Lua opens her eyes, still feeling a bit dizzy. The floor is cold, and the area stinks. She sits up and sees walls made of dark stone being lit by candles. When she looks left, she notices someone grinning way too close to her face.
"GAAAAH!" she screams, trying to punch the grinning creature, but the creature dodges it
"Yoooo, you woke up already! Welcome to a bad place, yet better than the colosseum!"
Lua takes a better look at the creature: a blond girl-looking doll wearing a black dress and red hooded cape, holding a grinning basket. She gasps. "IT'S YOU! The Digimon that attacked me and my friends earlier!"
"Yep! That was me! But now I had to rescue you, since everything went wrong! Argh! The lion has wings, doesn't he? Couldn't he just have flown away when I attacked?"
She looks at the doll baffled. "What? What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you and your dummy friends running away in the wrong way, duh!"
"That doesn't make sense! Where are they by the way?"
"Most likely taken to the colosseum. My team could only save you. Better than no one, right?"
"No way!" Her eyes widen in shock. "T-They are alive, right? Wait! I'll try talking to her!" She walks to the corner of the room, closes her eyes and focuses on establishing connection with Komet's smartwatch. "Nngh…! C'mon, answer the call!"
No answer. Lua crouches down and places her hands on her head in panic. "No no no no… They have to be okay…! There must be a reason why she is not answering!"
"They are still alive, don't worry. You can check the schedule for the gladiatorial combats in the calendar right there. The next one happens tomorrow" says the doll, pointing at the calendar pinned on the wall
"What? No! Tell me where this colosseum is, I'm gonna save them!"
"Bah! There's no saving them, you dummy! Once they've been captured, their only way to be 'saved' is by beating all of Prince Mamemon's combatants, but that never happened! Also, how do you plan to do that anyway? You don't even know where you are to begin with!"
Lua blinks. "Gah! That's right! Where am I? Who are you? And what do you want with me?"
"That's better! I am Chaperomon, the ugliness of the sewers, according to that crappy prince" huffs the doll. She takes Lua by her hand to a different room. There, they see different Digimon, including the ones who captured Lua in the castle. "This, my friend, is the home to all those saved from Prince Mamemon's trap, most of them victims of his 'perfect princess' hunt"
The Lekismon looks around. She sees a stream of sewage moving across the room, the source of the stench. She moves her hands towards her mouth, feeling like puking. She looks around and sees the monsters either talking to each other or sleeping.
"If only you had properly run away from me, you wouldn't be here! But noooo, you had to go towards the Chessmon Guard!" Chaperomon continues.
"Hey! You are the one that pushed us towards them! We were going the opposite way, you know?"
The doll rubs her chin, then gives a nervous grin. "I guess so…?"
She groans. "Anyway, what's the deal with that creepy prince? The Chessmon said we could ask him for help, but when we got there, all that prince did was to force my friend on a date!"
She sighs. "Your friend fell for their trap. Their intention was never to help you, but to find a princess for Prince Mamemon. I knew they would think she is a perfect candidate for him, so I tried to shoo you away from them, but… Well, it didn't go as planned, did it now?" She shrugs, flashing another nervous smile.
Lua facepalms. "I hate that guy already, he is weird! He is creepy! But hey, can you tell me now how to go to the colosseum? I have friends to save!"
"No, I'll not let you go! Saving you was already hard enough, you know? We didn't risk doing it just for you to leave and get captured!"
"I'd rather be captured than living while letting my friends die!"
Chaperomon grits her teeth. "Gods, you are just like Minervamon, aren't you? Look, if I give you a way to communicate with them, will you stay safe here? We use this to give them tips to survive battles and stuff, then you don't need to go out there!"
"Grr, I guess if I don't accept that now, she won't let me do anything else. Okay, that will do for now" huffs Lua. "What do I need to do?"
She gives her a small scroll and a quill. "Write whatever you want to tell them here. Then one of my little friends, Tyumon, will deliver the mail to them. If possible, they can answer the message" she says, lifting one of the small pink mice that sits on the palm of her hand.
The bunny takes the scroll, lies on the floor and starts writing. She mostly asks about their current situation and says that she is safe in a stinky place, and that she will find a way to save them. Then, she signs her name and gives it to Chaperomon.
The doll looks at the letter confused. "This is not Digimoji… What are those glyphs? I've never seen it in my life before!"
"Ahm, don't worry about it. My friends will understand!"
