Fanfic / A Dragon in Shining Armour

A Dragon in Shining Armour (or "ADISA", for short) is a Digimon fanfiction written by Griff4823. It takes place in an original universe, set in the Digital World. The cast of characters consists solely of Digimon and digital entities; no humans exist in the universe. In that sense, it is similar to the Digimon movie Digimon X-Evolution, but in an original universe. The stories are known for their complex characters and extensive worldbuilding.

The story centers on The Royal Knights, an order of Holy Knight Digimon who make it their job to protect the denizens of The Digital World from evil and aggressive Digimon. Particularly, it focuses on Examon, the self-appointed protector of the United Dramonic Coalition, as he's asked to join the Royal Knights and his struggle to ingrain himself in with the Royal Knights. Due to the fact that he's a full-blown dragon Digimon joining the Royal Knights, he's met with resistance from some of the Order's members.

Of course, there are ambitious and evil Digimon lurking in the shadows, planning to further their own agendas.

After the original story concluded on December 14, 2014, Griff began writing a sequel called Holy War, which focuses on the aftermath of A Dragon in Shining Armour. It focuses on the Royal Knights as they deal with a brewing conflict with the Metal Empire, the continued existence of dark rifts, and a mysterious mercenary team called Black Pincer Company. It can be read here:

Both stories take place in the original Digimon universe known as the Null Verse, in which there are no humans or connections to any existing Digimon universes.

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A Dragon in Shining Armour

A Dragon in Shining Armour contains examples of:

• 24-Hour Armor: Averted. The Royal Knights only wear their armour when they're on duty, sparring, or out on a mission. Otherwise, they wear more casual clothes.
• A Dog Named "Dog": The characters are named after their species, in usual Digimon tradition.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: When DarkKnightmon attacks the Royal Knights' headquarters.
• Alternative Calendar: The Null Verse has its own calendar known as the Golden Calendar, which is based off the Four Holy Beasts and their Devas.
• Always Camp: RhodoKnightmon.
• Ambiguous Gender: Sparrowmon. The sequel reveals that the subject is a Berserk Button for them.
• Armor Is Useless: Averted. A Digimon's armour can usually take several hits and prevents mortal blows in most cases.
• A Storm Is Coming: It's used in Chapter 22 and 23 for a dramatic atmosphere.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: This happens when the team that was sent to rescue Ouryumon gets surrounded.
• Backup Bluff: Grani pulls this on Dorbickmon to get him to retreat.
• Badass Crew: The Royal Knights. The Warrior Ten are one that oversee a region further north. The Olympus XII handle another region.
  • Badass Army: Ouryumon commands the Strike Forces, which serve under the Royal Knights to protect the Free Area.
• Battle Couple: Alphamon and Ouryumon.
• Better as Friends: Alphamon and Ouryumon decide to keep things platonic after the latter's rescue.
• Betty and Veronica: Deconstructed. Omegamon (Betty) and Ouryumon (Veronica) have this dynamic with Alphamon, but the dynamics of the love triangle end up putting an extreme strain on the relationships of all three characters, leading to Omegamon dark evolving and Alphamon and Ouryumon splitting up.
• Big Damn Heroes: This is what the Royal Knights are known for in-universe, and they pull this frequently through the stories.
• Big Bad: DarkKnightmon is this for A Dragon in Shining Armour.
• Blood Knight: Ouryumon, BlackMetalGarurumon, Dorbickmon, and Sistermon Noir all really enjoy fighting. Ouryumon gets called out on it by Examon.
• Bookends: A Dragon in Shining Armour both starts and finishes with Alphamon and Omegamon on the castle wall, discussing the latest Royal Knight inducted into the Order.
• Breather Episode: The Royal Knights go to a festival in Chapter 13.
  • Including things like a Goldfish Scooping Game.
• Calling Your Attacks: Normally played straight but sometimes it's averted when it's too troublesome for the attacker.
• Cape Snag: Dukemon talks about how he once got his cape stuck in a closing door. When Examon suggests that he remove it for the sake of practicality, Dukemon says he won't because it looks too good.
