Digimon: Dimension Distorted [IC/PG-16/Accepting]

[Chaos Sonic 442]

Chris definitely was sighing heavily as he ended up following the group in the gymnasium into this strange corridor that opened. All in the hopes to make sure that Touch didn't get himself killed...well, that was one reason. Second reason: Connor. Not for the reason because he was pretty much the school's cripple, but just because these creatures obviously were in a whole different ball game thanthey were.

"Then stay behind me. I know my way around a fight a bit more than I'd like to admit, and worst-case, Minamizawa and I are the only ones with these creatures. And I'm pretty sure Hackmon here would be a better fighter than... Whatever that is."

"Heh, no worries Kokoro." Chris smirked, grabbing the hilt of his bat. "I'll back you up if the situation calls for it. Plus, pretty sure Herissmon here would be willing to assist as well. Right?"

"R-Right..." Herissmon answered, sounding a bit nervous, but it wasn't too noticeable.

Nevertheless, the group kept going until they entered what seemed like a large room made of stone and covered in vines. Definitely matched the M.O. of the gymnasium back there, so perhaps this all was connected. Then again, that would be a stupid thing to think and ask, of course it would all be connected. Stuff like this didn't normally just happen out of the blue...well, not anymore anyway.

"Child of Light... Child of Flame, come forth. Reach out to me, call out to me, and claim the power."

A combination with a disembodied voice and a strange suit of armor...and in a stone cave. "Alright, I'm starting to get crazy Indiana Jones vibes from this place." Chris said, looking around the room, humming a bit of a tune to himself.

"Child of Light...? What does that mean?"

"Beats me."

"A riddle perhaps?" Chris tossed out. "Okay, so maybe this Child of Light might be...oh I know! Don't take this the wrong way, but maybe it might be me!"

"You??"

The young man nodded, adjusting his glasses. "Yeah, might be. Chris is short for Christopher, and both of these names have different meanings. Christ-bearer, anointed, and little Christ. Sooooo maybe the Child of Light may actually refer to...ya know, that!" ...jeez I didn't even think that this might've sounded like it was coming off as arrogant... Of course, even though this was an explanation that might've worked, apparently the two Japanese individuals had come up with something else, as Kokoro spoke.

"Well, Minamizawa here seems to think 'Child of Light' means you. I've got my doubts, but I guess unless something happens, that means it's yours for the taking. Go ahead."

This "you" was in reference to Connor, which puzzled Chris a bit. They think it's him? Why would it be Connor Chulainn...? he began to think, until it hit him like a fastball from the pitcher's mound. "OH!!!! Jeez, I had almost forgot about that!"

Herissmon looked at Chris with a blank expression on his face. "Uh...Chris...? I'm not exactly understanding."

"Basically, in Irish mythology, there was a 'Child of Light', Cú Chulainn." Chris did his best to explain. "He was Hound of Culann, and more so, a child of the sun god. A LITERAL child of light. Annnnnnnnd Connor here, his last name is Chulainn. Just like Cú."

"R-Really?"

Chris nodded, glancing over at the armor. "Though...dunno why that would be what this is looking for. I would've thought the armor would've at least been blue with a red spear if this was in conjunction with Cú Chulainn." he shrugged, sighing with a roll of his eyes. "Well, guess that's something that can't be trusted for. Thanks a lot Nasu and the Fate series."

[Blake 312]

Mackenzie had been listening to the small Digimon explain, jumping out of her skin a bit along with Wormmon when the book hit Ludomon.

"W-waah, why would you do that?!" Wormmon whined, crawling over to Ludomon to pat at its head, "You o-okay? Do you r-really want a partner like that...?"

Ludomon wiped the tears from his eyes but nodded. "Y-Yeah! He saved me from being eaten by bigger, badder Digimon! I-I want a strong partner so I can become a strong digimon that can protect everyone!"

"I-if you say so... I would want a partner that's a bit more concerned a-about me, though..."

Meanwhile, Mackenzie had clammed up. The area was getting too crowded. Mr. Henderson, Romy, and Ms. Grace, along with yet another of these creatures? Well, the creature was alright, but other than that, she simply watched, her face stoic once more. As Wormmon turned back to her from the shield digimon, she noticed Mackenzie's changes, placing a claw on her arm.

"H-hey, are you okay, too? Y-you seem d-different now."

Mackenzie nodded and pointed back to the book. The worm shook her head a bit, puffing her chest up.

"W-we can do that later! Your t-teacher is in danger! Can't you h-help him?"

Mackenzie cast her gaze aside, opening her mouth as if in a sigh, though no noise came out. Why did what this little bug thought matter to her so much? She closed the book, sliding a bookmark in as she did, before walking over to the teachers. Without a sound, she reached into her bag and pulled out some peroxide and cotton balls, getting a ball just barely damp before she pushed it to the distracted teacher's arm, holding it in place as she cleaned the wound.

Mr. Henderson was distracted as Mackenzie did all this, so he didn't notice what she was doing until the cleaning began. He gritted his teeth before he let out a groan of pain.

"Ow, ow, wound cleaning out of nowhere," he said as he turned to look at Mackenzie. "Thanks for the cleaning... Just... Give me some warning next time, yeah?"

Ignoring Henderson's protests, she produced some gauze from her bag, as well, wrapping the wound fairly tight. Once she was satisfied, she stood up and bowed slightly, pushing her glasses up as they began to fall, before muttering.

"Don't get hurt again. Resources are limited."

Returning to her seat, Mackenzie found Wormmon beaming up at her, and she could have sworn the bug's eyes were sparkling. It hopped right onto her arm, climbing up to her shoulder as it pressed against her face.

"I-I didn't know you could heal people! Y-you'd be a g-great partner, Mackenzie!"

"Partner, huh...?" Mackenzie glanced at the cute worm, her back to the others as she smiled softly, mind wandering, "Maybe that wouldn't be too bad..."

[Mr. Hyde 204]

"Hoomins don't use 'mon'? That's so weird...," He muttered. "So, are there other hoomins around, or is it just you? We'll need to make sure everyone here is up to speed before my Master gets here,"

"Tch..."  Todd kicked the ground at the mention of the others.  "Like you'd need anyone else besides me.  The others are nothing but a pile of good for nothing retards.  They weren't cut from the protagonist cloth."  Todd stopped ranting for a moment, only to scratch his temple.  It seemed like he had forgotten something.  "Ah man!  I left my scarf and goggles at home!"  He gripped his head as he sporadically shook it around.  "Dumb move!  Now I don't even look the part!"

"Come on boss!  Hold your head up!  Ain't no way for a boy like you to be actin'."  Pix said, slapping the side of Todd's leg with her tiny little paws.  

"Boss?"  The word brightened his face like sunshine on blackout curtains.  He pointed to himself.  "Me?"

"Yeah, Boss!  I gotta have an agent!  I can't be the number one strongest digimon on this floor without a good marketer!  And you're the one person for the job!"  The digimon then turned around and smirked.  "But if you suck I'll drop you in a heartbeat."

"Psh...whatever, Pix.  I bet I'm the only human who could even put up with you in the first place."  

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"  Pix turned around, rattling her fist at Todd, as he mirrored her.  After a minute, Todd bopped Pix on the nose with his fist, and turned back to Zubamon.

