//------------------------------// // The First Hunt! Beware the Forest of Petaldramon! Pt 3. // Story: Hunt them Down! The Devilish Digimon Hunter! // by Dark Star the Crazed //------------------------------// The Next Afternoon Ren's P.o.V. It was finally happening, the Main 7 were starting to develop their powers. That had me excited until I realized something, I could never let Sunset come into physical contact with me. Flashback. Standing in the middle of what could only be described as a void, I had just finished cursing myself after having realized I had turned into Ren Tobari from Xros Wars Young Hunters. Sure, I had heard the stories about the guy that looked like the Resident Evil 4 Merchant showing up at conventions, but I hadn't expected him to get me through the internet! "Please, do not compare me to that immature piece of trash." My head snapped up from where I had been covering my face with my hands and I continued to look up and up some more as I saw a being that definitely wasn't there before. "Quartzmon..." I did not let out a fearful squeak at the sight of the Digimon strong enough to absorb the earth and create an entire dimension in between the Real World and Digital World. And I will deny it if you say that I did. "Ah, of course. My size, I tend to forget that mortals often fear things much bigger than themselves." And before my eyes I watched as the giant Digimon began to shrink until he was only twice my size. "I assume that this is more reassuring for you?" I meekly nodded, just hoping that I wouldn't offend the being that could step on me. "Excellent! Now as you mortals are often quick to realize, being a god-like being with more power than you know what to do with tends to get extremely boring after a while. I seem to have been sentenced to suffer this horrid fate recently, at least I was, until I discovered this series you mortals call Digimon..." I saw the six red eyes on it's Terminal Form glow. "Tell me, how would you like to take place in a real Digimon Hunt?" Despite the situation, a smile formed on my face. "Go on..." Flashback End. I gave a happy scoff as I looked at the Xros Loader in my hand. "Best, choice I ever made." "Boss, you're talking to yourself again." I ignored my partner's statement and entered DigiQuartz after making sure there were no witnesses. As soon as I exited the portal I looked out over the camp and smirked as I saw all the roots that had shot up out of the ground, even in the middle of the lake. While everyone not in the know probably thought the incidents were caused by Gaea Everfree from the story Timber Spruce would have told them last night, I knew that it was because of a Digimon, well, at least partly. I felt a look of curiosity worm it's way onto my face. "Hmmm... I wonder..." I reloaded Spinomon and had him use Blue Prominence. As the blue flames swept over the thorns, I heard a roar of pain from the direction of the forest and scowled. Just like the Blossomon from Young Hunters, these roots were a part of the Digimon. That meant Sunset couldn't destroy them without hurting Gloriosa in the process. She needed to be warned about that... But as I was about to go find Sunset and drag her into DigiQuartz to give her some friendly advice, a sinister thought crept into my mind. As I stood there, I realized that my Patron would probably find that pain Gloriosa would suffer to be even more entertaining. I barely even acknowledged the dark violet flame like aura that surrounded my Xros Loader. The Next Morning. Third Person P.o.V Timber Spruce knew something about what was happening to his sister, Sunset was sure of it. That was why she had followed him into the woods, to see if he knew about either the Digimon or the magic that Ren had hinted at effecting the Digimon. The reason she thought that was because right after she had helped her friends embrace the magical abilities that they had begun to display, she went to try to help Twilight do the same, she had noticed how things had started to float around the lavender girl. When she was looking for her by the boathouse, she had overheard Timber telling his sister to 'let it go', she wasn't sure if he was referring to the magic or the attachment to the Digimon influencing her, bet either way, it wasn't good. She had gotten distracted and lost him at some point, but then she had seen someone going into an off limits rock quarry. She didn't even have to get close to tell that the magic Ren had hinted at was originating form there. She had decided to kill two birds with one stone, she would be able to help Twilight embrace her magical abilities and stop the magic originating from within the cave. Once Twilight had arrived they had entered the cave and found a massive crystal spire that was clearly the source of the magic. That was when things had gone wrong. She hadn't been expecting Gloriosa to confront them, and she definitely hadn't expected the fact that Gloriosa had gained the power of botanokinesis through a combination of both the magic and Digimon's influence. When she had grabbed Gloriosa in an attempt to stop her from passing her and reach the pillar, Sunset had seen everything, everything from how Gloriosa had fallen behind on her payments to Filthy Rich, which meant Filthy would own the land that Camp Everfree is built upon, and he how intended to tear the camp down to build a spa resort. She saw how in her desperation to keep the camp that her great-grandparents founded, Gloriosa begged Filthy for more time to pay, and Filthy gave her until the end of the month. She saw how as Gloriosa had tearfully wondered what to do, she had noticed a trail of gem dust leading to the cave, where she discovered seven colored geodes embedded in the crystal spire. She had seen how Gloriosa had slipped into DigiQuartz and encountered the Digimon that was helping her. She had made a deal with the Digimon that now understood was working with her. In exchange for the energy in the geodes, the Digimon would help her protect the camp by giving her some of it's own power. When the visions ended Sunset decided that she needed to stop both Gloriosa and the Digimon now because if she didn't people would get hurt. "Gloriosa, you need to listen to me, you need to stop using the abilities that the Digimon has given you with the magic's help." Gloriosa reared back, her eyes narrowing, energy starting to surge from her body. "How do you know what I was doing with the geodes? How do you know about the magic?" Sunset noticed the world glitch and slowly began to reach for her Xros Loader. "I can see things. Feel things. Because I have magic, too. And so does she. And so do our friends." Twilight winced when Sunset