Skeet's eyes opened to the sight of a white kitten peering over at him from
the seat in front of him. The back of the seat masked everything below her
eyes. On her hands, which were clutching the back of said seat, she wore
strange yellow and red mittens with claws on them. She was on the bus when
he got on, and he remembered that she was wearing a green blouse and a
yellow skirt.
Yawning and stretching, Skeet congratulated himself on his remarkable yet
disturbingly pedophilic memory for detail.
He looked out the window. It was late at night and there were few other
people on the bus. They were all students that he recognized from school but
so far had not bothered to learn their names. That is except for Kelly
Catalonia who Skeet had the good fortune of being able to easily view in at
least one of his classes.
Skeet wondered if they were related at all, but decided that they probably
weren't. Kelly and the kitten bore no resemblance to each other besides, of
course, being felines. In fact, there was something very strange about the
kitten that Skeet just couldn't put his finger on. Something in her eyes
made her seem older than she appeared to be, and she seemed uncomfortable in
her clothes, as if she never worn them before in her life. There was
something a bit off about the lion driving the bus as well...
Skeet drove the thoughts out of his mind. Probably just some
drowsiness-induced brain rattling.
"Aren't you a bit young to be riding on the bus all alone so late at night?"
Skeet asked.
The kitten remained silent and kept on staring.
"Let me guess: Your mother told you not to talk to strangers, right?"
The kitten nodded silently.
"Sage advice."
The only thing that kept the scene from being silent was the grumbling of
the bus's engines and the snoring of the dolphin in the seat across the
aisle. Odd, Skeet thought. He had heard that dolphins don't sleep.
Looking around, Skeet found that everyone else except the bus driver was
sound asleep. Even the bat sitting toward the back of the bus was asleep.
"Are you scared?"
It took a moment for Skeet to realize that it was the kitten in front of him
that was talking. There was something... not kitten-like about her voice.
"No," Skeet said, although something in the back of his mind reasoned that
if he was being asked such a question there was probably good reason to be
and began to change the real answer to yes. "Why?"
"There have been reports of people mysteriously disappearing lately, and
they were all last seen riding this bus."
"You watch the news a lot?"
The kitten nodded.
"Well, don't worry," Skeet said. "I'll make sure nothing bad happens to
you."
"Thanks, but you won't have to," the kitten said as the bus slowed down and
pulled over. "This is my stop. You should be more worried about yourself,
stripes."
"What?"
The kitten jumped off her seat and scampered off the bus. Skeet stood up to
follow a moment later, but the bus started moving abruptly and he fell back
into his seat.
Skeet resigned himself to waiting for the bus to arrive at his stop. He felt
himself drifting again and snapped back awake. Looking out the window, he
noticed that he was now in an unfamiliar part of town.
Taking into account what the kitten had told him, he rang the bell. The
driver ignored it and drove past the next stop. He rang it a few more times,
but the driver just turned it off.
"Hey!" Skeet called out to the driver.
If the driver had heard him, he wasn't showing any signs of it.
"You passed my stop!" Skeet tried again. "Let me off!"
Nothing.
Skeet got up and approached the driver.
"Excuse me," Skeet said. "I need to get off now."
The driver ignored him.
"I know you can hear me. You turned off the bell. I want to get off the bus
now!"
The driver made a terrific show of ignoring him completely.
"Hey, listen to me!" Skeet insisted, grabbing him by the shoulder. The
driver forcibly grabbed him back and threw him all the way to the back of
the bus where he inadvertently woke up the bat that had been sleeping there.
"What the f-" the bat started, unwrapping his wings from around him and
folding them under his arms. There wasn't time to finish his obscenity, as a
glowing portal opened in front of the bus. The bus drove through the portal,
filling the entire vehicle with brilliant, white light.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Hey! Wake up!"
"Wha?"
Skeet sat up and rubbed his head. He had hoped that it was all a dream, but
the pain that still lingered from when he collided with the back of that bus
assured him otherwise.
"How ya doin'?"
