Flops so my mom is being adorable playing her first animal crossing game. Anyways onto the ch.

Silver shoved the book into Kouichi's hands. "Kouichi's turn." She then flipped her broom back to where it initially had been instead of around the guest sitting area.

"Where did you learn this stuff?" Izumi asked

"Trial and error!" Silver chirped. Kouichi decided to start reading before this got weird.

Natural Reflection! Arbormon & Kaleidmon!

"...so...anyone think we've finally reached the Forest Terminal?" Jaune asked with a sigh.

"With our luck? Unless we actually see a sign calling this the Forest Terminal I'd remain skeptical," Blake sighed.

"Yeah that's pretty much how things will go." Takuya slumped down.

Currently the group had been following the tracks, and soon found their way into a forest area once again. "Well...at least the forest is more enjoyable than the wastelands," Pyrrha said, earning a few nods in agreement.

"Still, let's hope we find out where we are soon," Weiss frowned.

"Hey, I think I see something up ahead!" Nora said, catching all their attentions. Following her finger, they could see some light further into the woods, and after jogging ahead quickly, they saw it seemed to be a trail of torches.

"Huh… maybe there's a town in this forest?" Ruby wondred.

"Maybe it's finally the Forest Terminal." Yang grinned hopefully.

"Guessing by the title and the fact we all got our spirits before reaching it...no" Kouji snorted. They all pause because that was technically true. Even Kouichi had his before they reached it.

"Only one way to find out I guess," Ren shrugged as they kept going forward. The trail of torches eventually lead to a station, which was also connected to what appeared to be a sizeable camp or settlement of some kind, made mostly of a variety of tents, and a few wooden buildings here and there, and most notable of all being the large number of Digimon that looked ready for a fight going about their business and mingling in the camp, complete with some guards.

"Halt! State your business!" a pair of rather short Digimon wielding spears said. They were nearly identical to each other, looking like small beings wearing suits of armor that resembled a sort of knight albeit not quite, with one being white in color and the other being black in color.

"Guess these must be the guards. PawnChessmon usually do such things," Bokomon mused.

"PawnChessmon?" Tomoki asked they hadn't seen any on their journey.

"You're gonna see a lot of digimon you haven't seen before…" Silver shrugged. "Not just the digimon from the opening/intro either."

"Right, makes sense I suppose." Weiss said, before stepping ahead of the group "We were simply curious about this place. We're searching for the Forest Terminal you see."

"The Forest Terminal is still a sizeable distance away. This is the Mist Forest, and if you're looking to get to the Forest Terminal, we'd suggest turning around and finding another way around," the PawnChessmon said.

"What's wrong with this forest?" Ruby blinked.

"What's wrong with it? Aside from the hostile residents, there's the fact most who wander into the forest don't come back out. Ever," the white PawnChessmon said with a small shudder. "Trust us when we say casual travelers shouldn't go through here. Only the 'Adventurers' tend to brave the forest and even THEY sometimes don't make it back."

"Ominous…" Kouichi paused and shivered when he spoke.

"But in general where they wanna go." Takyua shook his head.

"Rules of being a protagonist, if there is a rumor about it you will look at it." Silver smiled bemused.

"Well we're not exactly normal ourselves," Yang said.

"If you're THAT set on going through, we won't stop you. Just don't cause any trouble in camp," the black one said, before they opened the gate for them. "Don't say we didn't warn you though."

"We'll keep that in mind," Blake said dryly as they went into the camp. It sure looked like a forward base for an expedition, crossed with something out of a swords and sorcery setting. There was even a board they saw bulletins put up, to which Digimon would regularly put up new ones and take down old ones, no doubt to take on the requests listed down.

"So...where to now?" Ren asked.

"This place looks like something out of a video game," Jaune mused. "So...I guess that place?" he suggested, pointing at the building with a sign that had a beer pint on it, not that any of them understood what it meant beyond the place to get information.

Going into the Tavern, the group saw what looked to them like a busy restaurant with various Digimon eating and drinking. "Well this is very...messy," Weiss said dryly.

"Well, we ARE in a Tavern," Bokomon said. "What did you expect?"

There were several snorts at that. To be fair there could be Taverns where the guest didn't eat like slobs.

"Oh, so this is a tavern." Ruby said as she looked around "Didn't Uncle Qrow say we should avoid these?"

"Yeah, but he isn't here." Yang said with a grin.

"Let me do the talking," Bokomon sighed, before going up to the counter being manned by a Deramon. Bokomon asked a few things about the forest, Deramon asking back a few things as well, and when he got the full story…

"You're gonna die, you know that, right?" Deramon said dryly. "Take my advice, find another way." and with that he went back to his work, though he did mutter something.

"...well that was rude," Bokomon frowned.

"Extremely" Izumi huffed

"Well...what did he say?" Ruby asked.

"Well...there is a path through the forest, but the closer we get to the middle, the more dangerous it gets. There are also paths around the center, but there are a lot of hostile Digimon too, so as we've been hearing, making it through the forest isn't going to be easy," Bokomon frowned.

"Why did you say he was rude though? It sounded like he said more at the end but we didn't hear it." Nora asked.

Bokomon coughed into his fist as he looked away "Not something that should be repeated in present company."

"There's gonna be a fight isn't there?" Six dry rhetorical questions. Lunamon could only laugh at Silver's face.

"Right…" Yang said slowly "So, basically, be ready for a fight, yeah?"

"Essentially, yes." Bokomon said with a sigh.

"Welp, that works for me." the blonde said with a grin as she marched back outside of the tavern.

"Well...with how things have been going I guess going forward is still the best we can do," Pyrrha mused, before the group followed after Yang.

"You know, aside from the whole danger thing, this forest doesn't seem so bad," Nora mused as they group was making their way through the forest.

"It...DOES have a rather pleasant feel," Weiss reluctantly admitted. "Still...the fact everyone says this place is dangerous means we shouldn't let our guards down."

"That much is for certain," Ren nodded.

"You never let your guard down in the digital world. You can and will be duped if you do." Kouji snorted remembering when they had been duped and only Izumi still had her d-tector.

The group continued onward, before a buzzing was heard, and from the trees several Digimon appeared. They looked almost like large hornets with black and yellow bodies and baleful purple wings on their backs, sharp mandibles and a wicked looking stinger made for a very scary appearance.

"Uh oh! These are Flymon and they're quite hostile!" Bokomon gasped.

Digimon Analyzer

Flymon. Virus Type. An Insect Digimon. A Digimon capable of flying at high speeds, it's buzzing is said to be capable of numbing the senses when they are in large enough numbers. Its body is protected by a hard shell, and when it catches its opponents in its talons, it strikes them down with it's stinger. Its special attack is Deadly Sting, shooting off its stinger at its enemies, and any Digimon struck by it will be poisoned and slowly die.

"Looks like the dangers of the forest came to us," Pyrrha frowned.

"Let's break their legs!" Nora grinned as she, Ren, Yang, Ruby, and Pyrrha raised their Digivices.

"...Is that gonna be a thing with her?" Junpei asked. Silver just gave him a blank look. She wasnt sure if she could answer that.

"Spirit...Evolution!"

In several bursts of Fractal Code, the five of them transformed and met the Flymon head on. The Flymon tried to attack with their stingers, but the group evaded (the kids without Spirits quickly ducked for cover behind a rock along with Bokomon and Neemon.) "Out of our way! Salamander Break!" Agneyamon called out, kicking one of the Flymon square in the abdomen, launching it away from them, before crashing somewhere deeper into the forest.

