And back at it again!

Yeah, more of this one.

But hey, we're on a roll here and try to keep it going as much as we can, so enjoy this newest chapter!

Journey of Redemption - Part 3

"You know, this is actually pretty nice," Emerald mused. Currently the path she and Morphomon were going on in search of information on where Babamon could be found had taken them to a coastline, and with it sandy beaches and an ocean breeze. Definitely one of the more enjoyable parts of the trip so far.

"So… you're not too mad that we still haven't found Babamon yet?" Morphomon asked her partner with a smile.

"Eh… not really I guess. Besides, the beach is sure as heck nice, so I can't complain about this." Emerald said with a shrug, smiling a bit.

"Glad to hear it," Morphomon chuckled as they continued onward, both enjoying the breeze as they went.

"So...where are we this time?" Emerald asked after a while.

"I...think we're on Billion Beach. Never really understood WHY it's called that though," Morphomon frowned.

"Weird name right there yeah," Emerald chuckled as they continued walking. Before long they noticed something up ahead.

The two of them were silent for a good moment, blinking in surprise as they processed the sight.

"So… I THINK I know why they call this place Billion Beach." Emerald said after a moment.

"Yeah… same here." Morphomon added, as the two were actually looking at a small town sitting right on the sand, surrounding a large, and we do mean LARGE, bank of all things.

"Strange place to put a bank...if this was Remnant," Emerald sighed. "So I guess we might as well stop by this town then."

"It never hurts yeah," Morphomon nodded as they moved towards the town.

Stepping into the town, Emerald quickly noticed something.

"Everyone's nervous… though not in the same way they were back at Castle City." she said, able to see the signs in the Digimon as they walked through the town.

"I wonder what's going on then." Morphomon said with a frown.

"I'm not sure… chances are good we'll find out though." Emerald said with a sigh, knowing their luck so far would drag them into whatever mess was going on here.

The two of them soon went around town, asking around as they were indeed travelers who had just come into town. So far most of the Digimon seemed either a bit guarded or tried to act like nothing was wrong.

"They're totally hiding something," Morphomon deadpanned.

"That's for sure," Emerald sighed. Still that proved that there was something going on, but what was the question.

"Hey," came a voice, to which they both turned...and soon looked around wondering where that voice came from. "Down here," the voice said again, to which both looked a bit downward, didn't see much and kept going till…

"Oh wow...never seen a Zenimon before," Morphomon blinked.

The small golden coin shaped Digimon grunted "Yeah well, we don't come out too often."

Digimon Analyzer: Zenimon

Zenimon. Vaccine Type. A Child Level Mutant Digimon. A mechanical-looking Digimon that normally obeys the will of another, bigger Digimon and collects money for them. It is able to emit a special wave that attracts money to it, almost like a magnet that works exclusively on cash. Special attack is Comet Launcher, firing off rice grains from the guns built into its hands.

Emerald blinked as she looked at the literal coin sized Digimon, before sighing and shaking her head. Digimon made absolutely no sense to her.

"So, you girls want to know what's happening around here?" Zenimon asked them.

"Yeah, this place is… pretty different from the last one, and we were curious." Emerald said, putting on a fame smile that actually looked convincing, and Morphomon didn't speak up, realising her partner was acting harmless to probably trick the Zenimon into being more open.

"Well, since you're new around here I guess I could let you in," Zenimon said. "See, this here town is usually pretty dull, but if you know where to look you can find a place of endless excitement," Zenimon grinned.

"Oh?" Emerald asked, feigning interest.

"Follow me," Zenimon said, before running off.

"And you said everybody would be able to tell when I was being fake." Emerald whispered to her partner with a smirk.

"That just means that guy's stupid." Morphomon giggled silently, before the two followed after Zenimon.

The small Digimon led them along towards the bank, but instead of going inside the main doors, he made them follow him around until they reached the side of the bank, with him going up to a part of the wall and turning to them "Just go through here." he said, before walking through the wall himself, revealing it to be fake as it simply rippled lightly.

"Huh, a fake wall. Pretty fancy way to hide something," Emerald said.

"Let's see what's on the other side," Morphomon said, to which they soon went in...and soon found themselves going down a slide with an inside that looked like a kaleidoscope.

"What the heck?!" both of them shouted as they slid down...and eventually came out and landed on a cushion.

"That was...okay, it was kinda fun," Morphomon blinked once the surprise wore off.

