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.

13. Lekismon Snaps 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 clean my flasks: Abandoned Laboratory (Derek Fiechter)

The Crest of a Master: Chapter 13: Lekismon Snaps Part 2

Just as the corrupted Garurumon leapt at the campers, Gargomon leapt forward and slammed his metal fist right into the side of the wolf's face. This sent Garurumon tumbling to the side. While he was briefly stunned by the surprise attack, the wolf began to rise to his feet again growling at his former comrade.

"Down boy," Gargomon quipped, though his face was dead serious. While Gargomon took over the frontline, Goh took out his Digivice to scan the corrupted champion.

"BlackGarurumon, champion level," Goh read. "He's just like Garurumon, fast, bladed fur, breathes fire, but a lot less friendly."

"How did this happen?" May asked watching Gargomon and BlackGarurumon exchange blows.

"It must be Garurumon's connection to Gary," Goh looked over at the sickly boy. "Our Digimon's power is supposed to come from us. When Gary become infected, so did Garurumon!"

Goh bent down to pick Gary up. Spotting this, Lille rushed to her friends' sides and helped out. Once Goh and Lillie each had one of Gary's arms around their shoulders, Gary began to stir.

"Where, wha?" Gary's voice sounded scratchy indicating a sore throat. He slowly looked around. "What's going on?"

"Garurumon's infected," Goh quickly answered. "We need to get out of here."

Lillie and Goh tried to maneuver Gary over to the side, but the sick Oak was having none of it. He tried, and failed, to pull himself away from his two supports. "No, no. It's fine. I can figh…"

That last statement was cut off as Gary began to fall forward. He was caught by May who was now carrying as many supplies as she could quickly round up in the panic. "Oh no you don't!"

Even though he couldn't stand properly, Gary pushed back against May. "Let go. Garurumon, listen to…"

Once again, Gary swayed and stumbled before Goh caught him. "He's passed out again," Goh announced as he began to drag Gary to the side.

Meanwhile, the Digimon were all busy fending off BlackGarurumon. Gargomon, as the only champion in the right state of mind, stood front and center serving as a wall of laser bullets and a heavy, metal knuckles if the infected wolf got too close. The rookies backed him up by shooting a volley of fire and water at BlackGarurumon. It was enough to buy the humans time to move away from the campsite, but not enough to allow them to escape.

Having enough of the sane Digimons' attacks, BlackGarurumon leapt in the air and blasted the ground of the ledge with a powerful burst of fire. The force of the flame was enough to smash through the cliff's fragile ridge creating a massive crack which quickly shattered into a rock slide. Everyone, human and Digimon alike, began to drop into the river below.

"May!" Biyomon was the first to act flapping her wings as fast as they could go. Though the rocks threatened to slow the bird down, her determination saw to it that she reached her human in time to grasp one of the bags May was carrying. Biyomon tried with all her might to carry both her partner and the extra luggage, but only succeeded in flying them a couple of feet away from the falling boulders before the two plummeted into the raging river below.

"Nice fire," Gargomon swung both his arms forward at the incoming BlackGarurumon. "How do you like mine?"

Instead of his usual barrage of small lasers, Gargomon unleashed a massive blast from each gauntlet. The force of the twin blasts sent both BlackGarurumon blasting off into the forest below and Gargomon rocketing over the rockslide and towards Goh and Gary. Gargomon then twisted in the air and used the falling rocks to hop over to the kids. He then grabbed the boys and held one in each ear before finding a large bolder to slam into the cliff's side and ride down to the bottom.

The last of the Digimon, Lunamon, hopped from falling rock to falling rock in an attempt to reach Lillie. Once Lunamon caught up with the girl she tried to reach out and grab Lillie's hand. Lillie was about to reciprocate the motion, but pulled away just as the rabbit was about to touch her. All that was left was for the two to finish their decent into the waters below.

Goh

Once Gargomon landed on the forest floor, he gently let Goh down. The boy stumbled for a minute, shaking off the jitters that came with almost falling to his death, before taking in his surroundings. They were back at the bottom of the cliffs. There was no BlackGarurumon in sight, but neither were there either of the girls or their Digimon. Shoot, did they make it? Or were they crushed or drowning in the river?

As though he read Goh's mind, Gargomon handed him Gary with a "Hold this, please," before leaping into the river. About a minute later he popped up carrying May and Biyomon in each of his arms. Gargomon then plopped the pair on the ground allowing them to cough up the river water while he dived back in for their camping supplies.

"Are you okay?" Goh asked shifting Gary's limp body on to his back.

"Could be worse," May coughed. She looked around in concern. "Where's Lillie and Lunamon?"

"I think your friend got washed down stream," Loogamon had finished hopping down the narrow cliff side and across the rocky river. "I know a couple of hidden caves around here. Follow me."

"Whoa, wait," Goh stopped the canine. "We need to find our friends. What if they bump into the Loogarmon or BlackGarurumon? They'll be dog chow."

"Which is why I'll go looking for them," Gargomon came up from the river with several packs of supplies. "Here's what's going to happen. We are going to follow Loogamon to the nearest hide out. May and Biyomon are going to dry off and you're going to watch over sicky."

"But…"

Gargomon cut Goh off. "Neither Gary nor May are in any condition to fight. I need you to stay with them while I look for Lunamon and Lillie. Am I understood?"

Despite the feelings of panic and guilt which swirled in Goh, he mutely nodded. The group then followed Loogamon to one of his caves where Goh proceeded to set up camp. Meanwhile Gargomon began his hunt, both for the missing party members and the infected Digimon.

Lillie

The waters rushed around Lillie ferrying her down the river. As someone born and raised on the islands of Alola Lillie was more than familiar with how to swim, though the river's rapids did present her with more of a challenge than the calmer beaches she preferred. However, here she did have one advantage that she didn't have back home.

"Lunamon! Rocks! Bubbles!" It wasn't the clearest set of instructions but given that most of Lillie's energy was being spent keeping her above the raging waters and fighting to stay in the channels that lead her through hazards as appose to smash up against them Lillie couldn't afford proper sentence structure.

As it just so happened, Lunamon was pretty good at interpreting Lillie's broken instructions and was able to spring up into the air and use her Lop Ear Ripple to create a massive cushion of bubbles between Lillie and the upcoming rocks. The resulting bubbly cushion didn't stop Lillie's river trip, but it did slow her down enough to grab onto a hanging tree branch and slowly climb her way towards shore.

Once ashore, Lillie took a moment to ring out all the excess water in her clothes and survey her surroundings. None of the trees looked familiar. Granted Lillie didn't have much of a chance to memorize any landmarks while the group was traveling earlier, but this was fine. All she had to do was back track up the river and use the Digivice's map to find her friends.

The only problem with this plan was the roaming pack of infected Loogarmon and BlackGarurumon. Poor Garurumon. Ever since she met that Digimon he had been nothing but sweet and patient with her and now he was running around like a rabid Growlithe.

With a look of determination, Lillie bent down and began feeling around through the fog.

"Did you drop something, Lillie?" Lunamon had floated down to the shore from her air jump and was now watching her human blindly feel around the fog covered forest floor.

"No," Lillie smiled as her hand bumped up against some wood. Reaching out she managed to pick up a long stick which she began to sweep back in forth in front of her as she walked the same way she had seen blind people do. "I'm trying to see if I can find another trapdoor."

"Shouldn't we focus on getting back to the others?" Lunamon ran as quickly as her tiny feet would allow to keep pace with Lillie.

"We are," Lillie paused for a moment to poke an object in front of her. It was just a rock. "But in the meantime, I want to gather some clues as to what's happening in this forest. There are too many questions that need answers. How did Loogamon's pack Digivolve? What was the mysterious Digimon Loogamon smelled? Why are there trapdoors in a haunted forest?"

"Those are legitimate questions," Lunamon nodded. "But they won't matter if you're ripped apart by any of those dogs. We need to get out of here!"

"And then what?" Lillie said solemnly. "Most of us will be fine if we escape, but what about Gary and Garurumon? Will Gary's condition get worse? Are we just going to abandon Garurumon?"

As Lillie voiced her thoughts, her stick made contact with something metal. Giving the object a couple more taps Lillie could tell that it was in fact another trapdoor. Immediately she felt around for a latch or a handle. Once the door was open, Lillie could see that it led to an underground tunnel with a series of dim lights illuminating the passageway.

Taking out her Digivice, Lillie opened up the group chat and began typing a message. "Either someone forgot to turn off the lights, or those tunnels are being used by someone who is still in this forest!"

Lunamon peaked down passageway. "And you think that someone has something to do with what's going on?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Lillie finished her note and removed her hat. She then took her hat and hung it on the free branch of a tree. As much as Lillie loved that hat, this adventure might turn into a stealth operation and neither the white coloration nor the wide brim was going to aide her. It would work better as a beacon to her friends that she was here in case she got lost in the tunnels.

Lunamon watched Lillie pull her hair back into a makeshift ponytail. "It's a gamble," Lunamon thought out loud. "We're not sure what we'll find down in those tunnels. There's just as big a chance that we come across something dangerous as there is that we'll discover something useful. On the other paw, if we keep following the river we risk bumping into one of the infected Digimon before we find the rest of our team. Actually, saying all that out loud it sounds more like this is a case of picking your poison."

The moon rabbit then watched Lillie as the girl climbed down the preverbal rabbit hole. "Looks like the decision's been made," Lunamon sighed while she grabbed hold of the trapdoor and closed it as she joined Lillie in the tunnels below.

