A Dragon in Shining Armour - Chapter 11 (Part 1)

Chapter 11: Protocol (Part I)

Despite the late night prior, which included Magnamon and UlforceVeedramon’s mission, Alphamon, Omegamon, and OuRyuumon’s arrival home, and a small induction anniversary party for Magnamon, it was an early day for the Royal Knights. Alphamon and Dukemon called for a meeting just after the break of dawn so that they could each explain to the other party what had took place while Alphamon’s group was gone.

“Why so early?” Dynasmon complained, rubbing a sleep-addled eye with one of his large hands. He sluggishly trudged down the great hall towards the council room, as if he just managed to drag himself out of bed.

Walking in front of him were RhodoKnightmon and Sleipmon. RhodoKnightmon looked over his shoulder at Dynasmon. “Whining is not an attractive quality, Dynasmon.”

“That’s a lot coming from you, Rhodo,” Dynasmon grumbled, shooting a tired look at him. “You’re the laziest one out of all of us!”

“Not first thing in the morning,” RhodoKnightmon chimed in reply, waggling his index finger.

Sleipmon smiled. “It’s not so bad,” he said to Dynasmon. “We’ve gotten up earlier before.”

Dynasmon groaned, tiredly skulking after the two. “We went to bed so late though! And I was having such a nice dream…” he said, muttering the last part to himself.

“Oh?” RhodoKnightmon asked, looking over with interest. “I presume it was about moi.”

Dynasmon shuddered at the thought. “Only in my nightmares…”

Still smiling, Sleipmon trotted forwards and entered the council room. There, the rest of the Royal Knights were present and already seated at the white, circular table.

“Good morning, you three,” Alphamon greeted from the Siege Perilous.

“Good morning,” Sleipmon replied, walking over and taking his seat next to Examon, who gave a polite nod.

“Is it even morning yet?” Dynasmon muttered, tiredly dragging his feet over to his seat.

Dukemon chuckled slightly. “Still not a morning Digimon, Dynasmon?” he asked upon seeing how groggy he was.

“Ugh. Can I go back to bed and have Wyvern take my place?” Dynasmon asked, referring to the dragon who he summons for his Breath of Wyvern attack.

“If that weren’t so ridiculous, it would be an intriguing notion,” Duftmon spoke, glancing at the violet dragon man sitting next to him. “At the very least, that beast would be better mannered than you are.”

“I’ll respond to that after my nap,” Dynasmon murmured, slumping in his chair a bit.

Alphamon cleared his throat, commanding the knights’ attention back to him. “Wake up, Dynasmon. This is an important meeting. We need to go over our findings over the past week.”

“There’s a lot here on our end,” Dukemon explained. “We’ve logged our reports on the computer database, but it’s still worth bringing up.”

The Lord of the Empty Seat nodded at Dukemon. “Okay, then. Why don’t you start and, afterwards, I’ll tell everyone what we were doing.”

“Okay,” the former acting leader replied. “Well, remember the Anubismon and BlackMetalGarurumon that Examon came across in the United Dramonic Coalition?”

“When he ran off from his mission,” Duftmon felt the need to add.

Dukemon chose to ignore the comment. “The day after you three left, they hired a bunch of Mega-level mercenaries and attacked the UDC. We intervened and they were all either captured or killed.”

Sleipmon grimaced minutely and cast a short glance towards the dragon sitting next to him. Examon didn’t notice.

“It turned out the two were from Lupolford,” Magnamon added. He tried to avoid the temptation to claw at the bandages that had been applied to his chest several hours ago.

“Lupolford of the Free Area?” Alphamon asked, raising an eyebrow upon recognizing the name of the town. After a moment’s pause, he frowned. “I vaguely remember Anubismon now. He inherited the title of mayor from his father, didn’t he?”

“Looks like he did have dealings with mercenaries after all,” Omegamon said lowly.

“Hmph,” Duftmon grunted, folding his arms. “In any case, all’s well that ends well; Examon killed the two brothers in combat and we installed a new, morally upstanding Digimon as the current mayor of Lupolford.”

“I suppose that’s for the better,” Alphamon said with a nod. “But why attack the UDC?”

“We never did figure that out…” Examon spoke up, frowning.

“Greed, ambition, resentment, restlessness, simply evil. Take your pick of reasons,” Craniamon spoke. “Those are usually why any tin-pot warlord tries to attack another group.”

“Well,” Dukemon spoke up. “With twelve Megas and the fact that Examon was no longer solely protecting the UDC, they could have hypothetically pulled the attack off, right, Examon?” He turned to Examon for his opinion, given that he was from the UDC.

Examon nodded. “Hypothetically. There are a lot of Ultimate level Digimon, but there aren’t an abundance of Mega level Digimon in the United Dramonic Coalition. Most Digimon from the UDC who achieve Mega level end up leaving to try and achieve greater things.”

Craniamon nodded. “When Digimon reach that level of power, they want to try and carve their name into the history of the world…” he said, almost as if he knew first hand.

“I suppose there’s not as much left for a Mega level Digimon in the UDC,” Alphamon mused. “I guess that goes for the Free Area too, if we’re trying to put meaning to Anubismon’s actions.”

“That depends on the sort of Digimon they are,” Examon offered.

“Perhaps,” Alphamon responded.

“It’s just a shame that it had to end the way it did,” Sleipmon added somberly, recounting the foray’s tragic end.

Alphamon glanced at Sleipmon and then looked back at Examon. “Yes, well, it’s no use trying to guess these things. What else happened while we were gone, Dukemon?”

“Yeah, this is the more pressing topic…” Dukemon said, a thoughtful frown growing on his face. “The DADAR system detected a data anomaly up in Dusk Forest. A surge of data, to be exact. We suspected it might have been a bad evolution, so I sent Craniamon and Examon up there to check it out.”

“We were right, but it was more than we expected,” Craniamon spoke up. “A Tankdramon had some sort of dark evolution and became a Darkdramon.”

“How was it more than you expected?” Omegamon asked. “Did things not go smoothly?”

“We subdued him in the end,” Examon explained. “The problem was that he was more than a Digimon going on a mindless rampage. He was completely out of character for the Tankdramon and he was attacking us, but he was conscious enough to set traps and use hit-and-run tactics. He was smart…”

“He dark digivolved when he ran over this rift in the earth that was pouring out dark data. He said it took him over and he blacked out completely until after we forced him to revert back from his Darkdramon form,” Craniamon added. “It was that rift in the ground – or more correctly – the dark data coming out of it that forced him to have a bad evolution.”

