01/30/2012
Disclaimer: I have never own, nor plan on owning Digimon, in any form. I just like to write silly scenarios and share them with others.
FanAuthor's Note: All reviews are much appreciated. I chose to start writing Fanfiction to get a feel on how people respond to my current writing style, so any feedback is again, much appreciated. Also, I choosing to go with Kumamon (as opposed to Bearmon) because that's how the Digimon was first presented to me when I played Digimon World 3.
Chapter 2: Never Split the Party/Foraging
This is Colin Ursa, with his first recording to be sent MAGAMI Corporation in review of their Virtual Realities handiwork. I would like to once again thank the corporation for allowing me to go in my brother's stead, due to his condition leaving him unable to play himself and letting me record the experience to share with him. The scenery inside the game is nice enough, with the Primary Village having the feel of a small, strange nursery and the ground actually feeling gravelling and bumpy at certain points. Not being as tech savvy as some of your other reviewers, I can only say that I've enjoyed the visuals so far, and kudos to the team behind that. And now on to the actual 'gameplay'. I had no idea where to find the tutorial room, and crashing down outside of the village is not as enjoyable for those who don't remember how the first season's theme song and origin went. I would have liked to have been given some more time to know how to play the game before an enemy showed up. In my battle log, as I had to discover for myself is located in my D-Arc, it will say that I engaged the enemy Digimon A.I. of my own choice. However, had I not started the battle with it, it would have destroyed another player's partner Digimon before they could arrive to protect it. I was able to…sorry, we were able to beat back the Goblimon, as he was called, but I think people would prefer if Digimon attacks like that didn't just come out of the blue. Granted, he and his gang seem to be part of some story line mission you guys have written up, so I'll say nothing more about it for now. Well, I'm holding my group up, so I'll stop recording for now. With Regards, Colin Ursa.
/Digi-World Primary Path, 2nd Hour
"What were you doing back there?" asked Asami, raising a questioning eyebrow as Colin caught up with the others, with Kumamon still speeding along ahead.
"Recording a message for my brother. I'm going to upload it later so that he can see how my first day went," he told her, not wanting to reveal too much too soon. I'm not a nark, but I don't need to go around telling people I'm some paid reviewer. I already look such a noob, fumbling about this game as it is. No need to tell either her or Dmitri more than they need to.
Colin peered down at his D-Arc, and his countdown showed that he had four more hours left in the day to play. I've already spent an entire hour here? Sheesh, time goes by when you're getting knocked around by a Goblimon.
When he looked up, he noticed that the group had stopped for a moment. As he got closer, he saw that they were crowding around Kumamon, who had finally slowed down and was bent over, supporting himself on his knees as he caught his breath.
"Hey, you okay there buddy?"
Kumamon answered between pants, "Yeah…just need to…catch my breath. Don't know why I…suddenly feel so ti…red. I mean, I was hungry before, but then you had me Digivo-"
The little bear began to glow again, and suddenly it reverted back to Wanyamon. Colin went to pick up his partner, and found that he had fallen asleep, with actual animated Z's floating over his head.
"He probably used up all the energy the Digivolution card gave him running off like that," said Asami.
"Hmm, light-weight," came the sleepy comment from Asami's silver helmeted Wanyamon lookalike.
"But I thought my D-Arc said that Kumamon would be his default form now." Replied Colin, ignoring Asami's partner.
Dmitri chose to answer this one, "It is his default now, but he'll revert to a lower level if he isn't fed regularly, or spends all his energy charging ahead."
Feeling embarrassed that both of them now this and yet he was in the dark as to how to maintain his partner, Colin sweatdropped. Not purposely, but the game translated his feelings of embarrassment and animated them in the typical anime fashion. Unfortunately, both Dmitri and Asami could see this, and chuckled to themselves.
"Okay then, so where can I find some food for the little guy then? You guys wanna go on ahead while we trek back to Primary Village?"
Asami shook her head, "No need for that, we can pick some berries or catch fish in the forest." When Colin gave a look that said 'How complicated is that going to be?' she continued with, "Don't worry, the fishing part is easy once you get the hang of it."
"How could you know all this stuff about a game that's just come out? Even the TV show can't have explained how to catch fish or forage for food in a Virtual Reality game."
She smiled, "I read a blog made by one of the designers, giving away free tips a month before the game opened in Japan. Stick with me, Colin, and you are going to be fine."
With that, she resumed walking down the road, towards the eerie forest they had been traveling to. Dmitri silently gave Colin a thumb up, and followed after her.
Sighing, Colin placed Wanyamon securely on top of his head, where immediately the little creature wrapped its tail around his neck firmly, but not too tight, so as to stay put. The teenager then proceeds to once again catch up with his companions.
/Digi-World Fresh Forest, 2nd hour and 15 minutes spent.
The six travelers were now a little ways into the forest by now, with the entrance only a few feet behind. None of the Tamers had said a word to one another since Wanyamon fell asleep, and an awkward silence set in as they went deeper into the trees. Finally, Asami couldn't stand it any longer.
"So, where are you guys from?"
The two boys looked at each other, seeing who wanted to answer first. Eventually, Colin chose to speak up.
"I'm from Brooklyn. Nothing much to tell ya, it's a nice enough place. How bout you, where are you from?"
"Minato. It's a little town in Tokyo. Actually, I live the Tamachi area. You may recognize the name."
Colin shook his head, but Dmitri answered with, "Isn't it where one of the show's characters live? That evil kid, Ken right?"
"Yup! Both Odaiba and Tamachi got Game Stations up early to celebrate! But it was a bit too crowded over there for my tastes, so I came here to get a chance at the early seats and play time." She spotted a river over to the right of the trail they were on, and took off in that direction through the bushes.
The boys went after her, Dmitri bumping into something small and yellow hanging off a branch, but neither of them bothered to look at what he had knocked over. Dmitri was the first to reach her, finding her squatting by the side of the river. He tapped her shoulder to get her attention.