"Listen here, Zubamon.  If you want to find the other's, I bet the best bets are the cafeteria and Library.  I can show you, but I ain't gonna play nice with the lame asses."  He started walking towards the Library, gesturing for the knife rat to follow.  "It's just up here...I was reading before you started digging your way into the place.  Some girl ignored me on her way to get you out...but I doubt she'll be of any help."  

[The Warden 33]

Theodore Oswald Dreifus Shaw stared at the Confounding Mirror. The statuette in the Confounding Mirror stared back. "Marquis of Minerals?" he guessed.

".oN"

"Duke of Diamonds?"

".oN"

"Marquis of Diamonds?"

".oN"

"Duke of Minerals?"

".oN"

"Then what are you?" Theodore Oswald Dreifus Shaw demanded, his (mostly) endless patience exhausted.

".net fo eno ,tirips a ma I"

The thespian tilted his head, trying to perform the mental process to decipher such nonsense. "A... spirit?" he figured.

".neT eht fo enO"

"There are ten spirits?"

".sriap otni tilps era tub ,net rebmun eW .tcerroC"

"So where are the others?"

".tiripS namuH sih dnuof htah eriF fo nesohC ehT .derettacS"

"And who is the Chosen of Fire?" Theodore Oswald Dreifus Shaw asked, engrossed in the tale.

".rennoC"

"Conner?"

".seY"

The young man rubbed his hairless chin in thought, his scarf billowing in a breeze for some reason to denote the seriousness of the situation. "So if the Spirit of Fire has found Conner, then who are you waiting for?"

".uoY"

"Me?"

".yltnerappA"

"Surprising" he remarked, though very flattered.

".rucnoc I"

[Faytl 86]

"Oooooooh," Ob intoned, craning his head to look across the room at Wormmon. "You found a partner too, huh?" He puffed his chest out, snorting proudly as two thin trails of smoke issued from his nostrils. "Is she as cool as mine?"

Romy shook her head, still trying to take in everything around her. The other Digimon in the room had thrown her off, and even that was secondary to Henderson's arm. "Well, Ob, we're not really 'partners,' are we? We just met each other. What do you mean by 'partner' anyway?"

Ob looked up to her, seemingly dissapointed. "Aw, really? But I wanted you as a partner, Romy, you seem like the best one!" 

Romy smiled good-naturedly, trying to process that one. "Well, um, thank you Ob, but I assure you that really isn't true. Here." She moved further into the room, setting Ob down on the librarian's desk. "He's REALLY friendly," she assured Ms. Grace, Ob energetically giving a big grin that seemed stretched and nervous in the presence of the two adults in the room. 

"Mr. Henderson, these things are apparently called 'Digimon,'" Romy explained, pulling up a chair and sitting in it backwards, legs on either side of the chair's back. "That one is Vor... Well I call him Ob, but he was with a few others in here. The others ran off after them, I don't know where they are." She looked a the wound, biting her lip. 

"Mr. Henderson... What CAUSED that? There are so many more Digimon in this building than I thought and I'm scared... Okay? Now PLEASE, tell me..." She looked into the teacher's eyes, a touch sternly, but silently pleading. "... WHAT caused that, and what are we going to do about it?"

Ob watched with wide eyes, slowly leaned over on one leg, and whispered out of the corner of his mouth, very loudly and audibly, to Ludomon: "She is SO cool, you guys." He then overbalanced and slipped off the desk, slamming into the ground with a cry of dismay and a shower of smoke.

[reparoni 161]

"This is insane, I hope you all realize this." Dominic said, dumbfounded by the events folding in front of him. He turned to the others, Chris going on about some dumb mobile game he didn't care about. Dominic simply rolled his eyes. Everyone seemed to be in agreement to let Connor touch the flaming armor. Dominic didn't have any objections - well, that was a lie, he had a huge list of objections about everything that was going on. At this point, however, he stopped caring. It was all absolutely stupid, and Dominic could only wait for this garbage to pass him by. He turned to the others, shaking his head. "You guys do realize how crazy this all is, right? This 'Child of Light' nonsense is absolutely ridiculous." He crossed his arms, turning to Chris. "All that shit you just said? 100 percent a coincidence!" He turned back to Connor, before letting out a scoff. "None of us are destined for any 'Child of Light' garbage... especially not that numbskull."

[Saikazo 241]

Conner didn't know what to do. There was a floating suit of armor in the middle of the room, and it felt... so wrong yet so right being there. Chris seemed to have his own idea

"A riddle perhaps?" Chris tossed out. "Okay, so maybe this Child of Light might be...oh I know! Don't take this the wrong way, but maybe it might be me!"

"What?"

"Yeah, might be. Chris is short for Christopher, and both of these names have different meanings. Christ-bearer, anointed, and little Christ. Sooooo maybe the Child of Light may actually refer to...ya know, that!"

"Are you trying to say you're Jesus?" Conner asked dryly.

"Well, Minamizawa here seems to think 'Child of Light' means you. I've got my doubts, but I guess unless something happens, that means it's yours for the taking. Go ahead." Kokoro commented, making Conner blink.

"What?"

"Basically, in Irish mythology, there was a 'Child of Light', Cú Chulainn." Chris did his best to explain. "He was Hound of Culann, and more so, a child of the sun god. A LITERAL child of light. Annnnnnnnd Connor here, his last name is Chulainn. Just like Cú."

"This is insane, I hope you all realize this." Dominic said, confirming Conner's thoughts. "You guys do realize how crazy this all is, right? This 'Child of Light' nonsense is absolutely ridiculous." He crossed his arms, turning to Chris. "All that shit you just said? 100 percent a coincidence!" He turned back to Connor, before letting out a scoff. "None of us are destined for any 'Child of Light' garbage... especially not that numbskull."

"Guys, Dominic's right. Just because I'm part Irish and have Chulainn as a last name doesn't mean I'm apparently Jesus like Chris thought he was," Conner tried to reason out. Still, it seemed everyone so sure that it was him. Well, what was the worst that could happen? He took a step forward, and suddenly a large blue vortex of flame erupted around the armor, rising to the ceiling, the heat becoming oppressive once more. It expanded to the group and Conner... didn't feel anything.

Specifically, he didn't feel any heat. He knew it was hot, he could see things being lit on fire... but he didn't feel it at all. Taking a deep breath, Conner rushed forward to the flames, leaping into the vortex. The fire stopped advancing, but the flames swirled around him still. Shockingly, he was not being burned alive, in fact, he was quite fine. Looking up, he saw the armor was now glowing. The blue flames began to be sucked up by the armor, spiraling around, and eating up all the vines in the room.

"Child of Light and Flame, call out my name...," The voice commanded. Conner didn't know what to say. What could he call out...? Suddenly though... a name filled his head.

"Spirit of Flame, Agunimon!!" He called out. The fire began to condense, turning into a small ball of flame, which zipped straight into Conner's heart. The second the flame made contact, a bright white light filled everyone's vision, blinding everyone...

When the light died down, the group found they were back in the cafeteria, the sound of the door closing being heard. Conner looked down at himself. He didn't feel any different, but...

There was fire dancing around his stump of an arm.

 

---

 

"Don't get hurt again. Resources are limited."

"I'm being attacked from all sides here," Mr. Henderson commented jokingly, but nodded.

