"It shouldn't be a problem, you said," Carlos groaned as he ran alongside his teammates, "We'll just do some patrolling, you said. No signs of danger, you said. Well, James, what do we do now!" he asked sarcastically as the four humans scattered as an explosion rocketed behind them.

"Working on it!" James croaked out as he got to his feet. He surveyed the situation.

They were currently surrounded by a group of J-Mojamon, creatures that resembled brown apes or bears. All had eyes that were glowing bright red. Individually, James figured that any one of their Armor Digimon could have taken them on. However, they were vastly outnumbered, about forty to four.

Butterflymon, Frogmon, Depthmon, and Coatlmon would have protected their humans from the explosion, if about ten Digimon each weren't trying to kill them.

Wizarmon had said that the J-Mojamon village, nestled in the treetops to the west, contained peaceful, docile Digimon who had a tendency to flee rather than fight. Wizarmon was going to face a group of yelling humans and Child Digimon very soon, if they even survived this mess.

In the midst of the vast amounts of brown, hairy beasts, a large black obelisk stood. On top of it a robot balanced itself. It was a deep reddish brown color, large, clunky, and somewhat humanoid. It didn't look entirely menacing at first. Then it started firing missiles, one of which nearly cost Pedro his legs.

James was trying to think of what to do, but one thought stood front and center, a voice crying "How the hell did we get into this situation!"

The answer to that, could have been derived if he knew what his enemy in the Iron Tower had done the previous night…

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"Boss?" a lone Kokuwamon entered the shadow-filled office.

"Yes, what is it?" a frustrated voice bellowed behind a massive desk. The office was designed to suit a Digimon much larger than the Kokuwamon. Aside from suiting the needs of the occupant, the office served well for intimidation purposes, as the trembling Kokuwamon was demonstrating.

"Err, I've been sent to relay the reports from the City of Gold," the metallic bug trembled.

"Go on, don't waste my time."

Kokuwamon gulped, "Most of your investors have expressed their wish to pull their funds. They say they're not seeing enough results in the time they've given you…you are expected to lose over half of them. Over seventeen million credits."

The massive shadowy figure appraised this information, "I see. This will require some thought. You are free to go."

Kokuwamon looked relieved, "Yes, sir," and he left the office.

The Digimon paged his secretary, "Have that Kokuwamon melted down for slag."

He put his head in his hands…or what might have been hands, "This is not good. My resource acquisition is nowhere near what it should be. My land tracts are far short, hell, they are LESS than what I began with. My soldiers and miners are dwindling, my influx of gold, gems, iron ore, bauxite, natural gas, and petroleum is lessening, my original supply of credits is nearly squandered–"

"And you would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling kids."

The Digimon sat up, and turned to his vid phone. No one had called him, and he hadn't turned it on. He boggled at the unfamiliar face in the screen.

"Losing what you have? I'd have expected better, especially from a former general under the Dark Master Mugen Dramon."

He was enraged, "How do you know about that! Who are you!"

"I…am a friend. For now, that is all you need to know. But, for now, what would you say if I gave you a way to deal with those kids?"

The Digimon considered. Currently, the little brats were the only thing standing between him and total control of the area. Ten minutes ago, he would have given a direct and solid "no." Now, with his benefactors pulling their investments, he was seriously considering it.

"Let me hear it first."

"I have been given descriptions of these Circuits you have created. Ingenious, really, few minds would have the capacity to–"

"I have enough Digimon kissing my ass. I don't need another one."

"Quite. The fact is that your Circuits are far inferior to a creation of my own," a holographic image popped up, "It's called an Evil Spiral. I believe you have the ability to mass produce it."

He looked at it critically, "How exactly is this 'far superior' to my Circuits?"

"Your Circuits need to be ingested by a Digimon, while this straps on to the Digimon's outside. I know that only a small number of you Circuits are ingested. This will increase the number of Digimon you will control 600 percent."

"…Go on."

"To boot, your circuits, most of the time, simply induce evolution and cause the Digimon to go crazy, rather than become your direct soldier. And a feral Digimon is worthless to you. But these Spirals will cause each Digimon to become your willing soldier. In fact, I have provided you with a simple twist in the algorithm that could cause the Digimon, upon becoming hit with the Spiral, to evolve to Adult, perhaps even Perfection. And I know your Circuits cannot induce evolution to Perfection."

