(BladeSS7, and BeachDude7PH has been booted out. Thus, as the apparent executioner of this RP, I shall now rid this world of Carver and Seven as well.)
They may not have been able to see General Bloodwolf's anger, but by god could they hear it, as Al pulled the communicator away from himself and the others so that his yelling doesn't mess with their auditory functions.
"...You think he's upset? ...I think he's upset." Al said to the other two. Needless to say, there's a recent rumor of just how scary General Bloodwolf gets when he's angry as he is. As they remember it, the bloodwolf is patient slow, and calm, but craves data when its angry, and bears its claws against those who upsets it. That those who get him angry are said to be cursed to have their data thrown into the Dark Area to suffer for all eternity. Considering how he seems at the moment, those rumors may have some credence after all. The trio then was given their order directly from the General.
"YES SIR!" The three said in unison, then shutting off the communicator.
"Alright you two, we'll need to split up. I'll go find the boss. Jessica, you go find Gizamon, and Jamie, try to find Gotsumon and get him to retreat before he starts popping ketchup out of more heads." Al ordered. The other two then immediately flew off, leaving Al to jump from Tree to Tree, trying to find Agumon. With Dorumon over with everyone else, it meant that Agumon was no longer preoccupied, which means... he once again turned on his communicator, this time towards Agumon.
"Oi Bossmon, whereever you are right now, we need to get packing, Mission went downhill fast and General Bloodwolf's ordered us back to the main force." He said into it.
Jessica eventually found Gizamon within the forest as well, essentially repeating to him what Al said to Agumon.
---
Jamie meanwhile attempted to find Gotsumon, only to notice Carver and Hopmon...well, apparently Monodramon now, running towards the direction of Gotsumon. It seems one of the other humans, Shichirou with Motimon, noticed Carver running and ran after him as well. Even though Motimon was an in-training, one would think that, with Monodramon as a rookie, that he'd have a chance at defending them from Gotsumon, where ever he was hiding. Then something...odd, happened. Monodramon reversed back to Hopmon immediately, odd considering he wasn't in Rookie form for more than a minute, maybe 3 minutes tops. As he recalls, the digivice drain doesn't truly take effect until they hit Champion level, so why did this one revert so quickly? Questions for another time, and not something Jamie would ever have an answer for, what with how...not smart he knows he is.
What was important, however, was that they found Gotsumon, who apparently jumped in a panic when he noticed the light of Monodramon reverting back to Hopmon. Immediately while the two were distracted, still unused to how this digivolution process worked, Gotsumon was quick to use to more Rock fists. Hopmon and Motimon, loyal to their partners, noticed this and tried to defend against Gotsumon, only to get smacked away by said rock fist. Still in a panic, Gotsumon ran towards the two, and used Hardest punch, or that is to say, he sucker-punched them from behind with his literal fists of rock. Despite both their strengths as far as humans were concerned, there is only so much a human can do on its own against a rock that has the momentum and velocity of a human punch.
Much like Tristan, Carver and Seven's digivices let go of their wrists, for like Tristan, both of these digidestines are dead.
"...Uh oh..." Jamie whispered to himself. It sounded like that one human's death was enough to enrage General Bloodwolf by itself, it's hard to imagine how he'll fare if its found out he now killed two more. Still, it didn't sound like something Gotsumon should get away with if the General's emotions were of any note; if he told Gotsumon to come back as he is, and that he's in trouble, he'll just run away and never return.
Thus Jamie waited until Gotsumon calmed down, and egged him on by saying how the Emperor would likely praise him for deleting three of his targets already, not mentioning the fact that it was a serious violation of General Bloodwolf's direct orders. After which, he told him to retreat back to the army with everyone else, as they were ordered to retreat.
This entire mission was a disaster, but at least he made sure the one who caused it to be one, will be walking to pay for it.
------------------
The Underground Temple
Gun...dam? Reapermon had no idea what the human boy was going on about, only that he was clearly referring to him. If his body had the ability to blink his eyes in confusion and shock, this would be when he did. He looked towards his Guilty Chain cannon mounted on his arm. He supposes that it could count as a gun, but it seemed odd for someone to focus on that when calling him something; even calling it a gun was stretching it a bit. Shouldn't he be deemed a "Cannondam" or something? Heck, call him a "Sickledam", there's much more focus for him on that than anything. He then heard Rex call him "Deathscythe Gundam". MUCH better a name, still should be called Cannondam, but it's a name that recognizes the Scythe and sort-of cannon both, so for him it was close enough.
Lucemon simply raised an eyebrow at this boy and Gazimon clearly not listening to him as he speaks to them. He understands that not everyone in this digital world is capable of handling the preaching of exposition, and clearly the same went for others in the human world. As annoyed as they are of him, and vice-versa at the moment however, this is information they had to know to survive in that land of decadence. Tempting as it currently was to just go 'Alright then, I'll let you be off then, I'm sure you'll figure things out when you're there.', he can't take the risk of a potential crest-bearer dying in that place, something that could very well happen given the digimon that's there. That aside, it's not like their attitude was going to change much if he just sent them on their way anyways. He sent them without telling the dangers, and he'd bet anything they'd come back and get angry cause he never told them what was there. He then asked a question about the Digivice having a map. Ty looked to Lucemon; that's a good question actually, it would have made the journey so far so much easier if they had a map rather than just Lucemon's directions to rely on. Lucemon crossed his arms and tilted his head in annoyance, the question immediately reminding him their...intentional inconveniance.
"Much to my personal annoyance, no. The creator of these digivices was...unfortunately adamant about the lack of a full map function, something about wanting for the digidestines to map and explore the world themselves. We're having Michael develop a map for us to use, but it will still take some time before it's complete. ...But yes, Reapermon does know where the Nethercircuit is, he should be able to guide you there without problem." Lucemon told him.
"Good luuuck!" Ty said as the three began their walk.
"The bridge to the Nethercircuit is not far. In fact, if you look very closely you could see the bridge in the distance from here." Reapermon told them as they made their way towards said bridge.
As the trio went off for the Nethercircuit, Lucemon, Ty, and the others in the army turned their attention to the Temple.
"Whooooa..." Ty said to himself as looked inside. It was a rather big hall of stone, almost akin to an ancient tomb in egypt with this digicode carved into the walls, albeit no where near big enough to have everyone in this army to come in with them.
"Ok, so...it's not big enough to hold alot of people lined up wall to wall, let's see..." Ty walked in as he talked to himself, heading for a wall to the right, and then, oddly enough, hopping to the side a number of times until he reach the opposite wall on the left.
"...About 4-6 people, lined up from wall to wall. So we line everyone up 4-by-4, we should all be able to get into-"
"dWhy's that?" Ty asked him. Lucemon then looked towards the army behind them.
"Demidevimon, if you would?" He then asked. Demidevimon came towards them in response.
"Yeah, boss?" The little bat asked. Without a word, Lucemon grabbed Demidevimon by the face and immediately through him at one of the temple walls. As soon as he impacted the wall, just as instantly he bounced off it, as if reflected from it, the wall rippling with white light it bounced Demidevimon towards another wall, only for the same thing happened. The next thing Ty and the others know, Demidevimon was literally bouncing off the walls and ceiling, like a pinball stuck in a triangle of bumpers before heading straight back towards them, Ty being quick to grabbed the little guy and stop the momentum of his bouncing.
"You alright, little guy?" The boy asked the bat, its eyes spinning, spiraling even, in dizzying daze.
"~Y-yeah, sure thing boss, I'm used to it...~" Demidevimon replied, still dizzy and recovering.
"What was that all about?" Ty asked Lucemon.
"I told you before, this is a temple dedicated to a crest, an object of upmost importance in this world. It's specifically designed to test the one worthy of owning it, ...and to punish the unworthy. More specifically, this temple is designed to find and destroy any short cuts, and beat back any form of impatience and wrath. The walls and ceiling of this place are specially coded with a reflective magic. Any sort of trauma inflicted upon the walls, be it of attacks or simply blunt force, will be reflected back with equal force."
"Huh...So if someone got angry and punched at a wall in here..."
"The wall would punch right back, yes. The entire inside of the temple is coated like this, and so if we tried to get this entire army into here..."
"They'd be bounced right out the moment the halls become too crowded?"
"Or worse..." Lucemon explained with his back-and-forth with Ty.
"Huh...So only a few of us should come into here, and everyone else wait outside?" Ty then asked.
"That seems like the best strategy, yes, however it may not be a good idea for this army to wait at the entrance, so we'll be needing to find..." Before Lucemon could completely answer Ty's question, that was when Mike yelled out in anger, then at the two to come to him, saying how vitally important it was.
"Now what could this be about...?" Lucemon asked. To say it was odd was an understatement; neither of the two ever heard Mike sound so upset throughout their knowing of him so far. Whatever he wanted to report, it's clear that it wasn't going to be good news. Without another word, the two left the tunnel entrance and headed towards the back of the army, where Mike waited.
(Due to the Leave of @Sleepingsilence, I shall momentarily take control of Tristan, and effectively eliminate him from the RP. I have little confidence that I can do this as well as Sleeping, but as the general purpose is elimination, and to show some degree of respect, I will essentially do this not by direct control of the character, but by narrating his actions through the eyes of my own members of Agumon's spy force.)
Needless to say, the attacks from the three of them was enough to be considered a problem. Dorumon was handling the giant orange fire-breathing anthropomorphic salamander, but the kid-sized Golem and...whatever the crap Gizamon is suppose to be, was now throwing attacks at them as well.
In the midst of this chaos, three more digimon, Two twin Petitmamons - a boy and girl - and a single Dracmon in the middle, watched the panicked digidestines as they were attacked by their fellow spies on orders of their boss, Captain Mike, or "General Bloodwolf", as some among the spies called him.
"Sheesh, How come they get all the fun, and we have to sit around and observed?" Dracmon asked, resting his head on his hand in boredom.
"Cause if we try to scare them, they'll just swat us out of the way like flies. I mean, they're huge, even their smallest one's like a giant compared to us!" The male Petitmamon responded.
"Plus, if you tried to attack them, you'd just pull a prank on them instead of trying to scare them." The female Petitmamon added.
"Ey, Pranks can be scary too, you know!"
"Scaring a flock of Bidomons away with a fire cracker doesn't count, Al." The male Petitmamon said, a small mischievous smirk when he did.
"Aw, shut it Jamie!" The Dracmon, known as Al, said in response.
"Where did you even get a Fire cracker anyways?" The female asked.
"...Jessica, trust me, some things you really don't want to know." Al said to the female Petitmamon, known as Jessica. After which there was silence for a bit as the trio observed Agumon's plan to scatter them.
For much of it, it seemed to work well, pretty much exactly as Agumon wanted it seems as Gotsumon and Gizamon worked to scatter the Digidestines.
However, Gotsumon in particular had seemed to be having a little trouble scattering a particular group of people, among them was Katheryn with her Bukamon, and Tristan with his Gigimon. Gotsumon seemed to be getting a bit flustered, frustrated at the fact that his side of the digidestines weren't scattering from his rocks. Perhaps it was in this frustration that he seemed to throw a particular bigger rock towards the Digidestines, but unlike his little rocks and unlike Gizamon and Agumon, he seemed to aim directly at one of them, Katheryn. Out of what can only be assumed as an instinct of selflessness, Tristan pushed away Katheryn, only for the rock to hit him instead, right in the back of his skull, as the boy then dropped to the ground, face down, and much to the confusion of the trio, never moved again.
"Ouch! A direct hit, that's gonna leave a mark." Al said.
"So much for keeping restraint, that was clearly a normal-sized Rock Fist." Jamie then said, sighing as if bored.
"That must have really hurt...but, shouldn't humans be screaming or moving like they're in pain?" Jessica asked, causing the other two to take notice of this particular oddity.
"...Maybe they just don't react to pain."
"Or maybe Gotsumon paralyzed him?" Jamie said in response to Al's inquiry.
"But Gotsumon doesn't have a paralysis effect on his attacks..." Jessica pointed out before Al then took out some sort of small device from his pocket, and began pushing buttons.
"...Hey, wait...Didn't he have a digimon with him? Where did that go?" She asked, but with no answer, for while Al was fiddling with the device he had, Jamie was focused on something else about Tristan's body, as the device that was attached to his wrist seemingly opened up on its own and ejected off the arm.
