So worked on this chapter with RainbowDragon's help.. This chapter centers mainly around Fang and Chaos. Shedding light on positions neither are at all too familiar with as well.

RD is ©  Rainbowdragon
All other character's © to me.
Pokémon is © Gamefreak and Nintendo
Digimon is © Bandai

---

The Sixth Badge



"That was quite a show you put on out there kid! I didn't expect you to digivolve into something like a Leomon!" Leo guffawed, sliding a glass of juice Max's way down the counter.

When Max caught the drink he did so lazily, staring into the orange liquid as he laid his head down to rest. "I have you to thank for that...I guess that soul gem took on your form for me."

With a shake of his head, Leomon poured himself a glass and sat on a stool opposite of Max. "That's where you'd be wrong kid. If you'd taken on my form from that gem you'd have punched that Blackgrowlmon in two. You have nobody but your mom for that little gift. You evolved in the most unpredictable way."

"When you say unpredictable...what do you mean by that?" Max mumbled against the counter, steadying himself as he took a sip of his drink through a straw.

"Well Max...Guilmon's have a pretty straight forward path. Guilmon evolves into a Growlmon and from there Wargrowlmon. Chaos followed that evolution path but you pretty much shattered the logic behind evolution with that spectacle earlier." Leo placed one large paw on the table and tapped the surface with a sharp claw. I think you might have a very UNIQUE evolution set aside for you."

Max grabbed Leo's arm, stopping the tapping almost immediately. "Don't do that please, my head hurts. So do you think I'll evolve into Wargrowlmon next or something entirely different?"

Leo pulled his hand away and crossed his arms after a deep breath. "Can't say for sure. But be mindful of yourself alright? For every stage you progress so does your mentality. As a Leomon you became much more aggressive than in Human or Guilmon form, so always remain aware of who you are."

That gave Max a moment of pause, when he thought about it he did seem more itching for a fight as a Leomon heck he might have even enjoyed it a little. "So then...does that mean in my next evolution I'll get worse? Will I attack my friends?"

Leo gave Max a hard stare, sizing him up for a moment before responding. "As long as you don't evolve just for the heck of it or push too hard, I'm sure your personality won't jump that bad. But think about it this way...why did you need training to use your guilmon powers YET knew right away how to use the fist of the beast king?"

"I- I don't know really. Something just clicked and I found myself moving on impulse." Max let that settle for a moment before gasping. "Are you saying that anything I can do as a digimon will be based around instinct."

"For awhile YES. Until everything seems second nature. I don't know how but somehow you're able to transfer your power into other people or creatures. Such as what you did with Charmeleon just awhile ago. He formed the same markings you had as a Guilmon and even more shockingly developed wings, as if you spurred on his evolution into a Charizard but stopped halfway." Leo looked into a clear glass and took a deep breath. "Why not just give him all of the power? Wouldn't it have saved him and you the hassle of battling Chaos?"

With a sigh Max finally found the strength to pull himself upright and pick up his glass. "It's all that I could transfer to him. That mechanical eye of his...the protective shell is actually made from an Everstone."

"Woah so then it's not that you didn't WANT to help him evolve into a Charizard it-"

"Yeah It's because I can't. When he accepted the surgery he renounced any claims of evolution. He'll remain a Charmeleon for the rest of his life so...anyways I don't know what happened but when we were battling at the Cianwood gym I felt a burning in my chest, I first thought it was heart burn but then I've never had one so I wouldn't know the feeling." He took a sip of his drink. "Next thing I know he grew wings!"

Leo nodded solemnly, understanding. "It's a unique power that no other Digimon Hybrid I've had the pleasure of working with has been capable of. In any case shouldn't you wake up now to see the battle before it ends?"

Max gave a weak nod, plopping back down against the counter with a groan. "Yeah, I should. Otherwise everyones going to think somethings wrong with me again." Max's eyes shot wide open and he took the glass of juice and chugged it down in one gulp. "Alright Leo I'll see you at bedtime!"

When Max awoke he found himself sitting inside of Rex's office, staring right at the large screen tv and the battle that was going on between Fang and Rex. Turning his head slowly he spotted Charmeleon sitting beside him as well as Ivysaur, both munching on some popcorn. "I guess you guys decided to move me from the battlefield huh?"