"Well, I guess this is what matters! But your answer will be in Digimoji, since Tyumon will be the one writing it!" She rolls the scroll, attaches it with the quill to the mouse's back and places the little creature on the floor. "Go! To the colosseum! The orange and yellow lion and the white-haired girl with purple clothes!"
"Yes, ma'am!" The Tyumon salutes and leaves
Lua still sighs in frustration. "Okay. It'll take a while to get their answer, isn't it? Then I guess I should kill time doing something or I'm gonna explode with nervousness! So, Digimon are rescued and taken to this place. And then what?"
Chaperomon tilts her head. "And then they stay here. Why?"
"Because they have other things to do? Like leaving this hell and going back to their homes? Wait, you are not expecting that I'll live here forever, right?"
"Not forever, but until Prince Mamemon dies or something, then we can all try to escape, why?"
The bunny looks at the doll incredulously. "Huh? Are you going to just sit here and hope he will just die from a heart attack or something?" She gazes at the crowded room. "You know this place will eventually get too full, right? Then it can get too noisy and then… What about food? I don't see any farm here, so I assume you have to steal, right? What if it starts not being enough?"
"Unfortunately this started to be the case already…" says someone behind her
She whips her head towards the voice. It's the flower monster that sprayed pollen on her face.
"I'm Floramon, an escapee that was almost forced to be a princess" she continues. "As I was saying… Food is scarce, and the more people we get… The harder it is for Chaperomon to get enough food for everyone" she sighs.
"Well then, I'm pretty sure escaping this place would help a lot. Me and my friends saw Chaperomon outside, so-"
"NO! That's not an option! Outside the walls of the 'princedom', a lot - I repeat, a whole lot of Fangmon wander around!" Chaperomon grits her teeth, then detaches one of her legs, brandishing it in front of them. "Only I have the skills and the body to survive those cruel creatures! I can get mauled and fixed back as long as they don't go for my Digicore. The others can't! This is why I mostly do all things alone outside!"
Lua gets more impatient and frustrated. "Then why don't you fight against the prince? You do hate what he is doing, after all!"
"Yes! I hate him! I despise him! I hate what he did with the kingdom! I hate what he is doing with the citizens, with our home! But I can't fight him! He will just obliterate us! He already got our strongest member killed in the colosseum, you know?" Tears start to roll down her face. "Minervamon had this rebellious spirit like you and tried to confront the prince, but everything went wrong! If even an Ultimate like her couldn't take on him, then we have no chance! So I can't let more innocent people get killed"
"But your team seems to have good synergy! You invaded the castle, captured me and left unscathed-"
"No! You're not changing my mind! We all want to live and have a happy ending, so we will stay here in safety, end of story!"
Lua snaps and yells. "'You all want to live'? Then fight for your life, dammit! Because it's clear you're not getting your happy ending here! You all are already in trouble! Do you really believe staying here and waiting for Prince Mamemon to magically disappear is gonna work?"
The other Digimon in the room stop doing their chores and start listening to the argument.
Chaperomon grits her teeth. "But-"
"No 'but'! Nothing will fucking change if you just sit around, you know? Give it some more time, and everyone that you've tried to save and protect will die because of your stupid passiveness to everything, while Prince Mamemon will just make more victims!"
The doll gasps
The Lekismon continues. "I've been in a different place with a similar situation before. The people of that land were suffering because of a curse, so my friend decided to step up and help them put an end to it. The people were very supportive, and guess what happened? They were finally free! If they haven't fought for their lives, things would've just gotten worse and worse until everyone died!"
"B-but… The risk-"
"Of course there are risks! But my friend never stopped because of them, regardless of how ugly things went! If she just feared anything that could hurt, she wouldn't even have left the Village of Beginnings! Unfortunately time is not on your side here! The more you wait, the more it's harder to keep everyone alive, unless you decide to stop rescuing new victims"
Chaperomon swallows hard.
"You are scared to see them die like your Minervamon friend, right? I will assume her mistake was going alone. Things work so much differently when you go as a team! Like I said, your team has synergy! And if there's something that I've learned is that good teamwork can beat stronger foes. My friends and I are a team, Team Twilight. We went through many dangers. We got injured, we got problems, we got 'impossible' situations. But we didn't stop. Why? Because there's no such thing as 'impossible' for us! Every door can be opened in some way! It doesn't matter which obstacle is in our way, we will always break through it!"
She looks at Lua, very impressed.
