Chapter 11:

Labramon rested underneath the shade of the shrine as he waited for his partner. He still wished that he was there with him but Josh had said that only the humans should be there and he knew he was serious. He respected his wishes of course but lately he'd felt that his partner had been keeping him from getting close. Lunamon had said that they were supposed to be friends so why was Josh having such a hard time making friends with everyone?

Labramon turned the problems in his head around like a puzzle. As he did so he noticed Lunamon, Biyomon and Kapurimon approach him.

"Hey Labramon, what'cha doing?" asked Biyomon.

The dog digimon rolled onto his side and sighed. "I'm just thinking,"

"I see that you have begun emulating your human partner by adopting his habits," said Kapurimon. "Such behavior is beneficial in understanding another's motives,"

Labramon rolled back on his stomach and looked at Kapurimon. "You think if I start acting like Josh I could figure why he acts like we aren't friends?"

Biyomon crossed her feathery arms and scoffed. "Why would you want to act like him anyway? I know I don't know much about humans but the others are having a hard time trying to understand him. Honestly, I think there's some bad code in him or something,"

"His hesitancy to place his trust in others is somewhat understandable," admitted Lunamon. "I imagine that if we were suddenly thrust into the human's world we would find ourselves unwilling to trust strangers,"

"But they're all humans! Why wouldn't they trust each other?" asked Biyomon.

"And we are all digimon," said Lunamon. "But as today's events have proven we are far from peaceful,"

"Why's that Lunamon?" asked Labramon. "How come Allomon and those Pipismon attacked us?"

Lunamon sighed and crossed her arms. "Our human guests have the ability to induce digivolution in their chosen digimon. Digivolution beyond the rookie level is a difficult process and even more so for higher level digimon. Normally it would take years of absorbing the data of other digimon in order to reach the champion level,"

"So then when I digivolved it was because of Claire's power?" Biyomon asked.

Lunamon nodded. "The power your partner exhibited on the beach allowed you to temporarily assume your champion form. All of the humans have this ability which means that we'll likely be attacked on our journey,"

"And that means they'll need our protection!" declared Biyomon proudly. The bird digimon's happy exclamation was interrupted by the sound of the plane shrine's door opening and the agitated form of Joshua Lawson walked out. Concerned, Labramon quickly ambled up to his side without a word to his fellow Digimon. Joshua spared a glance toward his partner then turned toward the beach.

"Where are we going?" asked the dog digimon. "And why do you look so mad?"

"I need to be alone for a while," Joshua answered. "I need some time think".

"But you're always thinking! Don't you want to stay with our friends?"

Joshua clenched his fists in frustration. "I already tried talking to them but they didn't want to listen to reason! They're still so gung-ho about this "divine mission" we're supposed to be on without giving anything the least bit of thought! This isn't even our world and yet they act like we have some obligation to it,"

"But don't we? All the digimon in the village are depending on us and there are more digimon around that might need our help. That's why we're here,"

"You've been talking to Lunamon," Joshua accused. "I told you how I feel about her,"

"But you never give her a chance! She could be your friend if you let her and so can everyone else! Wouldn't you be happier if you let them get close to you?"

Joshua stopped in his tracks and looked down at his partner. He was speechless. If the dog digimon's words didn't convince him his eyes full of hope and earnestness did. He couldn't believe a creature so radically different than anything on Earth could stir such emotion in him. He didn't want to admit it but Labramon was quickly becoming the best friend he'd ever had and it scared him how fast it had happened. If he had to be honest with himself he would've loved to be able to trust and befriend everyone he met. If everyone was like Labramon he'd be more than happy to make more friends but experience had taught him that just because someone calls you their friend now doesn't mean they'll be your friend later.

"You're so naïve it's unreal," he let his words hang in the air as he and Labramon walked further along the beach. He hadn't noticed it until now but they were both now quite a distance away from the village. The grey stones were replacing the smooth, white sand and the land began to slowly incline toward a small cliff just a hundred yards away.

