Chapter 10: Mysteries
The humans, especially Tyler, took a while to calm down after the fight with SkullMeramon, but the Digimon, having done the actual fighting, were pretty tuckered out. Since night was falling, Wizardmon got them settled in in his upstairs rooms—which there seemed to Tyler to be more of than before. He didn't give it too much thought, though, as most of his attention was now focused on their new companions. To be honest, he hadn't expected to see an adult there, but there was Liam, a man at least in his thirties, and he was also partnered with a Digimon. And as for Parimon herself…well, on the one hand, he couldn't help but like her cheerful and fun attitude; it provided a good contrast to Mara and Bitmon's rigidness. On the other hand, he couldn't help but be wary of her after she had pressed the issue of his parents. True, he had told Volpesmon about it, but he and Volpesmon were partners. Besides, it hadn't been that easy then, either. The less he had to think about it, the better.
Fortunately, though, the subject had not come up again; after reverting from Tajinnmon, Parimon had exchanged some lighthearted words before agreeing with the other Digimon that she was tired, and getting ready to go to bed. "You should do the same," said Wizardmon to the three humans. "I would assume that you would want to get an early start tomorrow."
"So we're leaving tomorrow?" said Tyler.
"If you so desire," said Wizardmon. "You proved yourselves capable in the fight against SkullMeramon. I could certainly teach you more, but time is most likely of the essence here, and you will undoubtedly learn much if you journey to Aksesu City on your own. As I mentioned, it will be dangerous, but if you are willing to take on this danger…"
"We are," said Tyler.
Wizardmon glanced at Mara and Liam, who both hesitated. "We may not want to charge into things," said Liam. "If Wizardmon can give us useful information, it might be useful to take advantage of that."
"I concur," said Mara.
"Guys, I can't leave my brother out there," Tyler protested.
Liam looked thoughtful. "Can this information that you could give us be given quickly, Wizardmon?"
"No," said the sorcerer Digimon shortly. "And I never offered information. I said that I could teach you more. Which would require days to do so." He nodded at Tyler. "And with your feelings on the matter, I feel as though keeping you here for days would prove to be counterproductive."
"I'm sure we could all be patient, if we needed to," said Liam.
Tyler frowned at him. "No offense, but with my brother's safety on the line, I'm not that inclined to."
"Well…" Liam looked back at Wizardmon. "You said we would learn a lot even if we left now?"
"Yes. A lot about each other, and working as a team. Working together is your best chance of finding Tom and returning to your own world."
Tyler glanced at the other two. If he had had a choice, he highly doubted he would have chosen them to accompany him…but he didn't have a choice, and they were the companions he had. If saving both Tom and himself required working with them, then that was just what he'd do. "Well, I'm game," he said. "Guys?"
After some more thought, the other two agreed. "We also do not want our absence to be very long," said Mara. "No doubt it has been noted by now, but it may be easier to explain if it is shorter."
Tyler started. He hadn't even thought about what the others back home would think. By now, it would be…Saturday evening. He generally didn't have a whole lot of contact with people on weekends—sure, he'd go out on occasion, but nothing regular—so it was possible that no one had noticed him being gone yet. But if he wasn't in school on Monday, then people would definitely notice…and that would only be avoidable if they found a way back to their world in a day or less. "Oh, yeah! We need to get back as soon as we can!"
Liam sighed. "That would be helpful…but we shouldn't rush things. One way or another, we'll have to come up with a story to explain our absence. If we can come up with one for a few days, I'm sure we can come up with one for longer."
There was a certain reassuring quality to Liam's statement, so Tyler agreed and, soon after, turned in for the night.
Luckily, the partner Digimon agreed to leave promptly the next morning, so after Wizardmon provided them with breakfast and backpacks that contained further rations, they were on their way. "How long before we reach Aksesu City?" asked Tyler.
"I would estimate two to three days," said Mara, "but I'm sure Bitmon can give a more accurate assessment."
