Digimon: A New Legacy of DigiDestined

by ShadowBolt96

Chapter 8: We came, we saw...time to go!

Terror.

Pure, unadulterated terror is what everypony felt when they looked up at Mephistomon. Terror that felt like an icicle had pierced through to their very souls, robbing them of their voices, the will to scream, or the simple ability to move their legs. All they could do is look up towards his red, menacing eyes, and tremble.

“What’s the matter?” Mephistomon said. “Gatomon got your tongue?”

Apple Bloom’s heart threatened to burst from her chest at any moment. Her breathing was short as she glanced around the room, looking for an escape route, and saw her friends not faring any better. She looked back up to Mephistomon, opening her dry mouth to say something, anything. But all that came out were incoherent whimpers and squeaks.

Mephistomon shook his head. “You...are supposed to be DigiDestined? The legendary heroes of this world?” he scoffed. “I’m not impressed.”

“Yeah!” came an annoying male voice. Tsukaimon fluttered up to Mephistomon’s side. “What’s the worst you can do, huh? Hug your enemies to death?” he laughed.

“Tsukaimon,” Mephistomon growled. “Shut up!”

“Y-yes my lord,” Tsukaimon bowed.

Scootaloo began to formulate an elaborate excuse, a classic children’s evasion tactic. In her experience, whenever the Cutie Mark Crusaders found themselves somewhere adults didn’t want them, a short excuse sprinkled with a hint of truth worked best. The more she thought it through, the more she believed it might actually work...if they were talking to a Bakemon. But Mephistomon wasn’t like the dull ghosts floating around in the halls above, he was clearly cut from a different cloth. This was a Digimon with no remorse, no pity for little lost ponies.

Having read her share of Daring Do, Scootaloo knew that the next best thing would be to say something to try and intimidate the villain, or at least give them strength. But looking up into his red eyes, Scootaloo knew that anything even remotely resembling a brave one-liner would be the equivalent of a puppy barking to Mephistomon, with no bite to back it up. She glanced back to the chained Flymon with a gulp, and realized that the best she could do in this situation was hope that she would at least get to share a cell with the other Crusaders.

“Go get one of the Bakemon,” Mephistomon said, his eyes never leaving the scared fillies and colt. “Have them prepare a few cells for our...esteemed heroes here.”

Babs Seed looked to Veemon and the rest of their Digimon friends. All of them were in just as much of a stupor as they were. That’s it, we’re hosed! Babs Seed thought with a shiver.

“Get down and hold your breath!” one of the Flymon yelled. The sudden change in tone shocked the DigiDestined out of their trance, and they immediately dropped to the floor. Babs Seed glanced behind them to see both Flymon rapidly beating their wings.

“POISON POWDER!” they both shouted as a cloud of purple powder quickly enveloped the room, taking Mephistomon by surprise. “RUN!”

Nopony had to be told twice as they bolted past Mephistomon and up the stairs, their Digimon partners just behind them, all while doing their best not to breath from the purple smoke.

Tsukaimon hovered haphazardly as the smoke cleared, coughing up a storm. Mephistomon waved away the smoke near him, seemingly unaffected by it. He turned towards the stairs with a growl, catching a glimpse of the ponies as they galloped up to safety. “Tsukaimon!” Mephistomon turned to him as he finished his coughing fit. “Sound the alarm! We’re closing up shop here. I want everyone to start packing up all essential materials; Black Gears, crystals, and harvest equipment. Prioritize the crystals containing the Virus, and leave all non-essential equipment behind!”

“What about the DigiDestined?” Tsukaimon asked.

“Have the Dark Lizamon twins deal with them. The only way out for them is through the graveyard,” Mephistomon lowered his voice. “Capture the little ponies, and put the names of their Digimon on tombstones!”

“Uh...but won’t they just be sent back to Primary Village when they—” Tsukaimon started, but was silenced by a glare from Mephistomon. “Capture the ponies, dispose of the Digimon, and get out of dodge, got it!”

“Well, get moving then!”

“A-a-at once my lord!” Tsukaimon saluted. He darted towards the stairs, only to crash into a wall. “Who put that there?” he groaned before correcting his course and flying up the stairs.