"Josh, where are we going?" asked Labramon as he joined his partner in his confusion.

"I don't know but we probably just wandered off a little too far from the village. You should go back with the others,"

"But then you'd be out here by yourself,"

"I know, but we just traveled in a straight line along the beach so if I need to come back to the village I can do so pretty easily," he could tell Labramon didn't like the idea and he couldn't blame him. The edge of the island looked so peaceful with no sound but the rush of wind and the crashing of the waves on the beach but he knew all that could change in an instant. Back home being out in the wilderness by yourself was usually a bad idea but here in the digital world where intelligent and powerful creatures lived in the woods instead of bears or wolves it was worse than bad, it was suicidal.

"You're right. A little alone time probably isn't worth getting attacked," he admitted. "Let's go back".

Labramon's face brightened as his partner's words meant they'd be heading back to the village.

"But before we go can I ask you a question?" asked Josh.

Labramon nodded. "What is it?"

"Well, you saw how Biyomon changed when she digivolved to Birdramon right?"

"Yeah, she was huge and on fire!"

"No not that. I mean you saw how her personality changed. She was so much more aggressive and unforgiving as Birdramon. She acted more like a…monster. Not to say that wasn't a good thing during the fight but do you think all digimon change like that when they digivolve?"

Labramon turned the question over in his head for a few moments. "Well I know I was different back when I was Xiaomon. So I guess I would change but no matter how strong I get I'm still me".

Joshua thought back to when he first met Labramon as Xiaomon. Back then the dog digimon was more simple and child-like. When he digivolved his personality had matured a bit but he was still the naïve, friendly creature he'd met back in that cave. Then again Biyomon had been also been pretty friendly if a bit arrogant but all that seemed to just disappear when she digivolved. She became a flaming, angry hell bird bent on tearing Allomon apart. Did that mean that their digimon would become more feral as they got stronger? What would happen if they changed so much that they decided they didn't need human partners anymore?

"Hey Josh! You hear that?" asked Labramon as he whipped his head about.

Josh was separated from his questioning thoughts. "Hear what?"

"That voice!" Labramon's head stopped swiveling and pointed in the direction of the forest. "They're calling for help!"

"Where?" Joshua strained his ears listening for the voice his partner had pointed out.

"Over there!" yelled the dog digimon as he ran full speed toward the thick foliage of the forest's edge.

Joshua struggled to keep up. "Wait Labramon! You don't know what's out there!" He wanted to keep Labramon in his sights but it was quickly becoming obvious how unfit he was for running on a sandy beach. It didn't take long before the overzealous digimon vanished into the leaves and left Joshua far behind.

"Dammit! What happened to going back to the village?" Suddenly a nice, relaxing walk back to the only semblance of civilization he had encountered in this world sounded like a good idea. When he finally reached the end of the beach he rested against a nearby tree to catch his breath and allowed his body to slide down the trunk in exhaustion. It hadn't occurred to him until now but he'd been running nearly everywhere and it was clear his body just wasn't up to the task, he had never considered himself the athletic type but to think he'd be out of breath after a relatively short run did not bode well.

Deciding to make the most out this small break, Josh slipped off his right shoe and dumped the sand out.

"I'm probably going to have to get used to this," he said to himself as his mind did its familiar wandering.

"Josh! Josh you have to see this!" Joshua's ears perked up at the sound of his name. All of a sudden Labramon leapt out of the foliage and landed at his feet with a look of concern on his face.

"Josh come quick someone's…" Labramon's voice trailed off as he noticed his partner's feet and yelped.

"You're foot came off!"

"Came off?" repeated Joshua in confusion. "No, that's just my shoe,"

The poor dog digimon stared at him then back at his shoe in confusion. "Why do you cover your feet with those things?"

"So we can walk around without hurting them," he answered. "The same goes for my pants and my shirt. If we don't our whole bodies are exposed to the elements."

"What's an elements?"

"I mean weather".

"What's weather?"

