So here's chapter 3, there's a blatent reference to the first series of Adventure in here, which I'm sure anyone can easily spot.
I've also started to notice an almost childish element to some of the wording in these chapters, which isn't entirely intentional, but it seems wrong to write it another way. I think it sort of helps portray the infantile nature of both the children and their digimon, as well as the digiworld itself. Things will get darker and more mature in future, but this story needs that childish innocence to it despite the various evils that'll crop up.
While I'm on the subject; if you notice I also describe well known things about the Digimon universe (such as how a Digimon dies) in a descriptive and round-about way (rather than just "[...] died and exploded into data particles,") it is intentional and is meant to show the children's lack of understanding about how the Digital world works.
Anyway, here it is, enjoy 'n' stuff:
Chapter 03 – A New Friend
The cave in which Cubmon and Datirimon had slept was now brightly lit again by the light of day. At the mouth of the cave Cubmon sat, where he had been since the light had first broken through the through night sky.
Behind him, Datirimon still slept peacefully, and Cubmon could not help but smile at the sight of the little Digimon.
'I can't shake this strange feeling…' Cubmon thought to himself, turning to face out of the cave again, watching carefully for any sign that Hiroki and Yukio had returned to their world.
'Hiroki,' Cubmon thought. 'Why is your name so familiar to me? I only even know what it is because Datirimon heard the other calling you by it.'
'And the other hasn't even told us his name yet, either, yet we trust them both implicitly' He considered, chucking slightly at the children's forgetting to even properly introduce themselves in their excitement.
'I don't think Datirimon actually realises that he doesn't even know his partner's name.' Cubmon blinked at his own words. 'Wait, what did I just say?'
Cubmon frowned, confused at why he had referred to the children in this way, and yet it somehow felt right. 'Were we meant to find one another?'
He stepped out of the cave and climbed on top of a boulder that stood nearby, just about gaining a view over the tops of the trees.
In the distance he could see the dark clouds of the storm, now on the other side of the island, the occasional flash of lightning indicating that it still raged.
'I have never known anything like this,' He thought, as he stared at the darkness of the storm. 'It rages and rages, never ceasing... It is no ordinary storm.'
Before he could ponder any further, a flash of light from the nearby sky heralded Hiroki and Yukio's arrival, and Cubmon's heart leapt a little at the thought. He moved to wake Datirimon.
"Datirimon, awake," He said, nudging the small Digimon with his paw.
"Mrh," Datirimon mumbled incoherently, and merely rolled over instead of getting up.
"Come now, little one, the children are here." Cubmon told him, smiling.
"Oh!" Datirimon suddenly cried and leapt up, wide awake, and ran out of the cave in a hurry.
"Datirimon, wait!" Cubmon called, and ran after the green ball that was heading for the jungle. "Do you even know what direction to go?"
Datirimon stopped in his tracks, turning around with sweat on his forehead. "Well… no," He answered and looked at his feet, but Cubmon only chuckled
"Come on, it is this way," He said, and the two set off into the jungle.
Hiroki and Yukio peered into the jungle that had appeared on their TV screen, after a moment of panic, when the digital world had not seemed to load, had passed. There was no sign of the two Digimon that they had met the day before.
"Aw, they're not here!" Hiroki exclaimed, saddened.
"Relax Hiroki; I am sure they are on their way." Yukio smiled, and took up the controller, looking around the area.
"Hey, don't move it! They won't find us!" Hiroki said worriedly, as the little orb of light zoomed around the nearby vegetation.
"I won't go far, stop worrying!" Yukio replied indignantly, and continued on. Suddenly, they heard voices.
"One! Two! One! Two! Mokimon Go!" A chant arose from a little further ahead.
"I wonder who that could be…" Yukio mused, and moved slowly towards the sound, poking the orb through a bush to see where the sound was coming from.
Directly ahead, in a small clearing, stood a group of Digimon lined up in a row. They were very small, not much taller than Datirimon, and looked like small monkeys.
In time with their chant they were punching their small fists in front of them, alternating left and right hands. Yukio grinned at the sight.
"Aw, how cute," Yukio muttered, and Hiroki was about to speak when something flew out of the sky and landed in front of the group of Digimon, who squealed in surprised.
"Oi, you lot!" The creature cried, glaring at the small Digimon with a sinister grin. "You see a small green Digimon around here? He was probably with a Cubmon." He demanded.
The new comer was fairly hideous looking, covered in black fur and with wings extending from either side; this Digimon looked not too dissimilar to a bat.
The little Mokimon looked terrified, and had stopped their apparent training. None of them spoke.
"Well?" The bat Digimon yelled, his glare intensifying. Finally one of the monkey-like creatures spoke up.
