The Hunters Strike Back

Jayr POV - Digital World, Realm of the Holy Beasts - 2001

As soon as Takato, Jianliang, and Terriermon realize that Andiramon is actually a Deva, they do not hesitate to rush toward Shaochung warning her to get away from it only for a D-Ark to appear in Shaochung's hands stunning and shocking all three of them.

"No way..."

"Shaochung is a Tamer? A Deva's Tamer, even?"

Meanwhile, the clueless little girl looks at the D-Ark in her hands and asks "What's this?"

But before someone could explain anything, a bright red light appears from far away and hits Andiramon, causing it to degenerate to its Child Level form Lopmon, making the cute Digimon calmly ask, "Have I been relieved from my duty?"

Lopmon is a cute bipedal lagomorph with brown fur that is striped with pink on its collarbone, paws, and the tips of its ears. 

Its most prominent features are its long, frayed ears and three horns on in its forehead, like a dog, it has black toes and paw pads. 

While it is primarily reminiscent of a rabbit, it necessarily shares design elements with its twin species, Terriermon, which is reminiscent of a dog. 

(Image Here - Lopmon)

While I'm looking at Lopmon, Jianliang is using the Digimon Analyzer of his D-Ark to identify it and reads out loud for everyone to listen, "Lopmon. Child Level. An extremely precious twin Digimon Child. Terriermon is the one with one horn growing from its head, while Lopmon is the one with three horns growing from its head. The way it grows is shrouded in mystery, and though it can be classified as a Beast-species Digimon from its body structure, aside from that it is still not understood. Terriermon has a calm personality but is very robust. In contrast, Lopmon has the personality of a lonely crybaby. Neither of them seem like "Combat Species" Digimon, but when battling, they show that they are more powerful than they appear. Its Signature Moves are generating a tiny tornado by spinning its ears like a propeller (Petit Twister), and its Unison Technique "Double Typhoon". Its Special Move is spitting out shots of supercooled air (Blazing Ice)."

At the same time, Terriermon and Lopmon start to look at each other while mirroring their movements as Terriermon mutters, "Same ears, similar face too... Ah, but I lose in horns."

Soon, Shaochung appears behind Lopmon and says with a bright smile on her face, "You're just like Terriermon! How cute!" before she hugs/crushes Lopmon and says, "We'll be great friends, right, Lopmon?"

But then she loses her balance and is about to fall on the ground, and seeing that, I do not hesitate to move next to her and stop her fall while saying, "Be careful there..." making her nod and say, "Thanks, mister..." 

After that, I leave Shaochung with Takato and Jianliang and take a moment to take a closer look at this realm, the Realm of the Holy Beasts.

It is an immense dimension, in the core area it has an enormous, bottomless gorge in the middle and the area around the hole is mostly composed of bare purple rocks, suspended above the hole, right in the middle there is a glass-like tear structure that is then connected by four different stone arcs to four different crystal-like palaces located in the four cardinal directions, each one with a different color and surrounding area.

Clearly, each one of these palaces and areas is the personal domain of one of the Four Holy Beasts, Qinglongmon, Xuanwumon, Baihumon, and Zhuqiaomon.

The East Crystal Palace is blue and is enveloped in dark blue clouds, the North Crystal Palace is green and is surrounded by a thick forest, the West Crystal Palace is brown and is surrounded by a mountainous area, and the closest one to our current position is the South crystal palace, which is red in color and surrounded by a bright red mist.

This enormous hole and fours domains are then further surrounded by an immense body of water that suddenly ends in an immense abyss that separates the core domain of the Holy Beasts from the rest of the realm, the only means that can be used to enter the core domain is through four bridges that can be accessed by passing through the four gates that look like spiked dome structures.

The rest of this realm is basically a world much bigger than Earth with many other different biomes and areas, but I don't focus too much on them as we are now in the liliac rock desert closest to the core domain. 

Soon, we all start to walk toward the closest gate, the south gate, and at the same time, I focus a little on what is happening around my Digimon Incarnation body.

The Digimon Incarnation's group is currently wondering if we'll be able to find my Main Body's group when Guilmon suddenly asks Leomon why he became Juri's partner, and Leomon redirects the question to Guilmon and Kyuubimon. 

Guilmon says that he's partnered with Takato because Takato created him, and Kyuubimon says that she chose Ruki for her strength but doesn't remember how exactly she got to the Real World in the first place. 