The Digimon considered this. If this man (and he realized that was what it had to be: a human), was telling the truth, he could recapture his lost resources, pay back his investors and entice them to invest even more, build up a formidable army against the children, and do it all for less money than he was spending now. However…

"What's the catch?"

The man smiled, "The 'catch,' as you call it, is something that will benefit you as well as me." A new holographic image appeared, that of a black obelisk, "This is a Dark Tower. Think of it as my calling card. Place one of these towers in every area of the Digital World you control. It will weaken the Digital World's barrier, and hamper the ability of evolution. So, as a bonus, it will prevent those brats' Digimon from evolving."

"That is it?"

"That's it."

"You know much about me and my operations, yet I know nothing about you. Tell me who I am speaking to, and I will consider."

The man gave a smirk, "Very well, my name is Yukio Oikawa."

The Digimon returned the smile, "Well then, Mr. Oikawa, we have a deal."

"Pleasure doing business with you."

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As it was, James knew nothing of this, and went with the best option he could, "Retreat!" As he called, Butterflymon quickly gained altitude, attempting to escape the fists and bone clubs of his opponents. The other Digimon followed suit.

It was pure dumb luck that they figured out what happened. A random J-Mojamon had grabbed Coatlmon by the neck as he tried to gain altitude. Pedro called out to his Digimon, causing all the humans to watch as Coatlmon was choked. Coatlmon, operating on pure impulse, slashed his ornate tail blade at his attacker's arm, shattering a spiraled black bracelet…

Immediately, the brown Digimon let go, the red glowing of his eyes fading, revealing confused yellow eyes. The J-Mojamon turned around, confused, and began to call out to his fellow Digimon.

"What's going on! What are you all doing!" the confused Digimon cried, which could barely be heard over the din of the other J-Mojamon.

James caught the confused Digimon's voice, and yelled, "The bracelets! They're the weak point! Aim for them!"

Butterflymon nodded in assent, spreading his Sweet Pheromone around the group, calming them into a stupor before slashing the bracelets clean with his thistle. Depthmon sent cables from his armor, bringing his foes close enough that he could break the bracelets with his claws. Coatlmon sent blasts of wind, freezing his opponents in their place as he went to work on them with his tail. Frogmon's leaf propellers detached and flew, spinning like buzzsaws, cutting the bracelets to shreds as they flew past with surgical precision.

Slowly but surely, the battle was turning. In addition, as more of the J-Mojamon were released from their stupor, they began to realize what had happened to them and began to work on freeing their cousins as well. Within several minutes, the horde of Digimon was reduced to a dazed and confused gathering.

All was peaceful for a moment, before the J-Mojamon caught sight of a missile coming and stampeded as far as they could go before it detonated on the ground.

"A cowardly species of Digimon," the robot, descending from the tower via rockets on his back, said to the Chosen humans and Digimon, "Strong physically, but show even an iota of power and they run like spooked Hatchlings. Disgusting," the robot's eyes scanned the group, "I suppose I should commend you for succeeding against my forces, but the truth is, they were nothing. This area was nothing more than a test of our newest equipment. It has passed. And you shall fail."

The group was more than a little surprised by their opponent's eloquence. All of their previous battles were against creatures barely above animal intelligence.

"As you have guessed, those Evil Spirals were nothing more than an upgrade of our Circuits. Easier to destroy, yes, but much easier to administer wholesale to a group of Digimon… Might have worked better with tougher Digimon, but that doesn't matter, seeing as our little war ends right here, at the hands of Guardromon, loyal servant of the Metal Empire… Destruction Grenade!" The robot lifted his arm, a missile flew out and drifted in midair, nearly destroying Butterflymon and Coatlmon.

"Sweet Pheromone!" Butterflymon blasted Guardromon with his pollen attack, only to find the robot seeming to grin with his eyes.

"Mechanical body. Unfortunately for you, that powder of yours is as ineffective as dirt."

"Bubble Bomb!" Depthmon cried as he threw the small water bomb at the robot, When it cleared, there seemed to be no ill effects, save making the robot mad, as he rushed at the merman Digimon.

"Leaf Wheel Cutter!" Frogmon cried, leaping at the Digimon with her spinning propellers out, grinding at the metal foe. Sparks flew for several minutes, then the foes separated. Guardomon looked no worse for wear, but the edges of the frog's leaf propellers looked incredibly worn.

"Fossil Wave!" Coatlmon shot a blast of gray wind at Guardromon, freezing him quite effectively.

"Let's get him before he snaps out!" Juana called

"Depthmon, throw him up! Butterflymon, aim for the eyes!" James called.

