//------------------------------// // Silence in the Library // Story: Digimon Codex // by Banshee531 //------------------------------// Within the Digital World, Twilight and her friends were staring up at a large spire that was sticking out of the sand. Said spire was actually the very top of a legendary building. The Library of Infinite Knowledge. A place that was said to hold everything that has ever been known within the Digital World. There, the secret of the Dragon Soul Stone's Locations might be discovered. But there was just one problem. "Great," the Birdramon turned Rainbow groaned. "We spent all that time looking for this place, and it's full of sand." "What do we do now?" Fluttershy asked, as Labramon leapt down off Sunflowmon and started digging. "I'll dig it up," he stated. "Shouldn't take me too long. Applejack, Digivolve me into Dorulumon." Sunflowmon tilted her head, clearly thinking her partner wouldn't be able to dig an entire library up. Especially one that was likely the size of a mountain. Nefertimon and Rarity flew up towards the top of the spire, Rarity seeing a bunch of open windows at the very top. And when she looked through them, she looked down and found nothing but darkness. "Interesting. Nefertimon. Do you think you could use your Queen's Paw attack, but only make a single gem?" "Easy," the Armor Digimon stated. Her gauntlet glowed before a single light shot out and formed a small gemstone, the sphinx catching it before it fell and throwing it back to her partner. Once Rarity had it, she held it into the window and dropped it. She didn't expect to hear anything, but several seconds later she heard the gem clang off a hard surface. "Everyone. I don't think this place is full of sand. Some of it might have escaped being buried." The others were surprised by this and Twilight flew up on HooTawnimon, the girl carefully climbing off her partner and balancing on the window frame to look down into it. "Anybody got any rope?" Everyone had their own various lengths of rope, which they each took out and began to tie together into an extra long rope. The end of the rope was soon tied around another gem Nefertimon had made, Twilight throwing it in with the rope following after it. And to her amazement, almost all the rope was pulled into the library before the gem finally hit the ground. "Forty five meters." "You want us to climb forty five meters?" Fluttershy looked terrified, only for Birdramon to fly up to the top and return to human form. She quickly grabbed onto the ledge, which Twilight was tying the end of the rope to. "I'll go first. I do this kind of thing all the time in the real world. Then you guys can follow and I'll catch you if I need to." Before anyone could argue, Rainbow grabbed the rope and leapt into the darkness, shimmying down it into the darkness. The spire was really dark, but Rainbow didn't have a problem with that and managed to get all the way down it And once she was out of the spire, she was finally able to see light around her. And to her amazement, the entire library was completely untouched despite being buried. "Guys!" She cried out, "you've gotta see this." She continued climbing down the rope, until she reached an X-shaped bridge that was in the very middle of the area she was in. Soon enough, the others began to make their way down Twilight gasped at the amazing view before her. Everywhere she looked, columns upon columns of bookcases could be seen. "Amazing," she whispered. The others were also impressed, as they kept climbing until they reached the bridge. Fluttershy was last, followed by Terriermon who helped her down since she had her eyes closed. When she was with the others, she opened her eyes and was also amazed. "Beautiful." "It really is," Rarity nodded. "And so many books." Applejack nodded. "There must be every book ever written here. Wonder if this is where E-books come from?" They all laughed at this, as Twilight tried to figure out the best way to begin their search. But before she could think of where to look, movement caught her attention and made her look around. "Did you see that?" The others turned to her, as they stared into the darkness of one of the columns at the end of a bridge. "Something moved in there." "What do you think it is?" Tawnimon asked, taking a cautious step forward to stand protectively in front of his partner. They kept staring at whatever it was, only for Applejack to then notice movement in the corner of her eye. "There!" She turned to her left, as a dark shadow passed across the bridge's end. The others looked over that way, then all turned to the bridge closest to them. And when they focused, more movement made them all gulp. "Who's out there?" Rainbow called out, she and Kamemon both getting ready for a fight. "Show yourselves!" Fluttershy looked terrified, as she hit in the middle of the group. And then, finally, four shadows shot out of the darkness and flew towards them. Four figures, each moving at incredible speed, shot towards them. "Duck!" Twilight cried, as they all fell to the ground. And as they did, the four assailants past over them and each brandished a long red knife. The figures flew over them and did several flips before each landing on one of the bridges, sliding to a kneeling stop as the humans and their partners finally got a good look at them. They were humanoid Digimon, dressed in a mixture of black and white clothing. They wore a black leather shirt, though only the left arm of it could be seen beneath a white vest that had a long white sleeve covering the right arm. They also wore white pants and black boots, whilst the long white sleeve had several leather belts wrapped around it. On top of all this was a white cloak, which was brown on the inside, which also had a collar covering the Digimon's lower face. The top of their heads was covered in a blue bandanna, hiding most of their blonde hair beneath it. The four Digimon stood up and raised their long sleeved arms, as part of that sleeve pulled back to reveal the ends of a double barrel shotgun. "Who are you?" One asked, "why