Chapter 45: Preparing For War!

SorcererSuprememon, Chlorismon, Alicomon, Wandamon, Magicianmon, WhiteWitchmon, MedievalGallantmon, and Hexeblaumon. These 8 Digimon made up The Withcelny Council, with SorcererSuprememon as its head.

All of the Digimon took their seats at the round table. SorcererSuprememon's hands glowed red and when she waved them around, a large device with a screen appeared in the middle of the room, seeming to poof into being! Emmett's eyebrows raised at the sight of this large clunky piece of machinery. The large machine was on a cart with some kind of small wide machine at the bottom. "What is that?" Emmett asked. Emily looked over at him with a surprised look on her face. "What do you mean 'what is that!?' That's a TV!" Emily exclaimed. Emmett tilted his head and put a finger up to her lip. "A TV? Why is it so…dummy thicc in the back?" He asked. Taylor facepalmed at Emmett's ignorance. "Good grief. It's obviously one of those ancient models from the 1980s or 1990s." She said. Evander and the other millennial Digidestined all grimaced simultaneously. "Ancient? Thanks for making us feel old." Mario thought to himself. Emmett looked surprised. He had never seen an old TV before. "So this is what you guys used to watch decades ago." Emmett said. The Millennial Digidestined grimaced once again. Decades. It had been decades since they were children. "What kind of streaming services did you have back then?" Drusilla asked. "It was called 'Be-in-front-of-the-TV-by-9:00-or-you'll-miss-the-show." Evander joked.

SorcererSuprememon loudly cleared her throat. She then gestured over to the TV. "This old TV will act as a monitor to show World For Us All and their Digimon what's going on. I've hooked up a webcam to it. It may look old on the outside, but on the inside, it's brand new technology. It's basically a big video chat machine." SorcererSuprememon said. Sharkmon nodded, following along. "I got ya. But why not just use a laptop or a smartphone? This seems like using a laptop with Facetime with extra steps." Sharkmon said. "wHy nOt jUsT uSe a lApToP wItH fAcEtImE oR a sMaRtPhOnE?" SorcererSuprememon repeated what Sharkmon said verbatim in a mocking tone.

SorcererSuprememon shot what looked like a red ball covered in smoke at the retro television, and an image of Mirei, Kari, T.K, Tai, Matt, Marcus, Rika, Yoshino, Takato, Joe, and their Digimon appeared on the screen. There was a TV-with-webcam in the room they were in so that they could see what the Witchelny Council was saying and doing. There were simply too many people to cram into one room, so they needed to be spread throughout the academy. Fortunately, school was out for a while, so any of the classrooms could accommodate them.

SorcererSuprememon then sat down in her fancy golden chair. Then she conjured up a map of Boarwarts (i.e the town Witchelny Academy overlooked). "Let us begin our battle plan. As you all know, the dragon Wernicus has expressed his suspicions that Morty Shin may be a puppet of Warlockmon whom we had presumed dead for many years. I too share these suspicions. If Warlockmon is controlling Morty Shin, or if Morty is working for him, then out of all the places in Witchelny Morty Shin will attack, this Academy and the town it overlooks is the most likely place they'll attack. It goes without saying that Warlockmon bears resentment against us for rejecting his proposal to manufacture Deity Stones. And since I was the one who destroyed him, he likely hates me twice over. We've deliberated over this over the past 48 hours and everyone agrees that Boarwarts is where he'll most likely send his army." SorcererSuprememon explained.