"Why did you run off like that? What'd you see?"
She pointed in at something in the river, not looking up from where she was looking. "See those things moving over there?"
The boys both looked, making out brown and silver like shapes swimming about in the water. Colin squinted hard, trying to make them out.
"Are they Digimon?"
"Nope, just digital fish. Salmon and Tuna by the looks of them."
"'Salmon?' but didn't you just say they weren't Digimon…'" Asami turned and gave him an amused look, and Colin blushed before continuing, "Shut up, you heard it to. Not my fault the animals name ends in 'mon'."
"I have a better question: why are there digital fish in this game? Aren't all the creatures in this game supposed to be Digimon?" Colin wondered how Dmitri's question was necessarily 'better', but didn't feel the need to argue the point.
"I thought you watch the TV show as well. There were fish in the Digital World there too; it's what the kids ate while they were stuck there. Remember the first few episodes?" Not waiting for an answer, she got up and started to go through her own cards, which Colin noticed she had six of as opposed to the guys' separate sets of five. Why does she get six- no, don't care. Not gonna complain.
"So, I'm guessing they're what feed our partners? How are we supposed to catch them?" Colin looked around for some stones to use while saying this, finding his pickings to be slim.
Appearing to have decided on the card she felt like using, Asami smiled at Colin as she replied,
"Well normally, we could just get a fishing rod like actual fishermen. But since your cub felt like dashing off before we could properly equip ourselves,"
She raised her left arm; flashing her D-Arc strapped to it in front of her, she downward slashed a card through it. Both of the guys recognized it to be the Digivolution card.
Digivolution Activate.
The little Wanyamon lookalike started to have a familiar glow to it, and it began to rise into the air.
Kapurimon…digivolve to…Kotemon!
In place of Kapurimon, there stood an upright kendo-gear garbed lizard, wielding a shinai. The kendo mask it had on kept its face hidden, with only its yellow eyes visible.
"Mistress, what is it you wish of me?"
Giggling at the thought of being referred to as 'mistress', Asami pointed towards the fish.
"Kotemon, could you be a dear and get everyone some fish?"
"It shall be done."
He moved towards the water, but then Asami held him back.
"Oh right, before you head off, you might need a little help."
Taking yet another card out, she slashed this one through to. Colin spotted a blue dragon like dragon depicted on the cover. Asami's D-Arc cried out a different command from before.
Digi-Modify: Aero Wings Activate.
A pair of dragon wings sprouted out of Kotemon's back. Colin and Dmitri did a double take at this, awakening their both their partners. DemiMeramon had chosen to sleep furthest away from the water, for the obvious reason of not wanting to be put out. Wanyamon spotted Kotemon take off for the fish.
"Who's the new guy?"
"That Kotemon, Asami's partner," replied Colin.
"Thought he was shorter."
"That's because he just digivolved, like you did earlier."
"Oh. What's he doing?"
"Getting us food. You primarily, grumble gut."
The little furball's stomach roared again, but Wanyamon ignored it while happily bounced up and down at the fact that someone was getting him food.
"Yay, food. Thanks Kotemon!"
Flapping its borrowed wings above the school of fish, Kotemon held his shinai to his left side, before diving downward and swinging the wooden sword horizontally into the mass of fish.
"Thunder Kote!"
The fish sprang up out of the water, sparks flying amongst them as they were quickly killed and deep fried. The water helped cook many of them in an instant, while some of the tuna managed to swim off in time. A shadow of a clawed creature also departed from the area, though clearly it was no fish.
Quickly putting away his shinai, Kotemon dove into the water to grab some of the fried fish. Upon catch five of them, he attempted to flap his wings and fly back to shore. Unfortunately, they seemed to no longer be there.
Having seen his wings disappear from the land, Asami immediately sorted through her cards again.
"Mistress, if you could please swipe the flying card again."
"Way ahead of you, Kotemon! Aero wings, coming right up."
She brought out what was supposed to be the Aero Wings card, but found that it had blacked for some reason. Not caring, she ran it through her D-Arc once more. The response the device gave was not encouraging.
Time Remaining Until Card Recharged: 5 minutes.
In five minutes Kotemon would have been swept out of sight down the river. A look of worry was etched over both Asami and her partner's face (well, if you could see Kotemon's face).
"Damn it! Why do cards need to freaking recharge! What am I going to do?" she began to frantically review her remain cards, trying to find one out of her four remaining that would be of help.
"Not again, not again, not again…" she couldn't seem to find a useful card in the lot, not one that could help Kotemon out in time.
Dmitri watched her shuffle through her cards, a slightly annoyed look on his face. DemiMeramon seemed to make a motion towards the river, but Dmitri pressed a command button on his D-Arc, and DemiMeramon reluctantly stopped moving.
Not wasting any time upon hearing the D-Arc's message, and not noticing Dmitri lack of response, Colin pulled out his own five cards.
"I got this!"
Wanyamon looked at his partner, and realizing that he wanted them to help out, bounced towards the water.
Taking his own Digivolution card out, Colin held his left arm up like Asami, then dropped it horizontally in front of his chest and swiped his card.
Digivolution Activate.
Wanyamon…digivolve to…Kumamon!
The same cocky grin he had on when facing Goblimon returned to Kumamon's face. "Alright, time to go save Drownmon."
Smiling in response to his partner's sudden shift from a gentle ball of fur to a cocky little cub, Colin looked at his four remaining charged cards. Okay, what to use? Already used Digivolution. Hyper Speed? No, that won't necessarily give Kumamon the strength to swim back against the current. Power Strike's seems to only be helpful in a fight. Wait. He looked at a card depicting a Snow Bear Digimon, clearly suggesting he had some ice-based powers. Ice, that's just what we need.
He put away the rest of the cards, and holding up the Frigimon battle card, pulled off his signature card slash.
Digi-Modify: Subzero Ice Punch Activate.
Kumamon's paws began to have a white mist form around them. "Chilly. What's this for?"