Now that they were down in the tunnels, Lillie could better survey her surroundings. The hallway was almost purely concrete with only the occasional low powered light breaking up the sea of grey. Moving down the hallway, Lillie made an effort to be as quiet as possible. She was actually pretty good at it to the point where Lillie was sure she could sneak into her mother's laboratory if she wanted to. Not that she did, there was something about the dark corridors of the otherwise bright and welcoming Aether Paradise that she found off putting.

During the duo's trip down the large tunnel, they came across several signs of habitance. For starters, there were the occasional claw marks which racked at the walls and the ground. Judging by the size and amount of marks in a group, Lillie felt pretty sure that these were from the Loogarmon.

Aside from the claws, there were occasionally carts parked to the sides of the halls. Some were filled with repair tools and others had various laboratory equipment that Lillie had seen Aether workers bring with them for field research. One cart in particular was right next to a hatch which was opened leading into another section of the woods.

Looking over the contents of the cart, Lillie could see that this was one of the carts for research. It even had some samples amongst the immaculately clean equipment ranging from soil to plant life. One jar in particular held what appeared to be some of the black fog that both the Loogarmon and BlackGarurumon were breathing post infection.

Suddenly, Lunamon's ears twitched. "Something's coming!" She whispered urgently.

Panic set in and Lillie's eyes darted around to find a way out. The hallway stretched in both directions with no curves or splits for here to duck behind and the only cover was the cart. With limited options, Lillie and Lunamon climbed into the lower shelf of the cart and prayed that the incoming personal didn't look down.

Not long after the two crammed themselves into the cart did the Digimon Lunamon heard arrived. It dropped down into the tunnels with a loud thud. Peering over, Lillie could only make out the lower half of the creature. It had two clawed feet covered in steel connected to black pants which reminded Lillie of the lower half of an insulated or a hazmat suit. Dragging behind the creature was a long, black, cable-like tail. The only other feature Lillie could make out was the creature's breathing: heavy and filtered.

As luck would have it, the suited being payed the lower shelf of the cart no mind opting to just push it down the hallway. Neither Lillie nor Lunamon moved or made a sound while the cart made its way down the hall.

Finally, the cart halted in front of a pair of steel doors. When the doors opened, the cart was pushed into an elevator which took the group up to another series of hallways. These hallways were a lot more furnished than the subterranean ones with old, wooden floors and pealing wallpaper. The hallway was also filled with various rooms. While most of the doors were closed, some of them were opened enough that Lillie could take a quick peak inside.

In each of the occupied rooms Lillie was able to see more members of the species of Digimon that was pushing the cart. Their upper bodies were also covered in the black suit save for some zippers around their bulky arms, nozzle tipped fingers, tiny horns atop their heads, and a gas tank on the Digimons' backs which connected to long, gasmask-like faces.

Within each room Lillie could observe the masked Digimon setting and maintaining various machines or cleaning lab equipment. The Digimon never spoke and only seemed to acknowledge that one another existed when they had to perform a two-man task such as lifting a heavy object.

Eventually the Digimon pushing the cart rounded into a room void of any Digimon. It grabbed a couple of jars of samples before leaving the room. Once the door clicked shut, Lillie released the breath she didn't know she was holding.

"That was close," Lunamon whispered hopping down form the cart.

Lillie crawled out after Lunamon. "Do you know what those Digimon are?" She didn't want to scan them earlier, least the Digivice's bright holograms alert the suited lab workers.

Lunamon shook her head. "No, I've never seen nor read about any Digimon like them."

Looks like the Digimons' identities would just have to wait. More importantly, "That Digimon was collecting samples of the infecteds' mist. They must be doing research on it. If we can find out what they know, maybe we can figure out how to help Garurumon and those Loogarmon," Lillie surmised. All they needed was some way to sneak around.

"Lillie! Look what I found!" Lillie looked over to where Lunamon was standing. The rabbit had located a series of hangers holding empty suits just like the ones the lab workers were wearing. Lillie slowly reached out to touch a suit before quickly withdrawing her hand. No! She was not going to be afraid. The suits may have looked like Digimon, but they were uninhabited. They were just articles of clothing. Nothing more.

Reaching out again, Lillie touched a suit. Despite her constant inward chants that it was just a suit, a shudder rand down her spin. The material the suit was made out of felt like latex, but it was also warm to the touch. Almost like it was alive.

Lillie shook her head. No, no. She would not let those thoughts enter her head. If these suits were alive then that would make them Digimon which would mean she couldn't touch them. It must have been warm because it was recently worn by a Digimon. Of course! Lunamon did say that she had never seen these Digimon before which probably meant that these were just costumes used to protect the lab workers. They were not part of the Digimon!

Taking a deep breath, Lillie grabbed hold of a suit and slipped it on. It lacked the gas tank in the back, but that was okay. Lillie was able to substitute with her own backpack and just loosened the facemask so that she could breathe.

"Are you doing alright, Lillie?" Lunamon asked, concern echoed on her face.

"I-I'm fine," Lillie's stutters were muffled by the mask. "Let's go."

With that, the two made their way down the corridors. Lillie walked close to the wall as to hide Lunamon in her shadow. Though now that Lillie was walking amongst the lab workers she was really beginning to wonder if the subterfuge was necessary. Just like when she was hidden, the Digimon workers paid the oddly short "Digimon" in an ill fitted suit no mind and just continued on with their operation.

Every so often Lillie would wonder into a room, trying to look as nonchalant as possible, and poke around. Unfortunately, the only notes she could get her hands on were either irrelevant to the infection or of measurements she didn't know how to interpret. Once she tried to get close to a lab worker to see what it was working on, only to immediately back away when the Digimon swiped at her for getting too close. It took every ounce of self-control not to scream her head off.

At some point in the middle of her search, Lillie began to feel a tug. Not a physical tug like someone pulling on the suit, but more like a mental itch. For whatever reason, Lillie felt the need to investigate the room at the furthest end of the hallway.

Following this new impulse, Lillie made her way to the door that stood at the very back of the corridor. The door was unlocked, allowing Lillie and Lunamon to easily slip inside. The room was…different. Whilst the other rooms looked to be completely remodeled into sterile laboratories, this room kept the original furnishings. It looked like it was once a fancy hotel room complete with marble furniture and a king-sized bed. One of the tables even had fresh looking flowers. No telling how long they would last as the room was dark with the curtains drawn closed and the only source of light being a few scattered candles.

There did appear to be one modification to the room.

In the middle of the suite there was a massive column surrounded by large, red, velvety curtains. Still feeling the mental tug, Lillie walked towards the column.

"Lillie!" Lunamon hissed. "What are you doing?"

But Lillie payed her Digimon no mind. She just kept venturing forward. Grasping the curtains, Lillie slowly pealed them back. She could now see that they were concealing a tube filled with luminous, blue liquid. As to what the liquid held…

"Aren't you a little short for a Troopmon?"

That broke Lillie out of her trance. She dropped the curtain and swerved around to find that she and Lunamon had been discovered by a new Digimon. This Digimon was no taller than Lunamon and looked more mechanical. Its main body was pill shaped with a clear dome for the upper half which showed off its mechanical innards while the lower half had a face. The face was comprised of a yellow robotic eye and steel chipped away to reveal a fleshy red eye with a fanged jaw right underneath both.

Branching out from the main body were six limbs. The four lower limbs were two pairs of short legs while the two upper limbs were a pair of mechanical hands connected to the main body by long cable.

Lillie may not have been able to scan the lab workers, but that was no reason not to scan this new Digimon.

"Datamon, ultimate level," Lillie read off her Digivice. "A small Digimon with a high IQ. These guys have an obsession with learning, repairing, and tinkering. They can also create a swarm of bombs from their fingers using their Digital Bomb attack."

"Wait a minute, Datamon?" Lunamon's look of fear had been completely replaced with a look of awe. "As in a Datamon or THE Datamon? The very same Datamon who worked on the DigiPort project and discovered the cure to the BH Program? Because I've read so many of your papers!"

"The one and the same," chuckled the machine in a raspy voice. "I must say, it's difficult to find an educated Digimon since the war began. Tell me, dear, where did you receive your degree?"

"Oh, I," Lunamon's ears dropped and she began to fidget with her paws. "I don't have a degree. I hatched after the all the universities closed."

"And yet you were able to read through my papers," Datamon scratched his chin with one of his mechanical hands.

Lunamon's fidgeting increased. "Well, it wasn't so much that I read and understood them, but I did get the basic jest."

"Still, that is an impressive feat," complemented the bot. His organic eye then swerved over to Lillie. "And who might you be? You show too much initiative to be one of my Troopmon."

Since her disguise worn out its use, Lillie pulled off the mask. "I'm sorry about sneaking in here, sir. It's just that one of my friends got infected by when he was bitten by a sick Loogarmon and I found a tunnel and I thought it would be a good way to get away from the sick Digimon and also see if there were any clues…"

Datamon raised a hand, halting Lillie's rambling. "That is quite alright. True, you are breaking and entering, but I can't stay mad at two young, curious minds. Especially when one of them is a human."

Lillie blinked in surprise. "You knew I was human?"

"My scanners can see that your biology is fundamentally different from a Digimon," Datamon tapped his mechanical eye for emphasis. He then turned around and motioned for the pair to follow. "Let us continue this conversation somewhere more comfortable."

The girl and her Digimon followed the beckoning robot. The column in the middle of the room completely forgotten.

Gargomon

Standing atop a tall tree, Gargomon surveyed his surroundings. Having escorted the humans and rookies to a safe spot, he now had to juggle two tasks: finding the missing party members while simultaneously serving as sentry for the recovering ones.