Ivysaur's ears perked up when he realized Max had regained conciousness and leapt into his lap, nuzzling into him. "Yeah, the battlefield is still pretty unstable thanks to Chaos's meddling so anyone not directly involved in the battle at the moment was evacuated safely into the building."

Resting his hand on Ivysaur's head, he began rubbing it carefully as he relaxed. "I understand. so then where's Flare and Kevin? Oh! And RD."

Charmeleon took a handful of popcorn and munched on it. "Well Flare, Kevin and RD are out patrolling the island. Flare asked me to look after you while you recovered so those two are scouting one half while Kevin and Bagon take care of the rest."

"Hmmm...well I guess that makes sense...We don't want to be caught off gaurd in case Jesse or Duke show up this far in the game." Max took a handful of the popcorn and stared at the screen, So far Fang was doing surprisingly well with Pupitar, though he could clearly see an irritation forming in the armored pokemon whenever Fang had it evading the Charizards attacks. "Jeez fang...Pupitar prefers to go straight for the knock out, you can't have him running around like a skitty."

RD's tail swished back and forth as he patrolled, if chaos was here then who else was here? And who was this Chaos guy anyways he looked like Max except more out of control. RD looked around warily, he didn't want to be ambushed but he didn't want to use a kecleon form, those were way too confusing

Flare turned a few corners, making sure any shadows he saw in the forests were actually Charmeleon and not another Blackguilmon "That guy caused a lot of trouble for us in Goldenrod. He's the reason Fang has to wear Max's old clothes now." Flare whispered with a grumble.

RD winced his wings folded as he hung his head, Ashamed that he had slept through the events that transpired that night "If i'd been there with you there wouldn't be as much of a problem" RD said sighing, shaking his head as he thought of what he could do.

Flare shrugged his shoulders "Believe me I doubt you could have been in two places at once. He was trying to dispose of Fang and at the same time, this red dragon who called himself Duke attacked Charmeleon and I. We all made it out alive but it's also the same reason we all decided to stick together. But what could you have done y'know?"

RD smirked "You'd be surprised" RD looked around "It doesn't appear that there is anyone else here but they might be hiding from us"

Flare nodded, taking a deep breath "let's hope all is calm on Kevin's end too. Alright how about we make our way back to the house. We have quite a climb ahead of us" Flare turned his head up, looking up at the mountain with a whistle.

RD smirked snatching up flare and spreading his wings "I can fly, no need to climb" RD said flying up to where the house was

Flare's eyes went wide when he was snatched up by the dragon and wiggled a bit. When he realized he was alright he blushed* "Oh right, I forgot you had wings unlike Scavenger...Speaking of wonder where he went."

RD would've shrugged but his hands were full, he grimaced "No idea but we have no time yeah Max might be able to easily take on Chaos but we need to get up there as quickly as possible"

Flare nodded in understanding "Even if he can there isn't any reason he should have to. so yeah let's get back in as quick as we can."

RD nodded, wings pumping furiously as he tried to ascend as quickly as possible "If he wrapped everything up we need to help heal him, I have some healing abilities"

Flare took a deep breath as they were quickly scaling the mountainside "Well Fang's substituting for Max in the battle anyway. Just fly up to the roof of the building. there should be a door at the top we can use to walk straight into my dad's office. It's what his Charizard and CHARMELEON's dad uses to get to and from the place."

RD nodded as they reached the building and RD got up to the roof, landing as carefully as he could, cringing at how cramped his wings were from the flight. "Makes sense, since they're charizards they need that"

Flare nodded, once they were on the roof he wiggled himself out of RD's claws "Yeah, makes for a very convenient way to get around for him." He walked over to the overly sized door and opened it for RD. "After you. After taking this door it should only be a few flights of stairs down to my dad's office. Same hallway we took when we got here."

RD nodded as they ran down the stairs, well, glided in RD's case "Let's hope nothing bad has happened."

At this time, Chaos who had reverted back into a Blackguilmon was washing ashore on Cianwood city , many of it's inhabitants looking pretty concerned about such a mysterious catch. Chuck approaching the weakened digimon and picking him up, at which Chaos protested. "Ack! let me go human I'm not one of your PETS!"

"Hmmph, You're injured and I'm taking you someplace where you can get some rest. Lash out at me as much as you want." Chuck insisted, taking Chuck to a small wooden building. "It's not a hospital, but you can get yourself taken care of here."

