Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Reich Diaries - Freak Show ❯ Reich Movie - Freak Show ( One-Shot )

"Is there anyone in there?" The calls woke up the guard: a yellow aubergine shaped digimon with a blue and red feather like headdress, red eyes, a row of sharp teeth and tentacles. With a grunt he slid over to the large wooden door to the city and slid it open slightly.

"Yes, who is it. Whatever you're selling we don't want it. We don't want trouble." As he went to close it up a face appeared, the owner having to bend down. The face was fox-like with yellow fur tipped with white, blue markings and a priest-like hat. As the guard stared he felt the door opening on its own. It turned out to be a rather tall fox upright with priestly robes adorned with the yin-yang symbol.

"Hello I am Taomon. My circus troupe and I need shelter for tonight. If provided we would be more than happy to give the town a free show." The feminine voice was enough for the guard who slid aside letting her in. A motley group trailed in behind her ranging from a pair of burning men, one blue and the other more reddish-orange, to a chubby black possum with red gloves, shoes and a hat. In the possum's hands were a group of balloons with grinning faces on them.

"Here you go. If anyone asks where you got it, direct them to Opossumon." The smiling possum handed him a yellow balloon and followed after the rest of the group. He was still out of it when the village elder, Jureimon, approached. Jureimon was a giant withered cherry tree with a leafy moustache and a walking stick.

"Veggiemon, what are you doing? Who are they?" Veggiemon sighed as Jureimon wrinkled his brow even more. It was no secret that the Perfection level digimon was getting senile. And from the looks of it he hadn't had his afternoon nap yet.

"They say they are a circus troupe." Veggiemon spoke as loudly and as clearly as he could, earning a snigger from among the circus troupe.

"Hmm, and why did you let them in? We don't want strangers. We don't want anyone who could possibly want to hurt us let in." Jureimon looked at him calmly however Veggiemon sensed the anger in his voice. Could Jureimon still be going on about the thing he found all those years ago?

"I'm sorry. We are travelling the Digital World, my circus troupe and I. We travel from town to village putting on shows in exchange, purely for a roof over our head that night." Taomon's sleeve came up brushing lightly over Jureimon's face. Instantly it became as red as the cherries in the leafy bough on his head.

"Wuh wuh wuh, sure you can stay here tonight. We will let you stay tonight. I will even let you stay in my own house and will personally be sure to be in the front row for your show." Veggiemon snickered as Jureimon led Taomon off with him. The old digimon would do anything for a pretty digimon.

"Good bye, Veggiemon-guard." Opossumon pulled his red hat off and gave a bow to Veggiemon holding the hat low. Then he turned and he and the other members departed to set up for the show.

"Good bye Opossumon." Veggiemon turned around and went back to the gate, still holding the balloon. That's when he noticed something outside. So pushing the door open more he slid outside, only to find what he'd seen to be nothing more than a mere piece of paper. It was when he turned it over he discovered it to be more than just that.

"What the…" That's when the balloon he still held exploded. And in mere seconds he was immolated sending his data streaming away into the sky. But nobody heard this despite the explosion. But this was because they were all flocking to the main square, the circus was in town.

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"I must admit I'm impressed by your troupe's performance. I must admit that I never knew that a Meramon and a Blue Meramon could juggle each other's flames." Jureimon chuckled as Taomon gave off a demure giggle and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"The Meramon Brothers are one of our star attractions. They've been training since they were Meramon and Candmon. I thought you'd be impressed by them, most are." Her demure giggling quietened down as her face took on a more serious expression.

"What is it my dear? You seem so serious all of a sudden." Jureimon's face tightened as she looked away and blushed.

"It's just rumours say that you have something of great power in this city. I was just wondering if you'd ever offer to show me it. I would very much like to see what all the roaming digimon are talking about." Taomon turned away giggling once more as her blushing grew more intense.

"My dear I do not know what you speak of." Jureimon turned back to the show where the Meramon was doing a trick where he'd throw a fireball at Blue Meramon who would part a whole in his stomach for it to fly through. Then he returned the move letting Meramon separate.

"I'm sorry. I should not believe the rumours passed on by a group of Sorcerymon. I have never believed them before and I should not have done it this time. I am sorry for saying such silly things." She sat down once more making sure not to face the old Perfection level digimon. But he could see the sorry expression across her face.

"My dear, it is true. The Sorcerymon were right about my having an item of great power in my possession. However I cannot give it to you. I swore to Lady Rosemon that I would not let any other see it. And, although you have become very dear to an old digimon like myself in a very short while, I feel that I cannot show it to even you." Jureimon reached out with a branch-arm to place upon her shoulder.

"I understand. We've only just met. And I should have known that such a request would be too imposing at such an early stage of our relationship." She sighed turning away as he got a startled look on his face.

"Re… re… relationship? We have a relationship? But we only just met. What? What do you mean?" Jureimon looked away as his bark once more became red-tinged with blushing.

"Well I was thinking that maybe my time with the circus may be coming to an end. Increasingly my assistant Opossumon is taking over and learning more and more of my duties. Maybe I could stay here in this city? Maybe I could stay here with… with you." She turned away as her whole face turned red despite the fur.

"With… me? You would want to stay with a decrepit old digimon like me? But why? Surely you cannot be attracted to me? Why, I am sure there cannot be anything to interest you in this city or in me." He turned away too as she grinned like the fox she resembled.

"How about you show me the Belt of King Etemon and then maybe I'll show you something of mine." She helped him up and he directed her to the back room.

"I keep my item of power hidden inside the statue of Lady Rosemon. Wait how'd you know what it was called? No! You're not one of his followers. You can't be. Lady Rosemon wiped all of you out years ago." He spun around as sweat began to appear on his tree-like form. The digimon he'd fell in love with was using him.

"Please, you're a fool. And that lady was a fool too. And frankly there's a reason why I couldn't be in love with you." As Taomon said these end words Jureimon sensed the change in tone of `her' voice. She was in fact a he. And he was definitely not the digimon he'd fell in love with. He had no idea what this was.

"Lady Rosemon protects me. But I will kill you. None shall awaken the beast. I will give my life gladly for this cause. And you will soon give yours and those of your heathen group." Jureimon suddenly seemed to grow more youthful. He threw the walking stick away from him and his bark seemed newer than before.

"Hmm, seems you're not as old as you let on to people. But I'm not weak myself. Bring it on old man." Taomon grinned and let out a feminine giggle which soon turned into a masculine chuckle. Jureimon swelled in anger.

"Is this what it was all about? You pretended to be a circus just to gain entrance? Please, you could have gotten in without going to such lengths." He chortled as Taomon got slightly disgruntled. But the fox lightened up as an explosion was heard.

"Pretending? How dare you accuse me of pretending to be a circus? We are a true circus troupe. Of course we just happen to have being a cult as a hobby. Now I think that's enough small talk. After all, my assistant's balloons have already started exploding. Hmm, never knew that he managed to hand out so many of them." Taomon reached back to pull out a large paintbrush.

"You total and utter bastard. You'll pay a thousand times over for every lost soul. Ivy Attack." Jureimon reached up into his leafy bough and pulled a vine out. With a shout he launched the vine towards Taomon who grinned with fox-like delight and easily batted away the vine with his brush. Then he grinned more.

"My Master gives me strength. He gives all of us strength. Greater than any you could imagine. And I will demonstrate it to you now." With a yell he brought the brush round into Jureimon's side. For a second the wood held up against the attack. But this wasn't nearly enough and as Taomon pushed up the strength of the attack it ripped clean through Jureimon separating him. With a cry of pain both halves burst into data.

"Heh, I see the old pervert got what was coming to him. You did get the item first, right?" Opossumon happily floated into the room held aloft by his balloons. Taomon scowled before going over to the statue of Rosemon.

"Hmm, she's not as fun this way. I remember her as being taller and better looking; of course she wasn't made of stone either." With a grin and a laugh he swung his brush round and decapitated the statue. A leather bag fell out rolling on the floor.

"Well `Frau' Taomon. Seems like there's only one more to go, and then he'll return to award us." Opossumon laughed as well as Taomon stared covertly at the bag as if it were a god.

"Yes. And in his wake all his enemies shall fall. And only his loyal followers shall remain as those who stood with the bitch-queen all those years ago beg to be allowed to repent their sins. But he is unforgiving and cruel." And with a swish of his robes he left the room and the remains of the statue of Rosemon.

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DISCLAIMER - I don't own Digimon, that's pretty obvious. And the Diaries Universe is Lord Archive's domain; I just rent space from time to time - with his permission, of course. With that out of the way, enjoy!

