Disclaimer: It's highly unlikely with all the swearing and way to close one-hit fights that I have the rights to Digimon. Though my early chapters make me cringe like the early episodes of the English dub, so hey I have a chance.

FanAuthor's Note: In good faith I started this chapter right after finishing Part 4. Let's see when this actually comes out.

Chapter 18: Dragon/Beast War Part 5

/30 miles out of java City, 2 hours and 25 minutes spent.

"Colin, hang in there! Please, we're almost at the gate, just keep it together!"

Despite his girlfriend's pleas, the boy wasn't stirring. This only caused Asami to call out to him more, when she wasn't looking back and moving out of the way of an incoming enemy attack.

After having been body-checked by Ginryumon and further damage done after he wrecked their D-Arcs, Colin and Dmitri had both fallen unconscious due to the pain. Asami had heard nothing about if it were possible to lose consciousness while "in the game", and after what happened to Colin back on Mirror Lake she worried about how badly their health would be affected by this. Both of the Tamers' digital avatars were deforming and reforming as per usual for a person or Digimon that's suffered heavy damage.

The Turuiemon that were carrying both Colin and Dmitri were doing their best to securely hold the boys, though the long retreat and constant peppering assault from behind made it hard to do so.

For as far as their eyes could see, the small force of Beast Digimon were running across a hill covered field, with small patches of grass springing up here and there. Trash bins similar to the designs shown on computers were spread across it, each one carrying sinks, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, or car engines. Not that anyone had time to take in the strange scenery, especially with Dramon forces hitting and destroying them in their attempts to strike the Beast Digimon.

Running alongside the Turuiemon who was carrying Colin, Asami came up close to the boy's face and cried out to him. Looking back at the human, the Digimon spoke in an impatient but understanding manner.

"He's going to be fine, but only if we manage to make it into neutral territory. We can claim sanctuary once there, but we need to focus on running. I'll keep him safe; just make sure to run on your own."

Getting what the Turuiemon was saying, Asami planted a small kiss on her unconscious boyfriend's forehead and moved as fast as she could, getting a bit ahead of the burdened Digimon.

Stirring within the arms of the Renamon that was carrying him (to great pains, as he is a ball of fire), DemiMeramon looked about and saw the situation they were in. 2 of the 8 Turuiemon that went with them have been deleted, and a particularly wounded Renamon had to be shouldered by another as they ran. Asami was still running with Kapurimon in her arms, and as for his own partner…

"Dmitri!"

He didn't stir, causing the Digimon partner to panic. Seeing how frantic the little fireball was getting, the Turuiemon responsible for Dmitri turned to the In-Training Digimon and tried to reassure him.

"It's all right, little buddy. I've seen cases like his before; he's hurt but mostly stable."

"Dread Fire!"

The DarkLizamon had gotten closer again, close enough to have their attacks be within firing range. That particular blast struck the ground near some Renamon, though they were safe from most of the flying debris.

One of the Tamer-free Turuiemon spoke to the red-veiled Renamon, speeding up his pace as much as he could.

"Where exactly are we headed? It'll take forever to go around those guys through Broadband Forest, and I doubt they'll slow down their pace enough for us to escape them or get out of sight."

"Which is why we'll do neither; we'll go to where they can see exactly where we are, and do nothing all the same."

The fleeing Beast forces dropped down a rather steep hill, sliding down farther than most of them thought it would go. Realizing that the dip was in fact leading them down to a valley, some of the Turuiemon looked panicky as they had no idea where they were headed now.

"By Baihumon's mane, where's a Deva when you need one? How are we going to get back to the ROM Forest with these lizards on our tails?"

"Steady yourself, Turuiemon: we have friends here."

"Who? What Digimon live in an empty spot like this?"

As if in answer, the ground ahead of them started to rumble and give way, seemingly sinking beneath the surface. This only startled the Turuiemon more, causing the Renamon in the group to either sigh or roll their eyes. From out of the dust clouds kicked up from the collapse, walls started to rise out of the hole made in the ground, before towers started shooting up at the corners too. Within the walls rose a mighty factory, one that looked like it never gave off foul fumes or polluting gases.

Asami, while doing her best not to slip and tumble the rest of the way down, was in awe of the mechanical fortress emerging as if to meet them.

The red-veiled Renamon reached the bottom first, reaching out an arm to grab Asami and steady the girl to the ground as well. The rest of the Digimon fared alright on their own, not coming down to fast nor tripping up and landing on their faces. Venturing into the dust cloud alone, the red-veiled Renamon called out to whoever occupied this factory.

"Andromon! Valiant Andromon, we seek your aid! We are making a pilgrimage back to ROM Forest with the holy Human and Beast Spirits of Light and Water! Pursuing us are the forces of the Dragon-Dinosaur Confederacy! Please, we seek sanctuary within your walls!"

A loud whirring sound blasted out, and after a short while the remaining dust clouds were blown away. On the castle walls holes housing giant fans were spinning fiercely. The view of the factory now clear, the Beast faction Digimon could look up on the ramparts and see Guardromon and Solarmon lining the walls. In the center was Andromon, more reddish-bronze in color than the usual color most Andromon are shown to have.

"Renamon. I remember you from the early days. Seems I was mistaken to think you wouldn't be involved in this "war" nonsense."

"If not for the aggression upon my people, I would not-"

Raising up a hand in protest, Andromon called for Renamon to cease defending herself.

"Spare me your excuses; I've had my fill of those. Even if I was interested in joining your war, Hi-Andromon decrees that none of the aligned factories are to join your battles."

"Fine, don't join! But please, my bo…boyfriend is injured, and so is our friend! You must have something you can lend us!"

Turning his attention to her, Andromon could see the urgency in Asami's eyes. Looking at the wounded Tamers, the machine Digimon seemed to consider the young woman's request.

"Our orders are clear: we are forbidden from joining your fight."

"You cannot be se-"

"However, that does not keep us from aiding in either side's escape, or transportation to a location away from our factories. Blimpmon?"

Rising above the walls of the fortified factory, a large zeppelin like Digimon soared over to the Beast Faction Digimon. Its front had a large spike protruding out of it, and its sides it possessed arms (of course it did), with propellers further back on both sides. The top of the Digimon had long barrels for its twin cannons, located behind its face shaped like a compartment. On its underbelly appeared to be a general compartment for passengers, apparently.

Seeing his "cargo", the massive Digimon blared out in a voice equal to a megaphone.

"Well you heard the boss, get on board! Either enter or stay and get deleted, but make it quick!"

Not appreciating the attitude of their "ride", but not being dumb enough to vocally make their complaints known, the Beast Digimon and Tamers rushed onto the extending ramp that Blimpmon was unfolding in their direction. The Turuiemon looking after Dmitri and Colin carefully leapt onto the ramp one at a time, with a couple of Renamon jumping up quickly to help balance them.

Asami and Shotaro had to be tossed up to Digimon with free hands, a Renamon and Turuiemon each, so that they could speed up their escape.

This is due to the fact that DarkLizamon were sliding down the hill now, and upon catching sight of their targets once more they restarted firing upon them.

"Dread Fire!"

"Keep at it, bring that oversized balloon down! Dread Fire!"

Some free advice, to all those following this tale: it's best not to antagonize things that are bigger than you. Especially if they happen to have two huge cannons strapped onto it. Perhaps not the best idea.

