Chapter 3: Meet Gargomon
Takato, Henry and their digimon had been sailing with Rika's crew for six days now. Rika hadn't emerged from her quarters since the first day they met. She kept tabs on the crew and issued orders via Renamon, who also brought the captain her meals. This only resulted in making Takato more curious about the notorious captain. They had arrived at a small desert island four days prior where they had changed course to head northeast.
Henry had been able to follow their movements precisely on his own map that he updated before they went to sleep each night. He didn't have the time to update it during the day due to his new job as the cook's assistant. Terriermon had caused some trouble the first day (all in good fun of course), he straightened out for the most part though when the cook threatened to chop off his ears and turn them into stew. Takato and Guilmon were sent up to the main deck where they helped the crew adjust the rigging to best use the wind.
The pirates had taken a liking to the two boys and their digimon. They often grew tired of Terriermon's puns, but usually when they were the subject of said pun. Guilmon had become a quick favorite due to his puppy-like nature, often receiving leftover scraps from their dinner. Henry's intellect and the advice he gave whenever he was above deck made him the go-to man of sorts. Takato was the one everyone seemed to enjoy being around. His eagerness and positive attitude always brightened their day, and his quick thinking on the off chance that things went awry raised the pirates respect for the young man.
It wasn't until day seven of their voyage that the intimidating redhead finally emerged.
It was a clear day with only a few white puffy clouds in the sky, yet a dreadful feeling hung in the air. The sea was fairly calm and the wind was weak, not requiring a lot of work from the crew. This was good, for it allowed the pirates to take a break from what they were doing and look to their destination.
Rising from the sea before them was a massive skull made of rock. The skull was tilted back with its eye sockets raised to the sky. Thick fog covered the lower half of the skull, but the tops of a few palm trees could be seen around where the base of the skull should be. The island's mouth was wide open and large rock spires rose out of the fog and into the air. While the back of the island was fairly safe to land on, none dared venture into the jaws on the other side. It didn't take long to figure out why it was called Ship Eater Island.
Takato stared at the island as he leaned over the railing on the port side. Most of the crew had moved to the bow of the ship to sightsee. Henry and Terriermon had even come up on deck to observe their destination. Impmon was sitting on the railing of the aft deck.
As the ship glided across the water and towards the fog, Rika stepped out of her cabin. She saw her crew ogling the grim island and rolled her eyes at them. She walked up to the deck above her cabin and took hold of the wheel. With steeled determination in her violet eyes, she guided the frigate into the fog.
Feeling the ship turn ever so slightly to the right, Takato looked to the aft of the ship to see Rika at the wheel. Pulling himself away from the edge of the frigate, he wandered towards the helm. He saw her turn the wheel and looked back to see a rock spire appear out of the fog and drift past the ship's hull. He looked over the side and saw the top of a mast poking from the water's surface.
He continued up to the aft deck and risked standing next to Rika as she steered. He had been meaning to ask about the card she had used to increase Renamon's strength, but now he was hesitant as he stood near her. She was intimidating enough as she was, but he didn't want to risk ruining her concentration and crashing the ship. One of his fears would soon be put to the side as Rika suddenly shouted out.
"Drop the anchor!"
The crew quickly set to work as their captain stepped away from the wheel. Her icy gaze shifted to Takato who started shaking in nervousness. He could feel his palms start to sweat as his eyes shifted around to notice that no one else was near by.
She folded her arms over her chest before inquiring, "What do you want?"
"Oh, uh, I just wanted to ask you what that card you used on Renamon was."
He noticed one of her copper colored eyebrows rise slightly, "You mean a modify card?"
"Y-Yeah that. I've never seen one of those before."
"They're cards that can be used to give power upgrades to your digimon." She explained as she pulled out said card from a pouch on the back of her belt. "You slash them through the slot on the side of your D-Arc, to use it. This is the only card that I've been able to find though."
There was a moment of silence as neither of them could think of what else to say as Rika returned the card to it's pouch. She was mentally questioned why she had divulged that information to him. She then decided to end the silence once it started to get uncomfortable.
"Grab some shovels, we're going to need them to dig up the treasure."
"Oh that won't be necessary," Takato commented cheerfully, throwing Rika off slightly with his positive disposition. "Guilmon could probably dig up the whole island within the day if we need him too."
"Why do we have to row while you do nothing?" Terriermon questioned.