"Is the prince our obstacle? Is he causing suffering to everyone? Then we are gonna dethrone him!" she finishes
Everyone yells in unison with determination, their spirits lifted. Lua flinches and looks around, seeing everyone feeling more energetic by her speech. She looks back at Chaperomon and opens a big smile. "I guess this tells a lot, huh?"
She grins and climbs a box. "Attention everyone! …I said ATTENTION!"
Everyone stops and looks at her, who slowly places her Molotov cocktail back to her basket after getting the attention she needed.
"I guess we are all tired of Prince Mamemon's tyranny, huh? Then we are taking him down! Greet our commander, the one that will lead us to victory, 'bunny'!" She grabs Lua's arms and raises it
Everyone chants in happiness.
Lua opens her eyes wide. "Wait, WHAT? N-n-no, wait a second! I can't lead-"
"You sure can! You just told your story, you have a lot of experience! I just let people die most of the time. I trust you!" says Chaperomon
"What's your name?" asks Floramon
"Erm… Lua"
"Cheers for our commander Lua!"
"Lua! Lua! Lua!" chants everyone, including Chaperomon
Lua grits her teeth and facepalms. "Goddammit! What have I done to myself? I guess I have no choice but to accept it… But I am no Komet or Sonne! How am I gonna pull that off?"
The red hooded doll jumps off the box and approaches Lua. "Y'know? I guess this is what I wanted all along: punch that stupid prince in the face by myself." She sighs. "But it also hurts a little, knowing that he is the guy I used to love in the past…"
"Where am I going to start…? Komet always starts writing things down before anything… Are those ideas? How does she think about ideas so quickly?"
"He wasn't like that before… Actually, he had nothing to do with royalty stuff! He was just a normal Mamemon that loved to play chess! And he was good at it, too! I was just a Shoeshoemon back then, and we were friends… All the other Mamemon bullied him, because he had a scar on his face… They loved to call us the 'ugliest couple in the world'"
"I think she starts with questions, right? Important things we should ask to make a good plan. Or is it about the team? Knowing their attacks and stuff…? Or about the area? Gaaah, there are so many things to think about! How does her brain not short-circuit with all that?"
"He was very self-conscious of his appearance… But we were always there for each other to ignore everyone that called us 'ugly'! However, one day, this weird guy called King Etemon- HEY! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?"
"Waaah!" Lua is snapped out of her thoughts and nods quickly. "Yes, yes, I am! For sure!"
"Good! This weird King Etemon guy appeared in his life and tried to convince him that he has royal blood…? Like, why? To make things worse, not long after, this Nanomon guy appeared too and joined the bullshit, saying nonsense like 'playing chess is one of the biggest proof that royal blood runs in his veins'!"
"Do I really need to listen to this random rant…?" she thinks, looking bored already
"...and somehow, Mamemon was convinced of this royalty bullshit and disappeared for a while! Months passed, and suddenly he returned as Prince Mamemon, challenged the king of Scrivale and won! Because, you know, here you can become the new ruler if the current ruler accepts your challenge. So, he became the new ruler got the right to command over Chessmon Guard, and then he changed the name of the kingdom to 'Fabales', saying the name resembles more 'fables' than Scrivale did, because, you know, we are the land of 'once upon a time' that leads to 'happily ever after', but according to Floramon, 'Fabales is a scientific classification for peas' or something, so it was just about him, not the kingdom!"
Lua tries to ignore Chaperomon and focus back on her thoughts, but the doll just starts talking louder as she rants for longer.
"...and then he started calling me weak and bullying me in front of everyone! I worked hard to show that I am strong, and then I finally evolved to impress him, but he called me ugly! Ugly! He said that it was embarrassing that he ever felt something for me, that he deserves a real princess to finally have the happy end he deserves! He ditched me! Because I'm ugly!" Then she starts crying.
Lua frowns and places her hand on her shoulder. "Don't feel bad about your appearance…! You might be an 'ugly duckling' now, but I'm sure you will grow into a beautiful swan, be it outside or inside~"
She looks at her in shock. "A-are you calling me ugly too?"
"WAIT, NO! This is not what I mean, I swear!"
Chaperomon angrily shoves her hand in her basket, trying to grab something. Then, the messenger Tyumon returns, so the doll just removes a handful of bear-shaped gummies and shoves them into her mouth.
"Mail for Lua!" says Tyumon, handing the scroll to her
Lua quickly grabs and opens it. As expected, it's written in Digimoji. She starts reading it.