Blimpmon retracted the ramp, with the two conscious Tamers still on it and struggling to keep it that way as it rustled. Once they were both safely inside, Blimpmon turned to face his attackers, while flipping over his two cannons in front of him and in their direction.

"Let it be known, if Beast or Dramon are fools enough to fire upon us, we have no rule that prevents us from returning fire. Zeppelin Explosion!"

Two massive cannonballs crashed into the hill, blowing apart a trio of DarkLizamon and sending various others flying in all different directions. Their MAGAMI hired Tamers stopped at the top of the hill, suddenly locking eyes with the massive Digimon as it rose further.

"Feel free to continue attacking, but know that I will fire upon you as much as I would your partners. I take it you've heard what happens to Tamers harmed in my world?"

All of the MAGAMI Tamers nodded. Well, one looked blankly in confusion, but his colleague elbowed him roughly and he just nodded out of fear.

"Would you like to experience that for yourselves, or are we don't with pointless fights for the day?"

The majority of the Tamers quickly hit the evacuate button on their Digivices and flew off out of the world in pillars of light. Those who forgot they could do this simply fled in the other direction, their remaining DarkLizamon running behind them.

Sighing in annoyance at the whole ordeal, Blimpmon continued to rising, now a good 20 or 40 feet clear of the ground and turning slowly so as to change course.

/Flying over Fractured Plateaus, 3 hours spent

"So I'm to take you lot back to ROM Forest, is that it?"

Blimpmon's voice echoed through a speaker that was…built into the inside of his body. Granted, his insides were rather cozy, with couches and normal in-flight seats arranged in an orderly manner, and in place of a captain's cabin was a television screen, a table, and a mini-fridge in the corner.

The Turuiemon were busy carefully putting down Colin and Dmitri, with DemiMeramon bouncing out of a Renamon's arms (she was grateful to no longer being responsible for a fireball) and floating near Dmitri, who still hasn't stirred. Meanwhile, the still unconscious Maul in Wanyamon form was placed on a cushion suited for In-Training Digimon (what with them usually being nothing more than a hopping head or ball).

Speaking once more for the Beast Faction, the red-veiled Renamon agreed to this.

"Indeed, we have to return with what we've retrieved."

"Yes, the Spirit Relics, or Ancient Armors. Whatever term the rest of you use for them these days. Nonsense really, but whatever; it's not my fight."

"Oh? So you would have no objections to either my side or the Dramon obtaining the Spirits of Met-"

Before she could finish Blimpmon jostled a little, shaking those within the cabinet slightly. Asami had to push on Colin's body to keep him from falling and hitting the floor. Biting back her anger over this, Asami eyed Renamon instead, since the only reason Blimpmon pulled that stunt is because she felt like messing with him. Unseen due to the fox's veil covering her mouth, Asami failed to see the Renamon smiling, as if proud of provoking Blimpmon.

"Fairy tale or not, your paws aren't going anywhere near our relics."

"Apologies, Blimpmon. I merely meant that as a jest. I had not thought you to be concerned with spiritual matters."

A couple of the other Renamon started to attend to Colin and Dmitri, all the while Asami nursed Colin's head. One of the Renamon took note of this, finding her attitude strange.

"Miss Asami, is it? It's not my place to comment on a "player's" choices, but surely you know that the boy's avatar is in no real danger?"

Giving this Renamon a cold glance before returning her gaze to Colin's forehead, Asami responded back at her.

"'No real danger'? He took a hit from a Seadramon back on our File Island, and from what he told me his arm actually started bleeding in real life from where he was struck. Pain transfers over to our real bodies, for whatever reason. So no, I'm not choosing to be concerned over him, I am concerned."

"My apologies, I had heard rumors but didn't think much of them. Regardless, I can see that he's not conscious due to that Digimon's attack. I can offer some assistance in fixing that."

Hesitantly scooching over, Asami allowed the Renamon to kneel over Colin. The paws of the fox Digimon started to glow green as she moved them over Colin's avatar body.

Program Activate! Super Charge Applied!

A green orb flew out of Renamon, flying into Colin and causing the boy to glow. He began to stir, like from out of a night terror flailing about in pain.

"Graah, aahh! What the hell?!"

His avatar shimmered a bit, before settling down as the healing effect of the Super Charge item took hold. Looking all around him, Colin held his head as if he was suffering from a headache.

"What is going on, where are we? Last thing I remember… is getting a spear through my shoulder, because that asshole had his Digimon target my D-Arc."

Bringing up his Digivice in front of his face, Colin saw the damage done to it. The screen was messed up, to the point that he could barely make out the words on it and parts of the cracked screen were just black. Growling in anger, he slammed his against the wall behind him.

"Hayate…I'm going to get that bastard for this. I bet he's laughing right now, holding up those Spirits as a trophy."

"Actually…"

Noticing Asami for the first time since regaining consciousness, Colin's gaze drifted to her as she spoke.

"That lead Renamon over there managed to swipe them during the fight. We had a large group of Dramon Tamers and their Digimon chasing after us because she managed to get her paws on them."

Colin tried to stand up and walk over to her, but he was still rather weak from the damage he took. Instead, he managed to sit himself upright and slump up against the wall, waving over for Asami to come and sit down next to him.

Smiling a little, seeing that he was somewhat okay, she did so and set Kapurimon down beside her as she snuggled up next to Colin. He stretched an arm around her, twirling one of her avatar's pigtails in his hand while she rested her head against his shoulder.

"When I saw that you weren't moving, I couldn't help but think back to when Seadramon struck you on Mirror Lake. If I had just been paying attention to my surroundings, I'd-"

"Hey, do not blame yourself for what happened. That creep was way too fast, I was lucky to have been able to do anything back then."

"I'm tired of seeing you get hurt whenever we get into a fight."

Bringing his head down on top of hers, Colin hugged her lightly as he replied to her.

"Trust me, I'm getting tired of getting hit too. I'll try to work on avoiding that, but if it's another scenario where you're in trouble, I'm going to prioritize protecting you over suffering a lump or two."

Poking his stomach firmly with two fingers, Asami frowned at this bit of bravado.

"A tail slap from a Seadramon, or getting tackled by whatever-the-hell that douche's Digimon was, are both a lot more than just getting a 'lump'. Especially now that I've seen what Ogremon did to those Tamers back on File Island…"

Colin thought back to how his arm was bleeding after coming out of the terminal when Seadramon and Hyogamon had dealt with him. If there are more Tamers out there like Hayate, then quite a few people are having their Digimon partners attack and injure other players. Whether or not they know that they can cause serious damage while doing so is unclear, but the incident with Ogremon had the Cyber Sheep's lobby become the focus of the evening news. It had to be getting out there that players can and have been hurt in this "game".

The Renamon had also healed Dmitri by this point, who just woke up as well at and was finding himself similarly weakened from earlier damage. He was staying quiet, sulking into his knees as he sat on the ground. Dmitri wasn't so much cradling himself as he was darkly contemplating, having suffered his second serious loss, even with his fused Ultimate. Dmitri made sure not to ignore his concerned partner, motioning in way that he'd pet him…if not for being made of fire, that is. DemiMeramon was happy with the gesture.

Shotaro seemed to having something that was bothering him as well, though seeing what his new friends were going through (being injured, concerned with their boyfriend's health, suffering from a losing streak), he felt like keeping his complaints to himself; for now, anyway.