"Mr. Henderson... What CAUSED that? There are so many more Digimon in this building than I thought and I'm scared... Okay? Now PLEASE, tell me..." She looked into the teacher's eyes, a touch sternly, but silently pleading. "... WHAT caused that, and what are we going to do about it?"

Mr. Henderson let out a sigh, before looking to Ms. Grace, who nodded to him. "Well, you see... what caused this was a digimon by the name of Devimon,"

"He's a big meanie!" Ludomon suddenly piped up. "He's going around, rounding up the smaller digimon and scaring them into following his orders! Those that don't listen... w-well... they don't... make it," Mr. Henderson sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

"That sounds like a Devimon alright," He muttered. "Anyways, most smaller digimon are on the lower floors, but the upper floors have stronger digimon... problem is, the only way I can see us getting out of here is by getting to the roof and climbing down. I was trying to find a safe route up there... with less than stellar results,"

"Ah, but that's where I can come in, partner!" Ludomon commented, causing Mr. Henderson to glance at the digimon. Before he could protest, however, Ludomon transformed into...

"A shield?" Mr. Henderson muttered, looking at the Mickey Mouse looking shield Ludomon had become.

"Yup! And my higher forms can be even stronger shields. So if I get stronger...,"

"I could defend the kids as we headed to the roof," Mr. Henderson finished, deep in thought. It was perfect. However... "There is one issue with this plan,"

"Y-You still won't take me as your partner?!" Ludomon turned back to his normal form and nearly started crying.

"It's not that. We're missing a very important component of becoming partners. A digivice," Mr. Henderson explained. Ludomon blinked as he wiped away tears.

"Y-you mean humans don't just have one on them at all times?" Ludomon asked, confused.

"Nope... I'm not even sure where we can get some," Mr. Henderson added.

"You know, for getting all this new information about creatures never seen on Earth, you seem very knowledgeable about this process," Ms. Grace commented.

"Yeah, well, let's just say it's not my first time doing a Digimon rodeo," Mr. Henderson muttered.

 

---

 

"Listen here, Zubamon.  If you want to find the others, I bet the best bets are the cafeteria and Library.  I can show you, but I ain't gonna play nice with the lame asses."  He started to walk away, which Zubamon followed.  "It's just up here...I was reading before you started digging your way into the place.  Some girl ignored me on her way to get you out...but I doubt she'll be of any help.

"Well, it's not so much about needing their help as it is getting them out of this place," Zubamon commented. He stood tall and proud as he walked into the Library. "No need to fear, hoomins!" He called out as he walked in. "We're here to help you escape! You can call me---,"

"ZUBAMON!" Ludomon suddenly yelled, jumping off the table and marching up to Zubamon, glaring at him.

"LUDOMON!" Zubamon yelled back, the two glaring at each other fiercely. "So, this is where you were hiding, you coward?"

"I wasn't hiding. In fact, I got myself a human partner!" Ludomon bragged. Zubamon's eyes widen before he sputtered out.

"O-oh yeah? W-well... well, I don't need a human partner! I'm being trained by the legendary Knight of the Wind!" He bragged back, causing Ludomon to falter.

"SAY WHAT?!"

"Well, that's a new name," Mr. Henderson muttered.

 

---

 

Outside the school, something stirred. A true monster, drawn by the awakening of a Spirit...

That power... Spirit Power... unnatural, unfitting. Destroy... Destroy... DESTROY. Destroy the Spirits and those connected to them... Targets: Spirit of Flame, Spirit of Metal.

 

---

 

By the school entrance, the ceiling cracked. It was a small one at first, but it got bigger and bigger, until the ceiling exploded, and Devimon dropped down.

"Gahahahahaha!!" He laughed, his voice booming throughout the entire floor. "I know you're here human! Come out so I can kill you!!" He looked up, the cafeteria in his line of sight, and there... five vulnerable young humans. "Come on out or I'll kill those young ones!" He held out his hand, a ball of dark energy gathering in his palm. Conner saw the large digimon and gritted his teeth, ready to flee... but then he realized something... Devimon was not their biggest problem.

No, the fact that the rock wall blocking their way to freedom was glowing a bright yellow seemed like a much bigger problem. The instincts he didn't know he had were now screaming at him that this was bad.

"EVERYONE DOWN!" Conner yelled, ramming into the group and knocking them all over. The moment they touched the floor, twin beams of pure energy exploded through the wall, penetrating through Devimon and disintegrating him instantly. The beams flew over the heads of the kids and collided with the wall blocking the auditorium, instantly causing it to turn into dust.

A loud mechanical roar now echoed through the halls, a sound that made Mr. Henderson turn pale the second he heard it.

"Oh fuck," He cussed loud, and for the first time this week, the kids heard panic and fear in his voice. He rushed out of the library, Ludomon following him as fast as he could. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck," He kept cursing until he got in view of the school entrance, and the mechanical monstrosity that now stood there. "Fuck, why one here... why now?! Why you...?!"

"Machinedramon!!"

 

---

 

Ending Theme

Edited June 11, 2019 by Saikazo May Cry

[yui 573]

Well, that was certainly a chain of events. Kokoro had to admit, even she was a bit overwhelmed by how fast it had all happened. There was the fire, and Connor going right for the armor despite it then coming out completely unscathed. Then they left and the ceiling fell in and the laser beam and so much was happening at once that she would have to sit down and process it all later. Right now what mattered was there were those laser beams that had evaporated the tall black-clad guy that was threatening them. She totally could have taken him though, if she had to.

There was also that mechanical roar. And the big mechanical dragon that said mechanical roar came from. That was also a pretty significant part of the current events. That seemed less like something Kokoro could take on. Not that she'd let the others know that. And then...

Opening Theme

Mr. Henderson gritted his teeth as he stared down the Machinedramon. The monster was purely mechanical, standing over 15 feet tall. Its general shape was that of a T-Rex, if a T-Rex had massive arms with giant claws on them and two giant cannons on its shoulder, which where still smoking from the barrels.

There was no way they could take this thing on.

Ludomon jumped onto Mr. Henderson's arm, turning into his shield form. A small comfort, but he doubted that the rookie could block even one direct hit from those cannons. "Everyone!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "Run into the auditorium!" He shouted. "We need to get as much distance between us and this monster as we can!" He looked back at the Machinedramon. It had just fired shots from its Infinity Cannons, meaning they had a good twenty seconds before it could do start to do anything else. "Go, NOW!!!"

"And leave you for dead!? Sorry, but I'm not going anywhere just yet."

"Are you crazy!?" Hackmon exclaimed.

Rather than back as instructed, Kokoro stepped forward. "OI!" she called out to the metal monster. "What's the big idea blowing a hole in our school like that!? The easy exit is nice and all, but someone could get vaporized, like... like that guy you vaporized! What's so important in here you're willing to blow it up just to find it, huh!?"

"She's going to get herself killed," Hackmon stated, a mixture of pure horror and existential disbelief at this girl's raw reckless audacity in his voice. "We should get going, unless the rest of you want to end up like her."

[Mr. Hyde 204]

"Well, it's not so much about needing their help as it is getting them out of this place," Zubamon commented. He stood tall and proud as he walked into the Library. "No need to fear, hoomins!" He called out as he walked in. "We're here to help you escape! You can call me---,"

"ZUBAMON!" A strange digimon suddenly yelled, jumping off the table and marching up to Zubamon, glaring at him.

