Digimon Hackers
Well, here I am with a new chapter. :3 I hope you like it!
Chapter Four: Mud
Tiffany hadn't been able to sleep all night. She tossed and turned in her bunk, the top one on the left in what had been labeled "the girls' room". For many reasons, maybe the biggest reason being that this bed was nowhere near as comfortable as her bed at home, she hadn't slept a wink. Maybe another reason was that she had too many thoughts running through her mind for her to be able to fall asleep.
She felt like she was dreaming. How could all the things Gennai said be true? It all seemed very unlikely to her, if not impossible – though he kept saying nothing was impossible. Tiffany didn't think she could believe Gennai's story even if she wanted to. The others seemed to believe it, especially Cat. But, Tiffany reminded herself, common people like Cat were easy to fool.
Then why did Mark and Marie seem to believe Gennai as well? They were certainly not common. And then what about Miguel? Tiffany could never tell what he was thinking, especially in this case. He had said himself, in one of his rare statements, that it all sounded impossible. And he was the smartest person Tiffany knew.
She flopped back down on her pillow with a sigh.
"Tiffany?" came a soft voice from below her bunk.
"Yeah?" Tiffany called back, surprised Marie was awake.
"You can't sleep either?"
"Not at all."
Marie sighed. "I don't know how Cat and the Digimon got to sleep so fast." Across from Marie, on the bottom bunk, were Dorumon and Frimon, who still hadn't awoken. On the top bunk of that bed was Cat, who had fallen asleep virtually as soon as her head hit the pillow.
"Ugh, I know. This place is so disgusting."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, there's like no light coming from anywhere except those nasty fluorescent lamps. Why can't he get some windows in here?"
"I'm not sure," Marie said politely. "Would they work underground here?"
Tiffany had forgotten about that. "I guess not." She sighed. "Still, would it kill him to get some of those nice lightbulbs? You know, the… I dunno, un-fluorescent ones?"
"I think they're called incandescent," Marie said, though she knew fully that they were. "Maybe he's trying to save energy?"
"Yeah, whatever." Tiffany sighed. "So how come you can't sleep?"
"I guess I just keep thinking about what Gennai said."
"You mean if you should believe him or not?" Tiffany asked. "Yeah, me too."
"No, it's not exactly that," Marie said. "I believe him. I wasn't so sure at first, but then I thought about it. What reason does he have to lie to us? I usually trust people until it's proven that they have in some way misled me, anyway. I was thinking about how he said we'll have to destroy Digimon."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. That sounds kind of gross."
"I suppose so. But I'm more concerned with actually having to hurt one. I don't know how I could live with myself if I had to destroy one of them. It sounds horrible."
"But Gennai said they're just made of data," Tiffany said, not knowing why Marie was so worried about this. She hadn't known her very long, but Marie seemed kind of weird in that way. Tiffany had a feeling that if she picked a flower, Marie would have a funeral.
"That's true. But he also said we're only data now that we're here. And I don't feel any different. If Digimon came to our world, I'm sure they didn't feel any different even if they were made up of other materials. So what makes them any different from animals in our world?" Marie asked.
"Well, they can talk," Tiffany said. "So I guess that means they're smarter than animals."
"But animals talk too, just not in our language. Just as humans can talk to humans, dogs can talk to dogs and cats can talk to cats."
"I guess. But if they're the same as animals, what problem is there in killing them? I mean, it would be gross to actually have to do it ourselves, but meat is just dead animal anyway. So, I guess if you eat meat, what problem do you have with killing animals yourself?" Tiffany thought she was making a pretty good argument.
"I'm a vegetarian," Marie said quietly. "But I still think there's a difference between actually killing animals and eating them."
Tiffany should have guessed she was a vegetarian. So that argument was lost on Marie. "Well, Gennai did say that it's not really killing them. It's just turning them into data, remember? So then we can get rid of the virus and everything."
"I guess," Marie said. She didn't sound convinced, but Tiffany didn't notice.
