Sorry I haven't been able to update. School has been giving me a lot of work, and I haven't had time to write down any new ideas. So here's episode seven.

Episode seven: "Beastly Battle: Lucas' Choice"

"Lucas… Lucas…" a mysterious voice inside the boy's head, making him wince and turn over in his sleep.

A dark space opened up, swallowing the light inside his head. A figure stood at the far end, about 20 yards away. He had black pants, and a black shirt. His head was dipped down shamefully, as if he had something to hide. The man looked like he was in his late 30's, judging by his physique and some spots of grey hair. Silver dogtags hung from his neck, only one of them tinted light. His head rose slowly, looking Lucas directly in the eye. The man's eyes were wide, wide with loss and despair. Pain shot through the teen, causing him to loose balance and crouch on one knee. The man floated into blackness, as Lucas opened his eyes and sat straight up, panting. The small fox next to him awoke as well, his head turned to his partner.

"This is the third night in a row you've awoken early," said the creature. "Are you ok Lucas?"

The boy looked straight ahead remembering the eyes of loss that he saw just 30 seconds ago. He turned over to the small digimon and nodded. "I'll be fine Kudamon. Don't you worry about me."

Kudamon nodded and rested his head on his arms again to go back to sleep.

"Kudamon?" the white Royal digidestined asked his partner.

The small digimon opened one eye, acknowledging his partner's claim.

"Do me a favor: never change. I like you the way you are," Lucas told him sympathetically.

Kudamon closed his eyes, nodded, and whispered, "I'll never change Lucas, don't worry." And with that, he was asleep.

The boy sighed in relief and looked at his friends. Darryl and Dorumon peacefully slept in the front of the cave, ready to protect everyone else in case danger came. Trevor and Guilmon slept next to the Royal black digidestined, with their friends Jacob and Veemon next to them. The girls, Tawny and Ellena, and their digimon slept at the back, away from the boys.

A rustle was heard in the bushes outside the cave. Lucas quizzically peered outside, stepping past his friends. He saw nothing, only the blackness of night. His head turned, looking for something that wasn't there. Shrugging, he turned back into the cave, but something caught his eye. A shadow seemed to move amongst the fir trees that lined the area.

"Who's there?" the boy cried out. "Show yourself!" But nothing came.

"It's probably nothing," he thought to himself. And with that, he turned back into the cave for the night.

Two red-clawed feet landed on a branch close to the cave. The figure on top of the branch smiled a malicious smile. Two eyes appeared as he opened his hands. He laughed. His feet left the branch and landed in front of the cave where the digidestined lied for sleep. The fire inside lit the figure's face. Kudamon opened his eye for a moment and caught the sight of the face. He lept up and screamed to his friends.

"Everyone get up! We're in danger!"

Dorumon and Darryl were the first to wake, leaping into a fighting stance, ready for battle. Guilmon and Trevor knew what was up, and readied themselves as well. The girls had to wake up their partners, for they were deep asleep. Veemon and Jacob weren't as motivated as the rest. Darryl leaned over his friend, stared Jacob directly in his closed eyes, and screamed.

"Jacob get your lazy butt up and help us look for the threat!"

"I'm up! I'm up! I'm up!" the blonde boy jumped to his feet, yanking Veemon with him.

"What gives? I was having a good dream!" Veemon shouted angrily.

"Dream later! We got a digimon to cleanse!" Darryl turned and stated.

"At this time at night? Why the sudden realization?" Trevor asked him.

"Kudamon woke us up, ask him," the black Royal digidestined replied. Tawny turned to the white fox and asked what was up. Kudamon darkly whispered one word: Dracmon.

"Dracmon? Who is that Kudamon?" his partner asked.

The holy beast turned to his partner and explained his story, "When I was Kentaurosmon, the Royal Knight, I had a feud with a very powerful Demon Beast digimon named GranDracmon. He was the most powerful enemy I had. We fought a long time ago, and I thought I won. But now, he's back; back for revenge. He found me, and wants me dead. As a rookie, I am weak, but so is he," Kudamon trembled as he continued, "But even as two rookies, he is stronger, much stronger. This is a deal I must settle myself."

Kudamon headed towards the entrance of the cave, but Lucas followed him. The boy looked down to his digimon partner, "You promised me you wouldn't change."

The digimon sighed, "This is a part of me that you can't understand."

Lucas' eyes looked empty as he remembered his dream. The voice returned to him, but it was more than a whisper. "Lucas… Lucas…" He whipped around to see the other digidestined looking at him with evil smiles and evil eyes. Their partner digimon looked the same, and wanted to fight. They all took one step closer to the scared Lucas and Kudamon.

"They've changed," Lucas whispered. He grabbed his head and bent over. "They've changed!" He screamed loudly. He looked up with wide eyes to see his friends walk towards them slowly. Veemon bent his knees and readied an attack.

Vee Head Butt

He flew right towards Lucas, but Kudamon jumped in front, protecting his partner. The white fox turned around to see the same small figure standing on a branch with his arms extended. His palms glowed with two powerful eyes, one red and one green. A cloak over his head showed the same eyes on his head. A vicious smile crept along his face and whispered something to himself. Guilmon and Agumon sprung forward, aiming their attacks at Kudamon.

Pyro Sphere

Pepper Breath

"Get out of the way!" Lucas grabbed his partner and ran towards the side, outside the cave.

"What's making them do this Kudamon?"

