Hiya guys~!

God, it's been close to a year... I'm so sorry for the long wait. I've been jumping from hyperfixation to hyperfixation and been unable to keep my focus on digimon. It's annoying for me as well. It's the main reason most of my stories don't get past the first chapter 😓

But I'm back! For how long? Who knows? I sure don't.

Well, I hope you enjoy this long awaited (or maybe not long waited) chapter.

Disclaimer: How did I do these again? I do not own Digimon Frontier or any of its characters. Yes, even after a year that hasn't changed. I do still own Sophia, Rosalie, their Spirits and any and all changes to the original plot.

Luck had finally turned to their side for once. The moment they arrived at the Trailmon station, they remembered needing tickets. All they had were the ones Zoe won…which turned out to be fine, surprising everyone. It turned out that the tickets were multiple-use passes! So their trip to the Rose Morning Star continued.

Oddly enough, when the Rose Morning Express Trailmon arrived, every digimon on the station backed away from it, making the humans and two rookies the only ones to board the Trailmon. Digimon around them watched them with fear, worry and pity, which seemed odd to the kids. Was the Rose Morning Star that bad? It's just a star, right? Oh well, at least they had a whole cart to themselves.

"I wonder what was up with all those digimon…" Rosalie mussed, unable to get those faces out of her head. "Could the Rose Morning Star be that bad?"

The other kids shrugged, some looking towards Bokomon for his usual tidbit of knowledge. He was napping… That digimon was not a morning mon.

"Maybe it's not the Rose Morning Star… Maybe it's the location around it?" Sophia suggested, sharing a knowing look with her sister. "Maybe it's in some super dangerous area, or something?"

JP groaned. "I hope not! I've had enough of all these dangerous places one right after the other."

"Well, we are legendary warriors." Takuya reasoned. "We kinda throw ourselves into danger to safe it from that danger."

JP sighed, but he had no argument for it. It was just annoying that every seemingly-peaceful place would no doubt surprise them with a dangerous situation.

For the next hour or so they rode that Trailmon. Time was spend between talking, watching the view outside go by, playing one game or another, just things to pass the time. At some point they rode onto a single track on a slim road surrounded on both sides by the ocean. From there the Rose Morning Star was easily visible.

"Wow, check it out!" Takuya called the others to the window. "The Rose Morning Star has gotta be close now!" A little too enthusiastic, Taky?

"Fantastico!" Zoe cheered. Though, she noticed something odd about the area. "But it's midday. Are the clouds supposed to be that dark?"

Indeed the sky was an eerie black with hues of dark blue and purple above an equally dark forest. The sun was high in the sky, but it didn't seem to reach that location.

Bokomon had already pulled up his book to look for an answer to Zoe's question, when Tommy asked for information on the area. The digimon went back to skimming through the book as he hadn't found the right page yet. He tried to tell Tommy as such, but when he turned the next page in his search the content startled him to the point of screaming.

To make the situation more frightening, Trailmon decided to pull the brakes right then and there. For a moment they were afraid Bokomon had broken some kind of rule about 'no screaming in this cart' or something.

JP picked himself up off the floor with an annoyed scowl. "Alright! Who is the nimrod who slammed on the breaks?!"

"That'd be me, blue boy." The Franken Trailmon answered. Like it could be anyone else… "End of the line!"

Huh? "That can't be right." Confused by Franken's words, Zoe looked outside. There wasn't a station close by when she and the others looked out a minute ago… She leaned out of the window again, looking in front of and behind them. No station. Same story on the other side of the cart. "We're in the middle of nowhere."

"Looks like the tracks don't stop for miles." Koji observed.

Franken rolled his eyes. "How observant of you." Wow…what sarcasm. "Look, if I say it's the end of the line, it's the end of the line. Go on! Get out! Get lost!"

"Koji, how did you ever race with this guy?" Not the point you should be focusing on JP.

The blonde of the group was starting to get pissed. "You can't do this! We have digi-rail passes!"

