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Minuet of Forest 2

Chapter 11 of Digimon Rescue Squad

By Kendo Kawabata

"HONEY WAVE"

B-B furiously flapped her wings as thick heavy strings of honey flew through the air and splattered down on her target. The butterfly girl flapped her wings as hard and as fast as she was able too, the look on her face was one of furious determination as her thick sticky-as-glue honey splattered down on her target.

But the look on her face went from furious determination to furious frustration as the honey simply didn't stick at all, sliding off Shadramons body like he was a non stick frying pan and clumped uselessly on the ground. He shrugged off the attack like it meant nothing to him.

"FLARE BUSTER"

B-B dodged hard, darting back and forth as those heavy red laser bursts darted past her, but she barely managed to dodge in time. She could feel the heat of the red energy as it passed her, burning so hot she could feel her skin singe.

"Stop firing at me you big jerk" B-B shouted as she flew through the air, those bright red bursts flying past her as she tried to escape him. But even with enough distance between her up in the air and him on the ground, he was still posing a heavy threat.

"Special attacks do not work. You need to get physical" Rens voice said in her ear as he picked himself up from the rubble of the nearby house. He had been kicked through a wall, a bookcase and a dining room table set for four, although thankfully no-one had been seated in it at the time.

"I am not getting physical with him" B-B said as she dodged another burst that almost struck her leg. "I don't want that freaky face of his anywhere near my delicate girliness. I have standards you know EEEEK" she squealed as she dodged again.

"Since when?" Gao demanded as he pulled himself up from the pile of sleeping digimon that he had been kicked into.

"I got splinters" Lio groaned as he pulled himself out of the grandfather clock he had been thrown into. "And ringing in my ears. I think recess is over" Lio said as he spun a little on his feet, his eyes wide and rolling around a little as the small lion tried to get his bearings.

"Guys, shut up" Aqua said as she pulled herself up from the heavy tangle of laundry she had collided with. "Shout, we need clearance. Did Banchou authorise it or not?" she demanded as she pulled herself free of several embarrassing pieces of underwear.

It had been another attack, this time on an actual village. The Town of Boxfort had been attacked, the call coming through before the caller had fallen asleep almost immediately after calling them up. And so they had rushed over as soon as they had been able to get themselves ready.

The town was called Boxfort because everything looked like it had been made out of cardboard boxes. The small village was an assortment of perfectly square buildings set up as if a group of children had been playing together. It might have been made out of cardboard, but such cardboard was as hard as wood, as the group found out each time they were knocked through a wall.

And they had barely entered the village to check on what had happened before they were attacked by Shadramon. The black and red insect digimon wasn't taking his time to pick them off this round, he was out to hurt them. This was easily the fifth time that they had encountered him, and this time around he was getting violent.

"Authorisation came through" Shout said over their channel as he stared at his screen, watching the figures and data line up. Several screens held images of the team members, and the path their digivolution would take them once they triggered the sequence. "Energy levels are at peak condition, go ahead. Evolve and kick his ass" he said.

The bracelets on their wrists glowed brightly as the interface rose up, displaying an image of the champion level that they were allowed to engage. Shadramon barely flinched as Ren, B-B, Lio and Gao each slammed their hand down on their respective bracelet and they were quickly engulfed in a bright white light that seemed to shine through and out of them.

"Digivolution has been authorised. Digivolution, engaged" said the computer in a rather feminine voice to Shout as he watched the images of the squad members on his screen morph into their champion levels.

"Sweet, in real time too" Shout said as he grabbed a handful of popcorn kernels from the very large red bucket beside his chair and stuffed them into his mouth. "I really should get a popcorn maker in here. I never seem to have enough" he said as several pieces fell from his over full mouth.

"Renamon, digivolve to.........Youkomon". The flash of light vanished as Ren re-emerged as a large nine tailed blue fox the size of a horse. A huge green and white striped ornamental rope hung around his neck , and burning orange flames covered his paws and the tips of his waving tails.

"Butterflamon, digivolve to........Flybeemon." The flash of light vanished as BB re-emerged, taller and more slender in size, now a red and grey armoured wasp digimon with four clear wings that looks like blades. And a smile on her face that either said "I'm going to kick your ass" or "I'm going to ride you till you shoot dust."

"Liomon, digivolve to ........ Liamon." The flash of light vanished as Lio re-emerged as a large feral lion, with silver hoops in his ears and twin tails that lashed back and forth with a newfound anger as he bared his lethal looking teeth.

"Gaomon, digivolve to ......Gaogamon." The flash of light vanished as Gao re-emerged as a large blue and white wolf with a long flowing red ribbon around his fluffy neck, sabertooth fangs curled into a growl between his lips.

"Not evolving?" Shadramon asked as he looked over at Aqua, the narrowed eyes under his helmet showing very little reaction to the fact he was now facing five champions at the same time. It was almost like he really didn't care.

"Don't need too" Aqua said as she readied her bladed gauntlets in front of her. "I've kicked your ass already, and you had to be carried away" she said with a smirk.

"Only because I let you" Shadramon said back as he raised his gauntlets as he stared straight back at her. Ren had to blink a few times. He suddenly felt like he was staring at two versions of the same person. They had the exact same pose together. But he didn't get time to fully process the thoughts before the attack began.

"FLY SPARK" B-B shouted as she leapt into the air and hovered, her wings flapping so hard they were almost invisible. Their vibrations caused the air around her wings to crackle with electricity before several bolts of lightning struck down at Shadramon.

He back-flipped from his position, and kept going as he easily somersaulted to evade the lightning strikes, the strikes merely hitting the ground and causing small blasts in the grass. She dove and flew at him, sparking more blasts at him as she tried to hit him.

Shadramon landed on his hands and spun his legs around, pushing down and launching himself upwards. His heavy booted foot caught B-B in the chest and she cried out as she was knocked out of the sky.

"SPIRAL BLOW."

"KINGS THUNDER."

Gao opened his maw and let out a huge blast of wind that spun through the air like a tornado. Lio shook his mane and let out a roar as electricity crackled around his braids before it launched through the air.

The two attacks combined to create a tornado crackling with thunder and lightning that went straight for the bug digimon. Shadramon launched himself in the air at the last moment, the attack seemed miss him at the last minute. But when the attack connected with the ground it exploded outwards in streaks of lighting and wind merged together like braids. One such streak struck Shadramon in the leg and he lost his concentration as he was struck and he tumbled out of the sky and landed on the ground in a heap.

Lio and Gao rushed forward, their fangs and their claws bared as they ran at him like two beasts on the hunt. Shadramon picked himself up as they grew close but he didn't back down as he narrowed his eyes and raised his gauntlets. If he had hair, he would have brushed it out of his eyes without losing the confidence look.