Mephistomon shook his head with a long sigh before turning to the Flymon. “As for you...” he began. “While I hoped to get to spend more time with you, I’m afraid we must part ways.”

“Mark my words, when we get out of here—” one of the Flymon began.

Mephistomon laughed. “I don’t think you understand your situation. There’s no reason for me to keep you here, and I cannot afford to have you interfering with my work.” Mephistomon’s eyes glowed purple as he brought up his hand, which swirled with dark magic. “So I bid thee farewell,”  he smiled, extending his glowing hand towards the Flymon. “BLACK SABBATH!”

Scootaloo burst through the door and dashed towards the exit, the others just behind her. “Come on, let’s go!”

The sound of static interference filled the hall. “Attention all ghostly nimrods!” Tsukaimon’s voice echoed over an intercom. “We have a Code Red, I repeat CODE RED! Pack up all essential equipment and crystals and proceed with evacuation. This is not a drill, this is an order from Lord Mephistomon. So get your acts together you freaky floatin’ bedsheets!”

“He’s a charmer,” Armadillomon muttered as they ran through the empty auditorium.

Making their way through the hallway, they heard the frantic voices of Bakemon and Soulmon trying to pack up in the adjacent rooms. Knowing the odds were against them, the DigiDestined did their best to slip past them while they were occupied. Finally making it to the lab where the Black Gear data was processed, they were spotted by a Bakemon carrying a couple of large crates.

“Hey!” the Bakemon shouted. “You’re not supposed to be here!”

“TERRIER TORNADO!” Terriermon responded, launching a small tornado and knocking the crates out of his hands.

As the Bakemon tried to recover, Veemon charged him. Just when it appeared he was about to deliver a blow head-on, Veemon dropped down onto his side, sliding underneath Bakemon. The moment he got behind him, he leaped into the air and threw a powerful punch to the back of his head shouting, “VEE KNOCKOUT!”

The Bakemon collapsed onto the floor with a groan, unconscious. “Hey, what’s going on over there?” a voice shouted.

“Hurry, hurry!” Sweetie Belle urged everyone into the elevator before hitting the button to go up. A Soulmon floated into the room just as the doors closed.

“So...what’s the plan?” Babs Seed panted as the elevator rose.

“We should get back to Primary Village,” Apple Bloom said. “Maybe Elecmon will know what to do.”

“Don’t you think we should do something to stop their operation here?” Scootaloo suggested. “Maybe break some of the machines or something?”

“With that Mephistomon guy down there!” Diamond Tiara shuddered. “I’m not taking any chances with him around.”

“Yeah, good point.”

When the elevator reached the mansion level, everyone dashed out of the room the moment the doors opened, making a beeline for the front entrance. Rumble shoved open the oak doors, leaping off the front porch. “Come on, let’s get out of here!” he shouted as he galloped through the graveyard.

The old iron gate was within their sights when a large pillar of dark, garnet red flame burst from the ground, blocking their escape. Everyone skidded to a stop with a scream.

“Get back!” Hawkmon shouted. Before everyone got too far however, a large whooshing noise announced the presence of another gout of dark flames erupting a few yards behind them.

The DigiDestined starred as the two columns of fire twisted and churned, beginning to take shape. Two large arms sprouted forth from the sides, three golden claws sprung from the ends of each arm. The base of the columns split into two legs, each with two long claws made from fire. A long tail unraveled behind each creature, and a golden helm emerged at the top with two slits for the creatures' fiery ears and another for their gleaming red eyes. A low growl emerged from the Digimon at the front, while its twin behind them gave a low, menacing chuckle.

Name: Dark Lizamon

Level: Champion

Attribute: Virus

Attacks:

“Leaving so soon?” the Dark Lizamon blocking the gate snarled. “Come along quietly and we won’t have to hurt you.”

“Um, Terriermon?” Silver Spoon said, deactivating her analyzer. “You remember back at Primary Village, when you digivolved and went ballistic? I kinda need you to do that now.”

