The Crest of a Master

by PizzaSpino

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

15. Coredramon's Siege Part 2

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

Listening to as I mount my dragon: Battling the Green Death (How to Train Your Dragon)

The Crest of a Master Chapter 15: Coredramon's Siege Part 2

Sewer

"Dracomon! Dracomon!" several members of the infiltration team called out.

The group had made their way down the tunnel and into the main sewer system beneath the walled off village. Once the team crossed the border, the sewer's pathway transformed from a straight shot pipeline into a series of catacombs and branching paths. The Digimon tried to use their stronger noses to sniff out Dracomon's trail but were quickly overwhelmed by the foul odors which populated the area.

"Guys, maybe we should stop shouting," Lillie cautioned. "We've entered the city now."

Meanwhile, above ground

"If we make too much noise, somebody will notice us."

Meanwhile, just above the infiltration team, a pair of Gizamon nervously watched the toilet of one of the public outhouses which carried the voices up from the sewer below.

"See," said one Gizamon to his compatriot in a shaky voice. "I told you the piping was gaining sentience!"

Back in the Sewers

"Actually, I was wondering about that," May spoke through the bandana she had fastened around the lower half of her face. "Why weren't there any locks or guards at the entrance? It kind of seems like a big hole in security."

From his spot by Goh's feet, Terriermon (whose face was still wrapped in his ears) spoke up. "In my experience security can get lax if a) staffing is low, b) they are prioritizing something else, c) everyone is just being lazy, or d) there's already some kind of natural deterrent in place."

"Yeah? What deterrent would be here? Falling objects?" asked Gary, who was holding one hand up to cover his nose and cautiously eyeing some of the pipes that fed into the wastewater.

"More like wild Numemon," Terriermon replied.

"Numemon?" Lillie, who had her nose pinched, nasally said. "What are Numemon?"

As if on que, the group heard a small ruckus coming from behind. The noise consisted of growling, moaning, and squishing. Looking behind, the group could see a crowd of approaching Digimon which were about the size of a small rookie. They looked like large green slugs with purple spots. The slugs had long tongues, thick humanoid teeth, and eyeballs perched on top of stalks.

"You just had to ask," Terriermon moaned.

"RUN!" Gabumon shouted.

Following Gabumon's calm and levelheaded instructions, the group charged down the sewer's pathway as fast as their feet could take them.

"Are Numemon strong?" Gary called over to the Digimon.

"No!" Lunamon, who was running as fast as she could with her stubby feet, called back. "They are very weak!"

"Then why are we running?"

To answer Gary's inquiry, the Numemon began throwing revolting pink slime at the group. Seeing this, the Digimon ran faster.

"Ugh!" May cringed away from the slime. "What is that stuff?"

Deciding to fill in the blanks himself, Goh whipped out his Digivice. "Numemon, champion level. They like to live in dark and damp locations and will defend their territory using their…" The words on Goh's lips died and his eyes widened onto the point where they looked as though they were about to pop out of his head.

"What?" May called over. "What does it say?"

Goh took a leaf out of the Digimon's book and picked up the pace. "Run faster!" He called over his shoulder.

Thus, our heroes retreated from the Numemon threat. They ran up and down the sewer's walkways until they came across a split. Too panicked to properly coordinate, half the team ran down one path while the other half choose a separate path. Everyone continued to run until they found a couple of hatches which lead them out of the sewers.

The Dungeons

Deep within the dungeons of the palace, a hatch leading to the sewers flew open. Lillie, Goh and their Digimon scrambled out as fast as their flailing limbs would allow before slamming the man cover close. They sat in silence both to catch their breath and to listen to make sure that the Numemon hoard had passed. When the sound of the slugs' grumbling died down, both Digimon and human slumped back and panted.

Goh looked over at Terriermon. "Weren't those the weak Digimon you said I could use for practice?"

Terriermon just swatted an ear at his partner. "Ah, shut up."

The Village

While the castle group gathered their bearings, Gary, May, and their Digimon popped up on the other side of the village. Unlike the group of Numemon who chased the other kids, the Numemon chasing Gary and May kept up their pursuit. It was only when the slugs felt the sunlight from the surface that they decided to drawback.

Now free from the sewers, the group let out a collective sigh of relief. Before they could gather their bearings, the group heard some laughter nearby. Turning, they could see a Syakomon rocking back and forth in its shell like a lady in a rocking chair.

"They got you too, huh?" chuckled the Syakomon.

The humans and their Digimon partners shared a confused look. "Pardon?" Biyomon inquired.

"You're not the first team of plumbers to be hazed by the Numemon hoard and you won't be the last," stated the Syakomon.

Gary took a look over himself and lifted a sludge coded sleeve for a quick sniff. He then quickly withdrew his arm. "Plumbers, right," Gary grimaced before addressing the Syakomon. "Say, you wouldn't just so happen to have seen a Dracomon come by here, would you? We, uh, got separated from him while we were working on a particularly nasty clog."

"Oh, he's with you," smiled the Syakomon. "You shouldn't have any problem finding him. Just follow the hollering."

Gary was about to ask for the Syakomon to elaborated, but he was cut off by various angry shouts echoing from down the street.

"WATCH IT!"

"JERKWAD!"

"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO USE THE SHOWER TO BATHE. NOT THE TOILET!"

"On that note," Gary took off to follow the commotion.

"Wait for me!" May rushed after Gary.

"Thank you very much," Gabumon said politely to the Syakomon.

"Gabumon! We mustn't lose our partners too!" shouted Biyomon dashing after May.

"Oh! Right!" Gabumon zoomed off to catch up with the rest of his team.

Syakomon just chuckled as she watched the group of oddball plumbers venture off. "Wish my life was that exciting."

The Castle

"Young lady," Knightmon said as he rummaged through a closet for his weaponry. "You must quit following me around and go and wait with the rest of the refugees."

"But you need me," Iris insisted. She stepped to the side when a massive pile of junk came spilling out from the closet. "Dragons are my specialty. I can help you find a way to safely relocate the dragon instead of killing it."

Knightmon waded out from the junk pile and moved on to a large chest. "I admire your conviction, but I cannot allow a young maiden such as yourself to come on a dangerous quest."

"I'm not helpless!" Iris protested.

At his outburst, Knightmon turned around and gave Iris his full attention. "Can you carry heavy weapons?"

"No," Iris admitted.

"Can you fire a bow?"

"No," Iris ducked her head a bit and folded her hands behind her back.

"Can you cast spells?"

"Sort of, but not really?" Iris volunteered weakly.

"Then what do you think you can offer?" Knightmon asked folding his arms.

Seeing her opening, Iris did her best to stand up straight and reassert herself. "Because I can talk with dragons."

The knight tilted his head. "Anyone can speak with dragons. The real question is if you can get them to listen."

"What I mean is I can communicate with dragons on a deeper level," Iris explained. "I come from a village that specializes in raising and training dragon types. You see, a long time ago humans and dragon types didn't get along. They would steal each other's food and territories. These problems got even worse when humans from across the sea began building larger settlements. To prevent more fighting, the founders who built my village practiced a technique to allow people to link their auras with the auras of dragons so that we can better understand them."

"Hmm," Knightmon regarded Iris. "And you're saying that you've mastered this technique?"

"Well, uh," despite Iris's instance on joining the quest she still had a ways to go in training to properly use technique. She could reach out and enter a dragon's mind, sometimes. Truth be told, most of the times Iris used the technique was unintentional. It would often happen while she slept. She would link her aura with a random dragon whether it be a domesticated Fraxure or a wild Druddigon. The problem persisted when she arrived in the Digital World where she was able briefly look through the eyes of a nearby Airdramon or dream about the past of a wild Veedramon. "I still need to iron out some kinks, but yeah. I can do it."

For a brief moment, Knightmon examined Iris. At first, Iris thought he was about to buy her bluff and say yes. But that hope was dashed when Knightmon went back to rummaging around the room for spare weaponry.

"You can't kill that dragon!" Iris simultaneously ordered and plead. "I know dragons may seem scary, but most conflicts involving them just come from misunderstandings. If you give dragons a chance, you'll find that they're actually very noble."

"Young lady," interjected Gargoylemon who had been watching the exchange. "We are very aware of the nobility of dragons."

"Oh yeah," Iris gave the armor Digimon her most bashful grin. "Of course you would know. You are a dragon."

"Actually, I was talking about him," Gargoylemon pointed at statue just outside of the room.

Curious, Iris walked up to look over the statue. It was of a Digimon that had a similar body to that of a Salamance, but with a shorter neck and longer legs. The Digimon's main body, head, and forelimbs were covered in thick armor and had a large jet engine with dragon wings sprouting form it sitting on the Digimon's back.

Iris could have found out more about this dragon by reading the plaque, but she knew better than that. She knew that you've got to scan it!

"Imperialdramon, mega level" Iris read off the hologram which depicted the Digimon in full color: with white and blue scales, black and golden armor, white hair, and red wings. "In its dragon mode it can circle the globe in a matter of minutes. But if it wants to trade speed for power it can switch to a humanoid 'Fighter Mode.'"

"Though he was not a member of the Royal Knights, Imperialdramon took it upon himself to scout out and recruit the members making him the team's founder," Gargoylemon explained. "And he is not the only dragon of note in our history books. Digimon like the wise Azulongmon and the dauntless AncientGreymon stood alongside the Royal Knights in the Era of Legends."

"Just like the dragons of truth and ideals from back home," Iris marveled. "I guess you guys also have legendary dragons that you look to for inspiration and guidance.

"It's not just the famous dragons, the average everyday dragons are precious too," Knightmon had ceased his comb through the room for his weapons and had joined the two in admiring the statue of the ancient dragon. "Why, I remember my first rescue. I was but a newly evolved rookie exploring the woodlands near my village when I stumbled upon a tiny Petitmon."

Iris brought out her Digivice. "Let's see, Petitmon, fresh level. Awww! It's so cute! It says here that these little guys use hot air to defend themselves and to keep themselves constantly floating."

Knightmon nodded. "That is their status quo. Alas, this Petitmon was so grievously injured that it was knocked out of the sky. I was able to take it back to my home and nurse it back to health. But then tragedy struck."

The armored warrior's voice turned grave. "I was in the middle of trying to decide if I should release the Petitmon back into the wild or raise it as a civil Digimon when a wild Digimon attacked my village. I was able to make it to safety, but I couldn't say the same for my friend. I lost the little dragon during the rushed evacuation."

