Author's Notes: I've been enjoying reading a lot of stories on this site, but, unfortunately, as my readers can tell, it really stops me from updating diligently. It's finally here, so enjoy. Perhaps the next chapter will be produced faster, but there are no guarantees in this business (and I've got vacation in Florida this weekend, so I'll be pre-occupied).
Reviews . . . oh, that's right . . . I DON'T GET ANY! I'm a little bitter about this, but my ray of hope is the ever-present UKHoneyB. Thank goodness for UK, or I'd just be depressed . . .
Previously . . .
Devimon raised both hands and the beds rose into the air, holding a child, a Digimon, and the child's clothes on each. They all let out cries of alarm.
"What are you doing?" Blake screamed as they circled in the air around the devastated mansion.
"Instead of me taking your lives from you, you have taken a slave from me," Devimon said. "So now I will take away the source of your power and, mark my words, you will die!"
"Leave us alone!" Becca wailed.
"You've overcome all challenges you've faced thus far," Devimon said. "But how will you fare when you're all alone? Since you gain so much strength from your friends, allow me to send you by yourselves all over the Digital world!"
CHAPTER TWELVE
Primary Village
"Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark," Lopmon chuckled as the fire crackled beside him and his partner.
"I'm not!" Rainey said defensively, looking around at the dark, silent forest.
After a rude awakening early in the morning, Rainey and Lopmon had travelled around the island all day, searching for everyone else. Although the search had been unsuccessful, Rainey and Lopmon had come to the conclusion that they were still on File Island.
Rainey settled down on the dirt and Lopmon threw some dirt on the fire, putting it out.
As darkness settled on the campsite, Lopmon snuggled close against Rainey.
There was a chirp from far off. "Rainey?" Lopmon asked, his voice full of doubt. "Did you hear that?"
"It's nothing," Rainey mumbled, already half asleep. "Come on, Lopmon. Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark."
"Not funny," Lopmon said. He still wriggled a little tighter to Rainey - just in case.
"How unexpected," Devimon muttered, slightly angrily. "It appears these children are more versatile than I first believed. Four of them have reunited, and another pair are together elsewhere, and all of them are headed back to File Island."
He smiled. "All except the youngest, who's already here."
Devimon turned to acknowledge the entrance of his servants, Leomon and Ogremon. "I suppose it's time to stop sending Gears to do a truly evil Digimon's job."
"If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself," Ogremon quoted the famous phrase. "And I'm here at your bidding, Master." He fell to his knee, bowing.
"As am I," Leomon rumbled, following Ogremon with a bow of his own. "I shall valiantly serve you."
"Of course," Devimon said. "Yes, it's time for us to kill the children once and for all."
"My service is yours," Leomon reiterated.
Devimon smiled. "It would suffice to send you two to do it. We'll start with the youngest."
Leomon chuckled darkly. "Your wish is my command."
"Good. He's headed for Primary Village. Go. Kill him and his Digimon."
Leomon stood, exiting his master's prescence with Ogremon close behind.
"Lopmon, you sure do complain a lot," Rainey laughed at his rabbit-like Digimon.
"I'm just trying to keep a conversation going," Lopmon laughed.
"Well, there's nothing to talk about," Rainey said, chuckling. "If we could find the others, then you can talk to somebody."
Lopmon chuckled, hovering up to come to rest on Rainey's head.
"Who said you could ride up there?" Rainey said as he walked off through the forest.
"I did!"
"That doesn't count!"
"You'd think we would've found someone by now," Rainey sighed tiredly, seeing the sun high in the sky. "It's time to eat."
"See?" Lopmon drawled. "I'm not the only one who complains!"
Rainey gave his Digimon a playful, light punch on the shoulder.
"Who are you?" a voice asked gruffly from the bushes ahead of the two, making them jump.
"Hello?" Rainey called tenatively as Lopmon placed himself between his partner and the speaker.
"Why have you come this way?" the voice asked.
"Who are you?" Rainey asked.