"Yeah… could certainly have been worse I guess." Emerald admitted as she got up, before looking around, her eyebrows shooting up a bit at what she saw when the sounds finally hit her "Wow…"

(Play BGM: 'Whims of Fate' OST Persona 5)

What she saw was… a HUGE underground casino, with all sorts of games and tables visible just from the entrance, and way more further away.

"So many lights. It's kinda pretty," Morphomon said in awe.

"Just be careful," Emerald said. "These kinds of places could leave you broke. Or worse if you don't know when to stop."

"Oh yeah, I'd heard of those places before…" Morphomon blinked.

"Well, if this place has anything to do with how the townsfolk are acting, I'm getting a pretty good idea what's going on," Emerald frowned. It...really wasn't hard to guess when a casino was involved.

"Right…" Morphomon frowned. "I guess we might as well explore then," she said, earning a nod from Emerald as they walked into the casino.

They didn't get far before…. "Welcome one and all!" a voice practically bellowed out. The two of them were quickly drawn to the source, and saw a Digimon standing on a stage, welcoming many of the Digimon who'd entered the casino.

He was shaped like an oversized golden coin, tall enough to reach Emerald's midriff, a mustache on his face and thick bushy eyebrows above his eyes, his shoes obviously waxed to a shine, and a top hat sitting on top of his body.

"A Ganemon?" Morphomon blinked.

Digimon Analyzer: Ganemon

Ganemon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Mutant Digimon. A Digimon in the shape of a 10-yen coin, it loves money so much it will do anything to swindle its opponents out of their cash. It is said that it devours all the money it gathers, causing it to grow larger in size with each dollar. Special attack is Gold Press, flipping in the air like a proper coin and crashing down on the enemy.

"Welcome, one and all, to the Midas Casino!" Ganemon called to everyone, repeating himself a bit, but nobody really bothered to point it out, too entranced by the huge underground casino. "A place where you can leave your worries behind and just enjoy the many games of chance we offer, as long of course as you have the means to pay."

"Of course," Emerald said dryly, though it seemed none of the other patrons shared her caution, as they happily went to the counters provided to get membership cards to be able to play in the Casino.

"So what do we do now?" Morphomon asked.

"I don't think we have any other option but to try playing," Emerald frowned.

Morphomon frowned "I… don't know how this works." she admitted.

"Don't worry." Emerald said, before smirking "I've robbed my fair share of small time casinos blind with none of them the wiser." she whispered low enough only Morphomon heard her.

Morphomon blinked at that, before giggling a bit, wondering what exactly her partner would do.

The two soon went over to the counter, and as it turns out, getting a membership was free, and the Casino even offered some free 'opening credits' to start every new player off. Ten chips in total.

"Nice little marketing trick they've got going," Emerald mused. She could easily see where this was going. Entice some newcomers with these generous offers….then wring them for their worth when they got too bold and lost everything.

"But it does help us out," Morphomon said as they started exploring. The Casino seemed to have a number of sections that had a variety of games. It seemed the area that was recommended for 'beginners' so to speak were mainly Dice based gambling, though there were some good old ones like the roulette, the slots, and even what looked like some kind of variation of 'race horse betting'.

"Let's see what kind of place they're playing," Emerald mused as they went to the Dice tables for a starting play.

Reaching it, she looked at the gathered players, before looking at the dealer, a white colored Agumon "So, odds, evens, low, or high, which wins here?" she asked.

"For today it's low." the SnowAgumon said easily "Two dice, everybody shakes themselves, but not free handed." he said, producing a cup with the two red dice with white dots inside of it.

"So best pair is Snake Eyes, right." Emerald said mostly to herself, before placing just three of the chips she'd gotten to start playing on the table.

A few other patrons soon joined in to which the dealer quickly gave everyone their dice and cups. Starting from him, everyone rolled their dice, getting a variety of results, but currently the dealer was in the lead, having rolled a 4. Though she had to roll her eyes at the idiot that bet all his chips on the spot and then got a 12 after all his vigorous shaking. Eventually, it reached her turn. Emerald smirked a bit before loading up her dice and shaking the cup. She soon tossed the dice out which rolled on the table...and landed on a perfect snake eyes.

"And the winner is, the human with green hair," the SnowAgumon said, gathering up the chips and giving them to Emerald, her earnings a good 17 chips in total, not counting the three she'd gotten back.