• The Cassandra: Baronmon was one of these about the return of DarkKnightmon, but Ouryumon and Omegamon didn't believe him. Alphamon had a feeling that Baronmon was telling the truth, but Baronmon himself admitted that he doubted the viability of his vision.
• Caught in a Snare: This happens to Examon and Craniamon when they trip a net trap that was laid by a dark evolved Darkdramon. Craniamon is outraged at the perceived humiliation, and he ends up bonding with Examon until they can free themselves.
• Chance Meeting Between Antagonists: Alphamon just happens to come across DarkKnightmon after the Spring Festival, the first meeting between the two since the latter's betrayal and incarceration.
• Character Focus: All of the Royal Knights get this at some point before DarkKnightmon shows up.
• Characterization Marches On: Early on in the story, Alphamon punches Examon for disobeying orders, which seems out of character for the diplomatic and even-handed character of Alphamon that we know now.
• Combat Breakdown: This happens between Examon and Dorbickmon during their final fight.
• Constructed World: The Digital World of this universe is a Digimon-only world with no present connection to the human world, and it is an original universe.
• The Corruption: The dark data coming from the rifts to the Dark Area is a very fast-acting version of this.
• Cross Counter: Alphamon and DarkKnightmon do this with their swords in the climactic fight.
• Cutting Through Energy: This happens from time to time when Digimon use their weapons against an energy blast.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Duskmon is the Royal Knights' medic and is a pretty nice guy. The Warrior Ten are mentioned to have an Anubismon (not to be confused with the story's Starter Villain) among their number.
• Death of Personality: Reformatting. Digimon are reborn from eggs, but usually with a different personality. Sleipmon's Reckless Pacifist tendencies stem at least in part from this.
• Decon-Recon Switch: The fic deconstructs many elements of Digimon and goes into depth about how they would affect every day life in the Digital World, but it also rebuilds these elements into a more familiar and hopeful type of Digimon story.
• Dueling Messiahs: Alphamon and DarkKnightmon. Alphamon is the leader of the Royal Knights, and DarkKnightmon is a former Royal Knight who wants to make a new Order more in line with his own ideals. While DarkKnightmon is technically the antagonist of the story, at his core, he has noble goals and he believes that he's the hero with right on his side, and that the Royal Knights are being soft, stubborn, and obstructive.
• Emergency Transformation: Ouryumon is mortally wounded in the Battle of the World Tree, so Alphamon jogresses with him into Alphamon: Ouryuken in order to save him. Downplayed in that the transformation isn't permanent.
  • In general, Digimon revert to their lower forms when they are damaged or exhausted enough in order to allow their data to recover.
• Ensemble Cast: The nominal protagonist is Examon, but really the story focuses just as much on the other Royal Knights.
• Everyone Is a Super: While some Digimon are stronger than others, all have powers of some kind and there are no humans in the setting.
• Everybody Is Single: With Alphamon and Ouryumon being the exception. Somewhat justified in that being a Royal Knight is a very demanding and dangerous job.
• Evolutionary Levels: Par for the course for Digimon.
• Fantastic Racism: Some of the other Royal Knights have a problem (at least at first) with Examon not being humanoid. Some also had the same problem with Sleipmon.
• Fantasy Pantheon: There are the Four Holy Beasts, Fanglongmon, Yggdrasil, etc.
• Festival Episode: In Chapter 13, there's the Spring Festival, complete with a Goldfish Scooping Game.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Happens with Examon and Craniamon. Later it happens with Dynasmon and Gankoomon.
• Forgot to Gag Him: When Ouryumon is captured, he manages to convince the mayor who was being extorted by Dorbickmon to send for the Royal Knights, which ultimately leads to his rescue.
• The Four Gods: The Four Holy Beasts show up in the story as part of the Fantasy Pantheon. Their nicknames for each other correspond to The Four Gods of Asian and Japanese mythology.
• Good-Guy Bar: There's implied to be one either in Castle Albion or one of the nearby towns.
• Heel–Face Turn: Dorbickmon stops fighting Examon when he realizes that revenge will no longer satisfy him.
• Held Gaze: This happens a lot in the story.