"We haven't seen anything! Leave us alone Fruimon!" The brave Mokimon yelled, shaking a fist at the creature.
Angered at this, the Fruimon retaliated to the insubordination. "Sonic Blast!" He yelled.
Though Hiroki and Yukio could not hear a thing, they saw the grass visibly moved by the force of the attack, as if the wind had suddenly blown, and the small Mokimon was knocked backwards.
As it hit the ground, the Digimon seemed to explode, and a dust-like substance flew away from where it landed. The other Mokimon screamed in terror and fled into the jungle.
"Yeah, you better run!" Fruimon taunted them, but then reconsidered his actions. "Aw nuts, now who am I gonna question?" He wondered.
"Ah well, no use standing around here!" He said to himself, and took flight, flying off over the trees.
Yukio and Hiroki blinked in shock, and sat in silence, unsure what to think. Eventually, Yukio spoke.
"W-what d-did he d-do to t-that Digimon?" He stammered, sounding upset.
"I dunno…" Hiroki said, seeming upset too, but before they could dwell on it, a yell came from behind them, although through the television's speakers they could not really tell exactly where it came from.
"Hiroki!" Cubmon yelled, running up to the orb. "Are you okay? We heard yelling."
"We're fine… there were these monkey things… Mokimon I think they said… and another Digimon appeared…" Hiroki said, struggling to organise his thoughts.
"Fruimon. He attacked them, and made one of them disappear." Yukio finished for Hiroki, still looking pretty shaken up.
Cubmon's expression changed, indicating he knew what they meant by 'disappear,' but was reluctant to explain it to them.
"He was looking for you guys," Hiroki added, and he and Yukio looked at the two Digimon with concern.
"Well in that case, we should not wait here long in case he returns," Cubmon said decisively. "Let's go, I think one of the other Orbs is not too far from this location.
"Oh yeah!" Hiroki exclaimed, remembering their quest to find the other children. He and Yukio seemed to forget about the Mokimon.
"Let's get going then." Datirimon spoke up, and the Digimon set off followed by the hovering orb.
After they had been walking through the jungle for some time, Cubmon spoke.
"Hiroki's friend…" He began, but paused.
"…Me?" Yukio asked, looking at Cubmon a little timidly, as they had not spoken to one another directly until now.
"I do not wish to sound rude but… well, what is your name?" Cubmon asked a little awkwardly.
"Uh…" Yukio said, his and Hiroki's eyes widening a little in surprise, heat rising to their cheeks.
"Oh man… I never told them my name." He said mostly to himself in embarrassment. "I'm Yukio" He added apologetically.
"Nice to meet you, Yukio." Cubmon said, with a smile, and noticed Datirimon had not really paid any attention to the conversation. 'I wonder if he feels as familiar with Yukio as I do with Hiroki.' He thought.
After walking for a good while, the group decided to stop and rest.
"We are getting close to where I saw the light come down now, we should rest briefly." Cubmon had suggested, and Datirimon, Yukio, and Hiroki had happily obliged. Even though the two boys were not themselves tired, they were glad to let their Digimon rest.
They were chatting away happily, as the Digimon let the ache in their feet fade, when suddenly Cubmon leapt back up, facing away into the jungle and growling.
"What is it?" Hiroki asked, sounding concerned.
"Something…" Cubmon began, his eyes scanning the jungle before him. "There, in that bush!"
Datirimon got to his feet as well now, and Yukio rotated the orb to face where Cubmon was looking. Sure enough, a few feet away a bush was shaking as something inside it was moving.
"Uhh… what if it's Fruimon?" Yukio said, fear in his voice.
"Then we'll fight him, right Cubmon?" Hiroki said determinedly, but Cubmon was too focused on the shaking bush to reply.
They watched for what felt like an eternity as the tension in their bodies rose, until finally something emerged from the bush.
Before them stood a four-legged creature, fawn coloured fur covering its body, and a bushy tail swaying between its legs, each of which had hooves. It looked like a small horse.
Cubmon visibly relaxed, and Datirimon smiled widely. Yukio and Hiroki merely blinked at the new Digimon.
"Hi!" Datirimon said, taking a step forward, but the Digimon only turned its head, and peered at him.
"I'm Datirimon… what's your name?" Datirimon asked, taking another step. This time the horse-like Digimon suddenly turned and ran away.
"Aw… I must've scared him off." Datirimon said, looking dejected.
"Don't worry little guy, he's probably just shy." Yukio quickly comforted.
"I wonder what he was doing out here? You don't see many horses in jungles." Hiroki wondered, but no one had any answers.
At Cubmon's suggestion, they soon set off again as they were now closing in on the location that Cubmon believed the light off one of the other children had landed.