More of the Flymon tried going for the ones who weren't fighting, but didn't get far as they were caught in a blast of wind. "We're the ones fighting! Breezo Petallo!" Fairymon said, pulling the Flymon back towards them...and heading right for Blitzmon.

"See ya around! Thor's Hammer!" she laughed as she slammed her weapon into the Flymon, sending them flying off so fast they were a twinkle in the sky soon enough.

"That's cool though." Junpei chuckled.

The remaining Flymon were clearly agitated, but unsure whether to keep fighting or run away. Unfortunately they'd grouped together, and thus allowing the group to take that question out of their hands.

"Frozen Clinking!" Chackmon called out, freezing the remaining Flymon, which soon fell to the ground, Gnomemon at the ready.

"Terra Spike!" she called out, making the spikes of earth rise out, and hitting the frozen Flymon, launching them away.

"And that's that," Agneyamon chuckled as they reverted to normal. "That wasn't so bad."

"I'll say. The Spirits seem to be starting to respond to you well now." Bokomon said as they came out from their hiding spots.

"Maybe they are becoming more in sync with them? Or something like that?" Blake suggested.

"Do you know why?" Tomoki asked and Silver shook her head. If she had known she had forgotten. Either way she just motioned for Kouichi to keep reading.

"I guess that makes sense," Weiss mused. "At any rate we should keep moving before they come back."

"No arguments here," Jaune sighed, as the group continued on their way. They were met with enemies a few more times, mainly insect Digimon...but those folded fairly quickly.

"This forest isn't so tough," Yang chuckled. "I think they overhyped the danger, or we're just that strong."

"I don't think we should be thinking like that," Jaune said cautiously. "I mean...they had to be worried for a reason, right?"

"They always are," Kouichi nodded.

"Though sometimes games do hype up things." Izumi hummed. Silver muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'not Lynels'.

"Maybe the Forest is just a rumor," Neemon said...and earned a waistband slap.

"If it WAS just a rumor, then why is there an entire camp of Digimon ready to venture in and fight?" Bokomon pointed out.

"Maybe we're just that strong," Nora said, to which Bokomon frowned, but couldn't actually refute that.

"Either way, this forest isn't that tough. And hey, maybe the adventurers that have gone through here were just that weak compared to the legendary warriors?" Yang said with a grin.

"Well...I can't say that's not a possibility," Weiss admitted. "I mean, they wouldn't be the Legendary Warriors if they were to the level of everyone else."

Everyone wanted to comment on that. Yet they had no idea what to say. Silver just watched them all gain blank faces for a moment.

"Let's...just keep moving," Jaune suggested. This conversation would be going in circles.

The group soon continued forward, and for a while it seemed like the enemies coming to face them had stopped. "Everything got really quite suddenly," Ruby blinked.

"That's never a good sign." Kouji frowned.

"Quiet before the storm." Junpei added. The others nodded at that. First hand experience does wonders.

"Guess they all got scared," Yang chuckled, before noticing something out of the corner of her eye. "Or not," she said, immediately on guard.

"I saw something on the other side too," Blake said, also on guard even if she didn't have a Spirit.

"I think we might be surrounded," Pyrrha frowned.

"I see something over there!" Ruby gasped, everyone turning to the direction she was pointing...and Ruby and Yang stopped short. There among the trees was a flutter of white as a figure in a white cape and cloak was visible for a moment moving among the trees.

"It can't be…!" Yang gasped.

"Mom?" Ruby blinked, bits of her memory surfacing, before both sisters ran towards where they saw the figure without thinking.

"What?" Izumi blinked.

"What would their mom be doing in the digital world." Kouichi asked with a frown.

"Unless she's not actually there?" Tomoki muttered. They all hummed and Kouichi continued reading.

"Hey wait, it might be a trap!" Weiss said, but too late, the sisters were already too far to grab, forcing them to follow after, but as they did, Jaune's foot caught a root on the ground, causing him to fall over, and with everyone else too focused on the sisters, only Bokomon and Neemon who were nearby noticed him fall, but by the time they tried to stop the others...they were gone into the woods.

"Are you okay, Jaune?" Neemon asked, while Bokomon helped him up.

"I'm okay, but we need to-" Jaune started, but before he could finish a surprised scream was heard coming from where their friends had ran. Gasping, they ran after them, just in time to see the group snared by what looked like vines or branches which had come alive, catching all of them, and before any of them could try to fight back or evolve, a strange mist of sorts hit them, causing them to look drowsy before falling asleep.

"What in the world?!" Bokomon gasped, but his gasp drew the attention of the branches, which were now going for them.

"Run for it!" Jaune gasped, as they had no choice but to run away, the branches and vines chasing them as the forest seemed to have come to life. Literally.

"What the-" Takuya blinked

"I think we've found why so many travelers vanish!" Bokomon gasped.

"Don't talk! Run!" Neemon gasped, showing a rare moment of complete seriousness.

"They're gaining on us!" Jaune shouted after a while, as the branches were getting closer and as it was they were starting to tire out. Just a little bit and they would get them! However…

"Licht Sieger!"

"Ewig Schlaf!"

The branches were cut apart by the two blasts of light and darkness, the branches and roots stopping before soon retreating as two figures landed on the ground, revealing to be Wolfmon and Lowemon, who upon confirming the danger was passed for now, reverted back to Gyro and Pierce.

"You guys!" Jaune gasped in surprise before he sighed in relief at the reprieve. "Boy are we glad to see you two right now."

"Nice to see you too scrawny." Gyro said with a joking grin, before he got serious "What happened though? We heard a scream just a minute ago."

Jaune paused, trying to find a good way to put it, evident by him opening his mouth, but unable to say anything before he finally slumped and sighed. "We...fell into a trap…" he admitted lamely.

"Better to admit it than to act like it was 'on purpose' or some other crap," Gyro snorted. "Well?"

"I don't wanna say this at the moment" Silver gave a dry look "but I agree it's better to admit it than pretend you did it on purpose. Honestly if you actually do it on purpose you have a plan...or are Dante from Devil may cry…"

"Well what?" Jaune blinked.

"What are you planning to do about it?" Pierce said. "You DID escape, right?"

"M-me?!" Jaune gasped. "I-I can't do anything! I only got out of that because I happened to trip, and I don't even have a Spirit to fight with…" Jaune sighed.

"And?" Gyro quirked an eyebrow. "Our question still stands."

"Well...I want to help them of course, but…" Jaune looked away...and happened to glance at Bokomon. The moment he did, his eyes widened. "Bokomon!"

Kouichi squawked for a moment because almost everyone was curious on where this was going. A cough from Kouji settled the rest of them down.

"Yes?" Bokomon blinked, a little taken aback.

"Your book, it has information on lots of Digimon, right?" Jaune asked.

"Well...yes, not to brag, but this book is one of the best sources of information in the world," Bokomon said.

"Then...is there a Digimon who can control plants and stuff like before?" Jaune asked.

The moment he said that, Bokomon's eyes widened in realization at what Jaune was getting at. "That's brilliant!" he nodded, and quickly flipped through his book. "Here we are! Cherrymon!"

Digimon Analyzer: Cherrymon

Cherrymon. Virus Type. Plant Digimon. Known as the Lord of the Deep Forest, it is a wise Digimon that has lived many years, capable of tempting those gullible enough to heed his words. His body is able to produce a mist that catches those within inside an illusion, with few managing to escape. His special attacks are Cherry Bomb, flinging the small cherries that grow in his foliage, letting them explode upon contact with the enemy, and Vine Frenzy, shooting out vines from his foliage that attack enemies as if in a wild frenzy.