Alphamon’s eyes widened slightly. “I… see. That’s worrisome... Did you follow up on it?” he asked with concern.

“We had our guys seal off all of Dusk Forest,” Dukemon explained. “We’re investigating the rift now.”

“Let me read all of your findings. It’s possible that this could be more severe than it looks,” Alphamon said with a serious look in his red eyes.

“Uh. Sure…” Dukemon answered, a bit perturbed by the direness in Alphamon’s words.

After a few moments silence, Alphamon sighed softly. “Is there anything else?”

“You already know about what happened yesterday night, so nothing else of major consequence,” Dukemon explained, shrugging.

“You conveniently forgot to mention that you lashed out at me on one occasion,” Duftmon reminded him pointedly.

Dukemon rolled his eyes. “I did apologise…” he replied. He then added in his mind, “And you did provoke me…”

“Any sane Digimon would lash out at you!” OuRyuumon chimed in. He walked into the council room from the great hall and went over to stand near Alphamon.

“You could hardly be described as a ‘sane Digimon’,” Duftmon spoke, glancing at OuRyuumon for a single moment before turning his attention elsewhere.

“Same goes for you, kitty cat,” OuRyuumon shot back with a tightening glare.

Before the argument could continue, Alphamon looked at OuRyuumon and spoke up. “OuRyuumon, if you’re going to attend these meetings, you could at least come in on time,” he said dryly.

“Sorry, Alphamon,” OuRyuumon muttered, though he didn’t sound like he meant it.

Omegamon glanced away during their interaction. “So, I guess it’s our turn… Alphamon?” he said, looking at Alphamon to lead the explanation as for why they left.

“Right…” Alphamon spoke, nodding slightly and turning to the rest of the Royal Knights. “The night before we left, I was talking to KaiserGreymon over the computer. We were updating each other on recent happenings and such.”

“Oh, I remember you mentioning that,” RhodoKnightmon spoke up. “Something about a prophetic Baronmon dramatically screaming, ’Beware the black night!’”

“It wasn’t quite that exaggerated, but yes. KaiserGreymon told me a rumour about a Baronmon in the town of Auguria making such comments,” Alphamon replied. “I had a bad feeling about it, so I decided we should go up and investigate. That night, I left for Auguria with Omegamon and OuRyuumon, as you all know.”

“Why tell Dukemon to keep it from us?” Duftmon asked, raising an eyebrow and leaning forwards on the table.

“I promise, I didn’t keep it from you all because I don’t trust you,” Alphamon said reassuringly. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Omegamon folds his arms and close his eyes. He had to pause momentarily before continuing. “It wasn’t a guarded secret or anything. I just didn’t want to distract you all from your duties in case it was nothing. That’s why I brought only myself and these two.”

“That’s fair enough,” Sleipmon replied. “So, was it nothing?”

“Yes,” Omegamon succinctly said.

“Less than nothing,” OuRyuumon added, placing his hands on his hips. “He admitted himself that it was basically just a dream, not a prophecy, and he overreacted.”

Alphamon frowned and kept quiet. He still had his doubts about what Baronmon insisted, but he didn’t have any actual proof to back up his instinct, so he didn’t feel like they were worth mentioning.

“Tch,” Duftmon scoffed, shaking his head. “Honestly, I don’t know what you expected. A prophecy… Please…”

“Some Digimon species do have the power of foresight, Duftmon,” Alphamon told him, looking over at the leopard knight. “’Foolish are those who keep their minds closed.’ I believe one of your favourite strategists said that, didn’t he?” he said with a veiled smirk.

“Hmph…” Duftmon grunted quietly.

“I’m sorry you had a wasted trip,” Sleipmon said to him.

“It wasn’t a complete waste,” OuRyuumon explained, starting to grin. “We got to annihilate some bandits, and the Spring Festival was in Auguria.”

“The Spring Festival?” Dynasmon asked excitedly, suddenly looking a bit more awake. “I love going to that!”

“Don’t worry. A larger one is coming to our region in a few weeks,” OuRyuumon said to him, evidently pleased at the idea of going to another one.

“So,” Dukemon spoke up, changing the topic. “Apart from that, did anything else happen while you three were in Auguria?”

Alphamon, OuRyuumon, and Omegamon all went quiet. Omegamon looked away from the two lovers with a very subtle wince. OuRyuumon in contrast, not known for being subtle, turned to look at Omegamon to see what his reaction would be and if he’d tell everybody or not.

Before anybody could begin to pick up on the pause, Alphamon spoke out. “No. Not particularly,” he replied with his usual calm, confident voice.

“Yeah, what he said,” OuRyuumon confirmed in a cross between his usual voice and a mutter.

Omegamon nodded silently.

Alphamon stood up in his seat. “I think that’s everything. UlforceVeedramon, Magnamon, you two need to write up your reports on the mission last night, and Omegamon and I have to write our own reports to write about the Auguria journey, as well as read up on all of the reports we missed from all of you.”

As the Royal Knights began standing up in their seats, the double doors to the council room opened and the black form of a horse man trotted in.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, sirs,” the black KnightChessmon said, bowing his head apologetically.

“We were just finishing anyways,” Alphamon assured him. “Yes, KnightChessmon?”

“There’s a messenger waiting to see you. He’s here on behalf of the mayor of Mossridge,” KnightChessmon explained.

“Ah. It must be about our upcoming inspection,” the Lord of the Empty Seat said. “Send him in.”

As KnightChessmon nodded and left to fetch the messenger, Examon turned to Sleipmon. “Inspection?” he asked curiously.

“Yeah,” Sleipmon replied. “You must have heard that this is one of our duties.”

“I have, but what does it involve?” Examon inquired.

“Essentially, some of us Royal Knights are tasked with going down to the semi-autonomous towns in the Free Area at regular intervals in time. While at the town in question, we do an inspection. During an inspection, we talk to both city officials and Digimon living in the town. This is to make sure that everything is going smoothly. We find out if there are any needs or grievances of the Digimon there, we check for corruption and breaches of the law, and we basically make sure that everything is in order,” Sleipmon explained.

Alphamon nodded. “That’s part of the agreement for living in the Free Area. The towns abide by our laws and pay us fair taxes so that we can afford to defend and administer the area, and, in exchange, the towns are autonomous without borders and rulers; only municipal governments headed by mayors exist, so they can run things in the towns. Also, they’re in close proximity to us so they can better enjoy the safety and sense of security of our protection, and the towns can trade freely with each other without the extra cost of tariffs. That is the Free Area,” he explained.