Chuck walked outside of the building once he set Chaos on the bed. A small girl with green hair poked into the room from a hallway not too far off. She had green eyes that matched that strange colored hair of hers. "Are you some sort of Shiny Charmeleon?" She asked quietly.

Chaos either didn't notice her or he didn't care, he just looked up at the ceiling. That was until she walked to his bedside and shouted in his ear. "ARE YOU A CHARMELEON!?"

This got Chaos to jump into the air, only to bounce back onto the bed with his tail touching his hear. "Do I look like a Charmeleon to you little girl?!" He roared, angry that she'd just yelled so close to him.

"Don't get an attitude with me!" She puffed her cheeks out and bopped him on the nose as she applied a bit of salve to his wounds. "You were hit pretty hard...No physical injuries from what I can tell but you look absolutely exhausted."

Chaos went bright red as she applied the salve, who WAS this human. Most didn't talk to him and she didn't have any problems with giving him a hard time apparently. "I'm sorry..." He turned his head away. "Uhm...how old are you? Do you live alone?"

She looked Chaos in the eye, or at least TRIED to, when he looked away she let out a sigh. "I'm 9, And yeah I'm currently staying in Cianwood to study to become a pokemon coordinator. Mister Chuck comes by to deliver some food and a little change for me to spend on whatever I want every now and then. My names Sarah, what about you?"

He turned back when he realized she was living alone, she didn't look scared to be by herself and she was only one year younger than Max. "Er...My name is Chaos. But why do you live here by yourself? Don't you have any family?"

Sarah shrugged her shoulders, she got up and walked away. For a moment Chaos didn't know if he had offended her or if she'd gone off to cry but not a minute later she returned with a tray that had a loaf of bread and some milk, she set it on the table next to the bed. "Go ahead and eat. My family sent me here on my own request. The top schools for being a coordinator are up in Hoenn and the only one we could afford here in Johto was in Cianwood. Under the restriction that I follow whatever mister Chuck says they let me move all the way out here. Now no more questions just eat."

Chaos grumbled, but he did what the girl said and took the loaf that was infront of him and took a big bite out of the end. 'why am I so flustered, maybe it's the fact that this girl's actually showing me compassion. Maybe she could answer something that Delta is so hesitant on answering...but not now.'

"Good. You know how to follow direction." She took a deep breath and pulled the blinds from a nearby window so that they could watch the sunset. "So who was it? Who were you fighting?"

Nearly choking on the bread due to the question, he quickly guzzled down the milk next to his bread and coughed. "I thought you said no more questions!"

She gave him a sly grin and waved a finger. "I never said I couldn't ask. You're allowed to answer though! So who was it?"

Turning his head to look at the sunset, Chaos rubbed his head. "Someone that I care about. He's the only person on this planet that I actually WANT to protect. We...complete each other."

"Then why did you two fight?" She asked as she nibbled on a few cookies she had hid behind the bed up till now. Figures she'd save the best stuff for herself. "You care about him right? So you should be fighting FOR him. Not against him."

The question had him baffled. It took him awhile to answer but once he formed the words well enough in his head he got them out. "A friend told me that would be the best way to protect him."

She looked at him seriously for a second and tossed a cookie his way, watching him catch it with his paws. "That's one stupid friend you have then. The best way to protect him would be to support him! Be there for him and show him that you care. You'll never get anywhere by fighting him."

Chaos scratched the side of his head, puzzled. "Just support him? Is it really that simple? What if he still gets hurt?"

Sarah puffed her cheeks out and stuffed a cookie inside of Chaos's mouth. "You cheer him up! Friends should keep an eye out for each other and protect one another. Now that friend that told you to fight doesn't sound like a friend at all. I say you give him a good whacking!" She punched the air before smiling sweetly.

"Just support him and be there for him. Guess that does sound like it makes more sense doesn't it..." Chaos laughed nervously before taking another cookie and munching on it, laughing at the sour expression on her face when he snatched it. "Honestly I'm so confused I don't know WHAT I should do but you've given me a lot to think about. For a human you're not half bad." Chaos held a paw forward to shake. "Can we...be friends do you think? err what I mean is can you teach me how to be one by being my friend?"

