Gazimon and Chihori found Hookmon but soon realized he wasn't their enemies. Tinkermon and Petermon were. After a visit to a mysterious spring where Chihori crest were, Gazimon and Chihori confronted the two digimon and a fierce battle unfold. They won by Gazimon evolving to Dobermon and free Petermon from the dark cable around his neck. They were soon reunited with the other chosen children and their journey continued. But what other secrets does Gazimon still hold for our heroes?

The children and their digimon wandered through the desert with soon to be lacking spirits. The desert was hot. Too hot! And the children and their digimon suffered under the burning heat. However, they still continued on looking for a resting place. They all knew by now that staying here would be dead meat for any dangerous or evil digimon. But even though they knew all that, the heat still took a toll on them.

"Sora, are you okay?" Piyomon asked as she watched her partner walk forward with a giant sigh. Sora send the bird a tired but reassuring smile.

"Yeah I think I manage" Sora muttered slowly.

"Koushiro han, don't get encouraged" Tentomon then tried to encourage his partner, but by the looks of it, Tentomon looked like he could boil over any second.

"Yamato..." Gabumon began, but Yamato quickly interrupted.

"You should worry more about yourself" his partner then stated, "You must be sweating under all of that fur".

"Eh... I will be fine though" Gabumon replied and groaned a little.

"Master I could...".

"Don't even think about it Renamon" Ryuhei growled annoyed as he was holding his sisters sweaty hand.

She had refused to let go of him for the time being. It was like Chihori was afraid of losing her brother if she did, and who could blame her? Gazimon was walking worriedly beside her, but like his partner, he wasn't uttering a word as well.

"We stay together. Besides if you go get water for only me, it wouldn't be fair for the others" Ryuhei continued and send Renamon a big smile "Besides do you even know where there is any water?".

"No master. I don't" Renamon replied slowly "But maybe...".

"But maybe Gazimon knows" Taichi interrupted and made the crew stop up. Ryuhei could see how he was glaring down the rabbit cat like digimon.

"Don't you think I would have told you if knew anything" Gazimon growled fiercely "Maybe. Maybe not"

Taichi then uttered "You were one of Etemon's minion once. You could be luring you into a trap". Gazimon looked rather pissed at him and were clearly about to shout something about him being rebellious when Ryuhei spoke.

"He doesn't. Gazimon doesn't serve Etemon any longer, so stop picking on him!".

"Oh how do you know?" Taichi sneered angrily "What if he is keeping us in the dark and knows where water was but didn't tell us?! Koromon looks awful".

"I will pretend you didn't just insult my sisters digimon. The heat is getting to you" Ryuhei said and crosses his arms over his chest "If you think logically about it you would know I am right".

"What? Say that again you know it all!" Taichi hissed and were surely about to fight again when Koushiro spoke.

"He is right Taichi. Gazimon has helped us a lot already and if he really wanted to hurt us, he would have done it already".

"He is right" Tentomon added. "Gazimon is a part of our team. Although he can be rather annoying sometimes...".

"Hey, I am a Gazimon you know" Gazimon replied and smirked "You have your way of fun, and I have mine".

By that statement everyone beside Taichi was laughing out loud. They all remembered all those small but innocent pranks Gazimon had done in the past to cheer them all up.

"But I... Koromon needs water and shadow right away!" Taichi then uttered rather desperately "Look at him! The heat is burning him up and...".

"Taichi san. Don't blame yourself" Mimi then suddenly said and smiled "We all know how regretful you feel about Agumon turning into Koromon, but there is nothing you can do about it now. You just have to keep up your spirit for Koromon's sake".

Silence uttered around the group. Not because Mimi had spoken those words of wisdom but because she had hit the true problem who Taichi was still dealing with. Him making Agumon turn into Skullgreymon which resolved in him becoming Koromon. The guilt was clearly still present in Taichi's eyes and the others were worried that he would flip out once again. Like when he did with Ryuhei.

"You are right Mimi san. I need to keep my spirit up for Koromon" he then replied, and it looked like all tension had left the group now. They all continued onward hoping to find a resting place soon.

Sadly, that didn't seem to be the case and the heat was really burning them now.

"Come on Takeru, fight on" Tokomon tried encouraging as he was carried on his partner's head. Takeru gasped after air and water now.

