Begun 12:41am on Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Finished 5:30pm on Sunday, October 12, 2008

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A/N: Sorry about the wait. I went on the ridiculously fortunate ultimatelonghiatusdestroyer spree a little over a month ago, chucking out a few chapters in a few days, and then, with the hope of continuing at a chapter-a-week pace, I went into a month-long hiatus brought on by the ridiculous business of being a college student, especially a theatre major and fraternity member. Regardless, I have at long last delivered the twenty-fifth chapter which I'm sure you were all dying to get your hands on (figuratively). Well, get to it!

-

Previously in Digimon: Digital Monsters

This is Meggy speaking. After weeks, we, the DigiDestined, had broken up and given up hope for Blake ever returning. Then one night, much to my surprise, Blake came walking up to me. I told him how we had split up and how I'd ended up alone, and then we came upon Kokomon. Kokomon told us that he and Rainey had separated from the others and met Impmon, who tricked Rainey into abandoning Kokomon. We helped nurse Kokomon back to health and now we're more determined than ever to get everyone back together again!

-

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Digitamamon's Diner

Casey walked wearily along the dusty path running alongside the large lake. He'd been walking along the edge of the lake for days, and was positively drained.

Against his better judgment, Casey had finally let Rainey stay by himself with Lopmon. It was only for a day, not even half a day, actually, and Casey figured, Hey, what's the worst that could happen?

When he'd returned that night, Rainey and Lopmon were gone. He yelled their names until he was hoarse and heard no reply. He didn't know what to do, and though he felt badly about it, he decided against returning to Cameron. Though he could have benefited from Cameron's help searching for his brother, he certainly couldn't waste any time trekking back across the lake to ask for it.

Not that Cameron would have helped anyway. Casey didn't understand it and couldn't explain it, but Cameron wasn't focused on the same objective as the others at all. He had always been prone to going off on his own, getting lost in his own world, conducting his own so-called "research," all under the pretense of helping him understand the Digital World better, which would supposedly help supply them with a way home. More recently, Cameron had added the pretense that he would also be able to help find Blake, but neither of these things seemed entirely true.

Sure, Cameron was interested in returning home, but his research had always been more about learning for the sake of learning, rather than a means to an end. Cameron just seemed to have his own agenda, and Casey didn't even think Cameron knew exactly what that was, but he was always in pursuit of it. Cameron was friends with everyone in the group, and he certainly enjoyed being with them, but it seemed to Casey that he often caught glances from Cameron that belied an attitude of being around commoners.

Now that Blake had disappeared within the vortex, it seemed that this had spurned the drive in Cameron by ten times, and he was darkly determined to reach whatever unknown conclusion he was seeking.

With all this in mind, Casey left on his own, just he and Prairiemon, searching for Rainey and Lopmon, who he had looked for all day, every day, making his way along the edge of the lake with the hypothesis that Rainey had gone to find Casey himself by following the lake, but Casey had yet to even find a clue to Rainey's whereabouts.

Now Casey felt his feet dragging with every step. The sun was nearly at its peak in the sky and Casey was ready for lunch. He and Prairiemon had been living off the sparse rations they had with them and the few berries and fruits they could grab in passing as they continued walking, but their supply was running low and they only had rations for the two of them for another day's worth, maybe two.

"Think we should eat yet?" Casey asked Prairiemon, breaking a silence that had spanned several minutes now.

Prairiemon considered his growling stomach before answering. "I guess we should walk just a few more minutes, just in case."

Casey nodded, and they continued to walk forward. It was at that moment that Casey noticed a small, white-washed structure in the distance. "Wonder what that is," Casey pondered aloud.

They continued and the structure grew in their vision. As they came upon it, they saw a squat, rectangular building that was fairly unremarkable. It had a few black-screened windows that revealed nothing of the inside. There was a porch before the front entrance, which was a rickety screen door. The roof was tin and rusty, and there were boxes stacked up high on one side of the building. On the other side was a small, fenced-in area with a door leading into the building and a grill sitting outside. The grill seemed rusty, old, and unused.

Casey and Prairiemon came upon the building and saw the faded sign hanging beside the door that read "Diner."

"Huh," Casey shrugged.

"A diner!" Prairiemon said happily. "Finally we can eat something that's not just fruit!"

"Yeah, I guess," Casey replied with a smile. He hated to admit it, but he was sick of the same old food, and he would love to sit down at a table or booth and order from a menu. It was almost like being back home. "Let's go in."