"Fine, I guess. My head kinda hurts, though. You got any asprin?"
"What's asprin?"
Skeet opened one of his eyes. He found himself in a sylvan glen full of
funny-looking trees and plants. Before him sat a pink, feathery ball-like
bird-creature hovering in the air in front of him.
"Mornin'," the creature said with a broad grin.
Skeet's immediate reaction was to scoot back a couple feet until he hit a
tree and brandish his tail at the bizarre creature.
"Whoa, hey!" the creature exclaimed. "It's cool, okay? Just chill!"
"Where am I?" Skeet demanded.
"DigiWorld," the creature said. "Duh."
"DigiWorld?"
"Man, you really are a newbie. I thought you might've been a Digimon, but I
guess not. What are you, anyway? A badger?"
"I'm a skunk."
"A SKUNK? The other guys get a cat, a bat, and a dolphin, and I get stuck
with the skunk?"
"You got something against skunks?"
"No, no, no! You polecats are all right! Just put that tail away, all right?
I'm friendly! Really!"
Skeet realized he was still holding his tail like a fire hose and let it go.
"Sorry," he apologized. "You said there were others here?"
"Yep," the creature confirmed.
"Can you take me to them?"
"Sure. Just follow me. By the way, the name's Poromon."
"I'm Skeet. Skeet Unk."
"Ha! I get it!"
"Get what?"
"Nothing."
Skeet followed Poromon through the woods. They suddenly heard a scream and
hurried towards its source. They arrived at a clearing just in time to see
Kelly claw her way up a tree in a panic. A pink, flower-bud-like creature
sat at the foot of the tree and watched her climb.
"What?" the creature asked. "Is it my breath? I might be able to find some
mint around here if my breath smells too bad for you!"
"What's that?" Skeet asked.
"That's Yokomon," Poromon answered. "Probably one of the nicest Digimon
you'd ever hope to meet."
"Hey! Get out of my tree!" a gruff voice demanded. Kelly let out a brief
yelp as she tumbled out of the tree and landed in a crouching position on
the ground. The bat Skeet had run into on the bus soon followed along with a
living flame at his heels.
"That wasn't very nice of you, Carl," the flame said. "And it's not just
your tree."
"You leave me alone, too, DemiMeramon," the bat, Carl, replied while wearing
a rather teed-off look. "It's not like I pushed her out. She fell."
Upon seeing DemiMeramon, Kelly toppled over backwards and scooted away as
quickly as possible. She backed up all the way to where the dolphin was
standing and examining his PDA. She looked up and saw the dolphin looking
down at her with a gray, cat-head-like thing on his shoulder.
Kelly immediately jumped to her feet.
"Whoa," the dolphin said. "Calm down. We're all colleagues here. I'm Aniello
Disraeli, but my friends call me 'Dizzy.' And this here is Kapurimon."
"Charmed, I'm sure," Kapurimon said, offering a raccoon-like tail in
greeting.
"Wh-where am I?" Kelly asked. "Is this some sort of dream?"
"... Or maybe a vision?" Dizzy offered. "No, this is real. Trust me."
"Of course you'd know," Carl argued. "Everyone knows that dolphins don't
sleep or dream."
"We sleep," Dizzy shot back. "And we dream, too! We dream things you
wouldn't imagine!"
"I don't think that's important right now, guys," Skeet interrupted. "What's
important is that we find a way out of here and back home."
"And just who are you?" Carl asked.
"I'm Skeet Unk, and we're going to have to work together if we're to make it
out of here alive."
"Well, I'm Carl Lagosi, and I say I don't need any of you, so bug off!"
"Yeah, bug off!" DemiMeramon said as he followed Carl into the forest. "We
don't need you! We don't need any of you!"
"I though I told you to leave me alone!"
"Aw, c'mon, Carl! You'll NEED me! I'm indispensable!"
The others watched as the two argued until they were out of sight.
"This may not be the time to bring it up," Dizzy said, pocketing his PDA.
"But I'm pretty sure aliens are behind this."
"What?" Skeet asked.
