Kyaromon strained with all its might, trying to follow its partner's instructions, but it seemed to lack the energy needed to digivolve further. It looked back at Suzy apologetically before trying again, and once again being unable to digivolve. The sense of danger fading away from Suzy's mind might have had something to do with it, but there was no way to be sure. It could just as easily have been any number of other reasons. But Kyaromon kept trying.

Seeing a new threat, the Mettaur that Fefnir shouted at targeted him and swung its pickaxe at the ground, causing a shockwave that blasted in a straight line towards him. It moved at a decent but easy to dodge pace, slower than the bullets that the viruses fired.

Lily reached the top of the hill and shouted, the Mettaur behind her chasing after her until it noticed that Simon wasn't running away. The virus began targeting him instead, but he frantically dodged the attacks, giving Lily a chance to escape from it. As she ran, she tripped and fell down the hill, landing a short ways away from the newly formed Navi that was partnered with Aki.

Ciel.exe formed in a similar way to Fefnir, a silhouette of light that quickly filled with ones and zeroes, leaving a solid body where they passed. The instant she fully formed she had slashed the Mettaur in twain, causing its halves to flash white and disappear with a loud sound of a bit-crunched screech. The other Mettaur that had fired at Aki now turned to face Ciel, firing a bullet at her.

As the three final viruses approached the tower ever closer, it became clear that one of the two from the west had a strange marking on its helmet in place of the usual green plus sign. In fact, it looked a lot like the marking on the underside of the wrist brace on the humans' Expanse Callers...

C:\Expanse\Data\User_Data\Suzuki_Takada...

A stillness of panic traced a horrible image through Suzi's mind, alongside the excitement she was feeling. It caused a strange jolt of energy to feel both at the same time, but soon enough, the sensation became too entangled for the young girl to clearly recognize what she was feeling. All she had left was concern for her Digimon and herself.

Why can't Kyaromon Digivolve?

With her mouth still in the small shape of an o, Suzi studied Kyaromon. Am I being too hard on him? Her lips sealed, and her two front teeth nibbled on them, as she tried to dissect, inspect her thoughts. Caution lead her carefully in the next split seconds while she watched the failure of her Digimon. A pain tugged at her chest as she watched.

“What are we supposed to do?” Suzi asked Kyaromon. However, before she could answer, up on the hill a girl being chased by a Mettaur shouted. Again, the young girl's mouth opened into a small o of observation. Her lips were no longer being nibbled to blood under the pressure she was feeling.

She wanted to grab Kyaromon and run, but something stopped her. Her feet would not move. Her mind was unable to make one foot lift. Not her right. Not her left. They remained in one spot, planted like the trees at the beginning of the forest on the outskirts of the terrain.

“K... Kyaromon?”

Her fingers slowly managed themselves towards the device around her wrist and trailed lower to the Russian beads, glimmering in the heat of her sweat.

Fefnir watched the shockwave move towards him and almost scoffed at the slow speed and power of it. "Am I a joke to you?" He asked as he was about to dodge only to see Enma still sitting on the ground behind him. "Oh god, MOVE!!" He yelled as he grabbed Enma and dragged the two of them out of the way of the attack.

Fefnir immediately stood back up as he aimed his blaster at the mettaur, "Stand up and don't die idiot, I can't fight and protect you all day!!!"
Enma nodded as he quickly stood up from his stop on the ground and began backing up towards the obelisk, creating distance as Fefnir charged forward, before firing a torrent of flames once he got close enough. As Enma watched Fefnir battle he looked down at the other chips he had, wondering what he could do.

"M-maybe this will help?" Activating Heat-V, Enma watched as Fefnirs free hand changed into a the shape of a cannon.

Not missing a beat, Fefnir fired off a volley of blasts and flames from his two weapons as he approached the Mettaur

Lily stumbled end over end in a rather undignified fashion. By the time she reached the bottom like a lump of flour the hem of her shirt had been ripped slightly and a wayward rock had left a shallow, but red cut on her stomach. Touching it for a moment as her head seemed to keep spinning, she felt the warm wet sensation of real blood. Her fingers were shaking to feel it. It's not that she had never gotten hurt before, she had spent many an afternoon exploring and getting cuts and bruises worse than this, but it was the realization of what the pain meant.

"I'm not dreaming..." Lily said to herself, her voice trembling with disbelief. This was the sort of thing that happened in nightmares, not for real. This strange, dangerous world was as real as any other. Her mind couldn't even begin to process this as the small monsters seemed to close in around her.

