"Do you guys always fight like that?" Mitsuko said, referring to the fight, between Juniko and Mikuni, as she looked between the two.

"Yes, pretty much, but we never let this stop us from, getting along, though, she just doesn't have a filter on her thoughts, and feelings," Juniko said, smiling awkwardly. "She is just angry that I floored her once when she tried to attack my then boyfriend, now fiancée"

Takajin nervously squirmed, and their face turned a slight shade of crimson "Yeah Fiancée" he said, gaining control of his faculties, and nerves, he had no clue why that subject matter since, his marriage to Juniko was arranged nearly a year ago.

"You were lucky then, I could have gotten you back really badly, but that could happen any time, Just wait, someday if you ever try to get in my face again," Mikuni said, shaking and clenching her right hand into a fist, but showing it on her face.

"I can't wait to spar with you, but I don't think this is the right time for that," Juniko said, bumping fists with Mikuni.

They ate breakfast, quickly and got back on their journey to the swamp, hours later it was visible in the distance, but so were some unsavory-looking people in black cloaks, Mitsuko pointed out one of them was Kane, how they got there before them was a mystery, probably put it together that they would take this shortcut.

"What do we do now?" Mitsuko said while petting her Digimon partner Gatomon, who was also looking with concern at this situation.

"We could sneak past them, that's always an option," Gatomon said, purring, from being petted, but her concerned expression never changed.

"I rather take them on here and now, get them out of the way" Mikuni interrupted, stepping forward like she was about to take them at that moment. "A champion of justice does not hide from the enemy that's in their way" but she was stopped by Juniko who stepped in her way.

"We do not know what we are dealing with, Mitsuko, you know this guy, can you tell us, his strengths and weaknesses, If we are to have to we will fight our way through him," Juniko said, turning to Mitsuko for answers.

"He is one of my kingdom's fiercest warriors, I thought he was loyal to my family, until the day Queen Anarchy appeared, she assassinated my parents, and murdered my two caretakers," Mitsuko said, timidly, not looking at anyone she was talking to. "Within months my whole kingdom was plunged into fear, I was held captive in the tower, I prayed to Lilithmon and Lorrimon for help, but they never answered, they appeared to have forsaken me and my people… sorry I went off topic there. "

Juniko went to place her hand on, but once again Mitsuko, but she pulled away from her this time too, briefly giving the same expression she had before "I am sorry I didn't know your kingdom was suffering so much I would have sent help sooner" she said, retracting her hand from near Mitsuko.

There was a sudden tap on Juniko's shoulder, and she turned to see behind her stood, Huang, She hugged him tightly, but there was no time to catch up "When did you arrive?" Juniko asked, pulling away from Huang.

"I got there, ahead of you at least 20 minutes ago, and I barely got away without them noticing, They were there about 10 minutes later, I am not sure if I actually avoided them, or they just let me get away from their leader has eyes like a hawk, I got here about 5 minutes ago, they could have followed us, I'm not an expert tracker like you or Mikuni, so I am not sure" Huang said before Juniko interrupted him with a finger to his mouth

"Huang you take Mitsuko, and run, we will hold them off" Juniko shouted, as the knights appeared from the other side of a hill, she and the other digidestined, ran towards them. Huang grabbed hold of Mitsuko's arm and pulled her in the opposite direction, not giving her time to react, Gatomon ran to catch up with them, protesting as she did so, Babydimon was still snoozing away on his shoulder like nothing was going on. They were reaching the firewall surrounding the swamp, and they were beginning to feel the heat from it, until a face appeared, made from flames itself, it smiled, then split in two, revealing an entrance to the swamp

"Where is Mitsuko, I saw her with you, hand her over now, and nothing will happen to you," Kane said, through gritted teeth while looking around rapidly, As he held a blank look on his face, he held Takajin by the throat "My Digimon will be arriving soon and I better know where Mitsuko is before it gets here"

"We are the digidestined, you know that, go away and nothing will happen to you," Mikuni said, her Digimon partner Vasantmon appearing behind her, like a phantom appearing. "Now let go of Takajin before I make my partner hurt you"

"She's not here Where is she, where is she!" a masked soldier said, in a slightly panicked voice, leaning against his Digimon partner Monochromon, using him to stand up, both looked very upset "You really don't know what you are dealing with here," he was interrupted by Vasantmon who tried to pick up Monochromon and threw it causing the soldier to fall to the ground.