"Dosent that sound like what's going on" Junpei asked

"Yup/yes"

"Cherrymon are able to cast illusions using their mist AND they can control the plants in the forests of which they live in, such as this one," Bokomon said. "I'm positive what happened before was the work of a Cherrymon."

"Great...so what does that mean?" Neemon spoke up...and got a waistband slap for that.

"It means we at least know what we're up against!" Bokomon said in annoyance.

"The next question is, where would this Cherrymon be?" Gyro said, though he had a small smile, clearly seeing where this plan is going and impressed that Jaune went for that idea.

Jaune frowned, thinking about it, before a thought hit him. "The forest gets more dangerous the closer we are to the center...maybe Cherrymon is there. I mean, he IS the Lord of the Forest, so I'd say that would be a good as any place to go," Jaune said.

"Sounds like a good as any place to check," Pierce nodded. "So I'm guessing we'll be the ones saving them, right?"

Jaune looked like he would say yes, but stopped. He could tell the safer option would be to leave it to the brothers, but the idea of them risking their lives while he was sitting at the back...the more he thought about it the more he disliked the idea even if he had to admit...he was really afraid right now.

"Something wrong? There's no shame in sitting this one out seeing as we're assuming you don't have a Spirit," Gyro said.

THAT struck something, causing Jaune to make his decision. "No way!" he said. "I'm not going to just sit on the sidelines while my friends are in danger. I may not have a Spirit, but I'm not just going to sit and do nothing!"

"Yeah!" Silver fell off her broom. She forgot how excitable they were.

Gyro and Pierce shared a look at that, before grinning at Jaune "Alright, what's the plan then?" Pierce asked.

The forest was fairly peaceful at the moment...until bursts of light and darkness ruined that, causing explosions and several trees to fall over, as Wolfmon and Lowemon dashed through the woods, making a LOT of noise. "Gotta admit, even if we're bait, this is a lot of fun," Lowemon couldn't help but chuckle. True enough, the branches and vines started to come to life, as they started trying to attack the two who fended them off.

As this was happening, Jaune, Bokomon, and Neemon were sneaking around, looking for something, which was some vines that were wrapped around some of the trees...the means of which a Cherrymon could control so many in one shot. And with the brothers providing so much of a distraction, they were free to find the source...provided nobody blows their cover, which is why Jaune currently had Neemon under his arm...with his mouth taped shut, Neemon's expression an obvious pout as they moved.

Eventually they continued following the vines till they saw what appeared to be a tree that towered over the others to the point Jaune could easily imagine there being Digimon actually living in there, to which they started going around, since the last thing they wanted was to keep following the vines only to run face first into Cherrymon. THAT would be bad.

Eventually they were able to find a clearing that surrounded the tree with a sizeable pool there too, and at the water's edge was what appeared to be a tree with a face, moustache, and walking with a cane of all things.

Though at the moment, said tree had his eyes closed and his face scrunched up in concentration "Meddlesome Digimon those two. I don't know who they are but NOBODY enters my forest." he muttered to himself, though Jaune clearly heard him.

'Jerk' Jaune thought with a frown, before looking around carefully, eventually spotting the others hanging from a tree, the vines wrapped around their torsos, keeping their arms pinned to them while they were all still asleep.

"Totally" Tomoki agreed with Juane there.

"There they are," Bokomon said in a whisper, Jaune putting Neemon down.

"Right, time to signal the cavalry," Jaune nodded, pulling out one of Wolfmon's sabers. Turns out (Gyro pointedly refused to explain how he knew) if you held the button for a bit longer, the saber would shoot out a small blast which was as good as any flare, and with it being a laser...it cut through a lot. He was about to press it, when Neemon took a step...and stepped on a branch. It was a small sound honestly, but with how tense everyone was, it may as well have been deafening, and just like a movie...that was all it took to alert Cherrymon.

"OH COME ON!" Silver was glad she hadn't gotten on her broom again as her ears were ringing from Takuya's outburst.

"Who dares trespass in my forest?!" Cherrymon growled, soon focusing on the three of them.

"Would it help if I said we were just passing through?" Jaune asked lamely. The threatening movement made it clear what the answer was. "Didn't think so…" With that, he aimed the weapon he had and pressed the button nice and hard. There was a small lag...before the beam shot out of the hilt and well...left a notable hole among Cherrymon's branches and leaves. Cherrymon was surprised by that, but Jaune didn't waste anytime as he, Bokomon, and Neemon started running, but not leaving the area. They knew they had to buy time first.

"None will escape me!" Cherrymon roared, firing what appeared to be his own namesake...which exploded on impact.

"Come on! We just want our friends back! Just let them go and we'll all leave you alone!" Jaune tried to reason with Cherrymon.

"I don't care! As soon as you and your friends stepped into my forest, you gave up your right to free will!" Cherrymon said rather darkly.

"...you know I kinda wanna burn a tree now." Takuya admitted.

"Ill let you borrow one of my game consoles and games that will let you do that just after next ch." Silver weezed.

"Wow, aren't you the picture of sanity?" came Wolfmon's dry voice, before both he and Lowemon proceeded to Dynamic Entry Cherrymon in the face. When they landed, Jaune quickly threw back Wolfmon the saber he'd borrowed, who caught it easily.

"Help get them down! We'll deal with the overgrown plank over here!" Lowemon said, earning a quick nod from Jaune who started climbing the tree, albeit with difficulty.

"Try as you want, but none of you will be leaving this forest!" Cherrymon roared.

"Whatever you say you jolly green jerk." Wolfman snarked.

"Why you keeping it PG?" Lowemon asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Dude, there's a kid here." Wolfmon reminded him.

"Huh...good point," Lowemon mused...before both of them brandished their weapons, and started fighting against Cherrymon who fought back with the forest around them, but this proved to be easier said than done, since their weapons were very good at cutting things apart, and their teamwork made it so there were few to any openings to exploit.

As that was happening, Jaune continued to climb, slowly getting closer and closer to his friends. Unfortunately as he was doing so, Cherrymon noticed him out of the corner of his eyes, and promptly pulled his friends up higher, much to Jaune's annoyed groan. Cherrymon chuckled at that...and was punched in the face by Lowemon.

"You're a real jackass, aren't you?" he deadpanned at the petty display.

Jaune kept climbing anyway, determined to reach his friends and save them. "Don't worry everyone, I gotcha," he said...right before he lost his footing a little, but quickly regained it...and ended up looking down, gulping thickly when he saw how high up they were. Despite that, he swallowed his fear and kept moving upward. However, as he did, once again Cherrymon noticed how close he was...and made a few thorns appear, which Jaune accidentally grabbed on to, and in his surprise, let go.

Cherrymon had another smirk...before he felt Wolfmon ram his sabers into him, grunting in pain.

"Go! I'll keep this overgrown splinter busy!" Wolfmon said, Lowemon nodding and moving to catch Jaune. However...he didn't need to.

Jaune felt himself falling, but despite that the only thing he could think of was how to get back on, get back in there to help his friends. He wanted to help them. He HAD to help them! His thoughts were cut short when he felt himself land on something soft, a branch having suddenly grown rapidly and caught him safely, before a light glowed from the top of the tree, something emerging from it and soon coming down before stopping before him.

"A spirit…" Jaune gasped in awe as he looked at the beige and brown spirit that hovered in front of him, looking like a set of armor that was kneeling.

"Good timing." Kouji smirked.

