Machine Town. A place where Digimon of all sorts could be found. The mechanical Digimon walked about, doing their Machine Digimon thing as they enjoyed their existence.
In a flash of light, a young human appeared. That wasn't uncommon, given the influx of humans that had started appearing in the Digital World as of late. And this human was a purple skinned teen with dark hair and glasses, the nerd looking around and gasping at everything that was happening around him.
"Amazing!" He rushed around, investigating every nook and cranny of the place. "I can't believe this all really exists!" He was seriously geeking out, but quickly stopped and took a deep breath. "Calm down, Micro Chips. Don't go getting the Digimon weirded out. Stay calm." He walked around until he spotted the Digimon ahead of him were moving without walking.
He gasped and rushed forward, where he saw the sidewalk was moving.
He screamed, jumping up and down in excitement as he leapt onto the sidewalk himself. "This place is a dream come true!" But the Digimon in front of him wasn't too happy with him yelling in his ear.
"Would you quiet down!?" Micro looked down and saw the Digimon known as Datamon, turning to look up at him and frowning as he did so. Datamon was carrying a bunch of boxes in his arms, the stack looking taller than he was. "We're not deaf. You don't need to yell."
"Oh," Micro blushed, "sorry. It's just...I can't believe I'm really here."
Datamon stared at him. "You're one of those humans, aren't you?" Micro nodded. "Thought so. Heard about you guys before. Didn't think you'd be this energetic." He looked him around, Micro looking confused. "Where are your dials? You need to seriously lower your enthusiasm."
"I don't have any dials," Micro told him. "I'm not a machine."
"I see. That's annoying." Datamon stepped off the moving sidewalk, only to suddenly lose his balance with the boxes he was carrying threatening to fall over.
Micro rushed forward and caught some of them, taking them off the top. "Here. Let me help you carry these."
"Thanks." Datamon began walking, carrying the boxes higher so his face wasn't obstructed. Micro followed him, as they made their way through the city until they arrived at a building Micro assumed was Datamon's home. "So, you new to the Digital World?"
"Yup. Just got my Digivice the other day. I can't wait to see some of the awesome Digimon this world has to show me. And I get to actually battle as them. It's awesome."
"I see," Datamon walked around the building and headed towards some stairs leading down under the building. "Well be careful. The Digital World isn't exactly a safe place to go gallivanting around. One wrong move and you'll be in serious trouble."
"You sound like you speak from experience." They walked down the stairs and into the building, Micro finding the place was some kind of work shop.
"Oh, I do." Datamon put his boxes down. "I've travelled through the Digital World, searching for Digimon data I can use in my experiments."
"Experiments?"
"I'm attempting to create a new type of Digimon. One that will live on in the Digital World and allow me to leave something behind, which will remain long after I'm gone. But to create a new Digimon, I need data from other Digimon to work with. That's why I go out to find that data."
"Cool," Micro smiled before an idea hit him. "Hey. Would you be able to use one of my scans in your experiments?"
"Your scans?" Micro took out his Digivice and showed it to Datamon, who stared at the scan data he brought up. "Amazing. Where did you get this?"
"I scanned it from another Digimon. This is what I use to play in Codex. But I can make a copy and give it to you." Datamon looked excited about this. "And I bet other players would be willing to give you scans, so long as they get something in return. Maybe you could set up some kind of business."
Datamon let this sink in and slowly began to smile. "Micro. I think this might be the start of a beautiful friendship." Micro smiled back, only to suddenly hear an alarm ring in his ear.
Micro's eyes shot open, as his alarm continued to blare in his ear.
He sat up and hit the alarm, shutting it off as he let out a yawn. As he did, he remembered the dream he had just had. Or was it a memory? Either way, it had reminded him of all the time he had spent with Datamon.
Getting scans for him to trade for Battle Gear. Letting others know about Datamon's services and getting materials Datamon needed to make his inventions. They were close friends and Micro hated that he still didn't know where he was.
"Maybe he really is gone."
"Micro?" He looked over at his Digivice, where Tentomon was staring back at him. "Are you okay?"
Micro nodded as he picked the device up. "I'm okay," he assured him. "Just...Datamon." Tentomon nodded, as Micro got up to get dressed. "I just wish I had some clue where he could be. I search and search, but I can't find anything."
"You'll find him," Tentomon assured him. "You've just gotta keep looking." Micro frowned, since he had no idea where he was supposed to look.
He got dressed and headed down stairs, where his parents were already up and making breakfast. Micro sat down and began to eat the meal his mother had put down for him, whilst also checking the homework he had done last night. And as he stared at it, he noticed a mistake and frowned.
"Dang it." He would need to fix that.
"You okay son?" His father asked, with Micro nodding. "You sure? You've been a bit distracted lately. You sure everything's okay?"
"Yeah, dad. Just...I have a lot on my plate right now."
"Can't be that much. You've never had an issue getting A's and you're in...what, just two clubs at school. That can't be that much. What are you doing that's got you so frazzled?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." His parents gave him a curious look, as his Digivice suddenly beeped. He saw he had a message and when he read it, his eyes went wide.
Dear Micro Chips.
I'm a player who'd like to stay anonymous. But I have important information for you. I know where Datamon is. This message has a link to a location scan, where you will find Datamon. But be careful. A powerful Digimon lives there and if you want to save Datamon, you'll need to be quick. And go alone. This Digimon is really smart and too many people going, will tip it off and they'll make Datamon pay.