"Aim your paws at the river and use the attack on the water."
"Attack the water? Are you feeling okay?"
"Not attack the water, aim the attack at the water. Just do it!"
"Fine. Subzero Ice Punch!"
A wave of winter wind blasted off Kumamon's paws, and upon impact with the water started to form ice on top of it instantly. Getting the idea now, the cub aimed the blast of cold air towards Kotemon's current location, clumsily running a top the ice pathway leading that way. Seeing that he'll never be able to catch up the drifting Digimon the rate he's going, Kumamon shot of a blast ahead of both his and Kotemon's positions, blocking any chance of him floating on down river some more. When both of the Rookie-level Digimon met up at the ice wall, Kumamon helped Kotemon up onto the ice walk way, his hands now returned to their normal temperature.
"Okay there scale-head?" the cub smiled cheerfully at his 'thoughtful' nickname. Kotemon didn't seem to share his enjoyment for it.
"Just fine, furry-face. But now I suppose we'll have to find food elsewhere, since I failed to retrieve the fish."
"Don't be too sure," Stopping along the pathway, Kumamon made a sudden snatching movement at something in the water, and pulled out one of the supposedly escaped tuna. "Perks of creating an ice bridge: get to trap things that would otherwise have gotten away. Course, you'd know all about that."
Kotemon tightly gripped his shinai, but mentally calmed himself and kept on walking down the ice bridge, grabbing the occasional fried fish and impaling them on his wooden sword like a spit. Kumamon, not noticing the bad mood he had put his companion in, strolled up to the awaiting Tamers and DemiMeramon with five fish in tow.
"Someone get a fire going, this hero needs some sushi!"
/Fresh Forest, 2nd hour and 55 minutes spent.
The day seemed to be darkening already, despite the fact that it seemed morning only two hours prior. Apparently the game is built with a shorter day than in real life, allowing players to play both in the game's Day and Night times. Not that this mattered much to the Tamers, who were busy feeding their partners.
The group had gathered some twigs, rocks, and branches from the surrounding area, and had set up a little fireplace on the riverbank. Not wanting to spend time to much time actually building a fire, they had DemiMeramon light it for them, and proceeded to roast whatever fish Kotemon hadn't over it. Asami spent half her time drying Kotemon and hugging him viciously.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't know there was a time limit on those things, or that they wouldn't work twice in a row, or that-" she went on and on, all the while her grip around Kotemon's neck becoming more vice like.
"All is forgiven Mistress, but if you could please loosen your hold…"
"Oh. Sorry," she quickly let go, as if her touch hadn't somehow burned him.
DemiMeramon (who in-between his own servings of fish) had decided to offer some of his meal to Kumamon and Kotemon, as a friendly gesture. Kumamon greedily accepted the offering, while Kotemon politely declined.
"Thank you, DemiMeramon. I've had my fill of fish for the night."
Kumamon reached out for the plate upon hearing this, "More for me. Gimme, gimme!"
The shinai rapped his paws, knocking them away from the plate. "Leave some for the others. You've had more than your fair share."
"Hey, if DemiMeramon's cool with it, then what does it matter to you? You're okay with me having the last few, right buddy?"
DemiMeramon nodded in response, attempting its best to form a smile that its stitched up mouth didn't make it look creepy. It appeared to have not at the very least ruin Kumamon's appetite, as he was able to scarf down the next 3 salmon without so much as a frightened glance.
Colin watched the scene while biting into a nice salmon, one of the few he had managed to get before Kumamon ravaged a score of them. Hungry little guy.
He looked over at Asami, seeing that she was pretty troubled over the fact that she had almost lost her partner to a simple river incident. She kept trying to grab onto to Kotemon, as if she was afraid to let him go or else he might fade away. I wonder what's bugging her. I mean, these guys are nice and all, but they're not real. They're just game programs, with detailed personalities. He eyed his partner, who while thankfully still at Rookie-level, had passed out with a full, bulging belly after his 15th salmon. Very detailed personalities, I'll admit. That and I'm not cold-hearted enough to just let him die on me. Still, she's pretty shook up. Hasn't even touched her fish. It just occurred to him that he needn't eat fish himself, since it's artificial and he has actual food at the hotel. …nope, still worth eating.
Dmitri, quiet as was before, didn't touch his fish either. Instead he just gave DemiMeramon 5 salmon, not saying a word to it while doing so. When he was done, and he noticed no one was looking, he pressed a command into his D-Arc, seemingly silencing the thing, before somehow storing 6 salmon and 4 tuna into the digivice. Looks like neither of them know how to do that yet. Not point telling them, since they probably won't appreciate anything I have to offer anyway. A memory of a time with his father flashed through his head. His father was working on an old car of his, and there was a problem with the engine. The young Dmitri was holding a catalogue, full of new engines that were compatible with their car, but his father just brushed him off, and called in his older brothers to help him sort it out. They would suffer constant engine failures on the side of roads year after year. Finally his father got a new car, one with the exact same engine Dmitri had recommended. He seemed to have just thought it up on his own, as he would tell neighbors while they enviously checked out his new ride. No one ever listens to me anyway. Let them figure it out on their own.
Looking at the leftovers from their little feast, Colin counted about 12 salmon and 30 tuna uneaten. He peered toward Asami once more, and saw that she and Kotemon were leaning against a tree, Kotemon appearing to be asleep, while she was still hunched over. He walked over to her and sat down against the tree as well.
"Hey, you okay?"
"What? Fine, yeah I'm fine."