[Dear Lua,
It fills me with joy to learn that you are safe. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for me and Komet. Aside from my wing injury, I am mostly unharmed at the present moment. However, I have to undergo three days of colosseum trials to prove that I am worthy of living, but if it was not for that, I would just be executed. This change was only possible thanks to Komet's bargain, in which she 'admitted' to cheating and asked for a chance to redeem herself, thus now she has to stay with him as his princess, while I remain locked away, awaiting for the trials that start tomorrow. Unfortunately this was the only way to guarantee our survival. Two Pawn Chessmon guard her all the time, so it is possible that you will not hear from her at all. As you know, I can feel her vital signs, so unless I state otherwise, she is alive. As expected, she mentioned she will try to think of an escape plan, but I am afraid you are the only one with the power to take us out of this situation. I do not believe the trial will be held fairly, but I will do my best to survive until the very end. I wish you luck.
Kind regards,
Sonne]
Lua growls and crushes the letter. "What the hell? I can't believe that piece of shit got away with his cheating!"
Chaperomon shrugs. "He is the one in power, he can get away with whatever he wants. After all, he demands that Chessmon Guard backs him up at all times"
"Was that asshole really decorated by the Angel Army? That has to be a lie too, right? It doesn't look like he is brave enough to face Infecteds!"
She groans. "The decoration is real, we really are a kingdom that is 'proud' for that. Despite that, I've never seen that fat pea facing an Infected by himself. But if the Angels confirmed his claims, then who am I to deny that fact, right?"
"Whatever! Should I be very worried about the colosseum trials?"
"I'm sure he can make it to the finals. Prince Mamemon does love to progressively increase the level to increase tension or something. But the last trial is where he makes up special rules to guarantee his victory, so expect some form of cheating in case things start not going his way! If anything, we have a TV where we can watch the spectacle"
Lua swallows hard. "Okay, I trust you and big puss. I'll start planning stuff now, but if something starts going wrong, I will charge to that stupid arena, you hear me?"
"Yes, commander Lua!" says everyone around
It's been two days since Komet was declared the new princess of Fabales. When she bargained with Prince Mamemon, she thought she would go through bad times, but now she knows she was very wrong: 'bad times' was an understatement. The concept of 'personal space' seems foreign to the prince, and he can't stop bragging about himself to her. She is never left alone, he is frequently touching her, sometimes in weird places, and all she can do is to follow along, so the prince won't try anything 'funny' to her or to Sonne.
"I would easily exchange this for fighting Apepmon again. Or facing the Angel Army. Or anything, really…"
Right at this moment, Prince Mamemon holds Komet by her waist, taking her to the VIP room in the colosseum. Soon Sonne will enter the arena to fight his next opponent. The prince babbles about something - probably about himself, as usual - but Komet pays only half attention to him. "The enemy from yesterday was no match for Sonne, but they sure wanted to kill him at any cost… It's still weird to think that Sonne just mercilessly killed that monster, but I guess they had it coming. It was either that or Sonne would just get more injuries" she thinks.
They sit on the royal seats, which are fancily adorned. At the corners close to them, armor and weapons are displayed. They are the prince's trophy, spoils from the ones that fell in battle in the colosseum to his chosen gladiator, which, of course, he loves to talk about. He starts talking about it at this exact moment, even though he already did it the previous day.
She looks at the big sword - almost as big as her - and a smaller shield with snake patterns on them. "Minervamon, the Ultimate that was beaten in the final challenge - against his strongest gladiator. He loves to brag that his chosen one is 'just' a Perfect, but there's probably more to it than he lets out. He is a cheater, after all…" She sighs. "I hope I'm allowed to visit Sonne again… I really need to pass the information about this last challenge on to him, and I really hope he has more news about Lua's plan…"
From up there, they have the best view of the arena. At that moment, drums are played, the announcer calls Sonne and the lion enters the arena. Then the announcer calls Cockatrimon, and a giant white draconic bird with long tail feathers joins too.
"A cockatrice. Very medieval" she thinks. "I believe in you, Sonne, you can do it!"
"Aaaah, that grotesque bird… She was my previous princess, but then she evolved to that… Thing. Ew. I had to dispose of her" says Prince Mamemon
"Huh? Then you threw her in the colosseum?"
"Why, yes, of course! It's her punishment for betraying me like that"
"'Betraying'? This guy is unhinged!"