“Wrong answer,” Dark Lizamon replied, leaning his head back. “DREAD FIRE!” he shouted, launching a bullet of black fire at the DigiDestined. Before the attack hit its mark, they split into two different directions, scattering around the graveyard.

Silver Spoon ducked behind one of the tombstones with Rumble, Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara, and their partners. Peering over the top, she saw the Dark Lizamon guarding the gate create a small wall of fire in front of it before lumbering off in their direction. Looking towards the mansion, she saw the other one do the same with the front entrance before pursuing the rest of her friends.

“Come on Terriermon, we need you!” Silver Spoon whispered.

“What, you think I can just digivolve at the drop of a hat?” Terriermon asked.

“I don’t know, kinda?”

“Well I’m sorry, but digivolving to protect Primary Village has left me a little bit drained!”

“Same here,” Bearmon nodded. “Plus, I think it was you and the Digivices that helped us digivolve.”

Silver Spoon turned to her Digivice, scrolling through the functions, desperate to find something that could help them. “Where’s an instruction manual when you need one?”

“Maybe I can help,” everyone looked up to see Dark Lizamon standing over them with a grin.

“BUNNY BLAST!” Terriermon launched a ball of green energy at Dark Lizamon, who barely flinched as it hit him in the chest.

“That kind of tickled!” Dark Lizamon chuckled.

“Everyone scatter!” Diamond Tiara yelled.

As per Diamond Tiara’s advice, everyone ran in different directions. As she ran with Palmon towards the front of the graveyard, Sweetie Belle looked back to check on her friends, only to find Dark Lizamon pursuing her.

“Oh come on, why me?” Sweetie Belle shouted. She turned forward to find herself running towards the corner of the iron fence. Skidding to a stop, she turned back to the Dark Lizamon closing in on her. Palmon stepped in front of her, arms stretched out in a protective stance.

“I said to come along quietly little one,” Dark Lizamon chided.

“You’re not gonna take us that easily!” Palmon shouted.

Dark Lizamon laughed. “Us? Our orders were to take the ponies. Lord Mephistomon didn’t say anything about taking you or the other Digimon here.”

Palmon felt a shiver go down her back. She glanced back to Sweetie Belle, who stared back at her with pleading eyes. Gathering up her nerves, Palmon looked back up to Dark Lizamon with a glare. “You want her so bad?” Palmon growled. Behind her, Sweetie Belle looked down at her Digivice as it began to chirp and glow.  “You’re welcome to try and take her!” she challenged as she began to glow.

Palmon digivolve to…

Togemon!

“I’m warning you though,” Togemon continued. “It won’t end well for you!”

Sweetie Belle gazed up at Togemon in awe. Togemon looked like a giant cactus with two legs and arms, a red boxing glove at the end of each arm. She was also tall enough to meet Dark Lizamon at eye level, if not taller.

“You think you can scare me!” Dark Lizamon snarled. “Your nothing but an overgrown shrub! You don’t stand a chance against—”

A series of red blurs knocked Dark Lizamon flat on his back. Dazed, he looked back up to find Togemon with her gloves raised. “I’m sorry, what were you saying?” she teased.

Scootaloo leaped to the side as she dodged a blast of dark fire, rolling behind a tombstone. She peered out from behind her cover to see the Digimon trying to fight back against Dark Lizamon. As he smacked away Armadillomon, who tried to cannonball into him using his Diamond Shell attack, Scootaloo turned towards the other side of the graveyard to see the other Dark Lizamon engaged with a giant cactus with boxing gloves.

“Wait, what?” Scootaloo did a double-take, watching as the giant cactus threw a series of rapid punches before spreading its arms out.

“NEEDLE SPRAY!” the cactus shouted. As the Dark Lizamon tried to shield himself from an onslaught of hardened needles, Scootaloo pulled up her Digivice’s analyzer.

Name: Togemon

Level: Champion

Attribute: Data, Virus

Attacks:

Champion level huh? Where did she come from? Scootaloo thought to herself. She then saw Sweetie Belle in the corner of the fence, cheering her on. Wait, did Palmon digivolve? That’s awesome, we may have a chance at this! We may be able to get out of this—

Scootaloo’s thoughts were interrupted when something pulled her tail, picking her up off the ground. She flailed her hooves with a scream as the world turned upside down. She managed to tilt her head up to find herself staring into the helm of Dark Lizamon.