"We? What we? You're not doing anything either." Takato argued as he looked to the digimon sitting on Henry's head. He could feel the muscles in his arms staring to burn from rowing the oar in his hands. Henry sat next to him with an oar for the other side of the boat. Guilmon sat behind them, closer to the front of the dinghy, rowing a second set of oars. Rika and Renamon sat the back of the dinghy. The redhead had one hand on the rudder and a compass held in the other.
"I am doing something. It's called steering the boat." Rika stated as if it was obvious, which it was to be fair. "Or would you rather be blown to bits?"
"That's being a little drastic don't you think. I mean, these three don't have nearly enough strength to crash us into a pillar that fast."
*sigh* "Renamon."
The stoic fox picked up a small crate from the floor of the dinghy and tossed it to the side. The wooden box splashed into the water and drifted for a few moments. Right before an underwater explosion blasted it into pieces and sent a shower of saltwater on our heads.
"Ah! Momentai," Terriermon said as he began to shiver from the cold water. "You could have just said so; I didn't need a live demonstration."
"Terriermon," Henry warned. They were rowing through mine infested waters, with the fog limiting their sight to a foot. The last thing he needed was the dog-bunny angering the person who held their lives in her hand.
There was a grinding sound as the rowboat slid onto the sandy shore of the island. Rika and Renamon both vaulted over their respective sides of the boat and into the shallow water. The others followed their example after pulling in the oars and setting them down in the dinghy. They pushed the rowboat further up onto the shore so that it wouldn't drift away.
"So, what's the rest of the riddle to find the treasure?" Rika questioned with her eyes locked on Henry.
"How did she know there was more?" Guilmon asked Takato innocently.
"Because a description of an island isn't enough, and I would withhold information as well if I were in your position." Rika answered the saurian before Takato could.
Henry just closed his eyes before calmly answering Rika, "Fifteen steps from first to last, From the rocks that have been cast, North then west then north again, Southeast then northeast, you shouldn't bend."
"Any idea what that means?" Takato questioned as he looked to Rika for an answer.
Rika just looked further down the shore before muttering to herself, "Rocks that have been cast…"
She started walking down the beach. The others just shared a glance at eachother before following. When they caught up to her she was standing next to two large boulders that were shaped like dice. Upon closer inspection, someone had even chiseled large circles where the dots should be.
Rika pulled out her compass and walked to the northern side of the boulders. Takato and Henry soon followed as she took fifteen evenly spaced steps north. She then turned to the west and did the same number and spacing of the steps. She followed this procedure through all the steps in the riddle before coming to a stop. The directions had led them into a large stone cave. She drew her sword and scratched an X into the sand before stepping to the side, silently indicating for them to start digging.
As Guilmon started digging into the sand, everyone else stood off to the side and waited. After the raptor had dug about three feet down, the others began to notice that the fog around them was turning a weird shade of purple. Rika's hand drifted towards her sword as her eyes shifted around the fog.
"A digital field, but there isn't a sign of any digimon?"
Thunk
All eyes turned to Guilmon as his claws struck something solid. Rika instantly knew from the sound that it was made from wood, since rock would have made a sharper noise. The red dino quickly dug up the rest of the sand around the chest.
The chest didn't look that out of the ordinary. It was a plain wooden chest with an iron lock and hinges. Guilmon brought his claws down on the lock and busted it clean off. Rika took the lead and kicked the lid open. The hinges squeaked as the top flew back to reveal a couple hundred gold pieces covered by a layer of ten modify cards and another cloth map.
Before they could examine the cards and map though, their attention was caught by Guilmon sniffing the air. At the same time all three of their D-Arcs starting beeping like crazy. Takato looked back to Guilmon to see that his eyes had dilated. They all knew the indicators, a digimon was coming.
"GOORAGH!"
They all turned to see a large white and grey gorilla with a metal cannon-shaped arm howling in rage at them. He pointed his metal arm at them and fired a blast of energy at them. They all jumped out of the way as the beam nearly missed the chest. The shockwave from the blast was still enough to knock the modify cards into the air though.
All three of the Tamers' digimon stepped in front of their respective partners in order to protect them. Henry was the first to pull out his D-arc and get a scan of the hostile digimon.
"Gorillamon; Beast digimon; champion level."
Guilmon charged in first but Gorillamon batted him away with a powerful backhand blow. Terriermon tried to charge in but Henry tackled him to the ground. Rika and Renamon silently backed away to watch from the sidelines.
"Rika, why are we backing away? Shouldn't we be helping them?"
"If it gets desperate we will. For now, I want to see just how well these four can handle themselves."
"Henry! Let me go!" Terriermon screamed.
"No! I won't let you fight."
"If I don't then we're all dead!"
