Author's Note: Oh my gosh! That chapter took me so long! Sorry everybody!
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CHAPTER FOUR
Rabbitmon Gets Firepower
After Leomon's fight with Seadramon, Blake and Meggy returned. Becca had changed and come out of the forest to see Leomon beat Seadramon, and Blake and Meggy had come from the forest with firewood in order to see it as well. Everyone congradulated and thanked Prairiemon and Casey. Afterwards, everyone helped to start the fire and they settled down for a peaceful night of sleeping in shifts.
After a restful sleep, the children were awoken by a metallic rattling. They shot up, in fear of yet another attack, and saw a tram car pulling onto the island.
"What the?" Blake muttered.
"Where'd that come from?" Casey asked.
"Look," Cameron said, standing up and pointing. The tram car had come from the direction of the forest, and there were purple-pink neon streaks of light resembling power lines going off into the direction that the tram car had come from.
"Maybe if we follow the light, we'll find where that came from," Cameron said.
The cart moved slowly, coming to a slow, laborious stop on the island.
"Wonder if something's inside," Rainey thought aloud.
"Let's go see," Lopmon suggested.
"Yeah!" Rainey agreed, zig-zagging off towards the door of the car with Lopmon.
"Hey, be careful!" Casey called, his brotherly instincts kicking in. He ran after him, with Prairiemon at his heels.
"I think we should find out where this thing came from," Blake said.
"Why?" Becca asked.
"Yeah, what's wrong with a day of relaxing?" Adam asked, dreading another day of nothing but walking. And the occasional run for your life.
"Mouse, you know I love to relax," Blake said, using Adam's nickname.
Adam nodded. Blake did indeed enjoy the time he spent doing more or less nothing. "Yeah."
"But this is different," Blake said. "We're in this strange world, and we need to find a way home. This car may lead to the exit."
"And we can go home," Meggy reiterated quietly, looking down into space and dreaming of home. Home seemed so far away.
They all joined in with their own silent, longing thoughts of home. Warm sheets, a breakfast of sizzling bacon and perfectly salted eggs, and a family to sheild them from all the dangers that seemed to have come at them en masse in the past twenty four hours.
"Let's go then," Cameron said, snapping everyone out of their stupor. At that moment, they heard Rainey complaining loudly about not finding anything.
"What did you expect to find?" Casey asked, rolling his eyes slightly so his brother couldn't see.
"Something different than nothing!" Rainey replied.
"We're going to go find where this thing came from," Blake announced.
"Have we packed everything up?" Adam asked.
"What 'everything' are you talking about?" Blake asked sarcastically.
"Just trying to make sure we didn't leave anything," Adam replied defensively.
"No," Blake grunted with a bit of anger. He was cranky. He didn't like sleeping on the floor when he went over to a friend's house, much less sleeping on the dirt in a strange world.
"That's my bag," Becca said, reaching for it. Adam had strapped it to his back.
"It's okay," Adam replied, pulling on the pack to make it more comfortable. "I'll take it."
"You sure?"
"Yeah," he replied. Adam felt a little small and insignificant, and this would help him stand out in the group and do something important. He would be the keeper of food.
"Anyways," Blake butted in angrily, restraining himself. He realized that patience was a virtue, but it certainly wasn't one of abundance in Blake.
"Which way did it come from?" Casey asked.
"We saw some energy lines running off in that direction," Cameron explained.
"At least, that's what we think they were," DemiDevimon supplied, hoping it helped. He personally felt a little left behind by his partner. Cameron was very smart, and DemiDevimon was feeling a little stressed to keep up. But it wasn't too hard to simplify what Cameron said. He just prayed it didn't get harder.
"Then let's go!" Blake said, ending conversation and marching off with Gizamon before any more conversation could ensue. The others followed.
-
"Oh my gosh, it's so hot!" Meggy complained for what had to be the hundredth time. Everyone else grumbled acknowledgement and agreement.
Meggy would have felt childish and weak about complaining so much, except that everyone else had been complaining just as much as she. Even the Digimon were moaning.
The children had gone in the direction that the car had come from and were now walking through a desert that was so hot that literally everything was waving and shimmering in the heat being reflected from the dust.