Examon nodded. “So it’s not too different from the United Dramonic Coalition; where it’s a bunch of states that have banded together for safety and security,” he said.

“Sort of,” Alphamon replied. “Except it’s a bit different since the UDC’s states fused together to form one large federal nation, which has a central government in the capital: Dragon’s Peak.”

“That’s true…” Examon mused.

The sound of trotting hooves grew closer once again. The knights turned towards the door and saw KnightChessmon return with a short, red-feathered bird Digimon flying behind him. Once inside the council room, the Hawkmon landed and adjusted the white feathers on his head.

“Salutations, Royal Knights,” the Hawkmon said, bowing his head slightly.

“Greetings, Mister Hawkmon,” Alphamon replied. “You are here on behalf of the mayor of Mossridge? Moosemon, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Hawkmon responded, looking up at the comparatively tall knight.

“Is there a problem?” Alphamon asked.

“No, no problem,” the winged messenger said. “The mayor was just hoping that we could have the inspection sooner than planned.”

“Sooner? Why sooner?” Duftmon asked suspiciously.

“Well… the official statement is that he has family coming to visit from out of the region, but, between us, Moosemon gets very stressed and impatient waiting for these inspections. I think he just wants to get it out of the way,” Hawkmon admitted.

“I see…” Alphamon said with a pensive expression. “Well, I think we can do that. How about later today?”

“That sounds terrific. You’re very generous, Alphamon,” Hawkmon told him. “I will go and tell him.”

“Safe travels,” Alphamon told him, nodding as KnightChessmon started leading the messenger out of the room. Once they were gone and the doors were closed behind them, Alphamon turned to the Royal Knights. “Two of you should do. I would go myself, but, like I said, I’m very busy already. Omegamon is as well.”

Sleipmon raised his hand. “I’ll go,” he offered with a smile. Sleipmon enjoyed inspections more than most of the other Royal Knights did. They were relaxing, low-stress missions. He enjoyed talking to the various Digimon in the towns, and, more importantly, there was never a deletion during an inspection to date.

“Does anybody else volunteer?” Alphamon asked, looking around the table.

Dukemon spoke up. “Examon, Craniamon, and I are going to go up to Dusk Forest to see how the investigation there is going.”

Magnamon was about to offer his hand, but UlforceVeedramon grabbed his wrist. “You need bed rest, remember?” he told the knight of Miracles.  

“Fine…” he muttered reluctantly.

“Hmm…” Alphamon looked around the table. “…RhodoKnightmon. How about you join Sleipmon?” he suggested.

RhodoKnightmon turned and pointed at himself. “Me?” he asked, surprised. “…I would rather not, but thank you all the same.”

Alphamon stared at him flatly. “Can you give me a good reason?” he asked, folding his arms.

“The potatoes in the pantry are about to go bad?” RhodoKnightmon offered, shrugging sheepishly.

“You’re going, Rhodo,” Alphamon told him.

“But Alphamon!” RhodoKnightmon protested, standing up. “Can’t you send somebody else?”

“Why don’t you want to go with Sleipmon?” the leader of the knights asked matter-of-factly.

“Hm? It has nothing to do with Sleipmon,” the pink Royal Knight insisted. “He’s quite cute, it’s--”

“Then you won’t mind going with him,” Alphamon interrupted, smirking a bit. “I know you’re just being lazy, RhodoKnightmon. Treat this with the same respect that you would any high-priority mission.”

“Oh, fine,” RhodoKnightmon huffed, folding his arms.

Sleipmon slipped his hand under his purple hair and rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s fine with me. When should we leave, Alphamon?”

“Let’s say after lunch. Everybody else, do as you please,” Alphamon directed. He turned to Magnamon. “Except you. Duskmon did say that you needed to rest for a day or so.”

“Remind me to go and get beat up by scruffy bandits too…” RhodoKnightmon muttered, walking away from his seat. “Then perhaps I’ll be able to take it easy as well.”

Sleipmon started heading out of the council room alongside RhodoKnightmon and the other Royal Knights. “Oh, it’s not so bad, Rhodo,” he insisted. “It’s not like we have to sprint out to save a burning village.”

“At least in that case the physical labour would be worth it,” RhodoKnightmon responded.

“I don’t understand you sometimes,” Sleipmon said, smiling and looking at the knight. “You’re lazy, but you would rather go on a physically exhausting mission to defeat bandits than you would to go on a relatively relaxed walk to Mossridge for an inspection.”

“It’s cost-effectiveness, Sleipmon,” Rhodo replied. “Defeating bandits is more important than a routine inspection. Therefore, the extra effort put towards defeating the bandits is more justified than the effort put towards doing the inspection.”

“If you say so,” Sleipmon replied. “I look at it as a nice break, personally.”

“Wonderful. You can do all the work, then,” RhodoKnightmon answered flippantly.

The horse knight rolled his eyes and shook his head. “You could at least try to enjoy yourself…”

“Well…” the flamboyant knight mused. “Taking your shirt off might help my outlook.”

Sleipmon stared at him blandly. “Maybe this will be a long journey after all…”

-

It was now the early afternoon and the two Royal Knights had set out on their task. Sleipmon trotted down a dirt path leading south from the castle as the midday sun beat down on him from behind.

“You know, I don’t think this is what Alphamon meant when he said for you to travel with me,” Sleipmon said, looking over his shoulder with annoyance.

On top of Sleipmon’s back, RhodoKnightmon was lying down comfortably with his legs crossed and his hands resting behind his head, using the humanoid part of Sleipmon’s back, as well as the long, purple hair covering it, as a pillow. “Oh, that’s quite alright. He doesn’t always expect us to take him literally.”

Sleipmon frowned at him. Being used as a steed felt degrading to him. “Can’t you walk, Rhodo?” he asked, a touch of irritation in his voice.

“I’m sure I could if I put my mind to it,” RhodoKnightmon replied facetiously, though he made no evidence that he was going to be moving anytime soon.

Sleipmon glared at him emphatically. “So, would you please put your mind to it?” he asked.

“I’m afraid I don’t see what the big deal is,” RhodoKnightmon said, looking up at him. “I’m fairly light and you’re big and strong. I know for a fact how fit you are, actually.”

“That’s because you check everyone out so much,” Sleipmon answered flatly.

“I am lucky to be on a team with so many attractive guys, aren’t I?” RhodoKnightmon said dreamily. “Anyways, it’s not as if I’m as heavy as Dynasmon or Craniamon.”