Juri apologizes to Leomon for not being a very strong Tamer, but Leomon declares that his partnership with Juri must have been "fate" raising one big death flag, Kenta also asks me again why I don't want to partner up with a human and him in particular, making me sigh and reply that I do not need or wish to have a human partner and that can easily evolve using my own strength something I already showed that I'm fully able of doing.

Meanwhile, we arrive close to the South Gate and Shaochung is now playing with Lopmon and Terriermon holding their ears and shouting with a big smile on her face, "Big ears, big ears! I wonder who has the biggest ears?"

At the same time, Jianliang mutters out loud, "My parents must be so worried now that Shaochung is here too..." which makes Takato declare, "We have to find Culumon fast so we can all go home!"

But soon more DigiGnomes start to fly around us and noticing them Takato exclaims, "You guys again! What is it?" while Jianliang comments as he remembers what Shibumi told us not too long ago, "The DigiGnomes... an artificial intelligence different from the Digimon..."

At the same time, Takato looks at a DigiGnome next to him and says, "Eh? What? I can't understand you..." while Shaochung exclaims, "It's those little guys from before!"

After a few moments of looking at them, Jianliang mutters, "If the DigiGnomes were the ones who materialized the Blue Cards in the Real World... Maybe they want something from us."

Hearing that, Takato asks, "Like what?" making Jianliang answer, "I don't know. But it must be something really important..." making Patamon comment in a very low tone, "Yeah, right. Something along the lines of saving the whole Digital World and the Real World from total annihilation at the hands of an all-erasing, wayward program... nothing too complicated."

While Patamon is saying that, the DigiGnomes start to fly across the bridge built to cross the bottomless abyss between this part of the Realm of the Four Holy Beasts and their core domain that leads toward the south gate making Takato shout, "Wait! I want to know more about Guilmon's location! I want to..."

But the DigGnomes ignore Takato and continue to fly undeterred, and seeing that scene, something comes to Jianliang's mind as he exclaims, "Ah!" before he looks at Lopmon and calls it out, "Lopmon!"

The cute brown and pink Digimon turns toward Jianliang and asks, "What is it?" making Jianliang ask, "Do you know anything about Culumon? Ah! Takato can you show to Lopmon Culumon's drawing..."

Hearing that, Takato quickly takes out a folded paper from his pocket, unfolds it, and shows it to Lopmon who looks at it and says, "Our god wished to retrieve the one who holds the Light of Evolution and to eliminate those who threaten the gods and this world, and for that purpose, they reconfigured fragments of Digimon data to create us Deva."

At this point, a confused Shaochung can't help but comment, "I didn't understand Lopmon at all..." making Jianliang calmly explain to his little sister, "Lopmon and the other Deva were created by the Digimon gods, Shaochung."

After that, Takato once again shows Culumon's drawing and asks, "Lopmon, have you seen Culumon?" making the Digimon directly reply, "I have. He was being carried beyond the Suzaku Gate."

Hearing the new term, Jianliang asks, "Suzaku Gate?" making Lopmon explain, "That is where our god Zhuqiaomon resides. It lies beyond this Great South Gate."

Listening to Lopmon's explanation, I finally realize, 'So that red crystal palace is called Suzaku Gate... which means that the other three crystal palaces are likely called the Byakko Gate, the Genbu Gate, and the Seiryu Gate... Come on, couldn't they choose something with a little bit more imagination, they basically just used their Japanese names!'

While I'm thinking that, Jianliang once again thinks out loud, "South... this is the domain of the Four Holy Beasts. Zhuqiaomon..." while Takato directly says, "That's where Culumon is. Let's go, Jian! Pucci-sensei!"

But soon, Jianliang shouts, "We can't!" before he looks at Shaochung and it is clear that he is worried about his little sister and is reluctant to approach it with Shaochung in tow.

Terriermon also notices this and quickly asks, "Momantai! Shaochung and Lopmon became partners, right?" making Shaochung bring out her D-Ark.

Suddenly, Lopmon rushes in front of the bridge and spreading its arms, it says, "I shall not allow thee to reach the Suzaku Gate!" making Takato mutter, "Lopmon..." but Lopmon stands in silence for a few moments before it says, "The power of the god who created me is overwhelming."

Hearing that, Jianliang states, "That god was the one who punished you." but Lopmon isn't affected by those words and calmly says, "Nevertheless, the power of the gods is great."