"Micro?" His mother asked, "are you okay?" Micro frowned as he reread the message several times, trying to figure out if he should believe it or not.
"I'm fine." He tapped the Digivice and quickly entered the Digital World. This was the first clue he had found. He had to take it. And as his real world self stayed behind to get on with his day, his digital self flew through the tunnel of light until he arrived at Codex.
He materialised at the Digi-Port, with Tentomon appearing by his side.
The ladybug Digimon turned to him. "Micro. Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure. But if there's even the slightest chance that Datamon is there, I have to at least try and help him." As he was saying this, Flash and Veemon appeared at another area of the Digi-Port. And when they spotted Micro and Tentomon, Flash instantly knew something was wrong.
But before he could call out to him, Micro ported away and the pair watched them vanish. "What do you think that was about?" Veemon asked.
"I'm not sure." Flash took out his Digivice and brought up Micro's friend page, which wasn't telling him the location he had ported to. That meant he was either at a place Flash didn't have a location scan for, or something was blocking the signal. "Where did he go?"
When Micro and Tentomon arrived at their destination, they looked around to see they were in a rather interesting location.
They were in a large desert, only it wasn't like the deserts they had been to before. The ground beneath their feet was a mixture of red sand and dirt, whilst several mountains could be seen in the distance. The heat bearing down on them was insane and as they stood there, the two were already starting to sweat.
Tentomon flew straight up and looked around. "See anything?" Micro asked, his partner spinning in place and eventually spotting something.
"There!" He pointed towards it, "there's some kind of building in that direction. Actually, I think it's a bunch of buildings." Micro nodded and the two headed in that direction, but quickly felt themselves getting even hotter as they walked.
There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining at a hundred and ten percent, causing the pair to feel like they were in an oven. "So hot."
Tentomon groaned. "Please tell me this place we're going to is air conditioned." Micro didn't want to talk back, feeling too hot to do that. They walked, or flew in Tentomon's case, towards the distant structure in perpetual heat and dehydration.
As they got closer and closer to the building, Micro was able to determine what some of the buildings were. Whilst there were some normal buildings, there was also what appeared to be some kind of air-plane hanger. And when they were close enough, Micro noticed the ground these buildings were on wasn't the red sand and dirt mixture they were walking on.
The ground was concrete, which surrounded the buildings in a perfect square. And when he saw a metal fence surrounding the complex, Micro realised what it was. "An army base." They finally reached the fence and looked inside, where a bunch of jets and cargo planes could be seen. But there was no body there. "An abandoned army base."
"Why would Datamon be here?" Tentomon asked.
Micro was wondering the same thing, but his curiosity was keeping him from deciding to leave this place. He needed to explore it and find out what secrets it was holding. "Can you lift me over the fence?"
"No problem." Tentomon grabbed his arms and lifted him up and over the fence, though Micro had to pull his legs up to avoid the barbed wire.
Once they were on the other side, they dropped down and Micro noticed how much sand and dust had been blown onto the concrete. "I don't think anyone's been here for a long time." Micro headed towards the nearest building, which was some kind of barracks.
The place was just as abandoned as the rest of the base, with beds overturned, trunks open and even a random shirt hanging from the rafters. "This place is giving me the creeps," Tentomon stated.
Micro had to agree. And as they left the barracks, his gaze shifted from one building to the other. Each one was completely empty, with broken windows and power out. This place was a ghost town. Or so he thought.
Suddenly, Micro spotted movement inside one of the buildings. It was a control tower, with some kind of shadow moving within it. "There!" Micro rushed towards the tower and Tentomon followed after him, the pair reaching the tower and heading up the stairs. They could hear movement above, as they reached the top and were greeted with a door. "Datamon!" Micro cried, "are you there?"
"Answer us!" Tentomon cried, but there was no reply. "We're coming in." The two nodded at one another and slammed their bodies into the door.
As soon as the two smashed into it, the door gave way and they fell forward. And the moment they did, a bright light flashed in their eyes and they cried out as they closed their eyes. The light stayed for a few moments before stopping, allowing them to open their eyes and see what had caused the light.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." The Digimon in question was one of the weirdest Digimon they had even seen. Its body was a single noodle-like shape, with many different noodley tentacles for feet. It had two rather muscular arms and its head was light-bulb shaped, with the top looking like a giant brain with cables sticking out of it. In one hand was a flash light and in the other was a ray gun of sorts.
"My apologises," he threw away the flashlight. "I was looking for something in here and then you came barging in. You certainly gave me quite the fright."
"Who are you?" Micro asked.
"My name is Vademon," he replied. "And who might you be?"
"I'm Micro and this is Tentomon," he gestured to his partner. "Why didn't you answer us before?" it was then that he noticed something on the ground. A Walkman.
"Sorry," Vademon picked up the musical device. "I was listening to music whilst I worked. Never could do anything without music playing." Micro and Tentomon were a little weirded out by this Digimon, who looked inside an opening of the console he was in front of.
He reached in and pulled something out, which confused Micro. "What are you doing?"
"I need this circuit board," Vademon replied. "But the question is, what are you doing? More specifically. What are you doing here? This isn't usually a place one finds humans."
"We're looking for someone," Micro explained. "A friend of ours. Datamon."
"Datamon?" Vademon looked surprised. "Why didn't you say so earlier? He's here." Micro's eyes went wide, as Vademon began to walk towards the door. "I can take you to him, if you want." He left and the two remained unsure about what to do.