"I hope tomorrow there aren't a bunch of gross Digimon who are trying to kill us and everything," Tiffany said. "I mean, we only have those two to fight them."
Marie nodded, though she yawned a bit. "I think I'm going to sleep now," she said. "Goodnight, Tiffany."
"More like good morning," Tiffany scowled. "So now I'm just going to have nobody to talk to?"
Marie didn't respond. Tiffany groaned at how quickly she had fallen asleep, though at the same time, her eyelids were also feeling heavy. She turned over in the uncomfortable bed and shut her eyes. Maybe when she woke up, she would be back at home in her wonderful bed. After all, this was the kind of thing dreams were about.
-x-
When Tiffany woke up in the morning, however, she was still in the same bunk bed she had fallen asleep in. Cat and Dorumon were already up, making lots of noise. Tiffany glared at the bland white ceiling for a moment, angry at it for not being her own pink ceiling, before she turned to glare at her nemesis-turned-roommate. "Ugh, Cat! Shut up! I'm trying to sleep!"
"But it's already ten," Cat said. "I came back in here to wait for Frimon to wake up, since Gennai said it's gonna be soon, but everyone else is already awake. Gennai made pancakes."
"That's not true! It's very early! Marie is still asleep, aren't you, Marie?" Tiffany leaned over to look at the bunk below her. She became infuriated to see it was empty. "Well, that doesn't mean you have to make so much noise!" she snapped at Cat.
Cat shrugged. "Gennai told me to wake you up. I figured the further away from you I could stay, the greater my chances of survival would be. Come on, get up already! Don't you wanna go upstairs to the fresh air and sunlight?"
"No!" Tiffany yelped, pulling the covers up over her head. "I wanna go home!"
"We can go home once we get rid of the virus and open the gates back to the Real World," Cat said impatiently. "Weren't you listening to what Gennai said?"
"And how come you believe everything he says?" Tiffany demanded, sitting up and flinging back the covers to show Cat her face – possibly on the verge of exploding. "That guy is probably just senile. He doesn't know what he's talking about! There are no such things as Digimon!"
Cat sighed. "Tiffany, if there are no such things as Digimon, then what are Frimon and Dorumon?"
"I don't know," Tiffany huffed. "Weird animals?"
Dorumon sprang up onto Tiffany's bunk in a cat-like maneuver. "Believe me, what Gennai told you is true," he said earnestly. "He just told me yesterday about how the stupid virus-makers are turning all my friends into big hungry killer-things, but I believe him. There's evidence that he's telling the truth, for one thing. And Gennai is very trustworthy."
"Right," Tiffany said facetiously, rolling her eyes. "There's evidence of Digimon and the Digital World. Like what?"
Dorumon blinked. "Well, me. And Frimon. And we're in the Digital World. Look, Digimon have come to your world before, back when the former Digidestined were called here. Your world must have knowledge of them."
Cat sighed. "Well… there was that whole movie thing that took credit for that, remember? Everyone was all excited when we thought there really were Digimon, but then they told us that they weren't real."
"I wonder why you weren't summoned to help get Digimon back to the Digital World?" Dorumon mused. "That was when they started appearing all over the world. Gennai left to go to the Real World then." He sniffed. "It was pretty lonely then."
"Maybe it was because we weren't actual… um, Digidestined then," Cat said. "I mean, if we had become Digidestined back then, we wouldn't be able to come to the Digital World now, right? Because… oh, I don't know. Gennai said it was a matter of old technology. So maybe our technology is just newer."
"Hello!" Tiffany said. "This isn't real. It's like some video game. Can we please get out of this weird movie or whatever it is and go back home?"
Cat glanced at Dorumon. "Okay!" she said. "Just get dressed and come upstairs to the outside and we can go home!"
Dorumon nodded. "We're sorry to have tricked you, but now that you've figured us out, you can go home now. A plane is upstairs to take you back to your house."