Her Digimon slowed down slightly as the lights across his face flashed. Moments later, the lights stopped flashing and Bitmon's speed returned to normal. "Assuming a constant speed and no interruptions, and allowing time for sleep, it will take us approximately two days and five hours to reach our destination."
"Let's make it four hours," said Tyler, and quickened his pace. Volpesmon matched it, but the other four fell back slightly. "No need to rush, Tyler," said Liam. "We can't be reckless, here."
Tyler stopped in his tracks and turned around. "Look," he said, "you don't know what I'm feeling. My brother's in trouble, and I might be able to help him. I've been worrying about him almost nonstop for the past day, and I'm sick and tired of people telling me to slow down." He took a step forward. "Would you slow down if one of your family members was in trouble? It's bad enough that I'm separated from helping him by all this distance, but if I slow down, I'll worry that I'm not doing enough, and I can't help but be terrified that I'll be too late to save him! So I'm sorry if I'm going to fast for you, but you're just going to have to keep up, because I'm not gonna slow down!"
Liam surveyed him with an odd look, and for a moment, Tyler was afraid he had offended him; from what he had seen, Liam didn't particularly like being challenged. But then, he started forward, at a pace that was almost a jog, and swept past Tyler. "Two days, three hours," he said. "Come on."
Unspoken gratitude rising in him, Tyler smiled and joined him.
The six travelers did not talk much for the next couple of hours, putting most of their focus into traveling. It quickly became apparent, however, that they were not suited to travel at the same pace, and settled into an order that was maintained throughout the first chunk of their journey. In front were Tyler and Volpesmon, the most athletic and the most invested in finding Tom. Behind them were Liam and Parimon, who weren't incredibly fit but possessed a firm determination to help. And bringing up the rear were Mara and Bitmon, who were the slowest pair and who felt the least emotional investment in their goal.
The difference in pace became more evident as the distance between everyone increased. Liam noticed this, but refrained from saying anything for a while, Tyler's speech still playing in his mind. He had to admit, even though he had seen that Tyler was anxious about his brother, he hadn't appreciated the extent to which that was the case. And Liam could certainly appreciate strong ties between family members—though he had no siblings, he had had a very strong relationship with his parents, particularly his father, and knew that he would go to very great lengths to ensure their safeties.
As that thought came to his mind, he remembered Tyler's reaction when Parimon had asked him about his parents. What did it mean? Liam doubted it was anything good, and immediately felt a strong pang of sympathy for the boy. Either he didn't have a good relationship with them—which Liam could hardly imagine—or…
The other possibility was almost too terrible to imagine. If Tyler had lost his parents at such a young age, then he had shouldered a burden that no one his age should have to bear. Furthermore, if that was the case, then maybe his brother was all that he had left. To lose him, too…
Liam shuddered. No one deserved that. The sooner they found Tom, the better.
However, after a couple hours on the road, Liam was forced to call things to a halt, after he could hardly see Tyler or Mara or their partners anymore. "Tyler!" he called up. "We need to stop for a minute."
Far ahead of him, Tyler turned around. "What?" he said, a note of disbelief in his voice.
Liam pointed behind him. "Mara and Bitmon have fallen behind."
Tyler frowned, but returned to Liam's position and waited for Mara and Bitmon to catch up. When they did, however, he said, "Can't you go a little quicker?"
Mara was a little out of breath, and sweating slightly. "It is not wise to…rush our pace," she said. "Doing so will prove…detrimental later on."
Tyler's frown deepened, and Liam noticed that he was panting a bit, too. "Why don't we take a short break?" he suggested. "We can have a quick something to eat and drink, then continue on our way."
The others agreed, and Parimon dove for Liam's bag. "We just had breakfast a couple hours ago," said Liam, turning to her.
"Yeah, and?" said his partner.
"Well, just make sure not to eat too much."
Parimon raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, you know me. I've got a huge stomach, and I need to fill it constantly."