She stared at that black paw for a moment and shook it, giving him a big smile. "Of course Chaos. I'd love to be your friend!"

Back on the island, Fang was gritting his teeth because he wasn't getting anywhere in the battle between Rex's Charizard and Max's pupitar. "Darn it, at this rate I'm going to just tire Pupitar out by making him run in circles. That Charizards going to tear him apar- Wait a minute. Pupitar's a rock type isn't he?!"

That statement was loud enough that Max had heard it on the television, it made him facepalm while Charmeleon burst into laughter. "He's just figuring that out now? Max he's supposed to be a brainiac right?"

Max nodded, red in the face as he realized Fang's blunder. "Yeah...Yeah he's supposed to be smart. I haven't even beaten him in a pokemon battle yet."

finally Flare and RD made it to his dads office, when he opened it he spotted a facepalm coming from a tired Max. "Uhm...why the sudden face palmage Max?"

"Let's just say that Fang needs to brush up on his pokemon types, He mistakenly thought Pupitar was a STEEL type. Not Rock." Max rolled his eyes but Charmeleon couldn't help but laugh with a bowl of popcorn between the two of them

"I thought he was supposed to be smart! Aw well at least rock types are super-effective against charizards" RD said, amazed that someone so smart could make such a simple mistake

Fang's cheeks were red, It was rare to see a Charizard laugh but there Rex's was laughing away at his mistake. "I guess I need to do more research, Well alright Pupitar let's go with your classic Dark pulse!"

"Now you're talking my language!" Pupitar cried out, of course knowing full well the canine couldn't understand a word he said he started focusing on creating the ball of black matter infront of him as usual.

"Now we can battle properly! Alright Charizard flamethrower!" Rex bellowed.

Just as the Charizard let loose it's torrent of flames, Pupitar launched his dark pulse into the heart of the fire. Both forces trying to push the other back but ultimately, Pupitar's dark matter managed to peirce through the fire and strike the fire type in the chest, making it stumble back a few inches.

"Excellent! Now follow it up with a hard tackle!" Fang cried out, tails wagging as he bounced around.

Pupitar didn't need to be told twice, flying straight towards the Charizard he smacked it right in the stomach, sending the fire type to tumble backwards against his trainer, both falling off the edge of the cliff. "Oh no I didn't mean to do THAT!"

Rex however couldn't help but smirk as he latched onto Charizard's tail as they were sent falling, the dragonic creature flapping it's wings like mad and willing themselves back up onto the battle field. "That was one hard tackle, but you'll have to do more than that to knock us out of this battle."

Fang took a deep breath, holding his chest before growling. "Don't scare me like that dangit! I thought we had hurt you guys."

Both Charizard and Rex gave each other a confused glance, before sharing in another laugh. "You're not used to being a trainer are you? It'll take a whole lot more than that to really hurt Charizard here. And only way you could hurt me is if you attacked me directly."

The blush returned, sure he watched plenty of Max's battles but this was the first time he was responsible for something that wasn't made out of ink. "I'm not used to this. Alright Pupitar try another Dark pulse!"

Just as Pupitar launched the dark orb, Charizard batted it away just as quickly, indicating that attack wouldn't affect the large reptile any longer. "Well...that's not good. What other attacks do you currently have."

Max nodded a few times, chuckling "Charmeleon just asked me that question only a second before you opened the door. Though I'd say Charmeleon's dad is wise on Pupitar's move set now. Dark pulse doesn't affect the guy anymore and it's his BEST attack."

"Woah how come it doesn't affect him? Does he just block or dodge or what?" RD asked, he knew that dark pulse didn't stop being effective just because you know what the moves are.

Max shrugged, taking a deep breath as he tried to think "For a moment, it seemed like Fang had the advantage. But now whenever Pupitar uses dark pulse, Charizard just bats them away. I think his injuries are affecting his performance. Either that or Charizard just keeps getting stronger."

"No it's definately his injuries, dark pulse takes energy" RD said, his face an expression of concentration "He can't throw it as hard because he's still injured from his fight with Nidoking."

Max nodded softly, taking a deep breath as he thought about the situation "RD can you take me closer to the battle? I might be able to feed Pupitar some of my own power. It's worked in the past afterall."