But Franken really couldn't care less. "Yeah, yeah. Write it down, you'll sell millions." It was clear these kids weren't gonna leave, so they left Franken no other choice. He opened the cart all the way and tilted the floor to dump the kids outside. Usually a last minute resort for troublemakers. "Look if you wanna go, just go. I ain't stopping you." The warriors landed roughly on the ground. There was still a way to go before they reached the edge of the darkness, and even then who knows how much further they had to walk in the darkness. Why wouldn't this stupid Trailmon take them further?! "I'm gonna wish you the best of luck." Franken said as he closed the passenger cart back up. "You're gonna need it~~!"

And with that said and done, Franken took off in reverse with speed, leaving the children and digimon stranded next to the tracks.

Recovered enough from the sudden fall, Takuya picked himself up off the ground. Other than a bruised arm, which he'd tried to catch himself on, he was fine. "So, everyone in one piece?" Just because he slightly bruised himself doesn't mean everyone else was uninjured.

After getting confirmation that everyone was alright, and yes he counted Zoe's complaint about Trailmon as her being alright, he turned to Bokomon. The gnome-digimon had been oddly silent after his panicked screech on the Trailmon. "Bokomon?"

He was staring unnerved at something behind them. Before any of the gang could look at whatever Bokomon was staring at, the digimon spoke. "Welcome to the Dark Gate." He did not sound enthusiastic in the slightest. "That temple-like structure behind you is the Dark Gate. Through it lies…the Continent of Darkness."

"Why do I get a feeling that's not a good thing?" JP whimpered, looking at the eerie gate and the even eerier darkness beyond.

Continent of Darkness? Koichi frowned. There was nothing particularly evil coming from the gate. It was just dark. Darkness is his element, was it really gonna be written off as evil? He eyed his brother, wondering his thoughts about it. Koji didn't seem to notice. The long haired boy was staring intently at the Dark Gate.

"-ut to be honest I have no idea what awaits us there." Bokomon answered a question that Koichi hadn't heard being asked. "It's an eerie land, shrouded in utter darkness. But the dangers it holds are as legendary as its mysteries."

JP didn't like the sound of that. "There's gotta be something written in the book about it."

But when Bokomon pulled up a completely black section that was apparently about the Continent of Darkness.

"Wow, it's pitch black." Astute observation Takuya.

"How come?" Tommy wondered.

"Is it like invisible ink? Do we need a special light?" Rosalie asked.

Bokomon shook his head. "It appears that there's really no first hand information on this place. Many a brave digimon have ventured within, but it seems none of them have ever returned to tell of its secrets." That was…worrisome. "Only the foolhardily would dare enter the Continent of Darkness. We'll have to find another route to the Rose Morning Star."

Takuya looked back towards the gate. It was gonna take too long to find another way in. Time they should use to get to that star would be wasted. "But the shortest route is straight ahead." he reasoned. "Nothing ventured nothing gained, right?"

Bokomon's eyes widened. "Huh?!"

"Besides." Sophia added. "Looks to me like the Rose Morning Star is in the Continent of Darkness. We'll have to enter it either way."

Everyone's eyes turned to the dark area, finding that the Rose Morning Star was, indeed, seemingly deep in the Continent of Darkness. The dark clouds surrounding it were a clear indication.

"Uhh…I think we should take a vote." JP suggested, to which Bokomon eagerly agreed.

No way! They couldn't just quit here! "You know, when all of us work as a team we've overcome some pretty tough stuff." Takuya said, trying his best to push his team's fears away. "So what's the point in backing off here and giving up?"

JP nodded. "Yeah, if something major happens we'll just Spirit evolve."

Sophia raised an eyebrow. 'Weren't you the one who just wanted to put this up to a vote?' She shrugged. "I mean, we need to get through the Continent of Darkness anyway." she said. "And who knows if there are any other entrances."

"There isn't any trouble that we can't handle!" Tommy said, full of confidence.