Reich Diaries Movie - Freak Show

By Misc666

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"Nikolaus get up. Your thingy is beeping." Slowly Nikolaus Reinhardt opened his eyes to see the sun streaming through the window. Groggily he grabbed a shirt and moved over to his door. Frowning he noticed the clock showing that it was still early, although not by much.

"Yeah, mum. I'll get it. Just go back to bed. Sorry for it waking you up. I'll remember to leave it in my room next time." Nikolaus walked down the hallway passing his mother along the way, who gave him a dirty glance. Then he reached the front room where he'd left the D-Terminal after spending the night talking with Katrina, who was away visiting relatives elsewhere.

"Ughhh, who'd send me a message at this time? Although, admittedly I was going to wake up soon." He laughed sheepishly as he happily flipped open the cover revealing the screen.

"Unknown? Who the fuck is going to be sending me anonymous e-mails, and how'd they keep their address secret? Hmm..." Nikolaus scanned through the e-mail thoroughly, making sure he understood it correctly, admittedly it was hard to tell what language it had been wrote in originally due to the effects of it going through the Digital World.

"Hey, you don't know who I am. However I know something that might be helpful to you. Seems something has been going on in your part of the Digital World over the past couple of days. You might want to check it out and watch out for something they call King Etemon. I've heard rumours…" And that's where it cut off.

"Damn, well might as well get this done now since I'm up. Now should I get help? Wouldn't hurt." Putting it down he reached over to the phone and tried to remember the numbers.

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"Ah Katty, I see you've grown since last year." Katrina smiled as her grandmother pinched her cheeks. Behind her she heard her little brother stifle a giggle. At least she knew it would be his turn soon. And then she'd take relish in laughing at him. And in the end she'd have to hit him a couple of times.

"Yes Grand-mama. I see Grand-papa's not around. What's he doing now?" She sighed as the old lady's eyes brightened at this. Somehow she knew she shouldn't have asked the question before she did. Luckily her uncle was there to help her out.

"Ahh, Katrina. Good to see you. Anja and Ingrid are out in the garden, they really wanted to speak to you. Why don't you run along and go join them. You can catch up with your grandmother at any time." Katrina smiled as she ran off into the garden. In truth the twins were hardly who she'd pick to talk to but it beat another of the old lady's stories.

"But maybe I'll see Franz." She smiled at the idea of the twins' older brother who she got on with better than the two girls. Of course with him turning fourteen soon she didn't know whether he'd still be coming to these family reunions. Part of her wished these family gatherings didn't take place in such a random part of Germany and so early in the morning.

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"See that Karl? That's Santa Maria. It's the main cathedral here in Valencia and has an odd history. Apparently it was originally a mosque that was changed to a cathedral when El Cid conquered it. And then again the treacherous Muslims conquered it turning it into a mosque once more until finally another Spanish king re-conquered and the city and it's been that cathedral ever since. Back to the way it should be, proud and Catholic." Karl sighed as he mother energetically described the monuments of Valencia. Of course there was one problem.

"Mum, we ever going to go see any of these monuments or are we going to spend the day looking at the travel brochures? I mean, you wanted to see the `real' Spain which I'm sure isn't in our hotel room." She smiled sweetly as she began picking up her stuff to go.

"Well it's early morning and I'm just really excited. I haven't been to Spain since I was a little girl. I just want to get you as interested in it as I was back then." She seemed a little depressed as Karl waved his hands as if to disagree with her.

"No, it's not that I'm not happy to be here. It's just that I really want to go look at the monuments you've been telling me about… I'm really excited about it all is what I am." He grinned as she immediately went back to being cheerful. Quickly he grabbed everything he needed and together they departed the room. Briefly he cursed his sisters for being able to get out of this trip while he accompanied his mother.

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Tobias looked over at his bag where he'd left it and hoped his stuff was going to be safe. If anyone tried stealing it he'd be in shit with his mum for losing his new phone and all the other stuff he owned.

"Tobias, just do it. I've got stuff to deal with down here so I won't be going up in the air today. Enjoy yourself." The supervisor smiled kindly as she picked up his bag and carried it over to where she was sitting. Tobias sighed in relief safe in the knowledge that his stuff was going to be safe.

"Heh… don't worry I'll be sure to do enough for the both of us. I reckon I can make it back to the city just using this. Going to be hell getting back of course." Tobias gave a lopsided grin as eh ran towards the edge of the cliff.

"Hey, you make it to the city and I'll take you out to eat later. But I don't think I'm gonna have to worry at all. But go ahead if you think you can… little boy." She grinned as he yelled at her too late to do anything. In a second he dropped out of view, although she could still hear his voice.

As she saw the wind catch in the wings of his hand-glide she felt a vibration from his bag. Obviously someone had picked the worst time to try calling him. But it couldn't be amazingly important so he could call back later.

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Hans-Joachim Goeth suddenly heard a ringing sound. With a jolt he shot awake falling sideways and out of his bed onto the floor. With an angry expression he got to his feet and stomped over to where he's left his mobile phone last night.

"Hans-Joachim get the phone. Your father and I are trying to sleep," yelled a woman's voice from the room down the hallway. Hans scowled as he picked it up.

"Okay who the hell is stupid enough to call me at ten in the morning? And before you answer think about what you're going to say." Hans scowled as he heard a gasp from the other end of the phone. He knew that gasp from every time he talked to that person on the phone.

"Hey Hans, you gotta do me a favour. I need you in the Digital World." Hans felt his patience with Nikolaus slipping away once more. In theory he didn't like talking to Nikolaus let alone in the morning. Of course he did have respect for the other boy. If it was Tobias or Karl it would have led to him instantly hanging up.

"Why do you need me in the Digital World? There are four of you. I doubt that I'd be all that much help on top of that. So why don't you and the others do it without me and I'll go back to bed?" Hans was about to hang up and go back to bed when Nikolaus yelled for him to not put it down.

"No, I need you. The others are all away. Karl's gone off to Spain with his family and Katrina's gone to a family reunion as she does every summer. So even if I got in touch with either they wouldn't be able to get here any time soon." Nikolaus' tone was begging which made Hans that little bit happier about the conversation, but only a bit.

"And Kaufmann? Doesn't he normally help you out with this kind of thing? Why can't you two deal with it and leave me alone. After all I don't live in Berlin anymore if you don't remember. It's not like I can just run down the road." Hans felt the annoyance rising in him at having to keep talking to Nikolaus who just wouldn't explain what was going on.

"I just can't get in touch with Tobias, and at the moment I really need someone as soon as possible. As for you not being in Berlin. That doesn't really matter. After all in the Digital World our two points of emergence wouldn't be that far from each other and I can just meet up with you because you're closer to where I was told to go." Nikolaus seemed exceptionally happy as he said this causing Hans' mood to get worse.

"Fine I'll get Dokunemon and meet you there in a little while. Of course you better tell me everything otherwise I'm really going to hurt you, understand?" Hans ended the conversation before Nikolaus got a chance to apologise, or even worse say goodbye. Then he rummaged through his drawers to find his D-3, white with black grips.

"Hans-Joachim what are you doing?" asked the same woman as he walked past his dad's bedroom. Out of the door walked a slim brown haired woman with delicate features in her late thirties. Her delicate features were scrunched up into a scowl at the moment, not that Hans cared much either way whether she was happy or not.

"None of your business, woman. You are, after all, not my mother." He continued to walk on pushing open the door to his father's study where he kept the computer. In seconds it flickered to life and he had the Digital Gate program stating up.

"Hans-Joachim I may not be your mother, but I am your father's wife. And I expect you to treat me with the respect you'd treat your own mother." Hans noticed the slight bulge in her nightgown at the waist. Seemed like she was beginning to show what was happening to her.

"Woman, I don't care much for you and if you think I'm ever going to treat you and the baby inside you as members of my family and worthy of anything more than disgust you're pretty much deluding yourself." He brought up his D-3 and pointed it at the computer screen.

"Look Hans-Joachim. I'm not going to let you take that tone with me in my home. And I'm sure your father wouldn't like to hear you showed me such disrespect. After all I am carrying his second son." She reached out to touch his shoulder only for him to flick it away and laugh heartily.

"You stupid woman. When it comes to my father there's no way he'd pick your son over me. For a start he'd have two non-Aryan parents. The chances of him being Aryan like me are impossible. Frankly I'm my father's most proud possession; after all good-looking healthy Aryans are getting hard to come by in this day and age." He spun back round to the computer. But not before shooting her a disgusted look.

