FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"The Transfer"

The afternoon had grown dark with storms outside the forest; wind howled and shook the trees as rain poured down so hard that it sounded like the group of warriors were under the spout of a waterfall. Wisemon had bounded ahead of everyone, quickly zipping out of sight while proclaiming the group to "Follow me!" and despite their best efforts, finding him was a lot more difficult due to the small creature's size and speed.

"Are you sure we should trust this thing?" Exveemon asked as he watched the digimon zip out of sight. "He does not seem very straight forward when it comes to helping us out!"

"We will have to decide that when we've caught up to him." Magnamon said. "This way!"

The group scrambling through the woods consisted of Magnamon, Exveemon, Omnimon, Rapidmon, Bladeleomon, Bancholeomon as well as the Wargreymon brothers Shadow and Frost. As they rushed through the soaking-wet thicket, they were joined by Mac and Mark; the two wolf brothers as well as Trey, the Dorulumon and Matt, the Weregarurumon that rounded off the list. They bolted one direction, then the other, trying to keep up with the small Wisemon, who insisted on giggling in delight as they tried to rush him.

"Come catch me, warriors! Once you've accomplished this I will reveal the way to get to my island!"

In an instant, the Wisemon vanished just as Mac burst into view to pounce him, landing instead in a thickened puddle of mud that had been formed by rainwater drippage. He groaned and rested his head onto his hand. "Chasing this guy around is like watching one of those old Warner Brother cartoons." He said with a sigh.

Wisemon appeared in between Matt and Trey, who both ran for him. In a quick flash, Wisemon vanished, leaving the pair to run headlong into one another with a mighty thud.

"Hahaha, you warriors are a delight to play with." He said. "But only the wisest can catch me!"

"This should slow you down!" Frost cried as he hurled a sphere of ice toward the diminutive Digimon. Wisemon gasped and blinked out of the way.

"You shouldn't announce when you're attacking." Wisemon said as he grabbed a branch from a nearby tree and swung it around, causing Frost to levitate off the ground foot first. "It takes the surprise out of it!"

"WAAAAHH!" Frost bellowed as he was thrown several feet backward.

A dark-skinned warrior flew from the same spot as Shadow came into view, he brought his claws back and threw a similar orb to his brother's, though this one was black and tried to pull the small Digimon toward it.

Swishing his cane, Wisemon caused the orb to crack and split around him dropping to either side as he blinked away and continued to run.

"We're never going to catch him at this rate!" Exveemon exclaimed as he caught up to the others.

"Whoever came up with the idea that we're supposed to catch him?" Bancholeomon asked. "We're supposed to follow him, remember?"

The chase continued on into the forest, even further down the twisted dark path. Each time the warriors caught a glimpse of Wisemon, he blinked away and took off further into the forest. The rain beyond the trees was pouring down so hard now that it was beginning to leave muddy trails for the others to follow. Matt slipped in one and mud caked his fur as he growled in frustration.

"You won't find the path if you're not willing to get a little dirty." The Wisemon said with a mischievous giggle. "Your warrior training starts with your mind, then works on your body. This is the first part of your test friends; don't waste it!"

"I'm really getting tired of him." The wolf growled as he was helped back to his feet by Mark.

"Come on." He insisted as the pair of them ran to catch up to the others.

"Wherever he's leading us, it better be gooOOOOOOOD?!" Matt screeched as he suddenly found himself running over the edge of a high cliff.

Mark teetered forward before Trey emerged from behind the pair of them and caught him by his neck fur. The weregarurumon felt like his heart was going to stop at any second as he looked down. Completely different from the forests they had been running through, he now looked down into a fog-filled chasm that stretched below him. He couldn't see the ground and the rubble of rocks he'd kicked into the chasm on his sudden stop had not yet hit the bottom. He looked around to see several columns that lined the cliffside, all overgrown with vines which wrapped almost completely to the top of them. He leaned back and took a breath before taking a single step backward. "Hooooly...." He rolled his eyes and put a hand on top of his head and looking at Trey. "Thanks, buddy." He breathed a sigh of relief.

The other warriors emerged from the forest at a less-than-frivolous pace, all looking around at the columns and the ancient markings revealed under the overgrowth. "These are... ancient Digimon writings." Omnimon said. "It isn't very common in this day and age to see them."

"Wow. What is this place?" Magnamon said.

Frost's hand slid across an icon near the top of one of the columns, which then lit an electric blue color. The colors shot down the symbols and across the ground under them, illuminating the landscape to everyone's awe and surprise. "A mysterious one." Frost said, looking at his brother. Shadow nodded silently.