Hearing the knight's tale, Iris began to tear up. "Knightmon, I am so sorry."

Though Iris could not see the Digimon's face, she could practically feel the smile by looking at the warm eyes of the ultimate. "Thank you for your condolences. Nature can be cruel. However, I find that there are two ways to approach misfortune. You can either succumb to it, or learn from it. That eve may have been when I lost my dear companion, but it was also the day that I discovered that I wanted to be a knight. So that whenever a village is under attack, I can protect every Digimon who cannot protect themselves."

"Then let me help you!" Iris pled. "One dragon lover to another. I don't want to see anyone else hurt by a wild Digimon, but I'm sure we can find a way to resolve this problem without hurting the dragon. Like find it a new habitat away from any town."

"Easier said than done," Knightmon said grimly. "Wild Digimon are territorial and violent by nature because Digimon are fighters by nature. It's how we survive. Absent proper rearing, a wild Digimon is just going to see any other Digimon entering its territory as either prey or an intruder. And without a properly trained ranger it can be very difficult to 'reason' with a wild Digimon let alone find a peaceful solution."

Knightmon scratched his metal chin with his gauntlet hand. "Although now that I think about it, if the dragon attacking all of the towns is the same Digimon that would be pretty unusual. That's far too wide a spread for your typical territory."

Spotting an opening, Iris latched on. "Well then maybe this problem may be a lot easier than we originally thought! If the dragon is behaving weird, then we just need to find out what's causing the unusual behavior and the dragon will stop going out of its way to harass towns. Trust me, I've seen this all the time with Pokémon."

"Pokémon?" Knightmon blinked.

"They're the monsters that inhabit my home," Iris explained. "In the past people thought Pokémon were dangerous. But over time we found that if they can be understood, we can live peacefully with them. I'm a Pokémon trainer. If I combine my skills with my Digimon partner's ranger training, then maybe we can find a way to stop the dragon from attacking all these different towns without any more bloodshed. Or data-shed."

Both Knightmon and Gargoylemon shared a look before Gargoylemon addressed Iris. "Was that creature you summoned earlier a Pokémon?"

Dread began to build up in Iris's stomach. "Uh, yeah."

"If you'll excuse me, but from where I was standing it didn't look like you had any control over your own pet. I can't express any confidence that you would be able to fare much better against a volatile dragon," Gargoylemon spoke as if he was giving Iris a lecture.

"But…" Iris tried to rebuttal.

"Young maiden," Knightmon continued Gargoylemon's lecture. "It's clear to me that you have a love for monsters both big and small as well as a heart for adventure. These traits will take you many places in the future. But for now, you are clearly inexperienced and need to stay out of our way."

With that, Knightmon walked down the hallway to continue his preparations leaving Iris with a faint feeling of déjà vu.

Years ago, in the Village of Dragons

Though the Village of Dragon's tournament only lasted a day, it felt like a lifetime to Iris. The day started out so bright and welcoming. After months of battling and training she and her partner, Drilbur, were going to enter the town's annual Pokémon tournament. The pair already knew that they were going to dominate, so it came as no surprise when Drilbur knocked out his opponent in the final match and claimed the gold. The mole's evolution into his final form, Excadrill, was just the icing on the cake.

It was all downhill from there.

Riding high on her victory, Iris decided to challenge a visiting trainer by the name of Drayden to a Pokémon battle. She knew he was going to be tough, they don't just hand the title of Dragon Master to anyone, but Iris never imagined that she would be defeated so effortlessly. When Iris attempted to talk with her Pokémon after the battle, Excadrill just folded himself into his borrowing mode and refused to speak.

Which brought Iris to her current predicament. After her disastrous match, the Dragon Master himself called her aside to speak with her in private. Iris wasn't sure what the man wanted, but between the sour attitude her partner had taken with her, and the judging look Drayden had given her after the fight, Iris couldn't help but to feel like she was about to be punished for something.

"Excuse me, can we have moment of your time?"

Iris was broken out of her stupor by the voice of a stranger. Curious, she carefully peaked around the corner of cabin she was waiting besides. Standing in front of the building were three people. The first was Drayden himself. One would think with hair as stark white as his the Dragon Master would be a feeble old man instead of the well-built behemoth he really was. Standing tall and dressed in a white, dress shirt and pants held in place by a pair of suspenders, Drayden looked like someone who could both run a city and do more than his fair share of the manual labor. Adding onto the mountainous levels of masculinity this man was giving off was a trimmed beard so thick that no one could even glimpse his mouth.

Across from Drayden were a pair of men in grey suits. As far as Iris could tell they looked like your average city workers, completely featureless and clean onto the point where she wondered if these people ever stepped foot in grass. But Iris did notice one stand out feature, the emblem that was on the suitcase of the man closest to her. Emblazed on it was an emblem which resembled a black and white shield with a blue symbol overlaying it which looked like someone put a P over a Z.

One of the suits cordially addressed Drayden. "Hello, we are representatives of Team Plasma. We are a new organization which…"

Drayden cut the man off. "I am aware of who you are. Some of your agents have already contacted me."

"Ah, apologies," the suited man nodded. "Then I trust that you've had time to consider our positions. Would you be willing to lend your support? As one of Unova's stronger gym leaders and the mayor of Opelucid City your voice would carry a lot of weight."

This guy was also a gym leader and a mayor?! Now Iris felt even more foolish for challenging him.

Drayden stood still for a moment, whether it was to think over his words or to make sure he had the suits' undivided attention was anyone's guess. When he finally spoke, it was firm and deliberate. "Yes, I have had a chance to look over your organization's goals. While I can sympathize with some of your positions, I cannot endorse your mission statement."

"Surely a man in your position isn't naïve to the amount of Pokémon abuse in our world," pressed one of the men.

"I am fully aware of that problem," Drayden nodded. "However, I do not believe that segregating humans and Pokémon is the answer. We have both shaped this world and evolved to accommodate each other. If I am to speak to my personal beliefs, I think that removing one from another would cause more problems than it would solve. We should not punish the many for the actions of the few."

"Pokémon aren't just suffering because of the actions of a few abusers!" argued one of the men. "The entire system, how we treat Pokémon, is flawed. Take that girl you battled earlier for example."

Iris felt a chill run down her spin.

"She wasn't a criminal, yet she still mistreated her Pokémon by pushing it into a battle it clearly didn't want fight."

No! Excadrill loves to fight! It was just a bad match up! They would do better next time! She wasn't a bad trainer!

"Wouldn't it be better for the Excadrill if it were released back into the wild?"

N-no. Iris clutched her Poké Ball close to her chest. No, no, no, no!

"What happens with that girl and her Excadrill are none of your concern," Drayden said, his voice replacing the patience it had earlier with a stern tone that did not welcome any arguments. "I'll be taking care of them personally. Now, if that is all I believe that our discussion is over. Good day."

Hearing the steps of Drayden's heavy feet, Iris curled into a ball. She didn't hold any delusions of keeping the massive man from seizing Excadrill's ball, but she would be darned if she didn't at least try!

It wasn't until Iris heard Drayden speak that she dared to open her eyes. "You don't have to worry; I'm not going to take Excadrill away from you."

Looking up, Iris could see Drayden was handing her an envelope. "No doubt you overheard my conversation. I'm not going to separate you from your Pokémon, but it's clear that your skills as a trainer need work. As it just so happens, I run a school to help promising youths hone their talents. You don't have to give me an answer right away, all I ask is that you think about it."

Back to now

Iris glared at the back of the retreating knight. No! Drayden, those men in the suits, and these guys, they were all wrong! She was a perfectly capable Pokémon trainer, and she was not going to stand by and let a dragon get slayed before she had a shot at finding a peaceful solution.

With May and Gary

"Go on a Pokémon journey, May. You'll get to see new places like you've always wanted, May. It'll be an adventure, May," May grumbled to herself while she chased after her team through the village's market. She swore, if she somehow miraculously survived the Digital World, she was going to go home, take a thorough bath and lounge around and do nothing for a week at the very least. Maybe then, and this was a huge maybe, she would go on her Pokémon journey with one caveat: no dragons! May didn't care what Pokémon she was slapped together with whether it be a large bug or bottomless pit, just so long as it didn't force her to chase it through the streets like a certain green lizard.

The group had caught up to Dracomon only to find that the adolescent drake was in a scuffle with a large, grey Gogoat look alike that her Digivice identified as an Oryxmon. The Oryxmon was hooked up to a cart carrying fruit and his head was currently locked with the small dragon's in a shoving contest.

"Watch where you're going!" bleated the Oryxmon.

"Civilians get right of way!" Dracomon growled back.

"Gabumon, grab Dracomon," Gary ordered.

The horned reptile dashed forward and grabbed Dracomon from behind, pulling him away from the goat. Now that Gabumon was busy wrestling an angry Dracomon to the ground, Biyomon stepped in and politely bowed to the Oryxmon.

"My sincerest apologies, sir," Biyomon said. "We are in a dire rush, but that does not excuse any recklessness. Please excuse our friend's behavior."

The Oryxmon gave the Dracomon, who was still trying to escape Gabumon's grasp, one final glare before snorting and trotting away. "Just be more aware of your surroundings!" he called back.

May sighed in relief. Thank Arceus that didn't escalate. She then turned to address Dracomon with her hands on her hips. "You can't go running off like that. We were worried about you! Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused?" Great, now she was starting to sound like her parents.

At Mays's words, Dracomon began to slump, and tears weld up in his eyes. Taken aback, May awkwardly approached the grappled dragon. "Are you okay?"

"You sound just like Iris," Dracomon sniffled. "She used to scold me all the time. She'd tell me I was being impulsive. That I was acting just like a little kid."

"She wouldn't be wrong," Gary commented. "Look, we're going to find your trainer. But you need to stick with us, understand?"

Dracomon just silently nodded. Seeing this, Gabumon released his hold on the dragon and whispered into Dracomon's ear "Don't feel bad. I would be panicking if I lost my human too."

"Alright," May released a sigh of relief. "Let's go to the castle."

"Good luck," commented a Goblimon passing by. "I hear the guards won't let anyone else inside."

'Just like at the entrance to the village,' May thought.

"Pardon me, but why is wouldn't they let anyone else in?" Biyomon asked.