"Did that digivice thingie...just come off by itself? Why would it do that, he seems fine to...w-wait, what's that gooey red stuff coming out of his head? Looks like ketchup..." Jamie then asked, immediately noticing that the back of Tristan's head was now leaking blood as a result of the wound. Jessica tilted her head to the side in confusion, not sure how to answer her brother before turning towards Al.
"What cha doing?" She asked him.
"Calling General Bloodwolf through the emergency line."
"Hey wait, don't we need to report to the boss about this first?" Jamie interjected. Al then immediately looked back towards where Agumon and Dorumon are fighting, before turning back to Jamie.
"Pretty sure he'd grill us if we interrupt his fun time with Dorumon over there. Besides, General Bloodwolf's a human right? I'm sure he'll know what this guy's doing." Al said, before then activating the device in question.
"Oi, General Bloodwolf sir, Agents Jessica, Jamie, and Al reporting for duty. The boss is busy right now, so we had to use the emergency channel, sorry about that. Anyways, we've hit a bit of a confusing snag. Everything seemed to go as planned, then one of Gotsumon's rock fists smacked one of the Digidestines heads, and we don't know what the guy's doing. He seems to be just lying there, face first on the ground, not moving an inch, didn't seem to make a sound either. We think he's paralyzed but I don't think Gotsumon has a paralysis effect to his attacks. The digimon with him disappeared and the Digivice apparently jumped off the arm on its own...I guess? Is this what sleeping is for humans, or is he just sick? ...Oh, also, Jamie said something about ketchup coming out of his head, is that normal?" Al said into the device, sending the Voice message directly towards Mike's laptop/digivice.
"Ehh, Can't argue with that, but I wasn't the one who made them, and apparently, we can't modify what they look like, so...yeah, you're pretty much stuck with it like that." Ty said with a shrug and, oddly enough, a smile. It seemed Rex, in his own way, accepted the offer Ty gave him. He didn't have to say a word of acknowledgement; type was the type to be able to read people relatively easy enough. He looked towards Mike, Wolfy, and Lucemon, nodding to them as he then turned towards his army.
"Alright folks, now that that's taken care of, let's get moving!" Ty yelled out before turning to face where they were going and began his march, the Digital army behind him following suit, followed shortly by Lucemon who flew above them, looking towards Rex and Mike to ensure they weren't left behind.
The Underground Temple
Finally coming out the other side of the trail, Renamon being quite useful in navigating her emperor and the rest of the army towards the exit point, Ty walked out of the trail's exit. ...Only to see a nice big mass of nothing. Spread out before them was a massive area of empty land, having little to no grass life on it, no one setting up a town or a house upon it, just a field that span for miles, farther than the eyes of humans could see.
Ty stared at the horizon he was seeing, only to blink for a bit and turned his eyes towards Lucemon.
"...Huh...Say, Lucy, Is this temple of your suppose to be invible or something?" Ty asked. Lucemon stared towards the horizon while Ty asked this, his hand placed up to his chin as he head tilted to the side in confused contemplation.
"Hmm...How very strange. This is definitively where the Temple should be, they...could not have moved it to another location..." Lucemon said. He then looked in closer and immediately noticed something on the ground below them, a small, plant-like creature hopped out of the ground like some ghost...At least, that's what it looked like from where they were, but as Lucemon flew upwards he noticed what appeared to be a tunnel made just beneath the ground. It seems the Bud simply made its way out of the tunnel, the assumed entrance into the temple, and began surverying the area, checking for food to eat, but being too far away from the Imperial army to notice it.
"...Ah, I see...The temple is there, however, it seems it got buried beneath the surface. Odd for a Budmon of all things to be its caretaker though...it did not seem as if they were short-handed..." Lucemon started muttering, mostly to himself.
"Ummm...So it's underground?" Ty asked, eavesdropping on Lucemon via his Digivice it seeme.d
"So it seems. It's possible that it was intentional, but given the circumstances of the world, it's just as possible that it was attacked and buried as a ruins of sorts. Either way, this makes things a touch more difficult. Before we do anything, we'll need to do something about its caretaker. Last thing we need is to have it run to inform anyone and everyone where we are." Lucemon said to Ty, clapping his hands together in front of his chest, the two holy rings beginning to glow as he did. Immediately, Ty looked towards Wizardmon and snapped his fingers, without so much as a word, Wizardmon nodded in response and ran straight for the Budmon and immediately starting writing something in the with his index and ring finger towards the little creature without warning.
"Magic Game!" Wizardmon said as a symbol he wrote in the air appeared where he was pointing, and in an instant, a vector graphic of what appeared to be a cage appeared around the scared budmon, the Vector gaining texture until it actually became a cage, Budmon panicking and began running into it to escape but to no avail. This prompted Lucemon, observing from above, to cease what it was doing and float back to the ground level.
"Now now, Lucy, no need to waste energy on the little guy." Ty said, smilng towards him as he placed his hands on the back of his head.
"Mmm...I suppose not. In any case, let's head down." Lucemon simply said, as he, Ty, and the rest of the rather large imperial Army moved closer towards the underground entrance of the Temple.
Ty and Lucemon stared at the tunnel as it slowly curves in descent towards the rather massive square-shaped hole of solid stone, the arch at the entrance was artistically carved with markings and digi-code, with the Mark of Patience proudly displayed at the center-top of the arch.
"Hmm...There is little doubt now, that this was intentionally buried. Most likely to keep the more viral digimon from noticing it... I would not have even noticed this tunnel from above had this Budmon not left through it, the grass and direct completely covered this the top of the entrance, and with the grass growing on the tunnel itself, would be akin to, as you humans say, finding a needle in a haystack. The more impatient and unwilling would be quick to give up if they ever spotted this grassy meadow from afar, expecting a temple." Lucemon once again thought aloud.
"So...what, you mean this was another patience test?"
"An overly complicated trail towards an overly hidden location? That does sound about right..."
"Yikes, sounds like this place might get annoying...Hmm..." Ty said in response to Lucemon's summary, before then looking towards Rex and Gazimon, looking at them for a few seconds before looking back towards Lucemon.
"Eh, Lucemon, a word in private if you don't mind." Ty said, extending his hand to halt his army before then tapping at Lucemon's shoulder and prompting him to follow. They both began whispering to each other, in the distance, away from prying ears.
After a while of the two essentially nodding to each other like a pair of siblings or friends, before both nodding in unison, they came back towards the group and looked towards Rex and Gazimon.
"Ok so, you two, Rex and Gazimon... I promised the both of you some fun on this wild ride, and...well, I'll be straight with you, it doesn't look like that fun's gonna be anytime soon if this is any indication. This place is apparently desined for patience, and, well, you don't seem like the type its looking for. So, after some consideration, me an Lucy decided to give you some fun somewhere else..." Ty said, before looking towards Lucemon who nodded in response.
"To the east of this place lies a domain of darkness known as a Nethercircuit, separated by a river and connected by only a few bridges. Simply put, it is an area of the server that has been corrupted and infected since the death of this world's ruler, and has infected every server, or nation in human terms. Though it is a recent phenomena that has started a century or so ago in this world, the File Lords have already made quick use of it; the server's most ruthless, violent and vile digimon are often exiled to a Nethercircuit as punishment for their crimes. This particular Nethercircuit just so happens to have a Crest held within, and it's likely the same for others as well. As such, we were intending on heading there next after we were finished here." Lucemon explained.
"But we decided, hey, we got someone here who wants some action, there isn't much of it here, and it would help immensely if there was somebody who goes in there first to survey the area and make things easier for us when we're done here. So why not kill two birds with one stone, and have you two go in there first? I have to grab this Crest, and I'm probably gonna need Mikey with me on this, and there's not gonna be much here for you to do." Ty added.
"...Indeed. Normally it would be nothing short of suicide to have a single digidestined pairing to enter a Nethercircuit. Digidestines are something of a threat to the more dominant among them and digimon outsiders are treated as prey. However, The Gazimon race are nightmare soldiers, a family of digimon species that favor the dark and viral over the light. As a result, Rex, by having a Gazimon at your side, at least in theory, should make things easier for you while you are in there. That does not mean you can let your guard down however, the digimon in there are violent nd aggressive after all. But you need not worry, Reapermon shall accompany you there."
"I'll what!?"
"There are digimon in the Nethercircuit that may be too much for partnered digimon to handle right now. Having one such as yourself enter with him should help guarantee his safety." Lucemon told Reapermon, still somewhat surprised that they were sending him in there with the new guy as well. Reapermon looked towards Ty, as if wondering if this was his idea as well, only to see him smiling at him.
"...Very well." Reapermon then said.
"One more thing I need to mention. ...Each Netherciruit has a lord, a ruler that presides over all of that specific territory. Even with Reapermon at your side, The lords of the Nether are too great a foe for you as it stands. This one in particular may look harmless in appearance but do not let it decieve you. Tell them that you are here on Lucemon's orders and you will have safe passage but whatever you do, do not make it angry. If the lord request you do something for him, it is in your best interest to do it. Last but not least, if you hear the sound of bells ringing...run, as far away as you can, as fast as you can." Lucemon explained to him.
"Yep-yep, you just leave this boring temple here to the two of us. ...Oh, eh Mike, are those guys out yet?" Ty asked Mike.
As the kids all began summoning their personas, the amount of Shadows that were in the area brgan to greatly diminish. These children who were, a mere minute ago, like prey to them, were now the predators, and so the ones that weren't being destroyed by their persona-given might began to run and cower for their lives.
The hunters were now the hunted.
Alice made a sigh as thing started to die down, looking at her chronovoker in contemplation.
"So...This is the power we were brought here to use?" Alice simply asked.
"Looks that way...I guess the little 'Lassholemorph' was speaking the truth about all of this after all." Adam said.
"Of course we were, silly! Peter's always been a little meanie killjoy, but he wouldn't lie to you about how things work around here." Jill said, hopping back towards the main group with the others in tow. Chase immediately noticing said others.
"I'm gonna assume you three were thrown in here as well?"
"Hatter did mention other humans in this forest, and they're definitely not shadows...Wait, three...But there were..." Jill said, pausing herself when she noticed the inconsistency in what Chase said, looking towards the group of Jacob, Arthur and Tylissa, and noticing one of them was missing...Tyler.
"HUH!? Where'd the other one go? He was with the others around the trees a few moments ago....around the...Oh Carrots, He must have fell into one!" She said in a panic.
"Fell...into one?" Alice asked in confusion.
"Really? None of these trees seem to have any holes to fall into..." Adam mentioned, looking at one of the trees before touching one for himself.
His hand, much to his shock, phased through the trunk of the tree, as if passing through the surface of water, just like with the Mirror from before. However, with nothing pushing him in this time, he was quick to take his hand out of the tree.
"What are these suppose to be? Some kind of traps?" Adam asked.
"They're not traps, they're world trees!"
"World...trees?"
"Mmhm, mmhm...The trees of Wonderlands are friends, both with us and each other, they're all linked together and bond through their roots, and they allow us rebels to enter their trunks and travel across their connected roots at super-fast speeds. Since you guys are with us, they see you as friends too." Jill explained.
"Once again, your nonsense explanations never cease to amaze me. ...So basically, you're saying that we can travel all around this world...by jumping into trees?" Adam asked.
Yep-yep! Oh, but... that man must have touched one on accident and dropped into the World Tree network. Every tree is often connected to a different one, and we Rebels can tell which one goes where...But, I didn't see which tree he touched so...he could be anywhere in Wonderland by now." Jill said sadly. Adam said nothing in frustration, did they just lose yet another human again?
"Hmm...It can't be helped. We need to get going." Chase added, turning towards where everyone was suppose to be headed.
"Wait, are you simply going to leave it at that and move on?" Adam asked.
"Ummm...We don't know for certain if that man is dead, right? We only know that he was spirited away somewhere else in the world. We can at least hope that he's still alive." Alice interjected.
"That's true...He seemed like someone who can manage on his own, plus if we don't hurry, we might get attacked again, shadows are everywhere in this forest!" Jill commented, before looking towards the trees, as if looking for something among them.
"Hmmm.......Ah, Here it is!" The White Rabbit said, as she looked at one of the trees, before hopping up and down as if for attention and looking at the others.