Silence passed for a while, before Colin felt like certain bits of information had to be addressed.

"So…that was your sister?"

"…yeah, that was Aiko. My older sister."

"Well, she seems-"

"You can say it, she's an utter bitch."

"Damn. I mean I do think she's unpleasant, but I wouldn't go so far as to call her a-"

"Colin, she's been making everything between us a competition since I was five. It can't just be that I want something, suddenly I have to be challenged whenever I try something new. I run for student council, she runs an opposing campaign and does whatever's possible, not necessary but possible, to beat me. There's a band I want to go see, she buys out the nice seats for herself and some friends, while I'm stuck fighting over scraps left. Nothing I do is safe from her trying to take it from me, apparently not even Digimon!"

Colin lifted his head up from hers, looking down at Asami in shock and surprise. Before Asami had kept a lot of her background secret, revealing only bits and pieces. This revelation of what she's had to deal with at home unsettled him, not because of the content but because he couldn't figure out a way to comfort her properly over it.

Sensing that she'd caused this, Asami sat up and took one of Colin's hands in-between two of hers, grasping them warmly as she looked up into his eyes.

"It's not a big deal, since she doesn't always 'win'. Honestly, she's already done the worst possible thing to me. Not much else for a sister to do after betraying me the way she did."

Having honestly no idea what she meant by that, Colin looked at Asami with an extremely puzzled look on his face. She stalled on continuing for quite some time, before finding the courage to speak about this subject.

"You remember what I was saying to Aiko back in java City? I know you were listening, I saw you turn your head towards us a couple of times. You know, about how she stole Hayate from me?"

Suddenly remembering her saying that, Colin is tongue tied as to what to say. Settling on just nodding for now, Asami took this as a sign to continue talking.

"I met Hayate at a friend's house party. Wasn't there to check out boys or anything, I just wanted to hang out with some old friends. He was playing some card game with the other guys, and winning of course. I'll admit, I thought he was cute, but that wasn't what I liked about him."

"I'm not judging you. Remember what I said about Shelby?"

Smiling a little, Asami traced a circle on Colin's chest with her finger.

"Who said Hayate was my first?"

He grunted in an annoyed tone. Asami giggled a little at his reaction, but continued on with her story.

"Anyway, we were play that stupid party game, 7 Minutes in Heaven, and some other guy and I were selected. I didn't know this guy prior to that night, and he clearly didn't think much of me as he whined and went on about how he was stuck with the 'spoiled brat'."

"You, spoiled?"

"Hey, if you see a rich kid, one must immediately assume they're given everything they've ever wanted and have no idea about other people's hardships. Plus I'm not as developed as my friend Fumi, who he really wanted to be with, so there's that."

"Did you really care what this guy thought of you?"

"It's not him, more so the fact that guys tend to pass me over in the real world quite a bit. You saw Aiko, her avatar is basically what she looks like in real life. No fake red pigtails, tall, and with her bust…"

"I rather not think of your sister right now."

He didn't say that intending for a reward, but the tight squeezing hug Colin received was certainly enjoyed.

"Yeah well, this story involves her. Hayate that night was the only one who was happy to volunteer to stay 7 minutes in a closet with me, as all the other guys backed out, either because they already had girlfriends or just weren't interested in me. He was…sweet. I know, not easy to believe, but he seemed actually interested in me. And when a week later, he texted me asking if I wanted to go see a movie with him, why would I say no? Since when does some guy ask me out? The last time a guy liked me, Aiko had him kicked out of school."

"That Kaito kid you two were talking about earlier."

"Yeah, and that wasn't enough for her. 3 months we were together, then one day Hayate cancels a date we had planned for a boat ride along the coast. I thought little of it, he gets busy sometimes with trying to become a pro gamer. But then my friends started sending me pictures of him and Aiko on said boat, touching each other's' arms and sharing glances. I ask him about it and he says he just happened to meet her there, that nothing happened. I ask him why he was even on the boat, after he said he'd cancelled out trip, and he couldn't answer. I didn't so much break up with him then as say I didn't want to see him ever again. But guess what of course happened?"

Having a bad feeling about where this tale was headed, Colin didn't want to answer.

"I really don't want to guess."

"A week after this, I'm coming back home with 2 friends after having gone shopping. I go up to my room to drop my things off, while my friends head to the kitchen to get a snack. When I came back down, I heard shouting and accusations being hurled. Racing down stairs, thinking that my two friends had suddenly gotten into a fight with one another, instead it turns out they had just caught Aiko making out with Hayate in our living room. There were lipstick marks all over him, and Aiko isn't normally one to wear lipstick. So it wasn't enough that she knew I'd be back in time to catch her, she had to mark him up specifically so that when I came in, I could see that he was "her's."

"…didn't this spineless bastard even bother to give an excuse as to why he dropped you for her?"

"With Miu and Emi on his case? He barely got out of our house alive."

Those two sound like excellent friends; though if they saw me, they'd likely be on high alert with Asami, and from the sounds of it for good reason.

"So that's what you've been dealing with back at home?"

"Oh my father got me a private room in some friend of his hotel. If I had stayed in the same house as that bitch, there'd be a murderous scandal the Kaneko family wouldn't have recovered from."

A small approving smile formed on Colin's face, which Asami caught.

"What, like to hear how you're girlfriend contemplates ridding the world of her sister?"

"You don't hold a monopoly on wanting to lose some family members."

Now it was Asami's turn to wait eagerly for a story.

"Oh? Do you have some secret older brother who you have a vendetta against?"

"What do I look like, a Naruto character?"

"Well sorry. Seriously though, who makes Colin Ursa so angry that he'd want to kill them?"

Getting rather serious and dry in tone, Colin straightened up more as he answered, though he clearly didn't want to say more afterwards.

"My father."

This chilled the room a bit, with the Turuiemon and Renamon in the background perking up at this bit in their conversation, and even Dmitri from his sulk startled to general awareness upon hearing Colin's answer.

Asami, despite her own jovial claim of wanting her sister dead, was rather disturbed by this.

"Colin…is it something you want to talk about?"

He looked at her and smiled warmly, patting her left cheek while he answered.

"I do owe you that story, after you were kind enough to tell me yours. But not right now. I think we've both had a fill dwelling on those people."

Touching his hand on her cheek with both of her own and nodding, Asami dropped the matter.

Kudamon circled around Shotaro's shoulders, bringing his mouth to his Tamer's ear so as to whisper quietly.

"When are you going to tell them that those two were the ones who soloed MegaSeadramon?"

Hushing his partner, Shotaro tried to whisper back as quietly as possible.

"Well certainly not now, neither of them really seem to want to talk about those two anymore."

Despite that, Colin did have one last thing to say on the matter. Well, sort of.

"I'm going to take Shin up on his offer."

Dmitri and Asami perked up at this, confused as to what Colin was referring to.

"Offer, what offer?"

"What's the old lion up to?"

"After you two left last time, Shin told me, or rather Maul that he wants to take us under his wing. To train us, especially since we do have a habit of over relying on cards and last he saw BlueMeramon had already run into trouble."

Both of his friends looked rather offended by this, though Shotaro was stifling a chuckle as he recalled Asami mentioning that they did use a lot of their Battle Cards back on their File Island just to edge out a win.