"Okay, if you say you are. You looked pretty up-"
"I SAID I'M FINE!" she glared at him with watery eyes, then seeing the hurt look on his face, apologized. "Sorry. It's just, I…"
She composed herself, and then continued "I lost my puppy like this once. It was a rainy day, and none of my family wanted to take Sam out to walk. I was only 6 back then, but the neighborhood was safe and I knew my way back home, so I took him out. We walked all the way around town, and were headed back home. Then this red squirrel bolts out from nowhere, and Sam starts to chase after it. He had a collar and leash on, but I wasn't strong enough to control him. The squirrel led him down to a river, which floods onto the path above on rainy days, like I said it was. The squirrel was able to hop on the float trash in the river to the other side. Sam tried to, but ended up getting knocked away by the rain. I tried to help him, but I wasn't able to reach him, and I was so afraid of drowning. And I left…I left…"
She started to break down, leaving Colin at a loss at what to do. He settled on taking her and letting her crying on him. He had seen his friends do this with their girlfriends back home, and thought this was appropriate. We're just friends, we're just friends…
"You tell anyone I was bubbling like baby on your shoulder, I will hurt you."
"Sounds to me like the dog was stupid."
The two of them thought they heard that come from Dmitri's direction, and Colin glared daggers at his roommate. Dmitri caught the glare and looked bewildered as to what he'd done to warrant it.
"What the hell, man? The puppy was freaking following his instincts. Not his fault it was crappy weather."
This seemed to revert Asami back into her earlier depressed mood, causing Colin to quickly added, "It was No One's fault! You can't blame yourself, your dog needed to go outside."
Again, a voice from Dmitri location spoke, but before either Colin or Asami could look up and see that Dmitri's mouth wasn't moving to match it, "And the dog also needed to chase some random squirrel, and promptly drowned for of it. Nature at work."
Realizing that someone had copied his voice and was using it against them, Dmitri was about to speak up in his defense, but decided against it. Niet, they're not dumb enough to think that I would say stuff like that. Sure, we just met, but why would I go out of my way to insult a girl's dead dog?
Colin's opinion of his roommate was however growing darker as the seconds rolled by. "You really that much of a callous bastard? Come to think of it, you haven't tried to help either of us in the short time we've been here."
This time, Dmitri did speak for himself, that last comment setting him off, "I didn't realize I was meant to waste my time helping stumbling fools find their way."
This caused Kumamon to wake up, and having heard half of the conversation so far, got to his feet and went over to Colin's side, seeming to be preparing for some sort of confrontation.
"Who exactly do you think you're calling fool, roomie?"
"The boy who almost got his ass handed to him by a rookie level goblin, and the sobbing girl who couldn't save her own Digimon from drowning. Do you really think that was me saying that crap about Asami's dog a second ago?" He immediately regretted saying that. Great, now I sound like Elecmon.
"That's rich. No really, that's freaking hilarious, coming from a guy whose Digimon's still little more than a little spark. No one else is here besides you, me, Asmai, and the Digimon. It sure as hell weren't Kumamon or Kotemon, since they were asleep, and your DemiMeramon seems incapable of saying a damn word. And answer me, you going to have us do everything for you, or better yet, can you even play this game by yourself? You were the one so eager to have me join up with you, remember?"
Dmitri actually showed a little emotion and scowled at this. "That was me offering a friendly gesture. I didn't think I'd have such touchy, incompetent kids."
"Friendly? What's friendly about sitting back letting others catch fish your Digimon's incapable of getting itself, then insulting their dead pets because of some sad Darwinist opinion, or not even trying to help out a drowning Digimon?"
"You didn't ask for my help. There's no point giving it out freely if you're so confident you can manage things on your own."
"What, you expect us to just beg for your assistance? Who do you think you are? You're nothing special. So you're a few years older than me, you think that means that I need to grovel at your feet every time your help is needed? You're supposed to help others without even being asked to!"
The two glared at the other, Kumamon clenching his paws threateningly while DemiMeramon enlarged its flames, if not half-heartedly.
"Will you both stop it?" Asami had chosen to speak up, "Stop arguing about this. It's not worth bickering over!"
Colin was taken aback by this. "He makes a comment about your dog, and you're defending him?"
"No, I'm not defending what he said about Sam. He's an ass. But there's no need for this hostility. Just let it go."
"Me? I was defending you! You should be the one telling him to shove it, not me!"
Asami's face grew red with frustration, "I never asked that you act like some shining knight, and I sure as hell didn't give you permission to move my head onto your shoulders. I don't need your help!"
Now Kotemon was awake, and had noticed that the faces of all those present were extremely angry, seemingly with one another. Placing himself quickly between Asami and the others, he drew his shinai out.
"You didn't need my help? Wasn't my Digimon who was almost drowning just a second ago. I could have easily done nothing like the heartless prick over here," he pointed a finger in Dmitri's direction while saying this.
Silence fell upon the little site, with all three Tamers staring at one another, and their partners eyeing the others with warning glares. Then Dmitri just turned around and headed back into the forest.
"Fuck the both of you, I don't need this. Thought I could stand hanging with you guys for a while, but even 3 hours into the game I'm tired of you both," turning his head back one last time, he directed his last statement at Colin, "Oh and roomie? You forget your pass key, and you can fucking sleep outside for all I care." With that, he motioned for DemiMeramon to follow him, and they both disappeared into the trees.
"Well, sleeping in the same room is going to be awkward now."
"Yeah, well have fun with that." Asami turned and started to leave in her own direction.
"What, now you're mad at me too?"
"Not mad. Just don't feel like being anywhere near you. Two completely different things." With that, she too disappeared. Kotemon started to follow, then turned and bowed in Colin's direction.
"Thank you kind sir, for assisting me before. I will try to change my Mistress's mood and have us reunited, as I am in your debt." He quickly followed after his Tamer, not wanting to lose sight of her.
"Kumamon?"
"Yeah Colin?"
"How did we end up being the bad guys?"
"I have no idea. Thought you would know?"
"Just as lost as you buddy."
Seeing as they had no way to take all the remaining fish (to their knowledge), and with no one else left at the site to travel with, Colin looked at the only clear opening into the forest that the other two hadn't taken, and strode of in that direction. Well, guess we're going solo after all.