“Gotcha!” he seethed.

“Heeeeelp!” Scootaloo screamed as she continued to flail in Dark Lizamon’s grasp. A series of chirps made her glance up at her Digivice as the screen began to glow. A loud growl made her turn to see a very angry Guilmon charging towards them.

Guilmon digivolve to…

Growlmon!

In the short amount of time it took Growlmon to close the gap between them, Scootaloo got a good look at his features. Aside from his larger size, which put him at a couple of feet taller than Dark Lizamon at least, she noticed two large horns protruding from his head, as well as a short white mane that traveled from the top of his head to the back of his neck. The odd symbol that was emblazoned across his belly was gone, instead of appearing on both of his shoulders, with several additional black symbols appearing along his arms and legs.The tips of his claws now had black on them, and there were two red blade-like protrusions coming out of his forearms, angled so that they were perpendicular to his elbows.

As Growlmon closed the last few feet between them, those blades folded outwards, glowing with white energy as he pulled his arm back. “DRAGON SLASH!” he shouted as he sliced Dark Lizamon’s claw clean off, catching Scootaloo with his free claw before whipping him in the face with his tail.

As Dark Lizamon stumbled back, Growlmon gently lowered Scootaloo to the ground. “Get somewhere safe,” he rumbled, his voice changing only slightly, still containing the same young pitch that Guilmon possessed. Scootaloo ran over to Babs Seed and Apple Bloom as Growlmon turned to face Dark Lizamon, whose claw had regenerated in a burst of dark flame.

“You alright Scootaloo?” Babs Seed asked.

“Am now,” Scootaloo nodded before looking back towards Growlmon, who was now grappling with Dark Lizamon.

“Whoa,” Apple Bloom breathed. “He’s a biggun!”

“DRAGON SLASH!” Growlmon extended both arm blades before charging at Dark Lizamon with a roar. He began slashing at Dark Lizamon, steadily pushing him back as he tried to block the Growlmon’s onslaught of plasma charged blades.

“That’s right Growlmon, show him who’s boss!” Scootaloo cheered.

Growlmon knocked Dark Lizamon back into the mansion before leaning his head back. “PYRO BLASTER!” he shouted, unleashing a powerful blast of flame at Dark Lizamon point-blank. Growlmon stared at the flaming hole in the side of the mansion for a few moments before turning to Scootaloo.

“Nice work Growlmon!” Scootaloo smiled. “Now go help Togemon so we can get out of here.”

“Got it!” Growlmon nodded. The moment he turned, however, a large black fire bullet hit him square in the back, knocking him onto the ground. Growlmon turned back to see Dark Lizamon slowly walking out of the fire, seemingly unharmed.

“What the hay?” Scootaloo asked. “Growlmon thrashed him back there, how is he still standing?”

Babs Seed looked at Dark Lizamon as he got into a fighting stance. He didn’t seem the least bit exhausted, despite the ferocity of the attacks he suffered. His stance seemed calm and unwavering, the flames across his body dancing in the wind. Wait a sec, Babs thought. His flames…

“Alright then, hit him again Growlmon!” Scootaloo shouted.

“Gladly,” Growlmon growled as he leaned his head back.

“No, wait!” Babs Seed shouted.

“PYRO BLASTER!” Growlmon once again blasted Dark Lizamon, who made no effort to dodge as his fire breath hit him full force. As the blast stopped, Dark Lizamon remained unfazed. The dark flames cloaking his body seemed to grow more intense.

“My turn,” he said with a chuckle. “DREAD FIRE!” he shouted, firing a much larger blast of dark flame at Growlmon and sending him back several feet.

“What’s going on!” Scootaloo said, concern leaching into her voice. “He seemed to be doing fine earlier. How is he fighting back after taking two blasts of fire directly to the face?”

“Dark Lizamon’s already COVERED in flames!” Babs Seed pointed out. “If anything, that probably made him even stronger!”

