Cactuar

"Poison Ivy!"

As more and more Sukamon were swatted away, Palmon unleashed her signature move.

"Out of my way!"

Thump!

With a casual swing, Monzaemon flung Palmon away, vines and all.

"Palmon, are you okay?" Seeing Palmon tumble across the ground, Mimi hurried over and helped her up.

"Even Poison Ivy didn't work..."

Palmon wasn't too concerned about her injuries. Instead, she worried about how to deal with the situation ahead.

"Love Serenade!"

Monzaemon unleashed his devastating crowd-control move.

"Huh? Run!" Having learned how powerful Love Serenade was from Agumon and the others, Mimi and Palmon had no intention of trying to withstand it.

But at their speed, there was no way they could escape Monzaemon's Love Serenade.

At that critical moment, the Sukamon fighting Monzaemon formed a wall with their bodies, taking every attack for Mimi and Palmon.

"Ah! Sukamon!!!"

Mimi had been running, but the sight before her filled her with anguish and brought her to a halt.

Even those filthy, spineless Sukamon are fighting so hard for Mimi... Watching the Sukamon engulfed in hearts, Palmon felt awful too. After all, as Mimi's partner, all she could do was run away with her.

Yet the Sukamon were willing to risk their lives for Mimi...

The light of digivolution shone once again.

&... (BGM: Brave Heart)

Palmon... digivolve to!

Cactuar!

(Profile) Cactuar:

Cactuar was a plant-type Digimon shaped like a giant cactus. She could store nutrient data inside her body, allowing her to survive temporarily in the desert. She spent most of her time staring blankly into space, but if provoked, she would suddenly turn violent. Her finishing move, "Needle Spray," hardened the thorns at the ends of her arms before striking with tremendous force.

"Ah!"

After digivolving, Cactuar raised her fists and charged straight at Monzaemon!

Seeing that his opponent was merely a Champion-level Digimon, Monzaemon thought little of her and swung his own fist at Cactuar.

Bam!

The outcome was obvious. For a clumsy Digimon like Monzaemon to trade punches with a Digimon whose specialty was boxing was pure arrogance-a death wish.

Sidestepping Monzaemon's sluggish punch, Cactuar punched him square in the face.

Then she pulled back and unleashed her finishing move.

"Needle Spray!"

A mass of needles shot toward Monzaemon as she unleashed the attack, a sight that made anyone watching shudder.

"Well... I suppose that's another version of the Torrential Pear Blossom Needles?" Watching from his hiding place, Zhou Zhu already knew the battle was about to end.

"Aaaah!"

With an enraged roar from Monzaemon, a Black Gear was forced out through the zipper on his back.

In theory, the Champion-level Cactuar couldn't do much damage to the Perfect-level Monzaemon. But although Needle Spray couldn't threaten Monzaemon himself, it could force the Black Gear straight out of his body.

Hum...

A flash of white light passed, and Cactuar reverted to Palmon.

"Palmon, you were amazing!"

Mimi happily ran over and scooped the exhausted Palmon into her arms.

"That hurts..."

Feeling Mimi's arms wrapped tightly around her neck, Palmon offered little resistance.

Beneath the setting sun, peace returned to Toy Town!

"Once people get tired of toys, they break them or throw them away. I cannot allow that to happen! So, as the mayor of Toy Town, I decided to raise the status of toys!"

Freed from the Black Gear's control, Monzaemon regained his senses and began preaching his personal values to the rescued children.

"Raise the status of toys?" Mimi was utterly baffled. Raise the status of toys? Even in the Land of the Free, that would be a pretty outrageous statement. Not even a Walmart shopping bag could be that ridiculous...

"So you want toys to become more important?" Behind her, Joe looked puzzled, with a hint of bewilderment.

"Exactly! Toys must no longer be played with. Toys need to do some playing of their own!" Looking at the bewildered lambs before him, Monzaemon enthusiastically preached his theory of freedom and equality for toys.

"So you let the toys play with us as their toys???" Tai didn't quite understand Monzaemon's theory, but he did take issue with being treated like a toy.

"I'm terribly sorry. I imposed my own wishes on you!" Monzaemon was equally baffled by his earlier behavior. It clearly had nothing to do with his theory of freedom and equality for toys, so why had he done it?

Clink... crack!

A Black Gear fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

Tai and the others turned toward the sound!

"Huh? A Black Gear?" Looking at the object before her, Sora suddenly seemed to understand something.

"So Monzaemon only turned that way because a Black Gear was messing with him!" Seeing the fallen Black Gear, Tai now understood the reason too.

Just what were these Black Gears? Why could they turn originally kind Digimon so vicious?

"We completely understand how you feel about protecting toys, Monzaemon!" Only now did Mimi finally understand why the kind Monzaemon Palmon had described had turned into what they had just seen.

"Yeah!"

Palmon could only agree. After all, he was a Perfect-level Digimon. Even if he was kind again, he wasn't someone they could disregard.

"Palmon, thank you. It's thanks to you that I can stand on the side of justice again. Let me repay you properly."

As he thanked them, Monzaemon rose to his feet and unleashed his strongest move, Love Serenade, straight at the children!

"Don't worry. This is the real Love Serenade, the one that makes people happy!" As the attack descended, Mimi and the others were once again enveloped in the hearts Monzaemon released.

"Wow! This feels wonderful!"

"It really is amazing!"

"I'm so happy!"

"Miss, give me a kiss!" Just then, a Sukamon climbed out through a sewer manhole and shamelessly asked Mimi for a kiss.

"Not a chance!"

Although she still refused, Mimi's tone was noticeably gentler than before.

"Ah... she still turned me down without a second thought!" Having already braced himself for it, the Sukamon didn't seem particularly disappointed.