They walked up the three steps leading to the small porch, which was originally robin's egg blue but had become faded and grimy, seemingly left to itself for some time now. Casey also noted with distaste the green scum growing at the bottom of the house's wood siding, where it met the cinder blocks holding the building up as a foundation. The boards beneath their feet creaked with aged protest as they slowly pulled open the door.

They walked inside to a stuffy but cool atmosphere. The restaurant was busy, with nearly half the tables occupied by small groups of various Digimon, eating various foods and chatting. There was a slight din; most tables kept their conversations quiet, but several tables had patrons chatting loudly, or a table would erupt in raucous laughter.

"What do you think, Prairiemon?" Casey asked, looking uncertainly at the grimy, dirty conditions of the place.

Before his partner could respond, however, a small yellow Digimon sidled up to them. "Table for two?"

"Yes, please," Casey shrugged, eyeing the newcomer.

He was short and squat, and his skin was entirely yellow. He did not have legs, simply a rounded body, and he bounced along to show Casey and Prairiemon to their seats. In addition, he did not have arms, but instead had two long tentacles or vines that served the same purpose. A similar appendage sprouted from his rear, serving as a curly tail. His face was composed of a wide gaping mouth that split open nearly halfway down his body to reveal sparse, sharp teeth and a red, lolling tongue, and above this he had squinting, red eyes. There were red markings above his eyes, and finally, he had a crest like a semicircle sun of petals that were red with blue tips.

Casey and Prairiemon sat at the indicated table and the Digimon placed a menu before each of them.

"I'm Veggiemon," he said, "and your server will be right with you."

He bounced away and Casey and Prairiemon looked at each other and shrugged. They both scanned the menu items with distaste, but their hunger and craving for something new overrode their misgivings.

In a moment, their server arrived. They were both busy looking at their menus, and the server was busy rifling through the complicated orders he'd just taken on his notepad. He spoke before looking at them in a harried, exhausted voice.

"Good afternoon, I'll be your server. Can I get you anything to drink?"

Both Casey and Prairiemon jumped at the voice and let their menus fall, staring at their waiter.

"Adam?"

Adam jumped at the sound of their voices as well, and the three of them stared unbelievingly at each other.

"Casey? Prairiemon? What are you guys doing here?"

"We could ask you the same thing," Casey retorted. "Are you . . . working here? How did that happen?"

Adam sighed. "It's a long story."

At that moment, Kunemon scuttled passed, a tray of drinks mounted precariously along his back.

"You and Kunemon are employees here?" Prairiemon wondered incredulously.

"Wait, where are the others?" Casey asked. "Becca, Meggy, Otamamon, Rabbitmon – where are they?"

Adam looked down at the ground. "Guys, I can't really take a break. It's during the lunch rush and if I get caught slacking off I'll get in trouble."

Casey and Prairiemon stared at him in disbelief.

"I'll just bring you guys some waters," Adam muttered quickly, and ran back toward the kitchen area. Kunemon scuttled after him, carrying a now empty tray, and again didn't notice them sitting there.

"What was that about?" Casey wondered aloud.

Prairiemon shrugged. "Why would Adam be working in a place like this?"

"Or at all," Casey frowned. "He's supposed to be back in the desert with the girls. I wonder what happened."

He sighed. Rainey had run off and he himself had left Cameron, and now their group of six had become three separate pairs, but he'd always known that they could safely return to the six waiting for them in the desert. Now that seemed not to be the case, with Adam and Kunemon here and Becca, Meggy, Rabbitmon, and Otamamon apparently some unknown elsewhere.

Adam returned several minutes later, carrying two grimy glasses of water. He set them down on the table and walked away again, avoiding the gaze of both Casey and Prairiemon. Kunemon scuttled forth again, and on his way back, Casey hailed him.

"Casey! Prairiemon!" Kunemon exclaimed happily. "What brings you here?"

"Lunch," Prairiemon replied simply.

"We're just trying to figure out what you two are doing here," Casey added.

Kunemon tapped his numerous needle feet on the ground anxiously. "I really don't have adequate time to tell you."

"Wait," Casey said, halting Kunemon's attempted escape. "Adam's avoiding talking to us, and now you are too, and I'm not going to put up with that."

Kunemon began again to head toward the kitchen area. "I'll hail you when we get a break."

