Brock was only wearing a swimsuit, he was swimming in shallow water in the ocean near the beach. He said "Hiya! This is Brock reporting for the Ultimate Challenge. The Red Team is still asleep, whatever they were hit with last night must have been some powerful stuff. They were left in this beach and have not awaken since then. Luckily I've seen a familiar face around here and they might have assistance if they need it. Well I hope they wake up soon or else we'll have nothing to show you. We'll lets watch and hope they wake up."

The Red Team laid on the soft sand of a beach on the western tip of the island. They had been left there after the incident that occurred last night with Teromon.

Suddenly out of the bushes came out Lani, she looked tired and had to sit on the sand for a moment. She looked happy thought "It took me a while but I was able to follow you here. Finishing my job will only take a second." After recovering her breath she stood up and walked over to Tai and Agumon. "Naughty little boy, you'll be the first one to go!" She grabbed her axe and held it above her head ready to bring it down on Tai. She was ready to strike but when she tried to bring down her axe on Tai she was unable to move it. When she turned around she saw Sailor Uranus holding her axe.

"How much of a coward can you be? first you attack children and second you attack when they're defenseless."

Lani freed her axe and leaped away. Sailor Uranus didn't move from where she stood.

"What do you know!? If you think you're so brave then..."

"World Shaking!"

Lani was totally unprepared for the attack, she put her axe in front of her body to block it but when she was hit she was thrown back and was dragged along the sand. When she stood up she saw Sailor Uranus walking towards her, she stood up and charged at her ready to strike with her axe.

When Uranus saw her charging she stopped walking, she made a quick hand movement right before Lani stroked.

Lani had swung her axe with all her might while running past Uranus, trying to cut her in half. When she was done she looked at her axe and saw that half of the blade had been cut off. She turned around and saw Uranus holding her talisman, the cosmic sword. She also found the top half of the blade of her axe laying on the sand a couple of feet away from Uranus' feet.

"Cosmic sword!" Uranus took a wild swing with her sword and sent a crescent shaped beam flying towards Lani.

Lani was able to dodge the beam and it hit a palm tree right behind her, the palm tree was cut and fell over Lani.

Sailor Uranus walked towards Lani, kneeled down and put her sword right on Lani's nose. "Now that you're on the other side how do you feel?"

"Ok, you taught me a lesson. Now let me go and I'll stop trying to kill you."

"Why take that chance when I can finish you know and not have to worry."

"Even if you did that you wouldn't be free, the Red Ribbon won't stop until all of you are dead."

Uranus grabbed Lani's hair and pulled her face closer so that she could she her eyes. "Tell me what do you know about the Red Ribbon?"

"I know little, I was just hired you know, I'm not working full time with them!"

"So they just came up to you and offered a lot of money for our heads."

"Yeah... that's basically it."

"How pathetic, I'd be doing you a favor if I put an end to your life here."

"Please no, I promise to leave you alone!"

Uranus stood up and started to walk away.

"Hey you can't leave me here!!"

Uranus violently turned around, yelled "Cosmic sword!" and swung her sword sending another crescent shaped beam.

Lani put her arms on her head expecting the end, but it never came. The palm tree on top of her was cut right above her. She was freed but was to scared to stand up.

Uranus just walked away pretty sure that she would never hear from Lani again.

Uranus hadn't noticed the arrival of a couple of persons while she was fighting Lani. One of them was besides Tai and also had a digimon with him that looked like a small seal. The other was kneeling besides Makoto, they didn't look dangerous. "What are you doing!?"

The one besides Tai was startled and turned around, he looked a bit surprised "Ah!! You're awake!" he was a boy that looked a bit older than Tai and had short blue hair and wore glasses. "Look, my name is Joe and I'm a friend of Tai, really!"

"Gee Joe, calm down will ya!"

Uranus looked serious "What's your name?"

"J...Joe."

The other one who had been kneeling besides Makoto was a girl with short red hear, wore a yellow t-shirt and shorts with trousers, she looked like a tomboy. She also had a creature with her, but it looked like an egg and she had it across her arms. She took notice of the situation and went to talk to Uranus.

"My name is Misty! Look we're here to help you, we thought that maybe you were in trouble."

"We were..."

"Yeah but we saw that you had everything under control and decided to check on the others instead."

"Togitogi." said the creature on her arms, it was smiling.

"I see..." responded Uranus "then do it then." She just walked away and sat besides the base of a palm tree.

Joe and Misty looked at each other, they were confused. Misty then snapped at Joe "What are you waiting for! do something!!"

Joe was startled and quickly went to check up on Tai. His digimon partner known as Gomamon started at Misty, he looked a bit angry. He decided to let her be and turned around towards Joe "Hey Joe you really shouldn't let you boss you around you know!"

"I'm not letting her boss me around, I'm worried about Tai and the others!"

"Yeah... sure... how's Tai?"

Joe opened Tai's eye to examine him "He's still out cold, we still have to wait a couple of hours."

Suddenly Gomamon leaped on top of Tai and slapped him on the face. Tai quickly sat up knocking Gomamon off "KARI!!!"

Gomamon was thrown on his back but quickly rolled to turn around "See Joe? we didn't have to wait hours."

Joe was angry at Gomamon "Why did you do that?"

"I was just following what Tai once said, if something doesn't work just hit it."

"You can't just hit people like that!"

"He's awake no!"

Tai was confused, but he quickly recognized the sound of Joe and Gomamon arguing "Joe... what happened?"

Joe turned around to check up on Tai "Tai! are you alright?"

"My head hurts! where's Kari?"

"Kari? Well she's not here as far as I can tell, only you and your team."

"Where are we?"

"You're here on the beach."

"The beach!? are we outside New Alexandria!?"

"Yeah... I don't know how but you ended up here. I don't even known how long you've been laying here."

Misty had seen how Gomamon had woken up Tai, she decided to use her own technique to wake up the others, she took out a pokeball and let out her pokemon staryu. "Staryu, use your water gun to wake up the others."