The Goblimon blinked at the group. "What are you, blind? It's because of all the refugees. Don't tell me you didn't notice these town's population explode. Local militia can't keep up with wild Digimon anymore. Towns are getting flattened left and right."

"And that's why everyone's coming here," Gary surmised. "To stay somewhere safe while their homes are being destroyed."

"Nah, it's too late for that," chimed in an eavesdropping Psychemon. "My town called in Sir Knightmon to help us get rid of an encroaching Manticoremon. He almost managed to beat the thing, until he began to glitch. Then a dragon joined in the fight, and everything went downhill from there."

"Wait, did he just say glitch? Like a computer glitch?" May whispered to Gary. Yes, at this point May knew full well that Digimon translated to "Digital Monster," but the Digimon themselves didn't look digital. Their world had some digital elements such as random pieces of tech and patches of pixels, almost as if this world was part of some kind of video game. But that was impossible. She clearly remembered being launched through a portal in the sky, not eaten by her computer.

"I've been talking with the Digimon about this," Gary whispered back. "They say they're made of data, which I think means these guys are like a more sophisticated Porygon."

Before May could ask Gary more about his theory, more villagers joined in on the conversation.

"Same thing happened to my village," said a Bearmon manning a shop selling herbs. "Except it was an Orochimon for us."

"My village was about to be smash by a Gogmamon," pitched in a Crabmon. "It was thanks to Knightmon that we were all able to escape. Unfortunately, we couldn't move back on account that a dragon came by and burned everything to the ground while he was fighting."

"Ok, I'm seeing a pattern here," Gary surmised. "Wild Digimon pops up, Knightmon is called in to solve the problem, he 'glitches' during the fight, and a dragon comes in to burn down the town."

"Sounds like that dragon has it out for Knightmon," Gabumon mused.

"Or it's all a setup and Knightmon is using the dragon as an excuse to kidnap people!" Dracomon declared.

"That doesn't make any sense," Gary said skeptically.

Dracomon folded his arms. "Of course his plans aren't going to make any sense! He's thinking multiple steps ahead of us. He's a criminal mastermind!"

In the Castle

"Ah ha!" Knightmon cried out in triumph. "Found it!"

"Your axe?" Iris stood on her toes in a futile attempt to look around the bulky knight.

"Oh no," Knightmon held up a tiny rubber duck and gave it a couple of squeaks. "I lost this rubber duck last week. Isn't that just how it goes? You find what you are looking for when you are not looking for it. Now my baths don't have to be so dreary."

"Uh," Iris's mind flashed back to earlier that day when she saw the knight begin to glitch. "Can you even bathe?" Was there an actual monster under that suit of armor or was it just a sea of ones and zeroes?

"What manner of question is that?" Knightmon asked, voice filled with offense.

"Sorry, forget I said anything," Iris bashfully apologized.

In the Village

"We need to get in that castle and get Iris away from that psycho," Dracomon growled.

"Gabumon, grab him," Gary ordered.

Gabumon grabbed onto Dracomon's tail causing the dragon to fall face first into the ground right as he attempted to take off again.

"I'm not sure what's happening, but it doesn't sound like it will be easy for us to get into that castle," Biyomon hummed.

"Maybe if we approach them as ordinary citizens," Gary said with a glint in his eye. "But what if it turned out we were someone they needed?"

Castle Entrance

"I'm sorry. I don't think we were expecting any plumbers," said the PawnChessmon standing by the entrance.

Standing behind Gary, May was sweating bullets. A part of her wondered if there was a difference between a plumber and a sewer worker, but she didn't feel like correcting Gary right now. Currently the boy was trying to use his usual bravado to convince the guard that someone on the staff ordered the group's 'services.' Unfortunately, it didn't look like the guard was buying it.

"What were you called in to fix?" asked the guard.

"I don't know," Gary shrugged. "Look, just let us inside and we can find it. Or hey, maybe I can point out the guy who hired us."

Gary made a move to go inside but was stopped by the PawnChessmon raising its spear. "No, you are going to stay here while I go and ask the head custodian if we've been having any issues."

May felt her insides clinch. If that guard asked around and didn't find any piping issues, then they were in deep trouble. "It might not even be a plumbing issue," May quickly threw in. "We offer all kind of services. We're odd jobs people, really."

"Right," the guard studied May from under his helmet.

"Oh for the love of Yggdrasill, just let us in!" Once again, Dracomon charged forward and had to be intercepted by Gabumon and Biyomon. "Come on! I know who we're looking for. She's my friend!"

The PawnChessmon looked like it was about to say something but was cut off when a new voice called out to him. "It's okay! They're with me!"

Sprinting in from behind the PawnChessmon was a new Digimon which resembled a cream-colored puppy with short, floppy ears, big, green eyes, and a golden color.

"Cutie!" May exclaimed as she took out her Digivice to scan the puppy. "Salamon, rookie level. She may look like a pet, but it turns out that she has a lot of untapped holy power. Her special move is Puppy Howling."

"I'm sorry," said the Salamon. "Checkers got stuck, so I found some odd jobs workers to help out."

The PawnChessmon studied the group one last time before withdrawing his spear. "Salamon, next time you need to hire someone, please let the rest of the staff know."

Salamon sat up straight. "Yes sir!" She then nudged her head to the rest of the group. "Follow me."

Taking the opening, the group followed Salamon around the back. Gabumon was the first to speak. "Thank you for helping us back there."

"No problem," Salamon winked. "You guys are terrible liars, so I was able to see that you were telling the truth when you said that you were trying to get to a friend inside."

"So, you'll help us get in?" May smiled in relief.

"Not so fast," Salamon said. The group came to a halt right beneath a tall tree. "Yes, as a member of the castle staff I can let you in. But I wasn't lying when I said that I needed help getting MY friend out of a jam."

Salamon looked up the tree. Following the dog's line of sight, May spotted a new Digimon. This Digimon was no bigger than Salamon, was covered in white and black spotted fur, pointed ears, and called down to the group with a high-pitched meow.

"Who's that Digimon?" May asked.

You know the drill! Time to scan the brand-new Digi…

"That's not a Digimon," Salamon explained. "That's my pet cat, Checkers."

Oh, whoops. Never mind, no scanning. False alarm.

"Seems doable," Gary said. "We just got to treat it like a Meowth stuck in a tree. Same basic principle. Biyomon, could you fly up and…"

"I've got this," Dracomon said. Before anyone could stop him, the dragon began climbing the tree with expertise. In no time he had reached the top and was now slowly, yet gracefully creeping towards Checkers. "Pspspspsp," whispered the dragon as he slowly made his way forward.

Though Dracomon was showing way more care and caution than he had been displaying all day, Checkers wasn't having any of it. The cat moved down the branch away from the dragon. Its fur stood on end, and it gave Dracomon an audible "HISSSS!"

"Checkers! It's okay! He's trying to help!" Salamon called up to the cat.

Apparently, Checkers did not believe Salamon. The cat made for a jump. May began to panic, not wanting to know what a fall from the cat's current height would do to the innocent animal, but then Dracomon shot forward and grabbed the cat by the nape of its neck.

Instead of fighting back, the cat curled up harmlessly allowing Dracomon to carry it to the bottom of the tree. The cat returned to life once Dracomon put it down and ran to Salamon who began nuzzling the feline affectionately.

"That was amazing!" Gabumon complemented. "How did you carry it? Most of the time I try to pick up a cat it just scratches me."

"There's an area at the back of the neck that, if you pinch it hard enough, will cause the cat to go limp," Dracomon explained. "I wouldn't recommend using it, though. I used it because it was an emergency and I didn't want Checkers to hurt himself, but scruffing cats can really stress them out."

"Wow, you know a lot about animals," May observed.

"It's important for a ranger to understand all fauna, whether it be a wild Digimon or a simple animal," Dracomon said proudly. He smiled as he watched Checkers groom Salamon. "It's actually really nice to see that Checkers cares about Salamon. She must take really good care of him. Most Digimon just see non-Digimon animals as food or pests. They don't take time to understand or appreciate them."

Dracomon then turned around and smiled up at May and Gary. "But I think animals can offer us so much more than that. After all, we were saved by the first human, a magical talking animal."

"Not this again," Gary grumbled.

"Thank you for saving Checkers," Salamon plotted up to Dracomon and motioned towards a door on the side of the castle. "Here, follow me and I can show you a back entrance where the PawnChessmon won't give you much grief. The door is unlocked and…"

Before Salamon could finish her statement, Dracomon took off again and bolted through the door. The rest of his team groaned and proceeded to chase the dragon again.

With Lillie and Goh

Lunamon's ears twitched. "Guards are coming in from the left."

"But they are moving away from us up ahead," Terriermon said raising his own large ears. "Let's continue forward, but don't rush. We've got stealth on our side, let's not spoil that."

Both Lillie and Goh made their way up from the dungeons and into the main museum. From there they found themselves in a maze of castle hallways, artifacts, and artwork. Every so often guards would make their rounds and neither human wanted to answer why they, two clearly out of place characters, were sneaking around a guarded museum. Fortunately, both Terriermon and Lunamon had acute senses of hearing and smell and could easily track the heavily armored patrols. As a result of the terrier and rabbits' combined scouting skills, Goh and Lillie had managed to give security the slip.

"Shoot, we've got two converging patrols incoming," Terriermon whispered to the rest of the team.

"Hey, look," Goh pointed at a door that was ajar. "Let's slip in there."

Nodding, everyone quietly squeezed into the open room. They waited in silence for the guards to pass before speaking again. "Okay, coast is clear. Let's go," Terriermon whispered.

"Oh! Look!" Lunamon whispered excitedly.

Everyone followed Lunamon's line of sight to see an odd mannequin standing in the middle of the barren room. The mannequin had a similar body shape to that of the mythical centaur. Except this model sported six legs instead of four and had an elongated head like a Rapidash or a Mudsdale.

"I think this room was supposed to be dedicated to Kentaurosmon!" Lunamon stated. "It looks like they packed up most of the displays, but maybe if we look around, we can find something!"

"We don't have time for that," Goh hissed.

"Besides, I thought you said UlforceVeedramon was your favorite," Lillie added in more gently.

"I'm not going to hold everyone up for a personal interest," Lunamon whispered defensively. "But knowing some stuff about Kentaurosmon might actually be useful."

Terriermon perked up. "Oh yeah. He was the knight who joined up with the first human, wasn't he?"

Now both humans were looking at the mannequin with interest. "You mean this guy was one of the ten Digimon who got reincarnated?" Goh asked.