"Remember what Dorm Mouse said, 'Let the trees be your guide'? This is what she meant by that. This tree here should take us to the Caterpillar." The White Rabbit then said. Alice and the others walked on over to it, and touched it...
"...Are you sure this is safe?"
"Yep-Yep! It works in the same manner as the Rabbit Hole, so it should be fine." Jill answered. Alice was, needless to say, a tad on the nervous side of things. This is far from the strangest thing she's seen today, but it was still getting so off of the rails of reality that she's so used to, that it's a bit hard to swallow for her, even after she put her fingers through the trunk. Even so, she took a deep breath and entered the trunk, followed by Adam, Chase, and hopefully the others, the White Rabbit entering last after everyone else.
As Jill stated, the moment everyone entered the tree, they would feel the same sensation of falling that they did when they entered the Rabbit Hole. Only, instead of the feeling eventually becoming inverse, the wacky nonsensical twists and turns across the circular brown corridor that were apparently 'roots' made it feel less like they were falling, and more like they were flying through a tunnel at fast speeds, much akin to the feeling of a roller coaster ride, until they eventually all see a literal light at the end of the tunnel.
-----------
Caterpillar Grotto
Once they come out the other side of the connected tree-root-tunnel...thing, they would come out in apparently another part of the forest if the familiar sight of a bunch of other trees are an indication. But something felt...different here.
For one, the place was much darker in terms of natural light than the area they were originally in, yet there was a very minimalist form of light coming from above the trees, like the light of stars and the moon trying in the night sky trying to pierce through the roof of tree branches and leaves and reach the ground, giving everything in this area a radiant early morning shade of blue. The area was quiet, not a sound of another living thing, until they showed up, not a shadow in sight, the only thing to see and hear, was the sounds of water flowing as pleasantly and peacefully as the sounds of the ocean waves hitting the beach side. If they looked over, they would see a giant pond of crystal clear waters, a river flowing...out of it...despite the river being elevated, a waterfall going in reverse as water magically flew upwards towards it, yet the pond is never drained or disturbed in the slightest. The waters reflect the blue light of the darkened night sky, making it glow a radiant blue. It seems it was the light from the sky, but from this pond, that served as the source of light for this area.
The final touch of beauty to solidify the peaceful atmosphere of this area were the butterflies, flocks of them, flying all around and above the Persona users or sitting upon the many branches of the many trees.
It would be when they looked towards the River that they would notice it, sitting upon a leaf the size of a king-sized bed, was an even bigger creature, a giant green caterpillar, marks on its body in the shape of different inked masks, and, just like in the works Lewis Carol, it held a large Victorian style smoking pipe in its upper-most left hand, a yellow butterfly sitting on its end.
"Ahhh...Children of man from the waking world, you came here much faster than I expected. ...I see you've also each awakened to the power within you as well. ...Good, very, very good. We bid you welcome you to our spring, my family and I. ...Do not be alarmed, we are aware of what has happened, and we mean you no harm. You are safe here...Now, speak your purpose." The caterpillar said with a deep booming voice, one that would normally be loud enough to make any birds or insects like the butterflies scatter, yet not these ones. Despite having a voice befitting its sheer size, there was a gentleness to his voice as he gave a big kindly smile towards them.
"...Umm...We came because we were told you could help us, that you had information." Alice said.
"I hold much information from across this world, very rarely does anything of this world escape my ears and eyes. The great Titan of the Queen, the Black Rabbit, has made known your appearance in this world. Her forces are now scattered across all of Wonderland, aiming to find you all. ...It seems that some of you have already sparked a peculiar interest in them. This information, plus the current whereabouts and status of the missing ones, I assumed you were already informed of. What else, in particular, do you wish to ask of me?" He asked.
"We...We need to go to her, we need to rescue those kids!"
"...As you all are now, were I to tell you how to enter the Royal Domain, You shall not live to see past the gates. Awakened though you may be to your persona, it in itself is weak compared to her and they who guard her. What's more, within those walls lies a great evil, the Black Rabbit, and a great burden shall thrust itself upon you. ...Are you willing to face against them, to bear those odds? ...But very well, even if you are not ready, I shall at least show you the way." The Caterpillar said.
"That was...oddly easy." Adam added.
"...My friends have been watching your movements ever since the White Rabbit summoned you here. They have deduced, and agreed, that you may stand a chance at returning this world's freedom, provided the proper training is established. Now then..." The Caterpillar pointed towards the pond with his other hand, and as the ripples form in the center only to stagnate once more, from out of the clear waters came what appeared to be a giant map, a castle right in its epicenter.
"The queen resides in the royal castle at the center of Wonderland. This I am certain you were already told. ...What was not told to you was the impossibility of getting there as it stands." The Caterpillar said, using his pipe to draw a black circle around the castle, that circle being completely filled out with black except for the castle in its center.
"The queen has been made very well aware about the Rebellion led by the Mad Hatter. The members of Mad Hatter's rebellion, including the Mad Hatter himself, are a group of exceptionally powerful shadows, and so to protect herself and her plans, the queen had placed her castle, as well as the whole of her royal domain around it, into a state of unconsciousness and non-existence. While it appears to be where it has always been, in truth it is now rest at the center of the sea of souls, the collective unconsciousness through which all shadows and personas are born from, The black circle around the castle, is a wall between dimensions...under normal circumstances, Shadows cannot enter that realm on their own, lest they be consumed back into the sea from whence they came, but humans cannot properly comprehend the nature or vastness of that realm either, and so it is just as impossible for you to enter as it is for the children to escape." The Caterpillar explained.
"But, if that's true, then what about the Black Rabbit, and those others?" Alice asked.
"You speak of the Royal House? ...Yes, they are the exception for good reason, as they shall be the key to bring you to the Queen and her castle."
"Royal...House?" Adam asked, but the Caterpillar said nothing, instead once again drawing on the map.
"This map represents the whole of Wonderland. ...Well, it may be more accurate to say, that it represents the whole of the Queen's dominion over Wonderland. The whole of this world is greatly vast yet greatly unknown to us. It is unknown if one could even call it land, if there's any land beyond the edge of this world, or how vastly different and chaotic it is regardless. None would dare venture into it, and I heard an interesting rumor that the queen is somehow involved, although that cannot be confirmed...and is irrelevant to the task at hand. Now then, The whole of Wonderland is divided into four large quadrants of land. To the north lies the Wonderland of Hearts, this forest being a part of this land, alongside what used to be the houses of the rebellion's leaders, and the former castle of the queen, now occupied as the core of that dominion. This land is one of distortion and chaos, where time and space holds little meaning. To the south lies the Wonderland of Spades, It is a land of brutal force, the strength of which altered and redefined the land itself and all things within it. To the west lies the Wonderland of Diamonds, a land run by the temptations and machinations of desire. It is a place designed to lead astray and lure in and entrap the unsuspecting. Finally to the east, lies the Wonderland of Clubs, The weakest suit, but also the most sapient, the most intelligent one of them all. Theirs is a land of illusion, trickery and mischief, a land in which nothing can be trusted for what it is. Deep within these four lands, guarded by the Kings of the Royal House, are keys to the castle, methods in which to open a path into the abyss of the sea of souls, where the castle and queen truly resides. All four keys are needed to open the way." The Caterpillar explained, dividing the map into four quadrants and drawing a Heart to the north, a spade to the south, a club to the east and a diamond to the west as he spoke.
"So what you're saying is, we need to essentially waste time going on a stereotypical fantasy adventure while the clock is ticking?"
"Unfortunately, yes. The Queen is stubborn and dedicated to her cause, she does not trust anyone in these lands that have not swore its allegiance to her in kind. ...Now, as you have already seen, The trees of this world shall be your way through these lands. Our small lagomorphic friend knows the paths to follow. I shall also provide you a way back to the Hatter's sanctuary. But first...I am a broker of information in this world, I know, all there is to know. If you have any questions to ask of me, you may do so now, or you may come back to ask me anytime." He said. The butterfly on his pipe touched the surface of the water like a water staider. As tiny ripples spread across the pond, the center glows blue as the butterfly flies back to the pipe.
"The Rabbit Hole is not the only means by which to travel to the sanctuary. A mirror, akin to a looking glass but different, shall also guide you there." The caterpillar explained.
Lucemon ignored the words of Mike, as he tried to explain the reasoning for his suspicion of him. The reason of why was something he already knew, and something that he didn’t need to be reminded of. Even so, he had to simply bear it, as he let Mike wander to do what he would with his spies, while Lucemon and the others watches the Spectacle that befell the town.
“Wowza! Talk about a fireworks show! That was simply amazing!” Demidevimon happily said.
“I must agree it was quite the spectacle. A fitting end for our visit to such a...bountiful land of flora. Combusting a town of plant life into a field of flames, if that does not greet all who look upon it with the fear of our mighty emperor, I know not what would.” Devimon then said with a sinister smile, extending one of his long arms towards the town, only to, from his perspective, crush it beneath a clenched fist.
“Hmph! A good plan maybe, but you guys are overselling the actual flames a bit. This is nothing; I would have turned this place into a hill of soot and ash if he wanted.” Meramon chimed in. Renamon, on the other hand, simply had her eyes closed as she stayed silent.
“...Even so, was this really necessary? Those digimon were all innocent people...” Wizardmon simply said as he stared at the blaze he helped to create. However, Witchmon suddenly placed her giant hand over his shoulder from behind.
“Oh come on, don’t act all broody on us now. You two did great! You burned the place to an inferno, provided cover for his majesty to escape, and all aimed exactly as the little boss wanted. Sure they’ve lost some of…..Ok, most of their homes….potentially all of them, but hey, they still have their lives, so they can rebuild...eventually.” She said, her razor-sharp teeth showing in her silly smile, a small black cat with yellow eyes meowing in agreement of what she said.
As the Army continued their speaking with each other, Lucemon continues to stare towards the town, until he spots something from their heading straight towards them.
“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!!!” Ty happily yelled with a smile as he rode the shopping cart back towards everyone, waving towards them as he did. As soon as he was with everyone else, he got off the cart, put his cape back on, his bat-medal back on his hat, and looked as the others were cheering their emperor for a success, Lucemon simply looking at them from where he was and smiling.
“Hey now, you guys did great! The timing of everything was absolutely perfect. Especially nice work from you, Mikey. This plan wouldn’t have gone as perfectly as it did without you or Wizardmon over here.” Ty said to him.
---
Mike noticed Lucemon giving him the cold shoulder so Mike simply ignored him as he finished up what he was doing on his computer and closed it.
Gabumon on the other hand, was distracted by the beautiful Renamon in the army, he was curious what a beauty like her was doing here so he slip away quickly and said to the Renamon “Hello Beautiful"
Ty had returned and was congratulating Mike on a job well done. “Aww, Thanks Ty but even though we were successful here, I doubt the next encounter will be any easier. Things can travel quite quickly and I bet my bottom dollar that, someone already sent a message forward to the next town or settlement where the next crest is" Mike told him calmly.
---
Renamon stared in silence at the Gabumon who clearly was trying to flirt with her. Wasn’t even attempting at being subtle about it either.
“...Hello.” She finally said, though closing her eyes as she did.
“Hoorah, Recognition!” Ty simply said in response to Mike’s worry, a joyfully silly smile on his face. Lucemon, however, was not as amused.
“That’s nothing to be excited about Ty… Michael has a point; this incident will make things difficult for us from here on out. We must be cautious...” He said to them.
“...Oh, that reminds me, is Reapermon back yet?” Ty asked, seemingly ignoring Lucemon’s warning to him, resulting in Lucemon sighing and pinching the top of his nose in irritation.
As if on cue, however, a giant black shadow descended from the sky and landed in the middle of the group. It seemed Reapermon managed to make a giant jump from wherever he was in town to this area...and somehow got his cloak back on him despite leaving it on the floor of Rosemon’s manor just before the fight.
“I am now...With a gift in hand.” He said, extending his only hand towards the two humans and opening it up to reveal the small green Crest of Sincerity, the entire army, even Renamon, looking at the tiny green tablet with awe. The Crests, after all, were believed to be legends, mere myths, for most of the army, this was the first time to ever witness one for themselves. Ty was quick to grab the little crest from Reapermon’s hand and held it up to the sun, as if to see it sparkle and shine.