• Hellgate: The dark rifts are essentially these, though they're usually only large enough for dark data to escape.
• Hired Guns: Both Anubismon and DarkKnightmon have hired mercenaries as either backup or a distraction depending on the situation.
  • Dorbickmon has a career as one.
• Holy Ground: The Neutral Zone, due to its proximity with the World Tree.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: There's one of these between Alphamon and Omegamon in the final battle, after the latter was Brainwashed.
  • There are actually a few of these. The one during the final battle was just the one that got Omegamon to where he could be purified.
• Internal Reveal: That Alphamon and Ouryumon are in a relationship.
• Inter-Service Rivalry: One of these exists in the Order between the Reconnaissance Squadron and the Stealth Forces. While it ranges from playful to legitimate, the two groups can still generally work together if they have to.
• It's Personal with the Dragon: Inverted, in that it's Dorbickmon who has a grudge against Examon. Examon wants nothing more than to fix what he broke.
• Jackie Robinson Story: Both played straight and subverted. Examon joining the Royal Knights is this, as the R Ks are predominantly humanoid or Draconic Hmanoid Digimon, and he faces some hostility and discrimination from some of the members. However, while Examon is the POV character, Sleipmon joined the Royal Knights before him, and the struggle he faced was largely referenced in the past.
• The Jailer: Reapermon serves this role to the Royal Knights, being the overseer of Havelock Prison.
• Jerkass: Duftmon and Ouryumon, despite being opposite extremes in terms of personality. AncientGarurumon is basically Duftmon's counterpart in the Warrior Ten and Dorbickmon is the jerk of DarkKnightmon's group, though he's more tactful than any of the other three.
  • Gankoomon is a lot like Ouryumon in that he's hotheaded, impulsive and rude, but is more professional.
• Kiss Diss: Alphamon goes in to kiss Omegamon after he finds out that Ouryumon tried to kill DarkKnightmon. When Omegamon realizes what Alphamon's really doing, he pushes him away, knowing that Alphamon's emotions are all over the place and that Alphamon didn't really mean it. Things get worse for them from there.
• Ley Line: They're called dragon veins. KaiserGreymon and Dorbickmon can tap into them. They were altered by Dorbickmon to temporarily breach the Dark Area to release DarkKnightmon, which resulted in the dark rifts appearing everywhere.
• Liberty Over Prosperity: The Royal Knights consider safeguarding the rights of the Digimon they protect to be as important as keeping the peace. DarkKnightmon disagreed.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Ouryumon does this when he pushes DarkKnightmon, who was conspiring to take over the Order, off of one of the towers, trying to make it look like it was a loose stone. The trouble is, DarkKnightmon survived.
• Measuring the Marigolds: Duftmon and Sleipmon briefly discuss this when talking about a river full of gold water. There are lots of rumours as to why the river's gold, but Duftmon offers a scientific explanation, to which Sleipmon replies that he doesn't want the beauty of it ruined by science.
• Melancholy Moon: This is usually in effect whenever there's a scene of Alphamon on the ramparts on a clear night.
• Motion Blur: Happens to both UlforceVeedramon and MirageGaogamon when they're moving really fast.
• Mundane Utility: The Digimon sometimes use their abilities this way, like Alphamon using the Power Crystal on his palm to boil water.
• Named Weapons: There are loads of these. Seiken Grad Alpha, Gram, Ambrosius, Claiohm Solais, Shoumatsu no Tsurugi, Muspellsheimr, etc.
• Nepotism: Inverted in Sleipmon and RhodoKnightmon's mini-arc. The mayor of a town they're investigating is deliberately screwing over one of his employees due to a family feud.
• Noble Male, Roguish Male: Alphamon and Ouryumon have this dynamic in their relationship.
• No Social Skills: Duftmon. He actively shuns social contact. Downplayed with Examon, who is just a bit awkward around others due to spending most of his time alone.
• Not So Above It All: Alphamon bets on the results of training matches just like everyone else.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted as most Digimon refer each other by species name. Anubismon and BlackMetalGarurumon lampshade it as Anubismon is of the same species as one of the Warrior Ten.
