"Alright, so what do we have, Eos?" Bokomon asked me while I was tapping my pen on my notebook.

"So far-" I drank my coffee. "-I managed to find Uju's case. The Puppeteer Mansion. Apparently people go missing when they go to a certain shopping mall."

"Oooh!"

"An abandoned one. It burned down mysteriously some years ago." I showed them the picture of the mall. "It's called the Mall of Ashes now."

"Ashes?" A certain dragon then poked upwards as Shin Ashes sat on the chair. "What about Ashes?"

"Oh hey!" I smiled. "What's up?"

"You seem busy with a case of your own," Shin Batzz remarked while leaning in from who knows where, making me yelp and lean backward until I was caught by Shin Gao, who was chuckling. "You got startled by Batzz of all people?"

"Whatcha even looking at?" Ruri asked as she and Lia leaned in forward.

"Wha- when did you all?" How did the female AB members, the Mikados AND Ruri, Aoi, Mika, and Violet sneak up on me so easily?!

"You were THAT out of it? Wow, Eos, whatcha thinking of?" Dad teased.

"I-It's a case a friend asked me to look into!" And one where I'll see them again too. I thought to myself. If there was another thing I could deduce about Uju, it was that they seemed eager to solve cases like these, so if they had sent me an invite, most probably they would be there. "It's pretty weird, though. Dad, you know the Mall of Ashes?"

"You mean that one? Yeah, it burned down without any source. Why?"

"Do you think a Digimon could have caused the burning? Cause it seems like it's become some sort of hideout." I tapped my pen onto my notebook. "But what kind of Digimon would be able to cause fires like these?"

"I guess that we can help you out, then," Shin Tasuku said while getting his laptop out. "We still need to prepare for the fight against Perfectio, so this would be great practice. We only have Pandora, Amato, Akira, and... Uju left, don't we?" 

"By the day after tomorrow..." It was out of my mouth before I could control it. They would hopefully be free too.

"Huh? What about the day after tomorrow?" Aoi asked, which made me freeze, but...

After some thought, I realised that I had to tell them. I wanted no more secrets. 

And... the final one was going to come out slowly. I wanted both Akira and Uju to hear me out on it, so...

I sighed while holding out the letter. "Uju challenged me last night. Tomorrow is our battle." 

"W-What?!" Everyone gasped. 

"But this case, they gave it to me too. I think it's a test to see whether I'm able to fight against them tomorrow. It could be a hint, it could be a trap. But I... I want to take the risk. That's why... If this is a way for me to figure out what Uju's true intentions are, I'll take it." 

"Makua..." Ruri frowned, but grinned as she nodded. "We'll back you up. No matter what." 

"Eos... I'm very proud that you finally took the steps to trust us fully with everything," Dad said while hugging me. "We're gonna end this together." 

"I know." I smiled back. "I... I need to be the one to face Uju. No matter what." 

Everyone shared a glance until Dracmon gave me a thumbs-up. "We'll respect that!" 

"I... thanks, Dracmon," I said. "I promise I'll tell you why after I win against Uju." 

"So we'll wait. Take your time, and don't push it," Mika said while slinging an arm around Ruri. "We're always open to talking." 

"Well, Mei says she's always open but she's in Paldea, so eh," I laughed. "Let's go then! Investigating time! It's time to go to the Mall of Ashes!" 

"We should drag Higacchi along as well!" 

"I think he would run away the moment he saw you with that glint in your eyes, Ruri," Aoi joked. "Let's let Hiro mourn his consecutive losses to Amano and Haru too."

I snorted. That was still very funny, though. "Now we just need him to lose to a baby or younger child and the Hiro embarrassment circle is complete." 

"I don't know when you decided to name it that, but I love it. Let's go!" Dad was cackling.

I rolled my eyes a bit, but this time Pumpmon climbed onto my head while I scooped Bokomon up. "Let's get going. We have a mall to look into."

A quick teleportation later, we were staring at a charred building. The windows were long gone. The twin mahogany doors were barely holding, and nearly crushed us as we walked up to it. 

"Woah, now I see why people don't like coming here. This place really gives off the haunted vibes," Dia said while shuddering. 

Athena sighed. "I would say there are no ghosts, but after everything I've seen, I wouldn't be surprised if there were."

"This wouldn't be the most surprising part of my life at this point," Lia muttered, with Pegatrix nodding along. "It really does give off creepy vibes, doesn't it?"

"Huh..." I felt the mahogany door that had fallen. It... wasn't burnt? "It's not burnt."

Looking at my fingers, I was surprised to see that no soot or ashes were there. Just... dust. "What in the world? This place DID burn down right?"