He could feel the Spirit seemingly judging him, before it started slowly floating towards him, with Jaune holding up his Digivice after a moment, the spirit being sucked within as the mark of wood appeared on the screen.

(Play With the Will)

Points of light appeared before forming the outline of the Spirit of Wood, the scene soon zooming out to reveal it was the screen of Jaune's Digivice, before he pulled it away and held out his left hand which manifested a ring of Fractal Code which he then brought to his Digivice and began scanning it. "Spirit...Evolution!" he called out as he finished scanning, the ring flying off his hand and soon lengthened as it spiraled around Jaune, his clothes seemingly burning off as his body took on a darker appearance, while behind him a faded image of the Spirit of Wood appeared, before plant life started growing from out of the armor. Around Jaune, armor started to appear, aligning with his arms, legs, torso, and his face, before they soon came together and started pressing into him, his eyes glowing brightly before a flash occurred and his new form was revealed. It looked like a wooden robot in a way, with a few gears exposed at his joints, his legs, forearms, waist and torso were covered in beige armor, a lid of sorts on top of his head that was lifted just enough to expose a pair of glowing blue eyes, a circle in the center of his chest that appeared to have a few large fangs within, basically acting as his mouth. "Arbormon!"

"Huh, his eyes different from the red we're use to" Izumi hummed

Digimon Analyzer: Arbormon

Arbormon. Free Type. A Cyborg Digimon. A Digimon possessing power over plants, inherited from an ancient warrior. His data originates from the old blueprints of a trick puppet, making his gimmicks surprisingly archaic, yet the various tricks his body sport make him a tricky opponent, especially when paired with a tactical mind. His special attacks are Machine Gun Dance, firing off his limbs on cables to attack from afar, and Blockade Seed, firing a seed from his mouth that bursts into powerful vines that do his bidding.

Cherrymon was focused on fending off Wolfmon when his eyes widened in surprise, turning to see the vines with the other kids in them lowering before gently letting them go on the ground. He was about to try to make the vines catch them again, but…

"Machine Gun Dance!" a voice called out as he was socked in the face by a fist that was connected to a long cable, followed by another grabbing hold of him and reeling in, to which the source came flying like a rocket and hit him right in the face, pushing him back.

"I'm back, and I'm NOT happy," Arbormon said, punching a fist into his palm.

"Talk all you want, you can't defeat me in this forest!" Cherrymon growled, about to manipulate the forest again, but Arbormon placed a hand on the ground and suddenly the forest stopped obeying Cherrymon. "What?!"

"Hello? Legendary Warrior of Wood here. I can do the same trick you've been pulling!" Arbormon said.

"Which translates as…" Wolfmon grinned as he trailed off.

"He outranks you!" Lowemon finished with a laugh.

"Bingo." Arbormon chuckled, and to emphasize, Cherrymon found himself snared by the same vines and branches he'd once manipulated all the time.

"This...this can't be happening!" Cherrymon gasped.

"It is" Kouichi paused long enough to say that.

"It is, and it sucks to be you," Arbormon said. "Ready guys?"

"Let's waste this dirtbag," Lowemon agreed before they launched their attacks.

"Licht Kugel!"

"Endlich Meteor!"

"Machine Gun Dance!"

Cherrymon was pelted with blasts of light, darkness, and good old rapid fire blows, with one last punch cracking through his bark, causing his body to turn dark and his Fractal Codes to be exposed.

"Darkened soul who corrupts life," Arbormon declared, before pulling out his Digivice. "Return to the ground from whence you came!" he said as he pressed the button on the side, the symbol of Wood appearing on the screen. "Fractal Code...Scan!"

Cherrymon's form faded away as his code was scanned, his body reverting to that of an egg which soon floated away. All around the forest, those who had been captured and were still alive were released.

"Oh come on! They already left!?" Yang groused in annoyance after she and the others finally woke up.

"Yeah… the guys really are lone wolves I guess." Jaune said with an awkward laugh as Gyro and Pierce had quickly moved along once Cherrymon was defeated.

"But we want to be friends with them!" Ruby whined a bit.

"Speak for yourself." Weiss muttered, stewing in her annoyance at missing out on yet another spirit.

"Right, anyway…" Blake said, rolling her hand in a 'moving on' manner "We should get going again. Who knows how far the Forest Terminal is exactly? And we need to hurry before whatever is wrong with this place becomes irreversible."

"Right, we'd better keep moving then," Bokomon nodded in agreement.

A few days later…

"Tracks tracks tracks…" Jaune groaned. "How long have we been following these tracks?"

"Same answer as before," Yang deadpanned. "Don't know, don't want to care."

"He's right that this is starting to feel a bit ridiculous though." Pyrrha sighed.

"More than a bit." Kouji snorted when everyone else sand Koichi groaned.

"Well nothing we can actually do about it…" Ren sighed.

"Yeah, we gotta just keep going!" Nora said, still sounding as energetic as ever.

"Yeah, let's go!" Neemon agreed as he was right there with her.

"Where do those two get all their energy?" Bokomon groaned.

"I don't know if we should try to find out," Blake deadpanned.

"We'll get there eventually, so let's keep going!" Ruby said with a smile, before going after Nora and Neemon.

The group sighed at that but continued onwards anyway, eventually making it to a hill and going over it. When they did…

"Hey, what's that over there?" Yang said, pointing at something just a bit off the tracks they were going on.

The group turned and saw what she was looking at. "Is...that a carnival?" Blake blinked.

"It...looks like it," Pyrrha nodded slowly as true enough, there was a carnival not far away, complete with the rides and various tents.

"..." they could only just pause for a moment. They knew for a bit that things were widely different. They didn't expect a carnival of all things.

"...should we check it out, or should we avoid it?" Jaune asked.

"I think the question is already out of our hands," Ren said flatly as Nora, Ruby, and Neemon were already headed for the carnival.

"Of course…" Weiss groaned in annoyance at seeing that.

"Sometimes I wonder if I should get a leash for Ruby." Yang sighed.

"Which at least where I'm from is Illegal, for some reason." Silver mused

"Someone probably didn't do what they should have with them." Junpei suggested. Silver hummed that would make sense. There was a reason things had safety warnings.

"You'd probably end up getting dragged along instead." Jaune said with a laugh at the mental image.

Ren chuckled at that "To be honest, I've considered the same for Nora, and I think I'd end up stuck in a tree within the first 10 minutes alone."

"Yeah...I could see that happening," Blake deadpanned. "Well let's go, it looks harmless enough."

"When was the last time something that looked harmless actually was harmless?" Weiss deadpanned.

"Huh...this actually doesn't seem so bad," Weiss admitted as they entered what appeared to be a normal carnival.

"Though...we're in a carnival but does anyone actually have any way to pay for it?" Jaune mused.

"Nah, it's all free!" Ruby said...from where she was already on the carousel, while they could hear Nora...from the roller coaster, with Neemon trying (and failing) to win a prize in the ball toss game.

"...am I the only one who thinks that just makes this place MORE suspicious?" Blake asked dryly.

"No" everyone reading or not had the same deadpan look on their face as they answered. Even when Blake couldn't hear them.

"You aren't." the others responded with wary stares as they looked around.

"There's something fishy around here." Yang frowned.

"Well...for now we SHOULD check the place…" Bokomon sighed...right before a few stomachs growled. "...anyone hoping the free part extends to food too?"

"Yes…" some of them admitted lamely.

As it turned out, the fair food served at some of the stalls was free as well...and served more than just regular food too apparently.