They reached another small clearing and decided to stop again.
"So… Cubmon, now that we're around where you saw the light, how are we actually gonna find where the orb is?" Hiroki asked, thinking.
"Hmm? You mean you don't have a way to locate them?" Cubmon asked expectantly.
Hiroki gaped and Yukio simply stared blankly at the lion-like Digimon, who still awaited a response patiently.
"Uh… No. I thought you'd have an idea." Hiroki finally said plainly.
"No. How would I be able to find them?" Cubmon asked honestly.
"Uh… well you lead us here." Hiroki said, scratching his head.
"Yes, I saw whereabouts the light shone down from the sky, but now we are here, they could be anywhere around the area." Cubmon explained simply.
"Aw man, how are we ever going to find them then?" Hiroki said desperately, but no one had any ideas.
The four of them waited in silence for inspiration, but nothing seemed to come, and the desperation grew.
Just then, a high pitched scream pierced the air, a pitch surely only reachable by a young girl, and they all turned in the direction of the sound.
"Whoa! That didn't sound like a Digimon." Hiroki cried, and Yukio quickly agreed. They all rushed off in the direction of the sound.
They sped through the trees and finally reached the edge of the jungle, and emerged from the tree line. Ahead of them the ground quickly turned from grass to sand, and they realised they had reached a desert.
Before they had time to gall over this drastic change in terrain, an orb that looked exactly like Hiroki and Yukio's came speeding along the edge of the tree line towards them, closely followed by a low flying Digimon.
"Aah! It's Fruimon!" Yukio cried, and sure enough the Digimon was none other than the bat-like creature they had encountered before.
"Cub Flame!" Cubmon yelled, and a fireball shot from his mouth and flew at the Fruimon, who merely angled to one side and avoided the fireball.
Cubmon fired another shot but missed again, and he growled in anger.
"We need to save her!" Hiroki cried out, desperate since his Digimon's attacks weren't working.
The orb blew past them, creating a gust of wind as it did, and the bat Digimon was closing in.
"Bubble Blow!" Datirimon suddenly cried to everyone's surprise, and he leapt into the air, blowing bubbles from his mouth at the speeding Fruimon.
One of the bubbles struck Fruimon in the face, and it burst and stuck to his eyes, and the bat screeched at the sudden inability to see. He crashed into the mid-air Datirimon and sent him flying and landing head first in the sand of the desert.
Fruimon veered off and crashed into the sand as well, coming to a stop as it sent chunks of sand flying into the air.
"Datirimon!" Yukio yelled in fear at his fallen friend, and flew the orb over to him.
A muffled yell came from the sand, and Datirimon's feet wriggled. Cubmon hurried over and quickly dug the Digimon out of the sand.
Datirimon stood up and shook his head to rid the sand from his fur, and looked quite shaken.
"Ugh! I'm never doing that again!" He exclaimed, but Yukio smiled.
"I thought it was a very courageous thing to do," Yukio said happily. "You're pretty brave, for a little guy." He added.
"How cute," came a voice, and they looked up to see the Fruimon stood on the sand, having recovered from his own fall as well.
"I'll destroy you after I'm done with this one!" He yelled, and turned back to the orb from which they had heard the scream before. It had stopped moving and was cowering against the tree line. Fruimon advanced slowly, and then took flight straight at the orb, opening his mouth.
"Sonic Blast!"
"Hind Kick!" Something yelled all of a sudden, and a shape flashed from out of the tree line and struck Fruimon in the jaw, causing his head to rear up and his attack to veer off harmlessly. Fruimon tumbled to the ground once more, but got up quickly and glared at the newcomer.
Stood proudly and defiantly in front of the orb was the horse-like Digimon they had met just a little while before, his fur blowing slightly in the gentle breeze.
"I won't let you hurt her!" The Digimon said, threateningly.
"You and who's army?" Fruimon asked sarcastically.
"Cub Flame!" Cubmon yelled, and, this time unaware, the fireball caught Fruimon in the back and he screeched in pain.
"This one!" Hiroki exclaimed forcefully, and Fruimon turned, seeing that he was outnumbered.
"Grr… don't like to fight fair, huh?" Fruimon taunted.
"Did you fight fair against those Mokimon?" Yukio asked, speaking up suddenly and sounding angry.
"There were four of them and one of me. Is that not 'fair'?" Fruimon jeered.
"They didn't stand a chance and you knew it!" Yukio cried, his temper rising quickly.
Cubmon, Datirimon, and the horse-like Digimon all poised ready to attack again and Fruimon finally conceded to the unfavourable odds.