"Fight on" he then uttered with a dry voice.

"Chihori, you can do it!" Gazimon encouraged as well when Chihori was leaning on him for support. For the two youngest it really was hard.

"Ah it really is too hot!" Mimi sneered rather annoyed and stopped up. She clearly had forgotten her own words of wisdom with keeping the fighting spirit up.

"Yeah. I wish I could become a huge Togemon and give shade to everyone" Palmon replied and closed her eyes, clearly imagining being that huge Togemon right now.

"Palmon! Look!" Mimi then suddenly shouted and got everyone's attention. She was pointing at something in front of them. They were all staring. In front of them was a giant cactus who clearly could be the size of a huge Togemon.

"A giant Cactus!" Palmon uttered happily and Taichi even encouraged the others to rush over there so they could rest in its shadow.

He didn't need to say that twice. Everyone ran as fast as the could towards the giant cactus. Even Chihori and Takeru who had been so tired a minute ago. They had after all found a resting place for the time being.

"I wanted to be just as huge as that cactus!" Palmon then said happily while they run.

She was clearly happy that Mimi and the others could get a well-deserved rest. Sadly, as cruel as fate could be, this was not a huge cactus. It was...

"Hu?" Taichi then suddenly uttered and looked around "Where is it's shadow?".

The others stopped up a meter or two from the cactus and looked confused around. Then they all realized what had happened which only made them all fall to the ground in exhaustion. The cactus also soon disappeared revealing that it had only been a fatamorgana alias a mirage of some kind.

"It was only mirage" Yamato then said, which broke the children's fighting spirit even more. They were too tired to continue.

"Chosen children!" a voice suddenly said and got their attention. The children and their digimon were now looking in confusion, since they couldn't see anyone.

"Oh, chosen children!" the voice repeated, and a tiny holographic device appeared on the ground before them.

None of them got surprised when Gennai then had appeared as a holoprojection once again. After all it had been like that when he had showed himself to them on File island.

"Hey gramps! I got a tag and a crest just like you said we would!" Taichi then yelled rather disrespectfully "I even put them together to fight the bad guys, but Agumon didn't evolve at all. He turned into some kind of evil creature! And look at him now!".

He was holding up Koromon who looked rather tired and ill because of the heat. That statement caused a rather furious reaction from the other children as well. Mimi was even shouting that she didn't want hers at all.

"Calm down, chosen children" Gennai tried in a reassuring voice "The crests will become yours someday. Weather you want to or not. Both the tags and crest will light each other up". The children looked stunned at him.

"There is just no way!" Mimi uttered rather annoyed.

"Just like your crest Chihori" Gazimon uttered and noticed his partner nod eagerly.

"Let me explain why Agumon degenerated into Koromon. Even with both the tag and crest on you, unless you raise your digimon correctly..." Gennai then began and coughed a little before continuing "Yes unless you give them a good upbringing, they won't evolve the right way".

"Oh, like Skullgreymon?" Ryuhei then wondered which made Taichi hiss.

"Shut up you know it all!" He yelled. He clearly didn't want to be reminded of his mistake here with poor Koromon. He turned towards Gennai again.

"So... how do we raise them the right way then?" he asked worriedly.

"Chosen children" Gennai began his sentence once again and began flaking in and out all of the sudden. "When thinking about giving appropriate care... ".

He didn't manage to say anything more, because the hologram disappeared suddenly along with the machine. The children looked rather annoyed by that.

"Damn that old fart. Everything he says is so confusing and he leaves in the middle of the conversation!" Taichi then uttered rather annoyed.

"But he mentioned a good upbringing" Renamon mumbled slowly.

"Are we brought up the right way, though?" Gabumon questioned and looked at Piyomon who was standing beside him.

"Ah Gabumon. Just hold on there for a second" Yamato replied quickly. Just like Gabumon he was worried about that upbringing. He just didn't want to hear it. Or at least letting the others hear it, but sadly it was too late.

"I'm... I'm not confident that I can do this" Koushiro then mumbled.

"Wait, wait what are you saying Koushiro han?" Tentomon uttered worriedly.

"What about me?" Gomamon questioned and looked at Jyou. He looked defeated.