do you trespass upon this sacred ground?" "Trespass?" Rarity asked. "We're not trespassing," Rainbow cried. "Trespassing," another replied, "verb. Definition: To enter someone's land or property without permission." The third spoke up. "You did not enter this place with permission. Therefore, you are trespassing." Applejack frowned. "Well it's not like there was a sign saying to stay out." "Maybe," the four replied. "But do your homes have signs telling others to stay out?" They were about to answer, but all stopped and closed their mouths. "Well..." Twilight sighed, "no." Pinkie nodded. "My house actually has the opposite. Welcome mats are just a robbery waiting to happen." They all sighed at this, knowing that they might be in serious trouble. The first one stepped forward, the knife in their hand looking rather sharp. "We will ask again. Why did you come here?" "We came here seeking knowledge," Twilight answered. "Important knowledge that could help save the entire Digital World. "Is that so?" A new voice replied, making them look up. When they did, they saw a giant book that was flying towards them. And standing on that book, was a humanoid Digimon wearing red robes and a yellowish white cloak over it. His yellow eyes were sticking out the hoof of the cloak. Another of the strange knife wielding Digimon were standing beside him, as they landed on the bridge and stepped off the large book. Twilight stared at him and knew who he was. "You're Wisemon. The Digimon that created this library." "I am," Wisemon nodded. "My apologies for the cold welcome you received. It has been a long time since anyone's been in my library. The Reapmon have been looking for a reason to fight." "Why would they want to fight?" Twilight asked. "I thought this was a place of knowledge." "It is," Wisemon replied. "But knowledge is power and my Reapmon are here to make sure nobody uses that power for the wrong reason." He stepped forward, looking down on the group as if studying them under a microscope. "Now, why are you after knowledge? You state that it is for the good of the Digital World. But the last time I heard that, the one after my knowledge was attempting to destroy a hated enemy of theirs." He bent down and stared at Twilight. "Is that what you're after?" Twilight gulped, sweating as she tried to think. If she told him the truth, that they wanted to find the Dragon Soul Stone before WarGrowlmon, he could consider that the same as trying to destroy him. She would need to word this properly. "We seek information on the Dragon Soul Stones," Twilight replied. "Two of the three have been claimed by Digimon that have become Azulongmon and Magnadramon. But there's still one left. And if the wrong Digimon happens upon it, they might end up becoming the horrible Megidramon. We want to prevent that from happening." "I see," Wisemon pulled back. "So you wish to find the location of the Dragon Soul Stone and get to it before a Digimon with Megidramon's potential reaches it." "Exactly," Twilight nodded. "Well then, I'm afraid you've wasted your time." He turned away from them. "I know everything there is to know about this library and I also know, that the Dragon Soul Stone's future location is not one of the known things." "We figured as much," Twilight replied. "But we think we might be able to predict where the stone will appear. All we need, is the locations that they showed up in previously." Wisemon seemed intrigued by this statement. "I see," he turned to her. "So you wish to know where the stones have previously appeared. That, this library has." They all gasped, as Wisemon moved back over to the book. "Very well. I will help you in this endeavour." "You will?" Tawnimon asked. "Indeed. I would hate to see the Digital World be destroyed. I'm only on the fifth volume of Gravekeeper's Destiny. It's such an interesting story. I'd hate not getting to see how it ends." Everyone smiled, thinking they were safe. "But, you must do something for me." They turned to him. "I will allow you free reign of my library, so long as you swear that you will not use the knowledge you gained here to hurt or get one over on another." The twelve shared a look and weren't sure how to answer that. There was no guarantee of that, given they had no idea what they might learn. But at this point, they had no choice. "We swear," Twilight stated. The others nodded, Wisemon appearing to believe this before snapping his fingers. Out of nowhere, five round platforms appeared in front of all but Twilight and Tawnimon. "Then take these directories. Simply stand on them and state the subject you wish to learn about. And they will take you to the area of the library that has it." He then stepped onto his book and offered a hand, "Ms Sparkle?" Twilight raised an eyebrow at this. "How do you know my name?" "I know all about your adventurers. Everything that happens in the Digital World, is recorded right here. And I know everything that's recorded." Twilight was amazed by this and took his hand, Wisemon pulling her onto the book with Tawnimon right behind her. Once the pair were on board, the book floated up before shooting off. Twilight and Tawnimon screamed, as they zoomed down the corridors and disappeared into the darkness of the library. "Wow," Rainbow cried, "now that's fast." "Well," Rarity moved over to one of the platforms, "we might as well make the best of it." She climbed on, Salamon beside her. "Take me to the section involving fashion and clothing design." The platform moved over the abyss and floated downwards, to a lower section of the building. Once she was at a certain level, the platform zoomed off and the girls cried out in surprise at the speed. Pinkie laughed and leapt onto her own platform, Dilemon grabbing the end of her hair as she zoomed off to an area on the level they were on. Applejack and Fluttershy rode their's down to a lower level, whilst Rainbow asked about the sport section and zoomed off to the opposite side from where Pinkie went. As they disappeared, the Reapmon turned to one another and nodded before vanishing