"Pleasure doing business with all of you," Emerald chuckled as she collected her winnings, leaving her opponents to stew over their losses. However once she was away from the table, she immediately got into a position to keep an eye on things, namely the Digimon who'd JUST lost all his chips.

The Digimon in question went towards the desk where chips were distributed, no doubt hoping to get more. However, when they did, there was something of a commotion, and the Digimon seemed to be getting more agitated. Before anything could get...ugly though, a pair of obvious security guards came over and restrained the Digimon who was soon being dragged away.

Emerald narrowed her eyes "Let's see where this goes." she said.

"I feel a bit bad about using him as bait." Morphomon frowned.

Emerald frowned a bit at hearing that, she… she could see her point, honestly, a part of her did feel a tiny bit bad about this, but… "Don't worry, he'll come out safe in the end." she said, earning a nod from Morphomon "Either way, let's go, and quietly. This place is a bit too bright to pull ourselves high." she said, before the two started silently following, thankfully unnoticed since all the other Digimon were focusing on the games.

The two followed after them slowly till they reached what appeared to be some kind of office, to which the guards brought the Digimon inside, Emerald and Morphomon getting closer, but seeing as trying to get in through the door would have them be seen, they had to go another way. Thankfully...there was a convenient air vent.

"You know, I always thought these things being big enough for people were only in movies," Emerald muttered as they crawled through the vent.

"Well...maybe some data of said movies went into building this place?" Morphomon guessed.

Emerald had no counter for that one but either way they crawled through and reached the vent that led into the office, just in time to listen in on the conversation inside.

"Hm...it says here that you've built up quite a tab." They heard the voice of Ganemon. "I'm afraid we can't lend you anymore at this point."

"Come on Mr. Ganemon, I just need one big win, just one, and I can pay you back for all of it," the Digimon pleaded.

"That's what you said the last few times. I'm afraid you're going to have to pay me back before you can even think about playing again," Ganemon sighed.

"But how can I pay back all that without winning big?" the Digimon said...and through the grates Emerald noticed the guards moving away.

"Oh I can think of a way," Ganemon said, moving towards his desk...and probably pressing something under the desk. The next thing that happened was the Digimon in debt vanishing, having dropped down a trap door that had opened on the ground. "You'll be working in the mines till you pay off your debt...assuming you can win against the interest that is," Ganemon smirked as the trap door closed by itself. "They make this TOO easy," he chuckled, something the guards (awkwardly) followed, before he walked out of the office, the guards following after him as well.

Once they were gone, Emerald and Morphomon slowly got out of the vent, even if backtracking was easier said than done here. Eventually though they got out, fortunately without anyone seeing them. "Okay...so I think we can both see the problem here," Emerald frowned.

"He lets people go into debt, and then he forces them to work for him… probably forever." Morphomon frowned as well. "That's rather cruel of him."

"The sad part is I've seen that happen before...for less reasons too," Emerald frowned, thinking back to Remnant...before her expression hardened. "Let's see what we can do to take this place down," she said.

"Right," Morphomon nodded in determination. "But...how do we do that?"

"That's the annoying part. Still if he said 'they make this too easy' then there's gotta be something he's doing to ensure they end up in debt. And in this kind of place, that's rigging the games," Emerald frowned. "First things first we need to figure out how he's cheating."

"How are we gonna do that?" Morphomon asked.

"Simple. By playing more." Emerald said, before the two snuck back out, carefully making sure no one saw them leave the vent.

"Huh?" Morphomon blinked in confusion.

"We keep playing, and eventually, we'll find out what he's doing to rig all these games." Emerald said in a hushed tone as they started to walk, heading for another table.

What followed was Emerald playing at several tables of various games. Each time she did, she made sure to keep an eye on things, and when she noticed something odd, she moved quickly to try and adapt to it. Sure she didn't ALWAYS win, but with her own experience in this area, she was able to win way more times, and quickly realized the tricks on the various tables, such as the roulettes that were manipulated to ensure the outcome during the spin, or the cards that were shuffled in a way that would give the Banker the better hand. Her Semblance helped a LOT in this area, as she was able to trick them into putting out an outcome that favored her in several cases, or she was able to use a quick move play of her hands to nudge the outcome into her favor. In short, she was overall cleaning out.

And as planned, that got her noticed.