Liam chuckled, and even Volpesmon grinned; as the smallest of them, Parimon required the least amount of food. Mara, on the other hand, took no notice, and changed the subject as they brought out food and water. "Our energy does concern me somewhat," she said.
"Our energy?" said Tyler.
"We began to find ourselves out of breath," she said, indicating the three humans. "Yet I do not believe that the avatars in Digimon Net have been programmed to lose energy like that. I can only conclude that that indicates that we are traveling faster than we are supposed to—"
"Faster than we're supposed to?" said Tyler incredulously. "We weren't even running! Was this game programmed to represent the slowest people alive?"
Mara blinked, and Liam thought she looked mildly affronted. Before she could say anything, however, he interjected. "I wouldn't quite put it that way. But Tyler is right in thinking that the avatars do not have a low speed limit. I have seen demos of the game played several times, and the typical speed of the avatars is actually closer to a running pace." He gave a wry grin. "Many video gamers aren't the most patient people in the world. Creating slower avatars wouldn't sit well with them."
Mara looked taken aback. "Then…what is the explanation for this?"
"Maybe we're more than just avatars," said Tyler, a slight biting tone to his voice.
"What about our food requirements?" Mara retorted, indicating the rations. "You cannot deny that we require less food than we would in our human bodies."
"Maybe it's not universally affecting us," suggested Tyler after a brief pause. "Maybe we're only affected in certain respects, but not others."
"Why would that be the case?" said Mara. "Why would the program assign us certain changes but not others?"
"I don't know; I'm not an expert on this," Tyler snapped. "But it fits with our experience, doesn't it?"
"Okay, okay," said Liam, trying to diffuse the tension between them—again. "There are probably several possibilities, and we might not be able to nail down the correct one from our current situation. We can discuss the possibilities civilly, right?"
"I see no reason why we can't," said Mara, her criticism of Tyler thinly veiled. He noticed and shot a glare at her, but said nothing.
After a couple of minutes, they repacked their rations and continued on, Tyler and Liam at a slightly slower pace to match Mara's. It irritated Tyler that they couldn't travel faster, but Liam had emphasized the importance of sticking together, especially after Tyler had started off in the wrong direction and Bitmon had corrected him.
And, as they were about to find out, sticking together would provide safety, too.
About a half hour into their resumed travels, Volpesmon's ears perked up, and he slowed down. Tyler noticed, and felt himself tense up. "Something the matter?"
"I hear somethin'," his partner responded. He sniffed. "Yeah, someone's out there…but keep goin'. We don't want to arouse suspicion."
They resumed their normal pace, though Tyler glanced frequently at Volpesmon, who was still looking alert. Liam and Parimon looked wary, too, both of them looking around at regular intervals. Finally, after a few minutes, Volpesmon nodded. "We're bein' followed," he said in a low voice.
"Followed?" said Tyler, remembering to keep his voice to a whisper just in time.
Volpesmon nodded. "A bunch of little Digimon…bugs of some kind, I think; I hear them scuttlin'. Don't look around," he added, as Tyler made to do just that. "We might be able to catch 'em by surprise."
"How?"
Volpesmon thought for a minute. "Slow down," he said. "Maybe one of us could pretend to be injured."
"I can do it," Parimon volunteered, then immediately started flying erratically. "Ooh! Ah! My wing! It's cramped up!" She fluttered weakly to the ground. "I…I'm not sure if I can go on…" she said in a dramatic voice.
Volpesmon rolled his eyes. "I meant pretend to be injured in a convincing manner."
Parimon immediately sat up. "Convincing? I'm giving you convincing! I don't know how much more—"
"I thought your wing was injured," said Tyler with a small smile.
"What? Oh, I mean, yes it is! Oh!" She put a hand to her forehead and sunk to the ground. "The pain…it's eating me alive…I sure hope no one suddenly attacks us now!"
She opened her eyes and looked around expectantly. "Are they coming?" she asked in a whisper.
"No," said Volpesmon dryly.