The fight between two winged creatures that can't fly begins. They attack, clash, bite and slash. Both monsters fight for their lives, but at the same time they both seem to respect each other, unlike Sonne's previous opponent. After a rough combat, Cockatrimon falls flat and raises her wing to signal her surrender, so the lion just leaves her on the floor.
Prince Mamemon scowls while keeping his smile somehow. "It's not over yet, the monster is still alive!"
Sonne turns around and looks at the prince. "My opponent surrendered. I have no reason to fight further. I already achieved victory"
"Grr, fine, I'll do it myself!" He snaps his fingers. "Evilmon, wipe the trash from the arena, now!"
Two small winged demons appear and fly directly to Cockatrimon, and both fire a supersonic wave at her, but intentionally don't go to a direct kill. The bird shrieks in pain, and the demons laugh at her suffering. They keep shooting until the poor Digimon bursts into bits of data. Sonne and Komet look at the scene in shock, while Prince Mamemon looks satisfied. Then the announcer finally announces Sonne as the winner, and spectators cheer.
The lass whips her head towards the prince. "Why?"
"The only prize available for the loser is death. If the victor doesn't do that, then I do it my way. That's just fair, don't you think, sweetie?"
She is fuming. She thinks about the past day, where the prince took her for a walk to the flower fields. It was already going horribly, until one of the citizens appeared in their sight, looking for something. The prince didn't like their presence there one bit, so he demanded the red wolves - Fangmon - to attack the poor monster. They pounced on it and mauled it, leaving no trace of its existence. The prince smiled proudly, while she watched it in horror. "This is… This is about power play… He is just a cold hearted asshole… A horrible person that deserves nothing but-…"
It's past midnight. Most of the Digimon are sleeping, Lua is lying on the cold floor with a lot of papers scattered around her, far from the streaming sewage to not get her 'attempts of plans' contaminated with the nasty water. The last trial starts late in the afternoon, and she still couldn't elaborate something she could call 'a proper plan'. The bunny sits up and pulls her ears down. "Why does it have to be so hard? Do I suck that hard without Sonne's or Komet's guidance?"
"Mail for Lua!" says a Tyumon, waving the scroll in front of her.
She groans in frustration, yanks the scroll from Tyumon's little hands and starts reading the letter. It's mostly updates about their situation. Sonne talks about how they are still fine, but he can tell that Komet is getting close to losing it. He also mentions that he has low expectations of Lua's plan, but her unpredictability will make her 'somehow' find a way to make it work.
"Wow, thanks for the honesty, big puss" she huffs. She looks at the scattered papers and sighs. "Maybe you are not all that wrong… But hey, that's not gonna stop me!"
She collects the paper sheets and puts them together in a pile. "I need to think about our past fights… How we fought and what the deployed strategies were… Hmm"
"Are you having trouble, commander Lua?"
"WAAAAH! Don't scare me like that, Floramon! And no, everything is under control! I know exactly what I'm doing, so don't worry"
The flower giggles. "You are not so different from Chaperomon"
"What? I'm sorry, but are you trying to offend me or what? I'm not someone that feels comfortable letting assholes do whatever they want, you know? I do not give up without a fight!"
"Oh, don't get it wrong! She is a fighter too, she is just a mess when it comes to teamworking and she is well aware of that. The only reason she still allows us to try to rescue to-be princesses is because it works and we have many escape plans within the kingdom"
"Well, why not try to escape the kingdom then?"
She looks down. "Well, this is her homeland, so she just won't leave people behind to suffer. And unfortunately many victims and friends died to Fangmon when she was trying to help them escape. She fears this will happen again, so now she mostly sticks to hiding us and providing for us until… Something changes. And, hey, we are no better than her, so we just follow along"
"Yeah, I noticed that her plan sucks, it's thanks to her that we got in this shitty situation!" She groans. "Sure, she is trying to help, this is really honorable of her, but that doesn't mean it will make me less mad. But I still feel bad that she gets all injured alone for that… So today we are gonna end this!" She gives a thumbs up.
"Hopefully we will!" says Floramon, raising her hand for a high five.
Lua gives the high five. "Oh, I have a question about the Chessmon Guard. We saw pawns, bishops, knights and rooks. Where is the queen and the king? Are they part of the guard too?"
"Well, King Chessmon was the first king of the kingdom, but he was dethroned loooong ago, because he was such a coward! He was the founder of the Chessmon Guard by the way, and he lived like a peasant afterwards! Unfortunately Prince Mamemon killed King Chessmon just because he could"
"What? What a son of a bitch! What about the queen?"