Unbeknownst to either Dmitri, the yellow thing he had knocked off before could move and has eyes. And many siblings. Originally, they were just going to rush the group, but then a red goblin like Digimon approached them with an offer. Having waited in the bushes, the Shamanmon finally got an opportunity to use its voice mimicking skills when the girl had revealed her sappy puppy story. Later, seeing the argument erupt amongst the kids, the group of Kunemon saw their chance to get a little payback when the boy and his fireball stomped off back into the forest. Turning to thank the Shamanmon, who had left after the argument, they swarm of yellow caterpillar Digimon followed Dmitri and DemiMeramon.
Similarly, the clawed creature had waited until he saw Colin and Kumamon leave before coming ashore. Not actually wanting revenge, but simply desiring a fair share of the fish that was denied to it earlier, it began to chow down on the left behind meal. If Kotemon did show up again, however, Crabmon had no problem dicing the lizard for being to greedy.
/Fresh Forest, 3rd hour and 15 minutes spent.
"You're supposed to help others without even being asked to!"
It was only a moment ago, but his words still seemed to ring in Dmitri's ears. Idiots! You want my help, speak up. I don't do freebies. Besides, that voice sounded nothing like me. I barely even speak, how could they think that's how I sound li-" He paused, the continued his train of thought. Okay, fair enough. I probably should have spoken up more."
He looked over at DemiMeramon, who was sadly trailing along behind him. And yeah, DemiMeramon hasn't digivolved yet. But that's because I don't just rush out and pick fights with the first staged moral crisis the game throws at me. Bah, such a cowboy.
Still, he knew that he would eventually have to have the little fireball fight, instead of just watching from the sidelines. But then he's actually have a plan, he wouldn't just go guns blazing and hope for the best. He's not stupid.
'I didn't realize I was meant to waste my time helping stumbling fools find their way.'
He came to a halt. Okay, maybe what I said back there was pretty stupid of me. But they were the ones who just heard someone saying crap in voice similar to mine and assume I want to alienate myself by spewing such Darwinist crap. It occurred to him that he had gotten rather nasty when he lost his patience, and how it didn't help his image. My god, I was really an asshole back there. I barely talked to either of them, and while he's hearing what troubles her, I'm busy sneaking food away for later …I should probably apologize to them both before we head back up to our rooms. Don't want the first night to be awkward. And getting a new roommate at this time will be too much of a pain.
Dmitri turned around, and headed back for the riverbank. "DemiMeramon, we're heading back."
"Back? We're not going to fight the others, are we?"
It had occurred to Dmitri that up until now, he hadn't heard his partner speak at all. Must have muted him before. "No, we're going to try and smooth things over. No fighting."
"Oh good." This voice was not DemiMeramon's. It had a more clicking, insect sound to it.
"We were hoping to take you on ourselves." Out of trees descended a dozen yellow caterpillar-like Digimon, web lines connecting their abdomens to the trees they came down from. The speaker looked a little familiar to Dmitri, though he could tell why.
"You've got a lot of nerve, knocking over sleeping Digimon."
"Mistress, I'm sure if we just go back and talked it over like-"
"No? We are not getting involved with alpha male apes who want to show the other who's better at pissing the farthest. If they want to be little boys, then they can act like little boys. I have nothing to say to either of them."
Kotemon sighed and continued, "But mistress, the Colin boy was only trying to defend the honor of the 'puppy' you held dear. Surely you as his friend would do just the same if someone insulted something dear to him."
"I just met the boy, Kotemon. And no one asked him to 'stand up for me'. That heroic nice guy act is just that, and act," an image of a girl similar to Asami, only older and wearing glasses, flashed through her mind. She was with a boy, who had on the widest smile, and had placed his jacket over a puddle to let the older Asami walk over without wetting her feet. As soon as the real Asami came up to the puddle, the boy quickly removed his jacket and followed the older girl without giving her so much as a glance.
"An act that puts me in his debt, Mistress."
Asami turned around and stared at her partner. He wasn't going to let the matter drop anytime soon, that she could tell.
"Your very mouthy for a program, you know that?"
"Program, Mistress? I don't understand."
She sighed, "No, I don't expect you to. …Fine, I'll go back and see if he's worth hanging with." Besides, she thought silently, he is kinda cute. And it was nice of him to listen to me blubber about Sam.
This seemed to delight the honorable Rookie, who dashed back the way they came before his Tamer had even started moving.
"Hey, hey, wait up. Slow down, Kotemon!"
Having not gone as far away as Dmitri, they were able to make it back to the riverbank in little time. Upon arriving, they found half of their remaining fish eaten up. The culprit was busy gorging himself on a tuna, when he looked up and saw Kotemon.
"YOU!"
Kotemon blinked, clearly not recognizing the mon.
"Do we know each other?"
"You almost hit me with that stupid attack of yours!"
Kotemon looked at Asami, neither of them not remembering doing such a thing.
"My apologies then. I was not aware of your presence."
Taken aback by the politeness of the mon, Crabmon relented a little, "Yeah well, just don't go around swing sticks at- wait no! Regardless of whether you attacked me or not, you had to go be greedy and take all the damn fish in the school, leaving little for me!"
"Again, my apologies. The amount of fish we took was not all my doing. The bear is partly responsible."
Again, the Crabmon was swayed by the soft-spoken Digimon, "Yeah, damn beast types. I know the like." He flashed his big claw at Kotemon, "But that still doesn't excuse your part in this. Can't just go around hogging all the fish for yourselves." Raising his claw high, he slashed it forward in Kotemon's direction, crying "Scissor Magic!"
Three slash beams hurtled towards Kotemon. Seeing that his mistress was not directly behind him or in harm's way, he merely hopped to his left and avoided the triple beams. This angered the Crabmon considerably. "You smug bastard, STAND STILL!"
"For what possible reason would I do that?"
"So that I can skewer you! Scissor Magic! Scissor Magic!"
Not bothering to counter, and not feeling like wasting his energies running away, Kotemon proceeded to dance out of the way of the multiple slash attacks headed his way, hoping the crab will tire itself out so he and his mistress can pursue their companions.