"What's that?" Cameron said. It was he who'd complained the least, being reserved instead to thought and observation. DemiDevimon had more than made up for it, being inclined to cold or warm environments, but nothing that got terribly hot.
Everyone looked where Cameron's finger was pointing. There, in the distance, were large black shapes in no particular order, zig-zagging through the desert wasteland. They rippled and waved with the rising heat.
"Towers," Rabbitmon said in a weak, parched voice.
"They look like some things from our world," Meggy explained, pulling Rabbitmon off of the ground and into her arms. Maybe if she was being carried, she would cool off a little.
"Yeah," Becca agreed. She'd been carrying Otamamon the whole time in the desert. Since Otamamon was very much a water-loving Digimon, she couldn't stand the heat. Becca was helping her every way she could.
The kids travelled to the base of what turned out to be the large wire-frame towers that connected power lines. Strangely, though, there were no lines connecting the black towers.
"That's wierd," Cameron muttered.
"What's wierd," DemiDevimon asked.
"They're supposed to have thick black wires running from one to the other," Cameron explained, trying to give DemiDevimon a mental picture of what he knew so well from the real world.
DemiDevimon wasn't stupid, but he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box either. He stumbled over Cameron's descriptions, not being able to grasp things beyond what he'd seen for himself. Cameron's attempts at letting DemiDevimon see the lines mentally proved as difficult as describing cold to someone who'd never felt it.
"I understand," Rabbitmon said encouragingly to Cameron.
"Maybe you can help DemiDevimon understand sometime."
"Looks like it just keeps going!" Blake called from a ways off. He was motioning to the power lines.
"Guess they keep going," Meggy said, smiling slightly. Rabbitmon laughed quietly in her arms.
They all trudged along after Blake, who was running off of pure impatience.
They followed the lines for a while, which kept getting more and more spread out, until they could see a canyon.
"Wonder where that goes," Becca thought out loud.
"One way to find out," Casey said.
"Do we have to?" Prairiemon sighed tiredly from beside him.
Blake was already at the edge of the canyon, looking down into the depths. They saw him and Gizamon jump joyfully into the air. The two turned and shouted at the others to hurry.
"We're coming!" Adam called back grumpily.
Meggy was bringing up the rear at this point, and therefore was the last to behold the valley in the canyon.
"Oh, wow!" Meggy cried out in surprise.
They were overlooking a small village, it seemed. Small houses made out of dried mud that looked like simple cylinders of only a few feet in height, with curving roofs to top it off. They resembled acorns sticking out of the ground without the stems on top. The houses were in circles five circles, all closing in on what seemed to be a well in the middle of the village. There were little pink things all around the well.
"Hey, let's go see if they have some water," Meggy suggested.
"Yeah!" Blake agreed loudly. He plowed off down a narrow dirt road that led down into the village. Gizamon and the others followed, groaning for their aching feet.
The pink creatures didn't notice as they approached, and only noticed as they entered the outer circle of waist-high huts. The creatures turned and bounced towards them.
They were pink little balls, with blue flower petals coming from their heads, with yellow designs on them, and a red stem coming from the top. The creatures had lots of little tiny feet-like things and big green eyes that were currently downcast and brimming with tears.
"They're Yokomon," Lopmon said.
Meggy noticed the sadness that was in their eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked them.
"Oh, it's just horrible," one of the Yokomon said in a high-pitched voice. "Since our village is in this desert, we depend on a small underground river. Recently, the river dried up. Now we don't know how we're going to get any water."
"Oh my goodness!" Rabbitmon and Meggy said in unison.
"That's terrible!" Becca exclaimed.
"Where does the river come from?" Cameron asked, already trying to fix the problem in his head.
"The river originates on that mountain," the same Yokomon, seemingly the leader, pointed with the red stem to a mountain in the distance. The mountain was small and shaped kind of like a wedding cake, with a small layers piled on top of larger ones, going about seven or eight high.
"At the top, there's the river's mouth. There's a guard Digimon that protects the mouth, but something must have happened."
"Has the guard Digimon ever had anything happen to him before?" Cameron asked.