“So...This is a crest? ...You sure this is what we’re looking for Lucy? I mean, ...It’s just a tiny little slab. Actually kind of looks like one of those very very old game cartridge back in like...the 70’s I think?” Ty said, mostly to Lucemon, but seemingly turning to Mike as he mentioned what the Crest looked like.
---
When the Renamon said hello to him though he did notice, she had her eyes closed. “Aww come on beautiful no need to look glum, I promise to be good to you and do good to and for you" Wolfy said with a flirty wink before he was dragged away by Mike “Sorry Renamon” Mike said he dragged his partner away from a potential Diamond storm attack.
His attention shifted back to Ty as he found himself chuckling at Ty laid back attitude towards potential danger.
Though when Reapermon appeared, Mike took note that every one seemed to be watching him as he revealed the first of the crest which did in fact grab the attention of Mike and Wolfy who put aside his flirting to see the crest in awe. Mike took a chance to take a picture of Ty and the crest as he said “Looking good there Ty"
When he spoke about what they looked like Mike chuckled once more as he said “Like an Atari cartridge, guess the digiworld was not aware that Atari singlehandedly almost killed the video game market until Nintendo saved it. So that kind of cartridge would cause a lot of hate in people, still how many of these crests are they? Are all of them Guarded by powerful Digimon?”
---
“Your random divulge of what I can only assume was game trivia is lost on me… In any case, do not let the appearance deceive you. That small stone slab is one of the single largest most complex caches of vital code and administrative data in this world.” Lucemon said, a sweatdrop falling from the back of his head with his first comment.
“Really? ...Umm, What kind of code are we talking here?” Ty asked, staring at the crest as he did.
“...Hmm, How to best describe this… As you may already know, we Digimon, in and of ourselves, are made up of complex programming data that make up our form and our artificial intelligence, yes? Well, to put it simply, Those crests contain foundational data that makes up fragments of our Artificial Intelligence, more specifically, emotional data. Within each crest is millions of strings of code that disperses outward and absorbed by our code, and through which, makes up the digital psychological makeup of each digimon. Each one manifests as a stone slab you see before you, and serves as the focal points for their respective emotional data. ...In other words, they are the essentially the reason we Digimon can think and feel just as you humans can. However, since the data is based on human emotions reactions and thought patterns, only Humans like you two can utilize them to their fullest potential.” Lucemon explained to the two.
“Their fullest potential…? What exactly are we supposed to do with it?” Ty asked.
“The Crests are focal points through which their respective emotional data would be absorbed from the human that uses it, the digivice converts it into raw data, and the raw data is shot out into their respective digital partner, amplifying their abilities to levels that could not otherwise be achieved. To put it simply: The crests are used by the Digidestines to strengthen their respective partners far beyond what the Digivice alone could achieve. ...Do you see that small glass circle just below your digivice’s monitor? That is called a Tag. It serves to synchronize the Crest data with the functions of the Digivice, allowing the Digivice to harness the Crest for new functions it couldn’t do without it. Simply slide it in, and let the digivice do the rest.” Ty listened to Lucemon, looking at the crest and then the small glass “tag” just below his digivice monitor. He then slid the Crest into the tag; immediately the Digivice turned on on its own, the words “Synchronizing...” displayed on the monitor. As Ty then began….apparently working on poses to use when he uses the Crest, Lucemon turns to Mike, as he asked about the other crests.
“...Ah yes, I forgot you were not briefed yet on the basics. There are 10 crests in total: Courage, Friendship, Knowledge, Reliability, Love, Hope, Light, Patience, Kindness, and the one now possess, Sincerity. As for if they are guarded by powerful Digimon or not, I cannot say. Normally the Crests are not supposed to be even seen by Digimon let alone used, as while humans can use them to their full potential it’s not impossible for digimon to use their power without a human and that is enough reason for this. They should all have been kept away from society, locked away until humans worthy of them are found. I don’t quite understand myself as to why Rosemon would have had the Crest to begin with...” Lucemon said, his hand raised to his chin as if contemplating. Ty, meanwhile, was now waving the digivice in the air and groaning as if trying to do something but couldn’t before walking back towards the two.
“...Umm...I don’t think this is working.” He said, as he showed the monitor, a big red “ERROR” on his monitor screen.
“Now that’s strange...it’s not synchronizing to the Digivice?” Lucemon asked.
---
Mike listened to Lucemon explain the situation and the 10 crests that were in the world which made him tap his chin as he thought about it.
His trail of though fell thought when Ty mention spoke up about the digivice and the crest not synchronizing. Mike thought about it before he said “Pass me the crest and your digivice Ty, I’ll connect them to my laptop and see what's wrong with the code"
When Ty would do that, Mike would connect the digivice with the crest into his laptop as he began to go through the data and codes before he nodded and took out Ty Digivice popping out the crest as he said “The reason the crest is not synchronizing with your digivice is because you are not the true wielder of this crest. If I was to take a guess, I would say your heart is not Sincere enough to wield this crest and honestly I can tell I’m not the true wielder of the crest ether”
-----
“But if you said that honestly, doesn’t that make you sincere as well?” Ty was quick to say, tilting his head as he did.
“No, it’s as Michael said. The Digivices on your wrists are programmed to correspond and synchronize with one specific crest. Within each digivice is a code that is unique to each crest, and that code is what allows a digivice to synchronize with its respective crest, a security protocol ordained by God to prevent potential abuse of the crests.”
“Abuse?”
“What I mean is, it was enacted to prevent any one single human like yourself from being able to wield all of the crests as oppose to one, and should any rogue digimon ever decide to lay their hands upon it somehow, this would prevent them from having that much power as well.” Lucemon explained.
“Umm, so then how do we know we even can get a Crest then?” Ty asked, looking at the Crest of Sincerity once more.
“Because you were chosen by the Digivice. Because each digivice has a code-link chaining them to a specific crest, it is capable of finding someone with that fits the criteria of a crest. That is why it opened the gateway to your world and brought both of you here. ...The problem is, because each crest has data existing in layers upon layers within itself, it is difficult to tell which code matches with which Crest; there is very little in the way of knowing until we find the matching crest for ourselves.” Lucemon responded. Ty looked at his digivice as Lucemon spoke, his free hand rubbing his chin.
“So if it’s not one of us... It has to be one of the others….OH! That reminds me. Hey, Mike, you sent one of those spies to that snowglobe thing right? Were there any new faces in there?” Ty asked Mike.
---
Once again, going silent to listen to Lucemon explain and expand their mind more about the digivice and crests. Mike said “Well if it's as important as he says, I don’t think I trust you with a loose crest Ty".
With that, Mike open his laptop and attempted to put the crest data on it though his laptop began to warn him about data overloads and the works. Mike sighed but knowing how important his laptop was to both Ty empire and Mike's own spy network. He took the crest and instead place it in one of his secure pocket of his cost where it could not fall out.
Mike would then answer Ty question as he said “Well, Agumon is reporting no movement from the kids but Fridgemon did report some unusual mist gather in the snow globe which is putting Digimon in a deep sleep where nothing seems to wake them”
---
.”No movement from the kids? ...So they ARE here! Awesome! ...You hear that boys and girls!? The moment we’ve been waiting for has finally arrived. The real fun starts now!” Ty said, first to Mike, then turning his attention towards the army behind him, Raising his fist in the air as he makes his proclamation, the Digimon in his army roaring with a battle cry of excitement.
“...My my, you’re really getting into all of this.” Lucemon said, a sly smirk on his face as he crosses his arms.
“Of course! I’m the Digimon Emperor, what fun is running an empire without some challenging rebels to try and stomp?”
“Anyways, If they’re already here, then I’m betting they won’t be in that thing for very long, so we should probably get a move on. So, where to next, Lucy?” Ty then asked Lucemon. In response, Lucemon touched one of the holy rings on his wrists, closing his eyes as the markings in digi-code started to glow with a white light.
“To the south of us appears to be a temple that’s holding the Crest of Patience. Seeing as its not that far from where we are now, that should be our next stop. I know not what resides within, so we best remain cautious once we get there.” Lucemon said.
---
Mike had to admit Ty enthusiasm about it was quite impressive though he though he had to bring Ty back to reality as he said “You may be excited about it all, but remember the Galactic Emperor from Star Wars? Though he could crush the rebels with ease and yet they were able to destroy both his death stars and were able to turn Vader on him which lead to his death”
“Awww look at you being all cautious Lucemon, what happened to the I’ll burn and raze everything attitude you had at the start” Mike teased the fallen angel as he mentioned about the temple and to be careful.
He then looked at the map on his laptop and said “Alright Ty, I’m going to need you to plant another flag at the base of the temple so we can see more of the digiworld and plot each of our moves carefully. After all, if these rebel as you call them have a Luke Skywalker like person among them, they’ll have the power of the light side of the force with them.”
---
“Blossomtown and the Crest of Serenity with it was guarded only by a single Rosemon and nothing else. It’s most likely that that town was not the place it originated from and could have been found by Rosemon in a more dangerous environment. This is a temple that is dedicated to a Crest, a place specifically created to house and protect that crest from anything that could want it. We knew what was in Blossomtown and so razing it was the most straightforward answer, We know nothing about this next location nor the others with it.” Lucemon explained to Mike.
“Yeah, but you know the difference between Darth Bubble-face and me? I have...1, 2, 3, ...4 Vaders, My stormtroopers aren’t nearly as pathetic, and my Death Star’s too valuable to destroy. Besides, How did that whole Light side thing work out for all the other jedi? ...Just saying, The light side might be just a tad overrated.” Ty said with a smile and a shrug, pointing towards Lucemon, Mike, Gabumon, and Reapermon as he counted.
“...Will the both of you please desist comparing our situation to nonsense?” Lucemon asked.
“Awww, You’re no fun, Lucy. Anyways, it’s too the south, right? Alright then, let’s get going. We’ll head for the temple to set up a nice little flag of dominion there, head in, grab the crest, and see if we get lucky with it this time. Now then, ...ATTEEEEENTION!” Ty said and then yelled, most of his army immediately standing at attention. Ty then turned around and faced South before pointing his hand in that direction.
“FORWAAAARD, MARCH!” Ty said as he began walking, Lucemon using his wings to float at Ty’s side, and the rest of his army immediately following suit.
If Ienari Sawada thought it was busy for him, only God knows what kind of mentality he'd feel towards the work Komaeda had to do.
As Student Council President, He was responsible for the Festival in general, all of the planning, all of the events, and even that first day of utter tedium. ...He was also the one held accountable if things went wrong. Of course, the reason he'd never admit to the likes of Aleksandr is that he truly wanted this festival to be a success, not because of personal reputation or pride, but simply because of how important it is to the school in general. And so, he wakes up early on a Sunday to get the second day of the Festival in order, his general affairs manager helping as an assistant to everyone, and he himself overseeing things the rest of the way when there was nothing else to give to Sawada, and so help him if Aleksandr does something to ruin this Festival out of spite... But that's neither here nor there, too many things to keep focus to give attention to such a ridiculous possibility.
Ienari Sawada... Deep down, it irked him that he was an heir to a Mafia legacy, and irked him moreso that he is within the confines of his school, even after he himself eventually graduates. However, Komaeda can't say that, as a student of this school, Ienari is not without his uses. He has a sense of morality, likely developed outside the moral grey of his family, psychologically sound and un-pampered, making him quite down to earth and humble, causing no indication of troubles due to a spoiled childhood. Because of these things combined, his relationship with Aleksandr keeps said disciplinary president in line, either because he rubs off his own beneficent naivety upon him, or because they share a mutual sense of understanding and respect for each other. Either way, he had many reason to keep Ienari around, and while he has no respect for him as a mafioso boss, he was still a student of his school, and as such, he is just as much his responsibility as any other student.
"...I see. So there is no update as of yet? ...Very well...No, we cannot take any chances with it. If any information leaks out, it will put this entire case into jeopardy. ...Any official ones will leave an imprint, so we just have to work with what we have right now. ...I know. I'll try to find leads on my end that may help the process. Try your best for now. If there's any changes on the situation, Let me know first. ...Thank you." Akira said as he watched the festival from the window of the student council room on the third floor of the school building, talking into a cellphone to someone before hanging up and putting it back into his pocket, his eyes never leaving the festival as he did. As he looked down towards the others having a good time, and as stoic as he may have looked, deep down he was interanally sighing with relief. So far, everything was going smoothly enough, and the day was turning out to be a success, thanks in small part to his "best enemy" doing his job properly. Hopefully he's completed all of his tasks, or was at least on break; he would know otherwise the second someone decides to send a complaint. He spots him eventually, heading for a maid once his tasks were assumed finished.