in a flash. As they zipped through the many corridors and aisles, Twilight was amazed by the number of books on each shelf. "Incredible," Twilight whispered. "I could spend a lifetime studying a single row and not get close to finishing." She turned to Wisemon, "you've really read everything here?" "Of course," Wisemon stated. Tawnimon then spoke up. "If you've already read it, why are you taking us to the part that has the book. Can't you just tell us where the Dragon Soul Stones appeared?" Twilight wanted to tell him not to be rude, but realised he had a point. Wisemon sighed. "Whilst I have read every book here. Every detail is not at my disposal right now. Everything in the Digital World has limited memory. Even me. As much as I wish I could, I wouldn't be able to stand having all those facts flowing through my head. The second I learn something new, I'd forget something else I'd previously learned." "That's horrible," Twilight frowned. "Maybe. But I found a work around. I didn't just build this library to store all the books. I used it to store my memory. A special orb I crafted, which contains everything I've ever learned. Whenever I learn something new, the info I would normally lose is stored there instead. Then, when I need it, I can assess the info. Only takes a few minutes to call upon it." "Amazing," Twilight smiled. "Yes. I'll bring up what I can about the Dragon Soul Stones. But until then..." The book came to a stop in one of the aisles, "we should be able to find what we're looking for here." They stepped off the book and started looking through all the titles, Twilight amazed by the sight of it. Tawnimon whistled, "this might take a while." "Then we shouldn't waste any time," Twilight agreed. "Let's get searching." And so they did, knowing the answer was somewhere around here. In another part of the library, Fluttershy had gone to an area full of different animal books. She smiled, as she took one book out and started flipping through it. Terriermon watched from the ground, having found a comic he was now reading. "Should have known you'd come here," he joked. "I bet your favourite movie has animals as the main characters." Fluttershy laughed. "True, but is that so wrong? I love animals." She opened a book on different animal anatomy. "I should learn as much as I can while I'm here. I wanna know as much as I can, about all sorts of creatures. Knowing more about them will help me look after them better." Terriermon smiled. "That's what you gotta love about you. Always caring about others." Fluttershy smiled back, as they continued to read side by side. In another part of the library, Applejack had found a book on farming. Labramon had found a scratch and sniff book, which he was half reading as Applejack flicked through the book. "Don't see why you're even bothering to read that. You probably already know everything in it." "Probably," Applejack smirked. "But ya'h never know what secret techniques might be out there. If this library has everythin' about farmin', then a'h wanna learn it." She sat down and Labramon decided to close his book, instead placing his head on her lap. She smiled and scratched his behind the ear, the pooch smiling at this whilst the pair simply enjoyed one another's company. "Look at this," Salamon turned the book she was reading around to show Rarity. The girl looked down and gasped, marvelling at the dress inside the book. "Simply gorgeous," she whispered. She then looked back at the book in her hand and smiled. "But can you imagine that style of dress, with this fabric pattern?" She showed it to Salamon, who looked absolutely amazed by it. "Wow," Salamon nodded. "I wish I could wear clothes." "Well why can't you?" Rarity asked. "I'm sure I can find some fabric and make you something stunning to wear when we're not in battle." She frowned, "but what would happen to it after you Digivolved?" "I don't know," Salamon hummed. "Most Digimon that wear clothes, get them when they Digivolve. I don't know what happens to other clothing when they do." "Well, we'll have to find out. Maybe if I tie a strip of cloth around your neck and you Digivolve, we'll see what happens." Salamon smiled at this and leapt up onto her shoulder, the two rubbing their cheeks together as they kept reading the books they had found. In another part of the library, a strange sound was being made and echoed through the aisles. That sound was coming from Pinkie, who was currently drooling at the sight of a beautiful cake that she had found in a large cook book. "Looks so delicious," she whispered before staring at the image. "Must...commit recipe...to memory." She kept scanning every word of it, attempting to burn it into her mind. As she did, Dilemon was up on one of the high up shelves. He was pulling out books, staring at them for a moment before either putting them back or dropping them onto a pile below him. As soon as Pinkie finished memorising the cake recipe, she closed the book and held out her hand. Moments later, another book landed in it. "Thank you." She opened the book and started reading, as Dilemon leaned over and fell off the shelf. He landed atop Pinkie's hair, bouncing off it as Pinkie focused on the book. The pair stayed like that, simply reading the many recipes inside the books and licking their lips whenever they found them. Dilemon was starting to look especially hungry, Pinkie reaching into her hair and taking out a lollipop that she held up for him to snap his mouth on. Pinkie laughed at this, then kept reading. The least interested member of the group, Rainbow was simply walking around looking bored despite being in the sports section she had asked for. Kamemon was following behind her, Rainbow just looking from side to side. "Aaaah," she stopped with a cry of annoyance. "Why did I come here? Who cares if it's a secret library nobody's stepped foot in for who knows how long. I'm not an egghead and this is boring!" Kamemon frowned at this, as he looked around. And in doing so, he saw a book with a rather interesting looking title. He took it out and looked it