The first task, already made difficult by the river obscuring his quarry's scents, was now more complicated as Goh informed Gargomon that Lillie sent a message that she had found and gone down a hidden tunnel. Gargomon sighed. His old drill instructor used to say that there was nothing more dangerous than a Digimon who had something to prove. A comment that Gargomon knew was directed at him at the time. Now it looked like karma was catching up to him.

The second task was mostly straight forward. Seeing as the infected Digimon were missing their higher cognitive facilities, they were probably reduced to the most basic of Digimon programming: fight, win, and assimilate.

Being a fellow Digimon, Gargomon was probably a more appetizing target than a species whose biology was closer to that of an animal. A tasty chew toy, but not likely to produce any juicy data to absorb upon death. All Gargomon had to do was announce his presence to the remaining wolves and they would come running to sink their claws into the wayward champion.

The only real complication was BlackGarurumon. As bad as Gargomon felt for the Loogarmon, they were a lower priority than a Digimon who could help to imprison a universe shattering monster. BlackGarurumon, on the other hand, was not as expendable.

Gargomon could potentially put down the diseased wolf, but that would give rise to two problems. First, who was to say that the infection would disappear upon death? Usually, a reborn Digimon was free of all aliments from its previous life, but Gargomon wasn't a doctor so he wasn't about to play the guessing game on what would happen. Second, Digi-Eggs were unpredictable when it came to hatching. Some would take only a few days while others could take centuries. Supposedly one could speed up the process by giving the egg a loving environment and gently rubbing the shell to let the Digimon inside know it was safe, but Gargomon was just as much a nurse maid as he was a doctor.

As Gargomon finished firing off a loud round of bullets into the air, he heard Goh's voice come through the DigiView's link. "Gargomon, uh, report?"

Smiling Gargomon responded. "Gargomon here. What's up, kid? Over."

"Any sign of Lillie or Lunamon?...Over" Goh nervously asked.

"That's a negative," Gargomon sighed. He then heard a series of loud howls throughout the forest. "But I do think I've found all the Loogarmon. Over."

Goh didn't sound any bit comforted. "Are you sure you can handle it? Over."

"Relax, kid. I've lived through worse. Over," Gargomon's ears raised. He could hear several groups approaching. One from the right, one from behind, and another from a spot that was a bit between his left and up front. He could also faintly detect the cries of a lone wolf coming in from a further distance from the others, probably the estranged Garurumon.

"Hey, Gargomon," Goh's voice was already subdued, but now it sounded a bit more nervous. "Are you really okay with this?"

Gargomon waited for a bit for Goh to continue. When he didn't follow up, Gargomon decided to prompt him. "With what? Over."

"That I'm not out there with you. I'm your trainer, I'm supposed to be there issuing you orders…over."

Gargomon smirked. "If it makes you feel any better, I probably wouldn't follow your orders anyway. Over."

"It doesn't. Over."

"That's not a slight against you," Gargomon rolled his eyes. "You're young. Once we break you in, I'm sure you'll be a great, what is that word you guys keep using? Trainer! Just think of this current arrangement as temporary. We're going to play it safe for now and let me take care of the big bad wolves. If you'd like, we can find something weak like wild Numemon and practice kicking their butts to build up your experience."

"Well, uh, thanks," Judging by the waver in Goh's voice Gargomon's plan didn't exactly cheer him up. "Still, don't you think this is weird? The Digivices choosing a bunch of kids? Over."

"Everyone's got to start somewhere. Over," Gargomon shrugged.

"Yeah, but why not choose more experienced trainers?" Goh continued. "Most of our group are beginners, which I guess could just be a random sampling. Most humans aren't the kind of professional trainers that could take on these kinds of environments. But it sounds like all of us are kids, if the process of choosing trainers is really random wouldn't there be more adults in our group?"

"Well, maybe the Digivice's weren't looking for experience," Gargomon suggested. "Maybe they were looking for something else. Over."

"I guess, but that then begs the question of what that something is…Over."

Gargomon's muscles tensed. The thumping and snarling of the wolves were getting closer. "No clue. Listen, you've clearly put more thought into this than I have. Why don't you focus on taking care of sick kid and about-to-be-sick kid and we'll talk more about this later, okay? Over."

"Okay. Good luck. Over."

The cylinders on Gargomon's wrists spun to life. "I'm not the one who needs luck."

With that, the hunter descended into the forest below. Upon landing, Gargomon found himself surrounded by a pack of snarling Loogarmon.

"Ladies and gentlemen please be patient," Gargomon announced as he raised his arms to fire. "No pushing, no shoving, you'll all get your turn."

Lillie

Elsewhere, Lillie and Lunamon had taken their seats by a small table in a large room sounded with selves upon selves of books and papers. Lillie had removed the Troopmon suit and was now watching as a small group of said Digimon set up the table in front of her with fine china teacups and plates of sandwiches and sweets.

Naturally Lillie brought out her Digivice to scan the new Digimon, however to her surprise the device didn't immediately display the usual hologram. Instead, it just gave her a message stating "New Digimon Detected. Please Standby" and showed her a picture of a twisting hourglass.

"Tell me, is that your Digivice?" Lillie looked up to see that Datamon had moved a chair across from her and Lunamon's seats and was now watching Lillie.

"Yes," Lillie responded. She then heard a quick beep from her Digivice. Looking down she now saw the usual display. "Troopmon, champion level. They are artificial Digimon made by taking the energy from other Digimon and filling them into an empty body. If a Troopmon becomes injured, they can transfer their energy to a new suit. So wait, does that mean the suits are their skin?"

"I suppose that's one way to look at it," Datamon nodded. He then looked taken aback when Lillie began to violently cough. "Something wrong, my dear?"

"Lillie is afraid of Digimon," Lunamon explained. "She can't touch us without panicking."

"Hmm," Datamon turned his attention back to Lillie who had stopped coughing and started hyperventilating. "So she's fine with interacting with Digimon unless physical contact is made. Some form of post-traumatic stress disorder?"

"We're not sure," Lunamon admitted watching Lillie calm down.

"If it makes you feel better, my Troopmon are not your garden variety Digimon. As your Digivice has correctly identified, they are artificial and have no DigiCore. One could argue that they are more puppets than Digimon."

"DigiCore?" Lillie managed to ask, her voice still shaking.

"Think of it as the nucleus to a cell," Datamon explained. "Each Digimon has a DigiCore which stores and supplies information. When a Digimon Digivolves or needs to repair their body, the DigiCore releases energy to construct the proper body parts. Without a core, a Digimon is unstable. It will lack the ability to take care of itself without a master. No free will, no proper function. Just basic instincts."

"Kind of like the Mekanorimon," Lillie surmised having now gone back to normal.

"To an extent," Datamon's metallic tongue clicked. "Though I should point out that my Troopmon are of a far more elegant design than your run of the mill Mekanorimon."

As if to demonstrate Datamon's point, a Troopmon walked up to Datamon and delicately poured in some more tea into his cup.

"Well, it is a step up from the Mekanorimon we met," Lillie agreed allowing a Troopmon to drop a couple of lumps of sugar into her cup. "They tore an abandoned city apart to try and hunt down some of my friends thinking that they were vermin."

"Mmm," Datamon took a sip of his tea. "Sounds like something one of my old students would have done."

"Datamon, may I ask what you are doing in this forest?" Lunamon pipped up, her ears were fully cocked and at attention.

"Investigating the Dae Virus," Datamon replied.

"Dae Virus?" Lunamon scooted closer in her chair. "I haven't heard of that."

"I'd be surprised if you did," Datamon chuckled. "After all, I only just recently discovered it. Perhaps the two of you are familiar with the legends surrounding these woods?"

When both girl and rabbit nodded, Datamon continued. "In my experience most urban myths, or rural myth in this case, have a seed of truth to them. In the case of this forest, most stories involve Digimon who have gone mad and started violently attacking other Digimon. Intrigued, I decided to investigate. After a long time combing through the forest, I found it."

Datamon put down his cup and leaned forward. "Have either of you heard the story of the Digimon cursed to rot?"

"Gargomon gave my group the cliff notes," Lillie nodded, not sure where Datamon was going.

A smile spread over Datamon's metal face. "I found the corpse."

Immediately, Lillie's mind flashed back to the giant curtained tube. "Is that what was behind those curtains?"

"Oh no," Datamon waved her off. "That's a different project. I have been working on a way to transport the corpse of the cursed Digimon without having to touch it as I do believe it is the source of the virus. If my tests are correct, and I know that they are, that Digimon was none other than Daemon, the Demon Lord of Wrath."

"Daemon?" Lillie activated her scanner and grimaced when she saw what popped up on the screen. It was a grotesque looking Digimon whose purple, humanoid body was partially covered with brown fur. Its uneven arms were tipped with sharp claws, as were its talon-like feet. The Digimon had a pair of claw tipped, purple, membrane wings and a horned head with shaggy black hair, fang-filled jaws, and angry, blue eyes. "Daemon, mega level. Also known as Creepymon. Once an angel, this Digimon decided to violently rebel against the forces governing the Digital World and embraced the darkness. His Flame Inferno attack summons hellfire to completely incinerate his opponents."

"Long before the first human stepped foot into our realm, before Millenniummon began to manifest, there were other dilemmas which threatened our world. One such threat was the Demon Lords, Digimon so powerful that they believed that they could usurp the natural order in favor of their own. Their campaign of ruin came to a close when they foolishly thought they could beat the reaper," Datamon darkly chuckled. "The joke was on them. Even in death, Anubismon made sure that they couldn't escape his grasp. However, the Demon Lords were nothing if not stubborn. Though their cores were tampered with, they still found ways to cling to life. Now they are trapped between life and death, neither Digimon nor worm food. Daemon may be taking a permanent dirt nap but he found a way to live on. Not as a Digimon, but as a virus which curses its victims with Daemon's brutal nature. No reason, no release, just unending wrath."