"I also don't have a shred of confidence. I can't do this. Self-confidence are at 0 percent" Jyou then also said which didn't help Gomamon confidence at all.

"Gazimon..." Chihori almost whispered as small tears were shown in her eyes.

"Ah don't worry Chihori. I know you are raising me correctly" Gazimon then encouraged and hugged Chihori who was sniffing a little. He looked around on the crowd "It is the others I am worried about".

Every digimon was glaring coldly at Gazimon. No one should after all say bad stuff about their partner.

In the end it was Ryuhei who had to make them all get up and continue.

"Listen to yourself. You are all giving up before even trying. So what if we might raise our digimon wrong? How can we, when no one of us have even tried?" He lectured firmly and got up "All I know is that we need to get up and keep going. We have to survive!".

"Yeah right? You are the one to talk? You haven't degenerated Renamon!" Taichi yelled up but he was hold back by Yamato who shook his head.

"Ryuhei is right you guys" Sora then said "It doesn't help that we sit here and feel sorry for us self. If we stay here, we might die or worse Etemon would find us".

Taichi mumbled something they couldn't hear, but in the end they all agreed to get up and continue. They had all just gotten up when the sound of a big horn could be heard. The children and their digimon turned surprised around and noticed that a giant ship was coming right towards them!

"Is it's a battleship?!" Taichi uttered worriedly, but Sora shook her head.

"No it is looks like a luxury cruise ship" she replied.

"And why is it a cruise ship is sailing through the desert?" Jyou then uttered "That is not possible. That is not normal".

"Is it another mirage?" Takeru then wondered but were then soon pulled away by Yamato who stated that is wasn't.

All the children and their digimon rushed out to the sidelines, and soon there really was a cruise ship in front of them. As unbelievable as it was. It even stopped in front of them and a Numemon dressed in sailor clothes looked over the railing to see if the ship had hit anything.

"Look it is a Numemon" Mimi stated surprised.

Mostly because Numemon was not supposed to like sun light. Guess the sailor clothes and hat protected it. In that moment however, Koromon uttered a tired sound, which stated just how tired he was.

"Koromon..." Taichi uttered and then looked up at Numemon "Numemon! Please let us rest on your ship for a while".

"Nume..." Numemon replied. It sounded like he wasn't so sure about that.

"Let me handle the Numemon" Mimi then said with a big smile "Here is feminine charm important. Numemon! We are really tired. Could you let us rest ourselves for a while on your luxury ship? Please!".

Then she waved with her eyes and made her self look really attractive, which made Numemon see hearts and were blushing like crazy. Soon he let the gangway hit the ground and they could walk on board.

"He-he piece of cake" Mimi then said in a cheerful voice.

Time skip.

"Wow it is like a 5 star hotel!" Mimi uttered happily as the children looked around in the lobby of the ship. The other children nodded. They were also staring in awe.

"I so want a bath!" Sora proclaimed eagerly and looked around "Wonder where that is?". Mimi was almost dancing eagerly at those words.

"I want a bath too... I..." she began but then stopped up and then suddenly was kneeling down to Chihori's level.

She was still hiding very shyly behind her brother's leg, but she were also looking curiously around. Mimi was not sure why Chihori had suddenly turned so shy. Ryuhei had told her that it was because she had been all alone without him and were scared of losing him again, but was that truly the real reason? Whatever! Mimi had decided that it was not important. What was, was getting Chihori out of her shell again and that couldn't go fast enough. Deep down however, Mimi's intentions were a lot different though. If I do this and get Chihori out of his shell, then I am sure Ryuhei would be very grateful and then... She was blushing slightly at that thought. Luckily no one noticed because Mimi's hat hit her face at the moment.

"Hey Chihori, what about you? Wanna have a bath too?" Mimi then asked and were holding a hand at her nose. "To be honest you stink...".

What in reality had been an invite from Mimi, turned down the minute Mimi said that last sentence. Chihori was looking up and down at herself to confirm that she really did stink, which made Gazimon pretty angry. He would properly have said something, when Chihori actually nodded. She did after all reek of sea water. However, her gaze soon turned towards her brother. She clearly wanted her big brother with him. Another reason for Mimi to blush like crazy and she hit her face with her hat again.