Staryu did as told, he used his water gun on Makoto first.

Makoto was quickly woken up and sat up as quickly as Tai had. She breathed hard and yelled "Michiru!!" after that she looked around her surroundings. She saw Tai sitting on the beach talking with another kid, she saw Haruka sitting by a palm tree a bit far away, and she saw a red haired girl kneeling right by her side. "Who are you?"

"My name is Misty, I thought you could use some help."

"Where are we?"

"You're at the beach, please rest a moment while I wake up the others."

Makoto was confused but didn't feel in any sort of danger so she laid down and tried to get her thoughts back together.

Misty had woken up the others, in the mean time Makoto had seen Haruka and had walked over to her. The two had started talking but they were too far away to be heard by the others. Tai seemed very nervous, she didn't know what had happened to Kari and the others. Once Misty had finished waking up Quina she walked over to Tai. "Kari is alright, the Blue Team only got transported to a different place that you were."

Joe was confused "How do you know that?"

"I just talked to Brock and he told me."

"Sigh... you never tell me anything."

Tai relaxed a bit, he didn't like the Blue Team that much but at least he knew they would protect her.

Trunks was still a bit dazed, but he was recovering quickly. "Where exactly are we?"

Joe took out a map and showed them where they were, the beach was in the western side of the island. Both Trunks and Tai knew more or less where they were, they had been close to the area the day they met the Turks and Quina got the egg.

Gomamon interrupted "What is S/He doing?" he pointed at Quina who was actually eating the sand from the beach.

Joe put his hands over his mouth, he was disgusted.

Tai had a sweatdrop "I didn't know Quina ate sand too..."

"Tai!" Agumon said "What about Makoto and Haruka?"

They looked at the two senshi, Haruka had an inexpensive face but Makoto clearly had tears rolling down here face.

Tai like everybody else remained quiet for a couple of seconds, he then responded "It's best we leave them alone for the moment. It must be hard loosing one of their own."

Trunks said "I agree, but in the mean time we have to decide what we're going to do about it. This is all the Red Ribbon's fault! They created Teromon, they kidnapped Mamoru, they trashed New Alexandria! Everything is they're damn fault!"

Joe stepped away from Trunks, he looked pretty angry. "What are you guys talking about, isn't just this the Ultimate Challenge, I mean all we had to do is wait for you and offer a challenge and you're talking about loosing someone and battling an army!"

Gomamon looked at Joe "Gee Joe, they were supposed to find out by themselves that we are representatives..."

Tai suddenly leaped at Joe and gabbed him by the shirt "What the hell is it with the Ultimate Challenge! How is it involved with everything!?"

Joe looked scared "I... I... I don't know what you're talking about!"

Tai was hit in the back of the head by a staryu, he looked around and saw a very angry Misty. "What are you doing!? isn't he supposed to be your friend!? we seriously don't know anything! I just learned from Brock what happened last night."

Gomamon continued "Besides Tai you should be happy! I mean you were supposed to say Gee Joe! I'm glad we found you! Please tell us how we can get a badge."

Tai just asked Joe "Just give us the damn badge!"

Agumon had to step in and got between Tai and Joe "Tai calm down!"

Joe said "Besides we can't just give you the badge because we don't even have it, the purpose of the challenge was to find it."

Trunks didn't see much point in continuing the Ultimate Challenge, but he knew why Tai wanted the badge. They still needed it to raise their power when needed and right now they didn't have any working badge. He asked "Where is the badge?"

"It's in an underwater cave not far from the island." Joe responded.

"That's going to be hard to get..."

Misty said "It won't be so hard if we help you!"

"Huh?"

"You're right! what is going on is beyond the Ultimate Challenge, we can't worry about rules now!"

"How can you help?"

Misty got angry "What do you mean how we can help!? I'm the Water Pokemon master you know!!"

"And water is my specialty! The hardest part of the challenge is reaching the cave, but with our help you won't have a problem!"

"Ririright..." Joe said "We'll go get that badge together!"

At that moment Quina join the group "And I get many fish to cook dinner!!"

Everyone had a sweatdrop.

Agumon asked "What about Haruka and Makoto?"

Just as Agumon finished talking the two senshi joined the group. Haruka asked "So what are you going to do?"

Tai stood in front of Haruka "We concluded that everything is the Red Ribbon's fault! but we still need badges if we want to take them on! Joe and Misty here can take us where we can find one, after that we'll go look for the Red Ribbon and kick their butts!!"

"Right... good luck!" at that moment Haruka started to walk away.

Tai looked at Makoto, she only had her head down. He then yelled "HEY! Where do you think you're going!?!?"

"You fight your way, I'll fight my way."

Trunks moved quickly and stood in Haruka's way "What are you going to do? do you plan to take on the Red Ribbon, or maybe even Teromon by yourself?"

"It's none of your business. You don't care that this mean it disqualifies us, do you?"

"You know that we know winning this contest isn't that important now."

"Good, then get out of my way."

"Listen, we'll have a better chance of doing this together."

Haruka pushed Trunks out of the way, but before she left Misty yelled "If you choose a substitute the Red Team doesn't have to be disqualified!!"

Haruka stopped "Why would I care?"

"Because... you're so close to winning and if you do the Ultimate Challenge will be over, hence no need for badges."

Tai said "We're not that close..."

Joe asked "No?"

"To win we would need to have our jewel and someone else's, we have nothing. Let's face it we won't win, we can only hope another Team does and end the Ultimate Challenge."

Misty said "At least there's still hope, Joe and I will still help anyway."

Haruka said "Fine I choose you! Now don't bother me." Then she finally left.

Gomamon looked a bit annoyed "Joe would have been more helpful." This annoyed Misty to no end.

Joe said "Don't worry Gomamon, we'll help anyway."