His story ended, Datamon picked back up his teacup and gave it another sip. "Naturally, I decided to make him the subject of my studies."

"You wouldn't just so happen be on the verge of finding a cure, would you?" Lillie asked.

Lunamon elaborated. "We had an encounter with a pack of infected Loogarmon earlier."

"Ah yes. I know the pack of which you are referring. My Troopmon and I attempted to round them up to save them. Sadly, they escaped my hold," Datamon shook his head. "Tragic, but I still need to do some more testing before I can find a way to help them."

"But it isn't just the Loogarmon anymore!" Lillie exclaimed, her voice bursting with desperation. "One of the Loogarmon bit one of the humans in our group and now both he and his Digimon are infected!"

Datamon's eyes, both mechanical and organic, flashed. His body stiffened as he began speak with more intensity. "A human was infected? How did the virus react? What symptoms did he exhibit? Has he also succumbed to the aggression?"

"No," Lillie said, this time a bit more restrained. "He's just really ill. Fever, sweat, sore throat, uncoordinated. But his partner, Garurumon, was showing the same symptoms and behaviors of the Loogarmon even though he wasn't bitten."

"Fascinating," Datamon leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes in contemplation. When he opened them, they were staring directly at Lillie. "I think I may be able to help your friends. But I'll need some samples from both of you."

Lunamon looked back and forth between Datamon and Lillie. "What kind of samples?"

Datamon's organic eye shifted to Lunamon. "Blood."

"Oh," Lunamon scooted a bit closer to Lillie in her seat. "You can have mine, but Lillie's…"

"You can have that too!" Lillie's fingers balled into fists. "If that's what you need to cure Gary and Garurumon, than you can take all that you need!"

"But Lillie!" Lunamon exclaimed. "Will they even be able to draw a sample with your fear?"

Lillie took a deep breath. "Lunamon, find some spare cloth, rope, or belts. Whatever you need to tie me down!" she ordered.

Despite Lunamon's apprehension, the little rabbit followed her trainer's commands and retrieved some spare belts to strap down Lillie's arms and legs to her chair. Once that was accomplished, Lillie steeled herself for the next step. 'You can do this,' she thought to herself. 'You technically already touched a Troopmon. True you didn't know it at the time, but it still counts! Just let the nice doctor take your blood and you can save your friends and fix your mistake!'

Soon, Datamon came scuttling across the room like a Crabawler, needle in hand. As he approached Lillie, the girl began to tremble. "That's it dear," Datamon said gently. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

Lillie's breathing became harsher as the diminutive robot and his needle approached her. She tried to close her eyes and picture herself somewhere else, but she just couldn't get Datamon's long cable-like arms out of her mind. Long, wavy, moving with a haunting grace.

The stone cold tentacles wrapped around Lillie, carrying her in to the air.

No! She had to see this through!

She was helpless. The creature was carrying her away.

She had to stay strong! Her friends needed her.

The creature was bringing her up in to its body. It was as if she was about to be eaten whole.

"NO!" Lillie's eye snapped open. "NO! NO! NO!" Lillie screeched. Her body began to wildly convulse and thrash knocking the syringe from Datamon's hands.

"Lillie! Stop!" Lunamon shouted, trying to make her voice heard above Lillie's screams. But the girl wasn't having any of it.

"Hmm," from the corner of her panicking eyes, Lillie saw Datamon scratching his chin. "Seems we can't do this the civil way. Shame."

The robot raised a hand in the air and snapped its metal fingers. Suddenly, all the Troopmon idly organizing books and dusting the parlor room dropped what they were doing and began to march towards Lillie.

"Wait! What are you…" Lunamon was cut off by a Troopmon shoving her to the side.

"Don't worry," Datamon assured. "This will be quick."

Lillie continued to scream as the Troopmon loomed over her and held her down. Tried as she might, she couldn't break free of their firm grip. All that Lillie could do was listen to their filtered breathing as she passed out.

Lunamon

"Lillie?" Lunamon carefully crept forward to her partner once the Troopmon backed away. Hesitantly, she poked the girl with a paw. No reaction, she was probably unconscious. Frowning, she turned on Datamon. "Was that really necessary?"

"Unfortunately," Datamon said, though he didn't sound too sorry to Lunamon. The robot scuttled up to Lillie and checked over her unconscious form. He then ordered some of his Troopmon to fetch some water before addressing Lunamon who was getting her own blood drawn. "You're human should awaken shortly. Make sure she drinks plenty of fluids and lies down for a bit."

As Datamon headed for the door, Lunamon called over to him. "Our friends are in danger as we speak. Can you come up with a solution fast?"

"What do you take me fore?" Datamon sniffed. "A lowly PHD? I'll have it analyzed within the hour."

With that, Datamon left the study. Left with nothing to do, Lunamon hopped up to Lillie's side. She was about to reach out and hold Lillie's hand, but decided against it. If Lillie was conscious, the two of them could have spent the time devising a plan to help their friends or going through Datamon's research. But now, staring at the prone form of her friend, Lunamon couldn't summon up the energy to do either.

"Sorry I can't help you," Lunamon murmured drooping her ears. She then proceeded to wait for Lillie to awaken by the legs of the girl's chair.

Gary

Gary awoke feeling awful. Just cracking open his eyes alone drained what little energy he had. He couldn't even turn his head. Looking up at the rocky ceiling, he could tell that he was in some kind of cave. Felt that way too with the hard floor beneath his body. He could also hear the crackling of a campfire nearby and see the glow of the flames against the cave roof.

"Loogamon, Loogamon," that voice sounded like Biyomon's. "Please wake up, it's your turn to take watch."

"Mmm, yeah," Gary could hear the lupine Digimon yawn before his paws padded against the cave floor and away from the campfire.

"Goh, you should get some sleep too," Biyomon advised.

"No, someone needs to stay awake to keep an eye on Gary and I know more about treating humans than you do," came Goh's tired reply. That explained why Gary could feel a wet cloth on his forehead. Not that it did a lot of good, he still felt like he was burning up.

"Then how about I wake up May and the two of you switch?" Biyomon offered.

"I'm already awake," came May's horse reply.

"May! I know today has been eventful but you need your rest!" scolded Biyomon. Gary heard the clicking of Biyomon's talons as the bird jogged across the cave, presumably to May. "Just think, what would happen if we were ambushed? You wouldn't have the energy to…oh. Oh dear. May, have you been crying?"

In response, May began to sob. "We're going to die here, aren't we?"

"You will not!" Biyomon protested. There was a fluttering sound which could either be Biyomon ruffling her feathers or flapping her wings in frustration. "I would never let anything bad happen to you!"

"It already has!" May fired back. "Gary is dying, Lillie and Lunamon are missing, Gargomon is about to be ripped to pieces and then what? Even if we escape from this forest there's just going to be another Digimon waiting to sink its claws into us or step on us or whatever it is that Millenniummon does to its victims! I'll never see my dad, mom, or brother ever again or even my own world. I won't be able to figure out what I want to do with my life let alone live to see adulthood."

As the girl broke down into sobbing again, Gary waited for either Biyomon or Goh to say something uplifting. Alas, both Digimon and boy stayed quiet. Fine then. If no one else was going to step up, than he was just going to have to do so.

"We're not going to die," Gary wheezed. That sentence alone had him feeling like the just ran a marathon, but he was not done. With herculean effort, Gary sat up. Shaky, covered with sweat, and with a voice that hurt just as much to listen to as it did to speak with, Gary stared down the other gloomy cave campers. "I'm not dead, we are getting out of here, and geh!"

Gary's heroic speech lasted a few seconds before the boy collapsed back onto the dirt. Probably for the best because even he wasn't buying the junk he was spewing.

While the other three campers ran to Gary's side with various cries of concern and orders to lie down and rest, Gary's shaky hand made its way down to the Digivice on his belt. He managed to bring it to an angle where he could see the screen which was flickering between its usual glow when activated and static.

'Come on Garurumon,' Gary silently pled. "You haven't let me down yet. Don't start here." Gary still had so much left to do. He still had go on his Pokémon journey. He still had to surpass his parents and his grandfather. He still had to find some way to defeat the looming threat to this world and become the hero he always knew he was meant to be.

Before the Surprise Trip to the Digital World

Having received the assurance from his grandfather that yes, he was now certified to go on a Pokémon journey, Gary wasted no time in calling up his parents to brag to them about the good news. Both of his folks were world trekkers who had left him and his sister in his grandfather's care as soon as he was old enough to start his education proper, which meant he didn't get to see them in person often.

The absence of his parents never really bothered Gary. Both his mom and dad made sure to drop by the lab whenever they had the chance and would even take him and his older sister out on trips across the globe form time to time. Usually it was his dad who was in charge of the family outings as his mother was part of the international police and didn't want her kids anywhere near any of the thugs she was tracking down. It was a completely hypocritical move in Gary's book as both of his parents were snooping around criminal organizations and foiling their plots when they were kids.

But now it was going to be Gary's turn. He was the one who was going to capture and train an army's worth of Pokémon. He was the one who was going to curb stomp any felons who made the mistake of crossing his path. He was going to ascend the ranks of the Indigo League and become the champion, a title that would last more than five minutes thank you very much.

"Hey! Congrats!" Gary's father's voice came over the other end of the phone while Gary idly walked around his room. "Hard to believe you're almost out of the house. It seems like just yesterday you were finger painting Rhyperior's armor to make it look like a shiny."