Casey and Prairiemon sat there, eying the other patrons' dishes hungrily. Adam and Kunemon rushed about, taking orders, bringing people food, cleaning tables. They seemed to be the only two employees on the floor for the rush hour, which seemed almost endless. Just when a table would be cleared, a new table would be taken by a new party. And all the while, Casey and Prairiemon's table was avoided like a disease.

It wasn't a rare occurrence to hear the smash of dishes and silverware falling to the floor. Plates were broken and food was scattered, and then a severely angry voice would begin screaming and threatening Adam and Kunemon. This was all out of Casey's sight, and he couldn't quite catch the words that were being said, but he shook his head at his friend's plight.

Casey, ignoring his stomach's angry moans, was wondering if he should try to calm down whoever was yelling so fervently at Adam, and he noticed that the restaurant had thinned of customers so that only a few other tables were occupied. Adam stumbled into view, followed by Kunemon.

"Please, Mr. Digitamamon, if I could just take a quick break to rest –"

"All right!" the voice roared, louder and angrier than ever. "You have five minutes! Five minutes exactly! If you're not back on the floor by then I'm subtracting from your pay for laziness!"

Adam and Kunemon slumped visibly. They turned and began to walk out the front door. Casey and Prairiemon got up and rushed after them. Casey glanced around to see the source of the yelling – Digitamamon – but he must've gone into the kitchen because the only ones visible in the restaurant were the other patrons.

Adam was around the side of the restaurant, sitting despondently on one of the numerous boxes which probably held ingredients. His head was in his hands, and he looked positively defeated. Kunemon was slumped to one side, resting his upper body on the same box, and looked just as exhausted as Adam.

"What's going on?" Casey asked gently.

Adam stirred and looked up slowly. "This is horrible."

"I know," Casey sighed, and sat beside Adam on another box. Prairiemon sat beside Casey. "Just tell us what happened. Why aren't you back in the desert? Where are the girls? How did you end up working here?"

Adam took a deep breath. "Well, we waited several days after you guys left, but we started running out of food rations, so we made the decision that we would be more useful travelling with you guys instead of waiting for Blake. We left and tried to find your trail, but we kept getting lost. Meggy and Becca got into an argument, and we split up, and that's the last I saw of Meggy."

Casey sighed. This was not shaping up well.

"So Becca and I came to this place," Adam continued. "We were tired and hungry and sick of the same old food, and this place was like a beacon of hope. But when we ate here, the manager, Digitamamon, said that we couldn't pay. We tried to give him some of the money we had in our pockets, but he didn't recognize it. He said he only took DigiDollars, which of course we had no idea what those were, and that we owed him for our meals. He said that we would have to work in the kitchen to pay off our debt. I didn't want Becca to wait around, so I told her that she would be able to help by finding you guys. She and Otamamon left, and Kunemon and I have been here . . . weeks, I guess."

"You ate so much that you've had to work for weeks to pay it off?" Prairiemon asked, shocked.

"No," Adam replied. "It should only have taken a day to pay off our meals, maybe a day and a half, with Kunemon and I working together, but . . . well, Digitamamon and Veggiemon run this place, and they didn't have any other employees, and so Kunemon and I were left doing everything. We had to take orders, cook orders, take orders out, clear tables, clean dishes . . . everything. And I'd never done it, so I made some mistakes. I dropped a dish and it broke, and Digitamamon said he would add it to my tab. Then I messed up an order. Digitamamon said that those ingredients had been wasted and that he would add those to my bill too. Then when I'm not fast enough, he says I'm being lazy, and adds it to my bill. Anything I do wrong, it gets added to my bill. And even when something goes wrong, I get blamed for it. Like the other night, one of the customers dropped a glass and it broke. I wasn't even nearby at the time, neither was Kunemon, but Digitamamon still took it out of our bill. I think he has me working here for the next year by now, maybe longer. Something always seems to be going wrong and I'm always blamed for it."

Casey and Prairiemon sat in silence a moment, soaking it all in.

"That's horrible!" Prairiemon said.

"He doesn't have any right to treat you like that!" Casey added angrily.

"I know," Adam sighed, "but what am I supposed to do? We really did owe him for the food, and now I'm stuck here."

"We're doing our best," Kunemon interjected, "but even if we do well and avoid mistakes, something inevitably goes wrong that messes it up for us."

Casey frowned. This was a major problem in the midst of an even bigger problem.