"Really, Shin's going to act like we haven't carried ourselves all this time?! That freaking mangy-"

"It's not our fault that we were regularly ambushed, the cards were our best way of surviving!"

Colin listened to the both of them, before interrupting in defense of Shin.

"Guys, we lost today, badly. The only reason the mission was a success is because Renamon had her eye on the ball."

The red-veiled Renamon looked at Colin quizzically, causing the young man to have to explain the phrase.

"It's a saying, meaning you kept yourself focused on the task at hand."

"Ah. Then you honor me, Colin. But I was only able to secure our prize thanks to your valiant efforts."

That had better not been sarcasm.

"Point being, we could have lost big time today if not for Renamon, and the quick retreat the Turuiemon and others provided. By the way, thanks guys. I know carrying me around mustn't have been fun."

The Turuiemon who were responsible for carrying Dmitri and Colin nodded, though one of them waved off the idea of it being a burden.

"It's not big deal, you human are pretty light."

…not sure that's a compliment, but I don't see why I'd want to weigh more.

Asami seemed to understand Shin's reasoning now, though was still annoyed at the thought of needing more work than she and Kotemon have already put in. Then she remembered how Aiko's artificial partner was able to dodge and speed past DinoHyumon,

If I'm going to be able to beat…no, if I want Kotemon to survive another encounter with Aiko and her robot, I should suck up my pride and agree to train with Shin as well.

Dmitri was still not happy about the idea. His friends accurately guessed that part of the reason is that it would require listening to Shin. There was, however, the other matter of his pride.

Since File Island, Dmitri had presented himself in a controlled manner, for the most part, and had maintained a steady lead over the other two. When they looked to be catching up, it was his Digimon whose possible Ultimate form was used as the base for the DNA Digivolution union, not Kumamon's or Kotemon's. He was the one who had a slight advantage, and that competitive side of him has taken a serious blow with BlueMeramon's recent fairings. Cyberdramon was a shock to the system, but even that was fair in the sense that he was simply a more experienced Ultimate Digimon.

Hayate managed to beat BlueMeramon with a Champion.

Or at least out last BlueMeramon, and subdue him momentarily so that his Champion could kill off SuperStarmon, so if he hadn't been fighting two to three other Digimon at the same time it was possible he could have focused on BlueMeramon and finished him off. Hayate's comment about needing to gang up on him was ringing inside Dmitri's head, and it pissed him off to no end.

"Would you guys mind if I joined you in training? Shin wouldn't mind, would he?"

The three of them turned their gazes towards Shotaro, who was feeling rather anxious with all of them looking at him now. Seeing this, Asami giggled a little and reassured their new friend.

"Nah, he should be fine with it. More than likely, we'll be worked more than him, so I don't see why he'd mind."

"You mean we'll be worked. You and your friends will just have to lay off of providing healing items while doing so, Mis…Asami."

Spooked a bit by Kapurimon suddenly speaking after staying quiet so long, the Tamer laughed guilty as it dawned on her that yeah, it would be the Digimon training primarily. The one thing Tamers do in battle would be put on hold, so not much work on their part.

One of the Turuiemon spoke up, singing Shotaro's praises.

"Good job out their Shotaro, and you especially Kudamon. Taking down a DarkTyrannomon is no small thing. I'm sure WereGarurumon will…be less rude towards you. Than normal… ah who are we kidding, the boss will still be a bit of a jerk. But no one else should be giving your trouble for a while, once word gets out that you can hold your own."

Shotaro blushed redder than a traffic light, while Kudamon proudly puffed out his chest and chuckled triumphantly. The other three Tamers, on the other hand…

"Oh that's nice, you beat your opponents did you?"

Noting the bitter tone in Asami's voice, Shotaro recalled how his victory came at the expense of not assisting Asami in her fight with her sister. Looking directly at her, he could see the girl was forcing a smile in an effort to be supporting. It was…rather unnerving.

"Oh, you got to beat a DarkTyrannomon? That's nice."

Now Colin was getting sour as well. Shotaro's victory was tasting less joyous with each passing minute. He would normally say he's thankful that Dmitri didn't join in with the moody congratulations, but the way the young man continued to sulk seemed to just add to his friend's comments. Now feeling guilty, Shotaro tried to play off his win.

"I mean, they were really fighting themselves as much as they were fighting me. The Monochromon Tamer didn't even stick around; he ghosted right after Reppamon finished off DarkTyrannomon. They were mostly just tiring themselves out trying to tag my partner."

Realizing how much that sounded like bragging the minute he had finished speaking, Shotaro immediately regretted what he had said.

"Hey guys, three cheers for our victor. Hip hip-"

Colin gave out a unconvincing 'yay', while Dmitri remained sulkily silent. Asami repeated the 'hip hip' command, followed by yet another unconvincing yay from Colin, which Kapurimon joined in on. Shotaro was frantically trying to "take back" his win somehow, to which Asami saw how sad he was becoming and ceased teasing him.

"Dude, sorry; we were just messing with you. It's great that you got a win in. Even better that you alone kept the Dramon side from claiming a complete victory for their Tamers."

Calming down a bit, Shotaro definitely seemed better hearing this.

Wanyamon finally started him stir himself, fidgeting violently as he shook himself awake. Surprised and a little frightened by his unexpected surroundings, he called out to his partner.

"Colin! Colin, where are you?!"

"I'm over here buddy. I'd get up, but I still feel like crap from that hit."

Maul hopped off of the cushion he was placed on and moved towards his Tamer, who opened out his arms to catch him. The little cat-like Digimon snuggled in Colin's chest, which Asami found so adorable to view.

"I remember seeing that Ginryumon jerk attack you, and being stuck against that rock. You are okay, aren't you?"

"For the most part, bud. The Renamon were nice enough to heal me up, though I'm a bit too tired to stand right now."

Turning around to try and identify the Digimon who had helped his partner, Maul locked eyes with the red-veiled Renamon. For whatever reason, this caused the little cub to digivolve right into Kumamon without prompting or a power-up from Colin. Looking down at his partner, he could see Maul was stiff with what looked to be an embarrassed face, blushing deep red beneath his fur.

Knowing how she'd look, Colin peeked over at Asami, whose face had changed from smiling at how cute Maul was being to motherly annoyance, with a hint of "what did I say?" tossed in. Maul's obvious crush on the lead Renamon was something they certainly need to address.

Whispering directly into her ear, Colin tried to stall that conversation he needed to have.

"Look, we can talk to him about it after we land. Maybe best not to chide him right in front of her?"

"Fine, but we need to agree that this can't happen. I hate being the 'bad guy' here, but I rather be the bad guy than be in the middle of a love triangle battle royal if Maul or WereGarurumon do something stupid over this."

"I know, I know…"

"Know what, Colin?"

Maul seemed to have heard the last bit of their conversation, so Asami and Colin quickly acted like they weren't speaking about anything important.

"Nothing buddy, silly stuff."

"You know, whether it will be raining when we get back to our world, if he missed that Yankees game…"

It just occurred to Colin that he might just have missed the Yankees game that day. And they were having a pretty good season so far too.

"Ah fuck."

/Outside of ROM Forest, 3 hours and 55 minutes spent.

Finally making it back to Beast Digimon Territory, the small force evacuated their flying ally. It was a good thing that they did, as once Shotaro and Kudamon had hopped off of his ramp, Blimpmon started to glow and shrink, before suddenly appearing as a smaller, bright orange recolor of Hagurumon. Most of the other Digimon paid little attention to this and started to walk down the path into ROM Forest, though a solitary Turuiemon remained behind to address the Machine Digimon.