To his credit, Minomon still gave it a good fight. Powered down from his precious form the digital monster had lost much of his mobility. Yet he fired threads from his mandible, ensaring one for a time before a blast from another knocked him back into Demi-Meramon. The trio are all bunched up together, an easy target for the viruses closing in for the kill.

She looked to Aki, to the Navi. There was naught but a little shimmer and she wasn't sure if it was even real with how her head was spinning, "Help us please!" She begged, crying out as loud as she could so that someone might hear it and jump to her rescue.

Both Aki and Ciel wrenched their heads to look at the child and her pets, one of the pair obviously better equipped to deal with the threat.

I—I—

Don't worry. Both of you stay behind me and I'm going to get you out of here.

Ciel's arm appeared to morph into a kind of cannon, but with the outermost flesh of the limb tapering into a laserlike tine.

Battle routine, set!

The Mettaur raised its head, presumably to take another shot at Lily. Instead, Ciel vaulted to the left and fired her basic buster at the virus, capturing its attention and leading it away from the two humans. Immediately after distracting the malware, the same engine sound revved up around Ciel, prompting the virus to raise its pickaxe and unleash a shockwave toward the navi. Ciel waited until the tremor was halfway to her position before lurching to the left, kicking off the ground, and leaping toward the program, gleaming with the same purple light that struck down Aki's aggressor.

Execute!!

Still airborne, the navi released the purple light, manifesting as the wide triangular sword that slayed the program's cousin. The sword materialized as a progressive plane of light that beelined directly into the mouth of the virus as it contorted into its lethal shape. Before her feet made contact with the earth below her, the virus released a familiar corrupted screech, which was now sufficiently burned into Aki's memory. Once her sword had retracted, the Mettaur was nothing more than the memory of vaporous bits dispersed into the sky.

Suzuki had been frozen by the overwhelming feelings within her, and had luckily not been the target of any of the viruses. At least, that was true until now. The Mettaur coming from the south got within range and, noticing a non-moving target, raised its pickaxe and brought it down in front of it, sending a shock-wave along the ground at Suzi.

It took a few shots from Fefnir's blaster to do any meaningful damage to the virus, but the activation of Heat-V brought a quick end to the Mettaur, dealing more than enough damage to delete it, another bit-crunched scream coming from it as the flame shot spread at an acute angle from where it stood, creating the "V" that Heat-V was named for.

Lily and Aki had been given a moment's reprieve thanks to the diligent work of Ciel.exe. Even Simon had been granted safety from the viruses, for now. However, as the humans and NetNavis looked around them, they may have noticed that the two Mettaurs from the west were still approaching. They also likely noticed a rise in temperature once again, and that the sun was now seemingly ready to go down across the horizon. It couldn't have been a full day fighting these viruses, could it? And surely the sun going down would lower the temperature?

As the first Mettaur from the west entered firing distance, it stood and fired a bullet at the tower, which bounced off the metal beams with a loud plink sound. Then stood the other Mettaur, the one that did not have a normal helmet. From the ground came a large humanoid figure that was as dark as night, no different in color than the body of the other Mettaur, but this was clearly nothing like them. As it stood, the humans' Expanse Callers would announce in their wearer's voice: "Digital Hazard detected. Anomalous data registered. Scanning." As the Mettaur(?), now looking not unlike a NormalNavi if it were painted black and given a Mettaur helmet, slowly approached, a feeling of unease swept through those who looked at it. Something about it was... off, somehow. The way it moved, slowly and not quite matching the way it should be moving in order to actually cross the distance it did. The way it shimmered, as if the inverse of a hot summer day's haze. The way the eyes seemed to melt into fluid only to spin through its sockets and reform, over and over again.

This was clearly something not natural; not natural to the world, to the games or toys that the humans knew of, not natural even to the digital world the two NetNavis had vague memories of. It was alongside this realization that the Expanse Callers once again spoke.

---

"M̶̧̮̞̖̪̤͖͑͛̐̂̿̌̇̆͛̓̀̓̎̚ȩ̷̡̪͇͙̖̯̘̒͜T̷̤̼̗̗͔̬̭̩̮͇̾͋̔̌͋̓̐̿̽͆̚̚͜͝͠͝T̶̛̺̺͔̪͔͇͕͙̪͌̇̎̑͛͝a̵̻̭̪͔̯̎̇̃̍̉̅̈́̃̓̾͘ͅǘ̵̧̢̥̙͕̳̮̰͈͜ŕ̷̛̫͓̮͆̃̍̔̅̿̇̐͂̔͝u̸̙̖̗̻̮̠̫̠̱̖̼̐̂̏̊̋̽̌̅̐̆͘̚͝s̴̹͕͎̻̗̲͗̈́͌͂̈́͘ ̵͙͚̥̝̭͍̫̺̣͍͍̳̀͐̓̄̄́̽̈́͂̈͌̕̕͘͝ͅL̵͔͎̱͊́̑̎̃̌̚͝ Class B Virus Hazard found."