Wait, a Maid? Here? ...It must be his, but of course he would have a maid...His guardian must have sent her there to pamper him, pray she doesn't start following him to his classes. Hmm...? It seems someone else was looking towards the two as well. He looked relatively normal all things considered, what with his grey t-shirt and his cascaded hair...but his instincts, his gut, was telling him that he wasn't quite as normal a person as he appeared. It's not that he's never seen him before, the same goes with the maid, and a lot of other people, but there was something...off about him, about his physicality, and the way he seemed to wander in and immediately looking towards the other two that told Komaeda there was something there, but having no idea what exactly it was. Hopefully, this was just because he might have been a Cop or a Detective who was off-duty, maybe even a veteran who returned from war. Regardless, he seemed worth remembering the face of.
He then got a call from his Cell Phone once again, immediately picking it up as he walked out of the office, heading for the festival outside.
As expected of someone of his position: Not a moment's rest. ...Not that he'd have it any other way.
Meanwhile, far off into the center of the city, the unsuspecting civilians were walking by, unaware of the loud monstrous voice that echoed high upon the rooftops of this town. It was at a high enough distance that none within town would be able to actively hear it, but the voice was so loud, so rough and disturbed, that if those below did hear it, they would shutter in terror as the owner of this demonic voice made his declaration:
"I'M BOOOOOOOORED! IT'S SO FUCKING BORING HERE, GODDAMMIT! YOU KNOW WHAT, FUCK ORDERS, FUCK CHAINS OF COMMAND, AND FUCK THAT POMPOUS SIR BULLSHITALOT FOR SENDING US HERE ON FUCKING STANDBY! JUST LET ME KILL SOMETHING FOR FUCK'S SAKE!"
The one yelling this was a man in a black tank top shirt, red jeans and matching sneaker shoes, his arms penetrated by multiple pipes as his hand were covered in black gauntlets with long sharp blades at the tip of each finger like claws. Such a daunting image was unbecoming the brown haired man as he threw himself around the rooftop as he yelled like a child throwing a temper tantrum.
Standing with him were two others, one was a red-haired and red-eyed woman with no signs of cybernetics outside of her body, wearing a rather thin-looking dress and high-heel shoes, grabbing at the top of her nose and sighing in embarrassment of the Demon's behavior.
The other, a long green-haired man with cybernetic black armor completely covering his arms simply looked at the people below with a pleasant smile through the scope he detached from his rifle, Nemesis, which he had strapped on his back. He was completely ignoring his partner's flustered ranting, being with him for so long that he learned how to tune him out when he does this. He seemed to be wearing his armor, but leaving the long coat holding his many guns and ammunition to his side, so as to not overheat.
"Honestly, you have the temper and patience of a five year old. We've only been here for two days." The woman, Temptress Pawn Anna Jackson, said.
"Exactly! Two whole days, 48 hours of fuck all! Give me a few coffees, and I could have burn this city and all its residents to ashes in that long. I thought we came here in preparation for a job, I swear if Knight had us waiting for 2 days and we get no job, I'm gonna start burning people anyways." The Demon Pawn, Benito Diauomo, said in response. The green-haired man, Abraham Vakivatamari the Sniper Pawn, immediately stood up as he looked towards the distance.
"...U-umm...Guys...Bishop's Dove is heading straight for us." He said to them nervously, not wanting to get involved in the bickering of his two partners, but what he did say caught their attention.
"Finally!" Demon said, as they spot the white dove seemingly covered in indigo flames flying towards them. With a gentle smile, Snipe extended out his arm so that the Dove can perch itself on it, which it proceeded to do. On the dove, wrapped around its body via a small string, tied around the torso, was a small roll of paper, which Tempt immediately grabbed and unrolled. There was only one word, eloquently written on the paper.
"Report."
The word then faded away from the paper almost immediately, as if washed off. It appears this paper was written in invisible ink. The Dove immediately started gagging, as a pen popped out of his mouth. In an instant and without hesitation, Tempt grabbed the Pen and started writing on it, Demon and Snipe looking over her shoulder as he did.
"Your Holiness, we are currently standing by downtown in the city of Namimori, and awaiting instructions." Tempt written. The words became faded and vanished just like before, and as if through magic, another set of words faded onto the page in their place, word by word, as if they were being written by an invisible hand as she held it.
"Affirmative. We have managed to reach our client and have gained new information on the current target. As we have suspected, the Target currently resides in Namimori, but until now, we had no other information on him. Now that we have gained new information, effective immediately, the three pawns are to be placed in active duty, and are responsible for the target's neutralization." The Letter then said.
"Yes!" Demon said out loud. The letter continued...
"Your assignment is one Ienari Sawada, a seventeen year old Second Year at Namimori High School. Though there are other members of the Sawada family currently fighting to take the place of Boss from Vongola Undicesimo, One Iesada Sawada, and Ienari is currently the seventh in line, for reasons unspecified, it is believed he is closest among them to gaining that position. Currently, however, there is no confirmation as of yet to prove this." The Letter said, below the words faded in a very detailed portrait of Ienari, Along with Iesada, and the other Vongola Claimants, seemingly drawn by the Bishop who is seemingly writing this letter, though Ienari's portrait is highlighted in red.
"YES!" Demon then said out loud, not only was he going to finally get a chance to kill someone, but it was a high school Second Year. He hasn't killed a child in a long time, but he remembered that their reactions before they died were... especially exquisite. Snipe, evidently noticing the murderous glimmer of excitement in Demon's eye, looked at the pen and then the letter, hinting at Tempt for the pen. Tempt was quick to notice and gave the pen to him, and with a silent thank you from Snipe, he began to write on the now-blank-again letter.
"If I may, Your Holiness, I'd like to confirm if we 'have' to kill this target." Snipe wrote on it. After a few seconds, a single word came into view.
"Negative."
"YEEE-Wait, What?" Demon asked, once again was going to go into a joyous outburst before interrupting himself halfway through, looking puzzled at what the letter just said. Snipe, meanwhile simply gave a gentle smile and a sigh of relief. A mission that doesn't have to end in bloodshed to be successful is nothing short of cathartic for him. As if uncaring for Demon's confusion, the letter continued.
"The Client has specifically requested no casualties unless necessary. The client has claimed that an attempt at the life of Ienari Sawada as things currently stand will only bring unnecessary complications. The safety, confidentiality, and requests of our client takes precedence over all else."
"WHAT!?"
"Therefore, you may harm him if necessary, but you are not, under any circumstances, allowed to kill Mr. Sawada."
"...FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-" The demon was then silenced as Tempt slammed her fist down on top of the Demon's head with inhuman strength, knocking him out.
"...That should give us a little peace and quiet for a while. Snipe, ask Bishop for more details. If killing is out of the question, then we need to consider our options." Tempt said to Snipe. He nodded and began to write again.
"Your Holiness, could you give us more information as to what you mean by neutralization, if elimination is not an option?"
"You are to first confirm whether or not Ienari Sawada seeks to pursue Vongola candiacy. You are to be absolutely certain on this decision, regardless of how long it may take. Should Ienari Sawada deny and/or renounce his claim to the Tredicesimo Ownership, you are to report to us immediately. However, if he, like others in his family, seeks the position of Vongola Tredicesimo, you are to ensure, by any means other than death, his discouragement and refusal to take part in Mafia activity and/or training for the candidacy. How you propose to do this is irrelevant: The objective is to ensure Mr. Sawada does not become a candidate for the title of Vongola Dodicesimo, the method of how we are leaving to your discretion. Battle him and the potential guardians if you must, but do not kill."
"We understand."
"We expect to hear a report of success from you soon. Our reputation rides even on simple missions such as this...do not fail us." The dove immediately grabbed the pen with his beak and swallowed it again, the paper's writings fading again to become a blank piece of paper once more. Mist flames sparked and consumed the piece of paper before it too faded into nothingness. After that, the dove hopped off of Snipe's arm and flew away, leaving the three pawns on the rooftop.
"Well...I guess that means we have our mission like we wanted. ...So, umm, what do we do now?" Snipe asked.
"Easy: We find this Ienari kid, and keep an eye on him for a few days to see if anyone shows up from Vongola on his doorstep. We find nothing happening, we report back to Bishop and His Majesty. If someone from Vongola DOES show up, we persuade Ienari to not join them. Easy as cream pie. For now, finding and observing this kid's our top priority. The Kid's from Namimori High, so...we should start with that." Tempt said as she looked in the direction of Namimori high school.
"Umm...Ok, That's good and all but...What about Demon?" Snipe asked, about to grab hold of the unconscious berserker.
"...Ehh, leave him. It'd get real annoying real fast if he wakes up and starts something during our Recon of the target. At least starting something here will get him arrested at a far enough distance that no one'll notice...Which reminds me, If anyone asks: he's not one of ours, and we have nothing to do with him. Now, let's get going." Temp said to Snipe, who nodded in response as they began jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Snipe looking back at the unconscious demon they're leaving behind before continuing their run towards the high school.
One after another, these people, mostly kids, were summoning up monsters of their own to fight these other monsters. They were nowhere near as deformed as the ones they were facing, but just as supernatural, as they spout off the word "persona" and in some cases seem to produce monsters named after the gods and beasts of mythology...or fiction in the case of Dorothy. For Tyler, Tylissa and Arthur, however, this wasn't something they never saw before...
"This is just like that battle a few minutes ago. But, they don't seem like those two from before, everything about them suggests they're just as human as us. Did they somehow harness their power?" Tyler thought, trying to process and analyze what he's seeing at this moment.
However, it probably wasn't best to keep their focus on this one point in the midst of a monster infested forest, as one of the Helberies floated behind them, whacking Jacob to the ground with his tongue. As soon as Tyler noticed, he looked over and immediately went in front of the other two, as if trying to shield the three from it.
Jill was quick to hear Jacob's fall to the ground and looked to where the four were as they were about to be attacked. Hopping away from the others as they fought their own battles of the shadows surrounding them, she grabbed what appeared to be a small dagger from her pocket, holding it by the tip of the blade, then made a jump and threw it towards the Helberie, Tyler being quick to notice it and ducking out of the way of the knife's thrown path. The Knife stabbed right into the Helberie's mouth, piercing through the other side as the Helberie then burst into black dust and disappeared.
"Are you all right?" She asked them before heading for Jacob. Immediately, she grabbed her own Chronovoker, particularly larger than the others.
"Hare-sona!" She said as she flipped it open, closing it with both hands, and from out of it came what appeared to be another rabbit, this one evidently made of multi-colored patchwork, and somehow seemed to be riding on two sharks while floating in the air. Jill extended her hands towards Jacob's back, the rabbit above her jumping off sharks now swimming in mid-air in a circle, and extended its own hand towards the wounded man. In nearly an instant, Jacob would no longer feel any pain, as the wound was miraculously healed, and the other rabbit, her persona, disappeared.
"How, did you...?"
"No time to explain right now, we have to get you four to safety quickly. It's dangerous in these woods! But first..." The White rabbit said. It grabbed about three pieces of black goop from her own body once again, shaping the black goop with quick hands until it became the golden chronovokers the others have. Normally, Tyler would question why he was being given pocketwatches. However, after witnessing what the group over there was doing, and noticing that they too have the same pocketwatches, it was pretty clear what these watches were for.
"Here, You can defend yourselves against the shadows here with these, but...umm...I only have enough material for three of them. I'm sorry..." Jill said. Tyler looked at the three he was with, including the now healed Jacob, than towards the White Rabbit once again.
"...Then give it to these three."
"But what about you?"
"There's no need to worry, I'll be fine without one, but they need a means to defend themselves." Tyler said, smiling towards the talking rabbit as he did. Still somewhat worried about the well-being of the soldier in question, but sensing a type of resolve through his words - a worrisome concept for someone who doesn't have the means for combat in a world such as this - she nodded and gave a Chronovoker to Tylissa, Jacob, and Arthur.
"I'm sorry in advance, we don't have a lot of time to properly explain how this all works...Umm... So, Long story short: Open up the watch, put focus on the glass cover, umm, focus your desires and goals on the glass, and when something appears, close the glass." The White Rabbit told them.