RD sighed and then looked at Max, appraising him. "I understand that you want to help Max and honestly in most situations I wouldn't hesitate. But this is a gym battle plus I wonder how pupitar would take it if you suddenly helped him out. Sorry but to me it feels a bit like cheating"

Max's eyes softened before he gave a short nod, laying back "I understand. I just can't stand to see him suffer. And I'd rather be down there fighting with him. I just hope Fang knows what he's doing." He looked on at the screen, taking a bit of popcorn from Charmeleon's bowl

RD noticed this and tried not to chuckle as he was sure Charmeleon wouldn't be happy about that "I understand Max, it's just for all the fun I've had all over the place I can't stand cheaters in any way, cheaters have an easy time winning with next to know effort while other trainers who've put the time and effort into their training lose easily"

Max nodded, taking a deep breath as he relaxed "I can understand that. Honestly we won back in Cianwood city because I sort of Psuedo evolved Charmeleon mid battle. The eye he received in surgery has an everstone shell so he can't evolve, even though he's way past the required level."

"Equippable items don't count to me as cheating per say. Heck equippable items are some of the only ways to draw even with some gym leaders. However if you tried to use that special power? A power no other trainer can use and gives you an unfair advantage? I'd have to put my paw down there" RD said nodded as he thought about this, sitting beside Max to watch the battle as it ensued.

Max shrugged his shoulders, rubbing his temples "Honestly I didn't try anything with him. All I remember is an intense burning sensation in my chest when it happened. And I can't use it on just ANYONE, For some reason the only two my power have any affect on so far are Pupitar and Charmeleon."

"Strange, why only those two? Is it because they're experienced or something?" RD thought this peculiar, why would only two pokemon even react to that power in the first place?

Max scratched his head "Do you promise not to tell anyone?" He waited until he got a nod from RD, then let it all out. "When I swallowed that Blue orb...an old friend of mine was merged with me. And according to him even HE doesn't know. He's worked with hundreds of digimon hybrids but for some reason or another I'M special."

"Huh? Wow ok that is, strange. Even so the question isn't why you have the power it's why it resonates with only two pokemon" RD clarified looking back at the battle "Doesn't pupitar have a rock-type attack?"

Outside, Fang was keeping a close eye on Pupitar's movements, even though the poor guy was just a shell he could see the trembling in his form, that's when an idea hit him. "Wait a minute, Max hasn't used this move since his battle with Whitney...Alright Pupitar let's give this a shot! If it doesn't work well then we can kiss this battle goodbye! Now Rock slide!"

Pupitar's eyes focused on the battle at hand, remembering how it felt to release such a powerful attack, this time however he had no need to search for a boulder to send crashing into the Charizard as it just materialized out of nowhere, smashing into it's abdomen with a loud smashing sound, knocking the dragon down.

"Hah! Looks like we hit it right on the mark. Alright Pupitar before it can launch a counterattack hit it with a tackle!" Fang roared out, actually roared for the first time since Max had known him. Even from inside the building, looking at the television it surprised him that his usually timid brother was showing his teeth now.

Charmeleons father tried to pull himself up in time but found himself tumbling back down when Pupitar slammed it's body into him. Knocking out the Charizard once and for all. "Well...looks like you've finally conqured my partner Charizard." Rex called out, sending the dragon into it's ball and laughing. "You and Max earned the Bellows badge."

Rex stepped over to Fang and handed him a badge that looked to be a Charizard with it's jaws agape, it had a striking resemblance to Rex's own pokemon as the Charizard on the badge had a scar running across it's left eye.

"Wow...so this is what Max feels like when he wins a big battle, it feels pretty good!" Fang wagged his tails, grinning like a child and calling Pupitar into his ball.

RD took a deep breath, glad the battle was over and started moving his hands over Max's body, healing him as best he could. "Once we leave this island we should bring Pupitar to a pokemon center to get him checked up."

Max felt a faint glow along his body, as if all of his fatigue was washing away and he could stand up on his own again. "You're right, we'll leave once Flare's ready." He started stretching out and turned his attention toward the red headed trainer.

"Huh?! Oh...we should stay at least until tomorrow. That way we can ALL get some rest. We'll need to get our seventh badge afterall. and that's in Mahogany town." He patted Charmeleon and took a bit of popcorn himself, laughing as everything seemed to turn out alright.

(To be continued)