The Red Team prepared themselves for the trip. Misty grabbed a pokeball "This was a special gift given to me when all of this started. Lapras I choose you!" She threw a pokeball and a beautiful Lapras appeared on the shore of the beach. "Gomamon! Our turn." Joe said. Gomamon entered the water. "Gomamon digivolves at... Ikkakumon!" Misty smiled "With Agumon and Lapras' help we'll reach that cave easily." Misty, Tai and Agumon got on top of Lapras while Joe, Trunks, Makoto and Quina got on Ikkakumon. The two monster started to swim away from the island towards the cave that held the badge.

While on the way there Trunks asked Makoto "Why didn't you leave us like Haruka?"

Makoto looked a bit sad "Just because we're both senshi doesn't mean we share the same views. In fact the outers and the inners have never really worked well together. Yet at the same time we all agreed on what needed to be done, we just took different paths. I didn't want to leave yo... the team. We have more chance fighting together than apart."

Trunks smiled at Makoto "You know I think there's still a chance to rescue the ones absorbed by Teromon."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Well not 100% sure, but even after Teromon absorbed them I could still feel their presence, they must still be whole inside of Teromon, and if that's the case we'll find a way to get them out."

"You're right, we can't lose hope."

Joe asked "What is Teromon like? He sounds real powerful."

Quina said "Teromon digimon with very bad temper, eats what shouldn't be eaten."

Trunks said "He's a digimon created by the Red Ribbon, and he's looking for certain people to absorb them, and when he does he digivolves into something more powerful."

"Sailor Moon is one of them..." Makoto said.

Joe said "If he's so strong shouldn't we go after him first?"

Ikkakumon said "Joe I'm surprised at you, that's showing a lot of courage."

"Well if he digivolves again and already he may become unstoppable."

"Unfortunately..." Trunks said "we don't have a way of finding Teromon, finding the Red Ribbon is easy, they're everywhere. And maybe we can learn the way to defeat Teromon from them."

"Ok..."

Tai asked Misty. "Do you really want to join the Red Team?"

Misty smiled "Sure why not? hey I might win a lot of money!"

Agumon said "Well if you're a part of the Team you have to follow Tai because he's the captain."

"Agumon!"

Misty smiled "Even if we don't win at least the Red Team won't go down as the one that gave up before it ended."

"That's true."

"What are we going to do after getting this badge Tai?" asked Agumon.

Tai gave it some thought "Maybe Quina can remember where s/he found the egg."

"You really think we can depend on that?"

"Definitely no."

"Then?"

"We know of that base in the dessert."

"But that's almost on the other side of the island!"

"Give me a break! There's also the building in New Alexandria."

"But that can't be from the Red Ribbon! They attacked it!"

"I know, but maybe we can find out something there."

Misty interrupted "We're almost there, we're going to have to dive so you have to hang tight and hold your breath.

Lapras and Ikkakumon stopped when they felt they were in the right place. Everyone held they're breath and held tight, Misty really had no choice but to put Togepi in a pokeball to keep him safe. The monsters then dived inside.

The cave had been a lot deeper than they had imagined, they wondered how they would have ever reached it without Lapras and Ikkakumon. They got into the cave and even had to swim for about 20 seconds inside before they were able to swim up an reach the part of the cave that was full of air.

Everyone gave a deep breath when they got of the water, it had been a longer time that they had expected. They got off the monsters and stepped on the cave's ground. They were obviously very wet, but Tai had an idea. Agumon spend the next half hour acting like a blow drier.

Meanwhile...

There was a western town not far from where the Red Team woke up, it had been the place where the Blue Team had met Team Rocket for the first time. The town had been relatively peaceful since that incident with the android that looked like Jessie James. Everyone continued their lives as if nothing had happened.

Unfortunately for them that day they were visited by the Red Ribbon army. A woman with short pink hair led the way, she was knows as General Bronze. her army was not very large and the townsfolk were very brave and would not allow them in.

A battle broke out in the town, guns fired everywhere. Unfortunately the Red Ribbon had better weapons and were gaining the upper hand. The woman and children of town hid inside their cellars to avoid getting shot at. Many lives were being lost.

General Bronze walked through town surround by a small group of soldiers. She had lost few men and was about to take the town any moment now. Suddenly something stroked one of her men and he fell to the ground. Bronze went to check on him and saw something stuck on his forehead, a fork? she turned around and saw a woman holding a giant spatula and apparently very angry. "Get her!!" yelled Bronze.

The girl who everyone knows to be Ukyo threw a bunch of small round objects at the soldiers. At the moment of impact there was a brown cloud and the soldiers and they started to cough, Bronze smelled a bit and knew it was pepper. Because of the thick cloud of pepper she was unable to see what was happened, by the time it dissipated her men were completely covered and tied up in noddles. Ukyo now stood very close to her with her spatula in hand.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Ukyo! Why are you attacking this town!?"

"None of your business!"

"Oh yeah!?" Ukyo leaped into the air ready to strike with her spatula. Bronze took out her gun and shot at her, she missed and was struck down with the spatula and knocked out.

Ukyo hadn't noticed her spatula now had a bullet hole in it, she looked around for more soldiers but heard a clapping sound, she looked down the street and saw another woman. She had short blonde hair and was wearing a black suit, to those who knew her she was Elena.

"You took her out quickly, but she wasn't much of a soldier to begin with."

"Now who are you!?"

"My name is Elena of the Turks, and regardless of your efforts this town will fall you know."

Just then Ukyo noticed two more men with black suits around her, she was surrounded.

"Oh yeah!?" Ukyo was about to charge but something zapped her and she turned into a child "Where am I?"

(Back to the Red Team...)

The Red Team was exploring the cave, it wasn't as straightforward as they had thought. Joe and Ikkakumon had stayed behind waiting back at the entrance. There were many places where the Red Team had to climb up the slippery surface and times when they had to walk through very narrow paths, there had even been moments when the path split up in many places.

Trunks was getting worried "Are you sure you guys know where the badge is?"

"Are you kidding? We only knew where the cave was! not the badge." Misty responded.