over, amazed by the title. And he knew Rainbow might enjoy it, if she just gave it a chance. As such, an idea formed in his head. "Hey, Rainbow." She turned to him, as he held the book out to her. "Can you read this for me? I'm not so great at reading." A bit of a lie, but Rainbow might thank him later. Rainbow picked it up and read the title. "A hundred and one athletic tricks only the best of the best can do." That title was just as intriguing to her, the girl deciding she had nothing better to do. So, she sat down and began to read whilst Kamemon sat in front of her and listened. And as they read, they were both getting into it and smiled at one another. Back with Twilight, she was looking through a few books whilst Tawnimon pulled some from up above. As she kept reading, Wisemon arrived carrying a rather large book. "Twilight. I think I've found what you're looking for." Twilight looked up, as Wisemon held out the ancient tome. "I believe the answers you seek are in this book." "Really?" Twilight could hardly believe it, taking the book and flipping through it. And sure enough, it was a book all about the many times a Dragon Soul Stone was discovered and the Digimon that used them to Digivolve into the Four Great Dragons. To her surprise, the Digimon that acquired them the most were the same ones that were trying to get them this time. "Angewomon and Baoyendramon," she flipped the page and frowned at who was on it. "MagnaAngemon too. These Digimon are the ones that have become the Great Dragons the most." But as she flipped through it, she was surprised by what more she saw. "Lilymon and MegaKabuterimon can become Magnadramon." She hadn't been expecting that revelation. "Wait." She noticed one of the earliest entries. "The first Goldramon was once an AeroVeedramon?" "Really?" Tawnimon was shocked by this. "So Flash and Veemon will be able to Digivolve into Goldramon." "Yeah, though I doubt MagnaAngemon will let Flash scan him." She kept flipping through the pages. "This is pretty amazing. And all the places they were found are in here too." She smiled at Wisemon. "Thanks for this." "Of course," he nodded. "Your thirst for knowledge is clear. So many only care about learning something, if it can help them in their goals. But you wish to learn simply for the love of learning." "Well," Twilight smiled, "that is true. I do love learning. But I also have a goal that I need to accomplish with what I've learned here. Finding the Dragon Soul Stones is important. It's the only way to keep the world safe. And keeping this world safe, will mean I get the chance to learn even more." Wisemon nodded. "And that is all that matters in the world. Improving your knowledge base. If something is out there, then it is our mission to learn it. For if we do not learn of it, there is a chance the knowledge will be lost forever." He placed a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "I hope we will get to learn more about the world together." Twilight smiled, "I'd like that." Wisemon nodded and stood up, walking away to get another book. "Ahh," he said. "The info I asked for on the Dragon Soul Stones has finally been uploaded to my memory. Now I know everything there is to-" It was then that Wisemon came to a stop, completely freezing as if someone had just hit pause on him. Twilight and Tawnimon turned to him, both looking a little worried. "Wisemon?" Twilight stepped over to him, "are you okay?" But as she got closer, Wisemon finally started moving and spun to glare at her. "You lied." "What?" Twilight tilted her head. "What are you talking about?" "Remember when I told you, everything that happens in the Digital World is recorded. Well that includes all the battles, such as the ones between WarGrowlmon's Army and the Great Dragons." Their eyes went wide. "You lied to me. You came here to get a tactical advantage against WarGrowlmon. To defeat him before he gets the Dragon Soul Stone." "I didn't lie," Twilight cried. "We do want to find the last stone and make sure the right Digimon uses it." "But you didn't tell me you had a foe who is already after the stone. You wish to use the knowledge I gave you to get the upper-hand against them." "We're sorry," Twilight cried. "We didn't have a choice. If we told you about WarGrowlmon, you might not have let us have the info we need. You have to see why this is so important. It's one thing if a Digimon stumbles upon the stone and accidentally becomes Megidramon. But WarGrowlmon actually wants to become Megidramon. He wants to destroy the world. We can't let that happen." "So you chose to deceive me and steal the knowledge I swore to protect, from thieves and villains that would use it for their own good." Wisemon began to float. "If you had simply told me this, I may have agreed to let you use this knowledge. But you chose to lie to me. And now, I can't trust anything you say!" Suddenly, all the lights began to grow red. "What's going on?" Tawnimon asked. "What is that?" Rainbow asked, only for Kamemon to notice movement near them. "Look out!" He tackled Rainbow to the ground, seconds before one of the Reapmon appeared and tried to slash at them. The pair rolled along the ground, as Reapmon accidentally stabbed one of the bookshelves. Rainbow looked up, shocked by this. "What are you doing?" She cried, as Reapmon pointed his gun at her. "You have betrayed our master's trust. That means you cannot be allowed to leave this place with the knowledge you have learned. You are not worthy of it." He fired and Kamemon pushed Rainbow out of the way. "What do you mean, we betrayed your master's trust?" Fluttershy screamed, as Reapmon fired at her. But Terriermon pushed her out of the way. The incoming bullets caused a bookshelf to explode, sending books scattering around everywhere. And as Terriermon turned to Reapmon, he saw the Ultimate leaping at them with his blade raised. "Master has deemed you unworthy of the knowledge!" He slashed at Terriermon, but the Digimon leapt up. "Bunny Blast!" He fired the green energy sphere, but Reapmon simply battered it away with his