"Will you shut up?!" Piedmon yells behind him. He drags Zamielmon by the hair to a guarded room. He puts in a simple passcode and the thick metal doors open. Piedmon grasps the third collar down and forces it onto the ex-general's neck. He locks Zamielmon in the third position and looks around the room.
"What do you think you'll get out of this?" Splashmon spits out. "He'll betray you just like he did us." Gravimon looks at Zamielmon and frowns.
"Hurting us and using us for AxeKnightmon's "new plan" won't do anything.
"That's right, matey. You'll never even get close to Apollomon or Whispered."
"Oh, we will." Piedmon says, smirking as he pulls out a very sharp dagger. He taps it under Gravimon and Olegmon's chin and stops when he puts it against Splashmon's Adam's apple. "If you couldn't already tell, water boy, I defeated all of you. AxeKnightmon only did that to you because he knew you were all too weak."
"Heh, then you haven't met the other two." Zamielmon smirks. Gravimon chuckles.
"Dorbickmon will wipe the floor with you, he was the fiercest one of us." Gravimon leans his head back, revealing his thin neck. "Dumb brute…" Gravimon laughs softly, joined by Olegmon.
"If we're so weak, why does AxeKnightmon need us so badly?" Splashmon asks, his green eyes sparkle with amusement as he and his old comrades mock the clown. Piedmon scowls and scoffs.
"I can't wait for y'alls demise." He says, going to shut the door.
"Yours will come before ours." Gravimon chuckles before the door is fully shut.
(Meanwhile)
My chest heaves as I lean against Lilamon. "I can't take this anymore…" I sigh and look at the feminine flower. She sighs.
"Agreed. First a vampire, then a clown. What's next? A whole god?" Lilamon says as she walks with me. My fusion loader glows and out pops Guilmon. He walks alongside me.
"How much farther until the Baby Isles?" He asks, his wing like ears popping up. I smile at the little dragon.
"I don't know, but I hope it's soon." I look forward to see a lot of trees clearing up. The skyline looks nice, but something blocks the middle section of it. "What's that?" I squint my eyes.
"It looks like…a castle?" Lilamon says, leaning forward. "Small one albeit, but still a castle." I hop onto her back and we fly closer to it. The castle looks to be a beautiful rose color with vines around it. At the front are tall wooden doors that stand proudly.
"Woah…" Guilmon looks up at it in amazement. I admire the castle too until I hear sobbing noises. I leave Lilamon and Guilmon and walk over to a far corner from where the noises are. I see this little blue dragon digimon with pointy ears and a white belly.
"Hello there…are you alright?" I ask, looking at the sobbing dragon. He shakes his head.
"No…" He tries wiping his tears.
"What's wrong?" I watch as the dragon collects himself.
"Those cursed veggie guards took my friend Wormmon away!" He says. I look back at the castle and then back at the blue dragon.
"Well, we'll help you get him back…"
"Veemon." He smiles. I smile back,
"Veemon!" I bend over and give the dragon a high five. "Just wait right here and we'll get your buddy back!" I say and turn around, Lilamon right in my face. She walks me farther to the castle.
"We have a mission ya know. We can't go on some side quest! AxeKnightmon could already beat us to our main goal!" She exclaims.
"Just this once! I can't leave that poor little dragon worrying and crying over his friend!" I try to push past her and walk to the castle. She grabs my arm.
"Lilamon…" I look at her, "please…" She looks back and huffs.
"Fine." She walks beside me, Guilmon taking to the other side as we walk up to the castle gates. We are stopped by two Woodmon.
"What's your business here?" The left Woodmon asks.
"To visit and ask the ruler here for something." Lilamon answers. The wooden digimon look at each other before looking back at Lilamon.
"You're allowed in, just keep that dragon in check." The other Woodmon tells me, pointing at Guilmon. We walk into the castle gates and walk further in. I look at the beautiful fountain in the middle with little flower and bug digimon playing with it. We pass them and now enter a second door, letting us into the castle. The room is huge and very decorative.
"A human!" A female voice says as I look up. I see a woman with a rose-like mask covering the top half of her face. She wears red lipstick and has a long blonde ponytail. Her outfit is rose themed and shares the same color as her mask. Thorns deck her appearance like this castle. "It's not everyday where you see a human." She hops down from the balcony and lands with grace. "Tell me human, what brings you here?"
"I'm here to take Wormmon back!" I point at her. She takes a moment to think.
"Oh! The new Wormmon we took to recruit? Yeah, no. You're not getting him back."
"Why not? You took him from his home and friends!" Lilamon says, standing in front of me.
"Oh trust me darling, we do that to a lot of digimon. But soon they learn to behave and fight for their glorious queen!" She boasts, putting her fingers to her heart.