"Curious... This is a whole new kind of case," Dad said while looking around. "Let's go in and check it out."

We all nodded, but as we walked in and looked around, I felt... off. Like some sort of malicious presence was around us. The mall just looked abandoned. 

A bad feeling was creeping into me. The reports... had never taken a picture of inside of the structure... The outside, LOOKED burned, but... it wasn't...

The answer to the cause came to me right away. 

"****... It was an illusion..." I gasped. 

"I was thinking of the same thing. But what kind of Digimon would be able to cast an illusion so good no questions were asked since its burning...?" Bokomon frowned. 

"... No questions?" I repeated. That was it... No one had asked questions about it... It was as if... No one wanted to ask. But why? I remembered the forum saying that people had been looking into it recently due to some strange activity from inside...

I got my notebook out, and skimmed what I had written down before I found something. 

"'Someone looking out the window... Lights were on... seemed like... they were being controlled by someone...'" I read to myself. "And all the victims looked... strangely similar to each other..." 

"A family...?" Pumpmon spoke up. "Wanted friends so I made people look like family!" 

Bokomon and I shared a glance. Wait, hang on...

"They look like a family... and... someone who can control others... This is... a miniature dollhouse to them! They're a puppeteer who controls humans to play to their wicked whims!" I realised. 

"Someone who can do that... aside from Pinocchiomon..." Bokomon paled. "Eos, I am NOT liking our odds." 

"Boko, what came into mind?" I asked. 

"This Digimon... If my theory is right, this Digimon might, he MIGHT just be... Sistermon Ciel's boss." 

"What?! Boko, explain a bit more!" 

"No time! Guys, we need to pull back now!!" he yelled. 

"Wha- What do you mean, pull back?! We just got here!" Shin Gao protested. 

"If I'm not mistaken, the Digimon behind this could be-"

"E-Erm, I-I think we should listen to Boko on that one..." Blitz Fox sounded a bit terrified, her eyes trained on...

As we slowly followed her gaze, our faces drained of colour as well. 

People... Rows, and rows of people... All of them walking in single file... N-No eyes, just... empty eye sockets in their place... 

"W-What the ****!?!" Remdepiamon screamed. 

"They're all wearing typical outfits of a Victorian dollhouse as well!" Ruri yelped. 

Their bodies seemed too... too pristine...

"Porcelain... They became... P-porcelain dolls." I felt multiple shivers go down my spine. What the... what the ****...? Who would...

"Capture the uninvited guests! We can turn them into our very own playmates~" a malicious voice sang. 

The empty eye sockets glowed as they all chanted, "Capture. The. Intruders. New. Playmates. Hurrah." 

"Oh Kami, we need to RUN!!!" Yuga backed away, and the rest of us didn't need prompting as we spun on our heels and ran. 

"We can't go full size here because it's still too tiny for us!" Shin Batzz cursed. "****!"

"Just run, Batzz! Run as if your life depends on it!!!" Shin Jack yelled back. 

"Easy for you to say! You can just fly! Curse these stubby legs-" Shin Gao just scooped both his Buddies up. "Thank you!" 

"Ah!" 

My head swiveled over to see that Lia had tripped, and immediately I grabbed out my taser, using the other end of it to defend her. "Run!!" 

"What about you!?" 

"I'll be-" I grunted as one of them kneed me a bit, but I kicked them back. "I'll be fine! Boko! Book Smash!" 

"You got it!" He summoned out books to swat them back so I could join up with the others as we continued running. 

"****! Another horde ahead!" Dad yelled. "Split up!" 

We didn't have much choice, so Bakumon and I took a right turn with Athena, Shin Tasuku, Violet and Mika, running as much as we could. My muscles were definitely getting tired, though. We need a way to get rest-

"Duck!" Shin Tasuku yelled as we complied just in time for a blast to nearly hit us, although as I looked back, I saw it dissipate before it hit the people. Wait...

"This Digimon apparently treasures the 'family' it created..." I muttered to myself, filing it away for later. That was weird... Pumpmon had mentioned doing a similar thing to this out of loneliness. Could it be that this Digimon was als-

"JACK!" Athena's yell snapped me out of my trance as I saw them hold back a struggling Shin Jack.

"Onaka, use Disaster Blast!" Mika commanded, and the caterpillar Digimon shot out a red blast that knocked them off their feet, allowing him to rejoin us. 

"Grrrr! They're all over the place! Split up and hide!" Shin Tasuku yelled. 

"Alright!" I nodded while grabbing Violet. "Come on! We need to run. Hang on, Boko, Pump!" 