Zoe put her hands on her hips as she stood her ground. "Exactly! We're the eight legendary warriors who stopped Grumblemon, and that guy was no pushover."

Rosalie raised a hand. "Uhh… Technically you seven stopped Grumblemon, but I get your point. We're not backing down now!"

"You guys know I'm in." Koji said, eyes never leaving the gate up ahead.

Koichi nodded. "So am I."

And that made eight against against one lonely vote from Bokomon. "Well, we took a vote. Motion carried!" Takuya grinned. They were going through that gate. "Move out!"

Bokomon tried to protest against 'moving out', but seeing everyone walking to the gate, including the only other person who was against it just a moment ago, he cut himself off. Did they not understand the potential danger they were walking into? There was no information on this place. No knowledge that might safe them from harmful situations. Nothing on the dangers that may hide there and harm Seraphimon's egg!

But when even Neemon left him to join the humans, Bokomon found himself hesitantly following behind. As much as he didn't want to enter the Dark Gate, he wanted to be left behind even less.

The Continent of Darkness was, as the name implies, incredibly dark. It was a little spooky to be honest. The wind, the noises, the shadows. The rational part of their minds told them it was all in their head. The noises were just the wind blowing the trees and shrubbery, as well as their own feet kicking up rocks. And the shadows were just that, shadows. But only Takuya, Koji, Rosalie and Koichi were able to listen to that part of their minds. JP was also able to listen to it reasonably well, but he fell into illogical thoughts a lot, like seeing monsters in the shadows.

In fact, Koichi seemed to be completely at ease in the dark continent. Not surprising, considering it's his element. The darkness around him felt soothing, not an inch of evil or corruption as far as he could tell. Just natural plain darkness. He hadn't felt anything like this. I mean, he knew how to sense darkness in other digimon, but that was always corrupt, making his skin crawl. He'd never sensed the darkness of his surroundings before now. It was a feeling you could get lost in.

Which was why it startled him when someone suddenly grabbed onto him. The boy looked around in surprise. Tommy was hugging Takuya tightly and shaking in fear, Zoe was hiding her face in the shoulder of his very flustered brother and Bokomon was clutching JP's leg. Sophia was the one who'd grabbed onto his arm, eyes wide in fear.

"Tommy, it's just the wind." Takuya told the frightened boy, patting the younger boy's back as he let go.

Zoe, realizing what she was doing, quickly let go of a flustered Koji. "Sorry about that."

"No problem." Koji said a little too quickly, voice cracking while he said it.

Koichi put his free hand on one of Sophia's. "Are you scared?"

The girl nodded. "A little, yeah."

Meanwhile Bokomon's bout of fright had knocked JP to the ground. Something the boy wasn't happy about. "Stop acting like my aunt Mabel's dog!" he yelled at the digimon stuck to his leg.

"Aunt Mabel's dog would've turned tail and gone by now." Actually Aunt Mabel's dog was rarely frightened of anything, but Bokomon couldn't have known that.

Not this again. Takuya frowned. "We're not going back. We've all been walking for hours!"

"Let's walk back a few hours. And then we can get ourselves out of this poor excuse for a dark closet once and for all."

"But there's nothing to be afraid of." All eyes turned to Koichi. "Sure it's dark and noisy, but that's all there is. There's nothing bad about this place."

No one was sure how to respond. After all, Koichi has been sensing darkness since day one and he's always been accurate about whether it's evil or not. They should trust him, right. And yet…

"H-hey guys?" Tommy called, spotting something strange. "Something's glowing."

Everyone turned to look at where the youngest was pointing. Sure enough, a little farther ahead were odd green lights. Possibly a town, like Koji said. Rosalie placed her hand on a nearby tree, feeling for any presence up ahead.

"Whatever it is, it's not a town." she concluded. "There's no one but us around for as far as I can feel."

"Well, either way we should check it out." Takuya said.

As the group ran towards the lights it began to look less and less like a town, meaning Rose was right. But then what was it? They finally got close enough to see that it was…glowing moss?