C:\Expanse\Data\User_Data\Suzuki_Takada...

Suzi’s lips trembled as the virus finally turned its attention towards her. A shockwave rippled towards her, and the fingers she had lacing delicately against her prayer bracelet grabbed hold of the white beads, as if in a motion to remove the piece of jewelry. Her initial thought was to hold it up and use it as some type of shield, but another serge of energy released her grasp from the beads.

It was the yellow gadget on her wrist.

“Kyaromon digivolve to…” This all happened so quickly as Kyaromon twisted in a digital energy, technologically transforming into its evolved form. The tug on her heart that had caused guilt released itself as a newly formed Kyaromon hovered in the likeness of Kudamon.

The Digimon swished through the atmosphere, and with its serpent-like tail, ushered Suzi from danger. Both fell towards the ground, away from the shockwave. The Digimon’s body was cooked around Suzi, protecting her from any injury of the sudden movement.

“Kudamon!”

Quickly and nurturingly, Kudamon glanced at Suzi with its yellow eyes. It’s two front paws padded it’s body upwards, away from Suzi, seeing that it’s trainer was not frayed and not wanting to induce any danger to her upon forming its own counterattack. Kudamon’s attention went towards the Mettaur from then on, sizing up its competition.

Kudamon twirled around in the air, as to strike the Mettaur with its slithering tail and holy artifact. The air around Kudamon swished with the Digimon’s movement, causing a thin tornado around its body before the monster slammed into the Mettaur. However, the Mettaur hammered the poor Digimon away after a moment of pain.



"M̶̧̮̞̖̪̤͖͑͛̐̂̿̌̇̆͛̓̀̓̎̚ȩ̷̡̪͇͙̖̯̘̒͜T̷̤̼̗̗͔̬̭̩̮͇̾͋̔̌͋̓̐̿̽͆̚̚͜͝͠͝T̶̛̺̺͔̪͔͇͕͙̪͌̇̎̑͛͝a̵̻̭̪͔̯̎̇̃̍̉̅̈́̃̓̾͘ͅǘ̵̧̢̥̙͕̳̮̰͈͜ŕ̷̛̫͓̮͆̃̍̔̅̿̇̐͂̔͝u̸̙̖̗̻̮̠̫̠̱̖̼̐̂̏̊̋̽̌̅̐̆͘̚͝s̴̹͕͎̻̗̲͗̈́͌͂̈́͘ ̵͙͚̥̝̭͍̫̺̣͍͍̳̀͐̓̄̄́̽̈́͂̈͌̕̕͘͝ͅL̵͔͎̱͊́̑̎̃̌̚͝ Class B Virus Hazard found."
Pushing her own body from the ground, Suzi mixed the soil underneath her around. Her shoes saw more dirt than they ever had. Her dirty palms carefully removed themselves from the ground as she stood on her two feet, once again. Her dark eyes absorbed the scenario, “K—… Kudamon?” Her voice quivered as she watched the Digimon coil to the ground — determination still sparkling in the digital monster’s eyes.

“Stay calm, Suzuki-chan,” Kudamon did not falter a gaze towards its young trainer. It’s center focus stayed on the dark, helmet wearing villain, “Kudamon was hardly scathed.” Its cool temper kept concentration on the target. “Whatever you do, don’t let fear keep you, again. We’re in this together.”

Suzi mustered a nod of obedience, blonde hair bobbing submissively and courageously to the response, with teeth again, nursing her bottom lip. However, now Suzi, too, had determination dancing in her eyes.

"THAT, is new." Fefnir stated as he watched the now navi looking Mettaur stand. "Honestly I don't know if it'll be a complete weakling or monster ... ENMA!!"

Enma took a step back in shock at being called as he tried to stand around 10 feet behind Fefnir for cover. "W-whats do you need?!" He asked paniced as he kept shuffling through the abilities he had for Fefnir.

"Get me some support in case things go badly."

Enma nodded as he shuffled through the list. "Maybe this? Candle 1!"

As he activated the chip, a small candle appeared floating over Fefnirs shoulder giving off a soft light. Fefnir immediately runs towards the Navi/Mettaur, firing a barrage off fire blasts, but ready at the moment to dash back in order to dodge an attack. "BURN!!"