With a pop that sounded like static electricity whizzing through the air; Wisemon appeared on one of the shorter columns near the cliff's edge. It looked as though it had been physcially broken in half and not weathered down like the others around it. "This was once a place of power for the Digital World." He explained. "It is an ancient gate that allows travelers to move to a place in between the data that makes up our world, that is where I want to take you all." He paused. "However, as much as I would like to take you there, I have recently received some terrible, terrible news."

"What is it?" Bancholeomon asked. "Piedmon and Myotismon?"

Wisemon nodded. "Yes. They are on the move, attacking Servos City as we speak with a great power."

Omnimon sighed. "Well, then I suggest a few of us go engage this threat, while the rest travel for training. I volunteer to face off against Piedmon's forces."

"Me too!" Exveemon bounced. "I want to show that old data sucker that he's not going to--"

"No." Magnamon said sternly to his younger brother."

"What do you mean? Why not?"

Magnamon glared at the champion. "You're only recently digivolved, Exveemon." He said. "Warriors with more experience should face this threat." He looked at Omnimon. "I will go as well."

"And me." Rapidmon said stepping forward. "I'm a pretty tough cookie under fire."

"Excellent. You three should perform miraculously together!" Wisemon bounced, interrupting any further possible volunteers. "But I suggest you take this as well, in case you get into danger." He said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small triangular metallic device. It flashed yellow and Omnimon plucked the device from his hand. "That is a short range teleporter that I've keyed to this location." He said. "If you find yourselves in trouble, click it and your digital data will be immediately transported back here. It will lock onto all of your digital data so you will not have to worry about any tagalongs."

"Thank you, Wisemon." Omnimon bowed his head as he put the device into a holster on his hip.

"Best of luck to you three." Wisemon said with a smile.

Nodding, Magnamon and Rapidmon hopped up on Omnimon's shoulders and they took off into the sky, fading immediately into the clouds above.

"Hey, Wisemon?" The digimon turned to see Mac addressing him. "While they're gone, what do we do?"

"Train, of course." Wisemon answered rather firmly as he raised his hand up, then brought it to the ground.

A glow emitted from Wisemon's touch, turning the electric blue into a golden color that shot through the area, filling in all the sigils and surrounding the remaining warriors in a shining light. As the light imploded onto the marking that his hand was on, Wisemon suddenly evaporated into a dust of golden sparks that shot up into the air. As the digimon and wolves left behind watched, they realized they too were slowly disintegrating into dust and all of them were suddenly bound skyward.

Their physical bodies weren't there, but Mac, Mark, Shadow, Frost, Bancholeomon and Exveemon all found themselves moving through a shaft of light at an accelerated speed. Their consciousnesses seemed to pick up their momentum, but their bodies didn't appear for themselves or any other. As the light increased, they all felt flooded by it and at once, they found themselves elsewhere;

Standing on the precipice of an enormous tropical island, they could see that they'd landed in the middle of a large piece of land that went on for miles in every direction. The grass felt soft under their feet, and everything seemed lighter. "Wow. This is beautiful!" Mark exclaimed.

"Isn't it though?" Wisemon said, appearing behind the wolf and giving him a swat with his makeshift cane.

"Yowch! What'd you do that---foo-oor?" Mark screeched a bit as he felt himself floating upwards. He turned around and saw that the ground and his friends were staring at him from several feet below him now. He began to swim in the opposite direction, but found it a lot harder to return in that direction.

"You need to kick." Wisemon said. "Or wait for the momentum to run out and send you floating back down." He explained. "Gravity works differently here; sometimes it can be lighter, allowing you to learn how to move fluidly. Sometimes it can be much heavier, which would allow for strength training. But you, dear Mark are floating pretty close to a heavy gravity spot, so..."

"HARUMPH!" Mark felt the sudden pull and was immediately dragged down, causing him to wind himself on the ground. "Oww..." He complained as the others made their way toward him, being cautious not to let the gravity throw them off balance. As they approached him, Mark could tell the heavier gravity was beginning to kick in. Steps for the others began to grow more labored and as Mark himself tried to get up. "M-man... it's like I'm lifting barbells with my glutes..." He said as he pushed himself up and crawled his leg under him to properly stand up.

"In effect, you are." Wisemon said, staying carefully beyond the circle of darker color that showed the grass laying flat on the ground; weighted down from the gravity here. "There are areas of varying gravity here. Some make you so light you could float off into the unknown and never come back again without some help. And then others, which could crush you under the weight of your very data." He shrugged. "I suggest the first thing is learning how to control and detect what areas are best for you all."