Monochromon stood up, snarled, and charged at Vasantmon, who quickly dodged the incoming, monochromon turned and looked around, and then charged again, into a fading image of Vasantmon once again, it was angry now, and so was the soldier, who ran towards, Mikuni with a mace in his hand, as when trying to cave in her skull, she latched onto his arms, and his face met with the ground this time. She seemed to have never lost a step in the year of peace they had been enjoying, she never wasted a motion in her battles for a girl her size, She was quite the capable warrior, but what did you expect from someone who was still a practicing vigilant, snd was trained from childhood to be a warrior princess, He was back to his feet, he was even angrier than before, he was spitting with every bit of venom he had when he spoke, his mask was caked with mud, grass and other stuff his hair and mask had picked off the ground when he had landed. "You don't know what you are doing," he was interrupted once again, by Mikuni, who floored him again, just as another Digimon arrived, it was a SkullMeramon.

"I am a high General of the Satapia kingdom, I have fought many battles in the name of my monarchy, I will not lose to the likes of you," Kane said, pretty much yelling every word.

"I am former Princess Mikuni Suzubuya, In my republic of Suzubuya, I am the champion of justice known as the Blackavar, I have fought many battles too, and you will go down, like the rest of them"

There was now a stare-down between, Mikuni and General Gemini Kane, the angst between them was palpable and could be visible if that had been possible. They sidestepped taking a measure of each of their opponents.

"If you weren't digidestined, I wouldn't be taking any of you, one bit seriously, you are children, and should be home playing with your toys, and being scolded for eating your snack, before finishing your chores," Kane said, with pity now seeping into his tone.

"Don't you ever shut up, we fight now, then you lose and crawl back to that Queen Anarchy of yours, with your own head shoved up your hindquarters" Mikuni said, going into a defensive stance.

"Once I get Mitsuko, and take her home, she is my priority now… now… stand aside, you little brat" Kane shouted, charging towards Mikuni, who sidestepped him, knowing that he was coming. "Where is she tell me now"

"Long away from here I hope," Juniko said, accidentally looking in the direction of the swamp, which Kane noticed, and gritted teeth and turned away from the digidestined, ran toward where she had been looking, she cursed under her breath, and ran after him, followed by Mikuni, and the others. In the distance, they could now see Huang, dragging Mitsuko, as Gatomon ran trying to keep up with them, as those entered the forest, a wall of fire encircled the forest like it had been a sentient being who was protecting them. Kane ignored the fire and charged through, leaving his soldiers behind, waiting anxiously for the fire to go away.

Huang ran before, accidentally letting go of Mitsuko, who tumbled to the ground, she shouted Ouch as she impacted a hard rock, and blood issued from where landed the hardest. He stopped and looked around briefly before tending to his charge's injuries.

"You could have pulled my arm out of its socket you are so rough," Mitsuko said, protesting as she rubbed her shoulder.

"Well, excuse me, princess! I could have just left you back there, for those soldiers to capture and take you forcefully back to be a prisoner again in your own kingdom" Huang said, his voice raising and dropping as he spoke, going from a whisper to almost shouting.

Mitsuko's filled with renewed tears, as she registered what was just said to her, and what it meant "I didn't mean to be a burden" she said, before full-on crying.

"I am sorry you aren't a burden, I am just in a bad mood, I was going to visit my brothers, when I was dragged here, out of the blue by your emergency I am sorry I am taking this out on you" Huang said, hoping Mitsuko would stop crying, he didn't like it when girls it made him feel like a bad guy. Mitsuko was kind of cute for a princess, he had a hard time liking royal people, and their easy lives compared to his life on a farm. From what the letter had stated Mitsuko's life had been far from easy. "You know this swamp and can guide me through?"

Mitsuko stopped crying, wiping away the tears on her face with her sleeve, and then nodded, taking hold of Huang's hand once again, if she noticed the goosebumps on his arm, she wasn't showing it. "I used to sneak out here, and play games in this swamp despite how dangerous it was supposed to be," she said, looking around "It's the wild Digimon you have to worry about, The Swamp has the firetraps and the sinking bogs, but once you know those signs and what they look like it becomes a piece of cake" she stopped, crying wiping the tears from her eyes.