"Boss wants to talk to you." one of the guard Digimon, a Guardromon apparently from what Morphomon whispered to her, said as he approached her while she was at one of the slot machines. These things were also tricked, where if you wanted to get a Triple 7 you needed to stop the arm at JUST the perfect sweet spot.

"Just a sec," Emerald said, pulling the crank, hitting the sweet spot, and a few seconds later, a torrent of chips came out of the machine, Morphomon groaning a bit, as while this WAS part of the plan...that didn't change the fact the BIG sack of chips they'd racked up was getting heavy. "Okay, we'll go, but could you please help us carry the bag? I think we need another sack," Emerald said, to which the Guardromon sweat dropped, before he was basically being used as a pack mule to get to the office, as he was stuck carrying two very heavy bags of casino chips.

Once at the office, Emerald and Morphomon stepped in to see Ganemon sitting behind his desk, a frown present on his face.

"So, what did you need to see us for?" Emerald asked. "If it's nothing too important, can we at least cash these in first?"

Ganemon hummed "We'll see…" he said, before standing up and walking around his desk "You see… I've been watching you for a bit. You're quite good, miss…?"

"Emerald." she answered, not bothering to give her family name.

"Right, Ms. Emerald," Ganemon nodded. "You see...I noticed you in a few tables. Quite the quick hand you have. And while I don't know how you did it in some of the other tables, well...I think you know what I'm talking about," he frowned.

"You tell me. I'm just a normal player trying to win...in a crooked house that is," Emerald smirked back.

Ganemon's eyes narrowed at her "Oh? Calling me crooked now are you?"

"We both know it's the truth." Emerald said in deadpan, her hand slowly reaching for her Digivice while Morphomon readied herself, JUST in case.

"Well then, it seems I can't have you walking out of here," Ganemon said...before hitting a switch, and the trap door opened under them, causing her to fall down. Morphomon would have tried to help her...if not for the Guardromon taking a shot at her, sending her down into the pit as well.

(End BGM)

Emerald groaned a bit when her eyes next opened, before pushing herself up, looking around to see where she was.

It looked to be a cell of some kind, albeit one with a holographic looking window instead of steel bars to stop her from getting out. Smart of them, since she could easily pick a lock without even looking. Though… the most striking thing about her cell was that everything else looking to be made out of sand.

"That… can't be good." she frowned, having a bad feeling about a place being made out of sand.

"Yeah." she heard Morphomon's voice, turning her head to see her partner just getting up as well "It doesn't help we're on the beach too."

Emerald nodded, frowning. A whole area made out of sand, on the beach at that? Water could easily seep in and cause a flood.

"We'd better get out of here quickly," Morphomon said urgently, thinking the same as Emerald.

"Not a problem," Emerald chuckled, before revealing a keycard. "That Guardromon isn't the first guard I've pickpocketed." With that she used it to open the cell door they were in.

"Times like this I'm glad my partner isn't straight and narrow, if you know what I mean," Morphomon giggled.

Emerald smirked "Well, being a thief is always helpful. Even better that I've been doing it for years." she said as they walked out of the cell, before frowning as they saw the whole place was made of sand.

"How is this place even still standing?" Morphomon asked in concern.

"Either dumb luck or some kind of program if I had to guess." Emerald said, before they started exploring.

The two of them continued onward, before eventually finding an opening which lead to a large area...overlooking what appeared to be a mine of some kind. And one that had a number of Digimon slaving away as they dug through the ground, uncovering gems and gold as they did...all of which was quickly seized by the Digimon that stood watch over each and every one of them. Another thing of note was that everyone seemed to be wearing some kind of metal collar around their necks.

"This is horrible…!" Morphomon gasped in horror.

"It's a flat out slave ring," Emerald frowned, looking around...before her eyes widened when she saw what appeared to be a human girl among the laborers.

It was a blonde girl, looking to be in her teens, soft blue eyes on her face, wearing torn up, raggy clothing over her body. She also had one of those collars around her neck.

"Another human!" Emerald gasped.

"Wait, really?" Morphomon said, before noticing the girl "Huh… I wonder how she got here?" she said with a frown.

Emerald frowned in thought at that "I don't know…" she said, before looking around "But… we're gonna shut this place down, and get her and everyone else out of here."

Morphomon smiled at her partner's words, before she nodded "Right!"

First things first, they had to get a scope of this place, so once again it was time for stealth.

