Hey! I'm finally back! So sorry; mid-terms were murder...

Anyway, this chappie, we finally get to see Natamon Hetavolveand then its smooth sailing towards the plot from here! Enjoy!

Chapter 10

"Man, why does this place always have to be so damn cold?!" Alfamon breathed in his hands as everyone hiked up the mountain trail leading to Blizzard Mountain.

"Well it is called Blizzard Mountain," Lizamon pointed out as she rubbed her hands together. Everyone had to agree that it was getting quite chilly; they had only started hiking an hour ago. It had taken them more than half the day just to arrive at the base of the mountain and who knew how long it would take to trek through the whole thing.

Only Russia and Natamon seemed unfazed by the weather, "It's only a little cold, I don't see why you're complaining," Russia said walking ahead. "Easy for you to say," Romano grumbled, "You're always wearing winter things."

"You have to always be prepared in Russia; even for the cold." Russia responded with his creepy smile; the temperature seemed to drop a full ten degrees after that.

After another hour of silent hiking, the sky was beginning to grow dark and snowflakes were beginning to fall from the sky, "We better find shelter to keep warm," China said.

"There's a cave just a little further from here," Natamon said. Everyone followed the wolf Digitalia until they arrived at a large cavern that had plenty of room for everyone. While everyone got settled, Kikumon and Felimon quickly found plenty of wood for a fire. In no time at all a nice warm fire was crackling away (thanks to Gilbamon's Flash Fire) and everyone sat around it. They passed around the food and watched as the snow outside began to fall a little harder.

China noticed that Russia's face seemed quite distant as he watched the snow fall, "Is something wrong Russia?" China asked. Russia turned to them and smiled sadly, "Oh…well all this snow kind of reminds me of my home…" he said. A wave of homesickness washed over the nations as they thought of their homes and their other fellow nations. So much had happened they had completely forgotten about their normal lives.

"It's been a week since we've come here…I wonder if anyone has noticed we're gone?" Britain wondered sadly as he thought of Sealand and all his brothers. As much as he hated their guts he couldn't keep the homesickness down.

"I can't believe I'm saying this…but I really miss Spain," Romano muttered.

China nodded sadly, "I hope Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan are alright," he said.

"I do hope Ukraine, Lithuania and the other Baltic states aren't too worried; I don't want to make them sad," Russia said with a sad frown.

"Switzerland is going to go crazy when he finds out I'm gone," Austria said rubbing his temples.

"Oui, and my poor little Seychelles and Monaco; they must be worried sick," France said a little too dramatically.

Germany closed his eyes, "Vell, ze next World Meeting is tomorrow, so if zey don't know, zey vill eventually," he said causing the nation's heads to snap up; they had completely forgotten about the next meeting! Well, worrying about it was pretty pointless now. The Digitalia stayed silent, feeling sorry for their partners; they had almost forgotten that the nations probably had lives and duties to get back to. Everyone ate in silence and the snow fell even harder; eventually it was getting difficult to keep warm even with a fire going.

Natamon crouched at the cave's entrance, "This is strange; it doesn't start snowing this hard until further up the mountain," She said.

"How would you know that?" Austria asked.

"Natamon knows this mountain better than anyone," Lizamon answered. "Yeah, she lived up here for a while after she was configured; we all met up in the village about a year after we were configured." Gilbamon added.

Russia crouched next to her and watched the snow, "This is a bit unusual, da? I've never seen a snowfall escalate this fast, even in my country," he said. Natamon nodded, "It can't be the weather causing this," she said.

"Could it be a Digitalia?" Britain asked. "Perhaps we should go see," Russia said and Natamon nodded.

"We vill go vith you," German said about to stand up, but Gilbamon pulled him back down, "Sorry West, we'll have to sit this one out," he said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Digitalia with wings like us don't do very well in cold weather; they actually get really sensitive when exposed to weather like this," Alfamon explained. "If we go out there and are attacked by a snow Digitalia, our wings will probably break off!" Gilbamon exaggerated.

"Don't worry; I'm sure we will be fine on our own. Besides, we don't want anyone freezing to death." Russia said cheerfully. "Alright, but be careful," China said and without another word, Russia and Natamon disappeared into the swirling snow.

Russia and Natamon hiked up the mountain trail, completely unfazed by the bitter cold. But after a while, they began to feel only slightly chilled, "How much further Natamon?" Russia yelled over the wind.