"FLARE BUSTER"

Two red beams of energy emerged from his gauntlets and flew through the air towards the two champion beasts. They quickly leapt into the air to dodge the attacks as the beams went past and struck two separate houses, blasting them into pieces from the impact.

The two beasts leapt forward, snarling with their claws bared as they readied to strike at the same time. Shadramon leapt into the air as well, leaping towards them as his gauntlets vanished in a burst of black and rest smoke. He slipped past their awaiting claws to grab them by the scruffs of their neck, and held on tight with the long lethal red claws at the end of his fingers.

Lio and Gao found themselves getting jerked back as they were pulled by their necks, Shadramon twisting his body around as he began to spin them around in the air. The two beasts snarled and writhed, but couldn't dislodge themselves as Shadramon spun them around in the air like two stuffed animals being taken for a joy ride.

The bug digimon then aimed downwards and took the two beasts with him, slamming his fists into the ground on impact and knocking their heads into the dirt. The heavy impact was enough to knock them both out, the two beasts falling onto their sides with a visible lump appearing under their fur and stars in their eyes. Shadramon made his gauntlets reappear over his arms as Ren ran forward, his tails flaring and flames glowing bright.

"BLAZING SPEARS!"

The tips of Rens tails burned with a bright light as he skidded to a halt and flicked his tails forward over his body, the burning balls of light surging forward like small missiles. The balls of burning black and white fire sizzled through the air as they hurled towards their target.

Shadramon dodged back and forth from side to side, twisting his body around like it was a pool noodle, the burning balls sizzling past him without touching his body. He spun around on one leg, dodging the last ball as it flew past him as he brought his gauntlets up again.

He was launched forward as Aqua landed a heavy kick with her bladed boot to the back of his head, striking him with her heel and knocking him several feet forward in the dirt. However, it had little effect as he picked himself up rather easily, spitting a wad of grass from between his mandibles as he stood up and turned to face them.

"Forget about me?" Aqua said as she readied her blades.

"You are forgettable" Shadramon said as he ran forward with his gauntlets at the ready, as Aqua ran forward to meet him as they started to trade blows against one another.

"Aqua, get out of the way" Ren said as he saw them attacking each other hard and fast. He had enough energy to launch a secondary attack, but he wouldn't be able to do that if Aqua was too close. He fanned his tails apart and waved them back and forth as he crouched low, trying to aim an attack that wasn't going to hit her at the same time.

She gave a kick to Shadramons midsection and knocked him back, and saw Ren trying to get ready himself. She gave a nod and looked back at Shadramon.

"You have a face only a mother can love" she said with a smirk. "you kiss her with that mouth? Is it like kissing a mouth full of centipedes and glue?" It was to taunt him into focusing on her, but his eyes glowed with a blazing fury that destroyed his calm and steady demeanour and was surpried to see how pissed off he way.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH" Shadramon screamed at her as he propelled himself forward, brought his arm back and slammed his gauntlet into her face, severely cracking her helmet to the point it vanished in a burst of particles and she was sent spiraling through the air and into a nearby house. There was enough force in her impact that the house cracked and crumbled ontop of her. this time making him turn until his back was to Ren and she had his attention drawn to her.

"EVIL FLAME DRAGON!"

Rens tails bristled as a burning red fire erupted around them and joined together into a cloud above his body. He threw his tails forward and the burning cloud of flame roared forward as it took the shape of a roaring dragon.

Shadramon turned his attention to Ren when he heard the shout, his glowing rage filled eyes dimming down as he saw the roaring flame dragon rushing towards him like a hungry beast. He quickly crossed his arms over his chest as his moth wings covered his body like a protective shell just as he was struck.

It hit him like an explosive freight train, blasting him from the spot and through a nearby house, sending him from one side of the house straight through to the other before he was thrown into another house, along with the furniture that was dragged along with him. Both houses crumbled down as they were destroyed.

BB landed next to Ren as he felt the last of his energy give out and he was surrounded by a cloud of data particles and his large vulpine form vanished as he returned to normal. He panted hard as he pulled himself up, seeing the others had already reverted back and were struggling to get up.

"Did you get him?" BB asked as she helped him back up, having reverted back herself already.

"I think so" Ren said as he rubbed his aching neck. "Is it just me, or is he getting harder to kill?" he asked. "I had to use up everything on him just to knock him down."

"I don't think its you. I think he is getting stronger. Or maybe he's......" she looked like she wanted to say something, then shook her head. "Nothing. Let's just go get him. We can't let him get away again" she said as she saw Aqua pull herself out the rubble, looking furious.

"Did you get him?" she demanded as she walked up to them, and they both just nodded quickly when they saw the look on her face. "Good. I'm going to break his legs" she said, rubbing her hand across her bleeding mouth before she began to run over to him.

"We better stop her" BB said as she and Ren quickly ran as best they could to go after her. They couldn't risk her bringing him back in too damaged. They'd all suffer for it.

"I wish I had recorded that. That would be great for a training video for the new recruits down the line" Shout said as he finished his popcorn, which promptly got him a "SHUT UP" from every member over the microphone at once, causing him to fall out of his chair.

As they drew close, they found him amongst the rubble of the house, large parts of hard cardboard littering the once living room that he had been thrown into, along with multiple pieces of random furniture that were in various stages of 'somewhat broken' to 'totally effed in the A'. Shadramon lay against the back wall, most of the wall having caved in behind him from the impact.

"Oh, that does not look good" Aqua said in a mock surprise as they saw the large piece of cardboard timber sticking out of his stomach. There was a lot of bright blood seeping from around the wound and the cloud of data particles around his midsection was rapidly growing

"Oh Gennai, that looks like it hurts" BB said as she covered her eyes with her hands so she didn't have to look at it.

"That's not supposed to be there, is it?" Lio asked. "Can I poke it?" he added, before Gao smacked him on the back of his head with a very disapproving look.

"I don't think he has a lot of time left, at the rate his data is leaking" Ren said as he brought his bracelet up. "Shout, we got him. We need an E.D.T. And we need Lilly on hand the minute we bring him in.

"Roger that" Shout said as he looked over the monitors, quickly starting to type in the emergency procedures before an alarm went off on one of his monitors. "Hang on, we got interference on the way" he said.

They all perked up as they heard the faint sound of a flute playing, as the wind began to pick up. The sound was rapidly growing louder and the wind blew harder as they realised what was coming.

"Dammit, he's going to get away" Aqua said.

"No he's not" BB said as she spread her wings.

"BB, DO'NT" both Ren and Aqua shouted at her, but their words failed to do anything as the bug girl rapidly fluttered her wings.

"HONEY WAVE"

The entire living room area was rapidly covered in a thick layer of golden honey that stuck to everything like glue, coating both Ren and Aqua with a thick layer. Although the same volume of honey struck Shadramon, it slid off his battered body like water being hosed on plastic.