"Is there any way we can have him back?" I ask, looking more desperate. She stands there thinking for a bit.
"Yes…if your team can impress me enough in our annual talent show, I'll give you the worm."
"And what if we don't impress you?" I ask.
"Then the human shall stay with me! Forever!" She declares. I gasp along with Lilamon.
"Are you insane? Who do you think you are?!" She gets in the other flower's face.
"Queen Rosemon of course. Now get going to the changing rooms, the talent show starts in one hour.
—-
"This is stupid, why did I ever agree to this?" Lilamon complains, trying to put on mascara. "My dad is way better at this than me."
"You mean the man who doesn't show half his face?" I ask.
"Believe it or not, he knows his way around make-up." He huffs, wiping away some blush from her face. I chuckle and finish putting on my suit. Coronamon walks over to me, holding a bowtie. I put it on for him and noticed how red his cheeks are.
"Are you alright, Coronamon?" and with that he bursts out laughing. Guilmon walks over to me, decked out in a shiny, bedazzled blue collar and dragon pin on his left ear.
"What's so funny?" He asks and looks over and starts laughing too. I look over and see Whispered in a sparkly pink dress, little white cuffs on his ankles and wrists, and the excess fur on his head put in a bedazzled pink bow.
"I told him pink was his color!" Coronamon says, turning around and standing next to Whispered. Coronamon got lucky, he's just wearing a black suit, like me.
"And I told you to fuck off!" He growls, swiping at Coronamon with his claws. Coronamon dodges the small attack and chuckles.
"So, you're all better now?" I ask Whispered. He diverts his eyes from me and shrugs.
"Yeah, didn't hurt that much in the first place." He smirks.
"Bull" Lilamon says, finally finishing her makeup. The sound of a speaker turns on.
"TEN MINUTES UNTIL SHOWTIME!" It's Rosemon's voice. I groan and glance back at my team. Lilamon is in a dressing room. About four minutes later she reappears in a long black dress with slits for her legs. She doesn't trip on it, thankfully. She wears a belt with stars on it that match with similar cuffs.
"So does Coronamon wear the pants?" He smirks at Whispered, who blushes.
"I rip all those petals off!"
"Go ahead, they make me feel pretty. I hate feeling pretty." A few more minutes of banter go on before a siren goes off, basically telling us: "Time to humiliate yourselves!"
"This is for Wormmon, guys."
"A worm doesn't cost my dignity" Whispered snarls softly, walking out. I glare back at him and look at the very spotlighted and huge stage. I look at our opponents. There are only three groups against us.
The first group is a trio of three identical flower digimon. Each one has a pink flower on its head and they all have petite and girly bodies. They all wear green flower boots except one wears a short white dress, the second a light blue one, and the last one a slick lavender.
"We have the Lily Trio!" Rosemon announces, and the flower digimon all pose together and blow kisses to the audience. The second group consists of two angel digimon. They both have long blonde hair, a metal mask with a cross on it, and eight wings. The duo of female angels both wear frilly short pink dresses with poofy sleeves. Each dress comes with its own unique jewelry made of gold and silver, truly boasting of angelic pride.
"Welcome the Heavenly Duo!" Rosemon yells out on her microphone. The spotlight centers on them as they also pose. They link ankles and grab each other's waists with one arm, leaning back slightly.
Finally it's the last group against us. It's a bipedal digimon with strong talons and hands. It wears red pants with a belt on it. It wears a helmet with a built in visor. It has cat-like ears and brown hair. One either side is a pink bird with green eyes and bows on them.
"Here comes the Mighty Flock!" Rosemon says. She turns to our group "And finally our late joiners, Human!" Human? THAT'S what she can come up with? There are apparently two parts of this talent show. Talent and brawling. We are allowed to take to the stage last. First is the Lily Trio. The Lillymon wearing a white dress boosts the light blue and lavender one up in the air.
"Flower Canon!" They both yell, taking out a sealed flower. When the flower blooms, it shoots out a huge confetti bomb where all three fly around, performing tricks. It doesn't look that appealing because all they do is fly around or simply spin. And after a few more simple flips and twists, they landed back onto the ground with one Lillymon supporting the other two. The crowd gives their applause and Rosemon stands up again.
"That was simply magnificent!" She exclaims, cheering herself as if she didn't just threaten a teenager and his digimon a couple of moments ago. I frown and continue to watch as the three Lillymon bow and the Mighty Flock approaches the middle of the stage. The crowd falls into silence.
Silphymon, the biggest one, put its hands up into the air and clapped two times. Then, it threw up a bunch of feathers. The two small pink birds tense up, like they're about to take flight.