“You also have legs,” Sleipmon reminded him. “What happens if a Digimon passes us while we’re walking? How would it look? Two Royal Knights: one who’s too lazy to walk, and the other being used as a mode of transportation. We would look ridiculous! That would be a big blow to our public image, not to mention our self-respect.”

RhodoKnightmon sighed and sat up. “Well, you could always gallop so that nobody sees us and we arrive at Mossridge swiftly. You’re one of the fastest Royal Knights when it comes to ground speed, are you not?”

“I don’t want to gallop,” Sleipmon mumbled, folding his arms. “I’m not arriving in town with you on my back, Rhodo.”

“And you call me lazy,” RhodoKnightmon said, smirking. “Come on, Sleipmon! Put those six legs to work! Mush!” With that, RhodoKnightmon brought his hand down and gave Sleipmon a firm, lingering slap on his rear.

Sleipmon stopped dead in his tracks, a look of violation quickly forming on his face. He slowly turned his head to glare at RhodoKnightmon.

The next thing RhodoKnightmon knew, he was flying through the air, landing face-first in the grass. The pink knight groaned and pulled his face out of the dirt, a few clumps of earth and plant life falling from his helmet.

Sleipmon lowered hind legs, having successfully bucked RhodoKnightmon off of his back. He placed his hands on his hips and smirked with satisfaction.

RhodoKnightmon pushed himself up before standing to his feet and brushing off his armour and sashes. “Well, that was uncalled for…”

“And that was one grope too many,” Sleipmon replied understatedly. “You’re definitely walking now.”

The Royal Knight sighed and walked back over to Sleipmon. “Oh, very well. I suppose I don’t have a choice now, do I?”

“That’s good. Thanks,” Sleipmon said, walking again at a relaxed canter.

RhodoKnightmon casually walked behind him, shamelessly checking him out as he followed. “Well, at least there’s a nice view, I suppose…”

-

Just under an hour later, the two Royal Knights approached the town of Mossridge.

It had the better half of five hundred buildings by the look of it. The town stood on the east bank of a river flowing in from the north or north west. The landscape around the town was fairly level, and a slightly deeper shade of green than the grasslands around the Royal Knights’ territory. There were a couple farms here and there for crop production, and a few bridges spanning and a watermill flanking the river.

As RhodoKnightmon and Sleipmon walked past a chapel dedicated to Yggdrasil on the outskirts of town, they could begin to see Digimon occupying the streets inside of Mossridge.

Sleipmon smiled as they entered the city. They received surprised and excited looks from the townspeople that they passed. Sleipmon nodded at them politely.

RhodoKnightmon was less enthusiastic, just walking beside Sleipmon and looking around. “So, we’re heading to the mayor’s office. Let’s not stay here longer than we need to; I need to be home to supervise supper,” he said to Sleipmon.

“Don’t be impatient, Rhodo,” Sleipmon replied to him, although not turning to the knight as he addressed the slowly building crowd with smiles and waves. “You’ll give a bad impression if you act like you don’t want to be here.”

The pink armoured knight rolled his eyes behind his helmet. “We’re here to do an inspection, not to get our egos stroked by the townspeople. I know you’ve only been a Royal Knight for around seven months, Sleipmon, but, trust me, it gets old after some time,” he told him.

Sleipmon kept up a happy appearance for the crowd, but shot an annoyed look to his comrade. “You’re so cynical. It’s called relation-building. These people want protectors who have an interest in them, not aloof, condescending ones. The whole reason we’re here is to talk to the townspeople. Besides, they like this sort of thing.”

“As do you, as it seems…” RhodoKnightmon muttered, despite giving a few nods and courtesy waves to the crowd.

Sleipmon ignored him and continued walking up the stone street with an audible clacking from his six hooves hitting the road. The Digimon who came out to greet, praise, and chat with the Royal Knights made sure to only flank them from the sides of the streets so that they wouldn’t obstruct the Knights’ paths. Sleipmon stopped and started talking with a yellow frog Digimon who asked him a specific question.

“—actually, I come from a small city in the north of the continent,” Sleipmon replied amiably. “Ocean Cove. I’m told I still have a bit of the accent, actually.”

“Yes. Have a rose,” RhodoKnightmon said somewhat offhandedly to one of the Digimon who started talking to him. He walked over to his fellow Royal Knight. “Sleipmon. We should really be getting to the town hall so that we can begin, no?”

Sleipmon turned and looked over his shoulder. “Yes, just a minute, Rhodo.”

As he turned back to the Frogmon, he saw a blue figure trying to make his way through the crowd of now about thirty or forty Digimon. The figure had to weave and muscle his way past some of the Digimon in a desperate effort to get to the front of the crowd. Sleipmon could see the Digimon’s red helmet disappear and reappear from behind bodies, and, every so often, he could see the tips of his blue and white wings.

Finally, the draconic body of a young Paildramon burst through the front of the crowd, panting, and stumbling unceremoniously. As soon as Sleipmon turned to look at him, he immediately stood up straight and fixed the green armour over his chest.

“S-Sleipmon, sir! RhodoKnightmon!” the young Paildramon said, trying to look as respectable as he could in front of them.

“Hello there,” Sleipmon said with a smile. RhodoKnightmon was tapping his foot impatiently.

The dragon man started beaming as he began to take in that he was in the presence of the Royal Knights and one had just talked to him. “Hi! My name’s Paildramon!” he exclaimed with a look of wonder and admiration in his eyes. “I’m… a really huge fan.”

Sleipmon chuckled. “Are you?”

“Yeah! I’ve been a fan of the Royal Knights for years, and I was really excited when you joined their ranks, Sleipmon, sir!” Paildramon gushed. “I have massive respect for you - for all of you!”

The cavalier grinned and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Thank you. That’s incredibly flattering, but we’re just doing our jobs,” he responded.

“You’re all so good at it though!” Paildramon remarked, apparently not aware about how much he was fanboying. “Is it true that through all the missions you’ve done, you never killed a single Digimon?”

Sleipmon paused. “Yes,” he replied with a smile.

“That’s amazing! That must have been really hard to do,” Paildramon said.

“It can be difficult sometimes but… it’s worth it,” Sleipmon replied, smiling at him

“Is it?” RhodoKnightmon muttered to himself from nearby.

“That’s really cool…” Paildramon said with a broad smile, looking up at Sleipmon. “I wish I could do that. Grow strong enough to protect people like you, I mean.”