Lily watched as this new virus seemed to materialize from thin air, appearing as yet another threat on top of the mountain of monsters that seemed to have harassed her from the time she had arrived in this strange world. All around her other humans, strange shimmer and creatures she had to assume were digimon were fighting or preparing for battle. The larger virus in the helmet seemed to be some kind of leader or at least the apex threat. Blasts of energy seemed to impact it, firing from the shimmering figures that are around her. Just off to the side she could see Suzuki and what appeared to be a glowing...snake? Cat? Something appear from a burst of light not dissimilar from what her own partners had done not too long ago.

"Lily?" DemiMeramon said with a tremble in its ashy voice, "Are...are you as scared as I am?"

Lily nodded, her hands trembling around the box she held that she knew was important. Her heart felt like it would explode out of her chest. This new monster was different. It was going to kill her, it was going to destroy her. This was a deep, primal fear that she felt. The animal part of her brain was telling her to run as fast and far as she could. This wasn't something she could fight, let alone beat. It was a predator and she was prey. Yet even as she thought these things her legs wouldn't work. Nothing would work.

The virus seems to flash its attention over to her and her digimon. Minomon springs forward first, firing silk from its mandible at the monster. It grabs the threads, yanking and sensing poor little Minomon crashing face first into the digital dirt. DemiMeramon cowers, but stands in front of her. Her little ball of fire seems to start up an attack, but freezes when the virus seems to turn towards her.

"You...you two...you can do it!" She yells out, pushing aside her fear. The tallest virus casually aims an attack at her.

"Candlemon!" A voice calls out and the attack is intercepted by a fireball, q shaking but powerful Candlemon standing in front of her.

The virus steps forward, but it finds its movement slowed again. A powerful strand of thread connects the leg of the largest virus to small, but determined green worm holding it back with great effort. Presenting a potential opening.

Aki swung her head to catch a glimpse of the new opponent threatening their new clan of stranded outsiders.

Some kind of virus-themed navi..? Ciel mumbled in an unusual hushed tone before returning to barking orders at the teen. Aki, listen to me carefully.

The girl shook her head intently.

I'm going to need your help to get through this thing, and my buster's not going to cut it. Open your pack and read me the chips we have.

Aki fumbled open her chip pack and unceremoniously poured the waterfall of plain, not-quite-SD cards into her palm.

Um— there's Holy Panel, Spreader, Gun Del S, Tornado, and Air Hockey.

Aki neglected to mention her bootleg purple chip that somehow traveled dimensions with her—she wasn't sure what would happen if she did, but something fake like that wouldn't be very useful to Ciel. It might distract her, or worse, end up being dangerous somehow.

Ciel nodded her head thoughtfully.

That can work. Listen, when I call out the name of a battlechip, I need you to load it into that slot immediately. When you hear me, tell me that my data is coming and I'll be ready to use it. We need to work as a team, and as the operator, you're going to have to operate!

Ciel didn't wait for Aki's answer, and instead leapt into action alongside the other digital beasts. She unleashed a burst of short blasts from her modified arm—the device she had called a buster—but to no avail, the shots clinking against the sturdy helmet of the creature. Unperturbed by the nullified strikes, the navi leveraged the commotion to shuffle herself within a few arm's lengths of the virus. Aki thought she was too close—one quick, unanticipated swipe and Ciel would be nothing more than a digital bloodstain on the infinite emerald plain.

Send me Tornado!

Aki snapped out of her trance and rifled through her chips as the navi had instructed. Now all she had to do was respond to Ciel and load the data, and everything would be okay. At least she had hoped. Aki thumbed the target battlechip into her grip and aimed it toward the slot around her device.

Okay, it's— Aki thought better of it. She knew the right words. Tornado, battlechip in, download!

Without pomp or circumstance, the buster on Ciel's arm restructured itself, shifting digital metal on digital metal, and rebuilt its own structure from the wrist up. The band that made up her wrist slid open, exploding into a wide circle that jutted itself outward, the skeletal form filled out with a rosy cybernetic steel. Within the circle now sat three razor-edged blades that stung to look at. With little warning or wind up, the blades now formed a spinning wheel of certain death. But strange to Aki, Ciel wasn't using the blades to cut the creature—she was using them to... cut the air? Lacerations appeared on the body of the creature as a caustic vortex of wind briefly surrounded its form and dug into its would-be flesh.

The Mettaur's attack never struck its target. Instead, Kyaromon was able to use the power of Suzi's desperation to once again digivolve, this time into Kudamon. The energy from its digivolution even allowed it a temporary actualization, bringing it into the world in time to rescue Suzi from the shockwave. Its counterattack was not quite enough to defeat the virus, but did do substantial damage to it.