"It's a Digitalia alright; it's getting closer too." She answered. They walked a few more feet until Natamon's tail twitched. Her eyes grew alert as she scanned the area trying to see around the howling wind and snow. This wind was all too familiar; she pulled out her marble and scanned it, confirming her hunch.

She turned to Russia, "It's Flurrymon*! We have to-" But it was too late. Russia was lifted off his feet by a huge pillar of snow.

The snow shaped itself into a fist which held the country in its grasp. Russia quickly produced his pipe and attempted to free himself, but the seemingly soft snow was hard as ice. Why was it that whenever he got into bad situations with snow it was never soft? "Hold on, I'll get you down!" Natamon yelled getting into a fighting position. But before she could even do anything something crashed into the snow causing the fist to shatter and drop Russia.

Russia easily landed on his feet and the two looked up to see a familiar white tiger in front of them with an angry, shivering Italian on its back.

"Pastromon? What are you doing here?" Natamon demanded.

Romano slid off the tiger and into the snow, "We got worried so we decided to send someone after you; we drew straws. Damn wine bastard cheated, I know it!" Romano explained.

But Natamon was less than pleased, "You shouldn't have come! Do you know what you've just done?" she yelled as the wind seemed to get worse.

Romano frowned, "I know that we just saved your asses from that Digitalia! Show a little gratitude!" he yelled but Natamon shook her head, "That was Flurrymon! I know him from when I lived here; he means no harm but has a very narrow mind! If you show that you're hostile, he'll be blind to all reason!" she explained.

At that moment, more snow rose from the ground and wind swirled higher and higher. All the snow slowly formed an enormous monster the size of a two story building made entirely of snow with razor sharp teeth and claws. The creature roared with the wind and Pastromon stepped up, putting one of his paws protectively in front of Romano.

Romano climbed onto the tiger's back, "Do you think you can handle that thing Pastromon?" he asked through his mind.

"I think so; I've never fought this guy before so we have to be careful," Pastromon answered.

Flurrymon roared as the snow whipped up even harder causing Romano (who had no winter wear whatsoever) to shiver like crazy. Russia was even starting to feel the nips of the winter even though cold never bothered him before now. Flurrymon opened his mouth and blew an icy wind towards them. Everyone jumped out of the way and got ready to fight.

"Splitting Shriek!" Natamon yelled and let out her ear splitting scream that even the wind couldn't drown out. Flurrymon cringed horribly and Pastromon leapt at the monster, clinging to its body with his claws, "Diamond Fang!" he yelled and sunk his glowing teeth into the monster causing it to roar with pain.

The tiger managed to jump off before the monster could swipe at him and Natamon noticed that Pastromon's bite had put a huge crack in Flurrymon's body. Flexing her claws, Natamon jumped onto the exact same spot and slashed at it with all her might, widening the crack considerably and causing Flurrymon more pain. But what Natamon didn't expect was for huge spears made of rock hard snow to suddenly jut out on his body. Russia ran over to her as she was knocked into the snow.

"Natamon!" he cried as he lifted her head. His eyes widened as red blossomed on the snow and he immediately checked the Digitalia. To his relief it was only a scratch; it was long but not deep. Natamon managed to get to her feet as a roar of pain and horror was brought to their attention.

They looked up in horror to see that Flurrymon had managed to grab Pastromon with its long, clawed hands and the cold was nearly unbearable to the poor Digitalia. But that wasn't the only reason the tiger was roaring. Flurry had its eyes trained on the Italian nation clinging to the tiger's fur. The huge Digitalia plucked the small nation off of Pastromon and held him in a freezing cold grasp before throwing Pastromon to the ground.

The tiger leapt to its feet and charged towards the monster that held his partner, but he was so focused on the nation that he was easily smacked away by Flurrymon. Natamon tried to help as well, but her injury, despite how small it was, stung horribly from the winter wind hitting her.

Romano struggled and screamed in pain as the cold pierced his thin clothing to his bare skin, causing Pastromon to grow more angry and frantic in his attacks. Natamon, ignoring the stinging pain in her side, ran up for another attack and managed to avoid getting injured, but Flurrymon's attention was drawn on her partner as well.

