A cold chill and a low rumble of thunder woke Yuuki, he stirred and groaned a bit, a rock floor for a bed wasn't the greatest thing to wake up to. As he opened his eyes he found himself staring into two large, yellow orbs implanted in a black, throw-pillow like body.
The throw-pillow blinked. Yuuki blinked back. Cautiously, Yuuki sat up and scanned the sea of similar little black throw-pillows and large yellow eyes that filled the small cave. All the orbs were fixated on Yuuki who seemed to be the only one fully awake, the other three were had just begun to stir.
"Um, hi?" Yuuki greeted the creatures, tentatively.
"Oooo!"
"Okay, you're starting to freak me out a little."
"Be calm," Wanyamon yawned, "They are only Botamon, Fresh Digimon, only babies, they could not harm you if they tried and believe me, they do not wish to try. All they want is to know whether or not you will play with them."
"Play!" the Botamon chimed in unison, bouncing up and down, excitedly.
"Joy," Yuuki sighed.
He carefully dislodged a few Botamon from his arms and stood up.
"What're you doing?" asked Akio, sleepily, as Yuuki made his way over to the mouth of the cave.
"I'm just gonna see what it looks like outside."
As he studied the sky, trying to figure out whether the storm was moving in or moving out, he began to think about his still missing friends. He glanced back over his shoulder at Akio who was playing with the Botamon. The boy was probably anxious to find his brother, too. Still it didn't look like they were going anywhere today.
"How is the weather?" Wanyamon bounced up next to Yuuki.
"Not good, looks like the storm's just getting started. We're gonna have to wait it out," Yuuki leaned against the rock wall.
"Oh, is that Firamon?"
Yuuki looked up and sure enough the large lion digimon was bounding across the rocky grassland towards them. As the digimon leaped into the cave and shook the rain from his fur he greeted the children and their digimon, "Good morning, little ones. I must apologize I'm certain the accommodations are far from what you're used to, still how was your rest?"
"It was fine," Yuuki brushed off the question.
"Ah, good," Firamon sat down and was immediately swarmed by Botamon, in an incredible display of tolerance he ignored the bouncing throw-pillows and continued talking with Yuuki, "I've met up with some contacts, they tell me that the way north to the Guardian is becoming more dangerous by the hour, the Diseased are swarming and a worse danger is stalking the lands. As such I've been instructed to give you all the information you'll need here, then we can begin our journey north."
"Alright," Yuuki sat down on the floor, "What are the Diseased?"
"A difficult question right away? You do not disappoint, young Yuuki," Firamon chuckled, "The Diseased are digimon who have been affected by a virus. We know very little about this but I can say with some certainty that this virus is not natural. Especially, since the beginning of this plague corresponded with the appearance of a human who has been actively hunting digimon."
"Another human? So then us and our friends are not the only ones here?"
"No, indeed not, there are the six of you, the Hunter, and the Guardian, himself, as far as I'm aware. Although there are rumors of other humans wandering about."
"Wait, us six? You mean, there's one more?"
"From what the Guardian's messenger has told me there are six of you young Digi-Destined. I'm afraid I don't know much more though."
Yuuki shook his head, "Who is this 'Guardian' person anyway?"
Firamon sighed, "The Guardian is . . . a remnant from a another group of Digi-Destined who came here many years ago. He stayed when the others left and has been watching over us to the best of his ability ever since."
"Okay," Yuuki wasn't entirely satisfied with this answer but he could tell from the look on Firamon's face that he wasn't going to get any more information, "What's a Digi-Destined?"
"Humans who have been chosen to save the Digital World."
"No offense but why do you need humans to save you? What's in it for us?"
"Both valid questions. Much of the answers are a mystery to me I'm afraid but I can tell you that normal digimon are at a vast disadvantage against many of the enemies you will encounter. You see it takes a long time for the average digimon to advance to each stage of our Digivolution, it can take a Champion Digimon such as myself to digivolve to the next level, but for your digimon it's different. They will advance far more quickly, I don't exactly know why, but it has something to do with you children," the lion digimon sighed, "As for what is in it for you, the Digital World and your world are very tightly linked, a disturbance in one can easily spell the beginning of the end for both, perhaps more."
"I see," Yuuki picked up a Botamon who had been begging for his attention for several minutes, "So what exactly are we supposed to do?"
"Find the source of the Virus and destroy it."
"Simple as that, eh?"
"We hope."
"You hope?"
"We can't be sure that the virus is the only disturbance."
Yuuki nodded, he could understand that, "Right, different question," he pulled the purple device from his jacket pocket, "What is this thing?"
"We call it a 'Digivice', it helps your digimon digivolve."
"How?" Yuuki studied the device while, gently, preventing the Botamon he still held in one arm from eating the strings on his hood.
"No one's quite certain, we know a precious little about them," Firamon responded in an apologetic tone, "But they serve many other purposes too. For example, the radar."
"Yeah, that's cool and all but the screen's kinda tiny isn't it?"
"Makes it easier for the devices compact nature, I suppose. The Guardian did tell me that these buttons, here," Firamon motioned to a few of the buttons near the base of the device, "Will move the screen in any direction you need. These two on the side here will zoom in or out, and this large one here will project a holographic image of the map."
"Okay, then," Yuuki sat down on the stone floor and pressed the button to display the map. Hurriedly, Akio scurried over to sit beside the older boy.
"So, we can use this to find my brother, right?"
"Yeah," Yuuki pointed to the red dot to the northeast of them, "See, that's him, there. Looks like Hanako and someone else are headed his way."
"We should go there, too!"
Yuuki looked up at Firamon, "He's right. I'm certain that Yasu and Hanako can take care of themselves but Natsuki's probably freaking out right about now. Plus she's all on her own. We should get to her as soon as possible."
"So, what do you intend to do?"
"Well, I propose we head towards Natsuki, hopefully, we'll meet up with the others along the way, or maybe they'll head north to Natsuki and then come down to meet us. Either way we need to start heading north as soon as possible."
Firamon nodded, "Agreed. Come, we can take the tunnels that lead through the mountains."
The digimon stood and turned to lead them away when a deafening roar echoed through the forest outside the cave. The map projected from Yuuki's digivice disappeared and it's radar began flashing red as he scrambled to his feet and swung about to face the noise.
Trees were swaying against the wind, some even fell as the unknown force pushed against it. Whatever was headed towards them it was large and powerful.
Firamon leaped around Yuuki positioning himself between the children and the approaching monster, "Master Yuuki, please, take the young ones and flee down the tunnel. Keep heading north no matter what and you will soon reach the exit. Hurry!"
"But-," Yuuki started to object.
"Go!" Firamon roared, looking back at Yuuki the desperation in his eyes showing that he would not be swayed on this.
Yuuki, reluctantly, turned away and hurried Akio and the small digimon down into the tunnels.
Author's Notes
That ending isn't my best work but I don't feel like messing with it any more.
To be continued . . .
