Ari watched, terrified as her digimon did not resurface Patamon had already taken off and tried to attack the digimon that had begun to attack them, but the balls of air he was shooting at It seemed to do little to it. The creature bent down so it's yellow masked face was feet from their heads.
"Fresh meat. Seadramon has not feasted in so long." It hissed. "The cat will make a tasty snack for later. He will eat you creatures first. Starting with this one." He leveled its head with Riku.
"You shall not harm Riku-sama, nor Katimon onee-sama!" Gomamon cried furiously. "MARCHING FISHES!" A myriad of multicolored fish leapt from the water and attacked Seadramon, causing him to swing his head furiously to try and dislodge the creatures.
"Please, attack him while he is distracted. I must find Onee-sama." She glanced back at Riku. "Do not worry about me Riku-sama I will be alright." she said before diving into the water.
Beneath the waves, she searched desperately for any sign of her dearest friend, her thoughts racing. Every time she had been in danger, Katimon had been the one to protect her. It was time she repaid part of the favor.
She caught sight of a golden glimmer to her right. She kicked furiously to find Katimon's unconscious form pinned beneath a large, scarlet and blue leaf. At least it was what she thought it was, until she saw it was connected to Seadramon's body. She tugged furiously, trying in vain to free her.
'She cannot survive much longer down here' Gomamon thought.
In her desperation she began to stab the creature's leaf-like tail with her claws. Small clouds of blood spurted from the wounds she left. After several tense moments, his tail shifted and Gomamon was able to pull Katimon free. She swam toward the surface as quickly as she could while weighed down by Katimon's bulk.
She finally broke the surface of the water. Katimon spat forth a great amount of water before coughing loudly several times. Ari was already at the edge of the boat. She tugged the sodden feline into the boat and before she could give Gomamon so much as a look of gratitude, Seadramon let out a screech of rage.
"It dares to interrupt Seadramon's meal. Barely a mouthful this creature tries to steal his food. Its going to be punished. It seems to like these other food creatures. Seadramon will eat these before its eyes, then it can join them." Seadramon snarled. He dove at the small boat, aiming for Riku.
"NO!" Gomamon cried, She felt energy build within her body and was enveloped in a blinding white light.
'Gomamon Evolve! Sealmon!'
Sealmon leapt from the water and was clinging to Seadramon's back, her long claws digging into the creature's flesh. She was much larger than her previous form. The long ear-like appendages on her head now streamed back to her shoulders and her bright orange mane ran the length of her body. Her tail was rather long and ended in a large fin. Though her body still looked vaguely seal-like her limbs would not look out of place on a polar bear. Her face and ears were covered in splashes of purple, as was her tail fin. Seadramon snarled and thrashed trying to dislodge her. Though merely causing itself more pain as she dug her claws in deeper.
"I can not allow you to harm my friends! Please, be gone, or I shall be forced to harm you even further."
"Silly creature got larger. Much better meal for Seadramon."
"If that is how you choose to behave, I am afraid I have no other choice." She clawed her way up Seadramon's back so she was positioned right behind his head. "Please," She called down to her friends. "Cover your ears, I do not wish to hurt you as well."
Though slightly confused, they did as instructed, when she had seen that her friends ears were covered she inhaled deeply and cried out, "POSIDEON'S ECHO!"
High pitched shrieks could be heard and each one seemed like a physical blow to the back of Seadramon's skull. Its own screams of pain were inaudible against Sealmon's attack. After several seconds Seadramon's thrashing stopped and it fell with a mighty crash into the water below.
Sealmon swam up to the boat. "Is everyone all right?" She asked, her eyes resting on Katimon.
"I think so." Nani said.
Katimon shivered and coughed several times before saying. "I-I'm f-f-f-fine." She stammered.
Sealmon glanced back at Seadramon's unconscious form. "Oh, I hope he will be alright. I did not want to have to take it this far."
"You know," Patamon said smiling at her. "I'm not so sure now if I should be more afraid of you or Butterflymon when you're angry."
"Oh!" Sealmon cried. "I-I uh do not want anyone to be afraid if me! I was just angry that Seadramon was trying to hurt you." She said, shaking her head, blushing faintly through her fur.