"I wonder if it's safe to touch." Koji mussed as the gang looked at it. The light felt safe, but Koji couldn't be sure of the moss itself.

Sophia elbowed her sister. "Well, plant meister? Why don't you ask the moss if it's safe?"

The younger rolled her eyes. "Just because I can feel my surroundings when I touch plants doesn't mean I can talk to moss and get information on it."

"Worth a try."

JP, not seeing what the big deal is, picked up a clump of moss. They have luminescent moss in the human world and that's always been safe to touch. Would the digital world equivalent really be that different?

He held it for a moment before deciding. "Sure seems safe to me. We can use it to light our way!"

With the okay given, everyone grabbed a clump of the glowing moss and continued on their way. Rosalie was growing increasingly more restless with the familiarity of her surroundings. Had she been here before?

Her question was answered when the gang came upon a familiar cave.

"Look, it's a cave." JP pointed out.

Zoe took a good look at it. Perfectly dug out, no stray rocks, smooth looking walls. "It's almost too perfect. Like it was dug out by someone." And isn't that an uncomfortable thought. Why was it dug out in the first place? And by who?

"Or dug out by something." Tommy unhelpfully added.

"Hey! Is anybody in the-" A hand slapped itself over Takuya's mouth.

Rosalie looked at the cave entrance, eyes wide in fear. "Shut up! Don't yell in the cave!" she whisper-yelled. She took her hand off Takuya's mouth. "I-I remember this cave. It's the one I used to escape Cherubimon's hideout."

The other warriors gasped. "You've been at his hideout?" Koji asked, something unreadable in his voice.

The younger girl swallowed a lump and nodded. "I don't remember how far this cave was from the hideout, I kinda blanked out while I ran through the forest, but we shouldn't call attention to it."

Just the knowledge of Cherubimon and quite possibly the evil warriors being just beyond that cave was enough to send Bokomon into another freak-out. While he freaked, something flew from tree to tree behind him, catching Tommy's eyes. It flew by again, closer and louder this time.

"Did you guys see that?" Tommy asked.

Nobody answered him, instead focusing on whatever just flew by. "Who's there? Show yourself!" Takuya called out.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" a voice repeated back at him.

JP scoffed at it. "What are you? A parrot?"

"What are you? A parrot?" "What are you? A parrot?" "What are you? A parrot?"

"Knock it off!" Tommy was getting pretty annoyed with the voice repeating whatever they said.

"Knock it off!" "Knock it off!" "Knock it off!"

Cue another Bokomon freak-out. "Ooohh! They'll mock us till we all go insane! We're doomed! Doomed I tell you!" He fell to the ground, clutching his head in fear.

'Dramatic much?' Sophia thought.

Meanwhile Rosalie's eyes lit up, recognizing the voices. 'It's them!'

Something suddenly clicked in Zoe's mind. Was that what's going on? "Hey, I know… Beetles battle better in butter!" she shouted at the darkness. Wouldn't hurt to try. Sure enough, the voices repeated it without fault. "Just as I thought."

Just as she thought? "That's great. You wanna clue us in?" Takuya asked the blonde.

"They're repeating what we say, so let's confuse them with tongue-twisters." Zoe suggested.

"Okay…" Takuya wasn't sure how that would get them to stop, but at this point… Why not? "Six sick bricks might bring back a snack!"

"Six sick bricks might bring back a snack!"

That didn't work.

"Peter piper poked and picked a pack of pickled peppers!" Tommy tried. But again the voiced repeated it without mistake.

Sophia shrugged. "De koetsier poetst de postkoets! De koetsier poetst de postkoets! De koetsier poetst de postkoets!*" Even the Dutch tongue-twister was repeated perfectly.

Even when JP tried his 'Toy boat' twister it was repeated, including the mistake he made! Clearly Zoe's plan wasn't working like she wanted. So Koji decided the best plan of action would be to throw some of his moss at the direction the voices had come from. The moss burst when it hit the tree, lighting up the shadowy figures hanging from the branch.