Gary rolled his eyes at his father's reminiscing, but allowed his dad to continue talking without interruption. He needed to stay on his dad's good side if he wanted to convince him into allowing Gary to borrow one of his convertibles for his journey. "If you think this is amazing, just wait until I'm standing across from you in the arena."

That comment elected a laugh from his father. "You don't even have your first Pokémon and you're already gunning for me, huh? Just don't expect me to make it easy for you."

"I'll be welcoming the challenge after breezing through all the scrubs who think they're trainers around here," Gary smirked.

"Glad to see you still have that Oak confidence," Gary could practically hear his father's smirk on the other end. "Actually, now that I think about it, there's something I want to talk to you about."

Ah, jeez. Here's the parenting lecture. Gary bit his tongue, readying himself to be quiet and not to complain. Remember: sports car, sports car, sports car.

"I know that a lot of the Pokémon and trainers around Pallet Town are pretty mellow, but when you're out on the road you're going to encounter people and Pokémon who are going to give you a run for your money."

It took every ounce of willpower for Gary to keep a straight face and not to snort. Yeah, his old man should know seeing as he spent a good chunk of his Pokémon journey getting his butt handed to him by the same guy over and over again.

"I just want you to remember, as talented as you are, you are still only human," Gary's father's voice lost its usual laid back, smugness and switched to dead serious. "Know your limitations. Otherwise, the only person you'll beat is yourself."

"I got it, Dad," Gary responded dutifully like a good little boy who deserved a convertible for his Pokémon journey.

"No, you don't," the expected smug tone his father liked to use returned. "If you're anything like me, which I know you are, you're going to have to take in the kisser a dozen times before the lesson even begins to sink in."

Back to Now

"Know your limitations. Otherwise, the only person you'll beat is yourself." That phrase repeated in Gary's head over and over again as he fell back into the void.

Datamon

In his private lab, Datamon took out a couple of tubes of blood. One human and one Lunamon. First he took a pipet and transferred a few drops of the human blood onto a slide. Looking at it in under the microscope he could see that it bore little difference from the blood of your average mammal. Strip away the legends and the novelty of a talking animal and humans really did not appear to be all that special.

Then Datamon took out the vial of the Lunamon's blood. Just like most Digimon body parts, it dissolved into raw energy and data the second it was removed from the body. Experience told Datamon that he had to feed the vial's contents into a machine for analysis before the data completely dispersed. However, both the texts on the first human and the recent events with the Loogarmon bite indicated that there was an innate connection between Digimon and humans. He wondered…

Swiftly, Datamon opened one of the vials of Lunamon's spare data. He then took the pipet of human blood and released a single drop of blood into the data. The reaction was instantaneous. Instead of escaping the confines of the vial, Lunamon's data converged on the drop. The red blood absorbed the blue data and condensed into an orange orb which hummed with power.

"Fascinating," breathed Datamon. His impulses satisfied; he began his work.

Lillie

As one trainer fell unconscious, another woke up. Lillie blinked at the ceiling. She slowly sat up to find that the study was empty with only a pitcher and glass of water sitting at the table along with the abandoned tea set.

"Lillie!"

Lillie jumped in her seat when Lunamon leapt up in the air from beside her chair. "Lunamon! What happened? Where's Datamon?" Suddenly, Lillie was hit with a realization. She hung her head. "I passed out, didn't I?"

"Yes, but it's okay!" Lunamon quickly poured Lillie a glass and eagerly, yet gently handed it to her. "Datamon was able to acquire the blood he needed and is analyzing it right now!"

"That's good," Lillie sighed and accepted the glass. "I just wish I could be more helpful. I thought I could make it through the blood draw by having you restrain me. But even then, I couldn't touch a Digimon trying to help us."

"Nonsense," both girl and Digimon looked over to the door to the room to see Datamon had reappeared. "Thanks to your assistance I've been able to make some startling discoveries on the bonds between humans and Digimon."

The robot scuttled over to a computer console with a large screen and began pressing some buttons. The monitor flashed on and displayed a video of a canister filled with the black fog produced by the Dae Virus. The video then showed a spray of blue dust descending into the canister. The fog swirled around and consumed the blue particles assimilating them into the fog.

"What you are observing is the usual behavior of the Dae Virus," Datamon explained. "The blue particles are the loose bits of energy and matter that a Digimon's body breaks down into when it is no longer connected to the DigiCore. As you can see, the virus takes over and assimilates that matter. Had those particles still been attached to a Digimon, the virus would take over and rework the Digimon until it exhibited the symptoms that we have observed in the infected. However, when we try to introduce the virus to human blood…"

The video switched over to another canister. This too contained the black fog, but instead of the blue particles from before, red droplets of human blood descended into the canister. Nothing happened.

"Unlike with Digimon tissue, human blood yields no response," Datamon narrated. "Thus, it appears that humans are immune."

"But that can't be right," Lillie interjected. "Gary didn't turn violent, but he become very ill after he was bitten so the virus must have some kind of effect on him."

"In a way," Datamon conceded. "However, I must ask that you observe the last demonstration."

With that, the monitor displayed one more video. This reel was of a sample of human blood in a Petri dish. When the particles of a Digimon were released into the air over the dish, the two began to merge. The particles descended down into the dish while the blood rose up in small splashes to reach out and grab the particles. Once the two had combined, the now orange blob began to spark and hum.

Smiling at the wide-eyed reaction of his audience Datamon explained the experiment. "Obviously that blood belonged to you, my dear. It should also be noted for the record that the Digimon who donated those scraps were none other than your partner. Anytime I tried to introduce your blood to matter from other Digimon, there was no reaction."

"But that makes no sense," Lunamon mused. "If that reaction is anything to go by, then I should be physically flying to Lillie like a magnet or connecting to her."

"Oh, but you are connected," Datamon hummed. "Perhaps the connection is not as apparent as your bloods' reaction, but the connection is still very much there. It is through this connection that your friend's Garurumon was infected."

"Well, not really," Lillie interjected trying to sound as polite as possible as to not hurt the scientist's feelings. "I'm not sure what's happening with our blood, but my connection to Lunamon is through my Digivice."

"Is it now?" a sly tone crept into Datamon's voice. "Or perhaps the Digivice is facilitating and refining something that was already there? It is said that the original human did not come to this world with the Digivice. Rather, it was later given to him by a powerful craftsman who wanted to help hone and refine the raw power that the human and his Digimon partners had already exhibited. But that is hardly relevant at the moment. Observe the next test."

The video continued with the new orange goop. It was placed in a biosafety cabinet. Once the doors were closed and the cabinet sealed, black fog was slowly pumped inside the cabinet. At first, the sparks given off by the goo kept the fog away, but as more and more fog entered the unit the less effect the sparks had. Eventually, the goo was overrun and consumed.

"You'll notice," Datamon said. "That it took longer for the hybrid blood to be infected than regular Digimon flesh. As such, I theorize that the reason your human friend became indisposed was because he is experience backlash from the Garurumon's infection. But not all is lost. Behold!"

A new video come up on the screen. This one showed a different cabinet that also held the hybrid blood. This time when the fog was injected into the cabinet, the blood gave off a bright glow which kept the fog at bay.

"By analyzing the protective energy that sparked off the mixture, I have been able to refine it into both an antidote and a vaccine for the Dae Virus!" Datamon announced, his voice brimming with triumph.

"That's brilliant!" cheered Lunamon. "Not only can we cure Garurumon and Gary, but we can prevent anyone else from getting sick in the future! Isn't that wonderful Lillie?"

Lillie smiled. "It is. But," her attention turned back to the video. "What was that energy that the blood mixture was giving off? Does it have anything to do with the power the Digivice is supposed to harness? If so, what is that power?"

A gleam seemed to come to Datamon's eyes. "All of those are excellent questions. I believe we are just scratching the surface of the science behind human and monster relationships. But those are probably questions for another time. If I'm not mistaken, you have some friends to save."

That comment jostled Lillie out of her musings. "You're right! Do you have some of that antidote ready?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Datamon snapped his fingers and a Troopmon came lumbering into the room. It gingerly placed a syringe containing clear liquid onto the counter. "This is the antidote for your already infected friend. All you must do is stick and inject and he should be cured. But as for the vaccine…"

Datamon reached over to the console and typed. Moments later the screen changed from the video display to scrolling text. Lillie blinked. "It's just code," she surmised.

"Just code? Just code?" Datamon sniffed as if Lillie said something scandalous. "My dear, everything is code. From the DNA that dictates your protein make up to the equations used to understand physics, all of existence boils down to code. And this, is the code for the vaccine to the Dae Virus. All I need is a way to implement it."

The three of them stared at the screen for a bit before Lunamon spoke up. "Maybe we can use the Digivice? You did say that it was used to focus raw power like the energy used to make the vaccine and the Digivice has a bunch of apps. Maybe one of them could help?"

Something clicked in Lillie's head. "Oh!" she turned on her Digivice and quickly sorted through the different apps until she found the one she was looking for. DigiCode. Before whenever Lillie opened the app, all she got was a keyboard and a blank screen. Maybe this could be used to duplicate the code for the vaccine? It seemed plausible, but if that was the case she would have to spend hours that she didn't have copying the lengthy code that was still scrolling on the screen.

Nevertheless, Lillie didn't see any harm in opening the app and letting Datamon have a look to see if there was anything she missed. She wasn't ready for what happened next.

Once the app was opened, the console's screen began to glow. Suddenly, the lines of code that had been scrolling up the screen leapt from the computer and flew through the air. Lightning fast, the code zoomed over to the blank screen projected by the Digivice's hologram. Within seconds, an exact copy of the code was displayed on the Digivice's hologram with a new box of text at the bottom asking Lillie if she wanted to save, transfer, or implement the code.