Sleipmon felt a warm twinge of appreciation in his heart. He smiled and put his hand on Paildramon’s shoulder. “I’m sure you can. I don’t know if you knew this, but the founder of the Order of the Royal Knights was Imperialdramon Paladin Mode. He was a Paildramon just like you, once,” Sleipmon explained. “In fact, maybe in a year, when you’re older, you could apply to join our lower ranks. There’s a lot of mobility in the Order.”

Paildramon’s grin grew even wider and his eyes grew wide with excitement. “Do you mean it? Do you think I could?!” he asked.

“Sure, if you work hard enough,” Sleipmon assured him. “You obviously have the motivation.”

“Sleipmon,” RhodoKnightmon spoke impatiently.

“Okay. I have to get going now,” Sleipmon told Paildramon, as well as the crowd.

“W-Wait!” Paildramon spoke up. “P-Please, I mean. Can you please give me your autograph?” He quickly reached into his chest armour to pull a pencil and a scrap of paper from one of the pockets.

Sleipmon smirked softly and nodded, taking the paper and pencil to Paildramon’s immense pleasure. “’To Paildramon. May your hopes be fulfilled. From Sleipmon of the Royal Knights.’ How’s that?” the Royal Knight asked as he handed the paper and pencil back to Paildramon.

“That’s amazing! Thank you so much!” Paildramon exclaimed, gingerly taking the piece of paper so as not to crumple it.

Sleipmon nodded. “My pleasure. Now, RhodoKnightmon and I have to get going to the town hall. It’s right up this road, isn’t it?”

Paildramon nodded. “It’s the big building about eight blocks down. You can’t miss it!”

“Thank you.” RhodoKnightmon took Sleipmon by the arm and started pulling him up the road, further into Mossridge. “Now, let’s go before you start signing even more autographs for fanboys.”

“Wait, RhodoKnightmon! Can I have your autograph too, please?!” Paildramon called after them.

“I’ll give it to you when him and I are finished!” RhodoKnightmon chimed back.

Sleipmon rolled his violet eyes. “Alright. Let’s go talk to the mayor.”

-

The two Royal Knights stopped in front of a building that stood larger than most of the others in Mossridge. The city hall stood about forty feet high and had a trapezoidal shape. It was made up of polished, grey stone, and sculpted into its sides were grooves for aesthetic purposes. Much more obvious, though, were the vines and ivy that crawled up the sides of the building. They made the building look more natural. In fact most of the town of Mossridge was built in a way so that there was a harmony with the natural surroundings, like the river.

“This looks like it, doesn’t it?” Sleipmon suggested, beginning to walk up the eight stone steps to a landing.

“Well, it does have two guards at the entrance,” RhodoKnightmon said, following and eyeing the Stegomon and Gigasmon guards.

Sleipmon walked up with RhodoKnightmon beside him. “The mayor is expecting us,” he explained. “May we go in?”

“Please, go right in,” the stegosaurus Digimon replied, using his tail to open the door for them. “Mayor Moosemon is just inside.”

“Thank you,” Sleipmon spoke, walking through the doorway and onto some marble floor within an expansive lobby. The marble wasn’t on the same level of quality as the flooring in the Royal Knights’ castle. It was done more cheaply, but, left unexamined, it still served its purpose of leaving a good impression of the town hall to those walking in.

“Sir Sleipmon! Sir RhodoKnightmon!” a voice suddenly called amicably.

They looked up and saw a white moose Digimon walking over. It was Moosemon, the mayor of Mossridge. He had a pair of thick, branch-like antlers on his head. They were blue, a similar shade to the very finely combed mane around his neck, and the markings on his white fur, which looked like it had been freshly brushed as well. The sound of his hooves clapping against the marble floor was similar to that of Sleipmon, who stepped forwards.

“Ah, Mayor Moosemon,” Sleipmon greeted, smiling.

“Greetings,” RhodoKnightmon spoke as well.

“I’m so glad to see you both!” Moosemon said enthusiastically, gracing them with an overly big smile. “I’ve been anticipating this inspection. I hope you weren’t inconvenienced by my request to make it today. You see, I have family visiting from out of the Free Area in a few days.”

“It was no inconvenience,” Sleipmon assured him.

“I’m sure you both must be tired after your journey. Can I interest either of you in something to eat or drink? Wine, perhaps? It’s imported from Riverspring Valley.”

“No, thank you,” RhodoKnightmon insisted. “We should just get down to business; I’m sure you want us around for as little as possible.”

Moosemon laughed nervously and turned around. “Okay. Please, follow me,” he told them, leading them through a door on the left that he opened with his antlers.

RhodoKnightmon followed him with Sleipmon. He lightly nudged the horseman’s arm with his elbow, ushering him to lean in. “He wants us to inspect Mossridge early, and he’s trying rather too hard with us here. I feel as if he’s hiding something, don’t you?” the pink knight said to his comrade in a murmur.

“I think it’s just his nerves,” Sleipmon answered. “That’s what that Hawkmon admitted to us. It’s not unusual for people to get nervous about our inspections.”

“I think Duftmon’s correct; you are rather naïve, Sleipmon,” RhodoKnightmon said to him. “Even if you’re correct and he is nervous, then that means there is something that he is nervous about. Something he doesn’t want us to find, perhaps?”

“I don’t know why everyone who isn’t cynical suddenly has to be labelled as ‘naïve’,” Sleipmon protested. “Haven’t you ever had a test or an interview before, Rhodo? Even when you’re confident in your abilities and you know you have nothing to hide, you still tend to feel nervous beforehand.” Sleipmon paused. “Don’t overcompensate because you, Duftmon, and Magnamon missed something with Anubismon during your inspection of Lupolford,” he decided to add.

RhodoKnightmon suddenly stopped and turned to Sleipmon. “I do not overcompensate. I do my jobs thoroughly and professionally,” he told him. He turned and continued walking after Moosemon.

Sleipmon eyed him for a few moments. “When you feel like it…” he replied in his mind, soon following after him.

-

Sleipmon and RhodoKnightmon stood in the mayor’s office. They had been standing there for about half an hour as Moosemon went over much of what had happened in Mossridge since the last inspection. He spoke candidly, although with a nervous laugh that cropped up whenever he got into something that he wasn’t comfortable with admitting, such as the less-than-amazing crop yields for example.

“I see…” RhodoKnightmon replied. He eyed him suspiciously. “And on the subject of corruption?”