"Dracmon has them under a spell, Eye of Nightmare. It hypnotizes his enemies and makes them his slaves." Kudamon informed. He was let down and Lucas looked scared.

"You're not gonna become like them? Are you?" the scared boy said.

"Never! I would never change like that! I only change for the better, when I digivolve!" Kudamon cried confidently.

As if a cue, Dracmon jumped down from his branch and landed right in front of the controlled kids. He smiled and became enveloped in a light. The same kind of light that took over the other's partner digimon when they digivolved.

Dracmon digivolve to…

Sangloupmon!

Dracmon no longer was a small undead puppet, but now a purple wolf. He had blades on his feet and neck, and red accents on his side and tail. He growled and leaped into the trees.

"Now he's Sangloupmon! That's even worse than Dracmon!" Kudamon yelled. He searched for his enemy in the surrounding trees, but only saw shadows shooting towards the controlled digidestined.

Black Mind

The shadows now controlled the digidestined and their digimon, but more than before. Kudamon looked up towards his petrified partner and asked, "What now Lucas!?!"

Deep in thought, yet still very afraid, the young boy came up with a plan. "Our friends would become normal again if we destroyed the source, logically."

"Well no duh," Kudamon said, trying to fend off Dorumon, who launched an attack a few moments ago.

Lucas closed his eyes, listening to his surroundings.

"Change. Change in the wind. Change in the sound of the trees. Listen for the change…" he heard movement to the east and opened his eyes. "Kudamon, fire towards that tree!" He pointed to a large fir right behind him.

Holy Shot

A golden light shot from his tail and successfully hit Sangloupmon, and the demon beast fell out. He didn't look too injured, but he stood in the moonlight for all to see. His blades looked more deadly than ever before, glimmering in the light.

"You may have taken control of my friends, and changed the way they think, but they're still my friends! And now, it's time for you to change…back into data!" Lucas cried. He took hold of his digivice and twisted it to the left, like the others have done before.

Initiate! Digivoluiton activate!

Kudamon digivolve to…

Reppamon!

The little fox that was fighting off his hypnotized friends was now a bigger fox with a blade for a tail. His fur off-white with a white face mask and white mane. His paws were black, and the yin-yang symbol on both back thighs. He faced Sangloupmon and snarled.

"I hope I did the right thing," Lucas thought.

As if Reppamon was psychic, he turned to the boy and smiled. "You did," he said. The new champion turned and lunged to the demon beast. The two exchanged their fair share of blows and disappeared into the trees. Lucas looked at his friends worriedly and saw they were no longer under the spell.

"Reppamon must have distracted Sangloupmon and discontinued the Black Mind," Lucas concluded. He rushed over to his friends and asked the always-asked question, "Are you guys alright?"

Darryl rubbed the back of his head, "Just a headache, but I think we can deal with it."

"Where is Kudamon?" Gabumon asked. The others wondered where the little fox went off to.

Lucas smiled and pointed to the trees as two shadows rushed over, "Right there." The two beast digimon sprawled into the open area, staring menacingly at one another.

Guilmon looked up to Trevor, "Should we help?"

Before the red digidestined opened his mouth, Dorumon answered the question, "No. We've all had our chance to do our own thing. Now it's Kudamon's"

Guilmon stepped back and watched the fight.

Vacuum Razor Wind

Reppamon lifted and shook his tail, letting the wind around him morph into blades. The blades accelerated not to the demon beast, but towards the trees around him. They fell, but missed the enemy as he sprung up into the air, contracting his paws. He lunged forward, thousands of tiny blades flying towards Reppamon.

Sticker Blade

The holy beast flew backwards into a tree. The blade tail got stuck into said tree, and couldn't move. Sangloupmon landed softly on the ground, and slowly walked over to the trapped digimon and spoke for the first time.

"Correction: it is you who will be changed into data," he raised his paw, about to shoot another Sticker Blade.

"Reppamon now!" Lucas screamed. His digimon flipped over, balancing against the tree and rapidly swiped his paws at the demon beast.

Rapid Swipe

Sangloupmon backed away, hiding his face into his paws. Reppamon backflipped, lifted the tree from its roots and sent it flying towards the demon beast.

"No need to correct me," he said coolly. The tree collided and weakened his foe. "And now time to finish this feud once and for all!"

Whirling Blade

Reppamon jumped up, spun, and sliced Sangloupmon in half with his blade tail. The demon beast turned into data and disappeared into the night. The champion Royal Knight turned to his partner, bowed, and said softly, "Thank you Lucas, for allowing me to change."

Stunned, the boy bowed himself, "No Reppamon, I need to thank you for allowing me to understand that most of the time, change can be good."

The giant fox smiled. Darryl approached the digimon, looked it up and down and smiled.

"The perfect asset to the team," he said. The others nodded in agreement.

"If we want to reach the dark cloud, we best be off now," Lucas informed the rest of the gang. Ellena took hold of her digivice and let energy loose.

Initiate! Digivolution activate!

Gabumon digivolve to… Garurumon

The two four-legged digimon had people and digimon pile on, and ran off into the night.

Darryl spoke up to the team in mid-run, "Dorugamon and I can scout out ahead for any other enemy digimon."

"Sounds like a plan," Garurumon said.

Dorumon jumped off of the giant wolf, digivolving in the process.

Initiate! Digivolution activate!

Dorumon digivolve to… Dorugamon

Darryl leaped onto his partner's back and flew into the sky. Before long, he saw thunder and lightning in the cloud. Two figures emerged, one male and one female.

"Guys! We're in for it now!"