"Do you think we should trust him?" Tentomon asked.
"I'm not sure," Micro frowned. "He could be leading us into a trap. Then again, he could have attacked with that space gun when we were blind. But he didn't." They still weren't sure, but Micro eventually decided he had to be sure. "Let's go. Just be ready in case we're attacked." Tentomon nodded and they headed down the stairs after Vademon.
Back at Codex, Flash and Veemon were in the foyer watching a battle. But Flash couldn't keep his mind off of Micro.
Twilight, who had just come back from a rather tough battle, spotted them and could tell something was up with him. "Hey," she walked over to him and sat down. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Flash nodded.
"Are you sure?" Tawnimon asked. "You look like something's bothering you."
"Alright. It's Micro." Twilight nodded. "I don't know why. Call it intuition, but I think Micro's gone somewhere dangerous. I saw him porting away somewhere and he had a really unsure expression on his face. Like he was suspicious of wherever he was going."
"Where'd he go?" Twilight asked.
"That's the thing. I don't know. I looked on my friends list, but it didn't show me where he is. I'm pretty sure I've got all the locations Micro has, but it's not telling me which location he's in." Twilight grew worried by this and took out her own Digivice, bringing Micro up in her friends list. But it also had no location listed for him.
"I know this is probably nothing, but I'm starting to worry as well."
"So what do we do?" Veemon asked. "If we can't track him on the friends list, how do we track him?"
"Good question," Twilight tried to think. "Maybe...maybe one of the Codex Commanders can find him."
"Would they do that?" Flash asked.
"If it's an emergency," Tawnimon nodded. "I think they would." Twilight got up and went over to one of the robots, which turned to her as soon as it realised she was approaching.
"Excuse me. Could we maybe talk to one of the Codex Commanders?"
"Reason?" The robot asked.
"We're worried about our friend. Micro Chips. We can't seem to locate him and we're worried something bad might have happened to him." The robot beeped a few times, Flash, Twilight and their Digimon watching as it connected to the Codex Commanders.
"Commander Gennai will check his location," it stated. It beeped again, as the four continued to wait. The beeping then stopped, making them raise an eyebrow.
A flash of light suddenly appeared next to them, shocking the four as Gennai stepped out of the light. He did not look happy about something. "I can't seem to locate Micro."
"What?" Twilight asked, "how can the Codex Commanders not find him?"
"That's why I'm here," Gennai frowned. "For some reason, I can't lock onto his signal. Wherever he is, it's blocking my computer's system." This worried them, the five fearing Micro might have gotten himself into a serious situation."
Once they left the control tower, Vademon led them across the army base towards the large aircraft hanger.
"Datamon's been a big help," Vademon told him. "Ever since I crashed on this world, I've been trying to get it working. But engineering was never my forte. That's why I'm so happy, Datamon agreed to help me do the repairs."
"Repairs on what?" Tentomon asked, as they arrived at the hanger.
"What else?" Vademon began to pull the doors open. "On my ship, of course!" As the doors slid open, it revealed a large metal object that took up almost all of the room. It was a flying saucer, just like the ones Micro had seen in old fashioned movies and TV shows. The whole thing looked like it was made out of tin and wouldn't survive in the fast emptiness of space.
"An actual flying saucer?" Micro asked, as the pair stepped into the hangar and saw how big the ship was. "How'd you get this thing in here?" But as he asked that, he heard a loud bang that sounded like a balloon exploding. This was followed by a cry, coming from a voice Micro knew all too well.
"Dag nab it!" Micro and Tentomon rushed under the ship, Micro needing to get on his knees, and came across a hole in the ship that smoke was bellowing out of. "Why won't you work?" Micro could hardly believe it.
"Datamon?" A few moments later, something fell out of the hole.
Datamon looked filthy and his glass dome had a crack on it that was new, the Digimon's hands having several tools in them. As he wiped his robotic eye, he looked up at them and gasped. "Micro!" He reached over and pulled him into a hug. "Good to see you. I should have known you'd find me."
Micro quickly pulled back. "What the heck is going on? Do you have an idea how worried I've been since you went missing? Your lab was a complete mess!"
"It was?" Datamon looked shocked, "what do you mean?"
"I mean the place was trashed. The machines were ripped out of the wall and the computer was destroyed. Are you saying it wasn't like that, when you left?"
"No!" Datamon cried. "Great," he looked back at the hole into the ship. "I knew I should have locked the place up when I left. But I didn't think I'd be gone this long."
"Datamon," Tentomon spoke up, "your computer was taken. That means all your work that was saved on it, was taken as well. Including your work to create a new Digimon."
"I get that," Datamon nodded. "But whining about it won't help me right now. I need to get this ship up and running." He climbed back into the hole and got back to work. "Vademon needs to escape before it's too late."
"What do you mean?" Micro looked up into the ship and saw a bunch of wires, with many of them damaged and hanging loose.
"Vademon's been trapped here a long time. He wants to return to his home, out in space. And the only way for him to return is to get this ship up and running." Another explosion filled the air, smoke flying out of the hole and making them all cough. "if I can figure out how to get this infernal machine working."
"Do you want some help?"
"Yes, actually." Micro's eyes went wide. "I could do this on my own, of course. But your help will get it done faster. Vademon will tell you what needs fixing."
"But he said he doesn't know anything about engineering."
"He knows what the ship is like when it's working. He can give you a problem and you can use that big brain of yours to figure out the problem. Go, go, go!" The pair shared a look before crawling back out from under the ship, both feeling like something wasn't right. But they weren't sure what it was right now.