"I'm pretty sure we're NOT supposed to be drinking that," Ren said flatly at the booze that was also being sold alongside the food.

"Don't need to tell us twice," Weiss agreed, as they grabbed some of the more normal foods and just ate that.

As it turned out, they weren't the only ones here. There were several other Digimon there too...and they were what Bokomon said were generally considered 'delinquent' in personality, and generally a source of trouble, such as a gang of Gazimon who were in one of the buildings playing pool...and carelessly trashing a few chairs while smoking and drinking at the same time.

"I'm surprised anyone would just let them do what they want," Pyrrha frowned. You'd think someone would be less than pleased at all this destruction.

"As suspicion raises" Takuya nudged Kouji.

As if to answer their question, an annoyed grumble was heard, to which they looked to see a trashed alleyway, and a Digimon Bokomon identified as a Witchmon walking through, waving her arms as the damaged stuff glowed and floated up before fixing themselves and going back into place, though the look on her face when she passed more delinquents, and the twitch she got when some casually trashed something again, made it clear she wanted nothing more than to punt them out of the carnival.

"I feel a little bad for her," Ruby sweat dropped.

"Yeah, imagine having to clean up after people when they keep trashing stuff," Nora agreed.

Meanwhile, a young and new blonde professor sneezed. Grumbling in annoyance, she waved her riding crop and proceeded to fix the damages the students had caused. Again.

The Six warriors looked at Silver who made the zipped lips motion. Lunamon mimicking her.

The group continued exploring the carnival, and while they were still a bit apprehensive… well… most of them were, they so far still couldn't find anything ACTUALLY wrong with the place. "Hate to say it, but starting to think we were being cautious for nothing," Jaune mused.

"Maybe, but just to be safe, we should probably get going again," Yang frowned.

"Agreed," Blake nodded. However, right as they were going for the exit...a PA came on.

"To all visitors, the main event is beginning momentarily! Please gather to the big top for the big show!"

"Huh, must be important, not that it matters for us," Ren shrugged. However, right as he said that, they noticed they were moving...backwards. "What?"

"Looks like seeing the show is mandatory," Weiss said in annoyance as she tried to move forward but was still moving backwards instead towards the big top.

"How the heck are they doing this?" Jaune asked in confusion as their feet kept moving on their own.

"Probably a Digimon with versatile powers." Bokomon said, bringing out his book to flip through it "There's actually a lot of choices for that, but if we were to narrow it down, it's possibly one that focuses on magic."

"If there isnt anything more annoying than an enemy who can make you do things you dont want." Silver groaned.

"They tend to be the most annoying bosses." Takuya agreed, getting several other hums of agreement.

"Right… maybe it was the one we saw earlier? Witchmon?" Pyrrha suggested.

"Possible yes. I'm sure we'll find out eventually." Bokomon said before they entered the big top and were sat down, Ruby, Nora and Neemon joining them quickly.

That's when the lights turned off, before a spotlight started roaming around the inside of the tent "Boys and girls of all ages, welcome to the greatest show ever! Watch and be amazed as the greatest artist ever performs his incredible acts! Give a round of applause to the one, the only… Matadormon!"

Suddenly in the middle of the floor a cloud of smoke appeared, from which emerged a rather colorful Digimon with large pink sleeves on his arms, his fingers looking like large needles, his feet resting in bladed shoes of sorts with large red pants on his legs, a head of blonde hair on his head and even his chin looked like a blade.

Matadormon moved in a way that seemed to draw attention. "Welcome one and all, to the Pleasure Land big top!" he declared, bowing dramatically, earning cheers from many of the visitors who weren't forced to come. "And without further ado, let us begin the show of a lifetime!"

What followed was a variety of different shows which wouldn't look out of place in a circus, from simple juggling tricks and comedy, to more intense tricks like bike tricks, human cannon balls, etc etc. Among them though, the star of the show was no doubt Matadormon who displayed an impressive skill in acrobatics...and knife play if the fact he hit targets dead on while doing a somersault was any indication.

"Gotta admit, this is pretty good," Yang commented.

"Would be better if they didn't force us to watch," Blake deadpanned.

"I think he's doing something else now," Ruby said, pointing forward. True enough…

"And now, for my next trick and final trick this evening, I require an assistant!" Matadormon declared as he scanned the crowd. "And today's lucky assistant is...the girl in the stands!" he declared, right as Blake found herself floating out of her seat.

"WAIT WHAT"

"Wait, what?!" Blake gasped. "Hey, I didn't agree to this!" she protested, but was ultimately ignored.

"Uh, pretty sure that's all kinds of illegal." Jaune said nervously as they tried to get off their seats but they were still unable to move their legs.

"Yeah, usually you should ASK for a volunteer, not FORCE one, that just makes you mean!" Nora said as she tried to break the part of the bench she was on.

"Sorry kids, my big top, my rules," Matadormon chuckled. "Besides, I've been doing this for years, nobody's gonna get hurt!" he said a little too cheerfully.

"That only makes it SLIGHTLY better!" Yang shouted.

"She's right." Tomoki grumbled.

Their words were basically ignored as the next thing Blake knew she was tied to what looked like a giant dart board...with Matadormon on the flying trapeze, being blindfolded, and with his knives at the ready.

"Really?!" Junpei frowned.

"H-Hey, I'm not okay with this at all!" Blake frantically shouted as the act began, her friends wanted to jump to help...but they were literally glued to their seats. She shouted in fear when the knives flew and shut her eyes, dull thuds reaching her ears, before she slowly opened them to realize she was okay...and there were several knives on the board around her, two of them cutting the ropes that tied her, while one had hit JUUUST over her head, pinning her hoodie. With the ropes gone, and the adrenaline suddenly gone, Blake sighed, still very much shivering in fear, causing her to slide right out of her hoodie, which was still pinned to the board, both her and the hoodie were soon poofed back to where she had been sitting, said hoodie on her lap, not that Blake really noticed as she was still shaking at what felt like was about to be her death.

Though she had to wonder why her… friends? Yeah, friends, were being so silent after a few minutes (that was how long it took for her to stop shaking), turning to look at them and finding them gaping at her with their eyes looking at the top of her head… though for some reason Weiss's face had a mixture of some other emotions…

And then it clicked that she was holding her hoodie in her lap, right as her secondary set of feline ears twitched atop her head. "Uh… oops?"

"Wait what? Kouichi has to ask.

"Just read please" Silver requested

The group blinked for a moment, before most of them shrugged. "Eh, after the last several things happening, this is honestly no big deal," Yang shrugged.

"Yeah, honestly the ears were a bit of a surprise, but after everything we've seen, you being a Faunus really isn't a big deal," Ren agreed.

"You know I think you mentioned Fanus before but we didn't ask what they were" Junpei glanced at Silver and Lunamon.

"After." The Witch sighed.

"Though...why did you hide it?" Jaune asked, honestly curious.

Slowly, Blake cast her gaze to Weiss, the heiress still in an open mouth gaze, though her face was slowly turning scarlet.

"Uh...She's Really mad." Takuya sounded kinda nervous.

"Ooooh." came the resounding sound from everyone… except Ruby who just looked confused.

The show was apparently over as Digimon were leaving, and seeing as Weiss still hadn't said anything, the group decided that when she finally found her voice again...it was probably best if they NOT be here still. Ruby was still confused as to why they were rushing out.

Once they were outside…

"3, 2, 1…" Pyrrha counted slowly…

"BELLADONNA!" came Weiss's angered shout from back within the tent.

Blake winced as she heard it "Yeah, saw that coming a mile away."