"LUDOMON!" Zubamon yelled back, the two glaring at each other fiercely. "So, this is where you were hiding, you coward?"

"Oh great...more of these little twerps..."  Todd groaned.  

"I wasn't hiding. In fact, I got myself a human partner!" Ludomon seemed to brag.

"O-oh yeah? W-well... well, I don't need a human partner! I'm being trained by the legendary Knight of the Wind!" Zubamon bragged back, causing Ludomon to falter.

"SAY WHAT?!"

"Well, that's a new name," Mr. Henderson muttered.

"New name, Smew name.  HEY ZUBA!  AREN'T YOU GONNA GET US OUT OF HERE OR WHAT!?"  Todd yelled, rattling his fist.  That's when a voice echoed through the entire school, one that sent shivers down his spine.  

"Gahahahahaha!!  I know you're here human! Come out so I can kill you!!  Come on out or I'll kill those young ones!"

"DEVIMON!?"  Pix recoiled in horror.  "He's supposed to be on a different floor!  Now I definitely ain't the strongest one here!!"  She said, gripping onto her floppy ears, and using them to cover her face.  

"NOW YOU'RE GONNA BE COY?!"  Todd roared at the small brown rabbit, only for Conner to scream from behind him, and tackle the boy to the ground along with the others.  A huge beam of light shot through the cafeteria, vaporizing the Devimon in an instant, and destroying the wall behind them.  

"Everyone!" Mr. Henderson yelled at the top of his lungs. "Run into the auditorium!  We need to get as much distance between us and this monster as we can!  Go, NOW!!!"

"Stop tellin' me what to do!  You aren't the boss of me!"  He then looked to the giant, robotic dinosaur who had made the large blast.  His stomach sank, as the creature stood near the entrance, menacingly.  Todd picked up Pix by an ear, and hightailed it towards the auditorium.   

[ZetaRESP 5]

The moment Devimon appeared, Frimon was about to jump into the action, only for Touch to stop him. "Touchmon, what are you-?"

"<We already got the prize of this cavern and this is far beyond our level.>" He slowly steps back as the Devimon charged for attack-

"EVERYONE DOWN!" Touch didn't questioned it and simply rolled out of the way of the MASSIVE GOLDEN LASER THAT CLEAVED THE BIG DARK DEMON INTO DUST!! Of course, because he was already about to skip, he ended in a different pile than the others.

"Okay... that clinches it, I guess..." Touch simply stares at his partner's remark, then at the giant mechanic dragon-like creature in front of them.

"Everyone! Run into the auditorium!" Touch saw the newly armed Mr. Henderson trying to rally everyone away. "We need to get as much distance between us and this monster as we can!"

"Hai, Sensei!" Touch picked up Frimon and headed back to the group. "Everyone, we have to-"

"OI! What's the big idea blowing a hole in our school like that!? The easy exit is nice and all, but someone could get vaporized, like... like that guy you vaporized! What's so important in here you're willing to blow it up just to find it, huh!?" Touch stopped cold hin his tracks at hearing her senpai literally scolding the creature.

'<Senpai is get herself killed!>' Touch missed no mark and before the the monster would do anything to her, he rushed as fast as possible and aimed to tackle her away from the monster's face. "<What are you doing?! This is a Perma-Death game, senpai! We must. Stay. Alive.>" He then tried to drag her back to the auditorium, if needed, internally musing at the irony of the situation.

Edited June 16, 2019 by ZetaRESP
reduce weebspeak a bit...

[The Warden 33]

"Okay, are you the Marquis of- WHOA! What the heck was that?" Theodore Oswald Dreifus Shaw exclaimed, noting the sound of explosions from nearby.

".eriF fo tiripS eht dna em yortsed ot skees eH !deraeppa htah taerht wen A"

"So what do we do?!"

".lateM fo dlihC emag eht hsinif eW :elpmiS"

"Metal. You are..." the thespian uttered, his eyes shimmering.

Without a word (for once), he breathed upon the glass and wrote slowly in backwards letters.

nomyrucreM ,lateM fo tiripS

"Excellent! Let us rejoice in our union, to provide you with the power needed to overcome the beast that hunts us!"

The statuette shimmered as it moved forward, moving through the glass like water, and floated before Theodore Oswald Dreifus Shaw. The boy embraced it, the figure fusing through his chest, becoming one with him in a flash of light. When it faded, he was alone, a metallic sheen to his hair and a new sense of brilliance in his mind. "Curious and intriguing. It would appear that the Spirit was a Digimon. Yes, that is what they are called. The Spirit... the power too.... Yes, I see it. Conner must have his, but we don't have the means to tame it. But we could.... Hmmm" he frowned.

The knowledge was transient, and not all there in his mind. There was a light shining, but it only illuminated one small spot of a big pile. But within that pile, there was knowledge. "I can tame you, for a little while."

Advent Heroism

Tightening his scarf, Theodore Oswald Dreifus Shaw ran from out of the bathroom and flying through the cafeteria, a stream of data circling his hand. "EXECUTE!"

With a hand reached out, he took a big leap to the entrance between the cafeteria and gym. "SPIRIT EVOLUTION!"

There was a bright flash trailing the cocoon of data flying across the air, before it snapped open, a brilliant emerald knight emerging and landing with immense coolness between the group and the Machinedramon.

 

"MERCURYMON!"

 

Mercurymon brought his shield down in front of himself, his tassels and small beads attached to his hat still billowing about. He turned his head to Kokoro, and nodded at her before readdressing the holstile. "Machine dragon of metal, stand down! We can make talk of this as opposed to the obliteration thy offer. And if not, I will not hesitate to show thee my mettle!" he declared, the surface of his shield gleaming.

[Blake 312]

The warm and fuzzy moment for Mackenzie wasn't meant to last. First that wicked creature, Devimon, had appeared... and then it was gone, with a hole in the wall taking its place.

"Run into the auditorium!" Henderson shouted as Ludomon became a shield. "We need to get as much distance between us and this monster as we can!" He looked back at the Machinedramon. It had just fired its lasers. "Go, NOW!!!"

Mackenzie grabbed the worm out of sheer instinct as her body began to follow orders, only for her to catch herself. Here she was. Helpless. Useless. Running away from a problem that she had no power over. Unless...

"How... do we become partners?"

"Eh? Eeeeeh!?" Wormmon began to wiggle in her arms, a blush covering her... cheeks? "Th-this isn't the time for stuff like that! We need to get to safety!"

"No. We need to stop it."

"B-but I'm too weak to do anything! Even a K-Koromon could beat me!"

Mackenzie knelt down to sit the bug in place, before standing up again, keeping her words short.

"If you want to be partners... come with me."

Mackenzie managed to take a few steps towards the behemoth, unsure of any plan to take it down... Before Wormmon joined her, a small whine escaping the bug. Even then, she was stopped from even commenting by a gaudy green and mirrored creature.

"Machine dragon of metal, stand down! We can make talk of this as opposed to the obliteration thy offer. And if not, I will not hesitate to show thee my mettle!"

"... Annoying."

Mackenize spoke with disdain, but she couldn't hide the faintest curling of her lips. Nuisance that he may be, she knew that grating manner of speech anywhere. Wormmon, however, seemed to be losing her mind.