revealed that she knew about her abilities, but that might help in this situation. "Gloriosa, Timber wasn't wrong. Maybe you should stop using magic. Too much of it can be dangerous if you can't control it." Gloriosa scowled, a pair of giant glowing yellow orbs appearing behind her as they fully entered DigiQuartz. "Oh, I got this. And I'm going to use it to save my camp, just like Petaldramon promised I would be able to. I just need more power!" Roots emerged from the ground and pushed them out of the way, allowing Gloriosa to pass and retrieve the final geode from the pillar. The geode glowed and merged with the ones Gloriosa already had, and then she began to transform in a way that gave both Sunset and Twilight flashbacks to their own episodes. Once the transformation had finished roots began to curl around her legs, digging into her flesh as she started to laugh in a hysterical manner. "Sorry, girls. I know what I need to do. But I feel like we're not on the same page. So, I think I'll let Petaldramon try to help you understand." "Gloriosa, please! Don't give in!" Sunset's words fell on deaf ears as Gloriosa walked back to the entrance of the cave, exiting and sealing it behind her after the Digimon that had been assisting her finally showed itself. It looked like a giant lizard with plant life having exploded all over it's body, it was so large that it barely fit inside of the cave they were now trapped in. "Reload! Coronamon!" "Corona Knuckle!" Coronamon took a solid form just in time to counter the hundred of roots that burst from the ground with a flurry of flaming punches. "Ahhhhh!" The scream of pain that came from behind them drew their attention, Sunset's eyes widened when she saw Twilight pinned to the wall by roots, some of which had pierced her skin. "Twilight!" Sunset felt something within her change as she saw her friend, squirming in pain. She rounded and screamed in rage at the Digimon that had harmed her friend, charging at it, even as more roots shot from the ground and charged toward her. Just as they were about to collide, she felt something crash into her side, knocking her out of the way as a grunt of pain emerged from her partner. Realizing what had happened, she looked up in worry. "Coronamon!" The tiny lion leapt up from where he had landed after the roots had struck him. "Don't worry, I'm fine! All that matters right now is beating this guy and helping your friend!" How the tiny lion was able to remain calm, Sunset didn't know, but she did know that he was right. "Yeah, you're right." She stood up, ready to help save Twilight in any way she could when she felt her hand grow warm and saw a golden ring appear around it out of the corner of her eye. "Is that...?" The same thing had happened to Coronamon, who nodded as he leapt out of the way of more roots as they tried to impale him. "Yeah, it is!" The two of them shared a glance before a smirk found it's way onto each of their faces. "Lets do this!" With her eyes closed, Sunset brought her Xros Loader over her heart and felt a warmth as her eyes snapped open. "Coronamon! Super Digivolution!" She reared her arm back and then brought her Xros Loader down in an overhead swing, almost as if she were holding a sword, a blue line of data covered with golden rings emerging from the screen. Coronamon fell to all fours and let out a roar as his skin was torn away leaving a digital frame, the frame grew in size and changed shape to that of a fully grown lion. From around his neck locks of golden hair began to emerge, creating a mane, his tail elongated before a roaring fire blazed to life at the base and traveled along the length of it before finally reaching the end, a ring of soot forming at the tip before hardening into a black metal. On his hips a red and white device with an empty center formed on each side, connected to each other by a band of black metal, rings of black metal formed around his ankles and similar devices appeared on the outside of each of them. The same metal formed on his forehead, with a small gem in the center, before spreading back toward his temples and down over his cheeks, the same devices on his hips and legs appeared over his cheeks. As he opened the eyes of his new form, gained by helping Sunset strengthen her resolve, Coronamon let out a roar, the gem on his forehead bursting into flames and the center of the devices all over his body following suit. The flames leaping from the devices and landing on his back, growing in size until an ethereal wind blew them away, revealing that a pair of wings had formed underneath them. Roaring once more, he readied himself to pounce. "Super Digivolution! Firamon!" He took the air and his body became wreathed in flames before he dove like a hawk seeking a rat. "Flame Dive!" He collided with Petaldramon, sliding across the top of the Digimon, he landed behind the larger Digimon before turning around and dragging his claws, now also wreathed in flames, along the side of the plant type Digimon. "Fira Claw!" He landed once more and turned to face Petaldramon as it roared in rage and a mixture of roots and razor sharp leaves shot forth from the Digimon's nostrils and tail. "Fira Bomb!" The fire on his forehead grew in size before rocketing toward the incoming onslaught, incinerating it and continuing before colliding with Petaldramon and sending it flying into the wall of the cave. Petaldramon glitched for a second before a purple ring surrounded it and it burst into particles of red light before reforming as a miniature version inside a purple cube that was floating over Sunset's cross loader. Sunset smiled and swiped the Xros Loader into the cube, a feeling of accomplishment settling in her as it disappeared. "Digimon capture complete." She watched as DigiQuartz disappeared, along with the roots pinning the unconscious Twilight to the wall causing he girl to fall to the ground as the cave began to quake. "Sunset! We need to get out of here!" Sunset nodded at her partner's words and grabbed Twilight, carrying her over her shoulder before hopping onto Firamon's back, who promptly charged forward, the cave collapsing behind them as they exited. Sunset turned her gaze toward the direction of Camp Everfree as Twilight began to stir. "W-what happened?" "No time to explain! We need to stop Gloriosa, c'mon!" Firamon disappeared into Sunset's Xros Loader as the two girls began to sprint toward the camp, never noticing the other three teens and their Digimon partners watching them from a distance. Ren glanced at his team and turned around. "We're done here, let's go." He used Time Shift to open a portal to DigiQuartz and walked in, the others following behind him before it closed.