Shaochung moves closer to her partner and not understanding the meaning behind its actions questions the Digimon, "Lopmon?" making her partner explain, "I have gone against their will. However, I do not wish any more harm upon anyone."

At this point, Shaochung pats its head and says with a smile, "You're really nice, Lopmon." 

Terriermon then comments, "But then we can't rescue Culumon..." but suddenly the sky lights up as a thunderous sound is heard that scares Shaochung who hugs Lopmon and makes Takato exclaim, "Thunder!?" as the sky gets covered in ominous dark red clouds. 

I look up at the sky covered in ominous dark red clouds and sense what is about to happen, 'This clearly isn't some simple weather change but the result of a gate opening... Something is about to arrive, and it is very likely that Zhuqiaomon's hunters are about to make their appearance once more even more so as I sense the presence of Caturamon hidden among those clouds...'

At the same time, I watch as Takato looks at Jianliang and says, "Jian, I know you don't want to leave Shaochung alone. You're her big brother, so it's natural. So I'll go check with Pucci-sensei, Patamon, Wormmon, and V-mon." 

Jianliang looks down and mutters, "Um, I don't really like the idea of further separating our group, but..." suddenly Takato interrupts him and tries to quickly reassure him, "We'll be fine! If there's any danger we'll come back! If the Four Holy Beasts really are there, even if they are the strongest Digimon, I'm sure they want to protect this world. I think they'll understand if we talk."

Before they can come to a full decision, however, a sudden explosion happens nearby as something crashes on the ground raising a thick cloud of dust which makes all the kids scream and Takato exclaims as he tries to see through the cloud of dust, "Wh-What the!?"

Soon the dust clears revealing the menacing figures of Caturamon, Makuramon, Mugendramon, and Chimairamon who look at us and say one after the other.

"The time has come to carry out the mission assigned by the gods!"

"This is the end for you and that traitor!"

"Target located... Terminate!"

"Kill... Destroy... Rip apart..."

Seeing that, Takato exclaims in panic, "Caturamon! Makuramon! Mugendramon! And Chimairamon! Th-This is bad they are all here!!"

In response, Jianliang doesn't hesitate to grab his D-Ark and an evolution card and quickly swipes the card in the slot on the right-hand side of his D-Ark while yelling, "Card Slash!" once he completed this action, he yells, "Matrix Evolution!" triggering Terriermon's Matrix Evolution.

Terriermon's body starts to shine, grow bigger, and change shape as he yells, "Terriermon, evolve...! Galgomon!" but it doesn't end here as Galgomon's body continues to shine and change as Galgomon quickly calls out, "Galgomon, evolve...!"

Soon the light fades away briefly revealing his Perfect Level form as he calls out his name, "... Rapidmon!"

At the same time, I also grab my D-Ark and start to manipulate my Spiral Cosmo inputting it into my D-Ark as I say, "Patamon! Wormmon! V-mon! Let's go! Warp Evolution!"

I feel the D-Ark absorb my Spiral Cosmo and Emotions and transform it into Data, sending it to my Digimon Partners through our bond, and in response, their bodies start to shine in the light of evolution and grow bigger as they call out. 

"Patamon, warp evolve...!"

"Wormmon, warp evolve...!"

"V-mon, warp evolve...!"

Soon after that, the lights fade away as my Digimon Partners fully evolve to their Perfect Level and call out the name of their current form. 

"... Holy Angemon!"

"... Jewelbeemon!"

"... EXV-mon!"

After they have evolved, I don't waste any time and quickly start to give instructions, "EXV-mon focus on Caturamon! Jewelbeemon, Makuramon is yours! Holy Angemon you grab Mugendramon's attention and make sure that it doesn't target the other! Rapidmon use your speed to harass Chimairamon long enough for one of the others to come and help you!"

The Digimon all nod and follow my instructions all at the same time. 

Rapidmon quickly flies toward Chimairamon and starts to rapid-fire homing missiles from his arms and the revolver on his back, but as expected the missiles do not cause any damage to Chimairamon, who lets out a roar and starts to wave around its four arms trying to catch and crush Rapidmon who uses his smaller body and superior agility to dodge all of his opponent's attempts.

EXV-mon charges toward Caturamon who unleashes a wave of force from its mouth that hits EXV-mon but it is unable to stop his charge forcing the dog Deva to jump out of the way and forcing EXV-mon to chase after it.