As Mark made his way to the edge of the green ring, he immediately felt lighter, and stepping out of it, he could move freely again. "Okay! I get it! Try this out!"

He jumped into the air, letting out a celebratory cry of glee. His jump's height was enormous when compared to the gravity of the digital world. He could make himself jump several stories now. As his momentum began to slow down, he then forced his weight downward and slowly arched his way back to the ground. As he came to a landing, he turned around to see that he'd jumped several hundred feet now, and the others were like specks against the colorful sunny sky on the horizon. One by one though, the others followed his lead and he began to laugh in delight.

The MirageGaogamon snarled at Max as he and Growlmon are shoved out the doorway of the hospital, stumbling and falling as Guilmon is ejected with even more force, making the larger evolution catch him. As he stepped from the door, the winds caught the cape hanging from his neck and sent it fluttering out to the side, as if physically imposing his protection on them trying to get in again.

"Hey! What's the big deal?! We're here to see to it our friend--"

"The Taomon is being evaluated." Mirage said with a glare. "But after the chaos you three caused in there--"

"US?!" Guilmon snorted. "It's your stupid guards and your dumb rules about not letting rookies into the hospital that's chaos!"

"Guilmon is a good friend, he's the one who directed us here to help Taomon." Max explained. "He has every right to show his support."

"He can do so on the front lawn." Mirage interrupted. "And you..." He pointed at Max. "I am not even sure what we can classify a flesh-and-blood werewolf as, so we will need to wait to hear back from the director if you can even come in again."

"This is ridiculous. What sort of hospital discriminates against--"

"Enough!" Mirage roared loudly.

"Aw, come on Max. Why are you trying to reason with him?" Max could hear the familiar voice in his mind echoing with an air of frustration and anger that rose within him. "Let's just take this guy out and go visit Sci. He's an insignificant Digimon--"

"Shut it." Max said. "I'm not going to do things your way, and that's final."

"Talking to yourself?" Mirage asked. "Such a strange habit."

Max began to tremble, feeling the frustration rising. Prompting Guilmon to stare at him strangely. "That... I can sense power coming off of him." He said taking a step back.

"Well then, I'll have to wipe this 'power' off the face of this city then, shouldn't I?" Mirage growled and then charged forward, flying toward Max and Growlmon with a furious roar.

Mirage gasped as he watched a sudden change in Max's demeanor occur. Before his claws hit him, he grabbed the MirageGaomon's arm and twisted it back, nearly sending him flat to the ground as he gave a stone-cold stare into his opponent's eye.

"Don't be a fool." Ace said as he made a quick spin and kicked Mirage backwards, sending him flying back at least ten feet before he landed and looked up to the wolf in surprise.

"Okay. I didn't expect that one out of you."

"Because I'm not like my counterpart." Ace said with a smirk. "He might not want to clean your clock, but I'm going to clean it and set it back an hour while I'm at it!"

"Oh yeah?"

Mirage swung his free claw in a punch to knock his opponent away. Ace ducked under the attack and sent one of his own; a kick straight into the digimon's stomach, making him lurch and hoist upward against the blow. Pulling Ace's arms violently to each side before bringing his head in to butt against the wolf's face. Ace pulled his hands back and briefly grabbed the strike area, wobbling around as Mirage attacked again, unleashing a flurry of punches against the wolf, who quickly recovered and began to block them. The faster the punches came, the harder it became for either one of them to catch up with the other one, until Ace landed a fierce punch right to the Digimon's temple. Mirage staggered back, barely noticing the wolf leaping into the air at him in order to attack. He grabbed the wolf, slammed him to the ground and then pushed all his weight down in order to keep him from struggling free. Mirage realized a mistake in his posture when he felt the wolf's leg squirm from under him and deliver another fierce kick to his torso. Knocking him back as Ace threw himself on top of Mirage in a complete reversal.

"You've made the mistake of messing around with me! All we wanted was a peaceful visit to the hospital and now you've given us reason to fight..." He paused. "So... I guess thanks?"

Mirage grunted, freeing his arm and delivering a firm, painful punch across the wolf's face. He got up, still reeling from having his neck pressed down on by the wolf as he breathed. "You're welcome?" He spoke in a nearly condescending manner.

A sudden explosion of energy from the wolf however, made Mirage take a step back. As the wolf suddenly gained in power level, Ace blasted toward the guard and pinned him back hard into the wall behind him. He spun, landed several solid punches to Mirage's face, causing him to instead start blocking the attacks instead of attacking himself. Catching several blows and grabbing Ace's fists he swung the attack around and slammed the wolf hard into the wall. Ace recovered and kicked his weight off the side, dragging the Digimon feet across the ground before releasing him. Grabbing Mirage now, Ace drew back his arm which was then stayed by--

"Don't you hurt him!" Max's voice told him and made him grunt to resist.