Tiffany leapt down to the floor from her top bunk. It sounded painful, and both Cat and Dorumon cringed, but Tiffany didn't seem to notice. "Where are my clothes?!" she demanded. "Are they clean yet?"
"They're in the laundry room," Cat said.
Tiffany went tearing into the laundry room and retrieved her clothes, which were the only ones still sitting on the top of the washing machine, folded and pristine. She hugged them to her when she saw that all the mud was gone from it, and raced back to the bathroom to change. Once she was dressed, she ran out to the main room, where the others were all sitting around, looking impatient. Cat had returned to that room, and she sat on a couch holding the still sleeping Frimon in her arms. Dorumon was sitting on Marie's lap, and Mark was flipping channels on the TV. Miguel was also sitting on one of the couches, appearing bored out of his mind. Gennai was nowhere to be found.
"I'm going up!" Tiffany yelled, running past them. She opened the door to the tree and ran up the spiral staircase, finally ending at the door to the outside. Throwing this door open, she looked around, expecting to see a private jet with celebrities and food. But instead, she saw nothing. "What?!"
The others quickly appeared from the door behind her, and Dorumon immediately closed it with his special knock that locked it.
"What is going on?" Tiffany screeched. "Where is the plane?"
"Uh, yeah, about that," Cat said.
"Sorry!" Dorumon said. "We had to get you up here somehow."
"What?! No! Let me back in!" Tiffany whined.
"Gennai says we all have to go," Dorumon told her. "Sorry."
"I don't want to!" Tiffany protested, stamping her foot. If there was one thing she could count on, it was a good, old-fashioned tantrum. She began gearing up for it and took a deep breath to begin.
"Stop it, Tiffany," Cat said, interrupting her preparation. "I know you're used to always getting your way, but that's not how it's going to be here. Your parents always do what you say, your friends always do what you say… even your teachers give into your whining! But we aren't going to let you walk all over us."
Tiffany glared at her. Cat thought she was so great now that they were in some dumb Digital World and Tiffany's friends weren't there to back her up! Cat was just a loser, escaping into some kind of fantasy world where she was the ruler of everything and would take revenge on people who didn't like her. Namely, Tiffany. She wasn't going to let Cat stand in the way of her getting what she wanted! "No! I want to go back inside if I can't go home! You can't make meee!"
But then, before she could say another word, Mark butted in. "Ugh, stop whining. You can't go back inside, so you're going to have to do what we tell you to. Either come with us or stay here alone. You can be sure one of those nasty Digimon will find you."
Tiffany would have protested some more, but there was logic in what Mark said… She didn't want to be alone when a big, ugly Digimon attacked! "...Fine," she spat, sniffing. "But there's no reason for me to even be here. Why are we up here? That thing's not even awake yet," she said, pointing at Frimon. "We couldn't fight anything that attacked us."
"This thing," Cat growled, "is going to wake up soon. Gennai told me to bring him up here to get some fresh air. He said that might help wake him up. He gave me a bunch of food to give to Frimon, too."
"But isn't it too weak to fight anything, like, in this form?" Tiffany asked.
"That's why Gennai told us to only fight In-Training Digimon," Mark said. "Weren't you listening? Oh, right. You were asleep."
Tiffany crossed her arms. "And how are we supposed to know which Digimon are In-Training?" she asked. "Miguel might be a genius or whatever, but only in stuff that's real. Unlike Digimon."
Cat pulled the green device out of her pocket, balancing Frimon in one arm. "With my D-Hacker, of course!" she said brightly.
Tiffany, who had thought she found a question they couldn't answer, growled. "Yeah. Whatever."
"Ready to go?" Dorumon asked, looking up at Marie. She wasn't holding him anymore, but he still stood faithfully by her side. Marie nodded with a small smile, though Tiffany knew that from their late-night discussion, Marie wasn't as confident as she looked, especially about hurting the Digimon. But Tiffany really didn't care at the moment. They weren't real, and if they were, it was their fault she was here. She was under no obligation to feel sorry for the stupid things.