"Solarmon, are you out of power? I would have thought you'd just turn around and return home after dropping us off."

Scoffing, the floating gear Digimon moved past the curious rabbit Digimon and followed the others.

"Carrying you lot around cost more energy than I thought it would. I'm going to refuel in your area, before I can be headed anywhere. That a problem?"

The Turuiemon shook his head, confounded by the Rookie Digimon's attitude.

"No no, our rules are much more lax than your groups. So long as you're not an enemy, you can rest and supply yourself in our borders as you like.

The Solarmon said nothing more, just continuing on with the returning Beast Forces.

All of the Tamer's partners were back to Rookie form by now, and for the most part healthy enough. Kotemon was quiet, reflecting upon the doppelganger he'd faced earlier, while Candlemon kept looking worriedly up at Dmitri. Maul meanwhile, was trailing behind Colin, avoiding the gaze of the lead Renamon whenever she happened to look back.

This is the second time she's seen me unconscious. Man, she must think I'm the least cool Digimon around. I just can't seem to win a fight these days.

Maul's unconscious reason for digivolving independently seems to stem from the fact that Renamon saw him in his In-Training form. In essence, having his crush see him as a weak child.

Kotemon, on the other hand, was having something of a silent identity crisis.

Back on File Island…my File Island, I was the only Kapurimon around. There were plenty of Yokomon and Agumon and the like, but only I looked like this. I had no issue with it, I felt special. Perhaps that was arrogant of me. But to come across another Kotemon and for it to be an Artificial one…are there not many Kotemon out there? Why am I sentient, while Asami's sibling's partner is not?

Colin and Dmitri didn't need much help walking at this point, though every once in a while they would stumble a little the further into the forest they went. Shotaro and Asami helped catch them when they did, though Dmitri was much more irritable now and wouldn't take kindly to the assistance.

Groups of Mushroomon and Kougamon were moving crates and various boxes up and down the tree-top city as Asami's returning party came in. Making their way to the Sacred Cedar Clearing, they saw WereGarurumon instructing a group of Lopmon, Terriermon, and some Turuiemon that hadn't gone with them on their mission.

WereGarurumon noticed them coming close, and seeing that the red-veiled Renamon was uninjured a genuinely warm smile appeared on his face. Quickly dismissing his students, he came up to her and gave her a huge hug, lifting her into the air as he did so.

"You've returned, darling! You're not hurt, I hope?"

"Of course not, my Lord. It'll take more than a few Dramon to harm me. More importantly…"

Waving over the other two Renamon, the two fox Digimon presented WereGarurumon with the Human and Beast Spirits of Light, as well as the Human and Beast Spirits of Water. WereGarurumon inspected them all, with a happy reverence radiating off of him. At the snap of his fingers, two Gaomon came over to retrieve the relics.

"Place them at the altar. I'll arrange them personally later."

Nodding in acknowledgement, the two Digimon left. Knowing that he shouldn't push it with the wolf, but feeling that it had to be said, Colin spoke to the Beast/Plant leader.

"If I recall, you said that only the Spirits of Light were in that city. Yet we ended up having to retrieve two of them."

"Oh, did I? Must have slipped my mind. Still, would you have preferred to hand over the other set of Spirits to the Dramon then?"

The idea of giving anything willingly to Hayate, save a punch to the face, was not at all appealing to Colin or Asami. Taking their silence as an answer in the negative, WereGarurumon smiled and continued speaking.

"Regardless, well done. Our differences aside, you three are quite capable, being able to cross neutral territory and come back with our holy relics none the worse for wear."

"Actually-"

Asami stepped back and grabbed Shotaro, gently shoving the boy forward as she spoke, presenting him to the growing number of assembling Digimon.

"Shotaro and Kudamon had the best showing out of all us, as they were able to defeat their opponent and force another to flee. We basically just held the line while Renamon snagged the Spirits."

This news did appear to surprise WereGarurumon, who looked upon Shotaro with a less disappointed gaze. A bunch of the surrounding Digimon also seemed a bit impressed by Kudamon and his Tamer, though a few still seemed annoyed by their previous failings.

Asami was going to continue, but the red-veiled Renamon spoke before she could.

"While the young Tamer Shotaro has certainly grown in skill since his previous engagement, it would wrong to ignore the achievements of these 3. This girl in particular shows great potential, and her two companions put up quite a show with their combined partner BlueMeramon."

At this, WereGarurumon raised an eyebrow, and a cruel grin appeared.

"Oh, the matchstick that got trounced by Cyberdramon? How did he fare this time around, my dear?"

Colin and Dmitri prepared for the public shame they were likely to face. Not that either of them cared for the surrounding Digimon's opinions, but neither of them would be happy with either Maul or Candlemon getting harassed for trying their best. However…

"If not for their efforts, I would not have been able to slip by SuperStarmon and take the Spirits. They knocked their opponent's Digimon back to his rookie level, and would have likely done more had we not seen fit to retreat with prize in hand."

The lead Renamon had chosen to embellish the tale of their fight, highlighting the good parts while leaving out the less glorious parts of the story. Colin looked at Maul's crush in a new light, appreciating what she did most likely for Maul's sake. Dmitri on the other hand clenched his fist in annoyance, as while he was happy to not have needless criticism come from cowards who wouldn't go get their relics themselves, he knew how badly he and Candlemon did. Colin hadn't used nearly as many Battle Cards as he did, and Hayate's criticism still rang in his head.

Looking at the two Tamers, WereGarurumon scoffed but clapped in acknowledgement of their efforts.

"Well, if Renamon is singing your praises, than you must have done something worthy of note. Besides, you completed the task I'd given you as ordered, so if nothing else you have my thanks. In fact…what time is it, over in your world?"

Surprised by this sudden question, it took the Tamers a moment to figure it out. Coming up with the answer before the others, Asami spoke up first.

"Around 9 o'clock, why?"

"Well, given how you Tamers cycle in based on what time you need to sleep, how about this? For your good work in retrieving the relics, when you come in tomorrow you get the day off of our agreement. A full 5 hours to do what you want, though I imagine most of that will be conversing with Leom- sorry, your friend Shin."

Not so much thankful for WereGarurumon's generous offer as she was wary but appreciative, Asami bowed to show respect to the Beast Digimon leader. Colin and Dmitri copied the gesture, though with obvious reluctance.

"You are most kind…Lord WereGarurumon."

"Aren't I? Besides, you're hardly the only Tamers we have working with us."

Walking to the entrance of the Grand Hall, WereGarurumon motioned for the red-veiled Renamon to accompany him, which she did. Once he was through the doorway, the Renamon turned back and waved at Maul, who hid behind Colin's legs but waved back as well. Asami just sighed, in a defeated manner.

"So…"

The three friends turned in Shotaro's direction, as the boy continued to speak.

"You three have about an hour left as well, right? I imagine you want to go see your friend?"

Thinking about it, Colin went over it was best to go and see Shin now, or just wait till tomorrow when they have a full day ahead of them. That decision was taken out of his hands, as Asami answered for him and Dmitri.

"Yeah, let's do that."

A bit surprised by her sudden declaration, Colin nodded in agreement. Asami did note his hesitance in saying yes to the idea.