“Oh no,” Scootaloo turned to Growlmon, who was still recovering from Dark Lizamon’s last attack. “Growlmon, don’t use any more fire attacks, you’ll only make him stronger!”

Growlmon nodded before charging up his elbow blades with white plasma. “DRAGON SLASH!” he shouted, charging at Dark Lizamon.

Dark Lizamon swept his arm in a circular motion, causing several dark symbols made of fog to appear in front of him. “DARK PAIN!” he sent the symbols floating towards Growlmon, which turned into a barrier of small storm clouds. Growlmon couldn’t turn in time as the clouds unleashed several bolts of lighting, shocking him and causing him to stumble.

“Come on Growlmon, hang in there!” Scootaloo begged.

Growlmon picked himself up, only to find Dark Lizamon charging out of the storm clouds and tackle him to the ground. As he struggled to get out, Dark Lizamon bit down hard into Growlmon’s shoulder.

From the sidelines, Apple Bloom watched as Scootaloo winced at the sight of her friend crying out in agony. She glanced over to Togemon, who was faring well in her fight but was still unable to help Growlmon. A sense of helplessness gnawed at her gut, seeing her friends partners embroiled in a tough fight.

“We gotta do somethin’!” Apple Bloom said.

“Like what?” Babs Seed asked. “None of our Digimon could fight him before Growlmon jumped in.”

Armadillomon watched as Apple Bloom turned to look back at the fight with a pained expression. He followed her gaze to Dark Lizamon, who was still on top of Growlmon, toying with him. He had a pretty good idea of what was going through Apple Bloom’s head. He hadn’t known Guilmon that well when they lived in Primary Village as Gigimon and Upamon. He wouldn’t say that they were as close as Bearmon and Veemon, but they had played together enough times that he would call him a friend.

At the time, Upamon shared Gigimon’s curiosity about the world outside the village. He wasn’t too bright, and would somehow eat more than most other In-Training Digimon. But he was funny, kind, and occasionally insightful, always dreaming of exploring the Digital World. But right now, he was in trouble, and there was nothing he could do to help.

“You’re right,” Armadillomon said.

“What?” Apple Bloom turned to him.

“We’ve gotta help him!”

“How? How do we fight something like that?” Babs Seed asked.

“You can’t,” Armadillomon turned to Apple Bloom. He glanced down her foreleg before looking back up to her with a smile. “But I reckon I can give it a shot!”

Before Apple Bloom could say anything, Armadillomon dashed towards the fight. A chirping noise made her look down at her glowing Digivice. She looked up to Armadillomon, who was now enveloped in a golden light. “Go get em’ partner!” she smiled.

Armadillomon digivolve to…

Ankylomon!

A loud battle cry made Dark Lizamon look up in time to see a large mass of golden armor and spikes ram into him, sending him flying off of Growlmon. Growlmon shook off his daze and looked up at his rescuer, Ankylomon. He now resembled a large ankylosaurus, donned in golden armor where his chitinous shell used to be. His shell was covered in a variety of large spikes, and the end of his tail sported a large spiked mace.

“Get up Growlmon, I can’t take him alone!” Ankylomon said, turning towards Dark Lizamon.

Growlmon nodded, slowly picking himself up and issuing a challenging roar.

“DREAD FIRE!” Dark Lizamon shot another bullet of dark fire at Growlmon. Ankylomon leaped in front, taking the brunt of the blast before charging.

“TAIL HAMMER!” Ankylomon stopped short of Dark Lizamon, quickly turning and smacking him with his massive tail mace, and sending him skipping towards Growlmon like a stone.

Dark Lizamon, in a daze from Ankylomon’s attack, didn’t notice Growlmon until he was right next to him. “DRAGON SLASH!” Dark Lizamon was unable to put up any kind of defense as Growlmon delivered a series of slashes, ending with an uppercut that put him flat on his back.

“Wha...what is happening right now?!” Dark Lizamon shouted in frustration. Shakingly, he got up on his hands and knees, his body starting to glitch. He looked up, glaring at his two opponents. At least, this was his intention, but he could only find Growlmon.