"Then why are you guiding us here?"

"Guiding you!?" Misty said outraged "you're the one leading the way!!!"

Trunks blushed "Well I though you'd point out when I started heading the wrong way."

Tai said "Well let's keep going, I mean how big can this cave be?"

Makoto said "Tai's right, let's go on."

The Red Team continued along the way, there was something that bothered Trunks though, he could feel the chi of a lot of people, very faintly but he was sure he wasn't wrong about it.

They kept going until they found a small box sitting on a lonesome rock. They walked up towards it and Tai opened the box, just like they had imagined the badge was inside. He grabbed it and said "Told ya! we found it!"

Quina got excited "Tai very brave, now we get out no?"

Makoto had to ask "You don't like it here Quina?"

"No no no, very wet and without anything good to eat, even rocks taste awful here!"

Agumon said "Now the interesting part will be getting out."

Tai seemed confident "Hey we made it here and we'll make it back!"

They started they're journey back.

The journey back had not been as easy as Tai had made it look, they were not having any luck finding their way out. They made it to a clearing that looked to be well lit.

Misty pointed up "Look, there's a ray of light coming from above."

Makoto said "How are we going to get up there?"

Tai said "That shouldn't be a problem, right Agumon?"

Agumon said "Right Tai! Agumon digivolves at... Greymon!"

Greymon barely fit inside the cave, but that's what Tai was hoping for, now they could climb up Greymon to reach the hole on the ceiling. Trunks was the first to climb up and hit the hole to make it bigger. He poked his head outside and looked around, he couldn't believe what he saw. There were dozens, maybe hundreds of Red Ribbon soldiers running around the place. He also saw many buildings and walls around the area. He quickly ducked down to avoid getting seen.

He heard Tai yelled "Hey Trunks see anything!!"

Trunks leaped down and said "Keep it down! We're right beneath a Red Ribbon base."

Everyone was very surprised, before they could say anything they heard a voice coming from above "Hey! what's this?"

Everyone became quiet and went to hid, Greymon went back to being Agumon.

"Oh yeah, someone found this yesterday, apparently part of our base is above an underground cave."

"No kidding..."

"Yeah, luckily the buildings aren't built on top of it so it's safe."

Just then Agumon sneezed, Tai covered his mouth but it was too late. The echo inside made the sound a lot louder.

"What the hell was that!?"

"Someone's down there!!"

"Get some men! we're going in!"

Makoto said "Crud! What now?"

Tai said "Let's fight them!!"

Trunks said "We don't stand a chance, there and hundreds of soldiers up there. We're heavily outnumbered."

Makoto said "Let's get out of here before they catch us!"

Misty asked "But where's the way out!?"

Trunks said "We have no choice but to keep going and hope we reach the exit."

The Red Team left quickly in search of the exit.

It hadn't even been five minutes before they could clearly hear voices of Red Ribbon soldiers behind them. Makoto had to transform into Sailor Jupiter just in case the had to fight in a moment notice.

Quina said "We almost there!"

Tai said "How do you know?"

"I smell fish."

"Geez..."

They continued running until...

"AHH!!"

Misty hadn't seen a small cliff and had fallen down. Trunks quickly noticed and jumped down. "Are you ok?"

The others were in complete alert, the soldiers of the Red Ribbon would have surely heard Misty's scream.

Misty held her ankle "I think a sprang my ankle."

Trunks picked Misty up, "I'll carry you." He then jumped back up and they continued on their way.

"I'm sorry, I just joined the team and I'm already a burden."

Tai smiled "Don't worry about it, we're used to this kind of bad fortune."

The Red Team were getting very close to the exit. Joe could even hear them from where he stood.

Misty said "We're almost..." but she was interrupted by the sounds of bullets hitting the rocks by their side. The Red Team took cover behind some rocks.

"Tai!!" Agumon said "What now?"

"We have no choice! We have to fight!"

"I'm ready!"

"Go Agumon!!"

"Agumon digivolves at... Greymon!"

Greymon stood right in front of the soldiers along with Jupiter and Quina. Trunks left Misty in a safe spot and said "Stay here."

"It's not like I have a choice."

Joe and Tai stayed with Misty while the others fought.

To their surprise there were like only 6 soldiers. Jupiter even had a sweatdrop "That's it?"

Suddenly one of them fired at Greymon, he started to glow and shrink, he was turned into a Botamon.

The others were about to get hit but Quina yelled "Big Guard!" so the beams bounced off their force fields.

Tai got out of their hiding spot to get his digimon. "Botamon?"

Trunks yelled "They most have the same weapons that Turks used on us! now get out of harm's way!"

Jupiter now attacked "Jupiter... Oak Revolution!!"

The soldiers were not prepared by that kind of attack, they were all hit and shocked with Jupiter's balls of electricity.

"Well that was easy..."

Suddenly they heard a voice "What lame soldiers, no wonder they wanted my help."

"Who's there!?" yelled Trunks.

Out of the shadows came a woman, she had long brown hair, wore light armor and a metal plate on went across her forehead and covered her right eye. "My name is Beatrix, the newest general of the Red Ribbon!"

"Beatrix?" Trunks said, the name sounded familiar.

"Wasn't she the one that was supposed to be with Steiner?" Jupiter said.

"Hey that's right! why have you joined the Red Ribbon!?"

"How do you know it's the same Beatrix?" was her response.

Tai had a sweatdrop "How many Beatrix can there be?"

"In any case, I have my reasons! now surrender or feel my blade!" Beatrix then drew her sword.

Jupiter asked "You against all of us?"

Trunks said "More soldiers might be coming."

Quina looked alarmed "Don't underestimate! she very powerful!!"

Trunks looked at Tai "Tai go look at Misty, we'll take care of her."

Tai said "Ok!" he then went to look after Misty.

Jupiter, Trunks and Quina stood against Beatrix. She looked pretty confident "Why don't you go first and show me what you got?"