"He's getting what's coming to him...." He responded as he swung his fist again, only to have it stopped once more; this time, by something physical.

Ace looked up to see a large Wargreymon standing over him, holding his arm back as though it were nothing. Looking back to the other side, he spotted the shimmering body of a Metal Garurumon, who had flown in and was standing guard between the two fighters. "That's ENOUGH!" He growled.

"Are you alright, boss?" Wargreymon asked as Mirage slowly regained his senses and got back to his feet.

"I'm... sure I'll be fine." He said.

"Allllright!" Ace roared in excitement. "Three-on-one! I love those odds! Come on, Mirage. You think you got what it takes to defeat me? I'd just like to see you try!"

"No." Mirage said starkly, popping the bubble that had inflated the wolf's ego. "I surrender to you, you're much too strong." He said. "I... hope you will accept my apologies."

Ace frowned in frustration. "Aww... you're no fun." He said.

There was a sudden shifting sense that flooded the area for a brief second, and a pair of different eyes looked at the Gaogamon evolution with regret. "I'm sorry about that." He said. "Sometimes Ace is... a little hard to control."

"Ace?" Growlmon asked. "Man, he sure kicked Mirage's a--" He paused, looking at the eyes turning toward his. "Apathy?" He said, adjusting the 'a' word he had in mind.

As they helped him up, Mirage listened as the Wargreymon said something in his ear. Mirage nodded and looked at the others. "Alright, now. There has been a bit of a change in plans; while we can't have you through the front entrance, we can fit you in elsewhere; if you three could just follow me..."

"No." Max erupted, sounding more like Ace than he did just a moment ago. "We are not going to leave this hospital until Sci's better. He's not just a Taomon to us, he's a good friend."

The hint of a smile appeared on Mirage's face, then just as immediately disappeared. "Very well, we can pay a visit to your friend and see how he is doing."

"These two as well." Ace said, pointing at Growlmon and Guilmon.

Mirage sighed. "You're asking a lot, but I think we can bend the rules, just this once." He said as he dusted himself off. "Let's go and see how your Taomon friend is doing."

As the group approached the door, several Dobermon appeared, as if to ward them off, but with a simple wave from Mirage, they vanished just as quickly as they had appeared. Stepping into the hospital, they noticed things seemed a bit calmer than they had earlier as work crews had been put in place to fix the earlier battle damage between the three of them and the group of Dobermon guards that came before Mirage made his appearance. The nurse Renamon at the front counter merely looked up from her paperwork to watch the five of them pass before returning immediately to her work.

Entering the long dark corridor that illuminated upon their movement, they followed the hall which entered a bigger room that had several nurse stations and rooms all around it. "Room three seventeen." Mirage said as the three of them stepped onto an automatic escalator. It moved, and zipped them around the room before moving up a floor, then up another. It was like a standing rollercoaster for Ace, Guilmon and Growlmon. When they reached the third level, the sidewalk slid to a stop just outside of the designated room number and they disembarked. "Here we go." He said as he opened the door and showed the others in.

Sci was lying-still unconscious in the bed on the other side of the room, his fur glistening under the glow of sunlight pouring in on top of him. He had been re-dressed in a hospital gown and was resting under a set of soft blue bed sheets. "Sci! Sci, Sci! Are you okay?" Max exclaimed as he rushed over to the bed side and put his hand on the Taomon's shoulder. "What--what's wrong with him?"

"I believe I can answer that." Another voice came from outside the room. As an Ophanimon stepped in, she turned to Mirage and put down her clipboard to smile. "Mister Mirage, I don't believe there's anything more you or your guards can do from here. I will speak with the gentlemen here."

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Quite sure. You're free to go."

Mirage, the Wargreymon and the Metalgarurumon then disappeared from the doorway as Ophanimon closed it behind them and turned to the others. "Now... I am sure the three of you have many questions."

"Like how we couldn't even admit our friend to the hospital?"

Ophanimon surprisingly smiled at the candor that Growlmon extended. "Yes, I suppose our rules might be a little harsh. I apologize for the extremes my staff has made to enforce them. I assure you, nothing else will come of it. We have our rules for reasons though."

"What's wrong with Sci?" Max asked curiously.

"Well... strictly speaking he's... not injured physically. But his data has been badly damaged." She said. "There was a serious injury that occurred that put him in this state, any injury that Digimon receive often requires a certain amount of data to recover from it. In Sci's case, his injury was actually severe enough that it resulted in a hefty loss of data. His body can't accumulate enough of it quickly enough to recover, so he is left in this more... vegetative state until that data can be recovered."