Gorillamon turned his attention to Henry and leveled his arm cannon with his head. Just as the ape fired the energy beam, Takato tackled Henry and Terriermon out of the way. With his tamer's grip loosened, Terriermon slipped out of Henry's arms and fired a bunny blast at Gorillamon. The blast didn't even scratch him though as he aimed once more at Henry and Terriermon.
"Here, take this!"
Henry turned to see Rika throw him one of the modify cards that had flown out of the chest. He caught it in his hand and looked at the name along the top of the card.
"Training Grips? How does that help me? Unless…"
An idea on how to use this to his advantage popped into his head as he read through the details written on the card. He got up, quickly pulled out his digivice, and slashed the card through the slot.
"Digimodify! Training Grips activate!"
The training grips materialized around Terriermon's ears. The small dog-bunny was confused how this helped at first, but then felt the grips loosen a bit. Quickly catching onto the idea, he swung his ears around before launching the training grips at Gorillamon. The grips attatched themselves to the ape and he quickly got tangled up in them. This allowed Guilmon to get up and whack him over the head with his paw.
"Terrier-Tornado!"
The green twister sent Gorillamon high into the air before he came crashing back down into the sand.
"Well, what goes up must come down." Terriermon piped up.
Guilmon hummed in agreement. Gorillamon wasn't out for the count though as he managed to get himself back on his feet. With a growl of rage, the ape broke free of the training grips, which de-materialized into the air. "I don't think he liked the ride."
"Bunny Blast!"
Gorillamon leapt into the air and avoided the green energy blasts from Terriermon, right before firing at the small digimon. With no time to get away, Terriermon was forced to take the hit straight on.
"Terriermon, NOOO!" Henry shouted as he watched the blast engulf his best friend and partner. His D-Arc began to glow, and though it was impossible to see from the explosion, so did Terriermon. A weird unearthly female voice then spoke from the D-Arc.
Digivolution Activate
"Terriermon digivolve too…" Terriermon spoke as he was engulfed into a green egg. The egg burst apart and from it appeared an even larger version of Terriermon. Now he stood as tall as Henry, with red warpaint, wearing a pair of blue pants and slung a belt full of weird bullets over his shoulder. The ends of his arms had changed into these weird, almost miniature cannon like things. "Gargomon!"
Everyone, even Gorillamon, was shocked at this transformation. Most would think that Henry would be the most surprised out of them, but in reality, it was Rika. Ever since Renamon had mentioned digivolving to the redhead, she had made it her mission to get Renamon to digivolve. And now the pipsqueak digimon who belonged to a pacifist had managed to accomplish that goal before she could.
"Gargo Laser!"
Immediately Gargomon starts firing off his dual gatling guns at Gorillamon. Overcome by the onslaught of lasers, the gorilla glows red before bursting into a storm of red particles which fly off with the wind. Gargomon doesn't stop firing though and starts shooting randomly while giggling like a five year old with a new toy.
"Okay, now this is getting out of hand." Rika thought as one of the laser pellets crashed into the ground in front of her feet, causing her to jump back. "Renamon, get him under control."
Renamon leapt into action, using her agility to dodge the random barrage of bullets. She ran along the wall of the cave until she was in Gargomon's blind-spot. She then leapt off the wall and onto the large rabbit-dog's back. The fox wrapped her arms around his head, causing him to start blind firing.
Gargomon threw an arm up and hit Renamon in the head with one of his gatling arms. Temporarily dazed, the vixen dug her claws into his face and dragged them across his eyes as she was thrown off. Still regaining her senses, Renamon deftly landed on her feet before receiving a backhand blow from Gargomon, sending her crashing into the wall of the cave.
Noticing the battle getting closer to her, Rika backed up until she felt the cold wall of the cave tough her back. After taking out Renamon for the moment, Gargomon turned to Rika with his guns still firing. The laser pellets shot holes into the wall of the cave around her before stopping. Rika had thrown up her arms to shield her eyes. Upon lowering them, her eyes saw a scary sight. One of Gargomon's gatling arms leveled with her head. She noticed her own breathing quicken and could feel some sweat starting to form on her forehead.
"Guilmon!" she heard Takato call from her right. She didn't blink as she saw the red dinosaur headbutt the champion level into the wall. They both crashed into the stone and made a crater in the wall. When the dust settled, the three tamers could see Guilmon standing next to a KO'd Gargomon. Takato turned to look at Rika and could still see a twinge of fear in her eyes. As he turned to look back at Gargomon, one thought ran simultaneously through both his and her minds'.
"Are all digimon like this when they digivolve?"