Jupiter yelled "With pleasure! Sparkling wide pressure!!" she then threw a ball of concentrated electricity. Beatrix charged at Jupiter and knocked her attack with her sword easily. She was about to strike Jupiter with her sword when she leaped out of Trunks' way, he was ready to tackle her before she hit Jupiter. She landed on a rock.

Quina yelled "Frost!!"

Beatrix jumped away, the rock she had been standing on had completely frozen in a second. She had little time to catch her breath when Trunks attacked with a charging punch. She barely avoided him and Trunks hit a rock and completely destroying it. Beatrix took advantage of Trunks' position and stabbed him on the leg.

"Ahh!"

"Trunks!!" Jupiter yelled, she charged at Beatrix with all her might.

Quina yelled "Vanish!"

Jupiter turned invisible and surprised Beatrix, she hit her in the gut and then threw her over her shoulder. "Supreme Thunder!!"

Beatrix was not able to avoid the attack, she got hit by a current of electricity and was shocked. To Jupiter's surprise it hadn't been that effective and the effect of Quina's spell had worn off. Beatrix noticed Quina had gone to help Trunks so she charged at Jupiter and tackled her. Jupiter crashed with Quina.

"Climhazzard!!"

Tai and Misty were hearing the sounds and grunts of the battle, to their surprise everything had become very quiet when Beatrix had shouted climhazzard.

Tai said "Let me check what's going on."

Misty nodded "Be careful."

Tai was about to leave their hiding place when he found the tip of Beatrix's sword on his face. "Where were you going?"

"What did you do to them?"

"Don't worry about them, they only asked me to capture you, but don't push it I will kill you if you don't leave me a another choice."

"Damn!"

"Help your friend and follow me, more soldiers are on the way and they'll get the others."

Tai had no choice but to do as she said, lucky for her Joe was watching from the distance.

Joe ran back to Ikkakumon who was still in the water. "Ikkakumon! they've been captured!"

"Joe! let's go help!"

"We can't! Trunks, Sailor Jupiter and Quina were all defeated by one soldier and more were on the way. We have to get out of here while we can!"

"Are you abandoning them Joe!?"

"No! but we can't be of much help to them if we get captured to. There's nothing we can do now, let's get out of here and plan their rescue!"

"Ok Joe, let's go!"

Joe got on Ikkakumon and they left back to the surface.

(Meanwhile...)

Haruka had made it to the western town that had been invaded. She quickly noticed all the soldiers and hid before they saw her. "What is going on now?" she waited until she saw that nobody was looking her way and sneaked into town. She went around alleys being very careful not to be seen, when she was close to the bar she heard a familiar voice.

"You should be thankful that we saved your butt." It was the voice of Reno.

"Yeah... thankful for letting you upstage me. My report will now say that I was saved the Turks." That voice was unfamiliar to Haruka.

"That sounds good." That was Rudo's voice.

"You don't have to do that," said Reno "just write that the town was taken with the cooperation of the Turks, we don't want a medal or anything."

"Besides..." that was Elena's voice "it's better to write that than to write that the invasion was foiled by noodle girl."

Haruka's blood started to boil, she had hated the Turks from the moment she met them, but now she held them partly responsible for what happened to Michiru the night before.

Just then something started to beep, then Reno's voice was heard "Yes?... what?... right under HQ?... which one?...no kidding! hey that sounds like the Red Team, the ones that have been giving us trouble."

"What's happening?" Elena said.

"Well our job is done so we can be back in half an hour, how does that sound?... very well we're on our way then."

"What is it!?"

"Can you believe it, the Red Team was walking around in a cave right beneath HQ, they've captured them. They want us back to begin the interrogations."

Haruka couldn't believe it, they had actually captured the Red Team. She whispered to herself "Those idiots..."

The unknown voice spoke again "Wait? what am I supposed to do with the girl?"

"Heck just shoot her for all we care." Rudo said.

Haruka wanted to follow the Turks, but from what she heard she figured someone had stood up to the Red Ribbon and had been turned into a child for it, she couldn't let her be killed. She peeked around the corner and saw the Turks leave the bar, she had to fight the urge to attack them right there. She then saw the woman who's voice she hadn't recognize, because of her uniform it seemed that she was a Red Ribbon general. After the Turks left Haruka started to follow the female general to see if she would lead her to the hostage. She noticed along the way that many bodies, both of locals and RR soldiers were being picked up from the streets, the more she saw of the Red Ribbon the more she hated them.

General Bronze finally reached a house, she had chosen to hide the little girl because she didn't want it to let it be known that she had been defeated by her.

Ukyo was tied up to a chair and was crying. "When my daddy and Ranma find me you'll be in soooo much trouble..."

Bronze loaded her gun and said "Well all they'll find is a corpse."

Ukyo screamed so hard that Bronze didn't hear someone behind her yell "World Shaking!!" she was blasted on her back and was throw forward, she fell right in front of Ukyo.

Ukyo looked at Bronze and then up to see Sailor Uranus, she asked "Who are you?"

Uranus went to untie Ukyo "I'm someone who doesn't want to hurt you."

"Is she... dead?"

"No, but she would deserve it."

"I want to go see my daddy!"

"Sorry but I can't take you to him, you'll be safe with me."

Haruka picked up Ukyo and left the town before someone noticed the absence of the general. She decided to go back to the beach were they had woken up today.

(Back to the Red Team...)

The Red Team had been put in a cell, they had taken Botamon, Tai's digivice, Misty's pokeballs, Makoto's transformation pen and all their badges. The cell was made of a very strong metal that not even Trunks could brake open. Trunks had been treated and had bandages around his wounded leg, he still couldn't walk straight tough.

They were all a nervous about the situation, but Misty showed it a lot more. "What are they going to do with Togepi!? I should have never let them take him, he wasn't going to hurt anybody! if something happens to him..."

"Calm down!!" Tai said "you think I'm not worried about Botamon? There's nothing we can do for them now but hope for they're safety."

"And that they get fed well." Quina added.