"Let's go, then!" Mark announced. "Okay, where do we go first?"
Dorumon shrugged. "Any direction, I guess. There are bound to be Digimon around here!"
"That way!" Mark yelled, pointing in a random direction. Tiffany couldn't help but stare at him. Even in her annoyed state, she couldn't help but admit that Mark was quite possibly the cutest guy she'd ever seen. Forget Miguel! She'd always wanted to be his girlfriend so she could get good grades. But who cared about good grades when you could date an Ardeaux? Mark could just buy a 4.0 for her, and then they could get married and she'd never have to do anything but sit around all day, eating chocolates and going shopping and having her friends over. She imagined the summers they'd spend, in all the Ardeaux homes… She could travel first class all the time, not just business class like she always had to take whenever they went anywhere. No, wait. She would be an Ardeaux. She would have her own personal jet. It would be pink and white, and on the side it would say TIFFANY ARDEAUX, so everyone would know it was hers. It would never ever get dirty. If there was one thing she hated (though, of course, there were lots of things she hated) it was dirt and mud. They made pretty things so ugly. She couldn't stand them.
While Tiffany was lost in her dreams, the others had already started walking. After snapping out of it, she looked to see that everyone had left her behind. Marie glanced back apologetically, but said nothing. Tiffany was sure she didn't want to get left behind, either. After all, Marie was such a frail little thing. Mark was such a wonderful, amazing person to look after her all the time. But then again, of course her future husband was wonderful and amazing. He would have to be to be good enough for her, right?
The very person she was swooning over looked back to see what Marie saw. "Come on, Tiff!" he said. "The Digimon are hungry!"
She didn't care that he had just called her Tiff, one of her most despised nicknames. "You're so thoughtful!" she called back, running after them.
-x-
After awhile, Tiffany lost her happy, floaty mood. They had walked a long way, and hadn't even seen any Digimon. For a world supposed to be overrun with the gross little things, the Digital World didn't seem to live up to its expectations. Frimon wasn't even awake yet. Tiffany didn't see how Cat thought it was so cute. It looked like an ugly cat to her. And, of course, she hated cats (mostly because she hated Cat). And Dorumon was like a weird rodent thing. From what she'd seem of them, Digimon didn't look good at all.
"I'm tired," she whined. "Can't we just rest and let a Digimon come to us?"
"That doesn't seem like that bad of an idea, actually," Cat said.
"Shut up, Cat – huh?" Tiffany asked, astounded. "Did you just agree with me?"
"Well, we should take a rest, right?" Cat stopped walking and turned around to face them. "We've been walking for a long time now, and we have to remember that Frimon hasn't even woken up yet. We can't fight any Digimon that comes along, unless Dorumon wants to help us out."
Dorumon sighed. "I told you, I don't fight. The other Digimon might like it, but I don't."
"Not even for a good cause like this?" Cat said, trying to convince him.
The Digimon rubbed his nose. "Believe me, I couldn't even win any fight I got in. It's much better if you just wait for Frimon to wake up. Besides, it seems like it'll be soon. See? His frill's not even droopy anymore."
"Okay. Let's take a break here, huh?" Mark said, surveying the area. It looked just like the rest of the forest.
"Right," said Cat. She sat down on the ground and placed Frimon on her lap. Mark and Marie sat too. Miguel remained standing, as did Tiffany – though for much different reasons.
"I'm not sitting on the ground," Tiffany said. "I'm wearing a white skirt. The ground has dirt on it! And look at that grass. I bet it's all muddy underneath it."
"Oh, calm down," Cat said. "It's not muddy. If you're so worried, then just sit on your knees and don't get your skirt on the ground."
Tiffany, annoyed at seeing Cat's logic, did what she said. "Fine," she told her. "But my skirt better not get dirty!"
"Miguel, why don't you sit down?" Marie asked.