"Never," Yokomon answered.
"Maybe we should go up there and check it out," Blake suggested.
"More walking," Rainey complained in a whisper that Blake couldn't hear.
Suddenly, there was a flash from the mountain top.
"What was that?" Adam cried.
"Maybe it's the guardian," Cameron replied cooly.
"The guardian never shows himself in the village," Yokomon explained.
"First for everything," Casey muttered, feeling a sense of dread sweep into him.
There was another flash of light, and an orange, pulsing glow remained on the summit. Then the glow descended the mountain, and the children could see a stream of dust behind it.
"That's gotta be the guardian!" Meggy whispered. Everyone's eyes were trained on the glow, approaching at a terrifying speed. Now, an orange figure could be seen in the midst of the glow.
Adam could feel his legs begin to shake from fear of the worst that could happen. Whoever this was, Adam was sure that this being was the reason for the drying up of the well. That meant that he was probably a pretty strong guy.
"Here he comes," Casey breathed.
They could now see the figure pretty well. He was humanoid, but made up of seemingly nothing but orange and red flame. Big blue eyes could be seen on his face. The sound of slightly maniacal laughter reached the ears of the children.
"Is he . . . okay?" DemiDevimon questioned at the sound of the laugh.
They held their breath until the creature stopped, overlooking the kids, village, and villagers from the top of the cliff.
He opened his mouth wide, letting loose a long cackle.
"Who are you?" Gizamon demanded.
"I'm Meramon!" he cried. Then he added in a maniacal scream, "It burns!"
"Burns?" Cameron asked.
"Well he is on fire," Lopmon muttered.
"Fireball attack!" Meramon yelled, a ball of flames forming in his right hand. He launched the ball towards the kids, who dodged in different directions. The fireball caused a huge explosion, showing a crater that it left behind.
"Whoa!" Casey yelled.
"What was that for?" Otamamon demanded angrily.
"Burning! Burning!" Meramon screamed.
"He's not making any sense," Rabbitmon said.
"Fireball attack!" Another crater was formed, but his aim was a little worse this time.
"Cut that out!" Blake yelled.
"Aaaaagh! Burning!" Meramon screamed again.
"What do you mean?" Becca called concernedly.
"Huah!" Meramon called, and suddenly his size began increasing. He grew another foot or two, and then he looked at the kids with a new, horrible glint in his eye. His bright blue that they had first seen had suddenly been replaced by a dull, glazed blue.
"Look out!" Cameron yelled, noticing the balls of fire forming in both of Meramon's hands.
Meramon cried out as he went into a frenzy, slinging fireballs left and right.
"Meggy!" Rabbitmon called, seeing a fireball heading right towards her.
"Aah!" she yelled. The ball landed a few feet in front of her, and she was engulfed in smoke. She cried out as small, sharp pieces of rock from the blast cut her. She lost balance and fell on her butt.
"Meggy, are you okay?" Rabbitmon said, patting a cut on her arm gingerly.
"I'll be fine."
"Good," Rabbitmon sighed with relief. She turned to look at Meramon. "You sure picked the wrong village to attack today!"
"Heh heh," Meramon chuckled cockily. His face contorted suddenly, and once more he cried out, "It burns!"
"I'm gonna make you pay for even thinking about hurting my friend!" Rabbitmon growled.
Meggy looked down at her Digivice, which had suddenly started beeping and shining. "She's Digivolving!"
Rabbitmon was bathed in light, and she cried, "Rabbitmon! Digivolve to . . ."
" . . . Lynxmon!"
"Wow," Meggy breathed. "Look at her!"
Lynxmon was a large, lion-like, tiger-like, panther-like big cat, wreathed fully in red and yellow flames. She had intense emerald eyes and long, sharp teeth. It had purple tips on its pointed ears and purple tipped whiskers.
"Incredible!" Blake exclaimed.
"Go Lynxmon!" Rainey yelled triumphantly.
Lynxmon let out a roar that made even Meggy's legs tremble. Lynxmon shot off, scaling the vertical wall with a speed and ease that made the kid's jaws drop.