It surprised Bokomon to find out just who they were dealing with. "Those creatures are Pipismon! They're mutant digimon whose power is greatest in the dark. They can reflect sound back exactly how it's heard."

The Pipismon, disturbed by the light the tree gave thanks to the moss, flew off their branch and into the cave. The warriors followed them, shining their light in the cave just enough to see the digimon. One of them was cleaning themselves, having been hit by the moss Koji threw.

"For cave dwelling digimon they're really rather gentle." Bokomon shuddered. "Even if they are a bit scary looking."

They didn't seem scary to Zoe. "Well, just between us. I think they're kinda cute." she told Bokomon.

"I think they're kinda cute." one Pipismon repeated, a faint blush on his face.

Rosalie giggled. "Oh yeah. They can only repeat what we say, but they do understand us." she informed the others. "I found out myself when they helped me through the forest."

This also took Bokomon by surprise. "I'm amazed to find peaceful digimon in such a dark place."

"So I guess it turns out you're glad you came." Takuya said, confusing Bokomon. "You just learned something. If you hadn't come, you'd never have known about this. It's good that you took a risk."

Apparently it was 'teach Bokomon a valuable lesson' time, with Koji also jumping in with his own lesson. "If you're not sure about something, there's really only one way to find out. That's to take a risk and go experience it for yourself."

Bokomon looked back and forth between the two humans, the words registering in his mind. "Well bless my buttons. You're right." That made him think. Just how many things did he miss out on learning because he was too afraid and unsure? Well, no more!

Thinking back to the blacked out pages he'd been shown gave Takuya an idea. "Why don't you write it down in the book?" he suggested. Of course not this book, since you can't read black on black. "You'll be the first digimon to chronicle the Continent of Darkness. You'll be famous."

The gnome digimon was taken aback by the suggestion. "Well, I… Really?" Him? Write a book, sure he could see that. Becoming famous, though?

Zoe latched onto the idea. "Sure! And since you're writing about digimon, maybe you can write about us! The true adventures of the Legendary Warriors."

"That does have a nice ring to it." Sophia admitted. "Could be a pretty good title for a book."

Naturally everyone then started throwing ideas at the digimon about what to write in the book, even though Bokomon hadn't technically said he would write it yet. How Zoe controlled her Beast Spirit, Tommy's cool hat and JP's fearlessness- which just…no?

Finally Bokomon made his decision. "Alright then, I'll do it!" he told them. "Today I'll begin the greatest novel of all times: The Legendary Warriors in the Continent of Darkness!"

Neemon stepped over to Bokomon, only one question on his mind. "So, will you write about me as well?"

"I think not." Bokomon said, snapping the yellow digimon's waistband lightly. The idea of writing a successful novel doused the usual fire he put in snapping Neemon's waistband. "Well, a great novelist needs great material, so let's continue our journey into the unknown."

"Sounds great." Takuya nodded.

"Let's go!"

But before they could take another step, a tree fell over all of a sudden, kicking up dust and dirt. The darkness in that area made Koichi's skin prickle. Something was coming and it was coming fast!

"Yous and your journey's about to be cut short, small fry." a familiar sounding voice said from the direction of the fallen tree.

Takuya glared at the tree trunk, unable to actually see their opponent."Yeah? Says who?"

"Take a guess." Out of the shadows of the forest stepped Arbormon. Not much of a guess if you're just gonna show yourself.

Bokomon shuddered. "Oh no. Not Arbormon again."

"Good guess." He laughed, jumping up to use his power pummel on the Pipismon who's perch he just destroyed.

"No! Pipismon!" Rosalie cried.

The bat-like digmon were taken down in one hit, getting their data taken by Arbormon for a power boost. After that he easily slide evolved into Petaldramon, charging at the warriors. The humans managed to dodge the attack, causing Petaldramon to run face first into the cave entrance instead.

It almost seemed like Petaldramon couldn't control his Beast Spirit yet, with how he ran rampage in the forest after loosing sight of his targets, destroying more trees all the way. Luckily the brute failed to notice the green glows of the moss coming together as the warriors found each other again.