Miguel didn't say anything for a moment. "It doesn't make sense," he said. "None of this can be real." He was staring at a tree. "Gennai said… This is all made up of data? It can't be… it's solid… Data can't act this way. It's impossible."
"Data has a life of its own in the Digital World!" Dorumon said brightly. "Okay, I guess it's weird at first, but soon you'll get over it. It really makes perfect sense to me! It's just like how you humans are made up of that DNA thing – "
"No it's not!" Miguel said. "I told you, it doesn't make any sense. For all this to happen, it's just impossible. I've been thinking it over, and it doesn't work." He took a few steps away from the group.
"Miguel?" Cat asked. "Are you going somewhere?"
"This can't be true," he said. "It can't be real. I'm going to find out where we really are." He went striding off through the trees, walking briskly for someone who avoided exercise.
"Miguel! Wait!" Cat called, alarmed. "Come back!" She grabbed Frimon in her arms and was about to stand up to chase after him. But at that second, the little Digimon's eyes slid open and he stared up at Cat. Her eyes widened too and she completely forgot Miguel.
Marie stood up as well. "I'm going after Miguel," she said.
Mark shook his head. "No," he said. "Sit down. It's too dangerous out there."
"Exactly. We can't just let him go!"
"He'll be fine. He'll come back just as soon as he realizes how dumb his idea is. Sit down, Marie."
Marie, used to Mark's orders, obeyed. She knew he was probably right, anyway.
"Cat?" Frimon was saying.
"Frimon! You're awake!" she finally managed to say. "How are you feeling?"
Frimon yawned loudly. "Fine," he said, though his stomach growled as he said this. "Hungry."
Dorumon bounded over. "Frimon! Hiya!"
Frimon smiled at Dorumon. "Dorumon! I'm sorry for attacking you! I couldn't help it…"
"I know," Dorumon said. "It's okay. Gennai explained it to me."
Frimon looked back to Cat. "Cat, you were the one who saved me. I don't know what happened to me, but you made me all better! And I've been waiting for you for such a long time!"
"Waiting for me?" Cat asked, surprised.
"Yeah! You're my partner! How did you fix me, anyway?"
Cat – with interjections from Dorumon – told Frimon about the virus and what the new Digidestined had to do. After her story, Frimon looked angry. "I hate them!" he cried. "I hate the virus makers! It was horrible when I was corrupted. I'll make them pay for what they did… And for what they're doing to all Digimon!"
Dorumon hid behind Marie. "Frimon, stop being scary!" He looked up at the female twin. "Now Frimon there is a Digimon who likes to fight. He's strong, too. Hey, Cat! Use your Digivice on him to see all about him!"
Cat pulled the Digivice out of her pocket. "What do I do with it?" she asked. She still hadn't looked at it much yet. Now she noted that its metallic green cover had a big golden circle on it with intricate symbols drawn on it. It almost looked like a ring, she thought… It almost looked like something very familiar… But she couldn't quite guess what that was. The top of the Digivice also had what looked like an antenna coming out of it, only it was in the middle and not off to one side like a phone.
"Hmm, that's an interesting design," Dorumon said.
"That looks like a cell phone," Mark commented. "What happens if you flip it open?"
Cat did so, and saw that inside looked a lot like a cell phone. It had a full keyboard of letters and numbers, as well as the other common keys to a phone, below the screen, which was blank.
"Close it again and point it at Frimon," Dorumon instructed. "The little pointy thing."
Closing it, Cat aimed the D-Hacker at Frimon. A holographic image appeared over the ring on the front, in the same size and with the same golden border. The image was of Frimon, and his name was below his picture.
"Frimon," came a voice from the D-Hacker. "A lesser-type Digimon with a frill on his neck. He is able to harden the fur on his frill and use it as armor when danger gets too close. His Tail Slap attack is powerful enough to knock out a Rookie level Digimon."
Frimon nodded. "It's true!"
"Um, whose voice was that?" Mark asked.