"Yep, he and the queen of the Wind Guardians were the last members to join up with the human before they all went to take down Millenniummon," Lunamon proudly declared in a hushed voice.

Curious, Lillie brought out her Digivice to get some data on the deceased knight. The hologram depicted a six-legged centaur in red and gray armor and a pair of golden branching, wing-like protrusions sticking out of the back of its upper body along with a breast plate that looked like an equine face. It wielded a massive shield on one arm and gigantic crossbow in the other and had a spikey, purple mane and a silvery horse tail. "Kentaurosmon, mega level. Also known as Sleipmon this Digimon emphasized speed and defense but could easily strike his opponents down with holy arrows using its Bifrost or create intense blizzards using Odin's Breath."

"It's said that Kentaurosmon was the last of the Royal Knights. By the time the first human arrived in the Digital World the rest of the knights died either facing Millenniummon or in other conflicts that happened before Millenniummon began to manifest," Lunamon explained. "Sir Kentaurosmon was horribly wounded from the knights' attempt to slay Millenniummon and only joined up with the human once he earned the respect and allegiance of the eight kingdoms cementing him as the chosen champion of the Digital World."

After finishing her abridged history of the Royal Knight's involvement with the first human, Lunamon scampered over to the few remaining displays and began intensely looking at them. Finally, Goh decided to ask. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to see if I can get a memory trigger," Lunamon responded staring at a mounted crossbow. "If Kentaurosmon is my past life then maybe looking through his artifacts can remind me of something."

"You do realize most of these objects are just replicas, right?" Terriermon said. "Kentaurosmon was a pretty big dude. I don't' think they would have been able to stick any of his personal stuff in a small room."

"It's worth a shoot," pouted Lunamon. She then sighed and bowed her head. "But I guess it's not me."

Lillie went over to her partner and gave her a quick pat before quickly withdrawing her hand. "It's okay, Lunamon. I'm sure your past life was just a cool as Kentaurosmon."

"Yeah, just because neither you nor Terriermon were knights doesn't diminish who you were," Goh chipped in. "Kentaurosmon joined up with the first human after he got the respect of the rest of the Digital World and I'm sure he couldn't have done it without either of you guys."

"Whoa, hold up," Terriermon placed his hands on his hips. "Just because Lunamon didn't get any past life visions doesn't mean I'm out of the running for knighthood."

"No offense, Terriermon, but you don't give off any knightly vibes," Lillie teased.

"Maybe I just decided to ditch that chivalry junk after viewing the world from a fresh perspective," sniffed Terriermon.

The rest of the group stifled their laughter until they heard a commotion coming from nearby.

The Hallway

Not too far from where possibilities of past lives were being discussed, Iris continued to follow and pester Knightmon. "Have you considered just capturing the dragon? Like, not killing it. Just weakening it enough to throw a net or stick it in some kind of containment unit for transport."

Iris continued to nag Knightmon as the two made their way down a hall and into one of the various doors that lined the location. Not long after the pair went inside did Goh, Lillie, and their Digimon arrived.

"Are you sure you heard talking coming from here?" Lillie asked Lunamon.

"Positive," Lunamon nodded. "But I'm not sure which room they went into."

"Only one way to find out," Goh walked over to a door and lead the rest of the group inside.

Just as Goh's group went in one door to investigate a room, Iris and Knightmon came out another room.

"Are you absolutely certain there's no such thing as a Digi ball?" Iris implored as she followed the knight into another room.

Suddenly, Dracomon came running down the hallway. He took a moment to sniff the air before charging into the room Iris and Knightmon just exited. "In here!" he exclaimed.

Right after Dracomon barreled into the now empty room, Gary, May, and their partners ran down the hallway.

"Where did he go?" Gabumon asked, wildly looking around the door filled hallway.

"I hear someone coming!" Biyomon exclaimed.

"Just pick a room!" Gary commanded. He and the rest of his group then ran into an empty room right as Goh's group came out of their room.

"Well, that was a bust," Terriermon grumbled.

"Let's try a different room," Lillie suggested.

They then headed to another door. Lillie and Lunamon made it in, but before Goh and Terriermon could follow, a neighboring door slammed open smacking the two into the wall behind.

"Ah ha!" Knightmon cried out in triumph. "This shall be the weapon that changes the tides of battle!"

"That's a mop," Iris pointed out.

"Any object can be a weapon when wielded by a true warrior," Knightmon declared as he and Iris entered another room.

Dracomon then came out of his room and spotted the door left open by Knightmon. Growling, he charged in slamming the door behind himself.

Now free from the wedge between the door and the wall, Goh and Terriermon stumbled around before running into another door.

Then Gary opened his door and ran across the hallway closely followed by Biyomon.

"Wait," Biyomon cried out. "Something's not right here!"

Soon after Gary and Biyomon went into the same room as Dracomon.

Then May and Gabumon came out of their room.

"There are so many scents and noises in this hallway it's hard to keep track of anything," Gabumon complained.

"I swear I'm getting a year's worth of cardio hanging out with you guys," May whined as the two opened the door that Lillie and Lunamon were behind.

Once May and Gabumon disappeared behind that door, Dracomon opened his door to run down the hallway to check another door closely followed by Biyomon.

"Dracomon! Slow down! Please!" Biyomon pleaded as she followed Dracomon into another room.

Gary then walked out of the room and looked around the hallway. "Now, where did they go?"

Then Goh and Terriermon came out from their room. Spotting Gary, Goh ran right over. "Did you find Dracomon or Iris?"

"I almost had Dracomon, but then he bolted away," Gary scowled.

"Well, let's keep looking," Terriermon suggested. "They can't be too far away."

Soon after that trio disappeared behind a door, Knightmon and Iris came out from their room.

"And what would we do after we administer the sleep potion?" Knightmon asked.

"I guess carry the dragon away and hope it's not too heavy or wakes up? I don't know, this plan is a work in progress," Iris admitted following the knight into another room.

"Arg! I can't think straight in here!" Dracomon snarled. He then turned to run down the hallway. "I'm checking somewhere else."

Biyomon ran after the dragon. "Wait! What about May and the others?!"

Another door opened releasing a group of Numemon which were being chased by a group of angry PawnChessmon into another room.

Finally, Knightmon and Iris exited their room again.

"Okay, so maybe if we try, eep!" before Iris could finish her thought, Knightmon grabbed her by the scruff of her shirt and hoisted her up into the air.

"Young maiden," Knightmon spoke in a steady voice. "I admire your desire to find a peaceful solution for all parties. But I have neither the time nor the patience to deal with an unruly dragon. So unless you agree to stay put with the rest of the refugees, I'll have to lock you in the dungeons. Or a closet since those are closer."

Iris folded her arms. "Then I guess you'll just have to lock me up because there's no way I'll just sit back and allow more Digimon to die."

Sighing, Knightmon moved over to a closet. "Very well then."

"Whoa!"

The pair turned around to see Goh, Gary, and Terriermon had emerged from one of the rooms and was now staring at the large knight holding the girl. "Just what are you doing?!" Goh exclaimed.

"None of your concern," Knightmon responded. "Head back to the main lobby with the rest of the refugees."

"I don't think so!" Goh clinched his Digivice in his hand. "Terriermon!"

"On it!" the floppy eared Digimon leapt down from Goh's shoulder and began to grow and change. "Terriermon Digivolve to…Gargomon!"

Iris's eyes bulged. "Whoa! Is that…"

The girl's question was cut off when Knightmon tossed her inside a closet and toppled an empty display in front of it blocking the door.

"Huh," Gargomon muttered. "Déjà vu."

"I beg your pardon?" Knightmon asked while his hands grasped his sword.

"Mekanorimon, college campus, kid in janitor closet, you had to be there," Gargomon lifted his arms. "Now, step away from the girl and I won't have to punch holes in your pretty armor."

"Empty threats," Knightmon unsheathed his sword.

In the blink of an eye, Gargomon launched himself forwards and rammed into the knight. "I don't make threats!" yelled the gun dog as he leapt back and began firing his gauntlets. "I make promises!"

To deflect the incoming bullets, Knightmon quickly snatched the shield from his back and swung it over his shoulder and in front of him. The laser bullets tried to drill through the metal plate but to no avail.

"It's going to take more than one champion Digimon to take me down," boasted Knightmon.

"Lunamon Digivolve to…Lekismon!" There was a flash of light behind the first group of humans before a rabbit beast man leapt over and bounded towards Knightmon. "How about two?!" Lekismon said as she attempted to kick Knightmon's shield out of his hands.

"Not even close," Knightmon grabbed the rabbit's ankle with his free hand and threw her into the wall creating some cracks.

Taking advantage of the knight's momentary distraction, Gargomon charged forwards and threw a hook punch at the armored ultimate with a cry of "Gargo Pummel!" This managed to smash Knightmon into the wall along with Lekismon turning the cracks into a giant hole that lead out into the courtyard. Now free from Knightmon's grasp, Lekismon took to the air and began firing ice arrows. To deflect these, Knightmon armed himself with the mop he holstered on his back and began spinning it to break the arrows and then proceeding to toss the mop like a wet javelin. The mop hit Lekismon square in the chest sending her flying away from the castle.

"Overshot," Knightmon growled as he ran after Lekismon.

"Hey! Get back here!" Gargomon ran off to catch up with Knightmon and Lekismon.

"That escalated quickly," Gabumon commented. "I knew ultimates were tough, but it's been a long time since I've seen one in action."

"Fine by me," Gary smirked. "Stronger opponents means more experience for you guys which will get us to the mega level faster."

"Oh, that makes sense," Gabumon nodded before undergoing his own evolution. "Gabumon Digivolve to…Garurumon!"

Now in his champion form, Garurumon knelt down to allow Gary onto his back. Once on top, Gary addressed the rest of the team. "You guys take care of Iris and find where Biyomon and Dracomon ran off to. I'll take care of the walking trash can."

"Wait, won't you need," Lillie was cut off when Garurumon took off leaving the rest of the humans to eat his dust. "Help?"

"Go team," May muttered.

WHAM!

The three humans jumped at a loud bang. It turned out that Iris had spent the fight ramming the door in a bid for escape. Now she was rubbing the shoulder that she had used to crack open the door and looking around at the group. "Where's Dracomon?"

Where is Dracomon?

The little dragon had charged through over half the castle by the time he finally ran out of breath. Plopping down by a window, Dracomon sighed.