sleeve. Fluttershy gasped at this, whilst Terriermon landed in front of her. "Run!" "I'll handle this guy!" Labramon cried, then rushed forward. "Hound Razor!" Reapmon watched Labramon fly towards him, his claws glowing. But before it could land, Reapmon spun around and slammed a foot into the dog's stomach. This made him howl in pain, as he was knocked flying back. Applejack gasped and caught her partner, but the impact sent them both flying backwards and crashing through several bookshelves. "Augh!" Applejack slammed into the ground after shelf number five, the pair laying there as Reapmon leapt atop the shelves and rushed over to them. Rarity screamed, as more and more bullets flew towards her and Salamon. She began to run, as Salamon leapt onto her shoulder and fired her Puppy Howling attack behind her. "We've gotta get out of here!" The Digimon then cried, as Rarity took out her Digivice. But when she tried to port out, she was shocked to find she couldn't. "You will not escape from this place!" Reapmon cried, as he threw his knife towards them. Salamon gasped and pushed Rarity forward, knocking her to the ground whilst the knife hit the ground between the pair. Pinkie was also running, Dilemon clinging to her hair as she bolted. Reapmon was hot on her tail, firing several shots at her. But she stretched and moved her body, without even looking at where the bullets were coming from. And sure enough, she managed to evade the bullets and she turned to skid down another aisle of books. "You won't get away!" Reapmon roared, rapid firing at her with Pinkie practically rolling into a ball to avoid them. The many gun shots and explosions filled the air, Twilight hearing them and looking worried. "What are you doing?" She asked, as Wisemon glared down at her. Slowly, she started putting the pieces together. "You're going to delete us. Just so we won't leave with everything we've learned?" Wisemon said nothing. "Why? If we don't find the Dragon Soul Stones-" "Maybe you shouldn't find them," Wisemon stated. "How can I be sure you're more worthy of having its power than WarGrowlmon? I've seen your battles and that MagnaAngemon fellow, doesn't make a great impression." Tawnimon spoke up. "But if WarGrowlmon gets the Dragon Soul Stone, the Digital World will be destroyed. All the knowledge you've worked so hard to collect will be lost. You can't really want that, just because you don't like one Digimon." "This Digital World is full of nothing but conflict," Wisemon stated. "If I allow you to leave, you'll tell others where to find my library. They will come, looking for a way to defeat their enemies. Conflict after conflict after conflict. That's all this Digital World knows. Perhaps the next one will be less full of conflict." With that, Wisemon began to float up. "You will meet your end here and my knowledge will remain safe." Spheres of energy appeared on his hands, which he fired towards them. Twilight gasped, but Tawnimon leapt in front of her. "Tawnimon, Digivolve to...HOOTAWNIMON!" The Champion braced himself, as the spheres slammed into him and exploded. "Augh!" He was knocked back, but managed to stay upright. "I won't let you hurt Twilight." "You won't have a choice," Wisemon stated. At the same time, the other Digimon had decided to kick things up to the next level. And as the Reapmon attacked, each of them avoided the gunshots and started glowing. "Kamemon, Digivolve to...TORTOMON!" "Terriermon, Digivolve to...GARGOMON!" "Labramon, Digivolve to...DORULUMON!" "Salamon, Digivolve to...GATOMON!" Dilemon, Digivolve to...GATORMON!" The Five Champions glared at the Reapmon, though the larger ones accidentally knocked over some of the bookshelves as they stood to full height. The Reapmon stared them down, then fired their guns at them. Tortomon quickly shielded himself with his shell, whilst Dorulumon unleashed a tornado from his tail to try and blow them away. But these methods proved ineffective, as the bullets broke through Tortomon's shell and pushed through the tornado. The others chose to dodge the attacked, Gatomon and Gargomon leaping into the air. Gatormon was forced to jump to the side, the bullet flying past him as he opened his mouth. "Hydro Pump!" He unleashed a blast of high pressure water, which shot straight towards Gatormon. But Reapmon simply spun his blade in hand and slashed through the water, cutting it in half without any issue. "What?" Pinkie cried, as the water ended. Reapmon then shot forward and with his sleeved fist, uppercut Gatormon right in the chin. "No!" She gasped, seeing Gatormon be thrown backwards and knocked onto his back. "Lightning Paw!" Gatomon flew down and tried to punch her Reapmon, but the humanoid Digimon blocked it with his sleeve before spinning around and kicking her right in the face. "Gyah!" She was sent flying through some bookcases, Rarity gasping at the sight of it. "Gargo Pellets!" Gargomon unleashed a flurry of shots from both his hands, but Reapmon used his knife to deflect each of the bullets. "No way." Reapmon then rushed forward and before Gargomon could react, he slammed a knee right into his gut. "AUGH!" He was sent flying backwards. "Gargomon!" Fluttershy gasped, rushing over to him. Tortomon charged at Reapmon, pushing over more bookshelves as he did, but the Digimon was too fast and leapt into the air above him. "Strong Carapace!" Tortomon sent the spikes on his back flying towards Reapmon, who did several flips through the air to avoid them all. He then landed and grabbed Tortomon, showing incredible strength by throwing the turtle flying. "Tortomon!" Rainbow cried, as her partner began to fall towards her. She gasped, running as fast as she could. She managed to get out from under Tortomon, but the impact caused the floor to break apart and they fell through to the next level down. "Gyah!" She landed on Tortomon's stomach, as books and the shelves began to fall towards them. But Tortomon rolled around and Rainbow was quickly under him, as the debris began to bury the pair of them. Dorulumon leapt into the air, trying to tackle