"Weren't you the one going on about taking Shin up on his offer?"

"Well yeah, but right now? What exactly would we, well rather what would our partners be able achieve in under an hours' time of training?"

"Why do we even need Shin's training? We're the ones who can reach Ultimate Level, not him."

Colin and Asami turned in Dmitri's direction, as their relatively quiet friend finally spoke up. Candlemon was tugging at Dmitri's pants, in an effort to get him to stop, but his Tamer ignored him.

"We beat the Ogremon brothers without him, and we took down Megadramon without any direct help from him. Yeah, we've had some setbacks recently, but-"

"Do you want to lose Candlemon?"

"What?!"

Colin stared down his friend, not flinching at all as Dmitri glared daggers at him.

"You heard me. The way we're going about things, one of us if not all of us are going to lose our partners, and that's not even getting to what damage we could suffer ourselves in here. 'Winging it' isn't going to cut it anymore. So I'm going to ask again, do you want to lose Candlemon?"

Dmitri knew Colin spoke from experience of how shitty failing your partner could feel, but he was already a mess with everything else raging in his head. After a while, he calmed down and relented.

"Fine, let's go see Shin."

"Actually Dmitri, something's come up."

For the first time in a while, Lucky spoke up. Asami and Colin heard his voice too, but made sure not to act like they had so that Shotaro doesn't catch on. Knowing that they need to give Dmitri some space to speak to Lucky in private, Asami had the group move on to the Processing Pit where Shin was waiting.

"Alright, since we've all agreed, let's get going then."

Hanging back of the group, Dmitri whispered back to Lucky.

"What's up?"

"Our pal Trainwreck67 found some hidden caches of data in AUP City and the FAQ Grand Library, MAGAMI data. Says a bunch of it is of similar design to that 'Digi-Beetle' thing you found on File Island."

"So what are you telling me for? Trainwreck knows how to handle himself."

"Yeah…except he doesn't. The Feds raided his room an hour ago. Thankfully he doesn't have anything on us with him, but he got sloppy and they've got him in custody now."

"So you want me to continue in his place."

"It's what you signed up for. And Shin's cool with it, so it's not like you'd be go against his-"

"If you haven't noticed, I don't make it a habit to care what that…lion cares about."

He was going to say something stupid about Leomon just being an arrogant clump of data, but he remembered Candlemon and realized what that…slur would do to the poor Rookie if he heard it. So he corrected himself, while still relaying how little he considers Shin's opinion.

"Oh I'm sorry, would you prefer adventuring with the others under WereGarurumon's thumb? I saw that last fight, you've gotten sloppy. You could use Shin's instruction. But anyway, if anything I'm giving you two a vacation, one where you and Candlemon can grind on your own while you get to work figuring out why a supposed game company needs blueprints to build an EMP emitting tank."

Dmitri stayed silent, not offering any rebuttal to this. Lucky took that as a sign of him agreeing.

"Good. Once you log out today, we'll go over where you need to go. Probably best not to ask Colin or Asami to join you, they have enough to deal with, and aren't exactly hacker material."

/ROM Forest, Processing Pit

Piximon and Caturamon were waiting for the 4 Tamers right outside of the hole Shin was stuck in. Piximon looked delighted to see them, while the Deva had his usual regal disapproving face on.

"You return from victory to visit a traitor? Why waste your post glory glow conversing with one such as-"

"He's our friend, we promised to meet up with him, WereGarurumon gave us the okay, and I am too tired to be arguing with anyone about this anymore. Move aside."

Asami looked like she was about to attack Colin for saying this, as it's the exact same nonsense he pulled earlier. Caturamon on the other hand didn't seem even remotely interested in striking him, simply rolling his eyes and stepping off.

"This boy of yours seems determined to punch above his weight class, Leomon."

"I do wonder about that. Take care, won't you?"

The Deva didn't respond back to Shin, showing his back to all of them as he moved on. Piximon descended into the pit to release Shin's bindings. It's a good thing he had, as a right hook from Asami almost struck Colin's stomach, but Shin reached out from the pit in time and stopped her.

"Let's save that for some other time. I'm sure you're more than eager to discipline your man, but if I rather kept from infighting today to a bare minimum. Plus you three don't have a lot of time left today, am I right?"

Chilling out, Asami made eye contact with Colin, who looked genuinely apologetic. What he saw back in her eyes told him he was in trouble.

I'm tired and not thinking straight. Should I be held responsible for what comes out of my mouth?

Now out of his prison hole, Shin noticed the cracked screen on Colin's D-Arc.

"Colin, what in Baihumon's name happened?"

Quickly realizing Shin had seen his D-Arc, the boy raised his left arm to present it to him.

"Got into a fight with a Tamer named Hayate. He had his partner attack Dmitri and I directly, though it chose to aim for our digivices instead. It looks pretty dead."

Dmitri raised up his own to confirm, and Shin looked very disheartened by this.

"I had heard of some Tamers who used such tactics. Granted, I had hoped you wouldn't suffer from anything like that so soon, but a lot of things are out of our hands now. Digivices aren't cheap to make."

A look of worry spread across all of the Tamers' and Digimon's faces, though Shin motioned with his hands for them to calm down.

"That doesn't mean we can't fix or repair them."

Taking Colin's arm and inspecting his D-Arc, flipping it around and checking the damage closely, Shin seemed slightly relieved by what he saw.

"I should be able to replace the screen, and as for the digivice itself it can function. Most important things are to get it to recognize your digivolution cards and your 'charge' and 'code' items. To do that though, I'm going to need you to leave you D-Arc's here when you leave."

Understandably Colin was confused by this, so Shin continued to explain.

"Yes yes, the D-Arc is just meant to be a "representation" of your V-Pet back in your world, and normally when you leave you and Maul, everything you bring with you save the tents are taken as well. Well remember that I did give you this D-Arc in the first place, and Maul was separate from you."

"Right."

"So, you can just take off of your D-Arc and hand it to me."

"Then how do I leave, exactly? Because I don't want a repeat of what happened in that mine."

Asami, still ignorant of what happened that day, looked back and forth at the two in confusion.

"Wait, what now? You mean Fugamon's mine? What happened back then?"

"…the VR Terminal I'm using now is faulty, and if I don't log out manually at the 5 hour mark…it gets unpleasant."

Without needing to hear it said, Asami got that he meant Lucky's setup terminal for him. Nodding that she got that, Shin answered Colin's previous question.

"Our friend can just log you out. Since he watches most of what we're doing anyway, I expect him to be on top of how long you've been in, and knowing when to pull you out."

That last bit definitely sounded like a threat, which made Colin wonder just what could Shin do to Lucky to enforce it. He decided it was better not to know or imagine.

"Yeah, yeah I got it. You have about 30 minutes left, by the way."

Having not heard the group's shared 'little voice', Shotaro was at a bit of a loss as to who they were referring to.

"Uh guys, what do you mean by Colin having a faulty VR Terminal? Shouldn't MAGAMI be on top of fixing that sort of thing?"

Not wanting to reveal more to him than they need to, despite how nice he seemed, Colin came up with a defensive answer.

"And have them investigate and possibly find out that Maul's sentient? You do know those guys try to purge any real Digimon, right?"

Shotaro petted Kudamon's head, making it clear that he had some experience with similar situations. Shin took notice of the boy now, as he'd been barred from seeing him last time.