"You know, extra-terrestrials. They've plucked us off our home planet to
perform horrific tests on us and left us on this strange, alien planet.
Look! The flora and definitely the fauna are nothing like the plants and
animals we have back home! And I seriously doubt a normal city bus would've
taken us here."
"Well, you've got a point there..."
At that moment, Carl literally flew by them like... well, a bat out of hell.
DemiMeramon was not too far behind and skidded to a halt in front of the
others.
"RUN!!!" he exclaimed. "RUN AND RUN AND RUN SOME MORE!!!"
"What's going on?" Poromon asked.
"There's Monochromon, SO YOU SHOULD RUN!!" DemiMeramon exclamatorily
explained. "There's an entire herd, WHICH MEANS YOU SHOULD RUN!!! And
they're all stampeding this way, A SITUATION IN WHICH YOU DEFINITELY! MUST!
RUN!!! Did I mention that you should run? 'Cause I highly recommend the
running."
The ground began to shake.
"Something tells me we should run," Yokomon said.
"Good thinking," DemiMeramon said.
As the Monochromon crashed into the clearing, the assembled creatures fled.
Somehow catching up with Carl, they continued fleeing until they came across
a cave that appeared beside the way they were running.
"Quick! In here!" Kapurimon said. They all ducked into the cave as the
Monochromon thundered by.
"That was a close one," Kelly said.
"Good thing we found this cave," agreed Skeet.
Suddenly, golden light emanated from the back of the cave. They all turned
to see four shining coins set into the cave wall. The coins slowly dislodged
themselves and floated over to the four non-Digimon.
"I think this might be a good thing," DemiMeramon said.
"Take them," Poromon urged, indicating the coin with curled lines before
Skeet. "I think they've chosen you."
Almost mesmerized, Skeet grabbed the coin. Kelly plucked a coin with a leaf
etched on it out of the air. Dizzy took the coin with a sword on it. Carl's
coin bore a shadowy visage.
The coins grew brighter, the light shining through the fingers of their
holders. The Digimon began to spin, slowly at first but soon picking up
speed.
"Poromon, digivolve to..."
"Hawkmon!" proclaimed the bandana-wearing hawk that stood where Poromon once
was.
"Yokomon, digivolve to..."
"Floramon!" a plant-like lizard that used to be Yokomon said.
"DemiMeramon, digvolve to..."
"Tapirmon!" the fading tapir announced.
"Kapurimon, digivolve to..."
"Kokuwamon!" buzzed an electronic stag beetle.
Skeet, Kelly, Carl and Dizzy gawked in amazement at their Digimon's new
forms. This like was nothing they had ever seen before. Nothing in
reality, at least.
"Woo!" exclaimed Tapirmon. "I told you this was a good thing!"
"Astounding," Dizzy remarked. "A complete transmogrification into a new
physical manifestation."
"What?" asked Kelly.
"They changed," Dizzy answered.
"No duh, Sherlock," Carl quipped.
"To be precise," said Hawkmon. "We digivolved."
"Digi-what?" Kelly asked.
"Digivolved," Kokuwamon explained. "Normally, it's a slow process in which
we grow and change over time into more powerful forms."
"But those coins you got speed it up," Tapirmon continued. "They took some
of your energy and passed it on to us."
"You could say we digivolved just for you," finished Floramon.
"Intriguing," Dizzy said. "Can you do it again?"
"Maybe," Kokuwamon answered. "If the situation was right. I don't know if
we could it right this second."
"Whatever," Carl said. He turned and walked out of the cave. "Those
Mono-whatsits are gone now, and so am I."
"Wait for me!" Tapirmon called out as he floated after Carl. "Don't you
see? It's destiny!"
"Shut up and leave me alone!" Carl scolded.
"About Tapirmon," said Skeet. "Is he...?"
"Not at all," Hawkmon replied. "He's just a little too excited to be
partnered with a... whatever you collectively call yourselves."
"I see," Skeet said.
"The important thing is, you're going to need us survive," Floramon said.