• The Order: The Order of the Royal Knights, which includes the Royal Knights themselves, the Strike Forces led by Ouryumon, the Defense Forces lead by Knightmon, the Stealth Forces led by Karatenmon and a group of scouts led by Grani.
• Place of Power: The World Tree, which is where all of the Digital World's leylines intersect. Dorbickmon in particular is strengthened by this.
• Pocket Dimension: The Dark Area exists in one of these.
• Poor Communication Kills: One of the biggest sources of conflict in the story is the poor communication between Alphamon, Omegamon, and Ouryumon. This causes much of the problems in the second half of the story.
• Power High: Digimon are described as having feelings of energy and euphoria when in the proximity of dark rifts, which release data that can cause dark evolutions. Data absorbers also experience this when absorbing other Digimon.
• Power Limiter: Prisons in the Digital World use these to prevent inmates from escaping.
• The Power of Friendship: This is one of the recurring themes in A Dragon in Shining Armour. The friendship between the Royal Knights is frequently touched upon and how it strives them to do better. There is also a villainous example where DarkKnightmon and MirageGaogamon are able to take down Valdurmon, who is immune to attacks motivated by ill will.
• Pragmatic Villainy: DarkKnightmon doesn't do anything that doesn't further his goals. Anubismon tries to avoid unnecessary bloodshed since his takeover of Examon's homeland would go easier if less of the populace hating him.
• Prison Dimension: The Dark Area is a place where the data of deleted Digimon goes. The lower, more secure levels of the Dark Area were repurposed into a prison.
• Prophecy Twist: Baromon's prophecy foretold DarkKnightmon's return, but was worded in a way that didn't remotely hint at it.
• Rage Breaking Point: Magnamon goes into a rant at UlforceVeedramon, after Ulforce teases him for the first part of the chapter. It takes Ulforce off guard as the jokes usually roll off Magnamon's back.
• Renegade Splinter Faction: DarkKnightmon's group was this to the Royal Knights. There are also a few splinter factions of larger mercenary teams like the Dune Troopers who broke off to work for DarkKnightmon.
• Revenge: Both DarkKnightmon and Dorbickmon are motivated by revenge. Dorbickmon makes a Heel–Face Turn when he realizes that revenge isn't what he really wants.
• Series Fic: A Dragon in Shining Armour is this now that the sequel Holy War is being posted.
• Shipper on Deck: RhodoKnightmon.
• Shower Scene: Several of the Royal Knights get one, though it's not described in a fanservicey way.
• Simultaneous Arcs: Part of the story involves the Royal Knights splitting up to investigate different events going on at the same time.
• Something We Forgot: By the end of A Dragon in Shining Armour, Sinduramon remains tied up in a tavern basement, to be found sometime before Holy War.
• Speed Echoes: Both UlforceVeedramon and MirageGaogamon are described as having these.
• The Spymaster: Karatenmon serves this role to the Order.
• Starter Villain: Anubismon and BlackMetalGarurumon.
• Straight Gay: Alphamon is in a relationship with Ouryumon and nobody else knows about it.
• The Strategist: Duftmon really is good at making battle plans, even if he is antisocial.
• Takes One to Kill One: Chrome Digizoid. It is a hight durable material, and it usually takes something as strong as other chrome digizoid to break through it, depending on the purity of the metal.
• Team Hand-Stack: The original Royal Knights do this when they decide to found the Order.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Sleipmon refuses to use deadly force under any circumstances. RhodoKnightmon thinks he's naïve because of that.
• The Underworld: The Dark Area is similar to this, but its inmates are all still alive. It's accessed by creating a rift in the ground.
• Top God: Fanglongmon is seen as this for followers of the Fanglongmon faith.
• Villainous Underdog: DarkKnightmon was this to the Royal Knights. He's a fugitive from the Dark Area who's up against a well-established Order of 11 really strong Royal Knights so he had to use his wits and intelligence to stand up to them.
• Waking Up Elsewhere: Happens to both Omegamon and Ouryumon courtesy of DarkKnightmon, who kidnapped Omegamon in order to use The Corruption on him and Ouryumon in simple revenge.