"Look, I need to go get back to work," Adam sighed, rising painfully to his aching feet. "You guys haven't eaten, there's some stuff in these boxes. Try not to take too much from any one specific box, that way Digitamamon won't notice it."

With that, Adam and Kunemon trudged back to their labor. After the screen door slammed behind them, Casey and Prairiemon heard Digitamamon begin yelling yet again.

"Where have you been? I've been waiting!"

"I was on break," was Adam's feeble response.

"Yes, and even though we have hungry customers, I'm good enough to give you a break, and how do you repay me? You disappear!"

"Disappear? I was gone for less than four minutes!"

"You've been slacking off! Now our customers are angry and they might not even buy anything! I'm adding this to your bill!"

Casey and Prairiemon listened for the response that did not come. They could just picture Adam and Kunemon sagging in exhausted submission to yet another absurd reason to keep them here.

Casey shook his head in frustration. "This is ridiculous. They're being treated like slaves."

"At this rate, they'll be here forever," Prairiemon observed.

They sat outside for some time, picking at the uncooked food in the boxes. Finally, Casey and Prairiemon devised a plan. They rose and reentered the restaurant.

Veggiemon greeted them with confusion, recognizing them from only a few hours before. " . . . Table for two?"

"No," Casey replied with confidence. "We'd like to speak to the manager."

Veggiemon was extremely surprised by this. "O – Of course. One moment, please!" He bounced off toward the kitchen area. In a moment, he bounced back out, and Casey and Prairiemon both lurched at Digitamamon's appearance.

There wasn't much to him, really. He was fairly large, nearly Casey's height. He stood upon two thick, muscular legs that were green and scaly and sported sharp pink claws. These legs led into his peculiar body: An egg. Digitamamon was an egg. A giant egg, in fact, walking upright on his dinosaur legs. The only other feature to him was that the egg shell had a large, jagged hole in the upper half, through which two beady yellow eyes peered at Casey and Prairiemon with curious interest.

"Yes, hello," Digitamamon called as he approached. "How may I help you?"

"Actually, we're here to help you," Casey began. "You see, Adam and Kunemon, the guys you have working for you, they're our friends. We heard they owe you a debt and we'd like to start working with you to help pay it off quicker."

Digitamamon's eyes narrowed and he surveyed them skeptically. "You want to help them? Why?"

"Because he's my friend," Casey responded simply.

"Yes, yes, you said that already," Digitamamon continued. "But why would you waste your time working for someone else's gain?"

Casey and Prairiemon exchanged a glance. "Why does it matter?"

Digitamamon surveyed Casey and Prairiemon through squinting eyes for several more seconds before finally releasing a short exhalation of irritation. He spoke finally with great reluctance. "I don't suppose there's any reason you can't help. Follow me."

He took the two of them to the kitchen, a large room that was just as grimy as the rest of the place, but was stocked with numerous appliances that were capable of mass-producing meals; there they found Adam hard at work, sweating over a pan of vegetables he was sautéing as he attempted with his other hand to place drinks on a tray on Kunemon's back. Adam finished putting the drinks precariously on the teetering tray held by Kunemon and Kunemon scuttled past Digitamamon, Casey, and Prairiemon and out into the restaurant. Adam noticed them standing there and faltered.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"They've come to help work off your debt," Digitamamon replied with an undisguised sneer.

Adam stared at them in disbelief as Digitamamon sulked away. "Are you kidding me? What do you guys think you're doing?"

"We decided that you needed help," Prairiemon responded.

Casey added, "We know that Digitamamon is adding time to your debt for everything you do and half the things you don't, so we figured if we doubled the workforce he wouldn't be able to punish you fast enough."

Adam continued to stare at them. "You guys, that's really great, but you're just wasting your time. Yeah, maybe this will mean I can actually pay back time quicker than I have it added, but this also means that you guys are wasting your time here with me instead of going out and finding the others."

Casey frowned. "True," he sighed, "but you're one of us just like any of them, and if we're all going to get back together as a group, that means we have to get you out of this place sooner than later."

"Besides, we'd like some company while we look for the others," Prairiemon smiled.

Adam sighed and smiled despite himself. He turned back to his vegetables.