"We know the lay of the land better, what's dangerous and what's not."
"And we can take care of the dangerous stuff for ya," Kokuwamon said,
hovering around Dizzy's shoulder. "We got yer back, yo!"
"Erm, yes," Dizzy said. "Good."
"Maybe we should get Carl back," Kelly suggested. "You know, make sure he's
alright."
"Yes, there's way too much exposition in here," Hawkmon agreed.
"Right, let's get out of here," said Skeet.
They didn't have to go far to find Carl. He and Tapirmon were tied up and
lying on the ground outside the cave. They immediately rushed to them and
untied them from their bindings.
"Carl!" Skeet exclaimed. "What hap..? Ew. What is this stuff you've been
wrapped up in?"
"It's spider's silk," Carl explained. "From the giant spider hanging above
the cave!"
The giant spider dropped to the ground, blocking the cave's entrance. Its
eight eyes gleamed as it laughed evilly.
"Oh, my! That's Dokugumon!" Hawkmon exclaimed. "We best be wary of his
poison thread attack, as it can drain us of our energy!"
"I bet we can take him down, easy!" Tapirmon said as he got back up.
"I don't know," Kelly said. "He's kinda big."
"You know what they say," Floramon said. "The bigger they are..."
"...The larger the impact crater they make!" Kokuwamon finished. "Mini
Shocker!"
Kokuwamon let loose an electric attack with his claws that lashed out at
Dokugumon. It didn't even leave a burn mark.
"En garde, ye knave!" Hawkmon called out. "Feather Blade!"
Hawkmon pulled a feather off his head and threw it like a dagger at the
giant spider. The feather flew straight and true and ricocheted right off
Dokugumon's exoskeleton.
"Deleting Virus!" Tapirmon called.
Tapirmon exhaled a cloud of black dust. Eye opened all over it and set
their sights on Dokugumon. It flew towards the aggressor, who blew at it
and make it go away.
"Oh, C'mon!" the Dokugumon said. "This is pathetic!"
"Pathetic this!" Floramon returned. "Stamen Rope!"
The stamens on Floramon's hand/flowers extended quickly, lashing out at
Dokugumon. Dokugumon blinked, effectively countering the attack.
"Whatever," Dokugumon said. "I'm hungry, and you're gonna be the main
course! POISON COBWEB!"
Dokugumon spat out threads of steel-strong silk at Skeet, Dizzy, Kelly and
Carl. The four of them tried to run, but the webbing wrapped around them
quickly and they fell to the ground.
"Uh, oh," Hawkmon said. "Looks like we'll have to combine our attacks! Put
all you've got into it! Feather Blade!"
"Mini Shocker!"
"Deleting Virus!"
"Stamen Rope!"
The four attacks streaked towards the foe, striking him in the face.
Dokugumon really took notice when his head caught on fire.
"GAH! My eyes!" Dokugumon shrieked. "They burn!"
"I think it's working!" Floramon exclaimed.
"Then let's have at him!" Hawkmon declared. "Feather Blade!"
"Stamen Rope!"
"Deleting Virus!"
"Mini Shocker!"
The attacks slammed into the vile arachnid yet again, adding to the flames.
Dokugumon put them out with a shake of his head.
"Now you're in for it!" Dokugumon screamed. "POISON THREAD!"
Dokugumon spat out more threads, this time wrapping around the Digimon. The
fell to the ground covered from head to toe in spider silk like their
partners.
"That's what I thought!" Dokugumon spat out. He turned around and silk
cords shot out from the spinnerets on his posterior that hooked onto the
silken cocoons.
"I'm really gonna enjoy slowly sucking out your vital fluids," Dokugumon
said as he dragged his catch back to his web. "Especially after what you
did to my face. Man, my eyes are gonna be itchy and watery for a week! You
're totally gonna pay for that!"
Looks like our heroes lost this battle. Heck, they didn't even get away!
Will our heroes escape from Dokugumon's web?
Will they squash this spidery foe?
Or will they wind up a tasty treat that's fun to eat?
Tune in next time, but until then...
