Chapter 282: Rolling Ball Beast Village, Rescue Operation!

As dusk approached, the Chosen Children, who had traveled all day, grew excited upon seeing the village in the distance.

However, before reaching the village, they discovered two Pagumon guarding the village outside.

Koushiro Izumi opened his Computer, checked the Pagumon's information, and found they were cunning, bullying Digimon who prey on the weak; after he shared this information with his companions, the group of children became vigilant.

"Hey, Pagumon, why are you in the Rolling Ball Beast's village?"

Tai Yi directly questioned them.

"The Rolling Ball Beasts here found a better place to reside and relocated away from this place long ago; now this is our Pagumon village."

The two Pagumon reassigned to look the Gate exchanged a glance, and the left one began to explain.

"Eh, is that how it is?"

Tai Yi was stunned for a moment.

"That's right, that's exactly how it is."

The right Pagumon hurriedly nodded.

"Tai, be careful, it might be a trick."

Agumon reminded.

"Ah, everything we said is true."

The opposite Pagumon immediately argued back, but fine sweat emerged on their foreheads.

"What do you think, everyone?"

Tai Yi turned his head and discussed with the others.

"Maybe they're telling the truth."

"Without evidence, it's not right to falsely accuse Pagumon."

"We need a landing point for tonight."

"But what if they're bad guys?"

………

The Chosen Children muttered and discussed at the village entrance, while the two Pagumon pricked up their large ears and eavesdropped from the side.

Mimi Tachikawa, unable to bear her sticky condition, walked over, braced her knees, bent over, and asked the two Pagumon: "Hey, Pagumon, does your village have a place for people to bathe?"

"Uh, there is a Public Bathhouse."

One of the Pagumon subconsciously replied.

"Ah, that's great, can I borrow your bathhouse?"

The girl asked.

"This……"

The Pagumon was somewhat troubled.

"Mimi……"

Palmon tugged at her own Initiator Partner from the side.

"Do what?"

"The others haven't finished discussing; it's not good for us to decide on our own like this."

Palmon said, and the other children looked over at this time.

"Do we have any other choice? Are we supposed to not stay at the village right in front of us and go wild camping instead?"

The girl crossed her arms and retorted.

"But the Rolling Ball Beast village suddenly became a Pagumon village; if we rashly go inside, we might encounter danger."

Joe Kido said; he was the oldest in age and also the biggest worrier here.

"I don't know about danger, but I only know if I don't bathe soon my whole person will stink, and compared to stinking, I'd rather take the risk."

Hearing this, Tai Yi and the other boys faced each other in dismay, Sora Takenouchi glanced at both sides, and before a dispute could break out, pulled Piyomon and stood by Mimi's side: "I think, as long as we're cautious, there should be no problem."

With Sora Takenouchi's stance, the others also felt they couldn't judge the other side as bad just because the Computer said Pagumon are cunning Digimon, and they all agreed with Sora Takenouchi's words — that is, enter the village, but maintain the minimum caution.

However, although Tai Yi and the others had made a decision, they forgot an important matter.

"What, we can't enter the village?"

"Sorry, our village does not receive outside Customers."

The two Pagumon crossed sticks, but they blocked the group of Chosen Children outside the village.

In the original plot, welcoming the Chosen Children was because of Son Goku's order to deal with the Chosen Children.

But now, Son Goku has long since bit the dust, no one wants them to deal with the Chosen Children, and at the same time, the Pagumon are also afraid the village's secrets will be discovered by outsiders, so naturally they don't welcome Chosen Children carrying Zhang Zhang Beast.

Seeing this, Tai Yi and the others were somewhat dumbfounded.

"Pagumon, can't you be flexible?"

And this situation also dispelled the original entry doubts; Tai Yi even rubbed his hands and began requesting.

"No means no, no matter how you beg it won't work."

The Pagumon shook their heads.