And then the wind and the flute hit their peak as they were all suddenly blinded and unable to see anything due to the dust and leaves that were brought up. And then just as suddenly, the wind and music rapidly died down, as Shadramon disappeared from behind them, leaving only a crater in the wall to show he had been there.

"Um....ooops" BB said as she landed back on her feet, and saw the glaring look in both Ren and Aquas eyes. "I could lick you clean?" she suggested with a half smile, which received a series of muffled expletives from both trapped digimon that probably would have filled several swear jars over full.

***********************************

"So, once again, he got away?" Banchou asked as everyone once again stood in front of his desk awaiting the debreifing. Thankfully there were no serious injuries, although Lio and Gao were both holding very large ice packs on the top of their heads that were tied on with thick rope, and both Ren and Aqua had several bandages and sticky plaster covering their bodies.

"We tried to stop him" BB said, looking sheepish. "But, I kinda got everyone else but him" she said.

"After we both yelled NO at you. And you repeatedly were told, and saw for yourself, that your Honey Wave attack had zero effect on the target" Aqua reminded her as she crossed her arms under her chest and huffed at the bug. "And you still saw fit to spray everything."

"I was trying to help" BB said meekly.

"Regardless, he still got away" Banchou said as he lent forward in his chair and looked at everyone present. "Even as champions, he still managed to beat you easily?"

"It seems like it" Gao said as he rubbed at a bruise on his forehead. "It does seem that whenever we hit him with an attack that he hasn't been hit with before, he becomes immune to it later."

"Or just more resistant to it" Ren said. "My fire attacks seemed to do some damage to him once they were able to hit him, but not as much as I would have liked" he said. "It was like I had to turn up the intensity just to make a dent in him."

"Ren did make a good point earlier" Aqua said. "He thinks, and I'm starting to agree, that perhaps each time this Shadramon returns, it's the same one, just stronger" she said.

"Do you have any evidence to back that up?" Banchou asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"We can't kill him" Lio said with more then a bit of annoyance in his voice. Probably more so due to the cotton balls stuffed in his cheeks to prevent his teeth from being loosened further.

"It seems each time we come close to killing him, something or someone whisks him away and he is healed and returns. And he remembers our attacks, and is able to either withstand or dodge them" Ren explained. "Our attacks hurt him once, then he comes back and he's either resistant or flat out immune to our attacks. And it's like he remembers everything each time."

"I'm inclined to agree" Aqua said with a nod.

"Is there anything else you can add to that?" Banchou asked. He didn't seem all that convinced by what they were saying, although Ren did have to admit even saying it out loud sounded a little odd. This was no ordinary digimon they were facing.

However none of them were able to answer when Shout opened the door to Banchous office and quickly dashed over to the desk with a bright yellow folder in his hands marked 'Urgent' on the front.

"This just came in boss" Shout said as he handed the much larger lion the folder. "Village up north reported some urgent attention over the comms" he said.

Banchou opened the foloder and pulled out the single piece of paper contained within, but put it back down after a brief moment.

"It's nothing urgent" Banchou said as he put the folder into the drawer under his desk. "Keep an eye on it and report back if anything else comes up" he said as he gave a dismissive gesture with his hand.

"But...'Shout began to say, before the bigger lion gave a very stern look to him that made the smaller red dragon just nod and quickly turn tail out of the room.

"The rest of you, dismissed" Banchou said as he gave the same gesture to them with his hands.

Ren found himself rather surprised to see everyone else just nod and leave without saying anything about what had just happened. Although Ren was quiet more out of surprise then anything else.

"When the heck does Banchou dismiss any report that comes in? He's completely anal about following up on every lead no matter what it is" he thought to himself as he let the others go off in their own direction. He walked his own way for a moment before slipping into an empty closet not that far from Banchous office and closed the door behind him.

"Something really weird is going on around here" He thought to himself as he rubbed at his sore arm. "Everyone is acting odd. I just can't put my finger on it. They all seem fine and everything, but they're all just....I don't know" he said to himself.

"They're all acting...I dont know" he said out loud to himself to the mop and broom and facing him. 'It's like they're themselves, but it.....I don't know how to say it, it's like...they're acting?" he said out loud.

"Ugh, that sounds like such a stupid thing. How could they be acting like themselves and not acting?" he asked himself as he rubbed his forehead. "I'm starting to get a headache. Maybe I'm just getting paranoid after everything tha'ts happened. This has been a very strange few months" he admitted. He then realised he was still conversing with a mop that probably hadn't been used in a long time and decided to leave and get some rest.

He was just about to leave when his ears perked up as he heard the door to Banchous office open and then close, then he heard the heavy footsteps of the larger lion walking past the closet. Ren had a very quick decision to make and waited till those footsteps were gone before he left the closet and made his way to the office door.

Unlocked, cause his boss never locked it. He always forgot. Ren slipped inside and closed the door behind him before he padded over to the desk. He pulled the drawer open and found the folder inside.

"Lets see" he thought, feeling slightly anxious. He had never done this before, been in his boss' office like this behind his back. And snooping and looking at confidential information was something he never did. Unless it was the enemy, then he had no problem. Ears perked in case he heard the footsteps coming and knowing he could duck behind the curtains by the window at a moments notice, he pulled the foldor out.

"Do'nt even think about getting under the desk if he comes back" he thought as he put the foldor on the desk. "i really have no desire to get that close to his crotch" he thought as he pulled the foldor open.

There was only one piece of paper in there, and was barely half filled out. It only had the details of where it came from, a small outpost in the eastern mountains. One of the villages had passed a very short message through before it apparently was cut off.

"They're all controlled. You have to stop them now."

"Now.....this seems to be complicating things" Ren thought, as he suddenly felt a lot worse.

*****************************

"Come to mama baby"

Arukennimon carefully lifted up the small helpless Vaemon in her arms and pulled him close to her, feeling him nuzzle into her neck as he wrapped his thin arms around her and hold on with his tiny claws.

"It's ok baby, Mother is here. I have you now" she said softly as she gently stroked his back slowly, wiping away the last few particles of digi-egg from his flesh. She could hear him whimper against her as he clutched at her.

"Shh, it's ok. I know. It was very painful this time around, and it was very scarey. But you're safe now. And soon, you'll be my big strong Shadramon again" she said as she stroked the back of his head gently.

Shaemon nodded and whimpered softly as the Kudamon next to him gently gave him a nuzzle across his face and settled against him in a comforting way. He slowly and timidly touched his clawed hand against the white digimons body and stroked it a little, feeling the soft fur.

"Soft....' he said in a weak voice. Kudamon smiled.

"You say that every-time" he said in a soft voice.

"Come on sweetie, lets get you to bed so you can rest" Arukennimon said as she walked over to the door of her lab and opened it slowly. "You have a big task ahead of you when you recover." Vaemon nodded and whimpered softly as he trembled again. Arukennimon held him a little tighter, knowing just how scared and vulnerable the small boy was feeling.