"Well… The prince tried to force her to be his princess, and it didn't work out, sooo…"
"Yep, we need to kill that piece of shit. Thanks for the answers!"
"If you need anything else, just ask me!"
Lua shifts her attention back to her paperwork. She looks at all the info about the members of Chaperomon's rescue team, the locations of the princedom, escape routes and their enemies. "They have so much important information! It feels like they could easily take over Fabales if any of them was a strategist! Too bad putting them together is such a chore for me too, ugh…"
She spends a few more hours polishing the plan, and goes to sleep not long after. A few hours later, she wakes up in a jump from a nightmare. She quickly looks around while breathing quickly, then calms down when she realizes she is still in the sewers.
"Oh, look! Commander Lua is finally awake!" says Chaperomon
She gets up. "Good morning to you too! Is everyone ready for today?"
"Well…" She points at the room where everyone is eating.
Lua sees the Digimon looking tense and scared.
"So… Everything is going to be alright, right?" asks the blue allosaur
"Of course it will! It's a plan from the hands of commander Lua, after all! After this night, no one's gonna suffer from the hands of that tyrannical golden pea anymore!"
Lua says it with so much confidence that it lifts everyone's spirit in an instant. Deep down, she is still a bit nervous about her trying-to-be a plan, but she has faith that if it doesn't work this way, she will make it work in another way. After all, she is part of Team Twilight, and 'giving up' is not a word in her personal dictionary.
"Listen everyone!" Lua continues. "We are gonna sneak through the colosseum during the battles and do our best to target and capture the prince and save the princess! If battle is inevitable, then well, we are gonna beat them up! We need to make him forfeit his reign in a way or another, then the Chessmon Guard will stop responding to him. We need to make it fast or those stupid Mamemon dickriders will join the fray!"
Lua goes on into the specifics of her plan. Everyone listens to her carefully. She talks about it with so much confidence that even she starts to believe that her plan is amazing. After finishing it, she gathers all the paper sheets together. "That said, Operation 'Damsels in…' Uuh…"
"Royal Mess!" shouts Chaperomon
Lua grins. "Operation 'Damsels in Royal Mess', active!"
Time passes, and it's almost evening. The sound of drumming echoes across the princedom, announcing that the gladiatorial combats will soon begin. Lua and her team wear cloaks and hide in the shadows. They see a lot of Digimon entering the arena to watch the show. The Mamemon are the most excited about it, while some of the other species seem to be going against their will. They mostly talk about how the prince's gladiator is going to win again, as always.
"Let's wait until there are fewer people!" whispers Lua
After some minutes, the influx diminishes, and only two Bishop Chessmon are visible at the entrance.
"It's my time to shine!" says Chaperomon, with a big grin on her face. She jumps out of the corner and stands in front of the two chess Digimon. She slaps her butt twice in provokation. "Catch me if you can, or I'm gonna kiss the prince!"
The two guards look at her direction and scowl. "It's her! Catch her! We must not let her interfere in His Highness' fun time"
As soon as they are distracted enough, Lua's team quickly enters the colosseum, always moving in the shadows. "We did it, we are in!" she whispers. "We will wait until they are too excited watching the battle, then we are gonna move…" She looks around, looking for Prince Mamemon. She spots the VIP area, where the prince is lying on Komet's lap while caressing her legs. Some members of the Chessmon Guard stand behind them. She scowls and growls low upon seeing that. "There! We are going there, direct to that piece of shit! Understood?"
They all nod
"Disgusting. Just like real peas. No wonder why his princesses don't survive for very long, and if this keeps going for much longer, I'll be next on the list…"
Komet pats the prince on the head to keep up the act while Sonne is still in trial, but deep down she feels like exploding. And exploding the prince, too.
The drums stop, and that prompts Prince Mamemon to sit up and hold her hand. Then, trumpets are played to announce the beginning of the battles. First, the announcer calls Sonne to enter the arena, and the lion steps in. The crowd boos at him, but he easily ignores them. Then, the announcer calls the prince's personal gladiator: Zanmetsumon.
Zanmetsumon is an almost 3 meters tall armored Digimon, a mix of centaur and dragon. It has four arms and four legs, and a big mouth on its torso, which exhibits large and sharp teeth. The monster wields five swords, one of them stuck on its tail. The crowds cheer as soon as they see the dragon and start chanting its name.