Casey surveyed the room. There were orders being cooked, orders needing to be cooked, orders needing to be taken, tables needing to be checked, tables needing to be cleaned, dishes needing to be cleaned . . . everywhere he looked, Casey saw at least two jobs that needed to be done. He secretly had a moment of an extreme feeling of sinking; there was far too much to do, even for the four of them. However, he gritted his teeth, stepped forward, and set to work.
As Adam cooked and Kunemon handled drinks and table cleaning, Prairiemon set about cleaning dishes as Casey took to the floor. The four of them rushed back and forth, sweating and stressed, barely acknowledging each other as they passed each other on the way from one duty to the next.

Casey came into the kitchen at one point and saw Adam placing food onto a plate, ready to set it in the window to be sent to its table. At the same time, Prairiemon was carrying a stack of plates from the wash to their spot to be used for other dishes. Casey saw it before it happened, but there was nothing he could do.

In their mutual frenzy, both were moving as quickly as they could. Prairiemon couldn't see past the tower of plates he was carrying, and Adam had no idea as he spun around, meal in hand, that Prairiemon was walking behind him. They collided, and the tower of plates hit the ground alongside the freshly completed meal, releasing a deafening crash. Casey winced and slapped his forehead in anguish.

Digitamamon came sliding into view, the eager malice shining in his eyes. "What's this I see?" he roared indignantly. "How could you break all of these plates?"

Adam looked on the verge of tears. He answered meekly, "It was an accident."

But Digitamamon was too busy noticing the meal on the ground to hear the excuse. "You not only broke plates, but you wasted a meal? Now we have to buy new plates, replace those wasted ingredients, and hope our customer, who will now be waiting extra time for their meal, bothers to come back. This is getting added to your tab!"

Digitamamon stormed off to explain to the customer, and Adam fell limply against the side of the stove. Casey approached him tentatively, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it's all right, it was an accident. It's no big deal."

"No!" Adam cried. "It is a big deal! This always happens. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, I always find a way to screw it up! Yeah, Digitamamon's unfair to me, but even if he didn't blame me for stuff I didn't do I'd still be here forever because I'm such a screw up! And now you're here and you're going to be stuck here, too, and I just can't seem to get it right!"

Casey stared helplessly. A moment passed before he finally said, "The only thing we can do to fix this mistake is to fix it. No use crying over spilled milk." And he got back to work.

They all did. The day continued, and while certainly not every moment of the day was as hectic as certain times, the workload never seemed to lessen enough to give them any significant moment of rest. Casey watched with frustration as Adam continued to make mistakes, blame himself, and set himself up to be even more likely to make another mistake. Casey knew that if it had been a half hour without Digitamamon's outraged scream that it was certainly right around the corner, and it was soon apparent that no matter how hard they worked and no matter how much progress they made, they would truly never pay off the debt.

-

Casey stared despondently at the night sky. He ached all over. All over.

"I hurt in places I didn't know I could hurt," Casey muttered weakly.

Prairiemon groaned a feeble response.

They were sprawled on the ground behind the diner after a day of excruciatingly relentless work. Adam and Kunemon were already sound asleep, and Casey and Prairiemon were quickly rushing to join him.

Casey stirred. "Prairiemon, did you hear something?"

"Yeah," Prairiemon replied slowly, as they both sat up.

They listened several more moments. There was a sound of shuffling; something was poking around, giggling.

Casey and Prairiemon exchanged a glance and rose as silently as they could. They crept to the side of the diner, peering around, across the tables covered with boxes full of ingredients.

There, at the front corner of the diner, poking through the boxes, was a humanoid shape. Neither Casey nor Prairiemon could make out many features, but they could tell that it was a small, humanoid figure with two large, triangular ears atop its head. As they watched, the figure removed the cinderblock beneath the short leg of one of the tables. It began to topple back and forth, and the box of ingredients scooted toward the end of the table forebodingly.

"Hey!" Casey cried.

The figure jerked at the sudden noise, and instantly leapt into the darkness and disappeared from view.

"Wait a second!" Prairiemon called.

At that moment, the box full of food supplies toppled to the ground with a devastating crash, sending the food flying everywhere. Large pieces of fruit smashed on the ground with a finality like a nail in the coffin.

"Let's go get him!" Casey grunted angrily, and the two of them ran off after the figure.

"Where'd he go?" Prairiemon wondered aloud as they sped after the mysterious figure.

"It's too dark," Casey growled, ruing the moonless night. "Where'd he go?"

They continued running in the direction the figure had disappeared until they found themselves on the bank of the lake. Casey clenched and unclenched his fists, grinding his teeth. "He got away."