TO BE CONTINUED...
the seat in front of him. The back of the seat masked everything below her
eyes. On her hands, which were clutching the back of said seat, she wore
strange yellow and red mittens with claws on them. She was on the bus when
he got on, and he remembered that she was wearing a green blouse and a
yellow skirt.
Yawning and stretching, Skeet congratulated himself on his remarkable yet
disturbingly pedophilic memory for detail.
He looked out the window. It was late at night and there were few other
people on the bus. They were all students that he recognized from school but
so far had not bothered to learn their names. That is except for Kelly
Catalonia who Skeet had the good fortune of being able to easily view in at
least one of his classes.
Skeet wondered if they were related at all, but decided that they probably
weren't. Kelly and the kitten bore no resemblance to each other besides, of
course, being felines. In fact, there was something very strange about the
kitten that Skeet just couldn't put his finger on. Something in her eyes
made her seem older than she appeared to be, and she seemed uncomfortable in
her clothes, as if she never worn them before in her life. There was
something a bit off about the lion driving the bus as well...
Skeet drove the thoughts out of his mind. Probably just some
drowsiness-induced brain rattling.
"Aren't you a bit young to be riding on the bus all alone so late at night?"
Skeet asked.
The kitten remained silent and kept on staring.
"Let me guess: Your mother told you not to talk to strangers, right?"
The kitten nodded silently.
"Sage advice."
The only thing that kept the scene from being silent was the grumbling of
the bus's engines and the snoring of the dolphin in the seat across the
aisle. Odd, Skeet thought. He had heard that dolphins don't sleep.
Looking around, Skeet found that everyone else except the bus driver was
sound asleep. Even the bat sitting toward the back of the bus was asleep.
"Are you scared?"
It took a moment for Skeet to realize that it was the kitten in front of him
that was talking. There was something... not kitten-like about her voice.
"No," Skeet said, although something in the back of his mind reasoned that
if he was being asked such a question there was probably good reason to be
and began to change the real answer to yes. "Why?"
"There have been reports of people mysteriously disappearing lately, and
they were all last seen riding this bus."
"You watch the news a lot?"
The kitten nodded.
"Well, don't worry," Skeet said. "I'll make sure nothing bad happens to
you."
"Thanks, but you won't have to," the kitten said as the bus slowed down and
pulled over. "This is my stop. You should be more worried about yourself,
stripes."
"What?"
The kitten jumped off her seat and scampered off the bus. Skeet stood up to
follow a moment later, but the bus started moving abruptly and he fell back
into his seat.
Skeet resigned himself to waiting for the bus to arrive at his stop. He felt
himself drifting again and snapped back awake. Looking out the window, he
noticed that he was now in an unfamiliar part of town.
Taking into account what the kitten had told him, he rang the bell. The
driver ignored it and drove past the next stop. He rang it a few more times,
but the driver just turned it off.
"Hey!" Skeet called out to the driver.
If the driver had heard him, he wasn't showing any signs of it.
"You passed my stop!" Skeet tried again. "Let me off!"
Nothing.
Skeet got up and approached the driver.
"Excuse me," Skeet said. "I need to get off now."
The driver ignored him.
"I know you can hear me. You turned off the bell. I want to get off the bus
now!"
The driver made a terrific show of ignoring him completely.
"Hey, listen to me!" Skeet insisted, grabbing him by the shoulder. The
driver forcibly grabbed him back and threw him all the way to the back of
the bus where he inadvertently woke up the bat that had been sleeping there.
"What the f-" the bat started, unwrapping his wings from around him and
folding them under his arms. There wasn't time to finish his obscenity, as a
glowing portal opened in front of the bus. The bus drove through the portal,
filling the entire vehicle with brilliant, white light.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Hey! Wake up!"
"Wha?"
Skeet sat up and rubbed his head. He had hoped that it was all a dream, but
the pain that still lingered from when he collided with the back of that bus
assured him otherwise.
"How ya doin'?"
"Fine, I guess. My head kinda hurts, though. You got any asprin?"