The two of us and our partners were soon running like mad away from the throng. I had resorted to carrying Boko and Pump like kids while Dracmon had climbed onto my head and was now clinging like an actual koala. 

"Guys, take a right!" Culumon X called out as she waved at us with her pink feelers from ahead. 

"Got it!" Dang, who knew that people in the Victorian era were great runners, especially with the dresses the women wore back then!? How did PORCELAIN DOLLS run so fast!? 

But as we turned around, there was yet another crowd rushing at us, so we went the opposite way and-

"Oh, for the love of- A dead end!?" Bokomon paled. 

"We need to get out of here! Just WHERE are the windows when you need them!?" Violet hissed. 

Wait, windows? Now that I thought about it, this place was as dark as night. But the outside had holes for windows so how-

"Eos, we need to evolve!" Bokomon yelled. 

"A-Alright!"

Bokomon Evolve to...!

"Wizarmon!"

Bakumon Evolve to...!

"Sorcerimon!" 

"Blink Breeze! And Ice Illusion!"

"Pico Darts, Drac! Culu, Vortex Vacuum!" Violet commanded. 

"Dead Scream!" the voice echoed again as all the people opened their mouths and a screech sent our attacks right back at us.

"Dodge!" We barely rolled out of the way but-

"ARGH!!!" Wizarmon screamed, the Marks glowing on his forehead again and forcing him to devolve while Pumpmon gasped. "Friend!" 

"****! Boko!" I grabbed him before he was taken by those people and swatted the people back long enough for us to sprint off in another directi-

I yelped as I felt my purple shirt being grabbed, pulling us into a room before the door shut close. 

"You alright?" A familiar voice then asked, making my eyes widen as I looked up. 

"You're... DysMonarchmon!" Dracmon gasped.

The Digimon then turned into Uju as they sighed. "Looks like you actually came, huh?" 

+ SPIRITUAL DIGILEMMA +

"Friend?" Pump looked worried, and I understood why. Uju looked... Very... Very out of it. They were leaning onto Robinhoodmon as the Digimon sighed. "I told you to minimize these Evos, Uju. They'll kill you."

"I still... Have to help... That's why." They then gave a sad smile to me. "Hey... I'm sorry for calling you out like this, Akashiro. After what I did to you... Heh, and I still have the nerve to ask you for help with this."

Robinhoodmon was staring at me as he said, "Uju, don't feel bad. They deserve the pain after what they did."

"Robinhoodmon-"

"Shut up. I'm only allowing this because Uju... They were heavily injured when we snuck in here and I can't do **** cause I'm a literal ghost. Guess whose fault that is." He snarled. "If I were fully Digimon instead of stuck in this form, we would have taken care of that stupid GranDracmon already!"

"So my guess was right! This is GranDracmon's doing!" Bokomon paled as he stumbled, only for Dracmon to support him. "Thank you..."

"That's not good, though!" Dracmon definitely looked pale as well.

"What's up?" Violet asked. 

"We're lost, Hakase," Bakumon agreed.

"GranDracmon is a holder of the X-Antibody, and he... he... he is known to be able to make Angel Digimon fall from heaven," Bokomon stammered. "He has a charm for that, but... his power is much more than the original Sin Code holders..."

"Oh... oh ****..." I paled. "So he charmed everyone into thinking that the mall was on fire... and the reason there are no windows..."

"He's a vampire Digimon. He's THE vampire Digimon." Dracmon agreed. "You thought Vamdemon was bad? Nope, this guy takes that and magnifies it multiple times..."

"****! This is bad! The others-"

"Greetings, uninvited guests. We would like to invite you to an initiation party on the roof. Please be there so you can watch your friends become part of my family, before we eject you from our mansion," GranDracmon spoke from the speaker. "Unless you want us to make it slow and painful, you should give up as soon as you can."

"What?!" Bokomon paled. 

"Don't come! It's a trap!" Angoramon yelled as well, and Aoi added, "Get help from the others! We'll be fine!"

"I refuse! Not when my friends need my help!" Violet scowled. 

"Same!" Pumpmon looked angry as well. 

"Hood, let's help them out," Uju said while holding their Digivice. 

He looked a bit disgruntled, but sighed. "Fine. Let's do this."

Uju smiled. "Thank you."

"Boko, Baku, Pump?" I asked them. 

The three nodded. Time to go all out!

Pumpmon Evolve to...!

Bokomon Ultimate Evolve to...!

Bakumon Ultimate Evolve to...!

"NoblePumpmon!"

"Duftmon!"

"Hexeblaumon!"