The party continued on the streets with everyone in town having a good time. Within the castle however, the Guard of the beautiful florescent mayor, Rosemon, was still looking down on them with suspicion. As it progressed from a classic fiesta to an outright conga line, one of the Lilymons decided to report this situation directly to the mayor herself. Said mayor was in her...well, one could say it was her office, or her throne room, but it looked much more like a green room garden, the sun shining into the circular room via a sunroof at its peak, the room itself being filled with wondrous flora across the area. In the middle of the room was the lady herself, Rosemon, using some vines to water the plants around the room and other vines to hold up some sort of giant leaves to write on.
"M'lady, A suspicious mon of some kind approached our city and caused a rousing." Lilymon told her as she flew into the room.
"As I've heard...Are they having a celebration I am not aware of." Rosemon asked, her gentle, practically motherly tone of voice calming Lilymon down as she takes a deep breath to properly explain herself.
"Yes, M'lady. A mysterious mon entered Blossomtown on a some sort of bizarre vehicle, declared himself as some kind of ruler of another country, then started dancing. Next thing we knew, everyone in town started to join in." she explained.
"I see... and what is wrong with that? In these trying times, something like that sounds like a pleasant surprise. It is not wrong for an entertainer to entertain the masses of another's town." Rosemon said with a smile on her face.
"...It was also carrying some sort of suspicious device on its wrist of a golden color." This was enough for Rosemon to stop what she was doing, the leaves she were writing on moving away from her on her own.
"A wrist device...? Were there any others like them?" Rosemon asked her.
"Umm...n-no, we didn't see anyone else like that, just him." Lilymon said in response, trying to remember the situation clearly before speaking. Rosemon got up from her chair and began walking towards the Balcony to actually see what was going on outside.
Remembering a certain conversation she had with one particular digimon not that long ago... --- “I called them.”
“You called the Destined Ones?”
“They should be here soon.”
“What have you planned for them?”
“One final test.”
“Do we have time for that?”
“We have to be certain.”
“We cannot delay the inevitable for too long.”
“Trust me.”
“I don’t know if I can trust your plans, but I suppose I have no choice.” --- "He was so determined to keep them in the Snowglobe to test them, so why has one of them been allowed to leave it so early?" She thought.
She walked over to the balcony and stared below towards her people below, who were now performing some orchestrated modern dance number with Ty in the front. Sure enough, as Rosemon thought, it was definitely a human, and with one of the Digivices on his wrist no less.
As relieved as she should be at the prospect of the destined ones finally arriving to save this world, something about all this felt... off. If the Digivice is attached to the wrist, then there's no doubt this is one of the Destined ones, as the Digivice essentially chooses its master. But there was no sign of the other Destined anywhere in the village, and even more off-putting, there was no sign of the Digimon tasked with assisting this human, whatever it may be. She knew each and every denizen of this town well enough to know that none of them are his partner, so its not as if it was hiding in plain sight.
Moreover, for a people who were all of a sudden up for celebration, this little dance number they were doing felt too........good, too orchestrated, to prepared in advance. The timing of the rhythm, the synchronized moves of every last denizen. Some of them she knew for a fact wouldn't be able to pull this kind of dancing off, and yet here they are.
That's when it occurred to her...They weren't dancing because they were celebrating or partying, they weren't dancing because they were happy, even though it was showing on their faces. ...This was a spell, a hex, likely done by a powerful Witchmon. They probably don't even realize what they're doing right now and how impossible their moves should be.
But why? This was definitely one of the Destined ones sent to help the world, why would he be alone and doing this?
That's when something happened, the sound of someone screaming in the distance behind her, a sudden chill was felt all over her body. She immediately turned around and spotted...
"Lilymon!" Rosemon yelled out, indeed it was Lilymon, and someone else, a large intimidating shadow, the giant cloaked individual, with a golden claw that grabbed Lilymon by the neck. The other Lilymons and Lilamons were on the floor unconscious as the golden claw threw Lilymon to the side, hitting a stone pillar and essentially knocking her out as well.
The Cloaked thing was massive, clearly humanoid with a rather bulky outline to him, its eyes glowing red under the cover of its hood.
"Hello, Mayor Rosemon...You have something we want." The being said, its voice mechanically filtered to give a robotic sound, yet an organic tone to it, and was clearly male. The being used his golden claw to pull off the black cloak and throwing it to the side in one swipe, revealing his golden armor, a cannon mounted on the forearm of the left claw, his entire right arm being replaced by a golden sickle blade, and his face being that of a golden horned skull.
"...Reapermon..." Rosemon simply said, the vines on her arms slithering down to her hands to create a thorn whip in one hand, and a sword in the other. One of the Lilamons started waking up, groaning as she looked at him.
I've heard stories about a Reapermon... ghost stories. They say he's a compilation of evil data from evil men, but uses it to find and judge other digimon criminals...but always brings them back dead.
It's certainly true... Reapermon has a bad habit of playing judge jury and executioner, pulling them in with that guilty chain and cutting them down with his Judgment sickle. Stay where you are, Lilamon, this one's too dangerous for you.
"Explain yourself, Bounty Hunter, what is the meaning of this? I have no price upon my head."
"Everyone has a price on their heads in this world. You'd be amazed how many people would despise and want someone terminated simply for existing. The only difference between people like yourself and the scum I hunt is which price is worth the effort. ...But indeed, I'm not here for yours. You have something we want more than your head. A certain trinket, I believe you call a...crest." Reapermon said to her. This was enough to catch Rosemon off guard, needless to say. How the Dark Sea does this bounty hunter know about the Crests, moreover, how does he know she has one? Moreover, this was an odd coincidence that this digimon just so happens to come looking for a crest just as a destined human comes here and performing a hexed dance on the citizens.
"Could it be that he...No, He would never allow something like this, and he most certainly wouldn't allow this digimon to be with the Destined ones. It can't be that he's the boy's partner either..." Rosemon thought. With a wave of her hand, vines began to wrap around the Lilymons and Lilamons, pulling their damaged selves out of the area safely. If that boy is some sort of Rogue Digi-destined that's trying to use the crest for personal gain, she could not allow a Crest to enter his hands. Reapermon seemed quick to notice the change in the atmosphere of this room, before looking towards Rosemon once again.
"...So that's how this is going to be? At no point was I ordered to terminate you or your kind. So just hand over the Crest and we'll walk away without the binary of you and your guards staining the walls." Reapermon said, his eyes glowing red as if locking on a target. Rosemon simply sighed, the shown part of her face showing a look of sorrow and disappointment.
"If only it were so simple... I consider myself a tolerant womon, you should already know of our plight, the plight of this world and its people. I knew from the beginning that the destined ones would come to this world eventually and I had been awaiting their arrival to this town ever since. It does not matter to me what he called himself, nor would it have mattered if he came before in a group or alone, he is a digi-destined. If you entered this town as guests, I would have welcomed you. Had you walked into my home, I would have allowed you safe passage to my office. Had you ask for the Crest then, I may not have given it to you upon request, but I would have at least allowed you the chance to prove yourself its rightful owner. ...All of this, all of what have been done by you and your 'emperor' was so...needless. You invade my town and hex my people into a celebration by force. You barge into my home and brought harm to my guard, and now, ...Now you dare to deliver an ultimatum of the crest for the life of me and my guard, my people!? ...I know not why a Digidestined is doing this, but it does not matter now, it is clear he is not worthy of the Crest. I will not let you have it, nor will you or he hurt my people any longer!" Rosemon said, cracking her whip on the ground as it suddenly became electrified. Reapermon reacted by slowly pointing the guilty chain cannon on his claw arm towards her.
"Fine by me, I prefer to do things the fun way anyways. Alright, Flower Queen... Let's dance." Reapermon said.
---
"Aww, the song's almost over...Let's see we have here on the playlist...Ah, Perfect!" Ty said as he grabbed at his MP3 Player and went down a list of songs. As he found the one he was looking for, he pressed play, placed it on his waist, and took the hand of a Palmon, twirling her around as the music began playing and beginning a tango dance.
As the Music started to play, Rosemon immediately used Rose velvet, spikey thorns popping of the ground one line of them after another from Rosemon to Reapermon's location, causing Reapermon to jump back right into an Ivy hug, as a giant vine from Rosemon's office wrapped itself around Reapermon like a Python would its pray. But Reapermon was quick to use his judgement sickle to cut through the vine and freeing him, before then slashing at the other vines that Rosemon were commanding after him. As the first build up of the song began, he immediately fired a giant chain from his cannon towards Rosemon, who countered by throwing her own whip towards it, causing the two to get temporarily tangled up together. The Chain then began to reel itself back in, and pulling Rosemon towards him as well as a result. As he was about to bring down his judgement sickle on her as soon as she came within range, Rosemon blocked it with her thorn spear. The song goes silent for second...
"Forbidden Temptation!" Rosemon said during that second. Then as the music explodes back to life, so too did Rosemon seemingly explode into a storm of Rose petals. Reapermon was quick to change tactics and use his sickle to block the oncoming petals, evidently powerful enough to cut at his armor as he untangled and completely retracted his guilty chain back to himself, jumped away, then caused his own armor to set ablaze as he jumped back towards her, in a fiery tornado, his "Burning Cyclone" as it were, burning away the petals as a result. Now it was Rosemon's turn to jump back away from Reapermon as he came spinning towards her. As soon as the attack stopped, she immediately went to attack him with his whip, causing some further damage to his armor, but it was damage that was worth taking as he got Rosemon in his sight and once again shot his guilty chain at her. Rosemon jumped back once more, but Reapermon pulled back the chain this time instead of reeling it in, now using it as a whip of his own. With mid-range being the only option available at the moment, Rosemon whipped at the chain, essentially causing them to smack their whips with the agility and moves akin to a duel of swords, before both getting in close and using their close-range weapons instead. Both megas were constantly switching between being on the offensive with their respective weapons and being on the defensive with using them as shields. Rosemon had grace and agility, and her rose spear was good enough to block his Judgement whenever he tries to bring it down, but Reapermon was far more bulky, just as his sickle was, and so it wasn't hard to block her piercing blows with it. Even still, Rosemon had home-field advantage as she continued to attempt overwhelming Reapermon by attacking with vines, her Rosey Velvet thorns on the ground and her own weapons.
All the while, Ty was down where the party was going strong, lip-singing the song that was playing, and using his MP3 player as a Microphone as he did. Everyone was dancing to the music, even Rosemon and Reapermon, in a way, were doing the same.
Rosemon was starting to be pushed back towards the Balcony once again as she and Reapermon continued their assault on each other.
"Darn, this one is tougher than I thought. My attacks are hitting, but not enough damage is being done. I'll need to think of something else to try, but he's not giving me any relent to do that." Rosemon thought, Reapermon walking towards her as she did.
"What's the matter, feeling tired already? I was expecting a little more from a Rosemon. Oh well...Hand over the Crest and we can end this painlessly." He said to her as he walked. She immediately ran towards the Reapermon who moved his sickle to a defensive position, only to have his leg grabbed from under him by her whip, and given an electrical shock via Beauty shock.
"Rosy Cradle!" She yelled out as the music started to die down and come to a slow jazz. Another storm of Roses came down, but this time rather than cutting at him, the roses seemed to be letting out some kind of pollen that was making Reapermon sleepy, his glowing red eyes fading out as he became motionless. Rosemon took a few deep breaths, finally able to have some time to think about the scenario at hand. She walked towards the Balcony, and looked down once again at the human below, up on his cart still lip-singing to the music at hand. Just who was this boy? It's very clear that he is a Digidestined, there's no way he would be able to have that Digivice on his wrist if he wasn't, but he's out of the Snowglobe without his partner, and no sign of the one who brought them all there, nor any other signs of human life anywhere in town.
"The rest of them must still be in the Snowglobe. He only summoned them an hour or so ago after all, he wouldn't have allowed any of them to leave without showing themselves of those devices, and wouldn't have let one go off alone even if he proved himself earlier than the others. If he wasn't summoned by him, then who could have activated the Digivice and brought him here? ...Could it be, that a Digivice was stolen? But by who?" Rosemon thought. Even though he appeared to this village as an invader, he is still a digidestined, and is still just a child in the end. Other than Reapermon endangering her and her people, it didn't seem like he was doing this out of harm for anyone here either. She needed to be careful in how to stop this.