Wandamon pointed her wand at Evander and said, "The bearded hunk and his team seem like they would be fit to guard the rear overlooking the ocean. After all, he and the plain looking ginger can make their Digimon become MarineOmnimon, the strongest aquatic Digimon on record." Wandamon said before giving Evander a smiling wink. Evander blushed at the 'hunk' comment. Jessica scowled, obviously insulted by the 'plain looking ginger' comment. Obviously, this fairy had a thing for Evander. She'd better watch this winged hoho closely. Allicomon nodded. "Yes, the beach behind this academy's peak would be the most optimal place for MarineOmnimon to fight." Allicomon said. She looked around at the other council members to get their approval. Hexeblaumon looked over at the monitor showing World For Us All on 4 split screens and then back at Allicomon. "Allicomon, I have to agree with you, but let me add that we should place Dr. Joe Kiddo and his Gomamon there to assist them along with Samantha Green and her Betamon." Hexeblaumon said. Jessica perked up when she heard the name of her old childhood friend. "Samantha? She's not a member of World For Us All." Jessica said. Hexeblaumon looked at the ginger mermaid and replied, "That's true. However, we expect the threat to be so severe that we're recruiting Digidestined and Digimon Tamers who aren't even members of that organization." Mirei Mikagura, who was in another room, pushed her glasses up on her face. "Jessica, there's a reason SorcererSuprememon and I created this organization. There's a reason why Homeostasis and Yggdrasil, two godlike entities of the Digital World who rarely see eye to eye, have worked together to create Harmonymon. This threat is so huge that the entire multiverse is at stake. Even if we're wrong and Warlockmon isn't behind this, Morty still has a Digimon specifically designed to tear entire worlds apart." Mirei explained through the TV screen.

Wandamon added, "I think Cody Hida should be at the beach too. His Digimon partner can armor digivolve into Submarimon." T.K from the other room decided to speak up. "I don't think that's a good idea. Submarimon is an Armor level Digimon, and Armor Digimon have the equivalent power of Champions, save a few exceptions like Magnamon and Willis' golden Rapidmon. Besides that, Armadillomon can't reach Mega without Patamon as his jogress partner. I need to be with him in case they get into trouble." Wandamon then got up from her chair and flew over to where Evander was sitting. She ran her index finger across his chin. Looking over into the camera, she said to T.K, "Don't be such a worry wart! MarineOmnimon, Vikemon, and MetalSeadramon will cover him! It's not like he'll be facing down Megas by himself." Evander felt a little uncomfortable with how strong this Wandamon was coming on to him, but it didn't help when he looked over and saw the look in Jessica's eye. She looked ready to turn Wandamon into a DigiEgg. Magicianmon scratched his chin with one of his many floating hands. "T.K has a point, but so does Wandamon." Magicianmon looked lost in thought. He wasn't sure where Cody and his Digimon should be put in the list of troops. T.K then came up with a compromise, "Ok, how about this. My Digimon can armor digivolve with all the Digimentals. If I have Cody transfer his Digimetal of Reliability to my D-Terminal, Patamon can armor digivolve into Mantaraymon. And since Patamon can become a Mega without needing a Jogress partner, I can call upon Seraphimon if things get too hairy."

Magicianmon and Alicomon said, "That sounds like a fine plan." in unison. MideievalGallantmon, Hexeblaumon, and the others gave their approval. It was up to SorcererSuprememon to give the final say. "Very well. T.K shall use the DigiEgg of Reliability to aid Evander, Jessica, Joe Kiddo, Samantha Green, and Haruhi Fujiwara." SorcererSuprememon said. Haruhi Fujiwara was a Digidestined from another universe who could spirit evolve into Ranamon and Calmaramon. In her universe, the evil Cherubimon has possession of the spirit of wind rather than water as in Zoe's universe. Martin, Naturemon, and Zoe had met her a while back while they were universe hopping while searching for Taylor Glovion.

The meeting went on for a several hours and eventually the council all settled on which troops would be placed where.

*Evander and Jessica Glovion, Joe Kiddo, Samantha Green, T.K Takeishi, and Haruhi Fujiwara would fight the battle at the beach at the north.

*Zai and Flora were to fight at the front entrance to Boarwarts which was to the south along with Davis, Ken, Kari, Yolei, and Cody.

*Mario and Emily were to stay inside the city and fight just in case All For One World's troops got past them.

*Marcus, Thomas, Yoshino, and Keenan were to guard the west wing.

*Takato, Henry, Rika, and Ryo were to guard the east wing.