"Please, Pagumon……"

Mimi crossed her arms and made a pitiful, coquettish appearance.

Fact proves, boys' requests are not as good as girls' spoiling.

"This is difficult, Gazimon definitely won't agree."

The Pagumon wavered, stating the reason for not letting them in.

"Pagumon, help us persuade Gazimon, okay? If it succeeds, I'll repay you."

"Uh, what repayment are you talking about?"

"I'll clean your ears for you, and carefully groom your fur with a comb."

"It's only with this kind of repayment that we……"

"I'll put you on my lap and do these things for you."

Patamon fell silent. After a while, one Patamon said, "Then let me put in a good word for you?"

"Ah, I'll go too."

Two Patamon hopped back to the village, while Tai Yi and the others stood there stunned.

"That works?"

"Why wouldn't it? This is the repayment my cute girl offered."

A Digimon seducing a human little girl is a bit subtle, but there are indeed some Digimon who fall for this trick.

"Greymon, not good."

"You two bastards, weren't you told to watch the village gate? Why are you running back? If you don't give a reason, don't blame me for teaching you a lesson."

Greymon clenched his fist, looking unfavorably at the two hopping Patamon, and said.

"WaiTou, a group of Chosen Children has arrived, along with their Digimon."

"They want to enter our village to rest."

The two Patamon answered one sentence at a time.

"What, Chosen Children?!"

Hearing they were Chosen Children, Greymon suddenly stood up from his chair, but soon sat back down.

Dark Forces Digimon dealing with Chosen Children is beneficial, but such benefits are generally claimed by high-profile Digimon Kings, who then distribute a share to them.

And in a situation like this one, where the Digimon King it follows has already been defeated, dealing with Chosen Children is hardly something a Child-level Digimon like it can handle. "Chosen Children and their Digimon are not welcome here. Tell them to get lost where they came from."

Greymon waved his hand.

"That's easy to say, but how do we refuse? They have six Child-level Digimon on their side."

Patamon said somewhat awkwardly.

Greymon: "……"

In Patamon's village, including itself there were only five Child-level Digimon, and six had arrived opposite, so it really wasn't easy to refuse.

"That group of Chosen Children just wants to come into the village to rest?"

Greymon asked.

"And they want to borrow the Bathhouse to bathe."

The Patamon on the left hurriedly said.

"Slap~"

Its head took a punch from Greymon.

"What do you mean 'the Bathhouse'? It's our Bathhouse. However, since that group of Chosen Children just wants to come in and rest for a while, let them in."

"But remember to give orders, tell the other Patamon not to show their tails, and let the Chosen Children and their Digimon discover the abnormality of this village."

"Yes, guaranteed to give the orders properly." The two Patamon saluted with their big ears, then hopped out happily, looking forward to the repayment the cute girl mentioned.

Tai Yi and the other children were welcomed into the village, and before that, some Rollmon imprisoned in the village, who were usually bullied and played with by Patamon, were driven by some Patamon with sticks back into the Waterfall Cave behind the village.

"All of you, behave!"

A large iron cage inside the cave was opened, and some Rollmon wanted to rush out from inside, but were kicked back by a Greymon.

The surrounding Patamon also used sticks to strike the Rollmon wanting to rush out. After beating this group of Rollmon soundly, they closed the iron cage door again.

The Rollmon looked fearfully and angrily at the bad guys outside the cage, but could do nothing about it.

The Agumon in the village had been taken down, and only their Child-level ones remained, which were no match for the group of Patamon led by Greymon.

During these days of imprisonment, every day they faced either the humiliation of Patamon or the domination of Greymon.

They did all the hard and tiring work, weren't given enough to eat, and from time to time, one or two companions would be beaten to death.

Especially in recent days, Greymon and Patamon's attitude toward these captive Rollmon of theirs had become increasingly bad.

This made the originally resigned Rollmon, every time the iron door opened, even if they knew there was little hope, still try to escape.