A small red creature crawled out of the bushes in front of them. It was a quadriped and had a body shape like Gizamon, or maybe Rabbitmon. It's body was covered in what was predominantly red fur, but some of that fur was purple. It had long rabbit ears with purple tips. Its eyes were large and blue and its mouth was wide. At the end of its body it had nine tails, all resembling his rabbit ears, that were red with purple tips.
"My name is Elecmon. I protect Primary Village."
"Primary Village?" Rainey asked.
"I've heard of that, but I've never been there," Lopmon said.
"Yes," Elecmon said. "But, I need to know why you've come."
Lopmon pouted, but Rainey explained, "We were sent here by Devimon -"
"Devimon?" Elecmon screamed, outraged.
"I meant -" Rainey began, realizing how it had sounded.
"I will never let Devimon's servants into Primary Village!" Elecmon cried. "Super Thunder Strike!" In a flash of yellow electricity outlined in purple, Elecmon launched a lightning bolt from his back that slammed painfully into the unsuspecting Lopmon.
Lopmon was thrown back, slamming hard into a tree.
"Wait!" Rainey cried futilly.
"Blazing Fire!" Lopmon cried, an orange energy attack flying to hit Elecmon in the face, blanketing him in fire and smoke.
"You've done it now, dark intruders!" Elecmon growled.
"You don't understand!" Rainey wailed uselessly.
"Tiny Twister!" Lopmon announced, fanning out his large ears and flapping them, sending a gale-force wind streaking towards Elecmon.
"Super Thunder Strike!" Elecmon roared, firing a haphazardly-aimed attack before being bowled over by the wind.
Despite the fact that the fight shouldn't even be happening, Rainey couldn't help but feel proud of his little partner.
Lopmon flew over to land on Elecmon, who was struggling to get back up. "Don't even think about it!" Lopmon said menacingly.
Rainey ran over to kneel in front of Elecmon, ignoring the warning look from his partner Digimon.
"Elecmon, you've got us all wrong," he explained calmly. "We didn't come here because we work for Devimon. We came here because Devimon hates us; he wants us dead."
Elecmon remained silent, but his eyes showed that he was processing the information.
"Devimon wants you dead?" Elecmon asked slowly. "I knew there was something strange about you!" He was now addressing Rainey. "You're not a Digimon and I knew it! You're from another world!"
Rainey was shocked at Elecmon's very on-target guesses, but smiled and nodded. He lifted Lopmon into his arms, allowing Elecmon to rise to his feet.
"I'm sorry," Elecmon said sincerely. "I was too hasty in my judgement. I shouldn't have attacked you like that."
"Got that right!" Lopmon agreed angrily.
"Shh!" Rainey chastized his Digimon. "Thanks, Elecmon. That's all right." Lopmon shot him a look of surprise.
"Allow me to offer you the hospitality of Primary Village," Elecmon continued.
Rainey set Lopmon down. "What exactly is Primary Village?"
Elecmon smiled, a fitting expression for his wide-mouthed face. "Come with me and I'll show you."
The little red Digimon hopped off into the bushes from whence he came, followed by the curious companions. They walked only for a few minutes before the trees began to thin.
"Looks like we're getting close," Rainey commented to Lopmon.
"Sure are!" Elecmon commented gleefully, not seeing Lopmon sticking his tongue out at him.
In no time the end of the trees was visible. "Here we are!" Elecmon announced happily. Lopmon sulked.
"Wow!" Rainey breathed. "It's so beautiful!" Even the sultry Lopmon was amazed at the sight.
It was an enourmous field, in which was a city that looked like it was made out of children's blocks. There were big blocks with the letter "A" stacked on top of other letter blocks. They all looked a little different than normal blocks though . . .
"They're plushy!" Lopmon observed.
"Kinda like stuffed animals!" Rainey laughed.
Elecmon smiled. "Actually, probably more like pillows. The streets are even paved with cushy material. It feels like a quilt!"