"Hey, don't worry, you have us to back you up." Yang said with a grin as she patted Blake's back, earning a smile from the cat faunus.

"Not to mention it's really no big deal. So you're a Faunus, nothing weird there," Nora shrugged, right as Weiss soon came out of the tent, looking...less than pleased.

"Before you say anything, I'd like to say I really don't see the problem after everything we've ALREADY been through," Jaune said...not that Weiss looked to be really listening...nor was Jaune really feeling like getting in the way.

Weiss seemed to be struggling for words, seemingly herself unsure what she wanted to say, till eventually she settled on one word. "WHY?!" she demanded, no doubt referring to the secret Blake had been keeping.

"Because of that really," Blake said dryly, putting her hoodie back on, though leaving the hood down, seeing no need to pull it up. "I kept it a secret so we wouldn't have that happening while I was in Vale for the day."

Weiss was silent for a moment "... and then you kept it on because of me, didn't you?"

Blake looked away, though she nodded after a moment "Your family's company doesn't have a good reputation with us Faunus. I didn't want to risk you being like what I heard about your father."

"...please tell me I'm not the only one getting alarm bells ringing with that." Izumi clenched her fist a bit.

"You're not" Kouji confirmed as the other boys nodded. Silver had teleported away for a bit before teleporting back with some ice cream and violently shoving it into her mouth.

Weiss narrowed her eyes in confusion at that "What do you mean?"

Blake looked at her in surprise "You… don't know? About the rumors?"

Weiss frowned "Do you mean the rumors about my parents?"

Now it was Blake that looked confused "What about your parents?"

"Anyone else confused" Tomoki asked

"Yup" Takuya nodded.

"Ok, clearly you're both talking about different things, but the rest of us are JUST as confused." Jaune said, making the two girls nod slowly at that.

It was Weiss who decided to speak first, starting with a sigh "There were rumors about my parents relationship floating around, and… my 10th birthday wasn't that long ago… father told mother that he only married her for her family name, and so he could receive the company." she said sadly… and let out a sound of surprise as she was engulfed in a large hug by SEVERAL of the others, Yang and Ruby being the first to grab her.

"That's horrible!" Ruby said. "Your dad's a... a… A POOPY BUTT FACE!"

"Um…" Weiss actually sweat dropped at the choice of words.

"Well he is. He shouldn't have said mean stuff like that! And on your birthday too!" Ruby said.

"She's right," Blake said sympathetically. "I'm...sorry you had to go through that. I'd always heard Jacques Schnee wasn't a nice man but this…" she was honestly at a loss for words after what she'd heard.

Koiuchi had to put the book down for a moment. They all had to calm down from shock and or anger. That was just wrong no matter where you're from. They all sat there in silence a bit, sans Silver teleporting everyone ice cream. He did pick it up when everyone was calm.

"Someone like that doesn't deserve to be called a dad!" Yang agreed, and the tone of her voice seemed like she was talking from experience...which was more than a little disturbing for those who caught on to that.

Weiss was caught speechless at that, unable to really come up with anything eloquent… especially as she could feel herself start to cry at actually being given support "T-thank you." she hiccuped out, before Pyrrha drew her into a hug to help her out.

"So uh…" Jaune started going closer to Blake. "What WAS the rumor you were thinking about?" he asked.

"It's... nothing important right now," Blake said, looking at the ones consoling Weiss with a small smile. No need to ruin the moment.

It was a short while later before the group was once again headed for the exit of the carnival, wanting to get back on the road soon. However…

"Seriously? We're locked in here until morning?" Yang groaned, as they saw the gates to the carnival were closed...and suddenly there was a wall around it, as if to keep people out...or in.

"Anyone else getting a horror movie vibe here?" Jaune gulped.

"Yes" Junpei squeaked as Silver shivered. They all looked at her.

"I am not good with Horror." She admitted.

"You just HAD to say that, didn't you?" Ren said dryly.

"Should we transform?" Ruby asked "I don't know about everyone, but I think I'd feel safer like that."

"Not going to lie, same here." Blake admitted, knowing that being surrounded by all 7 of them transformed would make her feel a lot safer.

However, before they could, they noticed several signs lighting up and lights coming on for the buildings too, namely one that was listed as 'Motel', and a few others too but they couldn't quite see what they were. Of course, their attention was more to the Digimon still in the carnival that were flocking to the Motel.

"Trap?" Takuya glanced at Kouji

"Trap." Kouji modded

"It's always the nice places" Izumi sighed

"...maybe we should check that first," Ren mused. "Not to mention most of the Digimon we've seen so far are smaller so…"

"Yeah, would be kinda dumb if we couldn't get in," Nora chuckled lightly.

"...the sad part is its not like we're getting out easily," Jaune said in mild resignation, before they went towards the motel.

Like all other things, the Motel seemed to be free for whoever was in here, but seeing as the motel was mainly aimed for the smaller Digimon...and thus something their size, it was a good call NOT to transform. Still though, they didn't feel to comfortable just spending the night in some weird motel, so after getting rooms just in case, they were soon out into the carnival again, and this time saw the buildings that were lit up, one of the most notable being a 'statue museum' apparently.

"Seems like most of the Digimon are going there," Blake frowned, tense as all of them who had Spirits were ready to transform at a moment's notice, but that did nothing to relieve the tension they were all feeling from the increasingly creepy surroundings.

"Uh Lunamon is she going to be ok?" Tomoki asked, looking at Silver having a death grip on her broom.

"...When it comes closer to the end of the chapter, yes." was the rabbit digimon's answer.

"Well… let's check it out I guess." Yang said, even though she looked unsure.

"Personally, I just want to say this has bad idea written all over it." Jaune said with a grimace as they went towards it.

"We'll remember that you warned us." Ren told him, frowning as they went inside the so called museum… full of statues of various Digimon.

"Well… this is… something." Pyrrha said slowly.

"The poses are creepy." Ruby said as she clung to Yang. Some of the Digimon seemed to be in normal poses, but others were in...creepy ones. Some of them looked like they were in the middle of screaming, some trying to defend themselves from some attacker...and then there were some that were just plain weird in their pose, which seemed like they were trying to be serious, but went back around to silly… if it weren't for the dead look in their eyes.

"Is this what it's like to wander into a horror movie set?" Neemon asked nervously.

"I think it's something like that yes." Bokomon nodded, looking just as nervous.

"Hey… do you guys hear anything?" Nora suddenly said, looking around in confusion.

When she said that they all went quiet and started listening more closely…

"Huh… almost sounds like wind… a bit creepy though." Jaune admitted with a shiver.

"It's not the wind." Blake said, looking pale.

"Blake?" Weiss prodded, looking worried.

"They're actually speaking…" Blake said, pointedly looking at one of the statues, of something called an Agumon apparently.

Takuya covered Tomoki's ears and then. "Oh fuck that bullshit."

"My sentiments exactly." Squeaked Silver.

Hearing that the group gulped VERY thickly. "I'm afraid to ask but...what are they saying?" Pyrrha asked.

"...they're begging for help…" Blake said slowly.

"I'll get them out!" Ruby gasped, before touching one of the statues and trying to help...only to have a piece of it fall off and break down into data.

"...that's not going to help them…" Jaune gulped thickly.

Ruby backed away slowly at that… and started bawling her eyes out while apologizing to the frozen Digimon.

Blake listened carefully. "They're saying 'fun house'?" she frowned. "I...think whoever is doing this is in the fun house…"

"Great...as if this place wasn't creepy enough," Jaune groaned.

