Taiki checked at his Xros Loader. After talking with Dracomon, he felt a less nervous as he put it on his belt.

Nene turned towards him, "At least they are fine," she was relieved and it was obvious with her small smile. She went towards the direction they were looking, "We should keep going. We will find an away to get down."

The boy nodded.

Shoutmon smiled, "Dracomon learned how to fight. He can protect her," he gave a thumb up of approval. He walked forward confidently while his brother wasn't as certain.

Ballistamon asked, "You sure that Troopmon won't try to do anything?"

"Dracomon said he was a jerk to him, not that he was bad," the red dragon crossed his arms, "We will find a way to join them."

"And we have to find Lunamon," the boy reminded them.

"We should go and-" the girl stopped when she got a message. She listened to it and turned towards the group, "We got to go. The Monitamons found the castle and Lunamon. She is not far from there," she pointed away from the cliff, "They are over there."

"We are taking a detour," Darkknightmon commented. He added, "Not that I mind. This is an important one to take."

"Let's go," Taiki said.


Chapter 27: The Dark Castle

The group went to join the Monitamons. They wondered if the Digimons were alright and if they were in trouble. There was nothing urgent, but the situation could change.

The boy wondered, "I wonder if they know we are here."

"I don't think so. The patrols we saw didn't say anything about humans. They were rather loud," the girl replied pensively.

"Agreed. The enemies are loud. They aren't that much on their guard. Still, they are powerful. We are in their domain and the night is eternal," Darkknightmon told them as he raised his finger.

"Sorry I cannot help you from the air," Sparrowmon apologised.

"It's okay Sparrowmon. You allowed us victory in the battle," Nene told her.

"Yeah. It was just a bad timing and that we couldn't help Akari," Shoutmon tail went down as he played with his fingers, "If only we could have been faster."

"Dracomon is getting stronger as you said Shoutmon," his mechanical brother reminded him.

"Yeah! That training paid off," the red dragon chuckled as his tail raised up once again.

It took a while, but they reached their destination. They couldn't tell time right now as it was always the night. The moon seemed to remain in place. It stood still in the dark blue sky.

They looked forward and saw some strange light. Not only that, but something inside of it. They could only see a very vague silhouette of something large.

They gulped, wondering if it was a giant Digimon or not. Dorbickmon was around the same size as Darkknightmon. They were impressive in their size, but if that thing was NeoVamdemon, it would be scary as hell.

They continued to move closer. Nene pointed at another direction, "They are over there."

They nodded and they went towards a village. They noticed it was empty as the other one, devoid of life. Just like the other village they found. It all looked the same. Empty and lifeless.

They looked around, "I don't think Lunamon is around," Taiki commented and crossed his arms.

Nene checked her Xros Loader and walked towards an abandoned house, "In here," she pointed at the house, "The Monitamons are there."

The group walked inside the house and indeed, the three Digimons were there.

"Do you know where Lunamon is?" Shoutmon asked.

The three nodded negatively.

"What did you find out?" Nene asked as she checked her Xros Loader.

The three gave their reports with the screen on their faces. They saw everything they witnessed. The four watched it.

"I can't see anything," Darkknightmon grumbled on the Xros Loader.

She raised it and he saw the report repeating from the start once again.

They saw the silhouette from the barrier. The giant thing that might be NeoVamdemon. However, they noticed that Digimons came out of it. They were Troopmons and Devimons walked outside of the barrier.

"This must be the castle," Taiki concluded.

They sighed in relieved that it wasn't a super giant Digimon. They saw the group of enemies splitting in three groups and wandered around.

"Those are squadrons we have to be careful about. That group is going where we crossed the soldiers, we took care off," the girl pointed at the one going south.

"So, we need to beware of them when we are going to find Akari," the small red dragon concluded, nodding to himself.

They watched the rest of the report. There was nothing else standing up.

"Wait," Ballistamon said as he pointed at one of them, "Digimon there."

The group watched and noticed that it looked a little like the description of Lunamon.

"It's probably her. We should go quickly," Nene said. She noticed the three waving at her and pointing towards the castle, "Lunamon is closer to the castle and it wasn't long before we join them."

"Let's go," Taiki quickly walked outside, followed by his two Digimons.

The girl told the three, "Continue spying on them and when you have anything important, give me a report," she then joined the others.

They quickly walked towards the location. Shoutmon gazed at them, "I'll take the lead," and accelerated.

The others lost sight of him before any of them could protest. Ballistamon grabbed the two humans and accelerated his pacing.

The red dragon slowed down when he got the feeling, he was getting too close to the castle. He saw the castle better now. It wasn't a silhouette that looked like a demon Digimon. It looked more like a castle with a creepy atmosphere. He saw the dark castle inside the dark purple shield surrounding it.

He was thankful he didn't have his mic or he would have dropped it. He looked around and saw a flash of blue and pink. The dragon realised that there was a Digimon holding a bag in its hands.

The Digimon was a pale pink Digimon with four long blue ears a bit that looked like an antenna, a crescent golden moon on her forehead, hands and chest. She wore a pink ribbon around her neck and ended on her chest. She held a large bag as she observed the castle with a bit of melancholy.