"What's asprin?"
Skeet opened one of his eyes. He found himself in a sylvan glen full of
funny-looking trees and plants. Before him sat a pink, feathery ball-like
bird-creature hovering in the air in front of him.
"Mornin'," the creature said with a broad grin.
Skeet's immediate reaction was to scoot back a couple feet until he hit a
tree and brandish his tail at the bizarre creature.
"Whoa, hey!" the creature exclaimed. "It's cool, okay? Just chill!"
"Where am I?" Skeet demanded.
"DigiWorld," the creature said. "Duh."
"DigiWorld?"
"Man, you really are a newbie. I thought you might've been a Digimon, but I
guess not. What are you, anyway? A badger?"
"I'm a skunk."
"A SKUNK? The other guys get a cat, a bat, and a dolphin, and I get stuck
with the skunk?"
"You got something against skunks?"
"No, no, no! You polecats are all right! Just put that tail away, all right?
I'm friendly! Really!"
Skeet realized he was still holding his tail like a fire hose and let it go.
"Sorry," he apologized. "You said there were others here?"
"Yep," the creature confirmed.
"Can you take me to them?"
"Sure. Just follow me. By the way, the name's Poromon."
"I'm Skeet. Skeet Unk."
"Ha! I get it!"
"Get what?"
"Nothing."
Skeet followed Poromon through the woods. They suddenly heard a scream and
hurried towards its source. They arrived at a clearing just in time to see
Kelly claw her way up a tree in a panic. A pink, flower-bud-like creature
sat at the foot of the tree and watched her climb.
"What?" the creature asked. "Is it my breath? I might be able to find some
mint around here if my breath smells too bad for you!"
"What's that?" Skeet asked.
"That's Yokomon," Poromon answered. "Probably one of the nicest Digimon
you'd ever hope to meet."
"Hey! Get out of my tree!" a gruff voice demanded. Kelly let out a brief
yelp as she tumbled out of the tree and landed in a crouching position on
the ground. The bat Skeet had run into on the bus soon followed along with a
living flame at his heels.
"That wasn't very nice of you, Carl," the flame said. "And it's not just
your tree."
"You leave me alone, too, DemiMeramon," the bat, Carl, replied while wearing
a rather teed-off look. "It's not like I pushed her out. She fell."
Upon seeing DemiMeramon, Kelly toppled over backwards and scooted away as
quickly as possible. She backed up all the way to where the dolphin was
standing and examining his PDA. She looked up and saw the dolphin looking
down at her with a gray, cat-head-like thing on his shoulder.
Kelly immediately jumped to her feet.
"Whoa," the dolphin said. "Calm down. We're all colleagues here. I'm Aniello
Disraeli, but my friends call me 'Dizzy.' And this here is Kapurimon."
"Charmed, I'm sure," Kapurimon said, offering a raccoon-like tail in
greeting.
"Wh-where am I?" Kelly asked. "Is this some sort of dream?"
"... Or maybe a vision?" Dizzy offered. "No, this is real. Trust me."
"Of course you'd know," Carl argued. "Everyone knows that dolphins don't
sleep or dream."
"We sleep," Dizzy shot back. "And we dream, too! We dream things you
wouldn't imagine!"
"I don't think that's important right now, guys," Skeet interrupted. "What's
important is that we find a way out of here and back home."
"And just who are you?" Carl asked.
"I'm Skeet Unk, and we're going to have to work together if we're to make it
out of here alive."
"Well, I'm Carl Lagosi, and I say I don't need any of you, so bug off!"
"Yeah, bug off!" DemiMeramon said as he followed Carl into the forest. "We
don't need you! We don't need any of you!"
"I though I told you to leave me alone!"
"Aw, c'mon, Carl! You'll NEED me! I'm indispensable!"
The others watched as the two argued until they were out of sight.
"This may not be the time to bring it up," Dizzy said, pocketing his PDA.
"But I'm pretty sure aliens are behind this."
"What?" Skeet asked.