"A princess playing in a swamp, and I thought I heard everything," Huang said, sounding somewhat impressed by a girl with royal blood playing in a swamp, full of dangerous wild Digimon

"Gatomon was there with me, I trust her with my life, she has been my best friend since I was born, we came here together and played various games together, Those were the days," Mitsuko said, tackling Gatomon, and rolled around together, through various underbrush and mud, momentarily forgetting her situation.

"No fair I didn't have a warning for that tackle, you nearly scared the crap out of me," Gatomon said, chuckling to let them know, she had not just known it was coming, she had enjoyed being tackled, till her ears perked up suddenly "for a second I thought I heard something, you know that Gemini knows this swamp too since he was personal bodyguard when you were a child, he kept his distance but I still could smell him"

"Never thought he would betray his own kingdom and side with that Queen Anarchy, once I take back my kingdom, he will spend the rest of his life behind bars," Mitsuko said, looking in the direction her kingdom was in.

"As Digidestined I'll help you bring peace to your kingdom, no matter how long that takes," Huang said, placing a hand on Mitsuko, she almost looked like she was going to lean in to cry on his shoulder but stopped before she did.

They rested there for several more minutes but kept a vigil over their surroundings in case Gemini popped out of nowhere, Huang started a fire, since the swamp was kind of cold, for supposedly being infernal, he guessed it was named for the firetraps Mitsuko mentioned. "No sign of Gemini or any wild Digimon, Where I lived in my village we never had an issue with wild Digimon?" he said turning and asking Mitsuko.

"No one knows, they use to be harmless, then years ago, before my time, they suddenly became feral, and attacked those who ventured through, I was told this when I asked my attendants why I couldn't come here" Mitsuko answered while poking the fire with a stick. "I was told because the Digimon there were acting weird, It was like something had overwritten their nature, and made them hate people, and their Digimon partners, to make things worse they are all fire Digimon in this swamp hence why it's called infernal"

"I was hoping that it had been because of that wall of fire that was being formed when we were running towards the swamp, not because of the Digimon that lived in it," Huang said, eyeing his surroundings with even more caution.

While standing on the other side of the flame barrier was the rest of the digidestined, with the soldiers that had been left behind, the soldier had taken up a defensive stance when they spotted the digidestined coming in their direction.

"I don't understand why we have to prevent you from coming to Satapia, the queen wants you there, she wants to kill you so badly," one of the soldiers said, while the others agreed with their sentiment. Their Digimon partners arrived at their side, both were monochromon, and both looked very angry. One of them charged toward Takajin, who once again with his Digimon partner was now enveloped in spheres of light,

Firamon now stood there, but something was wrong, and he was not reacting to the threat heading towards his human partner, his eyes clouded for a second, then he shook it off, and charged at the incoming monochromon, there was a head-on collision of the two causing a tremendous shockwave.

"Go I'll catch up with you" Takajin shouted over to, Juniko and the others, who were about to join in the fight.

"No I am staying, you can't fight them all by yourself" Juniko shouted back, as she pulled out her Digi chip, Mikemon and herself were enveloped in spheres of light. And standing beside her when it dissipated was Kunoimon, the ninja cat Digimon.

The two more soldiers arrived, uncloaked, and they were now wearing Rose gold bronze armor, with black accents, and helmets decorated with a weirdly shaped star, with masks exactly like the one soldier that Mikuni had floored. Still, their visors were raised, one of the new arrivals was female and the one with a visible limp was male. The female's hair was blonde, her ponytail was sticking out the back of the helmet, I couldn't tell what hair color the male was his helmet completely covered the top of his head. One of them had green eyes and olive-colored tanned skin like they had seen a lot of sun, and the other was completely pale, They both looked daggers at Juniko, and Takajin, making them briefly wonder what have they ever done to these people, but brushed it off as having gotten in their way of getting their hands on the princess, but they have now taken up position, between them and the swamp. Their Digimon partners were for the girl was a Sunflowmon, and the guy's was Chamelemon, who also looked pissed

"For Stormguard!" the male soldier shouted before, she and her Sunflowmon charged towards Takajin and Juniko. Firamon intercepted it, The soldier cursed in response but turned to his fellow soldiers and said something to them, and they nodded in reaction, Their Digimon partners joined him in the follow-up charge, something felt off about this.

"How can you serve, an evil harbinger of destruction as queen anarchy" Juniko asked, looking at the soldiers.