"Look, Boy. My husband loves me dearly. And if you take that tone with me again, I'll see what my husband thinks about kicking you out. It doesn't matter if a son is Aryan is he can't properly respect his parents. And anyway I doubt he'd be happy to hear his son had gone crazy and was pointing some plastic piece of crap at his computer." She let out a feminine laugh while Hans gave her a sick look.

"Woman, I really haven't got time to call you names. So instead I'm just going to tell you to fuck off. And then I'm going to go." He shut off all sounds of her response instead focusing on the computer.

"Boy, I don't know what you think is going to happen but you're being an idiot." Then the screen flashed and by the time the light subsided and she could look once more Hans had disappeared.

"I was better off when the newspaper printed his fucking obituary. Why the hell couldn't he get run over by a drunk driver?" Silently fuming she walked out of the room.

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"Hans. Over here. Come on buddy, hurry up." Hans scowled as Nikolaus stood at the top of a hill with his partner, Agumon, and yelled stuff at him to get him to hurry up. But it wasn't even seven yet and Hans was still pretty groggy from waking up. Frankly he couldn't stand seeing cheerful people at this time of day.

"I'm coming." He yelled this to please Nikolaus before bending down to pick up his own partner who, as he was bug shaped, was only able to slowly crawl along the ground. Hans picked him up and held him in his arms as he walked. Sighing he felt Dokunemon snuggling in his arms. How the strong had became weak, although the extra bit of warmth was pretty nice.

"Can't we go back to sleep? I'm tired. And I was up late talking to a pretty little Tentomon last night." Dokunemon's whining was also getting pretty annoying by now.

"Oh, a Tentomon? And what were you talking about? And why at such a late time of night?" Hans decided he didn't want to as he felt the warmth grow as his partner blushed. Why was his partner so depraved? And it would explain the feelings he got while trying to sleep.

"Come on you lazy sod, you said you wanted to know what was going on. If you don't hurry up I won't tell you." Nikolaus grinned and Hans wondered if he actually thought he cared. After all he only wanted to know if he actually had to do anything. Normally he was content to just hear about it later or read it off the message board if it was important. If there was a choice between sleeping and not knowing or knowing but having to come out he rather not know. But if he was the only one who could help he really had no choice in the matter.

"Do we really have to do this now?" Hans wasn't surprised to hear Nikolaus' own partner complaining. He'd heard how while Nikolaus liked waking up early and getting a start on stuff his partner, Agumon, would prefer to sleep until midday and then waste away the afternoon in the sun.

"Yeah, I agree with the dinosaur. Let's all go home and sleep." Hans sighed as his partner jumped out of his arms in his eagerness to agree. With a splat the insect digimon hit the floor.

"So anyway, idiocy aside. What's going on? Why do I have to come and help you at such a god-awful time? And hurry up, I haven't got an amazing amount of patience unless you've gone and forgotten that all of a sudden." Hans tapped his foot impatiently as Nikolaus looked at him sheepishly.

"Hmm, I got an e-mail… it was anonymous, as in it refused to tell me the sender. I didn't even know someone could do that, I'll check in with Karl later. But that's not the point. Anyway, he said that apparently there's some group causing trouble around here somewhere. And since he said there were rumours of several Perfection level digimon in their group I thought it'd be better to look into it soon." Nikolaus waved dismissively as Hans growled.

"So you don't know what kind of trouble's being caused around here. And yet you still wake me up to come `check' it out. If I wasn't up all ready I'd go home and back to bed right now." Hans sighed as he sat down on the ground. Dokunemon promptly fell asleep and began snoring.

"Well that and apparently there were rumours of some digimon called King Etemon, apparently it shook up some of the digimon that told Alan. So maybe it's a bit important." Nikolaus didn't notice the look of dread that passed over Agumon's face. But he did notice Dokunemon shoot awake.

"King Etemon, where have I heard that before? Something special…" Dokunemon trailed off trying to remember. Agumon nodded in agreement as he tried to remember.

"But the point is that, although normally I'd go and check by myself happily, there's something that just gets me about it. And I just feel more comfortable bringing someone with me. Anyway he said to look into a nearby Plant city; apparently something was supposed to have happened there." Nikolaus pointed over the horizon into the distance where Hans fought he could see something.

"So how far is it?" mumbled Dokunemon as he rolled over while lying on the ground. Hans meanwhile continued looking where Nikolaus had pointed, as he was sure he had seen something just seconds before.

"You know, when you say that something happened I'm afraid I may just have to agree. And I'd rather I was wrong. Would you say it's about a mile or two over there?" Nikolaus cocked an eyebrow as Hans asked the question and started looking in the same direction. But it was Agumon, who held up his nose, who was next to speak.

"I smell burning." The others didn't look in surprise as Agumon said this. Nikolaus had, alone, learnt time and time again that you didn't doubt it when Agumon smelt anything. He'd been saved before by Agumon's quick smelling and indeed once it had been while fighting Hans and Dokunemon.

"Burning? Do you think it's the city?" Nikolaus looked with a surprised expression at Hans. He seemed to be slightly worried, somehow.

"Hans, if I didn't know you any better I'd say you were worried. Of course personal experience leads me to guess that you're worried because you won't be able to go back home if it turned out that something was going on." Nikolaus grinned at the glare Hans shot him.

"Well shall we go?" said Dokunemon as Hans leant down to pick up the insect. With a sigh Hans set off walking and after a few seconds Nikolaus and Agumon ran after them.

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The sight was horrifying, or at least would have been to someone who hadn't seen it before like the two of them. The city seemed to be made mostly of wood and as such it had burned quickly. But the fire still raging in some parts showed that it was recent.

"What happened? Who could have done this?" asked Nikolaus pushing aside a charred board that had at one point probably been the front door. Now it was just a burnt piece of wood barely holding itself onto the walls.

"A lot of digimon could have done this, although admittedly fire digimon aren't a common thing in this part of the digital world. And it's unlikely that some digimon would have decided to waste time burning it down. Of course if they were a fire digimon themselves it would have likely happened while they were fighting." Nikolaus was impressed by the knowledge Dokunemon was showing.

"Hmm… how many fire digimon do we know of that have been sighted in this area? How about… Shadramon." Agumon grinned as Dokunemon shot him a dirty glare. Hans growled.

"Are you trying to make a joke, Big Nose? I'm not really in the mood for jokes about us today." Hans sighed as he turned away. Nikolaus meanwhile had run into the city leaving the three behind him. When they noticed this they began searching for him but to no avail.

"He's probably gone into a building. Although why he'd be stupid enough to do that when the buildings are still on fire is beyond me, although he's not the smartest human I've ever met. Admittedly he is of course better than most." Agumon nodded agreement as the two of them checked down an alleyway.

"Hey you three I've found something. I'm in the big building." The three of them shrugged as they followed Nikolaus' calls to a large building. Thins one seemed more intact than the others, mostly because it was stone. However the balcony seemed to have broken off and a mural on the wall had been defaced. Dokunemon looked at said mural in shock.

"Hey Dokunemon what's wrong with that?" asked Agumon as he walked up to look at it. He could just see a splash of red on it and maybe some green.

"When Gran Kuwagamon's armies were spreading out across the Endless Forest they came across many cities, towns and villages dedicated to Rosemon. Obviously they couldn't let such villages exist and many were burned to the ground. One thing they always did though was to deface any statues or portraits of her." He gestured to the mural which the other two finally realised was in fact of Rosemon, which made sense with it being a Plant city.

"But the rumours were about a digimon called King Etemon. Why would digimon admiring him want to deface Rosemon?" asked Hans as he tried to work out what the mural would have looked like beforehand. However the damage was too extensive for him to even imagine it in its former glory.

"Well they were, after all, only rumours. How do we know that the group doing it all isn't some group trying to bring back Gran Kuwagamon's reign?" Dokunemon's comments seemed to scare Agumon. But for some reason Hans seemed to see no problem in that.

"That's pretty unlikely. If you don't remember all the bugs in this area call me their leader now, for some reason. If they were to do something I'd know about it. And any other non-bug digimon wouldn't have anything to do with him." Hans sighed as Agumon pondered this.

"Hey you guys get in here. I found something you may like to see. And it has quite a bit to do with the mural out there, the one I'm sure you lot saw." Hans left his thinking behind and headed inside. There he found Nikolaus standing over a piece of marble.