"What do you think they'll do to us?" Makoto said.

"Frankly I'm wondering why they haven't killed us yet." Trunks said "if they haven't done that is because they want to get something from us."

Tai said "By the way did you guys notice this place? It's huge! way bigger than the base we saw in the dessert."

"This must be their main base, figures that it would be outside the island."

"Who would have thought we would stumble on to this?"

"Should we then consider this good luck?" Misty said sarcastically.

"We have to think of our escape!" Tai said.

"How?"

"Well they might have taken Botamon and my digivice from me, Misty's pokemon and Makoto's transformation pen, but they can't take Trunks' and Quina's abilities from them. We have to use that to our advantage!"

"But Trunks is hurt." Makoto said.

"I not hurt." Quina said.

"Great! What is s/he going to do? invite them to dinner?"

"No no, we be guests now, they have to invite US to dinner, it's only good manners."

"Damn... Togepi..."

Haruka had made it back to the beach, he had made it in time to see Ikkakumon arriving with Joe on his back. The moment she made it to the beach she said "What the hell happened!?"

Joe got of Ikkakumon who immediately turned back to Gomamon. He looked at Haruka and the little girl she was with. "Who's she!?"

"That's not important now, tell me what happened?"

"How did you know something was wrong?" Gomamon asked.

"I'm not going to ask again, what happened?"

Joe adjusted "I'm not really sure, we reached the cave and we waited for them while they went to get the badge. When they returned they were being followed by soldiers, they were able to take some out but then this woman came and beated them easily."

"Why didn't you do anything?"

"There wasn't any time, we left to avoid getting captured and on the way back we were trying to figure a way to rescue them."

Haruka grabbed Joe's sweater and picked him up "Why didn't you help them!?"

"I already told you we weren't able to act in time! there was no point to let them capture us as well."

Gomamon looked angry "Why are you taking it out on him!? you're the one who abandoned them!"

Haruka dropped Joe and looked at Gomamon.

"Oh now you want to pick on the little Gomamon, bring it on! I'm not afraid of you."

Ukyo ran, stood in front of Gomamon and faced Haruka. "Don't pick on him!"

Haruka only looked at Gomamon and Ukyo "I left them because they can't bring themselves to do what's necessary."

"Oh yeah!? and what's that?"

"There are certain sacrifices one must make when in battle."

Joe stood up "Listen, I don't hold anything against you, but you can't leave them like that. If they mean anything to you, anything at all you'll help us rescue them."

"I have no choice, but you think we can do it alone?"

"I don't now, but who else can we ask for help?"

"Let's go!"

"Go where?"

"The reason you were chased by soldiers was because the cave was right beneath their base."

"What!?"

"The base must be on an island not far from here. Let's go check it out and see what we can learn from it."

"Um... ok... Gomamon?"

Joe looked at Gomamon and saw that he was playing with Ukyo, they were both rolling ont the sand.

"What about her?"

"Well we can't leave her alone, she's actually an adult but the Red Ribbon has a weapon that turns people into children and erases their memory of everything while they grew up."

"Um... hey that's how they turned Greymon into a Botamon!"

"Are we going or not!?"

"Ok... Gomamon!"

Gomamon had to stop playing and went to Joe, Ukyo was right behind him. "What is it Joe?"

"We have to go back and check things out."

"Got it! Gomamon digivolves at..."

Gomamon stood still for a couple of seconds until Joe asked "What is it?"

"I'm hungry."

Haruka slapped her own forehead.

The Turks had made it back to HQ, they were sent to see the great boss personally. The room was very dark so they couldn't see the boss' face.

He said "So... I heard you help complete the possession of the fourth point."

Reno said "Yes sir!"

"I'm glad, unfortunately the very first point of impact is still unoccupied."

"Um... we know sir."

"We've even lost the androids and several Magitek armors trying to do it. General Magenta was such a worthless man if he was unable to take the town with all of that at his disposal."

"Um... sir?"

"Yes?"

"Is it true you captured the Red Team?"

"Yes, but let me finish this first."

"Yes sir, sorry."

"It's of the upmost importance that we take possession of Jayne before the first point of impact occurs. We don't know how much time we have left."

"You want us to do it sir?"

"Well, Dr. Izumi is working on some sort of replacement for the androids, but I don't want to risk it."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Dr. Izumi promised me he would have something by tomorrow, I'm going to send a special squad to take the possession, and you're going to be a part of it."

"Oh that's it?"

"Yes, I don't want any more failures."

"We won't fail."

"I hope not, now about the Red Team."

"Yes sir?"

"I need you to get some information from them, who the hell are they? there was supposed to be some contest in the island but they and all the other teams keep getting on our back. Are the special agents? what have they learned about us and what are their plans? their interference may ruin us. After you've gotten everything we need be sure to dispose of them."

"Right sir."

"You may go now."

"Yes sir!"

The Turks left the office, they couldn't wait to get their hands on the Red Team.

The Red Team were trying to figure out a way to escape, but the security around them was more elaborate that they had first thought. They were still discussing their options when suddenly the Turks arrived.

"Man! it's really them!" Rudo said.

"Wait!" Reno said "doesn't something look strange to you guys?"

Elena pointed out "Yeah, where's the tall blonde and where did this girl come from?"

Misty was angry "None of your damn business, and where's Togepi and my other pokemon!?"

"Oh... it's on of them pokemon trainers." Rudo said.

"Whatever... she hasn't been around so we can't use her." Reno said.

"So who's is it going to be Reno?"

Makoto asked "What do you want?"

Reno smiled "While it's just a little interview, we just want to knew a few things."

Trunks said "More like an interrogation."

"Only if cooperation becomes difficult, if it becomes down right obstructive we might have to employ certain methods."

"The hell with you!"

Elena said "Why don't we pick him?"

"Nah... look at him he's already hurt, where's the fun in that?"

Rudo grabbed Tai by the back of his shirt and picked him up "Let go of me!!"