She barely managed a few steps outside her lab when she saw Stingmon attempting to act casual around the corner of the hallway. Trying and failing rather well, he awkwardly stood up and gave her a look of profound innocence that she did not buy at all.

"Going for a walk?" he asked her as he tried not to look at her, rubbing the back of his neck in his best nonchalant way that was not fooling her in the slightest.

"Trying to snoop on me?" she asked as she raised an eyebrow under her tinted glasses.

"Um, no?" he said as he kept his distance from her. She narrowed her eyes behind her glasses and focused her gaze on him. Nothing happened for a few seconds before Stingmon suddnely felt what could only be described as a fishhook getting attached to his mind and yanking hard, pulling his control away from himself as he found himself standing up straight against his will.

"I was spying on you, trying to get information on what you're doing" he said automatically, much to his own horror and shock as he tried to stop talking.

"And why were you doing that?" Arukennimon asked flatly.

"Because I'm jealous of the fact that your plan has worked and I want to know what you have planned so I can hopefully keep my favour with Lord Daemon" he said, as he very visibly was trying to stop himself from talking with the way his entire body was trembling and even the veins in exposed skin were bulging with the effort.

She smirked ot that as she dropped her gaze from him and walked past him. It was only when she did that Stingmon found himself in control of his body again and let out a paind gasp as his mind went back to normal. He slammed his hands over his face as he took several deep breaths as he was suddenly able to clamp his non visible mouth shut and it took several long bursts of muffled shouting before he realised he was stopping himself from talking.

"DON'T DO THAT TO ME" he shouted at her as she walked away from him.

"Then don't snoop on me" she said without looking back at him.

"Mother....scarey...." Vaemon whimpered against her as he buried his head into the crook of her neck, clutching at her coat.

"Yes sweetie, I know he is. But Mother will protect you from the big ugly bug" Arukennimon said with a smile as she gave Shaemon a soft kiss to the top of his head. Her eyes glared when she heard Stingmon visibly retch behind her.

"Me, ugly? Has he really not looked in a mirror?" Stingmon snapped at her. "Little shit look like he stopped slurping a bowl of rancid noodles ages ago." Arukennimon stopped walking and turned around slowly.

"I'd be careful what you say about my son" Arukennimon said in a cold voice as she cupped the back of Vaemons head and gently pressed his face under the collar of her coat. Stingmon obviously didn't take the hint.

"If he's really all that powerful, why not just let him kill them? You control them don't you? Just let them go slack and he can off them easily. You know they aint coming back once that happens" he said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"My son needs further training. And there isn't much of a challenge among the mass that is around here" Arukennimon said simply. "And my plans are no concern of yours."

"Training him for what? You've already won. Like you need something that strong against them while they're already indentured" he said. "The hell are you dragging all this out for anyway?"

"I have no plans on killing them, now or ever. But if Lord Daemon comes back and wishes it to happen, then I'll have no hesitation in doing it. For now though, they're all under my command, and I shall do as I please with them" she said. "If you hadn't wasted your time bragging and claiming you could win, you would have actually done so by now" she said pointedly.

"I just haven't had the chance to prove myself with the power I was gifted" Stingmon said, irritated by what she had said. "So why not just kill them then? Take out the main threat already and make sure? Cause Kuzuhamon made that mistake already. Wouldn't want to follow in her footsteps would you?" he asked with a smirk.

"I won't fail like she did" Arukennimon said with an annoyed look on her face. "And I have my reasons for keeping them alive for now. And I don't have to share them with you" she pointed out.

Stingmon huffed in annoyance. Then noticed that Vaemon was peeking at him from between his mothers fingers. The little digimon quickly looked away once he noticed Stingmon was looking at him and whimpered in fear.

"He aint so tough now, is he, the little ugly fucker? Damn near a toddler like that" Stingmon said with a smirk as he brought his hand up and clenched his fingers into a fist. "Would be too easy to wipe him out like that, specially if he's asleep. Can't revive him unless he's under that machine of yours, can you?" Stingmon said with a smirk.

Vaemon let out a whimper and clutched at his mothers coat collar as he started to cry, letting out a few muffled cries of fear as tears ran down his cheeks. Kudamon quickly unhooked himself from around his masters neck and wrapped himself around her arm, cuddling up against him as he tried to soothe him. Vaemons vocals were distorted, almost like he was trying to make what wsa supposed to be crying noises, but they sounded almost artificial. They sounded sympathetic but unnerving at the same time.

"Ugh, even his crying is ugly. I bet I could just rid ourselves of his little...." Stingmon began as he stepped forward and raised his large lethal claws up in the air, but he only managed to take a single step forward before he found his body suddenly freezing in place.

He couldn't even make his eyes go wide as he found himself unable to move his body at all, even though he was struggling internally pretty fiercely. The fishhook in his brain was back, and it was pulling hard, almost like it was making him very aware that he was no in control.

"You made my son cry" Arukennimon said with a disproving voice as she gently stroked Vaemons back as the boy trembled in fear, his distorted cries softly muffled against her coat. "Did you forget that you are part insect?" she asked Stingmon as she narrowed her eyes at him again.

Stingmon found his right hand suddenly move on its own and clench his fist before pressing his fist up against his chest. Inwardly, he found himself begin to panic as the inner programs of his main attack, 'Spiking Strike', started to slowly load up.

"I don't need a collar or a spiral to control an insect. You really should know that" Arukennimon said coldly as Stingmons fist began to heat up and the gap between his middle knuckles began to softly glow a bright neon purple. "And you are the biggest bug that I would like to squash under the heel of my boots. The kind that I would stamp down, and grind into the ground over and over, before spitting on you and doing it again to make sure" she said as her eyes glared at him.

Stingmon felt his eyes move downwards as he saw the bright purple tip of his secreted blade start to emerge from between his clenched knuckles, inching an almost agonisingly slow crawl to cover the gap between his fist and his chest.

"If it wasn't for the fact that I am loyal to Lord Daemon and he expressively forbade me from killing you, I would kill you right here and now and rid us all of the massive headache your very existence causes" she said firmly. Vaemon had stopped his crying by now and was just whimpering against his mother as Kudamon cuddled up against him to help him calm down.

Stingmon tried everything he could to struggle against what she was doing to him as the tip of the large purple blade pressed against his skin, and it started to push against him, threatening to slowly pierce his flesh. He was completely aware of what his body was doing, but he had no ability to stop himself.

"But just know, that perhaps, if I'm not careful, my control might accidentally slip, and you might end up impaling yourself on your own attack" Arukennimon said. "So do me a favour, don't even look at my son. Don't even glance at him" she said as her voice seethed with venom. "If I even have an inlking that you are even BREATHING in his general direction, I swear by all that is holy and hellish, that I will bring you to a very slow end of your life. And I guarantee, that it will hurt to the point that you will be BEGGING me to finish you off!"