Before she could do anything, Flurrymon reached down and grabbed Russia with his other ice claw. Russia managed to keep his arms from being pinned unlike Romano and attempted once again to use his pipe, but it was futile. Poor Romano was close to passing out from the freezing cold; he just wanted the pain to end. Pastromon took one last look at his partner's desperate face before going in for one more attack; but the cold was finally starting to take its toll on the tiger and his energy was too drained to go at full power.

To Romano's horror, Flurrymon hit the tiger head on with its ice breath. "Pastromon!" he yelled as the tiger glowed and reverted back to an unconscious Felimon.

Natamon knew it was up to her now as she gained some distance from the monster to get ready for an attack, her eyes focused on the crack in Flurrymon's side, "I won't let you hurt Russia or anyone else! This ends now!" she yelled and Russia's Hetavice began to glow. Felimon slowly lifted his head as the bright light surrounded Natamon,

"Natamon…Hetavolve to…Lenamon*!

The light faded as a huge Gray Wolf, a little bigger than Pastromon, stood in Natamon's place. "I'll show you what happens when you mess with Russia!" The wolf said angrily.

With the wind not hindering her at all, Lenamon ran towards Flurrymon and slashed at the crack once more. Flurrymon roared with absolute pain and let go of Romano. Luckily, Felimon was ready and caught his now unconscious partner before carrying him away from the fight. Flurrymon tried to slash at the wolf, but Lenamon jumped up and snapped her jaws fiercely on its other arm that held Russia, causing it to break off completely.

Lenamon caught the nation on her back as the disembodied arm crumbled into snow, "Ready Russia?" Lenamon asked. Russia smiled, "Let's teach this thing a lesson, da?" he said.

Lenamon jumped away from Flurrymon and ready to attack, "Shadow of the Moon!" she yelled. She lifted her head to the sky and let out a clear howl. By her command, a portion of the snow clouds vanished completely, revealing the bright full moon.

The moonlight was cast on the Digitalia as her shadow began to grow before red eyes of its own appeared on it. Natamon's eyes began to glow as well as she controlled the shadow to move away and slither across the snow towards Flurrymon before baring its fangs. Like something out of a nightmare, the shadow wolf leapt out of the ground and pounced on the monster. Flurrymon roared in agony as the shadow covered every inch of its body like a swarm of ants covering their victim.

Flurrymon's movements slowly stopped until…BOOM! The Digitalia exploded into a pile of snow. The clouds covered the moon once again and the snow finally calmed down to a quiet snowfall. "That was quite fun, wasn't it?" Russia asked with a creepy smile as he patted the wolf's back.

Lenamon turned to him with a wolfish smile that would make anyone cower in fear, "That was very fun," she agreed.

She walked over to Felimon who was trying to rouse his partner, "Romano? C'mon Romano, wake up! Wake up fratello!" he called frantically as he shook the nation's shoulders.

Russia slid down from Lenamon's back and checked the nation, "He just passed out from the cold; if we get him back to the others and warm him up, he should wake up," he said.

"Thank goodness!" Felimon said.

Lenamon lowered down onto the ground to allow Russia and Felimon climb onto her back as Russia held Romano over his shoulder and they bounded away. It wasn't long before they reached the cave. Felimon and Russia carefully climbed off of Lenamon while holding onto Romano and Felimon quickly ran him into the cave. Lenamon finally begin to glow and reverted back to a panting Natamon. Russia put his arm around her and led her into the cave; now that danger was out of the way, they could finally press on.

Me: :D Yep! Natamon is just as scary as she was before! Wolves and reappearance of Pastromon FTW! Also, I should probably mention that time isn't different like in the Digimon series. Time is synchronized here and in the real world so the other nations probably have already noticed their absence. Epic snow battle is epic! But poor Romano...always getting himself hurt...

Romano: Dammit, why do I always have to get in trouble?!

Me: Because I like seeing you in pain and it's cute to have Felimon save you since he hardly pulls his weight on the show! *coughPaintitWhitechough*

Feli: Ve~ That's mean! :(

Me: Oh Feli, you know I love you! X3 And don't worry Romano; I'll make it up to you by hurting Britain next (I love to see HIM in pain even more! *evil smile*)

Romano: Sweet!

Britain: Wait...what?

*Meanings:

Flurrymon- Pretty obvious; flurries. I really need to get back to more complex names!

Lenamon- Based on the name Yelena which was the name of a princess in a Russian fairy tale that was about a wolf.

Me: Review if you don't want Romano to freeze to death!

Romano: HEY!