"Gods, this is insane!" thinks Komet nervously. She grits her teeth. "If only I could provide some guidance to Sonne…!"
At that moment, two Evilmon also show up in the arena.
"Wait a second, why are those flying gremlins there?" asks Komet
Prince Mamemon shrugs. "It wouldn't be fair for your servant to just fly around while my gladiator has to remain grounded"
She starts shaking in anger. "B-but that wasn't the deal, or the rules for that matter! And you know he can't fly yet!"
The Evilmon and Zanmetsumon corner Sonne
The prince gently holds her hand and caresses it. "Oh, I guess it's too late to do anything about it. But that's fine. It's a fair price for the freedom of the servant of a cheater, don't you think, sweetie?"
"You son of a- I-DID-NOT-CHEAT!"
He puts his hand on his face in shock. His face is bleeding. Before Komet realized it, she had scratched his face, very close to his eyes. It's a clear sign that she had enough.
"GUARDS! Don't let her escape! Tie her up! She needs to be disciplined!" yells the prince
Half of the guards block the exits, some of them shield the prince, and the rest position themselves to capture Komet. But what follows surprises them: the lass doesn't try to escape through the doors. Instead, she gives them the finger, yanks Minervamon's sword and shield from the display and jumps towards the arena. "Go to hell, you poor excuse of a prince!"
He very angrily looks at her falling towards the battle. "Do you want to die so badly? Then die! I don't need someone like you!" he yells.
Komet holds the sword very tight. She feels the energy of the weapon flowing through her body, as if the fallen gladiator is helping her, and starts spinning in the air with it. "Strike Roll!" With a swift slash, she cuts one of the Evilmon in half, who explodes in bits of data before it gets the chance to do anything.
Sonne's eyes widen in surprise and shock. "Komet!"
Because of the weight of the sword, it sinks deep in the ground, getting stuck on the floor. Komet doesn't fall properly, so she winces as she hits the floor, rolling away from the weapon. She gets up and staggers a bit. "Sorry but not sorry. I had enough with that piece of shit, so I thought joining you was a better idea. And guess what? I'm already feeling better!"
"I do not approve this, but it is understandable"
"Kill the princess first!" yells Prince Mamemon
Zanmetsumon turns around and runs towards her. She runs towards the sword and tries to pull it out of the ground, but she is too weak for that. "Crap!" She then quickly summons the cleaver to her hands and places it in front of her, along with the shield on her left arm, just in time to receive the attack of two swords.
The attack is so strong that she is launched across the arena. The crowd cheers in excitement. Komet sits up a bit dizzy, and sees the centaur dragon charging at her and launching two air blades at her. She tries moving away but fails, so she just braces herself and closes her eyes shut, placing her shield and cleaver in front of her again.
But she hears a thud instead. She opens her eyes and sees that Sonne took the hit, and despite the injury, he still gets up again. "You will not die before me, Komet" He grabs her by her clothes and leaps away, but he falls in pain as soon as he lands.
The lass hugs Sonne and grunts. The enemies won't give them time to react. At that pace, they might get killed soon. But Sonne refuses to stop fighting, and Komet is not willing to give up either. After all, they already had to resist for three days while their friend is working hard to rescue them, so they must prevail. The same way Lua is giving her best, they should go beyond their limits as well.
So, Sonne stands up and faces the opponent again. Their perseverance resonates with each other, so, involuntarily, Komet collects the data from the Digimon she destroyed, and it quickly mixes with the aura of 0s and 1s that forms around her. Zanmetsumon runs towards them, followed by the remaining Evilmon. The draconic monster spreads its arms, ready to slash through everyone on its way.
"Lua! We will not fall yet!" Komet launches the flow of data at Sonne, who jumps in front of her.
The dragon raises the sword to strike the lion, who is enveloped with bright light. The swords are about to hit him square, when it clunks with something that grows taller, as tall as Zanmetsumon. The light dissipates, revealing a new form for Sonne: a bipedal wingless lion with a mane so long that covers his entire back. He wears armor, and two long arcs come from the pauldrons, covering the upper part of his arms - the object he is using to parry the attack of the swords.
The lass looks at him, impressed. Sonne really evolved to Perfect. Zanmetsumon gets shocked by the sudden evolution.