Stingmon was finally able to breathe and pull his blade away from his body as he fell forward onto his hands and knees, gasping for a breath that he hadn't realised that he had been keeping in. His neon purple blade vanished as he forced his program to stop executing and he clutched at his chest, finding that he had indeed been pierced by his own blade, small drops of dark green blood seeping from the slight wound.

Arukennimon simply turned on her heel and marched off, unable to contain her rage at him for any moment longer. It was true, it was only her loyalty to her dark master that prevented her from killing him. But then again, accidents did happen. And maybe sooner then her dark lord would prefer.

"It's ok little one. Lets go rest up. I have some training for you later" she said sweetly to her boy as she stroked his head, easing his whimpering as he calmed down. "And if the big bad bug hurts my little warrior again, I'll do things to him that will make him whimper" she promised.

With his heart pounding, though out of fear or rage, he wasn't sure as Stingmon pulled himself slowly up. Still panting and with sweat running down his head, his mind raced a mile a minute as he tried to process what just had happened.

Arukennimon could easily kill him and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it, if he confronted her head on. He had just experienced a very small portion of her own power over insects, and he had no way of fighting it. She could sink her power into him anytime she wanted, and no-one would be able to tell if he offed himself of his own accord or by her will. He wouldn't even get close enough to her without her offing him without as much as a sideways glance.

Yes, he realised, it was fear that was pounding his heart so badly.

"I...need to find another way" he said, as carefully as he could. He didn't want her to hear him.

******************************

"Oooh, I can't wait to plug this thing in" Shout said as he carried his new parcel in his arms, happy to have his new popcorn machine arrive safe and sound. " 'Make hot buttery popcorn in minutes'" he read again off the side of the box as he was practically skipping along the halls. "Now I don't have ot keep leaving the office to refill my bucket."

"Lets see, new machine. Check. Bucket to hold it all in in the office. Check. Big packet of butter to melt over? Double check" he grinned as he held up the rather large brick of well wrapped butter he was carrying. "Oh yeah baby, I'm all set" he said with a grin.

He hummed happily to a song that was playing on his earphones as he walked along, before he stopped when he noticed the door was open to the security room. He raised an eyebrow as he gave it a once over. He was sure he had closed it when he went to collect his mail from the hall.

"Maybe I was in a rush and left it open" he said to himself as he shrugged his shoulders and simply went up and pushed the door open.

"The hell do you think you're doing?"

Ren looked up from the security monitors and saw Shoutmon standing in the doorway, with a large brick of butter, a boxed popcorn machine and an annoyed look on his face. There was a moment of silence as the seated fox and the short dragon looked at each other.

Ren slammed his hand down on the keyboard and the door behind Shout suddenly closed and very loudly locked itself as Ren leapt from the chair and tackled Shout to the floor. The brick of butter went flying and hit the wall hard, bursting open and sending a spurt of now softened butter along the wall, as the boxed machine skidded along the floor and crashed into a couple of waste baskets.

"Hey, get off me" Shout shouted as he was forced face down on the floor as the fox scrambled on top of him to pin him down. "I only like it rough when I'm on top. And this aint on top" he protested.

"Shut up" Ren growled as he managed to pin Shouts arms under his knees and proceeded to examine his neck firmly. "I have to make sure you're not one of them" he growled. "Now shut the hell up for once and just lie still."

"One of what? Have you lost it?" Shout said to him as he contineud to struggle as he felt Rens fingers rub and squeeze around his neck. "I swear I will scream bad touch if you keep this up. I'm not amused."

It was only when Ren found no bug on Shouts neck ,or anywhere on him that he could see that he got off him and let the dragon go. Shout grumbled as he picked himself up and glanced over at the ruined brick of butter that was slowly sliding down the wall.

"do you want to get ants? Cause that is how you get ants" he said, pointing to the ruined butter. "I just got my new machine too. It better not be ruined. Now what the hell is your problem? Did BB dose you again or something?"

"We've been infiltrated" Ren said as he stood back up. "I just...I just can't find out how. We've been compromised. Everyone is suspect here."

"I think that if we've been compromised, we would know about it" Shout said as he picked up his machine and shoook the box, one ear pressed against it in case anything sounded broken. "The system would have picked it up and we'd be notified and the whole place would have gone into lockdown."

"You haven't even finished reading the instructions" Ren pointed out as he paced along the floor, rubbing his ruffled head. "And the system didn't get fully installed till a few days after the compound had been rebuilt literally from the ground up. There is a big chance that the infiltration happened during that brief window of time."

"Ok, there is that" Shout said as he walked over and put the box on the desk beside the console. "That doesn't explain why you tackled me and tried to feel me up" he added. "Or even what makes you think we've been infiltrated. Everyone is here and accounted for, I'll prove it" he said as he pressed a few buttons on the keyboard.

One of the screens lit up and displayed a top down view map of the compound, with little blinking lights appearing one by one along the screen in various places. A tiny label appeared beside each one to identify which light was who.

"There, you see? Everyone is here and accounted for. We have no odd digimon running around in spy gear" Shout said as he crossed his arms. "You have one chance to explain to me what is going on before I report you for breaking in here and trying to feel me up."

"There's a bug. I saw it on B-Ws neck earlier" Ren said as he nervously looked around, almost like he was afraid of being seen. "He brushed his hair back and I saw a bug on his neck. I think it saw me looking at it, cause B-W turned around and wouldn't stop looking at me till I managed to get away from him. Even then I think he followed me around" Ren said.

"A bug? That's your big emergency?" Shout said, not looking convinced.

"What about when Banchou dismissed the emergency call a few days ago? I saw the report. I know, I know" he said, waving his hand as Shout went ot point out how snooping was bad. "I snuck in and saw it. Why would Banchou just dismiss that?" He grabbed another piece of paper off the desk from another similar file folder. "There was this one this morning, from the same village. He dismissed it without even wanting to know what wrong" Ren said as he held it up.

"He dismisses cases all the time" Shout said with a shrug. "it's nothing unusual. We can't be everywhere you know. It's not possible" he said.

"It's the same message" Ren said as he held it up. "And he dismissed it like it was nothing to him. The same message in just a few days on the emergency channel. It's not something he would ever dismiss. It says everyone is being controlled. What if that's true?"

"And the fact that we've almost killed that Shadramon each time we've encountered him, and no-one has batted an eyelid at the fact that it might be the same one just coming back. Or that he's learning from us. Or the fact that killing him is against our code of conduct, and against Aquas code of honour. But she was willing to off him and no-one said anything."

"A returning digimon, the same one over and over again. You have to admit that does sound a little crazy" Shout said as he sat at his desk. "And you can't blame her for wanting to kill him. He did say he wanted to kill us" he said.