"You know, extra-terrestrials. They've plucked us off our home planet to
perform horrific tests on us and left us on this strange, alien planet.
Look! The flora and definitely the fauna are nothing like the plants and
animals we have back home! And I seriously doubt a normal city bus would've
taken us here."
"Well, you've got a point there..."
At that moment, Carl literally flew by them like... well, a bat out of hell.
DemiMeramon was not too far behind and skidded to a halt in front of the
others.
"RUN!!!" he exclaimed. "RUN AND RUN AND RUN SOME MORE!!!"
"What's going on?" Poromon asked.
"There's Monochromon, SO YOU SHOULD RUN!!" DemiMeramon exclamatorily
explained. "There's an entire herd, WHICH MEANS YOU SHOULD RUN!!! And
they're all stampeding this way, A SITUATION IN WHICH YOU DEFINITELY! MUST!
RUN!!! Did I mention that you should run? 'Cause I highly recommend the
running."
The ground began to shake.
"Something tells me we should run," Yokomon said.
"Good thinking," DemiMeramon said.
As the Monochromon crashed into the clearing, the assembled creatures fled.
Somehow catching up with Carl, they continued fleeing until they came across
a cave that appeared beside the way they were running.
"Quick! In here!" Kapurimon said. They all ducked into the cave as the
Monochromon thundered by.
"That was a close one," Kelly said.
"Good thing we found this cave," agreed Skeet.
Suddenly, golden light emanated from the back of the cave. They all turned
to see four shining coins set into the cave wall. The coins slowly dislodged
themselves and floated over to the four non-Digimon.
"I think this might be a good thing," DemiMeramon said.
"Take them," Poromon urged, indicating the coin with curled lines before
Skeet. "I think they've chosen you."
Almost mesmerized, Skeet grabbed the coin. Kelly plucked a coin with a leaf
etched on it out of the air. Dizzy took the coin with a sword on it. Carl's
coin bore a shadowy visage.
The coins grew brighter, the light shining through the fingers of their
holders. The Digimon began to spin, slowly at first but soon picking up
speed.
"Poromon, digivolve to..."
"Hawkmon!" proclaimed the bandana-wearing hawk that stood where Poromon once
was.
"Yokomon, digivolve to..."
"Floramon!" a plant-like lizard that used to be Yokomon said.
"DemiMeramon, digvolve to..."
"Tapirmon!" the fading tapir announced.
"Kapurimon, digivolve to..."
"Kokuwamon!" buzzed an electronic stag beetle.
Skeet, Kelly, Carl and Dizzy gawked in amazement at their Digimon's new
forms. This like was nothing they had ever seen before. Nothing in
reality, at least.
"Woo!" exclaimed Tapirmon. "I told you this was a good thing!"
"Astounding," Dizzy remarked. "A complete transmogrification into a new
physical manifestation."
"What?" asked Kelly.
"They changed," Dizzy answered.
"No duh, Sherlock," Carl quipped.
"To be precise," said Hawkmon. "We digivolved."
"Digi-what?" Kelly asked.
"Digivolved," Kokuwamon explained. "Normally, it's a slow process in which
we grow and change over time into more powerful forms."
"But those coins you got speed it up," Tapirmon continued. "They took some
of your energy and passed it on to us."
"You could say we digivolved just for you," finished Floramon.
"Intriguing," Dizzy said. "Can you do it again?"
"Maybe," Kokuwamon answered. "If the situation was right. I don't know if
we could it right this second."
"Whatever," Carl said. He turned and walked out of the cave. "Those
Mono-whatsits are gone now, and so am I."
"Wait for me!" Tapirmon called out as he floated after Carl. "Don't you
see? It's destiny!"
"Shut up and leave me alone!" Carl scolded.
"About Tapirmon," said Skeet. "Is he...?"
"Not at all," Hawkmon replied. "He's just a little too excited to be
partnered with a... whatever you collectively call yourselves."
"I see," Skeet said.
"The important thing is, you're going to need us survive," Floramon said.
"We know the lay of the land better, what's dangerous and what's not."