"What are you looking at?" Hans got his answer as he got closer. It was in fact a marble statue of Rosemon. The body of it seemed to have been caved out and it had had its head pulled off.

"I'm thinking that there was something in here. Why else would it be hollow? Maybe that's why this city was singled out." Hans noticed that Nikolaus mostly seemed to be speaking out loud and that he wasn't really directing it at him but at anybody in the room.

"So? You think there was something in there that somebody wanted? Something that Rosemon left here? It would explain why they defaced the mural of her, they were probably angry at her taking possession of it." Hans looked down at Nikolaus who was thinking about this. Then suddenly the wall moved slightly and a gasp was heard from it.

"The wall's hollow," pointed out Dokunemon as they heard the sound of someone running away.

"Well that's easily solved. Agumon… Digimental up." Nikolaus whipped out his D-Terminal, which had a glowing screen by now.

"Agumon armour evolve…" Agumon turned into a bow-armed centaur like lizard with black and red armour and flame patterned gauntlets.

"…The archer of celestial hope, Sagittarimon." With that shout he let loose with several arrows, which hit the wall in a vertical line. A thud was heard as whatever had been running along behind hit them and fell over.

"Okay, get it out of there." Sagittarimon nodded at Nikolaus and thrust his gauntlet through and grabbed the thing hiding behind. What he pulled out was definitely a plant digimon. It had a green bulb like body with root like legs, petal fingers with stamen in the middle of the hand and what looked like a helmet made of red petals on its head.

"Please don't kill me. I didn't know you were still here. Please don't." The feminine voice stopped them in their tracks as Sagittarimon let go of her. With a squeal she jumped into the corner and hid there.

"Wait, we don't want to hurt you." Nikolaus looked in shock as Hans reached out a hand. The digimon noticed him and reached out to take it.

"Humans? You're the humans who saved us all from Gran Kuwagamon aren't you? And you're here to help us once more aren't you?" The little digimon got even happier as she threw herself up and wrapped her arms around Hans' neck. The other three grinned at the irony and Hans' discomfort.

"You're a Floramon, right? Yeah we defeated Gran Kuwagamon. What's going on? Who did all that?" The now devolved Agumon helped the female digimon to the ground and waited for her to start.

"Well they came after one of the items that Elder Jureimon kept in his possession for Lady Rosemon. It apparently is needed to bring back King Etemon…" she trailed off as the others looked on expectantly.

"And, then… How'd you know this? And who were they? And what exactly is King Etemon?" Nikolaus looked rather eager as he leaned in close.

"Well I only know about it because I was the Elder's aide. But I don't know anything about the group apart from that they…" An explosion rocked the building. However the wall closest to Floramon exploded sending dust everywhere. As they all got back to their feet they saw a fat possum like digimon jumping away with Floramon.

"Naughty little flower bud. Were you about to tell them about my friends and me?" She looked pleadingly at him. But to no avail and from their distance they saw her head tear away and turn into data along with the body.

"How could you do that? Okay Agumon once more. Time for you to become Tyranomon and show that thing a lesson." Agumon nodded as Nikolaus pulled out his D-3.

"Hmm… Dokunemon you better help him out." Dokunemon looked over as Hans pulled out his D-3.

"Agumon evolve… Tyranomon." Agumon's form changed as he evolved to his adult form, a giant red dinosaur with green scales and large claws.

"Dokunemon evolve… Yanmamon." Dokunemon also evolved to adult, although his was that of a beige/sickly yellow dragonfly with bulbous green orbs for eyes.

"Hmm… it's a shame but I don't have the time for you. But I'm sure Meramon and Blue Meramon could give you a moment of their time." Another explosion was heard as a pair of flaming men appeared, one blue and one more traditionally red/orange. Obviously they were the Meramon's the possum was referring to.

"Blue Meramon is a Perfect level digimon. It's going to be a lot harder unless one of evolves as well." Neither Nikolaus nor Hans seemed to pay much attention to Yanmamon's comment or to Tyranomon's nodding in agreement.

"Let's see how it plays out. Meramon should be no problem and then we can gang up on Blue Meramon. Hey Hans you want to get rid of Little Man while I keep Big Man busy?" Nikolaus grinned and from the dull expression somehow he recognised that as a `yes'.

"Hmm I guess I'll get this started, you don't stand a chance. Magma Bomb." While they discussed who'd fight who, the Meramon had easily crossed the distance as a ball of flame began to build up in his palm getting bigger and bigger. As it reached maximum size he tossed it at them.

"Well looks like he wants to play." Yanmamon brought two of his front mandibles with a sharp claw at the end of each. With ease he slashed through the ball of flame making it dissipate. Then he charged forward himself hitting the Meramon with his tail sending him falling backwards to the ground. Despite this the Blue Meramon barely paid any attention to what was going on and made no attempt to move.

"Umm… shall I attack him now? Or should I wait?" Nikolaus shrugged at Tyranomon's question. Frankly he was clueless as to what was going on and wanted to know what the Blue Meramon was thinking fist.

"Thunder Ray." Yanmamon brought his tail around sending a spark of electricity shooting down at Meramon. But the Meramon showed agility it hadn't seemed to possess before and leapt out of the way.

"Heat Wave. Burning Fist." A two pronged attack from Meramon as he used a wave of heat to temporarily distract Yanmamon before hitting him hard with his fist sending the bug to the ground.

"Hmm, seems it was harder than normal Brother." Blue Meramon laughed at the expression Meramon threw him.

"Please was there any chance I wouldn't defeat him? We are The Great Meramon Brothers. From our days as Candmon and Meramon we worked hard and tirelessly. There is nothing that could hope to defeat the two of us." Meramon started laughing and Blue Meramon joined in. It was a great surprise as Hans began laughing as well.

"Idiots, don't you know that you never turn your back until you've won. See that's what did in Gran Kuwagamon, arrogance." Hans' laughing grew more intense as angry expressions appeared on both Meramon.

"What are you…?" Meramon turned too late to change his fate.

"Somersault Kill." Yanmamon leapt up and brought his tail straight down, through Meramon who was split from top to bottom with both lying away from each other. Then they turned into data.

"You killed… you killed my brother. I'll kill the two of you. Cold Flame." In his anger Blue Meramon launched a ball of blue flame. But when it struck Yanmamon it wasn't fire but ice. And as it hit Yanmamon felt himself freeze instantly, and as he hit the ground it was in a piece of ice.

"Fire Breath." Tyranomon tried spitting a fireball out at the blue Perfect. However, it just let loose with a blast of cold air which made the fire dissipate.

"Feh, you don't stand a chance against me. Ice Phantom." The cold wind got more focused and struck Tyranomon sending him flying backwards. The two boys began to feel the cold as it washed over them.

"Well at least the fire is dying down." Nikolaus' poor attempt at humour didn't get a rise out of Hans. However the neo-Nazi did have a vicious grin on his face as he reached into his shirt. Nikolaus realised what he was doing as he pulled out a bronze key with a sixth of a circle at the end.

"Okay, let's see how you handle someone on the same level as you, you waste of data." As Hans held up the key it began to glow as the sky darkened. All that seemed to be left was just a little light on the western horizon coming from the barely visible sun.

"I'll never get used to it when that happens." Nikolaus looked over at the block of ice which seemed to be chipping away. Inside glowed a dim light.

"Yanmamon super evolve…" The digimon that emerged from the ice in a shower of shards was a tall humanoid with a green armoured carapace covered in yellow jewel-like orbs, his head had red eyes, two fine antennae and long white hair came out from the back. Four fine wings were on his back and he had two grasshopper mandibles that ended in points on his arms and a more humanlike pair of hands that were hidden underneath, both hands held onto a pole-arm with a red pointed blade at the end with four other points coming off.

"Jewel Beemon." Blue Meramon look on unimpressed while Jewel Beemon started practice thrusts with his pole-arm.

"Damn, you got to evolve to Perfect only a month ago. Why don't I get a go?" Tyranomon sounded odd whining, which brought a smile to his partner.

"Well next time we need someone to start a fight with another Digi-destined and his digimon I'll make sure you're the first to know, buddy." Nikolaus grinned at the memory while Hans sighed loudly realising it was a joke about him.

"Would the peanut gallery shut up and let Jewel Beemon do his thing. This battle is already boring me and I really can't be bothered to waste any more of my morning in here. I spent enough time here last winter." Hans sighed dismissively as his partner stared down his opponent.

"Ice…" Blue Meramon didn't even get an attack off before Jewel Beemon struck him hard in the gut with the butt of his pole-arm. Then as he keeled over he brought it up into his face knocking him backwards. Then he brought it into the Perfect's side knocking him about again.