The Mettaurus L, as it seemed to be called, meanwhile was being attacked by the other digital beings. This began with Fefnir firing several blasts that the Mettaurus seemed to take little damage from. In fact, the virus seemed almost unperturbed by the fire. It quickly swiped at Fefnir with a long black whip that formed from its hand, the whip moving so fast that it couldn't be dodged. Strangely though, the whip did no damage, as Fefnir jumped back when it seemed to connect and the actual attack lagged behind the appendage, missing its target by a second. Minomon took the opening to fire threads at the virus only to have them grabbed and pulled on, throwing the digimon to the ground. The Mettaurus then fired what appeared to be a buster shot at Lily, though it moved much slower than a normal buster and DemiMeramon was able to digivolve once more to blast it away with a fireball. Minomon managed to get a better grip on the legs of the virus and slow it down somewhat while Ciel fired her buster at it. Her aim resulted in it taking no damage but she was able to get in close enough to use a Tornado battlechip, surrounding the virus in a whirlwind that sliced at it repeatedly.

As the tornado died down around it, the Mettaurus could be seen with gashes along its black body, each of which was a deep blue color and leaked neon green liquid that could only be assumed to be blood of some kind. The virus swatted Ciel away with another whip, the impact striking her before the whip visually reached its target, before its chest burst open in a grotesque display of blackened bones that could only be likened to having the ribcage of a giant busted open with a sledgehammer. From the center of these bones came a tendril of ethereal darkness that instantly homed in on the last remaining Mettaur, grabbing it and quickly pulling it back inside the Mettaurus. As the bones closed around the smaller virus the Mettaur appeared to glitch before melting into the same neon green liquid that seeped from the Mettaurus' wounds. The opening in its chest closed and the wounds the virus had quickly dissipated, steam coming from them as they sealed back up. It was the virus hazard's turn now.

The Mettaurus tried to take a step forward only to be stopped by the small green digimon holding its leg. As it continued trying to move forward it flashed white for only a split second, and when it finished the thread caught on fire where it was connected to the virus, the fire quickly moving down the thread towards the digimon. The hazard then fired a few shots of its own buster at Ciel, the bullets moving at varying speeds, before turning to Fefnir and charging straight at him, moving as if a video game model was not synched to its walk cycle correctly, its legs moving at the wrong speeds for it to run as quickly as it was. It slammed into Fefnir with its helmet, though the impact was far less than its momentum would suggest. The attack did little damage to the navi but did succeed in knocking him back quite a ways. The virus then aimed at Kudamon, its buster's barrel glowing a dark blue as light seemed to be pulled into it. The Navi Operators would instantly realize that it was charging a shot, and the Digimon Tamers would likely notice this as well. The humans and their partners would have a few precious moments before the attack was unleashed to try to stop it.

C:\Expanse\Data\User_Data\Suzuki_Takada...

Kudamon narrowed its golden eyes at the Mettaur. The Digimon was too afraid to focus on the black glitch-y creature taking its initial steps closer to the group. Even so, a shiver jingled the talisman on its tail, "Keep your focus, Suzuki-chan!"

Trying to head towards Kudamon's commands, Suzi wearily tried to take her stare from the shadowed Mettaur. Her hand was fiddling with the prayer bracelet as a hypnotic nod silently bowed her chin up-and-down. Her mouth opened to ask a question, first addressing the Digimon by its name, but Kudamon shouted before her:

"Bullet Whirlwind!" The white monster swung its body at the Mettaur, once again. Suzi's fingers left her bracelet, and she covered her eyes with both hands. The Holy Cartridge smashed against the head of the monster, and the Mettaur let out some sort of sound before dissolving into small pixel-like cubes that seemed to evaporate into the atmosphere. Kudamon was already recovered from the attack when Suzi looked, peeping through her fingers. Slowly, she let her hands down, letting them huddle against her chest.

"B-But, Kuda-kudamon, what about..." She found difficulty in finishing her sentence as her eyes trembled at the Mettaurus L. It was already being attacked but showing very little restraint despite its opposition. Her fists clenched together. Suzi felt her toes pressing into the soles of her shoes. Her body was tense, and it seemed the only part of her that was working were her eyes. She wished to cover her vision with her hands again. Instead, she closed her eyes momentarily and drew in a deep breath.

"Suzuki-chan, Kudamon understands that you are afraid," Kudamon's voice tried to hold strong against all the fear he had, "But, you must not lose faith," the Digimon's eyes gleamed and flickered a silent trust between the two of them.

Suzi knew she had it in her. The determination from before was welling up. It had taken two strikes to take down the Mettaur, "We're in this together," she repeated slowly. A sheepish smile etched itself crookedly over her lips, as if holding in a cry.