This time it was Joshua's turn to look surprised. "You know, like rain and snow,"

"I don't think I've ever seen those things before,"

"It never rains here?

"I don't think so,"

"How weird," the bewildered human boy replied. "You've never seen rain before but with a forest this lush you'd think it'd rain all the time. I wonder how the plants are getting any water or even if the plants need water here,"

Suddenly Labramon's eyes widened as he remembered why he wanted to find his partner in the first place.

"I just remembered! There's this little digimon that needs our help!"

"Is that why you ran off?"

"Yeah! He's hurt really bad, come quick!" and with that he rushed off back into the forest.

"Hey wait! Don't leave me behind again!" Joshua sat up, put his shoe back on, and took off after Labramon. Luckily he didn't have to run far to find his partner sitting next to a tree. As he came closer he noticed a small, furry creature nestled underneath the shade of a stout tree. At first glance it looked like a hamster that had grown to the size of a housecat.

"It's okay we're both here now," Labramon said to the little creature.

Slowly it turned toward the two and revealed a pair of extremely large blue eyes.

"You came back," it said weakly. Its voice was small and high-pitched and yet strained as if just the simple act of talking caused it pain.

"mmhmm, and I brought Josh back too," Labramon turned his head toward his human partner. When the little digimon laid its eyes on Joshua its already bright eyes seemed to gleam with amazement.

"Are you a…human?" it asked.

Joshua nodded. "Right, my name's Joshua and I you've already met Labramon here. Who are you?"

"I'm…OW!" The furry hamster-like digimon cried as it flinched in pain.

"What's wrong?" asked in Labramon in concern.

"My…back. It hurts!" It rolled on its side and closed its eyes tight as it tried to shut out the pain.

Curious Joshua walked up to it and activated his digivice. In an instant the HUD appeared in front of his eyes and scanned the hurting digimon in front of him.

Name: Patamon

Level: Rookie

Type: Data

"Patamon right?" He bent down and took a closer look at the digimon's body. On its back was a large black spot that looked as if it was once fur that had been burned off.

"You're back is burned," he stated. "How'd that happen?"

"I was attacked," said Patamon. "When I heard that humans were here I wanted to go the village to meet you but then these digimon ambushed me and said that if I didn't lead them there they'd kill me!"

Both Joshua and Labramon frowned. News of their arrival had obviously spread like wildfire and more digimon were coming out of the woodwork to meet them. If Patamon was any indication, not all them were very friendly either.

"These digimon that attacked you, what'd they look like?" asked Joshua.

Patamon seemed uneasy for a moment though it was hard to tell due to the pain from his injuries whether he was just trying to keep himself composed.

"I don't know. I just tried to fly away as fast as I could and one of them attacked me from behind. I was able to lose them but I know they'll head toward the village soon,"

"Then we need to go back and warn everyone!" yelled Labramon.

"Right. Patamon can you move at all?"

The little digimon wobbled on its tiny legs trying to steady itself before flopping back on the ground in a heap.

"I can't. It hurts too much to move!"

"Then I can carry you back," Joshua knelt down at Patamon's side. "That is if you're fine with being moved".

A tired smile appeared on the injured digimon's face. "It's okay. I've always heard that humans were supposed to be really nice. I'm glad it's true,"

Joshua couldn't help but to feel embarrassed by the small creature's compliment. He had to keep reminding himself that to them humans must seem like mythical saviors. Even if he thought the whole idea was ridiculous, he found himself wanting to live up to Patamon's expectations.

"Alright, just hold still," he told Patamon as he began lifting him off the ground. "Don't move too much all right. Just try to stay as still possible until we can get someone to look at you".

"Wait! I know what we can do!" Labramon offered as he rose up on his hind legs and stuck out his tongue to the surprise of both his partner and newest friend.

"Cure Liquor!" he cried as he ran his wet tongue over the burnt area on Patamon's back.

Patamon's body shook with surprise as the sensation ran over his tiny body. "Aghhh! Wet!"

"Labramon! What are you doing?" Joshua asked.