Because the consequence of not escaping was eventually dying at the hands of Greymon or Patamon.

"Can we really escape?"

After Greymon and Patamon left the cave, a scarred Rollmon in the cage asked.

The other Rollmon, hearing this, all fell silent. Whether they could escape, after so many failed attempts, the answer was already clear.

Just as the atmosphere among the Rollmon was getting lower and lower, a voice answered the Rollmon who had just asked the question: "You will definitely be able to escape."

"Who, who is it?"

The Rollmon in the cage looked at each other, discovering it wasn't one of their own speaking. The Rollmon who had just asked the question then asked toward the cave outside the cage.

"Who I am isn't important. What's important is that you can be saved."

The Rollmon in the cage looked around, but didn't find the person speaking inside the cave.

"Are you willing to save us?"

It was still that Rollmon asking.

"Not me saving you, but you saving yourselves."

"But we can't even escape this cage."

"I'll help you open the cage, but for all of you to escape from here is very difficult. Greymon and Patamon are guarding outside, and you have to defeat them."

"But we are Child-level. How can we defeat Patamon and the others who have Greymon?"

"The Chosen Children have already arrived at your village. Those children are being deceived by the Patamon occupying your village."

"Now, as long as one of you can run over and tell those Chosen Children about what's happening in this village, you should be able to get their help."

"Of course, this is a comparatively dangerous matter; you all need to pick a capable Roachmon to come out and do this."

"I'll go. I was just driven back from the village side, so I'm most familiar with the Pagumon patrol routes inside the village."

The Roachmon who had spoken up just now volunteered, and the other Roachmons were also fairly convinced by him.

Under the camouflage, the Piccolomon saw that the Roachmons had already chosen a representative, so she lightly tapped her staff on the iron cage, and the cage's lock was opened.

"Don't make a racket and all run out. Finding the Chosen Children and seeking help from that group of children is the only way you can save your own village."

The Roachmon that ran out returned to the cage under the Piccolomon's persuasion, yet placed its hope on the Roachmon outside the cage.

"I will give you some help, but whether you can find the Chosen Children who have already entered your village, and whether you can obtain those children's help, thereby saving your companions and saving your village — that depends on you yourself."

The Roachmon still could not detect the Piccolomon, but solemnly nodded and said to its clansmen: "Wait for me to return."

The Piccolomon's power enveloped this Roachmon, and just as it prepared to jump out of the Waterfall Cave, the Guardromon keeping watch outside suddenly walked in; the Roachmon hurriedly hid in the corner, cold sweat streaming down its forehead.

However, with the Piccolomon's power present, the Guardromon did not discover it.

"Hey, you guys, what did you all say in here just now?"

The Guardromon looked at the group of Roachmons inside the cage staring tensely at it and asked directly.

It had come in to check the situation because it heard some sounds coming from inside the cave while outside.

"We were just saying, when will you be able to let us go free."

One Roachmon replied somewhat haltingly.

"Hah, freedom. You Roachmons really dare to dream. I'll tell you the truth: you'll never get so-called freedom in this lifetime; you will forever be our Guardromon slaves!"

"Ah!?"

"What, got an opinion?"

"No no no, being able to be dominated by you Guardromon-samas is our honor."

Seeing their companion sneaking out, the Roachmons in the cage raised their voices and spoke these words.

Seeing the antennae on the Roachmons' heads pressed to the ground, the Guardromon thought they were scared by the beating just now and laughed loudly: "If you'd been this sensible earlier, you wouldn't have had to suffer these hardships."

"Yes yes yes, Guardromon-sama, you're right~"

With the Roachmons in the cage providing cover and masking the sound of movement, the Roachmon with the Piccolomon's power on it slipped out very smoothly.

WaiTou, some Pagumons didn't detect its trace at all, and the Roachmon took advantage of the night color to jump back into the village.