"Colin, Asami, Dmitri: who exactly is your friend here? You've failed to introduce him."

Slapping her forehead, Asami dammed her lack of manners.

"Oh, right. Sorry. Shin, this is Shotaro. Shotaro, this is our Leomon friend, the one who prefers to go by Shin."

"Oh, hi. I've heard these guys go on a lot about you."

"Good things, I hope."

"Honestly they make you out to be their leader, or dad half to the time."

A small smile briefly appeared on Colin's face, like the idea was silly or appealing in a way. Shin laughed at this.

"None of them have enough hair to be my kid. And I wouldn't have had that one talk back to me as much if he was mine."

Dmitri didn't jab back like how he would normally banter with the lion, which Shin took note of. Knowing that he had some last things to finish telling Colin, he addressed him once more.

"Anyway, leaving your D-Arc here means Maul stays behind as well, so if you're still interested in that training I offered…"

"Right, that was what we were originally coming to tell you. We're going to take you up on that."

"Glad to hear it."

"Wait, so leaving your D-Arc here means our Digimon stays behind too?"

Finding it curious that Asami was asking this, Shin looked at her arm where her D-Arc was attached, and noticed damage to it as well.

"Wait, your D-Arc got struck too?"

This was the first time either Colin or Dmitri had heard about it, and they had failed to check hers on the ride on Blimpmon before.

Asami brought up her wrist mounted D-Arc, showing that it too had damage done to it, though it seemed to have a rather large slash cut through it rather than a deep hole or simple cracked screen.

"My dear sister felt like mimicking Hayate, and had her Musyamon slash at me rather than DinoHyumon; nearly lost my hand because of that."

Shin sighed, seeing the state his chosen Tamers were in.

"What exactly happened, on this mission of yours?"

They were a little reluctant in telling this, but the Tamers explained in detail everything that happened. The attitude of Hayate and Aiko, the fight they had with SuperStarmon as well as the Dramon forces, Renamon's sneaking and grabbing of the Spirits, SuperStarmon's death at the hands of Ginryumon, and their escape thanks to the Machine Digimon's assistance.

Stunned at what had happened to his friend, Leomon wordless walked off, leaving the Tamers no choice but to follow him. They ended up outside of a small hut, one that seemed to have been abandoned for quite some time. Entering after Shin, they saw some dusty terminal controls, a table or two, and a counter and stove for cooking. Piximon followed them as well, lightly tugging at Asami's ear to get her attention.

"Shin used to live here before going over to your File Island. He hasn't been back until now, what with the sentencing to the pit and all."

Shin took a moment to mourn the loss of his friend SuperStarmon, before finally speaking.

"Well, it was perfectly possible that you'd have run into your sister and that boyfriend of hers even if we had followed through with my plan. And from the sounds of it, I'd have made the mistake of allowing a fight between you three on principle. So don't go blaming yourselves for this-"

He received their damaged D-Arcs, turning them over and setting them down on a nearby table.

"-we can get you replacements, or upgrades if need be."

"Oh, upgrades now?"

Smiling a little, Shin roughly patted Colin's head.

"Don't get too excited, requesting an upgrade could draw MAGAMI's unwanted attention. Don't forget, majority of the things you use to come here and interact with us are there 'products'."

"When do we start this training already?"

It was the first time Dmitri had spoken since they had reunited with Shin, and of course it was something confrontational that was the first thing he said. Shin closed his eyes, looking for patience before he spoke in turn.

"Soon, I just need a moment. A lot has happened, so if you don't mind-"

"Look, sorry about your comrade, but everyone seems to think we need to improve ourselves, so if you could speed up your mourning and get on with it, the sooner we can complete whatever mission it is you think we should be focusing on."

They had never been friends, but Asami and Colin didn't think Dmitri and Shin could have been on any worse terms prior to this moment. Shin didn't look like he wanted to murder Dmitri, oh no, but the amount of disgust and disappointment on his face was unnerving.

"I see the Scarlet Hacker is as callous as ever."

"Sorry, bedside manner and minding others feelings has never been my strong points."

"Evidently, neither is being a Tamer."

"Oh, that's fair. We lose twice in a row and suddenly Colin, Asami and I are-"

"Not them, just you. Digi-Modify: Starmon Activate! Lighter Activate! Gasoline Activate! Woodmon (2x) Activate! You spam cards just to maintain an advantage. You have no faith in Meramon's own skills."

"That is such bull, Colin and Maul-"

"Are you a child? Whining about what others do to try to excuse yourself? Colin only supplies Maul when he sees a situation turn on them. Otherwise, he trusts in Mauls power. They need to fly? He grants him Unimon's power. They need to keep someone frozen or move over water? Frigimon's power. Extra speed, I don't even have to say it you've heard it so many times. I've seen them in action, and they trust each other."

Pointing, rather pocking a claw at Dmitri's chest, Shin continued to berate him.

"You on the other hand have to be showing off what power you have at all times. How many fights do you open up with Starmon's power? You have a Champion that can blast opponents with magma, but you feel the need to show off your rare card and just bombard the area with meteors. Actual Starmon know how and when to use that power, but you're just a child showing off!"

Shoving Shin's hand aside, Dmitri started shouting back at him.

"Who are you calling a child?! I'm 23 years old, and-"

"You are still a child! You're partner manages to get to the Ultimate-level, only by the help of his friend, but you act like it was all you and that Maul and Colin are just accessories to your power!"

Dmitri opened his mouth to defend himself, but found that he couldn't come up with a decent excuse, no reason for why he acted in such a way.

"And in this recent battle, apparently Meramon had the sense to realize your opponent couldn't guard against two attacks from targets, and tried to capitalize on that. But then you went and pulled out Starmon again, which then helped you opponent prepare to take out SuperStarmon!"

He was blaming Dmitri for SuperStarmon's death. It's not like BlueMeramon didn't try to stop Ginryumon, but was it Dmitri's fault? Does he just slide cards through and hope/assume that their effects will make the battle turn in his favor?

A revelation on the matter was not going to be had today. Instead, Dmitri doubled down on antagonistically responding back.

"You know what? Fuck SuperStarmon, and fuck you. I don't need, or want your training. And I'll take my D-Arc back!"

Swiping his digivice off of the table, Dmitri stormed out of the hut, Candlemon weeping wax behind him and he tried to get him to stop. Colin and Asami ran outside after him, hoping to deescalate the moment.

"Dmitri! Come on man, get back here! I thought we were going through this together?!"

"Dmitri, where are you going to go?!"

Ignoring them both, Dmitri tried ejecting himself with his D-Arc, but that function was operating any more than the others. Cursing, he called out to his fellow hacker.

"Lucky! Get me out of here! I'm done!"

"Dmitri, go back inside and talk things out with-"

"Shut the hell up and pull me out! Or you can get another guy to swipe MAGAMI intel for you!"

A bright light enveloped him and he flew up, Candlemon reluctant following after. Colin and Asami could only watch as their angry friend left without another word.

/ROM Forest, Leomon's Hut, 25 minutes left.

Several minutes passed and no one said anything. They were all outside now, sitting or standing in the grass around Shin's hut. Finally, Shin himself broke the silence.

"I am not apologizing for what's happened. If he's going to behave like that then sulk when he's criticized, how is Candlemon going to grow under his stubbornness? However, if you 3 no longer wish to work alongside me as well, I won't hold it against-"

"We said we'll train, so we'll train."