It was a good thing that Ganemon hadn't thought ahead, since that meant she still had her weapons with her, and was able to grapple up to a perch to get a better look of the area.

From what they could see, the place seemed to be mainly focused on the mining area. However there were a few pathways that also led out of the area, one of which being the one they just came from.

Moving quickly yet carefully, Emerald and Morphomon began scouting the area. It seemed most of the guards were centered around the mines, focused on the workers. Even so there was a guard or two along the halls so that made things a little more challenging.

"Good thing they patrol solo." Emerald muttered after they got past one guard by using her semblance.

"What do you think are in these corridors?" Morphomon asked.

"If I had to guess, either equipment, or cell blocks." Emerald said with a frown.

"One way to find out I guess," Morphomon mused as they continued onward, and into the area. What they found was a storage area for what appeared to be the mining equipment. "Okay, so equipment it is."

"Let's see if we can find anything useful here," Emerald said, earning a nod from Morphomon as they began looking through the stuff. There was nothing they could actually use in this situation, but Emerald was clever enough to decide that she could at least try to make something, so taking apart (a bit roughly) some of the equipment, she fashioned a few small devices that had only one function: Make some noise. They'd be great for a distraction if she needed them.

With that done, they proceeded to sabotage the rest of the equipment, make sure the guards or anyone couldn't use them against them. From there they continued moving about, finding what looked like a cafeteria, barracks, etc etc. Nothing important. However what WAS important was when they found an actually important looking door.

"Huh...if that's not an obvious one, I don't know what is," Emerald snorted.

"Think the keycard still works?" Morphomon asked.

"Only one way to find out," Emerald nodded, going forward and using the keycard...and finding that it DID work. "Good thing Ganemon doesn't bother diversifying his security," she chuckled.

Opening the door, the two stepped into what looked like a control room of some kind, seeing several panels, all with marked buttons "Huh… I THINK we just found a way to break everyone out." she said after a moment as she went up to a console and saw all the switches and buttons on it, including one big red button with a glass case over it labelled 'MASS RELEASE (DO NOT PUSH)' which made her shake her head for a moment.

"Let's free everyone then!" Morphomon said with a smile.

"Let's not be too hasty. We should make sure nobody's gonna be in danger of being hurt by the guards first when we do. Gotta play it smart, you know?" Emerald pointed out.

Morphomon stopped short at that. "Ah...right…" she said a bit sheepishly, having gotten ahead of herself. "So how do we make sure the Guards aren't around when we free everyone?"

Emerald thought about it for a moment. "If we want a way that makes sure the slaves are safe...maybe we need to try and gather all the guards into one place and then make sure they can't get in our way or the slaves' way when we spring them," she frowned.

"That could work. But...how are we supposed to get everyone in one place?" Morphomon asked.

At that Emerald gave her an amused smirk...which made Morphomon gain a large sweat drop. She had a pretty good idea where this was going…

The guards were having another typical day. Making sure the slaves were working, keeping things in line, all that boring stuff. Then it wasn't a normal day.

"Hey ugly guards! I'd ask what trash can you picked for those faces, but that'd be making fun of the trash cans!" Hudiemon shouted at the guards, having suddenly flown out of one of the tunnels much to their surprise. THEN they processed what she'd said.

"Hey! You can't call us ugly!" one of the Guardromon said angrily "Only the boss gets to do that!"

"Shut it moron!" another said to the first and clonked him on the head.

"Both of you shut it and chase after this broad!" a third said in annoyance.

"Only if you tin cans can CATCH me!" Hudiemon laughed and flew down a hallway. The Guards gave chase, and in the ensuing chase ended up attracting more and more guards, and soon most of the guards were chasing after her. After a certain point, she took a sudden turn and…

"Gotcha now!" one of the Guardromon grinned. "Come on boys, let's get her!" he shouted as they charged, aiming for Hudiemon who'd ended up in a dead end. But when they got to her...she vanished. "What the…?!" they gasped...before an explosion was heard, and the path they'd come from caved in on itself, trapping them in here for the time being.

"Mission successful!" Hudiemon said cheerfully...until she noticed Emerald looked like she had a headache. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine...just using my Semblance on so many targets at once gives me a migraine," Emerald groaned.