"Spirito... Evolution!" Uju yelled while scanning their Fractal Code- wait, why are there multiple?!

RobinHoodmon Fragment Evolve to!

"Nervosamon!" The moth in front of me looked so pale and sick, so, so malnourished... was this a sort of eating disorder? "Let's go. We don't have much time."

"A-Alright," I answered. So this was most probably their Beast form... Takuya had mentioned it once, but to see one was a bit surprising in our time...

As we ran through the hallways, Nervosamon... paused and flew slower to match their pace with mine. 

"H-Hey."

"Hey... you look a lot better than before," they awkwardly said. 

"I do? I mean, the last time we met-"

"I know, but... it's great you're healing." The Digimon smiled. "I'm sorry for Hood, though. He lost Young-halabeoji pretty brutally..."

"... About that, Nervo-"

"I'm not a Digimon," they cut in. "I'm still human, Akashiro."

"So... Uju?" 

I swore I could see a smile on their face. "Yeah. But... Look, I know I was out of line, and I thought about it. The real thing I could have done would have been to just ask in order to keep both the code and Bokomon safe... but..." they looked ahead to see the others. "I... guess I was just envious of you."

"H-Huh? Envious? Of me?" Why would they be envious of me?

"You didn't have to see your grandparents die so brutally... no pain about losing your birth family after forming an attachment to them. Of course, I still felt horrible you had to go through the Daikis, but somewhere in my mind, I... couldn't help but feel resentful that you got the lucky end of the stick."

"Uju..."

They went quiet at that, and then they suddenly sped up to go past the others, but... I saw the lone tear falling down their eyes, as Melancholy glowed on their shoulder. 

They... had somehow kept their sanity even though they had a Fragmented Code...

Now, more than ever I had to admire their resilience, and it made me more determined to save them, even though I had that feeling Blues would either murder them or torture them. (My mind was leaning towards the second due to Blues being Blues. He WAS GulusGammamon's partner before Hokuto erased Gammamon's memories.) 

Uju, I will save you. It won't be easy, but I promise I'll save you from the Codes! I told myself. 

My footsteps quickened and I soon joined the others up the stairs (the lift was offline apparently). It wasn't as high as I thought, so we managed to arrive at a jungle on the roof, where rows and rows of people stood behind the Digimon I had to assume was GranDracmon. 

"Welcome, welcome! I am so honoured that you managed to make it to say goodbye to your friends!" He greeted as he bowed. "Now, it would be RUDE if you were in Mega, now wouldn't it?"

Some sort of aurora seemed to emanate from him, and the others were soon back to their Child forms, which surprised us. What in the world?!

"My body...!" Dracmon gasped. 

"So this is the Charm Boko was talking about..." My fists tightened. 

"Now, surrender those Digivices and walk away like good children, please," he commanded. 

My body jerked forward, hands skillfully detaching the Digivice off my wrist even though I struggled to stop. No no no!!

"Violet! Eos!" Mika tried to pull herself out of the vine bindings she and the others had been forced into. "Don't give it up! If you do, it's the end!"

"****! We need to-" my eyes then caught something on the table, where various accessories were. 

A gnome hat that was reminiscent of Santa Claus' hat, which seemed to call out to me. 

So, I focused, and somehow managed to gain control of my right arm, pulling my Digivice back on and forcing this same control onto my legs. I couldn't let him hurt anyone! "You're... going to... lose..."

"Hm? I fear I do not understand what you are talking about."

"I know, you have a Charm, and sure, you do. Sure, body control, whatever. But... You can break out of it. Aliana taught me... that." My hand reached out to the hat. "And so, the reason you're... not going to get rid of us, is easy, because I will protect those I care for. Both me... and... Bakumon!"

"Yeah!"

I grabbed the hat, and it glowed-

"BAKUMON, LET'S DO THIS!"

"YEAH!" He roared as he glowed. 

"Not so fast! Eye of the Gorgon!"

"I WON'T LET YOU!" Instinct kicked in as I put on the hat, and felt warm right off. What was this nice feeling...? It seemed to destroy the dark aura around him too!

"IMPOSSIBLE!" He backed away. "What ... what is that thing?!"

"It's our bond-fueled power! When we unite our hearts, we can win this fight! Bakumon, are you ready?!"

"Of course!"

And our hearts synced up-

Bakumon Ultimate Evolve to...!

"Dinotigermon!"

"Grrrr! Crystal Revoluti-"

"Highland Fang!" I commanded. 

"Understood!" He jumped and clawed him multiple times, making him scream as he stumbled back. 

"Anorexic Loss!" Nervosamon added as they sent out pill-like projectiles at the Digimon that ate away at the Digimon's data. 