"what about this?" Ren said as he grabbed a keyboard and typed in a few sequences and a screen brought up a still screen shot that he had taken earlier. It was an aerial photograph of Vaj in the training yard, meditating. The photo was taken from the back and had a close up of the sitting bull taurs exposed neck. Ren zoomed and enhanced and the image revealed a small rather evil looking bug nestled under the baseline of his hair. "The exact same thing I saw on B-W."

"You sure that's not his hair?" Shout said as he looked up. It did look like a bug, but not really like a bug.

"How can two of them have the same creepy looking insect on them in the same place?" Ren said as he looked at Shout like he was crazy. "How can that not be a coincidence? What if everyone here has one but you and me? What if the message is true, that they're all being controlled?"

"Because bugs exist?" Shout said with a shrug. Ren rolled his eyes and almost face palmed as he pulled away from the desk.

"Before I came here, Aqua saw a couple in her room. Having sex. She didn't flip out. She just grabbed her gear and walked out" Ren said. "She always freaks you. You can usually hear her from a mile away."

"Maybe she finally got that stick out of her ass and isn't bothered by it anymore?" Shout suggested. "People change and people grow. It's not unexpected" he said as Ren sighed loudly in frustration.

"It was Strabi and Rara" Ren said in almost desperation. "They hate each other. Why the hell would they fuck? And it's not because angry sex with your enemy is better. That's a crappy excuse for saying you like it rough and degrading."

Shout was quiet for a few moments as he processed what he had just heard.

"Ok, we've been compromised" Shout said before he spun his chair around, a serious look on his face as he grabbed the keyboards and brought them in to reach. "So what do we think is going on here?" he said as he began to set up the systems on the screen. Ren sighed in relief.

"I don't know" Ren said regretfully. "I don't know how we've been compromised, or when. Or by what. I feel like I've been seeing bits and pieces of the puzzle and don't' have the whole picture to go by" he said.

"Ok, so we have nothing to really go on by except for a bug, everyone acting a little odd, and emergency signals that are being ignored" Shout said as he tapped at his keyboard. "Well, we have to start somewhere."

"Where do you suggest?" Ren asked as he stood behind Shout and watched him start to type rather quickly across the multiple keyboards.

"Wlel, I can start by trying to figure out what's going on around here" Shout said to him as he tapped a few more commands and brought up various lists of things in scientific terms that Ren wasn't able to understand. "You can start by going to see what that emergency call was about" Shout added.

Ren nodded as he stood up and looked over the monitor as Shout brought up the location of the village on a map.

"I can bring you in close enough in the general area, but away enough that no-one will look too closely if they end up doing so. We can just say we're calibrating the system for the emergency EDTs" Shout said. "It's believable without drawing any attention to us."

"Good idea" Ren said with a nod.

"In the meantime, I'll see what I can gather about this bug thing you found" Shout said over his shoulder. "You're going in there without knowing anything about what's going on. This...isn't going to be easy."

"When is it ever easy?" Ren said with a half hearted shrug. "I'll see you out there" he said as Shout unlocked the door and Ren made his way out of it. Shout watched him go before he made the door close, then typed in the emergency lockdown protocols, wihtout activating them.

"Just in case" he said under his breath. Now that he knew that everyone in the compound was potentially compromised, and possibly being controlled, he suddenly felt very vulnerable.

Ren, as casually as he could, walked outside and made his way to the EDT platform. He couldn't help but feel that everyone was watching him, even though there were only a few people in the open yard and none of them were actually looking at him. But he had the feeling that they were in any case.

"Ok Shout, ready for the test run?" he said as he walked up to the platform as it glowed during its startup sequence.

"Of course" Shout said back to him, the volume on their communicator bracelet just a little louder in case anyone was listening. "Getting the co-ordinates up and running. Should be smooth sailing has usual."

"Sounds good to me" Ren said with a nod, before he heard someone coming up behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see Vaj and Aqua walking up to him.

"What are you doing?" Aqua asked as the two of them stopped wwalking and stood together.

"Shout just needs to run a few calibrations for the emergency EDT" Ren said to her. "You know, just need to make sure we don't teleport into the middle of a mountain if we're running from the bad guys" he said.

"And where are you testing this?" Vaj asked, his serious looking look on his face as he looked down at the much smaller fox.

"Somewhere in the mountains" Ren said wth a shrug. "What better make sure we're able to avoid them?" he asked.

"Did Banchou authorise this?" Aqua asked him as she looked him over. "I thought he said that no EDTs were to be d one unless authorised for the next mission."

"Don't need it" Shouts voice said as he came over Aquas bracelet. "In the tests for calibrations and speed runs, no authorisation is needed. Just need co-operation from a test subject and away we can go."

"And I volunteered" Ren said with a nod. "Gotta make sure it's all safe for us" he said, as the platform reached full power and hummed steadily, as he turned to go walk up the steps. "We ready shout?" he asked. He suddenly felt his heart start to beat faster as he could swear that Vaj and Aqua were both studying him from behind. They hadn't blinked the whole time they had stood there.

"Ready and counting down" Shout confirmed as he wiped the sweat off his forehead as he kept his gaze on the monitors. He saw Ren step up onto the platform as it began to activate. Co-ordinates were locked and ready and all he had to was press -

"Stop!"

Both Vaj and Aqua said it at the same time, just as Ren glowed brightly and was broken down and disapeared into the teleport. Of course, it was too late to stop it so closely, so he could blame them for being just a fraction too late for him to do anything.

What made him very quickly lock the security door was that, on every monitor was all the other base members, showing what they were doing around the complex at the same time, they had all said 'Stop' at the same time. And every single of them had suddenly looked in the direction of where Ren had been standing just a moment ago.

"I think we have a problem" Shout said as he saw them all go back to what they were doing as if nothing had happened.

***************************

With a loud cry of pain and anguish, the Pegasusmon was thrown against the wall of the huge circular pit, the brickwork cracking under the impact. There was the sounds of his bones cracking as his wings were broken against his body, before the horse fell to the floor.

He struggled to pull himself to his feet, coughing as blood oozed from his helmet around his mouth, and around his eyeholes. The horse almost managed to get to his feet before his legs gave in and he collapsed in a heat on the ground.

He heard footsteps walking up to him as he struggled to open his eyes, seeing the form of the insect digimon Shadramon walking up him, his blood stained gauntlets dripping thick strings of blood onto his heavy looking boots as he walked forwards.

"Get up" Shadramon said flatly as he pointed a gauntlet at the fallen horse. "Get up and fight" he said, his voice steady but flanged.

The Pegasusmon struggled as he tried to get up, but he collapsed again, hacking something dreadfull as blood spilled from his mask.

"I.....can't" he managed to get out, his voice broken and hoarse as he spoke. "Please....no ... no more..." he hacked as more blood spilled from his mouth.

