Half an Hour Later.
Sitting on the bed in the room she was sharing with Applejack for the long weekend, Sunset stared down at the journal she used to communicate with Princess Twilight before sighing and closing it, setting it on the nightstand and flopping onto her back. It was too risky to get the Princess involved. Maybe, if she hadn't seen that show, Doctor Whom, she'd consider it, but she had, and now that she was friends with the human Twilight, she didn't want to risk causing a paradox by having the two of them meet. Maybe she was paranoid, but it was a possibility.
Still, the powers Ren had obtained could be extremely dangerous. The amount of ambient magical energy that Twilight had collected ended up corrupting her, but that energy wasn't negative by nature. The energy that Ren absorbed by taking the sins of others onto himself was. This was a fact, she knew so because she no longer held any shred of guilt or regret at what she had done when she first came to the human world, and she had regretted a lot of things.
'Seeing as his Digimon partner is a version of the devil, he may be immune to corruption, but that could also mean he's more susceptible to it.' She closed her eyes as she thought, only to be rudely torn from then by a series of events. The first event was the a sudden rumbling sound followed by the entire building shaking.
The second was Coronamon reloading himself and landing on Sunset's breasts as soon as he solidified. "Sunset! We've got trouble!" Upon seeing where he had landed the small bipedal lion hopped onto the floor with a blush. "Sorry!"
As Sunset released a groan at the sudden impact to her chest area, a knock, or rather a series of desperate bangs came on the door, Snowball's voice emanating from the other side. "Miss Sunset! Miss Sunset! We need your help!"
Finally Applejack stumbled out of the bathroom, her pants having obviously been pulled up in a hurry, if the fact that they weren't on straight was any indication. "What in tarnation is going on!?"
Armadimon, who had been sleeping in Applejack's Xros Loader, reloaded himself and let out a yawn. "What's with all the shouting?" A new round of shaking began making the small yellow Digimon loose his balance... "Whoa!" And fall off the bed. "I'm ok!"
Applejack rolled her eyes at her partner's shout and opened the door, allowing Snowball into the room. "Avalanche! We need everyone to go to the lobby so we can take roll and form search parties to find anyone who might have gotten caught."
"We have a bigger problem!" Eyes turned toward Coronamon who looked terrified. "There's a Mammon further up the mountain and it's charging toward the lodge!"
"The Coronamon is correct, a rampaging Mammon is much more pressing issue." The screen on Snowball's Xros Loader flashed as Moosemon spoke. "Worry not, time flows slower in DigiQuartz, three hours there is equal to one hour here. Meet with the ones organizing search parties, and once you are away from the group, enter DigiQuartz. In the meantime I shall enlist the local group of Icemon for aid in locating any humans buried in this avalanche. By the time you arrive, they will have already begun to rescue those who have been trapped." Although they were hesitant, they agreed to the oldest Digimon's plan.
Thirty Minutes Later.
The moment Sunset, Applejack and Snowball entered DigiQuartz, Moosemon had approached them, a smaller Digimon made of what appeared to be ice riding on her back. "Young ones, this Icemon has informed me that this situation is more dire than we thought."
Coronamon jumped forward and thrust his fist toward the sky. "Whatever it is, Sunset and I can handle it!"
Before anyone else could say anything, the Icemon let out a terrified squeak and dove at Snowball, landing at her feet. "Please, hunt me! I'm begging you! Just capture me, I won't put up a fight!"
Snowball let out a little squeak and looked at her partner, who nodded her head. "O-Ok?" The Icemon turned into a stream of data, which flowed into Snowball's Xros Loader. "U-Um, are... Are you ok in there?" The little girl was worried for the terrified Digimon.
Icemon's voice emerged from the Xros Loader, the screen flashing with each word. "I am now that I don't have to worry about being deleted and absorbed by the pack of Garurumon that sent Mammon on a rampage!"
"A pack of Garurumon?" Armadimon's confusion was clear in his voice. "But they're usually harmless unless threatened!"
"'Scuse me, but, the He..." Applejack went quiet when she remembered Snowball was with them. "The Heck's a Garurumon?" In the distance they heard what the humans assumed was a howling wind, but a gulp from their partners said otherwise.