The meeting was about to ajourn, but Taylor stood up and raised her hand, a concern look had come across her face. "Excuse me. But where are we supposed to be stationed? Isn't Harmonymon kind of the trump card here?" Taylor asked. "You and Harmonymon's other partner's are to look for Morty Shin and Owarimon and take them out." SorcererSuprememon replied. Wandamon wrapped her arms around Evander's next. "I'd like to take YOU out, you fine piece of human, you." Wandamon said. Evander looked uncomfortable. He looked over to Jessica and saw fire in her eyes and a trident in her hand with a ball of liquid water forming above the trident! "Wandamon…do you know what drowning feels like? Lay another finger on my husband and you'll find out." Jessica asked in an ominous tone. Wandamon let go of Evander and started taking two steps back, looking scared.

Magicianmon got up from his seat and walked over to The Elemental Four. "No matter what, the four of you must not be separated. Harmonymon must be able to appear whenever she is needed. During the battle, stay with each other at all times." He said. Sharkmon gave a salute. "Will do, handy man!" He said. "Good. Now, let me show you to your rooms. You'll need to be well rested for tomorrow's big battle." Magicianmon said.

Magicianmon lead the four to an Inn in town. He opened the door and they all walked in, both children and parents, and all their Digimon. A Magemon was behind the counter and when she saw the large group, she looked astonished. "My, my! Such a large group! Are these the ones from outside?" She asked, referring to outside of Witchelny. Magicianmon nodded, "That they are, little Magemon, that they are. But don't worry, the children will share a room with their birth parents and Digimon, so you won't need to dish out as many keys you think." Magicianmon said. He knew Magemon was probably freaking out on the inside thinking that there was no way her small little inn could accommodate so many people and Digimon. There were 8 rooms upstairs. The stairway was in the middle of two places; the lobby with some benches lining the west and east walls near the entrance, somewhat adjacent to the counter Magemon was behind, and the kitchen where meals were prepared for the inhabitants. Evander thought to himself that the layout looked exactly like that inn from The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask. A smirk came across his face as he joked to himself that he hoped there wouldn't be any hands coming out of toilets. Then again, this wasn't just a Digital World, but a magical wizard version of the Digital World. Who knew what was possible here? A thought suddenly occurred to Martin. He looked up at his mother with a concerned look on her face. "What kind of currency does this place take? What if there's some special Witchenly money we don't have?" Martin asked. Flora's eyes widened. She turned from looking at her son to over at Magemon. "That's a good point. We don't know if we'll be able to pay you." Flora said. Magemon smiled a waved her front paw gesturing that they are fearing for nothing. "We use DigiDollars here just like the primary Digital World does. But it doesn't matter anyway. You're the heroes who are going to save us all. This night's stay is on the house." Magemon said. "Although…it would be nice if you helped with breakfast."

Everyone smiled and chuckled. "We'd be glad to help." Evander's Agumon said. "Thank you very much for your hospitality." Flora's Palmon said. Magemon got out a small lockbox and opened it. It had 8 keys inside. "Your room number will be on its corresponding key. Take whichever ones you need." Magemon said as she sat the small box on the counter. Evander picked one up that had the number 1 on it. Mario picked one that had number 2 on it. Zai picked one that had a 3 on it, and Emily picked one that had a 4 on it. Since Evander and Jessica were married, with Taylor as her daughter, they'd all bunk together. Same went for Mario, Flora, and Martin. Zai and Drusilla would be in the same room, and so would Emily and Emmett. Terriermon looked concerned. He looked up at Evander and tugged on his pants. "It looks like there's extra keys. Evander, I really like you and all, but both you and your wife have three partner Digimon. With Sharkmon, that makes 7 of us Digimon alone! Do you think we could have a room for ourselves?" Terriermon asked. Evander's Agumon nodded. "That is a good point. The Glovion Residence is like a digital Brady Bunch." Evander's Agumon said. Evander picked up a key with the number 5 on it and handed it to Terriermon. "Here you go. I like you guys too, but you're right." Evander said. Sharkmon looked down and started whimpering. "No Taylor? But I like being with Taylor. She's my bestest friend in the whole world." Sharkmon said. Agumon wrapped his arm around the quadruped shark and smiled. "Aw, come on, buddy. We'll have a grand ole time together. I heard that there was a juggling duo who left a pack of trading cards in there." Agumon said, trying to make Sharkmon feel better. Sharkmon still looked kind of sad. Terriermon walked past Agumon and Sharkmon, turned around and then faced Sharkmon. He raised one finger, "I know all kinds of games you can play with a standard deck of playing cards. 500 Rummy, Poker, Hearts. I can teach you if you don't know how to play." Terriermon said. Ladybugmon also came up to Sharkmon and patted him on the back. "And I don't care what Gabumon says, Terriermon is not a cheater." Ladybugmon said. Gabumon frowned. "There's just no way he could have gotten that many royal flushes that one time." Gabumon said.