"Electro Thread!" was the sound that resounded in the area near Dmitri. Dozens of electrified webs flew in his direction, forcing the young adult to dodge and roll out of their way. Grabbing a card from his pocket, he simply swiped it through his D-Arc, no flashy movement or ceremony to his style.
Digivolution Activate.
DemiMeramon…digivolve to…Candlemon.
An animate candle, with wax arms and a DemiMeramon like flame on its head, appeared a flash of light. Not wasting any time, it preceded to burn away the assaulting webs.
"Flame Bomber! Flame Bomber!"
With Candlemon spitting out fireballs at rapid fire speeds, the Kunemon were forced to try and climb back up the tree in order to escape. 3 of the twelve were struck by the fireballs, and dissolved into a stream of data; data that flowed into Candlemon.
Kunemon Data Absorbed. EXP raised by 5 points. Kunemon Data Absorbed. EXP raised by 5 points. Kunemon Data Absorbed. EXP raised by 5 points.
Dmitri couldn't help but smile a little hearing this. Sure, alone these Digimon don't offer the same amount of experience knocking out a Goblimon does, but at least Candlemon is now ahead of Kumamon.
The head Kunemon watched as what remained of his fallen siblings was sucked into the animated candle. A cold rage bubbled up inside of him, as a red aura appeared over his body. His remaining Kunemon stared at him in fear, wondering what was happening. Suddenly, two of the ones closet to him dissipated into a cloud of data, and they were in turn absorbed into the flowing Kunemon, who shape started to alter.
Warning: Wild Digimon Digivolution!
Dmitri looked up in time to see the Kunemon above him take on a different form.
Kunemon…digivolve to…Flymon!
An enormous bee like Digimon, despite its name suggesting otherwise, erupted from the canopy above and shot down towards Dmitri, its stinger aiming for the boy's heart. Dmitri wasn't moving, shocked by the fact that his opponent had Digivolved on its own. The look on his face was one more of curiosity than of terror. Regardless, the giant bee was still coming towards him.
Seeing is Tamer in danger, Candlemon leapt in the way of the attack, and was impaled for his trouble. Landing to the side of Dmitri, with a stinger sticking out of his waxy stomach, the little candle cried out in pain. Dmitri seemed to have been snap back to reality by this. Crap, wasn't paying attention. Now my partner's down. He turned to see that the Flymon was now behind him, turning itself around and getting ready for another run. Its stinger had already been replaced. Well, guess it won't die of its own attack. Checking his cards again, he saw that his Digivolution card was still charging, and his four other cards won't be of much use with Candlemon still pinned down. He stole a glance back down the way to the riverbank. Well, I was headed that way anyway. Might as well see if they'll help me. He shook his head and corrected himself. No, I won't ask for their help. I just need a more open area to fight this thing at. And some time for the Digivolution card to charge. Carefully plucking Candlemon and the stinger from the ground, Dmitri dashed down the way to the river, Flymon in pursuit. Suddenly remembering what happened during Colin's battle with Goblimon, he scrolled through his D-Arc, trying to find the battle cancelation option before he ran into an invisible barrier. Finding it, he clicked the off button, all the while still be chased by Flymon, who was firing off attacks in a fury.
"Brown Stingers!"
"Colin, where exactly are we headed?"
"This way."
"Yeah, I can see that. I meant what's in that direction?"
"We'll see when we get there."
A sigh escaped the little bear, as he tried to not overtake his slowly, stomping partner.
"What's the big deal? Dmitri said something you didn't like and now everybody's splitting up? What happened while I was asleep?"
"Let's just say living with him as my roommate for a whole year is going to be a massive task."
"Ah come on, it can't have been that bad. He's so quiet, what could he have said to piss you off this much?"
"Well for one, he said you and I were incompetent."
"I was awake for that, and I believe he said YOU were incompetent. I kicked ass."
This earned the little bear a fierce noogie from his slightly amused partner.
"Regardless, I can't work or hang out with someone who acts all nice, all the while silently judging your every mishap or move. So our first battle was sloppy."
"Well maybe it wasn't him. You sure you heard him say everything you actually heard?"
"Of course it was him, who else could it be? What, you think I'm that easy to fool?"
"Mad Twist!"
A purple ring of energy spun towards the two. Kumamon spotted it before Colin did, and tackled him to the ground, avoiding the ring. They watched as the ring continued on its path, slicing through trees as it went.
"Okay, what the hell?" Getting back on his feet and looking around, the boy spotted one of the red goblin Digimon he had seen back at the village. "Oh look, another Goblimon looking to be clobbered."
"How dare you! I'm Shamanmon! We don't look anything alike!"
The two partners exchanged a look, and then surveyed the 'Shamanmon'. His clothes were slightly cleaner, and his club was some other animal's bone, but other than that he was a different hue of the Goblimon Kumamon punched out prior.
Kumamon closed his eyes and shrugged, "Whatever, what do you want?"
"What, other than trying to kill us?"
The partners eyed each other agressively, before returning their attention to Shamanmon.
"I'm here to avenge my brother's defeat at your hands! Prepare yourself!" crouching at first, the Shamanmon launched himself towards Kumamon, club raised.
"Dancing Bone!"
Spinning like a mini twister, upon reaching Kumamon he started a series of barrage strikes. Kumamon could barely avoid half of them, the blows that his tearing his fur.
"A little help, Partner?"
"Already on it!"
Not wasting any time deciding on what card to use, as it was clear what Kumamon needed, he slashed the card through his D-Arc.
Digi-Modify: Hyper Speed Activate.
Kumamon's trademark grin returned to his face, as a swing from Shamanmon passed through an afterimage he left behind.
"Huh, where'd you go?"
"Right behind you."
Shamanmon turned around just in time to at least see a furry paw strike his chin.
"Bear-cub Punch!"
The Shamanmon was sent cruising skyward. Kumamon drew back his other paw, ready to strike him when he comes back down.
"Hey, Kumamon. Leave him conscious when you hit him, would ya?"
