"I need to speak to the king! It's urgent!" A gray canine like Digimon screamed as he kicked open the doors to the ginormous palace in the center of the city. He was immediately apprehended by two giant monkey Digimon with yellow fur and a big bone staff.

"You dare barge in here and demand for the king!? We could have your head for this!" One of the monkey Digimon threatened the canine while the other wielded his bone staff. The canine struggled under the guard's hold as he tried to plead his case.

"Apemon, it's important that the king hears this! This might save us—!" Apemon slammed the canine's head into the ground as the other Apemon prepared his staff. He swung it down as the canine Digimon screamed one last plea for his life. "IT'S THE DIGIDESTINED!"

"Hold it!"

Apemon froze as the king's voice rang out in the room. The king signaled for the other Apemon to release the canine Digimon allowing him to get close to the king.

"Speak, Gazimon!"

"Ah, yes, my liege. You see, a ship was spotted off the coast of Leaton. We have reasons to believe it's the Digidestined," Gazimon spoke.

The king hummed as he slowly stood up from his throne and slowly walked over to the ginormous window behind him. He peered through it and looked down at his kingdom. He watched the owners of the local shops clean up the wreckage from the last attack. He also saw the baby Digimon bouncing along the street, playing with whatever debris they could find.

Ever since that monster showed up, living in his kingdom was becoming difficult for his subjects. Businesses had to close down because they couldn't afford rent after having to pay for repairs to their buildings. Children were disappearing almost daily; he had to set a curfew for all the baby Digimon. Even then it wasn't enough because the monster always found a way to break into his subjects' homes and kidnap the babies.

His subjects pleaded with him to do something about the monster and he did. He built an army and sent them to defeat the monster and bring back all the kidnapped children. He sent over a hundred Digimon and only seven came back, each with a horror story more terrifying than the last.

He pleaded with other kingdoms to send him some of their strongest soldiers, offering them some of his finest riches but they all declined. They told him that they each had their own monster problem to deal with and that they couldn't afford to send him soldiers until they handled theirs first.

He had over a thousand subjects when he took over as king, but now he was down to a few hundred. With all the attacks and his lack of action to do anything, most of his subjects left. The few that stayed tried to continue living as if nothing was wrong, but he wouldn't be surprised if they were planning a coup.

"Uh, my liege?" One of the Apemon guards spoke up. The king cleared his throat as he stepped away from the window.

"Tell the Digimon of Leaton to prepare a welcome party for the Digidestined. Apemon, prepare one of my finest carriages for them. I want them here by tomorrow, you understand!?" One of the Apemon guards nodded and rushed out of the room while Gazimon followed his lead and ran out of the palace to relay the king's message.

The king then sunk into his throne and the other Apemon guard stood around waiting for his order.

"And what do you want me to do, sire? Do you want me to get the royal chef to make you a banana sandwich or maybe a banana smoothie?"

"That would be nice, Apemon. How would I, the king of kings, KingEtemon rule over his kingdom without his brain food!" KingEtemon proclaimed as Apemon walked to the kitchen.

Now alone, all KingEtemon could do was hope for his message to reach Leaton and hope that the Digidestined would save his people and his kingdom.


The Digidestined were celebrating that they were finally in the bright warm sun and not in the dark cloudy rain that they'd grown accustomed to these past couple of days. Floramon didn't waste time stealing some nutrients from the sun. Everyone else basked in the sun's warm embrace, enjoying every last second of it. Well, everyone except Penguinmon.

The small penguin Digimon was doing her best to avoid the sun's rays, choosing to remain in the somewhat cool shade. She was hunched over, dry heaving, and doing her best not to pass out. She wanted to reach out to one of the others but she didn't want to ruin their fun.

"You don't look so good. Are you feeling alright?" Penguinmon looked up and saw her partner's worried face. Penguinmon tried to act like she was fine, but her face and body language told Chloe a different story.

"I don't do too well in the heat," Penguinmon admitted and Chloe gave her a sympathetic look. She then draped an arm around her before leading her inside.

"I'm gonna take Penguinmon inside for a bit," Chloe called out to everyone. TK gave her a thumbs-up before the two went inside.

TK peered over Willis' shoulder and studied his Digivice. The green arrow pointed directly at the island. The two blonds gave each other a knowing look.