Taylor smiled as she looked down at their Digimon. She kind of felt like she was the mother of a little boy who had to have other kids coax him into letting her leave him at pre-school for the first time. Sharkmon smiled and said, "Ok! Let's play!" He said. Pawnchessmon raised his spear and said "Huzzah! A fun time to be had by all tonight!" Taylor closed her eyes, smiled bigger, and giggled.

Palmon grabbed a key also, although she had to use her Poison Ivy move to get it. The key that Flora's Palmon grabbed had a 6 on it. "You know, if the entire Soleman residence moves into one room, it will be 8 of us. Maybe we ought to follow suit." Palmon said. Gatomon nodded. "I agree, Palmon. Especially since Flora snores really loudly." Gatomon said. Flora scowled. "I do not." She then turned to Mario and said, "Tell her I don't know." Mario looked scared. He slowly raised his hand and said. "I…I plead the fifth." Flora put her knuckle on top of Mario's head and barked, "We're not in America!" Martin looked at Naturemon and wondered if she might have some separation issues too. She didn't raise any objection though.

About a half hour later, Agumon, Terriermon, Ladybugmon, Gabumon, Leormon, Pawnchessmon, and Sharkmon were all playing poker. Across the hall in room 4, Mario, Flora, and Martin. In room 6 next door to the Glovions' partner Digimon, Guilmon, Agumon, Gatomon, Palmon, and Naturemon were also playing some cards.

Naturemon got up and walked out the door. Palmon and Gatomon wondered where she was headed off too, but figured she had to use the restroom. There was a bathroom downstairs with toilet stalls. A secondary bathroom was in use for bathing for boys, a third one for girls (an onsen bath). Naturemon must be headed off to one of those. Naturemon walked downstairs and was headed towards the front entrance. Magemon saw her and asked, "Is there something you need?" Naturemon turned back and smiled. "I'm just going to look around. I've never been to Witchelny before." Naturemon asked. "I knew it." Came a voice. Naturemon turned around to see her partner, Martin standing there. "You want to go see those Naturemons don't you?" He asked. Naturemon nodded. "Yes. I want to learn more about them. I'm just so curious. For so long, I thought I was the only one of my kind." Naturemon said. "Can I go with you?" Martin asked. Naturemon smiled and giggled. "Do you even have to ask?"

Martin and Naturemon exited the inn and walked down the streets. There seemed to be Magemon everywhere. There were also other magic and mystical Digimon walking around. Martin hadn't seen any of these Digimon before. There were Digimon who looked like fairies, wizards, witches, anthropomorphic pumpkins, etc. Because the battle planning meeting had taken so long, the sun was now going down. They had arrived in Witchelny at about 3:00pm Japan time on Earth. They headed towards the forest where the Naturemon lived.