"So, what are you saying?"

Ophanimon sighed a bit depressively as she tapped her pencil onto the clipboard. "What I am saying is that unless Sci gets a direct data transfusion, he will remain in this state indefinitely."

"Well, where do I sign up?" Max asked. "I want to get him well again."

Ophanimon's eyebrows lifted in curiosity as she observed the wolf. "You would give your digital data to help him?" She asked. "But you aren't Digimon..." She put her clipboard down, and then raised her hands over Max's head, slowly drawing them down with a soft white glow. "Your data is strange, and my produce unexpected results. With how much Sci needs; there maybe a few unexpected... alterations to his digital form as well."

"Would it hurt him?" Max asked.

Ophanimon took a moment to answer. "No." She said. "But as I said, the results might be... unexpected. There are powers and personalities that dwell within you, which may manifest themselves on your friend."

"What are the chances he recovers on his own?"

Another short pause was followed by Ophanimon's soft response. "Perhaps an eight percent chance he will recover."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Explosions could be heard in the distance as Omnimon flew toward Servo City, the trio had been moving so fast that Rapidmon's ears were practically stapled to the back of his head as the Mega-Leveled Digimon finally began to slow down and they could see plumes of smoke and fire raining from the enormous city not far from them.

Servo City was a large city based on the edge of a desert; the serene-type background on the horizon set for a picturesque image as they came into view of it. Skyscrapers glistening against the afternoon sun didn't prevent them from seeing the string of explosions that then immediately began to trail outward from the city's center toward the edge they were closest to.

"What is--?"

Magnamon didn't even have a chance to finish his sentence before a massive six-legged Digimon exploded from the city's border and flew up toward them. "Look out! Armageddemon!" Omnimon cried as he drew his sword and deftly slashed at the spider-like Digimon, easily slicing him in half. "Move!" He shouted.

As he spoke, Armageddemon's body halves began to repair themselves, each becoming a separate virus that rebounded and leaped toward the trio. Magnamon and Rapidmon jumped from Omnimon's shoulders and both began to fire their attacks into their attacker. Cackling as he avoided the blasts, Armageddemon began to divide himself again and again, becoming four, then becoming eight before their very eyes. Each of them letting out a fiery blast from their mouths as they attacked, Omnimon began to deflect the attacks, but any he destroyed on the rebound immediately reformed and doubled. As the swarms began to overwhelm them, the three flew up out of reach and Omnimon flew hard and fast away from the city, glancing over his shoulder to be sure that they were following.

"Damn. They're not following!" Magnamon pointed out.

"I know that." Omnimon said, sweeping around and returning to the fight. "We need to wipe these things out quickly. That many Armageddemon will destroy the city pretty fast."

"What do we do? They keep reconstructing when we destroy them!" Rapidmon shouted, firing a series of missiles into the crowd and causing the large swarms to expand even more. "Oh no!" He exclaimed.

"We have to destroy the original in order to get rid of them!" Omnimon shouted, now kicking at the digimon crawling onto his legs and climbing upward. "Fast!"

"Where is it?" Magnamon shouted. "I can't tell them apart."

As the Digimon swarmed all three warriors, Omnimon couldn't keep up his flying anymore. As he made to take off though, every Armageddemon covering his body began to fire mercilessly into his body. "GYAHHH!" He shouted as he tightened up and tried to get back. "Can't shake them!"

"The original isn't in here!" Rapidmon said. "I can't ...can't find it!"

"There!" Magnamon shouted pointing up toward a pair of crimson glistening eyes separate from the crowd of Armageddemons. "Guess he's taking no chances!"

"ARGH! Get him! I can't get these things out of my face!" Omnimon cried, using his weapons to try and remove the swarm of viruses from his body.

As Magnamon and Rapidmon separated from him and each other, they each swept around to try and catch the singular Armageddemon who then jumped away from his roost to try and get lost in the growing army of his doubles. Rapidmon opened fire, launching his missiles into the blanket, but only making it spread instantly, making the collection heavier.

"Rapidmon, don't fire. We're spreading out his cover even more!"

Magnamon's words were a reality check for Rapidmon who gasped and immediately stopped firing. "Oh, right! Sorry!" He shouted.

Both warriors swarmed through the enemy numbers, following the faint glow of the original eyes, which kept beaming toward them as Armageddemon glanced over his shoulder to spot them. He crashed into a building, causing the dome-shaped roof to start crumbling in. Rapidmon gasped and caught the structure. "Go! Get him I got this!" He shouted as Magnamon zoomed past him so fast that his fur fluttered.