"Those are Garurumon." The human's turned their eyes in the direction that Coronamon was pointing and spotted several wolf-like Digimon as they crested a hill on one of the slopes, led by a different one. "And their leader, that's a BlackGarurumon." The Digimon that Coronamon called Gururumon threw his head back and let out a howl before charging down the slope, the five Garurumon behind him doing the same.
Sunset and Applejack held out their Xros Loaders rings of light forming around their hands and their partners. "Coronamon/Armadimon! Super Digivolution!"
Snowball's eyes were wide in awe at the transformations the two Child Level Digimon had undergone and looked at her partner with stars in her eyes. "Can you do that?!" Before Moosemon could respond, the BlackGarurumon leapt over the older girls and their partners landing in front of the two of them and moving to strike.
"Garuru Thru-" Having believed that he had caught them off guard, the wolf-like Digimon didn't expect Moosemon to spin around at a lightning fast speed.
"Punisher!" Moosemon's powerful legs collided with the BlackGarurumon's face, sending their attacker flying back over the two older hunters and their partners, landing on yet another Garurumon that had not been with the original group. The sound of snow crunching behind them alerted Moosemon, who spun around and struck again. "Punisher!" The wolf-like yelp was confirmation that yet another Garurumon that had not been with the original group had joined in. The original group fell back and began to circle.
"There're too many of them!" Firamon struck one of the Garurumon when they leapt closer to snap at him, only for another to do the same and nip his paw. "Fira Bomb!" The blast of fire that emerged from the flame on his forehead sent the wolf on fire, which caused it to run off. Another Garurumon sped up and closed the gap in their circle so their prey couldn't escape.
Ankylomon managed to swing his tail and strike one of the Garurumon, sending it skidding through the snow on it's side, only for another to seemingly come out of nowhere to take it's place. "What do we do!?"
Sunset analyzed their situation and held out her Xros Loader, her eyes widening when she saw the face of Petaldramon appear on the screen. She stood there for a few moments and gave a nod as she remembered what she seen Ren do the day she joined the hunt. "Here goes nothing!" Two glowing gold circles appeared over her Xros Loader, one showing her partner, the other her first hunt. "DigiXros! Firamon!"
Firamon's voice emanated from his image in the holographic circle. "Justice!"
"Petaldramon!" A roar sounded from Petaldramon's image as the circles collided.
Firamon closed his eyes as flames began to wrap around his body, changing shape and taking the form of stylized leaves growing on vines of ivy before solidifying turning into a sort of armor made of solid flames. His mane began to whip in a non existent wind and started to weave and braid itself in a style similar to the fiery leaves that covered his body, until they surrounded his neck in a similar fashion to the leaves on Petaldramon's head. Then the tips of the 'leaves' ignited and the flame traveled down his face before spreading out and forming a helmet of solid flame that resembled Petaldramon's head. Firamon's eyes snapped open behind the helmet of flame and the loin let out a majestic roar as the fires flared before being blown away by an ethereal wind, revealing the metal armor they had created. ""DigiXros! Xros Up! Firamon!"
Applejack gapped at the scene before looking at Ankylomon, just in time to see her partner slam his tail into a Garurumon when it leapt toward them. "How 'bout we give that a try?" Two circles materialized over her Xros Loader, one containing the image of her partner, and the other, Groundramon. "DigiXros! Ankylomon!"
"Partner!" Ankylomon's voice called out from the circle containing his image.
"Groundramon!" A roar sounded from the circle containing the image of Groundramon.
One of the spikes on either side of Ankylomon became coated in an earthen crust as they elongated, growing in size splitting into five and curving inward before colliding with each other. The crust shattering and being blown away by an ethereal wind, revealing hands similar to those on Groundramon's back, only scaled down and golden in color with purple palms. An earthen spike, similar to the horn of a rhino grew from Ankylomon's forehead, when it fully emerged a golden sheen covered it and somehow sharpened it to a sharp tip. Finally Ankylomon's tail elongated, the spikes on the mace like appendage grew a bit and were stained red. Ankylomon slammed his tail into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust, which blew away shortly after. "DigiXros! Xros Up! Ankylomon!"