Shadramon showed no emotion on his face as he watched the fatal digital cloud spread over the digimon, covering the serious wounds on his body as he looked like he was flickering. He instead turned his attention to the top of the large circular pit.

Arukennimon looked down from where she was standing on the ledge, her arms folded as she observed the last fighter she had dispatched. This was the third round of champion level digimon she had let loose, over a dozen in each round. Told one simple rule.

If you lose, you die.

Shadramon had dispatched them all. The Pegasusmon was the last one left, having definitely been put through the wringer but had provided little to almost no challenge to her son. She saw Shadramon looking up to her, and she made a dismissive gesture with her hand before she turned around and walked away from the ledge.

She heard the digimons scream and how suddenly it was cut off, followed almost instantly by a hard crushing noise before the sound of data being destroyed. She just walked up to the table she had set up with various documents in the makeshift arena and began leafing through her papers. It took a few moments before she heard the sound of Shadramons heavy boots hitting the ground behind her.

"You're killing them far too quickly now" Arukennimon said without looking up. "You are definitely getting stronger. The process is far exceeding my expectations" she said.

"I do feel stronger" Shadramon said with anod of his head. She turned around and leant against the table behind her and folded her arms.

"But you still have a long way to go. And you're not going to get there with these kind of challenges here" she said as she looked him over slowly through her glasses. "That's over thirty lowly cretins you've dispatched. I thought htey'd fight harder then this" she admitted.

"They're not much of a challenge" Shadramon said simply. She smiled a little before she picked up a towel from the table and handed it to him.

"Clean yourself up dear. You have blood on you" she said. He nodded as his blood soaked gauntlets vanished and he took the towel in his clawed hand and began to wipe himself down.

She picked up a few papers before she walked up to him, taking his face guard in her hand and removing it from his head, seeing his face behind the mask. She smiled and stroked his cheek with her gloved hand as she looks into his solid black eyes.

"You are growing up so fast" she said with a smile as she stroked his cheek before she went back to her papers, letting him finish cleaning himself off. "We need to find you a new challenge" she added. "Tell me something" she said, as she had a sudden thought. "Do you enjoy fighting like this? Do you enjoy killing them?"

"I haven't thought about it" he admitted to her. "I don't think I care" he said after a moment or two as he put the towel down. She looked him over, as if studying him for a moment before she nodded and went back to her papers, pulling one up.

"I'll make the DRS send a new team after you" she said. "according to the information I was given, they have several Ultimate level digimon they haven't utilised. The Lillymon nurse and their resident therapist Anubismon, I can't say how strong they are. They aren't active in the field. The Panjyamon and the Vajramon might pose a decent challenge. They seem to be able to handle themselves" she said as she looked at the photos she had of them.

"I'd like to fight the big one" Shadramon said. Arukennimon looked up and over at him. "He seems like he would be a good challenge. I could get very strong from fighting him."

"The Blackwargreymon?" She asked as she pulled his picture. "Hmm. He looks broken. He's a Mega level though, so yes, he would provide a challenge. But I don't want you to face the kind of challenge that would end up killing you before you had the chance to really take it on" she said.

He nodded, not looking disappointed or showing any emotion as he accepted what she said.

"But we do need to challenge you though" she said as she walked up to the edge of the pit and took a look into it, seeing the many blood stains across the large area. "And we can't get that here since you're practically mowing them all down with such ease" she said, although there was a hint of pride in her voice.

"Should I fight their leader?" Shadramon suggested. Arukennimon shook her head.

"No. He's at a level that is stronger then most Megas. You wouldn't stand a chance against him" She said. "And I need you far stronger then him for what I have planned. We must avoid that kind of confrontation until I'm sure that you are ready" She said.

"Then I shall avoid him" Shadramon said with a nod. She smiled to him.

"That's a good boy. But, in the mean time, we can still...." she trailed off slowly, as though she was coming to the realisation of something. She stretched her arm out and held her wrist up, as if she was checking a watch on her wrist.

Instead, a Parasimon crept out from under her long glove and crawled up onto her outstretched hand. She regarded it through her rose coloured lenses and seemed to be deep in thought. Shadramon just stood there and watched her, patiently waiting without saying anything.

"We have a problem" Arukennimon said as the bug crawled back up her glove as she turned to look at him. "It seems that not everyone in the DRS was taken under my control. I'm surprised it's gone on this long without my notice. It seems I've been distracted" she said.

"Which ones?" Shadramon asked as his face plate and gauntlets reappeared on his body in a small burst of data particles.

"The security Shoutmon and the operative Renamon" Arukennimon said. "I should have expected something like this. Not everyone is able to be easily taken under the influence of the Parasimon. But then again, I suppose it was to be expected that maybe one or two of those do-gooders would have been immune enough" she said.

"Tell me what to do" Shadramon said. "And I will follow you mother" he said to her with a nod of his head. She smiled to him as she brought her hand up and stroked the head of the Kudamon around her neck.

"It seems that the fox was teleported somehwere to answer a distress call that we got to first. I'll take care of the fox" She said. "I'll bring my enforcers and grab him. You go to their headquarters and get the dragon. They'll lead you right to him" she said.

"And then?" he asked.

"Bring him back here. We'll put them both in the pit, and you can train some more" she said with a smile to him. "And if you can manage to beat them and show how much you've improved, I'll let you fight their elites in their next mission" she said.

He smiled, and nodded.

*****************************

"Ok, made it" Ren said as he found himself appearing the mountains. "Oh crap, it's cold" he said as the sudden chill hit him and he found himself shivering for several moments as he danced rather awkwardly on the spot to warm himself up.

"Sorry, should have mentioned that the mountains are cold, you know, since they're covered in snow" Shout said to him over the comms.

"Smart Alec" Ren said as he grabbed the pouch on his belt and pulled out his ear pods and the sticker microphone and get himself set up quickly. "I felt like I was being interrogated back there" he admitted.

"Everyone said Stop" Shout said to him. "Like literally, everyone. At the same time. They just stopped and looked to where you were and said it. You're right, they're all being controlled."

"Ok, so we can confirm that" Ren said as he started heading towards the outpost. "Hard to believe it took this long for us to notice" he admitted as he ran through the snow, his large feet leaving big footprints behind him.

"Why go through all the trouble of taking control, then doing....nothing with it?" Shout asked as he noticed that the system had finally stopped analysing the image of the very ugly bug and was now compiling its data for them.

"Everything has just been normal" Shout said as he waited for the compilation. "I mean, like you said, they've slipped up and done a few things that go against their characters, but it was barely noticeable. Only for us because we weren't aware."

"Specially you" Ren said as he jumped over a large log in the way.

"Yeah yeah, I hear you. Specially me" Shout said as he brought up the compilation of data. "But, it's still a valid question. If someone has taken over the DRS, why just let us carry on business as normal?"