“MEGATON PRESS!” a shout made him look up, his eyes widening. High in the air, and falling straight for him rather quickly, was Ankylomon. So many questions were running through Dark Lizamon’s mind: how did he jump so high? How did he not notice him leaping into the air to begin with? Why didn’t he finish Growlmon off when he had the upper hand?

Unfortunately, he couldn’t even finish vocalizing the one sentence to sum up all these questions in time. “Oh, what the—”

The earth shook when Ankylomon hit the ground, shattering Dark Lizamon into raw data. After recovering from the small earthquake he caused, Apple Bloom watched as he and Growlmon absorbed the remaining data before the DigiCore departed for Primary Village.

Meanwhile, Togemon was bobbing and weaving through the other Dark Lizamon’s attacks, throwing in her own jabs every now and again. Seeing him stumble and glitch, Togemon knew that now was the time to deliver the coup de grâce. “COCONUT PUNCH!” she charged towards Dark Lizamon, punching him with several powerful strikes before bringing him down with a double-fisted slam. With Dark Lizamon defeated, Togemon absorbed his data before reverting back to Palmon.

With the front gate now clear, the DigiDestined regrouped outside the graveyard. “Everypony good?” Rumble asked.

“Yep, we’re cool,” Scootaloo nodded.

Apple Bloom turned to an exhausted Armadillomon. “You gonna be okay?”

“Uh-huh,” Armadillomon nodded.

“We saw your fight,” Diamond Tiara said, looking to Armadillomon and Guilmon. “You two make a pretty good team.”

“Aw shucks,” Armadillomon blushed. “I was just helpin’ a friend in need, you would’ve done the same.”

Guilmon looked down, embarrassed. “Hey, don’t feel bad about what happened back there,” Scootaloo put a hoof on Guilmon’s arm. “You were awesome.”

“Thanks,” Guilmon smiled.

“Oh yeah, don’t mind me,” Palmon butted in. “I just single-handedly smacked the snot out of the other one. No biggie.”

“Yes you did Palmon,” Sweetie Belle hugged Palmon. “Yes, you did.”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked to each other with smiles on their faces, all sharing the same pride in their partners. No words needed to be spoken as three forelegs were raised, meeting in a high hoof with a soft CLUNK.

The smell of smoke made everyone turn back to the mansion. The flames from Growlmon’s Pyro Blaster had spread to a majority of the building.

“Well Scootaloo, you said you wanted to do something to stop their operations,” Diamond Tiara said.

“Yeah, but I was kinda hoping for something bigger,” Scootaloo admitted. “You know, like a big explosion or something.”

A loud boom made everyone jump, rattling them to their very bones as a massive fireball engulfed the mansion. Everyone stared at the resulting inferno with slack jaws as flaming debris landed around the graveyard.

“Awesome!” Scootaloo shouted. “That’s more like it!”

“How the heck did that happen?” Silver Spoon asked.

“Maybe the fire reached the generators,” Babs Seed shrugged.

“Oh well,” Veemon smiled. “I guess that’s the end of the Grey Lord’s Mansion.” Lightning flashed once again, almost on cue. As everyone glanced up at the sky in confusion, Veemon chuckled to himself. “You know, that’s kinda cool now that I think about it.”

“Come on y'all, let’s get outta here,” Apple Bloom turned back to the forest.

“Yeah, we need to tell everyone back at the village about this little adventure! The Mystery of the Grey—”

“Don’t!” Babs Seed chided. “Please don’t say it.”

“Oh come on, just one more time?”

“No!” Bearmon shot a glare back to Veemon.

“Yeah, it’s kind of losing its appeal there,” Terriermon nodded.

“What is?”

“Saying the—” Terriermon stopped himself. “Nope, you’re not gonna make me say it.”

“Say what?” Veemon grinned.

“You know...the name of the place that just went kablooey!”

“Oh, you mean the Grey Lord’s Mansion?” The sky lit up as a bolt of lightning struck the ground a few feet behind Veemon, who became nothing but a blue blur as he hightailed it to the forest, screaming like a banshee. “ALRIGHT, I’M DONE I’M DONE I’M DOOOONE!”