Riku reached out a hand to stroke Sealmon's muzzle. "Thanks." He said quietly. Sealmon merely smiled as she began to swim alongside the boat as it continued its journey downriver.
The boat docked itself in a small harbor half an hour later. The cliffside had a long trail zigzagging up it. "Patamon!" Came a voice from above them. There was a clattering of claws on stone as a large dark lizard like creature scrambled down to meet them.
She looked like a small dinosaur with wing like appendages on her head and red markings on her body. Her chest was white with a strange black symbol on it. Over her shoulder she carried a small bag with her. Her large yellow eyes made her look more childish than her otherwise fierce appearance would suggest.
"I thought you would be flying with Butterflymon." She said, glancing curiously at the humans and their digimon.
"Nope, the temple was attacked." Patamon said. "Everyone's alright though, there were no major casualties, but the temple itself took pretty heavy damage."
"Oh no." The lizard said, her ears drooping. "We should tell Growmon right away."
"That's all in the report we're bringing him. We've also got a letter for Agumon as well." He said.
"Oops!" The lizard said looking back at the humans, "I forgot, to introduce myself. Sorry, I forget stuff all the time, but uh, anyway, I'm Black Guilmon." She said brightly.
"It is a pleasure to meet you as well." Sealmon said as she climbed out of the river. There was another flash and she transformed back into Gomamon.
Black Guilmon smiled, but her face fell slightly when she saw Katimon who was still shivering and coughing. "Did you fall in the river?" She asked.
"I g-g-guess you c-could say that." She muttered.
"This should help you then." She said pulling a small vial of red liquid from her bag. "I should warn you though, I'm pretty sure it's a tad spicy." She uncorked it and held it out to the feline digimon.
Katimon took the vial and downed its contents in one gulp. "You said this would be a tad spicy. I would like to know what your definition of extremely spicy is." She gasped. "Well, at least you're not shivering or coughing anymore." Black Guilmon said blithely. "Anyway would you like me to show you to the village?"
"That'd be great." Patamon said quickly.
Black Guilmon lead the group up the cliffside path to a large village, many of the houses seemed to be hewn out of the surrounding stone, or built into the cliffs themselves. There were several small pockets of sediment where the citizens grew crops. There were several pine trees that seemed to grow directly from the stone itself. As they got closer to the center of town they noticed that several of the homes seemed to have been blackened by fire, or some destroyed outright. Though the digimon that lived there seemed quite cheerful and easygoing.
The central plaza was elegantly decorated, with a mosaic on the ground shaped like a sun with a beautiful fountain in the center. Though, the statue in the fountain bore the same damage as many of the surrounding buildings.
They were lead through a large gate to an even larger building. Black Guilmon pushed open the door of the building and lead them into a large entrance hall.
"Wait here." She said, "I'll see if Growmon's in."
She walked off, the sound of her talons clicking on the stone floor echoing loudly off the walls. Several minutes later she returned. "He'll come see you now."
They followed her down the hallway to a large room. She pushed open the door and showed them in. Standing in front of a large window, was a digimon who looked very similar to Black Guilmon, except is markings were black on red. He was also much larger with horns sticking out of his head and a short mane of white hair. He crouched down so he could speak with them at eye level.
"Hello," He said cheerfully. "Welcome to Dragonstone Village."
Ari fished out the two letters that Butterflymon had given her, "Thank you." She said, she held out the larger of the two letters to him, "Butterflymon asked us to give you this, and also, we have another letter for a digimon named Agumon."
Growmon took the letter in his claw and opened it. He muttered indiscernibly while he read it before folding it up and setting it on a table.
"Well." He said after a while. "I think that tomorrow night we should celebrate our guests of honor with a feast. Black Guilmon, would you please let everyone in the village know so we can get ready.""Yes Growmon!" She said cheerfully before running out if the room.
"As for you, Agumon won't be here until tomorrow morning. It is late and I'm sure you've had a tiring journey over here. The last two rooms on the right have been made up for guests, I'm sure you'll find them quite comfortable."
"Thank you. Growmon." Ari said before they left the room.