That part confused the little red dragon as he approached her, "Hi."

She yelped as she jumped on the side and almost dropped her bag. She gazed closer for a few seconds, before calming down, "W-who are you?"

"I'm Shoutmon. My friends are behind. We came searching for you. Your friend Troopmon is worried for you."

"Troopmon… How did you reach our village?"

"My friends Akari and Dracomon felt on a cliff and found the village. That's what my General found out," Shoutmon replied with a smile and scratched the back of his head.

Ballistamon and the two humans reached them. The boy and the girl were on the ground and were a little dizzy by the sudden and shaky ride.

"H-humans," Lunamon whispered. She remembered the one who fought against Bagramon. It was just a vague memory now, "You are generals sent here to defeat the Death General?" she asked.

"That will save some explanation later," Nene commented.

Taiki kneeled down, "We are here to bring you back home. It's good to know we find you quickly."

"Y-yeah. I was about to leave. I got enough food for everyone. A day or two without worrying about anything," she let out a smile. She raised her head and gazed at the dark sky, "I wish the day would come."

Nene checked her Xros Loader. "Just wait a little more. We will leave soon," the girl added as she looked at the castle. She searched for any more detail about it with her Xros Loader. She watched the intricacies from above and below, "We need as much as we can. We will eventually attack it."

"I'm wondering why we can go through the barrier," the boy wondered.

"We will smash it with everything we can when the time come," Shoutmon declared as he raised his mic that he summoned. He spun it and acted like he was actually doing it.

Thankfully, it was just to show off and nothing else.

"I got as much as I can. The Monitamons will collect more. For now, we should go," Nene concluded. She nodded at them, "I'll share it later."

"Follow me. I know how to avoid the patrols," Lunamon said as she took the lead. The others followed her.

They walked back towards the canyon. The humans were gazed back and saw the castle turning back into the silhouette of a giant Digimon. It was good news that it was a castle. Still, they would need to prepare for an attack.

Shoutmon stomach began to grumble. He gazed at the food in the bag, but decided against it. It was best to save that up for the Digimons she was bringing it too. He loaded back in the Xros Loader with Ballistamon.

Nene gazed at her Xros Loader, "You're feeling better Sparrowmon?"

"Yes. My wing still hurt, but in a day or two, I'll be ready to fight," she told him.

"Okay," the girl replied with relief.

The two humans followed Lunamon as they traversed the land. The Digimon was careful to listen her surrounding. She tried to make sure that no enemies were patrolling around. They had to agree she was good at it. She had a good sense of hearing. It was obvious it wasn't her first time.

"You did that often right?" Taiki asked.

"Of course, we cannot produce food in our hideout. We need someone to get out and get everything needed. It's not easy to find and get them, but I know how," she let out an innocent smile.

The trio went on and they approached the canyon.

Nene crossed her arms and was in deep thought as she checked everything, they got about the castle of NeoVamdemon.

"You know. I met a general that fought against Bagramon during the crown war," she turned towards them, "He was a brave human who had many Digimons by his side. He… Bagramon defeated them and were victorious in the war. That's how Bagramon took over the Digital World," she sighed sadly.

The humans gazed at her silently.

"This isn't over. We will get our world back from Bagramon. That's why we are fighting!" Shoutmon declared bravely in the Xros Loader, before munching more meat once again.

"We are here to help the Digital World," Taiki told her with a reassuring smile.

Nene nodded silently. She asked, "What do you know about the human who came before us? I heard about it, but nothing more than he was there."

"He was… He was a boy who united his army under the banner of the Blue Flare," she thought back, "His main partner was Greymon, a big Digimon who can be a big meany," she raised her finger and added, "They were aggressive in their battles, but he was smart. When they fought in our Zone, he managed to defeat the general of Bagramon and get the Code Crown."

"He was talented, but he lost. Where they any other humans with him?" Taiki asked.

"No. I didn't see anyone with him," Lunamon replied.


Meanwhile, Shoutmon was pensive in the Xros Loader. He ignored the snoring of Dorbickmon, still recovering from their battle and the after effect of the Darkness Xros Loader. He gazed at the little window to the outside world, "Blue Flare…" he crossed his arms while his brother turned towards him, "They got a cool army name. We got nothing."

"Right," Ballistamon replied as he finished eating.

"We will choose a name later," the red dragon decided, "We will get a good name too."


Outside of the Xros Loader, the trio continued moving forward.

Suddenly, they heard something suspicious. From the face Lunamon made, it wasn't a patrol. Something else was going on.

"There's a Digimon in trouble," she realised as she went towards the location where she heard the explosion.

The others looked at each other's and decided to follow her. They couldn't leave her alone. Taiki was the fastest to act, as he was ready to protect any Digimons in trouble.

Nene followed next, ignoring Darkknightmon warning that it might be dangerous.


AC: This is the end of this chapter. What would happen next?

Next Chapter: The Two Runaway Digimons.

Taiki and Nene followed Lunamon where two Digimons were attacked. They acted and saved the two in dangers with their Digimons.