"Thank you, Suzuki-chan," Kudamon nodded towards the tamer before twirling its body in the air and attacking the Mettaurus L with its Holy Catridge.

It's eating the other viruses!?

Ciel was relegated to watching the monster consume its kin, still struck with the shock of sudden cannibalism. And beyond simple healing, the beast looked as if it were preparing something nasty for their feeble entourage.

The abomination almost appeared to be charging some kind of attack, but the executable charged faster. As Aki still fumbled with her chips in a weak attempt to ready herself for the navi's next order, Ciel unleashed her guardian saber against the thick skin of the creature. The one-weapon-army blade of light sailed true to its target: the vulnerable neck of the cannibal software. And for a hopeful, wasted moment, the sword sunk deep into the flesh of the biomechanical fiend.

Aki didn't have time to celebrate. By the time realization reached the now-widened eyes of Ciel.exe, the eldritch horror had torqued the saber with a flex of its shoulders. The weight of the goliath's gesture sent grim fissures spiraling throughout the brilliant aquamarine edge as if it were nothing but rock candy to a violent child. The crevices crawled to the hilt of the blade and dematerialized the broken lifeline into the ghostly vapor of its underlying voxels. Before Ciel had the prayer of a moment to reorient herself, the ogre swatted the navi aside like a bee with a blunted stinger. A painful clack-thump preceded a newly-formed crater in the surface of the digital earth.

Ciel!!

A thousand thoughts bombarded Aki's mind at once. Was Ciel alive? Could any of them win this? Even if they did, would there be more? Were... were they all going to die? Her anxiety didn't have a chance to catch up to her fears. An injured, beaten hand erupted from the crater and levered its attached body out of the makeshift tomb. Ciel was still alive. Weakened and badly hurt, but alive.

Aki...

A barely-perceptible metallic twinge scratched at the corners of her voice. But Aki didn't care—the navi owned her full attention.

Holy Panel...

Aki couldn't afford to hesitate. With the zeal of a veteran, she ripped the battlechip out of her pack, marked by a red square surrounding a green hexagon, both encapsulated by the curve of a spiked blue circle. The battlechip slid cleanly into her Expanse Caller.

You've got it! Holy Panel, battlechip in, download!

The data instantly reached its destination in the form of a prismatic plane about twice the width of the navi's shoulders, a perfect square that shifted colors depending on how Aki looked at it. And in a move that probably surprised everyone else as much as it stunned Aki, Ciel didn't attack the colossus. Instead, she planted her feet firmly into the ground and hooked her arms upward between the virus' triceps and torso, carefully positioning its feet a step outside of the panel below her.

Now!! The navi shouted at the caravan of allies, her voice still tinted with battle damage. Her eyes lingered a moment longer on Fefnir and his flames. Kill it!!

Lily had always been enthralled by stories about heroes. Those brave men and women that could look death and danger in the eye and still come out on top. Certain annihilation was never a certainty, but rather a challenge. She had always wanted to be the heroine of that kind of story. Even if this world had been terrifying practically from the moment she landed here a small part of her had been filled with excitement. Surely there would be thrills and adventures around every corner.

Watching as Candlemon took the attack for her and to see the Mettatur aiming its buster at her and the other children sapped all of that away. Suddenly she found herself looking at a monster. A real monster, one that would kill her and everyone here if it had half a chance. She felt the sun at her face and realize that it was the attack the monster was preparing to fire. Candlemon was picking himself off the ground and Minomon was doing his absolute best to try and get another thread on the monster to no avail.

"They're so brave..." Lily whispered under her breath. She watched as the glimmer of a Navi struck at the monster and the other digimon, Kudamon, fired a ball of light right back at the monster. But she couldn't call anything out. She was rooted to the spot, her body shaking like a leaf.

Lily found herself dropping to her knees and covering her head. Tears of sheer terror ran down her face as she shook her head. She didn't want to die! Not here, not when she had so much of her life to live! All she wanted to do was go home and return to the safety of her normal life. Her heart skipped a beat as Candlemon's shadow loomed over her. The small digimon put its arms up, the flame of top of its head burning brightly as it acted as cover for her. Minomon was still at the monster's feet, unloading as much silk as he could to try and tangle up the monster.

"You don't have to be brave right now." Candlemon told her, and for the briefest of moments Lily could have sworn that the shadow cast by her new friend looked like a dragon. "Rely on them until you are ready."

Globs of hot wax flew towards the Mettatur, aimed right at the barrel of the gun. Lily watched as everyone around her fought against this monster. Protecting her, directly or indirectly. She clutched some of the dirt in her hands, putting her faith in those around her. Right now she couldn't stand, but she trusted that those around her would carry her until she could.