"The D-Hacker's, I guess," Cat answered, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, anyway, I'm glad to see that you're awake again, Frimon!"
"I'm glad to be awake! And I'm all energized! Except… well…" His stomach growled again. "Sorry. My stomach's not very subtle."
"Oh! Don't worry, Gennai gave me a bunch of food for you," Cat said, revealing a pouch from her pocket. Inside were miniature cookies, and Frimon's eyes lit up when he saw them. Dorumon looked jealously on and tried not to drool too much as Frimon gobbled down the cookies. Cat could only laugh at his pace.
Tiffany, on the other hand, stared at Frimon. "That thing is like… one of those things in sinks. You know? Where you throw stuff down it and it, like, goes away?"
"Garbage disposer," Cat supplied.
"Nobody asked you, Cat! You, you… you garbage poser!" Tiffany shot back.
Cat shrugged. "That was pretty bad," she said.
"Well, you're the one familiar with garbage, so maybe you can make better jokes about it," Tiffany retorted.
Cat's eyes lit up. "Okay! Um… What's red, black, and white all over?"
Mark also looked excited. "Oh! A… newspaper?"
"Yeah!" Cat grinned. "Well… um… make it more garbage-related."
"A newspaper… in the trash?"
Cat clapped. "Yay!"
Tiffany sighed. "You think my joke was bad? That was positively, absolutely, utterly, astoundingly… completely… very… really… bad."
"Okay, Marie, it's your turn to tell a joke!" Mark declared, turning to his sister. She wasn't paying attention. Her head was turned and her green eyes were intently watching the forest where Miguel had disappeared. Mark blinked, forgetting Miguel for a moment. "Marie? Are you okay?"
She looked back at him, a worried expression on her face. "Miguel hasn't come back yet. What if… what if a big Digimon got him?"
Mark shook his head. "He's smart. I'm sure he knows what he's doing."
"But he's only a human! You saw Leormon, and he was only a Rookie. Gennai said there are three other stages above Rookies. What if Miguel came across one of them? Leormon was bad enough, and we couldn't even beat him all combined!" She glanced at Frimon. "Sorry," she said. "I know it wasn't your fault."
"It's fine," he said between mouthfuls. "I'm the sorry one."
Dorumon sighed. "I should have gone after him. Oh, why didn't I go after him? I was just so excited to see Frimon was awake again, and… oh, Gennai will be so angry if we come back and he's not there! Almost as mad as the time Frimon and I nearly destroyed that Destiny Stone! Remember that? He was really mad then!"
Frimon nodded gleefully. "Yeah. Being as it was the last one, and everything. It's not like we meant to fall in that soup lake thing."
"Should I go after him now?" Dorumon asked frantically. "Oh, I'm no tracker. We need some kind of doggy Digimon for that. Or a flying one. Agh, I'm useless!" He hid his head under his paws.
"Don't worry," Marie said, picking him up. "I'm sure Mark's right. And Miguel will remember where Gennai's house is. It'll be fine. We'll see him soon."
"Should we stay here or go in his direction?" Mark asked.
"Let's leave a letter here for him and go the way he went!" Cat said. "Who has paper?"
Nobody did.
"Okay, well… Here! Here're some sticks!" Cat began collecting twigs from the ground. "We can make a message out of them!" She threw the bundle in front of her. "What should we say?"
Tiffany wasn't paying attention. Instead, she was lost in her head, thinking of how much she wanted to go back home. Well, not home, because her family was too annoying. But back with her friends. Or in her room, where her stupid sisters weren't supposed to bother her. But she was suddenly jolted out of these thoughts when she heard a noise from the woods near her – like a huge crashing. Everyone else, except for Cat, jumped as well.
"Uh oh," Dorumon said. "That doesn't sound good."
Cat was intent on writing the message to Miguel. She had shaped "Go back to Gen" so far, and was working hard to finish the "nai's house" of the message. She glanced up to see everyone else on their feet – well, except for Frimon, who didn't have feet.