"A s-spirit?! Th-that's incredible!"

Mackenzie glanced to the caterpillar, looking over her shoulder with her head cocked a bit. Was this what it meant by becoming partners? Did she fuse with Wormmon...?

"How do we combine...?"

"W-we don't do that! That's a spirit! It... w-we'll have time for this later! Mercurymon is h-here, so we need to trust th-them and run!"

"I said no. You can run if you want to."

"B-but you're my partner..."

Mackenzie's curved lips grew into a smile as she reached down to pet the worm on the head, nodding.

"Then let's figure this out... partner."

[reparoni 161]

Dominic nodded as Connor agreed with him. Of course he was right, he was the only one with any semblance of intelligence here. This was confirmed when Connor stepped into the light anyways. He watched as the flames consumed his fellow student, Dominic letting out a gasp. "You idiot!" He shouted, stepping towards the flames. However, he seemed unscathed by the flames. "What the...?" He said, before light flooded the room.

When he could see again, they had somehow made it back to the cafeteria. He barely had time to question that when a tall black demon appeared, ready to kill them all. And just as suddenly as he had appeared, beams of energy exploded from the walls, Dominic throwing himself as the light bombarded the demon, and turned the other side of the room into dust. a mechanical roar filling the room. "This is insane!" Dominic shouted, trying to process everything that had just happened. He stopped trying when he saw the mechanical beast that Mr. Henderson called Machinedramon. "We need to run!" He shouted, before watching as Kokoro... walked up to the beast. What was she doing!? That thing just vaporized a demon with no issue, and she was trying to talk to it!?

"Stop trying to be a hero, you absolute imbecile!" He shouted. "Did you not see what that thing just did!? All you staying here is going to do is get yourself killed!" He shouted as Touch tried his best to get Kokoro to abscond. "Just run with us, you god damn idiot!" He said, waiting for a second to see what she would do. Regardless of her choice, however, he would start making his way towards the auditorium - with or without them.

[Chaos Sonic 442]

It all happened so fast...much faster than Chris had ever expected. One moment, Conner came in contact with the strange suit of armor...the next...fire...and then they were in the cafeteria...and then finally...

"Machinedramon!!"

"M-MACHINEDRAMON?! W-What the hell is something like that doing here?!" Herissmon exclaimed, hiding behind Chris' leg some. "A-And it just took out that Devimon...t-t-that's some bad news."

"Holy hell..." Chris muttered, almost star-struck by this massive living machine creature.

"Everyone! Run into the auditorium! We need to get as much distance between us and this monster as we can! Go, NOW!!!"

As much as Chris hated to admit it, Mr. Henderson was right. They needed to go, but to just leave Henderson here like that, didn't seem like it would be a really good idea. Hell, Kokoro even tried to take a stand, albeit with Touch immediately trying to drag her off, with Dominic pretty much pressuring her to go as well and made a bee-line straight to the auditorium, same with Todd. At the same time, Mackenzie was staying with her caterpillar-like creature...and then there was Theodore.

"Machine dragon of metal, stand down! We can make talk of this as opposed to the obliteration thy offer. And if not, I will not hesitate to show thee my mettle!"

"N-No way...a-a Spirit?! ...t-that's awesome!"

"Hmm, can you do something like that, Quill?" Chris asked, addressing Herissmon with a new name.

"Quill? Why'd you...oh, right...it's a lot easier than saying 'Herissmon'..." the ivory hedgehog nodded, before shaking his head. "T-That's a no, Chris. I'm not exactly a Spirit-type Digimon. There's...a whole lot of lore behind that annnnnd this isn't the proper time."

"Alright, didn't hurt to ask." he chuckled, moving to grab his baseball bat from his bag and with an adjustment of his glasses, he began to swing it in his hand. "Guess we'll have to do this old fashioned. Alright, Quill, here's the plan. We're going to try and get this thing's attention and when it does, in theory...the others that are obviously striking at it, shooooooooould have an opening to strike and then we can all hightail it out of here!"

"B-But...but didn't he say...?"

"He did indeed...however, there are other students here that are trying to help him out." Chris said, grabbing a decent sized chunk of debris on the ground, tossing it gently in his hand. "And because of that, they're team players that need some help. Plus..." he paused, smirking widely. "This is quite the challenge...and I wanna see if we can overcome it!!" With a toss, he lobbed the debris in the air and immediately swung at it, launching it straight towards the Machinedramon.

[Faytl 86]

Romy frowned as the details on Devimon were spilled to her. Ob's eyes were widening, and he scuttled about nervously.

"D-D-Devimon? He's a bad d-d-dude, Romy, real bad. He's way stronger than me, and meaner!"

"But the only way out is the roof?" Romy asked quietly. "That means we'd have to do something about Devimon at some point anyway..."

Ob shuddered. "Oooooh, not me, I don't think. He'd have me for breakfast!"

Romy allowed herself a small smile. "Don't you think your fire would give him heartburn, Ob?" 

"Maybe," he mused, distracted briefly. "Devimon's not a fire Digimon, so- Zubamon! Hey!"

Romy turned to see the new arrivals, arching an eyebrow at the arrival of yet another Digimon. "We're collecting these guys real fast all of a sudden," she commented, crouching down to reach eye level with Zubamon. "Nice to meet you, Zubamon, I-"

The sound of Devimon's laughter echoed through the hallways, causing Romy to freeze. Ob started to panick, scuttling behind Zubamon. "Oh no... Is that Devimon?" he asked, voice small.

Romy was already running, the second Devimon threatened to kill she was going. "Everyone!" she shouted, rounding out the library door. "Everybody, run-"

"ROMY!" Ob bit at the back of her ankle, drawing blood as he yanked backwards. Romy tripped, falling forward to the floor, slamming into it with the breath coming out of her lungs. She turned over and froze, breathing hard as two great beams of energy shot over her body, inches from her, humming with destructive power. She could feel their force pressing her into the ground even now.

The next few seconds were a blur for her. Her hearing was temporarily shot, dulled by the humming force of the energy blasts even after they had ebbed. Ob's frantic calls barely reached her as she lay there panicking. 

Finally she managed to sit up, dazed. She heard somebody yelling at this new beast, Machinedramon, a weird green figure. She looked to the new arrival, confused. Then she heard it speak.

"... Theodore?" she asked, now thoroughly sure she had died in the laser strike.

"Romyromyromyromy!" Ob was pulling at her sleeve with his teeth, trying to pull her back to the library, quivering. "Th-th-that's Machinedramon! He's a Mega Level Digimon! We gotta go!"

Romy stood unsteadily, looking at Machinedramon... and past him. Out the huge hole he had created.

"... Ob. He cleared the way out. We can leave that way."

His eyes widened like saucers. "Are you crazy?!" he yelled as Romy scooped him up, staggering towards the gym. "HE'S there! We can't go through a Mega Level Digimon! I'm just a Rookie!"

"I don't know what that means," Romy explained softly, patting him on the head soothingly.

"Basically HE'S the h-h-h-highest t-t-tier there is and I'm-"

"Not the time, Ob," she assured him. "We don't need to go through him. We just need to go around. Can you use your fire breath for me? Please? I promise, I'll keep you safe." She looked with worry to Mackenzie and Kokoro, who weren't looking to be speedy either. "We have to try to keep them all that way."