Reapmon to the ground. But the demon man Digimon did a backwards cartwheel to dodge him, then fired several bullets towards him. "Augh!" They grazed him in the side and legs, making him flinch and preventing him from dodging. Reapmon then leapt forward and tried to stab him, but Dorulumon's tail barely managed to block. The knife dug into the metal, doing serious damage as Dorulumon used his Drill Bit Blitz. But Reapmon leaned to the side, the drill missing before he spun around and smashed him in the head. Dorulumon howled, as he was knocked flying backwards and slid to a stop in front of Applejack. "No!" The farm girl cried, looking up to glare at the Digimon that hurt her partner. "A'll get you for that!" But the look Reapmon gave her, showed he didn't think that was gonna happen." "Sky Strike!" HooTawnimon dived down and charged at Wisemon, who suddenly caused the large book to materialize. "Pandora Dialogue!" The book opened up and as HooTawnimon got closer, words appeared on the page. And the next thing HooTawnimon knew, a blast of light flew out and morphed into a twice as big version of him. "Wow!" He cried, as the fake slammed into him and he was knocked flying through several books on a shelf. "Gaaah!" He smashed through them, crashing into the ground on the other side. "HooTawnimon!" Twilight rushed around the aisle, skidding to his side. "Are you okay?" "That hurt," HooTawnimon picked himself up. "He slammed me with my own attack. But, it somehow had twice the power." They looked up, as Wisemon floated over the aisle and stared down at them. "It isn't too late," Twilight cried. "You don't have to do this." "Oh, but I do. And once my Reapmon finish off your friends, they come help me deal with you." Twilight glared at him. "Don't underestimate them. Those girls are stronger than you think. If anything, they'll be showing up to help us after they've taken your Reapmon down." But Wisemon laughed. "Don't try to insult me. They don't stand a chance. Reapmon is an Ultimate Level Digimon, whilst your friends are all stuck as Champions. No Champion can defeat an Ultimate. And if you think your friends will Digivolve to help, forget it." Fluttershy tried to transform into Hudiemon, hoping to heal Gargomon. But when she tried, nothing happened. "Don't bother," Reapmon told her. "Our master studied your ability to change into Digimon. And he figured out how to block it, for this exact occasion." Fluttershy panicked and in the other areas, the other girls tried to Digivolve with the same result. "Don't you see what you're doing?" Twilight cried, gesturing to the destruction their fight had already caused. "If we keep fighting, all your books are gonna be ruined." "I can always rewrite them," Wisemon stated. "And even if I couldn't, this is better than letting you use this knowledge for evil." Twilight glared at him. "Never again, will I allow my knowledge to be given to such selfish individuals." "You're the one being selfish!" Twilight cried, as she stood up. "Knowledge isn't something you can just horde. You don't have the right to decide who should know it. Knowledge is something everyone has a right to learn. If they want to know, you have an obligation to help them learn." "Even if they wish to use that knowledge for evil?" Wisemon asked. "If they want to learn something that can be dangerous, you should show them why it's dangerous. Not hide the knowledge away and make them more curious." HooTawnimon picked himself up. "I'm sorry we tricked you, but you're not gonna stop us from getting what we learned to those that need it." "That's right!" HooTawnimon nodded, spreading his wings. "So let us pass, or we won't be responsible for what happens to the rest of your precious library." He started glowing and as Wisemon prepared another attack, he leapt forward and was consumed by light. "HooTawnimon, Digivolve to..." He grew larger and as he tackled Wisemon, the light exploded off him and his transformation was complete. "CresTawnimon!" Wisemon cried, getting pinned to the ground by CresTawnimon's talons. "Damn you!" The large book came flying over to them and slammed into the owl, knocking him staggering off him and causing the bookshelf to be knocked over. Over with Rainbow, she and Tortomon finally freed themselves from the books and wood pile. As they did, Reapmon leapt down and landed on a railing before pointing his gun at Rainbow. "It's over." He fired at her, but Tortomon leapt forward and shielded her. "Tortomon!" She cried, as he yelled out in pain. "I won't let you hurt her," Tortomon growled as he pushed himself up. Rainbow gasped, seeing data leaking out of his wound. "I don't care what you do to me, you're not gonna hurt her." "Tortomon," she whispered before Tortomon started looking wobbly. "NO!" She got out from under him and stood tall. "Back off! Leave him alone!" Tortomon was surprised by this, whilst Reapmon tilted his head. "Get back," Dorulumon swung his damaged drill tail at Reapmon. The Ultimate leaned back, the weapon missing him. "You want to hurt Applejack, then you've gotta get past me." "With pleasure," Reapmon rushed forward and tried to stomp on Dorulumon. But Applejack leapt in front of her partner, Reapmon stopping seconds before crushing her. "No. If ya'h wanna hurt Dorulumon, ya'h gotta go through me!" "Applejack!" Dorulumon groaned. Despite not being able to become a Digimon, Fluttershy didn't let her fears stop her. As Reapmon slowly got closer, Fluttershy helped him to his feet and placed an arm around her back. "Come on!" They tried to hobble away, but Reapmon could easily follow after them. "Fluttershy," Gargomon groaned, "you gotta run. Leave me and get out of here." "No," Fluttershy cried, "I won't leave you. We're getting out of this together." But Reapmon fired his gun and she barely managed to turn them around a corner in time. Rarity ran as fast as she could, Gatomon in her arms. "Hold on," she told her partner. "We'll get out of this." Reapmon suddenly appeared in front of her and as he slashed at her, she screamed and dropped to the floor. Sliding