Before the Mettaurus could fire its blaster, its arm was struck awry by Kudamon's attack. Ciel took the opening to make an attack of her own, but only resulted in her being thrown aside and breaking the ground beneath her with the force of the toss. She stood back up as Aki used a rather ingenious chip to prepare Ciel for her attempted suicide maneuver, halving any damage she would take as she grappled the virus hazard. The virus responded by aiming its blaster at Fefnir, though Candlemon's attack hit first, blocking the barrel and causing the shot to explode inside of it, causing a massive explosion that damaged both it and Ciel behind it. As the smoke cleared from the blast the Mettaurus could be seen missing its right arm where the blaster had been, neon ooze coming from the stump.

Fefnir took the opportunity to command Enma to use a battlechip. In a moment his arm turned into a blaster as well as he fired off a Heat-V, the blast hitting the Mettaurus and creating a cone behind it, of which Ciel managed to avoid due to her positioning. However the virus didn't seem fazed by this attack, once again seeming to shrug off the flames. Noting this, Fefnir fired off several regular buster shots that opened up new wounds on the virus. As the Mettaurus was shot it began to struggle out of Ciel's grip, soon to shake her off.

It was at this time that Lily heard a strange voice. Sounding both male and female, quiet and loud, cruel and kind, it spoke to her and her alone. It asked a simple question. "Do you wish to survive?"

The question came into Lil's mind from...what felt like everywhere. She couldn't tell if it had been spoken by a man or a woman and she was unable to even get a read on its intention. In some ways it reminder her of her father at his best, and of her father at his worst. That duality of fear and comfort from the voice inside of her head made her visibly shiver. All around her the battle was seemed to slow down to a crawl with everything coming into focus. Her eyes went to the now gaping wound on the Mettaurus' gaping wound where his arm had once been. The bodies of the strangers she had just met were moving all around her and she could faintly smell the ozone from the attacks being hurled at the beast.

Yet none of that seemed to matter at right this moment. All she could fixate on was the sound of the voice inside of her head. She felt herself mulling over the question in a second but what felt like a thousand times. Did she want to survive? Would she survive? Did she even have a choice one way or another? Lily couldn't answer that. But her lips formed a single word in response. Then she found her internal voice as well as her external one.

"Yes..." Lily whispered beneath the din of the battle around her, "I want to survive. I want to survive in this place...' Tears rand down her cheek as the realization that this may be her only chance to survive. All she could do now was stand there and listen for the voice's next orders.

At this time Wormon had seen his opportunity to attack again. Using the cover of fire provided by the others, the little worm bit down hard at the Mettaurus' foot. Candlemon continues to pelt the monster with hot wax, however he lacks the same bloodlust that his partner does. Glancing back, the small digimon sees Lily standing in a trance like state. He calls for her, hopping over to remain close as Wormon presses the attack with a rare ferocity for the species.

C:\Expanse\Data\User_Data\Suzuki_Takada...

Suzi held her breath when Kudamon made its attack against the Mettaurus L. She only let go of hr breath when she saw a wound gnashed against the glitching creature's arm. The cry she had been holding was still quivering on her bottom lip, but she felt something inside of her lighten. She knew this feeling. It was not foreign to her, but it was weak. She wished for the feeling to grow stronger. However, Kudamon was throwing its Holy Cartridge at the Mettaurus L, again, and there, the dark feeling squeezed her chest.

There were other children spread about the area, but she hardly noticed them. They all had partners, different yet similar to hers. She dared not take her eyes from Kudamon. The act was held very much to the idea that if she stopped concentrating on the little white monster, their contract -- Suzi's faith -- would be broken, and all of a sudden, Kudamon would lose its power.

"... Go! Kudamon!" Her voice tried to project through the chaos. She was unsure if Kudamon heard her voice; but with the sparkle that the Holy Cartridge projected from the now blazing sun, she believed the Digimon had heard her; and her encouraging spirit was something of more than just helpful encouragement, "I believe in you!"

The navi held back with all her might before being cast to the ground by the sheer strength of this virus— monster— thing. Aki rushed to the side of the ruined navi.

Stay back!

Her voice was still broken and rusted. In pain.

I have to keep it off the Holy Panel...