Ob was quiet for a second, then took a shuddering breath. "Um... I'll try?" he said, voice squeaky. He then opened his mouth, aiming it at Machinedramon. "Petit Flame!" A spiraling ball of embers spat from his mouth like it had issued from a potato cannon, spiraling through the air to impact on the heavy armor this thing wore. Romy turned and sprinted into the gym the second it hit, one eye over her shoulder at the beast.

Come on... Give them an opportunity... Come after us!

"MR. HENDERSON! Take the safe route... SHIELDS UP!"

[Saikazo 241]

"And leave you for dead!? Sorry, but I'm not going anywhere just yet."

"Are you crazy!?" Hackmon and Mr. Henderson exclaimed in sync.

"OI!" The crazy girl. "What's the big idea blowing a hole in our school like that!? The easy exit is nice and all, but someone could get vaporized, like... like that guy you vaporized! What's so important in here you're willing to blow it up just to find it, huh!?"

"She's going to get herself killed," Hackmon stated, a mixture of pure horror and existential disbelief at this girl's raw reckless audacity in his voice. "We should get going, unless the rest of you want to end up like her."

Conner watched as the creature let out a massive roar that shook the school. He had to admit, he admired the courage Kokoro had, but this also probably one of the stupidest things he had seen anyone do. At least their teacher had a small shield. He decided to take his teacher's advice, rushing to the auditorium. However, as he ran. he noticed something happening...

"Machine dragon of metal, stand down! We can make talk of this as opposed to the obliteration thy offer. And if not, I will not hesitate to show thee my mettle!" Was that... was that Theo? But he looked like some sort of amazing superhero. What the hell was with that? Even Mr. Henderson seemed a bit confused at his appearance.

"Well... that's... that's new," Mr. Henderson muttered as he looked at the spectacle in front of him.

"A s-spirit?! Th-that's incredible!" The Wormmon called out, causing Mr. Henderson to nod to himself. So that was called a spirit, interesting, interesting. Now wasn't the time to think about this though. The vast majority of the kids were being dumb, instead of running for their lives, they stood there, trying to stand their ground, the exact opposite of what he actually wanted them to do. However, it seemed Machinedramon was in a talking mood, so much so he ignored the attacks that Chris and Ob launched at him, as if he didn't even notice them.

"The big... idea?" His voice was deep and mechanical, almost sounding like a computer was talking. "I am here... to destroy. The Master has deemed... The Spirits to be an unneeded hindrance to the glorious plan! And so, I will destroy every Spirit... and those that stand with them. I shall start... with YOU!" with a mechanical roar, the creature pointed a massive claw at Kokoro and Touch, a loud hiss being heard as the claw flew towards her, a la Rocket Punch attached to a cable. Mr. Henderson grunted as he dived in front of the two, his Ludomon shield held right in front of him. The claw hit it, and was redirected upwards, lodging itself into the ceiling.

Mr. Henderson was sent flying, the force of the attack causing him to spiral through the air, flying over the kids and landing back first into the cafeteria tables. He let out a long hiss of pain and sat up. "I'm gettin' too old for this...," he muttered. He looked at everyone just sitting there. "You all wanna help? Then get runnin' so that none of us have to stare that thing down!" He took a second too look at the ceiling, before realizing something. "Theo! Protect Kokoro and Touch!" He yelled out just as Machinedramon's claw retracted, causing the damage ceiling to fall in large stone chunks down towards the two students.

---

Conner, Dominic and Todd would notice that this was most definitely not the auditorium. In the old school, the doors would just open to the auditorium, but now, there was a large hallway, one that went down for a bit before it took a sharp left, with another straight path before a sharp right, and another right, and finally one more left. Then the hallway ended in a huge room. Standing at both sides of the entrance were two thick, towering stone pillars with fire burning at the top, illuminating the entire room. Giant, thick vines descended from the ceiling all the way to the ground, and there were a few piles of vines just scattered around.

Near the back of the spacious room was a large altar, with something sitting on it, although it was too far away to make out what it was. Surrounding the altar were patches of cactus, with one batch in particular seemingly shaking. To both the left and right of the room where three platforms. Two of them just seemed like small footholds raised slightly higher from both the ground and each other to make a staircase to the third, bigger platforms, both having large stones in the shape of logs. Conner looked around, muttering to himself.

"Dead end... guess we make some sort of final stand here...," He muttered as he looked around. Gears started turning in his head as he walked up to a vine, grabbing it with his only hand and tugging on it. It was surprisingly thick and sturdy.

"Hoomin, what are you doing?" Zubamon asked, suddenly appearing on Conner's shoulder. Conner let out a startled cry before he took a deep breath.

"Don't... don't do that... anyways... I'm thinking... maybe we can make traps for that monster," He explained. "Maybe using the vines on the ground to make a large tripwire at the entrance, and tying those... things to the vines and launching them at the monster," He explained as he held the vine in his hand, walking over to a platform. With some difficulty, he pulled himself up onto the first one, and started to make his way up the second.

"Um..., why don't you ask one of them for help?" Zubamon asked, pointing to Todd and Dominic.

"They wouldn't listen to me," Conner explained. "Easier to let them do what they want,"

[The Warden 33]

"Theo! Protect Kokoro and Touch!"

It was as if his body went on auto-pilot, as Theodore Oswald Dreifus Shaw, playing the leading role of Mercurymon, dove forwards, holding both his shields above the two. It seemed insane to have done this given the huge rocks, and yet something clicked inside his mind. Yes, like the Digimon he too could use attacks. As the rubble made impact with his shield, his painted lips cried out "DARK REFLECTION!"

It was as if the force of rocks was met with equal force, and were ultimately repelled away from his shields, which were angled to fire at Machinedramon. The rocks bounced off its robotic head, no doubt earning its ire. "Dearest Kokoro, listen well to me. Conner has acquired thy Spirit of Fire yes? Then tell him "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" Please tell him this, as god willing I will needeth all the help I can get" Theodore Oswald Dreifus Shaw requested, the strain of keeping the spirit together already weathering him. "Please fly fast little do- Err, little violent murder crow. Fly fly and give him the message he must know! I will shield thy escape!"

[yui 573]

"Machine dragon of metal, stand down! We can make talk of this as opposed to the obliteration thy offer. And if not, I will not hesitate to show thee my mettle!"

And Dreifus was there too. It certainly didn't look anything like him, but only he would speak in that manner. There was no doubt in her mind that it was him. He was then ordered by Mr. Henderson to protect Kokoro and Touch, in response to which Kokoro looked up at the ceiling. Large debris coming down, it didn't look like she'd have time to get out of the way. Luckily, she didn't have to, because Theo was able to not only deflect the debris, but pelt it at the mechanical dragon standing before them.

"Dearest Kokoro, listen well to me. Conner has acquired thy Spirit of Fire yes? Then tell him "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" Please tell him this, as god willing I will needeth all the help I can get. Please fly fast little do- Err, little violent murder crow. Fly fly and give him the message he must know! I will shield thy escape!"

"If it's that urgent you should cut the theatrical crap and get right to the point," Kokoro sighed. But she really didn't want to just leave Mr. Henderson alone with this thing. But he wasn't alone. But what if something happened to one or both of these guys? But Henderson had also said that the best way to help him was to just get out of dodge. But... there was no helping it. Suddenly, something clicked. Spirit Evolution... spirit of fire...