"Okay sure why not" Ryuhei then hummed "Guess I will go take a bath myself and...". He wanted to say something more but was interrupted when Taichi had suddenly grabbed the collar in his shirt and almost were choking him.

"Oh no you can forget it pervert. You are so coming with me" he stated and dragged along with Ryuhei "We are going to find a pool and some shadow for Koromon".

"Oh yeah water!" Gomamon uttered happily which also made Jyou tag along.

"What? Let go of me!" Ryuhei shouted angrily "That was not what I had intended, and you know it. I just want a quietly bath with my sister...".

"Oh yeah that might seem innocent, but we know better" Taichi just stated with a smirk "Pervert. You already had one peek at Mimi...".

"I am not a pervert!" Ryuhei shouted angrily, but it didn't help. Soon he was gone along with Taichi and Jyou. Chihori looked rather distressed after him.

"Big brother" she mumbled and were almost about to cry. Gazimon had of course hugged her right away, but the little girl still looked pleading on the two other girls.

"Ah don't worry. You will see your brother soon" Mimi then reassured and took the girl's one hand. Gazimon was holding the other.

"Yeah" Encouraged Sora as well "Besides it seems like Taichi have something planned with your brother. It is so funny. They are so much alike but at the same time not". Mimi rolled her eyes a little.

"Who cares! I want my bath!" she exclaimed and walked down the hallway with Chihori and Sora, while leaving the other chosen children behind.

Time skip.

The other chosen children, which was Takeru, Yamato, and Koushiro along with their digimon, had now found the dining hall where a tempting feast of food was in front of them on a table. It was a buffet. Just like in one of those restaurant Yamato was getting lunch for his dad on late evenings. Not that Yamato or the crew really cared. They were staring at the food like ferocious hungry beasts.

"It really looks fantastic" Yamato then commented.

"It sure does" Tentomon added with a longing voice.

"I... I wanna eat it" Takeru then said. A little bit of salvia was shown at his mouth.

"But... we shouldn't eat without telling anybody" Koushiro replied being the voice of reason to them all. Yamato nodded slowly as his stomach rumbled.

"But it sure looks good" he then commented.

"I am so hungry I could die" Tentomon stated as his stomach rumbled as well. Gabumon, Tokomon and Takeru all agreed on that with eager nods.

Their stomachs were also rumbling in agreement to that. Soon Koushiro's followed and the red haired boy smiled sheepishly while rubbing his hair.

"Well... it would be rude to the cooks if we let the food, they made grew cold right?" he then questioned slowly, which was all the reason the 3 children and their digimon tossed themselves over the table.

In the meantime.

Ryuhei sighed deeply as he was lying on the air mattress in the middle of the pool. The three boys were all taking sun bath's to Ryuhei's distress. This was not what he wanted to do, being literally forced by Taichi, and he was also worried about his sister. He sighed again as the warm sun hit his back, which annoyed Taichi to no end. Not that he said anything about it though. He was just glaring at him once in a while. Koromon was currently resting under a parasol while Gomamon was floating calmly in the wetter and were just as relaxed. Renamon was sitting in one of the lounge chairs and also did seem rather calm and collected, but Ryuhei also knew that as soon as he just spoke the fox digimon name, he was by his side in an instantly.

"Hey, what do you think Gennai meant when he told us to raise our digimon correctly?" Taichi then suddenly asked them.

"I have no idea" Jyou replied and sighed deeply "But at least we intend to care for them properly now". Ryuhei rolled his eyes at that.

"I don't know either, but to be honest why should I even tall you" He then snort out "Why did you bring me out here Taichi? Just to annoy me or do you actually have a reason for creating that scene back then?".

"Ahr put a sock in it. How long are you even gonna sulk like that?" Taichi sneered back in reply and sighed "Look, I was doing you a favor. You needed some relaxation and boy time for yourself. It is clear that your sister is stressing you out".

"Oh really? That was the reason you had to shout out to everyone I was a pervert. Thanks a lot!" Ryuhei sneered and glared at Taichi "And to your information, Chihori is not a bother to me at all. We depend on each other. We have been there for each other since...".