Lunamon's little jaw dropped. "So that's what that app does!"

"Amazing," Datamon's long arm began to reach for the Digivice, but had to quickly pull it back when the device emitted a sudden jolt of electricity zapping his fingers.

"I am so sorry!" Lillie exclaimed. "I don't know what that was! The Digivice has never done anything like that before."

"Hmm, it probably doesn't want to be separated from its master. No matter," Datamon mumbled studying the smoke rising from the tips of his electrocuted fingers. "Now, normally we would have to test both the cure and the vaccine. But seeing as how time is off the essence, you'll just have to take my word that even my prototypes are reliable and take the vaccine. Now and hurry along to administer the antidote to your friend."

Remembering that yes, while she was hanging out in the laboratory her friends were still in danger, Lillie nodded and selected the implement code option. This brought up another screen prompting her to select whether or not she wanted the share the code with the other Digivices. Panicked by the idea that both Gargomon and Biyomon could be vulnerable to the infection, Lillie didn't think twice before selecting yes. In less than a minute the Digivice's hologram gave her a new message stating that the code had been implemented to all the Digivices.

Sighing in relief, Lillie put her Digivice away. One job done, another to go. Lillie picked up the syringe with the antidote and turned to Datamon. "Thank you for your hard work and hospitality."

Lunamon took Lillie's que and politely bowed. "It has been an honor to both meet and work with you."

Datamon waved them off. "The pleasure is all mine. Now if you excuse me, I need to get back to work refining and producing more vaccines."

Nodding, both Lillie and Lunamon ran out of the study and down the hallways of the lab. As she ran, Lillie noticed that the Troopmon were back to work. Except, they didn't appear to be performing lab work. Instead, they looked like they were packing up and boxing various pieces of equipment. Curious as this behavior was, Lillie had no time to waste. She quickly grabbed an empty wheeled cart and had Lunamon hop on top before the two when charging down the hallway with the Digivice's hologram to guide them on the quickest path to the rest of their team.

Back in the Forest

Lillie ran through the tunnels until she found the latch closest to the other Digivices on the hologram. Opening it up and climbing out she found that it was the same hatch that she discovered before meeting Loogamon. Checking the map again Lillie could see that they were almost there!

Making her way over to the campsite Lille felt adrenaline pump throughout her body. Every single one of her senses felt enhanced as she darted through the forest. A fair distance away she could hear the frustrated, loud snarls of the Loogarmon accompanied by the steady blast of laser fire. No doubt Gargomon was in the thick of the brawl keeping the wolves away from her team and creating an opening for her.

Silently, Lillie thanked Gargomon. Now she just had to press forward a little bit more and…

The warm rush of hope Lillie felt was extinguished within seconds when a powerful stream of flames ripped across the ground in front of her creating a burning wall which cut off her path. Lillie didn't have to wait long before the fire's source pounced behind her.

Turning around Lillie could see BlackGarurumon, still infected. How he found her, she wasn't sure. Maybe it was bad luck or maybe he just so happened to cross her path while following some homing instinct to Gary. Whatever the reason, the wolf was Lillie's problem now.

If the lupine recognized her at all, it was just enough to mark her as prey. The wolf took a step forward, body ridged and ready to attack if Lillie decided to bolt. A wall of fire behind her and a lightning quick wolf ready to snag her if she tried to run anywhere else, Lillie's mind raced through her options. However, Lunamon was a few steps ahead of her and hopped between her and BlackGarurumon.

"Garurumon!" Lunamon shouted. "I know you're in there somewhere! We have a cure! We just need to get it to Gary, and everything will be okay! So please, continue to fight against this! Every little bit helps!"

For a moment, Lillie could have sworn that she saw the facial muscles around BlackGarurumon's snarling lips relax. But when she tried to move away from the wolf, it bared its teeth again and began to spring forward.

"Spiral Twister!"

"Howling Fire!"

Before BlackGarurumon could leap, it was startled back by a pair of fire attacks pelting him in the face. Flying over the flames from behind Lillie, Biyomon landed right next to Lunamon and gave the wolf a threatening squawk. From Lunamon's other side, Loogamon dashed in and gave BlackGarurumon his own snarl.

"Biyomon! Loogamon!" Lillie exclaimed. "You found us!"

"How could we not?" Loogamon snorted. "You're lucky your friend is a lousy hunter. Any other predator would have forgone the fireworks and just snapped your neck while your guard was down."

"Garurumon is an amazing hunter!" Lunamon shot back. A complement that was backed up by the various animal carcasses Garurumon would drag to camp that Lillie had to learn to live with. Though, staring at the wolf creeping towards them, Lillie wished that Loogamon's criticism was true.

Lunamon continued. "I think the fire show was intentional sabotage. Garurumon is still in there trying everything in his power to fight the virus and protect us."

"That would explain why he hasn't attacked us just yet," Loogamon muttered.

While the two rookies spoke, Lillie assessed the situation. It looked dire, massive, rabid Arcanine in front and a firewall behind, but she had several assets. First, BlackGarurumon was trying to handicap itself. Lillie wasn't sure how much control Garurumon had, but it didn't look like much so she couldn't rely on him completely.

Second, Lillie had three rookies willing to help. BlackGarurumon had her outclassed in terms of raw power, but if Lillie played her cards right than she could probably keep the canine at bay long enough to figure out a way to get the cure to Gary.

Third, Lillie was familiar with Garurumon. After Gabumon Digivolved, Gary had kept on training her in monster battles. These mock battles were all very much one sided as Lillie was inexperienced with fighting and Garurumon dwarfed Lunamon in both size and power.

It was also during these sparing sessions that Lillie came to really appreciate Garurumon's battle capabilities. Massive paws complete with razor sharp claws to pin down an opponent, powerful jaws with a bite force to match, fur that could be hardened to use as armor or blades to anyone who got too close, and a breath-taking Flamethrower. All in all, Garurumon was not a monster any beginner trainer had any right battling.

But it was also thanks to Lillie's various sparing sessions with Garurumon that she knew his biggest weakness.

"Okay," Lillie could feel her heart hammering in her chest. "I have a cure to get to Gary. But I'm going to need you guys to keep Garurumon here. Biyomon, Loogamon, I'm going to ask you to attack Garurumon from both sides of his body. Can you do that?"

"Piece of cake," Loogamon's muscles tensed as he spoke. For her part, Biyomon said nothing. She just continued to make a noise that sounded like a mix between a growl and a squawk. However, she did start shifting her body to be ready to charge at Garurumon's opposite side.

"Lunamon," Lillie's throat dried. She knew intellectually that it was only a matter of time before she had to send her partner out to fight an opponent that could kill the rabbit. But emotionally she didn't think that she would ever be ready. "Do you remember Garurumon's weak spot?"

Tendrils of dark energy wrapped around Lunamon's claws. She looked over at Lillie and gave her a determined nod. "Yes."

"Alright," Lillie's back foot shifted, ready to run. "On my mark. Three, two…"

Lillie's countdown was interrupted by a loud snarl. Whatever willpower Garurumon had over his corrupted state had worn down and now the wolf was charging forward to attack.

"GO!" Lillie shouted. The three rookies charged forward to meet BlackGarurumon. Immediately, Biyomon and Loogamon were on each of the wolf's sides blasting him with their respective fire attacks. It took a while, but the wolf eventually settled on attacking the bird first.

Opening his jaws, BlackGarurumon was about to bite down on Biyomon. "Loogamon, go for his eyes!" Lillie ordered.

The wolf pup leapt onto Garurumon's face and began to gnaw at his brow. This diverted BlackGarurumon away from Biyomon, but now it was working on slamming Loogamon into the ground. Spotting her opening, Lunamon sprang forward.

"Luna Claw!" shouted Lunamon as she slashed at the tip of BlackGarurumon's snout.

The effect was immediate. BlackGarurumon roared in pain and temporarily halted its attacks. This gave Lillie enough time to start dashing towards the edge of the firewall to get around it. Unfortunately, she was not fast enough. BlackGarurumon spotted her sudden movement and shot out another Hollowing Blaster. The firewall was now not only lengthened but wrapped around boxing in Lillie even more.

It was looking grim, but giving up wasn't an option. "Everyone, get back!" Lillie called out to the Digimon. "Lunamon, blind him with your bubbles and hit his muzzle again."

Lunamon leapt up into the air and unleashed a Lop-Ear Ripple hopping to temporarily blind BlackGarurumon the same way she did the Loogarmon from before. This method worked for half a second before BlackGarurumon decided that it would rather focus on the rabbit shooting soap bubbles at him than deal with the bubbles themselves.

"Biyomon! Get Lunamon out of there!" Lillie ordered.

Biyomon gave Lillie a squawk and flew over to grab Lunamon with her talons. She was able to pull the rabbit away in time to prevent BlackGarurumon from eating her whole, but not fast enough to prevent the wolf from snagging and subsequently ripping off one of the rabbit's ears.

"Lunamon!" Lillie cried out. Faintly, the girl was able to see that where the infected Digimon bit the rabbit there was a dim, orange glow which Lillie could only assume was Datamon's vaccine protecting the rookie from being infected as well.

"I've got this!" Loogamon shouted as he tried jumping back onto BlackGarurumon's face. Not falling for that trick again, BlackGarurumon leapt back and unleashed another blast of flame sending all the rookies flying. This time, BlackGarurumon twisted his body around completing the flame circle and trapping his opponents with him.