• The War Room: Castle Albion contains one of these.
• We Need a Distraction: Both Anubismon and DarkKnightmon use mercenaries as distractions.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: DarkKnightmon sees keeping the peace as being more important that safeguarding the rights of those he wanted to protect. MirageGaogamon agrees with him.
• We Need a Distraction: Both Anubismon and DarkKnightmon have used mercenaries to distract the Royal Knights from their real plans.
• Whole Episode Flashback: A three-parter telling the story of DarkKnightmon's betrayal.
• World Tree: The Digital World has one that everyone just calls the World Tree. It's a sacred site for most of the Digital World's religions due to its association with Yggdrasil. The dragon veins also originate there, leading some of the characters to suspect that Fanglongmon is sealed somewhere beneath it, which is confirmed by the Four Holy Beasts.

Holy War

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Holy War contains examples of:

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• Abandoned Area: The Deserted Wastes, which were completely abandoned after the Death-X Invasion.
• Abandoned Mine: Black Pincer Company's hideout was located in an abandoned mine in the Dragon Mountains.
• Abandoned Warehouse: Fujinmon gets Suijinmon to meet him in a currently unused warehouse outside of Haganemame City. After failing to convince Suijinmon to join his coup, Fujinmon drugs Suijinmon and leaves him restrained inside so that he'll miss the coming battle.
• Abhorrent Admirer: Mistress Babamon, the Academy Head of Xuanwumon University, is this to the Royal Knights. Her flirting was anything but subtle.
• A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 33 is one for Dorbickmon, Paildramon, VictoryGreymon and GrandisKuwagamon. We get to find out more about their pasts and the whole chapter focuses on their mission in Dark Point.
• A Father to His Men: Suijinmon is considered this, as he is shown to care about the well-being of his soldiers, and he is said to know them on a personal level.
• A Lighter Shade of Grey: The Heavenly Choir is rigid, dogmatic and have no tolerance for heresy, with punishments up to and including execution. When the Demon Lords first rebel, they seem like a viable alternative, but they quickly go off the deep end with things like loading data, war crimes, and dropping a colony on the Digital World. The Heavenly Choir isn't great, but they're a preferable alternative to the debauched Demon Lords.
• All Monks Know Kung-Fu: TigerVespamon. Justified in that a Powers officer who joined the monastery trained him in the Way of the Feather.
• Ambiguously Evil: Gaioumon. It's clear that he has history with KaiserGreymon, who insists that he's a bad guy and can't be trusted. However, in the story, Gaioumon is an advisor for the Council of Seven and has been on the side of the protagonists for the whole of the story.
• Anchored Ship: Since the events of A Dragon in Shining Armour, Alphamon and Ouryumon's relationship has been on hiatus, mostly due to the events of the plot making Alphamon unwilling to focus on his personal life for the time being.
• Arboreal Abode: The city of Evergrowth has plenty of livable tree structures.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • Dynasmon delivers one to Craniamon while they're arguing, and Craniamon delivers one right back.
• Assassination Attempt: Black Pincer Company attempts to assassinate MetallifeKuwagamon, making it seem like it was Metal Empire operatives.
• A Threesome Is Hot: Rosemon seems to think so, if her invite to UlforceVeedramon to join her and Dynasmon was any indication.
• Backstory: Each of the Royal Knights has their backstory explored over the course of Holy War, as do several other characters.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Happens to Dynasmon and Craniamon when they're ambushed.
• Bad Guy Bar: Dorbickmon mentions one in the Wretched Hive city of Shroud. He meets the Black Pincer Company there.
• Bad Moon Rising: In the flashback where Dukemon's Digital Hazard activates.
• Balkanize Me: This is revealed to have happened to the Republic of Node in the past. The Free Area and other regions used to be part of it until they splintered off.
• Beast of the Apocalypse: The Dragon of Chaos that was mentioned as being the cause of Huanglongmon's sealing and the end of the First Cycle.