"Yeah since you were born. I got it" Taichi snort back and turned around so he was now lying at his back looking at the sky "Well I just figured you two needed to be a little more self-dependent. After all how are you gonna get along with the rest of us if you two are all by yourself?". Ryuhei glared back at him now.'

"Listen my sister has just saved me and Renamon by herself, along with her digimon, so don't talk about self-dependence like that Taichi!" he yelled back.

Jyou was just looking from both of them and back again without doing anything. Not even the digimon came in between them. Taichi rolled his eyes at that statement.

"I meant you, you idiot" he then said slowly and looked away "Or am I wrong when I say that you depend on her? I mean your sister is more shy than usual and you? You don't do anything? You haven't asked her what is wrong or why she is like this? Isn't that what a big brother shall do?".

Silence uttered all around them now. Even Koromon had woken up and was staring at their verbal fight. Ryuhei must admit he was staring. He was completely taken off guard by Taichi's latest statement and in the end Ryuhei just placed himself down on the air bed and looked down in the water.

"Guess I hit a nerve" Taichi then said when Ryuhei didn't reply him back. He sighed too "I am sorry for being so harsh, but this needed to be pointed out".

"No you are right" Ryuhei then mused "I of course have noticed that something was wrong with her, ever since we came back from Neverland, but like you said, I didn't ask into it. I was just happy she needed me, when in reality it is the opposite. But you are also wrong. We depend on each other. I know for a fact Chihori depend on me too".

Ryuhei had sat up and were staring at Taichi when he said that last line. Taichi's responds to that was just to shrug and state that Chihori was not his sister and that he was just pointing out what he could see. It confused Ryuhei deeply.

"How do you even know stuff like that?" Ryuhei then ended up asking in the end. That statement actually made Taichi smile a little.

"I have a little sister too. Her name is Hikari, and you behave just like me when I am around her, trying to keep my sister safe" he then replied slowly.

"Oh I see" Ryuhei mumbled back and placed himself down on the air mattress, with his back turned away from Taichi. That of course ended their verbal debate.

In the meantime.

Binoculars were however watching the children as the captain of the ship, who did in fact look rather human were looking at them from the captain's cabin.

"The chosen children, your fate are..." he then uttered and growled, tossing away his disguise revealing a big white bird digimon with red feathers at the edges, who also squeaking triumphantly "... In the hands of Cockatrimon. Bawk!".

Cockatrimon.

Adult.

Bird digimon.

Attribute: Data.

Special attack: Petrifier.

Cockatrimon, named Kokatorimon in English, is a ferocious bird digimon. Because of his feathers have deteriorated, he have lost the ability to fly which is great annoyance to him.

"Just in case, I will report to Etemon sama and ask him what I should do with them. Bakawk" the digimon then concluded and walked over to the commando central to contact his Master.

The black cable on his ship was the connection to it all. Sadly Cockatrimon didn't know of the current trouble Etemon was having with his Network and could therefore not contact him. Since the events with Skullgreymon Etemon was having a hard time fixing the damage and were therefore not available to the bird digimon. Cockatrimon hummed rather confused at that.

"That's odd bawk. I can't contact Etemon sama" he said and walked a little around, while thinking of his next move "I have no other choice then. I just have to get rid of them all myself bawk".

He walked over to one of the tubes and opened it with its beak. With this he could contact his crew of part time Numemon.

"You Numemon part time wawkings" he then informed them "I'll raise your pay rate up to pretty little sum for anyone who captures the chosen children Bakawk".

Time skip.

Ryuhei and the rest of the crew at the pool woke up suddenly, when nets were tossed at them by the Numemon. To say that it surprised them was a big understatement. Being in the net along with lying on the air mattress, all of them were worried about falling down in the pool where they might drown.

"What in the world..." Taichi had managed to utter and were staring at the green digimon. Ryuhei was not better as he was glaring down their enemies.

"Jyou!" Gomamon yelled in distress and fired his marching fishes at one of the nets when the Numemon was trying to capture him too.

"Master hold on tight. I will be there in a minute" Renamon reassured and fired its "Diamond storm" attack to cut all the nets to pieces.

Ryuhei was quick at the shore kicking some of the Numemon and Taichi was quick by his side. Jyou was... well still hanging on to the mattress not realizing that he was not attacked any longer, but Gomamon was quick to him there, however.