"Finally!" Biyomon stopped and sat right next to Dracomon. "And here I was thinking that you would never stop."

"Sorry," Dracomon muttered.

Seeing the depressed look on the dragon's face, Biyomon sighed. "It's alright. I would probably be panicking if I though May was in danger as well. Dubious sewer systems and high-strung guards aside I don't think this castle is unsafe. As such I think our partners are just fine."

"It's not just that," Dracomon's tail coiled around his feet. "Even when I was with Iris, I kept getting her in trouble. I try to protect and provide for her, but I just keep getting into fights with wild Digimon or getting lost. And now I've lost my human."

"We've been chosen for a difficult adventure," Biyomon said encouragingly. "There are bound to be bumps along the way."

Dracomon's eyes drooped. "No, I can't blame the adventure. I was always dead last in my classes. Raindramon tried to train me up, but I kept coming in short. He tried even harder to get me up to speed once the Digivice chose me as one of the reincarnated Digimon, but all I managed to do was get him caught in a landslide. I thought that when Iris came along, I could make it all up. If I could safely guide her, then all of Raindramon's efforts wouldn't be in vain. But she's somewhere in this castle and I'm just getting everyone else lost. I'm a dud."

"Yes, well," Biyomon paused and thought for a bit. Her talons tapped against the stone floor and then scratched at the stony ground nervously. "If you are a dud, then so am I. Allow me to tell you where I'm from."

…

Dracomon's eyes bulged. "Whoa! Seriously!?"

Biyomon nodded. "I can guarantee you that everything I just said was one hundred percent true."

"Wow," Dracomon really studied Biyomon. "I would have never guessed. Does anyone else know?"

"Just Gabumon," Biyomon traced the stone with one of her claws. "And if it's alright by you, I would prefer to keep this a secret."

"Okay," Dracomon stood up. "But if you ask me, you should at least tell your partner."

"Oh, heavens no!" Biyomon shot up. "May hates everything about the Digital World. If she knew what I really was, she'd never speak to me again."

"That's not the impression I got," Dracomon said with a head tilt. He then smiled. "Hey, if Iris can still hug me after I got in trouble for the 35th time in a day, then I'm sure May can accept the real you."

Biyomon was about to respond when something caught her eyes. Off in the distance there was various blasts and flames rising up. Meanwhile, running towards the chaos was a group of four humans, one of which she didn't recognize. "Excuse me," Biyomon pointed at the humans. "That girl with the long hair, that wouldn't just happen to be yours, would she?"

Looking over where Biyomon was pointing, Dracomon's eyes widened. "That's Iris! We need to get to her!"

"Yes, but how?" Biyomon looked around. "I'm not sure where the exit is."

"Tail Smash!" cried Dracomon. His tail clubbed the stain glass window demolishing it and allowing him to leap out to start climbing down to the courtyard below.

Biyomon was about join him when she heard my screech coming from down the hallway. Looking over, she could see a Gargoylemon clutching his head. "You just destroyed a window donated by the famous artist FlameWizardmon!"

"If you think that's bad, you should see the size of the hole in the wall down below," Dracomon called from outside the window.

"Hole in the wall?" Gargoylemon whimpered.

"I am very sorry about this, but we have more pressing matters to attend to," Biyomon bowed before spreading her arms to join Dracomon leaving the curator to morn his vandalized museum.

The Town Square

It was at times like this that Lekismon was grateful that her species had gravity manipulation abilities. Otherwise, she would have been diced up before round two of this battle even began. "Tear Arrow!" Lekismon called out from the safety of the sky as her tentacles fired off a volley of ice darts.

Once the battle had begun, Lekismon leapt up high into the air and out of Knightmon's reach. From here, she could lob as many Moon Night Bombs and Tear Arrows as she wanted. It was a cheap strategy, but she couldn't afford to be chivalrous. This plan could have worked if Knightmon's defenses weren't so freaking high. The ice seemed to bounce harmlessly off his armor and none of her possibly sleep-inducing bombs reached their mark thanks to the knight's shield.

Down below Gargomon wasn't faring any better. Instead of finding a safe spot to snipe like Lekismon had, the gunslinger stayed mobile. Between his springy jumps and the extra thrust from his laser blasts, Gargomon was able to blast around the field like a miniature rocket keeping him away from the melee centric ultimate.

Which was good because Lekismon was sure that the second Knightmon got a chance to sink his sword into either of them they'd just be spare data.

"Berserk Sword!" Knightmon swung his sword around like a mad man slicing up everything it touched. Wood, rock, steel, none of these materials stood a chance. The warrior had chased the two beast men across town causing all the civilian Digimon to run away in panic. Probably for the best. While all Digimon had the ability and instincts to fight, Digimon who did not capitalize on those powers were more likely to die in the crossfire of Digimon who would fight on the regular.

"Sir Knightmon!" a young Pegasusmon galloped forwards. "Should I call for reinforcements?"

"Nay," Knightmon grasped his blade and stared down the two champions that stood in front of him. "These bandits are capable of Digivolution. Clearly sorcery is afoot. Get everyone to safety before they use their witchcraft to turn the villagers into newts!"

"Sorcerer, huh? I consider myself more of a miracle worker, but whatever floats your boat."

Garurumon's run came to a quick halt between Lekismon and Gargomon. From atop his mount, Gary smirked at the knight before him. "And you don't have to worry about me turning anyone into 'newts.' But I do know a spell for turning kidnappers into barbeque. Garurumon!"

Flames sprang forward from the wolf's maw. "Howling Blaster!"

Immediately Knightmon brandished his shield parting the river of flames. Gargomon and Lekismon joined in with their own attacks, but this only served to push the knight back a few inches.

Spotting this, Gary called out to the Digimon. "Break it off and surround him! Attack him from all sides!"

Following Gary's orders, Garurumon and Gargomon each ran around Knightmon blasting him with fire and lasers as they did so. Lekismon kept her position floating above the town snipping Knightmon with water and ice. At first, it looked like Gary's plan was working. Knightmon was strong, but he was only one Digimon and couldn't keep up with the attacks coming in from all sides. This resulted in the knight releasing a loud roar of frustration.

A couple miles away

Hearing the blasts and the angry roar, a pair of reptilian eyes snapped open. The Digimon who owned these eyes turn its attention to the castle a couple miles from its cliff side cave. Growling, this Digimon spread its wings and took flight.

Back in town

"Sir Knightmon!" the Pegasusmon from before flew back over the battlefield. "The town has been evacuated, sir!"

"Excellent!" Knightmon's sword began to glow. "Now I no longer have to hold back."

Gary saw where the sword was pointed and shouted up to Lekismon. "Get down here! He's about to attack!"

Lekismon heeded Gary's command in the nick of time. Right as she began to drop down, Knightmon's sword fired out a bladed energy blast right at where she was. As Lekismon fell, the Pegasusmon swooped down at her and began firing Equis Beams at her. In response, Lekismon spun around in the air and gathered water in one of her hands.

"Moon Night Bomb!" Lekismon fired the water orb at the Pegasus. No sooner had the orb hit the horse that his eyelids began to droop signaling that he had succumbed to the sleep status. Lekismon called out to her friends. "The Pegasusmon is about to crash."

Hearing Lekismon's warning, Garurumon leapt forward and caught the horse before it hit the ground. Seeing the wolf save the horse from a possibly fatal wound, Knightmon paused. "Now why would bandits bother to save a civilian?"

"Gargo Laser!" Taking advantage of Knightmon's pause, Gargomon began bombarding the knight with bullets.

Knightmon spun around and slammed his blade on the ground. "Grand Smash!"

The shockwave from blade sent Gargomon flying back. While Gargomon's ears flew out to try and act as a pair of parachutes, Garurumon and Lekismon both tried to hit Knightmon from the back again.

"It's no use!" Garurumon growled. "His defenses are too strong!"

"There's no such thing as an invincible monster!" Gary shot back at his partner. "He has to have some kind of weakness. Some kind of element or type that trumps his."

Lekismon gave Gary a tired look. "Even if we had a teammate with the virus attribute to overcome his data attribute or the dark element to counter light-based attacks, I don't think it would be enough," She shook her head. "The biggest determining factor in a battle between Digimon is level."

Gary scowled at the rabbit. It hadn't escaped his notice that the Digimon's power skyrocketed when they were in their champion forms, but he had no idea how to reach the ultimate level yet. "Then we're just going to have to get creative. Unless the Digimon inside that armor is a lava monster I doubt it can last long if his armor gets too hot. Garurumon, let him have it from all sides!"

With a mighty roar, Garurumon began blasting Knightmon with everything he had. The knight tried to block with his shield, but Garurumon just responded by charging around the knight whilst he kept breathing fire. As strong and sturdy as Knightmon was, he wasn't very fast and couldn't keep up with Garurumon resulting in the wolf running around the shield and continuing his attack.

For a moment, it looked like Gary's plan was working. Knightmon's armor began to glow red from the intensity of the flames and his legs started to buckle. Seeing this, Gary addressed Garurumon. "Move in and take him down!"

Garurumon dashed over to Knightmon and bit down on one of his arms in attempt to rip off some of the armor. Alas, Knightmon was not weakened enough and just shoved Garurumon off him.

"Cook him some more then try again!" Gary ordered.

Garurumon opened his mouth to try and spray Knightmon with more flames, but no fire came out. Just like with Pokémon, Digimon only had so much energy to spend on attacks. The continuous flames may have weakened Knightmon, but now Garurumon's flame was almost exhausted.

Snarling in frustration, Garurumon leapt forward to try and gnaw off the armor again. In return, Knightmon tried to tug his arm away from the wolf. In a desperate bid to summon some fire, any fire, Garurumon gathered whatever energy he had left into his throat for an attack. But what came out wasn't a Howling Blaster.

"Wolf Cry!" Garurumon shouted. Instead of a blast of fire, a massive shockwave emitted from Garurumon's mouth sending Knightmon flying back.

Blinking in surprise, Gary grabbed his Digivice to check Garurumon's stats. "Would you look at that, a new attack. Good boy." Gary reached down to scratch a section of Garurumon's fur that wasn't hardened into battle mode.

"Tis but a scratch-scra-scratch-scratch…"

Gary and Garurumon's celebration was cut short when Knightmon spoke up again in a distorted voice. Looking over, the pair could see the knight's image begin to break up and warp before focusing again. "What the…" Gary muttered in surprise.