Jewelbeemon flies toward Makuramon and doesn't waste any time in unleashing a combination of attacks with his spear, but Makuramon pulls out a staff and with great finesse and agility it is able to deflect and dodge all of Jewelbeemon's attacks.

Holy Angemon on the other hand, remains standing in front of me as he waves his hand unleashing his most powerful Special Move, Heaven's Gate, and manifests a door to subspace right above Mugendramon that generates a very powerful suction force that tries to drag Mugendramon into it, but just as Mugendramon is being pulled toward the circular door, it launches its left hand's retractable Booster Claw on a cable piercing the ground with it and using that it starts fighting the pulling force of the Heaven's Gate.

Witnessing this intense battle, Takato can't help but comment, "At... at a time like this... Guilmon... Why aren't you here?" 

Then seeing Rapidmon being hit by one of Chimairamon's arms and sent crashing into the ground, Takato calls out with a scream, "Guilmon!!"

At the same time, my Digimon Incarnation's group hears Takato's voice and a passing Data Stream appears, but through my senses, it is clear that the presence of this Data Stream isn't a coincidence but the act of a superior power, a familiar one at that, I recognize the presence of Qinglongmon behind this act. 

Anyway, hearing Takato's voice coming from the Data Stream, we decided to enter it so that we could reunite with my Main Body's group.

Soon after that, my Digimon Incarnation's group appears, having been transported by the Data Stream, and my Digimon Incarnation doesn't hesitate to rush by Rapidmon's side and drag it out of the way as Chimairamon shoots a heat ray from its mouth that luckily misses, but that also generates a powerful shockwave that knocks us to the side.

Meanwhile, Takato, noticing Guilmon's presence, happily exclaims, "Guilmon!" making the Digimon rush toward him while yelling, "Takato! I missed you!"

At the same time, Ruki jumps down from Kyubimon and asks, "What are you doing in a place like this?" but soon, notices the chaotic situation and sends Kyubimon to help Rapidmon and my Digimon Incarnation.

Seeing that, Takato makes Guilmon evolve into Growmon and join the fight together with Leomon and Guardromon, but despite the number advantage, Chimairamon continues to easily shrug off Kyuubimon, Guardromon, Kyubimon, Leomon, and Growmon's attacks while my Digimon Incarnation is helping Rapidmon back on his feet.

Watching these quick sequences of events and the current state of the other ongoing battles, I can't help but feel a frown forming on my face while thinking, 'This isn't good... Makuramon and Caturamon are putting up much more of a fight than I thought. I thought that they would have been as easy to deal with as the other Deva... But I dismissed the fact that until now all the Deva were defeated in the Real World where they were severely weakened. The only exception to this was Majiramon. But that was a Digimon that I defeated with my Digimon Incarnation, which can't be used as a fair comparison as, despite being at the Adult Level at the time and a lot weaker than my Main Body, it was still a lot stronger than the average Perfect Level.'

While I'm thinking that, Mugendramon shoots an energy blast from its right hand, forcing Holy Angemon to stop powering the Heaven's Gate and dodge the attack which in turn, frees Mugendramon from the pulling force of the Heaven's Gate.

With its newfound freedom, Mugendramon doesn't hesitate to open the hatch on its chest and launch dozens of organic missiles toward the group around Chimairamon forcing them to disperse in all directions to not be affected by the explosions.

Seeing that, I click my tongue while thinking, 'Damn it! Mugendramon is clearly the most dangerous and powerful Digimon among our enemies. Luckily the situation isn't so bad that I need to evolve my Digimon to their Ultimate Level yet... for now, I'll help Holy Angemon in containing and hopefully dealing with Mugendramon.'

Coming to that decision, my Digimon Incarnation burns and makes the Spiral Cosmo within the Digicore explode which results in the Digicore unleashing an incredible surge of Data, which I then use to make the body of my Digimon Incarnation evolve to the next level. 

The next instant, my Digimon Incarnation's body starts to shine in the light of evolution and grow bigger as I shout through that body, "Aegiomon, evolve...!" 

Quickly after that, the lights fade away as my Digimon Incarnation fully evolves to my Perfect Level and calls out the name of his current form, "... Aegiochusmon!" 

After evolving to the Perfect Level, my Digimon Incarnation quickly rushes toward Mugendramon as his horns unleash powerful lightings that shroud his fists.