"Sargasso Drag!" the merman Digimon called, cables erupting from his armor, ensnaring the foe and throwing him in midair.

"Sweet Thistle!" Butterflymon's sugar cane appeared in his hands. With extreme precision, he shoved the puny-looking stick in the only place on Guardromon that looked vulnerable: the rectangular hole that his eyes peered out of. Both eyes crossed for a second to look at the stick wedged firmly in between them.

"Huh," Guardromon said, before breaking up into pixels of data and flying into the air.

Butterflymon stared at the thistle for several minutes, not believing what had happened. James sunk to his knees.

"We… killed him. He's dead…" James said, the feeling sinking into him.

The rest of the day managed to pass by rather uneventfully.

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Plotmon was very concerned. James wasn't falling asleep. Plotmon was well aware of the physical consequences of lack of sleep, none of which were positive. In addition, the fact that James was not doing anything but staring into space, he doubted that anything was well. He nudged his human partner and asked, "What's the matter?"

James just shook his head, "I can't stop thinking about that Guardromon… We killed him…"

Plotmon shook his head, "He'll be all right. He'll be reformatted and reborn as a Digitama. That happens to almost every Digimon."

James raised an eyebrow, "Almost?"

"Data can't be reused forever. After a while, it'll stop being reformatted," Plotmon responded, "Usually only higher level Digimon who've reached the final evolutionary stages stay dead, but even then that's not a guarantee. That Guardromon will be back, and hopefully, he won't try to kill any humans or Digimon again."

James didn't look convinced, "Even so… I still don't feel comfortable with that. That Guardromon, no matter the circumstances, was a living, breathing creature. A mechanical one, sure, but still alive. And thanks to me, it's dead. It's dead because I wanted it to die…"

Plotmon shook his head, "I'm the one who killed it. It's my fault…"

James looked Plotmon in the eye, "If I hadn't wanted Guardromon dead, would you have been able to kill him?"

Plotmon considered that for a bit, then shook his head, "You're my partner. I want what you want."

James sighed, "It's just that I've always thought that life was sacred. That people don't have the right to take it from someone else unless there's a reason for it."

Plotmon practically jumped, "Guardromon took over the J-Mojamon village! Tried to kill all of us! If we hadn't killed him, it might have been US sent back to the Village of Beginnings as eggs! Or if not us, then Armadimon or V-mon or Wormmon and all of their humans! That's all that matters!"

James lowered his head, "I know that… But for some reason, that doesn't make me feel any better about it…"

Sighing, James climbed into bed, attempting to sink into the oblivion of sleep.

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"All right, I've called this meeting, if we can even call it that, to talk about our fourth human member," Juana said. The girl, along with the DeCosta brothers and their Digimon, including Plotmon, were located on the roof. Juana was attempting to bring attention to herself, considering that Pedro was playing around on the rooftop and Carlos was yelling at him.

Carlos sighed, "Well, saying James has been upset lately is like saying the Flooded Forest is damp. And we know the reason full well."

Pedro blinked, "Wait, what's going on?"

Carlos rolled his eyes, "Pedro, even YOU had to notice what's going on with James this past week…"

"Oh!" Pedro's said, with recognition, "You mean how when we're on patrol, he's not running ahead or having Plotmon fight or saying big words that I don't understand?"

Plotmon nodded, "He's not eating or sleeping well either."

"I'm not sure why he's so depressed," Juana said with a sigh.

"It's because of Guardromon. He feels guilty," Carlos said.

"I'm not sure why," Juana replied, "He was trying to kill us. It should have been no problem…"

Carlos shook his head, "James just strikes me as the type… you know, the type who doesn't even kill bugs if he can help it?"

Wormmon paled, "I hope so!"

Carlos ignored his brother's Digimon, "Besides, we don't know what it's like. He was the one who killed him…"

Juana shook her head, "We all helped to defeat Guardromon. It was a group effort."

Carlos shrugged, "Butterflymon killed him. James gave the order. He's the leader, he gets the responsibility for it."

Juana let out a dismissive snort, "Who made him our leader? The guy has no common sense. I wouldn't make him our leader."

Carlos shrugged, "Well, we haven't really said he's the leader or whatever. But, when things get bad he kind of takes over for us and makes the decisions. As long as water isn't involved," Carlos said, laughing softly.

Juana laughed with him, "I don't know, James is a nice guy, I just don't think that he makes a good leader…"

"Good thing I don't really want to be one, then, isn't it?" a voice said behind him.

