from reading through the DigiDex and as for the humans, one was a blonde girl dressed in white while the guy looked strangely familiar though he couldn't quite place his finger on where he'd seen him before.

Once he and Gargomon made their way over May gave wrapped him in a big hug cheering about how he was okay. A gesture which he could appreciate if he wasn't too busy feeling awkward about how his personal space was being invaded. Once May let Goh go and he expressed his gratitude that she was also in one piece, the girl in white came forwards and introduced herself.

"Hello, my name is Lillie," Lillie held out her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Goh, right?"

Goh accepted Lillie's hand. "Yeah, nice to meet you too."

The boy held his hand out next. "Gary Oak."

Upon hearing the boy's name, Goh's eyes bugged out. "Wait, Oak, as in Professor Oak, Oak?"

"Yeah, he's my grandpa," Gary's said with a fair bit of swagger.

"Wait," May studied Gary closely. "Is he famous?"

"Is he famous?" Goh exclaimed. "How could you not know?! Professor Oak is one of the world's leading experts in Pokémon and a former champion! And his son is huge on the tournament circuits!"

May mareepishly scratched her head. "I don't really follow Pokémon news. That's more my dad's and brother's thing."

"Now that's hard to imagine," Gary smirked. "I mean our world is practically fueled by Pokémon and the people who train them. Like yours truly."

"You know, the accomplishments I listed earlier are your relative's. Not yours," Goh said flatly.

Gary waved him off. "I'll surpass them soon enough."

"So, you guys were trying to find more information on Millenniummon at the library," Lillie asked.

"Yeah," May responded before casting her gaze at the ground. "Too bad it was all a waste."

Goh gave her a puzzled look. "What do you mean? We could still go back there and continue looking."

May adopted a sad smile. "No. After the Mekanorimon chased us for a while, we stood our ground and fought by the library. Between the lasers and the fire I don't' think any books survived. Sorry, Goh. It was a good idea, too bad it went to waste."

"Maybe not," said Gargomon which brought the attention over to him. "Hi, name's Gargomon. I'm Goh's partner."

"Oh yeah!" May lite up. "Congrats on evolving!"

"Yes," Biyomon joined in. "After such a dreadful day it is nice to see at least some fruit to our labor."

Gargomon grinned. "You want fruit? Check this out."

One of Gargomon's ears reached over and unzipped Goh's backpack. Goh was about to call him out for it but decided to let it go for now and save a talk about boundaries for later. Hopefully, now that they had established some understanding, Gargomon would listen to him a bit more.

"Goh, hold out your hands," not sure where Gargomon was going with this, Goh complied. The book that Terriermon had been carrying in the library dropped into it.

"Get this, someone was able to get their paws on the journal the first human kept when he journeyed around the Digital World!" Gargomon touted. "This book contains photocopies of every single page!"

"No, way!" Goh felt his heart skip a beat. This was perfect! "You're the best, Gargomon!"

Gargomon winked. "You can shower me with complements later. Let's open that book!"

"Yeah," May agreed. "We fought an army of robots for this. Let's see it!"

Without further ado, Goh opened the book. As he skimmed through the contents, his face morphed from enthralled, to worried, to pure horror. "No, no, no."

"What's wrong," Lillie asked in concern.

May rushed over to Goh to look over his shoulder. When she saw what he was reading, her face fell. "No way, this guy…"

Goh finished her thought. "This guy's handwriting was awful! I can't read a thing!"

AN: Remember, penmanship counts!

Welp, probably not going to write a chapter that long again. Maybe.

Now for the part where I explain my choices. Let's start with Goh's partner: Terriermon/Gargomon. I chose him because he's kind of a combo of the Galarian starters, aka Goh's main Pokémon. While Terriermon is technically a dog, he's still associated with rabbits like Scorbunny through his ultimate form, Rapidmon, and his relation to Lopmon. Gargomon is a marksman like Inteleon (though Inteleon is a sniper and Gargomon is a gatling gunslinger). And he's green like Grookey. Perfect!

As for May I've chosen Biyomon for several reasons. First off, she's a bird just like Torchic. Second off, I think that Biyomon will serve as a good rookie for the line that I have in mind for May. I won't be giving too many spoilers, but let's just say that I'm trying to make her champion, ultimate, and mega forms slightly reference the domains of the weather trio.

For their Digivice colors I chose vermillion for Goh since he lives in Vermillion City and emerald for May as a reference to Pokémon Emerald, the director's cut of the third gen games. Also, we already have two red (Ash and Goh) and two blue (Gary and Misty) Digivices so using ruby or sapphire just felt redundant. I was thinking about magenta as a variation of purple (ruby and sapphire mushed together), but just went with emerald in the end.

George Lucasing Note: A couple more Digivice color changes. I was going over some old chapters and noticed that a couple of devices needed to be updated. I swapped out magenta for emerald and white for black. The emerald swap is explained above, but I'll get into the white for black swap later.

The More You Know: Terriers were originally bred for pest control, so Terriermon probably wasn't kidding when he suggested rats for dinner.

Now for the reader response recess!

Giblo126: Thank you for spotting the mistake! I would give you a No-Prize, but I'm not 1960's Marvel Comics (and this was a grammar error, not a continuity error, but it's all in the same spirit) so all I can do is give you a thanks and a smile

As for the shipping, yeah I've seen a fair bit of fanfics floating around of people putting Ash and Goh together. I attribute this to shippers' tendency to take any characters who spend more than 5 seconds with each other and try and shove them into the kissing booth.

…Who am I kidding? Shippers don't even need characters to even know each other before pairing them up.

The one who reads and writes: Glad to see you had some fun with the interlude. As you have probably guessed I'm not going to have these guys fight Milliniummon until later (multiple bouts in fact), but I do already have rough drafts for how these encounters will go down and how our heroes will win or skirt death. That being said, you have me intrigued. Please, do tell me how your Milliniummon slaying plan.

To Ashpoke55 and everyone else tuning in, thank you for reading! God loves you and so do I! Let's go forward and make this a fantastic year!

Digimon Introduced

Terriermon: Rookie, Vaccine, Beast

Biyomon: Rookie, Vaccine, Baby Bird

Gargomon: Champion, Vaccine, Beast Man

Mekanorimon: Champion, Virus, Machine

Lopmon: Rookie, Data, Beast

Next Time: Brock finds himself trapped in a sandstorm! Fortunately, some of the locals are able to help him find cover and Ash and Misty. Too bad our trainer friends aren't the only one looking to escape the raging winds.