The female soldier stepped away from the others, She walked up to Juniko like she was about to say something, but instead spat in her "Yeah it looks more like you are following a destroyer of lives" she said as she wiped her mouth. "Queen Anarchy is nothing, but love, she is the shining one, and those that fear her deserve it, especially those like you"

Juniko had heard this stuff before, as Lilithmon and her followers had talked like this too, even though before, her fall, it had been true, but from Mitsuko's story, Queen Anarchy had never been good at all, coming in and killing everyone she cared about. "Mitsuko has told us a much darker story," she said, noticing this made the soldiers flinch, but also made them angrier than before.

"Shut up, you harbinger of lies!" said all the soldiers in a joint hiss, as they and their Digimon partners, started to get ready to charge once again. It was obvious they were just buying their leader, Kane, time to catch up with Huang and Mitsuko in the swamp. Even though it wasn't clear how they could follow with that enormous wall of flame. that's when a face appeared in the firewall, around the forest, it was a woman made from the flames, the only thing not red and yellow were the piercing black eyes like staring into the void "What are you doing, it was there and then it was gone, but there feeling that the fire was watching them was still there. Whatever it had given Juniko the shivers, causing gooseflesh on the back of her neck, it must have been Queen Anarchy. They had to get passed these soldiers, Huang on his own had no chance against something like that.

"I know this is overkill but I think you probably bring on the storm," Juniko said, looking over to Mikuni, who nodded, then she and her Digimon partner were engulfed in spheres, this time golden, which rose into the sky, clouds now accumulated, once the sky was full of clouds, forming a cocoon in the sky. A rabbit in a wind vortex, which took on the shape of two shuriken.

"KazeLeporimon, the winds of Courage" Rabbit in the vortex of wind, as the wind finished forming into shurikens, one above it and one under it. It watched as one of the monochromon, launched itself at KazeLeporimon, but ended up being hurled through like a kite, the other monochromon did the same, this Happened over and over again, before one of the monochromon, it was like KazeLeporimon was playing around. The soldiers stared in stunned silence, but they eventually joined the fray and engaged Mikuni, who extended her quarterstaff Seeing this coming, she quickly in one fluid disarmed the male soldier and made him fall face-first into the ground, She smirked in the direction of the female soldier, she growled in response bringing her polearm mace, and renewed her charge towards Mikuni, who promptly swept the legs right from under, then kneed her in the face while she was falling, then let her land on her face after.

"This brings back memories, and reminds me, I should have warned you never fight Mikuni, she will hand you your own behind," Takajin said, doing a deep sigh, "Wasn't that kinda overkill, I think you broke that poor girl's face, and pride?"

"I am checking on them, -" said Juniko, as she began to make her way toward the soldiers

"I think I handled that as quickly as possible," Mikuni said, bringing down her foot on the backs of both soldier's heads knocking them both out. She looked over to see her Digimon partner had taken the Sunflowmon, they were groaning in a crumpled heap, KazeLeporimon dedigivolved back to Lopmon, and landed on Mikuni's shoulder.

Juniko frowned at Mikuni "Was that even necessary, they weren't going anywhere, and we could have gotten info on this Queen Anarchy, they speak of, all we are going on Is What Princess Mitsuko has told us" she said, with a sigh.

"Point taken," Takajin said, shrugging, and turning to face, where they had sent Huang and the Princess running, "We need to catch up with them.

Before they went any further, one of the soldiers struggled and managed to sit up "That flame when it lets people in, if you don't sign the password, it will be deposited somewhere random, in the swamp" the soldier said, before crumpling over and passing out again.

"Yes," Juniko said, agreeing with Takajin, "um Takajin your Digimon is trying to set the soldiers on fire" She pointed at Coronamon, who was hopping up and down on the male soldiers, before Takajin intervened picking him up, and scolding him.

"Their general is in the swamp, with the princess we were supposed to escort, we need to catch up with them as soon as possible, we don't have the time," Mikuni said, ignoring the look Juniko was giving her. "let's go now!" she took off without letting anyone respond, followed the rest of the digidestined that were there.