"The name is Flaremon" says Sonne. He gives a confident smile and charges his hand with fiery energy. The fire takes the shape of a lion's head. "Gurenjuouha!" He launches the attack right into the torso's mouth, making the dragon stagger. But he doesn't stop there.
"Yo! Big puss evolved into bigger puss!"
Lua carefully sneaks through the crowd, who are in awe with the turn of events. Her team follows her, although all of them are also watching the battle, especially for the pleasure of seeing the prince's 'chosen one' losing.
They see Sonne covering his hands and legs in flames. "Crimson Lion Dance!" he shouts, as he launches a flurry of punches and kicks at the monster, making it tumble. The dragon tries to stab him with the sword in its tail, but he dodges and grabs the tail, squeezing and twisting it. Unfortunately the flying Evilmon bothers him enough to make Zanmestumon break free.
Despite being a semi 2v1, it seems Sonne still has the upper hand. Lua can see that Komet is giving him commands while keeping herself safe. Following her strategy, the lion manages to hit Evilmon square and destroy him, leaving only Zanmetsumon as his opponent.
Floramon pokes Lua. The flower is a bit nervous. "I think we need to go faster, the prince is looking angrier because things are not going his way, so there's a possibility he will just run off or…"
"Don't worry about that, everything will work well!" she says, giving her a thumbs up. But now she needs to adjust the plan a bit, thanks to Komet's insane idea of jumping into the arena. "I don't blame her, I'd have done the same but earlier. At least the prince can't take her hostage anymore!"
The fight seems tough for Sonne. After all, it's a melee fighter versus a monster who wields five swords extremely well and has tons of experience. Lua shifts her focus back to her mission. "I have to take my eyes off the fight. I have to believe it, they can do it!" And after successfully moving through the crowd, they reach the back door of Prince Mamemon's VIP area, which is obviously locked.
"Let me take care of this," says the yellow bipedal fox. She lifts her finger and displays her nail, and uses it to pick the lock. A click is heard, and as soon as the door opens a little bit, Floramon puts her hands inside. "Allergy Shower!" She sprays pollen, and after a few seconds, she peeks. "Oh, no one is in this room. Is this just an empty room…? Oh wait, there's a corridor, maybe it leads to where Prince Mamemon is!"
"Then what are we waiting for?" says Lua. She sneaks inside and follows the corridor, carefully hearing her surroundings. The team follows her and they quickly reach an open access to the VIP room. Lua spies through the corner. Unfortunately for them, they are in a bad spot - most of the Chessmon are in the way to reach him. "Well, shit. Now what?"
She lies low and motions the group to do the same. She observes the prince, waiting for a good opportunity to attack. She sees him moving out of his throne and walking towards a chest that lies in front of him. He looks very angry.
"Chessmon Guard, close your eyes and count to ten. It's an order!" he says
They all close their eyes and start counting loud. Then, the prince takes a modern crossbow out of his chest. He loads it with something that doesn't look like a bolt, but more like a big syringe. He looks through the scope and aims. "I guess it's finally time to do that again. I hope this new formula works as intended, because I got only one shot. Goodbye, Sonne the whatever-mon you are now!"
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" yells Lua, as she jumps out of her hiding spot
He flinches in shock, and that causes him to pull the trigger. Lua gasps and looks towards the arena. To her relief, the projectile misses Sonne, but it seems it hit Zanmetsumon instead.
"It's you! What did you do? Guards, get her and lock her up!" yells Prince Mamemon
Hearing that, the rest of Lua's squad jumps out of the corridor. Floramon is the first to attack, releasing pollen that makes Pawn Chessmon stop moving and falling flat, but the two Bishop Chessmon seem to resist it. One of the allied Digimon protests. "Careful with that! You don't want us to fall asleep too, do you?"
"Sorry!" says Floramon
Lots of Tyumon run and jump unpredictably in the room, making it difficult for both enemies and allies to move around.
Lua looks around nervously. "It's a mess already!" She looks back at Prince Mamemon, who now starts running away, screaming in panic.
"Guards! Kill all of them before they come at me!" he says
"He is getting away!" growls Lua
"Go after him, commander Lua! We will do our best to hold them here!" says Floramon
Lua nods. "Please, be careful and survive!" Then she gives one last glance at the arena before pursuing the prince, to see how Sonne and Komet are doing. She was expecting anything, except what she is actually seeing: Zanmetsumon is screaming, while weird spikes grow from its body. The eyes are all white and the body is covered in dark purple aura, with dark miasma flowing from it.
"N-no way!"