"Hey Reno how about this one?"

Everyone tried to help Tai but Reno and Elena quickly stood in their way.

"Small, healthy, implosive, loudmouth, I like it!"

The rest of the Red Team was outraged. Makoto yelled "You bastards he's just a boy!"

Trunks said "Take me instead you cowards!"

Quina said "You very rude! I not forgive if you take him."

Misty said "You bullies! Why don't you pick on someone you're own size!"

The Turks didn't answer, they quickly left with Tai. Before leaving Tai yelled "Don't worry I won't tell them anything!!"

Trunks banged the wall "Damn them!!!"

Makoto said "Why did pick Tai? it should have been me."

Misty asked "Will Tai be alright?"

Quina said "Tai be ok, he toughest kid I've met, and I've met very tough children."

Trunks said "S/he's right, I mean he has the crest of courage for a reason. My true worry is that he's TOO tough and they'll really hurt him."

Makoto said "Can't we do something!?"

Everyone remained quiet.

Tai was sited on a chair in an otherwise empty room, a bright light was placed right over him.

"A bright light? you think it will be that easy?" Tai said.

Reno laughed, he then said "Don't worry, we have better stuff but we keep that for later on."

Elena said "I'll time it to see how long he lasts."

Rudo said "This should be good."

Reno began the interrogation "Who are you?"

"You brought me here and all you wanted was my name?"

"Not your name you idiot, I mean the group?"

"You already now who we are! I thought you were going to ask important questions."

"Not the Red Team you moron, there must be a whole organization behind all of you!"

"Huh?"

"Don't play dumb!"

"You guys think we're part of some organization?"

"I say stop playing dumb, not only you but those others two teams, Yellow and Blue have been causing a lot of problems for the Red Ribbon."

"That's because you're hurting innocent people you moron! you think we'll just sit by and do nothing?"

Rudo hit Tai's face so hard he knocked he fell back with the chair. Rudo quickly picked him up and sat him down again.

Reno continued "Look, if you just happened to be bystanders who happened to get involved then what about the two persons that once's infiltrated this base."

"I don't know what the hell you are talking about. What about Teromon! you guys created him!"

"Oh now you think you can ask questions, would you like to switch places while we are at it?"

"What the purpose!? he doesn't seem to be under your command!"

Elena slapped Tai so hard she left a clear red print of her hand on his face. "We're the ones doing the interrogation."

"You're nuts! do you even know what you created."

Elena was about to slap him again but Reno stopped her "We, the Turks, did not create anything, we only work for the Red Ribbon."

"So you think you can wash your hands like that!? you guys are helping make this thing possible, you're just as responsible as the people who created Teromon!!"

Reno grabbed Tai by the neck and started chocking him "Listen you little pest you shouldn't worry about Teromon! once the job is done and he serves his purpose he'll be destroyed!"

"Wh...wha?"

Reno let go of Tai "Do you think the Red Ribbon would create something they can't control? that's absurd!"

Rudo grabbed Reno by the shoulders "Hey man, look at you, you're actually answering HIS questions."

Tai was trying to catch his breath, he didn't notice Reno signaling Rudo for something and him leaving. Elena grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up a little "You better start behaving or you'll regret it."

After a couple of minutes Rudo came back with Botamon.

Tai yelled "Botamon!!"

Reno grabbed Botamon "You know, it's quite impressive that this things has been so large in the past, but look at him now..." Reno dropped Botamon on the ground, only a little yelp was heard from him "so small one could easily step on him."

"Don't do that!!" Tai yelled, the signs of desperation were clear on his face.

"Oh... what happened to the little Mr. Courage? are we afraid to lose this little digimon who looks more like a gumdrop?"

"Please, don't hurt him."

"Now you see that depends on you."

"Listen I wasn't playing dumb, we really don't belong to any organization, we really were just participating in the Ultimate Challenge."

"What about the building in New Alexandria, the two persons who came here work there."

"I do know there are some who seem to be working against you, but we've been terribly uniformed of the situation, we've learned everything from experience."

"Answer me just one question more question, and I promise you that not only will we leave your gumdrop alone but we'll actually give it to you, I guarantee you."

"Reno?" Elena protested.

"Haven't you learned anything, he can't make it big without his toy. No harm in it.

"Like I can trust you!" Tai said sarcastically.

Reno got angry "Listen, you may think the worst of the Turks, but we never NEVER turn back on our guarantees"

Tai had to ask "What is the question?"

Reno smiled "What the hell is the Ultimate Challenge!?"

Tai found the question rather ironic "I wish I knew, it first it only looked like a contest, but everything seems to have guided us to this point."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Part of the challenge is to collect badges, we found one right beneath the egg that gave birth to Jakimon! don't tell me the Red Ribbon placed it there. We met up with Queen Garnet, and later you guys while participating in a challenge to get a badge, we later got an unknown badge after meeting Teromon and fighting Skullgreymon, we got a badge while we fought Teromon last night, we even ended up in that cave you caught us because we were looking for a badge. Every damn badge gets us closer to you and Teromon!"

Rudo told Reno "Come on man! this kid is just messing with us, making up this absurd tale to get his digimon back."

Reno looked at Tai in the eyes, he picked up Botamon and gave it to Tai. "Let's get him back to the others."

Elena protested "You can't be serious Reno! you actually expect us to tell the boss the story we got from this kid? he'll have our asses!"

"Elena, just do as I say."

"No!"

"Elena, I am your superior."

"Reno my man!" Rudo said "I hate to tell you this but I'm with Elena on this one."

"There are still others we can interrogate, with less imagination."

"Ohhh!!" said Rudo and Elena at the same time.

"That's different then." Rudo said.

The Turks came back to the Red Team's cell, Tai walked in with them with Botamon in his arms. Everyone was kind of surprise, but Misty quickly protested "Where's Togepi! give him back to me!"