-

Casey was running about, seemingly more frantically than the day before.

They were about an hour into the morning at the diner, and the place was full of hungry, impatient customers. Casey was already sweating and aching and still had an entire day of work ahead of him.

He and Prairiemon had returned to the diner after their futile attempt to catch the perpetrator. The fruit was still smashed and Casey knew there was no fixing it. He grabbed the forsaken cinderblock and returned it to its place and went back to sleep with the intention of telling Digitamamon what had happened in the morning. However, when he was abruptly awoken by Veggiemon, he was shuffled into the diner, past the fruit without a comment, and to the work.

Casey winced at the sound of another plate falling to the floor. He'd been expecting it, but still hoping against hope that it would not come. In moments, Digitamamon's anger rose above the din of the crowded diner.

He shouted the norm, citing Adam's incompetence, that this would have to be paid for, and that it was being added to his tab. Casey sighed, gave Digitamamon a few seconds to slink away, and then went to console his friend.

Adam was slumped in familiar fashion against the stove, looking again like he was on the verge of tears. Casey went to him.

"I can't do anything right," he muttered, barely audible.

"Adam, just . . . get back on the horse," Casey sighed, feeling like he'd said it a hundred times.

"I'm sorry," Adam replied. "I just can't believe I keep messing up! More time on my bill after what happened this morning."

Casey started. "This morning?"

"Yeah," Adam continued. "Digitamamon woke me up all angry this morning. Some fruit fell over last night and it was all ruined and he said he had to pay for it and it was getting added to my tab. Nothing's ever gonna go right!"

"Wait a second," Casey halted him, holding up his hand. "What happened?"

"I dunno, something happened to this big box of fruit and I got blamed for it."

Casey stood there for a moment in disbelief, taking in this new bit of information.

"What's wrong?" Adam asked quizzically.

"Before Prairiemon and I got to sleep last night, we heard something," explained Casey. "We got up and saw somebody messing with the table where those ingredients were. He made the table all wobbly and caused that fruit to fall off. We chased him and tried to catch him but he disappeared."

Adam slumped even more. "Well that's just great."

"We can't let him get away with this," Casey grumbled as Prairiemon walked tiredly to the two of them, curious at his partner's angry expression.

"What can we do?" Adam replied weakly. "Digitamamon's right: Someone's gotta pay for it. If you'd caught him, maybe . . . But as it is . . ."

"No," Casey fumed. "No, it's not like that, not this time. I won't stand for this anymore. This is ridiculous!" He turned and stormed out, followed by Prairiemon.

"Wait!" Adam called. "What are you doing?" But Casey didn't turn. Adam looked frantically this way and that before rushing after him.

He followed Casey all the way out to the fenced in side of the restaurant. Kunemon, noticing Casey's storm from the kitchen and across the restaurant, entered the side yard closely after Adam. The four of them stood before Digitamamon, who was standing out there with Veggiemon, tinkering with the grill.

Digitamamon noticed them and turned to look at them with a rage that seemed to radiate from him. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Listen up," Casey began forcefully.

"Get back in the kitchen!" Digitamamon roared.

"Wait a second!" Casey responded. "Adam told me that you punished him this morning for that ruined fruit. Well, Prairiemon and I saw someone poking around back there last night and they ruined the fruit. No way Adam should be blamed for that!"

Digitamamon, eyes narrowed, took a step closer, looking Casey in the eye, and drew himself up to his full stature. "I don't care. It doesn't matter who did it, someone has to pay for it!"

Casey clenched his jaw. "Not Adam! That's so stupid, it's not his fault!"

Digitamamon somehow found a way to narrow his eyes even more. "I'm done discussing this. Get back to work."

Casey raised his chin in defiance. "No."

"Get. Back. In. The. Kitchen."

"No!"

"Now!"

"No!"

Digitamamon was furious. He reared back and slammed his body into Casey, landing his steel-hard eggshell right into Casey's stomach. Casey coughed as the breath was forced from him and he fell back.

"Hey, watch it!" Prairiemon cried, rushing to his partner's side.

"You want a piece of me, too?" Digitamamon growled.

"You can't push him around like that!"

"You want to be pushed around, too?" Veggiemon cackled. "Stink Jet!"

He opened his maw and released a spray of vile green smog that shot in a stream toward Prairiemon.

"Hey, don't attack my friend!" Adam yelled.

