The Steel Empire's capital—Steel City—had long since been hollowed out beneath the streets. Down below, rails, machinery, and steelwork spread in every direction, forming a vast underground city.
With a thunderous rumble, a Locomon pulled into the station. The platform teemed with mechanical soldiers standing guard; beyond them, ranks of automated laser turrets pointed outward.
Tai stepped down from Locomon, verified himself at a wall console, and the heavy doors parted. Inside lay a cavernous hall packed with machines, where busy Hagurumon and data-type Digimon worked the lines.
Most eye-catching of all was a colossal Machinedramon. Cables snaked from ports along its body into banks of instruments. As Tai entered, it turned its steel head. "Tai."
Tai nodded. "How's the work going, Machinedramon?"
The cables retracted with a hiss back into its frame. "We have results." It pivoted and led the way deeper.
They stopped before a seamless wall. Gears clanked; the wall split open. Tai and Machinedramon stepped through—and the seam sealed behind them as if it had never been there.
The secret room was quiet compared to the outer hall. At its center stood a pedestal beneath a small glass dome. Inside, an orange object glowed faintly.
Tai carefully lifted the dome and took the object. It brightened in his hands. Machinedramon spoke from the side. "This was built from the Steel Empire's archived designs. The principle is to raise a Digimon's power without modifying its body. Modified-type Digimon gain great strength, but at the cost of narrowing their evolutionary potential. The Steel Empire's old proposal was to plate armor over a Digimon's exterior—boosting offense and defense without harming the Digimon itself. Our experimental armor can't fully meet spec yet: when deployed, attack and defense go up, but speed drops sharply because the armor's heavy. Worse, the energy draw is massive. With only the armor's internal reserves, operational time is short. To fight at length, we have to solve the energy problem. Increase storage, and weight balloons; keep storage down, and endurance collapses. On top of that, the alloy for the armor is rare—we can't mass-produce it for the mechanical soldiers. These issues are the same reasons the ancient Steel Empire ultimately shelved the armor program."
Tai looked down at the piece in his palm, amazed. Light, compact, yet capable of covering a Digimon and delivering solid offense and defense. But Machinedramon's points were inescapable. When he'd first found the armor files, he'd been thrilled—he'd thought he'd found a way to spike the Steel Empire's strength. Building mechanical Digimon already demanded different metals for Champion, Ultimate, and Mega; each step devoured resources. The armor's problems were even thornier.
Then a better idea struck him: link the armor to the Digivice, like the second series' Armor concept—let the Digivice provide the armor's power. That would solve both the energy deficit and the short operation window.
"Your next priority," Tai ordered, "is researching our Crests and the Digivice. Build armor tuned to our partner Digimon based on our Crests, and link the armor to the Digivice so the Digivice supplies its energy."
Machinedramon nodded. The two of them left the secret room.
Back in his quarters, Agumon was already asleep. Tai rubbed his temples and sat. They had a lead on the armor program now—a clear path forward. If they could mate armor to the Digivice, the kids' Digimon should get another jump in strength soon.
But that mysterious dark power's source was still unknown. It was almost certainly from the Dark Area—but who sent it into the Digital World, handed it to MetalSeadramon, and why… still unclear. There weren't enough clues to draw a conclusion. He let the questions go, closed his eyes, and waited for tomorrow. Sleep took him.
In a pocket dimension, BraveBeasts floated in the air opposite a Digimon cloaked in shadow.
BraveBeasts spoke first. "Do we tell him everything?"
"No. I want to observe until the end. Once we're past Apocalymon and our plan succeeds, then we can tell him."
"Is that so? I hope we succeed. We only get one chance."
"Let's hope."
Dark Ocean. Millenniummon faced a black mirror.
Piedmon's face looked back from within.
"MetalSeadramon's been killed by those brats," Piedmon said. "Seems you couldn't stop Omnimon's assault."
"I didn't expect Omnimon to push his output that far," Millenniummon replied. "No matter. They won't be so lucky next time. Besides, the demon kings in the Dark Area seem eager to enter the Digital World. They'll be paying those children a visit."