"You think the crest is on the island?" Willis asked and TK nodded.

"It's probably our safest bet. Now the real question is how we're going to dock the ship," TK pondered as he looked at the island. "I don't see any ports and I don't want to lay the anchor by the beach."

"Why not?" Terriermon asked. "We did it for Primary Island."

"Yeah, but this island is bigger and we're not leaving anyone behind to look after it," TK answered. He continued to look at the island and groaned. Everything was far away and he couldn't see anything with his naked eye. "Does anyone have a telescope?"

"I think Ken is using one in the crow's nest," Patamon answered. TK then walked over to the ladder that led to the crow's nest. He looked up, and just like Patamon said, Ken was up there using the telescope.

"Hey, Ken! See anything?"

"No, just nothing but sand," Ken answered back. He was about to give up and let someone else have a turn with the telescope, but he caught something last second. Off in the distance, he spotted a large docking area. Not only that, he saw a pink bird trying to direct them to it. "I see a port straight ahead!"

"You heard him. Monodramon and I will go steer the ship while you guys make sure we don't crash into the land," Ryo ordered as he and his partner went inside.

"And I'll go get Chloe," Catherine said, as she followed Ryo.

Working together, the Digidestined managed to steer their ship to the port. They didn't get close to them though, choosing to float close to their destination, in fear of crashing and sinking their ship. TK walked to the side and was shocked to see the Digimon that was waiting for them.

"Biyomon!?"

"Hello, Digidestined. Let us help you dock your ship," the Biyomon told them, not recognizing the blond boy. Willis walked next to TK, puzzled by what the bird Digimon said.

"Did they just say us?"

All of a sudden their ship started to move into the port slowly. Terriermon and Lopmon looked off the side of the ship and saw multiple small green Digimon with a big orange fin on their heads guiding their ship. Soon, they were in the port and Ken lowered the anchor to keep the ship in place.

Once they were on land, Biyomon greeted them with a courteous bow before signaling to something in the water. The same creatures that helped guide their ship into the port jumped out of the water and covered the ship in a giant tarp.

"Hello Digidestined, welcome to Leaton. We are so happy to have you."

"And we are happy to be here!" Ryo happily replied while the bird Digimon's politeness slightly threw everyone off.

TK was confused though because he didn't understand how Biyomon didn't recognize him or Patamon. Not a lot of time has passed since they last saw each other and he knew he didn't look completely different than he did then. They also knew he was a Digidestined so it wasn't like they didn't completely recognize him.

"Hey, Patamon, why doesn't Biyomon recognize us?" TK quietly asked his partner and Patamon chuckled like he just told him a joke.

"It's because that's not the Biyomon that we know. There are other Digimon out there that look like our friends but aren't them."

"So you're saying there could be a village of Patamon somewhere?"

"Probably," Patamon answered, and TK imagined a cute little village filled with Digimon that looked like his partner.

Back up front, Biyomon waved at the group to follow them.

"Come along, we would like to give you a tour of our wonderful town, and later a party will be thrown in your honor!" Biyomon revealed which excited the Digimon. None were more excited than Lopmon and Terriermon.

"Did you hear that Willis? They're throwing a party for us!" Terriermon cheered.

"Do you think there will be cake? It's been a while since I've had it," Lopmon added. Willis wrangled his partners together to prevent them from having any more outbursts. The group laughed while Ken noticed something that Biyomon said.

"You knew we were Digidestined before we introduced ourselves. You even had a party planned out for our arrival."

"The Divermon that you bought the ship from has to send out a report to every kingdom whenever they sell a ship," Biyomon answered. "As for the party, the king ordered for there to be a welcome party when he heard reports of your ship being spotted in the area."

"Ok," Ken responded, satisfied with their answer.

"Anyway, let's start our tour befo–!" Biyomon was interrupted by someone's loud coughing. Everyone turned to see Penguinmon hunched over dry heaving while Chloe comfortingly rubbed her back.

"She doesn't handle hot weather too well. Is there somewhere cool for her rest?" Chloe asked and Biyomon signaled for one of the green amphibian Digimon to get out of the water.

"Betamon, please take our guests somewhere to cool off."