-Infernal Swamp-

Huang hadn't seen anything dangerous yet, at least the fire Digimon that were supposed to be out of control, what Princess Mitsuko had warned about, even though the place did have a weird aura, something he could not place, but it felt familiar, an energy he had felt before, that's when Mitsuko caught his eye, where he was now seeing her in a new light, not as a princess, but as a girl, damaged, pained and anguished, there was something more to her sorrow, a deeper wound, that she kept carefully hidden from him. Hopefully, she would open up and let him in, but he wasn't going to push her into doing so. That's when saw it, it was like a lizard on fire, was a Flarerizamon, and it looked pissed, "Princess hides behind a tree" Huang said, patting Babydmon on his shoulder, who yawned, and jumped off. His Digimon partner was then engulfed in a sphere of light as he digivolved into Coredramon, then got between his master and Flarerizamon

As Flarerizamon approached, it never looked at them at all, it was like it wasn't focused on anything, looking, its eyes glowed weirdly, a dark shade of green, that stuck out through its flames like a sore thumb. But it was still advancing on them, then it stopped, and breathed fire into the sky, before charging at Coredramon.

"This is what I am talking about, I used to play here as a child, Until Queen Anarchy showed up I was never threatened by any of the Digimon, who reside here," Mitsuko said, from the tree she was now hiding behind. She ducked back as the flame attacks of both Coredramon and Flarerizamon came into explosive contact with each other, blasting the bark off trees. Even nearly knocking Mitsuko off her feet, even with a tree as a barrier between her and the shockwave. They clashed repeatedly, fire versus fire blast. The trees around them were now on fire, causing Mitsuko to retreat to another tree to hide behind.

Flarerizamon wasn't fazed, it stared blankly at Coredramon, before charging once again towards him, performing a thrusting rush at Coredramon, who countered with Blue Flare Breath, knocking Flarerizamon briefly off its feet, but it was on its feet within seconds of touching the ground. It stood breathing heavily, walked a few feet forward, it stopped like it had spotted something, then it keeled over and changed back into its child form, which ran away.

Huang stared at the feeling Digimon, confused at what just happened, and turned around to go help Mitsuko, who was still hiding behind a tree.

"What happened was probably because of Queen Anarchy, her arrival has destabilized this swamp, Look over at the waterfall over in the distance, it's water but it is ablaze like an inferno," Said Princess Mitsuko, gesturing towards a distant blaze.

Huang would have noticed it, even if the princess hadn't pointed it out to him, flaming water pouring down but not scorching the landscape below it, the waterfall that spread across the horizon, a breathtaking terrifying spectacle to behold, he wondered what it looked like before, it was the biggest waterfall he had ever seen. He needed to get Princess Mitsuko back to her kingdom, to restore things back to their former glory.

Mitsuko's eyes widened, "General Gemini…" she said before, turning and running, and Huang followed her example.

General Gemini Kane, stepped out from behind a tree "Princess come back!" he said, through gritted teeth, his face slightly puck-marked with blisters from going through the fire barrier, he gave chase.

-Outside the Swamp-

Juniko looked at the towering wall of flames and wondered how they were going to pass it, that's when the face appeared again, it was looking at them amused. "I'll let you in, where the path to Satapia is the safest, You will meet up with your friend and the princess when they arrive, she is the only way to get in, I want you here," the face said, nearly laughing as she spoke. The face was then replaced with hands, spreading like they were opening a curtain, and the wall of fire opened like it was that.

"This could be a trap of some kind, but we need to get to Satapia, so let's go spring the trap, and make a queen bow to a champion of justice, to pay for thinking they had a slight chance of trapping us," Mikuni said, with a smirk on her face. Before heading towards the opening in the firewall, the rest of the digidestined followed.

Instead of a swamp in front of them beyond the firewall, it was an unkempt road, like no one had used it in years, weeds and grass had overtaken it, and the only thing that showed it had been a road was cobblestones that framed it, but even those were barely visible, in the distance was a giant mountain, that reached into a vicious looking storm, it was a terrifying yet beautiful vista to be seen, that had to be the kingdom of Satapia. There was still a couple of hours' journey for them to reach it.

When they were gone, the soldiers, came out of hiding, it was the same soldiers the digidestined had beaten, they stood in front of the firewall, and that face appeared once more "They are on the road, do not follow them, rendezvous at checkpoint Alpha" it said before turning back being the wall again.

"As you command my light," the female soldier said, before seemingly drawing in the fire, it not harming her at all, possibly because of the weird runes on her gauntlet.