She frowned. "Well, then, what was the point of all of this?"
"Well, we know not to call on you if we ever need a convincing act again," said Tyler.
Forgetting all about her injury, Parimon got up and flew to his eye level. "You'll be sorry if you don't! You wouldn't know a convincing act if it—"
Volpesmon cut her off. "Shh!"
Parimon turned on him. "Hey, he insulted me! Just because he's your partner doesn't—"
"No, be quiet, I hear 'em!"
Parimon instantly fell silent, and all six of them (well, except Bitmon) strained their ears. Tyler thought he could make out a faint rustle in the bushes behind them… He turned at the same time that Volpesmon said "There!" and jumped forward.
A shrill shriek emanated from the bushes, and, seconds later, a figure flew out and hit the ground. It looked like a large brown bug, about a foot and a half long and circular in shape. A number of tiny legs stuck out from the bottom of its body, and a thin black shell with little holes along the edge covered its back. What really drew the attention, though, was the face: two black beady eyes were barely visible above what appeared to be a mouth filled with long, thin tubes that hung loose. A thin, raspy breath could be heard coming from the opening.
The creature seemed to recover quickly from the shock of being thrown out of the bushes. It took a step forward, faced the travelers and arched its back. "Stun Smoke!" it cried in a reedy voice.
A yellowish smoke hissed out of the small holes in the shell and floated towards them. Tyler took several steps back—whatever that smoke was, he was pretty sure it wasn't something he wanted to be in contact with. Liam and Mara thought similarly—both retreated, the latter scanning the insect Digimon with her Digivice. "Verroamon," she read off her screen a second later. "Rookie level, Virus attribute. Attacks, Stun Smoke and Life Sucker. A parasitic Digimon that travels in swarms. It searches for victims to paralyze, then it drains the life out of them."
"Swarms?" said Tyler, looking around and expecting to see more of the unpleasant insects popping out of the trees. But none came, though the single one was still facing them defiantly.
"In any case, let's get rid of this smoke," said Parimon. She flew up to it and beat her wings quickly, and the smoke, which had already begun to dissipate, faded away into the air.
The Verroamon, however, was not deterred. It arched its back again, no doubt to send out another cloud of smoke, when a voice came from behind it: "No ya don't!"
Volpesmon jumped out of the bushes, and, before the Verroamon could react, slammed into it. The insect Digimon flew a few feet away, hissed, and turned to scuttle away.
"You ain't gettin' away," Volpesmon snarled, and he leapt after it. "Enforcer's Hand!"
His powerful legs enabled him to catch up to the Verroamon, and he drove his hand into its shell. The shell evidently didn't do much for protection, as it cracked and Volpesmon pierced the skin below. The Verroamon let out another shriek before bursting into data particles and floating away.
Tyler felt himself relax. "Good work, Volpesmon."
His partner remained grim, however. "There're more." He pointed to the bush. "I was fightin' a few of them off when I came out to take care of this one. They're probably gone by now, though."
Sure enough, when the group checked, the bushes were bare of any Verroamon. "Maybe we drove them off?" said Tyler, trying to sound hopeful.
"Probably," said Volpesmon. "The problem is, they were probably just scouts. I don't think Verroamon ever travel in such small groups. There's probably dozens more."
Tyler paled slightly. "Dozens?"
Volpesmon nodded. "They're not very strong individually, but together…they could be a problem."
The six of them stood in silence for a moment before Mara said, briskly, "Then we would do well to make sure we are not around when they return. Come."
They needed no further encouragement, and set off at a quicker pace than before. "On a different subject," said Mara, turning to Tyler, "you should learn how to absorb a Digimon's Extra Data after defeating it."
Tyler frowned. "Absorb data? I dunno, that sounds…"
"It is the best way to gain strength, and in this world, we will need all of the strength we can get."
Tyler glanced at Volpesmon, who looked uneasy, but didn't voice an objection. "Okay," he said, a little hesitantly. "How do I do it?"