"This place is incredible!" Rainey smiled. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought up some place like this. It was the perfect little kid's paradise and, despite Rainey's age, he was totally excited to be here.
"This isn't even the best part," Elecmon said. He felt tears well up in his eyes; he loved his work, and he was about to see it - them - again.
"Really?" Rainey and Lopmon - Lopmon with a very small amount of anger - asked eagerly.
"Nope," Elecmon said, as Lopmon indignantly realised that Elecmon was only addressing Rainey. "The reason Primary Village exists is just over this little slope!"
As they crested the slightly raised ground, Rainey and Lopmon stared in breathless amazement at the sight they beheld.
In a continuation of the gigantic grassy plain, hundreds - maybe even thousands - of brown wicker objects sat on the lush, soft green grass.
"Cribs?"Rainey asked.
"Exactly!" Elecmon replied. "And each crib is either filled by an adorable baby Digimon, or holds a DigiEgg waiting to hatch!"
"Wow!" Rainey exclaimed. "So this is where Digimon are born! Lopmon, do you remember being born here?"
Lopmon turned to look at his partner but, noticing that Elecmon was also looking, simply said a gruff "No" and turned away. Stupid Elecmon!
"Oh well," Rainey muttered as Elecmon perked up.
"Doesn't matter! Lots of Digimon don't really remember being here." He began to trot off towards the crib field with Rainey following eagerly behind. Lopmon stomped a few yards behind the two, still in a hot temper about the unwarranted battle from earlier.
"See," Elecmon continued, "it doesn't matter that they remember exactly what they were doing while they were here. What matters is the love and care that I give to them! With that as a positive background, every Digimon here is ready to go out into the Digital World and become a friendly aspect of File Island!"
Rainey wanted to ask So what happened with Devimon, but decided not to talk about such dark matters in such a happy, carefree place.
"As you can see," Elecmon continued, pulling a cute Digimon out of its crib, "this is the perfect place for all Digimon to begin their lives!" He held the little creature out to Rainey, who took it gently into his hands. "See?"
Rainey was holding a little round ball of fluff. It was totally black and had two little round ears adorning its head. The only thing that showed the life in the unmoving creature were the cute little yellow eyes.
"Aww!" Rainey said instinctively, and even Lopmon's grudge softened a little.
"It's a Botamon!" Elecmon exclaimed. "It may evolve into any number of In-Training Level Digimon!"
As if on cue, the Botamon said, "Bo! Bo!".
"Aww!" Rainey smiled, waggling his finger in front of Botamon's face and giving it a loving pat on the head.
Botamon wriggled slightly, his eyes squinting a little. "Ch!" it sneezed.
Rainey's eyes bulged. It was so cute!
"Hm!" Lopmon pouted, forcing an angry face. "I don't see anything so spectacular about it."
"What did you say?" Elecmon growled, stepping forward menacingly.
"Lopmon!" Rainey chastise him, hoping he wasn't hurting the little Botamon's ears.
"I'm just saying, I've seen some pretty special things and this is just dull."
"You're really pushing me!" Elecmon said, holding himself back from leaping at Lopmon.
"What's up, Lopmon?" Rainey asked angrily, turning Botamon away from him and snuggling closer.
"I was just saying, if you want to see something better than babies, we could do that." Lopmon's unreasonable anger and Elecmon's earlier attack had finally broiled over, and Lopmon was winding up for the final blow.
"Just stop there," Elecmon threatened. "I've held myself back and if you just stop there we won't have a problem." Elecmon had more skillfully hidden his resentment for Lopmon, yet he still wanted to fight the stupid little rabbit.
Lopmon smiled, a sinister look behind the innocent face. "All I'm saying, Rainey, is that we could go see something better. Like," he drawled, an evil glint in his eye, "Ogremon drooling into a cup -"
Lopmon couldn't have said more if he'd tried. Elecmon had tackled him and was now mercilessly wrestling with him, scratching and biting. Lopmon was certainly participating in the contest of strength, not only using his nails and teeth but also slapping Elecmon with his big, fanned-out ears.