"Looks like we got let off easy," Gargomon came bound back into the scene. "Either we hit him around so much that he's on his last legs, which I doubt, or this bozo has been dealing with a damaged Digi-core this entire time. But, hey, either way, we win."

"Oh, had eeeeeeenough, eh?" Knightmon tried to stand up but continued to glitch and fell to the ground again.

"Look you stupid tin can," Gary rolled his eyes. He heard the villagers talking about the knight's glitching earlier, but this was too much. "You're fizzing out of existence."

"I've had wo-wo-worse," boasted Knightmon.

Gary just gave the knight a bewildered look. "Alright, time to put this guy out of his misery. Garurumon…"

"STOP!"

Iris

"STOP!" Iris cried. Dashing forwards, Iris placed herself between the partner Digimon and Knightmon's glitching form.

"Young m-maiden, geeet back to the cast-tle now!" Knightmon ordered.

"No way!" Iris glared at the knight behind her. "If I didn't show up you would have been blasted to kingdom come!" Iris then turned on the rest of the fighters. "And as for you guys, would it have killed you to stop and ask questions before you attack?"

"No, but it might have killed you," Gary argued. "I don't know what you've been up to, but most of the Digimon I've bumped into tend to have an itchy trigger finger."

"So you don't try to negotiate? Even with the Digimon who can talk?" Iris rolled her eyes. "What a kid."

"That's a rich insult coming from someone who was being held up like some newborn Vulpix," Gary fired back.

"I would have liked to see you do better in my shoes," Iris scowled.

"As if you'd find me in that situation to begin with," Gary scoffed.

"Enough, please!" Lillie panted. She and Goh had finally caught up to the more athletic dragon trainer and were able to start catching their breaths. "Everything is okay. We don't need to fight any more."

"I wouldn't say everything is okay," Gargomon inched away from Knightmon's glitching form. "Yikes."

"Knightmon didn't kidnap me," Iris was about to explain, but then paused to correct herself. "Okay, actually he did, but not because he's bad. It's just because he thought Dracomon was the dragon destroying towns."

"IRIS!" At the sound of Dracomon's name, the little dragon zoomed across the battleground to deliver Iris the biggest tackle hug he could muster.

While most people would be annoyed at the assault and interruption, Iris instead returned Dracomon's hug. "Dracomon! You're okay!" She then began to scold the lizard. "You know you didn't have to rescue me."

"Indeed," Knightmon called out from his spot on the ground. "Your maiden friend will be perfectly safe within the castle wallsssssssssssss."

Dracomon's muzzle wrinkled into a snarl. He looked around the wreckage from the battle. "A picture's worth a thousand words and I've seen enough to write a book on why I can't trust you."

"Now, now, let us not hold any grudges," Biyomon fluttered down by Dracomon's side. "I think we've all been acting too rashly today."

"Biyomon's right," May sighed. "I'm too tired to fight. Let's just get some rest and figure out this whole knights verses dragons mess tomorrow."

"RAAAAH!" A loud roar accompanied by the sound of a pair of flapping wings echoed from the clouds gathering overhead.

"I SAID TOMORROW!" May shouted up to the skies.

Sadly, the dragon did not respect May's itinerary. It decided now was the time to come hurdling down into the clearing and land with a loud THUD! This collision created a powerful shockwave which sent both humans and Digimon flying back.

Once everyone landed, Iris looked up at what could arguably be the most textbook dragon she had ever seen. Towering over the group was a green dragon with red horns growing out of the back of its head and tip of its nose with red spins sprouting down its back. The dragon stood on its hind legs letting everyone see its impressive muscles. The reptile spread its battered wings and opened its fang filled jaw to release another roar.

"Coredramon, champion level," Iris read off her Digivice. "Its scales are green thanks to a diet of gems found in forest regions. While capable of flying, it's more adept at running and can rip its opponents apart with its Strike Bomber attack or burn them to a crisp using its Green Flare Breath."

"This must be the dragon that has been burning down all the villages," Gary deduced.

"Of course! A Coredramon! That makes far more sense than a Dracomon!" Knightmon called out from his spot behind the angry dragon. "Do not fear! I shall save-save-save-save…"

"Yeah, I don't think he's going to be able to do much," Gary looked over at Garurumon. "Can you get back in there?"

"I can try," Garurumon panted. "Howling Blaster!"

Using what little strength he had left from his battle against Knightmon, Garurumon sent a blast of fire directly at the dragon. In return, the well-rested dragon shot its own powerful stream of flames back at the wolf. Coredramon's green fire cut straight through Garurumon's and hit the wolf head on. Garurumon was sent skidding back. Once the fire died down, the wolf reverted back to his rookie state.

"Give me cover!" Gary called out before taking off to tend to his Digimon.

Iris looked around the battle field. She was pretty sure that Gary was talking to the two champion level Digimon partners, but she couldn't just stand there and do nothing. Right now, she had two monsters: Dracomon, who lacked battle experience, and Excadrill, who wouldn't listen to her.

Gritting her teeth, Iris brought out her Poké Ball. "Please help me! Excadrill!" She tossed the ball unleashing the mole.

Excadrill did nothing.

Lekismon and Gargomon

"Moon Night Bomb!" Lekismon fired off a water orb at the enraged dragon. Her hopes of at least putting the dragon in a droopy state were dashed when the beast opened its maw and shot a burst of green flames at the ball evaporating it. Before the flames could reach Lekismon, she descended to the ground below. "I'm sorry, Lillie. I think that battle with Knightmon is taking its toll on me."

"It's okay, Lekismon," Lillie said while she studied the dragon, trying to see if there were any weak points.

Lekismon turned her attention back to the battle. Garurumon was down for the count and she felt as though she might join him soon. Gargomon was still going strong, which added to Lekismon's suspicions that the rabbit-dog may have had more experience fighting then he let on.

"Gargo Laser!" Gargomon continued to blast at Coredramon who was beginning to back off. At first, Lekismon thought that dragon was about to retreat when it unfolded its wings and took to the sky. But that was not the case.

Now soaring safety out of Gargomon's range, the Coredramon began spitting fire down at the battlefield below. Spotting a fireball heading right towards Lillie, Lekismon dashed forward and grabbed her partner to carry her out of harm's way. "I think I'm beginning to understand how all those other villages were destroyed."

Gargomon looked to be in a similar situation carrying Goh on his back. The gun dog looked over at Lekismon. "Think this is karma for all the cheap out of range tactics we were using on Knightmon?"

"We need to bring that dragon back down. Gargomon, can you use your lasers to blast yourself high enough to get a good shot at Coredramon?" Goh asked.

Gargomon frowned. "Maybe, but if I do that I'd be leaving you alone against those fireballs. No offense, but my money is on the fire winning."

"I have similar concerns," Lekismon said. She wasn't sure how high her gravity loose jumps would elevate her, but if she experimented here she'd leave Lillie vulnerable.

"Maybe if we evacuate like the villagers did you can be free to fight Coredramon," Lillie suggested.

Lekismon nodded. It was a solid idea, they just needed to gather the humans and the rookie Digimon. Gary was dragging Gabumon's knocked out form to a safe spot by some rubble. May and Biyomon were taking cover behind a knocked over shop. Meanwhile Iris and Dracomon were shouting at a…what was that thing?

"Incoming!" Gargomon jumped back as a jet of fire blasted the ground sending chunks of earth flying all over the place.

Iris

"Come on, Excadrill!" Iris shouted. "Are you still mad about that fight against Haxorous? You have to get back on the saddle at some point!"

"Yeah!" Dracomon's claws were grabbing at Excadrill's arms trying to pull them apart. "Come on, Excadrill. I still haven't even seen your face."

There was no response from the mole.

"Fine then! If you still won't come out, then I'll have to save the day!" Dracomon declared. The dragon then climbed on top of a ruined building and began spitting fire back up at the dragon in the sky. It wasn't very effective.

"Dracomon! Get down from there!" Iris shouted up at her partner.

"No way!" Dracomon yelled back. "It's part of my job as a ranger to keep wild Digimon from attacking civilian zones and it's my job as your partner to keep you safe!"

"Well it's my job as…" Iris's response was cut off when a jet of fire blasted the ground apart sending fire and earth flying around the battlefield. One rock was lobbed at Dracomon knocking off the building and onto the ground below. Seeing this, Iris dashed forward. "Dracomon!"

In her rush to tend to her downed dragon, Iris didn't register a large bolder hurdling in her direction. It wasn't until it was about to make impact that she raised her hands in a futile attempt to shield herself.

"Drill!" Before the bolder could squish Irish, Excadrill kicked off from the ground and spun around in the air like a drill torpedo. The Pokémon made contact with the boulder breaking it apart into smaller rocks which harmlessly fell to the ground.

Iris watched as her Pokémon landed on the ground, showing its face for the first time in what felt like forever. Iris reached out to her old friend. "Excadrill?"

Catching sight of Iris, Excadrill scowled. Without any further words, it folded back up into its tunneling form and went back to laying motionless on the ground.

"So that's what he looks like."

Inwardly, Iris cursed. Dracomon was injured and needed her help. Excadrill would have to wait. "Dracomon!" Iris looked over Dracomon. He was badly bruised, but nothing looked fatal.

"I'm sorry I'm a lousy partner, Iris," Dracomon lamented. "I keep trying to be the dragon you deserve. But I've just been in over my head. I'm worthless."

Dracomon's words washed over Iris. She thought back to her challenge to Drayden, her attempts to convince Knightmon that she was more qualified to help out with the dragon than she really was, how her Pokémon didn't consider her a trainer worth listening to. "You're not the only one."

"Dracomon, I," Iris choked up as she watched her Digimon look up at her with beseeching eyes. "I know someone like you. Someone who also has big dreams but can't manage to get them off the ground.

Iris gave Excadrill another look before continuing. "She's gone through some rough times and nothing ever seems to come out right. But, like you, she also keeps rushing head first into crazy situations. I'd like to think this person isn't worthless."

Looking Dracomon straight in the eye, Iris spoke more firmly. "And neither are you."

At these words, Dracomon's eyes began to water. "That's why I'd do anything for you, Iris. Because you never gave up on me."