"It's quite simple," said Mara, almost with the air of teaching something to a little kid. "Once your Digimon has destroyed another Digimon, an option will come up on your Digivice that asks if you wish to absorb the data. Press 'Yes,' and the Extra Data will flow into it, strengthening your Digimon in doing so."
Tyler looked down at his Digivice. "That's it?"
"Yes. It was intended as a frequent action for the players to take, and therefore programmed to be as simple as possible."
Liam cleared his throat. "Excuse me for asking, but…you mentioned something called Extra Data?"
Mara turned to him and immediately began explaining about Base Data and Extra Data. Tyler didn't really listen, instead thinking about what he'd been taught to do. Was it exactly moral to absorb a Digimon's Extra Data after destroying it? On the one hand, it made a lot of sense—it would strengthen Volpesmon, and taking away the data that comprised a Digimon's memory and experiences would reduce the chances of it coming back to take revenge, or something. And how different was it from what Wizardmon did to SkullMeramon?
On the other hand…now that he knew these were living creatures, could he be the judge of whether they deserved to have all their memories wiped? Volpesmon's attitude towards Digimon—of firmly treating them as living beings—had rubbed off on him, and he had to admit that even destroying them could make him a little uneasy. Still, could it be a necessary evil…?
He sighed. A large part of him just wanted to find Tom and get out of there. But it would be anything but easy, and even after they were out, then what? Would they be able to return to the Digital World? He'd admit, if he never got to see Volpesmon again, he'd be disappointed…unless Digimon could be transported to the real world, like humans had been transported to the Digital World? Of course, then they'd have a job hiding Volpesmon—a talking fox was sure to raise some eyebrows, at the very least.
His head began to spin with all the dilemmas, and he pushed them out of his mind. Focus on one thing at a time, he told himself. Find Tom. That's what matters right now.
The travelers stayed alert for the rest of the day, but encountered no more Verroamon. A few times, Volpesmon perked his head up, but couldn't positively identify the sound of more Verroamon closing in on them. By the time they stopped for the night, Tyler was feeling much more at ease about the whole situation.
His partner, though, was a different matter. "We should take it in turns to stand guard," he said.
"Come on," said Parimon. "We haven't seen any more threatening Digimon all day. I think we're safe."
"I'm not as confident," said Volpesmon. "I still think I heard some Verroamon during today's travels."
"If that was the case," said Parimon, "why weren't we attacked? They're not the brightest Digimon, are they? You'd think they wouldn't feel the need to hold back…especially if there's much more of them."
Volpesmon sighed. "Look, I know it's not all that logical. But…I feel like I'm forgettin' something important. And even disregarding the Verroamon, there are other dangers in the forest that we gotta watch out for."
Parimon rolled her eyes. "Fine. But you're taking first watch."
"That's not a problem."
"Actually," said Tyler, "I can do that."
They all turned to him. "You don't need to," said Volpesmon.
Tyler shrugged. "It takes me a while to fall asleep, anyway. If I'm gonna be awake, then why not have me do something?"
"Because we don't want a guard that's tryin' to fall asleep," said Volpesmon. "No offense."
"Then I won't. I need something to do to get me tired. I'll be alert."
"Well, if ya really want to…"
"Yeah, I'll do it."
Liam nodded. "Thank you, Tyler. Now, let's see what we have for dinner."
They ate as the sun was setting, then set out the sleeping bags that Wizardmon had given them, each human and Digimon pair settling down together, and at a noticeable distance from each other. They all passed the time before going to sleep differently—Liam and Parimon talked in low voices, Mara examined her Digivice more closely, and Tyler and Volpesmon walked around, eyes open for any dangers that might arise before they went to sleep. Soon, however, there was an unspoken consensus that it was time for bed. Liam and Mara crawled into their sleeping bags, and the Digimon lay down on the ground. "Wake me up when you're done," Volpesmon said to Tyler.
"Will do."