Magnamon tightened up his form and tried to speed up his approach for the virus, his ears were flapping hard in the wind, his eyes were beginning to water from the smoke and shards of debris that the chase was sending him through, he knew he needed to get right in on the Digimon or it was all over. Seeing two more Armageddemon clones flying at him, Magnamon saw his chance. Spreading his stance out he caught his feet on both of their heads and bounced forward, propelling himself hard and fast after the original:

"Magna Beam!" He shouted as he waved his arms out in front of him.

An oblong ball of light shot from Magnamon's hands and flew in the direction of the original Armageddemon. It caught a wall and looked like it was about to jump away, but by the worst; or possibly best luck, his leg became caught in a large crack. He could do nothing more than shriek in agony as the bolt slammed into him.

With an electric explosion that created a shell that shot out from his body, he was destroyed. As the explosion swept over his clones, they instantly vaporized into nothing again. As they breathed a sigh, another Armageddemon appeared and attacked them.

"Magnamon! Rapidmon! Watch out!" Omnimon said, now freed he began to fly toward the others when suddenly a black blur appeared right before his eyes, sending him flying backwards as a new enemy appeared. "What in the?"

The new warrior had a similar body style to Omnimon's; though his cloak was tattered, it had a black color scheme with red markings all over its body. His weapons attached to his hands looked as though they had demonic faces with cannons for mouths and he floated directly between Omnimon and his allies, now fighting a new slew of Armageddemon that were steadily growing in numbers as they tried to destroy it.

"I have been summoned here to grant you a swift death, Omnimon." The warrior said, pointing his large cannon at the knight. To his surprise it began to glow as though it were ready to belch fire. "Meet your doom at the hands of Omegamon!" He called out as he fired.

An enormous blast of energy fired from the cannon. The attack spread wide and Omnimon narrowly avoided its radius. "Transcendent Sword!" He cried out, feeling the familiar slide of metal extrude from his own arm. Omnimon swooped around as fast as lightning and flew toward Omegamon. Omega brought his armored hands up and blocked the attack, though the force behind it was enough to send him flying backwards. The pair crashed into a skyscraper, causing it to almost immediately topple inwards. Omnimon could hear the cries of innocents far below on the streets and realized that such a battle could not take place in this much population. He grunted and withdrew his weapon, kicked Omegamon in the stomach to launch himself skyward. Omegamon predictably followed suit and flew up toward the sky after his adversary.

From the distance, Myotismon and Piedmon watched the destruction of the city as those who came to save it only put it into more jeopardy. Piedmon tapped his index finger on his chin. "Only three came to stop them." He said. "And after we went through all that planning so they could know about our attacks too." He ended his words with a bit of a pout.

"Yes. We would prefer that the wolves actually came to the defense against our attacks for once. I wonder where they could be?" Myotismon said, pondering the same as his counterpart.

As they watched Rapidmon and Magnamon battle against the again-increasing numbers of Armageddemon, the golden dragon noticed the pair standing atop the nearby roof. "Rapidmon, look. It's Myotismon and Piedmon!"

"If we can shut them down, maybe we can stop this fight ourselves!" Rapidmon exclaimed. "Go go!"

Both Digimon suddenly disengaged from Armageddemon and flew toward the two powerful ones in control of all the attacks. Myotismon clapped his hands and a barrier of darkness overwhelmed the two for a brief moment. "Omegamon, come aid your masters!" He called out, his voice echoing through the area like he were using a megaphone.

Above; Omegamon's attention diverted for a moment as Omnimon crashed into him, sending him flying back with a roar of anger. Immediately, Omegamon spun around and delivered a fierce kick to the knight, sending Omnimon flying backward and out of sight. Heeding his masters' call, Omegamon turned and bolted down through the clouds to see Armageddemon defending them against Rapidmon and Magnamon, who weren't backing down. With a growl, Omegamon swooped in, delivering enough force from his flight to send the attackers back toward the ground. Armageddemon stood next to Piedmon, using the duplicates he'd created during their initial fight to combine into a larger bodied form of himself; sacrificing his ability to duplicate completely.

"Magnamon! Rapidmon! Where are your wolf friends? Are they not here to aid you?"

"I'm afraid they've had other things to do." Magnamon answered.

"Guess you'll have to be dealing with us first!" Rapidmon said as he launched a missile volley at them, which Omegamon immediately blocked from hitting.

"Then you will have to deal with me first." He snarled.

"And me as well." Armageddemon grinned.