"Looks like we know where to go next though…" Weiss frowned. She wasn't one to believe in superstition, but with how this world worked...she was inclined to be weary of any obviously creepy places.

"For good reason" Kouichi shivered with the others nodding.

"So here's the fun house…" Blake frowned. "Everyone ready?"

"Honestly? Not really, but we can't just leave those Digimon like this," Arbormon said, as everyone who already had a Spirit nodded, having already transformed. Yeah, like they were going to go into a dangerous place that apparently turned Digimon into statues without being ready. They're not stupid.

"Okay, let's do this," Fairymon said, as they soon entered the fun house.

"First room and already this feels haunted…" Chackmon frowned as they were in an entrance hall...and one that was for some reason full of various paintings...that had eyes that felt like they were watching them.

"Is this the fun house of the haunted house?" Blitzmon frowned.

"Probably a mix," Agneyamon shrugged. "Either way we gotta keep moving."

"Right," everyone nodded as they continued forward. The next area was a tube of sorts, but the walls seemed to be able to move...not that that caused them too much trouble beyond confirming that yes this was supposed to be a fun house.

"Fun house of horror maybe" Kouji was glaring more if possible.

The next room they opened into was a room with three different paths leading into different areas.

"Okay, I've seen how this goes, and if anyone says 'Let's split up' I'm gonna knock you upside the head," Arbormon said dryly.

"Duly noted." Chackmon said with a soft smirk "Let's pick a path then."

Fairymon decided to pick a path by picking up a random piece that looked like a stick and let it fall, the stick aiming for the middle path. "That way," she said.

"Are you sure we should decide like that?" Weiss asked dryly.

"I don't think any other way is any better honestly," Gnomemon chuckled with a sweat drop.

"...she makes a good point…" Blake sighed, as the group went through the central path.

At first the path seemed straight...until some of them felt themselves slowly teetering to the side...and then they realized that they were literally on the edge of a railing in a slanted room.

"This IS a fun house!" Blitzmon couldn't help but say as she and Fairymon started flying a bit to avoid gravity and not crowd the railings too much.

"Well, I suppose there are worse things." Weiss sighed as they made it through the slanted room without much issue, continuing on down until they reached a corridor… with several doors on each side, including one at the end.

"Huh… wonder what this is supposed to be?" Agneyamon mused as she opened a door… and another door down the corridor opened at the same time… and when she stuck her head through it came out the other door that was open "Oh… yeah, this one is PRETTY weird."

"Maybe there's some kind of pattern?" Blake mused.

"Well...it can't hurt to try…" Fairymon mused. What they got though was...utter confusion as they went into one door, then came out of different doors, tried a different one and got another random effect, went back and went out a different door than before, and in one part when Weiss stopped mid way to see if she could figure out a pattern...she saw a lower section of two doors opening and her friends suddenly the size of mice run through before coming out from different doors at normal size.

"STOP!" She shouted, getting everyone to stop. "Okay, I watched...and I can guarantee there isn't any pattern...or logic...to the doors," she groaned.

"Ah, well isn't that just a pile of manure?" Arbormon groaned.

"Should we just break through this spot?" Blitzmon asked, hefting up her club.

"Might as well give it a try." Gnomemon shrugged, before Blitzmon charged the door at the far end of the corridor, struck it with her club… and it spun at the same time, making her overbalance and teeter forward onto the ground.

"...well...we found the next path at least…" Agneyamon sweat dropped as the group soon continued onward. The next room they found was…

"Huh, upside down room. Normal enough," Chackmon mused as they walked into it...and suddenly they fell upward, landing on the ceiling in a heap. "...upside down room with inverted gravity...great…" he groaned as he was the first to hit the ceiling, and thus everyone fell on him.

The warriors all winced. Places with different gravity were always a pain to deal with.

"I'm just glad you all didn't land on us…" Blake sighed as by luck she, Weiss and the two small Digimon ended up on top of the heap...or was that bottom in this situation?

"Well...aside from vertigo, this isn't so bad…" Arbormon groaned. "We'll probably have to get ready for this again when we leave the room…"

"We can help with part of that at least," Fairymon said as she and Blitzmon picked up the smaller ones, before flying them towards the next area, and despite the sudden shift in gravity again, they managed to remain steady and deposit the two on the ground. The other soon followed and landed on the ground with...mixed results for some of them.

"Gotta work on landing…" Arbormon groaned.

"Honestly though, I'm not seeing what's so bad about this place," Agneyamon mused.

"I can't help but agree," Gnomemon frowned. "So far nothing really out of the ordinary here. Blake, are you sure the Digimon said 'fun house'?"

"Quite sure," Blake nodded. "Though I admit I'm starting to have my doubts too…" she sighed.

"Let's keep moving. We might find something," Chackmon sighed, earning a few nods as the group continued forward.

The next room they arrived to was a much larger room that appeared to be a hall of mirrors, with several funhouse mirrors mixed in too. "Well, I guess it wouldn't be a funhouse without the hall of mirrors," Agneyamon chuckled.

"Hey, am I really that fat?" Neemon asked, as he was looking at a mirror...that made him look like a tub of lard. "Maybe I should go on a diet…" he said... and was rewarded with another waistband slap.

"That's just the mirror making you see things," Bokomon said in annoyance.

"Either way I guess we should keep moving forward," Weiss frowned.

"Right," the others nodded. The group soon ventured into the hall, so far nothing weird beyond the unnerving silence that covered the room.

At first nothing seemed off until… "Did someone hear something?" Blitzmon blinked.

"I...think I did," Blake frowned, looking around, until something caught their attention.

"Over there!" Fairymon gasped, and without thinking moved over to check, Agneyamon going after her, but at the same time…

"Something's over there!" Blitzmon gasped, and chased after whatever she saw, Chackmon running after her.

"Wait, we shouldn't split up!" Arbormon gasped, trying to chase after them to stop them, Gnomemon moving as well...and then the entire room shifted, the mirrors rearranging, and the halls shifting, and before anyone could fully register what was going one, the hall of mirrors had become a veritable labyrinth.

"Oh you have GOT to be kidding me." Weiss groaned as it was just her, Blake, Bokomon and Neemon now.

"I think it's safe to say the info we got wasn't off," Blake frowned. "I just hope the others are okay in...wherever this is…"

"And being separated is one of the worst things to happen." Kouji passively mentioned. Though from the crack now present in Silver's broom handle. It probably wasn't a thing he should've said at the moment.

"They should be fine. They do have the Spirits after all," Bokomon said. However, right as he said that, there were several sounds of battle...and a less than comforting 'flash' effect and sudden silence.

"...unless whoever is doing this has something special set up here…" Weiss groaned.

"We have to keep moving," Blake said grimly. "If whoever is doing this gets us too, it's over for all of us."

"I hope there's a spirit for one of you two around here." Neemon said in worry as they started to walk carefully.

"So do I. If the others have been caught, then we're all in trouble." Bokomon added with a frown.

"Even more reason for us to keep moving," Weiss nodded and they did. However…

"Navigating a maze is hard enough...but a maze of mirrors...that's a nightmare…" Blake frowned deeply, rubbing her face...having ran head first into a mirror. Again.

"That...has to hurt." Junpei winced.

"Not as much as being thrown in or punching them does." Takuya hummed

"...I need ta find y'all a therapist." Silver gave a blank look on her face.

"The reflections everywhere make every direction disorienting…" Weiss frowned. "If only we could tell which were the mirrors and which weren't…"

"Wait!" Blake gasped, before pulling out a small flashlight. "It's not much, but we can use this to find out which paths are mirrors and which aren't."