"Right, let's do it."

"EXECUTE! BEAST SPIRIT EVOLUTION!"

"BURNINGGREYMON!"

"KENDOGARURUMON!"

"METALKABUTERIMON!"

"ZEPHYRMON!"

"KORIKAKUMON!"

"JAGERLOWEMON!"

"VIBRAMON!"

The beast warriors stepped out of hiding. No surprise, Petaldramon found them almost immediately. It was time to face the the evil beast and stop him once and for all! While MetalKabuterimon threw some taunts at the warrior of wood, Petaldramon shot out his tongue at the group. They quickly scattered to avoid it, but it wasn't them he aimed for. Petaldramon pulled a tree out of the ground, eating it whole.

"Man… Talk about getting fiber in your diet." BurningGreymon commented.

To everyone's surprise the warrior suddenly grew triple in size. His legs alone were now the size of the trees surrounding him.

Bokomon stared at the giant sized digimon in panic. "Oh! It looks like Petaldramon is growing into a king-sized pest!"

"He looks cool!" Neemon cheered.

"He is not cool!" Both Bokomon and Rosalie shouted at him.

Wasting no more time, MetalKabuterimon charged up his bolo thunder, driving a little closer before shooting it at the giant. Petaldramon barely flinched and his wound immediately closed up. Now Petaldramon declared his turn, charging at the warrior of thunder, plowing down any trees in his way.

BurningGreymon took advantage of this distraction, firing a pyro barrage at the giant. But even fire, the thing a warrior of wood should be most weak against, had no effect. The damage done kept getting mended and covered up by the plant-life on Petaldramon's back.

"PLASMA PAWS!" Same happened with Zephyrmon's attack.

While Zephyrmon flew away, trying to create some distance between them, Petaldramon shot his tongue at her. Catching her by surprise, he managed to wrap it around her and pull her closer. She got dangerously close to his mouth when KendoGarurumon jumped in with his howling star, cutting off the evil warrior's tongue.

Petaldramon swung his tail at the duo, but a few shots from JagerLowemon's ebony blast caused him to just barely miss them.

"FROZEN ARROWHEADS!" Korikakumon wrapped his hair around Petaldramon's head, trying to keep him still.

It worked just long enough for Vibramon to attack. "AMPLIFIC WAVE!" Clapping her hands together, the warrior of sound created physical bursts of sound that repeatedly hit Petaldramon in the face.

Before it could built up too much power, Petaldramon grew annoyed by the duo and dragged Korikakumon by his own hair, body-slamming him into Vibramon.

The warrior of wood roared, growing tired of this nonsense fighting these weak little humans were doing. It was time to end this and take their Spirits back to Cherubimon. Jabbing his tail into the ground he summoned his thorn jab to catch all the human warriors in his vines. All but the warrior of flame, who managed to avoid the attack.

"LEAF CYCLONE!" Now with all of them immobile he launched a full power attack that was sure to knock those Spirits right out of them.

Seeing the size of the attack, BurningGreymon quickly burned the vines that chased him and flew in front of his friends. He had to do something about that cyclone! "WILDFIRE TSUNAMI!" With himself covered in flames he could ensure none of Petaldramon's thorn jab vines would get him. Now he just had to burn away the cyclone-!

A blast of wind and sharp leaves hit him in the face! His counter didn't work?! Cries of pain sounded out throughout the cyclone. It took way too long for the attack to seize if you asked the warriors, but eventually it did, dropping the weakened humans to the ground.

Petaldramon laughed at the sight of them. "Giving Beast Spirits to you puny humans is like giving piles to pigs! So why don't you just do yourselves a favour and hand them over?"

"Never!" BurningGreymon shouted, struggling to get himself off the ground, but firm in his voice. "If you want these Spirits then you'll have to come here and take them!" The others stood up as well, ready for whatever Petaldramon was going to dish out next.