• Best Served Cold: GranKuwagamon, Blitzmon, and Bolgmon trained for years so that they could take bloody revenge upon the MetalTyrannomon X horde that massacred their village.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Between Chaosdramon, Black Pincer Company, Bagramon, and the Seven Great Demon Lords. Holy War has no shortage of bad guys.
• Big Brother Is Watching: Not heavily focused on, but it's implied that the Metal Empire is a surveillance state under Chaosdramon.
• Black Market: There's one in Dark Point, as it's a city that recieves illegal goods from around the Digital World.
• Black Shirt: The Deliverers are a cult of black shirts who want to bring the Demon Lords to power.
• Bland-Name Product: Coco Cola. A cola drink available in the Digital World's random vending machines.
• Bleak Border Base: Caer Ygg was this, a fortified town located on the edge of the Autonomous Expanse.
• Blood-Stained Glass Windows: Blitzmon and Bolgmon attack Angemon's monastery in their search for the Orb of Yang, fighting TigerVespamon and the other monks, killing most of the monks inside.
• Bolt of Divine Retribution: Bagramon was smote by one as punishment for the rebellion.
• Bonding over Missing Parents: ShineGreymon and TigerVespamon bond over the shared loss of their father figures.
• Bookcase Passage: Angemon's monastery has a secret passage where the angels keep the Orb of Yang hidden.
• Boring Return Journey: After escaping from the D-Brigade, Dynasmon and Dukemon have an uneventful return trip to the castle aside from staying overnight at a monastery and running into Black Pincer Company.
• Boxed Crook: GrandisKuwagamon becomes this after his capture.
• Breaking Out the Boss: While not exactly his boss, Bagramon breaks the Seven Great Demon Lords out of the Dark Area to utilize them in his plans.
• Break the Haughty: The Royal Knights' defeat at the hands of the D-Brigade is this for Duftmon.
• Captive Push: This happens to Dukemon and Dynasmon when they're captured by the D-Brigade. They are able to escape.
• Captured on Purpose: Dynasmon and Dukemon let themselves get captured by the D-Brigade to cover their forces' retreat. Grani chides Dukemon for being reckless after they escape.
• Celestial Bureaucracy: The Heavenly Choir.
• City Guards: Raijinmon, Fujinmon and Suijinmon are the captains of the guard for the Metal Empire's capital Fracture.
• City Noir: Shroud. It's dark, there's a perpetual data storm overhead, and it's full of ne'er-do-wells.
• Closet Shuffle: Paildramon and GrandisKuwagamon have to hide in a closet to avoid getting seen by Blitzmon and Bolgmon.
• Colony Drop: The Night of Falling Stars was caused when the Seven Great Demon Lords tried to drop the Heavenly Choir's Sky Colony: Empyrea onto the Digital World during the civil war in the Sky Colonies.
• Cosmopolitan Council: The Council of Seven from the Republic of Node is this, reflecting the diversity of the Republic. It has two dragons, one of whom has the X-Antibody, a sea serpent, an angel, an insect, a plant woman, and a bird samurai.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: Zig-zagged. The Religion of Light (that followed by mainly Angel Digimon) is a religion that has concepts based on both Roman Catholicism and Zen Buddhism.
• Cult Colony: This is how the Sky Colonies of the Heavenly Choir started out, with followers of the Religion of Light moving to the Sky Colonies to start their own society.
• Dances and Balls: The Royal Knights attend one at Chaosdramon's palace in the first chapter.
• Dirty Old Woman: Babamon, the head of Saversberg's university, constantly hits on other Digimon.
• Elective Monarchy: The Jungle Troopers have this in Thunderhead Rainforest. HerakleKabuterimon is the current leader and usually either he or TyrantKabuterimon has the position.
• The Empire: The Metal Empire, obviously. Although, it's not as aggressive as the standard Empire, and it doesn't have ambitions to take over the Digital World. Generally.
• False Flag Operation: Black Pincer Company stealing blueprints from the Metal Empire was revealed to be this. They were hired by Bagramon to start a war between the Metal Empire and the Mamemon Kingdom, which would drag the Royal Knights in.