under Reapmon, she quickly got back up and ran. "They're too strong," Gatomon cried. "And they know the place too well. We'll never get out before they catch us." "Don't say that," Rarity told her. "I promised your sister I'd look after you. I'm not about to break that promise." A bullet caused part of the bookshelf to explode, the whole thing beginning to topple towards them. Rarity sped up and barely managed to leap out from under it. But as she rolled along the ground, Reapmon appeared in front of her and pointed the gun towards them. "You cad! Attacking defenceless young ladies. Have you no shame?" "Get away!" Pinkie jumped in front of Gatormon, as Reapmon pointed his blaster at them. "You big meanie!" "Pinkie!" Gatormon tried to push himself up, staring over at his partner as the girl stared back at Reapmon. It was clear, she had no intention of turning away. No matter how much danger it placed her in. "I won't let my friend get hurt anymore," Pinkie cried. "This fight's pointless, so there's no reason he should have to suffer anymore. So just leave us alone." The Reapmon raised his blade, the other demon man Digimon mimicking his movements. They all intended to gun down the weak human before cutting the Digimon to pieces. And as the Reapmon shot forward, human and Digimon moved to shield their partners whilst yelling out in unison. "I WON'T LET YOU HURT MY FRIEND!" In that moment, the entire library was filled with an explosion of light. The girl's Digivices unleashed a brilliant flash, which began to wrap around their partners. "Tortomon, Digivolve to..." He leapt onto his back legs, as his body grew and reshaped itself to become more powerful. And when the light faded, it revealed the heavily armed tortoise with shell gauntlets on his arms that had a cannon and spike sticking out the ends. "KURMAMON!" "Dorulumon, Digivolve to..." The wolf leapt up, his body becoming humanoid as armor and weapons appeared on his body. His tail disconnected and formed into a lance, which he caught as the light faded to reveal an orange wolf knight who howled as his cape formed. "JAEGERDORULUMON!" "Gargomon, Digivolve to..." His body became thinner, as armor formed upon him and her grew taller. A metal cannon appeared on his back, as the light faded to reveal the green armored Digimon with cannons on his arms. "RAPIDMON!" "Gatomon, Digivolve to..." Her body completely transformed, becoming humanoid and tall. Clothing started to materialise around her, as the light faded to reveal a beautiful woman with eight angelic wings and a metal helmet covering the upper half of her head. "ANGEWOMON!" "Gatormon, Digivolve to..." His body grew, as brown armor began to materialize around him. This included a pair of metal cannons, which attached themselves to his arms as the light faded to reveal the now partly mechanical alligator, who roared. "CROCANNODRAMON!" Lights fading, the girls were all amazed by their Digimon being in the Ultimate stage. "No way," Rainbow whispered. The Reapmon were just as shocked by this, but quickly got over it and rushed forward to attack. "Shell Shock Strike!" Kurmamon raised his gauntlet and fired a harpoon out of it, which moved with incredible speed that Reapmon could barely avoid. He leapt into the air and fired, but Kurmamon rolled up and used his Spike Defence to block the bullets. And once the attack ended, he unfurled and pointed his cannon at him. "Hydro Cannon!" The high pressure water sphere exploded from his cannon and slammed into Reapmon, the explosion sending him flying backwards. JaegerDorulumon rushed forward, weapons in hand. Reapmon fired his gun, but the wolf knight used his clawed shield to block them before getting up close. "Schwarzer Nagel!" He thrust his spear forward and Reapmon barely managed to dodge it, though his side was sliced open. JaegerDorulumon smirked before spinning around, his cape working to blind Reapmon for a moment, then slammed his foot into the Digimon's chest and knocked him flying backwards. Rapidmon leapt into the air, avoiding the bullets fired at him, and used his new jumping ability to bounce around the place. And once Reapmon was thoroughly confused, he leapt down and pointed his arm cannon towards him. "Rapid Fire!" He launched the missiles, which homed in on Reapmon and exploded to knock it away. Angewomon took to the air, carrying Rarity as they flew away from Reapmon. The demon man Digimon chased after them, but Angewomon raised a hand. "Heaven's Charm!" The trio of light rings appeared around her wrist, which she swung towards Reapmon. The rings shot towards it and before the Digimon could react, they wrapped around his body and tightened to lock his arms to his side and his legs together. "Kaimen Barrage!" Crocannodramon roared, firing the missiles from his weapons. The missiles flew around and caused explosion after explosion, which blasted Reapmon backwards. And once the Digimon was far away, he turned to Pinkie and quickly picked her up. "Let's get out of here!" The others were thinking the same thing, rushing through the library as fast as they could. At the same time, Wisemon continued his attacks on CresTawnimon. The owl Digimon dodged the energy spheres, Twilight holding onto his back as he flew around. All that these attacks did, was cause more and more damage to the library. And as she saw this, Twilight's heart broke. "Knowledge like this shouldn't be destroyed. Even if it's being hoarded by a selfish individual." "We should get out of here," CresTawnimon cried. "Before we're forced to do any more damage." Twilight nodded and once Wisemon fired the last energy sphere, CresTawnimon quickly flew around him. "Gale Star!" The energy stars flew off his body and before Wisemon could counter them, they exploded and knocked him flying backwards. "Augh!" He cried, slamming into a shelf and getting buried in books. As soon as he was down, CresTawnimon swung around and flew towards the exit. And he wasn't the only one. The other Digimon were slowly making their way through the library as well, all heading towards the spot they had