She should have taken that flaming armor for herself after all. The more things she realized about this situation, the less pleased she was with it. She'd have to put up with it though, wouldn't she? Starting toward the auditorium where the others had gone, Kokoro called back "If either of you die, I won't forgive you!" Through and around, and caught up with the other students. Connor was doing... something.

That was who she was looking for. "Hey." Climbing up onto the platform Connor had been on, Kokoro continued "Dreifus told me to find you. Something about, Execute! Spirit Evolution! I don't get it, but I can take over whatever you're doing here."

[ZetaRESP 5]

Touch was unable to pull Kokoro out in time and they had to be saved by the now metallic Theo. He was surprised about it. He was confused with what Theo said, though... "Wow... I never thought a legendary warrior would appear..."

"Exposit, Frimon..." Touch was new to all this, the fact the Frimon knew it meant that... yeah, he was in the right way.

"Uh... well, Mercurymon is one of the 10 Legendary Spirit Digimons-"

"Spirit... Didn't Theo say something about Conner and a Spirit of Fire?" Frimon nodded. "It means a second player strong player to team up... Okay, then let's get to the next stage!" He went behind Kokoro, who had already left to the Auditorium. After seeing the new look... yeah, it confirmed him this was the right way to go.

[Mr. Hyde 204]

This definitely wasn't the Auditorium he remembered!  The hallway to get inside was full of jagged turns, and a hell of a lot of them at that.  Once they burst into what he thought was going to be a very open space, he was instead met with a strange scene.  It looked like the setting of some Indiana Jones movie, and it gave him a sinking feeling.  Conner and Dominic were with him now, the only two who were smart enough to ditch a fight with that Mecha-Godzilla wannabe.  

"Dead end... guess we make some sort of final stand here...,"

"Final stand?"  Todd perked an eyebrow, scoffing at Conner.  "What are you gonna do with your final stand, huh?  You gonna throw your piss soaked pants at him?"  Last stand?  As if any of them would be standing when that thing crashed in here.  "I'll find a way out...you can distract him with a pathetic show, and I'll make my escape."  

"That's not what I thought a human would say..."  Pix gripped her ears with concern.

"We'd live to fight another day...we could find a way to beat him.  Didn't you say you wanted to become the strongest digimon on this floor?"  

"Hrmmmm...."  Pix said, scratching her ears against her head with visible confusion.  "Yeah...but that's a Machinedramon!"  

"I don't give a damn what it's name is.  There's always a bigger fish."

"I like fish!"  Pix exclaimed, almost forgetting entirely of their dire situation.  

[Blake 312]

"The big... idea? I am here... to destroy. The Master has deemed... The Spirits to be an unneeded hindrance to the glorious plan! And so, I will destroy every Spirit... and those that stand with them. I shall start... with YOU!"

"I'm gettin' too old for this... You all wanna help? Then get runnin' so that none of us have to stare that thing down! Theo! Protect Kokoro and Touch!"

"Y-you heard him! There's backup now, we need to go! E-even if we're partners, we can't do anything like this...!"

Mackenzie tightened her jaw as the scene unfolded before her and Wormmon. Sure, it seemed like it was out of her league. But, even so, running away was... How could she leave someone as irresponsible as Henderson to handle this? Theo seemed capable, but that meant Henderson would be the weak link.

"Mackenzie!"

The girl turned and look at Wormmon with a shocked expression, the forcefulness of the cry. The bug stood there shaking, eyes tight, clearly having used every last bit of her resolve to call to Mackenzie. With a quick nod, Mackenzie scooped her partner up and ran, holding the bug to her chest. If they had to run in order to help, so be it. Maybe, just maybe, they could find something to help out. Making their way into the auditorium, they would find the same strange changes applied. Where was everyone else? Why would the area change?

"Wormmon... Do you know what's going on?"

"Um... n-no, I don't, either. This d-doesn't look like it belongs in this building... Maybe th-there's something special h-hidden in here?"

[Chaos Sonic 442]

"The big... idea? I am here... to destroy. The Master has deemed... The Spirits to be an unneeded hindrance to the glorious plan! And so, I will destroy every Spirit... and those that stand with them. I shall start... with YOU!"

Chris seemed to be ignored by the Machinedramon, but not only that...he literally did a rocket arm punch. And yet, it struck Mr. Henderson and pretty much knocked out most of the roof. Sheesh...that would be amazing, I would definitely be all down for that...but not the time! he thought, looking over at the Machinedramon and then over at Henderson who was slowly getting back up.

"I'm gettin' too old for this...You all wanna help? Then get runnin' so that none of us have to stare that thing down!"

Once this was said, Henderson told Theo to protect Touch and Kokoro from the falling debris from the collapsing ceiling after Machinedramon retracted his claw. Yet again, another cool moment that Chris would want to get a second look at, but this wasn't the time. He spun his bat around in his hand some before making his way over towards Henderson, with Quill following right behind.

"Chris...I really think we should get outta here and listen to him!"

"But leaving him for dead, not a great plan either." Chris retorted, looking over at Henderson and did his best to help him up. "Mr. Henderson, while I do think it noble that you'd be willing to sacrifice yourself for the rest of us, really don't think that's the best plan. We ALL need to get out of here. So maybe if anything, find a way to distract or even incapacitate the killer robot for long enough for us all to escape."

Quill on the other hand, didn't seem very convinced. "Um, Chris...? I know you happen to be new to this, but Machinedramon is an Mega level Digimon! Those are...like really powerful! It's a lot worse for us Rookie levels! How in the world are you going to be able to do anything to this?"

"I...I honestly dunno, Quill. But, we're going to figure something out."

[reparoni 161]

As they ran towards the auditorium, Dominic noticed that this was nothing like the room he once knew. Instead, it was a hellish maze of hallways that seemed to lead to a dead end. The large room was mostly empty, save for a large alter and a suspicious amount of cacti surrounding it. There were also a bunch of vines surround the place, including two large columns. It was straight out of a video game, Dominic almost expecting there to be some form of treasure near the altar.

"Dead end... guess we make some sort of final stand here..." Dominic turned to Connor and Todd. He noticed a lack of anyone else, causing him to physically face palm. He was now stuck with these two idiots and their pet monsters. Not only that, but one of them wanted to make some sort of grand final stand in this room. That was probably the worst idea he had heard, and Todd seemed to agree. He was definitely the smarter of the two idiots, although he instead wanted to make a break for it.

"You're an imbecile. Both of you." Dominic said, crossing his arms. "Although I knew that the second you decided to befriend the enemy." He was ready to go on one of his rants again. Ranting always calmed him down, and maybe if he told these idiots what was right they could actually survive. But something was nagging at him. The cacti were really getting on his nerves, the way one of them seemed to vibrate. Dominic shook his head, trying to get it out of his mind. "You." He turned to Connor, who was already starting on his dumb plan. "You really think we can stop that thing?" He turned back to Todd. "Maybe your eyes don't work, but that monster was colossal. He'd take both of yo-"

"Oi!" Dominic was cut off as he felt a stone slam into the back of his head. As he turned to see what had hit him, he screamed as he nearly fell flat on his ass. Talking to him was a monstrous plant angrily glaring at him, two other stones in its hand. "Can ya stop whining, pendejo? Some of us are trying to relax!" The monstrous plant turned to the others, its face warping from a face of anger to one of confusion as she saw the Digimon hanging out with the humans. "That's not something you see everyday..."