"On it, Biyomon. Please, follow me," Betamon started to lead the two away. Catherine tried to follow after them but Chloe stopped her.

"Don't worry, Cat. We'll be fine and we'll catch up with you guys later," Chloe told her sister as the trio left.

"Well, shall we begin the tour?" Biyomon asked and the group nodded.

The bird Digimon led the group away from the port and into the town. It was huge, with buildings bigger than their ship and stores and restaurants almost around every corner. Ryo pointed something out to Ken which made him shudder.

"I didn't expect it to be a chain," Ken commented. TK looked over to where Ryo pointed and didn't understand why it gave Ken such a reaction. It was just a plain restaurant with a picture of Meramon on it.

"Did you wanna stop there for lunch?" TK asked and Ken shot him a glare.

"NO!" Ken quickly exclaimed and TK backed off with an awkward chuckle.

As that was happening, Willis was up front talking with Biyomon. He had so many questions about the town like how long it took to build it, what are the Digimon like here, and how they came up with the name for their town. But his biggest question was why their town wasn't a city. It was certainly big enough to be mistaken for one.

"We did apply for our town to be a city. We met all the requirements to become one too; multiple buildings and a big population. The king was about to approve our application but something happened which caused many of our citizens to leave," Biyomon answered solemnly.

"What happened? Was it because of this heat?" Terriermon asked and Biyomon shook its head.

"No, it wasn't because of the heat. We managed to work around it by opening our shops at night or going to the beach."

"Then what's causing the Digimon to leave?" Willis asked and Biyomon brushed him off.

"You just got here. I don't want to worry you with our problems when all you should be worrying about is having fun at your party later!" Biyomon cheered before racing ahead to get away from the blond and his two partners.

Willis slowed his pace and turned to everyone who was listening in on their conversation. They all had different expressions ranging from worried to confused.

"I know they said not to worry about it but the way Biyomon was trying to avoid the topic only made me worry," Ryo said and Monodramon growled.

"Do you think it has something to do with the king? I swear I won't hesitate to overthrow the monarchy on this island!"

"I don't think it's that, Monodramon. It didn't sound like Biyomon had any resentment toward the king when they talked about him and it sounded like they were happy to throw the welcome party," TK explained. He wanted to believe that the king was the reason why all the Digimon were leaving but he couldn't. All the evidence pointed to the king being good unless Biyomon was a good actor but he had a hard time believing that.

"Well, whatever it is I think we should go find Chloe and set out what we came here to do," Catherine said while raising her Digivice. "The sooner we find the crests the sooner we can–wait, that's odd?"

"What?" TK asked as he moved closer to her.

"The arrow moved," Catherine answered as she showed everyone her Digivice. No longer was the arrow pointing inland but it was now pointing toward the ocean. Everyone pulled out their own Digivice and sure enough, the arrow was the same as Catherine's.

"Did someone take it already?" Floramon asked and TK shook his head.

"Unless they have a tag with them I don't think anyone can just go and take it."

"Then what caused the arrow to move then?" Ken asked and an explosion went off in the distance. Everyone turned in time to see a sand cloud disappear before turning back to their Digivices to see that the arrow was pointing in that direction.

"I guess we're gonna find out. Come on!" TK yelled as he led the group into what was most likely going to be a fight.

(A few minutes earlier)

Penguinmon let out a refreshing sigh as she emerged from the water. When Betamon led them away from the port she expected to be taken to some building that was cool inside but instead, they took them to the beach. It was a gorgeous beach with all sorts of Digimon basking in the sun's rays or swimming in the water. Feeling the top of her head starting to dry, Penguinmon dove back under the water and continued to swim.

Over on dry land, Chloe watched her partner enjoy herself. Not only did she watch Peguinmon, she also watched the Koromon, Agumon, Betamon, Yokomon, Biyomon, Mushroomon, Pagumon, Gazimon, and Gizamon all play and have fun too. She let out a relaxing sigh as she lay back on the sand. After all the Digimon attacks she enjoyed the few minutes of rest and relaxation the world has given her.

"Excuse me, miss," Chloe looked up and saw a slightly nervous Mushroomon standing over her. "Could I offer you anything to drink, or maybe something to eat?"