"And we can take care of the dangerous stuff for ya," Kokuwamon said,
hovering around Dizzy's shoulder. "We got yer back, yo!"
"Erm, yes," Dizzy said. "Good."
"Maybe we should get Carl back," Kelly suggested. "You know, make sure he's
alright."
"Yes, there's way too much exposition in here," Hawkmon agreed.
"Right, let's get out of here," said Skeet.
They didn't have to go far to find Carl. He and Tapirmon were tied up and
lying on the ground outside the cave. They immediately rushed to them and
untied them from their bindings.
"Carl!" Skeet exclaimed. "What hap..? Ew. What is this stuff you've been
wrapped up in?"
"It's spider's silk," Carl explained. "From the giant spider hanging above
the cave!"
The giant spider dropped to the ground, blocking the cave's entrance. Its
eight eyes gleamed as it laughed evilly.
"Oh, my! That's Dokugumon!" Hawkmon exclaimed. "We best be wary of his
poison thread attack, as it can drain us of our energy!"
"I bet we can take him down, easy!" Tapirmon said as he got back up.
"I don't know," Kelly said. "He's kinda big."
"You know what they say," Floramon said. "The bigger they are..."
"...The larger the impact crater they make!" Kokuwamon finished. "Mini
Shocker!"
Kokuwamon let loose an electric attack with his claws that lashed out at
Dokugumon. It didn't even leave a burn mark.
"En garde, ye knave!" Hawkmon called out. "Feather Blade!"
Hawkmon pulled a feather off his head and threw it like a dagger at the
giant spider. The feather flew straight and true and ricocheted right off
Dokugumon's exoskeleton.
"Deleting Virus!" Tapirmon called.
Tapirmon exhaled a cloud of black dust. Eye opened all over it and set
their sights on Dokugumon. It flew towards the aggressor, who blew at it
and make it go away.
"Oh, C'mon!" the Dokugumon said. "This is pathetic!"
"Pathetic this!" Floramon returned. "Stamen Rope!"
The stamens on Floramon's hand/flowers extended quickly, lashing out at
Dokugumon. Dokugumon blinked, effectively countering the attack.
"Whatever," Dokugumon said. "I'm hungry, and you're gonna be the main
course! POISON COBWEB!"
Dokugumon spat out threads of steel-strong silk at Skeet, Dizzy, Kelly and
Carl. The four of them tried to run, but the webbing wrapped around them
quickly and they fell to the ground.
"Uh, oh," Hawkmon said. "Looks like we'll have to combine our attacks! Put
all you've got into it! Feather Blade!"
"Mini Shocker!"
"Deleting Virus!"
"Stamen Rope!"
The four attacks streaked towards the foe, striking him in the face.
Dokugumon really took notice when his head caught on fire.
"GAH! My eyes!" Dokugumon shrieked. "They burn!"
"I think it's working!" Floramon exclaimed.
"Then let's have at him!" Hawkmon declared. "Feather Blade!"
"Stamen Rope!"
"Deleting Virus!"
"Mini Shocker!"
The attacks slammed into the vile arachnid yet again, adding to the flames.
Dokugumon put them out with a shake of his head.
"Now you're in for it!" Dokugumon screamed. "POISON THREAD!"
Dokugumon spat out more threads, this time wrapping around the Digimon. The
fell to the ground covered from head to toe in spider silk like their
partners.
"That's what I thought!" Dokugumon spat out. He turned around and silk
cords shot out from the spinnerets on his posterior that hooked onto the
silken cocoons.
"I'm really gonna enjoy slowly sucking out your vital fluids," Dokugumon
said as he dragged his catch back to his web. "Especially after what you
did to my face. Man, my eyes are gonna be itchy and watery for a week! You
're totally gonna pay for that!"
Looks like our heroes lost this battle. Heck, they didn't even get away!
Will our heroes escape from Dokugumon's web?
Will they squash this spidery foe?
Or will they wind up a tasty treat that's fun to eat?
Tune in next time, but until then...
TO BE CONTINUED...