“Corruption?” Moosemon asked, frowning. “Why, no.” He walked over to his desk and pushed a few scrolls forward. “You can check our bookkeeping documents here. You’ll find that all of the taxes are going where they should be going.”

Sleipmon took one of the scrolls and opened it, reading the Digi-letters and numbers scrawled on the paper. For a moment, he glanced towards the wide door of the office before turning back to the scroll.

“Only…” Moosemon muttered.

“Only?” RhodoKnightmon asked, folding his arms.

“I don’t know if you would call this corruption, but one of my advisors had to be dismissed for drunken and disorderly behaviour while on the job,” Moosemon explained, punctuating it with another chuckle. “He enjoyed Koenigs Bier a little too much. He trashed my office here. We couldn’t have that.”

“Something like that isn’t our concern,” RhodoKnightmon assured him.

Moosemon smiled a bit wider and nodded. He turned to Sleipmon. “Is everything in order?” he asked.

“It seems like it,” Sleipmon replied, rolling up the scroll and handing it back. “Do we have your permission to look at the crime logs at the local police office?”

“Why, it’s your right to,” Moosemon told them.

“I will see to that,” RhodoKnightmon explained. He looked his equine partner. “Why don’t you talk to some of the townspeople while I do that?”

Sleipmon nodded. “We’ll meet up outside here, how about?” he asked, already walking towards the door. “Thank you for your cooperation, Mayor.”

“Anytime,” Moosemon replied with a look of relief on his face.

RhodoKnightmon eyed him for a few moments before walking over to Sleipmon.

“We have an eavesdropper outside,” Sleipmon whispered to him.

RhodoKnightmon nodded and stepped out with Sleipmon, who closed the door behind them. They saw the big, blue body of a dragon - a Veedramon – who was casually walking away in an attempt to look innocent. The pink-armoured knight looked at Sleipmon for confirmation, who nodded.

One of RhodoKnightmon’s sashes suddenly whipped through the air and wrapped around the Veedramon’s arm, stopping him from walking any further. The Veedramon tensed up and tried to wrench his arm away on reflex, but the RhodoKnightmon’s sashes were surprisingly durable.

“Hey!” he exclaimed, spinning around to see what grabbed him. “What is this?!”

Sleipmon and RhodoKnightmon approached him, the latter keeping a hold on the sash. “Eavesdropping, were you?” the horse knight asked, stopping in front of the smaller dragon.

“No…” Veedramon grunted, trying not to seem defiant, although still resisting against the ribbon. “I was only walking to my office.”

“I could hear you brushing up against the door while we were talking with the mayor,” Sleipmon remarked, eyeing him suspiciously.

Veedramon looked away, sneering in defeat. “Yeah… Okay. I admit it. I was eavesdropping, but I was only protecting my interests,” he explained, turning back to look at them. “Can you let go of my arm now?”

RhodoKnightmon unwound the sash from around Veedramon’s arm. “I’m rather confused,” he stated. “Who are you, exactly?”

“I’m one of the members of the town council,” Veedramon explained. “We’re sort of like advisors to the mayor.”

“And what do you mean by ‘protecting your interests’?” the Royal Knight asked, placing his hands on his hips.

Veedramon huffed and folded his arms. “I was making sure that Moosemon wasn’t throwing me under the Trailmon, so to speak. He’s already told enough lies about my family; I didn’t need him lying to the Royal Knights too.”

“Oh?” RhodoKnightmon asked.

“What lies?” Sleipmon inquired.

“Like that garbage about my brother. Yeah, maybe he smashed up Moosemon’s office, but that guy provoked him!” Veedramon growled.

“Slow down,” the red knight implored. “Your brother was the one he mentioned? He was a member of the council too?”

“Yeah. AeroVeedramon was never drunk. Moosemon was just looking for a reason to dismiss him, and when he couldn’t find one, he created one,” Veedramon said.

“Why would he do that, exactly?” Sleipmon asked.

“Because Moosemon has it in for our family!” the blue dragon explained angrily.

“That’s more than enough, Veedramon,” a voice bellowed out from down the hall.

The Royal Knights looked behind them to see Moosemon walking over, having heard Veedramon’s raised voice.  Veedramon glowered at him.

“The Royal Knights don’t want to hear about your family’s dirty laundry,” Moosemon said with a stern stare, marching over. “I know you think your brother didn’t do anything, but you have a persecution complex the size of a MetalSeadramon. I’m not out to get you. Now, please stop causing problems for our esteemed guests.” Moosemon turned to Sleipmon and RhodoKnightmon. “This is very embarrassing. I’m sorry about him.”

Veedramon turned to Moosemon and glared, but didn’t open his mouth.

Sleipmon and RhodoKnightmon looked at each other, their exasperation beginning to show.

“We need to be getting on with our inspection now. Thank you for talking with us, both of you. It has been enlightening,” Sleipmon replied. With that, Sleipmon and RhodoKnightmon turned and started making their way out of the town hall.

“So, it seems there is more to this than meets the eye,” RhodoKnightmon said to him.

“I guess so…” Sleipmon murmured. “I wonder who’s telling the truth.”

“I’m not sure. You go and talk to the townspeople. Specifically ask about rivalries and corruption. I’ll get the records from the police office and then I’ll come back here to talk to some of the other advisors about this,” RhodoKnightmon explained. “Don’t be afraid to ask tough questions, Sleipmon. Don’t let your friendly ways get in the way of doing your job.”

Sleipmon nodded, although frowning a bit. “I won’t…”

-

After about an hour, RhodoKnightmon emerged from the police office. Everything seemed to be in order there, and he had a lengthy chat with the chief constable. It was mid-afternoon by the time that he left the building.

He made his way back to the town hall, where he saw that the Gigasmon guard was gone and the Stegomon guard was sitting down on the steps, munching on some cabbage.

“Cabbage by itself?” RhodoKnightmon mused to himself. “That’s not a proper meal…”

The Stegomon looked up, some bits of cabbage still dotting his mouth. “Oh, hello again. I’m just on my lunch break,” he greeted the Royal Knight.

“I see…” RhodoKnightmon said. He eyed the head of cabbage in front of the Stegomon. “Wouldn’t that taste so much better with, perhaps, some cranberry vinaigrette?”

The Stegomon slowly frowned and tilted his head sideways. “What’s a… vin-eh-gret?” he questioned.

RhodoKnightmon stared at him, sighed and shook his head. “There is simply no hope for some Digimon…”

“Huh?”