"I got no idea" Ren said as he saw the outpost in the distance. It was a small outpost, nothing really fancy about it. Just a tower in a fenced off area that provided a giant satellite dish at the top of said tower to help with communications. "But I don't think it's just us that's been taken over. If someone out here said that they're all being controlled, we have to take into account that maybe it's everywhere."

"So, we could possibly be the only ones who aren't being controlled" Shout said. "Super chills right now" he added.

"If there are others who aren't being controlled, there might be a reason why we haven't heard from them" Ren said bitterly as he saw the fence surrounding the outpost appearing in the distance.

"Lets hope it's because they decided to keep quiet" Shout said as he brought up the compilation of data and began looking through it. "Alright, looks like I have a match. We are dealing with a Parasimon" he said.

"Is that the bug?" Ren asked as he made it to the gates of the fence, slowing down a bit. The tower looked large above him as he saw the dish higher still above. His breath sent out small clouds in the air as he looked around. It was quiet.

"Yep. Parasimon. It's literally a parasite spider" Shout said as he looked over the data. " It finds a host and then latches on, taking control. It can access everything about the host and act like them, so driving them like you would a toy" he said.

"How reassuring" Ren said as he walked up to the gates and pushed it open slowly. The gate opened, showing the open area of the small outpost. Only the tower was there along with a small shack next to it that held the power generator for the dish. The outer area was large, but mostly empty.

"They can also bring out your inner desires if they want" Shout said. "Bring them out first and foremost so those feelings can consume you and break down your mental and physical barriers and unleash your full potential. So, if they choose, instant berserk mode and unstoppable rage" he added.

"We better not piss them off then" Ren said as he stepped slowly inside. "But that still doesn't really explain anything. Why would a bunch of parasite digimon just take over like this?"

"They're weak" Shout said as he kept reading. "They are weak on their own, like fly swatter weak. Pretty pitiful for an Ultimate" he said. "And they're not smart either. They just latch on and feed. No real drive beside feeding and sending their hosts into a frenzy" he said as he kept scrolling.

"So, again, why would they do this?" Ren asked as he looked around. It was still very quiet. He was starting to not feel safe. "It's too quiet here. No sign of anyone."

"Well, only reason they might do something like this, is because they were told too" Shout said as he brought up the aerial view of the map and began to scan the area. "Looks like you're the only one there. No life signs. Guess we're too late" he said.

"Damn. Guess someone wasn't controlled and they just of rid of them" Ren said as he kept looking around, his breath fogging up around his face. "So, if the parasimon are too stupid to be smart enough to take over, then who would be smart enough to get them to do this?" he asked.

"Uh, Ren, we might have a problem" Shout said as he stopped scrolling.

"What's wrong?" Ren asked as he suddenly became alert and quickly began looking around again. "What is it?" he asked.

"There's only one digimon who's strong enough to control those things. Arukennimon. And she's on the top list of wanted digimon" Shout said as he looked at the image of said digimon sitting there on the compiled list of data. The words "extreme danger" plastered over the image in big red threatening letters did not make him feel better.

"And what does...." Ren said as he suddenly heard it. The music. The sound of the flute playing and the sound of the wind picking up around him. "That...that's her, isn't it?" He asked.

"She has a listed digital signature. It's a match. She's the one that's been taking Shadramon all those times" Shout said as his eyes grew wide as the system started to flash its emergency lights."And she's coming right for you."

"Please tell me that's all that's going on" Ren had to shout as the music and the gust of wind got loud enough that he had to shout, as the snow had picked up and was blowing so hard around him that he could barely see.

"I'm getting you out of....oh fuck no, please fuck no" Shout said as he saw one of the monitors suddenly light up and bring up a view of the front gate.

"WHAT?" Ren shouted as he saw figures appear in the blizzard.

Shouts eyes grew wide when he saw that, at the front gates, all the other members of the DRS, every single one of them, had gathered and had apparently been waiting. The front gates were slowly opening, as the other members were standing there in welcome.

"Shadramon is here" Shout said, feeling the colour drain out of his face as he saw the fierce bug warrior casually walk in, and Banchou greet him with a nod of his head.

"Show me" Shadramon said to the tall lion, who merely turned and pointed right to the camera. And everyone else turned and looked at the camera as well. Shout gulped visibly. They weren't looking at the camera. They were looking at HIM.

"She's here too" Ren said as he gulped, seeing the snow die down as the flute music faded out, revealing the three figures that were now standing at the fences gate. There was Arukennimon, standing with her arms crossed over her coat and adjusting her glasses as she looked over him with a very strange and unnerving calmness.

At her left was a Reppamon, a large kitsune looking wolf with a big razor bladed tail that looked like it could cut through anything that even tried to pet it. At her right, was a TigerVespamon. A large robotic looking ninja bee holding a few very lethal looking blades that it looked very eager to start using.

"Well, well, well" Arukennimon said as she looked the rookie fox over. "What's fallen into my web today?" she said.

"Oh fuck this" Shout said as he slammed his fist down on the large button he had prepared and the security room suddenly went into lockdown, a new door slamming down from the alcove outside and locking very audibly over it. From above the DRS Compound on one of the towers, the roof opened up like a budding flower and a large metal rod slide up, and sent several beams of energy across the entire compound, sealing it in a giant dome covered in digital glyphs as every entrance outside the barrier fence was sealed and covered with the light of the energy dome.

"Lockdown Initiated. Emergency EDT Initiated" Rens bracelet said loudly as it began to glow. Ren felt himself backing up slightly as the three enemies in front of him began to advance on him. "Shout, you know you can't do that during a lockdown" Ren said as he backed up some more.

"He's trying to get away. Grab him" Arukennimon said as her two companions began to run forward to grab the fox before he had a chance to get away.

"SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT" Shout said as the system began to display warning signs over every monitor, the security feed showing every DRS member following Banchou as he led Shadramon right towards him. The EDT system was showing a warning signal, just as the energy rings appeared around Ren to take him away.

Before the TigerVespamon and the Reppamon could grab him, the rings pulled forward and Ren found himself being dragged forward in shock. Caught off guard, the two digital enemies were wrapped up in the energy rings and pulled along with the startled fox as they were dragged through the air.

Arukennimon had not expected this and had no time to react at the energy slammed all three of them into her and wrapped them all together before the rings expanded, wrapping the four of them into a large shifting energy ball before shrinking down and vanishing off the grid. The outpost returned to being silent as a small snowfall began.

"Oh shit" Shout said as he saw the digital signals disappear from his systems, just as the entire compound went dark as the power was turned off. Every light turned off and the interiors were drenched in a darkness as everything went silent. The only light came from the energy dome covering the compound and the lights from his monitors.

"I think we're screwed" he said quietly, just as Banchou and Shadramon arrived at the security door.