Volpesmon hesitated, then put a hand on Tyler's arm. "Hang in there, Tyler." Then, he walked off and settled down for the night.
Tyler exhaled, doing his best not to think about Tom. Instead, he tried focusing on the first thing that grabbed his attention, which was his Digivice. Looking at it, and remembering Mara's instructions about absorbing Extra Data, he felt like there was a lot about it that he didn't know about. He tried exploring some of the options on the main screen, but there wasn't much, aside from information about Volpesmon that he had already seen. Maybe it only gives certain information in certain situations, he thought, thinking both about Digivolving and absorbing data. But in that case, how much other information was there, and how could they find it?
He shook his head. There was too much about this world that he didn't know. Trying to learn all of it would be a fruitless endeavor. He knew enough to get along for the moment.
He hoped.
Time passed, and Tyler felt himself grow tired. But just as he was thinking about getting Volpesmon to take over for him, his ears perked up. Was that…scuttling?
He looked around. He couldn't see any Digimon…but he was pretty sure he could hear them. And they sounded a lot like the Verroamon from before.
Only this time, it sounded like there were a lot more. And they were all around them.
Tyler whirled around, fear rising up in him. How could there be this many? And how could they have surrounded them like this? He opened his mouth to call to Volpesmon—but then, the scuttling sound stopped. Tyler hesitated. Had the Verroamon stopped moving? Or was it just that he was tense and had overreacted, and had mistaken the rustling of leaves or something for enemy movements?
He waited for a few minutes, but nothing happened, and he began to relax. Maybe it was nothing, after all.
And then, he saw them.
Verroamon had completely surrounded their party, staring at them from up in the trees and down on the ground. Tyler couldn't tell right away, but it looked like there were at least dozens—maybe even over a hundred. He felt his heart sink. Against this many, how could they stand a chance?
He stood frozen for as long as the Verroamon. Then, they moved forward, and Tyler found his voice. "Attack! We're under attack!"
His companions jerked awake, quickly took stock of the situation, and leapt into action. Volpesmon sprung forward to fight the nearest Verroamon, but he only had time to bat a few of them away before the rest raised their shells. "Stun Smoke!"
Smoke seeped out from their backs and floated towards their adversaries. "Retreat! There's too much!" yelled Volpesmon.
"Retreat where?" said Tyler. "We're surrounded!"
"Then we make an escape route!" said Volpesmon. "Parimon, Bitmon, this way!" He dashed toward a smaller cluster of Verroamon who had not released their smoke just yet. "Enforcer's Hand!"
The Verroamon scurried out of the way and his attack slammed into the ground, but there was now a small gap in the enemy lines. Parimon and Bitmon took the hint. "Ruby Beam!"
"Deletion Laser."
More Verroamon cleared away, avoiding the attacks until there was a gap large enough for everyone to fit through. "Run!" yelled Tyler as he dashed toward it, barely escaping the approaching yellow smoke.
They plunged deeper into the forest. "Now I remember what I was forgettin'!" said Volpesmon. "Verroamon are active at night! Of course they wouldn't have attacked us during the day!"
"You couldn't have remembered that sooner?" said Parimon.
Volpesmon opened his mouth to respond when a shape dropped from a tree branch above, landing directly on him and forcing him to the ground. "Volpesmon!" yelled Tyler, running forward.
The shape—which was indeed a Verroamon—lowered its mouth to Volpesmon's neck. "Life Sucker!" The tubes that covered its mouth went suddenly taut and latched onto Volpesmon's skin. With a jolt, Tyler realized it was going to drain his energy.
Fortunately, Parimon was quick to act. "Ruby Beam!"
A red beam of energy hit the Verroamon in its side, just below its shell. With a hiss, it fell off Volpesmon and scurried away. "We need to Digivolve, now!" said Parimon.
Tyler turned around, and was terrified to see that the Volpesmon from the clearing were closing in on them. "Right!"