"I don't like being stuck in a block of ice. Now somebody has to pay. Spike Buster." The blade of the pole-arm glowed a vicious red as Jewel Beemon shoved it downwards through Blue Meramon's chest. It exploded with data and when it settled nothing was left of what had been Blue Meramon.

"Well it looks like that damn possum got away and we're back to square one. Looks like we have to start again. And we don't know what they're after." Nikolaus watched downhearted as Jewel Beemon devolved all the way down to the sausage-like digimon known as Tokomon as he set about trying to work out their next step.

"Well if it has something to do with Rosemon, then there are three possibilities of where we could look; the place where her attendants lived, her own home and the glade that the three of them are waiting to be reborn in." Everyone was surprised by Agumon's clever idea.

"Hmm well why don't we check the glade? It is the logical choice. After all we can check in on Rosemon, look for some kind of item and maybe see some trees for once. It is practically one of the only patches of trees left around here at the moment." Everyone agreed with Nikolaus as they began to set off for their next destination.

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The party of four looked over at the golden statue of Xuanwumon that was the focus of this glade. On it rested the three digitama that were once Rosemon, Gran Kuwagamon and their brother. There they waited for the day they would be reborn and reform the forests. But for the time being they were stuck in the form of these eggs.

"Well does anyone see anything out of the ordinary?" asked Hans gesturing with his arms. Indeed Nikolaus found himself unable to see anything that looked out of the ordinary. But this was probably because he'd seen it like this before and it was difficult to believe that whatever they were looking for wasn't there last time.

"Well what would a king have? If they need items to bring him back they're going to be stuff that a `king' would have. So look for anything like that." Hans raised an eyebrow before going on with looking for stuff. But pretty soon it seemed unlikely that they were ever going to find it if they didn't know what they were looking for.

"Well this isn't going too well, is it?" moaned Agumon as he sat down on the red and white rug in front of the statue of the Holy Beast. Nikolaus frowned as he came over to sit next to him.

"Well I think we have to accept one of two possibilities. Either that possum got here before us and took it already; however I don't think I can see anything missing since the last time we were here. Or there was never anything here for us to find." Nikolaus frowned as he said this, not totally happy at having these choices.

"Or maybe we just aren't looking hard enough. Maybe it's hidden inside the statue. Just like with the Rosemon statue. Shall we break it open?" Hans grinned maliciously as he began to pull out his Digimental. Nikolaus looked at him with a disapproving glare, which caused Hans to stop.

"The statue of Xuanwumon is what will lead to bringing back those three. They wouldn't have hidden something inside it. Besides there's no way of being sure about it anyway, and it's best not to try our luck." With a sigh Nikolaus sighed and lay back on the rug relishing the velvety feel of it.

"You know, this is really good. I can't imagine that they'd use something like this as a mere rug." Nikolaus faintly nodded agreeing with his partner's sentiments.

"Hmm… what the hell could we be looking for then?" asked Hans who didn't seem to pleased as his partner walked over to the rug and started snuggling up against it. And why weren't they trying harder?

"Well he probably has a crown. Every king has one. Maybe a sceptre, suit of armour, cloak? Those kinds of things are the stuff a king would have. Of course who knows what a king in the Digital World would have? Or even whether he's based on a human king." As Hans continued listing problems Nikolaus began thinking. What had they not paid close attention to?

"Hey, would a king's cloak be made of really good quality material?" asked Nikolaus causing odd looks from the others.

"Well most probably. If you're king you can have anything you want. So it would probably be a fine fabric of red or purple, good royal colours. And then maybe fur lining. Of course this is human kings of course. Why'd you ask anyway?" Hans' eyebrow raised itself at the grin plastered over Nikolaus face.

"Well I just realised that the rug below us is a perfect example of what you just described. I think we've found King Etemon's cloak. Go us." With dramatic flourish he leapt up and grabbed the corner of the cloak. Then he pulled it out from underneath the two digimon and spun it around his shoulders.

"All hail Emperor Nikolaus I. Your majesty I await your command." As Agumon mock bowed to his partner Hans felt all hope in the human race leave him. Why were they wasting doing such a stupid thing when there was an easy way to stop whoever from getting it.

"Nikolaus, let's get back to the Real World. We can just put it anywhere and it'll be impossible for them to get at it. So let's go do that now." Hans' strict tone stopped Nikolaus instantly.

"Well you don't have to be like that. It's not like we're in trouble of losing it now." Agumon grumbled as Nikolaus rolled up the cloak and held it under his arm.

And that's when all hell broke loose. They all heard a booming sound followed by the sound of something cutting the air. And then something pink struck Nikolaus. And it continued to rain these pink things down on them striking all of them heavily. But eventually, after hiding behind the statue, Nikolaus was able to see what was falling on them. A group of pink mice thrown by what seemed to be a panda on top of a nearby hill.

"Seems we meet again. But I think I'll be taking that cloak. Thank you." Balloons exploded around Nikolaus as he felt a tugging on the cloak he'd found. One explosion came dangerously close to him and knocked him back. This was the opening for whatever had attacked him to grab at the cloak and successfully pull it loose.

"Damn you… who the hell are you?" Nikolaus continued to brush away smoke as the attacker revealed himself to be the possum from earlier. The possum grinned malevolently as he held the cloak close to him.

"Ah… I have yet to introduce myself, haven't I? Well then I guess this is the time to introduce myself. And my dear colleagues up there." The possum pointed to the panda that had begun walking towards them, looking more dangerous as it got closer and closer. Nikolaus got a feeling this was going to be a lot different to the pandas on Earth, for a start it didn't look as docile as all the ones he'd seen before.

"Look just introduce yourself and the bloody panda over there and then shut up. I don't know what you are, but frankly I can't see you being much of a challenge. So it's probably a good idea if you just give us that cloak and run along." Hans growled as Nikolaus saw his hand gesturing for him to get his D-3 and D-terminal ready. Obviously he wanted to launch a surprise attack while the creature was talking.

"Fine, well I am Opossumon assistant to Taomon, head of the greatest circus troupe anywhere on the Digital World. And that panda is Pandamon, our foreign trapeze artist and his group The Flying Chuumon." Nikolaus assumed the pink mice must be Chuumon.

"So why does a circus troupe want to bring back some long dead digimon? And who exactly is King Etemon?" Dokunemon said this while keeping his eye on his own partner, ready to do whatever his partner wanted in an instant.

"Hmmm… King Etemon is our glorious lord who will return to us and slay all our enemies. And with this item in our control there is only one more needed to bring him back. And while I'm dealing with you Taomon is busy finding out the location of King Etemon's crown. You don't stand a chance, my friends." Opossumon let out a manic giggle as Hans scowled. This was the opening he'd waited for.

"Dokunemon… Digimental up." Hans' hand whipped around him, holding the D-terminal firmly. On the screen the image of the Digimental of Darkness glowed a pale black.

"You too Agumon, Shadramon can deal with the possum but I guess it's up to us to deal with the panda." Nikolaus brought up his D-3 but didn't bother with his D-terminal. He wasn't sure what level the Pandamon was but he didn't want to take any chances with it at all. If needs be Master Tyranomon would just rip its head of as he'd done to others before, and Pandamon wasn't exactly large.

"Dokunemon armour evolve… Exploding with Darkness, Shadramon." The creature that emerged from the dark flame vaguely resembled a cross between a dragon and a butterfly. This was all made more horrifying by him being made out of a intense flame from head to toe.

"Agumon evolve… Tyranomon." Once more Agumon evolved into the larger dinosaur form of Tyranomon, ready to fight Pandamon and his little friends if needs be.

"Sorry but if you want to fight me you'll have to chase me. Of course Pandamon isn't going to make it easy for you." Opossumon began floating away as Pandamon said something to one of the Chuumon, the one who seemed to be in charge out of them due to standing on Pandamon's shoulder and not being thrown with the rest of them.

"Damn it, me and Shadramon will chase after him. You and Tyranomon can fight the panda." Nikolaus scowled as Hans began running off. As he reached the forest Shadramon dipped down to pick him up before shooting off.

"Heh… stupid boy think he can defeat Opossumon. It already over." Pandamon's comments brought Nikolaus back to his senses as he turned to face his opponents. Eventually he came to the decision about how to handle this fight.