The Turks ignored her, Rudo and Elena went to grab Makoto and took her out, to their surprise she didn't put up a fight. They quickly left after that. After they left Trunks quickly asked "Tai are you ok?"

Tai looked a bit depressed, the signs that he had been hit were still there, but he didn't look too damaged. "I'm sorry, I couldn't let them hurt him."

Trunks looked at Botamon who was shaking "Nobody will blame you for anything, besides we don't hold any important secrets."

"Guess you're right, but you know something, I told them something that seemed like if I was answering myself."

"What is it?"

"About the Ultimate Challenge, notice how everything we've done for it has guided us to this point, even the badge we got today."

"Yeah, that did cross my mind."

"But then on the way here I taught of something else."

"What is it?"

"Why hasn't this happened to the other teams? or at least not the Blue Team, last night when I sought their help they seemed completely clueless, why didn't the Ultimate Challenge guide them like it did us?"

"That be difficult question." Quina said.

Misty asked "Could anybody explain it to me what's going on?"

Trunks started speaking "Most of the badges we've been gathering have always gotten us involved with the Red Ribbon and/or Teromon. We believe the Ultimate Challenge is a way to lead us into is."

"But why? why do it this way?"

"That we don't know."

Tai said "but the other teams have not been gone through the same."

"Of course not!" Misty said.

"Huh?"

"Why would you bother making 3 teams if all were to follow the same path?"

Trunks suddenly felt like a lightbulb had gone on over his head. "Of course, you're absolutely right! there are several things to be done! like destroying the Red Ribbon, handle or destroy Teromon, protect the ones that would make Teromon digivolves if absorbed, and who knows what else!"

"There is still something else though..." Tai said "The Turks mentioned people that got in here, and we know there is an organization working directly against the Red Ribbon. I mean we saw Sailor Mercury and Sailor Neptune protect Sailor Moon. Queen Garnet had mentioned Matt had helped her. How do they fit into all of this?"

"Well you can't expect me to have an answer for everything right now. What we do now is one thing, we have keep going with the Ultimate Challenge, find our last badge and meet the other teams. Doing so might finally answer all our questions."

"You're right!"

Quina started clapping "Tai and Trunks very intelligent!"

Misty had a sweatdrop "That's very nice and all, but have you guys forgotten that we're trapped here!?"

"What if this is just another challenge?" Tai said.

"Even if it isn't why don't we at least look at it that way." Trunks said.

Quina cheered "Red Team has overcome all challenges until now!"

Trunks relaxed and then thought about something else "Let's hope Makoto is alright."

Tai said "Don't worry, you know something, now jump to the conclusion that I've gone mad, but I think the Turks aren't so bad."

"Excuse me?"

"Look! they gave me Botamon! and when I look back at it they could have treated me worse."

Makoto was seated like Tai had been a couple of minutes ago, the same bright light was placed over her.

Reno began the procedure "Now we already got what we could from your little friend. Frankly what he told us was a little hard to swallow, so we just need you to tell us your version, if it matches with his we'll all be... um I wa about to say happy but that wouldn't be the case, let's just say satisfied of our work."

"What's with you guys!?" Makoto yelled.

"Tell me, since you seem to have been closest to her. What happened to the other one who was also a sailor senshi?"

"To hell with you!"

Rudo grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up. "Don't talk like that!"

"Fine, if she troubles us later she'll be dealt with." Reno said "In that case tell us what the Ultimate Challenge is."

"What the!? what do you care!"

"Was it some sort of cover for you? did you do this so that the Red Ribbon would drop its guard?"

Makoto remained silent, Elena slapped her like she had slapped Tai.

"Listen, just tell us what the Ultimate Challenge is, if you answer the same that boy did we can finish this quickly. If that's the case then you don't lose anything by telling us, putting resistance for no damn good reason isn't bravery, it's stupidity."

"It's just a damn contest."

"Oh according to your friend is more than that."

"It's a freaking contest that has caused us all this trouble!"

The Turks looked at each other, her answer while not exactly the same did sound relevant to what Tai had said. "You don't seem to be enjoying yourself, isn't it just a game?"

"It's no game, right now I don't know what it is."

"The boss isn't going to believe this." Rudo said.

"What's the problem? the Ultimate Challenge is indeed a cover operation, they just don't know it."

"Huh?" Makoto was confused by Reno's words.

"Let's take her back."

Makoto was taken back to the cell, the others quickly started asking if she was alright. This time the Turks didn't take anyone else, they just Makoto in and locked them inside.

"What did they ask you?" Tai asked.

"That was weird, they only wanted to see if my story matched yours! then Reno said something that confused me."

"What?"

"He said the Ultimate Challenge is a cover operation and we just don't know about it."

Everyone remained silent for a couple of seconds, finally Trunks broke the silence by saying "He may be right."

The Red Team told Makoto about their discussion while she was gone, after they all agreed on what they had to do they started to make their plan to escape.

After a while Haruka, Joe and Ukyo were able to find enough things to eat. The obvious thing was to fish but Gomamon was against it, so they had to settle for coconuts. Fortunately the little Ukyo proved to be a very talented cook even at a young age. They lit a fire and she made a coconut salad that even look appetizing.

Gomamon rubbed his belly "Boy I'm full! Ok now we can go!"

Haruka interrupted "It's about to get dark, by the time we get there we won't be able to see anything, and we can't attempt a rescue without knowing what we're up against."

Joe said "By tomorrow it might be too late for them."

"There's nothing we can do about that, we can only hope for their safety."

"Guess you're right."

The four of them got ready to spend the night on the beach, yet they new the weren't going to get much sleep that night.

Brock was near the beach behind a palm tree "Well, this is all very frustrating, the Red Team has been captured by the Red Ribbon and there may be little hope for escape. How will the Ultimate Challenge end? unfortunately for me and my co-hosts there's little we can do but watch. Yet... maybe not, maybe there is something more we can do. In any case let's go check Minako out, hopefully the Blue Team's luck may not be as bad as the Red's. See you later!"

The Blue Team
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