come in from. Kurmamon and Crocannodramon were lucky to already be on that level, since climbing up would be impossible at their size. Meanwhile, Angewomon flew through the air whilst Rapidmon and JaegerDorulumon used their more agile bodies, to leap up and up once they reached the centre of the building. And as they did, the three met up with one another and were just as surprised to see each other at the Ultimate Level. And when they found Kurmamon and Crocannodramon, they all smiled. But celebrations would have to wait, since they needed to escape. "What about Twilight?" Rainbow asked, jumping down off Kurmamon's back. But as she did, they heard movement and looked down to see CresTawnimon flying up the shaft. "Hurry!" Twilight called out to them. "We've gotta get out of here!" The others nodded and Angewomon offered to carry some of them. As she said that, Kurmamon and Crocannodramon both glowed before shrinking down. In a flash, they were replaced with a pair of In-Training Digimon. One looked like Kamemon's shell, except it only had a single hole where his head should come out of. And poking out of that hole were a pair of eyes. The others looked like a blue Koromon. Only instead of the long ears, he had a mohawk on his head made up of Dilemon's red spikes. His mouth was full of sharp looking teeth. "Sherumon!" Rainbow picked the shell up. "Hagamon!" Pinkie grabbed her partner before Angewomon grabbed Pinkie and Rapidmon grabbed Rainbow. Angewomon then flew straight up, whilst Rapidmon used his incredible jumping skills to leap straight up. Once he reached the spire, he started jumping from side to side to get higher. Applejack turned to JaegerDorulumon, who took several steps back before running forward and leaping up. But whilst his jumping ability was good, it wasn't good enough to get him all the way to the spire. His armor weighed him down and he was quickly pulled back to the bridge. Twilight saw this and called out to them. "De-Digivolve. Hurry!" As she said that, a sphere of energy shot past them. "Wow!" She looked back to see Wisemon, flying towards them on his book. "You're not getting away!" He cried, quickly catching up. JaegerDorulumon saw this and leapt up again. And as he got close to the spire, he allowed himself to De-Digivolve. Doing so caused him to revert back to his own In-Training form, which was a small egg-shaped creature with a dog's face, orange legs and orange ears. Applejack caught him as they fell, with CresTawnimon flying under them. As they landed on his back, He shot straight up and used all his speed to propel them to the spire before folding in his wings. He moved like a rocket, shooting upwards and eventually smashing through the top of the spire as he did so. He spread his wings and flew around, attempting to fly away from the building. But the impact had seriously drained him and he soon began to glow. "Not good!" He flew down towards the ground, where the others were waiting with their In-Training Digimon. CresTawnimon got closer to the ground and eventually, he lost his power and shrank down to Tweetmon. "WOW!" The girls cried, Twilight catching Tweetmon as they hit the ground and started rolling around until they came to a stop. "You okay?" Pinkie asked, as the girls rushed over to them. "Yeah," Twilight sat up. "We'll live." But as she said that, Wisemon flew out the top of the spiral. They all gasped and took out their Digivices, each of them preparing to teleport away. But Wisemon didn't attack, clearly knowing he had been bested. "You may have escaped. But you will never darken the halls of my library again." As he said that, the spire started shaking and the sand beneath their feet vibrated. "Never again, will the knowledge I've collected be used for evil." The spire started sinking and the last thing they saw of it, was Wisemon floating back down into it. They watched as the spire was soon entirely submerged, disappearing into the darkness of the desert. The ground kept shaking, but eventually came to a stop. "What just happened?" Fluttershy asked. "Wisemon took his knowledge with him to who knows where," Twilight sighed. "I don't think that library will ever be found again." They frowned at this. Whilst they weren't as into reading as Twilight, they knew losing the knowledge within that place was a huge loss. But they had escaped and that was the important part. "So much for finding where the Dragon Soul Stones were," Applejack frowned. But Twilight smiled. "Actually..." She took out her Digivice and with a few taps, a familiar tome appeared in her hands. "This tome should help us plot all the locations for the stones. And once we know where they appeared and when, we'll be able to figure out where the last one showed up. "Twilight," Rarity looked shocked, "did you steal that? Is that why Wisemon attacked us?" "Of course not," Twilight frowned. "I scanned it and made a copy. Wisemon attacked because he found out we lied about WarGrowlmon." "You mean you lied about WarGrowlmon," Applejack pointed out. "Let's not get bogged down with the details," Twilight told them. "What matters, is that we have the info we were looking for." "Yeah," Rainbow held up Sherumon. "And now we're all at the Ultimate Level. Isn't that awesome?" The others nodded, each holding their partners close to them. They had reached the second highest Level and now, they were stronger than ever before. The next time they fought against WarGrowlmon and his army of Virus Digimon, things were gonna be different. "Come on," Twilight put the book away. "I don't know about you, but I need a milkshake and something to eat. And our Digimon need to regain their strength. Let's port back to Codex and see if Shining and the others are back from their mission. Pinkie laughed. "I bet their little adventure had nothing on us." The others agreed, as they all ported away. Their trip to the Library had certainly been an interesting one. And with the info they had gathered, The Great Dragons would have the edge over WarGrowlmon in their race to the final stone. Now, they just had to find it.