"Well Tyranomon I'm guessing he's Perfect. We'd better knock it up a notch." Nikolaus dipped into his pocket and withdrew the golden key with a semi-circle at the end. Holding it up he grinned while his D-3 began to glow. Tyranomon also began to glow with the same kind of light. The sun fell down to the ground in the East where it began to rise like it did in the morning, shining out across the scene.

"Tyranomon super evolve…" Tyranomon's rough red skin became a dull silver colour as the markings along him changed from black to red. Then he began to swell in size until he was roughly double the size of his Adult form. However most of him stayed the same, like his blue eyes. On his chest appeared a cross-shaped scar.

"Master Tyranomon." He growled down at Pandamon who was nearly half his size and the many Chuumon who were way smaller than even Pandamon, not even as big as Master Tyranomon's claws.

"So… you've become bigger. Pandamon, you know what to do. Crush him." The Chuumon on Pandamon's shoulder was rapidly beginning to appear to be the brains of the group.

"You don't have a clue, do you? There's no way you stand a chance against me in this form. I'm one of the digimon who defeated Gran Kuwagamon. Of course I don't mind letting you try." Master Tyranomon grinned a giant toothy grin as he stared down at his opponents.

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"Well looks like Nikolaus decided to make it more of a fair fight already." Hans nodded his agreement with his partner's statement as they looked over to where the sun was rising. Something they'd seen several times before.

"So, does this look familiar to you?" asked Hans cautiously as they saw Opossumon stop running by the edge of a large hole. Around it rested several other digimon.

"Yup, looks like a massacre." Hans slid to the ground as his partner shot forwards. Flames shot everywhere as Shadramon annihilated a couple as he chased Opossumon. The possum jumped down into the darkness of the hole as Shadramon finished off the remainders up top.

"Shadramon I think we're going to have to go down and get him. But I do get an extremely bad feeling about this." Shadramon nodded as he picked up his partner and descended. As they got to the bottom it became clear that even Shadramon's flames weren't a match for the lack of light down here.

"You caught me, or did you? Did I catch you instead? Oh I'm so confused." A piercing laughter filled the air as some of Opossumon's balloons exploded bringing brief and sporadic bursts of light. However this did more to harm Hans' sight then help him see.

"In what way could you have caught us?" asked Shadramon warily looking around himself into the darkness.

"That is because Taomon has already been here and gotten the third and last item. But he left something for the two of you. Several `somethings' even. And they're all around you." With the lack of sight Hans' hearing was beginning to get sharper. And the sound of teeth snapping began to fill his eardrums.

"So you left some pathetic lackeys to fight me…" Shadramon found the air thrust out of him as something hit him in the back. As he shot forwards he felt something similar hit him in the chest throwing him back and to the ground.

"More than lackeys. They are beasts. Goodbye." Hans found himself barely able to see Opossumon floating out of the ceiling and away from them leaving him in the darkness and without even the barely visible light of Shadramon. Suddenly something pounced on him and the snapping of jaws could be heard near his throat.

"Flare Buster." A brief spurt of flame illuminated the figure on him and he saw it for a lion-like humanoid. Its eyes were pupil-less and it was drooling all over him. But the attack hit him sending him flying away into a wall where the attack kept going through him turning him to data.

"If I was a Courage evolution then maybe seeing in the dark would be a problem. But the Digimental of Darkness gives me perfect vision down here." Shadramon laughed sardonically at them.

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"Master Claw." As the glowing claw reached out to slash at Pandamon Master Tyranomon found his attack stopped by a wall of Chuumon again. Easily he broke through them with data slashing everywhere but it gave Pandamon an opening.

"Animal Nail." The nails on his paws grew again and slashed across Master Tyranomon's face sending him falling down again. Dirt flew everywhere after this.

"Silly thing… you do not understand. Our combination is the strongest in the world. Even Taomon fears Pandamon and the Amazing Flying Chuumon Group. And Taomon is not afraid of anything without due reason." The Chuumon on Pandamon's shoulder grinned maliciously as Pandamon started shadow-boxing.

"Master Fire." Neither Pandamon or any of his Chuumon were ready for this as it hit the irritating Chuumon immolating him immediately. Pandamon stopped his shadow-boxing as a shocked look passed over his face; quickly it began to change to an expression of anger.

"You killed my friend, you killed him dead. Now you die." With a scream of rage, which was totally uncharacteristic of his previous actions he charged towards Master Tyranomon.

"He irritated me. You want to join him? Soul Injection." The cross-shaped scar on Master Tyranomon's chest glowed before sending out a blast, which hit the quickly approaching Pandamon in his chest and sent him falling to the ground. Data burst upwards as some Chuumon failed to move out of the way fast enough.

"I'm going to kill you." Pandamon thrust himself upwards and charged towards Master Tyranomon hitting him in the midsection and throwing him to the ground.

"Not today. I'm already bored with you. Time for me to finish you. Super Pyro Fighting Spirit." Master Tyranomon's body began to pulsate as flames licked around him in a fire-like aura. It particularly seemed to focus itself on his clenched fists. Pandamon looked unimpressed.

"Fine. Bamboo Punch." Pandamon began to charge up an attack as he charged towards Master Tyranomon. Master Tyranomon let off a toothy grin as he also began to charge. Soon they managed to cover most of the distance as they readied their attacks.

"Master Tyranomon. I hope you succeed. You have to." Nikolaus just watched in silent fascination as his partner thrust his fists out towards Pandamon who did the same.

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"Crushing Kick." Two shouts of this came from the darkness as they leapt towards Shadramon. Although he was able to dodge the first he found himself unable to avoid the second Leomon foot. As he flew backwards he found himself tackled from behind by another.

"Beast King Fist." Before Shadramon could gather his wits he found himself pummelled by another attack. At this rate it seemed that he may be able to see them but he wasn't anywhere near their level of speed as they ran round him always looking for openings and then exploiting them.

"Indent Screw." He shot towards one only for two to hit him from besides crushing him between them. Then the one in front of him grinned with evil thoughts in mind as all its teeth showed. With a roar of intent he grabbed Shadramon by the head and went to head butt him.

"You made a big mistake. Psychic Wave." A psychic blast ripped out from around him thrusting the three Leomon around him away. With a thud two hit the wall and failed to get up again while the other fell into the crevice and disappeared from view for good.

"Well, only four more to go. Shouldn't take too long I don't think. Hurry up Shadramon, Master Tyranomon and Nikolaus are probably already done by now." Hans tapped his foot impatiently as the Leomon circled round the fiery butterfly. He merely stood inert as they watched him carefully.

"Lion King Sword." All four Leomon simultaneously whipped out their blades as they began running round in a circle. With the same expression they all shot forwards with malicious intent burning in their eyes. Shadramon was still just waiting there with no sign that he was paying attention. Suddenly he burst into action.

"Flare Buster." His gauntlet burst into flame as he smashed it into the first Leomon. As a hole appeared in its chest he spun around using the dissipating body to block the other three attacks. Or at least that's what he had thought. Looking up he found one of them descending from above.

"Crushing Kick." The foot struck Shadramon sending him falling heavily to the ground and creating a crater. The three Leomon began to approach as Hans began to feel something inside of him, dread.

"Who is it that dares to come into may home and create a ruckus?" Hans was surprised as what looked like a Tyranomon climbed out of the crevice. However it was black with red markings which made Hans wonder is it was just a viral version of Tyranomon or actually a separate digimon.

"We. Work. Taomon. No. Listen. You." Hans assumed the Leomon that spoke was the only one of them who could, and not very well as it seemed. The `Tyranomon' cast him an angry glare.

"Really? Well, I don't really care. This is Dark Tyranomon's Hole. And nothing is going to come down here without my permission. Iron Tail." Dark Tyranomon's tail spun around slicing through all three Leomon cutting them into halves and sending data everywhere. Then he turned his attention to Hans and Shadramon.

"We're only down here to fight them. We will leave your hole right now, if you ask us to." Hans made sure Shadramon was in his range of vision so he could make sure he didn't do anything rash while he dealt with the Adult digimon.

"Hmm… Digi-destined? I have dealt with you before. I will let you leave." Dark Tyranomon spared him one last glance before climbing down into the crevice again.

"He's dealt with us before. Guess one of the others must have dealt with him last time they were all here. Let's go Shadramon." Shadramon nodded as he picked up his partner and began to levitate out of the hole.

"Hmm… you can never find good slobbering beasts nowadays. I am surprised you were able to defeat eight highly powered Leomon but that must be the power of the Digi-destined that I've heard of. Guess I have to fight you now." Hans looked over at Opossumon standing right by the opening of the hole.