When they arrived, they walked around, searching, hoping that one of them would make themselves known. "Hey Naturemons! Come out! I want to talk to you!" Martin's Naturemon shouted. Suddenly, a "tree" moved. It was the Chlorismon from earlier. "Ugh, child. Must you be so noisy. I'm exhausted from all that fuss." She said. Naturemon grinned and giggled. "Hi, Chrorismon! Do you know where I can find the other Naturemons?" Martin's Naturemon asked. Chrlosimon smiled at the chipper little plantlike girl. Suddenly, one of the Naturemon partially popped out of the forest and pulled Martin's pants down! "Hahaha!" She chucked. Panicked, Martin bent down and pulled them back up. "What gives!? Good thing I was wearing underwear!" Martin exclaimed. The Naturemon then fully emerged out from the under the ground and laughed while pointing out Martin. "You should have seen your face, cat boy!" She said. Martin turned back and glared at her. Chlorismon chuckled, putting her large wooden hand over her mouth. "This one's Hannah. She's a bit of a prankster." Chlorismon said. Then, another Naturemon emerged from one of the trees Martin was standing in front of and grabbed his ears, startling him. "My, my! Are these cat ears for real? I thought Digidestined were supposed to be human!" The Naturemon said. "I am human! On my Dad's side, anyway!" Martin said. This other Naturemon was actually pulling on his ears rather hard, causing some pain. "So…interesting. Your ears are really warm." She said. Chlorismon gestured in the ear-pulling Naturemon's direction and said, "This is Daisy. She's got a curious personality." Chlorismon said.

Other Naturemons emerged from the trees, seemingly growing out of them before being fully emerged. Among the various Naturemons, there was one MotherNaturemon among them. Chlorismon gestured to each of them. "This is Lilly, Rose, and Violet." Then she gestured to the MotherNaturemon and said. "This is Floryn. She's my oldest." Chlorismon said. The MotherNaturemon waved. "I am pleased to meet you." She said. All of these Naturemons had their own names. It wasn't unusual for Digimon to go by nicknames if they lived together in large groups. The Mermaidmon Clique was one example where the three Mermaidmons bore the names Asami, Haruki, and Kanami. Taylor and Sharkmon had befriended these three a while back when they were fighting C.A.D (Crusaders Against Digimon).

Floryn the MotherNaturemon placed her hands on Martin's shoulder and looked him in the eyes while smiling. "I can tell just by looking at you that you are a kind soul. My little sister was lucky to end up with you as her partner." She said. Martin blushed and reached up as though to scratch an itch on his face. Martin's Naturemon nodded excitedly. "Marty Hearty is the bestest friend I've ever had!" She said. Martin sat on the ground and folded his legs. He rubbed his ears a little bit. They were sore from where Daisy had pulled on them. "My Naturemon wants to know about…herself. We were all under the impression that she was the only one of her kind, since no one had ever seen a Naturemon before and since we knew that Harmonymon was specially created by all the King Drasils." Martin said.

Floryn looked up and was alerted to a flock of Biyomon flying overhead. The Biyomon flew into the branches growing out of Chlorismon's back and perched themselves onto the limbs. Chlorismon looked back and said, "Welcome back. Was dinner nice?" One of the Biyomon nodded. "The worms were a little gamey today, but they were alright." He said. Chlorismon then turned her attention to Martin, and the multiple Naturemons. Chlorismon was sitting with her legs crossed, but even sitting down, she towered over all of them. "First, let me just say that Naturemons usually digivolve by age. Your partner, Martin, is probably the first to digivolve all the way into a Chlorismon without having lived a long life. That's the nature of digivice induced digivolution I suppose. But if she were not partnered with you, it would take her 1,000 years to reach Mega." Chlorismon explained.