Juana and Carlos both looked behind them to see James standing before them. His expression was unreadable.

"Am I not supposed to be here?" James asked.

"Pedro!" Carlos shouted.

"What did I do!" Pedro cried.

James sighed, "Don't worry. I can understand. I haven't exactly been fun to be around lately. I just have some things on my mind…" he shook his head, "I talked with Wizarmon last night. Apparently, the J-Mojamon village wants to thank us for freeing them. Should be nice," he said this in a monotone voice that rivaled a computer program that emphasized the wrong syllables in words, "Let's go, Plotmon…" he walked off.

Wordlessly, the puppy followed his human friend, followed shortly by the rest of the team.

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The J-Mojamon village was a gigantic party. Everywhere, the furry Digimon were dancing, playing musical instruments, drinking what were most likely alcoholic beverages, and eating their most exquisite foods available.

The Chosen were very much in a partying mood. Pedro, after being shooed away from the alcoholic beverages by his older brother, had gone off with a few younger J-Mojamon and began teaching them how to play football, Wormmon and V-mon joining in. Carlos was joking with a few older J-Mojamon, who thoroughly enjoyed the human's company. Juana and Armadimon were deep in conversation with the village's medicine man, who was more than happy to share their village's customs and traditions with the human girl.

The only wallflower at this party was, of course, James. Plotmon would have tried to enjoy himself if not for his worry over his partner. He barely registered a large presence behind him.

"You are the Butterflymon's human, are you not?" a J-Mojamon, dressed in ornate feathers that designated him as the village's chief. At James nod, he bowed deeply, "Then we are in your debt most of all. If not for your quick action, we would all still be slaves of the Metal Empire, the toys of that ruthless Guardromon."

James nodded, "You're welcome."

"Something troubles you, human? Is our festival not to your liking?" the chief said, wondering if he had offended this human he held a rather high opinion of.

"No, your festival is fine. I'm just not in a partying mood," James sighed.

"You have the look of a new warrior, one who has seen what combat can truly do," the J-Mojamon chief responded.

"You're absolutely right," James slumped, "I never killed anything before that Guardromon. I… I don't know how I feel. I know that it shouldn't bother me this much, but…"

The chief nodded, "You have the strength of a warrior, but your core holds life sacred. You know what the costs would be if you hadn't killed, but your core cannot reconcile that. All it knows is that you have ended a life. I encountered the same thing many years ago. There is no easy answer, warrior of Knowledge. I can only say that one day you will truly know what you are fighting for, and if you can find that, it will help you to put those uneasy feelings in your core aside and do what is right."

James seemed to smile at that, "Thank you. That helps. Only a little… but it's more than I had ten minutes ago."

The chief nodded, and he would have said something in reply, but a loud gunshot interrupted him. All at once, the dancing, playing, and drinking came to a screeching halt.

Surrounding the village was an army of what looked like dinosaurs made out of Lego blocks, Child level Digimon known as Toy Agumon. This alone would not have been entirely threatening if not for the fact that they spread into the forest as far as the eye could see. There were easily more than seventy.

Leading them was an odd-looking Digimon. It looked remarkably like a cowboy, if not for the fact that its torso was a gigantic revolver. It had two six-shooters on its belt, and it's face was nothing more than blackness with two yellow dots for eyes.

"Greetings, everyone. I'm Revolmon, one of the soldiers of the Metal Empire. I have a score to settle with these four young humans and their foundling Digimon. See, they killed my best buddy Guardromon, and I don't take very kindly to that. So, I'd appreciate a nice fair duel with them. And if you decide to interfere…" he cocked a pistol in one hand, and gestured to the Toy Agumon with the other.

A random J-Mojamon ran forward, "These humans and their Digimon risked their lives for us! We can't stand idly by and–"

BOOM!

The J-Mojamon found the time to stare at the hole in his chest before bursting into pixels.

"Anyone else feeling lucky?" Revolmon said.

None of the J-Mojamon moved.

"Then let's do it!" Revolmon shot a bullet into the air as his Toy Agumon soldiers rushed forward.

"DIGIMENTAL UP!" all four humans cried.

"Plotmon, armor evolve… the sweetness of science, Butterflymon!"

"Armadimon, armor evolve… hidden with purity, Frogmon!"

"V-mon, armor evolve… devotion of the deep, Depthmon!"

"Wormmon, armor evolve… the shining serpent, Coatlmon!"