Mugendramon notices the incoming threat and in response, it attacks by launching its left hand's retractable Booster Claw on a cable at my Digimon Incarnation, but I easily dodge it by jumping on the claw and continue running on the cable by speeding up even more and rushing into the machine Digimon's chest, he unleash a powerful lighting enhanced punch while yelling, "Bolt Break Knockdown!"

With a thunderous impact, Aegiochusmon's fist hits Mugendramon's head, but despite the power behind this attack that it is enough to obliterate a solar system, Mugendramon simply takes a few steps back before quickly counterattacking with its other claw but Holy Angemon rushes in and deflect the attack with his energy sword.

At this point, Holy Angemon and my Digimon Incarnation work together to constantly attack and put pressure on Mugendramon forcing it to focus on us, but still, its bullshit defense is quite annoying to deal with as no matter how much we try, we still aren't able to actually heavily damage Mugendramon which is quite something as our current output is enough to actually damage and even destroy a Gold Cloth, but on Mugendramon's parts the result is only chips and scratches.

But soon, I realized that I was too focused on Mugendramon as I suddenly heard a painful roar followed by Juri's scream, "Leomon! Nooooo!" 

Hearing that, I instantly focus back on Chimairamon's fight having a sinking feeling about what I'm going to see, and as expected, I see Leomon standing in front of a downed Kyubimon with his chest pierced by one of Chimairamon's arms.

Seeing that, I can't help but internally curse, 'What the hell!? I distract for a few moments and Leomon is already about to kick the bucket! Shit! I forgot that the fool pulled out a perfect Death Flag just before this battle! Damn it! I'm not going to allow him to die on my watch!!' 

While everyone is watching in horror as Leomon's body starts to dissolve into motes of Data, and Leomon is saying his idiotic last words to Juri, the angered Growmon prepares to fight and an equally angered Takato causes him to evolve into Megalo Growmon and declare, "We will kill it..." 

As Megalo Growmon starts to assault Chimairamon pushing it away from the dying Leomon, I quickly rush to Leomon and quickly start to diagnose him, 'Damn, the situation is quite bad. Chimairamon actually destroyed his Digicore. At the moment there are only broken pieces of it left, it is too late to heal Leomon... But not too late to save him!'

At this point, I do not hesitate and quickly use my Spiral Cosmo to envelope and gather all the pieces of Leomon's Digicore and then I start to manipulate what remains of his dispersing Data to regenerate the Digicore and form a Digitama that will nurture the Digicore until it is ready to generate enough Data to fully form a body.

This is almost the same process I used for all the defeated and killed Digimon until now, the only difference is that this time, I didn't purify the Data which will able Leomon to be reborn with his memory mostly intact. 

While I'm focusing on that process, I hear the furious Takato as he yells, "That's it! Go! Finish it!" but that is soon followed by Chimairamon's roar and the sound of Megalo Growmon's painful grunt, making me have an inkling of what is about to happen.

Soon after that, Takato yells, "You can't lose, Megalo Growmon! Damn it... you have to evolve more! Evolve! Evolve!!"

At this point, Megalo Growmon lets out a wrathful roar, and the mark on his chest begins to glow before his whole body is enveloped in a colossal pillar of fire that hides his body to the point that only the shadow of it can be seen, and quickly after that, Megalo Growmon's shadow changes shape and grows even bigger, and then the pillar disperse showing his new appearance that scares the kids and watching this scene, I sigh and mutter, "Haa... In the end, Guilmon's natural Ultimate made his appearance... Megidramon..."

Megidramon is a large reptilian Digimon, he has a long, red, and white serpent-like tail that forms the lower half of his body with a red thigh guard around his waist. 

His torso is covered in red and white metal, with white ribs around the sides and the Digital Hazard symbol displayed prominently in the center. 

His arms are also covered in metal, with large blades that run the length of his arms attached to his forearms, the Digital Hazard symbol displayed on his shoulders, and three claws on his hands. 

His head is red, save for his lower jaw, with two large spikes above its eyes and two wing-like ears behind his menancing red eyes. 

On his back, he has two large, red and orange dragon-like wings that are frayed near the ends. 

(Image Here - Megidramon)

The berserking Megidramon starts to look around at the various "preys" around him and releases a furious roar making Takato immediately realize that his negatively charged wishes have led to something bad.

Seeing that, I get up and sigh again as I hold Leomon's Digitama, and then I mutter, "Well... this isn't how I wanted this to go. It is really true that no plan survive contact with the enemy. Ok, time to get serious and fix this mess."