The Shamanmon was beginning to descend.
"Huh, what for?"
"Want to ask him a few things, that's all."
"Fine, whatever."
The Shamanmon readied himself, and brought his club in front of him to block the next blow. Kumamon spotted him doing this, and continued to grin regardless
"You really think that will help you?"
Unclenching his paw, he unsheathed his claws.
"Bear Claw!"
Glowing with a blue energy, Kumamon's claws cut through Shamanmon's club and struck him, causing him to crash to the ground, data pouring out of his wound.
"Kumamon! What part of 'leave him conscious' sounded like 'kill him' to you?"
Kumamon looked hurt by Colin's reprimanding, "But but I could have gotten past his stupid club otherwise, and he is still alive."
The Shamanmon started to lose form, shifting from stable to a loose jumble of pixilated colors.
"Mostly" he finished, sounding sheepish.
Softening, Colin turned his attention to the dying Shamanmon.
"What exactly do you want with us?"
"Oh, so now it's an okay question? A minute ago I was getting an earful for apparently asking dumb questions." Kumamon was tapping his foot, giving Colin a dirty look.
"Sorry, I was feeling grouchy."
Shamanmon was about to say something, but Kumamon cut him off, "We'll get to you, shut it. No seriously, you just in the habit of arguing with everyone, or only people trying to help you?"
'I didn't realize I was meant to waste my time helping stumbling fools find their way.'
"Dmitri wasn't helping us, or don't you remember? He won't move a finger until you ask him to."
"Wow, it's really that easy to divide you humans. I should have even wasted by breath imitating that kid." Realizing what he had just let slip, the Shamanmon immediately clammed up.
Both Colin and Kumamon were giving him their undivided attention now.
"Care to run that by us again?" the boy asked, eyebrow raised.
"I got nothing to say to either of you."
"Oh really? Colin, remind me. Don't Digimon we beat up and I absorb get transformed into cards?"
Seeing where the cub was going with this, he smiled and went along, "Yeah, that sounds about right. Now sure, we don't know if we can change you guys back once that happens, but imagine where we might end up 'losing' your card."
The Shamanmon's eyes widened as he realized what they were hinting at. Kumamon, happy to find that their enemy wasn't dumb enough to not get their meaning, continued on.
"Oh, we might drop you unknowingly into that river…"
"…or in some wild Greymon's cave…"
"…or with some Numemon…"
Just saying 'Numemon' was enough to crack the Shamanmon. "All right, all right I talk. I have the ability to copy others voices. Or at least something similar to them. I pretended to sound like your friend to get to all to fight one another, soften each other up. There are a bunch of Kunemon after him right now."
"Thank you. Now was that so hard?"
Colin continued with another question.
"Where is the rest of your gang, by the way? There had better not be any more ambushes waiting for us tonight. I'm in a bad mood."
The Shamanmon looked like he was about to answer, but his time had finally run out, and he disintegrated into data and was promptly sucked into Kumamon, who was shocked by the sudden flow of energy. The D-Arc spoke once again.
Battle Concluded. Tamer and Partner are Victorious. EXP raised by 25 points. Digivolution to Champion-level possible at next battle. Combat Zone disengaged.
A card bearing Shamanmon's likeness flew towards Colin, who caught it rather clumsily, not expecting it to come at him. Silence then reigned between the two of them for a while. There was then a buzzing sound could be heard far off, and Kumamon turned to look up at his partner.
"So, ready to go apologize yet?"
"Smart-ass. Yeah, let's go make up. Wouldn't want to worry that my roommate's gonna drop me out the window in my sleep."
"You keep calling him your roommate. What room are you taking about? Are you guys' pirates?"
Colin sighed. Right, he doesn't know he's part of a game. I forgot.
"Never mind, let's just hurry."
"Magic…magic claw."
Still swiping, and still missing, Crabmon tried to at least make Kotemon work to dodge. Having gorged himself on the surplus of fish however, he hadn't some much powered himself up as he did slow down and make himself drowsy. Kotemon really did feel bad humiliating the guy like this.
I'll just knock him out quickly, and leave him some fish on a raft. Then I'll set him on down the river.
All future plans where cut short by Dmitri and Candlemon crashing through the foliage, with the enraged Flymon still on their tail.
"Qui…quit running," was all it could manage, having seemingly become feral.
Asami saw the three and scowled, "Well, I see your luck with your new friend is as good as before."
Dmitri retorted in kind, "Well he's as pushy as the old ones, but at least he smells less."
They both regretted saying what they did seconds later, and answered simultaneously.
"Sorry."
"Well…that's nice. Now DIE!" the Flymon raised its stinger in their direction.
"Brown Sting-"
"Bear-cub Punch!"
Appearing seemingly out of nowhere, Kumamon struck the giant bee on its right. Barely fazed by his sudden appearance, he swatted the cub away with his legs.
"Gah!"
Kumamon slammed midair into the newly formed barrier, slumping down to the bottom half-conscious.
"What are you doing here?" said Dmitri, stunned that Colin had chosen to come back on his own.
Appearing behind Flymon and jumping onto its back, gripping his wings while doing so, Colin made a gesture to his ear, making it clear he still can't hear people outside the Combat Zone.
"Damn it, how can we get in there to help?"
"You want to help? Thought you liked to wait for people to ask first?" this comment Asami made clear she wasn't going to take back, putting a hand to her hip and giving Dmitri a disapproving look most people see their mothers give them.
"…yeah, I'm helping for free. Don't expect it to be a regular occurrence. Sides, the Flymon was technically ours at first." He stopped, and realized that for some reason he could speak to Asami, even though Kotemon was engaged with that Crabmon.
"Wait, how is it you can hear me?"
"What do you me… oh, you mean cause of that Crabmon? None of his attacks have landed once, so technically we're still unengaged at the moment."
"Says you!" came the tired voice of Crabmon, who they all ignored.