"Electro Thread!" Kunemon called, firing a string of dancing electricity at Veggiemon. It cut through the gas and stung Veggiemon, who yelped in shock.

"That does it," Veggiemon growled. "Sharp Leek!" He launched one of his tentacle arms toward Adam and Kunemon. In the same moment, Digitamamon launched himself to body slam Casey again. Kunemon and Prairiemon rushed to intercept the attacks as the boys' Digivices began to glow.

"Prairiemon! Digivolve to . . ."

" . . . Leomon!"

"Kunemon! Digivolve to . . ."

" . . . Kuwagamon!"

Veggiemon's leek bounced harmlessly off of Kuwagamon's armored head, and Leomon rushed between Casey and Digitamamon, crossing his arms. Digitamamon ran into it and Leomon pushed him back.

"You Digivolved?" Digitamamon observed with mild interest. "That's impressive. But it's no use."

"We'll see," Leomon challenged.

Veggiemon smirked at Kuwagamon, but he visibly cowered before the much larger Digimon. "Stink Jet!" He fired another stream of rank steam at Kuwagamon, but Kuwagamon didn't react to the feeble blow. Instead, Kuwagamon swung his massive head, catching Veggiemon on one of his pincers and tossing him into the air. Veggiemon cried out as he flew in a wide arc and slammed into the fence encircling the yard.

"Don't attack my employees!" Digitamamon roared. "Nightmare Syndrome!"

His eyes disappeared. From the dark void, a stream of dark energy poured forth in a ray that streaked toward Kuwagamon. It shot into him and Kuwagamon cried out as the phantasmal shade passed through him. It streaked back into Digitamamon's open shell and his yellow eyes reappeared.

Meanwhile, Kuwagamon turned a gray, discolored shade as the phantasm passed through him. He cried out for several seconds before glowing and shrinking back into Kunemon form.

"Kunemon!" Adam cried out, rushing toward him and picking him up. "Are you okay?"

"Watch out, Leomon," Kunemon shuddered weakly. "That attack is very powerful!"

"Don't worry! Fist of the Beast King!" Leomon's fist glowed with burning fire and punched forward, sending the fiery, lion-shaped attack toward Digitamamon. He launched two more in succession.

The attacks exploded on Digitamamon's shell, obscuring him in fire. When it dissipated, Digitamamon was standing there, unharmed. The opening in his shell was gone, leaving a pure, white shell. A crack appeared that opened instantly to reveal the hole in the shell once more. The yellow eyes glared from within.

"That's funny," Digitamamon sneered. "Nice try. What do you think a Champion level Digimon like you can do against me?"

"Wait a second," Casey said, thinking aloud. "He's not a Champion Digimon?"

"Oh, no," Adam muttered ominously. He thought about Etemon, Datamon, Piximon, SkullGreymon, and Triceramon, how powerful they'd been, how amazingly helpless their Champion level Digimon had been.

"It doesn't matter," Casey said through gritted teeth. "We can beat this guy!"

"Right!" Leomon nodded. He drew his sword and rushed toward Digitamamon.

"Nightmare Syndrome!" Digitamamon called again. The attack spewed forth, but Leomon sidestepped and continued at him with his sword drawn. Digitamamon's shell closed again, and Leomon brought his sword to bear. He slashed it forward and it screamed as it struck Digitamamon. Leomon's momentum carried him several more steps beyond.

Digitamamon's shell reopened, revealing him to be again unharmed. "It's useless!" Digitamamon crowed. "You're too weak! Nightmare Syndrome!"

Leomon's footing was unsure, and he dodged just a bit too late. The attack grazed Leomon, and he cried out in pain as it shot through his arm. The arm became discolored and Leomon landed before Casey and fell painfully to one knee.

"Leomon!" Casey cried out.

"Casey!" Adam called out. "You can do it!"

Suddenly, Casey heard the sound of Adam choking and gagging. Kunemon cried out, "Adam!"

Casey flipped around to find Adam, caught in Veggiemon's grasp. He'd gotten up quietly from the fence and snuck around behind the boys as they focused on Digitamamon. He'd snatched Adam in his tentacles and held him there, wrapped in them, and began to squeeze.

"Casey!" Adam choked. "Just get out of here!"

"No way!" Casey replied gruffly.

"Casey, I'm – really glad you – helped me out, but – you can't get yourself – in trouble – for me." He could barely finish the strained sentence as Veggiemon's grip began to strangle the air out of him even more.