As she was thinking, Reapermon's eyes began to have a dim glow of red once more...
She then tried to detect or sense some form of energy from somewhere, something that could determine where these two have come from. In the distance, she could sense a large number of Digimon near the cliff off the outskirts of town.
Among them...it couldn't be...
"Lucemon...? ...But that's impossible, how could he have...?" She said to herself, utterly shocked at the unexpected surprise of sensing Lucemon in the area. It was hard to tell what the other Digimon were in such a distance, and the other human she couldn't detect at all due to said distance, but Lucemon's data was something she could recognize anywhere.
There were so many questions she now had, not the least of which being how he managed to summon a human to this world, and why would he have a Digivice to do so with. Nothing about this made any sense whatsoever!
Before she could think up on this disturbed distraction however, the Music kicked back up and she felt as shot chain from behind grazed her cheek as it flew passed her and wrapped itself around the balcony's guardrail. She turned around, only to see Reapermon reeling in the guilty chain and letting it fly him towards her.
"Grim Slasher!" He yelled out, going fast enough towards her to produce afterimages, aiming his blade to outright decapitate Rosemon. She immediately jump over it changed the rapier in her right arm back into another whip, which she uses to wrap around Reapermon's neck, causing her to fly off the balcony with him. With her other whip in her left hand she grabs at one of the thorn spires that were around the mansion's exterior while Reapermon's guilty chain loosens and retracts back into the cannon. She swings the both of them up with all her strength, sending the two rocketing upwards.
"Beauty shock!" Rosemon yelled, spinning around in the air as electricity started to run down the whip heading for Reapermon's head. Reapermon however was quick to cut the thorny vine and once again shot his Guilty chain out, now towards a giant spire atop and center the dome-like sunroof above Rosemon's office as she calls upon the giant ivy in her office, breaking out of the sun roof to try and attack Reapermon as he span around the spire. Rosemon jumped on one of the ivy then threw her whip around the spire as well, and as Reapermon was spinning in a clockwise motion, Rosemon jumped off the Ivy and span round the same spire in the opposite motion as the beginnings of the Trumpet Solo started to play.
At the same time, Ty looked up at the two as they fought, then pressed a button on his Digivice.
"Alright boys, commence Thunderstruck, I repeat, commence Thunderstruck." Ty said into it.
As the Trumpet Solo plays on, Reapermon and Rosemon are spinning around the top central tower, They attack each other at each collision point, with Reapermon also dodging and cutting the ivy that were attacking him as well. Eventually, near the mid-point of the trumpet solo, Reapermon uses his sickle to cut as Rosemon's whip, the momentum of her spinning causing her to fly away as a result. Reapermon, at the end of the trumpet solo, loosened the chain as he made one more spin around and retracted it at the right moment to send him flying towards Rosemon as well, the vines of the city now trying to attack him as the drum solo begins, Reapermon cutting through some of the vines, hopping on others like platforms until he made his way to Rosemon, and continue their fight standing on the collective vines that hovered to their level by Rosemon's command.
As the Drum solo begins, the bright sunny day started to darken as black clouds started to form above Blossomtown. As the drum solo progressed, The two mega-level digimon were fighting aggressively, dancing upon the rosey vines and moving about the city as they did. As the drum beat was getting faster and faster, so too was the fight between these two getting more and more aggressive, until they reached ground level. All the while, Ty took out his pair of sunglasses as he looked up at the already dark sky, the rain starting to fall and the sound of thunder started to rumble.
"Alright, it's time for the grand finale...LIGHT IT UP!" Ty yelled with his hands extended out high into the sky. The drums stop for a second as the two megas move to strike each other. At the moment of the collision of sickle and rapier, a bolt of lightning was seen in the air. Rosemon tried to look up to see what was happening, but with Reapermon being as aggressive as he was, he wasn't giving her a chance to do anything of the sort. Despite this, Reapermon saw that this wasn't getting anywhere, and time was clearly running out, and his eyes locked immediately to a by-standing Palmon. Jumping away from Rosemon and dashing towards the Palmon.
"No!" Rosemon yelled, and without hesitation she ran for the Palmon as well, and just as Reapermon went to grab at Palmon with his left claw, Rosemon pushed the Palmon out of the way, let the claw stab right through her and come out the other side. It was at this point that the music faded out, and there was silence. Looking behind her, amidst the binary data that was leaking, Reapermon noticed something floating in the middle of his claw, a very small green rectangular stone with a symbol on it. The Palmon from before awakened from her Hypnosis, and watches in sheer horror as this unfolds.
"L-...Lady Rosemon?"
"...This is the crest? I see. ...So that's why you were so resistant. I suppose that doesn't matter now, does it. ...For what it's worth, you were a worthy challenge, fought admirably. ...But this is goodbye for now."
"I'm...sorry...Dorumon..."
"Hey, Pachuco!"
On that cue, he grabbed the Crest, and proceeded to tear his claw out from her right side as oppose to the gaping hole he made, and as the song makes it to its 3-second finale, Rosemon, her silhouette losing the complete right side of her torso as the rest of her body disintegrates to bits in the air, Palmon watching in horror and screaming as it happens. Reapermon, looking at the Palmon as it cries in terror and sadness for a few seconds, makes a high jump to the rooftop of one of the buildings and makes his leave.
The other citizens began to wake up from their dancing, but by the time they did, Ty made a run for it, leaving behind a Flagpole from where he stood, a flag with the imperial insignia on it left as a calling card, or perhaps as a claim to Rosemon's now former domain.
The Lightning began striking at the buildings consistently and without stop, setting the vines around the city on fire and eventually erupting the whole city in flames.
Outskirts of Blossomtown
Minutes earlier...
"...You are aware I can hear you over there, right? If you're going to talk about someone behind their backs, at least have decency to do so somewhere away from the person you are talking about...and after you complete the assignment you are ordered to do." Lucemon, still with the army possibly unknown to Mike and Wolfy. However, it seemed he had no reaction to what the two said in particular, simply seemed annoyed by the rudeness of their talk and nothing more. It could be that he didn't hear what was said, or it could be that he did hear them and simply did not care. As things started to get interesting down in Blossomtown, Mike would receive a communication from Ty.
"Alright boys, commence Thunderstruck, I repeat, commence Thunderstruck." Ty said, Lucemon overhearing as he did.
"...Mike, Wizardmon, it's time." He said as he turned to the two. Wizardmon nodded as he walk next to Mike. He then extended his wand, glowing with electricity, and pointing it towards the town.
"...Here goes nothing. Electro Squall!" Wizardmon yelled out, as he then waved around the wand, and as he did, the Black clouds formed above the city.
"...Mike, I'll need your help aiming the Lightning. We need to make sure it only hits the buildings." He said as to Mike as he concentrated on his spell. A thing orange screen would then appear in front of Mike, a touch screen that currently has digi-code running down it in all sorts of directions.
Ah, Chicago, Good old Chicago, Illinois... City of the Big Shoulders, home of the Bears, the Blues Brothers, and some of the best damn deep dish pizzas the world has ever seen.
Also the home of some of the largest Mafia syndicates in America, led by Al Capone himself, but that's neither here nor there. Sure, there were many problems this city has on the ground, it's infamous in more ways than one. Corrupt Mayors and politicians as usual, the streets below being filled with people whose had bad days, not to mention gang violence galore. Even so, there was good to be had in this city, as no one can deny the beauty of its metropolitan atmosphere from afar. The view of the night sky from a Chicago High-rise as the moon light reflects off the perpetual waves of Lake Michigan.
A pity then that rather than viewing the horizon of the giant lake amidst a clear starry sky, Tyler Falcon had his views on his computer. He probably should be in bed by this point; it's nearly midnight and there's school to be had. But the warnings of his brothers were ignored as usual, as he played his online games in the relaxing silence in the dead of night. This was unfortunately common for the boy, which might explain the complaints the teachers seems to give to his eldest Brother, Jordan, regarding his sleeping patterns on a near-daily basis. It's not like he isn't smart...albeit in a way that most teacher may not agree with necessarily, he does at least seem to understand the logic behind stuff in enough ways to earn a passing grade in more classes than not. It's just that, as the school councilors have pointed out to said Brother, the boy seems to run his life on laid-back chance and inappropriate optimism; he'll make it through classes that he's just barely passing, smiling as if he's acing classes left and right. At least one of his brothers, as a result, tend to hammer some sense into Ty so as to make him get a grip with the gravity of his situation... literally hammer it in, with a hammer of hard plastic. It was meant to be just a small bop on the head...only to wind up giving Ty a concussion.
Jordan did punish the other brother for this bit of violence and bandaged up the top of his head, but scolded Ty as well for how lax he is with his life and future, after which leaving him in his room using his computer.
Ty was navigating the internet, minding his own as he tried to watch some videos, listen to some music, the usual mellow things one does to pass time even when there is none left to waste. It was around then that something happened that he couldn't expect. His computer froze up, the soundbite of the video he was watching making a singular line of static noise for a good 20 seconds before the screen starting glitching up, black squares fading in and out in millisecond, things like the bottom right icons disappearing and reappearing at the same speed. Needless to say, this was annoying; he knew that he didn't go on any site that would create this bad a virus, so maybe one of his brothers did so while he was away.
He was about ready to reboot the computer when he noticed something...different flicker on the screen from the corner of his eye. Looking over at the screen with a degree of interest, he began to notice the glitching screen begin to form some kind of outline, that of a oddly shaped object, some kind of rounded vertical rectangle with a small circle that goes beyond the rectangle's border. Some kind of odd geometric symbol perhaps? Then he noticed two white angel wings fade in on both sides of the symbol... Oh, lovely, so this is either a bizarre religious cult hacker, or someone with that thinks itself some sort of cool angel. Before he could move once again to try and reboot the computer, only to then notice something even more bizarre, a voice, distorted and incoherent, being heard...from the computer?
"...Co-...Come...Need..." He could hear it say. Making him raise an eyebrow; was the hacker tapping into his speakers or something? He then noticed something REALLY bizarre, as his screen began to ripple, as if he was watching the surface of water, and before he could think of it in a rationale way, suddenly a human hand, pale white, emerged from the screen. He's seen this kind of thing in horror movies before, this is where the hand intends to grab and possibly choke him out. But no, oddly enough, as soon as most of the forearm was out of the computer screen, the hand that looked like it was reaching out to grab Ty flipped upside-down and became an extended hand, as if offering something with it. What exactly was it trying to say? Is there something invisible in his hand, is it asking to for him to take its hand, and if the latter, why?
Ty could only figure one conclusion from this: This had to be some kind of crazy hallucinating from the earlier concussion he suffered. Part of him wanted to go downstairs and tell his brothers about this, or just go to sleep and let the brain heal itself. But then he heard one of his siblings telling him to turn the computer off and get to bed, that in addition to school, there's a plentiful amount of chores awaiting him afterwards. At which point he figured, eh, may as well give into the concussion and enjoy the madness while it lasts, maybe he'll get lucky and he'll be called in sick because of it. With this in mind, he took the computer-hand, and let it grip tight to his wrist, far harder and stronger than he was anticipating, and pulled him into the screen.
In the split second he was thinking that this won't end well, as he's about to be hitting a flat hard surface in mere moments, he realized how wrong he was when he was pulled through the screen, once again feeling like jumping into water. He could see a bright light in the distance amidst streams of luminescent code flying past him in numerous ways. The light got bigger, and bigger, until it was blinding enough to make him shield his eyes.
He opened up his eyes again, and the next thing he knew, he was on the ground, a rather hard gravel-like ground that suggests he was laying on stone of some kind, looking at a clear blue sky on a bright sunny day.
"It seems you're coming around. I didn't expect humans like yourself to gain unconsciousness so quickly after arriving." A voice said to him. Ty looked around to see who it was, only to turn his head to the side and spotted a blonde-haired boy, looking around his own age, wearing a white toga, a bunch of colored tattoos lining across his body, golden rights around his wrists and ankles, and most notably of all, the 1..2..3..6 angel wings on both sides of his body, 12 in total.
Oh, It's just an angel........Wait, wha-
Immediately Ty jumped back a little as he spotted the angel-winged boy, then took another look at the area around him.