"Don't you dare touch Koromon!" Taichi then suddenly shouted as the digimon instead began to surround his partner at the table. That was also where their crest lay.

"Taichi!" Koromon shouted worriedly as his partner had let down his guard around the restly digimon. The pink digimon growled angrily as it concentrated its energy. "Koromon Shinka Agumon!".

The now dino digimon were standing at the table and Taichi couldn't be happier. His partner was back. He fired his baby flame at the Numemon, which just showed how much in action he was right about now. Ryuhei smirked a little. He was happy Agumon was back to his old self again.

"Diamond storm!" Renamon shouted again and fired his attacks at the Numemon again.

They were so having the upper hand here. Or so they believed. A giant bird digimon were suddenly shielding the Numemon from their attacks, who sadly didn't seem to have any effect on it.

"Ah that is a Cockatrimon" Gomamon uttered stunned as the digimon who was now standing in front of them were ready to attack.

"That's right and you are all done for" the digimon replied and concentrated its energy "Petrifier!".

A green beam struck out of his eyes and hit the three digimon, and as it did, their partners all turned to stone. Ryuhei, Taichi and Jyou looked stunned at that. They were so shocked over this that the Numemon easily could capture them and Cockatrimon got their crests as well.

"Petit fire" Gabumon shouted as his attack flew passed the attacking Numemon.

Tentomon also fired his "Petit thunder" while Tokomon fired "Bubbles" at the enemies. They were also having the upper hand. That until Cockatrimon of course showed up. Before the chosen children or their digimon could do or say a thing he fired his "Petrifier" attack at the three digimon and turned them to stone too, which also enabled the Numemon to capture Takeru, Koushiro and Yamato as well. What they didn't know was that someone were watching from afar and the digimon rushed towards the bathing area while shouting "Chihori we are in trouble. A bad digimon is attacking the others!".

Time skip.

Cockatrimon entered the luxury suite only to find that there were no chosen children there. Only the part time Numemon's were and they were looking around in the room to see if they could find the missing girls of the crew.

"Where are the other chosen children?" the bird digimon asked.

"They are not here" one of the Numemon replied.

Cockatrimon growled rather annoyed. That until he heard the sound of the water in the shower. The digimon charged in only to find the bathroom empty and the window in there open. The bird digimon looked out of it, and found watery footprints outside, which clearly showed that the children and their digimon had escaped through there. The bird digimon growled annoyed and rushed out of the bathroom and out in the hallway to continue his chase in capturing the last chosen children.

In the meantime.

Mimi, Sora and Chihori was running like crazy down the hallway of the ship, wearing only a towel, their tags around their necks, and their digivice. They hadn't had time to dress when Gazimon had entered the bath and told them that the others were in trouble. Mimi was actually grateful that Gazimon hated water and had in some way being their guard outside the bathroom. After all it came in handy right now. The girls ran and ran down the hallways however, while Mimi had a tight grip in her towel and Chihori's hand. After all she needed to protect Ryuhei's little sister after all. Everyone knew how precious she was to him, and Mimi didn't want to be to blame if something happened to her. Sadly, Cockatrimon cut them off suddenly and was staring triumphantly at them.

"Cockatrimon!" Palmon and Piyomon uttered in unison and starred down the enemy.

"Is he one of Etemon's minions?" Sora questioned worried.

"I think so. I... I ah my head hurts" Gazimon replied and grabbed his head in his hands.

The rabbit digimon clearly was remembering something from his former life and Chihori was hugging it sacredly. Cockatrimon squeaked confidentially and the girls could now see how the bird was holding Jyou, Taichi and Ryuhei's chest at his wings. That didn't help on this current situation.

"Those are Ryuhei, Jyou and Taichi crests!" Mimi uttered rather horrified.

"Yep. I captured 6 chosen children already and put them out to fry in the sun Bakawk!" Cockatrimon bragged confidentially. "Keep them out there for a while and I have dried and crunchy chosen children bawk".

"That's terrible" Mimi uttered while imagining her comrades tired up in a net and letting the sun burn them to crisp. It was not a pleasant sight at all.

"What about their digimon?" Piyomon then questioned worriedly.

"I've turned them to stone with my powers Bakawk" the bird replied gleefully. "I can use them to boil some yummy soup".