Until they figured it out, they would have to focus on the task at hand. Fixing this ship.
Back in Codex, Gennai was sitting at a table with Flash, Twilight and their Digimon.
The Codex Commander was hard at work, trying to locate Micro's signal. "Ahhh!" He groaned, "I can't find him anywhere. Whoever's doing this, they're clearly technologically adept." He scanned an area of the Digital World, but nothing happened. "The only way I can possibly find Micro is to scan every sector of the Digital World and see if any of those areas refuses to allow the scan to go through. If I can't scan it, something must be blocking it."
"But the Digital World is huge," Twilight pointed out. "Scanning the whole place could take forever."
"I know," Gennai frowned. "But what other choice do I have?"
"There has to be some other way to find him," Flash frowned. He tried to think of a reason for Micro to go somewhere. The only thing he could think of was if he had found out where Datamon was. And if that was the case, why wouldn't he tell him or anyone else? "Unless someone told him not to."
"What?" Veemon asked, as Flash turned to Gennai.
"Would you be able to find out if Micro received any messages or anything?" Gennai raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Could you maybe check the last message he got. Maybe there's a clue that'll help us."
"I'm afraid I can't do that. I can find out when Micro received the message and who sent it to him, but not what was sent."
"That could still work," Twilight pointed out. "Whoever sent him the message, might know where he went." Gennai nodded and started working on it.
"Okay," he logged into the messaging system. "There was a message sent to Micro this morning." They smiled. "Huh, the one who did it masked their IP address. That might have worked against other people, but not against me." He typed away at the computer and eventually uncovered the IP address. "There you are."
"Who was it?" Flash asked, as Gennai showed them the biopage. And when they saw who it was, they frowned.
Jet Set, Lightning Dust, Dracmon and Kokuwamon, were sitting in another part of the foyer.
They watched and laughed, as a player was completely stomped by his opponent. "What a loser." But as he took a swing of his drink, he suddenly felt a presence behind him and looked around. There, he saw Gennai, Flash, Twilight and their Digimon. "Oh. What do you want?"
"You sent a message to Micro Chips," Gennai replied. "And now he's disappeared."
"I send a lot of people messages. Doesn't mean I'm the one responsible for what happens to him." Gennai glared at him.
"Tell me where you sent him."
"I don't know," Jet shrugged. "I just sent him a message challenging him to a battle. Not my fault he was a chicken and chose to run away somewhere." Flash looked ready to argue, but Gennai stopped him.
"Alright then." Gennai opened his holo computer and started typing away, eventually hitting the enter button. The next thing Jet knew, his Digivice beeped and he took it out.
On the screen was a countdown. "What's this?"
"Force log out," Gennai replied. "If that countdown hits zero, your Digivice will force you out. The real you won't get any of your memories and he won't be able to log back in for...how does a month sound."
"You can't do that!" Jet cried.
"You've toed the line on acceptable behaviour before," Gennai told him. "But if you're going to cause innocent players to get into dangerous trouble, I can't risk having you around. So what's it going to be?" Jet frowned, clearly thinking he was bluffing. But the countdown grew smaller and smaller, with Gennai's smirk not wavering.
When it got down to less than ten seconds, Jet finally broke. "Okay!" Gennai halted the countdown, "I sent him a message saying I knew where Datamon was."
"You what!?" Flash looked ready to tackle him.
"Why would you do that?" Twilight asked, looking disgusted.
"I didn't have a choice," Jet replied. "Dracmon and I were investigating a new location scan and we came across a Digimon named Vademon. He was really strong and when we tried to port out, we couldn't. He was planning on doing something horrible and the only way he let me go was to bait another player into going."
Flash glared at him. "So you tricked Micro into thinking Datamon was there and sent him a scan location?" Jet nodded. "You're despicable."
"Look, it was either him or me."
"What did you tell Vademon?" Twilight asked, "how much about Micro did you tell him?"
"Just that he was looking for Datamon and that he can Digivolve to Ultimate. I'm sure he'll be fine. Vademon might be too much for a Champion, but he's a pretty weak Ultimate."
"Then why hasn't Micro come back yet?" Flash asked, as he took out his Digivice. "Send me that location scan." Jet clearly didn't wanna do that, but Gennai started the countdown again.
"Okay!" He brought up the scan and sent it to Flash. "It's an abandoned army base. I don't know where Vademon and Micro would be, though."
"You'd better hope Flash finds him," Gennai replied. "If Micro was deleted because of you, it'll be more than a month you'll be banned for."
"Relax," Jet told him. "Vademon's not gonna delete him." This confused them, as they asked what exactly Vademon wanted from Micro.
Micro had no idea what he was doing.
Obviously, he had never worked on a flying saucer before. He knew nothing about how they worked, so had no idea what they were supposed to look like when they were broken or fixed. But what he was seeing right now, certainly didn't make any sense.
"Why are there so many wires in here?" Micro was looking inside an opening at the top of the ship, just below the cockpit. There were a bunch of different wires inside the opening, all different colours and being connected to different parts of the ship. Staring down at it, he could barely figure out what any of them did. But he did know that the wires that weren't connected to anything, were clearly the ones he needed to fix.
Tentomon grabbed a green wire and looked at all the connectors that didn't have a wire connected to them. "Shouldn't they be colour coded? Like the connectors are painted the colour of the wire they need?"