Suddenly Iris's Digivice began to glow and Dracomon was lifted up into a bubble coursing with bolts of black energy. "Dracomon Digivolve to…"

Dracomon's size grew until he matched the Coredramon. As did he's proportions. In fact, he was looking a lot like the Coredramon that was flying overhead but with one key difference. His coloring. Instead of a deep green his scales were turning dark blue save for the white scales lining his belly and skin between his wings. His pronged horns and spins were still crimson red as were his bright, reptilian eyes.

The bubble burst open releasing another massive dragon who stretched its wings and released plumes of flame from between its teeth. "Coredramon!"

Iris stared gob smacked by her partner's new form. It was jarring enough earlier seeing Goh's partner go from small and cute to a gun-toting man beast, but to see Dracomon undergo a similar transformation just stunned her.

Snapping out of her stupor, Iris brought out her Digivice to scan the adult dragon. "Coredramon, champion level. It gets its blue coloring comes from gems found in the mountains. Unlike his green counterpart, this Coredramon is more of a flyer who dominates the skies with his Blue Flare Breath and Strike Bomber attacks."

For a brief moment, Iris forgot about the battle. Here she was with her very own evolved dragon! She had so many questions. Could he fly as fast as a Dragonite? He could eat gems, so could he tunnel like a Garchomp? What about his fire breathe? Would it stand up to the fire that was currently raining down?

"Iris," Iris was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of Coredramon's new, deep, rumbling voice. "What are your commands?"

Wow. He even sounded more mature.

"Commands, right," Iris frantically looked around the battle field. "Well, I wanted to try and connect with Coredramon to figure out why it keeps attacking all these towns, but that probably wasn't ever going to work. We should probably try to drive it closer to the ground so we can team up with the other champions to defeat it."

Coredramon shook his head. "No, let's go with your first plan. We don't need any more misunderstandings today. Let's shine some light on this Digimon's motives."

Iris frowned. "You know I'm still training my aura. I'm not sure if I will be able to connect with Coredramon."

"Don't worry," Coredramon grinned at Iris and gave her a thumbs up. "I was able to Digivolve when you believed in me. So, if I believe in you, you should be able to connect with that dragon!"

"I don't think that's how that wooooooooorrrks!" Iris's voicing of self-doubt were cut off by Coredramon grabbing her and then taking off into the sky.

Never mind, he wasn't more mature. He's still Dracomon, just bigger.

Spotting the new rival dragon, the green Coredramon roared angrily and began directing all of its attacks at him. True to his Digivice entry, Iris's Coredramon was a swift flyer and effortlessly dodged the incoming green flames. Coredramon tried to bring himself in closer to his green adversary, but it wasn't interested in letting him get in its personal space. In response it began lashing out with its long tail. Coredramon then gave the green dragon his own angry roar and pulled back.

"I don't think I'll be able to connect with it from here," Iris called over to her partner. "Can you get in closer?"

"Not without risking you getting hurt," Coredramon roared back.

Thinking quickly, Iris noticed the clouds over head. "How about if we sneak up on it? You're good at stealth, use the clouds as cover."

"Right!" Coredramon turned to the other dragon and gave it a challenging roar before taking off towards the clouds.

Not wanting to take its eyes off of what it perceived to be its biggest threat, the green Coredramon followed. It was not able to catch up to its blue counterpart, so it began spitting fire at its foe. Coredramon continued to dodge up until the point where they both broke into the cloud line. Then he turned around and responded with his own blue fire.

Dodging out of the way of Coredramon's blue flames, the green Coredramon lost track of the blue dragon. Growling, it began to fly around looking for him. Little did it know that Coredramon was quietly soaring just below it through the clouds themselves.

While all of this was happening, Iris was shivering in discomfort. On an intellectual level she knew clouds were water and probably pretty cold from being so high in the sky, but it was another thing to feel that icy mist wash over her. It was a good thing that Coredramon was so warm otherwise she would have froze herself.

Closing her eyes, Iris tried to focus on the dragon right above. Just remember what the elder taught her, close your eyes and cut off your senses. Feel the energy flowing through your body and then try to feel that of the dragon's.

At first, all Iris could feel was the cloud. But then she began to focus on Coredramon. She felt his warm hand wrapped around her fragile form. She felt his hot blood flow just below his armor-like skin and through his vibrant beating heart. She felt his childish eagerness to please mix with the more adult desire to protect. She felt his belief in her.

And then she felt another presence.

Just above Coredramon was the other dragon. Just like Coredramon she felt its heartbeat and its power. But that's not where the similarities ended. This dragon also shared her Coredramon's desire to protect something. Intrigued, Iris pressed further and further.

Finally, Iris had a vision.

She found herself looking up at the world from such a low angle she could have been a Joltik. The forest around her was lush and dense, perfect for hiding from any potential predators. She tried to spread her wings to fly, but squeaked in pain when one wing refused to open right.

"What's this?"

A loud voice came through the bushes. Scared, Iris backed into the foliage. The leaves shuffled a bit before revealing a creature which looked like an Agumon built from colorful children's blocks. The creature spotted Iris and reached down. "Why hello there. Are you hurt?"

Iris did not respond. She knew what happened to smaller Digimon when they were caught by big Digimon.

"There's no need to be afraid," the blocky Agumon reached into a sack and handed Iris a cookie. Hungry, Iris accepted the treat and allowed the larger Digimon to pick her up.

"It's not safe out here," said the toy Agumon. "Come home with me, I'll take care of you."

Iris's vision changed. No longer was she looking through someone else's eyes. Instead she was standing in a dark void. In front of her was the green Coredramon which was staring down at her with curiosity instead of vitriol.

The trainer smiled up at the dragon. "I know who you are!"

The Town Square

May watched the sky with a concerned look. A little while ago Dracomon Digivolved into a blue Coredramon and took off into the sky with Iris. The two dragons chased one another around before disappearing into the clouds leaving the humans on the ground to watch and wait. "They've been up there for a while," May stated hoping someone would say something to ease the tension she was feeling.

"Yeah, but what can we do?" Gary asked folding his arms.

May bit her lip. The boy was right, they couldn't do anything else. Fatigue from the battle finally caught up to Lekismon and she reverted back to her rookie form. Gabumon was back up, but May doubted he had the energy to Digivolve again. Even if he did, Garurumon couldn't fly. Gargomon was still standing strong, however he refused to leave the rest of the humans unguarded.

Maybe if Biyomon could Digivolve she could help which was easier said than done. Despite seeing her friends Digivolve their partners multiple times May still had no clue how to do the same for her Digimon. Outside of the occasional scouting mission, May was basically just dead weight, a fact that really sunk in now that their newest party member just powered up her own champion despite having never seen the process before.

While May dealt with the self-pity swirling in her stomach, the Digimon were off to the side investigating another new teammate. A Pokémon which Goh identified as an Excadrill.

"This is a Pokémon?" Gargomon eye the mole dubiously. "I don't get the hype."

"It was more active earlier," Biyomon offered. "I saw it demolish a boulder which was about to hit Iris and Dracomon before it became dormant."

Gabumon carefully plotted forward and sniffed the Pokémon. "Maybe it's shy. Or maybe all Pokémon are shy. That would explain why they would let humans keep them in tiny balls."

"I'm just not sure why humans would want to keep these guys in the first place," Gargomon frowned. "I'd understand if it did more of that boulder crushing stuff, but this is just boring."

"No, no!" Lunamon excitedly exclaimed while she ran around the mole looking it up and down. "There's more to this creature then just boulder smashing. Look at its streamlined body design. See how sharp and sturdy its claws are even after drilling through solid rock?"

"I think we've all deduced that this creature can dig." Biyomon stated, not sure where Lunamon was going.

"Exactly! This creature is built for digging!" Lunamon's eyes gleamed. "This is in contrast with you basic human who has no physical adaptations or special powers that can be used for mining or excavation. I imagine that back in the human world they learned how to capture and train Pokémon to perform tasks that they themselves are unable to do. Which brings us to the humans partnered with Digimon. Humans have the ability to link up with Digimon because…"

Lunamon leapt on top of Excadrill and pointed into the sky striking a pose. "Humans have evolved a symbiotic relationship with monsters to make up for how frail and wimpy they are!"

Both Gabumon and Biyomon stared in awe at this stunning revelation. The humans traded various looks of offense. Gargomon just chuckled at the trainer's expressions.

"I mean, you're not wrong," Goh said with a hint of annoyance. "But did you really have to phrase it like that?"

A pair of loud roars sounded off from above. Both dragons were hurdling down towards the ground fast. The first of the dragons to land was the green Coredramon which crouched down defensively and growled at the humans and their partners.

"Gargomon, get ready," Goh ordered.

"Wait!" Iris and Coredramon landed next. Coredramon gently placed Iris on the ground and let her run to the other humans. "I spoke with Coredramon, the green Coredramon, and I think I know what's going on."

"You spoke with that thing?" Gary asked, doubt clear in his voice.

"Yes, I have the ability to connect with and understand dragons," Iris explained.

"Wow, that doesn't explain anything."

"Ugh, I'll tell you more later," Iris walked over to the green Coredramon and looked up at the dragon. "He's over here."

The girl led the dragon over to the injured knight who was glitching even worse. Iris carefully walked up to Knightmon. "Knightmon, do you remember this dragon?"

"Y-yes," slurred the knight. "That is the dragon whooooo has been attack-attack-attacking the towns."

"Look closer," Iris urged.

With great effort, the malfunctioning knight looked up at the dragon. Suddenly his eyes widened. "Petitmon! My old frie-fri-friend!"

The green Coredramon crooned as it gently lay its head on Knightmon's form.

"Back when Knightmon was a rookie he rescued a baby Digimon and raised it," Iris explained to the rest of her team. "The two of them were separated, but Petitmon never forgot its friend. When Knightmon returned and began protecting the villages from wild Digimon, Coredramon would jump in to help protect him. It wasn't trying to burn down the villages, it's just a wild Digimon trying to do what it thought was right."

"If only I had known sooner. I could have given-trained-given-trai-ria-trained properly," Knightmon relented. He looked over at Iris. "Thank you, young maiden, for clearing my friend's name."

With that, the knight's form finally gave and began to dissolve into data bits. Some of the humans and Digimon began to tear up while the more stoic members of their team just watched the particles disperse with solemn expressions. The green Coredramon released a loud wail in grief.

There was a moment of silence before Lillie pointed at the cloud. "Oh! Look!"