"Helping!" he answered as he prepared another lick for the now very frazzled Patamon.

Joshua jerked his arms away from the overzealous dog digimon. "Stop that! You don't even know if it'll work! Now look at what you did! He's all wet withdog slobber, we're supposed to be helping him and you're licking him like a tootsie roll".

"What's a toosy roll?" Joshua and Patamon asked in unison.

Joshua let out a sigh of exasperation. "I'll tell you later. Let's just go. If we leave now we can probably make it back before nightfall, whenever that is,"

"Okay and I promise I won't lick anyone anymore," Joshua could hear the slight disappointment in his partner's voice as he said that. He briefly wondered why licking things were so important to him.

"Must be a digimon thing," he thought to himself.

Eventually the trio finally began making their way back to the village. Despite the possibility of danger they decided to walk back through the forest due to Patamon complaining about the sun hurting his back. He knew that it was probably safer traveling back over the beach but it wasn't like they were too far away from it and he did enjoy being in the shade of the multitude of trees. The calm feeling he was getting from the walk was perturbed somewhat from the increasing shaking in his arms. He looked down to see a jittery Patamon sweeping his large, fearful eyes back and forth across the forest floor.

"What's wrong Patamon? I'm not hurting you am I?" Joshua asked in concern.

"Patamon looked up at him with surprise before quickly shifting back into an uneasy smile. "Oh no, I'm fine, don't mind me I'm just a little…in awe of you two,"

That statement stopped both Joshua and Labramon in their tracks. "You're…in awe of us?"

Patamon nodded. "I've never met a real human before. Where I come from humans are supposed to be really strong and terrifying creatures that are supposed to kill off all the unworthy digimon and make a new world for the strong ones,"

Joshua tried hard to hide the annoyance in his face from listening to Patamon. Lunamon's story about the destined humans meant to destroy the world was bad enough but this was even worse. Where could they have gotten such weird ideas about humans?

"Patamon, neither I nor Labramon are going to hurt you so get that idea out of your mind. I don't care what some stupid prophecy says about humans. I just want to go home," he said as clearly and authoritatively as he could.

"But destroying the world is the reason you're here right? You humans and your digimon have that power," Patamon shifted uncomfortably in Joshua's arms he spoke. "If you wanted to you could delete me and have Labramon absorb my data. I couldn't stop you,"

"NO!" shouted Labramon.

Joshua and Patamon glanced in front of them to see an indignant Labramon staring back at them.

"I won't do it! Even if it makes me stronger I won't destroy Patamon! He's our friend, right Josh?"

For once he could completely agree with his partner. "I know personally what it's like to be the little guy on the receiving end and having no one around to back you up. There's no way I'd take advantage of someone like that whether they're weak or strong.

"And when we get back to the village you can meet all our other friends! Lunamon could give you a home and food!" Labramon added.

"Hey," Joshua began as an idea came to him. "You know Selena is still looking for a partner. I'd bet she'd be ecstatic if she could have a digimon like you with her!"

Patamon's eyes widened in shock at the offer. "I…" he hesitated for a moment then looked at the ground as if he could find the right answer somewhere among the long, sharp blades of grass.

"I couldn't…I'm not…,"

"If you think you have to be special or something to get picked don't worry about it. Labramon and I just kind of found each other. Besides we're not really in a position to refuse anyone's help".

Patamon's large, soulful eyes swelled with tears as the words of these two complete strangers had stung his heart. He shut his eyes tightly and at once tried to wriggle free from Joshua's arms.

"Patamon what's wrong? What are you doing?" Joshua let Patamon out of his arms and put him on the ground. For some reason the little bat-winged hamster just couldn't stand being carried anymore.

"You…you should go," Patamon said while choking back tears. "Leave me alone!"

"Why? What's wrong?" asked Labramon now worried about the little digimon's sudden change in behavior.

"Leave? And what are you gonna do out here alone when you're still hurt?" Joshua was just as surprised. "What's got into you all of sudden?"