"Oh, so THAT'S why they say to stay away from the light...Gotta say, Heaven's not quite as grand as its cracked up to be, is it under renovation something." Ty asked the angel boy. Said angel was about to say something with a confident smile on his face, but stopped before he could get even a noise out, let alone a word, as he processed what the boy before him said.
"...Come again?" The Angel asked, perplexed written on his face as clear as day.
"I get a concussion, which probably led to my brain bleeding, then I get a hallucination, gave in, bright light, now I'm here with an Angel in hea-....umm...Actually I guess this is more like Purgatory huh? ...Yeah, I guess that makes more sense." Ty said, causing the blonde angel to blink his sapphire blue eyes, not quite sure what this boy was going on about.
"...Even if such conclusions were right, I must admit you are taking such a possibility...more well than I imagined a human would."
"I lived in a house filled with brothers who have much better chances at success than me, so I can't say I have any real...ambitions for myself, you know? ...Wait, you mean I'm not dead?"
"No, you are not...Perhaps I should introduce myself foremost, my name is Lucemon and this is-"
"Wait, Lucemon...? As in 'Lucifer' Luce?"
"I...suppose?" Lucemon said in response. It was God who gave him this name, but beyond its base symbolic signifance as a name that represented the Light, the mythology behind its etymology was something that he never knew, nor had any care of finding out. It just meant "Light", and that was enough for him.
"Oookay, so I'm actually in hell then, ...nicer than I imagined." Ty said as he looked at the sky again, Lucemon closing his eyes and instinctively showing irritation on his face. ...Apparently Lucemon did need to learn of his name etymology after all. In hindsight it did make sense all things considered for him these past years,
"As I have already said, you are not dead. Listen closely, I am not an actual angel as you humans know them."
"Well, yeah, obviously. ...Because you're the devil." Ty then said, Lucemon stating to show relief for a second when it seemed as if Ty was acknowledging him, and then immediately contorted to annoyance. As he then whacked his fist over Ty's head, causing Ty to yell out in pain.
"I am slowly but surely beginning to regret this decision...In any case, this is not the afterlife, you are not dead, now please listen; this is important information you need to know. I am what you humans call a Digital Monster, or Digimon for short." Lucemon muttered to himself before then explaining to Ty.
"Oooow, ...Digimon? ...You mean, like one of those V-Pets?"
"...I resent such a name for our race, but I suppose that is what you humans consider us as, yes."
"But...You don't have pixels or anything like that, and can actually hit me."
"It may be hard to understand the specifics as to why, but this is a world made entirely of Digital code manifesting as physical matter. This, is the Digital World, and all that resides in it are creatures made of digital information." Lucemon explained. Ty couldn't help but tilt his head in confusion.
"So in other words, ...I'm inside the computer?" He asked.
"That is one way of putting it, it's more accurate to say that you're inside a land created from the digital data of all computers of your world, manifested into a physical plain of matter."
"So...I'm inside the Internet then?"
"Not necessarily...I'll explain the details another time. We do not have much as is, and time is of the essence." Lucemon then said, tossing some kind of golden wrist device towards Ty, which he caught, and took a look at. Immediately he noticed the front of it is the exact design of the outline that appeared on his computer.
"...What's this?"
"That is known as a Digivice, It is how I manage to bring you to this world, the means by which to bring you back to your own, and the key to your survival in this place, as a Digidestined." Lucemon explained as Ty kept looking at, and playing around with, it.
"Umm...Phone home. ...Escape...Google how to get home...? ...I don't think it's working." Lucemon raised an eyebrow as he looked at this...dumbfounded scene of the boy treating the Digivice like some smart phone.
"...Creating the means to enter your world is not that simple. It requires a great amount of energy and a code in order to access, and I've already too much of it to get you here."
"Umm...Ok, but I have school tomorrow, and if I'm not dead, then I have a bunch of brothers who'll worry about me if I'm not back there...and more importantly, would kick my ass for worrying them." Ty said as he placed the Digivice on his wrist.
"Time varies between worlds; this world's time goes faster in parallel to your own, and as a result, by the time a day passes in this world, less than a day passes in yours. As such, you needn't worry, young one."
"It's Tyler, Tyler Falcon...or Ty for short. So...Why am I here exactly?"
"...Very well, Ty, I shall explain. You are a digidestined, chosen by that Digivice. As such, you are one tasked by fate to come to this world and be a part of its salvation. Under normal circumstances, you and others like yourself across your world would be called here to assist the digimon that live in this world, and achieve their protection from any that would harm them. ...However, I have alternative plans for one such as yourself. Each digidestined is given a digimon of their own to protect them and aid their will, and as fate would have it, I am your partner in this. One would be quite honored to have me at their side, this is not something that normally happens on a daily basis." Lucemon explained to him, a hint of confidence in his voice at the end.
"...So I'm partnered with the Devil?" Ty bluntly asked, annnnd, Lucemon falls to the ground in irritation.
"Please stop calling me that..."
"But why me though? I'm just some kid, not even a really good one. I'm sure one of my brothers would be more suited to this thing..."
"The skills of your siblings are irrelevant. The Digivice chooses its master, and it chose you, likely because you have something nobody else does, something about you worth being chosen for, just as it chose me to be your partner. It is something that cannot be explained, and will get nowhere with questioning. What matters is that now that you're here, I have need of your help." Lucemon explained.
"Umm...Ok, I mean, not like I have much choice. So, Lucy, What do you want with me?"
"Lucy...?Very well...I would like you to be stand as the ruler of this world...I would like you...to be the Digimon Emperor, Overlord of the Digital Realm." Lucemon said, his arms and wings extended outward proudly as he said it. Ty blinked for a few seconds before tilting his head in confusion.
"...Huh?" Ty simply said...Did he...Did he just say "Overlord"?
Present Day...
A bright sunny day was seen on the horizon of this world, however false in may be in actuality, the boy didn't care one bit about. a relatively peaceful land of grassy meadows and plant life galore stretched across the horizon as far as his eyes could see. In the distance, stood a small but thriving metropolis, covered head to toe in plant life and shaped in the form of a flower's blossom, hence why it was called...
"Blossom Town...Our first of many, many targets. This'll be fun, Can't wait to start actually throwing the word about us." Ty said, oddly holding a Demidevimon over his face.
"Eyheyheyhey! My face isn't a some mask or goggles, boss!" The little bat thing said, flapping his wings around in a panic.
I did NOT graduate from the Evil Familiar school of Mischief and Mayhem to be used like this! I can suck up blood with a Demi-dart, make minor curses, and even send bat buddies to get on peoples nerves, but being binoculars is not what I was made for, Boss!
...There's an Evil Familiar School in this world?
NOT the point, boss!
"Oh you're no fun..." Ty said in response as he lets go of Demidevimon, revealing that his face was now completely different. From his birth to when he first met Lucemon, he had short brown hair in no particular style and blue eyes. But for some reason, now his hair was messy and purple, as if spiked up wildly on purpose, and his eyes were just as purple.
His attire also changed...He came into the world with a white t-shirt with black outlines, and some black and green shorts, with no footwear at the time due to him arriving when he was in his room. Now he wears a white suit with multiple straps wrapped around his arms, and two straps hanging loose around his legs. Apparently, his pants are made to look like a piece of punk fashion with bondage pelts, but they are actually just fake belts sewed to thicker part of the thighs. His shirt is ripped at the hem and the collar part of it is completely gone, and big parts of the uniform are fixed with metal clips. He has multi-colored buttons running down the middle of his shirt, with a few usually hidden under his checkered black-and-white scarf, has military badges on his right, and wears two-colored black and purple slip flats. All over a black flowing cape and to finish off the evil dictator look, a leather-peaked hat with a golden badge at its top in the shape of the Digital World's Mark of evil.
It seems he now has the look worthy of the title of Digimon Emperor.
Behind him, in addition to Lucemon who was also staring down at the town in the distance, was an army of other Digimon, most of them humanoid and some of them clearly evil in appearance, and one in particular seemingly far more menacing with his massive stature and a black cloak over its body. Among the members of this army, one would be able to Spot a Wizardmon, Witchmon, Devimon, Meramon, Clockmon, and, oddly enough, a Renamon, and those were just some of the many digimon that seemed to follow Ty and Lucemon. Ty took one last good look at the town before looking back at his imperial army.
"Ok, so, Everyone knows the plan? ...Any questions? ...Good. This is gonna be our first big hit for this empire, and first impressions are key. This goes off without a hitch, there won't be a digimon anywhere in this server that didn't know who we are. Witchmon already provided me with the special spices that'll really get this thing started...Now I just need a good vehicle to ride down there with, does everybody got that done yet?" Ty asked. Some of them nodded and wheeled in this "vehicle" that Ty mentioned.
"It's... so beautiful! You guys did a great job with this! This'll surely bring chaos into the hearts of those poor little plants..." Ty said. Lucemon looked at it and then back at Ty, palm perfectly plastered upon his face in embarrassment as he stares at the "vehicle" in question.
"If I may, I still believe this plan of yours brings too much needless risk." Lucemon mentions to him.
"You worry too much, Lucy. It'll be fiiine, We'll strike terror and despair into the hearts of every last citizen before the day is done...and get our reward before lunch time." Ty said to him, leaning on Lucemon's shoulder as he does before then jumping onto his "vehicle", a pair of sunglasses from his pocket now on his face, as he takes off the bat medal from his hat and putting it in his pocket.
"Alright everyone, to your places. Remember, if anything DOES happen, I'm counting on the rest of you for some troubleshooting...potentially literally. Now then...It's time to commence Operation: Fiesta-Dura! Hi-Ho, Silver, AWAY!" Ty yelled out as he blasted off towards Blossom town on his...
The Digimon, as one might expect in a place like Blossom Town, were all essentially plant type Digimon, just about every plant digimon you can think of was here. Budmons, Floramons, Palmons, Togemons, Vegiemon, Lalamons, Sunflowmons, you name it, they're probably here. It seems the town is filled to the brim with in-trainings, Rookies, and Champions. There were a few ultimates, but they were either few and far between, or apparently were at the center castle of Blossomtown, where their mayor seems to reside, serving as guards for her. Aside from the bizarre plant-like architecture of the buildings, the place was completely covered in what appeared to be thorny vines, and the blossoms of roses as far as the eye could see were decorated throughout the city.
They were going about their day, minding their own, when one of the Floramon looked into the distance and saw something from the corner of her eye, something...odd, to say the least. As the others looked, they saw the small human riding atop a rocket-powered shopping cart, looking onward with sunglasses on as his black cape flapped in the wind. Turning off the rockets with a switched, he pressed on a step that appeared to be the breaks, making the shopping cart coming to a screeching halt...right in the middle of town. He could hear as the others starting to whisper among each other of this strange man that showed up out of nowhere, some of them calling him out for his recklessness in driving something like that in here. Ignoring the musings of the masses, Ty stood up on his cart and looked upon them with a big smile.
"...Denizens of Blossomtown, Lend me your ears! I am Falcon, ruler and Overlord of a Mighty Empire! The Digimon Emperor who shall one day cast dominion upon this world. As Emperor, I give you but one order to obey..." He declared, deepening his voice so as to sound as menacing as a 12 year old possibly could. He then jumped off his Cart and onto the ground below, and almost immediately threw off his cape.
What happened next was...odd. For starters, Ty now looked somewhat...smoky, as if some kind of steam or smoke was coming off him in very little quantity, to a point where most may not even notice it all that much. Secondly, his hat now looked like a round Mexican party hat, and around his waist was some kind of purple mp3 player, and two maracas behind him.
"...To Party Hard!" He said, as a certain song started playing, and he in turn started dancing, getting out his Maracas and shaking them about...then he started to sing to the song.
Eventually, in a few minutes, the Digimon began to dance with him, as he threw away his maracas towards a Togemon, and a Palmon started to sing with him, then the others started to join in the singing as well. Ty even went as far as temporarily tango dancing with a Floramon. The Lillymons and Lilamons in the Castle looking out towards the party that was going on outside suspiciously.
Everything was going according to plan...
As the party began in Blossomtown, Demidevimon looked over yonder at the party, and even began dancing a little himself as Lucemon kept his face in his palm.
"I don't believe it...The little boss is actually doing it!" Demidevimon said as he danced.
"May God forgive me for my sins...for I have created a monster." Lucemon thought as he struggled to look at the embarrassing display in the distance.
It should be noted that the tall cloaked member of the army, has disappeared from sight completely.
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