"They'd better. With my current power I can't hold off Omnimon for long."
The next morning, after breakfast, the children set out again—this time to eliminate Puppetmon and seize his territory. That was Tai's aim.
Puppetmon resided in the forest and commanded the Jungle Cavalry Corps. But both the Nightmare Legion and the Jungle Cavalry were short on troops now; most had been drawn off to fight the Steel Empire. And since MetalSeadramon's defeat had freed up Steel Empire forces, many mechanical Digimon would accompany the group against Puppetmon this time.
They rode Locomon, rails arrowing toward the forest on Dark Tornado Mountain's far side. Along the way they passed endless mechanical soldiers and steel cities. Gradually, vegetation appeared. At last, the tracks ended at a vast forest—the border between the Steel Empire and the Jungle Cavalry. From here on, only the children could proceed.
In the forest, Woodmon repeatedly ambushed their column, but the outer ring of mechanical soldiers held the line. The kids pressed toward Puppetmon's lair—their showdown drawing near.
Inside his house, Puppetmon watched the children on his monitors.
"Hmph. You nasty little brats," he sneered. "I'll show you what I can do." He stepped out and began mustering his Jungle Cavalry.
Thoom—thoom—thoom. Heavy footfalls shook the woods. The kids looked around, searching for the source.
A gigantic wooden head poked through the trees in the distance—so huge that the children's jaws dropped.
As the steps drew close, the rest of the towering wooden body lumbered into view.
"What is that?" T.K. asked, a little scared.
"If I'm right, that's Puppetmon's house," Tai answered.
"But why is it that big… and how is it moving?" Sora stared, hoping Tai had an answer.
Tai shook his head. He didn't know, either.
Around them, plant-type Digimon pushed out of the brush—Woodmon, Garbagemon, and more.
"Ha—ha—ha—!" Puppetmon's voice rang down from atop the giant wooden figure. "You brats just waltzed in here? Then don't bother going home!"
True to his name, Puppetmon looked like a toy puppet—now standing high above on the wooden giant's head, leering down at them.
Mechanical soldiers formed a screen around the children.
"Let's go, everyone," Agumon said.
"Agumon—Mega evolve, WarGreymon! WarGreymon—Mode Change: Battle Mode!"
"Gabumon—Mega evolve, MetalGarurumon! MetalGarurumon—Mode Change: Warrior Mode!"
"Biyomon—Warp Digivolve to Garudamon!"
"Tentomon—Warp Digivolve to MegaKabuterimon!"
"Gomamon—Warp Digivolve to Zudomon!"
"Palmon—Warp Digivolve to Lillymon!"
"Patamon—Warp Digivolve to MagnaAngemon!"
"Gatomon—Digivolve to Angewomon!"
They left the Champion-level plant Digimon to the mechanical soldiers. The partners went straight for the Ultimates. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon took to the air toward Puppetmon and the giant wooden effigy—their assignment.
Battle erupted almost without anyone noticing. Packs of Woodmon crashed into the mechanical soldiers. Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon, Zudomon, Lillymon, MagnaAngemon, and Angewomon met ranks of Ultimate-level foes—Garbagemon, Cherrymon, and more.
Cherrymon—the Ultimate plant-type lurking in the great forest—was one of Puppetmon's lieutenants, evolved from Woodmon. With keen intellect and strength far beyond a Champion's, the "king of the treeline" used a nerve-polluting miasma to lure Digimon from the fringes into the deep woods, then absorbed them with roots and tendrils. Its signature move was "Cherry Bomb," toxic fruit launched from its crown.
Trickier by far than Woodmon, Cherrymon drew the focus of Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon. It couldn't fly, so the two Ultimates strafed it from above. Cherrymon hurled a volley of Cherry Bombs. Garudamon slashed out "Shadow Wing," cutting the bombs to pieces. MegaKabuterimon seized the opening—"Horn Buster!"—and his massive horn punched through Cherrymon's trunk. With a strangled cry, the tree toppled and dissolved into drifting data.
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