"Fine by me, Indent Screw." As Shadramon let Hans down he leapt into the air slamming down where Opossumon had been seconds before. The possum grinned like the Cheshire Cat as balloons began drifting towards Shadramon who leapt back before they exploded and was only slightly pushed back.

"Mystery Ove." Shadramon was enraptured as Opossumon randomly pulled off his hat and started waving it around. An orb could be seen under it and suddenly it burst with light blinding Shadramon who gripped at his eyes wondering where his sight had gone.

"Mad Balloon Bomb." Bombs exploded all around the blinded Shadramon as balloons began hitting him. Finally they took their toll and knocked him down and back into his child form of Dokunemon. Opossumon laughed manically at this seeing victory to be his.

"Not so fast. Justice Arrow." Sagittarimon charged in with Nikolaus on his back. He let loose with a powerful arrow, which ripped through all of Opossumon's balloons as it went knocking the possum out of the air.

"Damn it. Well I'll see the lot of you later." Opossumon began running as fast as he could. Hans made to go after him but Nikolaus' hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Let him go for now. We need to think about it before we run into a trap or something." Nikolaus seemed rather solemn as he said this.

"I take it you defeated the Pandamon. Good." Hans stared after his opponent, disappearing in the distance.

"It's over." Was all Master Tyranomon said as his burning fists both ripped through Pandamon's breast and out his back. With a terrible coughing sound Pandamon sank to his knees before bursting into data.

"We did. I mean Master Tyranomon did. Obviously I'm not much of a match for a Perfect level digimon." Hans noticed that Nikolaus was barely murmuring. Obviously he was still dubious on the whole killing other digimon, despite being the first German Digi-destined to score a kill.

"Hmm… so how'd you manage to get here so quickly to help Dokunemon and me out? Took us some time to get here ourselves." Hans looked up at the other boy who seemed to have gone quiet at this question as he looked up at the sky in contemplation.

"I remembered the boy. I don't want anyone in my team to die. You may not be my brother but I don't want anyone dying on me. And I don't want to ever end up like him. Wandering the world searching for something I'll never find." Nikolaus lay down quietly still staring upwards. Agumon appeared above him looking down.

"Well maybe he'll find that something. I remember his partners. At least he isn't alone." Nikolaus nodded at his partner's comment before standing up proudly.

"I take it your next words are going to be `let's get them'?" Hans allowed himself a slight grin as he looked at the far happier boy pumping his fist in anticipation. Bending down he picked up the tired Dokunemon.

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"What is taking you so long?" Taomon grabbed one of the priest-like creatures by the hem of his red cloak. The face-mask in the image of a boar stared back at him.

"Everything must be in perfect order or the ritual will fail. And believe me when I say that is not a smart plan." Taomon growled angrily as he released his grip on the Baromon and walked over to the statue of King Etemon. It was nearly fully dressed with the only problem being the crown, which kept seeming to go crooked.

"You better finish soon. I doubt that my playthings will keep the Digi-destined long. And Opossumon messes around too much to bother taking them seriously. No doubt he's been deleted already." Taomon waved his hand dismissively as a nearby Bakemon imitated Opossumon badly.

"Feh. Already declaring me dead and buried, are we? And cut that out, it looks nothing like me." Opossumon slapped the Bakemon pretending to be him out of the air as he walked in.

"I take it from your expression that you lost? Well you bought us the time we needed, at least. Get ready in case they catch up with us." Taomon waved his hand dismissively as he laughed snidely. Opossumon growled but did as he said departing from the room.

"We are ready for you Lady Taomon." Suddenly the Baromon realised the Freudian slip was not a good idea. With speed not noticeably evident Taomon covered the distance between them swiftly and tore his head off with a spinning kick. In mid flight it burst into data, much to Taomon's delight.

"At least I have no need for you. Now everyone leave me and the master alone. This will be a long and arduous ritual and I have no desire to be disturbed." Taomon gripped two more Baromon easily and crushed them. The others hastily withdrew from the room recognising the madness that already enveloped the fox-like digimon.

"How much longer will you take, my little fox." Taomon smiled happily as the voice of his master spoke to him. He stared at the statue desiring the release of his master as soon as possible.

"Not much longer, my Lord. You will rule once more, this land is yours to dominate." Taomon burst into maniacal laughter as he got into position.

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"Get out here, now. There isn't any way we're letting you summon him." Nikolaus stood between the temple and the water as he yelled. Behind him Agumon and Dokunemon stood ready to evolve while Hans looked on uninterested.

"Are you even sure this is where they are? After all, how many temples must there be around here? And how'd you know about this place anyway?" Hans yawned as Nikolaus spun quickly with a grin on his face. Holding his finger under Hans' face he waved it knowingly as his smile grew.

"What he means is that Karl told him about this place." Agumon said this before Nikolaus managed to get any words out. The boy looked at him with a hurt look as if he was annoyed by losing his chance to explain. Agumon merely grinned.

"Well yeah. After our first fight against you he ended up floating down to here. He says he remembers seeing a statue of a monkey when he found the Digimental." Nikolaus beamed with pride at explaining it before the sounds of footsteps caused him to spin anxiously. Out of the doorway strode the small possum as he looked them over and grinned.

"Well seems you found us quicker than we expected. But you're not going any further. I'm going to kill you both now." He shot forwards only to have Yanmamon hit him with his tail as he evolved quickly to fight their foe. Hans smirked at this.

"You two go ahead, stop whatever is going on in there. The two of us will wipe him out of existence." Hans found himself giving a thumbs up sign against his will as Nikolaus nodded happily.

"Just make sure you survive, I told you that I don't want any of my team dying." With that the boy and dinosaur walked into the darkness of the hallway leaving Hans alone. Alone, at least until Yanmamon shot past him grabbing him with his mandibles and narrowly saving him from being hit by exploding balloons.

"He wasn't that fast last time we fought. I think this temple may be making them stronger. I need to evolve again." He looked down at Hans who shook his head grimly and turned to look at Opossumon who just stared back.

"He's only an Adult. And you've already evolved to Perfect today, any more and you'd be hard pressed to do anything else today. And if the temple makes them stronger then imagine what would happen if there was a Perfect inside." Yanmamon found himself agreeing with this as he resolved to defeat Opossumon without using his full power.

"Insect Swarm." A swarm of insects shot from Yanmamon's outstretched mandibles. However Opossumon released another balloon, which stopped them as they ran into it. The explosion obstructed the view of the pair. However before they could do anything a horde of balloons flew out of the cloud of smoke.

"Get down." Wrapping his mandibles around Hans, Yanmamon was only barely quick enough to shield him from the attack. Unfortunately he devolved as he was hit hard and reverted back to Dokunemon. Things looked grim.

"Seems like the battle is already over. Which one of you wants to try being valiant and protect the other?" Dokunemon tried to move in front of Hans, however the boy nudged him out of the way and stood in front himself staring down their foe.

"No, it isn't over. I fought for someone like your `god' before. And in the end they all get beaten. And that's because they don't stand a chance against someone fighting to protect others. The other four are those people. They didn't stop after I beat them down over and over. That's why I joined them in the end, I saw who was right. And it wasn't Gran Kuwagamon." Hans stood defiantly as Opossumon laughed slightly.

"King Etemon is far stronger than Gran Kuwagamon could ever hope to have been. And you are a fool, I'll take pleasure in defeating you and wiping you off this world." Opossumon approached him only to stop as Dokunemon got up and struggled to move.

"I learnt I wrong. I learnt that even if you don't like people, be they human or digimon, you shouldn't let others oppress them. I may not agree with all their ideas but I am a member of the Berlin team. And I'm going to get rid of your kind." Suddenly Dokunemon glowed brilliantly as Hans' attention was drawn to his D-terminal. On it the image of the Digimental of Kindness glowed brightly.

Hans briefly wondered how it could be on him. He'd thrown the flower like Digimental away when he'd first found it. He'd been happy to do it. So why was it appearing now? Then he decided he didn't really care.

"Dokunemon, Digimental up." He held the D-terminal high as his partner seemed to become invigorated with the light swirling around him.

"Dokunemon armour evolve…" Flowers fell from the sky to form an orb around Dokunemon.

Then the orb exploded into hearts as his new form was revealed. It was small, two thirds of Hans' height. It was vaguely a cross between an imp and a rabbit. White from head to toe with a green hood and green gloves and boots. The hood led off into two ears ended in heart-shaped tips. A purple orb rested on his chest.