Mara and Liam were already on it, and three seconds later, Bytemon and Tajinnmon entered the battle. Tyler reached for his Digivice, too—but then felt something heavy land on his arm. Another Verroamon had dropped from the trees and was now clinging to him. "Get off!" he yelled, shaking his arm.
Another weight landed on his back, and he flailed some more, losing his balance after a couple seconds. He fell on his back, crushing the Verroamon beneath him and dislodging the one on his arm.
His relief of being rid of them was short-lived, though, as he found himself face-to-face with another Verroamon, arching its back. "Stun Smoke!"
Tyler had no time to run. The smoke seeped out from the Digimon's back and floated right in his face. Coughing, he threw himself to the side, but it was too late. He could already feel his muscles freezing up. "Help…"
He wasn't sure if his companions heard him. Both Mara and Liam and their partners were involved in fighting off their own swarms of Verroamon. Bytemon and Tajinnmon were making good progress, disintegrating Verroamon left and right, but the number of enemies didn't seem to decrease, no matter what they did.
Then, a dark shape jumped into Tyler's field of vision. "I gotcha, Tyler!" Volpesmon was fighting like a maniac, lashing out left and right, forward and behind. But it seemed as though all of the Verroamon had managed to catch up with them, and they were too much even for a fighter like Volpesmon. While he was occupied with a group of three to Tyler's right, another five snuck up on Tyler's left. "Volpesmon…" Tyler tried to warn his partner, reaching a hand out with what was left of his strength.
But Volpesmon couldn't hear over the noise of battle, and Tyler could do nothing but watch as the Verroamon cried out, "Stun Smoke!"
Volpesmon whirled around, but he was starting to slow down, and his reaction was not quick enough. The smoke reached him, and Tyler saw the fox Digimon begin to freeze up. He tried to leap away, but his legs gave way, and he joined Tyler in lying on the forest floor.
Verroamon were all over them now. Tyler could hear them chittering excitely over him, and tried to move, to do anything, but with the effect of their smoke, he could only twitch.
On his wrist, his Digivice began to beep. Tyler turned his head by a fraction, and saw it offering him the chance to Digivolve Volpesmon. There was one problem, though—Tyler couldn't reach the screen to push the "Yes" option. "Come on…" he groaned, trying to muster strength in his arm, but he remained just as immobile.
Numerous weights pressed down on him, and a few feet away, he saw Verroamon being set upon, as well. "No…" he said. He tried to catch his companions' eyes, but they were barely able to hold off their own swarms of Verroamon, let alone help him with his. "We…we've got to do something…"
The Verroamon on top of Volpesmon raised their heads, the tubes around their mouths straightening. "Life Sucker!" they cried in one voice.
Tyler's eyes widened. With that many Verroamon on him, Volpesmon wouldn't last half a minute. And, for that matter, neither would he.
Time seemed to slow down as the Verroamon lowered their mouths to Tyler's partner, and his mind raced. I have to do something…but I can't do anything…but I have to do something! "No…no!"
Then, his Digivice chirped. He glanced over it and barely had time to see that the screen had changed—it now read "Digivolve" rather than "Digivolve?" and did not offer two options—before a white light shot out and covered Volpesmon, scattering the Verroamon that were swarming him. As Tyler watched, Volpesmon rose and grew, calling out, "Volpesmon Digivolve to…Alepomon!"
Tyler stared. Volpesmon had Digivolved…but how? He hadn't pushed the "Yes" option on his Digivice. Somehow, his Digivice had activated all on its own. Could it do that?
Well, it wasn't the time to speculate. He could still feel his own Verroamon on top of him, and heard them cry out, "Life Sucker!"
He grimaced. This was going to hurt him quite a bit—though hopefully, Alepomon would be able to get to them after a couple seconds.
But, to his surprise, he never felt the Verroamon's attack at all. With a fierce roar, Alepomon threw himself at Tyler, and, arms swinging, knocked them all off. Then, in practically the same movement, he picked Tyler up, threw him over his shoulder, and leapt away. "Muscle Blaster!" he yelled as he aimed one of his guns behind him.