"Huh? What is it?" Cat asked.
"Didn't you hear that noise, idiot?" Tiffany snarled, though Cat saw fear in her eyes. 'There's something in there!"
Mark stood protectively in front of Marie, who had gathered up Dorumon in her arms. Tiffany had also scooted behind Mark. Frimon was standing his ground in front of Cat.
Suddenly, a large Digimon came crashing out of the trees, knocking over a few and breaking branches of others. It looked like a huge grey pile of sludge with large silver claws and fangs. It had metal plates on its eyes and smelled terribly. The virus symbol was on its forehead.
Tiffany screamed. "What is that thing?" she demanded, plugging her nose.
"Raremon," Dorumon said. "It's Champion level! We gotta run!"
"Agreed," Mark said. "Come on, Marie!" He grabbed her arm and tugged her away. Tiffany raced after them. "Wait for meee!"
Cat glanced up at the approaching Raremon, her eyes starting to water from the stench. But she wasn't done with her message yet.
"Cat!" Frimon yelled. "We have to go! I can't fight that thing!"
Cat blinked. "But the message! What if Miguel comes and doesn't get what it means?"
"He'll get what it means! Come on, we have to run!" Frimon wrapped his tail around her arm and tried to pull her.
"Okay!" Cat said, adding one last twig and picking up Frimon. She ran towards the others, going as fast as she could. "That thing smells like wet garbage!"
Finally, they had run so far that they no longer smelled Raremon. They all took a break from running in a small meadow that Tiffany found to be covered with mud puddles.
"It's gross here," she said, still shaking from the encounter with Raremon.
"Not as gross at that last Digimon, though, right?" Cat asked, trying to be optimistic. "That thing was like a walking garbage dump."
"You would know," Tiffany growled. "I hate this world! All the stupid Digimon are so disgustingly gross and I hate them and I want to go home and no Digimon is even cute at all!" She stomped on the ground, but her flip-flop got stuck in the mud. "Aggh!"
"She said I wasn't cute!" Dorumon cried.
Marie patted him. 'There, there," she said. "I think you and Frimon are both cute."
Frimon sulked. "I'm not cute," he said. "I'm ferocious!"
"OH MY GOD!" Tiffany suddenly shrieked, making them all jump.
"What?!" Mark asked. "What happened? Is Raremon back?"
"No!" Tiffany cried. "Look how cute that little darling is!" She pointed to a small Digimon, forgetting she had just said all Digimon were ugly, who had appeared from behind the grass. It looked almost like a small sheep, with a puffy white body. Its legs, floppy ears, and curled tail were pink. Choppy bangs fell over its face. On the soft fur under its face was the virus symbol. The Digimon glared at them, though Tiffany still found it adorable.
"Let me use my D-Hacker!" Cat said, pointing her green Digivice at the Digimon.
"Shaomon," it said. "A small In-Training Digimon with demonic powers. It is usually very friendly."
"In-Training!" Cat exclaimed. "We can fight it, right, Frimon?"
Frimon nodded. "Yeah!" He jumped to the ground and in between Shaomon and the Digidestined. "So I really have to destroy it?"
"Yeah," Cat said. "I know it seems kind of harsh, but Gennai said that as soon as it turns into data, my D-Hacker will absorb it and purify the data, then re-create the Digimon."
Frimon nodded. "Well, then I trust Gennai. Tail Slap!" Frimon rushed at Shaomon and hit it with his tail. Shaomon went flying across the field with a cry.
"Oh, stop it!" Tiffany shrieked. "It's too cute to hurt!"
Marie closed her eyes. She couldn't watch the fight. Mark, on the other hand, was cheering Frimon on. "Come on, Frimon! You can destroy that ball of fluff!"
Frimon darted after Shaomon. "Tail Slap!" he cried, whacking Shaomon with his tail as soon as the little Digimon tried to get up again. Now the small sheep-like Digimon flew towards the Digidestined and fell against the ground hard.