"Normally," Micro nodded as the pair looked down at Vademon. "I don't suppose you have a manual, that tells us where everything is supposed to go?"
"Sorry," Vademon shook his head, "got burned up in the crash. But I'm sure you'll figure it out. If Datamon thinks you can help."
Micro frowned at that. "Yeah. Tentomon, have you ever known Datamon to ask for help with anything mechanical?" Tentomon thought about it. "I mean, he'll let us help with manual labour. But anything to do with science or engineering..."
"You're right," Tentomon nodded. "He always refused to let anyone help in that area. Like it would wound his pride or something."
"Exactly," Micro frowned. "And fixing this ship is the biggest engineering task he's ever done. There's no way he'd let someone help him, even if it did make the work go faster."
"Well he did say that Vademon doesn't have much time," Tentomon pointed out. "It's good he's putting a friend's safety above his own pride. Now come on. Let's figure out where this green wire-" He stopped when he looked at the wire, making Micro look down and see he was holding a yellow wire. "This...this was green before."
"Yeah," Micro looked down into the hole, "it was." He stared at the wires and realised they had all changed. They were all in the same location they had previously been, but some of the colours had swapped with one another. A few were even twisted around in a way they hadn't been before. "What the heck?"
"Maybe the ship has some kind of wire shuffle function?" Micro gave him a look. "Or not."
"Something's not right here," Micro frowned. He looked up at the ship's cockpit and crawled up towards it, Tentomon flying up with him.
He opened up the cockpit and looked around. There was a large chair in the centre of it, surrounded by a circular console that looked like it controlled everything. But whilst it looked like a fully functioning ship, Micro knew it was missing a few things.
"Hey, Vademon." He jumped back out and looked down at the alien. "I gotta ask. Do you eat the same food as normal Digimon, or something completely different?"
"Oh, I eat pretty much anything that's edible. My species doesn't have taste-buds or anything, so anything can be eaten by us so long as it's good."
Micro nodded as he looked back at the cockpit. "And what about sleeping? Do you need to sleep, or did you find a way to go without it?"
"No, we sleep. Though I think I only need to sleep about two hours less than you humans do. Which is surprising, given how much bigger my brain is than yours."
Micro frowned as Tentomon flew up to him. "What's with all the questions?" He asked, as Micro pointed at the cockpit.
"What's missing from this saucer, that a creature that needs to eat and sleep would require." Tentomon looked inside the cockpit and slowly put the pieces together.
"No bed. Or anything that looks like it could produce food."
"Exactly," Micro nodded. "Something's going on here." Micro jumped down off the ship and started crawling under it, until he reached Datamon's hole. There, he reached up and grabbed the Digimon. "Hey! What are you doing?" He pulled him out and dragged him along the ground, throwing him towards Vademon once they were out from under the ship. "GYAH! What's your problem."
"I don't like being lied to," Micro glared at him. "I know you're not the real Datamon. Or at least, you're not the Datamon I know."
"That's right!" Tentomon agreed. "Datamon would care about his life's work being destroyed. You barely reacted when we told you about your computer."
"I cared," Datamon replied.
"Not as much as you should have. And then there was letting us help fix the ship. The Datamon I know would never accept help, from anyone. Even if it would help the work go faster." Vademon and Datamon both frowned, "there's more. Something about this place just isn't right. I'm not sure what, but there are things here that don't make sense."
"Like those wires that kept changing colour," Tentomon spoke up.
"And how did you get your ship in here?" Micro replied. "Those doors are way too small for this ship to be pushed inside."
"Um..." Vademon looked worried, "we reassembled it inside this place. You should have seen the mess it was when I first crashed. It took forever to get all the pieces in here and put back together."
"Oh really?" Micro turned to the ship. "Strange. This thing doesn't look like it was in a crash. Where are the dents? Where are the scratches? Where are the burn marks? You expect me to believe that you crashed into the desert, your ship needing to be reassembled afterwards, but it didn't leave a scratch on the hull?" The pair looked worried, as Micro glared at them. "Something's not right. All these inconsistencies...it's almost like..." His eyes went wide, "this isn't real."
"Of course it's real," Vademon told him. "How could it not be real?"
"We're in some kind of dream state," Micro realised.
"Of course," Tentomon cried. "I bet we're not even in the hangar. Something's making us see some kind of illusion, or hallucination." The pair glared at the two, Micro and Tentomon seeing they had hit the nail on the head.
"What's really going on here?" Vademon and Datamon both shared a look before they suddenly transformed into a bright haze, which merged together to create a new Digimon. This one was smaller than the other two and looked like the fusion of a lamb and a sleeping pillow.
Its body was mostly pink, with white legs, a white face and white balls around its head. It also had golden ram's horns and a purple sleep cap on its head.
"Pillomon," Tentomon realised. "I should have known. Why are you doing this?"
"I'm sorry," Pillomon told him. "I don't have a choice. He's making me do this. If I don't, he'll hurt me." The pair shared a confused look, as Pillomon looked ready to cry. "Vademon. The real Vademon. He's making me keep you in this slumber, giving him the time he needs to hack into it."
"Hack into what?" Micro asked.
"Your Digivice."
In the real world, Micro and Tentomon were laid out on the floor of the control tower.
Pillomon was floating above them, keeping them in a state of sleep. A chain was tied around her waist, leashing her to the real Vademon. Said Vademon, was doing something to Micro's Digivice.
Said device was hooked up to a strange looking machine, attempting to hack into its systems. "Come on," he told it. "Override it already. Override it!"