"Fly, my Biyomon!" She says as the two birds take off, flying through rings of feathers Silphymon had created. When the two Biyomons were up high, Silphymon took up as well. "Static Force!" She yelled, taking off rapidly into the sky. When she got to the peak, the two Biyomon flew around her in circles, grabbing feathers gently before going into the outsides of the audience, spewing the feathers everywhere. They finished their lap and flew back, angling themselves downward. Silphymon quickly rushed to the ground and the cavernous room was hit with electric sparks, which didn't hurt anyone, but was amazing to look at. Silphymon stood up and posed and the two Biyomon hit similar poses on either side, marking the end of their performance. The crowd erupts louder than before, a few waving the feathers up and cheering.
"Spectacular!" Rosemon said. "I think I just got the cutest new accessory!" She smiles, waving a feather of her own. The Mighty Flock leave and out comes the second to last group, the Heavenly Duo. I turn back to the others.
"We have nothing prepared." I look at Lilamon, whose attention turns from the stage to me.
"I have an idea. I heard the rules from some other digimon, one of us has to stay back in order to fight in the brawl."
"I'll stay back." Whispered says.
"But you're all dressed up!" Coronamon pouts.
"I'm with Whispered." He's the most agile among us and the strongest, besides…" Lilamon smiles, bending down to Coronamon's level. "I'm gonna need that fire of yours. And Growlmon's."
"Oh, alright…" Coronamon says, glancing at Whispered once more before smiling. I pull my fusion loader out and quickly digivolve Guilmon into Growlmon. I turn back around to face the audience and get met with a whole bunch of glitter. The surroundings looked lighter and more vibrant and both of the Angewomon flew up in the middle, as their dresses changed to white and golden silk with fluffy edges, and decked out in golden and silver jewels. They fly back and before I know it, they shoot arrows out that explode in more pink and gold glitter. They hold each other and smile, ending it. The crowd exploded into applause, the loudest yet.
"Glitter compliments everything!" Rosemon says, looking very pleased. "Amazing work girls!" I notice the stand of judges under Rosemon's podium. All flower digimon also but too far away to see any identifiable faces. "Finally, we have Human!" Again, stupid name. Lilamon stands up from telling Coronamon and Growlmon something and me and Whispered stay back.
"Let's hope it's good." I say to Whispered. He looks at me and shrugs.
"I'm glad I ain't dancing." He leans against me and I smile.
"Me too." I say as I watch. LIlamon walks out into the middle, with Growlmon behind her and Coronamon in front of her. Lilamon starts by putting out a mist among the audience and walking out. She twirls around while forming two thick vines and throws them up high. Coronamon spews fire from his mouth and they light on fire. Lilamon holds them again and spins them around, performing tricks and acrobatics while in her dress. She lets go and the vines burn completely.
"Lila Shower!" She says, putting small leaves around the upper part of the room. She gracefully hops on each petal that makes a path for her in the middle. She lifts her right arm up and the petals make two large piles on either side of her. Growlmon glows and digivolves.
"Growlmon digivolve to…WarGrowlmon!" He yells.
"Atomic Blaster!" He says, shooting two powerful beams.
"Corona Flame!" Coronamon shouts as he spews out a huge flame. It comes in contact with the Atomic Blaster and lights on fire, making the two giant piles of petals catch on fire. Lilamon gently takes a string of fire out and wraps it around her. The black dress burns to reveal a white dress with a pattern of Xs on the bottom. She wears a red belt with yellow and black hoops on it and a mini bow with black dots on it. Black belts wrap around her upper thighs. She puts her other arm up and sways them both to the sides, making the flaming petals disperse throughout the room. She hops back and does a backflip before setting back onto the stage. She turns around and creates a ring of petals around her. She picks up Coronamon and tosses him into the air. She dispatches the petals and does a split, catching Coronamon with one hand. WarGrowlmon roars behind them and picks both of them up and poses, ending it. I stand there with my mouth agape. I look at Whispered, whose eyes are full of admiration and fixed on Coronamon. The crowd becomes quite loud, as loud and even more than the Heavenly Duo. Lilamon walks off with the others.
"Did ya like it?" She asks, smirking. "Took me 25 minutes to think of."
"It was perfect, Lilamon!" I smile brightly and WarGrowlmon returns to Guilmon. Whispered hugs Coronamon and they nuzzle cheeks before spinning around with each other. A bell rings and an announcement comes on.
"Please take a 15 minute intermission before the brawl. Snacks and refreshments will be sold outside at booths!" Rosemon announces before walking off from her balcony. We all go to the back.
"Whispered, are you sure you can fight? You did take a nasty attack from Piedmon the other day." I say. Whispered finishes chewing and gives the rest of his snack to Coronamon who lights up when given.
"I'll be fine, it was just a small stab wound."
"Small?" Lilamon snorts as she drinks water.
"I'm fine." Whispered growls. "That stupid clown could do nothing to me." Guilmon just listens as he eats his food.