"Bring it on!" Both of them shouted at once.

"No!" A voice rushing in broke their battle stances as Omnimon appeared again in a brilliant blaze of light. "This is my fight. Rapidmon, Magnamon! Go find the others. Hurry!"

"But--"

"I am your commander and leader according to my rank, and I am giving you both a direct order. Go. Now!"

Looking at one another and realizing they have no choice, Rapidmon and Magnamon extract the small teleporter and hold it aloft. As they released it, a sudden flash of energy exploded around them, and the two vanished. "How interesting!" Piedmon said, his eyes as wide as pancakes. "A teleporter device, and I cannot even trace where they were sent..."

"You aren't going to find out either." Omnimon said, facing the four massive Digimon as he drew his sword and turned his other arm into a large cannon as he prepared to face them.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this." Mark said as he and his brother both pushed themselves to cross a zone of extremely heavy gravity together. Strapped across their shoulders were thick racks with rocks lined across them. Both were sweating profusely and their tongues were hanging out so low that they were practically dragging them across their chests as they made their way across. "How---far do we have?"

"It's about... another mile." Mac panted. "Save your strength and stop talking...."

From the distance, the rest of the group watched as the wolves pushed themselves across the heavy area. They stood just outside the border, where their gravity was the most normal to the Digital World as it could get.

"They've made it this far, isn't that enough?" Exveemon asked.

Bladeleomon shook his head. "No. They each need to earn a Digivice in order to properly partner with us." He explained. "You should know this now that you are in your champion form, Exveemon."

Exveemon blushed. "R-right. I knew that."

The two wolves finally managed to reach the border of the high gravity area; both panting loudly, they almost crashed onto the ground before slipping out and looking as though a hundred pounds were immediately lifted off them. "Whew!" Mac exclaimed. "So guys... who won?"

Bancholeomon stepped forward and crouched at the wolves' feet, staring back and forth in between them. "It appears you tied."

"Aww nuts!" Both exclaimed at once.

"It's alright. Perhaps we are going about this the wrong way?" Shadow suggested. "I mean, you're brothers, you're going to probably be pretty consistent when it comes to these competitions."

"Are you suggesting we split up among them?"

Shadow nodded to his brother. "Half of us go with Mac. The others go with Mark and pledge our fealty to give them their Digivices. So as a vote, who thinks Mark is worthy of their loyalty?" Slowly, a few hands raised up with the exception of Exveemon's whose hand shot straight up immediately. "Alright, so Exveemon, Bancholeomon, and I suppose myself. So that leaves Bladeleomon, Frost, Trey and Matt to ally with Mac. Do you all agree with this?"

At once, all four of them nodded. Bancholeomon turned to the wolves. "Place your hands out guys." He said. "This won't hurt a bit."

At once, Mark and Mac put their hands out to the other Digimon. Matt, Trey, Frost and Bladeleomon placed their fingers on Mac's palm while Exveemon, Bancholeomon and Shadow placed their fingers onto Mark's. There was a pulse of light that shot from their fingertips and into the wolves' hands. In an instant small devices appeared in both of their hands.

"There, now you are infused with the powers of all of us between you." Shadow said. "With these connections, we can learn new ways to battle and maybe stand a chance against the likes of Myotismon and Piedmon after all."

Mac grinned as he put his digivice into his pocket. "Well, now that we've got this, what do we do next?"

Unflinching, Bladeleomon spoke without opening his eyes. "We train. But this time; we train harder!"

Ophanimon moved her hands down the sides of Max's head, making his ears wiggle with the tingling sensation. "Your data is definitely different." She said coolly as she paused and looked at him. "This may be an unstable transfer, but your spirit is similar to ours, and should work as well as a Digimon's data being transferred. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I'm sure." Max said. "Anything to help Sci."

"He may not be exactly the same Sci you knew when he awakens. His powers may shift, his features may change as they align with your own data. Since it isn't a full Digimon-to-Digimon transfer, there will be side effects."

"I understand."

Ophanimon nodded as she continued her hand movements, bringing her fingers as low as Max's back before raising it up again. The lights emitted from her hand then turned gold and as she extended her other hand toward the unconscious Taomon, a glittering particle of silver radiated off her fingers and began to make Sci glow. A sudden flush of weakness began to wash over Max, who was suddenly grateful she had him sit down. As Max put his hands down, he could feel Ace's hold weaken even further; he sensed that Ace wanted Sci to recover just as badly as he did, but to what end? What did he intend to do with Sci that involved kidnapping him?

"Nnnhh..." Max felt the sound crawl out of his throat as the cold sensation emanating from Ophanimon's power continued to drain him. He closed his eyes and grasped the bed underneath him.