"…The nobility of Kindness, Puttimon." The new form looked down at itself with a frown before turning to Hans.

"Well, that's vomit inducing. Get him." Hans looked on with an expression of bemusement and shock as his partner nodded sadly. Obviously his new form didn't sit too well with him either.

"Heartner Beam." Spinning quickly he formed a ring around one finger which leapt out as a beam of greenish light which ripped through all of Opossumon's balloons before he could do anything.

"I've got more to rely on than just my balloons, Mystery…" Before Opossumon could finish his sentence Puttimon was before him prepared to attack.

"Love and Fire." The beam shot from his finger, but this time it was accompanied by a blast of fire from the orb on his chest. Opossumon screamed as he was burnt totally and exploded into data.

"Well let's go help Nikolaus; no doubt he's going to need it." Puttimon nodded as he devolved and the two of them ran inside after the other Digi-destined.

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"…release yourself from thy stone pri…" Taomon's concentration was lost as a group of Baromon rushed past. Barely doing anything he whipped around severing the heads from them all with his brush. Angrily he looked at the entrance to the room.

"Sorry, I think I spooked them." Tyranomon crushed the doorway beneath him as he pushed his way into the much more spacious area. Nikolaus walked in after him.

"Well, guess we'll have to postpone finishing the ritual while I kill the two of you. Guess this means that Opossumon is dead by now; I knew he was useless. But I didn't know he was this useless." Taomon stretched out his arms as he got into an attack stance with his brush.

"Fine with me. Tyranomon, time to evolve again." Nikolaus whipped the key out as both boy and partner stared down the fox-like priest.

"Tyranomon evolve… Master Tyranomon." Now, easily towering over the tall fox, he seemed an imposing presence. But Taomon was unfazed by this as he yawned mockingly.

"Buddhist Brush Brandish." As Master Tyranomon stood looking at the fox it whipped its brush round writing a complex character in the air. A blast of energy shot out hitting Master Tyranomon back and into a wall of the temple. Taomon smirked as he swung it around and rested it beside in his hand.

"You don't want to do that kind of thing. Super Pyro Fighting Spirit." The flames licked around him as power once more concentrated on his fist. With a roar he thrust forwards towards the fox. But as he came close Taomon dodged to the side sending Master Tyranomon past.

Then leaping into the air Taomon brought his brush down on the back of Master Tyranomon's head bringing him to the ground and sending chips of stone flying everywhere.

"You forget one thing, I'm far more agile than you'll ever be. And in here King Etemon gives me the power to be even stronger than you as well. You don't stand a chance." Taomon laughed as he brought the brush down on Master Tyranomon eliciting a bellow of pain from Master Tyranomon.

"You forgot something as well, stupid priest." Master Tyranomon managed to turn over and showed all his teeth as he grinned widely. Taomon merely raised the brush again.

"I have forgotten nothing. You are nothing compared to me. One alone can not defeat King Etemon's most powerful follower. One Perfect alone is nothing compared to me." Taomon laughed loudly as he began to hear a buzzing sound.

"Two is more than a match though, I assume. Spike Buster." Taomon dodged to the side, barely, as Jewel Beemon shot past only managing to rip off a large portion of Taomon's robes with his pole arm. Then the destined partner landed next to Master Tyranomon who'd stood up by now.

"Feh, two is still no match for me. At least, not you two. I'm going to slay you both. Fox Seal Paper." As the two digimon charged towards him he did something neither expected. He raised his arms and a series of slips of paper shot out of them. Master Tyranomon however leapt in front of Jewel Beemon.

"Master Fire." Master Tyranomon's fire attack immolated the ofuda, however this was part of Taomon's plan as he leapt out from the smoke brandishing his brush menacingly.

"Seems like an attack style your group favours. But if we keep an eye on each other you don't stand a chance. Shot Claw." The gauntlet on Jewel Beemon's hand shot out impaling itself into Taomon's guts and forcing him to the ground.

"Master Claw." Master Tyranomon took the advantage as he drove his claw down towards Taomon. However the fox was already recuperating as he got up and kicked Master Tyranomon away. Then turned his attention towards Jewel Beemon.

"Time for you to die." With that he held his brush like a spear, Jewel Beemon did the same with his trident-like weapon. With a declaration of battle from both in the form of roaring they ran towards each other swiping with their weapons before parting.

"Well this is familiar…" Pondered Hans as he looked at the two standing figures.

"Think you could beat me? Try it on." Dino Beemon, who'd already began to heal up his wounds from the beating he'd received, stretched into an offensive position as Jewel Beemon did the same with his trident-like weapon held in his hands.

The two charged at each other ripping into each other. As they parted however Dino Beemon began to stumble.

"Heh, seems I was wrong. Well, at least I know that you don't stand a chance against my father." Dino Beemon looked down at his midriff where a hole had been cut through him with the pole-arm. However there was no longer any anger in his eyes, only realisation.

"I may not like the Digi-destined. But Gran Kuwagamon doesn't deserve to rule either world. I'm going to make sure he doesn't." However Hans' words went unheard by Dino Beemon who was already dead by now.

But this time it was Jewel Beemon who fell to the ground first.

"Well seems like I win…" Taomon's laughter stopped as he felt a breeze against his skin. Looking down he began to feel great pain. Realisation struck him.

"Looks like you're the loser." Jewel Beemon struggled onto his back as he looked over at the shocked Taomon. That's when his body finally accepted the situation and his upper body slid off his lower body as the clean cut straight through his waist finally showed. As he hit the ground he exploded into data.

"Let's get these two out of here." Hans nodded at Nikolaus' suggestion as he looked at the devolved pair of digimon. Picking up their respective Baby partners and the three items they left the room and the temple behind them.

But a presence remained.

"They failed again. But I will be freed. My loyal followers are still in this world. And Betsumon is leading them." The deep voice was followed by a maniacal laugh.

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"Damn, sounds like I missed a lot of fun. Well, at least I didn't have to spend the day with Hitler over there." Hans sat upright and stared at the grin on Tobias' face with intense hatred for the easy-going boy.

"I'll take the 'Hitler joke' as a compliment. But frankly I'm glad it was Reinhardt I had to pair up with. I'd have killed you long ago if we ever had to work together." Tobias stuck his tongue out as he spun round to face Nikolaus again.

"So, who do you think sent the e-mail?" Tobias leant forward intently towards his friend who shrugged nonchalantly.

"Who knows? It could have been any number of people. Although it's most likely Izumi." Tobias nodded in agreement to it.

"Yeah, mysterious computer user there. He can do stuff with computers that blows Karl clear away. Like what he did to Hans." Tobias laughed as he said this while a growl escaped from Hans.

"Hey, your comments were just asking him to do something like that. If you hadn't criticised Carlos you may not have ended up listed as being killed by a drunk driver in all the local newspapers the next day." Nikolaus managed to say this with a straight face while Tobias was behind him laughing his head off.

"Pedro's going to end up going the way of his brother." Hans was sitting up straight by now and shooting an icy glare at the pair.

"You've got to stop saying stuff like that. Dying doesn't make you weak." Tobias had stopped laughing and turned serious by now.

"That's not what I'm saying this time. That boy is looking for trouble. One of these days he's going to find it, and then he's going to become Digi-destined casualty number two. That boy's serious trouble and he's on the move." Hans lay down again looking up at the clouds.

"You can never tell with people. He's either going to do great good, or cause great unhappiness." Nikolaus was grave as he fiddled with his D-3.

"Or both. Now, let's stop talking about such depressing stuff. Tell me more about the adventure." Tobias' eyes lit up as he grinned at Nikolaus who shook his head in a chiding manner.

"I'll tell you later." Grinning himself, Nikolaus jumped to his feet and started running away from Tobias.

"Hey, get back here." Realising he'd been left sitting there Tobias began the chase.

"Those two don't have a care in the world. I've said it before; most Digi-destined are just spaced-out idiots." Suddenly a group of bugs started crawling over him in curiousity, despite how much he tried to throw them off.

"Looks like something actually likes you for once." Tobias grinned as him and Nikolaus ran past in their game of chase. Hans just scowled and tried to ignore the bugs.

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A/N

Why the edit? Well recently stuff happened between Lord Archive and the author Alan Wilkinson which has resulted in the character Alan Wilkinson being eliminated as a Diaries character. Therefore he's been cut out. The other edits are just where I thought they could do with them. The comments about Hans being listed as being killed by a drunk driver are the result of him being impolite about the circumstances of Carlos' death and Koushiro being pissed off at having to deal with an argument early in the morning.