"That is unbelievable!" Palmon shouted angrily.

"Ah don't worry you will all soon join them" Cockatrimon reassured them and were suddenly staring at Gazimon "Unlike you that is. I know for a fact that Etemon-sama has a high reward on your head Rebellious Gazimon. To think that one of his own servants turned against him. What disgrace. You even joined the chosen children as this girl digimon". Gazimon growled annoyed at that.

"I am Not the rebellious Gazimon any longer" he then hissed and placed protective arms around Chihori "I am Chihori's partner!".

"Hmm bawk. Well it doesn't matter I will turn you all to stone now". Cockatrimon said confidentially and chuckled evilly.

"You won't touch any of them" Piyomon then proclaimed and flew up in the air firing her "Magical fire" attack at the bird.

Palmon also helped out with her "Poison Ivy" and even Gazimon managed to fire his "Paralyze breath" at him. sadly, it didn't do a thing. Cockatrimon either dodged it or tossed the attack away with his wings. Then he smirked evilly, and Mimi could see how the digimon concentrated his energy to fire his attack. Their digimon however didn't let him. Piyomon, Palmon and Gazimon all grabbed their chosen partner and began to run for it. The Petrifier attacked missed it mark, but that didn't stop Cockatrimon from chasing after them.

The children ran and ran as fast as they could through the whole ship in an attempt to escape. Sadly, that wasn't the case when they soon hit the prow of the ship. It was a dead end for them unless they wanted to jump many meters down in the desert. All which Mimi was not even sure they would survive.

"Coca, now you are trapped" Cockatrimon then said as he had them cornered. The girls looked scared as the bird digimon slowly approached them.

"Ah I remember. Cockatrimon can't fly" Gazimon then suddenly uttered.

"If that's the case. Piyomon Shinka" Sora then said firmly, and her partner nodded in agreement. She build up power as Sora's digivice lit up.

"Piyomon Shinka Birdramon!". In Piyomon's place was now a majestic big red bird who also could fly, to Cockatrimon's annoyance.

"She... she is flying" he then uttered rather stunned which was all it took to make the digimon let his guard down.

Birdramon fired her "Meteor wing" attack at him. Something which Cockatrimon actually managed to dodge but in his attempt, he lost the crests he had been holding.

"He really can't fly" Sora stated surprised. Then she looked at Mimi and Chihori "Now is your chance". Mimi and Palmon nodded as energy rose from the digivice as well. Palmon were also about to evolve.

"Palmon Shinka Togemon!".

The giant cactus monster with boxing gloves now appeared in Palmon's place and knocking her hands together, showing just how ready Togemon was in that fight. Mimi turned towards Chihori now who was still hugging Gazimon like crazy. Gazimon was even growling angrily at the bird. He was ready to fight too. However, what Mimi found weird was that he hadn't evolved yet.

"Come on Chihori. Let Gazimon evolve" she encouraged, as the girl actually hugged her partner more intensely. Gazimon even sighed deeply to that.

"I... I can't evolve any longer. At least not right now" he then explained to them and sighed "In neverland I used the spring's power to evolve, and that is all good and fine, but I sacrificed that part to bring Hookmon back to life. I just couldn't handle seeing My Chihori cry".

"Gazimon" Chihori whispered and hugged her partner even more. Mimi and Sora looked stunned at them, but then Sora turned her attention towards their enemy again.

"Fine. That means we must settle this ourselves. Birdramon!" Sora encouraged.

"Meteor wing!" Birdramon answered in reply and fired her attack again.

"It is my turn now" Togemon proclaimed and fired her "Chiku-Chiku bang-bang" attack.

Needles were flying everywhere at Cockatrimon, which surprised the bird digimon deeply. Then two hooked fists send Cockatrimon flying up in the ships chimney. Smoke and fire soon could be seen being blown out of there, which indicated that they had defeated the digimon. Both girls were smiling at each other for their achievement.

Time skip.

"Why didn't you tell us Gazimon couldn't evolve any longer?" Ryuhei uttered as he confronted his sister.

They were currently at the ships deck after Mimi, Chihori and Sora had saved the boys from the net. After a lot of drinking water, Chihori had then told them the truth. That Gazimon couldn't evolve, which made her brother now stand here and scold her. Chihori looked guilty down in the floor.

