The Scarred Forest

Shadow- "...wow... I'm impressed... I've gotten more hits (and reviews) in three chapters than I have in most of my other stories. I must be doing something right... oh, by the way, a big thank you to Nameless Dragon, digi-writer1392, Renaki, Dag 417, and Narissa for reviewing!"

Renamon- "Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "Please remember to review!"

digital world, tertiary forest, Kai's POV

Kai read the text off the screen of the dark grey device that had appeared in his hand.

PARTNER DIGIMON: PASSIMON

LEVEL: ROOKIE

TYPE: DATA

ATTACKS: HIGH DROP, QUICK BEAK

Those have gotta be the stupidest names for attacks ever... Kai thought.

He looked up to see what the others were doing just in time to see a fireball impact with the forest canopy above them, sending waves of heat and leafy cinders raining down on them.

Autamon said something about 'bad guys', as everybody else looked up.

Six large wickedly curved claws slashed through the burnt forest above them, ripping apart the bows of the trees with a series of snaps. Sunlight blasted through the opening, and Kai shielded his eyes with his sleeve.

His eyes quickly adjusted, and he saw the creature who had attacked them.

The digimon's head was framed by the broken and burning tops of the trees. It was blazing orange and had what looked like a plate-mail helmet on its head, and its head and upper neck were shaped like a dragon's. Kai snorted. If I had to have a 'partner', why couldn't I have had that thing? The digimon grinned at them, revealing rows of razor-sharp silver teeth.

Fire licked around the edges of the teeth. Crap, it's gonna attack again! "Everyone, move!" Kai yelled, running for cover deeper in the forest.

He looked back, and stopped running after only a few feet. The others were all staring stupidly up at the dragon in shock. Damn it, they're gonna be fried!

"Dark Side Attack!" The dragon yelled, and spat fire into the forest. Kai watched as the others panicked. Serenity covered her head.

Their digimon, though, stood firm. Each one yelled out something different. "Flare Ball!" "Thunder Paw!" "Whirlwind Peck!" "Kitsune Yomeiri!" "Quick Beak!" Kai recognized the last as one of Passimon's attacks.

Streaks of fire and lightning shot upward, intercepting the dragon's attack, and dispersing it. The forest around them caught fire, but no one was hurt.

Kai's digivice flashed once. He looked at it, and saw a picture of the dragon.

DIGIMON: MEGADRAMON

LEVEL: ULTIMATE

TYPE: VIRUS

ATTACKS: DARK SIDE ATTACK, ULTIMATE SLICER

SPECIAL ABILITY: INFERNO

Kai ran over to Passimon. "How did you-"

Before he could finish, the dragon gnashed its teeth, annoyed. "Fine then, if you won't go quietly, then I'll just-"

Daxemon shot forward. "Time Stop!" it yelled.

Kai felt the breath catch in his mouth. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe. He couldn't even think. He only watched as the cat digimon shot upwards at the now-motionless dragon. It slashed several times at the dragon's head, but did no damage.

The air around them and the dragon wavered. Kai felt himself take a half-breath. Daxemon shuddered slightly, then leapt back to the ground, just as the time freeze ended.

Kai took a deep breathe, and staggered slightly. He looked up, and saw the dragon shake its head slightly.

Kai looked over, and saw Daxemon laying on the ground, panting for air. He felt a little sorry for the digimon.

Megadramon growled again, snapping Kai's attention back up. "As I was saying, I'll just overwhelm you! Inferno!"

A blazing outline of fire shot from the dragon at them, filling the sky with a hellish light. The rookie digimon tried again to block it, but failed. As the fire continued on, Krystal screamed. Krystal's digivice lit up, as did Sevramon.

DIGIVOLUTION

"Sevramon, digivolve to... Slanemon!"

"Overshield!" the new digimon yelled, and a curtain of shimmering light snapped into place between them and the flames.

The sky above them filled with fire for a moment, then dissipated. The curtain vanished as well, and Kai looked around at the changed forest.

Forest wasn't really the right word anymore. For hundreds of meters around them, all that was left were burnt stumps and smouldering ashes. The ground on which they stood was the only patch of green left.

The Megadramon moved back slightly. "Wha- how...?"

Kai looked over at Slanemon. Its fur was a shimmering mix of aqua and gold, and blue eyes stared back angrily at the Megadramon as its three tails swished lightly.

"Kitsune Twister!" It yelled, as its three tails spun, creating a wheel of turquoise fire, which then shot at the Megadramon.

The digimon roared in pain as the attack slammed into it, and it fell down onto the burnt earth. It stayed down.

Mark cheered, as Slanemon de-digivolved. The rookie fox digimon, however, did not look happy. "Hurry! We need to go!"

"Huh? Why?" Mark asked. "We won!"

Lacertamon shook its head. "No, we didn't. When digimon are killed, their data loses coherency, and it disappears."

Kai looked back at the Megadramon. It looked pretty coherent.

"So... now what?" Kai asked.

"Simple."Sevramon answered as the Megadramon growled faintly. "We run!"

Kai and the others were so surprised that they stood there for a moment watching the injured digimon as their rookies started running.

"Come on!" Passimon yelled.

Kai snapped out of it, and ran after their digimon, with the others close behind him.

He heard Megadramon roar in pain and anger, just as the group passed from the boundary of the scorched earth into the sanctity of the forest.