“Never you mind,” the Royal Knight replied. “Can you tell me if there are any members of the mayor’s council in the town hall at this moment? Aside from Veedramon, I mean.”

“Uh, yeah,” the Stegomon answered. “Parrotmon is inside.”

“Good. Thank you,” RhodoKnightmon answered, walking up the stairs and letting himself into the lobby.

To his luck, as soon as he entered, he saw the tall, broad form of a green and yellow parrot Digimon. The Parrotmon shifted around his blue talons to turn around and see who had just walked in. “Oh, hello, Sir RhodoKnightmon,” she greeted. “I heard that the inspection was today.”

“Why, indeed it is,” RhodoKnightmon replied, looking up at the exotically coloured avian Digimon. “That is exactly why I would like to speak with you. Could you please spare a few minutes?”

“Of course I can,” she said with a smile.

“And you will answer honestly, won’t you?” Rhodo implored.

Parrotmon nodded. “Sure. I’d be too nervous to lie to a Royal Knight anyways,” she replied sheepishly.

“Thank you. Now… You’re one of Moosemon’s advisors, correct?” he asked.

Parrotmon nodded again. “That’s right.”

“So, I assume you’re aware of the situation between Veedramon and himself?”

Her face began to grimace. “Well… yes… We weren’t supposed to bring that up today, but since you already know…” She looked at him uncomfortably.

“It’s fairly obvious that there’s tension between them, but I’m afraid I don’t know as much as I feel I should,” RhodoKnightmon said, hoping that she would be able to fill him in.

“Well…” Parrotmon paused. “To put it simply, it’s a family rivalry. No… ‘rivalry’ seems to trivialize it too much. They… can’t forgive each other,” she explained, a touch of sadness in her voice.

RhodoKnightmon folded his arms. “Can’t forgive each other? What exactly happened?” he asked, more out of curiosity for necessary information than out of emotional investment.

“It happened over a decade ago,” Parrotmon told him, gazing down at the knight, although her eyes were deep in thought. “Moosemon’s father, and Veedramon’s and AeroVeedramon’s father were the best of friends… They had been for awhile, before they started having families. I remember that us four used to play together while our fathers would talk nearby.”

“Yes, go on,” RhodoKnightmon spoke, inwardly wishing that she got to the point without the added emotional surplus.

“Well… Moosemon’s father was a Pegasusmon, and Veedramon’s and AeroVeedramon’s father was a Paildramon,” she explained.

RhodoKnightmon nodded, although he wondered why she felt it was necessary to tell him that.

“Like I said, they were best friends…” Parrotmon said. “But one day… Paildramon changed.”

“Changed…? His personality, you mean?”

She shook her head. “He digivolved…” she told him ominously. “But… it went badly.”

RhodoKnightmon thought about it for a moment. “Ah…” he said in revelation. “Imperialdramon Dragon Mode.”

Parrotmon nodded sadly. “I guess I don’t have to tell you how unstable Imperialdramons are when they first achieve that mode. He couldn’t handle its power. He went wild,” she explained with a sigh.

The Royal Knight frowned. “A rampant evolution. So, what happened next?”

“Like I said, he lost control. He destroyed nearly a quarter of Mossridge. He didn’t know what he was doing. He was just attacking every building in sight. Nobody was seriously hurt except…” Parrotmon paused. “Pegasusmon tried to stop him. He tried to talk sense into him at first, but he wasn’t getting through. When he realized that wasn’t working, he tried to incapacitate him himself, but… Imperialdramon killed him.”

RhodoKnightmon listened quietly, arms folded.

“After that, Imperialdramon finally settled down and was able to get a hold of himself, I guess. I was young at the time. He hadn’t realized what he had done at first. I guess it was all a blur to him.”

“Yes, when Digimon go rampant like that, they can’t think clearly. They don’t act rationally and they act purely on instinct and emotion,” RhodoKnightmon explained. “Sometimes they don’t settle down, but sometimes they can either calm down naturally or through a physical, mental, or emotional shock.”

Parrotmon nodded. “Maybe it was that, then… I remember my dad mentioning that when Imperialdramon settled down, he was crying but he wasn’t sure why…” she said, almost in a mumble. “Anyways… Moosemon’s family didn’t forgive him. They said he was a monster. I think he began to think the same thing; when he found out what he had done, he was devastated. Heartbroken. One day, I guess he couldn’t take the guilt and sadness anymore. He deleted himself.”

“I see…” RhodoKnightmon said. “So… That’s how it started? Moosemon’s family blamed them for Pegasusmon’s death, and Veedramon’s family blamed Moosemon’s family for Imperialdramon’s death?”

“More or less…” Parrotmon answered grimly.

“And yet Veedramon and AeroVeedramon are Moosemon’s advisors?” RhodoKnightmon asked curiously.

“It’s complicated… Each of them were striving to become the mayor of Mossridge. Competing, almost. Once the Royal Knights appointed Moosemon as mayor, they had to take what they could get, and there was an uneasy truce between them, for the sake of the town. That said, the Veedramon brothers still want to become mayor themselves someday.”

“Ah, I see. So… back to the present. AeroVeedramon’s dismissal. Who was in the right?” the pink-armoured knight asked. “It sounds like either story is possible now.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know,” she admitted. “Both sides are sticking to their stories.”

RhodoKnightmon sighed. “Great… Faction struggles,” he muttered. “As troublesome as this is, it will have to be sorted. If this in-fighting ends up escalating, it could end up going in an unfortunate direction. Factional in-fighting can sometimes lead to corruption, assassinations, coup d’états, and even civil wars. Nothing even close to that will be tolerated under our watch.”

“I completely agree,” Parrotmon agreed. “I’d like nothing more than for them to make up.”

RhodoKnightmon nodded. “Well, thank you for your help. I need to go inform my comrade.”

“Alright… Please, sort something out between them,” she pleaded to him.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he answered, turning and heading out to look for Sleipmon.

-

“So everything has been going well? That’s good to hear. Thank you for your time.”

Sleipmon turned away from the small, purple Penguinmon he had been talking to and started trotting  past him. He made his way down a stone street that ran parallel to the river. On the left hand side was the flowing water of the river and on the right hand side were a row of shops that were beginning to close for the day.

He had thoroughly talked with the residents of Mossridge and there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Sleipmon wondered if the rivalry between Moosemon and Veedramon was even worth following up on. From what he gathered from the townspeople, neither of them were bad Digimon, they just didn’t like each other. It did pique his interest that they used to be friends, though.