"Says the talking plant!" Dominic screamed, scrambling backwards as his mind finally seemed to catch up to what had happened. The mutated flower turned her attention back to Dominic, causing the boy to jump.

She simply laughed, pointing one of its claws at the boy. "You. You're funny. A big crybaby, but a funny one." She turned to the others once more. "I'm not sure what your deal is but..." The Digimon gave the group a smile, flashing them a thumbs up. "A friend of theirs is a friend of mine!"

"The name's Palmon! Not sure why you guys decided to stop by, but feel free to hang out with us!" She said, gesturing towards the other cacti.

"Why..." Dominic groaned, tossing himself on the ground as Palmon giggled once again.

[Saikazo 241]

Machinedramon watched as one of those damned humans dove in front of the ones the metal monster was targeting, blocking the attack with his shield, making his claw ricochet into the ceiling. To make things even worse, one of those accursed Spirits came out and reflected the falling rocks onto his face with enough force that he slightly stumbled. He was done playing now. He let out a loud mechanical roar that shook the room to its foundation and echoed through out the halls. Mr. Henderson sighed and tried to get back up.

"Chris...I really think we should get outta here and listen to him!" Yes, yes, that was good.

"But leaving him for dead, not a great plan either." Chris retorted. No, no, that was bad. "Mr. Henderson, while I do think it noble that you'd be willing to sacrifice yourself for the rest of us, really don't think that's the best plan. We ALL need to get out of here. So maybe if anything, find a way to distract or even incapacitate the killer robot for long enough for us all to escape."

"Um, Chris...? I know you happen to be new to this, but Machinedramon is an Mega level Digimon! Those are...like really powerful! It's a lot worse for us Rookie levels! How in the world are you going to be able to do anything to this?"

"I...I honestly dunno, Quill. But, we're going to figure something out."

"Chris. There's something you need to realize," Mr. Henderson said as he stood up. "I'm not planning on sacrificing myself for you kids. Machinedramon isn't fast. If you all can get into the auditorium, there is a door in the backstage that leads outside. So if you all get going, Theo and I can distract him long enough to fire off another Infinity Cannon, which we can easily dodge, and he'll get frozen from the sheer energy drain. Then we can catch up and get out of here. Now please. Get going," he explained, holding his hands up and parallel to each other, framing his face.

With that, he ran out back into battle, shield in hand. "Theodore! Get its attention, and get it mad! Try to have it fire the cannons on its back! If we can do that, we can get out of here!" Machinedramon roared and held out both claw hands, firing one off at Mr. Henderson and the other at Theo. Mr. Henderson jumped into the air, positioning the shield right under his butt, so that the claw missed him, and the shield protected his butt from scrapping against the metal rushing by his bottom. "Come on, ugly, is that all you got?"

---

"Final stand?"  Todd perked an eyebrow, scoffing at Conner.  "What are you gonna do with your final stand, huh?  You gonna throw your piss soaked pants at him?"  Conner shot him a nasty look as he kept going. "I'll find a way out...you can distract him with a pathetic show, and I'll make my escape."  

"Anything to help the cowardly, you know?" Conner muttered sarcastically as he pulled himself onto the second platform, and went to jump to the third.

"You're an imbecile. Both of you." Dominic said, crossing his arms. "Although I knew that the second you decided to befriend the enemy." 

"But I don't have one of the 'enemy'," Conner snapped back.

"You." Dominic "You really think we can stop that thing?" He turned back to Todd. "Maybe your eyes don't work, but that monster was colossal. He'd take both of yo-" Before Conner could snap again, to point out that what Dominic wanted them to do was just lay down and die, and he had enough of doing nothing, the pessimistic idiot start arguing with a plant. Fine, whatever, there were more important things that he could be doing right now. 

He finally got to the third platform, dropping the vine on the ground, taking a minute to catch his breath. However, he suddenly heard a voice call out to him.

"Hey." Climbing up onto the platform Connor had been on, Kokoro continued "Dreifus told me to find you. Something about, Execute! Spirit Evolution! I don't get it, but I can take over whatever you're doing here."

"I'm trying to tie this vine to this rock," Conner explained. "Then when that... Machinedramon... comes in here, we can push this off and ram it with these, which will hopefully at the very least slow it down, maybe even knock it over," He paused, mulling over her words. "Execute...?" He looked down at his good hand before holding out his hand and calling out. "EXECUTE! SPIRIT EVOLUTION!!" He didn't expect anything to happen, why would it? After all, they were just silly sounding words. What could they do?

Apparently a lot.

A spiral of flame engulfed the poor student, the flames themselves molding themselves into a cocoon of data, which split open and revealed that Conner had changed considerably. He had grown in size, now similar in stature to a professional basketball player, and his hair had grown out considerably, having been turned blond, and his body was covered by a black jumpsuit with red armor plating.

"AGUNIMON!!"  He called out, flames dancing around his hands. He paused, looking down at himself and his new body. "Whoa... what the hell is...?"

"I will lend you my power for a short time. But know that without a way to channel the power, this will not be pleasant," The voice from before... the Spirit of Flame's voice echoed in his mind. Conner clenched his fists, grinning a bit.

"It can't be that bad...," Conner muttered to himself. He hopped down from the platform. "Now we have a fighting chance!"

Meanwhile, as the other students began to pile into the room, the altar in the back slowly began to glow, light seeming to come from 3 different sources. If one was to investigate the glow, they'd find three strange devices sitting on the altar, emitting the light...

---

OOC

Spoiler

Okay, so the 3 devices are blank Digivices. If you grab them, they will format to whatever you want it to look like. First come, first served, there's only 3 here.

 

[ZetaRESP 5]

"Hey." His attention was also brought to Kokoro when she went to go to Connor. "Dreifus told me to find you. Something about, Execute! Spirit Evolution! I don't get it, but I can take over whatever you're doing here." Touch blinked and simply did a sign that he understood.

"I'm trying to tie this vine to this rock, Then when that... Machinedramon... comes in here, we can push this off and ram it with these, which will hopefully at the very least slow it down, maybe even knock it over," Touch saw Conner and... yeah, that plan was also fine, but not sure if that's what he had to do.

"Touchmon-sempai, what are we gonna-?" This was interrupted by another shouting voice. The voice of Conner.

"EXECUTE! SPIRIT EVOLUTION!!" Both human and Digimon were in aw as they looked how Conner immediately became... "AGUNIMON!!" Touch felt a bit envious that Conner got the fancy transformation, as he looked at Frimon. 'I guess someone has to play on Legendary here... Wait, what's that I'm seeing in that corner?'

Frimon was once again impressed. "I can't believe it! Another Legendary Warrior! This is so-WHOA!!" Frimon was shaken by Touch jumping onto one of the 3 glowing spots, as he had been scanning the room for anything that would had changed after Conner/Agunimon got his thing.

"It's time to level up... for our sake." He excavated the light and pulled out what seemed to be a portable game console... only for it to become what could be described as a virtual pet device. "Huh?" He then looked at Frimon, then at the device, then at Frimon, then at the device... and he simply shrugged and pocketed it, while Frimon seemed confused. "Okay, now let's get to the next stage."