"I am sorry big brother, but Gazimon didn't want to bother anyone" she replied as she hugged her partner worriedly "I don't want Gazimon to disappear".

"So that was all this fuss was about?" Taichi questioned and leaned his hands back at his head. "And here I thought it was serious".

"It is serious Taichi!" Sora shouted angrily "You know how dangerous this world is".

"Ah it is not like Ryuhei wouldn't protect her or be by her side forever, so what is the problem" Taichi proclaimed without having a care in the world. Ryuhei knew that might have something to do with Agumon being back.

"You are so lacking empathy Taichi. What if that was you?" Sora sneered back. She was properly gonna say something more when Koushiro pointed something out.

"You guys, the Numemon are leaving the ship" he said, making everyone look out of the railing "Wouldn't that mean it is too dangerous to stay on the ship?".

"Yeah let's hurry and go off" Jyou added worriedly.

What they didn't know was that Cockatrimon was still alive. The giant bird had used his willpower and, in some way, revived himself when he was climbing up the chimney. He did however look rather crispy.

"Damn it. Those children" Cockatrimon uttered as he stuck out his head in the chimney "Those damn children and their stupid digimon. I am so getting my revenge on them. Bakawk".

Then he fell out of the chimney with a big bump. That would properly hurt in the morning, but his thirst for revenge was bigger.

In the meantime.

The children were once again wandering the desert and the wheatear was as hot as ever. Soon they were all sweating like crazy.

"Man I am roasting" she proclaimed annoyed, but then the sound of a horn could be heard.

She turned surprised around, only to find that the cruise ship were heading straight towards them and were clearly attempting to hit them with the ship itself. To say that the children were running for dear life was an understatement. They were running faster than that, but the ship was still on their tail.

"Did Cockatrimon come back to life?" Yamato questioned worriedly. After all who else could be driving this giant cruise ship right now.

"There is just no way" Taichi uttered, but none of them stopped up to check.

"If I remember correctly, he was a very stubborn digimon" Gazimon added in.

"That is not what we need right now!" Ryuhei uttered as he was running beside him, while having a tight grip in his sister's arm.

"Wait what is that?" Mimi then uttered and made all follow her gaze.

"A giant cactus?" Palmon questioned puzzled.

"Is it another mirage?" Mimi then asked, but Taichi did point out that it did have a shadow.

All the children were hiding behind the cactus now, as the ship was heading straight for it. Not caring that the cactus were an obstacle for the ship. However, Cockatrimon should might have considered his actions better, because the cactus just bounced off the ship like it was a rubber band and instead send it flying up in the sky. The ship exploded seconds later, when the dark cable it was equipped with, caught on fire and electricity, and soon firework were shown in the sky, telling them Cockatrimon was gone for good this time.

"It really wasn't a mirage" Mimi then said as she was staring down the giant cactus who had in directly helped them.

"Yeah it is a real giant cactus!" Palmon then uttered rather happily.

She had just said that when a flower suddenly were blossoming at the top of the cactus. All the children and digimon were staring in awe at that beautiful display. As the flower blossomed, a crest suddenly appeared over it. Then without warning Mimi's tag suddenly began glowing and pulling itself out of her clothes. It was lightening up like crazy. It was like it told the crest that 'here am I', and in some way the crest responded by lightening up too. The crest slowly approached Mimi as it changed it size so it could slide inside her tag and become part of it. Now Mimi was also having a tag with a crest in it.

"So this is what Gennai meant when he said the tag and crest light each other up" Sora then said rather stunned. Mimi sighed deeply as she looked at the crest in her hand. She didn't look happy at all.

"I didn't want this" she then stated, "Will I be able to Palmon up properly?".

"Eh... Mi-Mimi" Palmon responded just as worriedly. They were all silent as the sun in the desert slowly began going down.

A,N: Well that was that chapter. So sorry for the wait you guys. As I explained before my writing tempo has gone down a lot, so I take a while to write a chapter. That and the subs are killing me. That along with other stories I had to work on. However hope you liked the chapter so far. Please comment. Would like to hear your thoughts on this chapter. As for the next one, they meet Picolomon lol and training begins.