Patamon lowered his ears like a frightened puppy and backed away from the pair into the shadow of a nearby tree.

"I'm sorry!" he blurted out. "I'm not hurt and I haven't been since Labramon healed back when we first met! I can't do this anymore! Please leave before-

"How disappointing my dear friend,"

At the sound of the low humming voice emanating from the trees, all three travelers looked toward the forest canopy to find where it had come from.

"Who…?" Joshua's question was cut short as he suddenly felt a strong arm wrap around his neck and his feet leaving the ground.

"Josh!" shouted Labramon as a green-robed humanoid figure with a strange, blue face and a red cape appeared with his partner in his arm.

"I would have liked to see more of the heralds back at this "village" of yours but now that you have lost heart I must find a new way to bring them to The Grove. So tiresome," said the interloper.

"No! Baromon let him go! Please!" Patamon pleaded. "They aren't the ones we're looking for !"

"Have your eyes betrayed you as well as your heart?" asked the caped-figure. "How often do heralds drop into our midst?"

"Let him go!" growled Labramon as the fur on his back stood on end in rage and his fangs threatened to tear the intruder to pieces.

"I see the retainer knows his position well despite his unfortunate lack of power," Baromon stated critically. In his arms Joshua struggled to free himself from the robed digimon but no matter how he moved it was if a python had wrapped itself around his neck, he had no hope of escaping of it. "Damn it! Let go!"

"Here, allow me to ease your suffering," at those words Baromon raised his right hand and laid them over Joshua's eyes.

"No! What are you doing? Get away… from me," suddenly a wave of fatigue washed the trapped boy's resistance away and he felt his control over his body slipping. "No…Labramon…help".

His body's protests grew weaker with every passing moment until they finally ceased as his body fell limp.

"JOSH!" Labramon leaped toward Baromon in a panic but the masked specter quickly drew his arm away and revealed the unconscious form of his partner still helpless in his clutches.

"Need I remind this one of his sacred imperative Patamon?" Baromon stated with an even yet still clearly threatening tone.

"Labramon don't!" shouted Patamon. "He could still hurt Josh like that!"

The eager digimon suddenly grew very frightened. He knew he'd never be able to attack Baromon without hitting Josh too and without his digivice he couldn't vary his attacks. So what choice did he have?

Knowing he was beaten he sat back on his haunches and looked up pleadingly into Baromon's unmoving mask of a face.

"Please, let my friend go," Labramon begged. "He hasn't done anything wrong, just let him go and we'll leave. I promise!"

Baromon stared coldly into the honest eyes of the creature in front of him before stabilizing his grip on Joshua. His feet began to slowly lift themselves off the ground, making Labramon seem ever smaller in his eyes.

"One does not hope to challenge me alone. This herald you call Joshua has a far grander destiny than one such as you can offer. We will depart to The Grove unmolested and begin preparations for the New World. That is the future!" With those words the enigmatic figure faded away as if he were somehow being erased from view.

Labramon said nothing as he found himself completely helpless.

Patamon watched the scene with guilt growing stronger in his heart. He wondered for a moment whether it'd be better to just run away and leave this whole mess. For some reason Baromon hadn't bothered to attack which meant he could easily slip away.

He looked over to Labramon. The poor thing hadn't moved since Baromon's departure and it looked like he would never move another inch again. Was that human really so important to him?

"Labramon, we have to go," said Patamon. "We have to go back to the village remember?" He hoped hearing about his home would lift his spirits if only slightly.

Labramon turned toward Patamon slowly. "The village?" he repeated slowly. Suddenly his eyes lit up as an idea struck. "The others!"

He jumped back to his feet and took off in a run. "The others will help us! Come on Patamon!"

"Wait I…" Patamon tried to say but Labramon was already rapidly outpacing him. He hadn't expected him to rebound from the loss of his human so quickly. Still, seeing his new friend so lost even for a moment had stirred a vicious accusation from his own conscience, one that demanded he set things right.

"I'm sorry," he said mostly to himself as he bounded off after his new friend.