Martin and his partner Digimon looked shocked. Their eyes were wide and their jaws were hanging open. Floryn gently closed their mouths with her hands. She giggled. "Indeed. I digivolved into this form yesterday. Yesterday was my 20th birthday." Floryn said. Martin and Naturemon, after getting over the shock of how old Chlorismon was, began to ask some questions. "How is any Digimon anywhere close to being that old? The Digital World is like, inside the internet, isn't it? And that's only been around since the 1980s. That's like, 50 years ago." Martin asked. Chlorismon put her finger up to her mouth and bit her lower lip, thinking about Martin's question. "I don't know anything about this 'internet' of yours, but The Digital World and its pocket dimension, Witchelny, have been around for at least 100,000,000 years. Maybe longer. If your internet is why our worlds exist, then that time discrepancy is certainly a head scratcher. I suspect the time difference may be due to the fact that time in the Digital World (and Witchelny by consequence) was moving at a much faster rate than time in your world. I remember Jijimon saying that a day in the Digital World was like a single minute in yours. This was true until Warlockmon's defeat decades ago. The battle between him and SorcererSuprememon was so intense that it radically altered the very fabric of the timespace continuum. Once Warlockmon was killed, time between the two worlds synchronized. So, this might explain how this world has endured for 100,000,000 years despite being created only 50 of your Earth years ago." Chlorismon replied.

"That makes sense to me." Martin replied. "So…how long does it take between each of my stages?" Naturemon asked. "From the time the DigiEgg hatches into Sproutmon, about two years until Sproutmon digivolves into Demi-Naturemon. Then it's about six years from Demi-Naturemon to Naturemon. Then it takes 12 more years to digivolve into MotherNaturemon. After that, 30 years is needed to digivolve into Vineyardmon. Then 950 years go by between the Vineyardmon stage and the Chlorismon stage. After that, we Chlorismon usually have another century or so before we wither up and revert back to the DigiEgg stage." Chlorismon explained.

"So I assume that not many Naturemons reach Mega?" Martin asked.

"VERY few." Chlorismon replied. "In fact, I've only ever met one other Chlorismon in my life. Should I get to see your partner Warp Digivolve, that will make two." Martin didn't find that strange. His girlfriend had told him that it was rare for Digimon to reach Mega in general. They either had to live a very long life, fight hundreds and hundreds of battles, a bit of both, or meet some other digivolution conditions. Megas in the wild were not very common. Not as common as Champions and Ultimates. Martin kind of felt good about himself that he actually listened to Taylor's ramblings. Often he hung on every word, but sometimes he would zone out as he focused on how adorable she looked when she got enthusiastic.

"Alicomon told us that you guys err…girls, have a strong maternal instinct. I've noticed that in my own partner as well. When we were charged with taking care of a bunch of baby Digimon in an alternate Digital World, my partner stayed in her Champion form and took care of all the babies without a hitch." Martin said.

"That was at The Mansion Of Beginnings where we met Haruhi." Naturemon said.

Floryn looked a little sad. "I wish I had some babies of my own to look after." Then she looked up at Chlorismon with a sad face. "I envy you, mother. Not only do you have all my sisters, but you have that flock of Biyomon too." Chlorismon frowned. She hated seeing any of her children sad. "Don't be sad, Floryn. You'll find a child who needs you some day. You've only just stopped being a child, yourself. You just need to be patient." Chlorismon said.

"Can we digivolve into any Digimon other Digimon besides just that line? I remember hearing Zoe talk about how Digimon can digivolve into any number of branching lines." Naturemon asked.

Chlorismon thought about this for a moment. "I am not sure. I have never seen a Naturemon digivolve into anything other than MotherNaturemon, for example. Perhaps if other Naturemons moved outside of Witchelny and lived in different environments, they might have more digivolution options. But I can't say for sure." Chlorismon replied.

Daisy folded her arms and looked like she was pouting. "How come you're asking mama all the questions? We know stuff too." She asked, scowling at Martin and his Digimon while pointing. Violet reached over and gave Daisy a hug. "It's because mama is really old. Like she always says, with age comes wisdom." Violet said. Martin looked over to the two Naturemon and smiled. "Alright, well, maybe you could tell me why most of you are Naturemons if your mother is so old. According to her account, you should all be Vineyardmons by now." Martin asked. The Naturemon tilted their heads all with the same confused look. It hadn't occurred to any of them to ask before. "That's a really good question." Daisy asked. "Yeah, a really good question." Violet said. "A really, really, really good question." Rose said.