He didn't mean for it to come off as rude as it did, but Colin was still tired from being damaged earlier and now very angry because of both Dmitri and Shin's head-butting attitudes.

"Perhaps we should have relented a bit on Dmitri, since everyone's effectively been badgering him with similar statements since we escaped java City. But you made some good points, which despite your praise they apply to me and Asami as well. Maul and Kotemon need to grow stronger, without our constant mothering. You say you can do that for them?"

Shin nodded.

"That I can."

"Then we'll sort out Dmitri later. I'm not risking Maul again."

Asami nodded and added her own piece.

"Whether we stay with WereGarurumon's group or run off with you later, we're not going to make any progress if we're still stuck as we were on File Island: barely surviving each encounter by the skin of our teeth and running low on cards. And I'll be damned if Aiko's artificial partner outdoes Kotemon. Right partner?"

Kotemon thwacked his shinai against a nearby stone, cracking the stone slightly.

"Agreed, Asami. I plan on besting Musyamon next time we meet."

Shotaro and Kudamon nodded, but said nothing. It didn't feel right to them to say anything, given the drama from before.

Seeing the Tamers and Partners' resolve, Shin managed to relax. Then, reaching down for something in the ground, he twisted a hidden dial located down there.

The field all around them started to rumble, and suddenly various pillars and walls rose up out of the ground. The distance between the Tamers and Shin seemed to grow as well, as if the ground had been folded up previous and was now expanding. Once all the changes had settled, Shin addressed the group.

"In this training field, the arena reacts to my will. The walls will shift and change to block your attacks from hitting me, and the pillar wills rise under you, fire projectiles, and extend out arms to smack you with. Your goal is to get a clean hit on me five times each, per session. Failure to do so means you're going to be running, a lot; both you and your partner. So, ready to begin?"

Maul looked up at Colin, and they both nodded confidently. Kumamon cracked his knuckles, with an impish grin on. Asami pumped her fist, while Kotemon readied his shinai. Kudamon slid off of Shotaro and took up a position alongside the other two partner Digimon.

Taking up his own stance, with one hand reaching back for his sword while he stretched his other arm out ahead of him, in a martial arts like defense position, the lion Digimon smiled a tooth flashing grin at his Rookie challengers.

"Well come at me then!"

Charging ahead first, Maul leapt up at Shin with his signature attack.

"Bear-cub Punch!"

Shin easily swatted Maul away to the side, though the cub was quick to recover and try again.

"Bear Claw!"

Using his less utilized technique, Maul tried clawing at Shin, only to find that his instructor had quickly moved aside and was now along his right side while he was soaring through the air.

Spinning and giving Maul a light kick, Shin barely noticed Kotemon hopping along the pillars to get at him from above.

"Hot Head!"

He brought his flaming shinai down on top of Leomon, though the Champion-level Digimon was quick enough to reach his arm up to grab the wooden sword. Tossing Kotemon against a nearby pillar, Leomon felt someone strike him from behind.

"Bullet Whirlwind!"

Kudamon had managed to sneak in a hit, getting a small chuckle from Shin.

"So, you new guys are as competent as the others say."

Giving the little weasel like Digimon a kick to knock him away, Shin was quick enough this time to and guard against the dual assault of Maul and Kotemon.

"Bear-cub Punch!"

"Thunder Kote!"

Needing to draw his sword in order block both of their attacks, Shin regretted his decision as the electricity from Kotemon's attack ran through his metal blade and paralyzed him. Kudamon was recovering quickly behind him and saw an opening.

"Bullet Whirlwind!"

This time, despite suffering from the shock of Kotemon's attack, Shin caught the Holy Cartridge before it collided into him, and tossed both it and Kudamon into the offending lizard Digimon. Maul meanwhile leapt back and forth, trying to jab at a vulnerable spot on Shin while keeping out of the range of the lion Digimon's long legs.

"Bear-cub Punch! Bear-cub Punch! Bear Claw!"

The last attack of that combo looked like it was going to hit, targeted at Leomon's ankle, but Shin just smiled and suddenly a stone wall emerged from the ground just in front of the both of them. Maul's attack instead slashed against this wall, leaving marks in it but missing his quarry. Frustrated, Maul rubbed his head.

"Wait, you were serious about the walls shifting thing?"

"Yup!"

"Ain't that cheating? How are we supposed to hit you if you can just send up a wall to block us?"

"Well Kudamon has already managed to get a strike in, so try to aim for my blind spots. Or you could just smash through the wall and continue on through it."

Taking on the challenge, Maul defaulted to his signature move.

"Bear-cub Punch!"

While certainly a powerful blow, the attack only managed to leave a crater in the wall, not smash it to pieces.

"No no, Maul; like this. Fist of the Beast King!"

The little cub had to duck as a fiery lion's head flew through the wall, sending rocks flying as it did. Maul made sure his cap was still secure on, while shaking his fists at Shin in anger.

"Hey, I thought you said you weren't going to attack!"

"What? I said no such thing. What gave you that idea?"

The devilish smile on Shin's face would likely give Maul nightmares for the next week. What didn't help matters was that Shin's fist was still ablaze from his previous attack, and the Champion Digimon was towering over Maul in a deliberately menacing way.

"Either hit me or get hit. Fist of the Beast King!"

Forced to flee before this onslaught, Maul rolled and jumped out of the way of incoming fireballs. He attempted a few times to hide behind pillars, before Shin shifted their locations quicker than Maul could duck behind them. Kotemon had a similar problem with the walls he kept trying to hide behind, while Kudamon slithered rather obviously towards Shin.

"Kudamon, what are you-?"

"Extreme Light Shock!"

A blinding light enveloped the arena, blinding Shin enough that he had to raise both his arms up to protect his eyes. Thanks to that…

"Bear-cub Punch!"

"Thunder Kote!"

Both Maul and Kotemon managed to get in clean hits to the Champion's abdomen. Maul had brought his hat over his eyes, while Kotemon seemed to have twisted his helmet in a way that his eyeholes were obscured.

Having skidded backwards a bit due to their combined attacks, Shin dusted himself off while smiling.

"Well look at that, impromptu teamwork. Looks like you are learning from past defeats."

He stomped on the ground, and a bunch of stone walls rose up and cut the Rookies off from one another, forming a sort of labyrinth in the process. All of the Rookies sweatdropped out of worry, while the Tamers sighed from the sidelines.

Asami nursed her forehead as she heard Kotemon yelp and run from what sounded like 'Beast King' attack flying at him.

"You think Shin gets a little worked up whenever they actually succeed in hitting him?"

Relieved to hear someone else thinking that, Colin replied.

"Oh I'm not alone; you caught that too?"

Shotaro was sitting on a fallen log, craning his neck to try and see his short partner over the walls erected in front of him. Colin saw the slight look of worry on his face, and tried reassuring him.

"Kudamon will be fine. Shin's not going to kill them."

"Beast Sword!"

Apparently Leomon had felt the need to actually draw his weapon. From the sounds of it, Maul was the one barely avoiding the lion's assault. Colin closed his mouth, rather annoyed at Shin making him look like a liar.

Shin, I swear to your god if you delete Maul I will toss you off a mountain!

FFR: Well hey, got it done before the end of the month. I'm so proud of me!