"She didn't slow down at all!" Cameron said.
Meramon was caught pretty off guard, but he did manage to get a haywire Fireball attack sent off in the completely wrong direction. Lynxmon shot over the cliff edge with a speed and angry glare that made Meramon take a few steps back.
"Wild Nail Rush!" Lynxmon cried, slashing Meramon across the chest with orange, fiery claws.
"Aaah!" Meramon screamed in pain. Then, face once more contorting in what was now distinguishable agony, he screamed, "It burns! Aaaah!"
Lynxmon began dashing around the screaming, spasming Meramon. As Lynxmon passed around Meramon's backside, she saw a bit of black sticking out of his lower back. Wierd, Lynxmon thought as she passed. Maybe . . .
"Fireball!" Meramon called suddenly. The fireball hit dead on, knocking Lynxmon to the edge of the cliff. She stuck her sharp, white claws into the cliff, dangling desperately from the cliff face.
"Lynxmon, no!" Meggy wailed, desperately trying to think of something to do.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Meramon cackled, swinging his arms around wildly and screaming in both pain and glee at once. He began to pulsate, growing larger and then shrinking again, and then larger and then shrinking, over and over.
"He's going crazy," Casey whispered.
"Lynxmon!" Meggy screamed again, fighting back the tears.
"Meggy!" Lynxmon grunted painfully. "Meggy, don't worry! It'll be okay!"
"Lynxmon," Meggy whispered. Then she realized that crying wouldn't help anything. "Go, Lynxmon!" she yelled out.
Right! Lynxmon strained her muscles, surging power through her limbs and shooting back over the cliff edge, even faster than before. Meramon lost his balance just from seeing Lynxmon's incredible speed and strength.
"Thermal Mane!" Lynxmon cried from behind Meramon.
Meramon's head snapped around. "No!"
The fire that made up Lynxmon's body surged, and her face was engulfed in brilliant flames. Only her green eyes could be seen. Then the fire warped down into a ball hovering in front of Lynxmon's mouth. She roared and the fire streaked towards Meramon. All this happened in a second.
The fire punched into Meramon's back, right where the black was showing. Meramon's scream of agony was piercing, and Meggy felt as if her soul itself was shuddering.
The fire stream ended, and Lynxmon saw the black burst into little particles, that rose a bit in the air and then dissappeared.
Meramon began to shrink, and in a few seconds, he was back to his original size. He was on his knees, his hands in the dirt, panting. Lynxmon padded up to his side, looking at him with concern.
Meggy had run up the path along the cliff and now ran up to Lynxmon's side. "Are you okay, Lynxmon?"
"Yes. I'm a little worried about Meramon."
Meggy walked around Lynxmon and tenatively up to Meramon. She hesitantly touched his shoulder and asked, "Are you all right?"
"Thank you," Meramon laboriously gasped.
"Um," Meggy started, not having expected such an answer. "You're welcome?"
"What happened?" Lynxmon asked. "What was that thing in your back?"
"I don't know," Meramon pushed himself up into a sitting position. "I was just guarding the spring like I always do and something hit me in the back. It caused a lot of pain, and I just went crazy."
-
They were around the well. The children and the Yokomon were standing around him, and he was sitting on the edge of the well.
"I tried to stop myself," Meramon explained.
"I'd bet that black thing was why you couldn't," Rabbitmon said, having DeDigivolved.
"Let's just be thankful that it's over now," Meggy said.
"It's not over," Cameron said, halting everyone's agreement with Meggy.
"What do you mean?" DemiDevimon asked.
"It's over when the problem's been solved. The Yokomon still don't have water. Problem unsolved."
"Actually," Meramon interjected, "the water of the spring is very strong and unending. My fire evaporated the water that came out, but since I've been gone, the water's probably started flowing again. The well should fill up in only a few minutes.
As if on cue, they all heard the trickle of water resonating from the well.
"You know what, Rabbitmon?" Meggy said, looking fondly at her pink-armored Digimon. "You did it."
Rabbitmon smiled happily. "Thanks Meggy."
Meggy pulled Rabbitmon into a huge hug as the water trickled into the Yokomon's well.