• Fantastic Racism: There is known to lots of this in the Digital World, whether it's towards X-Antibody Digimon, Digimon of different attributes (like Virus Digimon), species (such as Dramon or insect Digimon), or religion (such as the Heavenly Choir).
• Floating Continent: The Sky Colonies are cities that are built on platforms on top of cloud data.
• Foil: Tactimon and Suijinmon to Duftmon. Tactimon and Suijinmon both care about their troops on a personal level or at least consider them as individuals. By contrast, Duftmon focuses entirely on planning and minimizing casualties in the big picture with very little focus on individual Digimon if any.
• Heel–Race Turn: Most of the Metal Empire does this during Fujinmon's coup.
• The Heretic: Bagramon was this to the Heavenly Choir religion.
• Hermit Guru: Bagramon lives in the mountains and gives advice for a living.
• Ironic Echo Cut: Happens a few times.
  Omegamon (About Gankoomon): You know how stubborn he can be. Then again, he does have a point. You can't really see him attending one of these elegant, grandiose parties, can you?
  Alphamon: Maybe not, but this sort of thing comes with being a Royal Knight. He's going to have to get used to it. Dynasmon was the same way a long time ago, but he doesn't complain about it anymore.
  Cut to next scene
  Dynasmon: Man, I hate coming to these things...
• Heroic BSoD: Duftmon goes into one when Suijinmon outmaneuvers him easily and he has nobody to blame but himself.
• Land of One City: The Mamemon Kingdom consists of Haganemame City and the surrounding plains.
• Layered Metropolis: Sky Colony: Lambent. Digimon live and do business on the lowest, widest level while official and religious functions are carried out on various parts of the upper two levels.
• Lower-Deck Episode: The two part Chapter 33: Evening Light/Black Claw, focuses solely on GrandisKuwagamon, Paildramon, Dorbickmon, and VictoryGreymon as they travel to Dark Point to figure out Black Pincer Company's dealings.
• Magic Antidote: The X-Antibody. Which doubles as The Virus. It's more of an anti-virus, really. However, it isn't infectious. Some Digimon are born with it, others develop it naturally, and others can acquire it from other Digimon through other means.
• Micro Monarchy: The Mamemon Kingdom is so small that it barely appears on maps thanks to being a Land of One City.
• No Body Left Behind: Deconstructed. Since Digimon break into data when they die, unless there was a witness to its death, it's not immediately clear whether a missing Digimon is dead or alive when they go missing, but it's usually assumed that after a certain period of time, an MIA Digimon is dead.
• Non Violent Initial Confrontation: At the beginning of Holy War, the Royal Knights attend a black tie party hosted by Chaosdramon, along with other notable figures in the Digital World.
• Offhand Backhand: Craniamon delivers one of these to a Sealsdramon who's trying to sneak attack him.
• Oh, Crap, There Are Fanfics of Us!: The Royal Knights mention that sometimes they receives them along with the more standard fan mail. Sleipmon is flattered, Dukemon calls them "weird", and Ulforce found a Slash Fic between Duftmon and Alphamon that he decided to bring to Duftmon's attention. Duftmon was less than pleased with the result and has a negative stance on the fan works in general, which he complained to the others about according to Examon.
• The Patient Has Left the Building: Despite having a broken leg, UlforceVeedramon does this in order to back up Examon and Dukemon. Alphamon also does this in order to arrest Wizardmon, but winds up with even worse injuries after a run-in with Bagramon.
• Power Nullifier: The Power Inhibitor, which keeps Digimon from using their natural attacks and also keeps them in a Mode Lock.
• Powers as Programs: The X-Antibody can be gained by absorbing a Digimon that already had it, though it doesn't change. Black Pincer Company got theirs by absorbing a horde of MetalTyrannomon X.
• The Purge: Following Chaosdramon's successful coup against his predecessor, most of said predecessor's loyalists were killed or exiled from the Metal Empire. He eventually has said predecessor assassinated partly as a test of loyalty for Fujinmon, who failed to stop Dynasmon and Dukemon from escaping him.