"Okay Asami, you're the Digimon otaku. What do we have to do in order to get in there and help Colin and Kumamon?"
"Is this you asking for my help?"
"Asami, we don't have time for this!"
Colin and Kumamon were looking exhausted; having used all their cards save for the Digivolution one, and the Flymon looked none worse for wears.
"Mistress, please just tell them. We don't have time for this." Kotemon was now barely paying attention to Crabmon, a mistake that would soon cut more conversation short.
"Hey, pay attention to me! Scissor Magic!" for the first time that night, a slash wave struck Kotemon; bringing down a ring of energy around him, Asami, and Crabmon.
"Damn it!"
Asami, realizing she'd been silenced by the Combat Zone, took off her D-Arc from her arm and brought it up against the see through barrier. Dmitri looked as she input commands, until the screen read 'Grant Access? Scanning for other D-Arcs in area,'. Seeing that, Dmitri turned to Colin's battle with the Flymon and, putting in the commands he just saw, got Colin's attention by waving frantically. Colin looked down at his D-Arc, and saw the message asking 'Grant Access to fellow Tamer?'.
He looked over at Kumamon, who was panting heavily and had stingers stuck in the ground all around him. "What do you say; want to let the guy in?"
Kumamon managed a weak shrug, "You're the one who got into a fight with him. Me and DemiMeramon were cool."
Colin smiled at that, "Think the fireball's going by a different name now, but yeah you're right."
Tapping 'Accept', the barrier opened a little 'doorway' for Dmitri and Candlemon to enter through, earning them Flymon's attention. The opening closed as soon and Candlemon hoped weakly through, still hurt by the stinger from early.
"Hey, want to help us out with this guy?" said Colin, giving a friendly smile.
Returning the smile, the college student replied, "The bug was ours first, but thank you for softening him up for us."
Kumamon fell on his tail, relived over being, well, relieved off duty.
"Oh yeah, no problem. What are friends for?"
"Brown Stingers!"
Setting its sights solely on Dmitri and Candlemon, five stingers flew towards the pair. Dmitri scooped up his still weak partner and rolled out of the way. Okay, time to roast us a bee. Drawing a random card, which he hoped was the Digivolution card; he set down Candlemon and swiped it without giving it a look. The result was not bad, but unexpected.
Digi-Modify: Gasoline Activate.
Candlemon began to drip more, and Dmitri almost lost his footing trying to stand back up. So not what I wanted. Looking renewed, the living candle turned its sights on Flymon.
"Melted Wax"
Extending his arms out, hot wax soared through the air at Flymon, catching his wings and giving the rest of his body a serious burn. The wax quickly hardened upon hitting the ground, trapping the bug there.
"Candlemon, finish him before he gets free!"
"On it. Flame Bomber!"
Instead of the usual small fireball, Candlemon spat out a strong stream of fire, engulfing Flymon and instantly deleting him. The mass amount of data flew to Candlemon, who looked healthier the moment he started absorbing it.
Battle Concluded. Tamer and Partner team 2 were Victorious. EXP raised by 30 points. Digivolution to Champion-level will be available in next battle. Combat Zone disengaged.
Three Kunemon cards and a Flymon card flew to Dmitri, who caught them in the same unprepared fashion Colin had earlier. The two then exchanged looks, as their Digimon partners looked worryingly at them both, hoping another fight would break out.
"So, why'd you come back? Thought you were convinced I was a heartless asshole?"
"Could ask you the same thing. Didn't you not want to be associated with a 3rd rate Tamer such as myself?"
"Oh come now. You're at least a 2nd rate Tamer."
"Gee thanks."
Kumamon and Candlemon both exchanged their own irritated glance, before leaping up and smacking their respective Tamers on the head.
"Ow, Kumamon; what the hell?"
"Candlemon, what's your malfunction?"
"What's your's? Seriously, that Shamanmon might not have been wrong about you guys. You're more aggressive than ME!"
Dmitri turned back to Colin, confused, "What's he talking about? Who's Shamanmon?"
Sheepishly, Colin scratched the back of his head as he replied. "Eh heh, well apparently he's a Goblimon cousin who was impersonating your voice. Wanted to split us up so that some Kunemon and he could ambush us."
"We ran into them, and that Flymon was one of them. So, see now that I didn't say all that crap?"
"Sure, when you take back that incompetent crack along with all the other crap. I just down a Digimon and roughened up one you ran away from. Got the card to prove it." He pulled out his recently acquired Shamanmon card.
"And Kumamon can go Champion in our next battle."
Dmitri was about to retort, but then a shinai slammed down on him, before quickly assaulting Colin as well. Wielding said weapon was not Kotemon, but Asami, who looked rather steamed.
"Really! Is this how you two plan to apologize to each other? Alpha male posturing? Fess up and say you're sorry! Now!"
Not wanting to receive anymore treatments from the wooden sword, they both hastily bowed their heads to one another.
"Sorry!"
All three Digimon sighed, Kotemon shaking his head.
"Well, now that all that is taken care of…"
"Wait, what happened to that Digimon you were fighting?" questioned the cub, having noticed how their barrier had come down too. Asami just held up Crabmon's left over card.
"Really? Was there ever any doubt?"
"Hey, just saved his ass from drowning. Don't know if he's capable at fighting."
Kotemon eyed him from the side of his helmet, taking back his shinai from Asami and pointing it at the mouthy little bear. "I can easily teach you something's about fighting, furry."
Grinning, Kumamon raised his arms in anticipation, having seemingly forgotten how tired he was earlier. "Bring it on, Lizard chops."
Running toward one another, the two engaged each other with blows, neither of them calling out serious attacks while doing so. Asmai and Colin both looked at their D-Arcs, which were inquiring whether or not they wanted to verify the fight as official. They gave each and amused look and both hit 'Decline' and watched as their partners duked it out.
Dmitri couldn't help but smile at the scene with the two. "Weren't they just calling us out for doing the same thing?"
/Fresh Forest, 4th hour and 1 minute spent.