In the middle of the cloud of glowing dust some of the particles began to cling together and give shape to a new Digimon. This Digimon was no bigger than your average sized rookie and looked more like a large Lego figure then a Digimon. Its body was mostly white with some crud scribbles on its chest and pieces of multicolored cardboard taped on various parts of its body making armor for its arms and horns for its head. The Digimon had a large multicolored marker strapped to its back, a blue marker in one of its hands, and a face that looked more like a poorly drawn kindergarten doodle.

"Ah ha! You may have me one day Anubismon! But not today!" proclaimed the new Digimon jumping to its plastic feet.

The humans and the other Digimon just stared at wonder and confusion. Finally Goh spoke up. "What just happened?"

"I've seen this before," Gargomon replied. "It's rare, but sometimes Digimon don't die when they should. They just revert to a previous stage."

"What decides this?" Lillie asked while she watched the Lego Digimon happily nuzzle up to the green Coredramon which returned the gesture.

"Some think it's a powerful Digimon, some think it's a strong will, me?" Gargomon's face screwed up in an unusually stern frown. "I say it's dumb luck."

Curious about the knight's new form, Goh brought out his Digivice to scan it. "Omekamon, champion level. It tries to emulate the appearance of knights and will fight like one using its Graffiti Rocket and Omeka Kick."

"Alright!" Iris cheered. "Congratulations, Omekamon! It's great to see you're sticking around for a while longer."

"Why thank you, young maiden!" responded Omekamon. "As a token of my good will, please feel free to stay for as long as you like!"

"Thank you! But I don't think we can stay for too long. We need to get going," Gabumon responded.

"Pity," Omekamon sighed. "It would be nice to take some new squires under my wings and teach them the way of knighthood."

"Speaking of which, what are you going to do now?" Iris asked. "Are you going to keep defending the towns?"

The toy monster folded his arms in contemplation. "Hmm, now that I am no longer glitching I should return to the front lines. But I swore an oath to protect the villagers from wild Digimon. I'm not sure where I'm going to go next, but either way all will be well now that I have Lady Coredramon at my side."

"Yeah, you should probably take some time to think over…wait," May's head swerved up to look at the reptilian monster. "That's a lady!?"

"Of course!" Omekamon declared. "Can you not tell by her elegant mannerisms and graceful conduct?"

Said elegant monster was now cleaning the armpit of one of her wings with her tongue.

"Well, whatever happens I'm happy that you two are back together again," Lillie smiled before turning to Iris. "I have to say, I'm amazed that you were able to see the good in Coredramon when everyone else saw her as bloodthirsty monster."

"It wasn't that hard," Iris said as her Coredramon bent down to allow her to scratch him on the chin. "After all, there's no such thing as a bad dragon."

An Undisclosed Location

"Dimension Hole!" A trio of bright red claws suddenly appeared slicing through the nearly empty subspace. As they swiped they left a trail rips that made it look like the air itself was just a curtain. The rips grew larger and merged together forming a large hole. The circumference of the hole then kept expanding until it was large enough to allow a herd of ceratopsid Digimon to pass through.

Each of the ceratopsids were wearing a harness tethered to a massive, chained up Digimon which they worked to drag in. Despite the rough treatment, the Digimon did not struggle or protest. It just lazily blinked at its surroundings before closing its eyes and falling back asleep.

Standing atop said Digimon was another Digimon clad in dark gray, almost black armor with blue accents and a flowing blue cape. As the armored Digimon road the chained Digimon in it stood tall on the beast's back, arms crossed. When the ceratopsids finally stopped, the armored Digimon found himself facing a group of four Digimon.

The first of the four was a humanoid who sat on a mound of raised "earth." Though it was hard to say what the material was made of in this poorly lite subspace.

"Let it never be said that you don't know how to make an entrance, Colonel," said the humanoid while he gave the Colonel a round of applause. "High marks! Seven out of ten!"

Slithering in behind the humanoid was a large serpentine monster. The serpent observed the chained up Digimon with a look of scrutiny. "This is the chained up behemoth you promised us? I was under the impression you had found Belphemon. Not some rabid lizard with a corrupted core."

The humanoid clicked his tongue. "Picky, picky, picky."

"From what I heard Belphemon was flung into an intermediate dimension that angel Digimon have used as a medium to traverse between worlds," spoke a humanoid dragon. "The only way anyone would even be able to glance at that demon would be if the Celestials summoned their scout back to the Digital World and he failed to close the door behind him."

The non-draconic humanoid sighed. "Thus, Belphemon is cursed to wander between realities. He now has all the nap time he could hope for, but I doubt he's had much to eat in that multiverse highway. That poor, poor rage beast," the humanoid shook his head in pity before pulling a one-eighty and cheerfully skipping up to the chained beast. "Any-who, I much prefer this specimen. There's an added element of irony if we unleash him to destroy the Digital World."

"Would he even be able to destroy the world?" snorted the serpent. "I hear The Great Dragons sealed away his most of his powers."

"True," the draconic member walked forward to begin evaluating the chained-up beast himself. "But then again, will we even need him at full power? The Digital World is already crumbling. All it just needs is a little push before it finally falls apart."

THUMP.

The ground of the subspace shook causing all the ceratopsids harnessed to the chained beast to panic and try and make a run for it. Seeing this, the draconic member unsheathed his claws and with one quick swipe, unhooked the beasts of burden allowing them to run free.

Watching this, the Colonel addressed the draconic member in a light-hearted tone. "You do know you're going to have to retrieve them."

"Perhaps," the draconic member responded in a similar friendly tone. "But then again, you haven't been promoted yet. I could just take advantage of this time and make you clean up my mess."

THUMP.

"Careful," said the Colonel as he leapt down from his perch. "You may have freed me from my imprisonment, but if you continue to antagonize me I might just have to retaliate."

"I'm shaking in my armor," joked the draconic member.

"I'm going to puke," grumbled the serpent.

THUMP

"I'll take those two's awkward bromance over you sweet talking your mistress any day," snickered the humanoid at the serpent.

"THOSE ARE PRIVATE MOMENTS YOU LITTLE…"

THUMP

All banter came to a halt once the final member of the council arrived. This member towered over all the other members save for the massive serpent. It stared down at the chained beast with crimson eyes that were almost indistinguishable from its armor. Finally, he spoke to the Colonel in a deep and robot voice. "You have done well. I'll have some of my soldiers move this offering into storage until we are ready to break the tranquility spell he's under."

The Colonel gave the crimson giant a bow. "I am glad that my old master is to your liking."

The serpent's lips curled in disgust. "Don't get too cocky. Just because we're considering adding another general to our council doesn't mean you'll be extended an offer."

Though the Colonel didn't rise to the serpents bait, he couldn't help but to smugly smile underneath his helmet. True, nothing had been confirmed yet. But if the upcoming operation went well then it would only be a matter of time before he was given a seat at the table. Chaos was in his name after all.

AN: On second thought, let's not go to the Royal Knight's Castle. Tis a silly place.

Yes, I know. This chapter was messy and all over the place. But life is short so I'm not going back and rewriting it.

Okay, Coredramon. Honestly, I could have gone with either blue or green since Iris has both aerial and ground based Pokémon. But I chose the blue line because one) I think I'm to get a bit more mileage out of the blue line in future situations and two) I think they'll lead in better for the mega I have in mind for her.

To give myself a little more flexibility in Digimon battles, I decided to let Garurumon have one of the attacks from Digimon Battle Chronicle/Digimon Rumble Arena 2. I'm probably going to give one to Greymon too to even things out.

I looked around for an explanation on Iris's ability to connect to the hearts of dragons, but I can't find any. So I'm retconning it to a specialized aura ability to start introducing aura into this fic.

It was pointed out to me that the chained up Digimon sounds a lot like Belphemon, which was not what I was intending. My bad. However, you guys will be seeing the lord of sloth in the future.

It may take a bit longer to start pumping out the next few chapters because unlike the last few chapters, the next few are supposed to be a multi-parter as appose to just turning into one because I don't' know when to stop.

Reader Response Recess!

Ashpoke55: Yes, Ash will be returning next chapter and we'll be sticking with his team for a multi-parter that I actually planned on happening.

Legoguy67: Heck yeah! "A Teacher of All Things" is on my favorites list. It's just too bad the author didn't get around to finishing the sequel.

The one who reads and writes: Sleeping beast in chains…shoot, that does describe Belphemon. But no, it is not him. Look more closely at the last chapter as well as this one. There are several hints.

As for Belphemon, he is in fact one of the Demon Lords in better health. Just don't go looking for him, as the humanoid general properly deduced he's very hangry right now.

Dimension Hole is an ability listed on one of Prairiemon's cards from the card game. According to the wikimon website it "Summons a being from another dimension to increase an ally's defense." With a description like that, I couldn't resist allowing this Digimon to have that obscure ability. Especially considering how prevalent portals have become in Pokémon in recent years.

Don't worry, the ultra beasts aren't slaves, just cannon fodder.

Sorry about the lack of Axew, but don't fret. When this arc ends and Pokémon begin to play a bigger role in this saga you'll get to see Dracomon and Axew interact.

I wouldn't count on there being no fusions. Remember, having a human partner bends Digivolution rules so jogress isn't going to work for a partnered Digimon the same way it would for a humanless Digimon. That being said, because fusion is supposed to be permanent there will be side effects. But we are probably not going to get into that for loooong while.

Oh yes, there have been interactions between the Pokémon world and Digimon in the past, but they have yet to occur.

And also yes, go ahead and PM me.

And to Giblo126 and everyone else tuning in: Thank you for reading! Don't be afraid to leave a comment or ask questions (won't guarantee I'll give a straight answer). God loves you and so do I!

Digimon Introduced

Coredramon (Blue): Champion, Vaccine, Dragon

Kentaurosmon: Mega, Vaccine, Holy Knight

Coredramon (Green): Champion, Virus, Dragon

Omekamon: Champion, Data, Puppet

Petitmon: Fresh, Free, Slime

ToyAgumon: Rookie, Vaccine, Puppet

Numemon: Champion, Virus, Mollusk

Imperialdramon (Dragon Mode): Mega, Free, Ancient Dragon

Salamon: Rookie, Vaccine, Mammal

Oryxmon: Armor, Free, Mammal

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Next Time: Welcome to Shurimon Academy. Here we offer sparing between classmates to sharpen their skills, gyms to condition them for the outside world, and top notch history classes where students can study artifacts from all over the Digital World! Just don't go into the woods. The last guy who went didn't come back.