"Lie down, Max. Things will progress much more smoothly."

Max nodded and abided to Ophanimon's request. He watched as the bright glow flowed off the hand over his body, and a pillar of light rose from his chest. The light flowed into her palm then crawled along her body and into the other hand over Sci's form. Sci slowly disappeared under the silvery glow of the transfer; data could be seen flickering about his body as he vanished and he was surprised to see a new shape beginning to form. Sci inhaled sharply, his voice could be heard from the injection of strength being transferred into his body.

Max felt himself blink in and out of consciousness, but he watched as the Taomon's muzzle began to lengthen, his head become more angular and his ears grow, becoming firmer points than he previously saw. As consciousness faded from him, both Max and Ace could feel an overwhelming sense of satisfaction that perhaps their friend would be alright after all...

Slowly, Max opened his eyes and let the flood of sunlight in. He winced and his head jerked to one side as he spotted a new face staring down at him. His fur was yellow and white with purple markings under his eyes. A puff of dark hair wildly planted on top of his head, tufted back in the space between his ears. His eyes now black around a pair of electric blue centers. A smile came across his face.

"Good morning Max." He said.

"Holy cow, is that Sci?!" He heard Ace's voice in his head.

"Sci? I-is that you?"

Sci chuckled a bit and waved his arms some as if showing off his new body. It would appear so. I feel so much stronger now; Ophanimon said that you had transfered a large chunk of your data into me, is that true?"

"Yeah..." Max answered. "Actually..." He pointed at his head. "Both of us sort of did, it's the first time we'd agreed on anything in a long time."

There was a scowl on Sci's face at the silent mentioning of Ace. "Well, I suppose I have to thank the both of you then."

"It's no problem, champ!"

Max clapped his mouth shut following the sound of Ace's voice coming out of it. "Sorry about that." He said. "Are you okay?"

Sci returned to a smile of gratitude. "Yes. And thank you."

Suddenly, a strange whirring noise could be heard in the room. Max and Sci both looked around for a moment before looking down into a glow appearing in Max's hand. As they watched, a Digivice formed out of nothing and suddenly appeared in his palm. "Is that--"

"Huh." Sci remarked. "It would seem your personal risk and loyalty to me has given you something else to hold onto."

Max held up the Digivice and immediately could hear Ace laughing in his head. "Oh! Man I can't believe it! We're Sci's partners after all! Ahaha!"

"Oh!" Ophanimon spoke as she stepped into the room. "I'm glad to see you're doing better."

"Better than better." Max said with a laugh as he got out of the bed. "Look, Sci's healed!"

"Indeed. And much stronger than he was before, thanks in no small part to the data you'd given him."

"Yeah. Thanks for that." Sci said. Looking at Growlmon and Guilmon who were standing nearby silently. "And who are these guys?"

"Oh, they're the ones who helped us---me bring you here."

Sci nodded. "Guys I guess I have to thank you too."

"So did we get everything straightened out with the hospital?" Max asked. "Are they allowing you to walk freely in and out now?"

Ophanimon frowned. "Unfortunately, our hospital policies are very sternly enforced by the ruler of our city." She said. "As much as I'd like to, we are unable to change it. Rookies are still not permitted in the general quarters of the hospital. I am breaking some major rules by even allowing Guilmon in here."

"But why?"

"While our normal ruler; Emperorgreymon is out on a long trip for training, his advisor and temporary replacement is Samudramon; a powerful dragon digimon, who thinks that strength is one of the greatest assets for any city. He enforces power over powerlessness."

"Sounds like a reasonable fellow." Max heard Ace whisper in his ear.

"He is the one responsible for discrimination of non-Champion-or-above leveled Digimon. It is not something we can easily fix."

"Well we're going to have to talk to this guy." Max said. "I mean, even in a city as large as this, I can't imagine there being no In-training or Rookies that may need medical attention, or to check out a book from the library... right?"

Ophanimon hung her head and nodded. "Yes. Sadly any of those types that are injured or fall ill, we are required to go to them for treatment. Things that may be better handled in the hospital are overlooked. But Samudramon will not listen to us..."

"Then we'll make him listen." Sci said. "I appreciate the aid and I've never felt better. I couldn't imagine a younger Digimon without the access to this type of care. It has to end now."

"Aw well. Looks like I'm stuck having to agree with you guys..."

"Then it's settled." Max said. "We'll go visit this Samudramon and put this to rest once and for all!"

"Oh well..." Ace commented in Max's head. "At least we have a good fight to look forward to."

THE END