Chlorismon looked sad. She lowered her head and let out a sigh. "Well, you see, back when Aki, Takeishi, and Hiroshi were kids, back when our queen was first partnered with Aki, Warlockmon tried to launch an all out war on Witchelny. My daughters fought valiantly to protect the forest, but Warlockmon turned them all back into DigiEggs. Like usual, they lost all their memories and I had to raise them from Sproutmon all over again. SorcererSuprememon felt so guilty for not being able to protect them that she offered me a position as councilwoman as compensation. I never blamed her though, but I did accept the offer." Chlorismon replied.

"That's still 50 years ago. By my math, they should still be more evolved." Martin said.

"Well, Warlockmon was a very evil Digimon. He put a curse on my baby's eggs to prevent them from ever hatching again. It took a long time, but SorcererSuprememon undid the spell and they finally were able to hatch." Chlorismon explained.

Martin scowled and clenched his fists. "How awful. As if killing a Digimon wasn't bad enough. Warlockmon is no better than C.A.D or All For One World." Indeed, although not technically the same, being cursed to never hatch was functionally equivalent to being permanently deleted.

Hannah walked over and glomped Martin. "Don't worry, Marty Hearty. The important thing is that we're here now!" She said. Martin's Naturemon scowled. "Hey! Don't call him Marty Hearty! That's my pet name for him!" Hannah looked over to her and frowned. "Sorry, I thought that was his actual birth name." Hannah said. "Who would name their child Marty Hearty?" Martin asked. "I don't know. I've never been to your world." Hannah replied.

Martin's Naturemon looked over to the other Naturemon. She still had some questions. "Daisy, do you think you could show me how you do that thing where you go in and out of the trees?" She asked. "You mean you don't know?" Daisy responded. Martin's Naturemon nodded. "I know how to use a lot of my abilities intuitively, but it never even occurred to me that I could become one with trees." She said. Daisy went quiet for a moment, biting her lower lip and rubbing her chin. "I'm not sure what to say. We all just sort of….learned it somehow, on our own. I guess that, when you go up to touch the tree, you could try to imagine that you ARE the tree?" Daisy replied.

Naturemon stood up and walked over to one of the trees. She put her palm up against the bark and concentrated. She took Daisy's advice and tried to imagine that she was in fact, the tree, one and the same. Naturemon's flesh then began to fuse with the tree, she took some steps forward until half of her body was merged with the tree, and the other half was still visible. Naturemon smiled, proud of what she just accomplished. She took a couple steps back and defused with the tree. Naturemon's defusing of the tree looked more like the tree was losing a part of itself, like a cell splitting. Naturemon then decided she would try to submerge her bottom half into the tree. She backed up and pressed her leaf covered buttox against the bark of the tree. Naturemon was slightly bent over. She again focused her thoughts on becoming one with the tree, and in seconds her legs and backside turned into wood and were absorbed into the tree. Part of Naturemon's belly was also wood and had a border where the wood became flesh. Naturemon closed her eyes and grinned with her fists clenched, giggling in excitement. "This is so cool! I thought this would be hard." Naturemon exclaimed cheerfully.

Chlorismon smiled gently towards the little dryad Digimon. "Naturemons are powerful Digimon and can best even many Champions, but this skill comes in handy if a Naturemon is ever up against a foe she cannot defeat. This skill can be used for hiding, but it can also be used for surprise attacks." Chlorismon explained.

Martin's Naturemon came out of the tree, fully defusing from it. It looked quite mystical. Naturemon's body was actually fusing together and coming apart from the tree, as though their genetic structures were intermingling like a cell splitting or reabsorbing. Martin looked up at the sky. It was getting darker and darker. He looked back over to Chlorismon and said, "Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions." Chlorismon responded, "It was my pleasure. I'm so glad to see that one of my daughters is safe and happy." Martin stood up and began walking out of the forest. "We have to be going now. It will be dark soon and we need our rest for the big battle tomorrow." Martin said. Martin's Naturemon frowned. "Aww. I wanted to play with my sisters." She said. Martin looked back and smiled at his Naturemon while giving her a thumbs up. "Hey, when this is all over with, we'll have lots of time to frolic in this magical forest." He said.