His makeshift cage complete, BlackGarurumon turned his attention back to Lillie who was now trying to figure out how to get the cure to her friend. But there was no way out. Lillie raised her hands in front of her face, for whatever good that would do, and braced herself.

"Luna Claw!"

Lillie lowered her hands to see that just as BlackGarurumon was about to attack, Lunamon had flung herself at the wolf to stop him. The rabbit was ragged, beaten, and bits of particles were leaking from the stump where one of her ears used to reside, but she was still fighting.

Steeling herself, Lillie's brain went back into overdrive to figure out the next step. After all, if her partner was willing to fight to the last breath, then so was she!

As if to answer Lillie's conviction, Lunamon was saved from BlackGarurumon's retaliation when she was encased by an orb filled with orange energy.

"Lunamon Digivolve to…."

Lunamon's body began to grow in size. No longer was she shorter than the average rookie Digimon, instead she was almost the size of a human adult. Her skirt dissolved allowing her legs to grow from tiny nubs to long, muscular appendages. Likewise, her arms also extended becoming more humanoid while her lower set of ears broke apart into several bundles of fur. The stub where her previous ear was sprouted a new ear that showed no signs of scaring or trauma.

Six long, purple tube-like, tentacles sprouted from the new champions lower back and curved around to face her front. New armor began to materialize in the form of bands around her heals, black, fingerless gloves, and a purple breast plate with a silver crescent moon emblem buckled around her chest. Finally, a metal mask strapped itself onto the new Digimon's face held in place by a pair of long, pink ribbons.

The Digivolution bubble burst open allowing the humanoid rabbit to gracefully land on the ground below.

Lekismon!

The newly dubbed Lekismon wasted no time in engaging BlackGarurumon. The rabbit sprang forward and nailed the wolf in the side with a powerful kick. BlackGarurumon went sliding across the ground before picking itself up and lunging back at the rabbit. In response, Lekismon sprang into the air. It looked like Lunamon's anti-gravity capabilities were a bit more controlled as Lekismon was not only able to rocket herself even higher but was able to hold her position a bit for the tentacles on her back to begin firing ice arrows down at the battlefield below. "Tear Arrow!"

BlackGarurumon snarled before attacking back with his flames. The stream of fire was able to consume the barrage of ice before moving on to Lekismon. At first Lillie was worried that Lekismon, just like Lunamon, would be too slow to fall and get out of the way. These fears were alleviated when Lillie saw that Lekismon's upgraded gravity control allowed her to return gravity to normal faster thus dropping her from the air before the fire could touch her.

But now was not the time to make observations. Now was the time for Lillie to contribute to the fight. By scanning the kung fu rabbit.

"Lekismon, champion level," Lillie read. "She's a speedy beast man with a powerful jump. She can either fire icy arrows from her protrusions with her Tear Arrow or lull her enemies to sleep with her Moon Night Bomb."

Immediately, Lillie's mind went into overdrive. While it was a lucky break that Lunamon Digivolved, Lillie still needed to get the cure to Gary. This task was nearly impossible with the wall of fire that had trapped the group, or at least for Lillie. Looking over to the other two Digimon, Lillie's heart sank. Both the flight capable Biyomon and agile Loogamon were down for the count and couldn't deliver the antidote for her.

Lillie's other option was to utilize Lekismon's jumping skills to go over the flame to deliver the antidote, but that would leave Lillie at the mercy of the diseased wolf. With both champion Digimon locked in combat, they were at a stalemate. Unless…

A thought just popped in Lillie's mind. Garurumon got infected when Gary was bitten. If Datamon was right, this was achieved through a connection the two of them shared. It was also the reason Gary was sick despite being supposedly immune to the virus. By that logic, could Lillie cure both of them if she injected BlackGarurumon instead of Gary?

It was a gamble, but Lillie couldn't count on anymore lucky saves. She had to take action herself! "Lekismon, use Moon Night Bomb!"

At Lillie's command, Lekismon spiraled up into the air, moister gathering around her as she did so. At the peak of her leap, Lekismon punched forward pelting BlackGarurumon with multiple water bullets. This weakened the wolf, but it didn't put it to sleep.

Lillie's mind flashed back to class. According to Professor Kukui, who was an expert on Pokémon moves, attacks that both dealt damage and status conditions would always chip away at an opponent's health, but not necessarily induce the status effect. His advice at the time was to not rely on the status condition, but if a trainer really needed to stun or put a Pokémon to sleep then the trainer would have to call for the attack over and over again. So Lillie did that. "Again!"

Once again, Lekismon fired off her Moon Night Bomb. This time, in addition to taking damage BlackGarurumon's eyes closed, and his body slumped. Seeing her chance, Lillie dashed forward. But as she approached the beast, her hands began to tremble.

'No!' Lillie scolded herself. 'Lekismon did her part, now you need to do yours!'

But whether or not Lillie would be able to contain her fear to treat BlackGarurumon was irrelevant. In her haste to cure her friend, Lillie did not make sure that the wolf had completely succumbed to the sleep status. As such, she was completely vulnerable when the wolf's eyes snapped open and his head swerved around, jaws open.

Without thinking, Lillie's hand holding the cure swiped at the wolf's head which plunged the needle of the syringe into BlackGarurumon. The wolf howled in pain at the unexpected stab and began shaking itself violently in confusion. Once again, BlackGarurumon's mouth opened to start spraying fire.

"Lillie!"

Just before the flames could scorch Lillie, the girl spied a hand reaching out to her. Instinctively, Lillie grabbed onto the hand to be pulled away from the raging inferno. Suddenly, Lillie found herself rising into the air held in place by a pair of hand like claws and calm, cool tentacles.

At first, Lillie began to go pale. Her body began to tremble and shake. It looked like she was going to go into another fit before a gentle, woman's voice spoke. "I'm sorry, Lillie. I'll make this quick."

Lillie peered up to see Lekismon looking down at her, smiling. "Don't worry. I've got you." The rabbit said warmly.

Lekismon then landed outside the circle of flames and released Lillie. The girl leaned up against a tree shivering while Lekismon went back to retrieve Biyomon and Loogamon. It didn't take long for Lekismon to return with each rookie under one of her arms. "I'm not sure if the cure is working on Garurumon or not, but it looks like he's down for the count. Are you okay?"

After taking several deep breaths, Lillie gave her partner a weak smile. "Yeah. Let's get back to the others."

It took a bit, but their small group was able to make it to the campsite where they were enthusiastically greeted by both May and Goh.

"You're alive!"

"Where have you been?! You could have at least sent us a message!"

"Oh no! Biyomon! Are you okay?!"

"Whoa, is that Lunamon?"

"Quiet."

That last remark made everyone freeze. There, standing by the entrance of the cave was Gary. He looked tired and still sounded a little sore, but he was standing on his own. Lillie's expression immediately brightened.

"It worked!" Lillie dashed over to Gary and began checking the boy over. "Fever's going down, sweat is drying up, you're no longer trembling or coughing," Lillie rambled.

"Okay, okay," Gary stepped back from Lillie's impromptu checkup. "Yes, I'm feeling better. What happened to you?"

"I'd like to know that too." Everyone turned to see that Gargomon had come through the trees. Both his arms and his ears were holding a massive bundle of eggs, and a familiar hat was sitting on top of his head.

May's mouth dropped. "Did you really take out all of those Loogarmon?"

"It's like I keep telling Goh," Gargomon gently emptied the eggs onto the ground where Loogamon immediately wiggled out of Lekismon's arms to go and check on them. "I've been through worse."

Gargomon then walked over to Lillie and placed her hat back on her head. "Found your hat," Gargomon said.

Lillie was about to thank the gun hound, when another canine came barreling down the road. Every Digimon quickly formed a wall to keep the intruder at bay only for the canine to leap over the hastily made barrier and pin Gary to the ground where the canine began bathing him in slobbery doggy kisses.

"You're okay!" Garurumon, now back to normal, barked.

"Yeah, I'm good. You can get off me!" Gary struggled both to escape from the happy clutches of his Digimon and to maintain his dignity.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Garurumon backed off of Gary and looked over to Lillie. Slowly, the wolf plotted over and tried to sniff at the girl. "Are you okay, Lillie?"

"I'm fine, thank you," Lillie swiftly backed away from the concerned wolf. "How about you?"

Garurumon tucked his tail and hung his head. "It was like a nightmare. I couldn't think straight and every part of me was in pain. All I could do was hunt and attack. I didn't get you, did I?"

"It was close," Lillie admitted. "But thanks to Lekismon, everything's alright. Right Lekismon?"

Her partner didn't respond. Lillie spun around to check if her partner was alright only to see Lekismon staring down at Lillie in surprise. Following the rabbit's gaze, Lillie saw that when she backed away from Garurumon she had backed into Lekismon and was now touching her.

"Eep!" Lillie leapt away from the champion, but it was more out of surprise than fear. Seeing this, Lekismon slowly held out her hand, palm facing outwards. Lillie studied the hand for a bit before slowly holding out her own hand. Both human and Digimon palms touched, and Lillie was able to hold her hand still for a full minute before yanking it away.

May was the first to break the silence. "Look at that! You were able to touch a Digimon for a bit!"

"Yes, yes! Congratulations!" Biyomon cheered alongside May.

While the rest of her team offered Lillie their praises, Lillie just stared down at her hand. Across from her Lekismon was doing the same. Noticing each other, the two shared a smile. "It's a start."

Meanwhile, Garurumon was slumped to the side sulking. "And I'm back at square one."

"Buddy, you never left square one," Gargomon jeered before turning to Lekismon and nodding in approval. "Good hustle out there, Cotton Tail."