"Why would Vademon want to hack into my Digivice?" Micro asked.
"He wants to override your connection to it," Pillomon explained. "If he does that, he'll be able to use it to escape the Digital World."
"What?" Micro asked. "That's not possible. A Digimon can't leave the Digital World. The best he could do was enter my Digivice in the real world, but there's no way he can leave that."
"He said that humans have the power to come and go as they please. He wants to leave the Digital World and explore your world." Micro thought about this and realised what he was trying to do.
"He thinks the Digivices let us teleport in and out of the Digital World. He doesn't know I'm not the real Micro Chips. If he tries to port out with my Digivice, he'll destroy himself." Pillomon looked confused by this. "When I leave the Digital World, I'm not teleporting out. My physical form is being shut down and all my mental data is uploaded into my real body."
Tentomon looked scared. "If Vademon tries that, he could destroy his body and get uploaded into Micro. And there's no telling what that'll do. This version of Micro is a perfect copy of the real one's mind. That's why it's safe for them to merge together again. But Vademon isn't Micro. If he uploads himself into Micro's brain..."
"The real me could be mentally damaged. My brain could explode. We'd both die!" He turned to Pillomon, "let us wake up. Wake us up, so we can stop him!"
"No," Pillomon cried. "If I release you, Vademon will be angry."
"No he won't. If he tries anything, he'll have to answer to us." But Pillomon didn't look so sure, Micro frowning. "I don't wanna hurt you. But we will, if you won't let us go."
"How can you hurt me?" Pillomon asked. "If we were in the Digital World, you might be able to threaten me. But in the dream world, I reign supreme."
"Wrong," Tentomon told her. "You might have brought us into this dream, but it's still our dream. In our heads."
Micro nodded. "And when a person knows they're dreaming, they can take control of that dream." He snapped his fingers and a ball of fire appeared in his hands. "In a dream, anything's possible." Pillomon looked concerned and floated upwards, as a bunch of dream smoke floated off her body.
They watched, as the smoke took shape and eventually formed Vademon. The alien Digimon glared at them before firing his blaster at them, with Micro shooting the fire off of his hand.
As this was going on, Tentomon flew up and began to glow. "Tentomon, Digivolve to..." He grew larger. So large, that he ripped through the top of the hangar. "Kabuterimon!" The hangar began to collapse and Micro and Pillomon flew out of the hangar, Micro flying like superman as he looked down at Pillomon.
Kabuterimon flew into the air, as Pillomon created another copy of Vademon. "Abduction Beam!" He fired the ray gun and it almost hit Micro, until Kabuterimon blocked it with his hand.
The insectoid Digimon flew into the air and began to spark, as Vademon flew up as well. "Electro Shocker!" He fired the sphere of lightning, which flew towards Vademon. But the Digimon simply placed a hand to his lips.
"Evil Kiss!" He did just that, a pink lipstick mark appearing off his mouth and flew towards the attack. The Electro Shocker slammed into it and they both exploded, but something flew out of the smoke. A meteorite.
"Wow!" Kabuterimon tried to dodge it, but the meteor slammed into him and he was knocked flying backwards. "Gyah!"
"Kabuterimon!" Micro cried, as another laser almost hit him. "Wow!" He pulled back and glared down at Vademon. "Come on! We can take him. Together!" Kabuterimon heard this and let out a groan, as he rolled in the air and righted himself. And as soon as he did, he glowed.
"Kabuterimon, Digivolve to..." His body grew larger, as it transformed into the red beetle form with a booster in his butt. "MegaKabuterimon!" Vademon looked shocked by this, as the red beetle flew forward and slammed its horn into him.
Vademon cried out, as he was thrown towards the ground. But Pillomon created a cloud of Vademon to land on, the soft surface stretching as Vademon was pulled back before bouncing forward. "Haha!" He fired his ray gun again, with MegaKabuterimon blocking them with his shell.
"That the best you've got?"
Micro flew up, creating a giant fireball in his hands before throwing it downwards. The fireball moved like a rocket, flying down towards Vademon as the alien created another lipstick mark. That mark struck the fireball and exploded, a meteor flying out of the smoke cloud.
But MegaKabuterimon flew forward, his horn sparking as he approached. "Horn Buster!" He rammed into the meteor and destroyed it before charging towards the alien, who screamed as he was smashed with the electrified horn.
He was once again thrown backwards and this time, Pillomon couldn't create anything to save him in time. He smashed into one of the buildings and the whole thing collapsed, whilst Micro and MegaKabuterimon turned to Pillomon. "It's over," Micro told her. "Release us, now!"
"I can't!" She cried, "he'll hurt me!" Vademon leapt out of the debris, glowing as he did. "I'm sorry." Vademon started glowing.
"Vademon, Digivolve to..." The light morphed into a form of arm, which covered Vademon's body. He gained more tendril feet and another pair of arms, which were topped by some kind of weapon. And his light-bulb head changed, becoming more tube-like before bending backwards.
The light flew off the Digimon and revealed him to be a robotic version of Vademon, with white armor and a black glass screen on the front of his head. His blaster arms sparked as they powered up, whilst the rockets on its hips pushed it upwards. "Ebemon!"
The Digimon started firing blasts from its weapons, the pair crying out as they did everything in their power to dodge them. But one blast managed to hit MegaKabuterimon, knocking him backwards as he cried out.
"MegaKabuterimon!" Micro cried, as Ebemon flew up towards him. It launched its now cable arm towards him and before he could react, it wrapped around his throat and made him choke. "Gyah!"