Chloe politely waved them off. Ever since she separated from the group she and Penguinmon have been treated nothing short of royalty. It felt like everywhere she went every Digimon tried to wait on her hand and foot. She didn't hate it but she never liked being pampered, that was more of a Catherine thing than her.

Speaking of her sister, Chloe thinks that they should catch up with the group now, but she doesn't know how far they'll get before she has to worry about Penguinmon passing out. She also didn't want to leave her here in case anything happened. She quickly called out to Mushroomon and asked if there was anything to help her.

"I can get you a hat from the hat store if you want."

"That would be great!" Chloe cheered. She then thought about how TK has been complaining about how Catherine sold his hat and decided to get him a gift. "Could you also get one for my friend TK too? He's a Digidestined like me."

"Of course! Anything for the Digidestined!" Mushroomon instantly said before running off.

Chloe chuckled before moving to the water. She let the cool ocean water cool her off as she called out to her partner. Penguinmon poked her head out of the water and swam up to the shore.

"Yes, Chloe?" Penguinmon asked, keeping a majority of her body in the water.

"Mushroomon went to get you a hat so when he comes back we're gonna go look for the others," Chloe told her partner who looked a little sad to be leaving the water. "Don't worry, we'll make sure to come back later and you can continue to swim around until they return."

Penguinmon cheered as she dove underwater. Chloe smiled as she walked back to her spot. Not knowing how long until Mushroomon will come back with the hats, Chloe decided to rest her eyes for a few minutes. She didn't have to worry about anything happening to her because the Digimon had shown her nothing but love and gratitude since stepping foot onto the beach.

Chloe closed her eyes and allowed the ocean's song to take her away.

All of a sudden she heard a high-pitched scream and she saw all the Digimon running around in a panic. She was on high alert and saw a tall woman in a red strapless leather suit, black high heel boots, and a white and green cape held together by a pink jewel slowly walking onto the beach. She had long flowing blond hair underneath a helmet that not only covered her eyes but was also shaped like a rose. She also carried a vine whip that snaked around her whole body to allow her to carry both ends of it in her hands.

"So you're the Digidestined that has come to save this land. I must say, I expected someone who didn't look so pitiful," the woman chuckled. Chloe felt her blood freeze as she slowly backed away. She felt her shoes hit the water and she slowly reached for her Digivice, hoping that Penguinmon was close enough to the surface to hear what was happening.

"Oh no you don't!" The woman swung her whip at Chloe when she noticed her reaching for her Digivice. Chloe flinched and waited for the horrible pain the thorny whip would give her, but it never came. She looked and saw that an Agumon jumped in front of the attack to save her.

"Are you ok?" Chloe quickly cradled her protector's head in her arms. She looked over it for any injuries and was taken aback when she saw its eyes glowing pink. The Agumon stirred in her arms as it began to growl. It then tried to bite her but she dropped its head before scooting away from it.

Chloe felt herself tremble and the woman chuckled.

"Foolish girl. Once you're hit with my whip you become my slave, body and soul!" The woman grabbed the Agumon under their chin. Agumon eased into her touch and she scratched under their chin. She then forced their attention onto Chloe with a sadistic grin. "Now destroy her, my pets!"

Agumon growled as a fire started to build in their mouth. Chloe tried to move out of their line of fire but she couldn't because her legs were frozen in place. She wanted to plead with Agumon but she knew they wouldn't listen while they were under the woman's control. She raised her Digivice and hoped that her prayers would reach Penguinmon.

A bright light shone underwater as Agumon shot their fire. Chloe waited for the flames to engulf but she heard something jump out of the water behind her.

"Pulse blast!"

A sonic wave made contact with the fireball and created a small explosion. The wind from the explosion pushed Chloe back a little but she maintained her balance. She turned and saw Dolphmon who had a worried but also serious expression on her face.

"Thank you, Dolphmon!"

"No problem Chloe, but get to somewhere safe. I'll handle this," Dolphmon told her partner and Chloe nodded before running off.

Now alone, Dolphmon scowled at the woman giving her a small frown.

"So you're that pitiful human's partner. Makes sense that they would have a pitiful Digimon too."

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"You're only limited to the water while I can do whatever I want on land. You're just an easy-to-avoid obstacle, barely a threat," the woman chuckled and Dolphmon growled. She then started to stroll over to where Chloe was and Dolphmon shot her with a pulse blast. It bounced off the woman and she chuckled.