The battle was joined, the Revolmon, for the most part letting the Toy Agumon do the dirty work for him, firing bullets at the Armor Digimon, failing for the most part to break the Digimon's armor plating. After some frustration, he realized something…

The Digimon were covered in protective armor. The humans were not.

In the fray, none of the Chosen noticed the giant pistol-man Digimon creep behind the humans. He would have destroyed them one by one, but, he realized, better to capture them, bring them to his master in the Iron Tower, and let them wallow in their own fear before giving them the courtesy of a slow painful death.

James was too focused on the fact that Butterflymon was being dog piled by a group of Toy Agumon to notice the giant gunman behind him until it was too late.

"Boo," Revolmon said with an invisible grin.

James wanted to rush Revolmon, but before he took a step, Revolmon, quicker than anything he had ever seen, punched him in the gut.

James sailed into the tree trunk and slumped down. In action stories or movies, he would have gotten up. But when an ordinary thirteen-year-old boy gets punched so hard that he hits a giant tree trunk, he doesn't get up.

Revolmon placed one of his pistols under James's chin. James muttered something.

Revolmon's eyes narrowed, "What was that?"

"Please don't kill me," James said, shame and fear filling his face.

Revolmon let out a laugh, "Then I won't. But by the time my master is through with you, you'll wish I did…" He took up James by the neck, gun still pointed at the boy's head, "Kids, I suggest you all surrender and allow yourselves to be put in our capture. Unless, of course, you want your friend to stand a head shorter…" he cocked back the hammer of the gun for emphasis.

In unison, all four Armor Digimon devolved, and were shepherded rather roughly by the Toy Agumon to join their humans, each of whom looked dejected.

Revolmon simply laughed and chucked James to the ground. He passed out, and was carried by two Toy Agumon alongside his friends.

It was only five minutes later that James woke up. He would have slipped back into unconsciousness, but the sounds he heard kept him from doing so…

"Toy Flame!"

The Toy Agumon's attacks burned up hut after hut. The J-Mojamon fled, their Jungle Punch attacks useless against the hard plastic of the Toy Agumon's bodies.

James watched the carnage ensue, slowly boiling, finally spilling over.

"How dare you?" he hissed at Revolmon.

"What're you talking about?"

"How dare you do this?" he shouted, "These Digimon have done nothing to you! Why do you destroy everything they've worked for?"

"I am merely doing my duty to the Metal Empire! I am merely completing the work that Guardromon started, before you and your puppy brutally murdered him."

James's eyes went dark, "Murdered him? No, this is a war. I should have seen this earlier. I killed Guardromon because he was an aggressor, fighting for an unjust cause," he said, reaffirming the statement in his own mind, and with it, his previous doubt vanished.

"A war, huh?" Revolmon looked at James incredulously, "then it's some army we're fighting. A ragtag bunch of human brats and their foundling Digimon hope to stand up against the might of a Dark Master."

"Yes, yes we do."

Pedro and Wormmon seemed to puff up a bit at that statement, but neither Carlos, Juana, nor their Digimon did.

Revolmon just laughed, drew out his pistol, and cocked it at James's head, "You forget, I hold your life in my hands. One wrong move and you've got a bullet in your head."

James gulped and said, "I'm not afraid of you and your gun."

Revolmon laughed again, "As you so nicely demonstrated before, you are afraid of me and my gun. The words 'Please don't kill me,' don't show a lot of courage."

James looked up, "No, I'm not afraid anymore. Maybe if you took us in, I would be. But you just burnt that village. I'm not going to let you get away with that."

"How do you propose to do that? You're the one pinned by two Toy Agumon and I'm the one with the weapon."

"Your weapon doesn't matter."

"What do you think you are, Supermon? One shot, you're dead."

"It doesn't matter if I die. If I don't do something, you'll kill me anyway. If I die now, I'll do so defending something, not cowering."

James felt something grow inside him. He kept talking.

"I was afraid. I still am. But my fear doesn't matter, because this is more important."

Revolmon scoffed, "What is?"

"PUTTING YOU DOWN!"

Now, James felt that thing growing inside him glow brightly. It burned his chest and made his heart quite literally glow. Revolmon stepped back a few feet.

"Plotmon and I killed Guardromon because he was causing terror. And I'll kill you too. And the Toy Agumon. I'll stand above the collapsed ruins of your Iron Tower, because I won't stop until your precious Metal Empire is dead! I'll fight it until one of us is dead. I don't care if I die, but no matter what, I'M GOING TO STOP YOU!"