Pillomon watched this and was clearly upset. "I don't want to hurt you. Vademon said I couldn't delete you, because it would cause your Digivice to go dead. And I don't like hurting people."
Micro struggled against the chord around his neck. "If you let Vademon do this, you'll hurt me far worse than if you delete me now." Pillomon looked up at him. "I'm just a digital copy. Me getting deleted will do nothing to the real me. But...if you let Vademon go through with this, the real me will be hurt far worse. please, don't do this."
"I don't have a choice," Pillomon cried. "I don't want to hurt anyone. But I don't want Vademon to hurt me. I'm sorry."
"Apology not accepted!" MegaKabuterimon flew up and grabbed Ebemon in his hand, squeezing it tightly and forcing it to release Micro's neck. And as Micro flew away, the insect tried to crush the robot.
Ebemon flinched, but suddenly turned limp in his hand. MegaKabuterimon stared at him, only to suddenly feel the Digimon's entire body suddenly expand in his grasp.
He tried to keep his grip, but Ebemon suddenly exploded out of his hand as he grew larger and larger. In seconds, he was almost as big as MegaKabuterimon. "Neuro Destroyer!" His blaster arms fired and he roared in pain, as he was knocked flying backwards.
Micro watched his partner fall back, whilst Pillomon floated upwards. "I'm sorry. But there's nothing you can do to stop me."
"Don't be so sure," he told her. "Like we told you, this is our dream. And in our dream, nothing is impossible." MegaKabuterimon flew up behind him. "No matter how much you make it seem hopeless, we'll find a way to get out of here. Right, MegaKabuterimon!?"
"You got it!" Lightning sparked around his body.
"Last chance!" Micro cried. "Let us go, or else!" Ebemon fired a blast from his ray gun, but Micro launched a fireball and destroyed it.
As he did, the electricity around his partner exploded off of him. "MegaKabuterimon, Mega Digivolve to..." The lightning began to take shape, as four golden yellow arms appeared before slamming onto his arms. A pair of legs then appeared and merged with the Ultimate, as the rest of his body transformed into a golden armor. His booster disappeared, as his shell opened up to reveal his newly restored wings. And two more horns grew out of his head, completing his transformation to the next stage. "HERCULESKABUTERIMON!"
Pillomon was shocked, despite her eyes being closed, whilst Ebemon fired another blast. But the new Mega Digimon flew forward and slapped the attack away. "How?" Pillomon asked. "How can he be a Mega?"
"The same way you made Vademon a Mega." Micro flew onto HerculesKabuterimon's head. "We might not be able to Digivolve to Mega in the real world, but in a dream..." Ebemon fired another shot, but the giant beetle dodged the attack and flew forward.
"Giga Scissor Claw!" He swung his clawed arm around and slashed at the robotic Digimon, smashing into its metal body and breaking through it.
Micro then leapt into the air and did several spins as he flew down towards Pillomon.
Pillomon tried to fly away, but Micro tackled her to the ground and slammed her into the army base. Pillomon cried out, as HerculesKabuterimon tackled Ebemon away from them. "Let me go!"
"Not until you free us from this dream," Micro told her.
Ebemon fired another Neuro Destroyer, but HerculesKabuterimon wasn't even phased when it slammed into him. "My turn!" His entire body sparked with energy, which flew up to its horns and began to swirl into a sphere. "MEGA ELECTRO SHOCKER!" He swung his head around and the sphere shot off his body, smashing into Ebemon and exploding.
The electric wave surged into the Digimon and ripped it apart, causing it to disappear into a cloud of dream mist, then flew over the battlefield. It shot towards Micro and Pillomon, Micro holding the Digimon up. "Are you insane? If that hits us..."
"Last chance..." The attack got closer and closer. "Free us from this dream!" Pillomon cried out, as the lightning wave was seconds away from hitting them.
"AAAAARRRRRHHHHH!" She screamed, as a light suddenly exploded out of her.
Micro and Tentomon's eyes flew open, the pair gasping as they sat up.
"What?" Vademon looked up and gasped, when he saw the pair waking up. "You useless pillow!" He pulled on the chain around Pillomon, pulling her towards him. Micro and Tentomon shook their heads, their minds still half asleep. But when they fully woke up, they looked around and saw Vademon holding Pillomon and Micro's Digivice.
"Hey!" Micro sat up, "let her go and give me back my Digivice!"
"I don't think so!" Vademon told him. "I'm close to overriding your control on it and making myself its master. When that happens, I'll be free to travel to your world."
"That Digivice won't transport you to the human world," Tentomon told him. "It'll delete you and cause the real version of Micro to be infused with your memories. You'll kill him."
"What?" Vademon didn't look convinced, "don't be ridiculous. This device is my ticket to come and go inside the Digital World."
"No, it isn't. The Digivice can't convert data into flesh and blood. Nothing can. That's impossible. Please. Don't do this. You'll regret it."
"I don't think I will. Now back up, or I crush this pathetic excuse for a Digimon." The pair frowned, whilst Vademon laughed. "I'm amazed you actually care about it. After what it did to you, I would have expected you to let me destroy her."
"It's not her fault she did that." Tentomon looked angry. "You forced her to do all this. Anyone would do anything, if they had been abused enough. We can't blame her for that."
"True, but that just makes things easy for me." Vademon gripped Pillomon tighter, causing her to cry out in pain. "Just walk away and let me leave this world. You enjoy it so much, you can live here permanently."