"I thought you said this attack was strong enough to knock out a Rookie Digimon!" Cat called. "Isn't this one only In-Training?"
"I feel bad!" Frimon said. "But I guess I can't hold back anymore. Destroying it will help it. Tail Slap!" This time, Shaomon flew high up in the air, not far away. As it came back down to the ground, it fell towards a mud puddle.
"No!" Tiffany cried, then jumped towards it. She caught the Digimon just before it fell in the mud. Then she picked it up and looked at it. "There," she said. "You're too cute and clean to get all muddy and gross!"
Shaomon could only stare at her with shocked eyes. "Tiffany?" she said before fainting. Tiffany blinked. "Whaaat? What just happened?"
Dorumon smiled. "Yay!" he said. "Shaomon must be your partner! Come on now, touch the virus symbol!"
Tiffany, bewildered, did as he said. The symbol, like it had on Frimon, shot into the air and turned into small particles before floating away on the wind. Shaomon began to glow, and shrunk into a small ball Digimon who fit in one of Tiffany's hands. In the other hand appeared a glowing object. When the glowing died down, a smaller version of Shaomon was in her right hand and a pink Digivice was in her left hand.
"Is this… Shaomon?" Tiffany asked, staring at the Digimon.
"No, that's her Baby form," Dorumon said. "That's Paomon. Yay! Tiffany found her partner!"
"Paomon?" Tiffany repeated. "My partner?" Suddenly, she lost her balance and fell forward, face-first, into the mud. She held her arms up above her as if by instinct, and both Paomon and her D-Hacker were left mud-less.
"Tiffany!" Marie exclaimed. "Are you okay?"
Tiffany pulled herself out of the mud. "Never better," she said sarcastically, though her wide eyes were still on Paomon – not even on her clothes, which were all covered in muck.
-x-
When they got back to Gennai's house and Tiffany was waiting for her clothes, which were being washed, she still couldn't stop staring at Paomon. She didn't even seem to care that she had to wear Gennai's weird clothes.
Marie came over to her and sat down on the couch next to her with a small smile. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Tiffany nodded. "It's just weird," she said. She still held the pink Digivice tight in her hand, and cradled Paomon in her arms. "I have a partner," she said. "I never even thought about the fact that I was going to get a Digimon like Cat did. I didn't think any of this was real. But… I don't know. I can't, like, explain it. I just… believe it now. I guess Paomon has made it seem more real."
Marie nodded. "That makes sense," she said. "After all, Paomon is your partner. You must feel a kind of special bond with her. So that means you now have a bond to the Digital World as well. That seems to me that it would make you accept Gennai's story. Now you know what it's like to have a Digimon partner."
Tiffany smiled a tiny bit. "Yeah," she said. "I guess so."
"That's so strange that you got a pink and white one," Marie said. "I wonder if Digimon somehow reflect their human partners. Cat and Frimon seem alike to me. And if I were to compare Cat to any animal, it would be a lion."
"So you're saying I'm a sheep?" Tiffany asked.
"No, just that you like pink and white. I think Paomon is a dog, anyway."
"A dog? No way. Shaomon looked so much like a sheep to me. Paomon must be."
Marie laughed. "Okay then. I guess you're probably right, since you're her partner."
"Yeah," Tiffany said with a small smile. "I am."
-x-
Deep in the woods, Miguel still continued on, walking quickly with a determined expression on his face. He had no intention of ever returning to the others. He would be quite fine without them. And he was planning on finding a way home, anyway. This couldn't be a real place. It wasn't possible.
There's no such thing as a Digital World, he thought to himself. And I will find a way out of this stupid place.
He was so intent on getting back home, he didn't notice the shadow that glided after him in the darkness.
End of Chapter Four: Mud
Uh oh... the group's splitting up? And Tiffany actually smiles and does something nice for once? xD Please review and tell me what you think!