The glowing and burning became almost unbearable. The Toy Agumon let go, James's body burning to their touch. Revolmon pulled back the hammer of his gun, but Plotmon wrestled free and batted the gun away with his paw. A bullet fired harmlessly into the trees.

The light coalesced and formed an egg shaped structure. It was the size of an ostrich's egg, in a flame pattern. An impression of a sun was on its front. A huge blade protruded from the top.

"A Digimental…" Plotmon whispered, "The Digimental of Courage…"

James and Plotmon looked at each other for a millisecond, and nodded.

"Digimental, UP!"

"Plotmon, armor evolve…" Plotmon and the Digimental became one, and Plotmon burst into flames, which grew into a larger form. James swore he heard the snarl of a jaguar before the flames flared up.

Where Plotmon stood, there was a giant cat, made completely out of flames. Its snarling face showed a remarkable array of pointed teeth and its giant paws showed huge, razor sharp claws. The flames flared up as the creature roared and called his name…

"The burning light of Courage, Lynxmon!"

Revolmon shrunk back at the fire-cat, "Toy Agumon, get him!"

The Lego-saurs jumped on top of him, until the cat was piled down with an army of plastic creatures.

"Thermal Mane!" Lynxmon's body flared up, sending fire in all directions. The Toy Agumon directly touching him were deleted, while the others had their legs, arms, or faces melted to the point of being unrecognizable.

Yet the Lego-saurs still rushed him.

"Wild Nail Rush!" Lynxmon slashed and slashed at the oncoming Digimon, the armies vaporizing and blowing away in the wind.

James frowned, "This isn't a fight, this is a slaughter."

Meanwhile, in the confusion, Revolmon snuck up behind James and fired his revolver. Fortunately for James, he heard the hammer of the gun before the bullet fired and jumped out of the way.

Unfortunately, he happened to jump of the tree's branch.

Fortunately, Carlos saw the move and grabbed James by the shirt collar before he could fall to his death.

"Jesus, McConnell," Carlos grunted as he pulled James up to safety, "what's with you and falling off of trees?"

James groaned, "We need to start battling on solid ground."

Meanwhile, Lynxmon had responded to the gunshot and pounced on Revolmon. The surviving Toy Agumon realized that their endeavors were failing miserably and ran off, hoping to survive with the severe burn wounds Lynxmon had given them.

Upon pouncing on Revolmon, Lynxmon realized his folly. Revolmon had a gun for a chest, and he was currently placing vital organs on top of a powerful weapon. Revolmon, too, realized this, and promptly shot Lynxmon.

James cried out and ran to his partner. Luckily, the attack had more show than substance; the fire cat had sustained little damage.

Revolmon leveled his pistols, "End of the line, Chosen," pointing at James and Lynxmon.

James closed his eyes and winced as the pistol fired. Upon realizing he was not dead or dying, he looked. Armadimon had tripped the gunman with a Rolling Stone, while V-mon headbutted him to the side. In the confusion, Wormmon caught the revolvers in his Sticky Net and pulled them away from Revolmon.

Revolmon jumped to his feet and blasted at the Child Digimon with his chest cannon, delivering a blast of fire, gunpowder, and shot pellets.

Wait a minute, James thought, "Lynxmon, his chest!"

"Way ahead of you, partner!" Lynxmon's head began to flare up, like a bonfire that had gasoline thrown on it.

"Thermal Mane!" as Revolmon was firing his chest pistol, a beam of fire shaped like a cat's head fired directly into Revolmon's cannon. The Digimon's chest exploded. There was a mad rush to avoid the shrapnel as the metal from the gun Digimon fell from the blast.

The dust cleared, and with a beam of orange light shooting into James's D-Terminal, Lynxmon reverted to Plotmon, who nudged up to James's leg.

"Are you all right, James?" Plotmon asked.

James was silent for a while, then he said, "No, not really. I still feel sick about it… but the chief was right. I know what I'm fighting for now. And that's enough to put that sick feeling aside," James's face broke into a wide grin, "And by DARWIN is Lynxmon the coolest possible Digimon! A giant cat made of fire! You kicked serious ass."

Carlos laughed, then slapped James on the back, "So what next?"

James grinned, "What're you asking me for, Carlos?"

"Because you're our leader," Juana said, shocking Carlos and James, before James grinned.

"Well, let's not say we're rude guests. We help clean up the mess the Toy Agumon made. Then we party like we very nearly died," James said, cheerful for the first time that whole week.