They rolled around, grunting, punching and scratching and biting and slapping each other, trying to get the other to submit.
"Tiny Twister!" Lopmon finally said, fanning out his ears in one swift motion that created a push of air, causing both Digimon to fly back from one another.
The Botamon in Rainey's arms sniffled and began to cry. "Stop it, you two!" he ordered.
"Super Thunder Strike!"
"Blazing Fire!"
The streak of thunder and ball of hot energy flew at each other, slamming together in an explosion that both Digimon were already on a collision course for. Before the smoke could even clear, the two Digimon smashed into each other with a dull thud, dropping to the ground and continuing to skid across the grass in the direction their momentum was taking them.
"Elecmon, stop!" Rainey cried as Botamon wailed in his arms. "Lopmon, quit it! You're acting like a jerk!"
"Blazing Fire!" Lopmon announced, swooping over Elecmon's head and launching the attack to blast on Elecmon's head.
"S-Thunder Smack!" Elecmon roared, spinning around with a glowing, electric paw and slapping the retreating Lopmon, sending him spinning to land painfully back to the grass.
"Lopmon!" Rainey cried, anger and worry in his voice.
Lopmon was out cold, and before Elecmon could even smile at his victory, his energy ran out and he, too, fell to the ground.
"Oh, great!" Rainey moaned. "A double K.O."
Botamon's sobs were slightly quieted by the resuming silence, but, to Rainey's horror, another cry met his ears.
And another.
And another.
The babies were awake.
Elecmon awoke to a mortifying sound: His babies were all crying.
He leapt to his feet - and stopped.
He was in a dark, cool lean-to, and, for a moment, he didn't know where he was or where his village - and his babies - had gone. Then he realised it was just a lean-to and that he was only a little dizzy.
Walking out from beneath the shelter and squinting in the bright sunlight, Elecmon saw a boy running through his cribs, obviously exhausted and surrounded by crying babies.
"My babies!" Elecmon cried in despair. He had sworn his life to protecting the babies and making sure they were cared for and happy. Now they were all crying at once.
"Elecmon!" the boy cried, his voice one thousand percent full of relief.
Elecmon's dizziness was still plaguing him, and it took him a second to remember the boys name. "Rainey!" he said, sprinting towards the child's location. "I'm coming!"
"Thank goodness!" Rainey breathed to himself. For about the past hour, he'd been running from crib to crib, cuddling and cooing and doing everything in his power to try and stop the crying of the baby Digimon. They were hungry and some had done their business and they were all wondering what had happened to Elecmon.
"What happened?" Elecmon panted as he ran up to Rainey, grabbing the baby Digimon from the boy's arms and cuddling it closely. The baby's crying quieted as it recognised its father-figure.
Rainey sighed as he sat tiredly on the lush grass. "When you and Lopmon fought, you both knocked the other out. Just about the time the fight ended, all the babies woke up. I've been running around trying to cuddle them and get them to stop crying, but they just won't quiet down."
"What about food?" Elecmon asked worriedly. "You fed them, didn't you?"
Rainey looked in disbelief at Elecmon, fearing the Digimon's response to the truth. "Well . . . no -"
"What!" Elecmon roared. Rainey cringed at the harsh outburst, but Elecmon was much less concerned about Rainey as he was about his babies. "Well, they need food now. There's a river nearby. Go and catch some fish!"
"You gotta be kidding!" Rainey said, looking at the hundred or so cribs and wondering how he could catch enough fish to feed all of them.
"Uh . . . " Lopmon muttered, groaning as he stumbled towards the two and rubbed his eyes sleepily. "What happened?"
Rainey smirked. "Well well, Lopmon. We've got a job for you!"
"Huh?" Lopmon asked, looking fearfully at the two.
Rainey's smirk had an evil little hint to it. "Time to pay for the trouble you caused with Elecmon."