"I'll handle this part then," Hudiemon said, picking her up and soon getting them back to the main mine area, the slaves understandably confused from what was going on. "Listen up everyone, we're about to release all of you. When that happens, you need to make a break for it down that pathway," Hudiemon said, pointing at a tunnel they confirmed led to an exit.

All the slaves were surprised, confused...and more than a little hopeful, as the two of them quickly flew towards the control room, and before long, they'd hit the switch to release everyone. Back in the mines, every and all collars fell off of the slaves, and the moment they did, they didn't waste time and stampeded through the corridor that led out...and stampeded over a few guards who hadn't been following after Hudiemon.

"Well, that takes care of that." Emerald said with a sigh, smiling a bit as they stepped out of the room, looking down on the central part of the mine, before she blinked when she saw the blonde girl still there, looking around in confusion.

"Why isn't she…?" she said in confusion, before Hudiemon helped her get down quickly "Hey! You uh… you doing alright?" she asked, going up to the girl who looked to be in her mid-teens.

"I am...fine I suppose," the girl said slowly.

"You...should probably get out of here. Where are you from?" Emerald asked.

"I...don't know," the girl frowned. "Even if I leave I do not know where to go."

"Do you know your name?" Hudiemon asked with a frown.

The girl frowned in thought, tilting her head for a few moments, before nodding "Norn… Norn Mikihara."

"Okay then, Norn. If you've got no idea where to go, then I guess you can follow us first," Emerald frowned.

"...alright," Norn nodded, though clearly she was agreeing because she had no other option she could think of.

However, before they could move to exit the mines…

"What in Yggdrasil's name is going on here?!" came Ganemon's angry voice as he soon entered through another area that was higher up...and saw the state of the mines. "Egads! What have you done?!"

Emerald couldn't help but smirk a bit as she looked up at him "Oh, you know, just completely shattered your plans. Next on the list is dismantling that casino of yours."

"Over my deleted body!" Ganemon roared, and Emerald swore if he had been human he'd have turned red by now.

"Then stop us if you can," Hudiemon challenged, both she and Emerald getting in front of Norn, who at least had the sense to get out of the way.

"With pleasure," Ganemon snarled before… "Guards! Get them!" he roared, as more Guardromon followed in after him and jumped down to face them.

"Really? All that and you send these guys to fight?" Emerald deadpanned. Seriously, how pathetic do you have to be to talk all that but leave the hard work to others...just like what Cinder's boss was doing now that she thought about it…

She shook her head at that, now wasn't the time to think about that, no matter how right she was, it was time to fight.

Three Guardromon reached the bottom and prepared to fight. Emerald opened with a flurry of shots, the bullets scratching their armor, to which they soon returned fire. Hudiemon didn't hesitate and quickly fought back, kicking a few of the missiles back to the Guardromon, but they continued to fight...until one of them looked alarm at another and socked him. Then suddenly another one did the same and suddenly the three of them descended into a brawl.

"What are you fools doing?!" Ganemon roared as the Guardromon started beating each other up.

Hudiemon chuckled a bit. She had a good idea what had happened, and it was rather entertaining to watch them beat each other up. Eventually she decided that enough was enough and spread her wings. "Infinity Dream!" she called out, paralyzing the Guardromon.

"Incompetent fools!" Ganemon roared, before calling for more and...okay this kinda repeated a few times, more Guardromon coming, and a mix of Emerald's Semblance and weapons, with Hudiemon's abilities, rendered them no longer a threat. Eventually…

"Get them! Get them!" Ganemon roared only...there wasn't anyone LEFT to fight for him.

"Good night jerk!" Hudiemon shouted as she flew up towards him, before dive kicking him right in the mouth, sending him crashing back against a wall, knocked out.

"And that's that," Emerald huffed, as Hudiemon came back, reverting to Morphomon. "Let's get out of here. The sooner we can prove this guy's crooked deals the sooner we can make sure he can't scam anyone anymore," she said before turning to Norn. "And you're still welcome to come along by the way," she added.

Norn looked at her for a moment, before smiling a bit and nodding, the three of them going after the Digimon who'd already escaped, ready to leave this place behind as just a bad memory.

And there's the chapter!

Now, I won't say much, other than the fact you MIGHT be starting to notice a theme with Emerald's story here, but I'll leave it at that.

Although there is, well... Norn.

Fans of the many Digimon manga will likely recognize her, and wonder if her role will be the same or similar, and the answer to that is... you'll see, because...

The Adventure Evolves