The cavalier continued walking as stone road turned into a dirt path as he began to reach the edge of the town. Sleipmon was about to turn to go back, but something ahead of him caught his eye. He saw the Paildramon who he had met earlier.

Paildramon was outside a large house, presumably his. He had one arm stretched out in front of him, and he lifted one leg slowly up before moving it behind him, as if taking a battle stance. He then extended the long spikes in his gauntlets and began stabbing the air.

Sleipmon raised an eyebrow and began to make his way over. Paildramon was facing to the side and had a look of serious concentration on his face, so he didn’t notice Sleipmon approach.

“That’s not bad, but you should pivot your feet more,” Sleipmon remarked with a light smile.

The teenage dragon jumped up and swerved towards the voice, completely startled. His red eyes widened like moons when he saw who the voice belonged to. “Guh! S-Sleipmon!” he sputtered, his face turning the same red colour as his helmet when he realized he must have been making a fool of himself. He started rubbing the back of his head, looking away since he couldn’t bring himself to look him in the eyes. “I… didn’t see you there.”

“It’s not bad, Paildramon,” he assured him, sensing the dragon’s embarrassment. “Where did you pick up stances like that?”

Paildramon finally allowed himself to look at the Royal Knight. “Uh… W-Well… My uncle’s been teaching me, actually,” he explained sheepishly. “He has a lot of time on his claws, since he got dismissed from his job recently.”

Sleipmon looked at him curiously. “He was dismissed? Is your uncle AeroVeedramon, by any chance?” he asked. Upon seeing Paildramon nod, he continued. “So, that makes you Veedramon’s son?”

“Yeah,” Paildramon replied, a little surprised. “You met them?”

“I met your father,” Sleipmon explained.

The dragon Digimon smiled and nodded. “Uh, do you mind if I keep training?” he asked. “We can still talk; I just don’t want to break my rhythm.”

“Of course.”

Paildramon smiled more broadly. “And if you have any more tips, I’d love to have them,” he mentioned, going back to the attack stance that he was in before, although feeling a bit self-conscious with Sleipmon watching.

Sleipmon grinned. “Sure,” he answered. “So, do you know why your uncle was fired?”

Paildramon shrugged and started stabbing the air. He then recoiled a step and crossed his arm blades in front of him in a defensive stance before going back to various stabs and thrusts. “Uh… Apparently he was… drinking on the job, but… him and Dad say that… Mayor Moosemon did it out of spite,” he replied between grunts of effort.

Sleipmon nodded, watching as Paildramon performed a roundhouse kick in the air before following up with a whip from his tail. It was obvious that Paildramon was showing off his best moves for Sleipmon. “I see…”

“It’s too bad… Apparently they used to be friends,” Paildramon replied, thrusting his arm forwards before ejecting his wire-guided claws twenty meters down the yard.

“They did?” Sleipmon asked, although already knowing that fact. “What happened?”

Paildramon’s speed started to increase noticeably with every new punch and movement. “I think… it had to do… with Granddad…” he answered. As he trained, he started panting and sweating. His scales began paling behind his helmet.

“Your grandfather?” Sleipmon asked.

Paildramon nodded and, after a moment, suddenly stopped his actions. He brought his hand to his head, closing his eyes tightly. “Guh…” he groaned.

The Royal Knight frowned. “Paildramon? What’s wrong?” he asked.

“N-Nothing…” he tried to reassure Sleipmon. “I just feel kinda weird for some reason.”

“Weird? How so?” Sleipmon asked, walking towards him with some concern.

“I… I dunno…” Paildramon grunted, stepping backwards. “I feel tingly all over… and kinda light-headed…”

“What…?” Sleipmon asked, suddenly frowning. He could hear the dragon’s heavy breathing from there.

Paildramon gripped his forehead, grimacing tightly, almost as if in pain. “I… AH!” he suddenly cried out.

Sleipmon rushed forwards, but stopped when Paildramon’s body became encased in a grey aura. Suddenly his whole body shone brightly and data exploded outwards as his body began to change shape.

The Royal Knight took several steps backwards in the grass, watching as Paildramon’s form began to grow and grow and grow… Sleipmon had to shield his eyes from the light with the red Niflheimr shield he wore on his right arm. A terrible roar accompanied the sudden digivolution.

Sleipmon moved his shield to look as the light began to die down. He had to crane his neck to look up at the huge Digimon. In Paildramon’s place was a giant blue dragon standing all fours. He now wore black armour over his back and his four legs. Instead of his hands, he had formidable, golden claws and a long, sharp sickle on each foreleg. A warm wind blew through his white hair, which stuck out from beneath his red and black helmet. The helmet was reminiscent of the one he had as a Paildramon, except this one had a white crown over it, and it rested on top of a fearsome, snarling face.

Sleipmon suddenly felt uneasy. He watched as the dragon’s new, red wings suddenly spread out from beside the huge positron cannon that was built into the armour on his back.

“Paildramon… You evolved…” he said cautiously. He offered a small smile. “Congratulations.”

The Imperialdramon Dragon Mode let out an earth-shaking roar and staggered towards Sleipmon on shaky limbs, his tail swishing wildly behind him. Sleipmon backed up a bit more. “Take it easy, Paildramon,” he told him. “You’re not used to the form yet.”

Imperialdramon merely roared again and stopped. He stood up straight and energy began to accumulate within his Positron Cannon. Not even calling his attack, Imperialdramon simply snarled loudly and fired a blue blast of energy circled by purple helices from his cannon aimlessly into the air.

Sleipmon’s eyes widened. “Paildramon! Be careful!” he told him harshly. “You could hurt…” Sleipmon watched as Imperialdramon turned his attention towards him, welcoming him with another savage roar. “somebody…” he finished in a distraught mumble.

Imperialdramon leaned the front of his body close to the ground, angling his body so that the Positron Cannon aimed down at Sleipmon.

Sleipmon grimaced, gazing up at Imperialdramon and his cannon. Power began to be drawn into the cannon from the nearby air; the positrons were growing inside the mouth of the cannon.  “Paildramon… Imperialdramon… What are you doing? It’s Sleipmon. I’m a Royal Knight. What’s wrong?” he asked, backing up a couple more steps.

A soft growl rumbled within Imperialdramon’s throat before it turned into a full on throat-tearing roar. The cannon brimmed with power. Imperialdramon looked at Sleipmon with wild red eyes, and, suddenly, the cannon erupted. A massive laser ripped from the cannon and surged towards Sleipmon, tearing up the ground as it closed in on him…