The group of wolf like Digimon looked toward their leader, who growled and turned toward the nearest Garurumon. Then it did something none of them were expecting. "Killer Bite!" It leapt at it's fellow Digimon and clamped it's jaws around it's neck, the Garurumon let out a howl of pain before exploding into glowing golden squares that the BlackGarurumon then absorbed.
The three Hunter's and their partners watched as most of the Garurumon fled in terror, while the rest were killed and absorbed by their so called 'leader'. Then it's form began to shift, the quadrupedal Digimon stood back on it's hind legs, it's paws turning to face outwards and curling into fingers. A leather strap formed on it's right hip and shot across it's chest to it's left shoulder and thickening, forming a pauldron, metal buckles forming all along the strap. On his right hand an armguard formed, covered in metal bumps, his right foot flashed and a bandage appeared wrapped around it.
From the fur on his lower body grew a pair of camo pants, a fanged skull and crossbones appearing over his left knee, which was now host to a leather guard, as was his other knee, though this one was covered in spikes. The Digimon let out a howl and with a flash, spiked brass knuckles appeared on his left hand. "BlackWereGarurumon!" The newly evolved BlackWereGarurumon wasted no time in returning to the fight, leaping into the air with a howl. "Engetsugeri!" The werewolf like Digimon thrust his leg down, a blade of energy shooting forward in the wake of it's movement. They were all able to dodge out of the way, the snowy ground where they had been standing now having a deep scar carved into it.
"Fira Leaf Cyclone!" Firamon let loose a roar as the fiery leaves that made up his mane shot forward toward the enemy, who was unable to dodge while in the sky. Most missed, but the ones that hit carved into the werewolf Digimon, leaving shallow cuts and singed fur win their wake. The moment BlackWereGarurumon landed, Firamon reared back before bringing his paws down on the snow with all his strength. "Thousand Fira Spike!" Tens of dozens smoldering roots that were as sharp as spears shot forth from the ground where BlackWereGarurumon stood, impaling the black werewolf, who let out a howl of pain as his body glitched and a purple ring appeared around it.
Sunset let out a sigh of relief as the BlackWereGarurumon turned into motes of red light and his image formed inside of the purple cube that hovered over her Xros Loader. "Digimon capture complete." She was about to let out another sigh when the ground began to shake and the trumpeting sound of an elephant reminded her that they weren't done. Looking up, Sunset's eyes widened at the sight of the largest Digimon she had seen so far. "Oh you've got to be kidding me."
Hearing her friend's words, Applejack turned her attention to where Sunset was looking and her jaw dropped. There was a literal mammoth charging down the slopes towards the ski lodge. And them. "How're we supposed to stop that!?"
"We can help with that." The three newest hunters gave a small jump at the sudden appearance of Ren and his team. "Sonata, if you and Seadramon would be so kind as be the base of this DigiXros?"
"You got it!" Otamamon leapt into the air and Digivolved into Seadramon, then Ren turned toward the three rookies.
"I forgot to mention this before, but it's possible for two hunters to DigiXros with each other's Digimon, observe." Ren and Sonata swung their Xros Loaders in front of them, a glowing gold circle emerging from each, one with the image of Seadramon and the other containing the image of a dinosaur-like Digimon that Sunset remembered briefly seeing when Ren was looking through his collection to pick who to DigiXros Devimon with as an example. "Double Xros!/Double Xros!"
"Seadramon!"
"Spinomon!" As the two circles merged thin beams of light emerged form Seadramon's back and with a flash were replaced with massive swords with frosted tips.
Seadramon, somehow swimming through the air like it was water, something that Sunset saw as a giant middle finger to physics, bowed it's head and let out a roar. "Ice Slash Rain!" The blades shot forward from Seadramon's back and a moment later they found their mark, colliding with the Mammon that was charging down the slope, doing serious damage and causing the Ancient Beast Digimon to collapse and tumble down the hill, skidding to a stop right in front of the group.
Applejack and her partner were the first rookies to recover and after taking a quick glance at each other and nodding, they moved to finish the downed Digimon. "Rhythmical Hammer Crush!" Ankylomon slammed his forefeet into the ground and a pillar of earth erupted from the ground, launching the Mammon into the air, only to be struck in the head with Ankylomon's tail when he returned to the earth.
The Mammon's body glitched, Applejack captured him, and the group turned to thank the veteran hunters, only to see that they had vanished.