"That tickled," the woman then snapped her fingers, and a small army of Agumon, Betamon, Biyomon, and Gizamon appeared. All of their eyes were glowing pink and they all looked angry. "Since you want to feel useful you can play with my puppets."

Dolphmon growled. She shot another pulse blast at the woman but Agumon shot another fireball and Biyomon shot a spiral flame to intercept the attack. A huge sand cloud formed when the attacks hit. Both Betamon and Gizamon used the sand cloud to discreetly get into the water.

After the cloud disappeared Dolphmon was ready to attack but she was struck by an electric shock on her belly. As the electricity was coursing through her body something sharp started sawing away at her side. She could feel herself being pushed out of the water and after one more electric shock, she was launched onto the dry sand and into the fiery attacks of Biyomon and Agumon. After their attacks hit and the dust settled all that was left was a barely conscious Penguinmon.

"PENGUINMON!" Chloe raced over and cradled her fallen partner in her arms. She was covered in cuts, bruises, and burns and she was also having a hard time keeping her eyes open.

"I-I'm sorry, Chloe. I-I wasn't s-strong enough."

"Don't say that! You did your best and that's good enough for me!" Chloe said behind a waterfall of tears as she hugged her partner. They heard the woman chuckle and Chloe whipped around with a fire in her eyes. "WHAT!"

"This is so sad. She's supposed to be the one to protect you yet you're the one comforting her. But I must thank you for making destroying you easy," the fire was quickly extinguished when Chloe saw the whip in the woman's right hand turn into a sharp spear. Chloe shielded her partner from the oncoming attack.

"Rose Spear—!"

"Hand of Fate!"

A beam of light struck the woman and knocked her away. Chloe looked over and saw her friends and their Digivolved partners racing onto the beach.

"Nice shot, Angemon," TK praised his partner as Catherine and Kiwimon rushed over to Chloe and Penguinmon.

"Are you ok? Did she hurt you?" Catherine looked over her sister and Chloe lightly pushed her off.

"I'm fine, but… Penguinmon," Catherine then saw how messed up the penguin Digimon was. She then hugged her sister and helped her support Penguinmon.

A sultry laugh rang out in the air as the woman regained her composure. The Digimon got in a defensive stance and prepared to protect their partners.

"Who's that, Agemon?" TK asked.

"That's Rosemon: Because of her rose-like appearance she was dubbed the Queen of Flowers."

"You know me so well, and you managed to actually hurt me, though I'll never complain when a big strong Digimon throws me around," Rosemon said while licking her lips. Angemon felt slightly uncomfortable by her actions but he didn't falter.

"What have you done to the crest!?" Ken demanded and Rosemon laughed.

"That's only for me to know, little boy, and for you to never find out."

"We won't hesitate to beat the answer out of you!" Strikedramon said while cracking his knuckles. Rosemon laughed again before whistling. A Flymon landed behind her and she hopped onto the bee Digimon.

"As much as I want to entertain you, I know when I'm outnumbered, so this is goodbye for now. But I'll make sure not to leave without my parting gift," Rosemon whipped Flymon and the bee Digimon darted to the twins. Catherine saw this and quickly pushed her sister and Penguinmon to the ground.

"NO!" TK screamed as Flymon took their prize. Angemom and Gargomon couldn't shoot at Flymon for fear of hitting their friend and Flymon was too far away for the flying Digimon to catch up.

"CHLO—!"

"CATHERINE!"

Everyone turned to see Chloe on her knees with tears on her face, screaming for her sister. TK quickly got onto his knees as he comforted the younger twin as he wondered how he was going to save his friend.


Mimi was screaming internally. The day after her friend's birthday where she gave them nothing but horrible fashion tips and suggested they watch a bad movie, she was asked to meet them at the mall again today. She declined their offer and lied to them about how her father was extremely sick. Her friends bought it but she wished they didn't.

She hated lying, she was always sincere and honest with everyone, but after these past few days, she was finding it hard to do those things. She lied to her friends and family and whenever she managed to tell the truth she was extremely rude. Her parents didn't like her attitude and she could tell that she was getting on her fiend's last nerves.

She wished she knew what was wrong with her and for things to go back to normal.