"Shut up!" Casey cried. "Don't be ridiculous! If you're in trouble, it's my business too! We're a team! I'll help you get out of this. You're my friend!"

At that moment, Casey's Crest began glowing a shining blue. "What's going on?" he asked, as the light intensified, washing over the area.

"Leomon! Digivolve to . . ."

" . . . Panjamon!"

"Whoa!" Casey breathed in awe. "Leomon Digivolved!"

Leomon's basic form had not changed, but his appearance certainly had. The color of his fur had changed from a healthy brown to a light blue, almost white sheen. He had the same light blue colored armor plates on his upper leg and surrounding his calves, with dark blue fur surrounding the bottom of the armor plates on his lower legs. The same dark blue material covered from his wrist to his upper forearm, and billowed behind him in the form of a cape that looked light as a cloud. Finally, he held a long staff with a pointed end. The staff was as tall as he was and the upper fourth of it was an enormous heptagonal shape with a snowflake design.

Digitamamon's eyes widened with a momentary concern. "You . . . Digivolved again, huh?"

"That's right," Panjamon replied. "Now I'm Panjamon. I'm much stronger."

"Fat chance!" Digitamamon snorted. "Nightmare Syndrome!"

The black phantom substance shot forward toward Panjamon, but Panjamon swung his mighty staff and dispelled the dark attack. He reared his fist back, bristling with blue-white energy, and punched it forward, screaming, "Ice Beast Fist!" A lion-shaped ball of white energy shot toward Digitamamon, slamming into him and knocking him back on his back with a cry. Panjamon jumped into the air in the same motion, spinning his staff. As it spun, glowing blue energy accumulated on the snowflake emblem. He suddenly held the staff before him and shouted, "Blizzard Fury!" The blue energy shot forward and engulfed Digitamamon. After the attack dissipated, they saw Digitamamon lying there, completely frozen.

Panjamon landed and turned, glaring at Veggiemon. Veggiemon whimpered, dropped Adam, and hopped quickly out of view. Casey ran toward Adam. "Are you all right buddy?"

"Yeah," Adam coughed, excitedly gasping the air he felt he hadn't had for hours.

Panjamon glowed and shrank, revealing the tiny, spherical Zerimon. Assured of Adam's health, Casey ran to his Digimon and swept him into his arms. "Thanks, Zerimon!"

"No problem," Zerimon chuckled, weak from the energy expenditure.

"I'm so proud of you!" Casey beamed. "You Digivolved to the Ultimate level!"

Zerimon smiled and closed his eyes to rest. Casey returned to Adam's side. Adam was now sitting up, Kunemon tending to him, making sure he was all right. Adam dragged himself to his feet.

Casey slapped him on the back. "Are you ready to finally get out of here?"

Adam smiled and laughed tiredly. "You know, after working here so hard for so long, I can hardly believe I'm about to leave this place behind."

Casey stared at him skeptically. "Do you . . . want a minute?"

Adam laughed and looked at him coyly. "Not a chance!"

They hopped the fence and got out of there.

After a few minutes of walking, Adam looked back and smiled to himself; the diner was no longer visible.

"I'm glad to get that behind me."

"Indeed," agreed Kunemon.

"I'm just glad to get you out of there," Casey said.

"So . . . I've been wondering . . ." Adam began.

"Yeah?"

" . . . Where's . . . Rainey?"

Casey stopped walking. He clenched his fist and stared down at the ground.

Adam looked back concernedly. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to –"

"No," Casey interjected. "Rainey . . . he's gone."

A pause. "What? Where?"

Casey felt a sob threatening to rise out of his throat. "Just . . . gone."

Adam pursed his lips in thought. "Well we've gotta find him."

"Yeah."

"I'm sure that you were looking for Rainey when you stumbled upon me," Adam continued. "Thanks. For working so hard for me, when your brother is out there somewhere."

Casey closed his eyes and looked away. "Yeah. No problem. You're my friend, of course I helped you."

Adam smiled. "Well thanks. It really means a lot to me."

Casey nodded.

"Come on," Adam said. "Let's go. Together. Let's go find your brother!"

-

A/N: If you decide to search the internet to learn more about the Digimon featured in my story, to get a better visual image, or to attempt to understand my somewhat convoluted Digivolution lines, Panjamon is the original Japanese name for the character IceLeomon. I retained the original in an attempt to provide variety and to avoid some confusion later with other Leomon-esque characters.