Lekismon proudly put her hands on her hips. "I couldn't just set back and wait for you to save the day. A fellow rabbit had to step up."

That comment made Gargomon pull back with a look of offense. "Whoa, whoa, you think I'm a rabbit? I'm a dog."

"Really?" Lekismon looked up and down Gargomon and tilted her head. "But one of your rookie form's attacks is called Bunny Blast. Plus, you look like a floppy eared rabbit."

"Or a floppy eared dog," Gargomon rebutted. "For future reference, my name is derived from Galgo Espanol. Which is a type of dog. Tell her, Goh."

"I don't think we have that animal where I'm from," Goh unhelpfully supplied.

"Ugh," Gargomon groaned. "Okay, if it helps, I'll just change that attack's name to Blazing Fire. Does that help?"

Lekismon squinted at Gargomon. "Can we change attack names?"

"I'm doing it now."

The conversation was interrupted by a loud throat clearing from Loogamon who had finished inspecting the eggs of his pack mates. "I have something I want to say."

"That you're sorry for hurling all those insults at us?" Lekismon said.

"No, I stand by what I said earlier. You guys aren't very smart," Loogamon then took a deep breath. "But if what Garurumon said is true, then my friends were in a lot of pain. While I wish we could have saved them, I'm sure they would have rather been turned into eggs then to be stuck in that state. Thank you for putting them down."

Over to the side, Gary had finished wiping off the copious amounts of Garurumon saliva and had now returned to the rest of the group. "Actually, that's something I'm curious about. Where did you get a cure?"

"You can thank Datamon for the cure," Lillie responded. "It turns out there is a famous scientist in this forest studying the virus infection that has been turning Digimon crazy. We were able to get the cure and even a vaccine to prevent further infection. He was a little unorthodox, but…"

"Wait, Datamon?" Gargomon frowned. "As in a Datamon or THE Datamon? The same Datamon who tried to graph regular animal parts onto Digimon to see if they would assimilate?"

"No!" Lekismon quickly jumped in. "The Datamon we met was the one who's a renown physicist and as cured various diseases."

"I hate to break it to you, but those are the same Datamon," Gargomon's frown deepened. "Listen, Datamon as a general rule are big knowledge junkies. But this Datamon doesn't know when to stop. He's been known lobotomize Digimon to figure out if they can remember their past lives and was almost caught when he tried to rip a hole in space or time or some junk like that."

"Why would he do any of those things?" May asked.

Gargomon shrugged. "Because he could? I don't pretend to understand regular scientists let alone the deranged ones."

"But, but," Lekismon stuttered, her ears dropping.

"Wait a minute," Goh began looking over Lillie and Lunamon. "You said that guy gave you a vaccine, right? How are you feeling right now?"

The color drained from Lillie's face. "I also used the Digivice to give the vaccine to everyone else. I-I'm sorry. I didn't know!"

"Hey, calm down," Gargomon was about to put an ear on Lillie's shoulder, but switched over to Lekismon just to be safe. "It's like Lekismon said, this guy also cured a bunch of diseases in the past as well. I'm willing to bet that the antidote and the vaccine were both legit. Even if the guy who made them is a lunatic."

"Still," a dark expression crossed Goh's face. "I'm not sure I want to know what that guy was doing researching a Digimon madness virus."

BOOM!

From where the group of humans and Digimon were standing, they saw a massive explosion peak over the tree tops. Flying away from the smoking wreckage was a large air craft that looked like a cross between a cargo plane and a dragon. The plane flew overhead, whipping up the wind around the group before disappearing over the horizon and out of sight.

"Good thing everyone's temporarily deaf from that bomb," Gargomon grumbled. "Cause I'm about to say some words none of these kids should repeat."

After Lillie and Lunamon left Datamon's lab

"Quickly, Quickly!" Datamon snapped at the Troopmon. Not that it did any good seeing as they were mindless puppets, but sometimes you just needed to yell at someone. As delightful as the Lunamon and her human were, his position was now compromised and he had to relocate. If his antidote worked fast (which of course it did, he made it after all) than it would only be a matter of time before the chosen Digimon and their humans could double back. Datamon didn't want to gamble on the second interaction being as friendly as the first.

Still, the meeting with the human allowed Datamon to work through the block he had on his research. It didn't help that the pack of Loogamon he injected and experimented with going so far as to induce an artificial Digivolution had managed to escape. But this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it served as the perfect bait for the girl. Now that the hidden security cameras across the forest showed that his vaccine did protect against the virus, Datamon could move onto finishing his vaccine for his client. The ultra leveled Digimon may take issue with him also administering the cure to his enemies, but Datamon knew that his mind was too valuable for that Digimon to sacrifice. Besides, science knew no sides in a war.

In the meantime, the Troopmon were performing admirably. Their cleanup had stripped the abandoned mansion of all equipment, samples, and notes leaving the location just as empty as when he found it. All that was left was to move Daemon's corpse and…

Datamon's thoughts were interrupted by a muffled scream. Sighing, the diminutive robot scuttled over to the source of the noise. He found a team of Troopmon who were in the middle of moving a large tube containing glowing liquid. Submerged within the liquid was another corpse, large and humanoid. The corpse was missing all but one of its limbs, an elegant, female arm. All the other limbs had been hacked away leaving only stumps, even the wings on her back.

The corpse also had a head, or at least most of a head. Just the lower half. There may have been other imperfections, but the rest of the Digimon's sleek, female body was hidden by the bandages that Datamon had wrapped around her to help preserve what was left of the body.

Right now the hand of the tube Digimon was clinched into a fist. Outside the tube a single Troopmon was levitated into the air. Its body was crunched and distorted, almost as if the Digimon in the tube was wrapping her fingers around the unfortunate lab worker and squeezing. Had Datamon not been in a rush, he would have watched the Troopmon's plight for a bit longer. Was it possible that the mindless Digimon gained just enough sense of self to feel pain? Datamon would have to find and dissect that Troopmon later.

"Is that anyway for a Digimon of your stature to behave?" Datamon chided the creature within the tube. "Is this because I didn't let you have that girl?"

The tube Digimon's fist tightened, squeezing the Troopmon harder.

"Now, now. I see that you are upset, but you must understand how valuable these children are. They are such rare specimens. Humans don't even come once in a millennium. I merely wish to observe them for a little while longer," Seeing that the tube Digimon wasn't releasing her hold, Datamon relented a little. If he kept stalling the Digimon would not hesitated to replace that Troopmon with him. "Of course, they may not last long as this conflict continues. Should the human's look to be in over their heads, I'll make sure to bring one back for you to eat. Does that satisfy you?"

The fingers of the tubed Digimon loosened and tightened one by one over and over in a drumming motion. Finally the hand relaxed and the Troopmon dropped to the ground. The Troopmon then picked itself up and continued help move out the tube Digimon, even with data bits leaking through the newly formed holes in its body.

"Glad we could come to an agreement," Datamon respectfully bowed at the tube Digimon before scuttling off to oversee the rest of the move. As he passed by a pair of Troopmon carrying a computer console, he heard it emit a low ring.

Datamon leapt onto the console and pressed the button to accept the call. The screen turned bright red and a robot voice filtered through. "Datamon, report. What is your progress with the Dae Virus?"

A smile crept across Datamon's face. "There has been a breakthrough."

AN: As a matter of fact, Gargomon can change his attack name. The precedent for this was set when a bunch of Digmon voted to change their specie's nickname from "The Drill of Power" to "The Drill of Knowledge" to sound smarter.

Holy snap am I glad I decided to break this chapter up into two parts. Part two could probably eat part one for breakfast.

Lekismon! I didn't see any reason to deviate from the usual Lunamon line. Especially since Lekismon has ice powers, Lillie's Z-crystal of choice.

It doesn't matter if its black gears, GRB, dark rings, or the various viruses in the video games, every other Digimon story has some kind of means of turning good Digimon bad. Here's mine.

The more you know: Galgo Espanol is a type of sight hound, kind of like a grey hound. But if you look at Gargomon's design, clearly he's based off a scent hound like a basset hound or a blood hound.

Reader Response Recess!

Ashpoke55: No problem! And yes, I do have plans for Chimaeramon/Kimeramon. But it's going to be a good long while before we get to that jigsaw puzzle of a Digimon.

The one who reads and writes: Glad to see you're still enjoying yourself. I know it's going to take a while for us to get to the Pokémon action. I want to establish the rules and stakes of the Digital World first before juggling everyone's favorite pocket monsters into the mix.

Just to give you a little road map, I'm going to introduce the rest of the humans and their rookies/champion Digimon, then we're going through the temple where we're going to learn more about the timeline and rules for this Digital World and what our characters are going to have to do to get stronger, and finally they'll meet with the Celestials and do something important before arc 1 ends. How will it end? In a bang.

As for how I'll keep Pokémon relevant, I have two plans. One for ultimate and one for mega. Again, it's going to take a bit before we get to either of those, but I'm interested in your theory. Feel free to PM me and I may or may not give you a straight answer.

Legoguy67: Don't worry, you're not a bother. I enjoy feedback and even us it to help flesh out the story. Feel free to ask as many question as you want. Though I won't guarantee that I will answer them as I do want to give you guys some surprises.

And with that PizzaSpino is signing off! Thank you so much for reading! God loves and so do I!

Digimon Introduced

Lekismon: Champion, Data, Beast Man

Datamon: Ultimate, Virus, Machine

Troopmon: Champion, Data, Undead

Daemon: Mega, Virus, Evil King

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Next Time: We stick with these guys as they team up with a dragon to save a young maiden trapped in a tower by a knight. Meanwhile, an excavation team unearths something that should not be awakened.