Despite her wounds, the navi creaked to a standing position, her legs spasming every few moments as she dedicated her every process to rising. A light of hope beamed through Aki. She had read the stories, played the games. She knew this was how heroes won. How despite all the odds, all the pain, they rose up to fight again. And when their backs were against the wall, that's when heroes were their stronge—

Ciel collapsed, her leg erupting into a shattered collection of blue voxels. Packets of data flitted into the air, only to evaporate into the void of the digital world. And as she dropped, Aki's newfound confidence fell with her. If a navi, a creature specifically built to kill these monsters couldn't win, what hope could a normal girl like Aki possibly have? And as she watched her lifeline buckle, a sense of dread hit Aki like a bowling ball to the gut. An intimate uncertainty of what the future held, of how she would make it in this world. Of what she would need to do to survive. Her charge of survival instincts didn't last long. A familiar, cold feeling of acceptance washed through her, a tool that had often allowed her to cope with life's shifting tides. This might be unwinnable, and there might be no way out. She might die today. That's just how life was.

Then Aki would be ready to die.

Kudamon struck the Mettaurus with its strongest attack yet, managing to blow the rest of the virus' right arm clean off, exploding it into raw data. The force of the attack knocked the virus back just as Ciel's leg broke apart, causing it to fly out of her arms and over the Holy Panel she was standing on. An unfortunate truth became apparent; Ciel had taken a lot of damage from the attack as well, due to how she was holding the Mettarus. Her own right arm was now experiencing glitches from the damage, but the Holy Panel had done its job well, and she was still functioning even if not in fighting shape.

Lily's response to the voice was all it needed. The small box she held burst open with light, revealing a small golden lamp with a mischievous grin on its... face? Why did a lamp have a face? Smoke bellowed from it as the Mettaurus stood slowly back up from where it landed. Fefnir took a few shots at it to try to distract it from the weaker Navi and its partner near the Holy Panel, which itself was now dissipating. Soon the smoke that swirled around Lily rose to the air, revealing a new digimon.

"Your wish... has been granted!" the digimon proclaimed to all in the same voice Lily had heard a moment earlier, its lamp rising to float underneath it. "At a price."

The humans' Expanse Callers would speak out in their wearer's own voice once more, declaring "Lampmon, Ultimate-Level Demon Man Digimon detected." As soon as the message was said, Fefnir and Enma were turned to light, and in a flash that light was sucked into the small box that Lily still held which sealed shut once again. In return for this horrid act, a new light formed in front of the Mettaurus as it finished standing. Hideaki Saitou and his partner digimon, had been brought to the battle by Lampmon. Though their memory of the day until now was hazy, Hide would remember falling asleep after the strange call that each human had received in their own world, and his partners were already Child-Level as Agumon and Veemon. Perhaps these three would be enough to turn the tide?

Lampmon turned to Lily. "You still have two more wishes. But remember, everything has a price, and a consequence." it said, snapping its fingers as a small card with the same dimensions as the Capture Cards the children had found and a Battle Chip sized object appeared from light. The two both had the word "Wish" written on the front of them in golden lettering while the rest of the card and chip were a pure white. "Try not to waste them, and thank you for freeing me, young one!" With that said, the Lampmon returned to smoke and poured back into its lamp. As soon as it was inside, the lamp flew away into the distance.

C:\Expanse\Data\User_Data\Suzuki_Takada...

"Thank you, Suzuki-chan!" Kudamon looked at Suzi after its attack proved mature enough for the Mettaurus L. The raw data evaporated into thin air after the attack, and Suzi could feel the tug of emotions that she wanted to be stronger lighten the heaviness holding onto her chest. Her quivering lip was less melancholy. There was courage and hope, now in her expression, but still, a seriousness remained in her demeanor.

"Y-you're welcome, Kudamon," Suzi managed. She wished she had sounded stronger, but truth be told, she was still a frightened school girl. There were other things happening around her. She wanted to take her eyes from Kudamon and observe them. After all, she could hear them quite well. They sounded dramatic. However, Suzi still feared relinquishing her concentration from the Digimon. There was a power attracting her to the digital monster, and the thought of losing the connection remained a prominent concern.

"Of course, Suzuki-chan!" Kudamon nodded at its Digidestined. She was a chosen one, which meant she had the qualities to be a hero. Keeping its trainer focused was only the beginning of their relationship. This was no game. This was life and death. As of now, Kudamon's Digidestined was choosing life.

Kudamon looked back at the Mettaurus L. It's golden eyes shined bright. Another blow from the Holy Cartridge would prove helpful. There were others helping the attack, keeping the monster from the Holy Panel. There was no time to waste, and again, the white Digimon struck the Mettaurus with its Holy Panel. All the while, Suzi was adapting to the idea of all this happening. Her lower lip was a little chapped from her front teeth, but no longer was it being nursed nor quivering under the stress. She was beginning to believe in herself, as well.