Meanwhile, Tai Yagami and the other Chosen Children had just finished bathing and were being enthusiastically received by a group of Pagumons and Guardromons.

"Lord Tai Yagami, truly a splendid adventure; didn't expect you all actually defeated the Devimon over on File Island!"

The Guardromon helped pour juice, and after indirectly probing the Chosen Children's strength, it flattered Tai Yagami and the others' experiences without stinginess, putting on a thoroughly convivial host-and-guest appearance.

The reason it flattered this group of Chosen Children so much was because the Guardromons here had generated the idea of using the Chosen Children's Digimon to deal with some Digimon around them that their clan didn't get along with.

Tai Yagami and the others completely failed to notice this; listening to the Guardromon say which Champion Digimon often came to cause trouble for their village, Tai Yagami slapped his chest and guaranteed he would help their village solve these troubles.

"Then thank you very much, Lords. We've already arranged your rooms; do you Lords want to rest now?"

Tai Yagami and the others were indeed tired and wanted to rest, so they accepted the Guardromon's arrangement.

"Truly a bunch of easily fooled brats."

After the Chosen Children entered the arranged rooms, the Guardromon switched to a completely different face.

"Steal their Digivices? With those things, we can use them as investiture and pledge allegiance to a new Dark Forces Digimon King."

"After pledging allegiance, we sell off this group of Chosen Children; maybe we can obtain a reward and evolve into Champion Digimon."

Upon discovering the Chosen Children were easily deceived, the other Guardromons also produced extra ideas, and the Chosen Children have value on the Dark Forces side.

The Dark Four Heavenly Kings have long had bounties on the Chosen Children posted among the Dark Forces Digimon; rewards vary according to the threat level of the Chosen Children's Digimon.

Of course, Rookie Digimon are too weak; they might not qualify for this bounty, but attaching themselves under another Digimon King's command would work too.

"This kind of thing should wait until after we've finished squeezing the Chosen Children's utility value; before that, we need to consider who to pledge allegiance to afterward?"

"What do you think about pledging allegiance to the Gluttony King who defeated Son Goku?"

"Uh, that King wouldn't accept us. I once heard some Digimon who escaped from the Forest say that Gluttony King seems to hate evil like an enemy; his favorite food is Digimon who do bad deeds."

At these words, all the Guardromons present shivered.

"Then what about the Myotismon King? That one surely can't be a King who hates evil like an enemy, right?"

Just as a group of Guardromons were discussing and deciding to pledge allegiance to Myotismon afterward, Tai Yagami, in the arranged room, also encountered a badly wounded Roachmon.

From the Roachmon's mouth, learning the truth of this village, Tai Yagami was incomparably shocked.

"Damn it, those Guardromons and Pagumons actually dared to deceive us?!"

Agumon was somewhat impulsive and wanted to rush out and fight a great battle with the Pagumons and Guardromons in the village.

"Wait..."

But Tai Yagami stopped him.

"Why stop me, Tai?"

Agumon was confused.

"We have to save the hostages first."

On this kind of matter, the boy named Tai Yagami was instead able to think calmly.

"And before that, we have to notify the others."

Tai Yagami took the Roachmon and Agumon and slipped out of the room, starting to knock on the other companions' doors one by one.

And this scene was captured by the Piccolomon's power attached to the Roachmon, appearing on the Piccolomon's power light screen released on the other side.

Broly's group of Forest Camp Champion Digimon were surrounding the light screen, watching this Chosen Child's actions.

"Hmm, not bad. This is a Chosen Child with both courage and strategy."

On the light screen, Tai Yagami's actions lived up to this evaluation.

The other party did not act recklessly; he knew to guarantee the hostages' safety.

Moreover, in another Chosen Child's Room, he caught two Pagumon, and interrogated them about the village's situation from the side, not completely believing the Gotsumon's words.

Although, when he Intruded into Mimi's Room, he took several slaps from the girl, but these are all Small Problems.

(Chapter End)