The sky rumbled, almost in satisfaction. Babs Seed looked from the woods in which Veemon had vanished, to the charred spot on the ground where he once stood, to the rest of her friends. The silence that followed was soon broken as everyone burst out laughing.

Hidden in a grove on the opposite end of the mansion ruins, Mephistomon watched the raging inferno where the building once stood. He glanced over to a ruined greenhouse, which housed the entrance to the hidden passage that his minions had used to escape. All of the Soulmon and Bakemon stood vigilantly by the greenhouse, carrying the equipment, materials, and research that Mephistomon ordered to be saved.

“Um...my lord?” Tsukaimon asked, his paws still on the dynamite plunger that caused the mansion to go up in flames.

“Speak up Tsukaimon,” Mephistomon grumbled.

Tsukaimon hovered up to his master. “I like blowing up stuff as much as the next psychotic Digimon. But, why blow up the mansion? We had a nice setup there, we could’ve come back later.”

“Yes, we’ve spent quite a lot of time and effort making this the ideal location to conduct our research. And because of that, there was too much to move if we were compromised. I needed to make sure that we left no evidence that we were here.”

“But the only ones who found out were those colorful little twerps. And there’s no way the Dark Lizamon twins are gonna be beaten by—” Tsukaimon seized up, landed on Mephistomon’s shoulder and began to shiver.

Mephistomon looked towards the dancing shadows cast in the light of the fire, watching as three purple mechanical spider-like Digimon emerged from the foliage. Resourceful little ones, these Gizumon, Mephistomon smiled to himself. The Soulmon and Bakemon tensed as they made their way to Mephistomon’s side. One of them scurried up a tree next to him until he was at eye level. It then made a series of electronic clicks and beeps, which made Mephistomon frown.

“It seems that the Dark Lizamon were defeated,” he sighed. “Three of the Digimon managed to digivolve without absorbing any data.”

“So...they really are—” Tsukaimon began.

“So it would seem…” Mephistomon nodded.

“But, does that mean we blew up the lab for no reason?”

Mephistomon chuckled. “They only got a glimpse of what we were doing there. I doubt they really knew what they were looking for. But, if word of this got out, and a more inquisitive Digimon came along, they might piece together what we were doing based on what was left behind. And then they could use that information to develop a countermeasure to the Black Shadow Virus.”

“Which they can’t do if all that’s left behind is buried in rubble and ashes!” Tsukaimon finished.

“Precisely,” Mephistomon commended his loyal servant. “Besides, we were just about done with that place.”

Mephistomon led his followers through the forest to a cliff at the coast of the island. He muttered an incantation, opening a portal before turning towards everyone. “Make sure nothing is left behind now! The Server continent awaits!”

As his minions filed through the portal, he looked towards the column of smoke rising into the air one more time. So...after almost a thousand years, a group of ‘Chosen Children’ are summoned to the Digital World. Why now? Who brought them here? And why are they not human? As he turned to the portal, he couldn’t help but grin at the prospect of battling these unique opponents in the future. Would they live up to the legends told of the exploits of past DigiDestined?

“One way or another, this is going to be...interesting,” Mephistomon marched through the portal, leaving File Island once and for all.

After retracing their steps back through the Infinity Mountain tunnel, the group of DigiDestined made it to the prison in Mt. Panorama before exhaustion began to take hold of them. Though they were cut off from the daylight, the clocks on their Digivices told them that it would be getting dark soon. Everyone agreed that it was better to rest halfway to their destination rather than risk a nighttime trek through the forest.

And so, they made themselves comfortable in the abandoned barracks the Gazimon had used. They had even managed to find some food in the back of the pantry that was still good, probably meant for the guards.

Sweetie Belle was laying down on a cot, staring up at the cold cave ceiling. The events that transpired today replayed themselves in her head, from when she woke up to help take care of the baby Digimon, to the moment where Palmon digivolved to Togemon. She sat up, a part of her mind still lost in thought as she looked around the room.