The leaves on Petaldramon's head began spinning around, signifying another leaf cyclone. But KendoGarurumon was faster. "LUPINE LASER!"

The wolf hit Petaldramon right in the face, catching him off guard. He lost his balance, but at least dropped his attack. Korikakumon and Vibramon took this chance to get close. Korikakumon went for the leg, getting ready to trip him up, while Vibramon stunned him with her sonic screech.

Through the screeching noise, Petaldramon still managed to move his tail and moved it to attack the duo, but that's what MetalKabuterimon stood guard for. The warrior of thunder didn't hesitate a second to shoot his electron cannon and blast the tails, finally landing a solid hit on Petaldramon.

It took nearly all of his strength, but Korikakumon finally lifted Petaldramon's foot off the ground, causing the digimon to stumble and fall flat on his back. Now with his back-spikes stuck in the ground he was unable to move, which is exactly the opportunity BurningGreymon needed. Giving a nod to Zephyrmon they charged their attacks.

"WILDFIRE TSUNAMI!"

"HURRICANE GALE!"

The two attacks combined into a great burst of flames, covering Petaldramon from head to toe. Finally the big brute shrunk down to size, weakened down to the point of exposing his Fractal Code as well as his Beast Spirit.

"KENDOGARURUMON! SLIDE EVOLUTION! LOBOMON!" Apparently Lobomon would be doing the honors of scanning the Fractal Code. "Petaldramon, it's kindling time!" he said as he pulled out his D-Tector. "FRACTAL CODE DIGITIZE!"

The Fractal Code along with the Beast Spirit disappeared in Koji's D-Tector, leaving a battered and bruised Arbormon in place. The team stepped closer, but kept enough distance in case of a surprise attack.

"Arbormon, now will you stop attacking us?" BurningGreymon asked. They could already guess the answer was no.

"Well…" A feminine giggle from behind Arbormon cut short whatever the warrior was about to say.

Sitting on one of the broken tree trunks was a digimon who could only be described as 'looking like a dead plant', faded out colors and dried out leaves. She was looking at the tree trunk, stroking the bark with an off-looking smile on her face.

Arbormon seemed to know her. "Sayumon." the other digimon said nothing. She just kept staring at the bark. "Well, here comes the cavalry. A friend in need is a friend in deed, right?"

Finally the other digimon, Sayumon he called her, moved. Her wings lifted her up, setting her gently down next to Arbormon, who turned around to face the other warriors and fight them with his ally.

"Well, they would be…" Sayumon's voice sounded. "But you see…" She touched the back of Arbormon's armor, who tensed up at the touch. "I couldn't help but notice you harmed my darlings. A lot of them. In fact, I believe I feel one right here in your body." Her smile turned into a smirk. "You wouldn't mind if I took it back, now would you?"

Without waiting for an answer, Sayumon dug her nails in Arbormon's back, draining him of the energy the trees gave him. It left him too weak to hold back his Fractal Code.

"Tsk! Weakling… You wouldn't last a minute without my precious nature to give you a power boost." Sayumon eyed her opponents who all watched in shock as she betrayed her ally. She stepped back from the collapsed Arbormon, a bored loom on her face. "Go ahead. Take his Fractal Code for all I care. I don't need his nature destroying power to boost my own."

Nobody stepped forward. No one that is, except for Rosalie. With shaking hands she scanned the Fractal Code and Arbormon's Spirit. When she was done she didn't step back, instead looking Sayumon straight in the eyes. Red and dead-looking. Under Cherubimon's control then…

"Oh my~! I see you've brought back our prisoner." Sayumon said, a hint of a grin back on her face. "Thank you ever so much." She reached over to grab Rosalie by the arm, but a blast of darkness hit her as Vibramon dove in to grab her sister first.

"No way in hell, wench." Vibramon spat.

Sayumon giggled. "My, my… This just got interesting."

*Translation: The coachman polishes the stagecoach.

Fun fact: While writing Zoe's tongue twister I wrote Beatles instead of Beetles.