"Alright then, you'll be our fighter." The bell rings and it's us against the flower girls or whatever. I walk out with Whispered. The three Lillymon smirk.
"Go Vegiemon and RedVegiemon!" They say as two vegetable-like digimon walk out. One is yellow while the other is red. Both have long arms with a club-like end to them and thorns.
"Whispered! Digivolve!"
"Coronamon Whispered digivolve to…Flaremon Whispered!" He shouts and lands back onto the battlefield with a roar. The bell sounded and the battle began.
"Spiked Punch!' RedVegiemon yelled, going to hit Whispered in the eye. Whispered easily catches it and throws RedVegiemon at the other vegetable. They roll onto the battlefield and get up quickly.
"Stink Jet!"
"Super Stinky Jet" Both fire gas at Whispered. He stumbled back a bit, holding his nose.
"I hate those attacks…" He growls before getting hit in the face by the both of them. He snarls and his fists flare up. "Guren Juuouha!" He yells, and sets both digimon ablaze, making both disappear. The Lillymon stand there, dumbfounded but steps back.
"Winner of the first round goes to team Human!" Rose declares and the crowd cheers. Whispered walks off.
"I'm so getting a bath after this." He mutters. Round two is between the Heavenly Duo and the Mighty Flock, so we take a break for now. I notice a small little spark of something under Whispered's fur but pay no attention, thinking it might be from earlier displays of talent. After about 10 minutes, the battle is over and we take the field again. The Heavenly Duo won and the two angels aren't giving us the best of looks.
"Go, Whispered!" I say and he steps out again.
"Get that furball, Andromon!" A bipedal machine digimon steps out. His movements are stern and doesn't show much emotion. He is silver and looks like a man covered in scraps of machines.
"Lightning Blade!" Andromon says firmly, a blade coming from one of its hands. Whispered holds his forearm out to block the attack. Both of them push and Whispered frees himself. He pushes Andromon in the stomach, causing the machine to fly back. A few moments later, Andromon stands and Whispered turns to his side. "Guren-"
"Gatling Missile!" Andromon shouts, firing two missiles out of its chest plate. Whispered dodges one but the other hits him in the side. He howls in pain and grips his side. After a few moments, he stands back up and moves his hand away. I gasp, his side has a huge gash wound. Liar!
"Whispered!" I try to stop him. He claws right at Andromon's face and knocks him to the ground. He punches his chest in.
"Guren Juouuha!" He yells, his eyes burning with fury. He makes Andromon disappear and the bell sounds off again, marking the end of the brawl. Whispered's eyes soften and he falls to the ground, turning back into his rookie state. I run up, pick him up and carry him off. I put him down gently into our dressing room.
"You said you were fine." I frown, my body tense.
"I lied." He smirks. I take my fusion loader out and put Whispered in. All of the contestants are called out and we go.
"Thank you all for coming, but now, we'd like to tell you all the winners!" Rosemon said, bouncing around. "The winners of this pageant are…Team Human!" She cheers a bit less but the crowd definitely makes up for it. We go to the room again and Rosemon comes in, holding a scared, green bug digimon.
"Here's the worm." She mutters, dropping him into my hands. "Good job though. Say, why are you even traveling the digital world?" She asks.
"To stop someone very evil." Guilmon says and Rosemon smiles.
"Oh, have fun with that then, little ones. Thanks for the show!" She turns on her heel and begins to walk out.
"Wait!" I say.
"Hmm? What is it?" She asks, placing her hands on her hips.
"Do you know where baby isles are?" I ask.
"Oh yeah, just a little north of here. Say, why'd you want to go there?" She asks.
"Someone told us we'd be safe there for a bit." I say.
"Oh, well beware, the guardians there don't take too kindly to random visitors." Rosemon says, turning to her side. "Well travelers, good luck stopping that evil someone!" She smiles, waves, and leaves.
We make our way out and I see Veemon's blue tail. I gently tap him and put Wormmon down next to him.
"You did it!" Veemon cheers and hugs Wormmon.
"Thank you so much, Derin!" Wormmon and Veemon say. I stand up and smile.
"Of course! Hope to see you two around!" I turn and walk off. We now make our way to baby isles.
"Remind me to never speak to that bitch in public." Lilamon says.
"Got it." I chuckle.
(Meanwhile)
"Damn, that was a nice show." Myotismon says, looking at Piedmon.
"I could do better." He smirks, pushing his mask up slightly. Myotismon smiles.
"Next battle is going to be very hard" Myotismon frowns slightly. Piedmon holds Myotismon's chin up.
"Stop worrying, you idiot." He smirks and kisses Myotismon's cheek.
"Love you." Myotismon smiles.
"Love you too." Piedmon smiles back.