"Rainey, do we really have to do all this work?" Lopmon complained, hoisting a giant fish onto his back and sagging under the weight.
"You're the one who attacked Elecmon like that and prevented him from helping out with the babies. He could've been doing this like normal, but now that all the babies are in an uproar he's busy. And it's your fault."
Lopmon sighed dejectedly. "I didn't mean to."
Rainey smiled faintly. "Then what did you mean to do?"
"I just -" Lopmon defended, trying to think about what he was saying, but not having much success. "I just wanted to show him that he would pay for treating us bad like he did!"
"Do you think you taught him a lesson?" Rainey asked quietly.
Lopmon's face fell. "No," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I don't even know why I was so angry about it. I guess he just picked a nerve and I didn't let it go."
Rainey nodded, hoisting a large fish into his own arms with a great deal of difficulty. "I understand. All you have to do is apologise to Elecmon."
Lopmon nodded, looking back at the river from which they got their fish. Then he turned and began trudging slowly back towards Primary Village, a short ways through the trees.
Elecmon sighed with relief when he saw the boy and his Lopmon returning, carrying two large, plump, heavy-looking fish.
"Just set them down over here!" he yelled to them, waving.
The two friends trudged tiredly up to Elecmon, thankfully dropping the fish on the ground.
"Super Thunder Shock!" Elecmon cried, zapping the fish and instantly cooking them. The luscious smell rose with the steam that was coming from the fish.
"Wow!" Rainey said.
"That smells good!" Lopmon said, his eyes a little glazed over.
"Hey," Rainey said to Lopmon. "Didn't you have something to say to Elecmon?"
"Oh, yeah," Lopmon muttered, shuffling his feet and staring intently at the ground near his feet. "I'm - I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted!" Elecmon said cheerfully, seemingly unphased by Lopmon's apology. Baby Digimon began to crowd around the fish, the alluring smell bringing the entire village to that spot. "These babies are hungry. Go get two more fish!"
"What!" Rainey and Lopmon cried in disbelief.
"Go get more fish," Elecmon repeated, giving them a strange look, as if to say What was so hard to understand about that?
Sighing dejectedly, the two trudged off, heads down, wishing more than anything to take a seat.
Rainey sighed with content. His arms were aching and he was exhausted, but lying on the soft, cushiony grass of Primary Village felt like the best of beds.
"Well, Lopmon," he said, spreading his arms and legs wide and savoring the sweet relaxation time Elecmon had finally granted them after their third fishload. "It's been some day."
"Yep," Lopmon agreed, closing his eyes and interlocking his fingers, resting his hands on his tummy.
They were on a sloping hill of luscious green grass. Rainey was sprawled out lazily and Lopmon was lying serenely with the top of his head facing towards the top of Rainey's.
"Sure haven't ever heard of anyone baby-sitting like that before!" Rainey joked lightly.
Lopmon chuckled softly. "In a way, though, it's been a fun day."
"A lot of work," Rainey said, "but it was worth it, I think."
"Definitely," Lopmon agreed. "Sorry again for what I did today. I should've stopped when you said stop."
Rainey smiled. "It's okay."
They lay there, staring at the clouds making their way lazily across the sky. Rainey pointed to the clouds and began to ask Lopmon what he thought they looked like.
"A rabbit," Rainey said, staring along his pointing arm with one eye open and one closed.
"No way!" Lopmon disagreed. "I'm a rabbit! That's more like an Otamamon!"
"How about that one?" Rainey challenged, pointing to one nearby the rabbit/Otamamon-shaped one.
Lopmon thought for a moment, then said matter-of-factly, "Prairiemon!"
Rainey stopped, his arm lowering slowly to his side. Lopmon noticed his sudden quietness and propped himself on one elbow to look quizzically at Rainey. "What's wrong?"
Rainey sat up, his shoulders slumping and head down. Lopmon crawled around to sit in front of him.