• Reckless Sidekick: BaoHackmon tries to stop Black Pincer Company himself, only to get captured right away. Subverted after Gankoomon takes his place and he evolves since while he went back against Gankoomon's orders, the two fight together very well.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Chaosdramon is the leader of the Metal Empire. He reached the position through a violent coup and rules with an iron fist, though he's pragmatic enough not to do anything that would cause the Royal Knights to intervene.
• Red Sky, Take Warning: In the flashback where Dukemon's Digital Hazard is taking him over, the sky turns purplish-red.
• Reformed Criminal: While Dorbickmon is still a mercenary, he agreed to stay away from anything seriously illegal and provides the Royal Knights with intelligence on other mercenaries.
• Repressive, but Efficient: The Metal Empire under Chaosdramon's rule. All liberties are cracked down on, but the Metal Empire is a technological and military powerhouse.
• Saintly Church: The Religion of Light.
  • The Armies of Heaven: The Powers, which is the military arm of the Heavenly Choir.
  • Celestial Bureaucracy: The Heavenly Choir is very bureaucratic with highly organised hierarchies and roles.
  • Celestial Paragons and Archangels: The Three Great Angels and the Celestial Commanders.
  • Church Militant: The Powers.
  • Council of Angels: The Three Great Angels, consisting of Seraphimon, Ophanimon, and Cherubimon.
  • Holy City: The Golden City.
  • The Theocracy: The Heavenly Choir is this for the Religion of Light.
• The Sacred Darkness: AncientSphinxmon states that the darkness of the Dark Area is this, but it has become corrupted from within.
• Shipped in Shackles: Subverted. Dynasmon and Dukemon are kept handcuffed post-capture, Dynasmon in such a way that he can't use his abilities, but the D-Brigade forgot to use Power Limiters, allowing them to retrieve their weapons and escape with help from Wyvern while Fujinmon is distracted.
• Small Name, Big Ego: PrinceMamemon is a staggering example of this. He provoked the Metal Empire purely to aggrandize himself without even really knowing what he was taunting them with and he only founded the Mamemon Kingdom because he believed something KingEtemon said to him as a prank.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: Duftmon lapses more and more into this culminating in a defeat at the hands of the D-Brigade where Dynasmon and Dukemon get captured while protecting the Order's retreating forces. In order, Duftmon just assumed a further-off group of reinforcement was just the rear guard, fell for a distraction from Suijinmon's left flank and got caught off-guard by a Breakdramon as said "rear guard" outflanked him.
• Supernormal Bindings: Because the Digital World is filled with powerful Digimon of all shapes and sizes, there are restraints that exist for most Digimon. Power Inhibiting viruses and the like also help to limit a Digimon's power.
• Superior Species: X-Antibody Digimon are generally stronger than their normal counterparts, one of the reasons why the likes of Blitzmon and Bolgmon to fight on par with Ultimate-level Digimon.
• Untrusting Community: Caer Ygg was this to Craniamon and Dynasmon when they first arrived to investigate a dark rift. Royal Knights are usually treated well, so it's notable that Caer Ygg was so suspicious of them.
• Villain Opening Scene: Holy War's prologue focuses exclusively on Black Pincer Company, the mercenary team who puts the plot into motion.
• Villainous Legacy: The actions of Dorbickmon and DarkKnightmon are still having repercussions in the sequel, mainly the fact that the weakened barrier of the Dark Area giving the chance for the Demon Lords to be set free.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Data absorption - the process of loading another Digimon's data - can make you stronger, but it can also cause a negative reaction to one's own data, negatively affect one's biological and mental stability (along with being morally reprehensibly), as shown by the murderous Boltmon in Thunderhead Rainforest.
• The World Is Always Doomed: Discussed. In an internal monologue, Bagramon wonders if Yggdrasil is the cause of - or at least tacitly allows - massive calamities that wipe out large percentages of the Digimon population every so often as a means of keeping the Digital World stable.
• Wretched Hive: Shroud is the town that the Black Pincer Company operates out of. Its officials are more than willing to let any number of criminals and mercenaries stay there in exchange for bribes.
• You Can't Go Home Again: MetallifeKuwagamon is unable to return to the Metal Empire due to having left after working in its industrial sector. The Metal Empire branded him a traitor for doing so.