"Bah, pests! Just you wait, I'll be back to show you some respect!" The bat-like Digimon yelled, and he quickly flew away. The children's Digimon let him flee.
Finally, with the drama over, the second orb slowly approached from the tree line. Hiroki spoke up.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"I… I think so." The voice of a young girl spoke from the orb; she sounded no older than Hiroki or Yukio.
Hiroki smiled. "Hi, I'm Hiroki, what's your name?" He asked.
There was a short pause as the girl behind the orb seemed to consider the question, and then she answered.
"I'm Myoki, thank you dearly for saving me." She said, and smiled though mostly out of habit, as the others could not see clearly enough into her orb to tell.
"You're welcome, and nice to meet you then, Myoki, my friend here is Yukio and these are our Digimon, Cubmon, and Datirimon." Hiroki explained. Cubmon visibly tensed at the phrase 'our Digimon', but he did not protest the description.
"Honoured to meet you all… especially you," She said, and turned to horse-like creature, but before it could reply, Myoki squealed.
"Pony!" She cried, having only just gotten a good look at the Digimon, and she whizzed her orb closer for a better look. The Digimon looked nervous.
"Uhm… you may call me Bellamon." He said, watching the orb going around him in circles repeatedly.
"She's so pretty! I hope I can keep her!" Myoki said excitedly, ignoring Bellamon's words.
"…Uhm… I think it's a boy, I mean, listen to his voice." Hiroki said, sounding somewhat confused.
"Actually… we Digimon aren't divided into gender…" Bellamon explained, and Hiroki and Yukio gawked.
"See? She can be a she, and she's my little pony!" Myoki exclaimed again, and Bellamon looked more nervous than ever.
"You sure had good timing, Bellamon, how did you find us?" Yukio asked, moving his orb a little closer to the Digimon.
"I followed you from back where we met." Bellamon explained, much to the surprise of Yukio, Hiroki and Datirimon. Cubmon however confirmed it.
"Indeed, he was following us for quite some time." He said, and Hiroki gawked again.
"What? We were being followed and you didn't tell us? Why?" Hiroki cried in disbelief.
"Nobody asked." Cubmon stated simply.
"What if he attacked?" Hiroki went on.
"I sensed no threat from him." Cubmon said, still acting as if his reasoning was obvious. Hiroki fell quiet, looking at Cubmon dryly.
"Oh no." Myoki said suddenly, and the others looked at her worriedly.
"I gotta go, Mom's calling. Sorry!" Myoki said, but Hiroki interrupted quickly.
"Wait!" He said, "Will you be here tomorrow?"
"Uhm… sure, why?" Myoki asked.
"Well, there are others here besides us three, and we're trying to find them all. There is this really bad guy called Goblimon going around beating up other Digimon, and we want to stop him, together." Hiroki explained hurriedly.
"Well… if there are any more nasty things like that horrible bat… I might need a couple of brave boys to save me, as well as my beautiful pony. Hehe!" Myoki said, and giggled.
"Uh… yeah…" Hiroki said. "So you'll join us?"
"Yeah, sure." Myoki replied and Hiroki cheered happily, Yukio did too though somewhat less enthusiastically.
"Now I really gotta go!" Myoki said, and the orb slowly faded from view without another word.
"Wait! Make sure you wait for us here!" Hiroki yelled as the orb faded, but he did not know if she heard.
"Oh… she left." Bellamon said, looking dejected.
"Don't worry, Bellamon, she'll come back tomorrow and she'll reappear here." Datirimon announced happily, and bounced a little.
"Hey, Hiroki, that reminds me, I'm gonna have to go home soon too." Yukio said, and the two boys looked a little sad too.
"You can come back tomorrow, right?" Datirimon asked, hopeful, but the boys' expressions did not change and he looked worried.
"Well… its Sunday today, so we have school tomorrow… so probably not." Yukio explained, but then Hiroki looked determined.
"No! This is too important, we have to come tomorrow. You'll just have to come here after school. Dad'll be at work so he won't be here to yell at me, so long as you leave before he gets home." Hiroki said, and Yukio's eyes lit up again.
"Yeah! My mom'll be okay with that, she's obsessed with my having friends." Yukio said, and the two boys clasped hands, vowing to return the next day again, and turn turned their console off too with a quick 'goodbye!'
As Hiroki and Yukio's orb faded from the Digiworld, Cubmon and Datirimon looked a little saddened, which Bellamon noticed, but then Cubmon took charge.
"Okay, we need to rest and be strong for them tomorrow; I suspect we will run into many more of the likes of Fruimon." He said. "Let us find a place to rest, and return here tomorrow."
The other two Digimon agreed, and they set off to find a place to sleep.
End of Chapter 03