"Sorry," Rainey said, wiping a hand across his eyes to make sure no tears fell from his now watering eyes. "It's just . . . When you mentioned Otamamon and Prairiemon, I remembered Casey and the others."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Lopmon apologised. It seemed like he found himself doing that a lot lately. "I didn't mean -"
Lopmon was cut off by a long sob that, despite his attempts to hold it back, had erupted from Rainey's throat.
"I - I'm sorry!" Rainey sobbed. "I - I - I didn't me - mean to cry but - but - but - I just miss my big brother so much!"
Lopmon's eyes filled with tears at the sight of his distressed partner. He climbed into Rainey's lap and hugged him with short, stubby arms.
"Th - Thank you, Lopmon!" Rainey continued sobbing. "I just don't know what to do! They're nowhere to be found!"
"It's okay, Rainey," Lopmon said soothingly. "I'm sure they're looking for us. And I'm pretty sure they'll find us before long."
Rainey looked up, wiping away his tears. "You're right, Lopmon. Thanks."
Lopmon smiled, hopping lightly off his partner's lap and setting down at Rainey's feet. "We could even stay here if you want," Lopmon suggested helpfully.
"I'm sorry," a deep, growling, familiar voice said from behind the two, "but that won't be a possibility for you."
Rainey and Lopmon gasped in horror, whipping around to see Devimon's servant, Leomon, standing before them.
Rainey shot to his feet and Lopmon automatically positioned himself in between Leomon and Rainey.
"Hey!" Elecmon cried, galloping up to Lopmon and Rainey and giving Leomon a strange look. "What are you doing here, Leomon?"
"The children," Leomon growled lowly, drawing his sword slowly and ominously. "I am looking for the children. Give me the boy."
"No way!" Lopmon yelled. "There's no way I'll let you lay a finger on my friend!"
"Leomon?" Elecmon questioned, seeing Leomon's soulless eyes. "Leomon, what's wrong?"
"Lord Devimon wants the boy," Leomon grumbled, taking a slow, threatening step forward.
"Lord Devimon?" Elecmon asked in horror.
"That's right!" Rainey shouted. "Devimon did something to him and now Leomon is working for Devimon!"
"I can't believe it!" Elecmon cried desperately. "The protector of File Island has become servant to it's antagonist?"
"If you do not sacrifice the boy, you will be punished," Leomon growled.
"I can fight!" Lopmon said to Rainey, his eyes asking permission.
"No!" Elecmon said, pulling the two near him. "You can't! If Leomon really is working for Devimon, then he's our enemy! But he's too strong! Even if Lopmon and I combined our power, we wouldn't be able to beat him!"
"There's got to be something we can do!" Rainey wailed. "We can't let him win!"
"No," Elecmon agreed, "we certainly can't allow him to do that!"
"So what are you suggesting?" Lopmon wondered.
"I'll fight him and you two run!" Elecmon directed.
Rainey had a look of despair in his eyes. He wished there was another way out, but he knew Leomon would simply overpower them both and maybe even kill Lopmon. This way, Elecmon could occupy his attention so that Rainey and Lopmon could get in the forest and put some distance between him and them, and then Leomon would come after them because that's apparently why he'd come in the first place.
"Let's go," Rainey said quietly. Lopmon looked into his partner's eyes and understood. He leapt up to rest on Rainey's shoulders, and the boy began running off into the trees.
Leomon took a step after them, but Elecmon stopped him.
"Don't think about it!" he challenged. "I'm not going to let you hurt them!"
"Do not be a fool," Leomon replied.
"Super Thunder Strike!"
Celebrate: NEXT CHAPTER IS THE SEASON FANALE!
Man, I'm excited. Anyways, I've been enjoying reading UltraSonikku's "Zero Two: A Revision" (I highly recommend!), and, taking advice from its success, I'm going to be doing things a little differently around here when Season Two begins (in chapter 14). More details next chapter (unless I forget . . . lol!). If I forget, you'll just find out when Chapter 14 rolls around.