Tyler heard the boom behind them and the shrieking of Verroamon that meant that Alepomon's attack had found its targets. A second later, Alepomon stopped and carefully laid Tyler on the ground, so that he was leaning against a tree. "You okay?" he asked, concern evident in his voice and expression.
Tyler nodded slowly, feeling movement gradually returning to his body. "Yeah…thank you."
Alepomon's expression hardened, and he turned back to the advancing Verroamon. "You think you can endanger my partner and me like that?" he yelled. "Prepare to be wiped from the face of the planet!"
And with that, he launched himself into action, attacking with a ferocity that Tyler hadn't seen before. The Verroamon, who must have been expecting Tyler and Volpesmon to be easy prey, seemed taken aback, but quickly rallied, and threw themselves at their attacker, trying to stun him again. But Alepomon wasn't letting them. Anytime that they released their smoke, he leapt ten feet away and continued blasting them. And when he didn't use his guns, he used his feet and hands, which were just as effective at holding off the Verroamon. Soon, the air was thick with data particles.
Tyler heard his Digivice chirp again, and looked down to see it offering him the chance to absorb the Verroamon's Extra Data. He didn't give it too much thought before selecting "Yes"; like Alepomon, he wasn't inclined to forgive the Verroamon for attacking him and his partner. As soon as he did, a lot of the data floating in the air changed course and flowed into his Digivice.
The tide had clearly turned against the Verroamon. Bytemon and Tajinnmon were still standing, and seemed to finally have fewer attackers. And Alepomon, of course, was on fire. The Verroamon became more and more scarce, until, at last, none remained.
Liam, who looked like he had been feeling very tense, relaxed. "Is everyone okay?" he said.
Mara looked around quickly, then gave a nod. "It looks like it." A small smile appeared on her face. "And with a victory like that, we were able to absorb a tremendous amount of data. This will prove very useful in our future endeavors."
Tyler grunted as he got to his feet. "Yeah, great that we were attacked en masse and Volpesmon and I were almost killed."
Both Liam and Mara turned to him. "Almost killed?" said Liam. "That's terrible! I'm sorry if we weren't much help; I could barely tell what was going on around me."
"It's fine." Tyler nodded at Alepomon, who, after listening for any more Verroamon, seemed to be calming down. "We managed. In fact…" He held up his wrist, displaying his Digivice. "My Digivice acted on its own."
"On its own?" said Liam.
"Yeah. Volpesmon was able to Digivolve without me pushing the button."
Liam looked surprised, Mara confused. "The Digivices don't work like that, though," she said. "They can't act on their own. That would be a notable design flaw."
"Mine did."
Mara's frown deepened. "Perhaps one of the Verroamon stepped on it, or some other force caused it to react."
"Nothing did. I was there."
"You may not have seen it."
Liam held up a hand. "It doesn't matter right now. We're all safe."
Mara's frown lingered for a moment before she dropped it. "Yes, we are." She nodded at Tyler. "Whatever did happen with your Digivice, it was very fortunate that it did."
Tyler returned the nod, but concealed his frown. He knew that his Digivice had acted on its own. What did it mean? Was it another feature that only came up when it was needed?
One thing was for sure. This world—and everything in it—was full of mysteries. But they would just have to face them.
A/N: So…heh…it's been a while since I updated…only half a year or so…ah heh heh…
But seriously, I'm sorry it took so long. I have a tendency to work on several writing projects at once, and the length of this one, combined with a shifting interest towards the others, is the reason I haven't updated since December. And I can't promise that further updates will be very quick (though they might)—but I can promise that, no matter how long it takes, I will finish this story. I've got most of it planned out, including the ending, and I'm not going to leave things hanging, both for your sakes and for mine. So while I can't say when the next update will be, I can say that there will be one (and many others). Hope you can still keep reading it!