Micro wasn't sure what to do. Without his Digivice, they couldn't Digivolve or Port away. What could they do?
Suddenly, he noticed something that shocked Micro. He then smiled, making Vademon look confused. "You might have beaten us, but our friend is a different story."
"Friend?" Vademon turned to the window, moments before it shattered and BurningGreymon flew inside. The beast warrior of fire roared, as he swung his tail around and slammed it into Vademon. The Ultimate alien roared as he was thrown backwards, Pillomon and the Digivice flying from his hands as he fell to the ground and was pinned by the large dragon's foot.
Micro managed to catch the Digivice, whilst Tentomon helped get the chain off of Pillomon. "Flash?" Micro asked, as BurningGreymon nodded. "Boy, am I glad to see you."
"Let me go!" Vademon cried, only for BurningGreymon to point his blasters at him.
"I don't think so. The Codex Commanders have a few choice words to say to you." Vademon suddenly looked very worried. "They don't appreciate their devices and systems being hacked into."
"I'm sure there's been some kind of misunderstanding."
"No misunderstanding. Jet told us everything that happened."
"Jet?" Micro frowned, "what's he got to do with this?"
"He's the one who sent you that message. Vademon tried to do to him, what he tried to do to you. But Jet got out of it by promising to bring someone for him. That's why he sent you that message." Anger surged through Micro's body, as BurningGreymon turned back to Vademon. "Now, for you."
He gulped. "Now now. I'm sure we can come to some kind of compromise. How about I just let you all go and-"
"No deal!" Micro glared at him, "you gave up making deals when you refused to give me my Digivice back and free Pillomon."
"Besides," BurningGreymon told him, "the Codex Commanders wanna talk with you. Now, where's the device stopping them from locking onto our Digivices." Vademon gulped and announced it was on the roof, causing the beast warrior of fire to grab him and pull him out of the control tower. They looked towards the roof and spotted a device of some kind, strapped to the antenna of the tower.
BurningGreymon fired at the device, destroying it as Micro, Tentomon and Pillomon flew out of the tower.
They all glided down to the ground and as they did, a flash of light appeared on the base floor. And out of it came Gennai, Twilight, Tawnimon, Jet and Dracmon.
To say Vademon looked worried was an understatement, as BurningGreymon threw him to the ground at Gennai's feet. The Codex Commander stared down at him, clearly unhappy, whilst Micro glared at Jet. "You tricked me."
Jet shrugged, "shouldn't be so gullible." Micro looked ready to tackle him, with Tentomon pulling him back from doing so.
Gennai stepped up to Vademon. "Do you have any idea what you almost did?" Vademon said nothing. "It's one thing for a Digimon to endanger a player's digital form. But to try and hurt their real world selves..."
"So...that whole mind uploading thing was true?"
"Of course," Gennai glared at him. "There's no telling the kind of damage you could have done to Micro, had you accomplished what you were trying."
"Alright," Vademon frowned, "I'm sorry."
"Are you sorry for what you did to Pillomon?" Micro asked, with Vademon turning to the sleepy Digimon before huffing and looking away. "Hey!"
"It's alright," Gennai told him. "Clearly, he needs to be taught a lesson." He opened his computer and with a few taps, Vademon started glowing.
"What?" He looked himself over, "what are you doing?" He started disappearing, "NOOOOO!" With that, he completely vanished and everyone was shocked.
"What did you do to him?" Twilight asked.
"Teleported him to the most dangerous area of the Digital World," Gennai explained. "A spot so dangerous, even a Mega Level player would be in trouble there. Seemed like a fitting place to send him, given the danger he placed Codex in."
Micro nodded. "If other players found out their brains could get hijacked by Digimon, a lot of them might not want to enter anymore."
"Exactly. If he survives, I'm hoping he'll have learned his lesson." He turned to Pillomon. "Now, for you, little one. You were helping him."
"I'm sorry," Pillomon cried. "He made me. He stole me from my home and threatened to delete me if I didn't do what he said."
"It's not her fault," Micro told him.
"Very well," Gennai nodded. "How about I send you home." Pillomon gasped in delight. "Just be careful. You might be a Champion, but your powers can be as dangerous as any Mega. There are those out there that can exploit that." Pillomon nodded as she disappeared, turning to Micro and apologising at the last moment.
Micro nodded as she vanished, then turned to glare at Jet.
"What?" He asked. "He was gonna do that to me and I couldn't escape. Don't tell me you wouldn't do the same thing if you could." They all glared at him as he took out his Digivice. "Whatever. I'm out of here." Before they could say anything, he disappeared and everyone sighed at him.
"I'm sorry, Micro." Gennai told him. "The Codex Commanders never thought something like this could happen."
"Yeah," Micro nodded, "I get that." He frowned, "I just can't believe I fell for such an obvious trap." Flash placed his hand on Micro's shoulder.
"It's not your fault. Datamon's your friend. I think we'd all fall for something like that, if there was a chance we could find someone important to us." Twilight and the others nodded. "We'll keep searching. Datamon's somewhere and we'll find him. I promise." Micro smiled at this. "Now come on. Let's get back to Codex. You're probably exhausted after what happened."
"Actually, I feel wide away. Like I just had the best sleep ever." He and Tentomon smiled before they all ported away. Datamon might not have been there, but they managed to stop a crazy Digimon from causing a serious problem. Hopefully, that was the last they would see of Vademon.