"That's perfect! We might even be able to use it to find a way out," Weiss nodded in agreement, seeing what Blake was going for. Not wasting any time, Blake immediately switched it on, and the beam from the flashlight reflected off of the mirrors...and started bouncing off of others, pointing them to the path that wasn't full of mirrors.

The group didn't waste time and started following the light. However, as they were doing so, one of the mirrors up ahead rippled...before a form emerged from it, revealing to be Matadormon. "Sneaky sneaky, but sad to say you won't be getting out of my maze!" he smirked.

"Matadormon! It was you who did this?!" Weiss gasped.

"What did you do to our friends?" Blake asked with a growl, her eyes narrowing into slits.

The tall Digimon laughed, before gesturing at the mirrors, which flashed briefly "See for yourselves." he said, and when they looked… they could see their friends frozen within the mirrors, unable to move. "I figured I'd deal with them later. Might as well deal with the weaklings first," he laughed.

"...Jerk." Tomoki glared

"You're not going to get away with this!" Blake glared.

"On the contrary. This is where you start running," Matadormon smirked, pulling out several knives.

"I think he might be right…" Bokomon gulped as the group was forced to run, using the flashlight as a guide, while behind them Matadormon gave chase, throwing his knives throughout the chase...though they had a feeling he was deliberately missing due to how close some of them got.

"He's definitely playing with us!" Weiss said indignantly.

Many choice words were thrown around after Takuya covered Tomoki's ears.

"I don't think we have a choice on that!" Neemon shouted as they had to keep running.

The group was stuck doing just that, as Matadormon wasn't just chasing, he was going in and out of the mirrors to try and get to them...or just scare them...it was hard to tell. Either way, it wasn't long before they had more problems. Namely…

"This is a dead end!" Blake gasped, as the light was reflecting all over with the only way out being well...Matadormon was blocking THAT way.

"End of the line kiddies. Tell ya what, if you get on your knees and beg, then maybe I'll consider adding you to my carnival," Matadormon smirked.

"Sick and twisted-" Takuya cut himself off.

Weiss scowled at him "You have to be daft if you think we'll beg to the likes of you."

"Not to mention I HIGHLY doubt you'd keep your promise!" Blake frowned. "So no, we're NOT begging, and we're not going down without a fight!" she said.

The moment she said that, the mirrors around them started to glow, before lights shot out of them and gathered, before something was revealed within the light. It was a Spirit that seemed to depict a black flak jacket with mirror-like armor attached to it, with a visor on top of the jacket.

"Oh about time." Izumi nodded.

"A Spirit! Someone get it quick!" Bokomon said, to which Weiss and Blake didn't waste time pointing their Digivices at it, to which the Spirit shifted...and entered Blake's Digivice, the symbol of Metal appearing on the screen.

"Hurry!" Weiss shouted, too focused on the situation to care about her not getting a Spirit again, especially since Matadormon had grabbed a fresh bunch of knives.

(Play 'With the Will')

Gray points of light appeared and soon traced the outline of the Spirit, before the scene shifted out to reveal the screen of the Digivice, before Blake pulled it away, and held up her hand, a ring of Fractal Code appearing around it, to which she brought it to her Digivice and scanned it. "Spirit...Evolution!" she called out, the ring flying off of her hand, and soon spiraled around her, her clothes burning off and her body taking a darker tone. Armor began forming around her arms, legs, and torso while a 'mask' emerged from her face, armor forming around that. A grid appeared in front and behind her, with the armors all aligning and pressing into her, before her eyes flashed brightly, revealing a new form. Her eyes were hidden behind a silver visor, with a grey hood covering the top of her head, while she wore a black, armored flak jacket over her torso, the rest of her body covered in light armor that seemed to be made out of mirrors, and she had a tanto sheathed over her shoulder "Kaleidmon!"

"She looks so cool" Tomoki grinned

"And a thousand times better than Mercuremon"

Digimon Analyzer: Kaleidmon

Kaleidmon. Free Type. A Reflection Digimon. A Digimon possessing power over metals and mirrors, inherited from an ancient warrior. A stealthy and strategic fighter born from data on feudal japan's most secretive warriors, she makes use of a variety of tricks and tactics to completely outmaneuver her enemies, while turning their force against them. Her special attacks are Mirror Clone, creating clones that reflect attacks back to the enemy, and Trick Tools, using a variety of weapons and tools to lock down her enemies.

"Fancy trick, but it won't save you!" Matadormon smirked, throwing a barrage of knives at the group.

Kaleidmon didn't waste any time, immediately grabbing Weiss, Bokomon, and Neemon, right as the knives hit...before there was a quick flash and the group seemingly shattered into glass fragments.

"What?!" Matadormon gasped, right before he felt a presence behind him, followed by a slash as a blade cut into his back. He shouted in pain, stumbling forward before quickly turning to see Kaleidmon with her ninjato drawn, Weiss, Bokomon, and Neemon safely behind her. "You're not bad kid, but I'm a professional!" Matadormon said, readying his arms and surging forward. "Thousand Arrow!" he called out, attacking with the blades hidden in his arms.

"Not gonna work" Kouji shook his head.

"Yeah the warriors of steel have big advantages around mirrors...why is that?" Takuya asked

"They use to be made of metal, which is what the warriors of steel are more actratly of." Silver mused. "There's more to that but Ill leave that till after"

"Mirror Clone," Kaleidmon said simply, making a single handed seal, before stepping back, leaving a copy of herself where she'd once stood, the attacks hitting the copy instead...right before Matadormon was pushed back, feeling like his own attack had hit him instead, while the copy shattered into glass shards. Before he could move to counter, three kunai came flying and embedded into the ground, forming a triangle around him, before a triangular pyramid of what appeared to be glass formed around him. "It's over," Kaleidmon said simply.

"Not until the fat lady sings!" Matadormon growled. "Thousand Arrow!" he unleashed his attack, intending to break through the glass...but instead he felt the force rebound...which soon pinballed all over inside the barrier, hitting him from so many angles, till eventually the barrier went up in a big explosion, damaging him severely till his body darkened and his Fractal Codes were exposed.

"Soul that reflects the evil of the heart, sleep within the mirror's reflection," Kaleidmon intoned, pulling out her Digivice and pressing the button on the side as the symbol of Metal appeared. "Fractal Code...Scan!" she declared, scanning the Fractal Code, sucking it in, to which Matadormon's form receded into a wireframe egg which soon floated away.

"Oh thank frick th horror is over!" The six warriors leaned away from Silver.

(End Song)

With Matadormon gone, several mirrors glowed before releasing their friends who reverted back to human form upon landing, all of them looking a bit dazed. "What happened…?" Ruby groaned.

Kaleidmon smirked a bit "Just the fun house closing down."

Unnoticed by the group however, was a green armored figure observing them from within one of the mirror shards, a smirk coming to them "9 down and 1 to go... and soon... our time will come."

"Well that's a note to end on...So faunus?" Kouichi asked as the book floated out of his hands.

"A race from their world visibly almost identical to humans except for a single animal trait somewhere on their body. Be it like blakes where they have an extra set of ears, or a tail, fins excet. This typically gives them some sort of not visible advantage too."

"Sounds pretty cool" Takuya grinned

"Would be if racism wasn't a big deal in remnant still" muttered Silver to herself.

I must admit this took me a lot longer to complete than I wanted...mostly because I am in fact Horrible with horror elements...also the fact I'm trying to write my own book so…

Anyways Ill try having the next two ch up sooner.