Although the map on the computer made it look close, once you accounted for scale that distance was maddeningly far.
Trudging across the endless desert, the kids looked drained. They'd been walking so long they'd stopped trying to count how much farther they had to go; they didn't have the energy to think about it.
"Ow!" Joe suddenly tripped over a black cable half-buried in the sand.
"You okay, Joe?" Gomamon hurried over, grabbed the cable, and asked with concern, "But why would there be a cable out here?"
Seeing the cable snapped Tai to attention—if there were cables, the Grand Colosseum had to be close.
"My Tag is glowing!" Joe forgot about the sting of the fall and whooped with delight.
Tai picked up the length of black cable. It was what Etemon used to monitor his territory. Without a word, he snipped off a segment and transmitted it back to the underground city with a compact transporter the Steel Empire had left behind for central-computer analysis. Lately Tai was hypersensitive to anything that might boost their strength.
Knowing a Crest was nearby fired everyone up. They crested dune after dune until they could finally see a forest of broken pillars and the towering round wall—ten-plus stories high—of a colossal arena. Tears pricked their eyes.
"Yes! We finally made it!" Relief washed over them. It had been a grind.
Far off, a camper hauled by a Monochromon was barreling across the sand.
"Stop!" Etemon yelled at Monochromon.
The camper skidded to a halt, kicking up a storm of dust.
"What is it, King Etemon?" a Gazimon asked.
"Eh-heh-heh… looks like somebody just tripped. Hm, Sector L7! Found 'em—right beside the Colosseum, where I hold my annual concert!" Spotting the kids made Etemon giddy, but after glancing at the map he flopped back into his seat. "Too far. I won't make it in time. Okay, I'll send that thing to welcome them!"
Suddenly the map display fizzed out into static, and the console lights began flickering wildly out of control.
"What's going on?!" Etemon snapped at the Gazimon.
"Looks like someone cut a cable." One Gazimon hammered a few keys and answered.
"Curses! It's gotta be those DigiDestined brats! When I catch you, you'll regret it!" Etemon ground his teeth.
By then the kids had already stepped into the Grand Colosseum: finely carved stone lions—probably—ringed the place. A circular venue, a massive screen, and… soccer goals at both ends?
"It's kind of like an ancient Roman arena, with spectator stands," Mimi said, wide-eyed, running her hand over the brickwork stacked to form the railings.
"Soooo… what's 'ancient Rome'? And what's an 'arena'?" Palmon asked, curious.
"Ancient Rome was a country a long time ago, and an arena was where they held competitions… Guys, look, there's even a soccer field here." Sora, a die-hard soccer fan, pointed at the two goals on either end.
It felt weird to see a modern jumbo screen in something that looked like an ancient Roman amphitheater, but this was a world where you could find refrigerators, pressure cookers, and washing machines in primeval forests, and two-prong outlets in ancient ruins; where there were convenience stores under the sea. Compared to that, repurposing a Colosseum into a soccer pitch with a giant screen barely rated a shrug.
"It should be around here…" Joe Kido held up his Tag as he hunted; the glow pulsed faster and faster.
"Let's spread out and search this area, same as we did before. The Crest is probably carved into a slab or the floor somewhere," Tai said. The kids and their Digimon immediately fanned out to sweep the grounds.
Tai walked straight to one of the goals and found a floor tile inexplicably carved with a Union Jack-like pattern. Looked like this one was Joe's Crest. He glanced at the goal frame—likely electrified—then raised his hand toward it. Light flashed. With a boom and a wash of smoke, the goal collapsed into scrap, drawing everyone's gaze. This was a new routine he'd developed: after datafying his body he could store energy and discharge an attack—about on par with a Champion-level strike.
"Looks like a Crest here."
At Tai's words everyone gathered. Joe set his Tag against the slab. Light flared through the floor, a stone plate rose up, shrank, and slotted neatly into Joe's Tag.
"It's my Crest!" Joe beamed, over the moon.
"Alright, we've got the Crest. Let's clear out—this is Etemon's turf," Tai said, about to lead them away—when the arena's giant screen suddenly lit up. A blast of brash, familiar rock music crashed over the stands as Etemon's furious face filled the display. "DigiDestined kids! I'd love to come play with you myself, but I'm waaay out at the moment—stars are busy, you know. But this time, I've invited a very special guest just for you. You'll be thrilled!"
A rumble rolled in. A dark-brown cranial plate, an orange hide striped with blue, a thick tail, and a black metal collar cinched around the neck—impossibly familiar.
"That's…"
"Greymon."
"Agumon, digivolve," Tai said.
Greymon charged headlong. Unlike in the original timeline, where Tai's Greymon was suppressed by the other one, Tai's Greymon now had the upper hand and then some. He hoisted the other Greymon and slammed it into the big screen—and that's when things went sideways.
Dozens of black cables burst from the screen to seize Etemon's Greymon, and a flood of dark power pumped into it. Tai lifted a hand to his ear and activated data capture.
When the black glow faded, a Digimon made of bare bone stood there. It had grown to a monstrous size—Tai's Greymon barely reached its shin.
"That's SkullGreymon. Ultimate level," Tentomon said first. "Everyone—go!"
Evolution light flashed—every Digimon digivolved.
They unleashed their special attacks together, but they didn't even scuff SkullGreymon's gleaming bones. Garurumon lunged and was booted clear across the field. Birdramon dove and got snatched and hurled into Kabuterimon—both crashed from the sky. Togemon was grabbed and flung into Ikkakumon; the impact left both of them unable to move.
Only Greymon and Angemon were still standing, and Angemon was all wrong for a giant like this—one step from it and he'd be pancaked even if he survived.
Staring up at those glassy, massive bones, Angemon sensibly gave up on testing whether his holy staff or that skeleton was harder. He threw a Hand of Fate—and then… nothing. Vaccine beats Virus on paper, sure, but against a hulking skeleton the size of a building, Hand of Fate just didn't move the needle.
SkullGreymon went berserk, chasing Angemon in a brutal game of tag while Angemon beat his wings and jinked desperately out of reach.
"Beep—beep—" Tai's earpiece chirped. He opened the feed and smiled. As expected—just like when they jump-started Patamon's evolution—but because he had the Holy Program's regulator, Patamon hadn't died. This SkullGreymon, though, was force-pushed by dark energy with no Holy Program to buffer it. According to central's analysis, that kind of brute-forced evolution wrecked a Digimon. When the fuel burned out, it would die for real—no rebirth in Primary Village. For us, though, that's a gift. With our Holy Program, the side effects are just noise. "Activate the Super Digivolution program."
Zeroes and ones streaked through the air. Tai's Digivice flared, a beam lanced out, passed through his Crest, and struck Greymon.
"Greymon, digivolve to… MetalGreymon!"
MetalGreymon—an Ultimate-level, cyborg, Vaccine-type Digimon—was born from Greymon. Built for battle, he could convert his own body into weapons and armor. His signature techniques were Giga Blaster and Trident Arm.
TN: You can vote for this series as a free member here: https://[email protected]/posts/142658209. The winner will continue to receive updates. While the poll is running, new chapters will be added to both fanfics.
//[email protected]/Razeil0810