"Pump, Boko, you guys good?" I asked them. 

"Of course! Let's end this fool!"

"Yeah!"

"Alright, Intellectual Cannon and Tai Atari!"

"Culu, Drac, let's help!" Violet yelled while holding a katana. 

"Yeah!" The two chorused. 

I also powered up my taser as I joined in, tasing in every exposed section of the Digimon while avoiding certain death AKA the snapping mouths on its front hind legs. 

"You ready, Dinotigermon!?" I called out to him as he dodged an attack. 

"Of course! Let's do this!" 

Another attack raced in my head, and I commanded, "GROUND FANG!"

GranDracmon could only scream as Dinotigermon struck him multiple times, a bright light erupting from him that blinded us all. 

When I opened my eyes, I saw that we were outside the mall, at the entrance as numerous people walked away, talking about their weird experiences. 

"I shall yield for today, young ones," GranDracmon spoke while walking up to us from within the wall. "You have shown me true beauty in life."

"Huh? How so?" Mika asked, dusting her new dress off as she got up. 

"When I arrived here... the world was very new, very... unfair. I couldn't help but feel... empty because I was all alone," he confessed. "So I thought to myself, 'If only I had a family!' Alas, my birth family perished long ago due to the Fragmented Codes, and I was the sole survivor."

"GranDra-" I paused when I saw Dracmon walking up. "Drac?"

"I know the feeling of it being unfair, but it's not as bad as you think. Sometimes you stumble, sometimes you fall, but you still get up yknow? Because of friends. Because of the family you find along the way." He held Violet and Culumon X's hands as he smiled. "I'm sure someday you can find family too. I'm happy with these two as my family."

"You mean, us," I corrected with a light frown. "We're family now, Drac."

"W-Wait what?" He froze.

I laughed a bit as I walked over and hugged him. "You're forgiven, Dracmon. Fully."

I had decided to finally let go of the resentment as well. It was just... Dracmon had found his true partner, and I couldn't be more happier for him.

His eyes watered, and he burst out into tears as the four of us hugged, with Pumpmon giggling and tackling us, which made for a pile. Still, we burst out laughing at this as GranDracmon mused, "The beauty of life lies in connections, huh?"

"Perhaps. Or it could be just one of many things that make up beauty in life," Angoramon smiled while looking at the waning sky. "How you see it is how you see it. Your decisions are not determined by others. So... why don't you go explore the human world? Make friends? Be... happy for once."

"A journey, I see," he roared in laughter. "Very well, I accept it! I do apologize for my former hideout, though."

"It was destroyed in the fight, so..."

"Oh, silly child," he said to me. "A home is where the heart is, not where you put all your belongings. Where you can be you."

"I getcha." I laughed. "Hey, you could start whenever! It's your choice!"

"Alright, I shall keep that in mind." He smiled. "But... thank you, young child. What is your name, if I may ask?"

"My name...? It's..."

I don't know why, but, my answer was... "Haneul."

"Haneul?" He smiled. "What a beautiful name. I wish you the best of luck, then, Haneul."

"You too, GranDracmon," I answered, and soon he waved as he flew off.

Home is where the heart is, huh? 

I turned around, half-expecting to see Uju, but they had vanished into thin air. 

Eh, I was going to see them tomorrow, so... that was okay. Plus, I had a familiarity with their fighting style now, which could help me in tomorrow's battle. 

"Ugh, I swear I hate outfits like these," Yuga groaned while poking at his tie. "Let's head back home and change! These outfits do NOT scream anything related to comfortable. They scream the opposite of comfortable."

Shin Tasuku chuckled. "Alright, alright, let's get going. I think we all need some rest."

With that, we all walked away, and I took off the hat as I rolled it up into a small roll and put it in a deck case with the other accessories I had found. 

Later on that night, I lay on bed and waited until 11.30 p.m. before I rose and woke the three up quietly. Upon seeing my gaze, they nodded and pulled themselves off bed, although I chuckled when I heard Bokomon complain quietly about how a lack of sleep would kill him, an old man.

We soon teleported back to our world, where we walked to Kitamachi Park. Like that day, the door was open, so I walked through with the other three. 

Back then, I hadn't known anything. I had been lost and unable to think straight. 

But now, I was prepared for the battle ahead.

Arriving at the clearing where Perfectio had shown up, I stood there, and waited. 

It was 11.59 p.m., and one second to midnight-

(I didn't see someone creep up behind me until they covered my mouth with a handkerchief and knocked me out, grabbing me while their partner picked up my knocked out partners and walking away, disappearing into a portal...)