Most of the Digimon were eating with a couple of her friends, while everyone else sat down at a small table towards the center of the room, where a poker game was taking place. After they had eaten, Apple Bloom had managed to salvage a complete deck of playing cards and a small pile of poker chips from the mess in the barracks. Babs Seed, Scootaloo, and Rumble were eager to play, while the rest were content to simply relax for a bit.

Apple Bloom glanced from the two cards in her hoof, to the five cards on the table and the large mess of chips nearby, before shooting a glance towards Babs Seed. Sweetie Belle wasn’t sure if the smirk on Babs’ face had to do with a possible good hand or the large stack of chips she had next to her. Although Apple Bloom looked like she could catch up to her cousin, the same couldn’t be said for the other two contestants. Scootaloo, who was apparently still new to the game, looked like she was sweating bullets. Meanwhile, Rumble had his face buried into the table, having lost the last of his chips in the previous round.

“Alright, whaddya got?” Apple Bloom challenged, noting the five cards on the table: A Jack, seven, and eight of Spades, Ace of Clubs, and a Jack of Diamonds.

Scootaloo sighed, laying a ten of Hearts and a six of Clubs in front of her. “A pair of Jacks,” she muttered.

Apple Bloom laid out a Queen and Ace of Hearts. “Two pairs!” she declared. Though she knew everypony had the pair of Jacks on the table, the pair of Aces she had gave her a pretty valuable hand. One look at Babs Seed’s evil grin though, and all her confidence went down the drain. And then she saw the cards she laid out: a Jack and nine of Hearts, and she was crushed...again.

“Three of a kind!” Babs Seed sang, reaching for the pile of chips in the center of the table. “Come to Mama!”

Apple Bloom let out a groan while Scootaloo slammed a hoof into the table. “Oh, come on! If I had a nine, I would’ve had a straight! I was THIS CLOSE to making a comeback!” She cried, putting two of her hooves an inch apart from each other for emphasis.

Apple Bloom shook her head as Babs laughed maniacally. “Hey Sweetie Belle, how come you didn’t wanna play?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Just feeling too tired to play, I guess,” Sweetie Belle said half-heartedly.

Scootaloo turned to Sweetie Belle, picking up on the doubt in her voice. “What’s wrong? We stopped Mephistomon, didn’t we? Come on, celebrate a little.”

“Did we stop him though?”

“Last time I checked, his hideout exploded. When something explodes, it’s pretty hard to work with it.”

“Yeah, like your lemonade stand last summer,” Diamond Tiara chuckled. “No more stand, no more lemonade sales.”

Babs Seed stopped counting her chips for a moment and looked at Diamond Tiara. “Wait, what was that about an exploding lemonade stand?”

“Don’t ask!” Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle chorused.

“Anyway, I get that his hideout blew up,” Sweetie Belle continued. “But he probably got away while our Digimon were fighting the Dark Lizamon.”

Rumble lifted his head from the table, leaving an impression on his forehead. “She has a point. That flying purple loudmouth with him told everyone in the lab to evacuate. And there was a lot of time between that, and the mansion going boom.”

Everypony looked to each other as they mulled over his words. “Okay…” Scootaloo started. “So, assuming that Mephistomon got away, what do we do now? I mean, even if we knew where he was, would we be able to fight him?”

“He is an Ultimate level Digimon…” Hawkmon reminded everyone.

“Yeah, and some of us haven’t even reached Champion yet,” Veemon pouted.

As everyone looked to each other for an answer, the Digivices started to pulsate and beep.

“What the…?” Diamond Tiara held her Digivice away as the beeping grew louder. As the beeping continued, the screens on the Digivices began to show an odd symbol. It seemed to resemble an open eye within a diamond.

“Greetings, DigiDestined,” a voice spoke from the Digivices, which pulsed in time with the voice. It sounded like it belonged to a young lady, yet still held years of wisdom. To Sweetie Belle, her voice reminded her of the smooth sound made when two empty wine glasses clinked together. “It is good to finally meet you.”

“What the...who are you?” Apple Bloom asked her Digivice.

“You can call me Anahita, and I’ve been waiting for you seven for a long time.”